˛ˇ ˇ˚˜ # ˇ ˘ ˇ ˘ ˝ ˇ...creants took a leaf out from Akshay Kumar-starrer Bollywood movie...

��

�� !��!��"��#��$�� % !��!� �� #��&'��

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

��'� ��"� ��)��!��#*+�,-*#.�&"*#,/�(� ��!� �� *+�� "�� !�� !! ��

0� � �� 1�� ! ��#�+2*��,��-�� ."��!��-�#��/� �� 0�� 0�� /� �� !��1��0��

��

'�� 234)4

Prime Minister NarendraModi and President Donald

Trump on Friday “aired” theirconcerns over the bilateraltrade disputes and agreed foran early meeting of theirCommerce Ministers to sortout the issues, a day after theUS leader demanded with-drawal of the “very high” tar-iffs levied by India onAmerican goods.

Though trade is an impor-tant part of the booming bilat-eral relationship, a row overmarket access and tariffs hasescalated in recent months,leading to fears of a protract-ed dispute.

On Thursday, PresidentTrump said India’s “very high”tariffs on US goods are “unac-ceptable” and must be with-drawn.

“I look forward to speakingwith Prime Minister(Narendra) Modi about thefact that India, for years havingput very high tariffs against theUnited States, just recentlyincreased the tariffs even fur-ther. This is unacceptable andthe tariffs must be withdrawn!”Trump said in a tweet on hisway to Osaka, to participate inthe G20 Summit.

“The talks with @POTUSwere wide ranging. We dis-cussed ways to leverage thepower of technology, improvedefence and security ties as wellas issues relating to trade,”Prime Minister Modi tweetedafter his meeting with PresidentTrump.

“India stands committed tofurther deepen economic andcultural relations with USA,” hesaid. Briefing reporters on theModi-Trump meeting, ForeignSecretary Vijay Gokhale saidthe issue of trade was dis-cussed by the two leaders.

“There was a discussion ontrade, both sides aired theirconcerns, both sides spokeabout the interest of the otherside and what was agreed wasthat the trade Ministers ofboth countries would meet atan early date and would try andsort out these issues,” he said.

“The Prime Minister did

mention in particular that wehad taken some action after theGeneralized System ofPreferences (GSP) was revoked,that was now something thatalready had happened and nowwe should now look forwardand we should see how we canresolve some of these issues,”Gokhale said.

President Trump wel-comed this idea, he said, not-ing that both US TradeRepresentative RobertLighthizer and the TreasurySecretary Steven Mnuchin werein the room when the two topleaders met.

“So what we expect now(is) an early meeting and thelevel is still be decided whetherit will be at the level ofCommerce & Industry Ministerand USTR or we will first havetechnical discussions, that is anissue to be decided,” the ForeignSecretary said.

“But essentially it was avery productive discussion, itwas very open discussion andwe will take things forward,” headded.

The foreign secretary alsoasserted that “no one issue isgoing to impact on the largerstrategic relationship between

India and United States.“This is a relationship

which is deep, which is broad,we have some issues, we willwork through them but no oneissue is going to, in any way,have any impact,” he said.

The Modi-Trump meet-ing assumes significance inthe wake of the strain that haspopped up in the bilateral rela-tionship on a host of trade andeconomic issues. OnWednesday, US Secretary ofState Mike Pompeo, who was inNew Delhi said that “greatfriends are bound to have dis-agreements”.

“We’ll keep working toresolve any economic disputes— not only those that we haveat this moment, but those thatwith any significant tradingrelationship inevitably arise,”Pompeo said.

Continued on Page 7

��

��' ��'�� %�5�0�67��

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Friday blamed

country’s first Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru for theKashmir problem. He claimedthat terrorism is in its laststage and his Government willensure that J&K is freed fromthe grip of “three dynasticfamilies”. He also asserted thatArticle 370, which gave specialstatus to J&K, is a “temporaryprovision.”

Replying to a statutoryresolution seeking Lok Sabha’sconsent to extend President’sRule in Jammu & Kashmir andextend reservation in theGovernment jobs in the vil-lages of International Borderbesides Line of Actual Controlin the State, he said theGovernment has spent �2,307crore to upgrade security appa-ratus and completed all thedemands of the armamentsand equipments by the CRPFin the State.

The Lok Sabha on Fridaygave its nod to extendPresident’s Rule in J&K foranother six months beginningJuly 3, with Shah asserting thatAssembly elections in the Statewill be held in a democratic,free and fair manner as soon as

the Election Commissionannounces the dates.

The Lok Sabha also clearedthe Jammu and KashmirReservation (Amendment) Bill,2019, to replace an Ordinanceissued by the previousGovernment.

The Home Minister said allthe elections in the borderState were “farjee” (fake) andremote- controlled by a fewfamilies which caused a distrustand gap between the people ofJ&K and the Government.

The situation, he said, haschanged now with 40000“panchs” and “sarpanchs”invested with true power in therecently held polls.

“We gave power to the

people which was thus far lim-ited to three families,” Shah saidapparently alluding to familiesof Abdullahs, Muftis andGandhis. He said people in theState have “opportunity” tofree themselves from the stranglehold of these families.

Shah said terrorism in theState will be eradicated soon asthe elements who were pro-vided security for “speakingagainst India” have been putbehind the bars, unauthorisedPakistani channels airing anti-India propaganda are banned,and morale of Armed forces ishigh after the IAF strike atBalakot in Pakistan.

Continued on Page 7

��

'�� %�5�0�67�

More than 120 Congressoffice-bearers holding dif-

ferent positions within theCentral and State units steppeddown on Friday owningresponsibility for the Lok Sabhadebacles and to oppose the res-ignation of Rahul Gandhi asparty chief.

The spate of resignationscame a day after, in a meetingwith party leaders, Rahulexpressed unhappiness thatnone of the leaders excludinghimself had taken responsibil-ity for the disastrous perfor-mance in the general elections.

Those who submitted theirresignation during the last 24hours include Vivek Tankha, aRajya Sabha member, DelhiCongress Working presidentRajesh Lilothia, office bearersfrom Telangana, Haryana,Rajasthan, and others.

Many of them said theywould not withdraw their res-ignation until Rahul promisedto stay on as the Congress chief.

“Many AICC office-bearershave come forward to takeresponsibility for the poll deba-cle and resign from theirrespective posts, responsibilitydoes not end with Congresspresident Rahul alone,” said asenior Congress leader.

Besides Tankha andLilothia, Haryana Women

Congress chief SumitraChouhan, general secretaryNetta P Sangma of Meghalaya,Secretary Virender Rathore,Chhattisgarh secretary AnilChaudhary, Madhya Pradeshsecretary Sudhir Chaudharyand Haryana secretary SatyavirYadav also gave up their posts.

Notably, in a meeting withHaryana Congress leaders onThursday, Rahul had stated hequit “taking full responsibility”for the party’s defeat. “I cannotask others to resign too. It is upto them if they want to takeresponsibility,” he told seniorparty leaders such as GhulamNabi Azad, Kumari Selja andBhupinder Singh Hooda.

Soon after this, Tankharesigned as the chairman of theparty’s legal and human rightscell and asked others to followhis example.

“We all should submit ourresignations from party posi-tions and give Rahul a freehand to choose his team. I wel-come Kamal Nath’s (MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister) state-ment to that effect. I unequiv-ocally submit my resignation asAICC Dept chairman Law,RTI and HR. Party cannotafford a stalemate for too long,”Tankha announced on twitter.

As part of his exercise tomeet leaders of poll boundStates, Rahul on Friday met

senior leaders of Delhi unit,including its president SheilaDikshit, and advised them toput up a united face before theOpposition in the upcomingAssembly elections next year.He also asked the DelhiCongress leaders to avoid giv-ing statements to the mediathat could hurt the interests ofthe party.

Besides Sheila, All IndiaCongress Committee (AICC)incharge of Delhi Congress, PCChacko and the party candi-dates who contested the recent-ly concluded Lok Sabha pollsin the Capital were present inthe meeting.

Continued on Page 7

'�� 68")%25

In an attempt to make quick money, 19 mis-creants took a leaf out from Akshay Kumar-

starrer Bollywood movie “Special 26” and“raided” a sugar mill but they ran out of luck andlanded in jail.

The sensational incident was reported fromSambhal district where a case of impersonationhas been registered against the accused and mostof them have been sent to jail. Efforts are on toarrest three impersonators who succeeded infleeing from the spot.

According to reports, 19 people reachedDCM Sugar Mill in Asmoli area of Dhampur inSambhal district on SUVs on Thursday. Theyentered the mill, claiming to be officers of theCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The“team” went to the distillery area where ethanolwas loaded and claimed that there were certaindiscrepancies in adhering to pollution controlnorms besides some other lacunae and demand-ed �15-20 lakh from the mill management.

As the “sleuths” started taking photograph,they ran out of luck as Assistant Excise

Commissioner was present there in histemporary office inside the mill.

The excise officer called the “teammembers” and enquired about them. Heasked them: Why were they taking pho-tographs and who authorised them tomake a raid?

As the “team members” failed to giveconvincing reply, the excise officer asked thestaff to detain them. The miscreants thentried to flee but the staff managed to nab16 of them while three managed to escapefrom the spot. Later, the local police werecalled and the impostors were handed overto them. During interrogation, they revealedthat to make quick money, they tried to turnAkshay starrer “Special 26” into reality.

“Special 26”, is a 2013 Indian heist filmdirected by Neeraj Pandey starring AkshayKumar in the lead role. The film isinspired by the 1987 Opera House heistwhere a group posing as Central Bureauof Investigation officers executed anincome tax raid on a jeweller in Mumbai.

�� !�� "��#�� $�� $�%#��&

�� !��"��

�� #��

�� ! �"� ��#$�%"��&�� ' !()

�� "�� $��" �� *��! �"� �� '��'�+ ' � ��#$�%"��&�� ' !()

!��%�� "��(��$��!��# �� "��,-��.� � ��&�� ' �!

� �� !��

� ��%� �� -�� !��0�� !�� !��

� �� !��

� 1��+/� ��3�*99��,��

� �� !�� "!! ��

��

: �0��;�� !<�� '��"�� (

��

�)*+��)�,

/2= ��2;;�372860�7260�,�/864,�� %/3>�=�;

�� !��!<�� <

6��"�� %�3�?++��..2� ?@AB4� �3� �� (� ��4��

;�� !��0�67��68")%25 172;46��17814%�354,

,4%"7��,4�;8, "74%0�/4,7�0�7,408% 7C0�,4140�=�#4C5404

�.-#4��.��$�5�6)��

��7�� 8��958:�' !��56��

��

��)��)�-34=��4)264�4,��,3

.��/��04 4�%�5��2,��2��

5�46 7> �%0�4

'�� 1�#4;8,

Three CRPF personnel wereon Friday killed in an

encounter with Naxals, includ-ing a girl who was caught in thecrossfire, in Chhattisgarh’sBijapur district, police said.The gun battle took placearound 11 am close to a culvertnear Keshkutul village when ajoint team of the CRPF’s 199thbattalion and state police wasout on an area dominationpatrol on motorcycles, BijapurSuperintendent of PoliceDivyang Patel said.

Two girls were caught inthe crossfire. One of themdied, while the other wasinjured, police said. The motor-cycle-borne patrolling teamwas heading towardsBhairamgarh from its camp inKeshkutul, which falls underthe Bhairamgarh police stationarea. When it was advancingthrough Keshkutul, the teamwas ambushed by a group ofarmed rebels and a gunfightensued, Patel said.

While two CRPF men werekilled in the encounter, anoth-er CRPF man later succumbedto injuries, officials said. Thedeceased CRPF personnel areassistant sub-inspectors

Mahadeva P (50) and MadanPal Singh (52) and head con-stable Saju OP (47), officialssaid. While Mahadeva hailedfrom Gulbarga in Karnataka,Singh hailed from Aligarh inUttar Pradesh and Saju fromIdukki in Kerala.

Two minor girls travellingin a goods carrier were caughtin the crossfire when theirvehicle was passing through theencounter spot, the SP said.One of them died, while theother was injured, he said.Reinforcement has been rushedto the spot and the injured wereadmitted to a hospital inBhairamgarh, he said.

During a search of theencounter spot, two pressureimprovised explosive devices(IEDs) were recovered, Patelsaid. According to anotherpolice official, Naxals looted anAK-47 rifle, its four maga-zines, one bulletproof jacketand a wireless set of securityforces during the encounter.

/��!&�� '��$��# 0 "�1��"��

� � �� *��2��*��"�� * ��'�� %�5�0�67�

The Maharashtra govern-ment on Friday filed a

caveat in the Supreme Courtanticipating challenge to theverdict passed by the BombayHigh Court which upheld theconstitutional validity of reser-vation for Maratha communi-ty in education and govern-ment jobs in the state.

A caveat is filed by a liti-gant in courts to ensure thatno adverse orders are passedagainst the party without itbeing heard. In its plea, theMaharashtra government saidno ex-parte order should bepassed on any plea challengingthe June 27 judgement of the

Bombay High Court onMaratha quota without hear-ing the state. The High Court,while upholding the constitu-tional validity of Marathaquota, has directed that it beslashed from the present 16per cent to 12 per cent and 13per cent, respectively.

The court said the 50 percent cap on total reservationsimposed by the SupremeCourt could be exceeded inexceptional circumstances. Italso accepted the Maharashtragovernment’s argument thatthe Maratha community wassocially and educationallybackward, and the govern-ment was duty-bound to takesteps for its progress.

�� ' �� '� ��'Srinagar (PTI): The annualAmarnath yatra is set to beginfrom Monday as all arrange-ments, including security alongthe twin routes of Baltal andPahalgam, for smooth conductof the pilgrimage have been putin place, officials said Friday.

The 40-day yatra to the caveshrine at an altitude of 3,880metre in the south KashmirHimalayas will commence fromboth the routes, they said.

Largely all arrangementshave been put in place just somefinal touches are being given,they said.

The Army, the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)and the Jammu and KashmirPolice have been tasked withproviding security to the pil-grims and a multi-tier securityarrangement has been plannedfor the yatra, they said.

The security forces havebegun sanitizing the yatraroutes, they said, adding theyhave been asked to ensure opti-mum use of latest technologiesand gadgets for securing theyatra.

The officials said that forcesare not taking any chancesespecially in the wake ofFebruary 14 Pulwama suicideattack which left 40 CRPF per-sonnel dead.

�� !"#�!$%"

'�� 68")%25

Even as Bihar reels under theoutbreak of Chamki virus

that has claimed the lives ofmore than 150 children, UttarPradesh can heave a sigh ofrelief that preventive measurestaken by the government havehelped BRD Medical CollegeHospital in Gorakhpur in con-taining Acute EncephalitisSyndrome (AES) deaths to 19so far in 2019.

The officials of BRDMedical College Hospitalclaimed that the number ofpatients and deaths due toAcute Encephalitis Syndromeand Japanese Encephalitis hadcome down drastically duringthe past two years.

Gorakhpur is the endem-ic zone for AES and JE wherechildren die annually of thesediseases. Children from neigh-bouring Bihar and Nepal alsocome to BRD Medical CollegeHospital for treatment.

BRD Medical College prin-cipal Dr Ganesh Kumar toldreporters that in 2019, 87patients of AES/JE had beenadmitted to the hospital out ofwhich 19 children died.

He said in 2017, the totalnumber of AES/JE patientswas 2,248 out of which 512 had

died while in 2018 the numberof AES/JE patients was 1,047with 166 deaths.

The disease killed morethan 1,500 children in 2005, theworst in recent years.

Dr Kumar said severalefforts were made to control thevirus besides enhancing thefacilities for patients at the hos-pital. “We have increased thenumber of beds, ventilators andsupply of liquid oxygen,” he said.

However, the decrease inthe AES/JE patients in easternUP can be attributed to themassive vaccination drive bythe Yogi Adityanath govern-ment besides improvement insanitation and hygiene due toconstruction of toilets andother facilities.

The disease is predictableand preventable. The annualmonsoon fills parched paddyfields with water and they pro-vide a breeding ground ofmosquitoes that spreadJapanese encephalitis virusfrom pigs to humans, devastat-ing malnourished children withlow immunity. Another strainof the disease - AcuteEncephalitis Syndrome -spreads through contaminatedwater. Residents defecate in thefields, contaminating theground water.

'�� 68")%25

Seven persons, including a 6-year-old girl, were killed

and 40 injured when a double-decker bus in which they weretravelling rammed into a truckon Agra-Lucknow Expresswayin Agra in the wee hours ofFriday.

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath expressed grief atthe deaths and directed the offi-cers in Agra to ensure propermedical care for those injuredin the mishap. He also askedofficials to get in touch with

their counterparts in Bihar sothat victims could be identified.

Reports said that a double-decker bus occupied by labour-ers was going from Bihar toJaipur. When passing throughAgra, the bus driver dozed offand the bus rammed into atruck at high speed. The colli-sion left seven passengers deadand 40 injured. Luckily, somelocal residents and officials ofUttar Pradesh ExpresswayIndustrial DevelopmentAuthority (UPEIDA) respond-ed immediately to the SOS callsand helped in shifting the

injured to hospital and thissaved many lives.

Meanwhile, in anothertragic mishap in Bhadohi, twosiblings died of asphyxia afterallegedly being locked in asteel trunk in Khamariya area,police said. A police officer saidit was suspected that Hataina(6) and her brother Hasan (3)were locked in the trunk bytheir mother, who is mentallyunstable.

The children’s father, MalluAnsari, who works in a carpetfactory, returned home lateThursday night and found the

children missing, Circle OfficerYadvendra Yadav said. Later, hewas seen running with hisunconscious children to hospi-tal, where doctors pronouncedthem brought dead, he said.

The circle officer said localsfound a steel trunk in thehouse open and clothes lyingoutside, and suspect that thementally unstable mother ofthe children had locked themin it.

Though the family mem-bers have not filed any com-plaint, the police have takennote of the incident and are

investigating the matter, the cir-cle officer added.

In another incident inMuzaffarnagar, two men werekilled when their motorcyclehit a road divider near Issapurvillage, police said on Friday.

The accident took placeunder Bhopa police stationlimits in the district onThursday evening, they said.

Sachin, who was ridingthe motorcycle, and Aman,who was riding pillion, died onthe spot, police said. Theirbodies were sent for post-mortem.

'�� 68")%25

Barabanki police claimed tohave achieved a big success

after they gunned down twoalleged notorious criminals inan encounter in Suratganjlocality of Mohdpur Khalaarea. Two policemen — aninspector and a constable —were also injured in theencounter that took pace onThursday night in MohdpurKhala police station area.

Superintendent of PoliceAjay Sahni told media personsthat after an input that twonotorious criminals, carryingcash rewards on their arrest,stole a motorcycle and wereroaming in the district, a policeteam was deputed to nab them,

The duo fired at the policeteam, resulting in injuries toInspector Sumit Srivastava andconstable Shamsul Hasan, hesaid. The police team returnedthe fire and in the retaliatoryfiring both the criminals wereinjured. They were rushed to ahospital where both died.

They were identified asZubair and Lomas, both resi-dents of Sitapur district.

The SP said over threedozen cases were registeredagainst the duo and they wereplanning to loot a bank.

Zubair and Lomas werecarrying a cash reward of�50,000 and �25,000, respec-tively, on their arrest, the SPadded.

Lucknow (PNS): Mafia-turned-politician BhagwanSharma aka Guddu Pandit andhis brother Mukesh Sharmawere expelled from BahujanSamaj Party on Friday. Pandithad contested the Lok Sabhaelection against Congress statepresident Raj Babbar fromFatehpur Sikri constituency butwas defeated by Bharatiya JantaParty nominee. Action wastaken against both brothers fortheir abusive language, indisci-pline and anti-party activities.

BSP district president ofGautam Buddha Nagar,Lakshmi Singh, confirmed tomedia persons on Friday thatGuddu Pandit and MukeshSharma had been expelled from

the party. He also issued an offi-cial release in this regard whichstated that Pandit had usedobjectionable comments againstmany party workers duringelection in Fatehpur Sikri.

Singh said that they hadprobed the matter after receiv-ing complaint in this regard andfound the allegations to betrue.

The BSP district presidentsaid that it was also found thatboth the brothers were engagedin anti-party activities for a longtime and a report in this regardwas sent to the party highcommand and on the directionof the party supremo, he hadexpelled Guddu Pandit and hisbrother Mukesh Sharma from

the party.Guddu Pandit, a resident of

Dibai area of Bulandshahr,remained MLA from Dibaiand his brother MukeshSharma remained MLA fromSikrapur. While they remainedBSP MLAs from 2007 to 2012,for the next five years (2012-17),they were elected to Assemblyon Samajwadi Party ticket. Inthe 2017 UP Legislative Councilelections, as both voted infavour of Bharatiya Janata Partycandidate, they were expelledfrom the SP. They later tried tojoin BJP but after getting nofavourable reply, they finallyreturned to BSP and Pandit gota ticket to contest Lok Sabhapoll from Fatehpur Sikri.

'�� 68")%25

AUS delegation met ChiefMinister YogiAdityanath here on

Friday and had an interactivesession on governance systemin the state and its challenges.

Welcoming the membersof the delegation, the ChiefMinister said that Americawas the world’s oldest democ-racy and UP was India’s largestdemocracy. He said the USEmbassy had successfullyimplemented the exchangeprogramme between students,academics, professionals andpolicy-makers of India andUS. The Chief Minister alsoshared the success mantra ofKumbh 2019 held in Prayagraj.

The Chief Minister said, “Iam hopeful that your currentvisit to India will be a learningexperience and it will be a joyto observe the vibrant cultureof India.”

Talking about the relationsbetween India and America, hesaid that as US Secretary ofState Michael R Pompeo said,“We all can acknowledge ittogether that India and US havestood with each other in fight-ing against terrorism.”

Talking about UP, the ChiefMinister said it was the largeststate of India from governanceperspective with 75 districts, 18divisions, 832 developmentblocks and 60,000 village pan-chayats. He said that being thelargest state, the biggest marketwas also Uttar Pradesh and the

state government had made alot of efforts to bring prosper-ity to citizens.

Yogi Adityanath said, “Themost important achievement ofthe UP government was itsrecord on law and order situ-ation right now. UP for decadesfaced a situation of lawlessnessdue to lack of political will. Mygovernment has adopted zerotolerance towards crime andcriminals.”

“In UP, our governmentuses technology in every field.By use of technology we havesucceeded in controlling cor-ruption. In areas like health,education, our government hasdone unprecedented work inthe last two years. The govern-ment has ensured modernisa-tion of education in madarsasby including mathematics andscience as subjects as alongwith religious education, othereducation is also important,” hesaid.

Answering a question onwhat challenges are being facedin governance of the largeststate of India, the ChiefMinister said, “There are nochallenges in governance undera strong leadership and we aimto benefit people of India with-out any discrimination andwhen there is no discrimina-tion there is not much chal-lenge in governance.”

He said with better coordi-nation between the state andthe Centre and with people’sparticipation Uttar Pradeshwas becoming “Uttam Pradesh”

by following the principle of‘Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas’.

The Chief Minister saidthat due to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, governmentschemes were reaching everycommon man today and thiswas the reason that today therewas great improvement incommon man’s life due towhich in the Lok Sabha elec-tions of 2019, people had onceagain chosen Modi as thePrime Minister.

Regarding the Kumbh heldin Prayagraj, the Chief Ministersaid that because of the effortsof Prime Minister NarendraModi, Kumbh had been includ-ed in UNESCO’s cultural her-itage list and 24 crore devoteeshad recorded their presence inthis mega 45-day event. He saiddespite the presence of such alarge number of people, therewas no chaos or any misman-agement during the entireevent as technology was usedextensively and for crowd man-agement even artificial intelli-gence was used.

Answering another ques-tion on how a priest had comeinto politics, Yogi said, “Inwestern culture, a priest is lim-ited to religious activities only,but in India the concept ofdharma has immense potentialand is not limited to religiousactivities as it is a way of life. Itpaves path for humanity andshows us the way to performour moral duties and respon-sibilities and we have acceptedpolitics as a part of it.”

'�� 68")%25

Even after three back to backelectoral defeats, the

Samajwadi Party leadership isreluctant to analyse the causesof the poll debacle in the recentLok Sabha election and fix theresponsibility.

The SP is yet to come toterms with the political real-ities after the recently con-cluded Lok Sabha elections.The woes of the SamajwadiParty were aggravated whenthe Bahujan Samaj Partydumped it. The BSP also triedto aggravate the crisis for theSP by saying that Yadavs andMuslims have drifted awayfrom it.

BSP chief Mayawati triedto damage Muslim support toSP by saying that SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav had asked herduring the elections not togive tickets to Muslims toprevent communal polarisa-tion. Akhilesh Yadav has so farnot reacted to the seriouscharge levelled by Mayawati.

The BSP chief has alsoattempted to damage Dalitsupport to SP by saying thatAkhilesh Yadav government

was opposed to reservation inpromotion and during histenure as chief minister,Akhilesh Yadav had workedagainst the interests of Dalits.

All other major politicalplayers in Uttar Pradesh,including the Bharatiya JanataParty, Bahujan Samaj Party,Congress and even RashtriyaLok Dal and PragatisheelSamajwadi Party (Lohia) haveheld long sessions to reviewpoll results and analyse theirperformance. However, theSP is yet to muster courage tohold such a meeting. Far frompaying attention to the sorrystate of affairs in the party,Akhilesh Yadav went toEurope along with wife andchildren for annual vacation.

“All the SP MLAs, defeat-ed candidates and rank andfile of the party want con-stituency-wise review of theLok Sabha elections. We wantto tell the party chief how theSP leaders and also those ofBSP sabotaged the electoralprospects of party candidates,”said a SP leader who lostelection from an eastern UPLok Sabha constituency.

“Akhilesh Yadav does not

seem to be inclined for sucha meeting as there may beclamour for fixing account-ability for the party’s worstever performance in LokSabha elections,” he added.

Another SP leader said, toavoid embarrassment the SPdissolved the media panellistwho participated in politicaldebates in TV studios.

A former Lok Sabha MPsaid, “What was destined hashappened but we must drawsome lessons as to whether theparty should forge alliance forfuture election, if yes then thebottom-line should be decid-ed and we should neverrepeat the mistake of 2019 LokSabha elections.”

He said Mayawati select-ed all those constituencieswhere her party had a goodpresence and left majority ofrural constituencies for SPmaking things more difficultfor it.

It was only due to alliancewith Samajwadi Party thatBSP was able to increase itstally in Lok Sabha from zeroin 2014 to 10 seats in 2019, theformer Member of Parliamentclaimed.

'�� 68")%25

Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav is in polit-

ical hibernation after theannouncement of Lok Sabharesults. His father MulayamSingh Yadav has not spokenon the party’s debacle or theend of its all iance withBahujan Samaj Party (BSP)and other party leaders arealso tight-lipped on theseissues.

However, Aparna Yadav,the younger daughter-in-lawof Mulayam Singh Yadav, hassaid that “Mayawati did notacknowledge the respect thatwe gave her.” She said here onFriday that “Mayawati couldnot digest the respect that theSamajwadi Party gave her. It issaid in the Vedas that thosewho cannot digest respect are

the ones who cannot digestdisrespect either”.

Aparna further said thatthe decision to enter into analliance with the BSP wastaken by Akhilesh Yadav onhis own. “Akhilesh Yadav cantell if he consulted anyonebefore formalising thealliance. I would not like tocomment on whether Netaji(Mulayam Singh Yadav) washappy with this decision ornot,” she said. Aparna said thatall samajwadis would have tocome together and introspecton the reasons for the party’spoor performance in LokSabha elections.

“The Bharatiya JanataParty has whipped up a hugewave in its favour and itshould ring an alarm bell forthe Samajwadi Party,” she said.

�� ! ��""��!�#��$��%&''()*(��+��+��,��&--./��0�� .��1��%�2��3��$��2��3��$101��')*(456��%+� �"��32�.783 )-(())!93'- 55:'�. ��;��3<)5-'=' '):*:�' '*)*:�-'>) ()��"��;��3<)5*'='-) ))(�'-) *(��;��3<)5 '=' * '> �' * '>5�?� ��;��31��(�7��@� �7�%��7��A��1�%?� ��&**)))'��3)**& )**) 55��//��;��3!&-*��(�1;0?.�@��/7��1��&')*-)*�B��3)*')& :6>:))C :6>>))

�� !�� "�� #��$��%�� &�� !��

NOTICE

Be it known to all that I havechanged the name of mydaughter Tanishka Middha(Student of CMS, Class VIII,D.O.B. 27-11-2004) to TanishkaMahendru. In future she shouldbe known as TanishkaMahendru-Vikas MahendruR/O C-4/10, Paper Mill Colony,Nishatganj, Lucknow

��

�� !��"��#��$%�� &��'

Department of Justice,Ministry of Law and Justice,

Government of India, New DelhiAdvertisement for the Fulltime Engagement of NYAYA MITRAS

Application is invited from RETIRED JUDICIAL OFFICERS & GOVERNMENTEXECUTIVE OFFICIALS for full time engagement as NYAYA MITRAS in 93District Courts and 7 High Courts in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Rajasthan, West Bengal, Orissa, Gujarat and Maharashtra on contract basis.Detailed Terms of reference andother relevant information are available onlineon website - www.nyayamitra.com. The candidate shall be local resident.In cases of non-availability of suitable local candidates, persons from near-by distrcit may be considered. Only single application will be accepted fromone candidate. Application will be accepted through online mode only. To applyclick on www.nyayamitra.com. Last date of submission of application upto 15thJuly 2019 (11.59 pm).

Joint Secretary (A2J)davp 24101/11/0003/1920

��

�� (��#��) �S/o $��"��) �� * N-390, +�� ,��-�E-5/M-L-2, +�� !��"��.� ,��-�� & �/��(/ �/��$��,�� '

��$��%�� %��&' !0�1��

�!�0�"��! ��3��

��%�� *23�2�

�� #��$��$ �%�� &��4�%��

(��'��)��)��

0�$��%�� %��#��#��( *��

�� !"#�!$%"

*�� $��

'��7�� 68")%25

Ateenager sustained seri-ous injuries on bothlegs after he was

thrashed at the Telibagh policeoutpost by incharge RajnishVerma and beat inspectorRaghuram Pandey. He wasidentified as 14-year-oldManish Gautam ‘Guddu’, sonof Ram Kumar and a residentof the Vrindavan colony onRae Bareli road.

The policemen wantedthe teenager to give his state-ment in their favour. He wasalso detained at the lock-upfor 12 hours and released onFriday morning. However,Lucknow police spokesmanAshish Dwivedi denied thepolice atrocities on the teenag-er and claimed it was a well-planned conspiracy to settlescores with the incharge of thepolice station and beat consta-ble. Guddu’s mother ShantiDevi went to the PGI policestation on Friday to lodgecomplaint against the policeexcesses committed on herson. But she was ridiculed bycops there and shown thedoor. Then she, along with herinjured son and husband,came to the SSP office todraw the attention of the offi-

cial towards the atrocities andalso lodged a complaint. Shealleged her son is a helper ata battery repair shop ownedby Umesh Gautam who alsoowned an e-rickshaw. On June25, Gautam asked the teenag-er to carry passengers tillSanik Nagar as he was not ableto do the job due to sickness.

He agreed with his masterand transported the passen-gers to Sanik Nagar. Onreturn, he parked the vehicleat one side of the road to havewater. He was surprised to seethe vehicle was not there andlater came to know it wasstolen by unidentified person.Umesh alleged Guddu wasinvolved in lifting his e-rick-shaw. The other version is thatGuddu was beaten up by beatconstable Pandey for not giv-ing the police tax. Guddusaid he was unaware of thepolice tax as he was not a reg-ular driver. In a complaint, themother charged Verma andPandey with beating up herson with the iron rods andsticks and detained him in thelock-up for 12 hours. Theboy has been sent for the med-ical check-up. The report isstill awaited.

SP, North, Sukriti Madhavasked circle officer TanuUpadhyay to probe the entireincident and submit a detailedreport within two days sothat strict action could betaken against the police per-sonnel involved in committingatrocity. The Lucknow policespokesman said the boy wassent to the Balrampur hospi-tal for medical examination.

'��7�� 68")%25

There was no respite for res-idents as the maximum

temperature on Friday soaredto 42.7 degree Celsius, whichwas seven degrees above nor-mal. The minimum tempera-ture of 30 degree Celsius wasfour notches above normal.The heat is here to stay with thedelay in monsoon, which is notexpected before July 2-3.

The forecast for Lucknowis mainly clear sky while themaximum and minimum tem-

peratures are expected to bearound 42 degree Celsius 30degree Celsius, respectively.

Rain and thundershowersare likely at isolated placesover the state. There is also awarning for heatwave condi-tions at isolated places over thestate. Thunderstorm accompa-nied by gusty winds and light-ning is expected at isolatedplaces over eastern UttarPradesh. In the state, Bandawas the hottest on Friday at44.2 degree Celsius.

The southwest monsoon

which arrived in the state lastweek has shown little progress.Agricultural experts said withthe delay in monsoon, thesowing of paddy and vegetableswould be delayed and the cropimpacted.

“If the sowing is delayed,the harvest will also be delayed.The vegetables will get spoiltonce it begins raining and fora certain period, the cost of thevegetables will increase. Forthose who sow rice early, thesowing will be affected by thedelay in monsoon,” they said.

'��7�� 68")%25

Guava saplings are in greatdemand for plantation this

year at the Central Institute ofSubtropical Horticulture(CISH). Director ShailendraRajan said the major require-ments for planting trees was ofguava varieties.

“There is a changing trendin terms of demands by variousorganisations as they are notinterested in plantation of for-est trees but are promoting fruittrees which can help in improv-ing the environment as well asprovide fruits to the custodians.It has also been observed thatfruit trees are more looked afterby people if distributed duringtree plantation drive,” he said,adding these trees find place inbackyards.

“Mostly, every year afterplantation, only few number ofseedlings survive in the fieldbut that’s not the case with withfruit trees. It also becomesimportant when these treesare of various important good-looking varieties. CISH is alsoproviding jamun, bael, aonla,mango plants for plantation,”Rajan said

He said these plants areunique as these are graftedplants with a very short juve-nile period.

“Jamun starts fruiting with-in 4-5 years and it is entirelydifferent from the generalseedling jamun trees whichtake 8-10 years to fruit. Peopledo not want to wait for long tosee plants fruit. Therefore, thegrafted plants are becomingpopular and their demand isincreasing. The Forest depart-

ment has also started pro-grammes, wherein fruit plantsof good varieties are distributedso that they can serve the dualpurpose of making healthyenvironment and yield fruits ofgood quality,” he said.

The CISH director saidthat before planting a tree,people assess its value more ineconomic terms as comparedto environmental benefits.

“Thousands of graftedplants of bael are being liftedfor plantation and the farmersare intelligent enough to see itsincreasing economic value.Contrarily, the demand ofaonla plants is decreasingalthough it is very much likedby people in kitchen gardensfor fresh fruit consumption.Trees available in the vicinity ofa house provide fruits for one-and-a-half months, thuscompleting the Vitamin C andantioxidant requirements,” hepointed out.

The CISH director saidthat it is always better to useplants which are looked afterproperly and are useful for their

sustainability as their utility bybearing fruits which serve bothpurposes — making environ-ment and people healthy byproducing nutritious fruits.

“Our nursery is one of themodern ones producing differ-ent types of plants. Consideringthe quality of planting mater-ial produced at CISH and facil-ities available in the Hi-Technursery, many organisationsrequest for training of thefarmers, nurserymen, govern-ment officials and even theForest department. NationalHorticulture Board is going toorganise a 12-day nurserytraining at the institute foreducating nurserymen aboutmodern techniques,” Rajansaid. Every year, about fivelakhs of grafted plants aredemanded by farmers, variousorganisations and fruit plantlovers for planting in theirorchards, schools and publicplaces. This demand is notfrom only Lucknow but alsofrom different parts of thecountry. CISH has made sever-al million grafted plants avail-

able to all the states and unionterritories and the demand isregularly increasing.

“We are also promotingvarious nurseries to producegrafted plants of variousimproved varieties so that theseare used for different plantingprogrammes. These nurseriesare serving as a source of plant-ing material for not only farm-

ers but other planting pro-grammes too. Among the skilldevelopment programmes fornursery, many of the entrepre-neurs have come up who aremultiplying seedlings offorestry plants in large numberand being utilised by the Forestdepartment and other pro-grammes during plantationdrive,” the CISH director said.

'��7�� 68")%25

Additional counselling will be held atLucknow University on Saturday for five

self-financed PG courses. LU admission coor-dinator Anil Mishra said there were several seatsvacant in self-financed subjects, including PlantScience (Botany), Pharmaceutical Chemistry(Chemistry), Electronics (Physics), RenewableEnergy (Physics), Total Quality Management(Statistics) and Defence Studies.

He said that all candidates whose nameswere in the overall merit list and who had notbeen allotted seats had to report to the respec-tive departments.

Meanwhile, while giving details of theguidelines for fee deposit, Mishra said that theBCom, BSc and BA students promoted from sec-ond year to third year in the annual system hadto login to the UDRC portal using their studentIDs and submit subject options for the third year.

“The students of BSc and BA have to choosetwo out of the three subjects. The students ofBCom have to choose the option for any oneoptional paper. After submitting their option,they have to take printouts of the counsellingforms generated on the portal, sign on the des-ignated place and submit it in the respectivedean’s office along with self-attested photocopiesof their first and second year marksheets.Thereafter, the dean’s office will verify theirchoices online and then the link for fee depositwill be activated,” he explained.

Mishra said the students could then pay thefees online through the modes available on theUDRC portal. The online submission of optionswill take place from June 28 to July 5, submis-sion of documents from July 1 to 6, and onlinefee deposit from July 7 to 25.

The students who have been promoted fromsecond to third to fourth and from fourth to fifthsemester have to submit self-attested photocopiesof all previous semester marksheets and a pho-tocopy of their identity cards with authoritiesafter which they will be allowed to pay the feesonline through their UDRC student login.

“In case of any problem, the students cancontact the personnel of Computer Centre, oldLU campus. Students of the new campus cancontact Dr Vineet Saxena at the Institute ofManagement Sciences,” Mishra said.

'��7�� 68")%25

Expressing annoyance at thedelay in implementation of

Army proposals, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hasdirected the Revenue depart-ment officials to provide landto the Army as per its require-ments at the earliest.

Addressing a civil-militaryliaison conference here onFriday, the Chief Minister saidthe pending issues of the Armyshould be solved in a time-bound manner. “Delay notonly hampers development butalso increases the cost of a pro-ject and this is detrimental tothe state,” Yogi said.

The Chief Minister alsoasked Chief Secretary AnupChandra Pandey to identify theofficers who were delaying the

project and fix responsibilitywithin seven days.

Yogi Adityanath directedthe state officials to send theproposal of field firing range inSaharanpur to the Central gov-ernment within a month.

“The lease should be for 30years. The Revenue depart-ment should provide land tothe army as per their require-ments,” he said. He also direct-ed the officials to provide landto ex-Servicemen to constructpolyclinic. “Work should alsostart on land mutation of AirForce Station, Bakshi ka Talab.The dispute between the stategovernment and the Army onland requirement should besolved. The officials shouldresolve it with mutual discus-sions. The officials of theRevenue department should

take a lead,” the Chief Ministersaid. Focusing on cleanliness inCantonment areas, the ChiefMinister asked the General-officer-Commanding to lookinto the sanitation work so thatit was done as soon as possible.

Yogi Adityanath also spokeabout 5 per cent reservation forex-Servicemen in Group Cposts in the state governmentand said that the ex-Servicemen should be givenpriority and placed as faculty instate medical colleges. TheArmy assured the ChiefMinister that on August 15, itwould plant three lakh saplingsin Lucknow. GOC Lt GenParvesh Puri, Chief SecretaryAnup Chandra Pandey andsenior officers of Army andstate government were pre-sent in the liaison meeting.

!�� #��%�� 56$��6��4�$��+�� '� ��

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

�� 7��%��*�1$��8�%� '��7�� 68")%25

Three criminals were arrest-ed from different places in

the state capital in the past 24hours. They were identified asSarvesh Yadav, Akash Guptaand Jagdish Singh. Power cable,a motor-cycle, three gold neck-lace, three smart phone and Rs2,000 were recovered fromthem. The police said Yadavwas working as a lineman witha private contractor. The con-tractor for whom he was work-ing recently lodged a complaintwith the police that Yadav wasinvolved in stealing electricalgadgets and other materialsmeant for repairing the equip-ment. He was picked up fromRoshanabad area falling underthe Madiaon police station andalso found the stolen powercable. He was arrested in themorning after his confession.

Gupta and his accomplicesSingh were engaged in chain-snatching or stealing the jew-ellery. They were picked up forinterrogation from BijnoreRoad crossing during the roadchecking drive on Thursdaynight.. The smart phone sets,gold chains, motor-cycle andRs 2,000 were stolen goods.They had pick pocketed ayouth near the Alambagh busstand. The purse contained Rs2,000 in cash.

Meanwhile, theft was com-mitted in the house of PramodKumar Singh, a resident ofVikas Nagar. There was no one

in the house when the incidentwas reported. The police saidSingh, along with his family, leftfor Uttarakhand on June 23. Hewas surprised to see the locksbroken and rooms in disorderwhen he returned to his house.He alleged the culprits hadtaken away Rs 5,000 and valu-ables worth a few lakhs. Singhlodged a complaint at the VikasNagar police station later in theafternoon. The police claimedthe investigation was inprogress.

��Seventy-year-old Ram

Dulari, wife of ChandraPrakash, a resident of BaldaRoad colony, was conned bytwo unidentified culprits nearher house at 7 am and tookaway her four gold bangles, agold chain and two rings. Thepolice said that she came outfrom her house for walking inthe morning. Two unidentifiedyouths approached her andintroduced themselves to bepolice inspectors. They told hera big crime was reported in thelocality and requested her toput valuables in a piece ofcloth and give it to them fromthe safety angle and assured herthey would return her valuablesafter some time. Trusting theirwords she did what they hadinstructed her. They returnedthe piece of cloth after a whileand left the place. She was sur-prised there no valuables butsmall pieces of stones.

�� '��

�� !��"� �� !��!#��!$��

'��7�� 68")%25

The Forest department willbe giving saplings free of

cost for the plantation drivebeginning July 1. A seniorofficial said the saplings wouldbe given free of cost to govern-ment department, privateindividuals and organisationsand all those keen on con-tributing to the cause.

The official said thesaplings would be given withall security measures to seethat they did not go waste. “Itis not as if an individualapproaches the Forest depart-ment and procures thesapling. They will have toshow that they have dug prop-er holes for the plants and thelinkages will be made for theplantation and the holes dugup,” he said.

The official said that thistime they had worked in thereverse order for the planta-tion process. “Earlier, we usedto simply hand over the

saplings to the departmentsand they would complain ofno technical information. Thistime, we first made the micro-plan selecting the site and thenselected the species. We calledthe departments and trainedthem technically about plan-tation. The saplings will betransported after links aremade with the holes that havebeen dug and when the rainsbegin, the transportation willtake place,” he said.

He added that with thisprocedure, the departmentswould be accountable for thesaplings planted and wouldtake due care of the same. Hepointed out geo-tagging of thesaplings would be done andthe same would be in publicdomain on the internet so thatthe exact position of thesaplings could be seen. Athird-party monitoring of theplantations will also be carriedout. A total of 22 croresaplings will be planted in thestate and 26 lakh in Lucknow.

'�� &��&�%� �

��%��!$&�#��#�#! !��'(!#��)� !��$��

!�� &�� &6&��%��9 %�� $��$

'��7�� 68")%25

An unidentified body of aman was found floating

in a pit at Dayapur villageunder the Nigohan policestation on Friday. The policeclaimed the man was in early30s and said there was noinjury marks on the body.Perhaps, the man must havebeen sl ipped into the water-filled pit. The policecalled people from adjoininglocalities to identify the man but failed to recognisehim.

Meanwhile, a CRPF jawanposted in Ramganj group cen-tre in amethi allegedly com-mitted suicide by shootinghimself with his service rifle,police said on Friday. SantoshKumar Yadav (47), a residentof Bhind in Madhya Pradesh,was cleaning his rifle when heallegedly shot himself dead,Deputy Superintendent PolicePiyush Kant Rai said. He saidthe reason behind thisextreme step was not imme-diately known.

'��7�� 68")%25

Zaineb Ali, who is a second yearBCom (Hons) student of Lucknow

University, has been selected to attend aprestigious programme in China with fullfellowship.

“International student exchange pro-grammes are the most crucial for studentsand keeping this in mind, a number ofpremier institutions, such as KhwajaMoinuddin Chishti Urdu-Arabi-FarsiUniversity, Lucknow University,Memorial University Canada, HebeiUniversity of Science and Technology(China) and Aligarh Muslim University,are offering lucrative opportunities forbright students,” media spokesperson ofKhwaja Moinuddin Chishti Universitysaid.

These institutions have organisedmany workshops, conferences, seminarsand researches in India and abroad. Themost recent in line is the summer intern-ship programme being organised atHebei University of Science andTechnology (China) on the topic of‘Entreprenuership’. The programme willhave resource persons from China,Canada and India while the participantsare selected from all over the world. Afterfacing a rigorous selection process, Zaineb

Ali was selected to attend this prestigiousprogramme with full fellowship. Hervisit to China will be a source of inspira-tion to many other girls in India who wishto make a mark on global platform.

Appreciating her hardwork and ded-

ication, Prof Somesh Kr Shukla from LU’sCommerce department congratulatedZaineb on the achievement. “Such diligentstudents not only make the university butalso the country proud,” he added. LUVice-Chancellor SP Singh also extended

6��8�� !!��"��

(��"�� '�� !��

��4��' � �� *�"��"�� '�"� �� $ ��$��&�� '� !��

��+�� !"#�!$%"

��" � ++0��1�2�+��(�� !!�1�2�� 3�� 2� �� *� ��3�� 2�

�2. �44��!��!�,,�� %��$��2��" �5��+��(�� "��!� ��,��08 &09/ SE/EDCB/2018-19 �,�� %�+�� " ��2��!�� 6*7*879*6: � ��$�� ' ��$�;� ��"��)��/ ��/" https://etender.up.nic.in &�� https://dvvnl.org �� <� =0� � ��'>��(!� ��!? +0��1�2� +��(��3�� 2��2. 4��!��@@AB��*��*��* 4� �*B��6>��?B��!�B 9*6:�9*B*A�*:� �!�� 9AB*CB9*6:��#/D� ��4� �4��

'��7�� 68")%25

After receiving encouragingresponse to some of the

vibrant performances duringthe first phase, Lucknow MetroRail Corporation (LMRC) is re-opening its ‘Performing Arena’in view of multiple requestsfrom budding artistes.

“Like the previous stint,Lucknowites will get a chanceto indulge in theatre, culturaldance and musical band per-formances on weekends at theHazratganj Metro station andthe most welcoming factor hasbeen kept unchanged this timeas well — it’s free of charge. Theperformers only need to pur-chase tokens of Rs 10 to enterthe paid area which is a stan-dard rule for all, be it the per-formers, audience or the gen-eral passengers,” a senior offi-cial said.

He said LMRC had alwaysmade sincere efforts to connectwith the people and to serve

them in the best way possible.“That’s another reason whyHazratganj Metro station is

chosen as the performingvenue. It’s beautiful andbustling with passengers and is

located right in the heart of thecity. LMRC welcomes all irre-spective of age to make the

most of this opportunity.Performing outside one’s com-fort zone and in front of a newaudience is a great way todevelop confidence, shed inhi-bitions and stage fear and pol-ishes the raw artiste in a per-former. What acts as the icingon the cake is the variedprospects it bears, including selfpromotion,” the official said.

Earlier, the HazratganjMetro station had been abuzzwith performances whichincluded participants from dif-ferent schools, NGOs and peo-ple simply seeking a platformto showcase their talentthrough group dance, musicalband performances and social-ly inclined theatre perfor-mances. “People interested tomake use of this unique initia-tive and get complete informa-tion can drop an email withtheir queries, names and con-tact numbers [email protected],” headded.

��'� �� A tree plantation activity

was carried out on Friday bymembers of an organisation ata city cafe in the presence offounder-president and othermembers. Media spokespersonPriyanka Dixit said that it wasan event undertaken by theorganisation. The activitybegan with a tree plantationdrive after which the seniormembers were honoured.Wheelchairs were also givenaway by the organisation.

'��7�� 68")%25

Well-known Bollywoodactress Mallika Sherawat

has the maximum fans inLucknow. This was stated bythe actress at a press conferenceorganised at a city hotel for thepromotion of her new webseries “Booo” which is a horrorcomedy. Mallika Sherawat saidthat the show itself had carriedout the survey and they foundthat she had the largest fan fol-lowing in Lucknow. Kanpurfollowed Lucknow in her pop-ularity. She admitted that sheloved Lucknow for its cultureand chikankari craft.

The actress, who is return-ing after a gap in acting, saidthat she loved the characterwhich she was playing whichwas of a ghost. The narrative isabout a bachelor’s party in ahaunted house. Haseena,played by Mallika Sherawat, isa mysterious walking witchwho strangely appears and dis-appears at certain moments.Haseena, while creating a mys-tery, fear, and confusion among

the group of friends also keepstrying very hard to communi-cate with them. “I went to dif-ferent places and experienceddifferent cultures. It is neces-sary to come out of the worldthat we have been living in fora long time,” she said.

Regarding the characterwhich she played, she said thatshe had came out of her com-fort zone to play a ghost. “Thisis the first time that I am play-ing the character of a ghost andI completely enjoyed it. Thishas been a fabulous opportuni-ty for me, working with actorswho have such amazing comictiming like Sanjay Mishra,Kiku, Krishna and Tusshar.The project is helmed byFarhad Samji and this is alsothe biggest reason why I tookup the project. I totally enjoyedworking with the entire castand crew and I am sure we willbe able to make you laugh outloud,” she added.

On being asked whethershe felt that her glamorousimage would be impacted if sheplayed a role like this, she said

that this did not occur to herwhen she agreed to play a partin this. Regarding her journeyas an actress till now, she saidthat she had been extremelyhappy about the position whichshe had reached. “Imagine asmall town girl from Haryanahas reached this position. I amextremely happy about this,”she said.

Talking about the show,Tusshar Kapoor said that theyhad come up with the webseries because this was thefuture and might be in thecoming days they would makea sequel of the show as a film.

Known for his impeccablecomic timing, Tusshar Kapoorquipped: “This is my digitaldebut, and I am really excitedto associate with Farhad Samjiagain, who also happens to bemy director from Golmaal. Ihave got an overwhelmingresponse from audiences tothe trailer and I’m hoping nowthe audiences will binge-watchthe show and have as much funas we had shooting it,” headded.

�� "��! ��

Two students of CityMontessori School, GomtiNagar Campus I (Sneha Yadavand Devarpita), under theleadership of their teacherNeha A Sharma, left forHungary to participate in theInternational Children’sCamp being held there. ThisCMS delegation was bidfarewell by parents and teach-ers of CMS at Amausi airport.The camp is organised underthe aegis of Chi ldren’sInternational SummerVillages (CISV), England,from June 28 to July 20 inBudapest, the capital city ofHungary, in which studentsaged 11-12 years of variouscountries are participating.

��!A meeting of all lead

banks and 75 lead districtmanagers of the state wasconvened by Bank of Baroda,convenor of the State-LevelBankers’ Committee (UP) atBaroda House in Gomti Nagaron Friday. The meeting waschaired by Cabinet minister

Surya Pratap Shahi andattended by Special Secretary(Agriculture) Navin Kumar,general manager of ReserveBank of India Pankaj Kumar,NABARD chief general man-ager Shankar A Pande, andsenior officials from the stategovernment and banks in thestate.

'�� 4 78,4

Adistrict court on Fridayacquitted 40 people

accused of assaulting employ-ees of the HorticultureDepartment at Jawahar Baghhere in March 2016. One of theaccused had died during thetrial. The employees had gonefor harvesting potatoes grownon the department land inJawahar Bagh on March 16,2016, when around 200 follow-ers of cult leader Ram Vriksha

Yadav allegedly attacked them.Fourty-four people were

booked, of which 40 wereacquitted by the court due tolack of evidence. “The judgedisallowed the appeal of fouraccused, including VireshYadav, considered to a closeassociate of principal accusedRam Vriksha,” assistant gov-ernment council Nand KumarTewari said. Yadav and his sup-porters ran an illegal settlementat Jawahar Bagh in Mathura inUttar Pradesh. At least 29 peo-

ple were killed in clashes inJune 2016 when the policetried to evict the encroachersfrom the compound fromwhere a large cache of armswas also recovered.

On January 21 this year, alower court had convicted all44 in the case. They thenapproached the district courtagainst the conviction. Thecourt of Additional DistrictJudge (IV) Amar Pal Singhreversed the order, acquitting40 of the accused. The pleas of

Prem Pal, Rakesh Babu Gupta,Viresh Yadav and Rahul weredisallowed. Since Rakesh BabuGupta was not present in thecourt, his bail was rejected.Arrest warrants were issuedagainst him. Sita Ram, a resi-dent of Bareli and one of theaccused in the case, had diedduring the pendency of thecase. An appeal against theorder would be filed in anupper court against the order,Laxmi Kant Gautam, the coun-cil for the accused said.

�0�!��6��:��&��1��*��;

!<��!*)

� ��% �� '�� ,�%��)

� ""�� $ ��$�� (�� 5 �� 6 '�� $��&�� '� !��

Besides, junior counsellorsaged 15-17 years will also bejoining the camp to maintainorderliness and act as theintermediaries between theadults and children of various

countries. During this camp,host staff and leaders compre-hensively plan activities toinspire and urge the partici-pants to strive for peacefulworld.

�0;122$12D��2$�0�2 � ��'�(�)

With the arrest of four persons, includ-ing his colleague, the police claimed

to have solved the murder of lawyerSushil Kumar Patel. with the arrest of fourpersons, A property dispute was stated tobe the motive behind his murder, thepolice said. It may be recalled here thatSushil Kumar Patel was shot dead nearGohri railway crossing on June 23 night.He was on his way to Allahabad on amotorbike from his native village, Lohra,when the incident took place near theGohri railway crossing. The murder ofSushil Kumar Patel led to protests by thelawyers’ fraternity who demanded thearrest of killers and compensation to thenext of kin of the deceased.

Senior Superintendent of Police AtulSharma constituted teams for working outthe sensational murder of the lawyer. Onbeing tipped off by an informer the policearrested four persons in this connection.Three culprits, Jasoos Yadav, Azad Yadavand Irfan, residents of Kareli, were arrest-ed from Daira Shah Ajmal. The fourthaccused, Ramesh Kumar Nigam, a lawyer,who had hatched a conspiracy, too wasnabbed by the police. It is learnt thatRamesh Kumar Nigam had hired the

killers and paid them �5 lakh for eliminat-ing Sushil Kumar Yadav. During interro-gation all the accused confessed theirinvolvement in the murder of SushilKumar Patel. They told the police that the

murder took place over payment of a cutin the sale of property worth �1 crore. SSPAtul Sharma gave a cash reward of �25,000to the police party for working out the sen-sational murder case.

��"$��; �1��( '��

(�� *�"*�� *� �7��"��"" � � �� !��

4��""��$�� *��*� "��0;122$12D��2$�0�2 � ��'�(�)

In a heart-rending incident a25-year-old youth killed his

mother with a spade over atrivial issue in Kaundhiyaralocality in the trans-Yamunaarea here on Friday. The inci-dent created a sensation in thearea. On getting information,the police reached the spot andcaught the culprit with theassistance of the villagers.

As per the reports receivedhere, Kumar Bahadur, a resi-dent of Mishra Bandh village inKaundhiyara, had asked for �50from his mother, Rampyari,wife of Kailash Patel. When hismother refused to budge hehad an altercation with her overit. On seeing it his younger sis-ter, Usha (13), rushed to hermother’s rescue. As he wasseething with rage Rampyarirushed outside. In the mean-time Kumar Bahadur picked upa spade kept there and attackedhis mother thrice as a result ofwhich she collapsed on theground bleeding profusely anddied. On getting informationthe Kaundhiyara police alongwith heavy force from thenearby police stations reachedthe spot and caught theaccused, who had ran awayafter committing this grue-some murder, with the supportof the villagers.

��"��$��$�� '�!�� "�� '�� "��&�� '� !��

* �� &&��"�#��=��#(!��%>�� 5 �%��%7��&��%�

Saharanpur (PTI): In thesecond such incident in thepast four days, an infant wasmauled to death by a stray dogat Dayalpur village inSaharanpur district on Friday,police said. SP (City) VineetBhatnagar said the month-

old boy was sleeping with hismother, when the stray dogattacked him around 4 amFriday. His mother raised analarm but the dog escapedwith the child. Area residentsimmediately started searchingfor the child and overpoweredthe dog but the child had diedby then, police said. Four daysago, a three-month-old boywas killed by stray dogs in asimilar way. The dogs haddragged the child to the fieldsbefore killing him.

��-�� '��

��,�� !"#�!$%"

'�� %�5�0�67�

Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu on Friday

urged the Government andthe Opposition parties to holdregular interaction, both formaland informal, to arrive at someconsensus on issues on clearingpending bills. He also suggest-ed that once a Bill undergoesscrutiny by parliamentarystanding committee, it shouldgo through unless there issomething very urgent thatrequires further deliberations.

As many as 22 Bills, pend-ing in the Rajya Sabha, hadlapsed with the dissolution ofthe 16th Lok Sabha last monthand another 33 Bills have beenpending consideration in theUpper House for years includ-ing three of them for more than20 years.

While appreciating mem-bers for good debates on waterscarcity and environment ear-lier this week, Naidu, duringthe Zero Hour, said MPs par-ticipated in the discussionsand raised important pointscutting across political affilia-tions. The Chairman saidpeople have praised the func-tioning of the House duringthis week.

On the issue of Bills pend-ing in the House, Naidu saidthe issues could be resolvedthrough formal and informaldiscussions. The Governmentand other members shouldinteract and the former shouldtake initiative to clear pendinglegislative business, he added.Naidu said efforts should bemade to find out where theproblem is, is it with the gov-ernment, Opposition, the

House or the system. “At theend of the day, I want to see myHouse, our House get appreci-ation,” he added.

Naidu suggested that oncea bill is cleared by aParliamentary Committee,comprising members fromboth Lok Sabha and RajyaSabha, it should go throughuntil and unless there is some-thing very urgent that requiresfurther deliberations. TheChairman also told the mem-bers that he was looking intotheir suggestions regarding“parliament scrutiny” of bills.

The Chairman also askedLeader of the House ThawarChand Gehlot and Minister ofState for Parliamentary AffairsV Muraleedharan to ensurethat ministers reply to all ZeroHour and special mentionsraised by members.

9�� #��#��1�� (�?6�

'�� %�5�0�67�

The CBI has booked NabamHari, brother of former

Arunachal Pradesh ChiefMinister Nabam Tuki, his wifeand some PWD officers foralleged corruption inGovernment contracts.

The case relates to con-tracts handed by Tuki as thePWD Minister in the State tohis relatives for “selfish gainswithout inviting tenders”,according to the FIR.

The CBI had earlier regis-tered a Preliminary Enquiry, atthe instance of the GauhatiHigh Court, into one suchwork related to construction ofa Kendriya Vidyalaya buildingin Umroi cantonment, Shillongworth �1.23 crore.

Several contracts wereallegedly given to MaryAssociate, a firm owned byTuki’s sister-in-law, NabamMary, which was maintaininga current account in the UnitedBank of India in which her hus-band Hari is one of the nomi-

nees.The contracts under CBI

probe were given between 2005and 2007.

The High Court onNovember 16, 2017 hadordered the CBI to carry outpreliminary enquiry into 11contracts followed by regularcases where prima facie evi-dence of corruption is detect-ed.

The work in the KendriyaVidyalaya building construc-tion was done in two phaseswith contract for first phase wasgiven to the company in 2005.

During the PE, the CBIfound that the work wasawarded to the company

through 25 work orders eachbelow �3 lakh totalling to�63.92 lakh. In addition, anoth-er six orders worth �5.15 lakhwere also given.

“It was found thatArunachal Pradesh PWD fol-lowed CPWD manual and doesnot have its own manual whichsays that in urgent mattersworks can be awarded withoutcall of tender if the value ofwork is below three lakh,” theCBI said.

If its above �1 lakh thework can be sanctioned bysuperintending engineer whilebelow it can be sanctioned byexecutive engineer. The PWDofficials broke a big order into

several smaller orders to avoidcall for tender, the FIR alleged.

The firm of Tuki’s sister-in-law was not registered as a civilcontractor with PWD,Arunachal Pradesh and did nothave requisite licence. It wasgiven trading licence to runbusiness of electrical goods,hardware, motor parts, lubri-cants and agri-equipment.

After successful comple-tion of the first phase, thecompany sought second phaseof tender worth �90.46 lakh forthe construction of 12 staffquarters. This work was award-ed to them in the form of 27separate orders worth �73.53lakh keeping the tab of �3 lakhto avoid tendering process.

Apart from MaryAssociate, which was a majorbeneficiary, some works werealso given to other companies,they said.

The agency also found thatMary is the owner of the com-pany and nominee of compa-ny’s current account is herhusband.

� )��0�� "��8��3��

'�� %�5�0�67��

The Enforcement Directorate(ED ) on Friday said it has

attached assets worth �209 crore,including 20 immovable prop-erties and bank deposits, in itsmoney laundering probe intothe alleged IMA group Ponziscam of Karnataka. In the ponzischeme the promoters of IMAgroup of companies dupedover 40,000 gullible Musliminvestors of an estimated �4,000crore.

The ED has provisionallyattached immovable propertiesworth �197 crore, �98 lakhfrom 51 bank accounts and �11crore from HDFC Bank held inthe Pradhan Mantri GaribKalyan Deposit Scheme underPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act, 2002 (PMLA)in a ponzi scheme case, theagency said in a statement.

Based on the FIR regis-tered June 9 under variousSections of IPC by BengaluruPolice against IMA Group ofCompanies and its ManagingDirector Mohammed MansoorKhan, the ED initiated investi-gations under PMLA.

The FIR had revealed thatthe accused entities had cheat-ed more than 40,000 middleclass and lower middle classpeople through Ponzi Schemes.It is also suspected that Khan isabsconding since the registrationof FIR.

“Investigations underPMLA revealed that the accusedcompanies and its directorshave indulged in the offence ofMoney-Laundering by cheatingcommon people through PonziSchemes and generated the pro-ceeds of crime in the form ofmovable and immovable prop-erties,” the ED said, adding adedicated team was constitutedto investigate the case.

The ED probe revealed thatKhan had promised return oninvestment ranging from 2.5 to

3 per cent per month to all theinvestors. Investigations furtherrevealed that the IMA Groupwas not doing any business topay the promised monthlyreturn on the investments madeby public and that Khan wasrunning a ponzi scheme andthey were all working on hisinstructions.

So far, 20 immovable prop-erties held in the name ofMohammed Mansoor Khanand his entities have been iden-tified as proceeds of crime. Thevaluation of the 20 immovableproperties is about �197 crore asevaluated by the approvedGovernment valuers.

On analysis of 105 bankaccounts with various privatebanks and Co-operativeSocieties of IMA Group of com-

panies, it is revealed that Khanhad received about �4,000 croreas investments.

“The accused and his asso-ciates have diverted the amountin various accounts and acquiredvarious immovable and movableproperties in his name, in thename of the other Directors andassociates. Investigation done sofar has identified 20 immovableproperties and 105 bankaccounts. Balance available inthese bank accounts is around�12 crore,” the agency said.

The ED probe has alsorevealed that Khan had deposit-ed cash of about �44 crore invarious bank accounts duringthe demonetization period. Asa result of action of the IncomeTax Department, IMA Grouphad paid tax of �22 crore. Theremaining amount of �11 crorewas lying in a bank which hasbeen identified during the inves-tigation.

ED is in the process of issu-ing Red Corner Notice (RCN)against absconding accusedMohammad Mansoor Khanand is also examining possibil-ity of invoking FugitiveOffenders Act.

-./��/0�12/3��1.4�

9%� �� $��,-:��)��'�� %�5�0�67�

Rising number of naxalrelated incidents in various

States, plight of ad-hoc teach-ers in universities, menacecaused by stray cattle andhuman trafficking in someborder States were some of theissues flagged by the membersin the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Drawing the attention ofthe house during the zerohour to naxal problem, RamVichar etam(BJP)claimed thatin the past few months violentincidents engineered by theNaxals had increased in somestates like Chattisgarh andJharkhand. Terming the trendas serious, he urged theGovernment to take note itadding the worst suffererswere poor tribal people. As pera report of the home ministry,only 10 districts were affectedfrom Naxal activities inChattisgarh, but now in thelast six month it has spread toalmost all districts, he said.

Roopa Ganguly(nomini-ated) sought to draw the atten-tion of the Upper House towhat she called rising numberof cases of human traffickingand illegal activities in border

states and urged the con-cerned state governments intandem with the centre toaddress them at the earliest.

The Samajwadi Party(SP)demanded compensation forpeople killed by stray cattleand insurance cover for cropsdamage caused by them.Raising the issue, party mem-ber Ravi Prakash Verma (SP)said stray cattle has become amenace in Uttar Pradesh andother northern states becauseof lack of an appropriate pol-icy. He said stray cattle wasclogging highways, damagingstanding crops and in manycases also killing/injuring peo-ple.

Prakash demanded thatfamilies of people killed by

stray cattle should be givencompensation of �5 lakh likethat given for those killed bywild animals. Further, cropdamage caused by animalsshould be covered under thePradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana.

Manoj Kumar Jha(RJD)highlighted the plight of ad-hoc teachers in universitiesacross the country. He ruedthat hundreds of ad-hoc teach-ers continue to teach for yearson paltry salaries. Jha saidteachers in private universitiesare made to sign on a higheramount but they get only�15,000-�16,000 monthly asremuneration.

In her mention, ShantaChhetri (TMC) said about 8.5

per cent of the country’s pop-ulation constitutes senior cit-izens. She suggested that theirexperience and knowledgeshould be used for the bene-fit of the country.

Another SP memberSurendra Singh Nagar high-lighted the incident ofBulandsahar in UP whereintwo Dalit women wereallegedly run over by a carafter they protested a molesta-tion attempt recently. Besidethe two women, another per-son, who was injured in theincident, died in the hospital,he said, and alleged that policewas giving protection to theaccused, a powerful person.

Sanjay Sinh(Congress)raised the issue of Kargil warveteran MohammadSanaullah, who was declared a“foreigner”, arrested and sentto detention camp in Assam.He said authorities did not actpromptly on documents pro-vided by Sanaullah regardinghis citizenship.

Stating that a fake case hasbeen registered againstSanaullah, who has also beenhonoured with the President’sMedal, Singh demanded thatresponsibility be fixed.

�� .�

� �� %�5�0�67�

The Advertising StandardsCouncil of India (ASCI)

has observed that formerIndian cricket captainMahendra Singh Dhoni’sendorsement of a prominentbrand of ‘Mastercard’ as a pay-ment gateway was misleading.

Another advertisement inwhich a well known brand’s ofrefrigerator claim of keepingvegetables fresh for up to 30days was also found mislead-ing. ASCI also observedPaisabazaar’s claim loanapproval in two minutes withthe key operative word provi-sional missing in the voiceover as misleading by ambi-guity and implication. TheASCI has investigated 206comlaints and found 114 aremisleading includingKingfisher Radler, Indulekhashampoo, Dove shampoo,Mohini Knitwears, Nestle’sbreakfast cereal NesPlusMultigrain Kokos’s.

In its order on theMastercard where Dhoni was

endorsing the brand, ASCIobserved that while the adver-tiser took a stance that theirMastercard is a payment gate-way, the visual in the TVCommercial shows a physicalcard. “It was observed thatthere was no evidence showingDhoni had done due diligenceprior to the endorsement.There was a violation of guide-lines for celebrities in adver-tising”, it added.

ASCI also observed thatthe advertisement’s onPaisabazar claim, “2 minutemein loan approval” (“LoanApproval* in 2 minutes”)regardless of the disclaimer,“…..*Provisional LoanApproval in 2 minutes”, is mis-leading as the key operativeword “provisional” is missingin the voice over itself. Theclaim, “Loan Approval in 2Minutes “with the protagonistcategorically stating “fatafatpaisa aapke account mein”,implies that the money wouldbe available in the person’saccount as quick as in twominutes, whereas the actual

fact is that the transfer ofmoney could take up to 10days. “Any normal Customer isbound to believe that the Loanwill be approved in two min-utes and amount will be cred-ited almost immediately. Theadvertisement is misleadingby ambiguity and implication,”the ASCI said.

ASCI also evaluated 157advertisements, of which 59belonged to the education sec-tor, 35 belonged to the health-care sector, five to personalcare, two to the food and bev-

erages sector and 13 were fromthe others category.

ASCI also found Nestle’sbreakfast cereal NesPlusMultigrain Kokos’s advertise-ment misleading by omissionand ambiguity as its claimthat the product remains crispyin warm milk did not mentionthe period of upto four min-utes.

ASCI also pulled upHindustan Unilever’sIndulekha and Dove Shampooadvertisements and foundthem to be misleading.“Indulekha Bringha HairCleanser is not directly bene-ficial for hair growth likeIndulekha Bringha oil. Theadvertisement called out ben-efits of Indulekha Oil and pre-sented Indulekha HairCleanser as additional product.The hair cleanser productdepicting mnemonic of hairroot identical to that shown onthe oil product pack and claim-ing ‘prevents hair fall’ wastherefore considered to bemisleading,” it said. It addedthat the disclaimer in fine

print at the back of the pack-age stating ‘hair fall due tobreakage’, was in violation ofASCI guidelines for dis-claimers.

The Dove intense repairshampoo and conditioneradvertisement claim ‘new’ wasnot substantiated for the prod-uct formulation. “The adver-tiser did not submit anyauthentic and verifiable evi-dence comparing the compo-sition of the old formulation ofDove intense repair and the re-launched version. Advertiserdid not submit physical sam-ple of the old products as well.It was concluded that the claim‘new’ was not substantiated forthe product formulation andwas misleading by implication”,it said.

ASCI noted that onlinepharmacy PharmEasy’s adver-tisement claim, ‘100 per centGenuine Medicines’ was notsubstantiated with any verifi-able supporting data such as alist of registered FDA approvedpharmacies who have tie-upswith the advertiser and how

the advertiser ensures that allmedicines supplied are 100per cent genuine.

It also noted that theadvertisement claim by AnandiAtta Chakki Pvt Ltd that onlyAtta Chakki Giving 100 percent Result in Bajri” was notsubstantiated with any marketsurvey data or with compara-tive data of the advertiser’sproduct and other Atta Chakkiproducts, to prove theirgrinder’s performance and effi-ciency in giving 100 per centresult in Bajri and how it isunique to their Atta Chakkialone. The claim is misleadingby exaggeration.

ASCI also found that theadvertisement’s claim by IASHotspot that Kerala’s biggestresidential hub for civil servicepreparation” was not substan-tiated with data to conclusive-ly prove that the residentialservices provided by the adver-tiser’s institute are the biggestin Kerala as compared to otherinstitutes offering similar facil-ities, or through an indepen-dent third-party validation.

��/�� '0�&�12'�� %�5�0�67�

The Ministry of Fisheries,Animal Husbandry and

Dairying on Friday said thatthere is no proposal to fixminimum support price (MSP)for milk in the country as it isa highly perishable product.

In a reply to the RajyaSabha, Union Minister of Statefor Fisheries, AnimalHusbandry and DairyingSanjeev Kumar Balyan saidthis Department does not reg-ulate the prices of milk in thecountry. “Prices are decided bythe cooperative and privatedairies based on cost of pro-duction,” Balyan said.

Since milk is a highly per-ishable production, there is no“proposal to fix MSP for milkin the country,” he said.

The milk production in thecountry has been rising everyyear. The output stood at Rs176.35 million tonnes during2017-18 fiscal, the Minister

added.With regard to camel milk,

the Minister, in a separatereply, said the Union govern-ment has not received a pro-posal from the StateGovernments and state dairycooperatives for setting up of adairy for camel’s milk.

However, GujaratCooperative Milk MarketingFederation (GCMMF) —which owns Amul brand — hasreceived �2.65 crore during2014-15 to 2017-18 for pur-chase of machinery and equip-ments for camel milk collec-tion, chilling and processingunder the central schemeRashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana,he said.

In another reply, theMinister said that no survey hasbeen conducted by Food Safetyand Standards Authority ofIndia (FSSAI) on purchase ofdairy products from farmers asfarmers are exempt from theprovisions of FSS Act, 2006.

New Delhi: Within a fort-night of convening of the 17thLok Sabha, the business of theHouse on Friday collapseddue to lack of quorum minutesbefore it was scheduled toend.

The issue of quorum wasraised by AAP memberBhagwant Mann during a dis-cussion on a private memberresolution regarding waterscarcity and Ken-Betwa river-linking project.

Mann raised the issue ofquorum around 5:45 pm whenJagdambika Pal (BJP) wasspeaking on the resolution.

Raising the quorum issue,Mann said he was also object-ing to absence of oppositionmembers in the House and

lesser numbers on the treasurybenches.

The presence of at least 10per cent of the total strength ofHouse or about 55 membersconstitutes the quorum.

Rajendra Agrawal, whowas in the Chair, halted theproceedings of the House andordered ringing of the quorumbell.

Following this, some MPscame to the House but not inenough numbers to completethe quorum compelling theChair to adjourn the Housearound 5 minutes ahead of thescheduled time of 6 pm.

The discussion on the res-olution moved by PushpendraSingh Chandel will continuenext week.

Earlier participating in thediscussion, Bhanu PratapSingh Verma (BJP) said farm-ers of Bundelkhand are forcedto leave farming and migrate tocities for work due to shortageof water.

Due to lack of irrigationfacility, farmers are unable todo farming despite havingtheir own land.

The Government shouldalso initiate steps for replen-ishing dams to overcome theproblems of water scarcity andpractise of ‘Anna Pratha’ in theregion, he said.

‘Anna Pratha’ refers to thepractice of farmers freeing theircows to graze in open fields intimes of scarcity of water andfodder, he said. PTI

'�� %�5�0�67�

The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs on

Friday sanctioned over 2.5 lakhmore affordable houses in 10States under the PradhanMantri Awas Yojana (Urban).

According to the MoHUA,the total number of housesbeing funded under the PMAY(U) is close to 84 lakh acrossthe country so far.

The approval was given ina meeting of the central sanc-tioning and monitoring com-mittee (CSMC) chaired byMoHUA secretary DurgaShanker Mishra.

“The flagship urban mis-sions, particularly PM AwasYojana-Urban, are#TransformingUrbanLandscape at an unprecedented pace. In

the CSMC Meeting held todaywe sanctioned over 2.5 lakhmore houses in 10 States (sic),”Mishra tweeted.

According to him, out of 84lakh houses sanctioned so far,Uttar Pradesh is the biggestbeneficiary state in the countrywith 13 lakh houses, followedby Andhra Pradesh with over12 lakh houses.

“Total number of housessanctioned now under thisvisionary Mission of Hon’blePM stands at nearly 84 lakhs.

“Out of these, UP with 13lakhs houses is the biggestbeneficiary State followed byAndhra Pradesh at 12+ lakhshouses sanctioned,” the secre-tary added in his tweet.

Earlier this week, UnionHousing and Urban AffairsMinister Hardeep Singh Pur

had said that the target of con-structing one crore housesunder the Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana (Urban) can beachieved by 2020-end, twoyears before the deadline.

The NDA government hasspent 554 per cent more in fiveyears than the UPA govern-ment had in 10 years on urbandevelopment projects, thehousing and urban affairs min-ister had also said. The PMAY(U), launched by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi inJune 2015, aims at ensuringhousing for all by 2022 by pro-viding financial assistance tobeneficiaries.

The Government has set atarget of one crore houses inurban areas across the countryover a period of seven yearsfrom 2015 to 2022.

,�%�� +�� %��3��

�!��!��&&�� !#��*+��,($��!�(�"#!#�"��!��

)�� &��0��&��1��7(�9��

New Delhi: During the Kargilconflict, the then PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayeewas reluctant to use the AirForce and refused to give itpermission to cross the Line ofControl (LoC), former Air ChiefAnil Tipnis said on Friday.

Speaking at the launch of abook titled ‘A Prime Ministerto remember— Memories of amilitary chief ’, penned by for-mer Navy chief Sushil Kumar,Tipnis recalled a meeting heand the then army chief VedMalik had with Vajpayee dur-ing the 1999 Kargil fighting.

Tipnis said Vajpayee want-ed to know from General Malikif the ground forces could dowithout the use of Air Force.

“Even before Ved Malikcould respond, I chipped in

saying the Army needs it andwe are ready. The PrimeMinister was pensive for a fewmoments and then said ‘kalsubah shuruwat kariyega(begin tomorrow morning),”Tipnis said.

He also spoke about askingfor Vajpayee’s permission tocross the LoC.

“In a voice firmer than Ihad ever heard... (Vajpayeesaid) ‘No, we will not cross theLine of Control’,” Tipnis said.

He said the Indian AirForce was ready to join theArmy in the operation at ashort notice of six hours.

Admiral (Retd.) SushilKumar, who was navy chief atthe time of Kargil conflict, saidVajpayee turned a “strategicloss” to a massive victory. PTI

4 +� ��2&5��,�1��'� '��

New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will returnwith his monthly radio broad-cast ‘Mann ki Baat’ from June30.

On February 24, daysbefore the Lok Sabha electionswere announced, he had sus-pended his monthly broadcastfor March and April.

Confident of his return,Modi had said he will be backwith the programme on thelast Sunday of May.

The BJP-led NDAreturned to power with a mas-sive mandate and Modi wassworn in as the prime minis-ter on May 30.

In his first term, Modihad addressed the nation on 53occasions through his month-ly broadcast after coming topower in 2014. While discon-tinuing the programme, Modihad said he was doing so keep-ing in mind healthy democra-tic traditions. PTI

�0��4��4�%7"��#�:0��7�=��;�&��1��$

��5�� !"#�!$%"

Chennai: A host of measuressuch as rainwater harvestingand increasing the number oftrips by tankers have been takento mitigate the water crisis in thecity, Tamil Nadu Minister SPVelumani said on Friday.

From around 9,000 trips,the number has gone upto11,360 trips every day, therural and municipal adminis-tration minister said, adding "itwas never done before."

"We have noticed a largenumber of people queuing upnear water tankers to fetchwater for nearly four hours.

We have ordered increas-

ing the number of pipes (out-lets) from tankers from one ortwo to five," Velumani toldreporters.

Similarly, steps have beentaken to hastenthe process offilling water tankers at the fill-ing stations.

On bringing water fromJolarpettai from neighbouringVellore district, the ministersaid it would happen in anoth-er two weeks.

The Minister also said ateam of officials has beendeployed to strengthen rainwater harvesting in parts of thecity. PTI

Chennai: Spiking speculationsthat former Prime MinisterManmohan Singh might befielded from Tamil Nadu to theRajya Sabha, sources in theDMK and Congress on Fridaysaid such a proposal was notbeing pursued.

Neither the Congress haspersuaded DMK nor was itpossible for the regional ally toallot a seat now in view of itscommitments, the sources said.

Leaders from both theDMK and Congress sought todub as 'media creation' reportsthat Congress was pressing forthe Rajya Sabha seat for Singh,whose term in the Upper Houseof Parliament ended recently.

Beinnial elections to sixRajya Sabha seats from TamilNadu are to be held on July 18and going by the respectivestrength of parties, the rulingAIADMK and DMK can winthree each.

As per the prepoll arrange-ment firmed up by the DMK forthe recent Lok Sabha elections,one Rajya Sabha seat from itskitty will go to the MDMK. TheDMK would field its candidatesin the other two, sources in theM K Stalin-led party told PTI.

MDMK is likely to field its

chief Vaiko for the seat."It is a media creation," a

DMK leader said on reportsthat was Congress pressing fora Rajya Sabha seat for Singhand this view found resonancewith leaders of state Congress.

The DMK leader said theparty would like to see itsnumbers go up in Rajya Sabhato fight for Tamil Nadu's rightsand field its own nominees,adding a decision on candi-dates will be taken by Stalin.

A Congress senior saidconsidering aspects like DMK'sline on state autonomy, theDravidian party may wish toback a candidate from TamilNadu and anyway his party hasnot pressed on Singh's name.

In over three decades, hesaid he could not remembereven a single name belonging to

other states getting elected to theRajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu.

The term of office of DMK'sKanimozhi who was elected tothe Lok Sabha from Tuticorin,AIADMK's V Maitreyan, K RArjunan, T Rathinavel, RLakshmanan and CPI's D Rajawill expire on July 24 and theElection Commission earlilerthis week announced the sched-ule of poll to fill the vacancies.

Among the names doingthe rounds in the DMK for theRajya Sabha openings are thatof Dravidian outfit's tradeunion wing Labour ProgressiveFront leader P Shanmugamand former additional solicitorgeneral P Wilson.

AIADMK and DMK havethe requisite numbers to electthree members each in the234-member Assembly withtwo vacancies.

If the two parties nameonly three nominees each,there will be no contest.

The AIADMK has 123MLAs including the Speaker,the DMK 100, its allies theCongress seven, the IUMLone and Amma MakkalMunnetra Kazhagam leaderT T V Dhinakaran is an inde-pendent. PTI

Jammu: Rocked by militantattacks in the recent past,Jammu & Kashmir's Kishtwardistrict is updating the list ofultras whose whereabouts arenot known and those who arepresently in Pakistan orPakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK), police said on Friday.

The decision in this regardwas taken at a crime reviewmeeting of police sub divisionsof Kishtwar and Atholi,chaired by SeniorSuperintendent of Police,Kishtwar, Shakti K Pathak,they said.

It said the meeting held athreadbare discussion on thepolice station wise list of mil-itants whose whereabouts arenot known and those who arepresently in Pakistan orPakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK).

"During the meeting, vari-ation was found in the list ofsuch militants maintained bythe District Police Office(DPO), Kishtwar, and policestations of the district. Inorder to update the list of suchmilitants, various instructionsand directions were imparted

among the Sub-DivisionalPolice Officers and StationHouse Officers concerned fornecessary action," the policesaid.

The district, which falls inJammu region, was rattled bythe killing of state secretary ofBJP Anil Parihar and hisbrother Ajeet Parihar onNovember 1 last year, fol-lowed by assassination ofsenior RSS leaderChanderkant Sharma and hissecurity guard inside a healthcentre on April 9.

Besides the kill ings,

Militants also snatched theservice rifle of a policeman inthe district on March 8, daysbefore police circulated pic-tures of seven wanted terror-ists and announced a cashreward and a job for anyoneproviding information lead-ing to their arrest or killing.

Inspector General ofPolice, Jammu, MK Sinharecently said at least 10 localmilitants — eight belonging toHizbul Mujahideen and twoaffiliated with Lashker-e-Toiba(LeT) — were active in the dis-trict, which also witnessed

two encounters between mili-tants and search parties inMarwah area on May 31 andKeshwan forest on June 21.

While two special policeofficers were injured in thebrief Marwah gunfight, themilitants managed their escapeafter another brief encountersin Keshwan forest, thoughone of them was believed tohave got injured.

According to police

sources, about three dozenlocal militants have crossed theLoC and are presently living inPakistan or Pakistan-occu-pied Kashmir.

The police said the meet-ing discussed all sensitive andsensational cases with SSPpersonally checking the casefiles of such cases and direct-ed the Investigation Officersconcerned for speedy dispos-al of these cases. PTI

�� *�� 3�%�5�� "��"�� (#;

�� '' ��"7�%%4�

In yet another setback to theAMMK, Thanga Tamilselvan

who recently fell out with TTVDhinakaran joined the DMK onFriday. Tamilselvan, the propa-ganda secretary of the AMMKhad contested from Theni in therecent Lok Sabha election butwas finished third behindCongress-leader EVKSElangovan, the runner up.

Tamilselvan told reportersthat he was drawn to the DMKbecause of the leadership qual-ity of M K Stalin, the party chief.“The AIADMK is controlled bythe BJP and I would not join thatparty at the expense of my self-respect. A party controlled by asingle leader alone could take itformward and provide effectiveleadership. After the death ofJayalalithaa, the AIADMK hasfallen into the hands of multipleleaders and no one is in a posi-tion to take any firm decision,”said Tamilselvan.

Till Thursday, there werereports that Tamilselvan may

join the AIADMK. But theAIADMK district unit of Theni,his hometown, unanimouslypassed a resolution asking theparty leadership not to re-admithim into the party. It is said thatthe resolution was passed at theinstance of deputy chief minis-ter O Panneerselvan with whomTamilselvan was having a run-ning feud dating back to 2016.Had Tamilselvan rejoined theAIADMK, it would have helpedchief minister Palaniswamy tocheckmate Panneerselvam inTheni. MK Stalin, president,DMK, welcomed Tamilselvan tothe DMK and gave him the pri-mary membership in the party.The entry of Tamilselvan intothe DMK is seen as a majorboost to the party which is yetto make any inroads in Thenidistrict since the exit of MGRfrom the DMK in 1972.Tamilselvan also disclosed thatmore cadre would follow himinto the DMK. He is the secondleader to join the DMK afterSenthil Balaji who too hadditched Dhinakaran and joinedthe DMK.

�� ' �� $ ��&��+��/��

Srinagar: A Pakistan-basedJaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) mil-itant was on Friday killed in anencounter with security forcesin Jammu & Kashmir'sBudgam district, police said.

On a credible input, a cor-don and search operation waslaunched by security forces inKralpora Checkpora area ofcentral Kashmir's Budgam dis-trict on Friday morning, apolice spokesperson said.

He said during the searchoperation, the militants, whowere hiding, fired on the searchparty of the forces.

The security personnelretaliated, leading to anencounter in which one mili-tant was killed, the spokesper-son said, adding the body wasretrieved from the site.

From the incriminatingmaterial recovered from the siteof the gunfight, the slain mili-tant was identified as aPakistani named Zarar whowas affiliated with proscribedoutfit JeM.

Arms and ammunitionwere also recovered from thesite of the encounter, he added.

The spokesperson saidwith efforts of police and secu-rity forces, it was a clean oper-ation and no collateral damagetook place during the exchangeof fire. PTI

��0��7��=��1��%��

�� !� � �� 8�14�

Four persons, including aneight year-old boy, were

killed and three others injuredin rain-related incidents, asMumbaikars and the people inthe neighbouring Thane dis-trict bore the brunt of monsoonthat arrived with a bang inun-dating low-lying areas and dis-rupting road, rail and air traf-fic in the metropolis and sub-urbs.

Of the killed, three persons— Rajendra Yadav (60), SanjayYadav (24) and KashimaYudiyar (60) were electrocutedin Mumbai, while a boy iden-tified as Mahender Badga (8)from Teranpada village nearVikramgad in Thane districtdied after he was struck bylightning.

In all, there were nine inci-dent short-circuits across themetropolis till the evening.Four members of a familyincluding a minor girl suf-fered electrocution at Goregaonin north Mumbai, after theycame in contact live wires inthe vicinity of their home. Ofthem, two died while theywere treated at a local hospital,two others are undergoingtreatment at the same hospital.

Three persons wereinjured, when a wall collapsedat Dadar (East) in north-cen-tral Mumbai. The injured wereadmitted to KMC Hospital. A

female school student and hermother fell into a swollen gut-ter at Thane. However, somealert citizens rescued the moth-er and daughter from beingswept away in the flood waters.

The monsoon — whicharrived in the metropolis andneighbouring areas 20 daysbehind the schedule — madeits presence felt, as heavy rainslashed incessantly since thesmall hours of Friday.

Mumbai received 53 mm of

rains between 8 am and 1 pm,while the eastern and westernsuburbs recorded 92 mm and77 mm rainfall respectively.

Several low-lying areas ofDadar, Sion, Andheri (Eastand West), Bhandup, Kurla(west), Mazgaon, Sewree,Chembur, Khar, Kanjurmarg,Tardeo, Barve Nagar,Ghatkopkar (west), and placeslike Milan and Andheri sub-ways, Andheri metro station,Bhandup village road and

Nalasopara lay under thicksheets of water.

The lifelines of the city —the Central Railway, WesternRailway main and harbourline, Eastern and WesternExpress highways – were affect-ed due to intense water-loggingat several places.

Owing to inundation ofrailway tracks at several places,suburban trains on both the CRand WR ran 15 to 45 minutesbehind the schedule, throwing

haywire the schedules of themillions of office goers.

Lakhs of vehicles crawledon roads across the metropo-lis due to huge traffic snarlstriggered by inundation.Andheri and Milan subwaysremained shut because offlooding. Some vehicles werestranded inside. Traffic con-gestion was reported from bothEastern and Western ExpressHighways.

Tree falls were reported

from at least half a dozen placesin the city. The BMC-run BESTbuses run on route nos 1, 4, 5,6, 7, 8, 11, 21 were divertedthrough Hindmata Bridge dueto water-logging at Hindmatacinema in Dadar, while Sewree-bound were diverted throughSharda talkies. Similarly, buseswith route nos 25, 22, 302, 305and 213 were diverted throughmain road due to water-loggingat Sion road no 24.

There were 15 to 20 min-utes in the arrivals and depar-tures of flights at the city air-ports because of the poor vis-ibility. However, flight opera-tions remained largely unaf-fected

Meanwhile, RegionalMeteorological Centre, Mumbai,has forecast heavy to very heavyrains in the city and heavy rainsat isolated places in the suburbsfor the next 24 hours.

Skymet Weather has pre-dicted heavy rains inMaharashtra in the next 24hours. “Heavy to very heavyrains are likely along theMaharashtra Coast includingMumbai, Thane, Ratnagiri andadjoining areas in the next 24 to36 hours,” a Skymet Weatherforecast said.

Mumnaikars heaved a sighof relief as the temperaturescame down to a comfortableminimum of 24 degree C anda bearable maximum of 30degree C since the morning.

6�%��7��

+��" �� "$ '�� *��$ ��"�� (� ��&�� '� !()

+)� �� &&�� "��"��

'�� %�5�0�67�

Apanel headed by notedfilm director Shyam

Benegal has recommended thatthere should be no system ofimposing excisions, modifica-tions and changes to a movieand the CBFC should functionpurely as a certification body,the government informed LokSabha on Friday.

In a written reply to aquestion in Lok Sabha byCongress leader ShashiTharoor on the need to removethe pre-censorship powers ofthe Central Board of FilmCertification (CBFC),Information and BroadcastingMinister Prakash Javadekarsaid the Committee of Experts,constituted under Benegal, sub-mitted the first part of itsreport in April 2016 and thefinal part in June 2016.

The report submitted byCommittee of Experts wasexamined clause-wise in the

ministry, he said. “TheCommittee of Experts has,inter-alia, recommended thatthere should be no system ofimposing excisions, modifica-tions and changes to a film andthat the CBFC functions pure-ly as a certification body,” theminister said.

“The committee has rec-ommended new categories ofcertification, viz. UA12+,UA15+, and AC (Adult withcaution) and suggested that thescope of CBFC should largelyonly be to decide what catego-ry of audiences can watch aparticular film, unless the filmviolates provisions of Section5B(2) of the CinematographAct, 1952, or exceed the limi-tations defined in the highestcategory of certification rec-ommended by the committee,”he said. Majority of the rec-ommendations contained inthe report require amendmentin the Cinematograph Act andRules, Javadekar said.

It was felt that implemen-tation of the recommenda-tions, especially those requiringimportant amendments in theAct or Rules, be done after fur-ther consultations, he said. Aconsultation meeting betweenthe then Minister ofInformation and Broadcasting,Minister of Law and Justice,Minister of Finance andMinister of Human ResourcesDevelopment was held onMarch 16, 2017, to deliberateon the issue of repeal oramendment of theCinematograph Act, Javadekarsaid.

Another round of consul-tation in this regard by the thenminister with the chief minis-ter of Maharashtra and the rep-resentatives of film industrieswas held on June 6, 2017 atMumbai, he said. However,due to intricate complexitiesinvolved in the matter no deci-sion has been taken by the gov-ernment, Javadekar said.

( ��1851��

New Delhi (PTI): In a first-of-its-kind initiative, a Jet AirwaysEmployee Consortium and AdiGroup Friday announced a part-nership to bid for 75 per cent of the airline through the NCLTprocess, members of the consortium said. The debt-laden com-pany became the first domestic airliner to go into bankruptcyafter the Mumbai Bench of the National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) admitted an insolvency petition filed by theSBI on behalf of 26 lenders on June 20.

The airline owes Rs 8,500 crore to banks and around Rs 25,000crore in arrears to vendors, lessors and employees. “Jet AirwaysEmployee Consortium and AdiGroup are delighted to announcetheir partnership to bid for acquisition of 75 per cent of Jet Airwaysthrough NCLT process. “This is a new dawn in the history of IndiaAviation of operating an airline through Employee Initiative pro-gramme where every single employee of Jet Airways will becomean owner of the airline. “It truly embodies prime minister’s dream‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishwas’, a joint statement fromthe consortium and the AdiGroup said. At a press conference hereCapt. Ashwani Tyagi, Commander Boeing 777, General Secretary-Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots, and one of Jet’s senior-mostpilots who has been with the airline for 18 years said the airlineswas like a family to him and it was “challenging yet exciting jour-ney to revive Jet Airways.”

.#$��$��%�� &� #��4��&��1�� (�)9+��'�� %�5�0�67�

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has directed the

Uttar Pradesh government toinform it about the delay inconstitution of a shrine boardfor three temples in the pil-grimage town of Govardhan inMathura district. A vacationbench, headed by JusticeRaghuvendra S Rathore, askedAdditional Chief Secretary ofthe state A K Awasthi to file anaffidavit and give details withrespect to the steps taken so far

for the constitution of a shrineboard for temples Jatipura,Dhanghati and Mansi Ganga.

The tribunal said constitu-tion of a shrine board wouldsolve many problems like prop-er supervision and manage-ment of the temple, includinghygiene, and prevent pollutionof the environment, cleaning ofthe area, among others. “Aproper supervision of the tem-ple under a legislation wouldprovide funds by which devel-opment work of the temple aswell as of the area would be

done.“Therefore, keeping in

view the present condition ofthe temples in Govardhan townwhere there has been grossencroachment on forest land,large scale illegal constructionon Giriraj Parvat itself andunsystematic drainage system,milk, which is being offered tothe deity is left in open places,needs to be connected throughproper drainage system,” thebench said. The secretary hadearlier told the NGT that con-struction of the entire ring

road stretching 10.4 km wouldbe completed by October 31.

Noting lack of sufficienttraffic police, the green panelhad directed the state govern-ment to take up the matterurgently and provide requisiteforce. It had also directed thesub-divisional magistrate(SDM) and other authoritiesconcerned to ensure that noconstruction is raised in thearea where it is prohibited.

The tribunal had directedNGO Muskan Jyoti Samiti toensure collection, segregation

and dumping of municipalsolid waste as per the rules. TheNGT had directed the districtmagistrate (DM) and theMathura VrindavanDevelopment Authority not toallow any private parking andsaid police should ensure thatno such parkings are in exis-tence. It had also directed theCentral Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB)and the statepollution control board tojointly monitor the water qual-ity of all the “kunds” and sub-mit the report by February 28.

��*��"�$ �21��$��!�� 1��*��9��4��&��@,A��&��

��+�=�14�$�&��1��22��7�� '�� %�5�0�67�

Continuing the trend of thepast six years, top rank

holders of Joint EntranceExamination (JEE)-Advancedhave chosen Indian Institute ofTechnology, Bombay overother equally prestigious IITs.Out of the top 100 students, 64chose IIT-B in the recentlyconcluded counselling. Thesecond choice was IIT-Delhiwith 33 of the top rankers opt-ing for it.

IIT-Madras, which hasbeen ranked at top by theHRD Ministry in the National

Institutional RankingFramework (NIRF), has beenchosen by only one studentfiguring among top 100.

“Last year, out of top 50, asmany as 47 opted for IIT-Bombay and rest three optedfor IIT-Delhi. Among top 100rank holders in JEE Advanced2018, a total of 59 out of top100 opted for IIT-Bombay, 30for IIT-Delhi and six for IIT-Madras. “This year, however,IIT-Madras has followed fur-ther with only one taker in top100, despite the climb in NIRFranking,” a senior official ofIIT Bombay said.

�� D��;�"��>�%��'�� 172;46

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has said he hadoffered to resign from the post of state Congress president

after the party’s debacle in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elec-tions.

His remarks come in the backdrop of reports that Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi had expressed disappointment that noneof the party leaders, holding top posts, took responsibility forthe party’s poll rout after the Gandhi scion decided to resign lastmonth. Rahul has been adamant on stepping down as theCongress chief.

Nath said he takes responsibility for the party’s poor per-formance in Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress bagged justone out of the 29 Lok Sabha seats.

�� !"#�!$%"��"��6

'�� 234)4

Prime Minister NarendraModi held a trilateral meet-

ing with Chinese President XiJinping and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin here on Fridayand discussed global hot-spotissues, especially terrorism andclimate change. Modi, who is inOsaka, Japan for the G20Summit, hosted Xi and Putinfor an informal RIC (Russia-India-China) meeting here.

In his opening remarks,Prime Minister Modi said thatthe trilateral meeting in Osakais a useful medium of discus-sion and coordination on majorglobal issues.

After a long time, the threeleaders met in Argentina at thesummit level last year.

“As the world’s leadingeconomies, the exchange ofviews between us, on the eco-nomic, political and securitysituation of the world, is impor-tant. Our trilateral meetingtoday is a useful medium ofdiscussion and coordination onmajor global issues.

“During the meeting ofour foreign ministers in Chinain February, views were dis-cussed on many issues. Theseinclude cooperation on issuesof counter-terrorism, interna-tional hot-spot, reformed mul-tilateralism, climate changeunder RIC,” Modi said.

“The RIC meeting was an

excellent forum to discuss waysto enhance multilateral coop-eration between our nationsand work to mitigate chal-lenges being faced by our plan-et, most notably terrorism andclimate change,” the primeminister tweeted later.

“Together addressing glob-al challenges. PM @naren-dramodi hosted RussianPresident Putin & ChinesePresident Xi for an informal

‘RIC’ meeting in Osaka.Discussed counter-terrorism,international hot-spot issues,reformed multilateralism & cli-mate change,” Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokespersonRaveesh Kumar tweeted earlier.

The three countries, in ajoint communique of the 16thMeeting of the ForeignMinisters of Russia, India andChina, strongly condemnedterrorism in all its forms and

manifestations.In February, China and

Russia agreed for a closer pol-icy coordination to eradicatethe “breeding grounds of ter-rorism”, in a significant gain forIndia in its push to isolatePakistan internationally on theissue of terrorism post-Pulwama attack in which 40CRPF personnel were killed bya suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.

!��"��" �� "�$��<�3�!��/� %� � �#��6 �� 7�� 1��%��1��%#��

!��# �� $�� !��=" ��!�� !��<��>�� "��$�� 3�)�� ?�)�@3��"��,-��3��.� � ��&�� ' !()

From Page 1India has raised tariffs on

28 items, including almond,pulses and walnut, exportedfrom the US in retaliation toAmerica’s withdrawal of pref-erential access for Indian prod-ucts.

President Trump termi-nated India’s designation as abeneficiary developing nationunder the key GSP trade pro-gramme from June 5 afterdetermining that New Delhihas not assured the US that itwill provide “equitable andreasonable access” to its mar-kets.

The Generalized Systemof Preference (GSP) is thelargest and oldest US tradepreference programme and isdesigned to promote econom-ic development by allowingduty-free entry for thousandsof products from designatedbeneficiary countries.

The Trump administra-

tion wants India to lower thetrade barriers and embrace“fair and reciprocal” trade.

Trump has also criticisedIndia’s high import tariff on theiconic Harley-Davidson motor-cycles as “unacceptable”.

Last February, Indiaslashed the customs duty onimported motorcycles likeHarley-Davidson to 50 percent after Trump called it“unfair” and threatened toincrease the tariff on import ofIndian bikes to the US.

The Government on June21 last year decided to imposethese duties in retaliation to theUS decision of significantlyhiking customs duties on cer-tain steel and aluminium prod-ucts.

America, in March lastyear, imposed 25 per cent tar-iff on steel and a 10 per centimport duty on aluminiumproducts.

Many US companies like

Google, Mastercard, Visa andAmazon have raised concernsover the issue of data localisa-tion and its impact on theiroperational cost.

In April last year, theReserve Bank of India issued adirective on ‘Storage ofPayment System Data’. It hadadvised all system providers toensure that within a period ofsix months, the entire datarelating to payment systemsoperated by them is stored ina system only in India, foreffective monitoring.

India has also dragged theUS to the World TradeOrganisation’s dispute settle-ment mechanism over theimposition of import duties onsteel and aluminium.

India’s exports to the US in2017-18 stood at USD 47.9 bil-lion, while imports were atUSD 26.7 billion.

The trade balance is infavour of India.

2�� *��$��

From Page 1He said out of 2,000 police per-

sonnel deployed for personal securityin Kashmir, 919 have been removed.Shah said security privileges wereaccorded to outfits like JKLF, Jammat-e-Islami and others who are part of the‘Tukde-Tukde gang’ supporting“Azadi”. Shah said people speak againstIndia in J&K to get security cover. Infact, he said, people who speak for Indiaface the real threat. Responding to AllIndia Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeenleader and Hyderabad MP AsaduddinOwaisi’s query on Article 370, theHome Minster said, “Article 370 is tem-porary and not permanent, you know…with the consent of Sheikh Abdullah.”

Lashing out at the Congress andfirst PM Nehru, he said one-third ofJ&K is not with India. “Who is respon-sible?,” he asked drawing a sharp reac-tion from Congress members. TheHouse witnessed disruptions over Shah

naming Nehru. He said Nehru did nottake Sardar Ballabhbhai Patel in con-fidence while announcing ceasefirewhen Indian forces had advanced intooccupied Kashmir combating the‘Kabayali raid’ by Pakistan in 1948. Hesaid barring Kashmir all princely Stateswere integrated into the country byPatel’s initiative. “Ek Bhool” of Nehruhas cost country dear, he claimed.Continuing his attack on theOpposition party, he said so far Article356 (President’s Rule) was imposed 132times of which the Congress used it 93times to dismiss State Governments.

#�#�4��1� )�#��&��BBB

From Page 1Differences in the Congress

had surfaced before the LokSabha polls, as a section of lead-ers including Chacko and for-mer Delhi Congress presidentAjay Maken batted for alliancewith the AAP to defeat the BJP.

Rahul Gandhi furtherappointed Mohan Markam ashead of the party’s Chhattisgarhunit, replacing Chief MinisterBhupesh Baghel. Significantly,the AICC press statement nam-ing Markam as theChhattisgarh Pradesh CongressCommittee chief said“Congress president hasappointed” instead of the“AICC” that was being used inparty statements effectingorganisational changes sinceRahul Gandhi’s decision toquit as party head.

The appointment assumessignificance as it comes amiduncertainty over Rahul con-tinuing as Congress president.

!��&&�%�64�� >��1� �BBB

� ! ��!'� �� )26)4 4

Mamata Banerjee has askedthe Trinamool Congress

leaders to go back to the basicsto get back to the winningways. Rolling out a list of “dosand don’ts” for the party work-ers the Chief Minister hasasked them to bolster connectwith the masses, reduce depen-dency on the police adminis-tration, stop internal bickering,follow a simple lifestyle, andcomplete the pending govern-ment projects.

In a meeting with partyleaders the TMC supremo onFriday said that they will haveto “reduce your dependence onthe police administration andbolster your contact with themasses instead.”

When the TMC started itsjourney after breaking awayfrom the Congress in 1998 “wesolely depended on public sup-

port that came from relentlesspolitical movements and therewas no police to back us. Wewill have to go back to what wedid before coming to power,”Banerjee told party leaders.

In a curious development,the Friday’s meeting was close-ly observed by election strate-gist Prashant Kishore withwhom the TMC has reported-ly struck a deal for the 2021Assembly elections. Kishorereportedly watched the pro-ceedings from a corner and

would not utter a single sug-gestion.

“There are reports that oneof the main causes for thereverses we suffered in theelections was arrogance of theleaders which definitely camefrom loss of connect with themasses and most importantlyinfighting,” Banerjee report-edly told in the meeting direct-ing the leaders “in no uncertainterms such conduct will not beallowed. You must stop infight-ing, go back to the people anddo their work.”

For the first time since herparty roared to power with athumping majority in 2011 theTMC suffered massive revers-es at the hands of the BJP in therecently concluded parliamen-tary elections when the rulingparty won 22 seats while theBJP which traditionally enjoyedanywhere between 4 and 8percent votes got 18 seats. The

remaining two seats went to theCongress.

Banerjee also directed herparty men to complete thepending government projectsand “go back to the people notas leaders but as their well-wishers.” She said “make a listof incomplete projects likebridges, roads, drains, watersupply etc and complete them.”

Telling the party men thatno infighting would be toler-ated in the party the ChiefMinister also asked the leadersto approach the TMC oldtimers who had been side-lined or who were sitting idleso as to bring them back to themain stream.

“Watch out for those localleaders who have been side-lined or who have out of dis-gruntlement sitting out andbring them back to the mani-fold and enlist their services,the Chief Minister said.

�� %��8�� $��

'�� )26)4 4

Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Friday

clarified her Government’sstance on the controversial“dining hall” issue saying theorder to construct dining hallsin minority-dominated gov-ernment schools was an old cir-cular which had been with-drawn since.

The ruling TrinamoolCongress ran into a politicalfirestorm following reports thatthe Bengal government hadissued a circular to constructdining halls in schools wheremore than 70 percent of thestudents came from the minor-ity community.

Even as Bengal BJP presi-dent and MP Dilip Ghoshattacked Banerjee on theTwitter questioning the motivebehind the discriminatorymove, she told reports in theAssembly that the order hadbeen revoked and that someofficer had erringly dredged thedead issue up. The ChiefMinister would not howeverprovide details of when theorder was issued and when itwas revoked.

Ghosh however referredto an order issued by a gov-ernment officer fromCoochbehar. The June 25 orderapparently directed the schoolinspector to furnish details ofschools with more than 70

percent minority students.“This is for sending a propos-al to the aforesaid departmentfor construction of dining hallfor mid-day meal in schools,”the order said.

Even as Ghosh askeduncomfortable questions won-dering why same facilitiescould not be given to theHindu students and why thereshould any discrimination bemade at all in the name of reli-gion the Chief Minister hur-riedly intervened saying theorder was an old one and hadbeen withdrawn by the gov-ernment.

She told reporters, “this isan old circular which hasalready been withdrawn. Ithink some errant officerdredged out an old circular andissued it without the govern-ment’s knowledge,” adding thedecision was however in linewith a “government of India

guideline” form minority devel-opment. Replying to pointedquestions the Chief Ministersaid the order was never madeto discriminate between com-munities. State Minority AffairsMinister Giasuddin Mollahhowever could not rememberwhether the circular was at allwithdrawn. Apparently puttingfuel to the controversy he saidthe move was non-discrimina-tory and would help all thecommunities alike.

Sources in the Departmentsaid the move was part of theGovernment’s plan to spend Rs200 crore for minority devel-opment.

Suffering a massive alien-ation from the Hindu votebase allegedly for herGovernment’s policy of minor-ity appeasement the TMC hadlost a whopping 12 parliamen-tary seats in the recently con-cluded general elections.

0�1��%��&�� =�� 7 ��#��

'�� /74E�4140

Three children drowned in a pondformed by sewage behind a hous-

ing society at Banthla in Loni here,police said Friday.

The children, identif ied asAbhishek (9), Altamash (8) andAkram (11) of Ambedkar colony, hadgone missing since Thursday nightand their bodies were recovered onFriday, they said. While the familymembers found the bodies of two ofthe boys floating, the body of thirdchild was fished out by a team of theNational Disaster Response Force(NDRF).

The pond was located behindBharat group housing society.

Upon getting information aboutthe incident, a police team reached thespot and summoned an NDRF teamto rescue the third child.

The child was fished out after amarathon exercise, Superintendent ofPolice (Rural) Neeraj Kumar Jadaunsaid. The Loni police has received acomplaint in which family membersof the deceased children have allegedthat due the negligence of the builderconcerned, the pond came into exis-tence as the society’s sewer and wastewater had accumulated in it, the SPsaid. An FIR will be lodged under rel-evant sections of the law. An inquirywill be conducted and the report willbe sent to the district magistrate,Jadaun said.

+#��7�� "��,�#�;��-�,<��-��+#*-=��#$�*.�-��.2+*�;%%,�"*�$#=�.#�$�-�#-�-��=��#>��-%�?*�$2/��=%2*$�+�,$�,/��%,�-��+%��/�#$;�,�.-*#-�%,�#,$�4%�.-�*=%2*�/%,-#/-��-��-��;#..�.��,.-�#$3@

� '� ��!�� %�5�0�67�

The New Delhi MunicipalCouncil (NDMC) will start

experimenting with the plan torestrict entry of cars in theinner circle of ConnaughtPlace (CP) on Sunday andMonday on pilot basis.

While the council hasclaimed that before launchingthe experiment, traders havebeen taken into confidenceand a fresh plan was also dis-cussed, however, traders allegedthat civic body is adopting adifferent plan than what tradershad agreed upon.

CP traders had told thecouncil that the plan will impacttheir business. “A meeting washeld between council officialsand traffic commissioner for

smooth operations during theexperiment launch of the plan,”said NDMC official.

The mock drill will startfrom 7:30 am on Saturday inCP — the iconic market whichis a hub of pubs, eateries,restaurants and shops wherepeople go out to spend goodtime especially in weekends. .

“Seven radials are openedand six wardens will bedeployed to facilitate visitors.These wardens will be there toupdate visitors to reach park-ing destinations,” council offi-cial said. Apart from this, direc-tion signage and parking des-tinations are also available forthe visitors,” said the official.

While the plan is preparedby three agencies comprisingemployees of enforcement

agency, local police and trafficpolice, personnel of these agen-cies will be deployed at all sevenradials. Pick and drop facilitiesare also available for senior cit-izens and disabled persons atHaldi Ram, State Entry Raodand Palika Bazar and singleland parking in the middle cir-cle is closed.

Traders had raised objec-tion to the plan following whichthe NDMC had tweaked its ear-lier plan, which was to make theinner circle completely car-free, to focus on pedestrianis-ing the blocks but giving accessto all parking lots in the innerand outer circles to car users.

“They are now adopting adifferent plan than what wasagreed upon in the previousmeeting.

1(�� -��

%�5�� $��"��(#�� * "'�� "7�%%4�

The DMK will not go ahead with a resolu-tion it had moved nearly two months ago

seeking the removal of Tamil Nadu AssemblySpeaker P Dhanapal from his post, party chiefMK Stalin said on Friday. “Today, we havesubmitted a letter to the Speaker that we willnot press the resolution (seeking his removal),”he told reporters at the secretariat.

The DMK had on April 30 submitted amotion seeking the speaker’s removal as he hadsent notices to three AIADMK MLAs for sid-ing with rival leader and AMMK founder TT V Dhinakaran. “A stand was taken to seekhis (Dhanapal’s) removal based on the cir-cumstances at that point of time. The party,however, now feels that the motion was notwarranted, Stalin said on the opening day ofthe Assembly session here. The DMK had sub-mitted the motion against the Speaker whenbypolls to 18 Assembly seats had just con-cluded (on April 18) and by-elections to fourmore constituencies were scheduled on May19. The principal opposition party, which hadall along claimed that it would win bypolls toall the 22 Assembly segments and capturepower, alleged the notices to the threeAIADMK MLAs by the speaker were anattempt to alter majority in the House appar-ently in favour of the party in power.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami had won-dered why the DMK preferred a motion seek-ing Speaker’s removal if it was confident ofwinning all the 22 Assembly seats.

Dhanapal had sent notices to A Prabhu (ofKallakurichi), V T Kalaiselvan(Vriddhachalam) and E Rathinasabapathy(Aranthangi), following a petition by ChiefGovernment whip S Rajendran seeking “duelegal action” against the three MLAs. The leg-islators approached the Supreme Court whichstayed the move.

In a resolution proposing the Speaker’sremoval, Stalin had said Dhanapal issuingnotices was tantamount to “altering the major-ity” position in the Assembly.

By winning nine of the 22 Assembly seatsin the bypolls, the AIADMK now has amajority in the House notwithstanding thestand of the three MLAs vis-a-vis their sup-port to the government. The DMK’s latestmove is seen as an endorsement of thechanged political scenario after the Assemblybypolls which has given the AIADMK a clearmajority in the House.

/�� .2�� -�� '�� %�5�0�67�

The government is working onintroducing the formula of

“One nation, one card” wherebythe poor can get ration throughration cards anywhere in thecountry, Food Minister RamVilas Paswan informed the RajyaSabha on Friday. The ministersaid food subsidy by the gov-ernment has touched �1,45,000crore and wheat at �2 per kg andrice at �3 per kg are provided tothe poor under the scheme.

The minister said there areno changes initiated in thescheme despite high cost offood procurement and there isno leakage in the scheme as thesame is distributed to the poorin coordination with the stategovernment. “There are nochanges made in the scheme inthe last five years and wheat, riceand other food items are pro-vided to the poor through rationcards at subsidised rates.

“The government is workingon implementing ‘one nation,one card formula’, whereby anypoor person can travel acrossand can take their ration fromanywhere in the country,”Paswan told the House. Theminister said states provide thedemand and the Centre providesfoodgrains under the food sub-sidy scheme through rationcards at PDS depots across thecountry.

Avery serious legal and environ-mental hazard is looming largeover India. It is the illegal andhazardous planting of HerbicideTolerance (HT) Bt Cotton in the

fields of Akola, Maharashtra. An alarmedCentral Government, the GeneticEngineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)and the State Government issued severalnotifications and inquiries. Meanwhile, awell-funded Non-GovernmentalOrganisation (NGO) has been using thefarmers as scapegoat to push an unapprovedGenetically Modified (GM) variety of cot-ton on India’s farms and biodiversity.

The NGO has unabashedly called thisplanting as “civil disobedience or satyagra-ha” against the Government. Its satyagrahais a euphemism for illegality and irre-versible toxic contamination that threatensto undermine thousands of years of farm-ers’ hard work. Like a tyrant, it believes itknows what is right for the farmers. Not onlyis the NGO infringing upon a number ofrules but is also threatening the sovereign-ty of the Government besides sabotaging thelivelihoods of thousands of farmers involvedin the Indian cotton seed sector.

BT HT mystery history: The HT Btstory dates back to 2008 when trait devel-oper, Monsanto (now Bayer), through itsIndian subsidy, Mahyco, imported GM-Bollgard II cotton seeds with HT trait(known as event MON 88913) calledRoundup Ready Flex (RRF). Roundup isa glyphosate-based herbicide (glyphosate+ formulants) and is also known as a car-cinogenic. The World Health Organisation(WHO), along with independent scientistsand courts, confirmed its toxicity alongwith the presence of banned heavy metalssuch as arsenic among others. The RRFvarieties are tolerant to Round-upHerbicide, which means once Round-up issprayed in the field, all other plants will dieexcept the RRF varieties.

The GEAC gave Mahyco approvals toconduct large-scale field trials in Punjab,Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka andTamil Nadu. Within three months of theapprovals, GEAC confirmed that HT traithad escaped into the environment. Reportsof illegal HT cotton seeds being sold underthe trade name of Weed Card in Gujaratwere also confirmed.

The United States Department ofAgriculture (USDA) lays down specificinstructions for the prevention of contam-ination, but these limits were discarded byMahyco and seed breeders around its seedproduction area.

Once the trait escaped, it began conta-minating seeds in the cotton belts. HT traitshave not been approved for cultivation byour country. Once enough time had passedon July 5, 2016, Mahyco withdrew its appli-cation from the GEAC of the ongoing HT-BG2 cotton bio-safety trails after eightyears of open field cultivation. In September,

2017, we heard that HT cottonwas being planted illegally andabout five to 10 per cent of thecotton was of illegal variety.The National Seed Associationof India (NSAI) wrote to theGovernment, alerting it of thesituation and various commit-tees were formed on the instruc-tion of the Prime Minister’sOffice. This is not only an issueof the field but also of our foodsystem as with growingdemands for cottonseed oil inIndia, this toxin is entering thecountry’s bloodstream. TheGovernment was quick to actand it conducted raids to preventthis illegal bio-hazard to under-mine our laws. But perhapsthey missed a few corners.

What next? This illegalintroduction will also contam-inate the breeding material andparent lines of the seed compa-nies and will result in completedisruption of the cotton seedeconomy. All Indian companies,who are selling GEAC approvedBG2 cotton seeds, are the firstvictims and under the Seed Actwill be penalised for trait cont-amination. Instead of the pol-luter, the polluted have to pay. By2019, the Andhra PradeshGovernment had suspended thelicence of 13 seed companies inthe alleged presence of HT geneand Maharashtra Governmentissued show-cause notices, too.In both these States, FIRs werelodged and actions are being

taken against licensed seed com-panies. It is important to knowthat only one or two lots, out ofthe several lots tested, werefound contaminated with HTgene. While illegal HT seedbreeders continue to contami-nate and sell HT Bt cotton,licensed Indian companies aremade scapegoats and harassed.They were victims, not culprits.

A report by the FieldInspection and ScientificEvaluation Committee (FISEC)found that, “the 14 illegal hybridscollected can be grouped intotwo major groups, indicatingvery narrow genetic basesreflecting organised base activ-ity by a couple of companies.”Further, it stated that studieshave also ruled out the involve-ment of smuggling of seeds…asgenotypes found were native inIndia.” This proves the inno-cence of the Indian seed sectorand clearly points towards the“couple of companies” involvedin this.

It is the responsibility of theapplicant Mahyco, trait develop-er Monsanto/Bayer and GEACto prevent any escape of HTgene into the environment and,hence, cases against Indian seedcompanies for HT contamina-tion should be redirectedtowards the real culprits, whostand to profit from this.

In fact, any deliberate plantbreeding activities with unap-proved HT trait by fly-by-night

operators and unscrupulousplayers need to be investigatedand strict penal action should betaken. There should be a strictinquiry on how this trait wasleaked into India.

To take this further, thesampling procedures, testingprotocols and tolerance limits forinterpretation of test resultsneed to be published by GEACand other departments of theGovernment to prevent anywrong test results, and if thereare any false results, they shouldbe dealt sternly.

The Government shouldamend the laws to ensure rightsof contaminated seed companiesare protected and they get fairtreatment. While on the otherhand, a strict task force of seedsinspectors and experts shouldtake the help of farmers to iden-tify polluters and hoarders of thisbio-hazardous HT Bt seed.

This grave environmentalthreat needs to be jointlyaddressed by all stakeholdersand illegal cultivation of HT cot-ton should be immediatelystopped. There ought to becomplete ban on Round-Upand all glyphosate-based herbi-cides. The motivation to useRRF-BG2 cotton is for killingweeds in cotton crops byRoundup (a Monsanto/Bayerpatent product) as RRF-BG2trait will produce herbicide tol-erant plants. This directlyincreases profits of

Monsanto/Bayer while toxicresidues from the herbicide willmake Indian cotton belts a toxicwasteland, plagued by deformedIndian children and cancer.

When it comes to the issueof illegal planting of RRF BG2cotton, it is in violation of theIndian law and not about tech-nology. Laws should be upheldand all legal processes should berespected by even behemothagricultural MNCs. There arestrict scientific procedures,which no NGO (and their mas-ters included), should overridebecause of their opinion.

The timing of this transgres-sion is pre-meditated and doneto challenge the Government. Ihope Prime Minister NarendraModi will give a befitting replyto the people who don’t respectIndian laws and put corporateprofits before the country. Thisis New India and ifMonsanto/Bayer can respect thelaws of the US, France andBritain, why not here? We standwith the farmers of Akola, theIndian Government and fortechnology, not for illegalityand crime that expose millionsof Indians for the profit of a few.India has to be very carefulbefore its mega cotton seed sec-tor crumbles because of pro-GMvigilantism of a few bad apples.

(The writer is programmedirector for policy and outreach,National Seed Association ofIndia)

*��+��!�� ,��!

�� $�� !�� -�� +��-��%�

�� -�� !�� +��%��!�� %�� "�� -��%��"�� !�� .��/��!$�� !�� #��*�� %�� "��-�� -��0�� 1��!�� 2�� !�� "� �� -��#��2��(��3�� '��(��-��

1�� 1��4��+��-�� *��!��1��$�� !��!�� (�� .��-��#��$��!��!��-��#�� $��5��#��(��6��!�7�� %��,��

5-#��)��"�� 1��

��,�� /�)��8��)�+�"��1��!��1�� 1��

��5-��+�� -��!��!��'��5--�� -��2��#��/�)��1�� !�� (��1��#��2��/��2��,��3��$!9:��"��

;��"��%��!�� $��+��2��!�� 3��#��2��-��4��"�� <��#��(��"��%��/��2��3�� "��1��!5-�� =��%��2�� 1��%��!1�� $�� 2��"��"�5-#��=��%�� !�� ;�� !��"��8��1��!5-��>1�� ?��+��*��#��1��!��(��5-��%�� 1��5-��!�� "�� 5-�� "�2�� *��+��2�� #��2��%�,�� )��"�� 1��1��%��"��

+��1��1�%$

��

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Anatomy of hate crime” (June28) by Ajoy Kumar. It is disheart-ening that lynching incidents, likethe one happened in Jharkhandrecently, have become the newnormal. Each time such incidentsoccur, they threaten to become ablot on our country and cast usin low light in the eyes of theworld community.

The Prime Minister did wellto express his pain in theParliament but the fact remainsthat mere verbal expression maynot be enough to alter the situa-tion for the better. It is distress-ing that the Government hasfailed to take measures even afterthe Supreme Court pulled it upand asked it to put specific pre-ventive, punitive and remedialmeasures. The top court alsomooted a special law to deal withlynching and the appointment ofa nodal officer in each district tocombat the threat. Now that withevery passing day the issue isassuming alarming proportions,the onus is on the political lead-ership to act.

Khushi JainGwalior

��

Sir — It is distressing to read newsreports nowadays. AkashVijayvargiya, a first-time MLAwhose father is the Bengal BJPminder and a national general sec-

retary of the party, was caught oncamera attacking the Indore civicofficial, who was part of a demo-lition drive, with a cricket bat andhitting him twice on the leg.

The attack happened in fullpublic view and in front of the

police. While Akash was finallyarrested and denied bail, theincident clearly exposes the exis-tence of VIP culture in the coun-try where politicians feel they canget away with anything.

Unfortunately, VIP arrogance

isn’t confined to a single party. Assoon as they are elected, manypoliticians and their childrenallow power to go to their heads.

All of this needs to change andpoliticians must be held to accountif they break the law. As of today,Akash has been booked. But theparty will not take any actionagainst his father. After all, he is oneof the brains behind BJP’s Bengalgains. The party is not in a moodto topple the applecart ahead of2021. Even if the fruit may rot.

P ArihantSecunderabad

��

Sir — It is disheartening that UttarPradesh as well as Bihar have beenunable to improve their position onthe health index. Perhaps, the sys-tem is filled with too many loop-holes. Expecting change to comequickly will be foolhardy. Instead,States can deploy their manpowerin hospitals and ensure that thereare a higher number of well-trained doctors and researchers.

Anubha AroraNew Delhi

� * � 2 � � . � + < � � * � � )

---*��.&��!!�*'�$��!<�� F : �0��;�� F �� !��!<�� <

�� !"#�!$%"

�7

� $��&%��

�/0��1�� 2/3&

�� !�� !�� /��!��4�� !��!��

��/� �!��2��!�� !��

�#A=#��#4�#��#�*;#,�G��=��%��

��!�� !�� !��!�� !��

/-%*G��3� ��

5��H�� !��

��,�.��.+%B�.;#,�G/��3��

� . � / 0 4 2 � �

� � � � � 1 � � . � �� & � � � 0 2 � . 1

��

��"�� H�� ,��/�� ;� �� !��

�� !� �� ?9�� 8;4� �� !��!�� H�� ,��/��H�� D�� 8�� ; ��)� ��"�� 3��H�� !�� !� ��,�� 0�� 7� �� G� �� 3�� 4��!�� G�� 5�� ,��I�%��5��!�� D��7��"�� ;��6��3�� !��3�� ,��!��

4�� ,�� >3!��! �� !��,�� -�� "�� 3��

��(��!��7�� ! �� !��

�� >� �� ,��H�� !�� 3��,��3�� ,�� ,��/��-�� 7�!��

!#,#+#-�� #-��

��''�� 2��--�*.-%+�%,��*C<;#��3/%;�

9��&�� "��

�!��1�� 83� !��

��#$�*G�� D�4��

5�� )��3�� )�� '�� -�� 2��

�� '�� . �� 191�)�� '��

�� D�� 7�� E��'��F��E��3��

��' �� '�'G �'� �� 3H��!��

� ��7 ��

��7 �� &��7 ��(� �I�� G��"�� 3�7��'�� "�� JH��

� �/��.�/��1� �/��

Russian President Vladimir Putin has restoredthe primacy of the eastern axis of power align-ments by endorsing a trilateral meeting

organised at India’s initiative on the sidelines of theG-20 summit. Said he, “The joint work in the Russia-India-China format is obviously beneficial both interms of developing and strengthening relations direct-ly between our countries and in terms of the contri-bution our three countries make to resolving acuteinternational and regional problems. The trilateralforeign policy coordination has been growing. InFebruary our foreign ministers had another, now the16th round of consultations. The dialogue of our secu-rity councils, financial intelligence agencies and othersectoral institutions has been developing concurrent-ly. Representatives of the scientific, academic andyoung people’s communities are interacting closely.In this context, I note that Russia will host a festi-val of young diplomats from the RIC countries thisautumn. It is important that Russia’s, India’s andChina’s positions are close or coincide on most issuesof the world economic and political agenda. Ourcountries stand for the preservation of the system ofinternational relations with the UN Charter andinternational law at its core. We assert such funda-mental principles of international ties as respect forsovereignty and non-interference in countries’ inter-nal affairs. Russia, India and China are jointly work-ing for stronger global stability, combatting the ter-rorist threat, extremism, drug trafficking and cyber-crime, and thus are laying the foundation for equaland indivisible security architecture in Eurasia. I thinkour countries, for example, could jointly advocategreater authority of the World Trade Organisationand the preservation of its role as a universal enti-ty regulating international trade. Joint support of theefforts to reform the International Monetary Fundis another important task.”

Earlier, the Kremlin official site also released atranscript of Putin’s interview with The FinancialTimes Editor Lionel Barber and Moscow BureauChief Henry Foy, where he talked of Russia’s role inthe Asia-Pacific, every nation’s commitment tostrengthen international trade and China. Excerpts:

Do you believe that the world now hasbecome more fragmented?

During the Cold War, the bad thing was theCold War. But there were at least some rules thatall participants in international communicationmore or less adhered to or tried to follow. Now, itseems there are no rules. In this sense, the worldhas become more fragmented and less predictable.This is the most important and regrettable thing.

Tell us what you want to achieve in Osaka,in terms of your relationships with other parties?What are your main goals for the summit?

The G20, in my opinion, is a key internation-al economic development forum today. So Iwould like all the G20 members to reaffirm theirintention — at least an intention — to work outsome general rules that everyone would follow andshow their commitment and dedication to strength-ening international financial and trade institutions.Everything else is details. We certainly supportJapan’s presidency. As for the development of mod-ern technology, the information world, the infor-mation economy, as well as our Japanese colleagues’attention to matters such as longevity and the envi-ronment — all this is extremely important and wewill certainly support it. Even though it is hard toexpect any breakthroughs or landmark decisionsin the current conditions; we can hardly count onit today. But in any case, there is hope at least thatduring these general discussions and bilateral meet-ings, we will be able to smooth out the existing dis-agreements and lay a foundation, a basis for pos-itive movement forward.

You have observed four American presidentsat close quarters and have had direct experience.So, how is Mr Trump different?

On the whole, I maintained good-natured andstable relations with all the leaders of the US. Thefirst US President I came into contact with was BillClinton. Generally, I viewed this as a positive expe-

rience. We established sufficiently stable and busi-ness-like ties for a short period of time because histenure was already coming to an end. I recall howhe established partner-like relations with me. Therehave been different times and we had to addressvarious problems with all other colleagues.Unfortunately, this often involved debates and ouropinions did not coincide on some matters that,in my opinion, can be called key aspects for Russia,the US and the entire world. For example, thisincludes the unilateral US withdrawal from theAnti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that, as we have alwaysbelieved, and as I am still convinced, was the cor-nerstone of international security system.

We debated this matter for a long time, arguedand suggested various solutions. In any event, Imade very energetic attempts to convince our USpartners not to withdraw from the Treaty. And ifthe US side still wanted to withdraw from the Treaty,it should have done so in such a way as to guar-antee international security for a long historical peri-od. I did this because I consider this matter to beimportant. I suggested working jointly on missile-defence projects that should have involved the US,Russia and Europe. They stipulated specific para-meters of this cooperation, determined dangerousmissile approaches and envisioned technologyexchanges, the elaboration of decision-makingmechanisms, etc. Those were absolutely specificproposals. I am convinced that the world wouldbe a different place today, had our US partnersaccepted this proposal. We can see that the situa-tion is developing in another direction; newweapons and cutting-edge military technology arecoming to the fore. Well, this is not our choice. Buttoday, we should at least do everything so as to notaggravate the situation.

With Mr Trump, we have seen somethingnew, something much more transactional. He isvery critical of alliances and allies in Europe. Isthis something that is to Russia’s advantage?

It would be better to ask what would be toAmerica’s advantage in this case. Mr Trump is nota career politician. He has a distinct world outlookand vision of US national interests. I do not acceptmany of his methods when it comes to address-ing problems. But do you know what I think? Ithink that he is a talented person. He knows verywell what his voters expect from him. Russia hasbeen accused, and strange as it may seem, it is stillbeing accused, despite the Mueller report of

mythical interference in the US election. What hap-pened in reality? Mr Trump looked into his oppo-nents’ attitude to him and saw changes in Americansociety and he took advantage of this. You and Iare talking ahead of the G20 meeting. It is an eco-nomic forum and it will undoubtedly have discus-sions on globalisation, global trade and internation-al finance. Has anyone ever given a thought to whoactually benefited and what benefits were gainedfrom globalisation, the development of which wehave been observing and participating in over thepast 25 years, since the 1990s?

China has made use of globalisation, in par-ticular, to pull millions of Chinese out of poverty.What happened in the US and how did it happen?In the US, leading companies made use of thesebenefits. The middle class hardly benefitted fromglobalisation; it was left out when this pie was divid-ed up. The Trump team sensed this keenly andclearly and used this in the election campaign. Itis where you should look for reasons behindTrump’s victory. He believes that the distributionof resources and benefits of globalisation in the pastdecade was unfair to the US. I am not going to dis-cuss whether it was fair or not, and I will not sayif what he is doing is right or wrong. I would liketo understand his motives. Maybe this could explainhis unusual behaviour.

Here you are, the President of Russia,defending globalisation along with President Xiwhereas Mr Trump is attacking globalisation andtalking about America First. How do youexplain this paradox?

I don’t think that his desire to make Americafirst is a paradox. I want Russia to be first and thatis not perceived as a paradox; there is nothingunusual there. As for the fact that he is attackingsome manifestations of globalisation, I made thatpoint earlier. He seems to believe that the resultsof globalisation could have been much better forthe US than they are. These globalisation resultsare not producing the desired effect for the US andhe is beginning this campaign against certain ele-ments of globalisation. This concerns everyone, pri-marily major participants in the system of inter-national economic collaboration, including allies.

Mr President, you have had many meetingswith President Xi and Russia and China have def-initely come closer. Are you putting too many eggsin the China basket?

First of all, we have enough eggs, but there are

not that many baskets where they can be placed.This is the first point. Second, we always assess risks.Third, our relations with China are not motivat-ed by time-serving political any other considera-tions. Let me point out that the Friendship Treatywith China was signed in 2001, long before the cur-rent situation and long before the current econom-ic disagreements, to put it mildly, between the USand China. We do not have to join anything, andwe do not have to direct our policy against any-one. We are just consistently implementing ourplans for expanding cooperation. We have not doneanything that transcends the framework of theseaccords.

The G20 has accomplished many usefulthings for stabilising the global financial system,for developing global trade and ensuring its stabil-isation. I am talking about the tax aspect of the glob-al agenda, the fight against corruption, and so on.Both China and Russia adhere to this concept. TheG20 has accomplished a lot by advocating quotachanges at the IMF and the World Bank. BothRussia and China share this approach.

Do you think that there is a risk of a mili-tary conflict in your time between you, Americaand China?

You know, the entire history of mankind hasalways been full of military conflicts, but since theappearance of nuclear weapons, the risk of globalconflicts has decreased due to the potential glob-al tragic consequences for the entire population ofthe planet. I hope it will not come to this.However, of course, we have to admit that it is notonly about China’s industrial subsidies on the onehand or the tariff policy of the US on the other. Firstof all, we are talking about different developmentplatforms, so to speak, in China and in the US. Theyare different. They have different philosophies inboth foreign and domestic policies, probably. ButI would like to share some personal observationswith you. China is showing loyalty and flexibilityto both its partners and opponents. Maybe this isrelated to historical features of Chinese philosophy,their approach to building relations. Therefore, Ido not think that there would be some such threatsfrom China. I cannot imagine that, really. But it ishard to say whether the US would have enoughpatience not to make any rash decisions, but torespect its partners even if there are disagreements.But I hope, there would not be any military con-frontation.

You have seen what the Chinese are doing interms of their buildup of their Navy and theirmaritime strength. How do you deal with thosepotential security problems, territorial disputesin the Pacific?

You mentioned the build-up of naval forces inChina. China’s total defence spending is $117 bil-lion, if memory serves. The US defence spendingis over $700 billion. And you are trying to scare theworld with the build-up of China’s military might?It does not work with this scale of military spend-ing. No, it does not. As for Russia, we will contin-ue to develop our Pacific Fleet as planned. Of course,we also respond to global developments and to whathappens in relations between other countries. Wecan see all of this, but it does not affect our defencedevelopment plans, including those in the RussianFar East. We are self-sufficient, and we are confi-dent. We are also primed for cooperation in theAsia- Pacific region.

What has the return been like on the risktaken in Syria?

I believe that it has been good and positive. Firstof all, many militants planning to return to Russiawere eliminated. This implies several thousand peo-ple. Second, we have managed to stabilise the sit-uation in a nearby region. We have established suf-ficiently good business-like relations with allregional countries, and our positions in theMiddle East region have become more stable. Wehave managed to preserve Syrian statehood, no mat-ter what, and we have prevented Libya-stylechaos there. (Courtesy: en.kremlin.ru)

��.�� (��(�� $��)�� '�� .�� )��*�� )��2�� :�1��

��"�" �8* 2 1 � � � . � � - /

&��$!��2��3!��!$��

11 ��

1�� !� ��!��;��=� ��)��

��(�!��

1�� @�� #��@��<��0��"��%��

��0��AA��2��-��4��/�� ;��%�� +��0��8��/�B��8��CD��-�� 1��"�� -��-��0��

-��!��!��"�� !��"��@��!��"��0��)��-��$��1��E,��"��FGHAI��2��0��#��(��0��E��!�I��/��3��(��(��0��

.�� FGAJ�� 8��+�� +�� FGAJ��<��FGAG�� ?��FGDC��0��)��(��%��FGDA�"��/�B��!��FGG9�� 1��0��2��+��2��$��!�� FJ�� "�-�� FGGH��)-��FGGG�� -��8��-��8�� )��9::C8��+�� -��$�� #��-��9::A�;��-��9:FF��2��+��9:FJ�

1�� !�� !��=��%��%��1�� FGH:��=��%�� !��*��"�� 1��$��%��8��+��9::C��!��-�� (�� 0��

"�� $��<��'��!�� 1��"��+��#��%��FGAG!D:@�� 1��%��$��"�� $��3��"��1��*��2��E��(�� I��.�� FGD:��1��(��%��1�� 9K9�(��JD��1�� *��JD��(��8�� <��(��FFK�1�1��%��KD��*�� <��%�� !��

0�� FF�:::��,)1��"�� !��#��

��

Post-modernism was a broadmovement that developed inthe late 20th century and almost

immediately began to dominate theintellectual, academic and artisticscenes, especially in Europe and theUS. As a philosophy and a scholarlyand artistic method, post-modernismwas highly critical of “meta narra-tives” or methods of reaching holis-tic truths through science, empiricalinquiry and readings of historymainly developed during the Age ofEnlightenment and/or the Age ofReason in the 18th and 19th cen-turies. Post-modernism is seen as anattack on modernism.

The emphasis on reason, science,democracy and the capitalist system

during the era of Enlightenment isoften seen as the main catalyst whichpropelled the Western world towardsmodernism, which is often explainedas a mindset, attitude and a move-ment. Modernism looked at modify-ing and re-adjusting traditionalmodes of political, social, economicand theological beliefs in accor-dance with modern ideas of progress.

In this context, modernism dom-inated Western politics and the artsacross the 19th and much of the 20thcentury. It created powerful narrativesto explain economic, social, militaryand political progress as the result ofscientific advancements, free enter-prise, individualism, secularism, anda linear reading of history in whichhumans continuously evolved andmodified their need to innovate andinvent and, thus, dominate the plan-et and its resources.

Interestingly, both capitalism aswell as socialism/communism wereproducts of modernism and so werethe thriving Western democracies aswell as modernist authoritarianregimes.

Historians see “post-modernism”

as initially being a project of Leftistintellectuals, who presented it as a cri-tique against modernism in the1960s. In their essay for the 1996anthology, Counternarratives:Cultural Studies and CriticalPedagogies in Postmodern Spaces,Colin Lankshear and Michael Peterssuggest that postmodernism began asa cultural movement during the rad-ical youth and student movements ofthe late 1960s, in which the protest-ing youth described economic, polit-ical and social progress guided bymodernism as tyrannical.

After the collapse of the studentmovements, former Leftist intellec-tuals and artists rebounded in the late1970s to denounce modernism in amore articulate manner. The mostinfluential were Jean Baudrillard,Jean-François Lyotard, JacquesDerrida and Michel Foucault. Theytook to task modernism’s idea of his-tory, art, politics and even languageto demonstrate that they were inher-ently biased towards truths whichwere manufactured to keep the polit-ical, economic and intellectual statusquo in power. The post-modernists

believed that there were no univer-sal truths but that every culture hadits own understanding of truth, sci-entific or historical.

Post-modernism began as anattempt to free Leftism from the bag-gage of Marxist meta narratives butaccording to the American literarycritic, Fredric Jameson, it eventuallybecame the “cultural logic of late cap-italism.” Its emphasis on scepticismand scathing critique of enlighten-ment and modernism marked thedestruction of modernist meta nar-ratives (which were also denouncedas being “colonial”).

But as critics such as Jamesonpoint out, in its attempt to destroy thewhole idea of meta narratives andreplace it with regional and culturalmicro-narratives, post-modernismended up creating its own meta nar-rative and colonising tendencies.

In her March 2017 essay for Areomagazine, journalist and authorHelen Pluckrose writes that post-modernists drew inspiration fromcontroversial philosophers such as the19th century German thinkerFriedrich Nietzsche, who romanti-

cised “unreason” and irrationalism.In his book, The Seduction ofUnreason, Richard Wolin writes thatthe early fascination with Nietzschegave birth to Nazism in the early 20thcentury, even though Nietzsche wasapparently not a racist.

Wolin writes that Nietzsche’sattack on the idea of holistic truths,both theological and scientific, excit-ed the late 20th century post-mod-ernists who critiqued modernistideas in such a manner that theyopened up the scene for what is nowbeing termed as the “post-truth”age. US President Donald Trump cannow tweet whatever he wants to andcall it the truth because to his sup-porters, that is the truth, whichaccording to post-modernist doc-trine, cannot be questioned accord-ing to the perception of the truth ofhis critics.

On the other hand, quite like the“alt-right,” the so-called liberal-Left,too, is not that far behind as they nowseem to spend every waking hour‘discovering’ sexism and racism in the“subtext” of a text that might havenothing like that in it at all. This, too,

is post-modernism. The post-modernist critique of

modernism also excited non-Westerners who, for example, beganto reject science as a “Judaeo-Christian construct.” Since, suppos-edly, every culture has its own truth,various Muslim ‘scientists’ and IndianHindus began to construct “Islamicscience” or “Hindu science.” IfMuslims want to derive energy fromjinns or Hindus believed they cancure cancer with cow dung, so be it.This is their truth and can’t be ques-tioned — or else you have a colonialmindset.

No wonder then, in the lastdecade or so, post-modernism hasincreasingly come under scathingcriticism. It is denounced as being anaive intellectual fetish which spi-ralled out of control, romanticisingsuspicion, sensationalism and irra-tionalism. And in its passion for plu-ralism, it has curtailed universalismand integration and encouraged theghettoisation of cultures with theirown set of truths, no matter how irra-tional they may be.

(The Dawn)

.��%��'��-�� !"�# �$��$!%��&��"��'�$��(�"�)� ��!��*+�" ��,��"��"��)�-�!$)�$&'� !��&��(�!��.!��'��"��)$��"�!�&�+*/�0� ��1�'�*&� � 2"��!*��3+�'�1�'�*&� ��'�$ ��&� +!"�$�1$&&�*��"$��"�/��0�&�'�+0��"�� !�&��(�*�2"$�� &�2�,��&-��*1�'�$ �40� ��*+�" #

/�0� ��1��&�

�� !"#�!$%"

---*��.&��!!�*'�$

*.1� 23/ � ��

6��8%��/&9�� !� ��!�� !�� !��83�"�� &9&9��!!��,�� 1��!��#�� 1 (�� !�� ! ��

234)4�/&9�38��

;.21�)�%��'��

��)�� !"#�!$%"

�� "�� &��%�� #��96� �1��'�� 8�14�

Equity benchmarks nursedlosses Friday as investors

remained cautious ahead ofthe crucial US-China tradetalks on the sidelines of theG-20 meet.

Domestic trading senti-ment was also at a low ebbfollowing tightening of mutu-al fund norms by regulatorSebi, and the RBI recom-mending extra vigil regard-ing non-banking financecompanies (NBFCs), traderssaid.

After a choppy session,the 30-share BSE Sensex set-tled 191.77 points, or 0.48 percent, lower at 39,394.64,dragged by index heavy-weights RIL, HDFC Bank,ICICI Bank and TCS.

The broader NSE Niftyfell 52.70 points, or 0.45 percent, to end at 11,788.85.

However, the key indicesposted gains for the week.

The Sensex rose 200.15points or 0.51 per cent, whileNifty gained 64.75 points or0.55 per cent during theweek.

Asian markets endedlower as G-20 leaders satdown to chart a way forwardfor the global economy hit byr is ing trade tensions.However, US PresidentDonald Trump tempered

expectations of an easy break-through, saying he had notpromised his Chinese coun-terpart Xi Jinping anyreprieve on imposing newtariffs.

Back home, top losers inthe Sensex pack included YesBank, IndusInd Bank, TataMotors, RIL, ONGC, BajajAuto, Vedanta, Tata Steel,TCS, HDFC Bank and ICICIBank, which fell up to 3.29per cent.

On the other hand, BajajFinance, Axis Bank, NTPC,Maruti , HUL and TechMahindra rose up to 1.05 percent.

Regulator Sebi Thursdaymade it mandatory for MFsselling liquid schemes to holdat least 20 per cent in liquidassets like cash and G-secs,and also banned them fromentering into standstill agree-ments with firms whose debtthey have exposure to.

Meanwhile, in its bi-annual Financial StabilityReport, the Reserve Banksaid the country’s “financialsystem remains stable despitesome dislocation of late”, butrecommended extra vigil onNBFCs.

“Indian markets had aless than productive session,as concerns on IT demandimpacted IT majors, whichwere a drag on the headline

index, alongside weakness inmetals and commodities.

“Prime MinisterNarendra Modi held bilater-al talks with US PresidentDonald Trump ahead of theformal inauguration of the G-20 Summit in Osaka.Investors are hoping for apositive outcome from theupcoming G-20 summit.

“While European equitiesand US futures gained, Asianmarkets continued to drag.Indian markets fell in linewith peer Asian markets.However, the high beta sec-tors like real estate, capitalgoods and PSU bank outper-formed,” said Sunil Sharma,Chief Investment Officer,Sanctum WealthManagement.

Sectorally, the BSE ener-gy, metal, telecom, basicmaterials, oil and gas, bankexand auto indices fell up to1.52 per cent.

However, realty, con-sumer durables, FMCG, util-ities and healthcare gained upto 0.58 per cent.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices lost up to0.30 per cent.

The Indian rupee appre-ciated 4 paise to 69.03 againstthe US dollar intra-day.

Brent crude futures, theglobal oil benchmark, tradedflat at USD 65.64 per barrel.

6�D�� >�4��!�� !� �� '�� %�5�0�67�

Ahead of the Union Budget,industry body Assocham

Friday suggested a one-timerollover by banks to business-es reeling under severe liq-uidity stress to help them tideover the difficulties.

A rollover can bedescribed as an extension ortransfer of a debt or otherfinancial arrangements.

Addressing a press con-ference here, Assocham topbrass impressed upon the gov-ernment, Reserve Bank andbanks to ensure adequate liq-uidity into non-banking finan-

cial companies (NBFCs), pro-vide investment incentives andcut corporate tax rates forrevival of economic growthand creation of new job oppor-tunities.

“It could be a special win-dow, one-time rollover or anyother step. Rushing companiesinto NCLT because of liquid-ity shortages is not the solu-tion,” said Assocham PresidentBK Goenka.

“We demand 100 per centdepreciation in the first year ofnew investment. A five percent cut in the corporate taxwill revive investment,” headded.

The chamber’s vice presi-dent Niranjan Hiranandanisaid the situation is such thateven if there is a short-termfailure one is required to gointo the insolvency process.

“We are suggesting thatwhat was done in 2008 by theRBI to meet the crisis ... Wethink the crisis of today is evenbigger than the crisis of 2008so there is no reason why itshould not again do the one-time rollover at the discretionof the banks, not everybodywill be given a rollover but weneed a one time roll over bythe crisis which is today,” hesaid.

Goenka said banks areflush with funds yet we have acrisis of liquidity.

“Post IL&FS, we have seenhow the whole industry isalmost on a standstill. I havenever seen a scenario like thisthe way whole inventory haspiled up in automobile sectorand the prime reason is liq-uidity,” the AssochamPresident said.

Hiranandani said he hassuggested creation of a stressfund to Niti Aayog for stalledhousing and real estate pro-jects as with not too large acorpus for short term, projectsworth lakhs of crores of rupees

would come to fruition, pro-viding a big relief to the homebuyers and revival of senti-ment in the sector.

“We have throughAssocham and NAREDCOwhere I am President havementioned the need for estab-lishment of a stress fund toNiti Aayog and we believe thatuntil a dress fund is created asolution will not be found toaddress this problem,”Hiranandani said. Besides, hesaid, there is a need to createa national rental housing pol-icy which the chamber isproposing to the Governmentof India to come out quickly.

#�� $ �� 0�(� �� '�� %�5�0�67�

Union minister PiyushGoyal Friday said that the

railways has no plans to priva-tise the national transporter orits premium trains such asRajdhani and Shatabdi express,amidst speculation that therewas a proposal to rope in pri-vate operators.

Responding to a query onthe privatisation of these trainsand the entire network, Goyaltold the Rajya Sabha in a writ-ten reply that “no plan has beenmade”. The ministry in its 100-

day plan has proposed that itwill offer two trains to IRCTC,to operate on haulage concept,with ticketing, onboard servicesto be provided by them.

The plan proposed that thatthe trains will run on importantroutes like the GoldenQuadrilateral and Diagonals andconnecting major cities. Theproposal said that the RFQ/RFPwill be floated in the next 100days to initiate bidding.

“Whether it is a fact thatGovernment is planning for pri-vatisation of trains like Rajdhaniand Shatabdi; In what manner

Government would control thewhimsicality of the private oper-ators and travel fare after pri-vatisation of Railways,” askedSamajwadi Party MP SurendraNath Nagar.

Goyal replied, “No plan hasbeen made for privatization ofRajdhani/Shatabdi trains. Thereis no plan for privatization ofRailways.”

Meanwhile, railway workerUnions have been up in armsagainst the proposal anddemanded to know why railways’production units are planned tobe corporatised.

� �� # ��! ��'��$�� > � �3��9�5�6�� $ '��" �� "��" ��$��)�� > � ��""��*"�� A�!�� "� ��(�� ")��(� ��!�� ?()(!@�� "�'��'��'A�)�� 8��""��'�� " '� �� "��"��> � �8��'��' ��

Script Open High Low LTPRPOWER 4.44 4.50 4.07 4.16IFCI 9.78 9.78 9.13 9.19YESBANK 112.30 113.00 107.60 108.70DHFL 82.00 82.00 70.70 72.10RELCAPITAL 70.00 71.80 65.50 66.15RELINFRA 59.80 60.30 54.30 55.50IBULHSGFIN 629.50 629.60 601.10 607.40RELIANCE 1279.00 1282.80 1248.05 1252.00PNB 78.95 81.75 78.05 79.55BANKBARODA 121.00 125.50 120.60 121.85TATASTEEL 511.00 515.30 499.30 504.40DEEPAKFERT 119.85 120.60 106.20 107.75INFY* 733.90 739.45 728.35 731.95SBIN 362.00 364.85 358.90 360.90DBL 483.80 510.60 476.00 486.90UNIONBANK 78.15 83.70 77.85 81.05PCJEWELLER 45.75 47.00 44.55 45.40IBREALEST 116.05 117.85 112.95 113.85BOMDYEING 104.40 110.80 100.80 107.75AXISBANK 793.15 812.90 793.15 807.65INDUSINDBK 1454.05 1459.85 1401.00 1410.10TATAMOTORS 165.65 166.80 161.40 162.60CANBK 278.70 291.60 278.00 284.40EMAMILTD 300.00 309.25 291.70 298.70SPICEJET 124.50 126.35 123.50 124.95SUNPHARMA 405.85 409.70 398.25 401.00UPL 948.00 951.30 919.20 937.45BANKINDIA 88.60 93.00 87.90 90.15HDFCLIFE 458.00 470.40 457.25 464.35JUSTDIAL 777.95 788.40 753.00 760.00LT 1555.00 1573.00 1547.60 1553.05HEG 1560.00 1567.85 1461.00 1468.15ICICIPRULI 379.95 390.00 376.10 388.30MARUTI 6513.00 6550.50 6477.85 6534.00JINDALSTEL 148.20 148.70 140.80 142.10LUPIN 768.00 789.90 751.90 755.10HDFCBANK 2462.00 2473.85 2438.00 2446.40ITC 274.20 275.40 272.65 273.95TCS 2255.00 2261.25 2222.95 2227.25SBILIFE 728.00 735.00 717.00 723.35SUZLON 5.59 5.60 5.20 5.25JISLJALEQS 28.00 28.20 25.10 25.80ZEEL 342.10 344.05 335.35 338.40DLF 185.55 191.30 185.00 188.60TECHM 709.00 715.00 704.40 706.25GRAPHITE 341.60 346.00 332.35 334.75ICICIBANK 439.80 440.55 433.65 437.25ICICIGI 1124.00 1124.00 1105.80 1112.15ASHOKLEY 88.50 88.70 86.30 87.25BDL 317.50 341.85 317.50 339.95HDFCAMC 2038.00 2071.15 2035.55 2061.00BAJFINANCE 3630.00 3695.00 3630.00 3682.30VEDL 178.90 178.90 172.50 174.30HINDUNILVR 1780.00 1790.90 1763.50 1787.30ADANIENT 152.95 156.25 149.80 150.45GAIL 308.00 313.25 306.50 311.90DISHTV 28.70 28.70 26.70 27.05SAIL 52.45 52.75 50.25 50.70TATAPOWER 69.00 70.15 68.10 69.00BEL 115.05 116.00 111.80 112.45AUROPHARMA 612.40 625.65 603.15 608.10NAUKRI 2202.30 2262.00 2082.70 2246.45JSWSTEEL 277.35 278.65 273.05 276.50SOBHA 526.50 547.00 510.35 541.65L&TFH 116.10 117.15 114.30 115.10STAR 410.10 419.80 392.95 398.85GRASIM 933.85 933.85 905.75 913.80JUBILANT 496.10 523.60 496.05 511.05BEML 901.50 929.00 900.00 912.55PEL 1940.05 1957.75 1920.95 1946.20MOTHERSUMI 121.55 123.95 120.50 121.90GLENMARK 454.00 455.00 440.35 442.80NCC 102.50 102.60 96.75 97.60RECLTD 163.90 167.75 163.00 164.70NTPC 140.05 141.75 139.70 141.35HDFC 2201.75 2205.75 2178.55 2192.05M&M 661.45 662.75 651.35 655.90GRUH 277.90 278.10 274.60 275.30PFC 135.85 138.80 133.60 134.10OBEROIRLTY 585.90 621.30 585.00 607.75ADANIPOWER 51.70 52.30 50.90 51.30APOLLOHOSP 1327.00 1381.05 1321.00 1359.05INDIACEM 106.15 106.15 99.00 99.85BHEL 74.75 74.75 72.50 73.10CASTROLIND 137.60 137.60 132.35 132.65TATACHEM 634.00 634.00 617.00 626.05SHRIRAMCIT 1748.00 1748.00 1475.00 1619.40WIPRO 282.15 283.90 280.00 280.40DMART 1390.05 1404.90 1381.80 1397.65KOTAKBANK 1488.90 1488.90 1472.00 1476.60HAVELLS 796.50 806.90 782.45 785.65ESCORTS 549.00 550.85 534.05 536.55HINDALCO 206.00 207.60 203.60 207.10JETAIRWAYS 73.90 73.90 67.60 67.60LTI 1834.40 1847.70 1788.00 1829.20POWERGRID 207.90 209.55 204.95 206.90SIEMENS 1300.00 1319.90 1286.80 1310.25ADANIGREEN 43.00 45.45 43.00 44.45GODREJPROP 991.00 1014.00 979.20 1003.30WOCKPHARMA 378.00 382.90 367.00 374.60EIDPARRY 171.20 186.40 171.10 182.90JUBLFOOD 1260.10 1265.00 1224.40 1232.85RADICO 331.00 331.95 313.75 314.95FEDERALBNK 108.50 109.05 106.80 108.30ADANIGAS 170.00 171.05 168.05 169.95RBLBANK 637.60 645.70 621.50 638.35BHARTIARTL 344.00 350.05 342.95 346.70IDBI 36.00 37.50 35.20 35.50

HCLTECH 1071.90 1075.80 1058.90 1064.50BHARATFORG 455.75 467.60 448.05 450.10UJJIVAN 304.90 304.90 292.60 296.35BIOCON 251.40 252.15 247.55 250.40IDEA 12.33 12.40 12.06 12.16STRTECH 182.00 182.00 174.90 175.40GICRE 212.00 225.05 208.00 218.85DRREDDY 2580.00 2612.90 2536.90 2549.80GNFC 239.90 241.00 232.60 233.60M&MFIN 398.30 398.35 386.30 388.25JAICORPLTD 106.30 106.65 101.70 102.85AMARAJABAT 627.00 635.05 616.65 620.15ASIANPAINT 1365.00 1370.90 1350.00 1357.65TATAELXSI 876.50 892.00 875.70 885.55ACC 1585.70 1587.55 1553.45 1561.65AMBUJACEM 219.60 219.60 212.05 212.90BAJAJFINSV 8440.00 8565.80 8430.00 8537.75RAJESHEXPO 718.55 727.20 717.50 721.25ALBK 49.90 50.45 48.80 49.85PHILIPCARB 119.25 119.90 116.00 116.25SUNTV 510.00 514.80 500.65 505.00ADANIPORTS 408.80 413.15 407.00 410.00TITAN 1320.00 1336.80 1318.00 1334.85LTTS 1782.40 1792.70 1737.00 1747.30ORIENTBANK 96.90 98.60 94.00 94.25IBVENTURES 277.05 285.50 272.50 274.10MANAPPURAM 139.85 141.10 135.90 138.25MPHASIS 989.00 1015.00 976.10 1006.25LINDEINDIA 509.50 545.35 508.10 520.85BPCL 392.90 396.55 390.70 392.85BRITANNIA 2750.00 2785.00 2730.85 2743.55SPARC 116.25 120.80 115.05 116.05HEXAWARE 381.50 391.50 377.80 378.85INDIGO 1588.00 1591.60 1553.00 1558.65HINDPETRO 288.95 292.10 287.05 289.85BATAINDIA 1447.00 1454.30 1441.60 1445.35IOC 157.50 157.85 155.50 155.85NBCC 61.05 61.20 59.25 59.65COALINDIA 261.70 261.70 253.00 253.75CENTRALBK 20.40 21.70 20.40 20.60ANDHRABANK 23.90 24.20 23.50 23.60HEROMOTOCO 2610.00 2610.00 2573.65 2584.00TATAMTRDVR 81.70 82.25 79.10 79.55INFRATEL 274.00 274.00 266.00 267.35NATIONALUM 50.50 50.50 49.25 49.45DCMSHRIRAM 555.00 569.00 550.00 562.55RAIN 102.95 103.00 99.90 100.30EDELWEISS 175.90 175.90 167.50 169.85UCOBANK 19.20 19.25 18.30 18.35TATAGLOBAL 276.00 276.00 267.60 269.70RELAXO 434.00 445.00 393.40 419.65SUNTECK 437.00 440.00 431.75 434.30BAJAJ-AUTO 2865.70 2866.35 2820.00 2828.15IDFCFIRSTB 43.00 43.50 42.75 43.25ASTERDM 127.35 128.90 124.90 125.65SYNDIBANK 41.95 42.25 41.10 41.85ONGC 170.00 171.30 166.75 167.75AUBANK 690.75 708.05 690.70 703.90IRB 96.90 98.95 95.40 95.85MINDTREE 945.00 945.00 922.00 927.50COROMANDEL 410.00 424.00 406.80 416.00SOUTHBANK 13.00 13.11 12.96 13.01SRTRANSFIN 1100.55 1100.55 1074.90 1080.30BBTC 926.15 947.35 913.35 936.85NMDC 113.25 113.75 111.75 112.95ULTRACEMCO 4610.00 4622.00 4538.75 4553.15COFFEEDAY 235.15 235.20 227.80 229.65CANFINHOME 356.90 359.90 343.35 356.40PGHL 3968.35 4139.90 3965.00 4106.05CHAMBLFERT 173.00 178.40 171.75 175.50PETRONET 249.85 249.85 244.65 245.10INFIBEAM 44.15 45.40 43.75 44.15PIDILITIND 1223.20 1230.00 1209.65 1214.65ABCAPITAL 93.55 93.55 91.60 91.90DELTACORP 174.45 176.25 170.10 171.00PRESTIGE 272.00 276.05 266.20 272.05TVSMOTOR 433.00 435.05 426.05 427.75FSL 49.10 50.25 49.10 49.30ITI 92.15 92.50 90.65 90.90PTC 67.95 68.15 66.90 67.25J&KBANK 43.50 43.55 39.75 40.15MGL 855.25 867.60 845.20 849.00LICHSGFIN 564.55 567.60 553.80 555.30ALKEM 1699.00 1699.00 1660.35 1668.65JINDALSAW 83.35 85.50 83.00 83.25JKTYRE 80.00 80.15 79.10 80.05DIVISLAB 1598.75 1633.35 1593.75 1596.85COLPAL 1127.50 1134.95 1121.55 1127.30MEGH 65.00 65.40 63.25 64.05DABUR 402.55 402.55 394.60 400.50WESTLIFE 306.50 309.35 303.90 306.45FORCEMOT 1447.05 1465.00 1412.00 1415.55SYNGENE 325.00 335.50 325.00 333.65

BANDHANBNK 537.10 544.00 533.80 539.00QUESS 572.65 594.25 572.05 578.95VOLTAS 647.05 654.35 641.40 643.55EQUITAS 120.30 122.40 119.35 120.15AVANTI 350.00 358.00 349.90 351.80NESTLEIND 11849.00 11940.00 11759.00 11920.65ABFRL 214.20 215.85 209.30 215.10CHOLAFIN 286.00 290.00 280.65 285.95CORPBANK 25.35 26.50 25.00 25.30APOLLOTYRE 204.95 205.00 199.25 200.60EICHERMOT 19590.00 19629.70 19079.50 19137.85ABB 1597.00 1617.10 1592.25 1603.35CUMMINSIND 782.70 784.45 760.75 763.90PIIND 1172.55 1213.05 1151.30 1174.95CENTURYTEX 964.75 969.95 946.65 948.40IGL 316.30 317.00 313.70 315.15TORNTPOWER 287.80 287.80 280.05 281.15NIACL 152.60 153.85 148.00 148.65TRENT 451.00 451.00 435.00 440.60IOB 12.40 12.90 12.10 12.18NIITTECH 1342.00 1349.00 1334.20 1345.10GSFC 90.10 91.75 90.10 91.10EVEREADY 85.00 86.30 79.45 80.00GUJFLUORO 966.00 966.00 900.00 913.10GSPL 196.00 200.45 195.00 196.85MFSL 420.00 420.35 405.25 407.65GMRINFRA 15.45 15.45 14.70 14.90WABAG 304.50 310.65 302.25 308.90EXIDEIND 205.00 206.00 200.90 201.30SUPREMEIND 1141.15 1155.50 1134.10 1144.40TORNTPHARM 1543.70 1554.50 1524.00 1548.80MOTILALOFS 725.00 725.00 682.35 694.80KEC 315.25 324.50 313.75 321.50IBULISL 188.20 195.40 187.00 189.60INDIANB 265.00 268.50 258.20 260.55TRIDENT 63.20 63.20 62.00 62.35UBL 1345.00 1351.30 1322.00 1339.10VENKYS 1700.00 1700.00 1660.00 1666.80BLUESTARCO 751.10 793.80 751.10 775.25RAYMOND 740.65 745.55 729.20 731.00TIMKEN 718.85 745.95 711.45 731.40CADILAHC 238.40 242.90 238.40 241.90RITES 290.95 294.80 288.10 292.20HIMATSEIDE 160.65 165.40 159.15 161.95BHARATFIN 917.95 919.50 888.70 892.50SRF 3030.00 3056.45 3020.00 3043.50WELCORP 139.70 141.35 139.70 140.60KTKBANK 103.50 105.50 103.50 103.95CIPLA 553.00 556.55 546.50 552.45KRBL 311.90 315.15 307.00 309.65ADANITRANS 223.20 226.00 220.85 224.35PVR 1640.95 1678.60 1632.55 1674.30VIPIND 443.10 448.40 439.40 444.85MMTC 25.00 25.35 24.45 24.90PARAGMILK 255.20 259.00 254.40 255.90THOMASCOOK 210.35 242.50 207.10 231.30IRCON 391.00 409.00 391.00 401.65INTELLECT 266.75 266.75 262.00 265.70ISEC 218.00 223.00 216.95 220.00SCHNEIDER 90.25 97.20 90.20 95.85CONCOR 568.50 573.50 566.05 570.40GLAXO 1216.10 1225.00 1198.45 1199.50MUTHOOTFIN 640.90 649.35 638.95 643.70MAHABANK 16.05 16.40 15.70 15.75CEATLTD 922.00 936.60 921.00 923.80CGPOWER 29.20 29.40 28.45 28.55GODREJCP 665.55 666.35 660.00 663.55PFIZER 3290.00 3389.25 3275.00 3355.00SWANENERGY 104.50 104.75 103.50 103.95CAPPL 449.15 462.70 435.00 452.75GUJGAS 175.70 178.00 171.70 172.45SADBHAV 246.35 251.40 237.00 246.70RAMCOCEM 795.00 795.00 773.55 780.20HINDCOPPER 40.45 40.55 39.30 39.90KAJARIACER 592.95 592.95 579.05 581.65ASHOKA 136.95 142.40 136.05 140.45PRSMJOHNSN 90.40 90.60 89.60 90.50HSIL 250.00 263.00 250.00 256.80SHANKARA 445.30 450.75 439.15 439.90CREDITACC 525.00 528.15 516.50 519.40TAKE 120.10 127.50 120.10 125.00LUXIND 1213.75 1243.00 1200.10 1212.55ENGINERSIN 122.00 122.40 120.50 121.20UFLEX 244.55 246.30 241.90 242.15CROMPTON 231.00 237.85 231.00 232.10BALKRISIND 770.00 770.60 754.00 756.25DEEPAKNI 290.00 293.70 286.35 290.15MCX 832.00 840.00 824.35 831.45JBCHEPHARM 369.20 374.00 359.55 364.15TATACOFFEE 82.55 83.55 81.50 82.10INDHOTEL 158.00 159.00 156.00 157.45GDL 127.90 133.60 127.90 131.65HINDZINC 244.50 244.50 242.20 244.00BERGEPAINT 317.40 318.80 314.55 317.35HAL 714.50 738.95 705.00 713.70LEMONTREE 66.00 67.70 65.50 66.70HFCL 19.65 19.75 19.00 19.50BAJAJHLDNG 3625.50 3625.50 3586.05 3607.25ASTRAZEN 2115.00 2148.90 2114.00 2129.70FCONSUMER 40.45 41.35 40.00 40.95RCF 60.70 61.15 60.05 60.55NOCIL 119.50 119.70 117.10 117.60INOXLEISUR 330.00 330.45 325.70 327.30LAKSHVILAS 67.25 67.25 64.35 65.25JSWENERGY 69.20 69.20 66.70 66.95SREINFRA 19.95 19.95 17.65 17.95FDC 178.65 194.80 177.65 187.30JAMNAAUTO 53.75 53.80 52.50 52.75CENTRUM 26.25 28.00 26.05 27.00

MINDACORP 107.50 113.05 107.05 110.50TVTODAY 283.00 287.60 272.00 279.80CENTURYPLY 169.90 169.90 164.15 167.25OMAXE 201.35 201.35 199.45 199.55GSKCONS 7567.20 7800.00 7567.20 7694.15VARROC 473.55 484.15 471.15 474.80PNBHOUSING 780.95 784.40 769.70 773.70VGUARD 242.25 249.90 241.00 243.95SOLARINDS 1171.25 1300.00 1150.00 1267.05SUVEN 270.75 272.20 269.75 271.00MINDAIND 315.35 319.80 315.00 317.85DCBBANK 238.40 238.80 235.85 236.95KEI 479.10 481.85 476.40 479.60LALPATHLAB 1088.00 1093.00 1060.00 1068.95JMFINANCIL 79.00 79.10 76.60 76.90RNAM 220.00 222.00 220.00 221.45BLISSGVS 155.70 157.50 153.60 154.35NATCOPHARM 533.60 539.85 531.40 534.30TEJASNET 146.20 146.75 141.20 142.35SONATSOFTW 348.70 352.15 347.70 349.35BALMLAWRIE 183.80 186.00 182.15 182.50JPASSOCIAT 3.05 3.14 3.04 3.05WHIRLPOOL 1578.35 1594.85 1568.40 1590.40CHENNPETRO 209.30 210.65 207.55 208.05VINATIORGA 2104.40 2135.00 2080.00 2128.70SCI 31.65 31.65 30.95 31.35APLLTD 499.40 513.00 499.40 506.35RALLIS 151.85 151.85 142.90 145.45EIHOTEL 182.10 184.50 179.45 182.95

ADVENZYMES 166.70 171.60 165.00 168.75NHPC 25.10 25.10 24.70 24.80GODFRYPHLP 847.00 848.40 826.15 832.30SANOFI 5569.60 5756.10 5452.00 5657.80IDFC 34.95 35.30 34.55 34.70HSCL 105.60 105.95 104.55 105.10TATACOMM 481.40 490.00 478.55 484.75PAGEIND 20648.00 20710.00 20420.00 20588.85JYOTHYLAB 157.80 159.30 156.95 158.95OIL 180.00 181.60 177.50 177.75VBL 941.00 954.00 940.00 945.25THERMAX 1057.00 1062.50 1030.00 1055.50JSL 35.80 36.50 35.00 36.00FRETAIL 479.90 489.25 476.85 484.55TV18BRDCST 24.50 24.85 24.10 24.25GRANULES 96.00 97.90 95.90 96.70UNITEDBNK 10.80 11.00 10.51 10.58ASTRAL 1327.20 1335.00 1317.85 1324.25BASF 1328.15 1355.55 1311.30 1342.15JSLHISAR 81.15 81.15 78.75 79.40MAHLOG 483.10 486.90 481.00 483.60MARICO 371.90 372.45 369.30 370.25GHCL 242.00 242.80 238.25 239.75KALPATPOWR 523.00 527.50 518.75 524.60MAHSEAMLES 433.10 437.20 425.05 427.75DCAL 226.60 228.45 223.00 225.35HUDCO 40.45 40.75 39.45 40.10ABBOTINDIA 8921.45 8949.95 8750.00 8890.40GICHSGFIN 246.30 249.55 245.25 246.50AJANTPHARM 954.20 965.40 949.55 956.05TCNSBRANDS 785.95 838.00 785.95 832.40OFSS 3189.40 3202.00 3157.80 3169.35GREAVESCOT 145.90 146.00 144.40 145.45NLCINDIA 65.10 66.35 65.00 65.40NBVENTURES* 94.55 95.05 93.60 94.15LAOPALA 186.05 196.90 183.00 193.35CUB 215.50 219.00 214.95 218.20JKCEMENT 1015.20 1015.20 995.40 1000.40HEIDELBERG 196.05 197.95 192.60 194.80AAVAS 1504.70 1506.35 1490.05 1500.20TIINDIA 391.60 391.60 376.00 383.50COCHINSHIP 379.65 381.10 377.75 378.55KANSAINER 440.65 444.20 438.20 440.60MOIL 154.50 154.50 151.30 152.20BOSCHLTD 16586.55 16586.55 16300.00 16337.35ATUL 3957.10 3983.85 3957.10 3979.60DHANUKA 439.50 440.00 423.55 430.55GODREJAGRO 504.60 504.90 499.00 501.60PGHH 10881.05 10881.10 10682.00 10705.65JAGRAN 106.70 109.00 106.50 108.15IPCALAB 925.60 927.00 914.35 917.50GPPL 89.65 89.90 87.50 87.95NILKAMAL 1188.20 1218.20 1185.00 1195.10

GODREJIND 493.00 493.70 481.50 483.65JCHAC 1730.00 1788.60 1717.00 1767.65AARTIIND 1787.05 1793.95 1765.00 1778.65MAGMA 130.60 132.10 129.45 129.65FINCABLES 442.20 444.00 440.00 440.30GMDCLTD 75.65 76.90 75.00 75.30TIMETECHNO 94.40 95.95 94.00 94.60PERSISTENT* 617.00 618.30 610.00 613.05AEGISLOG 202.00 202.00 198.00 199.35JKLAKSHMI 342.30 347.00 338.90 342.00CRISIL 1487.10 1494.50 1475.00 1485.85FORTIS 129.75 130.85 128.65 130.40ITDC 263.70 269.00 263.55 265.05ITDCEM 107.90 111.20 105.40 106.40REPCOHOME 369.10 394.00 368.00 381.90FINOLEXIND 504.00 510.15 504.00 505.60MAHSCOOTER 4674.00 4675.00 4548.45 4622.20NH 242.30 251.00 239.75 239.95SCHAEFFLER 4845.00 4888.00 4785.00 4876.70SUNDRMFAST 508.00 512.65 506.80 511.40GESHIP* 264.45 265.80 262.25 264.25BAJAJELEC 526.75 531.40 526.30 530.10FLFL 459.65 477.80 458.55 468.15NESCO 565.40 575.40 561.80 565.30AIAENG 1746.80 1812.80 1745.00 1788.15CYIENT 543.80 545.25 540.55 542.70SJVN 24.85 25.00 24.70 24.90GUJALKALI 517.00 528.80 517.00 520.10NAVINFLUOR 715.15 715.15 705.00 706.40TATAINVEST 901.50 905.55 887.10 889.20ORIENTCEM 103.15 103.85 101.80 102.30BAYERCROP 3431.80 3499.95 3420.35 3458.50NETWORK18 27.30 27.60 26.80 27.15SHREECEM 22007.15 22007.15 21641.30 21815.05ECLERX 775.00 775.90 762.10 762.55MAHINDCIE 231.20 232.00 227.70 230.20MRPL 60.60 60.90 60.20 60.45GRINDWELL 580.00 598.40 579.60 595.30CCL 252.50 257.20 251.55 255.85PNCINFRA 202.65 205.00 198.40 199.75RCOM 1.32 1.32 1.32 1.32MONSANTO 2247.40 2247.40 2139.00 2179.95WELSPUNIND 57.50 58.05 57.00 57.40REDINGTON 107.50 109.70 107.50 108.85SHK 132.00 132.05 128.10 129.75LAXMIMACH 5224.00 5257.00 5157.00 5176.55ZYDUSWELL 1377.15 1381.20 1325.00 1338.25BAJAJCON 328.20 332.40 328.05 329.75GREENPLY 164.70 164.80 162.75 164.15GEPIL 871.45 874.00 849.30 865.40MRF 56699.00 56705.75 56435.65 56591.75TNPL 185.05 185.05 179.95 182.25INOXWIND 69.50 73.40 69.05 70.35ESSELPRO 129.60 132.10 129.05 130.50TEAMLEASE 2929.85 2990.95 2890.60 2943.00CARERATING 949.00 949.15 942.00 942.45GALAXYSURF 1243.40 1250.00 1220.10 1230.30PHOENIXLTD 635.80 640.95 635.00 635.30AKZOINDIA 1785.50 1799.00 1776.00 1796.20KPRMILL 618.85 622.00 612.30 617.60GAYAPROJ 160.35 161.35 157.00 157.75ORIENTELEC 159.80 162.05 155.30 158.10FINEORG 1390.15 1442.50 1390.15 1425.95INDOSTAR 365.00 365.00 362.70 363.80ZENSARTECH 259.30 263.35 257.15 258.25MAXINDIA 68.55 68.60 66.95 68.00HERITGFOOD 409.50 410.70 403.00 405.85BIRLACORPN 593.00 594.30 589.80 592.20ALLCARGO 106.55 107.00 105.55 106.55SHILPAMED 341.00 350.00 336.95 344.00KNRCON 280.50 280.50 275.85 279.95APLAPOLLO 1505.00 1508.00 1490.40 1497.40VMART 2245.00 2247.35 2210.80 2210.95IFBIND 772.00 777.60 759.00 761.65GET&D 236.55 239.05 235.65 235.80IEX 143.90 144.85 141.00 143.90HONAUT 24396.95 25000.00 24396.95 24822.65SUDARSCHEM 321.00 323.10 318.00 321.25VTL 1064.40 1076.70 1044.85 1060.653MINDIA 23000.00 23357.15 22997.65 23244.30SYMPHONY 1200.75 1235.65 1200.75 1231.50SHOPERSTOP 479.00 487.65 479.00 485.70TTKPRESTIG 6736.00 6786.20 6663.15 6767.55GILLETTE 7445.55 7500.00 7410.30 7478.55SKFINDIA 2000.15 2010.00 1990.15 2002.30LAURUSLABS 338.05 340.45 336.15 336.75DBCORP 190.90 194.55 190.90 192.50SUPRAJIT 210.75 211.50 203.00 204.70APARINDS 582.90 590.10 572.00 578.35TATAMETALI 603.75 605.25 601.00 602.70ERIS 508.65 509.90 506.05 509.20MHRIL 232.50 232.70 230.95 231.25SOMANYCERA 436.10 443.35 436.10 440.55TRITURBINE 103.15 105.45 103.00 103.00CARBORUNIV 355.00 358.95 353.00 357.50THYROCARE 471.35 474.30 470.80 471.65MAHLIFE 397.90 399.00 391.35 393.85ENDURANCE 1112.20 1116.35 1105.05 1113.65WABCOINDIA 6156.25 6156.30 6100.00 6123.95CERA 3013.30 3016.15 2979.75 2983.75SFL 1322.00 1335.00 1295.00 1332.15TVSSRICHAK 1867.00 1937.00 1865.00 1881.05BLUEDART 2673.05 2696.80 2650.00 2685.45HATSUN 714.95 719.00 711.10 716.85ELGIEQUIP 260.50 260.50 257.50 259.90GULFOILLUB 852.00 866.70 851.00 863.20SIS 916.00 916.05 903.70 905.95ASAHIINDIA 218.90 219.95 217.25 218.00CHOLAHLDNG 468.50 469.00 464.70 466.05

��

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 11861.15 11871.70 11775.50 11788.85 -52.70GAIL 307.80 313.25 306.35 311.85 5.20BAJAJFINSV 8443.90 8557.85 8423.80 8549.90 106.00BAJFINANCE 3652.45 3693.25 3629.70 3685.30 43.10AXISBANK 801.15 812.90 793.30 809.75 9.30ADANIPORTS 408.70 413.35 407.00 410.20 3.70HINDUNILVR 1777.25 1790.65 1762.75 1788.90 14.50MARUTI 6500.00 6550.00 6475.00 6539.00 52.30BRITANNIA 2735.00 2768.00 2732.00 2747.10 21.20TECHM 706.90 715.00 704.10 707.45 5.50NTPC 140.10 141.85 139.50 141.10 0.95LT 1556.20 1573.90 1547.65 1559.85 8.95HINDALCO 206.00 207.60 203.55 207.20 1.10HCLTECH 1070.70 1075.95 1058.70 1065.75 3.00SBIN 362.20 365.00 358.70 362.80 0.65INFY 735.50 739.50 728.50 731.70 1.15TITAN 1325.00 1337.05 1318.00 1331.35 2.15ITC 274.10 275.45 272.50 273.80 0.30CIPLA 551.90 556.70 546.35 552.05 0.10HDFC 2196.00 2205.00 2177.65 2194.40 -1.05BPCL 390.65 396.60 390.50 391.50 -0.70ASIANPAINT 1365.00 1371.90 1350.10 1358.95 -2.45DRREDDY 2590.00 2615.00 2536.80 2559.30 -6.30JSWSTEEL 277.00 278.75 273.10 276.65 -0.70UPL 946.00 951.00 918.65 941.00 -2.50KOTAKBANK 1485.00 1486.10 1471.60 1477.00 -4.60HEROMOTOCO2598.55 2600.60 2572.05 2590.00 -8.40M&M 659.80 662.45 651.50 655.60 -2.30SUNPHARMA 404.90 409.80 398.15 401.35 -1.45WIPRO 283.80 283.80 280.00 280.85 -1.25IOC 157.30 158.00 155.55 155.75 -0.85BHARTIARTL 348.40 350.00 342.50 346.60 -2.05GRASIM 924.80 927.40 905.00 915.00 -6.80POWERGRID 207.15 209.60 204.65 205.90 -1.80HDFCBANK 2464.00 2475.00 2437.05 2441.00 -21.30ICICIBANK 439.50 440.50 433.60 436.70 -4.25TCS 2260.00 2261.95 2222.50 2228.00 -24.55ULTRACEMCO 4610.00 4624.95 4531.00 4547.00 -52.15TATASTEEL 511.50 515.65 499.10 504.80 -5.90BAJAJ-AUTO 2865.00 2869.00 2817.30 2832.40 -33.45VEDL 176.75 177.60 172.35 174.30 -2.55ONGC 170.30 171.30 166.65 168.00 -2.60RELIANCE 1277.10 1282.85 1248.65 1254.00 -20.15EICHERMOT 19549.50 19634.80 19080.00 19130.00 -349.30ZEEL 340.00 344.35 335.05 336.95 -6.55TATAMOTORS 165.20 166.75 161.35 162.45 -3.40INDUSINDBK 1458.00 1458.00 1400.00 1420.00 -30.20COALINDIA 259.45 260.80 253.00 253.25 -6.15INFRATEL 274.90 274.90 265.90 266.30 -8.50IBULHSGFIN 628.00 629.85 601.00 607.00 -20.45YESBANK 112.50 113.00 107.50 108.50 -3.90

SE 500B

��

SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 27431.40 27492.25 27285.80 27332.50 -48.85GICRE 211.50 224.90 209.00 217.35 10.35ICICIPRULI 375.25 390.00 375.25 389.50 16.05HDFCLIFE 457.95 470.65 456.35 464.55 9.40DLF 186.55 191.35 185.10 188.90 3.30MCDOWELL-N 576.35 589.80 576.35 584.85 8.70UBL 1327.95 1351.20 1321.00 1340.25 18.60CADILAHC 239.00 242.90 237.85 240.80 2.95HDFCAMC 2030.00 2070.00 2030.00 2061.00 24.35SIEMENS 1302.00 1319.90 1285.65 1308.75 14.55BIOCON 248.35 252.15 247.35 251.00 2.65MOTHERSUMI 121.50 124.00 120.55 122.15 0.70PAGEIND 20644.00 20760.00 20400.50 20752.00 109.70MRF 56799.00 56800.00 56346.85 56790.00 288.05DMART 1390.00 1405.45 1380.00 1397.10 6.55ABB 1590.00 1617.70 1588.00 1609.80 6.95BANDHANBNK 536.00 544.55 533.50 540.00 2.20PEL 1943.90 1958.00 1920.00 1945.00 3.70NMDC 113.30 113.70 111.55 113.05 0.00HINDPETRO 288.90 292.30 287.05 289.05 -0.25HINDZINC 243.95 244.60 241.10 244.35 -0.25MARICO 371.00 372.30 368.35 369.95 -0.90COLPAL 1127.00 1135.50 1122.00 1125.00 -3.20DIVISLAB 1599.55 1634.45 1592.10 1597.00 -4.80CONCOR 569.95 574.00 565.50 568.00 -1.85BAJAJHLDNG 3615.00 3631.90 3585.40 3605.00 -11.40OFSS 3197.90 3209.95 3158.00 3167.65 -12.15NIACL 150.90 154.10 148.15 148.15 -0.60BANKBARODA 121.00 125.60 120.50 120.90 -0.50DABUR 403.00 403.10 394.30 399.15 -1.95PIDILITIND 1226.00 1231.85 1209.10 1216.00 -7.15ASHOKLEY 88.65 88.65 86.25 87.45 -0.55AUROPHARMA 613.25 625.95 603.20 608.00 -4.25SBILIFE 725.00 734.85 717.00 721.15 -5.80NHPC 25.05 25.05 24.70 24.75 -0.20L&TFH 116.20 117.15 114.25 115.15 -0.95GODREJCP 668.50 668.60 659.40 662.70 -5.55SHREECEM 21900.00 22019.95 21587.55 21700.00 -187.90ICICIGI 1124.05 1125.00 1105.15 1109.00 -11.70ACC 1588.00 1588.85 1553.10 1564.00 -17.00BOSCHLTD 16648.00 16648.00 16301.00 16361.00 -190.30PETRONET 249.00 249.90 244.35 245.95 -3.20HAVELLS 795.00 806.85 782.65 783.50 -10.90PGHH 10847.30 10884.00 10681.00 10700.00 -166.40BHEL 74.40 74.55 72.55 73.50 -1.20INDIGO 1598.70 1598.70 1551.20 1557.05 -26.30LUPIN 770.00 790.00 751.05 753.00 -12.70SRTRANSFIN 1103.00 1103.00 1074.55 1080.00 -18.65IDEA 12.30 12.40 12.05 12.10 -0.25AMBUJACEM 219.50 219.50 212.05 212.90 -5.55SAIL 52.30 52.75 50.20 50.70 -1.50

�� !"#�!$%" �� ))

=��!�� %��&�� %�� '�� 234)4

India and four other BRICSnations on Friday called for

rules-based multilateral tradingsystem, as embodied in theWTO, to ensure transparent,non-discriminatory, open andinclusive international trade,amid growing protectionism.

Prime Minister NarendraModi, Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, ChinesePresident Xi Jinping, SouthAfrican President CyrilRamaphosa and BrazilPresident Michel Temer methere on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit and exchangedviews on international political,security and global economic-financial issues, as well as chal-lenges facing sustainable devel-opment.

In a joint press statementafter the meeting, the five lead-ers noted that the world eco-nomic growth appears to bestabilising and is generally pro-jected to pick up moderatelylater this year and into 2020.

However, the strengthen-ing of growth remains highlyuncertain, with rising tradeand geopolitical tensions, com-modity price volatility, inequal-ity and insufficient inclusivegrowth, and tighter financialconditions adding to the risk,it said.

“Global imbalances remainlarge and persistent and requirethorough monitoring and

timely policy responses.Wefurther stress the importance ofa favourable global economicenvironment for sustainedgrowth of international trade,”it said.

In this scenario, it said,projections indicate that BRICSwill continue to account formore than half of global eco-nomic growth through 2030.

“Continued implementa-tion of structural reforms willenhance our growth potential.Balanced trade expansionamong BRICS members willfurther contribute to strength-ening international tradeflows,” it said.

Amid the ongoing tradewar between the US and China,the leaders expressed theircommitment to transparent,non-discriminatory, open, freeand inclusive internationaltrade.

Protectionism and unilat-eralism run counter to thespirit and rules of the WorldTrade Organisation (WTO),they observed.

“We reaffirm our full sup-port for the rules-based multi-lateral trading system, asembodied in the WTO, toensure transparent, non-dis-criminatory, open and inclusiveinternational trade.

“We express our commonreadiness to engage in frankand result-oriented discussionswith other WTO memberswith a view to improving the

functioning of the WTO,” theysaid.

The leaders also empha-sised that it is imperative thatthe WTO negotiation agendabe balanced and be discussedin an open, transparent andinclusive manner.

Observing that the WTOdispute settlement mechanismis an indispensable pillar of themultilateral trading system,the statement said the AppellateBody is essential for the prop-er and effective functioning ofthe Organisation.

“We remain committedto the preservation of a func-tioning two-stage bindingadjudication system for dis-putes in the WTO. Recallingthe urgency of solving theimpasse in the appointment ofmembers of the WTOAppellate Body, we urge thatthe Appellate Body selectionprocess be initiated immedi-ately,” they said.

Leaders expressed theircommitment to a strong,quota-based and adequatelyresourced InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) at thecentre of the Global FinancialSafety Net and the conclusionof the 15th General Review ofQuotas should take place dur-ing 2019 Annual Meetings.

Appreciating the role of theNew Development Bank(NDB) in infrastructure financ-ing and sustainable develop-ment, it said, the bank will con-

tinue its efforts in building astrong, balanced and high-quality portfolio of projects.

“We emphasize the impor-tance of a focused effort toaddress the backlog in criticalinfrastructure investments inmember countries. The NDBwill be strengthened by theestablishment of regionaloffices. We welcome the NDB’scommitment to mobiliseresources in the domestic cur-rencies of all its members,starting in China, as well as theupcoming bond programmesin South Africa and Russia,” itsaid.

Leaders highlighted theimportance of the BRICSContingent ReserveArrangement (CRA) as amechanism to forestall short-term balance of payment pres-sures in member countries.

“Following the successfultest run conducted in 2018, wecommit to further more com-plex test runs to ensure itsoperational readiness torespond to a call on resources,if needed. We welcome thefunctioning of the CRA Systemof Exchange inMacroeconomic Information(SEMI),” it said.

Welcoming efforts to estab-lish the BRICS Local CurrencyBond Fund, it said they lookforward to starting its opera-tion. “We also support coop-eration between the CRA andthe IMF,” it said.

�� '��$�� '�� 234)4

India along with other BRICSnations on Friday called on

all states to prevent financingof terrorist networks and of ter-rorist actions from their terri-tories, as they pledged to com-bat terrorism and illicit finan-cial flow.

In a joint statement aftertheir informal meeting on thesidelines of the G-20 summit,BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa) lead-ers also reiterated their com-mitment to fight the exploita-tion of internet for terroristpurposes.

“We strongly condemn ter-rorist attacks, including againstBRICS countries, in all formsand manifestations, whereverand by whom so ever commit-ted,” they said.

“We urge concerted effortsand a comprehensive approachto counter terrorism under theUN auspices on a firm inter-national legal basis,” the BRICSleaders said.

Without naming any coun-try, the five leaders — includ-ing Prime Minister Narendra

Modi and Chinese President XiJinping — reiterated that it isthe responsibility of all states toprevent financing of terroristnetworks and of terroristactions from their territories.

While recognising thatstates have the leading role toensure safety and security inthe use of the information andcommunications technologies,they called on the technologycompanies to cooperate withgovernments, in accordancewith applicable law, to eliminatethe ability of terrorists to usedigital platforms to encourage,recruit, facilitate or commit ter-rorist acts.

“We remain firmly com-mitted to fighting corruptionand will continue to fosterintegrity in the public and pri-vate sectors,” they said.

The leaders of the fivenations pledged to strive topromote international anti-corruption cooperation andstrengthening of legal frame-works, as appropriate, to moreeffectively address cases of cor-ruption especially related toassets recovery.

“We will seek to enhance

our mutual efforts in the pros-ecution of persons sought forcorruption. We recognise therole of whistle-blowers in pre-venting and combating cor-ruption in both the public andprivate sectors and the need toimprove measures to protectwhistle-blowers,” they said.

They said that corruption,including illicit money andfinancial flows, and ill-gottenwealth stashed in foreign juris-dictions, is a global challengewhich may impact negativelyon economic growth and sus-tainable development.

“We will strive to coordi-nate our approach and encour-age a stronger global commit-ment on the issue,” they said.

They recognised the needto strengthen cooperation, sub-ject to domestic legal systems,in anti-corruption law enforce-ment, extradition of fugitives,economic and corruptionoffenders, and in recoveringstolen assets.

“We reaffirm our commit-ment to support internationalcooperation in combating illic-it financial flows, includingcooperation within the

Financial Actions Task Force(FATF), the World CustomsOrganisation and other rele-vant multilateral mechanisms,”they said.

The five leaders said theyrecognise the crucial role ofcooperation in transitioningtowards cleaner, more flexibleenergy efficient systems thatcombine growth with decreas-ing greenhouse gas emissions,while ensuring energy securi-ty, access to energy, sustain-ability and affordability.

“We acknowledge theimportance of varied sources ofenergy and technologicaladvances to achieve a low emis-sion future, such as solar ener-gy, sustainable bioenergy andnatural gas in transportation,”they said.

The leaders said they werecommitted to the full imple-mentation of the ParisAgreement, adopted underthe principles of the UNFC-CC, including the principles ofcommon but differentiatedresponsibilities and respec-tive capabilities, in the light ofdifferent national circum-stances.

��!�� Osaka (PTI): Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Friday metGerman Chancellor AngelaMerkel and discussed ways todeepen the Indo-German rela-tions and enhance cooperationin areas like artificial intelli-gence and cyber security.

The two leaders met in thisJapanese port city on the side-lines of the G-20 summit.

“Further enriching a cher-ished friendship. PM @naren-dramodi met ChancellorMerkel of #Germany on themargins of #G20OsakaSummit.Discussed enhancing coopera-tion in artificial intelligence, E-mobility, cyber security, railwaymodernisation & skill devel-opment. @eoiberlin,” Ministryof External Affairs spokesper-son Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

Chancellor Merkel alsocongratulated Modi on therecent electoral victory, thePrime Minister’s Office said ina tweet

“Giving impetus to friend-ship with Germany. ChancellorMerkel and PM @naren-dramodi discuss ways to diver-sify and deepen India-Germany ties,” the PMO tweet-ed.

Germany is India’s largesttrade partner in the 28-mem-ber European Union bloc.

In 2016-17, the bilateraltrade turnover was USD 18.76billion, with India exportinggoods worth USD 7.18 billionto Germany and importingGerman products worth USD11.58 billion, according toGerman media. !��%�� "��(��3�> � ��!��B��?��@� ��)�� !��# �� " ��

��"��,-��.� � 3�> � �3��&�� '� �!

/��"�&��1��&�"��#( ��'�� 234)4

Data is a “new form ofwealth” and it needs to

take into account the require-ments of developing countries,India said on Friday even asPresident Donald Trumpopposed data localisation andpolicies restricting the digitaltrade. US firms like Google,Mastercard, Visa and Amazonhave lobbied against data local-isation rules around the worldincluding India.

Addressing a press confer-ence after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi met Trumphere on the sidelines of the G20Summit, Foreign SecretaryVijay Gokhale said that India

recognises the importance ofthe interface between tradeand the digital economy.

“We also affirm the role ofdata for development.

“From our perspective,data is a major issue, it is anissue which we are also domes-tically looking at where inter-national rule-making is takingplace,” he said.

India’s view and the view ofother BRICS countries is thatdata should be discussed with-in the World TradeOrganization (WTO) contextand not outside the WTO con-text, Gokhale said.

“Data is also needs to takeinto account the requirementsof developing countries,” the

Foreign Secretary said.“It is a new form of wealth,”

he said.Trump, at the inaugu-ration of the G20 Summit,said that the US opposes datalocalisation.

“We must ensure resilienceand security of our 5G net-works, it’s essential to ourshared safety and prosperity.US opposes data localisationand policies which have beenused to restrict digital tradeflows and violate privacy andintellectual property protec-tion,” he said.

“The US seeks a future ofdigital trade that empowers allof our people. We look forwardto working with other G20members to advance an open,

fair and market-based digitaleconomy that provides for thefree flow of data and bringsnew prosperity to all of ournations,” the US Presidentadded.

In April last year, theReserve Bank of India issued adirective on ‘Storage ofPayment System Data’ andadvised all system providers toensure that within a period ofsix months, the entire datarelating to payment systemsoperated by them is stored ina system only in India, foreffective monitoring.

Many US companies haveraised concern over the issue ofdata localisation and its impacton their operational cost.

�� $��$��'�� 234)4

US President Donald Trumpon Friday struck a concil-

iatory tone with fellow worldleaders at one of the mosthigh-stakes G20 meetings inyears, despite deep divisions ontrade and climate change.

Host Shinzo Abe, theJapanese prime minister,appealed for unity among bick-ering world leaders at the startof Japan’s new era of “Reiwa” or“beautiful harmony”, with thelong-running trade rowbetween China and the UnitedStates threatening to over-shadow the event.

“With your help, I hope wewill realise beautiful harmonyin Osaka... rather than high-light our confrontations, let usseek out what unites us,” saidAbe as he opened the talks.

The appeal seemed to havechimed with arguably the club’smost volatile member, asTrump dialled down his previ-ously feisty rhetoric againsttraditional US allies.

Fresh from describingGermany as “delinquent” fornot paying enough into theNATO budget, he was effusivewhen meeting ChancellorAngela Merkel.

“She’s a fantastic person, afantastic woman and I’m gladto have her as a friend,” he said.

Merkel appeared well dur-ing the talks, a day after a sec-ond public shaking attackraised fears about her health.German officials insist she isnot ill.

Likewise, Trump hailedAbe, for sending “many auto-mobile companies” to theUnited States, apparently heart-

ened by a document Abe gavehim showing investment intothe US.

Only two days earlier, hehad seemed to question theUS-Japan alliance, saying thatWashington was committed toprotecting Japan but if Americawas attacked, the Japanesecould just “watch it on a Sonytelevision”.

As the meeting opened,world leaders mingled andgreeted each other during thefamily photo with FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macronand European CommissionPresident Jean-Claude Junckerwhispering extensively intoTrump’s ear.

Trump entered withPresident Vladimir Putin, chat-ting amicably, and the Russianleader patted his Americancounterpart gently on the backas they parted ways.

The pair met later for thefirst face-to-face talks sinceHelsinki in July with Trumphailing a “very, very good rela-tionship”.

The amicable meetingcame after Putin in an inter-view with the Financial Timesdeclared that the “liberal ideahas become obsolete”, a viewthat met with strong pushbackfrom EU President DonaldTusk.

“What I find really obsoleteare authoritarianism, person-ality cults, the rule of oli-garchs,” Tusk said at a briefingin Osaka.

And despite the warm firstencounters, the meeting couldbe one of the most explosive inyears, with clashes possibleover trade, Iran, and climatechange.

'�� 234)4

US President Donald Trumpon Friday hailed his “very,

very good relationship” withRussia’s President VladimirPutin as the two leaders heldtalks on the sidelines of the G20meeting.

“It’s a great honour to bewith President Putin,” saidTrump, who last held face-to-face talks with the Russianleader in Helsinki in 2018.

“We have a very, very goodrelationship,” Trump said.

The keenly awaited meet-ing between the pair has beenovershadowed by a probe intoTrump’s relations with Russiaand the controversy that erupt-ed the last time he held talkswith the Kremlin leader.

Asked before travelling toJapan about the planned talks,Trump told reporters the con-

tent of the discussions was“none of your business”.

“I’ll have a very good con-versation with him,” Trumptold reporters at the WhiteHouse. “What I say to him isnone of your business.” Trumphas been dogged throughout

his presidency by allegations ofsuspicious ties to Russia.

A major probe led by spe-cial prosecutor Robert Muellerfound there was an organisedRussian campaign to influencethe 2016 election won byTrump. It found contactsbetween Russian operativesand Trump’s election cam-paign, but no evidence of ajoint plot.

Trump has characterisedMueller’s findings as a completeexoneration. However, heremains under fire from oppo-nents for what they say is hisconsistently opaque relation-ship with Putin.

In Helsinki last year,Trump refused at a joint pressconference with Putin to crit-icise Russian interference in the2016 election and said that hebelieved the Russian leader’sdenials.

+��1��#�� $��7 �"��#��

"'�� 234)4

British Prime MinisterTheresa May told Russian

President Vladimir PutinFriday that normal relationswill not be restored untilMoscow ends its “irresponsibleand destabilising” activity, aDowning Street spokespersonsaid.

The comments came asMay met Putin for the firsttime since the row over thepoisoning of a former Russianspy on British soil.

“She told the presidentthat there cannot be a nor-malisation of our bilateralrelationship until Russia stopsthe irresponsible and desta-bilising activity that threatensthe UK and its allies — includ-ing hostile interventions inother countries, disinforma-tion and cyber attacks,” the

spokesperson said.May also told Putin, in the

talks on the sidelines of theG20 summit in Japan’s Osaka,that Britain “has irrefutableevidence that Russia wasbehind the attack” on the for-mer spy. “The prime minister

underlined that we remainopen to a different relation-ship, but for that to happenthe Russian government mustchoose a different path.”

London has made clearthat May’s meeting with Putin does not represent athawing of ties with Russia,despite calls from Putin for thetwo countries to “turn thepage”.

Ties have been severelystrained since the March 2018poisoning of the formerRussian spy and double agentSergei Skripal in the Englishcity of Salisbury.

The incident led to dozensof tit-for-tat diplomatic expul-sions and a breakdown inalready fragile relationsbetween Moscow andLondon.

Russia has repeatedlydenied any part in his killing.

��8)��,��

�-6�� ;$� �� '��$��*#�1��'�� 8%� �0 %4 �2%3

India along with the other G-4 nations has lambasted the

“very frustrating” develop-ments in the Security Councilreform process this year,lamenting the lack of trans-parency in negotiations, even asthe General AssemblyPresident expressed satisfactionover movement made inreforming the most powerfulUN organ.

The 193-member GeneralAssembly this week unani-mously adopted an oral deci-sion deciding to continue infor-mal Inter-GovernmentalNegotiations (IGN) on SecurityCouncil reform during its 74thsession, beginning inSeptember.

In doing so, the Assemblyrecognised that forthcomingnegotiations on UNSC reformwould build on the five infor-mal meetings held during its73rd session, on revised ele-ments of commonality andissues for further considerationand on proposals made byMember States.

However, UN MemberStates raised concerns about thenegotiating process movinginto its 10th year with littleprogress and underlined theurgency of reforming theOrganisation’s main organcharged with maintaininginternational peace and secu-rity.

Addressing reporters hereThursday, General AssemblyPresident María Fernanda

Espinosa acknowledged thatprogress in the Inter-Governmental Negotiationswas “extremely difficult, con-tentious, complicated” becauseof the different groups, theirviews and different interests butadded she is “very satisfied”with the outcome.

The G-4 bloc of Brazil,Germany, India, Japan how-ever strongly criticised theconduct of the work of IGNin this session, saying it was“perhaps symptomatic of allthat is wrong with thisprocess”.

“We have discussed with-in the IGN for 10 years nowand have not witnessed anytangible progress. Very frus-trating developments seen inthis session make it even moredifficult for the G4 to acceptbusiness as usual. The IGNstarted one decade ago and itstill has to fulfil its goal to kickstart real negotiations,” thegroup said.

It added that the outcomedocument was presented late inthe process and Member Stateshad only one round of discus-sions to consider it.

The four-nation groupingsaid it had made it clear fromthe outset that the documentshould be presented much ear-lier to facilitate more focusedand results-oriented discus-sions.

“Since that did not happen,the least we could ask for wasadditional meetings.Regrettably, none of thoserequests were heeded.”

� & . 1 � � � 2 1 � � 2 � �

5�� H�� !�� !�� H��

��!�� 5�� (��!�� !�� D�� !�� H��!��(� �!�� !�

�)*�<��)<* +2�<2)�!��C5-�� 5� ��!�� !��5��!�� !�� !�� !��!��

+*0*))**<�=<*+�*��H��!�� ?99��

�� !�� !� �� !�� !��!��

5�J7� ��4 ��K�� 3��4� �� !��5�� !��!�� !�� !!�� "!!��

�� !"#�!$%"

029<*)�0*��2

��69��

+�92��<��''

!�!��&'(�)* +, )�

Huma Qureshi sashays in wear-ing a beautiful red gown andwhat follows is unexpected tosay the least. In the video putout by Netflix, within four days

of a release of a film that has done really wellat the box office and is almost a users’ man-ual for toxic masculinity, the actor in a funway tries to put a stop to mansplaining.Using a pacifier called Shush, that is clear-ly a throwback to her character of ShaliniRizwan Choudhary, who is searching for herdaughter Leila in the eponymously-namedshow, she displays how easily it can shutpatriarchy. “It is easy to use plug-in technol-ogy and allows users to silence theirsilencers,” Huma says in the video. While theentire sequence is entertaining, the last bitis what makes the message hit home.When the director tells her, “This is too intel-ligent, you need to look sexy,” Humapromptly stuffs Shush in his mouth.

Talking about the campaign, Huma,fresh from her outing in Leila, says, “I lovedthe way that this entire video has come out.The OTT platform is known for its discern-ing content and so what is heartening to seeand experience is the way that they choseto market it. Rather than doing two to threeinterviews, one press conference and one ortwo dances at malls, they pitched it in a man-ner that was in consonance with the con-tent.” Huma points out that though the ideawas inspired from a video made by MarionCotillard where she said that men shouldlook women in the eye and not the chest,Netflix took it up and made it their own.

While its purported aim is to promoteLeila, Huma does agree that the variousOTT platforms are at the forefront of por-traying women taking charge of their lives,be it Shefali Shah in Delhi Crime, RadhikaApte in Ghoul, Dia Mirza in Kaafir and ofcourse she herself in Leila. “It was a long timein the coming and this is just the startingpoint as it will go further. It is nice, refresh-ing and rather liberating to see women beingthe prime movers rather than being rescuedby men and I am glad to be a part of theprocess. It is a beginning point where a lotof actors, actresses and stories would follow.It is a great and healthy trend and I hope itstays that way,” says Huma, her character-

istically deep voice flavoured by excite-ment that is evident even on a slightlypatchy phone line.

She points out that while Shalini isa lot like her, “the character was liberatingin a lot of different ways. I feel that whiledoing some of those difficult scenes, wheredespite everything she kept her dignity,maintained her resolve to find her daugh-ter, I also internalised some of her strength.”

Huma was sold on the story from theword go. “When I got that call from OpenAir Films and met Deepa Mehta (whodirected the first two episodes of the sixpart series), I knew I had to do it. I wasreally hoping that they do not meetother actresses or go to anyone else.I would have been heartbroken. Forme, it wasn’t just a role or a film. Itwas much more than that. I want-ed to be a part of this journey as itwas trying to put across a very dif-ferent story,” says Huma, whowith her very first outing in Gangsof Wasseypur had grabbed eyeballs,describing why she decided to takeup the project.

While she has never been a wallflowerin any of the roles that she has played, beit the bisexual Muniya in Dedh Ishqiyaor Pushpa Pandey in Jolly LLB 2, it is inLeila where she has come into her own.Rather than how she looks, the empha-sis was on what her character was like. Inthe entire series that runs for about sixhours, Huma is mostly seen wearing thesame set of clothes, her hair in disarray, facesometimes covered with grease or mud.“Deepa had a vision and as an actor, you arewaiting to be pushed when you have thatright material and the right character whereyou can really give it your all. Somewherenot all opportunities are equal and not allroles are as demanding. I felt that Leila wasthe right moment for me. I am grateful thatI have been given that space to play a char-acter like Shalini with all her strengths, weak-nesses, vulnerabilities and everything,” saysshe.

To play a character minus the gloss thatis the norm in the Hindi film industry, herapproach was different. “I read PrayaagAkbar’s book (on which the series is based)

and the script. I was involved in every pos-sible draft. But as for a physical referencepoint, like a film that I had seen or a char-acter that someone had played, there wasnone,” she says and goes on to add as to howMehta kept on egging her to push herboundaries.

Huma points out that often when theprotagonist is a strong woman, the referencesare usually very alpha. Deepa, however,wanted her to attempt something which wasa little offbeat. “We wanted to find a very dif-ferent kind of feminine energy which couldbe vulnerable, a woman who could cry andfeel for the child and at the same time be alittle cunning and be a survivor despiteeverything and keep her dignity,” she says.In pursuit of that goal, the director askedHuma to play it a little differently. “Shekept telling me, let’s do something newand not something that you or I havedone before. Let us find a new expres-sion of a woman who is strong yetvulnerable. Her constant reminderwas not to bring my bag of tricksand be predictable and not to give

the obvious emotion. When adirector believes in you and

keeps telling you that youcan do it, that is very com-forting and liberating as itmeans that I could just be

myself and not worryabout how I am look-

ing on screen. Myendeavour was to

look convinc-ing and getinto theskin of thecharacter

rather thanw o r r y i n ga b o u twhere the

light hadbeen placed,”

she says and laughs. In a show that had

some really disturbing scenes,including one where drugged women roll

over leftover food as part of a penance, thereis one which Huma found the most diffi-cult to execute. In Episode 1, where Sapna,the maid is washing her face, Shalini shoosher away and then sanitises the faucet. “Itwas a difficult scene to do as I felt that Shaliniis a horrible person. I had to first grapplewith my own personal emotion as to howI could play someone so evil. It was so wrongand how can I treat someone like that wasthe question that came to my mind. But I

realised that I have to do it as it wasimportant to show Shalini as

someone who is grey andprivileged who takes thesethings for granted. It was

important to make peoplerealise what we end up doing inday-to-day interactions,” she says.Moreover, when the tables are

turned, one realises that there is nodifference between a Shalini and a

Sapna. The only difference is that ofcircumstances.

Besides Deepa, the series had twomore directors, Shanker Raman and PawanKumar. As an actor, does it enrich the jour-ney or does it result in continuity-relatedissues? Says Huma, “Each director bringshis/her own energy and point of view to thesame material. The script was constant butin a state of an evolutionary process. Wewanted to portray Shalini as someone at thestarting point and show a general growth inher character as the show progressed. It issuch a character-dependent show that herjourney, her search and her coming of ageform the main thrust of the story. So I hadto work very closely with all my directorsto make sure that the journey was possible,”she says.

The show depicts a totalitarian regimewhich controls how its citizenry acts, reads,speaks, dresses, eats and marries. Talking ofhistory and the world in general, which finda reflection in art, Huma points out,“Whenever a totalitarian regime takes over,the first thing they try to do is control lit-erature, arts and culture. There have beeninstances like the burning of the library inAlexandria or the bombing of the statues inBamiyan. These are just attempts to rewritehistory as it is usually written by the victors.It is always easy to rewrite and re-define yourpast based on what your understanding ofthe present is. For me, that was very specialbecause there have been so many instancesin history where people have come, takenover a country and tried to rewrite historyfrom their point of view.”

So would she say that the show is areflection of contemporary times especial-ly since many people on social media calledit anti-Hindu or Hindu-phobic and starteda movement to unsubscribe to the web plat-form? “That is a question for Netflix toanswer,” she guffaws and says, “It was notHindu-phobic and that was never theintention. The show is set in a land that issimilar to India, which is called Aryavarta.If the show was to be set in China or Portugalor wherever, we would set it in those timesand take references from there. Moreover,people who actually saw the show did notthink of it as such.”

Of course, Deepa did modify the scriptdepending upon what is happening in theworld. There is a scene where they hadplanned to show young child labourers beingchained to their workplace. Just at that point,

migration of children was happening fromMexico to the United States. They were keptin shelters, which were like cages and Deepainsisted on getting the structures designedlike them. “When you read about what ishappening in America, where DonaldTrump is trying to keep babies away fromfamilies of immigrants, we do feel helpless.During the shoot, we did read a lot of arti-cles about what was happening in manycountries. Of course, as viewers, you will finda lot of parallels around the world. In thatsense you are free to draw as many paral-lels as come to your mind depending onyour aptitude or level of understanding orreading. But the idea was not to talk aboutany specific community in any way,” assertsHuma.

Having been a part of the industry since2012, the actor’s learning curve has beenpretty sharp. She says, “I like the way you’vedecided that I have evolved. I am still evolv-ing. I am the ugly duckling waiting tobecome a swan,” she says and gives outanother uninhibited laugh that has pepperedthe conversation. But that is not surprisinggiven the fact that Huma is unabashedly aDelhi girl.

She admits to liking everything aboutthe city. “There is nothing that I don’t like.I grew up in South Delhi so my entire lifewas within a five-kilometre radius. GargiCollege, GK M Block market, SouthExtension and Connaught Place are placesthat I visited so very often,” says the Delhigirl whose father Saleem Qureshi is arestaurateur who runs Saleem’s, a chain ofrestaurants in the city.

But what about the way the capital treatsits women, given the fact that Huma picksup content that has headstrong women.“Why just Delhi, the entire world treats itswomen in a way that is problematic. Thefact that when a crime against a woman iscommitted, the family tells the woman tosit at home because the society and thetimes are bad. That disturbs me a lot. Delhiis notorious for its crime against womenand there is a massive need to have a rev-olution for better safety for women and alsofor a better space for women in terms ofbeing negotiators within our homes orinstitutions,” she asserts and starts to talkabout Shush again. However, time has runout but Huma surely has much more to talkabout at another time.

Tell us a little about the film, Truth orDare, and the roles that you both haveplayed.Lucy Hale: I play the character ofOlivia. The film is about a group of

friends who travel to Mexico andbecome possessed by an evilgame of truth or dare and itbecomes a life or death situ-ation where they must pro-tect themselves and theirfriends.Tyler Posey: I play Lucas,

who is caught in a love trian-gle. He seems to have it all fig-ured out and planned. He also

becomes very vulnerable andscared because he and hisfriends are caught up in thatsituation where lies are beingtested by a demon that haspossessed a game of truth ordare and they have to figure

out how to defeat it withoutdying. It’s “protect them friends.”

In the film, the two of you arebest friends and have knowneach other for some time.There are secrets and lies.There is drama and melo-drama of sorts. And then,

there is death. How did it feellike to be together as a littleunit, since you haven’t knowneach other before the film.You came together asstrangers but needed to havea bonding in the film?Tyler: It was seamless.Lucy: Yes, the foundation of the

film is friendship between thesecharacters and we, of course, wanted

that to be authentic and make it seem believ-able. I knew Tyler a bit before we shot this

film. But they actually sent us on a trip toMexico to bond and so we got along reallywell and got to know each other. We werelucky that we all vibed well with each otherfrom the start and even had a similar senseof humour. So, the chemistry you see oncamera felt very natural for all of us.

While you were bonding and playingtruth or dare, what were the best questionsthat were asked? And were there any majorrevelations at the end of it?Tyler: Sophia (Taylor Ali) was dared to danceon the table which she got very excited for.I think she may have dared herself to do that(laughs). Rest, I can’t remember. I don’t thinkthe game went on for too long. It was latein the night. I was dared to jump in a pool,which was too cold but it was Mexico. Lucy: Pretty standard truth or dare!Tyler: And it wasn’t that intense. No majorrevelations were involved.

How was Jeff Wadlow as a director? Tyler: I had a great time working with him.He’s really cool.Lucy: What’s great with working with himis that he has a kind of energy that keeps uswanting to be on his level. He was well pre-pared and had a proper planning. He had avision for the film and an endpoint wherehe knew what he needed to achieve. I have

so much respect for him because of what wecaptured within our short filming period. Ican’t believe that the quality of the filmturned out to be as great as it did despitebeing on a time crunch. Tyler: Yes. He is the man. He was alwayslooking out for us, having fun. We were likea big family and it was really fun to shootwith each other. He was super enthusiasticwhenever he was directing. For example, hewould shout ‘cut’ like CUUUUTTTT!

Lucy: We knew when he liked something.It is because he has a kind of growl in histhroat. If you notice, in the film, there is acreepy grin. When Jeff smiles, he looks likethat. So, I think that was inspired by Jeff, thecreepy face and I mean that in the best waypossible.

You both have been a part of intense TVshows with thrills, twists and turns. Doesappearing in a brave show like this help you

face anything in your real life now?Lucy: Absolutely not. I wish I was half as coolas Aria Montgomery (in Pretty Little Liars).Tyler: I think you’re pretty tough.Lucy: I fake it very well but I don’t think Icould handle half the stuff that my charac-ters have handled. No chance.Tyler: Absolutely not. We’ve battled likedemons and monsters. I would try to at leaststand up for myself but I probably would-n’t get very far. I get winded pretty easily. Ican’t walk up the hill without feeling like Iam going to vomit.

Was there a particularly memorablemoment while filming this one? Forexample, the roof scene and the finale.Tyler: The finale was pretty memorable.Lucy: It was memorable for me because wehad built that set in a warehouse inDowntown Los Angeles. It was covered indirt and I just remember everyone hack-ing up dirt and blowing their nose. Therewas just dirt coming out of us because wewere in that room for around 15 hoursevery day for a week. I just remember itbeing really hot. It felt as if it were 110degrees there.Tyler: I loved that whole sequence. It was somuch fun. It was choreographed and therewere stunts, which I am down for becauseTeen Wolf had a bunch of them. I got to betackled. I got to throw somebody. There wasa lot going on in that segment. That wasprobably the most memorable time.

If you could describe the film in threewords each, what would you say?Lucy: Morbid, silly and exhilarating. Theseare just great words for it. Or cool? Also,Really. Messed. Up.Tyler: Nice! There you go, cool.(The film premieres on June 30 at 1 pm and9 pm on Sony PIX.)

4�� 68"C�746�� C6�,�;23�C �� !�� !��!�� !��1�� 4� =�=4

�� '��

�(!�#&��2

� �� !�� 3�� 78�4�L8,�37� ��34�� 34 4, ��!�� !��

��

�� 9��

�� !"#�!$%"● �-.)��+/��+�/)��/��/��+��/�)�+��/)�+��)�� 0��/ ��'�� +��.��)��/)��1��/��/��1��2�/�)�

� ��'� ��7

��'��"��

�

��E��"��

��

��

��!��

��

'��!��

��''��

��

� ��'��

��

�

"��'��

��"��"�

� �

��

H ��7 !

"'�� ;2, 2�46�/,�

Gabriel Jesus scoredthe winning spot-kick

in a tense penalty shoot-outas Brazil exorcized theirdemons to beat Paraguay andreach the CopaAmerica semi-finals.

Twice before in2011 and 2015Paraguay had beat-en Brazil at thissame stage on penalties at theSouth American extravaganza.

Willian came closest to scor-ing in normal time for Brazilwhen he hit the post as Paraguayheld out for a 0-0 draw formore than 40 minutes follow-ing the dismissal of FabianBalbuena for a profession-al foul on Roberto Firminoon Thursday.

Brazilian media had beenalmost in a state of paranoia beforethe match recalling the painfulmemories from Argentina in 2011and Chile four years later whenParaguay produced stubborn defen-sive displays before snatching vic-tory in the spot-kick lottery.

But it wasn’t to be this time asBrazil goalkeeper Alisson savedGustavo Gomez’s opening spot-kickat the Gremio Arena in PortoAlegre.

Although Firmino dragged hiseffort wide, Derlis Gonzalez alsofired past the post allowing Jesus,who missed a penalty in Brazil’s lastmatch, to be the match-winner.

The tournament hosts will faceeither perennial rivals Argentina orVenezuela in Tuesday’s semi-finalin Belo Horizonte.

Brazil started brightly and pro-duced a beautiful passing move inthe fourth minute as local favoriteEverton drove in off the left wingand found Dani Alves on the edgeof the area, with the full-back slip-ping the ball on to Firmino, whoseweak shot was straight at goalkeep-er Roberto Fernandez.

The best chance of the firstquarter fell to Paraguay as HernanPerez found Gonzalez unmarked atback post but Alisson saved his nearpost shot. It was turgid fare on offerto the Porto Alegre crowd, whostarted a slow clap just after the halfhour. � K�� ! ��

Predictably, Brazil were booed

off at half-time, for the third timein four matches. Tite wasted notime in making a change, but itwas a curious one swapping left-back Felipe Luis for Alex Sandro.

Neat interplay saw Firmino teeup Coutinho just outside the boxbut his precise finish was easilysaved again. Brazil had changedtactic and were driving more pur-posefully at the heart of thedefence, with Arthur flashing a

shot over the bar.It paid dividends on 54

minutes when Firminowon a free-kick on theedge of the penalty area— overturned from theoriginal decision of a

penalty by VAR — andBalbuena was shown a red

card for a professional foul.Dani Alves’s fierce low

free-kick was deflected wide,though. Brazil started to pullPar ag u ay ’s ove r worke ddefenders out of positionand A r t hu r forc e dFernandez into a diving savebefore Jesus dragged aneffort wide.

With Paraguay unable topose any threat Tite with-drew his defensive mid-fielder Allan and threw on

winger Willian, with Jesuspushed into t he midd lealongside Firmino.

Almost immediately, Jesusmissed a gilt-edged chancefrom eight yards out before

Fi r m i n o h e a d e d aMarquinhos cross wide.

Tite went for broke,bringing on attackingmidfielder Lucas Paquetafor full-back Alves and ita l mo st worke d butWillian saw his low leftfoot shot cannon back

off the post sendingthe match into a tensepenalty shoot-out.

"'�� "7�3 �,�6��3 ,��

Former champions Sri Lanka are all butout of the ongoing World Cup aftersuffering a nine-wicket drubbing

against a clinical South Africa, here onFriday.

Sent in to bat, Sri Lanka produced adismal batting show to manage a modest203, a target which the Proteas overhauledwith 76 balls in hand.

With just six points from seven games,Sri Lanka still have a mathematical chanceto be in the semifinals.

First, they need to win their last twogames against already-eliminated WestIndies (on July 1) and India (July 6) andthen depend on favourable results fromother remaining league stage games.

The win, however, came as a welcomerelief for South Africa, who have endureda nightmarish World Cup campaign.

The Proteas are already out of the tour-nament after registering just two wins outof their eight games.

Chasing the modest target, SouthAfrica lost Quinton de Kock (15) at thescore of 31 in the fifth over but thereafterHashim Amla and skipper Faf du Plessisheld the fort and stitched an unbeaten 175-run stand to guide the Proteas home com-fortably.

While Du Plessis remained unbeatenon 96 off 103 balls, hitting 10 boundariesand one six, Amla finished on 80 not outoff 105 balls with the help of five fours.

Lasith Malinga (1/47) was the only suc-cessful bowler for Sri Lanka.

Earlier, the Proteas picked up wicketsat regular intervals after the first 10 overs,never allowing the Sri Lankan middle-ordersettle down.

Drafted into the playing eleven in place

of Lungi Ngidi, pacer Dwaine Pretarius(3/25) justified his selection with a three-wicket haul.

Chris Morris (3/46) and Kagiso Rabada(2/36) shared five wickets between them.

Sri Lanka had a horrible start as theylost skipper Dimuth Karunaratne in thefirst ball of the match, caught by his coun-

terpart Du Plessis at the second slip offRabada.

Thereafter, Kusal Perera (30 off 34) andAvishka Fernando (30 off 29) took thecounter-attacking approach and playedfearlessly to stitch a 67-run stand off 58 ballsbefore the duo perished in quick succes-sion.

Right-arm pacer Pretorius sent boththe batsmen packing in consecutive oversas Sri Lanka slumped to 72 for three in 11.3overs.

New man Angelo Mathews looked inno hurry and took 29 balls to score his 11runs before he played on a Morris deliv-ery in the 22nd over.

Kusal Mendis (23 off 51) had to dugdeep for his runs before he becamePretorius' third victim, spooning one toMorris at extra cover.

Dhananjaya de Silva (24) , JeevaMendis (18) and Thisara Perera (21) all gotstarts but threw away their wickets whenSri Lanka needed them to carry on.

!�� "��

"'�� 62%02%

Rafael Nadal breathed a sigh ofrelief Friday after he was slated to

meet eight-time champion RogerFederer in the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Nadal's fears that he would bedrawn in top-seeded favourite anddefending champion NovakDjokovic's half of the draw — andface him in the semis — provedunfounded despite Wimbledon pro-moting Federer above him in theseedings.

The Spaniard, seeded thirdbehind Federer, had complained ear-lier this week that Wimbledon'sunique formula for seeding thatcombines ranking points with formin grass-court competitions was dis-respectful.

World number one Djokovicwill in theory face South African

fourth seed and last year's beatenfinalist Kevin Anderson — who waspromoted from eighth in the world— in the last four.

Nadal, who comes in onthe back of his 18th GrandSlam singles title after winninghis 12th French Open whichincluded beating Federer in thesemi-finals, will do well to reachthe last four as he has a tough look-ing draw.

He should have little troublewith his first round opponent, YuichiSugita of Japan, but after that thingsbecome more perilous.

Moody but talented AustralianNick Kyrgios — who beat Nadal inthe last 16 at Wimbledon in 2014 —is a potential second round opponentand highly-rated Canadian youngsterDenis Shapovalov could await in thethird round.

If he emerges from those tussles

he could face Croatia's 2017Wimbledon singles finalistMarin Cilic in the last 16.

His great rivals Djokovicand Federer begin their cam-

paigns against 35-year-oldGerman Philipp Kohlschreiber andLloyd Harris of South Africa respec-tively.

Kohlschreiber beat Djokovic ear-lier this year in the third round atIndian Wells.

The women's draw seesAustralia's new world number oneand French Open champion AshleighBarty open against China's ZhengSaisai with a potentially tricky datewith Spain's 2017 champion GarbineMuguruza in the third round.

The most intriguing match-up

could come in the fourth round witha rematch of last year's final betweendefending champion AngeliqueKerber of Germany and Americanlegend Serena Williams.

There is a first round match ofthe old and the very new asWilliams's 39-year-old sister Venuswill play compatriot Cori Gauff, whoon Thursday at 15years of agebecame the youngest woman toqualify for the tournament in theOpen era.

Japan's Naomi Osaka — whomBarty replaced as world number onewhen she won the Birminghamtournament last Sunday — beginsher bid to add Wimbledon to her USand Australian Open titles againstKazakh Yulia Putintseva.

"'�� "4�,2

Riyad Mahrez and Algeriafired a warning to the

rest of their Africa Cup ofNations title rivals with adeserved 1-0 win over SadioMane's heavily-fanciedSenegal in Cairo onThursday.

Mane struggled toimpress on his return fromsuspension as Youcef Belailicrashed home the winner on49 minutes to guaranteeAlgeria a berth in the last 16.

It is almost a decadesince Algeria last made animpact at the competition byreaching the 2010 semi-finals, and this was a perfor-

mance of great promise fromthe north African side infront of a large crowd at a

blustery 30 June Stadium.However Senegal, on the

hunt for a first continental

title, will still be expected tojoin Algeria in the knockoutrounds as they wrap up thegroup phase against Kenyaon July 1.

Mane was one of threechanges to the Senegal teamthat brushed Tanzania aside2-0 in their opening game,with Cheikhou Kouyate fill-ing in for the injured Salifsane in central defence.Algeria coach DjamelBelamdi stuck with the teamthat rolled Kenya over by thesame scoreline.

Having absorbed

Senegal's advances with rel-ative comfort, Algeria grewmore assertive and BaghdadBounedjah had EdouardMendy scrambling acrosshis goal when his a deflect-ed effort that bounced nar-rowly wide.

Bounedjah, who hit 39goals in just 21 starts forQatar's Al Sadd last season,looked odds on to score forthe second game running inEgypt when he lifted the ballover Mendy only for aretreating Kalidou Koulibalyto clear.

(��:��%�7�� &�� -5 �� "<-�� )%��)��

�� 7��$"��%$ ��!��3�� "��3�"�� $�� $"�� 7�� 5�� "�!�� 3�� 3��/-��

��&�� +��"��,-CD��

��44�55��1��/�� #-.;#, 7�� %��* ��,2� �#-�#��5 ��J%EK 1�� " ��0 !��J4��K 4�� &&�9&�?''&7��3� �� J1��K 1�� "��!��=��J36K ;�� !� ��M�� ?*�9&�&99$1 �� JE�!K 615 )�� !�"��J"��K %�� &N�9&�&9??�� /��J%EK 615 3��"�� J5�K �� &&�9A��&9?'0�!��)� �� J36K� "�� )��,��J34K "�� 3� � &N�9A��&9?'�

& ��"�&& ��

�#�� D"�� 1 �M��;� ��*�$�� "��!��

�!�� "�!��&9&9�"��4! ��- ��4 ��; ��0�D�� 3��4! ��!��!�� !��"� �� 1� ��D��!�� 4�� "�� !��O��P�� !�� "2%��126��"��4! �� "��!�� !��5 ��"�� !�� "��4! ��

O ��&9&9�"��4! ��"�!�� P��0�D�� !�� >�"�!��1 �M��=�M�� ; �� M��4 ��8 ��"��1��;� �� M�� !��G ��4�� 4��!��L�� G ��M�� !�� !��M��D�� D�� %(�� -�� &9?+�� !��"�� 8��3��&9?A�� "'

�� 9�9�"��

. � & � 1 � � . 1 � �

/��-��$!!��!�!�!��$)�!��#!$�#

"'�� 62%02%�

�� " ��/��83!�� !��

�� D�� 5�!��

/�� ?+�� !��!�� 1 ��H��6�� ,��&99'�� ?'��/ ��1��!�A�?��A�?��

Q��!��!��Q��$9?�� /��D�� 6��) �� 3��6��H�� !��

��&9?$� �� !/ !�� !��%�!� ��

1�� &&�!�� ) ��9�A��A�*��A�*��!��!�� !��1��!H��,��1!�!��!�� $?�� D�� 5�!�� !� �� (��!��4! ��0��C��A�*��A�*��A�?�

4�� ?'�� 4�(�;�� 4! ��1� �� A�$��@�A�J@<AK��A�@�J*<@K��@�A�JN<AK�� " ��&9�� D��A�&��A�*��A�*��!��!�� !��!�� 4�� 4 ��3�� "� ��D��

4 ��)� ��A�*��A�$��$�A��*�A��A�$��"� ��1 ��3�� "��A�$��A�&��A�?��

� �� '��3 ��

&�'�� =��' �

�"�� " '��"�� "��# ��

� ��"�>��"�� $�� "��"�� $�� "�'�� ! � �� '� ��

"'�� 62%02%

Australia coach Justin Langerwants his fringe players to

ensure they are ready to perform,but those hoping to replaceMitchell Starc and Pat Cumminswill need to be content with ridingthe pine.

Australia secured their ticket tothe semi-finals with an emphaticvictory over England on Tuesday,giving them some breathing roomfor their final two group gamesagainst third-placed New Zealandon Saturday at Lord's and thenunderperformers South Africa inManchester next week.

But Langer stressed the reign-ing 50-over champions won'ttake their foot off the gas andwill likely follow the wish-es of their star quicks bykeeping them on the parkfor their final two groupgames.

"I don't think theywould want to," thecoach said when askedif the pair would rest.

"It is going to beone of the challengesfor us. It is really niceto know we are in thesemi-final. It's a real-ly nervous time lead-ing out to it becauseyou can't win the final unlessyou are in the semi-final. "ButI would be surprised if eitherof those guys rest up.

"The challenge is going tobe that we have long layoffsnow, a bit of a layoff here, then

five or six days in Manchester, wehave to manage that really well. SoI don't think they will want to rest."

There had been concern overhow their bowlers would pull upafter playing four games and trav-elling nearly 700 kilometres in agruelling nine-day stretch earlier inthe tournament.

But, in the midst of a morespread-out finish to the group-stagein which they play their final threegames in 15 days, Starc andCummins both appear in goodphysical nick.

Australia are understandablywary of overcooking them giventhe duo have a key role to play inthe five-Test Ashes series to fol-low.

The recalled JasonBehrendorff made a strongcase to be the third seamer forthe business end of the WorldCup after a career-best inter-national five-wicket haul toflatten England.

Off-spinner NathanLyon, in his first game of thetournament, was also com-

mended for his frugal returneven if he didn't claim a wicket.

But despite only losing onegame all tournament, Australiahave consistently mixed andmatched their team and Langerurged the four players who missed

out against England - AdamZampa, Kane Richardson, NathanCoulter-Nile and Shaun Marsh - tobe prepared to play the Kiwis.

"Will Smith used to say 'alwaysstay ready so I don't have to getready'," Langer said. "And I'vethought that for 10 years and that'sbeen a big motto for us.

"You always stay ready andthat's the same for Zampa andCoulter-Nile and Kane Richardsonand for Shaun Marsh who didn'tplay the last game and for every oneof our players."

Langer took particular pride inthe performance of Behrendroff,having mentored the left-arm quickduring his time as WesternAustralia and Perth Scorcherscoach before taking the nationaljob.

"To come to England and bowlon the big stage as well as he did,it will be a great confidence boostfor him. I think it's also a big con-fidence boost for the team," saidLanger "I've seen it for a long timeand we've seen him do it intermit-tently playing and not playing forAustralia. We know he can do it, heis a very good athlete and he's anincredible professional so he will doeverything possible to play.

"And he's a really nice person.So we see those sort of people geta reward is really pleasing."

'�� 62%02%

Peaking at the right time, Australiawill resume their Trans-Tasmanrivalry at the World Cup stage

when they take on a New Zealand sidelow on confidence after its first defeatof the tournament today.

Barring the defeatagainst India,defending champi-ons Australia havedone nothing wrong inthis tournament,becoming the first teamto qualify for the semis.

The Aaron Finch-ledside is in roaring form andwould look to continue thewinning momentum at thehallowed Lord’s.

New Zealand go into thematch after suffering a defeatagainst Pakistan, which snappedtheir unbeaten streak in the tourna-ment.

The Black Caps — who haveamazingly retained the sameside for all their sevenmatches — have secured11 points and need atleast a win from theirremaining two out-ings — againstAustralia andEngland (July 3) —to be assured of afourth straightWorld Cup semifi-nals berth.

They met in the2015 final at theMCG and withmemories of thatgame st i l l fresh,Saturday’s match mayturn out to be a crack-er.

The Trans-Tasmanrivalry is heavily skewedagainst New Zealandwith Australia havingwon all but one of the 20ODIs played outside the

two countries. The only win for theBlack Caps in a neutral venue havecome in the 1999 World Cup match at

Sophia Gardens.That win in 1999 has also been the

lone victory for New Zealand in sevenWorld Cup matches between the twosides.

Not only history but current formof the players also point to five-timechampions Australia beginning as thefavourites.

Australia swept past hosts andworld number one England by 64 runsin their last match and currently look

like one of the two sides most likely tolift the trophy, the other being

India.Finch and David Warner

have been the dominant open-ing duo of this tournament

and are on track tobecome the greatestever pair at the top in

a World Cup.They rank first

and second in therun-scoring lists,and have put on a

record-equalling threecentury stands with two

league games still to go.Fast bowler Mitchell Starc is top-

ping the bowling charts with 19 wick-ets at 18.26. He’s caused New Zealandbatsmen headaches before with hisbounce, swing and pace.

Jason Behrendorff also came goodwith the new Kookaburra ball in thewin over England as the left-armer took5/44.

New Zealand will again rely heav-ily on captain Kane Williamson who hasscored 414 runs at 138 in five innings.His lone century against Australiacame when they last met, at the

Champions Trophy in 2017, a contestthat was washed out.

His overall record against Australia(416 runs at 41.6 in 12 ODIs) is,though, not as great as his overall careeraverage of 48.12.

�I ��Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), JasonBehrendorff, Alex Carey, NathanCoulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, UsmanKhawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh,Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, SteveSmith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis,David Warner, Adam Zampa.New Zealand: Kane Williamson (capt),Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, TomLatham, Colin Munro, Jimmy Neesham,Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, IshSodhi, Trent Boult , Colin deGrandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, TimSouthee, Ross Taylor, Tom Blundell.

&��0��.�&��0��.!�� "# /6 ��!�7/

��'(!# �89 :; 8: ;7<0�.�$��'(!# <+ =< �8 +7��"& �; < 8 >7>5�#��+��$��'(!# + � � �

&23&��.��"#�� 8<?>+��+;�� !�#� ;9>��>�;�9

��)!��/!-�66!�� 8+;>:��=:*8�� !�#� �;>;�>�;;<

��$��1*.1-�/��2/� �

�!�$ � � 5 � /7 �"''!##@�"#�� :��9? �� <+*?�/6 ?+ +8 8� > � 9�*:=

&�)�9��&&9�(��9�

�� !"#�!$%"● ��2��3� .*+��)�/2�%4��2�/+��/��0� �.��-�%5�($��+�6��.+�-��+��/�)�+��+�/)��-* /)�)�.)�+/��2�/�/�2��/)�+��)+

��

�� '� ��!

�� !��

�� 7

��

��

�7��'�

��

� �� 3�7

�1��

��

�""��

��

��

��

H � ��7��

��

-�1�2/�3��2��9/� �:��/0;� ��%��E�� H�� !�� @$B��

3 ��6��H��!��/�� 6 �H��

��&9?$�� !�� !��

-2��&��1��9��1��2�; �� !�� 5 ��"��!��&9?+��?'��3�� A<&N��%�

E��;� ��&9?+�� 1 ��"��!��

��4� ��H��

�� 6�� !�� !�� 20��6 �H�� !��3��

��

�Have you officially got a team?We will have a team, but I can’t name

it just yet because we just turned up to train-ing for the afternoon session and wehaven't quite been able to look at the wick-et yet. Obviously a used surface, so we’llhave to take that into account when wechoose our side.�Is there a need for a change to the side?

Every time we've turned up, we've hadto try and adapt in terms of on the park, butalso how we've looked to pick our side. Wewill have to see the surface and try and pickthe best side suitable.�How much consideration do you give toSodhi?

We'll just need to look at the surface,try and determine whether we think it willspin. Over in England, it can at times, as wesaw in the last game, which surprised every-one a little with the amount of spin. We allneed to have a look at the surface and pickour side accordingly.�Is there a trend in the way captains areusing strike bowlers in the middle overs?

I don't know if it's a change in trend asmuch as you're trying to read the game asbest you can. For example, bringing backwhat you might think are your strikebowlers to make breakthroughs at impor-tant times. There's that subtle difference thatwe are here at a tournament where perhapsteams adopt slightly different plans.�Who do you see as the key wickets in thisAussie batting lineup?

They have got a very strong top order.They have been playing really well, as well.Naturally you're targeting anyone that's atthe crease, basically, and that's what we'll belooking to do.�In terms of lineup, what is more impor-tant for you — stability and continuity orthe right team?

There’s always a fine balance, especial-ly when it comes to tournament sport wherethings are changing so quickly in terms ofopposition, conditions, which I think everycaptain spoke about so much, whereas afive-match series in very similar conditions,mind-sets can change in respect to that.�How much of a disadvantage is it to youthat Australia have played on the pitchand you haven't had experience on thepitch.

It's kind of hard to say. The conditionswill be a little bit different to perhaps whatthey experienced the other day. It's also oneof those things you can't control. So notworrying about it is more important. �Have you got any sort of extra stress?

It kind of is what it is, really. You cometo tournaments and sides beat each otherand they climb the ladder, and that's whateverybody sort of desires to do, and whoremains is kind of the ones that go through.But at the end the day, you're trying to playthe best cricket that you can.�What are your memories of time spentWarner?

He's a world-class player. He's able toadjust to conditions and continued toimprove his game. We've seen that through-out this tournament. He's been instrumen-tal on the Australian side; that he's adapt-ed his game and been able to help put hisside in a position of strength.�What advice have you given Munrowho’s struggling a bit?

Everyone is wanting more. Then youcome into a tournament where conditionsvary so much, and someone like Munro haslooked really nice for the most part, alongwith a number of other guys, and then kindof had some good balls or some lack of for-tune, and that's led to downfalls.

��'2�E�)�� &F��,-CD

��/��+��2)4%��5�66�4�32%��%E

<�4" 2,■ )��-��■ )��5��!��-�� ■ 4� ��0��5� � -�

��■ ,�� 3��3!��-�

!�� ■ ��3�� 1� �� -�

��■ / ��!!�R�%��!-��

�� !��

- � / � � � - � � � � 1

G��'2�E�)�� &F��CD

��#>��#$��2�'!>�22&��)�� $�� %��8� �%�1 ��

"'�� 62%02%

Captain Aaron Finch hasbacked Pat Cummins to find

top gear in their match againstNew Zealand, as Australia mulltheir best bowling combinationson what shapes as the driest pitchthey’ve played on at the WorldCup.Cummins has taken none for106 from 18 overs in wins overBangladesh and England, butFinch suggested the numbers aremisleading and labelled him a keypart of their attack.

“With the ball I think he’sbeen excellent,” Finch said ofCummins, who took 11 wickets inAustralia’s first five games.

“There’s nothing to suggestotherwise. Yes, he hasn’t got thewickets in the last two games, buthe’s still been a huge part of ourside.

“He’s someone who’s so reli-able that you go to when youeither need a wicket or you needsome control in a game. He pro-vides so much for the side.”

Having expressed his sur-prise that pace had prospered overspin in the early stages of the tour-nament, Finch says Australiaremain open to playing two spin-ners with the mercury tipped tohit 32 degrees for Saturday’s clashwith the Kiwis.

The Lord’s pitch used for theAustralia-New Zealand game will

be the same one that hostedAustralia and England earlier inthe week and will have beenexposed to 72 hours of hot anddry weather come the weekend.

Finding room for bothNathan Lyon and Adam Zampa intheir XI will be difficult givencoach Justin Langer has said nei-ther Cummins nor Mitchell Starcare likely to be rested, while JasonBehrendorff is fresh off a career-best 5-44 after being recalled toplay England.

Lyon got the nod over Zampafor his first game of the tourna-ment on Tuesday, but Finch saidit’s difficult to split the two andsuggested match-ups with indi-vidual New Zealand batters woulddictate selection, as they didagainst England.

“They’re both neck and neck,”said Finch. “The way Nathanbowled the other day is probablymore of a defensive option, a bitmore control.

“But leg-spin is an incrediblyhard craft. For Zamps, the num-bers were against Zamps (for)England, Nathan had a distinctiveadvantage.

“That’s just the way we’relooking at it. There’s nothingmore or nothing less to it. Thereis no science. Just looking a bitdeeper into tournaments.”

Asked if they could playtogether, Finch said: “Absolutely.”

A>99��!��3

5�� /

��/�<�

?

(�� "�� $��#$�F " ��

#�� "$$��#��&&!��(��&�3!��

! ��"�� $��

� �0/143 2%

Jason Roy will hand England amuch-needed boost if he's passed

fit to face India as the hosts look tosteady the nerves after successivedefeats, according to vice-captainJos Buttler.

Roy, who smashed 153 from121 balls against Bangladesh ear-lier in the tournament, has not fea-tured since pulling a hamstringagainst the West Indies two weeksago.

The opener missed the winagainst Afghanistan and defeats toSri Lanka and Australia, withJames Vince taking his place, buthe was back practising on Fridaymorning at Edgbaston.

"He looks pretty good. I thinkhe has been progressing nicely soit is nice to see him back in the nets,back in the group and taking part,"said Buttler.

"I'm sure the medical team willknow more than I do but he lookspretty good. He has been a veryimportant player for us a long time.

"We know we can perform bet-ter as a group and Jason is a fan-tastic player to have available. Itwould be a boost to have him play."

Sunday's match is crucial toEngland's campaign, with back-to-back defeats knocking them downto fourth in the table, just one pointahead of Bangladesh and Pakistan.

However, a win for India wouldsee them secure a semi-final placeand they are full of confidence after

usurping England as the world's topranked ODI side.

Lose here and the pressure willincrease ahead of England's finalgroup game against New Zealandbut Buttler is keeping a cool head.

"Expectation is somethingEngland sides have not alwayshad. I have played in England sideswhere the expectations were verylow," he said.

"The mood in the camp is stillvery good. Naturally, there is someexternal pressure and it would benaïve to say we have got our blink-ers on.

"We just have to accept thosethings. We know they are going to

happen. We know the positionwe are in, nothing has changed.When we play our best cricket,we are in a position to win.

"We have the opportunity toput things right and everyone hasturned up with a smile on theirface.

"Everyone here wants us to dowell and, being such a good side,when we don't perform at our best,it is frustrating. But there has beenlots of goodwill so there are goodsigns for me."

Edgbaston is expected to be asea of colour and a cauldron ofnoise on Sunday, with as manyIndian fans as English ones expect-ed to pack into the stands.

And Buttler has promised bothteams will live up to expectations.

��'2�E�)�� &F��,-C:

'�� "7�3 �,�6��3 ,��

Enigmatic Pakistan will hope to con-tinue their resurgent run while keep-ing complacency at bay when they

play Afghanistan in the ICC World Cuphere on Saturday.

Staring at a possible league stageelimination after three defeats and awashout, Pakistan staged a remarkablecomeback with wins over South Africa andNew Zealand to keep their hopes alive.

A couple of losses for hosts Englandonly brightened the 1992 winners'prospects of a semifinal berth.

There were quite a few positives fromthe six-wicket victory over New Zealand,with Babar Azam's century and ShaheenAfridi's five-wicket haul being the mostprominent ones.

The worry now is that after beatingSouth Africa and then the unbeaten NewZealand, a feeling of complacency maycreep in, but Pakistan cannot allow that tohappen.

The current team will also hope thatit is able to make the similarities with thecountry's 1992 campaign even more strik-ing. Given the way the tournament has sofar panned out for the green shirts, it isimpossible to ignore the parallels withImran Khan's team, which also effected astunning turnaround on way to winningthe title. Pakistan's rally and England'sreverses have opened up the tournamentbut the players will do well to not worryabout other results.

If Pakistan beat Afghanistan andBangladesh, chances of reaching the lastfour could increase.

The inclusion of Harris Sohail at theexpense of the miserably out-of-formShoaib Malik has lent both stability andflair to Pakistan's batting.

While left-arm pacer Afridi has addedfirepower to their bowling that is led byMohammad Amir.

Afghanistan, who came close to caus-ing the tournament's biggest upset againstIndia, have won hearts with their spiritedshowings, but they would have wanted todo better. A win over a big cricketing nationlike Pakistan would be a nice way to exitthe big stage, and the likes of Rashid Khanand Gulbadin Naib are aware of that.

�I ��Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain),Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul Haq, BabarAzam, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, ShahdabKhan, Mohammed Hafeez, MohammedHasnain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, WahabRiaz, Mohammed Aamir, Shoaib Malik,Imad Wasim, Asif Ali.Afghanistan: Gulbadin Naib (captain),Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Hazratullah Zazai,Asghar Afghan, Rashid Khan, MohammedNabi, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Dawlat Zadran,Najibullah Zadran, Hamid Hassan,Hashmatullah Shahidi, SamiullahShinwari, Rahmat Shah, Noor Ali Zadran,Ikram Alikhil.

&��0��.�&��0��.!�� , �23

��'(!# 8 8 >0�.�$��'(!# � � >

&23&��.��,�#�� +?><��=:*8�� !�#� ��>;:>�;�?

��)"�0(�)��23(��#�� +<>9��+;�� !�#�� >;:>�;�?

��)"�0(�)��1*.1-�/��2/� �

�!�$ � � 5 � /7 �"''!##@��,�#�� <<��=8 8� > � +<*�=�23(�� 8 � �� > > ;<*9:

&�)�9��&&9�(��9�

�� !"#�!$%"● 7)�� )�/2�%8��2�/+��+�6��.+�+)� �+�/)��+��)�.)�+/��2�/�/�2��.�+/��/)�+�� *��/)� �.��9+�� )� ),

7�� "

! ��

7 ��G'3��

�'� ��!��

��

�3�7��'��

'� �

��

�� 7��3��

��I ��

'�� 7

�

��

��"��

��

��7��

��

��

H ��

&�12��.&�2��9��2��/; ��

�� !�� ;��!��

��!��7� ��3�� N'��AN�� !��

�� 3��

-�=��4��1�1�&-�/�9�*3; ��?N�� !��

�� !��!��&<$$��!��4�� 4��"��(�� ;��

�� !��

�� !�� 0 ��!�� !��7��1��!�� (��

��

�How are you feeling fortoday’s game?

Every game is exciting, the boys are excit-ed. Unfortunately, we yet to win a single game.So we go for 100 per cent in today's game.World Cup, every game is important for us.So really excited for today’s game.�How has Mujeeb been in this tourna-ment?

He has something — like his bowling thelast couple of games was missed. So then inthis World Cup, and he's back on his formand back with — if you look at his last three,four games he bowled well but lost momen-tum, especially his bowling grip. Now the lastfour games he did well for the team. So hope-fully today he will be giving 100 percent.�What happened to Aftab?

Some discipline issues. We have alreadygiven the press release. And also we have adiscipline committee. So the issue is in thediscipline committee.�What went wrong with your World Cupcampaign?

We’re excited to qualify for the WorldCup. It’s a dream from Afghanistan perspec-tive and the 2019 World Cup. So it's a dreamcome true, because it's a big event. So everyteam is like not like a associate country team.We're excited. Hoping a lot for Afghanistan.But to be here, if you start to — also hopethe journey will go well. But like if you startnot so well, so a lot of things were goingwrong in the campaign or the journey. So wedidn't give it as best — we didn’t — but if youlook the last three, four games we played well,but at the start we didn't give our 100 per cent,like the first four games. So everything is total-ly different, like you can see especially thepitch is totally different. So we didn't expectit. So we did something wrong there. Buthopefully we have the next two games, wehave to finish this campaign on a good note.�Can Pakistan offer a challenge?

It’s cricket. No team is easy. We beatPakistan in a World Cup warm-up game. Ifyou look at similar conditions, certainly inour favour, it’s good for our spinners. Thenafter we played four games, it’s totally differ-ent. Like the pitch is totally different. We arepracticing different wickets and the match iswith different wickets. We’re not expectingit. But Pakistan, I'm not saying — Pakistanis a good side. They played a good last three,four games. They gave it 100 per cent. Butit’s cricket. So today is a day for also Pakistantrying to continue the momentum to a goodcampaign. And we are trying to finish ourcricket World Cup campaign on a good note. �Pakistan batsmen are playing well againstthe spinners…

Haris Sohail played well the last twogames and also Babar Azam. But Rashid isa different spinner, is a different bowler, likeother spinners. So it’s really difficult to pickhim. And in this World Cup I didn't seeRashid at his best — but he's trying to giveit his best in this tournament. But tomorrowI think his day, so it’s really difficult for any-one, not just a Pakistan batsmen. Pakistanbatsmen doing well last three, four games, butRashid is trying to give his 100 per cent andtrying his best for — this is the World Cup.Everyone just wants to give his best perfor-mance. So hoping for this. And so if Rashidis there it’s difficult for everyone, not only thePakistan team.�Which Pakistani players are on target?

No one especially. But everyone just isgiving their 100 per cent. Every player, everyteam just trying to do as best but we are nottrying to target anyone. We hope we finishour World Cup campaign on a good note.Pakistan doing really well the last two, threegames. We’re just trying to finish this cam-paign on a good note.

��'2�E�)�� &F��,-CD

��/��+��2/86140�%�%4�1��4�/

$>99��!��3

5�� /

��/�<�

?

<�4" 2,■ ;��-��■ 3� �� M�4�!�-�� ■ �!�!��7�D��

E�!��-��■ ,��)��%��

��8 �,��!��-�� ■ /��%��-��

� � !��■ 1�� 4M�!��7� ��3��-�

� ��

- � / � � � - � � � � 1

G��'2�E�)�� &F��CD

&��( %��&�'��

��4%"7�3 �,

West Indies head coachFloyd Reifer urged his

players to play for pride asthey start to rebuild for thefuture.

Jason Holder’s team cameinto the World Cup as manyexperts pick to spring a sur-prise, especially after scoring421 in a warm-up victory overNew Zealand.

But an opening win overPakistan at Trent Bridge hasproved the highlight and Indiawere the latest team to lowertheir colours, with a 125-runwin at Old Trafford.

Reifer and Holder held animpromptu team meeting for90 minutes after this defeat

and the head coach, whoreplaced Richard Pybus onthe eve of the World Cup,wants to see a responseagainst Sri Lanka andAfghanistan in their conclud-ing matches.

“We had some frank dis-cussions about the WorldCup that we’ve had and we’lltry to finish the tournamentas a strong unit now,” he said.

“We are still playing forpride, we know that 67 mil-lion people back home in theCaribbean are backing us andwe are representing themhere.

“This is about our jour-ney, there is cricket after thisWorld Cup and we need tofind that winning formula and

culture again.“We’ve not done too well

in the World Cup, we can seeimprovements but we need toput together a complete game.

“The guys bowled wellagainst India and the fieldingwas much improved but it’sabout getting all three depart-ments working together towin cricket games.”

Reifer also made specialmention of the contributionof Chris Gayle, who is expect-ed to conclude his colourfulODI career with the WestIndies next week.

He added: “Chris said alot of good things in themeeting and made a lot ofgood points and it’s alwaysgood to have him in the

dressing room. He’s a cham-pion.” West Indies restrictedIndia to 268/7, Kemar Roachthe pick of the bowlers withfigures of 3/36. But key bats-men Gayle and Shai Hopewent early as the Windiesfound themselves facing abattle on 16/2.

And newcomer SunilAmbris, opening alongsideGayle, admitted it was amissed opportunity.

“It was a very disappoint-ing game for us, we should

have got that score if we’d bat-ted properly,” he said, aftertopping the Windies battingfigures with 31.

“We were happy with theway we bowled, we’d havetaken their total at the begin-ning of their innings.

“It was rough losing Chrisso early because we know howimportant he is for our team.Shai is the guy in form toowhich made it very difficult.”

��'2�E�)�� &F��,-C:

(��%��.� - �� '�A�!�-��&��.�2��&��!B

+��)��" '��"�� )�� =�� 5��"�8�� "� ��

'�� 4%"7�3 �,�

Veteran West Indies pacer Kemar Roach believes thata bright future awaits the current batch of players

despite a poor show in the World Cup.Since beating Pakistan in their opener, West Indies lost

five of their next six matches to join Afghanistan as thethird team to crash out of the tournament.

Asked what went wrong, Roach defended the youngteam after their 125-run demolition at the hands of titlecontenders India.

"It's tough to say. I think, obviously after the firstinnings against Pakistan, the guys were confident goingforward into the World Cup. I think (we lost) a couple ofclose games against Australia and New Zealand," Roachsaid.

"But I think the guys, you know, should be keepingour heads up. We're out now, but obviously there's a futurefor us. I think we're still learning, couple of young guysin the team, have got a great future ahead of them. Andit's all about being positive and looking forward," the 31-year-old said.

Roach feels that with some able guidance, the juniorsin the squad like Shimron Hetmyer and Oshane Thomascan do wonders for West Indies cricket.

��'��

! �� 7�� B��3�"��3�� $�� '��

�� " '�� 8��

�#��"��>��"��$"��$ ��?"�@��"��$�"��"�

2��>��!�� "�� "�� "��>�@$��$��!��@�� %��!� ��@��

� ��'��'��'�"��$��@��A��@��"��

� � >�� +��'� ' ��&�'� ��

�� !"#�!$%")5

��7��

E ��7 ��

�

7 ��

��3

7��

��""��

��

��

� ��!3�7��

7 ��

3

�� 7��

�� ! ��

�

H ��

CRICKETCRADLE

�5��/��'%. ��#; ' 7 � �L� ��-�� '-.

? 483JLK @ A ? 9 S9�'9A ?&

& �%0 A + 9 ? S?�?A9 ??

$ %E @ + ? ? S?�9&N ??

* �%/ @ * $ 9 S?�9+? N

+ 1-0�37 @ $ $ ? �9�?$$ @

A ;4) @ $ $ ? �9�'@A @

@ 36 @ & $ & �?�?NA A

N ,34 N & + ? �9�9N9 +

' 5� @ ? + ? �9�$&9 $

?9 4�/ @ 9 @ 9 �?�A$* 9

● :� �/��)��1��/)��/)� ��;��-/� ��)��*�2� �<='=45� *�+>��)*�� 0��<!'!$(� *�+>�/��/��!$$$$� *�+��;�/9�� 2�/

)�� 8��6��'��+��"�� 9��" ��

)��'��7�� "�*�� )�� 7��+��"�� +��)��3� �� "��7��+��

;��4��$>99��!��3 =9#�92 � ��"'3��

�.0��5��

%��E��4�� A>99��!��3 =9#�92 ��8�3��

What more can we sayabout Virat Kohli at this

point? He continues to breaknew ground for India. But it ismore than that, this is a man re-writing the record books in thehistory of our great game.

To reach 20,000 runsquicker than any man beforehim is a fantastic achievementbut his true greatness lies in hisadaptability.

The captain can play everyrole for his team, across everyformat.

He can drop anchor and lethis partner shine if that iswhat the team needs, then hecan shift through the gears ifthe situation demands andkeep pushing the run rate.

This is his true mastery, hecan manoeuvre and control agame and pace himself beauti-fully.

The only concern for Indiais that the batting at themoment is slightly the ViratKohli show.

Admittedly, it was the part-nership of MS Dhoni andHardik Pandya that won thelast game against the WestIndies.

But at the top of the order,Rohit Sharma has not fired thelast couple of times, and thatmeans KL Rahul needs to domore.

He has made some fantas-tic starts but then got himselfout — he will know better than

anyone that he must convertthose starts into big scores.Everyone knows he is capableof doing it, he has done it beforeand will need to correct hiscourse.

In the middle order VijayShankar and Kedar Jadhav haveyet to really convince. I think it’sfair to say that their approachneeds some fine-tuning.

If I was involved with theteam management, I think I

would consider putting a guylike Rishabh Pant in at No.4.

They have brought himover here now, he is ready to goand, most importantly, he hasplayed in England before sounderstands the conditions.

We saw him impress in theTest series here last summerwhen he came into the side andwith England up next, maybenow is a good time to get himin there against a familiar oppo-

nent.Of course the batting con-

cerns have been papered over inthe last couple of games by thebowlers so it hasn’t matteredquite as much as it could have.

India’s bowling has beenfantastic all tournament.

Mohammed Shami hascome in and been a real wick-et taker — the same guy whowas so impressive at the lastICC Men’s Cricket World Cup

four years ago.And the best news of all is

that the wrist spinners are com-ing to the party.

As this tournament reach-es the business end, they aregoing to be more and moreimportant and Kohli will be sopleased with how they are per-forming.

Next up is England, who justmaybe have a slight weaknessagainst wrist spin, and it will befascinating to see how the gameunfolds at Edgbaston.

India against England, onSunday, in Birmingham, I thinkit's the biggest game of the tour-nament so far. Momentum iseverything in a World Cup, andright now India have it.

They come into the gameunbeaten and will be desperateto keep it that way while Englandare in ‘must-win’ territory now.

India can afford to lose, butthey won’t want to — carryingthat positive mindset into thesemi-finals is absolutely crucial.

Look at Australia, they havewrestled back momentum,Pakistan are peaking at just theright time, it is now or never forEngland.

I think the toss is going tobe absolutely vital — the captainthat calls correctly, bats first andputs a score on the board will bethe winning one when all is saidand done.��'��E�)��

&F��,-C:�

'�� 4%"7�3 �,

KL Rahul is “disappointed” atnot being able to convert hisstarts but not at all “worried”

as he believes that he is doing a lotof things right.

Rahul had scores of 26, 11 notout, 57, 30 and 48 in five complet-ed games and barring the oneagainst Australia where he came inat the fag end of the innings, he hasgot out after getting set.

“It’s a bit disappointing,” the tal-ented Karnataka batsman said,accepting that he should have goneon to score a few more runs.

“I am doing the hard work ingetting through the first 10 or 15overs, or as an opening batsmen,scoring the first 25, 30 runs, whichis the hardest. (But then getting out)when the time comes to accelerateand may be take the game deeper,so a bit disappointed that I have notbeen able to do that,” Rahul lament-ed.

He will certainly assess and dothe course correction but he does notwant to brood over what has hasalready done.

“But again I can sit, I will sit andassess, but it won’t worry me thatmuch because there are a lot ofthings I’m doing right, and I knowthat the mistakes I’ve made I canlearn from them and get better,”Rahul said at the post-match pressconference after India beat theWest Indies by 125 runs onThursday.

He got out playing a reversesweep to off-spinner MohammedNabi against Afganistan and versusWest Indies, it was a pitched updelivery from Jason Holder thatbrought about his downfall.

“Against Afghanistan, I wouldnot say it (reverse sweep) was a badshot. It was a shot I play all the time.And more often than not I hit it forfour, so I get it away. But unfortu-nately, I did not execute it,” Rahulsaid.

“But the planning and the tim-ing of that shot may be was question-able because I needed to stitch up apartnership with Virat,” he admitted.

“And today (vs WI), as a bats-man, it disappoints you but thenagain you know bowlers are allowedto bowl good balls. And you domake mistakes. And I can’t sit backand break my head about it. I just goon and try to start fresh inBirmingham and try to get a bigone.”

He was always “ready” to jug-gle up and down the order, andShikhar Dhawan’s untimely injurydid not change much for him.

“I know that Shikhar gettinginjured was unfortunate. And Ihad to go to the top of the order. Butnot that I never prepared for open-ing the batting. In my head, the lastone or two years I have been prepar-ing for whatever might be my role,”

the 27-year-old right-handed bats-man said.

In fact, he is more comfortableopening the batting as that has beenhis natural slot in all forms ofcricket.

“I had to prepare hard for num-ber four because that’s not where Ibatted all my life. I did that. Andnow to come back to opening thebatting again, it’s just a bit morecomfortable and easier for mebecause I’ve batted it all my life,”Rahul said. On India’s not so impres-sive batting show in the past twogames, Rahul said that both wick-ets weren’t easy for scoring runs.

In fact, he revealed that when heand Rohit were batting, they hadsent a message to the dressing

room that the wicket was two pacedand 260 was a par-score.

Ask about Virat Kohli onceagain looking like a different play-er compared to all others whostruggled, Rahul said it’s his specialability to get runs irrespective of theconditions.

“I don’t think he’s doing any-thing different. He has been doingthe same thing for how long I canremember since the time he start-ed playing cricket, this is what he hasbeen doing, performing consistent-ly,” he observed.

“And no matter what condition,what wicket condition, who thebowlers are, he always finds a wayto get runs, always finds a way to putthe bowlers under pressure.”

'��4%"7�3 �,

India pacer Mohammed Shami says only he deservesall the credit for his remarkable turnaround as it was

“me and only me” who suffered for 18 months.“Credit? Who else but me. I give full credit to

myself,” said Shami after India’s 125-run victory overWest Indies.

Shami has been to hell and back in the last oneand half years, fighting accusations of domestic vio-lence. As a result, he was dropped from the BCCI’scentral contract list pending inquiry, and also sat outa Test match on fitness ground.

But he is now back to his best, asking probingquestions to the best in the business with his pace andswing. “... Because I had to endure all that I was madeto go through. What I went through in the past 18months, it’s me and only me who had to suffer. So cred-it goes to me,” Shami said without getting into thedetails about the nightmare that he had endured.

“Yes, I thank the Almighty for giving me thestrength to fight everything — from family issues tofitness. I am now only focussed on doing well for mycountry,” said the pacer, who has now taken eight wick-ets in two games, including a hat-trick.

After two mindblowing performances againstAfghanistan and West Indies, Shami said that work-ing on his fitness has been the turning point. He hasshed those extra kilos, and more importantly, it hasput him in a good head space.

“It wasn’t only about failing YoYo test. There aretimes when your rhythm goes for a toss. I failed that’sa separate thing but then I have worked hard andimproved my fitness. I feel I am in a good zone nowas I have lost weight, got rhythm and everything isworking for me.

“I now try to maintain my diet, training regimeconsistently. Because I am feeling stronger, not get-ting tired easily, my speed has also increased. And asfar as skill is concerned, I always knew I can performwell on any track,” he said, the confidence could eas-ily be mistaken as arrogance.

While many thought that it would be the fitBhuvneshwar Kumar, with his ability to take the ballaway from left-handers, but it was Shami whobounced out ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle.

“Since we played IPL together, I have a bit of anidea about him when you play together for some time.I knew that if I don’t allow him to chance his arms,he will get out in desperation trying to hit me,” he said,the explanation sounding much simpler than his on-field execution.

How did he feel when he wasn’t getting chancein the first four games? “Look, 15 people have cometo represent the country. You must have had some-thing special that you are in that 15, isn’t it? It’s aboutremaining patient and positive. And, yes, have a clevermind."

12�� /

=$��*)+<&��)��

�(�$�B#��"��"��

�� "�� .�� (��

(� ��'��,) �("��#�&&��!��)"��-��!��)�"��'�� !��3�3��#��)�3�#'��!#

)�� 5�� "��

=�� 5��"�� " *��"�� $��+��"�� +��)�� ."��(� ��

1��$��"�� "�#��5>�))��$�>,6>��+7��#�!��

��"��@� ��"�

�$"� �� #��#��">

��"��$��#�� "��

!��(!�)!#��!!��#"&&��

)�� ! ��' 7�� " $�� *�� ""��$��"��3��! �� "�� BB �� "��*��

�� "�= �� " ��9��" ��8�� >��' ��$�� '�� *�� +�� *��3��

9��" �� "�= �� "��( ��)�� 7�� +��)�� 3�$��$�""�� "�3�$�""�$��*��'��>�"'�CH

˛ˇ ˇ˚˜ # ˇ ˘ ˇ ˘ ˝ ˇ...creants took a leaf out from Akshay Kumar-starrer Bollywood movie...

Documents

Transcript of ˛ˇ ˇ˚˜ # ˇ ˘ ˇ ˘ ˝ ˇ...creants took a leaf out from Akshay Kumar-starrer Bollywood movie...