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A fter 16 days of relentless price hike, fuel prices were cut by just 1 paisa per litre on Wednesday. The marginal reduction in fuel prices had its share of excitement with State- owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) earlier announcing a cut of 60 paise — the biggest since daily price revision was introduced in mid-June last year — only to retract it within a couple of hours citing a technical error. The news triggered jokes on Twitter, where many vent- ed their ire at the negligible reduction. “ONE paisa!?? If this is your idea of a prank, it’s child- ish and in poor taste,” tweeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The Congress too posted a meme mocking BJP supporters on its official handle. Earlier correcting the “technical error”, the IOC in a statement said, “There was a technical glitch in posting the selling prices of petrol and diesel. The selling prices of petrol and diesel with effect from May 30, 2018 have been rectified. Today, there is a minor reduction in fuel prices.” The 1 paisa cut comes after 16 consecutive price increases since May 14 when fuel retail- ers ended a 19-day pre- Karnataka poll hiatus to pass on the spike in global crude rates. Petrol price was increased by 3.8 per litre and diesel by 3.38 in the last fortnight. “There is softening in international oil prices and rupee has strengthened against the US dollar, making imports cheaper. All this will reflect in reduction in retail rates in coming days,” the official added. However, Opposition lead- ers, including Congress presi- dent Rahul Gandhi, were quick to slam the minor reduction. Besides politicians, who took a dig at the negligible cut in fuel prices on the social media, Twitter was also flood- ed with hashtags and mes- sages about the price cut, mak- ing fun of the situation. '#petrolled', '#fuelonfire', '#petrolprice' and '#fuel' were among the hashtags trending on Twitter besides various memes. One user posted a picture of long gone 5 paise coin, say- ing, “My savings today after fill- ing 5 litres of petrol.” Another user said, “I am going to invest it in mutual funds now.” The Opposition parties have been demanding the Government to cut excise duty, which it had raised 9 times when oil prices had fallen between 2014 and early 2016, to give relief to consumers. The price effected from Wednesday is based on average international rate from May 15 to May 29. For Thursday’s rate, the average from May 16 to May 30 will be taken. Rates had on Tuesday touched an all-time high of 78.43 per litre for petrol and 69.31 a litre for diesel in Delhi. Prices vary from State to State depending on VAT. Delhi has the cheapest price among all metros and most State capitals. Reacting to massive public comments on the social media last week, Oil Minister Dharemndra Pradhan had then said the Government is pan- ning “holistic strategy” to reduce the oil prices in the country. However, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg had on Monday also stated that fuel prices are expected to cool in the next two or three days. Last week, the Government had stated that it is working on a long-term solution to address the volatility in fuel prices. The BJP-led Government, in June last year, junked a 15-year old practice of revising rates every fortnight and moved to daily revisions. Meanwhile, the Kerala Government reduced the tax levies on fuel by 1. The move, effective from June 1, comes amid growing clamour for an excise duty cut to bring down skyrocketing fuel prices. E ven as monsoon hit the Kerala coast three days ahead of its schedule, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday predict- ed that the Southern Peninsula — Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry — may get “below normal” rainfall. The North-East India too is expected to get below normal rainfall. On the other hand, north- west India — Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, and western Uttar Pradesh — will get the highest overall rainfall during the June- September period and July will be the wettest month. According to the IMD’s prediction on distribution of rainfall, the central India too will get “normal” rainfall. On rainfall (month-wise and region-wise) distribution prediction depends planning for Kharif sowing and timing and choice of crops during the monsoon season. Releasing its second stage long-range forecast for the south-west monsoon, the IMD said, “Region wise, the season rainfall is likely to be 100 per cent of long period average (LPA) over north-west India, 99 per cent of LPA over central India, 95 per cent of LPA over South Peninsula and 93 per cent of LPA over North-East India — all with a model error of ± 8 per cent.” Predicting July as the wettest month during the sea- son, the IMD said, “The monthly rainfall over the coun- try as whole is likely to be 101 per cent of its LPA during July and 94 per cent of LPA during August both with a model error of ± 9 per cent.” Sticking to its April (first stage long range) forecast, the IMD said, “The rainfall over the country as a whole for the 2018 south-west monsoon sea- son (June to September) is likely to be “normal” (96 per cent to 104 per cent of LPA). “Quantitatively, monsoon season (June to September) rainfall for the country as a whole is likely to be 97 per cent of the LPA with a model error of ±4 per cent”. In its second stage forecast, the IMD has, however, pre- dicted slightly higher proba- bility of having “normal” rain- fall than what it had predicted in April. Similarly, it marginally reduced the probability of hav- ing deficient rainfall (drought) this year. The second stage predic- tion may further give positive signal to the farm sector as good rainfall always helps growth in agricultural and hor- ticultural production. Increased farm production is also good for overall India’s economy as it drives rural demand and in turn helps the manufacturing sector as well. This is the third consecutive year when the country’s national weather fore- caster predicted “normal” mon- soon rainfall. Continued on Page 4 S eeking to douse the fire in Assam over proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill, the Centre on Wednesday agreed to set up a committee to look into the issue raised by the Assam Government and the protesters. Home Minister Rajnath Singh conveyed to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal that all stakeholders and the people of Assam will be taken into con- fidence before a final call. Sonowal requested the Home Minister to set up a committee to make recom- mendations for the implemen- tation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord which provides for constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote culture, social, linguistic iden- tity and heritage of Assamese people. “The Home Minister said that there should be no appre- hension in minds of the people of Assam about the Citizenship Amendment Bill. The Home Minister has assured that before taking any step, the people of Assam will be taken into confidence. All stake- holders will be consulted,” Sonowal told reporters in Delhi after meeting Rajnath. Assam has been witnessing protests against the Central Government’s move to enact the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 that seeks to grant cit- izenship to non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India due to religious persecution in those countries. Organisations spearheading the protests said that the Bill, if passed, would pave the way for giving citi- zenship to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in Assam. Continued on Page 4 I n a move to encourage dri- vers to use multi-level park- ing areas, rather than streets, civic bodies will levy just one- third charges of surface park- ing at multi-level facilities. According to parking man- agement area plan (PMAP) for the national Capital, the policy being firmed up by the Delhi Government seeks to decongest the city and also make it pedestrian-friendly. South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Deputy Commissioner Prem Shankar Jha said, “The idea is to come up with a holistic parking pol- icy for the city that addresses the needs of pedestrians. We want to discourage long-term surface parking and incen- tivise multi-level parking to keep the city decongested.” “So, in the plan, we have proposed that charges for multi-level parking should be one-third of the rates of surface parking,” the official said. The SDMC is the nodal civic body engaged for the PMAP, which also includes dis- allowing parking within 25 metre from roundabouts and traffic intersections, the official said. The PMAP, which came into effect in February this year, is part of the draft parking pol- icy for Delhi being finalised by the Arvind Kejriwal Government. It has proposed a number of variable charges for resi- dential and commercial areas; these charges are envisioned to impact the demand for parking space in Delhi. “The proposals made by us (nodal agency) have been taken up positively by the Delhi Government’s Transport Department. The policy is yet to be notified,” he said. The current parking charges for North, East and South Delhi Municipal Corporations (NMC, EDMC, SDMC) are 20 per hour for cars and 10 for two-wheelers. For 24 hours, it is subject to a maximum of 200 for cars and 100 for two-wheelers. “Lajpat Nagar and Kailash Colony areas in South Delhi have been identified for model parking facilities, which would be developed according to the parking plan that also envisages to address spill-over of vehi- cles,” Jha said. “As per the plan, it will have three segments — parking, non-parking and transit. The transit segment will be for auto-rickshaws, cabs and other commercial vehicles which would be used as pick-up- and-drop facilities. Besides, there would be pedestrian spaces for ease of people’s movement,” he said. The transit parking facili- ty is being built near Lajpat Nagar’s Central Market and land has been earmarked for another facility at Kailash Colony, he said. T he board of India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has ordered an indepen- dent probe into allegations of “conflict of interest” and “quid pro quo” in its MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group on a quid-pro-quo basis. It was alleged that Videocon Group pumped money into NuPower Renewables, a firm owned by Deepak Kochhar, husband of Chanda Kochhar. Last week, market regulator Sebi had served a notice on Kochhar on dealings of the bank with Videocon Group and Nupower. The enquiry was ordered by the board at its meeting on Tuesday on a complaint by an anonymous whistle-blower against Kochhar, the bank said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. “...The enquiry to be head- ed by an independent and credible person (will) examine and enquire into an addition- al anonymous whistle-blower complaint...,” it said. The scope of enquiry would be comprehensive and include all relevant matters arising out of and in course of examination of the facts and wherever warranted, use of forensics/email reviews and recordal of statements of rele- vant personal, it said. The enquiry, the bank said, will be conducted by an “inde- pendent and credible” person. Continued on Page 4 N o bids have been received so far for stake in Air India, the Government said on Wednesday even as it hoped of getting a good response on the last day of the formal bidding process on Thursday. “We expect good response before bid closes tomorrow,” Civil Aviation Secretary RN Choubey told PTI responding to a query. Earlier in the day, he said no bids have been received for the stake sale so far. The dead- line for the expression of inter- est ends on Thursday and the request for proposal could be issued only after June 15. On May 23, Choubey had said the highest bidder for the airline would be known by August-end. But, the highest bidder might not be the suc- cessful bidder, he said, adding the Government intends to complete the disinvestment by year-end. Significantly, he had said the Government could decide against selling State-run Air India if it does not get “ade- quate” price for it. “The Government has the right to sell or not to sell Air India if the bid price is found to be inadequate,” Choubey had told reporters. “Though the transaction adviser (EY) will assess the enterprise value, the right price for the airline will be decided by us,” he said. Continued on Page 4
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Page 1: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

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After 16 days of relentlessprice hike, fuel prices were

cut by just 1 paisa per litre onWednesday. The marginalreduction in fuel prices had itsshare of excitement with State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC)earlier announcing a cut of 60paise — the biggest since dailyprice revision was introducedin mid-June last year — only toretract it within a couple ofhours citing a technical error.

The news triggered jokeson Twitter, where many vent-ed their ire at the negligiblereduction.

“ONE paisa!?? If this isyour idea of a prank, it’s child-ish and in poor taste,” tweetedCongress president RahulGandhi. The Congress tooposted a meme mocking BJP supporters on its officialhandle.

Earlier correcting the“technical error”, the IOC in astatement said, “There was atechnical glitch in posting theselling prices of petrol anddiesel. The selling prices ofpetrol and diesel with effectfrom May 30, 2018 have beenrectified. Today, there is aminor reduction in fuel prices.”

The 1 paisa cut comes after16 consecutive price increasessince May 14 when fuel retail-ers ended a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus to passon the spike in global cruderates. Petrol price was increasedby �3.8 per litre and diesel by�3.38 in the last fortnight.

“There is softening ininternational oil prices andrupee has strengthened againstthe US dollar, making importscheaper. All this will reflect inreduction in retail rates incoming days,” the officialadded.

However, Opposition lead-ers, including Congress presi-dent Rahul Gandhi, were quickto slam the minor reduction.

Besides politicians, whotook a dig at the negligible cutin fuel prices on the socialmedia, Twitter was also flood-ed with hashtags and mes-sages about the price cut, mak-ing fun of the situation.'#petrolled', '#fuelonfire','#petrolprice' and '#fuel' wereamong the hashtags trendingon Twitter besides variousmemes.

One user posted a picture

of long gone 5 paise coin, say-ing, “My savings today after fill-ing 5 litres of petrol.” Anotheruser said, “I am going to investit in mutual funds now.”

The Opposition partieshave been demanding theGovernment to cut excise duty,which it had raised 9 timeswhen oil prices had fallenbetween 2014 and early 2016,to give relief to consumers.

The price effected fromWednesday is based on averageinternational rate from May 15to May 29.

For Thursday’s rate, the

average from May 16 to May 30will be taken. Rates had onTuesday touched an all-timehigh of �78.43 per litre forpetrol and �69.31 a litre fordiesel in Delhi. Prices varyfrom State to State dependingon VAT.

Delhi has the cheapestprice among all metros andmost State capitals.

Reacting to massive publiccomments on the social medialast week, Oil MinisterDharemndra Pradhan had thensaid the Government is pan-ning “holistic strategy” to

reduce the oil prices in thecountry.

However, EconomicAffairs Secretary SubhashChandra Garg had on Mondayalso stated that fuel prices areexpected to cool in the next twoor three days.

Last week, the Governmenthad stated that it is working ona long-term solution to addressthe volatility in fuel prices.The BJP-led Government, inJune last year, junked a 15-yearold practice of revising ratesevery fortnight and moved todaily revisions.

Meanwhile, the KeralaGovernment reduced the taxlevies on fuel by �1. The move,effective from June 1, comesamid growing clamour for anexcise duty cut to bring downskyrocketing fuel prices.

� &����'� �� �3���38!'

Even as monsoon hit theKerala coast three days

ahead of its schedule, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) on Wednesday predict-ed that the Southern Peninsula— Karnataka, Telangana,Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,Kerala and Puducherry — mayget “below normal” rainfall.The North-East India too isexpected to get below normalrainfall.

On the other hand, north-west India — Punjab, Haryana,Uttarakhand, HimachalPradesh, Jammu & Kashmir,Delhi, and western UttarPradesh — will get the highestoverall rainfall during the June-September period and July willbe the wettest month.

According to the IMD’sprediction on distribution ofrainfall, the central India toowill get “normal” rainfall.

On rainfall (month-wiseand region-wise) distributionprediction depends planningfor Kharif sowing and timingand choice of crops during themonsoon season.

Releasing its second stagelong-range forecast for thesouth-west monsoon, the IMDsaid, “Region wise, the seasonrainfall is likely to be 100 percent of long period average(LPA) over north-west India,99 per cent of LPA over centralIndia, 95 per cent of LPA overSouth Peninsula and 93 percent of LPA over North-EastIndia — all with a model errorof ± 8 per cent.”

Predicting July as thewettest month during the sea-son, the IMD said, “The

monthly rainfall over the coun-try as whole is likely to be 101per cent of its LPA during Julyand 94 per cent of LPA duringAugust both with a modelerror of ± 9 per cent.”

Sticking to its April (firststage long range) forecast, theIMD said, “The rainfall overthe country as a whole for the2018 south-west monsoon sea-son (June to September) islikely to be “normal” (96 percent to 104 per cent of LPA).

“Quantitatively, monsoonseason (June to September)rainfall for the country as awhole is likely to be 97 per centof the LPA with a model errorof ±4 per cent”.

In its second stage forecast,the IMD has, however, pre-dicted slightly higher proba-bility of having “normal” rain-fall than what it had predictedin April. Similarly, it marginallyreduced the probability of hav-ing deficient rainfall (drought)this year.

The second stage predic-tion may further give positivesignal to the farm sector asgood rainfall always helpsgrowth in agricultural and hor-ticultural production. Increasedfarm production is also goodfor overall India’s economy asit drives rural demand and inturn helps the manufacturingsector as well. This is the thirdconsecutive year when thecountry’s national weather fore-caster predicted “normal” mon-soon rainfall.

Continued on Page 4���� �3���38!'>.7��!�%'

Seeking to douse the fire inAssam over proposed

Citizenship Amendment Bill,the Centre on Wednesdayagreed to set up a committee tolook into the issue raised by theAssam Government and theprotesters. Home MinisterRajnath Singh conveyed toAssam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal that allstakeholders and the people ofAssam will be taken into con-fidence before a final call.

Sonowal requested theHome Minister to set up acommittee to make recom-mendations for the implemen-tation of Clause 6 of the AssamAccord which provides forconstitutional, legislative andadministrative safeguards toprotect, preserve and promote

culture, social, linguistic iden-tity and heritage of Assamesepeople.

“The Home Minister saidthat there should be no appre-hension in minds of the peopleof Assam about the CitizenshipAmendment Bill. The HomeMinister has assured thatbefore taking any step, thepeople of Assam will be takeninto confidence. All stake-holders will be consulted,”Sonowal told reporters in Delhiafter meeting Rajnath.

Assam has been witnessingprotests against the CentralGovernment’s move to enactthe Citizenship (Amendment)Bill 2016 that seeks to grant cit-izenship to non-Muslims fromBangladesh, Pakistan andAfghanistan who came to Indiadue to religious persecution inthose countries. Organisations

spearheading the protests saidthat the Bill, if passed, wouldpave the way for giving citi-zenship to illegal immigrantsfrom Bangladesh in Assam.

Continued on Page 4

�� ��������� �3���38!'�

In a move to encourage dri-vers to use multi-level park-

ing areas, rather than streets,civic bodies will levy just one-third charges of surface park-ing at multi-level facilities.According to parking man-agement area plan (PMAP)for the national Capital, thepolicy being firmed up by theDelhi Government seeks todecongest the city and alsomake it pedestrian-friendly.

South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) DeputyCommissioner Prem ShankarJha said, “The idea is to comeup with a holistic parking pol-icy for the city that addressesthe needs of pedestrians. Wewant to discourage long-termsurface parking and incen-tivise multi-level parking tokeep the city decongested.”

“So, in the plan, we haveproposed that charges formulti-level parking should be

one-third of the rates of surfaceparking,” the official said.

The SDMC is the nodalcivic body engaged for thePMAP, which also includes dis-allowing parking within 25 metrefrom roundabouts and trafficintersections, the official said.

The PMAP, which cameinto effect in February this year,is part of the draft parking pol-icy for Delhi being finalised bythe Arvind KejriwalGovernment.

It has proposed a numberof variable charges for resi-dential and commercial areas;these charges are envisioned toimpact the demand for parkingspace in Delhi.

“The proposals made by us(nodal agency) have been takenup positively by the DelhiGovernment’s TransportDepartment. The policy is yetto be notified,” he said.

The current parkingcharges for North, East andSouth Delhi Municipal

Corporations (NMC, EDMC,SDMC) are �20 per hour forcars and �10 for two-wheelers.For 24 hours, it is subject to amaximum of �200 for carsand �100 for two-wheelers.

“Lajpat Nagar and Kailash

Colony areas in South Delhihave been identified for modelparking facilities, which wouldbe developed according to theparking plan that also envisagesto address spill-over of vehi-cles,” Jha said.

“As per the plan, it will havethree segments — parking,non-parking and transit. Thetransit segment will be forauto-rickshaws, cabs and othercommercial vehicles whichwould be used as pick-up-

and-drop facilities. Besides,there would be pedestrianspaces for ease of people’smovement,” he said.

The transit parking facili-ty is being built near LajpatNagar’s Central Market andland has been earmarked foranother facility at KailashColony, he said.

���� *7*&�'

The board of India’s largestprivate sector lender ICICI

Bank has ordered an indepen-dent probe into allegations of“conflict of interest” and “quidpro quo” in its MD and CEOChanda Kochhar’s dealing withcertain borrowers.

There are allegations ofinvolvement of Kochhar andher family members in a loanprovided to Videocon group ona quid-pro-quo basis.

It was alleged thatVideocon Group pumpedmoney into NuPowerRenewables, a firm owned byDeepak Kochhar, husband ofChanda Kochhar. Last week,market regulator Sebi hadserved a notice on Kochhar ondealings of the bank withVideocon Group and Nupower.

The enquiry was orderedby the board at its meeting onTuesday on a complaint by ananonymous whistle-bloweragainst Kochhar, the bank said

in a regulatory filing onWednesday.

“...The enquiry to be head-ed by an independent andcredible person (will) examineand enquire into an addition-al anonymous whistle-blowercomplaint...,” it said.

The scope of enquirywould be comprehensive andinclude all relevant mattersarising out of and in course ofexamination of the facts andwherever warranted, use offorensics/email reviews andrecordal of statements of rele-vant personal, it said.

The enquiry, the bank said,will be conducted by an “inde-pendent and credible” person.

Continued on Page 4

���� �3���38!'

No bids have been receivedso far for stake in Air

India, the Government said onWednesday even as it hoped ofgetting a good response on thelast day of the formal biddingprocess on Thursday.

“We expect good responsebefore bid closes tomorrow,”Civil Aviation Secretary RNChoubey told PTI respondingto a query.

Earlier in the day, he saidno bids have been received forthe stake sale so far. The dead-line for the expression of inter-est ends on Thursday and therequest for proposal could beissued only after June 15.

On May 23, Choubey hadsaid the highest bidder for theairline would be known byAugust-end. But, the highestbidder might not be the suc-cessful bidder, he said, addingthe Government intends to

complete the disinvestment byyear-end.

Significantly, he had saidthe Government could decideagainst selling State-run AirIndia if it does not get “ade-quate” price for it.

“The Government has theright to sell or not to sell AirIndia if the bid price is foundto be inadequate,” Choubey hadtold reporters.

“Though the transactionadviser (EY) will assess theenterprise value, the right pricefor the airline will be decidedby us,” he said.

Continued on Page 4

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Page 2: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

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Amassive fire that broke outat a rubber factory in South

Delhi’s Malviya Nagar onTuesday evening, started froma truck laden with rubbersheets, police said onWednesday. It took more than16 hours and 65 fire tenders todouse one of the biggest firewitnessed by the nationalCapital so far in the season,they added.

For the first time in the his-tory of the city, a fire was con-troled with the help of theIndian Air Force. Three IAFchoppers carrying bambi buck-ets were used to douse the blazewhich led to a difficult timesfor the residents. Since the firebroke out in a residential area,police cordoned off the area,asking residents to close downtheir windows.

Police said the truck withPunjab number plate, fromwhich the fire started, wasloaded with rubber sheets andparked inside a godown in theKhirki Extension area. Seniorpolice officers said that theyhave arrested the owner of thegodown, Sanjay Saini.

Fire officers said although

no casualty was reported butthe Chief Fire Officer of theDelhi fire services, Atul Garg,fell unconscious during thefirefighting operations. Fireofficers said fire was of the“highest magnitude” this sea-son. Plastic and raw materialstored at the factory fuelled thefire. Aam Aadmi Party legisla-tor Somnath Bharti also visit-ed the spot.

The fire started when atruck caught fire at 5 pm onTuesday, following which theblaze eventually spread insidethe godown of a private com-

pany, which is in the businessof providing rubber raw mate-rial for re-threading of vehicletyres.

Romil Baaniya, DeputyCommissioner of Police, Southdistrict said, “ Apart frompolice and fire department,teams from DDMA, Air Forceand civil defence were beingengaged in the relief and rescueoperations. The helicopterbuckets of Indian Air Forcemade three sorties to extin-guish fire. Five fire tenders withdry chemical power foam werealso engaged in the operation.

The Sant Nirankari School, agym, and 13 buildings near thegodown, have been evacuatedfor safety reasons.”

Police said that medicalteams at Max Saket, RainbowChild Speciality hospital,Safdarjung hospital, and AIIMShave been alerted to attend toany injured, he added.However, no one has beeninjured so far.

A senior Delhi Fire ServiceOfficial said that despite theovernight operation, fire con-tinued to rage at the easterncorner of the godown on

Wednesday. Teams of firedepartment claimed they couldextinguish it only after the rawmaterials burnt completely.

The DCP said, “Onenquiry it was found that atruck No. PB08CX2955 wasloaded with rubber com-pounds at godown situated atKhirki Extension, MalviyaNagar had caught fire. Tillearly Wednesday morning,fire existed at eastern cornerof the godown of the compa-ny Maxwell pvt. ltd. at Khirkiextension at malviya nagar.They are into business ofproviding rubber raw mater-ial for rethredding of vehicletyre.

He further said that rubbercompounds stored in metallicor plastic boxes caught fire.“Moderate winds caused thefire to further spread.

So far 65 fire tendersreached the spot. By 2pm onWednesday, fire was completelydoused. A case under section285 and 336 of the IPC hasbeen registered at the MalviyaNagar police station. Services ofhelicopter bucket from air forceare being taken to extinguishfire. so far 3 sorties have beenmade,” said Baaniya.

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The Indian Air Force (IAF),through its ‘Bambi Bucket’

operation helped in containinga major fire which broke out ina rubber godown in SouthDelhi’s Malviya Nagar area, anofficial statement said onWednesday.

Cooling operations wereunderway at the factory tillWednesday afternoon. A denseplume of smoke billowed froma truck and a godown in KhirkiExtension area on Tuesdayevening, causing panic amonglocals. The Delhi police hasarrested Sanjay Saini, owner ofthe godown, in the incident.“Around midnight, a requestwas received at HQ WesternAir Command for containinga fire at Malviya Nagar. AMLH class helicopter airbornefrom Sarsawa did a recce andlanded at Palam. Thereafter, thehelicopter got airborne with

bambi bucket to contain thefire,” the statement by the IAFsaid. The helicopter filled waterfrom Yamuna reservoir andpoured it over the site. “Thishad to be repeated thrice tocontain the fire.

This was the first time thebambi bucket operation wasdone in an urban situationwherein the nitty gritties ofdrop are very precise, owing tohigh rises around and chancesof collateral damage,” the state-ment said. The operationspicked up this morning where-in a helicopter flown by WingCommander Pradeep Bhola ofthe Mighty Armours assisted indousing the fire, the IAF said.Approximately 8,000 litres ofwater have been used in theoperation. So far, 65 fire tendershave been used to contain theblaze, the police said, adding 13buildings, a school and a gymhave been evacuated for safe-ty reasons.

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ABSES inspection team wasattacked while it was car-

rying out a raid to check powertheft in Southeast Delhi’s PulPrahladpur area, leaving twoemployees of the power distri-bution company injured.

Police on Wednesday saidthat they have arrested twopersons in connection withthe incident. Their bail appli-cation was rejected by a Saketcourt on Tuesday, a BSESspokesperson said. The teamwas attacked last Thursdaywhile acting on a complaintthat a resident named Irfan ofLal Kuan, Pul Prahaladpur,was involved in power theft.Irfan, his father Akbar andanother person namedShabbir allegedly attacked theteam members with sticksand bricks, the spokespersonsaid.

Two senior managers ofthe company, Manish Sharmaand Vishal Prabhakar, sus-tained injuries during themelee. Prabhakar receivedinjuries on his right leg where-as Manish suffered injuries onhis chest and leg, thespokesperson said. A case was

registered in connection withthe incident and Akbar andShabbir, were arrested, whileIrfan managed to escape.Those arrested were presentedin the court and their bail wasrejected. Lal Kuan is a high-power theft area in southDelhi, where the discom loos-es around 2-3 million units ofelectricity annually, the BSESspokesperson said. “Such inci-dents are not infrequent. Evenin February this year, a BSESteam was attacked and a seniorofficial had sustained headinjuries,” the spokespersonsaid.

The BSES teams often facepeople who work like “organ-ised gang” in such sensitiveareas and more police supportis needed by the discom tocurb power theft. Assertingthat power theft has taken theshape of “organised crime” insensitive areas, the spokesper-son said Najafgarh, Jaffarapur,Mundka, Badarpur, ShaheenBagh, Karawal Nagar, NandNagari, Mandawali amongothers are some high losspockets where power theftleads to revenue loss as well asburden on the distributionnetwork.

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Over 10,000 girls andwomen received self

defence training during a 15-days training camp organisedby the Delhi Police under theSashakti scheme. The camp,which concluded onWednesday, was organised bythe Special Police Unit forWomen and Children(SPUWAC) of the Delhi policeat six places across the city. Thecamp, aimed to empower andensure safety of girls andwomen in the city also saw aspecial session held to sensitisegirls as well as boys against“good touch and bad touch”,DCP (SPUWAC) Esha Pandeysaid. Also, apart from impart-ing self defence training to girlsand women, awareness activi-ties like Nukkad Natak andscreebubg of short film“Komal” were also held duringthe camp. “Sanitary Napkinswere distributed to 500 girls tomark World MenstrualHygiene Day,” Pandey said.The SPUWAC has been organ-ising self defence training pro-grammes, under the Sashaktischeme for girls and women inDelhi since 2002. More than8,18,920 girls and women havebeen trained through this ini-tiative. Last year, over two lakhgirls and women were trainedunder the scheme, said the offi-cial.

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In a startling revelation, con-trary to what Government

figures claim, a survey con-ducted by two NonGovernment Organisations(NGO’s) in Ghaziabad slumsshowed that 45 per cent slumresidents don’t possess voteridentity cards and 31 per centdon’t have bank accounts.

Two NGO’s “Lakshmi” and“Rashtriya Sainik Sansthan”,working for the upliftment ofthe downtrodden section ofsociety conducted survey cov-ering over 2000 families inVijay Nagar and other slumareas of Ghaziabad.

Jyoti Avasthi Director ofLAKSHMI told that in VijayNagar zone Chand maaricolony, Mirzapur, Kaila Dehat,Vir Abdul Hameed colony,Charan Singh colony andSudamapuri it was found that57 percent children don’t pos-sess birth certificate. 98 percentold persons don’t get old agepensions and 91 percent fam-ilies don’t possess Ration Cardto buy groceries.

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Three unidentified miscre-ants looted about

�2.17 lakh and a car from alabour contractor nearDharampur Chowk underRajendra Park police stationarea on Tuesday night.According to the police, victimLeela Ram was going towardsRewari from Delhi in his I-20 car.

He had stopped nearDharampur Chowk when all ofa suddenly three unidentifiedmiscreants entered his car andheld him hostage on gun point.Later they moved towardsDelhi. The accused snatchedthe money, mobile and droppedthe victim at Jhatikra village inDelhi and fled with the car.

The victim later filed anFIR in Rajendra Park policestation in Gurugram. However,

no clue was found till reportscame in.

Sources said it was not afirst time that such a hugeamount has been looted bymiscreants in Gurugram.

Meanwhile, a senior policesaid, “Aroud one thousand con-stables are going to join theGurugram police force. Thedeployment of such cops willdifferently help to curb suchkind of incidents in Gurugram”.

“A case has been regis-tered in this regards underrelevant sections of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) at RajendraPark police station. We arescanning CCTV footage of thecrime spot to develop the iden-tity of the accused person.Further probe into the matteris underway the accused will bearrested soon,” RavinderKumar, Public Relation Officerof Gurugram police, said.

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A30-year-old woman wasallegedly gang raped by five

men including two Ola cab dri-vers in Southwest Delhi’s VasantKunj area on Sunday night. Themen abducted the woman andlater gang-raped her at a guesthouse in South Delhi’s VasantKunj. The five accused identifiedas Tejvir Singh, Gopal Prasad,Roopinder, Anshul and RamBabu were arrested on Tuesdayfollowing the complaint of thewoman.

According to the police, theincident took place late onSunday night when the womanwalked out of Sahara mall in

Gurugram around 11. pm. Thewoman told the police that shewas trying to catch an auto out-side the mall when the men ina car came near her and offeredto drop her home. The womanin her complaint told the policethat when she resisted, one ofthem dragged her by her handand pulled her into the car.

Later they took her to aguest house where they tookturns to rape her for over threehours. The accused laterlatched the room door fromoutside. “The woman cried forhelp and then a stafferunlatched the door. One of theaccused who saw this rushedback to the room, meanwhile

the girl picked up an instru-ment and hit him on his headand managed to flee. Later, shecalled up a friend and in thewee hours on Monday man-aged to reach the police stationto inform file a complaint,” saida police official.

“A case under appropriatesections of the Indian PenalCode (IPC) was registered andfive of the accused men werearrested on Tuesday,” said thesenior police officer.

A senior investigator saidthat the accused locked her ina PG room at Vasant Kunj andraped her after which they left.

The girl was shouting forhelp hearing which the cook of

that building opened it.But one man present atthe PG tried to stop herfrom fleeing. However,the woman picked upan iron rod and hit himon his head and ranaway. She then calledher common friend andthey went to police sta-tion after which an FIRof kidnapping cum gan-grape was lodged andall the five were arrest-ed from the area.

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Page 3: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

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The first "open day" at thecollege level for academic

session 2018-19 was organ-ised at Kamala Nehru College(KNC) of Delhi University onWednesday in which DU offi-cials and college principalanswered queries of applicantsand their parents.

Following the completionof open days at north campusDU, organised from May 21 toMay 29 at conference centre,the Dean Students Welfare(DSW) office is now organis-ing open days in colleges forDU aspirants. The college opendays are being organised by

DSW office in coordinationwith college authorities.

The second college openday will be organised at HansrajCollege on Thursday. Thirdcollege open day will be organ-ised on 3 June at RajdhaniCollege, fourth on June 4 at Sri

Aurobindo College and IPCollege, on June 5 at ShaheedSukhdev College of BusinessStudies, on June 6 at ZakirHussain College and on June 7at Sri Guru Gobind SinghCollege of Commerce.

Gurpreet Singh Tuteja and

Amrita Bajaj, Deputy Dean ofStudents Welfare of DU, werethe main spokesperson for thesession beside the principalKalpana Bhakuni and the teamof Admissions 2018-19 of thecollege.

"Even the candidates fromUttar Pradesh, Haryana andRajasthan were present. Thequeries were mostly related tothe admission under ExtraCurricular Activity (ECA) cat-egory, Sports, withdrawal pro-cedure, change of course andcollege and about add-oncourses and language courses,"said Amrita Bajaj.

Bajaj made the presentationfor the benefit of all those whoattended the session. Dr Tutejaillustrated the formula of "best offour subjects" in different cases.In answer to a particular query,he explained that English subjectstudied as English Literaturewill be treated as elective subjectwhich can be included alongwith English Core which is alsoconsidered language in the Bestfour calculations.

Tuteja further clarified thatin the treatment of the voca-tional subject which has theoryand practical content if theweightage of theory is less than70 per cent only than pro-ratacalculation will be applied. Hefurther emphasised that the cal-culation of the best four is ver-ified by the college as there is apossibility that the calculationsdone by the candidate may notmeet the specifications of thecollege for any particular course.

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BJP leader SubramanianSwamy on Wednesday filed

a petition in the Patiala HouseCourt, seeking a direction tothe Delhi Police to produce thereport of a vigilance enquiryconducted in Sunanda Pushkardeath case.

The petition was filedbefore the Additional ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate SamarVishal seeking summoning ofthe Delhi Police VigilanceReport on the faults and irreg-ularities in the SunandaPushkar case by the first inves-tigating team of the DelhiPolice. The matter is posted forarguments on June 5.

Taking cognisance of ThePioneer report dated May 28"VIGILANCE POINTS TOSERIOUS LAPSES INSUNANDA PROBE",

Subramaniam Swamy fileda petition on Wednesday. TheAdditional Chief MetropolitanMagistrate Samar Vishal hasreserved for June 5 an order onwhether to summon Pushkar'shusband and senior Congressleader Shashi Tharoor asaccused in the case, put up theapplication for consideration.Swamy has sought a directionto the probe agency to informthe court as to whether theshortcomings in the probe are

satisfied.The application stated that

the report of a vigilanceinquiry, ordered by Delhi PoliceCommissioner, had pointed tovarious serious shortcomingsin the probe in the case.

"If this court examinesthose shortcomings pointedout in the vigilance report tothe extent whether the investi-gating agency has consideredthese shortcomings prior to fil-ing of the charge sheet, furtherinvestigations on the conspir-acy and other angles may becarried out in the interest ofjustice," the application said.

Four years after SunandaPushkar was found dead undermysterious circumstances inroom no 345 at the LeelaPalace Hotel, The Pioneeraccessed the detailed report ofthe Vigilance Enquiry, whichwas ordered by the Delhi PoliceCommissioner in 2016. As perthe detailed report, theInvestigating Officer (IO) lift-ed the bedsheet, bed covers andsome eatables from Pushkar'sroom ten months after theincident. The report states themobile phones and laptop ofSunanda were taken to Dubaiby her son, Shiv Menon afterher last rites. The Delhi Policeseized her laptop on January 25and her three blackberryphones on January 30.

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Aiming better sports infra-structure in national

Capital, the Delhi DevelopmentAuthority (DDA) onWednesday approved sevensites in Dwarka, Rohini andNarela for developing sportscomplexes. The decision wastaken in a meeting chaired byLieutenant Governor AnilBaijal at Raj Niwas.

The sites where sportscomplexes will be developedare - Dwarka Sector-8 (9.78ha), Dwarka Sector-17 (8.00ha), Dwarka Sector-19, Phase-I (8.00 ha), Dwarka Sector-23,Phase II (8.00 ha), RohiniSector-34 (22.25 ha), RohiniSector-33 (8.90 ha) and NarelaSector A-7 (7.27 ha)

The sports complex willalso host football and hockeyplayers besides cricket. Theinfrastructure will be have ath-letics/jogging track, tennis, vol-leyball and basketball courts,skating rink, multigym, andfacilities for other sports activ-ities.

The DDA is also givingpitch to the rural youth withdevelopment of wrestling, box-ing, weight lifting, kabaddi,shooting, athletics, archerysports complexes.

"Lands, which cannot bedeveloped for their intendedpurpose due to site constraints,

could be identified for devel-opment of sports/recreationfacilities like jogging tracks,yoga sheds, which would allowtheir public utilisation as wellas upgrade these areas andprevent encroachment," a DDAofficial said.

For budding sportspersonsfrom EWS category, DDA isproviding 10 per cent in coach-ing contracts. "The policy wasamended for coaches to trainmore trainees in this categoryand DDA would pay the coach-es share of fees for additionaltrainees. DDA would providekit for the EWS trainees," saidthe official.

Elaborating more onupdated sports policy for theDelhi youth, the official saidfacilities at all DDA sports

complexes during non-peakhours would be utilised forconducting school-level com-petitions/tournaments in var-ious sports activities through-out the year.

"The DDA would alsoapproach Sports Authority ofIndia (SAI) for utilisation ofDDA's sports infrastructurefor organising regional, nation-al and international level tour-naments/championships.Facility for a particular sportsdiscipline would be identifiedat each major DDA sportscomplex to make these com-plexes centres for excellence inthese sports. SAI would beconsulted for providing coach-es to undertake coaching atthese sports complexes," theDDA said in a statement.

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Anew study has suggested13 measures, including

reducing emissions from ther-mal power plants and cuttinguse of solid fuel in households,which, it said, can reduce airpollution levels by almost 40per cent and avoid 9 lakh pre-mature deaths in India everyyear.

According to a statementissued by Greenpeace India,the implementation of thesemeasures may also lead to 50-60 per cent reduction ofPM2.5 levels across NorthIndia, including Delhi duringwinter, when it spikes.

The study was done byLouisiana State University(LSU) and Greenpeace alsocontributed to it. GreenpeaceIndia said its campaigners --Sunil Dahiya and LauriMyllyvirta -- were part ofthe study particularly in termsof suggesting policy mea-sures.

"Based on our results, thepolicy measures with thelargest potential for air quali-ty improvements are reducingemissions from thermal powerplants, instituting strong emis-sions standards for industries,reducing solid fuel use inhouseholds, shifting to zig-zagkilns in brick-making and

introducing stronger vehicularemissions standards in anaccelerated schedule," thestatement said quotingProfessor Hongliang Zhang,the author of report.

Zhang said, "A compre-hensive set of policies, includ-ing all of the 13 measures areneeded to achieve a 40 per centreduction in air pollution lev-els and avoid a projected 9lakh premature deaths peryear."

According to the state-ment, the LSU study has re-emphasised that reducingemissions from thermal powerplants and industry by insti-tuting strong emissions stan-dards has the highest potentialto reduce air pollution levels.

Incorporating emissiontargets for thermal powerplants was part of the recom-mendations given by variousresearchers, civil societyorganisations, lawyers andactivists for strengthening thedraft version of NationalClean Air Programme(NCAP) put out in publicdomain by the environmentministry.

"We are presenting, forthe first time, a set of specif-ic, implementable policies thatcan halve winter-time pollu-tion in North India.

"We urge the Environment

Ministry to incorporate thesemeasures into the clean airplan at national level andensure that thermal powerplants implement the notifi-cation of Dec 2015 and setstricter standards for highlypolluting industries industryto reduce pollution in a timebound manner," Campaignerof Greenpeace India SunilDahiya said.

The policy measuresassessed in the report willconstitute a major step towardscleaning air in India, it said.

"If the environment min-istry is serious about publichealth, then it must ensure astronger NCAP and with allthe recommendations byClean Air Collectives (CAC)as well as the recommenda-tions from the current LSUstudy should be incorporatedin the final versions to reduceair pollution from its source,"Dahiya said.

The Greenpeace state-ment, quoting the study, said,"We identified a total of 13emissions reduction measuresthat we judged feasible toimplement by 2030 or earlierand that we expected to havesignificant air quality bene-fits."

"We model the full imple-mentation and enforcement ofthe thermal power plant emis-

sions standards issued inDecember 2015, in operatingand under construction powerplants.

"Full implementationrequires both setting stricttimelines for plant operators tomeet the emission limits laidout in the regulation, with nofurther backpedaling, and astrong monitoring andenforcement system thatensures limits are met andexcess emissions lead to pun-ishments," the study said.

It said the same emissionlimits that are applied to exist-ing coal-fired power plants inIndia can be implemented inall industries.

"This is an ambitiousassumption, but in terms ofpractical implementation andenforcement, controlling stackemission is much easier thandistributed sources," the studysaid.

According to the 2011census, 16.6 crore householdsout of a total of 24.7 crore con-tinued to rely on solid fuels(firewood, crop residue, dungand coal) for cooking andthis is the single largest sourceof air pollution in India, affect-ing both outdoor air qualityand indoor air quality, bothbeing major public health con-cern.

"Interpolating from Global

Burden of Disease (GB) Mapswhich assumed a virtual elim-ination of solid fuels in house-holds by 2050, we model a 50per cent reduction in use ofsolid fuels by 2030, even astotal population is projected toincrease by 20 per cent. Webelieve this to be an ambitiousbut realistic target," the studysaid.

The other measures in thelist of 13 also include reduc-tion of stubble burning.

It said both "in-situ cropresidue management" and cre-ation of infrastructure andmarket for the use and man-agement of stubble outside ofthe field ("ex-situ" manage-ment) should be used.

The study said that build-ing and improving properwaste management systemsand measures to reduce, reuseand recycle waste can reduceopen burning by 80 per cent.

In construction activities,it said dust control measuresare assumed to reduce dustemissions by 50 per cent as perCentral Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB)

"We assume that thesemeasures can be fully imple-mented at 5 per cent of all con-struction sites across the coun-try, which will require a majortraining and enforcementeffort," the study said.

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Just few hours after CBI raidon Delhi Health Minister

Satyender Jain's residence inconnection with alleged viola-tion of norms in hiring archi-tects for the Public WorksDepartment, Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal said, "Whatdoes PM Modi want?"

The AAP accused theCentral dispensation of keep-ing the party Ministers andMLAs in controversy to ensurethat the work done by theDelhi Government was nothighlighted among the people.It said the 'raid' was an attemptto divert people's attentionfrom the "good works" done bythe Kejriwal government.

The raid was conductedafter the CBI filed a fresh caseagainst Jain in connection withalleged violation of norms inhiring architects for the PWD.

"What does PM Modiwant?", Kejriwal tweeted afterthe PWD Minister in a tweetearlier in the day confirmedthat the central agency hadraided his house over thealleged hiring of the creativeteam by his department.

In reference to the DelhiGovernment's recent decisionto cap "excess charges" by privatehospitals, Deputy Chief MinisterManish Sisodia said the AAP dis-pensation was stopping "loot" ofprivate hospitals, but "the Centre

gets pain, and it gets raids doneby CBI".Senior AAP leaderAshish Khetan alleged it hasbecome a pattern in the last threeyears that whenever the DelhiGovernment did "good work",the CBI, Anti-Corruption Branch(ACB) and Delhi Police registercases against Aam Aadmi PartyMinisters and MLAs.

"They (Centre) try to ensurethat our works are not high-lighted among people and keepus in controversy. In the last threeyears, Modi's police has failed toprovide single evidence in courtsagainst AAP ministers andMLAs."Our MLAs have beenacquitted by courts in all casesregistered against them," Khetantold reporters here.

The AAP leader alsoalleged that the CBI and theDelhi Police have been tryingto "implicate" AAP leaders infalse cases."Raid is conductedon us so that an electedGovernment is not allowed towork. In the history of democ-racy in 70 years, such harass-

ment of an elected Governmenthas never been done by Centralagencies," Khetan said.

Talking to reporters, AAPleader Raghav Chaddha saidPrime Minister Narendra Modiand BJP chief Amit Shah havebeen unable to "digest" the hugemandate received by the AAP inthe 2015 Delhi Assembly elec-tions. "Since the AAP got 67 outof 70 seats in Delhi, Modi andShah have not been able todigest their defeat. No agency isleft under the NDA-led Centrewhich has not attacked theAAP Government," he said."Be it CBI, ED, EconomicOffences Wing and the DelhiPolice, they (Centre) have triedto threaten us," Chaddha said.

Jain is already facing probein a case pertaining to moneylaundering.The CBI had regis-tered a preliminary enquiryinto the hiring of 24 architectsfor a creative wing of the PWDthrough an agency, whichreportedly lacked any priorexperience, the officials said.

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The South Delhi MunicipalCorporation (SDMC) has

signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) withPower Finance Corporation(PFC) for setting up two cre-matoria at Dwarka Sector 24and Subhash Nagar. The civicbody also signed another MoUwith Energy Efficiency Services(EESL) Limited for upgradingits 100 schools.

SDMC CommissionerPuneet Kumar Goel said theinitiative will help in contain-ing the adverse effects of cli-mate change. He also said thatthe new CNG crematoria will

not only save tons of wood andtrees but also mitigate pollu-tion.

Goel also said the fourCNG crematoria will be com-missioned within one year."The PFC under its head ofCorporate Social Responsibly(CSR) will provide an amountof Rs 455 lakh, as financial assis-tance to the SDMC in propor-tionate installments on thecompletion of different stages."

The Commissioner fur-ther said that SDMC is grate-ful to EESL for pioneeringwith SDMC in ensuring betterlighting and sanitation and anatmosphere conducive to edu-cation in 100 schools.

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Day after CBSE declared Class Xresults, Deputy Chief and

Education Minister Manish Sisodiamet Divya Raghuvanshi, who stoodfirst among Delhi Government schoolstudents and wished her luck for herfuture endeavours.

Sisodia met her at the DelhiSecretariat.

"Scoring 98% in her 10th BoardExams, Divya Raghuvanshi topped in#DelhiGovtSchools with 490 marksout of 500. Had a long informalinteraction with her, her family, teach-ers & principal about her success &beyond. Lots of good wishes to her forher life ahead! #FeelingProud (sci)," hetweeted.

The Central Board of SecondaryEducation had declared Class 10exam results yesterday. At 69.32 percent, government schools in Delhi hadthe lowest pass percentage among allcategories of schools affiliated to theCBSE.

The overall pass percentage was86.70. Delhi recorded a pass percent-age of 78.62, with girls stealing amarch over boys. The pass percentageof girls is 79.15 as opposed to boyswho have a pass percentage of 78.12.

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With about one lakh children born in India annuallysuffering from severe to profound hearing loss, for-

mer Australia cricketer Brett Lee on Wednesday urged theIndian Government to make hearing screening for new-born babies mandatory as "everybody deserves to hear thesounds of life".

The fast bowler, who is nowCochlear's Global Hearing Ambassador,was in the city's Sir Ganga Ram Hospitalto raise awareness about UniversalNewborn Hearing Screening (UNHS).Unlike hearing aids, which makesounds louder, cochlear implants bypassthe damaged hair cells of the inner ear(cochlea) to provide sound signals tothe brain.

Lee is actively involved in raising awareness about hear-ing screening for newborn babies, more so after his sonsuffered a temporary hearing loss some time ago.

"No one in this world deserves to live in silence. Peopleshould know that hearing loss is treatable and that it shouldnot prevent a person from leading an active, full life.Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) can helpaddress these issues early in life."

Deafness, according to the WHO refers to the com-plete loss of hearing ability in one or both ears, while "hear-ing impairment" refers to both complete and partial lossof hearing ability. Nearly 360 million people, nearly one-tenth of them children, suffer from hearing loss world-wide."About one lakh children born in India every yearsuffer from severe to profound hearing loss. Overall thefigure may be 10 lakhs," Shalabh Sharma, ENT surgeonat the SGRH said.

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Setting aside political differ-ences, Chief Minister

Arvind Kejriwal congratulatedDelhi Congress chief AjayMaken's son for his good per-formance in the CBSE Class 10examination. In response to theCM's congratulatory remarks,Maken thanked him on Twitter,saying, "As a parent, both of usknow that nothing can be asjoyful as basking in the reflect-ed glory of academic accom-plishments of our children!"

Earlier in the day, the DelhiPradesh Congress Committee(DPCC) chief said on themicro-blogging site that his sonAujaswi had got 95 per centmarks in Class 10 CBSE exam-ination.

"Proud to share, that myson Aujaswi passed his Xthexam scoring 475/500 marks!A perfect 95%! He is truly fol-lowing the footsteps of hisacademically bright and illus-trious sisters! Proud of themall! (sic)," Makan said onTwitter.

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Among the traditional sci-ence courses offered at

Undergraduate (UG) level atDelhi University (DU), thehighest number of registra-tions for admission to acade-mic session 2018-19 are for theBSc(Hons) Mathematics.

The UG registrations ofDU, which starts on May 15,will open till June 7. About2,69,386 registrations forundergraduate courses havebeen received till date.

As per the data, providedby DU official past week,more than 31,700 studentshave registered for the math-ematics course followed by29,399 for B.Sc (Hons)Chemistry and 28,497 for BSc(Hons) Physics.

A DU official told thatamong chemistry, Physics andMathematics courses,Mathematics remains at the topin terms of number of regis-trations as more students applyfor BSc (Hons) Mathematics ascompared to BSc (Hons)Physics and BSc (Hons)Chemistry.

BSc (Hons) Mathematicsis offered by 42 colleges of DUout of which 16 are womencolleges.

"Papers of BSc (Hons)Mathematics are taught byusing software's likeMathematica, Matlab, R-soft-ware, Maxima which givesadvantage to the students ofBSc (Hons) Mathematics atthe time of on-campus place-ments as many companiesprefer hiring experts in thesesoftware," said Dr PankajGarg, Associate Professor,Mathematics, RajdhaniCollege, DU.

Further, experts opined thatthe course is helpful to thosewho want to their career in actu-arial science. Actuarial scienceis the discipline that appliesmathematical and statisticalmethods to assess risk in insur-ance, finance and other indus-tries and professions. Actuariesare professionals who are qual-ified in this field through intenseeducation and experience.

"B.Sc (Hons) Mathematicshelps students to clear manypapers of actuarial sciencecourse conducted by theActuarial Science Society ofIndia. Further it also helpstudents to get jobs in researchorganisations like DRDO,CSIR etc. and other govern-ment jobs where quantitativeaptitude is required," saidGarg.

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Page 4: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

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From Page 1The whistle-blower had

alleged that the bank’s MD andCEO had not adhered to pro-visions relating to code of con-duct of the bank and legal andregulatory provisions relatingto conflict of interest over aperiod of time and also allegedquid pro quo in the course ofKochhar’s work in dealing withcertain customers/borrowersof the bank.

Interestingly in April, theboard had expressed full con-fidence in Kochhar and ruledout any quid pro quo as allegedwith regard to certain loangiven to Videocon group.

The regulator filing, whichcame on Wednesday after closeof stock market, further saidthe enquiry will cover all “con-nected matters” in the course ofinvestigations to bring the mat-ter to a final close.

In keeping with the whis-tle-blower policy of the bank,its board mandated the auditcommittee to appoint an inde-pendent and credible person tohead the enquiry and alsodefine the terms of reference,including timeline. There arealso allegations that NuPowergot investments of �325 crorefrom Mauritius-based FirstlandHoldings, a company owned byNishant Kanodia, son-in-law ofEssar Group co-founder RaviRuia.

The investments from

Ruia’s son-in-law’s firm intoNuPower started in December2010. Incidentally, the samemonth ICICI Bank was leadbanker in a consortium ofIndian banks that extended aUSD 530 million loan to EssarSteel Minnesota LLC onDecember 29, 2010. This loanwas later classified as NPA.

The Reserve Bank in its2016 investigation in the mat-ter had raised questions overthe ownership of the Mauritius-based entity, First LandHolding, which had invested�325 crore in NuPower. Also,there was no clarity over thealleged �64-crore loan (unse-cured fully convertible deben-tures) given to NuPower bySupreme Energy, which was99.99 per cent owned byVideocon chief VenugopalDhoot at that time.

While Chanda Kochharsat on the credit committee thatapproved the loan to Videocon,there are allegations of conflictof interest in her husband’sbrother, Singapore-based RajivKochhar, performing debt-restructuring work on errantcorporate borrowers fromICICI, including Videocon.

The restructuring wasn’tcommissioned by the bank butby the borrowers. Interestingly,the board of ICICI Bankexpressed full faith in ChandaKochhar, whose current tenureas CEO is set to end on March31, 2019. It had reviewed cred-it approval processes and foundthem to be robust, according toa March 28 filing by the bank.

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From Page 1Asked about AI employees’

union protests against the pro-posed sale, he said they wereconscious of the fact that air-lines would do well after pri-vatisation.

The Government had onMarch 28 unveiled plans to sellup to a 76 per cent stake in theloss-making carrier, and trans-fer the management control toprivate players.

The profitable Air IndiaExpress and the joint ventureAISATS — an equal joint ven-ture between the national car-rier and the Singapore-basedSATS Ltd —will also be a partof the disinvestment process.

The ailing airline’s totaldebt stood at Rs 48,781 crore atthe end of March 2017.

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From Page 1Sonowal also said all efforts

would be made to address theconcerns of the people ofAssam in this regard.

The assurance regardingsetting up of the committee toensure implementation ofclause 6 of the Assam Accordassumes significance as it pro-vides for constitutional, leg-islative and administrative safe-guards to protect the cultural,social, linguistic identity andheritage of the Assamese peo-ple.

The meeting also discussedthe arrangements required todispose of claims and objec-tions after publication of draft

National Register of Citizens(NRC).

The Assam Chief Ministeremphasised that adequateopportunity is given to peoplein this regard and necessaryarrangements are made toavoid any inconvenience topublic and all claims and objec-tions are disposed of as per lawand in a proper manner.

He also emphasised that astrong IEC campaign may belaunched to inform peopleabout process of filing claimsand objections after publicationof final draft NRC.

“The NRC updationprocess is going on smoothly inthe State under the guidance of

the Supreme Court of Indiaand it is on the verge of com-pletion.

Both the Central and StateGovernments are extendingfull support for seamlessprogress of the NRC updationand the second draft would bepublished on June 30,”Sonowal said, while urging thepeople not to panic if any oftheir names are not includedin the drafts as they would begiven ample opportunity toregister their claims and objec-tions in the courts and each ofthem would get equal oppor-tunity.

Several organisations inAssam are opposing the

Citizenship (Amendment) Bill2016, on the pretext that it willlegitimise lakhs of illegalBangladeshi immigrants whohad been living in Assam.

According to the AssamAccord, it was agreed thatthose who entered Assam tillmidnight of March 24, 1971will be granted Indian citi-zenship but those came afterthe cut-off date will have to bedetected and deported. It isbelieved the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill 2016 willviolate the clauses of AssamAccord and grant citizenshipto those illegal immigrantsparticularly Hindu Bengalis,who came to Assam till 2014.

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From Page 1The monsoon is consid-

ered as ‘normal’ if the averagerainfall is between 96-104 percent of the LPA.

The LPA of the seasonalrainfall over the country as awhole for the period 1951-2000is 89 cm and it’s a kind of yard-stick to arrive at calculating therainfall level during monsoon.

With the monsoon hittingKerala three days ahead of itsnormal date of onset, the IMDthis year released its second

stage forecast almost a week inadvance.

The move will help thefarmers to plan their sowingoperation a bit early.

The June-September mon-soon season is critical not onlyfor the farmers of Kharif crops, but also drives theIndian economy which is large-ly agrarian. A normal rainfall,and as a result higher agricul-tural output, can boost eco-nomic growth and keep infla-tion in check.

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Singapore Airlines said onWednesday that it will

relaunch the world’s longestcommercial flight in October,a journey of almost 19 hoursfrom the city-state to NewYork, but it will not be availableto economy travellers.

The daily, non-stop jour-ney from Changi to NewarkAirport will cover about 16,700kilometres (10,300 miles) andtake about 18 hours 45 min-utes, the airline said in a state-ment.

The current record holderis Qatar Airways Flight 921from Auckland to Doha, whichtakes 17 hours 40 minutes.

The Singapore Airlines(SIA) flight will use the long-range Airbus A350-900ULR,which will be configured tocarry 161 passengers — 67 inbusiness class and 94 in pre-mium economy.

The airline had flown asimilar route from 2004 until2013 but cancelled it as it fellshort of revenue expectations.However, its latest decisioncomes as carriers look for newsources of revenue in a com-petitive environment, whilelong-haul flights often make

more cash than those thatrequire stops.

There are also plans for anon-stop route from Singaporeto Los Angeles using the sameplane, the airline said.

Analysts said the decisionto have no economy class wasan attempt to promote the air-line to wealthy customers.

"It's about SIA marketingthemselves as a premium ser-vice provider," Brendan Sobie,chief analyst at the Centre forAsia Pacific Aviation, told AFP.

But there have been con-cerns that such long flightsmight pose safety risks, partic-ularly for cabin crew.

Britain's largest union,Unite, alleged this month thatQantas had tried to "silence"crew members who wanted to

discuss concerns about healthand fatigue on their Perth toLondon route, one of thelongest flights in the world at17 hours and 20 minutes.

SIA did not immediatelyrespond to request for com-ment.

However Sobie noted thatSIA pioneered the ultra long-haul route and had done a lotof research.

"In the early 2000s whenthis first started, SIA did all thetesting they needed to andwhat they have come up withhas set the industry standardtoday," he said.

Shukor Yusof, an analystwith aviation consultancyEndau Analytics, said it wasunlikely SIA could makemoney from the new service.

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A28-year-old soldier fromKerala, who was posted at

Fort William, Kolkata, has diedof suspected Nipah virus infec-tion.

He was admitted to thecommand hospital on May 20,where he died five days later, aDefence spokesperson heresaid.

The body of the soldier,Seenu Prasad, who hails fromPalakkad district, was notbrought to Kerala and thefuneral was held in Kolkata.

His parents and wifeattended the last rites, thespokesperson said.

Prasad's body samples havebeen sent to the NationalInstitute of Virology, Pune, fortesting.

The results are awaited.He was on a month's leave

in Kerala and had joined dutyon May 13, the spokespersonadded.

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Several parts of the countryreeled under heatwave con-

dition as eight black bucks per-ished in Madhya Pradesh whilewater and power shortage inJammu made life difficult forpeople.

Officials said the eightblack bucks were onWednesday found to have diedof heatstroke in Dewas districtof Madhya Pradesh.

The herd was found deadin a field on Bhatasa road inKhategaon tehsil, 130 km fromthe district headquarters, saidSub Divisional Officer(Forests) SL Yadav.

The State is reeling underscorching heat for the lastcouple of days. The highestmaximum temperature of 46.2degree Celsius was todayrecorded at Khajuraho.

In the national capital, hotweather conditions prevailedwith the maximum tempera-ture settling at 42 degreesCelsius, a notch above the sea-son's average.

The minimum tempera-ture was recorded at 29.6degrees Celsius, three notchesabove the normal, said a Metdepartment official. The Metoffice has forecast generallycloudy skies along with the

possibility of strong gustywinds for tomorrow night.

There was no relief fromscorching heat in Punjab andHaryana as Hisar was thehottest place among the twostates with a high of 45.3degrees Celsius. Chandigarhrecorded a maximum of 39degrees Celsius, the Metdepartment said.

The State has been facingsevere hot weather conditionsfor the past several days andthe Met department said therewas no respite expected innext 24 hours.

In Rajasthan's Kota, a 50-year-old police constable hasbeen found dead under a tree,with doctors who conductedautopsy suspecting heatstroketo be the cause.

If the final postmortemreport confirms thatLaxmichand Sakhewal indeeddied due to heatstroke, it wouldbe the first death related to pre-vailing heatwave condition inthe Kota region this season.

Across the Kota regionheatwave condition have pre-vailed for past several days.

Elsewhere in the state,maximum temperatures wentdown by 1 to 2 degrees Celsiusat various places after light rainin eastern pockets of the statelast night, a MeT official said.

Jaipur recorded 4.2 mm rain-fall.

Sri Ganganagar wasrecorded the hottest place inthe state with 47 degreesCelsius followed by 46.5degrees Celsius in Bikaner,46.2 degrees Celsius inJaisalmer and 44 degreesCelsius in Churu.

Jammu and its adjoiningareas faced power cuts andwater shortage for severalhours as intense heatwave con-dition continued to prevailwith maximum temperatureremaining above 40 degreesCelsius for a ninth day todayin the area.

Power Minister SunilSharma on May 28 hadinstructed the department thatno planned power cut wouldbe allowed in the region tillfurther orders.

Arun Kumar, a PublicHealth Engineering (PHE)department employee, admit-ted shortage of water and saidthe department had pressedinto service three water tankersto cope up with the situation.

Extreme heatwave condi-tions have been forecast formany parts of Andhra Pradeshwith temperatures expectedto touch a maximum of 46degrees Celsius tomorrow.

The State Disaster

Management Authority hascautioned people to take nec-essary precautionary measuresin view of the expectedextreme weather.

In a statement here today,the SDMA said many parts ofKrishna district are expected torecord 46 degrees Celsius onMay 31, while the temperaturemay range from 43-44 degreesC in East and West Godavari,Guntur, Prakasam, SPS Nelloreand Chittoor districts.

The southwest monsoonthat set into Kerala yesterday,is expected to advance intoAndhra Pradesh around June3.

Meanwhile, light to mod-erate rain and thunderstormoccurred at isolated places inUttar Pradesh but heat wavecontinued to prevail in theState.

The maximum rainfall inthe state was recorded atKaiserganj (4cm), Mankapur(2cm), Basti (2cm), LakhimpurKheri (2cm) and Maharajganj(1cm), the Met office said.Orai city was the hottest in thestate with a high of 47.5degrees Celsius.

Rain and thunderstormaccompanied by gusty windsare very likely at isolated placesin the state over the next cou-ple of days, the Met office said.

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Aweek after the DefenceMinistry issued orders to

the local military Authorities toreopen the closed CantonmentArea roads to the civilians, sit-uation seems to be back tosquare one in Secunderabad.

The angry citizens were upin arms against the whimsicalattitude of the military author-ities who have not only failedto open all the roads but havealso imposed on many restric-tions on the entry of the civil-ians.

Every day a new dramawas being witnessed in theCantonment roads with thearmy personnel either stoppingthe civilians from using theroads are suddenly startdemanding to check their IDcards.

In the backdrop of objec-tions from the military officialsthat opening all the closedroads will create security prob-lems for the defence establish-ments, defence personnel andtheir families and also disturbthe training activities, defencePRO has issued a press releasesaid that Local MilitaryAuthority has been given a freehand to close and controlaccess to the Cantonmentswhen there is actionable intel-ligence input or he case ofemergency.

"The army took a consid-ered decision to open roads inmilitary area for one monthand thereafter review thenature of traffic passingthrough these areas", it said.

Ramakrishna, VicePresident OF SecunderabadCantonment Board said that ofthe 16 roads which were to bereopened as per the orders ofDefence Minister only thoseroads have been opened wheretemporary barricades were putbut permanent structures builtto close other roads were yet tobe demolished.

The frequent change inthe stand of the militaryauthority has left the civiliansincluding the morning walkers

agitated and area has seenmany protests during last week.

At Wellington Road onAOC circle heated argumentstook place when the militarypersonnel stopped the morningwalkers and started taking theirphotos. Angry walkers startedshouting slogans. "We areIndians and terrorists", one ofthem shouted.

At other places walkerscarried placards and stagedprotests.

Even as the affected civil-ians have planned anotherprotest on Thursday a meetingof Secunderabad CantonmentBoard has also been convenedto discuss the issue.

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Former additional directorgeneral of police

Maharashtra VVLakshminarayana, who hadrecently taken voluntary retire-ment to enter politics has cre-ated a stir in political cricket byattending a RSS program heldat Medchal in city outskirts.

Lakshmi Narayana, whohails from Andhra Pradeshand had handled many highprofile cases while serving inthe Central Bureau ofInvestigation attended the vale-dictory function at RSS training centre atAnnojiguda village sparkingspeculations that he may jointhe BJP.

While taking VRS he hadsaid that he planned to join pol-itics but did not specifywhether he will join one of theexisting parties or float hisown party.

Addressing the RSS cadresVV, as the IPS officer is known,was all praise for RSS trainingprograms.

"RSS swayamsevaks have ahuge role to play in making ourcountry once again strong andprosperous", he said.

Lakshminarayana said thathe the RSS develops individualpersonality in a way that ithelps in nation building.

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Security forces busted a Naxalcamp following an

encounter in Chhattisgarh'sinsurgency-hit Kanker districttoday, police said.

The skirmish took place ina forest between Parredodoand Kattipani villages inDudhawa area, 200 km fromRaipur, a local police officialsaid.

A joint team of statepolice's Special Task Force(STF) and district police hadlaunched a combing opera-

tion last night after getting atip-off about presence of seniorMaoist cadres in the area.

The exchange of fire beganafter the team spotted andencircled a Maoist camp.

After the rebels fled intothe forest, eight bags, four steeldrums, a solar plate, electricwire, medicines and com-modities of daily use wererecovered from the spot, thepolice official said.

The combing operationhas been intensified in theregion to nab the Naxals, headded.

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External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj on

Wednesday said she has soughta report from the Indian HighCommission in Pakistan overkilling of a Sikh religious leaderin Peshawar city.

Charnjit Singh, 52, aprominent Sikh leader and anoutspoken critic of the Taliban,was shot dead by gunmen inPeshawar's Scheme Chowk areayesterday.

His killing has jolted theminority community inPakistan.

Swaraj today said she hassought a report from the Indianmission in Islamabad afterpresident of Shiromani AkaliDal Sukhbir Singh Badalexpressed shock over the Sikhleader's killing and asked heron twitter to take up the issuewith Pakistan.

"Sukhbir ji : I fully shareyour concern. I have alreadyasked for a report from ourHigh Commissioner inIslamabad. I will revert onthis," Swaraj tweeted.

Singh was a social activistand was known for his work forinter-faith harmony.

Badal, in a tweet, said Sikhshave always been facing dis-crimination in Pakistan andrequested Swaraj to take up theissue with her Pakistan coun-terpart to ensure safety andsecurity of the community inPakistan.

Local police said the killingwas suspected to be a targetedattack.

Singh hailed from Khybertribal region, but migrated toPeshawar in the early 1980s. Heis survived by two sons and adaughter.

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GANDHINAGAR: A womanwas detained after she gavethreat of self-immolation out-side Chief Minister VijayRupani’s residence in Rajkot onWednesday by local police.

The woman identified asHetal Makwana, a native ofPadadhari village situated onthe outskirts of Rajkot, hadthreatened to carry out self-immolation outside Rupani’sprivate residence, said RajkotDCP Karan Raj Vaghela addingthat as part of precaution the

police had barricade the areanear CM Rupani’s residence inhis hometown to prevent anyuntoward incident.

As Hetal came in an autorickshaw with two otherwomen, police detained herand didn’t allow her to carryout self-immolation bid andregistered a case against her.

The lady was said to beprotesting against police inac-tion to include name of a localleader and former legislatorfrom ruling party.

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Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman today

reviewed the security situationat forward posts of the AssamRif les, along the India-Myanmar border, in Mon dis-trict of Nagaland.

Sitharaman, who arrivedin Nagaland yesterday on atwo-day visit, also interactedwith the commanders operat-ing on the ground, a releaseissued by the PRO, Defencesaid.

Accompanied byLieutenant General Gopal R,the general officer com-manding of the Army's Spear

Corps, she assessed the bordermanagement operations atthe forward posts, it said.

The Spear Corps is head-quartered in Rangapahar,Dimapur.

The commanders briefedher about the prevalent con-ditions under which the Armyunits function along the inter-national border, the releasesaid.

The minister, after a com-prehensive assessment of theforward posts, expressed"immense satisfaction" overthe "high standards of profes-sionalism and dedication" dis-played by the units, it said.

Sitharaman also met state

government functionaries,representatives of other secu-rity agencies and local com-munity leaders during hervisit to the district, it said.

She thanked them fortheir cooperation in main-taining security in the area, itadded.

Yesterday, the defenceminister had visited the SpearCorps Zone in Dimapur,where officers briefed herabout the counter-terroristoperations. Defence sourcessaid Sitharaman was unable tovisit other international bor-der areas in Nagaland owingto inclement weather condi-tions.

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Page 5: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

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Lt General Ranbir Singh,who was Director General

Military Operations (DGMO)when the Army carried out sur-gical strikes across the Line ofControl (LoC) in PakistanOccupied Kashmir (POK) in2016, will be the new NorthernCommand chief. It was Singhwho had announced about theoperations having been con-ducted in the wake of a terror-ist attack on an Army camp inUri September that year killing19 soldiers. Singh will replaceincumbent Lt General DevrajAnbu, who will take charge asVice Chief of Army, after pre-sent head Lt General SarathChand retires month end.

Northern Command is astrategically important com-mand as it takes care of the bor-ders with Pakistan in Jammuand Kashmir besides Siachenand Line of Actual Control(LAC) with China in Ladakh.Moreover, this command han-dles anti-militancy operationsin Jammu & Kashmir includ-ing preventing militants fromsneaking into the state fromacross the LoC.

Singh, commissioned intoDogra Regiment and current-ly serving as Deputy Chief ofArmy — Information Systemsand Training at ArmyHeadquarters here, assumesnew responsibility as NorthernCommand chief at a crucialjuncture when the Centreannounced unilateral cease-

fire during the holy month ofRamzan starting May 17.Moreover, India and Pakistanon Tuesday mutually agreed tofully implement the 2003Ceasefire Understanding tobring down hostilities andceasefire violations on the LoC

and International Border (IB)in Jammu.

The agreement on ceasefireon the LoC, however, does notbind the Army from continu-ing with its anti-militancy oper-ations within the State. In thisbackdrop, Singh will have toensure that levels of violence donot go up given the apprehen-sions that the month longbreather due to halting of anti-terrorist operations will givetime to terrorists to regroupand rearm.

Similarly, as the NorthernCommand chief, he has tokeep a close watch on Pakistan’sintentions to honour the latestpact. This is important as theLoC has seen more than 900ceasefire violations in the firstfour and half months of thisyear as compared to 850 for theentire last year.

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Despite taking note of thetechnical glitches in the

conduct of the Common LawAdmission Test (CLAT) 2018,the Supreme Court onWednesday gave the go-aheadfor announcement of theresults scheduled for Thursday.

Close to 250 students hadapproached various courtscomplaining against the tech-nical glitches that delayed theconduct of the online test onMay 13 at several examinationcentres. Of these, seven stu-dents had approached the apexcourt demanding appropriaterelief.

The Vacation Bench ofJustices LN Rao and M MohanShantanagouder was alive tothe concern of the affected stu-dents and accordingly directedthe Grievance RedressalCommittee, looking into theircomplaints, to submit a reportby June 6 on the possible solu-tions to redress the genuinelyaffected students. However, theBench declined to hold up theresults as close to 54,000 stu-dents had taken the test foradmission into 19 prestigiousnational law colleges acrossthe country.

The lawyers appearing forthe affected students said thatthe CCTV footage showedhow at some examination cen-tres, the computers were mal-functioning or there was trou-

ble with the software. Due tothese issues, the students lostprecious 15 to 20 minutes.The Grievance RedressalCommittee formed to examinetheir complaints told the courtthat the technical glitch wastaken care of by awarding extratime to the affected candi-dates. However, only few stu-dents availed of the same.

Senior advocate V Giriwho appeared for theCommittee said that the pend-ing complaints should not stallthe announcement of results.According to him, once theresult is announced theCommittee would be in a posi-tion to know how many of theaffected students are withinstriking distance of the mini-mum cut off marks required forgetting admission into theNational Law colleges. At thesame time, those candidateswho are way below the cut-offneed not be considered as no

amount of grace marks couldqualify them for admission.

The bench explained thisposition to the petitioners ledby senior advocate SalmanKhurshid among others. Thejudges said, “The Committeewill work out a normativescheme to award marks tothose students who are withinstriking distance from the cut-off. But what is the point indelaying result?”

Khurshid said thatannouncement of results willcreate higher level of frustrationamong students who standalready handicapped due to theharassment they had to under-go for no fault of theirs. Heurged the Court to wait for theCommittee findings and thenproceed with declaration ofresults. However, theCommittee’s suggestionweighed with the Court whichdirected the matter to be list-ed on June 6.

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Just as the Modi Governmentembarks upon its ambitious

Ayushman Bharat scheme toensure affordable health care toall, a WHO report has foundthat while half of Indians donot have access to essentialhealth services, a big chunk ofthose availing the servicesended up shelling out morethan 10 per cent of theirincome.

As per the World HealthStatistics 2018 report, pub-lished in the WHO website, thenumber of people impover-ished by out-of-pocket medicalexpenses in India is more thanthe combined population of theUnited Kingdom, France andGermany.

The reports said that 17.3per cent of India’s population ornearly 230 million citizens hadto spend more than 10 per centof their income towards healthexpenditure during 2007-2015.

As compared to India, per-centage of population spendingover 10 per cent of their incometowards medical services is Sri

Lanka 2.9 per cent, UK 1.6 percent, USA 4.8 per cent andChina 17.7 per cent.

“Too many people are stilldying of preventable diseases,too many people are beingpushed into poverty to pay forhealth care out of their ownpockets and too many peopleare unable to get the health ser-

vices they need. This is unac-ceptable,” WHO Director-General Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesus said in a release.

The WHO report furtherrevealed that 3.9 per cent of thecountry’s population or 51 mil-lion Indians spent more than aquarter of their householdbudget for health services.

The global average is 11.7per cent for people spendingmore than 10 per cent of theirincome towards medicalexpenses, 2.6 per cent for peo-ple spending more than 25 percent of their income on healthand 1.4 per cent who werepushed into extreme povertydue to health-related expenses,the report said.

Going by the global aver-age of 1.4 per cent, the number

of Indians who would be hard-est hit due to medical treatmentcost stands close to 20 million,as per the statement.

Under the AyushmaanBharat programme, theGovernment has envisioned atwo-pronged health strategy :1.5 lakh Health and WellnessCentres providing compre-hensive health care, includingfor non-communicable dis-eases and maternal and childhealth services and NationalHealth Protection Scheme,aiming to cover over 10 crorepoor and vulnerable families(approximately 50 crore ben-eficiaries) providing cover-age upto 5 lakh rupees perfamily per year for secondaryand tertiary care hospitalisa-tion.

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Former Finance Minister PChidambaram on

Wednesday shuttled between2G trial court and High Courtseeking anticipatory bail as hereceived summons in Aircel-Maxis and INX Media scams.CBI summoned Chidambaramto appear on Thursday in con-nection with INX Maxis probeand he has to appear before EDon June 5 in connection withAircel-Maxis probe.

On Wednesday, by 9:30amChidambaram reached 2GCourt with senior lawyers andcolleagues Kapil Sibal andAbhishek Singhvi against theED’s summons. Judge OP Sainigave interim protection tillJune 5, instructingChidambaram to appear asand when the agency demands.Chidambaram’s relief did notstand for a long time as with-in hours he was asked to appearbefore CBI in INX Maxis probeon Thursday.

By 1:30 pm, with col-leagues Sibal and Singhvi,Chidamabram reached DelhiHigh Court seeking anticipa-tory bail. However, in this casehe did not approach the trialcourt of Special Judge SunilRana handling the case.

The development beforethe High Court witnessed somedrama as Justice SP Garg

recused from the matter andthe file was placed before act-ing Chief Justice Gita Mittal,who allocated the case forhearing before Justice AKPathak. Justice Pathak, in theforenoon session, said he waswilling to hear the matter after3:00pm but Sibal expressedhis difficulty and both thesides consented to get the mat-ter to be heard on Thursdaymorning at 10:30.

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Stumped by former PresidentPranab Mukherjee’s deci-

sion to address RSS membersin Nagpur next week, theCongress continued to be in afix over the way to react.

While senior Congressleader P Chidambaram onWednesday said that now sinceMukherjee is ready to go to theRSS headquarters he shouldpreach them the wrongs intheir ideology, Leader ofOpposition in Kerala RameshChennithala said it will be ablemish on the question of sec-ularism.

“Now that he has acceptedinvitation there is no pointdebating why he accepted it.More important thing to say is,sir you have accepted invita-tion, please go there & tell themwhat is wrong with their ide-ology,” said Chidambaram onMukherjee’s proposed visit tothe RSS headquarters.Chidambaram and Mukherjeewere Cabinet colleagues in the

Manmohan SinghGovernment.

For his part, in a letteraddressed to Mukherjee,Chennithala said that the deci-sion to attend the function hascome as a “rude shock to thesecular minds” even as herequested the former Presidentto ‘refrain’ from going toNagpur.

Calling the RSS a ‘com-munal outfit’, Chennithalaaccused the Sangh of workingtowards creating “a HinduRashtra comprising of onlyone section of the people whichis against the Congress ideol-

ogy of secularism and democ-racy”. Chennithala further saidthe decision coming from oneof the tallest leaders of the partyhas caused unparalleled dis-gruntlement among the rankand the file of the Congress

Congress leaders AdhirChowdhury and HanumanthaRao also expressed surpriseover Mukherjee’s decision. “Iam really surprised to hearabout the decision of PranabMukherjee to attend RSS’s pro-gramme in Nagpur. Just likeany other Congressman, I amreally astonished to hear aboutit,” Chowdhury said in Kolkata.

“My question is does he(Mukherjee) think his previouscomments against RSS werewrong ... We still rememberhow Pranab Mukherjee as asenior leader of the Congresshad criticised RSS as a com-munal and a divisive organi-zation”. However, Mukherjee isno longer President, nor aCongress leader, and he is freeto take any decision, he added.

Rao said the former presi-

dent should withdraw his deci-sion “in the interest of secu-larism”.

Former Union MinisterCK Jaffer Shareif too had onTuesday written to Mukherjeeexpressing surprise over themove and saying he like othersecular people was “stunned” tohear about his attending theRSS function.

“I personally think that aperson of your stature, beingsecular and in politics fordecades, having served in var-ious capacity including thehighest position of Rashtrapati,visiting Sangh Parivar at thispoint in time before Parliamentelections is not proper,” hesaid.

Former MP and DelhiCongress leader SandeepDikshit also said that as aCongress leader and minister,Mukherjee has spoken aboutthe RSS and the BJP manytimes on various issues anddubbed it as “bad”and “worst”outfit, which is “communal”and “anti-national”.

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The Narendra ModiGovernment’s “achieve-

ments” in the farm sector dur-ing the last 48 months aremuch higher when comparedto the Congress’ 48-year rulesince Independence, the BJP-led NDA dispensation hasclaimed.

Listing out the first fouryears’ achievements of theModi Government in the agri-culture sector, UnionAgriculture Minister RadhaMohan Singh on Wednesdaysaid the Centre has rolled outseveral new schemes to boostproduction and cut input costswith an aim to achieve its tar-get of doubling farmers’ incomeby 2022.

Singh said programmessuch as Pradhan Mantri FasalBima Yojana (crop insurancescheme), Pradhan MantriKrishi Sichai Yojana (irriga-tion), Soil Health Card, neem-coated urea, linking of mandisto a electronic trading platform

e-NAM, among others, aremaking a difference in thelives of farmers.

He also slammed theOpposition for failing to appre-ciate the changes these pro-grammes are bringing at theground level. “For 48 years, onefamily was ruling the countryand it did not do any majordevelopment work in the agrisector. Initiatives taken by for-mer Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee were also stalled bythe UPA. We have achievedmuch more in agriculture injust 48 months,” Singh said.

In the 2018-19 Union bud-get, the governmentannounced it would fix mini-mum support price (MSP) 1.5times higher than the cost ofproduction and also frame amechanism to ensure the sup-port price reaches to farmers,he added.

Stating that modern mar-kets are being developed toensure better price to farmers,Singh said 585 mandis (whole-sale markets) in 14 states have

been linked so far to the onlinetrading platform called e-NAMand additional 415 mandis willbe connected by 2020.

There has been increase ingovernment procurement ofpulses, oilseeds and cottonthrough various schemes dur-ing the last four years of thegovernment, he said. To ensurefarmers get bank loans, Singhsaid the Modi government hasencouraged to form over 25lakh joint liability groups in thelast four years to whom Rs27,930 crore has been releasedby the Government.

Asked about the protestcalled by some farmers’ bodiesfrom next month, Singh saidthe ministry has not receivedany representation from theseorganisations.

The country’s foodgrainproduction is estimated to havetouched a record 279.51 mil-lion tonnes in the 2017-18crop year (July-June) but thefarmers in some states are indistress because of sharp fall inprices.

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The income of seven nation-al parties from “unknown

sources” during 2016-17 was�710.80 crore, while total dona-tions (above �20,000) declaredby them stood at �589.38 crore,with BJP receiving �532.27crore from 1,194 donations.

Donations declared by BJPis more than nine times theamount put together byCongress, Nationalist CongressParty (NCP), Communist Partyof India (CPI), CommunistParty of India (Marxist) (CPM)and All India TrinamoolCongress (AITC) for the sameperiod. The Congress on theother hand said it got a sum of�41.90 crore from 599 dona-tions.

According to a report bythe Association for DemocraticReforms (ADR), which focusedon donations above �20,000received by the national polit-ical parties, during the finan-cial year 2016-17, the totaldonations (above �20,000)declared by the national partieswas �589.38 crore, from 2,123donations.

“A total of �532.27 crorewas declared by BJP from 1,194donations while Congressdeclared receiving �41.90 crorefrom 599 donations,” it said.

As it had been declaring forthe past 11 years, BSP againdeclared that the party did notreceive any donations above�20,000 during FY 2016-17.

The report has also noted thatthe total income of the sevennational parties from unknownsources for 2016-17 was�710.80 crore, which makes forabout 45.59 per cent of the totalincome of the parties from allover India.

“Total donations of nation-al parties during 2016-17increased by �487.36 crorefrom �102.02 crore during theprevious financial year 2015-16,” it said.

The report says donationsto BJP increased from �76.85crore during 2015-16 to�532.27 crore in 2016-17,while that of NCP increasedfrom �71lakh in 2015-16 to�6.34 crore in 2016-17.

Also, donations to AITCincreased by 231 per cent,CPM and Congress havedeclared an increase of 190per cent and 105 per cent,respectively, as per their dona-tion reports for 2015-16 and2016-17, while that of CPIdecreased by 9 per cent, itsaid.

The total income ofnational parties for 2016-17was �1,559.17 crore.

Total income of nationalparties from known donors(details of donors as availablefrom contribution report sub-mitted by the parties toElection Commission) was�589.38 crore, which is 37.8per cent of the total income ofthe seven national parties in2016-17, the report said.

New Delhi: A day after DelhiChief Minister Arvind Kejriwalwrote a letter to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi over acute short-age of coal in power plants in thenational Capital, Union MinisterPiyush Goyal said that Kejriwalis trying to hide his own failuresin handling the power situation.

“Increased demand hasalready been met by coal andrailway ministries,” Goyal saidat a Press conference on thesidelines of an Mission RaftarWorkshop. Kejriwal onTuesday wrote to PrimeMinister Narendra Modirequesting him to direct theRailways to provide rakes for

transporting coal to powerplants in Delhi-NCR, which, hesaid, are facing “alarminglevel” of coal shortage.

“Demand for coal was verylow from Dadri plant last year.Delhi was not consuming theamount of power it thought itwould. Suddenly they increaseddemand for more coal, whichhas been met by Coal andRailways ministries,” said Goyalwho holds both the Cabinetportfolios of Coal and Railwaysbesides the Finance Ministry.

Goyal said as the year thepower demand increased, thedemand for rakes more thandoubled and around 39 rakes

of coal were sent to the plant.Each rake is made up of 58

wagons and has a capacity ofcarrying 3,750 tonnes of coal.

“Both for coal mining andrailway, it’s not a switch on,switch off that overnight yousay we need more rakes and thesystem can gear up to supplyrakes overnight,” said Goyal.

“Delhi CM ArvindKejriwal’s claims of inadequatecoal supply in Delhi are false andbaseless. Indian Railways iscommitted to ensuring adequatecoal supplies in power plantsserving Delhi and its supply haseven been stepped up during thesummer,” he said. PNS

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Wednesday refusedinterim bail to Rajiv Mishra,the former principal of BRDMedical College at Gorakhpur,who is accused of culpablehomicide leading to death of 23infants at the hospital due tolack of oxygen supply.

Nine months on in jail,Mishra’s lawyer and senioradvocate, Mukul Rohatgi,pleaded before a VacationBench of Justices LN Rao andM Mohan Shantanagoudar torelease his client on bail as hewas ill and had sustained incar-ceration for a long time.Rohatgi further claimed thatthe cause of death of infantswas reportedly due to Japaneseencephalitis and not lack ofoxygen. Moreover, the agentwho supplied oxygen to thehospital had already beengranted bail.

But these facts did notweigh with the bench. Thejudges asked Rohatgi, “Whatcan we do if you do not payhim (agent) for gas.” The Courtreferred to the charge sheetwhich suggested that the agentstopped supplying oxygen ashis bills were not cleared.

The prosecution story fur-ther stated that the accused for-mer principal was guilty of cul-pable homicide as he demand-ed commission from the agentand refused to clear the bills onthis account.

But Rohatgi disputedclaiming there was no proof forthe same. PNS

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There is no early respite insight for passengers from

train delays. The IndianRailways on Wednesday saidthe passengers will have tobear with train delays foranother few months even if theongoing maintenance andrepair works go as per sched-ule.

The punctuality perfor-mance of the railways in 2017-18 has reported to be the worstin comparison to the two finan-cial years before that, withalmost 30 per cent of trainsrunning late, according to offi-

cial data.“If we complete track

maintenance work of about5,000 km in this financial year,then in the next six to eightmonths passengers will bespared the inconvenience ofdelays,” Mohd Jamshed, theRailway Board Member(Traffic), said.

The punctuality of mailand express trains during April2017-March 2018 was 71.39per cent as compared to 76.69per cent in the correspondingperiod of 2016-2017, which isa deterioration of 5.30 percent. In 2015-2016, 77.44 percent trains ran on time

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Page 6: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

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Yet another effort by thefamily of Congress’ strong-

man and former financeMinister P Chidambaram toprevent the filing of a caseagainst them came to naughton Wednesday when Justice SBaskaran of the Madras Highcourt refused to stay the pros-ecution launched by theIncome Tax department againstNalini Chidambaram (thelawyer wife of Chidambaram,son Karti and daughter-in-lawSrinidhi) under the BlackMoney (Undisclosed ForeignIncome and Assets) andImposition of Tax Act of 2015.

Justice Baskaran rejectedthe plea for interim orders andadjourned the cases, filed bythe family to quash the prose-cution, to July 5, after orderingnotice to I-T officials.

It may be remembered thatJustice T S Sivagnanam of theMadras High Court had lastmonth dismissed a petitionmoved by Nalini, Karti and DrSrinidhi questioning the prose-cution initiated against them bythe Principal ChiefCommissioner of Income

Tax,Chennai under the underthe Black Money (UndisclosedForeign Income and Assets) andImposition of Taxes Act 2015.

The prosecution cases havebeen filed after it has beenfound by the Income Taxdepartment that Karti, hismother and wife had pur-chased a property in London(5, Holben Close, Barton,Cambridge, UK). The ITDepartment found that theproperty was purchased for�5.37 crore but this was not dis-closed in the IT returns filed bythem.

According to the petition-ers, the Principal Director ofIncome Tax (Investigation) wasnot a competent officer tolaunch prosecution underSection 50 of the Act and,

therefore, the complaint filedagainst them should be quashed.They also claimed that theChief Metropolitan Magistrate(CMM) court in Egmore,Chennai, was not the designat-ed special court under the Act.

The petitioners also con-tended that if any proceedingswere initiated by the CMMbased on the persecution com-plaint filed by the secondrespondent (PrincipalDirector), who is incompetentto file the complaint, it wouldcause prejudice to the respon-dents. “The petitioner doesnot have any undisclosed for-eign asset and hence does notcome within the purview of theBlack Money Act,” the peti-tioners claimed in the identicalaffidavits.

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In a chilling reminder ofsecret murders of the Left era

when the Maoists, Marxistsand Trinamool Congressgoons engaged in silent gamesof mutual elimination, a BJPworker not even out of one’steens was found murdered byalleged Trinamool goons in theboondocks of Balrampur, ablock in Bengal-Jharkhandborder in Purulia district.

The body of the youngman called Trilochan Mahtowas found hanging from atree at Supurdih village withblood-curdling lines scrawledon the front and back of hiswhitish T-shirt that roughly

read: “This is your reward fordoing BJP politics. Trying tokill you since the elections butfailed. Today got you. You aredead.”

Sources in the victim’sfamily said he had been accost-ed and strangulated to death bythe TMC assailants followingwhich senior party leaderRahul Sinha demanded CBIinvestigation into the case.“The people who are afraid ofthe rise of BJP have done thisghastly act,” he said.

The BJP not only displacedthe Left in Purulia but alsoshoved the Trinamool in num-ber two position in the districtin the rural elections.

A second incident took

place at Jhargram anotherJangalmahal district earlierdreaded for Maoist presence.According to sources armedTMC goons attacked the dis-trict party office where a largenumber of saffron workershad gathered for a meeting inthe presence of State generalsecretary SubrotoChattopadhyaya.

According to sources alarge number of armed TMCgoons surrounded the partyoffice and started firing at it.“Bombs were charged, bikessmashed and bullets were firedwhen our workers were holedup inside,” said a local BJPworker.

“Repeated phone calls to

the police went unheard andnone of them turned up tillWednesday noon almost 16hours after the incident,”sources party sources com-plained.

“It all reminds us of theCPI(M) days when theOpposition workers wereattacked like this. But theTrinamool will have to pay thesame price like the CPI(M),”Sinha said.

However TMC leaderArya Ghosh said the attack wasinitially launched by the BJP.“After doing well in Jhargramthey are now targeting ourworkers. They attacked ourmen with arrows and bombs,”said Ghosh.

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Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan,

Politbureau member of theproletarian party, CPI(M), hadgrown up in an absolutely pro-letarian family background buthe is now being charged withacting like a king, thanks to theallegedly excessive securityarrangements provided bypolice for him during his vis-its to different parts of the State.

Even when his loyalists inthe party and Government areworking overtime to establishhim as the most people-friend-ly Chief Minister the State hasever had, critics point out thathe is acting like a king who isafraid of his own subjects byputting himself within a policewall and by keeping a “safe dis-tance” from audiences whileattending public functions.

The criticism has becomeall the more intense after over400 policemen were allegedlydeployed for ensuring securi-ty for him in Kottayam lastSunday which created a situa-tion where the police report-edly had no time to look intoa case of abduction of a DalitChristian youth by a gang.The youth, Kevin P Joseph, wasfound dead on Monday morn-ing in an incident of honourkilling.

However, asked about thespecial police security for him,Pinarayi told newsmen onWednesday, “I am not the per-son who decides such things.

That is all done by the police.If a situation arises where somepeople block the Chief Ministeron the road, you yourself mayattack the police for not pro-viding proper security.”

Critics point out that hun-dreds of police personnel arebeing deployed on securityduty during Pinarayi’s visitsapart from the usual coveravailable to him under Z-Category security provided forChief Minister. Additionalsecurity is being provided onthe basis of the observationsand recommendations of thepolice chief of the districtbeing visited by the ChiefMinister.

During his visit toKottayam on Sunday, fourDeputy Superintendents ofPolice, many Circle Inspectorsand Sub Inspectors and about400 civil police officers hadallegedly been deployed for hissecurity which was supervisedby the district police chief.However, officials justified thisby saying that local securityarrangements would dependon Intelligence reports.

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The Kerala Government onWednesday decided to

reduce the retail prices of petroland diesel by �1 per litre witheffect from Friday, June 1, in abid to provide some relief to thepeople hit by rising fuel prices.

The slashing of the State’stax on petrol-diesel prices by �1would lead to an annual loss tothe tune or �509 crore, ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan toldnewsmen on Wednesday. “Stillwe are doing this in a situationwhere the Centre is not show-ing the readiness to take anystep to alleviate the hardshipsof the people,” he said.

“It is indeed difficult forKerala, which has its ownfinancial problems, to forgo apart of the revenue coming inthrough taxes on fuel. But weare doing this also in order tosend a message to the Centre.People are asking us what weare doing to help the people.We tell the Centre: We aredoing this. You do this too,”Pinarayi said.

The Chief Minister alsosaid that no time-limit hadbeen set for the �1 cut in theprices of petrol and diesel.“Even if diesel and petrol pricescome down tomorrow, this cutwill be there,” he added. TheGovernment decided to takethe step following increasingdemands for a cut in the State’stax portion in the context ofskyrocketing fuel prices.

Presently, the KeralaGovernment is levying 32.02percent tax (around �19.50per litre) on petrol price and25.58 percent (roughly �15.50per litre) on diesel.

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Commending the three armsof the Indian Armed Forces

for their “unparalleled andunquestioning service” to thenation, President Ram NathKovind said on Wednesday asoldier or an officer in uniform,irrespective of whether s/he isfrom the Army, the Navy or theAir Force, evoked admirationand trust everywhere in thecountry.

Speaking after reviewingthe passing out parade of 134thcourse of National DefenceAcademy (NDA) in Pune, thePresident said the parade spokefor “our essential unity as muchas for our pluralism as a society”.

“As the SupremeCommander of the ArmedForces, this was a moment ofimmense satisfaction for him.

The Armed Forces are a sym-bol of excellence and dedica-tion for the entire country.This parade comprises cadetsfrom all parts of India and froma variety of communities. Itsharmony speaks for our essen-tial unity as much as for ourpluralism as a society,” thePresident said.

Averring that the ArmedForces represented best Indianethos, the President said: “A sol-dier or an officer in uniform,irrespective of whether he orshe is from the Army, the Navyor the Air Force, evokes admi-ration and trust everywhere inthe country.

If a fellow citizen sees amember of the Armed Forcesat a railway station or a marketor at any other place, there is animmediate emotion of prideand reassurance.

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The Central Bureau ofInvestigation on Wednesday

registered first informationreport (FIR) in a Chennai courtagainst “unknown officials” ofCentral Excise, Tamil NaduGovernment, food safetydepartment, public servantsand private persons under sec-tions 120-B (CriminalConspiracy) and provisions ofthe Prevention of Corruption

Act in connection with theinfamous Gutkha case.

The case has been underorders issued by the MadrasHigh Court vide its order datedApril 26, 2018 while disposinga writ petition foiled by a DMKlegislator J Anbazhagan whocomplained that gutkha ,abanned tobacco material, wasbeing manufactured, and sold inthe state of Tamil Nadu despitethe ban order. Suresh Kumar,deputy superintendent of police,CBI, AC-III New Delhi has beenentrusted with the trial of thecase , according to the RGopalakrishna Rao, SP, CBI,AC-II New Delhi.

The gutkha case created afurore in Tamil Nadu politicsand the investigating officers hadto examine the residentialpremises of late Chief MinisterJ Jayalalithaa from where theyseized sensational and secret let-ters exchanged between theIncome Tax Department andtop bureaucrats of the State inNovember 2017.

The names of a minister inthe Edappadi Palaniswamy gov-ernment, a top cop and a formersenior police officer besidessome officials and public menfigured in the list of persons whowere under the payroll of one

of the gutkha manufacturers.It all started with Madhava

Rao, one of the gutkha manu-facturers, in his sworn affidavitto the Income Tax departmentstating that he had paid nearly�40 crore to Vijaya Bhaskar,Health Minister of Tamil Naduand senior IPS officers includ-ing DGP rank officers T KRajendran and S George (sinceretired from service) amongothers for facilitating the manufacture and sale of gutkhawhich was banned in the State.

Despite its official ban,gutkha was freely availableacross the counter all over TamilNadu as law enforcing agencieshad turned a blind eye to thebusiness.

The case also led to severalturbulences in Tamil Nadu leg-islative assembly when theOpposition DMK brought ghut-ka packets to the House leadingto filing of breach of privilegemotion against them. The 22DMK MLA's approached theMadras High Court challengingthe breach of privilege motionagainst them and the case ispending before the court.

Though the Tamil NaduGovernment had entrusted thecase to the Directorate ofVigilance and Anti Corruption(DVAC) and the VigilanceCommisssion for probe, thefrequent transfer of the investi-gating officials upset the probeprocess which resulted in theDMK leader approaching theHigh Court with a plea to trans-fer the case to the CBI.

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Page 7: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

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Upset with the interferenceof superstar turned politi-

cian Rajinikanth in theCauvery water row, theKarnataka Film Chambers ofCommerce (KFCC) has decid-ed not to allow screening of hismovie ‘Kaala’, due for release onJune 7 as a mark of protest.According to Sa Ra GovinduPresident of KFCC the filmindustry is upset withRajinikanth’s reported state-ment that whicheverGovernment comes to powerKarnataka should implementthe Supreme Court order onCauvery water sharing.

He said “A decision hasbeen taken that Rajinikanth’smovie will neither be distrib-uted nor screened anywhere inKarnataka.”

The KFCC president also

said the ban on distributionand screening of Rajinikanthmovies will continue. “Theban will remain because neitherwill he apologise for his state-ment nor are we going to par-don him,” Govindu said.

The superstar who hailsfrom Karnataka has a great fanfollowing in the State and thedistributors for his film depend

on Karnataka as a major rev-enue earning. Neta Rajnikanthhas faced the wrath of proKannada outfits in the Stateand Chief MinisterKumaraswamy who is also afilm producer has to deal withone more problem of resolvingthis crisis. The Governmentexpects with the onset of earlymonsoon, the water fromCauvery can be released fromthe second week of June.Rajinikanth plays the role of aslumlord-turned-gangster inKaala.

Theatre owners inKarnataka, too, have said thatthey will not screen the film inany theatre. Release of the PaRanjith directed Kaala wasearlier deferred and was sup-posed to release on June 7across Karnataka. However, asit is headed for a worldwiderelease, ‘Kaala’ may not see the

light of the day in Karnataka.Saurav Sharma, head of

Goldie films that has acquiredthe distribution rights for‘Kaala’ in Karnataka says con-sidering the sentiments of thepeople of the State decided notto release the film.

Sa Ra Govindu said thatthe films of both Kamal Haasanand Rajinikanth will not bereleased in the State.

“They have made state-ments related to Cauvery thatare unacceptable to the peopleof Karnataka. We don’t needtheir films. Kannadigas areupset with the actor’s state-ments and so in the interest ofthe State we are not releasingKaala,” he said.

The Karnataka f i lmchamber called for a meetingon Tuesday after severalKannada groups called forboycott of the film.

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After his controversialremark that he was on the

mercy of the Congress but notthe people, Karnataka ChiefMinister HD Kumaraswamyhas once again praised RahulGandhi for giving him powerand opportunity.

He said people did not givehim the mandate. Addressingthe meeting of the farmersleaders activists on Wednesdayin Bengaluru to discuss tofind out ways to clear farm sec-tor loans to the tune of �50,000crore, Kumaraswamy said “Iknow about everyone. I willhelp you. You have got anopportunity. Today eventhough I don’t have the bless-ings of the people but I havethe blessed soul RahulGandhi’s trust in me. He hasgiven me power. This is an

opportunity. He will notoppose this (farm loan waiver).I will convince him. I will helpyou.”

While Chief Ministerintervening in the heateddebate at the farmers meetinghe made this statement whichsurprised many in the politicalcircle. This is the second timeKumaraswamy is making thestatement by saying peopledid not give him the power butRahul Gandhi gave him thepower.

He had called a meeting ofthe farmers to discuss the pos-sibility of farm loan waiver apromise he made during hiscampaign and also in the JDsmanifesto. He had said if hecomes to power within 24hours he would waive off farmloans of the distressed farmersin the State. The BJP has beenprotesting and demanding

Kumaraswamy to waive offthe farm loan as promised.

This has become a majorissue and he is not getting sup-port from the Congress thecoalition partner. This is alsoone of the contentious issueswhich have struck in Ministryformation.

However Kumaraswamysaid as he promised to honourhis commitment to waive farmloans within 15 days and insist-ed there was “no going back”on it.

“We will come to a deci-sion in 15 days. In 15 days, itwill get completely imple-mented...Whatever may be thedifficulty, our Government iscommitted to maintaining fis-cal discipline, and also savingyou (farmers),” Kumaraswamytold the meeting after listeningto farmers for about threehours.

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Nine tourists from Punewere arrested for first try-

ing to photograph a minor girlplaying on the beach and laterassaulting her and her minorbrother, after the victim,protested for being pho-tographed by them.

The incident occurred atthe famous Baga beach locatedaround 20 km north of the Statecapital, where the minor chil-dren along with their parentshad gone for a swim, while thetourists were at a beach shack.

“We have arrested ninetourists from Pune for molest-ing the minor girl, assaulting herbrother and later causing rioting.The minor girl had asked themnot to take photographs withtheir mobile phones, which ledto the eventual incident, whereshe was molested and her broth-er beaten up,” Police InspectorJivba Dalvi told The Pioneer.

The tourists were holidayingin the State for the past few days,the official said, adding that thegroup was arrested while tryingto escape the State. A first infor-mation report has been regis-tered under sections 143, 147,323, 354 r/w 149 of the IndianPenal Code and Section 8 of GoaChildren’s Act. The names of theaccused tourists are RameshKamble, Sanket Bhadale, KrishnaPatil, Satyam Lambe, AniketGurav, Rishikesh Gurav, AkashSuvaskar, Sunny More andIshwar Pangare and are residentsof Pune town in Maharashtra.

A first information reporthas been registered under sec-tions 143, 147, 323, 354 r/w 149of the Indian Penal Code andSection 8 of Goa Children’s Act.

Goa is one of the top beachtourism destinations in the coun-try and attracts more than sixmillion tourists every year, butover the last few days, crimesinvolving tourists — including agangrape of a local girl by touristsfrom MP — have triggered a sen-timent against domestic tourism.

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Upping the ante againstFlipkart for its question-

able means of doing business,the Opposition Congress inMaharashtra on Wednesdaydemanded the online shoppingportal be banned after it wasfound to be source of purchaseof arms in Aurangabad.

Alluding to news reportsthat the Aurangabad police onTuesday discovered a largenumber of weapons wereallegedly bought onlinethrough Flipkart, leader of theOpposition in the MaharashtraAssembly Radhakrishna VikhePatil of the Congress said theonline trading of weapons wasboth “illegal” and “dangerous”.

“At a time when the situa-tion in riot-hit Aurangabad isreturning to normal, it isshocking to learn that weaponsare now being openly tradedonline. The police have seized28 weapons including swords,choppers, knives, kukris, gup-tis, etc, which were purchasedfrom Flipkart’s online website.The police have done a greatservice by discovering theweapons trade on line andaverting a possible untowardincident,” Vikhe-Patil said.

“If the weapons are beingtraded online openly, then it isa dangerous trend. TheGovernment must ban Flipkartfor indulging in such illegal and

dangerous activities,” theCongress leader said.

Seeking to know as to whythe weapons had ordered by aresident in Aurangabad, Vikhe-Patil demanded that the StateGovernment order a compre-hensive inquiry into the“shocking discovery” atAurangabad and the guilty bebrought to book.

“There has been markedsurge in online shopping inrecent years. Over and above,an illegal and dangerous trans-action has now come to light..Why were the weaponsordered online by a residentfrom Aurangabad? Are theordered weapons have any-thing to do with the recentriots? We would like to knowas to who are all behind thewhole thing. We demand thatthe state government order aninquiry into the whole thingand bring all the guilty tobook,” the leader of theOpposition said.

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With a view to repeatingprevious Lok Sabha polls

performance in Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s home-StateGujarat in the upcoming 2019parliamentary polls, rulingBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hasformed an 11-member‘Election ManagementCommittee’ on Wednesday.

Apart from 11 members,Gujarat BJP president JituVaghani, Gujarat Chief MinisterVijay Rupani and the StateBJP’s organising secretaryBhikhubhai Dalsania are part ofthe committee by the virtue of

their respective posts.Deputy Chief Minister

Nitin Patel, Junior Ministers inModi Government at centre –Parasotam Rupala andMansukh Mandvia, three seniorMinisters in Vijay RupaniGovernment – BhupendrasinhChudasama, Kaushik Patel andGanapat Vasava, Gujarat BJP’sgeneral secretary BharatsinhParmar, Vice-Presidents of theState BJP — Bhargav Bhatt andIK Jadeja, former GujaratMinister Shanker Chaudharyand ex-parliamentary secre-tary in the State GovernmentHira Solanki are appointed inthe committee by the party high

command.Sources in the State BJP

said that the committee willmonitor all the arrangementsincluding public meetings,door-to-door campaign, bring-ing top national leaders of theparty to the State for electioncampaign, booth managementand other election related worksacross the State.

The committee will alsohave say in appointment of elec-tion in-charges for all 26 LokSabha constituencies in Gujarat.It will also give important sug-gestion for implementing strate-gies in view of 2019 Lok Sabhaelections.

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After a lull of almost one yearChief Minister Nitish

Kumar has revived his demandfor special category status toBihar. Nitish, after rejoining theNDA in July last, had not pressedfor this demand even though thisissue, believed to be closed to hisheart, has been focal point at allplatforms.

Other leaders of his partyJD(U) though spoke on this issueparticularly after AndhraPradesh CM ChandrababuNaidu broke ties with the NDAafter being denied special status,but in restricted tone. TheOpposition has made fun of

Nitish’s stand. Suddenly Nitishraked up this demand amid thepolitical speculations that hewas feeling uneasy in the com-pany of BJP leadership and igno-rance of the Bihar demands likeflood relief and compensation.

The Centre approved a com-pensation of �1700 crore againstthe demand of over �6000 crorefor the floods 2017 and afterdeducting �500 crore which wasannounced by the PM, it releasedonly �1200 crore. The BJP ishowever, not vocal on thisdemand. However, the CM hasnot raised the issue with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi butwith the 15th FinanceCommission.

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Page 8: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

Areflection: One-and-a-half yearsafter Prime Minister NarendraModi announced the demoneti-sation of high-value �500 and�1,000 currency notes, needs

attention. Politicians, economists and media,in the thick of the phenomenon, presentedit either as a divine initiative or a satanic act,a bipolar discourse that inadequately repre-sented the bold decision which is normallyavoided by a party in power for the fear ofbecoming unpopular.

A chain of events in demonetisation andremonetisation arose from one currencymanagement decision to implement themacro-economic policy. Its impact wasjudged from the prism of Indian economicpolicy vis-à-vis global financial practices andat the interface of both. Its immediateimpact on the people, especially the poor andthe filthy rich, was criticised and celebrated.None of such works applied the simple-yet-approximate 80:20 rule to understand thephenomenon vis-à-vis the countrymen.

80:20 is a management rule. In anyproject or household, 80 per cent of thetotal material and man/material/man is of20 per cent value while 20 per cent of thematerial and man/material/man is of 80per cent value. In family purchases over amonth, the rule comes as true as in the caseof any project or action of longer durationor that of a country.

Approximately 80 per cent of the pop-ulation has 20 per cent of its wealth while 80per cent of the wealth would be in the handsof 20 per cent of the countrymen. The atti-tude, access and exposure to the system of this20 per cent transform any situation in theirfavour quickly after the initial tremor. Theirinformation and knowledge-seeking, analyt-ical and innovative approach made them earlyadapters during the initial phase of demon-etisation. So was the first benefit: Their lethar-gy to switch over from habits of keeping morecash went away. During the switchover, trans-action security issues, hidden costs and cus-tomer helplessness in digital banking madethem campaign in the social media-drivendemocratic space. The Government amend-ed rules of cyber transactions and investedmore into security firewalling in response.

Demonetisation was expected to bringdown the volume of black money and fakecurrency. Its concomitant processes towardscyber economic activities would bring downcases of money theft, dacoity and snatching.However, the chance of cyber loot from with-in and across the border looms large. It’s a warof every moment for financial institutions andthe Government. Cashless, the latest evolu-tionary step in currency development, is ableto solve the problem of passive money accu-mulation. Every cashless transaction leads toa change of account, enabling digital liquid-ity to invest money in some productive activ-ity. It generates taxes for the Government and

is supposed to create jobs for the people. Itcurbs black money and inflationary trend.However, this is not the cure for all ills in theeconomy. Further, its spread and impact onthe lower 80 per cent, which owns wealth verythinly, is a matter of concern. With low levelof wealth accumulation and cash, they are nothoarders of black money.

Why did the common man bear thehardship of demonetisation? Pro-reformiststook it as sign of policy support and anti-reformists considered it as sheer helplessnessof common man who has to fend day in andday out for making both ends meet. Thesehypotheses have not been questioned bymedia though they could have tested suchquestions empirically.

Common man welcomed the decisionwith two beliefs: It would bleed black moneyhoarders whom they saw growing by dint ofproximity to power and becoming middle-man, and they sensed well being of countrythey belong to. This was despite the system-atic intrusion of cash through governmen-tal schemes and displacement of stand-alonelocal markets by market networks puttinginconvenience to their life styles. Yet they didnot erupt with much provocation since theyhave already experienced long queues inration and kerosene shops, post offices andwhere not for the last 70 years. Now they hada good cause added for their calm.

Does market-driven economy frame-work or the rural economic reality explainthe calm? In several pockets of rural India,currency is not the only exchange medium.Barter is still in vogue. And in many ruralfamilies, they don’t enter into buying or sell-ing for food or some other major items. Thisless dependence on market network is basedon their approach to living. It cannot be con-

sidered as underdevelopment. Putting simply, how far our villagers

could self-sustain without money supply sothat they won’t feel the move disturbing theirsimple living? Many may see a plan to eulo-gize poverty in raising this question. Yet, thesevotaries of poverty elimination must acceptthat plans of poverty alleviation over last sevendecades failed to raise most of the poor toaffluence, and could not prevent the affluentusurping funds for the poor.

A study on this question would helpgovernment understand people's owninertia of being and becoming, and howthis can help them in strategy making fordevelopment without much disruption inpeople’s life. This may also helpGovernment decide how far it should allowmarket-driven economy to impinge uponpeople’s life. The Government also needsto chalk out plan a based on indigenousway of sustainable living beyond commer-cialism to see that market does notaggrandise the common man too far.

In short, ways and means of commonman to sustain through hard times with-out surrendering to market should bethere as part of governmental strategy sothat the country actually steers throughcycle of inflation-deflation of world econ-omy with ease. This remained an aspectof strength for us even without govern-mental effort. But increasing “statism” andacceptance of market as master won't keepit so for long. The more we introduce theglobal neo-liberal techno-financial systemlock, stock and barrel, further we becomehelpless during periods of depression andcyber-coups.

Demonetisation is seen as a logical steptowards digitising economy; digitisation is

viewed as the fifth generation antibioticagainst all economic corruptions which cor-rode growth of the economy and nationalcharacter, and aggravate inequality apace.However, India can’t afford seeing controlslip away from state to the financial cartelwhich makes common man helpless infront of juggernaut of financial institutions.Information-Communication technology,like money, is an instrument which shouldbe used cautiously. Hoarded or counterfeit-ed paper currency causes great harm to theeconomy; digital money, at the stroke of afinger tip, may wipe out an entire econo-my. How does the country get prepared toavert such crisis is a far bigger question.

Demonetisation 2016 exposed two truthsin common man’s manifest response over thelast one-and-half-years. First truth: Increasinginequality is making common man expec-tant of a great overhaul which is able to pun-ish the economic offender. Whosoever takesthe responsibility would get support ofthem. Only the good intention and follow upaction should be visible enough to be trust-ed by them. Second truth: When a party isgiven comfortable majority, it is for them toutilise it towards greater equity in society. Ifit tries to do so, it would swell their supportbase invariably because common man wouldconsider it as people-centric approach of theGovernment.

The lowliest among them with zero-bal-ance Jan Dhan accounts should be taken careof as they won’t be able to transact cashlesseasily for two reasons: Cashless is costly, andthe accounting is beyond their cognition.

(The writer is Professor ofCommunication, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketanand Country Director (India), Asian Congressfor Media and Communication)

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Sterlite shut, allotment of land forunit II nixed” (May 30). The newsof permanent closure of theSterlite Copper Smelting plantThoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, maybe a great victory for the labourclass and for the ecology of theadjoining area. But huge invest-ment by the Vedanta Group, afterworldwide survey to assess thedemand for copper, will be lost.

The best action will be toensure that the plant is relocat-ed 25 kms away from the Gulf ofMannar and not 14 kms away asit is at the present. The plantmust not overproduce.

Anil Agarwal is one of therichest man in Britain. His busi-ness instinct motivated him toindulge in overproduction totake advantage of the boomingmarket in copper. In WestBengal, the destruction of theSingur plant, on grounds of fer-tile multi-crop agricultural landbeing destroyed, is a similarexample. After the abortion ofthe plant at the ripe time, thepolitical party which spearhead-ed the agitation should havetaken care of the huge industri-al structure in steel, which haveall vanished into thin air.

NK Das GuptaKolkata

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Sir — Abraham Lincoln had said,“Always bear in mind that yourown resolution to succeed is moreimportant than any other.”Lincoln’s statement is important

because our resolution is our aspi-ration to become a better humanbeing for a better tomorrow. Thisis the driving force of evolutionthat has taken us from slave soci-ety to feudal society and frompolice states to welfare states.

Our resolutions are not justconfined to a particular occasion.It is because of our aspiration tostrive for the highest standards,we have been scaling new heightsof swifter, higher, stronger toblossom over the years.

Researchers have producednew DNA evidence that almostcertainly confirms “Out ofAfrica” theory of human evolu-tion that all of us stem from asingle group of Homo Sapiens.After originating in Africa1,50,000 years ago, our ancestorsbegan spreading throughoutEurasia 60,000 years ago to seekfood after experiencing a “quan-tum leap in thinking.”

We dare say that 2,000 gen-erations ago, our ancestors couldnot help but to move out ofAfrica to satisfy their aspirationsthat they felt so strongly aboutafter having experienced a “quan-tum leap in thinking.” It opened,as it were, a new horizon in theirminds which can be described inthe words of Tagore, “Fountainawakened from its dream.”

Sri Aurobindo said, “Thespiritual aspiration is innate inman; for he is, unlike the animal,aware of imperfection and limi-tation and feels that there issomething to be attained beyondwhat he now is ...”

Sujit DeKolkata

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Page 9: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

As ironical as it may sound,Himalayas — one of the mostpristine source of water for

mankind since ages are now unable tospare water, resulting in many of themountainous urban spaces strugglingto make their ends meet as far as drink-ing water is concerned. In fact, millionsacross Asia rely on the Himalayan waterbut this natural source is now beingtaken for granted as human activitiesare stressing Himalayan water system.Thanks to unplanned development, thepopulation explosion and a heavyinflux of tourists, the region is in thethroes of a crisis.

Like each year, this year too,serene hills of the Himalayas are wit-nessing a huge tourist load, puttingunimaginable pressure on the deli-

cate mountain ecology besides nat-ural resources. The unfortunate partis the fact that authorities, especial-ly the urban planning offices in theseareas, are unable to adopt best prac-tices that are being followed aroundthe world in preserving the high alti-tude resources and ecology.

The situation in mainstream hillstations such as Mussoorie andShimla is particularly grim. Forinstance, the daily requirement forwater in Shimla is 40 million litres,whereas, the supply is 20 millionlitres. This deficit gap tends toexpand manifold during the sum-mer tourist season. The resultantwater crisis is forcing the ShimlaMunicipal Corporation to supplywater once in four or five days and,that too, is not enough to cater tothe city’s population.

The root cause is the fact thatShimla with a population of 1,70,000,is largely still trying to survive on thewater network setup for a populationof 30,000 people in the year 1875. Theincessant tourist influx and the nearly70,000 floating population is only

exacerbating the situation. Add tothis, Shimla’s parched status is accen-tuated because it’s perched at a heightof 7,000 feet above sea level and can’thold water, which trickles down at arapid rate. This is pretty much the storyof all of our Himalayan urban locations.

The snowcapped tourist loca-tions across the world face similarchallenges but their methods of

responding to these challenges areinspiring and path changing. Letstake the case of Switzerland. Tourismis a serious business for the Swiss asit accounts for nearly 3.5 per cent ofthe Gross Domestic Product (GDP)and foreign tourists account forapproximately six per cent of theincome generated by exports inSwitzerland. This places tourism in

the third position of Swiss exports.Tourism in Switzerland is also animportant employer with nearly in4.5 per cent of jobs directly generat-ed by this industry.

The Alps are among the most vis-ited regions. About 60-80 million peo-ple visit the Alps each year as tourists.Tourism activities in the Alps generateclose to EUR 50 billion in annualturnover. There are over 600 ski resortsand 10,000 ski installations in the Alps.

These figures show the extent oftourist pressures faced by Switzerlandand yet the country has been able toeffortlessly handle the ever-growingtourist influx year after year and this hasbeen possible due to scientific planningand efficient resource management bythe Swiss authorities.

Climate change is slowly enteringinto decision-making of a range oftourism stakeholders and studies arecommissioned to examine the climatechange risk on tourism and how toadapt for the same, while increasing thepublic awareness for maintaining nat-ural resources of the region.

India must rapidly adopt measures

that can safeguard the fragile ecologyof the mountainous urban regions.Vehicular traffic and population pres-sure must be regulated in order to pre-serve these locations. The authoritiesmust ease the burden by prohibitingfurther construction activities in coremunicipal areas and not giving licens-es for additional hotels.

Moreover, tourist load must be dis-tributed by getting idle capacity of hotelsin the surrounding areas included in thetourism management strategy. This willnot only improve economy but alsorelive the pressure on the main urbancenters. Additionally, unauthorisedtourist entertainment facilities that areneither ecologically friendly nor hav-ing required permissions must beclosed immediately.

The authorities must also focuson the rampant use of plastic andabysmal systems of waste disposal,which are all adding to the problem.These corrective actions may stillredeem for us the lost purity of ourHimalayan urban spaces.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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The past six months haveleft multiple citizens of vil-lages across UttarPradesh’s Sitapur in shock,rage and fear with fatal

attacks by animals on 15 people (asreported last), with 11 deaths report-ed in the past two months. Theresponse to these tragic deaths hasbeen just as tragic — the rampantkilling of street dogs.

Official numbers tout it to be atleast 30 street dogs with another 50being relocated to forests, whileunofficial numbers cross 100. Someof the dogs that were killed showedbullet marks, some showed signs ofstrangulation, while others still werebadly beaten with sticks till they suc-cumbed to injuries.

The question that plagues theGovernment, animal protectioncommunity and the media is theexact nature of the animals respon-sible for the bites. Are they wolves,jackals, hyenas, foxes, feral dogs, wilddogs or street dogs? No one knows.

So far, no post-mortem or foren-sic investigations have been under-taken for the dead animals and only

seven post-mortems have beenundertaken out of the 14 dead chil-dren. This absence of clear scientific understanding has con-tributed to a lack of clarity in respectof the solutions.

There is no clear evidence oneway or the other for the animalsbeing wolves or dogs, and therefore,at this stage, it cannot be claimed byany Government authority with cer-tainty to be one or the other.

As a result of this misinformation, no significant stepshave been taken by the Sitapuradministration and man-animal con-flict are on the rise. After rampantbloodshed in the area, there are hard-ly any dogs left in Sitapur. This justproves that in addition to being inhu-mane and illegal, killing of dogs iscompletely ineffective.

When we reached out to DeputyInspector General (Law and Order)Praveen Kumar on this issue, heassured us that he would issue astatewide anti-killing order to pro-tect street dogs. However, for over100 dog deaths, not a single FIR hasbeen filed, including two dead dogs,where local activists tried to convincethe Sitapur police to register the FIR.

Although the bodies were sentfor post-mortem, the report showedno signs of human hair, flesh orblood in the mouths or bodies of thedogs — making it clear that theseanimals paid for a crime they didn’tcommit. This points to an utterly

compromised investigation sceneand it is the responsibility of the DMand the Sitapur police to uphold bet-ter systems of law enforcement.

For safety of the people, the onlystep undertaken so far is a notifica-tion about safety around the village.Recently, we and our partners con-ducted an education workshop underthe aegis of the DM, for the repre-sentatives of 80 villages in Khairabad,Sitapur district on conflict manage-ment, with specific emphasis onthe prevention of bites and rabies.We are also awaiting the initiation ofstate-level training workshops forofficials from the police, forest, vet-erinary, education and health depart-ments to mitigate man-animal con-flict, as promised to us by thePrincipal Secretary, State UrbanDevelopment Department.

Additional ly, we urge theGovernment to take the followingsteps urgently to mitigate futurehuman and animal losses:

i)The Sitapur DM andSuperintendent of Police must lookafter that killing of street dogs isimmediately put to a stop. Theyshould also take strict action againstthe perpetrators of illegal displace-ment and killing of street dogs andthe state police department mustensure that such actions are curtailedin the rest of the state. This includesthe crucial filing of FIRs in localpolice stations, which has not hap-pened so far.

ii)The Sitapur divisional forestofficer (DFO) and the Uttar PradeshForest Department must establish,through forensic proof, the nature ofthe animal involved in these inci-dents. It is only through such foren-sic investigation, which the DM wasresponsible for, that the “dog vs wolf ”debate will be put to rest, once andfor all.

It is also the responsibility of theSitapur DM and the StateGovernment to use drones and cam-era traps in places where these ani-mals have been sighted — for thefuture prevention of such conflict.

The nature of the solution isdependent on the identification ofthe animal involved and, hence,without this information, we areshooting in the dark.

iii) The DM and the educationdepartment of the Uttar PradeshGovernment must undertake educa-tion programmes on dog bite andrabies prevention in areas of highconflict to ensure that preventableattacks are stemmed in the future.

Muddled in chaos, confusionand with a lack of clear data — thesituation in Sitapur stands to becomeworse for everyone involved. Swift,decisive steps, based on scientificinformation are needed urgently —in the absence of which conflict willcontinue to sustain.

(The writer is the ExecutiveDirector of Federation of IndianAnimal Protection Organisations)

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Citing higher oil prices andtighter financial condi-

tions, global rating agency'sMoody's Investors Service onWednesday cut India's 2018growth forecast to 7.3 per centfrom the previous estimate of7.5 per cent. It, however, saidthat the economy is in cyclicalrecovery but sluggish financialconditions will weigh on thepace of acceleration.

“The Indian economy is incyclical recovery led by bothinvestment and consumption.However, higher oil prices andtighter financial conditions willweigh on the pace of accelera-tion. We expect GDP growth ofabout 7.3 per cent in 2018,down from our previous fore-cast of 7.5 per cent. Our growthexpectation for 2019 remainsunchanged at 7.5 per cent,” itsaid in an update of its 'GlobalMacro Outlook: 2018-19'.

Moody's said growthshould benefit from an accel-eration in rural consumption,supported by higher minimumsupport prices and a normalmonsoon. “The private invest-ment cycle will continue tomake a gradual recovery, astwin balance-sheet issues -impaired assets at banks andcorporates - slowly getaddressed through deleverag-ing and the application of the

Insolvency and BankruptcyCode,” it said.

Also, the ongoing transi-tion to the new Goods andService Tax (GST) regimecould weigh on growth some-what over the next few quar-ters, which poses some down-side risk to the forecast, itsaid. “However, we expect theseissues to moderate over thecourse of the year.”

For the world economy,Moody's expected 2018 to be ayear of robust global growth,similar to 2017. “However, glob-al growth will likely moderate bythe end of 2018 and in 2019 asa result of a number of advancedeconomies reaching fullemployment, and because of ris-ing borrowing costs and tightercredit conditions in bothadvanced and emerging marketcountries that will hamper fur-ther acceleration,” it added.

The G-20 countries, it said,will grow 3.3 per cent in 2018and 3.2 per cent in 2019. Theadvanced economies will growat a moderate 2.3 per cent in2018 and 2.0 per cent in 2019,while G-20 emerging marketswill remain the growth drivers,at 5.2 per cent in both 2018 and2019, down from 5.3 per centin 2017.

Moody's said downsiderisks to growth stem fromemerging markets turmoil, oilprice increases and trade dis-

putes. “The ongoing financialmarket turbulence in emergingmarket countries poses risks ofa broader negative spillovereffect on growth for a range ofcountries beyond Argentinaand Turkey, while there is a riskthat high oil prices will be detri-mental to consumptiondemand. A re-escalation oftrade tensions between the USand China is another risk fac-tor to growth. Political con-cerns add to downside risks inBrazil, Mexico and Italy,” it said.

“Overall, we expect 2018 tobe a year of robust globalgrowth, similar to 2017,”according to Moody's VPSenior Credit Officer MadhaviBokil. “The ongoing financialmarket turbulence in emergingmarket countries poses risks ofa broader negative spillovereffect on growth for a range ofcountries beyond Argentinaand Turkey, while there is a riskthat high oil prices will weighon purchasing power and pre-sent an upside risk to inflation.A re-escalation of trade tensionsbetween the US and China isanother risk factor to growth.”

“Rising interest rates andcurrency depreciation rein-forces Moody's view centralbanks in emerging marketcountries will not be able toprovide monetary policyaccommodation for muchlonger,” Bokil added.

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On back of higher oil prices,State-owned Oil and

Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) onWednesday posted its net prof-it of �5,915.12 crore, a jump of37 per cent in three-months toMarch 31, 2018. The net prof-it in the fourth quarter of2017-18, the highest profit inlast 17 quarters, was higherthan �4,340.18 crore net in thesame period of the previousfiscal, according to the com-pany.

Besides, the board of direc-tors of ONGC recommendeda final dividend of �1.35 pershare (27 per cent). This is inaddition to the interim divi-dend of �5.25 per sharedeclared in two phases previ-ously.

The oil and gas majorrealised $66.71 for every bar-rel of crude oil it produced

from nominated fields, upfrom $54.91 a barrel it got inJanuary-March 2017. Gas pricerealisation was also up 15.6 percent at $2.89 per millionBritish thermal unit. ONGC'soil production declined 3 percent at 6.2 million tonnes inthe quarter. For the full 2017-18 fiscal, net profit was up 11.4per cent at �19,945 crore.However, the turnover in thefourth quarter rose 5 per centto �27,703.54 crore.

The company made 12 oiland gas discoveries in the year,half of them were on land. Outof the six onland discoveries,two were monetised during theyear itself, the statement saidwithout giving details. “InFY18, ONGC has registered anRRR in excess of one for the12th consecutive year. Thisref lects ONGC's strongexploratory record over theyears,” it said.

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Appellate tribunal NCLAT on Wednesdaystayed bankruptcy proceedings against

Reliance Communications after the debt-ladentelecom operator agreed to pay �550 crore toEricsson to settle a payment dispute.

The order of the National Company LawAppellate Tribunal clears the way for AnilAmbani led RCom to sell its telecom towers,spectrum and fiber assets to Reliance Jio.

Run by richest Indian and Anil's elder broth-er, Mukesh, Jio is buying RCom for about �18,000crore to clear some of the �45,733 crore debt it

owes to banks.A two-member bench headed by NCLAT

Chairman, Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya directedRCom and its subsidiares — Reliance Infratel andReliance Telecom, to pay �550 crore to EricssonIndia in 120 days, failing which it will direct insol-vency proceedings against the company.

The countdown would start from June 1.“Impugned order of May 15, 2018 and May

18, 2018 passed by NCLT Mumbai in ... Arestayed,” the tribunal said.

NCLAT also directed theChairman/Managing Director of RCom to file anundertaking regarding payment of the amount.

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The National Company LawAppellate Tribunal

(NCLAT) today allowedVedanta Ltd to make anupfront payment of �5,320crore to lenders for acquiringElectrosteel Steels.

A two-member bench alsosaid this payment would besubject to the outcome of thepetition filed by RenaissanceSteel challenging Vedanta's bid.

“During the pendency, theparties may act as far theapproved resolution plan andthe resolution applicant maydeposit the upfront amount toCommittee of Creditors subjectto the order of the appeal,” saidthe NCLAT bench headed byChairman Justice SJMukhopadhaya.

The bench also clarifiedthat if Renaissance Steel winsthe case, then the Committeeof Creditors (CoC) will have toreturn the money to Vedanta.

The appellate tribunal alsoreserved its order overRenaissance Steel's petition.

In a regulatory filing,Vedanta Ltd said NCLAT “hasallowed Vedanta Limited toacquire Electrosteel SteelsLimited (ESL) by depositingthe upfront payment to theCommittee of Creditors”.

On May 17, NCLAT admit-ted the petition of RenaissanceSteel challenging Vedanta's bidfor debt-ridden Electrosteel.

Renaissance Steel's resolu-tion application was rejected bythe CoC of Electrosteel Steels.

On May 1, NCLAT haddirected maintaining statusquo in the case pertaining tothe sale of the debt-laden firmto Vedanta Ltd.

Renaissance had submittedbefore the NCLAT thatVedanta is not eligible to bid forElectrosteel under section 29 Aof the Insolvency andBankruptcy Code as one ofVedanta's affiliates in Zambia— a unit of its UK-based par-ent Vedanta Resources Plc —had been found guilty of crim-inal misconduct.

Electrosteel owes lendersmore than �13,000 crore, ofwhich about �5,000 crore is toState Bank of India alone.

Last month, the Kolkatabench of the NationalCompany Law Tribunal(NCLT) had cleared Vedanta's�5,320-crore resolution plan forElectrosteel, rejecting objec-tions by Renaissance Steel.

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Banking operations in thecountry were hit today as

10 lakh employees, primarilyfrom PSU banks, went on 2-day strike to protest against a“meagre” 2 per cent salaryhike offered by Indian BanksAssociation (IBA) — the man-agement body.

The strike, also supportedby employees of some old gen-eration private sector banksand foreign banks, will con-tinue tomorrow.

Operations in the new-generation private banks likeICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, AxisBank were however almostnormal, barring few activitiesincluding cheque clearance.

There were reports of dis-ruption in banking operationsin various states. The impact ofstrike in certain states likeKerala, West Bengal, Bihar andJharkhand was more severecompared to other states.

Nearly 10 lakh employees,working in various branches of21 public sector banks, 13 oldgeneration private sector banks,six foreign banks and 56 region-al rural banks across the countrywent on the strike as IBA offeredthem a nominal wage revision,All India Bank EmployeesAssociation (AIBEA), affiliateof UFBU said in a statement.

Since the strike coincideswith the month-end, salarywithdrawals from branches arelikely to get affected. SomeATMs went dry by the evening.

Operations like deposits,

FD renewals, government trea-sury operations, money marketoperations were hit by the strike.

A RBI official said somedigital banking work was donethrough electronic systems likethe RTGS but the functioningof banks' servers was hit.

Digital banking comprisesabout 5 per cent of the totaloperations, the official said.

Reserve Bank of Indiaremained operational thoughthe trade unions offered moralsupport for the ongoing strike,a RBI Trade Union leader said.

As several rounds of talksbetween banks and the unionsof their employees did not makeany headway, the United Forumof Banking Unions (UFBU), anumbrella body of nine bankunions, has gone on strikeagainst the proposed wage hikeof 2 per cent as against 15 percent given last time, All IndiaBank Employees Association(AIBEA), general secretary C H

Venkatachalam said.In the last wage revision in

2012, the bank employees gota raise of 15 per cent.

“It is kind of an insult to theemployees of public sectorbanks...To be offered this kindof meagre hike. We had no otheroption but to go on strike, for-going two days' salary,” All IndiaBank Officers' Confederation(AIBOC) joint general secretaryRavinder Gupta said.

Success of all governmentschemes like Mudra, Jandhanand demonetisation wereensured by public sectorbankers but the reward is just2 per cent hike, he said, addingthat it is gross injustice tobankers who have worked veryhard for nation building.

Employees are participat-ing in the nation-wide strike aspart of “our democratic right”by forgoing our salary,Venkatachalam said and hopedthat good sense would prevail.

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Despite the promise of ‘Makein India' and the rhetoric of

defence modernisation, the for-tunes of India's ship buildingindustry continue to sink, withmore and more companies slip-ping into the red.

The latest addition to thelist is L&T Shipbuilding Ltd.The independent auditors of theL&T Shipbuilding Ltd, a whol-ly-owned subsidiary of Larsen& Toubro, have raised concernsabout the company's continu-ance as a 'going concern' basedon the financials of 2016-2017.

The report by Sharp &Tannan indicates that the com-pany had accumulated losses car-ried forward from the previousyear and has incurred significantcash losses during the currentand previous financial year.

That has resulted in sub-stantial erosion of net worth ason March 31, 2017 and thecompany's “urrent liabilitiesexceeds its current assets as atthe balance sheet date”, accord-ing to the report.

The auditors said that theseconditions indicate “the exis-tence of material uncertainty”that may cast significant doubtabout the company's ability tocontinue as “a going concern.”

An L&T spokespersonsaid: “Notwithstanding theaccumulated losses by L&TShipbuilding Limited due togross under-utilisation ofassets, fact remains that L&T is97 per cent shareholder of thecompany and continues tofinancially support LTSBBalance Sheet to remain viable.”

“Consequently, L&TShipbuilding Limited has never

defaulted on statutory pay-ments arising out of meagreborrowings from financialinstitutions and banks,” thespokesperson said.

However, the auditors saidfinancial statements have beenprepared on a going concernbasis, based on the communi-cation of the holding companystating its intention “to contin-ue to provide financial supporttowards project costs and otherobligations of the company”.

The auditors said that themanagement “has also carriedout an assessment of the futureoperating cash flows of thecompany and is satisfied thatthere is no event or conditionsthat may cast a significant doubton the ability of the company tocontinue as a going concern”.

The auditors listed variousreasons for its “concerns”. The

company had a negative networth of �829 crore in FY17compared to �341 crore inFY16. It had also incurred a lossof �364 crore in FY17 comparedto �719 crore loss in FY16.

The auditors also pointedout that there is an excess of cur-rent liabilities over current assetsto the tune of �638 crore in FY17against �381 crore in FY16.

The company even had anegative net cash flow fromoperating activities of �261crore in FY17 compared to�165 crore in FY16.

Out of total turnover of�621 crore for FY 2016-17,�429 crore (69 per cent) wastowards sale and service incomefrom L&T. Borrowings of thecompany had also gone upfrom �3,306 crore in FY 17compared to �2,882 crore inFY16, adding to the debt pile up.

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Aboard A US militaryAircraft: Defence SecretaryJames Mattis vowed today thatthe US would keep confrontingChina over its territorial claimsin the South China Sea, whereBeijing has established a sig-nificant military presence oncontested islands.

Mattis’s remarks came afterBeijing voiced “strong dissatis-faction” on Sunday after two USwarships sailed by an island inthe disputed Paracel Island chain.

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Washington: A senior figure inthe North Korean regime was enroute to the US on Wednesday,and Russia’s top diplomat waspreparing to visit Pyongyang asdiplomatic preparations for ahistoric nuclear summit betweenDonald Trump and Kim JongUn gathered pace.

General Kim Yong Chol,right-hand man to the NorthKorean leader, will meet USSecretary of State Mike Pompeoin New York, officials said.AFP

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday began

his Indonesia visit by payinghomage to martyrs ofIndonesian independencestruggle as he laid a wreath atthe iconic Kalibata NationalHeroes’ Cemetery here.

Prime Minister Modi, whois here on his first-ever officialvisit to Indonesia, will meetPresident Joko Widodo todayand discuss bilateral coopera-tion in a broad range of areas,including maritime, trade andinvestment.

Kalibata Heroes’ Cemeteryin South Jakarta is a militarycemetery in Indonesia. It wasbuilt in 1953 and opened inNovember 1954 when the firstburial took place.

Modi said in a tweet: “Paidtributes at the iconic KalibataHeroes Cemetery in Jakarta”.

External Affairs MinistrySpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid in a tweet: “Lest we for-get...Paying homage to martyrsof Indonesian independencestruggle! PM @narendramodilaying wreath at the KalibataNational Heroes’ Cemeteryand signing the Visitor’s Book”.

More than 7,000 peoplewho are military casualties andveterans from Indonesian Warof Independence are buried atthe cemetery.

Modi arrived in theIndonesian capital yesterday onthe first leg of his three-nationtour to East Asia to cement thepolitical, economic and strate-gic interest of the two friendlymaritime neighbours.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday paid a

visit to Indonesia’s grand IstiqlalMosque, the largest inSoutheast Asia, during his firstofficial visit to the country.

Prime Minister Modi wasaccompanied by IndonesiaPresident Joko Widodo duringhis visit to the mosque whichwas built to commemorateIndonesian independence andopened to the public in 1978.

“Glad to have visited theIstiqlal Mosque, one of thelargest mosques in the world,”Modi said in a tweet.

“Ramadan Karim!

Indonesian President @jokowiaccompanied PM @naren-dramodi during a visit toIstiqlal Mosque, the nationalmosque of Indonesia and the

largest in southeast Asia, in theholy month of Ramadan,”Ministry of External AffairsSpokesperson Raveesh Kumartweeted.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi and Indonesian

President Joko Widodo onWednesday flew kites as theyinaugurated the first joint kiteexhibition themed on India’slargest epics Ramayana andMahabharata at Jakarta’sNational Monument here.

Prime Minister Modi andPresident Widodo participatedin the ‘Kite Exhibition’ whichshowcased the strong civilisa-tional links between India andIndonesia.

“Cultural connect touchingthe skies! Ramayana themedjoint kite exhibitunveiled...Ahmedabad andJakarta Kite Museumsexchange MoU,” Ministry ofExternal Affairs SpokespersonRaveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

“PM @narendramodi andIndonesian President @jokowitogether taking the relationshipto new heights!” he tweetedalong with a picture of both theleaders flying their kites. Theexhibition is themed on Hindumythology epics of Ramayanaand Mahabharata. TheRamayana theme is designedby Indonesian organisers whilethe Mahabharata theme hasbeen designed by Indians.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday

announced a 30-day free visafor Indonesian citizens andinvited the diaspora to travel totheir country of origin to expe-rience the ‘New India’.

Addressing a gathering ofthe Indian diaspora at theJakarta Convention Centre inthe Indonesian capital, Modisaid, “not only do the names ofour nations rhyme but alsothere is a distinct rhythm in theIndia-Indonesia friendship.”

“We will grant free of costvisa for Indonesian citizensfor travel of up to 30 days,”Modi said, amid applause.“Many of you may never havebeen to India. I invite you all tocome to India for the Kumbhin Prayag (Allahabad) nextyear,” Modi told the gathering.

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It’s 7.12 pm and the sirens arebooming from Bhendi Bazaar’sJama Masjid, Jama Masjid of

Bengaluru, Rehmani Masjid ofZakir Nagar in South Delhi,

Kolkata’s Masjid Nakhuda, and in allMuslim areas all over India. The timeis sunset, time to break the roza —a fast that is kept for Allah.

The cherished moment at sun-set is called iftar, a time of bliss whenfamilies reunite at home after a hardday. Iftar evenings are eagerly lookedforward to by one and all for thecamaraderie, shopping and satisfy-ing the palate.

Frankly speaking, the Ramzanambience is the same in all the oldcities — Bhendi Bazaar of Mumbai,Sabzi Bagh of Patna, Mecca Masjidof Hyderabad, Kolutola of Kolkata,Mehdi Bagh of Pune, Dubhaiji kaKhura in Jaipur, Bhaga Talab at Suratand Channam Pilli Bazaar ofBangalore.

According to Maulana RiazurRehman Rashshadi, imam and emi-nent Islamic scholar of Jama Masjid,Bangalore, the holy month ofRamzan is auspicious to Muslims theworld over. It is celebrated the dayafter the crescent for the 10th lunarmonth of the Islamic calendar issighted. Muslims are ordained toobserve fast for 30 days, starting withthe sighting of the new moon andending it after seeing the new moonthe next month.

Feasting and fasting during themonth of Ramzan is a commonpractice throughout the globe, statesMuneer Ahmed Adil, editor, SalarUrdu daily, Bangalore. It’s no differ-ent in my native city, Delhi, a citywith a 350-year old history of mixedtradition where all festivals are cel-ebrated with equal gusto and enthu-siasm.

Renowned Muslim scholar andwriter, Dr Aziz Burney, added thatthe temple bells in Delhi alternatewith the devout muazzin’s (caretak-er) call from the mosques’ minarets.The tradition of tolerance towardseach other’s faith still runs high inthe walled city of Delhi’sShahjahanabad and areas like ZakirNagar, Noor Nagar, Welcome Colonyin trans Yamuna area etc.

During the month of Ramzan,as one walks past the mosques dur-ing the jama’at (prayer) one can notethe godly presence and the festiveambience in fully-packed mosques,which otherwise have sparse devo-tees. Perhaps, no one is as attentiveduring prayer as these devouts inRamzan. A sort of calm steals overthe otherwise traffic-congested areaswith dense Muslim population. Thebest fair during Ramzan is the food!Temporary eating arrangements areset up, with tables laid with plasticsheets and wooden chairs by road-side, offering tantalizing food in theevening during this month. Thelights that illuminate the mosquesmake the Ramzan ambience moregraceful.

Just enter the lane of anyMuslim area during Ramzan beforeiftaar and you will be led by thearoma of mouth-watering disheslike Murgh Changezi, Nargisi Koftey,Qorma, Shami Kawab, BadshahiBadam Pasande, Murgh Jahangiri,Chicken Akbari, Karhai Gosht, TikkaAjwaini, Aatish Pasande, Qeeme kiGolian, Qalmi Bade, Longcha Kawab

etc.Thick meat broth, or yakhni, is

prepared during Ramzan month forgiving strength. To cook the dish,whole spices are not added directlybut wrapped and tied in muslin cloth(potli) and dipped into the broth.After the aroma of the spices hasbeen absorbed by the meat and rice,the potli is taken out and rice iscooked on a slow coal fire.

Of course, one can’t ignore thecostermongers kicking up a frenziedcacophony while there are all-perva-sive aromas of Ramzan dishes beingprepared in restaurants, on vendors’pushcarts and even roadside squat-ters selling seekh kebab, qeemasamosa, desi ghee jalebis, imartis,balushahis etc. Shops with neatlystacked Ramzan sweets bustle withhuman activity. Grilled delicacieslike chicken changezi, shaami kebab,naan, nargisi koftey etc. are all thereto be gorged along with chana chho-la, chane ki daal etc.

Those having a sweet tooth dur-ing Ramzan will find sweets beingprepared with aromatic flavours inSheerin Bhawan at Matia Mahal,

Standard Sweets at Hauz Qazi, VishalMawa Bhanda, Tewari Sweets,Ghantewala, Shiv Mishthan Bhandar,Jalebiwala and Haldi Ram atChandni Chowk during the time ofiftar in Old Delhi. In a city with noshopping destinations open throughthe night (Connaught Place closes by9 pm, Khan Market by 8 pm, KarolBagh by 10 pm. Pacific Mall turns offthe lights at 11 pm), Ramzan’s spe-cial bazaars are like oases on an oth-erwise smooth, dry highway.

Those who live in South Delhimay not have to go all the way toPurani Dilli. Just cross New FriendsColony and you’ll find yourself inZakir Nagar and Jamia Nagar. Fussyladies will find much to contentthemselves with at the garmentstores at Batla House: cotton salwarsuits, chikan work from Lucknowand kurtas with intricate gota work.A store called Fashion Gallery atJogabai Extension in Okhla sellsdesigner kurtas ranging from �100to �1,000. The other popular gar-ment shops for Eid shopping areGolden Garments, Sufia ClothHouse, Cross India.

Mohammed Faisal of Shaan CapHouse in Basti Nizamuddin saidthat caps are in great demand. Thereare at least 1,000 varieties of caps likeAlif, Farooque, Bukis and Damishq.

After shopping, try the famouschawal ki kheer of Pehelwan Bhai onthe main road of Zakir Nagar besidethe area’s Jama Masjid. Don’t skipMubashshir Mian’s Unique Bakery,which has meethi double roti andbun, specially made for the Ramzanseason. If it’s almost sehri time (thelast meal before daybreak, if you arekeeping roza), take a detour to thenearby Javed’s restaurant to end the“day” with their delectable nahari —an early morning dish preparedwith boneless meat, 16 spices andcondiments.

Zakir Nagar, Matia Mahal,Ballimaran, Chooriwalan and JamaMasjid are also about pajamas, jeans,jootis, bed sheets and even jewellery.Shops like Amaan Garments andFashion Zone stock not only ready-made cargo trousers, T-shirts, trackpants, and kids-wear but also stitchthese. Prices range from �100 to�500. Bargain is the watch word.Though these shops, too, remainopen quite late into the night, I sug-gest that if you want to buy clothes,come when the night is still young.I’m told that these are still early daysof Ramzan, and night-long shoppingwould take place only after 15throza.

After all this euphoria, Muslimsmust take care that Ramzan, instead,has become a season for culinarycompetition, gluttony and wastefulconsumption.

It becomes a period when thefaithful do not only show piety andcompassion but also try to sendacross a strong message of commu-nal harmony among the compatri-ots and their poor brothers.

(The author is the Chancellor ofMaulana Azad National Urdu

University and the grandnephew ofMaulana Azad)

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After screening two episodes of Blue Planet II onthe big screen in India, Sony BBC Earth will soon

broadcast its show on the Indian television. Focussingon marine life and its mysteries, the show has beennarrated by the Godfather of natural history, Sir DavidAttenborough. The seven-part series about the rich-ness and variety of underwater life across our planetwas shot over 1,406 days with 125 expeditions across39 countries. Legendary composer Hans Zimmer hascreated the score for the series.

Series Producer, Mark Brownlow, shared theunique and untold stories of the underwater world ina phone interview.

“From childhood, I used to love watching docu-mentaries of ordinary life and it turned out to be mypassion. So, after growing up, I joined BBC and nowI want to present this series for the new generation”said Brownlow.

There were lots of challenges which he faced whilemaking this series. He traveled to difficult locationsand shot in life-threatening environs, Brownlow said.The adventures and risks he undertook were to bringawareness about marine life, the natural history expertprofesses. He wants people to connect with the seriesand know about different water animals since thereis very little awareness about marine creatures.

“Our team worked really hard to get these storiesfeatured for the series and to make sure there’s an audi-ence connect,” he said.

Unfortunately, there is no dearth of plastic in theocean and the Blue Planet II team had a really diffi-cult time working around it. Every year, hundreds of

whales lose their life because of the plastic waste pol-luting the ocean-bed. The marine mammals get stuckto the plastic, which ends up poisoning them. Humanactivity is killing whales, said Brownlow. They lose theirlives not just from the plastic waste but also industri-al pollutants, which flow into the water. It makes adeadly cocktail for the marine life, he said. He added,“pollution are the biggest problem in today’s world”.

As a natural history expert, he also found it chal-lenging to work on a series on marine life. Brownlowhas produced many popular natural history documen-taries like Planet Earth II, Hidden Kingdoms and OceanGiants. Another challenge he faced was in workingwith a new team. Making this seven-part series waspossible with great equipment, divers and scientistson the team.

If they have been able to unlock the ocean’s secretsit was made possible only because of new technolo-gy, which helped them to collect data about the depththe ocean. Technology has worked like magic for themto discover more about the water world. With scien-tists on the team, they were able to uncode the dataabout the water bed and the different kinds of smallspecies that live inside it.

As the producer of the show, he wanted to intro-duce those walking on two legs to the world underwater.

“We are the first people in the history of mankindto dive to 200 m in the ocean, shift the icebergs thatwere blocking the passage of the ship. The challengewas in diving so deep and coping with the extremecold in Alaska,” he said.

For future projects, he said that he wants to coverthe frozen part of the planet and reveal its secrets tothe world.

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Actor Ranbir Kapoor, glimpsesof whose portrayal as Sanjay

Dutt in the trailer of Sanju has leftthe audience asking for more, sayshe really wants the senior actor tolike him and his work.

Ranbir interacted with themedia at the trailer launch ofSanju along with Paresh Rawal,Manisha Koirala, Rajkumar Hirani,Vidhu Vinod Chopra, SonamKapoor, Dia Mirza and VickyKaushal.

Asked how he felt portrayingvarious phases of Sanjay’s life,Ranbir said: “When I was a child,I had a poster of Sanju sir on thewall of my cupboard, and throughthis film, I am in his shoes. I thinkin my life, I really want Sanju sir tolike me. I know I never can be theman he is, but in whichever waythat I go about in my career as aperson and even through this film,I really want Sanju sir to like mebecause I feel that he is man that Irespect a lot and I really look up tohim. I hope that he feels that I haverepresented his life in very honestand improved way.”

The film’s trailer gives a rushedglance at the various phases andchallenges Sanjay has faced in hispersonal life, in which he haswaded through a battle with drugs,multiple relationships and legaltroubles.

How does Ranbir summarisethe trailer? “We have worked onthis film for two years. Through thetrailer, we tried and represented thebest version of the film as we canexcite the audience. I always hadbelief in film, script and in Raju(Hirani) sir’s vision, so it’s way big-ger than the trailer for me. Thetrailer is just short window ofwhat’s going to come in the film,”added the actor, who has tried towalk, talk and look like Sanjay Duttfor the film.

With the ups and downs inSanjay’s life, did playing the char-acter take an emotional toll onRanbir? He said: “As an actor, I wasvery excited to play this part. So, itdoesn’t bother you that much butwhen I was acting I was reallyimagining what he must be goingthrough because I am just acting inthe film putting make-up andstuff, so I think just thinking aboutwhat he must be going through wassuch an inspiration for me that thefilm was fairly easy. And also to

have an incredible cast and Raju siraround me, everything was smoothsailing.”

In the trailer, the makers haverevealed that Sanjay had 308 girl-friends at one point in his life.

Asked whether he will revealthe number of girlfriends if he everhad a biopic made on his life,Ranbir said: “No... I actually won’tallow. I don’t think I am a coura-geous man like Sanju sir to give mylife out so openly. But my count hasbeen less than ten, so people can’tmake a biopic on me.”

Ranbir’s father and veteranactor Rishi Kapoor had praised theyoung actor’s work when he hadwatched the trailer of Sanju for thefirst time. Did that make himemotional?

He said, “Besides being myfather, he is also an actor whom Ireally admire and respect, so whenRaju sir recorded his reaction andsent it to me, that time I was shoot-ing for another project. My fathernever tells me on my face that Ihave done a good job. It reallymoved me and made me emotion-al because every father wants hisson to do well but my father is verycareful that he doesn’t give compli-ments for free.”

Sanju is produced by VidhuVinod Chopra. The film is releas-ing on June 29.

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Siblings should never be separated inalternate care environments, says

Anuja Bansal Being a part of a family isone of the greatest blessings that mostof us have. However, only those deprivedof the love and support of a familyunderstand what it means to be with-out loved ones.

India is home to 20 million parent-less and abandoned children, who havelost the care and support of their par-ents at a very young age, due to reasonsbeyond their control like abduction, traf-ficking, health issues of parents, domes-tic violence, parents coming in conflictwith law, poverty, death of parents, aban-donment and sometimes even stigma.

Even though there is no specific dataavailable, it is believed that findingprospective adoptive parents (PAPs)willing to adopt all siblings who have lostparental care is tough. But it is imper-ative to keep siblings together while plac-ing them under adoption or any otheralternative care.

There are numerous studies thatshow that biological siblings positivelyinfluence each other. In one of the recentstudies in the Columbia Dispatch, it wassuggested that those who have siblingsunderstand people better and are bet-ter adept at handling social situations.On losing parents, siblings becomeemotionally dependent on each other.

Children who are old enough tounderstand their background and situ-ation are in an emotionally difficult statewhen they lose their parents. Siblings aretheir only source of solace and basis oftrust. When these children are adopted

together the transition becomessmoother and quicker.

Siblings display lesser instances ofemotional and behavioural problems,improved socialising abilities and astronger sense of identity and findthemselves more stable placements.This, in turn, supports their emotionalwell-being. Losing a sibling during thistransition phase makes it difficult andoften traumatic for the separated child.It becomes difficult for the child to trustthe new environment and can make thesettlement harder, especially for theadopting parents.

Siblings,when placed together dur-ing adoption, automatically, promote

positive developmental outcomes. Theyare mentally and physically stronger dueto their emotional strength, and do bet-ter in academics; they find it easier toadjust in the new family home, andeventually, become contributing citizensof the society.

The current procedure mandatesthat when declaring these children aslegally free to adopt, the Child WelfareCommittee (CWC) must specify the sta-tus of the children as siblings. Similarly,when any adoption agency or a childcare institution files an application in thecourt concerned, they too shall file a sin-gle application in the court, for siblings.This way, when Central Adoption

Resource Authority (CARA), governedby the Ministry of Women and ChildDevelopment, receives the application,they make efforts to find suitable PAPs,willing to adopt the siblings together.This helps CARA in finding a lovinghome for these children, together

In UK’s statutory guidance statesthat siblings should be placed together,unless it is not in the best interests of oneor more of the sibling group, or there isany other good reason not to do so. Ifthey are being separated, the reasonsshould be clearly documented. The sameapplies to USA.

Parents seeking adoption are usu-ally looking to adopt a single child. It hasalso been observed that adoption of chil-dren who are older than five years andthose with special needs is difficult.

Data on child care institutions(CCIs), released by Child AdoptionResource Information and GuidanceSystem (CARINGS) in May 2017 report-ed that about 70-80 per cent of prospec-tive adoptive parents want healthy nor-mal children below the age of two years.However, CCIs only have 1,766 childrenin their care across the country, out ofwhich 1,279 are children with specialneeds and only 59 children fall in the agegroup of two years and below. Thatmeans around 10,000 parents want toadopt only from out of the 59 children,across the country.

The amended Juvenile Justice Act,2015 recommends that “all efforts mustbe made to keep siblings together,unless it is in the best interest of thechild”.

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Delhi’s art aficionados are in for a treat asover 20 artists from across India and

abroad, come together with art that connectsdirectly to the soul. Soulmate: A group art exhi-bition showcases a collection of paintings bysenior, eminent and contemporary artists, onvarious facets of Indian mythol-ogy, culture, life and nature.

The exhibit will be on displayat the Visual Arts Gallery at IndiaHabitat Centre from June 1-4.Presented by Easel Stories ArtGallery ‘Soulmate’ is an exhibitionwhich brings together art beyondboundaries. Easel Stories is agallery, an open studio and an artcamp, all rolled into one spreadover a three-floor open-plan spacein Noida.

“Promoting Indian art andartists has been the top initiativeand ‘Soulmate’ is a small steptowards it. From paintings revolving aroundreligious topics to abstract ones, Indian artistshave explored the many arenas and aspects oflife and it is these varied expressions of art, thatwe try to bring to art connoisseurs throughthese exhibitions,” says Pranav Chandra, direc-tor, Easel Stories Art Gallery.

The exhibition has an impressive line upincluding artist Sujata Bajaj, a protégé ofworld-renowned artist HS Raza. Her fascina-tion with the lord of beginnings, Ganesha, isabiding. Her art explores the Ganpati as the end-

less, as she feels a sense of complete freedomand liberty in abstracting his image.

Another artist on the list is Bratin Khanwho is a master at depicting traditional and folk-lore themes and brings alive the themes ofIndian mythology. Fragile, emotive and rich incolour and details Bratin’s works use the tra-ditional method of tempera painting, whichdraws inspiration from the Indian miniatures.

Simple but evocative, Arpan Bhowmik’s artis a study in contrast. His largely monochro-matic cityscapes have a splash of colour thrownin ever so often, which gives his art a surreal

effect. Bhowmik’s paintings show-case the vintage theme of the her-itage city of Kolkata, bringing thecity and its humdrum affairs to lifewith his brushstrokes.

Painter and collagist, G.Subramanian uses the medium ofcollage and layers it along withacrylic paint and ink washes inbrilliant hues to create mixedmedia works. The inspiration forSubramanian’s works is the inno-cence and divine beauty in achild’s face and the power ofIndian mythology.

Pune based SandeepChhatraband loves to portray the ghats ofVaranasi using water colours and acrylics oncanvas. His series is an ode to the city as hepaints the unique, tranquil and vivid ghats withtheir ever-changing hues, the flow and crowdof people and their stories.

Curated by Renu Khera, the show is anamalgamation of Indian talent world over.“‘Soulmate’ has been a journey of bringingtogether over 20 artists from all over Indiaunder one roof which was truly a memorableexperience,” said Khera.

Telangana Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao, whowas a farmer himself is a

visionary. He successfully rolled outover 50 incentives and sops thathave gone a long way in facilitatingagriculture in the predominantlyarid regions (without irrigationcanals and agri motor run bore wellfarming) of Telangana .

Within a short period of fouryears, Rao has transformed the agri-culture in Telangana into a prof-itable vocation and farmers havefound in him a savior from suicides,cheating by dalals for their marketproduce, crop insurance and cropsubsidy. “As a farmer myself, I knowtheir pains, suffering and hurdles infarming and hence the governmenthelps in holding the farmers handin everything from backbone fromsowing to final marketing of agri-culture produce,” says Rao.

The farmer friendly measureslike 24x7 free power, farm loanwaiver and the latest Rythu band-hu, a farmer investment supportscheme of �4,000 per acre for percrops a year amounting �8,000/-per acre directly into their accountsthrough cheques have catapultedTelangana as a top farmer friendlystate in the country.

Recently as per the NITIAayog’s Agriculture Marketing andFarmer Friendly Reforms Index,Telangana is ranked among the top10 most farmer friendly states in thecountry. The state with 54.3 percent weightage occupied the 9th

position in the country in reformsfor agricultural markets, land,forestry on private land, felling andtransit of trees .

The salient features of the agri-culture policy of the governmentinclude waiving off crop loans,according input subsidy, providingfree and uninterrupted power, con-struction of godowns. Reformsand strategies were introduced toprevent migrations, increase farmproduction and for enhancing percapita income with advanced agri-cultural techniques

Telangana is first state in thecountry to allocate 26 per cent ofits annual budget to agriculture and�3,728 crores in 2018-19 for freepower for agriculture and�20,820.08 crores for agricultureand allied sectors, rural develop-ment, an increase of �7,179 croresincreased. Annually �37, 968 croresis being allocated for agriculturewhich resulted in a record level101.29 lakh metric tons of agricul-tural produce as against 100 lakhtones in 2017-18.

Minimum support price forthe produce: To support MSP pre-scribed by central government theTelangana government allocated�3,390 crores in the first year andsubsequently �3,397 crores and�8,083 crores for purchase of pro-duce at MSP from farmers. StateGovernment has further decided toaccord minimum price for theproduce from 2018. The state gov-ernment gave a subsidy of 50 per

cent on tractors while waiving offtransport tax on them.

Rythu Bazars: For the firsttime in the state a multi levelRythu Bazar with latest facilities hasbeen established at a cost of 8.16crores at Siddipet.

Saddi Muta scheme: Hygienicfood at �5 is being supplied to farm-ers in the name of Saddi Muta.

Loan waiver: The Telanganagovernment had waived the loansup to � one lakh for each farmer. Inthe first phase �17,000 crore cropsloans of 35.3 lakh farmers werewaived off in four phases.

Timely supply of seeds and fer-tilisers: Telangana government took

up measures to supply seeds, fer-tilisers and pesticides to farmers.

The state government has alsobeen giving �6 lakh ex-gratia to thefarmers who have committed sui-cides.

Seed Village Scheme: In vil-lages government has introducedrural seed production scheme. Ineach village 25 farmers are consid-ered as a single unit and seeds aresupplied to the units at subsidisedprices.

The government providedfinancial assistance of �8,000 per

acre to farmers for purchasing fer-tiliser. Every year before the Kharifand Rabi season, the amount willbe paid directly to the farmersaccounts by May end.

Farmer co ordination councilsestablished: The government hasset up farmer coordination coun-cils in November to coordinate inrespect of benefitting farmer to geta minimum support price for theirproduce.

Eradicate corruption and fakedocuments: To eradicate corrup-tion, fake documents in registra-

tion, sale and purchase of lands,maintaining of the land records,transparency certain new reformsare being introduced.

Centres of Excellence: Twocentres of excellence are being setup at Jeedimetla in Hyderabad andMulugu (Medak dist) to help, edu-cate and create awareness amongthe horticulture farmers about thenew technologies and scientificmethods.

Oil Palm Cultivation: Keepingin view the oil palm cultivationextension in Khammam,Bhadradri, Kothagudem districts,the milling capacity of oil fed fac-tory has been increased from 30tonnes to 60 tonnes per hour withinvestment of �100 crore.

Soil tests: The Telangana stategovernment is conducting soil teststo give technical advice to thefarmers on what kind of crop theyshould glow in on their lands.This will be completed on 55.54lakh units within two years.

Sada Bainama: The State gov-ernment has decided to clear landdisputes and rectify the landrecords. As part of this, it hasbrought in several reforms inRegistration and Mutations. SadaBainama (below 5 acres in ruralareas) were registered free of cost.

Micro Irrigation:TheGovernment has allocated �287.24crore in 2017-18 and �127 cr in2018-19 for micro irrigation pro-grammes.

Drip Irrigation: The

Government is giving subsidy fordrip irrigation for up to fivehectares (12.5 acres) land. ForSCs/STs 100 per cent subsidy, forBCs, small land holders 90 per centsubsidy, others 80 per cent subsidyis accorded.

Green House: For the con-struction of Poly Houses, GreenHouses 95 per cent subsidy isbeing given to SC/ST farmers and75 per cent to others.

Subsidy on hybrid vegetableseeds: In order to promote horti-culture with 50 per cent subsidy upto 2 hectares (for 5 acres `6,000)subsidy is being provided for hybridvegetables.

Farmers’ welfare is being pro-moted by the TelanganagoverNment with 60 differentschemes which are unique in everyaspect and covered the farmer in allrespects — agriculture operations,compensation for suicides, chil-dren's education , wedding, loandebts , insurance, women empow-erment in villages, power to villagehomes and farming , digital solu-tions at door steps, health care andfinally pensions after retirement.

Telangana farmer has suffereda lot since centuries. The Telanganagovernment is striving to fulfill thehopes of every Telangana farmer forliberation from bondage of debts,social inequalities and capacitybuilding for pursuing agricultureoperations,” says the Chief Ministerwho is the brain child behind theseagricultural reforms.

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Lionel Messi warmed up for nextmonth's FIFA World Cup with ahat-trick as he inspired Argentina

to a morale-boosting 4-0 win over Haitiin a pre-tournament friendly here.

Messi scored a quickfire second-halfdouble (58th and 68th minutes) to addto a first-half (17th minute) penalty,before setting up substitute SergioAguero (69th) as Jorge Sampaoli's sidehammered the Caribbean minnows intheir final phase of preparations for theshowpiece event.

With this hat-trick, the FC Barcelonatalisman took his international tally to64 goals in 124 appearances.

The Albiceleste, who are two-timeworld champions, had struggledthroughout the qualifying campaignbut the thoroughly dominating displayhere should boost their confidence eventhough the win came against a side thathas not qualified for the World Cup.

Haiti could not even register a shotat the goal in the whole match.

It was a night of celebration foranother Barcelona star as JavierMascherano joined Javier Zanetti asArgentina's most capped player with 143international appearances.

"I have no doubt that we are goingto grow, we have time, this team is goingto take shape.

“We have been working hard on thephysical, I think we have a nice oppor-tunity to try again, we are going to bevery excited, as always," Messi saidafter the match.

Argentina play Iceland in Moscow intheir first match of the World Cup onJune 16.

Sampaoli was upbeat about hissuperstar No 10, saying, "Messi is train-ing very well, he finished the Spanishtournament and two days later he washere, he looks very enthusiastic".

"Against Iceland we will have to takeadvantage of the domain, we need a highlevel of force in the World Cup."

���'��'������������ ��Peru defeated Scotland 2-0 in an

international friendly ahead of the 2018FIFA World Cup, stretching their unde-

feated streak to 13 games.

In the Estadio Nacional herecrammed with about 45,000 football fanson Tuesday night, Peru demonstratedrhythm and strength against a disci-plined but inferior Scotland, with goalsfrom Christian Cueva and JeffersonFarfan, reports EFE news agency.

The team coached by RicardoGareca was formidable enough despitethe absence of captain and striker, PaoloGuerrero, and was armed with goodoffensive strategy.

The Peruvians had their first chanceto score a goal at 5 minutes, with a freekick by Cueva that was sent to the cor-ner by Scottish goalkeeper JordanArcher.

From that moment on, it was 20minutes of absolute dominance by thehome team who waited for the rightmoment to break through the rigiddefensive scheme of the Scots.

By the 25th minute, the Peruviansretreated a few meters and chose to makesome long passes to Farfan, which,however, did not result in much exceptfor a weak shot from the forward thatreached the hands of Archer.

When Scotland had loosened up abit and made some timid offensiveattempts, Peru responded in depth withFarfan anticipating Archer, but his goal-shot was blocked with an arm by ScottMcKenna leading to a penalty.

Cueva finally scored a penalty shotat 37 minutes thereby opening thescoreboard in favour of the Peruviansand amid the excitement of fans.

In the beginning of the second half,Farfan received two passes fromYoshimar Yotun and scored Peru's sec-ond goal at 47 minutes despite Archer'seffort to block it.

Peru will depart Wednesday forEurope where they will end their train-ing and play the friendly against SaudiArabia and Sweden, before arriving inRussia, marking its historic return to theWorld Cup after 36 years.

� � � �����E������������ ��Amid massive support from the pub-

lic, mostly dressed in red, thePanamanian national football teamplayed out a 0-0 stalemate againstNorthern Ireland in an internationalfriendly here.

In a festive atmosphere at theRommel Fernandez Stadium here onTuesday night, the home team playedwell, giving a glimpse of what can beexpected from the Central Americans atthe 2018 Russia World Cup, reports EFEnews agency.

Seventeen minutes into the game, asthe Panamanians sought the elusivegoal Edgar Joel Barcenas did a headerwhich hit the crossbar and failed totranslate into a score.

A lost ball from the Panamanianmidfielder put the team at risk when at29 minutes came a header fromNorthern Ireland's Josh Magennis, butwhich landed in the hands ofPanamanian goalkeeper Jose Calderon.

Between the 34th and 40th minutesthe game fell into a rut with strong leg-work in the midfield.

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Thiago Silva has vowed that Brazil will bephysically and mentally prepared when the

FIFA World Cup starts in Russia on June 14.The Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) defender

said a desire to atone for the team's humiliat-ing 7-1 semi-final defeat at home to Germanyin the 2014 World Cup serves as an extraincentive, reports Xinhua news agency.

"I think (coach) Tite and his backroomstaff have prepared the squad well," Silva tolda press conference here, where the Brazil squadis currently training ahead of football's flag-ship tournament.

"I think we are ready to perform well. Ifwe look back at that (the 2014 loss toGermany), it only gives us more motivation togo to the World Cup and win it," he added.

Silva, who will be playing in his thirdWorld Cup, is not guaranteed of a startingberth in Russia.

The 33-year-old will be vying for a placein Tite's preferred line-up with his PSG team-mate Marquinhos and Internazionale'sMiranda.

"Both are great players. Miranda hasshown that throughout his career andMarquinhos has started very well. The com-petition for places is healthy and lifts the levelof concentration," he said.

Brazil's options in central defence alsoinclude Geromel, a key member of the Gremioside that won last year's Copa Libertadores,South America's top club competition.

The five-time world champions will begintheir campaign in Russia against Switzerlandon June 17 before facing Costa Rica and Serbiain Group E.

"We have a chance to play another WorldCup and rewrite our story," Silva said.

"We cannot promise the title, but we canpromise great matches. By the time the WorldCup comes around you will see us playing greatfootball."

� �������� ����� ����� �� ��8$��$�I� Real Madrid teammates Marcelo andCasemiro have arrived at Tottenham's train-ing center to complete Brazil's 23-men WorldCup squad.

The left back and midfielder missed thefirst week of training in Teresopolis, outside

Rio de Janeiro, and the first two days of prac-tice in London because they were helpingMadrid win the Champions League.

With the late additions, Brazil coach Titehas his complete squad for the first time.Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino arrivedMonday.

Brazil, who will face Croatia on Sunday atAnfield, will stay in London for training untilJune 8.

The team will then travel to Vienna to playtheir last pre-World Cup friendly againstAustria.

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Mohamed Salah could still play arole for Egypt at the World Cup

after the Egyptian Football Associationannounced Wednesday that the injuredLiverpool striker would be out for "notmore" than three weeks.

"The football federation reiteratesthat Salah will be at the World Cup,God willing, and will be out for nolonger than three weeks," the federationsaid after its president Hani Abu Redaand the team doctor met with Salah inSpain, where he is undergoing treat-ment.

Egypt's opening fixture in Group Ais against Uruguay on June 15. Theythen face Russia on June 19 and Saudi

Arabia on June 25. Earlier, in a body blow for Egypt

and their star striker, Liverpool's physiohad stated that the player will face threeto four weeks out with the shoulderinjury suffered in the UEFA ChampionsLeague final.

"He (Salah) is sad about what hap-pened but is totally focused on recov-ery, seeing when he can be ready,"physio Ruben Pons told Marca.

"In principle it will be betweenthree and four weeks, but we will tryto reduce those dates — that's the biggoal."

Salah was hacked down by RealMadrid defender Sergio Ramos in thefirst half of the Champions League finalin Kiev.

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India striker Jeje Lalpekhluatoday said he and skipper

Sunil Chhetri complementeach other well upfront when-ever they turn up for thenational side.

The Mizo striker, who isenjoying a dream run of formscoring goals on a regularbasis at the domestic and theinternational level, made spe-cial mention of his partnershipwith Chhetri during India'spreparatory camp here aheadof the Hero IntercontinentalCup.

"Sunil bhai is most senioramongst us and he leads us byexample. But, what I would

like to say is that that we workcohesively as a complete unit.We complement each other onthe field to get the job done,"Lalpekhlua said.

Lalpekhlua, who is threematches short of 50International caps for India,added that everyone in theteam is willing to share theburden and carry the respon-sibility.

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Coach Jose Pekerman put the Colombian national foot-ball team through the paces here ahead of this week's

pre-World Cup friendly against Egypt in nearby Bergamo.The clash with Egypt on Friday will give Pekerman the

chance to try out different combinations as he decides whoamong the 35 players he brought to Italy will make the final23-man roster, reports EFE news agency.

The preliminary squad includes 11 veterans of theColombian side that reached the quarter-finals of the 2014World Cup before falling to hosts Brazil.

Some of the stars of that campaign, such as midfielderJames Rodriguez and goalkeeper David Ospina, will certainlybe making the trip to Russia.

Though he missed the 2014 World Cup due to injury,Radamel Falcao, Colombia's all-time leading scorer with 29goals in 71 appearances, is also sure to be in the line-up.

For the 2018 tournament, Colombia will be part of GroupH. along with Poland, Senegal, and Japan.

The Colombians will begin their quest for a berth in theknockout stage with a match against Japan on June 19.

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Akira Nishino made his debut as Japan coachon Wednesday in a 2-0 loss to Ghana.In steady rain at Nissan Stadium, Thomas

Partey gave Ghana a 1-0 leadin the ninth minute with freekick from the top of the area.Emmanuel Boateng doubledthe advantage from the penal-ty spot in the 51st.

Nishino, who will name hisWorld Cup squad on Thursday,brought in substitutes ShinjiKagawa and Shinji Ozaki in the second halfwhen Japan created more chances but wasunable to beat Ghana goalkeeper Richard Ofori.

"We had chances but couldn't capitalize soit's a disappointing result," Nishino said. "I'mstill considering many factors before tomor-row's announcement."

After only two weeks working with hisplayers, Nishino opted for experience withdefenders Tomoaki Makino, Makoto Hasebeand Maya Yoshida in front of goalkeeper EijiKawashima.

Also in the starting 11 was veteran KeisukeHonda, who played at right forward alongsideTakashi Usami and Yuya Osako. Honda near-ly scored midway through the first half but hisangled shot from close range was denied byOfori.

Japan fired Vahid Halilhodzic last month,only two months before the World Cup opens,and replaced him with Nishino.

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Indian football team goal-keeper Gurpreet Singh

Sandhu on Wednesday said thathis side have been placed in atough group in next year's AsianCup and the players will have togive their best to make animpact in the tournament.

"We can't be complacent(and) we need to work hard. Ifwe don't put in our hard workand if are best games don'tcome out.”

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Page 16: opinionexpress.in · Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers. There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group

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Former champion Novak Djokovicreached the French Open third round for

the 13th consecutive year by beatingSpanish qualifier Jaume Munar 7-6 (7/1),6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday,

Djokovic, the 2016 Roland Garroschampion and former world number one,is seeded 20 this year after struggling torediscover his best form after returning froma right elbow injury.

He wasn't at his best on Court SuzanneLenglen, but goes on to face Spain's RobertoBautista Agut for a place in the last 16.

The Serbian 12-time Grand Slamchampion fired 39 winners but 33 unforcederrors and was broken three times by Munar,the world 155.

"I am very happy to be here on SuzanneLenglen and see so many people and see thesupport," said Djokovic.

"Jaume is a great player, he has lots ofquality and good concentration. I congrat-ulate him on a great match today."

I�������������������'��FSecond-seeded Alexander Zverev

trailed by a set and a break — and was downa broken racket, too — before eventually col-lecting himself and coming back to beat60th-ranked Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 2-6,7-5, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the French Open's sec-ond round.

Zverev equaled his best showing at

Roland Garros; he also reached the thirdround two years ago.

If the 21-year-old German is going toget to the round of 16 he'll need to do some-thing he never has at a Grand Slam tour-nament: defeat a player ranked in the top50. Zverev's next match comes against 26th-seeded Damir Dzumhur.

Lajovic lost his eighth consecutivematch that stretched to five sets.

Kei Nishikori has rallied past localfavorite Benoit Paire to reach the third roundof the French Open for the fourth consec-utive year.

The 19th-seeded Japanese player need-ed nearly three hours on Court PhilippeChatrier to win 6-3, 2-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 againstthe Frenchman.

"He was attacking every shot," Nishikorisaid. "He has one of the best touches on theTour, it was fun to play him and also a dif-ficult match today."

�� ��E$���'���2� ��Jeremy Chardy first wasted a two-set

lead and then bounced back to beat 17th-seeded Tomas Berdych to reach the secondround of the French Open.

Chardy led by two sets when theirmatch was stopped by darkness on Tuesday,but Berdych mounted a comeback whenthey returned.

Chardy played well in the decider andbroke Berdych twice to advance with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (8), 1-6, 5-7, 6-2 win.

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World Cup-winning skipperArjuna Ranatunga on

Wednesday said corruption "goesright to the top" in Sri Lanka andaccused the International CricketCouncil of undermining the gameby failing to tackle match-fixing.

Ranatunga, now a governmentminister, said cricket corruption inSri Lanka went far beyond theclaims made in an Al Jazeera doc-umentary which aired on Sunday.Ranatunga said the allegationsmust be investigated, "but thismust have been happening for along time.

"This is something that goesright to the top (in Sri Lanka). Whatthey will catch is the small fish. Asusual the bigger fish will get away,"he said.

The documentary alleged thata Sri Lankan player and grounds-man were involved a pitch-tam-pering plot and that there was spot-fixing during Tests between Indiaand England, and India againstAustralia.

"I am so disappointed with theICC anti-corruption unit,"Ranatunga said, referring to previ-

ous complaints against Sri LankaCricket, which is headed by politi-cian and businessman ThilangaSumathipala.

The 54-year-old, who led SriLanka's 1996 World Cup-winningteam, has in the past accusedSumathipala of involvement ingambling in violation of ICC rules.Sumathipala has denied the charge.

"If they can't see what is hap-pening in Sri Lanka... They shouldnot sit on this anti-corruptionunit," Ranatunga told reporters.

He said the Sri Lankans impli-cated in the Al Jazeera documen-tary could not change the outcomeof a Test match unless they hadbacking from superiors.

"They are small fish,"Ranatunga said referring to thegroundsman of the Galle stadium,Tharanga Indika, and a districtcoach, Tharindu Mendis.

"They can't do it unless theyhave agreement with those right atthe top."

Indika and Mendis have beensuspended while the ICC investi-gates accusations made in Al-Jazeera's undercover report. SriLankan police have also started aninquiry.

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All-rounder Mitchell Marshwas on Wednesday named

skipper of a star-studded AustraliaA squad for the four-day gamesduring their tour of India later thisyear while Travis Head will leadthe one-day side.

The one-day side will com-pete in a tri-series against India Aand South Africa A in Vijawadain August ahead of the four-daygames in September.

Marsh, whose Test vice cap-taincy prospects got a boost,leads a 14-man squad packed withinternational experience, a groupfeaturing Alex Carey, AshtonAgar, Peter Handscomb, Head,Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja,Joel Paris, Matthew Renshaw andChris Tremain.

Test legend Adam Gilchristbacked Marsh to be Tim Paine's

vice-captain and now the 26-year-old has a perfect opportunity todisplay his leadership qualitiesover two matches against India Ain Vizag from September 2.

"We're looking for leadersfor future Australian teams, and

Travis, Mitch and Alex are all veryimpressive young men," nationalselector Trevor Hohns said.

"Travis and Mitch both havecaptaincy experience at state level,and this is an exciting opportunityfor them to lead a new group of

players in different conditions."Alex, as our Twenty20 vice-

captain in the UK and Zimbabwe,is also someone we rate very high-ly as a leader, and this is anotheropportunity for him to developthose skills."

Joe Burns, Glenn Maxwelland Shaun Marsh, who were inAustralia's Test squad for thefinal match of the infamous Tourof South Africa, were not includ-ed in the four-day squad.

"We're really pleased withthe squads we have assembled forthis tour," Hohns said.

"We've got a couple of real-ly experienced internationalcricketers, a large group whohave had a taste of playing forAustralia already, and someemerging players who have per-formed strongly and we believehave the potential to one dayplay for their country.

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England captain Eoin Morgan has beenincluded in the one-day international

squad for matches against Scotland andAustralia despite suffering a fractured finger.

Morgan was ruled out of his scheduledappearance for the Rest of the World againstthe West Indies in a Twenty20 fixture at Lord'son Thursday after chipping the end of hisright ring finger.

Morgan's county Middlesex confirmed hesuffered the injury when he was fielding dur-ing the Royal London One-Day Cup matchagainst Somerset on Sunday.

The batsman was set to captain the WorldXI in a game which is being held to raise fundsfor stadiums in Dominica and Anguilladamaged by hurricanes last year.

But while he won't be able to play in thatmatch, Morgan -- England's limited-oversskipper -- will take charge on June 10 againstScotland and then in five matches againstAustralia.

Sam Billings will be included againstScotland to deputise for wicketkeeper JosButtler, and seamer Tom Curran will bolsterthe squad by one when he is added to theranks to face Australia.

England, currently number one in theODI world rankings, defeated Australia 4-1in a five-match series held in Australia in

January.England's 13-man squad for the ODI

against Scotland in Edinburgh on June 10:Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali(Worcestershire), Jonathan Bairstow(Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Alex Hales(Nottinghamshire), Liam Plunkett(Yorkshire), Adil Rashid(Yorkshire), Joe Root(Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes(Durham), David Willey (Yorkshire), ChrisWoakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood(Durham) England's 14-man squad for thefive-match ODI series against Australia com-mencing on June 13: Eoin Morgan(Middlesex, capt), Moeen Ali(Worcestershire), Jonathan Bairstow(Yorkshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), TomCurran (Surrey), Alex Hales(Nottinghamshire), Liam Plunkett(Yorkshire), Adil Rashid(Yorkshire), Joe Root(Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes(Durham), David Willey (Yorkshire), ChrisWoakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood(Durham).

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World number one Simona Halepbattled back after a disastrous

opening set to beat Alison Riske 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in their delayed French Open first-round match on Wednesday, while PetraKvitova impressed in reaching roundthree.

Halep, the runner-up in Paris in 2014and 2017, slumped 0-5 down in the open-ing set to world number 83 Riske whoseonly win at the tournament came in 2014.

The Romanian committed 16unforced errors in the set but stepped upa gear from that point on to book a sec-ond-round match against TaylorTownsend of the United States.

"It's always difficult in the first roundof a Grand Slam, you are always nervous,"said Halep.

"But I started to run more, playedbetter and kept more balls in play." The26-year-old, who is still looking for a firstGrand Slam title, will play for the secondstraight day on Thursday, after thematch with Riske was pushed back fromTuesday due to rain.

"I think I'll be ready tomorrow, I feelstrong in my legs," said the top seed.

"Anything can happen with the rainso all we can do is rest and try to be atour best when we step on the court."Halep needs to reach the semi-finals orbetter if she is to retain the world topspot.

������ � �������Eighth seed Kvitova eased into the

third round with a 6-0, 6-4 victory overSpain's Lara Arruabarrena on Court One.

The two-time Wimbledon championhas now won 13 consecutive matches onclay after claiming titles in Prague andMadrid, and will face Estonia's 25th seedAnett Kontaveit for a place in the last 16.

Czech Kvitova has not reached thequarter-finals at Roland Garros since a runto the last four in 2012.

The 28-year-old raced through theopening set in only 24 minutes, andalthough she was pegged back after anearly break in the second, a booming fore-hand sealed victory with a third straightgame.

�������� ��� ��F<Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina

reached the last 32 for the fourth consec-utive year by brushing aside ViktoriaKuzmova in straight sets.

The 23-year-old, who arrived in Parishaving won her second straight Italian

Open title, saw off her Slovakian opponent6-3, 6-4.

Svitolina, a two-time quarter-finalistat Roland Garros, will take on Romanian31st seed Mihaela Buzarnescu in the last32.

Elsewhere, charismatic Japanese 21stseed Naomi Osaka came through a tightmatch with Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas 6-4, 7-5.

The 20-year-old Osaka is seeded forthe first time at a major tournament, hav-ing lifted the prestigious Indian Wells titleearlier this year before beating SerenaWilliams in Miami the following week.

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Serena and Venus Williams havewon their first Grand Slam dou-

bles match in nearly two years.The sisters moved into the sec-

ond round of the French Open bycoming back for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 vic-tory over the 14th-seeded Japanesepairing of Shuko Aoyama andMiyu Kato in front of a Court 3crowd that raucously supportedthe Americans.

The Williams-Williams duolast competed at a major tourna-ment together at Wimbledon in2016. They won their 14th GrandSlam title in women's doubles atthe All England Club.

This return to doubles came aday after Serena Williams partic-ipated in Grand Slam singles forthe first time in 16 months, win-ning her first-round match atRoland Garros. Venus Williamslost in the first round of singles onSunday.

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