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The Navnirman KrushakSangathan (NKS) has called

for a Statewide bandh onFebruary 21 to protest thelackadaisical attitude of boththe Union and StateGovernments to protect theinterest of farmers.

NKS national convenerAkshay Kumar informed thishere on Wednesday evening.

“Whenever farmers havetried to stage peaceful protestseeking fulfilment of theirdemands, they have been pre-vented from entering the cap-ital city. This clearly indicates

the State Government’s concerntowards farmers,” said Kumar.

He said NKS activistswould strongly protest againstthe police atrocity and presstheir longstanding demandsof price, prestige and pension

during the bandh. He urgedupon people from all walks oflife to support the Sangathan tohold a peaceful bandh.

Kumar also said the NKShas sought cooperation fromtruck and bus associations urg-

ing them to keep their vehiclesoff the road during the 12-hourbandh. “We have also request-ed commercial establishmentsand educational institutions tosupport us in making thebandh a success,” he added.

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Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan on

Thursday came down heavilyon the BJD Government accus-ing it of being unable to resolvethe basic problems in the Stateeven after its rule for 19 longyears.

Pradhan wasaddressing a con-ference for OtherBackward Classes(OBCs) organisedby the BJP atKantabanji inBalangir district.

He said theBJD Governmenthas not been ableto provide waterto the farmers inthe district for irri-gation. It has alsofailed to providedrinking waterthrough pipes tothe people.

He took a potshot at ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik, say-ing, “Naveen Patnaik goesaround asking ‘Apana manekhushi ta’ and replies ‘Mubahut Khushi.’ He addressespeople for around 1.5 minuteseverywhere and those are notspeeches but video record-ings.”

Taking up the issues facedby the OBCs in the State,Pradhan said, “The StateGovernment is not at all both-

ered about the wellbeing of theOBCs. The development thattook place in western Odishaincluding Balangir was all doneduring the BJP regime.

Union Rural DevelopmentMinister Ram Kripal Yadavsaid that without giving per-centage (PC) no work is beingdone in Odisha. The StateGovernment is also not imple-menting the welfare schemes ofthe Central Government, healleged.

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Odisha is staring at a demo-graphic disaster as the

number of unemployed in theState is expected to touch 1crore, said PCC presidentNiranjan Patnaik on Thursday.

Patnaik, in a Press release,said Odisha now stands ataround 7th position in the 10high unemployment-rateStates. The Centre forMonitoring Indian Economy(CMIE) with the Bombay StockExchange prepared data ofunemployment in Odisha,which says the joblessness ratein the State is constantly rising.

Just one year back, the rateincreased to 7% from 5.5% inJanuary. Also in March lastyear, it again increased to 7.8%.

Another disturbing factrevealed in this report is thatthe higher the education level,the worse is the unemploymentrate in the State. The data fur-ther show that the unemploy-ment rate in category of ‘grad-uate or/ and above’ is high atover 13% in Odisha while therate of unemployment isaround 9% in the category ofeducation level of ‘10th-12thstandard’. The counts of high-er educated unemployed havecrossed 22 lakh and those ofuneducated unemployedtouched have around 80 lakh.

Approximately, over 1crore in the State have no jobs,the PCC chief said, statingthat the BJD Government has

done nothing for employmentgeneration. No new industrieshave come up and many of theexisting ones have shut down.Youths from various districtsare migrating to other States.There are no concrete dataavailable with the StateGovernment on this issue. TheCM talks about “Make inOdisha”, but the reality is he just“Fakes in Odisha”, said Patnaik.

He further said AICC pres-ident Rahul Gandhi at hisrecent Rourkela meeting hasunveiled three separate jobguarantee cards for youths,women and farmers of Odisha.“In our guarantee cards, wehave mentioned: (1) MinimumIncome Guarantee for the poor;(2) Job to one member ofevery needy family; and (3)Contractual employees to bemade permanent.”

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The Kalinga Institute ofSocial Sciences (KISS) was

awarded as 'NGO of the Year'by the UBS Forum at the 2ndEdition CSR Summit & Awards2019 in Bengaluru onWeddnesday for its exemplarysocial service in the educationsector. Mihir Nayak andSasmita Rout received theaward on behalf of the KISS.

More than 100 corporateleaders from Infosys, CricilRec Foundation, Tata Hitachi,Toyota Kirloskar, CAF India,Mphasis, Synergie, Adani

Foundation, IBM, Dell Emc,GE Health Care, etc., werepresent.

The NGO of the Yearaward is an independent andprestigious one given to profes-sionally-managed NGOsdemonstrating commitment tothe causes undertaken and thetrust reposed in it by corporatesacross India.

Expressing satisfaction,KIIT & KISS founder DrAchyuta Samanta said it is arare achievement made possi-ble by the combined efforts ofstaffs, tribal community, stu-dents and well-wishers.

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The Bhubaneswar-CuttackPolice Commissionerate on

Thursday made a major reshuf-fle at officer level. The transferswere made in the ranks ofDCPs, ACPs, SIs and ASIs.

Asim Kumar Mishra, OPS-I, Additional DCP Comm,Bhubaneswar Hdqrs, wastransferred as Additional DCP,I/c of DIB, Cuttack UPD.

Trinath Mishra, OPS.-I,Addl. DCP Comm., BBSRHdqrs, was shifted as Addl.DCP, IUCAW, BBSR UPD.

Tapan Kumar Pattnaik,OPS-I, Addl. DCP BBSR UPDand Addl. DCP, Comm.,Hdqrs., BBSR will now remainin charge of ExecutiveMagistrate Court, BBSR UPC.

Mayadhara Sethi, OPS-I,Addl. DCP Cuttack UPD wastransferred as Addl. DCP, BBSRUPD.

Prasanta KumarPattanayak, OPS-I, Addl. SPupon joining at Comm.,Hdqrs., BBSR was transferred

as Addl. DCP, IUCAW, CuttackUPD.

Gadadhar Pradhani, OPS-I, Addl. DCP BBSR was shift-ed as UPD Addl. DCP, CuttackUPD.

Tapaswini Arukh, OPS-I,Addl. DCP Comm., Hdqrs.,BBSR was transferred as Addl.DCP, Comm., Hdqrs., BBSR.She will remain in-charge ofExecutive Magistrate Court,BBSR UPD.

Asim Kumar Panda, OPS,ACP Zone-I, BBSR was trans-ferred as UPD Comm., Hdqrs.,BBSR.

Manas Ranjan Garnaik,I/c, ACP Capital PS, BBSRwaas transferred as UPD ACP,Zone-I, CTC.

Rabinarayan Satpathy,OPS, ACP Zone-VI, BBSR wastransferred as UPD ACP,Judicial Comm., Hdqrs., BBSR.

This apart, as many as 26IICs of various police stationswere transferred as part of thereshuffle.

Girija ShankarChakrabarty was appointedthe Capital Police Station IIC,Himanshu Bhusan Swain asBadambadi PS IIC, ArunKumar Swain Naypalli PS IIC,Rabi Narayan BhanjaMalgodown PS IIC, ManojRoshan Bilung MadhupatnaPS IIC, Biswaranjan NayakChandrasekharpur PS IIC,Amitav MohapatraKharavelanagar PS IIC.

Similarly, JnanendraKumar Sahoo was posted asAirfield IIC, BiswaranjanSenapati Saheed Nagar PSIIC,Arpita Khatua Mahila PSIIC and Jatindra Nath Sethy asMancheswar PS IIC.

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School on“Dynamics ofEntrepreneurialDevelopmentfor EmpowerRural Youth inAgriculture” isnow underwayat the Odisha University ofAgriculture University (OUAT)here.

The school, inauguratedby OUAT Vice Chancellor ProfSN Pashupalak, is being attend-ed by 25 Scientists from differ-ent State AgricultureUniversities.

Among others, Dr KKRout, Extension EducationDirector Dr BishnupriayaMishra and CourseCoordinator Dr PK Banerjeediscussed on the scope of entre-preneurship in agriculture,informed Scientist Dr DPMallick.

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Apurwa Masook, a fourthyear student of the Veer

Surendra Sai University ofTechnology(VSSUT), Burla hassuccessfully completed a glob-al fellowship programme atthe Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT), Australia.

The 11-day acceleratedintense learning programme ofMIT to address global chal-lenges, develop sustainable solu-tions was began from January29. Kate Jones, Minister ofInnovation, Tourism andCommonwealth of Queensland,Australia inaugurated the eventwhich was held at GardensPoint in association withQueensland’s Government,Australia. Total 100 partici-pants from 33 countries aroundthe globe participated.

Six persons, including theyoungest 20 years old Apurwafrom India participated in theprogramme. After th event,Apurwa was certified in New

Ventures leadershi\p by MIT.His work was appreciated

by Bill Aulet, MD MITEntrepreneurship and ErdinBeshimov, Director MITBootcamps. Previously,Apurwa had the honour ofbeing awarded as the “Molodo

Zvezda” (Youth star) in the XIXWorld Youth Festival ofStudents, Russia, for the onlyteam representing India in sci-ence and technology amongover 25,000 participants from185 countries.

He is one of the founding

members of VSLV Rocket andSatellite Team of VSSUT whichhad fired successfully threerockets from Burla. The VSLVrocket of VSSUT, Burla hasearned reputation and found aplace in the Limca Book ofRecords.

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After six successful editionsof the Rotary Bhubaneswar

Corporate Quiz contest, onceagain stage is all set for the 7thevent, informed Rotary Club ofBhubaneswar presidentTanmay Mohanty and secretaryBijoy Dash and7th RotaryBhubaneswar Corporate QuizP Venugopal Rao at a Press

meet here on Thursday. Theevent would be held at HotelSwosti Premium on March 2from 6 pm onwards.

Mohanty said this eventgives a platform to private aswell as public entities to usherin their identities through themode of brand promotion andcreative advertisements.Eventually, the Rotary Clubwould spend the amount

earned from the event throughthe modes of sponsorships andparticipation charges for socialwelfare of the community.

Entries for 7th quiz compe-tition are being invited from thecorporate and business houses,educational institutes, PSUsand MSMEs. Each team wouldbe of three numbers. The ques-tions unanswered by the finalsix would go to the rest of the

teams. There is a participationfee of Rs 12,000 per team. Theparticipation fee has to be paidby February 28 throughcheques/ demand drafts.

The awards would be cashprizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000and Rs 15,000 along with tro-phy and certificates to the win-ner and runners-up. Last year,17 corporate teams participat-ed in the contest.

Mohanty said the RotaryClub of Bhubaneswar takespride for its projects like mod-ernisation of the Capital Hospitaland the Municipality HospitalBlood Bank. The club has alsoundertaken projects like Ashaand ROPARS as part of its long-term sustainable communitydevelopment programmes. Theclub has also adopted villageKalapita under Bhagabatipur-IIGP of Kantabada block inKhordha district. It has provid-ed toilets to the households, freehealth facilities and health cardsto all the villagers.

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The Governing Body meet-ing of the Odisha Water and

Sanitation Mission was heldunder Chairmanship of ChiefSecretary Aditya Prasad Padhihere on Thursday whereinPrincipal Secretary PanchayatiRaj and Drinking Water DeoRanjan Kumar Singh outlinedthe financial and administrativeissues for discussion.

It was revealed that theState has taken a quantumleap forward in implementa-tion of drinking water andindividual household latrines(IHHL) projects.

Reviewing the district wiseprogress, Chief Secretary Padhidirected to focus on actual

habit and behavioural changeof the people in water and san-itation matters.

Padhi directed to continuethe awareness building activi-ties regarding the benefits ofusing toilets by involving peo-ple’s organizations and commu-nity level opinion makers.

Presenting the updates,Mission Director RoopaMishra said that presently thedrinking water projects arebeing implemented in conver-gence with the funds from thesources like BASUDHA,OMBADC, National RuralDrinking Water Project,District Mineral Fund, StateFinance Commission andRural InfrastructureDevelopment Fund.

35 RWSS divisions areimplementing the projectsthrough block level engineersand technical staff. Two juniorengineers have been engaged ineach block to implement the

water and sanitation projects.As of now, around 6,587 GPshave already been coveredunder one or more numbers ofpipe water supply projects.More than 75 per cent of thepopulation has been coveredunder the projects in the dis-tricts like Deogarh, Ganjamand Khordha. The tube wellcoverage has also increasedsubstantially. There is one tubewell for around every 45 per-sons in the districts likeKandhamal, Malkangiri andDeogarh.

Principal Secretary Singhappraised that in the year 2018-19 around 9,554 projects worthRs14, 896 crore has been takenup in convergence with variousschemes. As of now, 2,099 pro-jects have been completed andmade functional. Other pro-jects are in different phases ofimplementation.

Work plan has beengrounded for covering 100 per

cent of the population byJanuary, 2022. Similarly, theIHHL coverage in the State hasincreased from round 12 percent in 2012-14 to around 82per cent in the current year.Four districts, 54 blocks, 1,916GPs and 19,974 villages havebeen declared ODF. The IHHLcoverage has reached around100 per cent in the districts likeBaleswar, Deogarh, Dhenkanal,Ganjam, Jharsuguda,Kandhamal, Sambalpur andSubarnapur. The districts likeGajapati and Sundargarh havemoved up to 92 per cent ofachievement.

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BSNL Chief General Manager,Odisha Circle Satyananda

Naik on Thursday termed as “nottrue” the reports in the newspa-pers and TV that the BSNL is like-ly to be closed. “The BSNL beinga Government-owned PSU, thereis no proposal to close down thecompany. Moreover, the BSNLnetwork is robust and has pres-ence in all comers of the country.The network is continuouslybeing expanded in providingvarious services such as landline,broadband, Fiber to the Home,leased line and mobile services,”Naik said.“Recently, BSNL Odishahas launched 4G services inBalangir and is going to launch4G services at Subarnapur,Kalahandi and Nuapada districtsvery shortly. The speed of BSNL4G services is appreciated by ourbeloved customers of Balangir incomparison to that of other oper-ators,” he stated.

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An atrocious suicide attackkilled 43 Central Reserve

Police Force (CRPF) personnelin highway village of Lethporain south Kashmir on Thursdayas a suicide bomber rammedexplosive-laden SUV into aSrinagar-bound convoy. This isthe biggest attack on securityforces in three decades of insur-gency in Kashmir. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad out-fit claimed responsibility for theattack saying a 21-year-oldlocal terrorist Adil Dar carriedout the attack.

Gory pictures of splatteredbody parts of the slain troop-ers, blood-soaked tatteredclothes and mangled vehicleswent viral soon after the after-noon attack that signals majorshift in terrorists’ tactic inKashmir. The all-time highfatal casualty figure even sur-passed Uri attack on IndianArmy on September 18, 2016when 19 soldiers were killed bya group of LeT fidayeen.

Large scale condemnationhas poured in against theattack. Home Minister RajnathSingh is likely to visit Kashmiron Friday to assess the situationin the aftermath of the attack.Official sources said that analert has been sounded in theValley to check the escalatingsituation.

Sources said that 21-year-old local Jaish cadre Adil Dar

rammed the explosive-ladenSUV into a convoy of CRPFbuses at Lethpora, 17 kilo-meters from Srinagar ataround 3.15 pm. The majorimpact of the blast was on abus packed with off-dutytroopers while four otherbuses in tow were also badlydamaged. At least, two per-sonnel deployed for road safe-ty and not part of the convoy,were also killed. Sources saidmore than a couple of dozen personnelwere wounded in the attack.

Most of the personnel diedon the spot even as manyinjured were evacuated to hos-pital for treatment.

Attacker Dar hails fromKakapora village, 5 km fromthe blast site. He had joined theJeM outfit in April last year. Heis second Kashmiri suicidebomber who carried out attackon security forces. Afaq Shah,21, had blown himself off out-side the XV corps headquartersin year 2000.

Sources said that Dar hadrecorded a video beforeembarking on the suicidal pathand it was uploaded by his out-fit almost simultaneously with

the attack’s timing. Such wasthe bang of the blast that it shat-tered windowpanes of thehouses in a diameter of 5 kmand it was heard in many partsof Srinagar city. Sources saidthat more than hundred kg ofexplosive has been used in theattack.

The attack was carried outat a time when security forceshad upped the ante againstultras in the Valley especially inthe south Kashmir region. Theattack is also significant in thewake of preparations for theupcoming Assembly and par-liamentary polls. Several topofficials of the State led by ChiefSecretary BVR Subramanyamare scheduled to hold a crucialmeeting in New Delhi onFebruary 18 to decide pollpossibilities in the embattledState.

The security forces blockedtraffic on the national highwayafter the blast leading to majorchaos on the highway.

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The deadly car bomb attackcarried out by the Jaish-e-

Mohammad on a convoy of theCentral Reserve Police Force(CRPF) on Thursday inPulwama district in Jammu &Kashmir is similar to terrorstrikes in Afghanistan, Syriaand some other trouble-tornparts of the West-East.

Intelligence had informa-tion about the attack for the lastone year but no counter-mech-anism could be put in place.

Officials in the securityestablishment said attack ofsuch magnitude and sophisti-cation on Thursday has beenunseen before in the Valleywhich is a marked shift in theterror tactic in Jammu &Kashmir amid a clear admin-istrative and Intelligence failure.

“The initiative always lieswith the terrorists and thesecurity and intelligence com-munity have clearly failed inassessing such an attack before-hand. It also indicates the capa-bilities and capacities to executeterror attacks in a repeatedfashion by the JeM continuewith impunity. The JeM was

involved in the Pathankot air-base terror strike on January 2,2016,” the official said.

Last such attack wasrecorded on November 2, 2005when a suicide bomber blew uphis car at Nowgam, near theprivate residence of then ChiefMinister Mufti MohammadSayeed, killing three cops andsix civilians.

Another major car bombstrike was registered on Oc-tober 1, 2001 when terroriststriggered a car bomb outsidethe old Legislative AssemblyComplex in Srinagar in which38 persons were killed whilethree terrorists were also neu-tralised. The first “humanbomb” was used on April 19,2000 in which two soldierswere killed in the suicide carbomb at the Army headquar-ters at Badamibagh area inSrinagar.

Sources in the securityagencies and counter-terrorexperts said the planner for theterror strike could have been ofPakistani military backgroundwho had put in a well-engi-neered system to maximiseimpact and inflict maximumdamage.

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In a major setback to theAAP Government in Delhi,

the two-judge Bench of theSupreme Court on Thursdayagreed that the Centre shouldhave the final word on postingand transfer of bureaucrats inthe national Capital adminis-tration, but their disagree-ment on finer details resultedin a split verdict and the mat-ter got referred to a largerBench.

The Bench, which wascalled upon to decide on sixvexatious issues pertaining toa long-running feud betweenthe Central and the nationalCapital Governments, gave anunanimous verdict on theremaining five counts andruled that the DelhiGovernment’s Anti-CorruptionBranch (ACB) cannot probethe Centre’s employees in cor-ruption cases.

Out of six contentionsissues, the Delhi Governmentwon in three and lost to theCentre on two critical aspects

of investigating power to probeCentral Government employ-ees and for setting up ofenquiry commissions.

While the court left it for alarger Bench to conclusivelydecide who will have controlover administrative services inDelhi, the Bench of Justices AKSikri and Ashok Bhushanunanimously ruled the thepower to appoint enquiry com-missions would rest with theCentre as “there is no ‘StateGovernment’ in the UnionTerritory and the StateGovernment (for this purpose)shall mean the CentralGovernment”.

In its 202-page verdict, thecourt, however, held that theelected Delhi Government willhave the right to appoint pub-lic prosecutors to decide landrevenue matters and also toappoint or deal with electrici-ty commission or board.

On the most contentiousissue, Justice Sikri said, “Thetransfers and postings of sec-retaries, heads of departmentsand other officers in the scaleof Joint Secretary to theGovernment of India andabove can be done by theLieutenant Governor and thefile submitted to him directly.”

“For other levels, includingDANICS officers, files can berouted through the Chief

Minister to the L-G. In case ofdifference of opinion betweenthe L-G and the Chief Minister,the view of the L-G should pre-vail and the Ministry of HomeAffairs can issue a suitablenotification,” he said.

Justice Sikri noted all trans-fers and postings for Grade IIIand IV DASS (DelhiAdministration SubordinateService) are done by theSecretary (Services), whilethose for Grades I and II aredone by the Chief Secretary.

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West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on

Thursday said Opposition par-ties will meet in the nationalCapital during the last week ofthis month to finalise how tocollectively take on the ModiGovernment in the Lok Sabhapolls.

She said one round ofmeeting with top Oppositionleaders, including Congresschief Rahul Gandhi, NCP’sSharad Pawar, TDP’s NChandrababu Naidu and DelhiCM Arvind Kejriwal among others, has alreadytaken place while next crucialround is scheduled forFebruary 26-27.

Batting for Aam AadmiParty (AAP), she said Kejriwalis keen on an alliance with theCongress in Delhi for theupcoming parliamentary pollsand it is for Congress to recip-rocate.

“Kejr iwal wants analliance with the Congress inDelhi,” said Mamata, adding

that the AAP supremo hadstruggled hard to become theChief Minister of Delhi andthat he is continuing to strug-gle.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwalsaid the Congress had “more orless” declined to have analliance in Delhi for the generalelection. He also said the BJPwould benefit in a three-cor-nered poll contest in thenational Capital.

Also, Mamata said it iswrong to ask her about beingthe PM face of the alliance andsaid that all the leaders ofOpposition parties were qual-ified to lead the country.

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Terming the SupremeCourt’s verdict on the con-

tentious issue of control ofservices in the National CapitalTerritory (NCT) as anti-con-stitution and anti-democracy,Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal said it is an injusticeto the people of Delhi and thatthe AAP Government will seeklegal remedies.

Soon after the court’s ver-dict, Kejriwal accused the BJP-led Government at the Centreof creating hurdles in the func-tioning of the AAP dispensa-tion and appealed to the peo-

ple to elect AAP candidates inall the seven Lok Sabha seats inDelhi to help the party achievefull-Statehood for Delhi.

While the AAP used pop-ular Bollywood dialogue“tareekh pe tareekh” to describea split verdict after four yearsof litigation, the BJP promptlyaccused Kejriwal of “declaringa war on the Supreme Court”and said it is considering filingcontempt of court proceedingsagainst him.

Advising Kejriwal, DelhiCongress Pradesh presidentand former Chief MinisterShiela Dikshit said fighting isno solution. “Constitution has

defined the power Delhi has,it’s not unlimited. The Centre,the Lieutenant Governor, andthe Home Ministry handlemany things in the Capital. Sofighting is no solution, makechanges if needed,” Sheilasaid.

Rebutting her advice,Kejriwal said, “I respect Sheilaji.I appeal to her not to makesuch comments. We don’t evenhave 10 per cent of the powerthat her Government had.Didn’t she have the power totransfer officers? Still, in the lastfour years we have done morework than her Government didin 15 years,” he said.

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The representatives of vari-ous political parties met an

Election Commission of India(ECI) team here on Thursdayand urged for conducting freeand fair elections in the State.

A six-member team of theECI led by ElectionCommissioner Ashok Lavasareviewed the poll preparationsfor the upcoming polls. Theteam discussed with the repre-sentatives of BJD, BJP, Congressand CPI.

While Amar Patnaik andSasmit Patra represented theBJD, Leader of Opposition(LoP) Narasingha Mishra ledthe Congress for the review

meeting with the ECI.“The duty of ECI is to con-

duct free and fair electionsacross the State and country.We informed the ECI about theinvolvement of BJP leaders inBijepur Assembly poll violenceand urged the officials to takesteps to prevent it,” said AmarPatnaik.

“We also informed theteam about the cash hoardingat petrol pumps and cash trans-ferred through the petrolpumps. The attention should begiven on the attempts beingmade to trigger communalviolence in the area to disruptthe election process. We alsodrew the attention of the ECIofficials requesting them toadd the expenditure of thestar and non-star campaignersto the candidates, not theparty,” he added.

The Congress alsodemanded for free and fair

elections. “We informed theECI about the misuse ofGovernment machinery duringthe polls and urged the ECI rep-resentatives to ensure the guide-lines of the ElectionCommission to be followedproperly and to take initiativesto prevent the use of muscle andmoney power and misuse ofGovernment machinery duringthe upcoming polls,” LoP

Mishra told mediapersons.The BJP delegation headed

by Bhrugu Baxipatra said, “Weinformed the ECI team aboutpossible poll rigging and vio-lence by the BJD workers dur-ing the polls. The majority ofpoll booths have been occupiedby the BJD to declare those as‘sensitive’. We also informedabout the previous poll violencein which the BJP workers were

killed by BJD workers.”The CPI leaders demanded

for removal of the EVMs andreintroduction of the ballotpaper in the upcoming elections.

“The EVM machine haslost its credibility. So, werequested the ECI to reintro-duce the ballot paper removingthe EVMs in the polls,” said for-mer CPI MLA Narayan Reddy.He also urged the ECI to ban

the forces like Biju Yuva Vahiniand also liquor a week beforethe polls. He appealed toremove the hoardings carryingpictures of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and ChiefMinister Naveen Patnaik.

Later, in the day the ECIteam held a meeting with toppolice officials regarding maintaining law and orderduring the polls.

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The BJD on Thursdayseverely criticised Union

Minister Dharmendra Pradhanfor making “baseless” allega-tions against Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik and said he hasbecome intolerant of Patnaik’ssuccesses.

“The Chief Minister hasundertaken a number of wel-fare projects for development ofall sections of people in society.He has also adopted pro-grammes to see that people getbenefits from these projects.

He has been in direct touchwith the people. Union

Minister Dharmendra Pradhanshould know that the ChiefMinister has already won thehearts of people.

“Pradhan should refrainfrom making baseless allega-tions and keep positive views asto what can he do for Odisha,”said BJD State secretary BijayNayak in a statement.

Alleging that Pradhan ismaking allegations out of hisinefficiency, intolerance andshamelessness, Nayak said thatno amount of pretension, con-spiracy and political trickswould snap the relationbetween the Chief Ministerand people of the State.

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While the OdishaGovernment was

expecting allocation of over Rs100 crore for infrastructuredevelopment activities likeconstruction, repair and ren-ovation of courtrooms acrossthe State, the Centre has allot-ted only over Rs 35 crore forthe purpose for the year 2019-20.

While much emphasis isgiven on development of infra-structural facilities of the courtbuildings in the State, share ofthe Centre for this fiscal has notbeen released till date thoughthere is hardly one month leftin 2018-19.

And the Ministry of Lawand Justice has intimated theState Government about theallocation of Rs 35.69 crore toOdisha for next fiscal of 2019-20.

The Union Ministry ofFinance has allocated Rs710crore during 2019-20 for theentire country for this purpose,said sources.

The State Government had

made budgetary provision ofRs100 crore for the financialyear 2018-19 from its ownresources to take up infra-structure development of thecourt buildings.

This was to be done underCentrally Sponsored Schemeand the programme is funded60:40 basis. The UnionGovernment is supposed torelease its share in phases fromApril onwards.

However till date, theCentral share has not beenreceived by the StateGovernment, admits a seniorofficer in the Department ofHome.

Looking at the require-ment, the State Governmenthad submitted an action planof Rs 50 crore, while makingbudgetary allocation for thisfiscal.

Though budget allocationwas made in anticipation thatthe Union Government willrelease its share, but as fundsflow from the Centre is notforthcoming, taking up projectwork is posing a problem,admit officials.

In order to ensure speedyjustice, there is an urgent needfor court buildings to be set upin rural areas of the State.

The State Government hasimpressed upon the UnionGovernment to consider lever-age of more funds for openingmore Gramnalayas in the Stateand construction of such courtbuildings in rural pockets of the

State will ensure speedy justice,officials say.

Another issue like estab-lishment of special courts isbothering the State due tofunds constraints.

The Government of Indiahas asked the StateGovernment for establish-ment of special and designat-ed courts under variousCentral Acts and Rules. TheHigh Court of Orissa is plac-ing proposals for creation ofposts and manpower to thateffect.

However, with limitedresources available at the StateGovernment, such proposalsare difficult to implement.

Under this backdrop, theUnion Government wasimpressed upon to make pro-vision for funds for both man-power and infrastructure devel-opment of the judiciary, saidsources.

From time to time by thedirections of Supreme Courton different interlocutoryapplications, the StateGovernment is constrained tofind recourses for compli-ance of the orders and direc-tions of the apex court, offi-cials admit.

Accordingly, the UnionGovernment has beenimpressed upon to providerecurring and non recurringexpenditure in the event ofappointment of Adhoc Judgesfor downsizing the burgeon-ing number of pending cases.

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An ambitious project hasbeen drawn up by the

Sambalpur MunicipalCorporation (SMC) for beau-tification of the Mahanadi ringroad in Sambalpur town.

The entire 3-km ring roadfrom Mandhalia chowk toKacheri Chowk will be devel-oped on the bank of riverMahanadi. Six viewpoints willbe constructed from one end toanother.

The first colourfully deco-rated viewpoint was inaugu-rated by the Chief Ministerduring his last visit onFebruary, one at the famousSamaleswari temple ghat.Under the project foot pathwill be constructed from oneend to another with lightpoints for evening stroll of thepeople.

A Kolkata- based companyhas prepared the DetailedProject Report (DPR) for theproject estimated to cost Rs9.14 crore, official sources said.

The SMC is implementingthe project. In the first phase,

construction work from theMaa Samaleswari Temple toKamali bazar has been taken upfor Rs 99 lakh. The total pro-ject will be constructed in sixphases which will be complet-ed within 30 months. In thefirst phase, two viewpoints willbe constructed with footpathwith fixing of lighting posts. Inthe second phase, work will betaken up from Kamali Bazar toBalibandha ghat.

There is also a plan for con-struction of a huge pandalnear the Kacheri area. A parkwith food points will be therefor the amusements of thepeople. The river bathing ghatswill be renovated by fixing oftiles with special lightingarrangements, while varieties ofplants will also be plantedthere. Statues will be installedthere, the sources said. Theview point will be covered byroof to protect from rains andsun.

The project has been takenup to provide civic services tothe inhabitants of the town andextend basic facilities to thearea and people.

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Acarcass of an Irrawaddydolphin was found floating

near the Satapada Forest Rangeof Chilika lake on Thursday.The dolphin squad of forestpersonnel recovered the carcassfrom the Magarmukha channelwhile patrolling the lake.

According to SatapadaForest Range Officer ManasMohapatra, the six- feet-five-inch dolphin was a female andhad a girth of three feet eightinches.

The mammal was sent forpostmortem to the SatapadaRange Office and the cause of

its death was yetto be known, hesaid.

N o t a b l y ,Chilika hasemerged as thes ing le- larges thabitat ofIrrawaddy dol-phins in theworld. The annu-al dolphin censuswas conducted

by the Chilika DevelopmentAuthority and the ForestDepartment last month.

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In a deeply shocking incident,a man allegedly tried to rape his

daughter and attacked his wifewith a sharp weapon for oppos-ing his advances in Kuchinda ofthe district on Thursday. Sourcessaid the woman was admitted tothe hospital in a critical condition.Reports said the man tried torape his own daughter but wasopposed by his wife.Subsequently, he attacked his

wife with a sharp weapon andfled from the spot. “My husbandtried to rape my daughter. Heattacked me with a sharpweapon when I opposed him,”the injured woman said.

“My father used to harass meevery day and threatened to killmy mother if I did not pay heedto his demands,” the girl said. AKuchinda police station officialsaid, “We reached the spot afterreceiving information of anattack on a woman by her hus-band. We admitted the womanto the hospital in critical condi-tion. Her husband is abscondingand we have launched an oper-ation to nab him.”

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At least three per-sons, including a

minor girl, were injured when atusker attacked them on theoutskirts of Dhenkanal town onThursday. The injured wereadmitted to hospitals. One AbhayMallick (25) and his daughterSupriya of Harijan Sahi weregoing to an Anganwadi Centre ataround 7 am when the elephantattacked them. The duo, who sus-tained critical injuries, was admit-ted to the District HeadquartersHospital (DHH) here. Later, thetusker also trampled a truck dri-ver, Sridhara Nayak, when he hadgone to a nearby canal to takebath. He was admitted to theDHH and later shifted to the SCBMedical College Hospital inCuttack after his condition dete-riorated.

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All the major parties havestarted their homework to

woo the voters here ahead ofthe elections expected to beheld in a couple of months.State-level leaders are visiting

the district and holding publicmeetings. BJD supremo andChief Minister Naveen Patnaikis scheduled to visit Kendraparaon Friday afternoon to attenda mega farmers’ meeting atBaro for KALIA Yojana.

Preparationa are in fullswing for the CM’s visit as morethan a lakh of farmers fromKendrapara and Jagatsinghpurare scheduled to join.To makethe CM visit a successful one,Kendrapara MLA Kishore Tarai,Mahakalapada MLA and formerMinister Atanu SabyasachiNayak and other senior leadersof the district along with BJDobserver of Kendrapara Pramila

Mallick have been monitoringthe situation. The BJP onTuesday organised a mock JanaAdalat at Mahapial telecomground . Leaders, includingBishnu Das, the BJP MP nom-inee of 2014 general election,accused the BJD Government ofhaving failed to ensure growthof the Kendrapara Lok Sabhaconstituency.

The leaders alleged that the19-year-old BJD Governmentin Odisha has been neck deep incorruption whereas differentcrimes have increased across theState. The BJP would go to thevoters by highlighting the ineffi-ciency of the ruling party, said

Das. Meanwhile, the Congress ina Press meet revealed to protestthe visit of the CM. Congressleaders alleged that thoughKendrapada is an agrarian dis-trict, but the State Governmenthas failed to set up agro-basedindustry and cold store in last 19years. They said several lift irri-gation points are lying defunct inthe district. During the last pollS,CM Patnaik had promised set-ting up of an industrial corridoron the side of NH-5(A), set upBarunei port and establish apower plant at Mahakalapada.But not a single project was com-pleted, said DCC presidentChinmaya Beura.

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Organised by the StateGeneral Administration

Department, a Pension Adalaton Thursday in Puri sorted out94 cases of retired employeeswho were also paid their dueshere.

The rest of the total 125pension cases would beresolved in a few days.Initiatives have also been takento resolve all cases relating togratuity, increments and otherbenefits being given by theGovernment to retired employ-

ees, informed Puri DIPRO ina Press release.

It was also informed thePension Adalat will also moveto all districts of Odisha to hearthe grievances of pensionersthere.

In December 19, a prepara-tory meeting had already beenconducted in Puri for PensionAdalat in Puri. The office of theAuditor General has prepared

a pension order which hasalso initiated steps for error-free pensions to allGovernment employees afterretirement.

Among others present inthe ‘Adalat’ were the AdditionalComptroller of AccountsSubrat Senapati, AssistantComptroller of Accounts SnehaDas and Puri ADM BinayKumar Dash.

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Atwo-day NationalCommunity Radio

Conclave was held here fromthe World Radio Day onTuesday.

The conclave, organisedby the Community RadioAssociation of Odisha in col-laboration with IIEC, IGSSS,UNICEF, Young India andIMAGE as knowledge partners,was inaugurated by FinanceMinister Shasi Bhusan Behera

in the presence of Agricultureand Farmers’ EmpowermentSecretary Dr Sourabh Garg,Labour Commissioner AnjanKumar Manik, retired admin-istrator Karunakar Patnaik,Unicef Odisha Officer-in-charge Sourav Bhattacharjee;IIEC Assistant Director SarmilaPatnaik, CRAO president DrShisir Das and CommunityRadio Association India pres-ident NA Shah Ansari.

About 100 communityradio broadcasters, radioexperts, radio professionals,policy makers and donors fromOdisha and other States joinedthe programme.

The inaugural event sawthe launch of two initiatives:CRAO led Mission CR-314

campaign that aims to push forcommunity radios in all 314blocks of Odisha and the

CommunityRadio4Change ini-tiative that seeks to ensurechild rights by empoweringadolescents and youth throughCommunity Radios in Odisha.

“Community radio is apowerful tool in relation to itslocation specificity, ability toreach vulnerable communitiesand an important source ofinformation in a defined local-ity. This gives community radioa greater advantage vis-a-visother media and informationsources. It can help reach andserve communities in a moretargeted manner for overallsocial development,” said theMinister.

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The two-day InternationalDam Safety conference

concluded successfully onThursday here. Over 725 del-egates including about 100from 30 overseas countries,leading dam owners, policy

makers, dam professionals, sci-entists and academia took part.

An exhibition showcasingproducts technology instru-ments and everything related todam safety was run during theevent.

Union Minister of State forWater Resources, River andGanga Rejuvenation ArjunRam Meghwal said, “It hasbeen decided to extend the per-centage of large dams underDRIP project from the current4 per cent to 13 per cent. Wewill also take 18 States on

board in place of six during theongoing DRIP. The WorldBank has acceptedGovernment of India propos-al for funding Rs 11,000 croreto rehabilitate around 700dams.”

In his remarks, CountryDirector- India, World BankJumaid Hussain spoke abouthow developments in Indiainfluence global trends andalso the World Bank’s partner-ship with India to finance damrehabilitation in India underDRIP.

The basic objective behindthe conference was to giveexposure to non-DRIP States aswell as other stakeholdersaccess to the best global prac-tices and technologicaladvancements to address theemerging dam safety chal-lenges. Moreover during thisconference, three importantnational guidelines, 16

Emergency Action Plans, and5 Operation and MaintenanceManuals was released. 35national and internationalorganisations both from with-in the country and abroadshowcased their technologies,products and services, reflect-ing the contemporary devel-opments in the dam safetyfield.

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Bollywood actor and pro-ducer Naseer Khan, who

was arrested for his allegedinvolvement in the Fine Indiachit fund scam, was producedin a CBI court here onThursday. However, as the courtrejected his bail plea he was sentto jail. Khan, the visually-impaired actor and film pro-ducer of ‘Shadow’ fame, hadbeen arrested in October 2009by the Odisha Crime Branch(CB) from Cuttack and laterreleased on bail.

Shadow, was producedfrom the funds collected byFine India Sales Private

Limited, a chit fund companythat allegedly siphoned offcrores of rupees from gullibleinvestors in Baleswar district.Khan was among several per-sons wanted by the CB in thechit fund scam case as he wasone of the directors of FineIndia.

The CB had also far frozenbank accounts of six chit fundcompanies worth Rs 191 crore,suspecting them to be chitfund scam money.

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India and Russia will sign aninter-governmental agree-

ment on Friday for a joint ven-ture to manufacture the icon-ic Kalashnikov rifle, popularlyknown as AK-47, at ordnancefactory in Amethi, UttarPradesh (UP). The contractworth over Rs 12,000 crore isfor more than seven lakh rifles,which will replace the currentlyused INSAS rifles by the Army.

Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate the pro-ject at the factory on February28, and President VladimirPutin is likely to announcehanding over at least 1,000readymade rifles through videoconferencing.

The AK-203 rifles, the lat-est in the series of the AK-47rifle, will be manufacturedunder a transfer of technologypact with Russia and an Indian

Major General will head theproject, officials said onThursday while giving detailsabout the ambitious project.The two countries will also inkan agreement to explore pos-sibilities to export rifles pro-duced in Amethi to friendlyforeign countries, they said.

Elaborating upon the rea-son for opting for AK or

Kalashnikov rifles, officials saidthis weapon has proved itsmettle for the last 60 years as itis rugged, almost defect proof,easy to handle, requires littletraining, easy to carry andadaptable to all kinds of oper-ations. The proposed rifles tobe manufactured will be 7.62mm and will replace the cur-rent 5.56 mm INSAS rifles

used by the army besides para-military forces. Moreover,almost 100 per cent Indiancontents, including metallurgybesides other items needed forrifle manufacturing will figurein the proposed contract as partof ‘Make in India’ of the presentNDA Government, they said.

Once this project takes off,the plan is to manufacture 12lakh more AK-23 rifles for thepara-military forces. Currently,the army and the para-militaryforces import AK series of riflesfrom Bulgaria and Romania.

During negotiations lastyear for the deal, the Adanigroup was proposed by Russiagiven the fact that India want-ed to involve private sector inmanufacturing state of the artweapons, However, the IndianGovernment rejected the offerand opted for a joint venturebetween Ordnance FactoryBoard (OFB) and Russia,

sources said.As regards appointing a

Major General, most probablyfrom the infantry, to overseethe project at Amethi, they saidhe will be able to guide themanagement about the nittygritty of the rifles needed by theArmy. Giving an example, theyalso said some docks manu-facturing warships in India forthe Navy have a retired RearAdmiral with experience inship building as the head andthis has proved successful.

Incidentally, India inked acontract on Tuesday for buying73,000 Sig Sauer rifles manu-factured by a US company onfast track basis. These rifles willbe inducted within a year andthe total deal is worth over Rs700 crore. Most of the rifles willbe issued to frontline troopsdeployed on the LoC withPakistan and Line of ActualControl facing China.

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Expressing concern that thereal estate sector had

recently come under severescrutiny by the Apex court andstatutory Consumer rightsbodies due to some unethicalpractices followed by certainplayers, Vice President MVenkaiah Naidu on Thursdaycalled upon the industry bod-ies to institutionalise a codeconduct and a self regulationmechanism to curb unethicalpractices in the segment.

Addressing the youngentrepreneurs and profession-als at the 3rd YouthCon orga-nized by realtor’s bodyCREDAI here, Naidu pointedout that the sector had comeunder severe scrutiny by theapex court and statutory con-sumer rights bodies due tosome unethical practices fol-lowed by certain players.

Naidu said that the grow-ing NPA in real estate had notonly affected banks but alsodried up bank loans to the sec-tor from 63 per cent in 2013 to17 per cent in 2016, therebyaccentuating the stress.

“You owe as much to yourcustomers and the workers asyou do to creditors and sup-pliers. More than financial via-bility, it is social obligation andtrust that is at stake”, he said.

Quoting the recent reportof CAG on real estate sector,the Vice President said that 95per cent of the real estatedevelopers, builders and agentsdid not have mandatory PAN.He also pointed to surveysfrom the sources like CREDAIand RERA and said that out ofaround 3000 entities surveyed;

more than 500 didn’t fileIncome Tax Returns.

Saying that the CAG reportmust be the point of reference,Naidu wanted the industry topromote digital transactionsand enhance transparency andethical facet of the sector.

Considering that the realestate sector contributes 7.9 percent to the GDP of the coun-try and provides employmentto more than 50 million peo-ple, he said that a transparentand predictable regulatoryregime was essential tostrengthen the real estate mar-ket by creating greater confi-dence in the consumers.

Naidu said that the sectorwas essential for healthy, inclu-sive and equitable growth of theeconomy. The Vice Presidentadded that programmes likeAMRUT, HRIDAY and the pio-neering initiatives like 100Smart Cities, Housing for all by2022 and PMAY present a greatopportunity for the sector. Hewanted organisations like theCREDAI to take lead in impart-ing the skill-sets required fornew employment opportunities.

Naidu said that it washeartening to note that the realestate sector was showing signsof revival due to measures likeRERA and GST.

Pointing that the SupremeCourt has acknowledged Rightto Shelter as a FundamentalRight, he said “we have a mas-sive task at hand” He saidthere was a shortage of 19 mil-lion housing units in India and96 per cent of those affected bythis shortage were peoplebelonging to economicallyweaker sections and middleincome groups.

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The Supreme Court onThursday grilled Amrapali

Group CMD Anil KumarSharma for Rs 94 crore ofhomebuyers’ money beingshown in his bank account andalso warned that it would sendhim to jail for his “reluctance”in disclosing the identity of aperson, who had bought com-pany’s shares worth Rs 140crore from the multi-nationalfirm JP Morgan.

The top court gave Sharmaone last opportunity to returnRs 6.55 crore of homebuyers’money, which he had trans-ferred to his daughter, byFebruary 28 and sought expla-nation of Rs 94 crore shown inhis bank account.

It also appointed a valuer toascertain the exact value of5,229 unsold flats includingthose booked by Amrapali forjust Rs 1, Rs 11 and Rs 12 andasked the valuer to submit itsreport by the next date ofhearing.

A Bench of Justices ArunMishra and UU Lalit alsobrought ‘The Royal Golf LinkCity Projects Pvt Ltd’ under itsscanner and sought its shareholding pattern, names of pro-moters and balancesheet. Thecourt was informed by theforensic auditors that land forthe project were purchased byAmrapali and in all possibilityit appears to be a front com-pany of the embattled realestate firm.

“We want to know, whopaid the money for the landand how much money. Whoare the promoters in the com-pany and who are the share-holders. We also want to knowwhat is the present valuation ofthe land. If it is honest invest-ment we will not touch it but

if it’s not then we will take itover,” the bench told advocateNikhil Nayyar appearing forRoyal Golf Link Projects Ltd.

The bench also restrainedRoyal Golf Link from alienat-ing its properties till furtherorders. It also asked the valuerto explain the transaction madeby JP Morgan Real Estate fundand Amrapali Group and howit sold the real estate firm’sshares to two little knowncompanies ‘Neelkant’ and‘Rudraksh’ for Rs 140 crore.

The bench noted that‘Neelkant’ and ‘Rudraksh’ com-pany was owned by ChandanKumar, who was a peon in theoffice of statutory auditor ofAmrapali and Vivek Mittalwas his relative.

Counsel for JP Morgansaid that there was one moreperson as director in the‘Neelakant’ and his name wasAtul Mittal but his relation withothers is not known.

“We will seek informationfrom Amrapali CMD AnilKumar Sharma about AtulMittal and send him to jailstraightaway if he do not dis-close his identity and rela-tions. This is a serious kind of

fraud. How does the officeboy and a small time contrac-tor have Rs 140 crore money topurchase shares of Amrapali,”the bench said.

The court asked Sharmaabout Atul Mittal, to whichSharma very reluctantly repliedthat he was one of the relativeof company’s statutory auditor.It asked Sharma to explain ashow does Rs 94 crore of home-buyers’ money was shown inhis account and told him thatif it is company’s money thenit should be returned byFebruary 28.

The court said that if anyfacts are suppressed by thecompany or its promoters itwill be viewed seriously andwould be considered as “aggra-vated contempt”.

On February 11, the apexcourt had taken strong excep-tion to two prime properties ofAmrapali, including a five-starhotel, finding no bidders in anauction and said that primafacie it looks like “cartelisationis at work”. The top court saidthat it is “shocking and dis-turbing” that bankers are notcoming forward to finance theproperties.

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Former Finance Minister PChidambaram on Thursday

slammed the CAG report onthe Rafale deal as “useless”, say-ing the institution has alloweditself to become a “joke”. Thereport contains no usefulinformation or conclusion andits motive is to hide the truth,the senior Congress leader saidat AICC Press briefing.

He reiterated his party’sdemand for a joint parliamen-tary committee probe into thedeal, saying only it can call forall relevant records. The CAGis not God, he said, apparentlyrejecting the ruling BJP’s con-tention that the national audi-tor’s report should be the finalword on the contentious issue.

Chidambaram cited a

Defence Ministry letter to theauditor watchdog forcing it toredact the commercial aspect ofthe deal from the purview ofthe audit.

According toChidambaram, the some of thepages in CAG copy brings tolight the hidden aspects of thedeal that explain matters relatingto number, pricing, delivery etc.

Reading out an extractfrom the Preface of the CAG,Chidambaram quoted it sayingDefence Ministry on January15, 2019 had requested CAGOffice to redact commercialdetails of MMRCA in the AuditReport citing reference to a par-ticular Article of the Inter-Governmental Agreement.

“This Office had taken upthe issue with MoD vide letterdated February 5, 2019, where-

in Ministry was intimated aboutCAG’s reluctance/refusal tocarry out the redaction of priceinformation, on account of dif-ficulties in comprehension andlack of precedence of redactionof commercial details in theAudit Reports. However,Ministry strongly reiteratedtheir stand for redaction ofcommercial details in MMRCAcase on the grounds of securi-ty concerns and the saidAgreement vide their letterdated February 6, 2019.Accordingly, commercial detailsin the Audit findings of theMMRCA contract have beenredacted,” Chidambaram quot-ed the Preface of CAG copy.

He further went on tocomment the CAG’s Report issignificant not for what it hassaid but for what it has not said.

New Delhi: A day after the lastsession of the current Lok Sabha,the Road Safety Network haswritten to the Union Minister ofRoad Transport and HighwaysNitin Gadkari to bringOrdinance on Road Safety.

The Motor VehiclesAmendment Bill, 2017 thatsought to carry out the much-required overhaul of the MotorVehicles Act of 1988 hadreceived the assent of the LokSabha on April 10, 2017 andwas introduced for considera-tion and passage in the RajyaSabha in the Winter Session of2017. However, after the failureto get the Bill passed, the net-work has urged theGovernment to take the extra-ordinary measure of issuing anordinance to save lives.

“The Government hadcommitted to bringing a strongroad safety law since 2014 andmany statements of the Ministerindicated his commitment toreduce road casualties. Since hisefforts in Parliament to pass theMotor Vehicles AmendmentBill has failed to garner support,we urge the Minister to bringOrdinance in interim period onthis important issue so thatlives can be saved,” said AshimSanyal of Consumer Voice.

He said regrettably India hasthe dubious distinction of beingworld number one in road crashdeaths and every year nearly 1.5lakh people are killed in roadcrashes and another five lakh areseverely injured, many of themdisabled for life. PNS

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Pressure mounted on theGovernment to teach a les-

son to Pakistan after 43 CRPFjawans were killed by the ter-rorists in a terrorist attack inJammu & Kashmir’s Pulwama.The political compulsion inview of the forthcoming LokSabha polls may force the ModiGovernment to take urgentsteps avenge the attack. Primeminister Narendra Modi whilecondemning the attack clearlysaid that “ sacrifice made bythese jawans will not go in vain.”

Dropping clear hints thatthe the Centre would takesome swift action to avnegt ehtekilling of the jawans, RSSchief Mohan Bhagwat said aresponse is expected from theModi Government.”

Speaking to the media inNagpur, Bhagwat said, “It is acowardly act, we strongly con-demn it. We expect action inresponse to this incident.”

“We have tolerated a lotand are still doing so, as seenfrom today’s incident,” he said.“They will get a reply (to theattack),” Bhagwat said.

Condemning the terrorattack, the Prime Minister said,”“Attack on CRPF personnel inPulwama is despicable. I strong-ly condemn this dastardlyattack. The sacrifices of our

brave security personnel shallnot go in vain. The entirenation stands shoulder to shoul-der with the families of thebrave martyrs. May the injuredrecover quickly,” said Modi.

“Spoke to Home MinisterRajnath Singh Ji and other topofficials regarding the situationin the wake of the attack inPulwama,” the PM added.

Home Minister RajnathSingh on Thursday eveningspoke to Jammu & KashmirGovernor Satya Pal Malik andtook stock of the situation inthe State after the deadly attackon a CRPF convoy by terrorists,officials said. He also cancelledall his political engagements inBihar Friday will visit Jammu& Kashmir along with topsecurity brass.

He called up the Governor,who apprised him about theprevailing situation in the State.Singh also spoke to UnionHome Secretary Rajiv Gaubaand Director General of CRPFRR Bhatnagar and gave themnecessary instructions, a HomeMinistry official said. The min-istry is also closely monitoringthe situation.

In a tweet, Singh said,“Today’s dastardly attack onCRPF in Pulwama (J&K) isextremely painful and disturb-ing. I bow to each and everyCRPF jawan who has sacrificedhis life in service to the nation.

I pray for the speedy recoveryof the injured.”

Union Home Secretary RajivGauba, who reached Bhutan onThursday on an official trip, isrushing back to Delhi after cut-ting short his visit in view of theterror attack in J&K, officials said.

Gauba had reachedThimpu for a Home Secretary-level dialogue with hisBhutanese counterpart. Hespoke to Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh after the terrorattack. “In view of the terrorattack in Pulwama, the home

secretary is rushing back toDelhi,” a Home Ministry official said.

Minister of State for HomeAffairs Kiren Rijiju said the“cowardly” terror attack inJammu & Kashmir will not gounpunished and it will beavenged in “all way possible”.

“We will definitely givebefitting response to this cow-ardly attack. It will not gounpunished. We will avenge inall way possible,” Kiren Rijiju,Union Minister of State forHome, said in a tweet.

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Condemnation poured infrom across the country

against the terror attack inPulwama district in Jammu &Kashmir on Thursday.

President Ram NathKovind said the entire nationstands united in the fightagainst the forces of terror andevil. “Strongly condemn the

terrorist attack in Pulwama,J&K. Thoughts and prayerswith the families of martyrs andwishing an early recovery tothose injured. The entire nationstands united in the fightagainst the forces of terror andevil,” he tweeted.

Congress president RahulGandhi condoled the killing ofCRPF personnel and termed theterror attack as cowardly one.General Secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra urged theGovernment to take concnretesteps to ensure such terrorattacks do not happen in future.NCP Chief Sharad Pawar con-demned the terror attack.

“I am deeply disturbed bythe cowardly attack on a#CRPF convoy in J&K in whichmany of our brave CRPF menhave been martyred and a largenumber wounded, some criti-cally. My condolences to thefamilies of our martyrs. I prayfor the speedy recovery of theinjured,” said Rahul.

Mourning the death ofCRPF jawans, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee said, “Saddened that13 CRPF jawans became mar-

tyrs today in Pulwama. Wesalute our brave jawans andextend our solidarity and con-dolences to their families. Ourprayers for those injured. Wewish them a speedy recovery/”.

Priyanka cancelled herPress conference in the wake ofthe terror attack. She expressedher deepest condolences to thefamilies of the security per-sonnel killed in a terror attackin Pulwama, Jammu andKashmir. “I can very wellunderstand the pain and griefof losing a loved one in thefamily,” she said in a statement.

Not only the Congressparty, but the entire country isstanding shoulder to shoulderwith the families of the bravesoldiers, she said. “But, we mustalso reflect and be concernedabout the high number of casu-alties in Kashmir. We demandthat this government take con-crete steps to ensure such ter-ror attacks don’t happen in thefuture,” Priyanka said.

NCP chief Sharad Pawaron Thursday condemned theattack on CRPF personnel inJammu and Kashmir’sPulwama in which 30 CRPFpersonnel were killed. He alsoextended condolences to theirfamilies.

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BJP’s Delhi unit observed“Black Day” on Thursday,

marking fourth anniversary ofthe AAP Government, and“purified” Jantar Mantar withGanga jal, where the rulingparty hosted Opposition lead-ers in its ‘Tanashahi Hatao,Loktantra Bachao Rally’ tar-geting the Modi government.

Delhi BJP president ManojTiwari accused the ArvindKejriwal Government of com-mitting 74 “frauds” with Delhipeople, saying BJP workerswill expose the AAP all acrossthe national Capital in the runup to the upcoming polls.

“We have come here topurify Jantar Mantar with the

sacred Ganga jal because yes-terday an alliance of sinfulpersons with negative thinkingwas seen here,” Tiwari toldreporters.

The AAP Government inDelhi has committed “frauds”by not fulfilling its 70 pollpromises and also by “mis-leading” voters, saying theirvotes have been deleted.

They also did not imple-ment 10 per cent reservationfor economically weaker sec-tion, “obstructed” AyushmanBharat scheme, and blamed theprime minister for its ownfailures, Tiwari said.

Union Minister Vijay Goeland BJP MPs Ramesh Bidhuri,Parvesh Verma, Udit Raj andseveral other senior Delhi unitleaders attended the protestevent at Janar Mantar.

Goel said that except vic-tory in Delhi election,Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Partycould not secure votes morethan even NOTA in otherStates. “The people of thecountry have learnt lesson fromthe results of his Governmentin Delhi,” he said.

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Srinagar: Chronological list ofall major terror attacks on secu-rity forces in Jammu & Kashmirin the last two decades:

� 26 August 2017 — ThreeJaish terrorists storm DistrictPolice Lines Pulwama, killingeight security force personnel,before the assailants were shotdead.

� 29 November 2016 —Three terrorists storm Armyartillery camp at Nagrota inJammu, killing seven soldiers,before the assailants were elim-inated.

� 18 September 2016 —Four Pakistani terrorists storman Army camp at Uri inBaramulla district, killing 18soldiers, most of them were insleep. The assailants were alsokilled. The incident led toreprisal surgical strikes insidethe Pakistan occupied Kashmirby Indian Army.

� 25 June 2016 —Terrorists open indiscriminatefiring on a CRPF bus, killingeight jawans at Pampore onSrinagar-Jammu NationalHighway.

� 3 June 2016 — Terroriststarget a CRPF bus at Pampore,killing two personnel before

taking refuge in a Governmentbuilding. Two-day encounterends with killing of three sol-diers including two officersand the two assailants. Onecivilian was also killed.

� 5 December 2014 — Sixheavily-armed terrorists storman Army camp at Mohra in Uri.Ten soldiers were killed in thegun battle with the intruders,who were all shot dead.

� 24 June 2013 —Terrorists ambush a bus carry-ing unarmed Army personnel atHyderpora in Srinagar. Eightsoldiers were killed in the attack.

� 19 July 2008 — Ten sol-diers were killed when terror-ists triggered an IED planted bythe roadside at Narbal onSrinagar-Baramulla highwayon the outskirts of the city.

� 2 November 2005 — Asuicide bomber blew up his carat Nowgam, near the privateresidence of then ChiefMinister Mufti MohammadSayeed, killing three cops andsix civilians.

� 20 July 2005 — A suicidecar bomber blew his vehicle byramming it into a vehicle ofsecurity forces. Three securityforce personnel and two civil-

ians were killed.� 24 June 2005 — Nine

army soldiers were killed in acar bomb triggered by terroristson the outskirts of Srinagar.

� 4 August 2004 — NineCRPF jawans were killed in aterrorist attack on their camp atRajbagh in Srinagar. One ter-rorist was also killed in retalia-tory action.

� 8 April 2004 — 11 per-sons were killed in a grenadeattack by terrorists on a PDPrally at Uri in Baramulla district.The PDP was demanding open-ing of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad Road.

�22 July 2003 — Eight sol-diers, including a Brigadier,were killed in a terrorists attackon their camp at Akhnoor.Several other senior Army offi-cers sustained injuries in theattack.

� 28 June 2003 — 12 sol-diers, including an officer, werekilled in a suicide attack by ter-rorists on Sunjwan Army camp.Two terrorists were neutralised.

� 14 May 2002 — In oneof the biggest strikes on anArmy installation, 36 personswere killed by three terroristswho stormed the Kaluchak

Army Cantonment in Jammu.The assailants were also killed.

� 17 November 2001 —Terrorists storm a securityforces base in Ramban (thenpart of Doda district), killing 10security forces. Four terroristswere also killed.

� 1 October 2001 —Terrorists trigger a car bomboutside the old LegislativeAssembly Complex in Srinagar.38 persons were killed whilethree assailants were also elim-inated.

� 10 August 2000 —Terrorists hurl a grenade atResidency Road in Srinagar. Asthe security officials assem-bled at the spot, they triggereda car bomb, killing 11 personsand a photojournalist.

� 19 April 2000 — The"human bomb" was used for thefirst time in Kashmir insur-gency. Two soldiers were killedin the suicide car bomb at theArmy headquarters atBadamibagh area in Srinagar.

� 3 November 1999 —Terrorists storm theBadamibagh Army headquar-ters, killing 10 soldiers includ-ing Defence Public RelationsOfficer Major Purshottam. PTI

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Srinagar: Former Jammu &Kashmir Chief Ministers,Omar Abdullah and MehboobaMufti condemned the killing ofat least 43 CRPF personnel ina terrorist attack in Pulwamadistrict on Thursday.

The CRPF personnel werekilled when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammedan explosive-laden vehicle intothe bus they were travelling in.

"Terrible news comingfrom the valley. A number of

CRPF soldiers are reported tohave been killed & injured in anIED blast. I condemn thisattack in the strongest possibleterms. My prayers for theinjured & condolences to thefamilies of the bereaved,"Abdullah tweeted.

The vehicle was blown upon the Srinagar-Jammu high-way in the district's Awantiporaarea.

"Disturbing news comingin from #awantipura . Twelve

of our security personnel havebeen martyred and severalhave been injured. No wordsare enough to condemn thegruesome terror attack. Howmany more lives will besnuffed out before this madnessends?" Mehbooba tweeted.

Several other mainstreampoliticians took to social mediato condemn the attack.

"Very sad news comingfrom Lethpora , any form ofkilling must be condemned byone and all," People'sConference leader ImranAnsari said.

The Jaish-e-Mohammedhas claimed responsibility forthe incident, officials said.

The casualties are likely togo up.

Several people were injuredin the terror attack, whichreduced the bus to a mangledheap of iron. PTI

3#��)��)��#��4Srinagar: The scene of devas-tation and destruction causedon Thursday by the suicide carbomb attack, that killed at least43 security personnel, sent chillsdown the spine of unsuspectinglocals who witnessed the bloodbath in Pulwama district'sAwantipora area, about 20 kmfrom here.

The explosive used in theattack was so strong that theblast was heard from 10-12 kmaway, including some parts ofSrinagar adjoining the Pulwamadistrict, locals said.

Body parts of the terrorist,identified as Adil Ahmad, andthe CRPF personnel killed inthe attack were strewn on theJammu-Srinagar Highway,where the incident happened.

Some of the bodies were so

badly blown up that officials feelit may take some time to iden-tity them. This was the first sui-cide car bomb strike in Kashmirsince the 2001 attack on the J&KLegislative Assembly that left 41persons, including three suicideattackers, dead.

More than 2,500 CentralReserve Police Force personnel,many of them returning fromleave to rejoin duty in theValley, were travelling in theconvoy of 78 vehicles when thesuicide bomber rammed hisvehicle into a bus carrying 39-44 jawans, officials said.

There was nothing at thescene of the incident to suggestwhich type of vehicle was usedto carry out the attack except themangled heap of iron of the busthat was the target.

As soon as the explosiontook place, people started run-ning for safety. The shopkeep-ers at Lethpora market, whichis less than 300 metres from thescene of the attack, downedtheir shutters and fled.

The scene of the incident isnot very far from theCommando Training Centreat Lethpora, which was stormedby Jaish-e-Mohammad terror-ists on December 31, 2017,killing five CRPF personnel.

The Jammu-SrinagarHighway has been witness toseveral terror attacks on thesecurity forces. CRPF bore thebrunt of an attack at Pampore,less than seven kilometres fromLethpora, in June 2016, losingeight jawans while 22 others sus-tained injuries. PTI

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Jammu: Jammu & KashmirGovernor Satya Pal Malik hasdirected immediate enhance-ment of surveillance and reviewof the security management ofall important installations andestablishments in the State, inthe aftermath of a major terrorattack on a CRPF convoy, killingat least 18 personnel in Pulwamaon Thursday.

He has also said such terrorattacks will not deter the resolveof our security forces and peo-ple. The Governor strongly con-demned the attack on a CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF)convoy in Pulwama, in which atleast 18 personnel were killedand many injured.

He has urged all the securi-ty forces' commanders toenhance surveillance on everyfront and directed the District

and Divisional Civil and PoliceAdministration to immediatelyreview the security manage-ment of all important installa-tions and establishments, anofficial spokesperson said.

Malik has conveyed his griefand sincere sympathy to thefamilies of the brave soldiers,who lost their lives in the attack,and prayed for an early recoveryof the injured, he added.

Expressing serious concernon the attack, the governor hasobserved that the forces respon-sible for insurgency in Jammuand Kashmir are desperate andfrustrated and just want to provetheir presence.

Visibly, it seems to be guid-ed from across the border asterror group JeM has claimedthe responsibility, the Governorsaid. PTI

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The Bengal PradeshCongress leadership has

once again claimed that thereis no possibility of any alliancewith the Trinamool Congressin the State. However, they havenot ruled possibilities of elec-toral adjustments with the LeftFront if a proposal comes fromthe other side.

“It is clear that there is nopossibility of any alliance withthe TMC in Bengal as wehave been continuously fight-ing against them in the State.Our workers will simply nottake the alliance and may notcome out for campaigning oreven go hostile during theelections if any alliance isimposed from above,” a seniorPCC leader said adding “evenour PCC president SomenMitra had gone on record on

this issue.”Mitra had earlier said that

there was no question of anyalliance with the Trinamool as“no proposal has come fromthat side.” The PCC seems tobe vertically divided over theissue with leaders likeBehrampore MP AdhirChowdhury, AICC memberOP Mishra, former MinisterManoj Chakrabarty, formerMP Deepa Dasmunshi oppos-ing the alliance and those like

Subhankar Chakrabarty,Pradip Bhattacharya and oth-ers preferring a softer line.

“How shall we convinceour grassroots workers aboutthe alliance after almost sevenyears of sustained struggleagainst the TMC highhand-edness?” a PCC member saidadding “our workers are get-ting targeted, by theTrinamool, many leaders havebeen forced to join them.Even during the Left rule wedid not face this kind of per-secution from the ruling party.So it will not be possible forthe two parties to work togeth-er in near future.”

The leaders however saidthat “there are two options:either go it alone or consider apre-electoral understandingwith the Left Front if any pro-posal comes from that side.”

The CPI(M), the biggest

partner of the LF has howevergone silent in the past fewweeks after initial curiosityabout the Congress. Accordingto inside sources a majority ofthe LF leaders are not averse toleaving a few seats for theCongress or going for a “friend-ly fight” in some seats like thatof Adhir Chowdhury, but ingeneral they are in favour ofgoing it alone.

“The recent Brigade rallyhas shown the kind of supportbase we still have in Bengal.The TMC does not allow ourvoters to vote but they allow theBJP to vote in many places pro-jecting them as the biggestOpposition party. By any stan-dards our Brigade rally wasmuch bigger than that of theTMC. Most of the workerswant to go it alone,” said aCPI(M) central committeemember.

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Gorakhpur(UP): The mainaccused in the hooch tragedyin neighbouring Kushinagardistrict, which left nine peopledead, has been arrested inBhilwara district of Rajasthan,police said.

The accused, HarendraYadav, is a native of Bihar andwas arrested Wednesdayevening. He is likely to bebrought to Kushinagar onFriday, Kushinagar SP RNMishra said.

As many as nine peopledied last week after consumingspurious liquor in an areaunder the Tarya Sujan policestation limits.

After registering a caseagainst unidentified people onFebruary 8, police had arrestedtwo people, Rajendra Jaiswal andHari Nishadand, the SP said.

During interrogation ofthe duo, it surfaced that oneHarendra Yadav of Gopalganj,Bihar who is the main accusedhas escaped soon after theincident.

Police traced Yadav's loca-tion using his mobile phone.He was arrested in Rajasthan'sBhilwara, the SP said. PTI

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Indulging in hard bargainingwith its senior saffron ally

over an alliance for the LokSabha polls, the ruling Shiv Senaon Thursday told its ally that itwas prepared to have an elec-toral tie-up with the latter, pro-vided the Amit Shah-led partyagreed to accept the 1995Assembly poll seat-sharing for-mula and offered the ChiefMinister’s post to it.

Seeking to have its pound offlesh in the proposed seat-shar-ing arrangement with the BJP

for the Lok Sabha polls, the ShivSena formally linked theimpending LS poll tie-up withthe seat-sharing arrangementsfor the State Assembly pollswhich in the normal course arescheduled to be held in Octoberthis year.

Significantly enough, theShiv Sena gave a 48-hour ulti-matum to the BJP for comingout with a seat-sharing offer forthe Lok Sabha polls. The Senais understood to have conveyedto the BJP leadership that if nodecision is taken on the alliancefor the Lok Sabha polls in the

next 48 hours, its candidateswould start campaigning for thepolls. While the Shiv Sena lead-ership has agreed to re-consid-er its earlier oft-repeated standof not contesting the Lok Sabhapolls in an alliance with the BJP,the Amit Shah-led party is notready to ink the seat-sharingdeal on the dotted line as sug-gested by the Sena.

While the BJP has offered50: 50 seat sharing formula anda Rajya Sabha seat, the Sena haschosen to link the LS poll tie-upwith the seat-sharing arrange-ment for the State Assembly.

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Within days after SharadPawar agreed to recon-

sider his earlier decision not tocontest the Lok Sabha polls, theNCP on Thursday announcedthat its president Pawar wouldcontest the Lok Sabha pollsfrom Madha constituency inwestern Maharashtra.

Talking to media personsafter Pawar confabulated withsenior party leaders and officebearers on the preparationsfor the Lok Sabha polls, seniorNCP leader Praful Patel said:“At the previous meeting, wehad requested Pawar saheb tocontest from Madha con-stituency. He has accepted ourrequest and will contest the LokSabha polls from Madha con-stituency”.

Patel expressed confidencethat the Congress-NCPa l l i a n c e - l e dMahaghatbhandan would win35 out of total 48 seats in the

Lok Sabha polls. At the meeting held earli-

er in the afternoon, the NCP isunderstood to have finalisedthe names of a majority of itscandidates for the Lok Sabhapolls. “We (NCP and Congress)have come to an informalunderstanding about the shar-ing of seats for the Lok Sabhapolls. Currently we are in talks with other constituents of Mahaghatbhandan. Weintend to announce the list of all Mahaghatbhandan candidates little over a weekfrom over now,” a senior NCPleader said.

Pawar, who was elected tothe Rajya Sabha for the firsttime in April 2014, had earli-er been elected to Lok Sabhafor seven terns. Of the sevenLok sabha terms, Pawar hadrepresented his home con-stituency of Baramati for sixterms, while Madha con-stituency sent him to the lowerParliament once in 2009.

Mumbai: NCP leaderDhananjay Munde took a jibeat the BJP and Shiv Sena onValentine's Day, calling themthe "best couple" who contin-ue to be together despite con-stant bickering.

The BJP and Sena are inalliance in Maharashtra as wellas at the Centre.

However, the UddhavThackeray-led party has beenfrequently taking potshots at itssaffron partner in the last fewyears. It is also uncertain if theywould form alliance for the

c o m i n gLok Sabhapolls.

"Couldthere be abest couplethan this?They are still together despiteeveryday bickering betweenthem for the past five years,"Munde said in a tweet with#Valentinesday.

"...How much do they loveeach other, don't they?" said theLeader of Opposition in thestate Legislative Council. PTI

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Morigaon: Six illegal immi-grants from Bangladesh, allmembers of a family, werearrested early on Thursday inAssam's Morigaon district, asenior police officer said here.

The family went missingfour months ago after theSupreme Court rejected theirplea challenging a Gauhati HighCourt order, which declaredthem as illegal migrants, DeputySuperintendent of Police(Border), Morigaon, D R Bora,said.

The apex court had alsodirected them to surrenderbefore police, the DSP said.

"The arrested immigrants,including two women, weredeclared 'foreigners' by theForeigners Tribunal here and theGauhati High Court also upheldthe decision.

"The family thenapproached the Supreme Court,which rejected their petition andasked them to surrender," Boratold reporters.

The immigrants who were arrested on Thursday havebeen identified as Amez Ali, Sirazul Hoque, SometAli, Golap Ali, Yumuri Begumand Robisa Begum, he said. PTI

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Ahmedabad: Almost 17 yearsafter the Godhra train burningincident, the GujaratGovernment on Thursdayannounced compensation of�five lakh each for the familiesof 52 victims.

In an official release, theState Government said thedecision has been taken as perthe Gujarat High Court order

of 2017. The compensationwill be paid from the ChiefMinister's Relief Fund.

The Godhra train burningincident had led to one of theworst riots in the country inwhich around over 1,000 peo-ple, mostly of minority com-munity, were killed in Gujaratin 2002.

Since seven out of the 59

victims remained unidentifiedtill date, a cumulative com-pensation of �260 lakh wouldbe paid to the kin of theremaining 52 victims, therelease said.

The high court had direct-ed the State Government aswell as Railways to pay com-pensation to the kin of thosekilled in the tragedy, it said. PTI

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Ahmednagar: Social activistAnna Hazare was on Thursdayadmitted to a hospital here aftercomplaining of weakness due tolack of blood supply to hisbrain, doctors said.

Hazare, 81, last week brokehis week-long fast over hisdemand for appointment ofanti-corruption watchdogs.

"Anna is suffering fromweakness and other health issuesdue to lack of blood supply to hisbrain," Dr Bapu Kandekar, whoexamined the activist, said.

Hazare, who lives inRalegan Siddhi village inAhmednagar district, com-plained of some health problemsand was brought here in themorning, his aide said. PTI

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First, let’s get the obvious out of theway. Government-formation afterthe 2019 general election willdepend on the numbers. Not ide-ology, not alliances and certainly

not personal chemistry between politicalleaders; these will be played out during theelection. It’s when the votes are countedthat, depending on the tally of various polit-ical parties/groupings, it will be decidedwho will lead the next Government ofIndia.

Naturally, the issue itself will be ren-dered moot if any of the three players inthe fray — broadly the BJP-led NationalDemocratic Alliance (NDA), the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) andthe still amorphous Third/Federal Frontcomprising non-BJP/non-Congress region-al parties — win 272 seats on their own.That, however, according to every credi-ble, independent opinion poll, is unlikely.We are not arguing that it can’t happen bythe time polling day comes along. Just thatas of today the consensus among pollstersis that it won’t.

In fact, apart from pollsters and largesections of the media, there is anothergroup of people whose assessment is sim-ilar and who are planning their nextmoves factoring this in. These are thesmaller parties in and around the NDA or,as we term them, the potential jokers in thepost-poll pack.

There should be no misunderstandingabout what is being said. These parties,which bring a different play to the 2019national electoral game, will quietly fall inbehind the BJP as purportedly old andtrusted allies or as regional parties resort-ing to that old trope of offering issue-basedsupport to the party ruling at the Centrein the interest of the State if Prime MinisterNarendra Modi leads his party back topower. But they also recognise that’s not thekind of certainty it was a year ago. So, theyseem to be preparing a Plan B.

There are two clearly discernibleprongs to this political-electoral strategy.For current NDA members, it is to pushthe BJP into conceding many more seatsto its allies than the saffron party wouldhave ideally liked to part with. Ever sincethe perception has taken root that theRampant Modi narrative is stutteringthanks to the string of by-election andAssembly poll defeats for the BJP in 2018,this has become a feasible ploy. The con-cessions extracted by the Janata Dal Unitedin Bihar, where the two allies have split theseats 50:50 despite the BJP having more sit-ting MPs, is a case in point.

It has also become a template for otherNDA allies to emulate, as can be seen inthe Shiv Sena arguing for a similar divisionof seats for Maharashtra with Big BrotherBJP. JD-U vice president Prashant Kishore’shighly publicised visit to Mumbai to con-fabulate with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav

Thackeray last week can fairlybe surmised to be a part of thiseffort. Only the Akalis are outof this matrix. And that’sbecause despite the tempta-tions, the Shiromani Akali Dalleadership, which is the Badalfamily, shares a close personalrelationship with the NarendraModi-Amit Shah-Arun Jaitleytroika and the party still facesresidual voter resentment for itsdecade of alleged misrule inPunjab. So it is not expected towin more than a couple of LokSabha seats, if that, in 2019.

For currently non-NDAparties such as the Biju JanataDal, Telangana Rashtra Samithi,YSR Congress and All IndiaAnna Dravida MunnetraKazhagam/Rajinikanth, andincluding the Asom GanaParishad and other North-east-ern parties, which have fallenout with the BJP over theCitizenship Amendment Bill,the idea is to contest the LokSabha poll on their own and/orwith tactical adjustments towin the maximum number ofseats. All of these parties, whichare technically equidistant fromboth BJP and Congress, arehighly unlikely to be temptedby the UPA and view, at least forthe moment, the conglomera-tion of regional satraps thatcomprise the putative

Third/Federal Front as funda-mentally unstable.

Interestingly, however,nearly all of them have inrecent weeks established infor-mal contacts with the NDA’scurrent allies, hinting at a jointpost-poll strategy if the BJPalone is unable to win 272 seatsor come reasonably close to thatmagic number of seats in theforthcoming general election.

So, what a block of parties,including but not limited to theShiv Sena, Janata Dal-United,YSR Congress, TelanganaRashtra Samithi,AIADMK/Rajinikanth, BijuJanata Dal and the North-eastregional parties bring to thetable are between 50 to asmany as 100 Lok Sabha seatsdepending on how they per-form at the hustings.

The BJP is aware of thesedevelopments but sounds con-fident of ensuring throughvarious means the loyalty ofthis group of parties in/aroundthe NDA. The Congress, on theother hand, with ambitions ofre-building the party underRahul Gandhi, knows thatthese parties operate in Stateswhere, bar say a Tamil Nadu,the potential for its rejuvena-tion going ahead is certainlythere. It is the Third/FederalFront — for which the

Samajwadi Party, TrinamoolCongress, Aam Aadmi Party,Telugu Desam Party, RashtriyaJanata Dal, NationalConference and Bahujan SamajParty are currently doing mostof the running — that perhapsneeds most to fine-tune itsstrategy to deal with the emerg-ing jokers in the pack.

For, the choices for theseparties are actually more thanfor the three main players inthe fray. They could back aModi-led Government if theBJP numbers are good. Theycould back a non-Modi BJP-ledgovernment if the BJP is thesingle largest party but wellshort of a majority. They could,if their poll performance resultsin them winning closer to 100seats as opposed to 50, evenconceivably ask the BJP toback them in forming a non-BJP-led NDA Government.They could, finally, in the eventof a hung House with noparty/formation in even strik-ing distance of the halfway-mark, open negotiations withthe Third/Federal front to forma Government of regional par-ties backed by either of the twonational parties.

Interesting times lie ahead.(The author is an indepen-

dent journalist and commenta-tor based in New Delhi)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“NDA’s Rafale deal 2.86% cheap-er than UPA’s: CAG” (February14). The Comptroller and AuditorGeneral’s (CAG’s) 141-pagereport blunts all the criticisms byCongress chief Rahul Gandhiabout the fighter acquisitionprocess. Earlier, the SupremeCourt had found no irregularitiesin the deal either. The report alsofinds that the HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL) failedto clinch the contract within therequired time-frame.

Therefore, Gandhi’s criticismfor not including HAL as a part-ner sounds hollow. Congressleader P Chidambaram has beenusing the report to target theModi Government but UPA’spricing benchmark was said to be“unrealistically low.” Everything inthe Rafale deal was done practi-cally and was definitely betterthan the UPA’s version. Anothersatisfactory aspect of the deal isthat it has been done withoutmiddlemen. Still the Congress isharping on a probe by the JointParliamentary Committee.

KV SeetharamaiahHassan

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Sir — Prime Minister NarendraModi has inaugurated severalprojects worth ��crore inArunachal Pradesh. Besides, healso laid the foundation stone forthe construction of a greenfieldairport at Hollongi and inaugu-rated an upgraded airport atTezu in Lohit district.

All these measures will go a longway in developing our northeast-ern frontier State. These new pro-jects will not only make it easierto cover long distances but willalso improve the connectivity ofArunachal Pradesh with that ofother States. The new UnionGovernment must keep up thegood work.

Shahid Hasan Lucknow

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Map of aggression” (February 14)by Claude Arpi. It is interesting thatChina, which routinely interferes inIndia’s internal matters, has object-ed to Indian leaders visitingArunachal Pradesh. It has evenquestioned Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s recent visit to the

State. But what’s the problem ifIndian leaders visit the State? Chinamust rein in its aggression. It isessential that the two countriesmaintain peaceful negotiations.

Z HassanKolkata

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Sir — Elections or no elections,below-the-belt remarks by politi-cians not only discredit them butundermine the Constitutionalposts they occupy. Unbecoming oftheir respective stature, both PrimeMinister Modi and AndhraPradesh Chief Minister MChandrababu Naidu stooped toolow to attack each other personal-ly. While Modi called Naidu “fatherof Lokesh”, Naidu spoke about theestrangement of Modi’s wifeJashoda Ben. By throwing restraintand decorum to the winds, lead-ers demonstrate that they can godown to any depths to run downtheir rivals in the hot pursuit ofpower. Issues that concern peopleget overshadowed.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

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The US Defence Intelligence Agency recent-ly released a report titled, ‘China MilitaryPower: Modernizing a Force to Fight and

Win’, where it stated that China was increasingits capacity and warned about how it couldlaunch a regional conflict. Beijing has indeedincreased its military presence at several places.The report also pointed out that besides conven-tional weapons, China was concentrating oncyber and outer space, too. Nonetheless, thereport mentioned that Beijing was not capableto deploy defence forces all over the world butwas competent to engage its enemy anywhere inthe world through its space, cyber space andnuclear competence.

The US also reported that the People’sLiberation Army (PLA) of China had come backin the Doklam area and inaudibly re-commenced construction work, which ithad to discontinue because of a 73-day standoffbetween the Indian Army and the PLA from Juneto August 2017. The Indian Government hasstrongly refuted the US’ claims. Clearly, relationsbetween the US and China are becoming tense.The US, which is the sole super power, is feel-ing threatened because of the spectacular rise andincreasing assertiveness of Beijing. China claimssuzerainty over East China Sea and SouthChina Sea and also dictates terms to countriessuch as Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Bruneiand Taiwan.

India shares about 3,488 km of border withChina, which at several places is not delineated.Hence, it is based only on perception. There isno habitation for thousands of miles and, there-fore, there are disagreements along the border.Maps of both countries differ. China claims about90,000 sq km in Arunachal Pradesh and about10,000 sq km in Uttarakhand. The Dragonalready grabbed the Aksai Chin area during the1962 war and Pakistan also handed over a fewareas of Jammu and Kashmir.

There are several differences between NewDelhi and Beijing, including border disputes, thegrant of an asylum to the Dalai Lama and his fol-lowers, China’s objections to India’s membershipto the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, construction ofthe China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),which passes from Pakistan-occupied Kashmirand Gilgit and Baltistan areas. China also insti-gates Pakistan to carry out terrorist activities inIndia and subvert New Delhi’s efforts in theUnited Nations to declare Masood Azhar, chiefof the Jaish-e-Mohammed, as a global terrorist.

Yet despite such hostilities, the condition ofour border infrastructure is quite appalling. Lastyear, around 120 Indian soldiers had to walk forabout 19 hours to reach Doklam and stop theChinese troops from constructing a road in theabsence of a motorable route. In view of this mis-erable situation, the Cabinet Committee onSecurity approved a revised budget of �3,482.52crore to construct 73 strategic roads along theIndo-China border on November 10, 2018. Theseroads had been approved in 2005 and meant tobe completed by 2012. But the project missedseveral deadlines and is now expected to be com-pleted by 2020. Construction agencies claim thatinclement weather, difficult terrain and rig-maroles of Government procedures are respon-

sible for missing deadlines. A report bythe Comptroller and Auditor-General(CAG), in fact, criticised the BorderRoad Organisation (BRO) for ineffici-ciencies, delays and pushing severaldeadlines. Out of 73 roads, the BRO hasto build 61 while 12 have been assignedto the Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD). Besides roads,22 foot tracks are also in the pipelinein Arunachal Pradesh to facilitate themovement of the Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP).

Beijing considers India as its poten-tial adversary and, hence, it is necessaryfor India to develop infrastructure onareas abutting China. CPWD’s annualreport for 2018-19 mentioned that theorganisation will be constructing 44strategically important roads on theIndia-China border. These roads will beskirting Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim,Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh andJammu and Kashmir. Fortunately for us,traffic on Bogibeel Bridge in Assam,too, began from December 2018. Thebridge will help improve road and railconnectivity in the region and will ben-efit the public and security forces.

The Indian side had, however, notdeveloped the required infrastructurealong the border areas uniformly as itpresumed China could use it for its owndesigns. Second, even as infrastructurewas developed, it had to be defendedand maintained, involving both humanand monetary resources. However, thisdefeatist policy was abandoned in 2006and the Cabinet Committee on Securitydecided to develop the border areas andconstruct new roads, bridges and tun-nels.

In case our infrastructure was in

place, it could have facilitated trade andcommerce opportunites for locals onboth sides. Meanwhile, China speedi-ly developed infrastructure on theborder areas, which has given its mil-itary an edge. The Chinese have builtroads, railways and also laid fibreoptics. This has helped them improvetheir communication system. Theyhave even constructed roads up to theborders they control.

On the other hand, even after theDoklam episode, India still lags behindin the development of infrastructuralprojects at the borders. This has becomea big strategic disadvantage for us.Indian troops need acclimatisation athigh-altitude areas. The non-availibil-ity of infrastructure hampers theirsustenance while the Chinese forcesenjoy superior mobility and enforce-ment. The Indian Government mustunderstand that while recruitment andraising of more units may not beenough, our troops must be providedwith better infrastructure, logisticsand armaments to win the war.

India’s failure to develop infrastruc-ture has been the result of a flawed pol-icy of several decades and bureaucrat-ic hurdles. According to reports, mosttimes the concerned Ministry wasunable to use the allotted funds becauseof sluggish or zero construction activ-ities along the border areas. The mon-itoring system, too, was faulty. InChina, its Army controls the borderwhile in India, the Army, the AssamRifles, Border Security Force (BSF) andthe ITBP share vigil duties. The pres-ence of multiple agencies delays thework. It appears that the presentGovernment has earmarked several

important projects along the bordersand the amount is also sanctioned.Now, only the work needs to be expe-dited.

China, which is working hard tobecome a superpower, has also encir-cled India. It has compelled Sri Lankato lease out the Hambantota port.Pakistan’s Gwadar port, too, is under itscontrol. Besides, Maldives leased outtwo of its islands and China has posi-tioned its nuclear-powered submarineat Marao Islands. A signal Intelligenceunit has also been installed at the CocoIslands of Myanmar.

Prime Minister KP Oli of Nepal isa communist leader who is very closeto China. His main aim is to end Nepal’sdependence on India and inculcateclose relationship with the biggerneighbour. Beijing has also financed acontainer shipping facility inChittagong port of Bangladesh. It hasinaugurated a naval base at Djibouti inAugust 2017. Hence, India should becareful and must take remedial mea-sures to counter such imperialism.

As a first step, we must strengthenour forces and then try to inculcatefriendly relations with countries whofeel threatened because of China. Theseinclude Japan, South Korea andVietnam. The United States, too, wantsto check the increasing strength ofChina. Analysts claim that smallernations like Maldives, Sri Lanka, andBangladesh among others also feeldefenceless but are in no position tochallenge China. India can try toinfuse confidence among them too.

(The writer is member, UnitedServices Institute of India and Institutefor Defence Studies and Analyses)

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In his 1984 paper, ‘What’s in aname?’ (Journal of SoutheastAsian Studies), Stanford

University’s Donald Emmersonwrote that “names are rooted neitherin reality nor custom but expressinstead the power of the namer.”Emmerson was talking about howStates and Governments in theWest name regions that were onceunder their domain.

Reshmi Lal, in an April 2016 arti-cle for The National, paraphrasedEmmerson to understand why manyGovernments in former Britishcolonies changed the names of cities.For example, Lal explained the recentspree of changing the names ofsome cities in India as nothing more

than “a symbolic gesture.” The idea behind these changes

was to replace names of cities thatwere named by India’s formerMuslim and British rulers. But thefact is, many such cities were found-ed by these rulers. So, renaming themin accordance with India’s ancientHindu past requires the engineeringof some convoluted histories andmyths to rationalise the change.

As Emmerson would put it, ithas nothing to do with reality butrather it is an expression of powerof the namer — in this case the rul-ing Hindu nationalist party, theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The practice of changing namesof cities and roads has also beenquite common in Pakistan. MarkusDaechsel, in his book, Politics of Self-Expression, wrote that names in thiscontext meant more than the thingsthey were meant to designate.

Daechsel was discussing thefascination certain Indian Muslimshad for giving “Islamic-soundingterms” to Western economic andpolitical ideas. For example, in apamphlet distributed by a group of

radical clerics just before Pakistan’screation in 1947, the authors decid-ed to call the State Bank Baitul maal.

Daechsel wrote that the urge wasto do away with the Western-sound-ing State Bank but, in this pursuit,the clerics did not offer an immedi-ate Urdu translation but an Arabicone to conjure up a link betweenIndian Muslims and ancient IslamicArabia. This practice of replacingnames of ideas, roads and cities thathave Western origins with those con-jured from Arabia’s ancient Islamicpast, has been rather frequent inPakistan ever since the 1970s.

Take for instance, the idea ofsocialism. In the Foundation Papersof the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP),the word ‘socialism’ largely appears.The party was conceived as a social-ist party in 1967. However, afterbeing critically attacked from theright by religious groups, the partyadded the prefix Islamic to the wordsocialism. The term ‘Islamic-Socialism’ was not new, as such, hav-ing been used by scholars such as GAhmad Parvez and Khalifa AbdulHakim and even by the country’s

first Prime Minister Liaquat AliKhan. The rationale behind it wasthat Islam was inherently an egali-tarian system and the socialismbeing advocated by Pakistanis wasactually the socialism of the welfarestate based on this egalitarianism.

By the time the PPP came topower in December 1971, conserv-ative Opposition groups were notconvinced by the term IslamicSocialism as well. During a heateddebate between the treasury bench-es and the right-wing opposition ina March 1973 session of the National

Assembly, a PPP ideologue, S RashidAhmad, moved the Assembly toinduct the word socialism in thecountry’s Constitution that was stillbeing authored.

The Opposition was livid. Rashidthen offered to add the prefix ‘Islamic’.But the opposition disagreed, despitethe fact that PPP MNA Kausar Niazipointed out that the clerics were okaywith the term ‘Islamic Democracy’but not with ‘Islamic Socialism’. Acompromise was reached when theGovernment offered the termMusawaat-i-Muhammadi (literally

‘The Egalitarianism of the Prophet(PBUH)’.)

However, at the core of IslamicSocialism, Islamic Democracy orMusawaat-i-Muhammadi was stillsocialism and democracy as modernideas developed in the West. Just asbasic parliamentary dynamics andmodern banking were at the core ofterms such as Majlis-i-Shoora andIslamic Banking during the reac-tionary Gen Zia dictatorship.

Recently, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regime and PrimeMinister Imran Khan have repeat-edly used the term “Riyasat-i-Madina” (or the State of Madina).The emergence of this term can bevaguely traced back to the 1940s,when some Muslim activists inIndia began to propagate the cre-ation of a Muslim-majority countrythat would resemble ‘Islam’s firststate’ in the seventh century.

Even though Indian authorssuch as Venkat Dhulipala (in his 2015book Creating a New Madina) claimthat, indeed, the idea of Pakistan wasformulated as such, his claims havefaced severe rebuttals. For example,

American historian, Gail Minault,and Oxford University’s Faisal Devji,completely deconstructed Dhulipala’sthesis by remarking that a bulk ofDhulipala’s sources included populistnewspapers, activists, ideologuesand even fringe groups, who weremore or less operating indepen-dently from the actual founders ofPakistan. What’s more, as Minaultput it, most of the sources that driveDhulipala’s thesis belonged to a sin-gle dominant sect of Islam (in India).

More likely than not, the termRiyasat-i-Madina is probably noth-ing more than what Musawaat-i-Muhammadi or Majlis-Shoora were.It is a way of saying that we admirethe entirely secular idea of theScandinavian welfare state, but thisidea was present in an ‘early IslamicState’, so it is inherently Islamic andnot secular. But it is. This can bemasked with a term that conjures upimages of an Arab religious past, butnot the fact that with the core ideaof the Western welfare state lies theinsistence that faith must be separat-ed from politics.

(The Dawn)

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Revitalising RainfedAgriculture Network (RRA

N) in collaboration withNational Rainfed AreaAuthority (NRAA), Ministry ofAgriculture and FarmersWelfare, Government of India& National Institute ofAgricultural ExtensionManagement (MANAGE)organised a NationalConvention on ‘RevitalisingRainfed Agriculture —Restructuring Policy andPublic Investments to addressAgrarian Crisis at the IndiaInternational Centre (IIC),New Delhi on Thursday.

More than 450 farmers,policy makers, researchers, aca-demicians, and civil societypractitioners participated inthe two-day convention. AshokDalwai, CEO, National RainfedArea Authority and Chairman,

Committee on doubling ofFarmers Income was the chiefguest and lunched the RainfedAtlas.

The objective of the con-vention is to find pragmaticsolutions by kicking aroundideas pertaining to rainfed agri-culture, build a consensus andemphasize on different policiesand programmes at the Centreand States. The focus is toidentify rainfed agriculture asan issue of national importance.

Apart from an inauguraland a plenary session, thethought-provoking conventionwitnessed various theme-basedsessions such as Agroecologyand Living Soils — The PolicyProblem, AlternativeBudgetary Framework forRainfed Agriculture, DraughtAnimal Use in RainfedAgriculture — Potential andPolicy Imperatives andEvolving Appropriate SeedSystems for Climate ResilientAgriculture to StimulateGrowth, spread over two days.

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Struggling carrier Jet AirwaysThursday reported a stand-

alone net loss of �587.77 crorefor the third quarter endedDecember 31.

The company had posted astandalone net profit of �165.25crore in the same quarter pre-vious fiscal, Jet Airways said ina regulatory filing.

The carrier said revenuefrom operations during thequarter under review stood at�6,147.98 crore as against�6,086.20 crore in the year-agoperiod.

Total expenses in the thirdquarter shot up to �6,786.15

crore as compared to �6,042.58crore in the same quarter lastfiscal, it added.

Aircraft fuel expensesstood at �2,387.72 crore ascompared to �1,840.08 crorein the corresponding periodlast year, while aircraft andengines lease rentals were at�730.35 crore as against�583.67 crore.

Domestic revenue stoodat �2,560.44 crore, down from�2,749.05 crore in the samequarter last fiscal, while thesame for international opera-tions was also down to�3,587.54 crore as against�3,337.15 crore, the filingadded.

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Cash-strapped Jet Airwayson Thursday said its board

has approved bank-led resolu-tion plan (BLRP), entailingconversion of lenders’ debtinto equity, making them thelargest shareholder in the air-line.

The provisional restruc-turing plan (BLPRP) has beencarried out by lenders, led byState Bank of India, under theReserve Bank of India’sFebruary 12, 2018 circular.

“The BLPRP currentlyestimates a funding gap of�8,500 crore (including pro-posed repayment of aircraftdebt of �1,700 crore) to be metby appropriate mix of equityinfusion, debt restructuring,sale/sale and lease back/ refi-nancing of aircraft, amongother things,” the airline said ina filing to exchanges.

The BLPRP contemplatesconversion of lenders’ debtinto 11.40 crore shares of �10each by allotment of equityshares to the lenders.

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The Reserve Bank onThursday said it has imposed

�3.5 crore penalties on threepublic sector banks, includingPNB and OBC, for violation ofvarious banking norms.

The monetary penalty onthe banks has been imposed fornon-compliance with variousdirections issued by the RBI onmonitoring of end use of funds,exchange of information withother banks, and on restructur-ing of accounts, the ReserveBank of India said in a statement.

A penalty of �1.5 crore hasbeen imposed on Oriental Bankof Commerce (OBC) and �1crore each on Punjab NationalBank (PNB) and Bank of India.

The RBI, however, addedthat the fines have beenimposed due to deficiencies inregulatory compliance and isnot intended to pronounceupon the validity of any trans-action or agreement enteredinto by the banks with theircustomers.

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Modi Enterprises Groupcompany Indofil

Industries Ltd, a �2500 croregiant in crop protection andspeciality chemicals, onThursday announced its JointVenture with world’s leadingpolymer additives manufac-turing company, Italy-basedReagens, with a consolidatedgroup turnover of Euro 230million. The new venture,Indo-Reagens PolymerAdditives Pvt Ltd will startmanufacturing and offeringGreen Stabilizer range fromtheir unit at Ankaleshwar.

The venture will also beginoffering state-of-the-art spe-cialty additives from Reagensunits in Europe from 1st April2019. The JV will also be con-structing a new a state-of-arttechnology plant in GujaratIndustrial DevelopmentCorporation’s SpecialEconomic Zone in Dahej in2019 to offer all green polymeradditives to the Indian Polymerprocessing industry.

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Renault profits fell sharplylast year, the French

automaker said on Thursday,releasing its first annual resultssince the shock arrest in Japanof former boss Carlos Ghosn.

Meanwhile, Renault’s newchairman Jean-DominiqueSenard, elected after Ghosnresigned, arrived in JapanThursday for talks with partnerNissan in a bid to smoothrelations which grew strainedunder Ghosn’s leadership.

Renault’s net profit for2018 plunged 37 percent froma record 5.1 billion euros ($5.75billion) the previous year, hit byshrinking profits at Nissan andchanges in exchange rates insome emerging countries.

“This decline came main-ly from Nissan’s contribution,down 1.282 billion, whichnotably benefited in 2017 froma one-off gain of 1.021 billion,”Renault said in a statement.

Nissan on Tuesday slashedits full-year forecast as its nine-month net profit dropped 45percent.

The results came asRenault, Nissan and the thirdpartner in their alliance,Mitsubishi Motors, seek toturn the page after Ghosn’sarrest in Tokyo in November.

Ghosn is accused of under-reporting millions of dollars insalary as head of Nissan, the

biggest partner by sales in analliance that Ghosn built intothe world’s top-selling autogroup.

Last month he resigned asCEO of Renault, havingalready been stripped of hischairman titles at Nissan andMitsubishi.

He has been in a detentioncentre in Tokyo for threemonths with little prospect ofrelease before a trial that couldtake months to materialise.

Renault’s new chairmanSenard, who is to have a seriesof talks with top Nissan offi-cials, told reporters before leav-ing for Japan he intended to“re-establish confidence, trans-parency and loyalty” betweenthe partners.

He is due to join Nissan’sboard in April, but the questionof overall chairmanship of theNissan-Renault group remainsa bone of contention, with theJapanese fearing conflicts ofinterest and anxious to avoidany hegemonic rule by anoth-er Ghosn-like figure.

Senard, quoted by Kyodonews agency on arriving inJapan, said it was “too early” todiscuss the joint chairman-ship.

Renault last monthannounced record sales of 3.9million vehicles in 2018.Operating margins fell 6.3 per-cent to 3.61 billion euros, or 6.3percent of revenues.

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The Government has raised�10,000 crore by addition-

al offering of Bharat-22Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)on Thursday.

The additional ‘on-tap’offering of Bharat-22 ETF wasopened for a single day with abase issue size of �3,500 croreand an option to retain over-subscription.

The issue was over-sub-scribed 10 times and receivedbids for �4,00,000 crore till7pm. Bids will pour in till8pm, the Finance Ministry said.

“The Bharat-22 ETF issuereceived overwhelmingresponse from all categories ofinvestors including retail

investors. The Governmenthas decided to retain approxi-mately �10,000 crore as itsdivestment proceeds,” the min-istry said in a statement.

The proceeds from the ETFsale would help the Governmentmove towards meeting the�80,000 crore disinvestment tar-get set for the current fiscal.

With the successful Bharat-22 ETF offering, theGovernment has mopped upapproximately �46,000 crore byway of disinvestment.

The Government has so farraised �22,900 crore throughthe Bharat-22 ETF. While�14,500 crore was raised inNovember 2017, another�8,400 crore was raised in June 2018.

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Concerned over mountingcane arrears ahead of Lok

Sabha polls, the Governmenton Thursday hiked the mini-mum selling price of sugar by�2 per kg to �31 to help millersclear farmers’ dues.

The minimum selling price(MSP) is the rate below whichthe mills cannot sell sugar inthe open market to whole-salers and bulk consumers likebeverage and biscuit makers.

Industry body ISMA hadrecently said cane arrears stoodat around �20,000 crore at theend of January.

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Traders’ body CAIT onThursday urged Prime

Minister Narendra Modi tomove foreign trade underthe administrative control ofthe External Affairs Ministryso that the C ommerceMinistry can focus solely ondomestic trade.

In a letter to the primeminister, the Confederationof All India Traders (CAIT)also sought his interactionwith the trading community.

“The retail trade in Indiaaccounts for about 42 lakhcrore annual turnover andafter agriculture, the sec-

ond-largest sec tor foremployment generation. Thetrading community like othersectors also earnestly wish tohave direct interaction withyou on various core issues,”CAIT Secretary GeneralPraveen Khandelwal said inthe letter.

He also complimentedModi for bringing internaltrade under the Ministry ofCommerce and creation of adepartment for it.

Khandelwal suggestedthat foreign trade should beput under the charge of theMinistry of External Affairsas it is well in touch with therest of the world.

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Continuing its fall for thesixth straight session onThursday, the bench-

mark BSE Sensex dropped 158points led by losses in IT, metaland energy stocks amid sus-tained foreign fund outflowand lacklustre global cues.

The 30-share index, aftershuttling between 35,799.42 and36,109.10, finally settled 157.89points, or 0.44%, down at35,876.22. It had lost 840 pointsin the previous five sessions.

The broader NSE Niftylost 47.60 points, or 0.44%, toend at 10,746.05. Intra-day, itshuttled between 10,718.75 and10,792.70.

Top losers in the Sensexpack include Bharti Airtel,Infosys, Asian Paints, RIL, CoalIndia, HDFC Bank, HDFC,TCS, ONGC and M&M, fallingup to 3.09%.

On the other hand, YesBank was the biggest gainer,rallying 30.73%, after the com-pany said that the RBI had notfound any divergence in theasset classification and provi-sioning done by the lender dur-ing 2017-18.

Other gainers include, TataMotors, Sun Pharma, IndusIndBank, Bajaj Finance, ICICI

Bank and Hero MotoCorp,rising up to 3.17%.

Selling was more pro-nounced in oil and gas, IT,metal, PSU and state-run oilmarketing company stocks thatdragged the key indices into thenegative territory.

Energy stocks cracked asfresh concerns about risingcrude oil prices resurfaced,with Brent crude oil futureszooming 1.26%, to USD 64.41per barrel, after Saudi Arabia,world’s top crude exporter,said it would cut crude exportsand its production.

Shares of state-run oil mar-keting companies — IOC andBPCL — fell up to 4.19%.

The broader markets out-performed key indices with theBSE mid-cap index rising0.52%, and the BSE small-capgaining 0.17%.

Sector-wise, the BSE oiland gas index emerged as theworst performer by losing2.11%, followed by IT down1.28%, teck (1.14%), PSU(0.78%), consumer durables(0.42%) and FMCG (0.06%).

While, bankex, auto, capi-tal goods, healthcare, realty,infrastructure and powerindices managed to end in thegreen, rising up to 0.78%.

Sustained foreign fund out-

flow and fresh weakness in therupee against the dollar alsoimpacted domestic market sen-timents, brokers said.

Foreign portfolio investorssold shares worth a net �676.63crore, while domestic institu-tional investors bought sharesworth a net �713.10 croreWednesday, provisional datashowed.

Market extended losses asinvestors continued to focus ondomestic cues while assessingglobal developments, saidVinod Nair, head of research,Geojit Financial Services.

Moderation in WholesalePrice Index (WPI) in Januaryprovides an insight about theslowdown in the economy andearnings growth, he added.

Mixed leads from mostother Asian bourses also accel-erated the selling pace, but ahigher opening of Europeanshares helped trim losses tosome extent.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.02%,Shanghai Composite was down0.05%, and Hong Kong’s HangSeng shed 0.21%. Taiwan wasalso down 0.02%, while Korea’sKospi rose 1.11% andSingapore Straits Times gained0.06%.

In Europe, Paris CAC 40rose 0.66% and Frankfurt’sDAX gained 0.48% in theirearly session. London’s FTSEwas up 0.16%.

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Inflation based on wholesaleprices fell to a 10-month

low of 2.76% in January overthe previous month on soften-ing prices of fuel and somefood items, according to gov-ernment data released onThursday.

The Wholesale Price Index(WPI)-based inflation stood at3.8% in December, 2018, and3.02% in January 2018. WPIinflation stood at 2.74%inMarch 2018.

Inflation in kitchen essen-tials like potato, onion, fruits,and milk softened in Januaryover the previous month, thedata revealed.

However, the rate of pricerise in the food basket, as awhole, rose to 2.34% in themonth under review comparedto a deflation (-0.07%) in theprevious month.

The retail inflation,

released earlier this week, toodeclined marginally to 2.05% inJanuary over the previousmonth on continued decline infood prices, including vegeta-bles and eggs.

The WPI data furtherrevealed that wholesale basedprice inflation for ‘fuel andpower’ segment fell sharply to1.85% as against 8.38 per cent inDecember 2018, due to easing inprices of motor fuel and LPG.

Also, there was decrease ininflation in manufacturedproducts basket in spite ofhigher in some items like sugarand apparel.

The Reserve Bank, whichmainly factors in retail inflationbased Consumer Price Index(CPI), had cut the key lendingrate by 0.25% this month.

The decline in inflationmay provide further head-room to the central bank to cutinterest rate (repo) in comingmonths, experts said.

New Delhi (PTI): IT firm Larsen & Toubro lnfotech onThursday announced acquisition of Germany’s Nielsen+Partnerfor EUR 28 million (approx �224.15 crore). “The company,through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Larsen & Toubro lnfotechGmbH, Germany, has signed a definitive agreement to acquireNielsen+Partner Unternehmensberater GmbH headquartered inHamburg, Germany, along with its identified subsidiaries inLuxembourg, Switzerland, Thailand, Singapore and Australia andbranch office in Belgium,” Larsen & Toubro lnfotech said in aregulatory filing.

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��KD��*�*)��%�F��.�,�Batteries and flashlights maker Eveready

Industries on Thursday reported a multi-folddecline in standalone net profit to �19.71 lakhin the third quarter ended December 31, hit bycost of separation workers at Chennai plant. Thecompany had posted standalone net profit of�20.94 crore in the same quarter last fiscal,Eveready Industries said in a regulatory filing.Total income during the period under reviewstood at �s 387.81 crore as against �373.8 crorein the year-ago quarter, it added. EvereadyIndustries said it incurred �23.21 crore in thevoluntary retirement scheme for workmen(VRS) at its manufacturing facility atTiruvottiyur, in Chennai. The company said itreceived �25 crore during the quarter, as per pay-ment terms of the sale agreement. During thethird quarter, the company said its battery vol-ume grew by 6.2%. The turnover for lighting seg-ment for the quarter stood at �88.1 crore, downaround 11%, partially due to supply constraintsas well as unit price decrease in bulbs, it said.

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Adani Gas reported a 13% rise in consoli-dated net profit to �47.21 crore for the December2018 quarter, on the back of strong volumegrowth in its city gas distribution business. It hadposted a consolidated net profit of �41.81 crorein the corresponding quarter a year ago, thecompany said in a statement. Revenue fromoperations rose to �484.84 crore from �348.74crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal.The company, part of the Adani Group, listedon stock exchanges in November last year in abid to become the largest city gas distribution(CGD) company in India and unlock its valuefor the existing shareholders. As part of the list-ing process, it allotted equity shares to the exist-ing shareholders of Adani Enterprises Ltd in theratio of 1:1. Following the listing, promoters willhold 74.92% stake in Adani Gas, whereas retail

and institutional investors will hold 3.36% and21.72%, respectively. During the April-December 2018 period, the company reporteda net profit of �152.94 crore on a revenue of�1,329.32 crore. It had a net profit of �122.32crore on a revenue of �990.26 crore in the cor-responding period of the previous fiscal.

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Hinduja Group flagship company AshokLeyland Thursday reported 21.44% decline inits standalone net profit at �381 crore for thethird quarter ended December 31, 2018, impact-ed by pricing pressure and higher input costs.The company had posted a net profit of �485crore during the October-December period of2017-18. Revenues also declined to �6,325 croreduring the third quarter, as against �7,191 crorein the same period of previous fiscal, AshokLeyland said in a regulatory filing. Total indus-try volume for the quarter was lower by 7% dueto high base last year. Ashok Leyland manag-ing director Vinod K Dasari said the companyhad achieved BS6 compliance across its entirerange of engines on test beds. “Coupled with themodularity of vehicles we are planning from2020, it presents exciting opportunities for dif-ferentiating Ashok Leyland’s offerings to the cus-tomers,” he added.

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United Breweries Ltd (UBL) on Thursdayreported an over twofold increase in standaloneprofit to �109.17 crore for the December 2018quarter, on volume growth, higher realisationsand cost control. It had posted a profit of �47.38crore during the corresponding period of theprevious fiscal. Total income during the thirdquarter of the current financial year stood at�3,190.5 crore, up 22.19%, as compared with�2,610.9 crore in the year-ago quarter, UBL saidin a regulatory filing. New Delhi|PTI

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Script Open High Low LTPYESBANK 185.95 223.7 185.95 221ICICIBANK 340.7 346.5 336.25 343.1DHFL 105 131.15 104 127.9IBULHSGFIN 618 667.6 618 657.15EICHERMOT 20,288.00 20,697.90 19,910.00 20,024.80CGPOWER 22 29.95 21.4 29.05RELIANCE 1,240.25 1,242.70 1,218.10 1,225.50TITAN 1,048.00 1,060.00 1,032.00 1,044.70RELCAPITAL 140 151 133.4 147.6LT 1,222.00 1,232.00 1,202.30 1,227.20ZEEL 413 439.6 406.6 433.3BAJAJHLDNG 3,142.55 3,175.85 3,131.30 3,150.00SBIN 268.5 268.65 264 267.05ASHOKLEY 78.9 87.05 77.75 84.5SUNPHARMA 431.5 442.55 428.85 440.65TATAMOTORS 155.8 160.95 153.6 159.65AXISBANK 704.05 706.45 693 694.75MARUTI 7,054.00 7,106.50 6,989.70 7,017.05RELINFRA 110.8 119.65 109.9 117.3BATAINDIA 1,260.10 1,282.65 1,248.85 1,257.95ADANIPORTS 341.1 351.75 340.6 349.1COALINDIA 217 219.65 212 217TATASTEEL 481.25 485.95 475.5 482.5IOC 129.9 129.9 123.6 124.65M&M 642 645 632.45 634.25BAJFINANCE 2,589.95 2,620.75 2,559.60 2,607.15ITC 278 280 276.9 277.9HEG 2,168.00 2,320.00 2,113.95 2,250.65JETAIRWAYS 224.35 230.4 212.1 225.8JINDALSTEL 140.75 143.15 136.1 142.5ONGC 134 134.1 127.9 132.1HDFCBANK 2,140.00 2,140.00 2,107.10 2,109.75SUNTV 553.45 587.55 545.15 580.65NATIONALUM 49.8 49.8 46.25 48.1GRAPHITE 418 450.45 415 443.65PCJEWELLER 64.4 69 62.35 67.75INFY 753 753 738 739.8UJJIVAN 263.75 281.35 251.85 279.05JSWSTEEL 270.9 282 264.25 281.5HEROMOTOCO 2,776.00 2,889.00 2,730.05 2,778.85HINDUNILVR 1,794.50 1,796.45 1,775.90 1,782.20INDUSINDBK 1,502.00 1,529.00 1,478.00 1,517.40NBCC 50.05 50.5 47.1 48.9VEDL 150.9 153.2 149.2 151.8L&TFH 123 127.75 120.05 127.2JISLJALEQS 51.05 56.6 50.45 55.6TECHM 802 811 800.45 805.35PNB 69.5 72.6 68.7 72.25ESCORTS 617.95 649 616.7 644.1BPCL 327.9 327.9 312.2 315.1HINDPETRO 219.4 222.4 213.5 220.5DISHTV 32.15 34.15 31.2 32.2POWERGRID 177 178.3 173.05 174.85PARAGMILK 202.1 205.6 201 203.5NCC 82.9 87.05 81.45 86.5REPCOHOME 358.1 375 327.85 352.85CIPLA 545 555.05 538.35 542.8UPL 815.1 824.6 811.7 820.05GAIL 315.15 316.7 306 307.65HINDALCO 197.85 198.65 190.4 191.7JUBLFOOD 1,276.90 1,319.20 1,271.50 1,312.70TCS 2,064.00 2,075.00 2,033.15 2,044.65UBL 1,402.00 1,414.90 1,388.00 1,403.95ABB 1,267.00 1,275.00 1,237.65 1,256.45PEL 2,189.00 2,241.20 2,160.00 2,207.10NTPC 131.5 132.85 128.25 130.8SAIL 46 46.6 45.15 46.25BANKINDIA 81.5 83.9 80 83BHARTIARTL 310 310 296.85 301.05RPOWER 10.4 11.15 10.15 10.6MAXINDIA 76.8 77.15 76.6 76.6LUPIN 797.7 812.3 790.65 810.85NESTLEIND 10,600.00 10,791.20 10,405.40 10,615.00BEML 754.65 787.5 750.75 783.6BANKBARODA 103 104.3 101.3 103.6PAGEIND 24,350.00 24,553.45 23,800.05 23,964.50JUSTDIAL 483.5 498.1 480.75 490.1BAJAJ-AUTO 2,824.00 2,872.25 2,805.70 2,827.00KSCL 510.15 514.8 469.3 483.1IDFCFIRSTB 44 45 43.45 44.6BEL 75 76.4 72.55 74.65WOCKPHARMA 393.85 408.75 375 406.35EDELWEISS 128.1 136.85 119.7 131.65HDFC 1,920.20 1,927.75 1,894.50 1,901.15OFSS 3,814.95 3,814.95 3,471.50 3,632.80BLISSGVS 147 151.8 146 147.05DLF 157.5 164.1 156.7 162.25RCOM 5.74 5.75 5.21 5.54RECLTD 119.15 123 116.7 120.35EQUITAS 111.2 116.5 109.5 115.7PFC 101.6 102.3 99.4 101.1BHARATFORG 475.1 482.95 466.25 477.9INFIBEAM 34.35 35.95 33.2 35.45ACC 1,352.10 1,370.85 1,352.00 1,361.10DMART 1,433.90 1,470.00 1,418.00 1,461.85DBL 399 413.7 386.3 411IDEA 30.9 31.85 29.8 31.4UNIONBANK 69.45 71.65 68.5 71.05VOLTAS 505 518.8 501.65 513.45SRF 2,176.60 2,280.00 2,176.60 2,244.00BHEL 60.05 62.75 60.05 62.2RBLBANK 551.95 555.35 545.55 551STAR 403 413.75 400.25 409ASIANPAINT 1,419.65 1,422.45 1,397.05 1,399.45INDIGO 1,149.90 1,181.65 1,140.00 1,170.00DIVISLAB 1,639.00 1,648.20 1,615.75 1,638.90INDIANB 216.05 234.2 215.35 228.65APOLLOHOSP 1,146.60 1,170.10 1,128.00 1,148.60

MANAPPURAM 106.7 108.95 104.1 108HEXAWARE 370.55 373.75 362.6 366.3EXIDEIND 207.5 210.25 204.2 210WESTLIFE 346.1 353 342.6 345STRTECH 214 221.9 212.25 219.35IBVENTURES 275.85 300.35 274.6 297.75CANBK 220 226 218.3 224.05KOTAKBANK 1,298.10 1,303.10 1,272.75 1,288.35AUROPHARMA 748.25 756.7 745 749.1DRREDDY 2,626.00 2,676.60 2,618.40 2,669.30FEDERALBNK 81.95 82.15 80.15 80.4SPARC 160.5 168.1 155.45 167SPICEJET 77.45 78.4 76.6 78.05PHILIPCARB 142.65 144.75 135.55 140.85HCLTECH 1,067.95 1,069.75 1,057.70 1,064.65ADANIPOWER 37.1 37.55 35.15 37.15RAYMOND 693.8 708.35 688.6 704COLPAL 1,247.00 1,257.00 1,239.50 1,245.75BAJAJFINSV 6,180.00 6,180.00 6,024.55 6,034.85BALKRISIND 828 837.3 822.55 834.3GNFC 266 269.15 254.8 255.9CANFINHOME 261.5 268.9 247.1 266.35MINDTREE 895.45 906 889.25 897BRITANNIA 2,900.00 2,941.20 2,900.00 2,938.00LICHSGFIN 441.4 449.7 439.95 447.05BIOCON 639.5 645.95 635 645RAJESHEXPO 569.5 573.35 557.5 561ITI 91.45 94.1 90.55 91.85MOTHERSUMI 131.35 135.9 131.35 135.15CENTURYTEX 726.05 744.4 719.15 735.9VIPIND 434 434 411.9 423INDIACEM 80.3 83.55 78.65 82.95ICICIGI 895.25 915 895.2 904.05BOSCHLTD 18,000.00 18,475.00 17,988.00 18,107.00BANDHANBNK 478 483.65 473.15 478GODREJIND 499 499 472.6 489.8RAIN 100 100.75 90.55 93.05SRTRANSFIN 1,042.35 1,054.70 1,039.60 1,052.00GLENMARK 596.55 614.7 589.95 613.9M&MFIN 374 391 373.9 387.25TATAELXSI 880.9 887.95 874.25 883.65TVSMOTOR 486 496.95 480.5 495WIPRO 378 378.3 374.3 375.05AMBUJACEM 205.45 206.95 203.2 205.35OIL 173.65 173.7 169.75 171.15IBREALEST 67.5 68.9 67.15 68.3TATAPOWER 64.55 67.85 64.55 67.6

CUMMINSIND 714 716.75 696.25 702.2ENGINERSIN 111.5 113.75 108.8 113.7GMRINFRA 14.5 14.85 14.1 14.75LTTS 1,520.00 1,527.90 1,503.00 1,512.75NIITTECH 1,301.05 1,313.00 1,290.15 1,308.00GODREJCP 682 688 676.85 681.45ULTRACEMCO 3,450.05 3,509.00 3,433.95 3,500.00GRASIM 714 723 710.95 723KTKBANK 109.8 116.05 108.8 115OMAXE 210.7 210.85 209.3 210.85AJANTPHARM 973 997 957.25 987.8SUNTECK 353.95 357.55 337.05 340.9NHPC 23.8 24.25 23.25 23.5JPASSOCIAT 5 5.25 4.91 5.16HAVELLS 703.45 704 690 695.85GILLETTE 6,468.90 6,500.00 6,357.00 6,423.55CEATLTD 1,055.00 1,095.90 1,054.00 1,090.00IGL 271 284.2 271 281.8SIEMENS 980 992 977.6 987.5FORCEMOT 1,372.00 1,380.00 1,350.25 1,366.80RADICO 413.05 413.75 401.15 406.3MUTHOOTFIN 510 529 510 526.4NATCOPHARM* 639.7 639.7 601 606.8ORIENTBANK 82.25 85.65 81.5 84.55NMDC 94.7 94.7 92.05 93.15PVR 1,475.30 1,505.30 1,434.00 1,486.30IDBI 43 45.95 43 45.15BERGEPAINT 299.55 301.2 294.25 299.8MRF 55,455.00 56,500.00 55,254.90 56,500.00AIAENG 1,650.70 1,666.80 1,640.00 1,666.80MCX 668 682.5 664.95 680HDFCLIFE 355 361 354.05 359.8TATACHEM 563.2 569.2 555.4 568.75PETRONET 220.85 221.8 216.4 216.9TATAMTRDVR 80.1 84.5 80.1 83.95BHARATFIN 927.1 960 922.25 949.6CONCOR 509.85 509.85 485.45 497.7APOLLOTYRE 197.1 204.2 197.1 202.75VENKYS 2,120.00 2,138.00 2,053.95 2,061.25IRB 120 124.65 118.9 123.6

MGL 871.7 878.6 860.75 865PIDILITIND 1,127.00 1,130.00 1,110.20 1,113.75TATAGLOBAL 182.1 189.85 182.1 189.15AARTIIND 1,450.00 1,450.00 1,400.00 1,401.30CASTROLIND 151 152.1 147.25 148.1DABUR 439 444.3 437.6 440.45ATUL 3,380.00 3,430.70 3,352.00 3,352.00AVANTI 320 326.5 316 321.9SUZLON 3.37 3.55 3.26 3.52TATACOMM 498.7 503.5 490.5 502.9CERA 2,234.90 2,290.00 2,224.15 2,272.65TRIDENT 64 64.2 61.05 61.7JSLHISAR 79 81.15 78 78.85MPHASIS 1,030.15 1,049.00 1,030.00 1,048.00MEGH 51.7 52.65 51.2 51.5ALBK 41.05 43.75 40.7 43.25ENDURANCE 1,287.95 1,293.90 1,260.00 1,260.00TV18BRDCST 31.25 32.75 30.5 32.6EIHOTEL 194 194.9 186.75 188.3SREINFRA 26.15 26.7 24.8 26.3SWANENERGY 96 97.85 95.65 97.1BOMDYEING 105 107.85 103.85 105.25INFRATEL 295.1 303.2 293.65 298.7MARICO 348 350.25 343.3 345.4CADILAHC 319.3 323.3 316.55 319.05DELTACORP 222.4 230.1 222 226GRUH 248.5 249.5 244.35 247.25COFFEEDAY 265 275 262.25 275KEC 236.7 242 236.1 239.55GODFRYPHLP 861.05 880.7 861.05 875.2GSFC 90.4 91.65 87.4 90.8PNBHOUSING 910.2 925.05 892.15 910JAICORPLTD 86.15 88.8 85.55 87.75AMARAJABAT 739 747.15 734.55 739.7RNAM 120.2 164 120.2 158.95RCF 54.75 54.75 53.1 53.6TORNTPOWER 236.05 240.9 234 234.75SOUTHBANK 12.98 13.35 12.86 13.23MFSL 379.95 394.55 379.9 386.4FRETAIL 445 445 435.7 439.75JBCHEPHARM 308.45 316.1 307.55 312MMTC 24.15 28.7 24 27.9IDFC 35 35.8 34.5 35.6ICICIPRULI 307.95 307.95 301.5 303WABAG 288.35 302 288.35 293HINDZINC 248 250.1 245.5 247.5SHANKARA 395.1 405.15 373.15 405.15ADVENZYMES 155.1 166.1 155.1 158.65HFCL 21.5 21.65 21.05 21.6JUBILANT 712.35 731 712.3 726.4ABCAPITAL 78.2 79.05 77.55 78.55QUESS 660 662.7 640.3 645SUVEN 232.1 234 223.8 225.95GICHSGFIN 225.1 234.45 225 232.2IBULISL 232.15 249.4 216 244.5BAJAJELEC 459.5 461.6 438.1 447KAJARIACER 511 520.95 504.7 520.95CRISIL 1,635.00 1,645.00 1,617.10 1,625.00LTI 1,782.10 1,785.45 1,763.05 1,774.85CHENNPETRO 208.5 214.8 207.35 212.2FSL 42.85 43.25 42.3 42.7VGUARD 188.05 188.95 184.5 186.1DCBBANK 175.75 178.55 175.75 177.05MRPL 63.3 64.75 62.9 64.75FORTIS 133.15 134.8 133 134.35SUPREMEIND 1,038.00 1,114.10 1,008.45 1,035.00TIMETECHNO 80 90.65 80 84.5FCONSUMER 43.5 43.75 42.2 43.3ABFRL 211 214 209.9 212.85NOCIL 119.55 119.95 115.75 118.9GSPL 161.9 161.9 156.75 159NAVINFLUOR 622.2 632 618.6 625INTELLECT 169.7 169.7 160.25 163.2DEEPAKFERT 117.6 119.3 114.45 118KRBL 311.95 328.8 309.65 318.6FINCABLES 372.15 379 371.65 376JAMNAAUTO 49.1 51.95 48.65 51.35PNCINFRA 140.05 142 135.6 139JINDALSAW 77.3 78 76.5 76.9PERSISTENT* 646.55 670 640 656.3SUDARSCHEM 301.05 311.1 298.35 310CHOLAFIN 1,204.40 1,207.50 1,190.50 1,200.00TORNTPHARM 1,784.20 1,792.25 1,765.10 1,771.10HINDCOPPER 44 45.95 43.5 45.15CENTRALBK 28.4 28.85 28.15 28.8NAUKRI 1,643.85 1,698.00 1,640.60 1,681.50IPCALAB 756.9 762.9 743.55 754IFCI 12.1 12.5 11.82 12.46GUJFLUORO 882 894.55 868.45 875SYNDIBANK 31.5 32.9 31.2 32.4HSIL 229.35 232.6 227 227.9CROMPTON 200.05 211.55 195.85 206.05EMAMILTD 358.25 361.3 352.9 358TNPL 201.1 214 192.1 205.5JKTYRE 86.4 88.55 85.65 88RAMCOCEM 604.05 610 596.4 605.1PFIZER 2,930.05 2,987.50 2,930.05 2,983.10JSL 31 31 28.05 28.65CYIENT* 597.05 602.65 595.2 598.2ADANITRANS 210.2 216.2 207.25 214.25VINATIORGA 1,631.05 1,640.80 1,610.00 1,625.00CENTRUM 29.3 31.9 29.3 31.9NBVENTURES 100.4 100.8 94.9 96.7BBTC 1,194.00 1,206.00 1,180.00 1,198.15MANPASAND 80 81.45 75.9 77.9GALAXYSURF 905 907.15 885 886.05WHIRLPOOL 1,389.90 1,405.00 1,350.00 1,358.20JSWENERGY 65.4 65.85 64.6 65.5HONAUT 21,229.50 21,750.00 21,226.00 21,708.25

GODREJAGRO 478.25 481.45 478 480ASTRAL 1,158.10 1,159.40 1,120.00 1,125.00LINDEINDIA 428.1 437 425 429.35INDHOTEL 141.5 141.5 135.95 137.35HUDCO 38.75 38.75 37.55 38.4HSCL 110.05 110.7 107.9 108.95SCHAEFFLER 5,437.40 5,475.00 5,353.00 5,370.00DCMSHRIRAM 348 354.95 346.7 353MAHINDCIE 221.8 223 216 220.75EIDPARRY 191.5 195.5 188.95 190.7MERCK 3,222.80 3,236.00 3,161.20 3,170.00SUNDRMFAST 510.75 511.5 502.4 505.2PIIND 898 903.95 889.6 900TAKE 115.65 117.65 111 113.65GODREJPROP 722.4 727.75 710.5 724.05KEI 339.95 346 338 339.55GRANULES 85.5 86.2 84.7 85.75TATACOFFEE 83.15 83.2 82.1 82.9SUPRAJIT 185.3 192.55 176 186WELSPUNIND 50 50.1 48.2 49.55GMDCLTD 72.5 76.35 69 73.9GUJALKALI 473.05 473.05 452 453ISEC 191 196 190.9 196ADANIGREEN 32.95 33.6 31.7 32.15GICRE 219 228.95 216.75 226COCHINSHIP 345 347.6 341.85 343CHAMBLFERT 166.35 168.8 163.05 163.85SHREECEM 15,653.10 15,704.05 15,285.05 15,703.50GLAXO 1,380.00 1,396.00 1,361.40 1,396.00PGHH 10,125.00 10,125.00 10,005.75 10,050.00MOIL 153.95 153.95 150 150.9TEAMLEASE 2,919.35 2,939.70 2,875.00 2,876.00ISGEC 4,950.00 4,950.00 4,811.00 4,845.00HIMATSEIDE 170 172.1 166.4 169.8UFLEX 222.15 222.15 212.8 214.45ASAHIINDIA 255.5 258.55 255.3 255.5DCAL 183 199.85 180.4 183.9WELCORP 98.5 98.75 94.4 95.75JMFINANCIL 75.2 76.65 73.4 76.1TATAINVEST 836.8 841.85 832.8 833.23MINDIA 20,802.00 21,400.00 20,755.00 21,251.00NLCINDIA 63.55 65 62 64.3RALLIS 150 152.5 148.95 150.25VIJAYABANK 40 40.6 39.25 39.9LALPATHLAB 975 1,031.90 975 1,000.05GREAVESCOT 118.2 118.4 116.6 117.8J&KBANK 39.5 40 39.1 39.3HEIDELBERG 148 148.7 145.5 148.65SOBHA 451.05 451.05 435.95 444.1LUXIND 1,167.00 1,224.00 1,158.00 1,192.05ASTRAZEN 1,825.00 1,842.05 1,801.00 1,822.15SCI 35.6 35.6 34.9 35.15DHANUKA 377 426.6 374 400CAPPL 330.2 333.75 327 327.25LAKSHVILAS 58.45 59.05 55 57AUBANK 574.35 579.7 574.35 575.1MOTILALOFS 576.2 595.25 575.5 590.1SYNGENE 598.1 604.25 578 585MINDAIND 272.45 280 271.35 279CUB 183.8 185 178.45 182.85SADBHAV 172.05 172.05 166.2 167.8SKFINDIA 1,965.00 1,981.00 1,965.00 1,965.00TTKPRESTIG 7,768.20 7,784.00 7,626.00 7,630.15SBILIFE 566.2 570.5 564.1 570DENABANK 10.8 11.2 10.76 11LEMONTREE 72.75 74 70 71ANDHRABANK 23.25 23.9 23.1 23.55PTC 72.4 74.4 72.4 73.55CARERATING 944.9 962.4 942.4 953.05APLAPOLLO 1,068.00 1,120.00 1,056.00 1,120.00AEGISLOG 191.05 194.3 187.75 192BALMLAWRIE 170 170 163.65 164KANSAINER 454.15 460 447 455DEEPAKNI 211 222 211 220.1LAURUSLABS 331 340.75 326.45 335.75OBEROIRLTY 456 461.5 454 461.5CCL 274.95 281 265.8 272THOMASCOOK 210.7 217.05 207.45 215SYMPHONY 1,180.30 1,200.00 1,165.80 1,180.00EVEREADY 202.8 205 198.3 202.3GHCL 220.1 228 220 228REDINGTON 72.3 75 72.3 74.95TATAMETALI 600.25 602 592.5 593SONATSOFTW 334.95 336.6 330.25 330.25JKLAKSHMI 300.25 308.5 300.05 305CENTURYPLY 161.65 166.05 161.6 163.7HERITGFOOD 457.95 461.15 440 450LAXMIMACH 5,498.00 5,589.00 5,498.00 5,569.40ITDCEM 106.7 106.9 104.4 105FLFL 430.8 432.9 426 428.2SJVN 25.75 25.95 25.6 25.65GUJGAS 124.5 124.5 119 121.4MONSANTO 2,550.00 2,560.00 2,541.00 2,542.00VBL 762 779.05 762 776.1HAL 623 649.9 621 621TRENT 341.1 344 340 342.8NETWORK18 32.95 34.4 32 34.25INOXWIND 64.95 65.3 63.25 64.2ASHOKA 111.95 113 110.85 111.35RELAXO 764.95 767.65 745.6 763.5APLLTD 533.15 544.9 528.15 535.15INOXLEISUR 250.05 262 250.05 261.1ABBOTINDIA 7,600.00 7,666.10 7,511.00 7,586.95KNRCON 203.05 205 200.05 205IFBIND 718.3 725.8 700 709.7ALKEM 1,829.90 1,839.95 1,808.50 1,816.95BIRLACORPN 449 460 448.85 452.6COROMANDEL 444 453.9 438.4 446.1FDC 159.1 160.25 154 154.85

JYOTHYLAB 184 184 178 178.5THERMAX 1,079.00 1,079.00 1,011.50 1,014.25BAYERCROP 4,269.80 4,300.00 4,259.15 4,268.45UCOBANK 17.1 17.4 16.75 17.4ZENSARTECH 213.75 213.75 208 212.95ALLCARGO 105 107.4 104.1 105.5GESHIP 278.15 279.7 272.75 274THYROCARE 497 501.6 491 491BLUESTARCO 589.5 592.75 582 582GET&D 281.2 285 277.7 279.35ASTERDM 152 153.5 150 151.05GEPIL 750 762 733.25 762BDL 230.1 230.2 224 224NILKAMAL 1,299.50 1,300.00 1,282.20 1,290.00JCHAC 1,696.00 1,715.00 1,688.05 1,691.85GSKCONS 7,470.10 7,545.00 7,470.10 7,509.95MAHABANK 12.9 13.1 12.81 12.87PRSMJOHNSN 70.6 70.9 69.25 70.9IEX 161 162.4 157 161.4SCHNEIDER 86.85 86.9 84.1 84.85NESCO 436.15 442.65 436.15 440.05LAOPALA 208 210.5 200.5 201.35VMART 2,502.00 2,502.00 2,381.70 2,405.00WABCOINDIA 6,149.90 6,149.90 6,051.10 6,051.10ZYDUSWELL 1,266.00 1,282.00 1,252.00 1,272.20MINDACORP 127.2 128.3 125.3 126KALPATPOWR 340.75 343.1 337.45 338.65FORBESCO 1,950.00 1,998.00 1,925.00 1,955.35BASF 1,260.15 1,280.00 1,245.00 1,263.05TEJASNET 137 138.8 136.4 136.4CORPBANK 24.2 24.8 24 24.3JAGRAN 95.05 96 94.05 94.5NIACL 170.45 174.1 165 172.5FINOLEXIND 501 501 493 499.9BAJAJCON 351 354.3 345.6 350JKCEMENT 685.95 707.15 685.55 701.45BLUEDART 3,033.00 3,089.95 3,021.75 3,089.95ECLERX 984.85 1,022.95 980.05 1,012.00GDL 100 103.25 99.45 99.55INDOSTAR 325.55 329 323.1 329NAVKARCORP 40.95 40.95 39.7 40.1GPPL 78.4 78.7 77.4 77.75TIFHL 414.2 424.05 414.2 419.85GULFOILLUB 892 892 878 884MAHLOG 425.2 437.95 425 437.95MAHLIFE 378.05 380 372.05 372.65GRINDWELL 513.65 523.95 507.05 523.95SUPPETRO 206.2 206.2 202.65 205VTL 996.25 1,008.10 985 1,008.10GREENPLY 128 130.5 128 130.5APARINDS 615.05 617.5 615 615MHRIL 190.45 191.5 189.1 190PHOENIXLTD 576.9 583.25 576.9 577.4SOLARINDS 960 960 949.7 960RATNAMANI 855 868 835.05 868TIINDIA 348.8 348.8 332.6 340IOB 12.18 12.34 12.07 12.23SANOFI 6,280.00 6,322.60 6,250.00 6,252.05AKZOINDIA 1,694.90 1,719.90 1,694.90 1,700.00NAVNETEDUL 105.3 105.95 102.6 104.9SOMANYCERA 328 337.1 320 323ESSELPRO 106.2 109.75 105.5 109.75PRESTIGE 198.6 199.65 195.3 196TVSSRICHAK 2,250.00 2,260.20 2,205.00 2,205.00SUNCLAYLTD 2,490.00 2,525.00 2,439.95 2,469.00ELGIEQUIP 257.5 260.25 256.95 259ERIS 623.65 627.5 615 615SHARDACROP 324.25 324.25 320 320ITDC 256.9 256.9 250.5 250.5SHILPAMED 357.7 361.45 357.7 360KPRMILL 529.1 538.2 528.7 537.95SHOPERSTOP 506.2 506.8 493.2 497.9TRITURBINE 104.2 105.75 104.2 105.1ORIENTCEM 65.8 66.75 65 65.6SHRIRAMCIT 1,537.05 1,572.00 1,527.70 1,566.95STARCEMENT 88.25 94 86.85 93.9TVTODAY 324.7 324.7 316.9 323HATSUN 666 666.75 650 652NH 195.25 197.5 192.25 192.3DBCORP 177.8 180 177.8 178.45SHK 159.1 159.1 156.75 156.75TIMKEN 534.45 543 534 537.7MAGMA 86.9 86.95 85.15 85.15SIS 756.7 766.9 756.7 762.5GAYAPROJ 155 157.95 153 156KIOCL 125 125 123 123.8SFL 1,275.00 1,285.00 1,270.00 1,279.95CARBORUNIV 346 350 344.45 346

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 10,786.10 10,792.70 10,718.75 10,746.05 -47.6YESBANK 186.35 224 186.35 222.6 53.15IBULHSGFIN 623 668 623 660.05 41.15ZEEL 414.5 439.9 406.5 435 26.8JSWSTEEL 269.4 282.5 264.05 281.1 9.9TATAMOTORS 155.95 161 153.8 159.45 4.45SUNPHARMA 432 444.9 428.65 440.85 9.6ADANIPORTS 342 352.2 340.05 347.55 5.9INDUSINDBK 1,491.90 1,530.80 1,476.05 1,518.15 19.7ICICIBANK 339.85 346.85 336.15 343.95 4.2HEROMOTOCO 2,755.20 2,891.65 2,725.10 2,785.40 33.95LT 1,219.00 1,231.75 1,201.10 1,228.00 11.35BAJFINANCE 2,579.95 2,622.00 2,556.90 2,614.00 23.45VEDL 150.5 153 149.15 152 1.3ULTRACEMCO 3,454.00 3,503.75 3,426.65 3,495.50 23.25HINDPETRO 217.2 222.6 213.35 220 1.4GRASIM 714 723.5 710.1 721.55 4.4DRREDDY 2,648.70 2,674.95 2,616.00 2,660.00 11.3ITC 277 280.2 277 278 1.15UPL 814.3 824.5 811.65 819.45 2.25MARUTI 7,036.70 7,111.20 6,990.00 7,039.90 11.65NTPC 131 133.3 128.1 131.25 0.15BAJAJ-AUTO 2,820.00 2,875.00 2,811.25 2,823.00 -0.95AXISBANK 706 706.4 692.6 697 -0.5POWERGRID 177.5 178.85 172.5 176.35 -0.2SBIN 268 268.35 263.65 267.5 -0.7CIPLA 542.9 556 537.4 542.1 -1.4EICHERMOT 20,160.00 20,588.10 19,900.00 20,100.20 -58.5TATASTEEL 482 486.35 475.4 482.5 -1.5ONGC 133.5 134.2 127.6 132.95 -0.45TECHM 805.8 811.75 800.4 805.9 -3.8WIPRO 376.4 378.4 373.95 375.1 -2.35TCS 2,060.05 2,075.00 2,033.05 2,049.00 -16.4TITAN 1,063.95 1,063.95 1,030.50 1,042.25 -8.7HCLTECH 1,070.00 1,070.00 1,057.05 1,060.75 -9.4HINDUNILVR 1,796.00 1,798.50 1,777.00 1,782.35 -16.6KOTAKBANK 1,302.00 1,302.25 1,271.55 1,285.70 -12.6M&M 640.7 642.4 632.3 634.45 -7.05HDFC 1,921.00 1,929.25 1,893.85 1,905.45 -25.05RELIANCE 1,241.00 1,241.00 1,218.00 1,229.10 -16.85BAJAJFINSV 6,119.00 6,140.45 6,025.00 6,045.00 -82.65COALINDIA 217 219.7 211.4 217.1 -3.15HDFCBANK 2,140.00 2,140.00 2,105.60 2,112.00 -31.45ASIANPAINT 1,417.65 1,423.15 1,396.50 1,402.00 -22.15INFY 751 753 737.25 740.35 -14.55INFRATEL 304 304 293.5 297.6 -6.7GAIL 316.5 316.8 306.8 308.1 -7.4BHARTIARTL 309 309.9 296.5 301.85 -8.7HINDALCO 197.6 198.55 190.3 192.05 -6.15BPCL 326.1 328.2 312.05 317.55 -11.9IOC 129.5 129.65 123.55 124.9 -5

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 25,767.90 25,977.95 25,758.40 25,945.70 118.75ASHOKLEY 78.5 87.1 77.75 83.5 4.6IDEA 30.45 31.95 29.8 31.95 1.5SUNTV 554.4 587 544.8 578.45 24.85L&TFH 123 127.8 120.1 127.05 3.95GICRE 219.05 229.9 219 225 6DLF 157 164.25 156.65 162.05 4.1DMART 1,429.00 1,473.40 1,416.55 1,462.00 33.2LUPIN 793.05 812 790.5 808.65 17.25MOTHERSUMI 133.55 136 132.05 135.4 2.45CONCOR 483 502.9 481.95 497.75 8.75BHEL 60.25 62.8 60.15 62 1MRF 55,600.00 56,600.00 55,315.00 56,500.00 903.2LICHSGFIN 438.15 449 438.15 448 6.25BOSCHLTD 17,988.00 18,503.00 17,901.00 18,126.00 217.55BANKBARODA 102.4 104.4 101.25 103.6 1.2PEL 2,182.00 2,243.00 2,160.90 2,210.00 19.3MCDOWELL-N 515.05 525.9 511.7 524 4.35ABB 1,260.00 1,275.95 1,233.50 1,260.05 9.85SAIL 45.9 46.55 45.1 46.35 0.35ICICIPRULI 304.8 305.85 301.1 304.75 2.2SRTRANSFIN 1,042.00 1,055.50 1,034.00 1,049.60 6.9HDFCLIFE 358 361.7 353.55 361.5 2.25BRITANNIA 2,915.00 2,949.00 2,900.00 2,940.60 17.2SBILIFE 569.9 574.5 564.9 573 3.15BANDHANBNK 478.3 484.6 473.6 479.5 2.35ICICIGI 895.1 914.95 891.05 908 4.25INDIGO 1,137.10 1,183.95 1,137.10 1,166.80 4.65DABUR 438.5 444.4 437 441 1.5NIACL 170.5 174.4 169.3 172.6 0.3SIEMENS 978 991.95 975.55 983.85 1.1BIOCON 638.45 644.4 634.1 640.15 0.5BEL 75.1 76.45 72.5 74.5 0ABCAPITAL 78.5 79 77.5 78.5 0AUROPHARMA 747 757 744.55 748.95 -0.75GODREJCP 681.5 688.55 675.8 680.5 -0.9COLPAL 1,243.00 1,258.10 1,240.10 1,247.30 -1.7SHREECEM 15,556.00 15,650.00 15,250.00 15,565.00 -40.35MARICO 348 350.25 343.1 346 -1.2NMDC 94 94.1 91.95 93.05 -0.45CADILAHC 319 323.3 315.7 319 -1.8HINDZINC 249 250.45 245.2 247.6 -1.9PGHH 10,100.05 10,149.95 10,020.90 10,050.00 -79.85AMBUJACEM 205.95 207.55 203.1 204.3 -1.65ACC 1,368.00 1,374.85 1,350.35 1,357.00 -14.4HAVELLS 703.45 704.8 689.25 693.5 -9.95PIDILITIND 1,130.05 1,131.90 1,111.10 1,112.00 -17.65OIL 173.1 173.65 169.1 170.3 -2.8PETRONET 220.1 222.1 216.45 216.8 -4.1NHPC 23.8 24.35 23.25 23.5 -0.5OFSS 3,781.00 3,855.60 3,471.05 3,630.05 -185.4

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Apregnant Bangladeshi-British teenager, who fled

London in 2015 to join theIslamic State terror group inSyria, says she is not the same“silly” girl now, but wants toreturn to the UK as she is wor-ried about the health of herunborn child.

Shamima Begum, 15, wasone of three British schoolgirlswho ran away from theirhomes in the UK in 2015 to bejihadi brides, causing muchconcern in the country on theimpact of online radicalisation,especially among the youth.

Speaking from a refugeecamp in Syria, Begum, now 19,has lost two children, told theTimes newspaper that she wasnine months pregnant andwanted to return to the UK forher baby.

She said she remainedscared her unborn baby wouldbecome ill in the refugee campafter she fled the jihadists’ lastremaining enclave in Baghuz,eastern Syria.

“That’s why I really want toget back to Britain because Iknow it will be taken care of -health-wise, at least,” she said.

She said she should be giv-ing birth “any day now”.

“I’ ll do anything required just to be able tocome home and live quietlywith my child.” Begum said shehad two other children whodied in infancy from malnu-trition and illness.

Begum and two of her fel-low Bethnal Green academystudents, Kadiza Sultana andAmira Abase, made headlineswhen they flew from Gatwickto Turkey in February 2015,then entered Syria.

Begum and Abase wereboth 15, while Sultana, anoth-er Bangladeshi-British, was 16.They had told their parentsthey were simply going out forthe day. Begum said Sultanawas killed in an air strike onRaqqa, the stronghold of theISIS.

But Begum expressed noregrets about fleeing from theUK. “I’m not the same silly lit-tle 15-year-old schoolgirl whoran away from Bethnal Greenfour years ago,” she said.

“I don’t regret cominghere,” she said.

After arriving in Raqqa,she stayed at a house with othernewly arrived brides-to-be, she

told the Times.“I applied to marry an

English-speaking fighterbetween 20 and 25 years old,”she said.

Ten days later she marrieda 27-year-old Dutch man whohad converted to Islam.

She has been with himsince then, and the coupleescaped from Baghuz — thegroup’s last territory in easternSyria - two weeks ago.

Begum said her husbandwho had fought for ISIS, sur-rendered to Syrian fightersallied to the US-supportedSyrian Democratic Forces(SDF) weeks ago and that shehad not seen him since.

She is now one of 39,000people in a refugee camp innorthern Syria.

Asked whether her experiences of living in the one-time IS stronghold ofRaqqa had lived up to her aspi-rations, Begum said: “Yes, itdid. It was like a normal life.The life that they show on thepropaganda videos - it’s a nor-mal life.

“Every now and then thereare bombs and stuff. But otherthan that...” She said that see-ing her first “severed head” ina bin “didn’t faze me at all”.

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US Secretary of State MikePompeo said on Thursday

at a security conference inWarsaw that Iran is the topthreat in the Middle East andconfronting the country is keyto reaching peace in the entireregion.

Pompeo met with IsraeliPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu before the openingsession at the conference andsaid “pushing back” againstIran was central to dealingwith all the region’s other prob-lems. “You can’t achieve peaceand stability in the Middle Eastwithout confronting Iran. It’sjust not possible,” Pompeo saidalongside Netanyahu.

The Israeli leader laudedthe participation of high-profileArab dignitaries at the confer-

ence, saying it signaled a shiftin regional priorities.

“In a room of some 60 for-eign ministers, an Israeli primeminister and the foreign min-isters of leading Arab countriesstood together, and spoke withunusual force, clarity and unityagainst a common threat of theIranian regime,” Netanyahusaid before his meeting withPompeo.

“I think this marks achange, an important under-standing of what threatens ourfuture.” The U.S. And Poland aresponsoring the conference,which they say is aimed at pro-moting peace and security in theMideast but appears to be main-ly focused on isolating Iran. Iranhas denounced the gathering asan American anti-Iran “circus”aimed at “demonising” it.

US Vice President Mike

Pence is attending along withrepresentatives from numerousArab countries. But France andGermany are not sendingCabinet-ranked officials, andEuropean Union foreign poli-cy chief Federica Mogherini isstaying away. Russia and Chinaaren’t participating, either, andthe Palestinians, who havecalled for the meeting to beboycotted, also will be absent.

For Netanyahu, a longtimeopponent of the 2015 Irannuclear deal, the gathering

marks a culmination of his callto unite the world againstIsrael’s arch-enemy of Iran. He’slong boasted that Israel hasclandestinely developed goodrelations with several Arabstates, despite a lack of officialties. On Wednesday, he metwith Oman’s foreign minister,Yusuf bin Alawi, and atThursday’s opening session hewas seated next to the foreignminister of Yemen, as repre-sentatives of Kuwait, Qatar andothers looked on.

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President Hassan Rouhanivowed revenge on

Thursday against the “merce-nary group” behind a suicidebombing which killed 27 peo-ple in southeastern Iran andaccused the US and Israel ofsupporting “terrorism”.

“We will certainly makethis mercenary group pay forthe blood of our martyrs,” theofficial IRNA news agencyquoted the Iranian presidentas saying in response to

Wednesday’s attack.“The main root of terror-

ism in the region is Americaand Zionists, and some oil-producing countries in theregion also financially supportthe terrorists,” he added.

Rouhani was speaking atTehran’s Mehrabad Airportbefore leaving for the Russianresort of Sochi for a summitwith his Russian and Turkishcounterparts Vladimir Putinand Recep Tayyip Erdogan onthe future of war-batteredSyria.

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The Taliban said on Wed-nesday its negotiators would

next week meet the top US andPakistani officials includingPrime Minister Imran Khanduring a key round of talks inIslamabad as part of the ongo-ing Afghan peace talks. NeitherWashington nor Islamabadimmediately confirmed theannouncement by the Taliban.

On the “formal invitation ofthe government of Pakistan,another meeting is scheduled totake place between the negoti-ation teams of the IslamicEmirate and the US on 18th ofFebruary, 2019 in Islamabad,”Taliban spokesman ZabiullahMujahid said in a statement.

The Taliban’s delegationwould also meet Prime MinisterKhan, the statement said.

Mujahid said the regularround of talks was alreadyscheduled to be held onFebruary 25 in Qatar. He saidthat in the meeting with Khan,Taliban would have “compre-hensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues per-taining to Afghan refugees andAfghan businessmen”.

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London: British PrimeMinister Theresa May wasscrambling on Thursday toavoid another defeat on herBrexit plans amid oppositionfrom members of her own

party who claim she is movingin the wrong direction inefforts to overcome the impasseblocking a deal.

Hard-line pro-Brexit law-makers in May’s Conservative

Party said a motion to be votedon in Parliament later effec-tively rules out the threat ofBritain leaving the EuropeanUnion without an agreementon departure terms and futurerelations, a move they sayundermines Britain’s bargain-ing position.

“Conservative MPs (mem-bers of Parliament) really oughtnot to be associated with any-thing, express or implied,which seems to take ‘no deal’off the table,” said Brexit-back-ing Conservative lawmakerSteve Baker in a tweet. AP

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Ramoji Film City is in theGuinness Book of WorldRecords as the largest film set

in the world, and it is truly massive.However when you are drivingaround inside it in the new ToyotaCamry, space becomes a relativething. That is because the Camryitself is such a large, spacious vehi-cle, both at the front and the back.In fact, on the size front, this car isas big as German executive sedanssuch as the Audi A6 and theBMW 5 series.

But size is not the Camry’sparty piece because Toyota assuresus that this new vehicle is actuallyengaging to drive. And that wouldbe a nice change indeed, becausesince the Camry was introduced inIndia a decade and a half ago,Toyota has sold a shade over 11,000of them. But, when they firstbrought it, it almost always was acar to be driven around in, andwhile the Camry has always beenvery comfortable, calling it anengaging and driver-oriented carare not adjectives that you woulduse with previous versions of thecar.

So what about this iteration?Well, the eight-speed eCVT trans-mission is clearly tuned towardseconomy but when you do put yourfoot down, this thing can move.Think of this car as more of an ath-lete towards the middle of his or hercareer, someone who still hasexplosive speed but would rathercruise, but also an athlete that hasbecome better over time withexperience. That analogy comesinto play with the handling of thecar. Now this is still a long andheavy car but that does not meanthat it rolls like a boat. Far from it,the Camry is surprisingly taut andit achieves that despite having avery comfortable ride.

But you know what sets apartan experienced athlete from aninexperienced one is how theyexpend energy, particularly inlonger sports. If a tennis match goesto five sets, you do not want to losebecause you are out of juice. Thatis where the Camry shines, thanksto its fourth generation ToyotaHybrid system. The Japanese car-maker has definitely made a namefor itself in hybrid technology andthis car uses the same system thatyou see on the new Prius. As theToyota engineers themselves tellyou, it is not just about the batterytechnology, this car uses NickelMetal Hydride cells (NiMh) insteadof Lithium-ion cells which areheavier. But the new Power ControlUnit (PCU) is in fact a very fastcomputer that is constantly evalu-ating driving styles and powerrequirements and decides whatsource the car needs. Sure, at lowcity speeds you can enable the full‘EV’ mode that has the car functionas a fully electric vehicle but atspeeds above 50 kmphyou can’t do that.However that doesnot mean the carcan’t run in fulle l e c t r i c

mode at higher speeds.Indeed on Hyderabad’s excel-

lent Outer Ring Road, you can eas-ily set the Camry to cruise controland watch the displays tell you whatpower source the car is using. Thedisplays often show that the car isdriving solely on battery power at100 kmph. However, when you hit

a flyover or if the

battery was running low, the enginekicks in as well. All this happens soquickly and so quietly that you haveno sensation that the engine hasengaged. And despite the fact thatthe Camry has a big 2.5 litre petrolengine, thanks to the hybrid sys-tem, the car can easily deliver over16.5 kilometres per litre withouttrying too hard. If I drove the carto be even more economical I’msure, I could have pushed themileage even higher.

On the inside, the Camry is asmentioned above quite spa-

cious indeed.

The rear seats recline a fair amount,enough in fact, to catch a snoozequite easily. The central armrest hasa very zippy touchscreen con-troller and you can also fit option-al screens on the headrests. Thefront seats are very comfortable aswell and being equipped with in-seat ventilation. The car, like allToyota’s does not come with eitherApple CarPlay or Android Autoand the infotainment system suf-fers as a result but hooking up yourdevice via Bluetooth or using thelatest versions of the Mirror Linksystem which some of the latestAndroid devices are compatiblewith work just fine.

Are there any negatives aboutthe Camry? Well, to start off it isn’twhat one would call handsome.The front end of the car seemsextremely busy with far too manyelements and while darker shadesof paint hide the busy nature of theside profile that is also very busy.Also, while the car is more engag-ing than previous versions of theCamry, it isn’t what I would call anexciting drive. It is howeversupremely comfortable and givenToyota’s excellent build quality, theCamry like other stablemates willbe mechanically bulletproof. Andthanks to the hybrid system itscores over most other rivals (savethe Honda Accord) in terms of fueleconomy. But here is the thing, asnice and as practical as the Camryis, if I wanted a vehicle that was ascomfortable albeit not as econom-ical (in petrol) I would look at theToyota Innova. But as hybridsincreasingly become common inIndia as new emission and efficien-cy norms kick in, the Camry isleading the pack. Priced at an intro-ductory �36.95 lakh ex-showroomall-India, it is not value at all for atechnology leader.

If a recent survey is anything to goby, then we will be clued into musicon the move or in our mindsphere

most of our waking hours. “India is amusic-loving society with consumersspending almost 21.5 hours everyweek listening to melodies and songs

against the global average of 17.8hours. Helping to satisfy this love

for music is the audio OTT(over-the-top) industry which is

at an inflection point today,” saidBlaise Fernandes, President andCEO, The Indian Music Industry(IMI).

According to a report by IndianMusic Industry (IMI) and Deloitte,the Indian audio OTT industry isvalued at $280 million with rev-enues from it contributing to 67per cent of the total recordedmusic revenue in India. AudioOTT includes delivery of digitalmusic content over the internet tothe consumer by independentlyhosted applications that procurecontent from music labels, publish-ers and other distributors. Digitalmusic revenues as a percentage ofIndian music industry revenueshave shown steady growth from 51

per cent in 2013 to 78 per cent in 2017.The launch of various Indian audio

OTT platforms like JioSavaan, Gaana,Hungama, Wynk and Vodafone-Idea, aswell as international platforms like AppleMusic, Amazon Music, Google Play andthe impending arrival of Spotify offerimmense potential for the growth of the

audio OTT industry not just in India butin south Asia as a whole.

“If a Despacito can become a hit inIndia, if K-Pop can cross geographicalboundaries, then the scope for musicfrom India is infinite, with differentregional languages poised to dominatelocal and international markets driven bythe reach of audio OTT platforms,” saidFernandes.

The report also highlights the con-tribution of the recorded music industryto the growth of audio OTT platformswith all major stakeholders, from lyricists,music composers, performers to film pro-ducers, actively creating for and licens-ing content to the digital platforms toboost music consumption, further dri-ving the growth for music streaming ser-

vices. The expected growth in smart-phone users to 829 million in 2022 fromjust 404 million at the end of 2017, high-lights a digital revolution, where anincreasing number of people will shift todigital platforms to consume music.

As at the end of December 2018,there were nearly 150 million musicstreaming users in India, while seeming-ly large are numbers make for the onlinevideo audience. This indicates a signifi-cant growth opportunity with audioOTT platforms emerging as the preferredmedium to consume music in the coun-try, and the audio OTT market valued atover US $280 million in January 2018,poised to show strong growth in the nextfew years.

The writing is already on the wall with

physical sales of CDs showing a steep dropfrom 35.5 million in 2013 to 0.4 millionunits in 2017. Audio OTT platforms willbe a key driver of growth in the future –digital revenue has already shown anincrease from $74.4 million in 2016 to US$102.1 million in 2017.

The report also examines the impli-cations of piracy with $250 million losteach year on account of it. It evaluates theanti-piracy measures in India by musiclabels, regulatory bodies, governmentand other stakeholders to curb this majorsource of money leakage. India’s recentapproval for accession and ratification ofWorld Intellectual Property Organisation’s(WIPO) internet treaties to protect theintellectual property rights of artists andcontent owners reflects the level of IPR

awareness in the country. It examines suc-cessful initiatives in countries like Chinato curbs piracy and encourage moreusers to subscribe.

FDI and FII represent major sourcesof investment for the audio OTT indus-try in India, with investors like Tencent,Tiger Global, Liberty Media, and Xiaomiinvesting over $300 million in the audioOTT industry.

The report also examines the variouschallenges faced including piracy. Thereis a need for free-market licensing normsto help sustain the digital ecosystem, wherecontent owners and creators are sufficient-ly remunerated, in order to sustain andencourage investments in content. It isthen that India can take a major positionin the global recorded music space.

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Officers of the Board ofDirectors of the Academy of

Motion Picture Arts and theSciences (AMPAS) have sent aletter to members trying to allayconcerns about the decision tohold four Oscar presentationsaway from the live broadcast onFebruary 24.

“As the Academy’s officers,we’d like to assure you that noaward category at the 91st Oscarsceremony will be presented in amanner that depicts the achieve-ments of its nominees and win-ners as less than any others,” theletter read.

“Unfortunately, as the resultof inaccurate reporting andsocial media posts, there hasbeen a chain of misinformationthat has understandably upsetmany Academy members.

“We’d like to restate andexplain the plans for presentingthe awards, as endorsed by theAcademy’s Board of Governors.”

The officers then went on tobreak down how these presenta-tions will work:

��All 24 Award categoriesare presented on stage in the

Dolby Theatre, and included inthe broadcast.

� Four categories —Cinematography, Film Editing,

Make-Up and Hairstyling, andLive Action Short — werevolunteered by their branchesto have their nominees and

winners announced by presen-ters, and included later in thebroadcast. Time spent walking tothe stage and off, will be edited

out.��The four winning speech-

es will be included in the broad-cast.

��In future years, four to sixdifferent categories may beselected for rotation, in collab-oration with the show producers.This year’s categories will beexempted in 2020.

This change in the showwas discussed and agreed to bythe Board of Governors inAugust, with the full support ofthe branch executive committees.Such decisions are fully deliber-ated.

The letter states that showproducers have “given great con-sideration to both Oscar tradi-tion and our broad global audi-ence. We sincerely believe youwill be pleased with the show,and look forward to celebratinga great year in movies with allAcademy members and with therest of the world.”

The letter was signed by

President John Bailey, VicePresidents Lois Burwell, SidGanis and Larry Karaszewski,Nancy Utley, Treasurer JimGianopulos and Secretary DavidRubin.

Just before the email wentout to members, it was sharedthat an open letter to AMPASPresident John Bailey had beensent, signed by more than 40high-profile cinematographersand directors, from Spike Leeand Quentin Tarantino to RogerDeakins and Emmanuel Lubezki.

Many have called for theAcademy to reverse course onthe matter, but given that it wasa board decision, the only way toreverse it would be to convenethe body for another meeting inthe next seven days.

It was earlier reported thatthe AMPAS was to hand out fourawards during commercialbreaks in the hope of trimmingthe show’s run time.

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Even though you are in thecapital, as soon as you walk inthrough the big wooden door

with an extremely homely vibe, youfeel transported to a home in southIndia. Zambar at Ambience Mall,which is one of the trendiest placesin Gurugram, is among the fewrestaurants that offers non-vegetar-ian South Indian cuisine. Thedécor is simple and elegant. Thereare golden jhoolas at each seatingarrangement and small brass bowlsfilled with water and rose petals reston top of each table. There are fauxwindows that frame posters offamous monuments in the South.Sitting there, one feels as thoughone is relaxing in a verandah thatoverlooks these monuments. Tomake the décor a little quirky,there are pop art posters of famoussuperstars.

Zambar, has put together anAndhra/Telangana Food Festival

and the head Chef Vetri, says, “Wewanted to offer something extreme-ly authentic to our customers wherethey could sample the food that iscooked in homes in the region. Wewanted them to get a sense of theroots.”

Without further adowe are welcomed withpapads and chutneys.The Tomato mirchi pachi-di is sour and hot alongwith a bit of sweetnesstowards the end,thanks to thetomato. Nextthere is theC a b b a g epachidi whichconsists ofshards of cabbagewith milder spices whichsurprisingly is lip-smack-ingly good. Last, there is theKundru pachidi which is low

on spices but leaves a subtle heat onthe palate along with the dominantflavor of curry leaves.

For starters, there is the Rasamvadai and stuffed Mirchi baji. TheRasam vadai comes in a tall coffeeclass. Sipping on the salty and tangystaple called rasam, which is backedwith flavours of garam masala,leaves a mild heat in the mouth.

Paired with the vadai, which isas light and soft as a clouddespite being deep-fried, itis nothing short of a touchof a miracle in a dish. Thebhaji is a long wide mirchior fat chilli which is cutopen from the centre, filled

with a spicy paste, toppedwith onions and peanuts,

dipped in chickpea flour anddeep fried. This bhaji is layered

to perfection. Even though oneexpects it to be very spicy, it isn’t.

It strikes the right balance offlavours and the onions and thepeanuts give an extra sweetness,crunch and a nutty flavour.

The thali consists of theDappalam, Andhra chicken curry,Prawn Iguru, Chepala pulusu and

Chicken 65. This is served alongwith rice and bread or chapatis. Oneexpects Andhra cuisine to be sourand hot but this thali is more on thelines of sweet and tangy. TheDappalam is a curry made withdrumsticks and okra which istangy and salty. Even though thebroth has a good dash of spices, itis the tanginess in the dish thatoverpowers all the other flavours.The Chicken 65 is beautifully coat-ed with spices and melts in themouth even though it is deepfried. It does justice to the classicchicken 65 in terms of its spicy tex-ture. The Prawn Iguru is a browncurry which has sweetness butderives most of its flavors from cin-namon and the flavours of thecurry have seeped in beautifully inthe meat. The Andhra chickencurry is mildly spicy and the cen-tre of the dish is the succulentchicken breast which is cooked toperfection. There is a dominantflavour of the curry leaves that addsto the beauty of the dish. Chepalapulusu is traditional sour fish currywhich derives its acidity and sweet-ness from the tomato. It is just abeautiful, authentic, home-cookedfish curry that comforts you.

To end this thali. there is thesweet potato payasam which has athick consistency. It tastes a lot likethe North Indian kheer, milky,rich and has a slight aroma of saf-fron in it. It has some potential totake one to the seventh heaven.

An afternoon spent eatingauthentic Andhra/Telangana cui-sine sitting on a jhoola and observ-ing the simplicity of living in thesouth is a humbling experience.What a trip it is, I want to pick upmy bags.

One can almost imagine beingtransported to a huge hall inTuscany with off-white walls,candlesticks on the tables giv-ing a sun-dappled vibe even in

the dark with the wine flowing and the pastabowl never seeming to be empty.

The warm ambience at La Piazza atHyatt Regency is welcoming and perfect tospend a cozy evening with friends or part-ners. The brown-chequered floor-tiles,black candlesticks and round white candleson the tables give a typical vintage Italianvibe. The decor looks like the 500-year-oldfortified walls of an Italian palace while itsfood is a modern take on the cuisine fromRome.

The night I dined there, the Italian cafe-cum-restaurant was celebrating its comple-tion of 25 years where the chef HermannGrossbichler served his specially-curatedmenu that combined traditional classicsfrom 1994 as well as new additions that drewinspiration from the dynamism of Italiancuisine.

The meal began with Zuppa whichproved that Italian food is more than justpizza and spaghetti. It was my first encounterwith the white-coloured Cannellini bean ornavy bean that appeared like macaroni. Thesoup’s broth was filled with chunky exoticvegetables that exploded in a blast of

flavours in my mouth.The second dish was Antipasti. The raw

beetroot ravioli, in other words, was anItalian version of what sweet dumplingswould look and taste like. The purple beet-root ravioli, with horseradish dressing andwalnuts all around the green leaves was per-fectly presented. The finely-grated lemonrind was sprinkled on top, giving a mix offlavours — sweet and sour.

While I wasn’t done savouring it, thePortata principale made its way to my plate.The dish was served in a crushed white par-

cel, full of vegetables, smokedscamorza (south Italian cow’s

milk cheese) and proseccosauce. While I gorged onthe dish with utmostdesire, the presentationin a pothli-like parcel failed

to make its way to myheart. I preferred

the dish’s fulfill-ing taste to itspresentation.

Moving on,I also had

Sanguine red wineto accompany my next

dish which was Pizza La Piazza,which is the signature at the diner. I wassmitten with the thin crust and then its top-ping of mozzarella and goat cheese, sun-dried tomato, basil pesto sauce and roast-ed garlic, which made it the most sought-after dining experience. Indeed, the bestmeal of the evening. It reminded me of thefamous saying — ‘The problem with Italianfood is that it makes you hungry and crav-ing for it again after two days of consum-ing it’ — which proved true for me.

Next one, the Paste again reminded mewhat a delicious chestnut and New Yorkcheese dumpling had once tasted like.Though it had completely different ingre-dients, the Ricotta and truffle-filled tortelli-ni tasted of potato cream and organicrocket. It looked like a white bowl-likedumpling with cheese filling and turned outto be a complete scrumptious package.

Last, it was the time for desserts andthere came Dolci, the ultimate one. Eventhough a fulfilling meal wouldn’t leave spacefor more, this one had my heart. The cupfilled with vanilla bean Balsamic ice creamhad a flavour of fresh strawberry, toppedwith chocolate and hazelnut biscotti. I canvouch for it — it was bewitchingly heart-melting.

Well, with the same dessert also camethe tiramisu. Who wouldn’t love that cher-ry on the cake? Served like coffee in a cof-fee mug with choco powder sprinkled on thetop, the Italian classic perfectly balanced thesweet element.

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Apure match-winner, aback-up opener and aneffortless six-hitter in

the class of Rohit Sharma —Rishabh Pant merits selectionin India's World Cup squad andthere are more than one rea-sons for it, feels former pacerAshish Nehra.

Nehra, who has trackedPant's progress in Delhi andinternational cricket since hefirst joined the Sonnet Club,

gave five elaborate reasons forthe dynamic youngster's inclu-sion in the playing XI of themega-event.

"In a team, there will alwaysbe contributors but at a bigevent like the World Cup, youneed players with X-factor.Rishabh Pant is not a mere con-tributor but a pure match-win-ner who should be picked forthe World Cup," Nehra said onThursday.

Nehra, a key member of the2011 World Cup-winning

team, feels there are three tofour specific reasons to pickPant.

"If you look at India's bat-ting line up, save Shikhar(Dhawan), there aren't anyleft-handers in the top seven.You need variety with a left-right combination, whereRishabh perfectly fits," he rea-soned.

The 21-year-old Pant is aleft-hander and scored Testhundreds in his first series inEngland and Australia.

"Secondly, Rishabh can batat any position between No 1to 7 and so Virat (Kohli) andthe team management can usehim as a floater," said Nehra,who also played the 2003World Cup final in SouthAfrica.

The third reason cited byNehra was Pant's ability to hitsixes effortlessly from the wordgo. Nehra said the fearlessapproach comes in handy inpressure situations.

"If it comes to effortlesslyhitting sixes, Rishabh comessecond only to Rohit Sharmawith his big-hitting ability.India will need that in abun-dance during the World Cup,"Nehra said.

And last but not the least, Nehrafelt Pant has shown the ability to winmatches singlehandedly.

"No disrespect, this team hasthree clear match-winners and theyare Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma andJasprit Bumrah. For me, the fourth oneis going to be Rishabh Pant.

"Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhavand Dinesh Karthik are all fantasticplayers but they are all in the samemould. You need X-factor which thisboy possesses," said Nehra, an artistwith the white kookaburra, during hisbest days.

Asked whether a seasoned finish-er like Karthik could be overlooked atthe expense of a rookie, Nehra saidboth the players can make it.

"As I have already said, Rishabhcould also be your third opener, so DK(as Karthik is referred to) could beyour middle order batter," he said.

But is it wise to have three keep-ers in the 15? The veteran said look-ing at Pant and Karthik as second andthird keepers is wrong.

"I don't look at it from that per-spective. If Rishabh and DK are beingpicked ahead of specialist batsmen likeManish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer,then you are looking at them as spe-cialist batsmen.

"So why complicate the thoughtprocess. As it is we have the peerlessMS Dhoni behind stumps so treatboth as specialist batsmen," he con-cluded.

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Zeroing in on players for a cou-ple of available World Cup

spots, including a toss-up betweenleft-arm pacers Jaydev Unadkatand Khaleel Ahmed, will be theselection committee's primary focuson Friday when it picks the Indiasquad for the limited-overs seriesagainst Australia.

India will play two T20Internationals and five ODIs, start-ing February 24, in what will betheir last international assignmentbefore the World Cup, which beginsin England on May 30.

The series against Australiawill also be an indicator as to whoamong Rishabh Pant and DineshKarthik will board the Heathrow-bound flight as a specialist-bats-man-cum-second-wicketkeeper.

KL Rahul is back in the mix asthe third opener after a couple ofgood innings for India A againstEngland Lions in the two unofficialTests.

While the two T20 matches willbe a pre-cursor to the ODI series,vice captain Rohit Sharma is like-ly to be given a short break to reju-venate and come back fresh for theODIs.

The selectors have already iden-tified 13 certainties for the WorldCup and they are Virat Kohli,Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma,Ambati Rayudu, Mahendra SinghDhoni, Kedar Jadhav, HardikPandya, Vijay Shankar, YuzvendraChahal, Kuldeep Yadav,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, JaspritBumrah and Mohammed Shami.

Skipper Kohli and pace spear-head Bumrah will be back in actionfor the final dress rehearsal and theselectors are unlikely look beyond16 to 17 players, who are now in thescheme of things for the WorldCup.

There are at least four con-tenders for the last two slotsdepending on the combinationthe team management would want.

While Bumrah, Shami and

Bhuvneshwar are certainties inthe pace department, the bone ofcontention is a left-arm seamerwho will add variation to the line-up.

Khaleel, the young Rajasthanspeedster, played in Australia andNew Zealand but he looked like awork in progress who could be allat sea in a mega-event like theWorld Cup.

Unadkat, who has only sporad-ically played for India since hisdebut in 2010, is suddenly back incontention after a good RanjiTrophy season where he ledSaurashtra to the final.

Unadkat is a matured bowlernow with more variations and anincrease in pace. He is also moreexperienced courtesy his IPL stints.

A shoot-out is expectedbetween Pant and Karthik, who areboth finishers in their own right.

Pant could also double up asthe third opener although Rahul isalso in contention as he has theteam management's backing.

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Dale Steyn and his fellow fast bowlers enabled South Africa to gain an advan-tage over Sri Lanka on the second day of the first Test against Sri Lanka

at Kingsmead in Durban on Thursday.Steyn took four for 48 as South Africa took a first innings lead of 44. They

stretched their lead to 170 by reaching 126 for four at the close.South Africa's decision to pick five specialist bowlers meant that their advan-

tage was some way short of being decisive, with Faf du Plessis (25 not out) andQuinton de Kock (15 not out) their last two recognised batsmen going intoday three.

Sri Lanka were bowled out for 191 and were unable to build on a good firstday when their inexperienced bowlers surprised the South African batsmen,who could manage only 235 in their first innings.

Steyn andV e r n o nPhilander soonput their stampon the gamewhen Sri Lankaresumed at 49 forone on Thursday,taking threewickets in thefirst ten overs ofthe morning.

Kusal Pereraplayed some boldand occasionallylucky strokes inmaking 51 off 63balls for SriLanka and thehosts were frus-trated when abarrage of short-pitched bowlingcould not break astubborn ninthwicket partner-ship of 32, thejoint second-highest of theinnings, betweendebutant LasithEmbuldeniya and Kasun Rajitha.

It was particularly frustrating for Steyn, who bowled unchanged for a ten-over spell after lunch in a bid to claim the 27th five-wicket haul of his Test career.

He had already taken four wickets when Rajitha, on ten, gloved what lookeda simple chance to Dean Elgar in the gully, only for the fielder to put it down.

The stand was eventually ended by a smart run-out of Rajitha by AidenMarkram at short leg.

Steyn took his career tally to 437 Test wickets, passing India's Kapil Dev(434) and drawing level with Stuart Broad of England in joint seventh placeon the all-time list.

With bright sunshine following the morning's overcast conditions, the stageseemed set for South Africa to move into a commanding position as Markramstruck the ball crisply in making 28 off 31 balls in an opening partnership of36 with Elgar.

But Markram played one attacking shot too many when an attempted backfoot force off Rajitha flew to Kusal Mendis at second slip.

Three more wickets fell reasonably cheaply as South Africa's top-order bat-ting again proved fragile.

Hashim Amla edged Vishwa Fernando to gully before Embuldeniya fol-lowed up his courageous innings of 24 off 63 balls by dismissing TembaBavumgrabs advantage for south Africa and Elgar with his left-arm spin bowl-ing.

Bavuma was leg before wicket for three when he missed a sweep and Elgarfell for 35 to a superb return catch when he skipped down the wicket and hitthe ball hard but close enough for the bowler to take a reflex catch to his left.

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Cristiano Ronaldo is set for arare start on the bench as

Juventus host struggling Frosinoneon Friday looking to pull 14 pointsclear in Serie A with an eyetowards next week's ChampionsLeague trip to Atletico Madrid.

Portuguese star Ronaldobrought his tally to 20 goals forJuventus in all competitions lastweekend in a 3-0 win overSassuolo.

But the 34-year-old will starton the bench for just the secondtime this season before the formerReal Madrid player returns to theSpanish capital next week.

Paulo Dybala returns to thestarting line-up, forming an attack-ing trident alongside MarioMandzukic and FedericoBernardeschi.

Juventus coach MassimilianoAllegri's defensive problems havebeen eased with trio AndreaBarzagli, Leonardo Bonucci andGiorgio Chiellini back training.

Juventus captain Chiellini isexpected to return on Friday.

Second-placed Napolidropped points last weekend witha goalless draw against Fiorentinaand face a potentially tricky test athome against Torino.

Walter Mazzarri's Torino arefour points off the Europa Leagueplaces.

Napoli will be without mid-fielder Marek Hamsik for the first

time since the former skip-per having sealed his moveto Chinese Super Leagueclub Dalian Yifang.

Lorenzo Insigne takeson the captain's role andinsisted motivation remained highdespite Juventus' charge towards aneighth consecutive league title.

"Juventus haven't sapped ourmotivation, we knew it would behard to keep up with them," saidInsigne.

"We know they're a greatteam, but we're no worse thanthem.

"The championship is stilllong. We left some points on theroad that we deserved, but we cer-tainly do not give up."

Meanwhile, third-placed InterMilan, nine points behind Napoli,are in turmoil as they hostSampdoria days after stripping star

forward Mauro Icardi of thecaptain's armband.

Icardi's contractual situa-tion, with his current dealexpiring in 2021, has becomean increasingly divisive issue

between club bosses and the play-er's wife Wanda Nara, who is alsohis agent.

The Argentina forward hitback by refusing to travel for theirEuropa League round of 32 first-leg game at Rapid Vienna onThursday and is uncertain to playagainst his former club Sampdoria,who are ninth, on Sunday.

"It was a difficult and painfuldecision because we know hisworth," said Inter coach LucianoSpalletti.

"It was done exclusively for thegood of Inter. There are somethings concerning the player thathad to be sorted."

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Landanmawia Ralte struck a hat-trick asa rampaging East Bengal toyed with

Shillong Lajong FC for a 5-0 thrashing, theirfourth consecutive win in the I-League, hereThursday.

Ralte struck in the 8th, 27th and 61stminutes while Jobby Justin (28th)andEnrique Esqueda (45th) scored one each inthe first half, helping East Bengal cut thedeficit to three points with leaders ChennaiCity FC with a match in hand.

Their fourth win on the trot took EastBengal past their Sunday's opponentsChurchill Brothers to the third place in thetable, giving their maiden I-League title pur-suit a huge boost in front ofabout 25,000 turnout.

Real Kashmir are second inthe table with 32 points, havingplayed 16 matches, compared toEast Bengal's 15.

By denying Shillong Lajong a single goal,East Bengal's goal difference (14) also got abig fillip. Chennai City have a goal differenceof 15.

Fresh from two wins in a row, the bot-tom-placed Shillong Lajong FC came outwith a lot of hopes, but the young outfit weresimply outplayed and left demoralised by thehome side.

Starting up front in place of JaimeColado, Enrique Esqueda, along with Jobby,pressed hard from the beginning and thehome side completely dominated the posses-sion.

The opening goal came from a clinicalLalrindika Ralte corner when Laldanmawiascored from a free-header.

Two minutes later, Jobby almost doubledthe lead from a Lalrindika freekick only to

see his header go wide.East Bengal maintained the majority of

possession and the Shillong out-fit did not get a single chance tillSamuel Kynshi's 22th minutefreekick sailed over the bar.

The red-and-gold brigadekept pressing hard and Laldanmawia capi-talised on a long through ball by BorjaGomez to double the lead in the 27th minute.

Before the visitors could blink, EastBengal made it 3-0, this time Jobby scoring,heading home into an empty net fromEsqueda's clever placement.

It was Antonio Dovale who set it up forEsqueda with a long ball and the Mexicanbrilliantly shot the ball over Shillong goal-keeper Phurba Lachenpa.

Lalrindika Ralte set up another goal forEast Bengal and this time Esqueda found thename on the scoresheet to give them a 4-0lead at half time.

Jaime who is recovering from a neckinjury was brought at the hour mark and theSpaniard brilliantly dribbled past a Shillongdefender before setting up Landanmawia'sthird goal.

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Little-known and battingwith the tail, Akshay

Karnewar struck his maidenfirst-class century to handVidarbha a crucial 95-runfirst-innings lead before Restof India, riding on a fightingpartnership, erased the deficitin the Irani Cup on Thursday.

With Ajinkya Rahane (25)and Hanuma Vihari (40)walking back unbeaten atstumps, the third day's playended on an even keel.

The hosts, who resumed

the day on 245 for six, endedtheir first innings at 425,courtesy Karnewar's unbeatenknock of 102 off 133 balls. Thehosts had bowled Rest ofIndia out for 330 in their firstessay.

First-innings centurionVihari then showed defianceand added 56 runs for thethird wicket with skipperAjinkya Rahane, which helpedthe visitors wipe off the deficitand finish the day seven runsahead at 102 for two on a dete-riorating pitch at the VCAStadium.

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India 'A' bundled out EnglandLions for 140 to take a 252-run

first-innings lead and the upperhand in the second unofficial Teston Thursday.

Following on, the visitorsended the second day at 24 for noloss in their second innings, stillbehind by 228 runs.

Earlier, the Lions fought backstrongly to stop India A at 392after the hosts had resumed at 282for three.

Test discard Karun Nair did-n't add to his overnight score of14, nicking one to keeper OlliePope off Zak Chappell.

Wickets tumbled as theEngland bowlers stuck to theirtask. Only K S Bharat, a centuri-on in the last game, made a sig-nificant contribution, with a bel-ligerent 46 before being the lastman out.

Chappell was the best bowlerfor the Lions with 4 for 60 whilespinner Danny Briggs recoveredfrom a tough first day to finishwith 3 for 71.

The England openers startedpositively, making 23 in the firstfive overs before Max Holdendeparted for 19, leg-before toNavdeep Saini.

The Indian bowlers came tothe fore, striking at regular inter-vals to dismiss the Lions in 48.4overs.

The talented Ollie Pope wasthe top-scorer with 25 as the restof the line-up faltered against thevaried bowling attack which sawmedium-pacer Saini and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeempick up three wickets each.

Aaron, who has been out ofthe national set-up for a whilenow, bagged two wickets as didKerala all-rounder Jalaj Saxena,with his off-spin.

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�! �!2�Australian pace spearhead JoshHazlewood said on Thursday he is confi-dent of being fit for the World Cup, withscans this week set to determine when hecan make a comeback.

The vice-captain missed Australia'stwo recent Tests against Sri Lanka with aback injury and has also been ruled out oftheir upcoming one-day tours against Indiaand Pakistan.

Cricket Australia physiotherapist DavidBeakley previously said he was suffering anearly stage stress fracture, similar to one that sidelined him for sixmonths last year.

Hazlewood told reporters he is targeting World Cup warm-upgames for his return, with a follow-up scan on Friday set to shed morelight on his progress.

"I think we'll know a lot more after tomorrow, to be honest.Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll start working through it," hesaid. "Hopefully it's going along to plan. AFP

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Real Madrid needed a late winner from MarcoAsensio and VAR's debut in the Champions

League to beat a spirited Ajax 2-1 in the first leg ofthe last 16 on Wednesday.

Ajax have not beaten Madrid in 24 years andthought they were on their way at the Johan CruyffArena when Nicolas Tagliafico headed home aftera Thibaut Courtois error.

But referee Damir Skomina judged Dusan Tadicto be offside upon review and Madrid showed no pityon their youthful opponents, Karim Benzema andAsensio scoring two precious away goals in the sec-ond half.

Hakim Ziyech's equaliser at least keeps Ajax intouch heading into the second leg at the SantiagoBernabeu but Asensio's 87th-minute winner was asucker-punch in a match the Dutch team had large-ly dominated.

Their ruled out opener will only add to the senseof what might have been and it was no surprise tosee a cluster of red and white shirts surrounding theofficials at the final whistle.

VAR has been introduced to the ChampionsLeague for the first time in this year's knock-outstages and leaflets were distributed to the mediabefore kick-off, one of the points explaining howreviews should only be for "clear and obvious mis-takes".

Still, there was more than an hour to play andAjax were twice too easily undone on the counter-attack. Frenkie de Jong, who will join Barcelona inthe summer, and Matthijs de Ligt, who could followhim, were each dealt a lesson in the ruthlessness oftop European football.

Gareth Bale was reinstated to the Madrid start-ing line-up but there was no place for Marcelo, whomissed his first Champions League knock-out gamein four years.

The crowd jeered at half-time and Benzema com-pounded their misery soon after. It was a goal to sumup Madrid's resurgence in recent weeks as LukaModric flicked a ball for Vinicius Junior to race after.

He tore past one, jinked inside two moreand teed up Benzema, who found the

top corner.Ajax refused to fade. David Neres

and Tadic both went close beforeNeres skipped free down the left andcrossed for Ziyech to slide in the

equaliser. Madrid wanted a free-kick fora foul on Lucas Vazquez in the build-

up but this time the goal stood. Adraw might have appeased

the home fans atAmsterdam but

they weredenied eventhat as a slick

m o v et h r o u g hm i d f i e l df r e e dCarvajaldown theright. His

c u r v i n gcross foundAsensio, whocould not miss.

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Ace paddler SharathKamal, who is current-

ly ranked 33 in the world, onThursday said he aimed toburst into the top 20 in2019 and the next big thingon his mind is the 2020Tokyo Olympics.

The 36-year-old playeralso believes that the twotable tennis Bronze medalswhich India won at lastyear's Asian Games held inIndonesia have given themthe confidence that a medalat the 2020 Olympics is apossibility.

"Personally, for myself in2019, the goal would be toget into top 20 in the worldranking and 2020 OlympicGames is the next big thing,"Kamal said.

"The major thing in theplan is the Tokyo OlympicGames 2020, especially afterwinning medals at the AsianGames. Those medals giveus a lot of belief that even at

the Olympics it is a possibil-ity (to win medals).

"Because in the AsianGames the competition isvery high and more or lessthey are the recurring teamsat the Olympics, apart froma few European nations. Ifwe can win a medal at theAsian Games, a medal at theOlympic Games is not ashot too far," explainedKamal.

According to the pad-dler, preparations have

begun for the Tokyo Games."We have started our

preparations. At thismoment we have chosen alot of tournaments, but inthe end we will narrow itdown as we start playing," hesaid.

"So, beginning of 2020will be the first qualifiers forthe Olympics. Then in Apriland May, so there are lots ofqualifiers coming up. Weneed to be ready for them,"he added.

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Asian Games Gold-medallistAmit Panghal (49kg) on

Thursday got a first-round bye intothe quarterfinals of the 70th StrandjaMemorial Boxing Tournament inSofia, Bulgaria.

Amit, who is in pursuit of a sec-ond successive Gold, will be upagainst Ukraine's Nazar Kurotchynin the last-eight stage on Sunday. Awin will assure him of a consecutivemedal at the prestigious Europeanevent.

Also, Naman Tanwar (91kg)was handed a bye into the pre-quar-terfinals and he will face Poland'sMichal Soczynski in his openingbout on Saturday.

Among the women, last edition'sSilver-medallist Meena Kumari Devi(54kg) was given a direct entry intothe quarterfinals, while Neeraj(60kg) got into the pre-quarterfinalsin the draws.

Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg), who isreturning to top-flight action after

recovering from a back injury, willbe up against local favourite EmanuilBogoev in the opening round onFriday. Gaurav Solanki (52kg) willface American Abraham Perez in hisoepning bout.

Ankush Dahiya (60kg) will starthis campaign against Azerbaijan'sSarkhan Aliyev, while MandeepJangra will square off againstUkraine's Viktor Petrov.

In the women's draw, SoniaLather (57kg) has Serbian JelenaZekic to contend with in the firstround, while Pinki Rani (51kg) is tostart off against Filipino Irish Magno.

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Rising Greek star StefanosTsitsipas said he "lost to

himself " after suffering a shockdefeat at the ATP event inRotterdam by Bosnian DamirDzumhur on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old, whodumped out Roger Federer enroute to the Australian Opensemi-finals last month, savedtwo match points late in thethird set but still slumped to a6-4, 1-6, 7-5 loss.

It was Dzumhur's first winsince October after a run offour straight defeats, andTsitsipas was left frustratedby an erratic display.

"I lost to myself, not tohim," said the world number12.

"He fools you, waits for youto make mistakes. He standseight metres behind the base-line and plays with yourstrengths. He played nothingcrazy or special, but you don'tget any rhythm with him.

"The momentum was onmy side but he kept putting theball into the court and run-ning."

Tsitsipas was seeded thirdat the Ahoy Arena, but hasnow lost three of his last fourmatches after following hisMelbourne last-four thrashingby Rafael Nadal with a quar-ter-final exit at the hands ofGael Monfils in Sofia lastweek.

Stan Wawrinka, the 2015champion, ended a three-

match losing run against MilosRaonic as he defeated thefourth-seeded Canadian 6-4,7-6 (7/4) to reach the lasteight.

"I was moving much bet-ter in this match than some ofthe others against him," saidthe three-time Grand Slamtitle winner.

"This was my best matchin many months. Some of mylosses this season were closecalls. I'm trying to push myself,I'm looking for results."

Wawrinka will play hissecond quarter-final of theseason after Doha when hetakes on Denis Shapovalovafter the Canadian teenagerbeat former champion TomasBerdych 6-4, 6-3,

Earlier on Wednesday, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga continued hisstrong form with a 6-1, 6-4defeat of Italy's ThomasFabbiano.

Russian fifth seed DaniilMedvedev won his openingmatch of the week, beatingFrance's Jeremy Chardy 7-6(7/2), 6-2. Hungarian MartonFucsovics put out 2016Rotterdam champion MartinKlizan 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.

Like Tsonga, Medvedev,who turned 23 on Monday,also arrived in the Netherlandsafter winning a title, havingclaimed his fourth ATP tour-nament win in Sofia.

Monfils reached the quar-ter-finals on Wednesday atthe expense of Italy's AndreasSeppi, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

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Tottenham took a huge steptowards reaching theC h a m p i o n s

League quarter-finalsas Son Heung-mininspired their 3-0 winover BorussiaDortmund in the last 16first leg.

Mauricio Pochettino'sside had been under thecosh as Dortmund dominat-ed the first half at Wembley onWednesday, but Hugo Lloriskept them level with a series offine saves.

That set the stage for a sublimesecond half from Tottenham, whowere sparked into life by a fine fin-ish from South Korea forward Son.

Son's fourth goal in his last fourappearances took him to 16 for theseason, but none have been as price-less as this one.

Tottenham defender JanVertonghen capped his own powerfulperformance when he swept in their sec-ond goal in the closing stages and sub-stitute Fernando Llorente's late third putthe seal on a remarkable result.

Although Tottenham still have to sur-vive the second leg at Signal Iduna Parkon March 5, they have a golden oppor-tunity to reach the Champions Leaguequarter-finals for the first time since 2011.

It was an especially impressive suc-cess for Pochettino given he was withoutthe injured Harry Kane, Dele Alli, DannyRose and Ben Davies.

Pochettino devised a clever game-plan that eventually frustrated Dortmundand secured Tottenham's first everChampions League knockout-round winat home.

With Rose and Davies sidelined,Pochettino deployed centre-back Vertonghen out ofposition at left wing-backand switched to a three-man defence that stifledthe Bundesliga leaders.

Pochettino had insist-ed Tottenham would beable to ignore the drainingeffects of a gruelling sched-ule which he felt left them ata "massive disadvantage".

And his passionate talk of seeingthe "energy" in his players' eyes

as they looked forwardto a big Champions

League nightproved prescientas they workedtirelessly to leaveDortmund help-

less to stem the tide.Lucas Moura

gave Tottenham an earlyspark when he latched onto

Davinson Sanchez's header andsmashed a volley just wide from the

edge of the area.Juan Foyth gifted Dortmund their

first sight of goal when he dwelt on theball too long and was alertly dispossessedby Christian Pulisic.

But Lloris spared Foyth's blushes ashe blocked Pulisic's shot at the near post.

'��-�� Dortmund's rapier attacks were led

by Jadon Sancho, who left ManchesterCity to join Dortmund in 2017 withoutever playing for the Premier Leagueteam.

Just two years later, the 18-year-oldwinger made his first appearance backon home soil now established as an

England international rated as one ofEurope's hottest prospects.

Sancho hit top gear on severaloccasions in a mesmerising first-halfdisplay, leaving two Tottenham mid-fielders for dead and linking withPulisic, whose shot was blocked at thelast minute.

It took Tottenham over half an hourbefore they finally forced 'keeper RomanBurki into action after Son wriggledthrough the visitors' defence.

Lloris made a superb save to denyDortmund on the stroke of half-timeas Dan-Axel Zagadou met Sancho'scross with a header that theTottenham captain clawed out at fullstretch.

Despite being pushed back formuch of the first half, Tottenham hadrefused to surrender and their per-severance was rewarded in the 47thminute.

When Vertonghen swung over across from the left, Dortmund's defencewere out of position for the first timeall night and Son timed his runperfectly behind Zagadou tocaress a fine volley past Burki.

Suddenly, Tottenhamhad all the momentum andVertonghen rampaged for-ward to fire over.

Tottenham were ram-pant and Llorente complet-ed a memorable nightwhen he glanced a close-range header past Burkifrom Christian Eriksen'scorner three minutes later.

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Olympic Silver medallist PV Sindhu sailed into the

quarterfinals with a straightgame win but three pre-quar-terfinals of the 83rd SeniorNational BadmintonChampionship had to berescheduled after SainaNehwal refused to play due touneven surface of the court onThursday.

A former champion,Sindhu, top seed, took time toget into the groove beforeopening her campaign with a21-11, 21-13 win overNagpur's Malvika Bansod inthe women's singles, whiletop seed Sameer Verma, play-ing the next match at theAssam Badminton Academycourts, conceded a men's sin-gles encounter againstAryamann Tandon midway at21-16, 1-8 after aggravating aachilles heel problem.

Like last year, the playersranked within top 50 in theBWF ranking and top shut-tlers in the BAI ranking, filledup the top eight places, whowere given direct entry in thesingles pre-quarterfinals aftera super draw was conductedon Wednesday night.

Along with Sindhu, fourthseeded Assamese AshmitaChaliha, third seed ShriyanshiPardeshi, Riya Mookerjee,Aakarshi Kashyap, veteranNeha Pandit and VaishnaviBhale also made it to the lasteight round.

In men's singles, formerchampion Sourabh Verma,Lakshya Sen, KaushalDharmamer, Harsheel Dani,Ar yamann Tandon andBodhit Joshi also progressedto the quarterfinals.

Sourabh defeated KartikJindal 21-8, 21-15, Lakshyabrushed aside Ansal Yadav 21-11, 21-8 and Harsheel stunned

fourth seed and 2018SaarLorLux Open championSubhankar Dey 21-15, 21-17.

In men's doubles, topseeds Arjun MR and ShlokRamchandran defeated RohanKapoor and Saurabh Sharma21-11, 21-18 to enter thesemifinals, while Pranaav

Jerry Chopra and ChiragShetty got the better off veter-an pair of Rupesh Kumar andV Diju 21-8, 18-21, 22-20 tomake it to the last four stage.

Arun George and SanyamShukla and Krishna Prasad Gand Dhruv Kapila alsoadvanced to the semifinals.

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Controversy erupted atthe Senior National

Badminton Championshipon Thursday with defendingchampion Saina Nehwalrefusing to play her singlesmatch, citing a "poor playingsurface" at the venue here.

Saina, who had suffereda shin injury late last year,took the court after SameerVerma conceded his men'ssingles tie following anachilles heels problem dur-ing his match.

Up against ShrutiMundada in the pre-quar-ters, Saina had a look at thesurface and immediatelymade it clear that she won't

risk playing on it given thatthe All EnglandChampionship is around thecorner.

The officials, led byBadminton Association ofIndia Secretary (event)Omar Rashid, swung intoaction to sort out the issue.The BAI officials later con-vinced Saina, Kashyap andSai Praneeth to play in theevening.

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