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Even as a Chipko-like move-ment is going on in Delhi

against the scheduled felling of16,573 trees to make way forhouses for bureaucrats, theDelhi High Court on Mondaycame down heavily against theNational BuildingsConstruction Corporation’s(NBCC) plan and ordered aninterim stay on the tree chop-ping.

Taking note of the HCobservation that “Can Delhitoday afford cutting down of somany trees for a housing com-plex? We could understand if itwas a road-widening workwhich is inevitable”, NBCC,tasked with redeveloping half adozen South Delhi colonies,agreed not to cut any tree tillJuly 4.

The HC had initially askedNBCC to “stay its hands” tillJuly 2 when a similar issuewould be heard by the NationalGreen Tribunal (NGT) andasked the petitioner, anorthopaedic surgeon, toapproach the tribunal. Thecourt’s observations came afterthe NBCC said the NGT hadthe jurisdiction to hear pleaschallenging environment clear-ances granted to any project bythe Centre.

The plan to cut fully-growntrees for residential purpose hascome at a time when Delhi isalready reeling under pollution.Local residents and green bod-ies have come out on streets toprotest against the decision tocut trees and have pointed out

how it could further deterioratethe air quality in the city. Thatthese trees are in residentialareas means that cutting themcould have a deep impact onhealth quality of people livinghere, they rued.

Meanwhile, apolitical Delhiresidents on Monday huggedtrees in Sarojini Nagar in starkreminder of the Chipko move-ment. Interestingly, tree loversfrom across the nation havesupported citizens’ initiative.

“We are at crossroads.Large-scale felling of trees hasraised CO2 levels to dangerouslevels… This cannot be recti-

fied by planting saplings,” saidRuchi, an activist.

“It is time to speak up andget into action. Big measuresare needed but a little step andvoice also counts,” anotherprotester said.

Anil Sood, petitioneragainst the deforestation drivefor redeveloping the residentialcomplex, said the protest is amass movement and it will notstop till the Governmentreverses its decision.

RWAs in Delhi have writ-ten to Union Minister ofEnvironment Dr HarshVardhan against the NBCC

plan to fell trees for residentialpurpose. “Delhi is already fac-ing severe air pollution, the treefelling plan will aggravate thesituation,” RWAs mentionedin a letter addressed to DrVardhan.

The six South Delhicolonies where the trees wouldbe felled are Sarojini Nagar,Naoroji Nagar, Netaji Nagar,Thyagaraja Nagar,Mohammadpur and KasturbaNagar, the petition has said.

Meanwhile, the angeramong people has resulted inthe Aam Aadmi Party and theCentre blaming each other

over the tree felling plan. UnionMinister Hardeep Singh Purion Sunday had said the greencover in the areas where thetrees would be cut would beexpanded three times. It was anassurance for which he wasmassively trolled on Twitter.

On Monday, the AAPdemanded scrapping of theUnion Government’s redevel-opment plans of South Delhicolonies saying it would have a“disastrous” effect on the city.The AAP raised the demandwhile welcoming the DelhiHigh Court’s interim stay of onfelling of trees.

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The Ministry of Financehas given a green signal

to three corridors of DelhiMetro Phase-IV —JanakpuriWest to RK Ashram, Maujpurto Mukundpur, and Aerocityto Tughlaqabad. They have acombined length of 61.66km, out of the total 104 kmof the proposed Phase-IVproject of the Delhi Metro.

The three corridors, forwhich approval has beensought in the first phase,will cost about �29,000 crore.According to the originalplan, this phase would havegot on track in April 2016. Inthe absence of nod from theGovernment, the date waspushed forward twice toOctober 2017 and then April2018.

The Ministry of Financehas also given nod to metroprojects in Indore, Bhopal,Kanpur, Agra, and Meerut.The approval would be madeunder the provisions of newMetro Rail Policy, which hadbeen cleared by the UnionCabinet last year. Besides, theFinance Ministry has alsoapproved a proposal of rapidrail project connecting Delhito Meerut.

According to UnionHousing and Urban AffairsSecretary Durga Shankar

Mishra, approvals have beengiven in principle to theseproposals. “Now, these pro-posals would be put upbefore Public InvestmentBoard (PIB) to examine theinvestment plans pertainingto these projects. A note tothis effect is being prepared.After approval of PIB, theproposals would be sent toUnion Cabinet for approval,”said Mishra, adding that thefinal cost of these corridorsis yet to be decided.

Sources said the DelhiMetro has proposed the threecorridors on a PPP model.Under this plan, the trackswill be set up by DMRC,while the coaches will beobtained from a private play-er through a bidding process.

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Days after SeychellesParliament blocked

Indian military expansionplans in the AssumptionIsland, the agreement signedin 2015 between the two sidesis back on negotiation table.Following a meeting betweenPrime Minister NarendraModi and visiting SeychellesPresident Danny Faure onMonday, it appears that thedeal to enable India develop

Assumption Islands as a navalbase is still intact.

“We have agreed to worktogether on the AssumptionIsland project based on eachother’s interests,” Modi said ata joint Press event after thetalks. In his statement, Fauretoo said, “In the context ofmaritime security, theAssumption Island was dis-cussed. We are equallyengaged and will continue towork together bearing eachother’s interests in mind.”

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After last week’s disclosureby the Supreme Court-

appointed Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) on black moneythat huge amounts of blackmoney have been recoveredfrom Maoists; Odisha DGPDr RP Sharma on Mondayconfirmed that ganja worthover Rs 10 lakh was recentlyseized from Maoists in

Malkangiri district while thecontraband was being trans-ported to Punjab.

Replying to a query ofreporters here, the DGP saidMaoists are now engaged inheavy hemp cultivations in thecutoff areas of Malkangiri,Koraput and Jaypore and tradein illegal narcotics drugs is nowthe only economic source ofthese radical forces.

Continued on Page 4

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In what can be termed as thefirst step towards preparation

for the 2019 general elections inOdisha, the State’s ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO) hasdirected the district Collectors tosubmit estimates regardingexpenditures for conducting thepolls.

Speaking to reporters onMonday, CEO Surendra Kumarsaid, “This is a routine process.The Collectors have been direct-ed to submit reports over vari-ous types of poll-related expens-es such as transportation of thepolling parties and preparationof infrastructures like booths

and strong rooms.”“Keeping inview the price escalation andprescription of the ElectionCommission of India (ECI), wewill do the budgeting. As per thedirection of the ECI, a processhas started for establishment of

strong rooms in each district forsafekeeping of the EVMs,”Kumar said.

He further informed thatEVMs, VVPATs would be usedin all the polling booth acrossthe State during the polls.

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Like last year, the first denguedeath in Odisha this year was

also reported from the SCBMedical College Hospital herelate on Sunday evening. OneTrailok Barik (30), a native ofKeonjhar district, who wasundergoing treatment in thehospital since June 22, died,informed Hospital Emergency

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With villagers taking law intheir own hands in the

name of PESA (PanchayatExtension to Scheduled Area)Act, hundreds of locals bargedin to a sponge iron plant atLaing under the Rajgangpurpolice station on Monday,damaging its boundary wall.

The protesters claimed thatthe land acquired by the spongeiron firm is illegal, since thesame has not been approved bytheir gram sabha.

Senior administrative offi-cials like Sundargarh Collector,DIG (WR) and Rorukela SPreached the spot and about 50persons were arrested by police.

The situation was stated betense in the locality and aboutfive platoon police forces weredeployed on the spot.

Sources said, hundreds oflocals, majority of themwomen, reportedly damagedwest side of the boundary wallat around 10 am on Mondayand barged in to the premisesof Suraj Products PrivateLimited, a sponge iron com-pany, which has been existingin the locality for last 25 years.

The locals reportedlyclaimed that the company hadacquired about thirty acres ofland five years ago illegally,since their village gram sabha

had not approved the same.The agitated locals report-

edly threatened the staffs andworkers of the factory andasked them to vacate the spot.

On the information of thecompany officials, police offi-cials had reached the spot butwere helpless.

Then senior administrativeofficials from district adminis-tration like SundargarhCollector SK Mina, DIG(Western Range) Kavita Jalanand Rourkela SP Uma ShankarDas reached to the spot.Significantly, the protesters hadrefused to allow the officials toenter into their premises, court-ing provisions of PESA Act.

According to sources, forexpansion of the SurajProducts, about thirty acres of

land adjacent to their existingplant were acquired throughIDCO, during 2011 and werehanded over to the company in2013.The company, besidesconstructing the boundary wallof the land had also establishedits expanded units. The com-pany has lodged a complaint inRajgangpur police station, nar-rating the incident," "We havearrested about fifty persons inthis case and we are furtherinvestigating," said Rajgangpurpolice station IIC PK Jena.

Significantly, quoting pro-vision of the PESA Act thelocals of Amghat village, alsounder Rajgangpur police sta-tion have kept the water pumphouse drawn from Nakti Nalaof their locality under lock and

Continued on Page 4

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While the OdishaGovernment is asking for

additional allocations for theAspirational Districts, theCentre, instead of providingmore funds, has advised the for-mer to use the District MineralFoundation (DMF) fund forthese backward districts.

The State Government infrequent intervals has beendemanding additional fundsfor the 10 districts, which arenotified as AspirationalDistricts. Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik drew the issueto the attention of NITI AayogVice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar,who recently visited the State.

Chief Secretary AdityaPrasad Padhi has also drawnattention of NITI Aayog CEOAmitabh Kant to the fact thatthese backward districts requireadditional funds.

However now, the UnionMinistry of Mines has writtento the State Government todovetail the DMF resources tothe Aspirational Districts andchalk out Action Plans forthem. Mines Ministry

Secretary Anil G Mukim haswritten to the StateGovernment in this regard,said sources.

Mukim has pointed outthat the DMF has been estab-lished with an objective towork for the interest and ben-efit of the persons and areasaffected by mining-relatedoperations in the concerneddistricts. The Pradhan MantriKhanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana(PMKKKY) would be imple-mented through the DMFresources of these districts.

In Odisha, all the 10Aspirational Districts haveminerals-bearing areas; so, theDMF funds would be availablein all the backward districts.Contributions are being col-lected from the mining lease-holders, both major and minorminerals, for the DMF.

Therefore, DMF resourcesare available in Balangir,Dhenkanal, Gajapati,Kalahandi, Kandhamal,Koraput, MalkangiriNabarangpur, Nuapada andRayagada. DMF implementa-tion is needed to be undertak-en in these areas where till date

over Rs 160 crore of funds hasbeen collected.

Mukim has advised theState Government to ask thedistrict Collectors to use theDMF funds for implementationof Action Plans of these back-ward districts within the frame-work of PMKKKY and DMF.

While the StateGovernment has already takenup various developmental pro-grammes under the DMF in allthe districts asking to dovetailthe DMF resources for the 10districts would not come as amuch help as already fundsflow are there, pointed out asenior official.

The State Governmentwould be pumping over Rs12,000 crore in the minerals-bearing districts and, accord-ingly, projects are being sanc-tioned, said sources in theDepartment of Steel & Mines.

But the AspirationalDistricts, which are in the low-est ladders of development,require additional funds overand above the funding forleapfrogging developmentalactivities, pointed out a seniorofficial.

"�� 80,8�9/�;�=

The Commissioneratepolice are planning to

declare 12 establishments raid-ed for operating sex racket as‘brothels’ in twin cityBhubaneswar and Cuttack.

Among the establish-ments, H2O Spa located atBapuji Nagar in Bhubaneswarfrom where eight young girlsbelonging to Thailand wererescued and nine customerswere arrested recently, wouldbe declared as a brothel.

The police’s move is on theground that the explanationsmade by the establishmentowners were not satisfactory.

The houses where the sexrackets were running would bedeclared brothels, informed asenior police official.

Earlier, the establishmentowners had been asked tomake their stand clear in aspecial court of theCommissionerate police afterthe sex rackets were busted inthese houses.

Notably, theCommisionerate police bust-ed 12 sex rackets in Cuttackand Bhubaneswar in the pastone and a half years. Whilefour houses were raided inCuttack, police arrested thekingpins and pimps and res-cued the sex workers during a

series of raids at eight housesin various locations inBhubaneswar during the peri-od.

Source said the sex rack-ets were operating in knowl-edge of the house owners.While the sex workers in theserackets have been officiallytermed as prostitutes, thehouses where the rackets wereoperating would be declared asbrothels.

With declaration of thehouses as brothels, the policewould seal the premises for aperiod of one year underSection 18 (1) of the ImmoralTraffic Prevention Act, 1956from the date of their actual

attachment. During the peri-od, the house owners wouldnot be allowed to file petitionsin any court. Besides, the pub-lic places like educational insti-tutions, temples and clubsattached to the houses wouldbe informed through a letterregarding the status of thehouses.Earlier, seven estab-lishments were declared closedby the police following theraids during the period from2014 to 2016.

They included HotelNirmal Palace, Ashok Nagar;Hotel Janat Palace, BapujiNagar; Maitry Guest House,Maitri Vihar; Khusbu BeautyParlour, Cuttack Road; OneStar Beauty Parlour, OldStation Bazaar; a house atVSS Nagar (all inBhubaneswar) and a house atRanihat Chhak in Cuttack.

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Even as BJP national presidentAmit Shah is scheduled to

visit the State on July 1 to reviewthe party affairs here. OdishaPradesh Youth Congress presi-dent Lokanath Maharathy onMonday said that Congressyouths would oppose Shah’s visitwith protest programmes acrossthe State.

“Amit Shah who has beenplaying with the emotions of thepeople of

Odisha is visiting the Statefrequently. We demand resolu-tion of the

Mahanadi water issue at theearliest. Besides, Shah has notkept his promise of providingjobs to two crore youths andbringing back black money tothe country.”

Ahead of Shah’s visit, agroup of Youth Congress activ-ities burnt

the posters of the BJPnational president at MasterCanteen Square on Monday.

Lokanath Maharathy statedthe Shah would be opposedwherever he goes in the State.

However, Odisha PradeshCongress Committee (OPCC)president Niranjan Patnaikexpressed his displeasure overthe Youth Congress’ course ofaction and said the Congress hasno plan of protesting Shah’svisit.

"�� 80,8�9/�;�=

An innovative move by theNDA Government to have

sea plane service in Asia’s largestlake is likely to take a final shapesoon.

In fact the AirportsAuthority of India (AAI) ismulling a water aerodrome inChilika lake to boost tourismand a two- day survey has beenconducted recently in this con-nection.

SpiceJet is interested forsuch a service and joined in theTeam AAI for taking up the sur-vey.

Gurgaon- based low costcarrier SpiceJet is among the air-lines that are keen to start seaplane operations in the country.

In October last year, SpiceJetsigned a MoU with Japan’sSetouchi Holdings for acquiringup to 100 amphibian aircrafts.

Biju Patnaik InternationalAirport Director SureshChandra Hota has said that a

two-day preliminary feasibilitysurvey in the lake was carriedout by a special team.

The team was led by theAAI General Manager (archi-tect) Sangita Mahay and seniorofficials of the AAI, SpiceJet,Meteorological Centre,

Bhubaneswar, ChilikaDevelopment Authority (CDA)and State Water ResourcesDepartment on June 15 and 16for the location of the proposedaerodrome.

He said the team surveyedthe lake area in Satapada in Puridistrict and Balugaon in Ganjamdistrict to take stock of themode of the landing of the sea-planes or amphibious aircraft.

The study was taken up inthe direction where the pro-posed aerodrome would be setup and the location of the aero-drome where maximum pas-sengers will be benefited.

Although the proposedaerodrome will not have theamenities available in the BijuPatnaik International Airport inBhubaneswar, but it will provideall necessary requirements to the

passengers, he said.The AAI sources said the

team found that the location ofthe proposed aerodrome atSatapada will not be feasible dueto the shallowness of the lakewater and a number of prawngherries.

However, the team haspreferred the location inBalugan area where the lakewater is deeper and has fewermosses, he said.Apart frompassenger seaplanes andamphibious aircraft, the wateraerodrome will facilitate land-

ing of war planes. However, asingle-engine plane will beallowed to land on the aero-drome, the official added.

The length of the runway ofthe proposed water aerodrometo be built at a cost of Rs 10 crorewill be 500 feet, said sources.

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After hours of nail bitingwait over a meeting

between the State Governmentand the teacher leaders, ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik mayhave surprised and elatedeverybody last year byannouncing abolition of thehorrendous Block Grant sys-tem of which the BJDGovernment was the architectby its replacement with grant-in-aid (GIA), but still the teach-ers are not happy.

The reason is obvious.Under the new GIA policy, the

employees’ seniority is com-pletely ignored and their ser-vice is counted only sinceJanuary 1, 2018, no matterwho began his job when.

Though the agitatingteachers had had severalrounds of discussion with thetop bureaucrats of the State,including the Chief Secretary,

the DevelopmentCommissioner, the Secretariesof Finance, Law, School andMass Education and HigherEducation, apart from theSchool and Mass Educationand Higher EducationMinisters, thanks to bureau-cratic conspiracy, the senior

most teachers of thousands ofschools and colleges who havealmost rendered service forover 20-25 years are going tolose their seniority and all thebenefits if they bite the bait ofthe new GIA.

The teacher leaders ofschools and colleges who sat atthe negotiating table with theMinisters and officials haveopposed the system and repeat-edly tried to convince how thenew policy would not beacceptable, but their concernwas not paid heed.Consequently, though the newGIA policy was announcedwith a big bang, the employeesare not interested to avail thegrant as accepting the newgrant would be penny- wise-

pound- foolish of them.“With date of joining of

service not taken into account,not only the salary would betoo less, but many other ben-efits like pension, arrear, etcwould have to be sacrificed. Sothe new GIA is even darker alaw than the Block Grant,”opined a teacher.

Meanwhile, with hastyimplementation of the newGIA, even releasing salarybefore the Cabinet approval, anattempt is made to create a riftin the teacher community.While scores of institutionshave been released the newgrant, still many are yet toreceive it. Those who are stead-fast on rollback of an affidavitclause to receive the new

grant and demand grant byvalidation of their entire serviceperiod have not applied for thenew GIA and are going to startanother bout of agitation soon,said sources.

“While the agitation of theteachers from the beginning oftheacademic session wouldagain disrupt the education oflakhs of students in thousandsof high schools, 662 and 488colleges, the unsavoury spec-tacle of teachers taking tostreets would again have to beexperienced in the State capi-tal. This would also expose theskin of the State Governmentfor making a high sounding buthollow policy and its failure tocontain the stir of the teachers,”opined intellectuals here.

P

Prasanna Kumar Mishra is a former mem-ber of the Indian Administrative Service of

the Odisha cadre of 1966 batch. He worked asSecretary to the State Government in manydepartments including Revenue and Excise,Mining and Geology, Housing and UrbanDevelopment, Agriculture; Sports, Food and CivilSupplies and Finance. He also held the posts ofAdditional Chief Secretary and AgriculturalProduction Commissioner. He served asChairman of the Odisha Mining Corporation,CMD of Industrial Development Corporation,Chairman of the State Housing Board. He alsoworked as Chairman of the Paradip Port Trustand retired in 2004 while working as Secretaryto Government of India in the Department ofCoal. He lives in Bhubaneswarand is active in social media.Tens and thousands of youthsto the aged and experiencedlook upon him as guardianangel and think tank of oursociety. With rich administra-tive experience, Mishra is over-flowing with the milk ofhuman kindness and sympa-thy and is engaged in socialservices and philanthropic pur-suits. He writes on currentissues in various newspapers.He loves his privacy, espouses rule of law andtransparency in governance. He is fond of twoheroes: the common man and an inquisitive child.The unedifying and ignominious event of the lossof keys of the Jagannath Temple’s Ratna Bhandarhas shocked him. He gives his opinion for the larg-er benefit of devotees, servitors and for the peo-ple in the Government who matter while speak-ing to Sugyan Choudhury of The Pioneer.

How grave is the issue of the loss of keysof the Ratna Bhandar? Is the appointment ofa judicial commission on this issue justified?

I am worried about attempts to trivialise thisimportant issue. Even a scribe described the lossof the keys as a trivial issue. The RatnaBhandar is an important part of the temple.Valuable movable assets of the temple are keptthere. Its safety is specifically enjoined by lawupon the Managing Committee and theAdministrator. That the keys would be lost andthe Administrator would not spring to imme-diate action and inform the police to ensure itsquick retrieval is by itself a serious lapse. TheState Government having the power of gener-al superintendence of the temple and itsendowments should have taken immediateaction. The State Government as per the Act canpass any orders for proper maintenance oradministration of the temple or its endowmentsor in the interest of the general public wor-shipping in the temple. Law empowers theGovernment to examine the records of theAdministrator or of the committee in respectof any proceedings with a view to satisfying itselfas to the regularity of such proceeding or thecorrectness, legality or propriety of any decisionor order made therein; and if in any case itappears to the Government that any such deci-sion or order should be modified, annulled,reversed or remitted, for reconsideration, it maypass orders accordingly. The Government is alsogiven the power to stay the execution of anysuch decision or order in the meantime.Despite such wide legal powers, what millionsof Hindu devotees witnessed in this case, how-ever, is startling and bewildering. Inaction ledto serious doubts and apprehension about thesafety of the valuables in the Ratna Bhandar. Theimmediate response of the Administratorwould have been to get the Ratna Bhandaropened, make an inventory of the valuables,

compare it with the previous inventory andexplain the discrepancy, if any. Not only did theAdministrator not perform, the Governmenttoo remained silent. Social media pressed foraction; and discontentment swelled. ThenGovernment appointed a Commission ofInquiry. People took it as a diversionary strat-egy to silence public outcry. Then suddenly, akey was discovered reportedly from an uncon-ventional hideout, the Record Room of theCollectorate. This only added to the confusionand made the sordid saga look murkier. Thisserious development only points to the grow-ing entrenchment of politics in the templeaffairs. Devotees are getting marginalised;some are being manhandled; cases of pickpocketin the temple are being reported. What I wouldplead for is demonstration of will power by theGovernment and objective implementation ofthe existing law.

What’s your view on the roles ofJagadguru Shankaracharya of GovardhanPitha and Gajapati Maharaja in the templeaffairs?

Both are hoary institutions. These are thecynosures of millions of Hindus all over theworld. Acharya Padmapada was ceremonious-ly installed as the first Shankaracharya of

Govardhan Math. That veryday, the three deities hiddenunderground for fear of van-dalisation by iconoclasts gotfresh idols made for themand the Shankaracharya hadinstalled them on the RatnaSinhasan. He revived theage-old rituals and modes ofworship, put in place aBhoga Mandapa right with-in the temple to ensure easyaccess of devotees toMahaprasad. The

Shankaracharya’s views in respect of eligibilityof devotees to get on to the chariots and touchthe idols were taken as final. The preeminentposition of this ancient institution needs to bestrengthened to ensure proper performance ofthe temple rituals and his role should be incor-porated appropriately in the existing lawthrough suitable amendment. The GajapatiMaharaja continues to be the Adya Sevak withattendant rights, privileges and perquisitesand he is present in the Managing Committee.

What would you suggest for smoothconduct of the Rath Yatra this year?

I would like to flag a couple of issues. Letme first address the reforms issue. We need tomake small beginnings without waiting for acomprehensive report of an expert body.Devotees witness the Pahandi inside the tem-ple. They gain access after purchasing tickets.There is a liberal presence of VIPs inside whoare there because of the positions they hold inthe Government. This practice needs to stop.In the house of God, the concept of human VIPis an absurdity. They do not contribute to thequality of the temple activity during Pahandi.Let me hope there will be a beginning this year.It is worth being reminded that the Lords comeout from the temple for those devotees who, forsome reasons, have not been able to see themon the Ratna Sinhasan inside the temple. Havewe been able to let those deprived segments ofour society have a Darshan while the Lords’chariots roll on the Bada Danda? It is my earnesthope that someday a special enclosure on theBada Danda would be set apart for thosedeprived people to have a Darshan of the Lords.

Aberrations like presence of large numberof unconnected people on the chariots; servi-tors placing themselves on the chariots in suchpositions by which devotees have difficulty inseeing the idols have generated widespread pub-lic ire. Attempts to prevent presence of unau-thorised persons on the chariots have bornefruit, but new issues come up like the allegedright of some servitors to let their family mem-bers go up to the chariots. On this issue, eventhe District Magistrate of Puri was manhandledin public last year in full view of the police anddevotees. I only hope this year the Rath Yatrapasses off peacefully and devotees have a dig-nified divine experience.

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About 90 per cent of the District Mineral Foundation (DMF)fund has not been spent in the minerals-rich regions in the

State.DMF fund to the tune of a whopping Rs 4,075 crore has been

collected in the last three years since 2015-16. However, only Rs389 crore has been spent and the remaining Rs 3,686 could notbe utilised. Thus, 90 per cent of the fund remains unspent.

While the fund was totally unutilised in 16 districts, reportssaid that only six districts witnessed spending of funds betweenRs 1 crore and Rs 6 crore.

This was stated during a seminar on occasion of annual func-tion of the magazine ‘Bhumi’ held here on Sunday. Attending theprogramme, eminent environmentalist Professor Radha Mohanraised doubt on the Government’s purpose of constitution of theDMF. The body is formed as part of strategy so that no one wouldoppose any mining operation in the area, he remarked.

Notably, the DMF is a trust set up as a nonprofit body in allthe districts affected by mining operation to work for the inter-est and benefit of residents. The trust is funded by the mine own-ers.

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Now the Non-PerformingAssets (NPAs) in agricul-

ture and allied sector loan inOdisha are over Rs 4,100 croreand are on the rise. Theyaccount for over 13 per cent ofthe advances, reveals a seniorofficial in the StateGovernment.

While the commercialbanks, regional rural banksand cooperative banks haveadvanced Rs 31,055 crore as perlatest Banking Report onAgricultural Advances byDecember 31, 2017, the NPAhas gone up to Rs 4,178.50 croreby this period, sources said.

Out of Rs 31,055 crore,short term crop loan is Rs20,691 crore, term loan is Rs6,445 crore and allied sectoradvance is Rs 3,918 crore.

The State Government isharping on more agriculturalloans as this is a priority area ofadvance as stipulated by theGovernment of India.

While cooperative bankshave advanced Rs 9,844.85crore on short term loan, thecommercial banks haveadvanced Rs 8,288 crore andthe RRBs have provided Rs2,558 crore.

The commercial bankshave advanced Rs 5,796.83

crore in agri term loan and theRRBs have provided Rs 421.93crore, while the cooperativebanks have given Rs 226.27crore.

In allied agriculture sector,the commercial banks haveextended Rs 2,810.99 crore,the RRBs have funded Rs885.11 crore and the coopera-tive banks have extended Rs222.79 crore.

In case of agriculture loan,after poor recovery in case ofRabi crop loans, Kharif croploans are also showing stress.

"It would be challenging tomeet the agriculture lendingtargets this year, as there is a lotof stress in the sector,” admitsa senior official in the StateLevel Bankers’ Committee.

Officials admit that moreand more bad loans areadvanced by the commercialbanks and the RRBs ratherthan the cooperative banks.

So NPAs are more withRRBs as out of total outstand-ing advances of Rs 3,865.16crore, NPA is Rs 940.11 crore,which is over 24 per cent of thetotal agricultural advances.

This is alarming admit offi-cials as the RRB officials areeither advancing bad loans orthey are not trying to takesteps for recovery of loans andinterest.

Similarly, the commercial

banks, which have advancedRs16,895.94 crore of agricul-tural loans have NPA of Rs2,532.56 crore.

This amount comes around15 per cent of the total advancesin agriculture and allied sector.

However, the cooperativebanks have advancedRs10,293.91 crore and the NPAis Rs 705.83 crore.

Overdrive for collection ofloan and interest by the Statecooperative bank and otherdistrict central cooperativebanks have resulted in lessNPA with cooperative banksector.

Now, with more and moreState Governments imple-menting loan waiver, thebankers are worried in Odishaalso as waiver of loan willimpact overdue collection.

However, the Reserve Bankof India has already clarifiedthat loan waiver will not impactNPA as the State Governmentsare making budgetary supportfor loan waiver in their respec-tive State Budgets.

Recently, Karnatakaannounced loan waiver andearlier Uttar Pradesh imple-mented over Rs 35,000 croreloan waiver. If Odisha goes forfull agricultural loan waiver, itwill cost the State exchequer awhopping of Rs 27,000 crore,officials admit.

"��?9/&,=

The Tarbha Block YadavSamaj felicitated 9 year-old

Jhili Bagh, daughter ofLaxminarayan Bagh ofKendumunda village of Tarbhablock on Sunday. In a daringact, Jhili jumped into a 25 feetwell to save her 3- year-old sis-ter at her village in Badbhainro

Gram Panchayat. When MiliBagh(3), Jhili Bagh(9) and hisfriend Ritanjali Bagarty(9) wereplaying on Saturday afternoon,Mili accidentally fell into thewell. Without giving a secondthought, Jhili told her friendsRitanjali Bagarty to call herfamily members and jumpedinto the well. She was success-ful in saving her sister fromdrowning. A rope was throwninto the well. Jhili was holdingher sister on head till familymembers threw the rope intowell and rescued them.

"�� 80,8�9/�;�=

The State Government woulddistribute free laptops to

meritorious students, who suc-cessfully cleared annual PlusTwo examinations in variousstreams, by December 31 thisyear, an official source said onMonday.

A total of 15,000 meritori-ous students in 12th standardexamination would get freelaptop under the Biju YuvaSashaktikaran Yojana, a youthempowerment initiativelaunched by the StateGovernment. A list of the stu-dents would be released in July.

As per the revised guide-lines of the Biju YuvaSashaktikaran Yojana, the stu-dents’ relatives can also receivethe laptops in case of theirabsence during the programme.They can inform the authoritiesabout the reason of theirabsence through a letter signedby the chairmen of the con-cerned colleges. It is mandato-

ry to submit the identity doc-uments of the relatives whowould receive the laptops.

A committee headed by thedistrict Collector would beconstituted to monitor the dis-tribution process of laptopswithin the scheduled period oftime. The Government has setup 30 nodal centres for distri-bution of the laptops.

The laptops would be sentby the IT Department to thenodal centres. The studentscan lodge complaint with thecollege authorities if they wouldhave any issue regarding the list.The students can be added to asupplementary list if the queriesare proved to be true, officialsources said.

The supplementary list of

students including the studentswho would not have receivedthe laptops would be releasedafter December. The students inthe supplementary list would bedistributed laptops by January31, 2019, the Higher EducationDepartment has written to 822degree and 29 autonomous col-leges in a letter.

Sources in the HigherEducation Department said theofficer at a nodal centre wouldverify the certificates of the stu-dents before distribution oflaptops. The college authoritieswould have to approve the cer-tificates along with furnishingthe college identity cards andadmit cards provided by theCouncil of Higher SecondaryEducation.

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The District CongressCommittee here felicitated

newly-appointed DCC presi-dent and working presidents onSunday during a meeting heldhere for strengthening Congressin Sundargarh.

Benu Madhav Tirpathi, thenew president, presided overthe meeting on Sunday wherepresidents and workers of 17blocks and seven Town CongressCommittee members were pre-

sent.Pradesh Congress

Committee working presidentNaba Kishore Das was chiefguest on the occasion.Sundargarh Sadar MLA JogeshSingh, Talsara MLA PrafullaMajhi, former MLAs JanardanDehury, Remish Kerketa andGregory Minz were present.

Das also advised theCongress leaders and workerspresent there to work for people’swelfare to strengthen theCongress.

"��"��80,8�9/�;�=

Many Bhubaneswarschools, supported by

organisations like LivingFarms, are working to instilhealthy eating habits, fosterfood literacy, teach culinaryskills, and educate childrenabout the environmental,social, and health consequencesof their food choices.

The ShikshadaanInternational School makes itsure that the day-care

students and the staff eatfresh and organic food in everymeal. Such

measure of the school willgo a long way in making thestudents adopt

a healthy life and lifestyle,believes school principalKumud Mohapatra.

Apart from several educa-tion awareness programmesin the school on the necessity

of embracing an organic way oflife, the school has developeda small nutrition garden recent-ly to facilitate a bsic under-standing of organic farmingpractices among the students.

Mohapatra said, “As spacecrunch has been a major prob-lem, initially the garden hasbeen developed on 500 sqft ofland, where seeds of seasonalvegetables and fruits weresown. The saplings will beplanted after monsoonbecomes regular. The smallgarden has turned into an edu-cational site for the school,where we facilitate experientiallessons on food, nutrition, andfarming. We mentor the chil-dren to grow plants and pro-duce their own vegetables athome. We also hosted a sum-mer programme to empowerand encourage students togrow their own food.”

The school has been tiedup with a local women group,

which grows and suppliesorganic fruits, vegetables andother organic products likemilk. Krishiv Singh Solanki, aschool student, maintained thatnothing is more interestingthan sowing a seed, applymanure and water to it and seeit growing. “As we are learningit from the school we developeda small vegetable garden on theterrace of our house. It givesimmense satisfaction to pick afresh vegetable and add it to thekitchen.”

Jayadev Siksha Kendra inPatia area, one of the mostdensely populated places inthe city, too does not havemuch room for agriculture.However, to ensure that its hos-tel students have access tofreshly produced organic foodand learn the basics of organ-ic farming, the school opted forgrowing seasonal vegetableslike bitter gourd, bottle gourd,pumpkin, tomatoes and lady’s

finger on its rooftop. Theydeveloped a beautiful garden byplacing at least 60 grow-bagswith the help of experts.

According to school head-master Pradip K Pani, “We arealways concerned about pro-viding organic food to ourstudents as organically pro-duced foods have higher nutri-tional content and greater heal-ing properties than commer-cially produced foods.”

Pradyumna Pani of Class-IX, one among the studentsenthusiastic to learn and applyfarming techniques, said it isinteresting to develop light soilusing cocopit, organic fertilis-er and vermi-compost. Use ofgrow bags to develop gardenson rooftops is amazing as itdoes a little damage to the ter-race.

Sri Aurobindo IntegralEducation Centre, Khandagiri,seeks to spread awareness onthe importance of growing andconsuming safe and healthyfood among the students. Theschool believes in the impor-

tance of gardens and kitchensas classrooms. It aims atempowering students to makehealthy food choices, not onlyfor themselves but also forcommunities surroundingthem, said its teacher RabindraKumar Padhi who is at thehelm of activities concerningorganic farming in the school.

They have created gardenat the backyard of the schoolwhere they grow greens andvegetables on raised beds tocontribute to the safe foodrequirement of the school can-teen.

Dr JagatbandhuMohapatra, project coordina-tor, India for Eco-FoodCampaign, Living Farms, saidthe right to safe and unconta-minated food is a fundamentalright. “In our country, theFood Safety and Standards Act,2006 provides necessary safe-guards to the citizens in orderto maintain the quality of food.However, the Green Revolutionthat aimed at producing more,promoted application of chem-

icals and pesticides.As many as 24 pesticides

registered and extensively usedin our country have been clas-sified as potential carcinogensby the US EPA. In such contextwe are trying our best to incul-

cate safe food practices amongchildren from the very begin-ning.”

Abhisek Dwivedy, cam-paign coordinator, LivingFarms, maintained that theSafe Food campaign rolled out

in February, 2017 inBhubaneswar, focuses on edu-cation awareness events withschool and college studentsand development of organicgardens on the school premis-es.

"�� '�'&,=

The People of Odisha haveconfidence in the leadership

of Chief Minister NaveenPatanik and would continue torepose faith in him as the BJDGovernment is trying to addressevery issue concerning the peo-ple of the State, said formerFinance Minister PrafullaChandra Ghadai, inauguratinga BJD youth meeting inKaliapani under Sukinda blockhere on Sunday.

Ghadai said, “We have pro-grammes starting from birth todeath of an individual and ourworkers are always there towork for common people.”

Focusing on infrastructure

development in the State, hesaid infrastructure developmentis the key for socio-economicprosperity of a State and thegovernment is very focused onit and have also achieved manysuccesses on this front under theleadership of the CM.

Ghadei also said the NaveenPatnaik government is com-mitted for the betterment of

women fraternity. He also high-lighted various steps undertak-en by the government for thebetterment of the poor trib-al.Lastly he said, “Sukinda iswhere my heart, I would con-tinue to do whatever possible onmy part for the people of thearea till my last breath”.

Many BJD youth worker swere present at the meeting.

��"�!�� 9,�&�%�

Hiradhar Kata has twosons, both married and

are having children. They are

in occupation of a small pieceof Government land insideKhariar town since long.

"It is for more than fiftyyears that the land is in theirpossession," said Kata, wholamented that they are yet togetoccupancy right as yet.

Lambodar Banchhor livesin a hut built on the embank-ment of Gudhel Bandh, a tra-ditional water body. "He willnot get the occupancy righthere, because it is a commonland," said the Revenue staffs.

There are about 200 suchhouseholds living in smallhuts inside Khariar town,according to an estimate doneby the Khariar NAC. Almostall these households are occu-pying these lands for decades,but these encroachments havenot yet been settled in theirnames.

They are very poor peo-ple leading their lives withpetty trades and wage laboursetc. "They neither can buyland nor can build house in

Khariar town; their only hopeis Government," saidChairperson of Khariar NACKhulana Behera.

"Their role in the devel-opment of the town isimmense; that's why we haveidentified them to provideland and house inside thetown," she added.

The Khariar NAC hasidentified about 200 suchlandless households in fiveslums to be included in theland allotment scheme. The

Chairperson along with theCouncilors and the ExecutiveOfficer of the NAC are there-fore enthusiastic.

"It was long overdue andhence, we are happy," theCouncilors said, who aregoing to face the ULB electionin near future."

An aerial survey for iden-tification of houses has beenstarted since Saturday last bythe TATA Trust. It will cor-roborate with physical surveyin the f ield," said the

Executive Officer, KhariarNAC.

The areas where the set-tlements are to be built areB r a h m a n a p a d a ,Cchhutigudipada, Talpada,Nilj ibandhpada andHatapada. Persons whoseincome per annum is lessthan Rs1.80 lakh would getthe benefit. Land once allot-ted is not transferable. VisionNGO has been employed forthe survey of households,said sources.

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Life was partially hit androad communication was

disrupted at some places insouthern Odisha as postersand banners were put up byMaoists and roads wereblocked by felling trees at dif-ferent places calling for supportto their Odisha andChhattisgarh bandh onMonday.

Posters were found at sev-eral places including on anunder-construction chariot ofLord Jagannath in Raigharblock of Nabarangpur district.

In Kandhamal, posterswere put up by the Bansadhara-Ghumusara Nagabali DivisionCommittee on Sunday nightand vehicular movement onthe Baliguda-DaringbadiNational Highway 59 was dis-rupted as Maoists blocked theroad by felling trees.

The rebels also blockedthe road near Kerapadar Chhakunder Boden police station inNuapada district. Sources said

ultras have reportedly haveplanted landmines in Sinaplifollowing which the districtpolice have sent a bomb squadto defuse the mines.

In Kalahandi district, theRed rebels felled trees to blockroads at Phurlijharan in TRampur and Manikera underM Rampur blocks.

Meanwhile, police andsecurity forces in Kalahandi,Nuapada and Kandhamal dis-tricts have tightened security inthe area and intensified comb-ing operations to foil anyattempt by the .Maoists to cre-ate mayhem.

In Gajapati district, theMaoist shutdown failed tohave any impact. Most of theshops, Government offices,schools remained open andbus services functioned asusual. However, all theGovernment buses plying atnight to Adaba on NationalHighway 16 stayed off theroads due to security reasons.Though the bandh has evokedpoor response, the police arenot taking any chances andcarrying out intensivepatrolling in the sensitive loca-tions, said Adaba PS iicMukesh Lajra.

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To cater to the needs of loversof philately and general

public, a Philatelic Bureau,Bhubaneswar with upgradedfacilities was inaugurated at theChief PMG office here onMonday.

Chief guest Board ofRevenue Member GVV Sarmainaugurated the upgradedPhilatelic Bureau in the presenceof Chief Post Master General,Odisha Circle Santosh KumarKamila, retired IAS officer DNPadhi, PMG, BerhampurRegion Col J Kanhar and PMG

Sambalpur Region L Pradhan.The upgraded bureau

would have neat and clean envi-ronment with AC facility andsitting arrangement for the cus-tomers, philatelists, stamp col-lectors, a ‘My Stamp Counter’facility, display of philatelicexhibits of philatelists, newreleased CommemorativePostage Stamps, Miniatures,Special Covers, Booklets andothers and information aboutvarious philatelic activitiesorganised by the Odisha PostalCircle.

On the occasion, two paint-ings on “Evolution of PostalService” and “Odisha inPhilately” were also unveiled bythe guests.

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Lightning wreaked havoc onMonday as two persons

were killed while seven otherswere injured by the calamity atdifferent places of the State.

In the first incident, twopersons of a family were killedwhile two others were injuredwhen lightning struck a coun-try boat at Jamboo village inKendrapada district. Sourcessaid woman and her daughterwere killed when lightningstruck them while they hadgone fishing on a boat.

The woman’s grandson and

another relative were alsoinjured in the incident. Theinjured were rushed to theMahakalpada hospital and theircondition is stated to be stable,said sources.

Similarly, two residents ofPentha village underMarshaghai block in the districtwere critically injured by alightning strike while they sit-ting in the verandah of theirhouse. They were rushed to theDistrict Headquarters Hospital.

Similarly, in another inci-dent, three persons of a familywere injured when lightningstruck their house at Bibhutipur

village under Kakatpur block ofPuri district today.

The injured, identified asKailash Sahu, his wife anddaughter, were rushed to theKakatpur Community HealthCentre and later shifted to theCharichhak CommunityHealth centre. According tosources, the lightning strikewas so powerful that it damagedthe roof of the house.

"�� 80�%=�+

In view of increase in oil pricesand environment pollution, a

young engineer in Bhadrak dis-trict developed a bicycle thatruns on solar up to 30 km perhour.

Rakesh Nayak, a native ofKulana village in Tesinga pan-chayat under Bhandaripokhariblock in Bhadrak district, madehis village proud by developinga solar-powered bicycle.

The youth, the son of SubashNayak, who is a music teacherand farmer, and mother PramilaNayak, has completed his diplo-ma in electrical engineeringfrom Barapada School ofEngineering and Technology inBhadrak district.

He made research anddeveloped a solar-powered bicy-

cle after his fathercould not afford tobear fuel expensesfor his bike. Heexplored severalways to completehis mission andfinally he developedthe bicycle just intwo months usinghis technical skills.

Rakesh used asolar panel, four 12-volt batteries and aswitch connectedwith 24-volt DC motor andelectric accelerator for start andoff in the cycle. It also featureshorn and light switches. Thecycle can also run through pedal.

He has spent about Rs15,000 to design and build thesolar-powered bicycle. Theyoung man has been receiving

applauds from various quartersfor his innovation.

The solar-powered cycle canrun upto 30 km per hour, Rakeshsaid, adding that the bicyclecould be upgraded with manymore features if he receivesfinancial support from any com-pany or Government.

"�� 8=�0 �&,=

Soundhik Samaj district pres-ident Prabhakar Sahu was

expelled after a decision of all thepresidents of the Samaj in thedistrict at a meeting on June 10,informed Soundhik Samaj gen-eral secretary Brahmabar Sahu ata Press meet here on Sunday.

Sahu also informed that tillthe new district president iselected, Niranjan Sahu has beenelected as working president.

He urged all presidents ofthe Samaj in the district to beunited and work together and tohold developmental activities inthe district through which theSamaj would move forward.

Among others, Nikhil UtkalSoundhik Samaj youth presidentKuna Sahu, joint secretaryYudhistir Sahu, Prem

Chaudhury, Shyam Sundar Sahuand Balaram Sahu were present.

While being contacted withthe expelled district presidentPrabhakar Sahu, he said that fortaking any decision there shouldan approval of 200 members ofthe Samaj at a meeting, but onJune 10 there were only 10members present.

So, the decision taken inmeeting cannot be executed andby the Samaj’s law he (PrabhakarSahu) would continue to work asdistrict president, he claimed.

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Aperson was killed and apolice constable was

injured in separate road acci-dents in the district onSunday.

In the first incident, oneBrajabandhu Das ofDihakarada village underthe Kakatpur police limitshad gone to Garei village inNaugaon block to attend awedding. Brajabandhu withhis two friends in a bike hadgone to the Naugaon marketand while returning to hisrelative house they lost con-trol over the bike and hit aroad site tree at Tentei Post

Of f ice Chhak on theJag at s i ng hpu r– Nau g a onroad.

Whi le Brajabandhurece ived ser ious headinjuries, the other two wereunhurt. Brajabandhu wasrushed to the Naugaon hos-pital but doctor declaredhim brought dead. Policehave registered a case andsent the body for post-mortem.

In another mishap, a traf-fic constable was hit by anunidentified vehicle on theTirtol-Kolara road while he wason his way to Cuttack in hisbike on Sunday. The injuredcop was identified as PrashantKumar Mohanty of Dhanuavillage under Kolara Panchayat.

Mohanty was rushed tothe Manijanga hospital andlater shifted to the SCBMedical College Hospitalafter his condition turnedcritical.

"�� 80,8�9/�;�=

The National SecurityGuard (NSG) Hyderabad

hub on Monday conducted amock drill at Infosys SEZCampus, Infovalley, under theIT and ITES SEZ atGaudakashipur and Arisol vil-lage on the city outskirts.

The mock drill inside theSEZ of Odisha Industrial

Infrastructure DevelopmentCorporation (Idco) simulateda hostage situation, involvingfive heavily armed terrorists.

In this unique exerciseforces like one company eachfrom NSG and SpecialTechnical Unit (STU) fromSpecial Operations Group(SOG), two platoons of OSAP,personnel from the Twin CityComissionerate police, bombdisposal squad, one unit fromFires Services and Trafficpolice participated.

The exercise started withfive NSG commandos mas-querading as terrorist, enteredthe campus on June 21,

through the main entrance bykilling two guards. Once insidethey targeted one buildingand had taken five employeesas hostages. The local policestation was informed alongwith the Commissionratepolice.

The NSG Hyderabad hubwas then contacted, for pro-viding necessary assistance.

A company of NSG com-mandoes then took-off withfull battle load fromHyderabad airport and land-ed in the city. A green corri-dor was provided by the traf-fic police along with a pilotvehicle (real time). They

reached the campus and thecommandos were then briefedjointly by STU commandantand head of the security,Infosys about the ground sit-uation as well as the buildinglayout entry and exit points.

The Black Cat comman-dos pumped into action afterdue coordination with theSTU unit, clearly understand-ing their positions in andaround the building includingradio networking and sniperposition. The operation con-tinued for three hours andfinally the terrorists were nue-tralised and the hostages weresafely rescued.

"�� 80,8�9/�;�=

In view of the rejection of therates of the Ayushman

Yojana by the CentralGovernment by the IndianMedical Association (IMA),BJD spokesperson and MPPratap Keshari Deb told lead-ers such as Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan who hadcriticised Biju Swasthya KalyanYojana and advocated for theAyushman Yojana should hangtheir head in shame today forhaving supported such cor-ruption breeding schemes.

Deb told the IMA alsofeels that at 15 per cent profit,crores of rupees will unneces-sarily go to the middle men andthe present health delivery sys-tem will collapse. This hasvindicated the stand of Odishaon Ayushman Yojana, Debtold.

“We had already statedthat Ayushman Yojana wouldlead to harassment of patientswith 45 lakh people left out inthe cold in Odisha. On theother hand, Biju SwasthyaKalyan Yojana will provide atrust model instead of insur-

ance model and the same hasbeen advocated by IMA furtherproving that OdishaGovernment is right in itsstand for the implementation ofBiju Swasthya Kalyan Yojanaand its objections to AyushmanYojana finds resonance in thestand taken by the IndianMedical Association,” he stat-ed.

Dharmendra Pradhan hasmisled 4.5 crore people ofOdisha and endangered theirhealth safety for selfish and nar-row political gains. He hasfurther pushed 45 lakh people

of Odisha into darkness byadvocating for AyushmanYojana which would compro-mise patient treatment qualityand have harmful effect onpatient safety. Pradhan

should immediately apol-ogize to the people of Odishafor having supported a cor-ruption-centric scheme ofUnion Government likeAyushman Yojana and oppos-ing a people-centric, trust-model driven, health assurancescheme of Odisha in the formof Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana,demanded Deb.

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Concerted efforts by conser-vationists, locals and Bihar

Government forest officials forthe past two years to revive ghar-ial breeding in the Gandak rivernear the Valmiki National Parkin West Champaran have begunto yield results as 20 hatchlingsemerged from two nests recent-ly, scripting a major success ingharial conservation efforts.

“On June 14, twenty hatch-lings emerged out of the twonests that we artificially createdin-situ and shifted the eggs intoit to save them from submer-gence and erosion due to the rise

in the water level in the Gandak,”said Subrat Kumar Behera, thepoint man of the GharialConservation Project of theWildlife Trust of India (WTI).

The shifted nests were mon-itored and protected by localvolunteers, including villagersand project staff. Thirty-ninemore hatchlings were observedswimming further downstream,Bahera added.

Endemic to the Indian sub-continent, gharials are the fish-eating long-snouted crocodiles.It is estimated that only about200 breeding individuals of thespecies, listed as critically endan-gered, survive in the wild today.

Expressing happiness at theincrease in the number of hatch-lings in the Gandak, SChandrasekhar, Conservator ofForests and Field Director,Valmiki National Park, said thesuccessful gharial conservationefforts are a good sign for theriver ecosystem.

Fast current, clean water,and braided channels of theGandak river make for the habi-tation a suitable gharial habitat.But massive erosion of sandbanks after water is released inlarge volume from the barrageleads to the destruction of nest-ing sites either before egg layingor before hatching.

“The threat needs to beaddressed by regulating therelease of water from theValmiki Nagar barrage, espe-cially during nesting season, toassist gharials in successfulbreeding,” said Dr Samir KumarSinha, head of Species RecoveryDivision of WTI.Contrary togeneral understanding, gharialsare not harmful to human being.

The WTI has monitored 30captive-born gharials whichwere reared at Patna zoo andreleased back into the Gandak.A recent survey by WTI hasrecorded more than 160 ghari-als in the Gandak in its stretchin Bihar.

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Major Nikhil Rai Handa,arrested for brutal murder

of his fellow Major’s wife, hadplanned the murder after shereportedly spurned his over-tures. Driven by obsession andstung by rejection, Major Handadecided to bump her off. Heappears to have studied similarmurders and tried to create analibi by running over his HondaCity car over Shailza Dwivedi’sbody.

The First InformationReport (FIR) lodged at Narainapolice station has vivid descrip-tion of the nature of injuriesinflicted on Shailza’s body. “Hertop was torn, there were signedof being dragged, a deep woundon the back of the deceased, adeep cut on her right elbow anda fatal injury on her throat,” theFIR states. “The nature of injurieson the body of the deceased indi-cates the mental status of thealleged killer,” said a police offi-cer privy to the investigation. Shehad put up a fight and tried towriggle out of his clutches but hehad apparently overpowered herand stabbed her repeatedly, theofficial added.

Major Handa not only triedto mislead the police by runninghis car over the body but also dis-pose of the ‘murder of weapon’.Police did recover a blood soakedSwiss Knife but the investigatorssaid that was not the weaponused in the grisly murder. “Bloodstained Swiss Knife was recoveredfrom the possession of theaccused but the nature of injuriesfound on the body of thedeceased indicates that a long andsharp weapon was used to stabher,” said a police official.

Police established Handa’smovements after scanning theCCTV footage of Army Base

hospital and the Honda City carin question was with only oneperson and that was Handa,police said.

“Recovery of the murderweapon is extremely important tobuild a watertight case against theaccused Major. We are taking himto Meerut and places where hehad gone after committing themurder,” the official said.

Narrating the sequence thatled to the murder of Shailza, theofficial said Handa met her in2015 and since then theyremained in touch even after shemoved to Delhi. He made hun-dreds of calls and followed hermovements very closely. He wasreportedly annoyed with MajorAmit Dwivedi, who had warnedhim not to come close to his wife,said a police officer.

Police said the Call DataRecord (CDR) of the accusedshows that he was continuouslyon phone with Shailza and it wasMajor Handa who called hermore often. The lid of his dal-liance with his colleague’s wifewas taken off after MajorDwivedi once caught them dur-ing a video call. A visibly angryDwividi warned Handa not tocome close to his wife and he

scolded his wife too. He evenconfronted her in the light of theevidence. This made Handaannoyed and he hatched the planto eliminate her as he was drivenout of jealousy and rejection,police added.

Investigators have managedto establish the sequence ofevents leading to the murder.According to police, MajorHanda reached Delhi onSaturday and asked Shailza tomeet him. He picked her up fromthe Base hospital and had anargument with her.

He was too obsessed and waspressurising her to marry him butshe refused him on his face. Thisenraged Handa further and herepeatedly stabbed her with aknife. She appears to have diedinstantly. He then pushed herbody from the car and ran overher body to mislead the police,they said.

Handa went to his house andhad a bath, changed his clothsand drove out of the nationalCapital. After he was seen in theCCTV footage driving his HondaCity, the police scanned his CDRand cell locations indicated thathe had escaped towards WesternUttar Pradesh.

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In a significant development,the Income Tax department

has issued a notice to RobertVadra’s Delhi-based Sky LightHospitality LLP, to pay �25.8crore in tax for the assessmentyear 2010-11. The depart-ment has given a 30-day dead-line to Vadra, who is directorof the company, to pay up theamount.

The 25-page I-TDepartment report said a re-assessment of the 2010-11income of the Vadra’s com-pany showed the actualincome of the company forthat year was nearly �43 croreas against �37 lakh shown inthe books. Accordingly, taxpayable on this revisedincome has been determinedto be �25.8 crore.

In April this year, theSupreme Court had dismisseda petition filed by Sky LightHospitality challenging there-assessment notice issuedagainst it in connection withDLF-Sky Light Hospitalityland deal. Earlier, the DelhiHigh Court had also dis-missed the petition, afterwhich the firm approachedSC.

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From Page 1Officer Dr BN Moharana onMonday.“The patient had been

admitted in a very critical con-dition and was immediately putinto medicine ICU. His condi-tion, however, never improvedduring the course of treatmentand he finally succumbed to thevector-borne disease,” a treatingdoctor said.

Hospital sources informedthat looking at the onset ofdengue season, special mea-sures have been taken by theauthorities to provide propertreatment to patients. There areplans to have exclusive denguewards where dedicated doctorsand paramedics would bedeployed.

From Page 1“Odisha police with the

help of multiagency squadswill completely destroy thehemp cultivation this year,”the DGP said.

“The local police areconstantly keeping a strongvigil on hemp cultivation inthese districts; and we havea target to destroy moresuch cultivations this year,”the DGP said, adding thatlast year hemp cultivationsin over 4,500 acres of land inthe State were destroyed.

He also pointed out thatt he Narcot ics C ont rol

Bureau and the State ExciseDepartment are also track-ing drug traffickers.

After a high-level meet-ing here on June 19, SITVice-Chairman Justice ArijitPasayat had indicated thatgeneration of black moneyand accumulation of prop-erties by the Maoists wouldbe under the scanner of theSIT on black money as it hascome to the notice of agen-cies that some Maoist lead-ers have made huge for-tunes by way of extortion,loot and trade in narcoticsdrugs.

From Page 1key, since last two months,

due to which the water supplyto OCL India

colonies has been stopped.The locals have demanded Rs30 lakh as the arrear and Rs 1lakh every month as the watercess to their village committee,to allow them to release water.

Similarly, on May 13, aboutsix policemen, includingOfficer-in-Charge of Hatibaripolice outpost, who had goneto arrest two accused, werekept hostage by the villagers ofBaneilata village, reportedlyfor entering in to their villagewithout the permission of theirgram sabha. Police had arrest-ed 25 in the case.

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Accusing Former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi of

turning democracy into consti-tutional dictatorship by imposingEmergency, Senior UnionMinister Arun Jaitley on Mondaydrew parallel between her moveswith those of German dictatorAdolf Hitler who, he said, alsoseized emergency powers in 1933on false ground claiming he wasdoing it for the ‘protection of thepeople of the State.’

In an article ‘The EmergencyRevisited’, Jaitley said unlike Hitler,Indira went a step ahead byendeavouring to transform Indiainto a “dynastic democracy”.

In his Facebook post, theMinister wondered whether thescript of Emergency, which wasimposed more than 4 decadesago on June 25, 1975, wasinspired by what had happenedin Nazi Germany in 1933.

“Both Hitler and Mrs.Gandhi never abrogated theConstitution. They used a repub-lican Constitution to transformdemocracy into dictatorship,”Jaitley wrote in the second partsub-titled as ‘The Tyranny ofEmergency’.

“The pretext for impositionof Emergency was that onFebruary 27, German ParliamentHouse, known as “Reichstag”had been set on fire. Hitlerclaimed that it was a communistconspiracy to burn Governmentbuildings and museums.Thirteen years later, in theNuremberg trials, it was estab-lished that Reichstag fire was thehandiwork of Nazis andGoebbels had conceived it. Hitlercontinued to maintain that hisactions were within the fourcorners of the Constitution”, hesaid.

Jaitley said but there were afew things which Hitler did notdo which Gandhi did.

“She prohibited the publica-tion of Parliamentary proceedingin the media... Unlike Hitler,Indira went ahead to transformIndia into a 'dynastic democra-cy’, ” the Minister said. “Thepress censorship laws imposed inIndia and in Germany werealmost similar. You had effec-tively a one party system inplay,” he said.

As regards the economicprogramme, the Minister drew asimilarity between the agenda ofHitler and Gandhi.

“Hitler had announced a 25point economic programme. MrsGandhi had announced 20. Tocover up the gap, Sanjay (Gandhi)announced his 5 point econom-ic and social programme. Dissentbecame a sin and sycophancy therule,” Jaitley said.

Hitler continued to maintainthat his actions were within thefour corners of the Constitution,Jaitley said, adding “Mrs. Gandhiimposed the Emergency underArticle 352, suspended funda-mental rights under Article 359and claimed that disorder wasplanned by the Opposition in thecountry”.

Like Hitler, Indira arrestedmost opposition members ofParliament, and therefore pro-cured, through their absence, atwo-third majority of memberspresent and voting and enablingthe passage of several obnoxiousprovisions through Constitutionamendments, he said.

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In an attempt to keep the heaton in volatile West Bengal, BJP

president Amit Shah will be ona two-day visit to Kolkata andPurulia from Wednesday andaddress a public rally in the lat-ter in the wake of the killing of‘BJP workers’ there, last month.

According to party leaders,the move is aimed at expandingand consolidating votes in thetribal district in the run up to theLok Sabha elections 2019. TheBJP had done well in panchayatpolls in the tribal-dominatedPurulia, Jhargram, WestMidnapore and Bankura, a for-mer Maoist hotbed.

Shah would be visitingKolkata on June 27 and attend anintellectual meet and thereaftervisit Tarapeeth temple. He willalso to be in a public function tocelebrate birthday of famedwriter Bankim Chand Chatterjee.

On June 28, Shah wouldmove to Purulia and address apublic rally. The party presidentwould meet BJP workers atpolling both level and tour thearea. Party leaders point out thatBJP has build organizationalnetwork in 65 per cent of 77,000polling stations in the State.There are at least five well-trained BJP worker in eachpolling booths in the State, theysaid. BJP leaders have often

claimed that it has set a target ofwinning 22 Lok Sabha seats inWest Bengal which theOpposition in the State, howev-er, describes as a ‘fanciful idea’.BJP had won only two seats in2014.

Shah’s visit to Purulia comesin the wake of the West Bengalpolice making the first arrest inconnection with the murder of‘BJP worker’ Trilochan Mahato,whose killing in Purulia lastmonth turned into a politicalissue after Shah blamed the rul-ing Trinamool Congress for thecrime.

BJP sought to boost itsexpansion drive in the state byadmitting Humayun Kabir, aformer Minister in the TMCGovernment in West Bengal,here on Monday.

Kabir hails fromMurshidabad district and hasbeen in the Congress after he wasexpelled by the TMC in 2015 forhis alleged anti-party activities.

Kabir claimed the people inthe eastern state are looking foran alternative to MamataBanerjee-led TMC and see theBJP as the most credible one.

BJP General SecretaryKailash Vijayvargiya, who is incharge of the State, said Kabir’sjoining would strengthen theparty and more leaders from dif-ferent parties would join it in therun up to the elections.

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With Presidential electionsin Maldives scheduled to

take place on September 23, itsOpposition leaders haveincreased their trips to India todrum up support and seek helpfor free and fair polls in theneighbouring country.

Maldives’ former ForeignMinister and leader ofOpposition, Ahmed Naseem,who is at present in New Delhito have discussions with theIndian policy makers and civilsociety members, said onMonday that India should leadthe world to pressuriseMaldives President AbdullaYameen Abdul Gayoomthrough targeted sanctionsand diplomatic isolation.

“Yameen’s ambassador istrying to work with New Delhito prevent India from criticis-ing the incumbent MaldivesGovernment’s illegal actions.

It is learnt that they havetold India that the country willget its position of high respectonce Yameen is re-elected. Butinternational community ledby India should pressurizeYameen to hold free and fairelections. India has the tools tomake things right in Maldivesand it should play a proactiverole to ensure democracy is

restored,” said Naseem duringan interaction with select gath-ering of journalists.

He added that he has beenmeeting Indian leaders andhave got positive responsefrom them. “Solution toMaldives will come throughIndia’s leadership backed byseveral countries,” said theformer FM.

Naseem, the acting presi-dent of the MaldivianDemocratic Party (MDP), hasfor the last few months travel-ling across the world to briefworld leaders on the issues inMaldives.

In March he was inWashington to brief theDonald Trump administra-tion. He has already made

several trips to India but withthe date of elections closing in,the visits to New Delhi havebecome more frequent.According to Nassem it is inIndia's own interest to checkYameen, whom he alleged tobe sold out to China.

“Yameen is systematicallydestroying the democraticsetup of Maldives. Since dic-tator is easy to seduce, Chinais using him for land grabbingin the Maldives archipelago.The Chinese companies havealready taken over 16 islandsin Maldives. By 2020 nearly 30to 40 per cent of the Maldivesmoney will go in debt returnto China and our country willbe a colony ofChina…Similarly, the BeltRoad Initiative of China is notin the interest of Maldives butYameen has pledged his sup-port to China despite Indiaopposing BRI,” Naseem said.

He added that the risingIslamic extremism backed bythe Yameen Governmentshould be another cause ofconcern for India. “Being theclosest neighbor Maldivesshould do nothing that canhurt the interests of India. ButYameen Government has doneeverything to destroy India-Maldives friendship,” the MDPleader said.

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With pollution becoming amajor health problem

across the country, theEnvironment Ministry is lookingtowards latest technologies totackle the menace as well asimprove the air quality.

On Monday, in a meetingchaired by Union EnvironmentSecretary CK Mishra, it wasdecided that the Department ofScience and Technology (DST)will take the lead on technologyinterventions for possible usebefore the onset of winter. Theyshould provide the results oftheir assessments in 2 weeks, sothat pilots could be quickly rolledout.

Similarly, an expert groupwill be constituted, which willprovide its recommendation in a

month’s time on early warningsystem, including disseminationprotocol and application of satel-lite based measurement forimproving air quality informa-tion and management, said astatement here.

The National PhysicalLaboratory (CSIR-NPL) will bethe certification agency for airquality measurement instru-ments. Certification of PM2.5and PM10 volume samplers willcommence from September.

The meeting also deliberat-ed on likely use of satellite-basedAerosol Optical Depth (AOD)data for estimating groundbasedPM2.5 levels, establishing earlywarning system and dissemina-tion protocol to inform publicand enforcing agencies aboutepisodic high pollution events inadvance, as per the statement.

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The CBI on Mondayapproached the Supreme

Court challenging a DelhiHigh Court order grantingbail to Karti Chidambaram,son of senior Congress leaderP Chidambaram, in the INXMedia case.

A single judge Bench ofthe Delhi HC had on March23 granted bail to Karti, whowas arrested on February 28by the CBI in connectionwith the case. The HC was ofthe view that relief cannot berefused unless the crime wasof the “highest magnitude”entailing “severe punishment”.

The CBI claimed in itsappeal that it was “imper-missible in law” for the HC toentertain Karti’s bail pleawhen an application seekinga similar relief was pendingbefore the trial court. It fur-ther alleged that the HC“erroneously” conducted a“detailed examination” of evi-

dence on merits at the stageof bail which has seriouslyprejudiced the case of CBI.

The agency stated thatthe judge failed to ascertainthe nature of accusation, thesupporting evidence and thereasonable apprehension ofthe accused tampering withthe evidence if let out on bail.

It is the case of CBI thatthere is “incriminating evi-dence” of a “nexus” betweenChess ManagementServices(P) Ltd and AdvantageStrategic Consulting(P) Ltd,both controlled by Karti,which received a payment of�10 lakh for allegedly facili-tating the FIPB clearance toINX Media.

Karti was arrested fromChennai in connection withthe FIPB clearance given toINX Media where he isaccused of receiving funds tothe tune of �305 crore in 2007when his father PChidambaram was the UnionFinance Minister.

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The Centre has decided tointensify its crackdown on

terror funding and moneyflow to Hurriyat and pro-Pakelements in Kashmir. A high-level meeting, chaired byHome Secretary Rajiv Gaubaon Monday and attended byED chief Karnal Singh andNIA chief YC Modi, decided toform a joint coordinatedmechanism to prevent themoney laundering fix the ele-ments providing money toHurryat leaders and other ter-ror cells in the troubled Valley.

The NIA’s newly formedspecial unit to plug the terrorfinancing will intensify the

actions to plug and fix the fundmanagers in the valley with theassistance of EnforcementDirectorate. According tohighly placed officials, apartfrom agents across thePakistan border, the majorflow of money also come from

middle east based agents andsympathizers for the anti-national and terror unleashingactivities in the Kashmir.Nepal based agents are alsoactively involved in moneylaundering in the Valley, saidofficials.

The high level meeting hasentrusted the NIA’s specialunit, ED’s core team andIntelligence Bureau’s specialcell for joint operations againstmoney laundering and terrorfinancing in Kashmir and themonitoring meeting will beheld on regular basis. Theculprits would be expected tobe tried before the NIA’s fasttrack courts.

The meeting also tooknotice of the ongoing recentprobes and prosecutionsagainst the Hurryat leaders likeShahbir Shah and Sayed AliShah Geelani.

The MEA is expected togive alerts to the Middle Eastcountries where substantial

origin of fund flow to Pakistansponsored terror activities inKashmir is happening. TheRAW officers in these coun-tries will also plunge to actionto curb the money originatingcenters in Middle East andNepal. The errant banks andmoney transfer firms in thesecountries would be expected toserve notices throughEnforcement Directorateunder the UN Conventionsagainst terror financing andmoney laundering.

According to officials, themeeting also decided to fasttrack the existing probesagainst the pro-pak elementsinvolved in funding the stonepelting incidents in the Valley.

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&�� 04�� $��3�New Delhi: India on Mondaydenied reports in the Maldivesmedia that it has drasticallycut down export of essentialitems to it. Terming suchreports as ‘misleading’Ministry of External AffairsSpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid on Monday that Indiaremains firmly committed tostrong people to people tiesbetween the two countriesand will ensure that the peo-

ple of Maldives do not have toendure any hardships.

Media reports in Maldivesclaimed India has loweredthe limits on the export of cer-tain essential commodities

such as potatoes and onions. “The reports are mislead-

ing. As highlighted in therecent notification by theDirector General of ForeignTrade, the requirements arecalculated based on actualutilisation in recent past andis consistent with the mecha-nism of the trade agreementsigned between India andMaldives in 1981,” Raveeshsaid. PNS

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Students from India andthree other countries will get

faster visas to study in Canadaas it has introduced majorchanges in visa procedures toreduce the processing time,according to Canadian immi-gration authority.

According to official fig-ures, over 1,00,000 Indian stu-dents study in Canada and edu-cation is a key area of collabo-ration between the two coun-tries.

The Canadian move comesat a time when the UK’sGovernment has decided toexclude Indian students fromeasier visa norms.

Immigration, Refugees andCitizenship Canada (IRCC)said it is making great stridesin promoting Canada as a des-tination of choice for interna-tional students seeking a qual-ity education by finding effi-cient ways to process applica-

tions.To support the growth in

study permit applications, theIRCC announced the StudentDirect Stream (SDS) underwhich students from China,India, Vietnam and thePhilippines will benefit.

“Students from those coun-tries who demonstrate upfrontthat they have the financialresources and language skills tosucceed academically inCanada will benefit from fasterprocessing times,” the IRCCsaid in a statement.

“Similar programmes havebeen in place in these 4 coun-tries for a few years. We arealigning them together into oneprogramme to ensure consis-tency,” it said.

To qualify for the SDS,applicants need to meet addi-tional requirements, in partic-ular language levels that arestricter than regular study per-mit requirements.

Students who do not have

all of the additional informa-tion required for the SDS canapply through the regular studypermit application process,either online or at a VisaApplication Centre.

“The SDS complementsthe Express Entry system asthese students will be wellplaced to continue on the pathto permanent residence andCanadian citizenship aftercompleting their studies inCanada, if they wish to,” theIRCC said.

According to reports, thenew program will cut down theprocessing time for study per-mits (which are student visas)to within 45 days from within60 days.

An MOU between Indiaand Canada signed in June2010 covers areas like studentand faculty exchange, researchand curriculum developmentand facilitate mutual recogni-tion of educational qualifica-tions.

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The BJP on Monday lashedout at Congress for mak-

ing statements aimed atspreading hate and division insociety as it targeted its leaderDigivijay Singh for allegedly“insulting” Hindus.

BJP spokespersonSudhanshu Trivedi toldreporters that Singh in a recentstatement had claimed that theword ‘Hindu’ did not exist, andmaintained that such remarksof Congress leaders pointed tto not only their ignorance butalso a deep-rooted conspiracy.He recalled the slogan ‘India isIndira and Indira is India’

used by DK Barooah, theCongress chief during theemergency to take a dig at theOpposition, saying for thosewho understand Hindu andHindutva the country is“Mother India” and for thosewho don't “India is Indira”.

Since the Congress neverapologised for this slogan, itremains the official stand ofthe party, he said. Even the slo-gan ‘Indira is India’ wasinspired by a Nazi conventionin which slogan ‘Hitler isGermany’ was raised, healleged. Attacking Singh,Trivedi said the Congress onthe one hand describes itspresident Rahul Gandhi as a

“janeu-dhari Hindu” (a Hinduwho wears sacred thread) andon the other the formerMadhya Pradesh chief minis-ter claims that the term‘Hindu’ does not exist.

He said Rahul should clar-ify his position on the issuenoting that his great grandfa-ther and the country’s firstPrime Minister JawaharlalNehru had also dwelt at lengthon the word ‘Hindu’ in hisfamous book ‘Discovery ofIndia’.

“The statement DigvijaySingh has made about thewords ‘Hindu’ and ‘Hindutva’is contemptuous and insult-ing,” he said.

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Aprotection wall and adjoin-ing stretch of parking lot at

a posh high-rise building atWadala’s Antop Hill area innorth-central Mumbai caved inearly on Monday, trappingunder its debris at least a dozenvehicles, even as torrential rainclaimed at least eight lives inthe metropolis and neigh-bouring Thane, Palghar andRaigad districts.

In a first of its kind rain-related incident, the protectionwall and a sizeable stretch of theparking area at the 32-storeyLloyd’s Estate collapsed, takingwith the sliding concreted portion of the park-ing lot as many as 12 high-endcars and SUVs and creating ahuge crater of the size of 30 to40 feet.

Such was the gravity ofland slide that at least half adozen vehicles got buriedunder the debris, thus makingit difficult for fire brigade per-sonnel to fish them out fromunder the debris.

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath stirred a con-

troversy by questioning whywere Dalits denied reserva-tion in minority institutionslike Aligarh Muslim University(AMU) and Jamia MilliaIslamia in Delhi, terming thepractice as violative of consti-tutional norms.

“If Dalits can get reserva-tion in Central university likeBenaras Hindu University(BHU) in Varanasi, why arethey denied this facility inAMU and Jamai Millia. Iappeal to all those voicing con-cern for Dalits to raise theissue,” Yogi said at a publicmeeting in Kannauj on Sunday.

While the question is sub-judice, its timing has pushed allpolitical parties into a mutemode. This seems to be a well-thought out move to break theDalit-Muslim combine whichsome parties like Congress,BSP and SP are trying to buildin UP. Meanwhile, AligarhMuslim University (AMU) offi-cials on Monday, refused torespond to Yogi Adityanath’s

demand, saying that the admis-sion policy was being dis-cussed in Supreme Court andthe varisty did not have reser-vations of any kind. “Becauseour admission policy is beingdiscussed in Supreme Court,the matter is sub judice, so wecannot make a comment. Butwe want to make it clear that wedo not have reservations of anykind. The only reservation, if tosay, is we give 50 per cent to ourinternal students no matterwhat religion he belongs to. Noother reservation is there,” asenior AMU faculty membersaid.

The Jamia Millia IslamiaUniversty also refused to com-ment on the UP ChiefMinister’s statement and saidthat they have their rules to fol-low.

“We will not comment justbecause some politician hasproposed something. The factis that we have our own statutesto follow. We are a Central uni-versity and we will looktowards HRD Ministry fordirection and not be guided byany politician”, a JMIspokesman said.

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On her maiden visit toembattled Jammu and

Kashmir after the imposition ofGovernor’s rule, DefenceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanon Monday reviewed the secu-rity situation at a high levelmeeting in Srinagar attendedby Governor NN Vohra andArmy chief General BipinRawat. The meeting took placeahead of the beginning ofannual Amarnath yatra and apossible renewed offensiveagainst militancy in the State.

The separatists had calledfor a daylong shutdown in theValley against the “spree ofcivilian killings” even as the topseparatist leaders were detainedor restricted to the confines oftheir homes. Sitharamanarrived here on Monday morn-ing for a daylong visit. Beforelanding in capital Srinagar she

went for aerial reconnaissanceof the routes leading to holyAmarnath cave from Baltaland Pahalgam axes.

An official spokesman saidthat Sitharaman reviewed thesecurity framework put in placeby the security forces for theAmarnath yatra and stressedthat all security forces must actwith complete synergy toachieve effective security on theground. Later after landing inSrinagar she held a top-levelsecurity meeting at Raj Bhawanalong-with Governor NNVohra.

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An Army colonel posted in southKashmir in one of the biggest ammu-

nition depots was killed when his serviceweapon went off accidentally while nego-tiating a speed breaker on Monday after-noon, defense sources said.

They said that the officer was rushedto hospital for treatment where he suc-cumbed to injuries.

Police sources said that Colonel JVMahadik from the corps of artillery wasposted in 21 Field Ammunition Depot(FAD) headquarters at Khundroo insouth Kashmir’s Anantnag district.Mahadik received serious bullet woundsafter his gun went off as the officercrossed a speed breaker in his vehicleinside the camp.

He was immediately rushed to amedical facility where he was declareddead on arrival. Defence spokesman inSrinagar Col Rajesh Kalia confirmed thedeath of the officer in the accidental fire.

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Amid claims and counterclaims over the seat shar-

ing among the NDA partnersand statements by the secondrung leadership of the allies,Chief Minister Nitish Kumarcleared his stand that he wouldnot compromise with his poli-cies and principles just for thesake of power and position.

Sharing dais with UnionMinister and LJP chief RamVilas Paswan here on Mondayand addressing a function tocommemorate the memory offormer PM VP Singh, the JD(U)president lashed out at a sectionof BJP leaders for social clashand disharmony. He said, “Somepeople try to create hatred in thesociety. They want to create suchatmosphere for votes as theywant to get votes in the name ofcaste and religion. I don’t carefor votes but the voters even ifthey have not voted for me.”

Remembering VP Singh,the CM said he could have com-pleted his tenure had he com-promised with the situation. Buthe, Nitish added, despite head-ing a coalition Government, didnot compromise with his poli-cies. The CM also attacked theSocialists and said they becamemore interested in personalgains.

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Ahead of the start of theAmarnath yatra from Jammu

base camp on June 27, the securi-ty forces have been kept in a Stateof high alert to ensure incident freeyatra this year.

Elaborate security arrange-ments have been made along theNational Highway starting fromLakhanpur to two base camps inKashmir valley— Baltal andPahalgam.

The most crucial portionalong the route in Jammu regionis the under construction stretchbetween Udhampur and Chenani.

The 30 km long patch is dot-ted with private hotels, eatingpoints and large scale constructionactivity is going on.

Keeping a close watch andscreening miscreants is a chal-lenging task for the jawans of thesecurity forces deployed in theregion.

In August 2015 a convoy of the

security forces were targeted byterrorists near Samroli during theyatra period.

Inspector General of Jammuand Kashmir police, Jammu rangeDr SDS Jamwal Monday visited thenational highway and took stockof the security arrangements onground zero.

In a statement policespokesman said, “the main aim ofthe visit was to conduct on the spotreview of the security arrange-ments planned by the districtSSP’s concerned for smooth andincident free conduct of two-month long yatra”.

Police spokesman said duringthe security review, threadbarediscussions were held on various

elements of security at differentplaces of deployment i.e langarsecurity, lodgment centers securi-ty, route deployment, ROP andarea domination, etc fromUdhampur to Jawahar Tunnel.

“IGP advised them to main-tain utmost alertness to thwart thenefarious designs of anti nationalelements and their mentors acrossthe border.

He also called upon the supervisory officers to ensure that manpower so earmarked forsuch important duties be personally briefed by them regarding nature and important ofduties to be performed by them in the hilly terrain areas of twindistricts.

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Gandhinagar: In the 2002 NarodaPatiya case, Gujarat High Court sen-tenced 10 years of rigorous impris-onment to three more convicts onMonday.

As many as 97 people werekilled a day after the incidence ofGodhra train carnage in which 57kar-sevaks charred to death inside S6coach of Sabarmati Express by mis-creants near Godhra Railway Stationon February 27, 2002. The case wasinitially probed by the Gujarat Police,which charged 46 people for the mas-sacre. However, in 2008, SupremeCourt ordered an SIT to probe theincident, wherein it was stated thata huge mob of anywhere between

1500-5000 people attacked the resi-dents of the Naroda Patiya area.

On Monday, the court sent con-victs Umesh Bharwad, Padmend-rasinh Rajput and Rajkumar Chaumal,to 10 years of RI, a fine of �1,000 each.All the three too were acquitted by spe-cial court earlier in 2012.

A special SIT court had sen-tenced 32 people in connection ofthe case in August 2012. The promi-nent being former Gujarat MinisterMaya Kodnani, who was sentencedto life imprisonment for 28 years,while another main accused BabuBajrangi was given life imprison-ment till death with a condition ofremission. PNS

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Telangana seems to be head-ing for an early Assembly

elections if one goes by theample hints the Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao droppedat an important political eventin Hyderabad.

While elections are due byJune next year, the reliablesources in the ruling TelanganaRashtra Samiti says that theChief Minister KCR was infavour of elections by Decemberor January. Party leaders say thatKCR was actively thinking onthese lines since he met thePrime Minister Narendar Modiin New Delhi about ten days ago.He made his views public at aprogram organized to welcomea senior Congress leader and for-mer Minister Danam Nagendarin the TRS fold. Declaring thatthe TRS was ready for an earlyelections, KCR challenged theCongress and other Oppositionparties to clarify whether theywere ready or not.

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Despite the BJP top brass’repeated instructions for

the MPs and party leaders foreffective use of social media,most of the saffron party lead-ers in Assam are yet to makeoptimum use of the socialmedia tools to reach out to thepeople of the State.

BJP president Amit Shahrecently pulled up the socialmedia team of the party inAssam for not going aggres-sively on social media like face-book and twitter and asked theteam to develop “quality con-tent” to be posted on socialmedia to reach out to the vot-ers ahead of the next year’s LokSabha polls. Shah has alsoappealed to all the party leadersto make optimum use of socialmedia to connect to the people.

Shah who had visited theState last week held a specialmeeting with the social mediateam of the party here. “Thenational president has askedthe social media team to devel-op quality contest for socialmedia so that we can connectto the people ahead of the LokSabha polls. He has also askedus to avoid controversial issuesand rather highlight the issuesconcerning national interest,”said a senior party leader.

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Even though it looks good at the surface, there is a seri-

ous rift brewing between ruling coalition part-ners in Karnataka over presentation of new Budgetapart from other things whichinclude appointment of chairman to the boards andcorporations.

Karnataka Chief MinisterHD Kumaraswamy who is cap-taining a very fragile coalitionis facing a tough time handlingsulking former Chief Ministerand chairman of the coordi-nation committeeSiddaramaiah who is upsetabout Chief Ministers decisionto present fresh budget at thisjuncture.

Kumaraswamy has beendefending his decision to pre-sent a fresh budget and alsoannounced the date for thesame. However he said hewould go ahead and present thebudget in a view not to breachthe privilege of the newly elect-ed members.

He also said he wouldannounce the modalities forwavier of farm loan which waspromised by his party to thefarm sector.

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The ruling Shiv Sena and theadministration in the

Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) foundthemselves on the defensive, asthe BJP and OppositionCongress slammed the Senaand civic authorities for theirlack of preparedness to tackle

the monsoon-triggered disas-ter-like situation in the city.

Coming down heavily onthe ruling Shiv Sena for its fail-ure to tackle water-loggingacross the city, Mumbai BJPchief Ashish Shelar said: “Thepeople (Shiv Sena) who hadspoken about walking the talkfled the scene now. The peo-ple are upset with the BMC.

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Shirish Kulkarni, son of themain accused in the �2043

crore bank loan scam DSKulkarni, surrendered beforethe Pune police on Monday, aweek after the Supreme Courtrejected his application seekingextension of his anticipatorybail. Soon after his surrender,Shirish was placed under arrestand produced before a Punecourt which remanded inpolice custody till July 2.

Jr Kulkarni, who is anexecutive director at DSKulkarni Developers Ltd(DSKDL) and a director inother partnership firms run byhis father, has been chargedwith divesting loans taken fromBank of Maharashtra andreceived from depositors forother purposes.

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Acourt in Kerala on Mondaysentenced five workers of

the CPI(M) to rigorous lifeimprisonment in a case per-taining to the murder of a 22-year-old BJP activist atVadakkumbad in Thalassery,Kannur a decade ago.

The CPI(M) workers whowere awarded life imprison-ment by the AdditionalDistrict and Sessions Court inThalassery for the brutal mur-der include K Sreejith (39)from Vadakkumbad, V Benoy(31) from Nittoor Gumti, PPSunilkumar (51) fromVadakkumbad, KP Manaf (42)and CK Marshood (34) both

from Gumti.The court also imposed on

them a fine of �50,000 each.The court acquitted two of thetotal eight accused, CPI(M)workers U Firoze of Gumti andValsan Vayanal ofVadakkumbad, for want of evidence. Eighth accusedMoolan Sasidharan had died during the trial. The punishment was awarded asper Sections 143, 147, 148,341 and 302 (read with 149) ofthe IPC.

BJP activist Nikhil ofVadakkumbad near Thalassery,who was working as a lorrycleaner, was hacked to death onMarch 5, 2008 by a CPI(M)killer gang at Kooli Bazaar in

Vadakkumbad amidst a con-flict that had erupted betweenthe BJP and CPI(M) in the area.All the accused were from theVadakkumbad area.

According to theProsecution, the killer gang hadhacked Nikhil to death afterdragging him out of the lorry ashe was returning home afterwork. The case was investigat-ed and chargesheet was sub-mitted by a team headed by thethen circle Inspector of Police —presently a Deputy Superi-ntendent of Police — U Preman.

The Prosecution had pro-duced 67 documents and 16exhibits to support its case. Ofthe total 44 witnesses, 14 hadturned hostile during the trial.

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Nalini Chidambaram, thelawyer wife of former

Union Finance Minister PChidambaram, her son Karti Chidambaram anddaughter-in-law Srinidhi KartiChidambaram appeared in aChennai court in connectionwith the Black Money(Undisclosed Foreign Incomeand Assets) Imposition of TaxAct of 2015 (known as BlackMoney Act 2015) case filedagainst them by theDepartment of Income Tax.

The Income Tax depart-ment initiated prosecution pro-ceedings against Nalini, Kartiand Srinidhi under the BlackMoney Act 2015 for not dis-closing details of a property

purchased jointly by them ata cost of 5.35 lakh PoundSterling at Cambridge inBritain in the year 2015.

The Special Court forEconomic Offences Wing,Egmore , Chennai had on June20 summoned theChidambaram clan to appearbefore it on June 25 in con-nection with this case.

The Chidambaram familyhad tried all tricks in theirarmour to prevent the IncomeTax department from proceeding with the case.Nalini Chidambaram, a designated senior lawyer, had challenged the compe-tence of the PrincipalCommissioner of Income Tax(Chennai) to sanction prose-

cution proceedings againstthem under the Black MonetAct 2015.

But the Madras HighCourt dismissed their petitionschallenging the competence ofthe Income Tax Department toinitiate prosecution proceed-ings against them.

Though their plea to thecourt to restrain the IncomeTax Department from pro-ceeding against them failed,Nalini Chidambaram filed yetanother petition in the MadrasHigh Court asking it to direct the IT Department tomake the copies of the admin-istrative orders issued by thePrincipal Commissioner ofIncome Tax (Investigation)available to them.

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The almost strained relationsbetween the Opposition

DMK and Governor BanwarilalPurohit took a turn for theworse on Monday as MK Stalin,Leader of the Opposition andworking president of the party,tried unsuccessfully to drag theGovernor’s name into theAssembly. What made Stalinfurious was the release issued byRaj Bhavan on Sunday warningthat legal action would be taken

against those who try to lay siegeto the Raj Bhavan and that thosewho were protesting againstthe Governor’s visits to the districts were trying to misleadthe people.

This was in response to thestatement made by Stalin onSaturday that his party activistswere trying to lay siege to theRaj Bhavan when the policeremoved them and took themunder preventive custody. The“flash demonstration” staged bythe DMK on Saturday hadthrown peak hour traffic along

the Raj Bhavan haywire caus-ing inconvenience to thou-sands of people using one ofthe busiest thoroughfares in thecapital city.

Stalin and the party cadrewere annoyed over the frequentvisits of the Governor to thedistricts where the latter holdsmeetings with district officials.All these meetings are held inthe presence of one of themembers of the council ofMinisters. Stalin alleges that themeetings convened by theGovernor was an attempt to

derail federal autonomy andhe would intensify the agita-tions in days to come.

It may be noted that theDMK cadre and leaders havebeen waving black flag at theGovernor whenever he visits thedistricts. H Raja, national sec-retary of the BJP, had cautionedStalin on Saturday that anyattempt to prevent the Governor

would result in his getting pros-ecuted under section 124 of theIndian Penal Code.

The Raj Bhavan in its statement on Sunday had saidthat there was nothing politi-cal in the visits of the Governorto the districts and he wasundertaking such trips afterconsulting legal andConstitutional experts.

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Two-day long Chintan Shivirof Gujarat BJP ended with

the party’s national presidentAmit Shah’s speech on Mondaylate evening with a resolutionto win all 26 Lok Sabha seats in2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Shah arrived at Ahmadabadin the morning and went straightaway to his residence where heheld series of meetings withimportant BJP functionaries andsome officials before he attend-ed the Chintan Shivir. He alsomet Anti-Terrorist Squad SPHimanshu Shukla. He spentaround half an hour with the BJPpresident. However, details of thediscussion are not made public.

Divulging details on

Chintan Shivir, Gujarat BJPpresident Jitu Vaghani said thatit was extremely important tohave Narendra Modi as PrimeMinister once again consider-ing the threat to India by anti-India elements. Vaghani saidthat the upcomingParliamentary polls woulddecide the fate of the nation.‘Nation First’ would be theparty’s prime focus, he added.

“During the two-day longShivir, social and geographicsituation of Gujarat wasreviewed in different sessions.Discussions were held on howthe schemes of State andCentral Governments can beimplemented more effectively.BJP would go to people with anintention to do even more bet-

ter work for the people,” he said.

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In view of the upcoming LokSabha polls, political devel-

opments in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s home-StateGujarat have gradually start-ed taking place. On the dayBJP’s national president AmitShah held series of meetingsand also addressed valedic-tory function of the GujaratBJP’s Chintan Shivir,Opposition Congress partychanged at least 12 out of 33district presidents.

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The death of four people inBegusarai allegdly after

drinking hooch on Sunday latenight has put a big questionmark on the total prohibitionforcefully promulgated by NitishKumar Government over twoyears ago and also revealed theground reality regarding theprohibition in “dry” Bihar.

On of the four victims,Manoj Paswan, was reported-ly associated with the JD(U)but the Begusarai district JD(U)chief said Paswan had recent-ly joined the rebel faction of theparty led by Sharad Yadav andhad also attended its meetingin New Delhi. The incidenttook place on Sunday night atPakhriya mohalla under town

police station in Begusaraitown. The four as usual drankillicit liquor and spirit at adeserted place in a stadium. Adozen of empty bottles of spir-it were also found there.

When contacted, BegusaraiDM Rahul Kumar said he hasreport of three deaths; two bod-ies had already been consignedto flames and one body wasbrought to the hospital for postmortem. Asked if they died ofhooch, he said, “We don’t ruleout anything at this stage but weare waiting for the medicalreport to reach a conclusion.”The DM, who was in Patna onMonday in connection with acourt case said there were alsoreports that they were sufferingfrom some disease and wereunder treatment.

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After a brief period of rela-tive calm, war has erupted

once again in AMMA(Association of MalayalamMovie Artists), the influentialorganisation of actors in theKerala film industry, over a caseof an inhuman attack on ayoung actress by goons alleged-ly hired by a superstar and theeagerness being shown by theforum to protect him.

Women in CinemaCollective (WCC), a forum ofwomen working in the Keralafilm industry, on Mondayslammed AMMA for itsreported decision to re-inductsuperstar Dileep, eighthaccused in the sensational casepertaining to the inhuman andhumiliating attack on the front-line South Indian actress inFebruary last year.

“Why did AMMA expellDileep earlier? What new situ-ation has come about now asdifferent from the one thatexisted at the time of his expul-sion that necessitated his re-induction? Doesn’t it embarrassyou that you are re-inducting aperson standing accused in aserious case like that of rapeeven before the trial is over?”the WCC asked the organisa-tion through a Facebook post.

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Two Indians, both Muslims fromJammu & Kashmir, were killedby terrorists on June 15, butonly one dominates the polit-ical mind-space. The death of

Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari isoften cited by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)Bleaders as evidence of Mehbooba Mufti’sinability to control the law and order sit-uation in the State and a justification forquitting the coalition on June 19, 2018.But it was the beheading of RiflemanAurangzeb of 44 Rashtriya Rifles, abduct-ed on June 14 and found on June 15 inPulwana district of south Kashmir thatactually influenced the Prime Minister’sdecision to part ways with the People’sDemocratic Party (PDP). As a video of historture went viral over the internet,Chief of Army Staff Gen. Bipin Rawat vis-ited the family at Salani village, Poonchdistrict, Jammu, as did Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman.

Mohammad Haneef, Aurangzeb’sfather and a retired soldier, seared thenation’s heart with the words, “He was myson only until he was in my lap, now heis a son of India.” Haneef condemnedthose who call terrorists as ‘mujahids’.Aurangzeb was tortured by Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen forbeing part of the team that neutralisedHizbul commanders Sameer Tiger andSaddam Paddar. His brother, MohammadQasim, serves in the Indian Army andanother is preparing to join; an uncle wassimilarly abducted and killed while fight-ing terrorists in 2004.

Little wonder that the family ques-tioned the Government’s Kashmir poli-cy and demanded that Aurangzeb’s mar-tyrdom be avenged within 72 hours orthey would take up cudgels against theterrorists themselves. This was the firstpublic demonstration by Kashmir’s “silentMuslims” that they exist in sizeable num-bers and are willing to take the fight tothe enemy camp.

It is not that Muslims have not diedfor the nation before; they have, in everywar. But this was a different genre of grief-anger-nationalism, the first concrete evi-dence that the Ramzan ceasefire that tookthe lives of 40 jawans and civilians was notresented by Hindus in Jammu alone. Itwas hated by nationalist Muslims inKashmir. The sudden BJP-PDP divorcemost likely ends the job of interlocutorDineshwar Sharma, who was widely seenas pandering to the Valley's undesirables,who ignored him.

For three years, the BJP toleratedevery whim of the PDP. As MinhasMerchant observes, the BJP scuttled itsnational manifesto which promised toabrogate Article 370 for the sake of thealliance. On its part, the Mehbooba

Mufti Administration let Rohingyas set-tle in Jammu; allowed encroachment ofJammu forests and didn’t stop the exodusof Hindus from Jammu villages underRohingya pressure; beat NIT Srinagar stu-dents for hoisting the Tricolour; forced theRamzan ceasefire and demanded talkswith Pakistan; and on April 14, forced theresignation of BJP ministers Lal Singh andCP Ganga for supporting the demand fora Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)probe into the murder of an eight-year-old girl child in Kathua district. On April30, the BJP changed its members in theState Cabinet. Clearly, MohammadHaneef forced a rethink.

Shujaat Bukhari was the polar opposite of the Aurangzeb family. Thiswriter met him on September 29, 2010,when the UN Information Centre host-ed a disastrous seminar at its officialpremises in Lodhi Estate, New Delhi, togive a platform to a bunch of India Ragdo(crush India) viragos from Srinagar.The meeting was organised by theWomen’s Initiative for Peace in SouthAsia, National Foundation for India andUNIC, and Bukhari shepherded the bla-tantly secessionist women. They managedan appointment in Rashtrapati Bhavan,but an angry President Pratibha Patilordered them out when they raised‘azadi’ slogans there.

The panellists were the usual secularLeft-liberals under whose umbrella thesesupporters of Hurriyat leader Syed AliShah Geelani promoted their separatistagenda. They included Dr Sayeda

Hameed, then Member, PlanningCommission, with Minister of State rank;Dr Mohini Giri, former chairperson,National Women’s Commission anddaughter-in-law of late President VV Giri;and activists Jyotsna Chatterjee and for-mer MP Subhasini Ali. A short clip onGeelani was shown and Anjum ZamarudHabib of the Geelani faction railedagainst India and insisted Kashmir was anissue of self-determination. That was theyear stone-pelters first appeared; sheranted: “Boys with stones in their handcan never be defeated.”

Anyone who has read Shujaat Bukhariwould have no difficulty in understand-ing what he stood for. The fact that he wasmurdered by the separatists/terroristswith whose aims he was in broad agree-ment is a telling commentary on the lev-els of intolerance among these trigger-happy lumpens.

Bukhari was a member of theSrinagar elite and a regular of the so-called Track II process, a thin disguise forimposing Islamabad’s interests on thewhole of Jammu & Kashmir. His broth-er, Syed Basharat Bukhari, was then min-ister for horticulture in the MehboobaMufti government. What is also tragicabout his premeditated murder is thedemise of his two security guards, AbdulHameed and Mumtaz Ahmad, who fellto the terrorists’ bullets.

Citizens have noted that the Hurriyatdid not call for a Kashmir bandh over hismurder; perhaps they know the identityof his killers and do not dare to oppose

them publicly. With Jammu & Kashmirnow under Governor’s rule, it is hoped wewill learn more about the terror dynam-ics behind this murder. Shujaat Bukhari’sdeath has shocked the Kashmiri politicalelite which would be feeling insecure andanxious.

One does not wish to appear inhu-mane, but this seems the most appropri-ate time to ask why India is investinghuman resources and public funds toprovide security to those who disrespectour territorial integrity, and wish tosecede to join Pakistan or to become anindependent nation. Sheikh MohammadAbdullah dreamt of a ‘Switzerland ofAsia’, a glorified holiday resort for whiteEuropeans. What a fall for the land ofRishi Kashyap!

India needs to re-Sanskritise theHimalayas by taking Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s path-breaking initiativeon Yoga to the next level. A beginningshould be made by scrapping the con-tentious Article 370 (and its illegitimatetail, Article 35A) by Presidential Order.There must be an honest delimitation ofseats on the basis of population so thatJammu gets justice and due weightage,and the tiny Kashmir valley is reduced toits proper size. This alone will pave theway for Gilgit-Baltistan and OccupiedKashmir to move towards reunificationwith India, something the people of theregion earnestly desire.

(The author is Senior Fellow, NehruMemorial Museum and Library; the viewsexpressed are personal)

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Sir — While we have heard ofbankers involved in frauds, mis-appropriation of funds andextending credit facilities for pecu-niary benefits, this is the first timewe have come across a bankerfrom Mumbai who has soughtsexual favours from a poor Dalitwoman to process her husband’sapplication for a crop loan.

It is unfortunate that insteadof considering loan applicationsfrom farmers on a priority basis,Rajesh Hivase, the manager ofthe Central Bank of India,Bhuldhana branch has demand-ed sexual favours from the wifeof the farmer to process theirapplication. It is expected that anexemplary punishment is givento the manager and the peoplewho have acted as the facilitatorof the crime. As a retired banker,I bow my head in shame over thishighly condemnable criminalact of a fellow banker.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

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Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Wonder blunder boy”(June 25). Strangely, many bigfootball teams have lost their firstmatch in the ongoing WorldCup in Russia but the two-timechampion Argentina’s poor showsounds really shocking despitethe legend Diego Maradonaalready expressing dissatisfactionover the team’s lack of prepared-ness for the quadrennial event inthe wake of some injuries and

form problems faced by LionelMessi’s side. Really, Argentinaplayed a desperate game againstCroatia that was marked byMessi’s countenance on the field.

Following Messi’s failure,Argentina now stands a slimchance of remaining in the racefor the Cup, initially beingamong the favourites.

A timeless soccer wizard,Lionel Messi’s poor show hasshattered the hopes of thou-sands of his fans world over tothe extent that one 30-year-old inThiruvananthapuram, DinuAlex, allegedly committed sui-cide following the team’s 0-3humiliation by Croatia.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — There is anxiety about thelate arrival of monsoon. If thetotal rainfall comes to around 95per cent of normal rainfall, thenthere is not much to worryabout. But with pollution at itshighest level, the weather includ-ing rainfall is unpredictable.

Accordingly, the Gove-rnment must plan for it. Thoughthere is water shortage all overthe world, enough planning forwater reservoirs must be done foragricultural purposes.

Rain water must be pre-served by some scientific meth-ods to use and reuse. Scientistsmust work to preserve rainwaterfrom this objective.

Mahesh KapasiDelhi

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At the centre of the concept ofSmart Cities lies the promisethat technology can make

cities better and improve the lives ofits inhabitants. As countries acrossAsia race towards this goal, wherepeople fit into this picture, appearsto be lost. While we see sparks ofhow cities have worked to transformthemselves into more efficientecosystems — filled with marvelsfrom electronic gantries powered bysatellite navigation technologies, tostreet lamps equipped with facialrecognition cameras — it’s oftenhard to tell exactly how people havebenefited from these cutting-edge

innovations. Ironically enough, the success of

a Smart City lies in the hands of thepeople in how fast people adopt newtechnologies, how they live with it,interact with it and accept it as partof their daily routines. To acceler-ate the process, Governments needto take proactive steps in encourag-ing both public institutions and ral-lying private companies to come onboard and bring Smart City inno-vations to the masses.

Bringing the smarts to the workplaceWith collaboration the current

buzzword of the modern work-place today, the employees expectwork tools that offer flexibility andaccess to information and connec-tivity — across a variety of devicesand platforms no less — to be attheir fingertips, anywhere and any-time. Adding to that is the trend oftalents asking for flexible workarrangements, even working

remotely, which means the use ofpersonal devices is then added intothe equation, bringing with it anoth-er level of complexity and concernssuch as security and compatibilityof devices. Where some companiesmay put it down to the cost of doingbusiness, more progressive compa-nies would see an opportunity toleverage this not just to improveproductivity and collaborationbetween geographically diverseworkforces, but also as a means ofattracting and retaining top talentswho relish the challenge of pushingboundaries of what’s possible.

Starting them youngImagine inquisitive minds with

a natural thirst for knowledge and ageneral openness towards tryingout new things and it’s easy to seewhy the education sector is an idealplace to demonstrate the tangiblebenefits of smart technologies. Goneare the days where classrooms werefilled with students passively listen-

ing to lecturers dishing out informa-tion. Today, students want to learnthrough interactions and discussionsand through deeper learning activ-ities such as tackling problems ingroups and then presenting solutionsto a wider class. To this end, it ispainfully obvious that whiteboardsand markers no longer make the cut.

To facilitate the learningprocess, there is a need to introducetools that allow one to tap on anintuitive touch screen to stream avideo, display a document, or evenbroadcast a lecture to an onlineaudience, allowing students to focuson learning rather than trou-bleshooting technology, as theyshould be. As we continue ourpush towards Smart Cities, it is crit-ical that we keep people at the heartof it all. After all, what is the pur-pose of technology if not to makelife better for citizens?

(The writer is CEO, Asia Pacific,Crestron)

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Agroup of Muslim leadersrepresenting UttarPradesh, Bihar andBombay, with anxietywritten on their faces,

called on Muhammad Ali Jinnah atDelhi’s Imperial Hotel on the eve ofhis departure for Karachi in earlyAugust 1947. They asked the Qaidwhat is to happen to the one’s beingleft behind. What was in store forthem? He said they would have tolook after themselves. They protest-ed that they needed better protectionand should not be left at the mercyof the Hindus. After all, they point-ed out, it was because of them thatPakistan, the Muslim homeland hadbeen created.

Looking sternly at them, Jinnahsaid, “You are mistaken; the wholeworld knows that it is I who single-handedly brought Pakistan into exis-tence. I am its sole creator. No oneelse can take credit for it.” Replyingto a similar question a few days ear-lier, Jinnah had said that they wouldlook after themselves. He was notinterested in their fate.

How ironical that it was theMuslims of Bombay, Uttar Pradeshand Bihar who were the first ones torespond to the call of Jinnah forPartition and enthusiastically sup-ported the movement for Pakistan.They became its vanguard. Theywere so fanatically charged byJinnah’s slogan of “Islam in danger”and frightened by the bogey ofHindu domination constantly raisedby him that they were easily misled.

They failed to ask themselveshow could the creation of a State inthe faraway North-West — compris-ing of parts of Punjab, Sind, theFrontier and Baluchistan and stillfurther in the North-East — consist-ing of part of Bengal and Assam —provide any security to the rest of theMuslims living in Hindu-dominat-ed regions and spread over cities,towns and villages.

Despite this, the Hindus andSikhs have provided them with thewarmth of security and more. In fact,the minorities, largely a euphemismfor Muslims, enjoy greater privilegesthan the majority. RememberArticles 25 to 30 of the Constitution.The Hindus have more than com-pensated the Muslims for the betray-al by their leaders. Yet, they protestagainst what they feel they do nothave and entirely overlook the factthat their glass is more or less full.

Historian Francis Robinson hadmuch to say about the Muslims inHindu majority provinces, especial-ly in Uttar Pradesh and their role increating Darul Islam in the Indiansub-continent.

As a specimen, “Uttar PradeshMuslims, were at the heart of Muslimseparatism. They mainly foundedand, with the exception of Bombay-based Jinnah, mainly led the organ-

isation which represented Musliminterests in Indian politics. SyedAhmed Khan founded in 1875 theMuhammadan Anglo-OrientalCollege at Aligarh, which directedearly Muslim political activity andnurtured many Muslim Leaguepoliticians.

He followed this up with theestablishment of the All IndiaMuslim Education Conference in1886, which helped him impress hispolitical will upon Indian Muslims.

In 1906, large numbers ofMuslims from Uttar Pradesh flockedto Dacca to find the All IndiaMuslim League. In this organisation,the secretaryship was the most pow-erful position; between 1906 and1910 it was held by Muslims inAligarh, and between 1910 and 1926by Muslims in Lucknow.

After World War I, Muslimsfrom the same provinces set up anassociation of Indian ulema andmade the Central KhilafatCommittee an organisation of all-India importance.” The same UttarPradesh is still our largest State. TheIndians need to look after it in orderfor history to not repeat itself.

Moreover, Uttar Pradesh is thecultural home of sub-continentalMuslims. Aligarh, along with itsuniversity, is the cradle of separatismand Jinnah was forthright enough tocall it the arsenal of Pakistan. Morerecently, we know that Deoband isthe birthplace of Taliban which iswreaking havoc in Pakistan as wellas Afghanistan. The Aligarh studentshad campaigned in Punjab widelyand vigorously for the League’s cause

for Partition in 1945. When some Punjabis asked them

what was there in it for them as theirprovince Uttar Pradesh would not beincluded in Pakistan, the replyreportedly was: “For the service ofIslam. Historian Venkat Dhulipala inhis eminent work, Creating a NewMedina: State Power, Islam, and theQuest for Pakistan in Late ColonialNorth India has said that the newhomeland was for setting up another Medina.” British PrimeMinister Clement Attlee sent a threeminister Cabinet Mission to India towork out a constitutional settle-ment for the Congress-League dis-pute in early 1946.

Having heard out Jinnah, amember expressed anxiety at thehuge number of Hindus remainingunder Muslim rule if the demandedPakistan were to come about. Jinnah’sreply to this anxiety was that therewill be many Muslims under Hindurule in Hindustan. So, in casePakistan misbehaves with the minority, Hindustan can do thesame. As it happened in 1948,Pakistan pushed out Hindus throughethnic cleansing.

As a consequence of the MuslimLeague having directed the GreatCalcutta Killings of August 1946,riots broke out in a number ofplaces in the country. Jinnah usedthese disturbances as a reason fordemanding a population transfer. InThe Transfer of Power 1942-47 edit-ed by Penderel Moon, I.C.S, and oth-ers and published by the BritishCrown, Jinnah is quoted as saying,“The exchange of populations will

have to be considered seriously.” Thisshows that he was logical as well aspragmatic in his approach.

Prof M Mujeeb, former vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia,commented that “if Mr Jinnah wassincere regarding Muslims as a sep-arate nation and demanding a sep-arate territory for them, it was hisobvious and inescapable moral dutyto define the boundaries of Pakistan,territorial as well as its citizenry.”

The only one who was quick torespond to Jinnah’s Pakistan resolu-tion of 1940 was Dr BR Ambedkarwho published, in the same year abook entitled Thoughts of Pakistan(published by Thacker and Companyof Bombay). He explicitly argued“Hindus have a difficult choice tomake: To have a safe army or a safeborder? Is it in their interests to insistthat Muslim India remain part ofIndia so that they may have a safeborder, or is it in their interest to wel-come its separation from India sothat they may have a safe army?Which is then better for the Hindus?Should the Musalmans be outsideand against or should they be insideand against? If the question is askedof any prudent man, there will beonly one answer, namely, that if theMusalmans are to be against theHindus, it is better that they shouldbe outside and against, rather thaninside and against. This is the onlyway of getting rid of Muslim prepon-derance in the Indian army.” Noother Hindu was bold enough toeven think through the far reachingramifications of Partition.

Dr Durga Das Basu, the consti-

tutional expert in his book,Introduction to the Constitution ofIndia, made interesting comments,“Muslims obtained the Partition ofIndia on their own demand on thefooting of the ‘two-nation’ theory,and even after the Partition, a sec-tion of the Muslim community pre-ferred to remain in India out of theirown choice; nobody compelled themto remain in divided India.”

When the Muslims opted toremain in divided India, they did notenter into any covenant with theGovernment of divided India. Noobservation of Maulana Azad can beenforced as a legal covenant in aninternational court.

Dr Basu went on to quote a 1955apex court judgement: “Those whopreferred to remain in India after thePartition, fully knew that the Indianleaders did not believe in the two-nation or three nation theory andthat in the Indian Republic there wasto be only one nation — the IndianNation — and no community couldclaim to remain a separate entity onthe basis of religion.”

All these efforts for Pakistan, theNew Medina, were from eminentMuslims like Mohsin al-Mulk, Viqarul-Mulk, the Ali brothers, Khaliq UzZaman, Raja of Mahmudabad,Liaquat Khan, all from UttarPradesh, apart from Jinnah and AgaKhan who were from Bombay.

In fact, if not for the UttarPradesh leaders, the League couldnot have been built nor would thePartition have been possible.

(The writer is a well-knowncolumnist and an author)

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Creating infrastructure willneed a whopping $4.5 tril-

lion investments over the nextdecade and the cost of themoney will be a challenge,Finance Minister Piyush Goyalsaid on Monday.

The Minister, how-ever, said finding the requiredfinance will not be a “deter-rence” for the country.

“Infrastructure creationrequires $4.5 trillion in invest-ments over the next 10 years,Goyal said at a panel of gover-nors at the Asian InfrastructureInvestment Bank's (AIIB) two-day annual summit that beganhere.

He further said therequired funds will be availableand raising it will not be a“deterrence” for infra creation.

However, in the commentsthat come amid rising interestrates globally, led by hardeningof rates in the US, as alsodomestically, Goyal flagged thecost of finance as an “importantchallenge”.

Capacity building to han-dle big infra projects is also achallenge, he added and hoped

that the multilateral institutionslike the AIIB will help in boththe challenges.

However, Singaporeanlender DBS chief executivePiyush Gupta said findingfinance for infrastructure is noteasy as banks, which have tra-ditionally financed infra, havea limited capacity, makingbond markets the go-to plat-form for raising the resources.

But even the bond marketsalso have their own challengesin supporting greenfield pro-jects and tend to keep away inthe initial years, which is crit-ical for a project, Gupta point-ed out.

Goyal gave the example offund raising in the renewableenergy space, whereGovernment was able to getinvestments from financiers likeJapanese agency Jica and alsofrom large private equity funds.

Underlining the need for astable policy regime, Goyalsaid in the past, the countryfaced challenges on this front.

He warned that privatecapital will “run away”. If legalissues hindering project devel-opment crop up after signing ofcontracts.

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The Government onMonday sounded evasive

about the media reports thatit was planning to ask LIC totake a controlling stake in thecrippled IDBI Bank, sayingthe boards of the respectiveentities will take a call on thematter.

“Both IDBI Bank and LICare independent organisations.We have left all the decisions tobank boards and we are notgoing to micromanage them,”a senior finance ministry offi-cial told reporters on the side-lines of the two-day annualsummit of the AsianInfrastructure InvestmentBank.

When pressed that both theentities are government- owned,the official quipped does thatmean there cannot have busi-ness relationship between twoGovernment entities?

There have been reportsthat having failed to a get abuyer for its stake in IDBIBank, the government mightask LIC, which already ownsover 10 per cent in the infra-lender turned commercialbank, to take at least 40 per centmore in it, something it haddone with Axis Bank in thepast.

The media reports alsosaid the government hadsought the views of insuranceregulator IRDAI and marketswatchdog Sebi on the move.

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Benchmarks buckled underselling pressure on Monday,

largely in tandem with a glob-al market sell-off triggered bydeteriorating trade relationsbetween the US and China.

The BSE Sensex tumbledover 219 points to close at35,470.35, while the broaderNifty fell 59.40 points to10,762.45.

Asian markets were ham-mered after reports said the USis mulling imposing invest-ment curbs on Chinese com-panies, ratcheting up tensionswith Beijing amid an ongoingtrade conflict.Back home, prof-it-booking and persistent for-eign capital outflows added tothe sombre mood, brokers said.

After a positive start, the30-share Sensex advanced to ahigh of 35,806.97, but soonturned negative and hit a lowof 35,430.11.

It finally ended at 35,470.35-- down by 219.25 points or0.61 per cent. On similar lines,the NSE Nifty cracked belowthe 10,800-mark to hit a low of10,753.05 intra-day, before clos-ing at 10,762.45 with a loss of59.40 points, or 0.55 per cent.

Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) sold shares worth a net�1,343.44 crore, while domes-tic institutional investors (DIIs)bought shares worth �1,105.76crore on Friday, as per provi-sional data.

Meanwhile, investments

through participatory notesinto Indian capital marketsplunged to over 9-year low ofmore than �93,000 crore atMay-end amid stringent normsput in place by Sebi to check themisuse of these instruments.

“Global trade war concernsand F&O expiry led volatilityimpacted the market sentiment.Drop in oil prices on account ofincrease in production will pro-vide some relief to Indian mar-kets in the near term.

“However, any escalation intrade tensions and outflow of for-eign funds is likely to add pres-sure on INR and fiscal path,” saidVinod Nair, Head of Research,Geojit Financial Services.

Stocks of state-run oil mar-keting companies such asHPCL, BPCL and IOC lost upto 3.91 per cent, even as OPECagreed to ramp up output at itsmeeting in Vienna, which islikely to cool crude oil prices.Tata Motors was the biggestloser in the Sensex pack, sink-ing 5.94 per cent, after the com-pany-owned Jaguar Land Roverunveiled a mammoth �1.2 lakhcrore investment plan for thenext three years.

Other laggards includedICICI Bank (3.79 per cent),Coal India (2.28 per cent),L&T (2.05 per cent), Axis Bank(1.81 per cent), SBI (1.81 percent), Hero MotoCorp (1.77per cent), ONGC (1.72 percent), PowerGrid (1.44 percent) and Adani Ports (1.38 percent).

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Indian companies' invest-ments into their overseas

subsidiaries/joint ventures fellby 63 per cent to $1.17 billionin May this year, according toRBI data.

In May 2017, India Inc'sforeign direct investment stoodat $3.12 billion.

In April 2018, the outwardforeign direct investment(OFDI) of Indian firms was$3.56 billion.

Of the total investment bydomestic firms in overseasventures in May 2018, $374.18million was in the form of equi-ty infusion, $162.96 million inloan and $630.45 million asguarantee issuances, as perReserve Bank data.

Among the major compa-nies that made investment intheir overseas subsidiaries/jointventures included IndiabullsReal Estate $368.09 million,ONGC $57.94 million, TataHitachi ConstructionMachinery $26.62 million andWadhawan Global Captial$15.23 million.

Cumulatively, the overseasdirect investment in first twomonths (April-May) of thisfiscal stood at $4.73 billion.

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Global financial servicesmajor Morgan Stanley on

Monday said in its research notethat there are two issues aboutprivacy relating to Aadhaar.One is the possible compromiseof the Aadhaar system, itself,and leakage of data. The secondis the loss of data through thethird-party users.

India's digital leap isexpected to have substantialsocial impact, as it will lead toreduced income inequality andincreased financial inclusion,but addressing data privacy willbe critical, according to thereport.

While the first risk is some-what mitigated by sophisticat-ed encryption standards, thesecond risk is harder to control- third parties collecting bio-metric data could be compro-mised, leading to risk of dataexposure, it added.

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In a bid to bring the largestforeign direct investment

(FDI) into the country, AbuDhabi National Oil Company(ADNOC) and Saudi Aramcoon Monday signed anMemorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) to joint-ly develop and build an inte-grated refinery and petro-chemicals complex at Ratnagiriin Maharashtra. The initialpact will take a stake in theplanned $44-billion or about�3,00,000 crore-refinery in thestate where Saudi Aramco islooking at the project as avehicle to enter India's entireenergy 'value chain' includingfuel retailing.

The mega project will beimplemented by RatnagiriRefinery & Petrochemicals Ltd(RRPCL). The pact was signedbetween Saudi Aramco Presidentand CEO, Amin H Nasser andH E Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber,UAE Minister of State andADNOC Group CEO.

As far as the project is con-cerned, Aramco and ADNOCwill together hold 50 per centstake in the 60 million-tonne-a-year refinery and adjacent 18million-tonne-petrochemical

complex while the remaininghalf will be split between state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC),Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL)and Hindustan PetroleumCorp (HPCL). For both SaudiArabia and UAE, 'strategicbusiness investment with theworld's fastest growing oil con-sumer has reached an irre-sistible tipping point,' saidAmin H Nasser, CEO andPresident of Saudi Aramco.

Aramco, which had at thetime of signing the originalagreement to a 50 per centstake in the planned project inApril stated that it will bring apartner at a later date, is look-ing at not just refining its oil inthe refinery but also sellingdownstream products in themarket. “Saudi Aramco isdetermined to go a step further.We will support our investmentwith a large fully-integrated oilbusiness in India that willcover the entire value chain inpartnership with local compa-nies who know their marketsbest,” he told the reportersafter signing of the agreement.

Asked how much stakewould ADNOC and Aramcohold in the project, he said,“Between us it is 50 per cent andterms of how much percentage

for each is being discussedbetween the two partners.”

As per the April agreement,Aramco is to supply half of thecrude oil required for process-ing at the refinery that will becommissioned by 2025.ADNOC will now supply someof the crude to be processed atthe unit. “With oil demandalmost doubling to 10 millionbarrels per day by 2040, India'saccess to adequate, affordableoil has never been more impor-tant,” Nasser said.

However, Oil MinisterDharmendra Pradhan saidSaudi Arabia has always been atrusted and reliable supplier ofcrude for India and key elementof India's energy security. Likeother major producers, Aramcoand ADNOC are looking to lockin customers in the world'sthird-largest oil consumerthrough the investment. Kuwaittoo is looking to invest in pro-jects in return for getting anassured offtake of their crude oil.

Last year, Saudi Arabiainvested in refinery projects inIndonesia and Malaysia thatcame with long-term crude oilsupply deals. Saudi Arabia wasthe biggest oil supplier to Indiatill 2016-17, but slipped behindIraq last fiscal.

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Shares of Tata Motorsslumped over 6 per cent

today, wiping out �5,283crore from its market valua-tion amid concerns over autotariff threat by the US.

The stock dropped 5.94per cent to settle at �289.85on BSE. During the day, ittanked 6.53 per cent to �288.

On NSE, shares of thecompany plunged 6.31 percent to close at �288.55.

Led by the sharp fall inthe stock, the company'smarket valuation tumbled�5,283.2 crore to �83,689.80crore.

The stock was the worsthit among blue chips on bothkey indices.

In terms of equity vol-ume, 13.75 lakh shares of thecompany were traded onBSE and over one croreshares changed hands onNSE during the day.

(1) The Executive Engineer (E) PWD DHC& ND/CENTRAL, Ground floor MSOBldg, New Delhi on behalf of President ofIndia invites ONLINE item rate bids fromthe approved and eligible contractors reg-istered with CPWD in appropriate com-posite category or those of appropriateslist of MES, BSNL, Railway and other stateGovt. Department dealing with buildingsand Roads and other experienced nonregistered contractors, who satisfy the cri-teria of execution of similar works,Provided they meet Eligibility Criteriaas stipulated in the NIT:- of the fol-lowing work (s):- which shall bereceived by E-Tendering.

N/W:- (1) Providing and fixing of Airconditioners in various courts andbranches at Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi (2)Providing and fixing of Air -Conditioners in various Ahlmad roomsat Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi.NIT No: 94/EE(E)/PWD DHC &ND/CentraI/2018-19 Estimated Cost: Rs.4122227/- Earnest Money: Rs. 82445/- &period of completion*Two Months, LastDate and time submission of Tender upto3:00 PM on 29-06-2018 The tender formsand other details can be obtained from thewebsite:http://govtnrocurement.delhi.gov.in atTender I.D. NO. 2018_PWD_ 153152_1

(2) The Executive Engineer (E) PWD DHC& ND/CENTRAL, Ground floor MSOBldg, IP Estate, New Delhi on behalf ofPresident of India invites bid for e-auctionof dismantled/unserviceable materials.N/W:-RMO EI&Fans, Pump Set, DG Set,lifts, AC Plants and Equipment AFAsystem, UPS System, 3x10 TR packagetype plant at Hon'ble LG's Residence& Office Building at Rajniwas, Delhi.File No: 54(Auction) /EE(E)/PWD DHC &ND/Central/2018-19 Reserve Price : Rs.148505/- Eanest Money: Rs. 14851/- &period of completion * Fifteen Days andLast Date and time submission of Tenderupto 3:00 PM on 29-06-2018 The tenderforms and other details can be obtainedfrom the website:http://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in atTender I.D. NO. 2018_PWD_153170 _1

DIP/Shabdarth/0876/18-19

NOTICE INVITING e-TENDERS

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There is a growing desire to enroll childrenin such sporting activities, which not onlykeep them physically fit, but aid their men-

tal abilities as well. Swimming often pops up asthe perfect answer to these queries. While it isconsidered a good exercise for many ailments,it is also a life skill. But the activity, which offersnumerous health benefits, can also end up hurt-ing if not pursued in the right manner. Basic tipsparents must adhere to are:�Health check-up: Before enrolling for swim-ming lessons, get your child checked by a gooddoctor. Kids having skin infections, issues relat-ed to their ears, nose, throat and eyes, mustundergo required medication. Doctors often sug-gest some precautions for children who areunderweight and or obese.�Cleanliness of the pool: It is an importantparameter to check, when the same pool is usedby many people with different health conditions.Parents must enquire about the water-replace-ment and cleaning schedule of the pools. It isnot advisable to catch an infection while swim-ming in dirty or unclean pools.�Availability of life guard: It is mandatory forall the pools to have trained lifeguards inrequired numbers. Most often the situation isthat the guy posing as lifeguard is a trained swim-mer with no additional skills for saving or reviv-ing a person during any emergency.�First aid facility: Government rules clearly saythat all the swimming pools must have first aidfacility and a first aid room. It should be locat-ed close to the pool area. In case of any emer-gency, the person must be taken into the firstaid area and administered with the required pro-cedure and call an ambulance.�Overcrowding: Most of the people visiting theswimming pools come looking for a leisurelyactivity and to beat the heat. Instead of takinglaps in the pools, they may just stay in the waterto chill out. It ends up overcrowding the pool.Avoid pools that are overcrowded.�Training and trainer: Make sure that your kidundergoes the mandatory swimming trainingbefore jumping into the water on his own.�A big no to following others: Make sure thatyour kid is not following others and trying tocopy their activities. Tell him to go slow andspend the required number of days before goingahead.� Safety equipment: For kids it is important tohave all the safety gears — floaters, eye glasses,ear plugs, cap, towel etc handy. All the grownup people who are good swimmers know thatkids often develop a fear of water, if their firstencounter with the pool is not happy. Also makesure that floaters are not damaged.�Hydration: Most people don’t know this, buteven though it is an aquatic exercise, swimmingis dehydrating in nature. It actually makes peo-ple sweat a lot. Therefore taking enough fluidor plain water is important. �Diet: Make sure that the child is taking all hismeals properly, with balanced nutrition.Hydration and diet are required to avoid mus-cular cramps and fatigue. �Every water body is not a pool: A very impor-tant lesson for all the kids, who after a fortnightstart believing that they are trained swimmers.A swimming pool has a very controlled environ-ment and it does not teach them the ways to han-dle sudden depth in water and strong waves. Kidsshould never treat other water bodies like ponds,lakes and rivers as swimming pools.�A sporting activity, but not a playground:Kids should not treat swimming pools as theirplaygrounds. It’s good to swim, but stay awayfrom treating it like a regular playground.

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Sickle cell disease is a disorder of blood, which is inheritedby the child from either or both of the parents. In this dis-order, the blood does not have enough healthy Red Blood

Cells (RBCs) for carrying the oxygen required by the body.Commonly, the disorder is more prevalent in countries in Africa,Arabia and Indian peninsula.

Even if one parent has the sickle cell gene, the child is sus-ceptible to the disorder, which means that he/she will have onenormal haemoglobin gene and one defective. Their bodies willproduce both normal haemoglobin and sickle cell haemoglo-bin (HbS). They might contain some sickle cells, but generallydon’t have symptoms. But, undoubtedly they are the carriers ofdisease, which means they can pass the gene to their children.Whereas, if both the parents have an affected gene, then the childwill have the disease too.

First observed in the Nilgiri Hills of northern Tamil Naduin 1952, the sickle cell gene is now known to be widespreadamong people of the Deccan plateau of central India, with lit-tle presence in the north of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The coin-

cidence of large tribal popula-tions with the ‘sickle cell belt’of Central India, northernKerala and Tamil Nadu havegiven rise to the assumptionthat tribal people are moreprone to the HbS gene thoughit is widely distributed amongtribal and non-tribal people.

�� "�� Patients can develop low

haemoglobin and need trans-fusion. They can also developperiodic episodes of paincalled crises starting from thefirst year of life, which can bevery disabling. Such patientsare prone to developingrepeated pneumonia, painfulswelling of hands and feet,sudden enlargement of thespleen (an organ that fightsinfection), stroke, vision prob-

lems, delayed growth and other complications of the bone.

�� In individuals affected with this condition, dehydration and

lack of oxygen must be avoided. They must remain hydrated atall times and should take extra care if they are travelling to high-er altitudes. Patients affected by the disease should follow up withhematologists on regular basis. They should have additional folicacid and protection from pneumonia in the form of a vaccineand antibiotic prophylaxis.

Hydroxyurea, significantly benefit patients suffering fromthis disease in reducing or eliminating the requirement for bloodtransfusion, reduction in painful episodes and decrease in therisk of stroke and other complications associated with the dis-ease.

The only curative treatment of the disease is Allogeneic BoneMarrow Transplant, which has a very high success rate. If thereis Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) matched donor in the fam-ily, then that donor is preferred the most. However, if there isno matched family donor, potential donor can be searched fromthe Bone Marrow Donor Registries. This is referred to as MatchedUnrelated Donor transplant.

At present, newborn screening programmes have been ini-tiated in certain parts of India, so that affected babies can be iden-tified early and appropriate treatment can be started. If thereis an affected child in a family, it is possible to check for this con-dition in the next pregnancy so that the family has the optionof terminating the pregnancy.

With current treatments, patients can lead a good life thatis largely free of symptoms and pains associated with the dis-ease.

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��It is a significant and cheap source of protein andother nutrients including dietary minerals and Vitamin B.

Soy is often used as a meat substitute and for a good reason— it provides thenutritional equivalentof meat, eggs andcasein for humangrowth and health.

Soybeans havethe ability toimprove themetabolism, help inhealthy weight gainand keep the hearthealthy. They improve digestion, promote bone health,protect against birth defects, increase circulation, decrease therisk of diabetes and tone up the body. Soya is also a greatsource of unsaturated fat, which helps you lower thecholesterol.

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The most important thingto keep in mind is —never step out of the

house without a bottle of water.Make this a rule of thumb.Drinking water while oneis out in the heat willnot only preventdehydration butwill also help keepthe body cool.

B e s i d e sdrinking water, atregular intervals,drink coconutwater because it isrich in minerals andvitamins which are crucialin cooling down the body.

This is the season for freshmint (pudina) put the leaves innimbu-paani. Pudina has natur-al cooling effect. One can evencrush eight-10 leaves and putthem in a litre of water andrefrigerate for a few hours,

drink this water.Consume fresh fruits and

vegetables like watermelon andcucumber. The high water con-tent in them will keep you

hydrated. Eat cherries,plums, grapes, pineap-

ples, peaches andmangoes.

Believe it ornot, but ice is notgood for the sys-tem. Ice coolwater reduces the

process of diges-tion. Drink room

temperature water.Do not eat large

meals. Go for smaller meals atregular intervals of two hours tokeep the body cooler.

Of course, another mustremember — wear loose fittinglight coloured cotton clotheswhich help reflect the sun’sradiation.

While the temperatures haveslightly dipped in the Capital andadjoining areas, it is still hot and

many are still reeling under theeffect of heat strokes and dehydra-tion. Here are a few remedies that

can help, says ROSHANI DEVI

According to the National FamilyHealth Survey, the infant mortalityrate (IMR) in India stands at 34 per

1,000 live births. About 10% of theseinfant deaths can be attributed to congen-ital heart diseases (CHD) alone.About 1.5 lakh infants are bornwith CHD in the country everyyear, a condition which can bedetected with timely screening.Considering this, relevant stake-holders had come together tolaunch a campaign for formulat-ing a national policy on makingCCHD screening mandatory in allhealthcare establishments in India. DrAnne de-Wahl Granelli, a specialised bio-medical scientist visiting India to raiseawareness about CCHD screening was alsopart of the discussion.

The campaign followed a high-levelmeeting with Manoj Jhalani, Additional

Health Secretary, Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare. Masimo, a global leader ininnovative non-invasive patient monitoringtechnologies is the technology partner forthe initiative.

At present, the screening methodsthat include physical examination,

fetal scan or a combination of thesetwo can only detect 72% of thecases. Various clinical studies haveshown that addition of reliablepulse oximetry to screening proto-

cols can potentially increase thedetection rate to 92% which in the

Indian context can approximately saveabout 52,000 babies. This will further havea direct impact on IMR.

The CCHD screening can also detectother birth defects including sepsis, respi-ratory disorders/lung pathology, persistentpulmonary hypertension, and transitionalcirculation.

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Everyday habits have made usinactive, lethargic and unfit.With such a fast-paced life

and extremely busy schedules, theresponsibility of keeping ourselvesfit seems like a difficult one to take.Many of us sit at a desk for 10-12hours a day, then we sit in cars andthen again at home watching TV.

Practicing such an unhealthylifestyle can lead us to the viciouscircle of various health relatedproblems that can also be lifethreatening. But doing yoga ona daily basis can keep thelifestyle diseases at bay.

“Yoga not only helps instrengthening your core butalso increases concentra-tion and better mentalhealth. I can make peo-ple work for 10 hourssimultaneously but ifthe same people wereasked to close theireyes for just 15minutes andconcentrate,that will be adifficult taskfor them,” saysyoga guruDeepak Jha.

Here are some of the top lifestylediseases that can be controlled andeven cured by simply doing yoga.

��According to the WHO, 1.2 bil-

lion people worldwide are officiallyclassified as overweight. As per astudy published in Lancet, India isjust behind US andChina in thisglobal hazard listof top 10 coun-tries with thehighest numberof obese people.By followingyoga, one cannot only reduceweight but alsomake your bodyagile.

Following are the asanasthat are good for obesity, andstrengthen and stimulate the abdom-inal muscles and intestine: �Nauka Asana (boat pose)�Pawanmukt Asana (wind relievingpose)�Bhujang Asana (cobra pose)�Kapal Bhati pranayama�Paschimottanasana (seated for-ward bend)�Veerbhadrasana (warrior pose)�Dandasana�Poorvottanasana (upward plankpose )� Shalabhasana (locust pose)

�Halasana (plough pose)Dos and Don’ts

�Make sure that your feet and ankleare horizontally aligned to the floor,and not positioned vertically to thefloor. This small very common mis-take can change the amount of loadthat your back will bear during the

asanas, and can lead to sig-nificantly sub-optimal

results.�If you have had a neckinjury or a slipped disc,you would need a doc-tor’s approval to practicethese asanas. Your headmust remain on thefloor as you practice it.

!��The diabetes cap-

ital of the world with as many as 50million people suffering from type-II diabetes, India has a challenge toface. But adopting yoga can help incontrolling fasting glucose and cho-lesterol levels. Some of the asanas thathelp stimulate the hormonal secre-tion of the pancreas, improves kid-ney and liver functioning andstrengthens the abdominal musclesare: �Vrikshasana (tree pose)�Halasana (plough pose)�Dhanurasana (bow pose)�Ardha Matsyendrasana (half twistpose)

��!��The cardiovascular disease

(CVD) in India has increased by59 per cent from 23.2 million(1990) to 37 million (2010). Itis one of major causes of deathand disability in the world,killing 17.5 million people ayear and over 23 million pre-dicted deaths from cardiacdiseases by 2030.

By following yoga inyour fitness regime, thebreathing techniques andyoga postures can work won-ders on the respiratory system.It lowers blood pressure,increases lung capacity, lowersbad cholesterol levels,improves heart rate andboosts blood circulation.

There are different kindsof pranayamas which hasmany health benefits. Some ofthe asanas for a healthy heartare: �Padangustha asana � Janu Sirsasana (head-to-kneeforward bend)� Setu Bandha Sarvangasana(bridge pose)�Tadasana (mountain pose) �Dhanurasana (bow pose) �Ardha Pincha Mayurasana (dol-phin pose)� Shavasana (corpse pose)

Dos and don'ts � If you have any chronic medicalcondition, seek advice from yourdoctor.� If you feel tired or discomfort, stopdoing pranayama, lie down inshavasana while carrying out normalbreathing.

��"��Yoga is a great way to reduce

stress-induced hypertension, whileaddressing its underlying causes. Itpacifies the sympathetic nervoussystem. These asanas teach themuscles and mind to relax deeply,helping hypertension patients.

Some of the asanas to curehypertension are:�Mukhasvasana�Uttanasana (standing forwardbend )� Shishuasana (child pose)�Vajrasana (diamond pose)�Paschimottanasana (forward bendpose)�Ardha Matsyendrasana (sittinghalf spinal twist)�Badhakonasana (butterfly pose)� Janusirsasana (one-legged for-ward bend)�Virasana (hero pose)�Ardha Halasana (half plow pose)

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A recent report indicatesthat 20 per cent of the youngpopulation in the bracket of16-34 age groups are treatedfor back and spine conditionstoday. In India, 45 per centof the people in these fourcities neglect their pain formore than seven weekswhich leads to delayed treat-

ment and increases the riskof surgery. Here are some

asanas that can cure herniat-ed disc�Ushtasana (camel pose)�Shalbhasana (locust pose)

�Bhujangasana (cobrapose)

Do’s andDon’ts �Avoid fold-

ing forwardpast the hips whether

standing or sitting. The rounding ofthe spine tilts the vertebrae towardone another as vertebrae surround-ing the herniated disc might pinchnerves and create greater pain.Forward bends can worsen yourcondition and prolong recoverytime.�Avoid abdominal specific exer-cises.

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In another sign of detente fol-lowing the summit between

leader Kim Jong Un and USPresident Donald Trump,North Korea has decided toskip one of the most symbolicand politically charged events ofits calendar: the annual “anti-US imperialism” rally markingthe start of the Korean War.

Fist-pumping, flag-wavingand slogan-shouting massesof Pyongyang residents nor-mally assemble each year forthe rally to kick off a month ofanti-US, Korean War-focusedevents designed to strengthennationalism and unity. It all cul-minates on July 27, whichNorth Korea celebrates as anational holiday called the dayof “Victory in the FatherlandLiberation War.”

Last year’s event was heldin Kim Il Sung Square with areported 100,000 peopleattending. North Korea evenissued special anti-US postagestamps.

Officials had no on-the-record comment on the deci-sion not to hold the event thisyear. But Associated Press staffin the North Korean capitalconfirmed on Monday that it

would not be held.North Korea has noticeably

toned down its anti-Washington rhetoric over thepast several months to create amore conciliatory atmospherefor the summit and avoid sour-ing attempts by both sides toreduce tensions and increasedialogue.

North Korea’s state mediawere filled with reports, pho-

tos and video of the June 12meeting between Trump andKim in Singapore.

A 42-minute documentary-style news special was aired onthe state television network twodays after the summit and hasbeen repeated frequently since,meaning that by now there areprobably few North Koreanswho are unaware of the changesin the air.

Washington: President DonaldTrump is set to announce newmeasures this week to target growing Chinese invest-ment in key technologies in theUS, according to media reports, which could furtherescalate the trade war betweenthe world’s two largesteconomies.

The measures are part ofthe same broad US move toconfront Beijing over its unfairtrade practices as the tariffs on$50 billion of Chinese goodsthat the Trump administrationdetailed earlier this month,the reports said.

China has vowed to strike back in equal measureagainst the tariffs, the firstwave of which are due to takeeffect July 6. Agencies

London: Financial firms must“speed up” contingency plans inthe event of Britain exiting theEuropean Union without a deal,the bloc’s banking watchdogwarned on Monday. TheEuropean Banking Authoritysaid it was “imperative” that thebloc’s financial institutions“identify potential exposuresand risk channels that may beaffected, and the possible impli-cations of the potential depar-ture of the UK without a ratifiedwithdrawal agreement in place”.

It comes as IMF headChristine Lagarde spoke of the“critical” importance of conti-nental Europe having necessaryregulations in place “for theinflux of financial firms” fromthe UK. There is growing con-cern that Britain could nextyear leave the EU without adeal, as tough Brexit negotia-tions stall in regards to the bor-der between Northern Irelandin the UK and Ireland.

EBA chairperson AndreaEnria said “firms cannot takefor granted that they continueto operate as at present nor canthey rely on as yet unrealisedpolitical agreements or publicpolicy interventions”. AFP

Washington: House Repub-licans leaders are consideringseparate legislation that wouldaddress family separations atthe border, a GOP lawmakersaid on Monday, after strug-gling over the weekend to findconsensus on a broader immi-gration plan.

The move will giveRepublicans the ability ahead ofthe midterm elections toaddress the issue of childrenalone at the border, which hassparked public outrage.

Rep Mark Meadows, headof the hard-right HouseFreedom Caucus, said GOPlawmakers held hour-long con-ference calls over the weekend

to try to smooth over last-minute details ahead of aTuesday evening vote.

One hang-up, he said, waswhether young immigrantsknown as “Dreamers” would beallowed to bring their parentsto the US.

When asked if the bill willpass or fail, Meadows told FoxNews’ “Fox & Friends”: “Iwould think fail right now.”

The GOP divisions come ata bad time for the party:Elections are approaching andimmigration has riveted pub-lic attention for months.Republicans who are battling to retain House controlhave hoped to focus this fall’scampaigns on the economyand tax cuts.

Instead, the GOP has hadto respond to reports of fami-lies being separated at the bor-der as a result of PresidentDonald Trump’s “zero-toler-ance” immigration policy. Thepolicy appeased many red-state voters. But of concern areRepublicans from swing dis-tricts with large numbers ofmoderate voters — the veryincumbents who must be re-elected for the GOP to retainHouse control. AP

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan on

Monday celebrated winningsweeping new powers in adecisive election victory, as hismain rival accepted the out-come despite complaints overan unequal campaign thatalarmed the EU.

A night of triumph forErdogan saw the man whohas dominated Turkey for thelast 15 years declared winner ofSunday’s presidential poll with-out needing a second roundand lead his ruling party-ledalliance to an overall majorityin parliament.

Erdogan vowed to “rapid-ly” implement the new presi-dential system agreed in anApril 2017 referendum thatopponents fear will give him

autocratic powers and keephim in office for two five yearmandates to 2028.

The new system creates avertical of power with Erdoganat the top, giving him thepower to appoint cabinet min-isters and dispensing with theoffice of Prime Minister.

The President, 64, declaredvictory in Istanbul beforereturning to Ankara to delivera triumphant speech at 3:00 am(local time) to tens of thou-sands of supporters from thebalcony of the headquarters ofhis Justice and DevelopmentParty (AKP).

“Turkey has given a lessonin democracy to the entireworld,” he added, pointing to aturnout of 88 per cent. His mainrival Muharrem Ince of theRepublican People’s Party(CHP), who had challenged

Erdogan with an energetic cam-paign, broke an uncharacteris-tic overnight silence to declareon Monday to concede defeat.

“I accept these electionresults,” Ince said, addingErdogan should “represent 80million” and be “president forus all”. But Ince, who had facedlimited airtime on television inthe campaign and a near boy-cott by state media, said therun-up to the election hadbeen unfair.

“This election was unjustuntil the results wereannounced,” he told a newsconference at CHP headquar-ters after ordering out crewsfrom state-run TRT over theircampaign coverage.

Ince expressed alarm overthe powers Erdogan assumesunder the new system which hedescribed as “a one-manregime.” International observerssaid voters enjoyed a “genuinechoice” but decried the lack of“equal” conditions for candi-dates to campaign.

The team led by the OSCEsaid polling day procedureswere “generally followed”, butpointed to issues over countingand tabulation.

The EU echoed the lan-guage of the OSCE in a notablychilly statement that did notcongratulate Erdogan or men-tion him by name but assertedthat campaign conditions were“not equal.”

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Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska:The United States will soon pre-sent a timeline to North Koreawith “specific asks” ofPyongyang after a historic sum-mit between US PresidentDonald Trump and NorthKorean leader Kim Jong-un, asenior US Defence official said.

The official, who spoke toa small group of reportersahead of a trip to Asia this weekby Defence Secretary JimMattis, did not specify detailsbut suggested that the timelinewould be rapid enough tomake clear Pyongyang’s level ofcommitment.

“We’ll know pretty soon ifthey’re going to operate in goodfaith or not,” the official said,speaking on condition ofanonymity. “There will be spe-cific asks and there will be a spe-cific timeline when we presentthe North Koreans with ourconcept of what implementationof the summit agreement lookslike.” Secretary of State MikePompeo said last week he willlikely travel back to NorthKorea “before too terribly long”to try to flesh out commitmentsmade at the June 12 summit inSingapore between Trump andKim. Agencies

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El Paso, Texas: A Texas char-itable organisation said 32immigrant parents separatedfrom their children after cross-ing the US-Mexico border werefreed into its care, but theydon’t know where their kids areor when they might see themagain despite Governmentassurances that family reunifi-cation will be well organised.

The release is believed to bethe first, large one of its kindsince President Donald Trumpsigned an executive order thatpreserved a “zero-tolerance” pol-icy for entering the country ille-gally but ended the practice ofseparating immigrant parentsand children. US Immigrationand Customs Enforcementoffered no immediate comment.

Ruben Garcia, director ofAnnunciation House in ElPaso, said group of both moth-ers and fathers includes somefrom Mexico, Guatemala andHonduras who arrived to hisgroup after federal authoritieswithdrew criminal charges forillegal entry. He didn’t releasenames or personal details toprotect the parents’ privacy, andHomeland Security officialssaid they needed more specificsin order to check out theircases. AP

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Russian PresidentVladimir Putin “stressed thatthe results of the vote fullyspeak of Recep TayyipErdogan’s great politicalauthority (and) mass supportof the course conducted underhis leadership to solveTurkey’s pressing social andeconomic tasks (and)strengthen the country’s posi-tion on the internationalarena,” the Kremlin said. Putinstressed his readiness to con-tinue “close joint work” anddialogue with Erdogan.

NATO chief JensStoltenberg congratulatedErdogan but stressed thealliance, of which Turkey is amember, “is based on somecore values: democracy, therule of law, individual liberty.

Iranian President HassanRouhani offered his “sincerestcongratulations” to Erdogan.He hoped that bilateral relations“could be further developed.

Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman GengShuang said Beijing congrat-ulates Erdogan and “respectsthe choice made by theTurkish people.”

Swedish Foreign Minister

Margot Wallstrom said,“Turkey is in no position to giveother countries lessons indemocracy when the (Kurdish)opposition leader has been injail for a long time”.

Serbian PresidentAleksandar Vucic congratu-lated Erdogan, saying thatBelgrade “will continue to bea reliable partner of Turkeyand of its role as a leader readyto defend the values and prin-ciples in these more than dif-ficult times.”

Bosnian Muslim leaderBakir Izetbegovic toldErdogan he was “convincedthat you will continue to leadTurkey for the welfare of theTurkish people, but that youwill also pursue, in the inter-national arena, the fight forthe rights of those who aredeprived of them.

Boyko Borisov, theBulgarian Prime Minister,congratulated Erdogan in atelephone call. “I’m convincedthat we will work together toconsolidate relations betweenour two countries in the areaof migration, as well as forpeace and stability in theregion,” he said. PTI

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Washington: A transgenderwoman was kicked out of arestaurant here after sherefused to show her ID con-firming she was a female inorder to use the facility’swomen bathroom.

Charlotte Clymer, anactivist who works with theHuman Rights Campaign,recalled her ordeal on Twitter, saying she was cele-brating a bachelorette party onFriday with friends at CubaLibre Restaurant and Rum Bar in Northwest DCwhen she was stopped by a staffmember as she tried to use therestroom.

Clymer said the attendantasked for her ID and when sheasked why, he told her that“female” must be on the card inorder to use the women’srestroom. IANS

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Bollywood took over Bangkok’s SiamNiramit theatre and transformed itwith its tinseltown magic for the

annual International Indian FilmAcademy (IIFA) awards on Sunday.

The 2,000-seater theatre saw thou-sands of fanatics coming to the event tocatch a glimpse of their favourite stars.A string of A-listers like Ranbir Kapoor,Varun, Arjun, Kriti Sanon, Bobby Deol,who’s making a comeback, and Shraddhaset the stage on fire with their power-packed and electrifying performances.Varun danced on numbers like SauTarah Ke, Tama Tama, and High RatedGabru. Bobby danced with Romanian TVpresenter and singer Iulia Vantur onnumbers like Gupt Gupt, Soldier soldier,Tera Rang Balle Balle and tracks from hislatest release Race 3. Kriti, Arjun andShraddha also danced to tracks from theirfilms respectively.

The award function honoured lateactors Vinod Khanna, Shashi Kapoor andSridevi. Late Sridevi’s producer-husbandBoney Kapoor took the award for herperformance in Mom as best actress.Receiving the award from actress KritiSanon, a teary-eyed Kapoor said, “Idedicate this award to the entire team ofMom. I have mixed emotions today. Imiss her every minute and second of mylife. I still feel she is around here. I wantyou all to support Janhvi like you sup-ported her mother.”

Khanna’s award was accepted by vet-eran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy. RishiKapoor accepted Shashi Kapoor’s award.

Actor Irrfan Khan was named thebest actor for his remarkable work inHindi Medium .

The story of an ambitious and enter-prising housewife, Tumhari Sulu, baggedthe best picture honour while SaketChaudhary took back the best directoraward.

Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has ded-icated his best supporting actor honourto his Mom co-star Sridevi. “It was a oncein a lifetime opportunity to work with thefirst female superstar Sridevi and I ded-icate my award as a tribute to her,”Nawazuddin tweeted on Monday, a dayafter the IIFA Awards ceremony here.

Veteran actor Anupam Kher washonoured with the “outstanding achieve-ment” award. And true to his grain, hededicated the award to strugglers who tryand find their feet without a godfather.“Thank you IIFA for honouring me withthe ‘Outstanding Achievement inCinema’ award. I really feel honoured andenergised. Thank you Bangkok for yourlove, warmth and hospitality. I dedicatethis award to all the struggling actors whohave to make it without godfathers,” hetweeted the morning after. He has fea-tured in over 500 movies in his career,which has seen him work across theatre,television and film media. “It is a greatfeeling when your own peers celebrateyour achievements and as I have beensaying, this is just the interval point ofwhat I am doing and my second half ofjourney starts now. It started with my500th film. I told myself this is the inter-val point with The Big Sick. After that Ihave done 15 films in the last year, bothinternational and national,” he added.

Composer Amaal Mallik, whobagged the best music director award forhis work in the film Badrinath Ki

Dulhania, said. “The feeling of winningan award is always special as it boostsone’s drive to strive harder and betterone’s craft. I’m so honoured to have wonmy first ever IIFA award for the two songs(Roke na ruke naina and Aashiq surren-der hua) which happen to be so dear tome in such different ways.” The awardcouldn’t have come at a better time forhim as his parents also celebrated theiranniversary on the same day. “They’veprobably been the reason why I am hold-ing this award in my hand. Their teach-ings about and beyond the world of musichappen to be the decisive factor behindall the good things that have happenedto me in my life,” he said. “It was my dad’sdream that I do a Dharma film some day.When an artist’s intention is to only go

out there and make an honestsong, from his heart, seeing it payoff, it is possibly the most hum-bling feeling ever.”

Aashiq was a joyride forAmaal. “Having the chance tolend my vocals and see it gettingthe kind of response it got wasnothing but overwhelming tome. This award only meansthat I’ll backpack a bigger setof responsibilities to entertainyou in several ways,always,”he said.

Dancing to the tunes ofPyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya toSalam-E-Ishq Meri Jaan, vet-eran actress Rekha left every-one smitten here with her

grand finale performance. Known for herelegance and twinkle toes, Rekha, 63,looked stunning in a powder pinkanarkali bedazzled with silver zari workas she performed live on stage after twodecades. She brought alive the 1981 filmUmrao Jaan as she swayed effortlessly onnumbers like Dil Cheez Kya Hai and InAankhon Ki Masti. She also danced onnumbers from the 1960 film Mughal-E-Azam like Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya andThare Rahiyo from Pakeezah.

After the original Khoobsooratactress finished with her 20-minute

performance, the audience andcelebrities were left asking formore and gave her a standing ova-

tion. Actors like Varun Dhawan,Arjun Kapoor, ShraddhaKapoor and Kartik Aaryanwent on stage to do an encore

of Salam-E-Ishq with her. “Aftersharing the stage with these great

actors today, I have become a betteractor and a better performer after the stardust has rubbed on me,” she said.

The 19th edition of IIFA was hostedby Riteish Deshmukh and Karan Johar.

Asoft, gooey centre emergedwhen we used a butter knife

to cut through the slightly hardrind of the Brie cheese. Thealmost-smoky taste stuck to ourmouth when eaten alone butpaired with a red wine to mask thestrong flavour, it quickly becameapparent that this was a matchmade in heaven. The lingeringaftertaste was strangely satisfying.You didn’t feel like mindlesslyspooning out spoonfuls over casu-al conversations. And this was notshop-shelf, processed or import-ed. It was, in fact, made in smallstorage units for as little a time ofmaturing as three years.

India is still some way off tillartisanal cheese-making becomesa mainstream occupation but inthe United Kingdom and Europe,where the trend has picked upalready, crafted cheese is innovat-ing the menu.

For the independent cheese-makers, the size of their unit is thedeciding factor behind the age ofthe cheese, since storing milk onthe shelf for years requires spacethat may not be available inurban spaces. So, cheese-makersare focussing on younger andsmaller cheeses that are easier tostore and sell faster.

According to HimanshuSharma, a cheese-maker whoseunit is in Rajasthan and whoclaims to have India’s first cheesecave, the pursuit will become atrend in India soon. Right nowthere are a few experimentalmakers in Maharashtra, TamilNadu, the Himalayan states andRajasthan.

“In Britain and Europe, thereis a tradition of making harder,older cheeses. We decided tolook at a range of younger, small-er cheeses because of the size ofthe property we have inTottenham, London,” said Philipand Keith, the co-founders of

Wildes Cheese, who are bringingtheir varietal to India. They don’tconsider themselves experts incheese but believe that their pas-sion is what drove them forwardin this profession. Even as arti-sans, they hope to make cheesethat most ordinary bite peoplewould like.

“We went to a food market togive people samples of our bluecheese and most people told usthat they don’t like it. The reasonyou get blue cheese is because ofthe strain of penicillin. To makeit blue, you have to pierce holesthrough the cheese. The air goesinside and reacts with the chem-icals to make it strong and blue.So, we innovated. We made theBaby Blue by putting the mouldinside without any holes,” theysaid.

They started their cheese-making business in 2012 in urbanLondon and sourced their milklocally. The rapid turnover means

their products will soon be avail-able at the Hyatt Regency as well,which is planning India’s first in-house cheese-making unit.

Generally, the traditional bluecheese is shunned for its pungentnature but the innovated BabyBlue, aged for three years that theybrought from London, is anythingbut that. Soft inside with a slight-ly hard rind, it goes well with a redwine, which was Chef IvanChieregatti’s recommendation forus. He also used the blue cheesein a praline with white chocolate.To call it interesting is only thebeginning. It was an entirely newexperience of eating chocolate forus since unlike our expectation ofa sweet centre it had a faint salti-ness and a creamy, milky texture.

The Baby Blue can be con-sumed within seven days. Theflavour, however, would changeweek to week if one keeps it longerthan seven days, the artisans said.

One of the other cheeses they

brought, the Lordship, spicedwith garlic and herbs, was meantfor consumption the same day. Itis a fresh cow’s milk cheese madewith vegetarian rennet, which isan ethical process for makingcheese, according to the co-founders.

With smaller cheese-makerscatching up on their secrets, it willbe possible for many Indians tocater to customers’ tastes andchoices. For example, we arealready experimenting with non-processed vegan cheeses.

While coming up with ideasfor their innovations, cheese-makers borrow from traditions

and improve upon it for thepalate of the new age turophile.

“You may know about Brie orCamembert. You change slightthings and make your own ver-sion. When you make cheese it’sa simple process.

You heat milk up to a certaintemperature, put the culture in,which comprises bacteria andenzymes, and depending on thetemperature you take that to,you get a reaction from the bac-teria that gives a flavour and tex-ture. It’s about experimentation,”said Keith, 57.

The cheesemakers shied awayfrom claiming any one of cheeses

on display as their favourite orrecommending any wine with it,but the tradition of pairing wineand cheese has been a long estab-lished because of mouthfeel.

“It is important to pair winesthat are mild if the focus is to beon the cheese. There are studiesabout wines and food pairing buton a certain level it is a very per-sonal choice. Many people say thatred wine doesn’t go with fish butif you have flavour in it red winewould be a good combination. Forme, the best form is to have breadand cheese,” said Chieregatti,executive chef at Hyatt Regency,and an Italian.

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He knew Hindi, Urdu and Englishand I often wondered in what lan-

guage he thought,” said John Alter, thelate Tom Alter’s elder brother. And thatperhaps set the tone for the eveningwhere his friends, family and admirersgot together to celebrate the versatileactor, who was as much a man of theworld as he was quintessentially Indian.Perhaps a holistic artist who could floatacross genres and understanding, lan-guage being just one of the tools of hiscommunication.

To commemorate his contribu-tion as an artist, AnjumanTaraqqi-e Urdu, an organi-sation working for promo-tion and dissemination ofthe Urdu language, organ-ised an evening in remem-brance. The actor, who wasbest known for his morethan decade-long perfor-mance of Maulana Azad,was only 67 when he passedaway in 2017. His perfor-mances, like history, will berecorded and relived overand over again.

After graduating from the Film andTelevision Institute of India, Pune,Alter was a part of films, television andtheatre. While in films, he was confinedto playing the villainous and rapacious“firang,” it was in theatre that he cameinto his own where he played charac-ters as diverse as Mirza Ghalib,Maulana Azad and Mahatma Gandhi.He was not just an actor but also asports journalist, with special interestin cricket, a Padma Shree awardee, andwell-versed in multiple languages.

The programme, organised on theoccasion of his 68th birth anniversary,began with a documentary presenta-tion, which was about his portrayal ofMirza Ghalib, Maulana Azad andMahatma Gandhi. He had also been apart of path-breaking plays like Baburke Aulaad, Lal Qile ka Aakhri Mushaira,

Ghalib ke Khat, Trisanga, TeesveenShatabdi, Mohan to Mahatama,Copenhagen and the theatrical repro-duction of William Dalrymple’s City ofDjinns.

His close relatives, directors, co-actors, journalists and aspiring theatreactors were present for the 45-minutelong presentation. John also recited afew poems that he wrote for hisyounger brother, describing their daysof youth and some incidents from theirchildhood while his son Jamie Altershared memories of his father andlaughed about how he had been a fatherto so many people.

“It is wonderful to see so many peo-ple from so many different walks of lifewho have come together to remembermy father, the people who have workedwith my father or have met him once;we are a family. Thank you very muchfor gathering here,” he said. Jamie’s wifeshared how they connected over theshared love of cricket: “Whenever wemet, we used to talk about cricket, theoutstanding performers during thosedays and current stars. Everythingexcept movies or theatre. It was strangebut it was the way it is. Now that he isgone, we have started to realise howimportant he was to the world of the-atre and films; we have felt it over thelast one year,” she said.

M Sayeed Alam, director and play-wright, who worked with Tom over theyears, came forward to share his expe-rience: “His death has not only been aloss to the film industry but to human-ity in general. This generation neededhim and he is gone too soon. He hasplayed the lead actor in nine of my playsand I don’t think I can fill that placenow.”

The audience also recounted theirmemories with Alter and the integritywith which he chose his scripts and hislove for poetry. Alam promised to keepthat dialogue going, the best tribute toa man committed to art and beyond.

Often we trust our friends and family morethan ourselves. So a betrayal by them nat-

urally breaks our hearts and leads to some verydark and brutal consequences. Akshara Theatrestaged one such tale about love, hatred andbetrayal in Men, Sex aur Dhokha.

The play, in association with Canvas LaughClub at DLF Mall of India, Sector 18, Noida,depicted how events in the lives of the five maincharacters affect each of them.

It showcased how mean modern society hadbecome, where everybody was a hypocrite andtwo-timing or double-crossing had become legit-imate in one’s run forselfish goals. Friendscould become enemiesand enemies couldbecome friends in aconvenient breakdownof moral codes.

All of this was pre-sented throughepisodes of brokenmarriages, infidelity,children abandoningparents and so on.

The play was tautin the sense that wecouldn’t gauge the flawsof the chameleon characters till they chose toreveal their true selves in the end. Each betray-al came as a shocker to the audience, and thecharacters were almost visceral in their ugliness,expressing their profane lives with an extensiveuse of cuss words and abusive language. Butthese were interjected with humour in between.

The comic timing of R S Raghu, who playedAkshay, and Gurvansh Bhatnagar, who playedthe character of M S D, was spot-on.

The audience formed a bond with everycharacter within 60 minutes as every actor hada good amount of stage time and each of themmade ample use of it.

The storyline was complex in which lives of

five characters, including that of two couples,were woven with each other. This was witnessedwhen Rahul asked his girlfriend to maintain sex-ual relations with his friend and her boss,Akshay, and then framing him with false alle-gations to earn easy extortion money.

Another intense scene during the first halfwhere a couple, Rahul and his girlfriend Salina,had an argument leading to physical violencewas brilliantly performed by the actors who dis-played emotions that were almost real.

Dhruv Shetty, who played Rahul, temperedhis anger with guilt in this scene and BhoomikaMeena, who played Salina, displayed a heartfeltemotion of being oppressed and broken frominside.

The play also made some sarcastic obser-vations against prevalent social mores. The playhad a big twist towards the end and that left theaudience spellbound and rooting for more.

Director R S Raghu combined elements ofhumour, mystery, suspense, social awareness anddrama rather well. No preachiness here, just awhirl of emotions that confuses us ineveryday life.

In a gallery filled with mandalas, lotus-es and astral motifs, delicate littlemetaphors for her personal journeys on

solid monotones, perhaps implying thegeometric fixity of life, minimalist artistOlivia Fraser found inspiration in ninthcentury Tamil poet Nammalwar.

Lotus-eyed He is in my eyes, I see him now, For his eyes cleanse my sight,And all five senses are his bodiesHer latest series, in her own words, is

“the spiritual roadmap to enlightenment.”The works take many different forms,ranging from mandalas and yantras,which are believed to store and generatepositive energies, to maps of the SubtleBody, which show the idea of the body asa microcosm of the universe. I’ve drawnon tradition in a variety of ways, all ofwhich are linked to the symbol of the lotusas the archetypal icon of yoga used as a toolfor visualisation with its association withperfection, renunciation and spiritualgrowth.”

�� Fraser, also the wife of famed histori-

an William Darlymple, moved to India in1989 after completing her studies atWimbledon Art College and Oxford. Hermoment of epiphany happened when shestumbled upon Indo-Persian miniaturepaintings at the National Museum. “I fellin love with the genre. I was thrilled by thegem-like colours, the detailed brushwork,iterative patterning and burnished flat sur-faces. I was also attracted to the confidenceof the iconography, the symbolism, themeanings behind the use of colour, shapeand infinitely fine lines. Seeing MaharajaMan Singh’s Jodhpuri paintings from theearly 19th century, inspired by the Nathyogic tradition exhibited in the Garden andthe Cosmos (2008) at the Freer SacklerGalleries, in Washington DC, I felt I waswitnessing something profoundly relevantand eternal. Themes inspired by thescriptures have always been used through-out art history, but this was a particular-ly Indian vision painted with an Indian artvocabulary and yet it had universal reso-nance.”

The Indo-Persian miniature — tradi-tionally found in manuscripts and paint-ed on wasli paper — is characterised notjust by its size but also indiscernible brush-work, stacked perspective and finelywrought illustrations of court life, royalhunts and nature. The style emergedfrom the convergence of Indian styles of

manuscript painting with Persian.However, for Fraser it is her practicein yoga, deeper understanding ofIndia’s sacred texts and the interiorspiritual evolution that guide her tra-jectory.

�� "��!�� Her show at Grosvenor straddles

different levels of consciousness —from the singular, golden-sheenedlotus studies to the petalled splendour ofsthalapadma to an astral leaning of lunarand galactic depictions, everything isabout the cosmic and the contemplative.

Her Darshan series of the human eye,with a light beam, is filled with an incan-descent mirroring of the essence of con-templation. “Over the years I keep return-ing to eyes as I am fascinated by the ideawithin yoga of a vision within, a wholelandscape within, the lotus within.”

It is clear that her quest lies in reach-ing back to an archetypal language strong-ly rooted in India’s artistic and cultural her-itage that can breach borders and be rel-evant to her twin life between the East andWest — the same journey that yoga itselfhas made. “As an outsider from Scotland,it was never an option for me to paint tra-ditional Indian miniatures,” says Fraser. “Itseemed clear to me to try to bring the two

t r a d i t i onstogether in my paintings, fusing the aes-thetic virtuosity and precision of one tra-dition with the imaginative expressivenessand explorations into movement and per-ception of the other.”

��! �!� �What ensues is her deeper connections

to the Indian aesthetic and sensibility. Inher exploration of sacred texts and trans-lations, she has embraced a great deal ofIndian culture and sensibilities. Frasersources most of her materials from Jaipur,including traditional wasli paper madewith Nepali jute and pigments hand-ground from stone, plants and earth, which

she binds using Arabic gum. Her squirrel-bristle brushes that end in a singularcurved hair allow for careful rendering ofthe most delicate spirals and lines — stonepigment, Arabic gum and gold leaf onhand-made Sanganer paper.

Right from deploying original hand-made paper sourced from the kagzis ofSanganer in Rajasthan to the organiccolours and squirrel brushes that she usesto paint, her work is a complete lesson inthe art and science of being 100 per centnatural and eco-friendly.

The symbolism stretches a long wayback as does that of the flowers. Drawn infine outline with a squirrel-hair brush, theyappear in varying stages of realisation,since the lotus, in a standard reading, holds

the thought of growth from within, thepurity of petals freshly opened even as ithas an echo of evanescent harmony.

��"��“The paintings in this exhibition

developed out of my interest in and prac-tice of yoga,” she elucidates. “Within theIndian yogic tradition, the practice of med-itation is rooted in visualisations, mainlyfrom landscape, in particular lotuses, andlinking them with the metaphysical. Thereis a meditative journey to be undertakenwith the sahasrara, or a 1,000-petalled lotus(deemed the ultimate lotus), used as a visu-al aid in order to reach the absolute. I alsouse figurative imagery associated withbhakti or devotion — eyes, hands and feet— as a means of travelling through andengaging with this metaphysical land-scape.”

Owing to her being hugely influencedby yoga and Buddhist philosophies, sheuses classic Indian motifs such as the lotus,the eyes, and so on. Inspired by the nat-ural landscapes, comprising the seven seas,mountains and rivers, she goes on to depictconcepts such as the seven chakras; thepulse of breath, held in between inhalingand exhaling, particularly during medita-tion where the focus is on the breath; theawakening of the kundalini; the half-opened eye reminiscent of Buddha him-self in meditation and many such icons.Her Jambudvipa is an evocative renderingof these references.

!��Fraser is not the first of her family to

voyage to the subcontinent. William andJames Baille Fraser came to India in theheyday of the British Raj, rendering thecolonial landscape in water colour andpatronising what would come to be knownas the “Company style” of pseudo-minia-

ture painting. It was this style — whereBritish company patrons would commis-sion South Asian artisans to produceminiatures in line with European tastes fora European market — that supplanted theMughal atelier as the site of cultural pro-duction. The British applied the Westerndistinction between “fine art” and “craftwork” to the sub-continent, subsuming theIndo-Persian miniature under the latter.The “Company style” thus became theideal exportation of indigenous authen-ticity for a foreign market.

�!�� !��Over a hundred years later, Fraser is

engaged in a similar project, mirroring herancestor’s fixation with the Indian land-scape, architecture and people in her ownwork. In The Lotus Within, the architec-ture and the people that occupy Williamand James Fraser’s imagined India are gonebut techniques of miniature paintingremain, fused with a new-age fixation onmandalas, Bhakti and Buddhist imagery,yogic philosophy and modernist mini-malism. What we find in The LotusWithin is a mesmeric melding of SouthAsian iconography; the figure of the man-dala, the thousand-petal lotus and eyesreflected across perfectly square, perfect-ly colour-blocked pages.

Fraser’s subject matter is “about asearch for inner peace” and the imageryin her work and her process of paintingreflect that desire deeply. Her painted sur-faces are smooth, burnished in jeweltones and marked by symmetrical com-positions. They represent hours of ardu-ous labour concealed in the artist’s hand.In more ways than one, they reflect anartist’s quest for revealing the scent of thelotus that has lasted so many generations.

(The author is a curator and art critic)

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Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavaniscored a goal each and Uruguaywent on to defeat Russia 3-0 on

Monday, finishing undefeated ingroup play and handing the hostnation its first loss of the World Cup.

Both teams were already assuredof spots in the knockout round, butUruguay's victory put it at the top ofGroup A and looking toward a matchin Sochi on Saturday against the sec-ond-place finisher from Group B.

Uruguay, which also benefitedfrom an own-goal in the first half, hadtheir third straight shutout of thetournament after consecutive 1-0victories over Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

By advancing to the round of 16with victories over Saudi Arabia andEgypt, Russia secured their bestWorld Cup showing in the post-Sovietera.

But Uruguay - ranked No 14 inthe world - posed a far greater chal-lenge to the hosts.

Suarez, who seems to have putpast World Cup controversies behindhim, scored with a low shot from justoutside the box that sailed past thewall of Russian players and into theright corner of the goal. TheBarcelona striker blew a kiss to thecorner of Samara Stadium wheremost of La Celeste's cheering sup-porters were seated.

Uruguay went up 2-0 over Russiaon an own-goal - the sixth of theWorld Cup to tie the tournamentrecord. Midfielder Diego Laxalt'sshot from long range deflected offDenis Cheryshev's foot and pastgoalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.

Russia, the lowest ranked team inthe field at No 70, went down to 10men after right back Igor Smolnikov

received a second yellow card in the36th minute. Russia coach StanislavCherchesov immediately took offCheryshev for defender MarioFernandes.

Cavani scored in the 90th minuteand was taken out a short time later.The Paris Saint-Germain forwardput a rebound into the left corner of

the net after Diego Godin's headerwas parried by Akinfeev.

Uruguay was making its 12thappearance at the World Cup, whichit won in 1930 and 1950. Morerecently, the team finished fourth inSouth Africa in 2010 and made theround of 16 in Brazil four years ago.

Uruguay midfielder Lucas

Torreira made his first start of theWorld Cup. Since the 22-year-oldTorreira has been in Russia there havebeen persistent rumors that he isheaded to Arsenal.

��"�!�� Both teams will face the top fin-

ishers from Group B, which includes

Portugal, Spain, Iran and Morocco. Byfinishing second, Russia will play atthe Luzhniki Stadium in Moscowagainst the Group A winner.

Because Russia had the advantagein goal differential from their first twogroup matches where the side scoredtotal of eight goals, they would havewon the group with a draw.

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With the riveting football WorldCup in far-off Russia keeping

fans mesmerised in this football crazycity, the Kolkata Police's latest memefeaturing Argentine legend LionelMessi's missed penalty against Icelandhas created a stir on the social media.

The meme captures Messi'smoment of despair against newbieIceland as he failed to convert fromthe spot in the June 16 Group D game.Side by side, there is an image of atraffic sergeant issuing a fine topenalise a helmet-less biker, with anEnglish caption "You'll never miss apenalty. We won't let you!" TheBengali version is captioned "sobpenalty miss hoi na!" (All penalties arenot missed!)

It is the city police's way of pro-moting the West Bengal govern-

ment's 'Safe Drive Save Life' initiativefor better traffic measures.

The post has already received5,500 reactions and has been shared

over 2,400 times so far since it wasuploaded on Kolkata Police 'sFacebook page on Friday evening.

While a section of social media

users were impressed by the punningand termed it as one of KolkataPolice's best campaigns ever, someothers, mainly comprising Argentinaand Messi fans, dubbed it 'shameful'and accused the police of trolling oneof the best players in world football.

Chattaraj Lionel Abir, a Messi fan,questioned how the lawmakers cantroll a legend while another Facebookuser, with the image of the Argentinestar as his display picture, hinted thatpolice might be getting such memeideas from a troll they have recentlyarrested.

"You people cannot punish theoffenders but can easily make fun ofa player like Messi. How shameful,"wrote a netizen.

In order to counter their hero'shumiliation, some Facebook usershave also came up with videos ofMessi 's f ierce rival Christiano

Rolando missing a penalty."Some penalties are awarded to

those who illegally dive on the pitchand resort to play acting," wroteSagnik Jha.

However, many have appreciatedthe cops' sense of humour, saying theyhave successfully used a hot topic likethe World Cup to spread mass aware-ness.

"The witty meme by KolkataPolice is innovative and effective.Their message of mass awarenesswould successfully reach more peo-ple amid the ongoing World Cupfever. This should be appreciated,"noted Facebook user MainakDebnath.

"Really amazing post. Thanks toKolkata Police. It is good to see youhaven't lost your sense of humourunder so much work pressure.Inspiring," wrote a woman.

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Radamel Falcao, Yerry Mina andJuan Cuadrado scored their

maiden World Cup goals as stylishColombia boosted their last 16 hopeswith a comprehensive 3-0 win overPoland.

In a match destined to see theloser sent home after the groupstages, Colombia overcame a nervousstart against Adam Nawalka's men tomove up to third place in Group H,one point behind Japan and Senegal.

The disappointing Polandbecame the first European side elim-inated from the tournament.

The South Americans' bid for aplace in the last 16 will be determinedby the results from their final gamewith Senegal, who drew 2-2 withJapan earlier on Sunday.

Colombia's march to the quarter-finals in Brazil four years ago camethanks to James Rodriguez's six-goaltally for 'Los Cafeteros'.

And days after a troublesome calfinjury restricted him to a half-hourcameo role as 10-man Colombiastumbled to a 2-1 defeat againstJapan, the Bayern Munich midfield-er was back to his best.

Starting alongside Juan Quinteroand Cuadrado on the right,Colombia's ultra-offensive startingline-up was a forewarning.

After riding a tense start thatforced Mina and then WilmarBarrios to react quickly to thwartearly threats from Robert

Lewandowski, Colombia eventuallygot into their stride.

Rodriguez's short corner even-tually found Quintero, whose smartthrough ball back to Rodriguez gavehim time and space to curl a perfectleft-footed cross that Mina rose toheader powerfully past Szczesny on40 minutes.

Colombia resumed in positivefashion, Cuadrado holding up well toset up Falcao for a first-time drivethat sailed over Szczesny's crossbar.

A Colombia counter saw Falcao'sdrive from the edge of the areadeflected out for a corner. Nawalka

replaced Dawid Kownacki with themore experienced Kamil Grosickiand the switch almost paid dividends.

When right-back Sanitago Ariasfound Quintero, the midfielder slicedPoland's defence apart with a lowpass that found Falcao on the runbefore he beat Szczesny down lowwith the outside of his right boot.

Five minutes later, Rodriguezproduced arguably the assist of thenight, drawing several Polish playerson the left flank before somehowfinding Cuadrado on the run with asuperb cross-field pass that the paceywinger tucked away.

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The oldest person to play in a WorldCup match gave up a pair of goals

Monday, allowing Saudi Arabia to beatEgypt 2-1 in a game between two teamsthat had already been eliminated.

Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadary,who is 45, took the field for his team'sfinal group match to set the record.

Although he gave up the two goals,he also saved a penalty in the first half.

Salem Aldawsari scored with almostthe last kick of the match for the Saudis,shooting from a tight angle inside theEgypt penalty area and poking the ballpast El Hadary.

Mohamed Salah had put Egypt aheadin the 22nd minute when he deftly con-trolled a long ball from Abdalla Said thatsplit the Saudi defense and then lobbedgoalkeeper Yasser Almosailem.

It was Egypt's first goal in open playat the World Cup since 1934.

Salman Alfaraj got the Saudis levelwith a penalty kick in first-half stoppagetime after Ali Gabr brought down FahadAlmuwallad in the area. The decision wasconfirmed after a video review and thepenalty was taken in the sixth minute ofinjury time.

Saudi Arabia finished Group A inthird place with three points, whileEgypt was last after losing all three of itsgames.

Almuwallad had earlier missed achance to equalize when El Hadarysaved his penalty. The veteran goalkeeperdived to his right and flicked his left handup to push the shot onto the bar beforeit was cleared.

El Hadary was unable to repeat thefeat when Alfaraj lined up against him atthe end of the half, going the wrong wayand having no chance.

El Hadary also made a series of goodsaves in the second half to deny SaudiArabia, notably in the 69th minutewhen he tipped a header from HussainAlmoqahwi over the bar. A minute later,he parried away a goal-bound headerfrom Muhannad Asiri.

El Hadar y overtook Far ydMondragon as the oldest person to playat the World Cup. The Colombia goal-keeper was 43 when he came on as a latesubstitute in his team's 4-1 victory overJapan four years ago at the World Cup inBrazil.

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Faced with a must-win situation,Australia will be wary of a wound-

ed Peru when they lockhorns in their final groupstage match of the FIFAWorld Cup here onTuesday.

Despite all the plauditsfor their admirable dis-plays against Denmark and France, theAustralians, with just a single point intheir kitty, are expected to come hardat their South American opponents,who are already eliminated from theongoing football extravaganza.

Placed third in Group C, theSocceroos must beat Peru if they're tohave any hope of reaching the secondround, while also hoping France do

them a favour and topple Denmark inthe other Group C match.

If those two results are achieved, itwill then mean goal difference, goalsscored and even the number of yellowand red cards accrued by Australia andDenmark could come into play.

While relying on other results toaid their cause, Australia skipper MileJedinak has urged his players to be farmore astute against Peru than they werein their first two matches of the tour-nament.

"We'll probably have to be more

focused than what we've done in thelast two games and give it a really bigeffort to make sure we're going to getthe job done against them," Jedinaksaid.

"I have no doubt that they're goingto give it a go. Peru hasn't been here for

a very long time on this stage, to thinkthat they're just going to turn up andnot care about the camp or be disillu-sioned, it's wrong to think that.

"We're expecting a very, very toughgame and one that I know they're goingto want to win," he added.

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Lionel Messi's Argentina, languishing at the bottomof their group, will know that anything less thana win against Nigeria will knock them out of the

FIFA World Cup, when the two sides meet in a GroupD clash here on Tuesday.

Nigeria beat Iceland 2-0in their last game and willfancy their chances against alow-key Argentina, who suf-fered a shock 0-3 thrashing byCroatia.

The pair have metfive times in six WorldCups.

A win againstArgentina will guaran-tee Nigeria a place in thesecond round.

A draw may also beenough even if Iceland beat already-qualified Croatia,depending on goal difference.

For Argentina, they must beat Nigeria and also hopeIceland do not win against Croatia, as that could sendthem home again depending on goal difference.

Messi and Co will have to improve by leaps andbounds to harbour any chance on Tuesday.

Messi, who turned 31 on Sunday, has looked under-cooked in both games, been largely crowded off the balland his penalty miss against Iceland was horrible to saythe least. Against Croatia, the FC Barcelona talismanwas anonymous.

"The team is lost," former Argentina internationaland Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said in aleaked audio.

"What's happening to the team right now is whathas happened to Argentina in these last four disgrace-ful years: anarchy, no leadership from the players, coach-es or directors," he added.

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Struggling to make their mark, Iceland will aim fornothing less than a win when they take on already-qualified Croatia in their last Group D clash at the

Rostov Arena here on Tuesday.Croatia are already through to the Round of 16 with

victories over Argentina and Nigeria while Iceland playeda draw with Argentina before losing to Nigeria.

Iceland's fate does not only lie in their own hands asa win on Tuesday may not be enough for them but willalso hope that Nigeria lose to Argentina.

Croatia tops the group with six points while the HeimirHallgrimsson-coached Iceland have just a single point intheir kitty and lie at the third spot.

After already achieving their first objective, Croatiawould likely bench some of their players against Iceland.

On Tuesday, Croatia could also become the fourthteam in the history of the World Cup to win all three oftheir group games without conceding a goal.

Six Croatian players -- Ivan Rakitic, Ante Rebic, SimeVrsaljko, Mario Mandzukic, Marcelo Brozovic and VedranCorluka -- are one booking away from being suspendedfor the last 16 and some of them are likely to be restedagainst Iceland.

Hinting at resting these players in Tuesday's clash,Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic said: "I'd like to top thegroup. But, we have to take care because we have some

players on yellow cards, so I will change theline-up."

"I will not start those who are on yel-low cards because it's too much of a risk,there are 22 players who can play," headded.

Iceland, on the other hand, are knownfor bouncing back from defeats such as the one they suf-fered against Nigeria.

The islanders employed a 4-5-1 formation againstArgentina before switching to a 4-4-2 formation againstthe African side.

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Comfortably placed atop Group C andalready qualified for the knockouts,

France will attempt to finish off their firstround assignments with a win overDenmark when they face off in their finalgroup stage clash here on Tuesday.

A draw against Denmark will alsokeep France atop the group as they hopefor a potentially morefavourable meetingwith likely second-place f inishers inGroup D — Argentinaor Nigeria — as Croatiaare likely to top GroupD after winning theiropening two matches.

Denmark, on theother hand, wil ladvance with a drawbut a defeat, pairedwith an Australia winagainst Peru, could send them packing.

Going into Tuesday's tie, it will beinteresting to see if France will be keento rest some key players before theknockout stage.

Striker Antoine Griezmann, whoarrived tired in Russia after a long clubseason with Spanish football giantsAtletico Madrid, remains a potential

headache for the team.Denmark coach Age Hareide will be

forced to reshuffle his attacking lineup onTuesday with Yussuf Poulsen being sus-pended after he collected a second book-ing in as many outings against Australia,the forward picking up a harsh yellow

card following a VAR-awarded penalty. Commenting on the opponent's cur-

rent run in the tournament, Denmarkcoach told Danish newspaper bold.dk:"France may be considered among thefavourites and have six points but theyhave not been finishing off opponents."

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Peru captain Paulo Guerrero hassaid he will give his Australian

counterpart Mile Jedinak a "bighug" before they face off inTuesday's vital Group C FIFAWorld Cup game.

Guerrero looked as if he wasgoing to miss Peru's first appear-ance in the World Cup finals for32 years after being given a 14-month ban for a positive drug test.

He said the positive came asthe result of a cocaine by-productcontained in tea he had drunk.

One of the reasons the banwas overturned by FIFA was thesupport he received from the cap-tains of Peru's rivals in the group:France, Denmark and Australiaand although Peru's World Cuphopes have ended after narrowdefeats to France and Denmark,Guerrero is still grateful he hasbeen able to enjoy the experience.

"I haven't had the chance tothank him (Jedinak) in person, Ihope I can do that before tomor-row and I hope that we can talk.I am very grateful to him," said

Guerrero on Monday."I think that footballers have

to support each other, and I hopeto give him a big hug and thankhim personally," he added.

Although Peru have nochance of qualifying for the knock-out stages, Australia can reach thelast 16 if they defeat the SouthAmerican side and Group C lead-ers France beat Denmark.

Japan coach Akira Nishinosaid he thought his defenders dida "pretty good job" on Mane.

"But we were more concernedabout him giving positive impacton other players, especially in thefirst half," Nishino said.

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