NEARBY AIADMK meet removes Sasikala as general … · AIADMK (Amma, PTA), con- ... Ramachandran or...

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wednesday, september 13, 2017 Delhi

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OPPORTUNITIES A PAGE 4

SECTION-II

DELHI METRO A 6 PAGES

Nearly nine months afterV.K. Sasikala was unanim-ously appointed interim gen-eral secretary of the AIADMKfollowing then Chief MinisterJayalalithaa’s death, she wasunseated from the post onTuesday.

The general council of theAIADMK (Amma, PTA), con-vened under the joint leader-ship of Chief Minister Edap-padi K. Palaniswami and hisdeputy O. Panneerselvam,adopted a resolution nullify-ing all decisions taken bySasikala from December 30,2016 to February 15, 2017.

“Following an atmosphereof shock after Amma’s ( Jay-alalithaa’s) untimely deathand concern, V.K. Sasikalawas appointed as interimgeneral secretary to attendto routine party work.

“This general council un-animously resolves to cancel

her [Sasikala’s] appointmentmade on December 29, 2016.[It also] resolves that allthose appointments and re-movals made by herbetween December 30, 2016and February 15, 2017 arenot valid,” the resolutionsaid.

The resolution, which didnot assign any reason for

ousting Sasikala from the toppost, however, did not expelher from the party. She isserving a four-year prisonterm in Bengaluru, followingher conviction in a dispro-portionate assets case.

The general council, heldat a marriage hall inVanagaram on the outskirtsof Chennai, also unanim-

ously decided to abolish thepost of general secretary. Allthe powers enjoyed by thegeneral secretary have beenvested with the party co-ordinator and co-coordin-ator, two newly createdposts.

Adopting a resolution, the‘general council’ reasonedthat nobody else could fillthe post once held by “twogreat leaders” — MGR andJayalalithaa. And hence thepost of general secretary wasdone away with and Rule 43of the party’s by-lawsamended to this effect.

The change heralds a newchapter in the history of the45-year-old AIADMK, whichhas functioned as per thediktats of a single leader, beit founder M.G.Ramachandran or his suc-cessor Jayalalithaa.

AIADMK meet removesSasikala as general secretary Coordinator, co-coordinator to run party; TTV’s appointments invalid

New chapter: Edappadi K Palaniswami pays homage to M.G.Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa at the AIADMK generalcouncil meeting at Vanagaram on Tuesday. * K. PICHUMANI

T. RAMAKRISHNAN

CHENNAI

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

Father Tom Uzhunnalil, apriest from Kottayam in Ker-ala who was kidnapped byYemeni militants from acharity home in Aden, hasbeen released, External Af-fairs Minister Sushma Swarajannounced on Tuesday.

Fr. Tom spent more thana year in captivity.

“I am happy to informthat Father Tom Uzhunnalilhas been rescued,” Ms. Swa-raj posted on her Twitter ac-count.

Since his abduction Ms.Swaraj has made severalstatements on the govern-ment’s efforts to secure hisrelease, as they have beenable to do in other suchcases, including the freeingof an aid worker from Afgh-anistan.

No details from MEAHowever, the MEA declinedto add any details of the

priest’s release or conditionat present. Instead, the offi-cial statement came fromthe Omani governmentwhich said that the priestwas recovering in Muscatafter being rescued, as perthe request of the Vatican.

A later version of thestatement online omittedthe words “as per the re-quest of the Vatican.”

It referred to Fr. Uzhunna-lil as a “Vatican priest” andnot a “Vatican employee.”

Oman’s Ministry of In-formation also released pho-

tographs of the priest,bearded, and looking frail,standing by an airplane.

“In response to the RoyalOrders of His Majesty SultanQaboos bin Said and as per arequest from the Vatican toassist in the rescuing of aVatican employee, the con-cerned authorities in the Sul-tanate, in coordination withthe Yemeni authorities, havemanaged to find a Vaticangovernment employee. Hewas transferred Tuesdaymorning to Muscat in pre-paration for his return homein Kerala,” the Omani state-ment said.

Meanwhile, the CatholicBishops’ Conference of Indiathanked Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi and Ms. Swarajfor “persistently and per-severingly” trying to obtainhis release.

Kerala priest freed 1 yearafter his kidnap in Yemen He is now recovering in Muscat, says Omani government

Suhasini Haidar

New Delhi

Tom Uzhunnalil disembarksfrom a plane in Muscat after his release. * AFP


MOMENT OF RELIEF

AND JOY A PAGE 5

The Union Cabinet onTuesday approved the re-lease of an additional 1% ofdearness allowance (DA) toCentral government em-ployees and dearness reliefto pensioners. This will beapplicable retrospectivelyfrom July 1, 2017.

“The release of the addi-tional instalment of DA rep-resents an increase of 1%over the existing rate of 4%of the basic pay/pension, tocompensate for price rise,”the government said.

The Cabinet also ap-proved a proposed amend-ment to double the max-imum gratuity to privatesector workers from ₹10lakh to ₹20 lakh.

1% DA hikefor Centralgovt sta� Special Correspondent

New Delhi

RSS chief says will acceptAyodhya verdictNEW DELHI

Mohan Bhagwat has said that

the RSS would abide by the

court ruling on the Ayodhya

dispute. He was replying to a

query on whether he saw a

solution to the Ayodhya

dispute by the next elections

and if he would consider it a

shared site.

NEWS A PAGE 10

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NEARBY

Hindu couples who havemutually agreed to separateneed not wait anymore forthe mandatory “cooling off”period of six months beforedivorce, the Supreme Courtheld on Tuesday.

Once a couple moves acourt of law for divorce un-der the Hindu Marriage Act,they have to wait for a min-imum period of six months.

Divorce by mutual con-sent was introduced as anamendment to the HinduMarriage Act in 1976.

The waiting period underSection 13B was mandatedto prevent couples from tak-ing any hasty decision toend their marriage. Marriage

is a sacrament in Hinduism.The waiting period was

for them to have enoughtime to think through theirdecision to separate.

Divorce was granted onlyafter the ‘cooling off ’ periodand once the court foundthere was no further chancefor reconciliation. “The wait-ing period will only prolongtheir agony,” a Bench ofJustices A.K. Goel and U.U.Lalit observed in theirjudgment.

The court held that thewaiting period should bedone away with in caseswhere there is no way tosave the marriage and all ef-forts at mediation and con-ciliation have run theircourse.

‘Cooling o�’ period in

Hindu divorce can go: SC

‘Waiting 6 months will prolong agony’

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI


The special designatedcourt, conducting trial inthe Naroda Gaam massacrecase related to the 2002 ri-ots in which former BJP Min-ister Maya Kodnani is a keyaccused, has summonedBharatiya Janata Party pres-ident Amit Shah to deposebefore it as defence witnesson September 18.

Trial court judge P.B. De-sai issued summons to Mr.Shah at his residence inAhmedabad.

However, the court saidthe summons will not be re-issued if Mr. Shah does notdepose on the due date asper the court’s instruction.

Earlier, the court had

asked Dr. Kodnani to bringMr. Shah as defence witnesslatest by September 12.

During the argument, shecontended that since Mr.Shah was travelling extens-ively, she was not in a posi-tion to deliver the court’snotice for deposition.

Amit Shah summoned in

Naroda Gaam riots case

Asked to testify on September 18

Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD

Amit Shah


Information and Broad-casting Minister Smriti Ir-ani called Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi a“failed dynast, who choseto speak on his failed polit-ical journeys in the U.S.”She also challenged him toa debate on the economy.A PAGE 10

A faileddynast: SmritiThe idea of non-violence is

under vicious attack in Indiaand the need of the hour isto break the cycle of viol-ence, Congress vice-presid-ent Rahul Gandhi said onMonday.

Mr. Gandhi was speakingat an event at the Universityof California in Berkeley,kicking off his American tourduring which he is sched-uled to interact with severalgroups in multiple cities.

The Congress leader saidIndia’s achievement was inlifting the largest number ofpeople out of poverty in ademocratic fashion.

Mr. Gandhi recalled that

the BJP had opposed the in-troduction of computers inIndia by his father RajivGandhi in the 1980s andeven questioned the need forthe Indian Institutes of Tech-nology when they were foun-ded.

“No democratic country

anywhere else in the worldhas achieved what India hasachieved without violence,peacefully, together,” hesaid.

Politics of polarisation dangerous, he tells Berkeley students

Varghese K George

Washington

Rahul Gandhi speaking at the University of California,Berkeley. * PTI

Idea of non-violence underattack in India: Rahul Gandhi

“One more thing.” Withthat phrase, Apple paidhomage to its late co-founder Steve Jobs on the10th anniversary of theiPhone at Cupertino in Cali-fornia on Tuesday when itunveiled its latest and al-most certainly most ex-pensive new version of thedevice, the iPhone X.

‘Biggest leap’CEO Tim Cook called it “thebiggest leap forward” sincethe first iPhone. (“X” is pro-nounced 10, not the letterX.) It loses the home but-ton, which revolutionisedsmartphones when itlaunched, offers an edge-to-edge screen and will use fa-

cial recognition to unlockthe phone.

Apple also unveiled anew iPhone 8 and a larger 8Plus with upgrades to cam-eras, displays and speakers.

Those phones, Applesaid, will shoot pictureswith better colours and lessdistortion, particularly inlow-light settings.

The display will adapt toambient lighting, similar toa feature in some iPad Promodels. Speakers will belouder and offer deeperbass. Both iPhone 8 ver-sions will allow wirelesscharging, a feature thoughtto be limited to the an-niversary phone.

Many Android phones,including those made bySamsung, already have this.

Apple unveils iPhone X

Also a new iPhone 8, larger 8 Plus

Associated Press

Cupertino

Apple CEO Tim Cook announces the new iPhone X. * AP


downloaded from : www.visionias.net downloaded from : https://t.me/Material_For_Exam

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THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

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NORTH

Two Lok Sabha MPs fromRajasthan on Tuesdaycalled for early enactmentof the Motor VehiclesAmendment Bill, 2016,which is at present lyingwith the Select Committeeof the Rajya Sabha.

The Bill was passed byLok Sabha after a debate onApril 10 this year.

Dausa MP HarishChandra Meena and ChuruMP Rahul Kaswan said at amedia interaction here thatthe Bill had laid a renewed

emphasis on road safetystandards in the country, as25 of its 88 provisions weredevoted to this subjectalone.

The Bill addresses the is-sues relating to road safety,citizen facilitation, strength-ening public transport,automation and computer-isation of procedures andimposes hefty penalties forviolation of traffic rules.The two MPs expressed thehope that it would bepassed in the upcomingwinter session of RajyaSabha.

MPs for early passageof road safety BillSpecial Correspondent

JAIPUR

DELHI Timings

Wednesday, September 13

RISE 06:05 SET 18:28

RISE 23:57 SET 12:56

Thursday, September 14

RISE 06:06 SET 18:27

RISE 00:00 SET 13:56

Friday, September 15

RISE 06:06 SET 18:26

RISE 00:55 SET 14:53

The lawyer of the accused inthe rape of 10-year-old girl,who delivered a baby girllast month here, on Tuesdayasserted that the DNA of thebaby girl did not match withthat of the accused — anuncle of the victim. TheChandigarh police said thematter was part of investiga-tion and nothing could berevealed at this moment.

Earlier, a section of mediareported that the city-basedCentral Forensic ScienceLaboratory has stated thatthe DNA of the baby girl,who was delivered on Au-

gust 17 at a local governmenthospital, did not match withthat of the accused.

“I cannot comment onanything related on this is-sue. Whatever has been re-ported is now a part of po-lice investigation,” SeniorSuperintendent of Police,Chandigarh, NilambariJagadale, told The Hindu.

“We will carry out furtherinvestigation,” she added.

Meanwhile, ManjeetSingh, the lawyer of the ac-cused, on Tuesday claimedthat his client’s (victim’suncle) DNA did not matchwith that of the baby girlborn to the rape victim.

Mr. Singh said theforensic report had beenplaced before the court andthe matter was now on therecord.

The case came up forhearing before the addi-tional district and sessionsjudge, Poonam. R. Joshi,where prosecution wit-nesses were examined afterwhich the hearing was de-ferred.

The 10 year-old girl wasallegedly raped by her unclerepeatedly. The accused wasarrested on July 14 after anFIR was registered againsthim on the complaint of vic-tim’s mother.

Accused not father of childborn to rape victim: lawyerChandigarh police say DNA issue is part of investigation

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

Curfew was relaxed for sixhours in the Walled Cityhere on Tuesday followingan improvement in the lawand order situation. The in-definite curfew was clampedin four police station areasof the city after violence fol-lowing a police constable's

alleged misbehaviour with acouple on September 8evening.

Meanwhile, tension overdiscovery of the body of ayouth, Bharat Sindhi, sub-sided on Tuesday and hisbody was handed over to hisfamily. While Bharat's familyclaimed that he had died onthe day violence erupted,

police stated that the causeof his death would becomeclear only after the post-mortem report wasreceived.

All the schools situated inthe areas falling within thejurisdiction of police sta-tions where curfew has beenimposed will remain openon Wednesday.


JAIPUR

Curfew relaxed for six hours in Jaipur


CMYK

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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 20174EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Striking a pose: A man takes a picture of cardboard cut-outs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart ShinzoAbe in Ahmedabad on Tuesday as Gujarat gears up to host the two-day Indo-Japan Annual Summit from Wednesday. * VIJAY SONEJI

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Photo opportunity

The Chhattisgarh govern-ment on Tuesday declared96 of the 149 tehsils in theState as “drought-hit” owingto less than normal rainfallthis year.

The decision was taken atthe State Cabinet meetingchaired by Chief Minister Ra-man Singh in Raipur onTuesday. The Directorate ofPublic Relations, in a state-ment, said, “The State gov-ernment has decided to de-clare 96 tehsils in 21 districtsof Chhattisgarh as drought-hit after receiving inputsfrom all 27 district collectorsabout the Kharif crop yield.

‘Increase work-days’“The State government willsend a proposal to theCentre to increase the work-days under the MahatmaGandhi National Rural Guar-antee Scheme to 200 daysfrom the current 100 daysper family in the drought-hitareas.” The State Cabinet hasdecided that every gram

panchayat should set asideone quintal of rice for needypeople in the 96 tehsils.

The statement added,“Employment generationwork will begin immediatelyin the drought-hit areas.Property tax will not be col-lected in the affected tehsilsthis year. Proposals will besent to the Central govern-ment to resolve the drinkingwater problem in the Stateand to provide subsidy inprocuring seeds and dieselin the drought-hit tehsils.”

The worst-hitDistricts whose tehsils havebeen declared drought hitare Rajnandgaon (9 tehsils),Bilaspur (8), Kanker (7),Balodabajara (6), Raigarh(6), Dantewada (5), Koriya(5), Bemetara (5), Ma-hasamund (5), Dhmatari (4),Raipur (4), Balod (4), Ka-beerdham (4) and Janjgir-Champa (4), Kondagaon (4),Bijapur (4), Mungeli (3), Gar-iyaband (3), Durg (3), Naray-anpur (2), Korba (1).

Rajndangoan, the district

with the most drought-hittehsils, is the Lok Sabha con-stituency of the Chief Minis-ter’s son, Abhishek Singh.

Second big moveThe announcement is said tobe the second “farmer-friendly move” of Chhattis-garh’s BJP government in thelast two weeks. The RamanSingh government had an-nounced a bonus for theState’s paddy farmers on Au-gust 31. The Oppositiontermed the decision “anelection ploy” ahead of As-sembly polls next year.

The State governmentsaid that the compensationagainst crop loss would bepaid under Rule 6-4 of theRevenue Book Circularnorms after receiving the fi-nal crop report. A proposalwill be forwarded to theCentre. The drought-af-fected farmers will be paidclaims under the Prime Min-ister’s Crop InsuranceScheme. Land revenue taxeswill also be waived in thedrought-hit districts.

Chhattisgarh declares97 tehsils drought-hitGram panchayats directed to set aside rice for the needy

Parched: Residents of Pirda village in Janjgir-Champa district of Chhattisgarh. Four tehsils inthe district were declared drought-hit on Tuesday. * K.R. DEEPAK


NAGPUR

Rationalists and litterateurshave raised objection tohosting the 91st All-IndiaMarathi Sahitya Sammelanat Vivekanand Ashram inHiwara in Buldhana district.

The venue, which was fi-nalised in Nagpur last week,was described as a centre ofsuperstitious practices by asection of rationalists andmembers of the Akhil Bhar-atiya Sahitya Mahamandal.

‘Run by godman’Leading the charge is ration-alist Shyam Manav, chief ofthe Akhil BharatiyaAndhashraddha NirmoolanSamiti (ANS), who said hisoutfit would hold protests ifthe venue was not shifted.Mr. Manav said that Shuka-das Maharaj, a self-styled

godman, had converted theashram into “a hub of super-stitious practices”. He saidthe godman misguidedpeople and misinterpretedthe teachings of SwamiVivekananda to serve hisown interests.

Mr. Manav was once asso-ciated with the MaharashtraAndhashraddha NirmoolanSamiti (MANS) founded bythe slain rationalist, Dr. Nar-endra Dabholkar. He parted

ways to form the ANS. Mr. Manav said, “The ANS

has opposed the practices ofShukadas Maharaj. The de-cision of the literary commit-tee to select this place as thevenue is regrettable. By itsvery nature, it is against theethos of rationalism.”

Dr. Raosaheb Kasbe,noted writer, Ambedkariteintellectual and president ofthe Maharashtra Sahitya Par-ishad, said, “A place whichfacilitates superstition is an-tithetical to the spirit of pro-gressive literature. I amstrongly opposed to thechoice of the venue.”

Members of the AkhilBharatiya Sahitya Mahaman-dal, which is headed by lit-terateur Shripad Joshi, saidthe venue was chosen topropagate literary sensibilit-ies in remote areas. Marathi

novelist Rajan Khan, in an in-terview to a vernacular tele-vision channel, said, “Thereis no point in renewing oldhostilities or quibbling overthe nature of the venue.What transpired betweenANS activists and the god-man is a matter of the past.”

‘Allegations baseless’However, Hamid Dabholkar,convener of MANS, said theorganisation does not sup-port the ANS’s view that thevenue should be shifted. Hesaid, “We do not agree withthe ANS’s view thatVivekanand Ashram inHiwara is a place where su-perstition is allegedly facilit-ated. Further, a court direct-ive in the early 2000s[against Mr. Manav] foundthat the allegations had nosubstance.”

Rationalists object to literary meet venueSay choice is regrettable as Vivekanand Ashram is hotbed of superstition

Shoumojit Banerjee

Pune <> A place which

facilitates

superstition is

antithetical to the

spirit of progressive

literature. I am

strongly opposed to

the choice of venue

Dr. Raosaheb Kasbe

President of Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad

The Goa unit of the AamAadmi Party (AAP) onTuesday demanded thatthe State governmentprovide security to Minis-ter for Water ResourcesVinod Paliekar, who tookon the drug mafia in hisconstituency, Siolim.

The Minister hadclaimed that he sensed athreat to his life and wasscared of going out for amorning walk. Ashley doRosario, Goa spokespersonof AAP, demanded that thegovernment open an in-vestigation into the threatsreceived by the Ministerfollowing his recent out-bursts against the rampantdrug mafia in Siolim.

Mr. Rosario said, “If aMinister feels threatened,then what will be the fateof ordinary citizens of Goa?Mr. Palyekar should beprovided the highest per-sonal security.”

Providesecurity toMinister: AAPSpecial Correspondent

Panaji

A Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) of the Goa po-lice, which is probing casesof illegal mining in theState, arrested the ac-cused, Imran Khan, onTuesday evening.

Superintendent of PoliceKarthik Kashyap, who isheading the SIT probe, saidKhan extracted iron-oreamounting to crores of ru-pees between 2007 and2012 during the Congress-led coalition governmentheaded by Chief MinsiterDigambar Kamat.

He allegedly acted at thebehest of an influentialpolitician in extracting orefrom TC No. 65/61 belong-ing to the mining leaseholder, Amalia Figeriedo.

One held inGoa illegalmining caseSpecial Correspondent

Panaji


CMYK

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“It’s the result of prayers.Prayers of thousands,” saidThomas Uzhunnalil, acousin of Silesian priest TomUzhunnalil who was re-leased by his abductors fromYemen on Tuesday. “Wecame to know about it fromtelevision. No one, otherthan those from the SilesianProvincial headquarters inBengaluru, has called us sofar. All we know is that he isfree. And that is all we wantto know,” he said.

“There were momentswhen we lost all hope. Likewhen his tapes were re-leased or when reports ofhis alleged crucifixion werecarried by the media. Butevery such setback onlystrengthened our spirit topray more intensely,” Mr.Thomas added.

None of Fr. Tom’s siblingslives at Ramapuram, his an-cestral village. One of hisbrothers lives in north Indiaand another is abroad. His

sister is in Palakkad. Many ofthe family members live inKurinji, a village nearRamapuram off Pala.

People come callingThe news of Fr. Tom’s re-lease came after 3 p.m. Andthere was an outpouring ofjoy in the village on a hillytract. Neighbours, localpoliticians and well-wisherscame in droves. “All had onething to talk about — how

their prayers succeeded,”said Mr. Thomas.

Most of the political lead-ers, who were in touch withthe family, gathered at Mr.Thomas’ residence. They in-cluded Kerala Congressleader K.M. Mani, P.J.Joseph, Jose K. Mani MP,Roshy Augustine, MonsJoseph (all MLAs), priestsand nuns.

Mr. Mani said it was a mo-ment of relief and joy. Mr.Jose K. Mani recalled themany times he had taken upthe issue in Parliament.

Speaking to The Hindu,Fr. Thomas Ayallukunnel,the vicar at St. Sebastian’sChurch, Kurinji, said theparish had, for the past one-and-a-half years, engaged inconsistent prayers.

Fr. Uzhunnalil was abduc-ted on March 4, 2016 fromAden in Yemen where hewas working with an old agehome run by Missionaries ofCharity. They gunned downmany inmates and took Fr.Uzhunnalil hostage.

Moment of relief, joy People of Tom Uzhunnalil’s village celebrate with prayers

Tom Uzhunnalil

George Jacob

KOTTAYAM

The Shobha Yatra taken outunder the aegis of SanghParivar organisations tomark the Sree Krishna Jay-anti, and rival processionsunder the auspices of cul-tural organisations affiliatedto the Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist) passed offpeacefully here on Tuesday.

The police were on highalert in view of the confront-ational posture adopted bythe Sangh Parivar and theCPI(M) over the rival proces-sions. While the former ac-cused the CPI(M) of attemptsto disrupt the annualShobha Yatra, the Left partysaid the Shobha Yatras werebeing organised to promotecommunal hatred.

Separate routesA large posse of police per-sonnel was deployed toavert any showdown. The

police also allotted separateareas and routes for the rivalprocessions.

The Shobha Yatra startedfrom Sree Narayana Parkand ended near the SouthBazar.

The CPI(M)-backed rival

processions were held in dif-ferent parts of the district.The participants, includingchildren, carried placards ofGauri Lankesh, the journal-ist murdered in Bengaluru,and Nobel Prize winnerMalala Yousafzai.

High police presence in the district to avert any showdown


KANNUR

Fun and frolic: Children at the Shobha Yatra during the SreeKrishna Jayanti celebrations in Kannur on Tuesday. * S.K. MOHAN

Sangh, CPI(M) yatras passo� peacefully in Kannur

A day after the BharatiyaJanata Party threatened tosue anybody mentioning theSangh Parivar in connectionwith the murder of journalistand activist Gauri Lankesh,numerous speakers at ‘I AmGauri’ — a convention heldhere on Tuesday in protestagainst her killing — struck adefiant note by taking on theHindutva forces.

They accused the forces of“stifling dissent” in thecountry.

The event also turned intoa platform for criticisingPrime Minister NarendraModi and the BJP-led Uniongovernment on manycounts. Sitaram Yechury, CPI

(M) general secretary, set thetone when he accused theSangh Parivar of encour-aging a cult of violence thatmade the murder of four ra-tionalists and writerspossible.

He said even Sardar Patelhad accused the SanghParivar of spreading com-munalism that claimed manylives, including the life ofGandhiji.

Veerabhadra Chen-

namalla Swami of Nidum-amidi Math accused“Hindutva terrorists” ofkilling Gauri Lankesh andother rationalists.

BJP reactionMedha Patkar of the Nar-mada Bachao Andolan andSwami Agnivesh, social activ-ist, referring to the legal no-tice issued to historianRamachandra Guha, daredthe BJP to file complaintsagainst them for “expressingtheir suspicion that right-wing fundamentalists werebehind the murder of thefour thinkers.”

Karnataka BJP spokesper-son Prakash Shesharagha-vachar told The Hindu thatthe party would review thevideo recording of the meetand take legal recourseagainst anybody “whoblamed the Sangh Parivar forthe murders.”

Gauri killing: convention blames Hindutva forcesSpeakers strikede�ant note,criticise PM ModiStaff Reporter

Bengaluru

I Am Gauri: A rally being taken out in Bengaluru on Tuesdayagainst the killing of Gauri Lankesh. * V. SREENIVASA MURTHY

Three days after her disap-pearance, a Class XII stu-dent was found murderedin Ameenpur on Hydera-bad’s outskirts on Tuesday.

Though the police re-gistered a case of kidnapfollowing a complaintlodged by the student’sparents, they were cluelessabout the motive and per-sons behind the teen’skilling.

The girl left her homearound 5 p.m. on Saturday.“She told her mother thatshe was going to meet afriend but didn’t give anydetails,” the police said. Asthe girl didn’t return hometill late in the night, herfamily members ap-proached the police.

A case of kidnap was re-gistered on Sunday. Evenas efforts were on to traceher, the Ameenpur policereceived information that adecomposed body hadbeen found.

Studentfound killedin HyderabadSpecial Correspondent

HYDERABAD

Roof of operation theatrecollapses in BallariBALLARI

In a glaring instance of

neglect at the Vijayanagar

Institute of Medical Sciences,

a premier government-run

teaching hospital in Ballari, a

vast portion of the roof of an

operation theatre collapsed

early on Tuesday. Fortunately,

no surgery was being

conducted at that time.

IN BRIEF

‘Bunty Chor’ attemptssuicide in jailTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Devinder Singh alias Bunty

Chor, serving a jail term at the

Poojappura Central Prison for

burglary, allegedly attempted

suicide on Tuesday by

swallowing a few shards of a

bulb. The incident occurred

when the convict was taken

outside his cell for lunch. He

was arrested for burglary at

an NRI’s house in 2013.

With the Puducherry ExciseCommissioner on Tuesdayallowing the reopening ofliquor shops and bars, Maheis all set to be a haven fortipplers in the region again.The shops were closed incompliance with a SupremeCourt order in Decemberbanning liquor outlets alongthe highways.

Within hours after theExcise Commissioner’sorder reached the office ofthe Regional Administratorof Mahe, some of the closedliquor outlets and bars inMahe were reopened. Byevening, nearly all of themresumed their business.

“Just now we have

received the order from theExcise Commissioner,”Regional Administrator S.Manickadeepan told The

Hindu. He said he wouldsoon be issuing a follow-uporder in Mahe permittingthe reopening of the outlets.

Cheap costMahe had been a destinationof tipplers till the closure of32 liquor outlets and barsdue to the cheap cost.

The Puducherrygovernment’s order followedthe Supreme Court’sclarification last month thatthe liquor ban on bars andretail liquor outlets locatedalong the highways was notapplicable to those withinthe municipal area.

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For tipplers, it’s cheers again in MahePuducherry government issues order allowing reopening of closed outlets

Mohamed Nazeer

KANNUR





CMYK

A ND-NDE

NATION

Be soft towards shikshamitras: MayawatiLUCKNOW

BSP chief Mayawati on

Tuesday urged the BJP

government in Uttar Pradesh

to adopt a soft and positive

approach towards the shiksha

mitras (ad hoc teachers) in

the State. PTI

IN BRIEF

Principal held for‘molesting’ studentSEHORE(M.P.)

A 45-year-old principal of a

government school here was

arrested for allegedly

outraging the modesty of a

class VIII girl on its campus on

Tuesday, the police said. The

accused, identified as

Akhilesh Malviya, was

thrashed by the parents of

the girl over the incident. PTI

Protest in Punjab againstplight of RohingyasLUDHIANA

A group of people on Tuesday

took out a protest march here

and condemned the violence

against Rohingya Muslims in

Myanmar. An estimated

300,000 Rohingya Muslim

refugees have fled Myanmar

and reached Bangladesh after

a crackdown by Myanmar

security forces. The

protesters were led by Shahi

Imam of Punjab Maulana

Habib ur Rehman. PTI

Heroin haul: Cop,smuggler arrestedMUKTSAR

An Assistant Sub-Inspector

along with a notorious drug

smuggler were arrested on

Tuesday and 50 grams of

heroin was recovered from

their possession, the police

said. ASI Mohan Singh, posted

at Kot Bhai police station, and

smuggler Gurmeet Singh

were travelling in a car and

during a search, 50 gram of

heroin was recovered from

their possession. PTI

Rejecting the Delhi Policeplea for more time to de-sealthe suite of a five-star hotelhere where SunandaPushkar, the wife of seniorCongress leader Shashi Thar-oor, was found dead on Janu-ary 17, 2014, a Delhi court onTuesday asked them to handover the space to the hotelmanagement within twoweeks.

Directing the investigatingagency to file a compliancereport regarding de-sealingof the suite on September26, Metropolitan MagistrateDharmender Singh said:“The court is of the view thatthe reason mentioned forseeking extension of time isnot justified, and no furthertime can be given for de-seal-ing the suite.”

Forensic reportThe police had sought ex-

tension of time for de-sealingthe space, submitting thatthe forensic report on thearticles collected from thesuite was awaited.

However, the court al-lowed the investigatingagency to visit the suite andcollect the articles lyingthere for the purpose of in-vestigation before Septem-ber 26, the next date ofhearing.

“The suit is sealed forabout three-and-a-half yearsand already a huge financialloss has been caused to theapplicant (hotel manage-ment). It is relevant to men-tion here that generally after

inspection of the crime spotby an FSL team or investigat-ing agency, the said spot isnot sealed or closed till ar-rival of the FSL result,’’ theMagistrate observed.

The court had on July 21initially ordered de-sealingof the suite with a directionto the investigating officer ofthe case to unlock it withinfour weeks. The court hadobserved that the hotelcould not be put to unendinghardship due to laxity on the

part of the police.However, it had also said

that they could approach thecourt for further extensionof time if they were unableto conclude investigationwithin four weeks due tosome exceptionalcircumstances.

It had later given themmore time to complete theprobe. On Tuesday, the po-lice again pleaded for moresome time but the court re-jected it.

Huge lossThe hotel management hadsought de-sealing of suite no.345, submitting that due toits locking up the hotel hadsuffered a loss of over ₹50lakh.

Sunanda was found deadin the suite of the SouthDelhi hotel on the night ofJanuary 17, 2014. The suitewas sealed on that night it-self for investigation. An FIRwas registered by Delhi po-lice on January 1, 2015,against unknown personsunder IPC section 302(murder).

Court directs police to de-sealsuite where Sunanda diedAsks them to hand over the space to the hotel management within two weeks

Hotel Leela Palace in New Delhi, where Sunanda Pushkar, wifeof Shashi Tharoor, was found dead. * FILE PHOTO


New Delhi

Experiences in Ganjam, themost HIV-infection prone dis-trict in Odisha, have hintedthat progress on the ‘90-90-90’ target set by the UnitedNations Programme on HIVand AIDS (UNAIDS) has beentardy in the State.

According to LokanathMishra, a social activist,working with HIV positivepersons in Odisha, UNAIDShas envisioned to achieve the

‘90-90-90’ target by 2020,which would result in con-trolling HIV infection to sus-tainable limits by 2030. Asper the ‘90-90-90’ target,90% of all HIV infected per-sons should get diagnosedand know their HIV positivestatus. Ninety per cent ofthese diagnosed HIV positivepersons are to be providedregular Antiretroviral Ther-apy (ART), and 90% ofpeople taking ART shouldshow signs of viral suppres-

sion, which reduces theirscope of infection.

Small sectionRamesh Chandra Dash,founder president of ARUNA,an organisation working forAIDS control and awarenessin Ganjam, said till now onlya small section of HIV-infec-tion prone people have gotthemselves tested. It meansthat a large number of HIV-positive persons do not knowtheir HIV infection status.

As per a study, at any timeof the year over five lakhrural males of reproductiveage from Ganjam stay awayfrom their families as migrantlabourers outside Odisha.

But the total number ofpersons tested in Ganjam in ayear is around 90,000, saidMr. Mishra.

It means most migrant la-bourers, who have chancesof bringing back HIV infec-tion to their homes in Gan-jam, do not get tested.

Odisha: Progress on UN target on AIDS tardy A large number of HIV positive persons don’t know their infection status

Staff Reporter

BERHAMPUR

Two more persons havebeen arrested in connec-tion with the flyover col-lapse in Bhubaneswar onSunday that left one per-son dead and 11 injured.

Assistant Engineer inthe Works Department,Kishore Rout, who wasplaced under suspensionsubsequent to the bridgecollapse, and VipulChakraborty, SupervisingEngineer of Panda Infra-structure, the executingagency, have now beenarrested.

The City police hadearlier arrested Pratap Kis-hore Panda, Managing Dir-ector of Panda Infrastruc-ture, and BansidharPraharaj, Deputy Execut-ive Engineer of Works De-partment, for alleged lax-ity in execution of theproject.

Plead innocenceOn Tuesday, the policeproduced Mr. Panda, Mr.Praharaj and Mr.Chakraborty in courtwhich remanded them injudicial custody after re-jecting their bail petitions.All of them, however,pleaded innocent in court.

The police are lookingfor two other directors ofthe construction companyand could issue a look-outcircular if they continue toevade arrest.

Two more

arrested for

Odisha �yover

collapse

Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: Skymet (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Wednesday: Heavy rain is likely at isolated placesover Kerala and Lakshadweep. Thunderstorm accompanied withgusty wind/lightning likely at isolated places over Madhya Pra-desh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, central Maharashtra, Marathwada,Karnataka and Konkan & Goa

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala...............5.8.... 32.8.... 23.8 Kozhikode .............5.2.... 33.8.... 25.0

Ahmedabad..........0.4.... 37.2.... 26.4 Kurnool ....................3.... 35.9.... 25.2

Aizawl ....................2.... 28.4.... 13.0 Lucknow.................. —.... 36.2.... 26.7

Allahabad ............5.2.... 36.4.... 26.8 Madurai.................0.6.... 33.6.... 25.1

Bengaluru .............. —.... 31.0.... 22.1 Mangaluru............... —.... 32.5.... 25.0

Bhopal.................5.1.... 32.2.... 23.4 Mumbai.................0.3.... 35.9.... 26.6

Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 35.8.... 26.6 Mysuru.................... —.... 30.5.... 22.1

Chandigarh ............ —.... 33.6.... 23.4 New Delhi ............... —.... 35.5.... 25.8

Chennai ...............0.6.... 33.3.... 27.4 Patna ...................... —.... 35.8.... 27.5

Coimbatore..........0.9.... 32.0.... 24.4 Port Blair ................ —.... 32.5.... 26.0

Dehradun............... —.... 33.3.... 22.2 Puducherry.............. —.... 33.0.... 25.8

Gangtok...............4.3.... 22.4.... 17.9 Pune .....................2.1.... 33.0.... 23.3

Goa ....................... —.... 34.0.... 25.5 Raipur ......................5.... 32.1.... 25.3

Guwahati ............... —.... 33.0.... 25.5 Ranchi..................... —.... 30.4.... 21.5

Hubballi................. —.... 30.0.... 22.0 Shillong.................9.7.... 22.3.... 14.9

Hyderabad ............. —.... 34.0.... 23.8 Shimla..................... —.... 24.9.... 15.4

Imphal...............51.9.... 29.7.... 20.2 Srinagar .................. —.... 29.0.... 13.7

Jaipur .................... —.... 34.1.... 24.8 Trivandrum ............. —.... 32.5.... 24.9

Kochi...................0.8.... 32.2.... 24.4 Tiruchi .................... —.... 35.1.... 26.0

Kohima.................. —.... 24.4.... 19.0 Vijayawada .............. —.... 34.1.... 27.0

Kolkata................6.4.... 34.7.... 25.3 Visakhapatnam ......... —.... 33.8.... 28.0

Particulate matter in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at4.00 p.m., Gurgaon,recorded an overall airquality index (AQI) scoreof 246 indicating anunhealthy level ofpollution. In contrast, Panchkula,recorded a healthy AQIscore of 48

Ahmedabad ......... ....—.....— ...— ....... — .......—.......—

Bengaluru ................9 ...81 ..78 ....... —....102 ......*

Chennai....................8 ...16 ..59 ...... 72 .......— ......*

Delhi......................13 ...42 ..39 .... 113....196 ......*

Hyderabad ...............3 ...27 ..32 ...... 18......24 ......*

Kolkata ..................18 ...50 ..29 ....... —......63 ......*

Lucknow ..................6 ...80 ..49 .... 168 .......— ......*

Mumbai .................25 .....6 ..76 ...... 79......95 ......*

Pune ......................38 ...10 ..86 ...... 22......32 ......*

Vishakhapatnam .....18 .....6 ..57 ...... 32......37 ......*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

(Individual pollutant data for various cities are averages for the previous day)

The accident site





CMYK

A ND-NDE

NATION

In a first, the Zoological Sur-vey of India (ZSI) has pub-lished an compendium ofanimal species in the IndianSundarbans, estimating thatthere are 2,626 of them inthe fragile island ecosystem.The listing includes a diverse25 phyla, as they are biolo-gically classified.

The Indian segment of theSundarbans, part of a UN-ESCO World Heritage site,forms part of the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta across9,630 sq. km, distributedamong 104 islands.

The region hosts 2,487species that come under thezoological kingdom of Anim-alia, and 140 under the moreprimitive Protista.

“The publication titledFauna of Sundarban Bio-sphere Reserve is the firstconsolidated and updatedinformation of the faunal di-versity of the Sundarbans. Itlists over 2,600 species, in-

cluding the new species de-scribed from the mangroveecosystem as well as threatsfaced by them due to climatechange,” ZSI DirectorKailash Chandra told TheHindu.

Biswajit Roy Chowdhury,secretary of Nature Environ-ment and Wildlife Society, anon-governmental organisa-tion and one of the authorsof the publication, says it isencyclopedic in its scope.

“When we talk aboutSundarbans we refer to onlya few major species in the re-serve forest area in about4,260 sq. km. The publica-tion catalogues the entirefaunal diversity of Sundar-ban Biosphere Reserve cov-ering 9,630 sq. km spreadover 19 blocks in South 24Parganas and North 24 Par-ganas of West Bengal,” Mr.Roy Chowdhury said.

Gone missingThe researchers documentthe famous tigers of these is-

lands, which have adaptedto aquatic conditionsaround, the human-tigerconflict, and behaviour ofthe big cat. The fortunes of50 mammalian species in-

cluding the Asian small-clawed Otter, Gangetic Dol-phin, Grey and Marsh Mon-goose and the wild RhesusMonkey, the only primatehere, are also documented.

“Due to pressure on hab-itat from people and naturalthreats that have shrunk themangrove swamp habitat,mammal numbers are de-clining,” the authors say.

about 30 snake species, ledby the King Cobra, con-sidered vulnerable by IUCN.

Others documented arethe Monocellate ormonocled cobra, Russell’sviper, common and bandedkraits. Besides, ten speciesof frogs and toads are found.

Cartilaginous fishThe mangrove ecosystemcovers about 350 species offish. Cartilaginous fish,which have skeletons of car-tilage rather than bone,make up 10.3%. The IUCNconservation status shows6.3% fish are near-threatened and 4.85% arethreatened. Also, there are173 molluscs.

In another indication ofits richness, 753 insect spe-cies are encountered in theSundarban Biosphere Re-serve. Of these, 210 are but-terflies and moths.Moreover, Crustaceans —crabs, shrimp and prawns —constitute 334 species.

Two Rhinos, Swamp deer,Barking deer and Hog deerand Asiatic Wild Water Buf-falo are not found in Sundar-bans anymore, they say.

There are 356 species ofbirds, the most spectacularbeing raptors, or birds ofprey, that occupy the highestcanopies of the forest. Os-prey, Brahminy Kite andWhite-Bellied Sea Eagle aredominant, while Rose-ringed parakeets, flycatchersand warblers are also foundin the middle tier, while inthe lower tier, kingfishersabound — and the Sundar-bans has nine of them.

There are 11 turtles, in-cluding the famous OliveRidley and Hawskbill seaturtles and the mostthreatened freshwater spe-cies, the River Terrapin.

A crocodile, 13 lizards in-cluding three species ofMonitor Lizards and fiveGeckos are found here. Therivers, creeks channels andthe islands together harbour

A fragile ark that shelters 2,626 creatures Zoological Survey of India produces �rst exhaustive compendium of animal diversity in the Sundarban islands and the threats they face

Shiv Sahay Singh

Kolkata

Tiger Gangetic dolphin Mudskippers Riverine turtle Brown king�sherTree frog

Accusing the TrinamoolCongress government of in-dulging in appeasementpolitics in West Bengal, BJPpresident Amit Shah onTuesday said the time hadcome for “Bengalis tochange their nature” to electone party in the State fordecades.

“I feel that Bengalis needto change their nature andtake decisive steps. I amtalking about changing[their] nature because WestBengal is the only Statewhere governments havebeen changed only twicesince Independence; oncethe Congress was displacedand the Red [Left] govern-ment came to power, andon the other occasion, Redwas replaced by the Green[Trinamool],” Mr Shah said.

Interacting with the audi-ence at the Indian Councilof Cultural Relations in the

city, the BJP president ac-cused the Trinamool gov-ernment of indulging in ap-peasement and vote bankpolitics. “Do you need to goto court for Durga immer-sion? There are so manyStates in the country wherereligious procession of dif-ferent communities arebrought out together. Thedecision has nothing to dowith Hindu-Muslim riots butit is being done because ofvote bank and appeasementpolitics,” Mr Shah said.

He was referring to thedecision of State govern-ment prohibiting immersionof idols for a day on October1 during Durga Puja celebra-tions because of Muharram.

Trinamool Congressleader and State’s EducationMinister Partha Chatterjeedenied the allegations andsaid, “The BJP president hasno knowledge of geography,history or even mathemat-ics.”


Kolkata

Amit Shah calls forchange in Bengal

The University Grants Com-mission on Tuesday an-nounced the beginning of a90-day application processfor universities — public andprivate — to seek the statusof institutions of eminence,which will provide themfreedom from the regularregulatory mechanisms.

Twenty institutions — 10public and 10 private — willbe given this status with theaim to give them freedom tobecome world-class institu-tions. The 10 state-run insti-tutions will have an addi-tional benefit — provision of₹10,000 crore over a periodof 10 years, over and abovethe regular grants.

The aim of the scheme isto help institutions breakinto the top 500 global rank-ings in 10 years, and theneventually break into thetop 100 over time.

By March-April 2018, thechosen institutions will beaccorded the status of “In-

stitutions of Eminence” witha mandate to achieve world-class status over 10 years.

“The institutions whichcan apply are divided intothree categories — existinggovernment educational in-stitutions, existing privatehigher educational institu-tions and sponsoring organ-isation for setting up ofprivate institutions,” KewalKumar Sharma, Secretary(Higher Education), toldreporters.

Institutions in the top 50of the National InstituteRanking Framework rank-ings or those who have se-cured ranking among top500 of the Times HigherEducation World UniversityRankings, QS UniversityRankings or Shanghai Rank-ing Academic Ranking ofWorld Universities are eli-gible to apply.

The HRD Ministry will setup an empowered expertcommittee to process theapplications.

(With PTI inputs)

Varsities can now seek‘eminence’ status

UGC announces application process


New Delhi

Signs of thawing of relation-ship between the WestBengal government andleaders of Gorkhaland move-ment was evident on Tues-day at the second all-partymeeting when Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee agreed tosome of the demands of thehill parties.

Five political parties ofthe hills participated in themeeting held at Uttar Kanya,which serves as the Secret-ariat in north Bengal. Ms.Banerjee chaired the meet-ing where seven leaders ofthe Gorkha Janmukti Morcha(GJM), including BenoyTamang, who has recentlybeen expelled by the GJM,were present.

17 demandsMr. Tamang submitted amemorandum of 17 de-mands on behalf of the GJM.The Chief Minister agreed onat least two major demands

of providing compensationto those killed in the Darjeel-ing hills in the three-month-long agitation and constitut-ing a high-level inquiry toprobe the series of small in-tensity blasts that haverocked the hills. The ChiefMinister also promised topay salaries in advance togovernment employees whoare ready to join work.

Mr. Tamang described thetalks as fruitful and emphas-ised on the need for a tri-partite meeting on the ongo-

ing impasse. Thoughexpelled from the party, theState government still recog-nises him as the face of GJM.Mr. Tamang also stayed awayfrom inner squabbles of theparty at the meeting. He in-troduced all seven membersof the GJM, including hissupporters, as the represent-atives of GJM.

The Chief Minister, whounderlined the need for apermanent solution, saidshe would have to take opin-ion on the issue of tripartitetalks as the hill leaders elec-ted to the regional autonom-ous body of Gorkhaland Ter-ritorial Administration (GTA)have resigned. The GTAprovided provisions for tri-partite talks, she added.

“I want peace in the hills… I don’t want to leave thehills and I feel people of thehills do not want to leaveus,” Ms. Banerjee said.

The next meeting on theissue will be held on October17.

Mamata agrees to somedemands of Hill leaders Signs of thaw at second all-party meeting led by CM


Kolkata

Mamata Banerjee

Kidnappers in Meerut killeda Class 10 student they hadabducted for a ransom of₹50 lakh when they wereconfronted by his parentsand relatives on Mondaynight.

The incident happened inthe jungles of Nanglasahuvillage in Bhawanpur policestation limits in Meerut.

Shiva, a resident of Navi-pur village, was a student ofthe Saraswati Inter Collegein Parikshitgarh in Meerut,and was returning homewhen he was kidnapped.

“Shiva left for school inthe morning but did not re-turn till 5 p.m. so his eldersister Shikha called on hisnumber. An unknown per-son received the call and in-formed us that he had beenkidnapped, demanding aransom of ₹50 lakh. He alsowarned us of dire con-sequences if we informedthe police,” Shiva’s uncleNepal Singh told The Hindu.

After the news broke, res-idents from Shiva’s village,including his relatives, star-ted searching for him in thenearby jungles and farm-

lands. They identified acane farm which was identi-fied by several eyewitnessesas a possible hiding placefor the kidnappers. Whilecombing the area, theyheard some people.

“But before the mobcould corner the kidnap-pers, they killed Shiva. Theyshot him dead and ranaway,” Shiva’s father Ran-veer Singh said.

Villagers block highway“We found Shiva in the sug-arcane field with a bulletwound in the chest. We tookhim to the nearby hospitalbut he was declared broughtdead,” Ranveer said. Policewere the last to reach thespot, Mr. Nepal Singhadded.

After Shiva’s murder, vil-lagers blocked the highwayand protested against the“carelessness of the police.”

“We have initiated aprobe and questioned sev-eral eyewitnesses. Severalteams have been formed tonab the accused. We will en-sure that the culprits are ar-rested very soon,” MeerutSenior Superintendent ofPolice Manzil Saini said.

Kidnappers escapeafter killing Meerut boy

They demanded a ransom of ₹50 lakh

Staff Reporter

Meerut

A Jat family in Agra al-legedly killed its 18-year-olddaughter Nandani Chaharbecause she was in a rela-tionship with a boy of a dif-ferent caste, Agra policesaid on Monday. The localpolice arrested the par-ents, who had smotheredher to death.

Udairaj Singh, DeputySuperintendent of Police,told the media thatNandani’s family did notapprove of her relationshipwith Bhupinder Thakur, anIntermediate student fromMathura.

“We have arrestedNandani’s father BharatvirChahar, her mother Laxmi,and her two brothersKaran and Nandan. Our ini-tial probe shows that it wasan ‘honour killing.’Nandani and Bhupinderhad met [for the first time]a few months ago and hadmet again a few times. Buther family did not approveof the relationship and hadrepeatedly asked her tostop talking to him. Wehave booked the parents,two brothers and also onerelative on charges ofmurder,” Mr. Singh said.

‘Honourkilling’ of Jatgirl in AgraStaff Reporter

Meerut

*B

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Stalin goes to HCseeking trust voteCHENNAI

DMK working president M.K.

Stalin has filed a writ petition

in the Madras High Court,

seeking a direction to the

Tamil Nadu Governor and the

Speaker to hold a trust vote

in the Assembly forthwith.

An affidavit, filed in support

of the yet to be numbered

petition, claimed that it was

illegal for a ‘minority

government’ to take major

policy decisions.

NEARBY

Mouse deer reintroducedinto Telangana forestHYDERABAD

In a novel and unique

initiative attempted

anywhere in the country, the

Telangana Forest Department

on Tuesday re-introduced the

‘mouse deer’ into the forests

of Nallamalla in Amrabad

Tiger Reserve. Called spotted

Chevrotain, it is one of the

endangered species found in

deciduous and evergreen

forests of the country.

‘Blue Whale’: T.N. boyhospitalised with injuriesDHARMAPURI

A 16-year-old boy, claiming to

have been in touch with a

‘curator’ of the ‘Blue Whale

Challenge’, was admitted to

the Government medical

college hospital here with

injuries to his right hand on

Tuesday. The Class XI student

claimed to have been on the

‘day-12’ of his ‘challenge’ and

his behaviour was

disoriented.

The Unique IdentificationAuthority of India (UIDAI)on Tuesday said its tech-nical system that had de-tected some abnormalactivities and foiled a bidto generate fake Aadhaarcards by a gang arrestedby Uttar Pradesh police.

The U.P. Special TaskForce arrested 10 peopleon Saturday from Kanpuron the charge of counter-feiting Aadhaar data.

Unscrupulous elementsThe UIDAI said it hadfiled a complaint on Au-gust 16 before the U.P.STF and asked it to invest-igate the case regardingsome “rogue and unscru-pulous elements” tryingto misuse operators’mandatory authentica-tion login for enrolmentprocess.

‘Alert systemfoiled fakeAadhaar bid’Press Trust of India

New Delhi





CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

Petrol and diesel prices have crept up slowly over

the last three months, but without inviting the

kind of anger and criticism usually directed at

such fuel price hikes. The price of petrol in Delhi, for in-

stance, has cumulatively increased by almost ₹5 since

the introduction of the daily pricing policy on June 16

this year. Daily pricing is now being seen by many as a

ploy to increase prices while allowing the government

to escape any political backlash. The government, for

now, has ruled out any change to the current pricing

policy arguing that it, in fact, ensures that the bene�t of

lower international crude oil prices is passed on to do-

mestic consumers. A comparison of crude oil prices

with domestic petrol and diesel prices, however, sug-

gests that this argument is far from convincing. In 2012,

when India purchased a barrel of crude for around

$120, a litre of petrol was sold at around ₹65 in retail fuel

stations. Today, when the Indian crude basket price has

dropped to around $50, the retail price of petrol is well

over the ₹70 mark. This does not come as much of a sur-

prise. The deregulation of petrol and diesel pricing, in

2010 and 2014 respectively, caused fuel prices to be de-

termined primarily by the forces of supply and demand

rather than input costs. Traditionally, fuel prices were

determined on a cost-plus basis, which led domestic

prices to fall in line with the cost of inputs like crude oil.

Still, lower international crude oil prices should have

led to lower domestic fuel prices even under the free

pricing regime, if not for the heavy taxes imposed on

domestic fuels. Excise duty and value added tax are the

main culprits in this regard. In fact, about half the price

paid by the Indian end-consumer for petrol goes to-

wards paying these taxes. The government’s excise

duty collection, for instance, has more than doubled

during the period 2014-17, from ₹99,184 crore to

₹2,42,691 crore. This suggests quite clearly that the gov-

ernment, not the consumer, has been the biggest bene-

�ciary of lower crude oil prices since 2014. These taxes

impose an arti�cial limit on the amount of supply that

can be pro�tably sold to the Indian consumer, which in

turn leads to consumers paying higher prices for petrol

and diesel. In fact, an alternative tax such as the goods

and services tax (GST), even at its highest slab of 28%,

would substantially lower the current tax burden on

fuels. Apart from making petrol and diesel more a�ord-

able to many more people in the lower rungs of the eco-

nomy, it will also decrease the economic distortions

caused by extraordinarily high taxes imposed on auto-

mobile fuels that are widely used. Along with lower

taxes, greater competition in the fuel retailing market

will allow further cost e�ciencies to kick in and lead to

lower prices for consumers.

Slow creepTaxes need to be eased to make petrol

and diesel more a�ordable to consumers

Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. now face the

possibility of losing their jobs, driver’s licences

and university seats and even of being deported

to a country that was not their home. The looming legal

limbo for this sizeable cohort, which includes around

8,000 Indian nationals, is a direct result of President

Donald Trump’s decision on September 5 to rescind the

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.

This is a major Obama-era executive action designed to

protect those who arrived in the U.S. as children accom-

panying their undocumented migrant parents. The lo-

gic of the Obama administration was that so long as

such childhood arrivals integrated lawfully and pro-

ductively into American society, not committing any

crimes, paying their taxes and being upstanding mem-

bers of the broader community, there could be no reas-

onable argument to uproot their lives and send them to

their parents’ country of origin. Now Mr. Trump has

turned that logic on its head in an apparent e�ort to de-

liver on his campaign promise to crack down on all

forms of undocumented immigration. While he previ-

ously appeared sympathetic toward DACA, Mr. Trump

has e�ectively passed the buck to Congress by calling

on it to come up with legislation for a lasting solution to

the problem “through the lawful democratic process”.

No new applications are being processed. Existing be-

ne�ciaries requiring renewal of permits for a further

two-year period have until March 5, 2018 to get it done.

Beyond that deadline, their continuance in the U.S.

would require lawmakers to come up with a bill similar

to the Development, Relief and Education for Alien

Minors (DREAM) Act, a legislative proposal that went

beyond piecemeal bene�ts, granting its recipients res-

idency and setting out a path to citizenship. Such a bill,

encapsulating widely acceptable principles underpin-

ning a path to citizenship for deserving migrants, has

eluded Capitol Hill for decades. During Barack Obama’s

presidency, the comprehensive immigration reform

package proposed by the Gang of Eight bipartisan Sen-

ators came close to resolving this gaping hole in the im-

migration policy. Had it been passed, the 11 million un-

documented workers in the U.S. may have found a

modicum of solace in the knowledge that one day they

could emerge from the shadows into the mainstream.

Painful questions surrounding visa issues, including

the political soft target that the H-1B visa is, could have

been laid to rest and this would have, for example,

fostered a climate of greater predictability for man-

power planning at tech companies. Yet that bill never

did pass into law, owing to the partisan bickering that

Americans have come to despise of their representat-

ives in Washington. Given the hostile political climate

and bitter polarisation of the U.S. electorate along party

lines, there is a real risk that short-term point-scoring

on speci�c aspects of immigration reform could trump

the need for a more robust, sustainable remedy.

Shattered dreamsU.S. President Donald Trump has put

another category of immigrants in legal limbo

What do the latest numberson national income indic-ate? What are the chances

of the Indian economy moving outof the current phase of relativelylow growth? Or are we stuck at anew ‘Hindu’ rate of growth?

Recent trendsAbout a week ago, the Central Stat-istics O�ce (CSO) released the es-timates of the gross domesticproduct (GDP) for the �rst quarter(April-June) of 2017-18. The num-bers showed that in Q1 of 2017-18,GDP grew by 5.7%. Gross value ad-ded (GVA) at basic prices grew by5.6%. Whichever measure youtake, the growth rate has fallen be-low 6%. In the correspondingquarter of the previous year, GDPgrew at 7.9% and GVA at 7.6%. Whataccounts for the decline in growthrate by almost 2 percentage points?Certainly, demonetisation musthave had a negative impact. Also,the destocking of goods whichmight have happened prior to theintroduction of goods and servicestax (GST) must have also had a neg-ative impact.

However, it might be inappro-priate to attribute the entire de-cline of 2 percentage points to thetwo factors. What has been hap-pening is a steady decline from the�rst quarter of 2016-17 when thegrowth rate of GVA was 7.6%. Bythe third quarter of 2016-17, thegrowth rate had declined to 6.7%.Since then it has fallen by another0.9 percentage point. Given thegrowth rate of 5.6% in Q1, it is un-likely that the growth rate for theyear as a whole will exceed 6.5%.For this to happen, the growth ratein the next three quarters will haveto be 7%. The most disappointing

aspect of the first quarter numbersis the steep fall in the growth rate ofmanufacturing to 1.2%. Because ofthe good monsoon, agriculture willdo better. Since agriculturalgrowth rate last year was also good,the increase may not be that much.

If the economy has to get back tothe high growth rate seen earlier,we need to understand the factorsthat might have been operating tobring down the growth rate.

One of the arguments attributedto the low growth rate is the poorperformance of the external sec-tor. Growth is fuelled broadly bytwo types of demand, domesticand external. High export growthhas propelled the growth rate ofmany countries, including China’s.In India’s own experience, the highgrowth phase between 2005-06and 2007-08 saw exports growingat an average annual rate exceed-ing 20%.

India’s declining growth rate hasalso coincided with poor exportperformance. Export demand hasbeen weak because of the tepidgrowth rate of the advanced eco-nomies. Both in 2014-15 and 2015-16, the export growth rate was neg-ative. However, the export growthrate has become positive since thesecond half of 2016-17. While un-doubtedly export demand is critic-ally important to sustain highgrowth, the sharp decline ingrowth rate noted in the last fewquarters cannot be attributed to

poor export performance. In fact,as compared to the previous year,the export performance hasimproved.

Fall in investment rateThe fundamental problem hasbeen the sharp fall in the invest-ment rate. Gross fixed capital form-ation rate stood at 34.3% in 2011-12.This started falling steadily andtouched 29.3% in 2015-16. It fell fur-ther to 27.1% in 2016-17.

According to the latest numbers,in the �rst quarter of 2017-18, itstood at 27.5%. Since the public in-vestment rate has not shown anydecline (it stands at 7.5% of GDP), itis the decline in private invest-ment, both corporate and house-holds, that has been responsiblefor the steady fall. While the fall incorporate investment is steep com-pared to what was achieved in2007-08, it has more or less stabil-ised at a lower level of around 13%.Household investment, however,has continued to decline even in re-cent years. Household here in-cludes not only pure householdsbut also unincorporatedenterprises.

Deep concerns have been ex-pressed about the fact that thegrowth that we have seen in recentyears has not resulted in an in-crease in employment. The cur-rent period has therefore been de-scribed as one of ‘jobless growth’.It may be noted that data on em-

ployment are not very reliable.Firm data are available only for theorganised sector. The rest are es-timated through surveys. In fact, inthe case of unorganised sectors,very often the position is one of‘underemployment’ rather thanunemployment. Growth can occurbecause of two reasons. One, it res-ults from better utilisation of exist-ing capacity. Two, it can come outof new investment. Whatevergrowth we have been seeing re-cently has come out of better util-isation of capacity rather than newinvestment. It is real growthspurred by new investment thatgenerates more jobs.

Another intriguing factor aboutthe falling investment rate is thatthe last few years have shown asteady and substantial increase inforeign direct investment (FDI).FDI in�ows in 2016-17 were at anall-time peak of $60 billion. In the�rst quarter of 2017, the in�owswere $10.9 billion. With this type ofin�ow and if the investment ratehas not grown, the one surmisethat one can make is that much ofthe FDI has gone into acquiring oldassets rather than going to green-�eld projects. All this implies isthat domestic investors continue toremain shy.

Private investmentWhat can be done to stimulateprivate investment? First, in creat-ing an appropriate investment cli-mate, reforms play an importantrole. Some of the noteworthychanges that have happened in thelast few years are the passing of thebankruptcy code and GST legisla-tion, and modi�cations in FDIrules.

We must continue with the re-form agenda and there is still a lotto be done in the area of gov-ernance. Second, �nancing invest-ment has taken a beating becauseof the poor health of banks. Banksin India today are universal banksproviding both short-term andlong-term credit. The sharp reduc-

tion in the �ow of new credit hasalso put prospective investors in adi�cult situation. To resolve thenon-performing asset (NPA) prob-lem, banks need to take a haircut.To bring banks back to goodhealth, recapitalisation has be-come urgent. The governmentshould go beyond the amount in-dicated in the Budget regardingdisinvestment and fund banksthrough the money raised by disin-vestment. Third, a close look mustbe taken at stalled projects to seewhat can be done to revive thosewhich are viable. This is indeed alow-hanging fruit. In fact, this mustbe part of an overall e�ort to holdconsultations in small groups withinvestors to understand and over-come the obstacles that come inthe way of new investment.

Not all investor groups areplagued with intractable prob-lems. Industry-by-industry con-sultations and analyses are neededto pinpoint problems and theirsolutions. Fourth, even though theprogress of small and medium in-dustries is very much dependenton the fortunes of the large, a sep-arate look at medium and small en-terprises may be needed to prodthem into new investment.

Two engines of growthTo sum up, the growth rate in 2017-18 is unlikely to exceed 6.5%. Oncethe glitches and fears of the GSTare over, the growth rate may pickup. Our goal must be to achieveand sustain a growth rate of 8% andabove over an extended period.The Achilles heel is private invest-ment, which has been steadily fall-ing. However, there has been aslight pick-up in public investmentrecently. That is not enough. Onlywhen the two engines of publicand private investment function atfull throttle will India �y high.

C. Rangarajan is former Chairman of theEconomic Advisory Council to the PrimeMinister and former Governor, ReserveBank of India

Time for course correctionBoth public and private investment must pick up for the Indian economy to get back to high growth rates

c. rangarajan

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When Japanese Prime Min-ister Shinzō Abe meetsPrime Minister Narendra

Modi in Ahmedabad this week, thebilateral agenda will range from is-sues of maritime security to nuc-lear energy and trade. But at thecentrepiece of their summitry willbe the inauguration of India’s �rsthigh-speed rail corridor fromMumbai to Ahmedabad, to be de-veloped using Japanese techno-logy and �nancing.

The image of the platypus-snouted blue and whiteShinkansen streaking past a snow-topped Mount Fuji has become assynonymous with Japan as sushi.Since October 1964, when the �rstbullet trains collapsed the time ittook to cover the 552 km betweenTokyo and the commercial centreof Osaka to four hours (today it isdown to 2 hours, 22 minutes), theShinkansen has emerged as thesymbol of Japan’s post-World WarII ascent to economic superpower-dom. It encapsulates the archipela-

go’s engineering might and almostpreternatural standards of safetyand punctuality. Japan’sShinkansen have carried over 10billion passengers to date, withouta single accident or casualty and anaverage delay of less than oneminute.

Yet, despite this admirable trackrecord, Japan has struggled to ex-port its bullet train know-how,even as Mr. Abe has made sellingthe technology abroad a corner-stone of his game plan to revitalisethe stagnant Japanese economy.Before signing on India, Taiwanhad been Japan’s only successfulsale. But Taiwan is hardly a posterchild for the system, given that itshigh-speed line has su�ered heavylosses since opening in 2007.

Pro�tability is a notoriouslyhard ask for high-speed train net-works. Most lines across Europe,for example, are in the red. In Ja-pan, some routes, notably Tokyo-Osaka, are pro�table, but toachieve this requires high volumesof passengers and highly pricedtickets. It costs around $130 for aone-way Shinkansen ticket fromTokyo to Osaka. And over 350trains operate on this line daily, fer-rying about 163 million passengersa year. The region served is demo-graphically dense, home to overhalf of Japan’s population. These

conditions are not easy to replicateand other high-speed lines in Japanhave struggled.

Chinese competitionThe latest challenge to Japan’s am-bitions is the emergence of Chinaas the new emperor of the super-fast train. Over the last decadeChina has developed a 22,000 kmhigh-speed rail network. It boaststhe ‘world’s fastest train’, theShanghai Maglev that hits speedsof 430 km. Its technology is alsocheaper, making it an attractiveproposition for the cost-consciousdeveloping and middle-incomecountries of Asia.

In 2015, China pipped Japan tothe post at the last minute by secur-ing a high-speed rail project in In-

donesia that had been consideredby Tokyo to be in the bag. Onereason Beijing unexpectedly wonout was because China o�ered to�nance the line without any re-course to Indonesia’s governmentco�ers. In the years since, the pro-ject has stalled following land ac-quisition problems. Nonetheless,China has also beaten Tokyo to be-coming Thailand’s partner ofchoice for its �rst high-speed railline, permissions for which were �-nally granted after a two-yeardelay.

The battle to export bullet trainsis clearly re�ective of the broaderrivalry between China and Japanfor in�uence in Asia. Con-sequently, the India deal is not onlya business coup for Japan but also ageostrategic one. Former Ambas-sador of Japan to India and Presid-ent of the Japan-India Association,Hiroshi Hirabayashi, acknow-ledged as much. “India is not In-donesia or Thailand. It is a great na-tion, totally autonomous. And it’snot as likely to submit to Chinesepressure,” he said of India’s de-cision to go with Tokyo.

Ironing out the nigglesFor Japan, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad contract has beenhard-won. It entails a loan worth$12 billion, at 0.1% interest, to be

paid back over 50 years, takingcare of over 80% of the project’s es-timated costs. Japan will also sup-plement the �nancing with a gen-erous package of technicalassistance and training.

Yet in India, concerns related tocosts, safety and misplaced priorit-ies persist. Tomoyuki Nakano, theDirector for International Engin-eering A�airs of Japan’s RailwayBureau, remained con�dent ofironing these out with sometweaks to the Japanese technologytaking into account climatic di�er-ences, the possibility of electricalblackouts, as well as dust and otherenvironmental conditions in India.He also pointed out that when Ja-pan developed its �rst Shinkansenlines in the 1960s, it was a poorcountry as well that had requiredloans from the World Bank.

But what about the enormoussoftware or cultural di�erencesbetween Japan and India? Mr. Na-kano was sanguine. “When we hadIndians coming here (to Tokyo) fortraining, I noticed some of themwere quite late. But after twoweeks in Japan they became verypunctual,” he concluded.

Pallavi Aiyar has reported from China,Europe, Indonesia and Japan. She is aYoung Global Leader with the WorldEconomic Forum

An alliance on trackThe Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train deal is also a geostrategic coup for Japan

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A six-day week As there are a large numberof criminal cases andappeals pending in courts,the Chief Justice of theSupreme Court of India,Dipak Misra, is justi�ed inappealing to the ChiefJustices of High Courts toexplore ways to work onSaturdays (“Can’t we workon Saturdays, says CJ”,September 12). When somecourts have agreed to goahead with the project, theremainder must follow thelead. This way, mostpending appeals are boundto be cleared to thesatisfaction of clients andcourts. Holidays for festivalsand summer must also becut short. Advocates shouldalso desist from adjourningcases and instead strive to�nish arguments soon.Teamwork is a must as far asbringing down the numberof pending cases isconcerned.J.P. Reddy,

Nalgonda, Telangana

Children under siegeThe incident in Telangana ofa teacher punishing a classV student for not wearing

the school uniform bymaking her stand near theboys’ toilet at the school isshocking (September 12). Itis unfortunate that theteacher did not have ahumane touch as the girl issaid to have given thereason of the uniform notbeing dry after having beenwashed. There is still widespreadbelief among teachers thathitting or insulting a child isthe best way to ensureobedience and discipline.Harsh steps can have adeleterious e�ect on themental health of children.More often than not, when ateacher uses violence onchildren, it is an outburst ofhis/her personalfrustration. R. Sivakumar,

Chennai

n In an era whereeducational institutions aremost often being run onpro�t motives, it is hardlysurprising to witnessholistic education taking aback seat and a�ecting theprospects of studentsevolving into the mostresponsible and

conscientious citizens of thecountry. The gruesomemurder of student in aschool in Gurugram is notonly shocking but also agrim pointer to the lack ofregulatory oversight toensure the safety andsecurity of our children inschools. Schools are morethan just temples oflearning and theirmanagements must ensurea safe and happy learningenvironment. M. Jeyaram,

Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu

n According to a study, thereasons for the highincidence of child abusecould be poor parentingskills, vulnerability of thechild in conditions outsidethe family environmentsuch as on the street, atwork and in institutions,belief in punishmentshaping a child anddysfunctional families.Unfortunately in India,there is no separate orexclusive legislation to dealwith the problem ofextreme forms of childabuse. Perhaps a lack ofawareness and open

communication within thefamily, fear of beingstigmatised and not beingtrusted are what dissuadeyoung victims fromspeaking up. Vinod C. Dixit,

Ahmedabad

A great rivalryThe fascinating tennis storyof Rafael Nadal and RogerFederer has only addedmore punch to moderntennis. Despite being in theautumn of their sportinglife, they have proved thatthey still have the power tooutplay younger, talentedand stronger contenders. Inwinning his 16th GrandSlam title, Nadal is all set tomake this an exciting matchwith Federer (Editorial –“Back to the future”,September 12).Gregory Fernandes,

Mumbai

n The two champions haveshown the world why theyare among the top tennisplayers. The fact that theyare still playing so well is apleasant surprise especiallywhen the younger crop ofplayers are still trying in

vain to get close to thesetwo giants. Ardent followersof tennis just hope that thisdream run continues a lotlonger.Abhiroop Sarkar,

Chennai

Army recruitment Every year, thousands ofyouth from across India trytheir luck at an open Armyrecruitment drive inDehradun. Theserecruitment rallies areorganised every year in thecantonment area ofDehradun. For residents, itis a common sight to �ndyoung men occupyingalmost every square inch inthe competition to get thejob. There are some who arekind-hearted enough too�er them food and shelterfor free, but there are others

who use this as anopportunity to earn somemoney. The issue is thatthese rallies are organisedfor recruitments but doesthe responsibility of theArmy end here? Is it sodi�cult to put up tents andprovide mobile washrooms?One can well imagine thesanitary conditions afterthese recruitment drives.When no less than thePrime Minister is activelyinvolved in spreadingawareness about the needto maintain cleanliness,why does the Army fail toobserve these standards?These are the little socialissues that need to beaddressed.Shriya Gupta,

Dehradun, Uttarakhand

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

more letters online:

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corrections & clarifications:

In an article titled “The resilience of our liberalism” (Editorialpage, Sept. 12, 2017), Ashwani Kumar inadvertently referred to aformer judge of the Karnataka High Court as the late Rama Jois.This mistake went unnoticed and the Editor regrets the error.

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct signi�cant errors as soon as possible. Please specify

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CMYK

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DATA POINT

The Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Mr. MorarjiDesai expressed the belief to-day [[September 12] that given asatisfactory inflow of foreign aid over the next 10 or 12 yearsIndia could dispense with all further foreign assistance. In hisfirst public address since arriving in this capital, Mr. Desai tolda National Press Club luncheon audience that meanwhileneither the U.S. nor India could afford to get tired when thegoal of Indian self-sufficiency was reasonably in sight. Mr. De-sai sought to assure his American hosts that India did not lookupon aid as a crutch or a substitute for domestic efforts. Healso tried to remove the impression arising from reports ap-pearing in the world Press that in recent months India was al-ternating front crisis to crisis.

FIFTY YEARS AGO SEPTEMBER 13, 1967

Foreign aid for some more years

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FROM ARCHIVES

The Bombay postmen numbering over nine hundred throughtheir Solicitors have sent in a representation to the DirectorGeneral of Posts and Telegraphs setting forth a number oftheir grievances and have requested the Director-General todeclare his decision within four days to avoid grave situationand disturbance which are otherwise inevitable. Among othermatters the postmen complain that the recent developmentsin the city with its many-storied castles and additional build-ings were giving too much strain to them and they thereforepray that the number of postmen be reasonably increased togive them some relief and they be provided with hand-lampsfor carrying out their duty during darkness. They ask their du-ties might be reckoned on eight hours a day basis for extrawork and on holidays extra wages and in case of transfers inlocal divisions for extra allowance. In view of the inconveni-ence caused by putting on pants and bandages the men sug-gest some superior or adaptable type of dress or permission toput on dress of their own choice.They further submit that half-pay might be given for a period of sick leave pension after 20years’ service in case they are medically declared unfit and inother cases after 25 years.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO SEPTEMBER 13, 1917

Postmen’s grievances.

The first time I met GauriLankesh was through herfather, the famous writerand editor P. Lankesh,who was incidentally frommy home town, Shiva-mogga. In the three dec-ades since, she had comeout of her father’s shadowand become a notedjournalist and activist.

It was only when shewas establishing her fath-er’s paper that we interac-ted often. But it was in2004, when I was a re-porter in Hassan district,that I saw Gauri Lankesh,the journalist, in action.

A handful of us weretaken deep into the West-ern Ghats to interviewSaketh Rajan, who wasleading the Maoist move-ment in south India. It wasan arduous journey, butdespite her small frameLankesh recorded everylittle detail.

When we met Rajan,Lankesh wanted to knowwhy the movement wouldtake up arms against thestate. Her questions were

incisive, critical, and fear-less. When we left atnight, anxious and ex-hausted, she asked me tosing a song from her fath-er’s film (Ellindalo Ban-davaru, which centredaround the struggles of alabourer). It made heremotional.

A year later, I sawLankesh, the indefatigableactivist. This was at theheight of controversy overthe Sufi shrine at Baba Bu-dangiri. Many groups hadstarted a campaign to “re-store” it as a temple. Thepolice was present in fullforce, ready to arrestLankesh and other activ-ists who had publiclycalled for protests againstthe Bharatiya Janata Partyand the Sangh Parivar.

Lankesh managed tosneak into the district, butwas eventually arrested. Imet her in jail, where shewas kept for a day. It was achilly morning and shewas unwell. I offered her acoat and left to cover thescenes of protest at theshrine. Though disappoin-ted that she missed out on

the protests, Lankeshnever used her status as a“journalist” for her activ-ism. For her, the twoworlds could be separate.

Over the last few years,both of us madeBengaluru our base andwe kept in touch aboutKannada literature, films,and politics. I often dis-agreed with Lankesh, butwe argued because we feltthe other could be con-vinced. Sometimes, shewould relent and changesides if the other personwas convincing enough.

Our last, long conversa-tion was earlier this year,when she wanted to knowmy opinion on UttaraKanda, Kannada writerS.L. Bhyrappa’s latestbook.

I was surprised that sheliked it; she had been oneof his most bitter critics. Ihad problems with thenarrative, but she felt thatthe writer had finally in-culcated feminist views onSita. We argued, and fi-nally decided that it wasbest if we agreed todisagree.

A long acquaintance

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NOTEBOOK

For Gauri Lankesh, journalism and activism could be separate

Muralidhara Khajane

On September 3, Afghanistan bid tearfuladieu to its much-loved American ‘grand-mother’, Nancy Hatch Dupree. For acountry divided over a range of issues,Kabul residents were united in their sor-row over the demise of a remarkable his-torian-archivist-activist, who single-

handedly saved a small part of Afghanistan’s rich and ancientheritage.

Born on October 3, 1926, Hatch spent her early years in theerstwhile kingdom of Travancore, Kerala, where her fatherwas an adviser to the Maharaja. Her mother, a Broadway act-ress, was drawn to Indian art and theatrical dance forms andembarked on the �rst PhD on Kathakali by a foreign scholar.

The young Hatch did her master’s in Chinese art at ColumbiaUniversity, but her life was linked to southern Asia in an inex-orable manner. First married to an American intelligence of-�cer, Alan D. Wolfe, posted in what was then called Ceylon, shelater moved with her husband to Iraq, then Pakistan, and �-nally Afghanistan in 1962.

The Kabul of 1962 was often described as the ‘Paris of theEast’ with its cosmopolitan ethos. It was in this milieu thatNancy found the love of her life — personally and profession-ally. While researching the Bamiyan Buddhas (destroyed bythe Taliban in 2001), she met an American archaeologist,Louis Dupree. They had a torrid a�air that initially scandalisedthe local elite, but was soon sealed in marriage.

With Louis, Nancy immersed herself in her professionalcalling — a deep love and respect for Afghan history and cul-ture. From the mid-1960s till her demise, she authored �vebooks and scores of articles and pamphlets that she modestlydescribed as guide books, on di�erent aspects of Afghan artand culture with a focus on the Bamiyan Buddhas.

Paradoxically, her life overlapped with the many vicis-situdes that befell Afghanistan — the Soviet invasion in 1979,when her husband was brie�y imprisoned and the couple wasforced to return to the U.S.; 9/11; and the Karzai-Ghani yearsthat marked the beginning of the slow and halting reconstruc-tion of the ‘graveyard of empires’.

In this tumultuous period, Dupree set herself the task of sav-ing as much of Afghanistan’s heritage as was possible, the rich-ness of which she had learnt from her husband who died ofcancer in 1989. The manner in which a 70-plus Dupree resor-ted to cloak-and-dagger methods to salvage the artefacts anddocuments from Afghanistan to Pakistan — and back — is partof the folklore associated with this daring ‘grandmother’.

Returning to Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban,Dupree set up the Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan’sCultural Heritage, which was later converted into the Afgh-anistan Centre at Kabul University. It now has over 100,000documents and exhibits. At the time of her demise, the in-trepid Dupree was archiving photographs taken over the lasthalf century. Thanks to her lifelong commitment, youngAfghans may still be able to recall some part of their past,which is sadly being looted or destroyed.

Uday Bhaskar is Director, Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi

Guardian of Afghan culture Thanks to Nancy Dupree’s work,Afghans may still be able to recall somepart of their past

C. UDAY BHASKAR

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SINGLE FILE

AP

Open interestFinance

A financial indicator thatshows the total number ofoutstanding contracts toeither buy or sell a stock,or any other security, in anexchange at a particularpoint in time. It is com-monly followed by tradersto get an idea of fundslikely to flow either into orout of the market. A jumpin open interest is gener-ally considered tostrengthen the prevailingmarket trend, irrespectiveof whether it is a bullish ora bearish one. It requiresmarket participants toenter into new contractsinstead of simply tradingexisting contracts backand forth between them. Afall in open interest, on theother hand, is said to in-dicate a possible change inthe present trend.

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CONCEPTUAL

How three pages a daycan keep the doctoraway

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Welcoming the Trump administration’s new Afghanistan policy,Afghanistan Foreign Minister and former Chairman of the HighCouncil of Peace, Salahuddin Rabbani, says it is time for a re-gional approach to ending the conflict in Afghanistan. In an in-terview to The Hindu while on a visit to New Delhi to attend theStrategic Partnership Council meet between India and Afgh-anistan, Mr. Rabbani indicated that it is not just important forPakistan to tackle terror, and development assistance from In-dia to continue, but for Russia, Iran and China to be part of thesolution too. Excerpts:

Your visit marks the firsthigh-level meetingbetween India andAfghanistan since U.S.President Donald Trumpannounced his South Asiapolicy for Afghanistan,which your governmenthas welcomed. What areyour hopes from it?

n We have welcomed it forseveral reasons. Firstly, it isnot a time-based approach, itis a condition-based ap-proach. Secondly, it ad-dresses the core of the prob-lem, which is the safe havens(for terrorist groups). Wehave always said that the ef-fective fighting doesn’t takeplace inside Afghanistan. Ifyou want to really fightagainst terrorism, then thatfight isn’t in the villages ofAfghanistan, you have tofight those who finance themand train them too. That’swhy this strategy is different,because it addresses that. Wealso have welcomed that thispolicy focuses on a politicalsolution. There has to be anegotiated settlement.

But U.S. leaders havespoken about the safehavens before, referred to“snakes in the backyard”.Both President George W.Bush and PresidentBarack Obama warnedPakistan to shut downsafe havens too. Why areyou hopeful this willchange now?

n I very much hope that thiswill work now, because ittakes account of the regionalconsensus on the issue. Inthe fact, it also invites India

to take part in Afghanistan’sdevelopment. This is some-thing India has already beendoing and we are very grate-ful for that. India has beenvery active for the past 17years and even before that,so it is important that is nowbeing recognised. Then thefocus on the peace processand the condition, not time-based, approach gives it ahigher chance of successthan previous (U.S.) policies.

Last year saw the highestcivilian casualties inAfghanistan. What isneeded to bring theviolence down?

n I think parallel to the re-conciliation process, thetraining of Afghan securityforces (ANSDF) and equip-ping them is the most im-portant thing we needed.The human cost of this con-flict has been too much inthe last few years. Next is toput pressure on those coun-tries that support the terrorgroups that come and com-mit violence in Afghanistan.

Specifically, what wouldyou like India to do?

n Well, our strategic partner-ship is very important, andincludes political and secur-ity cooperation. So we verymuch hope that India contin-ues to help our securityforces with equipment andtraining, and we are glad In-dia will continue to trainAfghan cadets in India. Butwe hope also that India, as agood friend of other coun-tries in the region like Russiaand Iran, can convince those

countries to work with theAfghan government to sup-port the peace process.

In terms of security, Indiatrains a few hundredforces each year, and hasprovided four helicopters.Is that enough?

n We are grateful for what In-dia has done so far, and wedo hope it will provide moreequipment as we have beenasking. Of course, it is notenough, but the helicoptershave been very important. Itwas a crucial time at whichwe needed them, and Indiawas the first country to comeforward and deliver them tous. In accordance with thestrategic partnership, wealso have regular consulta-tions between the intelli-gence services (the NationalDirectorate of Security andthe Research and AnalysisWing) of the two countries.

Do you think Mr. Trump’spolicy will changePakistan’s behaviour onsafe havens and supportto terror groups?

n I think it is in the interestof any country that thinks ofusing terrorism as an instru-ment of state policy, tochange that policy. Theyshould see the blowback,how their security forces are

now facing the brunt of thatpolicy, and how their civil-ians are being killed. I won’tspeak on behalf of PresidentTrump, but it is clear that hefeels that Pakistan can gain ifit stops this support to terrorgroups. But if it keeps sup-porting them, they will lose.

Do you think cutting aidto Pakistan or sanctionsare the next step?

n It is for the U.S. to decide,but also for Pakistan to berealistic and change focus tobringing stability to Afgh-anistan. A peaceful andstable Afghanistan is inPakistan’s strategic interestas well.

The Trumpadministration has alsosuggested that Indiashould “do more” fordialogue with Pakistan,suggesting that if the two

reach a resolution on theKashmir issue, that willsomehow help thesituation in Afghanistan.Do you subscribe to thatview?

n I think Kashmir and Afgh-anistan are two very separateissues and I don’t see anylink between the two. As anindependent country our re-lations with other countriesare separate from each other.

I think the latest statementat BRICS also denotes a real-isation that even countriesclose to Pakistan now realisethat Pakistan must take thisissue seriously, safe havensshould be shut down.

You spoke to the PakistanForeign Minister a fewdays ago, after he saidthere was a need for thissort of change. Do youthink his is a seriouseffort?

n I had a brief telephoneconversation with thePakistan Foreign Minister(Khawaja Asif ) where he con-firmed that we would bemeeting on the sidelines ofthe UN General Assemblythis month. Of course I havenoted that there is a changein Pakistan, after the recent[U.S.] policy announcement,but that remains to be seenon the ground. If they are

really changing, we wouldknow.

What is the role of China,which has a $50 billioninterest in the China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor as well?

n China and Pakistan havebeen strategic friends forsome time and are veryclose. So we think China canuse its influence on Pakistanto change its policy and tosupport the peace process inAfghanistan.

Is the India-U.S.-Afghanistan partnershipthe way forward? It seemsas if everything else hasbeen tried since 2001…

n You can call it a partner-ship or an alliance — if it is forpeace and stability which Ithink it is, no one shouldhave any worry about it. IfIndia can help us in develop-ment and security, thatshould be welcomed.

You mention the peaceprocess in Afghanistan.But in the last few yearsmost peace processes arerun from outsideAfghanistan: the Moscowprocess, the QuadrilateralCoordination Group(QCG), the Doha process...

n We welcome any initiativethat supports peace in Afgh-anistan. But that must be insupport of the main track,which is the High PeaceCouncil that was set up forthis purpose. So any initiat-ive has to support theAfghan-owned and Afghan-led processes.

You headed the HighPeace Council, takingover in tragiccircumstances followingthe assassination of yourfather BurhanuddinRabbani. Do you think ithas made any progress?

n It may not have yet made abig impact or change, but it

has made progress. Thenumber of armed groups tohave now joined the peaceprocess is more than 2,000.Any soldier who leaves viol-ence and joins the peace pro-cess is positive. If it is left tothe Afghans alone, we willsucceed. But Afghan terrorgroups that are based outsideour country can come underpressure from outside influ-ences. Even so, many ofthose are reaching out to us.

Has Pakistan helped atall?

n Pakistan has said it wouldon many occasions, but ithasn’t delivered on thispromise. The QCG beganvery well as a mechanism.We managed to finalise aroad map, but then the deliv-ery faltered. If Pakistan stilldecides to deliver, they are ina position to do so.

To turn to ties with India,why did it take so long tohold the second meetingof the StrategicPartnership Council whenthe first was held in 2012and it was meant to be anannual event?

n Yes, it was supposed to beheld annually, but then gotheld up for technical reas-ons. At one stage we werelooking forward to holdingthe meeting in Kabul, butthen the health of (ExternalAffairs Minister) SushmaSwaraj was not good. Nowwe hope to meet more often,at least every year.

The past few years haveseen no new big projectsbeing talked about, on thescale of the parliamentbuilding, Zaranj Delaramhighway, or Salma dam.Whose decision is that:India’s or Afghanistan’s?

n We always welcome anykind of development assist-ance from our friend India,whether it is big or small. Wewould like bigger projects,but our New Development

Project (NDP) initiative thatsees smaller projects is alsovery important. I met PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andspoke about what we call the“third era” of our develop-ment cooperation, afterlarge-scale infrastructureprojects like parliament, etc.and the small developmentprojects have been com-pleted. Now we are lookingat the Shahtoot dam, and Ka-bul water supply projects,low-cost housing for return-ing refugees in Nangarhar, ir-rigation projects as a part ofthe NDPs.

What’s next?

n We also want to look at re-gional connectivity for tradeprospects, and are very keenon the development of Cha-bahar project in Iran as an al-ternative route for trade. InAfghanistan, we would likeIndia to invest in railway pro-jects too. There have beensome delays in Chabahar, butI don’t think there are manybig obstacles.

The need for analternative route arisesbecause of the obstaclesfrom Pakistan in fullyimplementing theAfghanistan-PakistanTransit Trade Agreement(APTTA). Have you madeany headway in talks withPakistan on giving Indiaaccess?

n Afghanistan has alwayswanted to include India inAPTTA. We have toldPakistan it is in their interesttoo, and just as they want tohave access to Central Asia,we would like to access theIndian market. We would behappy to extend the APTTAto a Central Asian country(Tajikistan) if they wouldbring India in. We have alsosigned the Motor VehiclesAgreement with India duringthis visit, which is an expres-sion of our good intentions,and we hope India andPakistan will work out this is-sue some day.

‘Pakistan should see the blowback from supporting terror’The Afghan Foreign Minister on how Donald Trump’s new regional strategy hinges on Pakistan’s cooperation, and why India needs to step up involvement

Suhasini Haidar

<> We hope that India,

as a good friend of

other countries in

the region like

Russia and Iran, can

convince those

countries to work

with the Afghan

government to

support the peace

process.

THE WEDNESDAY INTERVIEW | SALAHUDDIN RABBANI

V.

SU

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RSH

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CMYK

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NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

.“In different meetings

with the Foreign Minister,she assured us that FatherTom was safe and that theGovernment would doeverything to get him re-leased. The Prime Ministertoo had assured us that allwould be done to get him re-leased,” the Catholic bodysaid in a statement.

Fr. Tom was abducted inMarch 2016 when four gun-men posing as relatives ofone of the residents of a Mis-sionaries of Charity home inAden attacked it, killing fourIndian nuns, two Yemeni fe-

male staff members, eightelderly residents and aguard. ‘Father Tom’, as hewas called, was with theSalesian Congregation (TheSociety of Don Bosco), andhad reportedly volunteeredto stay and serve at thehome after thousands of In-dians were evacuated afterviolence in Yemen. Sincethen, his kidnappers, whohave not been identified, re-leased two videos of him,that showed him pleadingfor his life, leading to specu-lation they were mercenar-ies looking for a ransom.

Fr. Tom freed afterone year in captivity

mother, former Prime Min-ister Indira Gandhi, in 1984.“Her bodyguards, who shother 32 times, were myfriends. I used to play bad-minton with them. So, onone day, I saw my grand-mother shot and my friendsshot. Violence against any-body is wrong, and I con-demn it,” he said.

Mr. Gandhi also faced aquestion about the violenceagainst the Sikh communityfollowing his grandmother’sassassination. A Sikh groupalso protested outside thevenue. “If there’s anything Ican do to help them getjustice… I’ll be the first per-son to do so,” Mr. Gandhisaid.

The path of non-violent pro-gress is now under threat asintolerance is on the rise,said Mr. Gandhi. Muslimswere being targeted for eat-ing beef and liberal voiceswere coming under attack.“Hatred, anger and violencecan destroy us. The politicsof polarisation is danger-ous,” he said. “These incid-ents are making millions feelthat they have no future intheir country,” said Mr.Gandhi., adding, “This dam-ages India badly.”

“Using violence against aperson, who is infected byan idea, actually ensures theidea spreads further,” Mr.Gandhi said, recalling theassassination of his grand-

Idea of non-violenceunder attack: Rahul

the scene of the crime as ac-cused by the Special Invest-igation Team.

Among those 14 she listedas witnesses, 12 includingher husband have alreadytestified in her favour andendorsed her contentionthat she was not presentwhen the offencehappened.

Mr. Shah is the last listeddefence witness in her trial;all others have been cross-examined.

On Tuesday, advocate AmitPatel, appearing for Dr. Kod-nani, submitted the residen-tial address of Mr. Shah inAhmedabad, followingwhich the court issued thesummons.

Dr. Kodnani had soughtexamination of 14 people,including Mr. Shah, to proveher alibi that on February28, 2002, the day riotsbroke out in Naroda Gaam,a locality in NorthAhmedabad, she was not at

Shah summoned in riots case

Rashtriya SwayamsewakSangh (RSS) chief MohanBhagwat said here on Tues-day that trolling — postingfalse or insulting messageson social media — amountedto “hitting below the belt”,and his organisation did notsupport those who “displaysuch an aggressive beha-viour”.

“In every field of life, de-cency should be maintained.We do not support aggress-ive individuals who troll;there should be a decent de-bate,” he said, according totweets by Prasar Bharatichief A. Sooryaprakash andothers who attended his in-

teraction with over 50 mem-bers of New Delhi’s diplo-matic corps.

The participants includedrepresentatives of theEuropean Union, but thoseof the Pakistan High Com-mission said they were notinvited.

Union Minister of State forCivil Aviation Jayant Sinhamoderated the interactionorganised by India Founda-tion, a think tank that es-pouses right-of-centre views,which has BJP general secret-ary Ram Madhav as one of itsdirectors.

While the event was notopen to the media, TheHindu spoke to some of theparticipants. They said it

began with a short addressby Mr. Bhagwat, followed bya question-and-answer ses-sion in English. “The re-sponse on trolling was to a

question whether or not theRSS supported such a beha-viour,” a senior diplomatsaid. Most diplomats said noquestions were asked aboutthe murder of journalistGauri Lankesh or the RSSview on India’s relationshipwith China and Pakistan.

Mr. Bhagwat was asked ifhe saw a solution to the Ay-odhya dispute by the nextelections and if he wouldconsider it a shared site. Hereplied there would be a

court ruling and the RSSwould abide by it.

There were questionsabout the RSS’s relationshipwith the BJP, considered itspolitical wing. “The Sangh[the RSS] doesn’t run theBJP, the BJP doesn’t run theSangh. As Swayamsewaks,we consult [each other] andexchange notes, but are in-dependent in functioning,”he said.

He was asked aboutHinduism and what it meantto be a Hindu.

“Hinduness is differentfrom Hinduism. With time,we change. When someonesays I am a Hindu, it is notabout religion or how onelives. It is about accepting

others as they are. It is notabout you should wear this,eat this … that imposition isan ‘ism’. Hinduness is freefrom this ‘ism’. Hinduness isthe ever-changing quality ofHinduism,” he said.

Project visitsAnother source present atthe meeting said Mr. Bhag-wat spoke about the workdone by the RSS in health,education and rural develop-ment, and asked the diplo-mats to visit the projects tomake their own assessments.

The event, called “Break-fast Briefing”, was part of anongoing series of interac-tions organised for the diplo-matic corps.

Will accept Ayodhya verdict, says RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat explains that being a Hindu is about accepting others as they are, and not imposing things on people

Mohan Bhagwat


NEW DELHI <> The Sangh doesn’t

run the BJP, the

BJP doesn’t run the

Sangh ... we consult

[each other]

that Mr. Gandhi’s statementthat dynasties were the way“India was run” was an “an-omaly” as the election ofPrime Minister NarendraModi, President Ram NathKovind and Vice-PresidentM. Venkaiah Naidu to the topthree Constitutional postswas “an indication that In-dian democracy thrives andgives an opportunity tomerit”.

Ms. Irani also dismissedquestions on the BJP’s ownset of dynasts, stating thatleaders of “all hues andsizes” were part of the BJP,pointing out that party pres-ident Amit Shah was notfrom a political dynasty, a

Information and Broadcast-ing Minister Smriti Irani saidhere on Tuesday that Con-gress vice-president RahulGandhi was a “failed dynastwho chose to speak on hisfailed political journeys inthe United States”. Ms Irani’sremarks came after Mr.Gandhi’s address to studentsat Berkeley where he ex-plained his own inheritedposition in the Congress asthe “way India runs”.

The Minister also chal-lenged Mr. Gandhi to a de-bate on the economy afterhe criticised the Union gov-ernment’s decision on de-monetisation and the“altered” structures of theMahatma Gandhi Rural Em-ployment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA) and the Goodand Services Tax (GST) re-gime.

‘An anomaly’“A failed dynast today choseto speak about his failedpolitical journey in the U.S.,”Ms Irani said at briefing atthe BJP’s national headquar-ters in New Delhi. She added

given in the Congress, ac-cording to her.

Ms. Irani was also scath-ing about Mr. Gandhi’s re-marks on the situation inJammu and Kashmir havingdeteriorated because of thealliance between the BJP andPeoples Democratic Party inthe State after the 2015 polls.“It is said that Mr. Gandhican only think of the State interms of his own politicsrather than in terms of thecountry,” she said.

Failed strategyOn his criticism of PrimeMinister Modi’s apparentlack of transparency andlack of accessibility to hisown party’s MPs, Ms. Iranisaid, “The fact that RahulGandhi chose to belittle thePrime Minister is not a sur-prise but expected ... It is anindication of his failedstrategy. The people of thecountry where he leads apolitical party no longer sup-port him so he is expressinghis pain abroad.”

Union Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad also said Mr.Gandhi had broken a well-es-tablished tradition in Indian

politics of not showing thecountry in poor light whenabroad.

Cong. defends leaderThe Congress, however,lashed out at the BJP for criti-cising Mr. Gandhi’s remarksand said it was Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi who wasguilty of insulting India onforeign soil.

Party spokespersonAnand Sharma, defendedMr. Gandhi and attacked Ms.Irani for being an “apologist”for the Prime Minister.

According to Mr. Sharma,during his first foreign visit,Mr Modi had called Indiacorrupt and said it was re-cognised in the world forcarrying a “begging bowl inits hand” and that Indiansabroad used to feel ashamedof accepting those livinghere as Indian citizens.

On Ms. Irani’s claim thatGST was Mr. Modi’s “exclus-ive achievement”, MrSharma said it was “a distor-tion of facts and a statementof arrogance”, as it was theCongress that had intro-duced the GST and tried tobuild a national consensus.

Rahul is a failed dynast: SmritiI&B Minister lashes out at Congress leader’s speech in Berkeley, U.S.


NEW DELHI

Smriti Irani

An M-777 ultralight howitzerfrom the U.S. was damagedduring field testing inPokhran on September 2,Army sources said on Tues-day.

Last November, Indiasigned a deal with the U.S.government under the For-eign Military Sales pro-gramme for 145 of theseguns at a cost of $737million.

“During the firing, theprojectile which was thefifth of the series exited thebarrel in multiple pieces,”an Army source said.

Firing tablesThe gun, manufactured byBAE Systems of the U.S., wasusing Indian ammunition,and the field trial was underway for compilation of firingtables.

“The extent of damage tothe barrel is being assessedby a joint investigationteam. No one has been in-jured,” the source said.

Field trials will resumeafter an analysis is conduc-ted by the investigationteam.

BAE Systems said in astatement that it was work-ing closely with the IndianArmy and the U.S. govern-ment to evaluate theincident.

As part of the agreement,two guns arrived in April forcalibrating range tables andthree more guns will be ar-riving in September 2018 fortraining.

Deliveries are slated tostart in March 2019 and atthe rate of five guns amonth, will be completedby mid-2021. While 25 gunswill be imported, the re-maining 120 will be as-sembled in India by theMahindra group.

The Army has not induc-ted any new artillery gunafter the Swedish Bofors inthe 1980s. After severalfailed attempts, many dealsare in progress. The M-777agreement was the first oneto be concluded.

M-777 gun su�ersdamage during test

$737 mn deal with U.S. on the howitzer


New Delhi

MLAs and MPs who face in-vestigation for possessingwealth disproportionate totheir known sources of in-come, always tend tobounce back to power. Thisis a phenomenon seen inthe past 25 to 30 years, theSupreme Court observed onTuesday.

The hearing, on a peti-tion filed by Lok Prahariseeking a mechanism to in-vestigate the source of in-come of politicians, saw theCentre give details of aprobe into the assets of 26Lok Sabha members, twoRajya Sabha members and215 MLAs in a sealed cover.

A Bench of Justices J.Chelameswar and S. AbdulNazeer asked if this phe-nomenon of returning topower, coupled with themercurial rise in the assetsof politicians just within aspan of five years betweentwo successive elections,was a product of ineffectiveinvestigation or of some“immunity” provided tothem.

“If an MLA’s or MP’s as-sets have seen a 10X [10times] rise in 2019 fromwhat he revealed in 2014should you not conduct aninquiry into the very propri-ety of a person holding pub-lic office enjoying such phe-nomenal rise in his assets ...The moment a candidate

has shown 1,000% increasein his income in the past fiveyears, please have a mech-anism to conduct an en-quiry,” Justice Chelameswaraddressed the government.

“Income under eachhead should be probed. Allthese should be inquired.The public needs an answer.The people should get toknow the state of affairs. It isnot enough that a legislatordiscloses a legitimate sourceof income. It is important toinquire that how did theperson get in that positionto earn that income.”

‘Notify fast-track courts’The Bench observed thegovernment should notifyspecial fast-track criminalcourts to try MPs and MLAsin corruption cases. Attor-ney-General K.K. Venugopalresponded that promptcriminal action for dispro-portionate assets is takenwhenever the source of in-come of an MLA or MP isfound bogus. “Law enforce-ment agencies take action.Perhaps they would straightaway, even without a pre-liminary enquiry, register anFIR...,” the Attorney-Gen-eral submitted.

Scoffing at this assurance,Justice Chelameswar said“in the past 25 to 30 years,we have seen investigativeagencies take no actionagainst such MLAs andMPs.”

Corrupt MPs, MLAsreturn to power: SCSays inquiry on undue assets needed

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

According to the govern-ment, the combined impacton the exchequer on ac-count of both DA and DR in-creases will be ₹3,068.26crore per annum and ₹2045.50 crore in the finan-cial year 2017-18 (for theeight months from July 2017to February 2018).

“This will benefit about49.26 lakh Central govern-ment employees and 61.17lakh pensioners,” the gov-ernment release said.

The Cabinet also ap-proved a proposed lawamendment to double themaximum gratuity payoutto private sector workersfrom ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh.

The Payment of Gratuity

(Amendment) Bill, 2017, willbe introduced in Parliamentsoon to bring paritybetween public and privatesector workers.

The gratuity limit forCentral staff was raised from₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh as partof the Seventh Pay Commis-sion’s recommendations ap-proved by the Centre in Julylast year. “Considering theinflation and wage increaseeven in case of employeesengaged in private sector,the government is of theview that the entitlement ofgratuity should be revisedfor employees who arecovered under the Paymentof Gratuity Act, 1972,” theLabour Ministry said.

1% DA hike for Centralgovernment sta�

The Rajya Sabha Secretariathas asked JD(U) rebel MPsSharad Yadav and Ali Anwarto respond within a week toa petition by the Nitish Ku-mar-led party that they bedisqualified from the UpperHouse for their “anti-party”activities.

JD(U) general secretarySanjay Jha said, “We havegiven documentary andother evidences of both theleaders’ anti-party activities... They have defied theparty leadership and goneto the Election Commissionseeking the symbol of theparty.”

Meanwhile, the Commis-sion refused to take cognis-ance of the petition movedby the Sharad Yadav factionstaking a claim to the partysymbol due to lack of sup-porting documents to backthe claim.

Sharad toldto respond to JD(U) plea Special Correspondent

New Delhi

The Finance Ministry hasnotified the minting of com-memorative ₹100 and ₹5coins to mark the birth cen-tenary of popular politicianand former Tamil NaduChief Minister M.G.Ramachandran.

Ramachandran, affec-tionately called MGR by hisfans, was born on January17, 1917. He passed away onDecember 24, 1987.

Regarding the ₹100 coin,the notification said: “Thisface of the coin shall bearthe Lion Capital of AshokaPillar in the centre with thelegend Satyamev Jayate [inHindi] inscribed below,flanked on the left peri-phery with the word‘Bharat’ in Devanagariscript and on the right peri-

phery with the word ‘INDIA’in English. It shall also bearthe rupee symbol ‘₹’ andthe denominational value‘100’ in International Nu-merals below the LionCapital.”

The other side of the coinwill bear the portrait ofRamachandran, along withhis name, and an inscrip-

tion naming his birth cen-tenary on the lower peri-phery of the coin.

The numerals ‘1917-2017’will appear below the por-trait of Ramachandran. Thedesign of the ₹5 coin will besimilar to that of the ₹100coin.

The ₹100 coin will weigh35 grams and have 50% sil-ver in its composition.

The ₹5 coin will be com-posed of copper, zinc andnickel.

Decision hailed “It is a welcome decisionfrom the Centre. Our Purat-chi Thalaivar has been hon-oured several times earliertoo. But to continue to hon-our our leader is welcome.Our leader would be nowremembered more often,”senior AIADMK leader and

former Minister S. Semmalaisaid.

Asked whether he sawany political significance inthe move, Mr. Semmalaisaid MGR was beyond polit-ics and he was a greatleader.

“Even the Congress gov-ernment has honoured him.Our leader is beyond allparty affiliations and hasbeen a great leader. It’s onlynatural for governments tohonour him,” he said.

Incidentally, a decadeago, MGR’s bust was un-veiled in the Parliamentcomplex after Jayalalithaahad questioned the UPAgovernment on its decisionto install a bust of formerUnion Minister and DMKleader Murasoli Maran.

(With inputs fromthe Tamil Nadu Bureau)

₹5, ₹100 coins to mark MGR centenary₹100 coin will weigh 35 grams and have 50% silver in its composition


NEW DELHI

M.G. Ramachandran

Union Home Minister Ra-jnath Singh on Tuesday saidthat ceasefire violations byPakistan indicate that “it’snot interested in improvingrelations with India.”

“Pakistan is regularly re-sorting to ceasefire viola-tions. I feel Pakistan is notshowing interest in improv-ing relations with India,” Mr.Singh said at a press confer-ence in Jammu, while con-cluding the four-day tour ofJ&K.

Compensation raisedMeanwhile, the Centre hasannounced an increase incompensation to victims ofceasefire violations in J&Kfrom ₹one lakh to ₹5 lakh.

Mr. Singh reviewed thestatus of migrants displaced

by ceasefire violation in Ra-jouri’s Nowshera this year.

Meanwhile, Mr. Singh saidaround 6000 transit accom-modation will be construc-ted in Kashmir valley for(Pandit) migrants. “Around3,000 jobs will be providedto them as ₹1,080 crore has

already been sanctioned,”said Mr. Singh.

A day after Union Homeminister ‘defended’ specialstatus of J&K, ruling PDPsaid the BJP and national op-position parties have “ac-knowledged the importanceof reconciliatory approachand inclusiveness to get J&Kout of turbulence andmistrust.”

PDP senior vice-presidentMohammad Sartaj Madnisaid all parties have realisedhow important it is to reviewcooperative diplomacy forregional peace and mutualunderstanding.

A National Conferencedelegation met Mr. Singhand suggested that “regionalautonomy to Jammu, Kash-mir and Ladakh is a way for-ward to satiate aspirations ofthe people in three regions.”

Pakistan not keen onimproving ties: RajnathSays the country is regularly resorting to cease�re violations

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

Rajnath Singh

Originally, Rule 43 had men-tioned that though the gen-eral council would havepowers to frame, amend ordelete any rule of the partyconstitution, the stipulationthat the general secretaryshould be elected only by allthe primary members of theparty “cannot be changedor amended” since itformed the basic structureof the party.

A resolution was adoptedratifying the decision takena few weeks ago to makeDeputy Chief Minister O.Panneerselvam and ChiefMinister Edappadi K. Palan-iswami coordinator and co-coordinator of the unifiedparty respectively.

The coordinator and co-coordinator would be jointsignatories of authorisationforms to be submitted to theElection Commission.

Sasikala’s decision toanoint her nephew T.T.V.

Dhinakaran as deputy gen-eral secretary of the partybefore she went to jail alsostood invalidated.

Mr. Dhinakaran’s ap-pointments to party posi-tions and removing existingoffice bearers were declared“invalid” and “not in con-sonance with the party’sby-laws.”

Dhinakaran’s caveatHowever, Mr. Dhinakarantold journalists in Maduraithat the Madras High Courthad made it clear onMonday that all decisionstaken at the general councilmeeting would be subject tothe final outcome of a peti-tion challenging the validityof the meeting itself.

Out of nearly 2,300 mem-bers of the general council,90% took part in the meet-ing that concluded in threehours, sources in the partyclaimed.

AIADMK meetremoves Sasikala


CMYK

A ND-NDE




NEWS

Gadkari favours new lawon desilting of rivers NEW DELHI

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

on Tuesday favoured

enacting a law on desilting of

rivers to prevent floods, and

said the legislation would be

drafted in consultation with

the States. The Water

Resources Minister also

pitched for inter-linking of

rivers to stave off floods. PTI

IN BRIEF

CPI(M) takes a dig atCentre’s toilet driveNEW DELHI

The CPI(M) has criticised the

Centre’s policy of building

toilets under the Swachh

Bharat mission for not having

a “concrete policy” on waste

management. It pointed out

that the data revealed only

64% of the 816 municipal

sewage treatment plants

were functional. PTI

ED may investigateJayanthi NatarajanNEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate

may soon launch a money

laundering probe in

connection with an FIR

registered by the CBI against

former Environment Minister

Jayanthi Natarajan for alleged

irregularities in the approval

for leasing of forest land in

Jharkhand’s Singhbhum

district to a private firm for

non-forestry use. The ED has

sought a copy of the FIR.

China ready for talks toreopen Nathu La passBEIJING

China on Tuesday said that it

could not share with India the

hydrological data of the

Brahmaputra for the time

being as the data collection

station in Tibet was being

upgraded. China, however,

said it was ready to “keep

communication” with India to

reopen the Nathu La pass for

Indian pilgrims visiting

Manasarovar. PTI

Angered by criticism fromthe UN’s Human RightsCouncil on the issue of Kash-mir, cow vigilante violenceand Rohingya refugees, Indiaon Tuesday accused theHigh Commissioner of thebody, Zeid Raad Al Hussein,of passing “tendentious judg-ments made on the basis ofselective and even inaccur-ate reports” in his commentson Monday.

“India is proud of its inde-pendent judiciary, freedomof press, vibrant civil societyand respect for rule of lawand human rights. A moreinformed view would havenot only recognised this butalso noted, for example, thatthe Prime Minister himselfpublicly condemned viol-ence in the name of cow pro-tection,” said India’s Per-manent Representative tothe UN in Geneva RajivChander, during the ongoingHuman Rights Council in hisreply.

‘Incidents extrapolated’The government said Mr.Hussein’s reference to thekilling of journalist GauriLankesh and other refer-ences to people displaced inthe Sardar Sarovar-NarmadaBachao Andolan, and “mobattacks against people underthe pretext of protecting thelives of cows” and other in-stances of “rising intoler-ance” in India, were “indi-vidual incidentsextrapolated to suggest abroader societal situation”.

On Monday, while givinghis update to the Council’sreports on 40 countries, Mr.Hussein had “deplored” thegovernment’s recent de-cision to deport approxim-ately 40,000 MyanmareseRohingya refugees.

“India cannot carry outcollective expulsions, or re-turn people to a place wherethey risk torture or other ser-

ious violations,” Mr. Husseinhad said, referring to theprinciple of non-refoule-ment, after calling the Myan-mar government’s policiesagainst the refugees as a “atextbook example of ethniccleansing”.

Security challenges“Like many other nations,India is concerned about il-legal migrants, in particular,with the possibility that theycould pose security chal-lenges. Enforcing the lawsshould not be mistaken for

lack of compassion,” Mr.Chander said, without refer-ring directly to the Rohingyaor Myanmar.

On the issue of humanrights violations in Jammuand Kashmir that the UN Hu-man Rights Chief had re-ferred to in the written re-ports as well, India said theassessments overlooked “thecentral role of terrorism”there.

Reacting to Mr. Hussein’sstatement, Union Minister ofState for Home Kiren Rijijuhad said on Monday that thegovernment had not firmedup a plan to deport the Ro-hingya yet and had onlyasked the State governmentsto identify the illegal immig-rants and initiate action asper the establishedprocedure.

Stung India slams ‘inaccurate’ UN reports At the Human Rights Council, India’s Permanent Representative says Commissioner’s criticism on Rohingya, cow vigilantism is selective

Seething anger: Protesters stage a rally in Kolkata against the persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority. * AP


NEW DELHI

<> India is concerned

about migrants;

law enforcement

should not be

mistaken for lack

of compassion

As the Union governmentremains undecided on theprocedure to deport theRohingya, it is all set togive citizenship to overone lakh Chakma-Hajongs,Buddhists and Hindus whofled to India in the 1960s toescape religious persecu-tion in the Chittagong Hillarea of Bangladesh (undi-vided Pakistan then).

Home Minister RajnathSingh will chair a meetingon Wednesday where a fi-nal decision to grant cit-izenship to the Chakma-Hajongs will be taken.

Arunachal PradeshChief Minister PemaKhandu will be present atthe meeting.

A senior Home Ministryofficial said they would begranted citizenship butwill not have any landownership rights in Ar-unachal Pradesh, a pre-dominantly tribal State.The Arunachalis have op-posed giving any rights toChakma-Hajongs.

“They would be free tobuy land anywhere else inIndia but not in ArunachalPradesh. They could con-tinue to live in the transitcamps where they havebeen housed since 1964-65,” the official said.

Rajnath’s viewOn Tuesday, while re-sponding to a question re-garding deportation of Ro-hingya, Mr. Singh told apress conference inJammu, “We have plans forillegal immigrants and

some action will be takensoon.” “They are illegal im-migrants and we are notruling out the possibility ofa security threat. Wait andwatch,” he added.

The Home Ministry offi-cial said they were yet toformalise a procedure fordeportation.

“Any procedure on de-portation of Rohingya willbe an extrapolation of theexisting policy onBangladesh. First step is toidentify them as most ofthem claim they are Indi-ans. The number of Ro-hingya living in India is anestimate by the intelli-gence agencies,” said theofficial.

The official said identi-fying an undocumentedcitizen was a long process.

“The police will have toenquire if the person is notan Indian citizen. Then heor she will be declared aforeigner. A foreigner nothaving a document is an il-legal immigrant. A com-munication will be sent toMyanmar to verify theiraddress. Deporting themwill be the last step and theprocess has not been final-ised yet,” he said.

Chakmas to bemade citizens No land ownership in Arunachal

Vijaita Singh

New Delhi

Pema Khandu

V. Ramgopal Rao, Director ofthe Indian Institute of Tech-nology (IIT), Delhi, on Tues-day expressed disappoint-ment that the ambitiousVishwajeet scheme of theUnion government had be-come a non-starter.

The scheme, which en-tailed the provision of ₹1,250crore to each of the topseven IITs over a period offive years to upgrade infra-structure, hire foreign fac-ulty, and collaborate withforeign institutions to breakinto the top league in globalrankings, has reportedlybeen shot down by the Fin-ance Ministry.

Director’s complaintMr. Rao expressed his disap-pointment over the scheme’sfailure in the presence ofUnion Human Resource De-velopment Minister PrakashJavadekar at a function in IITDelhi.

“Since the Minister is

here, I must also tell him thatwe are a little disappointedthat the Vishwajeet proposaldid not go through...,” Mr.Rao said in his address.

“The Vishwajeet schemewas something we were des-perately looking for — at leastthe older, top five or sevenIITs were banking on it. Weare already in the top 500.With a little bit of push fromthe government, we couldmake it to the top 100. Thestructures are there, the pro-

cesses are there. All we needis an intervention in terms offinancial resources.”

He said he was confidentthat IIT Delhi would breakinto the top 100 in three orfour years with schemessuch as Vishwajeet. “I hopethat we will want [this] tohappen ... We would like tosee the initiative taken up,and we are sure that it willhappen under the currentdispensation,” he added.

None of the IITs are cur-rently ranked in the world’stop 350, as per the 14th edi-tion of the Times HigherEducation’s World Univer-sity Rankings.

More on the anvilResponding to Mr. Rao’scomment in his speech, Mr.Javadekar said the HigherEducation Finance Agency(HEFA), the UchchatarAvishkar Yojana, and thePrime Minister’s proposedscholarships of ₹75,000 amonth were schemes to bebenefited from.

“You talked about Vishwa-jeet but we have already star-ted three major things likeVishwajeet through otheragencies. Higher EducationFinance Agency is alreadyoperational. We are lever-aging ₹2,000 crore ofbudgetary support in thedebt market and creating₹20,000 crore of funding.We are doing this to createthe best research infrastruc-ture in the higher educationsector. Therefore you shouldbe the first to demandmoney from HEFA. Yes, ithas to be repaid but you re-pay it without interest.That’s a great thing,” Mr.Javadekar said.

The Minister added,“There is also the UcchatarAvishkar Yojana. You mustgo to various industries andbring them to your campus.They will invest at least ₹2-3crores annually in researchexcellence centres. Thenthere are the Prime Minis-ter’s proposed scholarshipstoo.”

Vishwajeet scheme a non-starter₹1250 crore to upgrade top seven IITs shot down by Union Finance Ministry

Vikas Pathak

NEW DELHI

Prakash Javadekar

Eighty-six years after revolu-tionary Bhagat Singh washanged for the murder of aBritish police officer, aPakistani lawyer is fighting toprove the legendary Indianfreedom fighter’s innocencein a Lahore court.

Advocate Imtiaz RashidQureshi filed a fresh petitionon Monday in the LahoreHigh Court for the earlyhearing of his case to proveSingh’s innocence.

The Division Bench of theLahore High Court had inFebruary last year asked theChief Justice of Pakistan toconstitute a larger Bench tohear the petition by Mr.Qureshi, who runs theLahore-based Bhagat SinghMemorial Foundation. Butno action has been takenyet.

In the petition, Mr. Qure-

shi said Singh was a freedomfighter and fought for thefreedom of undivided India.

Call for awardHis petition wants the courtto set aside the sentence ofSingh by exercising prin-ciples of review and orderthe government to honourhim with a state award.

Singh was hanged by Brit-

ish rulers on March 23, 1931at the age of 23 in Lahore,after being tried on chargesof hatching a conspiracyagainst the colonial govern-ment. The case was filedagainst Singh, Sukhdev andRajguru for allegedly killingJohn P. Saunders.

Mr. Qureshi said he hopedthe case would be heard thismonth. He said Singh was

initially jailed for life butlater awarded the death sen-tence in another “fabricatedcase.”

In 2014, the Lahore policesearched through records ofthe Anarkali police stationon the court’s order andmanaged to find the First In-formation Report on Saun-ders’ killing in 1928.

A copy of the FIR wasprovided to Qureshi on thecourt’s order.

Written in Urdu, the FIRwas registered with theAnarkali police station onDecember 17, 1928 at 4.30p.m. against two ‘unknowngunmen.’

The case was registeredunder Sections 302, 1201 and109 of the Indian PenalCode. Singh’s name was notmentioned in the FIR,though he was eventuallyhanded down the death sen-tence for the murder.

Bhagat Singh case back in courtPakistani lawyer �les petition in Lahore High Court to set sentence aside

Press Trust of India

Lahore

Bhagat Singh during detention in jail. * THE HINDU PHOTO ARCHIVES

Manipur Chief Minister N.Biren Singh asked the po-lice and the district admin-istration of Tengnoupaland Churachandpur tobeef up security to checkinflux of Rohingya fromMyanmar. These two dis-tricts have a common bor-der with Myanmar.

S. Ibomcha, Superin-tendent of Police,Tengnoupal district, saidarmed police and paramil-itary personnel werepatrolling the borderround the clock. There was

no report of any influx ofrefugees so far.

Meanwhile, Muslim or-ganisations in Manipurhave been staging demon-strations demanding thatIndia declare refugee statusfor Rohingya.

An activist, MohammadJalal, said, “What is hap-pening in Myanmar is a hu-man disaster. India shouldnot remain a silent spec-tator.”

Arjun Telhieba, con-vener of the Joint Commit-tee on the Inner Line Per-mit System, also said that itwas a human tragedy.

Security beefed up on Manipur border Iboyaima Laithangbam

IMPHAL


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May passes key Brexittest in ParliamentLONDON

British MPs on Tuesday voted

in favour of a Bill to end the

U.K.’s membership to the

European Union, a reprieve

for Prime Minister Theresa

May who hailed the “historic

decision.” Lawmakers voted

by 326 to 290 in favour of

backing the EU Withdrawal

Bill, which will now go

forward for further scrutiny

by MPs. PTI

ELSEWHERE

UN approves new curbson North KoreaUNITED NATIONS

The U.N. Security Council has

approved new sanctions on

North Korea but not the

toughest-ever measures

sought by the U.S. Trump

administration to ban all oil

imports and freeze global

assets of the government and

its leader, Kim Jong Un. AP

Hope Hicks named WHcommunications chiefWASHINGTON

Twenty-eight-year-old

Donald Trump aide Hope

Hicks has been named the

White House

Communications Director,

formally taking on one of the

most powerful roles in

Washington. Ms. Hicks, the

acting director since the

spectacular departure of

Anthony Scaramucci,

con�rmed her appointment

via email on Tuesday. AFP

Pressure mounted on Myan-mar on Tuesday to end viol-ence that has sent about3,70,000 Rohingya Muslimsfleeing to Bangladesh, withthe United States calling forprotection of civilians andBangladesh urging safezones to enable refugees togo home.

But China, which com-petes for influence in itssouthern neighbour with theUnited States, said it backedMyanmar’s efforts to safe-guard “development andstability.”

The government ofBuddhist-majority Myanmarsays its security forces arefighting Rohingya militantsbehind a surge of violence inRakhine State that began onAugust 25, and they are do-ing all they can to avoidharming civilians.

The government saysabout 400 people have beenkilled in the fighting, thelatest in the western state.

The U.S. said the violentdisplacement of the Ro-hingya showed Myanmar’ssecurity forces were not pro-tecting civilians. Washingtonhas been a staunch sup-porter of Myanmar’s trans-ition from decades of harshmilitary rule that is being ledby Nobel peace laureateAung San Suu Kyi.

“We call on Burmese se-curity authorities to respectthe rule of law, stop the viol-ence, and end the displace-

ment of civilians from allcommunities,” the WhiteHouse said in a statement.

‘Legitimate duty’Myanmar governmentspokesmen were not imme-diately available for com-ment but the Foreign Min-istry said shortly before theU.S. statement was issuedthat Myanmar was also con-

cerned about the suffering.Its forces were carrying outtheir legitimate duty to re-store order in response toacts of extremism.

“The government of My-anmar fully shares the con-cern of the internationalcommunity regarding thedisplacement and sufferingof all communities affectedby the latest escalation of vi-

olence ignited by the acts ofterrorism,” the Ministry saidin a statement.

Myanmars government re-gards Rohingya as illegal mi-grants from Bangladesh anddenies them citizenship,even though many Rohingyafamilies have lived there forgenerations.

Attacks by a Rohingya in-surgent group, the Arakan

Rohingya Salvation Army, onpolice posts and an armybase in the north of Rakhineon August 25 provoked themilitary counter-offensive.

In Beijing, Chinese For-eign Ministry spokesmanGeng Shuang said, “The in-ternational communityshould support Myanmar inits efforts to safeguard devel-opment and stability.”

Pressure piles on Myanmar over refugee exodusAbout 3,70,000 Rohingya Muslims have �ed to Bangladesh; China says it backs Naypyidaw’s e�orts to safeguard ‘development and stability’

In limbo: Rohingya refugees from Myanmar’s Rakhine State wait for aid in the Bangladeshi town of Teknaf on Tuesday. * AFP

Reuters

COX’S BAZAR

Describing the atrocitieson Rohingyas as “violationof human rights”,Bangladesh Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina on Tuesdayurged Myanmar to safelytake their nationals back totheir land.

“Stop violence againstinnocent people,” Ms. Has-ina said, adding thatthough Bangladesh wouldprovide refuge to thosecoming in on humanit-arian grounds, they wouldeventually have to go backto their country.

Visiting the biggest Ro-hingya refugee camp inUkhia’s Kutupalang here,Ms. Hasina categoricallysaid what was happeningin Myanmar was “inhu-man, a violation of humanrights.” “It is difficult tostem one’s tears when wesee the situation. Peopledeserve to live like humanbeings. Why should theysuffer so?”

Before distributing re-lief materials to therefugees who arrived indroves since the Myanmarmilitary allegedly began anoffensive, Ms. Hasina said

Bangladesh only wanted“peace and good rela-tions” with its neighbours,however, that it could notaccept “unjust acts” theMyanmar government wascommitting.

“Still, the fire is burningthere...people can’t findout their family member-s...the bodies of infantsand women are floating onthe Naf River, these gocompletely against human-ity and are violation of hu-man rights,” the PrimeMinister said.

“What are the crimesthese innocent children,women and people havecommitted...we can’t toler-ate such activities,” Ms.Hasina said.

End violence, SheikhHasina tells neighbour

‘Atrocities a violation of human rights’

Haroon Habib

Cox’s Bazar

Sheikh Hasina consoles aninjured Rohingya boy at acamp on Tuesday. * AP

Over 100 British MPs, fromacross the political spec-trum, are backing efforts toget Britain’s large Sikh com-munity recognised as a sep-arate ethnic group by Bri-tain’s official statistics body.

A letter to Britain’s Na-tional Statistician JohnPullinger had garnered sig-natures from 113 MPs byTuesday, following com-munity efforts to push forthe change, which they be-lieve will improve access topublic services for the com-munity, as well as greater ac-knowledgement of the chal-lenges faced by them.

“A number of issues facedby Sikhs ranging from re-porting of hate crimesthrough to accessing health-

care provision in the U.K. arenot receiving appropriate at-tention by public bodies asthey often only monitor eth-nic group categories spe-cified in the census,” warnsthe letter from the All PartyParliamentary Group forBritish Sikhs, which said de-mand for such recognitionwas high within the com-munity with over 84,000Sikhs rejecting existing eth-nic group categories, writingin “Sikh” in the space givenfor “other ethnic groups”.

The current categories forAsian background includeIndian, Pakistani, Banglade-shi, Chinese, and Other.

With the legislation for the2021 census due to go beforeParliament next year thenext few weeks would becrucial said Davinder Singh,

principal adviser for the SikhFederation U.K., which haslong been campaigning onthis issue, and which is dueto meet with the ONS along-side the APPG on Tuesday.

“This is one issue onwhich politicians fromacross the political spectrum

seem to agree, and, we can’tunderstand why the Officefor National Statistics won’tagree to something that is alegal right as far as U.K. law isconcerned,” he said, notingthat the body had passed upan opportunity in the previ-ous census when ethnic

groups for Irish Gypsy travel-lers and Arabs were added,and represented a far smal-ler section of British societythan the Sikh community.

Things made harderBritain first began gatheringethnic group data in itscensus in 1991, but the issuegained relevance in 2000when legislation requiredpublic bodies and others tomonitor their provision ofservices to these groups. Thelack of data on the Sikh com-munity made other thingsharder too such as the raceaudit commissioned by thegovernment last year to lookinto racial disparities in thedelivery of public services.

Over 40,000 schools, hos-pitals and other bodies useethnic group data from the

census to plan and make de-cisions on their provisions,and many that the Sikh Fed-eration had worked with hadindicated that having theseparate category wouldhelp them in better carryingout their work.

The group has long beenpushing for the gathering ofseparate data on the Sikhcommunity for a number ofyears. In 2002, an Early DayMotion was signed by 174MPs, including Prime Minis-ter Theresa May, calling forpublic authorities to monitorSikhs to help “avoid unne-cessary discrimination.”

The move is unlikely to beopposed by India, sourcessuggested, adding that therewas recognition that beingIndian and Sikh were not thesame thing.

British lawmakers push for Sikh census dataOver 100 MPs from across political spectrum back e�orts to get country’s community recognised as separate ethnic group

Vidya Ram

LONDON

Calling attention: The current categories for Asian backgroundinclude Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, and Other. * AP

Pakistan’s Supreme Courton Tuesday accepted a pleato form a five-judge bench tohear the review petitions ofousted Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif, his children,son-in-law and Finance Min-ister Ishaq Dar, challenginghis disqualification in thePanama Papers scandal.

The separate petitionswere filed by Mr. Sharif andhis family against the judg-ment on July 28 that disqual-ified the 67-year-old for dis-honesty and ruled thatcorruption cases be filedagainst his family and Mr.Dar over the scandal.

Mr. Sharif, his daughterMaryam, sons Hussain andHasan, son-in-lawMuhammad Safdar and Mr.Dar in their petitions asked

the court to review the judg-ment as it “violated severalprovisions of the law.”

A three-member benchheaded by Justice Ejaz AfzalKhan and comprisingJustice Sheikh Azmat Saeedand Justice Ijazul Ehsan tootook up the petitions.

After preliminary argu-ments, the judges acceptedthe plea and requested theChief Justice to form a five-member panel to hear thereview petitions.

Pak. SC accepts Sharif

kin’s plea against ousterPress Trust of India

Islamabad

Nawaz Sharif

Sri Lankan President Maith-ripala Sirisena on Tuesdaysacked his deputy TourismMinister for allegedly defyingthe party leadership, thesecond top Minister removedfrom the government in lessthan a month.

The President’s office saidArundika Fernando has been“dismissed from his portfoliowith immediate effect.”

Mr. Fernando, a memberof Mr. Sirisena’s Sri LankaFreedom Party, had claimedthat seven SLFP memberswould leave the governmentsoon over corruption allega-tions against Prime Minister

Ranil Wickremesinghe’sUnited National Party (UNP).

The SLFP runs the unitygovernment in coalition withthe UNP, though some SLFPmembers back a faction ofthe party that supportsformer President MahindaRajapaksa.

‘Will remain in party’Reacting to his removal, Mr.Fernando said: “If anyonethought that my sackingwould deter others who planto leave government, thatwill be a mistake. I will con-tinue to remain in the party.”

A broad working arrange-ment between the SLFP andthe UNP to run the govern-

ment is set to end in Decem-ber. But Mr. Sirisena and Mr.Wickremesinghe last weekannounced the govern-ment’s economic vision until2020, indicating they had nointention of ending thealliance.

Mr. Sirisena fired his thenJustice Minister WijeyadasaRajapakse on August 23 forcriticising the governmentover its decision to sell a ma-jority of shares in a sea portto China.

Mr. Sirisena was elected asPresident in January 2015largely on the support of theUNP. Mr. Rajapaksa hadsacked Mr. Sirisena from theSLFP for challenging him inthe presidential election.

But after Mr. Sirisena’s vic-tory, Mr. Rajapaksa handedthe party reigns to theformer. This caused a divi-sion within the SLFP, withsupporters of Mr. Rajapaksaforming a joint Opposition.

Arundika Fernando allegedly de�ed President Sirisena-led party leadership


Colombo

Arundika Fernando

Sri Lankan deputy Minister sacked

The rising imbalance intrade with India is a concernfor America and India mustopen its market to moreAmerican companies, U.S.Commerce Secretary WilburRoss said on Tuesday.

Mr. Ross said India mustalso take more effectivemeasures to protect innova-tion by improving its intel-lectual property protections.

The Commerce Secretarywas addressing a gatheringat the U.S.-India BusinessCouncil on the forthcomingGlobal EntrepreneurshipSummit (GES) in Hyderabad

in November. “[U.S.] President [Donald]

Trump and Prime Minister[Narendra Modi] have an-nounced to co-host thisyear’s GES in Hyderabad and[they] reiterated the import-ance of close relations

between our two growingeconomies. Annual bilateraltrade between the U.S. andIndia has doubled over thelast decade and was $114 bil-lion in 2016. Unfortunately,over the same period, tradedeficit tripled, now at $27 bil-lion. We would naturallywant to see growing and bal-anced trade,” Mr. Ross said,noting some of the recentdevelopments such as theSpice Jet order for 120 planesfrom Boeing as signs of theIndian market’s promise.

He said the imbalance wasvisible in investments aswell. While India’s investorsinvested $12.1 billion in the

U.S. last year, U.S. investorsinvested $32.9 billion in In-dia. Mr. Ross also pointedout that only 1.5 % of U.S. ex-ports were to India, whileonly 6.3 % of Indian exportsgoes to America.

India and the U.S have de-cided to move to the 2+2format of engagement in-volving the Secretaries of De-fence and State Departmentsfrom the American side andMinisters for Defence andExternal Affairs Ministersfrom the Indian side.

The Strategic and Com-mercial Dialogue betweenthe two countries is beingdiscontinued from this year.

‘America wants growing trade with India’U.S. Commerce Secretary says rising imbalance in business is a concern for U.S.

Varghese K. George

Washington

Wilbur Ross


CMYK

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BUSINESS

NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

ACC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1851.25. . . . . . . 53.70

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Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 288.80. . . . . . . . . 3.70

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1256.35. . . . . . . 18.30

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Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496.50. . . . . . . . . 2.60

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Bank of Baroda . . . . . .. . . . . . 141.85. . . . . . . . . 4.40

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BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533.85. . . . . . . 21.60

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Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3918.90. . . . . . -25.60

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Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1249.80. . . . . . . 29.90

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1291.35. . . . . . . . -6.55

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291.20. . . . . . . . . 0.40

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1741.90. . . . . . -49.35

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 370.10. . . . . . . . . 0.60

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 884.05. . . . . . . . . 5.35

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 434.90. . . . . . . . . 5.85

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Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021.75. . . . . . . 15.25

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1230.25. . . . . . . 12.40

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 981.85. . . . . . . . . 4.55

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1300.75. . . . . . . 20.55

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 8154.50. . . . . . . 12.10

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170.35. . . . . . . . -0.20

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.30. . . . . . . . -0.75

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 215.30. . . . . . . . -0.30

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823.75. . . . . . . . . 5.85

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273.45. . . . . . . . . 2.50

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483.40. . . . . . . 15.95

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388.25. . . . . . . 12.95

Tata Motors DVR. . . .. . . . . . 222.10. . . . . . . . . 7.25

Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81.00. . . . . . . . . 0.40

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682.90. . . . . . . 20.30

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2488.45. . . . . . . 34.00

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 441.40. . . . . . . . -0.10

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4220.25. . . . . . . 45.65

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330.70. . . . . . . . . 1.00

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298.10. . . . . . . . -3.05

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1850.75. . . . . . . . . 8.70

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 532.45. . . . . . . 12.15

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on September 12

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 63.84. . . . . . . 64.16

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 76.19. . . . . . . 76.58

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 84.74. . . . . . . 85.18

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 58.17. . . . . . . 58.46

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.77. . . . . . . . . 9.82

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 66.57. . . . . . . 66.94

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 47.39. . . . . . . 47.63

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 52.62. . . . . . . 52.89

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 15.17. . . . . . . 15.26

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

September 12 rates in rupees with pre-vious rates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 43.90. . . . . (44.00)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,857. . . . . (2,874)

market watch

12-09-2017 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 32,159 ddddddddddddddd0.87

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 64.04 ddddddddddddd-0.17

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 30,850 ddddddddddddd-0.48

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 54.16 ddddddddddddddd0.76

Bandhan Bank has appoin-ted Goldman Sachs GroupInc., JP Morgan Chase &Co., Axis Bank, JM Finan-cial and Kotak MahindraBank as lead managers tomanage its proposed initialpublic offering (IPO).

The lender said that theappointment had beencleared by the bank’sboard, although the size ofthe share sale, its timingand all other related as-pects had not yet been fi-nalised.

The final decision on theIPO would be subject to ob-taining all regulatory ap-provals. The bank had pos-ted ₹1,111.95 crore net profitfor 2017-18.

It reported a 35% rise inits net profit for the quarterended June 30, 2017 .

Bandhanappointsleadmanagers


KOLKATA

Indian banks will need about$65 billion additional capitalto meet the new Basel-IIInorms that will be fully im-plemented by end March2019, rating agency Fitchsaid on Tuesday.

While capital needs havefallen from the ratingsagency’s earlier estimate of$90 billion due to asset ra-tionalisation and weaker-than-expected loan growth,state-run banks which ac-counted for 95% of the es-timated capital requirement,have limited options to raisethe capital, Fitch said.

Low investor confidence“Prospects for internal cap-ital generation are weak andlow investor confidence im-pedes access to the equitycapital market. State banks

are likely to be dependenton the state to meet corecapital requirements,” therating agency said.

Fitch said the governmentwill have to pump in morethan double, even on a bareminimum basis and exclud-ing buffers, to raise loangrowth, address weak provi-sion cover, and aid in effect-

ive bad loan resolution. Thegross non-performing loanratio has reached 9.7% inFY17, up from 7.8% in FY16.

The government is com-mitted to investing only an-other $3 billion in freshequity for 21 State banksover FY18 and FY19, havingalready provided most of theoriginally budgeted $11 bil-lion. On cases that have filedfor bankruptcy, Fitch saidmost banks do not expecthaircuts to exceed 60%.

“However, those loss as-sumptions may look optim-istic considering the first res-olution of corporate debtunder the government's newinsolvency code produced arecovery rate of just 6%.Banks argue this cannot beextrapolated to the other ex-posures, which they say arebacked by more productiveassets,” it said.

Banks need $65 billion extracapital by FY19, says Fitch‘Most lenders do not expect haircuts to exceed 60%’ Special Correspondent

Mumbai

The Centre will have to pumpin more than double to raiseloan growth. * REUTERS

Retail inflation acceleratedto a five-month high of3.36% in August, spurred bysharper increases in theprices of food items particu-larly vegetables and fruits.

Price gains measured bythe Consumer Price Indexquickened from July’s2.36%, as the food andbeverages segment posted agrowth of 1.96% in August,compared with the 0.43%uptick in July.

Separately, industrial out-put as gauged by the Indexof Industrial Production (IIP)witnessed a growth of 1.2%in July, rebounding from acontraction of 0.2% in June.Improvements in perform-ance at the mining and elec-tricity sectors buoyed the in-dex, with expansion in themining sector at 4.8%, upfrom 0.4% in June.

The electricity sectorgrew 6.5% in July, accelerat-ing from 2.1% in the previousmonth.

Manufacturing, however,grew only 0.1%. Still, thiswas an improvement fromJune’s 0.4% contraction.

‘Not out of woods’“Although the IIP has im-proved compared to the pre-vious month, the level is stillvery low, so it cannot betaken as a symptom of aturnaround in the eco-nomy,” said D.K. Srivastava,chief policy advisor at EY In-dia. “The electricity andmining sectors are largelydriven by the government’sown demand. Some im-provement was expected be-cause of the government’sown expenditure.”

“And if you combine thiswith the fact that CPI infla-tion has also started to rise,the economy is still not outof the woods,” Mr. Srivastavaadded.

With retail inflation now

edging closer to the ReserveBank of India’s upper boundfor price gains, economistssee reduced prospects forany immediate interest ratecut by the central bank.

“Notably, core and non-core inflation gauges havejumped in the month,driven by higher transport,housing and possibly transi-ent impact from pricechanges due to the GST roll-out (eg. health),” RadhikaRao, India Economist at DBSBank, wrote in an emailedstatement. “With Augustheadline inflation on thehigher end of the centralbank’s 2-3.5% target” for thefirst half of the current fiscalyear, any lingering expecta-tions for an October rate cutwere likely to be doused, shewrote.

While the uptick in CPI in-flation was in line with ex-pectations, the broad-basedrise in core CPI inflation wasa cause for some concern,according to Aditi Nayar,principal economist at rat-ings agency ICRA.

However, some food pricegains were likely to moder-ate this month relievingsome inflationary pressure,Ms. Nayar wrote in anemailed note.

“Prices of various veget-ables such as tomatoes and,

to a smaller extent, pota-toes, have eased in month-on-month terms so far inSeptember 2017, whichwould contain the uptick infood inflation in the currentmonth,” Ms. Nayar wrote.“In addition, prices ofonions, while still high, haveretreated from the peak re-corded in late-August.”

The fuel and light seg-ment witnessed a marginalquickening: at 4.94% from4.86% in July. The housingsegment saw an accelerationin inflation to 5.58% from4.98%.

“The staggered impact onthe housing index of the CPI,of the revision in HRA(house rent allowance) ofcentral government employ-ees, is likely to continue topush up housing inflationfurther over the comingyear,” Ms. Nayar wrote.

While the overall primarygoods category of IIP grew2.3% in July, reboundingfrom a contraction of 0.2%in June, the capital goodssector continued to con-tract, shrinking by 1% in Julyfollowing June’s 6.8% con-traction. Consumer dur-ables, too, contracted inJuly, by 1.3%, compared witha contraction of 2.1% in June.

Weak demandIndustrial output remainedweak despite the possiblepositives from restockingshowing demand impulsesstill remained subdued,wrote Richa Gupta, senioreconomist, Deloitte.

“The big ticket manufac-turing sector has continuedto underperform,” shewrote. “Investment demandremains weak as capitalgoods production continuedto contract.” While the fest-ival season could see somedemand revival, “any mean-ingful recovery may takelonger to take hold,” Ms.Gupta added.

RBI unlikely to cut interest rates in October, say economists


NEW DELHI

Dearer vegetables: In�ationin food and beveragesquickened to 1.96%. * REUTERS

CPI in�ation quickensto 3.36%, IIP rises 1.2%

Pitching for use of big dataanalytics for inclusivegrowth, IT Minister RaviShankar Prasad on Tuesdaysaid any unauthorised useof data would be dealt withan “iron-hand to ensure thatnothing comes in the way ofmaking data analytics a na-tional movement.”

“The government is com-mitted to making the bestuse of big data in establish-ing rule of precision gov-ernance. While doing so,every care would be takento strictly ensure that pri-vacy rights of individualsare protected,” Mr. Prasadsaid at the inauguration of a24-hour Hackathon,wherein participants willuse government data plat-

form to make applicationsand infographics on themessuch as Drinking Water andSanitation, Transport, Edu-cation and Crime andHealth.

IT Secretary Ajay PrakashSawhney said, “There is biggap between data beingavailable and data being util-ized. I believe we have seri-ous opportunitiesavailable.”

‘Stringent action toprevent data misuse’

Centre eyeing ‘precision governance’


New Delhi

Ravi Shankar Prasad

European car bosses gather-ing for the Frankfurt autoshow are beginning to ad-dress the realities of massvehicle electrification, andits consequences for jobsand profit, their minds fo-cused by governmentpledges to outlaw the com-bustion engine.

As the latest such an-nouncement by China addedmomentum to a push forzero-emissions motoring,Daimler, Volkswagen andPSA Group gave detailsabout their electric pro-grammes that could givepolicymakers some pause.

Planned electric Mercedesmodels will initially be justhalf as profitable as conven-tional alternatives, Daimlerwarned, forcing the group tofind savings by outsourcing

more component manufac-turing, which may in turnthreaten German jobs.

“In-house production isalmost irrelevant to the con-sumer,” Daimler boss DieterZetsche told reporters on theeve of the Frankfurt autoshow, in the midst of a Ger-man election campaign in

which automotive jobs haveloomed large.

The company set a targetof saving 4 billion euros ($4.8billion) by 2025 to help fundthe cost of its electric cars.

Volkswagen (VW), for itspart, said it was seeking newglobal supplier contracts tosource 50 billion euros ($60

billion) of electric car con-tent including batteries,which are not yet manufac-tured competitively inEurope. “A company likeVolkswagen must lead, notfollow,” Chief Executive Mat-thias Mueller told reporters.

Tightening nooseTesla Inc. shares jumpednearly 6% on Monday after aChinese minister said it wasa question of when, not if,Beijing bans fossil-fuel cars,tightening the noose aroundthe combustion engine.France and Britain havepromised its outright aboli-tion by 2040.

But PSA, the maker ofPeugeots and Citroens, saidit was concerned about therisks if consumers were leftbehind in the rush, and anew generation of batterycars does not sell.

Carmakers face electric reality ascombustion engine outlook dims China’s fossil-fuel vehicle ban idea leverages a push for zero emissions motoring

Reuters

FRANKFURT

Plugged in: BMW board member Ian Robertson presents thenew BMW i3s during the Frankfurt Motor Show. * REUTERS

The Union Cabinet on Tues-day approved hiving off themobile towers of state-runtelecom firm Bharat Sanc-har Nigam Limited (BSNL)into a separate company.

There are 4,42,000 mo-bile towers in the country ofwhich BSNL owns about66,000.

“The Union Cabinetchaired by the Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi has givenits approval for hiving offmobile tower assets of BSNLinto a separate company,”an official statement said.

Boosting revenueAn independent, dedicatedtower company of BSNLwith a focused approachwill lead to increasing of ex-

ternal tenancies and con-sequentially higher revenuefor the new company, thegovernment added in thestatement.

“This approval authorisesBSNL to monetise its tele-com tower infrastructurewith the formation of a sep-arate subsidiary company,”the statement said.

BSNL towers hived o�as ‘separate company’

Cabinet approval to monetise infra


New Delhi


CMYK

A ND-NDE

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

ICICI Lombard IPO toopen on September 15HYDERABAD

General insurance �rm ICICI

Lombard’s IPO will be open

for subscription from

September 15-19. More than

8.62 crore shares (of face

value of ₹10 each) are to be

issued at a price band of

₹651 to ₹661 per share. ICICI

Lombard is a joint venture

betwen ICICI bank and

Fairfax Financial Holdings

Ltd.The o�er comprises a

reservation of a little over

43.12 lakh shares for existing

shareholders of ICICI Bank.

Crestron opens Indiao�ce in BengaluruBENGALURU

Crestron, a U.S. automation

technology company,

opened its India O�ce and

Experience Centre in

Bengaluru on Tuesday to

support customers such as

Google and Amazon. The

o�ce forms part of

Crestron’s strategic blueprint

for business development

throughout Asia Paci�c

region, said Stuart Craig,

CEO, Asia Paci�c. Gagan

Verma has been appointed as

executive director for India.

Dassault Systemes, theFrench maker of computer-assisted design programmes,will establish a data centre inIndia by 2018 to expand itscloud services, Olivier Ribet,vice-president of the com-pany said in an interview onTuesday.

Dassault will continue toexpand the tailored industrysolutions for transportation,mobility, aerospace and de-fence and industrial equip-ment in India, Mr. Ribet said.“Now we also plan to get intofashion and apparel industryand other consumer goodssegment. Architecture andconstruction industry is alsoon the radar.”

Dassault will make “IoT-ready products” for theSmart Cities planned across

India, he said. An increase inthe availability of smart-phones, corporate and gov-ernment investment, start-up ideas and allied factorssuch as cloud services anddata analytics will fuel theInternet of Things opportun-ity in India, according toGartner Research.

The number of start-upsin India is slated to reach

11,500 by 2020 from 3,100 in2014.

$15 billion opportunityIoT market presents Indiawith a $15 billion opportun-ity as electronic devicessurge to 2.7 billion in 2020from the current 200 mil-lion, according to the gov-ernment. But issues of secur-ity, privacy, standardisationand a shortage of skilledmanpower pose a challenge.

Dassault Systemes onTuesday set up an Aerospaceand Defence Centre of Excel-lence in the technology hubof Bengaluru to train engin-eers to overcome a shortage.“This is a sort of a finishingschool,” Samson Khaou,Dassault Systems India said.

Mr. Ribet said the com-pany was “closely watching”the ideas that emanate out of

start-ups. “One such is JobyAviation.”

The commute of the fu-ture is in the clouds, he said.Joby Aviation, an aerospacestart-up based in Santa Cruz,California, with their Joby S2,a two-seater virtual take-off,and landing electric air-plane, is capable of safelyand efficiently transportingpassengers and is designedto solve the world’s com-mute. “We have everythingin the world we need,” Mr.Ribet said. “The key is to in-vent something which costsless, which uses fewer re-sources.”

He said last week Huaweiand Dassault Systemessigned a pact whereby thetwo companies would workclosely to enable DassaultSystemes’ platform to run onthe Huawei Cloud.

Dassault Systemes to establisha data centre in India by 2018Plans to o�er solutions to fashion and apparel, other consumer goods sectors

Jay Shankar

BENGALURU

Olivier Ribet

Bengaluru-based technologyservices and digital trans-formation companyMindtree, on Tuesday, in-augurated its first interna-tional Digital Pumpkin in-novation hub located at itsWarren, New Jersey office.

The facility addresses thedemand from Mindtree cli-ents in the U.S. for an inter-active space where mul-tidisciplinary teams canideate, design and craftmeaningful digital experi-ences, according to a com-pany statement.

Team of experts“Within the 16,000-square-foot Digital Pumpkin, busi-nesses can build a culture ofinnovation by bringing to-gether a multi-disciplinaryteam of experts from

Mindtree and technology ac-celerators including part-ners such as start-ups withsolutions that can benefitour clients,” according to thestatement.

These come together tocreate empathetic user stor-ies, personas, and customerjourney maps, functionalprototypes, and pilots for fu-

ture projects. The space offers a multi-

tude of solutions, accelerat-ors and tools for clients toaccess and put plans intoplay, it stated.

“Mindtree’s Digital Pump-kin is our jewel in the crownof helping our clients navig-ate digital to produce a high-impact business advantage,”said Rostow Ravanan, CEOof Mindtree.

“The success of our Ban-galore-based Digital Pump-kin was overwhelming andled to creating a similarspace to better serve ourU.S. clients.”

The Digital Pumpkin port-folio includes solutionsaround Internet of Things,artificial Intelligence, cognit-ive solutions, virtual andaugmented reality, machinelearning, conversational,cloud and big data.

Mindtree opens �rst globalinnovation hub in U.S.‘Digital Pumpkin’ to o�er interactive space for clients


BENGALURU

Rostow Ravanan

The Ministry of CorporateAffairs (MoCA) has said as onTuesday, it has identified1.06 lakh directors of 'shellcompanies' for disqualifica-tion under the relevant pro-visions of the CompaniesAct, 2013. This is part of ac-tions to break the network of‘shell companies’ and thefight against black money/money laundering activities,it said.

Professionals includingChartered Accountants,Company Secretaries andCost Accountants associatedwith such defaulting firms

and involved in illegal activit-ies have been identified incertain cases and the actionby professional institutessuch as ICAI, ICSI and ICoAIis being monitored, it said.

Minister of State for Cor-porate Affairs P.P. Chaud-hary said in a statement that,“The present Governmenthas vowed to fight blackmoney, and fighting themenace of shell companies isan imperative element ofsuch fight. The fight againstblack money shall be incom-plete without breaking thenetwork of shell companies.”

Money launderingHe said there is the possibil-ity of using the shell com-panies for laundering blackmoney. He further said, “...by the end of this month, wewould be ready with the rel-

evant details of all defaultingDirectors of these shell com-panies. This whole exerciseshall go a long way in creat-ing an atmosphere of confid-ence and faith in the systempaving the way for ease ofdoing business in India.”

The move is pursuant tothe MoCA’s action of cancel-lation of registration ofaround 2.10 lakh defaultingcompanies and subsequentdirection of the finance min-istry to banks to restrict op-erations of bank accounts ofsuch companies by the dir-ectors of such companies ortheir authorized representat-ives, the MoCA said.

More than 1 lakh directors at shell�rms identi�ed for disquali�cationAction follows cancellation of registration of 2.1 lakh defaulting companies


New Delhi

P.P. Chaudhary

Strides Shasun announcedthat it had received an ap-proval from the UnitedStates Food & Drug Admin-istration for potassium cit-rate extended-release tab-lets used to prevent certaintypes of kidney stones.

According to IMS data,the U.S. market for po-tassium citrate is about$110 million. StridesShasun will be the secondgeneric player to commer-cialise the product, accord-ing to a statement. Theproduct, which is the firstapproval for an extendedrelease tablet for the com-pany, will be introducedimmediately.

Strides getsU.S. nod forkidney drugSpecial Correspondent

BENGALURU

BookMyShow ties upwith SPI CinemasCHENNAI

BookMyShow, an online

entertainment ticketing

platform that allows users to

book tickets for movies,

plays, sports and live events,

has tied up with multiplex

chain SPI Cinemas. As part of

the deal, BookMyShow users

will have access to a

complete inventory of about

13,000 seats across all

properties of SPI Cinemas.

BookMyShow has presence in

more than 650 towns and

cities in the country. Coal India Ltd. is planningto enter metals mining, ac-cording to a top official. CILis also open to making anoverseas acquisition if thereis an opportunity, the offi-cial, who did not wish to beidentified, said.

“This is a proposal. Thesegments we are looking atinclude iron ore, bauxite,copper and nickel,” the offi-cial said. CIL’s core compet-ence was mining and thiswas a diversification moveas part of its shift from acoal producing firm to anenergy producing one. Hesaid that if techno-economic

feasibility studies supportedthe move it could be done.Senior officials said themove was in the conceptualstage and would be taken tothe board once some clarityemerged. CIL had recentlymandated KPMG to prepareits 2030 vison document.

“With government’s ef-forts to push renewable en-ergy due to internationalconventions on climatechange, increase in carboncess and other initiatives forlesser use of coal, there is aneed for Vision 2030 for thecoal sector, which takes intoaccount the environmentalfactors such as reduction ofcarbon footprint, ” CIL said.

Coal India may entermetals mining sector

Iron ore and bauxite among options


KOLKATA


CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

At almost 47, Date calls it a dayTOKYO

Kimiko Date, who turns 47

later this month, called time

on her career at the Japan

Open here on Tuesday. “It’s

finally over,” a tearful Date

told fans, many of whom

were themselves sobbing,

after a 6-0, 6-0 loss to

Aleksandra Krunic, who at 24

is young enough to be the

Japanese’s daughter. AFP

IN BRIEF

A quarter century ago, an Indianphotographer immortalised a mo-ment — the run out of Inzamam-ul-Haq by Jonty Rhodes in Brisbaneat the World Cup. You can see thesequence, even in slow motion, onYoutube, but the still captured bythis newspaper’s V.V. Krishnan isfar superior. It shows Rhodes fly-ing through the air, ball in hand, ashe launches himself at the stumps.I remember the occasion well.Watching from the press box (theybecame ‘media centres’ later), wewelcomed the birth of a fieldingstar.

The moment had everything —athleticism, presence of mind,self-assurance, originality, even acertain inevitability. Rhodes knewhe could get there flying throughthe air with the ball faster than In-zamam could running, bat inhand. Krishnan had the reflexesand the instinct.

AnticipationAnd the anticipation. The photo-grapher focuses not where the ac-tion is, but where it is going to takeplace. Not where the subject is,but where he is going to be.

“The photographer should fol-low the match with the same de-

gree of concentration as the firstslip,” Patrick Eagar, the doyen ofthem all, wrote in his book, An Eyefor Cricket. “There is a tendency totake the photograph too soon,rather in the way an inexperi-enced fielder may snatch at acatch. Coaches say, ‘Let the ballcome to you’. It is the same for thephotographer — let the actionhappen.”

Eagar, who let the action hap-pen over 325 Test matches in 46years till 2011, is the Neville Cardusof photography, extending its pos-sibilities, leading its changes whileworking in what will surely be-come known as its romantic era.

It has taken a unique book bythe Australian writer ChristianRyan to bring the man, his meth-ods and the delightful back storiesin one exciting package. The book,Feeling is the Thing that Happens in1000th of a Second is the story of aseason in Eagar’s life, the year ofthe first World Cup, the Ashes andthe emergence of Thomson andLillee, Richards and Roberts, andothers.

Often the most practical way toget to the nub of a story is throughdigression. It is a technique usedto great effect by Ryan. One mo-ment you are being told about thefamous Jeff Thomson photograph,and as you settle down you are be-ing taken to Vietnam and Schind-ler and Hutton and Bedi.

Like a Renaissance painting,both the background and the mainpicture appear in sharp focus. Itallows for a chatty, oh-I-just-re-membered-this style that charms

while it informs. Feeling is a great excuse of a

book. The cricket is an excuse, thepictures are an excuse, Eagar is anexcuse. It is about the writer’s pas-sion for the sport and its playersand those who capture the move-ment in a moment.

Nuggets of information arehanded out casually. There isEagar working out the speed of afast bowler (long before speedguns) using nothing more thantwo cameras placed near each

other, a turntable at home and ele-mentary arithmetic. Rather in themanner of the ancients workingout the speed of light.

Eagar suspects, and the authorconfirms, that Barry Richards ten-ded to average better in matchesthat were televised (54.56) than inones that were not (37.04). Just anobservation, nothing judgemental.

Great photos need understand-ing editors. Most newspapersseem to have reduced cricket pho-tography to a series of clichés; per-

haps for lack of space and out ofsheer laziness. The standard pic-ture of century-makers holding uptheir bats on achieving the mile-stone is inspired by his removingthe helmet and thus revealing hisface for the occasion. More seri-ously, the focus seems to be oncapturing reactions rather than ac-tions.

“There existed, and still does,”says Ryan, “a tiny delay betweenthe pressing of the button and therising of the mirror in the camera

to take the picture. So a photo-grapher has to hit early. Similar tohow the slips, before a ball grazesthe blade’s edge, sense a kind ofshimmer and start pre-twitching.”

Eagar, borrowing from theAmerican photographers usedmore than one camera and oper-ated remotely. Technical wizardryand immense technical profi-ciency can put a distance betweena photograph and the viewer, saysthe author. “There is an egoless-ness which gives Eagar’s photo-graphs their vibrating warmthtruth myth love core.”

Eagar averaged some 160 pic-tures per day. Today’s photo-graphers may click up to five thou-sand, many hoping that out of thequantity quality will emerge. Di-gression is a technique in photo-graphy too.

Graham McKenzie bowling (“hisfurrows aligned with the unoccu-pied seating” in the background)leads to philosophical discussionson aging, and coming to termswith it.

Two decades before Krishnan’smasterpiece, another photo-grapher from this newspaper, andanother run out. This was Naray-anachari, capturing Alvin Kal-licharan in the 1974-75 series. Thebatsman is given out much to histeam’s displeasure. No DRS then.Some of the disappointment wasallayed when the next morning’snewspaper had Chari’s pictureshowing Kallicharan was indeedout.

Action, not reaction. The sportsphotographer’s necessary motto.

Shot story: illuminating the art of freezing timeThe photographer focuses not where the action is, but where it is going to take place; not where the subject is, but where he is going to be

BETWEEN WICKETSsuresh menon

Etched in memory: The Hindu’s V.V. Krishnan captured this iconic moment of Jonty Rhodes at the 1992 World Cup.The batsman, Inzamam-ul-Haq, was run out.

Snooker: Indian Open: SonyESPN (SD & HD), 6 p.m.Pakistan vs World XI: 2ndT20, DSport, 7.30 p.m.Champions League: SonyTEN 1, 2 & Sony ESPN (SD &HD), 12 a.m. (Thursday)

TV PICKS

The afternoon breeze fromthe Bay of Bengal sweptacross the ground. The gustalso seemed to take awaywith it the Board President’sXI wickets.

Despite the Australian at-tack not stretching itself, thehome team, pursuing a stiff348, was dismissed for 244 inthe one-day tour game at theM.A. Chidambaram Stadiumon Tuesday.

The margin would havebeen greater but for late res-istance from No. 9 AkshayKarnewar, who struck somelusty blows in his 28-ball 40,and No. 10 Kushang Patel,who remained unbeatenwith a 48-ball 41.

The different arms of theAustralian team appeared towork in cohesion. The bats-men got valuable practiceand then the bowlers got intothe act.

Turn and bouncePaceman Nathan Coulter-Nile bowled with controlledhostility upfront and thenleft-arm spinner Ashton Agargot a few to turn and bounceto scalp four.

Among the home bats-men, the little wicket-keeperbatsman Shreevats Goswami(43, 54b, 2x4) was compactin the middle while MayankAgarwal (42, 47b, 4x4) dis-

played some flair. In the morning, the Aus-

tralians opted to bat. DavidWarner (64, 48b, 11x4) im-pressed with his bat-speedand power at the top of theorder. The southpaw sentthe ball scorching over theturf between point andcover, and was quick to un-leash the pull.

Aussie captain SteveSmith gradually found his

rhythm and collected runswith typical efficiency. Al-though kept quiet by Wash-ington Sundar’s tight off-spinfrom one end, he opened outagainst the others for a 68-ball 55 (4x4, 1x6). Glenn Max-well missed out but the left-handed Travis Head (65, 63b,5x4, 1x6) used his feet andstruck the ball cleanly; astraight six off Karnewar wasa rousing blow.

In the later stages of theinnings, the heavy-hittingMarcus Stoinis (76, 60b, 4x4,5x5) cleared the ground ef-fortlessly. And then therewere some big blows fromthe left-handed wicket-keeper-batsman MatthewWade (45, 24b, 2x4, 4x4) ashe launched into the bowl-ing.

Among the Board Presid-ent bowlers, Washington

caught the eye with his con-trol and imagination. Thelanky lad kept the batsmenguessing, changing theangles — he operated capablyfrom both over and roundthe wicket — and using thecrease. Washington changeshis pace intelligently. Hesends down the quicker de-livery without any noticeablechange in action.

Washington’s basics aresound, he pivots, gets hisbody into his action and de-livers from a high arm. Andhe was unruffled as hebowled at the big gunsWarner and Smith. He sel-dom provided the batsmenwidth, cramped them forroom.

The off-spinner had Smithpicked up at square-leg andthen flummoxed Maxwell inthe air to have him caughtand bowled. After an influen-tial eight-over spell, Wash-ington’s figures read 8-1-23-2.

Left-arm spinner RahilShah was tidy while thepaceman Avesh Khanshowed he had possibilities.He is lively and moves theball.The scores: Australia 347 forseven in 50 overs (D. Warner54, S. Smith 55, T. Head 65, M.Stoinis 76, M. Wade 45) btBoard President’s XI 244 in 48.2overs (S. Goswami 43, M. Agar-wal 42, A. Karnewar 40, K. Patel41 n.o., A. Agar four for 44).

Australia fares well in the rehearsalValuable practice for visitors in tour game; Washington Sundar impresses for Board President’s side

Heavy hitter: Marcus Stoinis was in a punishing mood, the four boundaries and �ve sixes in his60-ball 76 testament to that. * R. RAGU

S. Dinakar

Chennai

The Aussies have arrived.How can there not be anybuzz surrounding the one-day series? True that Indiaand Australia are not goingto be locked in a Test seriesbut Michael Clarke and V.V.S.Laxman expect the cricket tobe intense.

With Star Sports anchorJatin Sapru moderating thepanel discussion here onTuesday to herald the series,Clarke and Laxman battedwith the controlled aggres-sion that marked their workat the crease and their inter-action was interspersed withlight humour.

“It’s always going to becompetitive on the field.Both teams understandthere is a line they can’tcross. Both respect that.Fans deserve to see a highlycompetitive and entertainingseries. The best players willstand out and perform. Thisseries won’t be different toany other we have seenbetween Australia and In-dia,” observed Clarke, part ofthe broadcasters’ team.

Laxman agreed, “It

doesn’t matter if they areverbal on the field but theyhave to show that high levelof competitiveness whichwill always happen when In-dia plays Australia.

Lots of prideBoth the teams take a lot ofpride in their performances.You don’t have to be friendlyon the field but both theteam realise that the bestway to beat the other team isby playing aggressive cricket.Not necessarily by sledgingbut aggressive in the way you

bat, bowl or field. I am sureboth the teams would bemindful of it. It is the world’sNo. 1 rivalry.”

Reflecting on the past ex-changes, Clarke noted, “Itwould be hard for me tocompare but every time Icompeted against India, itwas very competitive on thefield. I liked Sourav (Gan-guly) for his captaincy be-cause he was not scared tolose. The players know eachother quite better because oftournaments like the IPL. It’sbeen great for relationships

and been great for the game.India is like a second homefor the Australians.”

While Clarke backed Aus-tralia to win the series 3-2and rated Steve Smith a bet-ter Test batsman than ViratKohli, Laxman, rating Kohlithe better captain of the two,put faith in India claiming it4-1.

Expertise in all formsClarke advocated expertisein all three formats of thegame. “All young playerstoday would be looking to begood at all three formats ofthe game. I am teaching (atmy academy) all young boysand girls the technique to ex-cel in all three formats”.

For Laxman, Test cricketwas paramount.

“From the players’ pointof view they all would love tobe good at Tests but the waythe game is progressing, it isimportant to be versatile andflexible. It is important to begood in all the three formatseven though they require dif-ferent skills. The tempera-ment and the mindset is thesame. You have to show theadaptability.”

Michael Clarke too expects the series to be highly competitive and entertaining

Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI

Experts’ takes: V.V.S. Laxman backed India to claim the one-day series 4-1 while Michael Clarke said Australia would take it 3-2. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

The world’s No. 1 rivalry: Laxman

On Tuesday, Marcus Stoinismade a strong case for him-self for a return to interna-tional cricket with a 60-ball76 and backed it up with atidy spell of one for 13 fromhis four overs.

The Australian has ex-perience of the local condi-tions with three seasons ofIPL under his belt. He wasalso part of the A-tour twoyears back and has beenworking closely with thecurrent Australian battingconsultant S. Sriram.

But before he worriesabout the conditions, hehas James Faulkner to con-tend with who had a stellarrun in the 2013 ODI series.Faulkner was included inthe squad after beingdropped for the Champi-ons Trophy and Stoinisfaces stiff competition for aplace in the playing XI,though he feels the differ-ence in style betweenthem, could help both.

Good headache“I think it is a good head-ache. He absolutely domin-ated here in 2013. But weare different [kinds of ] all-rounders. He is more bowl-ing and I am more of a bat-ting all-rounder. He is left-arm and adds a lot of differ-ent aspects to the team’sbowling. I am no selectorbut, maybe, there is roomfor both.”

While Stoinis and histeam had a good outing, itwas also a bit of a realitycheck for the Board Presid-ent’s side, and coach Hem-ang Badani felt that playershave enough to learn fromTuesday’s match.

Stoinis has tocontend withFaulknerS. Dipak Ragav

CHENNAI

Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraineturned back the clock todefeat 13th seed Anish Giriof the Netherlands in thefirst game of the quarterfi-nals of the Chess WorldCup on Tuesday. The results: Wang Hao (Chn)drew with Ding Liren (Chn);Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra)drew with Alexander Grischuk(Rus); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr)bt Anish Giri (Ned); Wesley So(USA) drew with BaadurJobava (Geo); Peter Svidler(Rus) drew with Bu Xiangzhi(Chn); Daniil Dubov (Rus)drew with Levon Aronian(Arm).

Giri stunnedSports Bureau

Tbilisi

Pakistan beat the World XIby 20 runs in the firstTwenty20 match at the Gad-dafi stadium here on Tues-day, celebrating the returnof international cricket tothe country amid tight se-curity. Pakistan’s total of 197

for five saw one-drop bats-man Babar Azam top-scor-ing with a 52-ball 86 studdedwith 10 boundaries and twosixes, adding 122 for thesecond wicket with AhmedShehzad who made 39.

The World XI made 177 forseven, with Darren Sammyand skipper Faf du Plessis

scoring 29 each.

The second and thirdmatches are also in Lahoreon Wednesday and Friday.

The scores: Pakistan 197 forfive in 20 overs (A. Shehzad 39,B. Azam 86, S. Malik 38) btWorld XI 177 for seven in 20overs (T. Paine 25, Faf duPlessis 29, D. Sammy 29 n.o.).

Pakistan celebrates homereturn with a winHosts beat World XI by 20 runs in the opening game

Welcome to Lahore: World XI cricketers, from left, Imran Tahir, Morne Morkel, Ben Cutting and Faf du Plessis arrive at the Gadda� Stadium on Tuesday. * AFP

Agence France-Presse

Lahore

Garbine Muguruza claims No. 1 spotPARIS

Garbine Muguruza officially

became World No. 1 for the

first time on Monday, as

Sloane Stephens soared into

the top 20 after her surprise

US Open triumph. Muguruza,

the Wimbledon champion

takes over from Karolina

Pliskova at the top. AFP

The right-handed MarcusStoinis appeared a tadperplexed when he wasinformed by the umpirethat Akshay Karnewarwould be switching toleft-arm spin at theChepauk here on Tuesday.

After all, Karnewar’sfirst delivery, to southpawTravis Head, had been aright-handed off-spinner.Head took a single andnow Stoinis was on strike.And he was facing left-armorthodox spin.

AmbidextrousThe 24-year-old Karnewaris ambidextrous, a rarity incricket.

He bowls off-spin tosouthpaws and left-armspin to right-handers; thelogic being that the ballshould spin away from thebatsman.

This was a day whenKarnewar was taken forruns by the Aussies but theVidarbha cricketer didbring novelty to theproceedings.

He began his career asan off-spinner but battedand threw left-handed and

was convinced by hiscoach to try his hand atleft-arm spin too.

An ambidextrous bowlerhas to inform the umpire,who will then convey themessage to the batsman,about the arm from whichhe wants to release thesphere.

So, the batsman isprepared and the surpriseelement is lost. However,when the batsman essaysthe switch-hit — here heneeds to change the grip —he does not have to revealhis intentions to theumpire and the bowler.

The switch-hit is a strokewhere a right-handedbatsman effectively plays ashot with the grip of asouthpaw; it’s vice-versafor a left-handed batsman.

But then, this has alwaysbeen a batsmen’s game —the laws favour them andthe bowlers are up againstit.

The ‘switching’imbalance

S. Dinakar

Chennai<> I didn’t know what

the umpire was

trying to tell me

when he said he

[Karnewar] is going

to bowl left-arm

Marcus Stoinis

Bowlers obliged to telegraph change,batsmen enjoy element of surprise


Pedro Obiang and AndreAyew scored to give WestHam manager Slaven Bilicthe perfect 49th birthdaypresent as the Hammersbeat Huddersfield Town 2-0in the Premier League onMonday.

Relief and joyObiang got the opener via anenormous deflection andBilic then pumped the air inrelief as much as delightwhen Ghanaian star Ayewpounced to add the second

as West Ham claimed its firstpoints of the season.

Defeat to Huddersfieldwould have left the charis-matic Croat in real danger ofbecoming the second mana-gerial casualty of the season,after Frank de Boer was firedby pointless Crystal Palaceon Monday.The results:

Premier League: West Ham 2(Obiang 72, Ayew 77) bt Hud-dersfield 0.

La Liga: Malaga 1 (DiegoGonzalez 48) lost to Las Palmas3 (Jonathan Viera 45, Calleri 70,Remy 89).

Obiang and Ayew do the job for West Ham Give manager Bilic a birthday gift, setting up a 2-0 win over Hudders�eld Town

In she goes! Andre Ayew scores West Ham United's secondgoal. * REUTERS

Agencies

London

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12110 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The Supreme One wins over everyone through His qualities.He wins the affection of His devotees through His qualitiesof sausheelya and saulabhya. He defeats His enemies. So oneway or the other, He conquers everyone who comes intocontact with Him during His avataras. Some become de-voted to Him; others oppose Him and are destroyed. That iswhy the Krishna Yajur Veda describes the Supreme One asSakumsrushtajith, said V.S. Karunakarachariar, in adiscourse.

In the Vishnu Sahasranama, one of the names of LordNarayana is Purujith. Sankara Bhagavadpada interprets thisto mean He who is successful against many. Parasara Bhat-tar also gives a similar interpretation. Purujith is the 508thsacred name of the Lord. Parasara Bhattar points to a slokain the Ayodhya Kanda, 12th sarga, to justify his interpreta-tion of Purujith as a reference to Rama. Through His hon-esty, He wins the hearts of people. Through His generosity,He earns the gratitude of the poor. Through His service, Heimpresses learned elders. As a warrior He conquers en-emies. That is why He is Purujith. That Purujith (Rama) ispraised by the Veda as Sakumsrushtajith.

The Supreme One is Somapaa, and this too can be appre-ciated in the context of the Rama avatara. When Rama per-formed many Asvamedha yagas, He showed the world howsoma rasa should be consumed in accordance with Vedicprescriptions. Soma also means nectar, and this meaning iseven more appropriate while referring to Rama, for did notRama consume a priceless nectar? That nectar was His ownstory sung by His sons Lava and Kusa. What can be sweeterthan His story? Valmiki, the Gopikas, and Pareekshit, had allcompared narrations of the Lord’s story to nectar. So Rama,who listened to His story, is the One exalted by the Veda asSomapaa.

FAITH

He conquers all7 In almost every letter of the

Princess, you can �nd one of

us (6)

8 Exercises by a river right next

to northbound street (6)

9 Rebel's stomach upset in edge

of Malay (6)

15 A broken antique, I found

inside an old region of France

(9)

17 Perhaps Clio's against

waterproof material (8)

18 Re�ection of Time covering

one Prime Minister's extreme

self obsession (8)

20 Smoothened the operation as

greed played out (7)

21 Sleep at noon wearing a

protective cover (6)

22 Finally, Kasganj is no

upwardly mobile city in Uttar

Pradesh (6)

23 Average boy is divine (6)

25 Reportedly circles a mistake

(5)

16 Meat for Spanish King (4)

19 Say, Hill City (4)

21 Preserving sacking (7)

24 Genuine courage is

experienced (9)

25 Upset officer's hesitation for

substitute (5)

26 Second generation Japanese in

upcoming Southeastern Italy

(5)

27 Suppress blue mark in the

front (5,4)

28 Hint from you to enter Bar's

conclusion on disc (8)

29 Pratap Eshwar's Prime Minister

(6)

n DOWN

1 Exercise to surreptitiously haul

away one in a crooked case

(8)

2 Locals knock on apartments (8)

3 Top 5s (5)

5 Apparent operation to

dominate (7)

6 Edge also gets a single in this

form of cricket (3-3-3)

(set by Sunnet)

n ACROSS

1 Ancient people of unknown

caste mixed outside (6)

4 Conviction on direct reforms

(8)

10 Duplicate note on harvest (9)

11 Drape around priest (5)

12 Brother's exclusive colour (5)

13 Manager of mean worker (9)

14 Party business (7)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12111

Shakib defends decisionto skip Tests DHAKA

Shakib Al Hasan, on Tuesday,

defended his decision to take

a break from Test cricket,

saying he needs time off

from the longest format to

extend his career. “I can play

now if I wish,” he said. “But I

have to decide whether I

want play five to six more

years or just one to two

years.” He also addressed the

T20 question, saying: “When

I play foreign T20 leagues I

feel hardly any pressure. For

me they are a kind of

holiday.” AFP

IN BRIEF

GNIT wins on penaltiesNEW DELHI:

Greater Noida Institute Of

Technology (GNIT) overcame

Galgotia’s College of

Engineering and Technology

3-2 in a penalty shoot out in

the Reliance Youth

Foundation Sports football

tournament at the Netaji

Subhas Sports Complex in

Jasola here on Tuesday.

In a keenly fought college

boys’ encounter, the two

teams were locked 1-1 at full

time. Ankur Yadav scored the

opening goal for Galgotia’s in

the very second minute of

the match.

Zeel Desai and Y. Pranjalacombined well to beatChin-Wei Chan and Hsin-Yuan Shih of ChineseTaipei 6-3, 7-6(0) in thedoubles pre-quarterfinalsof the $15,000 ITF wo-men’s tennis tournamenton Tuesday.The results (first round):$15,000 ITF men, Cairo: Jo-han Sebastien Tatlot (Fra) btMedhir Goyal 6-0, 6-0.Doubles: Adham Gaber &Omar Makhlouf (Egy) bt Med-hir Goyal & Kshitij Kamal 6-3,7-6(2).$15,000 ITF women, HuaHin, Thailand: Jia Qi Ren(Chn) bt Sowjanya Bavisetti6-0, 6-1.Doubles: Zeel Desai & Y. Pran-jala bt Chin-Wei Chan & Hsin-Yuan Shih (Tpe) 6-3, 7-6(0);Alexandra Walters (Aus) &Rutuja Bhosale bt AunchisaChanta & Thitirat Kanaphuet(Tha) 6-1, 6-3.

Zeel-Pranjalain last eight SPORTS BUREAU

HUA HIN

Sachin Tendulkar onTuesday said Indian crickethad possibly touched itslowest ebb leading up to the2007 World Cup beforerecovering to move in a newdirection.

Tendulkar said theIndian cricket teamwitnessed a lot of changesafter the first round exitfrom the 2007 World Cup inthe West Indies and themove eventually reapedhuge dividends.

“I think 2006-07 we werepossibly (at) lowest (phase).We didn’t qualify for theSuper 8 stage of the 2007World Cup.

“But we got back fromthere and started freshthinking, we started movingin a new direction,” herecalled at a programmehere.

It was the phase during

which Greg Chappell was atthe helm as India coach,perhaps the most turbulenttenure in Indian cricketmarred by his public falloutwith Sourav Ganguly andother senior Indian players.

“We had to make a lot ofchanges. And once we hadplanned what we had toachieve as a team, we werecommitted to it and theresults followed,” addedTendulkar.

In the 2007 World Cup,India lost to Bangladesh andSri Lanka in the groupstages to crash out in theopening round.

“We had to change a lotof things. Whether theywere right or wrong wedidn’t know. The changedid not happen overnight.We had to wait for results.In fact it took me 21 years ofmy career to lift thatbeautiful World Cuptrophy,” said Tendulkar.

2006-07 was possiblylowest point for team,says Tendulkar


Mumbai

M. Nithyashree of TamilNadu rallied from threegames down to overcomeWest Bengal’s MunmunKundu 4-11, 2-11, 8-11, 12-10,11-8, 12-10, 15-13 in the sub-junior girls’ final at the LIC-IOC South Zone National-ranking table tennis tourna-ment here on Tuesday.

The results: Sub-junior: Boys:Final: H. Jeho (PSPBA) bt PayasJain (Del) 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9,9-11, 11-8, 11-4; Semifinals:Jeho bt Hrishikesh Malhotra(Mah) 11-1, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7;Payas bt Jayabrata Bhattcharjee(NB) 12-14, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6.

Girls: Final: M. Nithyashree (TN)

bt Munmun Kundu (WB) 4-11, 2-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 12-10, 15-13;Semifinals: Nithyashree btTisha Kohli (Del) 11-4, 11-8, 11-4,13-11; Munmun bt Mihika Rohira(Mah) 11-5, 11-6, 8-11, 9-11, 11-9,11-9.

Cadet: Boys: Final: PreyeshSuresh Raj (TN) bt ShanteshMapsekar (Goa) 11-4, 9-11, 11-6,11-2, 11-5; Semifinals: Preyeshbt Balamurugan (TN) 12-14,11-6, 11-7, 11-4; Shantesh btAmav Aggarwal (PSPBA) 11-7,11-8, 11-9.

Girls: Final: Suhana Saini (Har)bt V. Nehal (TN) 11-5, 11-6, 11-1,11-8; Semifinals: Suhana btArya Songadkar (Mah) 8-11, 11-9,12-10, 9-11, 11-7; Nehal bt Var-tica Bharti (UP) 11-6, 11-6, 11-7.

Nithyashree triumphs K. Keerthivasan

DHARWAD

Kush Maini took the thirdspot in the second raceafter finishing fourth in thefirst in the Italian F4 cham-pionship during the week-end.

The Jenzer Motorsportdriver managed a photo-finish in the first race,claiming fourth on the finallap. He was also on trackfor a top finish in racethree before an accidentpushed him down to ninth.

Bengaluru schoolboyRuhaan Alva, aided by awin and a fourth-place fin-ish in back-to-back rounds,emerged vice-champion inthe Easykart 60 category ofthe Easykart championshipwhich concluded at theLignano Sabbiadoro circuitin Italy on Sunday.

Ruhaan finished thenine-round championshiptied with Patrese Lorenzoon 136 points. However, oncount-back, Ruhaan tookthe second spot, 18 pointsbehind overall winnerDaniele D’Uroso. Ruhaan,in his debut season, hadthree wins compared toLorenzo’s one.

Ruhaan’s final tally ofpoints was all the morecreditable as he missed thefirst round after taking partin the Mini category beforeswitching to the higher andmore competitive class.

Kush,Ruhaanimpress

Ruhaan Alva. *

SPORTS BUREAU

IMOLA

Ranjan stars for GBSSS (Rani Khera)NEW DELHI:

Ranjan slammed in four goals

as Government Boys SSS

(Rani Khera) outplayed JKG

International School

(Ghaziabad) 6-1 in Pool C of

the 5th under-15 Nehru-

Dhyan Chand Cup for Delhi

school boys at the National

Stadium here on Tuesday.The results: Pool C: GBSSS(Rani Khera) 6 (Ranjan 4,Vaibhav, Mantosh) bt JKG Intl(Ghaziabad) 1 (Govind). PoolD: GBSSS (Ranhaula) 3 (AriritTiwari, Ashish Bisht, Nishant)bt GBSSS (Ghitorni) 1(Deepanshu).

Mungaibari Higher Second-ary School from Tripurathrashed Gyan Bharti PublicSchool from Bihar 13-0 in theunder-17 boys’ league matchin the 58th Subroto Cup foot-ball tournament here onTuesday.

In other matches of thesame group, St. Xavier’sHigher Secondary School(Goa) overcame Shah Sat-nam Ji Boys CBSE School(Rajasthan) 2-1, while Chand-igarh’s Chitkara Interna-tional School scored a solit-ary goal to take full pointsagainst Kendriya Vidyalaya(Uttarakhand).The results: Chitkara Interna-tional School, Chandigarh 1(Alankar) bt Kendriya Vidyalaya,Dehradun 0; Sports Authority ofIndia, Kolkata 1 (C.V. Vishnu) btSouth Eastern Railway Inter-Col-lege, Jharkhand 0; RamakrishnaMission School, Chhattisgarh 0drew with LGS School, MadhyaPradesh 0.

Mungiabari HSS, Tripura 13(Pohar Jamatia 6, Sanjoy Jamatia2, Biswajit Debbarma, Bikas

Chakma, Bijoy Jamatia, SabatJamatia, Bubar Jamatia) bt GyanBharti Public School, Bihar 0;Kolhapur Junior College, Maha-rashtra 1 (Rushikesh SarjeraoMore) bt Air Force School, Delhi

0.

St. Xavier’s HSS, Goa 2(Meuton Fernandes 2) bt ShahSatnam Ji Boys CBSE School 1(Gaurav Sharma).

St. Columba’s Collegiate,

Jharkhand 6 (Kushang Subba 2,W. Johnson Singh, Sj. BoilenLhungdim, Sandeep Kachhap, P.Lalram Pana ) bt Rajganj HighSchool, West Bengal 1 (ChandanOram).

Mungaibari beats Gyan Bharti St. Xavier’s HSS (Goa) overcomes Shah Satnam Ji Boys (Rajasthan)

Excellent footwork: Meuton Fernandes, jersey no. 5, scored both the goals in St. Xavier’sHigher Secondary School’s win. *


New Delhi

Dynamos acquire Edu Moya, GuyonNEW DELHI

Two-time Indian Super

League semifinalist Delhi

Dynamos has added Spanish

full-back Edu Moya and Dutch

forward Guyon Fernandez to

its ranks ahead of the

upcoming season.

The 31-year old Guyon joins

after completing his second

stint with Dutch Eredivisie

side ADO Den Haag. Edu

Moya (36) joins from Spanish

third division side CP

Cacereno. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Wriddhiman Saha has saidthat Australia may find it dif-ficult to beat India in homeconditions.

Saha, India’s Test wicket-keeper-batsman, said thehost would be the favouriteto win the upcoming one-day and T20 series againstAustralia, which begins inChennai on September 17,despite adopting a rotationpolicy.

“Beating India in Indiawill always be tough. Aus-tralia has done well lasttime, but I will put Indiaahead,” said Saha, who is en-joying time away fromcricket, here on Tuesday.

Saha said the Nationalside’s bench strength heldthe team in good stead. “In-dia’s bench strength is verystrong. The team is prepar-ing for the 2019 World Cup.That’s why the rotation of

players is happening. Indiahas been performing wellwith all sets of players whichis a good sign.

“Axar (Patel), (Yuzvendra)Chahal and Kuldeep (Yadav)playing in place of(Ravichandran) Ashwin and(Ravindra) Jadeja. They arebeing prepared tostrengthen the bench. If

needed, they can chip in.”Asked about his own as-

pirations of playing in aWorld Cup, Saha, who willturn 33 next month, said,“My wife badly wants me toplay in the World Cup. Sheinsists that I must pushharder to achieve that.

“I am also trying, but ulti-mately the decision lies withthe selectors.”

Saha typically playeddown all compliments, in-cluding Sourav Ganguly’s re-ported opinion that theBengal stumper could re-place M.S. Dhoni in limited-over cricket in future.

“My preparation is alwaysaimed at improving my per-formance. The rest dependson the selection committee.I don’t perform to just playODIs.

“Those who are saying(good things about my keep-ing) know better. Whatever Ihave learnt, I am trying toexecute,” said Saha.

‘India tough to beat at home’ Saha says bench strength is strong

Y.B. Sarangi

Kolkata

Wriddhiman Saha. * FILE PHOTO: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

Raju Shrestha of Nepal beatthird seed Vijay Kumar inthree sets in the men’sover-45 pre-quarterfinals ofthe ITF grade-5 seniors ten-nis tournament here onTuesday.

Raju was on the verge ofvictory at 6-7(4), 6-4, 5-0

when Vijay Kumar retired.The results (pre-quarterfi-nals): Over-35: Dilip Mohantybt Simant Gurung (Nep) 6-1,6-0; Raju Shrestha (Nep) btAvinash Kumar 6-3, 6-1; S.Dhodi bt S. Shrestha (Nep) 6-4,6-1; Kamlesh Shukla bt MaheshShrestha (Nep) 6-1, 6-2; PekkaRantala (Fin) bt Ashish Parmar4-6, 2-0 (retd.). Over-45:Chandra Bhushan bt R. Ghimire

(Nep) 6-0, 6-1; Raju Shrestha btVijay Kumar 6-7(4), 6-4, 5-0(retd.). Over-55: B.N. Negi btBishnu Prasad Gaire (Nep) 6-4,6-0; Pradeep Kumar Gupta btUttam Kumar Sherpa 6-4, 6-3;Chamba Dhondup (Nep) btNancharaiah Kondisetti 6-0,6-1; Karimulla Muslim (Nep) btAnil Kumar Kaushal 7-6(4),6-0; Sameer Sherchan (Nep) btGurvinder Singh Sethi 6-4, 6-1.

Sports Bureau

Pokhara (Nepal)

Raju gets past Vijay Kumar

Sudipta Senthilkumar beatsecond seed KaavyaSawhney 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in theunder-18 pre-quarterfinals ofthe AITA Super series tour-nament organised by Shiva-lik Public School at the CLTAComplex on Tuesday.

The results (pre-quarters):Boys: U-18: Calvin Golmei btSarvesh Maria 6-1, 6-3; NareshBadgujar bt Deepender SinghGrewal -2, 7-5; Shashikant Ra-

jput bt Anmol Jain 6-4, 6-3;Gunjan Jadhav bt BhupenderDahiya 6-4, 6-3; Kartik Saxena btSharang Garg 6-1, 6-3. U-14:Krishan Hooda bt Akash Deb 6-3,6-4; Ajay Singh bt SarthakGandhi 6-0, 6-3; Kartik Saxenabt Sidharth Goel 6-3, 6-0; Di-vanshu Hooda bt Samarbir Sidhu6-3, 7-6(1); Jitin Kumar Chetry btSarabjot Singh 6-3, 6-2; ArjunGohad bt Arhaan Pahwa 7-5, 4-6,6-1. Girls: U-18: Prinkle Singh btHimadri Kashyap 6-3, 6-2; Sim-ran Pritam bt Harleen Kaur 2-6,6-2, 6-3; Vanshika Choudhary bt

Riti Agarwal 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Hi-maanshika bt Punyatoya Mo-hapatra 6-0, 6-1; Sudipta Sen-thilkumar bt Kaavya Sawhney2-6, 6-2, 6-4. U-14: Sudipta Sen-thilkumar bt Pavitra Parikh 6-0,6-0; Nimrat Kaur Atwal bt RiaWashimkar 7-5, 7-6(4); MehalaManna bt Pawandeep Kaur 6-1,6-0; Deepshikha Sriram bt Am-reen Sidhu 6-1, 6-1; SanviAhluwalia bt Radhika Vasudeva6-0, 6-1; Renee Singh bt VanyaArora 6-1, 6-0; Sanya Masand btShraddha 6-0, 6-3; Renee Singlabt Tejasvi Dabas 6-3, 6-1.

Sudipta knocks out Kaavya Sports Bureau

CHANDIGARH

Bach to light 1984 cauldronLIMA

International Olympic

Committee president Thomas

Bach will head to California

this weekend to light the

1984 Olympic cauldron as a

guest at a Los Angeles Rams

NFL game, it was confirmed

on Monday. Bach will travel

from Lima following the IOC

session this week which will

see Paris confirmed as 2024

Olympic hosts while Los

Angeles is awarded the 2028

Olympic Games. AFP


CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

India Blue skipper SureshRaina said his team’s DuleepTrophy clash here against In-dia Red would be an oppor-tunity for youngsters like Ab-himanyu Eswaran and IshanKishan to make a mark.

The all-rounder gavecredit to the groundsmenwho had “worked veryhard” to get the pitch readyat short notice, and praisedthe Uttar Pradesh Cricket As-sociation for taking up thechallenge of hosting thetournament.

With an unusually hardoutfield and a firm pitch,Green Park could live up toits reputation over the yearsof being a batsman’sparadise.

It will be interesting to seehow the pink ball behavesunder the floodlights inthese conditions.

It was intriguing, though,to see some of the players us-ing the white ball duringpractice in the evening.

When asked about his re-cent meeting with SachinTendulkar, Raina quippedthat it was “important to

meet God”, and added thathe had got his blessings.

Maintaining tempo

Red skipper Dinesh Karthik,who had scored a centuryand a half-century on atricky pitch at the Ekana Sta-dium in Lucknow in the vic-tory over India Green, saidhis team would look to main-tain the tempo.

“It was a good effort byour team in the first match,especially in the second in-nings,” said Karthik.

He said he had not seenthe pitch here so far but feltsure that it would “be

slightly better thanLucknow”.

Karthik clarified that all ofhis team’s players who havebeen selected for the India-Aside to play New Zealand-Ain Vijayawada would figurein this match.

Raina said: “All matchesat all levels are important.Even though we are not sureabout the availability of play-ers or their replacements,I’m sure everything will fallin place soon.”

Though the tournamentmight lose a handful of play-ers before the title match,their departure would onlyopen the doors for the re-placements to walk right intoDuleep Trophy action, andthat too the final, no less.

The teams (from):

India Red: Dinesh Karthik (c),Rishabh Pant, Rahul Singh Gah-laut, Sudip Chatterjee, AshokeDinda, Karn Sharma, B. In-drajith, Basil Thampi, PriyankPanchal, Ishank Jaggi, C.V.Milind, Vijay Gohil, Ambati Ray-udu, Prithvi Shaw.

India Blue: Suresh Raina (c),Abhimanyu Eswaran, ManojTiwary, Jayant Yadav, BhargavBhatt, Deepak Hooda, VijayShankar, K.S. Bharat, Ankit Raj-poot, Sagun Kamat, IshantSharma, Samit Gohil, JaydevUnadkat, Ishan Kishan.

Referee: V. Narayanan Kutty.Umpires: Yeshwant Barde andNavdeep Singh.

Play starts at 1.30 p.m.

Blue meets in-form Red Indications are that it will be a typical Green Park wicket

Game face on: India Red skipper Dinesh Karthik is in �ne nick,having scored a half-century and a century on a tricky surfaceagainst India Green. * KAMESH SRINIVASAN

Kamesh Srinivasan

KANPUR

India cricketer SureshRaina had a providentialescape when one of thetyres of the Range Roverhe was travelling in burstnear Etawah early onTuesday, police said.There was no injury toRaina who was at thewheel.

Raina was travellingfrom Ghaziabad to Kan-pur where he will be play-ing a Duleep Trophy

match as skipper of the In-dia Blue team on Wednes-day.

Another vehicle was ar-ranged for Raina to com-plete the journey.

Raina escapes unhurtfrom car tyre burstIANS

LUCKNOW

Suresh Raina.

Maninder Singh and JangKun Lee did the star turn forBengal Warriors as it over-came a 10-point deficit withless than eight minutes re-maining to stay on top ofZone B with a 32-31 victoryagainst Telugu Titans in theProKabaddi League on Tues-day.

With this win, Bengal ex-tended its lead at the top ofthe table to 14 points.

With the teams stayinglevel almost throughout, ittook Nilesh Salunke’s suc-cessful raid to earn his teamthe first all-out of the matchin the 16th minute, and withit a precious three-point leadat half-time.

Salunke scored 10 pointsfor Titans but faltered to-wards the end even asManinder and Lee tookturns, snatching one point at

a time, to keep Warriorsin the hunt.

It looked a lost causefor Warriors when Sa-lunke inflicted a second

all-out in the 32nd minuteand the side trailed 19-27 be-fore the raiding duo got intothe act, first levelling scoresand then producing the win-ner in the game’s final raid.

The results: Bengal Warriors 32(Jang Kun Lee 9, ManinderSingh 7, Surjeet Singh 5) btTelugu Titans 31 (Nilesh Sa-lunke 10, Rahul Chaudhari 4,Vishal Bhardwaj 4).

Haryana Steelers 27 (WazirSingh 10, Surender Nada 4,Deepak Kumar Dahiya 4) bt Da-bang Delhi 24 (Rohit Baliyan 7,Anand Patil 4, Abolfazl Maghs-odlou 4).

Maninder, Lee deliver for Warriors

SPORTS BUREAU

SONEPAT

The architect: Warriors’ Jang Kun Lee helped his team turn thetables on Titans. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

PKL

DULEEP TROPHY Commonwealth Gameschampion P. Kashyapmade a positive start to hiscampaign at the Korea Su-per Series badminton,notching up back-to-backwins over Chinese Taipei’sLin Yu Hsien and Kan ChaoYu to reach the main drawof the men’s singles eventhere on Tuesday.

Kashyap saw off Hsien21-19, 21-9 in a 35-minutematch and then recorded a21-19, 21-18 win over an-other Taiwanese Kan Chaoin the next qualifyingmatch.

Kashyap will faceChinese Taipei’s Hsu JenHao in the main draw. TheIndian has beaten Haothrice and lost once at the2014 Asia BadmintonChampionship.

The results:

Qualifying: Men: P. Kashyapbt Lin Yu Hsien 21-19, 21-9; btKan Chao Yu 21-19, 21-18.

Mixed doubles: SatwiksairajRankireddy & Ashwini Pon-nappa bt Peter Kaesbauer &Olga Konon 21-12, 21-15; btRonald Ronald & AnnisaSaufika 27-25, 21-17.

Main draw: Mixed doubles:Praveen Jordan & DebbySusanto bt Pranaav JerryChopra & N. Sikki Reddy 13-21, 21-19, 21-15.

Kashyap inmain draw Press Trust of India

Seoul

The Indian women’shockey team held on to a2-2 draw against the Bel-gium junior men’s team ina closely-fought matchhere.

India will play LadiesDen Bosch in its thirdmatch of the Europe Touron September 14. The result: Belgium JuniorMen 2 (Stan Branicki 19, Mat-thieu de Laet 43) drew withIndian Women 2 (Nikki Pra-dhan 36, Vandana Katariya54).

Indian womenearn a draw Press Trust of India

Antwerp (Belgium)

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Thalaivas vs U.P. Yoddha, 8p.m.Steelers vs Puneri Paltan, 9p.m. , STAR Sports 2 (SD & HD)DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

TODAY’S ACTION

Former world championShaun Murphy of the UnitedKingdom survived a majorscare in the first round (qual-ifying) against wild cardentrant E. Pandurangaiah ofIndia before recording athrilling 35-74, 68-17, 57-31,32-61, 66-17, 83(66)-0 win inthe fourth India Open world-ranking snooker tournamenthere on Tuesday.

To his credit, Panduran-gaiah never allowed hismore experienced and classyopponent to dominate.

However, in the fifthframe, the India No. 2 fouledby potting his cue ball withthe score reading 17-27.Murphy pounced on the op-portunity with an unfinishedbreak of 39 to clinch theframe. He showed his classagain in the next frame with

a significant break of 66 toseal the issue.

“I was not overawed des-pite this being my first inter-national tournament. I actu-ally enjoyed playing againstthe world champion. Yes, Ihad problems in adjusting tothe table of this standard as

we are not used to playingon it,” said Pandurangaiah.

The Indian challenge ef-fectively ended late nightwhen defending championAnthony McGill downedAditya Mehta 76(76)-6, 70-4,94-27(65), 96(94)-4.The results: First round: An-

thony McGill (Scot) bt AdityaMehta (Ind) 76(76)-6, 70-4,94-27(65), 96(94)-4; SamBaird (UK) bt Lucky Vatnani(Ind) 65-70, 60-23, 64-15, 65-40, 56-67, 69-55.

Graeme Dott (Sco) bt JackLisowski (UK) 71(71)-62, 92(56)-6, 83-21, 0-100(99), 68(61)-65; Sean O’Sullivan (UK) btJosh Boileau (Ire) 83(83)-0, 39-71, 9-69, 49-40, 1-91(86), 61-48; Ricky Walden (UK) bt AlfieBurden (UK) 64-71, 42-76, 67-44, 0-67(60), 107(72)-0, 61-40, 86(78)-41. Qualifying: First round: ShaunMurphy (UK) bt E. Panduran-gaiah (Ind) 35-74, 68-17, 57-31,32-61, 66-17, 83(66)-0; An-drew Higginson (UK) bt As-utosh Padhy (Ind) 81-14, 81-7,56-53, 102(50)-9; Li Hang(Chn) bt Shrikrishna (Ind) 110(86)-1, 12-71, 67-23, 57-34, 83(54)-29; Alan McManus (Sco) btMalkeet Singh (Ind) 88(88)-20,67-51, 65-9, 72-38; Mark Davis(UK) bt Laxman Rawat (Ind) 72(55)-30, 76(60)-6 , 66-44, 79(79)-16.

Murphy overcomes Pandurangaiah

Grit and determination: Shaun Murphy survived an acid testto progress to the next round. * K.R. DEEPAK

V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

VISAKHAPATNAM

INDIA OPEN


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