c m y k c m y k

SPORT | 8Rohit bats for batting intent

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIACHENNAI I SATURDAY 27 I FEBRUARY 2021

STATE | 3Pondy LG gets

two advisers

NATION | 4Police make public ‘threat

letter’ to Mukesh Ambani

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WEATHERMax: 32OC Min: 23OC Rainfall: Nil

ASTROGUIDESarvari: Maasi 15

Tithi: PournamiStar: Magam/ Puram

Rahukalam:9 am to 10.30 am

Yamagandam: 1.30 pm to 3 pm

PRAYERSFajar: 5.17 am

Zohar: 12.28 pm Asar: 3.44 pm

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SUNSET TODAY 6.18 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 6.26 AM

MOONRISE TODAY 6.28 PMMOONSET TOMORROW 7.13 AM

Rear Admiral Sanjay Sharmatakes charge of Naval Ship

Repair Yard, Kochi New Delhi: Rear Admiral Sanjay

Sharma took over as AdmiralSuperintendent, Naval Ship Repair

Yard, Kochi Friday, the Navy said in astatement. Rear Admiral Sharma was

commissioned into the Indian Navyon August 1, 1986. Prior to this

appointment, the flag officer hasheld various important appointments

at IHQ MoD (N), AdvancedTechnology Vessel Program and

Headquarters Eastern NavalCommand in Visakhapatnam.

Vol. 16 No. 333 Established 1938 | 8 PAGES| `3.00

COUNTER POINT

Canadian regulator authorises AstraZeneca vaccine

Toronto: Canadian regulatorsFriday authorised AstraZeneca's

coronavirus vaccine for all adults. It is the third Covid-19 vaccine

given the green light by Canada,following those from Pfizer and

Moderna. Health Canada approvedthe vaccine for use in people 18 and

over. Some countries, includingFrance, have authorized the

AstraZeneca vaccine only for use inpeople under 65, saying there is not

enough evidence to say whether itworks in older adults.

Terrorist hideout busted inJ&K’s Reasi, arms and

ammunition seized Jammu: Security forces busted a

terrorist hideout in Jammu andKashmir's Reasi district on Fridayand seized a huge cache of arms,

ammunition and explosive materials,officials said. Based on specific infor-mation from a reliable source regard-

ing suspicious movement in upperSildhar and the adjoining areas ofRanjati top and Rousouwali top, a

joint party of the police, Army andCRPF launched a cordon-and-searchoperation in the upper Sildhar forest,

Ranjati top, Rousowali top and theadjoining Dagantop hills areas.

TN, Puducherry to vote on April 6DC CORRESPONDENTSCHENNAI/NEW DELHI, FEB. 26

Elections to the 234-memberTamil Nadu assembly alongwith 30 seats to the Puduc-herry assembly will be heldon April 6, the Election Co-mmission of India announ-ced in New Delhi Friday.The first elections to the sta-te assembly after the depar-ture of the towering figuresof state politics and formerchief ministers M. Karuna-ndhi and J. Jayalalithaa willbe conducted in a singlephase and the results will beannounced on May 2 alongwith the results to the elec-tions to the assemblies inKerala, West Bengal andAssam.

Kerala, which will elect a140-seat assembly, will alsogo to polls along with TamilNadu and Puducherry onApril 6. The polls for 294seats in West Bengal will beconducted over a recordeight phases, from March 27till April 29, and that of As-sam's 126 seats in three phas-es — from March 27 to April6. The term of the Assem-blies in Assam, Tamil Naduand West Bengal will end inMay while that of Keralaand Puducherry expires inJune.

Nearly 18.68 crore votersare expected to cast theirvotes at 2.7 lakh polling sta-tions for 824 Assembly seatsacross Assam, West Bengal,Kerala, Tamil Nadu andPuducherry, Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arorasaid. He added that all offi-cials and other personnel onpoll duty will be vaccinatedagainst Covid-19 before thepolling begins.

The Election Commissionhas decided to appoint twospecial observers for WestBengal and a third may alsobe sent if required, Mr Arorasaid, even as West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee questioned therationale behind the eight-

phase Assembly pollsannounced by the EC - onemore than the seven phasesin the last election. WestBengal has in the past seenmajor political violence dur-ing elections, and according-ly, a huge deployment ofsecurity forces has been putin place to prevent that.

Tamil Nadu will see a fightwhich will decide if the rul-ing AIADMK will be votedback for a third straightterm. The party started itswinning streak in 2011 whenit stormed to power underparty supremo Jayalalitha.The party repeated its feat in2016 under the charismaticleader, who, however,passed away within monthsof the consecutive win. Theelection will also decide ifthe Edappadi K.Palaniswami-O. Panne-erselvam combination willbe able to take her legacyalong or will have to concedeit to her former aide V.K.Sasikala.

INDIA OUT OFRECESSION ASGDP GROWS0.4% IN Q3

Draw a line, CEOasks govt secys

CPI VETERAN D. PANDIANPASSES AWAY

CM announces goldloan waiver scheme

ONLINE FILING OFNOMINATIONSALLOWED; VOTINGTIME EXTENDED

� Kerala polling also on April 6 � WestBengal to have 8-phase voting; Assam 3

� Election Commission to appoint twospecial poll observers to West Bengal

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, FEB. 26

Veteran Communist lea-der D. Pandian, who repre-sented North Chennai fortwo terms in the LokSabha besides serving theCPI as state secretary,passed away at the age of89 at the Rajiv GandhiGovernment General Hos-pital in Chennai onFriday.

Besides the GovernorBanwarilal Purohit, politi-cal leaders, cutting acrossparty lines and ideologicaldivides, condoled hisdeath, recalling his 65 yearpublic service.

Besides being a politi-cian, Pandian was awriter, journalist, editorof Jan Shakti and hasworked as lecturer andlawyer, the leaders said.

His death was anirreparable loss to the peo-ple of the state and theCPI, said Mr Purohit in acondolence message.

Chief Minister EdappadiK. Palaniswami saidPandian had joined theCommunist movement asa student. The multi-faceted leader loved TamilNadu and Tamil language,DMK president M.K.Stalin said in his message.He said Pandian, born inMadurai’s VellaiMalaipattu village, wenton to become a prominentCommunist leader.

FOREIGN MINISTERS’ CALL

Azad, letter-writers head to Jammu in show of strength

MADHUSUDAN SAHOO | FCNEW DELHI, FEB.26

The road to recoveryappears to be in sight forthe Indian economy, withthe country’s gross domes-tic product (GDP) reportinga growth of 40 basis pointsor 0.40 per cent in theOctober-December quar-ter. The size of the economyhad shrunken in the April-June and July-Septemberquarters, pulling down thecountry into a technicianrecession. However, thepositive growth — thoughnot very strong yet — hastaken the Indian economyout of recession. A consis-tent growth in consumerdemand, festive spends anda jump in governmentexpenditure appear to havesupported the Covid-bat-tered economy to springback into the positive terri-tory. The expenditure tre-nd, however, remains weakas government and privateconsumption expenditurecontinued to contr4ct in thethird quarter. � P4

TN passes bill to provide10.5% quota to VanniyarsDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, FEB 26:

Just before the Model Code ofConduct kicked with theElection Commission ofIndia announcing the pollschedule for Tamil Nadu,Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami hurriedlybrought in a bill in theAssembly providing 10.5 percent exclusive reservationfor Vanniyars, carving it outof the present 20 per centMost Backward Classes(MBC) quota.

The bill splits the MBCsinto three categories –Vanniyars (10.5 per cent),Seer Marabinar (7 per cent)and rest of the castes (2.5 percent).

Making it clear that the gov-ernment was taking the deci-sion on exclusive Vanniyarreservation following thedemand made by PMKfounder S. Ramadoss, theChief Minister, in his speech,

said that it was being imple-mented on a temporary basis.

The work on the caste-wisecensus would start in anoth-er six months to ascertain thebackwardness of individualcommunities. Once thereport was ready the govern-ment would change the rep-resentation for the variouscastes based on the findings,he said.

The ‘statement of object andreasons’ for bringing in thebill said that it was done onthe recommendation of theTamil Nadu BackwardCommission, which exam-ined the demands by variouscommunities, to promoteequitable developmentamong the MBCs.

The reservation would bemade available in education-al institutions and in govern-ment jobs, the Chief Ministersaid, recalling history thatgave 20 per cent quota forMBCs and 30 per cent forBackward Classes.

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, FEB. 26

Chief Minister EdappadiK. Palaniswami announ-ced in the state assemblyon Friday that jewel loanstaken by farm labourersand the other cooperativeloans given to women SelfHelp Groups (SHGs) in thestate will be waived.

Mr Palaniswamireferred to the pandemicand said both the sections,the women members ofthe SHGs and the farmworkers, had suffered dueto the lockdown and loss oflivelihood.There are about15 lakh women who haveorganised themselves intoover a lakh SHGs in bothrural and urban areas.Most of them are frombelow the poverty line. Allthe loans taken from coop-erative banks and cooper-ative associations by theSHGs have been now writ-ten off.

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, FEB. 26

Chief Election Commissi-oner (CEC) Sunil Arorasaid on Friday that in viewof the Covid-19 safety proto-cols, candidates can filetheir nominations onlineand voting will be allowedfor an additional hour.Door-to-door campaigningwill be restricted to five per-sons, including the candi-date, while roadshows willbe allowed with a maxi-mum of five vehicles.

In order to enable thevoter to know the serialnumber of the electoral rollof his/her polling station,date of poll, time, etc, theEC has decided to issue a“voter information slip” inplace of the "photo voterslip" which will include allsuch information but willnot have the photograph ofthe voter. The voter infor-mation slip will be distrib-uted at least five daysbefore the date of poll to allenrolled electors by the dis-trict election officer.However, the slip will notbe allowed to be used as aproof of identity for votersand people will have tocarry other documents foridentification. The CEC sa-id webcasting will be doneat polling stations in criti-cal and vulnerable areas,while adequate deploymentof Central armed policeforces will be ensured.

He added that all criticaland vulnerable areas havebeen identified andadvance teams havealready been deployedacross the four states andone Union territory.

India tells China to disengage all points

Seniors, 45+ with comorbidities nowcan pick Covid vaccination site: Govt

SRIDHARKUMARASWAMI | DCNEW DELHI, FEB. 26

India has now told Chinaclearly that the disengage-ment of troops “at all fric-tion points” in the Ladakhsector alone will lead to therestoration of peace andtranquility between thetwo countries, adding that“both sides should nowquickly resolve the remain-ing issues along the LAC ineastern Ladakh” after the“successful” disengage-ment at the northern andsouthern banks of PangongTso lake. This was madeclear by external affairsminister S. Jaishankar in a75-minute phone call withChinese foreign ministerWang Yi on Thursday after-noon, when the two minis-ters also agreed to establisha hotline between them.

Mr Jaishankar told theChinese minister that

“bilateral relations havebeen impacted severelyover the last year”, addingin an obvious reference to— the deadly GalwanValley clash last June —that “disturbance of peaceand tranquility, includingby violence, will inevitablyhave a damaging impact onthe relationship”.

But seeking to put theblame on India, the Chineseforeign minister claimedthat “there has been somewavering and back-ped-alling in India’s China poli-cy, and practical coopera-tion between the two coun-tries has been affected”.

New Delhi, Feb. 26: :AsIndia gears up to vacci-nate peopleabove 60 yearsof age and those over 45years with comorbiditiesagainst Covid-19 fromMarch 1, the UnionHealth Ministry onFriday said the facility ofon-site registrations willbe available so that eligi-ble beneficiaries can walkinto identified vaccina-tion centres, get them-selves registered and getinoculated.

The beneficiaries will beable to self-register inadvance by downloadingthe Co-WIN 2.0 portal andthrough other IT applica-tions such as Arogya Setuetc whichwill list the gov-ernment and private hos-pitals serving as Covid-19vaccination centres(CVCs) with the date andtime of the availableschedules.

The beneficiary would

be able to choose the CVCof his/her choice andbook an appointment forimmunisation, the min-istry said.

Vaccination will be freeof charge at the govern-ment vaccination centres.Those taking the Covidvaccine at any designat-ed/empanelled privatehealth facility will haveto pay a pre-fixed charge,it said.

The Centre shared thisinformation with HealthSecretaries and MDs(National Health Mission)of states and UTs during ahigh-level meeting. — PTI

Covid-19 norms to be in force till March 31New Delhi, Feb 26: Thehome ministry Friday saidthe existing COVID-19guidelines will remain inforce till March 31.

In a statement, theMinistry of Home Affairs(MHA) said while there hasbeen a substantial declinein the active and new Covid-19 cases, there is need tomaintain surveillance, con-tainment and caution so asto fully overcome the pan-demic.

The states and union terri-tories have also beenadvised to speed up the vac-cination of the target popu-lation so as to break thechain of transmission andovercome the pandemic.

Accordingly, containment

zones continue to be demar-cated carefully; prescribedcontainment measuresstrictly followed withinthese zones; COVID-appro-priate behaviour promotedand strictly enforced; andthe Standard OperatingProcedures (SOPs) pre-scribed in respect of vari-ous permitted activities fol-lowed scrupulously, thehome ministry said.

Therefore, the focussedapproach on surveillance,containment and strictobservance of the guide-lines and SOPs, as envis-aged in the guidelinesissued on January 27 needto be enforced strictly bystates and union territories,it said. — PTI

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, FEB. 26

Just a fortnight after hisretirement from the RajyaSabha, senior Congressleader Ghulam Nabi Azadheaded to Jammu toaddress a series of publicmeetings. His outing isbeing seen as a show ofstrength to the party highcommand as several lead-ers who had written a letterto Congress presidentSonia Gandhi demanding

organisational changes areaccompanying him. Theseinclude Kapil Sibal, AnandSharma, Bhupinder SinghHooda, Vivek Tankha andManish Tewari.

Most of these leadershave been sidelined in theparty and none of them is

involved in preparing forAssembly elections inKerala, Tamil Nadu, WestBengal, Puducherry andAssam.

Mr Azad, who is wellversed with the working ofthe DMK, was not sent tonegotiate seat sharing.

Instead, Randeep Surjew-ala was. This has added tothe angst of Mr Hooda whowas hoping to get supportfrom the party to topple theKhattar government. MrAnand Sharma is also hurtas he was overlooked forthe post of Leader ofOpposition, which went toMallikarjun Kharge.

The change seekers in theparty realise that their“constructive suggestions”are being ignored. Evenafter a marathon meeting

with Ms Sonia Gandhi inthe last week of Decemberthere has been no move-ment.

The campaign for theupcoming Assembly elec-tions is being led by RahulGandhi. If the results are inthe Congress’ favour, it willbe a major boost for thehigh command. Else the G-23 will again ask for sweep-ing changes in the partyand this time they may justfind many more support-ers.

Prez Biden orders airstrikes in Syria,retaliating against Iran-backed militiasWashington, Feb. 26: TheUS military has struckIran-backed militias ineastern Syria, killing atleast 22 fighters accordingto a war monitor, in whatthe Pentagon said was amessage from the newadministration afterrecent rocket attacks tar-geting US troops in Iraq.

In its first military actionagainst Iran-linked groupssince Joe Biden became

president five weeks ago,the Pentagon said it hadcarried out air strikes Thu-rsday at a Syria-Iraq bor-der control point used byIran-backed groups, destr-oying “multiple facilities”.“At President Biden’sdirection”, the US raidstargeted “infrastructureutilised by Iranian-backedmilitant groups in easternSyria”", spokesman JohnKirby said. AFP � P5

���� The beneficiarywould be able tochoose the CVC ofhis/her choice andbook an appointmentfor immunisation, theministry said

���� The two foreignministers discussedthe situation alongthe LAC in easternLadakh and alsoissues related tooverall India-Chinarelations

���� The change seekers in the party realisethat their “constructive suggestions” arebeing ignored. Even after a marathon meet-ing with Ms Sonia Gandhi in the last week ofDecember there has been no movement

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, FEB. 26

Tamil Nadu ChiefElectoral Officer (CEO)Satyabrata Sahoo urged allgovernment secretaries todraw a line after the lastentry made in the GO regis-ter once the election dateswere announced to ensurethat there were no com-plaints of new schemesbeing announced or neworder issued in violation ofthe Model Code of Conduct.

In a letter to all govern-ment departments onFriday, Mr Sahoo said thatallegations are sometimesmade of the governmentissuing new orders andannouncing new schemeseven two days after the elec-tion dates are announced inthe media.

���� Issue of notification - March 12���� Last date of nomination - March 19���� Scrutiny of nomination - March 20���� Last date of withdrawal - March 22���� Date of polling - April 6���� Issue of notification: March 12

���� Date of polling: April 6

(234 seats, single phase)

P U D U C H E R R Y(30 seats, single phase)

���� Issue of notification: March 12���� Date of polling: April 16

Phase-1 (30 seats)Issue of notification:March 2Date of polling: March 27Phase-2 (30 seats)Date of polling: April 1Phase-3 (31 seats)Date of polling: April 6Phase-4 (44 seats)Date of polling: April 10

Phase-5 (45 seats)Date of polling: April 17Phase-6 (43 seats)Date of polling: April 22Phase-7 (36 seats)Date of polling: April 26Phase-8 (31 seats)Date of polling: April 29

K E R A L A(140 seats, single phase)

A S S A M(126 seats, 3 phases)

W E S T B E N G A L(294 seats, 8 phases)

STATE ELECTIONS

2021

Phase-1 (47 seats)Date of polling: March 27

Phase-3 (40 seats) Date of polling: April 6

Phase-2 (39 seats)Date of polling: April 1

RESULTS: MAY 2

T A M I L N A D U

11,37,80,919WORLD CONFIRMED CASES

STATE GOVERNMENT BULLETINS

CASES

(+16,019)1,10,79,094

(+481)TN: 8,50, 577

DEATHS

(+109) 1,56,970

12,488

25,23,695219

DEATHS

COUNTRIES,AREAS WITH

CASES

CORONA C UNT

worldometers.info

covid19india.org

CITY pg 2DECCAN CHRONICLE | SATURDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2021 | CHENNAI

SHORT TAKESCMRL honours

2 staff for savinglife of passenger

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, FEB. 26

The Chennai Metro Rail Limitedhas honoured two of its empl-oyees for saving the life of a pass-enger during a health emergency.

The incident happened on atrain moving through NehruPark-Egmore metro stationstretch last Wednesday. Trainoperator P.M. Rajeev andEgmore metro station controllerJ. Rajesh provided first aid to theailing passenger and conveyedthe information to the operationcontrol centre by making sure ofmedical help at the approachingstation. They also helped to rushthe passenger to a nearby hospi-tal from Egmore station. The duoswung into action after a co-pas-senger informed them throughthe passenger emergency inter-com in the train. CMRL MDPradeep Yadav applauded theirselfless efforts by giving cashawards and certificates of appre-ciation. Finance directorSujatha Jayaram, projects direc-tor Rajeev Narayan Dwivedi andSystems and operations directorRajesh Chaturvedi were present.

J. STALIN I DCCHENNAI, FEB. 26

Considering the serious-ness of the allegations andthe involvement of gov-ernment officials, theMadras high court hastransferred to CB-CID theinvestigation into a com-plaint that one FarooqAhmed had colluded withgovernment servants andmisappropriated compen-sation of more than Rs 1crore in a land acquisitioncase of a property inThiruvarur district, in theabsence of the owners ofthe property, who are set-tled in Malaysia and with-out their knowledge, byfurnishing bogus docu-

ments.Disposing of a petition

filed by Syed Syameer andthree others, Justice N.Anand Venkatesh directedthe additional directorgeneral of police, CB-CIDto form a team headed byan officer not less than therank of assistant commis-sioner to conduct the inve-stigation in this case. “Theinvestigation shall be con-ducted effectively and allthe accused persons shallbe brought to book and thefinal report shall be filedas expeditiously as possi-ble”, the judge added.

The petitioners’ counselAbudukumar Rajarath-inam submitted that thepetitioners are joint own-

ers of a large extent ofland in Thiruvarur dis-trict. They are settled inMalaysia and in order tomaintain the propertiesthey had appointed oneFarooq Ahmed as theagent to take care of theproperties. Taking advan-tage of their absence,Farooq Ahmed is said tohave executed bogus docu-ments in favour of thirdparties and also misappro-priated the amount. Thatapart, one of the proper-ties became a subject mat-ter of land acquisition andin so far as surveyno.109/5 is concerned,there was no power grant-ed in favour of FarooqAhmed to deal with this

property. In spite of thesame, Farooq Ahmed col-luded with governmentservants and managed tomisappropriate the com-pensation amount of morethan one crore. On comingto know the same, the peti-tioners lodged a complaintwith the local police in theyear 2016. But there wasno response. Hence, theyfiled a petition and thiscourt had directed thepolice to register an FIRand conduct the investiga-tion. Despite the same, noFIR was registered. There-fore the petitioners havefiled the present petition,seeking for transfer of in-vestigation, Abudukumaradded.

HC transfers Thiruvarurland case to CB-CID

Puducherryreports 20 newCovid-19 cases

Puducherry, Feb. 26: TheCovid-19 tally in the union terri-tory of Puducherry rose to39,697 on Monday with the addi-tion of 20 new cases, the HealthDepartment said.

No fatalities were reportedand the toll remained at 667.

A total of 1,648 samples weretested in the last 24 hours end-ing 10 AM, taking the cumula-tive number of specimensexamined so far to 6.25 lakh,Health and Family WelfareServices Director S MohanKumar said in a release. Therewere 194 active cases after therecovery of 23 patients duringthe period. In all, 38,836 peoplehave been cured of the virus inthe union territory. Puducherryand Mahe each accounted forseven cases, while Yanam hadfour and Karaikal, two. — PTI

Several passengers wait at a bus stop on the second day of bus strike in Chennai onFriday. — DC

DC OORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, FEB. 26

The Madras high courthas suggested to the TamilNadu government to forma high-power committeecomprising able adminis-trators with vast experi-ence to evolve properparameters and proce-dures for appointing headsof departments or anyhigh or equivalent posts.

Justice V. Parthibanmade the suggestion while

setting aside the proceed-ings of the labour and

employment departmentdated October 6, 2020, pro-moting M.V. SenthilKumar, additional directorof industrial safety andhealth, as director for theyear 2019-2020.

Allowing the petitionfiled by R. Rajasekaran,additional director, chal-lenging the GO promotingSenthil Kumar, the judgedirected the authorities tofill up the post of directorby appointing the petition-er as in-charge director,

till a regular selection isconducted and appointedfollowing the suggestionsof this court.

Pointing out the proce-dural lapses and an incom-plete annual confidentialrecords(ACRs), by whichthe selection was made oninter se merit and ability,the judge set aside the GO.

Finding that ACRs do notcontain the remarks of theaccepting authority, thejudge said there cannot betwo opinions that the

ACRs would be construedas valid materials for thepurpose of present assess-ment only if the acceptingauthority makes his finalremarks. In the absence ofthe accepting authority,the ACRs have to be divest-ed of its relevance, asbeing inchoate, incom-plete and resultantly,invalid basis on which theinter se could be premised.When the additional advo-cate general was confront-ed on this aspect, it was

admitted that in the case ofthese officers, the accept-ing authority was the chiefsecretary and due to hisposition, and being hardpressed for time, the ACRsof the officers never usedto be placed before him forhis views.

“This court, at this, ismore astonished thanimpressed by the unfortu-nate explanation from thegovernment side”, thejudge said.

The judge added, “This

court is aghast as to howthe government could runits higher administrationwith such poor under-standing of the legalimperatives and require-ments that need to beadhered to before proceed-ing with the appointmentsto higher posts of adminis-trative service.

It is trite law to hold thatuncommunicated adverseremarks cannot be reliedand acted upon by theadministration.

Aries: Your creative talents gives family thereason to smile. Positive family relationshipsare built on quality time, communication,teamwork and appreciation of each other.Taurus: Blessings from elders are likely to makea big difference in life. Pending projects get anew lease of life as you get monetary help. Hightime to adjust emotions in love .

Cancer: Better to work in close coordinationwith others to achieve targets. Success inrecovering blocked/pending payment is on thecard.Leo: You are likely to devote time to arm yourself with a successful track record in highly competitive situation. You will succeedin providing timely help to others.Virgo: Getting rid from negative thinking willbring an improvement in health. Set targetsenables to achieve professional objectives. Alucrative moneymaking opportunity is likelyto come your way.

Pisces: Unexpected monetary gains are expected today. Changes concerning financialand legal matters will be to your benefit. Workhard to make the most of your hours.

Your day today

Kate Mara is an American actress. She is known forher roles in the telvision series and films like House of

Cards, American Horror Story: Murder House, Pose,Random Hearts, Shooter amongst others.

You share your b’day with

COFFEE-BREAK

Across6. Famous (10)8. Fire stirrer (5)

10. Hillside stones (5)13. Ready to betray (11)14. Planet (5)17. Principal (5)19. Launch (10)

Down1. Apex (4)

2. Equal (4)3. Flower (4)4. Agitate (4)5. Foe (9)7. Indifferent (9)9. Compel payment of (5)

11. About (5)12. Unit of electrical resistance (3)15. Wander (4)16. Colossal (4)17. Additional (4)18. Rough fibre (4)

QUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

Across: 1. Slalom, 3.Grip, 7. Alps, 8.Useful, 10. Harmful,13. Memento, 16.Septic, 17. Acme, 18.Pure, 19. Savour.

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TODAY’S RATINGS: 11 AVERAGE; 13GOOD; 15 OUTSTANDING

Word Mine

WR U N

E T I N T

By Dr C.V.B. Subrahmanyam

The Senior Life Master,sitting beside a roaringfire, was feeling drowsy.

However, when someonecame to warm himself, theSLM immediately perked up.

“Pull up a chair, youngman. Sit down. The duplicatewon’t start for a few min-utes.”

After the man had settledhimself, the SLM gave him apiece of paper with theseNorth and South hands writ-ten on it.

When this deal was played

a few decades ago (continuedthe SLM), North was ReginaldDeschanel. He was a hand-some fellow, not unlike your-self. South was FionaFontescue-ffynnes, the firstgood bridge player Reginaldhad dated.

Fiona opened one heart.Following Reginald’s singleraise, she jumped straight togame. After West had led thespade king, Fiona was facedwith four apparently unavoid-able losers: one spade, twohearts and one club. She won-

dered how she might reducethis total by one.

As you have probablynoticed, there was but onechance. After winning withthe spade ace, Fiona playedon diamonds. When theybroke 3-3, as she needed,Fiona led her last diamondand discarded dummy'sspade jack.

East ruffed with the heartseven, but when Fionaregained the lead, she playeda trump, the ace and kingtumbling with a metaphoric

crash.Reginald was so impressed

that after the session he pro-posed. Fiona accepted withalacrity, and I understandthey are still happily playingbridge together somewherein Florida.

The SLM looked up, expect-ing some comment from theyoung man, but he hadalready moved into the cardroom.

Copyright United Feature Syndicate

(Asia Features)

bridge

PHILLIPALDER

THE SETTING

TRICK THATDISAPPEARED

jumble

A L V I N A N D H O B B E S | B i l l W a t t e r s o n

B L O N D I E | D e a n Y o u n g a n d J o h n M a r s h a l l

A N D Y C A P P | R e g S m y t h e

T A R Z A N | E d g a r R i c e B u r r o u g h s

T H E W I Z A R D O F I D | P a r k e r a n d H a r t s d

A R C H I E | B i l l H e n r y S c a r p e l l i & c r a i g b o l d m a n

How many words of four ormore letters can you make from

the letters shown in today’spuzzle? In making a word, eachletter may be used once only.Each word must contain the

letter at the top of the pyramid.There should be at least one

nine letter word. Plurals, foreignwords and proper names are

not allowed.

Sagittarius: You are likely to go for physicalpleasure rather than experiencing the reallove. You are likely to take a bold step bygetting rid of alcohol.

Capricorn: At work you feel a sense of achievement on completion of a challengingassignment. Investing money in schemeswould enable to satisfy financial expectations.

Aquarius: When you love someone and they don’t love you back, it can feel like your world isending. Respect their feelings, don’t hurt them.Special care of parental health will be required.

Scorpio: Your strong will power would prevent chronic ailments from reoccurring.For some too much workload could force tolose temper. Don’t make false promises.

ANSWERS: newt, twin, twine, twit, unwire,UNWRITTEN, went, wine, winner, winter, wire, wren,writ, write, written

Libra: To survive at workplace make sure you prepare yourself with new media understanding. Earning handsome profits in property dealing is on the card.

Gemini: You get an opportunity to work in anorganisation providing a perfect blend ofexcitement and challenges to bring best outof you. Plan something romantic.

HC moots high-power panel to help top appointments

Chennai woman nabbed withgelatine sticks and detonatorsDC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, FEB. 26

A Railway Protection For-ce team took into custodya woman from the Man-galuru-bound ChennaiExpress in the early hoursof Friday, after a bag con-taining 117 gelatine sticksand 350 detonators were

found under her seat.The RPF attached to the

Palakkad division madethe seizure just before thetrain reached Kozhikoderailway station.

According to police, theChennai woman after ini-tially denying knowledgeabout the bag, later admit-ted she was going to

Thalassery and was carry-ing the explosives to beused during digging ofwells.

The police and the RPF,however, have decided toquestion and probe thecase in detail. The womanis likely to be taken toShornur for further inves-tigation and questioning.

DC CORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, FEB. 26

Two people were killed andtwo others were injured afterthe speeding car in whichthey were travelling crashedinto a tree near Vadapathi onTiruchy-Chennai nationalhighway early on Fridaymorning , the police said.

The victims ,Shanmugasundaram (60) andVincentbabu ( 58) ,Balasubramanian ( 56) and

Krishnan (55) , businessmenfrom Chennai, were returningto the city from Coimbatorewhen the accident happened.

In the early hours of Friday,due to a very low visibility onTiruchy-Chennai highway,the man behind the wheel lostcontrol of the vehicle andallegedly rammed into a treeand then flipped. The fourmen inside the car sufferedsevere injuries. The passersbyalerted the ambulances andthe local police.

Police said thatShanmugasundaram andVincentbabu died on way tothe hospital. The other two areundergoing treatment at theChengalpet government hos-pital. The bodies of thedeceased have been sent forpost-mortem.

Padalam police registered acase and began an investiga-tion. Police said that the acci-dent happened due to fog for-mation on the highway in theearly hours.

Twokilled as car

crashesinto tree

Strike effect

STATE pg 3DECCAN CHRONICLE | SATURDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2021 | CHENNAI

SHORT TAKES

A young woman, Sangeetha,hailing from Bharathiar Nagar,Salavanpet, Vellore, staged aprotest on Friday morning withher child in front of thewomen's police station, AnnaRoad, Vellore seeking policesupport to restore her husbandto her. The woman complainedto the police that she marriedone Sathyamoorthy, a worker ina paper mill, also a local 'Suryafan club' leader in 2014. The cou-ple lived with their two chil-dren. But at a point,Sathyamoorthy used to oftenvisit Bengaluru in the pretext ofwork, and developed intimacywith another woman there.Distraught Sangeetha had lastmonth attempted self-immola-tion in front of the Vellore SPoffice. —K.Senthil Nathan

ZAKEER HHUSSAIN|DCSALEM, FEB. 26

Chief Minister EdappadiK. Palaniswami on Fridayannounced here thatthree-phase power wouldbe provided to farmers for24 hours from April 1, onthe sidelines of inaugurat-ing the ‘Sarabanga LiftIrrigation’ project here atThippampatti. The ChiefMinister also laid thefoundation stone for 23projects at the cost of `5.36crore and inaugurated 36completed projects worth`62.63 crore.

“Based on farmers’request, this scheme wasimplemented in a shortperiod,” said the ChiefMinister. “I made anannouncement about thescheme on July 15, 2019. Intwo years, this scheme wasimplemented at the cost of`565 crore. Flood watersfrom Mettur dam will bepumped at Thippampattimain pumping station

from where water will betaken to a lake in M Kalipatti villagethrough pipelines, andfrom there throughVellalapuram andKannantheri sub-pumpingstations water will be sentto 42 lakes. Likewise, fromThippampatti main pumping station, 31 lakeswill be filled viaNangavalli. Totally, 4,238acres of farm lands in 40villages under eight pan-chayat unions will be irri-gated and drinking waterneeds of 38 villages will bemet. The total need ofwater for this project ishalf TMC. About 214cusecs of water is pro-posed to be pumped for 30days,” the chief ministeradded.

He also thanked formerchief secretary KShanmugam for playing avital role in the project.

“Besides solving theCauvery water dispute, weannounced the delta

region as ‘ProtectedSpecial Agricultural Zone’and waived crop loans of`12,110 crore of 16.43 lakhfarmers. Usually, politicalparties will mention the request ofthe public in their electionmanifesto. But we have addressed theirgrievances before the elections. During thedrought, we gave `2,247 crore as droughtrelief. We got `9,257 croreunder the crop insurancescheme and gave it tofarmers in the past fouryears,” he pointed out.

“Due to increase inpaddy yield last year, weprocured 32.41 lakh metrictonnes through govern-ment paddy procurementcentres. Through theKudimaramathu scheme,we desilted lakes andponds all over the stateand saved rain water dur-ing the monsoon. For bestwater management, wereceived a national award

for the year 2019-20. Welaid the foundation stonefor Cauvery-Gundar proj-ect at the cost of `14,400crore in Pudukottai dis-trict,” the chief ministeradded.

“To rehabilitate and reju-venate Cauvery river, theproject report forNadanthai Vazhi Cauveri’project at the cost of Rs.10,711 was prepared andsent for the Centre’sapproval, following whichit will be implemented forpeople to get clean drink-ing water and also for irri-gation. Our governmentwill construct concretehouses for farm labourersalso,” the chief ministerdeclared.

Principal secretary,PWD, K. Manivasagam,Collector S.A. Raman, MPN Chandrasekaran, statecooperative bank chair-man R. Elangovan, MLAsS Semmalai, Vettrivel,Raja and former ministerC Ponnaiyan, participated.

Round-the-clock three-phasepower for farmers: Edappadi

Pondy LG getstwo advisersNew Delhi, Feb.26: OutgoingCRPF chief A P Maheshwariand former DoPT secretary CChandramouli have beenappointed as advisers to thelieutenant governor (LG) ofpoll-bound Puducherry, anorder issued by the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs(MHA) said on Friday.

Telangana GovernorTamilisai Soundararajan wasgiven the additional charge ofPuducherry after incumbent LGKiran Bedi was removed fromher post by a presidential orderlast week.

The two appointments werebeing made with "immediateeffect", the order issued by theMHA said. Maheshwari, a 1984-batch Indian Police Service(IPS) officer of the UttarPradesh cadre, will superannu-ate as the director general ofthe Central Reserve PoliceForce (CRPF) on February 28.He has earlier served in thehome ministry as the specialsecretary (internal security).Chandramouli, a 1985-batchIndian Administrative Service(IAS) officer of the Tamil Naducadre, has earlier served as theregistrar general and the censuscommissioner of the country.He retired as the secretary ofthe Department of Personneland Training (DoPT) inSeptember last year. —PTI

DC CCORRESPONDENTCHENNAI, FEB. 26

The State Human RightsCommission (SHRC) onFriday directed the principalsecretary, department ofhome, prohibition andexcise, and the DGP to file adetailed report in connectionwith a senior IPS officerallegedly preventing awoman IPS officer from fil-ing a complaint against spe-cial DGP Rajesh Das for sexu-

ally harassing her.Based on a newspaper

report, SHRC judge D Jayac-handran directed the princi-pal secretary and DGP to filea report in two weeks.

According to the report, thewoman SP was allegedly sex-ually harassed by Rajesh Dasrecently. She was proceedingto Chennai in a car on theTiruchy-Chennai highway tolodge a complaint with thehome secretary againstRajesh Das. Chengalpat

superintendent of police D.Kannan allegedly preventedand intimidated her whileshe was going to the head-quarters to file the complaintagainst Rajesh Das.

At Chengalpat toll plaza,Kannan intercepted her offi-cial vehicle with his strikeforce and directed them toremove the keys of her car.Later, he told the victim thatshe should not file a com-plaint against Rajesh Das.When she refused, Kannan

insisted her to talk to RajeshDas on the phone before pro-ceeding further.

When she warned Kannanthat she would a complaintagainst him, he handed overthe vehicle key and w-ithdrew. Prior to this RajeshDas had also reportedlyasked the superintendents ofpolice of Kallakurichi andVillupuram districts to stopher while she was proceedingto Chennai. However, theydid not obey Rajesh Das.

SHRC notice on preventing woman IPS officer complaining against DGP

Hundreds of people took a holy dip in the Mahamaham tank at the temple town ofKumbakonam in view of the Masi Maham festival on Friday. Masi Maham is celebrated in maha nakshatra in the Tamil month of Masi every year, and MahaMaham is celebrated once in 12 years. Principal deities of 12 Siva temples includingAbhimukheswarar temple, Kasi Viswanathar temple and Gautameswarar templeassembled on the banks of the tank in the morning, and theerthavari took place.People took a holy dip from morning till evening. Car festival of Chakkarapani temple was held on Friday. The float festival of Sarangapani temple was held at‘potramarai kulam’. —DC

National MedicalCommission will bringgreat transparency: PM Chennai, Feb 26: The gov-ernment is transformingthe entire medical educa-tion and healthcare sectorand the National MedicalCommission would bringgreat transparency, PrimeMinister Narendra Modisaid on Friday.

"Friends we are trans-forming the entire medicaleducation and healthcaresector," he said addressingthe 33rd convocation of thestate-run Tamil Nadu DrMGR Medical Universitythrough video conferenc-ing.

The National MedicalCommission would bringgreat transparency andalso rationalise norms toset up new medical col-leges, he noted. "It will alsoimprove the quality andavailability ofhuman resources in thissector." During the last sixyears, MBBS seatsincreased by more than30,000, which is a rise ofmore than 50 per cent from2014. The number ofPost Graduate seatsincreased by 24,000 whichis a rise of around 80 percent from 2014. In 2014, there were six AIIMS in the country."In the last six years, wehave approved 15 more AIIMS across thecountry." —PTI

B. RRAVICHANDRAN|DCOOTY, FEB. 26

Tribal farmers here arebeing trained on soil andwater conservation meas-ures and post-harvest andvalue-addition technolo-gies.

The Indian Institute ofSoil and Water Conservati-on, Research Centre (IISW-CRC) here, organized the tr-aining programme on ‘Soil

and water conservationmeasures, post harvest andvalue addition’, at Semma-narai tribal hamlet at Ko-tagiri under the Tribal SubPlan (TSP) in associationwith Nilgiri Adivasi Wel-fare Association (NAWA).

At the inauguration, Dr. P.Sundarambal, principalscientist, IISWC-RC andtraining

coordinator, explained thevarious activities carried

out under TSP and aboutthe training programme.Around 32 farmers from 12tribal villages likeKolikarai, Kolitorai,Semmanarai and

Kambayur participated inthe programme. Dr.Kannan, principal scientistand head, IISWC-RC, in hispresidential addressbriefed about the TSP activ-ities carried out in the past.He also emphasized the

importance of conserva-tion of soil and waterresources in the hillyregions under the changingclimatic scenario.

N. Chandran, assistantdirector, horticulture here,in his address highlightedthe importance of conserv-ing vital natural resourceslike soil and water throughorganic farming for sus-tainable agriculture in thehilly regions. He also reit-

erated that value additionis essential for plantationscrops, fruit and vegetablecrops grown in the region.

A technical session wasalso convened in which lec-tures were delivered on top-ics like role of cover cropsin soil and water conserva-tion, soil and water conser-vation measures in tea and

vegetable crops, organicfarming practices for soiland water conservation,

post-harvest and valueaddition in commercialhorticulture crops andvalue addition in indige-nous fruits and vegetablecrops.

The technical session wasfollowed by a field visit to aprogressive farmer’s fieldwhere participants wereexposed to various soil andwater conservation prac-tices adopted in plantationand vegetable crops.

Tribal farmers get soil, water conservation training

DC CCORRESPONDENTCHENNNAI, FEB. 26

A Public Interest Litigation hasbeen filed in the Madras highcourt to direct authorities torefrain from disturbing or alter-ing the Perumpalla Odai atKathirampatti village in Erodedistrict in the name of smartcity scheme.

A division bench comprisingJustices R.Subbiah and SathiKumar Sukumara Kurup beforewhom the PIL filed by Iyarkai

Valam Matrum Perumpalla OdaiPathukappu Nala Sangam repre-sented by its president K . S h a n m u g a s u n d a r a m , came up for hearing, ordered notice to the state gov-ernment and the Erode districtcollector and posted after oneweek, further hearing of thecase.

According to the petitioner, hefiled a petition to remove theencroachments made in andaround Odai and obtained aninterim order. The authorities

also had removed some of theencroachments. While so, theErode district has been selectedfor smart city scheme and theauthorities have started takingsteps to acquire the PerumpallaOdai.The authorities haveplanned to raise walls on bothsides of the Perumpalla Odai,which in turn reduces the widthof the Odai. They have alsoplanned to affix paver blocks onthe sides of the Odai in order tomake it as a pathway in the nameof making the Erode city beauti-

ful, but the ulterior motive wasto acquire the parts of thePerumpalla Odai and refrainfrom removing the encroach-ment already made on it, healleged.

He said the act of the authori-ties was against the teeth ofthe interim order dated December 16, 2015, whichsaid there shall not be any per-mission to make any construc-tion in any manner on the waterbodies anywhere in the entirestate of Tamil Nadu. But the

authorities were going aheadand started acquiring both sidesof the Perumpalla Odai. Theyhave been taking steps to affixpaver blocks and form a pathwayon the same in the name ofsmart city scheme. If the length and width of the Odai was altered, it will create hin-drance to the free flow ofwater and as a result, agricul-ture would suffer. The farmersin the nearby villages weredependent on this Odai and ifboth sides of the Odai were

acquired then the poor farmerswill be left with either scarcity ofwater or over flow ofwater, which will in turn damage the crops. Not only thefarmers but also the nearbyhouseholds will be damaged asduring the flow of water if bothsides of the Odai were blockedthen the only way for the run-ning water was to enter the houses. Therefore, he sent representations to the authori-ties. But there was no response, he added.

PIL to refrain from altering Perumpalla odai in Erode under smart city scheme

Lawyers boycott court Perambalur, Feb.26: Most of the advocates in the dis-trict court here boycotted court proceedings on Fridaycondemning the Tamil Nadu Additional DirectorGeneral Of Police (Law and order) Rajesh Das, who wasrecently accused of allegedly torturing a woman policeofficial for sexual favours. In a release here, president, Perambalur bar associa-

tion, Valluvan Nambi, said they also wanted that basedon the victim’s complaint, a case should be registeredagainst Rajesh Das, and a enquiry held in a fair manneron the issue, besides ensuring safety to the womenpolice personnel, he added. — DC

DMK president M.K.Stalin pays last respects to senior CPI leader D. Pandian who passed away in Rajiv Gandhi GovernmentGeneral Hospital in Chennai on Friday morning after two days of hospitalisation. —DC

Tiruchy, Feb 26: Sarat Yadav,president, All India LokTantrik Janata Dal party, hasnominated a seven-member‘Atchi Mandra Kuzhu’ underthe leadership of party’s sen-ior leader M Sampath ofKancheepuram to deal withall issues and also take appro-priate decisions on the party’sstand in the forthcoming elec-tion to the state assembly bythe state unit of the LokTantrik Janata Dal.

Party’s state president K.Rajasekaran said in a releasehere on Friday that othermembers of the committeeare the party's principal gen-eral secretary, N. Govindaraj,state treasurer A. Sivasubra-manian, vice-presidents, K.C.Arumugam, of Tiruchy, S.C.Duraisamy, general secretaryC.M. Rajasekaran, and party’sKanyakumari district presi-dent, Devarajan. Committeemember N. Govindaraj willfunction as committee’s coor-dinator, Rajasekaran added.

LJD president nominates7-member group for polls

ARULOLI MM || DDCTHOOTHUKUDI, FEB. 26

The one-man commis-sion probing the anti-Sterlite protest policefiring in May 2018,ruled out Rajinikant’srequest to permit himto testify before thecommission throughvideo-conferencing.

The commission isfirm in its stand tosummon the super-star, who had made astatement that vio-lence erupted due tothe intrusion of anti-social elements in theanti-Sterlite rally thatresulted in the policefiring, which claimed13 lives, saidCommission advocateArul Vadivel Sekar.“If Rajinikant hasany problem comingto Thoothukudi fordeposition, he may begiven a chance to givehis witness statementbefore the chairmanof the commission,Justice ArunaJegadeesan at thecamp office inChennai,” addedadvocate Arul Vadivel

Sekar.Having registered

640 witnesses andnotified a total of1,089 documents so far in its 25enquiry sessions, thecommission is tosummon 40 menaccused by the CBI tohave been involved inthe violence, in itsnext session ofenquiry inThoothukudi on com-ing March 15. Theinjured policemen inthe riots also wouldbe summoned for dep-osition.

Higher revenue andpolice officers includ-ing Thoothukudi col-lector and districtpolice superintendentin service on the dayof the riot, would besummoned by thecommission forenquiry in its finalsessions, said theadvocate.

Around 400 more persons have been identified to be sum-moned by the commission in theupcoming sessions,he added.

Rajini’s evidence a must,not an option, rules panel

MASI MAHAM DIP

Corporation Commissioner P.Kumaravel Pandian flagsoff boat ride in Ukkadam big tank as part of SmartCity scheme on Friday. —DC

NATION pg 4DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | SATURDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2021

SHORT TAKES

CAMPAIGNINGFOR GUJ LOCAL

POLLS ENDSAhmedabad, Feb. 26:Campaigning for polls to vari-ous local bodies of Gujaratended on Friday evening withvoting scheduled for February28. Counting of votes for elec-tions to 81 municipalities, 31district panchayats and 231taluka panchayats will takeplace on March 2, a release bythe State Election Commissionsaid.

While the BJP is riding highafter winning all six civic cor-poration polls held recently,the Congress believes the hikein fuel prices and public disen-chantment with the rulingparty will turn the tide.

On the last day of campaign-ing, Gujarat BJP president C RPaatil led a road show inNavsari, while Leader ofOpposition in the Assembly,Paresh Dhanani, took part in amotorcycle rally in Amreli.

Aam Aadmi Party head andDelhi chief minister ArvindKejriwal sought votes during aroad show in Surat.

For the first time, the AllIndia Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen has fielded candi-dates in minority-dominatedseats in Godhra, Modasa andBharuch municipalities, withparty chief Asaduddin Owaisiholding public gatherings inModasa and Godhra two daysago.

State Director General ofPolice Ashish Bhatia said over44,000 policemen, includingState Reserve Police and 12companies of CAPF, alongwith 54,000 homeguards willbe deployed on February 28 toensure incident-free voting in23,000 booths.

Sonarpur (WB), Feb. 26:Riding a scooter, Union minis-ter Smriti Irani led a rally ofthe BJP on Friday as she cam-paigned for the upcoming WestBengal elections in the South24 Parganas district.

Taking part in the BJP’sstate-wide ‘Poriborton Yatra’,Irani along with BJP MPRoopa Ganguly and AgnimitraPaul began the campaign inGangajoara near Garia on theparty’s ‘rath’ - a bus decked upwith slogans and photos of theleaders.

After covering a short dis-tance, the minister got downfrom the ‘rath’ and took to ascooter, wearing a black hel-met and a mask.

“When we began the ‘rathyatra’ on Friday, the adminis-tration deliberately tried todelay it. We will ride two-wheelers, walk on foot becauseWest Bengal is on the marchtowards change,” Irani said.

Enthused by the minister'sspontanity, scores of BJPworkers followed Irani on two-wheelers, chanting “Jai ShriRam” and “Khela Hobey”,meaning 'game on' - a sloganfirst raised by the TrinamoolCongress, which has nowbecome the catchphrase ofthis election season.

ON BIKE, IRANILEADS RALLY FOR

WB POLLS

Kolkata, Feb. 26:Questioning the eight-phase assembly electionsin West Bengal, ChiefMinister MamataBanerjee said on Fridaythat she suspects that thedates were announced asper the suggestions ofPrime Minister NarendraModi and Home MinisterAmit Shah for better man-agement of the BJP’s pollcampaign.

Addressing a press con-ference at her residence inKalighat, Banerjee saidthe Election Commissionshould not look at the state“through the eyes of thesaffron camp” a referenceto the BJP.

“With all due respect tothe Election Commission,I want to say that ques-tions are being raised onwhy elections will be heldin so many phases inBengal while other stateswill be voting in onephase. If EC doesn’t pro-vide justice to the people,where will the people go,”she said.

“I request the ElectionCommission to considerWest Bengal as their ownstate,” the TrinamoolCongress chief said.

Banerjee also raisedquestions on the way thephases were divided.

“They have divided ourstronghold districts suchas South 24 Parganas andNorth 24 Parganas intothree parts. This isunprecedented,” she said.

Banerjee said thatdespite “all these tricks”,she will win the elections.

“I have information frommy sources that the polldates are similar to theones BJP wanted. Have thedates been announced asper Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah’s sug-gestions? The PM and thehome minister cannotmisuse their power for thestate elections,” she

added. Banerjee alsourged the EC to stop themisuse of money power.

“The Union home minis-ter should work for thecountry. He cannot misusehis powers for the elec-tions here. We welcomethe PM, but he cannot mis-use his powers for WestBengal polls,” she said.

Her comments came justminutes after the ElectionCommission announcedthat voting for the fiveassembly elections willbegin on March 27, withWest Bengal having themaximum eight phasescontinuing till April 29,while counting of votes forthe four states and oneUnion Territory will be onMay 2. Cautioning the

Centre against “misuse ofpower”, Banerjee said itwould prove detrimental

for the BJP. “Centre can’tmisuse their powers for astate election. If they do it,then it will be a big blun-der and they will have toface the music. We arecommon people, we willfight our battle. I requestthe EC to stop the misuseof money. BJP has sentmoney to all the districtsthrough agencies,” shealleged.

Banerjee also took excep-tion over the EC appoint-ing two special policeobservers for West Bengal- Vivek Dubey and M KDas. “Vivek Dubey is thesame man who was theobserver for Bengal dur-ing the 2019 Lok Sabhapolls. We all know the rolehe had then played then,”

she said. Banerjee said sheis the daughter of the stateand knows Bengal betterthan the BJP, exuding con-fidence about her partyTrinamool Congress win-ning the elections.

Banerjee’s allegationsdrew sharp reactions fromthe BJP, which allegedthat she is perplexed overthe eight-phase electionsas her party won’t be ableto intimidate the voters.

“Why is she so worriedabout eight-phase elec-tions? Is she worriedbecause TMC goons won’tbe able to influence theelections? We welcome theEC's decision for eight-phase elections to ensurefree and fair polls,” BJPleader Rahul Sinha said.

New Delhi, Feb. 26: Everyoneon election duty for theupcoming polls for five assem-blies will be vaccinatedagainst Covid-19 before pollingday, the Election Commissionsaid on Friday.

Voting will take place for 126seats in Assam, 234 in TamilNadu, 294 in West Bengal, 140in Kerala and 30 inPuducherry.

Nearly 18.68 crore electorswill be eligible to vote at 2.7lakh polling stations for 824seats in five assembly elec-tions, Chief ElectionCommissioner Sunil Arorasaid at a press conferencehere.

Arrangements will be put inplace for candidates to filetheir nominations online forthe five assembly polls. Votingwill be allowed for an addition-al hour, keeping in mindCovid-19 safety guidelines, hesaid.

Also, webcasting arrange-ments will be in place atpolling stations in critical andvulnerable areas, while ade-quate CAPF (Central ArmedPolice Forces) deployment willbe ensured for the assemblypolls, Arora said. All criticaland vulnerable areas havebeen identified and advanceteams have been alreadydeployed across all four statesand one union territoryPuducherry going to the polls,he added.

He said door-to-door cam-paigning will be restricted tofive persons, including thecandidate, while roadshowswill be allowed with a maxi-mum of five vehicles.

EVERYONE ONPOLL DUTY TO GETCOVID-19 VACCINE

Mamata questions 8-phaseelections in West BengalAre poll dates announced as per suggestions of Modi, Shah, asks Didi

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addresses a press conference at Kalighat in Kolkata on Friday. Shehas taken exception over the EC appointing two special police observers for West Bengal. - PTI

GILVESTER ASSARY | DCTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,FEB. 26

With the ElectionCommission announcingsingle phase poll forKerala on April 6, theprincipal parties are leftwith just 38 days fordevising strategies,selecting candidates andventuring out on theground to campaign.

The three major Fronts;CPM-led ruling LDF,opposition Congress-ledUDF and BJP-led NDAwhich were going slow oncandidate selection, willhave to expedite theprocess and introducetheir contestants beforethe electorate at the earli-est.

The CPM district com-mittees have alreadyfinalized the preliminarylist of candidates whichwill vetted by state com-mittee, the UDF hasdecided to prepare the listwithin in a week whilethe BJP-NDA also plansto do it by next week.

The ruling LDF is mak-ing an all out attempt torepeat 2016 victory, some-thing which is consideredimpossible for any Frontin the state. The LDFunder former chief min-ister V.S. Achuthanandancame very close to doing arepeat in 2011, when itwon 68 seats leaving theUDF with a majority ofjust four seats includingSpeaker. However, in thelast elections the LDFsecured a clear majoritywinning 91 seats and theUDF got only 47 and BJP1. However, this time itsgoing to be a tight contestwith the UDF giving atough fight to the rulingFront.

The LDF is fighting theelections on the govern-ment’s performance.Infrastructure develop-ment projects, nationalhighway widening, gaspipeline, social security

initiative including wel-fare pension for the poorand marginalized andration kits for familiesduring Covid pandemicare some of the achieve-ments it is highlightingamong the electorate.

The UDF on the otherhand is focusing on hefailures of the govern-ment, corruption, goldsmuggling case involvingchief minister’s formerprincipal secretary,money laundering, back-door appointments andunemployment. But thelatest issue regarding theclandestine MoU signedwith an American compa-ny for `5000 cr deep seatrawling project is seenby the UDF as their trumpcard in polls. There are 40constituencies in thecoastal belt and about 10constituencies lying closeto coastal areas. Of thesethe LDF had won 30 in thelast elections. The UDFcould bag only nine.

The UDF has scaled upthe campaign against theMoU which has now beenscrapped, accusing theLDF of plotting the sellout of precious marinewealth to US company.The UDF is taking out twojathas from March 1,along the Kerala coast tocampaign on the issue.

The LDF is wary of UDFcampaign. It has decidedto organise public meet-ings in coastal areas tocontain the damage.

The BJP-led NDA whichhad secured nearly 15 percent votes in the last elec-tions and managed toopen its account in KeralaAssembly, is trying hardto expand its base.

Kerala: UDF hopesto return to power,CPM repeat win

● ● THE CPM district com-mittees have alreadyfinalized the preliminarylist of candidates whichwill vetted by state com-mittee, the UDF hasdecided to prepare thelist within in a week.

● ● ELECTIONS FOR theWest Bengal assembly willbe held in eight phases,up from seven last time.

● ● AFTER HAVING a limit-ed presence in the politi-cally polarised state fordecades, the BJP hasemerged as the TMC’smain rival over the lastcouple of years, managingto win 18 out 42 seats inthe Lok Sabha polls of2019 and following it withinducting popular TMCMLAs and ministers intothe party

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, HPGovernor Bandaru Dattatreya and State LegislativeAssembly Speaker Vipin Parmar arrive to attend thebudget session in Shimla on Friday. - PTI

Shimla, Feb. 26:Himachal PradeshGovernor BandaruDattatraya was allegedlymanhandled by someCongress members inthe Assembly complexon Friday, followingwhich five MLAs weresuspended for theremainder of the BudgetSession.

The incident tookplace outside theSpeaker’s office whenthe Governor was leav-ing for the Raj Bhavanafter he cut short hisaddresss in the Housefollowing a ruckus cre-ate by the Congress onthe opening day of theBudget session.

Speaker Vipin Parmarsaid the Oppositionmembers tried to stopthe Governor, who wasaccompanied by ChiefMinister Jai RamThakur, when he wasgoing towards his caval-cade.

They hit on theGovernor’s back withcopies of his address.They also hit the bonnetof the Governor’s car,the Speaker said, addingthat he is examining theAssembly rules to lodgean FIR against theCongress legislators.

The Speaker said thatthis is for the first timein the history of theHimachal PradeshAssembly that aGovernor was manhan-dled by Oppositionmembers.

After the incident, theSpeaker suspendedLeader of OppositionMukesh Agnihotri andfour other CongressMLAs Harsh VardhanChauhan, SatpalRaizada, Sunder Singhand Vinay Kumar for theentire Budget sessiontill March 20 on amotion moved byParliamentary AffairsMinister SureshBhardwaj.

Earlier, the CongressMLAs created a ruckusin the House during theGovernor’s address. Hethen skipped to the lastsentence after readinginitial few pages andstated that the entirespeech should bedeemed as read.

Suspended CongressMLA Harsh VardhanChauhan said that theywere waiting outside theSpeaker’s office and justwanted to ask theGovernor why he cutshort his address butthey were not allowed todo so.

He alleged that it wasDeputy Speaker HansRaj who manhandledthe MLAs, a chargedenied byParliamentary AffairsMinister SureshBhardwaj, who said theCongress legislators hadplanned to create ascene. Chauhan alsosaid they did not haveany intention of man-handling the governor.

- PTI

Bandaru Dattatraya‘manhandled’ inAssembly complex

Surat, Feb. 26: Buyoedby the Aam AadmiParty’s good perform-ance in the recently-held Surat civic polls,party chief ArvindKejriwal has now sethis eyes on the 2022Gujarat Assemblypolls.

Kejriwal, who arrivedin Surat on Friday, saidthat AAP would seekvotes from the people ofthe state in the nextAssembly polls basedon the performance ofthe party’s 27 newly-elected corporators inthe city.

Polls to six civic bod-ies in Gujarat, includ-ing in Surat, were heldon Sunday.

While the BJPretained power in theSurat MunicipalCorporation (SMC) bywinning 93 seats, theAAP bagged theremaining 27 seats. TheCongress failed to wineven a single seat.

During his address tothe party corporatorshere, Kejriwal said,“The people of Gujaratare watching you withgreat hope. In our firstattempt, AAP won 28Assembly seats inDelhi and came topower. People trustedus because they knewthat we are true patri-ots, as we were associ-ated with AnnaHazare’s agitation.”

“In the 49 days of ourrule, we did a lot of pro-people work. As aresult, the people ofDelhi gave us 67 seatsin the second election.Now, six crore people ofGujarat will observethe work of 27 AAP cor-porators. If you per-form well, I am surethere will be a hugerevolution in 2022,” theDelhi chief ministeradded.

Fearing a “poachingattempt”, Kejriwalwarned the elected rep-resentatives to informthe party leaders if“anyone from the BJP”contacts them overphone and gives anoffer to switch sides.

- PTI

KEJRIWAL EYES2022 GUJARATASSEMBLYELECTIONS

RABINDRA NATHCHOUDHURY | DCBHOPAL, FEB. 26

The recent induction of a‘staunch follower’ ofMahatma Gandhi’s assas-sin Naturam Godse inCongress has kicked up astorm in the party with for-mer PCC president ArunYadav on Friday threaten-ing to stage a revolt againstthe state leadership overthe issue.

Yadav on Friday releaseda video in which he made ascathing attack on the deci-sion by Madhya PradeshCongress chief Kamal Nathfor welcoming BabulalChaurasia, a former leaderof Hindu Mahasabha whowas caught on camera wor-shiping Godse in Gwaliorin 2016, in the Congress acouple of days ago.

He described the move asunacceptable to him and

many other Congressmenand threatened to hit thestreet to opposeChaurasia’s induction inthe party.

“I am ready to make anypolitical sacrifice for oppos-ing such a move (by thestate party leadership). Iwill take the battle to thestreets on the issue”, hewarned in a separate state-ment issued here on Friday.

The former union minis-ter also took a dig atCongress leaders who sup-ported the decision to admitChaurasia into the party.

Gwalior South CongressMLA Praveen Pathak who

was said to be the brainbehind the move has earlierjustified Chaurasia’s induc-tion in Congress sayingthat the latter has reposedfaith in Gandhian ideology.

“A man who worshipsGodse cannot relate toGandhian ideology”, Yadav,who is said to belong to thecamp of former chief min-ister and powerful factionalleader in MP CongressDigvijay Singh, observed.

MP PCC vice-presidentand former minister RajaPateria also echoed Yadav’ssentiments saying thatantecedents of leadersshould be thoroughly scru-tinised before admittingthem in Congress.

“Congress leadershipshould be careful in admit-ting leaders in the party.Otherwise, fascists and fol-lowers of Godse will oneday hijack the party”, hewarned.

Godse supporter’s entrykicks up storm in Cong.

● ● FORMER PCC presidentArun Yadav released a videoin which he made a scathingattack on the decision byMadhya Pradesh Congresschief Kamal Nath for wel-coming Babulal Chaurasia.

Mukesh Ambani

SHAHAB ANSARI |DCMUMBAI, FEB. 26

The Mumbai police onFriday made public con-tents of the letter foundinside explosives ladencar parked near billion-aire Mukesh Ambani’sresidence and said thatit was a threat letterterming the incident astrailer and warning ofreturning with morepreparation next time totarget the family.

According to thepolice, it is a handwrit-ten letter in a brokenEnglish, addressed toMukesh Ambani and hiswife Neeta Ambani. Thepolice has stated thatthere are grammar mis-takes in the letter andthe writer is either notmuch educated or is pre-tending to be so.

The letter was foundon next to driver’s seat.

Scanning of the CCTVhas also revealed thateven though the saidSUV was parked on theCarmichael Road nearAmbani’s residenceAntilia at around 1amhowever, the driver ofthe car sat in the carpost 3am. The drivercame out of the car fromthe rear door of the carbut could not be identi-fied, as he was wearing amask as well as a hoodie.

The police is scanningCCTVs of nearby areasto locate the driver. Thepolice will enhance thequality of the CCTVfootage to identify thesuspect.

POLICE MAKE PUBLIC ‘THREATLETTER’ TOMUKESH AMBANI

FROM PAGE 1

“The GDP at constant(2011-12) prices in Q3 of2020-21 is estimated at Rs36.22 lakh crore, as againstRs 36.08 lakh crore in Q3 of2019-20, showing a growthof 0.4 per cent,” datareleased by the ministry ofstatistics and programmeimplementation showed onFriday. The Indian economyhad grown at the rate of 4.7per cent in the same quar-ter last year.

According to the datareleased by the NationalStatistical Office (NSO), thefarm sector recorded agrowth of 3.9 per cent, andthe manufacturing sectoroutput grew by 1.6 per cent.The construction sectoradvanced by 6.2 per cent,while electricity, gas, watersupply and other utilityservices clocked a 7.3 percent growth.

Trade, hotels, transport,communications and serv-ices related to broadcastingcontinued to bore the brunt

of post-Covid consumerbehaviour. These segmentsposted a 7.7 per cent con-traction in the third quar-ter.

Economists and ratingfirms had widely expectedIndia's GDP to grow in thethird quarter on the back ofhigher economic activityand the falling number ofcoronavirus cases in thecountry. They are also hope-ful that India's economicgrowth in the fourth quar-ter will improve furtherdue to the mass vaccinationdrive that started in thecountry in January.

While the third-quarterdata suggested buoyancy inthe economy, the NSOrevised its growth projec-tion for the fiscal 2020-21

marginally downwards by30 basis points or 0.30 percent.

Compared to the projec-tion of 7.7 per cent ofdegrowth in January, thegovernment expects theeconomy to degrow by eightper cent, signalling a weak-er than expected reboundin the March quarter.

The NSO, however, addeda disclaimer stating thatthe measures taken by thegovernment to contain thespread of the Covid-19 pan-demic have impacted theeconomic activities as wellas the data collection mech-anisms. “Estimates, there-fore, are likely to undergosharp revisions for theaforesaid causes in duecourse,” it said.

India out of recession asGDP grows 0.4% in Q3

WORLD pg 5DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | SATURDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2021

US strikes Iran militia in Syria22 killed in first military action against Iran-linked groups since Joe Biden became US PrezBeirut, Feb. 26: The USmilitary has struck Iran-backed militias in easternSyria, killing at least 22fighters according to a warmonitor, in what thePentagon said was a mes-sage from the new admin-istration after recent rock-et attacks targeting UStroops in Iraq.

In its first militaryaction against Iran-linkedgroups since Joe Bidenbecame president fiveweeks ago, the Pentagonsaid it had carried out airstrikes on Thursday at aSyria-Iraq border controlpoint used by Iran-backedgroups, destroying “multi-ple facilities”.

“At President Biden'sdirection”, the US raidstargeted “infrastructure

utilised by Iranian-backedmilitant groups in easternSyria”, spokesman JohnKirby said in a statement.

“These strikes wereauthorised in response torecent attacks againstAmerican and coalitionpersonnel in Iraq, and toongoing threats to thosepersonnel,” he said.

The Syrian Observatoryfor Human Rights said atleast 22 fighters werekilled when the strike hitthree trucks loaded withmunitions coming fromIraq near the Syrian bor-der town of Albu Kamal.

Militia border posts werealso destroyed, the warmonitor said.

It said all the dead werefrom Iraq's state-spon-sored Hashed al-Shaabi

paramilitary force, anumbrella group thatincludes many small mili-tias with ties to Iran.

Kirby said the locationwas used by KataebHezbollah and KataebSayyid al-Shuhada, twoIraqi pro-Iran groups oper-ating under the Hashedumbrella.

Kataeb Hezbollah has yetto formally comment butan official with the groupsaid one of its fighters waskilled.

“One of our fighters waskilled and a small numberwounded by two missilestargeting one of our pointsalong the Syrian-Iraqi bor-der” he said on conditionof anonymity.

Syrian state televisioncondemned the “American

aggression” against theIraqi fighters, who areallied with the Damascusgovernment.

The US action followedthree rocket attacks onfacilities in Iraq used byUS and coalition forcesfighting the Islamic Stategroup.

One of those strikes, on amilitary complex in theKurdish regional capitalArbil on February 15,killed a civilian and a for-eign contractor workingwith coalition forces, andwounded several US con-tractors and a soldier.

The attacks in Iraq laiddown a challenge to thenew Biden administrationjust as it opened a door toresumed negotiations withTehran over its nuclear

programme.Last week, the adminis-

tration offered talks withIran led by European alliesas it seeks to salvage a 2015nuclear deal, left on thebrink of collapse after Bi-den’s predecessor DonaldTrump withdrew from it.

But the administrationhas also made clear it willnot brook “malign activi-ties” in the region by Iran.

Although Kataeb Hezbo-llah did not claim respon-sibility for the attacks, USDefence Secretary LloydAustin said that the power-ful pro-Iranian group wasbehind them.

“We're confident in thetarget we went after. Weknow what we hit,” he toldreporters on the planeback to Washington after a

tour of the aircraft carrierUSS Nimitz off theCalifornia coast.

“We are confident thatthe target was being usedby the same Shia militiathat conducted thestrikes” against US inter-ests in Iraq, he said.

Iran is believed to besearching for an opportu-nity to avenge the USassassination of top gener-al Qasem Soleimani oneyear ago. Soleimani, a sen-ior Revolutionary Guardscommander, was Iran's keyliaison to its allies in Iraqand Syria, and elsewherein the region.

He was killed in a USdrone strike just as hearrived in Baghdad formeetings with top Iraqiofficials. — AFP

Washington, Feb. 26:The US director of nat-ional intelligence is exp-ected to release a damn-ing report on Friday thatfingers Saudi CrownPrince Mohammed binSalman for the brutalmurder and dismember-ment of dissident jour-nalist Jamal Khashoggiin October 2018.

The classified report isbelieved to say that, basedon intelligence collectedby the CIA and other spybodies, the kingdom’s defacto leader directed theassassination of therespected US-based writer in theSaudi consulate inIstanbul.

The prince hassteadfastly denieda part in the mur-der, even as someof his closest advi-sors have beenshown to be deeplyinvolved.

Intent onstrengthening rela-tions with Riyadh,previous US presi-dent DonaldTrump's adminis-tration avoidedmaking the reportpublic or naming

Prince Mohammed in thecase.

Its declassification andrelease comes just as Pre-sident Joe Biden endeav-ors to reset US relationsin the Middle East andreturn principles ofhuman rights to a promi-nent position in US policy.

Ahead of the release,Biden spoke on the tele-phone Thursday withSaudi King Salman,Prince Mohammed'sfather, in their first dis-cussion since he becamepresident five weeks ago.

— AFP

US intel report toname MBS forKhashoggi killing

Washington, Feb. 26:The United States hailedprogress in turningaround its troubledCovid-19 vaccine rollout,as the European Unionsaid it was on track tomeet jab targets andAsia's inoculation drivegained pace on Friday.

Brazil hit 2,50,000 fatal-ities — the second-high-est national death tollafter the United States —while the worldwide vac-cine campaign receivedthe endorsement ofQueen Elizabeth II, 94,who urged people not tobe wary of the shot.

President Joe Bidendeclared the US rolloutis now “weeks ahead ofschedule” as he celebrat-ed 50 million dosesadministered since hetook office on January20, but he warnedAmericans to keepmasking up.

“We’re moving in theright direction despitethe mess we inherited,”Biden said, referring tothe program under hispredecessor DonaldTrump.

The United States isthe world’s hardest-hitcountry, with coron-avirus deaths crossingthe 5,00,000 mark earlierthis week.

Rollouts in Asia alsogathered momentum asHong Kong and SouthKorea began their massvaccination programson Friday.

US, EU AFFIRMVAX ROLLOUT IS ON TRACK

Moscow, Feb. 26: Russianmedia report said that aBoeing 777 plane made anemergency landing inMoscow in the early hoursof Friday after the pilotreported a problem withthe engine.

The Interfax newsagency cited an anony-mous source saying thatthe pilot on the flight fromHong Kong to Madridreported a failure of oneof the left engine controlchannels and requested an

emergency landing at theMoscow Sheremetyevoairport.

The plane landed safelyand no one was injured,the report said. It was car-rying out a “cargo-passen-ger” flight, Interfax said.The flight tracking web-site Flightradar24 con-firms that the plane oper-ated by Russia's state-funded Rossiya airlinelanded early Friday at theMoscow airport.

Earlier this month, a

Boeing 777 operated byUnited Airlines had tomake an emergency land-ing in Denver after one ofits engines blew apart,spewing huge chunks ofwreckage that landed inneighbourhoods andsports fields.

The investigation isfocusing on a fan bladethat appeared to be weak-ened by wear and tear, adevelopment reminiscentof a fatal failure on boardanother plane in 2018.

The event caused author-ities to ground Boeing 777models that use thatengine, the Pratt &Whitney 4000-112.Flightradar24 identifiedthe plane that landed inSheremetyevo on Fridayas a Boeing 777-31H model,which does not use thePratt & Whitney engines.Instead, that model usesthe General Electric GE90-115B engines, according tofleet tracking siteAirfleets.net. — AP

Russian B-777 lands in emergency

SHORT TAKES

ISRAELI SHIPEXPLODES IN

TENSE MIDEAST Dubai: An explosion struckan Israeli-owned cargo shipsailing out of the Middle Easton Friday, an unexplainedblast renewing concerns aboutship security amid escalatingtensions between the U.S. andIran. The crew and vessel weresafe, according to the UnitedKingdom Maritime TradeOperations, which is run bythe British navy. The explo-sion forced the vessel to headto the nearest port. The site ofthe blast, the Gulf of Oman,saw a series of explosions in2019 that the U.S. Navy blamedon Iran against the backdropof steeply rising threatsbetween former PresidentDonald Trump and Iranianleaders. Tehran denied theaccusations, which came afterTrump abandoned Tehran's2015 nuclear deal with worldpowers and reimposed harshsanctions on the country. Inrecent weeks, as the adminis-tration of Joe Biden looks tore-engage with Iran, Tehranhas escalated its breaches ofthe nuclear accord to createleverage over Washington.The deal saw Tehran agree tolimit its enrichment of urani-um in exchange for the liftingof crippling sanctions.

7 DEAD, 1 HURTAFTER PRISON

OUTBREAKCroix-Des-Bouquets: At leastseven people were killed andone injured on Thursday afterseveral inmates tried to escapefrom a prison in Haiti’s capi-tal, witnesses said. The inci-dent occurred in northeastPort-au-Prince at the Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison,which is known for a 2014breakout in which more than300 inmates escaped. Residentsin the area who declined to beidentified out of concern fortheir safety said that theyobserved a group of heavilyarmed men start shooting atprison guards before theinmates began to flee.

IS BRIDE LOSESBID TO RETURN

TO UK FOR CITIZENSHIP

London, Feb. 26: The UKgovernment on Friday wona major legal battle as theSupreme Court ruledagainst allowing a London-born 21-year-old woman ofBangladeshi descent, whoran away to Syria as ateenager to join the IslamicState (ISIS) terror group, toreturn and fight her citizen-ship case.

The unanimous decision— with all five top court jus-tices in agreement —comessix years after the then 15-year-old schoolgirl,Shamima Begum, ran awaywith two other friends tojoin the Islamic State (ISIS)group in February 2015.Begum had her British citi-zenship revoked on nation-al security grounds shortlyafter she was found in aSyrian refugee camp inFebruary 2019.

“The Supreme Courtunanimously allows all ofthe Home Secretary’sappeals and dismisses MsBegum’s cross-appeal,” saidLord Robert Reed, thePresident of the SupremeCourt. “The right to a fairhearing does not trump allother considerations, suchas the safety of the public,”he said. Begum was born inthe UK to parents ofBangladeshi heritage.Begum, dubbed an ISISbride in reference to hermarriage to Dutch ISISfighter Yago Riedijk, wasone of three schoolgirlsfrom Bethnal Green in eastLondon who travelled viaTurkey to ISIS headquar-ters in Raqqa. When discov-ered in a refugee camp twoyears ago, she had alreadylost two children and washeavily pregnant with herthird who died shortly afterbeing born. Begum hadchallenged the UK HomeOffice’s decision to removeher British citizenship andwanted to be allowed toreturn to the UK to pursuethat appeal. She is current-ly in a camp controlled byarmed guards in northernSyria. — PTI

NIGERIA GUNMEN KIDNAP 300+ GIRL

STUDENTS

Lagos, Feb. 26:Hundreds of girls aremissing after a largegroup of gunmen raided aschool in northern Nige-ria early Friday morning,residents say. TheGovernment SecondaryJangebe School in

Zamfara state was thescene of the latest massabduction of school chil-dren in northern Nigeria.

Nasiru Abdullahi saidthat school records show300 girls are missing. Hisdaughters, aged 10 and 13,are among them. Resident

Musa Mustapha said thegunmen also attacked anearby military camp andcheckpoint, preventingsoldiers from interferingwhile the gunmen spentseveral hours at theschool. It was not immedi-ately clear if there were

any casualties. Several large groups of

armed men operate inZamfara state, describedby the government asbandits, and are known tokidnap for money and forthe release of their mem-bers from jail. — AP

Shamima Begum’s sister holdsher picture. — AFP

EDIT pg 6DECCAN CHRONICLE | SATURDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2021 | CHENNAI

The joint statement released by the militaries of India and Pakistan onThursday, February 25, on observing the ceasefire at the Line of Controland in all other border areas, and respecting previous agreements in thisregard, is a positive development that deserves to be built upon.

It marks the first sign of thaw in India-Pakistan relations since January 2, 2016,when Pakistan-based terrorists struck the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot amere eight days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise visit to Lahore onChristmas Day to celebrate the birthday of then Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif.

Understandably, this was taken as a sign that the Pakistan Army, which calls allthe shots in that country, was not comfortable with the potential of an evolvingentente between the two countries.

Since then it has been a roller-coaster ride of negativity in bilateral ties, as theUri terror attack of September 2016, India’s “surgical strike” days later, the subse-quent Pulwama terrorist attack in early 2019 that killed 40 CRPF personnel, India’s

retaliatory airstrike across the LoC, and the imme-diate response of a Pakistani fighter jet crossing theLoC, showed.

Through this sorry saga, in response to overturesby Pakistan PM Imran Khan, New Delhi main-tained that “talks and terror cannot go together”.Clearly, this left room for the idea that dialogueleading to mutually favourable long-term bilateraloutcomes — which will benefit the region as awhole — is indeed possible if terrorism is taken offthe menu.

After five years of a hostile stasis in the relation-ship, Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajaj,in a February 3 address, attempted to mark a

change of course in ties with India. He said: “We stand firmly committed to theideal of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence. It is time to extend the hand ofpeace in all directions. Pakistan and India must also resolve the longstanding issueof Jammu and Kashmir in a dignified and peaceful manner.”

The joint defence statement suggests that India was not unresponsive, and bothsides got on to practicalities. Across governments, India has held that it is thePakistan Army that is the fly in the ointment, and that a turn in a beneficial direc-tion is contingent on the Pakistan Army desiring it. Evidently, Gen. Bajwa’sremark has emerged as a possible catalyst.

How the thaw unfolds lies in the future. Over the decades, Pakistan Army hastied itself into knots by cultivating terrorist outfits as its surrogates operating inKashmir, in other parts of India, and in Afghanistan with which India seeks todeepen its friendship.

If the Pakistan Army chief’s initiative has to survive, he must ensure that J&Kis out of bounds for terrorism. And this means the message must go down to thehomegrown Kashmir outfits as well. Further, terrorist actions against all Indianentities in Afghanistan must also cease.

The joint statement is a military statement. At some point, if things go well, itneeds to acquire a political dimension at the level of the two governments. Thestatement notes that it was “agreed to address each other’s core issues and con-cerns which have (the) propensity to disturb peace and lead to violence”. Such aformulation covers terrorism as well as Kashmir. India should not fight shy of tak-ing the “K” word on board in all its dealings with Pakistan.

27 FEBRUARY 2021

A welcome first signof an India-Pak thaw

If the Pakistan Armychief’s initiative hasto survive, he mustensure that J&K is

out of bounds forterrorism. This

means the messagemust go down to thehomegrown Kashmir

outfits as well.

At a time whenthe people’sfaith in keyinstitutions isplummeting,

judicial verdicts that seekto restore the citizens’ faithin justice and fair play arehugely welcome. In recentdays, two court orders inparticular have buoyedspirts because they emit apowerful signal – that theattempts to invoke the lawto muzzle freedom ofthought and expressionand quieten disquiet willnot always work.

A Delhi court has grantedbail to 22-year-old climateactivist Disha Ravi, arrest-ed by the Delhi police onFebruary 13 from herBengaluru home in the by-now famous “toolkit” case,saying there was just notenough evidence to keepthe young woman in cus-tody. Additional sessionsjudge Dharmender Rana’sorder set Disha free on bailon the condition of her fur-nishing two sureties of `1lakh each and with thedirective that she cooper-ate with the investigationinto the FIR and not leavethe country.

A few days earlier, therewas another welcome ver-dict. The Nagpur bench ofthe Bombay high courtgranted interim bail onmedical grounds to ailing82-year-old poet-activistVaravara Rao.

These verdicts are goodnews; but the questionsthey raise and the momen-tum they have generatedneed to be sustained andleveraged to trigger a pub-lic debate on judicialreforms.

As citizens, reading boththe verdicts is instructive.

While granting condi-tional bail on medicalgrounds to Varavara Rao,an accused in the ElgaarParishad-Bhima Koregaoncase, the Bombay highcourt pointed out that theNational InvestigationAgency (NIA) had kept himin custody for a long periodwithout framing charges.

Senior advocates IndiraJaising and Anand Grover,who argued on behalf of MrRao, pointed out that con-sidering his age, medicalhistory, and multiplehealth complications, theprison atmosphere wasabsolutely not conducive tohis mental and physicalwell-being. Such well-beingis a fundamental right ofevery prisoner, points outLeaflet, a legal website.

The NIA had opposed thebail plea citing a bar underSection 43-D (4) and (5) ofthe UAPA (UnlawfulActivities Prevention Act),which says bail cannot begranted to an accusedunder the anti-terrorstatute if the prosecutionmakes out a prima faciecase against the accused.Ms Jaising argued that thefundamental right tohealth of a prisoner couldnever be ousted by Section43(D)(5) of the UAPA.

The high court observedthat it was a “genuine andfit” case for granting reliefin view of the advanced ageof Mr Rao and inadequatefacilities at the Taloja jailhospital; it argued that if itdenied relief to Mr Rao, itwould be abdicating itsconstitutional duties as aprotector of human rightsand right to health coveredunder Article 21 of theConstitution.

The arguments under-girding the verdict relatedto Disha Ravi, arrested onthe charge of sedition, areequally important. Thecourt punctured most ofthe arguments of the Delhipolice against Ms Ravi,including her allegedengagement with groupswith “dubious” creden-tials, her links with bannedorganisations, her allegedrole in incitement as wellas the destruction of “evi-dence” and gave detailedreasons for doing so.

While taking the decisionto grant bail to Ms Ravi, thecourt noted that “mereengagement with personsof dubious credentials isnot indictable”. A key argu-

ment of the prosecutionhinged on the charge that agroup called “Poetic Jus-tice Foundation” (PJF),which was allegedly pro-Khalistani and secession-ist, and people associatedwith it, was involved in cre-ating the “toolkit” docu-ment. The police allegedthat two of Ms Ravi’s asso-ciates, Nikita Jacob andShantanu Muluk, attendeda Zoom meeting in whichactivists of the PJF alsoparticipated along withmany others and this some-how made Ms Ravi also culpable.

The court said that noreal evidence had been puton record to establish adirect link between MsRavi and the PJF activistsmentioned. “In my consid-ered opinion, it is not mereengagement with personsof dubious credentialswhich is indictable, ratherit is the purpose of engage-ment which is relevant forthe purpose of deciding cul-pability,” the judge said.

The prosecution hadsought to connect Ms Raviwith the violence thatrocked Delhi on January26. The court pointed outthat there was no evidenceof this. The judge notedthat merely sharing a plat-form with people whooppose a law is not secessionist.

“In the absence of anyevidence to the effect thatthe applicant/accusedagreed or shared a com-mon purpose to cause vio-lence on January 26 withthe founders of the PJF, itcannot be presumed byresorting to surmises orconjectures that she alsosupported the secessionisttendencies or the violencecaused on January 26, sim-ply because she shared aplatform with people whohave gathered to opposethe legislation,” the ordersaid.

The crux of the matter, asthe court pointed out, iswhether Disha Ravi wasmerely involved in peace-ful protest and dissentagainst the farm laws or ifshe was actually involvedin seditious activitiesunder the guise of protest-ing against these laws.

The court’s view, as artic-ulated in the order, is thatcitizens cannot be tossedbehind bars simplybecause they disagree withthe government of the day.

“Difference of opinion,disagreement, dissent, orfor that matter, even disap-probation, are recognisedlegitimate tools to infuseobjectivity in state poli-cies… The offence of sedi-tion cannot be invoked tominister to the woundedvanity of governments,”the court said, citing a 1942ruling.

Another critical observa-tion by the court in theDisha Ravi case pivotsaround the right to dissentbeing firmly enshrined inArticle 19 and that freedomof speech includes the rightto seek a global audience.

These observations arewelcome and will have far-reaching implications.

Young Indians, mostlywomen in their early 20s,have been arrested overthe past few years merelyfor exercising their funda-mental right to freedom ofspeech and expression, byengaging in democraticprotests with no intentionsof perpetrating violenceand with no intention ofinciting violence, membersof the Delhi High CourtWomen Lawyers Forumhave pointed out in a pub-lic letter to the ChiefJustice of India and otherSupreme Court judges. Theletter notes that Disha wasbrought from Bengaluru tothe national capital by theDelhi police without fol-lowing the prescribed legalprocedures.

“We feel that the Bar andBench cannot watch silent-ly as young people areforced into long incarcera-tion,” the letter said.

The judiciary must takeheed.

The writer focuses on devel-opment issues in India and

emerging economies. Shecan be reached at

patralekha.chatterjee@gmail.com.

While grantingbail to Varavara

Rao, the Bombayhigh court pointed

out that theNational

InvestigationAgency had kept

him in custody fora long period

without framingcharges

DECCAN CHRONICLE

KAUSHIK MITTER K. SUDHAKAREditor Printer & Publisher

R. MOHANResident Editor

DECCAN CHRONICLE offices are located at:Chennai: SP 3 Developed Plot, Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai 600032. Phones: (044) 22254747,22254748Coimbatore: 77 Vivekananda Road, Ramnagar, Coimbatore 641009. Phone: (0422) 2231255, 2231256Hyderabad: 36, Sarojini Devi Road, Secunderabad 500 003. Phone: (040) 27803930-4. Fax: (040)27805256. Bengaluru: 5th Floor, BMTC Commercial Complex, 80 Ft. Road, Koramangala, Bangalore-560095. Ph:08043460500; Fax: 080-22960551/52/55Visakhapatnam: Survey No. 1/3A Beach Road, Near Kailasagiri Ropeway, Sector-9 MVP Colony,Visakhapatnam - 530 017. Phones: (0891) 2552333/2552334, Fax (0891) 2755285Vijayawada: No. C 3 & 4, Patamata, Industrial Estate, Auto Nagar, Vijayawada (A.P.). Phones: (0866)2555284/ 2555287, Fax (0866) 2555234Rajahmundry: Vemagiri, Dhawleswaram Rd, Rajahmundry 533125. Phones: (0883) 2417208, 2417618Anantapur: Thapovan Colony, Bangalore Bye-Pass Road, Anantapur 515004. Phones: (08554) 276903,Fax: 08554-276904Nellore: Survey No. 527/2, Burranpur Village, Venkatachalam (M), Chemudugunta Panchayat, Nellore.Phone: (0861) 2348581/ 82, Telefax (0861) 2348580Karimnagar: Survey No. 1341, Vavilalapally Colony, Jagityala Road, Karimnagar 505 001. Phone: (0878 ) 2228908; Telefax (0878) 2220433Kochi: No. 3-B, 3rd Floor, DD TRADE TOWER, Kaloor-Kadavanthara Road, Ernakulam, Ph: 0484-4039408Kozhikode: No 6/1002 E, First Floor City Mall, Opp. YMCA Kannur Road, Kozhikode - 673 001Fax : 0495 4019018 Thiruvananthapuram: St Joseph Press Thycaud post, Cotton Hills, Thiruvananthapuram-14, Ph: 0471-2735105/6/7, Fax: 0471-4016112 Gram: CHRONICLE Postal registration no: No. H/SD-348/2006-08ss

Judges need to protectright to dissent, protest

The decks have been cleared for the extradition from Britain of the diamondmerchant Nirav Modi. It is up to India to use its heft in pursuing the matterto a conclusion by convincing the UK home secretary Priti Patel to sign off

on the court ruling and allow the repatriation of a jewel thief who mastermindedone of the great heists of the time in defrauding the Punjab National Bank. Thebooty to the tune of Rs 14,000 crore (nearly US $2 billion) is nearly the equivalentof what thieves took from the 1963 Great Train Robbery in the UK.

The Indian people, whose money it is that was swindled from the bank by the ille-gal use of Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) in connivance with bank officials, wouldbe hoping that the justice system here would ultimately hand down an apt sen-tence commensurate with the crime. Mr Modi has also added to his repertoiresuch crimes as intimidation of witnesses in the form of death threats and tamper-ing with the evidence. A jail in India may not, however, be to the liking of the noto-rious diamantaire as it may not quite match the decorated cell in Her Majesty’sPrison in Wandsworth which boasts of flat screen TV, high ceiling fans and a largeclean bathroom.

Indian officials have done exceptionally well in pursuing the case with all thedocumentation necessary for the judge to deliver such a stinging indictment ofNirav Modi’s modus operandi. But, in its inability to ferret out a fraud amountingto robbery, the banking industry may not have acquitted itself as professionally.And this is not a case of straightforward business loss like many that have blight-ed banking to the tune of several lakh crores that have become NPAs in just thelast two decades. There could not possibly any grounds on which such a charactercan claim asylum in Britain either, which means that at least one big fraudsterwho took India for a ride gets his comeuppance.

Diamonds aren’t forever

“They say all property is theftHence, I own nothing and am

left bereftMy ancestors were never Earls

or thievesAnd depending, then, on what one

believesAbout making it rich through toil

and sweatIt’s just not true — so I’ll place

my betOn Proudhon who formulated the

phraseWith which Marx disagreed — All

praise, all praise!”

— From Dil Deykey Dildo byBachchoo

To “zoom”, a dictionary willtell you, is to travel fast orrise quickly and perhapsnoisily. It must have been, I

thought with some irony, that theprincipal instrument I seem to useto confer with anyone in the lock-downs of the plague year was calledZoom. One goes nowhere.

If it is, as I suspect, not a Chinesebut an American device, there wasprobably no ironic intent in nam-ing it. After all, 74 millionAmericans don’t care whether a

person is a self-obsessed habitualliar, misogynist, racist, fraudster,rabble-rousing insurrectionist,anti-democrat and fantasist, theystill want to make him President.Not very high on the irony scale,then.

But one must admit thatAmericans are good on the ono-matopoeic front. It was their popu-lar and renowned form of literature,the comic, which gave us words forviolence. I suppose “bang bang”may have preceded AmerigoVespucci’s discovery of Trumpistanand may have been imported, per-haps from Ireland, but adding“Chitty Chitty” to it was a stroke ofgenius attributed to the USA. But Idigress.

What I meant was that the comicsgave us words for fisticuffs such as“sock” and “pow”. Who can’t see intheir mind’s eye the spiked splatterof a powerful punch from Supermanor Batperson landing on the vil-lain’s skull as this nasty individualtilts away from the vertical? Thewords inside the spiked bubbles orsplashes, giving visual form to theimpact of fists, aren’t exactly ono-matopoeic, as a punch sounds morelike “phut” — but “pow” packs

imaginative power.So, gentle reader, Zoom, as the

name of a device by which you con-nect to anyone (who has an appro-priate electronic device, of course)anywhere in the world, may be aword that is supposed to and suc-cessfully conveys the speed of con-tact between stationary persons —two or a full screen of them.

If Indians had invented the ethere-al conversation device and neededan onomatopoeic name for it, theywould probably have called it“Dhishoom”, because as far as Iknow it’s the only sound word thatwe have invented. It is of courseBollywood for the sound of a gungoing off, and there are always twoshots fired so it becomes“Dhishoom! Dhishoom!” The prece-dent is the Western “bang bang” —because if it’s just the one word, itcould merely stand for the slam-ming of a door. I venture to specu-late that we would have called ourcommunication device “Dhishoom”because having invented the word,we use it as the name of a chain ofvery good British restaurants.That’s not supposed to represent theexplosion of your stomach whenyou eat there.

My constant, even daily, use ofZoom has given me several uselessinsights into human behaviour, per-haps not new ones, but ones thatconfirm what we do and are. It hasalso reinforced my self-conscious-ness in a not terribly positive way.

You see, Zoom forces you to seeyourself as you speak to others and,depending on the strength of echo inyour device, you can even hearyourself speak and, like me, berather surprised at your lamentableaccent, the slight lisp you hadn’tnoticed before and the stupid fum-bles and pauses you thought othersmade but which your fluency wasfree of.

And then there’s appearances, ofcourse. Before a Zoom call, I checkmy hair and brush it this way andthat. My creeping baldness (a familyinheritance which, as they say,looking on the bright side, allowsmore space for rude tattoos) and thefact that I haven’t had a haircutsince the lockdown began doesfunny things, in my self-consciousperception, to my appearance. Thehair in the centre of my head insistson standing upright, as though I wasauditioning for the role of TinTinfrom the French comics.

I used to despise the self-deceiverswho brushed their hair forwards tohide their baldness, but now findmyself wondering, comb in hand atthe mirror, whether it’s a good strat-egy. It’s not.

Gentle reader, in my job as ateacher, and then in my short andhappy life as an agitator and pam-phleteer, I have addressed countlessclasses, assemblies and audiences. Inever began with the old opening:“unaccustomed as I am to publicspeaking”, but perhaps should have.

Zoom has demonstrated to me thatany conceit I cultivate about myability to present an argument isprecisely that. I have now taken avow during the Christian Lent tobegin speaking on Zoom with thatprecise and modest caveat. Watchthat screen!

Zoom gives one an insight into therooms that your “zoomists” work orspeak from. The convention is tohave a bookshelf or some dignifiedpiece of art behind you, but thatmay only be true of the people Iassociate with or speak to or watchon a televised Zoom. I wonder if oth-ers have dirty pictures or washinghanging up behind them as theyinterlocute.

FarrukhDhondy

Life on Zoom:You learn a lotabout yourself,and others too

Subhani

PatralekhaChatterjee

Cabbages & Kings

Dev 360

LETTERSRECHRISTENING OF STADIUMThe rechristening of SardarPatel Stadium as NarendraModi Stadium just before thestart of the India-EnglandTest at Ahmedabad onlyexplains the growing amour-propre of our Prime Minister.In fact, Modi once said, “I amfrom the BJP and Patel wasfrom Congress, but I still fol-low his ideology and beliefs.”But, is this the way Modirespects the Iron Man of Indiaif he is a true follower of hisdoctrines and philosophies?(An act of sycophancy, Feb.26). To lift Patel’s image incontemporary Indian life,Modi had built the world’stallest “The Statue of Unity”for him. And naturally, itseemed only fitting that therenovated Motera stadiumalso be named after SardarPatel. Only last month thesports ministry said that ithad decided to name all theupcoming and upgradedfacilities of the SportsAuthority of India after emi-nent athletes who have madethe country proud. It natural-ly raises a question why thispolicy did not apply toMotera cricket stadium.

R. Sivakumar, Chennai

CANCELLATION OF EXAMS THE DECISION of the Tamil Nadugovernment to declare all students inclasses 9, 10 and 11 for the second con-secutive year as passed is nothing butunfortunate, unwise and improper.The announcement has been madekeeping only forthcoming elections inview without looking at its impact onthe future of students as they are like-ly to become complacent. Already stu-dents of the state board are consideredpoorer cousins when compared toCBSE students and this decision ofstate government will widen the gap.The excellence of education lies inclassroom teaching and examinationsand having compromised already onthe former the examinations shouldbe conducted properly in a staggeredmanner.

M. Raghuraman, Chennai

ASHWIN’S FEATIT IS most heartening that India’s acespinner Ravichandran Ashwin hasbecome the second quickest to take 400Test wickets in his 77th outing in theAhmedabad Test next only to SriLanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan whoachieved this landmark in his 72ndTest. Muralitharan has already statedthat amongst all bowlers only Ashwinhas bright chances of beating his worldrecord of 800 Test wickets. Let us hopehe reaches this milestone in recordtime.

S. Vaithianathan, Madurai

pg 7SATURDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2021 | CHENNAI

BAIJU KALESH &SUVASHREE GHOSHFEB. 26

State Bank of India, thecountry's largest lender, ispreparing for its mutualfund joint venture for aninitial public offering,according to people famil-iar with the matter.

SBI plans to ask invest-ment banks for proposalsafter discussions with itsboard and shareholderAmundi Asset Manage-ment and kick off theprocess in the next fewmonths, the people said.The lender could raiseabout $1 billion from theoffering, one of the peoplesaid, who asked not to beidentified, as the informa-

tion is private.SBI's mutual fund is now

valued at about $7 billion,another person said.

At $1 billion, the first-time share sale could beIndia's biggest since the$1.4 billion listing by SBICards & Payment ServicesLtd in March, according todata compiled by Bloom-berg. The SBI mutual fundbusiness would also be thethird such listing of itskind in the country, joiningrivals UTI Asset Manage-ment Co and HDFC AssetManagement Co.

SBI's plan to list themutual fund arm is part ofits strategy to extract morevalue from its units afterdivesting some of itsstakes in its life insurance

and cards businesses lastyear.

SBI's mutual fund is thelargest in India with Rs 5lakh crore ($68.4 billion) ofassets under management,according to its website.The fund house posted anet income of Rs 498 crorefor the April-Decemberperiod, according to aninvestor presentation. SBIholds a 63 per cent stake inthe mutual fund business,while Paris-based Amundiowns the rest.

Deliberations are at anearly stage and details ofthe share sale could stillchange, the people said. Arepresentative for SBI did-n't immediately respond torequests for comment.

— Bloomberg

SUBHADIP SIRCAR &ASHUTOSH JOSHIFEB. 26

The Reserve Bank ofIndia may consider issu-ing its own bonds to helpsoak up a deluge of for-eign money into stocksthat threatens financialstability, according to areport published by itsresearchers.

Current laws forbid theRBI from selling its ownpaper, and budgetaryconstraints could pre-vent the governmentfrom issuing so-calledmarket stabilisation

scheme, or MSS, bondsthat authorities haveused in the past. That'smade it harder for thecentral bank to navigatewhat's known as theImpossible Trinity, i.e.maintaining an inde-pendent monetary policywhile also allowing freeflows of capital andensuring a stable curren-cy.

"Sterilised interventionis an effective solution tomanaging the trilemmain India," the centralbank said in its annualReport on Currency andFinance, published on

Friday."Enhancement of ster-

ilisation capacity may benecessary to deal withpossible surges in capitalflows in the future," thereport pointed out.

The RBI report recom-mended further strength-ening foreign-exchangereserves, citing theswings in the rupeearound the time of theglobal taper tantrum in2013. India's stockpile isalready close to $600 bil-lion and exceeds moststandard metric require-ments.

— Bloomberg

SBI readies MF arm for IPO

MICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, FEB. 26

Investments in Indianreal estate is expected togrow by 14.6 per cent to Rs39,600 crore in 2021 fromRs 34,600 crore in 2020, asinstitutional investorscontinue to be bullish ondomestic real estate assetclasses such as offices,data centres and ware-houses and are looking todeploy their existing drypowder, Colliers has saidin its report.

In 2020, investments haddropped 23 per cent from2019.

Between 2018 and 2020,an average annual supplyof over 35 million squarefeet entered the top sixIndian cities such asBengaluru, Chennai,Delhi NCR, Hyderabad,Mumbai and Pune, withthe majority beingsnapped up by institution-al investors.

Even though a similarlevel of supply is set toenter the market, someinvestment firms areincreasingly lookingtowards developing theirown greenfield officeassets, the report said.

Investors remain bullishon the long-term pros-pects even as they targetan internal rate of returnof about 17-18 per cent.

“The investment climatein India is very buoyantwith global investors’interest in real assets get-ting stronger,” PiyushGupta, managing direc-tor, Capital Markets &Investment Services(India) at Colliers, said.

Moreover, the resilienceof the Indian market isalso evident from contin-ued good housing salesacross various markets,the large institutionalinvestments in commer-cial office and industrialparks, and the listing oftwo REITs in the past sixmonths, he pointed out.

RBI report suggets issuingdebt to mop up hot money

INSTITUTIONALINVESTMENTS INREALTY SEEN RISING BY 14.6%

JULIE ZHU, YILEI SUNHONG KONG/BEIJING, FEB. 26

China’s Huawei plans tomake electric vehiclesunder its own brand andcould launch some mod-els this year, four sourcessaid, as the world’s largestt e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n sequipment maker, bat-tered by US sanctions,explores a strategic shift.

Huawei Technologies CoLtd is in talks with state-owned Changan Auto-mobile and otherautomakers to use theircar plants to make itselectric vehicles (EVs),according to two of thepeople familiar with thematter.

Huawei is also in discus-

sions with Beijing-backedBAIC Group’s BlueParkNew Energy Technologyto manufacture its EVs,said a separate personwith direct knowledge ofthe matter.

The plan heralds apotentially major shift indirection for Huawei afternearly two years of USsanctions that have cut itsaccess to key supplychains, forcing it to sell apart of its smartphonebusiness to keep thebrand alive.

Huawei was placed on atrade blacklist by theTrump administrationover national securityconcerns. Many industryexecutives see littlechance that blocks on thesale of billions of dollars

of US technology andchips to the Chinese com-pany, which has deniedwrongdoing, will bereversed by his successor.

A Huawei spokesmandenied the company plansto design EVs or produceHuawei branded vehicles.

“Huawei is not a carmanufacturer. Howeverthrough ICT (informationand communicationstechnology), we aim to bea digital car-oriented andnew-added components

provider, enabling carOEMs (original equip-ment manufacturers) tobuild better vehicles.”

Huawei has startedinternally designing theEVs and approaching sup-pliers at home, with theaim of officially launch-ing the project as early asthis year, the sources said.

Richard Yu, head ofHuawei’s consumer busi-ness group who led thecompany to become one ofthe world’s largest smart-phone makers, will shifthis focus to EVs, said onesource. The EVs will tar-get a mass-market seg-ment, another source said.

All the sources declinedto be named as the discus-sions are private.

— Reuters

Battered Huawei plans foray into EVsFirm in talks with carmakers to use their plants MOBILE | TO MOBILITY

TAKASHI MOCHIZUKIFEB. 26

Sony Corp. is preparing toopen up its PlayStation 5for internal storageupgrades this summer, lift-ing a bottleneck that pre-vents gamers from havingmore than a few marqueegames on their console atone time, people briefed onthe plan said.

Adding support for addi-tional drives will beenabled with a firmwareupdate that also unlockshigher cooling-fan speedsto ensure the console does-n't overheat, the peoplesaid, asking not to benamed because the plansare not yet public. ThePlayStation 5 comes with acustom solid-state drivewith around 667GB avail-able for storing games,

apps and media—at a timewhen the latest Call ofDuty game needs 133GB ofinstallation space andmost major titles take up atleast 40GB each.

Sony's latest console hasa customised architecturethat accelerates loadingand processing times, butmakes it impractical toplug in an external harddrive, the typical waygamers add storage. Such adrive can only be used forolder PS4 games. After theplanned firmware upgra-de, players need only take aplastic cover off the PS5and attach a new storageunit to add space.

"We are working toenable M.2 SSD storageexpansion for PlayStation5. The timing has not beenannounced,” a Sony spok-esman said. —Bloomberg

Sensex sheds more than 1900 points

US bombing, bondyields spook mkt SANGEETHA G

CHENNAI, FEB. 26

Life insurance policy-holders will soon be ableto receive a discount ifthey pay the policy pre-mium in advance. Also,from April onwards,those buying a personalaccident cover wouldhave the option to take astandarised cover, namedSaral Suraksha Bima,from all general andhealth insurers.

Acting on representa-tions from the industry,the Insurance Regulatoryand DevelopmentAuthority of India (Irdai)has decided to permit lifeinsurers to offer dis-counts on regular premi-ums paid in advance.

As per the draft guide-lines issued by the regu-lator, the discount rateshall be equal to interestrates on savings bankaccounts of State Bank ofIndia as on April 1 ofeach financial year.Further, an addition of atleast 100 bps shall beapplicable for advancepremiums received dur-ing the entire financialyear.

"The industry has beenundertaking severalmeasures to ensure thatrenewal premiums arepaid on time, as persis-tency is a key metric. Bypaying premiums inadvance of three monthsor more, the policyholdercan get a discount on pre-mium that is higher thanthe interest rate on a sav-ings account. While thecustomer will get a dis-count, we will have therenewal premiumsalready in the books. Wewill have to deploy ourresources for reminding

only those people whohave not made advancepayment," said AtriChakraborty, chief oper-ating officer, IndiaFirstLife Insurance.

According to him, thediscount will be calculat-ed for the number ofmonths the premium ispaid ahead of the renew-al date. Currently,around 10 to 12 per centof the policyholders paytheir renewal premiumsahead of the due date.

The regulator has,meanwhile, asked gener-al and health insurers tooffer a standard personalaccident insurance prod-uct with common cover-age and policy wordingsacross the industry fromApril 1, 2021. This prod-uct, Saral SurakshaBima, will have the basicmandatory covers as

specified in Irdai guide-lines and will be uniformacross the market.

The insurer can deter-mine the price accordingto the covers offered. Thepolicy tenure of the stan-dard product shall be oneyear. This policy wouldalso be offered as a groupproduct. Minimum entryage will be 18 years andmaximum age shall be atleast 70.

The base cover willhave to provide a deathbenefit up to 100 per centof the sum insured to thepolicyholder if the deathoccurs due to injury inan accident, or the per-son dies within 12months from the date ofaccident. The insuredwill also get 100 per centof the sum insured forpermanent total disable-ment and 50 per cent forpermanent partial dis-ablement.

Hospitalisation expens-es arising due to accidentshall be indemnified upto 10 per cent of base suminsured. On death or per-manent total disability ofthe insured person, aone-time educationalgrant of 10 per cent ofthe base sum insured,per child, should be paidto all dependent children.

Soon, get discount on life premium paid in advance

RAVI RANJAN PRASADMUMBAI, FEB 26

Investors suffered notionalloss of over Rs 6 lakh croreas the domestic stock mar-ket experienced its worstfall in the last 10 monthsafter the US bombing inSyria and sharp overnightrise in bond yields in theUS market.

Rising Covid cases inIndia also added to nega-tive sentiments in the mar-ket, said analysts.

The Sensex fell 3.8 percent, or 1939 points, closingat 49099 while the Nifty-50fell 3.7 per cent, or 568points, to close at 14529.

Intra-day the Sensex fellover 2000 points to a low of48890.48. All the Sensex andNifty constituents closedin the red.

Overnight US bond yieldrose to a high of 1.61 andfinally closed at 1.51 percent, scaring the globalinvestors. US benchmarkindices Dow Jones fell 1.75per cent and Nasdaq 100fell 3.56 per cent, setting offnegative opening for theAsian markets.

India's 10-year govern-ment bond yield also rosesharply intraday to 6.242per cent and closed at 6.229.

As per provisional data,foreign portfolio investorswere net sellers of equitiesworth Rs 8,295.17 crore.

Financials suffered themost among sectoral indi-ces after the recent rally,with the Nifty Bank Indexclosing down 4.78 per cent.Other big losers were NiftyAuto (-3.12 per cent) andNifty Metal (-2.70 per cent).

NSE's volatility index

India VIX shot up 22.93 percent to 28.14, indicating avolatile market ahead.

The GDP data expectedafter the market hours alsoweighed on the market sen-timents. "The Q3 GDPgrowth number at 0.4 percent is lower than our esti-

mates of 0.8 per cent butquite short of some otherestimates which were inthe range of 1.4-2 per cent.The equity markets may bea tad disappointed withthese data points,” saidDhiraj Relli, MD & CEO,HDFC Securities.

LIVIA YAP &LILIAN KARUNUNGANFEB. 26

Emerging markets arebracing for an exodus offunds as a surge in UStreasury yields evokesmemories of the tapertantrum of 2013.

After rallying at thestart of 2021, develop-ing-nation assets haveslumped during thepast two days as UStreasury yields jumpedto the highest level inmore than a year,sounding a warningabout the outlook forinterest rates and infla-tion. The MSCIEmerging Market Indexof shares tumbled asmuch as 2.8 per cent onFriday.

E m e r g i n g - m a r k e tassets are falling out offavour as expectationsfor tighter global mone-tary policy and arevival of inflationreduce the relativeappeal of risk assets.This week's surge in USyields is remindingmany of the tapertantrum, when theFederal Reserve'sannouncement that itwould start windingback its quantitative-easing policy led to aspike in bond yieldsaround the world.

"It appears the marketis pricing in a tapertantrum whatever theFed says," said Alvin T.Tan, head of Asia for-eign-exchange strategyat RBC Capital Marketsin Hong Kong. "Like in2013, it is generally neg-ative for EM FX," hesaid. — Bloomberg

EMERGINGMARKETS

BRACE FORCAPITAL FLIGHT

New Delhi, Feb. 26:Hindu-stan Unilever onFriday said it will achieve100 per cent plastic wastecollection from 2021onwards as it will collectand process more plasticpackaging waste than theplastic in packaging usedby it.

The company will enableprocessing of over onelakh tonnes of post-con-sumer plastic waste

through collection frommore than 100 townsacross India, said HUL in astatement.

HUL has partnered withvarious organisations forthe collection of plasticwaste, including Saahas,Carpe, Recykal, Planet Sa-vers, RaddiConnect, Geoy-cle and Ramky Enviro.

Through its partners andwith support from munici-pal corporations, the com-

pany hasr e a c h e doutto hous-ing soci-eties andcommercialestablish-ments toimprove the

collection ofplastic waste.

The company is alsoworking in partnershipwith the United Nations

Development Programmeand the internationalorganisation Xynteo.

Commenting on thedevelopment, HUL chair-man and managing direc-tor Sanjiv Mehta said: "Webelieve that this is a collec-tive responsibility, andeach stakeholder needs toplay an active role in man-aging plastic waste to fulfilthe vision of SwachhBharat Abhiyan." —PTI

Sony to open PS 5for storage upgrades

Index of eight core industries

Source: Ministry of Commerce & Industry KBK Infographics

2020 2021

Base: 2011-12=10010

0

-10

-20

-30

-40

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan

0.1

Monthly growthrates in per cent

2.26.4

-8.6

-37.9

-21.4

-12.4-7.6

-6.9-0.5

0.6

-1.4

0.2

HUL aims to achieve 100% plastic waste collection in 2021

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 49,099.99 -3.80Nifty 50 14,529.20 -3.76S&P 500* 3,853.11 0.62Dollar (`) 73.47 -1.42Pound Sterling (`) 101.83 0.80Euro (`) 88.76 -0.29Gold (10gm)* (`) 45,599▼342 0.75Brent crude ($/bbl)* 66.13 -1.12IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.229 0.00US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 1.491 -0.024

* As of 8:30 PM IST

Inflation bandokay for next 5years: RBI reportWith the next review of the flex-ible inflation target (FIT) frame-work coming up soon, the RBIsaid the current inflation targetof 4 per cent with a +/-2 percent tolerance band is appropri-ate for the next five years. Indiaadopted the FIT framework in2016, and the next review of theinflation target is due by March31. "The current numericalframework for defining pricestability...is appropriate for thenext five years," it said.

PFC board okays`1 L cr borrowingplan for FY22

Power Finance Corporation saidits board has approved a plan toborrow Rs 1 lakh crore underdifferent debt segments. Theborrowing will be made in oneor more tranches in FY21-22,PFC said. The NBFC plans toraise a maximum of Rs 60,000crore from long-term borrow-ing, Rs 20,000 crore from long-term foreign currency borrow-ing, Rs 5,000 crore from short-term borrowing and Rs 15,000crore from commercial papers.

Volkswagenweathers Covidwith $11 bn profitVolkswagen said it made betterthan expected profit of 8.8 bil-lion euros ($10.7 bn) after tax in2020 despite the pandemic.The world's No. 2 automakersaid the rapid recovery ofChina, its largest single market,and resilient sales of luxuryvehicles helped the bottom line.VW gave an upbeat outlook forthis year, saying it would carrymomentum from the strongersecond half of the year overinto earnings going forward.

RailTel Corpmakes strongmarket debutTelecom infrastructure providerRailTel Corporation of India Ltdmade a strong debut with itsshares zooming over 29 percent on closing compared withthe issue price. On the BSE, thescrip opened on a strong noteof Rs 104.6 apiece against theIPO price of Rs 94. In intra-daytrade, the stock touched a highof Rs 125.5 before settling atRs 121.4, higher by 29.15 percent. The RailTel IPO was sub-scribed 42.39 times.

Irdai has askedgeneral and healthinsurers to offer astandard personalaccident insuranceproduct with common coverageand policy wordingsacross the industryfrom April 1

Mumbai, Feb. 26: The rupee on Friday posted itsbiggest single-day fall in nearly 19 months, tumbling104 paise to close at 73.47 against the US dollar, as arout in global bond markets weighed on investor sen-timents. Besides, rising geopolitical tensions betweenthe US and Syria also led to weaker appetite amonginvestors in domestic forex markets, analysts said. Atthe interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 72.43against the dollar, then lost further ground. It finallyended at 73.47. —PTI

RUPEE DIVES 104 PAISE AGAINST $

Sanjiv Mehta

Printed & Published by K Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Limited. Printed &Published at Deccan Chronicle Presses

situated at SP-3 Developed Plot,Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai.

Editor: T.Venkatram Reddy, RNI Reg.No. TNENG/2008/25473 Air surcharge Re1. © All rights reserved. Reproduction in

whole or in part without written per-mission of The Editor, Financial

Chronicle ® is prohibited.

GAMES pg 8DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | SATURDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2021

SHORT TAKES

GGuuwwaahhaattii:: Star sprinter HimaDas was on Friday inducted as

Deputy Superintendent ofAssam Police in the presence of

chief minister SarbanandaSonowal and described the

moment as a childhood dreamcoming true. Hima was handed

the appointment letter bySonowal, also a former Union

Sports Minister, at a ceremonyattended by the top functionar-

ies of the state government aswell as from the police depart-

ment, including the DirectorGeneral of police.

“People here know and I amnot going to say anything dif-ferent. Since my early school

days, I harboured a wish tobecome a police officer one

day and my mother also wishedthat,” Hima said.

“I got everything due to sports,I will try to work for bettermentof sports in the state and try to

make Assam one of the bestperforming states in the coun-try, like Haryana,” Hima further

added. — PTI

NNeeww DDeellhhii:: Asian silver-winnerDeepak Kumar (52kg) on Friday

stunned Olympic and worldchampion Shakhobiddin Zoirovof Uzbekistan to storm into the

finals of the 72nd StrandjaMemorial Boxing Tournament in

Sofia, Bulgaria. Deepak clinched one of the

most memorable wins of hiscareer with a 4-1 win over more

fancied Zoirov, who hadclaimed the 2019 world champi-onship title beating India’s Amit

Panghal.In the quarterfinals on

Thursday, Deepak defeatedBulgaria’s Darislav Vasilev 5-0.

However, former youth worldchampion Jyoti Gulia (51kg)

and Bhagyabati Kachari (75kg)bowed out of the women’s

competition. With their loss,India’s challenge in the

women’s draw has come to anend without anyone managing

to secure a medal. — PTI

Hima inducted asDSP in Assam

Deepak stunsworld champion

LLoonnddoonn:: England greatCharlotte Edwards has become

the first female president of theProfessional Cricketers’

Association.An outstanding top-order bats-

man, Edwards scored over10,000 runs in more than 300

matches during an internationalcareer that lasted from 1996 to

2016. Edwards, who succeedsGraham Gooch, another former

England captain, was electedfor an initial two-year term at

Thursday’s annual generalmeeting of the PCA, which rep-

resents all professional crick-eters playing in England.

“I’m hugely honoured to begiven such a prestigious title in

being the president of thePCA,” said Edwards.

Edwards was England captainwhen they won both limited-

overs World Cups in 2009,while she remains the country’s

leading run-scorer in bothwomen’s one-day internationals

and Twenty20s. — AFP

Charlotte to leadcricketers union

Ahmedabad, Feb. 26: Itwas a long wait for AxarPatel and it didn’t helpthat everyone around himhad just one question forthe past three years —“Why aren’t you in theIndian team?”.

But Patel was unfazed ashe knew, his time wouldcome.

“I think it’s all aboutconfidence,” said the 27-year-old spinner fromAnand in Gujarat.

With his record 11 wick-ets in the day-night thirdTest against England, theleft-arm spinner finallyfound his big moment ininternational cricket,seven years after he madehis India debut in an ODIagainst Bangladesh.

Since that day, he hasbeen in and out of theteam with the spin all-rounder’s spot firmly withRavindra Jadeja.

In this series too, hemade it because Jadejawas out injured. He hadn’tbeen in the national teamsince 2018 and made hisTest debut in the secondgame against England lastweek in Chennai.

“I have been out of theteam for three years andat that time, I used tothink about the areas ofmy game which need to beworked upon. So, I wasworking on my bowlingand batting,” he toldHardik Pandya in a bcci.tvinterview, thoroughlyenjoying his good time.

“When you are out of theteam, many people,friends keep asking you‘why aren’t you in theteam despite doing well?’These things keep comingin the mind,” he said.

“So, I told myself ‘justwait for the right time andwhenever I get an oppor-tunity I will give my 100per cent’,” he added.

Captain Virat Kohli saidEngland may have been“relieved” when Jadejawas injured.

“But then this guy comesin. Bowls it quicker andfrom a bigger height aswell.”

It is a tribute to his hardwork, his accuracy,” saidKohli.

“It is impossible tosweep him, impossible todefend him all day. If thewicket gives him anythinghe is just a lethal bowler,”Virat added. — PTI

Lansing (USA), Feb. 26: Aformer U.S. Olympics gym-nastics coach with ties todisgraced sports doctorLarry Nassar killed him-self, hours after beingcharged with turning hisMichigan gym into a hubof human trafficking bycoercing girls to train andthen abusing them.

John Geddert faced 24charges that could havecarried years in prison hadhe been convicted. He wassupposed to appear in anEaton County court, nearLansing, but his body wasfound at a rest area alongInterstate 96, according tostate police.

“This is a tragic end to atragic story for everyoneinvolved,” MichiganAttorney General DanaNessel said.

Nessel earlier announcedthat Geddert was chargedwith a bushel of crimes,including sexual assault,human trafficking andrunning a criminal enter-prise. The charges were thelatest fallout from the sexu-al abuse scandal involvingNassar, a former MichiganState University sportsdoctor now in prison.

Geddert, 63, wasn’tarrested and transportedto court. Rather, Nessel’soffice allowed him to showup on his own.

“We had no indicationthat Geddert intended toflee or hurt himself or oth-ers. We had been in contactwith his attorney and wereassured of his coopera-tion,” Nessel spokeswomanKelly Rossman-McKinney

said.Calls seeking comment

from attorney ChrisBergstrom weren’t imme-diately returned.

Geddert was head coachof the 2012 U.S. women’sOlympic gymnastics team,which won a gold medal.He was long associatedwith Nassar, who was theOlympic team’s doctor andalso treated injured gym-nasts at Twistars,Geddert’s Lansing-areagym. Among the charges,Geddert was accused oflying to investigators in2016 when he denied everhearing complaints aboutNassar. But the bulk of thecase against him involvedhis gym in Dimondale andhow he treated the youngathletes whose familiespaid to have them trainunder him.

The charges againstGeddert had “very little todo” with Nassar, saidAssistant AttorneyGeneral DanielleHagaman-Clark. — AP

Coach kills selfafter sex slur

Auba nets braceto beat Benfica

Navaneeth to meetVelavan in title clashDDCC CCOORRRREESSPPOONNDDEENNTTCHENNAI, FEB. 26

ISA trainee Navaneeth Prabhu whohad ousted top seed GuhanSenthilkumar will take on VelavanSenthilkumar in the men’s final ofthe state closed squash champi-onship at the ISA courts onSaturday. In the women’s final, No.1seed Sunayna Kuruvilla will meetAprajitha Balamurukan.

Navaneeth will also feature in theU-19 boys’ summit clash where hewill face Shreemann Raghavan.Navaneeth’s sister YaavnaaSaravanakumar has stormed intothe U-13 final by beating SahanaKalaivanan in straight games.

RREESSUULLTTSS ((aallll sseemmiiffiinnaallss))

MMeenn:: Navaneeth Prabhu bt RKishore Arvind 11-5 11-8 11-8.Velavan Senthilkumar bt VaarishSawlani 11-2 11-1 11-2.BBooyyss UU--1111:: Shrrinith SubramanianArun Subhas bt Jasper Franklin 11-1 11-3 11-3. Aryaan Prabhu bt Udhay11-6 11-2 11-2. UU--1133:: Darshil Parasrampuria btLakshmana Harri 11-4 11-7 9-11 11-6.S. Lokesh bt ShrrinithSubramanian Arun Subhas 11-5 11-711-3.UU--1155:: KS Arihant bt Darshil

Parasrampuria 11-2 11-1 11-4.Sandhesh Pr bt Aakash Kannan 11-6 12-10 7-11 11-3.UU--1177:: R. Sreekartikeyan bt PRSandhesh 11-1 6-11 12-10 11-9.Ashvin Ganesh bt Parthiv YagneshNatarajan 11-7 11-7 11-7.UU--1199:: Navaneeth Prabhu bt AdhilMohammed Syed 11-8 11-3 11-3.Shreemann Raghavan bt ArihantKS 11-5 12-10 11-9.WWoommeenn:: Sunayna Kuruvilla btAbhisheka Shannon 11-7 11-2 11-5.Aparajitha Balamurukan btRathika Suthanthira Seelan 11-6 11-2 14-12.GGiirrllss UU--1111:: R. Priyal bt NitiyasreeDesappan 12-10 11-5 11-9. DivaParasrampuria bt Krsejal Mirra 15-13 11-6 5-11 11-4.UU--1133:: Ananya Narayanan bt PriyaDhrashini 8-11 11-4 11-4 11-3.Yaavnaa Saravanakumar bt SahanaKalaivanan 11-8 13-11 11-6 .UU--1155:: Khushboo bt YaavnaaSaravanakumar 11-3 11-4 11-3.Ananya Narayanan bt Riya Balaji10-12 11-6 11-9 11-8 .UU--1177:: Pooja Arthi bt GitanjaliVasudevan 11-3 11-3 11-6. S AkshayaSri bt Shameena Riaz 11-6 12-10 11-6.UU--1199:: Abhisheka Shannon bt TrinaIris 12-10 11-7 11-3. Pooja Arthi R btShameena Riaz 11-7 11-9 11-8.

Paris, Feb. 26: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyangscored twice including alate winner as Arsenalqualified for the last 16 ofthe Europa League onThursday with a 3-2 victo-ry over Benfica in Greece,while Manchester Unitedand Rangers cruisedthrough to the next round.

The Gabon striker putArsenal ahead at theKaraiskakis stadium inPiraeus in their home legof a tie relocated due toCovid-19 travel restrictionsbetween Portugal and theUnited Kingdom.

Diogo Goncalves levelledthe contest with a magnifi-cent free-kick and RafaSilva gave Benfica a 2-1lead on the night when hetook advantage of an errorfrom Dani Ceballos on thehour.

Kieran Tierney rifled inan equaliser andAubameyang headed in thedecisive goal from BukayoSaka’s cross on 87 minutes,earning the Gunners a 4-3aggregate victory and sav-ing them from an unusualaway goals exit following a1-1 draw in the first leg inRome.

Leicester City, who arebehind second-placedUnited in the PremierLeague only on goal differ-ence, were knocked outafter sliding to a 2-0 loss at

home to Czech championsSlavia Prague.

Lukas Provod fired Slaviain front just after half-timefollowing a goalless drawin the first leg, andSenegalese teenagerAbdallah Sima ensured thevisitors extended their runin the competition.

Steven Gerrard’s Rangersprogressed following their5-2 win over Belgian sideAntwerp at Ibrox, with fivedifferent players on targetfor the Scottish leagueleaders. — AFP

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrates afterscoring his side’s third goal against Benfica during theirEuropa League Round of 32 match at GeorgiosKaraiskakis stadium in Piraeus port near Athens onThursday. Arsenal won the match 3-2. — AP

SURESHOT SPINNERMatch-winner Axar says confidence did trick

India’s star spinner Axar Patel appeals for a wicket during the third Test in Ahmedabad.

YUSUF ANNOUNCES RETIREMENTFROM ALL FORMS OF CRICKETNew Delhi, Feb. 26: Out-of-favour India all-rounder YusufPathan on Friday announcedretirement from all forms ofcricket, saying time has come“to put a full stop to thisinnings of my life.”

The 38-year-old Pathan waspart of the inaugural T20World Cup-winning side in2007 and also the one that tri-umphed in the 2011 ODI WorldCup at home.

“The time has come todayfor me to put a full stop to thisinnings of my life. I officiallyannounce retirement from allforms of the game,” he said ina statement posted on Twitter.

“I thank my family, friends,fans, teams, coaches and thewhole country wholehearted-ly for all the support andlove,” he wrote.

Pathan, elder brother of for-mer India seamer Irfan,played 57 ODIs and scored 810runs at a strike-rate of 113.60with two hundreds and threefifties. He also featured in 22T20Is where he made 236 at astrike-rate of 146.58 and wasalso a part of Kolkata KnightRiders’ triumphs in the IPL. “Istill remember the day when Iwore the India jersey for thefirst time. I didn’t only wear

the jersey that day, but I tookupon my family’s, coach’s,friends the whole country’sand my own expectations onmy shoulders as well,” Pathanrecalled.

Meanwhile, veteranKarnataka medium pacer R.Vinay Kumar, who also repre-sented India and led his stateteam to successive RanjiTrophy titles, also announcedhis retirement from interna-tional and first-class cricket.

The 37-year-old Kumarplayed one Test, 31 ODIs andnine T20 Internationals forIndia, taking 49 wicketsacross the three formats.

— PTI

Aparajith, Kousik star in TN’s win

Rohit bats for batting intent

Indore, Feb. 26: TamilNadu on Friday endedJharkhand's three-matchwinning streak with aconvincing 67-run win ina Group B match of theVijay Hazare Trophy here.

In other matches,Punjab chased down a tar-get of 291 againstVidarbha for a four-wick-et win, while MadhyaPradesh handed Andhra a98-run defeat.

Jharkhand is on top ofthe standings with 12points, followed byPunjab, Andhra, TamilNadu and Madhya

Pradesh with eight points.Vidarbha lies in last

place with 4 points.After winning the toss,

Tamil Nadu posted a com-petitive 266 for 7, thanksto half-centuries fromopener B Aparajith (57), JKousik (55) and ShahrukhKhan (51) and some lustyhitting by R Sai Kishore(29 not out, 20 balls, 3X6)and M Mohammed (20, 9balls, 3X6).

Tamil Nadu appeared tohave squandered a goodstart provided byAparajith and NJagadeesan (30) and were

in a spot of bother at 131for 5 in 34.4 overs.

However, Shahrukh (51,47 balls, 3X4, 3X6) andKousik (55, 40 balls, 7X4,2X6) came to Tamil Nadu'srescue with a 50-run part-nership for the sixthwicket.

Kousik then added 55runs with Sai Kishore forthe seventh wicket.

A quickfire partnershipbetween Sai Kishore andMohammed, whosmacked three sixes pro-pelled Tamil Nadu to acompetitive score.

In reply, Jharkhand suf-

fered an early blow whenskipper Ishan Kishan (0)was dismissed off thefirst ball of the innings byAparajith.

Despite handy knocksby Virat Singh (49) andSumit Kumar (40),Jharkhand lost wickets atregular intervals to slip to145 for 9 as the TNbowlers kept a leash onthe scoring.No.11 Rahul Shukla (42not out, 25 balls, 3X4, 3X6)and Varun Aaron (18 notout) delayed theinevitable and made surethe team wasn't all out.

At Holkar CricketStadium, PrabhsimranSingh hammered 167 (140balls, 13 fours, 9 sixes) topower Punjab to a four-wicket win overVidarbha.

— PTIBBRRIIEEFF SSCCOORREESS

Tamil Nadu 266 for 7 in50 overs (B Aparajith 57,J Kousik 55, ShahrukhKhan 51, Anukul Roy3/41) beat Jharkhand199 for 9 in 50 overs(Virat Singh 49, RahulShukla 42 not out, MSiddharth 3/33) by 67runs.

Ahmedabad, Feb. 26:Intent to score and notjust survive was the key toflourish on the Moterapitch, asserted India open-er Rohit Sharma who bat-ted effortlessly on the“interesting but normal”pitch that was declareddifficult and challengingby visiting England bats-men.

Rohit attributed his sub-lime first innings half-century to the positiveintent that he displayedduring the day-night thirdTest in which England gotthrashed by 10 wicketsinside two days on thespin-friendly pitch.

“When you are playingon a pitch like that, youneed to have an intent andlook to score runs as well.You can’t just keep block-ing,” Rohit said duringthe virtual conferenceafter the match onThursday.

England captain JoeRoot and Zak Crawley hadearlier described the trackas challenging.

The senior openerscored India’s only half-century of the game withthe home side spinnersaccounting for 19 wickets.England batsmen weredeceived by left-armerAxar Patel’s straighterdeliveries that skiddedstraight instead of turn-ing. Rohit felt that during

his innings of 66, he was astep or two ahead ofEngland bowlers.

“You just need to beslightly ahead at timesand try and find ways toscore runs. My intent wasnot just to survive but tryand score runs as well,while respecting the goodballs. That’s all I tried todo.

“The pitch was an inter-esting one and odd ballwas just coming in and

some were taking turns.On a track like this, youneed to have a clear mind-set, which I think I diduntil I played that sweepshot,” Rohit added.

He felt that Patel’s strat-egy of attacking thestumps paid off well. Thespinner ended the gamewith 11 wickets in hiskitty.

“Axar was simply bril-liant,” Rohit said, laudingthe bowler who had bigshoes to fill.

“Coming out fromnowhere and performingis never easy. He was outinjured, slightly down,came back and bowledvery well in Chennai. Heunderstands conditionswell and how to vary thepace and what lines tobowl,” Rohit added.

Coming wider off thecrease was also anothereffective ploy used byPatel. — PTI

Live on TV

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When you are playingon a pitch like that, youneed to have an intentand look to score runsas well. You can’t justkeep blocking. You justneed to be slightlyahead at times and tryand find ways to scoreruns.— ROHIT SHARMA

India star batsman

���� US Olympicscoach John Geddertfaced 24 chargesthat could havecarried years inprison had he beenconvicted. He wassupposed to appearin an Eaton Countycourt, near Lansing,but his body wasfound at a rest areaalong Interstate 96.

YYuussuuff PPaatthhaann

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