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OPINION 8
WORLD 13
PAKISTAN’S DREAMS OF
DISBALANCE, DISRUPTION
CHINA RELEASES WHITE PAPER TO
REFUTE SCS TRIBUNAL VERDICT
Established 1864
Published From
DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL
BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPUR
CHANDIGARH DEHRADUN
SPORT 15
TARGET PRACTICE BEFORE
MAIN EVENT
Late City Vol. 152 Issue 191
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LUCKNOW, THURSDAY JULY 14, 2016; PAGES 16 `3
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JOSHILA IS THE
FIRST MOVIE I
WATCHED: SRK
16 VIVACITY
www.dailypioneer.com
SC restores Cong Govt in Arunachal
Court orders status quo as on Dec 15,
2015; Centre to seek SC’s clarification
on validity of President’s Rule in State
ABRAHAM THOMAS n
NEW DELHI
he Supreme Court (SC)
created a history of sorts on
T
Wednesday by reviving the
Nabam Tuki-led Congress
Government in Arunachal
Pradesh in a major setback to
the Centre. Tuki’s Government
was dismissed on January 26
when the Centre imposed
President’s Rule in the State.
The judgment by a fivejudge Constitution Bench created an odd situation as the
Centre revoked President’s Rule
in February to pave the way for
a rebel Congress MLA Kalikho
Pul to become Chief Minister
in the State. Putting up a brave
front in the face of defeat, Pul
told the media, “There is no
threat to our Government, we
will remain. That (majority)
will be decided on the floor of
the Assembly. Government
runs only with the numbers.”
Pul is likely to file a review
petition in the SC after consulting
legal
experts.
Government sources too indicated that the Centre may seek
a clarification as the judgment
does not deal with the validity
of President’s Rule and its subsequent withdrawal.
The Bench of Justices JS
Khehar, Dipak Misra, Madan B
Lokur, PC Ghose and NV
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CAPSULE
THERESA MAY TAKES
CHARGE AS BRITAIN’S PM
London: Theresa
May became
British PM on
Wednesday after
being appointed by
British Queen
Elizabeth II shortly after the
monarch accepted David
Cameron’s resignation. An
official image showed May
curtsying to the queen during an
audience at Buckingham Palace.
PAK CHRISTIAN MAN’S
HANDS ‘CHOPPED OFF’
Lahore: A Pakistani Christian
man’s both hands were chopped
off allegedly by some Muslim
men for refusing to convert to
Islam, media reports said on
Wednesday.
Ramana set the clock back to
December 15, 2015, a crucial
date when the Speaker of
Arunachal Assembly last convened the House. The court
damned Governor Jyoti Prasad
Rajkhowa’s order issued on
December 9, 2015 directing the
Speaker to prepone the session
of the House from the scheduled January 14, 2016 to
December 16, 2015. The
Governor’s order advised the
members of the House to
decide first on a resolution to
remove the Speaker and allow
the Deputy Speaker to preside
the House.
Setting
aside
the
Governor’s order as “unconstitutional”, the court restored
status quo in the State as on
December 15, 2015. It also
warned the Governor not to
“embroil” himself in any “political thicket”.
Continued on Page 4
Guv’s Ambit
v The Governor has no role
whatsoever, in the removal of the
Speaker (or the Deputy Speaker)
under Article 179
v It is not for the Governor to
schedule the functioning of the
Assembly. It is also not in the
Governor’s domain, to schedule
the agenda of the House
v The Governor is not a guide or
mentor to the Speaker. The
Governor cannot require the
Speaker to discharge his functions
in the manner he considers
constitutionally appropriate
v The Governor just cannot act
as the Ombudsman of the State
Legislature
This judgment that
firmly establishes
the democratic
values enshrined
in our Constitution
will deter the
Union Government
from any further misuse of power
— Sonia Gandhi,
Cong president
Thank you
Supreme Court
for explaining to
the Prime
Minister what
democracy is --Rahul Gandhi, Cong V-P
The Supreme Court
verdict today is
historic. It paves
way to protect
healthy
democracy in the
country
--- Nabam Tuki, after
being reinstated as CM
The court, either
due to lack of
suitable material
on record or
adequate
assistance or
otherwise, made
no mention of the
effect of the
installation of a
fresh Government
and the factum of
the successor
having won the
confidence of the
majority of the
House
— Govind Goel, noted
Constitutional expert
Fearing fury, Zakir Naik
to address media via
Skype from S Arabia
PNS n NEW DELHI
ontroversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, who is facing
several probes for alleged hate
speeches, will address a Press
conference in Mumbai via Skype
from Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
The Press conference will be
held at the World Trade Centre,
Cuffe Parade, in Mumbai at
11.30 am. Naik’s move comes
after he developed cold feet in
the face of mounting heat on
him and cancelled his return to
India from Saudi Arabia.
Naik was scheduled to reach
Mumbai from Saudi Arabia on
Monday and hold a Press conference. But he cancelled his
return. Facing flak from different quarters, Naik had on
Sunday said that he has been
C
misquoted by the media, claiming most of the clips shown on
the television and statements
attributed to him are either out
of context or doctored.
In a statement, Naik had
earlier expressed shock at the
“media trial” against him following the recent terrorist
attack in Dhaka. “The media is
the most important weapon in
the world. It can convert a hero
into villain or even a villain into
a hero. I’m shocked at the
media trial against me regarding the recent terrorist attack
that took place in Dhaka. Most
of the clips shown on the television of myself are either out
of context, half statements or
doctored. So are my statements in the print media,” he
had said.
It is not our case. It
will be total
misjudgment if
somebody says that
it is a judgment
against the Central
Government. The Central
Government acted on the basis
of the report of the Governor
—Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister
Cong raps Centre,
seeks Guv’s recall
What happened in
Arunachal was an
outcome of internal
fight within the
Congress. Its Govt
was reduced to
minority after a faction
within the party rebelled. The
Congress should not blame us
for its internal problems
—Shrikant Sharma, BJP
national secretary
Supreme Court verdict on
Arunachal Pradesh, the
Congress has demanded sacking of Governor Jyoti Prasad
Rajkhowa and an apology from
all those involved in the decision to topple the Nabam Tuki
Government.
The party has also
demanded a probe into a taperecorded conversation of some
BJP leaders and a businessman,
handed over as proof to the
court, for toppling the
Arunachal Government. “We
want the Governor to submit
his resignation immediately
and if he does not do so, we will
ask for him to be dismissed
both outside and inside
Parliament,” senior Congress
leader Kapil Sibal said.
Sibal also demanded an
apology from Union Ministers
SC judgment yet
another tight slap on
dictatorial Modi
Govt. Hope Modi ji
wud learn n now stop
interfering in
democratically elected Govts
—Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi CM
PNS n NEW DELHI
sserting that the Centre
should be ready to face the
A
music in Parliament over the
who were involved in the decision of imposition of President’s
Rule in the State. He also
demanded that there be a thorough probe into the alleged
taped conversations of BJP
leaders with a businessman
conspiring to topple the
Congress Government in the
State with the same “alacrity” as
one initiated against Harish
Rawat in Uttarakhand.
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi targeted
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and the Centre. “Those who
had trampled upon constitutional propriety and democratic norms have been defeated
today,” Sonia said in a statement
after the Supreme Court
quashed all decisions of the
Governor that had precipitated the Nabam Tuki
Government’s fall in January,
holding them “violative” of the
Constitution.
Continued on Page 4
BJP calls judgment ‘weird’
PNS n NEW DELHI
tung by the Supreme Court
SPradesh,
order on Arunachal
the BJP on
Wednesday said the ruling
raised question whether it
strengthened democratic spirit or weakened it and went on
to describe the judgment as
“weird” decision. On the other
hand, Law Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad maintained
that “a detailed response” from
the Government would come
after “a structured examination” of the judgment.
Within hours of the court
order, Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath
Singh, and Law Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad discussed with
the Attorney General the legal
implications of the SC order. In
its response, the BJP maintained that the verdict was not
a setback to the party, but
wondered whether it would
strengthen the democracy.
“This is a very strange
order and that is why it is being
studied. The person who has
the majority, who is running
the Government presently, is
being asked to be in the
Opposition,” said BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma at
a Press conference.
Sharma said the political
crisis in Arunachal Pradesh
was a result of Congress’ internal fight and the corruption
charges against its State
Government, and that the BJP
supported
the
new
Government only from outside.
The party targeted the
Congress after its vice-president Rahul Gandhi took potshots at Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. Gandhi
thanked the court for “explaining” to Modi what democracy
is.
“What happened in
Arunachal was an outcome of
internal fight within the
Congress. Its Government was
reduced to minority after a faction within the party rebelled.
We only supported the faction’s
bid for power from the outside.
The Congress should not
blame us for its internal problems.
Continued on Page 4
RPF jawans patrol a street in Srinagar on Wednesday
Curfew, strike
cripple life
in Kashmir
One shot in
Anantnag, toll
mounts to 35
KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR
urfew in several towns and
C
extended strike call by separatists crippled normal life in
Kashmir for the fifth day on
Wednesday. Situation remained
tense as security forces shot
dead another youngster in
South Kashmir’s Anantnag
town taking the toll to 35 following the killing of Hizbul
Mujahideen’s top militant
Burhan Wani on July 8.
Separatists announced to
extend the shutdown call till
July 15. The normal life
remained paralysed due to the
strike call and heavy deployment of security forces. People
in the curfew-bound areas said
that they are facing acute shortage of essential commodities.
The mobile internet has
been snapped across the Valley
while select cellphone services
are operational in most of the
the last two years, 2,700 km of
Iednrural
roads have been constructacross the country using ecolabour-friendly and cost-effective
green technologies under the
Government’s flagship Pradhan
Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna
(PMGSY).
This is a no mean achievement
given that in the last 14 years
(2000-2014), out of more than
4.80 lakh kilometres of roads only
800 km were built using green technologies.
With States opening up to
environment friendly technologies
like fly ash, iron and copper slag,
mining waste, geo-textile, lime and
cement stabilisation, Zydex NanoTechnology and waste plastic, the
Modi Government has kept an
ambitious overall target length at
7,000 km for 2016-17.
A senior official said States are
also adopting innovative technolo-
gies as cost of construction of
roads has gone up rapidly over the
recent years due to scarcity of conventional materials for road construction.
The “Guidelines of Technology
initiatives under PMGSY”, issued by
Rural Development Ministry in
2013, already have a provision that
a minimum 15 per cent length of
annual proposals under PMGSY
received from each State should be
based on new or non-conventional materials/technology including,
jute and coir geo-textiles.
There are wide range of green
technologies available such as fly
ash, iron and copper slag, mining
waste, lime and cement stabilisation, Zydex Nano-Technology,
waste plastic, CRRI-Bitchem Cold
Mix, etc, to name a few.
A senior official from the
Ministry said efforts are being
taken at every meeting to remind
the States to individually achieve
much more than the 15 per cent of
localities. The train services
between
Banihal
and
Baramulla have been halted
since last weekend.
Meanwhile, Mushtaq
Ahmad Dar, a resident of
Khudwani in South Kashmir’s
Kulgam district, succumbed
to his injuries at Institute of
Medical Sciences, Soura, on
Wednesday morning.
The situation worsened in
the evening when another
youngster Hilal Ahmad Sofi
(25) was shot dead by security
forces at Harnag in South
Kashmir’s Anantnag town.
Massive protests erupted in
the area after the killing.
Around 15,00 people with
severe pallet and bullet injuries
have been admitted in various
hospitals in Srinagar.
The Jammu & Kashmir
Government has sought services of eye surgeons for treating dozens of youth who are in
danger of losing their eyesight
after getting hit by pellets during protests.
Chief Minister Mehbooba
Mufti spoke to the Union
Health Minister, JP Nadda
Continued on Page 4
India to airlift stranded citizens from S Sudan
Out of 600 Indians, 300 have registered
with Indian Embassy for evacuation
PNS n NEW DELHI
he Union Government is
T
sending two C-17 aircrafts
to Juba on Thursday to airlift
Indians stranded in South
Sudan that has been severely
impacted by violence due to
fighting between two factions.
There are about 600
Indians living in South Sudan,
out of which nearly 300 have
registered with the Indian
Embassy for evacuation. Gen
(Retd) VK Singh, Minister of
State in External Affairs
Ministry, is leading the evacuation operation.
“The General takes charge
again! 2 C-17s proceeding to
Juba
tomorrow
with
@Gen_VKSingh leading evac’n
frm South Sudan,” MEA
spokesperson Vikas Swarup
tweeted on Thursday. Apart
from Singh, Amar Sinha,
Secretary (Economic Relations)
will also travel to Juba.
The Indian Embassy in
Juba issued advisories asking
people to register for evacuation. “The Government of
India has made arrangements
to evacuate all Indian nationals from Juba by special aircraft
Continued on Page 4
Indian soldiers reinforcing defences around UN House in Juba
Using fly ash, mining waste, 2.7K km rural roads ready
ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI
PTI
GETTING THE SHOW ON ROAD
n The Modi Government has kept an ambitious overall target
length at 7,000 km for 2016-17
n There are wide ranges of green technologies available to
build roads
n Gujarat has target to construct 131 km using green
technologies, 476 km for Maharashtra and for Rajasthan it is
1,123 km
the total length proposed under
each batch to the Ministry by
using such technologies.
For instance, Gujarat has target
Huge jump in use of
green technology in last
two years as just 800
km out of more than
4.80 lakh km of roads
were built between
2000-2014 using green
technologies
to construct 131 km using green
technologies, 476 km for
Maharashtra and for Rajasthan it is
1,123 km.
The RD Ministry, along with
the Textile Ministry, is already
providing support to the NorthEastern States for building roads
made of environment-friendly coir
and jute geo-textiles in the region
through its programme “scheme for
promoting usage of geotech-textiles
in the North-Eastern region.”
The move aims to push non polluting technologies to save environment and cut down climate change
impact. This also fits our Green
Mission, said the official, adding that
the Government is already implementing a scheme to plant trees on
both sides of roads with the support
of MNREGA. With convergence of
this scheme, 50 lakh trees have
already been planted across the
country which will be maintained
from the MNREGA funds.
The PMGSY is a Centrallyfunded scheme which aims to provide connectivity to all habitations
with a population of 500 persons
and above in the rural areas and
about 250 persons and above in
respect of the hilly States, tribal
areas and desert areas through
good and all-weather roads.
Pioneer photo
Owaisi’s party
barred from Maha
local body polls
PTI n MUMBAI
n a jolt to Asaduddin Owaisi’s
AIMIM, Maharashtra State
IElection
Commission (SEC) on
Wednesday barred it from contesting
local body elections along with 190
smaller outfits for failure to submit
Income Tax returns and audited
accounts, ahead of a string of civic
polls, including the Mumbai city corporation.
Known for its controversial stance
on a host of issues, including the allegations against Islamic preacher Zakir
Naik, the SEC’s decision came when
AIMIM is gearing up to put up a good
showing
in
the
Greater
Brihanmumbai
Municipal
Corporation polls, due early next year.
The parties which lost their registration include RPI-Khobragade
faction, led by Uttam Khobragade
and UP-based Peace Party.
Continued on Page 4
city 02
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
Akhilesh not to contest polls
from Bidhuna seat
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
“I HAVE NOT MADE
UP MY MIND YET
BUT I WILL NOT BE
CONTESTING
POLLS FROM
BIDHUNA, THAT’S
FOR SURE”
utting to rest speculations
that Akhilesh Yadav would
P
contest elections from Bidhuna
Assembly constituency, the
Samajwadi Party state president, who is also the Chief
Minister, made it clear that he
would not be contesting from
there but refused to divulge the
name of his probable constituency.
Incidentally, Yadav chose a
roadside dhaba owned by SP
leader in Tirawa (Kannauj) to
make the announcement.
On his way back from
Auraiya to Kannauj, Yadav’s
motorcade stopped at a roadside dhaba owned by the party
leader. Sipping tea, Yadav told
reporters that he would not be
contesting election from
Bidhuna this time.
Bidhuna falls in Auraiya
and at present this Assembly
seat is held by SP chief
Mulayam Singh Yadav’s brother-in-law Pramod Gupta.
Bidhuna is also an Assembly
segment of Kannauj Lok Sabha
constituency represented by
Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple
Yadav.
Akhilesh Yadav is himself
well versed with this area as he
began his political career from
Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency in 1999 and also won the
seat in 2004 and 2009 Lok
Sabha polls.
Yadav, presently member of
the Legislative Council, is keen
to enter the Assembly from districts adjoining Etawah like
Auraiya, Kannauj and
Farrukhabad.
“I have not made up my
mind yet but I will not be contesting polls from Bidhuna,
that’s for sure,” he said.
During his brief stopover,
the CM interacted with people
from nearby villagers to get
their feedback on the government.
When some of them com-
plained about rising prices of
essential commodities, Yadav
promised that if he returned to
power, his government would
fix the prices of essentials like
dal, potato, tomato and sugar.
“I read in newspapers that
the Union government is planning to import pulses. But this
decision is bound to harm the
farmers. Instead of importing,
the government should
announce sops for farmers
who wish to grow pulses,” he
suggested.
The CM also told the people about welfare schemes
launched by his government.
He had a question-answer session with villagers in which he
asked about Samajwadi
Pension Scheme, 102 and 108
ambulance services, Lohia
Awas Yojana and other projects
launched by his government.
When asked about the
appointment of Raj Babbar as
UP Congress president, Yadav
said that during elections,
many leaders were given
important assignments.
“Raj Babbar has also been
elevated as Congress state president. This is a Congress decision and I have nothing more
to say,” he said.
Incidentally, Raj Babbar
had defeated Dimple Yadav in
the 2012 parliamentary bypolls
after the seat was vacated by
Akhilesh Yadav.
Earlier, the CM held a
meeting with officials in
Auraiya and directed them to
implement
government
schemes in letter and spirit.
EC starts preparations for UP Assembly polls
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
he Election Commission has started
preparations for UP Assembly polls
T
due early next year. All district magistrates
have been directed by the Chief Electoral
Officer to take possession of electronic voting machines (EVMs) by July 30.
The Election Commission has allotted
EVMs used in the recent Assembly
polls in Assam, Tamil Nadu and West
Bengal.
The district authorities have also been
asked to start the first level checking of
EVMs from August 1.
The DMs, who are also district returning officers, have been directed to start the
process of vulnerability mapping of each
Assembly constituency so that sector and
zonal magistrates could be deployed during polls.
Chief Electoral Officer of UP, Arun
Singhal, reviewed preparations for the 2017
Assembly polls in Lucknow on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by top police
officers, including ADG (Law and Order)
Daljit Chaudhary.
The Election Commission plans to
take up electoral roll revision in a big way
for the Assembly polls. The cut off date for
inclusion in the voter list will be January
1, 2017.
For women voters, special camps will
be organised at district level for enrolment
in the voter list. The objective of organising these camps is to ensure maximum
enrolment of female voters to improve gender ratio.
The Election Commission, during
electoral roll revision in UP, had detected
17 categories of irregularities which included as many as 58 lakh voters. Of these, 42
lakh have been rectified and district
returning officers have been asked to rec-
tify the remaining irregularities in a timebound manner.
The CEO has also directed the DMs
to identify absentees, dead and shifted voters in the electoral rolls. They have been
asked to exercise caution and discretion
while deleting voters from the rolls.
For deletion of voters from the rolls,
the DMs have been asked to act as per
information in the National Population
Register (NPR).
In each of the 75 districts, Voter
Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)
machines are proposed to be installed to
generate a receipt after casting of votes by
voters.
For creating awareness and increasing
participation of people in elections, the
CEO has asked the DMs to prepare
Systematic Voters Education and Electoral
Participation (SVEEP) programme in
their districts and record each programme.
SP flays appointment of tainted
leaders by BJP, Cong state units
Lucknow (PNS): The ruling
Samajwadi Party flayed the
Bharatiya Janata Party and the
Congress for including tainted
people like riot accused and hatespeech mongers in their state
executive, saying it showed their
desperation ahead of the 2017
Assembly polls.
BJP MLA Suresh Rana who is an
accused in 2013 Muzaffarnagar
communal riots and Congress
leader Imran Masood accused of
delivering hate speech, were
included in the state executives of
both parties as vice-president and
senior vice-president respectively
on Tuesday.
Rana is one of the 15 vicepresidents appointed by the BJP. He
was booked under the National
Security Act (NSA) for allegedly
inciting
a
mob
during
Muzaffarnagar riots and jailed.
Imran Masood, now a senior
vice-president of UPCC, courted
controversy ahead of 2014 Lok
Sabha polls after spewing a hate
speech against BJP’s prime
ministerial candidate Narendra
Modi, saying he would “chop Modi
into pieces”.
Reacting to the questionable
appointments, SP state spokesman
Rajendra Choudhary said, “It is a
conspiracy
to
vitiate
the
atmosphere in UP. But
people
know the reality and will give a
befitting reply. It shows the growing
desperation in the two parties
ahead of the Assembly polls.”
“Transparency is a must in
politics and office-bearers should
be of clean image. If political parties
do such things, what will be their
fate?” he asked.
Meanwhile, senior SP leader and
PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav
dismissed
Raj Babbar as a
“spent force” saying, “The
Congress can never revive its
electoral fortunes by drafting
leaders like Raj Babbar, who have
lost relevance in politics.”
On its part, the BJP said it had
become clear that the Congress
would continue to work as the ‘B’
team of Samajwadi Party in UP.
Babbar had contested the 2004
Lok Sabha election from Lucknow
on SP ticket against former Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Born
in Tundla near Agra, Babbar (64) is
an OBC member and has been
elected thrice to Lok Sabha. At
present he is a Rajya Sabha
member from Uttarakhand.
He had joined the SP in 1993
and was elected to Rajya Sabha in
1994. He was however suspended
from the SP due to his differences
with Amar Singh.
BSP’s Assembly poll candidate disappears
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
Mayawati welcomes apex court
ahujan Samaj Party candidate from
Budhana Assembly constituency in
B
Muzaffarnagar disappeared under mysteverdict on Arunachal Pradesh
rious circumstances on Tuesday night.
Alleging abduction, his family and
friends blocked the UP-Haryana highway
for several hours.
As per reports, Mohammed Arif (38)
was shortlisted as the BSP candidate from
Budhana Assembly constituency and he
was in New Delhi for the last three days.
On Tuesday evening, Arif called his
wife and told her that he would return the
same night. However, when he did not
reach home and his mobile phone was
found switched off, the family members
suspected foul play and contacted the local
police.
On Wednesday morning, the situation
took a turn for the worse when Arif ’s
Scorpio MUV was found abandoned on
the Delhi-Muzaffarnagar highway in
Kankerkhera police station area of Meerut.
When the family and sympathisers
learnt about it, about 200 supporters
blocked the Karnal-Meerut highway at
Ghari Sakhwat village in Budhana. This
resulted in a huge traffic snarl on the interstate highway.
Later, senior officers intervened and
pacified the protesters to clear the road.
Arif was declared candidate by the BSP
after cancelling the ticket of Naeem Malik.
Arif ’s family said that he was returning
home with Rs 10 lakh in cash when he disappeared.
Meerut’s SP (City) Omprakash said
that Arif ’s family suspect that Naeem
Malik could be behind the abduction.
The police went to Naeem Malik’s
house later but he was not at home.
However, BSP MLC and Meerut
zone co-ordinator, Atar Singh Rao, dismissed the charge saying that Malik could
not be involved in a heinous incident like
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
ahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has
welcomed the Supreme Court judgeB
ment reinstating the Congress government in Arunachal Pradesh.
On Wednesday, a Constitutional
bench of the Supreme Court ordered that
status quo ante as prevailed on December
15, 2015 be restored in Arunachal Pradesh
Assembly.
“The Union government should learn
from the judgement which would serve
as a milestone in the country’s democracy. This is the second episode after
Uttarakhand that the SC had to reinstate
a dismissed government,” Mayawati said
in a statement issued in Lucknow on
Wednesday.
“For the first time in the country’s history, a state government dislodged seven
months back has been reinstated and a
seven-month-old government has to go.
The apex court ruling is a clear verdict
against the Centre and points out it did
not follow the constitutional norms,” she
said.
Meanwhile, the UP Congress also
welcomed the apex court decision and
demanded immediate resignation of the
government headed by Narendra Modi.
“The judgement of the Constitutional
bench of the apex court clearly points out
how the Centre dislodged a democratically elected government for vested interests.
The Prime Minister should immediately
resign taking moral responsibility for the
entire episode,” said UPCC Media Cell
chairman Satyadeo Tripathi on
Wednesday.
this.
Meanwhile in Ballia, a Bharatiya
Janata Party leader died while addressing
a protest meeting against the ruling
Samajwadi Party in Bhimpura locality on
Tuesday.
BJP workers had gheraoed Bhimpura
police station as part of their state-wide agitation against the ‘goonda raj’ prevailing
in the Samajwadi Party rule.
While delivering a fiery speech,
Tribhuvan Gupta (50) collapsed. He was
rushed to a hospital where doctors said he
had died due to cardiac arrest.
CM’s directive Income limit of parents raised
to install
existing Rs 1 lakh to Rs 6 lakh. “The existing
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
scheme was not bearing any fruits because the
ith an eye on the Assembly election, the children, whose parents’ income was Rs 1 lakh,
photovoltaic
Akhilesh Yadav government has decided were not that bright. I have no hesitation in sayW
to impart free IAS/PCS coaching to children of ing that their basics were very weak. So, chilsystem in
those parents whose annual income is up to Rs dren from these state-run centres were not able
to crack civil services examinations,” the min6 lakh.
schools
Earlier, the limit was only Rs 1 lakh and ister told ‘The Pioneer’ on Wednesday.
Lucknow (PNS): Chief
Minister Akhilesh Yadav has
directed officers to install photovoltaic system in identified
state-run schools so that students may avail the facilities of
fans and RO water.
“It is the responsibility of
officials at the district level to
ensure installations of photovoltaic systems. If the government cannot provide power
through conventional methods,
it will look for non-conventional methods,” the CM said.
A government spokesman
said on Wednesday that over 95
per cent primary schools out of
1.41 lakh schools across UP
were in rural areas. H
e said the government
wanted children to get good
environment, including pure
drinking water. “Therefore,
directives have been issued to
install 1.1 kv solar power plants
in schools in a phased manner,”
he said.
As a pilot project, this
scheme was implemented in
112 schools in 2014-15 in
Gorakhpur,
Lucknow,
Ghaziabad,
Kannauj,
Sonebhadra and Etawah. Now
the scheme will be implemented in 200 schools of Hamirpur,
Mahoba, Chitrakoot, Banda,
Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun and
Auraiya. The government has
decided to take up 100 more
schools in the next phase.
The spokesman said that
the implementing agency
would be responsible for the
maintenance of these systems
for the next five years.
included children of only SC, ST and OBC categories.
Social Welfare Minister Ram Govind
Chaudhary said that the government had formulated a new scheme under which the annual income limit of parents had been raised from
The minister said the issue was discussed at
length in the department and then it was decided that the income limit of parents be increased.
“There is a suggestion that this facility be thrown
open to poor candidates too. But CM Akhilesh
Yadav will take a final call on it,” he said.
UPERC urged to end annual hike in tariff
Lucknow (PNS): UP
Power Consumer Forum has
urged the UP Electricity
Regulatory Commission to put
an end to the practice of annual hike in power tariff.
In a memorandum submitted to the power regulator, the
UPPCF said the UPERC
should end revision of power
tariff on the basis of rating of
power distribution companies
(discoms).
The rating of discoms
is done by Union Power
Ministry on the basis of
their performance in controlling transmission and distribution losses, and revenue collection.
The power consumer
forum said that the four discoms of UP could not even
score 35 points out of 100. The
Union Power Ministry has
given ‘C plus’ grading to the
discoms — all subsidiaries of
UP Power Corporation
Limited.
An office-bearer of the
UPPCF said the poor rating of
discoms proved that their management were responsible for
the sorry state and they should
be held accountable by the
regulator.
“In the last four years,
power tariff has been hiked by
55 per cent for all categories of
consumers, yet all the discoms
are financially in the red. Such
a situation warrants tough
action by the regulator,” said
office-bearer said.
He said the transmission
and distribution losses were the
criterion for determining rating of each discom. He said the
line losses of discoms ranged
between 33 per cent and 40.8
per cent, which was higher
than limit set by the Union
Power Ministry.
The office-bearer said the
rating of discoms by the Union
Power Ministry had exposed
the inefficiency and corruption
in power distribution companies and it was high time that
the regulator took tough steps
and asked discoms to improve
management instead of hiking
tariff.
UPERC Chairman Desh
Deepak Verma assured the
UPPCF that necessary steps
would be taken for protecting
the interests of power consumers.
Accepting that the poor
rating of discoms by the Union
Power Ministry was a serious
matter, he said that the UPERC
would take adequate measures
and ensure lowering of line
losses at the earliest.
Over 12 hurt as mob clashes with policemen
Lucknow (PNS): Over a
dozen persons, including
policemen, were injured when
an agitated mob protesting a
death in a road accident
clashed with the cops in
Azamgarh on Wednesday
morning.
As per reports, Rohit (25)
of Ganjaur area of Mehnagar
was returning home on a
motorcycle when a speeding
Tata Sumo crushed him to
death at Rani Ki Sarai late on
Tuesday night.
On Wednesday morning,
as the police handed over the
victim’s body to his family
after post-mortem, the locals
placed the body on the main
road and blocked the road
demanding arrest of the erring
driver and compensation for
the victim’s family.
The situation took an ugly
turn when the police tried to
clear the road block forcibly.
Angered by this, the locals
started pelting stones and
clashed with the police. After
battling with the mob for halfan-hour, the cops somehow
chased away the protesters.
Over a dozen persons,
including cops, were injured in
the clash and they were admitted to a hospital.
A case was registered in
this regard but no one was
arrested. In another road accident, five members of a marriage party were killed and two
others were injured when a van
carrying them collided with a
truck coming from the opposite side in Etah on Tuesday
evening.
The mishap occurred as
the van driver tried to overtake
another vehicle near Margojia
village. The victims were going
to Kanupura village in
Ferozabad to attend a wedding
ceremony.
The van driver and two
others died on the spot while
two others died on way to the
hospital. Two persons were
admitted to Agra medical college hospital. A case was registered in this regard.
BATTERED TO DEATH
In a separate incident, a
middle-aged man was battered
to death by unidentified
assailants in Deogaon area of
Azamgarh.
Prem Bahadur Ram (45) of
Tomalpur hamlet was attacked
by unidentified persons while
he was sleeping at his house late
Tuesday night. The family
members heard his screams
and rushed to his rescue but
failed to nab the assailants, who
fled. The victim was taken to
BHU hospital in Varanasi in a
critical condition where he
was pronounced dead.
Irked by the incident, the
locals took the body and
blocked the AzamgarhVaranasi road, demanding
arrest of the assailants on
Wednesday afternoon.
On assurance by senior
officers, the protest was called
off after about two hours.
A case was registered and
the body was sent for postmortem.
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 | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
State employees gherao CS office
Woman hacked by kin for
resisting rape attempt
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
30-year-old housewife was
hacked to death by a close
A
kin of her husband for resist-
(Left) State employees gheraoing Chief Secretary’s office, (Right) traffic jam at Hazratganj as employees march to Annexe building
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
ressing for their long-pending demands, scores of govP
ernment employees gheraoed
the Chief Secretary’s office at
the Secretariat Annexe building and staged a dharna on
Wednesday.
The state employees also
threatened to go on a three-day
strike from August 10.
After the protest, a delegation of state employees met
Chief Secretar y Deepak
Singhal to press for their
demands.
The state employees, rallying under the banner of Rajya
Karmachari
Samyukta
Parishad, are demanding cashless medical facility, linking of
HRA with DA among other
demands.
During talks with the Chief
Secretary, a consensus was
arrived at these two demands
with Singhal assuring the
employees of placing the matter in the next Cabinet meet-
ing. Rajya Karmachari
Samyukta Parishad president
Har Kishore Tiwari said the
Chief Secretary had assured
them that two of their demands
would be placed in the next
Cabinet meeting.
However, the employees
want action on all the assurances made by the state gov-
Man dies, grandson injured in mishap
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
Mallik. Dinesh, a worker at the farm, spotted the body
hanging from the mango tree.
65-year-old man, Pyare Lal, was killed and his
grandson, Ranjeet, sustained serious injuries
A
after they were knocked down by a speeding car near
their house in Vade Kheda at Bhatgoan in Banthara
area. They were fetching water from the nearby hand
pump when the speeding car knocked them down
when both were crossing the road at 10 am. Both were
rushed to a a nearby hospital where Pyare Lal succumbed to his injuries. The driver fled leaving the car
behind.
SUICIDE
The body of a 25-year-old woman was found hanging from a tree at the backside of a farmhouse at Bakshi
Ka Talab on Sitapur Road. The farm is owned by Vikas
BOMB HOAX
Panic gripped the Latouche Road area under Naka
police after an unclaimed bag was found on a scooter. The information was passed on to the police and
the cops called the Bomb Disposal Squad. The police
barricaded the road from Latouche Road to Basmandi
crossing to prevent any mishap. In the meantime,
Hridayesh Yadav, a resident of flat number 104 at
Vidhayak Niwas in Rajendra Nagar, reached Naka
police station to lodge a report that his bag was stolen
from his vehicle. When the Bomb Disposal Squad personnel opened the bag, they found documents belonging to Yadav in it. The high drama continued for two
hours.
‘CEE to initiate planting of trees in 50 schools’
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
he Centre for Environment
Education (CEE) under its varT
ious initiatives participated in the
massive tree plantation exercise
on Monday (July 11) The Senior
Project Coordinator, Preeti
Kannaujia, said that taking this forward from here the CEE was initiating plantation with local indigenous trees in 50 schools in July
where they would green their campus and the active children would
be encouraged to take 10 saplings
to community locations.
She said that in the five-crore
tree plantation exercise the schools
in different districts working under
the Children’s Forest Programme,
the Ganges River Dolphin
Programme, the Paryavaran Mitra
and National Green Corps took an
active part in the plantation along
with the local NGO and Forest
Department.
“The plantation ceremony took
place in Lucknow, Bareilly,
Bahraich, Varanasi, Allahabad,
Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Faizabad
and Saharanpur. Taking this forward from here CEE is initiating
plantation with local indigenous
trees in 50 schools this month
where they will green their campuses and the active children will
be encouraged to take 10 saplings
to the community locations,” she
added.
Kannaujia said that plantation
was not merely putting saplings
in soil and added that CEE
believed that it was all about sowing seeds of greening and creating
a ray of hope in the minds of children.
“Prior to the plantation students are told clearly as to why we
need trees. Mostly indirect benefits
of trees are not known or underestimated by human beings and that’s
why we do not care for them. The
role of trees in climate regulation,
water cycle, entertainment and
education is reiterated again and
again with the help of various
activities. Once the students’ attitude towards trees and greenery is
changed then the CEE’s team works
towards building their skills about
how to plant trees and which type
of plants they should grow. The
local species suitable for land condition are suggested and then children are involved in plantation,” she
said.
A team of two students together adopt a sapling and take a
pledge to take care of it.
“They tie raksha sutras and
make plans to water and provide
security to their saplings. In case the
plant withers or dies due to any reason, the children are guided to
look for its replacement so that
their friendship with trees continued.
These efforts seem to have
long-term results. In Lucknow after
working with 100 schools for five
years CEE has created interest
among the students and motivated
them to take forward the greening
exercise on their own. A poster
about the key trees has been developed by CEE which acts as an educational reference in helping the
students remember their salient features and other interesting facts
about them.
A lot of library reference
material focused on scientific
information and mythological stories related to trees, had been
provided. Several schools in
Lucknow conducted a tree plantation ceremony this year and shared
their photographs with CEE,” she
said.
ernment earlier.
The state employees leaders also demanded implementation of Rizvi Committee
report, which recommended
allowances at par with Central
government employees.
“We demand implementation of Rizvi Committee recommendations and doing away
Defence pension adalat
to be held at Bareilly
Lucknow (PNS): The office of the
Principal Controller of Defence Accounts
(Pensions), Allahabad will hold the 142nd defence
pension adalat at Bareilly on August 22 and 23
for spot settlement of pension related grievances
of the defence pensioners, including defence
civilians, residing in Bareilly and its surrounding
areas.
Pensioners, individuals residing in Bareilly and
its surrounding areas can send their pension related complaints in English or Hindi (in duplicate) by
name to Ashish Sen, Pension Adalat Officer,
Pr.CDA (Pensions), Draupadi Ghat, Allahabad
211014 for redressal.
Pensioners should quote their name, rank
group, regimental/IC No. PPO No., details of pension drawn from bank, treasury, unit, name and
address of Record Office, Head of Office, specific
grievances, date of discharge and their address with
mobile/telephone numbers.
with salary and allowancesrelated anomalies between the
state and Central government
employees,” Tiwari said.
Before marching to the
Annexe building, the state
employees sat on dharna at the
Gandhi statue at Hazratganj
crossing, throwing traffic haywire.
ing rape in Kakori police station area on Wednesday.
the victim, Kiran, used to
stay with her husband
Brijendra Yadav, who had tea
stall in Sukhlal Khera village.
The couple have four children
who are studying in a local
school.
On Wednesday, Brijendra
left for his tea stall situated
close by around 9 am and the
children went to school. Kiran
was alone in the house when
the elder brother of her husband barged into the house. In
the afternoon, some villagers
saw Kiran lying in a pool of
blood and informed Brijendra
about it.
She had been attacked with
a sharp-edged weapon.
During preliminary investigation, it surfaced that
Brijendra’s elder brother
Rajendra used to live in a hut
next to their house. Rajendra
claimed to have turned ascetic
for the last 15 years and posed
that he had renounced the
world.
But Rajendra’s claim of
celibacy was exposed last year
when he had tried to rape
Kiran and some other women.
No case of attempted rape was
however registered in these
cases.
Brijendra told the police
that he wanted to lodge a
report against his brother in
May after he tried to rape
Kiran but was restrained by his
wife as she thought it would
bring a bad name to the family.
The police could not find
the murder weapon. The elder
brother was found missing
from his house.
Efforts are on to track him
down.
A case was registered.
Meanwhile, the body of
Satyaveer Tyagi (27) of Kanpur
was found at a deserted place
near Sanjay Gandhi PostGraduate Institute of Medical
Sciences late Tuesday evening.
The police had contacted
its counterparts in neighbouring districts with the details of
the deceased. Subsequently,
Tyagi’s brother, who is auto
mechanic in Kanpur, reached
the city and identified his
brother’s body.
The deceased was unmarried and came to Kanpur from
Rajasthan to earn his living. He
worked as driver of a Transport
department official posted at
Kanpur for the last one year.
Later, he also called his
brother to the city for earning
his livelihood.
The police are yet to conclude whether the youth was
murdered or he committed
suicide. Investigations are in
progress.
Admn prepares special plan for
survival of planted saplings
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
he district administration
has made a special plan to
T
ensure the highest possible
survivability of plants which
had been planted under the
five-crore plantation drive
which was carried out on
Monday (July 11).
The District Magistrate,
Raj Shekhar, informed the
media persons on Wednesday
that necessary instructions
had been issued in this regard.
“A proper and suitable ‘irrigation’ facility will be ensured
based on the requirement and
suitability of the area. These
will include drain irrigation,
pipe irrigation , irrigation
through tankers and manual
watering. The dead and damaged plants in the course of
growth will be immediately
replaced by new plants of the
same variety,” he said.
He said that checking
would also be carried out by the
officials of district administration. “One third party crosscheck by the district administration will be conducted at
each site to ensure the proper
growth and survivability of
the planted saplings. This will
be done once a month on a
random basis. For the protection of saplings from animals
and encroachments proper
fencing will be ensured based
on the requirements of that
particular location,” he added.
Raj Shekhar said that as of
now the ‘average survivability’
in all the tree plantation
schemes was 80 per cent. “In
this mega event we are planning and taking steps to ensure
more than 90 per cent plantation during this special drive.
We will secure cent per cent
plants in the ‘13 green belts’
(4.7 lakh plants) as they are well
protected and well irrigated,” he
added.
Work on Metro’s underground corridor to begin soon
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE ■ LUCKNOW
he work for the construction of the underground corridor of Lucknow Metro will begin
T
in the last week of July. The Senior Public
Relations Officer, LMRC, Amit Srivastava, while
talking to ‘The Pioneer’ on Wednesday said that
the preliminary work had started and the
LMRC had already submitted its traffic plans to
the Traffic Department in this regard.
The underground construction passes
through the busy area of Hazratganj beginning
from Charbagh and ending at the KD Singh Babu
Stadium.
“The traffic plan has already been sent to the
Traffic Department and we will also deploy
traffic marshals through our contractor after
discussions when the construction begins,” he
said.
On being asked as to whether the work
would be affected in view of the heavy rainfall
being predicted after July 15, Amit Srivastava said
that the LMRC had already carried out the monsoon preparedness for the construction work.
“There is a monsoon preparedness from our side
in terms of proper water drainage to ensure that
there is no seepage of water in the underground
construction area,” he said.
It may be pointed out here that as per the
Lucknow Metro Detailed Project Report its alignment after the Charbagh railway station has to
cross through the congested areas of Hussainganj
and Hazratganj.
After the Charbagh Station a ramp has been
proposed to switch from the elevated to the
underground. The ramp ends at 32 metres before
the KKC Junction. The first underground station,
Hussainganj, has been proposed below the road
and after the Hussainganj Station the alignment
takes a sharp right turn to fit the next underground station, ‘Sachivalaya’ in front of Bapu
Bhawan.
After this station the alignment takes a left
turn and the next station is at Hazratganj.
Following this the alignment has been proposed
to be elevated and thus a switchover ramp has
been proposed from the end of the Hazratganj
Market till the parivartan Chowk along the centre of the road.
The cut-and-cover construction methodology will be used from the Hazratganj Station as
well as other stations where traffic diversions will
be imposed.
The alignment then takes to the right to fit
in the KD Singh Babu Stadium partially over
road and partially in the campus of a hotel situated in that area.
This station will be accessible for traffic from
the High Court, MG Road etc. The alignment
has been planned while maintaining a safe distance from the protected monuments like Saadat
Ali Khan’s tomb, Murshid Zadi’s tomb, Victoria
Memorial etc.
The Senior PRO further said that the tenders
for the elevated section of the Lucknow Metro
from the KD Singh Babu Stadium to
Munshipullia would be opened on July 15.
“There are four companies who have qualified
for the opening of the financial tenders,” he stated.
Incidentally the Lucknow Metro is also progressing fast in the training of its new recruits.
The Senior PRO said that after the training of
the station controllers and drivers, engineers and
maintainers they were also training the trainers
who had been recently recruited.
“The trainers who have been recruited
on the basis of the work that they have done
have also been trained at the Training
Centre. They will be posted within a week’s time,”
he said.
Pratima wants to play ‘Mayawati’ on silver screen Paediatric surgeons add another
feather to KGMU cap
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE ■
LUCKNOW
eteran actress Pratima
Kannan would love to play
V
the role of Bahujan Samaj Party
leader Mayawati on the silver
screen.
The actress, who was in the
city on Wednesday for the promotion of the show ‘Siya Ke
Ram’, told ‘The Pioneer’ in a
chat that she had been offered
the role of Mayawati several
times by film-makers but
unfortunately the films got
shelved.
Pratima, who has been in
the industry for the past forty
years, has been active in theatre
too and has acted in several
shows, plays as well as films.
“When I was offered to play
the role of Mayawati a couple
of years back, it was reported by
the media so widely that I
received two biographies from
the BSP leader herself who
wanted to me to read those
books and then portray her.
However, after the announcement, the film never materialised,” she said.
On being asked if she ever
felt apprehensive about taking
up the role, the actress candidly said, “Why should I ever feel
scared about portraying any
role; the film-maker should be
more concerned about it.”
Talking about her role in
‘Siya Ke Ram’ where she plays
the mother of Ravana, she said
that she found it challenging.
‘Siya Ke Ram’ marks
Kannan’s debut in the mytho-
logical space.
“I have never wanted to
play a mythological role and I
took up ‘Siya Ke Ram’ because
the role of Ravana’s mother was
challenging and appealing and
I couldn’t say no to it. Kaikesi
as a character hasn’t been
shown in the previous versions of Ramayana and this further prodded me to sign on the
dotted line. My look too is mes-
merising and extremely wellcrafted. I myself didn’t know
about the character even existing in the Ramayana so this was
an opportunity to revisit our
rich culture,” she said.
Commenting on the show,
she said, ‘Siya Ke Ram’ is now
heading towards the iconic war
sequence between Ram and
Ravana.
Pratima said, “The audience is all set to witness the
most thrilling and nail-biting
part of Ramayana. The show
will soon have Ram and Ravana
coming face to face for the
biggest war. ‘Siya Ke Ram’ has
stuck to its core messaging
and gives some unknown facts
on Ramayana. While everyone
knows how powerful Ravana
was, few know that it was his
mother Kaikesi who stood by
him.”
Giving her connect with
Lucknow, she said that her
maternal uncle used to live in
the city and he used to play the
role of Ravana.
“He was so well known that
one had to simply tell a rickshaw-puller his name he would
take him to his destination.
Lucknow is like a home to me.
I have family in the city and also
have a lot of fond memories. I
have plans to go out and shop
and also eat some local food
while I am in the city,” she said.
Pratima, who is a Christian,
said her brother also used to
perform in Ramleela in her
home town Delhi.
Pratima admits that she
has been getting only negative
roles to play.
“I can do pretty little about
it for the fact that these are the
only roles that are offered to me.
Even then I try to do something
new in these negative shades.
And personally I think some of
roles like that of the grandmother in ‘Uttran’ cannot be
termed negative because people
are like that,” she said.
The actress does not term
her journey as a struggle.
“I had a background in theatre when I came to Mumbai
and I was offered roles wherever I went. I faced opposition
from my family when I
joined theatre early in life but
that was the general picture
which prevailed at that time,”
she said.
PNS ■ LUCKNOW
a first of its kind in the
paediatric surgeons
Iatncountry,
King George’s Medical
University constructed a vagina through oral mucosa in an
11-year old with anorectoplasty technique to correct the
passage.
The girl child was suffering
with a rare disorder, MRKH
Syndrome with Vestibular
Fistula, as she had uterus but
vagina was not formed since
birth. Moreover, the rectum
and anal canal was present in
place of vagina, leading her to
pass stool through vagina.
In a three-and-a-half hour
long surgery, a team of doctors
and nurses used a new technique of vaginal reconstruction
with oral mucosa combined
with another technique of anterior saggital anorectoplasty.
Prof SN Kureel, Dr Anand
Pandey, Dr Archika, Dr
Digambar, Dr Ajay, Dr Sunil,
Dr Vinita Singh, nurses
Vandana and Rajdei were part
of the team which succeeded in
total reconstruction of the
vagina and the anal orifice.
According to doctors,
imperforate anus is quite rare
as only a case is observed in
every 2000 births and its incidence is higher in males than
females. Such a case is found in
only two per cent females.
Head of Paediatric Surgery
department at KGMU, Prof SN
Kureel, who headed the surgical team, said, “The rare problem needed extensive investigation and planning for
surgery. The choice of technique is of utmost importance
in such disorders and more so
when the girl child had already
attained the age of 10 years.”
Though the surgery was
performed on June 20, the
patient was kept under observation.
“Despite surgical intervention, there is no visible
scar at any point on the
patient’s body,” Prof Kureel
said.
Such surgeries are convenient to perform when the
patient is younger in age. The
expenditure incurred is
between Rs 30,000 and Rs
35,000 in such surgeries, said
Dr Kureel.
Besides, a research paper
on this technique will be presented in the USA during the
forthcoming World Congress
on Paediatric Surgery.
city 04
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
UP govt should make a proper plan
for combating floods: LU expert
Lucknow (PNS): The
Head of the Geology
Department,
Lucknow
University, Vibhuti Rai, has
mooted strongly for flood preparedness and rain water harvesting after an intense study of
the cloud cover in Uttar
Pradesh. Rai who has also carried out a study of the floodprone areas in Lucknow said
that in view of the heavy rainfall expected in the future the
state government should gear
itself up and make a proper
plan for combating floods.
“We have carried out studies on floods in urban areas and
we are studying the cloud cover
on the IMD website which
gives the intensity of the clouds
and in view of the heavy rains
which the state is going to
receive in the coming days
there should be a proper plan
Collectorate wears deserted look following lawyer’s strike on Wednesday
Itihaas’ Lucknow Chapter launched
Lucknow: Following several
collaborative heritage-based
interventions with UP Tourism
and the Department of Social
Welfare, Government of UP,
Itihass, a pan-India trust based
in Delhi ,formally launched its
Lucknow Chapter in the city on
Wednesday in a programme
organised at the Tourism
Department as ‘Itihaas
Summit.’
Founded in 2004, Itihaas
has for the past 13 years pioneered heritage education in
the country through a series of
constructive interventions,
both within and outside the
classroom and in partnership
with major stakeholders such as
the ASI, UNESCO, World
Monuments Fund, the Alkazi
Foundation and the National
Museum among others. With
this summit, Itihaas brought its
successful programmes to the
City of Nawabs.
The day-long event
brought together educationists, historians, administrators,
cultural experts, teachers and
students in deliberations on the
value and need for heritage in
education. The day commenced with the presentation
of a film on the works of
Itihaas, by its Founder-Director,
Smita Vats. “Itihaas follows a
multi-disciplinary approach in
making heritage meaningful
and accessible to the child,” said
Vats.
Dr Amrita Dass, a leading
educationist, took this dialogue
forward with a thought-provoking session where she spoke
about how heritage is in our
DNA and how Itihaas was
doing a yeoman’s service by
bringing it in the realm of education.
As a reiteration of the centrality of the child to Itihaas
mission, Dhruv of DPS,
Gomtinagar, spoke about his
experiences at an interactive,
‘out-of-the-classroom’, Itihaas
learning module.
Dr Roshan Taqui, a historian and an eminent author
from the city, threw light on
Lucknow’s monuments and
stressed the need for protecting
them.
Farid Ahmed Nizami, Naib
Sajjada Nashin and 21st custodian of Dargah Hazrat
Nizamuddin Auliya, Delhi,
spoke about Sufism and the
message of plurality and secularism which one must imbibe
from it.
The session also included
a performance by the La
Martiniere Girls’ choir, who
were the winners of Itihaas
Anveshan, a pan-India students’ competition on heritage
and music. There was an interaction session with the prominent delegates, including Dr
Salim Kidwai and Jyotika
Patankar.
The core of Itihaas work
focuses on engaging the child
and transforming them into
Heritage Youth Leaders. The
new Lucknow Chapter will
embody this spirit of bringing conversations around culture and heritage into the
everyday life of the city’s residents.
“For over 13 years now
Itihaas has engaged with school
students across the country,
through our personalised
Itihaas learning modules,
national-level competitions,
heritage leadership camps,
museum internships, and
commemorative events on
World Heritage Day every year.
Itihaas strives to make the
child the rightful inheritor of
their city as only when we grow
with a sense of belonging can
we truly claim to relate to and
understand the culture, heritage and traditions that define
us,” said a member from
Itihaas.
for flood preparedness,” he
said.
Rai said that this could well
apply to Lucknow also. “With
the level of water rising in several rivers the same can happen
in the Gomti river too. There
are several low-lying areas in
the state capital and they
include Aliganj, Gomtinagar
Extension, Jankipuram and
others and there is an urgent
need for flood preparedness for
these areas too.”
He said that the authorities
in the state government should
make a proper plan for combating floods with special
emphasis on communication
and coordination.
“Normally it is seen that
the coordination between the
various departments is not
quick enough and this needs to
be strengthened. There is a
need for better coordination
among the departments like
Irrigation, Remote Sensing
Application, Meteorological
Department and others,” he
added.
He said that technology
should be utilised to the fullest
to get the best results.
“Today we have all the
technological advantages which
can be used for better flood
preparedness. The cloud cover
needs to be monitored consistently during monsoon,” he
said.
Pointing out, he said, that
the plan should lay emphasis
on communication which was
badly affected “It has been
generally seen that the communication with the flooded
areas gets affected due to the
damage caused by flood. There
is a need to link these areas
CITYBRIEFS
ANDHRA BANK ED ARRIVING
Andhra Bank’s Executive Director SK
Kalra will in the city on Thursday to inaugurate the 3,001st branch of the bank at
Mahanagar. The branch will provide locker and recycler facility which will accept
as well as dispense cash while also enabling
direct credit to loan accounts, bank’s
General Manager Ashwani Mittal said.
Kalra is coming on a two-day visit of
Lucknow zone.
MEDICON
Emphasising the need for research in
medical sciences, Era Medical College and
Hospital started a four-day conference
Medicon-2016 on Wednesday. In the workshop, eminent professors told the MBBS students the important things to be kept in
mind while providing treatment to patients.
DENTAL CENTRE
The Public Health Dentistry department at King George’s Medical University
will start a rural dental centre at
Sarojininagar primary health centre from
Thursday. Head of department Vinay
Gupta said the centre would provide a
whole array of dental treatment to benefit the nearby population in the area.
ABUVM president Sandeep Bansal alleged
that the Central government had not taken
businessmen into confidence on goods and
services tax and had not taken any action
against on-line trading.
MEMORANDUM
FELICITATION
Interrogation of UP cop throws more light
Akhil Bharatiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal
handed over a charter of demands to the
district magistrate on Wednesday.
Governor Ram Naik will felicitate the
children of journalists who have achieved
good scores in Board examinations at Press
SOUVIK MITRA n NEW DELHI
India to airlift...
he call detail record (CDR)
leak case is turning more
T
complex with names of more
UP police officials surfacing
during interrogation of the
arrested UP police constable
Narendra
Kumar
on
Wednesday, said sources.
The alleged role of the UP
Police sub-inspector, who was
posted at the same SSP office
with Narendra, came to the
light during interrogation of
constable Narendra, who was
brought here on transit remand
and arrested on Tuesday after
several rounds of interrogation,
an official privy to the investigation said.
Delhi police officials
claimed that the sub-inspector
has gone on leave after the
CDRLEAKCASE
During investigation it emerged that at times
Narendra allegedly used to procure call detail
records giving the reference of his senior without
his knowledge of the same, said the official
arrest of Narendra had come to
the light, however there is very
few evidence against him.
“During investigation it
emerged that at times Narendra
allegedly used to procure call
detail records (CDRs) giving
the reference of his senior
without his knowledge of the
same,” said the official.
Meanwhile, Inspector
General of Police of Kanpur has
written a letter to the Delhi Police
Commissioner demanding corrigendum in this matter as the
arrested UP police constable
was not posted at IG’s office, he
was posted at the office of Senior
Superintendent of Police (SSP)
under surveillance cell.
“The arrested constable
Narendra was never posted at
my office. The Delhi Police has
mistakenly named my office
while addressing media persons. He was at present posted
at SSP’s office and earlier he was
at DIG’s office in Kanpur. We
offer complete cooperation to
the Delhi Police in investigation,” he said in a letter.
Also, police have initiated
action
against
BLS
Management Solution Pvt Ltd
that was allegedly buying
leaked CDRs. The company
does verification of Visa and is
a company acknowledged by
Ministry of External Affairs
and may lose contract for
indulging in malpractices.
According to a senior
police officer, MEA officials
have been informed about the
illegal activities of BLS after
which the department is likely to suspend the contract and
necessary action will be taken.
The Crime Branch has
already arrested Sanjeev
Chaudhar y, the Senior
Manager of BLS Management
Solution Pvt Ltd. Several CDRs
were recovered from the computers installed in the office of
the company.
Relief to jewellers; SSI exemption limit hiked
New Delhi: In a relief to jewellers, the government
increased excise duty exemption limit for small scale industry to Rs 10 crore from Rs 6
crore, waived the levy on sale
of traded goods and relaxed
various procedural norms.
Accepting the recommendations of a panel, the Finance
Ministry on Wednesday said
no excise audit will be carried
out, for the first two years, for
units whose duty payment is
less than Rs 1 crore (that is
turnover of manufactured
goods less than Rs 100 crore).
In view of large scale
protests by jewellers following
budget proposal of 1 per cent
excise duty on non-silver jewelleries, the government had set
up a sub-committee of the
high-level committee to interact with trade and industry on
issues relating to compliance,
maintenance of records and
other administrative matters.
The government has also
decided, independent of committee’s recommendations, to
increase for jewellery manufacturers “the SSI eligibility
limit from Rs 12 crore to Rs 15
crore and the SSI exemption
limit from Rs 6 crore to Rs 10
crore in a financial year and Rs
85 lakh for the month of
March, 2016”. The government, in Budget 2016-17, had
proposed 1 per cent excise
duty on jewellery without input
Cong raps Centre, seeks...
From Page 1
AAP leader and Delhi Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal said
the Supreme Court’s verdict is
a “tight slap” on the Narendra
Modi Government and a lesson
for the Prime Minister to stop
“interfering” in States.
Sonia hoped that the judgment, which firmly establishes
democratic values enshrined
in the Constitution, will deter
the Union Government from
any further “misuse” of power,
even as she reaffirmed Congress’
resolve to continue its fight to
strengthen democracy and safeguard the federal structure.
“This judgment, that firmly
establishes the democratic values
enshrined in our Constitution,
will deter the Union Government
from any further misuse of
power,” she said.
She welcomed the “his-
toric” verdict reinstating the
“democratically elected and
unconstitutionally removed”
Government in Arunachal
Pradesh and congratulated the
people of the State for it.
Rahul took a dig at Modi by
tweeting, “Thank you Supreme
Court for explaining to the
Prime Minister what democracy is.”
Former Arunachal Pradesh
Chief Minister Nabam Tuki
welcomed the verdict of the
Supreme Court. Tuki, who is
presently camping in the national capital, said he has full faith
in the judiciary. Tuki said it is
“historic” judgment that has
protected democracy, and he
termed it as a victory of democracy.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister
Harish Rawat, who had also got
relief from the Supreme Court,
lauded the verdict. “My heartfelt gratitude to the Supreme
Court for restoring the Congress
Government in Arunachal
Pradesh. Judiciary has restored
faith of people in democracy,”
Rawat said in a social media
post.
Himachal Pradesh Chief
Minister Virbhadra Singh
termed the SC ruling as
“biggest-ever” victory of democratically-elected Governments.
Singh, who is facing a disproportionate assets case and
had accused the BJP of attempting to topple his Government,
said the judiciary prevails and
the law of the land is above all
conspiracies. “It is a message for
those who are trying to topple
Congress-ruled States. Judiciary
still prevails and ‘law of the land’
is above all conspiracies,” he said
on twitter.
credit or 12.5 per cent with
input tax credit on jewellery
excluding silver other than
those studded with diamonds
and precious stones. “Excise
duty of 1 per cent without input
and capital goods tax credit or
12.5 per cent with credit may
apply to parts of articles of jewellery, made of platinum, gold
and silver,” the government
said while accepting the subcommittee’s recommendations
submitted to it on June 23.
Owaisi’s party
barred from...
From Page 1
The decision to withdraw
registration of 191 outfits was
announced by State Election
Commissioner JS Saharia.
So far, 359 political parties
have been registered with the
Commission out of which 17
are recognised parties, he said.
Notices were served to 326
parties for failure to submit
necessary documents, Saharia
said. Despite sending
reminders to them and extending the deadline on request of
some of them, they had failed
to submit required documents,
he said.
“If the parties want to contest elections in Maharashtra,
they have to register,” Saharia
said. For long a Hyderabadbased party, AIMIM expanded
its influence to Maharashtra in
with a special network through
satellite. This is important
because in the absence of communication these areas become
isolated islands,” he pointed
out.
Rai said that the authorities
should carry out a geo-morphological plan of the land
areas to get a detailed knowledge of how they would be
impacted. “This should be
done keeping in mind the fact
that if there is a rainfall of 10
cm how will each part of the
land be affected,” he said.
Emphasizing that this was
the appropriate time for rain
harvesting, he said that the state
government should make a
plan in this regard. “This is just
the time for tapping the rainwater and there should be a
definite plan in this connection,” he added.
From Page 1
on July 14, 2016. All Indian nationals are advised to get in touch with the
Embassy of India in Juba immediately to
avail this special facility on July 14, 2016
and obtain details of arrival and departure. Nationals should rest assured that
additional flights will be pressed in service if required,” the advisory said.
According to official sources, of the
600 Indians living in the African country, about 450 are in Juba and 150 outside
the capital.
The relief flight is expected to reach
Juba around 11 am on Thursday. The
Embassy has said only Indian nationals
with valid Indian Travel Documents will
be allowed boarding with only a cabin
baggage up to 5kg. Women and children
will be accommodated on priority. The C-
Principal secretary dairy development Sudhir M Bogde inaugurating the 35th Foundation Day programme of
NABARD
17 relief flight is only up to New Delhi and
those willing to travel further will have
to make arrangements on their own.
More than 300 people have been
reported killed, including several civilians and two Chinese peacekeepers in
Juba due to firing between two factions
-- SPLA-IO and SPLA soldiers. It is
understood that the Indian peacekeepers of reserve INDBATT-2 was called out
to protect the United Nations assets and
camps for the displaced civilians after the
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
from PoC (Protection of civilians) site of
adjoining UN House breached the
perimeter fencing and fled for safety to
various parts of UN House Compound
in Juba.
India has 2,200 Indian soldiers present in S. Sudan under the United
SC restores...
From Page 1
The case had a history as 21
Congress MLAs had turned rebel
against the Tuki Government
calling him as corrupt and sided
with 11 BJP MLAs who supported
their demand to oust him from
power. The Speaker had in the
December 15 session disqualified
14 rebel MLAs.
The SC was of the unanimous
view that Governor functions with
aid and advice of Council of
2014 Assembly polls by winning two seats, one in Mumbai
and another in Aurangabad.
Reacting to the SEC decision, AIMIM MLA Waris
Pathan said his party would
contest the order. “We received
a notice from the SEC four
months ago and we had clearly replied to it. Yet, they deregistered us. We will appeal
against the decision to the
higher authority,” Pathan, who
represents Byculla Assembly
seat in the State Assembly, said.
A press release issued by
the party’s group leader in
Maharashtra Assembly and
Aurangabad MLA Imtiaz Jaleel
said on receiving the SEC
notice a party team from
Hyderabad had gone to the
Commission office in Mumbai
and completed all the formalities as required by it, including submission of IT returns.
The moment we get the SEC
order we will go in appeal
against it, he said.
Ministers unless the Constitution
specifically provides him to act in
his discretion. In the present case,
the court held that Rajkhowa
exceeded his Constitutional limits
by calling for an early session of
the House without aid and advice
of the State Cabinet. By asking for
Speaker’s removal to be decided
first, he further crossed the line as
this matter is to be determined by
the legislators, the judges held.
“The Governor just cannot act as
BJP calls
judgment
‘weird’
From Page 1
“Rahul Gandhi is talking
about democracy but he should
know that past Congress
Governments have made a
century of the use of Article
356 (of the Constitution) to dismiss State Governments,”
Sharma said.
Answering questions on
the SC’s ruling, Ravi Shankar
Prasad at a briefing on the
Cabinet meeting said that his
Government will do a “structured examination” of the order
restoring the dismissed
Congress Government in
Arunachal Pradesh and its
implications before making a
detailed response.
Club on Thursday.
PROTEST
As many as 42 women employees at
Women Power Line 1090 staged protest at
the Samajwadi Party office on Wednesday.
They said they had not been paid salaries
for the last four months. The women
employees also staged a protest at
Hazratganj crossing in the evening.
Nations Peacekeeping Mission, and
there is one company in Juba. INDBATT
- 2, which is presently Force Reserve
Company at UN House to cater to any
contingencies, was immediately called
into action to contain the influx of IDPs
in United Nations (UN) House, evict
those who had broken into UN staff
quarters and office building, react to
SOS calls from UN staff, escort IDPs to
designated safe areas and provide protection.
Sources said Indian soldiers reinforced the perimeter of UN House and
physically prevented unauthorised armed
persons from entering the IDP site and
seized a number of machetes, knives and
other weapons in the process. The troops
also improved defences around the UN
House to ensure better defences.
the Ombudsman of the State
legislature… He has no role
whatsoever in the removal of the
Speaker under Article 179.
The message of the Governor
dated December 9, 2015 was
therefore beyond the Constitutional
authority vested with the
Governor,” said the judgment
written jointly by Justices Khehar,
Ghose and Ramana. Pursuant to
the Governor’s order, all decisions
and proceedings initiated by
Arunachal Pradesh Assembly were
set aside by the court. There was
even a rider on the Speaker as the
court held that in the event the
House is to take up the
Curfew,
strike...
From Page 1
on Wednesday morning
requesting him to send a specialised team of doctors including retina surgeons to Kashmir
to take care of the injured who
have suffered ophthalmic and
other traumas.
“We are expecting these
specialised doctors to arrive
here on Wednesday and get
down to the job immediately,” a
Health Department official said.
In Delhi, Health Ministry
deputed a three member highlevel team of eye specialists
from AIIMS, New Delhi to the
State to assist it in providing
medical care to the people
injured in the on-going law and
order problem.
Sources said that maximum deaths have occurred in
disqualification petition of rebel
Congress MLAs, the Speaker must
refrain from deciding it as he
himself faced a petition for
removal already moved by 13
Opposition MLAs.
Moreover, the court viewed the
rebellion to be an intra-party affair
as neither was a no-confidence
motion moved against Tuki nor
was he facing a floor test. The
Governor, it seemed, acted on a
letter written by the rebel MLAs
complaining against Tuki’s highhandedness. The Congress had
already disqualified two MLAs and
issued show-cause notices to
remaining 19.
Anantnag and Kulgam districts
of South Kashmir. Curfew continued in most parts of Srinagar,
Pampore and Anantnag towns
of South Kashmir and Kupwara
in North Kashmir.
Chief Minister Mehbooba
Mufti laid wreaths on the graves
of the martyrs of 1931 at
Naqshband sahib in old Srinagar
at a subdued ceremony. The
Martyr’s Day is observed to
commemorate the killing of 22
people at the hands of feudal
rulers’ Army on July 13, 1931.
The separatists had also
announced to march towards
the Martyr’s graveyard but the
officials foiled their attempts.
Senior Hurriyat leaders
Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz
Umar Farooq attempted to
break police barricades to come
out from their residences where
they have been put under
house arrest. However, police
personnel deployed in strength
outside their residences took
them into custody.
news 05
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
Move to liberalise green Cabinet approves revival of 3 fertiliser units
norms for real estate
PNS n NEW DELHI
he Environment Ministry
has proposed to liberalise
T
some of the environmental
norms related to real estate
industry. In the latest of a
series of draft notifications on
the subject, the Ministry has
proposed integrating environmental conditions with building permissions granted by
local authorities under state
specific land laws. The draft
notification has been put up in
public domain for the comments of the stakeholders.
As per the Ministry notification,
"The
Central
Government is working for
ensuring Ease of Doing
Responsible Business." The
notification also said that the
rules were being amended to
streamline permissions , under
the "scheme of Housing for all
by 2022 with an objective of
making available of affordable
housing to weaker section in
urban area has ambitious target." But the exemption would
not just be applicable for the
housing of weaker section, but
for all kind of real estate projects including malls, entertainment centres and commercial buildings.
According to the current
norms, building and construction projects with built-up area
over 20,000 square metres and
above require green clearances.
However, in the proposed system, three categories of buildings viz. 5,000-20,000 sq.
metres, 20,000-50,000 sq.
metres and 50,000-150,000 sq.
metres-are being drawn up
where standard conditions are
slightly stricter for larger buildings than smaller ones. The
sources reasoned out the
changes saying, this would
thus, cover a much wider section of the construction sector.
The proposal further says,
"states adopting these objective
and monitorable environmental
conditions in their building
bye-laws and relevant laws and
incorporating these conditions
in the approval given for building construction making it legally enforceable shall not require
a separate environmental clearance for individual buildings."
In other words, the ministry
proposed integrating environmental conditions with building
permissions granted by local
authorities under state-specific
land laws, clarified the sources.
However, the proposed
relaxation will not result in taking the construction sector out
of NGT's purview or the ambit
of the Environment Protection
Act, said the sources.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n NEW
DELHI
nion
Cabinet
on
Wednesday approved
U
revival of three closed fertiliser
plants at Gorakhpur, Sindri and
Barauni, at an estimated cost of
` 18,000 cr, as part of its efforts
to meet the demand of the eastern States and make India selfsufficient in urea output. The
output expected from these
units is 1.27 million tones per
year. Cabinet, chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi also
approved a skill development
project under Pradhan Mantri
Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)
with an outlay of ` 12000 crore
aiming to impart skills to one
core youth over next for years.
The Fertiliser Corporation
India Ltd (FCIL) has two closed
urea plants at Sindri (Jharkhand)
and Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh),
while Hindustan Fertilisers
Corporation Ltd (HFCL) has
one closed factory at Barauni
(Bihar). "These three fertilisers
units would be revived by means
of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)
of Public Sector Units (PSUs)
namely, National Thermal Power
Corporation (NTPC), Coal India
Ltd (CIL), Indian Oil Corporation
Ltd (IOCL) and FCIL/HFCL,
through 'nomination route'," an
official statement said.
"Today's decision is a game
changer in economy of eastern
India," Law and IT Minister
Ravi Shankar Prasad told
reporters here. Earlier in 2015,
the government had approved
revival of these three units
through 'bidding route'.
However, the bidding
process could not be carried forward due to receipt of only one
application each against 'Request
for Qualifications' (RFQs) for
revival of Gorakhpur and Sindri
units of FCIL, the statement said.
The revival of these plants
would ease the pressure on railroad infrastructure due to long
distance transportation of urea
from western and central
regions and thereby saving in
Government subsidy on freight.
Moreover, this would accelerate the economic development
of the eastern region and create
opportunities for 1,200 direct and
4,500 indirect employments.
"GAIL has planned to lay a
gas pipeline from Jagdishpur to
Haldia. These units will serve as
anchor customer for this
pipeline and ensure its viability,"
Prasad said.
PMKVY will impart fresh
training to 60 lakh youth and
certify 40 lakh people who have
acquired skills non-formally
under the Recognition of Prior
Learning (RPL), said Prasad.
"Skill training would be
done based on industry-led
standards aligned to the
National Skill Qualification
Framework (NSQF)," an official
statement said. Apart from catering to domestic skill needs,
PMKVY will focus on skill
training aligned with international standards for overseas
employment, including in Gulf
countries and Europe. There will
Modi rejects candidate for A new ‘window’ to reach out to marginalised sections
become aware as well as avail dated by the National Mission able lessons on the process of
CBSE chairman sent by
benefits from the various for Empowerment of Women, community-led facilitation to
Ministry of Women and Child enable their peers to access all
ith a pilot project initiat- schemes they are entitled to.
NS Kang, Director Development in August 2012. social entitlements.
ed by an NGO providing
HRD Ministry under Irani W
Focusing on the imporThe results have been
'single-windows' help to mar- General, National Aids Control
ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n
NEW DELHI
n yet another embarrassment to the former HRD
Minister Smriti Irani, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on
Wednesday rejected the name
of the candidate forwarded by
the Irani-led Human
Resources Development
Ministry for the post of CBSE
Chairman lying vacant since
December 2014.
The
Appointments
Committee of the Cabinet
(ACC) headed by Prime
Minister did not accept the
proposal in the name of
Sarvendra Vikram Bahadur
Singh which was forwarded by
HRD Ministry when Smriti
Irani was at the helm. This was
the third futile attempt by the
I
HRD Ministry to appoint a
new CBSE chief.
Singh was Irani's top
choice for the position and the
HRD Ministry had earlier this
year forwarded his name to
DoPT. After the recent
Cabinet reshuffle, Irani is now
the Textiles Minister while
Prakash Javadekar has joined
as the new HRD minister.
"The ACC has not accepted the proposal to appoint
Sarvendra Vikram Bahadur
Singh as the CBSE chief. It has
also been decided that the post
will be filled under the Central
Staffing Scheme," a HRD
Ministry spokesperson said.
Officials said the ministry
has received a letter from the
Department of Personnel and
Training (DoPT) in this
regard.
ginal communities including
sex workers proving successful
in four high HIV prevalence
States - Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Maharashtra and
Karnataka - the Government
on Wednesday hinted that it
was open to the idea to implement it in its ongoing and
future schemes for the sector
across the country.
Under 'single-windows'initiated by the Centre for
Advocacy and Research
(CFAR) along with 22
Community-based
Organizations in 2012- the
community workers act as a
bridge between the government officials of district, subdistrict and village levels and
the vulnerable groups including HIV patients and transgenders to help the latter
Organisation(NACO) of the
Health Ministry recognized
the endeavour as throwing significant learning from the
ground both by community
and implementers that need to
be incorporated in on-going as
well as the soon to be fashioned
National Aids Control
Programme (NACP) V programme.
He was speaking at a
national dissemination meet on
'mainstreaming sex workers
for greater social inclusion
sharing outcomes of single
window initiative in the seven
districts'.
The pilot project was started in seven districts to assess
and design a social Inclusion
Intervention for sex workers in
all the 4 states and transgender
in Tamil Nadu. This was man-
SCS: China rejects US advice
to follow India's example
PTI n BEIJING
rappling with the international tribunal's verdict quashing its claims over
the South China Sea, China
on Wednesday turned down
US advice to follow India's
example of settling its maritime row with Bangladesh by
implementing the judgement
saying that there is "no comparison" between the two
cases.
"There is a premise for the
settlement of the relevant territorial dispute between India
and Bangladesh through arbitration, that is, the two
respected each other's sovereign wills and reached an
agreement on the arbitration
request through consultation,"
Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Lu Kang told here.
"It is not like imposing
one party's will on the other"
unlike the Philippines which
"unilaterally" filed the petition
in Permanent C ourt of
Arbitration (PCA), he said in
response to question over US
Assistant Secretary of Defence
G
India accepted the award which
was given in favour of
Bangladesh to resolve the over
40-year maritime row. The
tribunal awarded Bangladesh
19,467 sq km of area in Bay
Bengal in 2014
for East Asia Abraham
Denmark's recent comments
that China should follow
India's example of resolving its
maritime boundary dispute
with Bangladesh by implementing the award by a similar tribunal appointed by the
PCA.
India accepted the award
which was given in favour of
Bangladesh to resolve the over
40-year maritime row.
The tribunal awarded
Bangladesh 19,467 sq km of
area in Bay Bengal in 2014.
"To India's great credit, it
accepted the decision and has
abided by it, noting at the time
that settlement of the issue
would enhance mutual understanding and goodwill
between the two countries.
This is an example we would
encourage China to follow,"
Denmark told lawmakers at a
Congressional hearing in
Washington last week.
"The arbitral tribunal's
upcoming ruling will present
an opportunity for those in
the region to determine
whether the Asia-Pacific's
future will be defined by
adherence to international
laws and norms that have
helped keep the peace and
enabled it to prosper, or
whether the region's future
will be determined by raw cal-
California proposes inclusion of
Hinduism in school text books
PTI n WASHINGTON
alifornia Lt Governor and
a group of 40 top acadeC
micians have sought “accurate
and fair” representation of
Hinduism in school text books
in the US state, which is currently in the process of revising.
"I strongly encourage you to
consider the perspective of
young Indian-American and
Hindu-American students and
whether the proposed framework accurately and fairly portrays that students history. If you
agree that it does not, I hope you
will consider making the appropriate modification," California
Lt Gov Gavin Newsom said in
a letter to the California State
Board of Education.
Newsom's letter is considered to be big boost for the
cause of Hindu-American parents who are seeking fair and
accurate representation of
Hinduism and removal of negative portrayal of the religion.
The California Board is
scheduled to have its last meeting later this week ahead of
revising and updating the K-12
Histor y-Social
Science
Framework for public schools.
In another letter, 40 top academicians complained to the
State Board of Education that the
balanced, age-appropriate
approach for which they advocate has been largely achieved for
the other religions, while the
treatment of Hinduism is unduly negative and, as a result, presents Hinduism as being especially prone to historical wrongs
and social problems compared
with other religions – which is
wholly inaccurate.
"However, to make the negative the main focus of IndiaHinduism and to suppress the
positive, while barely referencing other religions' negatives
and promoting their positives,
is not only inequitable, but
also does not fulfill the Board's
Standards for Evaluating
Instructional Materials for
Social Content," they wrote.
"We should all be working
for a representation of India
and Hinduism that is consistent
with the manner in which
other civilisations and religions are portrayed and is age
appropriate, rather than singling out India and Hinduism
for especially critical treatment," the academicians wrote.
The convener of the academicians who has written the letter is Barbara A McGraw,
Professor, Social Ethics, Law, and
Public Life Saint Mary's College
of California. In another letter,
Hindu American Foundation
(HAF) expressed concern that
sections of the proposed text
books portray Hinduism "inaccurately, unobjectively, and in a
prejudicial manner", and if
adopted, will promote misrepresentations of fact and a discriminatory bias against Hindu
students in instructional materials and in the classroom.
culations of power," Denmark
said.
China however emphatically rejected the verdict questioning the legality of the tribunal.
Lu
said
previous
Philippines President Benigno
S Aquino unilaterally opted
for arbitration and "imposed"
it on China.
"By doing that the Aquino
administration severely violated the agreement between
China and Philippines and the
consensus in the region,
breached relevant provisions
under UN Convention on
Law of Seas (UNCLOS),
infringed upon China's right
as a sovereign state and state
party to UNCLOS to resolve
disputes by means of its own
choice and went against international law," he said.
"Therefore there is no
comparison between the two
things," he said.
China claims almost all of
the South China Sea but its
claims are fiercely contested
by the Philippines, Vietnam,
Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
merica's top manufacturers of armed drones plans
A
to open an office in New
Delhi by year end, fueling rise
to the speculation about fast
movement towards India
acquiring state-of-the-art
armed drones f rom the
United States.
"We are looking forward
to continuing to enhance our
cooperation with India by
working with the US
Government to provide the
Indian Navy with persistent,
operationally proven maritime domain awareness," said
Linden Blue, CEO, of General
Atomics Aeronautical Systems
(GA-ASI), a leading manufacturer of remotely piloted
aircraft (RPA) systems, radars,
and electro-optic and related
mission systems solutions.
Announcing that it plans
to expand its presence in
India and open an office in
New Delhi by the end of the
year, GA-ASI in a statement
New York: India should conduct
an impartial probe into the use
of lethal force by police during
the violent protests following the
killing of Hizbul commander
Burhan Wani in Kashmir and
ensure that basic human rights
are protected, a leading human
rights body has said.
"A major grievance of
those protesting in Kashmir is
the failure of authorities to
respect basic human rights,"
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
South Asia director Meenakshi
Ganguly said in a statement.
"Ensuring that rights are protected and prosecuting those
responsible for abuses would be
an important first step," she said.
HRW said the authorities
should impartially probe police
use of lethal force during the
violent protests in Jammu and
Kashmir that ensued since the
killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahedin
militant Wani last week. PTI
Court of Appeal proposal
goes to Constitution bench
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n
NEW DELHI
he Supreme Court on
Wednesday took a bold
T
step to explore possibility of
Statistics revealed that over
the years, few appeals were
filed against orders passed by
High Courts located in far
south while majority were
from High Courts located in
north India.
"In view of cases pending
in the Supreme Court of India
on average for about 5 years,
in the High Courts again for
about 8 years, and anywhere
between 5-10 years in Trial
Courts...Would it not be part
of the responsibility and duty
of the Supreme Court of India
to examine through a
Constitution Bench, the issue
of divesting the Supreme
Court of about 80 per cent of
the pendency of cases of a
routine nature, to recommend
to Government, its opinion on
the proposal for establishing
four Courts of Appeal," the
bench also comprising Justices
R Banumathi and UU Lalit
said.
encouraging, said Akhila
Sivadas, Executive Director,
CFAR.
From March 2014 to June
2016 the Project succeeded in
linking up sex workers and
transgender persons with 33
schemes including those for
availing ration cards, bank
accounts and aadhar cards by
reaching out all information to
50,055 and facilitating 30791 to
apply of which 25196 got
cleared and sanctioned.
She said it is time that the
government move beyond
from providing condoms and
contraceptives and also work
towards their social inclusion.
Preeti Sudan, Additional
Secretary, Ministry of Women
and Child Development said
that the Single window initiative had thrown up many valu-
tance of community participation and involvement,
Kousalaya, President of PWN+
said that "only a mechanism
like Single Window can embed
the community of people living
with HIV into the entire
process of scheme planning,
implementation and final delivery." This was experienced by
the Positive Women's Network
when they set up single window at Ajmer and Nagpur in
2014, she added.
Akhila agreed saying that
without such programmes, the
marginal communities will
remain on the periphery of the
development. Single window
helps them getting basic documents to lead a normal life.
"Otherwise they are either
harassed by the police or
deprived from their basic rights."
Indian origin
doctor dies as he
falls asleep behind
wheel in UK
India expresses concern over
worsening W Asia situation
PTI n LONDON
has expressed concern
over the "increasingly fragile
Iandndia
unpredictable" situation in
n Indian-origin doctor
who died in a car crash
A
after working three long night
shifts is believed to have fallen
asleep behind the wheel just a
couple of kilometres away from
home, a British court has heard.
Ronak Patel, 33, a trainee
anaesthetist from Ixworth village, Suffolk county, had been
singing on the phone to his wife
to help keep him awake, an
inquest heard this week.
He had been working three
long night shifts when his car
hit a lorry in August last year,
his inquest heard this week.
Patel is believed to have
fallen asleep on the highway at
Honington in Suffolk, about
five kilometres from his home.
"The most plausible explanation for the collision was that
Dr Patel fell asleep," local police
accident investigator Mark
Webb told the hearing.
The doctor was declared
dead at the scene after he sustained a broken neck and other
injuries.
US’ drone manufacturers
plan to open office in Delhi
PTI n WASHINGTON
be scholarships for students
undergoing training in high-end
job roles under the programme.
Cabinet also cleared a proposal to sell its part stake in stateowned construction company
NBCC India with an aim to
meet the ambitious ` 56,500crore PSU disinvestment target
in 2016-17. At present, the government holds 90 per cent in the
company, which has a market
capitalisation of ` 14,274 crore.
The Cabinet approved the
Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of
` 7,290.62 crore for the ongoing
Hydroelectric Project (HEP) in
Bhutan. "The total cost escalation for the project, at this
stage, is ` 3,512.82 crore," said
an official statement.
"This is a sign of further
strengthening of relations
between India and Bhutan," said
Prasad. The project will provide
surplus power to India and thus
augment power availability in the
country and would enable project works to proceed smoothly
without interruption.
‘Probe use of
lethal force by
Kashmir cops’
said it recognises the importance of India and looks forward to working more closely
with
the
Indian
Government from its new
local office.
The company plans to
increase collaboration with
India in the areas of maritime
security and maritime
domain awareness, which are
key missions for the Indian
Ministry of Defence and the
Indian Navy.
Dr Vivek Lall, a renowned
corporate leader, has spearheaded global initiatives for
General Atomics in the last
few years, a company official
said.
India recently joined
Missile Technology Control
Regime (MTCR) and has sent
a letter of request to the US
Government for 22 Guardian
Predator aircraft.
Armed drones have been
used by Pakistan in combat.
The US, Israel, Britain and
Nigeria have previously used
armed drones in combat.
PTI n UNITED NATIONS
the West Asia, saying the growing threat of terrorism and radicalism has added to the complexities in the region.
Participating in a UN
Security Council debate on 'The
Situation in the Middle East',
India's Deputy Permanent
Representative to the UN
Tanmaya Lal said the situation in
the West Asia remains of serious
concern and is getting increasingly fragile and unpredictable.
"The growing threat of terrorism and radicalism has
added to the complexities of the
situation in the region, which
is mired with protracted conflicts," he said.
Lal said the most longstanding of the conflicts involving Israel and Palestine,
remains strained with the peace
talks suspended for more than
two years now and with no
signs of resumption at least in
the near future.
"The situation appears to be
getting worse with escalating violence on both sides and absence
of restraint and moderation.
The dire humanitarian situation
in Palestinian territories and
violence in Israel demands
urgent and sustained efforts on
part of the global community to
resume peace talks," he said.
having a National Court of
Appeal that could hear and
decide all appeals arising from
High Courts, leaving only
constitutional questions to
travel to the Supreme Court
for adjudication.
Referring the issue to a
Constitution Bench, a threejudge bench headed by Chief
Justice TS Thakur said that the
need has arisen as the
Supreme Court's docket is
bursting at its seams with no
solution available to clear the
backlog. The Court even
raised an important constitutional issue whether having a
National Court of Appeal in
Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and
Kolkata could ensure litigants
their right to obtain justice.
India welcomed
the first report of
the West Asian
Quartet on the
impediments to
a lasting
resolution to the
PalestinianIsraeli conflict
and its
recommendation
s to advance the
two-state
solution through
negotiations
He supported UN's
Secretary General Ban Kimoon's position that "courageous steps" are necessary for a
negotiated two-State solution in
order to bring lasting peace,
security and dignity for the people of both Israel and Palestine.
"A two-State solution is the
only viable option for sustainable peace in the region. It is the
responsibility of the two sides to
ensure that they move closer to
a solution rather than away
from it," he said, adding that the
international community must
be firm in its resolve to assist the
people on both sides and the
Security Council must take a
lead in this endeavour.
India welcomed the first
report of the West Asian
Quartet on the impediments to
a lasting resolution to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict and
its recommendations to
advance the two-state solution
through negotiations.
"We hope that the efforts by
the international community can
lead to building some common
ground, generate mutual understanding and a common political
horizon, on which the two sides
can start the talks again," he said.
Lal reiterated India's support to the Palestinian cause
and assistance for Palestine's
nation building, human
resource development and
capacity building efforts.
On Yemen, India welcomed
the announcement of SecretaryGeneral's Special Envoy Ismail
Ould Cheikh Ahmed last week
about an agreement on the
guiding principles for the
Yemen peace talks.
On Syria, Lal said India
hopes for a comprehensive political resolution of the conflict with
the participation of all parties.
"We further hope that the
intra-Syrian talks under UN
auspices will ensure a Syrian-led
and Syrian-owned inclusive
political transition, bringing an
end to the violence in Syria and
contribute to stabilising the
country and the region," he said.
(From L to R): Bollywood actor Dino Morea, MP Manoj Tiwari and MoS Babul Supriyo during a press conference for "Football
Ka Mahamuqabla" which will be played between parliamentarians and Bollywood stars on July 24 in support of the Swachchh
Bharat programme and “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao'' in New Delhi on Wednesday
PTI
nation 06
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
Pul says Govt to continue; to file review petition in SC
ANUP SHARMA n GUWAHATI
inutes after the Supreme
Court ordered restoration
of the previous Nabam Tuki-led
Congress Government in
Arunachal Pradesh, the present
Chief Minister Kalikho Pul said
that his Government will continue in the hilly State as he has
the required number to prove
majority in the House even as
he said that he will file a review
petition in the apex court.
Pul said this at the
Srimanta
Sankardeva
Kalakshetra here in Guwahati,
Pul and some of his Cabinet
colleagues are in Guwahati to
participate in the formal function of formation of the North
East Democratic Alliance
(NEDA), the BJP-led conglomeration of all the nonCongress political parties in the
Northeastern region of India.
“In
democracy,
a
Government runs on the basis
of numbers and not on the basis
of a court verdict. I have the
required number and so our
Government will continue and
there is no threat to the present
Government,” Pul said while
interacting with the media person in Guwahati on Wednesday.
“However, I am going to
consult the experts and we are
going to file a review petition
in the Supreme Court,” said the
present Chief Minister of
Arunachal Pradesh. He said
that he is waiting for the detail
of the Supreme Court verdict.
Union Minister of State for
Home, Kiren Rijiju, who was in
ARUNACHAL PRADESH CRISIS TIMELINE
SC VERDICT
M
Arunachal Pradesh CM Kalikho Pul
being felicitated at the inaugural
conclave of NEDA at Sankardev
Kalakshetra in Guwahati on Wednesday
PTI
Guwahati to participate in the
NEDA meeting said that the
BJP welcomes the verdict of the
Supreme Court. “There is no
question of filing a review
petition by the Government at
the Centre. The Government
acted on the advice of the
Governor only,” Rijiju said
while reacting to the issue.
Former Arunachal Pradesh
Chief Minister Nabam Tuki
expressed his happiness over
the verdict by the SC and said
that the historical and landmark verdict will go a long way
in strengthening the democracy in the country.
“I was hopeful that the
apex court will deliver justice to
us and that happened today. It’s
not only a victory for people of
Arunachal Pradesh but for those
who believes in constitution of
India and the spirit of democracy. The verdict makes it clear
how the BJP tried to illegally
oust the democratically elected
Government in Arunachal
Pradesh,” said Tuki while speaking to The Pioneer over phone.
Tuki said that he is going to
convene a meeting of all the 47
Congress Legislators (those
who were with the Congress on
December 15, 2015) and discuss with them on how to form
the Government. On asked
about whether he is going to
lead the State now, Tuki said
that it is the party's high command who will take a decision
in this regard. "Who leads the
State is not important. In
Congress, our high command
is the sole authority and high
command will take a decision.
However, we are happy that the
apex court has delivered the
justice to us," he added.
Meanwhile, the Assam
Pradesh Congress Committee
(APCC) has demanded immediate resignation of Arunachal
Pradesh Governor JP
Rajkhowa for his effort to
undemocratically oust the
Congress Government in the
hilly State. The APCC also
appealed to the BJP and its
national president Amit Shah
not to kill democracy in
Congress ruled states of the
northeast India taking advantage of the fact that there is a
BJP Government at the Centre.
Nov 1, 2011: Congress leader Nabam Tuki
takes charge as CM of Arunachal Pradesh.
His brother Nabam Rebia takes charge as
the Speaker
Dec, 2014: Tuki drops State Health and
Family Welfare Minister Kalikho Pul during
the Cabinet reshuffle
Apr, 2015: Pul alleges financial
mismanagement within the Government.
Congress expels him alleging anti-party
activity
Jun 1: Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa takes charge
as Governor
Oct 21: Fifth Session of Assembly
concludes
Nov 3: Governor orders summoning of
sixth Session of Assembly, to meet on
January 14, 2016
Dec 9: Governor orders preponing the
Assembly Session from Jan 14, 2016, to
Dec 16, 2015
Dec 15: Speaker Nabam Rebia issues
notice disqualifying 14 of the 21 rebel
Congress MLAs
Dec 15: Deputy Speaker quashes
disqualification of 14 of the 21 MLAs
Dec 16: Deputy Speaker says the Speaker's
decision that sixth Session would not
commence on Dec 16 was illegal
Dec 16: Tuki Government locks the
Assembly. Corresponding Assembly
meeting held in another building, attended
by 33 MLAs. The resolution for removal of
Speaker Rebia is passed and a new Speaker
is appointed
Dec 17: Rebels hold Assembly in hotel after
community hall is razed, vote against Tuki;
elect Pul as CM. Rebia moves Gauhati HC
to keep Assembly and related developments
in abeyance
Jan 5, 2016: HC stays disqualification of 14
Cong MLAs
Jan 6: SC agrees to hear plea of Arunachal
Speaker, removed by rebel MLAs
Jan 13: SC orders not to hold any
proceedings in the Assembly till Jan 18
Jan 14: SC refers Arunachal issue to
Constitution Bench
Jan 15: SC starts examining constitutional
scope of discretionary powers of the
Governor
Jan 18: Congress tells SC that the Governor
could nothave acted on a resolution by
Opposition BJP MLAs and two
Independents to advance the Assembly
session
Jan 25: Congress moves SC on
recommendation for President's rule in
Arunachal
Jan 26: Union Cabinet recommends
President's rule in the State
Jan 27: President's rule in Arunachal
Pradesh comes under SC scrutiny. SC
seeks the Governor's report on
recommending Central rule in the State,
saying "it is too serious a matter"
Jan 28: Nabam Tuki files fresh plea in SC
against Prez rule in Arunachal
Jan 29: Centre files affidavit in SC justifying
imposition of Prez rule in Arunachal
Pradesh, says complete breakdown in
State, Governor in danger
Feb 1: SC recalls notice to Governor, says
they are immune
Feb 2: SC resumes hearing on pleas for
examining Governor's powers
Feb 4: SC takes strong note of a
submission that all decisions of Governor
are not open to judicial review
Feb 5: SC questions Governor's order to
advance Arunachal Assembly session to
December last year from this January
Feb 9: SC rejects plea of 2 rebel Congress
MLAs against a Gauhati High Court decision
upholding the action of the then Speaker
accepting their resignations
Feb 10: Governor Rajkhowa defends his
actions in SC saying that the CM and the
Speaker were "hand-in-glove" and trying to
remain in power despite losing majority
Feb 11: Guv can't take away Speaker's
powers, says SC
Feb 16: SC refuses to pass an interim order
on Congress plea to restrain Governor from
swearing-in new CM
Feb 18: SC satisfied with Gauhati HC's
order staying disqualification of 14 MLAs,
paves way for new govt in State
Feb 19: SC rejects Congress' plea for floor
test in Arunachal Assembly
Feb 19: President's rule lifted in State
Feb 20: Pul sworn in as CM of Arunachal
Pradesh
Feb 22: SC reserves verdict on batch of
petitions dealing with discretionary powers
of Governor to summon or advance the
Assembly sessions, says it has the powers
to undo the damage
Jul 13: SC terms Governor's decision
unconstitutional, orders restoration of Cong
Government in Arunachal Pradesh
Alliance vows to rid N-E of Cong: Shah I-T raids at former Union Min's
ANUP SHARMA n GUWAHATI
ormally announcing the
Guwahati declaration of the
F
BJP-led anti-Congress political
alliance, North-East Democratic
Alliance (NEDA), party’s
national president Amit Shah on
Wednesday said that the prime
objective and focus of the
alliance will be to make NorthEast free of Congress rule.
Speaking at the formal
launching of NEDA here, Shah
said that the coming together
of 11 regional parties from
eight States of North-East
under NEDA platform is set to
make a big contribution to
region’s political and developmental spheres in coming days.
“Though BJP is the largest
party in NEDA, all smaller
regional parties will have a
level playing field in championing the cause of the
region,” Shah said while
adding that NEDA will be a
platform to work together to
fulfill the aspirations of the
people of the region.
“This is a region which is
full of potentialities. At the
same time, this is a region in
which is faced with multiple
challenges like unemployment, infiltration, separatism
and violence. Through NEDA
we all will work for
Northeast’s overall development and progress.
Owaisi accepts
Maha EC’s move
against party
OMER FAROOQ n HYDERABAD
ll India Majlis-e-Ittehadul
Muslimeen (AIMIM)
A
president and Hyderabad MP
Asaduddi Owaisi has said that
Maharashtra State Election
Commission’s move of cancelling his party’s registration
is not a big issue and party will
deal with in accordance with
the law and the rules.
The Maharashtra State
Election Commission earlier
on Wednesday had cancelled
the party’s registration for
not filing the income and
fund details banning the party
from participating in the State
civic elections.
“There was some delay on
our part as we did not
respond in time to the State
Election Commission’s notice
for submitting the accounts.
Our par ty’s State unit
will now take the necessary
steps and complete the formalities. It is not such a big
issue”, he said.
AIMIM had created a big
stir in Maharashtra politics
when it made a debut by winning two State Assembly seats
in Aurangabad and Mumbai.
It later emerged as the main
Opposition
party
in
Aurangabad
Municipal
Corporation and also won
seats in many other civic bodies including Nanded.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah addresses North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) conclave at Srimanta
Sankardev Kalakshetra in Guwahati on Wednesday
PTI
Besides being a political
platform, will also play the
role of integrating northeast
with rest of the country emotionally,” Shah reiterated.
The announcement of the
Guwahati declaration of
NEDA assumes significance as
Congress ruled Manipur and
Meghalaya are going to polls in
NARADASTINGOPERATION
IPS officer’s statement
recorded by cops, to be
quizzed again today
Kolkata: Kolkata Police on
Wednesday recorded the statement of IPS officer Saiyaad
Mustafa Hussain Mirza in connection with its probe into the
Narada sting operation after a
four-hour-long interrogation.
According to top sources in
the Kolkata Police, questions on
Mirza's links to Narada CEO
Mathew Samuel were asked
among others.
Kolkata police has again
summoned Mirza and asked
him to appear before it on
Thursday.
The controversial Narada
sting operation, which surfaced
ahead of the Assembly elections
in the State, purportedly showed
several Trinamool Congress
leaders and Mirza accepting
money for consideration.
West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee had on June
17 ordered a probe by the
police into the sting operation
and asserted that her party had
not taken "a single penny"
from anyone in the Saradha
chit fund scam and the Narada
sting operation.
A Special Investigation
Team (SIT) under Kolkata Police
Commissioner Rajeev Kumar
comprising senior officers of the
Detective Department, Cyber
Crime Cell and Economic
Offence Wing, was formed to
conduct the probe.
The next day Kolkata
Mayor and Fire and Emergency
Ser vices Minister Sovan
Chattopadhyay's wife Ratna
Chattopadhyay filed a complaint at the New Market Police
Station against Samuel.
Samuel was then booked
under IPC sections 469
(forgery for purpose of harming reputation), 500 (defamation), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 171 (G)
(false statement in connection
with an election) and 120(B)
(criminal conspiracy).
The Kolkata Police had
issued the first summon to
Samuel on June 23. Four days
later, Samuel requested Kolkata
Police to withdraw its summon,
saying the matter was sub-judice.
However, that did not cut
any ice with the authorities as
a second summon was issued
soon after. The Narada News
CEO again requested them to
withdraw the summon.
An investigation into the
Narada sting operation is
presently on by the Lok Sabha
Ethics Committee, while a case
is pending on the issue in the
Calcutta High Court.
PTI
2017 and 2018. It may be
mentioned here that Asom
Gana Parishad (AGP),
Bodoland People’s Front (BPF),
Naga People’s Front (NPF),
People’s Party of Arunachal
(PPA), Sikkim Democratic
Front (SDF), Mizo National
Front (MNF), National
People’s Party (NPP), United
Democratic Party (UDP) and
Ganashakti have attended the
meeting on Wednesday.
Assam Health Minister
and convener of NEDA,
Himanta Biswa Sarma, while
announcing the “Guwahati
Declaration” said that political
objective of the alliance will be
to ensure non-Congress
Governments are formed in
the region’s eight States in
successive Assembly polls.
“We will ensure that in
2019 Lok Sabha polls, no
Congress MPs are elected
from northeastern States.
Northeast have 25 MPs. Our
target is all the 25 MPs are
from NEDA,” Sarma said.
With Manipur going to
polls next year, Sarma
also pointed out that prime
task of NEDA from now on
would be to rout the ruling
Congress in that State.
Besides Union Minister of
State for Home Kiren Rijiju and
Union DONER Minister
Jitendra Singh, Chief Ministers
of Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal
Pradesh and Sikkim —
Sarbananda Sonowal, TR
Zeliang, Kalikho Pul and
Pawan Kumar Chamling
attended the convention.
residences, biz establishments
KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n
CHENNAI
COALGATE
n what is being described as
the fallout of the infamous
Icoalgate
scam during the UPA
regime, sleuths of the Income
Tax department on Wednesday
raided the residences and business establishments of
Swamikkannu Jagatrakshakan,
former Union Minister and a
close associate of M
Karunanidhi, the DMK chief.
Sleuths of the Income Tx
Department stormed into the
residences of Jagatrakshakan at
Adyar and Nungambakkam in
Chennai and business establishments, including Bharat
University, Sree Balaji Medical
College and Sri Lakshmi
Narayana Institute of Medical
Sciences at Puducherry and
distilleries and inspected all
official registers maintained in
the premises.
Though there were no official word from the Income Tax
department at the time of
going to Press sources in Tamil
Nadu Police which provided
security cover to the sleuths
said evasion of tax too could be
one of the reasons.
“The IT officials who
charged into the residences
KARNATAKA COP'S SUICIDE
CM's judicial probe
order an eye wash?
Income Tax sleuths conducting search at an educational institute run by former
Union Minister of State of Information and Broadcasting and Senior DMK Leader S
Jagathrakshakan in Chennai on Wednesday
PTI
and business establishments
locked the doors from inside
and disconnected all communication links. Several incriminating documents have been
seized from the houses as well
as the business premises,” said
the police source.
Jagatrakshakan (68) is one
of the money bags financing the
DMK in Tamil Nadu and
Puducherry. His name hogged
the national limelight when the
news on coal-gate hot the headlines. It was reported that
Jagatrakshakan used his political clout for illegal coal field allocation to JR Power Gen Pvt Ltd,
one of the companies owned by
him. He was also in the news
when a sting operation brought
to light the collection of capitation fee by one of the medical
colleges owned by him for
admission to MBBS course.
Though he had contested
the 2014 Lok Sabha from his
forte Sriperumbudur, he was
defeated by the AIADMK candidate by a big margin.
Godhra train carnage:
Fifth accused nabbed
from Malegaon
NAYAN DAVE n GANDHINAGAR
Batuk alias Sheru,
Opp asks Govt to file FIR, calls Madikeri bandh today Imaran
one of the accused in sensaKESTUR VASUKI n BENGALURU
fter a very lengthy reply in
the ongoing Assembly
A
Session on Wednesday on the
issue of DySP MK Ganapathy's
suicide, Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah announced a
judicial probe which has taken
the State by a political storm.
Siddaramaiah said the judicial commission would be
headed by a retired High Court
judge and the report would be
submitted within six months.
Siddaramaiah, on the floor of
the House not only justified the
three -- Urban Development
Minister KJ George, senior
police officers AM Prasad (IGIntelligence) and Pranab
Mohanty (IGP-Lokayukta) -who were named by Ganapathy
in an interview to a local TV
channel before committed suicide, but also gave a clean chit
without even filing an FIR in
the case.
"There is not even an iota
of evidence to prove that
George or the two IPS officers
had harassed Ganapathy,"
Siddaramaiah said, while replying to the two-day debate in the
Legislative Assembly.
He also said that he has
complete faith in the State's CID
which is probing Ganapathy's
death. "Let the CID complete its
probe and submit its report.
Based on its findings, we will act
against those involved,"
Siddaramaiah said.
Turning
down
Opposition's demand for
George's resignation, the Chief
Minister maintained that
Ganapathy would not have
been promoted as DySP if
George was vindictive.
The CM rejected the
demand for a CBI probe by the
BJP which is gunning for the
resignation of George and the
two top police officers. The
JD(S) had also joined the BJP
to press for George's ouster.
Taking serious exception to
this, the BJP and the JD(S) have
decided to commence a dayand-night dharna in both the
Houses of the State Legislature.
The leaders of the both the parties announced that they would
not withdraw their protest till
their demands were met.
JD(S)
leader
HD
Kumaraswamy said that this
was the first instance in the history of the State that a case has
been handed over to judicial
probe without filing an FIR and
demanded the Government to
file an FIR and sack all the
three who have been named.
Meanwhile, the BJP has
also decided to intensify their
agitation outside the House.
They have given a Madikeri
bandh call on Thursday.
Ganapathy(51) was found
hanging from the ceiling fan in
a room at a lodge in Madikeri
on July 7 prior to which he had
given an interview to a local
TV channel saying the Minister
KJ George and poAM Prasad
(IG-Intelligence) and Pranab
Mohanty (IGP-Lokayukta)
would be responsible "if anything happens to me."
tional Godhra train carnage –
a root cause of infamous
Gujarat riots, was nabbed by
Gujarat
Police.
The
Ahmedabad Crime Branch on
Wednesday said that the
accused was nabbed from
Malegaon in Maharashtra
This is fifth such arrest in
last one year, in the case where
miscreants set coach S6 of
Sabarmati Express on fire near
Godhara Railway Station on
February 27, 2002, killing 59
people on their way back from
Ayodhya after performing kar
seva. The incident spiraled in
to a massive communal strife in
the State that saw over 1,000
lose lives to violence.
A senior police official in
the Crime Branch said that
they had picked up Imran who
lived in Malegaon and was
involved in illegal sand mining.
He is notified as one of the
main accused responsible for
the train burning incident.
Earlier this year, the AntiTerrorist Squad (ATS) of
Gujarat Police had arrested
Farooq Bhana, one of the key
masterminds of the Godhra
incident. Bhana, a former
Godhra train burning case accused
Imran Batuk in Ahmedabad on
Wednesday. Bhatuk was arrested from
Malegaon in Maharashtra by
Ahmedabad Crime Branch
PTI
councilor of Godhra had
moved to Mumbai to evade
arrest and later became a property broker.
The Special Investigation
Team (SIT) which probed the
case had named 94 persons in
the chargesheet. In 2011, the
SIT court convicted 31 and
gave death sentence to 11, with
20 being given life imprisonment. The case is now pending
before Gujarat High Court.
nation 07
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
GODAVARI: A TALE OF 2 RIVERS
Guj: Eye on polls, BJP to KRISHNA,
While Godavri
into
launch fund-raising drive overflows
the sea, Krishna
NAYAN DAVE n GANDHINAGAR
s part of 2017 Assembly
poll preparations Gujarat
BJP leadership is planning to
launch a fund raising initiative
— 'Dhan Daan'. The saffron
party had successfully completed this fund-raising drive
five years back before the 2012
Assembly polls and collected
over `200 crore.
Sources in the State BJP said
that party cadres, including
Gujarat CM, senior Ministers,
MLAs and MPs apart from
important party office-bearers,
would join the initiative. In the
previous 'Dhan Daan' initiative
in 2012, a day's salary was
donated by the then Gujarat
Chief Minister Narendra Modi
and his Council of Ministers.
Besides, BJP MLAs and MPs
from Gujarat had also contributed a day's salary.
A
AHEAD OF 2012
ASSEMBLY
ELECTION, MINS
HAD CONTRIBUTED
A DAY'S SALARY
TO RAISE OVER
`200 CR
"We plan to collect more
funds than the previous
Assembly polls as the party
cadre would have adequate
time to raise money. Generally
BJP sympathisers contribute as
per their will to support the initiative. We are expecting to
kick-start the initiative in near
future once the State leadership
officially announces it," said a
senior BJP leader.
The Gujarat BJP had sub-
mitted an account-sheet of the
fund collected under 'Dhan
Daan' initiative to the Election
commission of India (ECI). As
per the account-sheet, the BJP
had collected around `220
crore ahead of the 2012
Assembly polls.
Not only the BJP but even
the Congress had collected
around `70 crore from the
State to contest the 2012
Assembly polls. Generally, big
corporates, businessmen and
high net-worth individuals
(HNIs) contribute to the lion's
share in such fund-raising initiatives of political parties.
In the upcoming 2017
Gujarat Assembly polls, Arvind
Kejriwal's Aam Aadami Party
(AAP) is also pulling up its
socks to contest from all the
Assembly constituencies. The
Kejriwal-led party too is likely
to raise fund from the State.
is lying dried
OMER FAROOQ n HYDERABAD
t is one of those great
ironies in Telangana and
IAndhra
Pradesh that while
one major river Godavari is in
spate and a lot of water is
going waste into the sea, the
other major river Krishna is
lying dried to the bone.
After the recent heavy
rains both in Telangana and
Maharashtra, River Godavari is
in spate and was flowing at
near-danger
level
in
Khammam district.
It is after a gap of two years
that the Godavari and the projects on the river were witnessing such good inflows.
Thanks to the heavy rains in
the Godavari catchment areas
in Maharashtra, Pranahita and
Penganga and Indravati were in
spate bringing impressive
inflow in to River Godavari.
Telangana irrigation
department official T
Satyanarayana said that the
water level in Sriram Sagar project in Nizamabad is rising and
it had touched 1,056 feet agains
the maximum level of 1,057.8
feet. The failure of monsoon for
the last two years had depleted the project of its water to
dangerous level. Against the full
capacity of 90 tmcft, the project
was holding only 10 tmcft of
water before the monsoon.
At Bhadrachalam in
Khammam district where the
river enters Andhra Pradesh,
the water had touched the
danger mark at 52.5 ft on
Tuesday but on Wednesday it
started receding. Offcials said
that this morning it came down
to a more manageable level of
49.5 and it was continuing at
the danger mark II.
As the flood water is reaching Dhowleswaram barrage in
East Godavari district, authorities have hoisted danger signal
The biggest block
in the flow of
Krishna waters in
Telangana and AP
was the Almatti
dam of Karnataka
in which water
level had touched
its lowest following
the failure of
monsoon for the
last two years
No. II. Administration has fully
opened 175 gates of the barrage
releasing water in to the sea.
Officials said that 1.4 million
cusecs of water was reaching the
barrage and if it further increases to 1.7 million cusecs, danger
mark III will be hoisted.
The floods in river Godavari
has resulted water overflowing
on the roads and bridges at several places in both the Telugu
States bringing the traffic to a
halt. It was also posing a danger
of floods in low lying areas of
Khammam in Telangana and
West and East Godavari districts
of Andhra Pradesh.
Such was the flow into the
river that in 24 hours massive 88
tmcft of water had gone waste in
to the Bayof Bengal. “During this
year’s monsoon so far, a whopping 300 tmcft of water has gone
waste in to the sea”, a senior official of Andhra Pradesh irrigation
department said.
Experts say that ever year
3,000 tmcft of Godavari waters
flow into Bay of Bengal.
Presently AP Government is in
the processes of constructing
mega Polavaram irrigation project in West Godavari district to
impound some of these waters
and divert it to the water
starved Krishna Delta area.
Pattiseema Lift Irrigation
project, which AP Chief
Minister N Chandrababu
Naidu inaugurated earlier this
month envisages diversion of
80 tmc ft of Godavari waters to
Krishna delta. Officials said
that last year the partially
opened project had diverted 40
tmcft of wate ans saved crops
worth `2,400 crore.
But overall the water levels
in river Krishna and its major
projects were very low as the
rainfall in its catchment areas
in Maharashtra and Karnataka
was less than normal.
The biggest block in the flow
of Krishna waters in Telangana
and AP was the Almatti dam of
Karnataka in which the water
level had touched its lowest following the failure of monsoon
for the last two years.
Against its maximum
capacity of 1,29.72 tmcft of
water, the project presently
has only 35 tmcft of water, officials said. Karnataka in the past
refused to release the water to
neighbouring State till the project was completely full.
Krishna will start flowing
into Jurala project of Telangana
and Srisailam and Nagarjuna
Sagar projects which are shared
by the two Telugu States and
Prakasham Barrage in Krishna
district of AP only after
Karnataka starts discharging it.
So far there has been hardly any
inflow in to all these major projects of the two States.
Video of eight lions’
Quota stir leader Hardik to Inner party dissidence in CPI-M
pride roaming on streets walk out of jail on July 15 over alliance with Congress
sparks social frenzy
PNS n GANDHINAGAR
video of a pride of eight
Asiatic lions roaming in
A
the street of mountain town
Junagadh became viral on
social media. The video was
captured on Tuesday late in
the evening.
Just six km from Junagadh,
Girnar forest is situated where
movement of Asiatic lions are
common. At the foothill of
Gujarat’s tallest mountain —
Mount Girnar — people often
spot wild animals like lions,
leopard, blue bulls and other
animals. However, this time
lions were spotted near Girnar
Darwaja area, which is hardly
3 km from the foothill of
Mount Girnar.
Though people staying in
the residencies near Mount
Girnar are used of such wild
animals, but after the video of
eight lions became viral some
panic was seen among the
local people.
The video was captured by
one Mrunal Joshi, a resident of
Junagadh. According to him he
was amazed to see pride of
eight lions near Girnar
Darwaja area.
The lions didn’t attack
anyone, and peacefully
passed through the residential areas and eloped in the
nearby Girnar forest, he
added. In fact he captured the
lions in his mobile camera at
around 2.30 am on Tuesday
when there was no movement to human beings.
It is worth mentioning
that Girnar Darwaja area of
Junagadh is the entrance of the
city from Rajkot side and there
are many commercial establishments are there apart from
residencies. Even couple of
schools and hospitals are also
situated in the area.
According to forest officials, nearly 45 Asiatic Lions
are there in Girnar Wildlife
Sanctuary spread over around
17,800 hectares surrounding
Girnar Mountain range.
Ahmedabad: After spending
nine months behind bars,
quota agitation leader Hardik
Patel is all set to walk out of
Lajpore Jail in Surat on Friday
morning, days after the
Gujarat High Court granted
him bail in cases of sedition
and violence pertaining to
Patidar stir last year.
The Patidar Anamant
Andolan Samiti (PAAS), of
which Hardik is the convener,
has planned to felicitate their
leader outside Lajpore Jail
around 10 am on July 15.
As per the schedule
released by PAAS on
Wednesday, Hardik will travel to several places during 48
hours after his release before
leaving Gujarat for six
months.
Last week, the HC paved
the way for Hardik's release
after granting him bail in two
cases of sedition and a case
related to violence at Visnagar
MLA's office.
While granting him bail in
sedition cases, the HC set a
condition that Hardik will
have to stay outside Gujarat
for the next six months.
As per the HC direction,
Hardik will have to leave
Gujarat within 48 hours after
his release from jail.
PAAS said that the quota
leader will travel to many
parts of the state during 48
hours which end before July
17 midnight.
According to PAAS, no
decision is taken yet on the
place where Hardik will spend
six months.
After coming out of jail,
Hardik's caravan will pass by
different parts of Surat city,
including Bhestan, Ring Road,
Kapodra, Mini Bazar, and
Varachha area, which are
mostly dominated by Patels.
"He will then garland
Sardar Patel's statues in
Bhestan and Mini Bazar areas
in the city," PAAS leader
Dinesh Bambhaniya said
while releasing the schedule.
PAAS has also planned a
public
gathering
at
Laxminarayan farm on the
outskirts of Surat, subject to
permission by police.
"We will arrange our pro-
gramme as per the law and the
instructions of the high court.
We will arrange the public
gathering only if the police
grants us permission" said
Bambhaniya, a close aide of
Hardik.
From Suart, Hardik would
reach Vastral area of
Ahmedabad city for night
stay.
"On the morning of July
16, he will go to his native
place Viramgam to meet his
parents. He will be welcomed
by a large number of supporters. Hardik will then
come back here to complete a
formality in city sessions court
during afternoon. Then, he
will embark on a journey to
Botad where he will visit
Sarangpur Hanuman temple,"
said Bambhaniya.
After a road show in
Botad, Hardik and his supporters will visit Khodaldham
temple in Rajkot district and
then Umiyadham temple in
Jamnagar district in evening.
Both these temples are
supreme bodies of Patel
community.
PTI
Life term to 7 for murder of former TN CM MGR’s son
Chennai: All seven accused in
the 2008 murder of AIADMK
founder and former Chief
Minister MG Ramachandran's
foster son-in-law Vijayan were
on Wednesday sentenced to
life imprisonment by a court
here on Wednesday.
Principal Sessions Judge G
Jayachandran pronounced all
seven accused guilty, holding
that the prosecution has
proved the charges of criminal
conspiracy and murder against
them beyond doubt.
Prime accused Banu, a sister of the victim's wife Sudha,
Karuna, the brain behind the
attack, an automobile electrician Suresh who hired contract
killers R Karthik, Deena alias
Dinesh Kumar, Solomon and
M Karthick were all sentenced
to life.
The judge also directed
them to pay a fine of `10,000
each, failing which they would
have to undergo a further
imprisoment of six months.
The prosecution said the
motive behind the crime was
Banu's disputes with her
brother Raja (also known as
Dilipan and Ramachandran)
over control of one of the
schools run by the family and
related issues involving properties and cash transactions,
which also led to several
court cases.
Banu was enraged over
Vijayan being on the side of
her brother Raja on all the
issues. After deciding to eliminate Vijayan which she felt
would be the solution to her
problems, she sought the help
of Karuna, who was a con-
stable at that time, and paid
`4 lakh for the murder.
The prosecution said that
on June 4, 2008 Suresh and
his men followed Vijayan in
a car and a motorcycle in two
groups and rammed the victim's car from behind. When
Vijayan got down to question
it, he was hit by an iron pipe,
leading to his instantaneous
death.
Soon after the Judge held
all guilty and before he read
out the punishment, the
accused pleaded not guilty
e ven as Sp ecial Public
Pros e c utor N Vijayaraj
sought death sentence for
the fourth accused R Karthik.
The pros e c utor s aid
Karthick, who had 24 criminal cases against him, was
beyond reformation and
played a key role in the fatal
attack on Vijayan.
The Judge, quoting High
and Supreme Court rulings
and guidelines, said the sentence of life imprisonment
would meet the ends of justice and sentenced all seven
to life.
He said the death sentence
was not warranted as the case
does not fall in the rarest of
rare category. The charge of
criminal intimidation was also
not proved against the
accused.
The victim's wife Sudha
and son Ramachandran said
"justice was done," whereas the
son and daughter of Banu
were seen crying as her mother (who was on bail) was
about to be taken to jail.
Soon after the seven were
21-yr-old brain dead engineering
student's organs save six lives
A bus hangs along a road after it lost control while carrying a marriage party at
Salumber Road near Jaisamand Lake in Udaipur district on Wednesday. All the
passengers are safe
PTI
Coimbatore: A 21-year-old
brain dead engineering student
from this city has provided a
new lease of life to six people
by donating his organs.
Twenty-one-year old Rajini,
hailing from Selampattu village
in Villupuram district and doing
his BE final year in Kumaraguru
College of Technology here,
met with an accident on July 10
at nearby Avanashi while coming to college.
He was thrown off his twowheeler and hit his head on the
road divider. He was taken to
Government Hospital for first
aid and was shifted to Kovai
Medical Centre (KMCH) and
Hospital for further treatment.
Though Rajini underwent
various surgical and medical
management, he did not
respond much and was
declared brain dead yesterday,
a KMCH release said today.
His father Ramasamy, a
farmer and mother Alamelu
came forward to donate their
son's organs despite their grief.
Doctors from KMCH and
Governmentt Hospital here
immediately completed the
Our son was an
active blood
donor. His loss is
unbearable to
our family. By
donating his
organs, we felt
that it would
help at least
someone to live
their life fully
statutory requirement and harvested heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, eyes and skin of Rajini on
Wednesday.
While Liver and a kidney
were transplanted (combined)
at KMCH, heart and lungs
were sent to private hospitals at
Chennai, another kidney, skin
and eyes were sent to other private hospitals in the city.
"Our son was an active
blood donor. His loss is unbearable to our family. By donating
his organs, we felt that it would
help at least someone to live
their life fully.
sentenced, they were taken
into custody by police and
later lodged in Puzhal Central
prison.
The eighth accused
Buvaneswari is still absconding and L Venkatesh was a witness turned approver.
PTI
PTI n KOLKATA
PI-M, known to be a regimented party, appears to be
facing unprecedented inner
party dissent as its Bengal comrades challenge the party’s political line on alliance with
Congress in the state.
The party has never faced
such a situation as its Bengal
unit has questioned the “political understanding” of CPI-M
central leadership and challenged the decisions and political line adopted by the Party
Central Committee against the
teaming up with Congress.
“Debates within the party
over any issue are part of (the
functioning) of a communist
party. But yes, this is the first
time that a debate such as this
where our comrades from West
Bengal have openly questioned
the decision of the Central
Committee has come out in the
open,” a senior pro-alliance
state committee member told
PTI on the condition of
anonymity.
“Our point is Bengal is facing an extraordinary situation
and it calls for extraordinary
steps. We had forged an electoral adjustment with Congress
to protect democracy. It was
fight for existence and leadership has to acknowledge the
fact”. “But a section of the
Central Committee members
failed to understand our situation and have been accusing us
of violating the party’s political
line. What will you do with a
political line if your comrades
and party supporters get killed
C
everyday and your very existence is at stake?” he said.
At the CPI(M) state committee meeting here on Tuesday
senior members of the
Politburo, including party
General Secretary Sitaram
Yechury held a closed door
meet with state committee
members to implement the official party line.
The Central Committee
had on June 20, over a month
after the poll result in the state
which saw Trinamool Congress
ride back to power, said the electoral tactics adopted in West
Bengal was not in “consonance”
with its decision not to have an
alliance or understanding with
Congress.
Stating that this should be
rectified, it also stressed the
importance of adhering to the
political-tactical line adopted at
the 21st Congress of the Party.
The Central Committee
had then authorised the
Politburo to ensure its implementation in consultation with
the state leadership of the party.
But with the central leadership trying to enforce the official line, it is facing a stiff
opposition from its Bengal unit.
The CPI-M Bengal unit
termed the Central Committee’s
decision as “arbitrary and a
gesture of disrespect to the 2.15
crore voters of the state who
voted in favour of the CongressCPI(M) alliance”.
“The central leadership has
always neglected the sentiments
and arguments of the party’s
Bengal leadership. Be it the
historic blunder of not allowing
Jyoti Basu to become prime
minister or arbitrary expulsion
of Somnath Chatterjee - Bengal
has always been neglected.
“How will the leaders from
Kerala or south India understand the ground-level situation
in Bengal which we are facing
everyday ? You (Central
Committee) try to enforce anything by force you will face resistance,” another CPI-M state
committee member said.
In the face of such stiff resistance, it was decided in the
Central Committee that a
“broadest people’s resistance”
will be formed to counter the
onslaught of TMC.
“It has been decided that as
there are no elections in the
near future the question of electoral alliance does not arise as
of now. But yes, the people’s
alliance is still there. And joint
movements with Congress and
other secular and democratic
forces will still be there,” yet
another senior state CPI(M)
leader said.
“We cannot disrespect the
people who have voted in favour
of the (Congress-CPI-M)
alliance,” he added.
Another CPI-M state committee member, who was
unequivocal against the central
leadership, said the debate will
continue in the party forum till
the next party Congress.
The CPI(M) state leadership
has called for a plenum at the
state level to look into the organizational aspects of the party’s
state unit.
opinion 08
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
Pakistan’s dreams of
BJP acts east with NEDA disbalance, disruption
www.dailypioneer.com
paper with passion
Ringing Congress’s death knell in North East
he fight to finish the battle for the BJP to bring a ‘Congress-mukt Bharat'
and then embark on a journey to ‘Congress-mukt North East' is bearing strong
significance to the changing dynamics of the country's politics. The inaugural political conclave of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) of the BJP
with its allies in the presence of the party president Amit Shah on Wednesday
openly issued a strong warning to the Congress and it symbolised the intensity of the party's effort to gearing up support to root out the party from the region.
The BJP with Shah has gradually turned the party into a pan-national platform
whereby it is expanding its wings to the far North East by shedding its baggage
of a Hindi heartland party. Besides, the Guwahati Declaration signed by all the
constituents of the NEDA — the Bodo People's Front, the Asom Gana Parishad,
the Ganashakti, the Sikkim Democratic Front, the National People's Party, the
Mizo National Front and the Naga People's Front will be viewed as an anti-Congress
sermon. This declaration highlights how the NEDA will script strategies for eliminating Congress as a part of the national call given by the NDA. It largely focuses on the role that will be played by the NEDA at local, national and international level for bringing the much neglected region closer to the national mainstream.
The NEDA declaration is also stressing on the overall contribution of the
states of North East which has long
been either neglected or rather ignored
by the successive establishments in
Delhi. Indeed, the effort mooted by the
BJP initially on May 24, on the day the
first BJP-led Government of
Sarbananda Sonowal was sworn in
Assam, in a way, will be significant if
it can dethrone the Congress from one
of its so-called home turf. As Assam
is the central gateway to all other North
Eastern States, therefore, an effort by
the NEDA to align the region through
this vital State bears special weight
age. Moreover, the Modi Government
can make Guwahati the centre point
of development, but without dampening the sentiments of the rest of the
States, it must initiate all efforts to connect the rest without delay. It must be
said that the interest shown by Modi in the North Eastern States is remarkable
and it will help deepen ties of the mainland towards the periphery.
The North East has been traditionally regarded as a Congress bastion but
today, out of the eight States in the region, the BJP has a majority Government
in Assam and its allies rule in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim. The
Congress has its Governments in three States — Manipur, Meghalaya and in
Mizoram. Finally, the Left is left only in Tripura where it is currently preventing
its folks from joining the Trinamool Congress. It is widely perceived that an initiative like NEDA may attract more Congress MLAs to the BJP, which now has
only 26 seats in the 126-member Assam Assembly. The grand old party faced
the worst rout in the last Lok Sabha poll when it won only 45 seats and since
then, it has been struggling with a leadership crisis and witnessing a debate on
its relevance with the indispensable Gandhis at the top. The NEDA declaration,
pointing once again at the Congress for the ‘neglect and underdevelopment of
the region', may act as the death knell for the party.
T
Cleaning up the DDCA
Mudgal report offers a good starting point
ustice Mukul Mudgal's scathing report on the Delhi & District Cricket
Association's can go two ways — either it gathers dust in some rickety file
cabinet alongside several other such panel reports or it is seriously studied
and implemented with the aim of clearing the mess at the premier cricketing
body. Thankfully, as of now, it seems like the matter is progressing in the latter
direction. The DDCA, which has been heavily criticised in the report, has taken
the report in its stride — saying that even though it is unlikely to implement
every change and recommendation listed in the report, it will not be challenging the same. Instead, DDCA's vice president CK Khanna, who has been accused
of abusing the organisation he heads as his personal fiefdom by appointing family members to key positions, has said that his team will only put forth their opinion on some of Mudgal's observations before the court — and that's fair enough.
Importantly, the DDCA also seems to have begun the housecleaning process of
its own accord. The cricketing authority has said that it has already decided to
hire a chief executive officer and a chief financial officer. This has also been one
of the most important recommendations of the Mudgal panel. Additionally,
the DDCA is also reportedly planning
to set up a cricket advisory committee, an ethics committee and even a
Europe-style happiness committee
that will it believes will help streamline administrative processes, making
them more transparent and efficient.
Of course, these are still early days
and it is not until these changes are
actually up and running that a realistic assessment of the DDCA can be
made. That said, there is just about
enough evidence to suggest that the
cricketing body is serious about
reforming — and one can only hope
that it will stay the course.
Make no mistake, reforming the
body, especially ridding it of vested
interests, will not be an easy task. There will be resistance, but those who want
to see the DDCA do better will have to soldier through. It is in this context that
the Board of Control for Cricket in India will have an important role to play. The
Mudgal report has already called on the BCCI, the DDCA's parent body, to “ensure
that the DDCA is transparent in its functioning as it is a public body responsible for promoting cricket in Delhi”. How effectively the BCCI, which itself is in
the midst of a major housecleaning operation after being charged with corruption and lack of the accountability, will respond is yet to be seen. Also, let's not
forget that there are overlapping networks within the BCCI and the DDCA. For
example, vice president Khanna, who Mudgal describes as the “most pernicious
influence affecting DDCA's administration” is also a BCCI vice president from
the central zone. Notably, it was after the BCCI had threatened to shift matches
out of Delhi that Delhi High Court appointed Justice Mudgal to oversee the staging of the World T20 and IPL matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
J
CLAUDE ARPI
Pakistan’s response to (if not covert support for) the currently volatile situation in Kashmir underlines yet again
that influential sections of that country’s leadership are still delusional about their ability to destabilise India
ashmir is once again on
the boil. It would be
wrong to simplify the
issue and put the entire
blame on Pakistan.
Other issues such as allowing public funerals when the Jammu &
Kashmir Government is aware that
thousands of Kashmiri residents
would defy the curfew, have certainly added foment.
However, the recrudescence
of violence, following the death of
Burhan Wani, the 22-year-old commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen
and poster boy of the anti-India
movement in the valley, has its roots
in Pakistan. The occasion was too
good for the leadership in
Islamabad; Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif immediately siad, “deplore
the excessive and unlawful force
used against innocent people in
Indian-administered Kashmir.”
While expressing deep shock
over the killing of Wani, Sharif
spoke of “the people of Jammu &
Kashmir demanding their right to
self determination.” Sartaj Aziz,
the Prime Minister’s Advisor on
Foreign Affairs, went (as usual) a
step further than his boss. Talking
to Dunya News, Aziz stated “such
acts are violation of fundamental
human rights of Kashmiris …
(who) only demand freedom and
liberty whereas India is continuously spreading chaos in the region.” As
a good durbari, he pledged to raise
his country’s voice “against Indian
brutality in Kashmir at international forum.” Nothing is new under the
Pakistani sun.
A few days before the Srinagar
incidents, I was putting some
order in my old papers and came
across some decades-old documents which I had found in the
archives of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of France when I was
researching for a book on Kashmir
several years ago. Amongst other
documents, a cable sent on
January 8, 1959, by Bernard
Dufournier, the Ambassador of
France in Pakistan, makes fascinating reading…57 years later.
The cable from Karachi is
addressed to Maurice Couve de
Murville, General De Gaulle’s illustrious Foreign Minister. The cable
to the Quai d’Orsay (the Ministry)
starts thus: “The Revolution and
the establishment of the dictatorship in Pakistan coincided with
new tensions in relations between
Delhi and Karachi.”
It first refers to a communication “sent on October 24 (1958) by
Lall and December 18 by Prince Aly
Khan to the Security Council
(which) have shown that the case
of Kashmir remained a source of
K
conflict,” says the Ambassador.
I traced the letter under reference. Arthur S Lall, India’s
Permanent Representative to the
UN, had written to the members
of the Security Council, countering a letter from Aly Khan, his
Pakistani counterpart, who had
addressed Gunnar Jarring, the
Security Council’s Chairperson
about the Indus’ waters. Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had
directed Lall to put on record that
the latest Pakistani statement
was “in disregard of the facts and
even of (Khan’s) own statements
made in his previous communication to the Security Council”
and India regretted that Pakistan
“should continue to use the medium of the United Nations for
propaganda purposes.”
According to Dufournier, the
exchange “provided new topics of
excitement to the public opinion;
almost daily, border incidents have
continued to occur for two months
between police forces or detachments of the two Armies, either in
Punjab, or more frequently in East
Pakistan. The cold war continues;
the military dictatorship does not
seem willing to change the offensive attitude adopted in 1956 by the
Suhrawardy Government.”
On May 6, 1958, Aly Khan had
already objected to Sheikh
Thank you Supreme
Court for explaining to the
Prime Minister what a
democracy is (with regard
to Presidential Rule in
Arunachal Pradesh).
Congress vice president
—Rahul Gandhi
PAKISTAN'S CLAIM
APPEARS TO BE
HOPELESS...
HOWEVER, WOULD
THE MEN RULING IN
KARACHI PLAY WITH
THE DESTINY OF THEIR
PEOPLE ON THE
KASHMIR MYTH, IF
BEHIND THE SCREEN
WERE NOT
CONCEALED DEEPER
DESIGNS?
Abdullah’s arrest without trial; he
had argued with the UN that “the
Jammu & Kashmir Government
was unable to substantiate its allegation with any evidence which
could be sustained in a court of law.”
While 57 years ago, Pakistan
complained about the Indian judicial system, today, Islamabad wants
to go ‘international’ to defend a terrorist. In 1959, the French
Ambassador notes: “Pakistan’s claim
appears to be hopeless, since India
will never come back on the annexation of Kashmir and a UN resolution would not change this fact.
However, would the men ruling in
Karachi play with the destiny of
their people on the Kashmir myth,
if behind the screen were not concealed deeper designs?”
Has anything changed today?
Probably not. The fascinating study
of Pakistan’s psyche by the French
diplomat goes on: “Their tactic
seems absurd to some extent, if it
was not used to cover a more tortuous strategy, whose springs cannot be exposed to light. The final
objective is to challenge the Partition
itself and upset the balance of
power that guardianship (the
British) tried to introduce in 1947
in the Indian subcontinent.”
Are Aziz’s or Sharif’s motives
different today, than Ayub Khan’s in
1959? Dufournier observes: “If we
SOUNDBITE
take this hypothesis, the policy of
Karachi’s rulers reads almost like a
book. Pakistanis have never accepted the division of territory between
the Indian Union and Pakistan as
enshrined in the Treaties. Not only
the ‘sale’ of Kashmir, but also the
conquest of Junagardh and
Hyderabad, as well as the division
of Punjab and Bengal were always
held as provisional. The fact that
forty million Muslims remained
prisoners in the Indian Union reinforces these revisionist tendencies
that dare not speak their name, but
which are the secret engine of diplomacy of Karachi.”
The far-sighted French envoy
remarks that Karachi’s concern
“has always been to maintain open
the Kashmir file before its own people as well as on the international
scene. The circumstances surrounding the defection of the Raja
of Srinagar (Hari Singh), the fighting for the possession of Kashmir,
the internationalisation of the (UN)
trial, served his views, because
they allowed Pakistan to proclaim
to the world that 1947 was tainted
with fraud on an essential point, the
legal validity (of the Partition).”
Dufournier even goes one
step further: “An exceptional situation should occur for the
Pakistani army to be able to confront India’s defenses with some
chance of success. It would be necessary that the neighbouring country (India) be weakened either by
secessionist movements, or by
revolutionary unrest. Pakistani
leaders consider that this event will
happen in the future.”
The Pakistani leadership has
constantly lived with the same
delusion, believing it can destabilise
India. The Ambassador’s conclusions are interesting, “When will
sound the hour of the Holy War, it
would be easy for Pakistan to
remind (the world) that it has
never recognised the annexation of
Kashmir, he had to yield to force
and intends only to recover his legitimate property. Claims on East
Punjab and West Bengal would be
presented simultaneously.”
For Dufournier prophesised:
“The minarets of Delhi’s mosques
appear in these expectations as a
mirage, but these dreams are for
many Pakistanis — at least for the
leaders — the reality of tomorrow.”
Islamabad can continue to
dream, after all Pakistan is built on
a dream; in the meantime, Delhi
should keep a closer tab on the socalled Indian intellectuals, not only
preachers like Zakir Naik, who
propagate the ‘dream’ of a self-determined Kashmir. They are far too
many on the social networks.
The British brought our
granths into libraries which
made translations. As a result,
many of our original scriptures are widely available.
We all have the same
emotions, so I tap on
to that universal factor.
I used to do it better
before. Now, I can't
do it anymore. I am
getting older.
Writer and mythologist
—Devdutt Pattanaik
Musician
—AR Rahman
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Healthy diet
Sir — This refers to the editorial,
“Nanny’s frivolous food tax” (July
13). It is revealing that Kerala’s junk
food tax can be in the nature of a
similar tax in Bihar which is used
to compensate the loss of revenues
from the liquor sale ban! Moreover,
it is not proper on the former’s part
to exclude equally bad or worse
items like beef fry and the maidaladen parotta from the list of taxable junk foods.
Whether for good or bad, such
taxes serve to curb the consumption
of unhealthy food, especially among
the youth. The State should use the
tax money to promote organic
farming, as has been decided
recently, and market the produce
which will benefit both the farmer
as well as the consumer.
CV Krishna Manoj
Hyderabad
Look beyond
Sir — This refers to the article, “Is
the Priyanka factor Congress’s only
hope?” (July 13) by Rajesh Singh.
The Congress is a party which cherishes self-destruction by giving
leadership to the members of the
Gandhi family. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is nothing but
Politics is all about last
minute twists and turns
T
his refers to the article, “Is the Priyanka factor Congress’s only hope?”
(July13) by Rajesh Singh. The writer’s analysis of the Congress’s prospects
in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election is perfect to the hilt but the
significance of expanding Congress scion Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s role as the
party’s star poll campaigner is really important.
On the face of it, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has a
clean image, coupled with versatile actor-turned politician Raj Babbar who is
an immaculate public persona, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s (expected) elevation as the party president and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the chief
poll campaigner, is the old grand party’s best bet for Uttar Pradesh.
This combination will seemingly ameliorate the Congress’s prospects. Above
all, politics is known for the last-minute bizarre twists and turns making possible impossible and vice versa. Moreover, all parities in fray will have their
trump cards. Let’s wait and see what way the political cookie crumbles!
Azhar A Khan
Rampur
a burden for the party. By engaging
Congress scion Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra for the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly election, the Congress is
making yet another mistake. People
are not familiar with her political
career, her dedication for work and
her connection with the aam aadmi
is minimal. She is like a cuckoo
which sings only spring.
Uttam Bhowmik
Tamluk
Lost hope
Sir — This refers to the article, “Is
the Priyanka factor Congress’s only
hope?” (July 13) by Rajesh Singh.
Congress scion Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra will come as a set back for the
Congress and for Prashant Kishor
too as he is of the opinion that the
only suvival of the party is by looking beyond the Gandhi family. I see
no hope for the Congress.
Rajendra Vora
Via web
End violence
Sir — This refers to the editorial,
“Ugly heads of militancy” (July 12).
It is sad that Jammu & Kashmir
continues to be on the boil after the
death of a terrorist in an encounter.
More than 30 people have lost lives
in police firing. The situation in
Jammu & Kashmir is volatile. We
have already seen youths in action.
They are instigated by foreign
hands. However, young ones should
not fall a prey to such forces. The
Government must see that atrocities by the security personnels does
not harm the common man.
NR Ramachandran
Chennai
Clearing ambiguity
Sir — This refers to the article,
“When the judges became
Generals...” (July 12) by Deepak
Sinha. It is disheartening to learn
that some of the judges of the
Supreme Court are unable to appreciate the difficulties faced by our
security forces. One does not have
to be a seer to say that unless our
borders are secure, our freedom is
at peril. My suggestion to our
judges is that while vacationing,
they may choose a border area and
live for a day or two with the defence
forces. Only then there will be no
ambiguity in their judgment regarding the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act or similar laws.
SC Panda
Bhubaneswar
Send your feedback to:
[email protected]
3rdeye 09
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
POINTCOUNTERPOINT
While Donald Trump is busy insulting Mexicans, Muslims,
African Americans etc, Hillary Clinton understands that
diversity is our strength. I’m proud to stand with her.
—Former US presidential candidate
BERNIE SANDERS
The business of smart cities
FIRST
COLUMN
Bernie Sanders has totally sold out to Crooked Hillary
Clinton. I am somewhat surprised that he was not true
to himself and his supporters.
—US presidential candidate
DONALD TRUMP
HIRANMAY KARLEKAR
The smart city agenda is being promoted due to its immense business potential. However, such time as issues of land acquisition,
sovereign guarantee and other legal aspects are resolved, don’t expect large amounts of private sector finance to come flowing in
An unspeakable act
of cruelty in Chennai
W
The Chennai medical student thought nothing before
flinging a puppy from the roof because animals had
been excluded from his universe of morality
he unspeakable act of cruelty, in which a final-year medical student in Chennai flung a puppy from the roof of a three-storey
building, while his friend, another medical student, recorded
the ghastly act on video, has understandably triggered countrywide
indignation.It has also drawn attention to the shockingly paltry punishment for crimes against animals that the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals Act, 1961, provides. An amendment to the latter, making for a hike in punishments, has been stuck for an inordinately
long time in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
It needs to be hastened through
Second, the two medical students should be debarred from sitting in their final examination and practicing medicine. A doctor needs
a cool, compassionate and decisive head. A proneness to enjoying cold-blooded cruelty for the sake of it, which the two Chennai
culprits displayed, can lead even to the murder of a patient.
Meanwhile, the incident further serves to underline the need to take
a very hard line against the horrific acts of cruelty — merciless beatings, poisoning and the imposition of unconscionably heavy loads,
for example-routinely perpetrated on animals in India.
Besides punitive measures, which will help, one has to address
the primary reason behind all this — the exclusion of animals from
the universe of morality that the Judeo-Christiantradition has created for humans. This has led to the belief that humans can do
anything they please to animals without violating any moral canon.
Aristotle, for example, wrote in Politics that nature made all animals for the sake of man and it was as permissible to enslave people who did not possess reason as it was to enslave animals. St
Augustine wrote in City of God, that the scope of the
Commandment, “Thou shall not kill” did not extend to bushes
because they did not “have any sensation” and animals “…. as
they are not partners with us in the faculty of reason.”
Arguments to this effect, advanced by others including St
Thomas Aquinas, the greatest exponent of medieval scholasticism,
are totally unacceptable. Rationality is a potential and not a defining attribute of humans who are as often rational as not. Passions
like hatred, anger, fear and greed are as real and drive people to
crimes like genocide or confining hundreds of thousands into concentration camps. No animal has ever done any such thing.
This leads to an important point: Rationality is not a moral
phenomenon per se. It is a tool that can be used to serve both
moral and immoral ends like rationalising individual and mass
crimes and criminal ideologies like Nazism and Fascism. Hence
even if rationality is the defining human attribute — which it is
not — its possession does not put humans on a superior moral
plane and does not justify the exclusion of animals from the moral
universe they have created.
If anything, animals are far superior to humans when it comes
to intuition and faculties like smell and hearing which can make
the difference between life and death. Thus, even before the 2004
Tsunami hit Thailand, elephants there started moving from beaches to high grounds making terrified noises. Animals are also far
more moral and far less aggressive than humans. As Erich Fromm
points out in The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, animals
have “benign aggression” which is aresponse “to threats to vital
interests” and is common both to them and humans. It is not “spontaneous or self-increasing but reactive and defensive”, aimed at “the
removal of the threat, either by destroying or removing its source.”
Malignant aggression “is characteristic only of man”. Its manifestations, killing and cruelty, “are pleasureful without needing any other
purpose….Malignant aggression, though not an instinct, is a potential rooted in the very conditions of human existence.” Fromm writes
tellingly, “Man's history is a record of extraordinary destructiveness
and cruelty and human aggression, it seems, far surpasses that of man's
animal ancestors, and man is in contrast to animals, a real ‘killer.'”
It is time animals were included in the human moral universe
and crimes against them punished accordingly — and Indians
remembered the message of the Upanishads, Vedas, Puranas,
the Mahabharata, Ramayana and the Brahmasutras, that all living beings are equal embodiments of the Universal Spirit, Brahman,
and required equal treatment.
hile announcing the
list of cities that were
selected through the
Smart City Challenge
Competition, Union
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs
Venkaiah Naidu had said, “Smart
city is an idea whose time has come”.
Earlier, while launching the flagship
Smart City Mission at Pune, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi had dubbed
it as a “people’s movement” and
exhibited his Government’s resolve to
accelerate its implementation.
The smart city concept promises
adequate water and assured electricity
supply, sanitation, including solid waste
management, affordable housing for all,
especially for the poor, efficient urban
mobility and public transport, robust
IT connectivity and digitalisation, egovernance, sustainable environment,
safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, health and education. But to see it
as the solution to all our urbanisation
problems may be an over-statement.
Conceptually, there are two types
of smart cities. First, building a new
city from the scratch ie greenfield
cities. Second, there are brownfield
cities ie conversion of existing cities
into smart cities, mostly by retrofitting
the present infrastructure. However,
there is yet another hybrid and derivative of brownfield concept which is
based on converting only a part of the
city ie area-based brown field concept.
As of now, we have gone in for only
seven greenfield cities along the DelhiMumbai industrial corridor and the rest
of the existing cities have adopted the
brownfield area-based concept. Maybe,
this concept has been adopted due to
financial or other constraints, but it is
fraught with adverse consequences at
the socio-political plane.
Jayesh Ranjan, Managing Director
for Telangana State Industrial
Corporation has said: “Covering a
small enclave and not the entire city
is tantamounts to rewarding a few and
depriving the rest”. Presently, the
Government is planning to develop
three green field smart cities by 2019,
all of which will be a part of a larger
project ie Delhi-Mumbai Industrial
Corridor (DMIC). These smart cities
are scheduled to be completed by
2019, in two industrial cities of
Dholera and Shendra-Bidkin.
The smart city agenda is energetically being promoted by global IT
giants, engineering and consulting
companies, keeping in view its
immense business potential. Smart
city will virtually be a hive of optical
fiber network, wireless broad band
connection and computerised smart
sensors ubiquitous embedded into the
urban fabric. Big data, Internet of
Things and cloud computing will be
the watch words.
Dan Hoornweg who led the World
Bank’s ‘Sustainable Cities and Climate
Change’ programme from 1993 to 2012
said, “Selling more IT and sophisticated algorithms might help a few of the
very fortunate cities. Building a smartcity suburb next to a very unsustainable
city can yield unpleasant lessons.”
T
RK KAUSHAL
Apparently,
foreign
participation in
the Smart City
Mission seems to
be lucrative. But it
should be
understood that
they are here to
exploit the smart
city market with
second generation
technology. As per
forecasts, the
smart city market
was estimated at
$411.31 billion in
2014 which will
grow to $1,134.84
billion by 2019
Steve Hilton of world-renowned
consultancy MachNation elucidates
the problem of how to add intelligence
to infrastructure already in place in
the existing cities. People living in
these cities make it difficult to retrofit smart city solutions because they
do not want to relocate while you
implement solutions that might
impact their lives.
Moreover, cities generally have
infrastructure under the management of different departments, so it
requires a lot of project planning and
integration. More importantly, citizens
have security, privacy, and legal concerns about Internet of Things that
might impact their businesses confidentiality and privacy. So is the case
in Hyberabad where even big corporates have refused to get their
facilities retrofitted.
Adriana
Allen,
of
the
Development Planning Unit at
University College London, goes a step
further and opines that, “More sustainable forms of urbanisation will require
a more coherent approach to the
urban-rural interface. Successful
approaches tend to work through the
concept of the ‘city-region’, where the
comparative advantages of urban or
metropolitan centres and their adjacent peri-urban and rural jurisdictions
are combined to promote more balanced use of natural resources such as
land, water, energy and to support
mutually reinforcing social and eco-
nomic development initiatives”.
Smart City Mission is an investment intensive proposition. Yearly
allocation by the Government of
India will just be `100 crore to each
of the city for five years. Commenting
on the availability of the funds for this
mission, Naidu, in a Press statement
said, “Presently, the funds are not adequate. Though from Government’s
point of view this amount is substantial yet it not adequate from the
point of view of implementation. We
are heavily depending on foreign
direct investment (FDI) and Publicprivate partnership model”.
Commenting on the availability of
FDI and private sector funds, the US
Ambassador to India has unreservedly stated that till such time the issues
of land acquisition, sovereign guarantee and other legal aspects are
resolved, to expect large amounts of
private sector finance, either domestic or foreign, will be a challenge.
Critically examining our concept,
Brookings Institute, an American
think-tank, has commented on the viability of our concept. They have construed that our concept should have a
plan for economic growth, rather than
only on technology implementation.
Apparently, foreign participation
in Smart City Mission seems to be
lucrative. But it should be understood
that they are here to exploit the
smart city market with second generation technology. As per forecasts, the
Smart grids for smart cities
The smart cities of tomorrow will need a dynamic power generation and supply system that is capable
of delivering quality power without compromising energy efficiency, and smart grids provide just that
s of June, the electricity sector in India had an
installed capacity of 303
gigawatt making India the
world’s third largest producer
of electricity with 4.8 per cent
global share in electricity generation surpassing Japan and
Russia. But inspite of this
strong position, India continues to suffer from inefficient
and erratic power supply.
Over the years, the quality of power generation and
supply has not been able to
keep up with the pace of development, this in turn has led to
excessive dependence on polluting power generating sets.
For instance, Gurgaon
(now Gurugram) consumes
around 350,000 liters of diesel
for its generators every hour
during a power cut as nearly 14
per cent of Gurgaon’s alternative
power requirement is fulfilled
by diesel power generators.
Infrastructure has never
A
been the strongest point of the
millennium city whose roads
are under perpetual repair
amid seemingly endless construction activity.
Adding to these difficulties, the bustling satellite city to
Delhi has been struggling with
prolonged power cuts due to
frequent tripping of feeders and
voltage fluctuations.
These conditions, primarily on the power supply front,
are now set to change, thanks
to the smart grid project
approved in October 2015.
Under this project, Gurgaon is
expected to become the first
city in India to get a full-scale
smart grid by the end of 2017
thereby putting an end to
diesel generators and chronic power woes.
The total cost of the smart
grid project is an estimated
`7,000 crore in which the
Union Government will contribute `273 crore for the
first phase of the project.
On the other hand, the
State Government will contribute the same amount
whereas the Power System
Development Fund will provide the remaining amount.
This exceptional initiative of
the Union Government will
not only prove beneficial to
the environment in the longer
run, but will set the foundation for smart cities.
The smart cities of tomorrow will need a dynamic
power generation and supply
system that is capable of delivering quality power without
compromising energy efficiency, and smart grids provide just that.
Smart grids have the
demand response capacity to
strike a balance between power
consumption and supply.
Besides this, smart grids can
integrate new energy sources
like solar and wind with tradi-
tional sources. This will enable
the citizens of smart cities to
eventually integrate their solar
or wind systems with the grid
and start feeding unused
power into the grid.
This unused power, therefore, gets adjusted against the
total consumption from the
mains, leaving the consumers
to pay only for the balance
that they have consumed.
Moreover, if the consumers
have fed to grid more than
they have consumed, they
can get paid as well.
The Gurgaon example
must come as a stimulus for
other power challenged cities.
The
respective
State
Governments must push for a
new grid system that is automated and has integrated
communication and IT systems that help the grid monitor power flows from points
of generation to points of
consumption and control the
power flow or curtail the load
to match generation in real
time or near real time.
The increased visibility,
predictability, and even control of generation and demand
bring flexibility to both generation and consumption and
enable the utility to better
integrate intermittent renewable generation.
As a first step towards a
smarter grid, the States must
add additional layers of
automation, communication
and IT systems to the existing
traditional grids.
India is expected to have
a potential demand of 900
gigawatt by 2032, in view of
this India must ramp up its
power generation. Over the
years the quotient of renewable energy is only growing
which by itself is a positive
development that bodes well
for the environment.
But for renewable energy
smart city market was estimated at
$411.31 billion in 2014 which will
grow to $1,134.84 billion by 2019.
Let us now scan the technology
horizon. As per Alvin Toffler, an
American writer known for his
works
discussing
modern
technologies, “As our technological
powers increase, side effects potential
hazards also escalate”. Smart city
technology is an easy prey to hacking
by wayside juveniles.
According to Cesar Cerrudo,
Chief Technology Officer at IOActive:
nThe messiness of politics and the
vulnerability of the Internet of Things
is one big, unwieldy package.
nWhen Internet of Things devices
run a ‘smart city’, security of systems
are all very vulnerable.
nHackers know about the cascade
effect, and that they can use it to their
advantage by launching an attack on
a small, poorly secured system that
doesn’t seem very critical, and setting
off a chain reaction.
nWho’s responsible when a smart
city crashes?
Let me end with a caustic comment on smart cities by Steven Poole,
a British author and journalist, published in The Guardian, “Smart city is
a wrong idea pitched in the wrong way
to the wrong people”. Let us hope that
our area-based smart city concept may
not turn out to be a stigma.
(The writer is former advisor to the
National Disaster Management Authority)
think
now
KOTA SRIRAJ
to merge seamlessly into the
main grid, the grid itself
will have to have smarter systems
to
manage
it
efficiently and ensure its stability and reliability.
This is possible only if
today’s grids are prepared for
smart cities by upgrading
them to have smarter systems
and applications.
In view of the growing
importance and relevance for
smart grids in India, a transparent and comprehensive
plan and roadmap for the
implementation of smart grids
needs to be evolved which
would help technology development, capacity building and
investment planning by all
stakeholders and could ensure
completion of projects in
planned timelines.
This needs to be taken up
on topmost priority by the
Government in tandem with
smart cities project.
here is neither
happiness nor misery
in the world; there is
only the comparison of one
state with another, nothing
more. He who has felt the
deepest grief is best able
to experience supreme
happiness. Live, then, and
be happy, beloved children
of my heart, and never
forget, that until the day
God will deign to reveal
the future to man, all
human wisdom is
contained in these two
words, Wait and Hope
T
—Alexandre Dumas
French writer
avenues 10
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
MANAGE IN STYLE
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Learning is not attained by
chance; it must be sought for
with ardour and diligence
— Abigail Adams
Windows
NMAT 2016
The Graduate Management
Admission Council (GMAC),
governing body of the NMIMS
Management Aptitude Test
(NMAT) by GMAC exam,
commenced its
registration process for
NMAT. This exam is used
for admissions in Master
of Business Administration
and other post graduate
diploma in management
programmes.
Designers and fashion houses are not just about designing any more. They have to
be all-encompassing and operate as a business, says DR PRIYA MARY MATHEW
f one thinks from an outside-in perspective,
it’s very easy to fall prey to the glamour and
glitz image that fashion and design professionals delineate. The buzzword in this space
tends to be innovation and creativity. Everyone
talks about the trendy outfits, manicured landscapes, aesthetic interiors, styled accessories, modular home spaces and the likes. The fascination
around trends and design is what gets highlighted
everywhere. What doesn’t get highlighted is the
tremendous amount of backend work that goes
in pulling off a successful fashion show or design
an entire collection or doing an innovative installation. The fields of fashion and design are as
much about art as they are about science of management. Thus, all the aspirants studying the subject and vying for a life that they see and hear
about must know and understand the complete
story.
If you take any well-established design labs
like Godrej Interiors or fashion product development studios of Ritu Kumar or Myntra, you’d
find that the designers are using just one-third
of their time in designing, the designer probably spent years studying how to design and use
techniques to innovate and create. However, in
reality, at workplace, all designers realise that they
don’t just do designing.
Which brings us to big the question: What
do designers do with remaining 70 per cent of
their time? The answer lies in one word:
Management. A few decades back, things could
have been different. Today, with more and more
people having access to greater disposable
incomes and savings, there is a tectonic shift in
the spending habits of people. Designers and fashion houses are not just restricted to creation; but
have to be all encompassing and operate as a business.
They need to cater to ever increasing
demand of consumers and ensure that they deliver with apt quality management, product management, people management, project management, client management; management as a con-
I
cept is centrestage to what they do.
With the proliferation of the number of people sailing aboard in the
fashion/designer space, the ultimate
consumer is spoilt with choices.
In an evolving environment the
need of the hour calls for design and
fashion entrepreneurs to take stock
and run it like a proper business. This
is not just for today, our best guess
is that this is also what the future
looks like. After all, early this year
World Economic Forum declared
that problem-solving skills and creativity are top two skills needed by
millennials for workplaces at 2020.
If you were to look at a typical
design house more carefully, you’d
find that the ultimate entrepreneur
or designer would be divided
amongst the following to say the
least.
RESEARCH: Whether you are a
designing for a luxury brand or
putting together a portfolio to apply
to design school, research is not
optional. The idea in your head
might be the start of something
good, but you need to do research to
make it better. It’s important to know
about the lifestyle and consumption
patterns of your customers and
have a deep insight of what will be
the potential market and arrive at
competitive price for the new creatives. It is equally important to
research the materials, fabric, new
techniques and technology that shall
suit the target audience the best and
ensure a viable business plan.
explore data sets? How to analyse
and structure financial markets?
Find out answers to these questions with the following upcoming
courses on edX.
n Introduction to people
management
Starting from July 28, 2016,
this course by IIMBx will provide
learners with an enhanced understanding of the role of people management in organisational context.
The objective of this business and
management course is to
smoothen the transition for newly
appointed people managers, motivate and guide people who are
aspiring to become one and to
think back and reflect for seasoned
managers. To enroll, log on to:
https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-people-managementiimbx-hr101x-0#!
n Big data analysis with
Apache Spark
Starting from August 10, 2016,
this statistics and data analysis
course by UC BerkeleyX will
attempt to articulate the expected
output of data scientists and then
teach students how to use PySpark
(part of Spark) to deliver against
The fields of
fashion &
design are as
much about
art as they are
about science
of
management.
Thus, all the
aspirants
studying the
subject must
know and
understand
the complete
story
FINANCE & COST MANAGEMENT: Securing loans and finances
MOOC courses
ow can one motivate people
who reports to them? How to
H
use parallel programming to
for raw material and expansion is
critical for business. Also, wastage
of time and material could lend
itself to the product pricing itself
out of the market. There needs to
be efficiency at all stages which
needs to be managed efficiently.
these expectations. The course
assignments include log mining,
textual entity recognition, and
collaborative filtering exercises
that teach students how to manipulate data sets using parallel processing with PySpark.
This course covers advanced
undergraduate-level material. It
requires a programming background and experience with
Python (or the ability to learn it
quickly). All exercises will use
PySpark (the Python API for
Spark), and previous experience
with Spark equivalent to
Introduction to Apache Spark, is
required.
Enroll here: https://prod-edxmktg-edit.edx.org/course/big-dataanalysis-apache-spark-uc-berkeleyx-cs110x#!
n Marketing analytics
Starting from August 2, 2016,
this marketing course by UC
BerkeleyX will teach competitive
analysis and market segmentation,
including how to analyse and structure industries and markets to
transform their marketing efforts
from vague, generic attempts to
laser-guided precision.
Enroll
here:
https://www.edx.org/course/marketing-analytics-competitive-analysis-uc-berkeleyx-busadm466-3x#!
SAPNA SINGH n NEW DELHI
nder the National Digital
Literacy Mission (NDLM),
U
a project run by Ministry of
Communication
and
Information Technology, every
citizen of India can learn to
access the computer and secondary digital devices like
tablet, smartphones, fablet and
laptops. Dinesh Tyagi, CEO,
Community Service Centers
(CSCs) e-governance services
of India, has said that considering the magnitude of regional languages in India, the
department has converted eight
languages and will convert
more with the help of translators.
“Our prime target is rural
population but regional language is barrier for us. With the
POLICY FRAMEWORK: Be it
promoting handicrafts or exports,
knowing right policy framework
goes a long way in ensuring hassle free and progressive trade.
Modern global economy is networked and this demands that
designers understand policy
around IPR, patents, ethics and
environmental sustainability.
MARKETING MANAGEMENT: The influencer outreach
programme needs to be scientific in the way it’s done to generate
maximum impact across all internal and external stakeholders of
an organisation. This could also
be affiliated with how you brand,
what messages you say and online
and offline media management.
EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT:
Each customer prefers unique
fashion, unique attire and unique
interiors. So, to ensure that business of design and fashion flourishes, the employees need to have
an effective client service experience. It’s important that all the
employees understand the values
that the business stands on. For
instance, FabIndia business or
Craftsvilla.com business could
be about promoting the local
weavers of Benaras/it could be
about giving artisans/village embroiders a chance
to inclusion. All employees must be on board,
encouraged for same organisational ethos. The
design and fashion entrepreneur will have to wear
a leadership hat as well.
PRODUCT QUALITY MANAGEMENT:
Consumers need trendy fashion and better
design versions year after year, season to season.
So, the purpose of design production houses is
not to let the product quality go down, but really it is to continue to build efforts to enhance it
at all times. This could be sourcing it better and
or applying new techniques or methods to
enhance certain quality characteristics such as
colour, texture, durability, elasticity, functionality, sustainability and the like (keeping in mind
a clothes designing example). Rising with the
trend, and understanding the trends in the market whilst enhancing product could be particularly relevant here.
The design and fashion business organisations lie on both ends of the spectrum. On one
hand, they are meant to be creative, collaborative, unique and distinctive lending to popularity and glamour. On the other hand, they are businesses and just like any other organisation, need
to adopt and nurture management principles just
the same and make it a scientific transparent procedure to get things done.
To balance the two, it takes both left-brain
and right-brain people to manage creative businesses. Design thinkers need to be business managers and leaders to lead a profitable creative business. But not many premier design schools are
catering to this need. The need of the hour is
realigning syllabus and course towards addressing this requirement in the creative domains. The
endeavor should be to prepare all our students
for their chosen fields and excel in the industry,
which could be as challenging and exciting as
the core itself.
(The writer is head of School of Creative Business
at Pearl Academy)
Digital India
Mission NDLM
help of local teachers,
was started in March
we are trying to
2014 and it has enviovercome this
sioned a target of
problem, soon
training 10 lakh
syllabus will be
persons. “Our main
available in all
aim is to cover one
major regional
person from every
languages,” Tyagi
eligible family to be
says.
made digitally litAccording to
erate so that
him, to become
Dinesh Tyagi
digital literate, the CEO, Community Service Centers he/she can access
information
applicant isn’t
required to be highly educated. technology related applica“Interestingly, we’re getting tions,” Tyagi said.
NDLM also known as
overwhelmingly response from
uneducated people, they want Digital Sakhsharta Abhiyaan,
to learn how to access was approved in December
Facebook, Whatsapp and 2014 with a target to train an
additional 42.5 lakh candiGmail,” he added.
Skilling programme
ith its vision to help make India a
global hub of high-quality mobile
W
developers, Google has launched the
Android skilling programme in India that
will aim to train two million mobile developers by unveiling a slew of initiatives to
skill up, educate, and certify millions of
students in android development.
This is a specially designed instructor led training programme on Android
Fundamentals and will be made available
across public and private universities and
training institutes of the National Skill
Development Corporation of India. The
in-person training module integrated
into the course curriculum will be introduced within this calendar year at no additional fee. The Android Fundamentals
course will also be available, free of charge,
on NPTEL (an initiative of the IITs and
IISc) as part of its online Mobile
Computing course starting July 18, 2016.
dates in digital literacy in four
years. “Both these schemes so
far have a cumulative enrollment of more than 50 lakh candidates. Out of these approximately, lakh candidates have got
certified by NDLM,” Tyagi
says.
Presently there are 1.4 lakh
CSCs across the country. They
are delivering a Business to
Consumer (B2C) services to
citizens. Under the National egovernance scheme, CSC is
operated and managed by village level entrepreneur who
belongs to the same village and
have basic computing infrastructure along with Internet.
Presently CSCs are delivering
Government to citizen and
B2C services like education,
eKYC, election, insurance, land
records, UID, passport etc.
Google has also tied up with training
partners like Edureka, Koenig, Manipal
Global, Simplilearn, Udacity and UpGrad
who will operate as authorized Android
training partners in India.
Google announced the launch of its
globally recognised job-oriented Associate
Android Developer Certification — a performance-based exam that will help successful candidates to get an entry-level
android developer jobs in the Industry.
After training, aspiring candidates can log
on to the google developer training website and take the certification exam
priced at `6,500.
New recruitment firm For green revolution
decco Group has announced the
launch of Spring Professional, a
A
recruiting firm in India with a strong focus
on middle and senior management hiring and extensive expertise in Information
Technology, Finance, Life Sciences and
Engineering. Spring consultants are industry specialists who have a deep understanding of different industry and markets, and are capable of driving custommade recruiting solutions that meet specific needs of clients and candidates.
“The launch of Spring Professional in
India is timely, with an increasing demand
from organisations seeking to identify
experienced talent in the areas of infor-
mation technology, engineering, finance
and life science. Our mission is to find the
talent that best adapts to each organisation, based on our exclusive approach to
the selection and assessment of top and
middle management,” Angelo Lo Vecchio,
country manager and MD, Adecco Group
India, says.
“The Finance and Life Sciences vertical is at a very interesting phase as far
as talent requirement is concerned. With
various positive government legislations
being passed, we are at a cusp, where there
will be a massive need for finance
resources,” Ananth Iyer, head of Finance
and Life Sciences, Spring India, says.
WHAT’S NEW
n Four new test center location
added — Pune, Vadodara,
Gurgaon and Jamshedpur
n 18 leading institutions accept
the NMAT by GMAC including
SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of
Management Studies, ICFAI
Business School, Alliance
University, University of Petroleum
& Energy Studies, VIT University,
Thapar School of Management,
BML Munjal University, Amity
University, Woxsen School of
Business Management, SRM
University, Hyderabad Business
School, GITAM University, Chitkara
University, Institute of
Management, JK University, Ansal
University, Mody University,
Shoolini University, Shiv Nadar
University and Gitam School of
International Business.
n One account for exam
registration, exam scheduling /
rescheduling, admit card, score
card, NMATPrep Study material
n Mobile wallets option added for
payment
n Important information through
SMS on verified mobile number
ELIGIBILITY
Candidates must have a full time
Bachelor degree (10+2+3/4) in any
discipline from any recognised
university with minimum 50 per
cent marks in aggregate in the
first attempt. They also must have
valid GMAT score of 600 and
above (The GMAT score for last
three years up to October 2016
will be taken into consideration).
International candidates having
EXAM PATTERN
The computer based MCQ format
exam has three sections –
Language Skills (32 question to be
answered in 22 minutes),
Quantitative Skills (48 questions to
be answered in one hour) and
Logical Reasoning (40 questions
to be answered in 38 minutes).
There will be no negative marking
for wrong answers.
A candidate can take the exam
three times in the window of 75
days. Candidates can choose test
appointment date, time and
location in real-time based on the
availability of seats at each test
centre.
IMPORTANT DATES
Aspirants can register for the test
online at www.nmat.org.in
through October 3, 2016. The late
registration can be done from
October 4 to October 12. The
exam is scheduled to begin from
October 7 and will continue
through till December 20, 2016, at
32 centres in 23 locations across
India. The scores will be published
on the nmat.org.in website
approximately four-five weeks
after the exam date.
QUANTITATIVE FINANCE
The
University
of
Strathclyde, Glasgow invited
applications for admission in
MSc in Quantitative Finance
which is starting from
September 2016. This one-year
course has faculty alliance
between the Strathclyde
Business School and the Faculty
of Science and will prepare students for a career in financial
engineering and risk management. Careers include roles as a
hedge fund manager or financial
analyst. The curriculum provides a balance between finance
and mathematical theory, computer implementations of this
theory, and practical skills and
knowledge.
Students may be able to
undertake an industrial based
MSc project. This takes place in
the third semester of the course
between June and September.
The placement can be based in
the UK or in another country
and are typically paid internships.
Those who are interested to
apply should have an honours
degree, or overseas equivalent, in
accounting, economics, engineering, business studies or a
subject area with a strong quantitative element. Those with
appropriate professional qualifications or who can demonstrate relevant practical experience, can also apply.
The annual fee for overseas
students starting in 2016 is
£18,000. The last date of submission is July 31, 2016.
PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE
The
School
of
Pharmaceutical Sciences at
Apeejay Stya University (ASU)
has announced admissions in
Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.
Pharm), a 4-year industry-ori-
ented programme endorsed and
designed by reputed industrial
houses based on pharmaceutical technology and innovation.
The last date to apply is August
14, 2015.
The newly launched R&D
centre for pharmaceutical
research will ensure a holistic
and experiential learning for the
students. There are two centres
of excellence — Centre for
Novel Drug Delivery System
and Centre for Formulation
Development to boost highquality teaching-learning culture.
The university also provides scholarships to meritorious students. Passed out students
can also benefit from the opportunity to be absorbed in the
pharmaceutical business of the
parent organisation, apart from
MNCs and leading companies.
The eligibility requirements
are minimum 50 per cent aggregate marks in 10+2 with Physics,
Chemistry, Mathematics or
Physics, Chemistry, Biology
from any recognised board.
All eligible applicants shall
be short listed on the basis of
their academic performances
and aptitude followed by a mock
test. ASU also offers two-year
MPharm in Pharmaceuticals,
three-year MPharm Integrated
programme and PhD in
Pharmaceuticals.
Application forms can be
downloaded from the website—
www.university.apeejay.edu.
Discover the talent
he US Green Building Council has announced the launch of LEED Lab in India, a
alent Next, an online platform that
multi-disciplinary immersion course that utilises the built environment to educate Tbrings together and connects all the
T
and prepare students to become green building leaders and sustainability-focused citi- talent under one roof, was launched
zens.
The lab, which is already being offered at international universities in Latin America,
the Middle East and Greater Asia, and has now been adopted by The Knowledge Institute
of Technology (KIOT), in Salem, Tamil Nadu. KIOT will begin its sessions this month.
The course is a laboratory for students to experiment on ways to LEED certify existing campus facilities through direct collaboration between students, faculty and a third
party green organisation.
The labs implements the LEED Operations and Maintenance rating system within
existing campus buildings seeking certification for the first time and Certified buildings
seeking recertification.
In the course, students learn the principles of LEED and assess the performance of
an existing facility on campus, choosing one building to implement it. They then manage a complete build out, with the goal of certifying it by the close of the semester.
more than two
years of post qualification
experience will be preferred. All
the admissions for international
candidate are subject to them
getting clearance for the
candidate’s Government (if
required) and a student visa from
the Indian Embassy in the
candidate’s country.
recently. Shekhar Purohit, CEO,
Talentnext Entertainment Private Limited,
India’s leading on-line casting portal and
celebrities like Karan Johar, Ashutosh
Gowarikar, Sameer Nair, Salim Merchant,
Prahlad Kakkar and Sameer Pitalwalla
were also present. The launch began with
a preview of some raw talent in the fields
of music, dancing, acting and stand-up
comedy.
This platform caters to talent from performing arts to the casting community for
films, televisions shows, commercial ad
films, live events and other formats of entertainment. Talent can sign up for free and
create a basic profile on the platform. For
a small monthly fee, they can upgrade to
a tiered membership model that allows for
unlimited access to auditions, and jobs,
higher level of status on the trending or verified profile, and additional storage for
additional photos, videos, and audio files
to the profile.
Talent Next’s ensure that all performers can get the right information needed to
succeed in the entertainment business
from what makes a great headshot to which
acting coach to which audition may be right
for them.
avenues 11
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY, JULY 14, 2016
‘Doors open for people
with right qualification’
VANDANA LUTHRA tells
AVENUES that there are
several jobs in the beauty &
wellness sector provided one
has necessary qualifications
n What do the certification courses at
IMPROVE SCHOOLING
ndia’s school education story has not been
without successes in recent years. Positive
developments such as enrollment rates
in elementary schools consistently above 96
per cent since 2009 and reduction in dropout rates of girls have been encouraging signs
for a country which has for decades struggled to put its children into schools.
However, behind these statistics and the
promise of Right to Education to all lurk the
worrying aspects bedeviling our school education system. The average primary school
dropout rate stood at a disconcerting 4.3 per
cent in 2013-14, implying that a large number of students are not making it past the
primary level. The quality of education does
not offer much to write home about, and is
the leading question troubling Indian education policy makers.
In this light, academia and education
experts are looking towards the New
Education Policy. Whether this will pave way
for a transformative beginning to India’s
school education system is yet to be seen.
I
SCHOOL EDUCATION TODAY
While the Right to Education Act has
been a watershed, the results accruing from
it have so far been mixed. With dropout rates
still high, our system is struggling to translate the encouraging enrollment rates of students into sustainable education. India still
has the largest number of out-of-school children, more than the whole of sub-Saharan
Africa.
At the same time, much remains to be
desired from the quality of education being
imparted to children. In 2009, the only time
DR PRASHANT BHALLA gives you a lowdown
on the things that the New Education Policy has
to keep in mind when it comes to the education
system in schools
Indian students participated in the international learning test Programme for
International Student Assessment, they
landed at the bottom of the table, topped
routinely by students from Shanghai, Hong
Kong, and Singapore. Regular surveys to test
the reading and problem-solving ability of
Indian school children have shown similar
discouraging results. The Annual Status of
Education Report 2014, facilitated by NGO
Pratham, reported that of all children
enrolled in Class V, about half can’t read
Class II level text. There also remains huge
disparity between the urban and rural; public and private; as well as the rich and poor
children vis-a-vis their schooling experiences.
The new policy has to laydown mechanisms that ensure students stay in school.
books pitched at a much higher comprehension level than that of students are a reality that teachers deal with every day without having any special training or education
to handle these complexities.
One of the most important recommendations on the new policy pertains to measures to improve quality of teaching in
schools. The committee’s recommendations to make Teacher Eligibility Test compulsory for recruitment and teacher certification mandatory and renewable based on
independent external testing will go a long
way in ensuring recruitment of quality teachers. However, strict measures are needed to
check teacher absenteeism. A World Bank
supported study says that teacher absenteeism is costing India a staggering $1.5 billion annually.
TEACHING QUALITY & ABSENTEEISM
INSTILLING SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
Teacher quality remains at the root of
the learning outcome disparity. Lack of qualified teachers in rural areas means that a
large number of those teaching school children have themselves not studied past
Class XII. Teacher absenteeism is rampant.
Issues such as wide variation in learning abilities of children within the same class, text-
This is a problem that plagues not just
the rural Government schools but the
entire education system of India. Rote
learning may allow students to pass exams
and get degrees, but it fails the entire purpose of education, that is to understand the
universe around you and develop a spirit of
scientific inquiry. While most children will
s we move forward in life, we face various changes;
we have to let go of some past experience in order
to keep moving with a flow of life. Change is certain,
we all have to accept it and learn to anticipate it, which
often becomes a major cause of depression and sorrow
for many of us. But we all endowed with amazing power
of our brain, we can indeed train our mind to handle
change with an ease through few simple exercises. Let’s
dig into few amazing ways to force a mindset shift.
n Create a practice of noticing at least three changes in
a day and their positive effects on you and the people
around you. By making an effort to observe the positive
effect so changes for your personal, professional and
social life, you will train your brain to acknowledge and
look at the change as an opportunity for growth.
A
n Develop a practice of writing: Writing your
experiences each day will help you acknowledge
changes in more positive ways. Just think about the time
you joined the first job, leaving your first job, leaving
good colleagues behind might have been painful. But
you accepted the change, you went ahead for new job,
and gradually you met more good people in life. When
you’ll write each and every experience, you will notice
how these changes helped you grow in life.
n Learn to meditate: Another way to strengthen the
muscle of your mindset and embrace change in life is to
learn and practice meditation. Spending time alone for
10 minutes in a day to observe the things around,
analyse the things deeply brings you a deeper sense of
acceptance and adds optimist approach in your life. You
STUDY CENTRES
yurveda is one of the oldest
Amedicinal sciences of the
After 361 out of
1078 students have been felicitated for their outstanding
performance in the recent
Civil Service Exam,2015,
Chanayaka IAS Academy
recently announced their
scholarships programmes to
meritorious students for pursuing classroom programmes
through its various study centers spread throughout India.
Eligibility: 100 per cent
scholarships will be rewarded
based on the eligibility & brilliance of the student. For
more
details
visit:
http://www.chanakyaiasacademy.com
Deadline: July 30, 2016
Newcastle University
Business Excellence scholarships are available to outstanding students entering
selected postgraduate programmes in September 2016.
Scholarships of £5,000
towards the cost of tuition fees
will be awarded to high
achieving Indian students
commencing one of the specified Masters Degree programmes.
Eligibility: The awards
are available for students commencing their studies on all
business school postgraduate
taught full-time programmes
with the exception of the following: Finance, Accounting
and Business Graduate
Diploma,
O p e r a t i o n s
Management
(Dual
Award) MSc/MSc Advanced
International Business
Management (Dual Award)
MSc/MSc,
Advanced
International Business
Management and Marketing
(Dual Award) MSc/MSc,
MBA, MPhil/PhD programmes.
Scholarships will be
awarded to students who meet
the full selection criteria and
whose application indicates
they have the potential to
achieve academic excellence,
and the potential to contribute to the School’s aim for
a culturally diverse classroom
setting. Hold a conditional or
unconditional offer of admission, Have obtained a UK 1st
Class Honours Degree or its
international equivalent by
the final scholarship deadline.
Have previously studied at a
University with a strong academic reputation, hold an
English language qualification of IELTS 6.5 or its equivalent with no subskill below
6.0, if their first language is not
English, by the final scholarship deadline.
Application process:
Offer holders who wish to
apply for the scholarship
should complete the online
application form.
Application deadline:
The final application date
for this scholarship is July
31, 2016.
For details contact:
[email protected]
world but few know that it
offers plenty of job
opportunities. Candidates with
degree in Ayurveda are
employed as medical officers
and consultants. One can also
be self-employed. A few more
colleges where one can study
are:
n Shri Dhanwantri Ayurvedic
College, Chandigarh. Courses:
anatomy, pathology,
pharmacology, ENT, surgery,
pediatrics, gynecology,
obstetrics, physiology etc
n Gujarat Ayurved University,
Jamnagar. Courses: BAMS,
D.Pharm. (Ayurveda), BPharm.
(Ayurveda), MPharm.
(Ayurveda), MD and PhD
n JB Roy State Medical
College, Kolkata. Course:
Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine
& Surgery
n State Ayurvedic College of
Lucknow. Course: Bachelor of
Ayurvedic Medicine & Surgery
n Rishikul State College,
Haridwar. Courses: Bachelor of
Ayurvedic Medicine & Surgery
and MD (Ayurveda)
be able to tell you by memory that the first
law of thermodynamics states that ‘energy
can’t be created or destroyed’, not many
would be able to explain the practical
implication of this law.
Changing this institutionalised system
of rote learning needs much more than policy guidelines. It needs reforming the mode
of teaching, the way textbooks are written
as well as the way teachers are trained in educating children.
REDUCING STRESS AND BURDEN
Schools and education authorities like
the CBSE have given special importance to
the need of reducing the stress of education
on children. The actions including introducing the non-detention policy, replacing
marks with grades and making boards
optional were spurred by incidents of student suicides and reports of anxiety among
school children.
It is essential to make education a source
of happiness and contentment in children
rather than a source of burden and stress.
Children need to be exploring their minds
and capacities rather than worrying themselves to death about their grades and scores.
In this light the recommendations of the
education panel to introduce a two tier exam
system for Maths and Science makes sense.
Students who have an aptitude and desire
to study humanities and liberal arts need not
take the same level of exam as students who
want to pursue studies in science.
(The writer is president, Manav Rachna Educational
Institutes & Treasurer, Education
Promotion Society for India)
MINDIT
can also choose apps like headspace app, which helps
you develop stronger practice of meditation as a
beginner.
n Imagine the inescapable: Almost everything in the
world eventually becomes obsolete. Try to imagine how
and why the life you are experiencing currently will
become outdated; may be your relationship, your job,
your liking or disliking or anything. While discovering
the answers, you will get to know and understand that
everything in life requires a change in order to do away
the drabness. When you’ll imagine the things this way,
you will become more innovative and will embrace the
VLCC cover?
It offers entry-level and skills
enhancement courses in beauty and
nutrition. The long-term, short-term,
certificate-based and correspondence
courses range across the beauty and
wellness domain and include cosmetology, skin-care, hair-care, makeup,
nutrition, clinical nutrition, sports and
fitness nutrition and child care nutrition.
n How are these courses beneficial?
Youth, being trained for job roles
that are in demand in the beauty and
wellness domain and thereafter certified by the Beauty and Wellness Sector
Skill Council, enjoy a competitive
advantage over their peers with more
doors opening up to them for job
opportunities as employers are more
receptive to hiring staff who have
gone through a recognised certification
process.
n Is there any qualification required
for the certified course at VLCC?
The admission criteria vary from
course to course.
n What prompted you to contribute
to the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas
Yojana (PMKVY)?
We have always been cognizant of
the fact that the presence of skilled manpower is essential for growing the beauty and wellness sector. Considering the
huge transformational role that the
PMKVY scheme can play in enabling
our country to become the Skills
Capital of the world by 2022, it is a great
honour to contribute to the process of
shaping a new India through our
involvement with this initiative.
n How will this course help to create
better performance in the Indian
beauty and wellness sector?
Given that the Indian beauty and
wellness sector is still largely unorganised and fragmented, flagship skills
training initiatives like the PMKVY
contribute to improving the quality of
service delivery in this sector besides
contributing to women empowerment.
n What is the main requirement for
growth of this industry?
The availability of skilled manpower is one of the biggest requirements
to sustain the high performance. A
Human Resource and Skill
Requirement report by KPMG for the
NSDC estimates that the workforce
changes cheerfully.
n Make your personal growth a priority: Working on
own development in this hectic and fast moving pace of
life is incredibly challenging. But this is the only way to
stay positive, embrace change and manage the
unwanted stress of everyday life. A spiritual practice,
meditation, yoga, or just a self - examining will help you
embrace change and take you to the path of your own
growth.
n Accept that change will happen with or without you:
Accept that time is precious as it keep flowing away, life
is short as the number of good or bad experiences we
encounter in different stages of life and the number of
gifts universe has stored for us at different phases of life
are more than the total numbers of years we live. Every
Vandana Luthra
Founder & Vice-Chairperson, VLCC Group
requirement in the beauty and wellness
sector in India is likely to witness a rise
from 4.21 million in 2013 to 7.39 million in 2017 and to 14.27 million by
2022.
n Do students from the under-privileged strata of society benefit from
such courses?
Many of the students enrolling at
vocational training institutes for courses in the beauty and wellness domain,
including the VLCC institutes, come
from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Such courses open up opportunities for them.
n How do these courses and initiatives
generate jobs?
Considering the large demand for
trained manpower, skill training courses ensure that the industry can continue
its growth momentum and pass-outs
from vocational training providers can
get jobs. VLCC Institute, for instance,
finds employment opportunities for students improving over time. Our network of 73 institutes across India and
Nepal provide skilled manpower to the
wellness industry at large. Only a fraction of students are absorbed by us.
n What pay scale do freshers get?
Depending on the job role, students
emerging from top-tier skilling institutions get attractive salary packages to
start with ranging anywhere between
`10,000 to `15,000.
n Is there a lack of skilled manpower in this industry?
Yes, it is one of the most daunting
challenges for the Indian beauty and
wellness industry today.
n People who get certified find jobs
in the organised or unorganised sector?
Considering that this industry is
largely unorganised and fragmented
with a limited number of large industry players, skilled and certified youth
find jobs in both the organised and
unorganised segments.
beginning of idea has its own life cycle and an
expansion. And when the idea expands, change
becomes a natural process and a necessary part of the
cycle. The change will happen, whether you accept or
not, so let’s accept and embrace it.
n Another way to embrace change is to accept the
situations and people you have at present. Holding on
means believing that there is a past, while letting go is
knowing that there is a beautiful future waiting for us. In
order to forget old memories, you need to make new
one, and we only create new memories when we are
willing to give it a chance.
n Embrace the sense of detachment.
The writer is AK Mishra, director,
Art of Success, New Delhi
IN BRIEF
AUTOMATION COMPETITION
Mitsubishi Electric India
has launched its second edition
of national-level automation
competition for students in
India. The competition invites
participation from technical
institutions across the country.
The second edition of the competition invites participation
from technical institutions
across the country.
The last date for registration
and submission of proposal is
September 1, 2016. The top 35
teams selected will be
announced on September 15,
2016. These teams will have to
submit their reports by
December 15, 2016. All the participants will be get participation
certificates. The winning team
will get `1 lakh. Students can
register at http://www.mitsubishielectric.in/fa/mecup.
WHIZ CLASSICAL
Clone Futura – an onsite
technology training institute
dedicated to children, women
and seniors citizens has introduced Whiz Classical — a global online hunt for the best
Indian classical performers to
promote excellence in classical
dance, vocal and instrumental.
It will provide students
from across the country a platform to showcase their talent in
classical dance, vocal and instru-
mental. The competition will be
conducted in a systematic and
phased manner. The process of
checking and elimination by the
expert panel over several rounds
ensures that only the best performers come out as winners.
The award show will be
conducted at NCPA, Mumbai
on October 10, 2016 where
winners from each category
will get an opportunity to perform amidst a large audience.
RYANITES AT NASA
The students of Ryan
International School Vasant
Kunj had the unique opportunity to visit NASA. The chairmen of Ryan International
Group of Institutions Dr AF
Pinto and MD Grace Pinto
have always provided a platform
for students to participate in various international experiences
and widen their horizons.
The Astronaut Hall Of
Fame and the Kennedy
SpaceCentre Complex in
Florida were the main highlights
of their visit.
They were exposed to the
fields of space, science and
technology with the ability to
experience, imagine and interact through hands on activities.
Students also had the
opportunity to meet and interact with Samuel T Durrance,
NASA payload specialist who
has been a member of the crew
of Space Shuttle Columbia and
Space Shuttle Endeavour.
M TECH PROGRAMME IN CYBER SECURITY
Paladion Networks, a global cyber security provider, has
partnered with MS Ramaiah
University of Applied Sciences
(MSRUAS) to launch an M
Tech programme in Cyber
Security and Information
Assurance. The course is a
first-of-its-kind in India and
aims to fill the talent crunch in
the information security space.
The curriculum is codesigned and co-administered
by MSRUAS and Paladion
Networks. It will bring select
experts from Paladion as visiting faculties to impart the most
up-to-date knowledge in information security. The course
will also give students access to
Paladion labs and cyber security intelligence amassed from
its various cyber security centers. On successful completion
of the course, students would be
absorbed into Paladion
Networks and placed in any of
its global offices. An aptitude
test and interview will be part
of the selection process.
Speaking on the association, Dr Jagan Vaman, executive
VP-corporate development &
strategy, from Paladion
Networks said: “The course is
designed in such a way that the
students would have hands-on
exposure to unique and up-todate cyber security software.”
ONLINE STEM RESOURCE TRAINING FOR TEACHERS
IBM along with National
Council for Science and
Technology Communication
are hosting a three-day Science,
Technology Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) summit
and hands-on teacher training
programme, bringing together
stakeholders from Government
and non-Government segments, apex science organisations and educators in the fields
of STEM.
A free online resource for
teachers (www.teacherstryscience.org) includes high-quality lesson plans with teaching
resources and support that will
help them spark students’ interest in STEM disciplines.
Michaela Labriole, manager of special projects at the New
York Hall of Science, a global
partner
for
Teachers
TryScience, will conduct indepth training for teachers on
the digital resource, including
how to adapt these lessons and
build interactive activities for
their classrooms.
Speaking about the summit, Mamtha Sharma, headcorporate citizenship & corporate affairs, IBM India Private
Limited said: “IBM through the
Teachers TryScience is directly involved in the education
arena to inspire and enable
tomorrow’s innovators.”
GUIDE TO FULL-TIME MBA RANKINGS
The Graduate Management
Admission Council (GMAC)
unveiled its user’s guide to fulltime MBA rankings, a comprehensive online tool designed
to help prospective graduate
business students better understand the ranking methodologies established by five wellknown publications.
Housed on mba.com —
the council’s student facing
website viewed by more than
eight million unique visitors
yearly — this guide clearly
summarizes and compares the
content included in each of the
five ranking methodologies.
The interactive guide highlights each of the five major
rankings — Bloomberg
Businessweek, The Economist,
The Financial Times, Forbes
and US News & World Report
— by breaking down their
methodologies across stan-
dardised weighting categories,
identifying distinctive aspects of
each ranking, and presenting a
compilation of other useful
ranking and analysis.
Rankings are appealing to
applicants because they provide
some level of clarity and order
to a marketplace of business
schools that is highly complex.
They curate diverse data points
from a variety of sources into
simple measures.
money 12
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
Cancellation amount not to
exceed basic fare plus fuel
surcharge; all statutory levies
and taxes to be refunded under
all circumstances
CIVIL AVIATION MINISTER
ASHOK GAJAPATHI RAJU
BUZZ
FROM
GOVT
VECV gears for growth in buses
Trai explores pubic wi-fi
KUSHAN MITRA n INDORE
NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Trai today sought public
views on allowing non-telecom companies to participate in setting up public wifi
hotspots, and said low- cost
Wi-Fi access infrastructure
could slash internet rates by
up to 90 per cent, while
offering faster speeds.
The regulator has sought
public views by August 10 on
slew of issues including regulatory hurdles, licensing
restrictions, business models,
interoperability between wifi
networks and delicensing of
more mobile airwaves.
“In this paper, ‘public
Wi-Fi networks’ has broader meaning and not limited
to the Wi-Fi hotspot created
by licensed TSP/ISP at public places. There could be
small entrepreneurs or even
a very small entity which
would like to participate in
common and shared Wi-Fi
network for larger public
use,” Trai said in its paper on
Proliferation of Broadband
t hroug h Public Wi-Fi
Networks.
Other issues that would
b e delib erate d by t he
Telecom
Regulator y
Authority of India include
policy measures to encourage policy measures required
to encourage the deployment of commercial models
for city-wide Wi-Fi networks
as well as expansion of WiFi networks in remote or
rural areas.
The public views have
olvo-Eicher Commercial
Vehicles (VECV) has been a
V
successful joint-venture and the
first factory to be born out of this
joint-venture is a state-of-the-art
bus body manufacturing facility
at Baggad, around 50 kilometers
outside Indore. Located near the
chassis manufacturing and engine
manufacturing facilities of the
company, this plant is an important element of VECV’s aim to
become a leader in the bus segment. And B Anil Baliga, Senior
Vice President, Bus and
Application, VECV is particularly proud of this newish facility.
One major reason for his
pride is that the plant has been
helping VECV grow rapidly, particularly in the light bus segment.
In 2008 when Eicher Motors tied
up with Swedish manufacturer
Volvo to make commercial vehicles, some had dismissed the
move as too little too late. But
Eicher’s marketshare in buses in
particular has grown. “One major
reason for this has been the
switch from heavy-duty buses to
light buses, where we have a major
advantage vis-a-vis our rivals”
Baliga says. Advancements in
engines and construction, particularly as manufacturers like
VECV have started to supply
fully-built buses have driven this
change.
“There is also the cost factor
that plays a very important role
here”, Baliga points out. “Larger
buses, called heavy-duty buses, are
not only more expensive to purchase but they also consume
more fuel, and outside large cities
or long-distance routes transporters are seeing less value”, he
added. The share of heavy-duty
buses in the bus market which is
expected to be just short of 74,600
units this year has fallen from 65
per cent in 2005 to 35 per cent
today.
Even state and urban transport corporations, still among the
largest bus buyers in the country
are looking at lighter buses. Baliga
points out that Indore, VECV’s
‘home city’ in a matter of speaking, the new Bus Rapid Transit
corridor that has been built has
medium-role buses operating. A
medium bus can seat in excess of
65 passengers whereas a heavyduty bus seats around 72-80, so
Baliga believes the costs are
skewed in the lighter buses favour.
However, the biggest leg-up
for VECV and its rivals in the
manufacturer space has been the
implementation of the Road
Transpoprt Ministry’s new ‘Bus
Code’ that imposes safety and testing norms on buses. “While the
ministry has kept some of the
rules in abeyance so that bus
Vijay Mallya case: DRT says
March 7 order stands ‘infructuous’
PTI n BENGALURU
he Debt Recover y
Tribunal today said its
T
March 7 order restricting
transfer of $75 million sweetheart deal amount from
Diageo Plc and two of its subsidiaries to liquor baron Vijay
Mallya is “infructuous”.
A part of the deal amount
was transferred much earlier
to the order date (March 7),
DRT Presiding Officer CR
Benakanahalli said while
hearing submissions made by
Mumbai’s S er vice Tax
Department.
“The March 7 DRT order,
restricting transfer of $75 mn
sweetheart deal amount from
Diageo Plc and two of its
subsidiaries to Mallya stands
infructuous as $40 mn had
already been transferred much
earlier to March 7 DRT order,”
Benakanahalli said.
The
S er vice
Tax
Department as part of the
original application is seeking recovery of over `1,000
crore debt from Vijay Mallya
and his subsidiary companies.
Over-ruling submissions
by the department, the
Presiding Officer said apart
from $40 mn, the tribunal
cannot direct Mallya and
Diageo to attach the remaining $35 mn because the
money has not yet been credited to the beneficiary, as per
terms and conditions, which
spans across next five years.
“Unless and until there is
breach of terms and conditions and Mallya or the companies are found at fault, the
tribunal can neither interfere
nor give direction to the parties involved. Moreover, the
remaining $35 mn has not
been credited to the beneficiary and that will be done
over the period of next five
years,” he said.
Making yet another separate submission, the Service
Tax Department Counsel said
it has the right to recover over
Rs 1,000 crore from movable
and immovable assets of
Mallya, which includes a
house and altogether four
aircraft and helicopters.
Countering the submissions, Benakanahalli said he is
not the determining authority because the matter is
already being heard in the
Karnataka High Court.
“I am not at all a determining authority. What? To
determine the recover y
through sale proceeds of
immovable and movable
assets, which cannot be recovered due to legal wranglings.
The matter is being heard in
the High Court and it is a subject of sub-judice,” he said.
body-builders can adapt, these
new norms greatly enhance safety and comfort and as a large manufacturer it is easier for us to deliver. At some unorganised bodybuilding facilities almost every bus
was unique”, Baliga points out.
But the mainstay of VECV’s
bus business and their strongest
market is for school buses, where
their Skyline and Starline buses
enjoy almost 30 per cent marketshare. The March-July period is
the peak season for school and
college buses and Eicher is the
market leader. “We have built very
strong brand recognition in this
segment, so much so that when
new schools open they very often
come stright to Eicher”, Baliga says
proudly but does add that his sale
teams also do a lot of work.
However, the past few years have
seen Eicher also ramp up sales of
staff buses for companies and private route-permit operators.
However, Baliga is keen to
stay ahead of the competition.
With his new series of school
buses, VECV is not only offering air-conditioning as an option
but also a online bus-monitoring
service. “We will not only have
closed-circuit cameras inside
the buses with a live feed provided to the school but also GPS
tracked location alerts for the
school and parents as a service
that we will offer schools for a
nominal cost every month”, he
pointed out. “Safety is a service
we feel that schools and parents
will pay for, and by offering an
off-the-shelf package I think we
make it much easier for schools
to offer this service.”
models, expects 90% cut in data cost
also been sought on adoption
of a “hub-based model”
where a central third party
Authentication,
Author ization
and
Accounting hub will facilitate interconnection, authentication and payments and
who should own and control
such hub.
The regulator said that it
is estimated that cost per MB
in Wi-Fi Network could be
less than 2 paise per MB
while consumers on an average are paying around 23
paise per MB for the data
usage in the cellular network
like 2G, 3G and 4G.
“This shows that the
consumer tariff for data may
reduce as much as one-tenth
in Wi-Fi compared to mobile
data. From the above, it is
obvious that deployment of
Wi-Fi network will not only
enhance the speed of internet but also it will make data
affordable to consumers,”
Trai said.
The regulator said that
status of Wi-Fi hotspots in
India is not encouraging as
while the country represents
one-sixth of the world population but its share in WiFi hotspots is less than onethousandth.
Globally, the increase in
number of Wi-Fi hotspots
from 2013 to 2016 has been
568 per cent whereas India
has an increase of 12 per cent
only. At present, there are
only 31,518 with 13,967
installed in cafes, Trai said.PTI
Problems persist in many countries.
Brazilian economy is in trouble.
European Union is going through the
after effects of Brexit. UK itself is
looking for starting fresh negotiations.
So while there is a hope...The exports
having bottomed out and its now
showing signs of improvement, (but) will
still have some way to go before they
really steadily move upwards
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
MINISTER NIRMALA SITHARAMAN
Pay less for flight ticket
cancellations from August 1
NEW DELHI: New Delhi, Jul 13
(PTI) Air passengers have a reason to smile as the revised
norms that caps ticket cancellation charges and bars airlines
from levying additional amount
for refund process are coming
into force from August 1.
“Cancellation amount not to
exceed basic fare plus fuel surcharge; all statutory levies and
taxes to be refunded under all
circumstances,” Civil Aviation
Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju
said today as he announced that
the new cancellation norms for
fare refund would become effective from August 1.
Issuing the revised regulations, the Directorate General of
Civil Aviation (DGCA) also
made it clear that airlines cannot levy additional charge to
process the refund.
The move would come as a
relief to air passengers against
the backdrop of many carriers
hiking the cancellation charges
in recent times.
The regulator said carriers
should refund all statutory taxes
and User Development Fee
(UDF)/Airport Development
Fee (ADF)/Passenger Service
Fee (PSF) to the passengers in
case of “cancellation/ non-utilisation of tickets/no show”.
“This provision shall also be
applicable for all types of fares
offered including promos/special fares and where the basic
fare is non-refundable,” DGCA
noted.
The changes were first pro-
In a tweet, Raju
said the process of
refund would be
completed within
30 days even when
booked through
travel agents or
online portals.
Cancellation
charges to be
clearly displayed
on every ticket.The
policy to be
prominently
displayed on the
website of the
airline, he said in
another tweet
posed by the Civil Aviation
Ministry in June as part of
putting in place passenger
friendly measures.
These norms would be
effective from August 1, according to the Civil Aviation
Requirement (CAR) issued by
DGCA chief M Sathiyavathy on
Tuesday.
In a tweet, Raju said the
process of refund would be
completed within 30 days even
when booked through travel
agents or online portals.
“Cancellation charges to be
clearly displayed on every ticket. The policy to be prominently displayed on the website of the
airline,” Raju said in another
tweet.
No charges can now be
levied by airlines for corrections
in errors of names of the pas-
sengers, he added.
Separately, DGCA has also
revised the rules with respect to
persons with disability and
reduced mobility whereby airport operators should make
provision for such people to
embark or disembark from a
flight without inconvenience.
Carriers would be required
to indicate the refund amount in
case of ticket cancellations.
The amount and its breakup may be indicated on the
ticket itself or through separate
form used for the purpose.
Also, the policy and amount of
refund shall be displayed by the
airlines on their respective websites, DGCA noted.
Further, passengers can
choose whether the refund
money should be kept in the
airline’s credit shell or not.
“Airline shall not levy any
additional charge for correction
in name of the same person,
when error in his name spelling
is pointed out by the passenger
to the airline after booking of
his ticket,” the regulator said.
For tickets booked
through travel agents or portal, the onus of refund would
be on the airlines.
“In case of purchase of
ticket through travel agent/
portal, onus of refund shall lie
with the airlines, as agents are
their appointed representatives. The airlines shall ensure
that the refund process is
completed within 30 working
days,” the regulator said. PTI
reels as Airbus
Sebi makes dividend distribution Farnborough
slashes superjumbo output
policy must for top 500 companies
NEW DELHI: Amid shareholder
complaints about many companies refusing to pay dividend
despite having extra cash, markets regulator Sebi has made it
mandatory for the top 500
listed firms to have a ‘dividend
distribution policy’.
The new norms will not
force companies to pay dividend, but will help investors get
a clearer picture on returns
from their investments in such
listed firms and also identify
stocks matching their investment objectives.
Notifying the new regulations, which were earlier
approved by Sebi’s board, the
regulator said the companies
will have to list out the circumstances under which the
shareholders may or may not
expect dividend.
Besides, the policy will
need to spell out the financial
parameters as also various
internal and external factors to
be considered for declaring
dividend.
Under this policy, the companies will have to inform the
shareholders about how they
aim to utilise extra profits and
the parameters to be adopted
with regard to various classes
of shares.
The policy will need to be
...notifies stricter transfer norms for P-Notes
MUMBAI: To allay concerns over
misuse of controversy-ridden PNotes, regulator Sebi has notified
new norms restricting transfer of
these offshore instruments only to
entities authorised for their use and
that too after prior consent from
the issuer foreign investor.
Participatory Notes or
Offshore Derivative Units are
issued by Sebi-registered foreign
portfolio investors to other overseas entities looking for an exposure to the Indian markets without getting registered directly to
save on costs and procedures.
However, Sebi has tightened
its norms substantially over the
years about who can issue and who
can subscribe to these instruments,
amid long-standing concerns
about their possible misuse for
laundering of money. The regulator decided on the latest tightening of norms earlier this year after
recommendations in this regard
were made by the Supreme Courtappointed Special Investigation
Team on Black Money.
While some of the new
amendments to the regulations
governing P-Notes have already
come into effect, Sebi has now
notified one more change that
was approved by Sebi’s board
recently.
As per the new notification,
a foreign portfolio investor will
have to ensure that any transfer
of offshore derivative instruments issued by or on behalf of
it, is made subject to two specific conditions -- such ODIs are
transferred to persons fulfilling
Sebi norms for subscription and
a prior consent of the FPI is
obtained for such transfer, except
when the persons to whom the
ODIs are to be transferred to are
pre-approved by the FPI. PTI
disclosed by the companies in
their annual reports and on
their websites.
To start with, top 500 companies in terms of market capitalisation (as on March 31 of
every financial year) will need
to frame the dividend distribution policy while the same
may apply to other companies
at a later date.
Further, “listed entities
other than top 500 listed entities based on market capitalisation may disclose their dividend distribution policies on
a voluntary basis in their annual reports and on their web-
sites”, Sebi said.While dividend payment has been in
vogue for many decades,the
move is expected to help
investors identify and understand the potential of returns
on investments made in a
company.
The decision follows complaints from various investor
groups that the companies
were not distributing their
extra profits among shareholders.
Countries such as Brazil,
Chile, Venezuela, Columbia
and Greece are said to have
made it mandatory to pay dividend to shareholders, depending on the size of profits.
On the one hand, mandatory dividend payout protects
the cash flow rights of minority shareholders, but at the
same time they can distort
investment plans of the companies.
The current regulations in
India require the companies to
disclose their dividend policy as
also the rate of dividend, if any,
for the past five financial years.
Howe ver, it was not
mandatory as of now to
h ave a d iv i d e n d p ol i c y
although some listed companies have formulated such
policies on their own. PTI
AFP n FARNBOROUGH
he aircraft sector hit turbulence on Wednesday as
T
European giant Airbus slashed
output of its A380 superjumbo
because of weak demand,
putting a lid on plane orders
generally at Farnborough.
European planemaker
Airbus revealed late yesterday at
Farnborough -- one of the
world’s largest civilian and
defence airshows -- that it would
halve production of its enormous A380 to one a month from
2018.
Chief executive Tom Enders
said on Wednesday he hoped the
cutbacks would last for “just a
year or two”, adding he remained
optimistic over the jet’s
prospects.
“We are all pretty up optimistic about the longer term
prospects of the A380 and I
hope this is just a year or two
and then we can raise production rates again,” Enders told
reporters at the airshow, south
of London.
“We decided back in 2000 to
launch the A380 (and) little did
we know what the world would
look like in 2010, 2015 or 2016.”
He added: “We believe in
this aircraft, the company knows
what to do. We are proactive and
I am quite confident that we will
be able to (again) raise production rates.”
Enders said Airbus needed
“to work harder to convince airlines that this aircraft really pays
off if you can fill it”.
“It’s a real money making
machine,” he insisted.
In what has been a relatively quiet show for new orders of
planes generally, Airbus’ US rival
Boeing on Wednesday inked
previously-announced jet deals
worth a total of $3.79 billion (3.42
billion euros) with Air Europa of
Spain and Ruili Airlines of China.
Airbus yesterday revealed
firm orders for 129 aircraft worth
a combined $15.6 billion before
the usual discounts are applied.
The orders included a vast
$12.5-billion deal for 100 singleaisle A321neo jets from Malaysia’s
AirAsia.
However the shock A380
announcement has stolen the
show and reminded participants about the gloomy economic backdrop.
The A380 is the world’s
largest civilian airplane, carrying up to 544 passengers in
a four-class configuration or
853 in just a single class.
The jet has a list price of
$432.6 million but it has not
registered any sales yet at the
week-long Farnborough
event.
Dubai’s Emirates airline is
the biggest client for the
A380, operating 81 with
another 142 on order.
Vistara to begin overseas ops with Saarc, Gulf by H2 of 2018
MUMBAI: Vistara, which was
in the forefront to get the
5/20 rule partially scrapped,
on Wednesday said it “will
not be rushing into international operations” and
that something towards this
is “unlikely before June
2018”, when it will get the
delivery of the 20th aircraft.
“We are not rushing into
international operations. It’s
not a race for us. But we will
definitely do it. We will get
the delivery of our 20th
plane by the first half of
2018.
“S o,
with
the
Government retaining the
20-plane clause for international operations, I think we
will be able to take a call
only after that. Of course,
we are reviewing and refin-
ing our international strategy,” Vistara chief strategy
and commercia l of f icer
Sanjiv Kapoor told the news
agency on Wednesday.
Kapoor, who joined the
Tata Sons and Singapore
Airlines promoted Vistara
only recently, further said
their international operations will begin with the
Saarc markets and the Gulf
as their present set of planes
(A320s) could serve shorthaul markets the best.
Kapoor, who was here to
launch a co-branded credit
card with Axis Bank, also
said the airline, which has
only 11 aircraft at present,
will get the delivery of two
more A320s by October.
“The first set of routes
that we will launch internationally, will be the routes
that can be flown by our
existing aircraft (A320s
which are narrow body
planes by Airbus) which
will be routes within three,
three-and-a-half hours from
our Delhi hub,” Kapoor
said.
“So, that means South
Asian nations will be our
first focus international destinations along with the
Gulf,” he said, adding markets like Bangladesh, Nepal,
Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri
Lanka
and
even
A f g h an i s t an h av e g re at
potential.
He said Pakistan is of
course the largest market,
but that is not likely to
happen given the relations
between the two nations.
Last
month,
the
Government had partially
scrapped the contentious
5/20 rule, which mandated
an airline to have five years
of domestic operational
experience and 20 planes to
become eligible for internat i ona l op e r at i ons , by
removing the five years of
domestic operational experience clause.
The new rules came in
despite strong opposition
and hectic lobbying by older
rivals such as Jet Airways,
Spicejet and Indigo. Under
the new rules, domestic air-
lines can fly overseasprovided they deploy 20 aircraft or 20 per cent of their
capacity in the domestic
market, whichever is higher.
It can be noted that the
newest airline Vistara and
the budget carrier AirAsia
India were behind the campaign to end the 5/20 rule.
Now they are speeding up
their fleet expansion so they
can fly overseas sooner and
compete with local rivals Jet
Airways and state-owned
Air India.
E arlier this month,
Vistara chief executive Phee
Teik Yeoh had said that the
airline was readying a longterm plan for starting international operations and that
he would meet the board
with a plan within the next
two months.
“There is no stopping us
from preponing our aircraft deliveries, but we
would like to go overseas
only when we are ready. It’s
not about to be the first, or
the earliest, and not so
much about how fast we go.
I don’t see how all this can
be done in the next 9-12
months. Easily, it’s a minimum one-year affair,” Yeoh
had said earlier this month.
Ye o h h a d a l s o s a i d
advancing the plane delivery
is something that he would
not rule out. “Advancing
just to go overseas is not
good enough. We should
not lose sight of the fact that
we have domestic operations to run,” he had said.
He had further said that
the airline would induct
w i d e - b o d i e d , l on g - h au l
planes and consider starting
direct flights to Britain and
the US.
Vistara, which started
operations on January 9,
2015, connects 17 cities now
and Port Blair will be the
1 8 t h d e s t i n at i o n f r o m
October, Kapoor said on
Wednesday.
Kapoor also said the airline has been witnessing
steady increase in its loads
factor, which is amongst the
highest now at 90 per cent
economy class and 80 per
cent for overall three seating
configuration.
Vistara is the only airline in the country that
offers a three-class configuration with the economy, the
premium economy and the
business class, he said. PTI
world 13
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
China reasserts claim over SCS
PTI n BEIJING
hina on Wednesday escalated its condemnation of
C
the ruling by a UN-backed tribunal that struck down its
“historical rights” over the
South China Sea, issuing a
“White Paper” that asserted its
claims over the strategic region
and accused the Philippines of
illegally occupying its territory.
The White Paper said the
core of the relevant disputes
between China and the
Philippines in the South China
Sea lies in the territorial issues
caused by the Philippines’ invasion and illegal occupation,
starting in the 1970s, of some
islands and reefs of China’s
Nansha Qundao (the Nansha
Islands).
“The Philippines has concocted many excuses to cover
up this fact, and to pursue its
territorial pretencions,” said
the document, titled ‘China
Adheres to the Position of
Settling Through Negotiation
the Relevant Disputes Between
China and the Philippines in
the South China Sea.’
The Philippines’ relevant
claim is groundless from the
perspectives of either history or
international law, said the white
paper issued by the State
Council Information Office.
The document asserted
that China has claims over the
South China Sea for 2,000
years and the Philippines,
which had filed the petition
before the Permanent Court of
Arbitration in the Hague, was
occupying Chinese territory.
It attacked the Philippines
for turning “a blind eye to bilateral consensus”, saying Manila
has repeatedly taken moves
that complicate the relevant
disputes, gradually intensified
them between China and the
Philippines in the South China
Sea.
In a major diplomatic blow
to China, the tribunal working
under the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS) struck down
the Communist giant’s claims
in the strategic waters on
Tuesday.
The Hague-based court
said China violated the
Philippines’ sovereign rights. It
said China has caused “severe
harm to the coral reef environment” by building artificial
islands.
China has often accused
the US for fomenting trouble in
the South China Sea, through
which USD 3 trillion of trade
passes annually and where
Vietnam, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan
have rival claims to the waters.
The white paper said with
the development of the inter-
Workers chat near a map of South China Sea on display at a maritime defense educational facility in Nanjing in east China’s
Jiangsu province. China blamed the Philippines for stirring up trouble and issued a policy paper Wednesday calling the
islands in the South China Sea its “inherent territory”, a day after an international tribunal said China had no legal basis for its
expansive claims.
AP
national law of the sea, a maritime delimitation dispute also
arose between China and the
Philippines regarding certain
maritime areas of the South
China Sea.
The Philippines built military facilities on some islands
and reefs of China’s Nansha
Qundao
(the
Nansha
Islands/Spratly islands) it
invaded and illegally occupied
and deliberately destroyed survey markers set up by China, it
said adding that Manila
attempted to illegally occupy
China’s Ren’ai Jiao by using a
military vessel illegally run
around it.
The Philippines intruded
into relevant maritime areas of
China’s Nansha Qundao to
carry out illegal oil and gas
exploratory drilling and bidding and has repeatedly
harassed and attacked Chinese
fishermen and fishing boats
conducting routine fishing
operations, according to the
white paper.
In January 2013, then
Philippine government unilaterally initiated the South China
Sea arbitration.
By doing so, the
Philippines has violated its
standing agreement with
China to settle the relevant
disputes through bilateral
negotiation, has violated
China’s right to choose means
of dispute settlement of its
own will as a State Party to the
UNCLOS, and has abused
the UNCLOS dispute settlement procedures, it said.
“The Philippines has distorted facts, misinterpreted
laws and concocted a pack of
lies, in an attempt to deny
China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and
interests in the South China
Sea,” it said.
The tribunal established
at the Philippines’ unilateral
request has no jurisdiction
over relevant submissions,
and awards rendered by it are
null and void and have no
binding force, the white paper
said.
China reaffirmed that its
territorial sovereignty and
maritime rights and interests
in the South China Sea “shall
under no circumstances be
affected by those awards.”
China does not accept or
recognise those awards, it
said. The white paper said
that China opposes and will
never accept any claim or
action based on those awards.
Taiwan sends warship
to SCS after ruling
PTI n TAIPEI
Taiwanese warship set sail
for the South China Sea on
A
Wednesday “to defend Taiwan’s
maritime territory”, a day after
an international tribunal ruled
China has no historic rights in
the waterway and undermined
Taipei’s claims to islands there.
President Tsai Ing-wen rallied troops on the deck of the
frigate, saying Taiwanese were
determined to “defend their
country’s rights”, before the
warship headed for Taiwancontrolled Taiping island in the
Spratly island chain from the
southern city of Kaohsiung.
The Permanent Court of
Arbitration in the Hague ruled
Tuesday that China has no
historic rights to its claimed
“nine-dash line” and that it had
violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights in the exclusive
economic zone.
Crucially for Taipei, it ruled
that Taiwan-administered
Taiping, the largest island in the
Spratlys chain, was legally a
“rock” that did not give it an
exclusive economic zone,
undermining Taiwanese claims
to waters surrounding the
island. Taiwan’s government
said the ruling was “completely unacceptable” and had no
legally binding force since the
arbitral tribunal did not formally invite Taipei to participate in its proceedings or solicit its views.
“The South China Sea ruling, especially the categorisation of Taiping island, has
severely jeopardised our country’s rights in the South China
Sea islands and their relevant
waters,” Tsai told soldiers on the
deck of ship in footage broadcast by news channels.
“This patrol mission will
show Taiwanese people’s determination to defend their country’s rights,” she said, before disembarking from the warship
ahead of its departure.
The defence ministry
vowed to “firmly defend
Taiwan’s territory and sovereignty” and said there would be
no change to Taiwan’s claims in
the strategic seas because of the
ruling.
It brought the deployment
of the warship forward by a day
in reaction to the ruling.
The ministry said in a
statement it would continue to
send aircraft and ships for
patrol missions to the region
and remain “highly vigilant” to
protect national security.
Tsai’s predecessor Ma Yingjeou visited Taiping in January
to press Taiwan’s claims and
show that Taiping is an island,
not a rock, in a move that triggered criticism from the United
States as well as protests from
Vietnam and the Philippines.
The Spratlys are also
claimed in part or whole by
China,
Vietnam,
the
Philippines, Malaysia and
Brunei.
Theresa May
takes charge
as British PM
London: Theresa May became British prime
minister on Wednesday after being appointed by
British Queen Elizabeth II shortly after the
monarch accepted David Cameron's resignation.
An official image showed May curtseying to
the queen during an audience at Buckingham
Palace. Under Britain's unwritten constitution,
it is up to the monarch to ask the leader of the
party that commands a majority in the House
of Commons to form a government.
The 59-year-old Conservative party leader is
the second woman PM of Britain after Margaret
Thatcher. The tough-talking leader took charge
with a heavy workload already waiting in her intray after the Brexit vote. David Cameron visited British Queen Elizabeth II earlier to tender
his formal resignation, after stepping down in
the wake of the seismic vote to leave the
European Union. In a final statement in front of
Downing Street, flanked by his wife and three
children, he said it had been "the greatest honNew British Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband
our of my life" to work there, adding: "My only
Philip May wave from the steps of 10 Downing Street in
wish is continued success for this great country
London on Wednesday. David Cameron stepped down on
Agencies
Wednesday after six years as UK PM
AP that I love so very much."
Filipinos applaud moments after the Hague-based UN international arbitration tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines in its
case against China on the dispute in South China Sea on Tuesday. AP
- the camera aboard
NASA’s Juno mission - has
JsentunoCam
back some of the first
images of Jupiter along with
three of its four largest moons
taken after the spacecraft
entered orbit around the king
of planets on July 4.
Juno’s visible-light camera
was turned on six days after
Juno fired its main engine and
placed itself into orbit around
the largest planetary inhabitant
of our solar system.
The first high-resolution
images of the gas giant Jupiter
are still a few weeks away.
“This scene from JunoCam
indicates it survived its first
pass through Jupiter’s extreme
radiation environment without
any degradation and is ready to
take on Jupiter,” said Scott
Bolton, from the Southwest
Research Institute in San
Antonio.
The new view was obtained
when the spacecraft was 4.3
million kilometres from Jupiter
on the outbound leg of its initial 53.5-day capture orbit.
The colour image shows
atmospheric features on Jupiter,
including the famous Great
Red Spot, and three of the massive planet’s four largest moons
- Io, Europa and Ganymede,
from left to right in the image.
PTI n WASHINGTON
manipulative Pakistan
which supports terrorist
A
elements has been treating the
US like chumps, American
lawmakers and experts have
said while calling for cutting off
aid to the country and listing it
as a state sponsoring terrorism.
“They are making chumps
out of us. They see us we are
being so stupid. It seems like
paying the mafia,” said
Congressman Matt Salmon,
Chairman of the Asia and
Pacific subcommittee of House
Foreign Affairs Committee.
“If I may use an undiplomatic term. We have been patsies,” said former Bush era top
diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad
told lawmakers along with others how Pakistani leadership
had gamed the American system for decades.
“Patsies chumps. Most
Americans see out of this and
yet our so called leaders do not
This image released by NASA was taken by the Juno spacecraft, five days after it
arrived at Jupiter. The image shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot and three of its four
largest moons. Juno is on a 20-month mission to study Jupiter's poles,
atmosphere and interior.
Juno/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS via AP
“JunoCam will continue
to take images as we go around
PTI n WASHINGTON
he US has urged countries
in the Asia Pacific region
T
not to engage in “escalatory or
provocative” actions in the
South China Sea following a
decisive ruling by an international tribunal over the disputed region.
The
Hague-based
Permanent
Court
of
Arbitration (PCA) in its order
invalidated China’s expansive
sea claims surrounding disputed areas of the South China
Sea.
In 2013, the Philippines
challenged China’s attempts to
establish control over an area
encompassing nearly 90 per
cent of the South China Sea.
China has refused to accept
or implement the order.
“We certainly would
encourage all parties to
acknowledge the final and
binding nature of this tribunal.
We certainly would urge all
parties not to use this as an
opportunity to engage in escalatory or provocative actions,”
White House Press Secretary
Josh Earnest told reporters
while travelling with US
President Barack Obama to
Dallas.
Earnest said the US was
not a claimant to any land features in the South China Sea.
“Our interest lies in a desire
for a peaceful resolution to disputes and competing claims in
that region,” he said.
Earnest said the US wanted to preserve the freedom of
navigation and free flow of
commerce in that region of the
world.
Noting that the South
China Sea is a strategically
important region of the world,
he said, it is also is a route for
billions of dollars in commerce.
“It is important to the US
economy that that flow of
commerce not be significantly
disrupted. That’s why we have
gone to great lengths to make
clear that we’re not a claimant,
Earnest said.
“We’re not taking sides in
the claims, but we do strongly
urge all parties with relevant
claims - many of which are
competing - to resolve their differences peacefully and
through established processes
like arbitration,” he said.
State
Department
Spokesman John Kirby said if
China failed to abide by the ruling, it would be in breach of
international law.
“The world is watching
now to see what these
claimants will do. The world is
watching to see if China is really the global power it professes itself to be and the responsible power that it professes
itself to be. The world’s watching this,” Kirby said.
“I understand that the
Chinese have made an argument that they’re not going to
abide by it. I’ve heard that loud
and clear. But that doesn’t
change the fact that it’s still a
legally binding obligation. It is
the world’s expectation that
China will abide by its obligations under this legally binding
decision,” he said in response to
a question.
Daniel J Kritenbrink,
Senior Director for Asian
Affairs, National Security
Council at the White House
said the US believed that
claimants in the South China
Sea can and should use the
Tribunal’s decision as a new
opportunity to renew efforts to
address their maritime disputes peacefully.
“We encourage claimants
to clarify their maritime claims
in accordance with international law, as reflected in the
Law of the Sea Convention,
and to work together to creatively manage and resolve
their disputes,” Kritenbrink
said.
He said the US viewed the
South China Sea in the context
of the global rules-based international order America seeks
to uphold, both in the AsiaPacific region and worldwide.
“Our strategy is guided by
sustaining the principles at the
heart of the rules-based international order: namely, customary international law,
unimpeded lawful commerce,
freedom of navigation and
overflight for civilian and military assets, and peaceful resolution of disputes,” he said.
Kritenbrink said the US
was not prepared to accept the
emergence of a different set of
rules in the South China Sea
relative to the rest of the
world.
“We believe such a development would lead to breakdowns in the rules-based
international order. Over time,
such a trend could unravel the
international legal order –
and therefore the peace and
stability – that we and the rest
of the international community have enjoyed over the past
70-plus years,” Kritenbrink
asserted.
Pak treating US like chumps: Experts
really get it,” Salmon added.
Bill Roggio, senior editor of
the Long War Journal
Foundation for Defense of
Dmocracies along with
Khalilzad called for cutting
aid to Pakistan and put them in
the list of State Sponsor of terrorism.
“At the end they are treating us like chumps. And we are
more than willing to keep on
handing out money to
Pakistan,” Roggio said as he
Khalilzad and other experts testified before on “Pakistan: A
Friend of Foe in the Fight
Against Terrorism,” during a
Congressional hearing.
“Pakistanis are very clever
in manipulating us. I have to
say that,” said Khalilzad, sharing his experience of dealing
with the Pakistani leadership
when he served in various
diplomatic position in the Bush
era including the US ambassador to Afghanistan and the
Permanent Representative of
the US to the UN.
They reach out to distinguished members of the
Congress, they invite them for
visits, they charm them, they
promise once again and they
extract statements from us that
are “surprising” in the face of
facts, he said.
Asked why the US continued with its same policy,
Khalilzad said that Pakistani
ability to manipulate by their
actions in part had been a factor. “My experience in dealing
with Pakistan is that they will
only give you something, when
they know that they are going
to get something,” the former
top American diplomat said.
Congressman
Dana
Rohrabacher said the Pakistani
government and the Saudi
Arabia created the Taliban and
the Haqqani network.
Rohrabacher said the US’
aid giving to Pakistan was
“ridiculous”.
“People of Baluchistan are
Juno spacecraft beams back first image of Jupiter
PTI n WASHINGTON
US urges countries
not to engage in
provocative actions
in this first orbit,” said Candy
Hansen, Juno co-investigator
from the Planetary Science
Institute in the US.
“The first high-resolution
images of the planet will be
taken on August 27 when Juno
makes its next close pass to
Jupiter,” Hansen said.
JunoCam is a colour, visible-light camera designed to
capture remarkable pictures of
Jupiter’s poles and cloud tops.
As Juno’s eyes, it will provide a wide view, helping to
provide context for the spacecraft’s other instruments.
JunoCam was included on
the spacecraft specifically for
purposes of public engagement; although its images will
be helpful to the science team,
it is not considered one of the
mission’s science instruments.
The Juno team is currently working to place all images
taken by JunoCam on the mission’s website, where the public can access them.
During its mission of
exploration, Juno will circle the
Jovian world 37 times, soaring
low over the planet’s cloud
tops - as close as about 4,100
kilometres.
During these flybys, Juno
will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and
study its auroras to learn more
about the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
being slaughtered by this corrupt oppressive regime. People
of Baluchistan should understand that the US is on their
side for their independence and
self-determination from a corrupt, viscous terrorist supporting regime,” Rohrabacher
said. “Same with the Sindhis.
Same with other groups in
Pakistan. So we got a regime
that murders and represses
and is corrupt with their own
people and yet we still continue to give them some type of
support... absolutely absurd,”
Rohrabacher said during the
Congressional hearing.
Congressman William
Keating ranking member of the
Subcommittee on Terrorism,
Non-Proliferation and Trade
asked panelists if ISIS was a
state within a state.
“It is by no means a rogue
institution within Pakistan. It
does not operate independently
or on its own. It is an instrument or an arm of the Pakistani
army. It is implementing the
policies of the Pakistani army.
It is implementing on behalf of
the Pakistani Army,” said Tricia
Bacon, Assistant Professor,
American University.
“Roggio said ISI is an arm
of the Pakistani military. It is
executing the will of the
Pakistani military, which is
really the Pakistani State. The
(elected) government is just the
face of the Pakistani military,”
Bacon said. “I concur with my
colleagues,” Khalilzad said.
Salmon said he personally
believed that as the first step,
the US should completely cut
off aid to Pakistan.
“That would be the right
first step. If we do not any
changes, we move some of the
other suggestions, state sponsor terrorism, possible economic sanctions. I personally
believe we have the worst policy that we have and what we
are doing is rewarding thugs,”
Salmon said.
Need an attack dog as
running mate: Trump
Washington: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump
has said he wants “an attack dog” as a running mate, days ahead
of announcing his vice presidential pick which has now come
down to a few. Trump, 70, said in an interview with ‘The Wall
Street Journal’ that his top picks included Indiana Governor Mike
Pence, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, New Jersey
Governor Chris Christie and a couple politicians who haven’t
gotten as much attention, including Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions.
“The New York businessman has said he wanted a seasoned
government leader as a running mate. But in the interview, on
the way to events with Pence in Indiana, Trump added a new
criterion: He wants an attack dog,” Trump said yesterday.
“I’m getting attacked from all sides,” Trump told the daily
in the interview in which he called Christies and Gingrich “two
extraordinary warriors.” Personal chemistry is also important,
he said. “You either have it or you don’t. I clearly have it with
Chris and Newt,” he said, indicating that his choice has narrowed
down to two.
sport 14
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
YUKI EAGER TO GET BACK ON COURT
KARTHIK RAMAN n NEW DELHI
fter missing majority of the first part
of 2016 season, Yuki Bhambri cannot
A
wait to get back on the tennis court to get
the feel of his racket.
The 24-year-old Delhi lad was the talk
of the town at the end of last year when
he broke into the top-100 world rankings.
As a result of which Yuki was able to
play in the main draw of the season opening first Grand Slam Australian Open,
where he lost in the first round to Tomas
Berdych.
However, things did not go well from
there on for the Indian players as he had
to miss the next two Grand Slams —
French Open and Wimbledon — through
injuries.
So it is not surprising to see him frustrated with his injury layoff.
"It (injury) is the most frustrating
thing. You want to be there and play. It's
one of the frustrating times. If I play and
lose, then it is fine but this is different," he
said.
getting back from injury is to take part in
the US tour and use it as a preparation for
the final Grand Slam of the year — US
Open.
"I will then take part in the US tour —
to prepare for the US Open," he said before
adding, "I will play in the qualifiers and through it hopefully I will make it
As
through the main draw
a result of
of the tournament."
the injury Yuki
Beyond
US
will also not play
Open, Yuki has only
in the Davis Cup
one target, which is
to play throughout
Asia Oceania
the year, without any
Group-I tie against disruptions.
South Korea
"I want to get out
from July 15
there and play for the rest
of this year," he said.
to 17
The elbow injury first surfaced for him
at the end of last year and he could not
shake off the injury and missed the 2016
season starting Chennai Open.
Even though Yuki got back in time for
the Australian Open, the injury resurfaced
for the Delhi player again around April and
since then he has been sideline by it.
As a result of the injury he will also not
play in the Davis Cup Asia Oceania
group-I tie against South Korea from July
15 to 17.
Now Yuki has only one thing in his
mind - returning back to the court as soon
as possible.
"The goal is to get back on the court
soon. I have been working hard on rest of
the body. I expect to get back on tour by
the end of July," he added.
The immediate target for Yuki after
AMIR IN SPOTLIGHT
Pacer will look to put 2010 spot-fixing scandal behind when Pak face Eng at Lords
AFP n LONDON
akistan's Mohammad Amir will
hope to put the 2010 spot-fixing
scandal behind him once and for
all when he returns to the scene of the
crime in Thursday's first Test against
England at Lord's.
Six years ago, during a Lord's Test
against England, Amir and Pakistan
new-ball partner Mohammad Asif deliberately bowled no-balls on the instructions of captain Salman Butt as part of
a sting operation carried out by a tabloid
newspaper. All three received five-year
bans from cricket and, together with
sports agent Mazhar Majeed, jail terms.
Such was the impact of the controversy, the fact teenage sensation Amir
took six for 84 in the first innings of that
match has largely been forgotten.
For all his time out of cricket, the 24year-old retains the ability to swing the
ball late at sharp pace, as he showed with
a first-innings haul of three for 36 in
Pakistan's tour opener against Somerset.
It means an England side missing
all-time leading injured wicket-taker
James Anderson and sidelined allrounder Ben Stokes, should not have
things all their own way as they did in
the preceding 2-0 home series win
over Sri Lanka.
While the likes of former Pakistan
batsman Ramiz Raja have expressed
doubts about the wisdom of letting Amir
back into international cricket, players
on both sides have accepted the situation.
"We could talk or moan about it and
have our opinions but the fact is it is not
going to change him opening the bowling at us on Thursday or playing against
us throughout this (four-match) series,"
said England batsman Joe Root.
Amir is far from the only threat in
a Pakistan bowling line-up also featuring fellow left-armer Wahab Riaz, Sohail
Khan and leg-spinner Yasir Shah.
The key to the series could lie with
both teams' top-order batsmen. England
were repeatedly bailed out of early collapses against Sri Lanka by in-form middleorder batsman Jonny Bairstow.
Pakistan have a strong middle order
in skipper Misbah-ul-Haq fellow veteran
P
RIGHT: Pakistan team celebrates with Mohammad
Amir during a tour match against Somerset on
July 4; TOP: Pakistan's Mohammad Amir in
action against Somerset
AP
Younis Khan and the in-form Asad
Shafiq. But doubts persist over openers
Mohammad Hafeez and Shan Masood,
just as there are concerns as to whether
Alex Hales, yet to score a Test hundred,
is the right man to partner skipper
Alastair Cook at top of the England's
order.
'TRASH TALK'
The combative Riaz is looking to
TRANSFERCORNER
WILLIAN RENEWS CONTRACT WITH
CHELSEA UNTIL 2020
LONDON: Chelsea's last season's Footballer of the
Year, Brazilian playmaker Willian has signed a new
contract that will keep him at the English Premier
League club until 2020. "I'm very happy to sign a
new contract with Chelsea. It's a dream to
continue with this club and over the next four
years I will try to help the team win more
trophies," said the player on Tuesday. The Brazilian
international, who scored six goals in 30 matches
last season and who still had two years of contract
with the Blues, arrived in London in August 2013
from Anzhi Makhachkala for 30 million pounds
sterling ($39.7 million), reports Efe.
SLAVIA PRAGUE SIGNS VAN KESSEL,
TOP STRIKER IN SLOVAKIA
PRAGUE: Slavia Prague says it has signed striker
Gino van Kessel, the top scorer in Slovakia the last
season. Slavia says the 23-yearold van Kessel received a
contract until the end of 2018-19
season. Van Kessel was born in
Alkmaar, Netherlands, but has
played for the national team of
Curacao since last year. He
moves to Slavia from Slovak
club Trencin after he scored 17 goals last season.
Agencies
strong lad...He is eager to perform."
England will have to decide whether
to give a debut to either Jake Ball or fellow paceman Toby Roland-Jones, wo
plays at Lord's for Middlesex, as the
fourth-placed team begin their bid to
leapfrog Pakistan (third) in the world
Test rankings.
The match will also mark the return
to Test cricket of England batsman Gary
Ballance after he was dropped last year.
Lahiri all set for
The Open challenge
PTI n ROYAL TROON (SCOTLAND)
ack in 2012, The Open in Britain was his first
Major, and now ace Indian golfer Anirban
Lahiri, a regular on the Major circuit, is back
for another crack at the only Major, outside of the
United States.
"The Open is one event, which will always be
close to my heart. I love being here again and again.
Of course we all love to be at every Major, but for
all players there is always one or two which are
favourites and the Open is one of them for me," said
Lahiri.
Lahiri, whose best this year has been a second
place at the Hero Indian Open which is a part of
the European and Asian Tours, is due to play the
first two rounds with Sergio Garcia, still searching
for his maiden Major in an illustrious career, while
the third player will be Keegan Bradley from the US,
a past Major winner.
"Having played some links golf over the years
helps because you know what the conditions will
demand from you. Still, its very windy out here and
accuracy will be the key. The main idea of links golf
is avoiding trouble more than anything else. It's a
great challenge. You have to be very creative, flight
it in a different way — high or low and so on. It's
different kind of golf from what we have grown up
playing," Lahiri said.
"The Troon is great. But every golf is different.
It is very challenging as far as I could see over the
holes I have played so far. There are a couple of blind
holes, a few in front are narrow and winding and
the 11th has a very intimidating tee shot. I am keeping mental pictures and trying to get an idea of
where you need to leave the ball. You have to trust
yourself," he added.
Lahiri, whose upcoming stretch includes two
Majors and an Olympic appearance, is keen to hit
top form ahead of the year's third Major at the
famous Scottish links from July 14 to 17.
B
FOOTBALLTITBITS
BARCELONA SIGN DIGNE FROM PSG
BARCELONA: Barcelona has signed France left
back Lucas Digne to a five-year contract after
securing his transfer from Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona says it paid PSG 16.5 million euros
($18.3 million), with another 4 million euros
depending on results, for the 22year-old Digne. His transfer
comes a day after the Spanish
champions agreed to sign France
central defender Samuel Umtiti.
Digne played for AS Roma on
loan last season. He was included
on France's squad for 2016
European Championship, but didn't play. He
and Umtiti will help rebuild Barcelona's back
line after the departures of Dani Alves and Marc
Bartra. Barcelona has also signed Denis Suarez
from Villarreal.
target Root, now promoted to number
three by England.
For the Yorkshireman, that was
just pre-series "trash talk" but Riaz said
of Root: "He is the backbone of the
England team and getting him out
early will put the pressure on England.
"If he thinks it is just trash talk then
hats off to him."
Turning to Amir, Riaz added: "He is
a very intelligent bowler and he is a very
But an unconcerned Riaz said: "We
are not worried about what England has
picked or they haven't picked.
"The only thing we know is that
England is a good team in their home
conditions."
For Riaz, and many Pakistanis,
there is more riding on this match than
just the raw result.
"Under the captaincy of Misbah this
team is much more united," he said.
"We have seen the hard time of
Pakistan cricket...We have managed to
make the people all over the world
believe that Pakistan is a good Test team.
The Pakistan team are a strong team and
can always give you a hard time."
Being without Anderson is blow for
England.
As far as long term goals are concerned, the 24-year-old wants to break into
the top-100 once again.
"My goal is to get back into the top100 and play with the best players and participate in all the Grand Slams," he said.
However, he added that there is no
time limit set for him to achieve his target.
"I have no time set. Hopefully, next
year, I get to play all the Slams after having a good second half of the season," he
said.
With Olympics round the corner,
Yuki, who is currently ranked 148, feels
India have a good chance of winning a
medal at Rio.
"India have a good chance for medal in
Olympics, since we have a good doubles and
mixed doubles team," he said.
BIG SAM SPOKE TO FA
ABOUT ENGLAND JOB
AP n SUNDERLAND
underland manager Sam Allardyce
was given permission by the
Premier League club to speak to the
English Football Association about
becoming the next coach of the
national team.
The 61-year-old Allardyce
requested to talk to the FA about
replacing Roy Hodgson, Sunderland
said Wednesday. He is the favorite with
British bookmakers to take over as
England coach. "We want him to
remain as manager of our football
club," Sunderland said in a statement.
Allardyce joined Sunderland in
October and helped the team stay in
the Premier League. He has 25 years
of experience in management.
"Sam is very much key to our
S
plans," Sunderland said. "After what
was an extremely challenging season,
we are keen to see a period of stability, both on and off the field.
"The ongoing speculation over
Sam's position is extremely damaging
to Sunderland, particularly at this crucial time of the season and we urge the
FA to respect the disruption that this
process is causing and bring about a
swift resolution to the matter."
‘No future for Balotelli at Liverpool’
IANS n LONDON
iverpool chief coach Jurgen Klopp
has said he does not see any future
for Italian striker Mario Balotelli at the
football club.
The German coach, however, on
Tuesday said Balotelli has trained in the
pre-season and that some of his abilities are "world class". But now the Italian
striker faces tough challenge at
Liverpool, who also have Daniel
Sturridge, Christian Benteke, Divock
Origi and Danny Ings on the books.
"I have spoken to him (Balotelli)
about this," Klopp was quoted as saying
by the Guardian. "He's not at the stage
of his career where he should be battling
with four or five other players for one
or two positions...so it's clear we need
a solution. There will be a club around
who would be happy to have the new
Mario Balotelli. I have spoken clearly to
L
the player about that."
Defender Mamadou Sakho in all
probability will also miss out Liverpool's
EPL opener against Arsenal on Aug 14.
Sakho underwent treatment for a
Achilles problem. "Mama is injured. He
had a little issue with his achilles when
he was playing, one day on, one off, this
kind of thing," Klopp said.
Henry quits Arsenal coaching role Benzema is not permanently
IANS n LONDON
rench football great Thierry Henry has left his position as youth coach at Arsenal club but will continue to work as a commentator in the United
Kingdom with Sky Sports.
Henry, 38, who coached the Under-18 Gunners
team, on Tuesday refused to leave the post of commentator after the coach of the first team, his countryman Arsene Wenger, said he could not combine
both roles, reports Efe.
The top scorer in the history of Arsenal with 376
goals in 228 matches, joined Sky Sports team in December 2014, just 15 days
after retiring from soccer with the New York Red Bulls.
Henry, who has an annual salary of around 4 million pounds ($5.2 million) from the private channel, worked for free for the north London team.
The post of Under-18 Arsenal coach will be occupied by another former
player, English defender Tony Adams, assisted by former player Steve Bould.
F
ruled out for France: FFF
IANS n PARIS
rench Football Federation
(FFF) president Noel Le
F
Graet has reiterated that
striker Karim Benzema is not
ruled out "forever" from the
national team, but declined to
give an answer on his possible inclusion pending the
proceedings of his court case.
Le Graet said at a press
conference on Tuesday to discuss the
results of Euro 2016, that he always considered Benzema to be a good player and
he is not banned for life, but
noted that the coach always has
the option of not selecting a
player, even if not suspended,
reports Efe.
He insisted that there is a
judicial procedure underway
and they must wait and see its
development.
The FFF decided to exclude
the Real Madrid player from the
France squad after he was
charged with complicity in the alleged
blackmail involving a sex tape of his compatriot Mathieu Valbuena.
The PGA Championship in Baltusrol two weeks
later and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in
mid-August follow the Open.
The 29-year-old Lahiri is making his fourth
appearance at The Open where he enjoyed a tied 31st
outing in his debut in 2012 which included a magical hole-in-one during the third round and equal
30th last year.
"The Open is truly a special tournament," said
Lahiri.
"I've had a couple of decent outings but feel like
I missed out both times on a top-10 finish.
Hopefully Troon suits my eye and I can play consistently throughout the week. A top-10 or better
would be my goal this year."
From the time he holed out his tee shot for the
ace in 2012 and celebrated exuberantly with caddie
and father who was watching from the galleries,
Lahiri has cherished the challenge of links golf,
which he hopes will spark his return to top form.
Playing his rookie season on the PGA Tour in
the United States, Lahiri has missed only four cuts
from 17 starts, but has only registered one top-10
finish to his name. Competing on a new golf course
every week has been his biggest challenge.
"It's been a very slow and sluggish season. I have
been inconsistent and have got off to good starts on
a few occasions only to have a disappointing weekends. It's frustrating when your 'A' game feels right
around the corner but does not show up as frequently as you would like," he said.
Lahiri is also hoping to shine again at the PGA
Championships where he announced his arrival on
the global stage with an impressive top-five finish
last year. With a crowded schedule, Lahiri will place
importance in keeping his energy levels at a sustainable pace.
"My coach was in America for two weeks to
work on all aspects of the game and sharpen it up
for the Majors and the Olympics. Hopefully I can
pace myself just right to peak during the Majors and
Olympics. That's the goal," he said.
"There can be no greater joy than hearing your
name as 'the Champion Golfer of the Year!' added
the Indian.
sport 15
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
TARGET PRACTICE BEFORE MAIN EVENT
Men in Blue look to plug holes in final warm-up match against WICB President’s X1 today
Team India players during their training session
on Wednesday
PTI
AGENCIES n BASSETERRE (ST KITTS)
ndia will look to plug the holes and
provide the finishing touches to their
preparation for the four-Test series
when they take on West Indies Cricket
Board Presidents’ XI in the final warmup match starting here on Thursday.
The three-day match will more or less
decide the final playing XI for India and
both the batsmen and bowlers will look
to make their performance count and earn
a place when Kumble and Kohli sit down
to select the team for the first Test at
Antigua starting July 21.
India were far from impressive in their
last two-day warm-up game as their pace
battery struggled with their inconsistent
show and it will be the last chance for
Kumble’s boys to make an impression.
The Indian seamers, including
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed
Shami, who is returning to competitive
cricket after a long injury lay-off, began
well but lost the plot after sometime as
they struggled with their line and length.
They could not push the batsmen to
play their deliveries and bowled too wide
outside the off stump, something which
the pacers will have to sort out in the
three-day warm-up game at Warner Park.
Ishant Sharma, who also has had a
long lay-off, and Umesh Yadav will also
look to grind it out as the duo is expected to be key members of Kohli’s gameplans. It will be interesting to see if
Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur gets a
chance to roll his arms over in this game.
While the seamers were inconsistent,
leg-spinner Amit Mishra was impressive
and made life difficult for the West Indies
Presidents’ XI batsmen and was on a hattrict after he dismissed Rajendra
Chandrika and Jermaine Blackwood in
successive balls.
Mishra ended with a four-wicket haul
Cummins to replace Taylor
ncapped fast bowler Miguel
Cummins today replaced Jerome
U
Taylor in the upcoming Test series
I
against India, the West Indies Cricket
Board has (WICB) announced.
The replacement came as Taylor
announced his retirement from the
longer format a couple of days back.
The 25-year-old Cummins has played
41 first-class matches, with 116 wickets
(average 22.56). He was a part of the Test
squad in Australia earlier this year.
Though he did not play any match in the
series.
Taylor, who will continue to play in
the shorter formats, had made his international debut against Sri Lanka in 2003
and played his last Test series against
Australia in January this year.
He took 130 wickets in his 46 Testmatches career.
PTI
Live from 7:30pm on Ten Network
MY STRENGTH LIES IN TESTS: ISHANT
and will look to continue his good run.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra
Jadeja will also like to test their skills in the
warm-up game, specially since the pitches
in West Indies also assist slow bowlers.
In batting, India’s top-order looked
solid as they spent enough time in the
middle with openers KL Rahul and
Shikhar Dhawan scoring fifties.
Squads
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar
Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara,
Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Lokesh
Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha (wk),
Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja,
Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav, Ishant
Sharma, Shami, Shardul Thakur,
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Stuart Binny.
WICB President’s XI squad: Leon
Johnson (capt), Jermaine Blackwood,
Rajendra Chandrika, Roston Chase, Jason
Dawes, Shane Dowrich, Shai Hope,
Damion Jacobs, Keon Joseph, Marquino
Mindley, Vishaul Singh, Jomel Warrican.
Indian speedster Ishant Sharma who
is gearing up for the upcoming Test series
against the West Indies believes the fiveday cricket is his strength.
Ishant is the most-experienced fast
bowler that India have in their 17-member Test squad captained by ace batsman
Virat Kohli. However, Ishant has struggled
to find a place in the shorter formats.
“You have to be honest with yourself,
that’s the most important thing. If you are
being honest with yourself it’s easy to
accept things. I know that I didn’t do well
in the shorter formats of the game, so I
accepted it,” Ishant was quoted as saying
by bcci.tv on Tuesday.
“But I am doing well in Test cricket
so I know what my strength is.”
Low phase helped me in Kumble will teach team how to
Oly preparation: Srikanth tackle crunch moments: SRT
IANS n LONDON
PTI n NEW DELHI
e has endured a lacklustre
season heading into the
Olympics, but ace Indian shuttler K Srikanth (in pic) on
Wednesday said the low phase
has helped him prepare for the
Games and he hopes to emerge
as dark horse in Rio Olympics.
Srikanth had the world at
his feet when he became the
first Indian to win a Super
Series Premier men’s title in the
2014 China Open after beating
two-time Olympic champion
and five-time world champion
Lin Dan in the final.
A win at home in the India
Super Series was the icing on
the cake and propelled him to
World No. 3 in June last year
but then it all fell apart.
However, Srikanth said he
was never worried about his
Olympic qualification.
“I was tense but not for my
qualification, it was my game
that I was worried about since
I knew if I can play well, I will
automatically qualify,” Srikanth,
ranked World No. 11 said.
“I was not worried about
my ranking, I was worried
because I was not getting time
to train. I was playing one event
after another whether it was
PBL, Malaysia, SAF games, or
German Open or ABC, there
was simply no time.
“But I think it kind of
helped me identify the areas
where I need to work on and it
atting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, who was part
of the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory panel that
B
selected Anil Kumble as head coach, has reckoned
H
helped me in my preparation of
Olympics. Every match counts,
every tournament counts,
whether it is a win or loss, it is
all about how you take it. You
need to take the positives out of
every match you play. So it kind
of helped me,” he explained.
It was in May when the 23year-old from AP became one
of the seven shuttlers to qualify for the Rio Games after the
rankings were released.
“I was happy to qualify. It
was a big dream. I knew it but
in May to actually officially
qualify was a big moment. I
hope I can make India proud.”
At Rio, the world will turn
to the rivalry of Malaysia’s Lee
Chong Wei and China’s Lin
Dan as they look for ultimate
glory in what might turn out to
be swansong Olympics for the
two old warhorses and Srikanth
said he is happy to be the
underdog or a dark horse.
“They are the most experienced players who have played
in the last 2-3 Olympics and I
think they will have an advantage. But it doesn’t help everyone all the time. It can help to
get a few close points but then
there are so many players who
win a tournament or a medal
playing for the first time. So it
doesn’t help always,” said the
2013 Thailand Grand Prix
Gold champion.
“It is tough for the top players because there are too many
expectations and pressure, so I
am happy being a dark horse or
an underdog,” added Srikanth.
Asked if he had followed
Olympics as a kid, Srikanth said:
“I never watched or followed
Olympics as a child. My first
memory of Olympics was
watching Saina Nehwal play at
the Beijing Games quarterfinals.
“It was that moment when
I sort of thought that what if I
could play at the Olympics
someday. Ever since it has
been a dream of playing there,
every time you see someone
play at the Olympics, you want
to be there,” he added.
MUMBAI: Concerned about the
state of Indian boxing right now,
professional Vijender Singh
Wednesday said action should be
taken against those who are
responsible for the current
logjam due to which only three
pugilists from the country
qualified for Olympics. Shiva
Thapa (56kg), Manoj Kumar
(64kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg)
are the three to have qualified for
the Olympics this time. “That’s
very bad. I met Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and explained
each and every thing, but he is a
busy person so he said ‘just
email me each and everything’,
so I just followed him, but this is
really bad and I think we should
take strong action (against) those
who are responsible for this
thing. Last time eight boxers, this
time three boxers,” Vijender said.
FC PUNE ROPE FERNANDES
PUNE: Indian Super League club
FC Pune City strengthened their
defence by signing left back
Narayan Das and Goan centre
back Augustin Fernandes for the
2016 edition. FC Pune City CEO
Gaurav Modwel said, “Augustin is
a good defender with great
natural talent. His reading of the
game and match situation is very
good. Narayan is one of the finest
left backs that we have in the
country today.” Narayan, a Tata
Football Academy alumnus has
played previously for Pailan
Arrows, Dempo, FC Goa and East
Bengal. In 2011, he made his
India U-19 debut followed by U23 debut in the next year. In 2013,
the 22-year old graduated to
make his senior national debut
against Nepal and has since been
a regular member with the Indian
national team. Narayan plied his
trade with FC Goa in the 2015 and
2016 ISL seasons.
GOEL VISITS SHAHID
NEW DELHI: Sports Minister
Vijay Goel on Wednesday paid a
visit to ailing hockey legend
Mohammad Shahid who is
undergoing treatment for a liver
and kidney ailment at a private
hospital in Gurgaon. “Minister of
Youth Affairs and Sports (I/C)
Shri Vijay Goel on Wednesday
visited ailing Hockey legend
Mohammad
Shahid,”
the
ministry said in a statement. The
cricket committee had on Tuesday recommended limitations on the thickness and depth of bats
amid concerns that the sport has tilted heavily in
favour of the batsmen in recent years. A report
commissioned by the MCC, the guardian of the
game’s laws, in 2014 found the thickness of blades
had marginally increased in the last century and
that edges had broadened by 300 per cent, meaning even mistimed shots still find the boundary.
Tendulkar’s views reflected Australian opener David Warner’s sentiments, who last week said
that flat pitches rather than bats with thicker
edges are the reason batsmen have the upper
hand in Test cricket.
“The wickets need to change; they need to
be more helpful for bowlers. In T20s, the greatest of bowlers are being reverse-swept. Threehundred is no longer competitive in ODIs,”
Tendulkar said.
The former India skipper added,”It’s difficult
for someone to sit for five days, so you have to
look at changing surfaces. I don’t think it’s got
much to do with bats, but I’m sure people on the
(relevant) panel will be able to look into it. That’s
what David Warner has spoken about too.”
56-year-old legend was admitted
to Medanta - the Medicity earlier
this month after a bout of
jaundice and dengue made his
condition worse. He was airlifted
from Varanasi.
SUNHIT LEADS THE PACK
NEW DELHI: USHA DGC Juniors
Golf
Championship
2016
witnessed brilliant performances
on Day 2 with Sunhit Bishnoi
ahead of both his rivals and the
weather as he carded a 75 in the
Category A Boys section. With
the rain punctuating the day’s
schedule, Bishnoi ended with a
fairly good card of 75, given the
circumstances, which took his
two-day aggregate to 144, five
strokes ahead of Karan Mehto,
whose fine 73 brought him up to
the second spot, and Karan
Pratap Singh, tied at 149. Sarthak
Chibber was fourth with 150.
Bishnoi managed only one birdie
today (8th), while he dropped
shots on the 9th, 10th, 14th and
16th holes. Category B saw
Harshjeet Singh Sethie card a 76
in the second round to aggregate
151 and stay ahead of Eshan
Sethi and Raghav Chugh, who
were tied at 155.
Agencies
Above: India players at a bonding session in Saint Nevis on Wednesday ahead of
the first test against West Indies; Below: Team India coach Anil Kumble and
skipper Virat Kohli at a bonding session in Saint Nevis on Tuesday
PTI
Sudha stand good chance in Rio: PT Usha All Rio-bound sportspersons
are dope-free: NADA DG
PTI ■ BENGALURU
he cannot say for sure
whether the medal jinx
Swould
be broken but Indian
Singles
VIJENDER WORRIED ABOUT
INDIAN BOXING MESS
that the legendary leg-spinner will help the young
Indian side to fight out during crunch situations.
Recalling his association with the Bengaluru
leggie, Tendulkar termed him a “hard competitor” with tons of experience, which he feels the
team can benefit from.
“It’s about being a tough character and being
able to stand on your feet in tough moments.
That’s what I feel Anil will teach them. There
are crunch moments in any match, so approaching those moments is important. He will be out
there to win each and every moment,” Tendulkar
was quoted as saying by espncricinfo.
“My experience with Anil has been fantastic. He has been a match-winner, and the guys
have got a lot to learn from him. Anil is ready
to share everything he has learnt from this wonderful sport.”
“He played for close to 20 years, so there is
plenty to share. I’ll just tell the players to grasp
as much information from Anil as possible, and
enjoy the game above everything else,” the little master added.
The former Mumbai batsman also came to
the defence of Australian opener David Warner
who has recently been in news for his bat size.
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting had
recently critised Warner.
Commenting on rising imbalance between
bat and ball, the legendary batsman called for
more bowler-friendly pitches to address the
problem.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) world
sprint legend PT Usha feels
Indian athletes — especially
Tintu Luka, Lalita Babar and
Sudha Singh — stand a good
chance of making the finals of
their respective events in next
month’s Olympics.
“In athletics, we cannot say
who will win a medal.
Participation itself is good.
Tintu Luka, Lalita Babar and
Sudha Singh, stand a good
chance of qualifying for finals,
only thing they have to do is
better their performance,” she
told PTI here.
Usha was in the city for
Shreeram Properties Grand
Prix athletics meet, which was
held at Sree Kanteervava
Stadium here. Tintu, Sudha
and Lalita have qualified for
Rio in 100m dash, and 3000m
steeplechase, respectively.
Usha, who finished fourth
in the 400m hurdles at the 1984
Olympics and missed the
bronze medal by one-hundredth of a second, hoped the
exposure in international competitions would help Tintu
strike form in Rio.
Usha also said that the
men’s and women’s 4x400m
relay teams also stand a good
chance of making the finals but
they have to better their previous performances.
“Even in the triple jump,
the performance has been
good.I can’t say who is going to
win the medal, it is all luck,” he
said.
Usha also congratulated
Dutee Chand for qualifying.
“If Dutee clocks 11.21s in
100m dash, she will be able to
qualify for semifinals, and her
best has been 11.26s,” Usha
said.
“I don’t want to put pressure on her. First of all, qualifying for 100m itself is a big
achievement. If she is able to
clock 11.21sec, then she will
qualify for semifinals. I think
her best is 11.26sec,” she said.
Asked whether Dutee has
sought advise from her on
speed endurance, Usha said she
has already spoken to her.
“I feel she is not talking to
most of the people. She is very
reserved type, but before going
to Europe circuit, I met her and
told her if you go for Europe
circuit you should qualify. If
you don’t qualify then stay in
your room. When she qualified, I congratulated her,” she
said.
“This time a huge number
of Indian athletes have qualified for Rio. They should try to
better their performance, then
we can really say we are doing
good,” she said.
NEW DELHI: National AntiDoping Agency Director
General Navin Agarwal on
Wednesday said that all the Rio
Olympics bound sportspersons have undergone testing
for banned substances and
they are dope-free.
Agarwal, however, conceded that there were issues
regarding testing of a few Riobound sportspersons as they
were not available at their
“whereabouts” provided by
them as mandated under the
Anti-Doping Administration
Management
System
(ADAMS) of the World AntiDoping Agency but NADA
was able to get their testing
done later on. “All Rio-bound
athletes have been tested. Some
of the athletes have been tested at least once, some have
been tested twice and some
thrice. Some athletes could
not be tested on the second
occasion because they were
training abroad and in their
case they have been tested at
least once,” Agarwal, who
joined last month, told PTI in
an interview. “For those training abroad, we have hired
some agencies to collect samples there (abroad) and we have
tested the samples of all these
athletes,” he said. “I am quite
confident that the Indian contingent at the Rio Olympics will
have no doping violation by
any of them this time. We also
hope there will be no doping
violation from other countries. Since we are very strict as
far as our athletes are concerned, we also expect same
strictness from other countries
so that there is fair play,” said
the 1986 batch senior IPS officer of Jammu and Kashmir
cadre. The Indian contingent at
the 2004 Olympics was rocked
by doping as two weightlifters
— Sanamacha Chanu and
Pratima Kumari — tested positive for banned substances
while another lifter Monika
Devi was barred from leaving
for 2008 Olympics just a day
before she was to board the
Beijing flight. There was, however, no such incident prior
and during the 2012 London
Olympics. Asked specifically if
some sportspersons have resisted from undergoing tests by
not being present at their
“whereabouts”, Agar wal
answered in the affirmative.
“There have been a few
cases, though I cannot disclose
them. In such cases we issue
notices and three such whereabouts failure is treated as a
doping violation.”
vivacity 16
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY | JULY 14, 2016
HIGH STAKES AT THE
‘Agreed only when
script was cut’
HRITHIK ROSHAN says that he
was happy about Mohenjo Daro
director Ashutosh Gowariker
choosing him for the film but
agreed to do it only when the script
came down from 200 to 80 pages.
Asked about his first thoughts on
being approached for the film, the
actor said, “First thought was that
Ashutosh is my friend, first
thought was that he gave me a film
like Jodhaa Akbar, my first
thought was of immense joy
that he is considering me
for another film. After
that I looked at the
script, you don't want to
know my second
thought. But I still
said, ‘no, he is my
friend', so I read
the script. I loved
the story but I
waited till that
script went
down from 200
pages to 80
pages and then
we shook hands
and said ‘Let's do
this'.”
He added, “The day it
came down from 81
to 80, he flew to Delhi
to meet me. ‘Hrithik, I
have done it'. And we
signed the film there
and then.”
It was Dev
Anand-starrer
Joshila that I
watched in a
theatre for the
first time. That’s
how my mom
treated me when I
scored 10/10 in Hindi
I did not know that it
was a Yash Chopra film
then. It was after a very
long time that I got to
know that Joshila was
directed by him
—SHAHRUKH KHAN
One of its
kind in India,
the “Best
Film on
Gender
Equality” award recognises the
power of cinema in breaking
gender stereotypes and
challenging norms that devalue
women. The award has been
instituted by Oxfam India in
partnership with JIO MAMI 18th
Mumbai Film Festival with Star and
is open to the latest Indian films
programmed in the festival.
BALL GAME
Politicians and filmstars launch a preview of their charity
football match. By TEAM VIVA
ow much would it cost
you to support a noble
cause like the Swachch
Bharat Programme and Beti
Bachao Beti Padhao campaigns? Going by the
announcement of a friendly
football match organised
between Members of
Parliament and Bollywood
in the capital on July 24 at the
H
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, it
would be nothing less than a
prized fight. Bollywood has
searched high heavens with
players like Abhishek
Bachchan as the captain followed by Ranbir Kapoor,
Arjun Kapoor, Dino Morea
and many more while the
Parliamentarians include
luminaries like Babul Supriyo
s somebody who has followed and
perpetuated stereotypes on teleA
vision with Diya Aur Bati Hum, it
comes as a surprise that producer
Sumeet Mittal is venturing into the
non-fiction space with Rivals-In-Law,
a game show between two families
bound by marriage. And just as we
were wondering if a mainline saasbahu practitioner was finally giving
into the winds of change on Indian
television, Mittal demolished the
notion that the genre had lost its
appeal but could do with a bit of
tweaking.
The concept of family and togetherness is an all-time sell, he told us on
the sidelines of the promotion of his
new show and a recasting and
rebranding of Diya Aur Bati Hum. “As
a nation, our mass mindset is still
today dominated by the joint family
system. Even nuclear families value
culture and the extended family structure. So the family orientation is going
to be around in the entertainment
space for quite some time, more so on
Indian television. I think if we try to
get away from the family scenario, we
will not be able to hit the numbers,
which are so crucial to the business
of sustenance. For Indians, television
viewing is entertainment as well as
good learning,” Mittal informed, saying he was buoyed up by a number of
messages commending Diya aur Bati
hum for helping families reunite.
Television, Mittal believes, is an emotion-driven business by virtue of
invading people’s homes and private
spaces.
So his new show, too, dwells in the
periphery of formula. Its appeal lies
in combining the relationship that
‘BABA RAMDEV IS GOING TO
KICK OFF THE MATCH. I AM JUST
WORRIED IF MPS, WHO CAN
PLAY CRICKET AND SCORE 50,
CAN MANAGE THE FITNESS
LEVEL FOR FOOTBALL’
It’s still a play of
emotions
TV producer SUMEET MITTAL spoke to
GANITA about why the family format will still
hold good on mainstream channels and his
new non-fiction show, Rivals in Law
drama viewers want from a reality
entertainment show, with the practical take-home skills they’d expect
from a cooking format. So every
episode, a young wife, her mother-inlaw and husband/son are introduced.
The son must choose a favourite dish
for them to prepare. Both women get
to work in the studio kitchen under
the watchful eye of a chef host, and
age-old tensions are brought to boiling point in the process. The son must
ultimately decide who cooked it best,
and his dilemma is relatable for many
in the audience. This is Mittal’s first
foray into a global franchise. “I would
like to have all kinds of flowers in my
bouquet. We would like to make our
shows for the global market. At the
same time, we would want the Indian
market to open up to the global space,”
he told us.
Clarifying the different produc-
as the captain, Manoj Tiwari,
Parwez Varma and compatriots putting their best foot forward. For that you have to
foot the bill from as low as `
200 to as high as `5,000.
Babul Supriyo started his
speech with a little humour,
pretending he did not know
the swish set seated next to
him at all. “I don’t want to be
a hypocrite since we are
meeting for the first time.
Slowly and eventually I will
remember all your names,”
he said, clarifying he was
awaiting their hidden skills
in the ballgame.
“Baba Ramdev is going
to kick off the match. I am
just worried if MPs, who can
play cricket and score 50, can
manage the fitness level for
football,” he added.
Manoj Tiwari said he
was very happy to be a part
of this event. “The practice
sessions are going on and no
matter whoever wins, it will
be a proud moment.”
Dino Morea said,
“Thank you all for being
here and supporting the
great cause, and also thank
you entire media for coming
and supporting.”
tion processes for fictional and nonfictional drama, he said, “It’s a very different ballgame. In the fiction space,
we don’t think about the number of
episodes and just believe in producing good content episode after
episode. In the non-fiction format, we
have to fix our story-telling within a
specific timeframe. As a creator, I
would love to tell stories on different
platforms differently.”
Talking about the potential of the
internet and the increasing popularity of web series, he doesn’t see it
denting his core business. “The
young audience is going to go on the
digital platform for a specific kind of
entertainment, barring the family
dream. It’s good that we have evolving genres on the digital plane but
they are not going to take away the
hardcore television viewers. A new
audience is emerging for the web
series but numbers are not shifting
from television to internet. So, every
time a new web series comes up on
the digital platform, my assumption
is that we will see new numbers
rather than numbers just dividing or
spreading.”
However, he agreed that viewership had gone down for television,
not because of diversion but because
of poor substance. “Mainstream
numbers are down because people
are not liking the content.
Entertainment television is going
through a midlife crisis. As producers, we just have to reinvent the
wheel and figure out the process of
identifying markers. I am sure we
will soon be back with a right fit for
a new developed taste. It’s just a matter of time.”
Naughty,
spooky
twist
The actors of Great Grand
Masti were seen having
fun on the promotion of
their latest flick. TEAM VIVA
caches up with the crew
virgin ghost seducing three men? Sounds
ridiculous but producers of Great Grand
A
Masti believe the horror comedy genre will be
their big ticket and repeat the success of the prequel Grand Masti. “Amar, Preet and Prem are
coming back with the third part and it is probably the funniest film any of us have ever done
in our careers,” said Aftab Shivdasani.
The trio of Ritesh Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi
and Aftab Shivdasani are back with the third
instalment of the franchise. Hottie Urvashi
Rautela is playing the lead role in the movie. “I
play a virgin ghost with supernatural powers in
this movie. It’s my third movie and it was the
most challenging and demanding role, till now,”
said the actress, who looked stunning in a suit
cum dress. “Urvashi’s role was very different and
had many variations to it. She is extremely professional and has nailed her role,” said Vivek. “It
took us three years to come back with the third
instalment as we wanted a new and strong plot,”
said Ritesh Deshmukh.
The actors gushed about how there was
never a dull moment on the set and they always
used to have fun. “It was like a paid holiday as
our family and kids were there as well,” exclaimed
Vivek. We could see great bonding between the
notorious trio at the press conference. They were
adding to each other's answers and also laughed
at their inside jokes, very evidently. “We initial-
‘I play a virgin ghost with
supernatural powers in
this movie. It's my third
movie and it was the most
challenging and
demanding role, till now’
ly worked as co actors, then as friends in the second instalment and as brothers in the third instalment. Our understanding has only increased in
all these years,” said Ritesh. “We feel lucky to work
together,” added Aftab.
Asked their take on the pirated copy of the
film, which was shared online, having any effect
on the movie’s business, Vivek said, “Our production house will release an official statement
on this.” Urvashi, when asked if she experienced
anything ‘spooky’ on the sets, said, “I wasn’t
spared by the boys on the set. We were shooting at the Wakaner Palace and they convinced
me that the place is haunted. It was only after a
few days that I realized they were pulling a prank
on me.” This is Ritesh Deshmukh’s fifth film with
the director Indra Kumar. “My relation with
Indra is very different now. From student
teacher relation to being brothers, the journey
has been great. I absolutely loved him,”
answered Ritesh when asked about his journey with the director. Ritesh will soon be seen
in a musical drama genre which was a very
different experience for the actor. Vivek also
spoke about his upcoming film Rai where he
plays the role of a villain. According to the
actors of the film, Great Grand Masti is not
a sexual comedy but a naughty comedy with
a little bit of quirkiness.
Kim pokes fun at
her critics
KIM KARDASHIAN, who has
featured on the Forbes' highestcelebrity earners of 2016 list, poked
fun at critics who say that she has
no talent. The celebrity secured the
42nd position, making $51 million
last year from various business
ventures. Kim shared an image of
herself on Forbes magazine's cover
and poked fun at people who brand
her as having no talent.
Her business and tech
achievements have
landed her on the
cover which she
shared on her
social media
platforms. She
wrote, “Not bad
for a girl with no
talent.”
In its profile, the
magazine
pays
particular
attention to
her gaming
venture,
which invites
fans to
essentially
live her life
in virtual
form.
Intimacy in solitude
The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. ATTILIO
TRIPODI speaks to GANITA about the ways of perceiving loneliness
he black and white photos of
the series speak about the
T
temporary nature of solitude. The
images may suggest a hint of
melancholia but are never sad.
Instead, all the pictures are united by a feeling of vitality. The minimal preferred shots, with very few
elements, accentuate the look of
introspection. Atilio Tripodi
prefers to portray human landscapes in his photos, which, in
this case, are the unsuspecting protagonists of this
reflection on loneliness. “We
are never alone, even when this
condition seems so unequivocally clear. Man is a social being,
inevitably interacts with others and
establish relationships with others,
exchanging emotions and feelings.
Because of a higher spiritual law,
we are all connected to each other,
we are one. So, I figured that the
protagonists of my shots intentionally seek temporary solitude, necessary to create a deep contact with
the most authentic and intimate
part of themselves, with their
essence, their soul. I imagined,
then, that my subject had tried that
particular insulation to talk to himself, in a kind of meditation,” says
the Italian photographer.
Usually his photo collections
always express a very lively range
of colours but for Temporary
Solitudes he preferred to use black
and white. “Photographing isolated subjects, immersed in a variety
of contexts, is one of my photographic prerogatives. I like to be a
spectator of everyday human reads
in the architecture of life, always
with acute curiosity but with the
utmost respect for the sacredness
of life. This fact allowed me to
meditate on people’s loneliness and
the great opportunities that we can
offer. In solitude, immersed in our
deepest thoughts, we face our
existential questions, we set ourselves on the path of evolution,”
says the artist.
Attilio believes that an artist
should always listen to his innermost self. Soul is the crucible
where thoughts take shape. He
suggests, “It is then very important
for anyone involved in the visual
arts, such as photography, to try to
look at the work of others. An artist
should look for inspiration in
everything. He/she should always
carry with him a wealth of curiosity.” Attilio is always looking for sit-
ATTILIO BELIEVES THAT
AN ARTIST SHOULD
ALWAYS LISTEN TO HIS
INNERMOST SELF. SOUL
IS THE CRUCIBLE
WHERE THOUGHTS
TAKE SHAPE
uations, faces and shots that excite
him, hoping to then transfer to
those who look at his pictures the
same intense emotion.
A freelance art director for
advertising, graphic design, publishing and packaging in Italy, photography is Attilio’s passion. He has
been at it for 30 years and still it
fascinates him to observe the
world through the lens, typeset
emotions and tell stories in a single frame. His work as a graphic
designer inevitably affects his
approach. Lines, contrasts, textures
and shapes are often present in his
pictures and interact with the
subject. He thinks the most important ingredient in photography is
emotion. “The formal balance of
an image, the harmony that can be
transmitted, the right exposure...
all will fall flat if we lose out on the
most important ingredient which
is emotion.”
(The exhibition is on at IIC)