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Imran claims Trump hasasked him to mediate in Iran standoff

WORLD | Negotations

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THE ASIAN AGENEW DELHI THURSDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2019

KourtneyKardashianopens up about her work and spending time with kids

Max: 32OCMin: 24OCRH: 64%Rainfall: 10%

Forecast: Partly cloudy

WINDOWS

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDE

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chiefminister Yogi Adityanath on

Wednesday announced anannual assistance of `6,000to the victims of triple talaq

till their rehabilitation andsaid they will also get free

legal aid from the state gov-ernment. The chief minister,

under the Pradhan Mantri JanVikas Karyakram, interactedwith the women who faced

divorce through outlawedpractice of instant talaq.

Full report on Page 3

US model Bella Hadid pre-sents a creation by Muglerduring the Women’s Spring-Summer 2020 Ready-to-Wearcollection fashion show inParis on Wednesday. — AFP

Vikari: DakshinayanaTithi: Bhadrapada Bahula

Dwadasi till 10.59 amStar: Aslesha till 6.38 am,

Magha till 3.59 am (Friday)

Varjyam: 5.19 pm to 6.44 pmDurmuhurtam: 10.08 am to10.55 am, 2.54 pm to 3.42

pmRahukalam: 1 pm to 3 pm

SUNSET TODAY 6.13 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 6.11 AMMOONRISE TOMORROW 3.07 AM

MOONSET TODAY 5.33 PM

Yogi govt will givestipend, legal aid totriple talaq victims

Bhopal: A MiG-21 trainer air-craft belonging to IndianAir Force on Wednesdaycrashed near Gwalior Air

Force Base in MadhyaPradesh. Both the pilots, a

Group Captain and aSquadron Leader, managed

to eject safely.Full report on Page 4

MiG-21 crashes inMP, 2 pilots safe

Chandigarh: Investigationsby Punjab police have

revealed GPS-fitted droneshave multiple sorties

from Pakistan to airdrop thecache of arms, ammunitionand fake currency seized in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district.

Full report on Page 3

‘Pak drones droparms into Punjab’

COUNTERPOINT

RNI No. 57290/94, Regd No: DL-SW-05/4189/15-17 Vol. 26 No. 221 | 32 PAGES | `5.00

32

SRIDHAR KUMARASWAMINEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

Few hours after PrimeMinister Narendra Modimet US President DonaldTrump in New York, theUnited States issued astatement asking India “toimprove relations withPakistan” and “better thelives of the Kashmiri peo-ple”.

A White House readout ofthe Modi-Trump meetingwas quoted by website andnews agency reports asstating, “The Presidentencouraged PrimeMinister Modi to improverelations with Pakistanand fulfil his promise tobetter the lives of theKashmiri people.”

The White House readoutwas also quotedas saying,“Finally, bothleaders expressedconcerns aboutthe situation inAfghanistan andshared ideasabout how towork together topromote securityand prosperity inthe country.”

The remarksshow that the USis keen that talksbetween Indiaand Pakistan resumedespite the fact thatIslamabad has not stoppedsponsoring cross-borderterrorism.

Washington, eager thatUS troops exitAfghanistan, is relyingheavily on Pakistan forthat, and its statement —especially the reference toKashmir — is being seen asa move by the Trumpadministration not toantagonise Pakistan andprotect American inter-ests. On trade, it said, “ThePresident reaffirmed theimportance of greatlyincreasing trade betweenthe United States and

India, and highlighted theneed for resolving barriersto free, fair, and reciprocaltrade, which includesimproving United Statescompanies’ market accessin India. The Presidentnoted good progress ondefence and security coop-eration.”

Both countries are confi-dent of a trade deal but arebargaining hard to ensuremore access to each other’smarkets.

In the wake of repeatedoffers of mediationbetween India andPakistan by Mr Trump,Mr Modi had told the USPresident during theirbilateral meeting in NewYork on Tuesday thatIndia is “not shying awayfrom talks with Pakistan”.

PM Modi hadalso said thatIndia had expect-ed Pakistan totake “certainsteps” againstterrorism, but ithad not done so.

P r e s i d e n tTrump had onTuesday said thathe was hopefulPM Modi andPakistan’s PMImran Khanwould “gettogether” and

“work out something onKashmir”, adding that “weall want to see that”.

On the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terror, he saidPM Modi had “given themessage loud and clear” toPakistan, a reference toMr Modi’s remarks at theHouston event of theIndian diaspora onSunday, adding that PMModi would be able to“handle” the situation.

Foreign secretary VijayGokhale had said Indiawas quite satisfied withthe outcome of the meet-ing, adding that New Delhihad given a “good under-standing” to the US side on

US pushes India for Pak talks

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks as hehosts a special event commemorating the 150thanniversary of Mahatma Gandhi during the UnitedNations General Assembly at UN headquarters in NewYork on Tuesday. — AP

AGE CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

Following the outrageover US President DonaldTrump calling PrimeMinister Narendra Modias "Father of India",Union Minister JitendraSingh on Wednesday saidthose who object to theobservation "do not con-sider themselves asIndians."

"India is being respectedin a way which was rarein the past. People wholive abroad are proud

today of being Indian.This is happening due tothe personality and per-sonal outreach of PrimeMinister Modi," said MrSingh who is minister ofstate in Prime Minister’sOffice. He made the state-ment on the sidelines ofthe launch of CPGRAMSreforms in theDepartment of Posts.

Mr Singh went on to saythat such kind of statementfor an Indian leader by anyAmerican President isunprecedented.

■ More on Page 2

‘Can’t accept PM as Fatherof India? You’re not Indian’

New York, Sept. 25: PrimeMinister Narendra Modion Wednesday invitedglobal businesses to investin India, saying historicreduction in corporate taxrates by his governmentcreates a golden opportuni-ty and promised moremeasures to improve busi-ness climate.

Speaking at theBloomberg GlobalBusiness Forum here, thePrime Minister said thatIndia offers a golden oppor-tunity for investment inthe country.

“If you want to invest in amarket where there isscale, come to India... Ifyou want to invest in start-ups with a huge market,come to India... If you wantto invest in one of theworld’s largest infrastruc-ture ecosystem, come toIndia,” he told global cor-porates.

Earlier this month, thegovernment had reducedthe effective corporate taxrate to 25.17 per cent fromnearly 35 per cent, thusbringing India at par withmajor global economies ontaxation front.

Mr Modi further told thegathering that India israpidly modernising itscities, and equipping themwith latest technology andcitizen friendly infrastruc-ture. “Thus if you want toinvest in urbanisation,come to India,” he said. Hesaid India has also openedits defence industry “likenever before” and soughtinvestments in the sector.

To improve business sen-timent, the Modi govern-ment in its second term■ Turn to Page 4

Golden momentto invest inIndia, Modi tellsglobal CEOs

Shahjahanpur (UP), Sept.25: The 23-year-old law stu-dent who has accused for-mer Union ministerSwami Chinmayanand ofrape was Wednesdayarrested on charges ofextortion and sent to 14-day judicial custody,police said.

Hours later, her bail pleawas rejected.

The student, who isenrolled in a college runby the BJP leader’sashram, was arrestedaround 9.15 am from herhome by the SpecialInvestigation Team (SIT)of the Uttar PradeshPolice amid massivedeployment of forces.

SIT chief Naveen Arorasaid the student wasarrested after “enough”digital and forensic evi-dence were found andstatements of peoplerecorded. “We have suffi-cient evidence that Rs 5crore extortion moneywas demanded fromChinmayanand. Thosearrested said they sentmessages toChinmayanand on direc-tions of the girl in panic asthey were not gettingmoney and were upset,”he told reporters here.

Her family memberssaid police personnelbrought her out of thehouse without even allow-ing her to wear her slip-pers, an allegation reject-ed by the police.

The family claimed thepolice are being soft on theBJP leader.

The SIT moved in toarrest the law student aday after her anticipatorybail application wasadmitted in the districtcourt, which had sched-uled its hearing on

Thursday.The student has accused

the BJP leader of rapingand physically exploitingher for over a year.

On Friday, the SIT,formed on the directionsof the Supreme Court, hadarrested the BJP leader onthe basis of the woman’scomplaint, but he hassince been lodged atLucknow’s Sanjay GandhiPost Graduate Institute ofMedical Sciences aftercomplaining of chest pain.

Simultaneously, the SITteam arrested SanjaySingh, Sachin Sengar andVikram, while bookingthe student herself onextortion charges levelledby Chinmayanand.

The SIT obtained theremand of Sachin Sengarand Vikram — two of thethree men arrested in theextortion case — for 95hours to help trace themobile phone used in thealleged extortion bid.

The BJP, meanwhile,■ Turn to Page 4

Rape victim inChinmayanandcase sent to jail

BHAGWAN PARABMUMBAI, SEPT.25

T h eN a t i o n a l i s tC o n g r e s sParty (NCP)has decided touse the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) caseagainst its chief, SharadPawar, to galvanise partyworkers ahead of forth-coming Vidhan Sabhapolls in the state.

Mr Pawar has onWednesday taken anaggressive stand, invok-ing the legacy of the 17thcentury founder of theMaratha empire todefend himself onW e d n e s d a y .“Maharashtra follows theideology of ChhatrapatiShivaji Maharaj. We donot bow before the Delhitakht (throne),” the 78-year-old former chiefminister said. The NCPchief said he would visitthe ED office himself onSeptember 27 to seek theagency’s “hospitality”.

“I believe in theConstitution ofBabasaheb Ambedkarand, hence, will give allthe information that Ihave related to this case…I will mostly be out ofMumbai for ourAssembly poll campaign.The ED officials shouldn’tmisunderstand that I amunavailable. Hence, I willgo to the agency’s office inMumbai and extend myco-operation,” he said.

■ More on Page 2

‘Will notbow before Delhi takht’ New Delhi, Sept. 25:

Islands like Andaman andNicobar might not beinhabitable in a few yearsdue to rise in sea level andincrease in climaticevents like cyclones, saidone of the key authors of aglobal report on climatechange on Wednesday.

The Special Report onthe Ocean andCryosphere in a ChangingClimate (SROCC), pre-pared by the intergovern-mental panel on climatechange (IPCC), has cau-tioned that warming ofoceans will increase thefrequency and severity ofclimatic events likecyclones in India.

IPCC is a UnitedNations’ body in charge ofmonitoring climatechange, and the report

prepared by nearly 30authors.

“Islands like Andamanand Nicobar, Maldives etcwill have to be vacated.People will have to bemigrated from there asdue to rising sea levels,these places will becomeuninhabitable,” saidAnjal Prakash, the coordi-nating lead author of theIPCC report. He saidthe focus has to be onadaptation and buildingclimate resilience.■ Turn to Page 4

‘Andaman may notremain inhabitable’

Washington, Sept. 25: TopUS Democrat NancyPelosi announced theopening of a formalimpeachment inquiryinto President DonaldTrump, saying hebetrayed his oath of officeby seeking help from aforeign power to hurt hisDemocratic rival JoeBiden.

The dramatic move —the first step in a complexprocess that stands littlechance of driving MrTrump from office —pushed US politics into aperilous new chapter just14 months before newelections for control of theWhite House andCongress.

Following the bombshell

developments fromTrump Tower in NewYork — after addressingthe UN General Assembly— the Presidentdenounced the inquiry as“Witch Hunt garbage”,while also claiming itwould help his re-electionchances in 2020.

“The actions of the

Trump presidencyrevealed the dishonorablefacts of the President’sbetrayal of his oath ofoffice, betrayal of ournational security, andbetrayal of the integrity ofour elections,” Ms Pelositold a highly anticipatednews conference in the UScapital.

“Therefore, today I’mannouncing the House ofRepresentatives movingforward with an officialimpeachment inquiry.”

Ms Pelosi, the Speaker ofthe House ofRepresentatives, andother Democratic Partyleaders had resisted tak-ing the step for months,preferring to focus on thecoming election fight.

But a combination of thenewest allegations that MrTrump offered Ukraineaid in return for help todamage Democratic WhiteHouse frontrunner MrBiden, and a groundswellof support for impeach-ment among the party’srank and file, appeared totip the balance. — AFP

Trump to face impeachment inquiry

AGE CORRESPONDENTBHOPAL, SEPT 25

Two dalit kids includ-ing a girl in a MadhyaPradesh village were onWednesday lynched bytwo men when theywere attending nature’scall in the open. Theincident took place inthe village ofBhavkhedi underSirsoud police stationin Shivpuri district.

The victims, Roshni(12) and Avinash (10)were hit repeatedly ontheir heads with bam-boo canes by the twoaccused, identified asHakim Singh Yadav(42) and RameshwarYadav (40).

■ More on Page 4

2 dalit kidslynched overdefecation

AGE CORRESPONDENTBENGALURU, SEPT. 25

A bitter war of wordsbetween his son H.D.Kumaraswamy andCongress legislature party(CLP) leaderSiddaramaiah notwith-standing, JD(S) patriarchH.D. Deve Gowda seemskeen to forge a tacit under-standing with theCongress for forthcomingbypolls to fill 15 vacanciesin the LegislativeAssembly as part of hisstrategy to defeat the rul-ing BJP.

Mr Gowda, who arrivedin New Delhi onWednesday morning, islikely to reach out tosenior Congress leadersfor a pre-poll adjustment

between the two parties.The JD(S) is likely to fieldcandidates in five con-stituencies, and offer afriendly fight in theremaining 10 seats innorth Karnataka to theCongress. Such anarrangement would helpthe erstwhile coalitionpartners defeat disquali-fied legislators, who arelikely to be fielded by the

ruling party, and unseatchief minister B.S.Yediyurappa.

According to sources, MrGowda has maintainedthat his party would con-test these bypolls on itsown rather than repeat theunsuccessful experimentof contesting Lok Sabhapolls as a coalition partnerof Congress.

Mr Gowda’s move comesa day after MrKumaraswamy and MrSiddaramaiah were lockedin an online battle with theJD(S) leader blaming thelatter for the collapse ofthe coalition government.Mr Siddaramaiah retortedsaying the former chiefminister had resorted todrama ahead of the bypollsscheduled for October 21.

Deve Gowda likely to pressCong for K’taka poll tieup

Britain’s Prince Archie maade a surprise public appear-ance in Cape Town on Wednesday, when Prince Harryand his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, met AnglicanArchbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu with their son during royals’ tour to South Africa. — AP

UP girl accused of extortion, denied bail

The girl law student (facecovered) is seen outside agovernment hospital aftera medical examination inShahjahanpur, UP, onWednesday. — PTI

H.D. Deve Gowda

�The impeachment inquiry is fuelledby a scandal over Trump’s reported

attempt to pressure the incomingPresident of Ukraine, Volodymyr

Zelensky, to open a corruptioninvestigation into Joe Biden, and

his son Hunter.� An as yet secret whistleblower’s

complaint reportedly centerson Trump’s July 25 phone

call with Zelensky

◗ The UN warnsthat global warmingis devastatingoceans and Earth’sfrozen spaces

PAGE 5

SharadPawar

‘The PresidentencouragedPrime MinisterModi toimprove rela-tions withPakistan andfulfil hispromise to bet-ter the lives ofthe Kashmiripeople,’ saidWhite House

I’m ready for ED ‘hospitality’: Pawar

■ White House urges Modi to fulfil promise to better lives of Kashmiris

AKSHAYA KUMAR SAHOOBHUBANESWAR, SEPT. 25

Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD)Berhampur Lok Sabha mem-ber Chandrasekhar Sahu haslanded in a controversy after

he lost his cool and slapped aparty worker on stage during

a party meeting atParalakhemundi in Gajapatidistrict on Tuesday. The act

of the former union ministerand sitting MP slapping the

party worker was caught oncamera and the video of theincident subsequently, went

viral on social media plat-forms triggering strong criti-

cism from several quarters.According to sources, MrSahu had gone to attend

BJD’s meeting in and wasfelicitated on stage when he

suddenly lost his temper andgave a tight slap to former

Gajapati District YouthCongress president Sangram

Sahu who recently joinedBJD. As the video of the inci-dent started doing rounds onsocial media, leaders of polit-

ical parties and intellectualscondemned Sahu for his mis-behaviour. BJP general secre-

tary Bhrugu Baxipatra saidthat the parliamentarian’s

‘outrageous’ and ‘shameful’conduct has brought disgraceto Odisha. However, BJD me-mber Sangram Sahu clarifiedthat the parliamentarian did

not slap him but rather chid-ed him with a gentle touch

just like an elder brother.

IN BRIEF

PAGE

2NationTHURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

Jaipur: The Station HouseOfficer (SHO) of the Begunpolice station in Rajasthan’s

Chittorgarh and a middlemanwere arrested for allegedly

offering bribe to an MLA,police said on Wednesday.

Begun Congress MLARajendra Singh Bidhuri hadcomplained to the anti-cor-

ruption bureau that SHOVirendra Singh was trying to

bribe him to ensure that hewas not transferred else-

where. After examining thecomplaint, the ACB laid a

trap. Middleman Himanshuwas arrested at the MLA’s

residence while offeringa bribe of `11.18 lakh. The

SHO was arrested in Chittor-garh for sending the bribe

amount through hawala, ACBDG Alok Tripathi said. — PTI

New Delhi: The CBI has takenover investigation in the

killing of BJP worker YogeshGowda in Karnataka’s

Dharwad in 2016, officialssaid on Wednesday. Gowda, aBJP zilla panchayat member,

was killed in his gym on June15, 2016 by unidentified men,they said. CBI has taken overthe probe on the recommen-dation of the Karnataka gov-

ernment, they said. It isalleged that Gowda was run-ning a gym at Sapthapura in

Dharwad. He was friends withBasavaraj Shivappa Muttagi,

the prime accused, for thelast 10 years with differentpolitical inclinations. — PTI

BJD MP SLAPSPARTY WORKER,CLIP GOES VIRAL

SHO, middlemanheld for bribery

PoliticsCongress stands with Centre on all issues at global forums, says Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel

The BJP and RSSwant the judiciary to be dependent

on them.— D. Raja,

CPI general secretary

CBI to investigateBJP leader killing

Ranchi: AIMIM chief Asadudd-in Owaisi has announced that

his party will contest theJharkhand elections, sched-

uled for later this year. Addr-essing his maiden rally, the

Hyderabad MP said the AIMIM“will unite Muslims, Christians,tribals and others”, while alsoexpanding its political base in

this part of the country. He,however, did not mention the

number of seats the AIMIMwould contest in the polls.

Exuding confidence that thenext Assembly will have

members from his party, MrOwaisi said on Tuesday, “The

AIMIM would not allow SheikhBhi-kari and Jaipal Singh

Munda’s struggle go waste.”— PTI

AIMIM to contestJharkhand polls

■ NCP chief says he will personally visit ED HQ


The BJP’s central electioncommittee (CEC) is likelyto meet on September 29to finalise candidates forthe coming Haryana Ass-embly elections. In anoth-er poll-bound state Maha-rashtra, BJP and ally ShivSena are yet to officiallyannounce the seat-shar-ing formula.

Prime Minister Narend-ra Modi will also attendthe meeting after whichthe party could release thefirst list of candidates forthe Haryana polls.

BJP's Haryana coregroup leaders, also includ-ing chief ministerManohar Lal Khattar, onWednesday held a meetingwith party's national pres-ident and Union homeminister Amit Shah, tosort out the issue of somesenior leaders seekingtickets for their kin.

Though the party's stateunit chief SubhashBarala, after the meeting,announced that the partywas unwilling to fieldfamily members of its sit-ting MPs and MLAs,

sources disclosed thatUnion minister RaoInderjit Singh wants aticket for his daughterand another Union minis-ter Kishan Pal Gujjar islobbying for his son, whois currently Faridabad’sdeputy mayor. Sourcessaid both Union ministershave cited the example offormer Union ministerand Rajya Sabha MP Cha-udhary Birendra Singh,whose son is an MP fromHisar and wife, PremLata, is an MLA UchanaKalan Assembly seat. RaoInderjit Singh belongs to

the Ahirwal community,which has a significantpopulation in atleast 17Assembly seats.

Haryana will go to pollson October 21 and theparty is confident ofretaining power. The BJPhad 47 seats in the 90-member Assembly in the2014 polls.

At the core group meet-ing with Mr Shah, otherthan Mr Khattar and MrBarala, Union ministerand election inchargeNarendra Singh Tomar,state incharge Anil Jainalso attended.

BJP poll panel to finaliseH’yana aspirants Sept. 29

BHAGWAN PARABMUMBAI, SEPT. 25

The Nationalist CongressParty (NCP) has decidedto use the EnforcementDirectorate (ED) caseagainst its chief, SharadPawar, to galvanise partyworkers ahead of forth-coming Vidhan Sabhapolls in the state.

Mr Pawar has, mean-while, taken an aggressivestand, invoking the legacyof the 17th centuryfounder of the MarathaEmpire to defend himselfon Wednesday. “Mahar-ashtra follows the ideolo-gy of Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj. We do not bowbefore the Delhi takht(throne),” the 78-year-oldformer chief ministersaid.

The NCP chief said hewould visit the ED officehimself on September 27to seek the agency’s ‘hos-pitality.’ “I believe in theConstitution of DrBabasaheb Ambedkarand, hence, will give allthe information that Ihave related to this case…I will mostly be out ofMumbai for our Assemblypoll campaign. The EDofficials shouldn’t misun-derstand that I amunavailable. Hence, I willgo to the agency’s office inMumbai and extend myco-operation,” he said.

The ED has filed amoney-laundering caseagainst Mr Pawar, hisnephew Ajit Pawar and 70others in connection withthe alleged `25,000-crorescam involving the sanc-tion of loans by theMaharashtra State Coop-erative Bank (MSCB).

The NCP chief, however,said that he has neverbeen associated with thebank — either as a mem-ber or director. “I havenever been part of thebank’s decision-makingprocess,” he said.

Alleging politicalvendetta, the Rajya SabhaMP said, “The develop-ment has happened when

the polls are round thecorner. So the peopleunderstand what is up.”

The leader said he wasarrested only once in hislife, during a rally fromJalgaon to Nagpur in 1980,after he led a protestmarch over an agrarianissue.

Former state deputychief minister Ajit Pawaralso said there was noscam and added that theNCP president wasnowhere related orinvolved in the matter.

Is it possible there is`25,000 crore scam, as isbeing said, in the bankwhose deposits werebetween `12,000 crore to`13,000 crore?” he said.Ajit Pawar said the bank

was still making profitand questioned how comeit was possible for thebank to register such aperformance in the wakeof the alleged scam. “Thematter should be probed,”he said.

According to politicalobservers, the ED’sactions could prove ablessing in disguise for theNCP, which is in direstraits due to a series ofdesertions of its promi-nent leaders. To protestthe ED’s actions, irateparty workers held pro-tests across the state and ashut-down was observedin Baramati, Mr Pawar’shometown. Workers of theNCP’s youth wing alsostaged a protest outsidethe ED office in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, chief minis-ter Devendra Fadnavissaid the ED registered thecase based on Bombayhigh court's directive andsaid the step should not beascribed to politicalvendetta. “It would bewrong to attribute a politi-cal motive for the EDaction and call it a politi-cal vendetta (by the BJPgovernment),” he said.

Won’t bow down before Delhithrone, says Pawar on ED case

NCP supporters stage a protest in Mumbai onWednesday against the registration of a money laun-dering case against party chief Sharad Pawar and others in connection with the MSCB Bank scam. — PTI

Delhi-based students from Nagaland stage a protestmarch demanding a solution to the issue of Nagapeace talks, and a decision on the framework agreement, in New Delhi, on Wednesday. — PTI

AGE CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, SEPT. 25

In a majorembarrass-ment to theruling BJP,senior partyl e a d e rE k n a t hKhadse onWednesdayclaimed NationalistCongress Party (NCP)chief Sharad Pawar’sname was never men-tioned in theMaharashtra StateCooperative Bank corrup-tion case when he was“following it up” asLeader of Opposition inthe Assembly.

Mr Khadse’s statementcomes a day after the En-forcement Directorate(ED) registered a moneylaundering case againstthe NCP chief, his nephewAjit Pawar and others,which has triggered afirestorm in politics ofpoll-bound Maharashtra.

Claims of Mr Khadse, adisgruntled BJP veteranand former state minister,are likely to be lapped upby the NCP which hasbeen alleging that the EDcase was politically moti-vated with an eye on thenext month’s assemblyelections.

“I had followed up theMaharashtra StateCooperative Bank (MSCB)corruption case when Iwas the Leader ofOpposition in the stateLegislative Assembly. Ihave raised the voice sev-eral times but I can statethat Sharad Pawar’s namewas nowhere in the entirecase”.

NCP chief’sname notmentioned incase: Khadse


T r o u b l eseems to bebrewing forSamajwadiParty (SP)MP AzamKhan asthe Enforc-e m e n tDirectorate (ED) isexpected to record thestatement of Abdul Ali,who had lodged a com-plaint with the localpolice, alleging that hewas threatened by theSP MP into not givinghis land for the expan-sion of JauharUniversity (linked to MrKhan) in Rampur, in aday or two.

Sources said, “AbdulAli is a complainant.The agency will interro-gate Mr K-han and otherpersons linked to himonly after recording thestatement.” Mr Ali hadstated in his complaintthat he was kept in jailfor 15 hours and his landwas encroached upon bythe university, sourcessaid adding that thisinformation need to be verified.

The agency hasalready registered anFIR against Mr Khanand three others afterMr Ali complained thathe was allegedly threat-ened into giving his landto the Jauhar University.Mr Ali, in the FIR,claimed Mr Khan threat-ened him into giving hisland to the universityillegally by using hispower as a minister.

“They said if I did notgive land to the universi-ty then they will chargeme under the case ofdrugs act and put mebehind the bars. He alsostated in his complaintto the local police that hewas kept in jail for 15hours and his land wasencroached upon by theuniversity,” sourcessaid.

Azam case:ED all setto recordstatement


Following the outrageover US president Don-ald Trump calling PrimeMinister Narendra Modit h e“Father ofIndia”, U-nion Mi-nister Jite-ndra Singhon Wedn-esday saidthose whoobject to the observation“do not consider them-selves Indians.”

“India is being respect-ed in a way that was rarein the past. People wholive abroad are proudtoday of being Indian.This is happening due tothe personality and per-sonal outreach of PrimeMinister Modi,” said MrSingh, who is ministerof state in the PrimeMinister’s Office. MrSingh went on to saythat such kind of state-ment for an Indianleader by any AmericanPresident is unprece-dented. “If an impartialand bold statement co-mes from America andits president then I feelevery Indian should feelproud regardless of hispolitical affiliations w-ith any party or ideolo-gy. This is the first timethat an president hasused this kind of wordsof praise not for anIndian PM but for anyother world leader and ifsomeone is not proud ofthis, then maybe he doesnot consider himselfIndian,” he said.

President Trump onTuesday while praisingMr Modi in New Yorksaid: “I remember Indiabefore was very torn.There was a lot of dis-sension, fighting and hebrought it all together.Like a father would.Maybe he is the father ofIndia.”

‘Not proud ofTrump praise?Maybe you’renot Indian’

I believe in theConstitution ofDr Babasaheb

Ambedkar and,hence, will give allthe details

— SharadPawar

NCP chief

Khadse

Singh

Modi to attend meet prior to release of 1st list

Hyderabad, Sept. 25:AIMIM presidentAsaduddin Owaisi onWednesday hit out atDonald Trump for hailingPrime Minister NarendraModi as father of India,alleging the US presidentlacked knowledge aboutthe country's great pastand Mahatma Gandhi,the father of the nation.Even late JawaharlalNehru and SardarVallabhbhai Patel, giantsof Indian politics, werenot called father ofnation, he told reportershere replying to ques-tions on Mr Modi’s visit

to US and MrTrump shar-ing stagewith him atHouston.

“...The USpresident MrTrump hascalled MrModi, father

of the nation. He is ‘jahil’(illiterate). He is igno-rant. He does not knowanything about MahatmaGandhi. He has zeroknowledge about India’sgreat past, our freedomstruggle and when hecalls him (Modi) fatherofnation,” he said. — PTI

Trump illiterate forpraising PM: Owaisi

PARMOD KUMARNEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

The Karnataka AssemblySpeaker on Wednesdaytold the Supreme Courtthat the resignation of alawmaker, for whateverreasons, from the statelegislature was a matterof right under the Con-stitution, as an electedrepresentative can’tmechanically yield to theparty whip unmindful ofthe views of the people herepresents.

“Giving up the member-ship of the legislature is aright. You can’t be blind-folded and stick to thewhip and betray the vie-ws of the people who haveelected you,” KarnatakaAssembly Speaker Vishw-eshwar Hegde Kageri tolda bench of Justice N.V.Ramana, Justice SanjivKhanna and JusticeKrishna Murari.

The top court is hearinga plea by 17 disqualifiedKarnataka Assembly law-makers seeking to put onhold the Election Comm-ission notification forelections to the seats thatfell vacant after they wereunseated following theirdisqualification by theformer Speaker K.R.Ramesh Kumar.

In three-fold alternateprayers, the disqualified

MLAs have sought thestay of the September 21,2019, Election Commissi-on’s notification for hold-ing elections to the vacantseats for which nomina-tion would start fromSeptember 29, 2019.

Alternately, they havepleaded that the electionsbe deferred till the courtdecides on their pleaseeking the quashing ofthe Speaker’s decisiondisqualifying them andthat too disqualificationextending till the expiryof the term of the currentHouse that ends in 2023.

Further, they havesought the stay of theSpeaker’s decision hold-ing them disqualified forthe rest of the term ofcurrent House.

The 17 Karnataka MLAsbelonging to rulingalliance of Congress andJD(S) were disqualifiedafter they defied the whipand abstained from vot-ing on the confidencemotion moved by the for-mer Karnataka CM.

Telling the bench thatthe resignation was ademocratic right,Solicitor General TusharMehta said that that asfar as the Speaker wasconcerned, he has to be“satisfied” that the resig-nations were tenderedvoluntarily.

MLAs have rightto quit House:K’taka Speaker

NAYEAR AZADPATNA, SEPT. 25

The Rashtriya JanataDal’s (RJD) decision tocontest the byelections tofour of five Assemblyseats in Bihar has createda flutter in the grandalliance, particularlyJitan Ram Manjhi’sHindustani Awam Morcha(HAM) and Congress.

HAM leaders in Patnablamed Tejashwi Yadavfor trying to break thegrand alliance ahead ofpolls on the instructionsof the BJP. HAM insidersalso claimed that the partyis in touch with other like-minded secular forcesincluding Rashtriya Lok

Samata Party (RLSP) andVikasheel Insan Party(VIP) and may contest theelections in alliance withthem.

“We had asked for justone seat, but the RJDrefused our demand. Wefeel that efforts are beingmade to break the allianceon the instruction ofBJP”, HAM spokespersonDanish Rizwan told thisnewspaper.

Both RLSP and VIP hadjoined the grand alliancebefore the Lok Sabha elec-tions and have been hope-ful of getting a fairamount of seats to contestin the byelection. ThoughRLSP leaders have not yetreacted on the issue, VIP

c h i e fM u k e s hSahani onWe d n e s d aysaid that hisparty hasdecided to

support HAM in thebyelection.

“It seems that the RJDdoes not need an alliancethat is why we have decid-ed to support HindustaniAwam Morcha in thebyelection. The grandalliance may also survivewithout the RJD inBihar”, Mr Sahani said.

The Congress, which isan old ally of the RJD inBihar, has been asked tofield candidates on twoseats including Sama-

stipur parliamentary andKishanganj Assemblyseats. In the Lok Sabhaelection LJP leader, RamChandra Paswan haddefeated Congress nomi-nee Dr Ashok Ram fromSamastipur. The byelec-tion to the seat was neces-sitated following thedemise of LJP MP RamChandra Paswan in Julythis year. The fiveAssembly seats going topolls on October 21 fellvacant after the leaderswho represented themwere elected to Lok Sabha.

The rift in the grandalliance had surfaced afterMr Manjhi announced acandidate from NathnagarAssembly constituency.

SRIDHARKUMARASWAMINEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

With an eye on China,which has made rapidinroads into the region,Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesdayannounced a slew ofmeasures as part of theeconomic assistance to 12Pacific island nations,including allocation of$12 million grant ($1 mil-lion to each nation)towards implementationof high impact develop-mental project in the areaof their choice and a con-cessional line of credit of$150 million, which can beavailed by these countriesfor undertaking solar,renewable energy and cli-mate-related projectsbased on each country’srequirement.

In addition, New Delhi“proposed to depute tech-nical experts to providetraining and offered toorganise specialisedcourses also under ITECprogramme in priorityareas identified by part-ner countries, includingtraining of diplomats

from Pacific islandnations at the ForeignService Institute”. NewDelhi also offered to“organise a Jaipur FootArtificial Limb FitmentCamp in a Pacific regionalhub under ‘India forHumanity’ programme.

The announcementswere made by Mr Modiwhen he interacted withleaders of these countriesas part of the “India-Pacific Islands DevelopingStates (PSIDS) Leaders’Meeting” early Wedne-sday morning in NewYork on the sidelines ofthe 74th UN General Asse-mbly (GA).

The meeting was attend-ed by the heads of delega-tion of Fiji, Republic ofKiribati, Republic of Mar-shall Islands, FederatedStates of Micronesia,

Republic of Nauru, Rep-ublic of Palau, Indepen-dent State of Papua NewGuinea, The IndependentState of Samoa, SolomonIslands, Kingdom ofTonga, Tuvalu and Repu-blic of Vanuatu.

Interestingly, of these 12countries, two nations —Solomon Islands and Kiri-bati — had recently sna-pped diplomatic ties withTaiwan and embracedChina. India, incidentally,like most nations in theworld, follows the “One-China Policy” and doesnot recognise Taiwan as asovereign nation.

China does not havediplomatic ties with anycountry that recognisesTaiwan as a sovereignnation.

Meanwhile, at the PSIDSmeeting in New York, MrModi made the announce-ments for the Pacificisland nations as part of“his fundamental Mantra“Sabka Saath, SabkaVikas Aur Sabka Vishwas(together with all, for thedevelopment of all andwith the trust of all)”, theministry of externalaffairs (MEA) said.

$150 million line of creditfor Pacific island nations

■ Cong, HAM upset as RJD plans to contest 4 of 5 seats

Turmoil in Bihar grand alliance

Former Punjab Cabinet minister and member of SADBikram Singh Majithia during a press conference inAmritsar on Wednesday. — PTI

Owaisi

Narendra Modi

Yadav

Azam Khan

AGE CORRESPONDENTBHADRAK, SEPT. 25

A group of fishermen inChandbali area of Bhadrak

district in Odisha onWednesday sold a whale

shark for a whopping `7.49lakh. Sources said the fishweighing about 100 kilo-

grams was sold to a Chennai-based businessman for `7.49

lakh. The whale shark is aslow-moving, filter-feeding

carpet shark and the largestknown extant fish species. Itsmeat, the fishermen claimed,

is used in preparation ofmedicine. The whale shark,

or Rhincodon typus, is foundin warm, tropical waters andhas an estimated life span of75 years. The whale shark isthe world’s largest fish, andis relatively docile. It has a

wide mouth with some 300to 350 tiny teeth that filter

plankton. On June 20, anoth-er group of fishermen in the

same Chandbali area hadsold a rare species of fish at

`6,000 per kilogram to atrader at Chandinipal fishing

centre in Dhamra. Led byone Narayan Jena, the fisher-men had ventured into deep

sea off Dhamra coast onJune 15 and returned with asmany as 10 such rare fishes,

each weighing over 30 kg.The exotic fish is commonly

called Ghol and is locallyfamous as Teleia.

IN BRIEF

PAGE


Bhubaneswar: NationalGeographic Channel (Nat

Geo) will broadcast the suc-cess story of Odisha in tack-

ling the extremely severecyclonic storm Fani that hit

the state on May 3, this year.The programme titled ‘Mega

cyclone Fani-Rescuing AMillion’ will be aired at 9 pm

on September 27. It willshowcase Odisha govern-

ment’s courage, determina-tion and race against time

before and post the naturalcalamity. A promo of the

scheduled episode has beenreleased. “We had thistremendous challenge

how to gear up everything,”said chief minister

Naveen Patnaik in the 40-second promo.

Mangaluru, Karnataka: A per-son from Dakshina Kannada

district, who has consistentlybeen writing to Prime

Minister Narendra Modi overthe last few years seeking

removal of Article 370 of theConstitution, finally received

an appreciation letter fromthe office of the Prime

Minister. A letter in the nameof the Prime Minister, datedAugust 21, appreciated the

concern shown by the citizenon the issue. Lakshminarayan

from Jakribettu in Bantwalreceived the letter, whichalso explains the circum-

stances that led to theremoval of the special status

accorded to J&K. — PTI

RARE WHALE SHARK SOLD

FOR `7.5 LAKH

Successful tacklingof Fani to be aired

Plastic wasteIndia should make ‘two-bucket system’ for plastic segregation compulsory, saysUnion minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

Cut in corporate tax will benefit

manufacturing sectorin the Northeast

— Sarbananda Sonowal,

Assam chief minister

K’taka man gets PMappreciation letter

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday said itwould hear on October 15 a

plea of senior Congressleader Ahmed Patel seekingstay on further proceedingsin the Gujarat HC regarding

his 2017 election to the RajyaSabha which has been chal-

lenged by rival BJP candi-date Balwantsinh Rajput. The

matter came up for hearingbefore a bench of Justices

N.V. Ramana, Sanjiv Khannaand Krishna Murari. Thecounsel representing Mr

Rajput said that recording ofevidence in the matter

before the HC was “almostover”. Mr Patel’s counsel told

the apex court that the HChas listed the case for further

proceeding in this weekitself. — PTI

SC to hear Patel’sRS petition Oct. 15

R a m g a r h(Jharkhand),Sept. 25: ArmyChief Gen.Bipin Rawatreaffirmed onWednesday that peoplewere moving aroundfreely in the KashmirValley and those claim-ing that there was a shut-down were the oneswhose survival depend-ed on terrorism.

He was interactingwith reporters after pre-senting President’scolours to 29th and 30thbattalions of the PunjabRegiment here.

“Normal life in Jammuand Kashmir has notbeen affected. People aredoing their necessarywork, a clear sign thatwork has not been stop-ped and people are freelymoving around. Thosewho feel that life hasbeen affected are theones whose survivaldepends on terrorism,”he said.

Gen. Rawat said brickkilns were functioningnormally, trucks weretransporting sand andshops were open, reflect-ing that life was normalin the Valley.

The Army chief deflec-ted a question aboutwhether there was ten-sion along the Line ofControl, saying peoplewere facing troublebecause of Tuesday’searthquake in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The Army had onTuesday released aerialphotos and a video cap-tioned “loading ofapples, work in progressin fields and people mov-ing on with life” inJammu and Kashmir.

Restrictions, particu-larly with regard to com-munications, are inforce in several parts ofthe valley since August5, the day the Centrestripped the state of itsspecial status and decid-ed to reorganise it intotwo Union Territories.

Gen. Rawat had onMonday rejected claimsof a clampdown inJammu and Kashmirand asserted that it wasa facade put up by ter-rorists to project a falsepicture of “harsh meas-ures” to the outsideworld. — PTI

J&K peopleare movingfreely, saysGen. Rawat


Senior officials of theUnion home ministryand Jammu andKashmir administrationheld extensive delibera-tions over last two days,examining differentaspects of the StateReorganisation Act,which has led to cre-ation of two separateUnion Territories ofJammu and Kashmirand Ladakh. Both theUnion Territories willcome into existencefrom October 31, thisyear.

Officials from homeministry’s J&K divisionheld detailed discussionwith the state chief sec-retary B.V.R.Subrahmanyam andprincipal secretaryRohit Kansal as to howthe new Act would beimplemented for the twoUTs.

Earlier on Monday,Union home secretaryAjay Kumar Bhalla hadalso held a meeting toensure smooth imple-mentation of the StateReorganisation Act.Officials said discussionwere held on division ofassets along with post-ing of government offi-cers once J&K andLadakh come into exis-tence as new UTs.

According to provi-sions of the Act, whileofficers of the Centralservices like the IAS,IPS and others, whobelong to the J&K cadre,will be posted in bothUTs. However, newrecruitments would bedone under the Aruna-chal Goa Mizoram andUnion Territories(AGMUT) cadre underwhich officers are post-ed to different UTs andsome states.

MHA & J&Kofficials holdtalks over job postings

Jaipur, Sept. 25: Defenceminister Rajnath Singh onWednesday remindedIslamabad about thebreakup of Pakistan andthe creation ofBangladesh, warning thatsomething similar couldhappen in PoK if it did notmend its ways.

Do not repeat the “mis-take”, he said here.

“Pakistan broke up in1971 — Pakistan andBangladesh were formed. Iam saying do not repeatthe mistake, or else under-stand clearly what willhappen to PoK,” he said.

Mr Singh made the refer-ence to the 1971 war, foughtwhen Indira Gandhi wasPrime Minister, during anevent at Dhankya villagein the memory of RSS ide-ologue Deen DayalUpadhyay.

“We do not accept theexistence of Pakistan-occ-upied Kashmir. Pakistanhas kept it forcibly occu-pied and therefore, even

today, 24 seats have beenkept vacant for PoK in theJammu and KashmirAssembly and I will notsay beyond this,” MrSingh said.

He said India was “verycareful” while takingaction against terrorcamps in Balakot acrossthe border after thePulwama attack.

It was not an attack onPakistan’s Army or a chal-lenge to the sovereignty ofPakistan, he added.

But he warned that hecannot predict “what willhappen next” if the cur-rent situation continued.

He said the BJP does pol-itics for nation buildingand by revoking the spe-cial status to Jammu and

Kashmir under Article 370and 35-A, it showed thatthere is no difference inwhat the party says anddoes. But the neighbour-ing country does notunderstand this, he added.

Speaking about PMNarendra Modi’s “Howdy,Modi!” event in Houstonwhere he addressed a rallyof thousands of Indian-Americans along with USPresident Donald Trump,Mr Singh said it madeevery Indian proud.

“You must have seen‘Howdy, Modi’ on TV. Didnot it swell your chest withpride?” Mr Singh asked.

He said the sense ofpride one would feel whenPM Modi “with a 56-inchchest” and Trump, thePresident of the “mostpowerful” country, claspedhands and walked acrossthe stage was similaramong Indians whenSwami Vivekananda madethe speech in Chicago in1893. — PTI

Srinagar, Sept. 25: Natio-nal security adviser AjitDoval arrived here onWednesday to take stockof the situation in theKashmir Valley anddecide the future courseof action for the smoothimplementation of gov-ernment plans after thewithdrawal of special sta-tus of Jammu andKashmir, officials said.

Mr Doval will meet topsecurity officials and takestock of security anddevelopment-related activ-ities in the state, whichwill be converted into twoUnion Territories —Jammu and Kashmir, andLadakh — on October 31,the officials said.

It was not immediatelyknown how long the NSAwould stay in the Valley.

The NSA had campedfor 11 days in the valleyafter the Centreannounced its decision towithdraw the special sta-tus of the state underArticle 370 and split itinto two UTs on August 5.During that period, hehad ensured that therewas no violence in the

aftermath ofthe govern-ment’s deci-sion.

During hisp r e v i o u sstay, he had

taken rounds of the mili-tancy-hit Shopian town insouth Kashmir andDowntown Srinagar.

He had also addressedpersonnel of the Jammuand Kashmir police,CRPF and Army sepa-rately, telling them abouttheir successes in dis-turbed areas and under-ling their importance inensuring the safety of thecountry and citizens.

The NSA has been close-ly monitoring the situa-tion and ensuring smoothcoordination between allarms of security forces inthe hinterland as well asalong the line of control.

On August 5, the govern-ment announced the deci-sion to abrogate specialstatus of Jammu andKashmir under Article370 of the Constitution,and dividing the stateinto two UnionTerritories. — PTI

NSA’s 2nd J&K visitafter 370 scrapping


The Supreme Court onWednesday indicated thatit may pronounce verdicton the Centre’s plea seek-ing the recall of March 20,2018, judgment dilutingthe stringent provisionsof SC/ST (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act.

The stringent provisionsof the SC/ST (Preventionof Atrocities) Act man-date arrest of a personand no anticipatory bailafter a complaint is filedunder the law protectingthe scheduled castes andscheduled tribes fromsocial excesses.

A bench of justice ArunMishra, justice M.R. Shahand justice S. RavindraBhat indicated that theymay pass verdict beforeOctober 3 on the Centre’spetition for the review ofits March, 2018 judge-

ment, diluting the strin-gent provision of arrestunder the law protectingSC/ST.

The court indicationcame as it deferred thehearing on petitions chal-lenging the amendment,restoring the stringentprovisions that werediluted by the top court.The court directed thelisting of the matter onOctober 3.

The top court during itsSeptember 18 hearing,when it reserved orderson the Centre’s plea forthe recall of March, 2018judgement had lamentedthat even seven decadesafter it was outlawed, thepernicious practice ofuntouchability towardsscheduled castes still con-tinues.

Lawyers Prathvi RajChauhan and PriyaSharma have challengedthe amendment to Act.

SC verdict on govt’sSC/ST plea by Oct. 3

Remember ’71 breakup, mendyour ways: Rajnath warns Pak Howdy, Modi event in US made every Indian proud, says minister

Lucknow, Sept. 25: UttarPradesh chief ministerYogi Adityanath onWednesday announcedan annual assistance of`6,000 to the victims oftriple talaq till theirrehabilitation and saidthey will also get freelegal aid from the stategovernment.

The CM, under thePradhan Mantri JanVikas Karyakram(PMJVK) here, interact-ed with the women whofaced divorce throughoutlawed practice ofinstant triple talaq. Hesaid such women shouldbe given rights over waqfproperties and alsocalled for several welfaremeasures that should beundertaken for theirrehabilitation.

Around 300 womenfrom across the stateattended the event.

“Educated womenshould be absorbed ingovernment jobs as pertheir qualifications while

arrangements shouldalso be made for provid-ing them shelter and edu-cation under variousschemes. These womenshould be covered underthe Ayushman BharatYojana or under the ChiefMinister ArogyaScheme,” he said.

He directed the depart-ments concerned to pre-pare welfare schemes forthe victims.

“Proper schemes sho-uld be implemented forthe overall developmentof the society and no per-son should feel neglect-ed,” he said. — PTI

Triple talaq victims willget `6K annual aid in UP

AGE CORRESPONDENTKOCHI, SEPT. 25

With the state govern-ment and Maradumunicipal authoritiesspeeding up proceduresto demolish the fourMaradu apartments byOctober 4, most of thelease-holders have vacat-ed the flats while theowners chose to stay puthoping for a last minutemiracle.

The developmentcomes even as theauthorities gave noticefor snapping electricityand water connections tothe buildings by Friday.

Vijay Shankar, anowner of a flat in GoldenKayaloram apartment,said, “There are a total of40 flats in the apartmentand most of the ownershave leased them out asthey are either workingor settled abroad.

However, except for onefamily, the lease-holdershave vacated. People likeme who invested our lifesavings have nowhere togo,” he said. The flatowners are determinedto “fight till the lastbreath” and not even a

single person has movedout. The MaraduBhavana SamrakshanaSamiti has asked theowners abroad to comeback to join the protest.

Shankar, a film editorhailing from Chennai,had bought his flat backin 2010 for `44 lakh byavailing of a bank loan.

“Using all my savings, Iclosed the bank loan onlya couple of months back.I’ve no savings or alter-native accommodationfacility and am staring ata bleak future. Hence I’veno option but to stay heretill my last breath,” saidShankar, who is workingon a new project directedby Madhu Ambat.

Meanwhile, the flatowners held a meetingon Wednesday to decidethe future course ofaction and decided not tosue the builders for thetime being.

Many lease-holders move out, flat owners stay put

TANVEER THAKUR CHANDIGARH, SEPT. 25

Investigations by thePunjab police have revea-led that GPS-fitted dronesmade multiple sortiesfrom Pakistan to airdropthe cache of arms, amm-unition and fake curren-cy seized in Punjab’sTarn Taran district.

It is the first incidentreported in Punjab inwhich drones were usedto drop weapons and com-munication devicesamong others fromacross the border, an offi-cial said, adding that ahalf-burnt drone used inthe operation was recov-

ered from Tarn Taran.The Punjab police on

Sunday had claimed tohave busted a terror mod-ule of the KhalistanZindabad Force, backedby a group based inPakistan and Germany. Itsaid the terror group wasconspiring to unleash aseries of strikes in Punjaband adjoining states.

Arrested Khalistani ter-rorist Akashdeep hasconfessed that he was incontact with Pakistan-based Khalistani terror-ist Ranjeet Singh Neeta.He said Neeta’s numberwas provided to him byanother Khalistani ter-rorist Gurmeet Singh

alias Bagga, who lives inGermany.

Gurmeet Singh aliasBagga would share theinformation about theconsignment route withNita and the place andthe time to drop consign-ments was decided byAkashdeep Singh, sou-rces in the Punjab policesaid. According to the

police, the terror groupwas conspiring to unle-ash a series of terroriststrikes in Punjab andadjoining states. Thepolice seized a hugecache of arms, including5 AK-47 rifles, satellitephones and grenades dur-ing the operation.

As per sources in police,the powerful droneweighs nearly 10 kg andis capable of transport-ing 4kg weight in a singlesortie. This implies thatthe drone was used for anumber of sorties andnot only carried armsand ammunition but alsocounterfeit currency andnarcotics.

‘Pak drones made multiple sorties’Dropped AK-47 rifles, sat phones, hand grenades in Punjab

Kochi: The police onWednesday registeredFIRs against threebuilders, who con-structed apartments atMaradu in violation ofCoastal RegulationZone rules and whichthe Supreme Courthad recently orderedto be demolished, fol-lowing complaints byflat owners that theywere cheated by them.

— PTI

Maradu case: FIRs against 3 builders

◗ According to thepolice, the terrorgroup was conspir-ing to unleash aseries of terroriststrikes in Punjaband adjoining states

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath is presented apainting by the victims of triple talaq in Lucknow onWednesday. — PTI

Defence minister Rajnath Singh at the commissioningceremony of Indian Coast Guard ship Varaha in Chennaion Wednesday. Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister O. Panneerselvam, Coast Guard director general K. Natarajan and others are also seen. — PTI

IN BRIEF

PAGE


Jaipur: A hotel manager wasarrested on Wednesday

for allegedly raping a womanhere, police said. The womanwas staying at the hotel that

falls under Jawahar Nagar police station limits, they

said. Devendra was arrestedafter she lodged a complaint

early Wednesday morning,police said, adding that the

incident took place lastnight. The matter is being

investigated, they said. — PTI

New Delhi: The Unnao rapesurvivor was discharged from the AIIMS in Delhi

where she was admittedafter she met with an acci-

dent, sources said onWednesday. The woman wasadmitted in AIIMS following

an accident on July 28 and the family is under the

CRPF security as per theSupreme Court’s order. She

will be staying with her fami-ly in Delhi after Uttar

Pradesh government saidthey wanted to reside in thenational capital apprehend-

ing threat in their homestate. The woman was

allegedly kidnapped andraped by expelled BJP MLA

Kuldeep Singh Sengar inUnnao in 2017, when she wasa minor. Charges have been

framed against Sengar andco-accused Shashi Singh

in the case. — PTI

Woman raped inhotel, manager held

FacadeFarmers’ interest only limited toadvertisements and billboards underthe BJP govt, says Priyanka Gandhi

Everybody, includingleaders, should pay

more attention to theenvironment

— Dalai Lama,

Spiritual leader

AIIMS discharges Unnao rape victim

Visakhapatnam (AP): A 55-year-old tribal man was

allegedly beaten and burntalive by a group of people

suspecting him to beinvolved in witchcraft in a vil-

lage in the district, policesaid. The assailants held Killo

Jayaram, a farmer ofPuttabandha village, respon-sible for the recent death ofa girl and a 10-year old girl

falling sick. Jayaram wasmercilessly beaten up,

doused in petrol and setfire on Tuesday evening

allegedly by the relatives ofthe girl who has fallen sick,

police said adding his familymembers were also assault-

ed. The incident came tolight on Wednesday eveningafter the family members of

the victim lodged a policecomplaint. — PTI

Tribal man brandedwitch, burnt alive

Kodungallor (Kerala),Sept. 25: Separated for 36years, a couple aged over80 years reunited at an oldage home in their nativeKerala with both recognis-ing each other instantlydespite failing eyesight,triggering celebrations.

By sheer chance, Saidu(90) and Subhadra (82),who got married65 yearsago and lost contact witheach other since 1983 afterthe man went in search ofa job, had come to thehome at nearby Pullut inThrissur district inAugust and July respec-tively this year, the care-taker of the facility said.

When Subhadra ammaheard the voice of Saiduafter 36 years, she felt itwas familiar and from herpast.

The couple hailed fromThrissur district.Despite her advanced age,she went to look who thenew visitor was andstunned to see her hus-band.

“They had not seen eachother for 36 years. Theirfading eyesight notwith-standing, the couple recog-nised each other”, AbdulKareem, the caretaker anda social activist, said.

Saidu had left for NorthIndia in search of greener

pastures in their 30th yearof marriage.

As years rolled by,Subhadra waited for herhusband, who neverturned up. A widow,Subhadra had two chil-dren from her previousmarriage, when she gotmarried to Saidu, herMuslim neighbour.

When her childrenpassed away a few yearsago, life became difficultfor this elderly woman.She was at a temple inKodungallur when she fellill and was taken to hospi-tal by police from whereshe was brought to“velicham”, the old age

home, Kareem told PTI. When they informed

other inmates of the homeabout the reunion,therewas celebrations with‘sadya’ (elaborate lunch)and ‘payasam’ (sweet por-

r i d g e ) .Subhadra also sang oldsoulful melodies. Both arevery happy and havedecided to spend the restof their lives together inthe old age home, Kareem,who is involved in socialwork since the past 35years, said. “Velicham”(light), which functionsfrom a rented building,was my concept.

The police inform mewhen they find the agedloitering around withoutanyone to take care ofthem, Kareem said. A 25-member trust takes care ofall the needs of theinmates, he said. — PTI

Elderly couple re-unite after 36 yrs at old age home

AGE CORRESPONDENTwith agency inputsBHOPAL, SEPT. 25

Two dalit kids, includinga girl, in a MadhyaPradesh village were onWednesday lynched bytwo men when they wereattending nature’s call inthe open.

Preliminary investiga-tion by police suggestedthat superstition drivenby evil practice of‘untouchability’ mighthave led to the gory inci-dent.

The incident took placein the village ofBhavkhedi under Sirsoudpolice station in Shivpuridistrict.

The victims, Roshni (12)and Avinash (10) were hitrepeatedly on their headswith bamboo canes by thetwo accused, identified asHakim Singh Yadav (42)and Rameshwar Yadav(40), when they were defe-cating in the open in the

village at around 6.30 inthe morning, leavingthem grievously wounded,Shivpuri district superin-tendent of police (SP)Rajesh Singh Chandel toldthis newspaper.

The village, according tolocals, had been declaredas open defecation-free onApril 4, 2018.

Manoj Balmiki, a labour-er whose youngest sisterRoshani (12) and his onlyson Avinash (10) becamevictims of the horrificcrime, alleged that thefamily faced discrimina-tion in the village due totheir caste.

“We don’t have a toilet at

home. The children wentout to defecate in themorning. Rameshwar andHakam, who were stand-ing near their handpump,shouted at them for defe-cating on the road andrained blows of lathis(sticks) on their headswhile the children wererelieving themselves,killing them in seconds,”a tearful Balmiki said.

“I saw the accused flee-ing. The duo were caughtby people some distanceaway,” he said.

The wounded kids wererushed to the district hos-pital in Shivpuri wherethe doctors had declaredthem dead.

Both the accused werearrested. DC Anugrahasaid aid of `50,000 eachwill be given to the kin ofthe deceased, besidesfinancial help under theSC-ST Act.

On village beingdeclared ODF, she said shewill find out if it was true.

2 MP dalit kids lynchedfor defecating on road

Buxar, Sept. 25: A com-plaint has been filedagainst Union ministerAshwini KumarChoubey at his LokSabha constituency by asub-inspector of police,whom he had threatenedin full public view forsending a notice to alocal BJP worker, a sen-ior officer said.

According to DSP,Buxar, K.K. Singh, awritten complaint hasbeen lodged at Dumraonpolice station by RajivRanjan, who is in-chargeof Naya Bhojpur outposthere, in connection withthe incident.

Mr Choubey was con-ducting a “janta durbar”on Monday, when a localBJP worker LaxmanDubey grumbled thatthe sub-inspector, whowas also present at thevenue, has sent him a“goonda notice”.

Goonda notice is issuedunder Section 109 of theCrPC to people, whosenames are registered inthe “goonda register”maintained by police sta-tions to identify poten-tial trouble-makers.

As soon as the matterwas brought to thenotice of Mr Choubey,he bellowed, “Does helook like a goonda toyou? Have you ever seena goonda? You bettermend your ways or I willstrip you of your uni-form.” — PTI

Bihar cop filesplaint against Union minister over threats

◗ Preliminary investi-gation by police sug-gested that supersti-tion driven by evilpractice of 'untouch-ability' might haveled to the gory inci-dent

◗ As years rolled by,Subhadra waited forher husband, whonever turned up. Awidow, she had twochildren from herprevious marriage,when she got mar-ried to Saidu, herMuslim neighbour.◗ There is a differ-

ence betweenanecdotal mention-ing of an issue andthe mentioningbacked by a writtenreport raising anydoubts, said the EC

Deceased were repeatedly hit on head with sticks

■ Continued from Page 1disowned the 72-year-old politician. “He isnot a member of the BJP,” the party’s UPspokesperson Harishchandra Srivastavasaid. But he did not specify whenChinmayanand stopped being a BJP mem-ber.

Chinmayanand, born Krishna Pal Singh, isa former Union minister. He was ministerof state for internal affairs in Atal BehariVajpayee’s government.

The Shahjahanpur locality where the stu-dent lives witnessed heavy deployment ofpolice personnel on Wednesday morning.Roads leading to her residence were blockedfrom both sides before policemen enteredthe house to arrest her, sources said.

The woman was taken for a medical exam-ination and later produced before the courtof additional chief judicial magistrateVineet Kumar, who sent her to 14 days’ judi-cial custody, officials said.

The three men arrested earlier for extor-tion have allegedly told the SIT that theysent messages to Chinmayanand “in panic”on the student’s directions when thedemanded money was not delivered, the IGsaid.

They had threatened to upload on socialmedia video clips that showed the womangiving massages to the politician, policesaid.

Another SIT officer, Bharti Singh, said thepolice arrested the student after confrontingher with video clips – one of them on analleged conversation in a car between herand the three men discussing the allegedextortion plan.

The officer claimed that during the ques-tioning in the morning at her home, the stu-dent “verified” the contents of the clip andconfirmed it had her voice and that of theother three.

SIT chief Arora said forensic examinationof the evidence, including pen drive andmobile phones, revealed that there was noaddition, alteration, morphing, modificationor editing in the videos.

The mobile location and calls made by thestudent and others were also verified and achart was prepared which showed that the

four (the law student and the three alreadyarrested) were together and in touch, hesaid.

On the spectacles fitted with the spy cam-era used to record the massage sessions, MrArora said, “It was brought online in Marchby the girl. The girl said it was in her hostelroom, which was opened in presence of aforensic team, principal, the girl and herfather, but it was not found. We are yet torecover it.”

The SIT chief said the mobile messagesdeleted by Chinmayanand could not beretrieved by the FSL and hence, it has beensent to the Central Forensic ScienceLaboratory (CFSL) in Gandhi Nagar,Gujarat.

The woman and the trio have been bookedunder IPC sections 385 (extortion), 506 (crim-inal intimidation), 201(disappearance of evi-dences), 35 (criminal act done with a crimi-nal knowledge or intention) and 67 of theInformation Technology Act, police said.

The law student’s father and brotheralleged that she was arrested even thoughshe had not commited any crime. Her fatherclaimed that a police official was taking “avery soft stand” on the complaint againstChinmayanand.

The student has claimed that the policewere trying to weaken the case against theruling party politician.

Chinmayanand has been was bookedunder Section 376C of the IPC, which is usu-ally applied in cases where a person abuseshis position to “induce or seduce” a womanunder his charge to have “sexual inter-course not amounting to the offence ofrape”.

This is a lesser charge than Section 376,under which a rape convict faces a maxi-mum punishment of life imprisonment. Thepunishment under Section 376C is betweenfive and 10 years in jail.

He was also booked under Sections 354D(stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and506 (criminal intimidation) of the IndianPenal Code.

The high court on Monday expressed satis-faction with the progress report submittedby the special investigation team. — PTI

Chinmayanand case: rape victim sent to jail

New York, Sept. 25: PrimeMinister Narendra Modiwas on Wednesday con-ferred the “GlobalGoalkeeper” award by theBill and Melinda GatesFoundation for theSwachh Bharat Abhiyanlaunched by his govern-ment.

In a series of tweets inHindi, the PrimeMinister’s Office said MrModi lauded the country-men for contributing tothe grand success of thecleanliness mission, say-ing he shared the honourwith them.

“Getting the award inthe year of MahatmaGandhi’s 150th birthanniversary is personallysignificant for me. When130 crore people take apledge, any challenge canbe overcome,” the PrimeMinister said.

He dedicated the awardto those Indians whotransformed the SwachhBharat campaign into a“people’s movement” andaccorded topmost priorityto cleanliness in their day-to-day lives. “No suchcampaign was seen orheard about in any other

country in the recent past.It might have beenlaunched by our govern-ment, but people took con-trol of it,” Mr Modi said.

As a result, over 11 croretoilets were built in thecountry in the last fiveyears, which was a record,he said.

Stressing that the suc-cess of the campaigncould not be measured in

numbers, the PrimeMinister said the poorpeople and the women ofIndia were benefitted themost by it. “Due to lack oftoilets, a number of girlshad to drop out of schools.Our daughters want tostudy, but because of lackof toilets, they had toabandon their educationmid-way and sit at home,”he added. — PTI

VINEETA PANDEYNEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

The ElectionCommission of India onWednesday tried to allayconcerns over safety ofEVMs due to use ofVVPATs and said thatmachines are constantlygoing through rigorousscrutiny.

It further said that sofar not a single case ofmismatch in EVMs andVVPATs has been found.

The EC was respond-ing to a story carried outby this paper in whichformer IAS officerKannan Gopinathan hadraised serious concernswith regard to sanctityof EVMs due to use ofVVPAT machines, say-ing VVPATs have madeEVMs amenable to hack-ing.

“Mr KannanGopinathan, IAS (2012),who resigned recentlywas district election offi-cer and returning officerin Dadra & Nagar Haveliconstituency which has304 polling stations. Itwould be recalled thatthe number of pollingstations in 2019 LokSabha elections pan-India were around 10.36lakh. There was no docu-ment available where hehas at any point of timesent any written analy-sis on the issue which heis now raising immedi-ately post his resigna-tion,” the EC said.

“In answer to some-thing to this effect in histweets he said that heraised the issue in someinternal meeting. Inmeetings taken by CEOsseveral issues are men-tioned, as they shouldbe, by the DEOs andROs. However, there is adifference between anec-dotal mentioning of anissue and the mention-ing backed by a writtenreport raising any kindof doubts as the issuethat he is now suddenlyraising immediatelyafter resigning,” the ECadded.

“Nonetheless a morerigorous scrutiny evenof this is being got done.It would be recalled that1.25 crore VVPAT slipsthat were counted andmatched with the EVMcount, not a single caseof transfer of vote fromone candidate to anotherhas been found,” the ECclarified.

EC: EVMserror-free,scrutinisedrigorously

‘Global Goalkeeper’ award to PM for Swachchh BharatNo such campaign was seen in any nation: Modi

Rajasthan’s Payal Jangid(above) gets Bill and MelindaGates FoundationsChangemaker Award and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi is pre-sented the Global GoalkeeperAward by Bill Gates in New Yorkon Wednesday. — PTI

AGE CORRESPONDENTwith agency inputsNEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

An Indian Air ForceMiG-21 Type-69 traineraircraft crashed onWednesday nearGwalior.

“Both the pilots ejectedsafely and were pickedup by rescue helicopter,”said IAF in a statement.The aircraft was on aroutine mission and wasairborne from Air ForceStation Gwalior.Aircraft crashed whileon approach for landing.

“A court of inquiry hasbeen ordered to investi-

gate the cause of theaccident,” said IAF.

Defence ministerRajnath Singh, in atweet, said he spoke toAir Chief Marshal B.S.Dhanoa regarding thecrash and also enquiredabout the condition ofboth the pilots.

An IAF MiG-21 Bisonaircraft had crashed inRajasthan’s Bikaner dis-trict in March. Also, inFebruary a MIG-27 fight-er aircraft crashed inEta village in Pokarantehsil of Rajasthan’sJaisalmer. Last monthIAF’s Su-30 aircraft hadcrashed at Tezpur.

MiG-21 trainer aircraftcrashes, pilot ejects safely

New York, Sept. 25: Ateenage Indian girl hasreceived the“Changemaker” awardhere by the Bill andMelinda GatesFoundation for her fightagainst child marriage inher village in Rajasthan.

Payal Jangid receivedthe award on Tuesdaynight here during theGoalkeepers Global GoalsAwards hosted by theFoundation.

“The award recognisesher campaign to end childlabour and child mar-riage,” The Foundation

said in a tweet.In a video posted on the

international NGO’sTwitter account, Jangidgave details of the chal-lenges faced by girls inHinsla village, about 100kms from Jaipur.

“We have a lot of prob-lems in our village, espe-cially girls are not allowedto go out and study andthey are married offearly,” she said.

Jangid’s fight againstthe menace started whenher family wanted to gether married at a youngage. — PTI

Rajasthan girl, 17, gets awardfor fight against child marriage

■ Their fading eyesight notwithstanding, couple recognised each other

■ Continued from Page 1“Even with an under two degree rise inglobal temperature, there will be sealevel rise, glaciers will melt and manycommunities will be affected. Some ofthese events are irreversible. So focushas to be on adaptation for the comingfuture,” Mr Prakash said, who is also anassociate professor of Regional WaterStudies at TERI School of AdvancedStudies.

According to the IPCC report, sea levelhas risen globally around 15 cm duringthe 20th century, but it is currently ris-ing more than twice as fast – 3.6 mm peryear and accelerating.

“The sea level will continue to rise. Itwould reach around 30-60 cm by 2100even if the green house gas emissionsare sharply reduced and global warmingis limited to well below 2 degreesCelsius. In the event of high green housegas emissions, it would rise to 60-110cm,” the report said.

India has a 7,500-km long coastline,which is the seventh longest coastline inAsia. “The impact of the warming ofoceans will increase the climatic eventssuch as cyclones.

These events are predicted to be on a

rise and will be more severe in futuredecades,” the report said. It said thesalinity of water bodies will increasewhich will have impact on irrigation anddomestic use.

“The salinity ingress will pollute thefreshwater bodies and will have hugeimpacts on water for irrigation anddomestic use. The shifting rainfall pat-ters of Indian monsoon will also havebearing for people living on the coastalareas,” it said.

According to the report, the world’soceans have absorbed more than 90 percent of the warming that has occurredon earth over the last 50 years, with therate of ocean warming more than dou-bling since 1993.

“It is virtually certain that the globalocean has warmed unabated since 1970and has taken up more than 90 per centof the excess heat in the climate system.Since 1993, the rate of ocean warminghas more than doubled.

“Marine heat waves have very likelydoubled in frequency since 1982 and areincreasing in intensity. By absorbingmore carbon dioxide (CO2), the oceanhas undergone increasing surface acidi-fication. — PTI

‘Andaman may not remain inhabitable’

■ Continued from Page 1has also repealed 50 laws to improve easeof doing business.

There is a government in India whichrespects the business world and valueswealth creation, he said, adding the gov-ernment has been taking big and harddecisions to improve business environ-ment.

“Let me tell you, the new government isonly three-four month old. I want toassure that this is only the beginning.Still there is a long way to go. In thisjourney we want to partner with theglobal business community. This is agolden opportunity for you,” Mr Modisaid. India is aiming to become a $5 tril-

lion economy by 2024-25. The Prime Minister said $1 trillion has

been added to economy in 5 years and thetarget is to make the country a $5 trillioneconomy.

Mr Modi also said that 120 GW out of175 GW renewable energy target hasbeen achieved by India and the countrywas targeting 450 GW in near future.

He said India received $286 billion for-eign direct investment in last five years,which is half of what it got in previous20 years.

Mr Modi said democracy, political sta-bility, predictable policy, independentjudiciary guarantee investment.

— PTI

‘Golden moment to invest in India’

M i d n a p o r e / K o l k a t a ,Sept. 25: With the NRCbecoming a political hotpotato in West Bengal,chief minister MamataBanerjee claimed onWednesday 11 people havecommitted suicide fear-ing loss of citizenship,while senior BJP leaderKailash Vijayvargiyaasserted the exercise willbe undertaken in the statebut no Hindu will bedeported.

Ms Banerjee, who hasoften been accused by theBJP of Muslim appease-ment, asked block devel-opment officers and pub-lic representatives to vis-itevery household toassuage the concerns ofpeople about gettingstripped of Indian citi-zenship.

BJP general secretaryVijayvargiya, however,insisted a NationalRegister of Citizens willbe prepared in the statebut no Hinduwill be leftout.

“So many people havedied. 11 people have diedso far over this NRCpanic. I would ask govern-ment officials and publicrepresentativesto visitevery household in theirrespective areas and allaypublic fear,” she told anadministrative meeting atDebra in West Midnapore

district.“There will be no NRC

in Bengal,” she declared.The state’s TMC govern-

ment has also startedissuing advertisements totelevision and printmedia asking people notto panic.

A 4-minute audio-visualclip being aired by localTV channels shows MsBanerjee asking peoplenot to panic or be misledby “false claims” aboutNRC.

BJP chief Amit Shahhad repeatedly said dur-ing the Lok Sabha poll-campaign that the NRCexercise, which was limit-ed to Assam, will also beextended to West Bengal.

Ms Banerjee said hergovernment’s pro-gramme to issue, replaceand updateration cardshad nothing to do withthe NRC, as some peopleapprehended.

Though the Centre is yetto decide on whether toreplicate the NRCexercisein West Bengal, largequeues of people arebeing seen outsidetheoffices of BDOs, boroughoffices and civic bodyoffices across the state forthe last few days to pro-cure documents thatcould prove that the statehas been their place ofresidence. — PTI

Mamata says 11 committed suicide due to NRC fear

PAGE

5WorldTHURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

Power pointVenezuela pro-democracy and Opposition leaderJuan Guaido attempts to set up a government torival the socialist administration of Nicolas Maduro

Determined to meetKim Jong Un face to

face, without anyconditions

— Shinzo AbeJapanese PM

IN BRIEFCase on Pervez to

be heard daily Islamabad: A special court inPakistan has decided to con-duct the high treason trial of

former military dictatorPervez Musharraf on a daily

basis from October 8 to con-clude the case pending

since December 2013, accor-ding to a media report. The

previous Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) gov-

ernment had filed the trea-son case against the formerarmy chief in 2013 over the

imposition of extra-constitu-tional emergency in

November 2007, which ledto the confinement of a

number of superior courtjudges in their houses and

sacking of over 100 judges.

China launches 1stamphibious ship

Beijing: China has launchedits first amphibious assault

ship, which would enableground forces to carry outattacks on enemy territory

from sea. The ship waslaunched in Shanghai on

Wednesday, state-run Xinhuanews agency reported. With

a strong capacity in amphibi-ous operations and perform-

ing a variety of tasks, theship is independently devel-

oped by China, the reportsaid. The ship will next

undergo equipment debug-ging, mooring and naviga-

tional trials as planned, itsaid. The ship will have astrong capability to carry

out amphibious combat andother tasks, state-run China

Daily said quoting a state-ment from the Chinese navy.

Observers familiar with thePeople’s Liberation Army

(PLA) Navy’s hardware havepointed out that the new

ship is the first in the Type075 class of amphibious

assault ship, which is alsodefined as a type of landinghelicopter dock, the reportsaid. In a major rejig of its

military doctrine, China since2013 has stepped up thedevelopment of its navy,

which included building sev-eral aircraft carriers besides

submarines, frigates andassault ships as part of its

efforts to expand its globalinfluence.

Four bodies foundfrom crashed plane

Timika: The bodies of fourpassengers on an Indonesiancargo plane that went miss-

ing in the jungles of Papua aweek ago were recovered,

the search agency said. TheDHC-6 Twin Otter took off

from Timika to Ilaga, amountainous region in

Papua. Local authoritiesdeclared the plane — carry-ing three crew, a police offi-cer and 1.7 tonnes of rice —

missing after it failed to landhours after taking off. On

Wednesday, the search andrescue agency said four bod-ies were discovered near thewreckage of the small plane.“The location was difficult to

reach because of the dan-gerous terrain, but we man-aged to recover the victims'

bodies,” Budi Purnomo ofthe national search and res-

cue agency told reporters.

Save oceans to save humans: UN■ Digest of 7K peer-reviewed studies approved by IPCC shows bleak future

Monaco, Sept. 25: Twodays after a climate sum-mit failed to deliver game-changing pledges to slashcarbon emissions, theUnited Nations warned onWednesday that globalwarming is devastatingoceans and Earth’s frozenspaces in ways that direct-ly threaten a large slice ofhumanity.

Crumbling ice sheets,rising seas, melting gla-ciers, ocean dead zones,toxic algae blooms — a raftof impacts on sea and iceare decimating fish stocks,destroying renewablesources of fresh water, andincubating superstormsthat will ravage some meg-acities every year, accord-ing to a landmark assess-ment approved by the 195-nation IntergovernmentalPanel on Climate Change(IPCC). Some of theseimpacts are irreversible.

The report, a digest of7,000 peer-reviewed stud-ies, is a sobering reminderthat record greenhousegas emissions, mostlyfrom burning fossil fuels,are driving the planettowards a hothouse cli-mate our species couldfind intolerate.

But it also raises moreclearly than ever before ared flag on the need to con-front changes that can nolonger be averted. Forsome island nations andcoastal cities, that will cer-tainly mean finding newplaces to call home.

“Even if we manage tolimit global warming, wewill continue to see majorchanges in the oceans,”said Valerie Masson-Delm-

otte, a researcher at theLaboratory for Cli-mateand Environmental Scie-nces and an IPCC co-chair.

“But it will at least buyus some time, both forfuture impacts and toadapt.” The underlying900-page scientific reportis the fourth such UN tomein less than a year, withothers focused on a 1.5ºCcap on global warming,the decline of biodiversity,as well as land use and theglobal food system. —AFP

Chengue, Colombia, Sept.25: Covered from head totoe in a protective suit,Yina Ortiz peers througha veil to check in on herbeehive.

It is one of hundreds thatform a lifeline for herremote village, helping toheal the wounds of one ofthe Colombian conflict’smost brutal atrocities.

Rightwing paramilitariesstormed the village in thedead of night and usedmachetes to hack 27 peopleto death, accusing them ofcollaborating with leftist

guerrillas.The attack 18 years ago

was one of the worst atroc-ities. Ortiz survived theattack on Chengue inMontes de Maria. But shelost several family mem-bers and close friends.

Now 33, her memoriesare still clear. “It wasn’t

just the streams of blood, itwas awful to see so manydead bodies, one of top ofthe other, there on theground, and their lovedones picking them up,”Ortiz said.

Over a hundred familiesfled. But nearly twodecades later, life has slow-ly returned to the dusty vil-lage, in part because of thelure of bees. A programmeinitiated by Ortiz and agroup of local womenhelped bring apiculture toChengue and it hasn’tlooked back. — AFP

Honey heals wounds ofwar in Colombia village

■ ■ 159 families ofChengue alternatebetween agriculturalwork and caring forthe 500 hives donat-ed by govt & the UN

Khan: US askedus to talk to IranUnited Nations (US) Sept.25: Pakistani PrimeMinister Imran Khan saidon Tuesday Donald Trumphad asked him to mediatewith Iran to defuse ten-sions, though the US presi-dent later suggested it wasKhan who approached himand nothing was final.

Khan met Trump andIranian President HassanRouhani on the sidelines ofthis week’s United NationsGeneral Asse-mbly, beforewhich he visited CrownPrince Moha-mmed binSalman in Saudi Arabia,whom he said had made thesame request.

“Trump asked me that ifwe could de-escalate the sit-uation and maybe come upwith another deal,” Khantold repor-ters at the gather-ing of leaders in New York.

“Yes, we did convey this,

and yes, we’re trying ourbest. I immediately spoketo President Rouhani yes-terday after the meetingwith President Trump. Ican’t say anything rightnow more than this, exceptthat we’re trying and medi-ating,” he said.

In Saudi Arabia, whichwas hit earlier this month byattacks on its oil infrastruc-ture blamed on Iran, thecrown prince “also asked meto talk to the Iranian presi-dent,” Khan said.

United Nations, US, Sept.25: The US ramped uppressure on China at theUN General Assembly onTuesday, rallying coun-tries against Beijing’streatment of UighurMuslims and warning it iswatching Hong Kong.

President Donald Trumpfired several shots acrossthe bow of the fellowSecurity Council member,moving beyond his typical

attacks against China oninternational trade.

“The world fully expectsthat the Chinese govern-ment will honour its bind-

ing treaty... (and) protectHong Kong’s freedom andlegal system and demo-cratic ways of life,”Trump told the GeneralAssembly.

“How China chooses tohandle the situation willsay a great deal about itsrole in the world and thefuture,” the Republicantycoon added during histhird appearance at thediplomatic forum in New

York.It marked one of his

most strident speeches onthe situation in HongKong since massive anti-government protestsbroke out there threemonths ago.

The demonstrationshave triggered the Asianfinancial hub’s biggestpolitical crisis since itshandover from Britain toChina in 1997. — AFP

US warns China over Hong Kong

SWEDISH RIGHTSPRIZE FOR CLIMATESTRIKER THUNBERG Stockholm, Sept. 25:Swedish climate activistGreta Thunberg onWednesday won the RightLivelihood Award, some-times called the “alterna-tive Nobel Prize”, thejury for the Swedishhuman rights prize said.

Thunberg was hon-oured “for inspiring andamplifying politicaldemands for urgent cli-mate action reflectingscientific facts,” theRight LivelihoodFoundation said in astatement.

“Her resolve to not putup with the looming cli-mate disaster hasinspired millions ofpeers to also raise theirvoices and demandimmediate climateaction,” it added.

Thunberg’s global cli-mate movement “Fridaysfor Future” began inAugust 2018 when shestarted sitting alone out-side Sweden’s Parliamentwith her now iconic signreading “school strike forthe climate”. — AFP

United Nations, US, Sept.25: British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson deliveredan unconventional speechat the UN GeneralAssembly on Tuesday thatreferenced “terrifyinglimbless chickens” and“pink-eyed terminators”but only mentioned Brexitonce.

During a late-night, 20-minute address that drewbaffled looks from dele-gates, Johnson struck alight tone on a serioussubject as he warned oftechnology’s capacity tocontrol citizens.

He made no mention ofBritain’s top court rulingearlier in the day that hisdecision to suspendParliament amid a Brexitimpasse was unlawful.

Johnson painted the pos-sibility of a future wheredevices in every house-

hold “monitor your night-mares, your fridge,” andwhere smart cities are “asantiseptic as a Zurichpharmacy.” “‘Alexa’ willpretend to take orders butit will be watching you,clapping her tongue andstamping her foot,”Johnson said, suggesting“there may be nowhere tohide.” “As new technolo-

gies seem to race towardsus we strain our eyes asthey come, to make outwhether they are for goodor bad, friends or foes.

“AI, what will it mean?”he asked of artificial intel-ligence. “Helpful robotswashing and caring for anageing population or pink-eyed terminators sentback from the future tocull the human race?”Johnson pondered.

He went on to wonderwhether synthetic biologycould restore tissues “likesome fantastic hangovercure” or “bring terrifyinglimbless chickens to ourtables.” Johnson also ref-erenced one of his favoritesubjects, Greek mytholo-gy, by telling the story ofZeus punishing Prom-etheus by ensuring that aneagle ate his liver over andover again. — AFP

Boris JJohnson

Imran KKhan

UN REPORT: MEGACITIES WILL BEHIT ANNUALLY BY CATASTROPHESMonaco, Sept. 25: By 2050,many coastal megacitiesand small island nationswill experience once-a-century weather catastro-phes every year, even withan aggressive drawdownof greenhouse gas emis-sions, a major report bythe UN said onWednesday.

More than a billion peo-ple will, by mid-century,be living in areas prone tocyclones, large-scale flood-ing and other extremeweather events amplifiedby rising seas, theIntergovernmental Panelon Climate Change (IPCC)projected.

— AFP

UK PM talks about chickens,robots, baffles UN delegates

CHINA’S GIANT ‘STARFISH’ AIRPORT OPENS

A futuristic airport that resembles a giant starfish opened in Beijing on Wednesday, as China unveils anothermassive infrastructure project just days before it celebrates 70 years of Communist Party rule. An aerial view(inset) of the new Beijing Daxing International Airport. — AFP

Irked UK MPsreturn to Houseafter SC verdictLondon, Sept. 25: Britishlawmakers returned tothe House of Commonson Wednesday, ventingtheir pent-up anger overPrime Minister BorisJohnson’s failed attemptto suspend Parliamentand warning that democ-racy itself is under threatfrom the government.

Senior officials in MrJohnson’s governmentsparred with lawmakersof all parties on their firstday back after Britain’sSupreme Court decisiondeclared that the PrimeMinister’s move to sus-pend the body for fiveweeks was illegal becauseit thwarted the debateover Brexit.

Mr Johnson planned toaddress Parliament laterin the day after returningin haste from the U.N.General Assembly in NewYork.

PM Johnson remains ona collision course withParliament over his deter-mination to pull Britainout of the European Unionon Oct. 31 with or withouta withdrawal agreement.Parliament has passed alaw requiring him to seeka Brexit extension if thereis no deal, but PM Johnsonhas said he won’t do thatunder any circumstances.

Mr Johnson has begunto position himself as thechampion of the peoplefacing a recalcitrant estab-lishment bent on frustrat-ing the 2016 Brexit vote.

Mr Johnson’s attorney

general, Geoffrey Cox,called Parliament a “dis-grace” and tried to bait itinto voting for a no-confi-dence motion on PMJohnson’s governmentand triggering an earlyelection. He saidParliament would be “toocowardly” to do that.

“This Parliamentshould have the courageto face the electorate, butit won’t, because so manyof them are really allabout preventing us leav-ing the European Union,”Mr Cox told lawmakers.“But the time is coming.The time is coming, Mr.Speaker, when even theseturkeys won’t be able toprevent Christmas.”

— AP

■ ■ Parliament haspassed a law requir-ing PM BorisJohnson to seek aBrexit extension ifthere is no deal, butthe PM has said thathe won’t do thatunder any circum-stances

■ ■ PM Johnsonremains on a colli-sion course withParliament over hisdetermination topull Britain out ofthe European Unionon Oct. 31

EUROPEANS SEELAST CHANCE FORUS-IRAN MEETINGUnited Nations,Sept. 25: USPresident DonaldTrump and hisIranian counterpartHassan Rouhaniface their lastchance onWednesday for ahistoric meeting asEuropean leadersraced to arrangetalks aimed atdefusing soaringtensions.

A meeting betweenthe arch-adversarieswould be historicbut also come undera political cloud,with Trump’sDemocratic rivalson Tuesdayannouncing ani m p e a c h m e n tinquiry against him.

With world leadersgathered in NewYork for the annualUN GeneralAssembly, FrenchP r e s i d e n tEmmanuel Macronmade a fresh pushfor Mr Trump tomeet Mr Rouhani.

Escorting MrRouhani for a meet-ing, Mr Macron saidthat time was run-ning short. — AFP

No consensus yet onunity govt in IsraelJerusalem, Sept. 25: Israel’sPresident meets PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahuand his challenger BennyGantz on Wednesday as theclock began ticking on a one-week deadline for him to namesomeone to form a government.

President Reuven Rivlinreceived official results fromIsrael’s deadlocked September17 election on Wednesday after-noon, beginning the one-weektimeframe.

He could name someone totry to form a coalition as earlyas Wednesday, and speculationhas run rampant over whether

he will do so or wait until afterthe Jewish holiday of RoshHashanah, which falls onMonday and Tuesday.

In either case, the personselected will face what couldturn out to be an impossiblemission: forming a governingcoalition when neither manhas a clear path to a majority.

Mr Gantz’s centrist Blue andWhite and Mr Netanyahu’sright-wing Likud have startedtalks on forming a unity gov-ernment, but they appear farapart on a range of issues,including who will lead it.

— AFP

In handing down a stiff rebuke to Prime Minister Boris Johnson,Britain’s Supreme Court has asserted itself in an extraordinary fash-ion. The judiciary, not known to intervene in political disputes in acountry where powers are delicately balanced and bound to an unwrit-

ten constitution, has stuck its neck out in ruling that the suspension ofParliament was “unlawful”. Such an effort to save Britain from a populistleader bent upon going ahead with a “hard” Brexit with reckless abandonshould be lauded. The court said the case wasn’t directly about Brexit, butabout a PM’s abuse of power in wrongly advising the Queen to prorogueParliament for over a month to give elected representatives of the peopleless time to intervene in his plans for his country, and how he will decidehow Brexit would go. The ruling was about the balance of powers and therestoration of the rights of Parliament in a democracy.

The executive, headed by the PM, was being held to account. The star-tling dimensions of this ruling are best understood if seen in the context ofdemocratic practices being hijacked by a PM determined on Brexit andwilling to ignore the views of legislators. The judgment can be interpretedas judicial overreach in the UK, even activism, in a country whose courts

have never sat in judgment on politiciansand politics. It’s its sheer boldness thattakes one’s breath away. This precedentshould trigger the belief worldwide thatcourts should step in, even suo motu, if theyfeel any of the principal pillars of civil soci-ety is getting carried away and arrogatingto itself absolute powers. What BorisJohnson did in leading the apoliticalmonarch into such misadventure was akinto imposing a state of emergency so that hisplans could prevail, come what may.

The boldness in standing up to define thepowers of governance must be admired.Take India’s Supreme Court, which seemswary of even taking up for legal scrutiny theissue of the abrogation of Article 370 inJammu and Kashmir. The point to note is

that Parliament was not bypassed even in such an extraordinary decisionby the executive. Even so, it is necessary for the court to cast off its legalrestraint and examine if there has been any abuse of power. When govern-ments ignore political conventions and act as they wish, a political vacu-um is created. This is the great danger in the unilateral handling of Brexittoo. It was said in the judgment that “The King hath no prerogative butthat which the law of the land allows him.” How one wishes this wouldapply to all arms of society, including the judiciary too. The rulers of a freesociety must always be seen as acting for the common good and in the bestpossible manner and using, not abusing, power.

26 SEPTEMBER 2019

When the Supreme Court in 2015 struck down Section 66A of theInformation Technology Act, citizens didn’t anticipate the returnof this zombie, much less for it to happen in under five years. A

two-judge Supreme Court bench has recently asked the government todraft guidelines to regulate the social media, a directive to which it mightrespond with alacrity.

The court is hearing a case for petitions against Facebook filed in thehigh courts of Madras, Bombay and Madhya Pradesh to be transferred toitself. The issues listed include civil defamation, trolling, fake news, cybercrime and threats to India’s sovereignty and national security. Verilyenough, the social media is being used by the Islamic State in a big way torecruit Indians in Kerala. The Madras high court case, though, originatesin the alleged bullying of two anti-Jallikattu campaigners.

Fake news factories are now being set up on both sides of the ideologicalfence. The fact that the data protection law which started getting draftedclose on the heels of the Cambridge Analytica data-mining-for-votes con-troversy is still a work in progress is a comment on the government’s con-cern for the citizen’s privacy.

Numerous FIRs against people for their social media activity over thepast year have raised the spectre of a technology-driven but essentiallypaternalistic “New India” modernity. If old men mistype, will they betaken to court? Why link Aadhaar to the social media when the same hasnot been done for voter IDs?

A few users abhor the fishbowl but watch the social media to catch thedrift of political currents, often sample citizens’ ingenuous, or erudite,commentary. Those days will soon be over for them if India has anotherdraconian law that forces this dubious clampdown.

Why social media guidelines?

A welcome judgment byBritain’s highest court

THE ASIAN AGE

T. VENKATRAM REDDYEditor in Chief

Printer & Publisher: T. VENKATESWARLU

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The boldness in standing up to define

the powers of governance must be

admired. Take India’sSupreme Court, which

seems wary of eventaking up for legal

scrutiny the issue ofthe abrogation of

Article 370 in Jammuand Kashmir.

c m y k c m y k

The Internet has turned everybody into a globalperson, whether they know it or not

We would betray our values and play into ourenemies’ hands if we were to treat Muslims differently

STEPHEN A. SCHWARZMANMIND POWER

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG PAGE

6EditTHURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

Narendra Modi affectionatelycalled him “my friendBibi”. Now the loud, foam-ing-at-the-mouth Benjamin

Netanyahu has been shown the dooragain, for a second time since thecountry voted in a hung parliamentin April. With that should go theIsraeli leader’s boast of annexinganother Arab territory. (Not quite amorale booster for anyone seeking toannex territories.)

If he survives yet with a desperatesleight of hand, Netanyahu would betoo emaciated politically to worry hismany adversaries. Should he fail,which is likelier, he would almostcertainly be slapped with corruptioncharges leading to a possible jailterm. This inverse Midas touch ispar for the course with BJP leaders,almost with supernatural precision.

Atal Behari Vajpayee huggedNawaz Sharif in Lahore, and withinweeks, the latter was overthrown ina military coup. Years later, Mr Modiarrived at short notice ostensibly tobless a family wedding in Mr Sharif’s

hometown. And sure enough, anuncanny claimant of divine (or mor-tal) blessings replaced him.

Most tellingly, perhaps, Vajpayeewas foreign minister when the Shahof Iran, feeling abandoned by the US,found he had nowhere to go as hetried to quell a communist-led rebel-lion that was joined by Shia clerics.The widely disowned Shah was host-ed and feted in New Delhi, possibly atJimmy Carter’s prodding, his lastouting as the ruling monarch any-where. After the Delhi visit, therewas not a single grudging foreignhost wanting to welcome the Shahwho died a lonely man in Egypt.

Within a year of Khomeini’s rule,Vajpayee’s emissaries were standingwith heads bowed in front of the newhelmsman of Iran. There was a Shiacleric from Lucknow who Vajpayeebegan courting because he claimedto carry a letter of recommendationfrom Khomeini. The cleric accompa-nied the first Indian delegation topost-revolution Tehran. The man inhis black turban, a Shia sign of cleri-

cal pedigree, was berated publicly forfalsely claiming to be the ayatollah’sman in Delhi. The maulana has beenruing the day he befriendedVajpayee. The pattern of a proverbialkiss of death should, therefore,worry Donald Trump after Mr Modiwished him a second term.

As Shakespeare was inclined toshow, prophecies and pious hopes dogo eerily wrong. John Lennon madeit sound only more agreeable by say-ing: “Life is what happens to youwhile you are making other plans.”

Just a day ahead of their Houstoncircus a surging Senator ElizabethWarren was challenging Joe Biden’sdominance in the Democratic race, averitable nightmare for Trump. AddBernie Sanders’ double digit num-bers to her kitty and Warren could beall set to make a fight for it next yearagainst Donald Trump.

Something worse is brewing forMr Modi’s Kashmir policy. In theUK, even scornful bankers areembracing Jeremy Corbyn as a sav-iour against the Conservative

Party’s penchant for playing havocwith Brexit. So, as things stand, nei-ther the Hindutva jamboree inHouston, nor his embracing ofTrump, has won Mr Modi anendorsement for his subversion ofdemocratic decency in Kashmir.The backhanded compliment MrModi got at Houston should be addi-tional proof if one were needed.There may be a larger spoke in thewheel for Mr Modi’s Kashmir policy.As it happens, much of India’s eco-nomic and political calculationshinge on its post-Cold War compactwith the Middle East. It wasVajpayee’s national security adviserBrajesh Mishra who flipped the pro-Palestine policy, arguing that thefuture of India was aligned with theUS and Israel. By courting Israel, hecalculated, not without substance,Saudi Arabia would come as bonus.

The flaw in the script was thatunderneath the chador, Iranianwomen wear jeans. An Indian whowent to Tehran to teach English losthis job because his accent was too

British. Before the revolution, Iranand Israel were regarded as the twowings of the American warplane inthe Middle East. Pakistan tried tostep in for Iran, but was assignedanother self-harming task, like tin-kering with Afghanistan in a replicaof Victor Frankenstein’s experimentwith hideous consequences.

Imagine everyone’s calculationsgoing awry — including Mr Modi’sgambit in Kashmir and ImranKhan’s decision to fly to the UN in aSaudi prince’s plane — if Iran’sPresident Hassan Rouhani succeedsin offering a new peace plan for theMiddle East. Iran’s scheme, whichgives no role to the US, could be a bidfor the diplomatic high ground whenthe US and Saudi Arabia blame it forthe Sept 14 air strikes on Saudi oilfields. But, can Modi and Imran suc-ceed, if Rouhani fails? The event inHouston appeared like a sideshow, aruse to mask a truer reality lurkingin the omens not easy to divine.

By arrangement with Dawn

Given the BJP’sinverse Midastouch, should

Trump worry?

Kashmiris still in shock,preparing for long haul

Any visitor tothe KashmirValley willtestify thatthe people

there are emotionallydistraught, sullen andangry. The talk of earlyrestoration of democrat-ic processes is idle prat-tle. Just as village bodyelections did not usher indemocracy, nor will elec-tions for block develop-ment councils, which thegovernment intends tohold next month.Creating structures foradministrative conve-nience must not be mis-taken for participatorydemocracy.

Contrary to the claimsof normality by the gov-ernment, there is noth-ing normal in theKashmir Valley. Far toomuch has happened toosuddenly, and hasnumbed the Kashmiris.They are shocked andalmost ashamed to talkabout their predicament.

Veteran Kashmiri pub-lic intellectuals claimthat once the Kashmirissaw almost all politicalparties fall in line withthe government inParliament, they knewthey were alone. It is notso much New Delhi’sdecisions but the waythey were opera-tionalised through sub-terfuge and surprise thathas shocked and stunnedthem. They claim thatArticle 370 had been ren-dered ineffective a in1953 itself by then PrimeMinister JawaharlalNehru, and the thatNarendra Modi govern-ment has only completedthe ritual of its burial.

However, the breakupof the state into twoUnion territories is seenas a particularly venge-ful act by the people.They feel punished bythe way statehood hasbeen taken away. Theyalso believe that theyhave been wronglypitched againstLadakhis and the Shiasof Kargil as they nevercoveted their land, madeattempts to change their

demography or discrim-inated against them. Yeta false narrative hasbeen created thatKashmiris preventedthe development ofLadakh.

Kashmiris appear tohave opted for a kind ofcivil disobedience byshutting down theirshops and establish-ments without any callfor a strike or a bandh.Government agenciesclaim this was beingenforced by militantswith guns. These are nomore than stray inci-dents and the locals saythat this is a “civil cur-few” imposed by the peo-ple themselves —exempting establish-ments selling bareessentials (groceries,vegetables, meat, etc) forthree hours in the morn-ing and evening. Therest of the day, all busi-ness establishments(except pharmacies)remained shuttered andsullen businessmen sitoutside their shops star-ing into the void.

The question is: Whatwill happen when thecivil disobedience petersout? In the absence ofpolitical parties to chan-nel people’s emotions,what follows will beuncharted territory.

As of now, theKashmiris seem intenton not precipitating asituation which mightlead to unnecessary lossof lives. Parents seemconvinced that theirnext generation is notsafe in Kashmir. Thosewho can afford to sendtheir children for educa-tion and jobs abroad areactively exploring thoseoptions. Others are con-sidering schooling theirchildren in other partsof India. However, noteveryone has the optionof moving them out.

Youngsters claim thatfamily conversationshave become stilted anddifficult. But there ismore gloom than angerin the air. This canchange, however, andthe nightmares that

haunt the Kashmiriscould become a self-ful-filling prophecy.

A situation can emergein which it may becomedifficult to return todemocratic politics. Themainstream politicalparties and their leadershave been doublydamned. The Centralgovernment has dubbedthem corrupt and impris-oned them. And the peo-ple mock them for hav-ing sustained false hopesof justice from NewDelhi.

Their only two optionsare — mass civil disobe-dience or violence.There are those whoclaim that the centralgovernment’s actionshave led to greater radi-calisation with desper-ate talk of a violent solu-tion. But there are noguns or trained handsavailable to wield them— unless Pakistan onceagain opens the tap onarms supply and startstraining yet anothergeneration of Kashmiriyoungsters. TheKashmiris themselvesseem reluctant to listento the militant leader-ship, either because oftheir self-defeating dic-tates like not sellingapples this season orbecause of the futility ofviolence in the past.

The attempt by theCentral government tocreate a new politicalleadership through theelected representatives(panches and sarpanch-es) of village and townpanchayats seemsdoomed to failure. Thereis an attempt to get themand those working withthe Army-sponsoredNGOs to join the BJP, theruling party at theCentre. It is unlikely thatKashmiris would sup-port any artificially con-structed King’s Party,especially as they are dis-enchanted with the

mainstream parties thatcohabited with NewDelhi in the past.

Meanwhile, in theneighbourhoods ofSrinagar — whereSection 144 has beenimposed and streets havebeen dug up to preventsecurity personnel fromentering — it is theyoungsters who call theshots. With the sepa-ratists behind bars, anew leadership is takingshape. It is both amor-phous and faceless. Noone knows what thisemerging leadership willdecide to do in the future.

The more difficultprospect for New Delhiwill be if rather than anupsurge of violence, civildisobedience were to per-sist and intensify. Whatif it deepened by, say,people refusing to payelectricity or water bills?Would the administra-tion then dare to cut offelectricity and watersupplies?

As of now, the people donot want the jailed lead-ers to be released andbegin “controlling” thecivil disobedience. Theyare also waiting to seewhat Pakistan will do,and how long the Centralgovernment will contin-ue with its massive secu-rity presence.Kashmiris, however,warn that the surfacecalm must not be mistak-en for peace.

They recall the publicreaction after the arrestand removal of SheikhAbdullah as “prime min-ister” of the state in 1953and the appointment ofBakshi GhulamMohammad in his place.

The immediate publicprotest lasted only a daybut the simmering angeragainst the state erupted10 years later when theMoi-e-Muqqadas (bel-ieved to be HolyProphet’s hair) wasstolen from theHazaratbal shrine. Thetrigger for the massprotests was the throw-ing of a kangri (firepot,used by Kashmiris tokeep warm in winter) ata Congress leader duringa protest rally at LalChowk. This timearound, however, theKashmiris may not waitfor 10 years. The triggermay come much earlier.

The writer, a journalistbased in New Delhi, had

visited J&K recently

Youngsters claimthat family

conversations havebecome stilted anddifficult. But there

is more gloom thananger in the air.

This can change,however, and the

nightmares... couldbecome a self-ful-

filling prophecy.

HOUSTON WIN-WINTRADITIONALLY RepublicanTexas is, nevertheless, on the vergeof becoming the most consequentialswing state in the races to the Senate,come 2020. While US PresidentDonald Trump had to be present atthe Houston event to collect bonusvotes, Narendra Modi needed amajor international platform to addcredence to his Article 370 move. Thevery next day, Mr Trump was back tohis “mediation” tactics, while MrModi got his tacit nod for keeping thesecurity lid on Kashmir at least untilthe three state Assembly electionsare done and dusted. Politics, afterall, is the art of the possible.

R. NarayananNavi Mumbai

LETTERSCRASH AND BURNThe near-collapse of thePunjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank has trig-gered panic amongaccount holders. Cust-omers were found weep-ing on the premises whentheir urgent plans werescuttled for want of cash.On Tuesday, the ReserveBank of India imposedrestrictions on withdrawaland acceptance ofdeposits by the multi-state urban co-operativebank, preventing accountholders from withdrawingmore than `1,000 perperson. The restriction isfor a six-month period. Itis believed that the bankis saddled with stickyloans and has floutedloan disbursal norms.Though the RBI may easerestrictions after takingstock of the liquidity situ-ation, bad loans, and soon, the bank’s customerswould be keeping theirfingers crossed.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

Every Monday the best letter ofthe week wins `500. Email:

[email protected]

Subhani

JawedNaqvi

Bharat Bhushan

WELL DONE, BIG BTHE DECISION to confer the presti-gious Dadasaheb Phalke award onthe eternal angry young man of theHindi film industry is a fitting trib-ute to the legend. In a career span-ning five decades, AmitabhBachchan starred in nearly 200 films.“Big B”, as he is fondly known, hasalso donned the hats of a playbacksinger, film producer and televisionpresenter. Kudos!

C.K. SubramaniamNavi Mumbai

PAGE

7OpedTHURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

NOMOPHOBIA POLLUTICIANWord SPY

The fear of being without your mobilephone or without a cellular signal

A politician who supports initiatives and policies that harm the environment

On May 17,K e r a l a ’ sMarxist chiefm i n i s t e rP i n a r a y iVijayan rangthe custom-ary bell at the

London Stock Exchange, open-ing the day’s trade and herald-ing the listing of masala bondsfor `2,160 crores floated by theKerala InfrastructureInvestment Fund Board (KIIFB),the first sub-sovereign fromIndia to tap the offshore rupeeinternational bond market.

Some were aghast at MrVijayan purportedly giving uphis ideological moorings forthe sake of international capi-tal. But many hailed his fiscalrealism amid budget con-straints that hamper infra-structure spending.

Detractors now are on therebound with both theCongress and the BJP accusingKIIFB of “being corrupt,indulging in reckless borrow-ing and keeping the CAG out ofthe audit purview”. But, todate, there has been no con-

vincing parade of materials toprove their point.

The masala bonds were thebrainchild of then chief eco-nomic adviser RaghuramRajan in 2013 to tide over theacute current account deficitcrisis. And Kerala was the firstentity at the sub-sovereignlevel to latch on. The first off-shore rupee-denominatedmasala bond issue, anchoredby a sub-sovereign entity underits control, has made the state astar among its peers looking toraise offshore rupee borrow-ings at competitive rates.

But first things first.The KIIFB is state-controlled.

It leverages in a calibratedmanner using prudent assetliability management in thetime of a yawning revenueincome-expenditure mismatchand consequent infra lag in astate internationallyacclaimed for its high qualityof physical life indices despiteyears of low per capita income.

The famed Kerala “model”,according to economist M.A.Oommen, “is only an ex-postfacto generalisation of a histor-

ically evolved transformativeexperience in deliveringbroad-based healthcare (lowinfant mortality, high lifeexpectancy, high female-maleratio), universal elementaryeducation and social justice toa society once deeply dividedby caste and class inequities ofthe worst order”.

Mr Vijayan trumpets theKIIFB as the bold new “model”for infra funding. This isKerala’s course correction,committed to sustain socialsector achievements and raiseresources for its second gener-ation reforms. This, when theCentre prioritises “backward”states for grants, leaving theadvanced ones to fend forthemselves.

The sub-sovereign borrowinghelps the state to steer clear ofthe Fiscal Responsibility andBudget Management (FRBM)Act that puts a cap of three percent of state Gross DomesticProduct for budgetary borrow-ing. The FRBM Act addressesfiscal deficits by the Centreand states but even the Centrehas overshot its limits by a fewnotches, at seven per cent.

Kerala’s major chunk of rev-enue expenditure — 56 to 60per cent — is spent on salaries,pensions and interest repay-ments. Not a big negative,given its concern for the healthand education sectors, theprincipal domain of any stategovernment.

Based on the three per cent

cap on GSDP, Kerala would beleft with `24,000 crores in 2018-19. But the amount for capitalexpenditure out of this wouldbe roughly `5,000 crores, leav-ing the rest for other revenueoutgoes. In pre-KIIFB days, thestate accounted for less than1.5 per cent of GSDP on infraspending.

The KIIFB, with a 50-memberstaff, has chartered financialanalyst, former whole-timemember of Sebi and formerchief secretary K.M. Abrahamas its CEO. It has on hand 588projects involving `45,000crores, arguably a first for astate government as distinctfrom all-India agencies like theNHAI (National HighwaysAuthority of India).

KIIFB borrowing carries astate guarantee. It is nurturedand sustained by a staggeredaccrual of fuel and motor vehi-cle taxes, which illustrates thefact that the extra-budgetaryresource mobilisation is state

budget-guaranteed. The KIIFBhas already received `6,000crores in tax revenue incomeand spent `2,300 crores. It is anomnibus special purpose vehi-cle (SPV), handholding 25other SPVs, set up by variousgovernment departments andagencies to implement pro-jects, ranging from smartclassrooms to roads to infor-mation technology.

But the Opposition has beencrying foul, accusing the KIIFBof the very sins of omission andcommission that it abhors. Ithas a robust, multi-layeredaudit, appraisal, transparencyand quality control mechanism.

On the audit side, the KIIFBis bound by the Comptrollerand Auditor-General’s (Duties,Powers and Conditions ofService) Act Section 14 (1) for acomprehensive review of all itsincome and expense. It has itsown statutory audit, too. At itslast board meeting, the KIIFBdecided to introduce a peerreview audit system to boostthe confidence betweeninvestors and the KIIFB intune with internationalrequirements of external bor-rowing. In addition, it has aninternal audit regimen.

The Fund Trustee andAdvisory Commission (FTAC),headed by former CAG VinodRai, is the apex body. An in-house monthly audit is doneand the report submitted quar-terly. Every six months, theKIIFB presents audited

accounts to the FTAC, which ifsatisfied, issues a fidelity cer-tificate. Audited accounts alongwith the fidelity certificate aresubmitted for the Assembly’sscrutiny every year.

Norms for transparency andquality control are of a highorder. Separate administrativeand technical inspection wingsinspect the work site andoffices to ensure quality in exe-cution. They have observationsheets issued by the KIIFB anda lapse leads to an observationmemo, which binds the SPV tomandatory rectification. Thetechnical inspection wing alsolends expert advice to SPVs onprojects.

All transactions are paper-less, adhering to the green pro-tocol.

Payments are made directlyto contractors. Contractors canwatch these through mobileapplications. There is anonline grievance portal thatoffers advice and informationon the implementation of theprojects.

There has been a classic criti-cism, that involving accusingthe LDF government of adopt-ing “the destructive mode ofdevelopment”. Finance minis-ter Thomas Isaac debunks thischarge with the oft-quotedKeynesian mantra for publicspending in times of economicslowdown. Economist JohnMaynard Keynes advocatedincreased government expendi-ture and lower taxes to stimu-

late demand and pull the globaleconomy out of the 1930sdepression in the United States.

Due for disbanding in 2010,the KIIFB bounced back,achieving fiscal targets. It isnow seen as a model for otherstates to follow. To cap it all, itsinbuilt checks and balances,for instance deploying dronesto make on-site assessments ofwork, position it as the answerto rampant corruption in pro-ject tendering and execution.

Other fiscally stressed statesare reaching out to understandthe dynamics of the controlledleveraging model that KIIFBhas put in place, Mr Abrahamsaid. In fact, when the Uniongovernment announced thesovereign bond, in their annu-al Budget, many thought thatthey were going the KIIFBway.

There are others who fearthat budgetary support to theKIIFB may dwindle in case ofan economic deceleration. But,Mr Abraham says, the income-expenditure scenario isworked on mathematical mod-els. The hallmark is controlledleverage and asset-liabilitymanagement. Options in caseof a dip in revenues are to scaledown projects or increase gov-ernment contribution to theKIIFB to stanch the sluggish-ness.

Whatever the future, theKIIFB has truly been Kerala’sinnovation in managing statefinances.

Saint Augustine, when hefinally found God withinhimself, sighed, “Late have Iloved you, beauty so old and

so new. And see, you were withinand I was in the external world andsought you there …You were withme, and I was not with you”.

The lives of saints show us thatthose who strive with effort andperseverance do indeed find theDivine within themselves andaround them. Many of us, however,wander through this earth, often

whiling our time chasingafter all kinds of thingswhich, Hinduism rightlydescribes as “maya” (illu-sion), and may have littleto do with the purpose ofour existence.

The catechism of theCatholic Church tells usthat God’s purpose in creating us is,“to know Him, love Him and serveHim”. Jesus taught us that God,who always indulges in expressinghis unconditional love for us, alsokeeps a loving gaze on us. Godwants us to experience more thanjust his invisible presence. “…Instead, I have called you friends,for everything that I learned frommy Father I have made known toyou. You did not choose me, but Ichose you…” affirmed Jesus.

It is this offer of friendship thatleaves God no choice but to keep hisloving gaze on each of his crea-

tures, a gaze unlike that ofa watchman’s detectiveeyes but that of a dotingmother or father. It is likethe gaze of the unblinkingconcern of a genuinefriend. Like parents andgood friends who do theirbest without ever expect-

ing anything in return, God’s lov-ing gaze hovers over us only for ourgood.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, whileteaching his followers to pray,would tell them to experience God’sloving gaze at the start of anyprayer. This allows us to rest inGod’s bosom — the ocean of love.When we entrust ourselves to thatgaze, God’s friendship begins toflower in us. And if we do not let theworldly distractions take the betterof us, the unconditional love of Godbegins to gradually but surely enve-lope us in His loving embrace.

“The Lord on each new dayinvites us to be present to his gaze,which brings light into our lives.We then move out to our workbeing consciously aware that he isgazing at us and when evening fallswe bring all that the day unfoldedback into God’s gaze”, is how afriend experiences God’s gaze inher life.

It is the loving gaze which keepsus away from negative situations,protecting us from physical harmbut as well as from spiritual pitfallsand sins. It also goads us gently intodeeper friendship with him, result-ing in, as Jesus says, “My fatherand I will come and make our abodein you”.

Father Dominic Emmanuel,a founder-member of theParliament of Religions,

can be contacted at [email protected]

God keeps His loving gaze on us

Masala bonds are Kerala’s brave new infra model

Brexit blues: UK’s future isuncertain and unwritten,given the acrimony today

Afew years hence, whenpassions have cooledsomewhat and “Brexit:The Musical” hits

London’s West End, the showmight include a ditty that begins:“You never give me your money,you only give me your funnypaper — and in the middle of nego-tiations, you break down …”

It is purely coincidental, ofcourse, that the 50th anniversaryof the Beatles’ endgame coincideswith the denouement, possibly, ofa saga that has dogged Britain formore than three years now. “Andin the end,” Paul McCartneyintones at the conclusion of themedley that took up most of thesecond side of Abbey Road, “thelove you take is equal to the loveyou make”.

Those lines probably wouldn’tmake it into the musical, giventhat love hasn’t been much in evi-dence during the disunited king-dom’s reckoning with posterity.Hate, in fact, has figured far moreprominently on the conflictingagendas of dedicated Leavers andRemainers.

But then, hate was hardly anunfamiliar phenomenon inBritain half a century ago. EnochPowell’s infamous “rivers ofblood” speech reflected a racismthat has endured and mutatedover the decades, and wasarguably instrumental in the 2016referendum. Both sides routinelydabbled in untruths in the run-upto that vote.

The result, a 52-48 majority infavour of withdrawal from theEuropean Union (EU), was a farcry from the 1975 referendum inwhich a far more substantial pro-portion of the electorate opted tostay in what was then known asthe European EconomicCommunity (EEC), which Britainhad signed up to a couple of yearsearlier.

Back in 1969, though, it wasn’t amember of the EEC, its bids to doso having been vetoed earlier inthe decade by Charles de Gaulle,who viewed perfidious Albion, notentirely without cause, as a sub-sidiary of the American project.Inevitably, his doubts now tend tobe seen as prescient.

On the other hand, culturallyand economically, Britain washardly cut off from the Continentin the decades leading up to itsEEC accession. The Beatles, in away, epitomised this connection.They honed their craft inHamburg and by 1969 were quitepossibly more popular in Parisand Stockholm than they were inLondon. They recorded Germanversions of a couple of their earlyhits, occasionally lapsed intoFrench in their lyrics, and one ofJohn Lennon’s contributions tothe Abbey Road medley, SunKing, includes a Spanish inter-lude.

Perhaps more pertinently, therecurring sentiment on thelongest track on the album, I Want

You, a kind of heavy metal excur-sion valued more for the instru-mental skills exhibited thereinthan for its lyrical profundity, isLennon’s declaration “I want youso bad it’s driving me mad”,which may have been directed atYoko Ono back then, but ought toresonate today for both Brexiteersand Remainers.

The divisions that the prospectof leaving the EU has wrought areunprecedented in recent Britishhistory. Where they might leadremains uncertain. PrimeMinister Boris Johnson isadamant on Britain exiting theEuropean club by October 31, andjust may be able to pull off a dealwith Brussels — but is disinclinedto request a delay should an agree-ment not be reached by mid-October, as the House ofCommons has explicitly decreed.

Instead, he shut downParliament for an unprecedentedfive weeks with the assent ofQueen Elizabeth II. On Tuesday,the UK Supreme Court unani-mously ruled that the prorogationwas unlawful, so Parliamentreconvened on Wednesday — aconstitutional crisis might ensue,all bets are off, and songs to markthe occasion are as yet unwritten,although some may choose to humHere Comes the Sun.

The Damocles sword that hangsover the proceedings is YellowHammer, the reluctantly revealedgovernment report on the disasterthat a no-deal exit might entail.And one could see echoes of it inMcCartney’s mock-horrorMaxwell’s Silver Hammer, almostuniversally recognised as theleast impressive track on AbbeyRoad — although one could con-ceive prime ministerial adviserDominic Cummings as a latter-day version of the psychopath atthe centre of the song.

While the Tories have gone intofull-Brexit mode of late and theLiberal Democrats have opted forthe opposite extreme, the LabourParty leadership has argued for amore balanced approach, andbeen mercilessly denigrated bymuch of the mainstream mediafor its willingness to straddle thedivide.

For any reasonable nationalparty, that makes perfect sense,given the current acrimony. Thefuture is uncertain, and unwrit-ten, as it was for the Beatles 50years ago. But they went on tothrive individually. And AbbeyRoad didn’t quite end as it intend-ed to, concluding after a briefsilence with a cheeky tribute toHer Majesty.

The likelihood of her still beingon the throne a half-century laterwould have induced titters of dis-belief in 1969. It’s not entirelyinconceivable that, whether ornot they come together, Britonswill still be wondering about allthis in 2069.

By arrangement with Dawn

KIIFB borrowing carriesa state guarantee. It isnurtured and sustainedby a staggered accrualof fuel and motor vehicle taxes, whichillustrates the fact that the extra-budgetary resource mobilisation is state budget-guaranteed.

Mahir Ali

DominicEmmanuel

John Mary

London: Eighteen-year-oldLondoner Danique Bailey isone of a new generation ofpoets using social media torevive the art. The teenagerwas among the 100 winnersof last year’s Foyle YoungPoets of the Year Award, aninternational competitionof 6,000 11-to 17-year-oldsfrom 83 countries. She wasrewarded for a mischievousode to the plantain fruit.

“Social media made a lotmore people interested inpoetry, including myself,”she told AFP, calling it a“really fun and satisfyingway to express yourself in ashort amount of space”.

She is not the only millen-nial getting into the art —sales of poetry booksjumped 66 per cent between

2012 and 2017, according toNielsen BookScan, whichgathers data for the bookpublishing sector. Around1.3 million poetry bookswere sold last year, a 12-percent increase over the previ-ous year, its figures show.Two thirds of the buyerswere aged under 34.

Judith Palmer, director ofthe Poetry Society, suggest-ed that people were turningto poetry because it grap-ples “with existential ques-tions that people are tryingto come to terms with...About our lives in uncer-tain times. “Of course thereare long poems, but mainly,poems are short and itworks really, really well toread on a phone, to swaparound, to read, to find onsocial media,” she added.

INSTAPOETS

Her group’s research foundthat Instagram was often theplace that people were first

introduced to poetry. Indian-born Canadian Rupi Kaur, 26,is one of the stars of this plat-form, boasting 3.7 millionsubscribers. Her collection,“Milk and Honey”, whichcombines poetry, prose andillustrations, has grown inpopularity in Britain, drivingoverall poetry sales.

The youth and diversity ofthe “Instapoets” has madeteenagers aware that not allpoems are written “by deadwhite men from 200 yearsago,” said Palmer.

MORE VISUAL

Young fans often set uppoem playlists that they lis-ten to on their phones andtablets which they also useto search for and share newmaterial, she said.

The National PoetryLibrary in London hasalready attempted to ride thewave, last year holding thefirst-ever exhibition devotedto poetry on Instagram.

“There’s a big audience inInstagram poetry but wewere overwhelmed with thesubmissions” from buddingpoets, National PoetryLibrarian Chris McCabetold AFP. He was surprisedby the ingenuity and cre-ativity, he said, with poemsinspired by subjects rang-ing from politics to nature,written with fridge magnetsor on a typewriter, accom-panied by photos, videosand even illustrations.

“The language is oftenmuch simpler than youwould get in a traditionalpoem. And it’s much morevisual as well,” he said. It isa “totally new way of howan audience and the poetengage with each other,” headded.

MAKES AN IMPACT

Instagram sensationNikita Gill, 32, explainedhow she used the medium,telling AFP that she nor-

mally posts “very few linesof poetry... And it immedi-ately makes an impact”.

The British-Indian authorof “Great Goddesses”, a col-lection of poetry and proseexploring myths and leg-ends, said this new way ofcommunicating “dispelsthat notion about poetrythat you can only read poet-ry if you’ve got a literaturedegree.”

Whether exploring the tra-ditional Japanese form ofhaiku or expressing theirdeepest emotions, the onething that the “Instapoets”have in common is “that weall add our own personaltouch to what we share,”said Gill, who also makesthe illustrations for herwork. She puts the successdown to the idea that “it’sreally moving when some-one shares something reallypersonal with you”. Andshe encouraged aspiringpoets to “not be afraid” andget writing. — AFP

PAGE

8Culture+THURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

Dancing Waters: Speaking of water conservation with Kathak & drums

■ The legendaryworld percussionistA. Shivamani alongwith the supergraceful Kathakdancer NehaBanerjee, who isthe seniormost disciple of PadmaVibhushan, PadmaBhushan PanditBirju Maharaj,staged this extraordinary showthat made the audience understand theimportance ofwater conservation

Poetry in motion: Social media revives ancient artPauline Froissartmeanwhile

Kathak is one of the mostfantastic Indian classicaldances that has the abili-ty to blend with variousother styles of dance andmusic. Recently, the cityof dreams, Mumbai, sawa magnificent dance

show which was a beautiful blend ofKathak with drums titled “DancingWaters”. What made Dancing Watersunique and totally different was that itspoke of conservation of water throughthe artistic language of dance and music.

The legendary world percussionist A.Shivamani along with the super gracefulKathak dancer Neha Banerjee, who is theseniormost disciple of Padma Vibhushan,Padma Bhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj,staged this extraordinary show that madethe audience understand the importanceof conservation of water. The MukeshPatel auditorium was packed with guestswanting to support the much needed causeand also to see the one-of-its-kind blend ofA. Shivanmani’s and Neha Banerjee’sskills. Sargams, Taranas and the tradition-al Kathak format were showcased in theevent. I would describe theshow’s composition asTeentaal but com-posed in a verymature manner.

The best part ofthe compositionwas the blend ofdrums and instru-ments like the vio-lin, tabla, guitar andsitar with

Kathak . Various great artistes like VivekMishra on tabla, Somnath Mishra onvocals, Sukhdev Mishra on the violin,Rajneesh on keyboards, UtkarshShrivastav on guitar and Alka Gujjar onsitar came together to create magic onstage with dance and drums. The choreog-raphy was guided by VijayshreeChaudhary, one of the oldest disciples ofPandit Birju Maharaj. Lights and stage

designing was by Sangeet NatakAkademi awardee Gyandev Singh,

show styling was by Richa Ranawat anddance support was given by the very tal-ented Omkar Gotad.Post the breathtaking show of percus-

sion and dance, I sat down with the magi-cal duo of Neha and Shivamani to askthem why they did what they did and thisis what they had to say:

How did this collaboration comearound?

Neha: Ia l w a y s

wanted to workw i t h

Shivamani sir and when I thought of thistheme of drums blending in with myKathak I could think of no one but thebest, so this collaboration took place and Iam glad it worked out well.

Shivamani: Neha came to me with thisconcept, performing with her was great.Neha being a disciple of my favouritePandit Birju Maharaj made it even morespecial for me. The whole theme of watermade this concert very unique. We triedour level best to support the importantissue of water conservation through thisconcert.

Why did you choose this theme of DancingWaters?

Neha: We rarely pay importance to waterand water conservation, all the time takemother nature for granted — we are livingin a world where soon water will be scarce— through this show we wanted to awakenpeople and make them realise the impor-tance of water conservation.

Shivamani: Today, we are living ina world where water conservation is

a very big issue. Through our show Iwanted to touch this important topic

and bring light to this much-neededcause and I am glad we succeeded in it.

What was the most challenging andexciting part of the show?

Neha: To keep up with thespeed of the drums by A.

Shivamani — as a dancer dancingwith electronic instruments like the

keyboard and guitar where the sound

is very high — I was afraid that my foot-work may not be audible. Thanks to reallygreat sound by Herman Lobo, the audi-ence review about my footwork was great,each and every sound was clear and loudenough for the audience.

I was also a bit afraid during theJugalbandi section, but I am so happy thatit turned out to be best part of the show.

Shivamani: I love fusion work — theartiste in me feels a great high and bring-ing it on stage with a live audience is evenbetter still. I go into a complete trance —this is what is challenging, and also excit-ing at the same time for me.

At the show Mr Ajay Rautaray, Sr. DVP,(Accounts) was honoured on behalf ofKotak Life Insurance. Dr Aneel KashiMurarka ably supported the cause ofwater conservation and the celebritiesfrom the film and television world couldnot stop cheering throughout the show.Actress and dancer Shantipriya Ray,Mitaali Nag, Dj Sheizwood, Hansa Singh,Prashant Virender Sharma, VishalSrivastav, Rajeev Mahavir, Rakesh Pauland many others were glued to theirchairs asking for more.

Neha Banerjee, who shines the tiara ofMrs Universe 2017, Mrs West Central Asia2017 and winner of Fem Mrs India 2016,worked on this theme and the show forover five months and finally, super excitedafter the success of the show, she said, “Itwas an honour and a privilege to get anopportunity to work with one of the great-est percussionists of our times. I’ve beenwanting to work with drums and Kathakfor some time and was thrilled whenSivamaniji agreed to doing somethingwonderful together. I chose water conser-vation as the subject of our recital and per-formance because as an artiste I wanted touse my craft to draw attention to a subjectas important as this.”

The show “Dancing Waters” by NehaBanerjee and A. Shivamani made it’sdebut in Mumbai but will be travelling toother parts of India, raising awarenessabout this neglected cause, and take myword, it is one not-to-be-missed show. Ifyou are a fan of Shivamani’s style of per-cussions and traditional Kathak dancethen this is one show that is a sheer treatfor the eyes as well as for the ears.

Sandip Soparrkar holds a doctorate inworld mythology folklore, is a World

Book Record holder, a well knownBallroom dancer and a Bollywood chore-

ographer who has been honoured withthree National Excellence awards, one

National Achievement Award and DadaSaheb Phalke award by the Governmentof India. He can be contacted on sandip-

[email protected]

Sandip Soparrkar voxtrot

The show ‘Dancing Waters’ by Neha Banerjee and A. Shivamani made it’s debut in Mumbai but will betravelling to other parts of India, raising awareness

about this cause, and take my word, it is one not-to-be-missed show. If you are a fan of Shivamani’s style of

percussions and traditional Kathak dance then this is ashow that is a treat for the eyes as well as for the ears.

A screengrab taken from the Instagram page of Nikita Gill shows examples of her poetry.Whether exploring the traditional Japanese form of haiku or expressing their deepestemotions, the one thing that the ‘Instapoets’ have in common is ‘that we all add our ownpersonal touch to what we share,’ said Gill, who also makes the illustrations for her work.

— AFP

THURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHI

■ Disclosure about IBC, ICA events now mandatory

FC BUREAUwith agency inputsNEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

The leading stockexchanges have asked alllisted companies topromptly disclose to themall "material develop-ments" relating to paymentdefaults, including inter-creditor agreements madein this respect.

BSE and NSE have issedthe direction in consulta-tion with the regulator, theSecurities Exchange Boardof India.

The exchanges have alsoannounced additional sur-veillance measures forcompanies involved in theresolution process underthe Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC) orInter Creditor Agreement(ICA).

In separate circulars, thebourses said developmentsrelated to the ICA are likelyto have significant impacton prices of the securitiesof the entities whose assetshave been deemed to be'stressed' on account ofdefault or delay of inter-est/principal payments.

Therefore, developmentssuch as signing of the ICAby lenders of a listed com-pany is deemed to be“material” as it is likely tohave significant impact onthe ownership and gover-nance of the company, theexchanges said, citingSebi's disclosure regula-tions.

The Reserve Bank’sPrudential Framework forResolution of StressedAssets Directions, 2019 pro-vides for lenders to take aprima facie review ofdefaulting borrowers with-in 30 days of default.During this review period,

the lenders may decide on aresolution strategy whichmay include putting inplace a resolution plan oralternatively initiate legalproceedings under the IBC.

In cases where a resolu-tion plan is to be imple-mented, all lenders canenter into an ICA duringthis review period.

In view of this, theexchanges have now askedall listed companies topromptly disclose all mate-rial developments pertain-ing to any default andabout the ICA.

Besides, all entities whoget confidential informa-

tion in course of develop-ments pertaining to defaultand/or ICA, will need tomaintain confidentiality ofsuch information, until thesame is disclosed to theexchanges for public dis-semination.

Besides, listed companieson their own would have topromptly confirm or denyand clarify to stockexchanges regarding anyrumours or news on devel-opments pertaining todefault and/or ICA.

Detailing the criteria forshort-listing of securitiesfor action and the surveil-lance action, the exchangessaid additional surveil-lance would be applicablein case of a closing shareprice variation of morethan 25 per cent in five con-secutive trading days, postdisclosure of default.

The surveillance actionin this case would be appli-cable margin rate of 40 percent or existing margin,whichever is higher, sub-ject to maximum rate ofmargin capped at 100 percent from T+3 day for aminimum period of 15days.

FC BUREAUNEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

The stock market snap-ped a three-day winningrun, tracking declinesin global stocks, as callsfor an impeachment ofUS President DonaldTrump rattled investors.Trump putting China onnotice at the UnitedNations conference—bydeclaring that the timeof trade “abuses” byBeijing was “over” andasking Beijing to protectHong Kong's “democrat-ic ways of life”—alsoweighed on investor sen-timent.

The Sensex dropped 504points, or 1.3 per cent to38,593.52 on Wednes-daywhile the Nifty-50 fell 148points, or 1.28 per cent, to11,440.20. Both indicesrose more than 8 per centin the previous three ses-sions post-the corporatetax cut.

Global stocks fell onWednesday afterDemocrats in the USHouse of Represen-tatives on Tuesdaylaunched a formal impe-achment inquiry intoTrump, accusing him ofseeking foreign help tosmear Democratic rivalJoe Biden ahead of nextyear’s election.

Trump’s stingingrebuke to China’s tradepractices at the UN alsostoked fears of an escala-tion in the ongoing tradewar.

India remains the mostexpensive market inemerging Asia even asanalysts increased earn-ings estimates for thebenchmark indices by asmuch as 10 per cent.

MICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, SEPT. 25

Days after the govern-ment cut the corporate taxrate, Maruti Suzuki,India’s biggest car-maker,announced a reduction inprices by Rs 5,000 on show-room prices across 10models with immediateeffect.

This reduction of pricewill be over and above thecurrent promotional offersfor the company’s vehiclerange, Maruti said.

The carmaker said themove was aimed at reviv-ing demand by sharing“the benefits of corporatetax reduction with its cus-tomers”.

The Maruti Suzuki carsthat will see a reduction inprices include Alto 800,Alto K10, Swift Diesel,Celerio, Baleno Diesel,Ignis, Dzire Diesel, Tour SDiesel, Vitara Brezza andS-Cross.

The announcement isaimed at boosting Maruticar sales during theupcoming festival seasonacross the country. Thenine-day Navaratri festi-val, which typically wit-nesses an uptick in sales,begins on September 29.

“This announcementaround the festive seasonwill help boost customer

sentiment and revive themarket to create demand,”the car-maker said.

Facing the worst salesslowdown in the last twodecades, many car-makershave lined up hefty dis-counts and other offers tolure buyers.

Maruti Suzuki is offeringdiscounts and other bene-fits in the range of Rs40,000 to Rs 1,01,200 on itspopular models.

After much pressure totake measures to revivethe sagging economy,Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman onSeptember 20 announceda cut in the corporate taxrate for domestic firmsand new domestic manu-facturing companies to 22per cent from 30 per cent.For new manufacturingcompanies, the existingtax has been reduced to 15per cent from 25 per cent.

More than two lakh jobshave been cut across auto-mobile dealerships inIndia in the last fourmonths due to the ongoingslowdown in the sector.

Among all categories, thepassenger vehicles (PV)segment has been theworst hit, with sales, con-tinuing to decline foralmost a year.

But the recent announce-ment by the Centre couldhelp reinvigorate the sec-tor suffering from lowdemand and poor sales.

Earlier this week, R. C.Bhargava, Chairman atMaruti Suzuki, said thatthe car-maker expectssales of its cars inSeptember to be higherthan the previous month.

Domestic sales of MarutiSuzuki fell 34.3 per cent inAugust, one of the biggestmonthly drops in sales inrecent times.

MFs told to adoptwaterfallapproachto valuation

Palm oilimportscould hitrecord

Firms told to promptlyreport default details

Tax euphoriaends, Sensexdrops 504 pts

JOHN KEMPLONDON, SEPT. 25

India’s oil consumption isgrowing well below itslong-term trend as thecountry struggles with awidespread economic slow-down, including a slump innew vehicle sales.

The slowdown is part of aworldwide economic decel-eration, which is weighingheavily on the motor indus-try. But because India hasbeen so important forgrowth in oil demand overthe last two decades, itsdownturn is materiallyshifting oil’s global produc-tion-consumption balanceand weighing on prices.

India’s slowdown threat-ens to trim at least 100,000

barrels per day (bpd) fromglobal consumptiongrowth in 2019, pushingworld growth down to 1million bpd or less thisyear.

In the last two decades,India’s consumption incr-

eased at an annual averagerate of around 5 per centcompared with a world-wide average of 1.5 per

cent, making the country amajor source of incremen-tal demand.

It accounted for almost 13per centof worldwide con-sumption growth between

1998 and 2018, rising to 18per cent between 2013 and2018. But the country’s con-sumption was up by just1.45 per cent in the threemonths from June toAugust compared with thesame period a year earlier,down from more than 8 percentyear-on-year at thestart of 2018.

Petrol, used by privatemotorists, is now growingless than 10 per cent year-on-year, down from morethan 13 per cent in the firstquarter of last year, accord-ing to the Ministry of Pet-roleum and Natural Gas.

Diesel is increasing byjust 1.3 per cent, down frommore than 9 per cent inearly 2018.

— Reuters

India slowdown hits global oil demand

New Delhi, Sept. 25:Flipkart Co-founderSachin Bansal has pickedup a majority stake inChaitanya RuralI n t e r m e d i a t i o nDevelopment Services(CRIDS) and pumped inRs 739 crore in the non-banking financial compa-ny.

Bansal, who has been anactive investor in theIndian start-up ecosys-tem, including in compa-

nies like Ola and Bounce,will also assume the roleof CEO at CRIDS.

"There will be a totalinfusion of INR 739 crorefrom Sachin. He willassume the role of CEO ofCRIDS...And will provideadditional support to cre-ate further impetus tobusiness growth... BothSamit Shetty and AnandRao will continue in theirrespective roles of grow-ing the existing business

segments," astatement said.

The variousbusiness unitswill continue tooperate as theyhave and therewill be no signifi-cant change inmanagement, itadded.

Founded by Anand Raoand Samit Shetty, CRIDSprovides credit access tounderbanked population

and a majorityof its businessis in microfi-nance.

"This acquisi-tion is ourentry intofinancial serv-ices. Samit andAnand havebuilt a great

company that providesmuch-needed financialaccess to people who don'thave access to other for-

mal finance. I look for-ward to working closelywith Samit and Anandand building further onthe solid work they havedone," Bansal said.

CRIDS also providesloans for two-wheelers,housing, small businessand education. It operatesin five states —Karnataka, Bihar,Jharkhand, Maha-rash-tra, and Uttar Pradesh.

“Sachin brings with him

the ability of buildinghuge scale grounds up toCRIDS... We are lookingforward to benefitingfrom his insights andexperience with technolo-gy, and how that can beleveraged for improvingaccess to financial servic-es, financial inclusionand making our businessbetter, more sustainableand customer centric,”Shetty said.

— PTI

Bansal makes `740-cr entry into fintech firm CRIDS

New Delhi, Sept. 25: TheAsian Development Bank(ADB) on Wednesdaysharply lowered India’sgrowth forecast from 7.2per cent to 6.5 per cent forthe current fiscal, thoughhas it indicated that thecountry will grow fasterthan China.

The multi-lateral lendingagency in its AsianDevelopment Outlook(ADO) Update for 2019 cutthe growth projection forIndia, which recorded anover six-year low growth of5 per cent in April-Junequarter this fiscal.

“India’s growth forecastfor fiscal year 2019 is low-ered to 6.5 per cent aftergrowth slowed markedly to5 per cent in the first quar-ter, April-June. Abruptdeclines in manufacturingand investment reflectuncertainty ahead of gen-

eral elections, subduedlending by banks and otherfinancial institutions,stress in the rural econo-my, and a weakening exter-nal outlook,” the agencysaid.

However, India is expect-ed to rebound to 7.2 percent growth in fiscal 2021and join most other sub-regional countries in per-forming at or near theirADO 2019 growth forecastsfor next year, it added.

The Manila-headquar-tered funding agency hadprojected India’s economyto expand at 7.2 per cent inits ADO for 2019-20released earlier in Aprilthis year and cut it down to7 per cent in the supple-ment to the ADO in July.

For China, ADB has pro-jected that growth will slipfrom 6.6 per cent last yearto 6.2 per cent in 2019.—PTI

ADB slashes GDPforecast to 6.5%

P. R. SANJAI & BAIJU KALESHSEPT. 25

Allcargo Logistics is intalks to buy a stake insmaller rival Gati, peo-ple with knowledge ofthe matter said, asIndia’s biggest cargocompany attempts toboost its presenceacross Asia’s third-largest economy.

Allcargo is in discus-sions to acquire Gati,that’s 6 per cent ownedby Goldman SachsGroup, at an equity val-uation of about Rs1,300 crore ($183 mil-lion), one of the peoplesaid, asking not to beidentified as the talksare private. The pur-chase will trigger amandatory offer to buyGati’s outstandingshares, the people said.

India’s logistics andwarehousing industryis attracting companiesfrom Blackstone Groupto Warburg Pincus asthey seek to tap into asector that Gati fore-casts will be worth $217billion by 2020. That’sbuoyed by demandfrom e-commerce firmssuch as Amazon.comInc and Walmart Inc’sIndia unit to providelast-mile connectivityinto cities as well asremote hinterlandsacross one of theworld’s largest land-mass.

“For Allcargo, whichwas primarily into for-eign trade business,buying stake in Gati isa clear de-risking ini-tiative as the latter ismore focused ondomestic business,”Mathew Antony,Managing Partner atMumbai-based adviso-ry firm, AdityaConsulting. “This acq-uisition will helpAllcargo offer totallogistics solutions to e-commerce companies.”

The board of Allcargois likely to consider theproposed acquisitionin October, the peoplesaid. Gati has managedto secure approval forthe sale from itsJapanese partnerKintetsu Group in itsflagship company, Gati-Kintetsu Express, theysaid.

—Bloomberg

Allcargo intalks to buystake in Gati

New Delhi, Sept. 25: Creditcard payments to buy fuelat petrol pumps will fromOctober 1 not get a 0.75 percent discount that state-owned oil marketing com-panies (OMCs) had intro-duced more than two-and-a-half years back to pro-mote digital payments.

"Dear SBI credit card-holder, as advised by publicsector oil marketing com-panies, the 0.75 per centcashback on fuel transac-tions will be discontinuedwith effect from October 1,2019," the country's largestbank in a text messageinformed its credit cardcustomers.

The government hadasked Indian Oil Corp(IOC), Bharat PetroleumCorp Ltd (BPCL) andHindustan Petroleum CorpLtd (HPCL) to give a 0.75per cent discount on card

payments for fuel purchas-es after a widespread cashcrunch in late 2016 follow-ing demonetisation.

The 0.75 per cent discountof the value of fuel pur-chases using credit/ debitcards and e-wallets wasintroduced in December2016 and had continued formore than two-and-a-halfyears.

Apart from the cash dis-counts, the governmenthad also directed OMCs tobear the burden of cardpayment charges calledmerchant discount rate(MDR), which is usually

paid by the retailer.An industry official said

the oil companies havedecided to discontinue thediscount on all credit cardpayments from October 1.

However, the discount ondebit card and other digitalmodes of payments wouldcontinue, he said.

The three fuel retailerspaid Rs 1,165 crore in e-pay-ment discounts and Rs 266crore to banks for bearingMDR, totalling Rs 1,431crore in 2017-18. In 2018-19,the outgo almost touchedRs 2,000 crore.

This after the number ofdigital transactions jump-ed from 10 per cent in 2016to over 25 per cent in 2018.

The 0.75 per cent discounton payments made usingcredit/debit cards or e-wal-lets translated into a rebateof about 50 paise a litre onpetrol and diesel. —PTI

Discounts on credit cardpayments at pumps end

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 38,593.52 -1.29Nifty 50 11,440.20 -1.28S&P 500 2,975.03 +0.28Dollar (`) 71.03 +0.04Pound Sterling (`) 88.05 -0.63Euro (`) 78.03 -0.19Gold (10gm)* (`) 39,182▲162 +0.41Brent crude ($/bbl)* 61.96 -1.81IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.754 -0.020US 10-Yr T-bill yield 1.687 +0.052

* As of 9:30 pm IST

RBI rebutsrumours of 9banks closureRebutting social media rumours,the RBI said no commercial ban-ks are going to be shut. FinanceSecretary Rajiv Kumar describedsuch messages as “mischievous”saying the Centre was ratherstrengthening the banks byinfusing capital in them. “Repo-rts appearing in some sectionsof social media about the RBIclosing down certain commerci-al banks are false,” the RBI said.

Tata Steel SouthWales sitereports ‘incident’

Tata Steel said there had beenan incident at its site in PortTalbot in South Wales. “We canconfirm there has been an inci-dent at our Port Talbot site,”Tata tweeted. “The emergencyservices are currently on siteand a full investigation hasbeen launched.” It did not giveany details of what had hap-pened but South Wales Policesaid it was an isolated incident.

Tax panel ondirect tax codefor DDT removalThe task force on direct taxcode (DTC) has recommendedabolishing dividend distribu-tion tax (DDT) with a view topromote investment. DDT is asurrogate tax and it hindersforeign direct investmentinflows, sources said. Dividendspaid by a domestic companyare subject to DDT at 15 percent of the aggregate dividenddeclared, distributed or paid.

14.24 lakh jobscreated in July:ESIC payroll data

Printed & Published by T Venkateswarlu on behalf of DeccanChronicle Holdings Limited. Printed atBFL Infotech Ltd, C-9 Sector 3, Noida-201301. Published at 219, N D Tiwari

Bhawan, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg,New Delhi-110002.

Editor: T.Venkatram Reddy, RNIRegistration number 30074/09, Air sur-

charge Re 1. © All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part with-out written permission of The Editor,Financial Chronicle ® is prohibited.

Overleaf

Around 14.24 lakh jobs were cre-ated in July, higher than 12.49lakh in the previous month,according to Employees’ StateInsurance Corporation (ESIC).Gross enrolments of new sub-scribers with the ESIC were 1.49crore during 2018-19, the Natio-nal Statistical Office (NSO) said.It also showed that duringSeptember, 2017 to July, 2019,around 2.83 crore new sub-scribers joined the ESI scheme.

Sachin Bansal

India’s consumption ofpetroleum products

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

141210

86420

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Annual increase, thousand

barrels per day Percent change from prioryear, 12-month average

India oil consumption 1970-2018

2004 ----------- 2011 ---------------- 2020

Source: Petroleum Planning & Analysiscell, Petroleum Ministry

Maruti cuts prices to boostsales during festival season

Column

THURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHI

MICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, SEPT. 25

With Rs 3.8 lakh crore networth, Mukesh Ambani isIndia’s richest man for theeighth consecutive year.

The RIL chief is also the8th richest man in theworld, the IIFL Wealth-Hurun India Rich List 2019report said on Wednesday.Following Ambani isLondon-based SP Hindujaand family with Rs 1.8 lakhcrore.

“A total of 953 individuals,who crossed the threshold ofRs 1,000 crore across 41industries feature in The

IIFL Wealth Hurun IndiaRich List 2019,” Anas Rah-man Junaid, MD & Chief

Researcher at Hurun ReportIndia told Financial Chro-nicle. Last year the rich liststood at 831, he pointed out.

Junaid said with all the co-nversation around econom-ic slowdown and overheat-ing of economy, the rich listreport celebrates the grow-ing tribe of Indian wealthcreators in India andabroad.

Sample this, while thenumber of dollar billion-aires have merely grown by2 as compared to 2016, thenumber individuals with Rs1,000 crore have increasedby a third in the past twoyears from 617 to 953.

Globally, the wealth cre-ators drive the growth andtherefore play a vital role inshaping the economy. “WithIndian government settingits sight on $5 trillion GDPmark, we are confident thatthe size of the India RichList will easily triple in thenext 5 years," Junaid said.

Junaid said a total of 233new entrepreneurs from dif-ferent businesses made it tothe rich list this year.

No women made it to thetop ten richest Indians list.The richest woman in Indiais Godrej Group’s Smita V.Crishna with Rs 43,400crore, who is ranked 302

globally. Roshni Nadar andKiran Mazumdar Shaw areon the second and third spotwith Rs 32,800 crore and Rs25,100 crore.

Madhukar Parekh andfamily of Pidilite saw anincrease of 60 per cent to Rs11,200 crore, while RanjanPal of Manipal Educationsaw an increase of 54 percent to Rs 14,300 crore. AzimPremji and Mukesh Ambanisaw an increase of 42 percent and 20 per cent.

According to the report,twenty five of the wealthi-est Indians have wealthequal to 10 per cent ofIndia’s GDP.

New Delhi, Sept. 25: In orderto bring uniformity and con-sistency in valuation, mar-kets regulator Sebi hasasked mutual fund houses tofollow “waterfall” approachfor the valuation of moneymarket and debt securities.

Under this approach, alltraded securities would bevalued on the basis of trad-ed yields, subject to identifi-cation of outlier trades bythe valuation agencies.

Besides, the regulator hascome out with a frameworkrelating to valuation ofinter-scheme transfers andbarred the use of owntrades for valuation.

Further, the regulator saida money market or debtsecurity will be classified as“below investment grade” ifthe long-term rating of thesecurity issued by a creditrating agency (CRA) isbelow BBB— or if the short-term rating of the securityis below A3.

A money market or debtsecurity will be classified as“default” if the interestand/or principal amounthas not been received on theday such amount was due orwhen such security wasdowngraded to “default”grade by a CRA.

In the case of default,mutual funds will have topromptly inform to the valu-ation agencies and the CRAsany instance of non-receiptof payment of interest and/or principal amount (part orfull) in any security.

In a circular issued onTuesday, Securities andExchange Board of India(Sebi) said, “for arriving at

security-level pricing, awaterfall approach shall befollowed for the valuation ofmoney market and debtsecurities.”

Spelling out broad princi-ples that need to be adoptedunder the waterfall approa-ch, for arriving at the secu-rity level prices, the regula-tor said that “all tradedsecurities shall be valued onthe basis of traded yields,subject to identification ofoutlier trades by the valua-tion agencies”.

Volume weighted averageyield (VWAY) for trades inthe last one hour of tradingwill be used as the basis forvaluation of governmentsecurities including treas-ury bills, Sebi said.

“Valuation of all othermoney market and debtsecurities (including gov-ernment securities not trad-ed in the last one hour) shallbe done on the basis ofVWAY of all trades duringthe day,” Sebi said.

The market watchdog

asked the Association ofMutual Funds in India(Amfi) to ensure that valua-tion agencies have a docu-mented waterfall approachfor valuation of money mar-ket and debt securities.

Considering the impor-tance of polling in the valu-ation process, Sebi askedAmfi to issue framework onpolling by valuation agen-cies and on the responsibili-ties of mutual funds in thepolling process, as part ofthe approach.

Valuation agencies willidentify the mutual fundswho will participate in thepolling process on a particu-lar day, taking into accountfactors such as diversifica-tion of poll submitters andportfolio holding of themutual funds.

Mutual funds, who areidentified by the valuationagencies, will have to neces-sarily participate in thepolling process. However, incase any fund does not par-ticipate in the polling proc-

ess, detailed reason for thesame will have to be record-ed and made available dur-ing Sebi inspections.

In case an asset manage-ment company (AMC)decides to deviate from thevaluation price given by thevaluation agencies, Sebisaid that the detailed ration-ale for each instance of devi-ation will be recorded bysuch AMC.

With regard to use of owntrade for valuation, Sebinoted that various instanceshave come to notice whereinmutual funds have usedtheir own trades of relative-ly small quantity in order tovalue the entire holding ofsuch security.

In order to address possi-ble misuse, the regulatorsaid that mutual funds willuse their own trades for val-uation of debt and moneymarket securities and forinter-scheme transfers.

With respect to IST, Sebisaid that AMCs will have toseek prices for IST of anymoney market or debt secu-rity (irrespective of maturi-ty), from the valuation agen-cies. Then, Amfi, in consul-tation with valuation agen-cies will decide a turn-around-time (TAT), withinwhich IST prices will be pro-vided by the agencies.

In order to enable consid-eration of all trades duringa day for valuation, Sebi hasextended the present time-line up to 11 pm for upload-ing the net asset values ofall schemes (except Fund ofFund schemes) on the web-site of Amfi and AMCs.

— PTI

New York/New Delhi, Sept.25: Indian budget carrierSpiceJet plans to sell sharesin its logistics business inan initial public offering, asthe rise of e-commercedrives demand for fast ship-ping across the region.

The one-year-old cargo div-ision, known as SpiceXpress, could be listed on astock exchange within 12months, SpiceJet ChairmanAjay Singh said in an inter-view at Bloomberg’s NewYork headquarters on Tue-sday. The business wouldcontinue to be owned bySpiceJet, he said.

“We have a country of 1.3billion people, one of thefastest-growing economiesin the world, and we havevery few air logistics play-ers,” he said. “We think thatthere’s a good space for us.”

The no-frills carrier is

expanding its nascent cargo-hauling arm to fill the grow-ing need for overnight ship-ping services, fueled by onl-ine retailers such as Ama-zon.com Inc. and Walmart’s

Flipkart. India is under-ser-ved at the moment, Singhsaid, with just SpiceXpressand Blue Dart Express asthe major shippers.

SpiceXpress has four freig-

hters and expects to receiveanother six by the end of theyear, Singh said. That comesas parent SpiceJet adds newcommercial jetliners to itsfleet to support growth inthe main business of pas-senger air travel.

SpiceJet started a dedicat-ed freighter business lastyear, aiming to ship every-thing from electronics andfood to clothes and letters. Acargo business providessome sort of a cushion in acut-throat market, wherepassenger fares are oftennot enough to cover costs.

SpiceXpress currentlyflies to Hong Kong fromDelhi, Kolkata and theNortheastern city ofGuwahati, and operatesdomestic cargo flights toHyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru and Chennai.

— Bloomberg

SpiceJet plans IPO for its cargo unit

Financial

OPENING

PROJECTION FOR TODAYBELL

Equity market fellsharply by 1.3 per centfor Sensex and Nifty-50as investors booked prof-it after an over 8 per centrally triggered by thecorporate tax rate cutannounced by thefinance minister.

Also the approval ofimpeachment investiga-tions against USPresident unnerved themarkets, brokers andanalysts said.

Financials and auto st-ocks led the list of top lo-sers in Wednesday's trad-ing while IT and Powerstocks were gainers.

It was a double wham-my for the market partic-ipants as both domesticinstitutions and foreignportfolio investors werenet sellers of equitiesworth Rs 762.48 croreand Rs 342.40 crorerespectively as per theprovisional stockexchange data.

Sensex closed 503.62points or 1.29 per centdown at 38593.52 pointswhile the broader Nifty-50 Index closed at11440.20, down by 148points or 1.28 per cent.

In the broader marketBSE Mid-Cap Index fell1.76 per cent while BSESmall-Cap Index fell 1.50per cent.

Technical View

Manav Chopra, Head-Research (Equity), India-bulls Ventures said, “Nif-ty corrected sharply andmarket breadth was onthe negative side. 11400is the near term supporton the downside forNifty-50. Overall theundertone broadly conti-nues to remain positive.”

"Nifty Bank being ahigh beta index witness-ed sharper correctionled by heavy weights.Support of 29,700 wasbroken on the downside.The next immediate sup-port is placed at 29,200.Since the rise was nearvertical supports areplaced a bit far. Thebroader trend continuesto be positive. Nifty Bankis likely to outperformgoing ahead and is likelyto test its all time highsof 31,800. Broadly wecontinue to remain posi-tive on the Nifty Bank,"Chopra said.

Market View

Gaurav Dua, Senior VicePresident, Head — Capit-al Market Strategy &Investments, Sharekhanby BNP Paribas said,"Global uncertaintiesand weakness in equitiesacross regions nippedthe recent upsurge inIndian equities post theannouncement of fiscalstimulus on last Friday.The approval of impeac-hment investigations ag-ainst US President hasunnerved the markets.The political uncertaintyin USA could certainlyput further brakes on theglobal economic growthin the near term."

"Domestically also, theemergence of trouble inone of the large co-oper-ative banks and possibil-ity of the marginsqueeze for public sectorbanks pulled down theBank Nifty and the over-all markets," Dua said.

Market’sundertonestill seen aspositive

■ Sebi’s valuation framework bars use of own trades

Hyderabad, Sept. 25: TheGVK Group, which is in theprocess of developing NaviMumbai InternationalAirport, will be spending Rs8,500 crore in the first phaseto cater to 10 million pas-sengers per annum,Chairman of the inframajor G. V. K. Reddy saidhere on Wednesday.

The airport is a public-pri-vate partnership venture inwhich the GVK-led MumbaiInternational Airport has a74 per cent stake withCIDCO, the Maharashtragovernment’s nodal agencyfor the project, holding theremaining 26 per cent.

The greenfield interna-tional airport will be builton 1,160 hectares in phasesand eventually cater to 60million passengers per year.

“In the first phase, it isgoing to be about Rs 8500crore. It goes in phases. Itwill be 10 million passen-gers (in the first phase).Maybe by spending anotherRs 2,500 crore or Rs 3,000crore, another 20 millioncan go ahead. The project ison track and going on well,”Reddy told shareholders atthe Annual General Meeti-ng of GVK Power andInfrastructure Limited.

The concession agree-ment for Navi MumbaiInternational Airport wassigned on January 8, 2018between Navi MumbaiInternational Airport andCity and IndustrialDevelopment Corporation(CIDCO).

GVK, which currentlymanages the MumbaiInternational Airportthrough its subsidiary GVK

Airport Developers, saidYes Bank would be the leadbank and mandate leadarranger for phase I andphase II of the NaviMumbai airport project.

— PTI

GVK to spend`8,500 cr on NaviMumbai airport

Mukesh Ambani is India’s richest man

FC BUREAUMUMBAI, SEPT. 25

Indian Railway Cateringand Tourism Corporation(IRCTC), the railways’online ticketing, tourismand catering armannounced its initial publicoffering aiming to raiseapproximately Rs 645 croreat the upper end of the priceband.

The IPO, with a price bandof Rs 315 to Rs 320 per equi-ty share of Rs 10 face value,will open on September 30,2019 and close on October 3,2019.

IRCTC operates one of themost transacted websites,www.irctc.co.in, in the Asia-Pacific region with transac-tion volume averaging 25 to28 million transactions permonth during the fivemonths ended August 31,2019, the company said.

“It has also diversified intoother businesses, including

non-railway catering andservices such as e-catering,executive lounges and budg-et hotels. Currently, IRCTCoperates in four businesssegments, namely, internetticketing, catering, pack-aged drinking water underthe “Rail Neer” brand, andtravel and tourism.”

The IPO which receivedmarket regulator Sebi’sapproval just in a monthstime after filing of the draftred herring prospectus com-prises an offer for sale ofover 2.01 crore shares.

Investors in the retail cate-gory and eligible employeesof IRCTC will be offered adiscount of Rs 10 per equityshare on the offer price to befixed after close of the pub-lic issue.

The IPO is an offer for saleof 12.5 per cent stake byGovernment of India, postlisting of the public issueGovernment will hold 87.5per cent stake in IRCTC.

IRCTC IPO from Sept 30

RAJENDRA JADHAVMUMBAI, SEPT. 25

India’s palm oil imports in2019/20 are likely to rise 2per cent from a year earlierto a record high as con-sumption in the world’sbiggest edible oil buyer willexpand more rapidly thanlocal supplies, a leadingindustry analyst said onWednesday.

Higher imports may helpsupport benchmarkMalaysian palm oil pricesthat in July hit their lowestlevel in nearly four yearsand are struggling to recov-er due to weak exportdemand.

Palm oil imports for the2019/20 marketing yearstarting on November 1 willrise to 9.7 million tonnes,said Govindbhai Patel,

Managing Director of trad-ing firm G.G. Patel & NikhilResearch Company. Theimports will rise as edibleoil consumption is estimat-ed to grow to a record 23.6million tonnes.

Palm oil accounts fornearly two-thirds of India'stotal edible oil imports.India buys palm oil fromIndonesia and Malaysia,

with its soyoil mainlyimported from Argentinaand Brazil. It purchasessunflower oil from Ukraine.

“Soybean oil imports mayrise 3.4 million tonnesagainst previous year’s 3.1million tonnes due to adrop in domestic crop,”Patel told a conference.

The country’s soybeanproduction is expected todrop 12.6 per cent from ayear ago to 9 million tonnesas excessive rainfall dam-aged the crop in the top pro-ducing central state ofMadhya Pradesh, he said.

Madhya Pradesh received38 per cent more rainfallthan the average since thestart of four-month longmonsoon season on June 1.India is likely to receiveabove-average monsoonrains in 2019 for the first

time in six years as season-al rainfall continues longerthan expected.

Higher rainfall, although,could lift groundnut andcotton production andallow farmers to expandthe area under winter-sownoilseed crops such as rape-seed, said Patel, who hasbeen trading edible oil formore than four decades.

The South Asian coun-try's total edible oil importscould rise to a record highof 15.6 million tonnes in2019/20, up 3.8 per centfrom a year earlier, Patelsaid.

India’s sunflower oilimports in the new market-ing year could rise to 2.5million tonnes from 2.4 mil-lion tonnes estimated in thecurrent year, he said.

— Reuters

Palm oil imports could hit recordhigh on rising demand: Analyst

PAGE

10

◗ All traded securitieswould be valued onthe basis of tradedyields, subject to iden-tification of outliertrades by the valua-tion agencies◗ VWAY for trades inthe last one hour oftrading will be used asthe basis for valuationof govt securities

UNIFORM CRITERIA

—RAVI RANJAN PRASAD

—RAVI RANJAN PRASAD

Maruti falls 5.25% on price cutShares of India’s largestpassenger car makerMaruti Suzuki India fell5.25 per cent after the com-pany announced Rs 5,000price cut on select models.Maruti shares closed at Rs6,641.50 and touched a lowof Rs 6,603.05 in the intra-day trading. Welcomingthe Government’s initia-tive to revive the demand

in automobile industry,Maruti Suzuki India anno-unced sharing of the bene-fits of corporate tax redu-ction with its customers.“The Company has decid-ed to reduce the price ofselect models by Rs 5,000applicable across the cou-ntry from September 25,”the company informedstock exchanges.

Shares of India’s largest public sector bank State Bankof India fell sharply as the bank announced linking ofits home loan rate to the repo rate with effect fromOctober 1, 2019 as directed by the Reserve Bank of India.Earlier this week, SBI said that it would adopt the reporate as external benchmark for all its floating rate-basedloans from October 1. SBI shares closed at Rs 280.15 down7.37 per cent and fell as much as 7.88 per cent touching alow of Rs 278.60 in the intra-day trading on the BSE. USbased brokerage firm Morgan Stanley said that upsidein SBI stock appears limited given uncertainty on assetquality and net interest margins. The brokerage firm,however, raised FY21 & F22 earnings per share estimatesby 5 per cent each, adding that tax rate cut outweighslower margins.

STREETbuzz

SBI shares plunge over 7%

Shares of public sectorcompanies BharatPetroleum Corporation,Shipping Corporation ofIndia and ContainerCorporation of Indiagained, as market becameaware of government’sproposal for strategicstake sale in five centralpublic sector enterprises(CPSEs), the other two

being North EasternElectric PowerCorporation (Neepco)and THDC India (TehriHydro Power Complex).On the BSE, shares ofBPCL closed 0.64 per centup at Rs 464.75, SCIgained 2.89 per cent clos-ing at Rs 39.15 and Concorclosed 3.17 per cent up atRs 599.65.

PSUs seeing gain on sale buzz

New Delhi, Sept. 25: US-based ride hailing giantUber on Wednesday saidit will offer free insur-ance to its riders in caseof accidents while ontrip across categoriessuch as cars, autos andmotorcycles.

Riders will be insuredfor up to Rs 5 lakh incase of accidental deathor disability and up toRs 2 lakh for hospitalisa-tion, including an OPDbenefit of up to Rs50,000.

Uber, which operatesin over 40 Indian cities,has partnered withBharti AXA to provideinsurance for car ridesand with TATA AIG forauto and moto rides.

“We engage closelywith our riders and ourfocus is on ensuring asmooth and safe experi-ence for them. We alre-ady offer insurance forour driver partners, andwe are confident thatthis development willgive riders a greatersense of security andassurance when theytake an Uber ride,” UberHead of CentralOperations (Rides) forIndia and South AsiaPavan Vaish told PTI.

— PTI

Uber offersfree insuranceto riders

RITWIK MUKHERJEEKOLKATA, SEPT. 25

Wow! Momo Foods PvtLtd, the home-grownQSR brand, which hasrecently bagged $23 mil-lion from Tiger Globalat a valuation of $120million, seems well setto foray into Chinesecuisine and replicate itssuccess story withmomo in case of what itpositions as “re-imag-ined Chindian cuisine”.

Co-founded by SagarDaryani and Binod Ho-magai in 2008, Wow!Momo, which at presentsells as many as 5 lakhmomos per day from its281 outlets (280 -compa-ny owned and one- fran-chise) across 15 cities,has lined up plans to putin place a chain of 40Wow! China outlets acr-oss Kolkata, Mumbai,Chennai and Bangalorewithin the new fiscal,said Sagar Daryani, co-founder & CEO, WowMomo Foods. TheKolkata-headquarteredfood start-up, whichnotched up a revenue ofRs 120 crore in FY19, isalso hopeful of crossingthe Rs 200 crore markthis fiscal, on the basisof its expansion plans.

Wow! Momoplans 40 Wow!China outlets

New Delhi, Sept. 25: Thegovernment on Wedn-esday reconstituted theEconomic Advisory Cou-ncil to the Prime Min-ister (EAC-PM) underexisting Chairman Bib-ek Debroy, for a period oftwo years.

Ratan P. Watal will con-tinue as Member Secret-ary of the EAC-PM.

“Government of Indiahas reconstituted theEAC-PM for a period oftwo years with effect fr-om September 26, 2019,”said an official release.

Apart from these twofull-time members, theEAC-PM will have twopart-time members asagainst three in the out-going panel.

While Ashima Goelcontinues to be one ofthe part-time members,Sajjid Chinoy has beenroped in as the newmember.

Two existing part-timemembers, Rathin Royand Shamika Ravi, havenot found place in thereconstituted EAC-PM.

The EAC-PM is an inde-pendent body constitutedto advise the govern-ment, especially theprime minister, on eco-nomic and related issues.

— PTI

Govt revivesEAC-PM underBibek Debroy

Hyderabad, Sept. 25:GVK Group is in discus-sion with DeutscheBank to transfer theloans extended by seniorlenders for its 540 MWcoal-fired power projectin Punjab, a source closeto the development saidon Wednesday.

GVK Power (GoindwalSahib) Ltd (GPGSL) wasunable to run the plantat optimal capacity dur-ing financial year 2017-18 and 2018-19 primarilyon account of low avail-ability of fuel and hencedefaulted on repaymentof dues to lenders.

Consequently thelenders have classifiedthe loan balances ofGPGSL as non-perform-ing assets.

If a deal works out,Deutsche Bank will bereplacing the seniorlenders (of GPGSL). Itwill be a one-time settle-ment. There will not anychange in the equityproportion. —PTI

Punjab powerplants to see

debt swap

RICK CLOUGH & ANURAG KOTOKY

SpiceJet is weighing an or-der for at least 100 AirbusSE planes as Boeing grap-ples with the fallout overits grounded 737 Max.

The budget carrier, a maj-or global customer for theMax, may buy a “sizable”number of Airbus A321LRand XLR jets to accommo-date a planned expansion,

SpiceJet Chairman AjaySingh said on Tuesday. Nodecision has been made, hesaid, and the airline wouldconsider a competing mid-range jetliner if Boeingdecides to build one.

Airbus has “pushed ushard since the day we start-ed flying Boeing aircraft,and of course with the cur-rent problems, they’ve pus-hed us harder,” Singh said.

— Bloomberg

Weighs $10 billion Airbus deal

S. No. Name Net Worth (` cr)

1 Mukesh Ambani 3.8 lakh 2 SP Hinduja and family 1.8 lakh 3 Azim Premji 1.2 lakh 4 LN Mittal 1.07 lakh 5 Gautam Adani & family 94,500 6 Uday Kotak 94,100 7 Cyrus Poonawalla 88,800 8 Cyrus Pallonji Mistry 6,800 9 Shapoor Pallonji Mistry 76,800 10 Dilip Shanghvi 71,500 Source: The IIFL Wealth-Hurun India Rich List 2019 report

The top rung

MFs told to use waterfallapproach to valuation

PAGE

11TechnomicsTHURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

Cutting clutterYahoo unveiled a new version ofits Mail app that redefines theway people use their inboxes.

SHORT TAKES

Bengaluru, Sept. 25:Amazon has launched aninitiative that would allowusers to access its Alexa,Microsoft Corp’s Cortanaand multiple other voice-controlled virtual assis-tant services from a singledevice.

The move comes as com-petition has intensifiedamong global technologycompanies to dominatethe market for voice assis-tants, which are common-ly housed in smart speak-ers and mobile devices.

The notable exclusionsfrom Amazon’s ‘VoiceInteroperability Initiative’are Alphabet Inc’s GoogleAssistant, Apple Inc’s Siriand Samsung ElectronicsCo’s Bixby.

Google was approachedby Amazon but only overthe weekend, giving it avery small time frame toevaluate the proposal, asource familiar with thematter said.

“We just heard aboutthis initiative and wouldneed to review the details,but in general we’re

always interested in par-ticipating in efforts thathave the broad support ofthe ecosystem and upholdstrong privacy and securi-ty practices,” a Googlespokesperson said.

The initiative, which hasbeen supported by morethan 30 companies, alsoincludes Salesforce.com’s

Einstein.Chip companies includ-

ing Intel Corp, QualcommInc, MediaTek Inc andNXP Semiconductors NVwill develop the relatedhardware, Amazon said.

Spotify, Tencent, Baidu,BMW, Bose, Harman,Orange, Sonos, SonyAudio Group are also sup-porting the partnership.

Microsoft and Amazonhave collaborated in thepast. The two companiestwo years ago announcedthat their voice assistantswill be able to talk to eachother, a rare move in itselfas most virtual assistantsare known to use datafrom their own ecosys-tems and not talk to oneanother. — Reuters

Amazon plans to bundleassistants on one deviceGoogle was approached by Amazon over the weekend

MARIO KARTTOUR SERVEROVERLOADED

Tokyo, Sept. 25: Nintendo CoLtd’s hotly-awaited mobiletitle Mario Kart Tourlaunched on Wednesday withmany users complaining serv-er overload meant they wereunable to play the game - seenas a major test of the Kyoto-based company’s mobile ambi-tions.

“The servers are experienc-ing heavy traffic. Your log-inrequest will be processed inthe order it was received,”reads a message that appearswhen the game is launched.

Nintendo did not respond toa request for immediate com-ment. — Reuters

CHINESE HACKERSALSO TARGETED

TIBETANS: STUDYSan Francisco, Sept. 25:Chinese hackers who used apreviously unknown iPhonesecurity flaw to target ethnicminority Uighurs also wentafter Tibetans in exile, accord-ing to a report published onTuesday.

It was the first detected useof malicious software againstexiled Tibetans that requiredonly a single click on a mobiledevice to work, said CitizenLab, a Canada-based academicresearch group.

Citing the technical similari-ties in the attacks and onesuncovered by U.S. tech firmsagainst Uighurs, the reportsuggested that forces likelyworking with the Chinese gov-ernment may be upgradingtheir surveillance effortsagainst key minorities morebroadly. The Tibetans areprotesting Chinese rule of themountainous region insideChina.

Asked in Beijing about thereport, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman GengShuang said China resolutelyopposed and cracked down onany form of internet attacks,and that any accusations need-ed to be backed up by cast-ironproof.

Citizen Lab, based at theUniversity of Toronto, said ithad worked with the recentlyestablished Tibetan ComputerEmergency Readiness Team(TibCERT), a coalition ofTibetan organizations work-ing on digital security, toprobe cyber attacks thatoccurred between November2018 and May 2019.

In the attacks, people posingas human rights workers orjournalists contactedunnamed senior figures inTibetan groups overFacebook’s WhatsApp messag-ing service, according toscreenshots featuring theirphone numbers posted in theCitizen Lab report. Reuterswas not able to independentlyconfirm the authenticity ofthe screenshots or details ofthe report.

Among the groups targetedin November 2018 were theprivate office of Tibetan spiri-tual leader the Dalai Lama,the Tibetan Parliament, andhuman rights organizations,the report said.

Using well-crafted cover sto-ries, the attackers tried toentice the targets to click onlinks to websites that wouldhave installed spyware onApple or Android devices, thereport said.

Eight of the 15 Tibetansknown to have received thetainted links recalled clickingon them to open them, theresearchers said. All theirdevices were protected bypatches that had been issuedfor the security flaws, but theresearchers followed the linksthemselves to determine whatwould have happened.

Citizen Lab said the spywareaimed at the Tibetans had alsobeen used to target Uighurs, amostly Muslim minoritygroup considered a possiblesecurity threat by Beijing, intwo campaigns revealed in thepast month. — Reuters

Install update right now,Microsoft advises users

RESEARCHERSAPPLY AI TOANALYSE EYESMelbourne, Sept. 25:Researchers have usedartificial intelligence(AI) to develop a moreaccurate and detailedmethod for analysingimages of the back ofthe eye, an advance thatcan help opthalmologistsbetter detect and trackeye diseases like glauco-ma, and age-related mac-ular degeneration.

In the study, publishedin the journal ScientificReports, the researcherslooked for a new methodof analysing imagesfrom a state-of-the-artinstrument called theOptical Coherence Tomo-graphy (OCT).

The researchers, inclu-ding those from TheQueensland Universityof Technology (QUT) inAustralia, explored arange of machine learn-ing techniques to analyseOCT images. They triedextracting images fromtwo main tissue layers atthe back of the eye fromthe retina and thechoroid.

OCT, a commonly usedby optometrists and oph-thalmologists, takescross-sectional high-res-olution images of theeye, showing differenttissue layers. Theseimages, the study noted,are of tissues about fourmicrons thick. To putthat in perspective, thehuman hair is about 100microns thick, theresearchers said. OCTcan be used to map andmonitor the thickness ofthe tissue layers in theeye, helping clinicians todetect eye diseases, saidDavid Alonso-Caneiro,lead author of the studyfrom QUT. — PTI

AGE CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, SEPT. 25

Microsoft has urged usersof popular operating sys-tem Windows 10 to installa new security patch.According to the softwaregiant, a security flaw insome Internet Explorerversions allowed remoteattackers to run maliciouscode on their device.Users of affected devicesmay be tricked into click-ing on Email links or by

visiting unsafe web pages.“An attacker who suc-

cessfully exploited thevulnerability could takecontrol of an affected sys-tem,” said Microsoft.While the companyrevealed that the vulnera-bility was actively beingtaken advantage of,details of the flaw had notbeen made public.

About 7 per cent of allbrowser users run affect-ed versions of InternetExplorer 9, 10 and 11. The

infection exists on all sup-ported versions of operat-ing systems like Windows7, 8.1, 10 and even someWindows Server versions.

The security patch canbe installed throughWindows update. Thepatch also includes a fixfor Windows Defenderthat fixes a bug that ren-ders the tool unusable.The company claims thatno separate action isrequired throughWindows Defender.

iPhone 11 preorders go‘out of stock’ in IndiaAGE CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, SEPT. 25

The iPhone 11 series wenton preorder in India andthe demand for the newhandsets have been sogood that several onlineportals are showing thatthey have gone out ofstock. As per a report byMoney Control, demandfor the iPhone 11 was sohigh that the low-costvariant has seen unprece-dented sales figures.

The report claims thatthe iPhone 11 which wentup for preorder onSeptember 20 now showsthat it is unavailable onFlipkart as well asAmazon India.

The higher-end iPhone11 Pro is also reportedlyunavailable for preorderon both websites.

The iPhone 11 line-upwent up for preorders onSeptember 20 with theiPhone 11 coming with astarting price of `64,900for the 64GB option.

Sales in India will starton September 27 and atthe time of writing, all ofthe iPhone 11 storage tiersappear to be out of stock.A few of the higher-endiPhone 11 Pro and 11 ProMax appear to be avail-able for preorder but itcan get sold out at anytime due to the risingdemand of the handsets.

The strong demand forthe iPhone 11 was fore-seen when Apple priced

the handset aggressivelyand also introducedlaunch offers such ascashback of up to `7,000on all three models whenbought using HDFC bankcards. With these creditcards from HDFC, you getan instant discount of`6,000 on purchase of thehandsets.

Additionally, this dis-count also extends on EMIpurchases.

The higher-end iPhone11 Pro and iPhone 11 ProMax is also availableunder an instant discountof `7,000. This means thatthe iPhone 11 which ispriced at `99,900 can bepurchased for as low as`92,900 for the 64GBoption.

Additionally, the iPhone11 Pro Max will be avail-able for as less as `1,02,900after the discount.

FB exempts political speech from fact-checkingSan Francisco, Sept. 25:Facebook said it would nottake down politicians’posts that violate its com-munity standards and willnot label them as rivalTwitter has promised, say-ing it should not be thearbiter of acceptablespeech in the politicalarena.

Social media platformsare under pressure toblock election interferenceand be more transparentabout policies on politicalcontent, after what U.S.authorities called anextensive cyber-influence

campaign by Russia aimedat helping elect PresidentDonald Trump in 2016.Moscow has denied theclaims.

Facebook will take downposts if a politician’s con-tent has the potential toincite violence or pose asafety risk that outweighsthe public interest value.And political advertise-ments must still meetFacebook’s rules.

The kinds of posts frompoliticians that could bekept up might includecruel or insensitive com-ments or graphic content.

Facebook’s head of glob-al affairs Nick Cleggannounced the stance in aspeech in Washington D.C.on the social media giant’spreparations for the U.S.

presidential election inNovember 2020.

“Would it be acceptableto society at large to have aprivate company in effectbecome a self-appointed

referee for everything thatpoliticians say?” Cleggasked. “I don’t believe itwould be.”

The comments followTwitter’s announcementin June that it would iden-tify and de-emphasizetweets that broke its rulesbut were posted by impor-tant sources, such aspoliticians and govern-ment officials.

If flagged, a notice wouldcover the offending tweetand require a user to clickon a link to view it.

A Facebook spokes-woman told Reuters that

newsworthy content frompoliticians on Facebookwould not be labeled toshow it had violated therules.

Clegg, who was previous-ly Britain’s deputy primeminister, also saidFacebook did not submitoriginal content frompoliticians to its independ-ent fact-checkers. It willonly demote and label pre-viously debunked contentthat is shared by politi-cians.

Facebook’s third-partyfact-checking program,which is used to label and

de-emphasize false con-tent, has been a center-piece of its fight againstdisinformation.

A Facebook spokes-woman said the global pol-icy would apply to politi-cians at the executive,national and regional lev-els, including candidatesfor office.

Facebook’s stance onpoliticians’ content buildson its policy, in place since2016, to leave up contentwhose public interest itconsiders to outweigh therisk of harm.

— Reuters

Facebook did not submit original content from politicians to its independent fact-checkers: Nick Clegg

AGE CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, SEPT. 25

Xiaomi extended theRedmi A series with thelaunch of a new ‘Redmi 8A’smartphone. It shall beavailable in two variants,2GB+32GB and 3GB+32GBit will be available for`6,999 and `6,499, respec-tively on Flipkart as wellas on its own website.

A release from the smart-phone manufacturerdetailed that the phonewill have a 6.22-inchesHD+ display, with anaspect ratio of 19:9.The

screen consists of CorningGlass 5 and is a Dot Notchdisplay.

Further, talking aboutthe body it has a P2i nano-coating making it splashresistant with texturedpatterns as well, for bettergrip and lesser fingerprintresidues.

Inside the Dot notch,resides an 8MP selfie cam-era, 12 MP Sony IMX363sensor, aperture of f/1.8,and delivers photographswith a large pixel size of1.4μm. The latter is it pri-mary, rear camera, and theboth of them support AI

portrait modes.Venturing beyond, on the

interior and one of themost important aspects ofthe phone is a QualcommSnapdragon 439 octa-corechipset. A dual Sim phoneit will come with a 2+1dual SIM slot with dedicat-ed MicroSD card support,it will thus have up to 512GB of internal storageabove the 32 GB of in-builtone.

According to its manu-facturer it shall alsoretains the popular featurewhich allows users to play-back FM radio without the

need of connecting theirearphones. Fuelled by a5,000 mAh battery, thebudget handset will sup-port 18 Watt fast-chargingon the type C port. Insidethe box, it will come with a10W fast charger.

Redmi 8A will be avail-able in Midnight Black,Sunset Red and OceanBlue colour variants andwill go on sale from theSeptember 29. Offlinestores like Mi Homes willhave them from September30 onwards. It will soon beavailable across all otheroffline stores.

Xiaomi launches Redmi 8A

Apple is warningusers of a bug in iOS13 and iPadOSinvolving third-partykeyboards.

In an advisory,the tech giant saidthe flaw impactsthird-partykeyboards whichhave the ability torequest “full access”permissions.

Third-partykeyboards can eitherrun as standalone, orwith “full access” theycan talk to other appsor get internet accessfor additionalfeatures, like spellcheck. But “fullaccess” also allowsthe keyboard maker

to capture to itsservers keystrokedata or anything youtype — like emails,messages orpasswords.

Few days back, aflaw was reportedthat allowedunwanted intruders togain access to contactinformation.

While Instagram’s interface has been white since time immemorial, it was knownthat the social media platform has been testing out a dark mode for sometime. Now,Android Police reports that the beta builds automatically adopts a black and greyinterface on Android 10 once users enable the system dark theme.

The move followTwitter’s announcement inJune that it would identifyand de-emphasize tweetsthat broke its rules butwere posted by importantsources, such aspoliticians andgovernment officials.

The notable exclusions fromAmazon’s ‘VoiceInteroperabilityInitiative’ are AlphabetInc’s Google Assistant,Apple’s Siri andSamsung’s Bixby.

NEW PLANS

Chip companiesincluding Intel Corp,Qualcomm Inc,MediaTek Inc andNXP SemiconductorsNV will develop therelated hardware,Amazon said.

First look

Now, folks atTweakTown tried to runthe Gears 5 game at 8Kresolution with anumber of graphic cards including NvidiaTitan RTX.

Technically, it is possible to play Gear 5 at 8Kresolution with reasonably playable results

TweakTown found that Gears 5 at 8K resolution andmedium graphical settings, with motion blur and verticalsync disabled, seriously challenged the mighty TitanRTX, with the GPU managing 27.4 frames per second.

The NvidiaRTX 2080 Ti,which at$1,049 is alot cheaperthan theTitan RTX,managed25.6 FPS inthe sametests.

If the graphic settings areupped to Ultra (but with motionblur and vertical sync stilldisabled), the Titan RTX managedonly 19.1 FPS. The RTX 2080 Tifares a little worse with 18 FPS.

The results also cast doubt on Microsoft’s claims thatits upcoming Xbox Project Scarlett console could playgames at 8K and 120FPS. The same goes for Sony’s 8Kclaims with the PS5.

For the timebeing, at least, itlooks like PCgamers will need tomake do with 1080por 4K gaming.

In comparison, ADM’s flagship GPU, the Radeon VII, managed only 18.4FPS for Gears 5 at 8K on medium settings.

Results of the experimentproved to be disappointingas the game was unplayableat 8K resolution even withthe $2,400 graphic card thatboasts of 24GB of GDDR6memory

While mostgamers arehappilyrunninggames at1080p or1440p, butgaminghardwarethat cansupport 4320por 8K remainsa distantdream

SCARY WARNING

For sometime now, TV manufacturers are launching device thatsupport 8K content. However, 8K content for such devices remain scarce.

8K GAMING REMAINSA DISTANT DREAM

SHORT TAKES

Hollywood: Jon Cryer wouldlike to clear something up. In

Demi Moore’s new memoir,Inside Out, the actress claims

that Cryer lost his virginity to her while the two were

filming 1984’s No SmallAffair. But Cryer, star of Twoand a Half Men and

beloved ‘80s teenmovie Pretty in

Pink, says that was,in fact, not the case,

CNN reported. OnTwitter, he joked

“while I’m sure shewas totally justifiedmaking that assum-

ption based on my my skilllevel (and the stunned look

on my face at the time), Ihad actually lost my virginityin high school.” In her book,

released Tuesday, Mooreexpresses regret for being“callous” with Cryer’s feel-ings at the time and “that Istole what could have beensuch an important and bea-

utiful moment from him.”Cryer said that with his cl-

arification, “the good thingabout this is she doesn’t have to feel bad about it

anymore.” — Agencies

Los Angeles: Oscar-winningdirector Guillermo del toro is

working on another book,which will be a collection of

original short stories. Thefilmmaker has collaboratedwith Amazon Original Stor-

ies imprint to publish thebook. The publisher teased

that the book “will intro-duce a world of strange

happenings, otherworldlyhorror, and dark fantasy”.

Del Toro said he is privilegedto share his personal fantasy

stories. “Throughout theyears, I’ve been inspired byreading short stories, fromghost stories to fairy tales.Now I have the privilege tocreate and share my own,”

the director said. — PTI

Washington: It seems likenewlyweds Katherine Schw-arzenegger and Chris Prattare helping each other de-

stress! The 29-year-old aut-hor stopped by on Tuesday’sThe Talk and opened up ab-out how she deals with eve-

ryday stress in her life credit-ing husband Pratt of “calm-

ing” her. “There’s so muchanxiety, especially with this

younger generation. My hus-band is very calming to me.

So I’m just like, ‘It’s going tobe OK,’” People quoted the

author as saying. “I think it’sall about finding different th-ings in your life to help with

that stress,” Schwarzeneggeradded. — ANI

Los Angeles: Laura Dern, JeffGoldblum and Sam Neill are

heading back to the world ofdinosaurs with Jurassic Wor-ld 3. The actors, who starred

in the original “Jurassic Park”trilogy in 1993, will reprise

their roles in the third install-ment of the Jurassic World

franchise. Dern returns as DrEllie Sattler and Neill as DrAlan Grant. Goldblum, who

made his comeback as Dr IanMalcolm to the franchise

with second chapter, JurassicWorld: Fallen Kingdom, is

also set to reprise his role. Colin Trevorrow is returning

to direct the film from Unive-rsal Pictures and Spielberg’sAmblin Entertainment. — PTI

Jeff, Neill return forJurassic World 3

Published by T. Venkateswarlu for and on behalf of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited at Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 110 002. and Printed by him at BFL Infotech Limited, C – 9, Sector – III, Noida – 201301. Editor – T. Venkatram Reddy,RNI Registration number 57290/94, Price in Nepal - Nep. Rs. 20.00 per copy.

Chris Pratt helpswife de-stress

CRYER DID NOTLOSE VIRGINITY

TO DEMI MOORE

Toro to write bookof short stories

PAGE

12NewsmakersTHURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

NEWS NUGGETS

Houston: Nasa says theHouston building whereApollo 11 astronaut NeilArmstrong and his col-leaguesemerged fromquarantineafter their 1969moon missionhas fallen intodisrepair and will bedemolished. TheHouston Chroniclereported Tuesday thatthe Lunar ReceivingLaboratory at JohnsonSpace Center hasn’tbeen used for two yearsand will likely be torndown next year. The bui-lding, completed in 1967,was designed to isolatethe astronauts. — AP

New York: Vox Mediaannounced a merger ag-reement Tuesday withNew York Media, homeof the prestigious NewYork magazine and aseries of other titles. Ajoint statement presentedthe move as a merger,although Jim Bankoff,the head of Vox will“lead all aspects” of thenew company and theNew York Times report-ed that New York Mediawould be “effectively tak-ing a minority stake” inVox. Launched in 1968New York magazine hasbecome a prominent voice in culture andlifestyle writing in itshome city and beyond,winning dozens ofawards and a Pulitzer in2018 for criticism. — AFP

Los Angeles: RobertHunter, the man behindthe poetic and mysticalwords for many of theGrateful Dead’s finestsongs, has died at age 78.

Hunter died Monday athis Northern Californiahome with his wife,Maureen, at his side, former Grateful Deadpublicist Dennis McNallytold the Associated Press on Tuesday. Thefamily did not release acause of death. — AP

Johannesburg: Giant,predatory crocodile-likeanimals that livedduring the Triassicperiod in southernAfrica preyed onearly dinosaurs 210million years ago, scien-tists say. These preda-tors, known as “rauisu-chians” preyed on earlyherbivore dinosaurs and

their mammal relativesliving at the time, acco-

rding to Rick Tolcha-rd from the Universi-ty of the Witwatersr-and in South Africa.“These ancient fossi-

ls provide us with evide-nce of how at least twopredator species huntedthese dinosaurs,”Tolchard said. — PTI

‘CROC-LIKE CARNIVORES TERRORISEDDINOSAURS 210 MILLION YEARS AGO’

NASA’S MOONLANDING LAB TOBE DEMOLISHED

VOX MEDIA TOMERGE WITH NEWYORK MAGAZINE

GRATEFUL DEAD’SLYRICIST ROBERTHUNTER DIES

Coming up with new contentPhoebe Waller-Bridge signed a deal withAmazon Studios to create and producenew TV content for its video platform

In life, I’m at a pointwhere I don’t reallywant to talk about

my relationships. — Tyler Cameron

Supermodel

Jon Cryer

Sydney: Australians liv-ing in the home of thecountry’s Parliament willbe allowed to grow andpossess small amounts ofcannabis from next yearunder a new law passedWednesday.

While the possession ofsmall amounts has beendecriminalised in someparts of the country, theAustralian Capital Territ-ory (ACT) — home ofCanberra, the nation’scapital — is going a stepfurther and will legalise itfor personal use.

People aged over 18 willbe allowed to possess up to50 grams (1.8 ounces) ofcannabis and cultivatetwo plants — or a maxi-mum of four per house-hold.

Chief minister AndrewBarr said although the ter-ritory’s government “doesnot condone or encouragethe recreational use of

cannabis or other illicitdrugs”, it was time toacknowledge that outrightprohibition was no longeran effective policy.

“There is good evidencefrom drug law reformaround the world that a harm minimisationapproach delivers betteroutcomes both for individ-

uals and communities,”he said in a statement.

The change marks the first time it has beenfully legalised anywherein Australia. The federal government, however, has the power to overturnthe law — and has done in the past when faced withcontroversial legalisation

passed by Australia’s ter-ritories, such as voluntaryeuthanasia.

The new legislation alsorequires rubber stampingfrom the territory’s healthminister. Lawyers warnedWednesday that userscould still face prosecu-tion as federal laws clashwith the ACT’s new legis-lation.

“It creates uncertaintywhere we don’t seem tohave a formal positionfrom police themselves,”criminal lawyer MichaelKukulies-Smith told theCanberra Times newspa-per. Buying and selling thedrug will remain illegal inthe territory.

Australia last yearagreed to allow exports ofmedicinal cannabis, in aneffort to boost buddingdomestic manufacturersand fulfil its aim of bec-oming a leading globalsupplier. — AFP

In Canberra, you can soongrow it, roll it and smoke it

New York: WeWork co-founder Adam Neumannsaid Tuesday he is stepp-ing down as CEO of the of-fice sharing startup, call-ing the increased scrutinyhe faced in recent weeks“a significant distrac-tion.”

Neumann’s announce-ment, which confirmedearlier AFP reporting,comes as the startup facesquestions over its gover-nance and profit outlookthat have clouded its pro-spects for going public.

Prior to his announce-ment, Neumann had faced pressure from boardmembers tied to SoftBank,a major investor, accord-ing to people with knowl-

edge of the matter. Neum-ann also met Sunday withJamie Dimon, CEO ofJPMorgan Chase, the leadunderwriter for the com-pany’s initial public offer-ing, and the encounterweighed on Neumann’sdecision to step down, thesources said.

He has come underscrutiny for perceivedself-dealing as head of the

fast-growing enterprise.In its prospectus to gopublic, WeWork disclosedthat it had leased fromentities in which Neuma-nn “has or has had a sig-nificant ownership inter-est.”

Neumann will remain aschairman of the companyhe started in 2010 and alsocontinues to control amajority of voting shares.

“While our business hasnever been stronger, inrecent weeks, the scrutinydirected toward me hasbecome a significant dis-traction, and I have decid-ed that it is in the bestinterest of the company tostep down as chief execu-tive.” — AFP

Embattled WeWork CEOstepping down under pressure

Philadelphia: Bill Cosbyhas been hit with a $2.75million legal bill as hemarks the end of his firstyear in prison.

The 82-year-old Cosbyhad challenged a Califor-nia arbitration awardthat upheld nearly $7 million of a $9 million billsubmitted by just onefirm in the run-up to hisfirst sexual assault trialin Pennsylvania in 2017.

A judge sided Fridaywith Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, ofLos Angeles, rejectingCosby’s claim that the billwas “egregious.”

C o s b ys p o k e s m a nAndrew Wyattisn’t commen-ting on the feedispute.

Cosby isserving three

to 10 years for druggingand molesting a womanin 2004. The PennsylvaniaSuperior Court is weigh-ing his appeal of the 2018conviction. But he saysthe actor is holding upwell in a suburbanPhiladelphia prison, mentoring other inmatesas he marks a year inprison Wednesday. — AP

Cosby hit with $2.75 millionlegal bill after losing dispute

Bill Cosby

Los Angeles: Veteranactor Tom Hanks will behonoured with the CecilB deMille honour at the77th annual Golden Glo-be Awards, the Holly-wood Foreign PressAssociation (HFPA) hasannounced. Chosen bythe HFPA board mem-bers, the Cecil B deMilleaward is given annuallyto a talented individualwho has made a lastingimpact on the world ofentertainment.

Hanks, an eight-timeGolden Globe winnerand 15-time nominee,will accept the award onJanuary 5, 2020. “TheHollywood Foreign Pr-ess Association is proudto bestow the 2020 CecilB deMille Award to TomHanks. For more thanthree decades, he’s capti-vated audiences withrich and playful charac-ters that we’ve grown tolove and admire.

“As compelling as he ison the silver screen, he’sequally so behind thecamera as a writer, pro-ducer, and director,”said HFPA PresidentLorenzo Soria. — PTI

Tom Hanks toreceive Cecil BdeMille award

Singapore: A Singapor-ean gay rights activistsaid Wednesday he hasfiled a legal challengeagainst a law banning sexbetween men, the thirdrecent bid to overturn thelegislation.

The law — known as“Section 377A” of thepenal code — was inherit-ed from the British colo-nial era but is rarelyenforced in Singapore.Campaigners in the city-state have renewed effortsto do away with it sinceIndia’s Supreme Courtlast year decriminalisedgay sex by overturning astatute from its own peri-od under British rule.

The latest court chal-lenge was filed by RoyTan, a 61-year-old retiredmedical doctor, whoargues the law is uncon-stitutional.

“I am eager to see thisarchaic law, which has noplace in modern society,struck down,” Tan said ina statement.

He argued the law canlead to gay people feelings o c i a l l yisolated, depressed andsuicidal, and fuels nega-tive media representationof the LGBT community.

“By institutionalisingdiscrimination, it alien-ates them from having a

sense of belonging andpurposeful place in oursociety, and preventsthem from taking pride inSingapore’s achieve-ments,” he said.

The challenge wouldseek to prove that theCourt of Appeal made amistake in 2014 when itruled that Section 377Awas constitutional, accor-ding to Tan.

When it dismissed thatchallenge, the appealscourt said it was up toparliament to repeal thelaw. Tan’s case was filedin the High Court lastweek and his lawyer, M.Ravi, had represented oneof the complainants inthe failed appeal in 2014.

After the Indian decisi-on, a challenge againstthe law was lodged by Sin-gaporean DJ Johnson On-g — known as DJ Big Kid— in September. — AFP

Singapore activistchallenges lawbanning gay sex

New York:The Metropo-litan Operaa n n o u n c e dTuesday thatP l á c i d oDomingo hadagreed to wit-hdraw fromhis slate of scheduledperformances at the ope-ra house following alleg-ations of sexual harass-ment made by multiplewomen. The opera legend indicated that hewould never again per-form at the Met. Domi-ngo had been scheduledto sing the title role inthe season premiere ofVerdi’s Macbeth onWednesday night, whichwould have been his firstperformance in the USsince the AP reportedthat numerous womenhad accused him ofinappropriate behavior,including one sopranowho said he grabbed herbare breast. — AP

Domingo agreesto withdrawfrom Met Opera

Paris: Thew o m a nb e h i n dF r a n c e ’ sanswer to the#MeToo cam-paign expos-ing male abu-sive behav-iour on Wednesday facesthe verdict in a defama-tion case brought by amedia executive sheaccused of making lewdand sexist remarks.

Sandra Muller starteda viral hashtag in Fren-ch in October 2017, #bal-ancetonporc (“exposeyour pig”), which calledon Frenchwomen toname and shame men inan echo of the #MeToomovement that began inresponse to allegationsthat toppled movie pro-ducer Harvey Weinstein.

In another post senthours later, Muller hadaccused French TV exec-utive Eric Brion ofhumiliating her. — AFP

Los Angeles: Familymembers of those killedin the 2012 mass shootingat the screening of TheDark Knight Rises inColorado’s Aurora, havepenned a letter to WarnerBros expressing concernsabout the plotline in itsupcoming Joker.

James Holmes openedfire on July 20, 2012 during the midnight premiere of theChristopher Nolan film atAurora Cinemark theatre,killing 12 people andinjuring 70.

He was wearing bodyarmour and was armedwith numerous weaponswhen police arrested himoutside the cinema hall.

Rated R, the ToddPhillips-directed Joker issaid to be an exploration

of a man disre-garded by soci-ety that is not only agritty charac-ter study, butalso a broaderc a u t i o n a r ytale.

It is meant to be darkerand more experimental intone and content and isdominating the headlinesfor Joaquin Phoenix’sperformance.

The family memberssaid they are still in“absolute hell and pain”over the incident and theupcoming film depictingthe character, portrayedas antagonist by HeathLedger in The DarkKnight Rises, in a “sym-pathetic” light would be atrigger for them. — PTI

Aurora mass shooting victimsworried over Joker’s violence

JoaquinPhoenix

PlácidoDomingo

SandraMuller

Adam Neumann

Tom Hanks

◗ The challenge wasfiled by a 61-year-old retired medicaldoctor, who arguesthe law is unconsti-tutional◗ He argued the lawcan lead to gay pe-ople feeling depres-sed and suicidal

French #MeToofounder facesdefamation suit

Hollywood: LindaO’Leary, wife of entre-preneur and SharkTank starKevinO’Leary, hasbeen chargedwith “care-less operationof a vessel”for her role in a fatal

boat crash in Ontario,Canada, last month,according to police,

CNN report-ed.

Linda O’ Le-ary was driv-ing the boat

when it collid-ed with anoth-

er vessel. — Agencies

WIFE OF SHARK TANK STAR ISCHARGED IN FATAL BOAT CRASH

Linda O’Leary

KevinO’Leary

Emaciated elephant dies in Sri Lanka

The 70-year-old emaciatedelephant named Tikiri eat-ing at the Temple of theTooth in the central city ofKandy, where she was

brought to march in anannual Buddhust pageant.Tikiri, whose emaciatedstate prompted an outcryin August after she was

made to march in aBuddhist parade and col-lapsed, sparking an inves-tigation by wildlife author-ities, has died. — AFP

A model (left)walks the rampduring the Paris

Fashion Week onWednesday. — AFP

US singer Ava Max (2nd right) performs during the Etam Live Showduring Paris Fashion Week at RolandGarros stadium in France onWednesday. — AFP

Actress BrunaMarquezine (above)poses for the MaisonDior fashion show in Paris on Wednesday. — AFP

� People aged over 18will be allowed to po-ssess up to 50 gramsof cannabis and culti-vate two plants — ora maximum of fourper household

� The new legislationrequires rubberstamping from theterritory’s health minister� Lawyers warnedWednesday thatusers could still faceprosecution as feder-al laws clash with theACT’s new legislation� The change marks the first time it hasbeen fully legalisedanywhere in Australia

Pope Francis(right), wavesfrom his car ashe passes by areplica of theSantuary of theBlessed Griev-ing Mary inOsimo, nearAncona, madewith corn earsand wicker,ahead of hisweekly generalaudience in St.Peter’s Squareat the Vaticanon Wednesday.

— AP


Amid the skyrocketingprice of onions in thenational capital, BJP’scity unit former presidentand Rajya Sabha memberVijay Goel on Wednesdayclaimed that the Uniongovernment is ready toprovide onion to Delhigovernment at `16 per kg.Mr Goel’s claims cameafter he alongwith DelhiBJP spokesperson HarishKhurana met Union min-ister for food and publicdistribution Ram VilasPaswan to discuss soaringonion prices.

“Mr Paswan clearly toldme that the Centre canprovide onions for Delhi

at `16 per kg from NAFEDbut we need the Delhi gov-ernment’s response forit,” said Mr Goel accusingthe Arvind Kejriwal gov-ernment of manufactur-ing the problem of rise of

onion prices.“The prices of onion in

Delhi are increasing bymanifold but the Kejriwalgovernment is a sittinglike a mere spectator.Viewing the situation, it is

the Delhi government’sresponsibility to storeonions, prohibit blackmarketing of onion and tocontrol prices. Despite theincrease in prices ofonions, the Kejriwal gov-ernment has neither con-trolled the prices of onionin mandis nor taken anyother step to control it,”alleged Mr Goel.

According to Mr Goel, inview of the onion crisis,the Centre has alreadystored 50,000 tonnes ofonion, out of which, it canprovide onion to the stategovernment at `16 per kg.

“The Delhi government,however, has not procuredonion from the Centralgovernment and is mis-leading people,” he said.

3 of gang arrestedafter gunfight

New Delhi: With the arrest oftwo persons, the Delhi policehas claimed to bust an inter-

state gang of auto-lifters andrecovered nine cars from

their possession. Theaccused were identified as,

Aslam (44), a native ofMoradabad in UP, and Monu(28), a native of Sambhal in

UP. During interrogation,Aslam disclosed that in

2008, he was arrested byMoradabad police in the

auto-lifting case and sincethen he has been arrested in

25 other cases of auto-lifting,while Monu was involved in

12 cases. He was also electedas a Gram Pradhan of his vil-

lage in 2015.

New Delhi: Union minister ofstate for home affairs G.

Kishan Reddy onWednesday launched Delhi

police single emergencyhelpline number 112 for

immediate assistance. Theminister also flagged off

“Prakhar” vans to controlstreet crimes in the national

capital. According to S.K.Singh, deputy commissionerof police (DCP), operations

and communications, thecitizens of Delhi can avail

the facility of all these threeemergency services by

dialling ‘112’. “Delhi policehave also inducted 15Scorpios with moderndevices for extensive

patrolling in street crimeprone areas of Delhi. These

Prakhar vans will initially bedeployed at 15 crime prone

locations and will beincreased further as per therequirements of Delhi,” said

the DCP. Speaking on theoccasion, commissioner of

police Amulya Patnaikunderlined that ERSS-112 is

a flagship project of min-istry of home affairs (MHA)

and it will expand the griev-ance redressal system of

police and other civic agen-cies.

Emergency helpline No. 112 launched

Key test for Qatarahead of FIFA 2022World Cup

SPORT | Football

14 15GUIDE TO FORTUNE

SHORT TAKES

■ lunula ■Sherlock Holmes■Pyrenees THE ANSWERS TO TODAY’S GUIDE TO FORTUNE

1What is the white cres-cent shape at the base of

the fingernail called?

■ lunula■ medulla oblongata■ hyoid

2Which fictional detec-tive lived at the address

221-B, Baker Street,London?

■ Hercule Poirot■ Miss Marple■ Sherlock Holmes

3Which mountain rangeforms a natural border

between France and Spain?

■ Pyrenees■ Alpes■ Andes

NEW DELHI THURSDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2019

New Delhi: The Delhi policearrested three members ofinfamous Dheelu gang on

Wednesday after anencounter in Delhi’s Dhansa-

Najafgarh road. The policesaid that the trio was wanted

in more than eight cases ofextortion, robbery, carjackingand attempt to murder regis-

tered across the nationalcapital. The accused have

been identified as Pramodand Nishant, residents of

Delhi’s Bawana, and Surjeet,a resident of Rohtak in

Haryana. The car used by theaccused has been seized and

three firearms along withammunition have been

recovered from the posses-sion of the accused,” said the

police.

DELHI SPECIALRohit begins trial run as opener in red-ball cricket

Priyanka scoutingfor hernext

DELHI AGEMatinee 24

SPORT | Cricket

Inter-state gang ofauto-lifters busted

Centre ready to provide onion at `16/kg: Goel


To expose the “misruleand all- round failure” ofthe Aam Aadmi Partygovernment, DelhiCongress will observe‘Chhalawa Diwas’(Illusion Day) onThursday, when ArvindKejriwal is slated to holda “Adhikar Diwas” tomake a fresh set ofpromises to the sanita-tion workers of Delhi tofool them, said DPCCworking presidents onWednesday, whileaddressing a press con-ference.

They blamed the BJP-led Central governmentand the Aam AadmiParty government inDelhi for the shortageand soaring prices ofonions in Delhi, as it wastheir shortsightednessand complicity that hasled to the present plight.

The Delhi PradeshCongress Committee(DPCC) working presi-dents Haroon Yusuf,Devender Yadav andRajesh Lilothia mockedat Mr Kejriwal for tryingto fool the people ofDelhi by declaring thatthe onion shortagewould be brought to con-trol within ten days,though the vegetable hasbecome a scarce com-modity, selling at an exor-bitant price of `70 to 80per kg. They said that theBJP and the AAP shouldstop playing shuttle withthe people on the issue ofshortage of onions.

City Congress to observe‘ChhalawaDiwas’ today

Lucknow, Sept. 25: ADelhi-based YouTuberwith 30 lakh subscriberson his channel has beenarrested by the specialtask force (STF) of UttarPradesh police for analleged cyber fraud, offi-cials said on Wednesday.

The accused was heldfrom his residence inJamia Nagar on Tuesdayevening by the STF teamfrom Lucknow, the offi-cials said. Accused IsaRahi had created a fakewebsite of the UttarPradesh MadrassaBoard and used it todraw viewership on hisYouTube channel, a sen-ior official said.

“An official of theMadrassa EducationBoard had complainedto the UP police in Junethis year about the fakewebsite running in thename of the Madrassaboard,” additionalsuperintendent ofpolice, STF, VishalVikram Singh said.

“Rahi is a native ofBijnor district in UP. Hismain motivation was toget more viewers andsubscribers on hisYouTube channel. Hehas a monthly earningof around `1,50,000 fromGoogle-based advertise-ment through hisvideos,” Mr Singh said.

Delhi basedYouTuber heldby UP cops forcyber fraud

Tick the answer and checkthem below.


Ahead of the upcomingDelhi Assembly electionsin February next year,Delhi chief ministerArvind Kejriwal onWednesday announcedthat power subsidy will beextended to tenants.People staying on rent inDelhi will now get freeelectricity up to 200 unitsunder a new schemewhich will allow them toinstall prepaid meters.

Tenants will also be eli-gible to avail the existingpower subsidy schemeunder which half the sub-sidy is given if the month-ly electricity consumptionis between 201 units and400 units, Mr Kejriwalsaid after announcing the“ M u k h y a m a n t r iKirayedar Bijli MeterYojana”.

Tenants, till now, werenot able to get a separatepower meter as they were

required to take a noobjection certificate(NOC) from the homeown-er to get an independentconnection, he said.

“We have removed thisrequirement so that ten-ants now get a prepaidmeter using just two docu-ments - rent agreement orrent receipt, and currentaddress proof,” the chiefminister told reporters.

Under the existingpower subsidy scheme,Delhiites do not have topay bills for electricityconsumption of up to 200units.

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) government alsogives 50 per cent subsidyon bills for power con-sumption between 201units and 400 units.

“It was a long-pending

demand of tenants inDelhi. Tenants will have toget a prepaid meterinstalled after depositinga security money of`3,000,” Mr Kejriwal said.

He said many homeown-ers have multiple tenantsthat significantly increas-es power consumptionunder a single connection,bringing them under ahigh tariff slab.

“Tenants had to oftenpay `8 to `10 per unit totheir landlords. They werenot able to avail benefits ofthe provision of free elec-tricity of up to 200 unitsby the Delhi government.In fact, even homeownersin such cases have notbeen able to get the sub-sidy,” he said.

The chief minister saidif a person has vacated therented accommodation,the same prepaid electrici-ty meter can be used by anew user after depositinga security money of`3,000.

Kejriwal announces powersubsidy for tenants in city■ Free electricity upto 200 units ■ Prepaid meter to cost `3,000

New Delhi, Sept. 25:Taking a swipe at DelhiBJP president ManojTiwari, chief ministerArvind Kejriwal onWednesday said if theNational Register ofCitizens (NRC) is imple-mented here, the saffronparty leader will be thefirst to leave the nationalcapital.

The Bhojpuri singer-turned-politician, howev-er, said the remark hasexposed Mr Kejriwal’s“real face” and allegedthat the AAP chief wantsto evict migrants such as‘Purvanchalis’.

‘Purvanchalis’ are peo-ple from the eastern partsof the country such asBihar and east UttarPradesh, and they play an

important role in any elec-tion in Delhi.

Responding to a ques-tion at a press conference,the chief minister said:“If NRC is implementedin Delhi, Manoj Tiwariwill be the first to leaveDelhi.”

Mr Tiwari, who is theMP from north-east Delhi,

also claimed that MrKejriwal “wants toremove people from(West) Bengal, Punjab,Madhya Pradesh,Haryana and other statesin Delhi”.

“Does Mr Kejriwal, whois an IRS (Indian RevenueService) officer, does notknow what NRC is? Itseems Mr Kejriwal haslost his mental balance,”Mr Tiwari said, during aFacebook live interac-tion.

“This statement exposesMr Kejriwal’s real face. Itmeans he wants to evictthe migrants likePurvanchalis fromDelhi,” he said, addingthat “I have criticised him(Mr Kejriwal) but neverabused him”.

Tiwari will have to leave Delhiif NRC is implemented: CM

Delhi based students from Nagaland stage a protest march demanding solution tothe issue of Naga peace talks in New Delhi on Wednesday. —PTI

� Manoj Tiwari, MPfrom north-eastDelhi, claimed thatMr Kejriwal ‘wantsto remove peoplefrom (West) Bengal,Punjab, MadhyaPradesh, Haryanaand other states inDelhi’

30-year-old mandies as auto hitstruck, 3 injuredAGE CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

In a shocking incident, a30-year-old man died afteran auto-rickshaw hit atruck on Akshardham fly-over in East Delhi onTuesday.

The man along with hiswife and one-and-half-year-old daughter was sit-ting inside the auto-rick-shaw when the incidenttook place. The policesaid that the auto-rick-shaw driver and thedeceased’s family mem-bers suffered injuries andare undergoing treat-ment.

The truck driver fledafter the incident, thepolice are investigatingthe matter.

The deceased has beenidentified as SaurabhSaxena. Saxena was withhis wife- Shaifali (28) andtheir daughter. The fami-ly were on their way totheir house from the rail-way station when theaccident took place.Saxena lived with hisfamily in Jaitpur andallegedly worked at apharmaceutical compa-ny as a marketing man-ager.

“We received a callaround 4:50 am on

Tuesday and rushed tothe spot. We found thatthe auto-rickshaw hit atruck and four peoplewere injured. The offi-cers rushed the injuredpersons to the hospitalwhere one of them wasdeclared dead. The childsuffered minor injuriesand has been discharged.Her mother has beenshifted to the GTBHospital for treatment,”said Jasmeet Singh, DCP,East.

The police are trying toidentify the truck and theaccused. A case of rashdriving has been regis-tered against him at thePandav Nagar police sta-tion.

Driver of the auto-rick-shaw Gulshan (30) alsosuffered multiple injuriesand is being treated at theGTB Hospital. Accordingto sources, the truck wasstanding in the middle ofthe road when the vehiclerammed into the truck.

Yogeshwar Dutt likely to joinBJP ahead of Assembly polls New Delhi, Sept. 25:Olympic medallistwrestler Yogeshwar Duttis set to join theBharatiya Janata Partyand might be fielded as itscandidate in the HaryanaAssembly polls nextmonth, BJP sources saidon Wednesday.

Mr Dutt, who won thebronze medal in the 2012Olympic Games, was alsoin contention for a LokSabha ticket from BJP forrecently held generalelections. His name wasrecommended by theparty’s state unit.

The wrestler, who hailsfrom Haryana, met thestate unit president

Subhash Barala here onWednesday and informedthat he has submitted hisresignation from theHaryana police. Mr Duttalso won a gold medal inthe 2014 CommonwealthGames and was honouredwith Padma Shri in 2013.

According to thesources, he may get aparty’s ticket for one ofthe Assembly segments inthe Sonepat Lok Sabhaconstituency, which is hishome district as well.

Meanwhile, former MPand Congress leaderKailasho Saini joined theBJP in presence of Baralaat the Haryana Bhawanhere. — PTI

National Cooperative Consumer Federation sellingonions on low price outside Krishi Bhawan in New Delhi.

— ASIAN AGE

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at a press conference inNew Delhi on Wednesday. — PTI

BJP working presidentJ.P. Nadda washes thestatue of Bharatiya JanaSangh co-founder PanditDeen Dayal Upadhyay onthe occasion of his 103rdbirth anniversary atMinto Road in New Delhion Wednesday. — PTI

VIDEO OF DWARKA PROPERTYDEALER’S KILLING GOES VIRAL

Video grabs of the incident in which property dealer was shot dead in Delhi’sDwarka Mor on Tuesday.

Police scanning CCTV, killers at large AGE CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, SEPT. 25

A video of a4 8 - y e a r - o l dproperty deal-er, who wasgunned downin his carright outsidehis office inDwarka area,went viral on socialmedia. The man, identi-fied as Narendra Gehlot,was shot dead by anunidentified man onTuesday evening. Policesuspect enmity behindthe killing.

According to a seniorpolice official, the inci-dent was reportedaround 6:30 pm on

Tuesday at the Old PalamVihar Road in Dwarka.The whole incident wascaptured in CCTV cam-era installed nearby.

In the video, Gehlot isseen sitting on the dri-ver’s seat of the SUV andtalking to a person. Afterfew seconds, a man wear-ing a helmet walks up tothe car after the otherperson leaves the scene.The man wearing helmetstarts pumping bulletsinto the car’s windshieldand through the windowon the driver’s side.

An effort to escape theassassination bid is alsoseen as Gehlot tries todrive his car but then itveers and stops in itstracks, almost hitting

the killer, who thenjumps up on the roof ofanother parked car.Gehlot gets out of thecar and movers towardshis office but the manshoots some more bul-lets on him before flee-ing away.

“Police have CCTVfootage and they are alsoscanning other camerasin the area to identify thecriminals. There weretwo bike-borne criminalsand both of them werewearing sporty helmets.Gehlot had fought theDelhi civic polls and acase of attempt to mur-der was also registeredagainst him,” said apolice official privy tothe investigation.

� The victime alongwith his wife andone-and-half-year-old daughter was sit-ting inside the auto-rickshaw when theincident took place

NarendraGehlot

VViizziiaannaaggaarraamm,, SSeepptt.. 2255::Rohit Sharma willbegin a last ditch effortto save his stop-startTest career with a trialrun in the unfamiliaropener’s slot when heleads the BoardPresident’s XI in athree-day warm-upgame against SouthAfrica, starting here onThursday.

With the nationalselection committeeand the team manage-ment deciding to pro-mote Rohit as an open-er, keeping his spunkystrokeplay in mind, thenext five Tests could bea make or break for the32-year-old stylish right-hander.

The third notablecharacter in the gamewould be Umesh Yadav,

who has been draftedinto the Test side as aninjured JaspritBumrah’s replacement.He will look to rattle thelikes of Faf Du Plessisand Aiden Makram inorder to make a state-ment. But the focusfrom Thursday will beon Rohit.

One of the modernday greats in the whiteball format, Rohit’saverage of 39.62 in 27Tests, including threehundreds, doesn’t dojustice to his potential.

Ajinkya Rahane andHanuma Vihari consoli-dated their middle-order slots with impres-sive performances inthe West Indies and theonly remaining optionfor Rohit was to bat atthe top. — PTI

SSQQUUAADDBBooaarrdd PPrreessiiddeenntt’’ss XXII::Rohit Sharma(Captain), MayankAgarwal, PriyankPanchal, AR Easwaran,Karun Nair, SiddheshLad, KS Bharat (wick-et-keeper), JalajS a x e n a ,D h a r m e n d r a s i n hJadeja, Avesh Khan,Ishan Porel, ShardulThakur, Umesh Yadav.SSoouutthh AAffrriiccaa:: Faf duPlessis (c), TembaBavuma (vc), Theunisde Bruyn, Quinton deKock, Dean Elgar,Zubayr Hamza, KeshavMaharaj, AidenMarkram, SenuranMuthusamy, LungiNgidi, Anrich Nortje,Vernon Philander,Dane Piedt, KagisoRabada, Rudi Second.

PAGE

14THURSDAY | 26 SEPTEMBER 2019 | NEW DELHITHE ASIAN AGE

SHORT

DDhhaakkaa:: The final of the tri-nationTwenty20 tournament between

Bangladesh and Afghanistanwashed out without a ball being

bowled at the Sher-e-BanglaNational Stadium in Dhaka on

Tuesday.Match officials declared the

game abandoned at 9pm localtime as the rain showed no signof stopping - making it impossi-

ble to hold even a curtailed-overgame.

The trophy was shared betweenthe two teams after the wash-

out. It means hosts Bangladeshgot a hand on the trophy of a

Twenty20 tournament involvingmore than two teams for the first

time in their history.The wash-out also rounded off a

mixed tournament for bothteams as Bangladesh won three

of their four matches in theleague phase, while Afghanistan

won their first two matchesbefore losing the next two.

“Disappointing that we didn’tget any match today. It was a

very important final. We didn’tplay our best cricket in this tour-

nament but leading up to thefinal we played some good crick-

et,” Bangladesh captain ShakibAl Hasan said.

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khanhailed the fans who waited in thegallery, defying the rain and hop-

ing for some action.“The crowdwe had today was amazing. I

think it was incredible perform-ance from the guys,” he said.

— AFP

Sri Lanka toreplace Zimbabwe

NNeeww DDeellhhii:: The BCCI onWednesday named Sri Lanka as

Zimbabwe’s replacement for ashort three-match T20

International series to be held inJanuary next year.

The BCCI has roped in Sri Lankafor the short series in place of

Zimbabwe, which has been sus-pended by the ICC. As planned

earlier, the first T20 will takeplace in Guwahati on January 5,

followed by matches in Indore onJanuary 7 and Pune on January10. “In the wake of Zimbabwe’s

suspension by ICC, the BCCIinvited Sri Lanka to participate inthe three-match series. Sri LankaCricket has confirmed their par-

ticipation,” the BCCI said in astatement. The series against

Zimbabwe was in doubt after theICC had suspended Zimbabwe

Cricket (ZC) in July this yearover government interference in

its administration. The ICC Boardunanimously decided that ZC, an

ICC Full Member, was in breachof Article 2.4 (c) and (d) of itsconstitution which imposes anobligation on members to pro-

vide a process for free and dem-ocratic elections. Schedule: 1stT20: January 5, Guwahati 2nd

T20: January 7, Indore 3rd T20:January 10, Pune. — PTI

Disappointed thatI really trusted who

ultimately didn'tfollow through.— Mickey Arthur, former

Pakistan coach on people he‘trusted’ in Pakistan set-up

County stintAustralia batsman Travis Head has signed up withSussex for the 2020 season and will be available toplay all three formats, the county confirmed

Cricket

TAKES

Bangla, Afghanshare trophy

NNeeww DDeellhhii,, SSeepptt.. 2255::Indian pace spearheadJasprit Bumrah onWednesday said he willcome back stronger afterrecovering from thelower back injury thathas ruled him out of theTest series against SouthAfrica.

The 25-year-old was onTuesday forced outowing to the injury thatwas caught in a routineradiological screening.The Test series againstthe Proteas starts onOctober 2 inVisakhapatnam.

“Injuries are part &parcel of the sport.Thank you for all yourrecovery wishes. Myhead is held high & I amaiming for a comebackthat’s stronger than thesetback,” Bumrah tweet-ed.

Umesh Yadav hasreplaced him in theIndian squad for thethree matches. Bumrah

is also likely to miss theupcoming T20 and Testassignment againstBangladesh scheduledfor next month. Bumrahhad been rested from ther e c e n t l y - c o n c l u d e dTwenty20 series againstSouth Africa, whichended in a 1-1 draw.

The paceman, with asling action, is feared forhis immaculate line andlength, particularly theperfectly-placed yorkers.In the Test series againstthe West Indies, whichwas his last assignment,

Bumrah emerged as thewrecker-in-chief forIndia with 13 wickets intwo Tests.

He became the fastestIndian pacer to take 50wickets in Tests duringthe course of that assign-ment last month. Heachieved the feat duringthe second Test againstthe Caribbean side in his11th Test, surpassingVenkatesh Prasad andMohammed Shami, whotook 13 matches each totouch the mark.

— PTI

They have left youngRishabh Pant thoroughlyconfused. The talented bats-man-keeper will be wonder-ing if he should ever hit theball hard again. TheGenNext batsman with allthe credentials for modernage cricket with the red andwhite balls has been put inan awkward position froman excessive analysis of hisshot selection. Poor as hisstroke selection has alwaysbeen, he is being pushed sohard it would be no sur-prise if he folds under pres-sure.

A critical look at his bat-ting would throw forth theanalysis that he tends tomishit in the air early inthe innings. Instead of try-ing to talk to him on how tobe wiser at the crease, he isbeing pressured throughmenacing warnings that hewould be dropped if he didnot heed. And, as it invari-ably happens under pres-

sure, he mishit twice in twoT20is and is looking terri-bly vulnerable in his career.

Any more misadventuresby the bright battingprospect, who began hisTest career with a six, andTeam India would not hesi-tate to go right back toMahendra Singh Dhoni. Noone would hold anythingagainst Dhoni because hehas contributed so muchwhen he was younger. As anabler batsman he becamethe finest finisher in thegame after that end gameplayer of such certitudethat he never seemed tomake a mistake in the faceof a target — MichaelBevan.

While a nice kind offarewell game or serieswould be apt for Dhoni, itmight be stretching thingsif we were to think of himas the keeper-batsman forthe T20i Worlds in Australianext year. If a younger and

better ‘keeper than Pant issighted, it might be nice tosee him given a place, but togo back to Dhoni for onemore T20i Worlds 12 yearsafter his first in 2007 wouldbe a bridge too far. Timewaits for no man, not evensuch a clever user of hisresources like Dhoni.

The fact that Team Indianever recaptured the magicof that first World T20ishould not be held altogeth-er against Dhoni. He led the

team on into more T20iWorlds but no combinationproved capable of stunningthe world like the first onedid. The ‘will he play or not’wait on Virender Sehwagruined the effort in Englandthat followed the successfulone in South Africa. Thenext one in the Caribbeanwas an absolute washoutand even when we camenear enough again winningthe cup later, it was not tobe.

It’s arguable whetherIndians lost that wonderfulcapacity to attack as neversymbolised better than inYuvraj Singh’s six sixes inan over of Stuart Broad.That kind of magic may nothappen more than once in alifetime. But the generalbustling aggression youneed to win a T20i and theability to keep the nervewhile doing so has not beensighted in a Team Indiaagain. The hard wickets ofAustralia might make iteven harder for ViratKohli’s men in 2020.

Any coach worth his saltwould advise Pant that theonly thing wrong with hiscricket is his early aggres-sion in which he finds him-self compelled to take the

aerial route. If his shotselection were to improve tothe extent that he knocksthe ball around morethoughtfully early on as hetried to in Bangalore beforehe succumbed to the bigshot again, Pant might liveup to his potential. There isscope even for a middle dis-tance horse in a sprint ifthe preparation and tacticalthinking are right.

Team India have investedmuch time in Pant and tolet him go now would be awaste of the efforts ofgrooming a rare talent. Allattacking batsmen face thisproblem of analysts tryingto make them dumb downtheir attacking instincts inorder to score more. But inPant’s case, a little morepatience might be advisableso that he might unleashhis ability to clear theground when he has builthimself into a platformfrom where outrightaggression could comewithout inhibition and withmore precision in convert-ing intent into stroke. Andwho better to talk to thanDelhi colleague Virat Kohliwho could teach him athing or two about shotselection!

Pant will get back his mojo, don’t push himR. MohanLine & Length

MMuummbbaaii,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: FormerIndia captain RahulDravid would deposebefore BCCI EthicsOfficer D K Jain onThursday to explain theconflict of interest allega-tions against him.

Dravid is currently theDirector of NationalCricket Academy (NCA)in Bengaluru, besidesbeing a vice-president inthe India Cements group,which owns the IPL fran-chise Chennai SuperKings.

The 46-year-old formerbatting mainstay was thehead coach of the India‘A’ and Under-19 teamsbefore being handed theNCA role, which includesmonitoring the progressof these two sides as well.

The complaint againstDravid, by MadhyaPradesh CricketAssociation (MPCA) lifemember Sanjeev Gupta,alleging that there is con-flict in interest inDravid’s role as NCAhead and being an IndiaCements employee.

Dravid has alreadygiven a reply and defend-ed himself saying he hastaken leave of absencefrom employers IndiaCements and he has noth-ing to do with theChennai Super Kings.

Similarly, BCCI employ-ee Mayank Parikh hasbeen asked to deposebefore the Ethics Officeron Thursday. Parikh, whotoo faces of conflict ofinterest allegations.

A part of the operationsteam in the BCCI, Parikhis also associated withmultiple clubs, with vot-ing rights, in the MumbaiCricket Association(MCA).

Dravid’s hearing will bein the morning, followedby Parikh’s. As per theBCCI constitution, noindividual can hold morethan one post at the sametime. The BCCI EthicsOfficer would give hisjudgement based on thehearing on Thursday.

— PTI

Dravid todepose beforeEthics Officer

SSuurraatt,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: TheIndian women’scricket team captainHarmanpreet Kaursaid the team’sbelow-par battingshow in the first T20I n t e r n a t i o n a lagainst South Africahere had left hernervous before thebowlers rose to thechallenge with astellar effort.

Harmanpreet wasthe only Indianbatswoman to playan impactful knock,scoring 43, while therest of her col-

leagues failedto chip inwith anynotable con-

t r i b u t i o n .India posted130 after being

put in to bat onTuesday. Thebowlers, led byplayer of the

match DeeptiSharma(4/8), pro-

duced an impressiveshow to dismissSouth Africa for 119in 19.5 overs.

“I was nervous atthe halfway stagebut we knew thatwe’d have somethingfor the bowlers.They did a greatjob,” Harmanpreetsaid after the match.She said the playershave been workinghard on their fitness.

“We were doing alot of fitness (regi-mens) before cominghere and we got theresult on the field.The way we fieldedand bowled, I washappy,” she said. Shealso her side stillneeds improvementin several areas,especially batting.

Star of the matchDeepti said hereffort was the “bestbowling perform-ance” of her career.

— PTI

Below-par battingleft Kaur nervous

OPENING GAMBIT ■ Rohit begins trial run as opener in red-ballcricket in the warm-up game against Proteas

T20 RANKING (BATSMEN)Pos Player Team Rating1 Babar Azam PAK 8962 Glenn Maxwell AUS 8153 Colin Munro NZ 7964 Aaron Finch AUS 7825 Hazratullah AFG 727

T20 RANKINGS (BOWLERS)Pos Player Team Rating1 Rashid Khan AFG 7572 Imad Wasim PAK 7103 Shadab Khan PAK 7064 Adil Rashid ENG 7025 Mitchell Santner NZ 673

Injured Bumrah assertsto come back stronger

My head isheld high & Iam aimingfor a

comeback that'sstronger than thesetback.—JASPRIT BUMRAH,

India pacer

Shikhar Dhawan andRishabh Pant

Rohit Sharma

●● As per the BCCIconstitution, noindividual can holdmore than one postat the same time.They would givehis judgementbased on the hear-ing on Thursday.

Rahul DDravid

Dhawan inchescloser to top 10DDuubbaaii,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: RohitSharma moved up aplace to world numbereight while India skip-per Virat Kohli andShikhar Dhawan inchedcloser to a top 10 spot inthe latest ICC T20Rankings for batsmenreleased on Wednesday.

Kohli’s unbeaten 72 inthe second T20I of thethree-match seriesagainst South Africathat ended in a 1-1 draw,has seen him gainone spot and reach 11thin the list — PTI

Harmanpreet Kaur

DDoohhaa,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: Qatar ispreparing to welcome thou-sands of fans and competi-tors for the World AthleticsChampionships startingFriday, an event seen as astaging post towards the2022 football World Cup.

The 10-day event in thecapital Doha will be a keytest ahead of the footballextravaganza in the gas-rich Gulf monarchy,although the track and fieldshowcase will play out on afar smaller scale.

World Cup organisers andfootball fans will be anx-ious to see if Qatar canovercome problemsencountered at a recentWorld Cup qualifying fix-ture, stubborn Doha trafficand unfinished publictransport to deliver asmooth championships.

An ongoing diplomaticspat between Qatar andseveral neighbours couldthreaten to overshadow the

competition, as well as pos-sibly dent the numbers ofspectators and competitors.

This is how Qatar has pre-pared for the tournamentin key areas:

Qatari pro-governmentmedia has heavily publi-cised recent training exer-cises staged by the US FBIin Doha to equip Qatariofficers with “crisis and

disaster management”skills.

The city was ranked theworld’s second safest byCEOWORLD magazine lastmonth behind Abu Dhabi,capital of regional rival theUnited Arab Emirates.

Hundreds of volunteerswere marshalled aroundDoha’s Khalifa stadium bypolice. — AFP

PAGE


SHORT TAKESNazarov failsdoping retest

DDoohhaa:: Olympic hammer throwchampion Dilshod Nazarov of

Tajikistan has been temporarilysuspended after one of his sam-ples from the 2011 world athlet-ics championships failed a dop-

ing retest, the AthleticsIntegrity Unit (AIU) announced

on Tuesday. The 37-year-old,who won gold in Rio de Janeiro

three years ago, will miss outon an eighth world champi-onship appearance in Doha,

with the event getting under-way on Friday. Nazarov, also a

world silver medallist in 2015 inBeijing, finished 10th in the 2011

hammer final in Daegu.His sample collected during

that competition was positivefor the steroid turinabol, the

AIU said. Nazarov's 2016 title isthe only gold medal in

Tajikistan's Olympic history. — AFP

NBA fines Bucksfor comments

LLooss AAnnggeelleess:: The NBA slappedthe Milwaukee Bucks with a$50,000 fine for commentsabout a contract extension

offer for reigning MVP GiannisAntetokounmpo, the league

said Tuesday. The fine pertainsto recent comments from Bucks

general manager Jon Horstregarding a supermax extension

for Antetokounmpo. The teamis not permitted to offer thecontract extension until the

summer of 2020. Asked aboutAntetokounmpo’s contract situ-

ation on September 12 at atown hall event, Horst replied,

“The answer right now is wecan't talk and negotiate any-

thing. Giannis, basically a yearfrom now, will be eligible for a

supermax extension. At thattime, of course, he’ll be offered

a supermax extension.”Antetokounmpo, 24, won the

league's MVP award in 2018-19after averaging 27.7 points.

— AFP

I genuinely am verypleased and proud

of the way thesport has come

together.— Sebastian Coe after he was

re-elected as the IAAF president

Shock returnBritish boxer Nigel Benn is set to make a shockreturn to the ring after being labelled “the fittest55-year-old on planet earth”

SportGolovin sets upMonaco victoryPPaarriiss,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: Russia mid-fielder Aleksandr Golovinscored twice and set up athird goal as Monacomoved out of the Ligue 1relegation zone with a 3-1win over Patrick Vieira’sNice on Tuesday.

Golovin’s double cameeither side of PatrickBurner’s equaliser beforehe fed Wissam Ben Yedderto claim LeonardoJardim’s first three pointsof the campaign, liftingsome of the pressure fromthe Portuguese coach.

The 30-time Russia inter-national opened the scor-ing just before the half-hour mark as captain CescFabregas marked the firstvictory of the season withhis maiden assist forMonaco.

Former Chelsea andBarcelona playmakerFabregas, who joined theLigue 1 side in January,found Golovin inside thebox and the attackersmashed his finish highinto the top corner.

The hosts were denied a

quick second four minuteslater as Islam Slimani’seffort was ruled out for off-side by VAR.

Vieira’s side were backon level terms eight min-utes into the second peri-od. Monaco made a mess ofclearing a short corner andright-back Burner scoredhis first senior goal.

Golovin’s second camewith quarter of an hour toplay as Slimani played asquare ball for the 23-year-old to finish smoothly.

He then teed up summersigning Ben Yedder whomade sure of all threepoints, beating WalterBenitez with ease. — AFP

KKaammaaiisshhii ((JJaappaann)),,SSeepptt.. 2255:: MinnowsUruguay pulled off thegreatest upset in theirhistory on Wednesdayas they stunned Fiji 30-27 to leave the Pacificislanders staring at anearly exit from theRugby World Cup.

John McKee’s Fiji hadshowcased their tradi-tional running flair ina thrilling first 60 min-utes against Australia,when they led them u c h - f a n c i e dWallabies. But they ranout of steam in anerror-strewn perform-ance against Uruguayfour days later.

The brave UruguayXV were magnificentin a pulsating game atthe Kamaishi RecoveryMemorial Stadium,running in three triesand clinging on desper-ately towards the endas Fiji threw every-thing at their lowlyopponents.

It was the biggestrugby win in the histo-ry of Uruguay, who hadonly ever won twogames at the World Cupand are ranked nineplaces below the

Fijians, whom they hadnever beaten.

Asked if Fiji couldstill reach the quarter-finals, McKee admitted:“It is going to be chal-lenging for us. We arerelying a lot on otherpoints now.” He said hewas targeting a bonus-point win againstGeorgia next Sundaybefore facing SixNations championsWales.

The New Zealanderrefused to blame theshort turnaround forthe defeat against thefresher SouthAmericans, who wereplaying their firstmatch. But he acknowl-edged the difficulty oftaking the field againso soon after the bruis-ing game against theWallabies.

Uruguay’s captainJuan Gaminara brokedown in tears at theend of the game, say-ing: “We are not thebiggest, we are not thetallest but we camehere to win.”

Fiji’s McKee, ruedthat his team’s dismalgoalkicking had costthem dear. — AFP

ZZhhuuhhaaii ((CChhiinnaa)),, SSeepptt.. 2255:Nick Kyrgios servedunderarm once again butthe fiery Australian fellaway dramatically in thesecond set in a limp first-round exit at the ZhuhaiChampionships onWednesday.

The 24-year-oldAustralian, who has beenaccused of tanking match-es in the past, led the vet-eran Italian AndreasSeppi 4-1 in the first set,only to go down 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.

Kyrgios, who has hadnumerous run-ins withtennis authorities downthe years, elicited a fewgiggles from a sparsecrowd in southern Chinawith an underarm servein the first set.

Coasting 3-1 and 40-0 up,the 27th-ranked Kyrgiosserved weakly into thenet, before surging into a4-1 lead.

But the Australian, whothen appeared to be trou-bled by his right shoulder,faded alarmingly fromthere and his previouslydominant serve collapsed.

He repeatedly felt hisshoulder and his gamedisintegrated as he wentdown in the first-set tiebreak.

The second set was anon-contest as Seppi, 35,ranked 74th in the world,strolled into round two in65 unpredictable minutes.

Kyrgios has divided ten-nis by serving underarmin the past, although it iswithin the rules, albeitrare to see from profes-sionals.

The Australian fire-brand says he deploys itfor tactical reasons, butRafael Nadal of Spainaccused him of ‘lackingrespect’ by doing it.

‘Clicking shoulder’

Kyrgios fears he couldface several weeks outafter struggling with whathe said was a ‘clicking’shoulder.

“I was battling with a bitof a shoulder/collar boneinjury,” said the 27th-ranked Kyrgios, a colour-ful but controversial fig-ure.

“At this rate I’m notthinking about playinguntil my shoulder’s — or Idon’t even know what it is— but until my front ofmy shoulder feels betterand I can serve,’ he added,saying his right shoulderhad been ‘clicking’.

“I mean the reason I losttoday was because I could-n’t serve. If I could serve,it would have been a pret-ty routine win for me, tobe honest.”

Asked if he could sit outthe next few weeks or eventhe rest of the season,Kyrgios replied: “Forsure, I mean at this rate Iwouldn’t be surprised.

“I wasn’t able to evenserve at a reasonable pace.

“I’m probably not goingto bother playing until Ican get it right again.”

Kyrgios said that he stillhopes to play in the DavisCup in November.

“So until now and thenI’ve got a lot of time, I canrest, recover, get my shoul-der right,’ he said. — AFP

RRoommee:: Gianni Rivera couldpotentially take charge of the

next Serie A team to dumptheir manager after the former

Italy attacker and AC Milanhero earned Europe’s most

important coaching licence atthe tender age of 76. Rivera, aBallon d’Or winner in 1969 and

former Member of theEuropean parliament, was oneof the “famous faces”, along-side 2006 World Cup winner

Mauro Camoranesi, announcedby the Italian Football

Federation (FIGC) to havegained the Italian equivalent of

the ‘UEFA Pro’ licence, whichenables him to coach in Italy’s

top division. “Rivera has helpedwrite the history of football but

he was still humble enough tobecome a student again. He

was a brilliant student and did-n’t miss a single lesson,” said

Renzo Uliveri, head of theItalian coaching associationAIAC, to the Gazzetta dello

Sport on Wednesday.According to the Gazzetta how-ever, Rivera, who won the 1968European championships withItaly and two European Cups

with Milan, is not interested in atop coaching role and simplywants to remain “up-to-date”

with the football’s inner work-ings. Nicknamed ‘Golden Boy’

in his pomp, he scored 14 timesfor Italy, including the extra-

time winner in the ‘Game of theCentury’, the 4-3 semi-final winover West Germany at the 1970

World Cup. Rivera played forMilan for nearly two decades,

signing off in 1979 with his thirdSerie A title, before embarkingon a long political career in thelate 1980s. He was also an MEP(2005-2009), and in 1968 wasone of the founding members

of the Italian Footballers’Association. Other big namesto have gained the UEFA Prolicence include former Brazil

midfielder Toninho Cerezo, now64, and former Barcelona full-

back Sylvinho. — AFP

AT 76, COACHRIVERA BAGSTOP LICENSE

Nick Kyrgios of Australia reacts during his men’s singles first round match against Andreas Seppi of Italy at theZhuhai Championships tennis tournament on Wednesday. — AFP

A worker cleans seats at the Khalifa International Stadiumin Doha on Wednesday. — AP

DDoohhaa,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: A warrior onand off the track, AllysonFelix is determined to goout on her own terms as shesets out on the final leg ofher glittering career at theWorld Championships thisweek.

After 16 years at the pin-nacle of her sport, the 33-year-old American hasaccumulated more WorldChampionship andOlympic honours than anyother track and field athletein history.

In Doha, she will be aim-ing to add to an incrediblecollection of 25 medals, adazzling haul that includessix Olympic golds and 11World Championship titles.

The Worlds mark the startof what is in all probabilitya year-long lap of honour,with Felix eyeing a goldenfarewell at what will be herfifth Olympic Games inTokyo next year.

Unusually for Felix, Dohamarks the first time thatshe will not be entered in anindividual event at a majorchampionships after shefailed to finish in the topthree at the US trials inJuly.

Instead, Felix will travelas part of the US relay poolas the Americans look todefend the 4x400m title theywon in London.

That in itself represents avictory for Felix, who only

returned to racing in Julyafter a 13-month absence,which saw her give birth toher daughter Camryn viaan emergency C-section inNovember last year.

Felix though says she isnot going to be satisfiedmaking up the numbers inthe final stages of hercareer, and is determined tocompete in Tokyo next yearin the individual 400m.

“I think it would be crazyfor me to say that I was dis-appointed,” Felix said afterher sixth place finish at theUS trials.

“I have my health, I havemy family, I couldn’t ask formore than that. And I amable to still do what I love.”

Felix, who took silver inthe 400m final behind theBahamas’ Shaunae Miller-Uibo in the Rio Olympics in2016, is confident howeverthat her performances at

the US trial indicate she hasplenty left in the tank.

“I want to be back at theOlympics,” Felix said. “Iwant that more than any-thing. I want to go out onmy terms. A little sacrificehere or there, I believe itwill be worth it.”

While Felix remains firstand foremost a competitor,she has also emerged as aleading voice for the rightsof women athletes.

In May, she denouncedlong-time sponsors Nikeover the company’s mater-nity practices, calling forgreater support for femaleathletes who take time offfrom the sport to have chil-dren. — AFP

Uruguay upsetFiji with win

Key test for Qatar aheadof FIFA 2022 World Cup

Warrior Felix eyes golden track finale

DJOKOVIC TOPLAY IN TOKYOAFTER INJURYBBeellggrraaddee,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: WorldNo. 1 Novak Djokovic,forced out of the US Openwith a shoulder injury, isback in training and willplay in Tokyo next week, amember of his press teamtold AFP.

The 32-year-old Serbianstar has "started to trainand the situation with hisshoulder is a bit better,"the spokesperson said.

Earlier this monthDjokovic was forced topull out of his US Openfourth round clash withStan Wawrinka due to anagging injury in his leftshoulder.

Serbia’s media quotedDjokovic as saying he hadbeen “training withoutpain for two daysalready”. — AFP

RRaabbaatt,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: One person was killed and five injuredin clashes between rival football fans after a cup tienear the Moroccan city of Casablanca, local authori-ties said Wednesday.“A group of supporters of Wydad Casablanca (club)stopped a vehicle carrying fans of AS FAR Rabat,throwing stones and the situation degenerated,” theysaid in a statement.They said one person died of his injuries after “fallingfrom on top of the vehicle” and five others were hospi-talised. — AFP

ONE DEAD, FIVE INJUREDIN RIVAL FANS CLASHES

■ Australian serves underarm but exits in first-round KYRGIOS FALLS

DDoohhaa,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: Britain’sSebastian Coe was re-elect-ed unopposed Wednesdayas president of the IAAFfor a second term followingfour years dominated bydoping and the issue ofgender.

The former Olympic andworld champion middle-distance runner becamehead of world athletics’governing body in 2015 andreceives his second man-date just two days beforethe World AthleticsChampionships open inDoha.

“I genuinely am verypleased and proud of theway the sport has cometogether,” said Coe, 62, fol-lowing his re-election.

“Two-hundred changes,the Athletics IntegrityUnit — no sport has a unitin the same space, it’sabout malpractice, corrup-tion.

“In making thoseachievements, I recognise

we have had to detour frombeing able to really focus ashard as I would have likedin the early years aroundthe field of play. We’re nowin the position to reallygenuinely do that.”

Coe, who took over thereins during a period ofturmoil in world athletics,was re-elected by unani-mous vote of the 203 dele-gates attending theInternational Associationof Athletics Federations’Congress in Doha.

Four years ago the IAAFwas in chaos as a result offar-reaching corruptionallegations.

During his first term, Coeset up the independentAthletics Integrity Unitwhich serves as watchdogdedicated to cleaning upcorruption in the sport.

“It’s been a tough fouryears, the first two werethe reforms — the secondtwo years they were imple-mented,” he said. — AFP

TTHHEE RREESSUULLTTSSMMoonnaaccoo 33(Golovin 29, 74, BenYedder 79) NNiiccee 11(Burner 54)

DDiijjoonn 00MMaarrsseeiillllee 00

FRENCH || LEAGUE

RUGBY || WORLD CUP FOOTBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Monaco’s midfielder Aleksandr Golovin (right) celebrateswith Cesc Fabregas after scoring against Nice. — AFP

WWuuhhaann ((CChhiinnaa)),, SSeepptt.. 2255::Wimbledon championSimona Halep was left dis-appointed on Wednesdayafter suffering a freshinjury setback in Chinathat forced her to retirefrom the Wuhan Openwith a lower back prob-lem.

Halep said the problemthat caused her to quit herthird-round match felt dif-ferent to the herniateddisc she had suffered atthe China Open in Beijinga year ago which broughtan early end to theRomanian’s 2018 season.

“It’s lower back. I thinkit’s more muscle, but Idon’t know yet because Ihaven’t checked it proper-ly,” Halep said.

The world number sixled Elena Rybakina by abreak and looked on herway to win the first setbefore her Kazakh oppo-nent drew level.

During the changeoverafter the ninth gameHalep took a medical time-out for treatment to herback, but soon after theformer world number oneretired while serving at 4-5, 30-30.

“At 4-4, 0-30 with thebackhand, I had a sharppain. I don’t know yet, butit looks a little bit differ-ent, but it’s still the samezone. I started to play wellthis tournament. I’m dis-appointed it happenedagain with the back,”Halep revealed. — AFP

Halep retires dueto back injury

Allyson FFelix

Uruguay's players celebrate after winning over Fijiduring the Rugby World Cup match. — AP

IAAF chief Coegets second term

PAGE


SHORT TAKES

BBeennggaalluurruu:: Virdhawal Khadeclinched India’s seventh goldmedal at the 10th Asian Age

Group Championship but failedto make the Olympic ‘A’ cut in

the men's 50m freestyle event,here on Wednesday. Khade

clocked 22.59 seconds to finishahead of Khurshidjon Tursunov

(22.96) of Uzbekistan andIranian Gharehhassanloo

Benyamin (23.23). The goldmedal winning feat was, howev-

er, not enough for the 2010Asian Games bronze medallistto make the Olympic A qualifi-

cation mark, set at 22.01 sec-onds. “I am quite disappointed

with my timing. I was fullytapered for this meet, I got off

to a great start but somehowmy timing with the technique

was not put to the mark,”Khade said. Earlier, this month

during the senior nationals,Khade had clocked 22.44 sec-onds in the same event. “I will

be attempting again nextmonth during the FINA World

Cup in Singapore and I want toachieve it this year although

there is time till June. If I canmake the qualification now then

I can just focus on training forTokyo,” he said. Sajan Prakaah

won his second silver in themen’s 100m butterfly category

with a timing of 54.42 seconds. — PTI

KKaatthhmmaanndduu:: Gurkirat Singh’sbrace helped India thump Sri

Lanka 3-0 and move to thesemifinals of the SAFF U-18

Championship here onWednesday. Gurkirat’s brace

alongside Aman Chetri’s strikeproved to be the difference

between the two sides in India'slast league match. The Indianteam started the match on an

attacking note but despiteholding possession they could

do little in front of the goalwith Sri Lanka heaping bodies

in defence. The two sidesremained goalless at the halftime break. The Indian teamstarted the second half withmuch vigour but once again

complacency in front of goalcost them chances. In the 65th

minute, Gurkirat found the backof the net with a cross comingin through the flanks. Gurkiratand Aman then added a goal

each to take India 3-0 up in thedying moments of the match.The three goal margin provedenough for India to seal their

win and progress to the semifi-nals of the SAFF U-18

Championship. India were heldto a goalless draw by

Bangladesh in their openingmatch. — PTI

I second himbecause he issupporting my

sport. — Jaspal Rana, Indian shootinglegend lauds Narinder Batra for

backing his sport

Sport

Virdhawal wins50m gold medal

India colts beatLanka, enter SF

MMaannddaallaayy ((MMyyaannmmaarr))SSeepptt.. 2255:: The Indianduo of Pankaj Advaniand Aditya Mehta over-came a tough Thaiteam to emerge worldchampions in the IBSFWorld Snooker Teamevent, here onWednesday.

This takes Advani’sworld title tally to aphenomenal 23 whileAditya claimed hismaiden at a time whenhis future is beingdoubted due to healthissues. For Advani, thiswin has ensured thathis name is now thereon every IBSF worldtitle on offer. He hadwon the world billiardsevent here last week.

A great start to thefinal was delivered byMehta as he drew firstblood winning theopener 65-31. However,Advani couldn’t get theIndian momentumgoing as he lost the sec-ond 9-69.

The doubles tie wentIndia’s way thanks to ahandy 55 break fromMehta. After a coupleof tight frames, Indiawere 3-2 up and neededjust two frames in thebest-of-nine final to winthe coveted title.Advani took over in thesecond doubles frameand took India oneframe away with an aidof a 52 break. But it

was Mehta who sealedthe deal for India as heplayed some of the bestsnooker in his careerand thrashed his Thaiopponent 83-9 in theseventh to get his nameon the privileged list ofworld champions.

“I’m absolutely excit-ed to win my first worldtitle. All the years ofhard work and strugglehas finally paid off,”said Mehta.

Advani too wasecstatic. “It’s a dreamtrip for me as I returnfrom Myanmar inunder 3 weeks with 2world championshipgold medals and abronze (which he got inthe world 6-red snookerevent). I’m over themoon to have won theonly missing world titleon my list and this winis very special for thatreason.” — PTI

NNeeww DDeellhhii,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: Theathletes reacted withanger but the officialdomchose to weigh its wordsbefore responding toIndian OlympicAssociation chiefNarinder Batra’s assertionthat the CommonwealthGames is a waste of timeand the country shouldconsider a permanentpullout.

Batra, while speaking atan event in Bengaluru onTuesday, said the level ofcompetition at the CWG isnot particularly high andthat India should considera pullout to improve itsown standards. The state-ment has context as Batrahad earlier called for anIndian boycott of the 2022CWG in Birmingham overthe axing of shooting fromthe Games program due tologistical issues. Shootinghas been a major contribu-tor to India’s CWG tallyand the nation stands sec-ond, with 134 medals, inthe overall count won fromthe sport.

“It is not acceptable,”said one of India’s cur-rently most successfultable tennis players G.Sathiyan, who claimed twosilvers and a bronze in the2018 edition in Gold Coast.

The shooting fraternitychose to sidestep querieson Batra’s comment butothers were upfront.Boxing star Vijender

Singh, who is the first andonly male pugilist with anOlympic medal to his cred-it, said Batra’s statementis heartbreaking as itundermines athletes’ hardwork.

“It is heartbreaking. Bythis logic, India should notsend teams to invitationaltournaments eitherbecause the level of com-petition is not like theOlympics or the worldchampionship eventhere,” said the boxer whohas two silver and abronze from the threeCWGs he competed in.

“Why belittle the ath-letes’ achievements? Andin any case, CWG hasstrong boxing nationssuch as England andIreland in fray,” he added.

The 2014 Glasgow CWGgold-medallist shuttlerParupalli Kashyap also dif-fered with Batra, who alsoheads the InternationalHockey Federation (FIH).“It is ridiculous to think ofboycotting theCommonwealth Games. Idon’t think the standard islow. I didn’t have it easywhen I beat all these play-ers during the 2010 edition(when he won bronze) andthe 2014 Games,” herecalled.

“It is not like we are win-ning all the gold medals.Even in badminton, thereare teams like Malaysia,England who are tough,”

he added. In fact, 2010 CWG gold-

medallist discus throwerKrishna Poonia said theCommonwealth competi-tion in athletics is stifferthan the Asian Games,which is generally per-ceived to be tougher by thesporting fraternity. “Forathletics, CWG is world-class, the competition is ofhigher level than theAsian Games,” she said.

A top official from thenational federation of aprominent Olympic sportasked if Batra would deemthe competition goodenough if shooting isbrought back.

“Someone should askhim will the CWG regainsignificance if shooting isaccepted back on the ros-ter. May be he will have a

different view to offer,” theofficial said.

“Why deride the athleteswho have worked hard fortheir medals at CWGbecause you are unhappyabout the exclusion of onesport? CWG won’t die ifIndia pulls out,” he added.

Two-time CWG gold-medallist weightlifterSathish Sivalingam said amedal at the Games pro-vides job security to a lotof athletes and thatshouldn’t be taken away.

“I am completely againstthe pullout. TheCommonwealth Gamesare a big event for us.Medal-winning perform-ances in the CWG bring alot of incentives like jobsand money etc. So for us,this competition is impor-tant,” he said.

Former India hockeycaptain Zafar Iqbal, whowas part of the 1980Olympic gold medal-win-ning team, was surprisedby Batra’s comment.“That’s a ridiculous state-ment coming from a manwho is holding numerousimportant positions innational as well as inter-national sports federa-tions,” he said.

“Commonwealth Gamesis the biggest competitionafter Olympics in terms ofparticipation of countries.72 countries took part inthe last CommonwealthGames. And if you talkabout hockey, all topnations like Australia,New Zealand, and GreatBritain are there,” headded.

A more guardedresponse came from theWrestling federation. Thesport contributes massive-ly to India’s medal tally atCWGs and its PresidentBrij Bhushan SharanSingh said the grapplersare eager to continue atthe quadrennial show-piece. “The general view ofthe wrestling fraternity isthat the athletes want tocompete, whatever thetournament is,” he said.

Similar responses wereoffered by the national fed-erations of table tennis,squash and swimming,who said they would abideby the government and the

IOA’s decisions. But the athletes were

more forthcoming. ArcherRahul Banerjee, a gold-medallist at the 2010 DelhiCWG, said all talk of pull-out started only aftershooting was excluded andthe administrators oughtto answer why the compet-itiveness of the event did-n’t matter before that.

“If CommonwealthGames were so easy whyonly a few disciplines likewrestling, shooting andboxing earn India the bulkof medals?” he asked.“Obviously we can’t com-pare CWG with theOlympics which is aboveall, even the WorldChampionships. So doesthat mean we will notvalue a WorldChampionship medal andwon’t send a team there?”But there were also voiceswho agreed with Batra.Former ArcheryAssociation SecretaryGeneral Paresh NathMukherjee said, “therecan’t be a bigger truth”than what the IOA chiefhas dared to say.

“He has hit the nail onthe head. CommonwealthGames has no relevance inthe Olympics. It has novalue and only poor andfoolish countries like usmake such hype aboutCWG.

“It’s nothing but waste ofmoney,” he said. — PTI

Advani wins his23rd World title

Pullout call heartbreaking: Athletes

HonourIndian track and field legend PT Usha was on Wednesday presented the ‘Veteran Pin’ by the world athletics governingbody, in recognition of her contribution to the growth of sport

LLoonnddoonn,, SSeepptt 2255::Tottenham’s disappoint-ing start to the season hita new low as they suf-fered an embarrassingLeague Cup third-rounddefeat on penalties atfourth-tier Colchester onTuesday.

Mauricio Pochettino’sside were held to a 0-0draw in normal timebefore losing 4-3 on penal-ties against opponentscurrently 10th in LeagueTwo.

Christian Eriksen’sopening spot-kick wassaved and Lucas Mourahit the crossbar beforeTom Lapslie scored thewinning penalty to sparka pitch invasion fromColchester’s jubilantfans. It was the first timeTottenham managerPochettino had beenknocked out of a domes-tic cup competitionagainst lower-leagueopposition.

The shock defeatextended Tottenham’spoor run, which includeda 2-1 loss at Leicester inthe Premier League onSaturday.

“Colchester made a fan-tastic game, it was diffi-

cult. We are so disap-pointed we could notscore in 90 minutes,”Pochettino said.

“That’s the beauty ofthe competition, alwayssomething can happen.We wanted to go furtherbut we are out.”

After finishing asChampions League run-ners-up last season,Tottenham were expectedto kick on this season butinstead they have strug-gled to find any consis-tency.

Pochettino has grum-bled about the distrac-tions of the transfer win-dow, with Eriksen andseveral other playerslinked with moves thatnever materialised.

As a result, Tottenhamhave looked a disjointedteam, with two-goal leadssquandered in draws atArsenal andOlympiakos.

The upset was thebiggest setback so far forPochettino, who made 10changes to his side butcould still call on enoughquality players to expecta win against a team 71places below them in thefootball pyramid. — AFP

Colchester, an enthusiastic fourth-tier team, stun TottenhamHAMMER & TONGS

MMaaddrriidd,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: LionelMessi endured yetmore injury frustra-tion on Tuesday aftergoing off at half-timeagainst Villarrealbut Barcelona gavetheir coach ErnestoValverde somemuch-needed reliefwith a comfortable2-1 victory.

Messi receivedtreatment in the

first half for whatlooked like a problem

with his left thigh andwas then unable to

continue after theinterval, replaced byOusmane Dembele.

His withdrawal willbe a major concern forBarca, particularly

given this was Messi’sfirst start of the seasonafter just recovering froma niggling calf injury

sustained at the start ofAugust.

After the match,Valverde struck a

note of calm.“When some-

thing happens to Messi,everyone stops, not onlyon the field, but in thestands as well,” he said.

“It is a small problem inthe adductor and as a pre-caution we have decidednot to risk it. In theory, itis nothing more but wewill see tomorrow how itis.”

Barcelona visit Getafe inLa Liga on Saturdaybefore playing Inter Milanat home in the ChampionsLeague four days later.

Certainly, they wouldhave been eager to seeMessi back in their line-up, having suffered ahumbling 2-0 loss atnewly-promoted Granadalast weekend, a result thatleft them with sevenpoints from five games,their worst start to a sea-son since 1995. Theyarrived with doubts hov-ering, particularly overValverde, but delivered afar more convincing winthan the scoreline sug-gested. — AFP

Messi injuredbut Barca win

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi reacts on the groundduring the Spanish league match. — AFP

It isheart-break-ing. By this

logic, India shouldnot send teams toinvitational tourna-ments either. — VIJENDER SINGH

I don’tthinkthestan-dard is

low. It is ridiculousto think of boycotting.

— P. KASHYAP

For ath-letics,CWG isworld-class,

the competition isof higher level thanthe Asian Games

— KRISHNAPOONIA

AArrsseennaall 55 (Martinelli 31, 90,Holding 71, Willock 77,Nelson 84) NNoottttiinngghhaamm FFoorreesstt 00

CCoollcchheesstteerr 00 TTootttteennhhaamm 00Colchester won 4-3 onpenalties.

CCrraawwlleeyy 11 (Ferguson 38) SSttookkee 11 (Vokes 23)Crawley won 5-3 onpenalties.

LLuuttoonn 00 LLeeiicceesstteerr 44 (Gray 34, Justin 44,Tielemans 79, Iheanacho86)

PPoorrttssmmoouutthh 00SSoouutthhaammppttoonn 44 (Ings 21,44,Cedric 77,Redmond87)

PPrreessttoonn 00 MMaanncchheesstteerr CCiittyy 33(Sterling 20, Jesus 35,Ledson 42-og)

SShheeffffiieelldd WWeeddnneessddaayy 00EEvveerrttoonn 22 (Calvert-Lewin 6, 10)

TTHHIIRRDD RROOUUNNDDLEAGUE CUP

VVaallllaaddoolliidd 11 (Plano 12) GGrraannaaddaa 11 (Fernandez Luna 42)

RReeaall BBeettiiss 33 (Moron 45+3, 48,Iglesias 67)LLeevvaannttee 11 (Hernani 7)

BBaarrcceelloonnaa 22 (Griezmann 6, Arthur 15) VViillllaarrrreeaall 11 (Cazorla 44)

RREESSUULLTTSS

CWG BOYCOTT

SPANISH LEAGUE

KOREA OPEN BADMINTON

Narinder BBatra

ColchesterUnited’s Tom

Lapslie celebratesafter the win over

Tottenham Hotspur inthe League Cup on

Tuesday. — AFP

Sindhu, Saina bow out,Kashyap lone survivorIInncchheeoonn,, SSeepptt.. 2255:: ParupalliKashyap was the loneIndian to survive in the sin-gles event after star shut-tlers P V Sindhu, SainaNehwal and B. SaiPraneeth made first roundexits at the Korea Openbadminton tournamenthere on Wednesday.Kashyap registered a com-fortable 21-16 21-16 over LuChia Hung of ChineseTaipei in a men’s singlesmatch match that lasted 42minutes.

The first round casualtiesfor India included WorldChampion Sindhu, whobowed out of the tourna-ment after going down 7-2124-22 15-21 at the hands ofUSA’s Beiwen Zhang, SaiPraneeth and Saina — bothretired hurt in their respec-tive first round matches.World Championshipsbronze-medallist SaiPraneeth was trailing 9-217-11 when he conceded thematch to fifth-seededAnders Antonsen ofDenmark due to an ankle

injury. London Olympicbronze medallist Saina wastrailing 21-19, 18-21 and 1-8against South Korea’s KimGa Eun when she wasforced to retire.

Saina’s husband and per-sonal coach Kashyap saidshe retired because of gas-troenteritis problem.

“It seems she had arelapse of the gastroenteri-tis that bothered her earlyin the year. She was feelingdizzy and vomited yester-day. In fact, she went to thestadium straight from thehospital today,” he said.

“Still she could have wonbut when it went to threegames, she didn’t have any-thing left in her tank. Weneed to check with the doc-tor when we go back. It has

been a difficult year forher.”

Saina had a 2-0 head-to-head record against Eun intheir previous matches.Saina has had a tough yearowing to injuries. She wonthe Indonesia Open at thebeginning of the season buthas struggled since then.At the China Open Super1000 event last week, shemade a first-round exit.Sindhu also seems to be fac-ing a rough patch after thehigh of winning the WorldChampionships.

The Olympic silver-medallist was knocked outof the China Open byThailand’s PornpaweeChochuwong in the secondround last week.Interestingly, the 26-year-old former winner here haddefeated Zhang en routeher World Championshipsgold at Basel. The Chinese-born American prevailedover the Indian twice lastyear at the India Open andDenmark Open.

— PTI

Saina’s husband andpersonal coachKashyap said sheretired because ofgastroenteritis problem.

Pankaj AAdvani

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