CM YK wednesday, may 24, 2017 Delhi City Edition 24 pages ₹10.00 Printed at .Chennai Coimbatore Bengaluru Hyderabad .Madurai Noida .Visakhapatnam Thiruvananthapuram .Kochi Vijay

CMYK

wednesday, may 24, 2017 Delhi

City Edition

24 pages � ₹10.00

Printed at . Chennai . Coimbatore . Bengaluru . Hyderabad . Madurai . Noida . Visakhapatnam . Thiruvananthapuram . Kochi . Vijayawada . Mangaluru . Tiruchirapalli . Kolkata . Hubballi . Mohali . Malappuram . Mumbai . Tirupati . lucknow

follow us:

thehindu.com

facebook.com/thehindu

twitter.com/the_hindu

Continuing with the centralgovernment's proactive ap-proach in countering cross-border terrorism, the Armyearlier this month launchedfire assaults and destroyedseveral Pakistani posts in theNaushera sector, which wereaiding infiltration. The Armyalso released a video show-ing some of those assaults.

This was the third in-stance when Army officialsclaimed attacks across theLine of Control (LoC) sincethe Modi government cameto power.

While in two of thosecases, the Army only firedacross the LoC, in Septem-ber last year it claimed tohave carried out surgicalstrikes across the LoC.

Infiltration attempts“As part of our Counter Ter-rorism strategy and to en-sure that infiltration iscurbed and the initiative re-mains with us, the IndianArmy proactively dominatesthe LoC. While doing so, loc-ations aiding infiltration ofterrorists are being targetedand destroyed to deny ad-vantage to terrorists, thuscurbing infiltration at-tempts,” Major General A.K.Narula, the Army’s Addi-tional Director General Pub-lic Information said onTuesday.

The action was under-taken on May 9 in retaliation

to the mutilation of two sol-diers by Pakistan’s BorderAction Teams in the KrishnaGhati sector on May 1.

The Army used Anti-TankGuided Missiles, rocketlaunchers, automatic gren-ade launchers and recoil-lessguns for the strikes, officialssaid.

Maj. Gen. Narula said thePakistan Army had beenproviding support to armedinfiltrators by “engaging ourforward troops” from their

weapon emplacements andpill-boxes closer to the LoC.“At times they have not hes-itated to target civilians inthe proximity of the LoC,”he stated.

For peace: Jaitley Defence Minister Arun Jait-ley said the Army actionswere needed to ensurepeace in Jammu and Kash-mir. Pakistan, though,denied the claims that manyof its posts were destroyed.

India hits back, destroysPakistani posts on LoCArmy carried out assaults on May 9 in Naushera sector

Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI

At least 22 people, includingchildren — one as young aseight-years-old — were killedand 59 injured in a “callous”suicide attack in the north-ern English city ofManchester on Mondaynight. One person has beenarrested in connection withthe attack.

A 22-year-old British manwhose parents had emig-rated from Libya was identi-fied on Tuesday as thebomber. At a late afternoonnews conference, Chief Con-stable Ian Hopkins of theGreater Manchester Policeidentified him as SalmanAbedi, but declined toprovide any further details.“The priority remains to es-tablish whether he was act-ing alone or as part of a net-work,” Mr. Hopkins said.

Abedi’s ID was found atthe scene of the bombing,according to a law enforce-ment official, speaking onthe condition of anonymity.According to neighbours,Abedi lived with his family ina house in Elsmore Road, inthe Fallowfield district. Thepolice raided the house onTuesday afternoon, after set-ting off a controlled explo-sion to gain entry.

The attack came exactlytwo months after a 52-year-old British citizen drove acar into pedestrians at West-

minster and fatally stabbedan unarmed police officer.

The bombing at the closeof a pop concert at the popu-lar Manchester Arena is thecountry’s deadliest terror at-tack since 2005, when 52people were killed and sev-eral hundreds injured in aseries of bomb blasts in cent-ral London.

The Islamic State hasclaimed responsibility forthe attack via social media,against what it described as“crusaders”. It described theattacker as a “soldier of the

caliphate.” “The terroristswill never win,” declaredPrime Minister Theresa May,who condemned the “cal-lous terrorist attack.” Shealso attended a meeting ofBritain’s emergency COBRAcommittee on Tuesday.

Political parties have sus-pended campaigning for theJune 8 general election.

Police released the identit-ies of the first two victims —eight-year-old Saffie RoseRoussos, who had attendedthe concert with her motherand sister, and 18-year-old

Georgina Callander. At least12 children below the age of16 are among the injured.

No Indian among deadThe Indian High Commis-sion confirmed that no In-dian citizens are among thedead, though details of theinjured are yet to beconfirmed.

(With inputs from The New York Times)

22 die in Manchester attack,IS claims responsibilityOne person arrested; suicide bomber identiied as British national Salman Abedi

Vidya Ram

London

Towards safety: People leaving the Manchester Arena on Monday night after the explosion atthe end of a pop concert, featuring Ariana Grande. * GETTY IMAGES

U.K. PARTIES SUSPEND ELECTION

CAMPAIGN; GURDWARAS

STEP IN WITH HELP � PAGE 12

Over the next two months,25 students from premiercolleges will put their headstogether here to build theiridea of the pod, a vehiclethat would meet high speednorms of the futuristictransport systemHyperloop.

The Pod DesignCompetition, to be held inAugust at Hawthorne,California by the companySpaceX, is the second in thecurrent year. The idea is tohave a scaled-down podprototype that can traversea one mile long evacuatedtube in a vacuum and seatonly one passenger.

The core committee ofthe team, mostlyengineering andmanagement students,launched work on Monday,hosted by Bengaluru-basedfabrication facilityWorkbench Projects.

Hyperloop India, theonly team in the country toreach the final design stage,will build the OrcaPod, aprototype for speeds of upto 460 km per hour. TheHyperloop system isproposed by inventor-businessman Elon Musk of

SpaceX. The conceptenvisages a pod-like vehiclebeing propelled through anevacuated tube, underreduced pressure invacuum-like conditions.

August 1 deadline“They are geared to meetthe tough deadline of twomonths to build theOrcapod. It has to be readyby August 1,” said AnupamaGowda, co-founder,Workbench Projects. Overthe next week, teammembers have to find aplace to stay and convincepossible sponsors. Also onthe cards are meetings withindustries andassociations,” said SibeshKar, team lead and founderof Hyperloop India.

The budget requirementof ₹75 lakh is high. “We haveraised around ₹ 25 lakh sofar, and are looking formore sponsors andpartners,” Mr. Kar said. TheOrcapod, to be built fromthe ground up near UlsoorMetro Station, will haveengineering and softwaredesign specialists. “We willbuild the understructureincluding levitation-relatedparts,” said Dhruv Mahajan,a student at BITS Goa.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

A Hyperloop pod tozip between citiesAvinash Bhat

Bengaluru

OPPORTUNITIES � PAGE 4

DELHI METRO � 6 PAGES

NEARBY

Human shield issue: Army chief ’s commendation for ‘eforts on counter insurgency’ sparks a row

“If it was his (the Armychief ’s) relative instead ofme, will he still award the of-ficer,” asked Farooq AhmadDar, who was tied to anArmy vehicle and used as ahuman shield by MajorLeetul Gogoi.

Mr. Dar, responding tothe award of a commenda-tion certificate issued byArmy chief General BipinRawat to Major Gogoi,

termed it as “support to zu-lum [oppression].”

A support to oppression: DarPeerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

Farooq Ahmad Dar

FRESH PROTESTS ERUPT IN

KASHMIR VALLEY � PAGE 10

CONTINUED ON � PAGE 10

Chandraswami, self-styledgodman, political brokerand astrologer to thepowerful, rich and influen-

associated with formerPMs P.V. Narasimha Raoand Chandra Shekhar, buthis circle of patrons in-cluded many others.

tial, who dominated newsheadlines for almost threedecades, died at the ApolloHospital here, aged 66,after a prolonged illness.

His name is most closely

Chandraswami, self-styled godman, deadSmita Gupta

New Delhi


Major Leetul Gogoi, theArmy officer in the midst ofthe latest Kashmir contro-versy over his decision touse a civilian as a humanshield against stone throw-ers, justified his action, say-ing it saved lives.

A day after it emergedthat the Army chief GeneralBipin Rawat had awardedhim a Commendation Card“for sustained efforts on

counter-insurgency,” theArmy formally fielded MajorGogoi in Srinagar to explainhis version of the incident

involving the tying up of alocal resident to an Armyvehicle to deter stone peltingon April 9.

The Major claimed thathis action resulted in savinglives “without firing a bulletor beating anyone.” A formalCourt of Inquiry is still un-derway, and the Jammu andKashmir police have alsofiled an FIR on the incident.

It saved lives, says Major GogoiSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Major Leetul Gogoi


FOR GOGOI, THE CARD CAME

FROM THE CHIEF � PAGE 10

One killed in freshSaharanpur violenceSAHARANPUR

One Dalit was killed and

several injured as fresh caste

violence erupted for the third

time in Chandrapura village

of Saharanpur even as BSP

supremo Mayawati visited

the adjoining village of

Shabbirpur.NEWS � PAGE 11

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Amarinder upset overpoor Class X resultsCHANDIGARH

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh

on Tuesday expressed dismay

over the poor results of the

Class X examination

conducted by the Punjab

School Education Board, in

which over 40% of the

students failed.NORTH � PAGE 3


21 pilgrims killed as busfalls into BhagirathiUTTARKASHI

At least 21 pilgrims from MP

were killed when their bus

fell into the Bhagirathi river

near Nalupani on Tuesday

evening while returning from

Gangotri shrine.NATION � PAGE 7


https://telegram.me/TheHindu_Zone https://telegram.me/PDF4EXAMS

A ND-ND

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 20172EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

EAST

6, on behalf of KASTURI & SON

Sudip’s health still acause for concern KOLKATA

Trinamool MP Sudip

Bandyopadhyay’s health is

still a cause for concern,

sources at a city hospital said

on Tuesday, where he was

admitted on arrival from

Bhubaneswar after getting

bail in the Rose Valley scam

case. He will also undergo

tests to determine the cause

of his significant weight loss,

they said. PTI

IN BRIEF

Renovation of VictoriaTown Hall begins SAMBALPUR (ODISHA)

INTACH on Monday started

renovation of the century-old

building Victoria Town Hall

building here, for which the

State Tourism Department

has sanctioned ₹1.44 crore,

officials said. An INTACH

member said the British

decided to establish buildings

across India in the name of

Queen Victoria following her

death in 1901. PTI

Four washed away inJhanjabati river BERHAMPUR

Four persons, including three

women, bathing in the river

were washed away by a

strong current in the

Jhanjabati near Majhighariani

temple at Odisha’s Rayagada

district on Tuesday. The police

said, the victims were from

Andhra Pradesh and had

come to the temple. The Fire

Brigade has started a search

operation. STAFF REPORTER

Protests erupted in the WestBengal Legislative Assemblyon Tuesday when Left Frontand Congress legislaturesraised the issue of police as-sault on Left Front support-ers during the “March toNabanna” on Monday.

Left Front MLA TanmoyBhattacharya demandedthat an adjournment motionbe allowed in the House.

Adjournment motionAfter the adjournment mo-tion was disallowed by theSpeaker, Left Front MLAsraised posters, held blackflags and shouted anti-gov-ernment slogans in theHouse. The Left Front MLAs,along with Congress law-makers, descended to thewell of the House shoutingslogans against thegovernment.

The MLAs later heldprotests in the Assemblypremises under the statue ofB. R. Ambedkar. The Leftand Congress MLAs thenmarched towards the RajBhavan meet to GovernorKeshari Nath Tripathi.

The Speaker adjournedthe House for some timeafter protests by Left andCongress MLAs. However,the Left Front and CongressMLAs didn’t join in once theHouse resumed. A condem-nation motion against theOpposition MLAs waspassed. Speaker BimanBanerjee observed that cer-tain MLAs weren’t abidingby the rules of the Houseand that no posters will beallowed in the House fromWednesday.

Along with Leader of theLeft Front Legislature PartySujan Chakraborty, Leaderof Opposition Abdul Mannancondemned police actionagainst Left Front support-ers. “I condemn the way theCPI(M) workers were at-

tacked on Monday. This isundemocratic. Nobody wascarrying arms or bombs thatthe police attacked them,”Mr. Mannan said.

“Police action on LeftFront supporters and journ-alists just shows how brutalthe police can be. This is anattack on democracy. Wehave to come meet the Gov-ernor to inform him aboutthe development so that hecan take action,” Mr.Chakraborty said.

Social media Later in the day, the LeftFront leadership took out arally in Kolkata protestingagainst the assault on LeftFront members.

In a related development,12 Left Front supporters ar-rested by the Kolkata Policewere produced before a citycourt and booked undernon-bailable charges weregranted bail. The Kolkata Po-lice took to social media say-ing that “all guilty persons”in the “March to Nabanna”will be arrested.

Protests inside and outsideAssembly over police action Congress, Left Front MLAs marched towards Raj Bhavan meet to the Governor

‘Action condemned’: MLAs from the Left Front and the Congress raise slogans at the RajBhavan in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Special Correspondent

Kolkata

A day after Odisha Ministersstarted a media blitz to high-light the achievements oftheir respective depart-ments, the Congress and theBJP have launched an of-fensive, accusing the BJDgovernment of failing on allfronts.

Media briefingsThe special briefings by theMinisters started on Mondayafter Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik asked them to in-form people about theirachievements in detailthrough media briefings.

Mr. Patnaik had issuedthe directive while address-ing a meeting of the Councilof Ministers on completionof three years of his govern-ment’s fourth term onSunday.

Highlighting his govern-

ment’s achievements, Mr.Patnaik had said the infantmortality rate had reducedin the State from 96 in 2000to 40 in 2015-16, which ef-fectively translates into sav-ing about 51,000 more ba-bies annually compared to2000.

The briefings will con-tinue on a daily basis for atleast 10 days. Either one ortwo Ministers are address-ing journalists about theachievements since the BJDcame to power in March2000.

On the other hand, theBJP has started organisingmedia briefings sinceMonday to point out the BJDgovernment’s failures.

Meanwhile, the Congressjoined the ongoing briefingwar on Tuesday by blamingthe BJD government for fail-ing to deliver on its prom-ises in various fields.

Congress, BJP counterBJD govt. media blitzMinisters highlighting achievements


BHUBANESWAR

Hundreds of journaliststook to streets in Kolkataon Tuesday protestingagainst the brutal assaulton over 20 of them by theKolkata Police during LeftFront “ March toNabanna” on Monday.

Bandages and slingsThe journalists walked a4-km stretch from Ra-bindra Sadan to LalBaazar Police headquar-ters holding up posterscondemning the attack.

A number of journal-ists had to be hospitalisedafter the attack. In spiteof their injuries manyjournalists participated inthe march and were walk-ing with bandages and

slings. “Law keepersshould behave like lawkeepers and not likebunch of rowdies,”Monideepa Banerjee ofNDTV who participated inthe protests.

Sukanta Mukherjee ofETV News Bangla whowas assaulted by policeon Monday said, “I wasjust doing my job and allof a sudden policepounced on us withoutany provocation.”

After the end of march,a delegation of journalistsmet Commissioner ofKolkata Police Rajiv Ku-mar. He said a thoroughprobe will be conductedand that in law violationevents journalists will beprovided with jacketswith ‘Press’ written on it

Journalists protest Against the ‘brutal’ assault on them

Staff Reporter

Kolkata

The headmaster and an as-sistant teacher of a residen-tial school in Kandhamal dis-trict of Odisha have beensuspended, and its hostelmatron removed from dutyfollowing the death of aClass III girl on the schoolpremises.

Inquiry reportThe district administrationresorted to the action onMonday following submis-sion of an inquiry report bya joint team of officials. Thereport was submitted to theadministration on May 20.

The eight-year-old girldied at the SevashramSchool in Belapadar onMarch 17. The school is man-aged by the Tribal WelfareDepartment of the State gov-ernment. Her body was

found in the dining hall ofthe hostel. There were alleg-ations that she had beenmurdered or committed sui-cide. “So far, there’s no evid-ence to hint that she com-mitted suicide. Thepost-mortem report hasn’thinted at any assault on thechild. A police probe is on,”said Kandhamal DistrictChild Protection Officer(DCPO) Rashmita Karan.

Following the incident,the district administrationhad transferred headmaster

Pankaj Rana, assistantteacher Harapriya Pradhanand matron Harapriya Pra-dhan to other schools.

“These transfers weremade for a free and fair in-vestigation,” said the DistrictWelfare Officer of Kand-hamal, Ganeswar Bharimal.

Apart from the police in-vestigation, the district ad-ministration had formed ajoint inquiry team. In its re-port, the inquiry team al-leged negligence on the partof the matron and teachersconcerned. But the reportruled out chances of suicideby the child.

“We felt the matron, theassistant teacher and theheadmaster should havebeen more responsibleabout the activities andmovement of students resid-ing in the hostel of theschool,” said the DCPO.

Following the death of a Class III girl on school premises

Staff Reporter

BERHAMPUR

Headmaster, teacher of Odisharesidential school suspended

<> So far, there’s no

evidence to hint that

the child committed

suicide. The post-

mortem report has

also not hinted at

any assault

Rashmita Karan

Kandhamal District Child ProtectionOicer

Man held for rape ofminor sister-in-lawPHULBANI (ODISHA)

A 23-year-old man has been

arrested in Odisha’s

Kandhamal district for

allegedly kidnapping and

raping his minor sister-in-law,

the police said on Monday.

The accused, who hails from

Nayagarh district, was

arrested on Monday after an

FIR was lodged by the 14-

year-old’s mother. PTI

A tweet to the Odisha ChiefMinister’s Office resulted inthe rescue of five minor chil-dren while they were beingillegally trafficked to Jhar-suguda district in a passen-ger bus.

Three persons involvedBriefing journalists in Ber-hampur on Tuesday, Addi-tional Superintendent of Po-lice Trinath Patel said threepersons involved in the il-legal trafficking have beenarrested. The children, whoare between 12 and 15 years,hailed from the Sorada andShergarh areas of Ganjamdistrict.

According to sources,

Amit Nanda, a youth fromGanjam, tweeted about traf-ficking of children to theCMO. The CMO re-tweeted itto the Ganjam police with adirective to rescue the chil-dren.

Interrogation of the arres-ted persons revealed thatthe children were beingtaken to Jharsuguda districtto be employed as cheap la-bour. According to Mr. Patel,as soon as the CMO receivedinformation about the traf-ficking, it was immediatelypassed on to Berhampurand Ganjam police districts.By the time the Ganjam po-lice started its operation totrack down the passengerbus, it had entered Kand-hamal district.

Tweet to Odisha CMOleads to rescue of kids

They were being illegally traicked

Staff Reporter

BERHAMPUR



THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2017 3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

CMYK

NORTH

UP raises ‘Divyang’pension to ₹500 LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh

government on Tuesday

hiked the monthly ‘Divyang’

pension from ₹300 to ₹500.

A decision to this effect was

taken at a Cabinet meeting

chaired by Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath here. PTI

IN BRIEF

Man dies after fallingfrom train BHADOHI

A 23-year-old man was killed

on Tuesday after he fell from

a moving train while using his

cellphone here, the police

said. The incident took place

at Survaya station in the

district when Ajay Kumar

Dubey, travelling in the

Pratapgarh-Varanasi

passenger, was busy using his

mobile phone while sitting on

the steps of a compartment,

they said. PTI

Two SSB jawans killedin road accidentBAHRAICH

Two Sashastra Seema Bal

(SSB) jawans were killed in a

road accident on Bahraich-

Nepal road in the Ramgaon

area here, the police said.

Constables Neeraj Kundal (32)

and Rajesh Tewari (30),

posted in the 42nd battalion

of the SSB were on their way

to Bahraich from Nanpara for

some official work when their

motorcycle was hit by a

mini-van on Monday, SHO

Ramgaon Digvijay Singh said.PTI

UP govt. to focus onpopularising cow milkLUCKNOW

In a bid to revive the dairy

industry in the State, the

Uttar Pradesh government

has decided to popularise cow

milk and the by-products of

milk. The government has

also decided to set up a

one-lakh litre capacity milk

processing plant in Kannauj

this year.PTI

Punjab Chief Minister Am-arinder Singh on Tuesday ex-pressed dismay over the“poor” results of the Class Xexamination conducted bythe Punjab School EducationBoard (PSEB), in which over40% of the students failed.

Taking a serious note ofthe poor performance bystudents, Capt. Amarinderissued strict instructions toEducation Minister ArunaChaudhary to prepare ablueprint to raise the stand-ards of education in theState.

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), the principal Opposi-tion in the State, however,asked the Congress leadersto visit schools in villages tounderstand the problems in-stead of preparing "blue-prints" while sitting inside"air conditioned" rooms.

Around 57% of Class X stu-

dents passed the Boardexam conducted by thePSEB. The results were de-clared on Monday.

A total of 3.30 lakh stu-dents had appeared for theexam out of which 1.90 lakhstudents passed while 45,734students failed and 94,271students got to reappear.

"The fact that only 24 stu-dents from governmentschools made it to the meritlist is a serious cause for con-cern," said Capt. Amarinderas he pinned responsibility

for the poor performance onthe Education Department.

‘Visit schools’The Leader of the Opposi-tion in the Punjab Assembly,H. S. Phoolka, told The

Hindu: "If the Congress gov-ernment is serious about im-proving the quality of educa-tion in Punjab then the CMalong with his Ministersshould visit schools in thevillages to understand theproblems."

"Sitting in air-conditionrooms and preparing blue-print will not serve any pur-pose," Mr. Phoolka said

The AAP leader addedthat the "indifferent attitudeof the government was evid-ent from the fact that eventhough the Class XII resultswere announced over aweek ago, no official hadbothered to find the reasonbehind the poor results".

"Lack of concern in gov-

ernment departments is theroot cause of the failed edu-cation system in the State.The need of the hour is tomaintain the student-:teacher ratio in governmentschools," Mr. Phoolka said.

PTI adds: Capt. Am-arinder said he was very dis-turbed at the “deterioratingstandards of education” inPunjab, as a result of which“our children are falling bythe wayside in the race forgood jobs and careergrowth, with most of themeven failing to clear the ne-cessary exams for gettinginto the armed forces.”

The Congress leader hadearlier ordered severalsweeping policy changes toraise the bar of education inthe State. He once againstressed the upgradation ofEnglish teaching in schoolsto empower students tomeet global communicationneeds.

Amarinder upset over poorClass X examination results Punjab Chief Minister orders blueprint to raise the standards of education

Amarinder Singh

VIKAS VASUDEVA

CHANDIGARH

The Special InvestigationTeam (SIT) of the Uttar Pra-desh Police on Tuesday sentto Delhi the viscera ofKarnataka cadre IAS officerAnurag Tewari as the reasonbehind his death continuedto baffle the probe team.

The SIT also questionedAnurag’s friend PrabhuNarain Singh, who is cur-rently posted as Vice-Chair-man, Lucknow Develop-ment Authority (LDA), forover three hours and recor-ded his statement, a seniorofficial told PTI here.

Mr. Singh was sharing theroom with his IAS batch-mate in the governmentMeera Bai Marg guest house,outside which his body wasfound on May 17 morning,sending shock waves acrossthe State capital as the spotis close to the high-securityUP Assembly complex.

The post-mortem examin-ation report said that it ap-peared to be death causedby asphyxia. His viscera,blood samples and heart

were, however, preserved tofind the exact cause of thedeath.

Foul play allegedWith Anurag’s family mem-bers crying foul over hisdeath, suspecting that hehas been murdered, theState government onMonday decided to handover the case to the CBI.

Anurag’s family told ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanaththat they suspected foul playas he was about to expose a“big scam” in a Karnatakagovernment department.

The UP police has re-gistered a murder case inthe matter, five days after

Anurag’s body was found onhis birthday under mysteri-ous circumstances.

Anurag’s family had al-leged that he was murderedat the behest of corrupt of-ficers as he was a whis-tleblower and was about toexpose a “scam” in the de-partment of food, civil sup-plies and consumer affairs inBengaluru where he wasposted as commissioner.

Mayank, the deceased’sbrother, alleged that thescene of crime had beenwashed and the officer’s mo-bile phone was found in anunlocked condition.

In his police complaint,Mayank said his brother wasan “honest officer” and wastransferred seven to eighttimes in his decade-longcareer.

He also claimed thatAnurag had told them thatthere was a threat to his life.

Mayanak said “mybrother was a late riser andnever went for morningwalk”, countering what thepolice had suggested in thecase.

LDA vice-chairman was sharing room with the IAS oicer

Press Trust of India

Lucknow

Anurag Tewari

SIT quizzes Tewari’s batchmate

Rajasthan is “in the fore-front” of taking advantage ofthe new thrust on urban de-velopment in order to im-prove the quality of life incities and towns, Urban De-velopment Minister M. Ven-kaiah Naidu said here onTuesday.

Mr Naidu said it wasamong the 11 States whichare implementing all the sixurban missions of the Uniongovernment.

Mr. Naidu, on a two-dayvisit to Rajasthan, sanc-tioned Rs.184.83 crore forthe Swachh Bharat Missionand Rs.21.83 crore for theDeendayal AntyodayaYojana.

“On the whole, the imple-mentation of six new urbanmissions launched over thelast two years is going onwell in Rajasthan,” Mr. Naidusaid at a press conferencehere. He said the Union andState governments had alsoidentified areas for more fo-cused attention.

Rajasthan is the 19th Statewhere Mr. Naidu has re-viewed progress of variousnew schemes. Mr. Naidusaid Rajasthan was the firstState to submit proposals tothe Centre under the AtalMission and Smart CityMission.

Smart city plans Besides, it has got smart cityplans approved for all thefour mission cities in justtwo rounds of competition.

The Union Minister saidthe State had taken the lead

by ensuring commencementof implementation in re-spect of 75% of investmentsapproved under the AtalMission for 2015-16 and2016-17.

The State's investment inurban missions amounted toan average of Rs.25,000 perhead, which was among thehighest in the country, hesaid. On the Swachh Bharatfront, Mr. Naidu said about20 cities and towns of thetotal of 190 in the State hadbeen declared open defeca-tion free so far.

Rajasthan taking advantageof urban thrust, says Naidu‘Implementation of six new urban missions going well’


Jaipur

Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu withRajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje in Jaipur on Tuesday. * PTI

Six hundred more PrimaryHealth Centres (PHCs) inRajasthan will shortly beconverted into model unitswith the provision for com-bined services of allopathyand Ayurveda physiciansavailable to patients.

State Medical andHealth Minister KalicharanSaraf said here on Tuesdaythat the model PHCs estab-lished in all the 295 blocksof the State on Independ-ence Day last year had re-ceived good response.

“Wellness centres”They are functioning as“wellness centres” with asignificant increase in pa-tient registration and insti-tutional deliveries.

Mr. Saraf said the modelPHCs would provide freemedicines and conduct asmany as 15 diagnostic testsfree of cost.

Doctors and para-med-ical staff at the PHCs willtake special care to main-tain health and nutritionalstatus of women, childrenand old age patients.

Malnutrition scheme The Minister pointed outthat the implementation ofcommunity-based manage-ment of acute malnutritionprogramme in the Statehad recently received ac-colades at the internationallevel.

Under the programme,9,117 children in 13 districtswere treated and broughtof malnutrition throughsustained efforts.

More modelPHCs tocome up inRajasthanSpecial Correspondent

Jaipur

A delegation of six senatorsof the Panjab University metthe State Education Ministerto push for the University tobe declared a ‘Heritage Uni-versity’ and impress uponthe Centre to bear its totalbudgetary and financialneeds. The meeting comeseven as the University faces asevere financial crunch.

The delegation asked Edu-cation Minister ArunaChaudhary to intervene andincrease the university’sfunding. A recent raise of

fees by the varsity had,meanwhile, led to a studentagitation and the authoritieswere forced to limit the hiketo 10%.

Punjab’s share“The Punjab governmentused to contribute 40% ofthe budget and expenses ofPanjab University after thecreation of Haryana in 1966.However, its share has beenreduced to a mere 8% or afixed ₹ 20 crore grant peryear over the last manyyears. We urged the Ministerto get the Punjab govern-

ment’s grant to the Univer-sity restored to 40% inphases,” said Mr. ChamanLal, one of the senate mem-bers of PU.

“We also told the Ministerthat Panjab University is theHeritage University of the re-gion. It was set up in 1882 inLahore and was the fourthUniversity of the country. Wesuggested that Punjab gov-ernment could try to get PUdeclared as Heritage Univer-sity of national importanceand get the Centre to bear itstotal budget and financialneeds,” he added.

Panjab univ delegates meetMinister over heritage statusWant Union government to bear total inancial needs

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

Belgium on Monday ex-pressed its willingness toinvest in herbal, food pro-cessing and spice sectors inUttarakhand and offeredits technical expertise tothe State government’sriver cleaning programme.

The European nationalso offered help in prepar-ing a blueprint for the Stategovernment’s proposedsmart city project.

The proposals weremade by a delegation ofBelgian trade counsellorsled by its ambassador JanLuykx at a meeting withCM Trivendra Singh Rawat.

Belgiumofers help toUttarakhand Press Trust of India

Dehradun

Five injured in fire atdistillery plant BILASPUR

Five workers were injured in a

fire at a distillery plant in

Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur

district, the police said on

Tuesday. The fire broke out

on Monday after an explosion

in a boiler at the facility of

Welcome Distillery Pvt Ltd

located in the Kota block. PTI




Organisations now seemto better appreciate thefact that it is their philo-

sophy that differentiates themfrom the competition. A com-pany’s philosophy forms thebasis of its core values that dic-

tate business practices. Inmany organisations, businessphilosophy is called missionstatement or vision.

Prospective employees of acompany may feel the neces-sity of understanding its philo-sophy so that they could findout if it is compatible with their

own. Employees of a companywould also want to have a clearidea about its philosophy, asthis knowledge will serve as aguide when they find them-selves at decision-makingcrossroads. A clear-cut philo-sophy also serves as a brandingtool. Sometimes, a company’s

philosophy will be imbuedwith dualism that may pose aset of challenges to employees.For example, aspects of a com-pany’s philosophy that haveobvious benefits for teams mayrequire individuals to demandmore from their colleagues.The question is: In such a case,

would we choose to do the dif-ficult thing, one that will im-mensely benefit the organisa-tion as a whole but is notpersonally appealing to you?

There will be some goalsthat are personal to you. Therewill be some goals that you willshare with your team. Then,

there will be other goals thatyou will shared with your or-ganisation as a whole.

All these goals will take youon a journey. As you achievethese goals, you will makechoices. Some choices willwork in your favour and somemay not. But there’s no shying

away from making thosechoices.

Let me leave you with athought from Gita — Karmkaro, phal ki chinta mat karo.It means: Exercise your dutieswithout bothering about theoutcome. As it is in life, so it isin corporate life. The journey

is more important than any-thing else.

The journey towards a vis-ion that is beneficial to all, inthe long run.

(Sanjay Modi is Managing

Director — APAC & Middle-

East, Monster.com)

Let the vision guide your feet Sanjay Modi





SOUTH

Missing Kerala templeornaments found in hundiALAPPUZHA

A missing ‘pathakkam’ and

gold chain, sacred ornaments

used for decorating the idol

at the Sri Krishna temple at

Ambalappuzha, were found

in the temple hundi. The

‘pathakkam’ and chain,

weighing over 10 sovereigns,

were reported missing last

month.

IN BRIEF

J.C. Daniel Award forAdoor GopalakrishnanTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Malayalam filmmaker Adoor

Gopalakrishnan has been

chosen for the prestigious J.C.

Daniel Award for 2016.

The award, conferred by the

Kerala government annually

in recognition of an

individual’s contributions to

Malayalam cinema, carries a

purse of ₹1 lakh, a plaque,

and a citation.

Unfavourable conditions inthe concession agreement ofthe Vizhinjam seaport pro-ject have gone against the in-terests of the Kerala govern-ment and to the advantage ofAdani Ports and SEZ PrivateLimited, the Comptrollerand Auditor General hassaid.

According to the latest re-port on public sector under-takings tabled in the As-sembly on Tuesday, the CAGhas listed a number of condi-tions unfavourable to theState. The standard conces-sion period for PPP (public-private participation) pro-jects was 30 years. But it hadbeen fixed as 40 years. Thiswould help the company col-lect an additional revenue of₹29,217 crore.

As per the agreement, theconcession period of 40years can be extended by 20years on the condition of ca-

pacity augmentation. Thedraft agreement had limitedit by 10 years. Had the gov-ernment stuck to the 10-yearnorm, the State would havegot ₹61,095 crore.

Excess equityOwing to the modification ofthe concession agreementon the premise of improvingclarity without any demand

from the prospective bidderson December 31, 2014, thegovernment had to pay anexcess equity support of₹283.08 crore in advance, in-curring an interest loss of₹123.71 crore.

By affording the conces-sionaire, the right to mort-gage all assets, the govern-ment had provided unduebenefit to the company, the

CAG said. “The governmentwas mixing and matchingclauses as per convenience,all of which resulted inproviding additional benefitsto the concessionaire,” ac-cording to the report.

The CAG has also takennote of deviations from theCentral Vigilance Commis-sion’s guidelines on pre-qualification criteria.

CAG report slams Vizhinjam pact ‘Project’s concession agreement favours Adani group, goes against Kerala’s interests’

Caught in a controversy: A view of the Vizhinjam port. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT


THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The Congress on Tuesdayreminded Bharatiya JanataParty national presidentAmit Shah, scheduled to ad-dress a party meeting hereon May 25, of the “unful-filled” promises made byhim and his party to thepeople of Andhra Pradesh.

Andhra Pradesh CongressCommittee president N.Raghuveera Reddy, in anopen letter to Mr. Shah, al-leged that the BJP leaderhad promised many thingsduring his earlier visits tothe State.

“He claimed that theCentre had spent ₹1.4 lakhcrore and that it would takeone full week to narrate thehelp extended to A.P., at apublic meeting in Rajama-hendravaram on March 6,2016,” the Congress leader

said in the letter. The BJPhad made several promisesin its election manifesto, in-cluding Special CategoryStatus for 10 years. Otherpromises included quickcompletion of the Polav-aram project and 50% in-crease in minimum supportprice of agricultural pro-

duce. The biggest “false-hood” thrust on the peopleof A.P. was the special pack-age, the letter said.

CM warns TDP cadreTelugu Desam presidentand Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu, mean-while, has taken a seriousview of the outburst by afew party leaders againstthe BJP, the party’s alliancepartner in the State and atthe Centre.

At a meeting with theparty leaders on Monday,Mr. Naidu instructed Vijay-awada MP Kesineni Srinivas(Nani), MLC YVB Ra-jendraprasad and others toexercise restraint, sourcessaid.

Mr. Naidu’s reactioncame in the wake of the BJPasking the TDP to follow thecoalition dharma.

Biggest falsehood was special package: Raghuveera Reddy


Vijayawada

N. Raghuveera Reddy

A.P. Congress reminds AmitShah of ‘unfulilled promises’

The feudal system that is in-grained in our society is re-sponsible for the denial of so-cial justice in the name ofcaste. It has nothing to dowith religion, Tibetan spir-itual leader and Nobel PeacePrize laureate the Dalai Lamasaid on Tuesday.

Social justice is aboutequality and fairness amongall human beings, he said at aState-level seminar on “Socialjustice and Dr. B.R.Ambedkar” organised by theSocial Welfare Department.He called for shunning allnegative aspects that exist insociety, including feudal

practices followed in thename of religion. Caste-re-lated injustice could be wipedout through education, hesaid, and added: “Throughself-confidence, hard work

and education, one canachieve equality.” He said theBuddha dharma was Indiandharma as most of its teach-ings and knowledge camefrom the country.

‘Equality can be achieved through hard work, education’


Bengaluru

Making a statement: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama withKarnataka CM Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru. * K. MURALI KUMAR

Feudalism responsible forsocial injustice: Dalai Lama

In brain surgeries, precisionis everything — a shift of afew millimetres can makethe difference between asuccessful surgery and acoma.

One device that improvesthe accuracy of neurosur-gery is the stereotactic headframe, which provides a 3-dimensional coordinate sys-tem to help surgeons get theprecise location of a nerveor tumour in the brain.

One-third the priceHowever, the device cur-rently used is prohibitivelyexpensive, costing between₹75 lakh to ₹1 crore. A city-based doctor has designed alow-cost stereotactic frame

which can be used to oper-ate on both sides of the brainat the same time, unlike con-ventional frames currentlyused in hospitals.

The frame designed byMurali Mohan, seniorneurosurgeon with BRAINSSparsh Hospitals, is made ofmedical grade titanium andcosts one-third the current

price. Engineers SharathBhat and Sadashiv Bhat ofthe Mahalasa Medical Tech-nology, Bengaluru, de-veloped the device.

Dr. Mohan's inspirationwas the late Balasub-ramaniam Ramamurthi,known as the father of In-dian neurosurgery. “Duringhis last days, he said he hadbegun stereotaxy in Indiabut had always wanted todesign an Indian frame,”said Dr. Mohan. "When I toldhim I would try, he smiled; Iwas only in my second yearof training then.”

Awaiting patentThe second impetus was toreduce cost so that a patientin a small town in Karnatakacould get a brain biopsy

done without having totravel to Bengaluru.

The frame which is CEmarked (it conforms toEuropean standards) and ispending patent, is beingused by doctors in six toseven hospitals in Bengaluruand Hyderabad for biopsiesand deep brain simulations.

Balaji Pai, HOD, Depart-ment of Neurosurgery, Ban-galore Medical College andResearch Institute, who usedthe device said it was super-ior to the existing ones in themarket. “However, like allsurgical tools, its success de-pends on the skill of the sur-geon. I have done biopsies ofthe brain to detect tumourswith this device and it hasbeen pretty accurate," hesaid.

Bengaluru doctor designs device that can be used to operate both sides of brain

CInthYa Anand

Bengaluru

Murali Mohan

Making brain surgeries more cost-efective

Subash, a City Armed Re-serve constable, allegedlykilled his wife and two chil-dren, and attempted to killhimself in Hegde Nagar onTuesday. The police re-gistered a case of murderand abetment to suicide.

On Tuesday, when Sub-ash’s brother Kotresh re-turned home, no oneopened the door. Hepeeped through the win-dow and found Subash’swife and their two childrenunconscious on the floor.Doctors at the Baptist hos-pital said traces of organophosporous found in in-secticides were found inSubash's body. He was saidto be stable.

Constable killsfamily, tries totake own life


Bengaluru





NATION

Jharkhand to bring Billto stop human traicking RANCHI

Jharkhand Chief Minister

Raghubar Das on Tuesday

said his government had

vowed to eradicate child

labour, migration and

unemployment and very soon

a Bill would be introduced in

the Assembly to stop human

trafficking. Addressing a

programme here, he also said

that his government was

working to fulfil the Prime

Minister’s dream to make

India the world leader. PTI

IN BRIEF

2 get death sentence inUP double murder caseMUZAFFARNAGAR

A 60-year-old man and his

son were on Tuesday

sentenced to death by the

district court for murdering

two persons over a land

dispute. District Judge

Gokulesh also imposed a fine

of ₹20,000 each on Barik and

Shehbad (30). They were

charged under Sections 302

(murder) and 307 (attempt to

murder) of the Indian Penal

Code. The court also directed

the accused to pay Rs 35,000

to the victim’s family. PTI

Woman attacked withacid in Uttar PradeshMAU (UP)

A 45-year-old woman was

attacked with acid on Tuesday

after she objected to a group

of persons harassing her

14-year-old daughter, the

police said. The incident

occurred in Navalpur Ratoy

village in Haldharpur area in

this district where the woman

noticed that a group of men

were harassing her daughter.

She intervened but the

miscreants poured acid on her

and fled, the police. The

woman was rushed to a

hospital from where she was

referred to Varanasi in view of

the grievous injuries. PTI

Her face cupped in herhands, Irom Chitra Devi (56)fought to control her emo-tions. Next to her was herhusband Irom LokendroSingh, who kept patting hershoulders to comfort her.

“I’ve lost all hope. I wantto live in peace, but I don’tknow how,” said Ms. Devi.

The couple’s only son,Irom Rozer, was shot dead in2011 allegedly by the son ofManipur Chief Minister N. Bi-ren Singh in a road rage case.

In January this year, theaccused, Ajay Meetai, wassentenced to five years’ jailby a sessions court in Ma-nipur but only on charges ofculpable homicide notamounting to murder.

Rozer’s parents claimedAjay’s counsel filed a bail ap-plication a few days after Mr.Biren Singh was sworn in asthe Chief Minister in March,something that left themworried and prompted tocome to Delhi.

Appeals madeMs. Devi and her husbandreached Delhi on May 16 inthe hope of meeting PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andthe CBI Director to demandthat Ajay be convicted of

murder.“In the last one week, we

have given applications toModi, Home Minister, BJPpresident and the CBI Dir-ector, but have got no re-sponse. All we want is tomeet them, so that they can

intervene in the case,” saidMr. Lokendro Singh, who be-lieves that the accused de-serves to be punished underSection 302 (murder) of theIPC.

Ms. Devi said bail shouldnot be granted to Ajay as he

would be eventually let offby “powerful people”.

‘We have lost everything’“Over the years, we’ve losteverything. No lawyer waswilling to take our case andgave us excuses before we fi-

nally got one recently,” shesaid.

Showing a photographfrom 2010, where she is sit-ting next to her husband andRozer, she said, “I haven’tslept peacefully in the last sixyears; we haven’t celebrateda single festival. This case isall that’s on our mind.”

Rozer was studying in aBengaluru college when hewas killed.

Recalling the fateful day,Ms Devi said her son was inImphal on vacation.

“It was March 20 (Holi).Rozer had gone out with hisfriends. Their car was be-hind Ajay’s car. My sonhonked to ask for way, butAjay got out of the car andpulled the trigger on him,”the father alleged.

“While fighting the legalbattle, we lost our home aswell. We sold it in 2014 andmove into a rented house,”she said as a tear trickleddown.

Tough battleMs. Devi further said she andher husband were fightingthe battle all by themselves.

“Our relatives were verysupportive after the incident,but they eventually left usbecause of the troubles theygot into because of the case,”

she said.

‘Threats received’Lawyer Utsav Singh Bainsand Imphal-based activistBinalakshmi Nepram, whohave been helping the familysince 2011, were also al-legedly threatened recently.

Fearing harassment, Ms.Devi refused to spell out the“troubles” her relatives hadfaced.

“Please don’t give us anythreats. I want peace. TheChief Minister is misusing hispowers,” said Ms. Devi.

Some respiteThe family is helped byRozer’s friends, who alsovisit them regularly. “Theytake me to the hospital orother places wheneverrequired.”

When asked how she wasbalancing work and the fight,she said: “People at my work-place are very helpful. I takecasual leave wheneverrequired.”

Ms. Devi is employed withthe Manipur Arts and Cul-ture Department and herhusband is also a govern-ment official.

Before leaving, she askedThe Hindu, “Will you pleasehelp me meet the CBIDirector?”

Manipur parents’ lonely ight for justiceThe couple, whose only son was allegedly killed by the son of the Manipur CM, are in Delhi to seek the PM’s intervention

Going strong: Irom Chitra Devi and her husband Irom Lokendro Singh want the Chief Minister’sson to be tried for murder. * V.V.KRISHNAN

Hemani Bhandari

New Delhi

Terming the recent allegedrecruitment of children byMaoists a “gross violationof human rights”, the Na-tional Human Rights Com-mission (NHRC) on Tues-day issued notices to topgovernment and police of-ficials of Jharkhand askingfor a report within twoweeks.

The NHRC said in astatement that it had takensuo motu cognisance of amedia report that childrenliving in remote areas ofJharkhand had been for-cibly recruited by theMaoists.

Observing that the chil-dren’s fundamental rightswere being denied, theNHRC issued notices to theChief Secretary and Dir-ector-General of Police ofthe State.

The NHRC asked the of-ficials to provide informa-tion about the police’s es-timate of how manychildren had been re-cruited by the Maoists; theaction taken by the policeand government to tracethe children; and the meas-ures taken to educate andrehabilitate the children.

1,000 kids abductedAs per the report pub-lished on May 8, over 1,000children had been abduc-ted in the past few yearsand made to work as footsoldiers, couriers andsentries at Maoist camps.

Villages in the westerndistricts of Jharkhand thatborder Maoist strongholds-- Lohardaga, Gumla, Sim-dega and Latehar -- wereeasy targets, with theMaoists demanding fivechildren from each village.

The child soldiers areforced to commit brutalacts, including cutting offthe ears of a thief. Girlstend to face sexual abuse.

Notice overrecruitmentof kids byMaoistsStaff Reporter

New Delhi

Former Rashtriya Janata DalMP and strongman of Sarandistrict in Bihar PrabhunathSingh and two others weresentenced to life imprison-ment on Tuesday in a 22-year-old murder case of anMLA Ashok Singh.

Earlier, all three accusedpersons, Mr PrabhunathSingh, his brother Dina NathSingh and a relative Ritesh

Singh, were convicted in thecase by a local court of Haz-aribagh in Jharkhand.

While pronouncing thequantum of punishment, ad-ditional district and sessionsjudge (IX) Surendra Sharmaalso imposed a fine of₹40,000 on each of them.

The former MP and theother accused persons wereimmediately sent to a Haz-aribagh jail.

Ashok Singh, then JanataDal MLA from Masrakh inSaran district, was killed in abomb blast at his official res-

Meanwhile, senior StateBJP leader Sushil KumarModi demanded that the RJDchief expel leaders such asMr Prabhunath Singh andMohd Shahabuddin from theparty.

“This verdict will also be alesson for bahubali leaderslike Prabhunath Singh...ifLalu Prasad has the couragehe should throw out suchleaders from his party,” Mr.Modi said.

the then Director General ofPolice G P Dohre for policeprotection.

Chandani Singh, the wifeof Mr. Ashok Singh, hadlodged an FIR at the secret-ariat police station in Patna.

“I’m happy with thecourt’s verdict but not satis-fied…Prabhunath Singhshould have been awardedcapital punishment,”Chandani Singh told journal-ists on Tuesday.

idence in Patna on July 3,1995.

Victim threatenedHe had defeated Mr Prab-hunath Singh in the As-sembly elections and was re-portedly threatened by theformer MP Prabhunath Singhthat he would be killed in 90days’ time.

On the 90th day, Mr AshokSingh was killed when hecame home after meeting

RJD ex-MP, others sentenced to life for MLA’s murderPrabhunath Singh, his two relatives also ined ₹40,000 each; BJP says verdict to serve as lesson for ‘bahubali’ leaders


Patna

Prabhunath Singh





CMYK

NATION

Abhijeet’s Twitteraccount suspendedMUMBAI

Twitter suspended singer

Abhijeet Bhattacharya’s

account on Tuesday after he

posted a string of “offensive”

tweets, especially against

women. He alleged that

“author Arundhati Roy and

people supporting JNU” were

behind the move.

IN BRIEF

Two injured in Bhangar violenceKOLKATA

Fresh violence erupted on

Tuesday in Bhangar in West

Bengal, which has been tense

for some time over the set-

ting up of a power grid. Two

persons were injured in the

violence allegedly triggered

by Trinamool cadres.

Everest conquerorhospitalisedCUTTACK

Kalpana Das, 47, who

conquered Mt. Everest in

2008, has fallen ill once

again. She was rushed to the

SCB Medical College and

Hospital here on Monday in a

critical condition. Her family

said she had complained of

severe pain in the abdomen.

A Delhi court on Tuesdayseized Congress leader Jag-dish Tytler’s passport anddirected the CBI to take ac-tion against him for givingfalse information — that nocriminal case was pendingagainst him — to the PassportOffice here during renewalof his passport.

‘Checked wrong box’Special Judge Bharat Para-shar handed over Mr.Tytler’s passport to the CBI,directing it to take appropri-ate action. However, counselfor Mr. Tytler submitted be-fore the court it was a bonafide mistake. The wrong in-formation was furnished byhis client’s clerk, who“checked the wrong box inthe form by mistake”, hiscounsel added.

CBI officials submitted be-fore the court that actionshould be initiated becauserules had been violated ashis passport was renewedwithout clearance fromcourt. The court was hearinga plea by Mr. Tytler seeking

permission to go abroadfrom May 25 to June 2.Earlier in the day, Mr. Tytlerhad withdrawn his applica-tion seeking an NOC fromthe court for renewal of hispassport. Later, the courtwas informed that Mr. Tytlerhad already received the re-newed passport without anNOC. The court also ob-served that he should haveadmitted at the Passport Of-fice that he had not providedthe correct informationearlier and would apply

afresh for renewal of hispassport.

The court was hearing acase filed on a complaint ofthe then Minister of Statefor Home Ajay Maken, thata forged letter on his letter-head was written to thePrime Minister by business-man Abhishek Verma seek-ing easing of business visanorms in 2009. The Con-gress leader had soughtpermission to go abroad ina case pending before thecourt.

Tytler’s passportseized, given to CBIHe had renewed it giving false information about the case

‘Error’: Counsel for Jagdish Tytler submitted before the courtthat it was a bona ide mistake. * FILE PHOTO:SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Special correspondent

New Delhi Over 1,000 Indian scientistsworking abroad have re-turned to India in the lasttwo-three years, said Dr.Harsh Vardhan, Minister forScience & Technology andEarth Sciences on Tuesday.

“They feel that India ischanging and they can fulfiltheir ambitions here. Theyare finding that opportunit-ies in India are better. Frombrain drain, we now have ascenario of brain gain,” hesaid at a media interactionon the NDA government’sthree years in power.

Dr. Vardhan said that thescientists were being attrac-ted back to India throughseveral scholarships and fel-lowships, such as theRamanujan fellowship. Re-sponding to questions thatthese fellowship schemeshad been introduced longback, he said, “That may beso, but the number of scient-ists returning to India is sig-nificant only now.”

However, he clarified thatnot everyone who wishes tocome back is accepted.Those interested are put

through an evaluation pro-cess, he said.

“These scientists are non-resident Indians (NRIs) whowere looking to come backand decided to take up theavailable opportunity untilthey found long-term ones,”a Ministry official said.

Meanwhile, the Depart-ment of Science and Tech-nology (DST) is all set to rollout a scheme to attract sci-entists from abroad on alonger term basis. The pro-gramme, called Visiting Ad-vanced Joint Research(VAJRA) Faculty Scheme,will offer accomplished NRIscientists the opportunity to

undertake research in Indiafor a maximum period ofthree months every year,while granting them thestatus of adjunct faculty inan Indian institution roundthe year.

Contribution to TejasOn the subject of developingadvanced technologies loc-ally, Dr. Harsh Vardhan saidthat the Council of Scientificand Industrial Research(CSIR) had played an im-portant role in the develop-ment of India’s Light Com-bat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas,which was recently inductedinto the Air Force.

1,000 NRI scientists returned in 2-3 years: Harsh Vardhan

Changing landscape: Union Minister for Science & TechnologyHarsh Vardhan at a press conference in New Delhi. * PTI/PIB

‘India has moved frombrain drain to brain gain’


New Delhi

At least 21 pilgrims fromMadhya Pradesh werekilled when their bus fellinto the Bhagirathi rivernear Nalupani on Tuesdayevening, while returningfrom the Gangotri shrine inthe Himalayas.

The accident occurredat 6 p.m. as the bus fell 300metres down the road intothe river, Uttarkashi Dis-trict Magistrate AshishShrivastava said.

Twenty bodies have sofar been recovered fromthe spot and one of theseven injured died in hos-pital, he said.

Rescue efforts by theSDRF, the ITBP and policepersonnel under the super-vision of senior officialswere continuing in dark-ness, when last reportscame in.

There were around 29pilgrims, mostly from In-dore, in the bus at the timeof the accident, Mr.Shrivastava said.

On Chardham yatrasince May 12, these pil-grims had already visitedYamunotri and Gangotriand were on way to Harid-war from where they hadto go to Kedarnath, he said.

21 die as busfalls intoBhagirathi Press Trust of India

Uttarkashi

The Enforcement Director-ate has arrested a CharteredAccountant (CA) for allegedrole in a ₹8,000-croremoney laundering racket, inwhich two brothers were re-cently arrested on charges ofrunning shell companies.

The agency alleges that hehad also facilitated sometransactions of a companyassociated with RJD chiefLalu Prasad’s daughter MisaBharti.

3-day custodyChartered accountantRajesh Agrawal was pro-duced before a Delhi courtthat granted his three-daycustody to the ED on Tues-day. “He has been arrestedin a money laundering caseagainst Surendra andVirendra Jain, which was re-gistered on the basis of Seri-ous Fraud Investigation Of-

fice probe. He operated as amediator between the Jains,who ran shell companies,and those looking for gettingtheir unaccounted moneylaundered,” said a senior EDofficial.

The official said: “The EDprobe has revealed thatthrough the accused, thesale of 1.2 lakh shares of Mis-hail Packers and Printers PvtLtd at a premium of ₹100 per

unit was allegedly made tothree companies about adecade ago. The shares werelater bought back at ₹10each. An agricultural prop-erty was also purchased. Mr.Prasad’s daughter MisaBharti and her husband areshareholders and directorsof the company.”

In a release, the ED saidMr. Agrawal was also “associ-ated with some transactions

involving Mishail Packersand Printers Pvt Ltd.”

In the case of anothercompany, Jagat Project Lim-ited, the accused got ₹62.20crore laundered by way ofshare subscription through26 shell firms controlled bythe Jains. “In lieu of theabove accommodation entryfor ₹62.20 crore, the Jainbrothers received about ₹1.12crore through Mr. Agrawal.”

CA held in money laundering caseHe facilitated transactions of company linked to Lalu’s daughter Misa, says ED


NEW DELHI

Misa Bharti

Following Income-Taxsearches on alleged benami(proxy) assets linked to RJDchief Lalu Prasad’s family,the CBI is also examiningthem. According to anagency source, four sets ofallegations involving thedealings of some

companies allegedly linkedto Mr. Prasad’s family andclose associates have beenbrought to the CBI’s notice.

The agency will decide ifthere is a need for a prelim-inary enquiry to ascertainwhether the relatedtransactions were madewhen he was the RailwayMinister in 2004-09.

CBI examines family’s assets


New Delhi

Villagers of Kanjasa are aperplexed lot. Going bytheir newly acquiredAadhaar, some 1,000 ofthem should be celebratingtheir birthday on the sameday — January 1.

It is, however, not a coin-cidence but a technical goof-up that has led to the situ-ation where every fifth per-son in Kanjasa, about 50kilometres from here, findsJanuary 1 as their officialdate of birth.

Flooded with complaintsthat their unique identity orAadhaar did not mentionthe actual dates of birth, theauthorities have ordered aprobe and are trying to takeremedial measures.

“Nearly 1,000 (of the5,000) residents have com-plained about faulty entriesof their date of birth. Theodd thing is that the dateprinted on all these cards isidentical — January 1 — with

variations in the years ofbirth,” Neeraj Dubey, BlockDevelopment Officer (BDO),Jasra, under which the vil-lage falls, told PTI.

He said an inquiry hadbeen ordered into how anerror of “such a huge pro-portion” occurred.

Mr. Dubey said there wasspeculation that the soft-ware for the cards was sodesigned, as to automatic-ally allocate January 1 as thebirth date of those notaware of their actual datesof birth. That, however, didnot explain why those whohad submitted their dates ofbirth with proper docu-ments also ended up beingshown as born on January 1,he added.

“Once the inquiry is com-plete and accountability isfixed, suitable action will betaken against those respons-ible for the massive goofup,” he said. Affected villa-gers will be given correctedAadhaar cards, he said.

One in 5 villagers havesame birth date here

Probe on into massive Aadhaar goof-up Press Trust of India

Allahabad

A report on the practice offemale genital mutilation(FGM) released on Tuesdaylooks at the psychologicaltrauma and physical scarsfaced by victims, and thelegal aspects that could bebrought about to stop thepractice.

Compiled by Speak Outon FGM, a group of DawoodiBohra women who are vic-tims of khatna, as the prac-tice is known in the com-munity, along with a humanrights NGO, Lawyers Collect-ive, the report looks at theIndian gender laws as well asinternational anti-FGM lawsthat could help as a frame-work when India drafts itsown law.

Last week, Women andChild Development MinisterManeka Gandhi made astrong statement on the gov-ernment’s intention to bringa law to ban the practice ifthe community did not stopit voluntarily.

Banned in many nationsKhatna, as practised amongDawoodi Bohras, involvescutting the part of the clit-oral hood or the prepuce, ofgirls as young as sevenyears. While a large numberof countries have bannedthe practice, India does nothave a law on FGM.

“Our report is like a blue-print on the legal aspects ofkhatna. When we have tomake a law, this report will

help in drafting the same,”said Masooma Ranalvi, con-vener of Speak Out On FGM,adding that the 57-page re-port drafted over six monthstakes a detailed look at theexisting laws in India per-taining to gender andminors, and internationallaws against FGM in the U.S.,U.K., Australia, France andAfrica.

“We have explored as-pects like protection of in-former, punitive action thatcan be initiated, etc. We

have also looked in detail atthe whole argument aboutfreedom of religion andwhether it holds for FGM,”said Ms. Ranalvi, who star-ted a signature campaign in2015 that has today garnered90,000 signatures.

Senior advocate IndiraJaising of Lawyers Collectivesaid it was for the first timethat FGM was being talkedabout openly. “It is now upto the government todemonstrate its commit-ment,” she said.

Dawoodi Bohra women and rights group compile report


Mumbai

NGO evolves blueprint toend female genital mutilation

Goa Chief Minister ManoharParrikar on Tuesday saidthe Goods and Services Tax(GST) would be a gamechanger.

Addressing a gathering ofMLAs, Ministers, officialsand mediapersons at a cityhotel, Mr. Parrikar said, “It

will be game changer in realterms when there will besmooth transition from oldsystem to new.”

“GST, being a combina-tion of various indirecttaxes, will do away withheadaches like octroi, andmay be after two or threemonths, prices will comedown,” he said.

GST a game changer: Goa CM

Prakash kamat

Goa

A Delhi court on Tuesdaysummoned industrialistNaveen Jindal and four ex-ecutives of Jindal Steel andPower Limited ( JSPL) in acase regarding irregularit-ies in the allocation of acoal block to the company.

Taking cognisance of theCBI charge sheet in thematter, special judgeBharat Parashar summ-oned JSPL’s adviser AnandGoel, executive director(Raw Materials) D.N. Abrol,then executive vice-chair-man and CEO Vikrant Gu-jaral and former director(Finance) Sushil Maroo onSeptember 4.

The accused weresummoned on charges ofalleged cheating and crim-inal conspiracy in the alloc-ation of the Urtan NorthCoal block to JSPL in Mad-hya Pradesh.

Coal blockcase: JindalsummonedSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi





CMYK

A ND-ND

EDITORIAL

The African Development Bank’s decision to hold

its annual general meeting in India this month is a

signal of the importance African countries attach

to New Delhi’s growing role in its development. It was

nearly a decade ago, in 2008, that India made a serious

attempt for a strategic partnership with all of Africa, in-

stead of just the nations it traded with, at the irst India-

Africa Forum Summit. At that time, India’s eforts

seemed minimal, a token attempt at keeping a foothold

in a continent that was fast falling into China’s sphere of

inluence. New Delhi had its work cut out, building a

place for India as a partner in low-cost technology

transfers, a supplier of much-needed, afordable gen-

eric pharmaceuticals, and a dependable donor of aid

that did not come with strings attached. Over the past

few years the outreach to Africa has also been driven by

visits of President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice-President

Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As

Mr. Modi pointed out in his speech to the AfDB in

Gandhinagar on Tuesday, every country in Africa has

by now been visited by an Indian Minister, highlighting

the personal bonds India shares. During the India-

Africa summit held in Delhi in 2015, the Centre an-

nounced a further $10 billion export credit and a $600

million grant which, despite being a fraction of the aid

Africa received from China and blocs such as the

European Union, was a signiicant sum for India.

Having established its credentials and commitment

over time, the Centre is now taking its partnership bey-

ond dollars and cents to a new strategic level. To begin

with, India is working on a maritime outreach to extend

its Sagarmala programme to the southern coastal

African countries with ‘blue economies’; it is also build-

ing its International Solar Alliance, which Djibouti, Co-

moros, Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia and Ghana signed on to

on the sidelines of the AfDB project. In its eforts, India

has tapped other development partners of Africa, in-

cluding Japan, which sent a major delegation to the

AfDB meeting. It has also turned to the United States,

with which it has developed dialogues in ields such as

peacekeeping training and agricultural support, to

work with African countries. It is signiicant that during

the recent inter-governmental consultations between

India and Germany, both countries brought in their

Africa experts to discuss possible cooperation in devel-

opmental programmes in that continent. It will take

more heavy-lifting to elevate India’s historical anti-colo-

nial ties with Africa to productive economic partner-

ships. But it is clear that at a time when China is show-

casing its Belt and Road Initiative as the “project of the

century” and also bolstering its position as Africa’s

largest donor, a coalition of like-minded countries such

as the one India is putting together could provide an ef-

fective way to ensure more equitable and transparent

development aid to Africa.

Continental tiesIndia begins the heavy-lifting needed

to transform economic partnerships in Africa

The reputation of India’s national air carrier for

making consecutive losses is closely matched,

and also linked, to its operational eiciencies.

The issue of whether the airline has a future has been

frequently posed, but the question has a certain edge

after the introduction and growth of private airlines.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, how-

ever, believes the government can still revive the car-

rier, and grow it into India’s own “great global airline” to

compete with the likes of Emirates and Lufthansa. In an

interview to this newspaper, Mr. Sinha added that the

government is working on a plan to improve the air-

line’s inancial position, corporate governance, and

management. But the main problems that beset Air In-

dia are structural, which is why eforts to revive the en-

tity are unlikely to bear fruit. The airline has failed time

and again to prove that it can generate sustainable

proits. It recorded an operating proit after almost a

decade in iscal 2015-16, thanks mainly to a fall in oil

prices, but still ended the year with a net loss. These

losses have been mainly owing to a slew of operational

ineiciencies, including a bloated workforce. It is

doubtful whether these issues can be adequately ad-

dressed unless there is a change in ownership. Tradi-

tionally, public ownership has left the carrier’s manage-

ment subservient to the interests of the political class,

while taxpayers funding the airline’s operations have

been left holding the short end of the stick.

Years of consecutive losses have also ruined Air In-

dia’s overall inancial position, pushing the airline into a

debt trap. In 2011, a consortium of public sector banks

that gave working capital loans to Air India was forced

to reduce the airline’s debt load. A bailout package of

over ₹30,000 crore was also extended by the Centre in

2012 to deal with losses. Yet, by the end of 2015-16 Air In-

dia still carried a debt load of about ₹46,000 crore; the

cost of paying interest on the debt alone was putting

huge pressure on earnings. This has of late led many

people, including Air India Chairman and Managing

Director Ashwani Lohani, to project the airline’s prob-

lems as having simply to do with its capital structure.

Such a conclusion ignores the reality that Air India’s

debt burden is the product of bureaucratic mismanage-

ment over several years. Any inancial bailout that does

not address this fundamental problem would mean

throwing good money after bad. This would be sinful in

an age where proitable private airlines can easily ill

any vacuum left in the market by Air India’s exit. Private

buyers are unlikely to come forward to buy Air India, as

its debt load easily eats up any operating proit. In that

case the government can either force public sector

lenders to incur more losses, or use public funds to pay

them out. Either way, the taxpayers will be the losers.

Maharajah of debtIt is not worth spending more government

funds on Air India’s revival

In about a month, India’s new in-direct tax system will be rolledout. It has been described as the

biggest reform in indirect taxes. In-dia now joins some 160 other coun-tries that already have a Goods andServices Tax (GST). The only largeeconomy exception without a GSTis the United States. Most othercountries have this consumptiontax as a key component of their in-direct taxes.

In a nutshellHere are the key features of theGST. First, it moves the tax systemfrom production to consumption.It covers the gross domesticproduct (GDP) more comprehens-ively. Because the tax base is now amuch wider set of transactions,hopefully the per capita tax incid-ence will be lower. Second, it elim-inates a major bane of cascading,i.e. having to pay tax on tax. It willthus increase eiciency of taxa-tion. Third, the GST has interlock-ing incentives for compliance, be-cause your tax incidence, andrefund, depends on production ofproof of tax paid by your supplier.The paperwork, or rather the com-puter records, is interlinked in achain. No one person in the chaincan evade tax because it hurtseither his vendor or customer. Inthat respect, the GST’s interlockedincentives look similar to GrameenBank’s joint liability lending in mi-croinance. Micro loans are givenwithout any collateral, but if oneperson defaults, the entire group isblacklisted. This ensures an almost100% repayment rate. Similarly,the GST too has interlinked incent-ives for the whole value chain. Forthese three reasons and many

more, the GST is expected to bringmany beneits to the economy.These are higher GDP growth,lower inlation, buoyant tax collec-tions, wider coverage and less taxevasion, and, most importantly, atruly common economic marketacross the country. Indeed the slo-gan for promoting the GST was“One Country One Tax”.

The roll-out of this historic re-form required amending the Con-stitution, legislative action in Par-liament as well as Statelegislatures, setting up of the GSTCouncil and deciding on the ap-plicable tax rates on more than1,200 items. Much of this work isalready done. Indeed this achieve-ment is itself a heroic example ofconsensus-building across Statesand political parties. The imple-mentation will quite likely involvemany hiccups, delays, and com-puter glitches, but the GST trainhas left the station and is chuggingalong.

Some fault linesLet’s examine what the status ofthe GST is as it takes birth, and howsuccessful it will be able to fulil the

expectations thrust on it. The ori-gins of the GST go back almost twodecades and are also found in thereports of the Kelkar Committee onTax Reforms, written at the turn ofthis century. The basic premise oftax reforms then and now is to aimfor lower rates, simpler code andeliminate exemptions. On all thesethree goals we have much distanceto travel.

First, with ive slabs of 0%, 5%,12%, 18%, 28% plus cess, we haveincreased the chance of classiica-tion disputes, discretion and litiga-tion. The high rates encourage taxevasion, distort decisions, and pro-mote wasteful resources into taxavoidance. As the GST Task Forceof the Thirteenth Finance Commis-sion has said, multiple rate slabsexacerbate the problem of bracketcreep and classiication disputes. Arational tax system should havevery few rates and low rates. In-deed, before the introduction ofthis GST, the service tax had justone rate, that was 15%, applicableto all services. We now have mul-tiple rates and the chances of dis-putes and legal battles have in-creased. Multiple rates are

attractive politically. Items con-sumed by the poor are taxed at lowrates and luxury goods are taxed athigher rates. But this classiicationitself is problematic especially in adiverse, fast-evolving economy.For instance, perfumed hair oilmay be a luxury item in Bihar butnot in Tamil Nadu. Rubber slippersare worn by the poor, but also therich at beach resorts. There is alsoa quality continuum, and from un-branded to branded. Further-more, today’s poor may be tomor-row’s rich, so there is anaspirational class too. It is far toocomplex to classify goods rigidly asthose consumed by the poor andthe rich distinctly.

But multiple rates increase costand complexity. As the task forcealso pointed out, the cost of audit-ing the classiication of exempt,low rate and high rate slabs acrossevery stage of production, distri-bution and consumption is veryhigh. Single or few rates are easy tocomply with and involve muchlower disputes. Multiple rates havebeen introduced so as to soften theblow of inlation. By keeping mostof the goods consumed by the poor(as identiied by their consumptionbasket), the hope is that inlationwill be in check.

Which leads us to the secondquestion. Will inlation remain incontrol? Since almost 60% of In-dia’s GDP is from services, and therate is moving from 15 to higher, itis quite likely that inlation will inchup. This is especially evident in theinancial, telecom, hospitality andtrade services. Of course, to the ex-tent that service providers will nowget input tax credit, which theymight pass on to their customers,inlation may not rise by much.Since the IT systems are not fully inplace and refunds are not instant-aneous, the beneit of tax creditwill be delayed. This cost of delayand consequent cost of workingcapital too introduces an inlation-ary element.

It was hoped that not many

items would be in the 28% bracket,failing which inlation will behigher. The tax burden on industryis coming down in the GST. This isbecause currently, excise plusState VAT adds up to more than25%, which will deinitely go down.Since inlation in India is currentlymoderate — indeed this has been amajor achievement of the NDA gov-ernment — the impact of the GST,even though inlationary, will stillbe modest. In the longer term, fur-ther price moderation is possibledue to the supply side-efect of theGST.

Still untouchedFinally, a large part of the economyis still not covered by the GST. Pot-able alcohol, crude oil, natural gas,aviation fuel, diesel, petrol, electri-city and real estate are currentlyout, and States will levy their owntaxes on these. Taxes paid on thesewill not be able to be ofset againstthe GST. To that extent it is an inla-tionary distortion. Hopefully, thislacuna in the GST will be ixedsoon.

The high rates and multipleslabs relect an outcome of a verycomplicated political compromiseachieved in the GST Council. Thisrequired assuaging the fear of rev-enue loss to States which have justsurrendered their tax autonomy. Itrequired assuaging the fear ofpoliticians about unleashing inla-tion.

The ideal of a low, single rateand comprehensive total GDP cov-erage, with a fully IT-enabled com-pliance system, is a destination stillfar away. But as Mr. Kelkar himselfhas said, the journey of a hundredmiles must begin with the irst step.To that extent this historic tax re-form has come alive. Along the wayit will be tweaked and modiied athousand times to eventually hitthe right stride, for that is thegenius of India’s democracy.

Ajit Ranade is an economist

The GST train chugs alongThe ideal of a low, single rate and comprehensive coverage is still far away, but the journey has begun

ajit ranade

GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES/I

ST

OC

K

The lower cadre of employeesworking in subordinatecourts across the country

have aired grievances from time totime which are related to the termsof their employment and deplor-able conditions of work.

These employees form the back-bone of the justice delivery system,yet the problems they face —primarily related to administration— have led them to raise theirvoices, often to no avail. While a lit-igant can approach a court to ac-cess justice, these court employeeslack an eicient grievance redressmechanism, with none or a rarepersonal hearing given to them bytheir senior judicial oicers. Writ-ten complaints are put aside andthe injustices meted out to them of-ten go unreported. If they raise avoice against this victimisation, it

has resulted in notices being issuedto them, adverse annual coniden-tial reports, ines, transfers out ofthe district, departmental inquir-ies or even suspension.

Reports about the harassmentof court employees have been ap-pearing in the media for instance,on the representations sent to thechief justices of High Courts aboutjudges allegedly misusing theirpowers and harassing lower courtstaf or of court employees protest-ing against judges for allegedlymaking them work in their houses.

The Campaign for Judicial Ac-countability and Reforms (CJAR)made a representation to the ChiefJustice of the Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court, detailing cases whereemployees had alleged harassmentby the misuse of rules that regulatetheir service and the various issuesthat needed to be addressed. Themain issues raised in this repres-entation concerned the conditionof subordinate court staf who areallegedly being made to work aspersonal servants in the houses ofjudges and the provision of homepeons which has not been imple-mented. The complaint drew at-tention to a letter in 1973, from the

Chief Secretary, Government ofPunjab to all judges in the State, is-suing instructions against the useof government employees forprivate work: “In cases whereprivate work is taken from a gov-ernment employee as a regularwhole time domestic servant,without his consent and payment,it should be considered to be a caseof serious nature involving wilfuldishonesty and dealt with accord-ingly.” This and other orders on theappointment of home peons havenot been acted upon till recently.

Repressive conditionsThe important function played byjudicial support staf in keeping thejudicial machinery aloat cannotbe undermined. Yet these employ-ees have been driven to all forms of

protest on how unjustly they arepositioned in a system, which farfrom catering to their welfareneeds, unjustly subjugates themwith the burden of court work.They work in repressive conditionswith long hours, have no leave,face penalties and ines and oftenunfair arrest warrants, and areoverburdened by the sheer volumeof ile handling and working out ofcrowded courtrooms. Mountingpendency of court cases results inan increased volume of court ileswithout an increase in judicial stafstrength, leading to them beingoverburdened. Proper care has notbeen taken to ensure the appoint-ment of qualiied staf. Those whoare recruited have little or no on-the-job training.

Successive Law Commissionshave made suggestions for em-ployee reforms, but little has beendone to implement them. The judi-ciary is uniquely positioned to im-plement these recommendationsthrough administrative orders.With suggestions on how to en-hance ‘quality, responsiveness andtimeliness of courts’, we cannot al-low this burden to be borne by thelowest employee. Along with

clearly deined recruitment rules,transfer policies and trainingguidelines need to be put in placeand adhered to. The importance ofan efective grievance redressmechanism for this cadre cannotbe stressed enough.

Acting on the CJAR representa-tion, the Chief Justice of the Punjaband Haryana High Court has madethe irst move in directing that alljudicial oicers in the State appointhome peons by June 30. Further,the order directs that an employ-ee’s post be changed every threeyears and ile handling by ahlmadsbe limited to 800 iles. This will go along way in ensuring a more ful-illing and just working environ-ment. This needs to be emulatedby other High Courts as well if thiswidespread and systematic ex-ploitation has to be halted and toboost the morale of this workforce,in the larger interests of justice andequity.

Prashant Bhushan is a Public InterestAdvocate and Convenor, Campaign forJudicial Accountability and Reforms,Cheryl Dsouza is an advocate andSecretary, Campaign for JudicialAccountability and Reforms

Forgotten cogs in the wheels of justiceThe exploitation of judicial support staf continues to be widespread

prashant bhushan &

cheryl d’souza

GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES/I

ST

OC

K

Countering talaqThe All India MuslimPersonal Law Board’sresolution that those menwho pronounce triple talaqat one go will be sociallyboycotted will spell relief forwomen in the Muslimcommunity (“Social boycottfor triple talaq”, May 23).“Social quarantine” of suchmen will make them resortto course correction and Iam sure that over a period,occurrences of triple talaqwill slowly disappear. TheAIMPLB also needs toexplain how the Muslimcommunity intendsreforming itself when thefact is that many womenafected by triple talaqcontinue to approach thejudiciary for justice.K. Jayanthi,

Chennai

Hasty actThe haste shown by theArmy in commending MajorGogoi, whose controversialact of tying a civilian to thefront of a military vehicle asa human shield in Budgamdistrict in J&K is still underprobe, is inappropriate(“Major Gogoi gets Armychief commendation”, May23). The incident created a rift —

public uproar on both legaland ethical grounds, withsome veterans tooexpressing their unqualiieddisapproval while the Armyjustiied it on tacticalgrounds aimed atcontaining further violence.The Court of Inquiry, by itsown admission, is yet tocomplete its work. Yet theArmy chief appears to havetaken note of “overallemerging indicators of theCourt of Inquiry ” amongother factors . This by itselfis quite puzzling. By hisperemptory action, theArmy chief has in efectrendered the CoIredundant; its indings willlack credibility. It alsobetrays a lack of sensitivityto people’s sentimentswhen they ind an Armyoicer still under probebeing rewarded for hishighly questionableprofessional conduct. Giventhe volatile situation in theValley, General Rawat couldhave been a little morecircumspect in the matter.S.K. Choudhury,

Bengaluru

■ I hope the Army chiefrealises the damaginginluence such a decisionwould have on the moral

fabric of not just the Armybut of the country as awhole. The country gets amessage that the Army isnot only authorised but alsoallowed to celebrate theviolation of the rights ofunarmed people if it helpsits cause. We should hangour heads in shame as theArmy has used a humanshield, did not condemn theact, and then, mostshockingly, awarded thesoldier who carried outsuch a barbaric act inpublic. The President and thePrime Minister need torestrain Army hawks andeducate them on whatcivilised behaviour is allabout. It also applies to thearmed forces and the way inwhich they deal withunarmed citizens.Kiran Gandhi,

Pune

Animal deaths The report on the factorsresponsible for the deathsof endangered animalspecies on the IndianInstitute of Technologycampus in Chennai revealsthe callousness of theauthorities in protectingthem (Tamil Nadu, “220deer, 8 blackbucks die on

campus in 2 years: IIT-M”,May 23). Causes such asconsumption of plasticmaterials, noise pollutionduring the “fests” oncampus and attacks by dogsare eminently preventable.As this is a campusoccupied by those pursuinga very high academicstandard, why is there suchdereliction? V. Subramanian,

Chennai

Reusing wastewaterThe most palpable reasonfor the mismanagement ofwater is indiscriminateusage (“An opportunitybeing drained away”, May22). With proactive steps, alarge amount of wastewaterbeing discharged untreatedto the rivers can be used foragriculture. Delhi has evenstarted a “Toilet to Tap”initiative to treat sewagewater and make it it forconsumption. NGOs need tobegin campaigns on theneed to shun water-intensive crops and usesprinkle and drip irrigation.Finally, water needs to bebrought under theconcurrent list.Gagan Pratap Singh,

Noida, Uttar Pradesh

■ The emphasis in the well-intentioned Swachh Bharatscheme has been more onthe collection of wasterather than in its proitableutilisation and appropriatedisposal. I describe aproject for the proitableutilisation of waste material.A project has been set upsuccessfully in Canada forthe production of methanol— 50,000 tonne per annum— from municipal sewagewaste. The construction of a waste-to-methanol plant (90,000tonne per annum capacity)using synthesis gasgenerated from residualsewage waste is underdevelopment in theNetherlands.India is now a net importerof methanol to the extent of

1.7 million tonne perannum. Methanol is animportant and versatilechemical with rapidlyincreasing applicationareas. Being largelyproduced from natural gas,it is susceptible to priceluctuation. Utilisation of sewage waterfor the production ofmethanol will solve severalproblems in one stroke inIndia. Considering thedemand potential formethanol, it would beappropriate to implement atleast 20 such methanolprojects, each with capacityof 100,000 metric tonne perannum across India.N.S. Venkataraman,

Chennai

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

corrections & clarifications:

“Big boost for Bheem Army” — said the headline of a story (May23, 2017) of a protest last week at Jantar Mantar, Delhi. It is actuallycalled the Bhim Army. The misspelling — Bheem — was there at afew places in the text too.

Factual error: “In Mr Ganguli’s company” — a Weekend MetroPlus supplement story (May 20, 2017), erroneously described To-mas Auksas as Pablo Ganguli’s Brazilian partner. It should havesaid Lithuanian creative partner.

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct signiicant errors as soon as possible. Please specify

the edition (place of publication), date and page. The Readers’ Editor’s office can be

contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to

Friday); Fax: +91-44-28552963; E-mail:[email protected]; Mail: Readers’

Editor, The Hindu, Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, India.

All communication must carry the full postal address and telephone number. No personal

visits. The Terms of Reference for the Readers’ Editor are on www.thehindu.com


CMYK

A ND-ND

OPEDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

DATA POINT

The United Arab Republic to-day [May 23] sealed off the stra-tegic Gulf of Aqaba and challenged any Israeli vessel to sailthrough the four-mile-wide strait separating Sinai from SaudiArabia. Speaking to airmen at an advanced Air Forceheadquarters in Sinai, President Nasser said he had closed thegulf to Israeli shipping and banned its use to ships of other na-tions carrying strategic goods to Israel. “The Israeli flag willnot pass through Aqaba gulf and our sovereignty over the gulfentrance is not negotiable. If Israel wants to threaten us withwar they are welcome”, he said.

FIFTY YEARS AGO MAY 24, 1967

Nasser blocks Gulf of Aqaba

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

FROM ARCHIVES

Mr. C.E. Somes, Deputy Commissioner of Tezpur in Assam, onMonday took up the case in which 8 coolies were charged withassaulting Mr. Bret, Engineer, of Majlingher Tea Estate. Thecomplainant Mr. Brett in his evidence said that on the 6th Maya cooly Lamed Sukunia was creating disturbance and excitingother coolies. Complainant took away the lathi from Sukuniaand by order of the manager kept him in the Godown. Lateron, as he with Mr. Grey was going in a motor car the accusedand other coolies attacked him and severely assaulted himwith lathies. Four prosecution witnesses corroborated thecomplainant’s statement and identified the accused. The casewas adjourned.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO MAY 24, 1917

Charge against coolies

Now what kind of a ruler ishe who could break thebacks of the very subjectswho voted him to powerand earn their wrath for alltime to come? In the hotmonth of August last year,fellow traveller AmarnathTewary and I hit the roadsof Bihar to find out whyChief Minister Nitish Ku-mar, who had ushered in aliquor revolution a fewyears ago, had taken the ex-treme decision of banish-ing spirits from his State.The jails were brimmingwith offenders. The Statecops were on the verge ofrevolt as they felt over-worked and ‘di-spirited’.August was a month ofdespair.

An exception, we found,were the women whoquietly cheered the CM’sdecision, but vocally exten-ded support to their men-folk who had been roun-ded up for violating therecently enacted lawagainst drinking. The worstsufferers, we found, were

the Dalits and the Mahadal-its like the Musahars. Andthey were making somemeasly money by sellinglocal brew. Many of themwere put behind bars dueto the draconian provisionsof the Bihar Excise(Amendment) Act, 2016.

A gloomy scenarioDrinking at home was for-bidden and the police wereunder instructions to im-pound vessels if they werefound containing jaggery(crucial to brewing local li-quor). Arrests without war-rant were added as provi-sions in the law. But therewere no clear answers towhat prompted Mr. Kumarto impose a blanket ban onliquor. Even his powerfulprincipal secretary at Bi-har’s Registration, Exciseand Prohibition Depart-ment at the time, K.K.Pathak, who granted us anappointment, could notcome up with a satisfactoryanswer. He regaled us withtales on how one shouldnever stop wielding the

stick. Gently, he added.The hotels wore a desertedlook. The odd residentswho had flown in for worksaid they were driving tothe salubrious environs ofJharkhand just across for adrink.

But the Musahars reallyhad nowhere to go. Just onthe outskirts of the capitalPatna, they were huddledin their sad shanties andlooked morose. They didnot want to speak to us. Itwas beyond their compre-hension as to why a manthey had voted for hadturned against them andwe were not certainly help-ing them find an alternat-ive vocation.

After all these months,the law is still in place butthe stories of men and wo-men in jails have disap-peared from the pages ofnewspapers. Mr. Pathakhas been transferred afterhe made the grievous mis-take of ordering the arrestof a very important personfrom the CM’sconstituency.

When voters are made victims

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

NOTEBOOK

Bihar’s Musahars, who had voted for Nitish Kumar,were the worst-hit by his prohibition law

Anuradha Raman

The box oice exploits ofBaahubali 2: The Conclusionhave attracted much comment.Many have wondered how asouth Indian ilm with not asingle star known to north In-dian audiences could connectso well with viewers in the cowbelt.

There are several reasonswhy the Baahubali diptych hasbeen wildly popular. The most

obvious one is that it exempliies storytelling at its captivatingbest. Director S.S. Rajamouli’s singular achievement has been totranslate the fabulistic world of Amar Chitra Katha into a three-hour, immersive reality experience. In the process, he has man-aged to accomplish something that no ilm-maker has done be-fore on a scale and with the conviction that he has: fabricate anIndian superhero.

Let us unpack the cultural content of this Indian superhero.First of all, he is, quite categorically, a Hindu. He is a Hindudeined by his caste identity, a Kshatriya. And inally, by showingthe Kshatriya superhero leading a Hindu army that vanquishesan invading swarm of barbarians, the two Baahubali ilms to-gether represent a powerfully imagined narrative of the Hindusas a martial race. If a Hindutva advocate had wanted a propa-ganda ilm showcasing the splendours of ancient India, he couldnot have asked for anything better. But this is not to impute sucha motive to the producers, who may well have been unconsciousof their project’s subtext.

Some may argue that the religious and caste identity of thewarrior hero in Baahubali are incidental to the story. Not really.His character and world view are deined by the Kshatriya ethic.The Hindu ethos of the characters and the kingdom of Mahish-mati, where the action is set, is reinforced right through the ilm.The dialogues, landscape, costumes, and even subplots aresteeped in Hindu edicts, iconography, and symbolism — from gi-ant elephants and lingams to ubiquitous Brahmin priests per-forming yajnas, chanting shlokas, and ofering astrologicalcounsel at crucial moments. Interestingly, the ilm depicts thebarbarians who attack Mahishmati as a dark-skinned, aboriginalrace. Given that Mahishmati is located in the Indian subcontin-ent, the story, in efect, communicates that the warriors of an an-cient Hindu kingdom led by fair-skinned, Aryan-like, Kshatriyasuperheroes successfully subjugated an army of the casteless/Adivasis that was much bigger in numbers but short on acumen.

Rallying around the perfect HinduBeneath the expertly paced plot and glossy production values,the subtext of Baahubali gloriies the caste order. It seeks tounite a putative Hindu community divided by caste, not by pic-turing the elimination of caste divisions, but by exhortingpeople to rally around the perfect Hindu as embodied by theKshatriya warrior. Even as it presents the Kshatriya code of hon-our as an aspirational ideal for all Hindus, it leaves no doubt thatthe dharma of the lower-caste Hindu enjoins him to recognisethe Kshatriya’s right to rule, and to obey his commands.

Superheroes are cultural tropes by which a people relate totheir world, to others, and to themselves. The Baahubali ilms,coming at a time when Hindu nationalistic sentiments are at afever pitch, constitute a signiicant cultural intervention.

A Kshatriya superhero‘Baahubali’ seeks to unite a putativeHindu community divided by caste

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

SINGLE FILE

G. Sampath

TE

LU

GU

36

0.C

OM

Public choicePolitical economy

Public choice theory em-ploys the tools of econom-ics to explain real-worldpolitical behaviour. In par-ticular, it seeks to examinepoliticians as individualsguided by their own selfishinterests — rather than asbenevolent promoters ofthe common good — tobetter design publicpolicy. Nobel laureateJames M. Buchanan, a co-founder of the theory withGordon Tullock, defined itas “politics without ro-mance”. Tullock appliedthe theory to electoralpolitics to often arrive atcontroversial conclusions— including why voting is awaste of time, and whyvoters have no incentive tomake informed decisions.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

CONCEPTUAL

Terror attacks in Europe —a timeline http://bit.ly/EuropeTerrorAttacks

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

MORE ON THE WEB 3

In a signalling that makes clear the Bharatiya Janata Party-ledCentral government’s intent to focus on the Northeast, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi will unveil the three-year celebrationsof his government with a rally at the Khanapara ground inGuwahati on May 26. As Assam Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal personally monitors preparations, with roads in thecity getting a customary spruce-up, he also marks a milestone ofhis own — completing one year on Wednesday of helming the BJPgovernment in Assam. He tells The Hindu that his larger agendaof governance is driven by four specific points — of achieving acorruption-free, pollution-free, terrorism-free, and foreigner-free Assam. Excerpts from a wide-ranging interview:

You’ve been a legislator,parliamentarian, Unionminister, but you’reheading the BJP’s firstever government in whatis also your first role inState administration. Ayear into your term, howwould you describe theexperience?

■ This is a very exciting andlearning experience for mebecause running a State gov-ernment is the biggest chal-lenge of anyone’s political ca-reer. Taking people intoconfidence and taking every-body along… it was my mainobjective to strive for every-body’s equal growth. We areblessed with two valleys,Barak and Brahmaputra, andthree hill districts. Thepeople living in these placesshould have a sense of unity.That’s one of the biggest suc-cesses of our government —people of every part of theState have developed a senseof belongingness and theyhave taken ownership of thegovernment. Under the dy-namic leadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,people in this State and re-gion have developed a feelingthat now the Northeast willgrow.

The Prime Minister will bekick-starting the three-year celebrations of theCentral government fromGuwahati on May 26. Howhas the politicalalignment of the Statewith the Centre, with theBJP in power in both,concretely helped?

■ There are two things. Modi-ji’s decision of addressing thenation on the occasion ofthree years of his term inpower from the State of As-sam is the biggest moraleboost to the people of theState and a grand recognitionthat Assam under BJP rulehas performed significantlyin the past year… Modiji isthe first Prime Minister in thehistory of independent Indiato extend everything for thespeedy growth of the region.He has given [it] top priority.

The question of properutilisation of schemes andfunds was never there duringthe Congress regime becausethere was no good gov-ernance system. Now there isdiscipline in the administrat-ive system. From day one wehave gone on a drive againstcorruption, which has resul-ted in officials and membersof the [Assam Public Service]Commission being put be-hind bars. A new environ-ment is prevailing in the gov-ernment system, and fromthe Chief Minister’s office tothe panchayat office, thismessage has beencommunicated.

What would you count asnotable achievements ofyour government in thepast one year?

■ The drive against corrup-tion is our notable achieve-ment. If you look at the num-ber of officials who have beencaught red-handed and putbehind bars, corruption hasbeen rooted out. Transpar-ency has come back to the

system and people have aclear view about the govern-ment particularly on recruit-ment issues. Now, genuinecandidates have a chance ofgetting better justice.

Driving out illegal en-croachers from Kazirangaand the various satras (Vaish-navite monasteries), which iscontinuing now, is also an-other important success ofthis government. This time,21.6% revenue growth hasbeen attained. Right from dayone, we issued a directive towithdraw all the illegal check-gates on the National High-ways. We were able to plugleakages in the revenue col-lection system and the ma-chinery has become efficientand transparent.

Your government waselected on the back oflong-persisting angstabout illegal migration.The Central and Stategovernments hadpromised to fence theentire Bangladesh border.What is the currentstatus?

■ Due to our constant vigil-ance on the Indo-Bangla bor-der — I went twice myself inthe past year — a strong senseof responsibility has been in-stilled among people living inthe border areas.

As a result, the influx num-bers have been minimised, asalso of cattle and arms smug-gling. Identification of illegalmigrants has been carriedout very actively by thetribunal constituted underthe directive of the SupremeCourt.

The Government of Indiahas given priority to the seal-ing of the border and nowthe process has started withsincerity and commitment.We are hopeful that in thenext two years the borderwill be sealed. The most diffi-cult parts are the riverineparts that go up to 67 km;those parts would be sealedapplying the most moderntechnology.

The National Register ofCitizens’ update forAssam has been vexed byrepeated extensions. Howwill it put a lid on things,considering there is noagreed mechanism withBangladesh to deportillegal migrants?

■ The earlier governmenttook up the matter very casu-ally. It is a very importantconstitutional responsibilitywe have to carry out. We areverifying every documentvery carefully so that no il-legal migrant’s name can beenlisted in the NRC. This doc-ument will protect the iden-tity and sanctity of thepeople of the State. It is a na-tional agenda, commitmentand duty. By December 31,2017, the draft roll will bepublished. The deportationissue is different. We have tohandle the part that dealswith bona fide Indian citizensliving in Assam. That is ourmandate. The rest would betaken up by the Governmentof India with the governmentof Bangladesh.

It is a question of the iden-tity of the people of Assam.Clause 6 of the Assam Accordpromises constitutional safe-guards to the indigenous

people of Assam. The Gov-ernment of India has recentlyconcluded tripartite talks onthe issue that included the AllAssam Students Union and itwas decided to revive thecommittee to study the issueof constitutional safeguards.

Has it been a smoothalliance with your formerparty, the Asom GanaParishad? It is opposed toissues such as theextension of citizenship toHindu immigrants fromBangladesh, as is the AllAssam StudentsAssociation, of which youare a former president.

■ Look, this citizenship thingis not a secret, it was verymuch there before the elec-tion too. We declared thispoint very clearly before thepeople of Assam before con-testing the election, and thepeople of Assam have voted

us into power. This is ourparty’s stand. Minorities fa-cing persecution in neigh-bouring countries… that is anational decision. The bur-den will be shared by thewhole nation, not a singleState like Assam.

What is the Centre’srationale in continuing toextend the Armed Forces(Special Powers) Actacross the State since1990, the latest coming inthe first week of May?Isn’t Assam Police capableof handling the declininglevels of violence?

■ Our State police are cap-able of handling all kinds ofsituations, but this particularAct is for the entire region. Itallows the Indian Army tomove into neighbouringStates, which our State policecannot do. Most cases in As-sam, the State police handlewith efficiency.

Your governmentorganised the NamamiBrahmaputra festivalwhich received widepress. But the largerproblem of floodsremains recurring in theState…

■ Namami Brahmaputra wasmainly organised to connectAssam with the rest of theworld through theBrahmaputra river. This wasthe most viable waterwayduring the British regime,Brahmaputra to Padma andthe Bay of Bengal. Our fin-ished products could find aglobal market. For 70 years,this has been stopped. Wewant to reopen that route forspeedy growth.

Exposure is highly essen-tial for Assam in the 21st cen-tury. The festival’s grand suc-cess has given a tremendousboost to the people of Assamand the Northeast that thispart of the country can de-velop connectivity with therest of the world and alsogrow like the most developedStates.

As for floods, the Ministryof Road Transport and High-ways had an MoU with us inwhich it was promised thatthe Brahmaputra would bedredged to develop a centralstream so that navigation be-comes possible. Steamerscontaining heavy cargo of10,000-20,000 metric tonnescan then be moved from theBay of Bengal to differentdestinations in Assam. Thesilt and sand dredged will beused to develop aBrahmaputra express high-way on both sides of theriver, which will also protectus from erosion. Withdredging, the riverbed willhave adequate depth whichwill minimise the flood prob-lem in the State.

Roads have been renamedin Guwahati, there is talkof a dress code beingimplemented ingovernment offices… isthere a cultural agendayour governmentespouses?

■ This [dress code] has beenspontaneous… it’s not an or-der, it’s an appeal. Whoeveris interested can come in thetraditional dress once amonth. I have seen in the last

two weeks that most of thestaff come in traditional dressand it has created a lovely en-vironment throughout theState. Traditional culture isalways a matter to be seri-ously observed.

The governmentannounced compulsorySanskrit in schools, butsubsequently the movewas reversed…

■ It has not been made man-datory… Sanskrit is the originof all the languages and themost scientific of languages.The Cabinet took a view andthis was put to the public do-main for comments and sug-gestions.

It is a democracy, you can-not unilaterally imposesomething. People’s choicewould be taken into consider-ation.

Given a substantialsection of the populationis made up by theminorities, how are youtaking them on board? Doyou think Assam’sminorities are differentfrom elsewhere in thecountry?

■ As I have said at the begin-ning, I am taking everybodyalong… sabka saath, sabka vi-kas has been the principle.You cannot violate it. Youhave to bring everybodycloser to each other. Letthem work as Team Assam.How can you segregate themajority and minority? Letus grow together, work to-gether. It’s a question of unityof existence and living.

What are the focus areasin the next four years?

■ Agricultural growth anddoubling of farm income...Right from the beginning, wehave set our agenda veryclearly. There are four spe-cific points. The State will bemade corruption-free, pollu-tion-free, terrorism-free, andforeigner-free.

‘There is a feeling that now the Northeast will grow’The Assam Chief Minister on a year of leading the irst ever BJP-led government in the State

<> The Government of

India has given

priority to the

sealing of the border

and now the process

has started with

sincerity and

commitment

THE WEDNESDAY INTERVIEW | SARBANANDA SONOWAL

RIT

U R

AJ

KO

NW

AR

Abdus Salam


CMYK

A ND-ND




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

“I was not a stone- thrower.I had voted that day. I waskept thirsty from 10.45 a.m.till 7.30 p.m. I was drivenaround 28 km in various vil-lages. I was used as ashield,” Mr. Dar, a weaver,told The Hindu. A residentof Budgam’s Chill village,Mr. Dar was tied to an Armyvehicle by the officer onApril 9 during the Srinagarbypolls to escape stonethrowers.

“The Army is not lyingwhen it says no one peltedstones after I was tied (to thevehicle). Is the Army here toprovide security to us or totheir jawans only,” asked Mr.Dar, who has not steppedout of his village since theincident.

The 27-year-old villagersaid he still gets nightmares.“I see a jeep travelling to-wards me whenever I fallasleep. My body starts shak-ing. My mother sleeps nextto me, calming my pain andrestlessness. This anxietywill end only when I willdie,” he said, adding, “Mymother too is depressed.”

Terming April 9 as his

“new date of birth”, Mr Darpleads for “insaaf ( justice)”now to put a closure to hisordeal. “Whatever is thepunishment in the rulebook, please follow that. Irecently deposed before theState Human Rights Com-mission. I was expectingsome reprimand. Instead,he was awarded. Am I a bail(ox) or a human being,” MrDar said. Regretting his de-cision to have voted on thatday, he has pledged “not tovote again”. “One can onlyimagine what the Armycould do to those who don’tvote. My case is an eyeopener,” he said.

Meanwhile, InspectorGeneral of Police, Kashmir,Munir Ahmad Khan said theinvestigation in the case“will carry on”.

“The FIR against theArmy Major has not beenquashed,” IGP Khan said.National Conference spokes-man Junaid Mattu said,“The Major being honouredis a slap across the main-stream (political parties). Ifeel ashamed, disgusted andhopless.”

A support tooppression: Dar

“I have done no wrong. Iwas true to my duty, I wasnot afraid,” Major Gogoi saidin Srinagar, at the 15 Corpsheadquarters.

He said the incident tookplace on April 9, whenbyelections were underwayfor the Srinagar-Budgamconstituency.

“At 9.15 a.m. I got a callfrom an ITBP officer. He in-formed me that 400 to 500people had gathered in Gun-dipora and were peltingstones at the civilian elec-tion staff, ITBP personneletc. I rushed to the spot withmy QRT,” he said.

He returned after settlingthe situation, but a got asecond call at 10.30 a.m.This time, the ITBP officerinformed Major Gogoi that“1,200 people have surroun-ded them, and they weretrying to burn down thepolling booth with patrolbombs. I immediatelyrushed to the scene.”

“When we reached thespot, people had startedpelting stones, and they in-cluded ladies and children.We were unable to move outof the vehicles,” Major Gogoisaid. Stating that he re-

peatedly made announce-ments appealing for calm,he said these were to noavail.

He said that is when hespotted Farooq Ahmad Darstanding some 30 metersahead of them and instigat-ing the crowd. “Somehow,despite intense stone pelt-ing, we caught hold of him,”Major Gogoi said.

He said the forces thenmoved towards the pollingbooth in an ITBP mine pro-tected vehicle.

“We rescued four civilpolling staff, seven ITBP per-sonnel and one J&K policepersonnel. We started mov-ing towards road, but mymine protected vehicle gotstuck in a muddy area,” hesaid.

And then stone peltingstarted again. There wasthen an announcementfrom a mosque and a petrolbomb was thrown at theArmy column, Major Gogoisaid.

“The crowd was notlistening to us. Suddenly,the idea occurred to me,”Mr. Gogoi said, about his de-cision to tie up Ahmad Darto the jeep.

It saved lives: Gogoi

Originally called NemiChand, he was born into amiddle class family in 1948.His father, a moneylender,was from Rajasthan’s Behrortehsil.

Starting out as a tantricand astrologer, he graduallycame into contact withpowerful Indian politicians.

In 1994, in his heyday, anaccount in India Today de-scribed him sitting “resplen-dent on a stage smotheredwith bouquets, his eightrings aglow” celebrating his46th birthday “at his sprawl-ing new ashram in NewDelhi.”

The list of guests on thatoccasion included “formerhome minister Buta Singh,arm in arm with the ShahiImam of Jama Masjid, lead-ing a procession of Nirank-ari Sikhs and assorted swa-mis; Congress(I) leaderH.K.L. Bhagat, escorted bySikhs; BJP stalwarts such asthe Rajmata of Gwalior;Congress(I) ministers S.B.Chavan and Kamal Nath;ministers in waiting such asN.D. Tiwari; and every-body’s new bogeyman, T.N.Seshan…Fireworks soaredheaven-wards. Not quite nir-vana, but certainly adazzling example of politicalnirvana.”

The BJP’s Dr. Sub-ramanian Swamy, whoknew Chandraswami well,told The Hindu he had “ac-quired spiritual powers inthe 1970s, meditating in Hi-machal Pradesh.”

Soon after, he came intouch with his first politicaldisciple, the late Congressleader Lalit Narain Mishra,followed by Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi who was “im-

pressed” by him, the BJP’sAtal Bihari Vajpayee (longbefore he became PM),Nanaji Deshmukh and Mr.Rao. He subsequently be-came a friend of formerPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhiand ex-Congress MP SatishSharma: the latter, Dr.Swamy said, never “dis-owned” Chandraswamieven when he became con-troversial.

“(Congress president) So-nia Gandhi and senior Con-gress leader Arjun Singh(who passed away someyears ago), didn’t likeChandraswami and theyblackened his name to get atRao,” he said.

Dr. Swamy said he, too,became a good friend ofChandraswami but not inhis capacity as a spiritualman, but as a “database ofpolitics”: “He had a great in-tuition about people’s char-acters...He apprised me ofwho’s who in politics andwas useful in my politicallife.”

Self-styled godmanChandraswami dead

Chandraswami

The two most crucial factorsfor the Union government’sperformance over the pastthree years have been bank-ing reforms and Aadhaar,which has already yieldedsavings of $4 billion in cook-ing gas subsidies, Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi saidhere on Tuesday.

Mr. Modi expressed satis-faction over the improve-ment in “all macro-economicindicators” under his watch,but said he remained fo-cussed on the many chal-lenges that lay ahead to fulfilhis aim of making India aglobal growth engine and anexample of climate-friendlydevelopment.

“There are two crucialfactors which have helpedus,” said Mr. Modi in his in-augural address at the an-nual meeting of the AfricanDevelopment Bank. “Thefirst set of changes is in thebanking system … Our uni-

versal biometric identifica-tion system called Aadhaarhas been the second crucialelement. It prevents claimingof benefits by those who arenot eligible,” Mr. Modi said.

The Jan Dhan Yojanahelped India achieve univer-sal banking and banks “nor-

mally associated with help-ing businesses and the rich”have been enlisted for help-ing the development of thepoor, the Prime Ministersaid.

“We have strengthenedour state-owned banks byfreeing them from political

decisions and appointingprofessional chief executiveson merit through a transpar-ent selection process,” hesaid at a venue just a stone’sthrow from his previous of-fice as Gujarat Chief Minister.

“The fiscal deficit, balanceof payments deficit, and in-

flation are down. The GDPgrowth rate, foreign ex-change reserves and publiccapital investment are up. Atthe same time, we havemade big strides in develop-ment,” Mr. Modi said.

‘Focussed on challenges’Thanking the Bank’s presid-ent Akinwumi Adesina fordescribing India’s recentsteps “as textbook chaptersfor other developing na-tions” and calling the coun-try “a development beacon”,Mr. Modi said, “However, Imust say that I remain fo-cussed on the many chal-lenges ahead … Our aim isthat India must be an engineof growth as well as an ex-ample in climate friendly de-velopment in the years tocome.”

While laying out the com-mon challenges faced byboth India and Africa, Mr.Modi indicated that his gov-ernment’s priorities were“uplifting our farmers and

the poor, empowering wo-men, ensuring our ruralcommunities have access tofinance, and buildinginfrastructure”.

“We have to do thesewithin financial constraints.We have to maintain macro-economic stability so that in-flation is controlled and ourbalance of payments isstable. There is much for usto gain by sharing our experi-ences on all these fronts,” hesaid adding that India learnta lot from the mobile bank-ing experience of countriessuch as Kenya in its push fora less-cash economy follow-ing the demonetisation ofhigh-value notes.

“Here in India, I havelaunched an initiative todouble farmers’ incomes by2022. It will require concer-ted steps, ranging from im-proved seeds and optimal in-puts, to reduced crop lossesand better marketing infra-structure,” Prime MinisterModi said.

India must become a growth engine: PMSays banking reforms, Aadhaar have helped his government make big strides and transformed the lives of the poor

Aiming high: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 52nd annual meeting of the AfricanDevelopment Bank in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. * VIJAY SONEJI

Vikas Dhoot

Gandhinagar

India and Africa can emergeas key partners in the agri-cultural sector and the 21st

century will not be just Asia’scentury, but belong to bothAsia as well as Africa, UnionFinance Minister Arun Jaitleysaid here on Tuesday.

Though the world eco-nomy is picking up after along lull, Mr. Jaitley warnedof an ‘increasing possibilityof disruption in the globaleconomy due to the inward-looking policies of some ad-vanced countries.’ Thistrend, he said, is fraughtwith the danger of fritteringaway much of the gains fromglobalisation at the annualmeeting of the African Devel-opment Bank here.

“We meet here in ratheruncertain and challengingtimes. After a prolongedperiod of slow growth, theworld economy is finally on

the rise. Global growth isprojected to rise from 3.1% in2016 to 3.5% in 2017 and3.6% in 2018. Economicactivities are finally pickingup with a long await secularrecovery in investment,manufacturing and trade.”

Challenging timesBoth Africa and India haveshown resilience through therecent challenging times inthe global economy, he said .

“As per InternationalMonetary Fund assessments,India is expected to grow at7.2% and 7.7% in 2017 and2018, respectively. We havesuccessfully implemented aslew of reform measures in-cluding the largest currencyreform initiatives ever imple-mented which will move theIndian economy to a less-cash trajectory, increasedtax compliance and reducedthreat from counterfeit cur-rency,” he said.

India, Africa can shapethe future, says JaitleyWarns of disarray in global economy


GANDHINAGAR

India has sought fromPakistan consular access toa person, reportedly an In-dian, who has been arres-ted here for not possessingtravel and visa documents.

Sheikh Nabi Ahmed,hailing from JogeshwariEast in Mumbai, was takeninto custody on May 19after he failed to produceany travel or visa docu-ments, according to mediareports.

The Indian national waswalking on a road when hewas stopped at a checkpost here. However, Mr.Ahmed could not produceany document and wastaken into police custody,the reports said.

India seeksaccess to manheld in Pak.


Islamabad

Senior Army officers say theChief of the Army Staff, Gen-eral Bipin Rawat, himself de-cided to award Major LeetulGogoi of 53 Rashtriya Rifles acommendation card “forsaving lives” by using a Kash-miri man as a human shieldagainst stone throwers.

“The decision to give acommendation can originateeither from the lower levelor from the top. The Com-manding Officer of a unit re-commends an officer or sol-dier for commendation andthe proposal goes up thechain of command to theArmy Headquarters,” an of-ficer says.

However, in the case ofMajor Gogoi, it was recom-

mended by Gen. Bipin Rawathimself after his recent visitto the Valley, a senior officersays.

“The incident occurredon April 9. But Internet ser-vices in the Valley werebanned till April 13. As soonas it was lifted, the videocame out. The process forgiving a commendation wasinitiated after the videocame out,” a senior officer inthe headquarters says.

In appreciationFiguring much lower in theorder of awards and decora-tions in the Indian military,the Chief ’s CommendationCards are given for either aspecific act of bravery or dis-tinguished service. In thecase of Major Gogoi, it was

awarded also “for his sus-tained distinguished servicetill now in counter-insur-gency operations in Jammuand Kashmir”.

It is an appreciation that

can be given any time, andmostly they are given out onArmy Day and Republic Day,Army officers say.

However, there has alsobeen widespread criticism of

the decision. Lt. Gen. H.S.Panag (Retd.), former Com-manding-in-Chief, NorthernCommand, tweeted: “IA (In-dian Army) traditions, ethos,rules & regs (regulations)swept away by the ‘mood ofthe nation’!”

Not great valourA former military chief, whodid not want to be named,told The Hindu: “I think theyhave overdone it. One mes-sage saying that operation-ally it was the tacticalprudence of the local com-mander was enough. This isnot such a great act ofvalour; by awarding him youare trying to justify his actionneedlessly. You are trying tomake a mountain out of amolehill.”

General Rawat himself decided to commend the Major for ‘saving lives’ by using a human shield


NEW DELHI

In a video grab, Farooq Ahmad Dar is seen tied to the front of an Army jeep. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

For Gogoi, the card came from the chief

Fresh student protests brokeout in Pulwama and Srinagaron Tuesday. A clash eruptedoutside Government BoysHigher Secondary School,Rajpora, where students al-leged that about 12 local stu-dents had been picked up bythe police. Hundreds of stu-dents converged on RajporaChowk and pressed for theirrelease.

The motorcycle of a po-liceman was also torchedduring the clashes.

“The police have not de-tained any student from theschool but only miscreantsand troublemakers fromnearby localities,” said Su-perintendent of Police-Pul-wama Muhammad Aslam.

Demonstration heldA demonstration was alsoheld on the Kashmir Univer-

sity campus over the deten-tion of Tahir Hussain Mir, astudent booked under thePublic Safety Act.

The Inspector General of

Police (IGP)-Kashmir MunirAhmad Khan appealed tothe students, “to end theprotests and focus on theireducation”, adding, “I also

appeal to the parents andteachers to counsel the stu-dents properly so that theycan concentrate on their aca-demics.”

Release of students allegedly picked by the police in Rajpora sought

Peerzada Ashiq

SRINAGAR

Ready to retaliate: A policeman prepares to ire teargas at students protesting outside acollege in Srinagar on Tuesday. * AP

Fresh protests erupt in Kashmir Valley

A Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighterjet with two pilots on aroutine training missionfrom the Tezpur airbase inAssam went missing onTuesday.

The Indian Air Force isconducting a search-and-rescue operation to locatethe pilots and the aircraft.

The control station lostradar and radio contact withthe jet around 11.10 a.m., anIAF source said.

Its last reported positionwas 60 km north-west ofTezpur.

The jet, which was on atraining mission as part of atwo-aircraft formation, wasdeclared overdue and thesearch-and-rescue opera-tion launched, the officialsaid.

The IAF has sought helpfrom the civil administrationand the military. Seven ofthe Su-30MKIs, the mostmodern fighters with theIAF, have crashed sincetheir induction in 1997. Thelast accident was in March.

India has entered into acontract with Russia for 272of these jets, of which over240 have been inducted.

Sukhoi ighter goesmissing in Tezpur

IAF on search-and-rescue operation


NEW DELHI

An IAF Su-30MKI ighteraircraft. * FILE PHOTO

Africa has been the NDA gov-ernment’s top priority in for-eign as well as economicpolicy matters and althoughIndian sportsmen can’t com-pete with their African peersin long-distance running,the country will stand‘shoulder to shoulder’ withthe continent in its race to-wards a brighter future,Prime Minister NarendraModi said on Tuesday.

“India’s partnership withAfrica is based on a model ofcooperation, which is re-sponsive to the needs ofAfrican countries. It is de-mand-driven and free ofconditions,” the PM said, al-luding to the prescriptiveand conditional approachadopted by some countriesin their engagements withAfrican nations.

The Gujarati connectNarrating several historicalanecdotes about Africa’s

close ties with India and Gu-jarat, in particular, the PM,who was inaugurating theannual meeting of theAfrican Development Bankin the State’s capital, said,“The Gujarati flair for busi-ness is well-known. Gujaratisare also famous for their loveof Africa! As an Indian and aGujarati, I am very happythat this meeting is beingheld in India, and that too inGujarat,” Mr. Modi said.

The relationship that wasearlier restricted to mercant-ile and maritime ties hasnow evolved to includecricket connections betweenChennai and Cape Town,business ties between Ba-mako and Bengaluru, anddevelopment links betweenDelhi and Dakar, Mr. Modisaid. “Africa-India trade hasmultiplied in the last 15years,” he pointed out.

“India’s commodity tradewith Africa in 2015-16 washigher than our commoditytrade with the United Statesof America,” the PM said.

India’s private sector isalso providing an impetus tostronger India-Africa tieswith Africa accounting fornearly one-fifth of Indianoverseas direct investmentsbetween 1996 and 2016, thePM pointed out. “India is thefifth largest country invest-ing in the continent, with in-vestments over the pasttwenty years amounting to$54 billion, creating jobs for

Africans,” said Mr. Modi,who has visited six countriesin Africa since 2015. “I amproud to say that there is nocountry in Africa that hasnot been visited by an IndianMinister in the last threeyears…Thirteen current orformer Presidents, PrimeMinisters and Vice-Presid-ents in Africa have attendededucational or training insti-tutions in India. Six currentor former chiefs of armedforces in Africa trained in In-dia’s military institutions,”the PM said to drive homethe point about forgingcloser ties on all fronts.

Mr. Modi said he was en-couraged by the response ofAfrican countries to the In-ternational Solar Allianceinitiative, which waslaunched at the UN ClimateChange Conference in Parisin November 2015. Naururatified the framework andshared it with India, whilefive other African countriessigned the pact on Monday.

Africa our top priority: Modi‘India will help the continent in its race towards a brighter future’


Gandhinagar

Narendra Modi speaking atthe opening ceremony of the52nd annual meeting ofAfrican Development Bank inGandhinagar. * VIJAY SONEJI


CMYK




NEWS

Manipur violence: CMsubmits report to CentreIMPHAL

Chief Minister N. Biren Singh

on Tuesday said a report on

the spate of violence at

border town Moreh has been

submitted to the Home

Ministry. He also said that the

bodies of eight tribals, who

were killed in mob violence in

2005, kept in the hospital

morgue, will be buried on

Wednesday in Churachandpur

district.

IN BRIEF

Tripura Assembly toadopt GST billAGARTALA

A three-day session of the

Tripura Assembly got

underway on Tuesday chiefly

to endorse the GST Bill. The

session will also transact

some other business,

including the question hour.

Finance Minister Bhanulal

Saha introduced the Bill,

which is expected to be

passed unanimously.

Manipur town strike inover killing of womanIMPHAL

The killing of a daily wage

earner, A. Shanti, brought

Moreh, a border town of

Manipur to a standstill with

people going on a 24-hour

strike from Monday night.

Two masked men on a

motorbike gunned down

Shanti on Monday.

The police have initiated an

investigation in the matter.

Drug trafficker arrestedwith 1.57 kg heroinIMPHAL

A drug trafficker, Mangansan

Zou, was held with 1.57 kg of

heroin worth ₹8 crore here,

police said on Tuesday. A van

was intercepted at

Khudengthabi, near the

international border on

Monday. Twenty bottles with

heroin were found in the fuel

tank of the van.

Urgyen Trinley Dorje, the17th Gyalwang Karmapa,may be allowed to visit anyplace in the country, exceptSikkim, without seeking thegovernment’s permission.The Home Ministry hasmoved the proposal beforethe Cabinet Committee onSecurity, a senior govern-ment official said here onTuesday.

The move assumes signi-ficance in the wake of Chi-na’s repeated warnings overthe recent Northeast visit ofthe Dalai Lama, who Beijingdescribes as a “separatist”for spearheading the Tibetanfreedom movement.

No certaintyThough the Dalai Lama hasendorsed Urgyen TrinleyDorje as the 17th Karmapa, itdoes not necessarily mean

that the latter succeeds him,said Amitabh Mathur, Ad-viser to the Home Ministryon Northeast subjects, in-cluding Tibetan affairs.

“But that doesn’t mean heis seen as his successor. Thatwill depend on how Tibetanssee him and whether theywill look up to him for spir-itual guidance. People tendto overlook other spiritualleaders like the 41st Sakya

Trinzin and DrikungRinpoche, who, like theKarmapa, command respectcutting across sectarianlines,” Mr. Mathur told TheHindu.

Soon after the NDA gov-ernment came to power, theCabinet Committee, headedby Prime Minister NarendraModi, eased restrictions onKarmapa to travel abroadand allowed him to visit Ar-unachal Pradesh last year.

The Karmapa is the headof the Karma Kagyu school,one of the four main schoolsof Tibetan Buddhism and isbased in Dharamsala, histemporal home. He escapedfrom Tibet in 2000.

“All this while, theKarmapa had to wait for theHome Ministry’s clearanceto travel in India. After theCabinet Committee on Se-curity clears the proposal, allhe will have to do is to in-

form the Home Ministryabout his travels. ExceptSikkim, he can travel any-where,” a Ministry officialsaid.

Ban at monasteryThe entry of all threeKarmapa claimants has beenbanned at the Rumtek mon-astery in East Sikkim since1994, following objections bysome prominent teachers ofthe Kagyu school to recog-nising Dorje as the 17thKarmapa.

In 2011, the police had re-covered ₹1.2 crore of unac-counted-for foreign cur-rency, including Chineseones, from Gyuto TantricUniversity and Monastery inDharamsala.

The police registered acase against the Karmapaand the then governmentput more restrictions on histravel.

Karmapa’s travel curbs to goCentre may allow him to visit any place, except Sikkim, without seeking its nod

Vijaita Singh

New Delhi

Urgyen Trinley Dorje

Shared concerns over Chi-na’s Belt and Road initiativeshould push India and theEuropean Union closer toresume stalled talks over aFree Trade Agreement, saidGerman Envoy to India Mar-tin Ney, indicating the issueof the FTA will be high onthe agenda when Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi meetswith German Chancellor An-gela Merkel in Berlin nextweek.

Referring to the Belt andRoad Forum that India boy-cotted earlier this month inBeijing, Mr. Ney said thatwhile Germany and otherEuropean countries hadjoined the China’s infra-structure and connectivityproject, they had refused tosign a trade document at thesummit due to a lack oftransparency in thenegotiations.

“Our hesitation has beenthat there have been no con-sultations [by China]. Whileconnectivity is not a badthing, trade must follow freetrade policies,” explainedMr. Ney.

“Since we have somecommon questions [aboutthe Belt and Road project] inIndia and in Germany, this is

a good reason why weshould be able to sit downand discuss how we shoulddo trade.”

Mr. Modi will travel toGermany for the fourthround of the annual Inter-Governmental Commissionon May 29-30, and is expec-ted to announce a numberof agreements after hismeeting with Ms. Merkel.

The meeting will be fol-lowed by a lunch to meetbusiness leaders at the Indo-German business forum,where officials say, concernsby German tycoons over thelack of a negotiated FTA areexpected to be highlighted.

Mr. Ney’s comments aresignificant, as they not only

suggest Germany would liketo work with India tocounter certain parts of theBelt and Road, which Indiahas refused to join over sov-ereignty concerns, Germanyis also making a strong pitchto India over completing theEU-BTIA (called the BilateralTrade and InvestmentAgreement) that has beendeadlocked since 2013, des-pite 16 rounds of negoti-ations.

Mr. Modi’s visit to theEuropean Commission inApril 2016 failed to bringabout any agreement toeven resume the talks thatessentially broke down overhigh taxes, market accessand India’s concerns overvisas for skilled workers.

In the meanwhile, the In-dia-Germany Bilateral In-vestment Treaty (BIT), oneof 23 BITs with EU coun-tries, lapsed in March thisyear.

Mr. Ney said Mr. Modi andMs. Merkel will discuss co-operation in the IndianOcean region and Africa,counter-terrorism and shareviews on the way ahead inAfghanistan. “India and Ger-many share values of demo-cracy, rule of law, and a rule-based international order,”Mr. Ney told reporters.

India, Germany share concerns on China project

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

Martin Ney

FTA will be high onModi-Merkel agenda

A Special CBI court will onWednesday hear the 1992Babri Masjid demolitioncases, including the oneagainst Bharatiya JanataParty leaders L. K. Advani,Murli Manohar Joshi andUma Bharti.

Hearing inAyodhyacases today


Lucknow

One Dalit was killed and sev-eral injured as fresh caste vi-olence erupted for the thirdtime in the Chandrapura vil-lage of Saharanpur even asBahujan Samaj Party (BSP)supremo Mayawati visitedthe adjoining village of Shab-birpur, which witnessedcaste clashes between Thak-urs and Dalits in the firstweek of May.

In Shabbirpur, one mem-ber of the Thakur com-munity had allegedly died ofasphyxiation and over 60Dalit houses were burnt toashes allegedly by Thakurs,in clashes which started withDalits objecting to loud mu-sic from a Thakur-led proces-sion in the Shabbirpur vil-lage of Saharanpur on May 5.

Thousands of Dalits had

gathered in the Shabbirpurvillage to get a glimpse of theBSP leader and listen to her.But before Mayawati couldreach Shabbirpur, somemembers of the Bhim Armyallegedly engaged in stone-pelting the houses of Rajputsin the village, and also setfire to some of the wooden

structures in lanes withThakur houses. This led tothe police force immediatelyprotecting the Thakur settle-ment from all sides. Addi-tional police force has beencalled from nearby districts.

As the news of the stonepelting spread, in adjoiningChandrapura Thakurs at-

tacked the Dalits who werereturning from Shabbirpurafter listening to Ms. May-awati's speech. One personwas hit by a bullet and fivesustained sword injuries dur-ing the violent clash. Two ofthe injured were said to be ina critical condition. Later,Chandrapura village wastense as one of the injured,Ashish, succumbed to injur-ies in the district hospital.

Blames BJPEarlier during the day, afterreaching Shabbirpur, Ms.Mayawati met Dalit familieswhose houses were burntduring the clashes. She an-nounced compensation of ₹50,000 for the victims.

Walking the same lanes ofthe village she had roamedunder the mentorship of thelate Kanshiram to build the

BSP’s organisational struc-tures in 1984, she hit out atthe ruling party. “The BJP(Bharatiya Janata Party) wasbehind the rioting thathappened here. After that,the local administration tookone-sided action on the in-structions of the Adityanathgovernment.

The BJP needs to stopspreading hate,” said the BSPsupremo, who was electedtwice to the State legislaturefrom the Saharanpurdistrict.

Ms. Mayawati avoided an-swering questions about theBhim Army, a Saharanpur-based group of Dalit youths,several members of which,including founderChandrashekhar AzadRavan, have been booked oncharges of instigatingviolence.

One killed in fresh violence in SaharanpurBSP supremo Mayawati visits Shabbirpur, meets Dalit families and announces compensation

Mohammad Ali

SAHARANPUR

Lending support: BSP chief Mayawati interacts with residentsof Shabbirpur village in Saharanpur district on Tuesday. * PTI

The IAS Association has hitout against a lower court or-der, which convicted formerCoal Secretary H.C. Gupta ina case pertaining to illegalallocation of coalfields un-der the UPA government.

Statement issuedIn a statement, the associ-ation said that “approval ofthen Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh, who also hadthe coal portfolio, had beenobtained for coal block al-location.”

“In seven out of the 10cases where Mr. Gupta hasbeen accused, the CBI hasnot found evidence againsthim and had sought to closethe cases, but the court did

not agree. In three cases,the CBI had filed a chargesheet against him, the alleg-ation primarily being of notfollowing the guidelines,”the statement said.

Mr. Gupta was the ex-offi-cio capacity chairman of thescreening committee set upfor recommending alloca-tion of coal blocks to differ-ent private firms. “There isno charge of personal gain/gratification or in any caseagainst Mr. Gupta. The fun-damental point whichclearly emerges is that Mr.Gupta is alleged to have notfollowed guidelines, andthat the court seems to betaking the view that it is onlythe chairman who is re-sponsible, not the mem-bers,” said the statement.

IAS body criticisesGupta’s convictionSays ex-Secretary got then PM’s nod


New Delhi

The Uttar Pradesh government hasbeen directed by a Barabanki court tocompensate former AMU scholarGulzar Ahmed Wani, who was acquit-ted of terror charges after 16 years ofincarceration in the 2000 SabarmatiExpress blast case.

The court directed the YogiAdityanath-led government to paycompensation to Mr. Wani in terms ofthe average income in accordancewith his educational qualification forthe time he spent in jail, saying hewas a victim of “negligence” of offi-cials in probing the case.

Had no sanctionMr. Wani was pursuing a Ph.D in Ar-abic from Aligarh Muslim Universitywhen he was arrested from Delhi onJuly 30, 2001. The court held the U.P.government responsible for the dam-age caused by its officials to the Stateexchequer for their negligence inprobing the case leading to financialloss.

It said the officials had not ob-tained sanction to prosecute the ac-cused and a charge sheet was filed indereliction of their duty, violating Mr.

Wani’s physical independence andalso harming him physically andmentally.

The court’s findings came as it ac-quitted Mr. Wani and Mohd AbdulMobeen of the charge of having al-legedly orchestrated the SabarmatiExpress blast in 2000 that hadclaimed nine lives and left several oth-ers injured. It said the police had notproduced any evidence to prove thatthe two had conspired with others tocause a bomb blast in the train andwage a war against the country.

Additional Sessions Judge M.A.Khan, in his judgment written inHindi, said if the government feels, itcan recover the compensationamount from the police officers con-cerned. It said if the governmentfailed to pay the compensation, Mr.Wani would be at liberty to approachthe Allahabad High Court.

A total of 11 cases were lodgedagainst him, of which he has been ex-onerated in 10 — either acquitted ordischarged. The Supreme Court hadsaid that Mr. Wani should be releasedon bail from November one on setterms and conditions of the trialcourt, irrespective of the completionof the trial.

'Compensate Ph.D.scholar for years in jail’

Court tells Uttar Pradesh government to pay Wani


New Delhi

Adding to the growing num-ber of bilateral issues, Indiaon Tuesday objected toCanada’s denial of entry to aformer police official. Theofficial response came daysafter former Inspector-Gen-eral of the Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF),Tejinder Singh Dhillon, wasdenied entry into Canada ongrounds of human rights ab-use.

“We have seen the newsreport regarding denial ofentry by Canadian authorit-ies to a senior retired Indianpolice officer. Such a char-acterisation of a reputedforce like the CRPF is com-pletely unacceptable. Wehave taken up the matter

with the Government ofCanada,” said Ministry ofExternal Affairs spokesper-son Gopal Baglay.

According to news re-ports, Canadian authoritiesalleged that he was in ser-

vice of a government “thatengages or has engaged interrorism, systematic orgross human rights viola-tions, or genocide, a warcrime or a crime against hu-manity.”

Mr. Singh, who retired asInspector-General of CRPFin 2010, was denied entryunder a subsection ofCanada’s Immigration andRefugee Protection Act. Thecriticism of the Governmentof India was removed in thefinal document given to himbut he was neverthelessdenied entry.

After 7 yearsCanada has used the allega-tion of human rights in thelatest case, after sevenyears. In 2010, Canada had

denied visa to a member ofthe Armed Forces Tribunal,three serving Brigadiers, aretired Lt. General and aformer senior official of theIntelligence Bureau on theground that their organisa-tions had violated humanrights.

However, in a late even-ing press release on Tues-day, the High Commissionerof Canada regretted incon-veniences caused to Mr.Singh and his family. “Weregret any inconveniencethat may have been experi-enced by this individual andtheir family. Canada’s pri-vacy laws prevent me fromcommenting further,” saidNadir Patel, the High Com-missioner, in the press re-lease.

India upset at Canadian visa denial Ex-CRPF IG was refused entry on grounds of human rights abuse


NEW DELHI

Gopal BaglayThe Union government saidhere on Wednesday that“stone-throwers” could posean equal threat to the Am-arnath pilgrimage as terror-ists do. Over 27,000 securitymen will be deployed alongthe route, a senior HomeMinistry official said.

On Wednesday, HomeSecretary Rajiv Mehrishichaired a meeting to discusssecurity arrangements forthe pilgrimage that beginson June 29. “There are equalthreats from militants andstone-throwers. All threatsare being taken care of,”Ashok Prasad, Ministry Ad-viser, said when asked if

stone-throwing mobs couldbe the biggest threat to the40-day pilgrimage to the Hi-malayan cave temple. Secur-ity forces would consider allissues before finalising thesecurity plan, he said, in re-sponse to a question on pos-sible impact of the destruc-tion of Pakistani Army postsby the Indian Army.


New Delhi

Tight security for Amarnath Yatra


CMYK

A ND-ND

WORLDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



‘Ahok’ will not appealblasphemy sentenceJAKARTA

Jakarta's former Christian

governor Basuki Tjahaja

Purnama, an ethnic Chinese

popularly known as ‘Ahok’,

will withdraw an appeal

against his controversial

two-year jail sentence for

insulting Islam in Muslim-

majority Indonesia, his sister

said on Tuesday. REUTERS

ELSEWHERE

‘Over 30,000 Indiansoverstayed in U.S. in 2016’WASHINGTON

Over 30,000 Indians

overstayed in the U.S. last

year, according to the

Homeland Security

department, which said that

1.4 million Indians travelled

to the U.S. in 2016. The

report covered about 96% of

non-immigrant visitors. PTI

Park Geun-hye’scorruption trial beginsSEOUL

Former President Park Geun-

hye stared straight ahead and

denied that she engaged in

bribery and leaking

government secrets at

Tuesday’s start of the criminal

trial that could send South

Korea’s first female leader to

prison for life. AP

Martial rule imposed in south PhilippinesMANILA

Philippine President Rodrigo

Duterte declared martial rule

for 60 days in the country’s

south and cut short a visit to

Moscow on Tuesday after

Muslim extremists allied with

the Islamic State laid siege

to a city in the southern

part of the country. AP

Japan’s ‘conspiracy Bill’draws backlashTOKYO

Japan’s lower house on

Tuesday approved a draft law

dubbed the “conspiracy Bill”.

If passed by the upper house,

it will allow authorities punish

those found guilty of

planning serious crimes.

Critics say it can be used to

undermine civil liberties. AP

The terror attack inManchester that killed 22people and injured 59 wasperpetrated by a man wear-ing an improvised explosivedevice, and he died in thearena, according toManchester police. They areinvestigating whether he ac-ted on is own or was part of anetwork.

The attack came as Bri-tain’s terror level remainedat “severe”, meaning an at-tack is highly likely but is notimminently expected. Theincident follows a string of at-tacks on the European con-tinent from Nice to Berlin, in-cluding in London twomonths ago, where sixpeople, including the at-tacker, died.

“The latest attack markeda clear escalation in the in-tensity of attacks,” said OtsoIho, senior analyst at Jane’sTerrorism and InsurgencyCentre, of IHS Markit, in anote. “Alongside low-capabil-ity weapons like vehicles orknives, the use of explosivesin the United Kingdom ismore likely than elsewherein Europe, as the availabilityof fire-arms is less prevalentdue to strict gun controllaws.”

The attack took place lateon Monday evening atManchester Arena, Britain’slargest indoor arena, at theend of a concert of 23-year-old American singer ArianaGrande, when the audience,which included many youngchildren, was streaming outof the venue.

“This was a barbaric at-tack, deliberately targetingsome of the most vulnerablein our society — youngpeople and children out at apop concert,” said HomeSecretary Amber Rudd, whoattended a meeting of CO-BRA, Britain’s emergencycommittee, later on Tuesdaymorning, chaired by thePrime Minister.

Significant resources “Families and many youngpeople were out to enjoy aconcert at the ManchesterArena and have lost theirlives,” says Manchester ChiefConstable Ian Hopkins, whoadded that significant re-sources were being deployedinto the “fast movinginvestigation.”

Over 400 police officers

have been deployed follow-ing the attack, Manchesterpolice said, appealing frommembers of the public tostay away from the areaaround the attack.

Leaders of all politicalparties swiftly condemnedthe attack and hailed thework of emergency services.Campaigning in the electionis suspended till further no-tice. “I am horrified by thehorrendous events inManchester last night. Mythoughts are with the famil-ies and friends of those whohave died or have been in-jured,” said Labour LeaderJeremy Corbyn. “My deepestcondolences to the victimsand families in Manchester,”said Tim Farron, leader ofthe Liberal Democrats.

The attack drew an imme-

diate response from the com-munity, with many residentsoffering shelter to thoseimpacted.

Hailing the reaction of thepeople of Manchester, thecity’s recently elected MayorAndy Burnham said: “Evenin the minutes after the at-tack they opened their doorsto strangers and drove themaway from danger. They gavethe best possible immediateresponse to those who seekto divide us.”

“Broken. From the bottomof my heart, I am so so sorry.I don’t have the words,”tweeted singer Grande fol-lowing the attack. Ms.Grande, who made her nameon the Nickelodeon chan-nel’s Victorious televisionseries, has a huge and youngfan base across the world.

Poll campaigns suspended after barbaric attackBritish PM May holds a meeting of emergency committee, deploys more forces; leaders across political spectrum condemn assault

In shock: Police at a cordoned of street close to the Manchester Arena, where the terror attackclaimed by the Islamic State occurred on Monday. * GETTY IMAGES

Vidya Ram

London

16 killed in militantattacks in Afghanistan KABUL

Militant attacks, including a

Taliban assault on an Afghan

military outpost, and a

roadside bombing elsewhere

in the country killed at least

eight soldiers, seven civilians

and a policeman, officials said

on Tuesday. AP

Greater Manchester, hometo some 2.5 million people,is one of Britain’s mostdiverse cities with some14% of the population incentral Manchester havingAsian roots.

Many within the Asiancommunity were involvedin efforts to support thoseimpacted as well as thosewithin the emergencyservices, including thecity’s five Gurdwaras.“When it all happened, itwas chaos and people werefleeing and the GuruHarkrishnan Sahib JiGurdwara, which was nearthe venue, started takingpeople in from the outside,giving them a hot drink,somewhere to sit, a placeof shelter where theywouldn’t be attacked,” saidPrakash Singh, President ofthe Sri Guru Gobind SinghGurdwara.

“Today we are allcarrying on with this work,providing langar, and foodand drink to those whohave been in the Town Halland working through thenight. The doors are openin all five Gurdwaras forpeople who need a place tosit, or are looking forpeople not accounted for,”he said. While people werecontinuing with theirbusiness — going to work —

there was a tenseatmosphere in the city, buthe remained hopeful thatthe city would not bedivided by the attack.

Potential backlash In the wake of the attacksthere are concerns about apotential backlash againstcertain communities. Dr.Kailash Chand, a well-known NHS campaignerand northwest chairman ofthe British MedicalAssociation, said he hadbeen receiving messagesfrom parents in India toreiterate to their children inthe city the need to becautious about potentialretributive attacks.

“There are fears that wecould be the victims ofboth sides. Most people livehere in in harmony and weall abhor what theterrorists do but whensomething like thishappens, there is always adanger of hate crimes goingup.”

Hate crimes have alreadybeen a concern in the cityand surrounding areas, asthey have across the U.K. inrecent months.

Dr. Chand alsocommended hospital staffacross the region (8hospitals are currentlydealing with the injured).Many members of staff hadgone to work, off shift and

without even being calledto work, to tend theinjured. “There is a terriblesense of shock about whathappened last night,” saysMrs. Raj Dutta, the generalsecretary of the IndianAssociation of Manchester,who has lived in the cityarea since 1970.

The incident came a dayafter the Indian HighCommissioner Y.K. Sinhaand members of the Indiancommunity gatheredoutside the Indian HighCommission to take theAnti-Terrorism Pledge,alongside other missionsacross the world.“Terrorism leaves no oneunscathed.No country andno people should shelterterrorists or promote orappease terrorists,” Mr.Sinha said before taking thepledge.

“We are shocked andsaddened at whathappened yesterday,”Indian Deputy HighCommissioner in LondonDinesh Patnaik told The

Hindu.“We have seen an

increase in terrorism acrossthe world and in quicksuccession in Britain withthese recent attacks. It istime for the internationalcommunity to take stock ofwhat is happening and goahead with fightingterrorism.”

Gurdwaras step in with helpVidya Ram

London

Former CIA Director JohnBrennan said on Tuesdayhe was concerned aboutthe number of contactsbetween Americans “in-volved” with the Trumpcampaign and the Russianslast year.

During his first publicremarks since he left hispost in January, Mr. Bren-nan told lawmakers he wasso concerned about Rus-sia’s efforts to interfere inthe 2016 election and re-cruit Americans that heconvened a group of offi-cials from the CIA, the FBIand the National SecurityAgency in late July to focusexclusively on the issue.

Republicans on theHouse intelligence commit-tee pushed Mr. Brennanabout whether there wasevidence of collusionbetween Russia and theTrump campaign, a pointPresident Donald Trumphas tried to enlist allies toquash. Mr. Brennan saidthe CIA focuses on intelli-gence, not “evidence”, andsaid he was not able to an-swer that question.

Mr. Brennan’s testimonycame the day after Mr.Trump’s former nationalsecurity adviser, MichaelFlynn, invoked his consti-tutional right against self-incrimination in responseto a subpoena from theU.S. Senate intelligencecommittee.

Trump aides’Russia linkshad BrennanworriedAssociated Press

WASHINGTON

Amid growing uneaseamong Sri Lankan Muslimsover recent attacks targetingthe community, PresidentMaithripala Sirisena onTuesday asked the Law andOrder Ministry to take ac-tion on the perpetratorswithout “fear or favour”.

His instructions came atTuesday’s weekly Cabinetmeeting, where MuslimMinisters voiced concernover violence against minor-ities, incited allegedly byBuddhist hard-liners. PrimeMinister Ranil Wickremes-inghe said the local policemust be made accountable,according to a media state-ment from Cabinet MinisterMano Ganesan.

Increasing attacksSince mid-April, nearly 20incidents of attack onMuslim-owned establish-ments and places of worshipwere reported, according tothe Muslim Council of SriLanka, an umbrella organ-isation for Muslim civil soci-ety. “Clearly, there is incite-ment of violence and hatespeech. But the police seemreluctant to arrest him [per-petrator] because he is inrobes,” its vice-presidentHilmy Ahmed said, referringto Galagoda Aththe Gnanas-ara, who leads the hard-lineSinhala-Buddhist organisa-tion, Bodu Bala Sena(Buddhist Power Force).The monk has in the past

been linked to anti-Muslimriots and faces several cases.

Earlier this week, hecommenced a fast resistinga likely police arrest, follow-ing his reported hatespeech. However, he calledit off within hours. LateMonday, two shops ownedby Muslim and Tamil resid-ents in the southern Rat-napura district were at-tacked, reportedly byhard-line groups.

Emphasising that the po-lice would take immediateaction if there was a threatto law and order, spokes-man DIG PriyanthaJayakody told The Hindu thecountry’s penal code gave“no exemption” to religiousleaders. On the perceivedinaction by the police, hesaid: “Police are not magi-cians, we have to investigatea complaint first. We can’tact on information, we canonly act on available evid-ence. We are investigatingthe attacks very seriously.”

Take action without fear, says Sirisena

Meera Srinivasan

Colombo

Maithripala Sirisena

‘Crack down on anti-Muslim violence’

The White House on Tues-day proposed massive cutsin the country’s welfare pro-grammes, while seeking anincrease in national securityand defence spending, in-cluding a wall along the U.Sborder with Mexico. Con-gress is unlikely to approvethe proposals made by theWhite House in a documenttitled “A New Foundation forAmerican Greatness”, butthey indicate the politicalpriorities of the DonaldTrump administration.

Cuts in healthcare for thepoor, food stamp, financialaid to the jobless and thedisabled are among the fea-tures of the budget that theWhite House presented asthe “first in a long time” thatsaw government spendingfrom the tax payer’s per-spective. The money savedwill go into reducing taxesand enhancing militaryspending.

Conflict of interestPreviewing the proposals onMonday, White HouseBudget director Mick Mul-vaney appeared to suggest aconflict of interest betweentax payers and beneficiariesof welfare programmes andclaimed the slow rate ofgrowth in America is partlybecause of people’s refusalto work. “…we need folks towork. We do. We need

people to go to work. Ifyou're on food stamps, andyou're able-bodied, we needyou to go to work. If you'reon disability insurance andyou're not supposed to be —if you're not truly disabled,we need you to go back towork. We need everybodypulling in the same direc-tion,” he said. “We’re goingto measure compassion andsuccess by the number ofpeople we help get off ofthose programs.”

Number of Americans onfood stamp has swelled to44 million in 2016, up fromthe 28 million people in2008 when economic reces-sion hit the country. Thesituation has not returned tonormal in many parts of thecountry, where job lossesare concentrated. The

budget proposes to cut foodstamp funding by over 25%over the next 10 years, dir-ectly affecting a politicalconstituency that helpedelect Trump.

While the benefits andmedical care for retireeswould be untouched aspromised by Mr. Trump, thehealthcare support for thepoor will see cuts. Shrinkingthe Medicaid has been partof the healthcare bill passedby Congress recently andthe budget proposals incor-porate that.

The administration hasalso proposed that the milit-ary assistance provided toPakistan may be convertedinto loans as opposed togrants, but the final con-tours would be determinedby the State Department.

Seeks increase in national security and defence spending

Varghese K. George

Washington

No mercy: White House Budget director Mick Mulvaneyappeared to suggest on Monday that America’s slow rate ofgrowth was partly because of people’s refusal to work. * AP

White House proposesmassive welfare cuts

U.S. President DonaldTrump travelled to Bethle-hem on Tuesday, meetingwith the Palestinian leaderand vowing again to “doeverything I can” to breakthrough decades of resist-ance to reach a peace dealbut reporting no concreteprogress toward a goal thathas eluded many previouspresidents.

A day after meetingPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu of Israel, Mr.Trump visited the occupiedWest Bank and sat downwith President MahmoudAbbas of the Palestinian Au-thority. Mr. Trump and Mr.Abbas emerged from themeeting with hopeful butvague words, and no detailsof what might come next.

“I am truly hopeful thatAmerica can help Israel andthe Palestinians forge peaceand bring new hope to theregion and its people,”Trump said as Abbas stoodnext to him. “I also firmlybelieve that if Israel and thePalestinians can makepeace, it will begin a processof peace all throughout theMiddle East, and that wouldbe an amazingaccomplishment.”

No road mapMr. Trump offered no visionof what such a deal mightlook like or the process heintended to take to reach

one. At one point, there wastalk of trying to bring Mr.Netanyahu and Mr. Abbastogether during this visit.

But, Mr. Trump will leavethe region later on Tuesdaywithout such a meeting,without any public conces-sions or movement byeither side, nor even a roadmap for how negotiationsmight proceed.

The White House viewedthis visit as simply a start asthe President visited bothleaders and reinforced hiscommitment to solving adispute that has bedevilledU.S. Presidents for genera-tions.

The U.S. President has as-signed Jared Kushner, hisson-in-law and senior ad-viser, and Jason Greenblatt,his long-time lawyer, nowserving as White House ne-gotiator, to lead his peace-making effort in the MiddleEast. NYT

Palestinian peacedeal remains elusiveTrump fails to make concrete progress

IAN FISHER

PETER BAKER

Jerusalem

Palestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas and U.S.President Donald Trump inBethlehem on Tuesday * AP


CMYK

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

ACC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1627.50. . . . . . . . . 0.65

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331.65. . . . . . -22.80

Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 239.80. . . . . . . . -3.55

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1098.90. . . . . . -13.65

Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 541.70. . . . . . -33.45

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.60. . . . . . . . -1.70

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2824.95. . . . . . -89.20

Bank of Baroda . . . . . .. . . . . . 182.00. . . . . . . . -0.80

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371.90. . . . . . . . -0.65

Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23141.60. . . . . . . 59.90

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699.55. . . . . . . . . 3.95

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533.20. . . . . . -29.90

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267.85. . . . . . . . -6.00

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2579.45. . . . . . -29.25

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 27598.25. . . . . 408.35

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380.35. . . . . . . . -9.85

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1096.90. . . . . . -10.55

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864.90. . . . . . . . . 7.45

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1511.50. . . . . . . . -8.35

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1569.10. . . . . . . . -6.90

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3585.00. . . . . . . 22.55

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192.00. . . . . . . . . 1.75

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1024.80. . . . . . . . . 6.20

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1050.35. . . . . . . . -2.25

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306.05. . . . . . . . . 2.20

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1393.95. . . . . . . . . 4.65

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 379.85. . . . . . . . -8.10

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 957.30. . . . . . . . -4.15

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 424.25. . . . . . . . -1.10

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300.15. . . . . . . . -3.45

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 940.25. . . . . . . . -1.00

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1740.75. . . . . . -11.20

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1250.60. . . . . . -15.35

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1331.75. . . . . . . 25.50

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6878.85. . . . . 177.15

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156.95. . . . . . . . -1.25

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174.65. . . . . . . . -2.50

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 201.40. . . . . . . . -1.10

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1305.55. . . . . . -18.60

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288.85. . . . . . . . -5.45

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614.10. . . . . . -26.05

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450.50. . . . . . . . . 0.85

Tata Motors DVR. . . .. . . . . . 265.00. . . . . . . . -0.15

Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.50. . . . . . . . -1.55

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490.40. . . . . . . . . 4.00

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2521.70. . . . . . . . -9.65

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 415.75. . . . . . . . . 3.40

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4267.35. . . . . . . . -2.25

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526.40. . . . . . . . . 5.20

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1403.15. . . . . . . . -2.65

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 512.25. . . . . . . . -8.10

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on May 23

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 64.69. . . . . . . 65.01

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 72.63. . . . . . . 72.99

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 83.93. . . . . . . 84.35

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 58.17. . . . . . . 58.46

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.39. . . . . . . . . 9.44

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 66.52. . . . . . . 66.87

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 46.59. . . . . . . 46.82

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 48.03. . . . . . . 48.27

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 15.06. . . . . . . 15.16

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

May 23 rates in rupees with previousrates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 42.70. . . . . (42.20)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,778. . . . . (2,765)

market watch

23-05-2017 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 30,365 ddddddddddddd-0.67

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 64.89 ddddddddddddd-0.53

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 28,915 ddddddddddddd-0.81

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 54.04 ddddddddddddddd0.26

Tata Motors’ consolidatednet profit fell 17% to ₹4,336crore in the fourth quarterended March, from ₹5,211crore in the year-earlierperiod, as domestic sales ofcommercial vehicles draggeddown growth.

Total income declined to₹78,981 crore, from ₹81,080crore a year earlier.

For the financial yearended March 31, 2017, thecompany reported net profitof ₹7,557 crore as comparedto ₹11,678 crore in the previ-ous year, a 35% slide. Totalincome for the year waslower at ₹2,75,247 crore asagainst ₹2,78,546 crore.

The Jaguar Land Rover( JLR) business, the com-pany’s cash cow, reported a13% increase in unit salesand a 10% increase in rev-enue. Tata Motors’ domesticbusiness comprising com-mercial and passengervehicles divisions draggeddown profit due to degrowth

in sales of medium & heavycommercial vehicles andlight commercial vehicles.

Passenger carsThe company said its passen-ger vehicle business per-formed comparatively wellbacked by three newproduct introductions dur-ing the year.

On a standalone basis,Tata Motors (domestic busi-ness) for the fourth quarter

reported net loss of ₹829crore as against profit aftertax of ₹398 crore. For the fullyear, the domestic businessreported loss of ₹2,480 croreas against loss of ₹62 crore inthe previous fiscal.

“During the year we hadseen lots of headwinds andthe year was full of missedopportunities,” said GuenterButschek, Chief EexecutiveOfficer & MD, Tata Motors.“We have not been able to

live up to the expectations,”Mr. Butschek added.

“It has been a challengingand highly volatile year,which followed a period oflow demand and inconsist-ent recovery,” the companysaid in a statement. In addi-tion, the company also un-derperformed on manyfronts, amplifying the impactof the external environment,Tata Motors added.

“On the way forward, wehave detailed action underfocused implementation andwe expect to significantly en-hance the overall businessperformance in the comingperiods,” said C Ramakrish-nan, Group CFO, Tata Mo-tors. “In the coming year, thefocus will be on efficiencyenhancement and monetisa-tion of non-core assets.”

Defence businessThe company would alsoprovide greater focus on ex-ports and defence business,Mr. Ramakrishnan said.

JLR, on the other hand, re-

ported net profit of £557 mil-lion in the fourth quarter, an18% jump, on revenue of£7,268 million. For the fullyear, JLR reported net profitof £1,272 million, a drop of3%, on revenue of £24,339million, which was an in-crease of 9.2%.

“JLR is pleased to end thefiscal year on a strong note inspite of geopolitical andvolatile environment,” saidRalf Speth, CEO, JLR.

For the year 2017-18, JLRhas an investment plan of £4billion which includes the in-vestment at the under con-struction plant in Slovakia.

Tata Motors also said thatit had almost completed itsmanpower rationalisationexercise in which about 10-12% of its 13,000 managerialpersonnel had been cut. Ofthe about 1,500 people whohad exited the payroll, somehad retired, some had takenVRS and the rest had beenmoved to the Global DeliveryCentre — a shared servicesorganisation of the company.

Home market dents Tata Motors’ netProit declines 17% in Q4 as lower sales of commercial vehicles in India ofset strong showing at JLR

Speed breakers: Guenter Butschek, CEO & MD, Tata MotorsLtd., announcing the company's results. * SHASHI ASHIWAL


MUMBAI

Infosys CEO Vishal Sikkawarned shareholders of a“challenging journey”ahead as the company em-braces “tough choices” totransform itself into the nextgeneration services firm.

In a letter to shareholdersin the company’s annual re-port for the year 2016-2017,Mr. Sikka wrote, “We can bethe next generation servicescompany, as differentiatedand iconic as we once were,a company that admires itspast and builds on it, or wecan be a somewhat im-proved, but dying, previousgeneration company that ismired in that past.”

“It is within us to em-brace the tough choices andto move headlong, un-abashedly, into creatinggreat new features. Ourwork in these early years ofour transformation is lead-ing us along this path. It willcontinue to be a challengingjourney, but it is one worthfighting for.”

Sikka’s compensationThe company’s annual re-port also revealed Mr.Sikka’s total annual com-pensation, which includesfixed pay, bonus and incent-ives, retiral benefits and per-formance-based stock in-centives, was ₹45.11 crore infiscal 2017, as against ₹48.41crore in the previous year.

The information on thedrop in compensation forMr. Sikka comes in the wakeof questions raised by In-fosys co-founder N.R. Naray-ana Murthy about the size-able pay packets offered toMr. Sikka and Chief Operat-ing Officer Pravin Rao.

Mr. Rao received a com-pensation of ₹11.8 crore, asagainst ₹8.14 crore, whichincluded fixed pay, bonusand incentives, time basedstock incentives.

The time and perform-ance-based stock incentives

would vest over a period offour years.

Other senior leaders likethe Chief Financial Officer MD Ranganath, Ravi Kumar,Mohit Joshi, Sandeep Dad-lani and KrishnamurthyShankar also witnessed in-creases in their total com-pensation primarily due tothe performance-basedstock incentives granted.

The annual reportshowed that more than 50executives received annualcompensation in excess of₹1.02 crore.

Stakeholders’ panelTo address concerns raisedby stakeholders, the boardhas adopted a new charterfor its Stakeholders and Re-lationship Committee.

The new charter, adoptedat the committee meetingheld on January 12, 2017,tasks the committee “to as-sist the board and the com-pany to oversee the existingredressal mechanism in re-lation to the stakeholders ofthe company.”

“The term stakeholdershall include shareholders,debenture holders, other se-curity holders, vendors,customers, other personsand employees,” accordingto the revised charter.

The stakeholders’com-mittee has four board mem-bers: Jeffrey S Lehman asthe Chairperson, and JohnW Etchemendy, D. N. Prah-lad and Ravi Venkatesan asits members.

Infosys has to embrace‘tough choices’: Sikka

Else, it risks being a ‘dying’ company

Staff Reporter

BENGALURU

Vishal Sikka

Communication technologyand services major Ericssonhas introduced new dualband radio products for theIndian market to providecost benefit to telcom oper-ators and reduce their oper-ational expenditure (opex).

The technologically ad-vanced products includeWideband Radio 2242, asingle radio addressing twospectrum bands (1800 MHzand 2100 MHz) and DualBand Radio Dot, whichhelps in significantly boost-ing mobile broadband con-nectivity indoors, accordingto the Swedish company.

“Video and social mediaare driving the dramatic in-crease in data traffic,” NitinBansal, Head of NetworkProducts, Ericsson India,said on Tuesday.

“Growing smartphonepenetration and rapidlychanging data usage pat-terns have put a lot of focuson network performance.Ericsson’s latest range ofdual band radio solutionshave been designed to helpIndian operators addressthis heightened demand byincreasing capacity, improv-ing coverage outdoors andindoors while enabling sig-nificant opex benefits,” Mr.Bansal said.

Ericsson unveils radioto quicken browsing

New products to help telcos cut costs


MUMBAI

In tandem with its policy toutilise the country’s water-ways, the Centre is planningto embark on a programmeto refurbish the ship-repair-ing facilities in various portsacross the country..

“There is a need to de-velop the ship-repairing fa-cilities and seven ports havebeen identified for this pur-pose,” said R.K. AgarwalJoint Secretary, SagarmalaWing, Union Shipping Min-istry, at a summit on InlandWaterways Transport andCoastal Shipping organisedby the ICC. Pointing out that

ship-repairing facilities wereinadequate in India, he saidthat seven ports had agreedon this project which waslikely to be implemented incollaboration with public

sector Cochin Shipyard,which would be the nodalagency. The locations in-clude Mumbai, Goa, Pandu(Assam) , Kandla (Gujarat),Farakka (West Bengal), Kolk-ata and Dorigunj (Bihar).Most ports had ship-repairfacilities since olden daysbut they needed to be de-veloped, he said.

Cruise shipping He also mentioned cruise-shipping as another thrustarea saying the terminals atthe ports, where cruise ves-sels plied, needed to bemodernised to ensure pleas-ant experience for travellers.

Seven ports identiied for the purpose, says oicial


KOLKATA

Ship shape: Cochin Shipyardwill be the nodal agency.

Centre keen on upgradingship-repairing facilities

Hinduja Global Solutions’(HGS) net profit rose 31% to₹42.7 crore for the quarterended March, driven byhigher volumes in thehealthcare and telecom-munications verticals.

Net profit during thesame period last year was₹32.65 crore.

The total income for theJanuary-March period in-creased by more than 2%to ₹942.54 crore.

“We delivered strongtop-line growth of 11.5% y-o-y while expandingEBITDA margins by 250bps to 11.9% and growingPAT by 77.3% on y-o-ybasis,” Partha DeSarkar,CEO HGS, said in a regulat-ory filing. “These robustnumbers were driven byhigher volumes, especiallyin healthcare and telecomverticals, demand for off-shore services, and highcapacity utilisation.” Forthe full year ended March31, 2017, the firm reporteda net profit of ₹179.2 croreagainst ₹100.37 crore in theprevious 12-month period.

HindujaGlobal’s Q4net rises 31%Staff Reporter

BENGALURU

The Centre defended its pro-posal to double the noticeperiod from six months forpilots quitting their jobs andsaid it would bring stabilityto the market.

“Globally, there has beena situation where pilots havebeen difficult to retain forcompanies,” Minister ofState Civil Aviation JayantSinha told The Hindu. “Sinceair service is so important inIndia, we wanted to ensurethat there is market stabilityand we think this will lead tostrong market stability.”

Mr. Sinha was confidentthat the proposal would beacceptable in the market andsaid the government will gothrough a consultation pro-

cess with pilots, who haveopposed the move.

“Our understanding isthat it will be well received inthe market place. We have tosee how it plays out in thelonger run,” he said.

The Directorate General

of Civil Aviation (DGCA) hadissued draft rules on May 15proposing a notice period ofone year for airline com-manders, up from sixmonths at present. In case ofco-pilots, the notice periodwill remain six months after

quitting their jobs.The proposal came after

the Federation of Indian Air-lines (FIA) raised concernsover pilot poaching follow-ing growing air service de-mand and the unveiling ofthe Centre’s UDAN schemefor increasing regional airconnectivity.

‘Core issue’The FIA, which representsIndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airwaysand GoAir, had said that air-lines were resorting to hiringforeign pilots, whose cost ofhiring was four times morethan Indian pilots, as a resultof the shortage of trained pi-lots. Aviation experts saidthe Centre was still not ad-dressing the core issue oftraining pilots.

‘Pilots’ retention move to bring stability’Discussions will be held with pilots who have opposed the proposal, Sinha says

Somesh Jha

NEW DELHI

Crew ‘control’: The proposal came after the Federation ofIndian Airlines raised concerns over pilot poaching.

India, which is in talks forthe proposed mega-regionalFree Trade Agreement (FTA)along with 16 other Asia Pa-cific nations, has expresseddisappointment over the in-adequate progress in talkson services trade liberalisa-tion especially for facilitat-ing easier movement of pro-fessionals for short-termwork in these countries.

Slowdown, job lossesFollowing economic slow-down and the consequentjob losses, most countries inthe grouping have turnedprotectionist when it comestalks on norms to ease tem-porary movement of skilledworkers, official sourcessaid, adding that India fearsthat the issue is gettingmixed up with immigration.

The negotiations for theFTA, officially known as theRegional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership(RCEP), started in November2012. It includes the 10

ASEAN member States andsix nations that have existingFTAs with ASEAN — India,China, Australia, New Zeal-and, Japan and South Korea.

These nations have acombined GDP of about $24trillion and a population ofaround 3.6 billion.

“Progress in negotiationson services is not keepingpace with the kind of pro-gress seen in goods negoti-ations,” said Commerce Min-ister Nirmala Sitharaman,who led the Indian delega-tion to the third RCEP Inter-sessional Ministerial Meetingon 21-22 May 2017 in Hanoi,

in which trade ministers of15 other RCEP countries par-ticipated. Official sourcessaid the talks are likely tostretch into the first half of2018 as several aspects ofgoods, services and invest-ment have not yet been ne-gotiated. So far, four minis-terial meetings, threeinter-sessional ministerialmeetings and 18 rounds ofthe Trade Negotiating Com-mittee (TNC) at the technicallevel have been held. Thenineteenth round of TNCmeeting is scheduled in Hy-derabad from July 18-28.

In return for eliminatingor reducing tariffs on goods,India wants RCEP membercountries to work towardliberalisation across allmodes of services, includingmovement of professionals.

India, a leading servicessupplier with a large pool ofskilled workers, is keen thatthe FTA ensures easier tem-porary movement of suchprofessionals as well as an‘RCEP Travel Card’ for busi-ness people.

‘Negotiations not keeping pace with discussions on goods’


New Delhi

Nirmala Sitharaman

RCEP: India upset over slowprogress on services talks


BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

Tata Power renewablescapacity surpasses 3 GWNEW DELHI

Tata Power said its

renewables energy capacity

had crossed 3 GW, with

another 500 MW under

construction, in keeping with

its commitment to generate

30-40% power by 2025

through renewable sources.

It added 1,350 MW of

renewable capacity during

2016-17. The irm’s non-fossil

fuel based generation

portfolio — comprising

hydro, waste gas, solar, and

wind — stands at 3,141 MW.

Amazon Web Services, whichsaw a 60% surge in customersafter setting up its data centrein Mumbai in June last year,is betting big on the Indiamarket. Bikram Bedi, Head,Amazon Internet Services Pvt.Ltd. India, in an Interviewsaid India being “aninfluencer for global market”has the potential to be largestbusiness for the firm globally.

What has been theresponse after setting upof India data centre?■ We launched our Indiadata centre towards the endof June last year. At thatpoint, we had said we have75,000 active customers —somebody who has hadsome usage in his account inthe last 30 days, in India.Over the next nine months,till March 2017, we saw a60% jump in customers toover 1.2 lakh.

A lot of experts andorganisations are stilltalking about cloud beingin a nascent stage inIndia. Do you agree?■ Our view is that cloud isthe new normal. We havereached a stage where weare not having discussionswith people about should Iadopt the cloud. Thediscussion really is aboutwhich applications need togo first and how quickly.

Is low price the onlyfactor driving clouduptake?■ A lot of people tend tobelieve that it is the cost. It istrue, economy of scale issuch that you will get lowcost. That is a given. But thenumber one reason which isdriving cloud is agility.

Look at the start-up spaceand the disruption that has

happened. Earlier, failurewas unthinkable becauseyou had put millions ofdollars behind an idea. Inthe cloud that doesn’t exist.Failure is a way of life. It isokay to fail as long as you failfast.

Probably 90% of thingswill fail but the 10% thatsucceed are your next bigideas.

That is the mindset withwhich most start-ups runand if you look at largeInternet companies, most ofthem have morphed into adifferent business modelsthan they started. And thatis how even enterprises havestarted thinking now. So,when you talk about whatmakes cloud and AmazonWeb Services (AWS)successful, it’s really theability to move fast. In thisworld, big is not eating smallany more. Fast is eatingslow.

How important a market

is India for AWS globally?What growth do you seegoing forward.■ Amazon has already madeit clear that India is animportant market. You haveseen the investment that iscoming in, and that includesAWS. We believe in thefullness of time, India hasthe ability to be one of ourlargest businesses acrossAWS…that could take a fewyears.

But it’s an importantmarket for us because Indiais just not about India. Indiais also an influencer forglobal market. We have localservice providers who aregoing and selling in globalmarkets...we have some 3 or4 million developersbuilding products for globalmarkets.

On growth, we think itsstill day one for us. Its reallyearly days… We have over90 services, and when youhave so many services, youbasically address a largecross section of market.There is a huge marketahead of us.

Start-up segment willcontinue to grow andexplode. Media right now isgoing through the roof…then enterprises. Everyoneis right now looking atbuilding a digital business.

So start-ups will be afocus?■ We see opportunity acrossthe board. Everyconceivable industry is ahuge opportunity for us. It isnot just about servers andstorage, its aboutnetworking, security,artificial intelligence,mobility, analytics, voicesolutions…there is so muchwe are doing. The industryis worth trillions of dollars.

Start-ups have been a

sweet spot for us. We workwith them closely… There isa lot happening in the wholeenterprise space. We areseeing a lot of traction in thepublic sector space as well.

If you see sectors forexample manufacturing anddistribution, Tata Motors isusing us for running over 90digital properties plus testand development. They alsouse us for inventory andspare part management. Indistribution, Future Group,Shoppers Stop, JubilantFoodWorks, all use AWS. InFinance, BSE is runningsimulated algo trainingalgorithms on us. Digital isnow the new avatar formedia. All those businessare being built of AWS…Hotstar, Voot from Viacom18, Sony LIV in broadcast,and ALTBalaji, Eros, Netflix,Amazon Prime Video oncontent side.

So these newer serviceswill be the focus then?■ The traditional servermarket not going away. Thatitself is billions of dollarmarket. But on top of that,customers are looking formanaged platforms now. Foreg Airbnb, the size of theirIT team is may be 5 or 6people. Rest of the team isfocussed on building betterproducts for customers. Weare seeing massive demandfor these products.

There is a lot ofcompetition in thissegment. A lot ofcompanies are offeringcloud services. ■ We are not reallycompetitor obsessed, we area customer obsessed firmand we focus on that. Havingsaid that, we don’t think itwill be winner takes allmarket.

Big is not eating small anymore, fast is eating up slowAmazon Web Services’ customers in India jumped 60% in 9 months to March

Yuthika Bhargava

<> Start-up segment

will continue to

grow and explode.

Media now is going

through the roof.

INTERVIEW|BIKRAM BEDI

The Centre has asked Appleto follow the official localisa-tion road map, drawn by theMinistry of Electronics andIT in consultation with theindustry, which will elimin-ate the need for additionalconcessions to the U.S.-based technology giant formaking its phones in India.

“Apple has indicated thatthey have a road map for in-digenisation… We, in turn,have told them that weourselves have drawn aroadmap for indigenisationbecause we want to drive upvalue-addition,” IT SecretaryAruna Sundararajan said.

She added that the roadmap has been shared withApple, and “we have toldthem if they can align theirroadmap, in which case we

don’t need to give them anyseparate concessions.”

15-year sopApple had requested that itbe allowed duty free importsof certain components for a15-year period.

Ms. Sundararajan said theindigenisation road map wasprepared over the past two

years in consultation withthe industry.

“Some of their compon-ents will start being manu-factured out of India over aperiod of time. They haveshared a specific road mapwith us,” she added. Applehas already started makingiPhone SE model locally,”Ms. Sundararajan said.

The Cupertino-based irm had asked for duty-free imports


NEW DELHI

Tug of war: Apple has already started making iPhone SE modellocally. * AFP

Apple told to followlocalisation road map

Acko General Insurance,an insurance start-up, saidit raised $30 million from agroup of investors, includ-ing N.R. Narayana Murthy’sCatamaran Ventures, In-fosys’ co-founder Kris Go-palakrishnan and Hex-aware Technologiesfounder Atul Nishar. Otherinvestors include He-mendra Kothari of DSPBlackRock and venturecapital firms Accel andSAIF Partners. Acko alsosaid it had received in-prin-ciple regulatory clearanceto introduce general insur-ance business in India. Thefirm said it will operate asan independent general in-surance company.

Insurancestart-up Ackogets $30 mn.


BENGALURU

The Centre aims to grow In-dia’s digital economy to $1trillion by 2022, Electronicsand IT Minister RaviShankar Prasad said.

Mr. Prasad said theCentre had roped in consult-ing firm McKinsey to helpdraw a roadmap to achievethis target.

“India will become a tril-lion dollar economy,” saidMr. Prasad.

“How will it become atrillion dollar economy, thatroadmap will talk aboutwhat the government needsto do, what the industryneeds to do…. Different sec-tors such as healthcare and

education, what they needto do,” he said.

Currently the digital eco-nomy in India, which in-cludes sectors such asfintech, communications, e-commerce, cybersecurityand electronics, is estimatedat about $270 billion.

India eyes $1 trilliondigital opportunity

Ropes in McKinsey to draw roadmap


NEW DELHI

Ravi Shankar Prasad

Centre to Tesla: No local sourcing needed NEW DELHI

The Commerce and Industry

Ministry on Tuesday referred

to the foreign direct

investment policy and

clariied that it was not

correct to say that the policy

mandated any company — in

this case U.S.-based electric

car major Tesla — to conform

to any minimum sourcing of

local components if it

wanted to establish a

manufacturing unit in India.

The Commerce Ministry was

responding to reports that

plans to unveil Tesla cars in

India were being delayed.

India, Latam nations intalks to boost tradeNEW DELHI

India has intensiied dialogue

with Latin American

countries to boost trade and

investment. In meetings held

last week, India and Ecuador

considered initiating the

process of negotiations for a

preferential trade

agreement. Separately, India

and Colombia agreed to

strengthen cooperation in

various sectors, including

telcom, infrastructure, IT and

pharmaceuticals.


CMYK

A ND-ND




SPORT

What is the relationship between acricket board and its players? Master-servant? Employer-employee? Parent-child? Corporate-trade union? Or arethey equal partners? Sometimes it isone, at other times it is more of these.Through most of its existence, theBoard of Control for Cricket in India be-lieved that he who pays the piper callsthe tune.

Over the years, however, there hasbeen a sensible softening of that posi-tion, and players have been seen as hu-man beings with human sensibilitieswho just happen to be wonderfully

skilled at sport.Kapil Dev thought it ought to be a

parent-child relationship, others be-lieved the ideal was a mutually benefi-cial partnership. The current crop ofplayers is happy if it is a professional re-lationship, with mutual respect andunderstanding.

Professional relationshipAbout a decade and a half ago, two lead-ing players, Anil Kumble and RahulDravid, worked out a system of pay-ments, annual contracts and match feesthat was the start of a professional rela-tionship.

The players were to be paid for theirskill and drawing power in India’s mostpopular sport, and that was a giant leapfrom the somewhat arbitrary manner inwhich match fees had been distributedearlier. Annual contracts guaranteed se-curity for players who might be injuredduring the year.

In the past, top players who missed

matches or tours owing to injury did notreceive payment; it is not difficult to un-derstand the frustration. The BCCI oftenpaid for surgery, but there was no safe-guard against selectorial caprice. Play-ing for India did not come with financialsecurity.

It wasn’t always easy for the playersto get their viewpoint across then. Thecricket board tended to see it as the ap-peal of a trade union. Requests wereseen as demands.

Divide and ruleThe BCCI never thought it important toencourage the formation of a players’association (something the Lodha Com-mittee has now recommended). In anycase, it was easy to divide and rule,since even top players were made onlytoo aware which side their bread wasbuttered on.

So the 2004 decision to award con-tracts and increase match fees wassomething of a revolution.

It was decided then that 26% of theBCCI’s income would be shared by theplayers, half of that to be given to the in-ternational players, 10.6% to those play-ing domestic cricket and the remaining2.4% for juniors and women.

There was no particular logic to it(the story doing the rounds then wasthat BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiyahad heard Australian players were beingpaid 25 percent and he wanted to beone-up). But at least a system was finallyin place.

Still, even that 26% was not preciselythat. The BCCI excluded 70% of theamount from media rights. If the same26% were to be used as the base today,the players have a right to expect notjust that the full income from mediarights be put into the pool, but also achunk from the IPL money.

Currently players in Grade ‘A’ earn ₹2crore annually, about a third of whatthose in England and Australia get. Thecaptains in those countries receive an

additional 25% each.Indian players — internationals, juni-

ors, women, Ranji and other first-classcricketers — certainly deserve a hike inpay to bring them on par with globalstandards. Any long, drawn-out negoti-ation can only be harmful for cricket inIndia.

The BCCI has the money (brought inby the players), and increasing salariesis not likely to move it away from anydevelopment schemes. The BCCI givesits State associations ₹30 crore annuallyand is not fussed about how that moneyis spent. That method of spreading hap-piness in return for votes might come toan end now, thanks to the SupremeCourt.

The hike ought not to be just for theinternational players. First class crick-eters need a boost too, something thatHarbhajan Singh pointed out recently.The State associations must have a con-tracts system in place too. For a largeportion of India’s first class players,

cricket is their only source of income.Once again it is Kumble who is the

spokesman for the players, this timesupported by skipper Kohli.

Salary discussions can be long andagonising. Australia is in the throes ofone just now; it has been going on forsix months. Cricket Australia has saidthat if players don’t sign on to a top-down deal by June 30, it would effect-ively call for a lockout! The players havehinted on social media that the Ashesmight be in danger. Such extreme stepsare usually avoidable.

It is unlikely that the BCCI (or theCommittee of Administrators) will allowsuch a situation to develop in India. It ishuman nature to believe that those whoearn more than you do are overpaid —and cricketers in particular have got abad press where salaries are concerned.The IPL has only added to that. Yet play-ers and coaches are professionals, andhave a right to expect the best salariesthat the market has to offer.

Players deserve more to bring them on par globallyBeing professionals, they have a right to expect the best salaries that the market has to ofer

BETWEEN WICKETSsuresh menon

Jhulan Goswami, the world’sleading wicket-taker in wo-men’s One-Day Internation-als, said the Indian team’s re-cent title-winningperformance in a quad-rangular event was goodpreparation for the upcom-ing World Cup in England.

Jhulan said the four-na-tion event, which also fea-tured host South Africa, Ire-land and Zimbabwe, atPotchefstroom waswell-planned.

“This series was plannedso that we could get to playmore matches before theWorld Cup. We prepared forthis series for six monthsand performed well.

“It was very tough. Thepitch was hard and bouncy.

We played good cricket andit feels great to win thetrophy,” Jhulan told medi-apersons here on arrivalfrom South Africa.

The 34-year-old speedstersaid the World Cup wouldpose a bigger challenge.

“There we will see howmuch of good cricket wehave played. World Cup is

the ultimate goal. Womencricketers want to do well inICC tournaments. It’s a longand tough tournament. Youhave to be mentally strong.”

India has been placedwith title-holder Australia,New Zealand and England inGroup A and will start itscampaign against the hoston June 24 in the tourna-ment opener at Derby.

Jhulan, who surpassedAustralian pacer CathrynFitzpatrick’s record of 180ODI wickets during the four-nation event and hasclaimed 185 wickets so far,downplayed herachievement.

“I never played for re-cords but for the love of thesport. You achieve mile-stones when you keep play-ing,” she said.

‘Four-nation triumph goodpreparation for World Cup’Jhulan says India needs to be mentally strong in England

Y.B. Sarangi

KOLKATA

Jhulan Goswami. * FILE PHOTO

Indian women’s cricket cap-tain Mithali Raj says that nextmonth’s ODI World Cup inEngland will, for all practicalpurposes, be her last.

“I don’t think it is prac-tical of me to think of playingin another World Cup afterleading India in England.

“I don’t want to entertainhuge expectations nextmonth but hope to have asignificant and special WorldCup,” the 34-year-old toldThe Hindu on Wednesdayafter returning from theQuadrangular Series tri-umph in South Africa.

An epitome of class andconsistency for 18 years now— from scoring a century onODI debut against Ireland inJune 1999 to producing amatch-winning half-centuryin the last ODI against SouthAfrica which helped the

team win the Quadrangulartitle — Mithali said there werelots of positives on the recentSouth African tour.

Delighted with openers“It was a wonderful team ef-fort with the most pleasingpart being the way the open-ers gave us the kind of startswe were looking for.

“The world record standbetween Deepti Sharma andPoonam Raut (320 againstIreland) made them be-lieve... they will be much bet-ter players in terms of theconfidence they got fromthat stunning effort,” sheexplained.

Mithali, who will be play-ing in her fifth World Cupnext month, said she was im-pressed with how the playersresponded on the SouthAfrican tracks, given the factthat only she and Jhulan Gos-wami had played there be-

fore. (2005 World Cup).

“Almost the entire teamadapted well to the playingconditions which was totallydifferent from what we’ll getin England for the WorldCup. But it was a perfect tourin terms of making a criticalassessment ahead of such an

important event,” remarkedMithali, who has 5,781 runsfrom 177 ODIs with five cen-turies and 46 half-centuries.

“It was a wonderful exper-ience as a captain to witnesstwo world records duringthe tour.

“Although Jhulan’s recordwas on the cards (she be-came the highest wicket-taker in women’s ODIs), noone expected the openers tobat their way to a world re-cord,” the Indian skippersaid.

“I still believe that I haveto stay in the middle andplay long to give confidenceto the other members. I am

still enjoying my game. Likewine, even I am getting bet-ter as I get older,” saidMithali with a smile.

Asked how the teamwould prepare for the WorldCup, Mithali said, “We willhave a camp in Mumbai fromJune 5. The focus will be onimproving all aspects of thegame but the emphasis willbe on mental toughness.”

Bigger challenge“Qualifiers and the Quad-rangular Series are differentas the World Cup is a biggerplatform and the challengewill be much bigger.

“I still believe the girlssometimes give up in highpressure situations. Theyneed to stand up in crunchsituations and for that youneed to be mentally tough,”Mithali, arguably India’sbest-ever women’s cricketer,concluded.

‘Team adapted well to South African conditions’ India skipper Mithali Raj hopes to have a signiicant and special World Cup

V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD

Mithali Raj. * FILE PHOTO

<> I still believe that I

have to stay in the

middle and play

long to give

conidence to the

other members

As expected, domestic cap-tains and coaches made nobones about asking for thereplacement of last year’sRanji Trophy neutral venueconcept with the tried andtested home-and-awayformat, during the annualconclave held at theWankhede Stadiumpremises on Tuesday.

The two-hour-long meet-ing, attended by a plethoraof domestic stalwarts andmembers of the BCCI andcourt-appointed Committeeof Administrators, also dis-sected various aspects of apossible increase in match-fee of domestic cricketers.

Off-spinner HarbhajanSingh had set the ball rollingby requesting India headcoach Anil Kumble to pitchfor a revision of mode of pay-ment to domestic cricketers.

While Harbhajan skippedthe meeting, others, includ-ing Uttar Pradesh captainSuresh Raina, Gujarat’sParthiv Patel, Baroda’s IrfanPathan, Chhattisgarh captainMohammad Kaif andKarnataka captain R. VinayKumar, are understood tohave asked for a revision ofmatch-fee as well.

Domestic cricketers’match-fee structure is pro-portionate to the BCCI’s in-come, excluding what is de-rived from the ICC and IPL.While requesting the BCCIofficials to include all steamsof income under the BCCI in-come umbrella, some Ranjicaptains also sought paritybetween India’s domesticcricketers’ match-fee andthose from Australia andEngland.

Financial securityThe BCCI officials feel unlessthe State associations startoffering annual contracts toits cricketers, it would be dif-ficult for domestic cricketersto get a fillip when it comesto financial security.

A majority of coaches andcaptains requested the BCCIto revert to the home-and-

away format for the RanjiTrophy, detailing the reasonswhy the neutral venuetheme didn’t work. Some ofthe team representativesfrom the lower rungs of theRanji Trophy supported theexperiment.

The suggestions will nowbe passed on to the technicalcommittee, headed bySourav Ganguly whocouldn’t attend the meeting.

There was a proposalfrom the BCCI that with thehome associations tinkeringwith wickets, the BCCI mayappoint curators to preparepitches even if it reverts tohome-and-away format.

A view was also expressedto do away with the toss andoffer the visiting team thechoice of batting or fieldingto negate the homeadvantage.

‘Educative, interesting’While CoA memberRamachandra Guha termedthe conclave “educative andinteresting”, BCCI acting sec-retary Amitabh Choudharysaid the captains andcoaches had an open discus-sion on all aspects, espe-cially the pros and cons ofthe neutral venueexperiment.

“There were views sup-porting both formats.

“Instead of making a cal-culation of how many peoplewere on which side, thepoints made to substantiatea certain position have beencollated and will be broughtto the working committeeand the general body,” saidChoudhary.

Several captains deman-ded stricter checks and bal-ances on umpires’ appoint-

ment for big matches. Besides, the captain and

coaches were vociferous inasking for restoring the SyedMushtaq Ali Trophy to aninter-State all-India knockouttournament.

The inter-zonal knockoutleg, tried out for the 2016-17season, turned out to be afarce.

It was also pointed outthat the gap between Ranjimatches during the leaguestage should be increased toat least four days all throughthe season.

It was also suggested thatconverting the Ranji Trophyleague from the existingthree-tier system (9 + 9 + 10)to four tiers of seven teamseach, will add breathingspace in the calendar.

Delhi unrepresentedDelhi was the only team thatwent unrepresented becausethe coach, K.P. Bhaskar, wasgiven wrong informationabout the date and venue bythe Delhi and District CricketAssociation (DDCA).

Captains and coachesdemand hike in match-feeCall for scrapping the Ranji Trophy neutral venue format introduced last season

Amol Karhadkar

MUMBAI

Job done: Tamil Nadu limited-over captain Vijay Shankar and coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar appearsatisied after the BCCI’s captains and coaches conclave in Mumbai on Tuesday. * VIVEK BENDRE

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

B It was proposed to do awaywith the toss and ofer thevisiting team the choice ofbatting or ielding tonegate the home advantage

B The captain and coacheswere vociferous in askingfor the Syed Mushtaq AliTrophy to be restored to aninter-State knockout event

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Satisfied with the Interna-tional Cricket Council’s (ICC)response to its concerns overthe Champions Trophy se-curity arrangements in thewake of terror attack inManchester on Monday, theBCCI has decided to goahead with the Indian team’sscheduled departure forEngland.

“The BCCI sent the ICC amessage, raising its concernsabout security and accom-modation and the ICC has re-

sponded to it within twohours. They have been sens-itised about our concerns,”said Amitabh Choudhary,BCCI’s acting secretary, onTuesday. “Being terrorist at-tacks, this is something thatcan affect every individual.Therefore, the security con-cerns are that much more in-tense. The schedule remainsunchanged so far.”

To ensure the security ar-rangements, Neeraj Kumar,the chief of BCCI’s Anti-Cor-ruption and Security Unit,has been asked to leave for

England on Tuesday night. The Men in Blue are set to

board a flight to London onWednesday for their title de-fence of the ChampionsTrophy. The tournament willbe played in London, Birm-ingham and Cardiff fromJune 1.

Even the ICC reiteratedthat it had been reviewingsecurity arrangements afterthe attack.

“We operate on advicefrom our tournament secur-ity directorate — in conjunc-tion with the ECB and relev-

ant authorities — to ensurethat we have a robust safetyand security plan for bothtournaments. We will con-tinue to work with authorit-ies over the coming days andreview our security in linewith the threat levels,” saidan ICC statement.

“The security situationhas been very much frontand centre of our prepara-tions and we constantly re-view our procedures to guar-antee they are as effective aspossible to keep everyonesafe.”

Champions Trophy: India’s fears allayedBCCI satisied with ICC’s response to its concerns after Manchester bombing


MUMBAI

Sachin Tendulkar has seenhis biographical filmSachin: A Billion Dreams 20times, with his familymembers, armed forcesand people involved in themaking of the film.

He will see it again onWednesday with his coachand mentor RamakantAchrekar and the Indianteam bound for the ICCChampions Trophy.

Made in original versionin three languages — Hindi,Marathi and English anddubbed in Tamil andTelugu — the film will be re-leased on May 26.

When asked who amongthe Tendulkar family wasmore curious to see thefilm, he replied: “Probablyme. Yes, they have seen itand liked it.”

On Tuesday he arrangeda 35-minute preview of thefilm for the sports journal-ists and Tendulkar, fieldinga question on how he feltthree days before theworld-wide release, said:“We have jumped in to thepool and have to swim. Wehave tried our best.

“It’s exactly like prepar-ing for a match. We felt thatwe should do it from ourheart, try and be as genu-ine and real as possible.The film is about my realjourney.”

‘Sachin isabout myreal journey’G. Viswanath

Mumbai

Mohinder Amarnath has lit-erally been lost to Indiancricket after his stint as a Na-tional selector (2011-12)ended pre-maturely — oneyear to be precise. He wasremoved following instruc-tions by a high-placed Boardofficial because Amarnathraised valid arguments onsome selections during themeetings.

In a chat with The Hindu

on Tuesday, the former Indiastar, acknowledged for hisstupendous performancesaway from home, expressedhis desire to associate withwomen’s cricket, especiallyin the run-up to the WorldCup to be held in Englandnext month.

“I am ready to share myexperience and guide thembecause I am convinced theycan do much better. Wo-men’s cricket should be en-couraged and promoted in abig way. I know for surethere is some amazing talentamong our youngsters whowant to do well but they lackguidance and the desiredplatform to showcase theirmettle. I have given a lot ofthought to the idea of beinginvolved with women’scricket,” said Amarnath, theman-of-the-match in the

semifinal (against England)and final (against West In-dies) of the 1983 World Cup.

Well acquaintedAmarnath, who played 69Tests and 85 ODIs, offered toshare his experience withthe women’s team before itembarked to England.

Having excelled in Englishconditions, and spent manyyears playing league cricketwith success, Amarnath waseager to help the team pre-pare better.

“It is a matter of adjust-ment. I know the girls haveworked hard on their tech-nique but a few minorchanges and observationscan make lot of difference.My effort, if given a chance,would be to help them with

some technical adjustmentsbecause England offers chal-lenges very different toother nations. In Australiayou have to counter the ex-tra bounce and New Zealandtests you with some seamand swing. England is one ofthe toughest places to suc-ceed,” said the 66-year-old.

Now settled in Goa, Am-arnath runs the MohinderLala Amarnath CricketAcademy in Vadodara. “Wehave seen an increase in thenumber of girls who arewanting to make a career incricket. There is talent thatis waiting to serve Indiancricket in the highest league.It needs proper guidanceand support,” concludedAmarnath, praising the goodwork of the Indian team.

Mohinder keen to mentorIndian women’s teamThe former star sees amazing talent waiting to express itself

Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI

Ready to share: The legendary Mohinder Amarnath wants to pass on his experience and knowledge of English conditions.


O.J. Simpson could bereleasedLOS ANGELES

Former NFL star O.J. Simpsoncould be released from prisonthis year after spendingnearly a decade behind bars.Simpson was sentenced to 33years in prison in 2008 for acasino robbery andkidnapping in Las Vegas thatinvolved two sportsmemorabilia dealers. Thedisgraced ex-footballer wasnabbed in the case afterbeing acquitted in 1994 ofthe murder of his ex-wifeNicole Brown-Simpson. AFP

CMYK

A ND-ND




SUDOKU

P A R T I C U L A R S

R O R P C A M F

E N V I O U S C O L L A G E

S E N T L V J E

S C R A W A N A L O G O U S

S O R I L

H E W E R T I M E F L I E S

O A K R C N

W O R K S H O P S E R A T O

P R E E W

B E A R R I G H T V A S E S

A R U A T E I T

P Y T H I A N L O R E N Z O

U Y N O E S D R

G A N G S T E R I S M

Solution to puzzle 12014 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Vedanta Desika lived a Spartan life, in Kanchipuram, spend-ing his time in worship of Lord Varadaraja. His childhoodfriend Vidyaranya was at the Vijayanagar court, and he feltthat he should lift Desika out of poverty. He therefore ar-ranged for a position for Desika at the Vijayanagar court,and sent a letter to his friend in Kanchi. But Desika was leastenamoured of a position at the royal court, said AkkarakkaniSrinidhi, in a discourse. The riches of the king were totallyinsignificant to one whose heart and mind were always atthe disposal of Lord Varadaraja. So Desika rejected Vidy-aranya’s offer.

Vidyaranya, however, did not give up, but sent yet an-other letter to Desika. This time, Desika wrote a set ofverses, and through this work —Vairagya Panchakam — henot only rejected Vidyaranya’s offer, but also set forth thereasons why he was indifferent to wealth.

Desika says kings rule over limited territory, and yet theyare arrogant. Poets who bow before them are rewarded. Buttheir path is not the one that Desika will take. Rather he seesKuchela’s act of seeking help from none other than the Lordas worthy of emulation. Unfortunately, even those whoshould know better, approach those in power, sing theirpraises and obtain wealth.

But why does anyone need riches? Is it not enough for aman to have a handful of grains to assuage his hunger? Incase even grains are unavailable, even some water shoulddo. And why does one need rich clothes? Will not a loincloth do? What is wrong in wearing even torn clothes? Thatis preferable to begging a king for food and clothes.

Desika says he has no wealth left by his father, but hedoes have wealth left by Brahma, and that wealth is LordVaradaraja, for the Lord emerged from the fire to helpBrahma.

FAITH

Lord is his wealth 3 Political refugee central in

semi-grey (6)

4 Like single, no uppity VIP (9)

5 Right, friend. Get better! (5)

7 Startle a Tamil leader fallen in

well (7)

8 In reality, one saint leaves

fairy in a state of possessing

no practical knowledge (12)

11 One who is careful about

eating is somewhat tired

around second meal (6)

12 What remains to cover in

inancial statement (7,5)

17 Bring things into play (9)

18 Fundamental — it's a fastener!

(6)

20 Ever higher at university twice

(2,3,2)

22 What appears at the back is an

example of this (7)

23 Beat — beat by changing the

heart of man to heart of

sheep (6)

25 Goes by headless animals (5)

14 Fit to make extremely facile,

witty comment (5)

15 Partner doesn't begin mass

meeting (4)

16 The head of a group who

knows his score (10)

19 Noble railway worker is a rural

dweller (10)

21 Wait patiently with broken

bathroom ixture (4)

24 Second angel's instrument is

raised in pitch (5)

25 A way with alien, I see, is to be

uninterested (9)

26 Going on and on — without any

purpose? (7)

27 One hundred endlessly keen in

super-cool period (3,3)

28 Best parts of bikinis, for

instance (4)

29 That woman — that woman —

in empty pyramid is guide (8)

■ DOWN

2 Coming of a regional head's

competitor (7)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11

12

13 14

15 16 17

18

19 20 21 22

23

24 25

26 27

28 29

(set by Gridman)

■ ACROSS

1 All the dates — clear and out!

(8)

6 Not all wizardry fetches wise

men (4)

9 Giving it a whirl is difficult (6)

10 Boisterous girl delayed taking

the boy back (7)

13 Turn very sad as it is caught in

misfortune (9)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12015

Biker Nicky Haydensuccumbs to injuriesROME

Nicky Hayden, the 2006MotoGP champion, who washit by a car in a bicycleaccident in Italy last week,has died of his injuries. The36-year-old World SuperbikeHonda rider suffered severechest and head injuries in theaccident, which happenedwhile he was training on hisbicycle in central Italy, southof the seaside resort ofRimini. AFP

IN BRIEF

Former Australian juniorchamp ined for ixingSYDNEY

The 2016 Australian Openjunior champion OliverAnderson was fined A$500on Tuesday for fixing amatch, but escaped aconviction after admitting hethrew a set, reports said. AFP

Sangakkara to retirefrom First Class cricketLONDON

Sri Lankan legend KumarSangakkara will retire fromFirst Class cricket inSeptember at the end ofEngland’s countychampionship season. “Youtry to fight the inevitable butyou need to get out whileyou’re ahead,” the 39-year-old said on Monday. “It’s thelast time I'll play a four-daygame here. My career mighthave a few more months(left), but that’s about it,” hesaid. REUTERS

NBA: Sony Six & Six HD andTEN 1, 6 a.m.Sudirman Cup badminton:STAR Sports 2 & HD2, 7.30a.m. & 1.30 p.m.England v South Africa:First ODI, STAR Sports 1 &HD1, 6.30 p.m.UEFA Europa League final:Manchester United v Ajax,Sony ESPN & ESPN HD, SonySix & Six HD, TEN 2, TEN 1 HD,12 a.m. (Thursday)

TV PICKS

India won its fifth consec-utive South Asian Basket-ball Association title afterbeating Nepal 90-44 hereon Tuesday. With this win,India ensured that it re-mained unbeaten, winningall its four matches.

India has now qualifiedfor the FIBA Asia Cup to beheld in Lebanon from Au-gust 8 to 20.

It has also ensured quali-fication for its top clubteam in the FIBA AsiaChampions Cup — a tour-nament for premier clubteams of Asian countries.The result: India 90 (VisheshBhriguvanshi 22, B.K. Anil Ku-mar 16) bt Nepal 44 (AshimShrestha 9).

UnbeatenIndiatriumphs Sports Bureau

Male

When S. Ravi travels to Eng-land for the upcoming ICCChampions Trophy, he willbe the lone Indian in thisElite umpiring mix.

The 51-year-old Chennaiumpire — he became a partof ICC’s Elite panel in 2015 —has earned the respect of thecricketers with his reliabledecision-making and no-non-sense approach.

In a conversation with TheHindu here, Ravi recalled aninteresting incident. “It in-volved a couple of Australianplayers. There was an issueregarding player behaviourand I had to intervene.”

Ravi revealed, “The Aus-tralians in question said‘Ravi, we are grown-up crick-eters, we know what we aredoing.’ My answer was ‘I amjust following the rulebook.’”

Not going softHe disagreed with the viewthat contemporary umpireswere soft on players. “A cer-tain level of chatter betweenthe batsman, the bowler and

the fielders, everyone wantsto see. But it should not crossthe line and get personal.”

He elaborated, “Once thathappens, the ICC has givenumpires clear guidelines andthere is a match-referee tooversee things as well.”

Ravi felt technology wasgood for the game. “DRSdoesn’t undermine an um-pire, it assists him. If he hasmade a mistake, it is correc-ted and the game moves on.”

DRS in IPLRavi felt DRS should be apart of IPL and narrated anincident from the recent finalin Hyderabad.

He said, “When Rahul Tri-pathi was struck on the padoff Jasprit Bumrah, it lookedplumb from a front-on view.I gave out. Later, I was toldby the TV umpire that theside-view replays showed theball was missing the stumpsby millimetres, going over.”

“Had DRS been there, themistake could have been rec-tified. A couple of milli-metres can make a differ-ence. And with the kind ofnoise in the stadium during

the IPL games, it is almostimpossible to hear a featherfrom a batsman.”

Umpiring in the sub-con-tinent can be challenging,particularly in Tests, with theclose-in cordon and thebowler appealing vocifer-ously for bat-pad or leg-be-fore decisions.

He said, “The Sri Lanka-Australia series on turningpitches in Sri Lanka last yearwas tough. You have to baseyou decisions on the combin-ation of your experience, in-stinct and reading of thepitch, like how much it isturning.”

Officiating in EnglandAn umpire faces different dif-ficulties in England. “There itis late swing or tail swing assome call it. You have towatch the ball till the last mo-ment, calculate the swingand the seam movement.Then there are rain interrup-tions. You have to refocus. Itis not easy.”

Standing in the Ashes —the seaming track in Notting-ham was a test for the um-pires — in 2015 and the Box-

ing Day Test betweenAustralia and Pakistan lastyear are among the high-lights of Ravi’s career so far.

Ravi also had the honourof standing in the historicfirst ever pink ball Test,between Australia and NewZealand, in Adelaide, 2015.What are his impressions onthe pink ball?

He replied, “It swingsmore in the last hour so youhave to be really on the ball.Pink ball is all right but be-comes slightly difficult tospot in twilight, during thathalf-an-hour period.”

He spoke about umpiringacross formats. “In Testcricket, it is a lot about men-tal and physical fitness, con-centrating for long periods.In Twenty20 cricket, you fo-cus on no-balls, wides,above-waist-high full-tosses,number of short deliveries inan over. The game movesvery quickly. A single run canmake the difference.”

“An umpire never stopslearning,” concluded Ravi.“If you think you are verygood, then your growthstops.”

Elite umpire Ravi bats for DRSSays technology doesn’t undermine an oicial, instead only assists him

S. Dinakar

CHENNAI

Making a point: S. Ravi feels DRS should be a part of the IPL.* K.R. DEEPAK

Sachin Tendulkar stillremembers Raj SinghDungarpur’s polite, but afirm business-like one linerbefore the start of the 1989Mumbai-Delhi Ranji Trophysemifinal at the WankhedeStadium.

Few days shy of turning15, Tendulkar’s prolificbatting form had put him inthe forefront of probableselection for the tour of theWest Indies.

Mumbai’s cricketing circleswere upbeat, but the thenchairman of the Nationalselection committee,Dungarpur, walked up to theMumbai nets and toldTendulkar: “After the

semifinal, you canconcentrate on your exams.”

Six months later though,Tendulkar was picked for thetour to Pakistan.

“Dungarpur hasencouraged me a lot; in facthe found a sponsor for myfirst tour to England withKailash Gattani’s Star Cricketteam,’’ said Tendulkar.

Tendulkar recallsDungarpur’s pithyone-linerSpecial Correspondent

Mumbai

Rajsingh Dungarpur.

India notched up a stunning4-1 win over former cham-pion Indonesia to keep itshopes alive for a knockoutberth in the Sudirman Cupmixed team badmintonchampionship here on Tues-day. After suffering an em-barrassing 1-4 defeat againstDenmark in the openingmatch on Monday, India des-perately needed to win thiscontest against fifth seed In-donesia.

India rode on stupendousperformances by K. Srik-anth, P.V. Sindhu and the ex-perienced Ashwini Pon-nappa, who won both themixed doubles and women’sdoubles match, alongwithSatwiksairaj Rankireddy andN. Sikki Reddy respectively

to defeat Indonesia for thefirst time in team events.

The knockout berthswould be decided only afterWednesday’s clash betweenIndonesia and Denmark.

India, ranked ninth, hasmanaged to reach the knock-out stage of the tournamentonly once during the 2011edition, while in the last twoeditions it couldn’t evencross the group stage. The results: India bt Indonesia4-1 (K. Srikanth bt JonatanChristie 21-15, 21-16; P.V.Sindhu bt Fitriani Fitriani 21-9,21-19; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy& Ashwini Ponnappa bt Ton-towi Ahmad & GloriaEmanuelle Widjaja 22-20, 17-21, 21-19; Marcus FernaldiGideon & Kevin Sanjaya Sukam-uljo bt Satwiksairaj & Chirag Sh-etty 21-9, 21-17; Ashwini & N.Sikki Reddy bt Della DestiaraHaris & Rosyita Eka Putri Sar 21-12, 21-19).

India stuns Indonesia

Keeps hopes alive for a knockout berth

SUDIRMAN CUP


Gold Coast (Australia)

Leander Paes and ScottLipsky of the US turned thematch midway for a 6-7(3),7-6(3), 10-4 victory overSpaniards David Marreroand Tommy Robredo in thedoubles pre-quarterfinals ofthe €540,310 ATP Tourevent here on Tuesday.

The results:

Banque Eric Sturdza GenevaOpen: Doubles (pre-quarterfi-nals): Scott Lipsky (US) &Leander Paes bt David Marrero& Tommy Robredo (Esp) 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 10-4.

Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon: Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Nick Kyrgios &

Matt Reid (Aus) bt ChristopherRungkat (Ina) & Jeevan Ned-unchezhiyan 6-3, 3-6, 10-5.

Singapore F1 Futures: Singles(first round): Soichiro Moritani(Jpn) bt Karunuday Singh 7-5,6-3; Sho Katayama (Jpn) btSidharth Rawat 6-4, 6-2; KentoTakeuchi (Jpn) bt DalwinderSingh 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals):Nam Hoang Ly (Vie) & VijaySundar Prashanth bt DavidAgung Susanto & Sunu-WahyuTrijati (Ina) 6-2, 6-3.

$60,000 ITF women Luan(China): Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Jiang Xinyu &Tang Qianhui (Chn) bt EmilyWebley-Smith (GBR) & AnkitaRaina 6-1, 6-4.

TENNIS

Paes-Lipsky advanceSports Bureau

Geneva

The Indian boys medley re-lay team, comprisingGurindervir Singh, PalenderKumar, Manish and AkshayNain, won the gold as theteam finished third in themedals table in the secondAsian youth athletics cham-pionship here on Tuesday.

The team clocked1:55.62s. Chinese Taipei andHong Kong took the silverand bronze respectively.

India also won two othermedals — a silver and bronzein the boys’ javelin throw —through Uttar Pradesh’s Ro-hit Yadav (74.30m) andAvinash Yadav (70.09) on the

final day. India had a finaltally of five golds, five silversand four bronzes for a totalof 14 medals in the four-day

meet and finished behindChina (16 golds, 30 medals)and Chinese Taipei (6 golds,15 medals).

ATHLETICS

Medley relay gold for IndiaSports Bureau

Bangkok

Tri-colour to the fore: The Indian boys medley relay teamwhich triumphed in the Asian youth athletics championship.

Former world record holderHeena Sidhu recovered froma slow start to shoot 382, butmissed the women’s air pis-tol final by two points in theshooting World Cup thatconcluded here on Tuesday.The 27-year-old had a seriesof 93, 96, 97 and 96, as sheplaced 18th among 103shooters. Yashaswini SinghDeswal did well to shoot 381,but Harveen Srao slipped to373.

The performance in themen’s 50-metre rifle 3-posi-tion event was below par, asOlympian Chain Singh shot1163 for the 44th place, fol-

lowing a series of 386 inkneeling, 394 in prone and383 in standing.

Satyendra Singh (1161) andSanjeev Rajput (1148) were57th and 69th respectivelyamong the 70 who hadmade the cut after the elim-ination round.

The results: Men’s 50m rifle 3-position: 1. Alexis Raynaud(Fra) 463.5 (1179); 44. ChainSingh 1163; 57. Satyendra Singh1161; 69. Sanjeev Rajput 1148.MQS: Surendra Singh Rathod1173.

Women’s 10m air pistol: 1.Anna Korakaki (Gre) 241.2(385); 18. Heena Sidhu 382; 21.Yashaswini Singh Deswal 381;68. Harveen Srao 373.

SHOOTING

Heartbreak for HeenaSports Bureau

Munich

11even Sports Private Ltd.(ESPL), on Tuesday, an-nounced the launch of anew league, Ultimate PingPong (UPP) with supportfrom Table Tennis Federa-tion of India (TTFI).

The inaugural seasonwill be played from July 13to 30 in three different cit-ies: Chennai, Delhi andMumbai, and will witnessparticipation from six fran-chises.

The first two legs will beheld in Chennai and Delhibefore the event shifts baseto Mumbai for the finale.

UPP will feature a totalof 48 world class paddlers(24 men and 24 women) in-cluding 24 Indians.

Big prize money

They will battle it out forthe ultimate championshipand prize pool of $450000(about ₹3 crore), making itthe highest ever prizemoney for a table tennisevent in the country.

Each franchise will com-prise eight paddlers — twoIndian men, two Indianwomen, two foreign menand two foreign women .

TT — newleaguelaunched Sports Bureau

CHENNAI

SPORT

The Indian Football Associ-ation (IFA) on Tuesday saidthat West Bengal Chief Min-ister Mamata Banerjee hasextended her full support toiconic clubs East Bengal andMohun Bagan’s proposed in-clusion in the Indian SuperLeague (ISL).

With less than 48 hoursleft to complete the biddingfor ISL, officials of the twoclubs and Indian FootballAssociation (IFA), which ad-ministers football in thestate, met State sports min-ister Aroop Biswas and thechief minister.

“Mamata has promised togive full support to theclubs. She asked the clubs tohold their heads high andnot compromise on theirdignity.

“We will not play by giv-

ing franchise fees. It’s a dis-respect to Bengal’s football.There will be no comprom-ise on that,” IFA presidentUtpal Ganguli said after theclubs’ meeting with thechief minister.

The two clubs have re-quested the All India Foot-ball Federation (AIFF) towaive ISL franchise fees of₹15 crore keeping their longtradition and service to thecountry’s football in mind.This is one of the major bar-riers in the inclusion ofthese fan-based clubs in theISL.

“We will now wait for theAIFF’s proposal as we havethe full support of the gov-ernment. These clubs’ con-tribution to Indian footballcannot be compared with anew franchise,” saidGanguli.

Mamata assures fullsupport to Bagan, EBSpecial Correspondent

KOLKATA





SPORT

Chelsea’s Conte picks upaward from peersLONDON

Antonio Conte’s achievement

in coaching Chelsea to the

Premier League title in his

first season in charge saw

him named ‘manager of the

year’ by his peers, the League

Managers Association (LMA),

on Monday. The 47-year-old

Italian won praise for turning

a demoralised squad into title

winner in such a short space

of time. AFP

IN BRIEF

Manu Ginobili to take time over futureSAN ANTONIO

San Antonio Spurs legend

Manu Ginobili said he would

take his time before deciding

on his future after an

emotion-filled defeat to

Golden State Warriors. “I do

feel like I can still play. But

that’s not what is going to

make me retire or not. It’s

about how I feel,” he said. AFP

Juventus signs Cuadradoon permanent dealROME

Champions League finalist

Juventus has signed

Colombian winger Juan

Cuadrado on a permanent

deal from Chelsea, the Serie A

champion announced on

Monday. The 28-year-old has

signed a contract that ties

him to Juventus until June

2020. AFP

As the bidding war escalatedpast 10 p.m. on Monday, 22-year old Nitin Tomar waswondering whether it wasall a dream. The Indian Navysailor, all of 22 games old inthe ProKabaddi League andhaving been around for justtwo of the four seasons sofar, was among the last fewnames to come up duringDay One of the auctions andwas seeing franchises relent-lessly vie for him.

When the hammer finallycame down on ₹93 lakh,sending him to the as yet un-named Uttar Pradesh fran-chise, the raider from Malak-pur village in the State’sBaghpat district became themost expensive player everin the PKL.

“I was sitting with myfriends and watching theauction live and while I wasunable to believe what hadhappened, the look on myfriends faces was even moreshocking and, frankly,funny. Their jaws haddropped and there was com-plete awe,” Tomar told TheHindu the day after.

He admitted that thephone calls since the finalbid had been non-stop andhe was still coming to termswith it.

“Interviews are ok, I amnow used to them in the lasttwo seasons and after win-ning gold at the World Cuplast year. But this was some-thing else. I don’t know whoall are calling, random num-bers sometimes to ask how Ifeel and sometimes just tocongratulate. It is all a bit un-nerving,” Tomar laughed.His friends are demanding ahuge party, which he haspromised, and his family isproud of the boy who usedto play kabaddi more for funthan anything else in school

and village. “Everyone ishappy but my dada-dadi

(grandparents) are the hap-piest. They were the first tocall me after the auction. Noone could believe I would gofor so much,” Tomar, whoplayed for Bengal Warriorsand Puneri Paltan for a sea-son each, said.

He is planning to use themoney for his sister’s wed-ding and plough it into de-veloping his family’s agricul-tural land further butinsisted that while there wasresponsibility, there was nopressure of being in the spot-light.

“The fact that the teamspent so much on me doesmake me a lot more respons-ible. I had expected around₹45-50 lakhs though myfriends kept saying I willcross ₹1 crore, which soun-ded too much.

“But even if I had not gotso much, I would have stillgiven my best. That I havebeen picked up by my homestate franchise only makes itbetter. On the court onlyperformance matters,money doesn’t play,” hesaid.

In the spotlight, Tomar keeps it real‘On the court only performance matters’UTHRA GANESAN

NEW DELHI

Nitin Tomar.

Stephen Curry scored 36points and Kevin Durant ad-ded 29 points and 12 re-bounds as Golden State War-riors strolled to a 129-115 winover San Antonio Spurs onMonday to complete a four-game sweep of the WesternConference Finals (WCF).

Warriors move on to playeither the defending cham-pion Cleveland Cavaliers, ina repeat of last year’s titleseries, or Boston Celtics inthe NBA Finals. Cavalierscurrently lead the EasternConference finals 2-1.

Warriors will have ninedays of rest ahead of thatseries, which begins in Oak-land, California on June 1.

Warriors have swept allthree of its playoff seriesand is the first team in NBAhistory to start the post-sea-son 12-0, eclipsing the re-cord established by the 1989and 2001 Los AngelesLakers.

Warriors have won 27 oftheir past 28 overall games(including the regular sea-son) and have won sixstraight road playoff games,a franchise record.

Draymond Green added16 points, eight reboundsand eight assists for Warri-ors in the easy win at theAT&T Centre. Ian Clark tal-lied 12 points and KlayThompson scored 10 points(on 3-of-13 shooting) forWarriors.

Warriors outshot Spurs55.8% to 42.3%, had 53 re-bounds to Spurs’ 41 anddominated despite 17turnovers that led to 22Spurs’ points.

Kyle Anderson led Spurswith 20 points while ManuGinobili added 15, PattyMills and Pau Gasol hit for 14each and Jonathon Sim-mons scored 13.

LaMarcus Aldridge, argu-ably Spurs’ most importantplayer after injured star for-ward Kawhi Leonard,scored just eight points anddid not play in the fourthquarter.

The result: Warriors 129 (Green16, Durant 29, Curry 36,Thompson 10, Clark 12) btSpurs 115 (Mills 14, Ginobili 15,Simmons 13, Gasol 14, Ander-son 20). Warriors win WCF 4-0.

Warriors sealFinals spotFirst team in NBA history to start thepost-season 12-0

Brooking no challenge: Stephen Curry, left, led Golden StateWarriors’ charge against San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of theWestern Conference Finals. * AP

Reuters

SAN ANTONIO NBA

Having been added to theauctions pool at the lastminute, Services playerscontinued to strike big onthe second and final day ofauctions for the fifth seasonof ProKabaddi League onTuesday with ArmymanSuraj Desai becoming thehighest-bid for Category Bplayer, snapped up by Da-bang Delhi for ₹52.50 lakh.

It was more than doubleof what Jaipur Pink Pantherspaid to regain the services ofexperienced defender andformer captain NavneetGautam, who went for mere₹24 lakh. Gautam had sat out

the previous season due toinjury.

In the process Desai,based out of Mumbai, wentpast several bigger, more ex-perienced names in the frayas the Delhi franchise put itsfaith in the young raider toimprove its dismal perform-ances in the past seasons.Along with Ravi Dalal and Ir-anian Meraj Sheykh, Desaiwould be expected to makeup for the absence of Delhi'stwo best raiders from thepast seasons — KashilingAdake and Selvamani K —who have been snapped upby other franchises.

The total money spent bythe 12 teams — allotted apurse of ₹4 crore — was₹46.99 crore for 227 players.With Indian players fromCategory B, C and D goingunder the hammer on DayTwo, the teams preferred topick up new and youngerplayers.

Junior players like Sachin,who would be making theirdebut in the PKL, earned farabove their base price.

Sachin was picked byTeam Gujarat for ₹36 lakhwhile Jaipur paid a whop-ping ₹50 lakh for JaideepSingh, both Category B play-ers with a base price of ₹12lakh.

Suraj Desai strikes it richUthra Ganesan

NEW DELHI PKL AUCTION

Losing the Europa League fi-nal is a prospect thatdoesn’t bear thinking aboutat Manchester United. Notfor the players, who wouldface another season out ofthe prestigious ChampionsLeague — the bonus prizefor winning Europe'ssecond-tier competition —not to mention the pain ofdefeat in a high-profile titlematch.

Not for the club's owners,who would be hit with a bigreduction in sponsorshipmoney and, potentially,prize money from Europeancompetition next season.

And not for its famousmanager, whose first year atUnited would be widelyviewed as a failure.

So much hinges on thematch against Ajax in Stock-holm on Wednesday thatUnited’s players and itsmanager, Jose Mourinho,have to be feeling the pres-sure heading to the Swedishcapital.

Two cups and ChampionsLeague qualification wouldamount to a successful firstseason at United. Onetrophy and no ChampionsLeague would be a huge let-down.

United even gave up on

its Premier League cam-paign with a few weeks re-maining to give its full focusto the Europa League. ForEngland’s biggest club, it’stime to deliver.

In a year of highs andlows under Mourinho,United has won the LeagueCup to claim a trophy forthe second straight seasonbut finished in a disappoint-ing sixth place in thePremier League.

Looking purely in finan-cial terms, United would seea 30% reduction in the valueof its 10-year jersey dealwith Adidas — an equivalentof £21m if the team doesn’tqualify for the ChampionsLeague for the secondstraight season.

No Champions Leaguemight even stop some of itsbiggest transfer targets, likeAntoine Griezmann, comingto Old Trafford next season.

Decisive day loomsfor Man UnitedAssociated Press

Manchester


A ND-ND

LIFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



An extremely rare bag usedby NASA astronaut NeilArmstrong to collect thefirst dust samples from theMoon is expected to fetchup to $4 million at an auc-tion in the U.S.

The bag brought back toEarth 48 years ago containstraces of moon dust and isan exceptionally rare relic ofhumanity’s greatestachievement.

It will be up for auctionon July 20 along with asigned photograph of Arm-strong’s companion BuzzAldrin on the Moon andother memorabilia.

“The star lot of the sale isthe most important spaceexploration artefact to evercome to market, the outerdecontamination bag usedby Neil Armstrong on Apollo11 to bring back the very firstsamples ever collected ofthe Moon, traces of whichremain in the bag,” accord-ing to the Sotheby’s auctionhouse.

During the Apollo 11 mis-sion, Armstrong collectednearly 500 grammes of ma-terial finer than 1 cm, as wellas 12 rock fragments largerthan 1 cm from five different

locations on the lunar sur-face, in the region known asthe Sea of Tranquillity.

The true history of thebag went unknown for dec-ades until just a year ago. Itwas offered three separatetimes in 2014 by a small auc-tion house garnering not asingle bid. It was re-listedagain in 2015, where NancyCarlson, the current ownerwon the lot with a bid of$995, Sotheby’s said.

Landing anniversaryInterested in the history ofher purchase, she sent it toNASA in the hope of obtain-ing further information.

Scientific tests revealedthe dust in the bag to bemoon dust, specifically fromthe Apollo 11 landing site.

The auction will coincidewith the anniversary ofApollo 11 landing on theMoon.

Armstrong’s moondust bag up for sale

It is expected to fetch up to $4 million


New York

The bag contains traces ofmoon dust. * REUTERS

Japanese filmmaker NaomiKawase’s Hikari (Radiance),the first of the three films bywomen filmmakers compet-ing for the Palme d’Or thisyear, played at the GrandTheatre Lumiere on Tuesdaymorning.

The other two in the fray— Sophia Coppola’s The Be-guiled and Lynne Ramsay’sYou Were Never Really Here —were scheduled to bescreened on Wednesday andFriday respectively. JaneCampion is the only womanfilmmaker to have baggedthe Palme D’Or for The Pianoin 1993. Will 2017 be the yearof the second?

However, Hikari doesn’tquite seem to shine as brightand it fails to rise up to thechallenge. Ms. Kawase’s mi-lieu is unusual: producingaudio descriptions of moviesfor the visually impaired.There is the overarchingtheme of empathy, under-standing and communica-tion and also of the humanconnect and flight of imagin-ation possible through themovies. Against it all is setthe love story between a par-tially sighted photographerand a much younger girl,who works on the audio de-scriptions. The film moveslanguidly, pausing intermin-ably on the innumerableclose-ups and somehowmanages to render a poten-tially profound take on theurgency for conversationand interaction into maudlinmelodrama.

Theme of infidelity Hong Sang-soo’s Geu Hu (TheDay After) is a film on thetheme of infidelity that over-flows with food and liquor.Conversations move fromthe existential to the comicaleven as the camera staysstatic, looking on at peopleeating and talking. A pub-

lisher has a fling with an em-ployee in his office, the ladymoves on and he hires an-other in her place only tohave the betrayed wife mis-take the new employee forher husband’s mistress. Thattoo on her very first day atwork. Misunderstandingsmake things oddly comic tillthe mistress decides to re-turn and demands her jobback again. The film doesbring on a few laughs butdoesn’t make one engagewith the situation and thecharacters.

Manish Mundra fetedMeanwhile, on the sidelinesof the festival, at the IndiaPavilion in Marche duCinema, producer ManishMundra of Drishyam Filmswas felicitated by the leadingfilm trade journal, Variety, asone of the ten producers towatch out for in 2017.

With winners such as Mas-aan, Waiting and AankhonDekhi behind him, Mr. Mun-dra is now set to release New-ton, Rukh and Kadvi Hawathis year. Two films are soonto go on the floors: Mohd Gh-ani’s Cycle, on the signific-ance of the modest mode oftransport in grass-roots Indiaand Ganesh Shetty’s Anaam,on a woman dealing withabortion.

Also, eight to 10 new pro-jects are likely to be an-

nounced next year with afund worth ₹80-100 crore al-located for them. Mr. Mun-dra will also be working withfilmmakers like Pan Nalinand Shagufta Rafique ontheir next projects.

“We want to take Indiancinema to the next level,make films that travel to fest-ivals, get nominated at theOscars, create a buzz,” Mr.Mundra says.

Priyanka on VarietyBollywood actor PriyankaChopra made it to the pagesof Variety in absentia. Herproduction house PurplePebble Pictures’ slate of re-gional films was unveiled byher mother Madhu Chopra,who has been diligently look-ing for foreign investment,collaborations and seats atthe international festivals fortheir films. An Indo-Germanco-production is also on thecards, she told The Hindu.

There are a few children’sfilms, “visualised throughkids’ point of view”, as Dr.Chopra puts it, which arecoming soon. The first lookof one of them, Sikkimesefilm Pahuna, was revealed atthe India Pavilion.

Purple Pebble started offwith the Bhojpuri film BamBam Bol Raha Hai Kashi. APunjabi film, Sarvann, fol-lowed. The Marathi film,Ventilator, which fared well

at the national awards thisyear, has brought them atthe centre of regional filmproduction.

“Our motto is to look atlanguage cinema in Indiaand give new filmmakers achance,” said Dr. Chopra,who runs a cosmetologyclinic in Mumbai and alsomanages the business back-end of the company whilePriyanka looks at the creat-ive side.

The aim is also to keep atight leash on the budgetsand get work completed infewer days with a limitedcrew. A Marathi film, Kay ReRascalaa, is coming up next.Future projects include LittleJoe Kahaa Ho in Konkani,Brishtir Oppekhyayy and BusStop E Keu Nei in Bengali. Na-lini on RabindranathTagore’s first love will be aBengali-Marathi bilingualand Ventilator will soon beremade into Malayalam.

The Festival de Cannes ex-pressed its “horror, angerand immense sadness” onthe bomb attack in the cityof Manchester on Mondaynight. “This is yet another at-tack on culture, youth andjoyfulness, on our freedom,generosity and tolerance, allthings that the festival andthose who make it possible —the artistes, professionalsand spectators — hold dear,”the festival release said.

It’s women power at playfor Palme d’Or this yearWorks of Kawase, Sophia Coppola, Lynne Ramsay in contention for top award

Asia in focus: South Korean actor Kim Min-hee, left, and director Hong Sangsoo at Cannes forthe screening of the ilm Geu Hu. At right is Japanese ilmmaker Naomi Kawase. * AFP, AP

Namrata Joshi

CANNES

British actor Roger Moore,who won international fameplaying secret agent JamesBond, died on Tuesday aged89, his family said on the act-or’s official Twitter account.

His 12 years as JamesBond, the British agent witha voracious appetite fordanger and sex, made Moorea millionaire and aheartthrob the world over.

“It is with a heavy heartthat we must announce ourloving father, Sir Roger

have earned Moore £14million.

He moved to the UnitedStates to become a tax exile.

“I don’t see why a chapshouldn’t do what he likesand live where he wants onhis money, and the Britishgovernment, which allowstalent to go abroad becauseof taxation, has only itself toblame,” he said in an inter-view in 1989.

After handing over therole of Bond to TimothyDalton, Moore went intosemi-retirement

scenes, which were a keypart of the Bond movies.

Moore’s big breakthroughas an actor came in 1962,when he won the part of TheSaint in a popular televisionseries of the same name. Inthis role, he honed his imageof the urbane Englishmanwith a stream of damsels torescue from distress.

In 1973 came the covetedpart of James Bond, writerIan Fleming’s action spy 007,who held cinemagoersacross the world in thrall.The Bond films were said to

Moore, has passed awaytoday in Switzerland after ashort but brave battle withcancer,” his three childrenannounced in a statement onthe Twitter account.

Big breakthroughThe son of a London police-man, Moore once said theupper-crust image he por-trayed both on and off thescreen was a carefully nur-tured cover for his shynessand timidity.

He also said he was terri-fied of playing the sex

Former James Bond actor Roger Moore no moreHis 12 years as the British agent with a voracious appetite for danger and sex made Moore a millionaire and a heartthrob

Suave spy: The James Bond ilms were said to have earnedMoore £14 million. * AP

Reuters

London

It’s playtime: A baby Indian Black Turtle (Melanochelys trijuga) with its mother on the WorldTurtle Day in the outskirts of Guwahati on Tuesday. The day is observed to bring attention to andincrease knowledge of turtles and tortoises. * RITU RAJ KONWAR

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Slow but steady

After nine months inspace, mouse sperm hasyielded healthy mice, Ja-panese scientists reportedon Monday.

The freeze-dried spermsamples were launched in2013 to the InternationalSpace Station and returnedto Earth in 2014. The in-tense radiation of spacecaused slight DNA damageto the sperm.

Normal fertilityYet, following in vitro fertil-ization on the ground,healthy offspring resulted.The baby mice grew intoadults with normal fertilityof their own.

‘Space sperm’delivershealthy mice

Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL

A computer defeated China’stop player of the ancientboard game Go on Tuesday,earning praise that it mighthave finally surpassed hu-man abilities in one of thelast games machines haveyet to dominate.

Google’s AlphaGo wonthe first of three plannedgames this week against KeJie, a 19-year-old prodigy, inthis town west of Shanghai.The computer will also faceother top-ranked Chineseplayers during the five-dayevent.

AlphaGo beat Ke by a half-point, “the closest marginpossible,” according to De-mis Hassabis, founder ofDeepMind, the Google-owned company in Londonthat developed AlphaGo.

AlphaGo has improvedmarkedly since it defeatedSouth Korea’s top compet-

itor last year and is a “com-pletely different player,” Ketold reporters.

“For the first time, Al-phaGo was quite human-like,” Ke said.

“In the past it had someweaknesses. But now I feelits understanding of go andthe judgement of the game is

beyond our ability.” Players take turns putting

white or black stones on agrid with 361 intersections,trying to capture territoryand each other’s pieces bysurrounding them. Compet-itors play until both agreethere are no more places toput stones or one quits.

The game, which origin-ated in China more than 25centuries ago, has avoidedmastery by computers evenas they surpassed humans inmost other games. Theyconquered chess in 1997when IBM Corp.’s Deep Bluesystem defeated championGarry Kasparov.

More challengingGo, known as weiqi in Chinaand baduk in Korea, is con-sidered more challengingbecause the near-infinitenumber of possible positionsrequires intuition and flexib-ility.

Players had expected it tobe at least another decadebefore computers could beatthe best humans due to go’scomplexity and reliance onintuition, but AlphaGo sur-prised them in 2015 by beat-ing a European champion.Last year, it defeated SouthKorea’s Lee Sedol.

Google’s device wins irst of three planned games against 19-year-old prodigy

Associated Press

WUZHEN

Checkmated: Chinese Go player Ke Jie, left, observes as aperson makes a move on behalf of Google's AI program,AlphaGo, during a game in Wuzhen on Tuesday. * AP * AP

Computer ‘Go’es ahead of Chinesechampion in ancient board game


CM YK wednesday, may 24, 2017 Delhi City Edition 24 pages ₹10.00 Printed at .Chennai Coimbatore Bengaluru Hyderabad .Madurai Noida .Visakhapatnam Thiruvananthapuram .Kochi Vijay

Documents