TO SUPPORT BOWLERS: KOHLI 15 SPORT Federal Front staggers · Lucknow said Akhilesh has not yet...

CAPSULE

A cyclist dressed like Santa Clausrides through dense fog on a coldChristmas winter morning in NewDelhi on Tuesday PTI

NORTH INDIA REELSUNDER COLD WAVE New Delhi: There was norespite from cold waveconditions on Christmas innorth India with dense fogpartially stalling flight operationsat Delhi airport, officials said onTuesday.

1 HELD FOR VANDALISINGRAJIV'S STATUE IN C’GARHLudhiana/Chandigarh: A YouthAkali Dal leader was arrestedfor allegedly vandalising thestatue of former prime ministerRajiv Gandhi in Ludhiana onTuesday.

U’KHAND: MISSING TEENREUNITED WITH FAMILYAligarh: In a fairy tale ending ofa real-life story, a 17-year-old,mentally challenged girl, whohad gone missing in Kedarnathduring 2013 deluge there, hasbeen reunited with her family inAligarh after five years.

DEEPAK KUMAR JHA/OMER FAROOQ n NEWDELHI/HYDERABAD

After lukewarm responseto his proposed Federal

Front from West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeand her Odisha counterpartNaveen Patnaik, TRS supremoK Chandrasekhar Rao is inDelhi hoping that his pro-posed meeting with BSP chiefMayawati and SamajwadiParty president AkhileshYadav will help his effort toprop up non-BJP non-Congress alliance for the nextyear's Lok Sabha polls.

Sources said KCR isexpected to meet Mayawatiand Akhilesh on Wednesday,but so far the meetings are notconfirmed. While Mayawati isin Delhi, SP sources inLucknow said Akhilesh hasnot yet planned any visit toDelhi. It is interesting to watchthe moves of KCR as his coun-terpart in Andhra Pradesh andTDP supremo N ChandrababuNaidu is also meetingOpposition leaders as part ofhis effort to form an anti-BJPgrand alliance that will alsoinclude the Congress.

KCR is in the nationalCapital to also call on PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andother Union Ministers to talkabout issues related toTelangana where he retainedpower last week.

The Congress which isspearheading an assortmentof Opposition parties, includ-

ing the BSP, SP and TMC, hasaccused the TRS of being a BJPagent and feels that his pro-posed front cannot rescue theBJP as the front constituentswill State specific anti-BJPalliance.

Criticising the TRS chief 'sefforts to forge a Federal Frontof regional parties, theCongress said it is an attemptto help the BJP return to powerafter the next general elec-tions. Claiming that the ChiefMinisters of different States,whom KCR met would not fallfor the idea of a third front, asthe leaders of regional parties

would join a broad coalitionwith the Congress, leaving onlyTRS in the Federal Front.

"KCR's attempts to rope inregional parties and State ChiefMinisters to be part of theFederal Front will only help theBJP," said Congress leaderRajeev Gowda.

Gowda further said theCongress would ensure that amahagathbandhan (grandalliance) was formed with allregional, secular and progres-sive parties. "This federal frontidea... The truth behind it isnothing but an attempt toensure that BJP and 'Modi

Sarkar' come back to power," healleged.

Meanwhile, reports fromHyderabad said even as KCR'smission to bring regional par-ties together to form a FederalFront reached New Delhi afterpassing through Bhuvaneshwarand Odisha, it was clear that theleaders whom he met so farhave not made any direct com-mitment about their futurecourse of action.

According to the sources inTRS, both Naveen and Mamataremained non-committal aboutthe stand they would take onthe formation of a front which

will not involve the Congress.Significantly, Mamata did

not make any comment aftermeeting KCR in Kolkata onMonday. It was only KCR whopromised that a concrete resultof the deliberations will comeout soon.

Sources said while KCRrepeatedly asserted the need forall the regional parties to cometogether and offer an alterna-tive to both the Congress andthe BJP, the other regionalleaders indicated that theywould like to wait and watch tillthe 2019 polls were over.

"Some of the leaders wantto keep their options open tillafter the elections and take afinal decision depending on theelection results," sources said.

"At the moment it appearsthat any third front or FederalFront will have to wait till theelections are over. At best itwould be a post-poll arrange-ment, not any pre-poll alliance,"said a TRS leader.

Meanwhile TRS memberof Parliament Vinod Kumarsaid the idea of Federal Frontis not new as KCR had thoughtabout it back in 2006.

"Both NDA and UPA areseeking to rule the country ontheir own while KCR wantsthat the power should be in thehands of the regional parties tomeet the aspirations of thepeople", he told the media. "Ifthe regional parties hadresponded positively back in2006, Telangana State wouldhave become a reality thenonly," he said.

Federal Front staggers

PTI n KARENG CHAPORI (ASSAM)

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday said his

Government has changed the"dilly-dallying" work cultureregarding implementation ofdevelopment projects.

Addressing a rally hereafter inaugurating the coun-try's longest rail-cum-roadbridge, at Bogibeel in Assam,he said completion of projectswithin a given time frame is nolonger confined to paper buthas become a reality. "We havechanged the earlier latkanebhatkane (dilly-dallying) workculture... Completion of pro-jects within a time frame is nolonger confined to paper but

has become a truth in the realsense," he said in a apparentdig at the previous Congress-led UPA Government. If for-mer Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee had a secondterm, Bogibeel bridge wouldhave been ready by 2008-09.After his Government, noattention was paid to the pro-ject till 2014, the PrimeMinister said.

Asserting that the Bogibeelbridge will strengthen thecountry's defence prowess withmovement of vehicles andtrains, he said, it is not only abridge, it is a lifeline for croresof people in Assam andArunachal Pradesh.

The bridge will cut downrail distance (betweenDibrugarh in Assam toNaharlagun in ArunachalPradesh) to below 200 kmfrom 700 km now, Modi said.

After inaugurating thebridge, the prime ministerflagged off the Tinsukia-Naharlagun Intercity Express,which will run five days aweek and use the 4.9-km bridgeto cut down the train-traveltime between Tinsukia inAssam to Naharlagun town ofArunachal Pradesh by morethan 10 hours. Itanagar, thecapital of Arunachal Pradesh isjust over 15 km fromNaharlagun.

NDA Govt changed latkane bhatkanework culture of past, says PM Modi

New Delhi: Services of State-owned banks are expected to beimpacted on Wednesday due toa nation-wide strike call givenby unions to protest against theproposed amalgamation ofVijaya Bank and Dena Bankwith Bank of Baroda.

This will be the secondbank strike in less than a week.

Last Friday (December 21),an officers' union of State-runbanks observed a day-longstrike to protest against themerger and also demandedimmediate settlement of wagenegotiations.

Most of the banks havealready informed customersabout the strike. Private sectorbanks will continue to functionas usual.

The strike is being organ-ised by the United Forum ofBank Unions (UFBU), anumbrella organisation of nineunions, including the All IndiaBank Officers Confederation(AIBOC), the All India BankEmployees' Association(AIBEA), NationalConfederation of BankEmployees (NCBE) and the

National Organisation of BankWorkers (NOBW). The UFBUclaims membership of 10 lakhofficers and staffers.

According to AIBEAGeneral Secretary C HVekatachalam, the conciliationmeeting called by AdditionalChief Labour Commissionerdid not lead to any assuranceand so the unions are goingahead with the strike.

During the meeting, nei-ther the Government nor theconcerned banks came for-ward to assure that they will notgo ahead with the merger, headded.

The unions claim that theGovernment wants banks togrow in size by such mergers buteven if all public sector banks arebundled into one, the mergedentity will not find a placeamong the top 10 globally.

The Government inSeptember approved the amal-gamation of Bank of Baroda(BoB), Vijaya Bank and DenaBank — the first three-waymerger in the public sectorbanking space.

Continued on Page 7

Firms to face action if

staffers offer namaz in

parks, says Noida Police

Prime Minister Narendra Modi strolls on the Bogibeel Bridge, the longest rail-cum-road bridge on Brahmaputra river, after itwas inaugurated by him in Dibrugarh on Tuesday PTI

STAFF REPORTER n NEW DELHI

Citing concerns that com-munal harmony could be

disturbed, especially in therun-up to the upcoming LokSabha elections in 2019, UttarPradesh's Noida Police hasissued orders to offices andestablishments in Sector-58 todirect their Muslim employeesto stop offering Friday prayersin open areas such as parks.

According to a noticeissued last week by police inNoida, companies will be heldliable if their employees arefound violating the directive.

"Notices were sent to many

companies in our area afterseveral complaints regarding alarge number of people offer-ing namaz in the afternoonespecially on Fridays," saidPankaj Rai, Station HouseOfficer (SHO) of the Sector 58police station, from where theinitial round of notices wereissued

"Since most people offeringprayers are employees in com-panies nearby, we have sentnotices to those companies toask their employees to eitheroffer namaz in a masjid, Eidgahor within the office compoundon the roof etc," Rai added.

Continued on Page 7

PNS n NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW

Former Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee on Tuesday

turned a rallying point forpolitical leaders as 'Sadaiv Atal'(immortal Vajpayee), a memo-rial of the late leader, was ded-icated to the nation here onTuesday on his 94th birthanniversary. Bihar and UttarPradesh Chief Ministers alsoannounced that a statue ofVajpayee would be installed inPatna and Lucknow.

With the whiff of 2019 LokSabha polls in the air, Vajpayeereturned to the posters outside

the BJP headquarters alongwith other party veteran LKAdvani. In the auditorium ofparty's headquarters, though,Vajpayee and Advani have long

been replaced by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andparty president Amit Shahadorning the dais.

President Ram Nath

Kovind, Vice-President MVenkaiah Naidu and the PrimeMinister were among the dig-nitaries who paid floral tributesto the former statesman at thememorial built near the'Rashtriya Smriti Sthal', wherehis mortal remains were con-signed to flames on August 17.

The memorial is enclosedby nine bas-relief walls havinginscriptions of poetries pennedby Vajpayee who was know forhis rhythmic poems, reparteesand one-liners.

Vajpayee passed away inDelhi on August 16 after a pro-longed illness and was cremat-ed with full State honours.

"Tributes to Atalji on hisJayanti. We reiterate our com-mitment towards creating theIndia he dreamt of," Moditweeted on Tuesday.

Noted singer Pankaj Udhasrecited devotional songs at thememorial while the dignitariespaid tributes. Sadaiv (always)Atal memorial will be managedby a trust headed by Lok SabhaSpeaker Sumitra Mahajan.

A vacant piece of land wasmade available for the memo-rial at the Rashtriya SmritiSthal here by the UnionHousing and Urban AffairsMinistry. Spread over 1.5 acre,the memorial was constructedby the Central Public WorksDepartment (CPWD) at a costof Rs 10.51 crore.

The project was funded bythe Atal Smriti Nyas Society.

The founding members ofthe society include Mahajan,Bihar Governor Lalji Tandon,Gujarat Governor OP Kohli,Karnataka Governor Vajubhai

Rudabhai Vala, BJP leadersVijay Kumar Malhotra andRam Lal.

A rush has begun to getcloser to Vajpayee's politicallegacy with Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathpromising statue of Vajpayee inLucknow. "A 21-metre tall stat-ue of former PM Atal BihariVajpayee will be installed insideLok Bhawan in Lucknow,"Adityanath said.

"Atalji had strong ties withUttar Pradesh. He started hispublic life from Balrampur inthe State and representedLucknow as an MP for fiveterms," the Chief Minister said,adding that a number ofschemes are being launched inthe name of the former PrimeMinister.

Continued on Page 7

Sadaiv Atal dedicated to nation on 94th anniv

Bank strike todayover mergers, 2ndin less than a week

Post tepid response from TMC and BJD, KCR hopes hinge on SP, BSP

Vajpayee statuesto be installed inPatna, Lucknow

LK Advani pays homage to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 94thbirth anniversary in New Delhi on Tuesday PTI

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Late City Vol. 154 Issue 346*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Published From DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI RAIPURCHANDIGARH DEHRADUN

Established 1864

RNI No.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2016-18

LUCKNOW, WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 26, 2018; PAGES 16 `3

BATSMEN NEED

TO SUPPORT

BOWLERS: KOHLI

15 SPORT

}

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, UP Governor Ram Naik, Singh and CM Yogi Adityanath after paying tributes to formerPrime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lucknow on Tuesday

Rajnath lays base of576 city projectsPNS n LUCKNOW

Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh laid the

foundation stones of 576 pro-jects worth `161 crore at afunction on the occasion ofthe 95th birth anniversary offormer Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee in Lucknowon Tuesday.

The Union HomeMinister’s announcementswere greeted with applauseand enthusiastic BharatiyaJanata Party workers raisedslogans in praise of the latePrime Minister.

BJP Lucknow city unitchief Mukesh Sharma saidthat Rajnath Singh laid thefoundation stones of interna-tional infrastructure to giveshape to the dreams ofVajpayeeji, who dreamt ofdevelopment of Lucknow.

He said that Lucknow wasslowly but steadily movingtowards acquiring the statusand stature that the formerPrime Minister had thoughtof.

Rajnath Singh inaugurat-ed projects worth `2 crorefrom CSR (corporate socialresponsibility) fund of GAIL,worth `15 crore from MP

Local Area DevelopmentFund, 158 projects worth `17crore besides inauguratingVishram Sadan having 210beds at King George’s MedicalUniversity from CSR fund ofPower Grid Corporation atthe medical university.

On this occasion, KGMUVice-Chancellor ML Bhatturged the Union HomeMinister to fund the con-struction of a three-storeyedbuilding at Vishram Sadanand a multi-level parking onKGMU premises. The UnionHome Minister gave an assur-ance to the V-C in this regard.

On this occasion, RajnathSingh also inaugurated 17projects worth `2 crore under-taken by CSR fund of GAILand 418 projects other pro-jects.

Singh attended a the tehribhoj organised at Kudia Ghatin Lucknow. The programmewas attended by Deputy ChiefMinister Dinesh Sharma,ministers Rita BahugunaJoshi, Brajesh Pathak,Mahendra Singh, MohsinRaza, MLA Pankaj Singh,Suresh Srivastava, NeerajBora, Union Home Minister’srepresentative DiwakarTripathi and several others.

city 02LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018

QUICK TAKES

BISWAJEET BANERJEE n

LUCKNOW

Climate change has hit agrar-ian Uttar Pradesh very

hard and experts claim thatcrop yield in over a dozen dis-tricts across the state has beenadversely affected and mightresult in a drop in productionand financial losses to farmers.

“Global warming is accel-erating severe changes in theagriculture of the state. Thereare dry spells in monsoon.Small rivers get f loodedbecause of freak rains and win-ters are either very severe or hotwinds blow in December,”pointed out Dr SP Pandey ofPandit Govind Ballabh PantInstitute of Studies in RuralDevelopment.

Dr Pandey said that thefreak weather affected theeconomy of the farm sector asagriculture was the largestemployment provider and pro-vided direct employment to35.5 million people.

He is not off the mark as ajoint study by Arvind Kumar,KK Singh, AN Mishra andPratigya Tripathi maintainsthat climate change resulting inincrease in temperature couldlead to possible low yield of ricein eastern UP by 1.0 to 1.1 percent per hectare.

Similar fall in production isexpected if there is a fall in tem-perature. The yield of rice maygo down by 1.5 to 1.9 per centper hectare.

The researchers said thatsimilarly, wheat productionmight go down by 5 per cent inneighbouring Bihar due toincrease in maximum temper-ature.

Eastern Uttar Pradeshcomprising 28 districts wouldbe the worst affected. An esti-mate said that around 10 dis-tricts, with a population ofaround 90 million, would beaffected.

“The production of rice,wheat and pulses are likely togo down. This will not onlyimpact crop production butalso the economy of villagers,”KK Singh said.

The impact of climatechange is being felt in the stateas there has been a greater fre-quency of droughts and floods.Figures available withMeteorological departmentsuggest that the region hasexperienced double the num-ber of monsoon depressions,causing heavy rainfall andflooding across Uttar Pradesh.

The state has been divid-ed into nine agro-climaticzones. Around 90 per cent ofthe population of the state isengaged in agriculture andallied activities of whichmajority are small farmers,who are solely dependent onagriculture.

Area of agriculture hasworsened over the years. Theprevailing situation of drought

and flood due to its physicalformation and natural calami-ties of last 10 years are indica-tive of bigger crisis.

Agro-scientist VishalSaraswat told this reporter thatof late, eastern UP has wit-nessed flash floods which wasalso because several rivers orig-inating in Nepal flow down tothe state causing immensedamage. The swirling waterwashes away crop lands bybreaking the embankments.

“In the last few years, thecropping pattern of the areahas changed. Pulses, whichwere once the major crop ofthe region and major source ofprotein, are not grownbecause of longer periods ofwater. This has disturbed thewhole crop cycle. Even Rabicrop has been severely affect-ed,” he said.

The climate change hasnot only impacted crop but alsothe health of farmers, who areforced to shell out money fortreatment, thus affecting theirpurchasing power.

Convenor of EncephalitisEradication Campaign, Dr RNSingh, said that climate changewas taking a toll on the healthof villagers.

“Water drainage is disrupt-ed because of damagedembankments or roads due toflooding. People become vic-tims of water-borne diseaseslike diarrhoea, cholera, dengueand Japanese Encephalitis asflood waters stagnate. Year2013 was the worst when over1,000 children died ofencephalitis,” he said.

If floods are creating havocin eastern UP, the ruggedBundelkhand has faced thewrath of drought. In the regionhaving high levels of poverty,farmers are indebted to privatemoneylenders and governmentbanks.

“As weather gets hotter,the chances of paying backloans become difficult, leadingto stress and, in some extremecases, suicides,” said RajaBhaiya, convenor of VidyaDham Samiti, a non-govern-mental organisation.

“In recent years, the level ofwater table has gone downsignificantly thereby posingproblems for people and live-stock,” he added.

While climate change isaffecting everybody, regard-less of caste, ethnicity, sex,race or level of income, womenin poorer households are theworst victims. They have lessaccess to money because oftheir unequal position in soci-ety and are more dependent onnatural resources for subsis-tence.

“Hence, they are moreexposed to climate shocks andhave fewer resources to protecttheir own lives, assets andlivelihoods while looking aftertheir families,” Raja Bhaiyasaid.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav said that

the Bharatiya Janata Party gov-ernment in Uttar Pradesh hadfailed to create jobs for theyouths and ensure remunera-tive prices of crops to thefarmers.

Akhilesh claimed that peo-ple belonging to all sectionswere facing problems.

“Debt-ridden farmers arecommitting suicide. The futureof the youths is in the dark. TheBJP is out to crush the dreamsof the younger generation,”the SP chief said at a pro-gramme in Lucknow onTuesday.

Referring to Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath, Akhilesh said,“The CM does not like oppo-sition. Students who raisepressing issues are sent jailand even girl students are sub-jected to police action.”

Last year, a group of stu-dents, including two girls, asso-ciated with SP’s student wingblocked Yogi’s convoy inLucknow and waved blackflags. They were detained andsent to jail. A court grantedthem bail after 20 days.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Claiming that religion wasabove truth (dharma satya

se upar hai), senior functionaryof Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh, Krishna Gopal, askedthe apex court to handle allmatters equally and dispose ofthe Ram Janmabhoomi disputeat the earliest.

Dr Gopal made theseremarks while speaking on thesecond day of a seminar organ-ised by All-India LawyersCouncil in Lucknow onTuesday.

At the same function onMonday, Union Law MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad hadstressed on setting up of a sep-arate court on the lines of fasttrack court for hearing theRam Janmabhoomi dispute ona day-to-day basis.

Dr Gopal pointed out,“The apex court had givenprompt judgements inSabarimala and Jallikattu issues.But the Ram Janmabhoomiissue has been pending beforethe court for over 70 yearsnow.”

Asking the court to handleevery matter equally so that thefaith of the common man onthe judiciary was not affected,Dr Gopal said that everyonewas speaking of equal rights inIndia and now even a separatecommission had been consti-tuted to ensure the rights of

children. “It is a big fundamental

question before the country asto how many more judges beappointed or how many morecourts be opened so that everyone could get justice,” he assert-ed.

Dr Gopal said that in thepast, the judicial system wasbased on certain fundamentals

which was not seen nowadays.“In the Indian judicial system,it is the duty of the governmentto ensure justice to the aggriev-ed but after Britishers arrived,they imposed certain courtfees in order to ensure justice,”the RSS leader said, whileappealing to the lawyers thatshould now feel their respon-sibility of ensuring justice to thepublic so that the traditional,social and cultural fabric of thecountry could be saved.

“It is also the duty of judgesthat their conduct sets anexample before the commonman that law is equal for all,irrespective of the stature of anyperson. Whether it is a judge oran advocate, everyone shouldwork as per provisions of theConstitution,” Dr Gopalstressed.

Justice Vivek Singh Thakurof Himachal High Court alsohighlighted examples of justicedone during the times of LordRam, Shree Krishna, SwamiVivekananda and others andsaid that justice should beequal for all, because only thenthe axiom of equality amongstall would come true.

Deputy Director of GujaratForensic Science University,RN Guna, highlighted theimportance of scientific evi-dence for facilitating promptjustice in criminal cases, partic-ularly in which high profilepersons are accused.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Within 24 hours of theLokayukta office bring-

ing out facts related to aAllahabad High Court decisionin connection with the ongoingbungalow dispute, the stategovernment claimed to havetaken cognisance ofLokayukta’s office making“objectionable” remarks. Thestate government is also plan-ning to challenge the HighCourt order in the apex court.

“After the hearing in HighCourt in connection with can-cellation of Type-VI bungalowat Gautampalli, AdditionalAdvocate General suggestedthat the order should be can-celled. So we issued necessaryorder on December 12 and alsoapprised the ombudsman andHigh Court about it. Eventhen, the High Court in itsorder on December 21 passedcertain strictures against us,”disclosed Rajya Sampatti

Adhikari (RSA) Yogesh Shuklato media persons in Lucknowon Tuesday.

Shukla also informed themedia that the state govern-ment had sought legal opinionto proceed to Supreme Courtagainst the High Court order.“The government is likely tofile a Special Leave Petition(SLP) in the apex court chal-lenging the High Court’s cer-tain remarks when the govern-ment had apprised it aboutwithdrawing the earlier orderof cancellation of a Type-VIbungalow to the Lokayukta,” hesaid.

Shukla further said that thegovernment was also seekinglegal opining about disciplinaryaction against secretary ofLokayukta office, PawanKumar Upadhyaya, and chiefinvestigating officer RakeshKumar Singh. The duo hadheld a press conference andeven passed certain commentsagainst the government.

“The Secretary or CIO didnot have the authority to holda press conference and makecomment against the govern-ment,” Shukla claimed.

When asked whether theLokayukta was within limits tohold a press conference orspeak against the government,Shukla refused to comment,saying that he was referring tothe press conference atLokayukta office on Monday.

The RSA further deniedthat any enquiry was being car-ried out by Lokayukta againstthe Estate department or any ofits officers as disclosed in theMonday’s press conference.

“To my knowledge, noenquiry by Lokayukta is beingcarried out against any officerof my department,” he claimed.

Shukla also clarified thatthe decision for cancellation ofthe bungalow was not madewith any bad intention butwas taken as per the new lawpassed in August, 2016, which

has provision of Type-V bun-galow for chairman of anycommission etc.

“However, later on theadvice of Additional AdvocateGeneral, the department with-drew the cancellation ordermuch before the High Courtpassed an order in the matter,”he said.

On Monday, officers atLokayukta office confirmedthat they were conductingenquiry against the Estatedepartment but did not dis-close further. Similarly, theyalso did not rule out the pos-sibility that the cancellation ofallotment of bungalow to theLokayukta could be a ploy toput pressure but claimed thatthey were not going to bow toany pressure.

The officers even disclosedhow their long-pendingdemand for posting of staff inthe Lokayukta office wentunheard despite severalreminders.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said thatSwachh Bharat Mission

had become a national move-ment and it could become thebasis of fundamental change inthe country.

Yogi said that all stakehold-ers would have to come for-ward and perform their roles ineffective manner for the successof the sanitation programme.

On Tuesday, the ChiefMinister distributed awards tourban local bodies that weredeclared winner in the SwachhWard Competition organisedby Urban Development depart-ment from November 15 toDecember 15.

The awards were distrib-uted to mark the birth anniver-sary of former Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee.

In the nagar nigam catego-ry, ward number 44 (KatraFulela) of Agra Nagar Nigam

and ward Gajraula in the nagarpalika parishad category weredeclared the cleanest in thestate.

In the nagar panchayatcategory, Swami Bagh NagarPanchayat of Agra was alsoawarded.

District magistrates ofGhaziabad, Prayagraj,Farrukhabad, Jhansi andShahjahanpur were alsoawarded for making strenuousefforts for maintaining sanita-tion in their respective dis-tricts.

“The landscape of urbanUP will undergo a sea changeif problems like sanitation,solid waste management anddisposal, clean drinking water,drainage system are fixed.Mayors of cities and chairper-sons of municipal bodiesshould tour their respectivetowns for an hour every dayand monitor public amenities,”the Chief Minister said.

Exhorting the people to

make sanitation an integralpart of their daily lives, Yogisaid, “Even birds and animalhate poor sanitation andhence human beings tooshould not ignore sanitation.Insanitation and filth leads todisease taking huge toll on

human lives every year,” Yogisaid.

Referring to vector-borneand contagious diseases inGorakhpur and neighbour-ing districts of eastern UP, theChief Minister said,“Sanitation campaign, avail-ability of clean drinking waterand immunisation campaignhave played an effective role incurbing the menace of epi-demics. Efforts of the stategovernment for ensuring san-itation in these districts haveresulted in sharp drop in thenumber of yearly causalities.”

In his address, UrbanDevelopment Minister SureshKhanna said that a sanitationsurvey would be conductedacross the state from January 4to 31.

He said in Swachh WardCompetition, 44 urban localbodies were awarded, and theyincluded 12 nagar nigams, 18nagar palika parishads and 14nagar panchayats.

PNS n LUCKNOW

Muslim leaders regretted theorder of Noida (Gautam

Buddha Nagar district) policeimposing restrictions on offeringof Friday prayers at parks bylocals. Maulana Khalid RashidFirangi Mahali, the Imam ofAishbagh eidgah, said that theyregretted the move of Noidapolice and urged it to reconsiderthe decision.

Senior lawyer and Secretaryof All-India Muslim PersonalLaw Board, Zafaryab Jilani said,“I am not commenting on theissue as an office-bearer of AIM-PLB but as per Shariat, Muslimscannot offer prayers on landowned by some other personswithout his permission.’’ Jilaniadded that a park was a publicplace and Muslims shouldapproach the authorities and ifthey allowed their demand thenthere was nothing wrong in offer-ing prayers there.

Chairman of UP Shia CentralWaqf Board, Wasim Rizvi, said, “Itis an important issue but at thesame time, prayers cannot beoffered on land not owned byMuslims. Prayers can be offeredonly after getting permission

from the land owner.’’Meanwhile, Shia cleric

Maulana Saif Abbas and MuslimLegue leader Matin Khan con-demned the decision of Noidapolice. Last week, Noida policeissued notices to several multina-tional companies with offices inSector 58 of Noida, to directemployees to not offer prayers atcommunity parks. The noticesaid the Noida authority does notpermit offering of prayers or reli-gious activities at communityparks and their employees gath-ered in the park for Friday prayers.The police said prior permissionshould be sought from the districtadministration for offeringprayers in parks.

Sources said the Noida policeaction followed complaint bysome Hindu groups to the localdistrict police chief. The com-plainants said that offering prayersin the open ‘disrupted’ harmonyin the area. Subsequently, Sector58 police station was instructed tonotify the companies. Last week,at least 12 multinational compa-nies, including software majorHCL, got the notice that specifi-cally said that ‘nobody wasallowed to offer Friday prayers inthe park’.

Printed and Published by Vijay Prakash Singh for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 4th Floor, Sahara Shopping Centre, Faizabad Road, Lucknow-226016 and Printed at Tin Tin Printech Pvt Ltd., C-33 Amausi Industrial Area, Nadarganj, Lucknow. Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident

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Make sanitation an integral part

of daily life: CM to people

Gives away Swachh Ward Competition awards

Climate change hits crops, farmers alike in UP

Religion above truth,

says RSS leader

Seeks early disposal of Ayodhya issue by SC

Don’t react to

inflammatory

remarks: BMAC

to Muslims

Lucknow (PTI): TheBabri Masjid ActionCommittee on Tuesdayappealed to Muslims torefrain from reacting to anyinflammatory statement onthe Ram temple issue aheadof the resumption of hearingin the case in the SupremeCourt next week.. BMACconvenor Zafaryab Jilani saidthe appeal was issued at ameeting of the action com-mittee here. The meetingexpressed satisfaction overthe progress of the matter inthe court. The top court hadin October rejected an urgenthearing after the UP govern-ment argued that it was a 100-year-old dispute that shouldbe taken up on priority.

Akhilesh: BJP govt inUP has failed to createjobs for youths

Lokayukta bungalow row takes new twist

Govt may challenge HC order in the apex court

Cleric flays Noida police curb

on offering prayers in parks WOMAN DIVORCED FOR FAILINGTO GIVE DOWRY

Deoria: A Muslim man divorced hiswife by uttering ‘talaq’ thrice on themobile phone for not getting dowry,police said on Tuesday. Naseem Ahmed,who got married in July last year, alleged-ly beat up his wife and drove her out ofhis house in Salempur village onDecember 8 as she could not meet hisdowry demand. The woman then went tothe police station to lodge a complaint. SPPN Kolanchi ordered the police stationconcerned to register an FIR. In her com-plaint, the woman alleged that soonafter her marriage, her in-laws starteddemanding `2 lakh as dowry and laterstarted misbehaving with her and evenbeat her up before driving her out of thehouse. A case has been registered in thisconnection.

2 COPS AMONG 10 INJURED INCLASH IN BAGHPAT

Baghpat: Ten people, includingtwo policemen, suffered injuries in a clashthat took place between members of twofactions over a trivial issue in Ketipuralocality here, police said on Tuesday. Theclash took place on Monday and theinjured were undergoing treatment at anearby hospital, Superintendent of PoliceShailesh Kumar Pandey said. The SP saidthat the mob indulged in brick battingand attacked each other with sticks,resulting in the injuries. Police person-nel who rushed to the spot came under

attack as well and constables Manoj andRahul were injured, Baghpat Kotwali in-charge Rakesh Kumar said, adding thatone of the factions also used firearms. Aheavy police force was deployed in thearea and the situation was now undercontrol, the SP said, adding that an FIRwas filed against 18 named and 71unnamed people and two of them hadbeen arrested. According to one of theinjured, Rampal, a youth of the area,identified as Imran, had taken a cigarettefrom his shop on Sunday without pay-ing for it and attacked him when he askedfor the same on Monday morning.Rampal alleged that three members of hisfamily, who rushed to save him, were alsobeaten up by Imran and his familymembers who damaged his shop and alsoindulged in brick batting and firing.

WOMAN FOUND DEAD Muzaffarnagar: A 45-year-old

woman, who was missing since lastweek, was found dead near the GangaCanal at Khatoli town here, police said onTuesday. According to circle officerRajive Kumar Singh, police have arrest-ed three persons in this connection. Theaccused strangulated the woman to deathand later dumped the body in a bag, thepolice said.

4 KILLED IN ROAD MISHAPBareilly: At least four persons,

including a two-year-old child and hismother, were killed and as many others

were injured when a vehicle in whichthey were travelling rammed into a sta-tionary lorry on the national highwaybypass here on Tuesday. The vehicle wasgoing from Amethi to Chandigarh whenthe mishap took place at Ghansoli vil-lage under Bithiri Chainpur police sta-tion, SP (City ) Abhinandan Singh said,adding that eight persons were in thevehicle when the accident took place.Asharfi Lal, 45, Rajrani 35, her daugh-ter Sanjana, 12, and 2-year-old sonwere killed on the spot.

WOMAN SHOT DEAD BY SON Budaun: A 55 year-old woman was

shot dead by her son after a heated argu-ment in the Nai Basti locality under theIslamnagar police station. The incidentoccurred on Monday night following anargument between accused Iqbal and hisparents after he found out that his sisterhad been married off without informinghim or his three siblings, Superintendentof Police (Rural) Surendra Pratap Singhsaid. The accused lives in Delhi and wasvisiting his family, he said. As heatedexchanges continued, Iqbal told his sis-ter to divorce her husband and beat herup when she refused, the SP said. In a fitof rage, the accused took out a country-made pistol and fired at his sister but ithit Noorjahan, his mother, who hadrushed to intervene, Singh said. The vic-tim died on the spot, the SP (Rural) said,adding that police were searching forIqbal.


PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW

Christmas was celebrated with enthu-siasm in the city on Tuesday. The

morning witnessed Christmas mass at var-ious churches which attracted largecrowds. Spokesperson of St JosephCathedral Donald D’Souza said that onWednesday, they would have a pro-gramme which would witness the partic-ipation of Governor Ram Naik andDeputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharmabesides other government functionariesand officials. People came out in largenumbers to enjoy the festival at malls andparks even as restaurants and hotelsremained choc-a-block. A majority of thehotels had themes based on Christmas interms of decoration and menus.

Fatima Abbas, communication man-ager at a hotel, said their theme forChristmas decorations was white. “In thelobby, we placed a white snow house anda 3-feet-high ginger-bread house on thefirst floor at the restaurant section. We alsohad a Santa House with Santarina who cuta cake shaped like a Santa Claus. There wasa wide variety of wines, including the exot-ic ones, apart from a huge variety of cakesand biscuits,” she said. At Lucknow zoo,over 20,000 people gathered on the occa-sion of Christmas. Zoo director RK Singhsaid several programmes were organisedfor Christmas. “A Santa Claus movedaround distributing sweets among the chil-dren. A number of other characters suchas Mickie Mouse, Tiger and ChhotaBheem moved around entertaining peo-ple while also spreading the message ofenvironment protection. “With a niceweather, the visitors enjoyed themselvesat the food court while children took a lotof selfies with the models of giraffe, zebraand lion,” he said.


With Lucknow MunicipalCorporation achieving

the third rank among the 17municipal corporations in thestate on Tuesday, mayorSanyukta Bhatia said she wouldnot rest until she took Lucknowto the numero uno position.

The mayor said that themain challenge which theyfaced as far as the city was con-cerned in terms of all the cate-gories of Swachhata campaignwas the huge number of peoplecoming to the state capitalevery day. “There is a largenumber of people who come tothe city for various reasons

such as attending programmesand for getting medical care.These people defacate in theopen and have to be told thatthere are facilities availablewhich they can use. This is oneproblem that we have to workout in the coming days for help-ing the city get the number onerank,” she said. MunicipalCommissioner IndramaniTripathi also it was like a run-ner-up exercise to the SwachhSurvekshan of the year 2019and getting the third rank wasa good effort. “We consistent-ly worked over the past sixmonths to be able to achievethis rank. We have achieved thethird rank in overall cleanliness


Owning to dense fog, thetrain traffic was crip-pled, forcing the

Railways tocancel/terminate/short-termi-nate as many as two dozentrains, including the GomtiExpress and Rajyarani Express.The Gomti and RajyaraniExpress trains have been can-celled till February. On theother hand, the Railways haslessened the frequency (num-ber of train run) of some of thetrains as the fog has sloweddown the speed of trains.

As per reports, Lucknow-New Delhi Gomti Express trainwill remain cancelled between25 December 15 and February2019, New Delhi-LucknowGomti Express betweenDecember 26 and February 15,Rajyarani Express (Lucknow-Meerut) between December 25and February 15, Garib NawazExpress train till 15 February,Mu z af f ar pu r- Por b and ar

Express till February 15,Katihar-Amritsar Express(Amrapali Express) betweenDecember 25 and February 15,Amritsar Katihar Expressbetween December 28 andFebruary 18.

On the other hand, due to

operational reasons, some of thetrains are declared as can-celled/short terminated/shortoriginated. The trainsannounced as cancelled forjourney commencing onDecember 24 are 13009Howrah-Dehradun Doon

Express train, 22408 AnandVihar Terminal-Varanasi GaribRath Express train. Similarly,13010 Dehradun– HowrahDoon Express train, 18477Puri-Haridwar Utkal Expresstrain are announced as can-celled for journey commencing

on December 26. Train number14681 New Delhi–JalandharCity Express, journey com-mencing on December 24 willshort terminate at Ludhiana.Consequently, the 14682Jalandhar City-New DelhiExpress journey commencingon December 25 will shortoriginate from Ludhiana.

Meanwhile, the Railwaysalso has to lessen the frequen-cy of more than a dozen trainsdue to delayed run. The railwayofficials said the speed of trainshad suffered heavily due todense fog which had envelopedthe UP and neighbouring states.“The visibility is very low dur-ing fog and the trains cannot berun at standard speed and so ittakes time in covering the jour-ney. This had adversely affect-ed the frequency of the train run as a result of it,” offi-cials said.

The officials said the trainsgoing for destinations in Bihar,Madhya Pradesh, New Delhivia Lucknow or which originatefrom Lucknow were amongthose which were worst affect-ed by the foggy weather. “Theinclement weather had alsocaused some of the passengertrains to run slow or get can-celled,” they said.


ARajasthan-based contrac-tor has accused a con-

struction company of defraud-ing him of Rs 1crore. The con-tractor has also alleged that hewas held hostage after he askedfor the payment of his dues. AnFIR was registered in the caseon Monday.

Chiranji Lal Soni of Dausain Rajasthan works in marbleconstruction company. Sonisaid in 2016 a private construc-tion company from Lucknowhad roped him for marblework in C-block of theSecretariat building. The workwas to be completed by 2018 asper the contract.

Soni added that the workcompleted before the stipulat-ed time period but when heapproached the owner of con-struction company onDecember 17 for payment, hewas held hostage and alsothreatened with dire conse-quences. The constructioncompany owners also handedme over to the Hazratganjpolice. Later, Soni’s kin came toknow about his ordeal and


Taunted by her family forgiving birth to a girl child,

the wife of an engineer killedher four-month-old daughteron Monday night at her flat atRavindra Apartment in IndiraNagar police station area. Herhusband woke up to the rudeshock when he went to wakeher up on Tuesday morningand the woman told him shehad freed him and had killedtheir daughter. Police said thewoman took the step in depres-sion and she was taken intopolice custody.

As per reports, BrijnandanTiwari of Gorakhpur lives withhis wife Shubhra Tiwari andmother Sonmati at a flat num-ber 107 of the apartment inRavindra Vihar in Faridi Nagarlocality. Tiwari had a love mar-riage with Shubhra of ViramKhand in Gomti Nagar in2009. Four months back, thecouple was blessed with a girlchild who they named asAdwika. Tiwari told police thathe and his mother were restingin one of the rooms at the flatwhile Shubhra, along withAdwika, was resting in anoth-er room. “Around 6 am, I wokeup and found that Shubhra hadclosed the doors of the room inwhich she was resting. When Iknocked the doors, she said ina deep voice that she had‘freed’ me and had killed

Adwika,” Tiwari told police.He said he went inside

instantly and saw Adwikawhose body was cold and unre-sponsive. “We rushed her to alocal hospital where she wasdeclared brought dead onexamination,” he said.

“Tiwari called policeinforming them about the inci-dent and a team reached theplace for investigation into thecase. The police detainedShubhra and she was beinginterrogated by a team of doc-tors and cops,” the police

spokesman said. He said a caseof murder was registeredagainst Shubhra on the com-plaint of her husbandBrijnandan Tiwari.

The police were yet to findout the motive for the murder.“It seems that she was indepression and probably wasbeing taunted by her family forgiving birth to a girl child. Thepolice are reading her state-ment ‘I have freed you and hadkilled Adwika’ to find out if shehad some psychological disor-der,” a police officer said.

Dense fog hits train traffic hard

Two dozen trainscancelled orshort-terminated Lucknow (PNS): Most

parts of Uttar Pradeshremained in the grip of coldwave conditions and isolatedareas witnessed shallow tomoderate fog even as weatherin the state capital continued tovacillate between a warmsunny afternoon followed by achilly evening. It was brightsunshine and clear skies for thestate capital on Tuesday with amaximum temperature of 22.7degree Celsius. The minimumtemperature dipped to 4.8degrees Celsius, which wasfour notches below normal.

Muzaffarnagar experienc-ing the lowest minimum tem-perature in the state at 1.6degrees Celsius. According tothe Met department, nighttemperatures remained appre-ciably below normal in

Allahabad, Meerut, Faizabad,Lucknow and Bareilly divi-sions and below normal inVaranasi, Agra divisions. Theweatherman has forecastdense fog with ground frost inwestern Uttar Pradesh willthe eastern part of the state willremain dry with moderate

fog at some places for the nexttwo days. The forecast forLucknow is clear sky. Mist andshallow fog is likely in themorning. The maximum andminimum temperatures areexpected to be around 22degree Celsius and 4 degreeCelsius respectively.

Min temp dips to 4.8 deg C

Taunted by family, womankills 4-month-old daughter

The woman accused of killing her daughter, at Mahila Police Station Pioneer

came to his rescue. He allegedthat the incharge of Darulshafapolice outpost detained him fornone of his offence and laterchallaned him for breachingpeace.

Hazratganj SHO RadhaRaman Singh said that an FIRwas registered for fraud, cheat-ing, causing hurt against thecompany owners on the com-plaint of Soni.

Rajasthan-based contractor

defrauded of ` one crore

THE CONTRACTOR ALLEGED THAT HE WAS

HELD HOSTAGE AFTER HE ASKED FOR THE

PAYMENT OF HIS DUES AND ALSO

THREATENED WITH DIRE CONSEQUENCES

and Rajiv Gandhi Ward has alsoreceived the third prize amongstall the wards of the state,” he point-ed out. On being asked how theyintended to improve the ranking,he said they would spread moreawareness and also track theprogress in all programmes.

Cleanliness: LMC ranks 3rd among

17 municipal corporations of state

Festive spirit marks Xmas celebrations

Rush of people at St Joseph Cathedral Church; peoplelighting candles at a church; and Santa distributingsweets among visitors at zoo; and a cake Pioneer



Uttar Pradesh Awas VikasParishad has acquired 95

acres of land in Mohanlalganjunder the land pooling schemeand also deposited Rs 60 crorein the state exchequer for pay-ing compensation to farmers.The authorities have planned todevelop a residential colony atan estimated cost of Rs 120crore. Besides compensation,each farmer will be given a res-idential plot under the landpooling scheme. Housing com-missioner AK Chauhan saidthe land pooling scheme wouldhelp acquire land without anydelay or any confrontationwith farmers. He said the farm-ers were happy about gettingresidential plots apart fromcompensation.

The scheme was intro-duced recently to avoid anyconfrontation with farmersduring land acquisition. In thepast, there had been severalincidents of violence betweenthe farmers and state agencies

over land acquisition and sev-eral projects failed to take offas scheduled.

Chauhan said 45 per centof the land would be utilised indeveloping green belts, parks,roads, service lanes, street light-ing and drainage system whichwould be connected with themaster sewer system. He addedthat 47 per cent of the landwould be reserved for residen-tial and commercial purposesand three per cent for farmers.

Chauhan said determinedeffort would be made to planthe project which would beenvironment-friendly. Headded that environment engi-neers would be consulted to setup a colony par excellence.

The housing project isexpected to be launched by themiddle of next year. The pro-cedure of land acquisition wasso prompt that land was hand-ed to the competent officerwithin two months. Though alltypes of the shelters will comeup, the main focus will be onconstruction low-cost houses.


Climate Agenda, an organi-sation working in the area

of air pollution, has sent its rec-ommendations to the CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB) in connection with theincreasing levels of air pollutionin Uttar Pradesh.

Ekta Shekhar from theorganisation said the mainproblems specific to pollutionin Lucknow were construc-tion activities, unscientificmanagement of waste andburning of garbage. She saidthat among the recommenda-tions, they had stated thatthere was a need to increase airquality testing centres withintwo years. “The statementmade by the Ministry ofEnvironment in March, whichincluded 35 per cent reduction

in three years and 59 per centreduction in air pollution in 5years, should be included in theNational Clean Air ActionProgramme.There is require-ment of action plan for non-attainment cities based on city-based workplan as well as onregional basis,” she said.

“In NCAP, brick kilns arethe sources that contribute toincreasing air pollution, there-fore they should also be includ-ed in it and along with this, itis important to plan time tointermittently follow the emis-sion standards,” she added.

In rural areas, she saidthey had recommended expan-sion of air quality testing cen-tres and also the basis for theirselection. “We have also statedin our recommendations thatin what way NCAP will try toreduce pollution by interactingwith other ministries or depart-ments and explain the role asthere is need of elucidation foraccountability of these depart-ments at district and state level.Along with this, there is aneed to clarify what are thethings included in urban plan-ning,” she added.

RAIN BASERAHome Minister Rajnath

Singh on Tuesday dedicated anewly-constructed 4-storey‘rain basera’ at the ShatabdiHospital (Phase 1) of KingGeorge’s Medical University. Healso inspected the 210-bed rainbasera constructed with thefinancial aid of Power GridCorporation. KGMU Vice-Chancellor Dr MLB Bhattrequested the Home Ministerto increase the capacity to tenfloors and ensure provision ofa parking area.

AWARDEDKaushal Kishor Agrawal

of KGMU’s department ofProsthodontics has beenawarded a trophy and certifi-cate of excellence for being themost proactive academicianfor the year 2017-18 for hisclinical performance, contribu-tion to research work and sci-entific publications in prostho-

dontics. He was honoured atthe 5th Dental AcademicExcellence Awards on in NewDelhi on December 24.Meanwhile, head of KGMU’sRespiratory Medicine depart-ment Dr Surya Kant was felic-itated with the highest award ofIndian Chest Society, ‘Prof SNTripathi Presidential OrationAward’. He was awarded at‘NAPCON 2018’, which washeld in Ahmedabad fromNovember 22 to December 2.

MEETINGSenior officials of Lucknow

City Transport ServicesLimited met on Tuesday toensure improvement in thecondition of buses. Managingdirector Arif Saqlain said offi-cials had been directed to sub-mit a report in this regard byJanuary 2 next year. He saidbuses had to be checked on sev-eral points. “Checkings must bedone to see whether or the

emergency doors of buses areopening and have they beenpainted red or whether ‘emer-gency’ is written on the doors.It has to be checked whetherwipers are working and thewindows have glass panesintact. Directions have beenissues to check whether thebuses have fire extinguishers,hammers, proper wiring andwhether the battery has beenplaced in a box,” he said.

NOISE POLLUTIONDistrict Magistrate Kaushal

Raj Sharma said all hotels,restaurants and bars would bechecked in nights for noise pol-lution levels. “There should notbe any noise coming outsidethe premises of hotels, bars orrestaurants and the decibellevel be maintained properly,”he said. The DM added thatthere was no order to banmusic after 10 pm or close barsafter 10 pm on December 31.


Two members of ChildWelfare Committee visited

the children’s protection homein Motinagar on Tuesday andsought clarification about theescape of a 15-year-old girlfrom there on Sunday. Theinmate had stepped on a wash-basin to scale the wall as sheescaped from the protectionhome. Sangeeta Sharma fromChild Welfare Committee,while talking to The Pioneer,said that there were lapses on

the part of the protection homestaff. “The girl escaped at a timewhen it was not so early in themorning that it could not havebeen monitored,” she said,adding that the authoritiesinformed her that temporarystaff, and not the permanentstaff, were on duty.

A senior official from theWomen and Child Welfaredepartment said the reporthad already been submittedand action would be takensoon. “Those found lax are theoutsourced staff. We have been

making a demand for perma-nent posts in the past. A meet-ing in this case will be heldsoon,” he said.

He added that on theirpart, they had issued instruc-tions for removal of the wash-basin from that point andalso other things which couldhave facilitated the escape ofthe girl. “The girl has only hersiblings and earlier, she hadrun away from a home in Bastisix to seven times,” he said,adding that the girl was stilluntraceable.

GOLD MEDALVani Bhandaiya, a class VI

student of City MontessoriSchool, Gomti Nagar Campus II,grabbed the gold medal in state-level inter-school ‘BrainobrainWonderkids’. Vani showcasedher talent in various subjects andwalked away with the goldmedal. Organisers showeredpraises on Vani for her talent and

awarded her a gold medal, cer-tificate and other gifts.


Police have failed to arrestthe man, who was accused

of raping a minor girl after pos-ing himself as her ‘saviour’ inJankipuram on Sunday night.

“Teams have been formedand raiding possible hide-outsof accused Monu Kashyap ofJankipuram. We are yet to getany clue of him,” the policesaid. The minor girl had toldpolice that she was talking withher friend at some distanceaway from her house onSunday night when heracquaintance Monu Kashyapof Jankipuram happened topass by. “Monu scolded my

friend for meeting me secret-ly at night and shooed himaway from the place threaten-ing a police action. Later,Monu asked me to ride the pil-lion of the scooty and hewould drop me at my home,”the girl had accused. Shealleged that Monu took her toa secluded place where he hadforced himself on her.

SUICIDEA 30-year-old woman

ended her life at her house inJankipuram in connection witha family discord on Tuesday.No suicide note was recoveredduring the investigation. Policesent the body for autopsy.

Reports said Sushma ofRasoolpur Kayasth locality ofthe area was found hanging ina room at her house onTuesday morning. She wasspotted hanging first by herhusband Mahesh who broughther down from the noose andrushed her to a hospital. “Thedoctors declared her broughtdead and then I informed thepolice,” Mahesh said. Thepolice said parents of thewoman had accused Mahesh oftorturing her. “But they are yetto give any complaint in thisregard. If we receive any com-plaint an action will be takenagainst Mahesh,” the policesaid.


The Lucknow police andExcise department officials

conducted a joint drive tocheck model shops and desiliquor shops across the statecapital on Tuesday. The drivewas aimed to keep a check onthe revellers on the occasion ofX-mas and also to check irreg-ularities at the shops.

In Hazratganj, a joint team,consisting of Hazratganj COand excise officials checkeddifferent shops selling beersand Indian Made ForeignLiquor. The shop-owners wereasked to ensure thatpeople/revellers should nothang outside the shops. Theshop-owners were also asked toensure that the vehicles beparked in an orderly way. A

team consisting of CO SantoshKumar Singh and excise offi-cials checked shops inMahanagar localities. A simi-lar instruction was given toshop-owners in Mahanagartoo.

Excise officials said thedrive was also carried out in

Chinhat, Gudamba,Mohanlalganj, Gosainganj,Kakori, Alambagh, KrishnaNagar and other parts of thecity. “The drive was conduct-ed in view of Christmas and itwill continue till celebrationsfor New Year end on December31,” excise officials said.


CISH organised a number ofevents during the past 10

days as a part of the SwachhataPakhwara on cleanliness, util-isation of farm waste and wastewater utilisation for the kitchengarden at the Institute, at thevillage level and in publicplaces.

Workshops were arrangedfor farmers on cleanliness, util-isation of farm organic waste,nutri gardens, compost andvermicompost. Farm womenand stakeholders were involvedin these activities. Thirty farm-ers from four villages ofMalihabad were invited forthe workshop on cleanlinessand utilisation of farm wastes.Narrating the importance ofrural cleanliness, CISH direc-tor Shailendra Rajan urged thefarmers to become ambas-sadors for the Swachh BharatAbhiyan. He said that convert-ing farm wastes into manurewas being encouraged underthe Farmer FIRST Project-adopted villages.

This had led to around 40per cent of farmers shunningchemical fertilisers in theirnutri garden. Farmers sharedtheir views on production anduse of biofertilisers and biopes-ticides in their fields. Scientistsalso explained the quick

method of compost makingusing farm waste to the farm-ers. The institute honouredseven farmers for their out-standing contribution in theSwachhata Mission in theirrespective villages. These farm-ers belong to Kasmandi Kalan,Mohammad Nagar Taluqedariand Nabi Panah.

A workshop of farmers wasorganised by CISH and delib-erations on cleanliness andutilisation of farm organicwastes by its conversion intovaluable compost were made.Several models in differentparts of the country being usedby the farmers were discussedso that they could be emulatedin the villages of Malihabad.Later the farmers from theadopted villages under theFarmers’ First Project sharedthe cleanliness initiatives takenin their respective villages. Ascientist of ICAR-CISH, SKShukla, and VK Singh stressedon the importance of nutri-gar-dens, compost and vermi-com-post. Six farmers were felicitat-ed for their contribution inmaking the cleanliness drive inthe villages successful and guid-ing other farmers in adaptingdifferent technologies. The cer-tificates were distributed amongthe farmers who were selectedto act as the ambassadors ofcleanliness in the adopted vil-

lages. Anju Bajpai shared differ-ent programmes and initia-tives taken from the Institute asa part of the Swachh BharatAbhiyan and Maneesh Mishramoderated the programme.

Many farmers from thefour villages of Farmers’ FIRSTproject are now convertingfarm waste into compost. Thefarmers have understood theusefulness of this conversion inthe nutri-gardens as occasion-ally due to lack of farm animalsthey can’t apply farmyardmanure. Organic cultivationactivities are also supported bythe torch -bearers of FarmersFIRST programme as they arenow capable of controllingmany of the insects and pestsin vegetables by using home-made biopesticides.

“These biopesticides aremade easily using availableconstituents like cow urine,garlic and many other botani-cals fermented in a prescribedmanner for spraying to controlmite in chilli. Many a times itis difficult to control thesepests in vegetables by usingchemicals. However, the biopes-ticides are being used by farm-ers successfully for saving theircrops. Examples of recycling ofwaste water for irrigatingkitchen gardens were demon-strated in different villages,” saidRajan.


Lucknow Metro RailCorporation (LMRC) will

begin its load testing onDecember 27. A senior LMRCofficial said that this load test-ing would be carried out on thespecial span of the LucknowMetro project at Nishatganj andthe one on Gomti river.

“There are in all 11 spansin the Metro corridor and wehave carried out load testing onnine of them with the help ofgunny bags because they weresmaller ones. However, theNishatganj and Gomti riverspans are bigger in length andhence they have to be tested bystationing the train over themand filling it with bags whichequal the maximum strength ofthe passengers on the train,” headded. He further said thatLMRC had to take a clearancefrom the Telecom Departmentand Electric Inspection of theGovernment of India beforebeginning with the train trialson the entire corridor. A seniorLMRC official said that thetrials would be held in the firstweek of January. He said that

the approval of the TelecomDepartment was important inthe light of the fact that its ser-vices were not impacted by theoverhead wires of the LuckowMetro project. “The officials ofthe Telecom department weresupposed to come onDecember 24 but they willcome on December 26,” headded.

He admitted that the elec-trical inspections were carriedout on Monday by the officialsconcerned. “We cannot beginthe trials until we complete theoverhead electrification whichwe have done till IT College.The electrical installations werechecked on December 24 andwhatever the problems were wewould get them solved. Themen were at the site on Tuesdayitself. He said that once theoverhead electrification wascompleted uptill Munshipuliathe load testing would be car-ried out and after that theywould be able to carry out thetrials in the first week ofJanuary. He said that the civilconstruction had been com-pleted along with the trackwork.


Lucknow Electricity SupplyAdministration is installing

smart meters and the exercise isgoing on in full swing. The pro-ject is a joint collaboration ofUttar Pradesh PowerCorporation and EnergyEfficiency Services Limited.

Superintending engineer,LESA (trans-Gomti) AjayMishra told The Pioneer thatsmart meter installation workwas underway in five divisions.He said the work started towardsthe end of October and the billgeneration would take placeafter all the smart meters wereinstalled and entire data is fed inthe system. Till December 13, asmany as 3,194 smart meters hadbeen installed in Chinhat divi-sion, 626 in Chowk, 1,130 inKanpur Road division, 1,464Rahimnagar, 6,279 inThakurganj and 9,114 in Uptrondivision. He said no cost had tobe produced by the consumer forthese installations and it would

benefit both the consumers andthe department. “We will nothave to send any person formeter readings as we will get thesame at our system. We will getthe readings every 15 minutesand we can generate the bill onthe first of the month according-ly,” he said. He added that theyhad started the installation workwith divisions with high lossareas, where bills were not gen-erated in time and where therewas power theft. “The bills willbe generated on the first of themonth and an SMS will reach theconsumer,” Mishra said. Headmitted that the response to thesmart meters was mixed andthere had been protests too.

LMRC to begin

load testing

tomorrow

SCHOOLSCAN

CITYBRIEFS

Repertwahr Festconcluded with theplay ‘Hello Farmaish’at Sangeet NatakAkademi on Tuesday

CISH: Several events mark

‘Swachhata Pakhwara’

Police, excise officialscheck liquor shops

Awas Vikas acquires

95 acres of land

in Mohanlalganj

Police yet to nab rapist

Air pollution: Organisation sends

recommendations to CPCB

Installation of smartelectricity meters on in full swing

CWC seeks clarification after

girl escapes from shelter home

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n ALLAHABAD

In a sensational incident a 35-year-old property dealer was

shot dead by some unidentifiedmiscreants in the posh CivilLines area here on Mondayevening. A panic-like situationprevailed after the incidentand the locals started runninghelter-skelter. On receipt ofinformation, the IG, Range,and SSP, along with a heavypolice force, rushed to the spotand reviewed the situation.However, all the shooters hadmanaged to flee from the spotbefore the top brass reachedthere. The Crime Branch hadbeen pressed into service which

was making efforts to identitythe shooters through close-circuit television (CCTV) cam-era footage.

Rajnath Yadav, a resident ofSherdih area under the Jhunsipolice station, has five sons.Among them Vidya Sagar wasthe third one and used to dealin property. He accompaniedby his driver, Amarjeet, hadgone to the Civil Lines in hisScorpio. They parked it outsideBihari Bhawan and went insidea shop situated there. He alsogot the glass panes of his vehi-cle changed there. In themeantime two shooters on amotorcycle closed in on himand fired at him indiscrimi-

nately. Two bullets piercedVidya Sagar’s stomach whiletwo others hit a scooter parkednearby. The driver, Amarjeet,took the injured Vidya Sagar tothe SRN Hospital in a criticalcondition but he was pro-nounced dead on his arrival bythe doctors on duty there.

On being informed aboutthe incident, the IG, MohitAgarwal, and the SeniorSuperintendent of Police (SSP),Nitin Tiwari, along with aheavy posse of police reachedthe spot. They also inquiredfrom the family members of thedeceased about the incident butthey could not tell the exactreason behind his killing.

Property dealer gunned down

Mathura (PTI): SwamiAdhokshjanand Deo Tirth onTuesday said Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathand other leaders have vitiatedthe atmosphere in the countryby linking Lord Hanuman tovarious castes and communi-ties. He demanded that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andother top leaders of the BJPshould clear the party’s standand bar party functionaries

from disrespectful remarksabout gods and goddesses.

The seer’s reaction cameafter Uttar Pradesh ReligiousAffair Minister Laxmi NarayanChaudhary dubbed LordHanuman as a Jat, saying likeJats, the deity never toleratedinjustice towards anybody, any-where. The minister made theremark Friday after a BJP MLCfrom the state, Bukkal Nawab,dubbed Lord Hanuman a

Muslim on the ground that hisname rhymed with Islamicnames like Rahman, Arman,Qurban etc. During an electionrally in Rajasthan, Adityanathhad termed the deity a Dalit.

“On one side the BJP, fromtime to time, has been bring-ing up the Ram temple issueand on the other, its leaders aremaking absurd remarks onHindu gods and goddesses,hurting religious sentiments,”

S h a n k a r a c h a r y aAdhokshajanand Deo Tirthsaid here. “The Ram temple inAyodhya will be incompletewithout Lord Hanuman asRam had himself praisedHanumanji calling him likehis brother Bharat,” he said.

If the remark made byNawab has the BJP high-com-mand’s approval, “then theparty will have to get a mosqueconstructed for Lord

Hanuman”, the seer said. Thechief minister had hurt reli-gious sentiments by termingLord Hanuman a Dalit, even ashis office later issued a clarifi-cation, claiming thatAdityanath was misquoted, theshankaracharya said.

“Adityanath and other lead-ers’ remarks on Hanuman havevitiated the atmosphere in thecountry,” the seer said. LordHanuman has been termed a

Jat, Thakur, a sportsman andeven a Muslim, even thoughgods and goddesses are abovecaste and religion, he stated.Uttar Pradesh Sports Ministerand former cricketer ChetanChauhan had said on Sundaythat Hanuman was a sportsper-son. However, he had dis-missed his party colleagues’attempts at identifying thedeity’s caste and said godsdon’t have castes.

BJP must clear stand over remarks on Hanuman by its leaders: Seer

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018 nation 05

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

Concerned at the increasinghuman-elephant conflicts

(HEC) in Assam — nearly 800lives have been trampled by wildjumbos between 2006 and 2016— tea estate firms have cometogether under the umbrella ofIndian Tea Association (ITA) toexplore ways to mitigate the cri-sis in the Northeastern State andWest Bengal.

In this regard, said DrDipankar Ghose, Director,Species and Landscapes pro-gramme, WWF-India, a first-ofits kind meet was organised bythe ITA in Kolkata to plan anindustry- wide collaboration toaddress HEC faced by the teagardens of Assam and WestBengal.

The WWF-India is imple-menting 'The Sonitpur Model' intwo districts of Assam in col-laboration with the State ForestDepartment where locals aretrained and equipped to form'Anti Depredation Squads' thatcan drive the wild elephantsback using searchlights, fire-

crackers and kunki elephants.Kunkis are trained elephants thatcan help the Anti DepredationSquad members in driving backwild elephants..

In fact, Apeejay Tea, a teafirm and WWF-India have part-nered (2015-18) to implementHEC management measures inits tea plantations in Sonitpur.

Dr Ghose said, "Throughintensive conflict managementstrategy in the conflict proneplantations, a range of initiativeshave been implemented whichwere found to be successful inreducing losses related to HECin four of Apeejay Tea estatesnamely Borjuli, Ghoirallie,

Dhulapadung and Sessa TeaEstates.

Under the project, low costsolar power fences were installedacross the tea estates, a scalablebio fence, using thorny bamboowas also introduced to preventthe entry of wild elephants intovulnerable areas of the tea gar-den when ready. Regular villagelevel meetings and interactionwere held to create awareness onelephants and HEC manage-ment.

"We believe that we will beable to scale up these initiativesin Assam with the ITA's partic-ipation in effectively managingHEC along with other stake-

holders," he added.Karan Paul, Chairman of

Apeejay Tea and member of ITAwho had initiated the meetingsaid that they were perhaps thefirst tea company to fund anintensive conflict managementstrategy in Sonitpur becausefour of our gardens were in thehot zone.

Vivek Goenka, ITAChairman added,"The ITA hasstudied the Project Outcomes ofApeejay Tea - WWF collabora-tion and is sensitive to the issue.I believe that a multi-stake-holder collaboration includingthe Government will aid imple-mentation of large scale inter-ventions across the tea sector.This was our first meetinginvolving tea companies and weare hopeful of a collaborativeapproach emerging to take thisforward."

According to Governmentdata, Assam with an elephantarea (15,050 square km) is thecountry's prime elephant rangeState, having 5,719 jumbos, thehighest population of wild ele-phants after Karnataka.

HUMAN ELEPHANT CONFLICT IN ASSAM, BENGAL TEA GARDENS

New Delhi: Out of the 2,061Border Fencing Light polesalong the international borderin Gujarat's Bhuj andGandhinagar Sector, only 616are "functional", the BSF hastold the CPWD, according tothe minutes of an inter-depart-mental co-ordination meetingheld in November.

Border Security Force offi-cers also informed the CPWDthat out of 82 diesel gensets, only38 are "functional", "affectingoperational duties" by the troopson the sensitive internationalborder, the minutes stated.

The meeting was held atBSF Headquarters in NewDelhi, during which seniorofficers of BSF and CPWD, thegovernment's largest construc-tion agency, discussed severalprojects.

BSF Director General RajniKant Mishra and CentralPublic Works Department DGPrabhakar Singh also attendedthe November 16 meeting.

India's border with Pakistanruns through four states, Jammuand Kashmir (1,225 km, whichincludes 740 km of Line ofControl), Rajasthan (1,037 km),Punjab (553 km) and Gujarat(508 km).

"Out of 2,061 BFL poles,only 616 BFL poles are func-

tional (along the internationalborder in Bhuj andGandhinagar Sector). Out of 82DG sets, only 38 DG sets arefunctional.

"CPWD (was) requested tocarry out necessary repair at theearliest as it is affecting oper-ational duties performed by thetroops deployed on the sensi-tive international border," stat-ed the meeting's minutes pre-pared by the BSF and sent tothe CPWD director general onDecember 12.

There have been severalattempts of infiltration by ter-rorists who cut the borderfences to enter India from thePakistani side.

BFLs are maintained byCPWD in Bhuj and GandhiNagar Sector.

According to the minutes ofmeeting, the CPWD intimatedthat work of repairing of BFLsand DG sets in Bhuj and GandhiNagar Sector are in progress andwill be handed over to BSF afterproper rectifications.

It also stated that inJammu, out of the 28 commandposts in non-composite BorderOutput Posts, so far only threecommand posts have beencompleted and 17 are under-construction with "very slowprogress" while work on eighthave not yet started.

It added that out of the 43High Mast Lights in river-linegaps, so far work on 25 HML hasbeen completed while three areunder construction with "veryslow progress" and 15 HMLwork has not started yet. PTI

ARCHANA JYOTI n NEW DELHI

AParliamentary panel hasquestioned the

Government's motive to waiveoff the GST under its six-month-old 'Sewa Bhoj Yojna'for the big religious institutionsserving free meal to more than5,000 people per month whiledepriving the smaller onesfrom similar financial benefitseven though "they are morelikely in need of it."

The Committee headed byRajya Sabha MP, DerekO'Brien, has recommendedthat the eligibility criteria ofserving free food to above5,000 people should be recon-sidered by the Union CultureMinistry.

The Modi Governmenthad launched the Sewa BhojYojana on June 1, 2018,exempting charitable organi-sations that provide free foodfrom paying Central Goodsand Services Tax (CGST)/Integrated Goods and ServicesTax (IGST) on the raw materi-als used. The scheme followeddemand from the BJP ally, theShiromani Akali Dal (SAD), inPunjab which had soughtexemption of langar from GST.

While appreciating thescheme which reimburses theCGST/IGST for only thosereligious institutions that serve

food to at least 5,000 people ina calendar month, the panel,which has submitted its reportin Parliament recently said itfails to understand the reasonfor this eligibility criterionsince smaller religious institu-tions are more likely to be inneed of this Scheme.

Moreover, ascertaining thenumber of people to whomfood is served by a religiousinstitution in a month is diffi-cult and could lead to religiousinstitutions in actual need ofthe support being left out.

The Committee also feltthat instead of carrying outinspection every year at least in5% of the cases as decidedunder the scheme, theGovernment should scrutiniseat least 10% of the cases.

The Committee feels thatthe proper utilization of fundsis very important in the imple-mentation of all schemes andthis scheme could be mali-ciously exploited for gettingreimbursement of taxes bycommercial food outlets.

Considering this fact, theCommittee feels that the min-imum inspection limit of 5% ofthe cases seems very low andmight not have a deterringeffect on the organisations.

Introduced by the CultureMinistry, the scheme has atotal outlay of `325 Crore forFinancial Years 2018-19 and2019-20.

The scheme envisages toreimburse the CGST and IGSTon purchase of raw items suchas ghee, edible oil,atta/maida/rava/flour, rice puls-es, sugar, burra/jiggery etcwhich go into preparation offood/Prasad/langar/bhandaraoffered free of cost by religiousinstitutions. The objective ofthe scheme is to lessen thefinancial burden of such char-itable religious Institutions whoprovide food/prasad/langar(Community Kitchen)/bhan-dara free of cost without anydiscrimination to public/devo-tees.

The charitable religiousInstitutions such as temples,gurudwara, mosque, church,dharmik ashram, dargah,matth, monasteries etc. whichhave been in existence for atleast five years before applyingfor financial assistance/grantand who serve free food to atleast 5,000 people in a monthare covered.

New Delhi: Touted as thelargest cancer hospital in India,the National Cancer Institute inHaryana's Jhajjar district wouldbe opened to public by thethird week of January, UnionHealth Minister JP Nadda saidon Tuesday.

The institute, being con-sidered as a landmark in thefield of cancer research in thecountry, shall lessen the deficitof tertiary cancer care in thenorthern region.

"The National CancerInstitute in Jhajjar would bededicated by the third week ofJanuary," Nadda said at anevent in AIIMS hospital inDelhi.

The institute will have 710beds, out of which 200 beds willbe dedicated for translationalresearch on India-specific can-cers.

Out patient department orOPD services were partiallystarted last week.

Different facilities such assurgical oncology, radiationoncology, medical oncology,anaesthesia and palliative careand nuclear medicine will beavailable at the institute. It willalso have the first-of-its-kindtissue repository in India.

The institute, which willoperate under the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences inDelhi, was approved by theManmohan Singh governmentin 2013 and has been built at acost of Rs 2,035 crore.

There will be 372 units offlats and 1,080 hostel rooms forstaff members. A night shelter

with a capacity of 800 unitsmeant for patient attendantshave also been planned.

There are more than 80lakh cancer patients in theworld. Nearly 29 lakh of themare in India. About 11 lakh can-cer cases are detected everyyear.

With a view to prevent andcure cancer, the governmentdecided to set up the newinstitute of advance researchactivities.

The institute, coming up inBadhsa village, will operate onthe lines of National CancerInstitute in the US and GermanCancer Research Centre( D e u t s c h e sKrebsforschungszentrum)DKFZ as a nodal centre forindigenous research, promo-tive, preventive and curativeaspects of care and humanresource development.

The institute is aimed toplan, conduct and coordinateresearch on cancers which aremore specific to India — liketobacco-related cancers, cancerof the uterine cervix, gall blad-der cancer and liver cancers. Thefocus will be on understandingand analysing the cause and gen-esis of these type of cancers, theGovernment has said. PTI

PNS n NEW DELHI

Congress president RahulGandhi on Tuesday took a

dig at Prime Minister NarendraModi for reportedly ignoring aBJP worker's question on themiddle class' struggle with thetaxation policy, saying forget aPress meet, he cannot evenhold a poll booth workers'conference.

Rahul Gandhi was appar-ently referring to an incidentthat took place last week dur-ing Modi's interaction with"booth workers" from northerndistricts of Tamil Nadu andPuducherry. He also said "BJP-vetted" questions is a superbidea, but the party should also"consider vetted answers".

The Congress chief cited amedia report that claimedModi faced embarrassingmoments during his interac-tion with BJP workers fromTamil Nadu when a workersought to know why his admin-istration was busy collectingtaxes from the middle class butnot interested in taking care ofthem.

The report claimed that theprime minister during hisvideo interaction chose not toanswer the question raised by

the worker and continued withhis interaction by switching toPuducherry.

Taking a jibe at the primeminister, the Congress chieftweeted: "VanakamPuducherry! That's NoMo'sanswer to the struggling mid-dle class. Forget a press con-ference he can't even stringtogether a polling booth work-er's conference."

On reports that the BJPwill filter questions from work-ers to Prime Minister Modi fol-lowing the incident, the Gandhiscion said, "BJP-vetted ques-tions is a superb idea. Considervetted answers as well."

The Congress presidenthas been criticising Modi fornot holding a press conferenceduring his tenure. Earlier thismonth, Rahul had posted pic-tures from a press conferencehe held and tweeted saying theprime minister should try onesomeday as it is fun to be askedquestions. Even former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh lastweek remarked that though hewas tagged as silent PM but hewas never afraid of talking tothe Press and he used to con-duct a media interaction everytime he returned from foreignvisits.

RAKESH K SINGH n NEW DELHI

In an alarming trend in attri-tion, as many as 25,288 offi-

cers and jawans of the CRPFhave resorted to voluntaryretirement and resignationssince 2011 besides 10, 362 per-sonnel who left the force due tosuperannuation, invalidation,dismissal and termination.

Hard and harsh workingconditions including 12 to 14hours of job daily withoutproper leave is one of the rea-sons for the attrition.Deployment of the Force’s per-sonnel in far-flung areas andcontonious deployment awayfrom home, home sickness andthe pitfalls of nuclear familybesides personal problems andfamily disputes are other rea-sons for the attrition. Better jobopportunities and less harshworking conditions outside theForce also contribute the per-sonnel resorting to voluntaryretirement, according to inputswith the Union Home Ministry.

Against a housing satis-faction fixed at 25 per cent ofthe personnel (88,168) out ofthe sanctioned strength of3,24,093 at the static locations

like group centres, traininginstitutions and battalionsraised on unattached patternslike Combat Battalion forResolute Action (CoBRA),Rapid Action Force (RAF),Mahila Battalions is only 11.83per cent.

Out of the authorised 88,168 houses, 37,801 have beencontructed and 12,014 are

under construction and thenet deficiency is 38,353.

A Parliamentary panel hasnoted that such a poor level ofhousing satisfaction level couldbe one of the major reasons forhigh attrition in the paramili-tary. While directing the gov-ernment to expedite the underconstruction 12,014 houseswithout time and cost overruns,the panel also advised theCentre to chalk out an actionplan to achive the objective ofconstructing the remaining 38,353 quarters within the stipu-lated timeframe.

The Force personnel suffercasualties not only due to coun-tering the insurgents in theNaxal areas, Northeast andJammu and Kashmir but alsowhile operating in hostile ter-rain and inhospitable working

conditions which generate"extreme stress and strain ontheir physical and mentalhealth. During the last eightyears since 2010, more person-nel have been killed due to dis-eases than in action. As manyas 798 personnel have beenkilled due to heart attack but thecasualties during operationstood at 391 during the periodbetween 2010 and 2017.Likewise, cancer took a toll of334 personnel followed by 94deaths due to cerebral malariaand six casualties due to snakebite.

Central Reserve PoliceForce is the world's largestparamilitary force and the des-ignated agency for anti-Naxaloperations, countering terror-ists in Jammu & Kashmir andinsurgents in the Northeast.

Only 616 border fencing lightpoles out of 2,061 functional

GUJARAT-PAK BORDER

ITA holds meet to resolve crisis

RaGa attacks Modi

for ignoring BJP

worker’s question

Par panel: Big religious institutionsserving free meal out of GST, why?

India's largest cancerinstitute in Haryana'sJhajjar to open in Jan PNS n NEW DELHI

The CBI has booked the chiefmanaging director of Delhi-

based kids-wear retailer,Catmoss Retail Pvt Ltd AshwiniKumar Chawla, for allegedlycheating Union Bank of India of`20 crore. The company and itsofficials allegedly fabricated bal-ance sheets to avail a loanwhich was not repaid to thebank, CBI officials said.

Following a complaint bythe bank, the CBI has registereda case of criminal conspiracyand cheating against the com-pany Catmoss Retail Pvt Ltd,Chawla, his wife and guarantorAsha Rani Chawala and thefirm's directors Reena Chawla

and Asha Rani Chawla, theysaid.

In its complaint to the CBI,Union Bank of India alleged thatthe company furnished "forgedand fabricated" balance sheetswith an intention to cheat andcause wrongful loss to it.

"CMD of Catmoss RetailPvt Ltd Ashwini Chawla, in pur-suance of a well knitted crimi-nal conspiracy to fraudulentlyavail loan facility from the com-plainant bank by furnishingforged and fabricated balancesheets, has committed offenceslike cheating, forgery, forgery forpurpose of cheating and usingas genuine a forged document,"it said.

It is alleged that Chawla had

approached the bank in 2011seeking a sanctioned creditlimit of `10 crore.

The company furnishedbalance sheets for the financialyears 2009-10 and 2010-11 tothe bank which were audited bya chartered accountant.

The account was declared anon performing asset on March31, 2013, having an outstandingof `10.92 crore.

The bank extracted a por-tion of its loan amount by auc-tioning some properties whichit had held as guarantee.

During the inquiry, thechartered accountant, who hadpurportedly signed the balancesheets, told the bank that it wasnot the case.

Jaipur: Exuding confidencethat the Congress will form theGovernment at the Centre in2019, Rajasthan Deputy ChiefMinister Sachin Pilot claimedthat the BJP is under pressureas its allies are deserting thecoalition.

He alleged that the BJP'sallies were quitting the NDAdue to the arrogance of saffronparty leaders and it was nowunder pressure which recent-ly reflected in the seat-sharingin Bihar.

"Upendra Kushwaha hasquit the NDA, the TDP hasalready left and the Shiv Senais also not with them. Now theBJP is under pressure andtherefore they gave 17 seats inBihar to the JD(U) which has

only two MPs. What can be afine example of insecurity thanthis," Pilot said.

He said the BJP leadersused to point fingers towardsthe Congress by saying that theparty was struggling for its sur-vival but results of the recent-

ly held Assembly polls inRajasthan, Madhya Pradeshand Chhattisgarh have sent outa strong message.

"This full majorityGovernment at the Centre hasbecome so weak that it hasgiven nearly half of Bihar (LokSabha seats) to a party havingjust two MPs just because ofthe fear that people are not vot-ing for the BJP and also itsallies are daring them. Thishappens when the govern-ment is weak," he told PTIhere.

Pilot said the BJP shouldaccept the fact that it has faceda severe blow in three statesand should take responsibilityof the defeat.

"(BJP's) Nitin Gadkari has

already spoken that the partyleadership should take theresponsibility for the defeat.When the Congress had suf-fered defeat, the party presidentRahul Gandhi had humblyaccepted that but the BJP lead-ership is so arrogant thatdespite facing defeat in threestates, it is unwilling to take theresponsibility," he said.

Pilot said there was a swingof 12.5 per cent votes inRajasthan and the Congressgained 99 seats in 2018 from 21Assembly seats in 2013.

"We won 21 (Assembly)seats in 2013 and the numberof seats has increased fivetimes in 2018. Swing of votesis 12.5 per cent. BJP's voteshare has decreased by 6.6 per

cent and ours increased by sixper cent. It's a rare swing," hesaid.

Pilot, who is also theparty's Rajasthan unit chief,said the victory of the Congresshas boosted the morale ofparty workers and they havestarted preparing for the 2019Lok Sabha polls.

"We have formed the gov-ernment and along with deliv-ering on our promises, we arefocusing on the upcomingelections. Meetings in the partyhave already started. The partywill register a thumping victo-ry in the Lok Sabha polls andthe Congress will form theGovernment at the Centre," hesaid.

Rajasthan has 25 Lok

Sabha seats and at present, 22are with the BJP, one with theCongress and two are vacant.

The BJP had won all the 25seats in the 2014 general elec-tions but it lost two seats to theCongress in bypolls held ear-lier this year.

Two sitting MPs — RaghuSharma (Congress) and HarishMeena (BJP) — won the recent-ly held Assembly polls andthey have resigned as the MPthus making their seats vacant.

BJP's Harish Meena, whowas director general of theRajasthan Police, had defectedto the Congress before theassembly polls and contestedon Congress ticket from Deoli-Uniara Assembly constituencyand got elected. PTI

CBI books Delhi-based kidswearretailer for cheating Union Bank

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Grand Total

Dismissal from service: 672 570 516 361 208 182 103 2612

Invalidation 55 33 34 41 49 57 34 303

Resignation 940 793 740 562 593 453 523 4604

Superannuation 857 744 734 674 934 1181 1157 6281

Termination 3 119 246 281 264 135 118 1166

Voluntary Retirement 2757 5160 3757 2195 780 3346 2689 20684

Grand Total 7295 9431 8040 6128 4843 7370 6641 35650

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after paying tributes to former Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee on his 94th birth anniversary in New Delhi on Tuesday PTI

BJP under pressure as its allies deserting coalition: Pilot

High attrition hits CRPF hard


People visit the replica of Taj Mahal at Echo Park, Rajarhut-New Town city near Kolkata on Tuesday PTI

PTI n AHMEDABAD

One person was killed and24 school students were

injured when an overcrowdedbus returning from a picnic inMadhya Pradesh met with anaccident Tuesday morning inGujarat’s Panchmahal district,said police.

The private luxury bus,hired by an Ahmedabad-basedschool for picnic, fell into a road-side pit after the driver lost con-trol over the vehicle at Parvadivillage near Godhra, around130km from here, said PoliceSub-Inspector MV Jotana.

According to an FIRlodged at the Godhra talukapolice station, the bus washired by the Vivekanand HindiHigher Secondary School, sit-uated in the Narol area ofAhmedabad.

The mishap took placewhen the bus, packed with 107

passengers, including school-children and teachers, wasreturning to Ahmedabad fromUjjain, Madhya Pradesh, wherethey had gone for a picnic.

While the cleaner of thebus, Balram Bhadoria, died inthe accident, its driver fled thespot, said Panchmahal DistrictSuperintendent of Police LeenaPatil.

“The bus slipped into aroadside pit after the driver lostcontrol over the vehicle. While24 students received minorinjuries, the cleaner died as hejumped from the moving busto save his life,” said Patil.

The injured students wereshifted to the Godhra CivilHospital for treatment, she said.

Primary investigations bythe police revealed negligenceon part of the school manage-ment as the bus was carrying107 passengers, way beyond itscapacity, said Patil.

“The bus driver fled fromthe spot after the accident.The bus was indeed over-crowded. Apart from students,there were teachers and theirfamily members in the bus. Wehave lodged a case against thedriver and others,” said the SP.

Based on a complaint filedby one of the parents,Radheshyam Prajapati, theGodhra taluka police lodgedthe FIR against the unidentifieddriver, bus operator SitaramSharma and the school owner,Panjabilal, said the police.

They were booked undervarious sections of the IPC,including 304 (culpable homi-cide not amounting to murder),279 (rash driving) and 337 (caus-ing injury by rash act). Accordingto PSI Jotana, the capacity of thebus was just 58, against which107 people, including 70 stu-dents, were in the vehicle at thetime of accident.

Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister H D Kumaraswamy hasgot embroiled in a controversyafter a purported video, showinghim ordering a police official to“shoot mercilessly” those whokilled a JD(S) worker in Mandya,went viral.

After drawing flak over hiscomments, the chief ministersaid “it was an emotional out-burst” and he did not mean it.

The opposition BJP lashedout at Kumaraswamy over theissue and termed it “irresponsi-ble and nonsense”.

JD(S) worker H Prakash(50) was allegedly hacked todeath by four men in Maddurtown of Mandya district Mondayevening, police said. Theassailants stopped Prakash’s carwhen he was going home andhacked him to death withmachetes. Prakash was a formerZila Panchayat member.

Tension prevailed inMaddur and Mandya after theincident as people ‘gheraoed’ thepolice station demanding imme-diate arrest of the murderers.

Following the killing of hisparty man, Kumaraswamy pur-portedly gave instruction overphone, which was caught oncamera and went viral.

In the video, the CM is heardsaying that there were three

murders in the past before hecame to Bengaluru and he wasdisappointed with the police.

“I don’t know how you willhandle it (the case).. Because itwas your responsibility. I amactually disappointed because it(the murder) brought a badname. He (who was murdered)was a good person.. There is noproblem if you shoot such peo-ple mercilessly,” he said alludingto the alleged killers.

“I am least bothered (aboutthe consequences),” the CM wasfurther heard saying.

As he faced criticism,Kumaraswamy told reporters inVijayapura that he acted in a fitof rage as he knew the victim.

“It is beyond my imagina-tion that such a person can everbe killed. My words were only anemotional outburst, which I didnot mean,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy’soffice also issued a statement say-ing the comments were an “emo-tional reaction” to the incidentand not orders.The chief minis-ter recalled there were two mur-ders earlier in the locality andthat he had asked the police tobe careful as the accused in thecrime were released on bail. “..But no measures were taken. Ithink that police did not do theirduty properly,” he said. PTI

PTI n PATNA

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Tuesday paid a

moving tribute to formerPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee on his birth anniver-sary and said the late leaderwould always be rememberedfor art of successfully runninga coalition government.

Kmar said he relishedmemories of having workedwith Vajpayee as a ministerholding important portfolioslike Railway, Agriculture andSurface Transport and fondlyrecalled the love he alwaysshowered on me, something I would never be able to forget.

Atal ji shall always beremembered for the role heplayed in national politics andthe manner in which he upheldsocial harmony. I have per-sonal regard for him. I haveworked under his leadership asa ministerreceived his ashir-wad (love and blessings), hetold reporters on the sidelinesof a function organised here onthe occasion of the birthanniversary of Vajpayee whopassed away in August thisyear.

The positive manner inwhich he dealt with his alliancepartners is a memory to becherished. Even the dignitywith which he treated those in

the opposition used to be asight to behold, Kumar whoheads the Janata Dal (United)said.

He earned respect from allsegments of society. No otherpolitician has been able tomatch his popularity in therecent past. We have decided to

hold a state function every yearin his memory. A statue of hiswill also be erected in Patna forwhich a proper spot will beidentified, the Chief Ministeradded.

The function, held at theSri Krishna Memorial Hall,was attended among others by

Governor Lalji Tandon,Deputy CM Sushil KumarModi, Assembly Speaker VijayKumar Chaudhary, ministersNand Kishore Yadav, MangalPandey and Vinod Narain Jhaand a number of other mem-bers of the states bicameral leg-islature.

PTI n MIRZAPUR

Small parties should berespected and given due

importance by their biggerallies, Ashish Patel, nationalpresident of Apna Dal(S) party,a constituent of the BJP-ledNational Democratic Alliance(NDA), said on Tuesday.

He also cautioned the saf-fron party that a tie-up betweenthe Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)and the Samajwadi Party (SP)in Uttar Pradesh would pose achallenge to it in 2019 LokSabha election.

“We small parties, like theApna Dal(S), want somerespect to be shown to us. We,our leaders and workers feelhurt if due importance is notgiven to us,” Ashish Patel toldmediapersons here.

He added that his partywas not happy with the behav-iour of the BJP-led state gov-ernment with Union Ministerof State for Health AnupriyaPatel, also his wife.

The Apna Dal(S) chiefclaimed that she was not givenadequate importance and noteven invited for inaugurationsof medical colleges.

Ashish Patel’s remarkscome days after Rashtriya LokSamta Party (RSLP) ChiefUpendra Kushwaha walkedout of the NDA. He was upsetwith the BJP after it assertedthat the RLSP would not begiven more than two seats inthe 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Earlier in March, the TeluguDesam Party (TDP) ended itsfour-year-old alliance with theNDA over the Centre’s refusal togrant Special Category Status toAndhra Pradesh.

Asked how many seats hisparty would like to contest inin Uttar Pradesh in 2019 LokSabha election, Ashish Patelsaid it would be revealed whenthe time comes.

He asserted that the ApnaDal(S) had widened its baseduring the last five years.

The party’s candidatesAnupriya Patel and HarivanshSingh won from Mirzapur andPratapgarh respectively.

Responding to a question,Ashish Patel denied that theBJP’s defeats in the recentlyconcluded assembly polls inMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthanand Chhattisgarh had weak-ened the party.

Jaipur: A day after Cabinet for-mation, Rajasthan Congresschief Sachin Pilot Tuesday hint-ed at its expansion in nearfuture, saying several leaderswill be given a chance to work.

The statement comesamidst growing resentmentamong some senior Congressleaders who were apparentlyleft fuming after being deniedministerial berths in the newgovernment.

“Every division of the statehas been given representationin the Council of Ministers. Itwas the first expansion.Another expansion may hap-pen in sometime. Several peo-ple would be given a chance towork on various posts,” Pilottold reporters.

On Monday, 23 ministers,including 13 cabinet and 10

state ministers took oath in thepresence of Governor KalyanSingh, Chief Minister AshokGehlot and Deputy ChiefMinister Sachin Pilot.

A total of 18 fresh faceswere inducted in the state cab-inet even as senior leaders likeC P Joshi and Deependra Singhabstained from attending theceremony held at Raj Bhawan.

Various other senior lead-ers including Brijendra Ola,Parasram Mordiya, RajendraPareek, Mahesh Joshi were notinducted in the state cabinet.

Hours later, supporters ofCongress legislator from Kaman,Zahida Khan and legislator fromGuda Malani, Hema RamChaudhary took to the streetsand raised anti-government slo-gans for not giving their leadersa ministerial berth. PTI

Kota: A 40-year-old man has beenbooked for allegedly raping his 13-year-old daughter twice in twodays in Rajasthan’s Jhalawardistrict, police said on Tuesday.Based on a complaint by the girl, acase was filed against her father atwomen police station in Jhalawaron Monday under relevant sectionsof the Indian Penal Code (IPC) andProtection of Children from SexualOffences (POCSO) Act for allegedlyraping her, sub inspector (SI) andpolice station in-charge RameshChand Meroth said.According to the minor’scomplaint, she was first raped byher father on Saturday when theywere headed to her aunt’s home inSamrai village, he said.The girl alleged that her father tookher to a mustard village and rapedher. When she started crying andshouting, he threatened her withdire consequences, the SI said.The accused allegedly raped hisdaughter again on Sunday on theway to her maternal grandmother’splace in Chotaraipur village,Meroth said. PTI

Bus falls in pit; cleaner

dies; 24 children hurt

PTI n ALIGARH

In a fairy tale ending of a real-life story, a 17-year-old, men-

tally challenged girl, who hadgone missing in Kedarnathduring 2013 deluge there, hasbeen reunited with her familyin Aligarh after five years.

Elated over the return oftheir long-lost grand-daughterChanchal, her grandparentsparents Harish Chand andShakuntla Devi, residents ofBannadevi locality here, said,“This reunion is nothing shortof a miracle.”

Chanchal had gone toKedarnath on a pilgrimagewith her parents when thetragedy struck, sweeping awayher father, while her mother

returned home after some-time, Harish Chand told mediapersons here Monday.

Chanchal, then 12, wasfeared dead but some goodsamaritans handed her over toan orphanage in Jammu, saiddirector Gyanendra Mishra of

NGO Childline Aligarh whichhelped in bringing the girlhome.

For the last few months,the orphanage managementhad been observing that the girloften tried to communicatesomething about Aligarh citythrough her limited verbalskills, Mishra said.

They somehow got intouch with Aligarh city legis-lator Sanjiv Raja who thentook Mishra’s assistance.Mishra, in turn, managed toidentify the family of the lostgirl with the help of police, andrestored her to it.

Chachal still misses herlong-lost father Rajesh andkeeps remembering him,Harish Chand said.

Man booked forraping minordaughter in Raj

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pays tribute former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birth anniversary at SriKrishan Memorial hall in Patna on Tuesday PTI

Bigger allies shouldrespect small parties:NDA ally Apna Dal(S)

PTI n MATHURA

Swami Adhokshjanand DeoTirth Tuesday said Uttar

Pradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath and other leadershave vitiated the atmosphere inthe country by linking LordHanuman to various castesand communities.

He demanded that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andother top leaders of the BJPshould clear the party’s standand bar party functionariesfrom disrespectful remarksabout gods and goddesses.

The seer’s reaction cameafter Uttar Pradesh ReligiousAffair Minister Laxmi NarayanChaudhary dubbed LordHanuman as a Jat, saying likeJats, the deity never toleratedinjustice towards anybody, any-where.

The minister made theremark Friday after a Bharatiya

Janata Party Memeber ofLegislative Council (MLA)from the state, Bukkal Nawab,dubbed Lord Hanuman aMuslim on the ground that hisname rhymed with Islamicnames like Rahman, Arman,Qurban etc.

During an election rally inRajasthan, Adityanath hadtermed the deity a Dalit.

“On one side the BJP, fromtime to time, has been bring-ing up the Ram temple issueand on the other, its leaders aremaking absurd remarks onHindu gods and goddesses,hurting religious sentiments,”S h a n k a r a c h a r y aAdhokshajanand Deo Tirthsaid here.

“The Ram temple inAyodhya will be incompletewithout Lord Hanuman asRam had himself praisedHanumanji calling him likehis brother Bharat,” he said.

If the remark made byNawab has the BJP high-com-mand’s approval, “then theparty will have to get a mosqueconstructed for LordHanuman”, the seer said.

The chief minister hadhurt religious sentiments byterming Lord Hanuman aDalit, even as his office laterissued a clarification, claim-ing that Adityanath was mis-quoted, the shankaracharyasaid.

“Adityanath and other lead-ers’ remarks on Hanuman havevitiated the atmosphere in thecountry,” the seer said.

Lord Hanuman has beentermed a Jat, Thakur, a sports-man and even a Muslim, eventhough gods and goddessesare above caste and religion, hestated.

Uttar Pradesh SportsMinister and former cricketerChetan Chauhan had said on

Sunday that Hanuman was asportsperson.

However, he had dismissedhis party colleagues’ attempts atidentifying the deity’s casteand said gods don’t have castes.

The seer asked the BJP toclear its stand on the remarksand claimed no clarificationwas issued by the party on thestatements on Lord Hanuman.

“The silence by BJP high-er ups and RSS functionaries(on the remarks on LordHanuman) indicates that forthe BJP, the Ram temple is atool to garner votes,” he said,adding that the temple inAyodhya will be constructed byseers and dharmacharyas.

At a meeting held inVrindavan, the coordinator ofthe Mathura Nagar Nigam TaraChandra Goshwami also con-demned the remarks of BJPleaders on Hindu gods andgoddesses.

Nitish pays moving tribute to Vajpayee Karnataka CM lands incontroversy for his ‘shootmercilessly’ remarks

Artistes dressed up as cartoon characters, perform duringChristmas celebrations in Jaipur on Tuesday PTI

BJP must clear stand over remarks on Hanuman: Seer

Pilot hints at Cabinet expansionto accommodate miffed leaders

17-yr-old girl, gone missing in

Kedarnath, restored to family

Chanchal, then 12, was

feared dead but some

good samaritans

handed her over to an

orphanage in Jammu,

said director

Gyanendra Mishra of

NGO Childline Aligarh

which helped in

bringing the girl home

SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA

The Bell would perhapsnever have jingled for these

little “Christs” had this unpre-tentious Sadhu not made atimely intervention in theircarcinogenic existence. True,there is hardly a better way tocelebrate the birth of the Lordon the Christmas Day than pro-viding these little ones, afflict-ed by cancer, with winter hard-ware to fend off a biting cold.

Sevapeeth Matri Mandirthe Ashram run under theaegis of Swami Bedananda thisChristmas Day provided cancerafflicted children with rags,mosquito nets et al even as theseptuagenarian monk said “lifeblooms into a true Christmasonly when you serve the dis-tressed,” even as he advocatedthievery of virtue and shedding

of vise.Behind the veneer of his

nonchalance, reside deep philo-sophical thoughts. “If you real-ly have to steal something thensteal not conceit but compas-sion that transmits from theascetic eyes of Lord Buddha. Ifyou have to thieve a thing thenthieve the mystical smile fromRamakrishna Paramhansa’s lips.Convey kindness by your wordsand deeds and avoid dis-gruntlement. Be content withwhatever you have. Then onlyyou will have peace. And in a

peace of mind resides a peace-ful world,” said Bedanada whoshares his 9x9 nondescriptenclosure, with MotherGoddess Kali.

“I lost my mother when Iwas too young. She left me bin-ning all my humble desires tocuddle up her lap. So I decid-ed to quit my house and with-draw into this commonplaceroom to live with the Mother ofthe Universe. I sleep and rouse,eat and pray, laugh and chat --- all in this small room underthe benevolent sponsorship ofmy Mother,” the Sadhu preach-es in a common man’s idiomeven as a bevy of who’s whofrom the City of Joy --- king andthe king-maker, ruler and theruled, officer and the gentle-man, doctor and professor,teacher and the student ---make a beeline for his sermons.

The wiper of many tears

“Life blooms

into a true

Christmas only

when you serve

the distressed”


SADAIV ATAL...“Atalji was the foundation

of sushasan (good governance).He learnt the nuances of poli-tics from Deendayal Upadhyayand Syama Prasad Mukherjeeand became a symbol of trustin politics,” Adityanath said.Close on the heels, Bihar CMNitish Kumar who had servedunder Vajpayee as RailwayMinister, announced that hisGovernment will install a stat-ue of the former PrimeMinister in Patna. Though hedid not offer details on what the

height and cost of the statue aregoing to be, Nitish said a deci-sion on its location will betaken soon. Former PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhand family members ofVajpayee also offered flowers atthe lotus-shaped memorial.The BJP stalwart had a widepolitical acceptance not only inthe Hindi-heartland but acrosssouthern States too and con-sidered a moderate 'secular' BJPleader by Opposition parties.Though born in Gwalior,Madhya Pradesh, from where

he contested for the Lok Sabha,he played a bigger politicalinning in Uttar Pradesh.

BANK STRIKE...The move follows top

lender State Bank of India lastyear merging five of its sub-sidiary banks with itself andtaking over Bharatiya MahilaBank, catapulting it to amongthe top 50 global lenders. Onwage revision, NOBW VicePresident Ashwani Rana it isdue since November 2017. Sofar, Indian Banks' Association

(IBA) has offered 8 per centwage hike which is not accept-able to UFBU, he said.

FIRMS TO FACE...Meanwhile, companies in

the area have sought a meet-ing with senior Noida policeofficers for clarification on thematter, particularly on theclause that threatens to holdthem liable for violations ofthe order by employees.

"A few people had askedfor permission for religiousprayers in a park in Sector 58.

In spite of no permissiongranted from the city magis-trate, the office people con-gregated. The companies inthe area were informed aboutit. The information is notspecific to any particular reli-gion," said Noida's SeniorSuperintendent of Police, AjayPal Sharma. DistrictMagistrate BN Singh also sec-onded the views of the SSPand said the orders have been issued in accordance ofthe wish of the state administration.

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

Indian Naval Hospital Ship,INHS Sandhani was on

Monday commissioned atNaval Station Karanja at Uranin Raigad district at the handsof Vice Admiral Girish Luthra,Flag-Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western NavalCommand.

Surgeon Vice AdmiralAnup Banerji, DGMS (Navy)delivered the welcome addressand Mrs. Preeti Luthra,

President NWWA, WesternRegion, unveiled the commis-sioning plaque of the hospital.The Commissioning Warrantwas read by the firstCommanding Officer of thehospital, Surgeon Captain HBSChaudhry.

With the steady expansionof Naval Station Karanja, overthe last few decades, a need fora dedicated multi-specialty hos-pital was felt, in order to pro-vide quality healthcare to morethan 8,000 naval personnel and

their dependents, who reside atthe Karanja naval station.

The commissioning of this30-bedded hospital, with ateam of specialists in the fieldsof Medicine, Surgery,Gynecology, Pediatrics,Anesthesia and DentalSciences; will not only improvethe quality and speed of health-care delivery, but also obviatethe need for patients, includingthose with critical ailmentsand emergency cases, to trav-el by sea to Mumbai.

TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI

In a shocking incident that tookplace two days ahead of Christmas,

at least 12 worshippers were injured,when a group of vandals attackedthem during a Sunday mass withbeer bottles, hockey sticks and chop-pers at a Church at Kowad inChandwad taluka of Kolhapur dis-trict in western Maharashtra.

Reports reaching the State head-quarters said on Tuesday some “15to 20” unidentified attackers, whoarrived at the New Life FellowshipChurch at Chandwad in motor-bikes when the mass was on there onSunday, first hurled stones and beerbottles at the church for 20 to 30minutes and later barged inside theplace of worship.

There were in all 40 worshippersinside the church when the incidenttook place at around 11.30 – nearlyhalf an hour after the start of Sundayservice.

The attackers, who had coveredtheir faces to avoid being identified,smashed the heads of the worship-pers with empty beer bottles and alsohit them with hockey sticks, injur-ing at least a dozen of them. Most ofthe injured were mostly those whohad formed a protection ring arounda majority of worshippers soon afterthe vandals barged inside the church.

The Kolhapur police said that theinjured were admitted to a privatehospital at Belagavi in the neigh-bouring Karnataka, where eight weretreated and discharged and the con-dition of the remaining four was

reported to be “serious”. The seriouslyinjured are undergoing treatment inIntensive Care Unit (ICU).

Till Tuesday evening, theKolhapur police had not made anyarrests in connection with the attackon the church and worshippers.The investigations have revealedthat the attackers might have fled toneighbouring Belagavi city inKarnataka. "Our investigations haverevealed that after the church inci-dent, the same group of goonsattacked people in Talguli andDindalkop villages on their way toBelagavi," a senior police officer saidon Tuesday.

The police have launched amanhunt for the vandals by formingfour teams. “We have not arrestedany one so far,” the police officer said.

Meanwhile, the police have reg-istered offences against the unknownpersons under sections 143 (pun-ishment for unlawful assembly),146, 147 (rioting) 148 (Rioting,armed with deadly weapons, 295(injuring or defiling place of worshipwith intent to insult the religion ofany class), 323 ( punishment for vol-untarily causing hurt), 427(Mischief) and 452 (House trespassafter preparation for hurt, assault orwrongful confinement).

Though the motive behind theattack has not been established, theinvestigators suspect that right-wingactivists might have been the attack.“All the same, we are not ruling outanything, including the involve-ment of right-wing activists. We arelooking at all angles,” a senior police

officer investigating the case said.In a related development,

President of Indian Christian Voiceand former Vice Chairman-Minorities Commission Dr AbrahamMathai described the incident as“very unfortunate” that the churchand worshippers were attacked in avillage in Kolhapur district.

Talking to “The Pioneer”, Mathaisaid: “ I had warned the SupremeCourt about the possibility of attackson churches in the run-up to and dur-ing Christmas festivities. In fact, I hadwritten a letter to the Chief Justice ofIndia nearly a fortnight back, seekingwithdrawal of the privilege of burn-ing crackers till 12.30 am and ratherensure protection and safety ofChurches for Christmas. I had toldhim clearly that ChristianCommunity needs protection andsafety more than permissions toburn crackers on Christmas Eve”

“While we respect the ruling ofthe Supreme Court, the ruling willencourage the use of firecrackerswhich has not been part of theChristmas Celebration in the pastand will set a precedent which isadverse to the environment. Anarchicelements can also take advantage ofthe situation to discredit the peaceloving community,” Mathai said.

“Adequate security and elaborateprotection measures need to be putin place to protect Christian com-munity during this festive season andto deter communal goons fromattacking them and ultimately dis-rupting their prayer meetings,”Mathai said.

A plaque being unveiled marking the Commissioning of Indian Naval Hospital Ship, INHS Sandhani was on Mondaycommissioned at Naval Station Karanja at Uran in Raigad district at the hands of Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag-OfficerCommanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command Pioneer

Vandals attack church

in Kolhapur; 12 hurt

Naval hospital shipSandhani inducted

PTI n BENGALURU

Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo HDDeve Gowda Tuesday expressed disappoint-

ment at not being invited for the inaugurationof the country’s longest rail road bridge in Assamthough he had laid the foundation stone of it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesdayinaugurated the 4.9 km long bridge at Bogibeelacross Brahmaputra river, built at a cost of Rs5,900 crore. The foundation stone for the pro-ject was laid by Gowda when he was the primeminister in 1997.

“Railway line to Kashmir, Delhi Metro andBogibeel rail road bridge were among the pro-jects I had sanctioned (as prime minister). I hadsanctioned the budget of Rs 100 crore for eachof these projects and laid their foundation stones.People have forgotten today,” Gowda said.

Replying to a question from reporters on thesidelines of a function here as to how he felt aboutthe inauguration of the project started by him,the former prime minister said he had given thenod for many projects.

To a question whether he received an invi-tation, Gowda quipped, “Aiyo Rama! Who willremember me? Some newspapers might havementioned about it.”

On the enormous delay in completing theproject, he said, “That is where I differ. I com-pleted the Hassan-Mysuru project in 13 months.I completed two bridges on time. Anagwadibridge (across Ghataprabha). Go and see thebridge on Krishna river.

“Some people from Bombay Karnatakaregion say that Deve Gowda did not do anything(for the north Karnataka region), go and see it,”he added.

Deve Gowda disappointedat being left out ofBogibeel bridge Inaugural

“Aiyo Rama! Who will remember

me? Some newspapers might

have mentioned about it”

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n

KOCHI/CHENNAI

Wednesday evening willsee people in the three

southern States of Kerala,Karnataka and Tamil Nadulighting millions of lamps(Ayyappa Jyothi) as a mark ofsolidarity with the devotees ofLord Ayyappa who are engagedin a battle of nerves with theGovernment of Kerala overthe entry of women in the childbearing age to the holy shrineof Sabarimala.

A Constitution Bench ofthe Supreme Court had ruledon September 28 that womenof all ages should be allowed toworship at the Lord AyyappaTemple at Sabarimala atop theWestern Ghats in Kerala. Thedevotees of Lord Ayyappa areupset over the verdict and hadrequested women devotees inthe 10 to 50 age group not tomake it to the temple.

But the CPI-M led KeralaGovernment, in its anxiety toimplement the court order has

made elaborate securityarrangements for facilitatingthe entry of women to the tem-ple, where women had beendenied entry as per age old tra-dition.

“This Ayyappa Jyothi isan effort to lead Kerala to aworld of light. There is anattempt to destroy the plurali-ty and diversity of the templesin Kerala and the Ayyapa Jyothiis an attempt to expose thismission as well as an offeringto the God with a prayer toinculcate good thoughts in themind of the powers that be,”said Swamy Chidanandapuri,head, Advaitha Ashram and thechief patron of the SabarimalaKarma Samithi.

He pointed out that it wasfor the Acharya Dharma Sabha,Thantric, Vedic andAstrological scholars to studythe need to make changes inthe Agama Saasthras and takea final decision. “Why only onereligion has been singled out bythe authorities in the name ofreformation while they are

reluctant to make any com-ment on the goings on in otherreligions? That is not fair andit is against secularism,” said theSwamiji, described as spiritualleader of the Hindus in theState.

Govind Bharathan, seniorlawyer, Kerala High Court andone of the prominent faces of

Sabarimala Karma Samithidescribed the Ayyappa Jyothias a unique event. “Besices the795 km stretch from Mangalorein Karnataka to Kanyakumariin Tamil Nadu, many districtsin these three States will lightup Ayyappa Jyothi. We willrecite “Swamy Saranam” whiledoing so and there will be nospeeches or slogans,” saidBharathan.

He said that not a singlewoman devotee had come toSabarimala on their own tillTuesday evening. “Thosewomen who came toSabarimala were all activistswho had declared that theywere undertaking the trip onlyto shatter the convention andtradition. They were all self-proclaimed atheists and non-believers,” said Bharathan.Wedneday will see the 41st dayof this year’s festival and theAyyappa Jyothi is expected toadd splendour to it.

Swamy Chidanandapurilambasted the efforts by a sec-tion of the society to portray

the denial of rights to womenfor worshipping at Sabarimalaas part of casteism. “Accordingto custom and tradition invogue in Sabarimala, womenare not allowed here. Pleaseunderstand that this is theonly holy shrine situated deepinside a forest and there are sci-entific reasons behind thiscustom,” said Swamiji.

“There are many SupremeCourt verdicts which weredelivered earlier to theSabarimala case. But the KeralaGovernment’s anxiety to imple-ment this particular verdict isdubious,” said PrayarGopalakrishnan, Congressleader and former president ofTravancore Devaswam Board.

Meanwhile, the CPI-M ledGovernment is working over-time to make the proposedWomen’s Wall on January 1 amajor success. Hectic activitiesare on to light up AyyappaJyothi in temples acrossChennai, according to KAsokan and Pravin Pillai, devo-tees and activists.

Ayyappa Jyothi to lead Kerala to world of lightBUT THE CPI-M LED

KERALA GOVERNMENT,

IN ITS ANXIETY TO

IMPLEMENT THE COURT

ORDER HAS MADE

ELABORATE SECURITY

ARRANGEMENTS FOR

FACILITATING THE

ENTRY OF WOMEN TO

THE TEMPLE, WHERE

WOMEN HAD BEEN

DENIED ENTRY AS PER

AGE OLD TRADITION

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Devotees offer prayers during the Christmas mass at All Saint Cathedral church in Allahabad on Tuesday PTI

KUMAR CHELLAPPAN n

CHENNAI

Song of Solomon (7:11) withslight change is going to be

the theme of the campaign ofthe DMK for the upcoming LokSabha elections. The song“Come, my beloved, let us go thecountryside ..” has been slight-ly altered to suit the changed sit-uation. “Let us go to the peo-ple, Let us speak to the people,Let us win the hearts of the peo-ple” would be party chief Stalin'stheme song of the campaign forDMK’s 2019 Lok Sabha election.DMK leaders will tour all thevillages in the State and willleave no stones un-turned in therun up to the 2019 election. Thiswas announced by M K Stalin,party president, after a day-longmeeting with the district leveloffice bearers and constituen-cies-in-charge of the DMK onMonday. Though the electionCommission has notannounced the schedule of the

Lok Sabha polls, the DMKwould launch the massive out-reach programme on January 3, 2019 from Thiruvarur, thehome constituency of late MKarunanidhi, the party’s formerpresident who breathed his lastin August his year.

The assembly election 2016has seen Stalin, who was thethen working president of theparty leading “We ForOurselves” campaign in whichhe interacted with people in allthe 234 assembly constituenciesin Tamil Nadu. Though theDMK could not unseat the rul-ing AIADMK from power, theparty put up a spirited fight andwon 89 seats. Stalin plans torelaunch the outreach pro-gramme from where he left it in2016. But this time, party lead-ers too would chip in because itis difficult for the partry leaderhimself to attend the GramaSabha like meetings planned inall the 12,617 panchayaths in the State.

‘Let's Go To Villages’ is DMK's

new Song of Solomon

The Supreme Court last weekdelivered its judgement on theissue of whether a probe to lookinto the Rafale controversyneeds to be constituted or not.

In its decision, the court stated that it doesnot think that the matter, as arguedbefore it, requires any intervention. WhileI cannot speak for the petitioners in thecase that was filed before the SupremeCourt in this matter, the Congress has con-sistently maintained its stand that theappropriate forum for an examination ofthe issues raised against the Rafale deal isnot the Supreme Court but a JointParliamentary Committee (JPC). In thisweek’s article, I will briefly speak about howthe Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) attemptsto claim the decision of the top court as“clean chit” is unfounded and ill-advised.

At the outset, it is imperative to statethat the apex court, while passing its order,stated clearly that its decision is from thestandpoint of the exercise of jurisdictionof the Supreme Court under Article 32 ofthe Constitution of India. This examina-tion by the apex court, as I am sure theGovernment fully knows, is limited to theextent that the court, under its Article 32jurisdiction, cannot summon/examine allthe relevant file notings, examine witness-es on oath and have the Prime Ministerand Defence Minister answer questions onpropriety. As stated by the Supreme Courtitself, there are broadly three issues that theSupreme Court was required to examine,(1) the process of procurement of theRafale jets from Dassault Aviation; (2) theissue of pricing of the jets; and (3) the selec-tion of Anil Ambani as the offset partnerfor Dassault Aviation.

All of these issues and the allegationsagainst the Government warrant andrequire a thorough examination. Only adetailed examination of the deal, as is beingdemanded by the Congress and increas-ingly by the people of the country, can helpactually determine whether there was anyinstance of wrongdoing. Therefore, theclaim of the BJP that the decision of theSupreme Court on the basis of the limit-ed information placed before the courtconstitutes a clean chit from it is a little far-fetched. Separately, the essential questionbefore the BJP is whether a limited exam-ination and an absolute clean chit can gohand in hand?

One would think it couldn’t becausea limited examination and an unequivo-cal clean chit are a contradiction in terms.The Finance Minister and industrialistAnil Ambani of course believe otherwise,judging by the statements that we haveseen in the few days since the pronounce-ment of the decision of the court. It wasfairly poetic that within a few hours of thejudgement, the BJP was forced to curb itsenthusiasm and answer some uncomfort-

able questions because of anespecially troubling paragraphin the judgement of the apexcourt, which stated that as perthe Centre, the pricing details,with respect to the Rafale jets,were shared with theComptroller and AuditorGeneral (CAG) and that thereport was examined by thePublic Accounts Committee(PAC). This was a shock to theCongress as the PACChairman Mallikarjun Khargereceived no such copy of thereport.

In a situation, franklyapproaching the absurd, theGovernment of India thenmoved an application beforethe Supreme Court saying thatthe statement of the Centrehad been “misunderstood”because of a grammatical error,and stated that in fact the PAChad never actually examinedthis report. The convenience ofthe explanation aside, the rel-evant question that must beasked is: How much of thisobfuscation the Governmentengaged in while presenting itsarguments before the SupremeCourt?

At the end of the day, theSupreme Court only examinedthe questions posed by it froma limited perspective andplaced reliance on the state-ments of the Government onface value to some extent. Butnow this recent ‘gaffe’, whichappears to be a slender ‘fig leaf ’,clearly raises questions about

the authenticity and honestywith which this Governmenthas approached the court andplaced facts before it. TheGovernment could argue thatthe public should trust it toplace authentic facts before thecourt and that its statementsshould be taken at face value.However, the Government’stactics of obfuscation as evi-denced through its entire termdo not inspire any trust.

So, in light of the limitedexamination of the SupremeCourt and the manner inwhich it has been misled by theGovernment, the question thatarises is what is the best wayforward to deal with this entireepisode? While this may comeas a surprise to the readers, Iwould actually like to offer theGovernment a word of adviceto help them get out of thismess: Sunlight is the best dis-infectant.

At the end of the day, theGovernment has been posedwith some uncomfortablequestions and, therefore, theBJP must come forward andanswer these three questionsand expose the present Rafalecontroversy to the requireddisinfectant of proper scrutiny:

i) If there is nothing tohide, why not constitute aJPC?

ii) If the new Rafale jets areindeed cheaper, why did theGovernment only purchase36 as opposed to the originalrequirement of 126?

iii) Why doesn’t the PrimeMinister hold a press confer-ence and answer questions onthe deal from journalists?

Of these questions, thequestion as to why a JPCshould not be constituted, isperhaps the most pertinent.The Finance Minister’sresponse to this question wasthat Parliament cannot ques-tion the judgment of the high-est court of the land. Thisseems like a convenient excuse.

For starters, the SupremeCourt itself has stated that thisis only a limited examinationand, therefore, there appears tobe prohibition on a JPC to lookinto the matter in greaterdetail. Further, when the BJPwas in the Opposition, it insist-ed on a JPC on the 2G case andthe Bofors matter as well.Then what according to theFinance Minister makes theRafale deal so special?

It is, therefore, apparentthat if the BJP wants to get thisRafale-shaped monkey off itsback, it will have to ultimate-ly relent and allow for a thor-ough examination of the deal.While the Government maywish to dream away its prob-lems or throw insults at theOpposition to discourage anddissuade these uncomfortablequestions, it must be awarethat at some point it will beexposed to sunlight.

(The writer is JharkhandPCC president, former MP andIPS officer. Views are personal)

Though a tad late, winters have finally

arrived and a cold wave is sweeping

much parts of the country, affecting all

and sundry, but discriminatorily. For the well

off, these conditions may just be a matter

of inconvenience. Some can win the war

against cold by using room heaters, not

minding the heavy electricity bills, or by

adding more layers of woolens to keep them-

selves warm. For the poor though, extreme

weather conditions always spell trouble —

be it harsh winters or scorching summers.

There is far little comfort for the poor, who

spend most nights sleeping on rough Indian streets, pavements, abandoned drain-

pipes, temple staircases and what not. Not to forget, there are others, too, with

unseen and untold miseries. This time round, though no cold wave deaths have

been reported as yet, the sheer number of people taking refuge in shelter homes

speaks volumes about homelessness. Consequences far outweigh the poor being

just under the grip of cold. It’s the profound effect of poverty, joblessness and

declining physical and mental health that act as a potent mix for cold wave deaths.

It’s not as if the situation is inevitable. In fact, it is totally avoidable but for

the lack of a comprehensive strategy to tackle homelessness. Despite the sheer

number of welfare schemes, only a few sections benefit actually on the ground

level. Compared to other States, though Delhi has fared much better in provid-

ing rainbaseras to the homeless, it is a travesty that there are few takers, the

reason being that the shelter homes with inhuman conditions have become a

place for endless indignities. Besides having to do with the filthy conditions, the

homeless also run the risk of falling prey to pick-pockets or becoming victims

of theft from their very own peers. Worse, those among the homeless like migrant

labourers, earning their bread and butter doing menial jobs like working at con-

struction sites, also have to share the space with drug addicts and hardened

criminals. The only saving grace then is that there are a few civil society groups

and other people who have been doing their bit by providing them with food and

woollens that thankfully reach the intended beneficiaries. While this may be the

case in Delhi, the same may not be true in other States which lack in providing

a roof for the homeless, even at the expense of flouting Supreme Court orders.

As the cold wave now takes a toll on the toxic air we breathe, with a thicker layer

of smog engulfing the atmosphere, there is little hope that we can save ourselves

from the worsening situation. Until, of course, the Government, as well as the

people wake up to the shameful reality and do their bit by acting responsibly.

Let us get one thing straight, it is not

easy being Rahul Gandhi. To have lost

your grandmother and your father to

highly publicised assassinations is not

something that anyone can even empathise

with. But to then enter the political picture

in India and immediately be portrayed as

a ‘Clown Prince’ and a pappu (idiot) by the

Opposition and doing yourself no favours

by slips of the tongue (far too many) and

being painted as an arrogant capo of the

Lutyens mafia, must have taken a person-

al toll. It says a lot about Rahul Gandhi that he brushed aside the insults and

innuendoes and even embraced his image as a pappu, with Congressmen them-

selves spreading ‘Pappu Pass Ho Gaya’ stickers on WhatsApp after the State

election results a few weeks back. Of course, there is no doubt that a rejuve-

nated Congress is good for Indian democracy, but it should be noted that a

series of missteps by the Bharatiya Janata Party and severe anti-incumben-

cy had their roles to play in the Congress’ recent electoral success. But 2019

will be a different dilemma altogether for Rahul Gandhi and a very different chal-

lenge from the one that Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces. Rahul Gandhi

has to play the unifying force of a disparate group of political characters from

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to Bahujan Samaj Party supre-

mo Mayawati, many of whom harbour their own ambitions of becoming the

Prime Minister. One thing is certain: It is becoming increasingly difficult to pre-

dict who will occupy 7, Lok Nayak Marg come end-May 2019.

Frankly, this was not predictable this time last year as Rahul Gandhi ascend-

ed to the top post of the Congress. He was back then still pappu and por-

trayed as someone born with a big, fat silver spoon in his mouth. But he

has managed to dispel that notion through a combination of diligent work,

smart electoral strategy and allowing the Congress to swallow some pride

when it comes to allies. There is no doubt that some of the allegations that

he has made might not stick to Narendra Modi, notably questions on the

Rafale deal, but to his credit, he single-handedly made it an issue which caught

the Government off-guard. Rahul Gandhi has realised that Modi and Amit

Shah are politicians who can fight on the offensive but fail miserably on defen-

sive strategy, again the Rafale deal being a case in point. The Congress and,

indeed, Rahul Gandhi’s strategy of painting Modi as financially, morally and

ethically corrupt is working, but it might not work fast enough to defeat the

BJP at the hustings. However, some of the mud is certainly sticking. With

Modi disavowing intellectual talent in his Cabinet and elsewhere in the

Government along with avoiding any critical media, more and more mud is

sticking. This, coupled with a denial of obvious disasters like Demonetisation,

makes the BJP vulnerable in 2019, not something that anyone predicted

between 2014-17. Indeed, some even believed that India’s version of a thou-

sand-year Reich was upon it. But much like that Reich, this one might also

be hoist by its own petard. It remains to be seen if Rahul Gandhi will be the

fourth generation of his storied family to govern India. Some of the disparate

alliances he might have to form are with people who either dislike him or

out and out hate him. Will the recent defeats mellow down the BJP when it

comes to its allies and potential partners, and will Modi realise that his first

term might become his only term if he doesn’t use his last 10 weeks in office

before the elections are announced to do something significant that does-

n’t involve a temple? But 2018 has certainly seen the coming of age of pappu.

Pappupedia, a pejorative website run by BJP surrogates, might indeed need

an update or two, come 2019.

‘Pappu Pass Ho Gaya’

If 2019 will be the year that defines Rahul Gandhi as a politician, 2018 will be remembered as the

year he became comfortable in his skin

Out in the cold

Electoral politics

Sir — This refers to the editorial,“Genuinely Silly Tax” (December18). It is a fact that the Goods andServices Tax (GST) is posingproblems both to the people andbusinesses. A uniform lower ratefor all products, including fuel,under GST will be a better option.The Congress has been asking fora cut in GST rates for a long time.It is obvious that with the gener-al election just around the corner,the BJP is resorting to politics ofcompulsion.

Najmul HudaMumbai

Hold banks accountable

Sir — This refers to the article,“Business plan for the banking sec-tor” (December 22) by SudhansuR Das. If banks continue to getcapital (easy money) from theGovernment, without much fussto carry on their operations, whywould they change their dailyoperating procedures, strengthentheir working capital and improvetheir project finance creditappraisal system? Until theGovernment makes the banks

accountable for every single pennythey lend, the exchequer’s moneywill keep going down the drain.

Bal GovingNoida

Half-hearted reform

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Genuinely Silly Tax”(December 18). The

Government’s decision to slashGST rates for 23 items is wel-come; though it has an eye on the2019 Lok Sabha poll. While thereis some amount of relief for theconsumers, a lot more needs to bedone. Most important of all,fuels must be brought under theambit of GST. The loss of revenueto this effect can be compensat-ed by better compliance andhigher turnovers that will come

as an outcome of this step thatwill also boost the economy.

Mahesh KumarVia email

Wait for the right time

Sir — This refers to the editor-ial, “Federal Express” (December25). Trinamool Congress chiefMamata Banerjee and TRS pres-

ident K Chandrasekhar Rao,the doyens of politics, havesomething in common. This iswhy they have joined hands tofight the two mainstream parties— the Congress and the BJP.

The federal front, as pro-posed by the leaders, is soon tobecome a reality. Rumours aredoing the rounds that otherpolitical parties, albeit min-nows, too would be roped intothe federal front. But how farwill the regional parties succeedin their efforts would be any-body’s guess. Banerjee is a localleader with a national stature.She has all the requisite charis-matic leadership qualities. KCR,though a political figure who isnot so alluring as Banerjee, is aman with shrewd ideas.

What is intriguing isBanerjee’s hasty attempt to cob-ble a coalition from scratch tosomehow defeat the prospectsof the two national parties. So,what has kept up their sleeve willonly be unfolded at the righttime. Let us all keep our fingerscrossed.

TK Nandanan Chennai

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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op nionLUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018

08

Clutching at straws

AJOY KUMAR

While the Government may wish to dream away its problems or throw insults at the Opposition

to run away from uncomfortable questions, it will be exposed at some point of time

The solution for air pol-lution is a holistic planwhere individuals have totake part — start usingpublic transport — lessuse of cars.

Delhi Chief Minister—Arvind Kejriwal

US pulling out troops fromAfghanistan will embolden ter-rorist outfits. India should dealstrongly with Pakistan as far astraining camps and terroristlaunchpads are concerned.

Former J&K DGP—K Rajendra Kumar

What I do or how I think,I am not going to take abanner and explain thatthis is who I am and youneed to like me or stufflike that.

Indian skipper—Virat Kohli

Content of a filmdecides its budget. Ifyour content is strongand if your audience isable to connect with itthen, it will do well.

Actor —Rajkummar Rao

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

A case against surveillance

This refers to the editorial, “Snooping silently”(December 24). The Centre’s blanket surveillanceorder was in contravention of the Supreme

Court’s landmark ruling, holding the right to priva-cy as a fundamental right. The Ministry of HomeAffairs order vesting 10 Central agencies with thepower to snoop on computers and phones of citizenswill institutionalise surveillance. It is evident from thewording of the order — “to intercept, monitor anddecrypt any information generated, transmitted,received or stored in any computer” — that it isamenable to be used indiscriminately.

As ordinary people, we cherish our privacy andfind the retrieval of our personal data from our com-puters dehumanising. Moves like this cumulativelynudge the country to slide into a surveillance state.We cannot allow the Government to trample on rightsand freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution in its

bid to create the facade of a strong state. Since theright to privacy is inalienable, inviolable and para-mount, the Government should rescind its snoopingorder forthwith.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

WHEN THE BJPWAS IN THE

OPPOSITION, ITINSISTED ON

JPCs ON THE 2GAND BOFORSISSUES. SO,

WHATACCORDING TO

THE FINANCEMINISTER

MAKES THERAFALE DEAL

ANY DIFFERENT?

People sleeping on Indian streets is the shameful reality we may have to live with unless we act soon

As 2018 comes to a close, it willbe pertinent to look back andsee how the year fared, politi-

cally. The year was especially impor-tant because it taught a few lessons topolitical parties of all shades. Until afew months back, no one expresseddoubts about Prime MinisterNarendra Modi coming back to powerin 2019. But now, it looks like the nextgeneral election will no more be acake-walk for the Prime Minister.More importantly, the Bharatiya JanataParty’s (BJP) juggernaut was haultedduring the year, at least temporarily,giving a jolt to the Modi Governmentand the BJP in particular.

The saffron party’s defeat beganwith it losing the battle in Karnataka.Its deafeat in the just concluded

Assembly polls in Rajasthan,Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh,that for long remained the rulingparty’s bastion, dealt a further blow,making it clear that the Prime Ministerwas no longer invincible. Besides,results to these three Hindi heartlandStates also showed that the BJP couldnot escape anti-incumbency even in itsbastions.

Second, post the Congress’ victo-ry in these States, its electoral fortunesare said to be looking up. Congress chiefRahul Gandhi and his party receiveda major boost after registering impres-sive wins in Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh and Chhattisgarh. RahulGandhi emerged as a leader in his ownright. The Grand Old Party has nowbecome the biggest party in relativelyfive large States — Karnataka, Punjab,Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and MadhyaPradesh. So, the idea of a ‘Congress-mukt bharat’ is no longer a reality. TheCongress has also shown that it hasstrong regional leaders in these States.

The tide began to turn fromDecember 2017, when the BJP won bya narrow majority in Gujarat. Then in

May 2018, the Congress, in its bid tostop the Saffron Party’s surge, surpris-ingly backed the Janata Dal (Secular)JD(S) to form the Government inKarnataka. The efforts of the Congressproved that coalition could well be thebest bet for the Opposition.

The picture of senior Oppositionleaders, which included UPA chairper-son Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi,former Prime Minister Deve Gowda,Bahujan Samaj Party supremoMayawati, Trinamool Congress chiefMamata Banerjee and Rashtriya LokDal president Ajit Singh among others,joining hands during JDS leader HDKumaraswamy’s swearing-in ceremo-ny, flaunting a ‘show of unity’, wastelling. Since then, Rahul Gandhi andthe once-dithering Congress, appear tobe more focused and consistent. Postthis development, the Opposition hasbeen making efforts to forge a commonanti-BJP front for the 2019 polls.

Third, the BJP’s alliances areshowing signs of strain. Most of itsallies have voiced concerns about theparty’s ‘big brother’ attitude. Someeven abandoned the NDA fold dur-

ing the year. Most important ofthem all was the Telugu DesamParty’s (TDS) decision to breakalliance with the NDA in March.Bihar’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party,(RLSP) led by Upendra Kushwaha,was the latest one to quit. What’sworse is that both leaders have nowjoined the Congress’ ranks. What wasalso strange was the tie-up betweenthe Congress and the TDP in theAssembly elections in Telangana.The two parties remained bitterrivals ever since the 1980s.

Earlier in year, the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP)-BJP experi-ment in Jammu & Kashmir, too, col-lapsed, thus proving that unnaturalalliances cannot work in Indian poli-tics for long. The BJP lost the supportof Jitan Ram Manjhi’s HindustaniAwam Morcha in Bihar. On top of that,the Shiv Sena has been threatening toquit the alliance in Maharashtra. PawanKalyan’s Jana Sena also quit in AndhraPradesh. The Congress, on the otherhand, did the unthinkable by joininghands with the TDP and the JD(S).

Fourth, today, the BJP and its allies

are ruling in seven States. This is indeeda big change from the earlier days whenthe Congress ruled the ‘seven sisters’ forlong. The BJP has proved that it hasbecome a pan national party by spread-ing its wings in the west, east and cen-tral India, besides having roots inKarnataka. The North-East has becomeCongress-mukt now.

Fifth, agrarian crisis has led tomore than 3,00,000 suicides amongfarmers in the last 20 years. The BJP isin denial mode even after suffering elec-toral loses in some States. Agrarian cri-sis is going to be one of the biggestissues in the 2019 polls. The partyshould have taken note of it when30,000 farmers came knocking at thedoors of the national capital in October-November. Few of their demandsincluded unconditional loan waiver,implementation of the recommenda-tions of the MS SwminathanCommission, et al — a demandignored by successive Governments.The Opposition as well as the rulingdispensation will have to come up witha new narrative. Farm loan waivers arenot an answer to their problems. More

innovative solutions are needed.Sixth, the issue of demonetisation

and Goods and Services Tax (GST),too, needs to be addressed. It is clearthat the former hit the people hard.Even two years after demonetisation,the informal and agricultural sectors aresuffering. Demonetisation also result-ed in job losses and a decrease in labourforce participation rate.

Seventh, Mayawati cannot beignored politically. The year 2019 willsee more and more parties runningafter her for alliance.

Eighth, national parties have notbeen able to defeat regional satraps, aswas proved by the Telangana RashtraSamithi (TRS) chief K ChandrashekharRao. Also, the BJP has not been able toexpand its base in the south. The year2019 will show how much the politi-cal parties will address the lessons learntin 2018. It will be visible in the pollresults but both the NDA and the UPAneed to move from the existingmachinery and build a new narrativeto woo the voters.

(The writer is a senior political com-mentator)

Terror drones: A matter of time

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018

I FAVOUR TAKING CARE OF COMMON PEOPLE AND THE

GOVERNMENT WILL FOLLOW ITS DUTY TO DO SO AS

WELL. CHALIYE PUDUCHERRY KO VANAKAM.

—PRIME MINISTER

NARENDRA MODI

VANAKAM PUDUCHERRY, THAT’S MODI’S ANSWER

TO THE STRUGGLING MIDDLE CLASS. BJP-VETTED

QUESTIONS IS A SUPERB IDEA.

—CONGRESS PRESIDENT

RAHUL GANDHI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

As head of Scotland Yard’sCounter Terrorism Commandbetween 2011 and 2016, I

looked in some depth at the threatposed by drones during the London2012 Olympic Games. It was clear tous then that it was one of the poten-tial scenarios we faced — for instancea Fathers 4 Justice drone coming intothe stadium.

A comprehensive report by theCombating Terrorism Center in theUnited States set out in 2016 howdrones have been used in the terror-ist context for a number of years,including by the Hizbullah and theIslamic State.

At the time when the report waspublished, I had said that this has tobe one of the biggest concerns for theWest, because sooner or later, terror-ists will use it here. It was always aquestion of when,not if. But dronesare a very difficult threat in a civil-ian context, and there is sadly nofoolproof solution.

In relation to this, many peopleare asking this question: Why thedrone can’t just be shot down?Unfortunately, it’s not that straight-forward. If a marksman were toshoot a drone down and its debriswere to kill someone, potentially theofficer could then face a manslaugh-ter charge.

Over a runway, of course, thechances of it landing on anybody areremote but you’ve still got the chal-lenge of a marksman hitting such afast-moving object, which is not easy.Jamming electronic signals works insome cases but that’s not always thecase. It would also jam everythingelse in the vicinity.

There are also net systems thatcan catch and immobilise drones,which, however, depends on being inproximity to them.

These difficulties aside, theGovernment should have been muchmore vigilant to this threat. Clearly,for example, there needs to be moreeffective deterrents. A five-yearprison sentence for endangeringaircraft or breaching the restrictionson operating drones is not enough.It should be a 20-year sentence.Those who use drones for maliciouspurposes need to know that they aregoing to be hit hard with lengthy jailsentences.

The Civil Aviation Authority(CAA) itself admitted that rulesand regulations around drone use are‘evolving’ but this is the state of playat the moment: Drones are classifiedas “unmanned aircraft.” The CAAwas keen to point out that they aremost certainly a type of aircraft and“not toys.” This, because lands man-

aged for public enjoyment and bio-diversity are not appropriate placesfor their use. There are concerns, too,that the legal 50m distance and fullcontrol cannot be guaranteed. If yourdrone weighs over 20kg then it’s onlylegal to use it in certified “dangerareas” such as Parc Aberporth aero-drome in West Wales.

Those using a drone weighingless than 20kg for commercial use —receiving payment of any sort — arerequired to seek permission from theCAA. To get permission, you willhave to show that you are “sufficient-ly competent”. This is less clear-cutthan for manned aircraft, wherethere is a well-established licensingprocedure. If your drone is under20kg and you’re not using it for com-mercial reasons, you still have somerules to follow.

i) Anyone filming with a dronefor their own purposes must avoidflying it within 150 metres of a con-gested area and 50 metres of a per-son, vessel, vehicle or structure notunder the control of the pilot.

ii) You will also need to fly theaircraft within sight. This means youcan’t go above 400ft in altitude orfurther than 500 metres horizontal-ly. If you want to exceed that limit,you’ll again need to seek explicit per-mission from the CAA.

I also know that pilots have beenasking for a five kilometre exclusionzone for drones around airports.They should have been given that.

It was too long before the droneflying above Gatwick was seen as anational major incident and treatedaccordingly, and it was too longbefore the Whitehall machine gotinvolved. If a drone is near any crit-ical national infrastructure, it should

be treated as a major incident. I’msurprised there wasn’t a ministerialCobra meeting within six hours.From the outset, it was clear that itwould cause chaos.

Two people have been arrestedin connection with the criminal useof drones which has caused wide-spread disruption to flights at theGatwick Airport. Sussex Police saidthe people were arrested just after10pm on the night of December 21.

Superintendent James Collis ofSussex Police said: “Our investiga-tions are still ongoing, and ouractivities at the airport continue tobuild resilience to detect and miti-gate further incursions from dronesby deploying a range of tactics.

“We continue to urge the public,passengers and the wider communi-ty around Gatwick to be vigilant andsupport us by contacting us imme-diately if they believe they have anyinformation that can help us inbringing those responsible to justice.

“The arrests we have made thisevening are a result of our determi-nation to keep the public safe fromharm, every line of inquiry willremain open to us until we are con-fident that we have mitigated furtherthreats to the safety of passengers.”

No more details about the sus-pects were released. Anyone with anyinformation was asked to call andcooperate with the police.

Unfortunately, we are now like-ly to see ‘copycat’ incidents. And theease with which a major UK aviationhub was brought to a standstill willnot have escaped the attention of ter-rorist groups who will be wondering,Why they have not tried usingdrones before? Ministers who arescrambling to protect Britain against

potential “copy-cats” drone attacksfear that the chaos at Gatwick couldbe replicated at other transport hubsacross the country.

Whitehall sources said theauthorities were “very concerned”about attempts to repeat the paral-ysis at Britain’s second busiest air-port, which saw around 140,000 pas-sengers delayed, and were takingurgent steps to safeguard othersagainst the threat.

Gavin Williamson, the UKDefence Secretary, who is amongministers liaising with authoritiesand airport chiefs, told The SundayTelegraph: “The Armed Forces standready to assist the civilian authori-ties whenever they are required.”

This is not just an airport issue,it is a threat issue which needs to beseen in the broadest context. There islittle in place to stop these dronesfrom being flown over DowningStreet or Buckingham Palace or otherhighly sensitive areas. Also, they canbe used to drop anything from greatheights, including explosives.We sawa chaotic response to this incidentbecause drones are a relatively a newthreat and no single organisationbelieves that it is their responsibilityto respond to the threat they pose.

When something like this hap-pens, where hundreds of thousandsof people are affected, there is a lotof serious economic damage. No onehas died as a result but there is a hugeamount of impact on the nation. It’sa serious major incident, which wasunfortunately not treated as such.

(Richard Walton is Director ofCounter Terrorism Global Ltd.Matthew Sparkes is Deputy Head ofTechnology )

(Courtesy: The Telegraph)

The year of a few hits and misses

Following the criminal use of drone attack which created widespread disruption at the GatwickAirport, it has now become a question of when, not if, UAVs will be used by terrorists

The year 2018 was the most crucial for political parties as they learnt a few hard lessons. Next year, however, will see them

battle for the top office. Parties need to move from the existing machinery and build a new narrative to woo voters

The Kurds are like Kleenex. You use them, and then you throw

them away. The Kurds of Syria are now frantically digging

trenches around their cities and towns just south of the Turkish

border, because Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan said this

week that US President Donald Trump gave a “positive response”

to his plan for an invasion of Kurdish-controlled territory in Syria.

On Wednesday, Trump confirmed it by announcing that he will

pull all US troops out of Syria within 30 days. Erdogan would

have invaded long ago if the US Army and Air Force were not pro-

tecting the Syrian Kurds, but at that time the US depended heav-

ily on the Kurds in its campaign to eliminate the Islamic State. IS

controlled the eastern third of Syria, and from 2015 on it was the

Kurdish ‘People’s Protection Units’ (YPG) who provided most of

the ground troops for that campaign. There were some 2,000 US

troops in eastern Syria too, but it was the Kurds who bore the

brunt of the fighting and the casualties. Indeed, a principal role

of the US forces was to deter Turkey from attacking the Kurds,

because Turkey, at war with its own big Kurdish minority, strong-

ly opposed the Syrian Kurds’ ambition for independence.

But now Islamic State has been destroyed (or at least so

Donald Trump believes), and the US has no further need of the

Kurds. Time to throw them away. Deprived of US air support,

the Syrian Kurds have little hope of resisting a Turkish invasion.

As Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said: “They can dig

tunnels or ditches if they want. They can go underground if they

want. When the time and place come, they will be buried in

their ditches.” So where can the Kurds turn? Only to

Damascus, where Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has sworn

to recover “every inch” of Syrian territory from the various rebel

militia forces that controlled different parts of the country. All

that remains to fulfill that ambition is the recovery of Idlib province

in the northwest, still held by Turkish-backed Islamist extrem-

ists – and of the Kurdish-controlled north-east of the country.

For the Syrian Kurds, reeling from the American betrayal,

the urgent, unavoidable question has become: Would you rather

be conquered by the Turks or by Assad? There is no third option:

The dream of independence is dead. When Turkey conquered

the much smaller Kurdish-majority enclave of Afrin in north-west-

ern Syria last February, almost every Kurd in the territory was

driven into exile. Assad’s rule is unattractive, but the Syrian Kurds

have carefully avoided fighting his forces (they only fought IS),

and they might be able to cut a deal that left them some local

autonomy. After all, Assad doesn’t want the Turks taking con-

trol of eastern Syria either. The Kurds aren’t fools, and as the

likelihood of an American defection grew in the course of this

year they sent several delegations to Damascus to see what

Assad would offer. They came back disappointed, because Assad

did not want to do anything that would open the door to a fed-

eral state in Syria, and he quite rightly thought that he had the

upper hand. But now that the US pull-out from eastern Syria and

the Turkish invasion of the same region have both become immi-

nent realities, he may want to think again.

This is a part of Syria rich in oil, water and wheat. Assad

needs its resources to rebuild the country, and a Turkish occu-

pation could be a long-lasting affair. It’s therefore possible that

he will make a deal with the Syrian Kurds to keep the region

in Syrian hands. The return of the Syrian Army would be tricky

to manage, since it would have to arrive in each part of the

region after the Americans left (to avoid clashes) but before

the Turks arrived. Moreover, the Syrian army is seriously short

of manpower, and this operation would require a lot of it. All

the more reason to give the YPG a continuing role in the region’s

security, the Kurds might argue, and it’s not impossible that

Assad might buy that argument provided that the Kurdish mili-

tia became (at least in theory) a part of the Syrian army. So

the Russians may be right. When Trump revealed via Twitter

that he was going to pull all American forces out of Syria, Russian

foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded that

the US decision could result in “genuine, real prospects for a

political settlement” in Syria. And it’s true.

Turkey could be convinced (by the Russians) that letting

Assad take control of Kurdish-majority parts of Syria is enough

to end the alleged Kurdish ‘threat’ to Turkish security. Then only

the single province of Idlib would remain beyond Assad’s reach,

and that’s not really a critical issue. In fact, the fix could be

in already. We’ll know shortly. But no matter what, the Kurds

lose again. Of course.

(The writer is an independent journalist)

analysis 09F I R S T C O L U M N

The Kurds

betrayed again

GWYNNE DYER

KALYANI SHANKAR

For the Syrian Kurds, the question is: Would you ratherbe conquered by the Turks or by Assad? There is no

third option. Dream of independence is long dead

F O R E I G N E Y E

Today new ‘Slaughter ofthe Innocents’ is looming,ominously in the land fromwhich one of the ThreeWise Men are said to havetravelled: The nation ofYemen. Thousands ofchildren there arethreatened with death bystarvation and bombinginflicted by the neighboringSaudi Arabia. Bringingurgent news of this kind tothe world requires effortsof many brave anddevoted, souls.(Washington Post editorial)

REMEMBERINGTHE POWERLESS


RICHARD

WALTON

MATTHEW

SPARKES

IT WAS TOO LONG BEFORE THE

DRONE FLYINGABOVE GATWICKWAS SEEN AS A

MAJOR NATIONALINCIDENT AND

TREATEDACCORDINGLY, AND

IT WAS TOO LONGBEFORE THEWHITEHALL

MACHINE GOTINVOLVED. IF A

DRONE IS NEAR ANYCRITICAL NATIONAL

INFRASTRUCTURE, ITSHOULD BE TREATED

AS A MAJORINCIDENT

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018 avenues 10

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Great leaders harness personal

courage, capture the hearts and

minds of others and empower

new leaders to make the world a

better place

— Maxine Driscoll

Founder, Think Strategic for

Schools

DIGITAL MARKETING— SEO

Digital Vidya has launcheda new programme in digitalmarketing— SEO ExecutiveTraining Programme.

The course is targetted atmaking fresh graduates build arewarding career in the field ofdigital marketing. The organ-isation has tied up with majoragencies in India who are will-ing to hire the successful pass-outs of this course.

Selection process: Thecandidate needs to apply for thecourse and upon acceptance, hehas to clear an hour-long com-munications and analyticalabilities exam to be able toenroll. The greatest benefit ofthis comprehensive SEOTraining Programme, which isa 12-week course, is that everysuccessful candidate is guar-anteed a job.

For more details, log on towww.digitalvidya.com.

DEVELOPMENT LEADERSHIP

The Indian School ofDevelopment Management(ISDM), New Delhi, invitesapplication for admission to itsone-year full-time PostGraduate Programme inDevelopment Leadership(PGP-DL).

It’s curriculum develop anin-depth understanding of thedevelopment sector and itsmanagement practices, all root-ed in value-based transforma-tional leadership. The pro-gramme is co-developed bylarge social purpose organisa-tions and is designed and dri-ven by practitioners and emi-nent leaders from the sector.

The sector has careeropportunities for a varied rangeof professionals as job profilesinclude strategy building, com-munications and engagement,fund raising, being part of theCEOs office (strategy, data-based decision making, plan-ning), managing M&E, pro-gramme leadership, CSR, part-nerships and alliances, socialentrepreneurship, operationalleadership and many others.

Scholarship: The instituteis offering a scholarship of`1,00,000 for all applicantswho would apply beforeDecember 23, 2018 and is alsooffering up to 100 per centscholarship on a need basiswith up to 50 per cent discounton the living expenses.

MBA

The Ambedkar UniversityDelhi (AUD) invites applica-tion for admission to Master ofBusiness Administration(MBA) for the academic ses-sion 2019-20 offered by theSchool of Business, PublicPolicy and SocialEntrepreneurship.

The fees for the two-yearMBA programme payable is`2,84,760 for Indian studentsand `5,06,520 for foreign stu-dents.

Around 85 per cent of theseats are reserved for candi-dates belonging to the NCTDelhi and the remaining 15 percent of seats are for candidatesfrom all over India.

Deadline: The last datefor application is February 11,

2019. The entrance exam willbe held on February 24, 2019.To apply, log on towww.aud.ac.in.

SPANISH LANGUAGE

The Indira GandhiNational Open University(IGNOU) has launched cer-tificate programme in SpanishLanguage and Culture. Theadmission to this new course isopen.

This certificate course ismeant for learners who areinterested in learning Spanishlanguage and who desire toreceive cultural informationabout the Spanish-speakingcountries. Learners will getthe opportunity to acquire lan-guage skills as well as socio-cul-tural competence that willenable them to communicateeffectively with the Spanish-speaking world in the activitiesrelated to daily life.

The Certificate in SpanishLanguage and Culture is a tight-ly structured multimedia inte-grated bilingual programme(Spanish and English). The con-tact sessions are a very impor-tant aspect of this programmewhich will be conducted at des-ignated Study Centers ofIGNOU on weekends.

Eligibility: Aspiring stu-dents should have passed ClassXII or equivalent and shouldpossess some knowledge ofEnglish.

Deadline: The last date toapply is January 15, 2019.

BTECH

Amrita VishwaVidyapeetham’s School ofEngineering has announcedadmissions open to its variousBTech degree courses offered atits all f ive campuses —Amritapuri (Kollam),Bengaluru, Amaravati (AndhraPradesh), Coimbatore andChennai.

Students can apply foronline entrance examination tobe held from April 22 to 26,2019. Simultaneously, writtenexaminations will be held at 27centres across Tamil Nadu.However, only students ofTamil Nadu will be eligible totake the written examination.Specific dates, centres and timefor counselling, to be held inMay 2019, will be intimated tosuccessful students by email.

Eligibility: Candidatesshould be born on or after July1, 1998. Aspirants should havepassed Class XII or its equiva-lent examination, securing anaggregate of 60 per cent marksin Mathematics, Physics andChemistry with not less than55 per cent in each of thesethree subjects.

Seat allocation will be doneseparately for candidates ofAEEE 2019 and JEE Mains2019. To apply online, stu-dents can log on to www.amri-ta.edu/admissions/btech-2019

Talk on earthquake engineeringPNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian Institute of TechnologyRoorkee, Department of Earthquake

Engineering and The Indian Society ofEarthquake Technology (ISET) organisedthe 16th Symposium on EarthquakeEngineering to discuss and evaluate thecurrent earthquake resistant designpractices and suggest enhancement/modifications to various agencies in thecountry for implementation.

The symposium aims to evolve keyguidelines, for communication tovarious agencies. It acted as a platformfor researchers, professionals, plannersand policy makers associated with

earthquake engineering to share viewsand exchange professional experienceand recent technological advances inearthquake engineering and allied fields.The event, held once in four years,attracted a galaxy of internationallyrenowned experts presenting cutting-edge research and practical applicationsin this field.

The event focused on evolvingappropriate strategies to enhance theknowledge on earthquake resistantconstruction for the end-users & drawan agenda for future course of action, inthe wake of damaging scenarios due tothe recent earthquakes faced by thecountry.

Astatement made 2,500 years agostands relevant even today.More so, for the start-up eco-

system that goes hand in hand withdynamism, agility, and innova-tion.With every year that passes, itwitnesses the influx of cutting-edgetechnologies and ingenious approach-es that solve long-standing marketchallenges. And in the dueprocess,change the market entirely.

However, it is important to notethat this change is primarily driven bythe building blocks of the startupecosystem, for example: The industryprofessionals.If you are one of them,or are planning to become one, hereare some of the hiring trends of 2018that you surely must know:

nBlockchain eco-systemBlockchain technology has proven

itself to be a game-changer for an arrayof industry applications.Just before2018, India revealed its own plan todevelop a blockchain network calledIndiaChain which will be interlinkedwith IndiaStack and help in reducingfrauds, speed up contract enforce-ment, increase transparency, and

boost economy. A report suggests thatIndia can add $5 billion to its econo-my within five years just by imple-menting blockchain. So, blockchainwas one of the prime focus areasamongst startups throughout 2018and will continue to remain the samefor the coming few years.

nArtificial IntelligenceAnother area of focus during

this year has been ArtificialIntelligence (AI). Startups are typicallyknown to have a very lean team whichhas to manage across-the-board oper-ations. AI is now enabling them tostreamline these operations throughprocess automation while also extend-ing deeper insights within their areaof deployment.

The technology, at the same time,also eliminates human errors, omis-sions, and negligence. Given theseadvantages, the adoption of technol-ogy, and so, the recruitment of relat-ed talents, was quite high during 2018.

nOpen bankingThe ongoing digitisation drive in

India is truly transforming the regu-lar Indian lifestyle. Now, people fromall walks of life are looking towardsdigital services to meet their everydayneeds including banking. The Indianregulatory has also been very sup-portive of the change and is readilypromoting its open banking infra-structure.

With it, banks are also joiningforces with fintech startups to lever-

age their trailblazing, tech-drivenapproaches in a range of applications.This was the main reason why thedemand for talent within the fintechdomain was specifically high.

nCybersecurityDigital technologies, though

adding tangible value to the broaderecosystem, also come with their owndownsides. Cyber attacks have beenmounting on India for quite sometime now — which grew from 49,000in 2015 to 50,000 in 2016 and 53,000in 2017 (according to CERT-In) —and were expected to reach 58,300 in

2018. Start-ups, as they are mostlybased on digital technologies, haveadopted a prudential approach andstarted recruiting cyber security tal-ent apart from leveraging MSPs(Managed Service Providers). Cybersecurity challenges are also beingaddressed right from the ground upwith startups adopting DevSecOpsinstead of the typical DevOps.

nInformation TechnologyAt present, India is facing acute

skill shortage with more than 140,000jobs being vacant within the IT indus-try.This is despite fresh graduates con-stantly entering the job market everyyear. The situation is expected to fur-ther worsen in the future as more than1.4 million new IT jobs will be creat-ed by 2027 (Cisco and IDC report).

Forward-looking start-ups arenow trying to tackle the situation bycollaborating with different educa-tional institutions. They are helpingshape the curriculum of various insti-tutions as per market-facing applica-tions and future needs. It is alsoenabling them to recruit candidateswho can deliver and solve marketchallenges.

These have been some of the mostprominent trends that were witnessedduring 2018. It will be interesting tosee how the grand scheme of thingschange in the year about to come. Butnow, it time to prepare for its arrivaland revel in festivities!

The writer is CEO, Happy Loans

PNS n NEW DELHI

Around seven million graduate inIndia every year. According to

various reports, depending on thestream, 50 to 94 per cent are deemedunemployable as they lack the skill-sets and practical abilities needed todo well in today’s jobs.

Most of what they learn in col-lege is focussed on preparing themfor the jobs of yesterday. Very lit-tle is geared towards what is need-ed for today and nothing to preparethem for the future.

“Most young people in Indiafinish college feeling lost about whatto do next and are ill-equipped withthe skills needed to get into the jobsthat they want, or a job at all,” saysShronit Ladhani, founder of NASS-

COM and Essel Group supportededu-media startup Career Ninja.

Universities are realising this,along with the fact that they can-not adapt their curriculum, quali-ty of teachers and teaching style tokeep pace. Others are barely awareand are focussed on filling theirseats. Most believe the solution tothis is making internships com-pulsory, leading to students runningabout and taking up any internshipthat they get.

“But who is helping them getthe internships? Most studentshave no guidance. Also, how arecolleges checking the quality of

internships their students take upand the learning from it? And arethey collaborating with Industry toprovide the required amount ofinternships?,” questioned Ladhani.

“We are ensuring our contentcan play a key role in helping stu-dents on how to apply for and getinternships across various fieldsalong with pointing to some of thebest organisations in them. Further,connecting students to young pro-fessionals in their space as part of amentoring program gives themmuch needed personalised guid-ance.”

The Government, too, is aware

of this skill-gap, as can be seen by thelarge push on skilling initiatives. Butone of the largest problem of those,amongst the many, is that the stu-dents aren’t coming and takingthem up.

“We need a real solution. Ihave realised that nothing will workwell until the intent in the studentisn’t strong enough. We need to putthe ownership of their future on thestudents. We should help themunderstand where their interests andabilities lie, to find what they are pas-sionate about. We must then inspirethem to take action and guide themon how to prepare for a career they

are passionate about. Today, theaverage student just wants a job, anyjob, because he has no idea. Andbecause he is not driven about it, heisn’t doing much to equip himself.Despite the numerous courses avail-able online, only a tiny percentageof students take these up,” Ladhanisaid and believes if every young per-son is allowed and given support towork on their passions and interests,they will themselves ensure that theybuild the rights skills for the job.

“One has to show them the wayand cheer them on. And if each per-son becomes skilled for careers thatexist today and will exist in thefuture, our country will be able toharness its biggest advantage, thelarge youth population in the coun-try,” Ladhani said.

Employment skill-gap

HIRING TRENDS 2018

MANISH KHERA lists five hiring trends in the start-up eco-system that dominated this year

THE INDIANREGULATORY HAS

BEEN SUPPORTIVE OFTHE CHANGE & IS

PROMOTING ITS OPENBANKING

INFRASTRUCTURE.WITH IT, BANKS ARE

JOINING FORCES WITHFINTECH START-UPSTO LEVERAGE THEIR

TRAILBLAZING,TECH-DRIVEN

APPROACHES IN ARANGE OF

APPLICATIONS

PNS n NEW DELHI

Astudy on the Indian AI industry by GreatLearning indicates that there are over 4000

positions related to Artificial Intelligence (AI)in India that remain vacant due to shortage ofqualified talent at the mid and senior levels. Thisis despite the industry growing by close to 30per cent in the last one year to $230 million insize.

These opportunities do not include the slewof new jobs that are advertised every month butrefers to opportunities that have been vacant fora period of 12 months. The key reason behindthis is the massive shortage of AI talent at themiddle and top level. Out of current workingprofessionals in India, almost 55 per cent haveless than five years of total work experience. Only23 per cent of this workforce has over 10 yearsof total work experience.

Contrary to this, as per the report, around57 per cent of organisations that are hiring forAI in India are looking for candidates with morethan five years of experience. This supply-demand gap indicates huge opportunity for midand senior level professionals across industrieslike IT, finance, healthcare and e-commerce, whoare looking to transition into AI, over the next

few years.Another big challenge being faced by com-

panies when recruiting in India is the lack of tal-ent that is experienced in the AI domain. As perthe report, the average AI experience of Indianprofessionals stands at a mere three years, withalmost 67 per cent AI professionals in India hav-ing joined/ transitioned to their current role, onlyin the last two years.

When it comes to remuneration, the medi-an salary of AI professionals in India is `14.3lakhs across all experience level and skill sets.Around 40 per cent of AI professionals have anentry-level salary of `6 lakh onwards. Around4 per cent of AI professionals in India commanda salary higher than `50 lakhs, reflecting themassive demand for mid and senior level AI tal-ent in the country. The study also points out thatthe salary trends across various industries likefinance, e-commerce and healthcare are alsoimproving steadily.

A city-wise remuneration comparisonreveals that Mumbai is the highest paymaster inAI at almost `15.6 lakhs per annum, followed

by Bengaluru at `14.5 lakhs. Chennai on theother hand, is the lowest paymaster at `10.4lakhs.

DEMAND SIDE VIEWOn the demand side, the 10 leading organ-

isations with the most number of AI openingsthis year are — IBM, Accenture, Amazon, FractalAnalytics, Societe Generale, SAP Labs, 24/ 7Customer, Atos, Nvidia and Tech Mahindra. Thetop skill sets that AI employers are looking forare Machine Learning, Natural LanguageProcessing, Neural Networks, Analytics, CloudComputing and Pattern Recognition.

More than 1,000 companies claim to workon AI in some form. This includes a small num-ber of companies into products (Chatbots, AI-powered visual search and recommendationengine) and a larger chunk offering either off-shore, recruitment or training services. Thereis a 30 per cent year-over-year increase in thenumber of companies setting up dedicated AIteams in India. That said, India still has a longway to go with us contributing only 10 per cent

to the global AI job openings.A breakup of AI talent across companies

reveals an even spread across enterprises, mid-sized companies and start-ups. Almost 37 percent of AI professionals in India are employedwith large-sized companies (total employee baseof 10,000 plus). Mid-size organisations (totalemployee base in the range of 200-10,000)employ 29 per cent of all AI professionals, whilestart-ups (with less than 200 employees) employ34 per cent of AI professionals in India.

Bengaluru is the front runner when it comesto AI action in India, housing almost 31 per centof AI firms. It is followed by NCR that housesaround 25 per cent of AI firms. Mumbai comesthird housing 14 per cent of AI players. In termsof workforce, 33 per cent of AI professionals inIndia are working in Bengaluru, followed by 30per cent in Delhi/NCR.

Hari Krishnan Nair, co-founder, GreatLearning said: “AI is in nascentsector. The indus-try is facing a skill gap. The field offers greatpotential for working professionals who are look-ing to transition into newer technologies. AI willmake a huge dent across sectors like IT, health-care, fin-tech and e-commerce. This is the righttime to enter the field and be at the forefront ofthese changes.”

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Class X students of Shiv Nadar School, a not-for-profit initiative of the Shiv Nadar Foundation

in K12 education, showcased their innovative tech-nology projects at recently held Colloquium 2018.

The winner for this year’s competition was TeamSilverlane from Shiv Nadar School Noida that com-prised students — Romsha Singh, Arvind Raja,Archisha Arun, Shoumya Barua, Rishit Dhyani andAaryaman Singha.

The team developed first of its kind walker-cum-stepper for senior citizens to enable them toclimb and descent stairs unassisted. The annual con-ference provides a platform to students, who work

on a year-long tech project to solve a real-worldproblem.

The competition follows a two-tier selectionprocess, where student projects are first scrutinisedby a sub-jury, followed by a presentation and inter-action with an external jury who judge the effica-cy and viability of the projects. While a total of 15projects from both Shiv Nadar School, Noida andGurugram were presented to the sub-jury, onlyseven made it to the final jury round. The exter-nal jury comprised Deep Kalra, founder, chairman

and CEO, MakeMyTrip; Rajiv Makhni, India’s TechGuru and Managing Editor of Technology, NDTVand Vineet Nayar, founder, chairman and CEO,Sampark Foundation.

Apart from the winning project, the other inno-vations showcased at this year’s Colloquium includ-ed:nEatabowl: Provided an alternative to plastic dis-posables in the food industry. The students madeedible sporks and bio-degradable cups. The sporkis a hybrid between a spoon and a fork. The sporks

are made by baking a mixture of flour and water.The cup has a seed and fertiliser embedded at thebottom.nPosture Perfect: A devise that helps in early detec-tion of incorrect sitting posture in modern work-spaces. They have built an intelligent system thatuses a camera to calculate and collect the user’s pos-ture data while they work on their machines todetermine and suggest postural improvements.nMoodBox: Reduce the stress levels of teachersunder 180 seconds by making them play a game inthe staff room using brainwaves. The team designeda game that requires users to consciously generatemore Delta Waves as part of its game play to uncon-sciously relax themselves.

n Enkindle: A block-chain based eco-systemdesigned to ensure timely and righteous paymentssupply chain management in the agricultural sec-tor.nZILEO: Creation of a device for electronicallymasking noise for schools and hospitals throughdynamic usage of white noise.n Sophros: The students have designed an organ-ic air purification unit which also acts as an aes-thetic indoor air cleaning device. The deviceinvolves a unique usage of dust to filter particulatematter along with usage of plants and moisture sen-sors for constant oxygen supply and filtration ofgases and VOCs while keeping them hydrated auto-matically.

Report on AI industry

Innovation by students

It is an indispensible truth that: This life isyours. Take the power to choose what youwant to do and do it well. Isn't it a

beautiful feeling to know that you have thepower to create the life of your dreams? Theworld is waiting for your gift.

All of us have the nascent powerhousesburning inside us just waiting to beunleashed. We already have that innerstrength. Unfortunately, a lot of people arenot activating it because they are living witha victim mentality. This "poor-me" attitudeencourages the abandonment ofresponsibility. It feeds off of the deceitfulbelief that no one has control over their ownlife.

However, the only way

that you can move forward is if you committo stepping out of the victim role. The rightway to claim your inner power is to takeresponsibility for everything

The outside world does not dictate yourinner world. You are the hero of your lifewhich means that you need to takeownership of it. When something doesn't goyour way, step back and ask yourself whatrole you played in the final outcome.

Did you know that you give your poweraway every time you negatively react tosomeone or something? You created yourreality which means that you are the onlyperson that has the power to change it.Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, trustthat life is always happening for you.

Ways to unleash the power houseswithin you:

Make an effort to align with your innerpower every single day: This can beachieved by Yoga & Meditation. Never forgetthat you are powerful beyond measure.When you allow your light to shine you giveothers the permission to do the same. It'stime to claim your power!

Know what you want: Having directionand clarity of mind will help you moveforward with confidence. If you row the boatin direction of the winds, the sail will be

smoother & faster.Discover your strengths: As with any

venture, it is best to work from a solidfoundation. Think of your confidence as atable top that is supported by four legs. Eachleg needs to be solidly planted to support thetable top. What are your strengths? What areyou good at? Maintain your focus on whatyou are good at, not on what you perceive tobe your shortcomings.

Eliminate the what-ifs: This type ofthinking is equivalent to getting under thattable top and shaking a leg or two. It will

destabilize your beliefs, introduce doubt intoyour thinking, and shake your foundation.Any time you start to think what-if, changeyour thinking to I will.

Forget about being perfect: So oftenpeople don't pursue things because they feelit has to be just right. They ruminate overhow to approach things, conduct themselves,or say something to the point of getting filledwith anxiety and either not taking any actionat all or doing so in a way that lacksconfidence.

Speak: Anyone who has made a mark inthis world has spoken up, presented theirideas, and taken a chance. Dare to say whatyou believe in. You might be pleasantlysurprised by who listens to you and is

impressed by your confidence in sharingyour ideas.

Be resilient: There will be naysayers andthose who doubt you, but don't let that stopyou from speaking up, taking a chance, anddoing what you believe in. Criticism justmeans you got people thinking. Many whohave taken confident and bold steps havefaced resistance. Stay focused on what youbelieve in and forge ahead.

By practicing these guidelines, you willunleash the real power within. Once youmaster your thoughts, emotions and beliefs,you will realise that this is the only powerthat you need.

The writer is Pallavi Prakash, Founder-CEOKnowledge Seed Learning Center

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018 avenues 11

M I N D I T

Tata Motors haslaunched the Season-6 ofTata Delight Star Scholarsunder the Tata Delight loyaltyprogram with a prize moneyof `25,000. The company hasalso gone a step ahead andoffered a special prize of 40Tablets for women applicantsbased on their performanceto encourage education forgirl child.

This special programmeis designed to make a mean-ingful contribution towardsthe upliftment of the truckingprofession, constantly strivingto reward, recognize anddelight the commercial vehi-cles customer, making everyinteraction a rewarding one.

The programme over thelast five editions has helpedfulfill the dreams and aspira-tions of over 1,000 deservingchildren by ensuring thatthey receive adequate supportto pursue their right to high-er education. The company todate has granted scholarshipsto over 1,000 students,amounting to approx `1.5crores to all the beneficiaries.

The Fox InternationalFellowship is available forstudents of Yale University orfrom students of any of theexchange partner institutionsin Fox InternationalFellowship network.Applicants of all nationalities

areeli-

gible to apply forscholarship.

Eligibility: The fellow-ship places a strong emphasison communicative compe-tence in the host country lan-guage(s) to truly engage col-leagues and establish longterm personal relationshipswith people from the FoxPartner University and thelarger community of thatUniversity and the overallFox alumni/ae network.English language require-ments: Candidates mustdemonstrate sufficient mas-tery of national or regionallanguage skills relevant totheir research projects as wellas to thrive in the local andlarger communities of theFox Exchange partner univer-sity. For English-speakingcountries with strong local orregional language bases, can-didates with evidence offamiliarity and interests inthose languages, as relevantto their research and largercultural engagement, mayreceive some competitivepreference, like Hindi and orGujarati. Students withoutthese language skills are alsowelcome to apply.

How to apply: Submitapplication online throughthe Student Grants andFellowships Database at YaleUniversity. Application musthave: Statement of interest,leadership statement, recentcurriculum vitae, and two let-ters of recommendation.

Application deadline:The last date to apply isFebruary 13, 2019.

Off late, India has become ahotbed of medical tourismgiven the fact that we have

some of the best doctors who areproviding treatment at reasonablecost. Medical tourism providersor facilitators should have goodknowledge of the topography ofvarious places and hospitalsoffering medical tourism. Acareer in medical tourisminvolves providing facilities for aclient to travel, financing optionsfor visas, arranging the hospital,boarding, lodging, best treatment,and tourism after treatment. Tobegin with MBA graduates withwork experience can earn any-thing between `30,0000-`50,000per month. A few colleges whereone can study:nNBA School of Health CareManagement, New Delhi.Course: Graduate Diploma inHealth Care Management,Hospital Operation Managementand Medical TourismnAgra College of Managementand Technology, Firozabad.Course: MBA Medical TourismnAcademy of Business andManagement Studies, Kolkata.Course: MBA Medical Tourismn ICRI Health Campus, NewDelhi. Courses: PGD in MedicalTourism, Diploma in Medical

Tourism

STUDY CENTRES SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AT IMAGINEMARKETINGLocation: DelhiStipend: `15,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16946Application deadline: December 31, 2018

OPERATIONS AT THE ENERGY AND RESOURCESINSTITUTELocation: DelhiStipend: `3,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16947Application deadline: January 1,2019

CONTENT EDITING ATLIMEROADLocation: GurugramStipend: `10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16948Application deadline: December, 31,2018

GRAPHIC DESIGN ATLETSDISKUSS.COMLocation: DelhiStipend: `3,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16949Application deadline: January 2, 2019

HUMAN RESOURCES (HR) AT TETRAHEDRONMANUFACTURING SERVICESLocation: DelhiStipend: `5,000-`10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16950Application deadline: January 3, 2019

WEB DEVELOPMENT AT GOPLANNRLocation: BengaluruStipend: `10,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16951Application deadline: January 3, 2019

STRATEGIC RESEARCH AT ANJALLI RAVI KUMARLocation: Work From HomeStipend: `20,000 per monthLink: internshala.com/i/16952Application deadline: January 4, 2019

Amrita’s UNESCO chair inGender Equality and Women’sEmpowerment and the Centre

for Women’s Empowerment andGender Equality at the AmritaVishwa Vidyapeetham hosted athree-day first ever InternationalColloquium for Women’sEmpowerment in partnership withthe United Nations Democracy FundWomen Empowerment team atAmritapuri campus, Kollam.

It was decided that the IsraeliConsulate of India will assist theSustainability Development Officer(SDO)-Pilot, CWEGE in launching anew position for key women in acommunity to protect, monitor andreport on natural resourcesespecially water and wastemanagement.

In addition to internationaldelegates, more than 90 womenfrom 21 villages across 18 States inIndia joined the discussions andcelebrated the successfulcompletion of a joint-project.

Internshala has launched anonline internship fair for degreestudents from tier-II cities. The

initiative is to create awareness oninternships and to bringopportunities closer to the students.

The online internship fair is anine-day internship drive which will

be live from December19-27, 2018.

The drive bringsexclusive internshipopportunities for the

students pursuing BBA, BCom, BA,BSc and similar degree courses intier-II cities like Jaipur, Indore,Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and manymore.

Through this drive, studentswill get an opportunity to internwith a company for two-six monthsand earn a stipend of up to `10,000per month.

For more details visit:https://internshala.com/internships-in-your-city.

The Sharda University, GreaterNoida, and Dhanuka AgritechLimited signed a Memorandum

of Understanding (MoU) to launch aone year Post Graduate Diploma inPlant Protection.

The students will be taught thetheory, practical and businessaspects of pests, diseases andweed problems of field andhorticultural crops and theirmanagement at the university. Theywill also be given a two-month fieldtraining who will also pay a stipendand allowances to the students. The

15 students, after completion ofcourse and evaluation process, willbe placed on permanent roll of thecompany as frontline staff in BD orsales department as per the bandand compensation structure ofDhanuka Agritech Limited.

The programme is a uniquecollaborative course depicting anInstitute-Industry interface directedtowards the growth of theagribusiness sector and at the sametime addressing the unemploymentproblem in relation to theagricultural science graduates.

The Junior DPS celebrated itsAnnual Day — Sitare-TheShining Star — at Janakpuri

Delhi Haat auditorium with the aim ofpromoting safe childhood, educationin society and womenempowerment.

The function included TalentShow, Ramp Walk, Group Dance,and Rapping by the students.Director and Founder of Junior DPSVishwa Deepak Gupta extended awarm welcome to the dignitariespresent. Students and teachers gavebrilliant performances on relevanttopics like yoga, Beti Bachao-BetiPadhao and gave awareness amongthe people present there.

INT’L COLLOQUIUMONLINE INTERNSHIP FAIR

NEW PG DIPLOMA IN PLANT PROTECTION

FASHION SHOW ORGANISED

ANNUAL DAY

IN BRIEF

Around six lakh children with spe-cial needs, between the ages of 6to 13 are out of school. This isn’t

just a statistic, this is the result of anancient assumption that still operates inthe classroom; one approach fits all. Ourinfrastructure can’t facilitate the alloca-tion of specialised teachers to every class.This has led such students to questiontheir ability to learn in such an environ-ment. But learning is for everyone andinfrastructure should not be a barrier.That’s where technology can be used tocompliment classroom learning.

Select the pace and space: In a class-room of 60, it’s hard for students with spe-cial needs to understand every concept.They may take time to learn, dependingon their grasping power. Before they canstart to break the concept down, theteacher has already moved on to the nextone. Every student’s pace is different andtechnology provides for that uniqueness.Video lectures give students the powerto pause a lecture, rewind it or even selectthe speed of the explanation. With e-learning apps available on any mobiledevice, students can choose to study inan environment that suits them best.

Adaptive learning: Adaptive learning,a feature that is transforming the way stu-dents learn, is embedded in most e-learn-ing platforms. This can help specially-abled students, teachers and parentsunderstand how much they have grasped.They are given a question, depending ontheir answer, they will be given anotherquestion of either a higher difficulty levelor a lower difficulty level. The practicequestions adapt to the student’s ability.This ensures constant assessment. Thisensures there are no gaps in the student’sunderstanding.

Interactive and quality content:Technology has opened the doors toquality content and teachers. With a sim-ple video conferencing, children can learnfrom experts, anywhere in the world. Ed-tech has bought content designed for spe-cially-abled students to smartphonesand computers. The use of animation invideos have made lectures interactive,rather than just instructive. Children canactually play with objects in 3D and see

visual representations of a lecture in theform of videos, diagrams, graphs andimages.

Help 24x7: Doubts are very bother-some and students need someone to solvethem instantly. It becomes difficult forchildren with special needs to raise adoubt in front of people. Ed-tech is bring-ing them support around the clock!Students can ask their doubts on a chatplatform and experts in that subject, willpatiently explain the concept, until it'sgrasped. To make it easier for the stu-dents, they don't even have to type, theycan simply send a picture! Now help isjust a click away.

Better engagement with gamification:It can be challenging for a teacher to keepall the students engaged. It’s especially dif-ficult to engage students with ADHD orother conditions. Gamification is mak-ing this task easier with badges, leader-boards and experience points.

Each time students complete a set oftasks, they are rewarded a badge for theirperformance, speed, accuracy, consis-tency and other factors. This is even mak-ing learning fun, increasing participationfrom students with a short attention span.Thus, leading to better engagement andparticipation.

‘Tech help for

specially-able’

Learning is for everyone and lack ofinfrastructure should not be a barrier.Technology can help specially-abledstudents to compliment classroomlearning, says RAJSHEKHAR RATREY

Rajshekhar RatreyVP, Educational Content, Toppr.com

Online education, that wasonce considered humblecousin of mainstream edu-

cation, has witnessed an upwardswing in the last few years. Thechange has been brought in notonly by various technological inno-vations but by innovative newagecontent and curriculum that onlineeducation providers offer to thelearners. The industry in India isestimated to be a $1.96 billionindustry by 2021, according to aresearch conducted by KPMG,with insights from Google search.According to the report, the paiduser base is likely to grow six-fold— from 1.6 million users in 2016to 9.6 million users in 2021.

Increased penetration of inter-net and smart phones, factorssuch as convenience, increasedreach and personalised contentoffered by online educationproviders have led to the growthand expansion of online educationmarket to tier-II and tier-III cities.Online education modules todayallows distant learners to join invirtual lectures, pose questions toprofessors, chat with fellow stu-dents and take virtual exams. Mostof the programmes are career-focused helping students to chalka career path and set goals. Here aresome trends that are likely todominate online education.

Emergence of cloud com-puting: According to Technavioanalysts, emergence of cloud com-puting will be one of the majortrends that we will witness in thecoming year. The cloud computingtechnology enables online educa-tion providers to save significant

amount of content and data on asingle platform. This makes it eas-ier for users and providers toprocess, obtain, access and manageinformation from anywhere atany time.

Focus on future-ready careerskills: With a changing world, theonline educational institutions aretrying to keep a balance betweenlearning and skills required byenterprises and industry. They areoffering new courses which helpstudents become well equipped forthe jobs of tomorrow. In 2019, weare likely to witness launch of moresuch courses and career pro-grammes.

Many institutions are offeringonline degrees in specialised areaslike AI, IoT, business management,data science and digital marketing.These courses have been designedto equip the students with skillsthat are likely to dominate in theyears to come.

Game learning: The trend islikely to catch up as it makes thelearning process more interestingand effective. Game learning tech-niques ensure higher level ofinvolvement and interaction fromstudents, offers them opportunityto experiment and introduce newtechnological innovations.

The modern business envi-ronment is becoming complexevery day. With the help of gametechniques, it is easier to explainthese. During the interactive ses-sions, participants make decisions,develop strategies, immediatelyobserving their influence on thefinancial position of the company.

Project-based learning: This

allows students todemonstrate skills by developing

apps and product. Many a time, itrequires constant instructor feed-back and multiple attempts if a stu-dent fails to meet the criteria.Project-based education is thefoundation of the curriculum ofsome online educational institu-tions. Students create several pro-jects over six-12 months andreceive regular feedback to earn adegree.

Blended e-learning pro-grammes: These courses withoffline touch points are increas-ingly gaining popularity amongstindividuals and organisations look-ing to upskill their employees. E-learning providers have witnesseda 25-30 per cent jump in compa-nies opting for blended model over100 per cent e-learning courses.The model facilitates discussionsand collaborative learning, offersflexibility to learners has bettercompletion rate.

Increase in interest in AR andVR: Though AR and VR are yet toreach their full potential in onlinelearning, these technologies areexpected to have a impact.Engagement, that has been one of

the weakest aspects inmany e-learning platforms, can beincreased using these technologies.Use of AR and VR in onlinelearning platforms have shown sig-nificant increase in engagementand improved results.

Adapting existing content:Not everyone can incorporate thelatest technologies into their learn-ing processes. In most cases, usersare only looking for informationthat is important. Therefore, onlineeducational institutions shouldreview their existing study mater-ial, in terms of how useful, relevantand detailed the information is.They must be prepared for con-stant changes.

In 2019, training will becomemore specific and personalised.The online courses will need toplay a key role in creating aroadmap that leads from basicknowledge to expertise in theshortest possible time. The focuswill remain on people who want tolearn about specific skills and notwaste time learning about every-thing. The decisive factor willdepend on the person’s motivationto regularly devote time to self-edu-cation.

The writer is Vice-President, CareerEducation Business, NIIT Ltd

EDUCATION

TRENDS

ONLINE

Online education in India is estimated to be a $1.96 billionindustry by 2021. KSHITIJ JAIN shares online education trendsthat are mostly likely to dominate in the coming year

IN 2019, TRAININGWILL BECOME

MORE SPECIFIC &PERSONALISED.

THE ONLINECOURSES WILLNEED TO PLAY A

KEY ROLE INCREATING A

ROADMAP THATLEADS FROM BASIC

KNOWLEDGE TOEXPERTISE IN THE

SHORTESTPOSSIBLE TIME

Khazani Women’sVocationalInstitute

organised — FashionFiesta — as part of itsannual curriculum, atTalkatora Stadium. Thecreations wereshowcased under 13categories — fromcasual to formalexecutive wear,wedding attires to club

wear.The show was a

platform for thestudents to showcasetheir creative talent,while creating a bridgebetween the studentsand commercialmarkets.

BijendraChaudhary chairman-founder KhazaniEducational Society

said: “Women areahead in every fieldand make them self-reliant. Womenempowerment is amajor contribution inthe progress andadvancement of thenation. Our focus is tomake each girl of ourinstitution self-reliantand give the wings totheir dreams.”

LAGGARDS

funds 12LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018

Scheme NAV 1Yr %HDFC Infrastructure Fund(G) 15.63 -30.84

Sundaram Small Cap Fund(G) 79.38 -30.10

Sundaram LT Micro Cap Tax 8.79 -29.79

Adv Fund-Sr IV-Reg(G)


Adv Fund-Sr III-Reg(G)

IDFC Infrastructure-Reg(G) 14.31 -27.20

Aditya Birla SL Emerging 12.59 -25.85

Leaders Fund-7-Reg(G)


Adv Fund-Sr V-Reg(G)

SBI PSU Fund-Reg(G) 9.69 -25.72





Sundaram Select Micro 13.09 -25.28

Cap-Series X-Reg(G)

DSP Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 52.61 -25.25

ICICI Pru Smallcap Fund(G) 23.10 -23.96

Aditya Birla SL Small Cap 33.91 -23.76

Fund(G)

Aditya Birla SL Pure Value 50.95 -23.64

Fund(G)

Aditya Birla SL Infrastructure 30.35 -23.38

Fund(G)

Sundaram Infra Advantage 30.18 -23.28

Fund(G)

Reliance Power & Infra Fund(G)95.32 -21.94

Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) 53.76 -21.42

Fund(G)

Canara Rob Infrastructure 42.50 -21.34

Fund-Reg(G)

SBI Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 49.46 -21.21

Kotak Infra & Eco Reform 18.78 -20.76

Fund(G)

UTI Transportation & Logistics 101.75 -19.83

Fund-Reg(G)

SBI Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 13.95 -19.82

Invesco India PSU Equity 16.45 -19.28

Fund(G)

SBI LT Advantage 12.35 -19.07

Fund-I-Reg(G)

SBI Magnum Comma Fund-Reg(G) 33.71 -18.87

DSP India T.I.G.E.R Fund-Reg(G) 84.52 -18.85

BNP Paribas Mid Cap Fund(G) 30.72 -18.72

L&T Business Cycle Fund-Reg(G)14.52 -18.59


Cap-Series I-Reg(G)

Reliance Vision Fund(G) 505.43 -18.39

Tata Infrastructure Tax 22.85 -18.20

Saving Fund(G)

SBI LT Advantage Fund-II-Reg(G) 12.66 -18.20


Cap-Series II-Reg(G)

UTI LT Adv Fund-IV(G) 10.10 -18.04

L&T Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 15.50 -18.03

SBI Magnum MidCap Fund-Reg(G)70.26 -18.01

Franklin India Smaller 51.77 -17.91

Cos Fund(G)

Kotak Small Cap Fund(G) 68.38 -17.85

Tata Infrastructure Fund(G) 51.76 -17.45


Cap-Series III-Reg(G)


Fund-III-Reg(G)


Cap-Series IV-Reg(G)

Reliance Small Cap Fund(G) 39.36 -17.05

Edelweiss Gr China Equity 22.33 -16.97

Off-Shore Fund-Reg(G)

UTI Infrastructure Fund-Reg(G) 49.10 -16.97

Invesco India Infrastructure 16.15 -16.84

Fund(G)

Aditya Birla SL Midcap Fund(G)279.93 -16.77

Sundaram Mid Cap Fund(G) 453.88 -16.39

DHFL Pramerica Midcap 17.37 -16.37

Opp Fund-Reg(G)

Tata Resources & Energy 13.41 -16.19

Fund-Reg(G)

HDFC Focused 30 Fund(G) 73.73 -16.05

SBI Contra Fund-Reg(G) 102.93 -15.96

Edelweiss Mid Cap 25.32 -15.95

Fund-Reg(G)

IDBI Small Cap Fund(G) 9.33 -15.95

Aditya Birla SL Dividend 154.92 -15.65

Yield Fund(G)

UTI LT Adv Fund-V(G) 9.37 -15.57

UTI Focussed Equity 12.70 -15.42

Fund-I(G)

UTI Mid Cap Fund-Reg(G) 98.55 -15.40

Baroda Mid-cap Fund(G) 8.67 -15.33

IDBI Midcap Fund(G) 10.46 -15.30

ICICI Pru Infrastructure Fund(G) 48.21 -15.26

DSP Natural Res & New 31.18 -15.20

Energy Fund-Reg(G)

Aditya Birla SL Equity 382.32 -15.05

Advantage Fund(G)

Baroda ELSS 96(G) 41.84 -14.98

UTI LT Adv Fund-III(G) 13.08 -14.64

Franklin Asian Equity Fund(G) 18.88 -14.55

Principal Global 24.26 -14.46

Opportunities Fund(G)

Motilal Oswal Midcap 23.79 -14.42

30 Fund-Reg(G)

IDFC Focused Equity 34.82 -14.25

Fund-Reg(G)

Invesco India Multicap Fund(G) 45.55 -14.01

Tata Mid Cap Growth Fund(G) 130.39 -14.00

IDFC Sterling Value Fund-Reg(G) 50.14 -13.97

Sundaram Select Small 13.29 -13.93

Cap Series-III-Reg(G)

L&T Emerging Businesses 24.60 -13.80

Fund-Reg(G)

Templeton India Value Fund(G) 240.22 -13.64

Sundaram Select Small 13.33 -13.31

Cap Series-IV-Reg(G)

Aditya Birla SL Mfg. Equity 13.16 -13.25

Fund-Reg(G)

Reliance Focused Equity 43.88 -13.04

Fund(G)

ICICI Pru Dividend Yield 16.15 -13.03

Equity Fund(G)

ICICI Pru Value Fund-1(D) 10.40 -12.81

SBI Tax advantage Fund-II(G) 33.36 -12.69

BNP Paribas Multi Cap Fund(G) 43.85 -12.69

L&T Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 130.92 -12.68

Kotak Global Emerging Mkt 14.11 -12.49

Fund(G)

HDFC TaxSaver(G) 491.12 -12.39

Edelweiss Eur Dynamic 9.68 -12.28

Equity Off-shr Fund-Reg(G)

JM Value Fund(G) 29.52 -12.23

HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities 52.44 -12.19

Fund(G)

Sundaram Diversified Equity(G) 94.72 -12.02

L&T India Value Fund-Reg(G) 33.99 -12.01

Kotak Emerging Equity 36.67 -11.73

Scheme(G)

Principal Emerging Bluechip 99.66 -11.68

Fund(G)

ICICI Pru Midcap Fund(G) 93.80 -11.55

L&T Large and Midcap 44.99 -11.53

Fund-Reg(G)

Reliance Close Ended 22.63 -11.51

Equity Fund-B(G)

Franklin Build India Fund(G) 38.94 -11.49

Reliance Growth Fund(G) 1050.59 -11.38

Invesco India Feeder - 9.60 -11.33

Invesco Pan European Equity

Fund-Reg(G)

DSP Midcap Fund-Reg(G) 51.49 -11.15

DSP Equity Opportunities 206.10 -10.89

Fund-Reg(G)

Kotak World Gold Fund(G) 7.73 -10.87

SBI Magnum Global Fund-Reg(G)165.30 -10.80

DSP World Energy Fund-Reg(G) 11.47 -10.70

IDBI Nifty Junior Index Fund(G) 20.82 -10.57

BNP Paribas Long Term 35.44 -10.57

Equity Fund(G)

ICICI Pru Value Fund-4(G) 20.77 -10.55

Reliance Consumption Fund(G) 62.73 -10.54

Principal Tax Savings Fund 199.20 -10.50

Canara Rob Emerg Equities 87.65 -10.48

Fund-Reg(G)

SBI Healthcare Opp Fund-Reg(G)117.16 -10.43

Edelweiss Long Term 43.43 -10.36

Equity Fund (Tax Savings)-Reg(G)


Fund-IV-Reg(G)



ICICI Pru Growth Fund-3(DP) 9.84 -10.13

IDFC Tax Advt(ELSS) 53.29 -10.08

Fund-Reg(G)

ICICI Pru Nifty Next 50 24.44 -9.98

Index Fund(G)

Motilal Oswal Long Term 16.30 -9.98

Equity Fund-Reg(G)

Principal Personal Tax saver 186.90 -9.98

Fund

Franklin India Opportunities 69.16 -9.96

Fund(G)

Principal Multi Cap Growth 136.14 -9.91

Fund(G)

ICICI Pru Exports & Services 53.61 -9.88

Fund(G)

SBI Tax Advantage Fund-III-Reg(G)22.53 -9.70

Franklin India Focused 37.59 -9.66

Equity Fund(G)

Tata India Tax Savings Fund-Reg(G)16.66 -9.57

DSP World Gold Fund-Reg(G) 10.61 -9.51

SBI Magnum 135.25 -9.46

TaxGain'93-Reg(G)

Motilal Oswal Multicap 24.72 -9.31

35 Fund-Reg(G)


Templeton India Equity 43.50 -9.24

Income Fund(G)

Reliance Value Fund(G) 70.00 -9.19

DHFL Pramerica Diversified 12.37 -9.18

Equity Fund-Reg(G)

IDFC Multi Cap Fund-Reg(G) 88.11 -9.15

DSP Equity Fund-Reg(G) 35.80 -9.11

DSP Tax Saver Fund-Reg(G) 44.13 -9.06

Franklin India Prima 916.31 -9.03

Fund(G)

L&T Long Term Advantage 49.10 -8.79

Fund-I(G)

Sundaram Rural and 40.46 -8.75

Consumption Fund(G)

SBI Equity Opp Fund-Sr 14.95 -8.67

I-Reg(G)

Aditya Birla SL Global 11.52 -8.64

Commodities Fund(G)

DHFL Pramerica Euro Equity 12.29 -8.62

Fund(G)

HDFC Small Cap Fund-Reg(G) 42.06 -8.62

UTI Banking and Financial 90.93 -8.53

Services Fund-Reg(G)

L&T Tax Advt Fund-Reg(G) 52.19 -8.46

UTI Core Equity Fund-Reg(G) 59.94 -8.30

Tata Equity P/E Fund(G) 128.92 -8.02

DSP World Agriculture 14.52 -7.96

Fund-Reg(G)

IDBI India Top 100 Equity 22.48 -7.94

Fund(G)

DHFL Pramerica Tax Plan(G) 28.89 -7.82

UTI LT Equity Fund 82.22 -7.72

(Tax Saving)-Reg(G)

ICICI Pru Large & Mid 309.46 -7.50

Cap Fund(G)

Invesco India Feeder - Invesco 11.30 -7.43

Global Equity Income Fund(G)

Aditya Birla SL CEF-Global 21.33 -7.39

Agri-Reg(G)

Reliance Close Ended Equity 17.19 -7.39

Fund-II-A(G)

Aditya Birla SL Intl. Equity 17.34 -7.25

Fund-B(G)

DHFL Pramerica LT Equity 13.33 -7.17

Fund-Reg(G)

DSP World Mining Fund-Reg(G) 7.43 -7.15

UTI Healthcare Fund-Reg(G) 82.81 -7.14

SBI Magnum Multicap 45.31 -7.07

Fund-Reg(G)

DSP Focus Fund-Reg(G) 21.43 -7.02

JM Multicap Fund(G) 29.48 -7.00

JM Core 11 Fund(G) 8.31 -6.97


Invesco India Midcap Fund(G) 47.52 -6.90

Kotak Equity Opp Fund(G) 111.12 -6.86

SBI Large & Midcap Fund-Reg(G)209.61 -6.85

Tata Ethical Fund(G) 153.71 -6.76

HDFC Capital Builder 281.09 -6.70

Value Fund(G)

JM Tax Gain Fund(G) 15.76 -6.33


Edelweiss Multi-Cap 13.65 -6.25

Fund-Reg(G)

IDFC Core Equity Fund-Reg(G) 43.50 -6.14

Tata Large & Mid Cap Fund(G) 190.12 -6.10

Aditya Birla SL Tax Relief '96(G) 30.27 -6.02

Mirae Asset Emerging 49.51 -5.99

Bluechip-Reg(G)

Principal Dividend Yield Fund(G) 51.21 -5.98

Franklin India Equity 77.02 -5.90

Advantage Fund(G)

Sundaram Value Fund-II-Reg(G)15.23 -5.88

Edelweiss Emerging Markets 11.27 -5.85

Opp Eq. Offshore Fund-Reg(G)


Aditya Birla SL Focused 55.48 -5.78

Equity Fund(G)

HDFC Growth Opp Fund-Reg(G)107.34 -5.78

IDFC Large Cap Fund-Reg(G) 30.20 -5.77


Sundaram LT Tax Adv 13.96 -5.76

Fund-Sr II-Reg(G)

SBI BlueChip Fund-Reg(G) 36.60 -5.72

Motilal Oswal Focused 25 20.40 -5.72

Fund-Reg(G)

Sundaram Fin Serv Opp Fund(G)37.62 -5.66

Sundaram Global Advt(G) 15.34 -5.60

Kotak Tax Saver Scheme(G) 40.72 -5.59

BNP Paribas Large Cap Fund(G)81.70 -5.52

HDFC Equity Fund(G) 617.34 -5.51

Aditya Birla SL Equity Fund(G) 689.92 -5.33

L&T Equity Fund-Reg(G) 78.56 -5.32

Baroda Large Cap Fund(G) 13.40 -5.30

Sundaram LT Tax Adv 12.97 -5.22

Fund-Sr I-Reg(G)

ICICI Pru R.I.G.H.T Fund(G) 41.15 -5.16

Franklin India Equity Fund(G) 564.06 -5.11

Reliance Quant Fund(G) 24.07 -5.10

DHFL Pramerica Large Cap 153.79 -5.00

Fund(G)

ICICI Pru Value Discovery 139.08 -4.97

Fund(G)

Principal Nifty 100 Equal 69.04 -4.96

Weight Fund(G)

Reliance Capital Builder 12.34 -4.96

Fund-II-B(G)

IDBI Diversified Equity Fund(G) 20.61 -4.85

Tata Large Cap Fund(G) 203.05 -4.82

SBI Focused Equity Fund-Reg(G) 130.09 -4.77

Aditya Birla SL MNC Fund(G) 739.82 -4.76

Kotak US Equity Fund(G) 14.10 -4.75

Franklin India Bluechip 440.61 -4.70

Fund(G)

Aditya Birla SL Banking & 26.88 -4.68

Financial Services Fund-Reg(G)

Edelweiss Large & Mid Cap 29.27 -4.66

Fund-Reg(G)

DSP Top 100 Equity Fund-Reg(G) 193.26 -4.52

Aditya Birla SL Frontline 212.25 -4.31

Equity Fund(G)

Franklin India Taxshield(G) 539.96 -4.14

Invesco India Contra Fund(G) 45.40 -4.08

Reliance Japan Equity Fund(G) 11.58 -3.86

Kotak Bluechip Fund(G) 217.13 -3.82

ICICI Pru Focused Equity 28.53 -3.71

Fund(G)

L&T India Large Cap Fund-Reg(G)25.13 -3.54

Reliance Multi Cap Fund(G) 94.26 -3.48

ICICI Pru Growth Fund-1(DP) 10.52 -3.44

Sundaram World Brand 12.70 -3.28

Fund-Sr III-Reg(G)

Sundaram World Brand 12.55 -3.26

Fund-Sr II-Reg(G)

IDBI Equity Advantage 26.21 -3.18

Fund-Reg(G)

SBI Consumption Opp 114.45 -3.08

Fund-Reg(G)

UTI Value Opp Fund-Reg(G) 57.58 -3.06

Aditya Birla SL India 78.56 -2.94

GenNext Fund(G)

Mirae Asset Tax Saver Fund-Reg(G) 16.44 -2.93

UTI India LifeStyle Fund-Reg(G)25.39 -2.80

ICICI Pru Banking & Fin 59.68 -2.80

Serv Fund(G)

Invesco India Financial 51.57 -2.79

Services Fund(G)

Principal Focused Multicap 60.61 -2.78

Fund(G)


Invesco India Tax Plan(G) 48.13 -2.67

Kotak Standard Multicap 32.75 -2.67

Fund(G)

ICICI Pru Bluechip Fund(G) 39.79 -2.59

Tata India Consumer Fund-Reg(G)17.46 -2.54

Tata India Pharma & 8.58 -2.47

Healthcare Fund-Reg(G)

Tata Banking & Financial 16.77 -2.42


Reliance Banking Fund(G) 260.55 -2.32

Invesco India Largecap 26.61 -2.06

Fund(G)

DSP US Flexible Equity 21.75 -1.96

Fund-Reg(G)

Reliance Large Cap Fund(G) 32.67 -1.73

HDFC Top 100 Fund(G) 455.54 -1.72

Invesco India Growth Opp 32.18 -1.71

Fund(G)

Mirae Asset India Equity 47.44 -1.49

Fund-Reg(G)

UTI Mastershare-Reg(G) 114.64 -1.34

ICICI Pru Multicap Fund(G) 277.11 -1.32

Parag Parikh Long Term 22.99 -1.31

Equity Fund-Reg(G)

DSP Global Allocation Fund-Reg(G)11.32 -1.26

ICICI Pru India Recovery 16.92 -1.23

Fund-4(G)

UTI Dividend Yield Fund-Reg(G)62.42 -1.18

UTI MNC Fund-Reg(G) 197.07 -1.03

Sundaram Large and Mid 32.67 -0.96

Cap Fund(G)

Baroda Banking & Fin 20.81 -0.95

Serv Fund(G)

ICICI Pru Global Stable 13.79 -0.93

Equity Fund(G)

Canara Rob Equity Diver 123.84 -0.89

Fund-Reg(G)

ICICI Pru LT Equity Fund 355.36 -0.71

(Tax Saving)(G)

Sundaram Select Focus(G) 165.32 -0.45

DHFL Pramerica Global 15.36 -0.13

Equity Opp Fund(G)

DHFL Pramerica Large 11.79 -0.05

Cap Fund-2-Reg(G)

Canara Rob Consumer 36.92 -0.03

Trends Fund-Reg(G)

Edelweiss Large Cap Fund(G) 33.12 0.21

JM Large Cap Fund(G) 64.49 0.28

ICICI Pru Business Cycle 14.16 0.35

Fund-2(G)

Axis Focused 25 Fund(G) 26.42 0.38

Kotak India EQ Contra 49.06 0.55

Fund(G)

Mirae Asset Great 33.69 0.77

Consumer Fund-Reg(G)

Franklin India Feeder-Franklin 24.60 0.79

U.S. Opportunities Fund(G)

Canara Rob Equity Tax 60.53 0.98

Saver Fund-Reg(G)

IDBI Nifty Index Fund(G) 19.63 1.29

SBI Magnum Equity ESG 97.21 1.41

Fund-Reg(G)

ICICI Pru US Bluechip 23.24 1.44

Equity Fund(G)

Canara Rob Bluechip 23.04 1.54

Equity Fund-Reg(G)

Aditya Birla SL Index Fund(G) 104.44 1.59

Franklin India Index 84.34 1.63

Fund-NSE Nifty(G)

Axis Long Term Equity Fund(G) 42.31 1.72

ICICI Pru Nifty Index Fund(G) 102.64 1.82

Reliance Index Fund - 17.81 1.93

Nifty Plan(G)

SBI Nifty Index Fund-Reg(G) 91.31 2.24

Aditya Birla SL Intl. Equity 18.60 2.25

Fund-A(G)

Axis Midcap Fund(G) 34.99 2.37

Tata Index Fund-Nifty Plan(G) 64.18 2.55

UTI Nifty Index Fund-Reg(G) 69.23 2.69

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UTI Equity Fund-Reg(G) 133.94 2.80

IDFC Nifty Fund-Reg(G) 21.96 2.90

Reliance Pharma Fund(G) 147.14 3.36

Aditya Birla SL Global Real 17.80 3.54

Estate Fund(G)

ICICI Pru Growth Fund-2(DP) 11.38 3.83

Reliance Index Fund - 17.45 4.75

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Axis Bluechip Fund(G) 26.63 5.17

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Axis Multicap Fund-Reg(G) 10.72 5.51

ICICI Pru FMCG Fund(G) 233.11 5.58

SBI Banking & Financial 16.40 6.83


Franklin India Technology 145.62 11.90

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Aditya Birla SL Digital India 48.94 14.86

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ICICI Pru Technology Fund(G) 55.41 18.09

SBI Technology Opp 59.05 18.25

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Tata Digital India Fund-Reg(G) 13.90 26.09

world 13LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018

TROTTINGTROTTINGGLOBE

27 DEAD AFTER BUS,TRUCK COLLIDE IN CONGOKinshasa(Congo): A Congolesehealth official says at least 27people are dead after a bus anda truck collided west of the Capital, Kinshasa.Dr Sylvain Yuma with the health ministry says theaccident occurred overnight andthat excessive speed was toblame.

13 NEPALESE WOMENRESCUED FROM INDIAKathmandu: At least 13Nepalese women, who wereallegedly being trafficked on thepretext of jobs, were rescuedfrom hotels in India by an NGOand have been brought back tothe country. Maiti India, an NGO has brought eight women fromBangalore and five fromAhmedabad to Kathmandu onTuesday, Balkrishna Pandey, arepresentative of theorganisation, said.

AFP n KABUL

An hours-long gun and sui-cide attack on a Kabul gov-

ernment compound killed atleast 43 people, the health min-istry said on Tuesday, makingit one of the deadliest assaultson the Afghan capital this year.

No militant group hasclaimed responsibility for theraid, which caps a bloody yearfor Afghanistan as long-suf-fering civilians and securityforces are slaughtered in recordnumbers.

Another 10 people werewounded in Monday's mas-sacre on a site where theMinistry of Public Works andan office that handles pensionsand benefits for war veteransare located, spokesmanWaheed Majroh said.

Gunmen stormed the com-pound mid-afternoon afterdetonating a car bomb at theentrance, sending terrified gov-ernment workers running fortheir lives. Some jumped fromwindows several floors high toescape the militants.

Hundreds more weretrapped inside buildings forhours as heavily armed securi-ty forces swarmed the area,engaging the attackers in afierce gun battle punctuated bymultiple explosions.

At least four militants,including the suicide bomber,were killed and more than 350people freed, officials said.Most of the dead and wound-ed were civilians, who haveborne the brunt of the 17-yearwar.

It was the deadliest assaultin the Afghan capital since asuicide bomber blew himselfup in the middle of a religious

gathering last month, killing atleast 55 people.

President Ashraf Ghani,whose government has beenskewered over its security fail-ures, said "terrorists attackcivilian targets to hide theirdefeat on the battleground".

Afghanistan's de factoprime minister AbdullahAbdullah also sounded a defi-ant note as he blamed theTaliban for the attack.

"Every attack they carry outagainst our people, our resolveis further strengthened to elim-inate them," he said.

But their statements beliethe grim reality on the battle-field where the Taliban have theupper hand.

Afghanistan's largest mili-tant group has made significantterritorial gains this year as itsfighters inflict record casualtieson government forces.

The raid followed a tumul-tuous few days in Afghanistanwhere officials are reeling fromUS President Donald Trump'splan to slash troop numbers,which many fear could harmefforts to end the conflict with

the Taliban.It also comes after a major

security shake-up in Kabulthat has placed staunch anti-Taliban and Pakistan veteransin charge of the police and mil-itary. While there has been noofficial announcement of a USdrawdown, the mere sugges-tion of the United States reduc-ing its military presence hasrattled the Afghan capital andpotentially undermined peaceefforts.

General Scott Miller, thetop US and NATO commanderin Afghanistan, said Sunday hehad not received orders to pullforces out of the country.

Trump's decision appar-ently came Tuesday as USpeace envoy Zalmay Khalilzadmet with the Taliban in AbuDhabi, part of efforts to bringthe militants to the negotiatingtable with Kabul.

Many Afghans are worriedthat Ghani's fragile unity gov-ernment would collapse if UStroops pulled out, enabling theTaliban to sweep back intopower and potentially sparkinganother bloody civil war.

Injured men receive treatment at a hospital after Monday's Christmas Eve attack inKabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday AP

AFP n TRIPOLI

Suicide attackers stormed theLibyan foreign ministry in

the capital Tripoli on Tuesday,killing at least three peopleincluding a senior civil servant,the authorities said.

Ten other people werewounded in what the foreignministry said was a suicideattack carried out by "terror-ists".

A car bomb exploded near the ministry, promptingsecurity forces to rush to thescene, said special forcesspokesman Tarak al-Dawass,accusing the Islamic Statejihadist group (IS) of respon-sibility.

A suicide bomber thenblew himself up on the secondfloor of the building while asecond attacker died when thesuitcase he was carryingexploded, he said.

A third assailant, who wasunarmed and wearing a bul-

letproof vest, was killed bysecurity forces outside, Dawassadded.

At least three people werekilled and 10 wounded, accord-ing to the health ministry.

A civil servant who head-ed a department in the foreignministry was among the dead,security sources said.

Plumes of smoke were seenrising from the building asambulances, paramedics andsecurity forces gathered out-side.

There was no immediateclaim of responsibility.

Torn apart by power strug-gles and undermined by chron-ic insecurity, Libya has becomea haven for jihadists since theouster and killing of MoamerKadhafi in 2011.

Two competing adminis-trations, rival militias, tribesand jihadists have been com-peting for control of territoryand the country's vast oilwealth.

IS took advantage of thechaos to gain a foothold in thecoastal city of Sirte in 2015.

Forces loyal to the UN-backed Government ofNational Accord (GNA)regained control of the city inDecember 2016 after eightmonths of deadly fighting.

Since then, some jihadistshave returned to the desert inan attempt to regroup andreorganise.

In September, IS claimedresponsibility for a suicideattack on the headquarters ofLibya's National Oil Company in the heart ofTripoli which left two dead and10 wounded.

Four months earlier, itclaimed an attack on the elec-toral commission's headquar-ters which left 14 dead.

In April, the GNAlaunched an operation to trackdown IS fighters operating inareas of western Libya under itscontrol.

Last month IS claimedresponsibility for an attack onmilitia forces in southeasternLibya in which at least ninepeople were killed.

The US military has regu-larly carried out strikes onjihadists in Libya, particularlysouth of Sirte.

The GNA was set up undera 2015 UN-brokered deal, buta rival administration based inthe country's east aligned withmilitary strongman KhalifaHaftar refuses to recognise itsauthority.

Rival Libyan leaders hadagreed to a Paris-brokered dealin May to hold a nationwideelection by the end of theyear.But instability, territorialdisputes and divisions havedelayed plans for elections.

Two days of meetings last month in Italy laid baredeep divisions between keyplayers in the crisis with somedelegates refusing to sit side byside.

Attackers hit Libya foreign ministry, killing at least 3

PTI n BEIJING

At least five persons, includ-ing a policeman, were

killed and 21 others injured onTuesday when a hijacked buscrashed into pedestrians aftera knife-wielding man attackedits driver in southeasternChina's Fujian Province.

The incident happened inLongyan, Fujian province,state-run Xinhua news agencyreported. It said the bus washijacked.

Five people were killedand 21 others injured after the

bus which had been hijackedcrashed into pedestrians on thestreet Tuesday afternoon,Xinhua reported, quoting localauthorities.

A suspect, who had a knife,has been detained and aninvestigation is underway. Theattacker was not identified bythe police.

Photographs shared onlineshowed people lying injured onthe ground, while video footageappeared to show the suspectbeing detained.

His motive for the attackhas yet to be established.

Five killed, 21 injured inChina as hijacked buscrashes into pedestrians

AP n ISLAMABAD

APakistani lawyer who suc-cessfully fought a legal bat-

tle to acquit a Christian womanin a high-profile blasphemycase says he will return home torepresent her whenever thecountry's Supreme Court takesup a review petition against her.

Saiful Malook, who fled toNetherlands following threats tohim from radical Islamists afterthe October 21 acquittal of AsiaBibi, said Tuesday that no datehas been set by the court to hearthe petition.

The announcement byMalook came as the 54-year-oldmother of five celebratedChristmas amid security despitebeing freed.

Bibi had been on death rowsince 2010 on charges of insult-ing Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

The radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik political party held vio-lent nationwide protestsdemanding her public executionafter her release.

Pak lawyer toreturn home todefend Christianwoman

AFP n VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis used hisChristmas message Tuesday

to appeal for peace in conflictzones such as Syria and Yemen,whose populations face some ofthe world's worst humanitari-an crises.

"My wish for a happyChristmas is a wish for frater-nity. Fraternity among indi-viduals of every nation and cul-ture. Fraternity among peoplewith different ideas... Fraternityamong persons of differentreligions," he said in his tradi-tional "Urbi and Orbi" (To theCity and to the World) address

in Saint Peter's Square.The pontiff said he hoped

a truce in conflict-ravagedYemen would end a devastat-ing war which has killedaround 10,000 people since2015 and pushed 14 millionYemenis to the brink of famine.

"My thoughts turn toYemen, in the hope that thetruce brokered by the interna-tional community may finallybring relief to all those childrenand people exhausted by warand famine," he said.

The Pope also evoked thewar in Syria, from where USPresident Donald Trump hasdecided to pull out some 2,000

troops in a controversial deci-sion, arguing that the IslamicState has been defeated.

"May the internationalcommunity work decisively fora political solution... So that theSyrian people, especially allthose who were forced to leavetheir own lands and seek refugeelsewhere, can return to live inpeace in their own country," hesaid.

He also said he hoped forrenewed peace talks betweenthe Israelis and Palestinians"that can put an end to a con-flict that for over 70 years hasrent the land chosen by theLord to show his face of love."

Pope hopes for peace in Yemen,Syria and other flashpoints

AFP n DHAKA

Bangladesh police havearrested more than 10,500

opposition activists in a crack-down ahead of elections thisweek, opposition parties said onTuesday.

The figures were releasedafter the United States urgedPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina'sgovernment to do more toensure free polls on Sundaywhen she is aiming to win arecord fourth term.

Opposition parties said thearrests since the election wascalled on November 8 wereintended to create a "climate offear".

The main oppositionBangladesh Nationalist Party(BNP), whose leader KhaledaZia is serving a 17-year jailterm, said 7,021 of its activistshad been detained.

Its Islamist ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, said more than 3,500 fol-lowers were in custody. Jamaat-e-Islami is banned from con-testing elections but has candi-

dates taking part as individualswith the BNP.

"Every day 80 to 90 of ouractivists have been arrestednationwide. These arrests havecreated a climate of fear," Jamaatsecretary general ShafiqurRahman told AFP.

Police spokesman SohelRana did not confirm any fig-ure for arrests, but said they didnot make "unnecessary arrests"without warrants.

"We never target any indi-vidual unless they break the law.These people have specific war-rants against them," he toldAFP.

Rizvi Ahmed, a BNPspokesman, said the chargeslaid against party activists were"fictitious" and "ghost" cases"aiming for "a lopsided election"in favour of Hasina.

Hasina and Zia have beenpolitical foes since the intro-duction of democracy in1991.They have traditionallyalternated in power but Hasina'scurrent rule has lasted since2009 and Zia's jail term this year

prevented her from taking partin the election. The BNP and itsallies have also accused policeand ruling Awami League partyactivists of attacking theiractivists and candidates.

The BNP had hoped thedeployment of 30,000 troops onMonday would improve secu-rity across the Muslim-major-ity majority country of 165million.

"The Awami Leagueactivists along with the lawenforcing agencies attacked ourcandidates at 28 constituencies(in the last 24 hours).

Nineteen of our candidatesand over 100 activists wereinjured in the attack," Ahmedtold a press briefing.

He said that since the elec-tion campaign started at least152 BNP candidates wereattacked and hundreds of activists were injured inclashes. Police spokesman Ranadenied police had attacked anyopposition activists, acknowl-edging only that "isolated inci-dents" were possible.

10,500 arrests ahead of

B’desh poll: Opposition

PTI n LAHORE

Pakistan's ousted prime min-ister Nawaz Sharif was shift-

ed to the Kot Lakhpat jail inLahore amid tight security onTuesday, a day after an anti-cor-ruption court sentenced him toseven years in prison in a graftcase linked to the high-profilePanama Papers scandal.

Sharif, 69, was sentenced toseven years of rigorous impris-onment in the Al-Azizia SteelMills graft case but was acquit-ted in the Flagship Investmentscase by the AccountabilityCourt in Islamabad onMonday.

The three-time formerprime minister, who was takeninto custody by police follow-ing the court judgement, wastaken to Adiala Jail inRawalpindi on Monday.

Upon reaching Adiala jail,jail doctors carried out a med-ical examination of the PML-N leader and found him phys-ically fit.

On Tuesday morning,Sharif was taken to Nur KhanAir Base amid tight security.Sharif was then flown toLahore, where he was shifted to

the Kot Lakhpat jail. Tightsecurity had been put in placearound the jail and Rangerswere deployed at the policecheckposts established on theroute to the prison.

Shortly after his convictionin the National AccountabilityCourt's Al-Azizia corruptioncase Monday, Sharif 's counselrequested court to shift him toLahore jail instead of Adialasince the veteran leader is aheart patient and his personalphysicians and family membersare stationed in Lahore. Therequest was granted.

The Punjab province gov-ernment approved the provi-sion of "better class" jail facili-ties for Sharif. The better classprisoners are provided with amattress, a study table andchair in addition to a TV setand newspaper.

A large number of thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supporters gatheredoutside the jail to have aglimpse of their Quaid(supreme) leader. However,due to high security they werenot allowed to come close tothe prison. Police also batoncharged the PML-N workers

for trying to reach the jail.According to the jail

administration, Sharif is pro-vided with "better class" facil-ities.

Sharif has been shifted tothe barrack where former pres-ident Asif Ali Zardari was alsokept in corruption cases in1990s.

Upon reaching KotLakhpat jail, doctors carriedout a medical examination ofSharif and found him physi-cally fit.

Tuesday also marks Sharif 's69th birthday. The PML-N'sprovincial secretariats haveplanned celebrations, alongwith Christmas celebrations.

The party members alsocut a cake in front of the KotLakhpat jail.

Commenting on the ver-dict on Monday, Sharif said hisconscience was clear as he wasnever involved in any kind ofcorruption.

"I was never involved inmisuse of authority and cor-ruption so my conscience is atpeace," he said.

Sharif 's lawyers said theaccountability court's verdictwill be challenged in the

Islamabad High Court.The accountability court

verdict on Monday concludeda series of three court cases -Avenfield properties case,Flagship investment case andAl-Azizia steel mills case -launched against the Shariffamily by the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)on September 8, 2017 follow-ing a judgment by the SupremeCourt that disqualified Sharif inthe Panama Papers case inJuly last year.

Sharif, his daughterMaryam and his son-in-lawCaptain (retd) M Safdar weresentenced to 11 years, eightyears and one year respective-ly in prison in the Avenfieldproperties case related to theirpurchase of four luxury flats inLondon through corrupt prac-tices. However, the three werebailed out by the IslamabadHigh Court in September.

The apex court set thedeadline for December 24 towrap up the remaining twocorruption cases against theSharif family.

On Monday, the courtdelivered the judgement intwo remaining cases.

Sharif shifted to Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore

AP n UNITED NATIONS

Russia's UN Ambassador saysrelations between Moscow

and Washington are "practical-ly non-existent," which he saysis bad not only for both coun-tries but for the world — and hesees little prospect for improve-ment anytime soon.

Vassily Nebenzia said in arecent wide-ranging interviewwith a small group of journal-ists that the Trump adminis-tration should offer some incen-tives to North Korea to moveforward toward denucleariza-tion, saying the situation "isstalemated at the moment."

Russia and China havebacked an easing of sanctions tospur momentum, but the U.S.Insists that North Korea mustfirst make major steps towardeliminating its nuclear pro-gram. "I'm concerned that itdoesn't roll back" to the 2017 eraof increasing nuclear and mis-sile tests and escalating rhetoric,Nebenzia said.

"I think that the US Hopefully is starting tounderstand that the situation

may go (back)." As for Iran, Nebenzia said

he worries about U.S. Strategyif its sanctions don't bring aboutthe changes in behaviour theTrump administration wants.He sees "a danger if they go tothe limits."

"I'm worried if anybodywants to go to war with Iran,and that is the enigma and thequestion — what is the strate-gy about Iran?" Nebenzia asked.

He said the U.S. And Russianeed to talk about global issuesincluding strategic stability, ter-rorism, narcotics and regionalconflicts, and he thinksPresident Donald Trump"understands pretty well that it'sbetter to cooperate."

But he said because Russiahas become a major issue in U.S.Domestic policies — accused ofhacking and interfering in the2016 U.S. Elections which isbeing investigated by specialcounsel Robert Mueller — "andgiven the vulnerabilities thatdrift around this administration,I don't see too bright prospectsfor improving (relations) anytime soon."

Russian envoy: Bad

relations with US

unlikely to improveAP n ISTANBUL

Turkey said Tuesday it isworking with the United

States to coordinate the with-drawal of American forces butremains "determined" to clearUS-allied Kurdish fighters fromnortheastern Syria.

Foreign Minister MevlutCavusoglu told reporters that "ifTurkey says it will enter, itwill," in comments carried byprivate DHA news agency.

For weeks, Turkey has beenthreatening to launch a newoffensive against the Kurdishfighters, who partnered with theUS to drive the Islamic Stategroup out of much of northernand eastern Syria.

Ankara views the Kurdishforces as terrorists because oftheir links to an insurgentgroup inside Turkey.

President Donald Trumpannounced the planned with-drawal of US forces after aphone call with TurkishPresident Recep TayyipErdogan earlier this month.

The minister also saidAnkara and Washington haveagreed to complete a roadmapon the northern Syrian town of

Manbij until the US withdraws.Under the June deal, Kurdishforces would leave Manbij, inthe western Euphrates valley,but delays have infuriatedTurkey.

"It is crucial that the USdoesn't appear as not havingkept its promises," Cavusoglusaid.

He argued that Turkey hasthe "strength to neutralize" ISon its own and criticised France,which has promised to stay inSyria despite the US decision.

Cavusoglu warned it wouldnot benefit France if it was stay-ing in Syria to protect the YPG,the main Kurdish militia inSyria.

Erdogan, speaking toreporters in Ankara, saidTurkey was taking into accountTrump's announcement onSyria rather than FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macron'sdecision.

The future of the interna-tional coalition against IS,which includes Turkey, the USand France, remains unclear.

The Turkish president alsoannounced that a delegationwas heading to Moscow andthat he would meet with

Russian President VladimirPutin. Turkey has been negoti-ating on behalf of the Syrianopposition with Russia andIran, which support the Syriangovernment, as part of effortsto end the nearly 8-year civilwar.

A top Russian official saysthat Moscow expects that a hot-line between Russia and the USmilitary will be kept in placedespite the impending USwithdrawal from Syria.

Trump announced lastweek that the US will withdrawall of its 2,000 forces in Syria, amove that will leave control ofthe oil-rich eastern third ofSyria up for grabs.

Russia launched its militaryoperation in Syria in 2015 toback its longtime ally PresidentBashar Assad.

Russian Deputy ForeignMinister Sergei Ryakov saidTuesday in an interview withthe RIA Novosti news agencythat it would be a "big mistake"to dismantle a hotline thatRussia and the US use to pre-vent potential clashes in Syriapending the US withdrawaland said he sees no indicationsthe Americans would do that.

Turkey ‘determined' to drive out Syrian Kurdish forces

AFP n LONDON

Britain is forbidding puppiesand kittens from being sold

by pet shops in a bid to crackdown on animal exploitationand abuse.

The government said itwill roll out the legislation next year after hold-ing public consultations thatshowed 95-percent support forthe ban.

"This will mean that any-one looking to buy or adopt apuppy or kitten under sixmonths must either deal direct-ly with the breeder or with ananimal re-homing centre," theDepartment of EnvironmentFood and Rural Affairs (Defra) said on Sunday as partof its Christmas animal welfarepush.

The measure is common-ly called Lucy's Law in honourof a Cavalier King CharlesSpaniel who was rescued froma puppy farm in Wales in 2013.

She had spent most of herlife in a cage and was no longerable to breed because her hipshad fused together from lack ofmovement.

Britain banspuppy andkitten sales bypet shops

AP n WASHINGTON

The lights were not twinkling.The toy trains were not

whirring. Even the nearby bath-rooms were locked.

The national Christmastree, symbol of a country's sea-sonal cheer, instead stood as anicon of a government in paral-ysis, as the partial shutdownstretched into the holiday withan array of federal servicesfrozen, some 800,000 publicservants either idled or about tobe and the disruption to thebroader public bound to growwhen the quiet spell ends laterthis week.

Already facilities at manynational parks were shuttered, ifthe parks were accessible at all,and thousands of federal build-ings were to remain closedwhen the work week resumedunless President Donald Trumpand members of Congressquickly break through a budgetimpasse that the White Housesaid could drag on into 2019.

Under cloudy skies in abrisk wind on the third day ofthe shutdown, the capital put onlittle holiday wonder for visitorslike Greg Forcherio of

Columbia, Maryland, a gov-ernment contractor with nooffice to work in after the holi-days as long as federal buildingsstayed closed.

He, his wife and their tod-dler on Monday came to see thegiant, glittering spruce treebrought from Colorado to serveas the national Christmas tree,normally a focal point forWashington holiday visitors.

But a locked chain-linkfence blocked access to the siteand the nearby White Housevisitor's center and its bath-rooms were closed, with a hand-scrawled sign directing visitorsto portable toilets, which alsowere chained shut. "Kind ofannoying when you've gotyoung children," Forcherio said.

Access to the site wasrestored later Monday and final-ly, as night fell on ChristmasEve, the lights returned.

The government hadannounced a day earlier that itwould be sealed off because ofthe shutdown and becauserepairs had slowed after anepisode of vandalism on the treebefore the weekend. It reopenedwith money from the NationalPark Foundation, a charity.

An icon of Christmas

cheer went dark,

some parks close

43 killed in Kabul Govt

compound attack

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018 sport 14

PTI ■ MELBOURNE

Adesperate India will punt on therookie opening pair of MayankAgarwal and Hanuma Vihari in

their bid to regain momentum againsta rejuvenated Australia when the'Boxing Day' Test starts on Wednesday.

After being deflated by 146 runs inthe second Test at Perth, India after aweek's break will be putting their bestfoot forward, an indicator of which isthe decision to finally drop their out-of-form openers KL Rahul and MuraliVijay.

While there was temptation to playall-rounder Hardik Pandya, a fit-againRohit Sharma will give the cushion ofan extra batsman.

Indian team management in adeparture from its conventionannounced their playing XI, a day priorto the match ending speculations aboutthe possible team combination.

Time had already run-out forRahul, who had scored only 48 runs infour innings this series, including ahighest of 44 in the second innings atAdelaide.

In this year's overseas cycle alone,his average had dropped down to20.94 in nine Tests with only one fifty-plus score.

Vijay had done no better previouslyscored 49 runs in four innings thisseries, including a highest of 20 in thesecond innings at Perth. Overall in2019, he only averages 18.80 in eightTests, with one hundred againstAfghanistan.

Otherwise his highest score thisyear is 46 in the first innings againstSouth Africa at Centurion. In this year'soverseas cycle, his average drops downto 12.64 in seven Tests.

The sheer numbers indicated thatthe two couldn't be persisted with asthey had become "walking wickets" forthe Australian new ball bowlers.

Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad,who is present in Melbourne indicat-ed that Vihari is being looked as a stop-gap solution (with Prithvi Shawinjured).

Agarwal though has earned hisplace by sheer weight of runs in domes-tic cricket as well as for India A andcouldn't be ignored any further by

either selectors or the team manage-ment.

While Vihari bats at number threefor Andhra, he has previously openedfor Hyderabad earlier in his first-classcareer.

It suffices to say that he hasimpressed the team management suf-ficiently in his two Test outings thus farto be handed this responsibility againstMitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and JoshHazlewood.

Even so, this new strategy from thethink tank again puts the spotlight onRohit Sharma, who will be eager tomake an impression after yet anotherbatting order shuffle to accommodatehim.

In the past, India have droppedCheteshwar Pujara (Sydney, 2014),moved Ajinkya Rahane to numberthree (Colombo, 2015), and even skip-per Virat Kohli has batted at numberthree (St Lucia, 2016) to make way forSharma in the line-up.

The batsman continues to under-whelm with his indifferent Test form,albeit he did score an attacking 37 runsat Adelaide out of India's first inningstotal of 250.

India's third change is pertainingto their bowling attack.

After getting the balance awfullywrong in Perth, they have included aspinner along with Ishant Sharma,Mohammed Shami and JaspritBumrah.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadejahas recovered sufficiently from hisshoulder stiffness and takes UmeshYadav's spot in the playing eleven.

This was after off-spinner RAshwin was ruled out of this third Test,as he still needs more time to recoverfrom his left abdominal strain.

Australia too have made onechange to their playing eleven.

Peter Handscomb, who is short ofruns, makes way for all-rounderMitchell Marsh, albeit the latter isn't inthe best form himself.

The hosts have made this changekeeping in mind the placid nature of theMCG pitch, which was rated poor bythe ICC after a drab draw played outagainst England here in December2017.

The pitch for this 'Boxing Day' Testsported some grass on the top surface,and both teams talked about the pos-sibility of some moisture in the wick-et as well.

However, Australian coach JustinLanger and opener Marcus Harrishave previously warned about thegrass being not too productive hereunlike in Adelaide and Perth, and withthe sun beating down, the wicketcould yet turn out to be a flat surfacethus explaining their one change to bol-ster the bowling unit.

TEAMSIndia (XI): Virat Kohli, MayankAgarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Pujara,Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma,Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, IshantSharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Shami.Australia (XI): Tim Paine, MarcusHarris, Aaron Finch, UsmanKhawaja, Travis Head, Shaun Marsh,Mitchell Marsh, Nathan Lyon, Starc,Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood.

PTI ■ MELBOURNE

Their patchy performance has stuck outlike a sore thumb during the first two

Tests and skipper Virat urged his batsmento complement the superb effort of his bowl-ing unit in the upcoming Boxing Day Test.

While Kohli gave a batting masterclasson a challenging track in Perth, CheteshwarPujara had played a decisive role in team'swin in Adelaide but other batsmen have notcontributed much unlike bowlers, who havepicked 40 wickets in four innings.

"It is very important for batsmen tostand up, because as everyone can see, ourbowling has been performing really well.Otherwise, the bowlers won't be able to doanything with the totals that we have beencompiling," skipper Kohli said on the eve ofthe third Test.

"If we are batting second, we will try totake the lead or get as close to the opposi-tion total as possible. If you equal a big score,then it becomes a second-innings' match andif you take a good first-innings lead, thenyou can capitalize on that.

"The batsmen must step up collective-ly. I won't say individually whether some-one needs to do that or not, but as a batting

unit, we have to definitely put up a betterperformance," Kohli sent out a loud andclear message for his batting unit.

The Indian captain made it clear thatneither his team's Adelaide victory nor thePerth defeat will have any bearing whenMelbourne Test starts.

"As a team, I don't think whether youare 2-0 up or 2-0 down or 1-1, what's hap-

pened in the past has no significance at allto what's going to happen in the next twoTests or what's going to happen in the nextTest which is quite immediate."The key isto stay in the moment, stay in the present,understand and remember why you won thefirst Test, which was because of us being inthe present moment," the skipper reiterat-ed what he has often stressed.

FUTURE HOPE WIN KOLKATA KBD JR LEGKolkata: In a test of strength and passion forkabaddi, the KBD Juniors season 2 Kolkata finalewitnessed Future Hope School emerging victoriousby thrashing Khalsa High School 31-11. Future HopeSchool had an unbeaten run to lift the trophy. In abrilliantly orchestrated game with decisive precision,the students from Future Hope School demonstratedskill and strength on the mat, which led them to thevictory. Prior to the city finals, the two semi-finalmatches witnessed Monu Memorial High School testtheir mettle against Future Hope School and KhalsaHigh School took on Khalsa English High School.Among the schools in the fray for the coveted title ofthe Kolkata city champions were Saifee GoldenJubilee Public School, Monu Memorial High School,St Aloysius Orphanage School, Future Hope School,Khalsa High School, Rani Rash Moni High School, StAloysius Day School and Khalsa English High School.

IRAN HELD TO 1-1 DRAW BY PALESTINETehran: Iran's national football team conceded alast-minute equalizer as the team drew 1-1 withPalestine in a friendly match. Iran striker MehdiTaremi was on target five minutes into the secondhalf but Jonathan Cantillana levelled the match in theinjury time. The friendly match was held at theAbdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar as part ofthe preparation for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. Iran willalso meet Qatar on December 31 before travelling tothe UAE for the Asian Cup. Iran has been drawn withYemen, Iraq and Vietnam in Group D. They will starttheir campaign with a match against Yemen onJanuary 7 at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, AbuDhabi. The 2019 AFC Asian Cup will be held in theUnited Arab Emirates from January 5 to February 1.

ROJAS SIGNS OLIMPIA CONTRACT Asuncion: Olimpia, this year's two-time Paraguayanfootball champion, has announced the signing offorward Rodrigo Rojas, who until now had played forCerro Porteño but who returns to the club where hegot his start and with which he will contend for theCopa Libertadores title in 2019. "Rodrigo Rojas hasalready signed and is once again with the Expreso.Welcome once again to the King of Copas, 'Rorro'!"the Asuncion club posted on its website on Sundaynight. Rojas, 30, thus leaves Cerro Porteño, Olimpia'sbiggest rival and where he has played since January2015, reports Efe news. After that, he did stints atChile's O'Higgins and Universidad de Chile beforelanding at Cerro Porteño. His return to Olimpia hasbeen among the plans of the club's management forthe new season after the success last year, when theteam triumphed in both the Apertura and Clausuratourneys.

SHIPULIN QUITS BIATHLON AMID PROBEMoscow: Russian biathlon star Anton Shipulin onTuesday announced he had lost "motivation" andwould retire from the sport, weeks after Austrianprosecutors announced a doping probe into his team.Shipulin has always rejected claims against him buthe and other top sports stars were barred from theWinter Olympics this year as part of a ban on Russiafor state-sponsored doping. "This race will be the lastof my career," the 31-year-old said of a competition inGermany's Gelsenkirchen on December 29,according to Russian news agencies. "There's nosense in carrying on torturing myself, my fans andmy loved ones. I can't find in myself the motivationthat I need," he told a press conference in Moscow.

Agencies

SINGLES

PTI ■ MELBOURNE

Chairman of selectorsMSK Prasad on

Tuesday made it clear thathis committee pickedRavindra Jadeja for the Testseries based on the fitnessreport where he wasdeclared absolutely fit.

Jadeja, who had ashoulder stiffness couldn'tfeature in the second Test inPerth and coach RaviShastri told the mediaper-sons that the player was car-rying the niggle from India.

Prasad however wantedto set the record straight onthe eve of the Boxing DayTest, which will feature theSaurashtra all-rounder.

"On the eve of anyselection meeting, the selec-tion committee is given afitness report of all theplayers. In that report,Jadeja was absolutely fit. Sowe picked him. After wepicked him, he went andplayed Ranji Trophy also,where he bowled 60 overs.So there is no question ofhim being unfit at the timeof selection (for Australia),"Prasad said.

"Whenever a healthissue comes up, we have agroup in which it is beingplaced. All that is lookedafter by the physio andthey have very clearly givenit in the statement," he said.

On a different note,Prasad said that Mahendra

Singh Dhoni's return inthe T20 squad for NewZealand tour was onexpected lines as he wasonly rested for the six T20Internationals against WestIndies and Australia.

"With regard to MS,even while resting also, wecategorically told that hewas going to be rested forthose six matches so that wecan give more game-time toDinesh Karthik andRishabh Pant. That is thevery reason. Now they haveplayed quite a few matches,so we thought that weshould bring back MS intothe squad," Prasad rea-soned, even though it isclear that Dhoni won't bepart of 2020 World T20 inAustralia.

Prasad said the decisionto drop Rishabh Pant fromthe ODIs against Australiaand New Zealand was tokeep him fresh for biggerbattles ahead. He assuredthat the young keeper is stillin scheme of things for the2019 World Cup.

"With regards toRishabh, given the intensi-ty of this series that we areplaying right now, so afterthis series, we want to keephim fresh. Give him a breakand he will have a verygood game-time of fivematches against the visitingEngland Lions. Definitely apart of our World Cupplans (sic)," Prasad said.

PTI ■ MELBOURNE

Hanuma Vihari's role as an openeris a stop-gap one and he will be

given enough opportunities in his pre-ferred middle-order spot should he failat the top, assured chairman of selec-tors MSK Prasad.

When asked if the new role is unfairon Vihari, who has only played twoTests so far, and doesn't regularly openin domestic first-class cricket, Prasadsaid:"He would be given a fair chancein the middle order should he fail tomake an impression as an opener in thenext two Tests."

Having watched Vihari closelywhen he played domestic cricket forAndhra, Prasad feels that he has thegame to face the new kookaburra.

"It's fine. Technically, we feel thatVihari is well-equipped. There weretimes where Cheteshwar Pujara alsoopened when the team required. Theteam demands it and definitely I hopehe will come out successful. Definitelyit is not a long-term solution, I can tellyou that," Prasad assured.

Vihari opening the innings at theMCG is a sort of deja vu for Prasad, who

was given the same role during the dis-astrous 1999 series where he found BrettLee's pace too hot to handle.

Prasad feels that Vihari unlike himshould see this chance as an opportu-nity.

"I always feel that it (openingagainst Aus in 1999) was an opportu-nity given to me which I didn't reallylived up to. We think Vihari is well-equipped to do so (than Rohit Sharma).We are convinced with his techniqueand definitely he is a long-term prospectfor Indian Test cricket."

PTI ■ MELBOURNE

Buoyed by team's compre-hensive victory in the second

Test, a cautious Australian skip-per Tim Paine believes that hisinexperienced side has thepotential to get ahead of Indiabut is still a work in progress.

"I don't feel like we are ontop of them. We feel like we aregetting better with every Test,"Paine said on the eve of theBoxing Day Test.

"We are improving withevery game but we need to keepstacking up good days and playgood Test cricket. If we can dothat for the next 4-5 days I thinkwe will be in the thick of it again,"Paine said.

"Certainly when you have aninexperienced team and you get a bigwin like in Perth against the numberone team in the world, guys are goingto grow in confidence a little bit andcome to Melbourne feeling better thanwhen we did to Perth," the skipper

said.India have made three changes

for the Boxing Day Test but Paine isnot bothered about changes in oppo-sition rank.

"India's changes don't really both-er us because we have done our home-work on all of their players for a num-ber of weeks now. We have been pre-

pared for all of them to play.What they do is their business,and we will keep focussing onwhat we are doing," Paine said.

As is the norm, Australianamed their playing elevenwith Mitchell Marsh coming inthe side replacing PeterHandscomb.

Paine said that the changeis to do with bowling and itwould help out their four-bowler attack, before addingthat Handscomb could be backfor the Sydney Test.

"We did it last year duringthe Ashes as well and majori-ty of this decision is based onthe fact that it will be hot and

the bowlers have had a big role play.We think Mitch can come in and doa good job with the bat and will be agreat support for our bowlers as well.

"Peter knows that there are thingswe would like him to improve. Goinginto Sydney, where it spins, I think hewill come back into it quickly becausehe is our best player of spin.”

PNS ■ NEW DELHI

Tamil Thaliavas andHaryana Steelers played

out an exciting 40-40 tie inVivo Pro Kabaddi League sea-son 6.

Haryana Steelers avoideddefeat as they scored two pointsin the last minute. Monu Goyattop scored for Haryana with 17points and put in a stellar per-formance.

Ajay Thakur was in fineform for Tamil Thalaivas andhe too scored 17 points.Haryana ended their leaguecampaign on a positive note asdid Tamil Thalaivas. Bothteams finished bottom of thetable in their respective zones.

Tamil Thalaivasbegan strongly and led3-0 after three min-utes with Ajay Thakurpicking up a raidpoint. HaryanaSteelers came back to trail 3-4after five minutes. It was a closeaffair in the first 10 minutes.

Monu Goyat picked up atwo-point raid in the 7th

minute to level the match at 6-6.

Haryana Steelers forced asuper tackle in the 13thminute as they tied the matchat 11-11. Anand was the star

raider for Thalaivas in thefirst half.

He picked up threeraid points in twominutes as they led16-14 at the end of

the first half.Tamil Thalaivas inflicted

an all out at the start of the sec-ond half to lead 19-16.Haryana Steelers weren't

deterred by the all out and keptpicking up points.

In the 26th minuteHaryana inflicted an all out tolead 27- 23. Ajay Thakur madea super raid in the next minuteto bring Thalaivas back in thematch. In the 29th minute,Thalaivas inflicted an all out tolead 32-28.

It was a closely foughtencounter with both teamslevel on 36-36 after 36 min-utes. Ajay Thakur picked uptwo raid points in two minutesto give Thaliavas 39-37 leadafter 38 minutes.

MAYANK, VIHARI TO OPEN

IN BOXING DAY TEST

India axe out of form KL Rahul and Vijay while Aus include Mitch Marsh for third Test

Ravindra Jadeja trains during practice session ahead of third Test BCCI

I N D I A - A U S T R A L I A A T M E L B O U R N ETeam M W L D Success%

Australia 110 63 30 17 65.00India 12 2 8 2 25.00

R E S U L T S O F I N D I A - A U S T R A L I A T E S T SSeason Result

1947-48 Australia won by 233 runs

1947-48 Australia won by an innings & 177 runs

1967-68 Australia won by an innings & 4 runs

1977-78 India won by 222 runs

1980-81 India won by 59 runs

1985-86 Match drawn

1991-92 Australia won by 8 wickets


2003-04 Australia won by 9 wickets



2014-15 Match drawn

Faisel Features

‘Jadeja was fit whenselected for Aus Tests’

KOHLI URGES BATSMEN TO

COMPLEMENT BOWLING UNIT

Australian team is still work

in progress: Paine

Steelers, Tamil play out thrilling tie

Vihari would get adequatechance in middle order: Prasad

Australia vs India

Live from 5:30am IST

SONY SIX & TEN NETWORK

LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018 sport 15

PTI ■ MUMBAI

Former champions Mumbai andSaurashtra featured in an excitingdraw on Tuesday after both teams

squandered chances to win the contest onthe fourth and final day of their EliteGroup A game.

Mumbai, champions on 41 occasionsand ahead of the visitors by 46 runs on thefirst innings, declared their second inningsclosed in the morning session at 238 for8, leaving Saurashtra a target of 285 in 72overs.

Saurashtra were sailing along merrilyafter being 79 for two with the 113-runthird wicket stand between ViswarajsinhJadeja (71 in 129 balls) and SheldonJackson (57 in 118 balls) bringing themcloser to the target.

Jadeja was run out by a direct throwfrom point by Jay Bista to break the standat 192 and then a double strike with theuse of short balls in one over by mediumpacer Minad Manjrekar put the skids onSaurashtra.

Manjrekar got rid of both Jackson,caught slashing at deep point whenSaurashtra needed 55 in ten overs, andPrerak Mankad (24 in 21 balls) three runslater to raise visions of a Mumbai victory.

Manjrekar got two more wickets inthat spell to send back Arpit Vasavada andrival captain Jaydev Unadkat after whichSaurashtra downed the shuttlers withChirag Jani holding fort at one end.

After four balls in the final over, thegame was called off as a draw with the vis-itors on 266 for 7, needing 19 more runsto pull off what would have been a come-from- behind win.

Jani (9) and Dharmendra Jadeja (8)were the unbeaten batsmen at the creasewhen the match ended.

Manjrekar finished with impressivefigures of 4 for 39, while Shivam Dube got2 for 50.

Mumbai secured three points to boosttheir tally to 11 and are 14th out of 18teams in the combined A and B Groupsstandings with two matches left.

Saurashtra secured one point toremain on top of the combined standingswith 26 points with one game in hand.

Meanwhile at Shivamoga, hosts

Karnataka trounced Railways by 176 runs.Senior off-spinner K Gowtham rose to theoccasion and returned with match-win-ning figures of 6-30, as Railways were bun-dled out for 185 in their second essay.

At Nagpur, the Gujarat-Vidarbhagame ended in a tame draw with the hoststaking the first innings lead and grabbingthree crucial points. Gujarat got onepoint.

At Raipur, hosts Chhattisgarh tookthree points, courtesy the first innings lead.But the hosts survived a scare withMaharashtra taking as many as six wick-ets in their second innings.

ASSAM BEAT GOAGUWAHATI: Hosts Assam defeated Goa by7 runs in a pulsating Group C game afterhaving conceded a narrow first inningslead to the visitors.

Resuming at their overnight score of166 for 6, Goa needed 218 for an outrightwin, but were shot out for 210 at theBarsapara cricket stadium on the final day.

Then right-arm medium pacer ArupDas (6-67) trapped number 11 batsmanKrishna Das (2) in front of the wicket tohand Assam a memorable win.

Meanwhile, at Ranchi, left-arm spin-ner Shahbaz Nadeem bowled hostsJharkhand to an 81-run victory overServices with excellent figures of 7 for 62.

Jharkhand had conceded the firstinnings lead and then turned the matcharound to bag six points and boost theirtally to 30 from 7 games. They are in thirdspot.

At Jammu, Odisha defeated Jammuand Kashmir by eight wickets.

The game between table toppersRajasthan and Haryana at Jaipur ended ina tame draw with the hosts walking awaywith three points on the basis of the firstinnings lead.

BIHAR ROUT NAGALANDPATNA: Ashutosh Aman returned with amatch haul of 12 wickets to help Biharsecure a thumping 273-run victory overNagaland in their Plate Group fixture.

The left-arm spinner, who claimedseven wickets in the first innings, grabbed5/49 in the second to finish with a matchhaul of 12/96, as Nagaland folded for 173

in their tall pursuit of 446.This was the former Services crick-

eter's fourth successive 10-wicket haul.Aman, who was adjudged Man-of-the-Match for the third time from four match-es, is now the leading wicket-taker with 51scalps from 10 innings with an astound-ing average of 5.54.

At the CAP Siechem Ground inPuducherry, the match between leadersUttarakhand and Puducherry startedafresh on the fourth day, with a new tosstaking place on a fresh pitch.

However, only 15 overs were playedbefore the match was called off, owing toinconsistent bounce from the pitch andboth teams settled for one point each.

TN OUT OF KNOCK-OUT PHASEDHARAMSALA: Tamil Nadu suffered a nine-wicket defeat against Himachal Pradesh ina Elite Group 'B' match as it crashed outof contention for the knock-out phase.

The victory, third of the season, tookHimachal's tally so far to 22 points whilethe visitors remained with just 12 pointsfrom seven games -- four draws and twodefeats and sole win, failing to qualify forthe knock-out phase.

The home team rattled up 111 for 1 toseal the win after Tamil Nadu folded upfor 345 in the second innings following amiddle-order collapse after centuries byAbhinav Mukund (128) and captain BabaIndrajith (106).

Guleria (3 for 56) and Rishi Dhawan(3 for 60) were the best bowlers forHimachal.

Chasing the target, Ankush Bainslaunched a clinical assualt on the TNbowlers, hitting six fours and four sixersin his unbeaten 38-ball 64 to powerHimachal home just in 15.3 overs.

The other opener Raghav Dhawan(39) was sent back by left-arm spinner RSai Kishore while going for a big hit butRishi Dhawan (4 not out) finished thegame, blasting a four of Kishore.

In other games in the group, Andhrahad to settle for three points against Bengalat Visakhapatnam while visitors Punjabcould not reach its target againstHyderabad despite an attacking ton by theyoung Shubman Gill (148, 154 balls 16X4,2X6).

AFP ■ CENTURION

Fast bowler Dale Steyn on Monday saidhe is looking beyond breaking the

record for most Test wickets for SouthAfrica in the forthcoming series againstPakistan.

Steyn currently shares the record of421 wickets with former captain ShaunPollock, who retired in 2008, and needsone more wicket in the first Test againstPakistan, starting at SuperSport Park onWednesday, to hold first place on his

own."I have a lot more wickets in me than

just one more," he said. "I haven't savedmyself just to take one more wicket thanPolly (Pollock), there is a bigger goal atthe end of the day."

He admitted that the past two years,during which he has had several setbackshad been frustrating.

"I do think it will be a beautiful thingto happen, if it happens. It has taken a

long time and these records are greatthings to achieve.

"I will be highly honoured but I willget back to my mark and try to take thenext one."

The 35-year-old, who will be playingin his 89th Test, seemed set to take therecord when he played in two Tests in SriLanka earlier this year but could onlytake two wickets to tie with Pollock.

"It's just nice to have a red ball in myhand again," he said.

"Sri Lanka was tough conditions forthe fast bowlers, but by the looks ofthings - the way the nets have been play-ing out in the middle — there is somespice.

"I am looking forward to getting outthere and playing five competitive daysof cricket."

Steyn is currently joint eleventh inthe all-time list of wicket-takers in Testcricket. Sri Lankan spinner MuttiahMuralitharan, who retired in 2010, headsthe list with 800 while the top fast bowleris current England opening bowler JamesAnderson with 565.

The first Test match of three matchTest series will start from 26th Decemberat SuperSport Park in Centurion followedby second in Cape Town from 3rd Jan.

AFP ■ MANCHESTER

Manchester United return to OldTrafford for the first time under

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's managementagainst Huddersfield on Boxing Daywith a new-found swagger after scoringfive goals in the Premier League for thefirst time in five years.

The Norwegian's caretaker spell incharge until the end of the season got offto a dream start asUnited threw offthe shackles, thatled to turgid foot-ball and deteriorat-ing results underJose Mourinho, to thrash Cardiff 5-1.

United still face a huge challenge tomake up an eight-point gap just to qual-ify for next season's Champions Leaguevia a top-four finish.

But for now the luxury of just beingable to enjoy watching a side play withfreedom and the attacking principles thathave underpinned the club's history isenough to excite United fans again.

"I think the boys are looking forwardto playing at Old Trafford and that'simportant. We should be looking for-ward to that, they are the best fans in theworld," said Solskjaer when questionedwhether some of the current Unitedsquad have been inhibited by the pres-sures of playing at home in thefamous red shirt.

Solskjaer is certainly afavourite of the United faithfulhaving scored 126 goals in 11 sea-sons as a player, including the onethat famously won theChampions League final in1999.

He was serenadedthroughout by the visiting fansin the Welsh capital at theweekend as United hit five for the firsttime since Alex Ferguson's final gamein charge.

"I just hope in the next five monthsI do a good enough job for them to keepsinging my name when someone elsecomes in," added Solskjaer, whose pos-

itivity has immediately lifted a squaddowntrodden by Mourinho's moodswings.

"Just to be positive. Take risks," saidJesse Lingard, who scored twice inCardiff, at what Solskjaer's message hasbeen.

"If you lose the ball, win it back, andplay the United way - attacking football,entertaining football. For us as players,we enjoyed it today."

Rarely has enjoy-ment ever been top ofMourinho's list of pri-orities, even in his mostsuccessful spells withPorto, Chelsea and Inter

Milan.

‘WORK HARDER' However, the levels of committmenthe demanded from those sides wasnot evident in the current Unitedsquad.

For the first time this season, Unitedoutran their opponents against Cardiff.

"A Man United team should neverever be outworked," said Solskjaer tohighlight the minimum he expects.

"Doesn't matter which team youplay. You should run more than themand then your skills will give you thechance to win the game."

A good work ethic should be theminimum required of a Manchester

United team, but Mourinho's tac-tics also didn't help his side's run-ning statistics.

Too often the Red Devilswere set up to sit deep and try andcounter-attack. Solskjaer instead

seems intent on implementingthe United way he learned atthe heel of Ferguson for so long.

"I said the same to theselads as I do back in Molde: work

harder than them, enjoy yourselves, passit forward, run forward, if you lose it, Idon't mind as long as you work to winit back and they did.

"When you've got players like thiswith the quality you are always going tocreate chances."

PTI ■ ABU DHABI

Indian football team forwardJeje Lalpekhlua on Tuesday

said he has developed a "tele-pathic understanding" with acestriker Sunil Chhetri.

Jeje first caught the attentionby scoring a hat-trick againstPakistan at the age of 19 — in hisfirst tournament. Since then,despite scoring regularly, he wasin and out of the national squadtill 2015, when he cemented hisplace.

"I played with Sunil-bhaiwhen I made my debut. Sincethen we have been playingtogether. I feel, together we fit inwell, and complement eachother's styles," Jeje stated.

"He has helped me a lot onand off the field. We have a tele-pathic understanding on thepitch. I know where he is, andhe always knows where I am," headded.

India take on Thailand intheir opening match of the AFCAsian Cup 2019 and Jeje sound-ed confident.

"This team is a strong one aswe have put in a lot of goodwork so far," the Mizo playersaid.

"We are confident in ourabilities and feel that we can takeon any challenge."

He stated that the side hasbeen improving steadily, andthat the progress is there foreveryone to see.

"Compared to when I mademy debut, there is a lot of dif-ference in the National Team.With every match, we havebeen getting better and haveachieved a lot in between," hefelt.

"I'm very happy to be a partof this team. We worked hard toqualify for the Asian Cup. It is

the biggest tournament for us,almost like a World Cup. Wehope to do well, and strive forbigger things," he stated.

"In fact, there is still a lot wecan do and the AFC Asian Cupis the next step along the way."

Jeje also spoke about the roleplayed by coach Constantine inthe recent upsurge.

"The entire team has put ina lot of hard work. He has hadthe most crucial role to play.When he came in, he had toldus that our target was to quali-fy for the Asian Cup, and we didit."

AFP ■ MELBOURNE

Australia's Asian Cup defencehas been dealt a blow with

Huddersfield midfielder AaronMooy ruled out of the tournamentafter a second opinion on a kneeinjury confirmed the worst.

Mooy has been in top formthis season, but suffered ligamentdamage in his right knee playingagainst Arsenal earlier this month.

Huddersfield initially side-lined him until February, but he issuch a key player for Australia thatthey insisted on getting a secondopinion from an independent spe-cialist.

"It is disappointing to loseAaron for the tournament," saidSocceroos coach Graham Arnoldin a statement late Monday.

"However, it was importantthat we left no stone unturned inexploring every option to getAaron on the pitch for Australia inthe United Arab Emirates."

Mooy needs at least anothermonth to recover and with theAsian Cup starting on January 5,Arnold decided it wasn't worthrisking him.

"In a best-case scenario, thiswould mean he would not beready to play until after the quar-ter-final stage," he said.

"With so many games in sucha short period we felt it would be

best to bring in a player that is fullyfit and ready to go from the out-set."

James Jeggo, who plays theAustrian Bundesliga for FKAustria Wien, has been added tothe squad as cover.

Australia are in Group B,along with Jordan, Syria andPalestine. They are due to assem-ble in the UAE from December 26.

REVISED SQUADMustafa Amini, Aziz Behich,Martin Boyle, Milos Degenek,Alex Gersbach, Rhyan Grant,Chris Ikonomidis, JacksonIrvine, Matthew Jurman, JamesJeggo, Robbie Kruse, MitchLangerak, Mathew Leckie,Massimo Luongo, Awer Mabil,Jamie Maclaren, Mark Milligan,Andrew Nabbout, Josh Risdon,Tom Rogic, Mathew Ryan, TrentSainsbury, Danny Vukovic.

S Africa vs Pakistan

Live from 1:30pm IST

SONY TEN NETWORK

Man Utd vs Huddersfield

Live from 8:30pm IST

STAR SPORTS NETWORK

Final day surprises in Ranji

Mumbai play epic draw to secure three points against Saurashtra; Himachal win by 9 wickets to punch TN out of k/o race

Karnataka bowler K Gowtham celebates his sixth wicket in the Ranji Trophy match against Raiways inShivamogga; Saurashtra batsman Jackson celebrates his fifty runs against Mumbai PTI

MUMBAI SECURED THREE POINTS TO BOOST THEIR TALLYTO 11 AND ARE 14TH OUT OF 18 TEAMS IN THE COMBINEDA AND B GROUPS STANDINGS WITH TWO MATCHES LEFT.SAURASHTRA SECURED ONE POINT TO REMAIN ON TOP

OF THE COMBINED STANDINGS WITH 26 POINTS WITH ONEGAME IN HAND

Steyn believes there is more to come

M O S T T E S T W I C K E T SRank Wickets Player M Avg Years

1 421 Dale Steyn 87 22.42 2004-present

2 421 Shaun Pollock 108 23.11 1995-2008

3 390 Makhaya Ntini 101 28.82 1998-2009

4 330 Allan Donald 72 22.25 1992-2002

5 306 Morne Morkel 85 27.74 2006-2018

Mooy ruled out of Asian Cup Understanding with Sunil

is telepathic, says Jeje

Relish rather than fear

Old Trafford, Ole tells Utd

16LUCKNOW | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 26, 2018the pioneer

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