C M Y K - The Pioneer...2019/04/15  · belonging to these two fami-lies have squeezed out resources...

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S everal Opposition parties led by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Sunday said they will move the Supreme Court again to demand verification of at least 50 per cent of votes by paper trail since credibility of EVMs are still doubted. Opposition parties, includ- ing the Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Samajwadi Party, CPI and CPI(M) came together to high- light the issue of transparency in the election process and pro- tection of voter rights with a call to “save democracy”. The ruling dispensation BJP however termed the Opposition parties meeting an exercise “to find excuses for their impending massive defeat” in the Lok Sabha polls. The party said Opposition alliance is a misnomer because most of them are fighting elec- tions separately. Opposition parties, including the Congress, have been demanding that all votes polled through EVMs be verified with at least 50 per cent voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPATs). A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification sys- tem for voting machines designed to allow voters to ver- ify that their vote was cast cor- rectly and will help detect any possible election fraud or mal- function of EVMs. Congress leaders and senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi said Opposition parties will approach the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the EC for counting of at least 50 per cent of the VVPAT slips with the EVMs in every Assembly segment. “If the EC will ignore this issue then we will take other measures. We will not sit quietly. We will approach the Supreme Court,” said Sibal, also a Rajya Sabh member. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu, a key interlocutor of the Opposition, said EVMs are not reliable and Opposition parties are not sat- isfied with the Supreme Court order directing the EC to increase the number of EVM’s randomly verified from 1 to 5 per Assembly constituency. He said a fresh petition will be filed in the matter. “We are raising doubts about the EVMs. The confidence of the voter can only be restored through paper trail machines. We want the EC to ensure 50 per cent counter check of paper trail of all the EVMs,” Naidu said. Naidu on Saturday had met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora to raise the issue of EVM mal- functioning. The demand by the parties comes in the peak of the election season. The first of the seven phases of the Lok Sabha polls was held on April 11. The Supreme Court on Monday directed the EC to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs to five polling booths per assembly segment, from one at present, in the Lok Sabha polls, saying it will provide greater satisfac- tion not just to political parties but the entire electorate. Singhvi said the Opposition parties will carry out a nationwide campaign on the issue of discrepancies in EVMs and alleged that the EC was not doing enough to address issue of EVM mal- functioning. “Questions were raised after the first phase of elections, we don’t think the EC is paying adequate atten- tion. If you press the button before X party, vote goes to Y party. VVPAT displays only for 3 seconds, instead of 7 sec- onds,” Singhvi said. The BJP said people are delivering a massive blow to “this negative Opposition” and their attempts to really come together are only “to express confession of their defeat in the ongoing elec- tions”. L aunching a “blistering” attack on the dynastic rulers of Jammu & Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he won’t allow the two families of Jammu & Kashmir to divide India. “Two families have ruined three generations of Jammu and Kashmir. For better future of State, they need to be voted out,” Modi said here at an impressive public rally in sports stadium, Kathua. Modi was addressing an election rally in support of BJP candidate, from Udhampur- Doda Parliamentary seat, Dr Jitendra Singh. Responding to the thun- dering applause from the cheering crowd Modi said, “Abdullahs and Muftis have destroyed three generations of Jammu and Kashmir. “I will not allow them to divide the country. “Modi na bikta hai, na darta hai aur na jhukta hai”. He said three generations belonging to these two fami- lies have squeezed out resources and triggered cata- strophe in the State while remaining in power. Modi also challenged them to bring their entire clan into field. “Bring your chacha, mama, bhai, bhatija, bhanja. Abuse Modi as much as you want but you won’t be able to divide this nation”, he dared. On the occasion Modi also exposed the politics being played by the troika of Congress, National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party in the State. “What they were doing all these years is now out in the public domain”, Modi said questioning their secret agen- da. A mid speculations over an alliance with the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls still rife, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said his party will do anything to “save the country” from Narendra Modi (Prime Minister) and Amit Shah (BJP president). Addressing media persons after a meeting of Opposition parties to discuss the issue of EVM malfunctioning in the ongoing parliamentary elec- tion, he said the country is in danger. “We will do anything to save it. Our effort to save the country from Narendra Modi and Amit Shah will continue,” Kejriwal said. Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who were also present on the occasion, however, dodged questions on an alliance with the AAP and threw the ball in Kejriwal’s court saying, “He knows better”. “You ask him about the alliance. He knows better than us,” Sibal said, even as Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “You know the stand of Congress. The alliance was almost done in Delhi but linking it with other States is not right.” The uncer- tainty over an alliance between the AAP and the Congress has been continuing for some time now. The talks between the two sides derailed after they failed to reach an agreement over seat-sharing in Delhi and Haryana. Congress’ in-charge for Delhi P C Chacko had said on Friday the Congress would go it alone in Delhi since the AAP had taken an “impractical stand”. M onkey menace in the tem- ple city of Mathura- Vrindavan has taken the cen- tre stage during the ongoing Lok Sabha campaign where sit- ting BJP MP and film star of yesteryears Hema Malini has taken a cautious stance in view of the sentiment against the simians among the voters and a favourable stand for the mammals by followers of Lord Hanuman. Malini has been guarded in her address while talking about the simians in her nukkad campaigns in the constituency. While residents of Vrindavan have formed sever- al groups and vowed to cast their votes only to the candi- date who promises to address the monkey business in the area, Hema is treading cau- tiously on the sensitive issue as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had recently advised the angry residents to recite Hanuman Chalisa (cou- plets glorifying Lord Hanuman) to pacify the ani- mals and forge harmony between the humans and simi- ans. In one of her campaign programmes covered by The Pioneer, Hema suggested resi- dents to avoid feeding samosas and soft drinks and offer fruits instead. “Unfortunately neither any contestant nor any polit- ical party has been talking about the monkey trouble in Vrindavan and Mathura. While the populated areas are struggling everyday for their safety, farmers are dis- tressed by the damage caused to their crops in their fields. While visits by the politi- cians to agricultural farms after landing from the heli- copter may be fine but the real grievances of the residents have to be addressed. We are with the candidate who assures us of a solution to the problem,” said Narayan Bohre, who is leading the ‘Save Vrindavan from Monkeys’ movement around the Rangji Mandir. T he BJP, with its “noxious agenda” of “banishing” Muslims and minorities wants to “divide” the country, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said on Sunday as she hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks at a rally in Kathua in Jammu region of the State. Also, NC president Farooq Abdullah dubbed Modi and BJP president Amit Shah “biggest enemies of people”, alleging that they want to divide the country. Ex-Chief Minister Mehbooba, whose party was in power in the State from 2015- 2018 in an alliance with the BJP, said the PM bashes political families before the elections and then sends envoys to stitch alliance with them afterwards. “Why does PM bash polit- ical families pre elections & then sends his envoys to stitch alliances with the very same par- ties? NC in 99 & PDP in 2015. Why do they choose power over Article 370 then? BJP with its noxious agenda of banishing Muslims & minorities wants to divide India,” she tweeted. Bhopal: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday registered a case against the for- mer Vice-Chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication and 19 others in connection with irregulari- ties in appointments and administrative decisions. "On examining a com- plaint by the university, a case has been filed under relevant sections against 20 people, including former VC Brajkishore Kuthiala," EOW stated in the official statement. According to the compli- ant, during his tenure as V-C, Kuthiala flouted rules to appoint people between 2010 and 2018. The appointments violated the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms. It was also alleged that the appointment of teachers between 2003 and 2018 were against UGC rules. Citing the complaint, EOW sources said the former V-C also misused his position to spend the university money on his family. SR RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K

Transcript of C M Y K - The Pioneer...2019/04/15  · belonging to these two fami-lies have squeezed out resources...

Page 1: C M Y K - The Pioneer...2019/04/15  · belonging to these two fami-lies have squeezed out resources and triggered cata-strophe in the State while remaining in power. Modi also challenged

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Several Opposition partiesled by Telugu Desam Party

(TDP) on Sunday said they willmove the Supreme Court againto demand verification of atleast 50 per cent of votes bypaper trail since credibility ofEVMs are still doubted.

Opposition parties, includ-ing the Congress, TeluguDesam Party (TDP),Samajwadi Party, CPI andCPI(M) came together to high-light the issue of transparencyin the election process and pro-tection of voter rights with acall to “save democracy”.

The ruling dispensationBJP however termed theOpposition parties meeting anexercise “to find excuses fortheir impending massivedefeat” in the Lok Sabha polls.The party said Oppositionalliance is a misnomer becausemost of them are fighting elec-tions separately. Oppositionparties, including the Congress,have been demanding that allvotes polled through EVMs beverified with at least 50 per centvoter verifiable paper audittrail (VVPATs).

A VVPAT is intended as anindependent verification sys-tem for voting machinesdesigned to allow voters to ver-ify that their vote was cast cor-rectly and will help detect anypossible election fraud or mal-function of EVMs.

Congress leaders andsenior advocates Kapil Sibaland Abhishek Singhvi said

Opposition parties willapproach the Supreme Courtseeking a direction to the ECfor counting of at least 50 percent of the VVPAT slips withthe EVMs in every Assemblysegment. “If the EC will ignorethis issue then we will takeother measures. We will not sitquietly. We will approach theSupreme Court,” said Sibal,also a Rajya Sabh member.

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister and TDP supremo NChandrababu Naidu, a keyinterlocutor of the Opposition,said EVMs are not reliable andOpposition parties are not sat-isfied with the Supreme Courtorder directing the EC toincrease the number of EVM’s

randomly verified from 1 to 5per Assembly constituency. Hesaid a fresh petition will be filedin the matter. “We are raisingdoubts about the EVMs. Theconfidence of the voter canonly be restored through papertrail machines. We want the ECto ensure 50 per cent countercheck of paper trail of all theEVMs,” Naidu said.

Naidu on Saturday hadmet Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arora toraise the issue of EVM mal-functioning. The demand bythe parties comes in the peakof the election season. Thefirst of the seven phases of theLok Sabha polls was held onApril 11. The Supreme Court

on Monday directed the EC toincrease random matching ofVVPAT slips with EVMs to fivepolling booths per assemblysegment, from one at present,in the Lok Sabha polls, sayingit will provide greater satisfac-tion not just to political partiesbut the entire electorate.

Singhvi said theOpposition parties will carryout a nationwide campaign onthe issue of discrepancies inEVMs and alleged that the ECwas not doing enough toaddress issue of EVM mal-functioning. “Questions wereraised after the first phase ofelections, we don’t think theEC is paying adequate atten-tion. If you press the button

before X party, vote goes to Yparty. VVPAT displays onlyfor 3 seconds, instead of 7 sec-onds,” Singhvi said.

The BJP said people aredelivering a massive blow to“this negative Opposition”and their attempts to reallycome together are only “toexpress confession of theirdefeat in the ongoing elec-tions”.

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Launching a “blistering”attack on the dynastic rulers

of Jammu & Kashmir, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSunday said he won’t allow thetwo families of Jammu &Kashmir to divide India.

“Two families have ruinedthree generations of Jammu andKashmir. For better future ofState, they need to be voted out,”Modi said here at an impressivepublic rally in sports stadium,Kathua. Modi was addressing anelection rally in support of BJPcandidate, from Udhampur-Doda Parliamentary seat, DrJitendra Singh.

Responding to the thun-dering applause from thecheering crowd Modi said,“Abdullahs and Muftis havedestroyed three generations ofJammu and Kashmir. “I willnot allow them to divide thecountry. “Modi na bikta hai,na darta hai aur na jhuktahai”. He said three generationsbelonging to these two fami-l ies have squeezed outresources and triggered cata-strophe in the State whileremaining in power.

Modi also challengedthem to bring their entire claninto field. “Bring your chacha,mama, bhai, bhatija, bhanja.Abuse Modi as much as youwant but you won’t be able todivide this nation”, he dared.

On the occasion Modialso exposed the politics beingplayed by the troika ofCongress, NationalConference and PeoplesDemocratic Party in the State.“What they were doing allthese years is now out in thepublic domain”, Modi saidquestioning their secret agen-da.

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Amid speculations over analliance with the Congress

in the Lok Sabha polls still rife,Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Sunday said hisparty will do anything to “savethe country” from NarendraModi (Prime Minister) andAmit Shah (BJP president).

Addressing media personsafter a meeting of Oppositionparties to discuss the issue ofEVM malfunctioning in theongoing parliamentary elec-tion, he said the country is indanger. “We will do anything tosave it. Our effort to save thecountry from Narendra Modiand Amit Shah will continue,”Kejriwal said.

Congress leader KapilSibal, who were also present onthe occasion, however, dodgedquestions on an alliance withthe AAP and threw the ball in

Kejriwal’s court saying, “Heknows better”.

“You ask him about thealliance. He knows better thanus,” Sibal said, even asCongress leader and RajyaSabha member AbhishekManu Singhvi said, “You knowthe stand of Congress. Thealliance was almost done inDelhi but linking it with otherStates is not right.” The uncer-tainty over an alliance between

the AAP and the Congress hasbeen continuing for some timenow. The talks between the twosides derailed after they failedto reach an agreement overseat-sharing in Delhi andHaryana.

Congress’ in-charge forDelhi P C Chacko had said onFriday the Congress would goit alone in Delhi since the AAPhad taken an “impracticalstand”.

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Monkey menace in the tem-ple city of Mathura-

Vrindavan has taken the cen-tre stage during the ongoingLok Sabha campaign where sit-ting BJP MP and film star ofyesteryears Hema Malini hastaken a cautious stance in viewof the sentiment against thesimians among the voters anda favourable stand for themammals by followers of LordHanuman.

Malini has been guarded inher address while talking aboutthe simians in her nukkadcampaigns in the constituency.

While residents ofVrindavan have formed sever-al groups and vowed to casttheir votes only to the candi-date who promises to addressthe monkey business in thearea, Hema is treading cau-tiously on the sensitive issue asUttar Pradesh Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath had recentlyadvised the angry residents torecite Hanuman Chalisa (cou-plets glorifying Lord

Hanuman) to pacify the ani-mals and forge harmonybetween the humans and simi-ans. In one of her campaign

programmes covered by ThePioneer, Hema suggested resi-dents to avoid feeding samosasand soft drinks and offer fruitsinstead.

“Unfortunately neitherany contestant nor any polit-ical party has been talkingabout the monkey trouble inVrindavan and Mathura.While the populated areasare struggling everyday fortheir safety, farmers are dis-tressed by the damage causedto their crops in their fields.

While visits by the politi-cians to agricultural farmsafter landing from the heli-copter may be fine but the realgrievances of the residentshave to be addressed. We arewith the candidate whoassures us of a solution to theproblem,” said Narayan Bohre,who is leading the ‘SaveVrindavan from Monkeys’movement around the RangjiMandir.

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The BJP, with its “noxiousagenda” of “banishing”

Muslims and minorities wantsto “divide” the country, PDPpresident Mehbooba Muftisaid on Sunday as she hit backat Prime Minister NarendraModi over his remarks at arally in Kathua in Jammuregion of the State.

Also, NC president FarooqAbdullah dubbed Modi andBJP president Amit Shah“biggest enemies of people”,alleging that they want todivide the country.

Ex-Chief MinisterMehbooba, whose party was inpower in the State from 2015-2018 in an alliance with the BJP,said the PM bashes politicalfamilies before the electionsand then sends envoys to stitchalliance with them afterwards.

“Why does PM bash polit-ical families pre elections &then sends his envoys to stitchalliances with the very same par-ties? NC in 99 & PDP in 2015.Why do they choose power overArticle 370 then? BJP with itsnoxious agenda of banishingMuslims & minorities wants todivide India,” she tweeted.

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Bhopal: The EconomicOffences Wing (EOW) ofMadhya Pradesh on Sundayregistered a case against the for-mer Vice-Chancellor ofMakhanlal ChaturvediNational University ofJournalism andCommunication and 19 othersin connection with irregulari-ties in appointments andadministrative decisions.

"On examining a com-plaint by the university, a casehas been filed under relevantsections against 20 people,including former VCBrajkishore Kuthiala," EOWstated in the official statement.

According to the compli-ant, during his tenure as V-C,Kuthiala flouted rules toappoint people between 2010and 2018. The appointmentsviolated the University GrantsCommission (UGC) norms.

It was also alleged that theappointment of teachersbetween 2003 and 2018 wereagainst UGC rules.

Citing the complaint, EOWsources said the former V-Calso misused his position tospend the university money onhis family. SR

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Page 2: C M Y K - The Pioneer...2019/04/15  · belonging to these two fami-lies have squeezed out resources and triggered cata-strophe in the State while remaining in power. Modi also challenged

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The electoral history ofGuna-Shivpuri has always

shown that, regardless of polit-ical affinities, the region hasalways remained under thesway of the Scindias. The‘palace’ still evokes undisputedloyalty and reverence in theseareas.

Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindiawon her first election in 1957from here as a congress can-didate. Since then, members ofthe palace have always wonfrom here, no matter whetherthey fought as independents ora candidate of either Congressor BJP.

After the Rajmata and herson Madhav Rao Scindia, it isJyodiraditya Scindia, who hasbeen winning from here since2002. Despite the consistentefforts of Scindias’s arch rivals,especially those who areopposed to the ‘palace’Jyodiraditya Scindia had littletrouble ensuring that theregion stayed loyal to the

palace. It is in this background

that the Congress party hasonce again reposed faith inScindia to retain the Guna seat.The Congress list of generalelection candidates releasedon Friday has JyotiradityaScindia as its nominee fromGuna — a constituency he hasbeen representing withoutbreak since 2002. In 2002,Scindia had emerged victori-ous in a by-poll necessitated bythe tragic an sudden death ofhis father Madhav Rao.

During the last parlia-mentary elections too, Scindiahad won the Guna seat by amargin of 1.2 lakh votes defeat-ing Jaybhan Singh Pawaiya, thefirebrand BJP leader.

At that time, it was specu-lated that Pawaiya would givea tough fight to Scindia but themargin of victory shows thatthe latter hardly had to sweatto retain the seat.

The BJP is still scouting fora suitable candidate to take onthe Maharaja’ in his citadel.

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BHEL, Bhopal, on Sundaycelebrated the 128th birth

anniversary of Bharat RatnaBhimrao Babasaheb Ambedkarwith great zeal & fervour.

The programme began withgarlanding of the statue by DKThakur, Executive Director,BHEL, Bhopal. On this occasion,M Isadore, General Manager

(HR), all GMs, YU Patil,Ravindra Aind, Officials ofSC/ST Welfare Association, var-ious union representatives and alarge number of township resi-dents were present. BHEL,Bhopal’s Joint Schedule Caste &Schedule Tribes EmployeesWelfare Association held theentire programme. The workingcommittee members comprisingMK Bhagat, AK Mahour, JP

Kadope, MK Mandrai, SureshKumar, Ram Harsh Patel and RKKachi were also present in theprogramme.

Thakur, in his address, saidthat ‘Babasaheb dedicated his lifefor the development of the nation& the society. He was a legendwho made significant contribu-tion in building a new India. Hepossessed extraordinary vision &was incredibly talented.

Babasaheb wished to bringabout a revolutionary change inthe society. He wanted all rounddevelopment of the nation withequal opportunity to all.Babasaheb dreamt of building apowerful India who could leadthe universe. He wanted the cit-izen of this country to be social-ly, financially and politicallyskilled. He considered India to bethe land of abundant resources

& the most skilled people. Apartfrom drafting the constitution ofthe country, Ambedkar scriptedthe noble theme of social equal-ity’.

Thakur requested the gath-ering to take inspiration from thelife of Ambedkar & resolute towork selflessly for the develop-ment of the nation. Isadore, in hisaddress, said that Babashaebwas a ‘Yug Purush’. He believed

the prevailing social discrimi-nation to be the major hindrancein the development of the nation.Babasaheb said that the nationwould be free in true spirit onlywhen a social system based onequality is established in the soci-ety.

Buddha Vandana was alsoperformed along with felicitationof the meritorious students byThakur.

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Chief Minister of MadhyaPradesh, Kamal Nath, paid

homage to BabasahebAmbekdar at his birth place inMhow (Ambekar Smarak) onSunday.

The Chief Ministerremained for more than half anhour at the birth place and vis-ited the two storey monumentbuilding which is fully con-structed of marble. After pay-ing homage to Ambedkar, Nathhad the food with the Ambekarfollowers. Due to ongoingmodel code of conduct, the CMdid not address people.

Home Minister BalaBachchan, PWD MinisterSajjan Singh Verma, HealthMiniter Tulsi Silawat, SportsMinister Jeetu Patwari alsoaccompanied the ChiefMinister Kamal Nath and paidhomage to the Ambedkar.

While talking to the mediaperson, the Home MinisterBala Bachchan said that theinvestigating agencies will godeep into the e-tender scamand the people involved in cor-ruption will not be sparedwhether they are leaders orbureaucrats.

The law will take its own

course. Minister Sajjan SinghVerma told that e-tender scamis not an act to take revengefrom BJP because this e-tenderscam came in light in BJPGovernment of Shivraj Singhitself we are just continuing theinvestigation in this scam.

A large gathering of thou-sands of people arrived at thebirth place of Ambedkar fromevery parts of the country onevery April 14 to pay homageand offer flowers to Ambekdarstatue at Ambedkar SmarakMhow. The State Governmentprovides free food free stay andfree transportation to theAmbedkar followers for threedays.

With the model code ofconduct in effect, this year theAmbedkar Jayanti celebrationwas non-political and Indorecollector Lokesh Jatav is headof organisation committee ofthis celebration. PresidentRamnath Kovind, PMNarendra Modi, Congresspresident Rahul Gandhi, for-mer CM Shivraj SinghChouhan have also visited thisAmbekdar Smark in the pre-vious years.

Indore SSP Ruchi VardhanMishra kept a strict vigil onthis programme.

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An 80-year-old womandied while her grandson

escaped with severe injuriesafter scooter they were ridingskid and rammed nearKhanugoan tri-section latein the night on Saturday. Theyouth was talking over mobilephone at the time of the acci-dent.

Late in the night around12 o’ clock, the injured youthand the elderly woman wererushed to a nearby hospitalwhere woman died duringtreatment while youthescaped with injuries. Thedeceased was identified asJaya Bai and the youth wasidentified as Vishnu aliasSonu.

Accident took place whenthe deceased was on his wayto home at Parwalia with hergrandson. Police wereinformed and after the pre-liminary investigation, thebody was sent for postmortem. The police regis-tered a case under section 174of the CrPC.

The deceased came tomeet her daughter in Ratibadon Saturday and was on herway back along with her

grandson Sonu and when theyreached near KhanugoanSonu’s phone rang and hereceived call on the move andcontinued to ride but aftersome distance he lost controlover the scooter in a bid tosave vehicle and person tryingto cross road and fell. Thedeceased hit the road dividerwhich proved fatal for her.

Meanwhile, a 26-year-oldwoman committed suicide byhanging from the ceiling ather residence in VajpayeeNagar EWS building underShahjehanabad police stationarea on Sunday.

According to the police,the deceased Kajal was foundhanging in the morning by thefamily members. Police wereinformed and based on theinformation a police teamreached the spot and startedinvestigation.

Police have not found anysuicide note and no reasonwas found behind the suicide.The reason would be investi-gated. The body was sent forthe post-mortem after thepreliminary investigation. Thepolice have registered a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCand have started further inves-tigation.

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The ongoing FashionIllustration Workshop at

Women's Polytechnic Collegeis making students understandabout different aspects of it.

The workshop is organisedby Srajna Academy of FineArts. It is being conducted byShalini Pandey and NehaSaxena.

It is to be noted thatFashion Illustration is the art ofcommunicating fashion ideasin a visual form that originateswith illustration, drawing andpainting and also known asFashion sketching. It is main-ly used by fashion designers tobrainstorm their ideas on topaper or computer, using dig-ital software like AdobePhotoshop and Illustrator,which helps them to commu-nicate easily with their team.

Fashion sketching plays amajor role in designing to pre-view and visualise designersthoughts and make decisions

before going to actual clothingto reduce any wastage.

Apart from fashion design-ers, fashion illustrators getcommissioned for reproduc-tion in fashion magazines asone part of an editorial featureor for the purpose of advertis-ing and promoting fashionmakers, fashion boutiques anddepartment stores.

The experts told the stu-dents that fashion is illustrationis nothing but the reflection oftheir imagination. Throughthe illustration the fashiondesigners are able to expresswhat they are going present andwhat is going to be their actu-al work.

It takes hours to create aperfect fashion illustration.The students of fashion designdepartment learnt the art ofcreating a perfect illustrationand also enhanced their skills.

The workshop is an inter-active one and so the studentscleared all their queries aboutthe topic.

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Bhopalites enjoyed a calmand composed evening

with classical music and danceon Sunday. A flute recital andBharatnatyam dance was per-formed at Madhya PradeshState Tribal Museum underUttaradhikar series.

In the beginning of theprogramme, Ajay Prasanna(Delhi), with his fellow artists,made an angry flute in Yemenand made all the spectatorsspellbound.

After Ravan Yaman, AjayPrasanna wrapped up his pre-sentation while presenting'Yaad Pia Ki Aaya' with fellowactors. During the playing offlute, Ajay Prasanna withRamendra Singh Solanki ontabla, Amrit and NileshDwivedi on flute.

After this, SandhyaAbhavna (Mumbai) started thedance of 'Bhrathavani VenniBaaj' with Bharatnatyam dancewith her fellow artists. In thispresentation, artists presentedKaliya Mardan and GobardhanGirdhari with their dancingskills, in which the nature ofShrikrishna was dumped onstage. After 'Vrundavani VenniBaaje', the artists presented'Sant Janabai' centered presen-tation and filled the audiencewith expressions. In this pre-sentation, Janabai, who is actu-ally a maid, presented his workskills through artists through

dance medium to the audience. Janabai is an elderly

woman and she is very skilledat doing household chores, butshe says that she does not doanything herself, she is assist-ed by herself Vitthal Dev. Afterthis incident the artists pre-sented the second theme ofSant Janabai through dancemedium.

In this context, the allega-tion of stealing Vithal's neck isfound on Janabai and he istaken to the gallows, but withthe grace of God the floodflows and all else goes beyondJanabai.

After this, the artists pre-sented dance based on

'Venabai'. Venabai was the dis-ciple of Ramdas ji and in themidst of her, Venabai wor-shiped Ram.

Therefore, on Ramnavmi,Ramchandra ji himself came inthe form of Ramabai and assist-ed him.

At the end of the presen-tation, Sandhya Abhichalastopped his presentation whilepresenting a dance centered on'Muktabai' with his fellowartists. Yoga Siddha Muktabaiwas the incarnation ofAdamaya, It is believed thatSaint Muktabai from SaintNivittinath had attained theglory and the knowledge of lib-eration.

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Govindpura police havearrested 5 persons involv-

ing in gambling and betting atabandoned quarters nearSaraswati School and recovered� 50,860 cash from their pos-session on Saturday.

The raid was conducted bya special team, headed by CSP,Govindpura, Amit Kumar, afterreceiving a tip off and caughtmen gambling late in the nighton Saturday. Police receivedinformation that gamblers withbig bets are gambling and onthe receipt of the informationthe place was raided.

Police said that in the raid,the gamblers were found gam-bling in abandoned quartersnear Saraswati school. The raidwas conducted after receivinginformation of suspicious activ-ities in the area and based onthe tip off raid when the raidwas conducted gamblers werenabbed and around �50,860cash was recovered from theirpossession.

The nabbed gamblers wereidentified as Anuj Ghawaria,Rahul Sen, Ankur Jain, RupeshKushwaha and Ankit Jain.Except Rahul Sen all gamblersare resident of Raisen. Policesaid that past crime recordwhich would be searched.

Apart from the cash police haverecovered mobile phones andwould check if transactionsare done using the mobilephones. The police have regis-tered a case under section 4 Aof the Gambling Act.

Meanwhile, Shahpurapolice have nabbed 11 gamblersfrom Bharat Nagar in the nighton Saturday and recovered �9,000 from their possession.Police nabbed 11 gamblersfrom Bharat Nagar after receiv-ing information of gambling.

The gamblers are identifiedas Azad, Santosh, Vikas, Bunty,Praveen, Sudharshan, Sanjay,Raja, Raguveer, Laxman andPrahlad. The police have reg-istered a case under section 13A of the Gambling Act.

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During intensive checkingdrive of GRP police on

Saturday in the wake of LokSabha elections, GovernmentRailway Police (GRP) Bhopalarrested a miscreant and recov-ered 85 mobile phones worth� 8.16 lakh from his possession.

He failed to provide anydocument, regarding mobileand cash. The nabbed accusedwas identified as Shaikh Shoaibof Itarsi and was nabbed whilehe was waiting to board trainto Itarsi.

SHO of GRP, Bhopal,Hemant Shrivastava, said thatafter the person was nabbedwith the mobile phones incharge of flying squad-3, JMSuresh Singh along with theteam members JE BMC UmaShankar Sharma and ASIUmrao Singh reached the spotand started investigation.

A total of 85 mobile phoneswere recovered from Shoaib’spossession. The mobile phonesare worth �81,6761. The SFTteam was informed soon afterthe man was nabbed with themobile phones.

Police said that whether themobile phones were stolen ortransported illegally, would beinvestigated. The Itrarsi policehas been contacted and detailsof the accused would besearched in the further inves-tigation.

The special vigil team ofGRP, Bhopal, has been workingto check illegally transportedcash and other valuables whichcould impact during the LokSabha elections and till date,massive cash over �4.4 crorehas been seized along withother valuables.

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The three-day dance work-shop Feel The Vibe by

Whizzwagon entertainmentended with a mega dancebonanza for the participants andthe instructors. The third andthe last day of the workshop wit-nessed a crazy evening with allthe participants dancing alongwith the seven instructors. Thenever seen before enthusiasmand the energy was followed byshout outs of ‘Once more’ and‘Boht hard’.

This was the first timewhen seven dance and fitnessinstructors from the city came

together on one platform andinteracted with the danceenthusiasts.

Two dance sessions werealso organised on the last dayof the dance jam where FreeStyle was instructed by RajatKhare and Salsa by AnoopVerma. Rajat said that it is hardto find free-style dancers but atFeel The Vibe the ambiancewas totally different. “Peoplehere are so excited and ener-getic. It was one of the bestdance jams in the city”, he said.Anoop on the other hand said,“The participants are so amaz-ing that they learned the wholesong in one session, whichgenerally is not possible”. At theSalsa session, participants madepairs to dance on Biba andenjoyed thoroughly.

The best participant fromall the seven sessions organisedin three days were awarded byWhizzwagon entertainment.

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Kotwali police has booked a man who heldcaptive a 27-year-old woman and her two

kids and sexually assaulted the woman for amonth at Ambedkar Nagar. The complaint waslodged on Sunday.

Police said that the accused Shyamlal Mainewas booked after victim posted with anti-encroachment squad of BMC lodged complaintregarding kidnap and sexual assault from March12 till April 12.

In her complaint, victim stated that she hadgone with the accused with whom she wasacquainted to search for a rented house alongwith her two kids on a scooter. After reachingthe area in Ambedkar Nagar, the accusedlocked her kids in a separate room and sexual-

ly assaulted her. He would lock her after sexu-ally assaulting her and on Friday the victim man-aged to escape and reached Berasia at her sister’shouse and reported the incident. The two thenlodged complaint with the Berasia police.

Berasia police registered a zero FIR case andtransferred the case to Kotwali where case ofsexual assault and kidnap was registered againstthe accused. Victim told the police that theaccused sexually assaulted her by threatening herof killing her children. The details of theaccused are yet to be identified and search forthe accused has been started.

Victim was in search of house inKumharpura and accused lured her of house atlow rates and after she got assured that he couldavail a better house at low price she accompa-nied her and later sexually assaulted.

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Aseminar on Bharat RatnaBhimrao Ambedkar's birth

anniversary was organised atGandhi Bhavan Bhopal onSunday.

It was presided bySecretary of the GandhiBhawan Trust, DayaramNamdev. At the seminar, therewas a discussion onBabasaheb's work and hiscountry's service.

The seminar started with awreath on Baba Saheb's picture.After this, Mohsin Khan of theHappy Happiness Society pre-sented a biography onBabasaheb's life and brieflypresented his biography. Afterthis, National Coordinator ofEkta Parishad, Anish Kumar,recalled the statement ofBabasaheb in which he hadsaid, "If there is to be a com-mon man in the country, thenthe poor will have to providethe land" because the com-monality of land starts from theland.

Satish Acharya of Go-Rurban and others withKrishna Pathak also discussedthe seminar. Satish Acharyasaid, 'If I and your rights aresafe, then this is all the work ofBaba Saheb'. Krishna Pathakrecalled the role of Babasahebin implementing theConstitution.

In the President's address,

Shri Namdeo said, "Baba Sahebhas an important contributionfrom India's independence tothe Indian Republic. We cannever deny it He has put thewhole life in possession of therights of the disadvantaged. Hewas a good governor of goodgovernance.

The seminar concludeswith thanks to Shiv SashishTiwari of Madhya PradeshSarvodaya Mandal.

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Fire tenders and vehiclesfaced ire of slum dwellers of

Shankar Nagar after fire tenderfailed to extinguish massive firewhich gutted around a dozenshanties in the morning onSunday.

The locals were pacifiedand rescue work was startedand more than half a dozen firetender vehicles were pressedinto service and it took morethan two hours to pacify thefire.

Panic prevailed in the areaafter a massive fire broke out ataround 10 in the morning

which soon spread andengulfed 10 shanties.

The reason of the fire wasfire which was put near theslums in the morning hours butto ascertain the reason was notpossible said fire tender.

After receiving the infor-mation fire tender vehicles wererushed from Chhola fire brigadestation but it was not havingwater which irked the locals andlater water filled vehiclesreached the fire took massiveshape and gutted shanties. In thefire shanties were damagedbadly and most of them sufferedcomplete damage.

On the receipt of the infor-

mation CSP Nishatpura LokeshSinha, senior officials of admin-istration and former ministerMLA Vishwas Sarang visited thespot.

The power supply was dis-connected to avert further dam-age.

The locals rushed to the res-cue and people were evacuated.In the fire no one was injuredand few sustained minor burns.

The affected people areVijay Chauhan, DharmendraNayak, Papiya Nayak, TolaNayak, Dula Singh, BunneSingh, Nathu Nath, Annu,Pappu, Rati Ram who reside atthe slum for long.

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Taking a jibe at the PrimeMinister over his national-

istic poll pitch, Chief MinisterKamal Nath on Sunday saideven when Narendra Modi didnot learn to wear pyjamas andpants, Jawaharlal Nehru andIndira Gandhi had built thecountry's defence forces.

The veteran Congressleader's stinging attack on Modicame days after the PrimeMinister referred to him as'bhrasht' Nath, meaning corrupt.

Addressing an electionrally at Harsud in Khandwadistrict, Nath said the highestnumber of terror attacks hap-pen whenever the BJP is inpower at the Centre. "Moditalks about security of thecountry. Was the country notin safe hands five years ago?Modi, when you had not evenlearned to wear pyjamas andpants, Jawaharlal Nehru (thefirst prime minister of India)and (former PM) IndiraGandhi had created the Army,

the Air Force and the Navy forthis country. And, you say thatthe country is safe under you,"he said.

Modi has been invokingthe Pulwama terror attack andBalakot air strike in an appar-ent bid to build a poll narrativearound national security and adecisive government. "Underwhose Government did mostterror attacks happen? Whosegovernment was in Delhi whenterror attack on Parliamenthappened (in 2001)? The BJPgovernment was there and sta-tistics shows that the highestnumber of terrorist attackshave happened under the BJP

rule," the chief minister said.Continuing his tirade, the

Congress leader said Modi hasfailed to keep his promise ofgenerating jobs for youths.

"Modi promised to givecrores of employment but howmany youths have got jobs?Modi said good days will come.Whose good days have come?Modi promised to bring backblack money from abroad.Where is that money?" he asked.

Notably, in a recent inter-view to a TV channel, Modi hadreferred to the chief minister as'bhrasht' Nath after tax raidswere conducted at propertieslinked to his close associates.

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The BJP has on Sundaynamed three more candi-

dates including VD Sharmafrom Khajurago seat inBundelkhand. Indore andBhopal remained among fiveseats in MP where candidatesare yet to be declared.

Sharma, a former nationalgeneral secretary of AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad(ABVP) was initially considereda nominee for Morena, then forBhopal and later for Vidisha.

He would face Kavita Singhof Congress who is associatedwith royal family of the region.Sitting MP Khajuraho NagendraSingh is now an MLA. The BJPhas denied tickets to local can-didates at Khajuraho, Damohand Tikamgarh and is also fac-ing internal rebellion.

The saffron party by field-ing a Brahmin VD Sharmafrom Khajuraho has deniedticket to any Thakur candidatefrom Bundelkhand.

Besides, the party hasnamed Jhabua MLA GS Damorfrom Ratlam-Jhabua seatagainst Congress veteranKantilal Bhuria. Bhuria’s son DrVikrant was defeated by Damorfrom Jhabua assembly seat.

Essentially a Congresscitadel, the BJP has crept inthrough Dileep Singh Bhuriaamid strong Modi wave in 2014but Kantilal Bhuria wrested theseat in a by-poll in 2015 after thedemise of the former.

Besides, the BJP has namedChhatar Singh Darbar fromDhar seat. Darbar a two-timeformer MP by denying ticket tositting MP Savitri Singh Thakurwhose performance as an MPwas under a dock.The party hasheld back five seats includingBhopal and Indore. DigvijaySingh is the Congress nomineefrom Bhopal while there isuncertainty over candidature ofLok Sabha speaker SumitraMahajan from Indore.

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Several parts of MadhyaPradesh including the State

capital simmered with over 42degree Celsius in the day onSunday.Soaring temperaturespeaked at 45.5 degree Celsiusin the day while state capitalrecorded season’s high at 42degree Celsius which was 3.8degree Celsius above normaltemperature.

Except few regions daytemperatures were recordedabove 42 degree Celsius acrossthe state.

After deficit rainfallextreme hot conditions is hit-ting hard of water bodies as thesoaring temperatures aredecreasing level of watersources are receding speedily.

Temperatures are soaringand peaked at 45.5 degreeCelsius in Khargone on Sunday.In the past 24 hours Rewa divi-sion witnessed light rainfall atfew places.

Chindwara, Shajapur,Khargone districts witnessed hotwave conditions. Four regionsShajapur, Guna, Hoshangabadand Tikamgarh districts wit-

nessed hot night conditions.According to the forecast

Rewa and Indore divisions andRatlam , Ujjain, Dewas, Sehoreand Raisen are likely to witnesslight rainfall, dust storms andthundery activities.

Warning of heat wave con-ditions has been issued forUjjain, Indore, Hoshangabad,Sagar and Gwalior divisions inthe next 24 hours.

Among the nearby regionsHoshangabad recorded 43.9degree Celsius.

The regions which record-ed temperatures above 42degree Celsius were Khajurahoat 43.4 degree Celsius, Damohat 43.2 degree Celsius,Nowgong at 43.2 degreeCelsius, Shajapur at 43 degreeCelsius Dhar at 42.6 degreeCelsius, Guna at 42.6 degreeCelsius, Umaria at 42.6 degreeCelsius, Khandwa at 42.5degree Celsius

Ratlam at 42.3 degreeCelsius, Mandla at 42.2 degreeCelsius, Betul at 42.2 degreeCelsius, Rajgarh at 42.2 degreeCelsius, Sidhi at 42 degreeCelsius and Chindwara at 42degree Celsius.

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In the year 2014, NainaChautala became the first

woman to take a politicalplunge in over half a centuryhistory of politically influentialChautala family, by a quirk offate.

Since then, her journeywhich began as a politicalnovice in Indian National LokDal has seen several ups anddowns.

She alongwith her twosons, Hisar MP Dushyant andINSO chief Digvijay are nowthe prominent faces ofJannayak Janta Party, a splintergroup of INLD. While INLDwas founded bylate deputy PrimeMinister DeviLal, JJP wasfounded by hisgreat grandsonD u s h y a n tChautala, claiming he was therightful heir to the legacy ofChaudhary Devi Lal.

In an ironic twist of fate,the feud in Chautala family hadresulted in Naina and her fam-ily forming a separate politicaloutfit—JJP last year.

INLD’s chief OP Chautalaelder son- Ajay Singh Chautala-is patron of the JJP while histwo sons – Dushyant andDigvijay -- are spearheadingthe party in his absence.

Wife of former MP AjayChautala, Naina is an MLAfrom Dabwali assembly seg-ment and is currently busy withwhirlwind election campaigncovering length and breadth ofthe state for the ensuing LokSabha polls.

She may contest from theHisar parliamentary seat,which is currently representedby her elder son-DushyantChautala.

As the JJP set to makedebut in Lok Sabha polls, NainaChautala is confident that theparty will not only give a toughfight to BJP but will also defeatit on all 10 seats in Haryana.

“JJP ismov-i n gf o r -w a r d

w i t hthe agen-

da of devel-opment of Haryana, youthemployment, empowerment ofwomen and the welfare offarmers. On the other hand,BJP and Congress have donenothing during their tenures inthe state,” she says.

Chautala “bahu” Naina hadstarted holding political event‘Hari Chunri Chaupal’ exclu-sively for women of the statelast year to get them associat-ed with the INLD but the pro-gramme is now held under thebanner of JJP, which hasretained the green colour ofpagri (turban) and ‘chunri’ ofthe INLD.

In 2014 Haryana Assemblypolls, the Chautala family hadfielded her from Dabwali con-stituency in its stronghold inSirsa district as her husbandAjay Chautala and father-in-law Om Prakash Chautala weresentenced to jail in junior basictrained (JBT) teachers scam in2013.

Naina maintains that shewas compelled to enter elec-toral politics after her husband

was sent to jail under a con-spiracy hatched by theCongress.

Reacting to the bitter feudin Chautala family during Jindbypoll, she says, “A lot was saidto damage the image of mysons… and those people(detractors) were given a befit-ting reply by the voters in Jindbypoll.”

On JJP’s alliance with AamAadmi Party, she says the AamAadmi Party's government hasundertaken many developmentworks in Delhi. Dushyant isalso of the view that develop-ment works and welfareschemes should be executed ata fast pace, she adds.

The JJP will contest sevenLok Sabha seats while AAP willcontest three seats in Haryana,which goes to polling on May12.

In an interview with ThePioneer, Naina spoke on JJP’spoll prospects, Chautala fam-ily feud and other issues.

Excerpts from the inter-view

A multi-cornered fight ison the cards in Haryana in LokSabha polls this time. There isBJP, Congress, JJP-AAP, INLD,BSP-LSP in the fray. How doyou look at JJP’s prospects inthe electoral battle?

All political parties have a

right to seek people’s vote inour democratic set up. But, itis the people who will decidewho deserve their vote. Peoplein Haryana are disappointedwith all parties as they havegiven them chances in thepast. MPs have been electedfrom various political parties inthe past but they have donenothing for the development ofthe state. JJP is the only alter-native left for the people ofHaryana. Our party is formedwith a sole purpose of ensuinggrowth and development ofHaryana. Organizationalappointments in our party havebeen made in entire Haryanaand we will give a tough fightto other political parties in theLok Sabha polls.

Who would be your mainchallenger? BJP, Congress orany other political party.

This was evident in theJind bypoll held in January. Theelectoral contest in Jind bypollwas between BJP and JJP only.The other opposition parties inHaryana have neither suchpower nor have the will tocompete with the BJP. Peoplehave given huge support to theJJP under the leadership ofDushyant Chautala and theparty will not only give a toughfight to BJP but will also defeatit on all 10 seats in Haryana.

What would be JJP’s mainelection agenda?

Our party is moving for-ward with the agenda of devel-opment of Haryana, youthemployment, empowerment ofwomen and the welfare offarmers.

Our agenda and promiseswill be focused of welfare ofpeople of the state. We arehighlighting the developmentworks undertaken by HisarMP Dushyant Chautala in hisconstituency and making anappeal to the people to electedten MPs like DushyantChautala, who will work dayand night for the welfare ofpeople.

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Ending suspense over field-ing its candidates in two

high-profile constituencies inHaryana, the Bharatiya JanataParty has fielded former MPArvind Sharma from RohtakLok Sabha seat and politicalgreenhorn, IAS BrijendraSingh, son of Union MinisterBirender Singh from Hisarparliamentary seat.

The BJP, which had lastweek announced its candi-dates on eight seats, onSunday, announced the namesof candidates in remainingtwo seats in Haryana, whichgoes to polling on May 12.

Focusing on the strategy ofconsolidating the non-Jatvotes, which had helped thesaffron party to register itsmaiden victory in 2014Haryana assembly polls andJind bypoll, the BJP has field-ed a prominent Brahminleader Arvind Sharma fromJat-dominated Rohtak seat.

Three-time MP ArvindSharma had recently joinedthe BJP and was previouslyseen as a contender forSonepat and Karnal parlia-mentary seats. He had earlierwon the Jat dominatedSonepat Lok Sabha seat in1996 as an independent can-didate and later, won KarnalLok Sabha seat in 2004 and

2009 on Congress’ ticket.He had however lost to

BJP’s Ashwini Kumar Choprain 2014 general elections onKarnal seat.

Sharma had then quit theCongress ahead of 2014Haryana assembly polls tojoin Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP), which had named himas its Chief Ministerial candi-date. The BSP had fieldedhim from two seats, but he hadfailed to score a win on boththe seats in assembly elections.

Sharma will now take onthree-time MP DeependerSingh Hooda, the loneCongress candidate inHaryana who had withstoodthe Narendra Modi wave in2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Deepender, son of formerChief Minister BhupinderSingh Hooda has been re-nominated by his party fromRohtak seat, known asCongress’ bastion. Deependerfaces a tough task ahead to winthe seat for the fourth time andis toiling day and night toreach out to the voters of hisconstituency.

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls,Deepender had won for thethird consecutive time fromRohtak by a margin of morethan 1.7 lakh votes againstBJP’s Jat candidate OmPrakash Dhankar, now aCabinet Minister in theManohar Lal Khattar

Government in Haryana.Rohtak has around 16 lakh

voters, with over 6 lakh Jat vot-ers while other voters com-prised of non-Jat communitieslike Brahmins, Baniyas, OBCs,Dalits and Punjabis.

Notably, Rohtak was theepicenter of violent Jat reser-vation stir 2016, which hadresulted in bitterly dividedHaryana on caste lines and isnow likely to play a key role inshaping the public opinion indeciding the fate of candidatesin ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Political observers say thatby fielding a Brahmin candi-date, the BJP has made itsstrategy clear to consolidatethe non-Jat votes to wrest theRohtak seat. BJP’s supportbase largely comprises urbannon-Jat voters and traders inRohtak.

The split in Jat votes hadbenefited the saffron party inthe Jind bypoll. The BJP is nowbanking on the same equationin Rohtak. Another factor thatis seen as favorable for BJPwould be split in Jat vote bankin the state with the formationof Jananyak Janta Party, asplinter group of INLD, whichis a Jat-centric party. JJP andINLD are also likely to field Jatcandidates in Rohak, politicalanalysts say.

While the Congress had in2014 won the Rohtak LokSabha seat, the BJP had man-

aged to wrest Rohtak assemblyseat by fielding a Punjabi can-didate later that year and alsoregistered victory in civic bodypolls there last year, makingthe electoral fight on the par-liamentary seat this time aprestige issue for both thenational parties.

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The BJP has sprung a sur-prise by fielding BrijenderSingh, a Haryana cadre IASofficer from Hisar parliamen-tary constituency.

Brijender’s father UnionMinister and Rajya Sabha MPBirender Singh had been lob-bying for his son’s candidaturefrom Hisar since long.

46-year old Brijender willnow make his political debutin the Lok Sabha polls fromHisar constituency, which hisfather had won in 1984 bydefeating former ChiefMinister Om PrakashChautala.

A Haryana cadre IAS offi-cer of 1998 batch, Brijendra isposted as the ManagingDirector (MD) of the HaryanaState Cooperative Supply andMarketing Federation.

He had last year addresseda non-political state-levelfarmers’ meet at Jind. Hismother, Prem Lata is a sittingMLA from Uchana Kalan,

which falls in Hisar Lok Sabhaconstituency.

His father, Birender Singhis the grandson of Sir ChhotuRam, one of the tallest Jat andfarmer leaders of pre-Partition era. Birender, aprominent Jat leader himself,had joined the BJP in 2014after ending his four-decadeold association with theCongress following differ-ences with then HaryanaChief Minister BhupinderSingh Hooda.

Hisar Lok Sabha con-stituency is known as theepicenter of strong castepolarisation in the politics ofHaryana. The parliamentaryconstituency has around 15.7

lakh voters.The constituency has

more than 5 lakh Jat voters,more than 80,000 Brahmins,over 36,000 Bishnois, 65,000Punjabis while ScheduledCastes and Backward Classesconstitute a sizeable number ofmore than 5 lakh voters, saypolitical experts.

In 2014 general elections,the caste based political align-ments had remained almostunaffected in the Hisar par-liamentary constituency whereDushyant Chautala, repre-senting the fourth generationof former Deputy PrimeMinister Devi Lal had defeat-ed BJP-HJC nominee KuldeepBishnoi, son of former Chief

Minister Bhajan Lal.This time, Dushyant or his

mother Naina Chautala, sittingMLA in Haryana Assembly islikely to contest from Hisarseat on Jannayak Janta Party’s(JJP) ticket.

Congress is yet toannounce its candidate andnames of MLA KuldeepBishnoi and his son BhavyaBishnoi are doing the roundsfrom the seat.

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The Union Steel MinisterBirender Singh on Sunday offered to resign fromthe cabinet and from Rajya

Sabha.The announcement, made

by the Union CabinetMinister during a press con-ference at his residence in New Delhi, followed selectionof his son Brijendra Singh’sname as the BJP candidatefrom Hisar Lok Sabha seat in Haryana.

Birender cited his desireto avoid dynastic politics.

“I thought it proper thatif my son gets nomination, Ishould resign from the RajyaSabha and also from theMinistr y. So I have written to BJP president AmitShah. I leave it to the party... I am ready to resign,”he said.

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In a major political develop-ment, the Shiromani Akali

Dal (Taksali) on Sundaydeclared to withdraw the can-didature of Indian army’s for-mer chief General JJ Singhfrom Khadoor Sahib, and sup-port the Punjab DemocraticAlliance’s candidate BibiParamjit Kaur Khalra.

The decision was takenafter a demand was raisedfrom various quarters andeven from within the newlycreated political outfit to sup-port Bibi Khalra’s candida-ture, considering her contri-bution to the Sikh communi-ty.

“We have decided to with-draw the nomination of ourcandidate. People from Punjaband Punjabi Sikh diaspora,settled in different countries,were constantly in touch withus seeking our support to BibiKhalra. They constantly askedus to support her due to greatsacrifice of her husbandJaswant Singh Khalra, whowas killed in police custody forraising the issue of cremationof thousands of dead bodies inAmritsar as unclaimed by thepolice during militancy,” said

party president and sittingKhadoor Sahib MP RanjitSingh Brahmpura during aparty rally at Mohali onSunday evening.

“People were appealing usto withdraw our candidatefrom Khadoor Sahib throughvarious medias, includingsocial media. So respectingtheir sentiments, we havedecided to do so,” he said,while appealing to Bibi Khalrato “contest elections as anindependent instead of as asingle party candidate”.

Brahmpura said that wewould “assure her a win fromKhadoor Sahib as I had myselfwon the last Parliamentaryelections from there with amargin of about one lakhvotes.

At the same time, he madeit clear that the Taksalis were

not extending support toPunjab Democratic Alliance(PDA) right now, but ouroption is open and if need be,we may consider our supportto PDA in days to come”.

AAP rebel MLA SukhpalSingh Khaira had decided tofield Bibi Khalra as the candi-date of his newly-constitutedPunjab Ekta Party (PEP) underthe banner of PunjabDemocratic Alliance — com-prising six political outfitsincluding PEP, Lok InsaafParty (LIP), Nawan PunjabParty by Dr DharamviraGandhi, BSP, CPI, and RMPI.

Welcoming the Taksalis’“magnanimity”, PEP presidentKhaira appreciated its noblegesture by “unilaterally with-drawing their candidate fromKhadoor sahib and announc-ing their support for Bibi

Paramjit Kaur Khalra...Thiswould go a long way to forge100 percent unity in the oppo-sition ranks of Punjab to defeatthe corrupt traditional partiesof Congress, SAD and BJP”.

Khaira urged the AamAadmi Party (AAP) leadershipalso to learn a lesson from theAkali Dal Taksali decision andwithdraw their nominee fromKhadoor Sahib.

“By doing so, at least therewould be one seat in the statewhere all opposition partieswould be supporting BibiParamjit Kaur Khalra againstthe traditional political parties,which will further pave way forbroader consensus in Punjab,”he said.

Khaira said that AAP can-didate from Khadoor Sahib,Manjinder Singh Sidhu, has acriminal taint as he was one ofthe accused for publicallybeating up a Dalit girlHarbinder Kaur that wascaught on camera few yearsback in Tarn Taran. “Thebrutal beating of the Dalit girlhad rocked the state and theHigh Court had taken suomotu cognizance against theguilty and had given the vic-tim girl police security cover,”he pointed.

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Hurhuri village under RatuPolice Station in Ranchi

turned into a fortress onSunday following clashesbetween two groups duringRamnavami procession onSaturday evening.

Almost all the shops in thearea remained closed as theDistrict Administrationimposed section 144 of theCriminal Procedure Code(CrPC) in the area in a bid toavert further clashes.

Ranchi Superintendent ofPolice (Rural), AshutoshShekhar said that the situationwas under control on Sundayand a peace committee wasconstituted to pacify both thegroups involved in the clash.“The Senior officials of the dis-trict administration held ameeting in the morning withpeople of both the groups topacify them. The police teamhas arrested some people whowere involved in the incident.Two persons have sustainedsevere injuries in the clash,” hesaid.

Sub divisional officer ofRanchi, Garima Singh, whochaired the meeting with thetwo groups informed The

Pioneer that after the clash onSaturday, the two groups weresupposed to take out a peaceprocession on Sunday."However the procession wasstopped midway by a neigh-bouring village, with inten-tions to create further prob-lems," she said.

Singh informed that heavypolice force has been deployedin the area and the adminis-tration is putting in all effortsto keep the situation undercontrol.

Station House Officer, RatuPolice Station, Manoj KumarRai said that senior officials ofdistrict administration havebeen camping in the villagesince the incident.

“Some members of a par-ticular group are still trying tocause further clashes and thepolice are trying to pacifythem,” he added.

Meanwhile, a similar inci-dent of stone pelting wasreported during the Ramnavmiprocession at Sikni Villageunder Rajrappa Police Stationin Ramgarh District when peo-ple belonging to two differentgroups resorted to stone pelt-ing on each other on Saturday.

Ramgarh SDO AnantKumar said, “The situation isnormal now. Both the groups

have been restrained and con-fined to their houses. Section144 has been invoked in thearea.”

He added, “Around 50police personnel have beendeployed in the area who iscontinuously patrolling thearea.”

The SDO informed thataround five people, including acircle officer cum magistratewere injured in the violence. “Apolice officer also sustainedminor injuries but he hasresumed his duties today,” hesaid.

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Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal on Sunday

targeted the opposition’s maha-gathbandhan saying that theirbaraat is without a groom andcannot take on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Manohar Lal whileaddressing ‘a Vijay Sankalp’rally of the BJP in villageAurangabad in Palwal which ispart of Faridabad Lok Sabhaconstituency, said that theopposition is without a PrimeMinisterial nominee.

The Chief Minister saidthat everyone know the reali-ty of Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati,Chandrababu Naidu, MamtaBanerjee – the contenders forthe post of Prime Ministerfrom the opposition which hasfailed to reach a consensus onone person. “It’s a baraat with-out the groom,” he said.

He said that the PrimeMinister worked for changing

the lifestyle of the poor anddowntrodden during the fiveyear BJP rule. Ayushman Yojna,Ujjawala Yojna were among thewelfare schemes launched, hesaid.

Since the opposition doesnot have a strong PrimeMinisterial nominee, the peo-ple have made up their mind tore-elect Modi as the PrimeMinister for all round development of the countryand protecting the securityand integrity of the country, hesaid.

Manohar Lal said that theentire world has seen the lead-ership qualities of the PrimeMinister.

Today, terrorists and thosewho give shelter to them fearfrom the name of Modi whohad adopted a tough standagainst terrorists and sepa-ratist elements, he said.

The country has emergedas a super power due to thepolicies and programmes of the

Prime Minister, he added.Taking a dig at the JannayakJanta Party, the Chief Ministersaid that when the leaders ofJJP come to seek your votes,give them the symbol (chap-pals) of their party.

Referring to the Congressnominee Lalit Nagar fromFaridabad, he said that theopposition party has given thenomination to the brother oftheir favourite middleman ofparty’s son-in-law (RobertVadra).

Leave aside getting thelead in nine assembly seg-ments in the Faridabad LokSabha constituency, I willaccept his strength even if LalitNagar manages a win in his vil-lage Tigaon, he said.

Targeting the opposition,the Chief Minister further saidthat the regime of parchi andkharcha (slips and corruption)is over. The BJP has given a cor-ruption free and transparentadministration to the people,

Manohar Lal added.He said that the BJP gov-

ernment in Haryana during itsregime gave 60,000 jobs tounemployed youth on merit.Those who lacked merit, forthem courses were started inSkill Development University so that they couldget jobs in private sector, headded.

The Chief Minister furthersaid that 1.50 lakh youth gotjobs in the private sector whileloan upto Rs one crore forunemployed had been made areality.

As far as investment isconcerned, Haryana hadimproved its ranking andreached the 3rd position from14th spot.

In case the people wantedinclusive development of allsections of the society theyshould on May 12 press theLotus symbol to ensure victo-ry of all the 10 BJP candidatesin Haryana, he added.

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Page 5: C M Y K - The Pioneer...2019/04/15  · belonging to these two fami-lies have squeezed out resources and triggered cata-strophe in the State while remaining in power. Modi also challenged

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The Congress on Sundaydemanded a probe into the

alleged transportation of a“suspicious black trunk” inPrime Minister NarendraModi’s helicopter during hisvisit to Chitradurg inKarnataka for election cam-paign. Congress spokespersonAnand Sharma asked thePrime Minister to come cleanand said the ElectionCommission should enquireinto the contents of the “trunk”.

He said the Congress’Karnataka unit has alreadyfiled a complaint with theElection Commission in thisregard. The Prime Ministerhad addressed an election rallyin Karnataka’s Chitradurga on April 9.

“We saw there were threemore choppers escorting thePrime Minister’s helicopter.After landing, a black trunkwas taken out and whiskedaway in a private car which was not part of the SPG car-cade,” he alleged.

Sharma suggested therewas cash stashed in the trunk.“What was there in the trunk.If there was no cash in it, letthere an enquiry be held,” saidSharma. The Congress alsoplayed a video clip claimingthat the purported trunk, afterbeing unloaded from the PM’shelicopter, was shipped to a pri-vate Innova car, that Sharmaalleged was not a part of theSPG carcade, and taken away.

Reacting to Congress’demand for a thorough probe,BJP spokesman GVLNarasimhan Rao said these arebaseless allegations and the“Congress party which is syn-onymous to corruption” shouldcome out clean on their issues.

Sharma also asked Modi togive an account of his five-year

rule to the people of the coun-try as a tribute to Dr BRAmbedkar on his birthanniversary.

“The Prime Minister istrying to control and changethe narrative because he has nocourage to face real issues,” he alleged.

Raising the issue of Rafale,Sharma asked Modi to makepublic the minutes of a meet-ing held last year between himand former French PresidentFrancois Hollande on the fight-er jet deal.

“Why is he (PM) silent onhis role in Rafale scam? Makethe minutes of the meetingbetween Prime Minister andformer French Pesident

Francois Hollande on theRafale deal public by tomorrow.As there has been a controver-sy, it would help settle it oncefor all,” he said.

The Prime Minister in his“desperation to win has doneenormous disservice to thenation by dragging in theArmed Forces for Partisanpolitical propaganda”, Sharmafurther alleged.

“Seeking votes for thecourageous action and sacri-fices of our soldiers is anunpardonable transgressionand also an insult to the Armedforces who defend the moth-erland under the tricolour andnot under one person or party.The Indian Army belongs to

the Republic of India,” he said.Sharma also slammed BJP

leader and Union MinisterGeneral VK Singh (Retd).

“There is Prime Minister’sdefence and his apologyMinister, including one of hisMinisters, who should havebeen made literate in the mil-itary history of the country. Iam referring to retired GeneralVK Singh, he said — IndiraGandhi benefitted electorallyfrom the Bangladesh war.”

“Is he ignorant of historywhen he himself was a com-missioned officer?” Sharmaasked. “To reeducate him, theseare the facts: General Singh gotcommissioned in June 1970,Smt Indira Gandhi recorded amassive electoral win in March1971 and India won the 13-daywar with Pakistan on 16December 1971. VK Singhshould extend an uncondi-tional apology,” he said.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) on Sunday

arrested the fifth accused inconnection with terror attackon the CRPF group centre atLethpora village in Pulwama inDecember 2017 that killed fivepersonnel.

Irshad Ahmad Reshi waspicked up from Pulwama inSouth Kashmir after the inter-rogation of Nisar AhmedTantray and Syed HilalAndrabi, arrested earlier by theprobe agency.

Reshi was an over groundworker (OGW) of the pro-scribed Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terror group and a closeassociate of slain terrorist NoorMohammad Tantray, alias

Noor Trali, a little over four-feettall, a NIA spokesperson said.

The attack on CRPF GroupCentre, Lethpora was executedunder a conspiracy to avengethe death of Noor Trali, whowas killed in an encounterwith security forces inDecember 2017, he said.

The spokesperson saidReshi has been found to be akey conspirator who providedlogistic support in form of

shelter and transport for theterrorists and conductingreconnaissance of the CRPFGroup centre, Lethpora beforethe terrorist attack.

Four accused — Fayaz Ahmad Magrey(Lethpora), Manzoor AhmedBhat (Pampore), Nisar AhmedTantray (Tral) and Syed HilalAndrabi (Ratnipora, Pulwama)— were arrested earlier by the NIA.

Trali, who was also instru-mental in reviving the outfit inthe Valley. The attack on theCRPF centre was carried out inthe intervening night ofDecember 30 and 31 in 2017 bythree terrorists belonging to the JeM.

The terrorists were identi-fied as Fardeen AhmadKhandey, Manzoor Baba and aPakistani, Abdul Shakoor, a res-ident of the Rawalakot area ofPakistan Occupied Kashmir.

Five CRPF personnel werekilled in the attack. The threeterrorists were also eliminated.

Reshi will be producedbefore the Special NIA court inJammu on Monday with arequest for grant of police cus-tody for further investigation,the spokesman added.

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Union Steel MinisterChaudhary Birender

Singh, a prominent Jat leader ofBJP in Haryana, on Sunday saidhe has offered to resign fromthe Cabinet and from RajyaSabha as his son has got a LokSabha ticket and he wants tosend across a message againstdynasty politics.

The announcement, madeby the 73-year-old Ministerduring a Press conference at hisofficial residence here, fol-lowed selection of his sonBrijendra Singh as the BJPcandidate from Hisar inHaryana. The senior leadersaid he has informed BJP’spresident Amit Shah about hisresignation offer and it was upto the party chief to take thefinal call.

Singh, grandson of Jat iconand farmer leader Sir ChotuRam, said he wants to sendacross a message of anti-dynasty politics as his son hasgot the Lok Sabha ticket. “Ihave offered my resignationfrom both Union Cabinet andRajya Sabha and I haveinformed the party chief AmitShahji about this,” Singh toldreporters.

Singh said it is the princi-ple of the BJP not to promotenepotism and fight againstdynasty rule and his decision toresign is in line with the party’sprinciples. Singh, who waswith the Congress for almostfour decades before switchingto the saffron party in 2014,was once in reckoning forHaryana’s chief ministership.

Currently, he is a RajyaSabha member of the BJP fromHaryana and his wife is anMLA in Haryana assembly.His son Brijendra, who hasbeen nominated as the BJPcandidate for Lok Sabha fromHisar, was an IAS officer.

In 2016, Singh was shiftedto Steel Ministry from theMinistry of RuralDevelopment, Panchayati Rajand Drinking Water andSanitation.

The BJP also cleared thename of former Congress MPArvind Sharma, who joined theBJP recently, from Rohtak seat.Both Hisar and Rohtak arehigh-stakes constituencies,considered strongholds ofBhajan Lal and the Hooda

families.Sharma has been a two-

time MP from Karnal between2004 and 2009 and has alsorepresented Sonipat as anIndependent MP. He will takeon Congress’ sitting MPDeepender Singh Hooda, theson of former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda, fromRohtak.

The BJP has now namedcandidates for all the 10 LokSabha seats in Haryana, wherepolling will be held in thesixth phase on May 12.

The bureaucrat-turned-politician sees similaritiesbetween his previous job andhis future assignment, sayingthe purpose of both is to serve people, the State andthe country.

He felt that in politics thereis a more direct connect withthe people and said that aMP’s vision should not be lim-ited to his constituency, butshould extend to the wholecountry.

Replying to a question,Brijendra said he was hopefulthat people of Hisar wouldmake the BJP victorious with abig margin. Brijendra said thathe supports and respects hisfather’s decision but the sametime, “it puts more responsi-bility on my shoulders”.

On the legacy of his greatgrandfather, Sir Chottu Ram,he said it was not just limitedto Haryana. “Since childhood,I was impacted by his ideolo-gy,” he said.

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Delhi High Court has issuednotice to Cabinet Secretary

on the issue of dual control overAssam Rifles by HomeMinistry and Defence Ministry.

The Bench headed byJustices S Muralidhar and ISMehta expressed displeasure onthe reply of Home Ministry onthe petition filed by AssamRifles Ex-Servicemen WelfareAssociation detailing the prob-lems due to the dual control onthe force by Ministries of Homeand Defence.

Assam Rifle is administra-tively controlled by HomeMinistry and operationallycontrolled by Defence Ministry.The petitioners preferred con-trol of Defence Ministry citinggood pay and perks and welfaremeasures to pensioners. InDecember 2018, the Courtdirected to both Secretaries ofHome and Defence to convenea meeting on this regard anddirected to inform the decision.In March, 2019, HomeSecretary informed the Courtthat they had sent a note toCabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) to take an

appropriate decision. “In effect the Ministry of

Home Affairs (MHA) haswashed its hands off the issueand placed it at the doorstep ofthe Cabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS). The Court istherefore constrained to issuea notice to the CCS to explainwhat decision it has taken onthe note forwarded to it by theMHA on March 20, 2019,”said the High Court orderdated April 9, directing CabinetSecretary to respond.

Advocate Neha Rathiappearing for the Assam RifleEx-Servicemen WelfareAssociation argued that lack-adaisical approach of theGovernment on the criticalquestions when lakhs of fami-lies are suffering is extremelyunfortunate. The petitionerspointed out that due of the dualcontrol, the serving as well asretired soldiers are deprived ofmany benefits like other Armyand Para-Military forces.

New Delhi: Congress leaderSam Pitroda said party chiefRahul Gandhi has experiencedthe trauma of terrorism andthose questioning him in thematter should feel ashamed.

The remarks come at atime when Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and other BJPleaders had often attacked theCongress president on the issueof terrorism and national secu-rity in the run up to Lok Sabhaelections.

In an interview to PTI,Pitroda said Rahul Gandhi losthis grandmother (IndiraGandhi) and father (Rajiv

Gandhi) to terrorism and thatthe leader understands thetrauma and suffering associat-ed with it.

He said those doubtingRahul Gandhi’s nationalismshould be ashamed of them-selves. Referring to senior BJPleader LK Advani’s recentremarks in a blog post, the chiefof Indian Overseas Congresssaid BJP leaders must learn

from the veteran leader. “I dis-agree with Advani on manyissues, but respect him as a per-son. BJP leaders must learnfrom Advani who has advisedagainst excess self-promotionand calling people with differ-ent political views as ‘anti-

national’,” Pitroda said. “Who has given BJP leaders

the right to declare others astraitors?” he said. On beingasked about Congress’ prospectsin this election, the senior partyleader said, “The elections maythrow many surprises this time.Voters should remember thattheir votes can make or mar thecountry’s future.”

The long-time Gandhi fam-ily advisor said Narendra Modiand Rahul Gandhi are two dif-ferent personalities. One leader(Modi) has a manufacturedimage, while the other (Rahul)is an honest young leader whounderstands people’s problemsand has overcome many chal-lenges, he said. PTI

New Delhi: The Khadi andVillage Industries Commissionhas created over 20 lakh newjobs in the last five fiscalsunder the ambitious PrimeMinister EmploymentGeneration Programme(PMEGP), the commission’stop official has said.

KVIC chairman VinaiKumar Saxena said theCommission has alwaysachieved more than 100 percent success rate in execution ofthe PMEGP.He said prior to2014-15, the achievement ratewas never over the stipulatedtarget. But in the last five fiscals,due to the push given by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, todigital India, the KVIC suc-

ceeded in surpassing the targets.“Incredible it may sound,

amid much debate about jobcrisis in the nation, the Khadiand Village IndustriesCommission, leading from thefront, has created 20,63,152new jobs and set up 2,67,226new projects under its ambitiousPrime Minister EmploymentGeneration Programme(PMEGP) in the last five fiscals,i.e. between 2014-15 to 2018-19,” Saxena said.

In 2018-19, the KVIC, thenodal agency of PMEGP, hadbeen given a target of setting up70,386 new PMEGP projectsdisbursing margin money of Rs1,968.80 crore for creating5,62,351 employments, he said.

“Surprisingly, the KVICachieved 105.05 per cent successin this process as it had set up73,408 new projects, disbursingmargin money of Rs 2068.31crore and creating 5,87,264 newemployments,” He said.

“Surpassing the target, how-ever, is not a new phenomenonfor KVIC in the last five finan-cial year. Barring 2015-16, it hasalways achieved more than 100per cent success in execution ofPMEGP,” He said.

While in the 2014-15 theachievement percent was102.70 per cent, it was 118.29and 112.17 per cent in 2016-17and 2017-18 respectively.“Success in PMEGP is mani-festation of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s vision ofDigital India. The KVIC as thenodal agency of the PMEGPscheme, had taken varioussteps of digitalisation — toincrease organisational capac-ity to meet the variousrequirements towards imple-mentation of this scheme.

“Earlier PMEGP wasimplemented off-line. But fromJuly 1 2016, KVIC launchedonline portal. The softwareused for digitalisation ofPMEGP was developed in-house by the IT team of theKVIC, saving approximately Rs20 crore of the governmentexchequers as some externalagency could have charged thisfor it,” Saxena said.

He said the online portalhas brought transparency andexpedited disbursement ofmargin money subsidy underthe PMEGP.

“The KVIC has introducedonline submission of applica-tion by the prospective benefi-ciaries and the payment ofMargin Money subsidy isdirectly made into the benefi-ciary account through DirectBenefit Transfer (DBT). Withthe digitalization of the wholeprocess, not only the applicantscan now track the status of theirapplications at any point oftime, it had also taken out eventhe minor chance for middle-men — to bluff the appli-cants,” he said. PTI

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Levying taxes on unhealthyproducts particularly tobac-

co, alcohol and sugary bever-ages by 50 per cent over thenext five decades will be a win-win situation for the nations asnot only over 50 million pre-mature deaths due to soaringnon-communicable diseases(NCDs) could be prevented,the impact of these taxes is pro-jected to yield over $20 trillionin revenue, according to aglobal report released recently.

The recommendations ofthe report ‘Health Taxes to Save

Lives’ holdsimpor-

tant for India as the world giventhat tobacco use, obesity andrisky alcohol consumption havebecome three leading risk fac-tors for the development ofNCDs, killing 40 million peo-ple each year and representing70 per cent of all annual deaths.

The report ‘Health Taxes toSave Lives’ is prepared by taskforce on fiscal policy for health— co-chaired by MikeBloomberg and economistLarry Summers, formerSecretary of the US Treasuryand former Director of theNational Economic Council.

Asserting that the FinanceMinistry controls a

powerful tool i.e.tax policy toreduce the harmfuluse of these prod-ucts, the task forcemembers recom-

mended that taxes on tobacco,alcohol, and sugary beveragesshould be set high enough, andraised quickly enough, toreduce consumption andimprove health.

Also, “Countries shoulddesign their health taxes to beeasy to administer, hard tomanipulate, and difficult togame. This generally meansapplying simple uniform spe-cific taxes, which have many

advantages over ad valoremexcises and over complex andmulti-tiered taxes. These taxesshould be regularly adjusted forinflation and income growth tomake sure that productsbecome less affordable overtime,” as per the report.

Larry Summers was of theopinion that “if we want toimprove global health, we needto tax the things that are killingus. Taxing things that are bad foryour health, like tobacco, overthings like savings and incomeis as close to a free lunch as youcan get in economics. The eco-nomic rationale for taxing theseproducts is strong if we want tosave lives and make a better,healthier world.”

Echoing similar views,Mike Bloomberg said,“Countries can save millions oflives if they take action. Despite

the clear and growing body ofevidence, industry oppositionto smart health policies willcontinue to mislead the publicabout the harmful effects oftheir products. That makes it allthe more important for theinternational community tosupport countries in adoptingeffective, evidence-based healthtaxes that will save lives.”

While obesity has manycauses, one significant factor isthe growth of consumption ofhighly processed foods andsugary beverages worldwide,similarly, more than 1 billionpeople in the world smokewhile about 3.3 million peopledie each year from alcoholuse, approximately 5 per centof all deaths worldwide

The task force membersincluding Masood Ahmed,president, Center for Global

Development, Kaushik Basu,professor of economics, CornellUniversity, Helen Clark, formerUNDP Administrator, formerPrime Minister of NewZealand, Margaret Chan, for-mer director general, WHO,Bent Høie, Minister of healthand care services, Norwaypointed out that policies to dis-courage consumption of thesethree key risk factors — tobac-co, alcohol and sugar-sweet-ened beverages — are central toachieving the SDG Goals thatcall for a one-third reduction inpremature mortality fromNCDs by 2030.

Stating that the reportmakes sense, Dr Arun Gupta,Central Coordinator BPNI,also called for the need to endmarketing of harmful foodwhich have high sugar and areultra processed.

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New Delhi: Congress presidentRahul Gandhi on Sunday paidtribute to BR Ambedkar on hisbirth anniversary and said thosewho weaken the principles ofjustice, liberty, equality and fra-ternity are doing disservice tothe memory of the architect ofthe Indian Constitution. “On DrBabasaheb Ambedkar’s jayanti,let us re-dedicate ourselves to the4 universal values of JUSTICE,LIBERTY, EQUALITY & FRA-TERNITY enshrined in ourConstitution. Those who payhim tributes on this day, whileinsidiously weakening these val-ues, do his memory disservice,”he said in a tweet, which is beingviewed as an attack on the BJPleadership. PTI

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Page 6: C M Y K - The Pioneer...2019/04/15  · belonging to these two fami-lies have squeezed out resources and triggered cata-strophe in the State while remaining in power. Modi also challenged

Pakistani Prime Minister ImranKhan was too clever by half in sug-gesting that his supposedly ‘NayaPakistan’ could teach India “how totreat its minorities.” The genealog-

ical basis for Pakistan (literally “land of thepure”) was conceptualised in the 1933 pam-phlet presented by Choudhary Rahmat Ali,who sowed his “two-nation theory” by insti-tutionalising the spirit of “others” or minori-ties by observing: “These differences are notconfined to broad, basic principles. Far fromit, they extend to the minutest details of ourlives. We do not inter-dine; we do not inter-marry. Our national customs and calendars,even our diet and dress are different.”Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s speech on August11, 1947 to the Constituent Assembly ofPakistan, however, had sent a contradictorysense with, “You are free. You are free to goto your temples, you are free to go to yourmosques or to any other place of worship inthis state of Pakistan.” But our neighbour hasknowingly, steadily and violently walkedtowards its puritanical moorings. No amountof sophistry in ‘Naya Pakistan’ can cover thesame. The drift towards religious extremismwas a project-in-making that was temporar-ily contained during the direct military yearsof the Ayub-Yahya era and revived in fullearnest with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s advent inPakistani leadership. Thereafter, all leaders ofPakistan, be it military or civilian, have pan-dered dangerously to the clergy and theaccompanying religious sentiments, therebyspiralling the narrative of religious importanceto metamorphose into the “terror nursery”of the world.

Today, the concept of minority or the“other” in Pakistan is not just its shrinkingminorities of Hindus, Christians, Zoroastriansand even Jews, but also includes the severe-ly persecuted Ahmadiyas, who are con-demned from preaching or professing theirbelief, besides being declared as “non-Muslims”, following Ordinance XX that waspassed by the ultra-religious General Zia-ul-Haq in 1984. For all practical purposes, thesimmering sectarian tensions of the Sunni-Shia divide have regressed into unprecedent-ed levels of polarisation and violence withsupremacist militia targetting the “minority”Shias and their offshoot adherents witheither utter impunity or even indirect state-support. A far cry from the days when GeneralMuhammad Musa Khan, a Hazara Shia, wasthe Pakistani Army Chief during 1958-1966. Contrast this with the uproar of theostensible Ahmadiya/Qadiani link that sur-rounded the appointment of the currentPakistani Army Chief Qamar Bajwa, whichexpectedly had to be rebutted and squashed.

Recently, the ongoing and bloody saga ofsocietal irreconcilability within Pakistan’simploding mainstream claimed at least 20innocent lives in a terror attack that was seento be targetting the “minority” Hazara Shiacommunity in restive Quetta. These verita-ble “minority” groups of nearly a million in

Pakistan and three million inAfghanistan were also systemat-ically targetted by the Pakistan-supported Taliban regime in the1990s. Their distinct CentralAsian features make them easi-ly recognisable and easy targetsof militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, who have reduced theHazaras to a ghettoised existencein Pakistan. Last year, the Hazaracommunity had to go on a pub-lic hunger strike and seek assur-ances of protection from the realseat of power in Pakistan, ie, itsArmy Chief Gen Bajwa, after thespate of Hazara killings hadbecome chillingly commonplace.

Pakistanis are paying theprice for patronising extremistelements and the parallel margin-alisation of their moderate, sec-ular and democratic forces. Witha virtual immunity afforded tothe likes of Lashkar-e-Tayyeba,and Jaish-e-Muhammad amongothers, it is hardly surprising thatPakistan is recognised as a con-fessional state, despite the feebleattempts of nomenclaturisingitself as ‘Naya Pakistan’. It isunder Imran Khan’s watch thatthe Princeton University econo-mist, Atif Mian, was droppedfrom his Economic AdvisoryCouncil (EAC) on account of hisbelonging to the “minority”Ahmadiya faith. Imran Khanthen failed to change the narra-tive with his feeble handling ofthe Asia Bibi (of Christian faith)blasphemy case, where he suc-

cumbed to the fanatical groupTehreek-i-Labaak. Imran Khan’sown federal Government is alsoguilty of funding Darul UloomHaqqania (infamous as the“University of Jihad”) that has themost notorious terrorists, likeMullah Omar and JalaluddinHaqqani among others, as itsalumni. This instinctive tilttowards extremist thought hasled Ministers of ‘Naya Pakistan’to share public platforms withterrorists like Hafeez Saeed, whohave been proscribed by theUnited Nations. Little wonderthat global-watch agencies likethe Financial Action Task Forcehave kept relentless pressure onIslamabad to mend its sovereignbehaviour that nurtures terror,both externally and internally, asindeed leading to more insecu-rity for its vulnerable minorities.Herein routine news like theforcible conversions of minoritiesno longer make headlines.

Fact is, both in Pakistanand India, there is a societalchurn and regression towardsmajoritarianism and hardeningof religious opinions. Ironically,in both countries, religious sen-timents are pandered and har-nessed for their electoral curren-cy. However, in Pakistan, there isan additional angularity of statesanctification afforded by way ofits perceived utility in cross-border leverage that is sought bysheltering certain religion-inspired terrorist groups that

routinely hit targets across India,Afghanistan and Iran. Theseextremist forces can often turntheir attention towards Pakistan’shapless minorities and exert vio-lent intolerance and sectarianismagainst them. Unfortunately,Pakistan’s own track record onwillingly controlling theseextremist forces was in full dis-play with its initial and naturalreluctance to ban Hafiz Saeed’sJamaat-ud-Dawa’ah and Falah-e-Insaniat.

Beyond the posturing of‘Naya Pakistan’, the issue of pro-tecting minorities needsConstitutional cover that doesnot diminish, decry or indigni-fy the credentials of any faith.Basic amendments to laws con-cerning blasphemy are realistical-ly a “no-go” for Imran Khan’sGovernment, given its trackrecord of either supporting orcapitulating to the regressiveforces. The societal divide andtensions for “minorities” are areality and not a matter of polit-ical one-upmanship or point-scoring between Pakistan andIndia. Pakistan (‘Naya’ or other-wise) has to redefine and legis-late its corrective agenda withinits Constitutional tenets, elsehorrific incidents like the latestHazara massacre will continueunabated.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands andPuducherry)

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Sir —The Election Commission(EC) should strive for an inno-vative solution to restore miss-ing names on voter lists, a fac-tor which did impact turnout inthe first phase of elections. It isironical that despite successiveand extensive campaigns, quitea few voters were still confusedabout voter slips and identitycards. There was enough timefor technological solutions toquickly identify missing/deletednames. But perhaps an over-worked EC was busy with themany issues to be resolved underthe Model Code of Conduct.

Varun SDBangalore

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Sir — Most political parties givetickets to members from the filmfraternity in order to woo the vot-ers. Television and film stars arealso employed to campaign forvarious political parties. Whilesome celebrities are genuinelyinterested in furthering interestsof parties and working for thepeople, others do little productive

work after they are elected. Not only are they unaware of

the people’s needs in theirrespective constituencies, theyare also least interested in thebetterment of the party they rep-resent. As such, they turn out tobe a liability. Further, what thesepersonalities do not understandis that while they can gain thevoters’ support with their glam-our and popularity, these do not

help their careers in the long-run. What is needed to stay onin the hearts of the people is ser-vice to the ordinary citizens.There are some good examplesof celebrities who have donesome genuine public service.Stars of today must learn fromthe likes of J Jayalalithaa andSunil Dutt, who carved a placein the hearts of the people bysheer dint of hard work and

commitment. They gave back.M Pradyu

Kanpur

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Making false promises” (April9) by A Surya Prakash. It is anindubitable fact that theCongress Government under

Indira Gandhi, which declaredEmergency in June 1975,breached democracy and therule of the law. Freedom ofspeech and expression wasundoubtedly curbed. In somerespect, cruelties were inflictedupon some adversaries. Thisdoes not need any elaboration.The Congress’ dastardly act ofcruelty and barbarity was wellmanifested when more than3,000 innocent Sikhs were killedallegedly at the behest of party-men after the assassination ofIndira Gandhi.

Recall the Bhopal gastragedy, which caused the deathof lakhs of people and was theworst disaster in the history ofIndia. Still, the then PrimeMinister Rajiv Gandhi, beingcallous about the horrendousdevastation, allowed the ownerof the factory, Warren Anderson,to escape from India.

Did the CongressGovernment preserve nationalinterest by allowing the accusedescape unpunished? Can theparty undo past wrongs?

Nimai Charan SwainBhubaneswar

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Page 7: C M Y K - The Pioneer...2019/04/15  · belonging to these two fami-lies have squeezed out resources and triggered cata-strophe in the State while remaining in power. Modi also challenged

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Left by her parents to fend for herself at aresidential school for poor childrenwhen she was just five, this was proba-bly the best thing that happened to Jyoti.One of seven siblings, she showed no

signs of heartbreak at being abandoned by her fam-ily. Instead, she displayed surprising maturity at thatyoung age and understood that this was her bigchance to do what she wanted the most — to study.So, unlike other girls of her age, Jyoti did not runaway to escape the rigours of the spartan life there.She embraced life at the ashram and used theopportunity to improve her knowledge and skills.Little did she know that this wisdom and resiliencewould help her become a Member of the LegislativeAssembly (MLA) of the ruling Janata Dal (United)[JD(U)] in Bihar. However, not many know howJyoti was catapulted to the political centre-stage.As we celebrated the 129th birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitutionon April 14, it is also time to laud the achievementsof the unknown and unheard Dalit women, whoovercame caste barriers with their courage anddetermination to fulfill their dreams.

Jyoti’s win as the JD(U) candidate from thereserved seat (Scheduled Caste) of Barachatti inGaya district, Bihar, was remarkable for many rea-sons. Before she received a call from ChiefMinister Nitesh Kumar to contest the Assemblypoll in 2010, Jyoti and her husband used to teachchildren in Bapu Gram, a remote village in Gayadistrict. Both husband and wife saw this as anopportunity to give back to their Musahar com-munity although salaries were low — Jyoti’s hus-band received �110 while she got a paltry �90.When they subsequently moved to a more back-ward block, Fatehpur, in the same district andfound there were no schools, they decided to openone so that more children from the Musahar com-munity could be educated

The Musahar community in Bihar is one ofthe most deprived and socially disadvantagedgroups in India. Literacy rate in this communityis just 9.8 per cent, the lowest among Dalits in thecountry. Only about one per cent of the Musaharwomen is literate.

The couple began classes under a tree until thevillage gifted some land. The community pitchedin by donating labour for the construction of amodest building. Since then, all children go toschool. In fact, 10 neighbouring villages were soinspired by this community effort that they, too,got together to do the same. When the StateGovernment opened a primary school and ananganwadi in Fatehpur block in Gaya, Jyoti wasthe natural choice as an anganwadi worker, beingthe only active woman from the community. Shenot only inspired women to bring their childrento the anganwadi, she was also able to debunk sev-eral myths related to maternal and child health.Realising that the lack of information held backMusahar women from immunising their children,Jyoti said she first got her own children vaccinat-ed and then asked other women to follow herexample.

Realising that women’s empowerment was thekey to improving maternal and infant health, shebegan organising them into self-help groups(SHGs). Over the next 10 years, the number ofSHGs increased from 10 to 350.

Besides motivating them to stand upagainst violence, both within and outsidetheir homes, she trained them to lookafter their own health, using a new farm-ing technique, a system of rice intensi-cation or SRI, after learning it fromPradan, a not-for-profit organisationworking with the community. It wasJyoti’s success in turning vast barren landsinto green belts with the SRI techniqueand other indigenous methods thatcaught the attention of Chief MinisterNitish Kumar. And it was these effortsthat contributed to her victory in the polls— she defeated her opponent by a mar-gin of over 24,000 votes. Although shedid not contest for a second term in 2015,Jyoti did not let her experience as MLAgo waste. She continues to work for thecommunity and inspire other women.

Just as Phoolmati is doing in NebuaNaurangia, a remote block inGorakhpur district in neighbouringUttar Pradesh. Here, she is empower-ing women in her Dalit community tostand up for their rights. One of the bigchanges that she brought about wasmotivating women in this backwardblock to launch an anti-liquor agitation.Their determination and courage instanding up against the powerful lobbythat promoted alcohol bhattis (small-scale production units) led to the clo-sure of such units. The women over-came their fear of a backlash fromupper caste men running these units,thanks to their collectivisation as SHGsfacilitated by Phoolmati. She has sin-gle-handedly helped the formation ofover 50 SHGs in the block. This is whywomen here have come together todemand roads and demonstrate infront of the district magistrate foremployment under MNREGA, the

Government’s national rural employ-ment guarantee scheme.

Phoolmati has also inspired confi-dence among women in the communi-ty to stand up against violence. Womenare ready to file complaints against per-petrators, including their husbands. In aState where patriarchy keeps womencloseted in their houses and violenceagainst women is the highest in the coun-try, this is a big step. Statistics reveal thatbetween April 1, 2017, and January 31,2018, there was a 25 per cent increase inrapes, 40 per cent rise in incidents ofmolestation, 35 per cent jump in casesof kidnappings of women and a 50 percent increase in cases of eve-teasing, com-pared to the corresponding period in2016-17.

Not just in violence, Uttar Pradeshhas another dubious distinction. Hereone in every five girls is a child bride.Phoolmati was one of them. Marriedyoung to a much older man, Phoolmatimanaged to study only till Class V. Whenshe got a chance to learn about her rightsand entitlements after becoming a SHGmember, thanks to the Rajiv GandhiMahila Vikas Pariyojana, a not-for-profit working for women’s empower-ment, she decided to share this with othermarginalised women. She has helpedover 750 women step out of their hous-es and transform their lives with the helpof knowledge and training disseminat-ed through the SHGs.

But for Choti Bai, a resident ofChittorgarh district in Rajasthan, reali-sation of her rights came late. It was onlyafter 22 years of cleaning toilets with herbare hands that she discovered manualscavenging was illegal. This was in 2008when she met activists of the RashtriyaGarima Abhiyan (National Campaign for

Dignity and Elimination of ManualScavenging), a coalition of 30 commu-nity-based organisations from 13 IndianStates, working to improve the lives ofthese marginalised communities. OnceChoti Bai decided to give up manualscavenging, she braved opposition fromher husband and mother-in-law. Sheturned to work as a daily wage labour-er in the fields and took to sewing clothes.

When campaign activists saw herdetermination, they asked her to workwith them. In 2012, she joined the cam-paign as a motivator, earning a month-ly salary of �1,700, far more than sheever earned as a manual scavenger. Hernew life has brought her dignity andrespect, especially from those whoonce considered her untouchable. Shehas helped persuade 112 women work-ing as manual scavengers in her districtto give up this work. While some ofthese women have been helped to starta small poultry business, others havebeen helped to get job cards underMNREGA. Now, thanks to Choti Bai,there are no more female manual scav-engers in her village.

This is a big achievement consider-ing in India, manual scavengers are most-ly women. Men from this communityclean septic tanks and sewers. TheSocio-Economic Caste Census of 2011counted over 1.82 lakh families that hadat least one member employed in man-ual scavenging.

Changes being brought about bywomen like Choti Bai, Phoolmati andJyoti need to be recognised and cele-brated. They have broken the shacklesof caste and patriarchy and reclaimedtheir rights, especially to live with dig-nity.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

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With Khalifa Haftar’s forcesstalled outside the capital,Tripoli, the eight-year

omnishambles in Libya is approach-ing a climax. It’s not clear yet whichside is going to win but at least thedozens of rival militias in the coun-try are now lined up in two recog-nisable sides. Haftar does have thegift of bringing clarity to a situation.

Alas, he achieves this mainly bymaking so many Libyans hate him.To them, he is Gaddafi 2.0, a would-be military dictator, who aspires tobe a Libyan counterpart to Egypt’sGeneral al-Sisi (and is generouslybacked by the Egyptian dictator).That’s not what they fought the2011 revolution for.

Of course, the militia didn’t real-ly do the heavy lifting in that revolu-tion. They were colourful extras fight-ing little local battles, but the real exe-cution was done by French, British andCanadian aircraft operating underNATO command that bombedGaddafi’s troops almost to extinctionin a six-month campaign in 2011.

The militias’ main role was toput a Libyan face on the wholeoperation but when NATO walkedaway after Gaddafi was killed, theywere left in charge. They splitrepeatedly as their quarrels overlocal extortion rights became acutebut they are united in resisting there-establishment of Central controlby a national Government. It is notin their interest.

There is, however, a basic divi-sion between eastern Libya(Cyrenaica) and western Libya(Tripolitania) that underlies themanifold rivalries of tribes and clansin both parts of the country. It’s adivision that goes all the way back toRoman times, when the east spokeGreek (the language of the easternpart of the empire) and the west

spoke Latin.It persists today, even though

everybody now speaks Arabic. Thetwo parts of Libya live largely sepa-rate lives, divided by the central stripof coast where the desert reaches thesea — and the west has two-thirds ofthe country’s six million people.

Haftar controls Cyrenaica andthe vast and largely unpopulateddesert south of Libya (where most ofthe oil is) but the west has the advan-tage of numbers and a profound dis-

like of being ruled by the east. That’swhy the western militias are comingtogether now, and why his offensiveagainst Tripoli is at least temporari-ly stalled.

As for the rights and wrongs ofthe situation, there’s plenty of blameon both sides. Haftar ostensibly rep-resents the Parliament elected in2014, which fled to the east later thatyear when Islamist militias seizedcontrol of Tripoli. It now sits inTobruk in the east and is entirely

under Haftar’s thumb.This is Haftar’s only plausible

claim to legitimacy. Once a colleagueof Gaddafi’s, he fled the country,ended up in exile in the United Statesfor 15 years and is an American cit-izen but returned to Libya in 2014and gradually united the militias ofthe east under his command as the‘Libyan National Army’ (LNA).

He cleared the Islamist extrem-ists out of Benghazi, the big city inCyrenaica, in a bloody two-yearwar and then set out to take the restof the country. His troops reached theoutskirts of Tripoli early this month.

The ‘internationally recognised’,United Nations-backed Governmentof National Accord (GNA) inside thecity is equally unconvincing as anational saviour. It was not elected,but cobbled together by UN media-tors in 2015. Its leader, ‘PrimeMinister’ Fayez al-Sarraj, didn’t evenarrive in Tripoli from abroad until2016 and he has struggled to estab-lish his authority over the city, letalone over the militias or the entirecountry.

So now Haftar is making his big

bid for power and Serraj is practical-ly irrelevant. The various militias ofTripolitania that are coming togeth-er to resist him undoubtedly out-number him but they have no jointcommand structure and Serraj can-not provide one.

The ‘smart money’, says Haftar,is bound to lose but that remains tobe seen. He has both Egyptian andRussian support (although it’s unlike-ly that either of them authorised thisadventure). And ordinary Libyansface a choice between a new 75-year-old dictator and continuing chaos,poverty and intermittent low-levelviolence as the militias squabble overthe spoils. Not that they will actual-ly be asked about the choice, ofcourse.

How much does this matter toother Arab countries? Not a lot. Howmuch does it matter to the rest of theworld? Not at all. As Janis Joplin onceremarked in a radically different con-text, freedom’s just another word for“nothing left to lose.”

(The writer’s new book isGrowing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work)

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Thanjavur: A 75-year old sup-porter of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi died after hewas allegedly attacked by a sus-pected supporter of the DMK-Congress alliance following awordy duel near here, policesaid on Sunday.

Police said they arrestedGopinath who got into anargument with the elderly manwhile the latter was seekingvotes for the AIADMK-BJPalliance at Orthanadu lateSaturday.

In a fit of rage, Gopinathattacked Govindarajan whowas also a fan of AIADMKfounder late M GRamachandran.

The man collapsed anddied on the spot, police said.

Gopinath was arrested onSunday and produced beforecourt which remanded him tojudicial custody, they added.

Police said Gopinath wasstated to be a supporter ofDMK-Congress alliance sup-porter. PTI

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Aligarh (UP): Attacking theanti-BJP alliance formed for theongoing Lok Sabha polls, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSunday said while people want-ed to get rid of terrorism, thosein the “maha milawat” wantedto remove him from power.

Addressing a poll rally here,Modi asked the crowd, “Tell mewhether terrorism should beeliminated or not, whether weshould enter Pakistan and killthe terrorists, whether weshould conduct surgical strikesand airstrikes, whether ourjawans should get a free handor not? Has your chowkidardone the right thing?” Thecrowd replied, “Yes.”

Hitting out at the anti-BJPalliance, the Prime Minister said,"You are saying terrorism shouldbe eliminated, but those in themaha milawat say Modi shouldbe removed. This will help themrun their politics, but will it bebeneficial for the country?

"Imagine only for a secondthat if there was a small goof-upin the surgical strike or airstrikescarried out by us, wouldn't all ofthem have ripped Modi apart(Modi ki chamdhi udhedh deteki nahi, Modi ke baal noch leteki nahi)?.... But what would hap-

pen to Modi later on, should thedecision be based on this? Modinever thinks about himself, hethinks about the country." Hesaid his mission was to "elimi-

nate terrorism, corruption andillness, and alleviate poverty".

The Prime Minister alsosaid it was his dream to see thedefence corridor. PTI

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In what could put even theHindi heartland to shame,

Bengal watched two of theState’s most formidable politicalopponents competing eachother over the Ram Navmi pieahead of the second round ofgeneral elections.

In an unprecedented showof affection for the God of val-our, both Trinamool Congressand BJP on Saturday andSunday descended on thestreets, clad in saffron dresses,even as a confused lot of voterswatched genuine electoral issuesshifting to the backburner.

While in Kanthi, TMC MP,Dibyebdu Adhikary, performeda public puja before his sup-porters took out processionschanting religious songs in theneighbouring Kharagpur. StateBJP president, Dilip Ghosh,threw electoral norms to thewinds even as he publicly exhib-ited his capabilities with thesword and mace.

“This is our tradition. Weare Hindus and worshippers ofLord Rama the God of valourand power. We have all the rightto follow our tradition with fan-fare: elections or not. We dare

the Government or anyone elseto stop us and feel the conse-quence,” he said even as he rat-tled the saber and mace in air.

At Birbhum the parlia-mentary constituency presidedover by TMC strongmanAnubrata Mandal the TMCleaders including a StateMinister performed publicofferings of the pooja even as hisfollowers took out long proces-sions down the windy streets ofSiuri and Bolpur.

Ram Navami not a majorfestival in Bengal until its elec-toral value was driven home acouple of years ago was cele-brated with much fanfare inBankura, Purulia and Howrahtoo where the politicians playedto the gallery as never beforeeven as the Left and theCongress cried foul.

Apparently cramped byMarxist agnosticism CPI(M)general Sitaram Yechury onSunday cried out seekingElection Commission’s attentionto "blatant breaking of modelcode of conduct."

“Most unfortunately” theBJP and the TrinamoolCongress are feeding each otherand dividing the electorate alongcommunal lines, he said. “This

communal division is leavinglittle space for the democratic,secular politics which is analarming trend for a State likeBengal,” he said holding ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee sole-ly responsible for “degenerationof the State politics.”

Meanwhile, the BJP onSunday demanded a foolproofmeasure to enable voters to casttheir votes in the remaining sixphases of polling in Bengal.

“We have seen how thevoters were stopped from com-ing to booths, how polling wasrigged in booths manned by theState police,” both inCoochbehar and Alipurduarwhile the armed TMC gangstook control of the streets, BJPobserver for Bengal KailashVijaybargiya said demandingfull CCTV coverage for the elec-toral sites.

“We want all the poolingstations to be covered by CCTVand all of them to be mannedby central forces in the subse-quent phases of polling,” he said.The BJP leaders had earlierstaged a dharna at the ChiefElect oral Officer’s office inKolkata demanding re-poll inmore than 300 booths ofAlipurduar and Coochbehar.

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Bengaluru: Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman on Sundaysaid neither Prime MinisterNarendra Modi nor any otherNDA leader wanted to politicisearmed forces and there wasnothing wrong in talking aboutthe political will giving freedomto the forces to take action asthey deem fit.

At an informal interactivesession with intellectuals, aca-demicians and young thinkershere, she said the Oppositionhad been constantly coming upwith the allegation that armedforces were being politicised.

"Nobody wants to politicisethe armed forces, not particu-larly myself or Prime Ministeror anybody from here(Government). We dont wantto politicise the armed forces,she said.

Sitharaman sought to knowwhether it was wrong to com-pare how "weak" theManmohan Singh-led govern-ment was in 2008 post Mumbaiattacks and the how "strong" theModi government was now in2019 after the Pulwama terrorattack by Jaish-e-Mohammedwhich killed 40 CRPF Jawans inFebruary.

Action was taken afterPulwama because we felt theheat from the people saying Isthis India? Is this the govern-ment we voted for? Are youincapable of taking action?

"And then the political will,based on sound intelligenceinformation, gives the freedomto the armed forces to take thenecessary action as theydeemed fit. Is it wrong to say it?That is not politicisation of thearmed forces, the DefenceMinister asserted.

She asked the people to dif-ferentiate between politicisationand talking about the politicalwill.

Congress and other oppo-sition parties have objected toModi and several other BJPleaders referring to IAF's airstrikes on terror camp in

Balakot and mentioning thevalour of the armed forces indefending the country.

The Congress on Fridaymoved the ElectionCommission against Modi andBJP chief Amit Shah forallegedly "dragging" the armedforces in the political domain byusing them to seek votes.

Over 150 military veteranshave written to President RamNath Kovind, expressing out-rage over what they called "use"of the armed forces for "politi-cal purposes" and sought hisintervention in preserving apo-litical character of the services.

Referring to the Rafale deal,Sitharaman charged withCongress with spreading liesdespite the Supreme Court'sorder and the report of theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG).

"In spite of supreme courtdecision, In spite of the CAGreport, in spite of formerRaksha Mantri Arun Jaitley, inspite of me all of us making inthe Parliament point by pointanswer, if the Congress party isgoing about saying the samethings all over again, it is pure-ly false”, she said. PTI

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Badaun (UP): Seeking to drivea wedge between alliance part-ners SP and BSP, UnionMinister Rajnath Singh onSunday said Samajwadi Partywill have to bear the conse-quences of teaming up with theMayawati-led party in the LokSabha elections.

Addressing an electionmeeting at Dataganj here, hesaid, "... Samajwadi Party (SP)does not know what big mis-take it has committed by forg-ing an alliance with the BSP. Itwill have to bear the conse-quences."

Earlier this year, BSP supre-mo Mayawati and SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav announcedthat they will fight from 38 and37 seats, respectively whileleaving two for the Congress inUttar Pradesh. The seats thatwere left out by the SP-BSPalliance included the Gandhifamily's stronghold of Amethiand Raebareli.

The Union home ministeralso said that barely 13 daysafter the Pulwama terror attack,'revenge' was taken.

"Congress and other oppo-sition parties started demand-ing proof as to how many ter-rorists were killed, how many

camps were destroyed... Had itbeen one or two, we could havecounted them.

"But, they were so many, towhat extent could have wecounted? The job of IAF is notto count the bodies," he said.

Singh was referring to theair strikes carried out by theIndian Air Force (IAF) on ter-ror camps in Balakot.

The senior BJP leader alsounderlined the Centre's resolvein providing best security appa-ratus to the armed forces.

He said the soldiers hadbeen demanding bulletproofjackets since 2009, but in vain.

"As soon as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi came to knowabout this, he immediatelygave orders for providing bul-letproof jackets to Armyjawans. Such jackets have beengiven to 1.86 lakh soldiers," theMinister added. PTI

Kolkata: The Triple Talaq Billhas been a major poll plank ofthe BJP, with the party trying itsbest to woo a section of minori-ties with the legislation, even asthose who had led the crusadeagainst the practice continue tofight for their survival.

In its recently releasedmanifesto for Lok Sabha polls,the saffron party, which failedto legislate the bill in Parliamentdue to stiff resistance by theOpposition, has pledged toeliminate the practices ofinstant talaq and nikah halalaif re-elected to power.

Vijaya Rahatkar, the nation-al president of the party's MahilaMorcha, said the efforts of theNarendra Modi Government topass the Triple Talaq Bill "willsurely yield positive results forthe BJP" in the ongoing LokSabha polls.

Ironically, anti-triple talaqchampions — Ishrat Jahan,Shayara Bano and Atiya Sabri —who had moved the SupremeCourt to seek an end to the prac-tice of instant divorce continueto live in abject poverty, with lit-tle or no means of income.

The court, in a landmarkjudgment in 2017, held thepractice "void" and "unconsti-tutional".

Divorced in April 2015,Ishrat Jahan lives with her twochildren in neighbouringHowrah district.

"I am struggling to makeboth ends meet. I don't havemoney to send my children toschool. As of now, I depend onmy relatives for financial assis-tance," she told PTI.

Jahan had joined the BJP in2018 and was initially expectedto be one of the major minority

faces of the party in Bengal. Itwas also speculated that shewould figure in BJP's list of LokSabha candidates in the state.

"Things appear to havechanged. I am not in touchwith the party any more. At timesI visit party meetings, but that'sabout it," she said, when asked ifthe BJP leaders inquire about her.

The story is no different forShayara Bano and Atiya Sabri,who live under stressful financialconditions with no help fromtheir divorced husbands.

"She doesn't have anyincome of her own ... We try tohelp her in whatever way wecan," Bano's brother Arshad toldPTI from Uttar Pradesh.

Sabri's brother Rizwan, whois a resident of Uttarakhand, saidthe family wants the court mat-ter to be disposed off soon. Heappealed to both the state and

central governments to lookinto the early disposal of the case.

"My sister stays with me. Sheis part of my family. We don'twant any financial help, we justwant this matter to end soon,"Rizwan said.

Two other petitioners,Afreen Rahman and GulshanParween, could not be con-tacted. Rahatkar, whenapprised of the condition of thethree women, said she hadmet Jahan and assured her offinancial assistance.

"We should always stand bythose women who have sufferedbut not given up. I spoke to Ishratand told her that we will provideassistance if she needed to sendher children to school. We arealso willing to give her loanunder the Government's Mudrascheme to help her start a busi-ness," Rahatkar told PTI. PTI

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Kolkata: Slamming the BJP-led Government, CPI(M) gen-eral secretar y, SitaramYechury, on Sunday said itstands on the twin pillars ofloot of natural resources andmore misery for the poor.

Yechury also accused theNarendra Modi-led NDAGovernment of trying to usethe armed forces to polarisethe elections in the face of itsimminent defeat.

He said it is "quite evident"from the anger against thepresent dispensation at thegrassroots that a seculardemocratic Government willcome to power after the elec-tions.

"Recently, a report cameout where it stated that bankloans of corporates worth �5.5lakh crore were waived off inthe last five years. This onlysums up from where the BJPis getting so much money interms of electoral bonds.

"This Modi Governmentrests on twin pillars of loot ofnatural resources, cronyismand more misery for poor andcommon masses," Yechurytold reporters here. PTI

Jaipur : Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot sug-gested on Sunday that hisUttar Pradesh counterpart,Yogi Adityanath, should bebooked for sedition forlabelling the military as PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'sArmy.

"Yogi ji is saying, 'this isModi sena'. There should be acase of sedition on Yogi ji. Ifsomeone criticises the gov-ernment, the person is direct-ly called anti-national. Butthe anti-national person is hewho, while being the chiefminister, says 'Modi ji ki sena'(Modi's army)," Gehlot toldreporters here.At a rally inGhaziabad on March 31,Adityanath had dubbed theArmy "Modi ji ki sena", trig-gering a political firestormwith the Opposition attackingthe Uttar Pradesh chief min-ister for "insulting and humil-iating" the armed forces.

"Where do you want totake the nation? What willhappen in the country when

soldiers will have their inter-ference here like Pakistan?"Gehlot asked. He said Pakistanhad military rule several times,but the defence forces werekept separate from politics inIndia for the past 70 years.

"Our Army protects thenation and fulfil duties," theCongress leader said, claimingthat it was for the first time thearmed forces were beingpoliticised.

The Rajasthan chief min-ister cautioned that the youthshould be aware of the politi-cal propaganda on socialmedia. "Our countrymen, par-ticularly the youth, shouldnot be misled. Modi and histeam are brainwashing youthsthrough social media. If youare misled, this will be dan-gerous for the country," hesaid.

Gehlot later addressed arally in Gangapur city of SawaiMadhopur district and allegedthat Modi had won the 2014Lok Sabha election on falsepromises. PTI

Sambhal (UP): PragatisheelSamajwadi Party (Lohia) chiefShivpal Yadav on Sundaydescribed the SP-BSP-RLDcombine as an "alliance ofcrooks" and claimed that itwould not be able to cross thedouble-digit mark in the LokSabha election.

Addressing a public meet-ing in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhaldistrict, Shivpal Yadav said:"(BSP chief) Mayawati, duringher stint as the chief ministerof UP, had got cases registeredagainst 'netaji' (SamajwadiParty patriarch MulayamYadav). She had unleashedatrocities on SP workers."

"And, now, (SP chief )

Akhilesh had shook handswith the same Mayawati. Thisis not a 'gathbandhan' of the SP-BSP, it is 'thagbandhan'(alliance of crooks)," saidShivpal Yadav, who is theestranged uncle of AkhileshYadav.

The PSPL leader said theSP-BSP-RLD combine wouldnot succeed in the general

election. "You will see that thisalliance will not be able to crossthe double-digit mark," he said.

Pointing out that theSamajwadi Party was fightingon 35 Lok Sabha seats this time,Shivpal Yadav said: "But whenthe reins of party were in 'neta-ji's' hand, the SP used to fighton all 80 Lok Sabha seats."

He claimed that the PSPLwas a bigger party than theSamajwadi Party, saying theformer was fighting on 60 LokSabha seats in the state and on27 seats across 11 states.

"We will win 15 seats andbe a part of the government atthe Centre," Shivpal Yadavadded. PTI

Aligarh (UP): Three persons,including an electricity con-tractor, were booked on Sundayfor "negligence" after a shortcircuit caused a minor fireunder the stage on which PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wasdelivering his speech here.

Senior superintendent ofpolice Akash Kulhari said, “Thewiring of air-conditioning cir-cuit got overheated and acci-

dentally caught fire.”He said the security staff

immediately doused the firebefore any damage could bedone.

The Prime Minister's con-tinued his speech uninterrupt-ed while the security personneltackled the mishap withoutanyone knowing about it, hesaid, adding an enquiry hasbeen ordered. PTI

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Hassan in Karnataka is oneof the constituencies

where BJP is fighting PrajwalRevanna of the Deve Gowdaclan. A cat has nine lives, butDeve Gowda has 10!" is aphrase people use inKarnataka, as the formerPrime Minister and rulingJanata Dal-Secular (JD(S)supremo battles at the age of86 to give political births totwo of his grandsons in hispolitical terra f irma. InHassan, the JD(S)-Congresscoalition is facing the rebel-lion. The workers of both theparties are refusing to obeythe diktat of alliance.

A Manju, another power-ful vokkaliga leader of theBJP, is taking on 29-year-oldPrajwal Revanna who hailsfrom a powerful Vokkaligafamily of Deve Gowda. Hisfather HD Revanna is thePWD Minister inKumaraswamy’s Cabinet. He isthe elder brother ofKumaraswamy. Deve Gowda,who fought many electionsfrom Hassan, has sacrificed hisseat to his grandson PrajwalRevanna — a well-thoughtstrategy to baptise the thirdgeneration into politics. TheJD(S), a family party, has beensurviving on the caste andDeve Gowda’s shrewd politics.

The fight is also signifi-cant and a litmus test for the

coalition politics of Congressand JDs. This is also a test onhow people and party work-ers respond to the dynastypolitics. A peek in to thepolitical history of the stateshows that in south Karnatakathat the Janata Dal-Secular(JD-S) and Congress hadfought bitterly against eachother in the Assembly electionless than a year ago.

However the alliance ofJD(S) and Congress hasn'tgone down well with the rankand file in the State. Accordingto a pre-poll agreementbetween the two parties, theJD(S) has fielded its candi-dates in seven of the 28 LokSabha seats, while theCongress has its own candi-

dates in the other 21 con-stituencies.

A senior politician fromHassan Gandasi Shivaram aformer congress minister whohad taken the Gowda familyhead on says he is campaigningfor JD(S) Congress candidate aspart of the diktat of the highcommand. However he refusedto comment on the rebellion inthe Congress. He says as a con-gress worker he was to only fol-low the coalition dharma.

A Congress district levelfunctionary at Hassan saideven if the party dismissedhim he will not work forJD(S) candidate PrajwalRevanna. He says the alliancehas doomed the prospects ofCongress at Hassan and ques-

tions the future of the party.In all these elections the JD(S)and the Congress were bitterrivals in many constituenciesand Hassan is facing the wrathof rebellion of rank and file.

In Hassan, formerCongress Minister A Manuwho joined the BJP in protestagainst the alliance and iscontesting on a saffron ticket.This rebellion was primarilyagainst JDS candidate PrajwalRevanna, grandson of DeveGowda. Manju said “ I amconfident of winning withthe Modi wave and rebellionin the Congress and JD(S). Allthe grass root workers are withme and I am fighting againstthe dynastic politics ofDevegowda.”

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Silchar (Assam): Coming downheavily on the BJP, Congressleader Priyanka Gandhi Vadraon Sunday said the Constitutionis not respected and an attemptis being made to destroy it bythe present dispensation.

Holding a roadshow inSilchar in support of Congresscandidate and sitting MPSushmita Dev, she also said thatPrime Minister Narendra Modihas toured the world over, buthardly spent time in his ownconstituency in Varanasi.

“It is ‘Mahapurush’ (BR)Ambedkar ji’s birth anniversary.He laid the foundation of thiscountry through theConstitution. It is the duty ofevery leader to respect thatConstitution.

“Today, you are seeing thatthe Constitution is not respect-ed and an attempt is beingmade to destroy it,” said Gandhi,who is Congress’s general sec-retary in-charge of UttarPradesh East.

Slamming the the BJP man-ifesto, she said there is no spacefor different cultures and reli-gions in it, as well as any respectfor the Constitution.

“On the other hand, theCongress manifesto has the‘NYAY’ scheme, under which apoor family will get �72,000annually... In every word, thereis respect for the Constitution,”she said.

Gandhi said she was told bypeople in Varanasi that Modi

did not spend even five minuteswith anyone there in the last fiveyears.

“He went to America andhugged there, went to Chinaand hugged there, too. He wentand hugged in Russia andAfrica. He went to Japan andplayed the drum. In Pakistan, hehad biriyani.

“But in his own con-stituency, he did not go once toa family’s house to enquireabout their condition,” shealleged.

The Congress leaderappealed to people to defeat theBJP-led Government, whichshe said does not listen to pub-lic voice, does not try to under-stand their problems, does notbelieve it is peoples’ gover-nance, and only wants to enjoypower.

Speaking highly ofSushmita Dev, Gandhi likenedthe Congress lawmaker with hergrandmother and former PrimeMinister Indira Gandhi.

“If you remember IndiraGandhi even today, it is becauseshe worked for you. I havecome here for Sushmita. She hasthat courage which Indira ji had.Sushmita has that honest andgood intention, and wants towork for you from the heart,”she said.

Gandhi also criticised theBJP-led NDA Government forits “flawed policies and inten-tions” in the last five years, andcited the withdrawal of theSpecial Status to Assam, snap-ping of the north east-specificindustrial policy and suspen-sion of two paper mills in theState. PTI

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Thiruvananthapuram: TheOpposition Congress in KeralaSunday attacked the BJP andPrime Minister Narendra Modion the Sabarimala issue, sayingpeople would not tolerate the‘drama’ being played by thesaffron party in the name ofLord Ayyappa and that thedevotees have been “cheated”.

Hitting out at Modi and theBJP, AICC General Secretary(Organisation) K C Venugopalalleged that the party had“cheated” the devotees and “aresincere to Sabarimala only whenit comes to election and voting”.

The senior Congress leaderalleged that the Centre and thestate were hand-in-glove forhaving worsened the Sabarimalaissue.

“Why is the Prime Ministerplaying a drama overSabarimala? I had brought upthe matter in Parliament onJanuary 4. I had sought legisla-tive intervention to protect therights of the believers.Has thePrime Minister or his ministerever uttered a single word on theissue in Parliament?,” Venugopalasked.

Recalling that the NDAhad brought forward an ordi-nance to validate the lapsed Billon Triple Talaq, he sought toknow why the same enthusiasmwas lacking in the case ofSabarimala.

“An ordinance would havebeen enough. The Centre could

have intervened in the name offaith. But they didn’t.

Modi said his party andGovernment will approach theSupreme Court, explaining thetraditions of Sabarimala. Theycould’ve have done this longago. But they didn’t.

People will tolerate all kindsof drama, but using the name ofSwami Ayyappa for electiondrama is beyond limits, “Venugopal said at a meet thepress programme here.

The Congress has official-ly asked in Parliament for leg-islative intervention on theSabarimala matter, he said.

Attacking the Left govern-ment in the state, he said it couldhave sought time to implementthe Supreme Court verdict, butdid not do so.

“The RSS/sangh parivartried to disrupt the peace antranquillity at the hilltop shrine.Sincere devotees were deniedtheir right to pray.

Both the state and the cen-tre Governments were hand-in-glove in making the situationworsen.

Both the Governmentswere responsible for worseningthe Sabarimala issue,”Venugopal alleged.

Venugopal said the AICCdecision to appoint a specialobserver inThiruvananthapuram was tomonitor the poll activities in themajor constituencies. PTI

��+ ���������-�:�%�������������������� ���������&� Srinagar: NC president Farooq

Abdullah on Sunday dubbedPrime Minister Narendra Modiand BJP president Amit Shah“biggest enemies of people”,alleging that they want to dividethe country.

The former Jammu &Kashmir Chief Minister madethe remarks at a public meetingin Mir Bahri Dal.

“PM Modi and Shah are thebiggest enemies of people whobelieve in dividing the nation onbasis of caste, creed and religion.But the people have made it apoint not to fall prey to the divi-sive agenda of the BJP,”Abdullah said.

The National Conference(NC) patron accused the BJP oftrying to divert people’s atten-tion by propping up emotiveissues.

“These people want tochange the very framework ofthe Constitution of India, whichgrants equal rights and oppor-tunities to everyone. It is theConstitution of India whichgrants rights to profess anyfaith. It is the same Constitutionthat confers upon our state cer-tain constitutional safeguards,”Abdullah said.

“It is the same Constitutionwhich grants our state a specialstatus by means of Article 35 Aand Article 370. These peoplehave always shown abhorrencefor our special status and spe-cial constitutional position,” headded.

Abdullah said the BJP man-ifesto reflects the BJP’s hatred for

the identity of the State.“They have forcefully

vowed to do away with the pro-visions of Article 370, Article 35A in that manifesto. Their soleagenda is to change the demog-raphy of our State. However, letme tell them that they are play-ing with fire,” he said.

Alluding to the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) andPeople’s Conference (PC),Abdullah said the BJP wasusing its “cronies” to weaken thespecial status of Jammu &Kashmir.

“To meet this purpose, theyhave employed various hench-men in our State, such croniescan be seen holding inkpot(PDP’s party symbol) and apple(PC’s party symbol) in theirhands. The sole aim of BJP andits cronies is to make non-statesubjects buy land and propertyin our state,” he said.

The NC president said thesepolls would decide if Indiaremains secular or not.

“Our fight is with the divi-sive forces. We should utilise ourpower of vote to show suchforces as are inimical to our spe-

cial status their right place.They can go to any extent togrind their axe, they will usemen, money and machinery tocoerce the voters,” Abdullahsaid.

“However, the need of thehour demands us to remainunited and vigilant of theirmachinations. This time we arevoting for our identity and theintegrity of our state,” he said.

He warned any mistakeswill have serious repercussionsfor the coming generations.

Abdullah said the NationalConference would not allowanybody to fiddle with thestate’s special status.

“We have been (protecting)and will continue to protect theidentity, integrity and pluralis-tic character of our state. Wewould not allow anyone toabridge our rights,” he said. PTI

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Gaya: A group of Maoists shotdead a former cadre here sus-pecting him to be a policeinformer, police said on Sunday.

The incident happened inKhaira village under the juris-diction of Dumriya police sta-tion on Saturday night when theman was sleeping on the rooftopof a relative’s place, the policesaid.

The deceased has beenidentified as Raghu Ravindraalias Sunil Singh Bhokta, theSuperintendent of Police (SP) ofGaya, Sushil Kumar, said.

Bhokta was earlier associat-ed with the CPI(Maoist), the SPsaid. The CPI (Maoist) cadres,in a leaflet left behind at the spot,charged Bhokta of being a policeinformer, he said.

Bhokta had left theCPI(Maoist) around three yearsago and had joined TritiyaPrastuti Committee (TPC), apolice officer said. PTI

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T h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a m :Congress general secretary KCVenugopal accused PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onSunday of running away fromreal issues and trying to dividepeople, and said his onlyweapon in the ongoing LokSabha polls was “polarisation”.

The Congress was raisingthe concerns related to jobs,agrarian crisis, women’s safe-ty, development of all, butModi was running away fromthese real issues and trying todivide the people of the coun-try, Venugopal alleged at ameet-the-press programmehere.

“Modi had promised acchedin (good days) to the people.This election verdict is going tobe a referendum on the BJPgovernment’s performance.Modi’s performance is zero.One can analyse his speechesand see that he has not men-tioned anything that has been

done by his Government.“Nothing on development,

nothing on black money, noth-ing on farmers or jobs. Hisonly weapon is polarisation.But he got it wrong this time.Just because it happened once,does not mean it may happenagain,” he said.

Raising the Rafale issue,the Congress leader allegedthat the Prime Minister over-ruled the defence secretary’sopinion and went forwardwith the agreement to pur-chase the French fighter jets.

The defence secretary hadsaid a direct negotiation by theprime minister would “weak-en” India’s position, he claimed.

Venugopal also referredto a report published in aFrench daily that claimed thatAnil Ambani’s RelianceCommunications was giventax waivers.

“Who is Anil Ambani tothe French government?

Chowkidar chor hi hai (thewatchman is indeed a thief).We have evidence. It is rare thatthe Supreme Court hears areview petition. But it is, now,in this case. This was becausethe Centre had misled theSupreme Court,” he alleged.

The defence ministry hassaid that any connection drawnbetween the tax issue and theRafale deal is totally “inaccu-rate” and “tendentious”.

In its reaction, RelianceCommunications has rejectedany wrongdoing and said thetax dispute was settled underthe legal framework whichwas available for all companiesoperating in France.

Venugopal said theCongress was confident offorming the Government at theCentre as the strongholds ofthe ruling Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) were “trembling”after the first phase of the LokSabha polls. PTI

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Srinagar: A Hurriyat leaderwas intercepted at the Srinagarairport on Sunday for alleged-ly carrying over �14 lakh “unac-counted” cash, officials said.

Aga Syed Hasan Mosavi, anoted Shia leader, was brieflydetained by the Jammu &Kashmir police after he landedhere from Delhi with the cashof �14.38 lakh. It is suspected tobe unaccounted and has beenseized in view of the electionseason, the officials said.

The case has been trans-ferred to the Income TaxDepartment and Mousavi hasbeen summoned before aninvestigating tax officer onMonday, the officials said.

The Income TaxDepartment is looking to ascer-tain the source of the cash,which is primarily believed to befrom a Shia organisation basedin Iran, the officials added. PTI

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Palghar: Vasai MLA HitendraThakur, whose party— BahujanVikas Aghadi (BVA)— failed toget its regular poll symbol ‘whis-tle’, on Sunday blamed leaders ofthe ruling parties, and accusedthem of pressuring the electionmachinery.

He also threatened toapproach the Supreme Courtagainst the returning officerand the election machinery forbowing to pressure of the

ruling parties.The BVA, which had lost its

election symbol of ‘whistle’ to anewly-formed outfit, Fridaymade a last-ditch effort to get itback, but could not succeed init. The BVA has fielded formerMP Baliram Jadhav fromPalghar Lok Sabha constituen-cy against sitting MP Rajendra

Gavit, who is contesting as a ShivSena candidate.

The Election Commissionhad allotted the ‘whistle’ symbolto the newly-formed BahujanMaha Party (BMP) this time.However, after its Palghar can-didate withdrew from the elec-tion, the BVA staked claim to thesymbol.

However, returning officerPrashant Narnavre told Thakurearly on Saturday that since the‘whistle’ symbol has alreadybeen allotted to the BMP, itcould not be given to his or anyother party. The BVA has beenallotted the ‘auto-rickshaw’ sym-bol. Peeved at not getting BVA’sregular poll symbol, ThakurSunday said, “I will drag thereturning officer and the elec-tion machinery to the Supreme

Court for falling prey to thepressure by the ruling parties.”

“We have got the auto-rick-shaw symbol. There are thou-sands of autos running in Vasaibelt and each and every auto isour campaigner. Symbol is sec-ondary for us, but the mannerin which they pressurised theadministration and ensured thatthe symbol is snatched fromus...I want to drag them tocourt,” he said.

“They thought that symbolis our strength, but our work andworkers are our real strength.Our work will speak for itselfand we will make every effort towin the seat this time. The rul-ing party has done nothinggreat, but only snatched thewhistle from us,” he alleged. PTI

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Police have seized the carused in the Kishtwar terror

attack in which a senior RSSfunctionary and his PSO werekilled, an officer said on Sunday.

The vehicle was recoveredfrom an area in Kishtwar dis-trict, he said. Police havereleased a photograph of theowner of the vehicle, ZahidHussain, who had beenabsconding since the attack, theofficer said.

“We have identified andtracked down a vehicle (used inthe terror attack). We have

identified its owner also,”Inspector General of Police(IGP), Jammu Zone, M K Sinhatold PTI.

Hussain has reportedlyjoined terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen recently but policedid not confirm this.

According to sources, thecar had a false number plateand had changed hands fourtimes.

Senior RSS leaderChanderkant Sharma and hissecurity guard were killed onApril 9 when a militant openedfire inside a health centre inKishtwar town. PTI

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onSunday said the BJPGovernment in the State hadstarted the process of educatingthe Dalits.

Speaking at a programmeheld here to celebrate the birthanniversary of BabasahebBhimrao Ambedkar, Adityanathsaid, “Babasaheb used to saythat the Dalit society’s uplift willbe possible when they becomeeducated.... We have startedworking in that direction.”

He added that prior to theformation of the BJPGovernment, Ambedkar’s pho-

tos were not put up atGovernment offices. “Whenwe assumed office, the firstthing we did was put upBabasaheb’s photographs at allthe Government offices,” hesaid.

Adityanath later tweetedsaying, “I bow down in rever-ence of Bharat Ratna BabasahebDr BR Ambedkar, an apostle ofequality & freedom, and whosework left an indelible mark onmaking of New India. I drawsupreme inspiration from yourideals, which constantly guideme to work for welfare & dig-nity of our people.” PTI

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Lakhimpur Kheri (UP): A10-year old male tiger wasfound dead in the Dudhwarange of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve(DTR) on Sunday morning.

“The dead tiger had seriouspuncture wounds on its head,one of its eyes was completelydamaged and the claws wereinjured, which indicated that ithad to face a tough fight withsome other big cat,” FieldDirector Ramesh Pandey toldPTI.

He ruled out any foul playbehind the tiger’s death. PTI

3���� ������@8��������� �##��#����1 #�*� Jamnagar (Gujarat): A month

after Ravindra Jadeja’s wifejoined the BJP, the cricketer’sfather and sister joined theCongress in Gujarat on Sundayin the presence of party leaderand Patidar quota spearheadHardik Patel.

Jadeja’s father, Anirudhsinh,and sister, Nainaba, joined theCongress at an election rally inKalavad city of Jamnagar district.Jadeja hails from Jamnagar andthe Congress candidate forJamnagar Lok Sabha seat, MuluKandoriya, was also present.

The Chennai Super Kingsall-rounder’s wife, Rivaba, had

joined the Bharatiya Janata Partyon March 3 in Jamnagar in thepresence sitting MP PoonambenMaadam, who was renominat-ed by the saffron party.

Hardik Patel was expectedto be fielded by the Congressfrom Jamnagar, but the Patidarleader’s chances were scuttledafter the Supreme Court had onApril 2 rejected the plea to stayhis conviction in a case in whichhe was sentenced to two years injail.

Polls to all the 26 Lok Sabhaseats in the state will be held inthe third phase of the generalelection on April 23. PTI

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The BJP-led GoaGovernment would imple-

ment the Budget drafted byformer Chief MinisterManohar Parrikar who couldnot table it in the StateLegislative Assembly due tohis ill health earlier this year.

Incumbent Chief MinisterPramod Sawant, who tookthe charge after the death ofParrikar last month, onSunday said the budget wouldbe implemented in the next

session of the state LegislativeAssembly.

Parrikar had read out thefinancial statement of theBudget in the LegislativeAssembly in January with atube inserted through hisnose.

“The last Budget wasalready prepared by ManoharParrikar but it was not placed.During the next Assemblysession, we will implementthat budget,” Sawant told PTI.

He said thrust of the bud-get would be the creation of

new infrastructure in thecoastal state.

Sawant further said theGovernment would tap newresources for generation ofrevenue.

He also said that the stategovernment wanted to usherin human development alongthe infrastructure develop-ment.

“The human developmentwill encompass everything. Itwill touch lives of people of allages and from various strata ofthe society,” he added.

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Page 10: C M Y K - The Pioneer...2019/04/15  · belonging to these two fami-lies have squeezed out resources and triggered cata-strophe in the State while remaining in power. Modi also challenged

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Jet Airwayspilots body, the

N a t i o n a lAviator’s Guild(NAG), onSunday deferredits “no flying”call to a laterdate, particularlywhen the man-agement isscheduled tomeet the lenderson Monday.

Earlier in theday, the Guild,which hasaround 1,100pilots as itsmembers, decided to stop fly-ing from April 15 in protestagainst non-payment of salariessince March.

“It is come to our noticethat there is a critical meetingplanned tomorrow (Monday)morning with the airline man-agement and SBI.

“In light of the meeting, themembers have requested,through their team leaders,that the call of ‘No Pay NoWork’ be deferred to give theairline a chance of survival.Accordingly, as requested, theCommittee would like toinform all that the decisionstands deferred for the timebeing,” the Guild committeesaid in a late evening commu-nication to its members.

All pilots are still requested,however, to be present at SiroyaCentre at 0930 hours on April

15 in their uniforms, it said. Siroya Centre is Jet

Airways headquarters inAndheri suburb in Mumbai.

According to NAG, it hasalso called upon other depart-ments to join the gathering atthe headquarters as a show ofunity.

An Open House will becalled shortly as per the avail-ability of the venue and thecommittee members, the com-munication added.

The pilots, along with engi-neers and senior management,have not received salaries sinceJanuary. The debt-ridden car-rier has also not paid theMarch salary to employees ofother categories as well.

“As on today, we have notbeen paid for nearly three-and-a-half months and we do notknow when we will be paid. So

we have decided to go aheadwith our call of no-flying fromApril 15. All 1,100 pilots ofNAG will stop flying from 10am Monday,” a Guild sourcesaid earlier in the day.

The NAG, which claimsrepresentation of around 1,100pilots of the total 1,600 with thefull service carrier, had in lateMarch called for no flyingfrom April 1 over non-paymentof salaries.

However, on March 31, itdeferred the agitation to April15, saying it wanted to givemore time to the new man-agement.

Jet Airways is at presentunder the management controlof SBI-led consortium oflenders after the approval of adebt-rejig plan last month,which also led its founderchairman Naresh Goyal to quit.

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Struggling carrier JetAirways Sunday said its

Independent DirectorRajshree Pathy has quit thecompany, effective April 13,citing time constraints andother commitments.

“This is to inform you thatRajshree Pathy has submittedher resignation as anIndependent Director of thecompany with effect fromApril 13, owing to time con-straints and on account of herother current commitments,”Jet Air ways said in anexchange filing.

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Indian capital market out-performed several major

global markets, including thedeveloped ones like the US andthe UK as well as developingeconomies such as China andBrazil, with double-digitreturns in the fiscal endedMarch 2019 despite numerousglobal and domestic head-winds, data shows.

The Indian market benck-mark indices also improved ontheir own performance in theprevious fiscal, with the BSE’sSensex (17.3 per cent) givingrelatively better returns thanthe NSE’s Nifty (14.9 per cent)in 2018-19.

This is much better thanthe equity market returnsrecorded in the US (7.6 percent), the UK (3.2 per cent),China (minus 2.5 per cent),Brazil (11.8 per cent), Japan(minus 1.2 per cent), SouthKorea (minus 12.5 per cent)and Hong Kong (minus 3.5 percent) in 2018-19.

An analysis of equity mar-ket returns for these countriesshows that the Indian bench-mark indices had underper-formed those in the US, Brazil,Japan, South Korea and HongKong in 2017-18, though theperformance was better than theUK and China even in that year.

With positive performanceby benchmark indices andincreasing fund raising fromthe market, the size of the cap-ital market in India also con-tinued to expand during 2018-19, with the market capitalisa-tion rising by over 6 per cent toover �151 lakh crore.

B e s i d e s ,mutual fundasset underm a n a g e m e n tgrew by 11.4 percent to nearly�24 lakh croreand ForeignP o r t f o l i oInvestors’ assetunder custodyexpanded by 8.6per cent to closeto �30 lakhcrore.

This is despite the fact that2018-19 was relatively a diffi-cult and challenging year onaccount of global and domes-tic headwinds.

Fundraising from the cap-ital market also continued itspositive trend during 2018-19,with funds raised through debtand equity rising by 5.3 percent to nearly �9 lakh crore.

The double-digit returnscame in despite subdued sen-timents at times in view of cer-tain negative developmentssince September 2018, partic-ularly on the fixed-incomesecurities front.

On the mutual fund front,debt-oriented funds witnessednet outflows on the back of cer-tain developments in debt mar-ket since September 2018.

But, equity-oriented mutu-al funds continued to receivepositive net inflows across allmonths during 2018-19 andother mutual funds receivedpositive net inflows in 10 out of12 months of the financial year.

Net fund inflows in equi-ty-oriented and other types ofmutual funds together were tothe tune of �1.58 lakh crore in

2018-19 as against �2.84 lakhcrore in 2017-18 and �1.30 lakhcrore in 2016-17.

The year also saw themuch-awaited REIT (RealEstate Investment Trust) final-ly taking off in India.

REITs have been usedworldwide as a vehicle formonetisation of assets by realestate developers. As an instru-ment class, it provides toinvestors stable and predictablereturns, matching those andoften exceeding returns fromother alternative investments.

Capital market regulatorSebi had issued REIT regulationsin 2014 to give impetus to thisinstrument and, in turn, to thereal estate sector in the country.The Government has also pro-vided pass-through tax status toREITs registered with Sebi.

In March, the first REITpublic offer came and it has list-ed units worth about �4,750crore. The issue was wellreceived with oversubscriptionof two times in institutionalcategory and upwards of threetimes in retail category.

This is the largest listedREIT in Asia in terms of areaof assets.

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Nearly half of their totaladmitted claims worth

over �1.42 lakh crore havebeen recovered by financial andoperational creditors from asmany as 88 debt-ridden com-panies under the insolvencylaw, according to official data.

The Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC) seeksto provide market-determinedresolution for stressed assets ina time-bound manner.

Claims totalling a littleover �1.42 lakh crore wereadmitted in 88 cases under theIBC till February 28, data col-lected by the Insolvency andBankruptcy Board of India(IBBI) showed.

Of the total admittedclaims, financial creditorssought to recover dues worth�1.36 lakh crore and opera-tional creditors �6,469 crore.

Financial creditors recov-ered 48.24 per cent of theiradmitted claims and opera-tional creditors got 48.41 percent of their admitted claims.The figures are with respect to88 cases, including those whereresolution has been completed,for the period till February 28.

Creditors realised �68,766crore of the total admittedclaims in those 88 cases.

The share of financial cred-

itors and operational creditorsstood at �65,635 crore and �3,131crore, respectively, as per data.

The IBBI, a key institutionset up under the IBC, provid-ed the figures in an affidavitsubmitted to the NationalCompany Law AppellateTribunal (NCLAT) last week.

On March 27, the tribunaldirected the IBBI to file an affi-davit, with details about aver-age percentage of distributionof realised amount betweenfinancial creditors and opera-tional creditors subsequent toinsolvency resolution process.

According to the affidavit,the realised amount was morethan 100 per cent in somecases.

In the 88 cases, financialcreditors got 100 per cent real-isation of admitted claims in 11resolution plans, while opera-tional creditors got only fullrealisation in only 6 cases.

In three cases, financialcreditors got more than 100 percent realisation of admittedclaims.

Among the 88 cases werebig-ticket takeovers, includingTata Steel acquiring overBhushan Steel and Vedanta’sacquisition of Electrosteel.

In the Bhushan Steel mat-ter, total admitted claims ofoperational and financial cred-itors amounted to �57,505.05

crore. Of this, financial credi-tors received 63.49 per cent ofclaims, while the operationalcreditors’ realisation stood at80.94 per cent.

With regard to Electrosteel,total admitted claims for bothfinancial and operational cred-itors were �13,958 crore. In thisresolution process, in whichVedanta group got control ofthe company, financial creditorsgot 40.38 per cent of admittedclaims, while the operationalcreditors’ share was nil.

In the matter of MonnetIspat & Energey, total admittedclaims were �11,478.08 crore, ofwhich financial creditors got26.26 per cent and operationalcreditors received 5.40 per cent.

The NCLAT had askedIBBI to give data in the reso-lution process of Essar Steel,where operational creditorsand some financial creditorsare opposing the resolutionplan approved by theCommittee of Creditors (CoC)and are seeking a higher share.

As per the resolution planapproved by CoC,ArcelorMittal, the successfulresolution applicant, wouldpay Essar Steel lenders � 41,987crore for their total dues of�49,395 crore. Operationalcreditors would get only �214crore against their outstandingof �4,976 crore.

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State-owned Bank of Baroda(BoB) is likely to complete

the process of merger of DenaBank and Vijaya Bank with itin two years, said a seniorofficial of BoB.

The merger of Dena Bankand Vijaya Bank with BoBbecame effective from April 1.

Information technologyplatform integration alone willtake about 12 months andother processes and systemsmay take another year or so, theofficial said.

The process has beendesigned to ensure that there isminimum disruption of thecustomers during the transitionperiod, the official said addingthat the branding of the threeentities will be retained in theinterim period and will betransitioned to the new brandin a phased manner to ensureminimum disruption to exist-ing operations.

As far as capital is con-cerned, the official said, thegovernment has infused �5,042crore in the bank taking care ofadditional expenses and main-taining minimum regulatorycapital requirement.

There would be pressure

on the balance sheet of thebank during the first quarterwhen the maximum impact ofthe merger will play out and,subsequently, the impact willmoderate, the official added.

The maiden three-wayamalgamation is the first stepin the consolidation of thepublic sector banking indus-try recommended in 1991 bythe Narasimham Committeereport. Through this merger,the government has createdan institution of global scaleand size, thereby providingsignificant benefit to all stake-holders.

The consolidated entitystarted the operation with abusiness mix of over �15 lakhcrore on the balance sheet, withdeposits and advances of �8.75lakh crore and �6.25 lakh crore,respectively.

BoB, the second-largestpublic sector lender after StateBank of India, now has over9,500 branches, 13,400 ATMs,and 85,000 employees to serve12 crore customers.

The announcement of thethree-way merger was amongseveral reforms initiativesundertaken by FinancialServices Secretary Rajiv Kumar

to make publicsector banks(PSBs) healthy,robust and global-ly competitive.

As part of thereform process,the governmenthad alsoannounced trans-fer of majority 51per cent stake toLife InsuranceCorporation inIDBI Bank inAugust last year totransform theMumbai-basedlender.

Besides, the Department ofFinancial Services made arecord capital infusion of �1.06lakh crore in the PSBs in 2018-19. As a result, five PSBs,including Bank of India,Corporation Bank andAllahabad Bank, were out ofthe prompt corrective actionframework of the RBI earlierthis year. Non-performingassets showed a negative trendin 2018-19 and reduced by�23,860 crore between April2018 and September 2018.

Following the merger, thenumber of PSBs has comedown to 18.

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Payments networkNPCI is consid-

ering using highlyscalable blockchainsolution to furtherstrengthen digitalpayments, whichhave seen an expo-nential growth inrecent times.

A blockchain ordistributed ledger is a contin-uously growing list of encrypt-ed transactions called blocks. Ablock may contain any type ofdata such as unique digitalidentifiers of physical products

The National PaymentsCorporation of India (NPCI) isan umbrella organisation for allretail payments in India. Itwas set up with the guidanceand support of the ReserveBank of India and the IndianBanks Association (IBA).

Promoted by 10 banks inIndia under the aegis of theIBA, it aims to become the“best payments network glob-ally”. Presently, 56 banks areshareholders of NPCI.

“NPCI intends to developa resilient, real time and high-ly scalable blockchain solu-tion. It is proposed to developthis solution using an opensource technology/ frame-work/solution,” it said in anotification.

In this regard, the NPCIhas floated an Express ofInterest (EOI) in order toenable bidders to propose theircapability for developing dis-tributed ledger technology/blockchain in the paymentdomain.

As per a recent report ofglobal consultancy firm PwC,India would be one of theworld’s blockchain leaders by2023.

“Blockchain stores infor-mation about transactionsbetween users in a way that canbe tracked by any user for for-ever for maximum trans-parency. This gives visibilitywhich can lead to greater effi-ciency by automating or con-firming transactions andincreasing liquidity in the sup-ply chain,” said Innefu Labs Co-Founder Tarun Wig.

NPCI has invited bids forselection of LiaisoningConsultant (LC) to acquirevarious End-to-End Statutorypermissions for Constructionof Captive Data Center (CDC)in Chennai and Hyderabad.

NPCI provides serviceslike cheque clearance and facil-itates digital payments.

It has developed UnifiedPayments Interface (UPI), aninstant payment system.

UPI is fast gaining tractionin the country with total pay-ments through it soaring to�1.33 lakh crore in March 2019from a meagre �3.1 crore inAugust 2016.

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Former Niti Aayog vice chair-man Arvind Panagariya has

said the Modi Government hasachieved ‘major successes’ insocial sector programmes likeAyushman Bharat, PM-Kisanand rural electrification.

Besides, this Governmenthas made an ‘unprecedentedprogress’ in tackling corruption,he added.

On the reforms undertak-en by the Narendra Modi-ledNDA Government, he said thethree major areas of initiativeswere implementation of theGoods and Services Tax (GST),Insolvency and BankruptcyCode (IBC) and direct benefittransfer (DBT).

In an interview to PTI, theeminent economist said“...Ayushman Bharat, PM-Kisan,cooking gas, rural roads andrural electrification representmajor successes of the ModiGovernment. Unprecedentedprogress has also been made incombating corruption.”

Talking about infrastructuresector, he said the Governmenthas managed to greatly accel-erate outcomes in sectors likeroads, railways, waterways, civilaviation and digitisation.

On questioning the credi-bility of statistical data by over 100economists and social scientists,Panagariya said unless such crit-ics identify precisely what part ofthe CSO/MOSPI methodology,described in detail in a 40-pagedocument, they find problemat-ic, their statements only amountto assertions.

“None of the internationalinstitutions including the WorldBank, IMF and the UnitedNations, have expressed anydoubt in the integrity of our sta-tistical institutions or the num-bers these institutions generate.Nor have I seen any objectiveevidence that the institutionshave tried to fudge their data ontheir own or at the behest of anyother Government depart-ments,” he asserted.

The Columbia Universityprofessor also noted that revi-sion of GDP estimates is noth-ing new and this has been a wellestablished practice.

Former RBI GovernorRaghuram Rajan recently hadexpressed doubts over Indianeconomy growing 7 per centwhen not enough jobs were cre-ated and said the current cloudover the GDP numbers must becleared by appointing an impar-tial look at the data.

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The Reserve Bank remaineda net buyer of the US dol-

lar for the third consecutivemonth in February, whenitbought $825 million fromthe spot market, according tothe data from the central bank.

In the reporting month, thecentral bank bought $2.086billion and sold $1.261 billionin the spot market as the rupeewas under pressure.

The central bank hadturned net buyer of dollar forthe first time in fiscal 2019 inDecember 2018 buying$607million. In January 2019,the RBI had net purchased$293 million.

It had bought $1.025 bil-lion from the spot market andsold $732 million.

In February 2018, theapex bank was also a netbuyer of $1.665 billion pur-chasing $3.320 billion andselling $1.655 billion in thespot market.

In the forward dollar mar-ket, the outstanding forwardsales at end February was$4.372 billion, compared to asale of $3.032 billion in January,according to the RBI data.

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Trade frictions are seen as athe main source of uncer-

tainty for a slowing globaleconomy, but there are moreglimmers of hope for a US-China agreement.

While there is no deadlinefor ending the protracted tradewar with China, US TreasurySecretary Steven Mnuchin saidSaturday the talks are nearingtheir conclusion, a fresh signalof progress.

Mnuchin’s remarks cameon the margins of Spring meet-ings of the InternationalMonetary Fund and WorldBank, which were once againdominated by fears US tradepolicy could upset global eco-nomic growth.

The IMF predicted thisweek that the slowing worldeconomy should begin torebound in the latter part of2019 - provided in part that theworld’s top two economiesresolve their differences.

In a final statement fromthe meetings Saturday, theIMF’s steering committee,which represents’ the organi-

zation’s 189 members, recog-nized the need to “resolvetrade tensions” and supportreforms of the World TradeOrganization that have beendemanded by the United States.

While the IMF itself haswarned against the “self-inflict-ed wounds” of tariffs and tradebarriers, the committee itselfsteered clear of what hasbecome an unexpected hotbutton in a forum once devot-ed to trade liberalisation.

IMF chief ChristineLagarde said many officials atthe meetings in Washington“actually made their views wellknown about the benefits oftrade” for economic growth.

China’s deputy central bankgovernor, Chen Yulu, warned that“the protectionism of some coun-tries has harmed mutual trustamong countries,” although hedid not name the United States.

In the meantime,Washington this week rattledEU nations by threatening anew set of tariffs in retaliationfor subsidies to the aviationmanufacturer Airbus whileseparately prepare for newtrade talks with Japan.

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Xebia Academy Global, aneducation business unit of

Xebiahas recently signed aMemorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withSRM University, Delhi-NCR,Sonepat to launch aB.TechComputer ScienceEngineering programSpecialisation in DevOps forthe academic session 2019-20.In this collaborative under-taking, Xebia will design thecourse curriculum and creat-estudy modules containinghigh quality and industry-spe-cific content along with place-ment support for the graduat-ing students. Xebia will alsohelp in strengthening theirfaculty-building a team of com-petent educators and subjectmatter experts.

The B.Tech program willfocus on the future-orientedfield of DevOps. Its coursestructure has been designed ina way that it addresses the tal-ent gap by providing relevantknowledge and upskilling thestudents.

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Riding high on the pace ofgrowth in the oil and gas,

nuclear and urban infra-structure sectors, TataProjects, a part of the diver-sified Tata Group, is eyeing upto �16,000 crore worth ofrevenue this fiscal.

The company, one offastest growing infrastruc-ture companies in the coun-try with an order book ofaround �50,000 crore cur-

rently, hopes to bag another�25,000 crore of contracts inthe current financial year,chief operating officer forindustr ial systemsSatyanarayana K told PTIhere over the weekend.

He said the company isupbeat about the potential inthe oil and gas sector alongwith the prospects of nuclearpower projects picking up asthermal projects loses policythrust for a litany of reasonsincluding pollution.

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In or out? The repeated delaysto Brexit are a nightmare for

map makers and guidebookprinters who have to decidehow to depict Britain’s rela-tionship with the EuropeanUnion.

“We are completely lost,”said Henri Medori, manager ofpublisher AEDIS.

In a hangar that serves ashis firm’s logistic hub inLempdes, near Clermont-Ferrand in central France,dozens of copies of laminatedleaflets on “Europe at 27” reston boxes. They reflect thenumber of countries that willbe part of the EU once Britainfinally leaves.

“We have at least ten booksthat have a map of Europe, ofthe European Union. So it’s alittle complicated,” he told AFP.

“We have frozen the printrun — we will start it as soonas we have certainty aboutBrexit.”

Britain was due to leave the

EU on March 29, but this wasdelayed to April 12 and now toOctober 31 amid disagreementin parliament over how tomanage the split.

AEDIS, which has 12members of staff, was quick toremove Britain from the EU inits publications following the2016 referendum vote forBrexit. Medori said there was“public pressure” to respond,explaining: “We were chal-lenged by some readers whoclaimed our maps were wrongby including the UK.”

Then other clients com-plained, in emails that were“sometimes insulting”, sayingthat technically Britain remainsa member of the bloc.

“So we added a boxexplaining Brexit,” he said.

But the firm has sold atmost 6,000 documents showingEurope as a union of 27 coun-tries, mostly in shops in motor-way rest areas.

“For a year and a half, wehave mostly given up on salesin this area,” Medori said,

adding that he had received noguidance from EU institutions.

In Britain, the OxfordUniversity Press (OUP) hasavoided any radical changes toits maps but it also has to adapt.

“We’re monitoring the sit-uation but not making majorchanges until we have greaterclarity,” a spokeswoman toldAFP.

“But in some cases, we are

removing maps if they willsimply cause confusion.”

In Brussels, at a souvenirshop near the EU’s headquar-ters, some items showingBritain’s membership will dis-appear with Brexit. And manyof them, such as a badge withthe EU and UK flags, are fly-ing off the shelves.

“Anything with the UK onit might one day become a col-

lectors’ item,” said managerTamara Goldstein. She alsohas a jigsaw puzzle that is sell-ing well, showing the EuropeanUnion as it will be after Brexit,with “no sign of Britain”.

But given the uncertainty— with some politicians inLondon and Brussels still hop-ing Brexit might never happen— some items remainunchanged.

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As a symbol of the woes ofBritain’s Brexit-era democ-

racy, it could hardly be bet-tered. Lawmakers had to besent home in mid-debate lastweek when water from a burstpipe began gushing into theHouse of Commons chamber.

The image perfectly illus-trates Parliament’s problem asit tries to solve the puzzle thatis Brexit. On the outside, theUK institution is resplendent,a world-famous symbol ofdemocracy sitting majestical-ly on the River Thames. On theinside, it’s decrepit and increas-ingly unfit for use.

The hidden f laws inBritain’s political system havebeen laid bare — and televisedworldwide — since voterschose, almost three years ago,to leave the European Union.

Decision-making hasground to a standstill, even asbusiness leaders and residentsalike cry out for certainty.Many Britons feel a mix of

frustration, fascination andshame at the ongoing politicalchaos. So do politicians onboth sides of the Brexit divide.

“I am ashamed to be amember of this Parliament,”said pro-EU Liberal Democratlawmaker Norman Lamb afterlawmakers once again failed tofind a way forward on Brexit.

Bill Cash, a pro-BrexitConservative, said this weekthat Britain had been “humil-iated” by failing to leave the EUon time.

The last few months inParliament, as lawmakersrepeatedly tried and failed toagree on a roadmap forBritain’s departure, have pro-duced close votes, late nightsand high drama.

It’s a political soap operathat has sent the viewership ofParliament’s live-streamingwebsite soaring and made aninternational celebrity ofHouse of Commons SpeakerJohn Bercow, with his bellow-ing cries of “Orderrrrr” and“The ayes have it!” But all the

sound and fury signifies — notmuch.

Britain is no further outthe EU door or clearer aboutits post-Brexit direction than itwas at the start of the year.

A divorce agreementstruck between Prime MinisterTheresa May’s governmentand EU late in 2018 lays outthe terms of an orderly UKdeparture and promising closefuture ties. Since January,Parliament has rejected it threetimes. Pro-Brexit lawmakerswon’t vote for it because theyfavour a more definitive breakwith the bloc.

Parliament has also votedon other options includingleaving without a deal andholding a new referendum onBritain’s EU membership. Andtwice lawmakers have rejectedthem all.

To avoid a chaotic no-deal departure that could dev-astate an economy alreadyweighed down by Brexit uncer-tainty, May has twice gone tothe EU asking for more time.

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The British Governmentwill resume talks with the

main opposition Labour partynext week on how to resolvethe deadlock over Brexit,Minister said on Sunday.

Prime Minister TheresaMay’s effective deputy, DavidLidington, said they wanted tobe able to “take stock” of anyprogress when parliamentreturns from its Easter breakon April 23.

“What we have agreed is aprogramme of meetings nextweek on particular subjectswith the ministers and shad-ow ministers concerned get-ting together,” he told theBBC.

They would discuss envi-ronmental standards andworkers’ rights after Brexit aswell as the future securityrelationship with the EU.

“Then we would hope totake stock of where we are assoon as parliament gets backafter the Easter recess,” hesaid.

“But I don’t think that thisquestion can be allowed todrag out for much longer.”

May was forced to ask fel-low EU leaders this week topostpone Brexit for a secondtime, from April 12 to October31.

She has been unable topersuade MPs to back thewithdrawal terms she hasstruck with Brussels, but is alsounwilling to take Britain out ofthe EU with no deal at all.

She is still hoping Brexitcan happen in time to avoidBritain taking part inEuropean Parliament electionson May 23.

May met Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn on April 3 andthere have been further lower-level talks since then overLabour’s demand for a closefuture relationship with theEU. Lidington said there mustbe “compromise on bothsides”, adding that if no agree-ment could be reached, theywould put a series of Brexitoptions to parliament todecide.

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Finns voted on Sunday in ageneral election where anti-

austerity sentiment looked setto propel the opposition SocialDemocratic Party back to thehead of government for the firsttime in 16 years.

The left-wing party leadsFinland’s two main opinionpolls with about 19 percent ofthe vote, having campaignedagainst the steep cost-cutting ofCentre Party Prime MinisterJuha Sipila and his FinanceMinister Petteri Orpo -- leaderof the conservative NationalCoalition Party.

But the far-right FinnsParty, led by hardline MEPJussi Halla-aho, has seen asurge in support in recentmonths during an anti-immi-gration dominated campaign,urging people to “Vote forsome borders”.

Polls show the Finns Partyending up in second or thirdplace, meaning it could hold

significant influence in thetalks to form the next govern-ment, which in Finland is typ-ically a coalition of three or fourparties.

The current government’scuts to Finland’s prized educa-tion system, and a tightening ofunemployment benefit criteria,provoked loud and widespreadpublic opposition.

Outside a polling station incentral Helsinki on Sundaymorning, a local resident whogave her name as Jenny saidthat she had only settled onwho to vote for at the lastminute.

“There have been a lot ofcuts and some, like education,in areas they promised theywouldn’t cut. Of course, theparties from the last govern-ment are going to sufferbecause of that now,” she toldAFP.

Petteri Orpo, leader of theconservative National CoalitionParty and co-architect of thegovernment’s savings pro-

gramme, has denounced theSocial Democratic Party’s anti-austerity plans as “irresponsi-ble”.

However, in a tacitacknowledgement that thepublic mood is against furtherbelt-tightening, Orpo hasinsisted the economy is nowstrong enough to allow for

some more generous publicspending.

The heated debate in therun-up to the vote led someanalysts to predict that turnoutwill be high. A record 1.5 mil-lion Finns — over a third of theelectorate — had already casttheir vote in advance of pollingday. On Sunday, queues were

reported at some polling sta-tions in the capital.

Around lunchtime theleaders of the main partieswere seen casting their ballotsin their constituencies: Halla-aho in Helsinki, Rinne in thetown of Mantsala in the south,and Petteri Orpo in the south-west city of Turku.

Opinion polls suggest theSocial Democrats’ lead hasnarrowed in recent weeks to aslittle as two points, ahead of theNational Coalition and FinnsParty which are battling it outfor second place.

Some have blamed theshrinking lead on the inabilityof party leader Antti Rinne, a56-year-old former trade unionboss, to attract large numbersof new, younger voters.

The growing Finns Partyratings, on the other hand,appear to be driven by newsupporters who have not votedin the past.

The anti-immigrationFinns Party also decries the “cli-

mate hysteria” of other partiesseeking action against globalwarming.

At a Finns Party rally onthe eve of the vote inMyyrmaki, a disadvantagedsuburb of the capital, a crowdof people, young and old, clam-oured around party leader JussiHalla-aho, asking for auto-graphs and congratulating himon the campaign.

“You will be the next primeminister,” one woman assuredhim.

Forecasts suggest no partyis likely to draw more than 20percent of the vote, meaningthe result could be historicallyclose.

This could make the nego-tiations to build a governmentcoalition particularly tricky.

The major parties have allexpressed strong reservationsabout joining a governmentwith the Finns Party, whosepolicies lurched to the rightafter Halla-aho became leaderin 2017.

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Sudanese protesters demand-ed new military rulers set up

a civilian government as theforeign ministry called Sundayfor backing from the interna-tional community to help thecountry’s “democratic transi-tion”.

Thousands remainedencamped outside Khartoum’sarmy headquarters overnight tokeep up pressure on a militarycouncil that took power afterousting veteran leader Omar al-Bashir on Thursday.

A 10-member delegationrepresenting the protestersdelivered their demands duringtalks with the council lateSaturday, according to a state-ment by the Alliance forFreedom and Change umbrel-la group spearheading the ral-lies.

“We will continue... Oursit-in until all our demands aremet,” including the formationof a fully civilian government,said one of the alliance’s lead-ers, Omar al-Degier.

Later the military councilmet with political parties andurged them to agree on an“independent figure” to be thecountry’s prime minister, anAFP correspondent present atthe meeting said.

“We want to set up a civil-ian state based on freedom, jus-tice and democracy,” a mem-ber of the military councilLieutenant General Yasser al-Ata told several political par-ties, urging them to agree onthe figures to sit in civilian gov-ernment.

The protestors have insist-ed that civilian representativesmust join the military council,and demanded that a fullycivilian government be set upto run day-to-day affairs.

Meanwhile,the foreignministry urged the interna-tional community to back the

military council “to achieve theSudanese goal of democratictransition,” it said in a state-ment.

The council chief GeneralAbdel Fattah al-Burhan is“committed to having a com-plete civilian government andthe role of the council will beto maintain the sovereignty ofthe country”, it added.

Talks between protest lead-ers and Sudan’s new rulerswere followed Sunday by ameeting between Washington’stop envoy to Khartoum, StevenKoutsis, and the military coun-cil’s deputy.

Mohammad HamdanDaglo, widely known asHimeidti, told Koutsis “aboutthe measures taken by the mil-itary council to preserve thesecurity and stability of thecountry,” the official SUNAnews agency reported.

Himeidti is a field com-mander for the Rapid SupportForces (RSF) counter-insur-gency unit, which rights groupshave accused of abuses in thewar-torn Darfur region.

On Saturday, the militarycouncil’s new chief GeneralBurhan vowed to dismantleBashir’s regime, lifting a night-time curfew with immediateeffect.

He also pledged that indi-viduals implicated in killingprotesters would face justice

and that protesters detainedunder a state of emergencyimposed by Bashir during hisfinal weeks in power would befreed.

Burhan took the oath ofoffice on Friday after his pre-decessor General Awad IbnOuf stepped down little morethan 24 hours after oustingBashir.

Tens of thousands of peo-ple have massed non-stop out-side the army headquarterssince April 6, initially to urgethe military to back theirdemand that Bashir beremoved. Burhan comes withless baggage from Bashir’sdeeply unpopular rule thanIbn Ouf, a former defenceminister and long-time closeaide of the deposed president.

But while celebrating thefall of both men in quick suc-cession, protesters remain cau-tious.

Protest leaders say theirdemands include restructuringthe country’s feared NationalIntelligence and SecurityService (NISS), whose chiefSalih Ghosh resigned onSaturday.

Rights group AmnestyInternational on Saturdayurged the military council toexamine Ghosh’s actions dur-ing a crackdown against pro-testers during the final weeks ofBashir’s rule.

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The Islamic State terrorgroup is plotting deadly

attacks across Europe along thelines of the one carried out ona concert hall in Paris in which130 people were killed fouryears ago, a leading Britishnewspaper hasreported.

The November2015 Paris attackswere a series of coordi-nated terror attacks in Parisand the city’s northernsuburb of Saint-Denis.

In the attacks, threesuicide bombers struckoutside the Stade deFrance stadium during afootball match, followed byseveral mass shootings and asuicide bombing at restaurants.A total of 130 people peoplewere killed at the Bataclanconcert hall.

Documents seen by TheSunday Times reveal detailedplans of terrorist attacks inEurope and the Middle East,funded and controlled by ISISleaders who are “actively plan-ning” to recreate the Paris-styleattack of November 2015.

“The operations in Europeare only a fraction of the plansoutlined in the documents,which were found on a harddrive dropped by members ofan ISIS cell in a firefight nearthe militants’ final stronghold inSyria earlier this year,” it noted.

The documents providedetails of how, even with its so-called caliphate destroyed inSyria, the ISIS terror groupcontinues to run sophisticatedinternational networks, movefighters over borders, fund oper-ations and plan bank robberies,vehicle rammings, assassina-tions and computer hacking.

In a letter signed by six ISISleaders and addressed to AbuBakr al-Baghdadi — the group’s“caliph” — and his deputy, theauthors break down ISIS strat-egy abroad into two parts:operations and borders.

Operations abroad, theywrite, will be directed by anISIS member called AbuKhabab al-Muhajir.

The document says he con-trols three cells: one inRussia and two inGermany. Another

group will be basedin northeasternSyria under sepa-rate command.The first aim ofthe cells wouldbe to stealmoney to fund

the caliphate.“Killing infidel venture cap-

italists, hacking banks throughbank accounts, bank robberiesor robberies of places that arepre-studied,” the letter said,adding that “after any operationof this kind, we will send themoney as we procure it”.

The cells will also commitattacks including vehicle-ram-ming operations, it said.

Most importantly they willplan “special operations” witha “determined goal and out-come that are picked carefully”.

The authors list the Parismassacre of 2015 and the“Manhattan attack” of 2017, inwhich a terrorist-driven truckmowed down eight people todeath, as “inspiration”.

According to the newspa-per, the picture that emergesfrom the documents is one ofthe ISIS supporters in Europeand other areas outside the so-called caliphate being inti-mately linked with the group’sleadership in Syria and Iraq.

Islamabad: An internationalterror financing watchdog hasasked Pakistan to implement anew set of constraints in itscrackdown against terrorfinancing, including docu-menting and regulating all goldmarkets, a media report said onSunday.

The finance ministry hasreportedly received a new listof recommendations from theParis-based Financial ActionTask Force (FATF) whichrequires documentation of allgold markets and purchaseand sale of gold in the country,Geo TV reported.

The FATF has askedIslamabad to collect data of allgold markets in the countryand to restrict the sale and pur-chase of gold items using cash,instead requiring payment tobe made with a debit or creditcard, it said.

The watchdog has alsodemanded that the countryensure restriction on supply of

gold and jewelry to bannedoutfits and terrorist organisa-tions. The FATF has urgedPakistan to collect data of alltrusts operating across thecountry as well as their bankaccounts on the district level. Ithas also asked the country toensure regulation of thousandsof registered trust organisa-tions. Pakistan is due to submita third report on the measuresbeing taken by the governmentin compliance with the rec-ommendations of the FATFand its regional affiliate, theAsia-Pacific Group (APG) tillApril 15.

The compliance reportwould be taken up by theFATF review group in its meet-ing scheduled to be held inMay. In June last year, theFATF had placed Pakistan onthe ‘grey list’ of countries whosedomestic laws are consideredweak to tackle the challenges ofmoney laundering and terror-ism financing. AFP

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Addis Ababa: Far from the dinof Washington, Ivanka Trumptoured businesses run bywomen in Ethiopia on Sundaywhile promoting a WhiteHouse global economic pro-gram for women.

President Donald Trump’sdaughter and senior adviservisited a coffee shop and textilecompany in Addis Ababa. Itwas her first stop in Africa ona four-day trip to Ethiopia andIvory Coast on behalf of aWhite House project intendedto boost 50 million women indeveloping countries by 2025.

Aiming to offer assistanceand learn about the struggles ofwomen in business, she tookpart in a traditional coffee cer-

emony, visited with weaversand announced new financialsupport for businesses.

“Investing in women issmart development policy andit’s smart business,” Trumpsaid, sitting in Dumerso Coffee,a dimly lighted space with awoven ceiling, tile floor andcolorful paintings. Alongsidewere women who work in theindustry.

This is Ivanka Trump’s firstvisit to Africa since the presi-dent launched the Women’sGlobal Development andProsperity Initiative. It’s a pro-gram she hopes will outlast anadministration better knownfor “America First” isolation-ism. AP

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The debate will centre around thesecond wicketkeeper, number

four slot and the need for an addi-tional pacer when the selectorsmeet to pick one of India's mostpredictable World Cup squads everin Mumbai on Monday.

At the end of the home seriesagainst Australia, skipper ViratKohli had indicated that only oneslot was up for grabs, as the core hadbeen set for the past one year.

With 14 members all but decid-ed for the marquee event inEngland starting May 30, the dis-cussion on combination is likely totake precedence over any out-of-the-box name or a left-field selec-tion.

Young Rishabh Pant's compe-tition for the second keeper's slotwith veteran Dinesh Karthik will bethe highlight of the discussion.

Pant, who has so far scored 222runs in the IPL compared to a mere93 by Karthik, looks favourite onpaper as his inclusion comes withcertain advantages.

He can bat at any slot betweenNos 1 and 7, is a left-hander, whocan be a designated finisher plus thesecond keeper.

Pant's keeping skills againstspinners has room for improvementbut even Karthik hasn't done any-thing in the last 12 months to makea strong case for himself.

Their franchise coaches RickyPonting (Delhi Capitals) andJacques Kallis (Kolkata Knight

Riders), though, have thrown theirweight behind their respectivestars.

However, with K L Rahul (335runs in the ongoing IPL) back in themix as the third opener and regu-larly keeping for Kings XI Punjab,the selectors might be tempted touse him as the second keeper,apart from third opener.

"The second keeper only comesinto play if MS Dhoni is injured.Rishabh is a phenomenal talent buthe has not done anything excep-tional in ODIs. Can he hit consis-tently in 50 overs is the question.But he is in mix," a former Indiaplayer, privy to selection patterns,

said.In case Rahul is made the sec-

ond keeper, it might just open thedoors for Ambati Rayudu as the spe-cialist No 4 batsman.

Rayudu was a certainty tillNovember when Kohli and RaviShastri had identified him as theirNo 4 but the Hyderabad batsman'sadventurous decision to quit longform domestic cricket and poortechnique against fast bowling hasleft him thoroughly exposed.

With Shreyas Iyer (221) notgiven any chance during the season,Rayudu might get lucky if the ideaof a specialist second keeper isdone away with.

In case the team managementconsiders all-rounder Vijay Shankaras their No 4 at the start of the tour-nament, then it would be curtains forRayudu.

The final bone of contentioncould be the fourth specialist seam-er considering that the Englishweather could be very fickle, espe-cially in places like Birmingham,Leeds and Manchester.

"As of now the team is lookingat Vijay Shankar and Hardik Pandyaas the combined fourth seamer.Ravindra Jadeja with his all roundskills and big hitting prowess is anecessity. Plus in dry conditions, hewill be a restrictive option," the

source said. But what could pose a problem

is India's fourth specialist pacerUmesh Yadav's inconsistency.

Khaleel Ahmed is a left-armoption but he has not shown enoughmaturity in tesg times.

Ishant Sharma, for his pastrecord in England, a tearaway quicklike Navdeep Saini or may be evena good Powerplay bowler likeDeepak Chahar could all be inspi-rational choices which this selectioncommittee may or may not indulgein.

"This selection committee hasbeen pretty consistent with theirpolicies and I don't think they haveany reasons to deviate. Don't expectleft field selections like AmayKhurasiya (1999) or Dinesh Mongia(2003). But you never know," headded.

�����!��D�� CERTAINTIES: (14)Virat Kohli (captain), RohitSharma (vice-captain), ShikharDhawan, KL Rahul, MahendraSingh Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav,Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar,Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal,Jasprit Bumrah, BhuvneshwarKumar, Mohammed Shami,Ravindra Jadeja15TH MEMBER (OPTIONS)If 2nd keeper: DineshKarthik/Rishabh PantIf specialist No 4: Ambati RayuduIf 4th pacer: UmeshYadav/Khaleel Ahmed/IshantSharma/Navdeep Saini.

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Imran Tahir spun a web beforeSuresh Raina found his mojo backwith a half century as Chennai

Super Kings inched closer towardsanother Play off qualification with afive-wicket victory over Kolkata KnightRiders in an IPL match on Sunday.

After Tahir's career-best 4 for 27restricted KKR to 161 for 8, CSK coast-ed to the target in 19.4 overs as Rainaanchored the chase with an unbeaten58 off 42 balls with seven fours and asix.

Ravindra Jadeja also played animportant cameo hitting 31 off 17 ballsto pave the way for the team's seventhwin in eight games.

Needing 24 runs off the last twoovers, Jadeja smashed Harry Gurneyfor three successive fours to make it justa formality in the last over.

This was the defending champion'sfourth win on the trot as they consol-idated their position atop the table with14 points and one more win will vir-tually seal their spot in play-offs whosecut-off over the years has been 16points.

This was also their first win at theEden Gardens since 2013 as they dida double on KKR who suffered a hat-trick of defeats for the first time since2014 and set to slip out of their secondplace in the table. Incidentally, 161 istheir lowest score at the Eden this sea-son.

KKR next face Royal ChallengersBangalore here on April 19.

Sunil Narine was the pick of KKRbowling with figures 2/19 that includ-ed a wicket-maiden when he cleanedup Faf du Plessis (24) to end the pow-erplay.

But Raina held on at the other endwith significant partnerships includinga 40-run stand with skipper MSDhoni.

It all seemed a walk in the park forCSK when Narine gave the biggestbreakthrough dismissing Dhoni for 16with team's score of 121/5, needing 41runs from 26 balls.

But Raina held his nerves whileJadeja gave the finishing touches. Onan Eden Gardens track where spinners

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Young left-arm pacerKhaleel Ahmedgrabbed three key wick-

ets in an impressive spell tohelp Sunrisers Hyderabadrestrict Delhi Capitals to 155for 7 in their IPL match hereon Sunday.

The 21-year-old bowlertook the wickets of openersPrithvi Shaw (4) and ShikharDhawan (7) as well as that ofdangerous Rishabh Pant (23)while conceding 30 runs fromhis four overs after Delhi wereput into bat.

Senior Sunrisers pacer

Bhuvneshwar Kumar returnedwith figures of 2/33 whileleg-spinner Rashid Khan andAbhishek Sharma took a wick-et apiece as the Sunrisers'bowlers made it difficult forDelhi batsmen to score runs.

For Delhi, captian ShreyasIyer top-scored with a 40-ball45 and his 56-run partnershipwith Pant for the fourth wick-et took them a challengingtotal after a wobbly start.Colin Munro was the othernotable contributor with a24-ball 40.

Shreyas hit five foursbefore he was dismissed byBhuvneshwar in the 16th over

while Munro was moreaggressive with four bound-aries and three sixes in his 24-ball knock.

Delhi Capitals struggledwith openers Dhawan andShaw back into the dressingroom by the fourth over withAhmed accounting for boththe key batsmen.

Shaw was the first to go inthe second over as he wasdone in by the extra bounceextracted by Ahmed as thebatsman ended up edging thedelivery to wicketkeeper JonnyBairstow.

In his next over, Ahmedgot rid of Dhawan who mis-

cued a bounceer off thebowler with BhuvneshwarKumar taking the catch at fineleg. Dhawan had scored anunbeaten 97 in Delhi's win intheir last match againstKolkata Knight Riders.

One-down Munro, how-ever, was in a punishing moodand he smashed Ahmed for afour and a six each in thefourth and sixth overs. Delhireached to 51 for 2 after sixovers.

He was out in the eighthover with Abhishek getting athin edge off the batsman forBairstow to take the catchbehind the stumps.

had struggled so far, Tahir spunthe match in favour of Chennaiwith his twin double blows inthe 11th and 15th overs en routehis career-best IPL figures thattook him past Kagiso Rabada inthe leading wicket-takers' tally.

Tahir removed an omi-nous-looking Chris Lynn (82 off51 balls; 7x4, 6x6) and in a spaceof four balls removed the dan-gerous Andre Russell (10) forthe first time under a score of40 this season to put brakes ontheir scoring.

Tahir's bowling had suchdevastating effect that KKRmanaged just 28 runs from lastfive overs and went on to losethree more wickets to end upwith a below-par total.

But it was a different scriptfor KKR early on with a fit-again Lynn giving them a flyingstart en route to his second fiftythis season that came off just 36balls.

Having missed his team'slast match because of flu, Lynnwent ballistic against DeepakChahar who bled 22 runs fromhis first two overs with theAussie smashing the seamer for

4-6-4 in the third over.Such was Lynn's domi-

nance that the otherwise explo-sive Sunil Narine looked like aspectator at the other end withthe Aussie having a share of 31off 33 runs in the first fourovers.

A 200-plus total lookedimminent with Lynn lookingdangerous and Russell startingto explode with a boundary anda six off Tahir.

But Tahir, aided by somebrilliant catching from Faf duPlessis and the substitute DhruvShorey, made inroads removingNitish Rana (21) and RobinUthappa (0) in space of twoballs.

CSK's catching was excep-tional with Du Plessis chargingin from long-off to dismissUthappa off first ball, thenShradul Thakur at deep squareleg clung onto a flat hit fromLynn.

The big one was that ofShorey when he charged in fora swerving low catch to get ridoff Russell, who looked in hisusual explosive zone with 10runs from 4 balls (1x4, 1x6).

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Fresh from a much awaited victory,Royal Challengers Bangalore will be

aiming to maintain winning momen-tum and spoil MumbaiIndians' party when thetwo sides face-off atWankhede stadium onMonday.

After a string oflosses where nothingworked in their favour,fifties by skipper ViratKohli and ever-reliable Ab de Villiers,helped RCB register their maiden winof the season on Saturday night.

The team is heavily reliant on Kohliand de Villiers and both would be keento recreate their magic in front of acapacity crowd in Mumbai, on a daywhen the Indian team for the upcom-ing World Cup is scheduled to bepicked.

Despite the win against KXIP,RCB remain at the bottom of the pointstable and remain to win all theirremaining league games to have anyhopes of progressing in the tourna-ment.

Apart from Kohli (270 runs from7 matches) and ABD (232 runs from7 matches), RCB's other strength hasbeen the pint-sized wicket-keeperbatsman Parthiv Patel.

Despite his father being in the ICU,Patel has shown commitment andamassed 191 runs in seven games.

However, the likes of AkshdeepNath, Moeen Ali, Marcus Stonis andColin De Grandhomme should scoreheavily.

On the bowling front, RCB'sbiggest asset has been YuzvendraChahal, who is the second on the mostwickets list with 11 scalps. Chahalwould be key player on a slow

Wankhede track andhas the potential to dis-mantle Mumbai'sstrong batting line up.

But he would needsupport fromMohammed Siraj (6wickets), Navdeep Saini(4 wickets), Moeen (3

wickets) and a profligate Umesh Yadav(2 wickets). The arrival of veteranSouth Africa pace Dale Steyn is also amassive boost for RCB.

On the other hand, after sufferinga four wicket loss against RajasthanRoyals, Mumbai would be aiming toget back to winning ways.

The good sign for them is thatskipper Rohit Sharma (165 runs),who made a comeback after missingout a game due to injury and SouthAfrican Quinton De Kock (238 runs),have got runs under their belt alongwith Hardik Pandya.

The others — Ishan Kishan, SuryaKumar Yadav (154 runs), KieronPollard (185 runs) and Krunal Pandya(92 runs) — need to be consistent withthe bat.

The bowlers would want to forgetthe hammering by Englishman JosButtler and come up fresh.

Also a word on West Indian pacerAlzarri Joseph, who sustained a shoul-der injury while fielding in the lastgame, is awaited from the team man-agement.

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Following a match-winning partnership

with AB de Villiers , RCBall-rounder MarcusStoinis said battingalongside the SouthAfrican great made hisjob a lot easier.

Stoinis remainedunbeaten on 28, ensuringan eight-wicket winagainst KXIP, RCB'smaiden victory of theseason.

The all-rounder hadwalked in at the fall ofskipper Virat Kohli withRCB needing 46 runs off27 balls.

"I am pretty familiarwith this ground, I haveplayed here for threeyears," said Stoinis at thepost-match press con-

ference."The more comfort-

ing factor is batting withAB de Villiers, thatmakes it easier."

He said that RCBbadly needed a win tostay alive in the tourna-ment.

"We needed it, it'sgood get to two pointsand get ourselves started,"he said.

After Kohli got out,Stoinis said he had a chatwith de Villiers on how togo about the target.

"Make sure to keephead straight, watch theball, keep it simple andthen once you get inthink about which ballsyou want to target,"Stoinis said, referring tothe advice from hissenior partner.

Stonis also praisedthe knock played byKXIP opener ChrisGayle.

"Main thing is everyteam has got world classplayers and they havegot someone like ChrisGayle, who is arguablythe best T20 player," hesaid.

On the games ahead,he said RCB are notthinking too far ahead.

"We are not thinkingabout finals and that sortof thing..It is just abouteach game now, we can'tafford to get too farahead of ourselves, it isgood to get started, wewill take next game as itcomes and hopefully wewill win few on trot..It'sstill a long season," hesaid.

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Though summer is the hottestseason of the year, yet it isvery interesting and entertain-

ing season, especially for the kidsbecause they get chance to enjoyswimming, hilly regions, eat ice-creams, lassi, favourite fruits,etc..

Now that summer is truly here,it is time to keep yourself hydratedand nourished more than ever.With the sun wrecking havoc, it iseasy not only to lose your cool, butalso your energy.

The heat can drain you morethan you think, especially if youhave a job that keeps you outdoors.We list out a few fruits that youshould have in your bag to instant-ly boost your energy levels this sum-mer.

Often you must have read orheard that “An apple a day, keeps thedoctor away”, yes! This is quite trueas fruits play a very important rolein our lives. History also state thatduring the early man days, humanswould often search and live onnature’s wonderful gifts like fruitsand vegetables.

They would eat them raw andlive. Fruits along with vegetableshave always been very essential inthe growth and development ofhuman life. Fruits are naturallysweet to taste, low in calories, fat,sodium and cholesterol. They con-tain many vitamins and nutrientsthat would reduce risk of varioushealth related problems.

They also contain minerals,vitamins and nutrients that areuseful for a healthy life. You canmake amazing, mouth-wateringand delectable sweets, desserts and

juices with fresh fruits. They are easyto cook and digest easily. Some ofthe popular and healthy fruits thatcan be consumed in your everydaymeal are apples, banana, grapefruit,mango, orange, strawberry, guava,papaya, watermelon, muskmelon,sweet lime etc.

Apple is a power food packedwith soluble fiber that helps in con-trolling insulin levels, cleanses anddetoxifies the body, helps in elimi-nating heavy metals like lead andmercury. The pectin in this red deli-cious apple fruit helps to reducecholesterol levels by lowering insulinsecretion. An apple has only 50-80calories and no fat or sodium. Thisfruit is power packed with vitaminsC, A and flavonoids and smallamounts of iron, calcium and phos-phorus. You can eat an apple or addit into your desserts or drink a goodglass of apple juice.

Banana is a very popular andstaple fruit that is often eaten bymany of us. Besides being a goodsource of carbohydrates, fiber, mag-nesium, vitamin C, potassium andvitamin B6, this fruit boasts of anumber of other benefits.

One amazing thing aboutbanana is that it has a naturalsweet taste, cheap to buy and alwaysavailable throughout the year. It iscasually eaten for its taste, textureand gives fullness to the stomachwhen eaten. This is a caloric densefruit and makes one feel energetic.

The potassium and magne-sium available in this fruit aid inmaintaining normal blood pressureand heart protective, while the highpotassium content also promotes

bone health. It has an antacid effectand is said to protect against stom-ach ulcers.

Grapefruit include vitamins C,A and B5, potassium, lycopeneand fiber. It is also packed withessential vitamins to supportimmune system that helps preventfree radical damage.

Mango is an excellent, wonderfruit amazingly packed with abunch of nutrients, extremely richin minerals, antioxidants, vitaminsand enzymes. This fruits is consid-ered the king of fruits. It is also oneof the richest sources of Vitamins A,C and E, minerals like potassium,calcium, iron and phosphorus.Additionally, these iron rich man-goes are high in antioxidants, low incarbohydrates and help combatstomach acidity.

Oranges are noted for their richsource in vitamin C and goodsource of fiber, calcium, Vitamins Aand B1, folate and potassium. Theyare highly beneficial for the body asvitamin C is an antioxidant andoffers immune support. Add aorange in your mid day snack orgoes well in a fruit salad.

Strawberry the sweet lovelyred little berries are a popularsource of vitamins C and K, potas-sium, iodine, omega-3 fatty acids,fiber etc, is widely used in makingof salads, desserts and a variety ofdishes. Being a seasonal fruit, theyare best used when it is fresh as ithas a lovely taste and full nutrition-al benefits. The flesh of fresh straw-berries makes an excellent facialmask that rids the skin of dead cellsand heals blemishes.

This is a nutritious fruit packedwith numerous health benefits. It isconsidered as one of the super fruitshaving rich antioxidants, vitamin C,polyphenols, carotenoids and richin dietary fiber. The fiber in guavacan help in losing weight andreducing cholesterol levels. VitaminC is an important antioxidant abun-dance in guava fruit and containseven more vitamin C than inoranges. One guava fruit containsabout 377 mg of vitamin C. Youcould top your salads with dicedguavas or use the guava juice intoyour smoothies.

This is a delicious tropical fruitwith a high dose of vitamin C hav-ing a great taste, flavour and numer-ous health benefits. It is a fruit thatis worth eating in your daily diet.You could easily add them into fruitsalads or eat it just like that.

An excellent summer fruit toindulge on, fresh, very juicy, and arich source of nutrients, vitamin andminerals. It is also incredibly hydrat-ing as it contains about 92% waterhence is naturally low in fat.Watermelon is rich potassium andhelps to retain calcium in the bodyresulting in stronger bones andjoints. Overall there are many freshfruits contain high amounts of vit-amin C.

Hence, making fruits a part ofyour daily diet would provide withthe required nutrients to the bodyand keeps the body hydrated. Eatingfruits improves blood circulation,improves digestive system, gives anamazing glow to the skin and shineto the hair and promotes the over-all health.

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Music Teacher, directed by Sarthak Dasgupta, is a story aboutan emotionally troubled music teacher, essayed by Manav

Kaul, who gets a chance to come to terms with his bitterness withan estranged student, now a renowned celebrity singer ofBollywood. The music teacher vows to get back everything helost in the past risking all his achievements in the present day.Starring Manav Kaul, Amrita Bagchi and Divya Dutta, the filmis set to release on Netflix on April 19.

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No Good Nick centers on 13-year-old Nicole aka Nick, whoinfiltrates a family with the intention to get revenge on them

for unknowingly ruining her life. As she gets to know the fam-ily, though, she will find compassion for them and will strugglewith whether or not she can go through with her plan. StarringMelissa Joan Hart, Sean Astin and Siena Agudong, part one releas-es on Netflix on April 15.

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Haunted by eerie visions and sinister impulses after a hearttransplant, Chambers is a story a teenager, who tries to

unmask the truth behind her donor’s mysterious death. StarringSivan Alyra Rose, Uma Thurman and Tony Goldwyn. The sea-son 1 is slated to release on April 26.

Lying there, I was sceptical,truth be told. I was attend-ing a session called AccessBars. Essentially it is a tech-nique which was started by

Gary Douglas of over 30 years ago.The technique consists of 32 pointson the head, called Access Bars,which when lightly touched stimu-late positive changes in the brain anddefragment the electromagneticcomponents of stress, thought andemotion. The bar session usually lastsfor 60-90 minutes.

Coming back to the session, Ihad just heard how phenomenally ithad changed lives of people — a gen-tleman had managed to better hiseyesight, another shrugged off cer-vical pain as if it had never existedand yet another did not have toworry about money. But then, it wasthe cynical old me attending the ses-sion, so scepticism in anything thatremotely sounds like mumbo-jumboor even faintly resembling it, isbound to be scoffed at.

Nevertheless, I decided to takeit lying down (figuratively speaking)and give in to the expert hands of thefacilitator. Five minutes into thesession and Sangeeta Kochhar placedher feather light hands on my fore-head and back of the neck while thethought that kept running throughmy head was, “Huh! What is so greatabout this session? I don’t feel a thing.It is indeed some new fangled mar-keting gimmick being sold to peo-ple who have more money and timeon their hands than they can utilise.”

But Sangeeta sure had otherideas. She asked me to move myhands up with palms turned upward,applied the slightest pressure on

them for another five minutes andthen turned her attention back to myforehead. For those who think it wasa massage, no, that wouldn’t quite fitin the description. She just placed herhands really, really gently on my fore-head and nape during the session.And it was about 10 minutes or a lit-tle under that time that I realisedsomething different was underway.For the first time after God knowsmany years, I was blank. There wasnot a single thought that was runningthrough my head unlike the usualwhere at any given moment there areatl east 30 tabs, if I take the analogyof a computer, open. From thedeadlines that I have to meet to thebook that I am reading and the oh-so-interesting twist in the web seriesto state of affairs in the country, stuffthat I have to wind up at home andmore... I am sure you get the drift.And I panicked. For the very idea ofnot having a thought sounds some-thing almost akin to blasphemy tome. So I reached out to the only otherperson in the room questioned

Sangeeta, if that was even normal.And she reassured me that it not onlywas so, but rather something thatthey try to achieve.

In between the reassurancesand the worry, I fell asleep — a deep,dreamless and relaxing slumber —for a couple of minutes even asSangeeta was gently touching myforehead and nape. The session last-ed for about 45 minutes. Once it wasover, I settled down for a short chatwith the facilitator and she told mea lot more. “I could feel the energycoursing through you. This happenssometimes, but not necessarilyalways. This was because you wereready for change,” Sangeeta said.However when I questioned the factthat initially I was sceptical and unbe-lieving that this can bring about achange, so I was not essentiallybelieving that the session couldbring about a change, she told me,“You might not have been, but then,once in the session you thought, let’ssee what happens and that is whatmade it possible.”

Poonam also told me that shehas been a facilitator for the past sixyears. “I was a housewife and I wasgoing through a lot emotionallywhen I decided to enroll for this,” shesays. Now, her young daughter, toois a facilitator who she says is betterthan her.

For anyone to become a facili-tator, all it takes is a one-day session.However, becoming a certified facil-itator takes longer.

Coming back to me, I can say Idid sleep a lot better that night. Butdid it make much of a difference inmy life in the long run? The jury isstill out on that one.

He never intended to invent “wed-ding rap.” It happened quite byaccident. Turns out Siddharth

Sood popularly known as MC Sid wasmaking a living doing gigs when some-body asked him if he could perform at asangeet and engage with the guests whowere attending it. “I told him I could evenrap in the bathroom, if he wanted,” helaughs, recalling the day he took up thechallenge and how his livewire act in agrand Mumbai hotel gave him legitima-cy as a wedding performer with a differ-ence.

Siddharth feels that rap is the epito-me of pop culture and as a genre is glob-ally the biggest. He has been in the rapscene for the last 15 years and when hehad started, people told him that this wasjust a phase, which would disappear oncehe grew up. “But, it didn’t,” he says andadds that much before he started rapping,it was already a culture in the US.“Whereas everybody here used to askwhen was this going to end? When is itgoing to change? Is this even a genre ofmusic? But most people didn’t realise thatrap is here to stay,” says he.

Rap is an acronym for rhythm andpoetry, he explains. It is just a differentand musical form of poetry, which hasbeen in our lives since the very beginning

of civilisation. And it’ll go on forever.The rapper says, “This is going to stayforever because it’s a form of trueexpression where people are able tovoice what they want to even if itis in terms of negativity of oppres-sion. Earlier, rock and metal musicused to have this kind of vibe.People who were rebellious usedto listen to such music. Our par-ents used to say, yeh kya bakvas sunraha hai? (What rubbish are you

listening to?) Now the difference isthat it has become a lot more vocal.”

More than just spontaneity andhaving a freestyle, one also has to be

musically inclined for the act to stayintact, he believes. He explains with anexample, “Just the way there are differ-ent styles of swimming — front crawl,back-stroke, butterfly-stroke, breast-stroke and freestyle — where the last onemeans that you can do it in any manneryou want. And that is the truest form,”he says.

The rapper’s first step to make the artreachable to more people was audienceengagement. He tells us how, “Gully Boyhas happened only recently. However,earlier, people did not know what rap was.

So, I had to engage with the audience tobe able to make it engrossing so that peo-ple would enjoy it and follow it more.”

It’s obvious, he says, that he faced alot of criticism and struggled to make aplace for himself as an artist. He shares,“There was a lot of censure. My familymembers wouldn’t understand what kindof work I was into. My grandfather, at onepoint, began to think that I am foolingpeople at weddings. They wondered ifthis was even a job. My father was veryconcerned and thought I am a freeloaderwho just gatecrashes weddings. It was dif-ficult to make them understand.”

He explains that even choosing thetype of content to rap on at weddings wasdifficult since it couldn’t be the ones fromEminem or Yo Yo Honey Singh, whichwere full of slangs. And weddings arehappy and fun. “So, it required a bit ofhomework. I spent some time with thefamily members. They told me littledetails of the family and introduced meto close relatives and friends. I had tomake it personalised to not sound likesomething readymade. Rapping withoutexpressing something doesn’t makessense,” he says.

The rapper, who still raps at around50 weddings a year, feels that the filmGully Boy is one of the best things to havehappened for people who express them-selves in this genre. “It has given anopportunity to many young rappers toproudly take it up as a profession. Thefilm was evidence that rap is indeedsomething that could be seen and recog-nised as an art. Undoubtedly, it has moti-vated many children to follow their pas-sion, which is great,” he says.

However, Siddharth feels that Indianrap has been a wholesome genre in thenorth India and is 10 times bigger thanit is in Maharashtra. But the differencesarise only in the kind of backgrounds wehave. The culture has been the same allaround. And only one part of it has been

shown in the film. “They don’t come onlyfrom the slums or small, backwardareas. It is not like what those rappers didhas been the purest and truest form ofrap, they just belong to a backward areaand that is why they represented theirproblems like the angst of the youththrough their lyrics. They reflect the real-ity of how they have faced exclusionthroughout. Whereas, we belong to awell-to-do family and we would repre-sent the same through our lyrics — funand drama. What’s wrong with that? I’mhere for that. It’s just the difference ofwhere we come from,” he explains.

Siddharth believes that it complete-ly depends on the society one belongs to.“We all have freedom of speech andexpression. There is nothing wrong. It isjust that the depiction of the film shows

that rap is something which people inpoverty rely on. It’s true to some extent.I highly appreciate that Naezy andDivine have grown out of their situation.But that doesn’t mean that I will alwayscall out to how ‘I have come with noth-ing and will leave with nothing,’” heexclaims.

Ask him about the evolution of rapculture in India, he apprises us, “I haveto give Yo Yo Honey Singh full marks.The story starts from there and thenBadshaah, Raftaar and now may be GullyBoy.” He lauds Honey Singh when hesays, “He created the concept that therecould be rap in a song too. Gully Boycould be seen as an idea that threw lighton the rap culture in India. Zoya Akhtarshowed a different angle of it. So that thefilm became the story of an underdog.”

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In a hint that Facebook CEO MarkZuckerberg has begun taking steps

towards merging all his platforms into one,the social network is planning to bringback chat right into its core mobile app.

According to a report in Engadget,App researcher Jane Manchun Wong hasspotted the feature in the works. Currently,the chat button on Facebook acts as ashortcut to a standalone Messenger appwhich has over 1.3 billion users.

If you do not have downloadedMessenger on your smartphone, the short-cut will take you to Google Play Store orApple App Store.

“Facebook’s Messenger app icon wouldremain but instead of launching a stand-alone app, it would open Facebook andtake you directly to a section calledChats,” the report claimed.

Facebook upset millions of userswhen it removed chat from its coremobile app in 2014 and created a stand-alone app called Messenger. Zuckerberg isplanning to merge Facebook, WhatsAppand Instagram into a single messaging ser-vice by 2020.

In an earning call in January,Zuckerberg said, “The integration thatwe’re thinking about, we’re really early inthinking through this. There’s a lot morewe need to figure out. I think it’s the direc-tion we should be going with more thingsin the future.”

He added that “tens of millions” ofAndroid users who use Messenger as theirdefault app would benefit from havingend-to-end encryption enabled as adefault.

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Today, each of us is seek-ing peace, aren’t we?The prime reason for

this is our dilemma and dif-ficulty in surviving in a worldthat seems to be riddled withall kinds of conflicts. Onefinds irreconcilable differ-ences at all levels of the soci-ety. Even a man’s mind is likea house divided against itself.Obviously, this is not a happystate of affairs. One, therefore,wants to know what is wrongwith the functioning of manthat he has lost his peace?When we make an attempt tounderstand the nature of theman and the state of society, wefind that all actions of man aregoaded by one or the other ofhis four basic desires. One ofthe desires concerns the fulfill-ment of physical or economicneeds that include food, cloth-ing and shelter. To fulfill thesedesires, he requires money orwealth. But the problem isthat man never stops fulfillingthese basic needs. His desiresfor comfort take the form ofgreed and that is when the realstruggle begins. His excessiveand endless demands comeinto clash with the longings ofother people. It also puts himin conflict with the law of theland, with his relatives andsociety and even with his ownself. This, therefore, becomescause for his peacelessness.

It is mainly because ofthis that our planet, to-day, hasmillions of people whom theWorld Bank calls the ‘absolute-ly poor.’ It is this uncheckeddesire of man which hascaused the class war or theconflict between the ‘haves’and the ‘have-nots.’

Besides these, man also hasemotional needs, like love,care, attention, understand-ing and the desire for an hon-ourable life. But if he stretch-es this desire to an inordinateextent, then his longing forprestige, position, privilege,and power takes the form ofjealousy and hatred. He againcomes into conflict with oth-ers. So, it is because of thisunbridled desire of the manthat there is power struggleeverything, and cold war,armed conflicts and endlesscraving for military suprema-cy.

The peculiarity of all thisis that man desires to be extri-cated from the situation of con-flict and peacelessness. Hedesires peace, liberation orfreedom. It is for the fulfillmentof this desire that different ‘reli-gious’ or ‘secular’ attempts aremade. Societies are formed,constitutions are framed andreligious institutions are estab-lished. But with competingdesires, there again arises aconflict situation. There areclashes between the majorityand minority communities orbetween oppositions. And so,there has to be a rationalacceptance of self-control.

Not many of us are awarethat peace is our originalnature, but when we arrive onearth, we act through humanbodies and lose our originalenergy in the cycle of action,

interaction with proximatematter and souls. When westrip-off our original positiveenergies, negativity manifestsin our minds, then our actionsfinally result in sufferings.When there is suffering, weseek our original, truly peace-ful and blissful state of being.However, our endeavours toattain that peace are limited bycertain human constraints ofwhich the first and foremost isthe constraint of the humanbody. It is due to our attach-ment to the body and its rela-tions and possessions that fivevices enter our minds.

The first fallout of this isthat we lose our peace ofmind, joy and power. All ouractions are tainted by eitherlust, ego, greed, anger orattachment. We get trapped ina circle of karmic bondageshelplessly seeking out libera-tion from these vices so that wecan regain our peaceful state.Even though if we wish to giveup our vicious habits, we areunable to do so because ourspiritual power is depleted bysinning repeatedly. Hence, weneed to empower our soul bylinking with the supremesource of unlimited power,the Supreme and also with thepower of pure actions. Peace isin fact a corollary of purity.Hence, when the mind iscleared of all impurities, peaceand happiness dwell there nat-urally. But the biggest questionis — how does one achieve it?It is indeed very simple. First,we need to understand thatpeace is a composite phenom-enon. Hence, one cannot hopeto live in peace without hop-ing the same for his/her neigh-bours. Therefore, our positiveactions that ensure peace forself, society and the environ-ment alone can generate andsustain universal peace.However, such actions cantake place only when weunderstand our relationshipwith the Supreme, who is thecreator, director and actorand who is beyond all limita-tions that bind us. He nevercomes in bondage of matterand karma, of life and death.He has an abundance of peace,love and happiness so henever has any personaldesires. So, he can and doesrestore peace on earth whenall human endeavours at mak-ing peace fail. With this divineknowledge the road to spiri-tual endeavour and attain-ment of our original peacefulstate opens up! Remember,unless we make peace withourselves, we cannot re-estab-lish peace on earth.

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Muslim Miah finds it difficultto remember how manytimes he has built a home for

his family.A resident of Majidbhita Char, or

a river island, in Assam’s Barpeta dis-trict, the 70-year-old Miah has beenshifting from one place to anotherwith his family for years due to ero-sion of the river banks and creationof chars. These chars keep shifting orchanging shape with the mood of theriver.

Erosion has been a perennialproblem for river Brahmaputra and itstributaries such as Beki in Assam.Char-dwellers say what has changedis the rate at which we are loosing ourlands for more than a decade now.

Experts attribute this to climatechange. UK-based website, CarbonBrief said that most of the areas inAssam including Guwahati hasalready become warmer by 1.3 degreesCelsius and it is projected to bewarmer between 1.4 C to 4.8 C by2100.

The climate projections of theAssam State Action Plan on ClimateChange also indicate that there is like-ly to be an increase in extreme rain fallevents by five to 38 per cent withrespect to base line. The report fur-ther projected that drought weeks aregoing to rise, with Southern districtsshowing marginal reduction indrought weeks but rest of the districtshowing an increase by more than 75per cent. Floods are going to rise by

more than 25 per cent in the south-ern parts of Assam.

“I have built too many makeshifthouses to remember. Our lives dependon the water of the river. I have beenin Majidbhita for the last 10 years butI don’t know how long we can livehere. The river has become hungrierfor land, eating away the large chunksof earth around our homes in the pastfew years. If this place is eroded, wewould have to shift somewhere else,”Miah, a farmer like his father andgrandfather, said.

Members of his family learnt tolive with the floods since they begancultivating the fertile char in theBeki river years ago. But times havechanged. “Earlier, we could predict thefloods but now there is no pattern.Sometime there are three waves offloods, sometimes more now. Thetides erode the edges of our land veryfast depriving us of our only liveli-hood, agriculture. If the land goes

under water, there is no point in liv-ing here,” he said.

The 70-year-old farmer said thathe had about 50 bighas of land to cul-tivate when he was young. He now has12 bighas on the char that he has beenliving on for the past 10 years duringwhich he lost his house several timesdue to erosion.

“I grow rice, lentils, mustard,vegetables and the like on my plot. Butproductivity has reduced along withthe cultivation area probably due tothe change in weather. Sometimes, theweather is too dry and sometimes itrains too much,” he said.

Some distance away fromMajidbhita, the people of BalaparaChar in Barpeta district face thesame problem. Rahim Khan, a resi-dent, lost his cultivable land and hous-es several times due to erosion. Khanhas not heard of climate change buthe is certain that his condition wouldnot have been so bad had the river not

eaten up his land that his forefatherscultivated and lived a good life on.

While these people have been liv-ing at the mercy of nature for ages,their plight has become more miser-able in recent times due to unpre-dictable climatic conditions that haveseverely affected their lives and liveli-hood.

Once wealthy, Khan has becomea marginal farmer due to erosion. Henow works on the fields of others inthe village to earn a minimum shareof the paddy as his wage. His threesons left farming and now work asdaily-wage labourers in the nearbytowns, earning �250-300 per day.

“I owned 32 bighas of land here.The land was fertile and the produc-tion was good before the river ate itup. We grew three crops every yearof paddy, lentils, mustard, jute andvegetables. Land here is so fertile thatone does not need to care much forthe crops. What I earn now is not suf-ficient to run a large family like ours.My sons have been forced to do low-paying non-farm activities. Whatcan we do? This is our fate,” Khansaid, blaming the river.

Miah and Khan are among 25lakh people living on an estimated2,251 chars that dot the entire riversystem in Assam. They have been hithard by the changing climatic con-ditions that have affected the hydro-logical pattern of the Brahmaputraand its tributaries, forcing them torelocate — within a char or awayfrom the river banks.

According to data provided bythe Assam government during thesession of the 126-memberLegislative Assembly in October2018, a total 4.27 lakh hectares ofland have been lost due to erosion inAssam. Former Minister of AssamWater Resources, Keshab Mahantatold the House that an average of8,000 square km land is eroded byBrahmaputra and its tributaries everyyear.

“The change in temperature andrainfall pattern in the Northeastindicates that climate change hasimpacted Assam and other parts ofthe region along with the rest of theworld. This change in the rainfall pat-tern has led to the recent volatility ofthe rivers. The Himalayas are alsofragile and more rainfall triggers theirerosion. Besides, the Northeast islocated in Seismic Zone V andhence, witnesses regular seismicactivity, which also leads to erosion,”said Partha Jyoti Das, who heads thewater, climate and hazard division ofAaranyak, a Guwahati-based biodi-versity and conservation organisa-tion.

(The story is written as part of afellowship offered by climate cell ofAssam Science, Technology andEnvironment Council.)

The idea of a smart homeis no longer a futuristicfantasy. One can control

lights, air conditioning, TVand other household appli-ances from the comfort ofyour couch with the flick ofthe proverbial button. But aresmart homes also healthyhomes? Even as smart tech-nologies transform our lives,there is a downside that weoften overlook.

By adopting smart tech-nologies, we have also exposedourselves to electromagneticradiation. It is emitted by allforms of technology, includingsmart phones, smart homes,smart meters, smart appli-ances, smart TVs, laptops,tablets and WiFi connections.Although radiation emanatingfrom smart gadgets and appli-ances is of a lower frequencybut when you consider thelength of time that we areexposed to these, it can havea major negative impact onhuman health.

Many people report healthissues like headaches, lowerimmunity, excessive fatigue,hypersensitivity and depres-sion, among other symptoms.Moreover, these radiations arevery damaging and suscepti-ble especially for children andcan lead to the reduction ofbrain cells, loss of cognitiveabilities (like learning, mem-ory), hearing loss and more.Also, people who keep theirsmartphones and tablets closeto them while trying to sleepoften complain of insomnia.

In 2011, the World Health

Organisation (WHO),International Agency forResearch on Cancer (IARC)had classified electromagnet-ic radiations as possibly can-cerous to humans, based on anincreased risk of brain cancerin recent years. During use,wireless devices like mobilephones, for instance, emitelectromagnetic radiationsand the brain becomes the tar-get.

Apart from these electro-magnetic radiations, we arealso enveloped by natural radi-ations inside homes andoffices, also known as geo-pathic stress, which emergefrom the surface of the earth.They are caused by naturalcavities, underground waterstreams and magnetic core ofthe Earth. Prolonged exposureto them is linked to healthissues like poor sleep quality,aches and pains.

Stop. Now imagine, youand your loved ones are sittingor sleeping at a place with

great amount of man-madeand natural radiations. Theseare called everyday radiationsas they are affecting us 24x7.Despite the problems causedby these, we still do not takecare to protect ourselves. Thisis because many people are notaware of what this radiationpollution does to their brainand body.

This reminds us of anoth-er environmental pollution —that of the air, which is afflict-ing most of the country. Thishas compelled many people tobuy air purifiers. However,people are yet to fully realisethe repercussions of beingaround radiation pollution. Itis high time that we did.

We cannot run away fromthese everyday radiations butwe definitely can opt for radi-ation purification solutionsfor homes and workplaces.

(The writer is theManaging Director of a compa-ny which works for the creationof healthy spaces.)

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Japan's Kento Momota withstood abarrage of smashes from Indonesia's

Anthony Sinisuka Ginting to rally fora thrilling 10-21, 21-19, 21-13 victo-ry on Sunday in the Singapore Openfinal.

The world champion struggled tocontain his powerful Indonesianopponent, who was finding both cor-ners of the court in the first half of thematch.

But the top seed dug deep to fightback from 16-11 behind in the secondgame to force a decider.

Momota trailed again in the lastgame as Ginting sought a thirdstraight upset win in as many days.

But the left-hander used a com-bination of improvisation and guile tocraft a run of 13 points in 14 toseal a stunning victory with adisguised drop shot on his firstmatch point.

"I felt my opponent playedbetter than me today but I wasable to capitalise when he got tired,"Momota, who also won the Singapore

title in 2015, told reporters."He tried to push a little too

hard in the second game but Ikept telling myself to staypatient and never give up."

In the women's singles final, TaiTzu-ying claimed her second

Singapore Open title with a 21-19, 21-15 victory over Japan's NozomiOkuhara.

The Taiwanese world numberone backed up last week's Malaysia

Open triumph with a display full ofspeed, skill and spontaneity to outfoxthe world number three in 40 minutes.

The result improved her head-to-head record against the energetic

Okuhara to 5-4."Okuhara is a good opponent,

she's very durable, so I was preparedfor a long match," Tai said. "I am play-ing well right now but it's importantto stay injury-free with the TokyoOlympics coming up next year."

In other finals, Thailand'sDechapol Puavaranukroh andSapsiree Taerattanachai eased to a 21-14, 21-6 victory over Malaysia's TanKian Meng and Lai Pei Jing in themixed doubles.

Japan's Mayu Matsumoto andWakana Nagahara beat South Korea'sKim Hye-jeong and Kong Hee-yong21-17, 22-20 in the women's doubles.

There was further success forJapan in the men's doubles as TakeshiKamura and Keigo Sonoda outlast-ed Indonesia's Mohammad Ahsanand Hendra Setiawan 21-13, 19-21,21-17.

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Lewis Hamilton said that he"redeemed" himself with a

lightning start to win the 1,000thFormula One grand prix onSunday in a blustery Shanghai.

Hamilton started from sec-ond on the grid but grabbed thelead from Mercedes team-mateValtteri Bottas on the first cor-ner and romped to a victorywhich gives him the worldchampionship lead.

The title-holder fromBritain finished more than 6.5seconds ahead of Bottas in thethird Mercedes one-two in asmany races this season, withFerrari's Sebastian Vettel third.

Max Verstappen of RedBull was fourth and CharlesLeclerc in the second Ferrari wasfifth.

Sixth was Verstappen'steam-mate Pierre Gasly, theFrenchman earning a bonuspoint for clocking the quickestlap, one minute 34.742 sec-onds, in windy and hazy condi-tions.

Hamilton, for whom thiswas a sixth Chinese Grand Prixwin and 75th overall, said thatit was "a little bit of a struggle thisweekend for me".

The five-time world cham-pion wrestled with his car inqualifying but said that "a shiftin driving style enabled me tounlock a bit more the potentialof the car".

"The start was obviously

great, which was really decisivemoment of the race. After thatit was fairly straightforward."

The 34-year-old, who nowleads the Finn Bottas by sixpoints in the standings, said thathe has had problems with hisstarts down the years.

"The first few races havebeen very difficult for me off theline so it's nice to finally redeemmyself and rectify that," headded.

Bottas, who pippedHamilton to pole by just 0.023seconds, was always playingcatch-up after labouring out ofthe blocks.

"I lost it on the start, honest-ly, shame about the start, I gotsome wheel spin on the startline," he said.

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FC Goa emerged aschampions of the

Hero Super Cup afterdefeating Chennaiyin 2-1in a tense final at theKalinga Stadium here onSaturday.

Ferran Corominasopened the scoring in the51st minute with a simpletap-in, while RaphaelAugusto's deflected effortbrought Chennaiyin back

level.Brandon Fernandes

scored a goal befitting ofa title winner in the 64thminute to seal the contestin Goa's favour.

Despite Goa beingbilled as the favourites totake home the crown, itwas Chennaiyin, whostarted the game as thebetter of the two sides.

They created threeconsecutive chances in aspace of three minutes

but could not make any ofthem count.

Slowly but steadily,Goa started gaining afoothold in the game andcould have scored if notfor some questionablefinishing from JackichandSingh.

In the second half,Goa drew first bloodthrough their mercurialforward Corominas. AfterThapa cheaply gave thebal l away near the

halfway line, Boumousdrove towardsChenaiyin's goal, beforeforcing Karanjit to makea save.

However, therebound fell perfectly tothe Spaniard, who had thesimple task of tappingthe ball home.

Just as it seemed thatGoa would run away withthe tie, Chennaiyin drewlevel. Raphael Augustopounced on a loose ball

just outside the box, fir-ing a shot which took amassive deflection todeceive Nawaz.

However, the Gaursdidn't let the goal deterthem. Corominas wasonce again at the heart ofthe action as he picked upthe ball 30 yards fromgoal and releasedBrandon with a perfectlyweighted through-ball.

The small-staturedwinger was quick on hisfeet as he beat MailsonAlves and Karanjit to slidethe ball home — a trulyremarkable goal.

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Manchester City eased back tothe top of the Premier Leagueas Raheem Sterling struck twice

to beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at SelhurstPark on Sunday.

The English champions move apoint ahead of Liverpool, who hostChelsea at Anfield later on Sunday, withfive games remaining for both sides.

Sterling had already missed a glo-rious chance before opening the scor-ing on 15 minutes as City rarely lookedtroubled despite having failed to beatPalace on their two previous meetings.

Another cool Sterling finish lookedto have ended the game as a contest 27minutes from time.

However, Pep Guardiola's men hadto see out a nervous finale to ramp upthe pressure on Liverpool when LukaMilivojevic's free-kick gave Palace hopeof a dramatic comeback.

Instead, City broke to seal the threepoints on the counter-attack when theoutstanding Kevin de Bruyne teed upGabriel Jesus to make it 3-1.

The trip to south London kicked offa massive week for City with Tottenhamto visit the Etihad twice in the next sixdays for the second leg of theirChampions League quarter-final and avital Premier League clash with impli-cations for both the title and top fourrace.

City must overturn a 1-0 first legdeficit against Spurs to progress to theChampions League semi-finals onWednesday.

Yet, Guardiola's starting line-upseemed stronger than the one he namedin defeat to Mauricio Pochettino's menin midweek.

Captain Vincent Kompany,

Benjamin Mendy, De Bruyne and LeroySane returned among four changesand City quickly settled into total con-trol of the game.

Sterling should have opened thescoring on 11 minutes when after apatient build-up, David Silva got to theby-line and picked out the Englandinternational who somehow sliced widewith an open goal at his mercy fromclose range.

After a similar sitter at Burnley lastseason, Guardiola quickly hookedSterling in his frustration.

However, Sterling showed his matu-rity and why he is a contender for play-er of the year awards by redeeming him-self in emphatic fashion just four min-utes later.

A rare Palace foray forward leftthem exposed at the back and DeBruyne's sensational through ballallowed Sterling to break clear beforeside-footing the ball high beyondVicente Guaita.

Palace inflicted City's only homeleague defeat of the season with ashock 3-2 victory in December thanksin part to a wonder strike from AndrosTownsend.

But the hosts were camped in theirown half and unable to spring a counter-attack for the pace of Townsend orWilfried Zaha as City enjoyed over 75percent possession in the first 45 min-utes.

Guaita made a smart stop at his nearpost to prevent Sane killing the game asa contest after a slick solo run and theSpanish goalkeeper also played his partin a goalmouth scramble that Palacesomehow escaped unharmed from infirst-half stoppage time.

A similar pattern continued afterthe break and City finally struck thekiller blow just after the hour markwhen Sane's driven cross was turnedhome at the back post by Sterling.

City still had to survive a nervyfinale after Milivojevic's free-kick fromthe edge of the box reduced the deficitto 2-1 nine minutes from time.

But they withstood an aerial bom-bardment and made the game safe whensubstitute Jesus took his time beforebeating Guaita at his near post.

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Kingsley Coman played his way out of thedog house on Sunday, as his first-half

brace helped fire Bayern Munich back to thetop of the Bundesliga with a comfortable 4-1 win at Fortuna Duesseldorf.

French winger Coman was involved ina training ground punch-up with teammate Robert Lewandowski earlier in theweek, but he made the headlines for the rightreasons on Sunday, keeping Bayern Munichon course for a seventh successive leaguetitle.

Bayern, needing three points to stay topafter rivals Borussia Dortmund edged to anervy win over Mainz on Saturday, barelybroke a sweat as they cruised to victory onthe banks of the river Rhine.

Coman's first goal was unintentional, hisinswinging cross just evading ThomasMueller on its way into the bottom cornerwith just 14 minutes on the clock.

If the opener was briefly and incorrect-ly credited to Mueller, there was no doubtabout Coman's second, a well-placed finishat the end of a delightful 41st minute move.

Serge Gnabry added a third 10 minutesafter the break, turning the ball in at the farpost after Mueller had flicked it on at a cor-ner.

Dodi Lukebakio gave Duesseldorf alate consolation goal from the penalty spotafter a Mats Hummels handball, but Leon

Goretzka slotted in Bayern's fourth ininjury time to put the cherry on the cake.

The win keeps Bayern a point aheadof Dortmund with five games still to play.

There was some bad news for theleague leaders, however, as goalkeeperManuel Neuer was forced off with aninjury early in the second half.

Earlier on Sunday, Arsenal loaneeReiss Nelson scored his first goal sinceNovember as Hoffenheim secured a 2-0win over Hertha Berlin to climb back intothe Bundesliga top six.

Nelson, 19, came off the bench to addto Nadiem Amiri's first-half opener andseal three crucial points in the race forEuropean qualification.

Only two points separate sixth-placeHoffenheim from Wolfsburg in ninth, withWerder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen alsoin the running for a Europa League spot.

Amiri broke the deadlock near the halfhour mark, smashing the ball in off thepost with his side's 14th shot on goal.

Nelson's 78th minute header, whichwas given by VAR after being initially ruledout for offside, sealed the win forHoffenheim.

"We should have been ahead by muchmore at half-time because we had so manychances," Nelson told the club website.

"It was a good performance from allof us, and I'm pleased that my goal wasgiven."

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