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The deadly caronavirusstruck the global equity

market in a vicious way onMonday as China reportedmore cases of infection that isrespecting no geographicalboundaries. Driven by fearand uncertainty about theimpact of the virus outbreak onglobal economy, exchangesacross the world saw sharp sell-off and oil prices collapsed.

In India, equity bench-mark Sensex on Mondayclocked its second biggest fallin four months, dragged main-ly by financial and metal coun-ters as investors fear grew overthe fast-spreading virus out-break in China. At close, theBSE gauge Sensex was 458.07points, or 1.10 per cent, downat 41,155.12. Intra-day, theindex cracked nearly 500points. Likewise, the broaderNSE Nifty ended 129.25 points,or 1.06 per cent, down at12,119.

On the Sensex chart, TataSteel was the top loser, drop-ping 4.31 per cent, followed byIndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank,SBI, PowerGrid and HDFC.

The Dow tumbled by near-ly 500 points on opening. TheS&P 500 (SPX) was down 1.6per cent, while the NasdaqComposite (COMP) was down2.1 per cent.

European exchanges alsotraded more than 2 per centlower on Monday, continuingtheir selloff from the previousweek. In Paris, the CAC 40 lost1.9 per cent to 5,907.40, while

Germany’s DAX skidded 1.7per cent to 13,342.32.

Many Asian markets,including China’s, were closedfor Lunar New Year holidays,while Australia was closed forAustralia Day. Tokyo’s Nikkei225 index caved in by 2 percent to 23,343.51

Investors across the worldare worried that if the second-largest economy in the worldfails to recover in time from theviral outbreak, then it economycould take a big hit, which willalso drag down the world econ-omy.

While fear of economicslowdown spooked the oil

prices that have corrected bymore than 15 per cent duringthe last ten days, safe-havenassets rallied higher onMonday. The price of goldclimbed 0.8 per cent to$1,583.60 per ounce.

Brent crude futures tradedaround 3 per cent lower onMonday at $58.88 a barrel, theirlowest level since October. UScrude futures were downroughly 3 per cent.

News agency PTI quoted SRanganathan, head of researchat LKP Securities, as saying,“Coronavirus outbreak inChina took a toll on Indianequities as well today as finan-

cials and metals bore the bruntof the selling. Except for selectpharmaceutical stocks whichheld fort and gained the broad-er markets traded weak.”

Meanwhile, India onMonday decided to prepare forpossible evacuation of Indiannationals from Wuhan city inthe pathogen-hit Chineseprovince of Hubei.

The decision was taken ata high-level meeting, chaired byCabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba,which carried out a detailedreview of the situation arisingout of outbreak of Coronavirusin China where 80 people havedied and over 2,000 infected

with the disease.Officials said the External

Affairs Ministry will request toChinese authorities for evacu-ation of Indians from Wuhan.

In view of a confirmed caseof coronavirus in Nepal, theCentre has asked the five Statesbordering the neighbouringnation (Uttarakhand, UttarPradesh, Bihar, West Bengaland Sikkim) to be alert andkeep hospitals ready to meetany emergency. After airportsand border areas, it has nowinitiated entry screening at theinternational ports having traf-fic from China.

In India, a few suspectedcases have been reported alto-gether from Patna, Mumbaiand Rajasthan, but none yetconfirmed. In Patna, a womanwho returned from China lastweek was admitted to a Patnahospital on Monday withsymptoms similar to those ofcoronavirus.

Samples of 12 passengershave been referred to NationalInstitute of Virology, Pune. Nopositive case has been report-ed so far, the Union HealthMinistry said.

Over 100 people have beenkept under observation inKerala and Maharashtra fol-lowing screening for a possibleexposure to the novel coron-avirus. One person each fromT h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a m ,Thrissur, Pathanamthitta andMalappuram and three fromErnakulam are in isolationwards of various health centresin the State.

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An Enforcement Directorate(ED) probe has revealed

that the controversial outfitPopular Front of India (PFI)was “financially” backing therecent violent anti-CAAprotests in Uttar Pradesh.However, the PFI denied theclaim.

According to news agencyPTI, the ED , which is probingthe PFI under the Preventionof Money Laundering Act

(PMLA) since 2018, has foundthat at least �1.04 crore weredeposited in bank accounts inwestern Uttar Pradesh after theAct was passed by Parliamentin December last year. Thesources said a total amount of

�120 crore, credited to bankaccounts linked to the PFI, areunder the ED’s scanner.

Incidentally, there was noPress release issued by the Edto confirm the report. The PFIrubbished the charges and said

the ED has not even contactedthem regarding the same.

The PFI was formed in2006 in Kerala as a successor tothe National Democratic Front(NDF) and was suspected tohave shifted its headquarters toShaheen Bagh in the nationalCapital over a decade ago.

Amid news reports sug-gesting that the PFI had paidlawyers such as Kapil Sibal,Dushyant Dave and IndiraJaising as part of its efforts tofund anti-CAA protests, thePFI as well as Sibal rejected thecharge. Sibal said the paymentshe received from the PFI hadnothing to do with anti-CAAprotests, and were made for hislegal services offered in theHadiya case. The Congressleader said the ED has releaseda statement analysing the bankaccounts of the PFI in which“my name has been mentioned

as a recipient of �77 lakh”.“The first bill was raised on

August 4, 2017. Last bill onMarch 8, 2018. All paymentswere received before March2018,” Sibal said.

Fellow lawyer IndiraJaising, on the other hand,“completely and vehemently”denied receiving “any money”from the PFI “at any point oftime”. Jaising also deniedreceiving any money from any-body in connection with theanti-CAA protests.

On money transfers madeto some prominent lawyers, thePFI said, “The truth is thattransfers were made in 2017 aslawyer fees for these advocatesfor the Hadiya case...Attributing a fees transfer thathappened in 2017 as a fundingfor 2019 CAA protest is total-ly absurd and exposes the

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In a major step to usher in“permanent peace” in the

region, the Centre and AssamGovernment on Mondaysigned a tripartite peace accordwith the dreaded insurgentgroup National DemocraticFront of Bodoland (NDFB)and other militant outfits.

The accord signed in thepresence of Union HomeMinister Amit Shah promisedpolitical and economic benefitswhile not acceding to thedemand for separate State orUnion Territory. The membersof the armed outfits will sur-render on January 30,Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdomday, as per the accord.

Soon after the agreementwas signed at the Union HomeMinistry in the afternoon,Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid it would usher in a newdawn of peace, harmony andtogetherness.

“Today is a very special dayfor India. The accord withBodo groups, which has beeninked today will lead to trans-formative results for the Bodopeople. Bodo Accord inkedtoday stands out for many rea-sons. It successfully bringstogether the leading stake-

holders under one framework.Those who were previouslyassociated with armed resis-tance groups will now be enter-ing the mainstream and con-tributing to our nation’sprogress,” Modi said in a seriesof tweets.

The Home Ministerdescribed the agreement as“historic” and said it wouldbring permanent peace andsolution to the decades-oldproblems of the Bodo people.“This agreement will facilitateall round development of the

Bodo areas, their language andculture will be protected with-out compromising the territo-rial integrity of Assam,” hetold reporters after the accordwas signed.

Shah said due to the vio-lence perpetrated by the Bodo

militants, over 4,000 people losttheir lives in the past fewdecades.

The All Bodo Students’Union (ABSU), which has beenspearheading a movement fora Bodoland State since 1972,and the United Bodo People’sOrganisation, were signatoriesto the Comprehensive BodoSettlement Agreement. Theagreement was signed by topleaders of the four NDFB fac-tions, the ABSU and the UBPO,Joint Secretary in the HomeMinistry Satyendra Garg, andAssam Chief Secretary KumarSanjay Krishna.

Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal alsosigned the pact as one of thewitnesses. Assam FinanceMinister Himanta Biswa Sarmawas present on the occasion.

The NDFB was responsiblefor a series of violent acts in thepast few decades, including themassacre of nearly 70 Adivasisin December 2014.

Shah said no stone wouldbe left unturned for the devel-opment of Assam and theNortheastern region. “A finaland comprehensive solution totheir demands has been made,while retaining the territorialintegrity of Assam,” he said.

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The All India MuslimPersonal Law Board (AIM-

PLB) moved the SupremeCourt on Monday seekingimpleadment in petitions chal-lenging constitutional validityof polygamy and “nikah halala”practised among Muslims.

The application has beenfiled to oppose a batch of peti-tions on which the SC had in2018 issued notices to theCentre and other stakeholderswhile referring the matter to a5-judge Constitution bench.

While polygamy allows aMuslim man to have fourwives, “nikah halala” stipulatesthat a Muslim woman, whowants to remarry her husbandafter divorce, has to first marryanother man, “consummate”the marriage and get divorcefrom him.

The two issues had arisenwhen the SC was dealing withthe practice of triple talaq. Bya 3:2 verdict, a five-judgeConstitution bench on August22, 2017 had banned the 1,400year-old practice among SunniMuslims saying it was againstthe basic tenets of the Quranand violated Shariat.

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The West Bengal Assemblyon Monday became the

fourth State after Kerala,Punjab and Rajasthan to passa resolution against theCitizenship (Amendment) Act,or CAA, even as Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee called uponall the Opposition parties tosink their differences and putup a united fight against theBJP-led Union Government.

Addressing the House,Mamata said, “We will neverallow CAA, NPR, and NRC inBengal, and resist the dracon-ian CAA peacefully.”

She expressed her anguishover how the Centre was try-ing to befool the people byoffering to provide citizenshipthrough the amended Act.

“Though in the face of itCAA is designed to provide cit-izenship… for that to happenyou have to become a foreign-er for five years. This is avicious game that will pushpeople towards death. I appealyou not to fall in trap,” she said.

Mamata wonderedwhether the BJP wallas were“brand ambassadors ofPakistan,” talking more of thehostile neighbour than theirown country.

Continued on Page 6

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Flagging off Ganga Yatrafrom Bijnore, Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath saidthat Ganga river had alwaysbeen a part of India’s faith andeconomy and therefore it wasthe responsibility of the peopleand the government to keep theriver clean and maintain itsflow. “We have to keep Gangariver clean and ever-flowing atany cost. If you actually con-sider Ganga as your mother,then do your duty and braceyourself for making the riverclean,” Yogi said during a func-tion held on Monday.

One leg of the Yatra waslaunched from Bijnor, wherethe Ganga river enters UttarPradesh. The Chief Ministerwas accompanied by hisUttarakhand counterpartTrivendra Singh Rawat andUnion minister Sanjeev Balyan.

The second leg of the Yatrawas flagged off by GovernorAnandiben Patel from Ballia,where the holy river left thestate and entered Bihar. BiharDeputy Chief Minister SushilModi was also present on theoccasion. Yogi said that Kanpurwas the most sensitive point forthe Ganga. “After crossingKanpur, the holy river trans-forms into a drain which hurtboth our faith and economy. Itook a pledge and made Gangaever-flowing and clean even inKanpur,” he said.

The Chief Minister saidthat if river Ganga could bemade clean in Kanpur, then allother rivers of the countrycould become ever-flowingand clean. “If the Delhi gov-ernment takes a resolve thenYamuna river can also becomeever-flowing and clean,” hesaid. Yogi said that the Gangeticplains ranked among the mostfertile lands in the world.“Farmers here are hard work-ing and because of them, Indiahas achieved new height inagriculture production,” hesaid. The Chief Minister saidthat there were apprehensionson how Ganga could be cleanand ever-flowing, how theonerous task could be done andwhat was the state govern-ment doing and to answerthese questions, he had come toinaugurate Ganga Yatra.

“The state government istaking every possible step inthis direction. You should alsomake this programme suc-cessful by increasing publicparticipation. Prevent dirtydrains from falling into Gangain the cities and villages. If wework with commitment by set-ting goals, then Ganga willbecome an example in thecountry and the world,” hesaid. Earlier, state BJP presidentSwatantra Dev Singh said that40 percent people of Uttar

Pradesh depended on Gangariver. He said that previous gov-ernments only indulged indacoity. “For the first time,grand and divine Kumbh Melawas successfully organized in2019. Flowers were showeredon Kanwariyas for the firsttime. It is for the first time thatthe Ganga is so clean and ever-flowing during any regime,”Singh said.

Earlier, Yogi performedGanga Aarti at Bijnore Barrage

in the presence of UnionMinister Sanjeev Balyan, UnionMinister VK Singh, UP minis-ters Suresh Rana, Kapil DevAggarwal and Baldev Singh.

The UP government islikely to prepare a documentaryfilm on the first-ever GangaYatra which will be screened forthe people to make them awareof the holy river. Jal Shaktidepartment is organising theGanga Yatra along with twodozen other departments.

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Lucknow (PNS): Lakhimpur Kheri was rockedby a sensational double murder in which a 35-year-old man, Shakeel, hacked his wife andyounger brother to death with an axe andinjured his mother in Naurangabad area onMonday morning.

While the motive for the killings was notimmediately known, the police suspect thatShakeel committed the crime as he suspectedthat his wife Shabikunnishan (30) and brotherMohsin (30) were having an affair. They saidwhen Shakeel’s mother, Sabirunnishan, tried tostop him during the attack, he attacked her,injuring her hand. Apparently mentally dis-turbed, Shakeel was later held by locals andhanded over to the police along with the axe heused for the murderous attack.

Senior Superintendent of Police of Kheri,Poonam, visited the scene of crime and said thatinvestigation was on to ascertain the actualmotive behind the killing.

The bodies were sent for autopsy.In another sensational incident reported

from Sambhal, two sisters were raped inBehjoi area by two men in police uniform onSunday. The police registered a case but deniedinvolvement of any cop, claiming that theaccused seemed to have misused the uniformto terrorise the victims and execute the crime.

As per reports, two men came in a car andbarged into the house of the sisters.

Claiming to be constables of local policestation, they accused the family members ofdealing in spurious liquor and asked the sis-ters to accompany them to the police stationfor inquiry.

Later, the miscreants took the girls to asecluded spot in a nearby jungle, took turnswith them and sped off.

Upon returning home, the sisters informedthe family about their ordeal after which theirkin went to Behjoi police station only to be toldthat no constable was sent to their home.

A complaint was lodged, investigationswere underway and the victims were sent formedical examination.

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In a bid to project Congressgeneral secretary Priyanka

Gandhi Vadra as a mass leaderworking for the betterment ofUttar Pradesh, the partyreleased a calendar with pic-tures highlighting her key polit-ical visits to the state.

Each page carries a differ-ent picture of the Congressleader, addressing public rallies,greeting people, her Sonbhadravisit and Ganga Yatra betweenJanuary and December 2019.

Earlier on New Year,Priyanka had sent greetingcards to five lakh people of thestate, with the Preamble ofIndian Constitution printedon one of its sides. The cardswere sent to intellectuals, writ-ers, poets, journalists and socialworkers of the state. The taskof collecting postal addresses offive lakh people was done byCongress workers over sever-al months.

Congress leaders said inLucknow on Monday that the‘January’ page of the calendarshows Priyanka embarking onGanga Yatra from Prayagraj,while on the page of Marchthere is a picture of Priyankaduring her Ganga Yatra atBhadohi.

The page for April show-cases pictures from ChunarFort when Priyanka had gonethere to meet the families of

Sonbhadra massacre victims.Then she was stopped by thelocal administration inMirzapur and forced to spendthe night at Chunar Fort.

Sources in the Congresssaid that the calendar wasmeant for party workers onlyand its copies would be givenout soon.

Another motive behindbringing out this calendar is totarget people who vote forSamajwadi Party and BahujanSamaj Party. The Congress hastried to address the caste equa-tions in the 12-pager calendar,with “special days” and holidaysalso highlighting dates such asbirth anniversary of Dalit iconDr BR Ambedkar, his wifeRamabai Ambedkar, socialreformer Savitri Bai Phule andRaja Suhel Dev, considered anicon by the Rajbhar communi-ty. The birth anniversary ofBabu Jagdev Prasad, who isrevered by Kushwaha com-munity, also finds a mention inthe calendar.

Lucknow (PNS): Uttar PradeshLegislative Assembly SpeakerHriday Narayan Dikshit willkick-off the Basti Mahotsav atthe district headquarters. TheBasti Mahotsav, which willcommence on Tuesday, willend on February 1.

Giving this information,programme convenor andDistrict Magistrate AshutoshNiranjan said on Monday that

the Basti Mahotsav would beinaugurated traditionally bythe Speaker at 11 am onTuesday.

Preparations for the mahot-sav have been completed andvarious departments have putup stalls to highlight the welfareschemes of the government.Eminent poet Kumar Vishwas,well-known devotional songsinger Anoop Jalota, singer

Maithali, Rishabh Thakur andother artistes are slated to takepart in the mahotsav.

Niranjan said that themahotsav would have a ‘yoga’programme from 7 am to 8 amevery day, and workshops relat-ed to schemes of variousdepartments will also be organ-ised. Major workshops amongthese will be related to RashtriyaAjeevika Mission, Beti Bachao,

Beti Padhao, Poshan Mission,Swachh Bharat Mission.Women and children will betrained for self-defence underVirangana programme from12 noon to 2 pm.

Stage programmes ofschoolchildren will also be heldfrom 1 pm to 4 pm. Entry is freein the mahotsav and peoplehave been urged to attend theprogrammes.

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Terming the Citizenship(Amendment) Act as

unconstitutional , formerUnion minister and a strongcritic of the Bharatiya JanataParty government, YashwantSinha, on Monday said the lawwas brought to divide societyon religious lines.

“The only motive of thislaw is to divide society oncommunal lines and triggerhatred against each other in thecountry,” he said whiledemanding immediate with-drawal of this “black law”.

Addressing a press confer-ence along with SamajwadiParty president Akhilesh Yadavand Congress leaderShatrughan Sinha at SP stateheadquarters here, Sinha saidthe statement of Union HomeMinister Amit Shah that theCAA would not be withdrawnat any cost was itself anti-democratic.

“Shah’s statement that theCAA would not be withdrawneven after protests, indicatedthat the government is workingagainst the citizens. The gov-ernment already had the powerto give citizenship then whatwas the reason for bringing thisnew law, no one can under-stand,” Sinha said, claimingthat by bringing such an “anti-constitutional” law, the govern-ment was trying to divert the

attention of the people fromeconomic slowdown andunemployment.

He said when the rules ofthe new CAA had not beenframed yet, how would it beimplemented. “The law saysthat the minorities in Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistan, ifharassed on the basis of reli-gion, can apply for the Indiancitizenship. But how these peo-ple will prove that they areharassed and the law does notsay anything about it,” Sinhasaid.

He said the present BJPgovernment at the Centre wastaking unethical and illegaldecisions just to benefit a hand-ful of industrialists.

“While Air India would be

given to some industrialists, onthe other hand, Rs 1,45,000crore has been taken from theRBI for these industrial hous-es,” he alleged.

“The economic conditionof the country is grim and theagriculture sector is most hitleading to suicides by farmers,”he added.

Sinha is in Lucknow alongwith his Gandhi Shanti Yatra,which has come to UttarPradesh after coveringMaharashtra, Gujarat,Rajasthan and other states.The yatra will end at Rajghat onJanuary 30. It commenced onJanuary 9 this year fromGateway of India in Mumbai,where Mahatma Gandhi land-ed after coming to the country

from South Africa.Sinha also targeted some

governors in the non-BJP state.“These governors are actinglike BJP cadre and are adopt-ing unconstitutional ways tocreate hurdle for the democra-tically elected governments,” hesaid.

Meanwhile, SP presidentAkhilesh Yadav said that theBJP government was not talk-ing of demonetisation as ithad failed on it.

“We are opposing theCAA, the NRC and the NPRand will not accept them at anycost,” he reiterated, saying thatthe government had failed indemonetisation and it wouldagain meet the same fate onCAA and NRC also.

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In a minor bureaucraticreshuffle, the state govern-

ment transferred seven IASofficers on Monday.

CDO of Mathura, RamNewas, was posted as specialsecretary (medical education)while CDO of Rae Bareli,Rakesh Kumar-I, was sent toPanchayati Raj department asspecial secretary.

CDO of Bareilly, SatyendraKumar, was shifted to Lucknowas special secretary (basic edu-cation) while joint magistrate atShrawasti, Chandra MohanGarg, was sent to Bareilly asCDO.

Joint magistrate ofMathura, Abhishek Goyal, wastransferred to Rae Bareli asCDO while joint magistrate ofJaunpur, Satya Prakash, wasposted as CDO of Fatehpur.

Joint magistrate ofMathura, Nitin Gaur, was post-ed as CDO of Mathura.

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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath

has directed strict monitoringof coronavirus in the state .

The virus has killed over 80people in China so far.

The chief minister hasasked the Health department toset up 10-bed isolation ward inall the district hospitals andmedical colleges.

He reviewed the prepara-tions to counter the deadlyvirus in the state with seniorofficials of the Health depart-ment here on Monday.

Yogi Adityanath directedthe Health officials to monitorpeople entering UP from Nepalborder with special checking atairports of people coming from

foreign countries. The chief minister also asked

the state Health department tocoordinate with the Central gov-ernment over coronaviruspatients and its prevention.

Till date not a single per-son has been identified in UPas being infected with thisdeadly virus

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Expressing concern overthose booked for taking

part in the protests against theCitizenship (Amendmant) Act,especially in Uttar Pradesh,the Congress and the BahujanSamaj Party took up the issueon Monday.

While a Congress delega-tion led by Rahul Gandhi andparty general secretar yPriyanka Gandhi Vadra mettop officials of NationalHuman Rights Commission(NHRC) in New Delhi onMonday and demanded aprobe into alleged policeatrocities against the protest-ers in UP, Bahujan SamajParty chief Mayawati demand-ed withdrawal of cases regis-tered against those involved inprotests against the amendedcitizenship law and National

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The Budget session of UttarPradesh legislature will

commence from February 13and promises to be a stormyone.

Being the first session of2020, Governor AnandibenPatel will address a joint sittingof both the Houses of the UPlegislature on the opening day.

The session is likely tohave around 20 sittings thoughthe business advisory com-mittee will finalise the details..

The Yogi Adityanath gov-ernment is scheduled to lay thebudget proposal for coming2020-21 financial year onFebruary 17.

Sources said that for thefirst time, the Budget of UPgovernment was set to cross the�5 lakh crore-mark. The bud-get of previous fiscal was of�4.28 lakh crore.

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Register of Citizens (NRC) inthe state.

As per reports, formerCongress chief Rahul Gandhi,his sister Priyanka GandhiVadra and senior leaders of theparty met NHRC officials andhighlighted the alleged brutal-ities committed by UP Policeon agitators during anti-CAAstir.

Other leaders in the dele-gation included MohsinaKidwai, Salman Khurshid, PLPunia, Jitin Prasada, AbhishekSinghvi, Rajiv Shukla and UPCongress chief Ajay KumarLallu.

The Congress delegationdemanded a thorough probeinto the deaths during policeaction in the UP.

Earlier, Priyanka had visit-ed several families inMuzaffarnagar, Saharanpur,Meerut etc. to condole thedeaths of the near and dearones during the anti-CAA stir.

Meanwhile, Mayawatidemanded withdrawal of casesregistered by the state govern-ment against women protestingagainst the Citizenship(Amendmant) Act andNational Register of Citizens(NRC) in the state.

Women have been protest-ing in different parts of UP,including the historic ClockTower of Old Lucknow,demanding scrapping of theCitizenship (Amendmant)Actand National Register of

Citizens. In a tweet, the Bahujan

Samaj Party chief said, “Wrongcases filed against women andothers protesting againstCAA/NRC by the BJP-led UPgovernment should be imme-diately withdrawn, and thosewho lost their lives during thistime should also be extendedproper help, this is the demandof BSP.”

Around 100 women pro-testers have been booked forviolating prohibitory orders atthe Clock Tower in the statecapital.

“A case has been regis-tered against 10 women and100 unidentified women forviolating Section 144 of CrPC,while protesting at ClockTower. Besides, eight personswere arrested,” Station HouseOfficer of Thakurganj policestation, Pramod Mishra, saidon Saturday.

The dharna at Lucknow’sClock Tower is on the lines ofDelhi’s Shaheen Bagh protestagainst CAA and NRC.

The women protestershave said their stir will contin-ue until the Centre scrapsthe Citizenship (Amendmant)Act and the National Registerof Citizens.

Nearly 20 people werekilled in the state after vio-lence erupted during theprotests against theCitizenship (Amendmant) Actlast month.

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Torso of an unidentifiedyouth was found stuffed in

a plastic bag which was recov-ered near railway tracks inKakori on Saturday night.Police sent the torso to morgueand were searching for thehead, legs and arms in the for-est cover and deserted places inthe locality. A case was regis-tered against unidentified per-sons for murder and bid todestroy the evidence.

As per reports, two trackpatrolmen, Gyanendra andVinod of Kakori, spotted aplastic sack lying near railwaybridge in Amethiya localityand alerted the station master.On being informed, seniorpolice officers reached thescene to take stock of theinvestigation.

Kakori SHO GhanshyamMani Triptahi said: “Therewere no clothes on the torsowhich was recovered from thesack. The patrolmen whoinformed us about the incidentsaid they saw vapours comingout of the sack and they grewsuspicious. No blood stainswere detected around the crimescene and it suggested that the

youth was killed somewhereelse and his body dumpedthere. Apparently, the killerswanted to destroy the evidenceto hide their crime and thus, wealso booked them underSection 201 of IPC besidesmurder.” While the police wereyet to conclude the probe andreach any conclusion, sourcessaid the youth was killed out ofhatred. “The youth’s head wasdecapitated and his limbs andarms were also chopped off.The killers probably used somesharp-edged weapon ormotorised saw,” they opined.

“The possibility of honourkilling cannot be ruled out atthis stage,” they added.

A spokesman said thepolice searched the entire areaand questioned many locals to

ascertain the identity of thedeceased, but got no headway.

It is not a new task forLucknow police to investigatecases in which dismemberedbodies were found stuffed inbags. A case in point is that ofan LLB girl student ofAminabad and another of awoman of Para. The police hadrecovered the body parts of thegirl alongside Shaheed Path inPGI police station area whenYashaswi Yadav was the SSP ofLucknow. In case of Para, awoman’s limbs and arms wererecovered in Ashiyana andchopped-off torso from avacant plot in Para last year.

In Aminabad girl’s murdercase, the police had arrested ayouth of Telibagh and he haddisclosed that he used a saw to

cut the body parts after killingher at his house. The police hadalso suspected the role of herhusband but were yet to nabhim. The police had said thatvictim’s husband doubted hercharacter and used a chainsawto dismember her body anddumped the parts after stuffingthe same in two briefcases.

“The police took quitesome time to crack both thecases and also triggered a rowin the process. In theAminabad girl’s murder case,the police were accused ofpurchasing a saw from a hard-ware shop in Telibagh while incase of Para, the cops wereblamed for hastily concludingthe probe,” sources said.

They also cited a case inwhich the Madiaon police hadrecovered two sacks stuffedwith body parts of two womennear a medical college on IIMroad in 2015. “The Hardoipolice had recovered twodecapitated heads of differentwomen later from a village afew days after the recovery ofbody parts in Madiaon. But theheads did not match with thetorsos recovered in Madiaon.The case is still pending,” theypointed out.

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Aman was accused of killinghis one-month-old son by

drowning him in the bathtubat his house during a brawlwith his wife in Gosainganj onthe inter vening night ofSaturday and Sunday. The cou-ple had a love marriage butthey developed serious differ-ences in due course of time andmoved court for divorce.However, they agreed to livetogether following mediationon court’s instructions.

As per reports, BeenaPandey of Arjunganj had a

love marriage with LavleshDwivedi in 2016. On Sundaynight, Beena informed policethat Lavlesh had killed theirson by drowning him in thebathtub. “On the information,Gosainganj SHO DKUpadhyay reached the sceneand it surfaced that child wasat Ram Manohar Lohiya hos-pital. A team reached thereand came to know that theinfant had died,” theGosainganj SHO was quotedas saying by a pol icespokesman. He said the couplewere on loggerheads ever sincethey got married as Beena

accused Lavlesh of demandingdowry.

Beena alleged that Lavleshwas a greedy man and wasdemanded money from herparents off and on. “He start-ed beating me following whichI sought the help of my par-ents. Later, we lodged a case ofdowry against Lavlesh but hesucceeded in winning favourfrom policemen and I wasforced to live with him. He hadalso tried to kill our daughterin the past and I had lodged acomplaint in this regard, butno police help came my way,”she a l leged. Her father

Ramrang alleged that Lavleshdrowned the infant in thebathtub on January 25 nightand fled the house. “We rushedthe child to hospital where hewas declared brought dead.With dowry on his mind,Lavlesh wanted to marryanother woman and wanted tokill both the children he hadwith my daughter,” he alleged.

The SHO said he was yetto get a complaint in thisregard. “If we receive a com-plaint, a case will be regis-tered,” he said, adding that the infant’s body had been sentfor autopsy.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment has decided to allow

bars in big cities to remain openup to 2 am and those in five-starhotels till 4 am. The move hasbeen cheered by bar and hotelsowners who have beendemanding increase in the tim-ing for a long time. PrincipalSecretary Sanjay Bhoosreddysaid the decision, which wouldcome into effect on April 1, wasmeant for the convenience ofguests, particularly foreigners.

Liquor Sellers WelfareAssociation (LSWA) leader KLMaurya welcomed the decisionand said he hoped the govern-ment would increase the timeof business hours of the shopsalso. Licenced bars in major UPcities used to remain open upto 1 am or 3 am if they werelocated in five-star hotels. Now,hotels in small cities can alsoapply for a liquor licence.

The annual license fee toserve liquor in 50-room hotelsin the bigger cities will be Rs 10lakh from April 1. These citiesinclude Gautam Buddha Nagar

(Noida), Ghaziabad, Kanpur,Agra, Allahabad, Lucknow andVaranasi. The licence fee for cat-egory-2 cities has been fixed atRs 7.50 lakh per year. Thesecities include Bareilly, Aligarh,Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Mathura,Meerut, Moradabad,Saharanpur, Ayodhya andFirozabad. The annual fee forcategory-3 cities is now Rs 5lakh and for category-4 townsRs 2.50 lakh, it was announcedlast week. Under the new excisepolicy, shops selling beer will beallowed to sell wine also.Besides, a licence fee will becharged from to serve liquor onboard luxury trains, which wasfree earlier. The government hasalso decided to give licences toairport lounges and hotelslocated outside the airport

where airline passengers stay. To check adulteration, all

liquor bottles will have barcodes so that the consumer cancheck for spurious liquor.

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinetlast week had given nod to the2020-21 excise policy underwhich the licence fee for sellingcountry-made liquor wasincreased by 10 per cent, thelicence fee for serving beer by15 per cent and for foreignliquor by 20 per cent. KLMaurya said the governmentdid not address their demand toincrease the time of opening ofshops. He also pointed out thatthe government was yet toconsider their demand for roll-back of its decision on e-bank-ing payment for the liquor sell-ers.

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?�5�� 5��%��Lucknow (PNS): Three work-ers of Samajwadi Party (twogirls and a youth) were arrest-ed for attempting to burn theeffigy of Union Home MinisterAmit Shah during an anti-CAAprotest at Vidhan Bhawan GateNo. 2 in Hazratganj on Monday.

As per reports, the youthsreached the scene around 11.25am. They were carrying an effi-gy which they later attempted toburn. “A police team deployedthere responded quickly andnabbed three of them for vio-lating prohibitory orders besidesrioting and endangering lives of others,” a policespokesman said.

They were identified asNeeraj Yadav (23) of Madiaon,Ranjana Verma (24) ofBarabanki and ManbhawatiYadav (25) of Deoria. “They hadbeen kept at Hazratganj Kotwaliwhile police are working on thecase,” the spokesman said. Headded that 7 Criminal LawAmendment Act was alsoslapped on the trio.

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Muslim clerics MaulanaKhalid Rasheed Farangi

Mahali, Abdul Alim Farooqui,Qazi Shahar Mufti Abul IrfanFirangi Mahli, AIMPLB mem-ber Zafaryab Jilani and FazleMannan besides poet ImranPratapgarhi were among thosewho expressed solidarity withthe all-women protest againstCAA at Hussainabad ClockTower on Sunday and Monday.The protest entered its 11thday on Monday. A group of

advocates also reached the sitein support of the protesters.

The religious leadershailed the women observingdharna saying the law is biasedand will adversely affect thosewith no documents. They saidthe government used to claimprotection of women, but itsactions were opposite.

“There were reports thatthe district administrationsnapped electric supply to theprotest venue and police alsosnatched blankets and food-stuff being provided to the

women braving the chillyweather,” they pointed out.They said the governmentshould ensure that thereshould be no discriminationagainst anyone. GeraldMathais, leader of theChristian community, alsoreached the protest site.

“We are ready to face eventhe tortuous measures by thegovernment. More women arejoining us each with each pass-ing day and our supportersfrom different communitiesare increasing,” a women said.

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Aretired constable sufferingfrom a chronic disease

ended his life by setting him-self ablaze at his house inMadiaon on Monday evening.Though police did not recov-er any suicide note, theyclaimed that the retired con-stable ended his life, as per lat-ter’s family.

Reports said Chandra PalSingh (62) of Madiaon was ina store room where woodswere kept. “At the time of inci-dent, only his wife was presentin the house. Before any helpcould reach, Singh had sufferedgrievous burns. Neighbourscontained the fire by sprinklingwater and the charred body wasrecovered from the store room,”the Madiaon SHO said.

He said Singh had takenVRS in 2011 as he was suffer-ing from several diseases, someof which chronic in nature.“His family told us that he wasunder depression due to his ill-ness,” the family of the retiredconstable was quoted as sayingby the SHO. Singh’s elder son,along with his wife and chil-dren, lives in Barabanki whileyounger son is deployed atDial 112.

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Author Yogesh Praveen,whose phone has not

stopped ringing since PadmaShri awards were announced onthe occasion of Republic Day,says the award has reaffirmedhis faith in the saying ‘Bhagwanke ghar der hai per andhernahi’. The 82-year-old said peo-ple asked him whether theaward came to him a little latein the day. “I am a great believ-er in old sayings and I trulybelieve waqt se pehle aur kismetse zyada kisi ko kuch nahimilta,” he quipped.

For this retired college,who has been penning storieson Awadh, getting an awardmeans the city of nawabs whichhe has highlighted through hiswritings will also be in the lime-light. “I have written morethan 24 books on Lucknow. I

collected the matter by meetingand interacting with people inthe bylanes of KashmiriMohalla and Chowk. I amhappy that my books are beingread by people across the globeand readers are of the opinionthat I have wrapped up thefables of Lucknow in such aninteresting and anecdotal man-ner that it gives a whole pictureof the city,” he said.

Praveen said one of thegreatest compliments which hehas received was from formerPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee. “I had gone to receivethe President’s medals at NewDelhi and we were invited fordinner to the Prime Minister’sresidence where Atalji told methat whenever he came toLucknow, he would alwayscarry one of my books,” herecalled. Another complimentwhich he recalled was given to

him by noted writer AmritlalNagar. “There was a functionorganised at CDRI and I had tosubmit a 30-page write-up onLucknow. I was a young manthen, but when it was readaloud after which AmritlalNagar came up to me andcomplimented me on the wayI wrote about Lucknow,” hesaid. Praveen, who has keptalive the spirit of Lucknow inhis books, said tehzeeb stillexists in the older parts ofLucknow but missing fromnew areas. “I quote anotherauthor here who said Lucknow’stehzeeb has not crossed theGomti river. The old parts ofLucknow are still brimmingwith several untold stories whilenewer parts do not carry thisfragrance at all. I know therehave been several changes in theolder parts of Lucknow but theculture and language is still alive

there. Even today, Shia Muslimscome to me, asking about oldgraves and sites,” he added. Hesaid life has been an interestingjourney for him and the learn-ings have come mostly duringthe pitfalls. “I still believe thatthe fruits of labour come whenyou walk a path with great ded-ication and without expectinganything. It is important tofocus on what you have andproceed rather than compareyourself to others. One shouldalso not waste ones time inrevenge, which does not takeyou anywhere but harms yourpositive energy” he opined.

Praveen said his next wouldbe his autobiography with talesof Lucknow. “There have beenmany people who have sug-gested that I should write myautobiography, and I think itwill have a lot of Lucknow in it,”he said.

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Lucknow (PNS): A land measur-ing 150 acres in Chak Ganjariaon Rae Bareli road will be trans-ferred to UPMRC next month tobuild a township. The decisionwas taken by LucknowDevelopment Authority Vice-

Chairman SK Dwivedi at a meet-ing held here on Monday.

UPMRC authorities weresaid to be on the lookout for aland to establish its township.The VC was reminded byUPMRC authorities soon afterhe took charge earlier thismonth. Dwivedi took the deci-sion after consultations withofficers and engineers a weekago. On Monday, he decided totransfer the land so that there isno further delay in the project.The LDA administration will begetting developmental chargesapart from the prevailing marketprice for the land. UPMRCauthorities have to pay Rs 318crore for the land and around Rs105 crore as developmentalcharges. The deal will be finalisedafter completing legal andadministrative formalities.

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With Republic Day and UP Diwasconclusion on the same day, Chief

Minister Yogi Adityanath said it was aspecial moment. He said that UttarPradesh can give a lot to the world if the23 crore population of the state workshard following their constitutional rightsresponsibly. He said when people carryout their duties, there are no clashes asthere are no vested interests. “If all thepeople work for country’s welfare, therewill be no rift. We should feel proud ofour Constitution because it makes us thebiggest democracy in the world,” theChief Minister said. Yogi said that theConstitution of India gives equal rightsand opportunity of progressing to all itspeople. “The Constitution gives us bothrights and the duties as citizens,” said theChief Minister, who felicitated sevengram pradhans under Swachh BharatMission at the programme.

Meanwhile, Ustad Yugantar Sindoorwas felicitated with ‘Begum Akhtar

Award’ at UPDiwas. Here pre s e nt sR a m p u r -S e h a s w a nGharana ashe learntmusic fromUstad NisarH u s s a i nKhan inBadaun. Heis creditedwith the tra-d i t i o n a l‘ghazal gaya-ki’ in a cur-rent modeand a palpa-ble style withthe blend of ‘khayals’ and ‘thumris’. Forthe last 40 years, he has been endeavour-ing to put on extra mile in the field ofmusic. Sindoor has been imparting histeachings to several upcoming artistes.Besides, he has been constantly working

as an established music composer.During the visit of former President DrAPJ Abdul Kalam to Lucknow in theyear 2003, a special performance wasorganised under the music direction ofSindoor.

Lucknow (PNS): IndianInstitute of Management(Lucknow) has completed thefinal placements for the 2018-20 batch of PG programme.The management institutecontinued its academic excel-lence with 100% placementfor its 443-strong batch in arecord time. The drive sawparticipation from more than140 domestic and interna-tional recruiters.

Chairman of Students’Affairs and Placement RajeshAithal said that with thisyear’s placements, IIM-L hasyet again reinforced its pres-ence among the top B-schoolsin the country, proving to bea preferred destination for

organisations. Some of thetop recruiters across differentsectors were Accenture,Amazon, American Express,Asian Paints, AT Kearney,Avendus Capital , AxisCapital, Bain & Co, Citi,Colgate Palmolive, Deloitte,Ernst & Young, Flipkart,Goldman Sachs, ICICI Bank,Investec, ITC, JDA Software,J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.,KPMG, Landmark Group,MasterCard, McKinsey &Co., Microsoft, Nestle, Ola,P&G, PwC, Reliance Jio,Royal Bank of Scotland, RPGGroup, Star India, StandardChartered Bank, TAS, TheBoston Consulting Group,and Uber.

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Lucknow (PNS): Policemen were attacked in GreaterNoida when they went to evict agitating farmers fromthe acquired land for the country’s biggest internation-al airport at Jewar on Monday. Police sources in Lucknowsaid that several policemen sustained injuries when farm-ers attacked a district administration team at Rohi vil-lage with bricks and other objects. SDM Gunja Singh,who was heading the team, was also injured in the brickbatting. The farmers had been sitting on dharna for thelast couple of days demanding higher compensation fortheir land acquired for the Jewar International airport.On Monday morning, district authorities went toremove the farmers from the dharna site and take pos-session of the land. But the irate farmers refused to budgeand attacked the cops and other officials. The agitatorsraised anti-government slogans and even ransacked vehi-cles of the police and district administration. A heavypolice force and officials were later deployed in the areato persuade the protesters to called off their stir and letthe authorities acquire the land.

��Balwinder Kumar’s book titled ‘Redesign

Your Life in Modern Age’ was released atUniversal Booksellers on Monday. Kumar isan author and spiritual seeker who has beensharing his thoughts on various aspects of life,science and spirituality. His writings are great-ly influenced not only by recent findings ofneuroscientists and medical researchers butalso by the teachings of the Buddhist tradi-tion, Vedic philosophy and inspirations ofcontemporary spiritual teachers.

��Central Drug Research Institute is

preparing skilled human resource for

healthcare research and pharma industry.In the January 2020 session of programmeinitiated at CDRI, a total of 121 candidatesregistered for PhDs in various areas.Director TK Kundu conveyed best wishesto research scholars for bright future.CDRI PhD programme coordinators SamanHabib and Sanjeev Yadav spoke about thePre-PhD course structure and other detai ls at the orientation programme.

��Lucknow University is gearing up to

make the best CBCS-based curriculum inthe country in its centennial year. Directorof IPPR said that continuing the agenda ofthe meetings which concluded on January9 and 16, a four-hour meeting regarding thedesign and implementation of CBCS in the university was presided overby Vice-Chancellor Alok Kumar Rai. Severalkey decisions were taken in the meeting.

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The young delegates of 13countries (Brazil, Canada,Costa Rica, Denmark, France,Germany, Italy, Mexico,Norway, Sweden, Thailand,USA and India) participating in

the month-long InternationalChildren’s Camp, hosted byCity Montessori School, left fortheir respective countries withthe message of ‘VasudhaivKutumbkam’.

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Republic Day was cele-brated with patriotic fer-

vour and enthusiasm in thecity. Governor AnandibenPatel took the salute of theRepublic Day parade in frontof Vidhan Bhawan in thepresence of Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath.

The parade had severalattractive displays and it wasled by Major Vatsalya Tewari.On display were 105MMLight Field Gun, 7.2 MMMachine Gun while flowerswere showered from a heli-copter. The day was also cel-ebrated at UPMRC.Managing director KumarKeshav hoisted the tricoloralong. An awareness drivewas held and JaipuriaInstitute of Managementstaged a street play atHazratganj metro station.

Meanwhile, St Xavier’sConvent School celebratedthe 71st Republic Day withzeal and fervour. Studentssaluted the tricolour andvowed to uphold the honour,integrity, diversity anduniqueness of India.

A programme was alsoorganised at KendriyaVidyalaya on the occasion.The tricolour flag was hoist-

ed by principal CBP Verma.A cultural programme wasorganised and it started witha patriotic fusion of ‘MeraNaya Hindustan’, presentedby the school choir.Swarnima of class XII andPriyanshu Dwivedi of classXI threw light on the impor-tance of Republic Day intheir speeches.

Unity PG and LawCollege also celebrated the71th Republic Day. Collegesecretary Murtaza HasnainKhan hoisted the tricolour,which was followed bysinging of the nationalanthem by students.

Republic Day was alsocelebrated with joy andenthusiasm at St Joseph

School in Rajajipuram.Students also took out prab-hat pheris.

Meanwhile, chairman ofSKD Academy SKD Singhunfurled the national flag atSKD Academy. DirectorManish Singh hoisted thetricolour at SKD Academy(UP Board & ISC Board)while deputy director NishaSingh hoisted the tricolourat Vrindavan Branch.Manish Singh told the stu-dents about the significanceof the day. He also declaredspecial schemes for admis-sion, especially for childrenof armymen. The pre - pri-mary wing was decoratedwith balloons and small flags.

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The BJP on Monday came outhard against the Congress

for questioning the award ofPadma Shri to acclaimed singerand pianist Adnan Sami.

Charging Congress withlapping up a ‘set of Muslims’who always speak against PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andIndian Constitution, the BJPlashed out at the Oppositionparty for criticizing theGovernment for awarding‘Padma’ honour to the Sami andsaid he was “highly deserving”.

Addressing a Press confer-ence here, BJP spokespersonSambit Patra said thoughCongress objection was basedon Sami’s father having servedin Pakistani air force, theCongress-led UnitedProgressive Alliance had in the

past backed and feted thesinger-musician who was invit-ed to play Piano by theCongress Government on theoccasion of 500 years of TajMahal, he said.

Patra took a dig at Congresssaying if father’s past is to cloudthe present of anybody thanCongress President SoniaGandhi would be the first vic-tim as the BJP spokespersonclaimed her father was in theservice of fascists Italian dicta-tor Mussolini and Germany’sHitler and sought to know whyshe was given Indian citizenship.

He said former HomeMinister P Chidambaram wasas recently as in 2013 support-ing that Sami be given Indiancitizenship. BJP leader pointedout that Sami, for long, has beenliving in London and not inPakistan. Everything has

changed now since BJP hashonoured the musician , he said.

Patra said Sami’s father wastreated in India and even hisbook was released by an Indian

publication as he could not doso in Pakistan, he said.

Patra asserted that Sami is“highly deserving” and wasgiven the Padma honour on

merit. He also referred to Sami’s

mother Naureen Khan’s back-ground as a resident of Jammuto target the Congress, asking if

the party does not respectMuslim women from theregion.

BJP ally and Union MinisterRam Vilas Paswan also backedthe Government’s decision toconfer Padma Shri award onSami, saying he has enhancedIndia’s stature with his talent.Hitting out at the criticism of thedecision, the Lok JanshaktiParty leader said, “After com-pleting all the formalities, he wasgranted Indian citizenship in2016. He has elevated India’sreputation and honour throughhis talent. I congratulate him onbeing honoured with PadmaShri.”

“Those who are opposingthe award to the famous singerare not aware of IndianCitizenship Law. Indian citi-zenship has no relation with reli-gion. Anyone who fulfils therequisite conditions of the citi-zenship act can become IndianCitizen,” Paswan said.

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Despite floods in 15 Statesand erratic rainfall, India

will witness a record produc-tion of onion, tomato, potatoand other vegetables and fruitsthis year which may bringrelief to consumers from highprices seen in the last fewmonths. Onion production isexpected to increase by sevenper cent to 24.45 million tonnes in the current 2019-20crop year.

Besides onion, productionof potato — another importantkitchen staple — is estimated torise to 51.94 million tonnethis year from 50.19 milliontonne last year, while tomatoproduction is also peggedslightly higher at 19.32 milliontonne as against 19 milliontonne last year.

Releasing its first forecast,the Agriculture Ministry pro-jected that vegetables produc-tion, is projected to be higherby 2.64 per cent than the yearbefore, thanks to increase inoutput of onions, potatoes andtomatoes.

The overall production ofvegetables is estimated to behigher at 188 million tonne in2019-20 crop year from 183million tonne in the previous

year while the total fruits pro-duction is pegged lower at95.74 million tonnes in 2019-20 crop year as against 97.9million tonnes in the previous year.

According to the ministry’sprojection, onion crops hasbeen grown in 12.93 lakhhectare in the 2019-20 cropyear (July-June), slightly high-er than 12.20 lakh hectare

achieved during the previousyear. Consequently, produc-tion of onion — the key kitchenstaple — is estimated toincrease to 24.45 million tonnethis year from 22.81 milliontonnes in the 2018-19 cropyear. Onion is grown duringboth kharif (summer) and rabi(winter) season. The prices ofonion has increased this yeardue to shortfall of 22 per cent

in kharif onion crop due to latemonsoon rains and later excessrainfall, which led to supplyconstraint and sharp rise inprices.

The Government wasforced to import onion in a bidto contain prices, which havecooled down now to �60/kgfrom the peak of �160/kg in lastfew months. The Ministry hasprojected marginal drop in

production of beans, parwal,pumpkin and tapioca this year.

In 2019-20, fruits produc-tion is expected to be lower by2.27 per cent in 2019-20 over2018-19. It is mainly due to lossin production of grapes,banana, mango, citrus, papayaand pomegranate. Amongmajor fruits, production ofapple is expected to be higherat 2.73 million tonne this year

compared with the final outputof 2.31 million tonne last year.

Production of mango isestimated to decline slightly to21.28 million tonne this yearfrom 21.37 million tonnes lastyear, while that of banana out-put may slip to 29.64 milliontonnes from 30.46 milliontonne and grapes output isexpected to decline to 2.15 mil-lion tonne from 3 milliontonne in the said period.

As per the projection,Pomegranate production isalso estimated to fall to 2.32million tonne this year from2.91 million tonne last year.Spices production is estimatedto drop to 9.37 million tonnefrom 9.42 million tonne, whilethat of flowers output to 2.87million tonne from 2.91 milliontonne in the said period.

Honey production ispegged at 1,20,000 tonne sameat the last year’s level, while pro-duction of plantation cropslike coconut, cashewnut is pro-jected to increase marginally to16.4 million tonne from 16.3million tonne.

However, total productionof horticulture crops is esti-mated at 313.35 million tonnein 2019-20, up from actual out-put of 310.74 million tonne in2018-19.

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Raising the pitch of contro-versy surrounding the anti-

citizenship law protest, UnionMinister and BJP leader RaviShankar Prasad on Mondayalleged that Delhi’s ShaheenBagh protest is emerging as “atextbook case of a few hundredpeople trying to suppress thesilent majority”.

The Minister claimed thatthose trying to fragment Indiaare getting cover at ShaheenBagh protest where the tri-colours are being waived.

“It is offering platform to

‘tukde tukde gang’ elementsunder the garb of opposition tothe Citizenship (Amendment)Act. This protest is not just aprotest against CAA it is aprotest against Modi,” Prasadsaid in a press conference.

“Lakhs of people are dis-tressed because they can not goto office, shops are shut andtheir children are not able to goto school due to road block by Shaheen Bagh protesters,” he said.

Prasad’s comment hascome close to EnforcementDirectorate investigating thealleged diversion of money

and transaction of money inlight of anti-CAA protestsacross the country.

CAA has become a corecampaign issue between thechallenger BJP and the ruling

AAP and the Congress, another party in the Delhielection fray.

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Adelegation of Congressleaders, led by Rahul

Gandhi and Priyanka GandhiVadra, met senior officials ofthe National Human RightsCommission (NHRC) andsought action against allegedpolice atrocities on anti-Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) protesters in UttarPradesh. The Congress allegedvictims have been madeaccused in case-related FIRsand no police officer has beennamed in any of the cases.

In its 31-page memoran-dum to the NHRC that includevideos uploaded by witnesses,ground reports and other“unbiased” media reports showpolice firing and mercilesslybeating of the protesters andphotographs as “evidence”, theCongress has alleged that theBJP Government in the state“treats its own citizens likecriminals” and demanded athorough probe into the deathsthat took place in the State dur-ing violent protests against the CAA.

After the meeting, RahulGandhi alleged the UPGovernment has “gone to waragainst its own people” andurged the NHRC to act deci-sively to protect the“Constitutional rights of ourcitizens”.

“A delegation of Congressleaders presented the NHRCwith evidence of the atrocitiesagainst the citizens of UP by theState Govt., which has gone towar against its own people. TheNHRC must act decisively toprotect the idea of India & theConstitutional rights of our cit-izens,” Rahul said in a tweet.

According to the memo-randum, given the role of a

reckless State Government thatviews the law and constitutionas mere inconveniences, treatsits own citizens like criminalsand wears its hostility towardsordinary citizens as a badge ofpride, the duty of institutionssuch as the NHRC to act aschecks and balances and toembody and protect the valuesenshrined in the Constitutionof India becomes paramount.

It further said the NHRChas a “glorious history” ofaddressing injustices when allother institutions have fallenshort. “We hope and expectthat this instance will not be anexception to that legacy.” Afterthe meeting, Congress leaderAbhishek Singhvi stated thatthere has been gross humanrights violations. We have sub-mitted videos and photos to theNHRC in UP.

Singhvi said the Congresshas given detailed facts includ-ing on “deaths of 23” peopleand also details on how theywere killed “as some were shotin the chest”.

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Terming the “present security sce-nario and law & order” in the

national Capital as “quite critical” dueto the ongoing protests against theCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA),the Delhi Police has sought from theElection Commission an additionaldeployment of 30 companies of CentralArmed Police Forces (CAPF) for theconduct of the impending Assemblypolls here, as withdrawing the para-military already deployed for essentialduties was “not feasible”. Presently, overa dozen of protests are going on againstthe CAA in various parts of the Capital.

In a letter to the EC, SpecialCommissioner of Police (Intelligence)Praveer Ranjan said, “The presentsecurity scenario and law & order isquite critical than was expected to beduring electioneering process of theforthcoming Delhi Assembly 2020 aslarge number of protests and at timeseven violent in various parts of thenational Capital are going for more thana month now over CAA.

“Further, being capital city and alsoelection is to happen shortly, this maycontinue for longer time. It is request-ed that 30 companies of CAPF may beprovided through direct inductionimmediately instead of in situ as it wouldnot be feasible to withdraw these 30

companies from important essentialduties like maintaining law & order ,security for VBIPs, vital installations,banks in Delhi as it may adversely affectthe security and law and order scenario.”

The CAA has triggered a nation-wide debate on whether the law violatesthe country’s secular nature by exclud-ing a particular religious group from itsambit, as has the iron-fisted approachadopted by police in some areas,including Delhi, to quell protests.

The law favours non-Muslimrefugees from the Muslim-majoritycountries of Afghanistan, Bangladeshand Pakistan. Sources in Delhi policesaid that heavy police deployment hasbeen made Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar,Karawal Nagar, Brijpuri, Bhajanpura,Seelampur, Jafrabad, Welcome,Mustafabad, Okhla and several parts

which have seen repeated protestsagainst the Citizenship Act.

Union Home Minister Amit Shahhas accused Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)and the Congress of pursuing vote bankpolitics and alleged that they had“instigated riots in the capital” duringthe protest against the CitizenshipAmendmend Act (CAA).

According to the EC, over 71, 000persons have been booked under thevarious sections of the Delhi Police Actwhile over 3500 booked under varioussection of the Criminal ProcedureCode after the implementation of themodel code of conduct.

The Delhi police needs 179 com-panies of CAPF/State Armed Forcewhich include 15,000 home guardsfrom Uttar Pradesh, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh and other States.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court onMonday sought response from theMaharashtra Government on a plea bygangster-turned-politician Arun Gawlichallenging the life term awarded tohim in the 2008 murder of Shiv Senacorporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar.

Jamsandekar was shot dead in hishouse on March 2, 2007 by two persons,

allegedly hired by associates ofGawli who was the then

sitting MLA.Gawli’s appeal

challenging the lastmonth verdict of theBombay High Court,

which had upheld thelife term awarded to him

by a trial court in the case,came up for hearing before a benchcomprising Justices R Banumathi andA S Bopanna.

The Bench agreed to hear theappeal and issued notice to the state.The High Court had on December 9,2019 upheld Gawli’s conviction and lifeterm awarded to him by trial courtunder various provisions of theMaharashtra Control of OrganisedCrime Act (MCOCA).

Besides Gawli, it had also upheldthe conviction and sentence imposedon several other accused in the case bythe trial court in August 2012.

New Delhi: A 5-judge Bench ofthe Supreme Court is scheduledto hear on Tuesday the Centre’splea seeking �7,844 crore asadditional fund from successorfirms of US-based UnionCarbide Corporation, nowowned by Dow Chemicals, forgiving compensation to victimsof 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy.

The Bench, comprisingJustices Arun Mishra, IndiraBanerjee, Vineet Saran, M RShah and S Ravindra Bhat, willhear the curative petition filed bythe Centre for enhanced com-pensation for the victims.

The Centre is seeking adirection to Union Carbide andother firms for �7,844 croreadditional amount over andabove the earlier settlementamount of $ 470 million for pay-ing compensation to the gastragedy victims.

Over 3,000 people had diedin the tragedy due to release ofmethyl isocyanate (MIC) gas.

The Union CarbideCorporation (UCC) gave a com-pensation of $470 million (�715crore) after the toxic gas leak

from the Union Carbide facto-ry on the intervening night ofDecember 2-3, 1984 killed over3,000 people and affected 1.02lakh more.

The survivors of the 1984tragedy have been fighting forlong for adequate compensationand proper medical treatmentfor ailments caused by thetoxic leak.

The Centre had filed thecurative petition in the apexcourt in December 2010for enhanced compensation.On June 7, 2010, a Bhopal courthad convicted seven executivesof Union Carbide India Limited(UCIL) to two years’ imprison-ment in connection with theincident.

Then UCC chairman,Warren Anderson was the primeaccused in the case but did notappear for the trial. On February1, 1992, the Bhopal CJM courthad declared him an absconder.

The courts in Bhopal hadissued non-bailable warrantsagainst Anderson twice — in1992 and 2009. Anderson diedin September, 2014.

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New Delhi: As parties acrossthe spectrum debated his con-tribution to India, Sami, whobecame an Indian citizen in2016 and on Sunday expressedhis “infinite gratitude” at beingchosen for the Governmentaward, did not mince hiswords in hitting out at his crit-ics.

The 46-year-old, who hascarved out a career in Hindifilm music as a composerand a singer, was part of anunseemly Twitter spat withCongress pokesperson JaiveerShergill and also many polit-ical discussions, ranging fromthe controversy over the

Citizenship Amendment Actto his father’s past as aPakistani Air Force pilot.Taking umbrage at Shergill’sstatement that his recognitionwas due to his sycophancy, anirate Sami said on Twitter,“Hey kid, did you get yourbrain from a ‘Clearance Sale’or from a second hand novel-ty store? Did they teach you inBerkeley that a son is to beheld accountable or penalisedfor the acts of hisparents?”Interestingly, theCongress is divided on theissue with senior leaderDigvijay Singh welcoming thehonour to Sami. PNS

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Aligarh (UP): Hundreds ofAMU students overnightblocked traffic on the mainAligarh-Moradabad Highwaydemanding release of a studentwho was held for allegedlyheckling the AMU ViceChancellor during his RepublicDay speech, a university officialsaid on Monday.

The blockade, which start-ed on Sunday evening, contin-ued till 2 am, the official said.

AMU Vice ChancellorTariq Mansoor was on Sundayheckled by a group of studentsduring his Republic Day speechhere soon after he termed as‘unfortunate’ the recent hap-penings on the campus andsaid peaceful protests will beallowed on any issue within theambit of law.

Four students identified asTahir Azmi, Rafiuddin, SudhirGulati and A Mujtaba Faraz,who were involved in the heck-ling, were handed over topolice.

In the afternoon, a group ofprotesters collected at the gateof the AMU Proctor's officedemanding the release of the

four.Three students were later

released by the police.AMU Proctor, Prof

Afifullah Khan, said three stu-dents had been released where-as Faraz was sent to jail.

As the news spread in thecampus, huge crowds of pro-testers started collecting nearthe Purani Chungi gate of theUniversity and blocked theAligarh-Moradabad Highway.

In view of the protests,exams of the AMUEngineering College were can-celled on Monday.

AMU Proctor, ProfAfifullah Khan told PTI, "Theexaminations which were to beheld at the AMU EngineeringCollege on Monday could notbe held” as a large number ofprotesters collected at the gatesof the Zakir Hussain College ofEngineering. Referring to thestudents' demand for therelease of Faraz, the Proctorsaid a group of teachers and topuniversity officials have metsenior district officials and,“We are hopeful that Faraz willbe out on bail”. PTI

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More than 1,000 companieshave so far registered for

the 11th edition of the bienni-al mega defence exhibition,DefExpo 2020, to be held atUttar Pradesh Capital Lucknowfrom February 5-9 this year. Inthe DefExpo 2018, held inChennai, 702 companies hadparticipated. Thus, it hasbecome by far the biggest everDefExpo to be held in India,Defence Ministry officials saidhere on Monday.

They also said the numberof participating foreign com-panies has also increased to165 from the previous figureof 160. The booked exhibitionspace by exhibitors forDefExpo 2020 has gone up by

60 per cent to over 42,800square metres, compared toaround 26,774 during the lastedition.

Moreover, DefenceMinisters and Service Chiefs of35 countries have confirmedtheir participation for theDefExpo. A substantial numberof Memoranda of Undertaking(MoUs) are expected to beinked during the Expo, result-ing in forging of new businesscollaborations.

The theme of the Expo is'India: The Emerging DefenceManufacturing Hub'. The aimis to bring the leading tech-nologies in the defence sectorunder one roof and provide amyriad of opportunities forthe Government, private man-ufactures and startups.

The event will cover theentire spectrum of the coun-try's aerospace, defence andsecurity interests. The 'IndiaPavilion' will exclusively show-case the jointness between thepublic and private sector,including Small and MediumEnterprises (SMEs)/Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) and innovation eco-system, which is the key to theway forward.

There will be a sizeableUttar Pradesh Pavilion at theDefExpo venue. Apart fromdisplaying industrial prowessand huge potential for theinvestors, the UP Governmentwill organise several culturalprogrammes showcasing richcultural heritage of the north-ern state.

Mangaluru: Taking on Opposition parties,Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Mondayasked them not to make the “constitution-al blunder” of passing resolutions against theCAA in state assemblies where they have amajority and advised them to not forget‘Rasthradharma’ for their ‘vipakshdharma’.

Addressing a rally, the senior BJPleader also asserted that no power can nowstop Kashmiri Pandits from returning toKashmir as he strongly defended the ModiGovernment’s decision to reorganise Jammu& Kashmir and scrap its special status underArticle 370. He also sent out a strong mes-sage to Pakistan, saying India will not touchanyone but if someone bothers it, then it isnot going to let them live in peace.

Making a strong defence of the amend-ed Citizenship Act, he said it is not a law tohurt the sentiments of any religion but togive relief to victims of religious persecu-tion in non-secular countries like Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi whohas given the slogan of ‘sabka sath, sabkavikas and sabka vishwas’ will never dis-criminate on the basis of religion, he said,adding that no harm will come to the citi-zenship of Indian Muslims.

The Opposition raises the question thatif Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis andChristians can be given citizenship, then whynot Muslims of these three countries, he said.

“Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistanare not secular States. These are theocraticStates. Islam is the religion of these three

states. India’s religion is not Hindu. India isa secular country. That is why those who fol-low Islam can not be persecuted inPakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” hesaid.

Amid decision by many states ruled byopposition parties to not implement theCAA, he said it is a central law and has tobe followed by everyone.

“Some opposition parties are passingresolutions in assemblies (where they havea majority) that their states will not imple-ment the Citizenship Amendment Act. Iwant to appeal to them not to do such things.This is a constitutional blunder. Please donot do such blunder,” he said.

Accusing the Congress of misleadingpeople on the issue, he said the party shouldnot forget its ‘rashtradharma’ (nationalduty) for the sake of its ‘vipakshdharma’

(duties as opposition party).Referring to the exodus of a large num-

ber of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley inthe late 1990s at the height of militancy,Singh said no power can now stop themfrom returning to their homes.

Singh noted that Adnan Sami, who hasbeen given Padma Shri award, was given cit-izenship when he was the home minister inthe first Modi government.

On the CAA, he said that the CongressWorking Committee in November 1947 hadpassed a resolution that refugees fromPakistan should be given citizenship. “So,why object now,” he asked.

Singh said India now stands among theworld’s strong nations and added that it willbecome a 5-trillion dollar economy by 2024.

While Modi has tried to improve rela-tions with other countries, a neighbouringcountry is not following the duty of a neigh-bour, he said in an apparent reference toPakistan Whatever promises the BJP hasmade, its government has fulfilled them, hesaid, be it repeal of the Article 370, con-struction of Ram temple or removal of thepractice of triple talaq.

“We will follow the constitutional meth-ods. No power can stop the construction ofRam Mandir now,” he said. Article 370 wassupposed to be a temporary provision, hesaid. He said Pakistan cannot dare to raiseKashmir on international forums now afterthe Article 370's nullification and assertedthat if talks happen with Pakistan, then itwill be on PoK. PTI

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Thiruvananthapuram: At least 436people, who returned to Kerala fromChina in recent days, are under obser-vation for possible exposure to thenovel coronavirus (nCoV), health offi-cials said on Monday.

Five people are still under obser-vation in isolation wards at various hos-pitals across the State, officials said,adding, all results of blood samples sentto the National Institute of Virology atPune have been found to be negativefor the virus. While three people are inhospitals at Ernakulam, one each arein Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur,officials said.

Two people, admitted earlier tohospitals in Pathanamthitta andMalappuram, have been discharged.

Health Minister KK Shylaja saidnecessary steps were being taken bycoordinating with district medicalofficers.

"We have also opened isolationwards even though we have not

received any positive cases in theState," she told the media.

Meanwhile, Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan urged Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to arrange for airlift-ing stranded Indians from coron-avirus affected Wuhan province inChina, including those from theSouthern State. Sharing the concern ofKerala, Vijayan, in a letter to Modi, saidthe ground situation in the provincehas worsened and the State had infor-mation from relatives of students fromKerala studying at various Universitiesthere that the situation there was"grave." There were also reports thatYichang area has also been affected, hesaid.

"It may be appropriate to consid-er operating a special flight to Wuhan/anearby functional airport and airlift theIndian nationals stranded there andbring them back to India," Vijayan said,days after he shot off two letters toExternal Affairs minister S Jaishankar.

Panaji: The Goa Governmenthas decided to form a special taskforce to monitor cases, if any, ofcoronavirus in the tourist State.Health Minister Vishwajit Raneon Sunday said that people arriv-ing in Goa from the virus-affect-ed regions outside India would beclosely monitored.

“I have given instructions toform a special task force to mon-itor any cases of coronavirus inGoa. All the activities, includingpeople arriving from the virus-affected regions, would be close-ly monitored and reported to theState Chief Secretary,” Rane toldreporters. The task force willwork as per the guidelines laiddown by the Union Ministry ofHealth, he added. The coron-avirus is a large family of virus-es that causes illnesses rangingfrom the common cold to respi-ratory syndromes, but the virusin China is a novel strain. PTI

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Kolkata: The medical fraternity of Kolkata got thefirst ‘corona scare’ with aThai patient succumbingto her ailments at a private south Kolkata hospi-tal in the city. She was reportedly suffering symp-toms similar to that of the dreaded Corona virus,sources said.

Sources in the Health Department whichimmediately rushed to the hospital in quest of fur-ther details said another Chinese national had beenadmitted in the isolation ward of the BeliaghataInfection Disease Hospital with similar symptoms.

The sources in the private hospital where theThai woman died later said they were cooperat-ing with the Government and would pass all thedetails about the demised patient. “We are prepar-ing to send her blood serum for examination toPune institute of virology,” said a doctor addinghowever even the Pune Institute did not have thefacility for testing Corona virus and hence the sam-ples would have to be sent to the USA for exam-ination.

“The State is on high alert and we have beenscreening people travelling in and out of India viaNepal border too,” a health official said. PNS

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Madhyanchal VidyutVitran Nigam Limited(U.P. Govt. undertak-

ing) Head Office : 4-A,Gokhale Marg, LucknowPhone : 0522-2208737,2207065 e-mail : secomm.mvvnl @gmail.com CIN :U31200UP 2003SGC027459DATE EXTENSION NOTICEThe date of Short Term Tendersubmission and Technical Bidopeining for supply of 11KV HTTVM 3P-/5A Cat-C EnergyMeters against TenderSpecification No. MEDCO/2461/2020 is being extended due tounavoidable circumstances asper details given below:- Sr. No.1 Item Description 11 KV HTTVM 3 P - /5A Cat-C EnergyMeters Tender No. MEDCO/2461/2020 Last Date & Timefor Bid Submission04.02.2020. till 13:00 hrs.Technical Bid opening Date &Time (Part-I) 05.02.2020. after15:00 hrs. Please visit websitehttps://etender.up.nic.in for fur-ther details, Corrigendum/Amendment and further up todate details before submissionand date of opening of bids. Allother terms and conditions shallremain unchanaged.Superintending Engineer(Commercial) MVVNL,Lucknow No. - 16 Dt. 27-1-20Save Electricity &use Led bulbsin place of bulbs in nationalinterest help Line No. 1800-1800-440/1912

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The Union Health Ministry onMonday said health teams havebeen deployed in areas along theborder with Nepal at Panitanki inWest Bengal and Jhulaghat andJaulj ibi in Uttarakhand’sPithoragarh.

The hospitals in the nationalcapital, AIIMS and RML Hospital,have set up isolation wards andkept beds ready to provide treat-ment to any suspected case of thenovel coronavirus infection if theneed arises.

Experts from the NationalCentre for Disease Control(NCDC) visited Dr RML Hospitalhere on Monday to inspect the iso-lation ward and review the hospi-tal’s preparedness for manage-ment and control of the nCoV2019infection.

As on 26th January, 29,707passengers from 137 flights havebeen screened for novel coro-novirus infection symptoms andno case has so far been detected inIndia.

A 24x7 NCDC call centre(+91-11-23978046) has been madeoperational to monitor the list ofcontacts furnished by the Ministryof External Affairs; provide detailsof district and state surveillanceofficers to those who seek them;and in case of any clinical query,direct the concerned to the rele-vant Integrated DiseaseSurveillance Programme (IDSP)officer. Thermal screening is beingdone at seven designated airports-- New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai,Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabadand Kochi.

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intent ion to defame thePopular Front.”

“The PFI has stated it multipletimes that we fully comply with thelaw of the land and the allegationof �120 crore transferred from thePopular Front’s accounts justbefore the CAA protests is totallybaseless,” the PFI said in a state-ment.

The dubious deposits wereeither made in cash or through theimmediate payment ser vice(IMPS) and a number of suchinstances were seen in Uttar

Pradesh, where the maximumnumber of violent anti-CAAprotests were reported to havetaken place, sources said, addingthe withdrawal of money from thebank accounts linked to PFI andits related entities had a “directcorrelation” with the violentdemonstrations against the CAA.

It is suspected that these fundswere allegedly used by the PFIaffiliates to fuel the anti-CAAprotests in various parts of UttarPradesh and other locations, thesources said.

Claiming the allegations lev-elled against it were unfounded,the PFI said, “We are confidentthat the fate of this series of alle-gations will also be like the onesbefore, which could never beproved.” There were instances ofabout 80-90 money withdrawalsfrom one bank account in a dayduring the stated period. The EDhad also shared these findings withthe Union Home Ministry’s inter-nal security division after the lat-ter sought a report on funding ofprotests.

Earlier, the Uttar Pradeshpolice had sought a ban on the PFIafter its alleged complicity wassuspected in the Statewide violentprotests against CAA. Nearly 20people had died during theseprotests. The ED probe had furtherrevealed that the funds depositedin banks were also routed fromforeign shores and sent to theaccounts of certain investmentfirms.

A National Invest igationAgency FIR and chargesheetagainst the PFI formed the basisfor the ED to file the PMLA caseagainst the organisation.

The PFI statement furthersaid, “PFI strongly condemns thenews reports that are published invarious news channels regardingPopular Front’s financial link toinstigate the CAA protest. Firstly,the news channels have attributedthe report to EnforcementDirectorate through some‘unnamed sources’ but the EDhas not contacted our organisationor issued nay such official state-ment regarding the allegations.”

Union Law Minister RaviShankar Prasad said, “Lawenforcement agencies are doingtheir job, I need not make anycomment. But if there is suspiciousnature of transaction on a partic-ular day then obviously it raises

serious apprehensions and proteststhat are organised don’t look vol-untary.”

��0��2*-5�5"�The top court had then made it

clear that it would deal separatelywith the issues of polygamy andnikah halala at a later stage. TheAIMPLB plea on Monday said theapex court has already dealt with theissue of these practices in its verdictof 1997 in which it had declined toentertain the petitions.

“That personal laws do notderive their validity on the groundthat they have been passed or madeby a legislature or by other compe-tent authority. The fundamentalsource of personal laws are theirrespective scriptural texts,” the AIM-PLB plea said.

“The Mohammedan law isfounded essentially on the holyQuran and the Hadith of the ProphetMohammed and thus it can’t fallwithin purview of expression ‘lawsin force’ as mentioned in Article 13of the Constitution and hence itsvalidity cannot be tested,” it said.

The plea of Personal Law Boardsaid that Article 44 of theConstitution stipulates that the Stateshall endeavour to secure for the cit-izens a uniform civil code through-out the territory of India. “It is sub-mitted that Article 44, which envis-ages a Uniform Civil Code is only adirective principle of state policy andis not enforceable,” it said.

The Article recognises the exis-tence of different code applicable todifferent religions in matters of per-sonal law and permits their contin-uance until the state succeeds in itsendeavour to secure for all citizensa Uniform Civil Code (UCC), it said.

“That these very same practiceswere challenged in 1997 verdict inAhmedabad Women Action Groupversus Union of India, in which thiscourt had itself declined to entertainthe matters by taking the view thatthese issues were to be dealt with bythe legislature and not judiciary,” itsaid, adding that rights of MuslimWomen are already protected byvirtue of Muslim Women(Protection of Rights on Divorce)Act of 1986.

Questioning the locus standi ofBJP leader and advocate AshwiniKumar Upadhaya for filing a PILchallenging polygamy and “nikahhalala” practices, the AIMPLB saidthat it is of the view that ordinarily,

any person other than a member ofa religious denomination shouldnot be allowed to question the faithof another religious denomination.

“A member of a religiousdenomination belonging to thatfaith, in the event of any violation oftheir fundamental rights, only to theextent of a threat to life and liberty,may be permitted to seek the pro-tection of the court and determinethe issues of faith arising therefrom,”the petition said.

In March 2018, the apex courthad issued notices to Ministries ofLaw and Justice and Minority Affairsas well as the National Commissionof Women (NCW) after taking noteof the plea of Delhi-based womanNafisa Khan challenging the twopractices, and said the issues raisedin a batch of petitions, including byUpadhaya, will be taken up by a 5-judge Constitution bench.

The apex court had also con-sidered the submission that an ear-lier 5-judge Constitution bench, inits 2017 verdict, had kept openthese issues while quashing tripletalaq.

On March 14, 2018 Khan hadmoved the apex court saying that byvirtue of Muslim Personal Law, sec-tion 494 of IPC (marrying again dur-ing lifetime of husband or wife) wasrendered inapplicable to this com-munity and no married Muslimwoman has the avenue of filing acomplaint against her husband forthe offence of bigamy.

She sought that Dissolution ofMuslim Marriages Act, 1939 bedeclared unconstitutional and viola-tive of Articles 14, 15, 21 and 25(freedom of conscience and free pro-fession, practice and propagation ofreligion) of the Constitution in so faras it fails to secure for Indian Muslimwomen the protection from bigamywhich has been statutorily securedfor women in India belonging toother religions.

The petitioner, who herselfclaimed to be a victim of such prac-tices, had alleged that her husbandand his family used to torture her fordowry and she was ousted from thematrimonial home twice. She hadalso alleged that her husband hadmarried another woman withouttaking any legal divorce from her andthe police had refused to lodge FIRunder section 494 and 498A (hus-band or relative of husband of awoman subjecting her to cruelty) ofthe IPC stating that polygamy waspermitted under the Sharia.

The top court had also allowedMuslim Women ResistanceCommittee, Kolkata to file an appli-cation for impleadment as a party inthe hearing.

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She said, “The label of doubtfulcitizens, detention centers... is unac-ceptable. The way things are, it wasbetter not to have been born. Today,people are scared that they may haveto leave this country. They are queu-ing up for all kinds of cards.”

Calling upon the oppositionparties to sink their narrow differ-ences and put up a united resistanceagainst the “divisive policies of theBJP,” Mamata said, “though I am forTagore’s ‘ekla chalo’ policy and readyto walk alone, I appeal to all the par-ties that this is not the time to fightamong them… It is the time to sinkdifferences and unite against the big-ger danger… you will gave moreoccasions to fight against me but thisis the time all of us should unite toput up a joint fight.”

Banerjee’s campaign againstCAA and NRC has been punctuat-ed by her disagreements with theLeft and Congress as the two partieshave repeatedly expressed theirdoubts over the sincerity of her anti-BJP-anti-CAA stance.

Despite the Left and theCongress backed the Monday’smotion grudgingly they accusedthe ruling Trinamool Congress oftoning down the language of thedraft. “We voted for the resolutionthough and did not press for theamendment …” Left LegislatureParty leader Sujan Chakrabarty saidadding the language of the draft wasunusually soft.

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After the agreement, NDFB fac-tions will leave the path of violence,surrender their weapons and disbandtheir armed organisations within amonth of signing the deal,” he said.

Assam Chief Minister HimantaBiswa Sarma said after the accorddifferent communities in the Statewill be able to live with harmony andit will lay the foundation of a bright

future, fulfilling aspirations of thepeople.

Sarma said as per the accord,1,550 militants belonging to theNDFB lay down their arms onJanuary 30, an economic programmeof ��1,500 crore will be implement-ed in the next three years with equalcontribution of �� 750 crore eachfrom the central and state govern-ments.

Around 1,550 cadres ofNDFB(P), NDFB(RD) and NDFB(S)will be rehabilitated by the centraland state governments.

Sarma said the existing structureof the Bodoland Territorial Council(BTC) will be strengthened withmore powers and its seats will beexpanded from 40 to 60, he said. Acommission will be set up for inclu-sion of Bodo-dominated villages inthe BTC and exclusion of thosewhere Bodos are not in majority.

This was the third Bodo accordto be signed in 27 years. The firstaccord was signed with the AllBodo Students’ Union in 1993, lead-ing to the creation of a BodolandAutonomous Council with limitedpolitical powers.

In 2003, the second accord wassigned with the militant group BodoLiberation Tigers, leading to for-mation of a Bodoland TerritorialCouncil (BTC) with four districts ofAssam — Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baskaand Udalguri — called BodolandTerritorial Area District (BTAD).

As per Monday’s accord, thename of BTAD will be changed toBodoland Territorial Region (BTR)and it will have more executive,administrative, legislative and finan-cial powers. The BTC currently hascontrol over 30 subjects such as edu-cation, forests, horticulture but nojurisdiction over the police, revenueand general administration depart-ments, which are controlled by theAssam government.

The BTC was formed under the6th Schedule of the Constitution.The Assam Government will soonnotify Bodo language as inDevanagari script as an associateofficial language of the State.

The State Government will give��5 lakh each to the next of kin ofthose who lost their lives during theagitation for a separate state, crim-inal cases with non-heinous chargesagainst NDFB members will bewithdrawn while heinous cases willbe reviewed case-to-case basis as perthe existing rules, according to thepact.

3('4 ��+� 5�� /��T h i r u v a n a n t h a p u r a m :Observing that the situation incoronavirus affected Wuhanprovince in China was worsen-ing, Kerala Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan Monday urged Prime Minister NarendraModi to arrange for airlifting stranded Indians,including those from the south-ern state.

Sharing the concern ofKerala, Vijayan, in a letter toModi, said the ground situationin Wuhan has worsened and thestate had information from rel-atives of students from Keralastudying at various Universitiesin Wuhan that the situationthere was ‘grave’.

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New Delhi: In an effort to reviveholy river Ganga, a group of cit-izens including veterans havecome together and prepared ablueprint of a movement inthis regard through a walknamed ‘Mundaman GangaParikrama.’

The group, under the aegisof Atulya Ganga, has written aletter to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in this regard

seeking an appointment. Theywill also meet Union MinisterNitin Gadkari. The proposedwalk or ‘parikrama’ envisagescircumnavigation of river Gangafrom Haridwar-Gomukh toGangasagar and then back toHaridwar, organisers of the walksaid here on Monday.

They are planning to visittwo lakh schools situated on theGanga’s banks and organise over

200 public meetings during the‘parikrama,’ expected to com-mence in August this year, tomotivate the villagers to take theresponsibility towards Gangaand its revival — and in turnsave their own future. Along theroute, they will map the river onpollution levels and a finalreport will be submitted to thePrime Minister’s office and con-cerned Ministry once the

‘parikrama’ ends. This data willbe an available year on year —at the same place — so thateveryone can check the improve-ments made — and in turn to fixthe accountability ofresourcesbeing spent by various stake-holders of the project. The teamis calling on people across theriver belt, the whole of India andthe world at large — to partici-pate in the walk. PNS

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Against the backdrop of theEuropean parliament set to

debate and vote on a motionagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA), VicePresident M Venkaiah Naidu onMonday asserted there is noscope for outside interference inIndia’s internal matters. Healso expressed concern over thetrend of foreign bodies inter-fering in matters that are ‘com-pletely within the purview of theIndian parliament andGovernment’.

Senior BJP leader andUnion Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad also questioned theobjectivity of European UnionParliament members who havebacked resolutions against theCAA, asking if they ever raisedtheir voices over ‘victimisation’of minority Hindus and Sikhs inPakistan.

“The Government of Indiahas already explained that it (theCAA)is our internal matter. Webelieve in engagement. Lots ofLeft Parties there have soughtthis resolution and our ExternalAffairs Minister will engagewith them and explain our posi-

tion,” Prasad told a press con-ference at the Delhi BJP office.

Asked about the upcomingEU Parliament’s debate, Prasadasked a counter question, “Havemy esteemed friends of EUParliament sought to raise avoice over victimisation ofHindu girls or a Sikh Granthi’sdaughter in Pakistan? It is hightime they also need to be objec-tive.”

Naidu’s remarks at a booklaunch event here came a dayafter reports indicated that atotal of six resolutions havebeen tabled by groups within theEuropean Union (EU), includ-ing the Group of the ProgressiveAlliance of Socialists andDemocrats in the EuropeanParliament (S&D), Group ofthe European People’s Party(Christian Democrats) (PPE),Group of the Greens/EuropeanFree Alliance (Verts/ALE),European Conservatives andReformists Group (ECR),Renew Europe Group (Renew)and European UnitedLeft/Nordic Green Left(GUE/NGL) Group.

Though there was no offi-cial statement from the Ministryof External Affairs on the issue,

Government sources on Sundayhad said the EU Parliamentshould not take any action ques-tioning the rights and authori-ty of democratically elected leg-islatures, government sources.This came ahead of a debate onthe clutch of resolutions againstthe CAA by the powerful blocof 28 nations. The resolutionswill be debated on Wednesdayin the European Parliament inBrussels. Voting will take placethe next day. Expressing concernover this, Naidu said there is noscope for outside interference inIndia’s internal matters. Makingthese observations, he alsolamented the trend of foreignbodies interfering in matters thatare “completely within thepurview of the IndianParliament and the IndianGovernment.”

He said such efforts weretotally uncalled for and unwar-ranted and expressed hope thatthey would refrain from makingsuch statements in future.

Addressing the gatheringafter releasing the book ‘TRG-An Enigma’ in New Delhi today,Naidu said as a mature repub-lic and democratic polity, Indiacapable of addressing the con-

cerns of its citizens and needs noadvice or guidance in such mat-ters from others. Asserting thatour polity and democracy pro-vided enough space for express-ing differences and dissentwhenever warranted, the VicePresident said whenever basic

and fundamental rights of citi-zens came under threat, citizensrose in unison and defendedthem, as was seen against emer-gency. “As a result, we haveemerged as the most vibrantdemocracy in the world”, headded.

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France, a founding memberof the European Union,

considers the new citizenshiplaw an internal political mat-ter of India, French diplomat-ic sources said here onMonday. The assertion cameafter six resolutions weremoved against the CAA.Making France’s position clear,sources said the CAA is India’sinternal political matter and ithas been stated on severaloccasions.

They said the EuropeanParliament is an institutionindependent of member statesand the European

Commission. There has beenno reaction from the Ministryof External Affairs on the res-olutions against the CAA inEuropean Parliament. Officialsources, however, maintainedthat the CAA was an entirelyinternal matter of India andthat the legislation was adopt-ed through democratic meansafter a debate in both housesof Parliament. “Every societythat fashions a pathway to nat-uralisation contemplates botha context and criteria. This isnot discrimination,” a gov-ernment source said, explain-ing why India is opposed tothe resolutions at the EU par-liament.

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The Bombay High Courtwill now hold a final hear-

ing from February 25 on theappeals challenging the deathsentence handed out to all thethree accused in the much-dis-cussed case involving the ghast-ly rape and murder of a minorMaratha girl in Kopardi villageof Maharashtra’s Ahmednagardistrict in November 2017.

This follows the orderpassed by Chief Justice of theBombay High Court PradeepNandrajog transferring theappeals challenging the pun-ishment meted out to theaccused by the trial court in theKopardi rape and murder casefrom the Aurangbad bench ofthe high court to the principalseat in Mumbai.

Acting on a writ petitionfiled by the petitioners seekingtransfer of the case fromAurangabad bench to the prin-cipal High court in Mumbai,the chief justice transferredthe Bombay High Court andscheduled the hearing of the“appeals challenging the trialcourt’s judgement and sen-tence confirmation in the case”from February 25.

The petitioner had amongother things cited that “due tothe political limelight the case

has got and the past history ofthreats to the accused andconsequently to the lawyers, thePetitioners have not been ableto arrange a counsel of theirchoice to argue their case in theAurangabad Bench of theBombay High Court”.

In a writ petition chal-lenging the trial court’s orderhanding out death sentence toher client Santosh GorakhBhaval, one of the three personsconvicted and sentenced todeath in the case, AdvocateVijayalaxmi B Khopade statedthat the sessions court hadcommitted a “gross error’ byhastily delivering the judg-ment and that the trial courthad awarded capital punish-ment to the applicant consid-ering that the case fell underthe ambit of “rarest of rare”principle.

Advocate Vijayalaxmi alsostated that the trial court’sorder entailed “gross miscar-riage of justice and a miscar-riage of justice which mayarise from the conviction of aninnocent and that the trial hadsubstituted, in patent error,cogent evidence with strongsuspicion and based its rea-soning on assumptions whiledelivering the judgment.

It may be recalled that onNovember 29, 2017, a fast-

track set up under theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POSCO) Acthad handed out death sentenceto all the three convicts in thecase. District Sessions Judge(Mrs) Suvarna Keole hadawarded capital punishment toall the three convicts in the case— Jitendra alias Pappu BabulalShinde (26), Santosh GorkhaBhawal (30) and NitinGopinath Bhailume (28).

A 15-year-old victim girl,who belonged to the dominantMaratha community, was bru-tally raped between 7.35 pmand 8.15 pm July 13, 2016 andlater throttled to death. The vic-tim girl was on her way to bringspice from her grandfatherhouse at that time.

All the three accused in thecase are Dalits. The incident, itmay be recalled, had sparkedwidespread protests in the state,with various political partiesand Maratha organisationsrooting for capital punishmentto the accused.

The 11-month-long trial inAhmednagar minor girl rapeand murder case had generat-ed considerable interest amongthe people across the state.

The fast-track court had onNovember 9 2016 framedcharges against three accused --- Jitendra Shinde, SantoshBhawal and Nitin Bhailume --

under various sections ofPOSCO Act and IPC forallegedly perpetrating a sexu-al assault on the victim girl andstrangulating her.

The Prosecution’s case wasthat the prime accused JitendraShinde allegedly raped andmurdered the girl, while twoother accused Bhawal andBhailume had “conspired” withShinde in the heinous crime.

During the trial whichbegan on December 20, 2016,the Prosecution examined 31witnesses, while defence lawyerdefence lawyer VijayalaxmiKhopade – representing one ofthe three accused Bhawal in thecase – examined onewitness.

There were no eyewitness-es in the case and that the entirecase was based on “circum-stantial evidence”, omissionsand commissions made by theaccused and forensic evidence”.

Nikam, it may be recalled,had -- during his final argu-ments in the case --adduced 24pieces of circumstantial evi-dence built up the chain ofevents leading to the rape of the“homicidal death” of the victimgirl who was studying in theninth standard.

According to Nikam, themedical evidence helped theProsecution nail the primeaccused in the case.

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The Andhra PradeshCabinet passed a resolu-

tion on Monday setting inmotion the process for abol-ishing the state LegislativeCouncil. A similar resolutionwill now be adopted in theLegislative Assembly and sentto the Centre for necessaryfollow-up action. With justnine members, the ruling YSRCongress is in minority in the58-member Legislat iveCouncil. The oppositionTelugu Desam Party (TDP)has an upper hand with 28members and ruling partycould get a majority in theHouse only in 2021 when anumber of opposition mem-bers will retire at the end oftheir six-year term.

The move by the AndhraPradesh cabinet came after theYS Jaganmohan Reddy gov-ernment last week failed topass in the Upper House ofthe state legislature two cru-cial Bills related to its plan ofhaving three capitals for thestate.

Andhra PradeshLegislative Council ChairmanMA Sharrif on January 22referred to a select committeethe two bi l ls — APDecentralisation and InclusiveDevelopment of All RegionsBill, 2020, and the AP CapitalRegion DevelopmentAuthority (CRDA) Act(Repeal) Bill — for deeperexamination. The chairmanhad said that he was using hisdiscretionary powers underRule 154 while referring theBills to the select panel in linewith the demand of the TDP.Following this, the chief min-ister had told the Assembly,“We need to seriously thinkwhether we need to have sucha House which appears to befunctioning with only politi-cal motives. It is not manda-tory to have the Council,which is our own creation,and it is only for our conve-nience.” “So let us discuss theissue further on Monday andtake a decision on whether ornot to continue the Council,”he had said.

In fact, the YSRC had on

December 17 first threatenedto abolish the Council when itbecame clear that the TDPwas bent on blocking twoBills related to creation of aseparate Commission for SCsand conversion of all govern-ment schools into Englishmedium.

As the Legislature wasadjourned sine dine onDecember 17, no furtheraction was taken. But lastweek, the issue cropped upagain as the TDP remainedfirm on its stand on opposingthe three-capitals plan.

The YSRC managed toget two TDP members to itsside, but the governmentfailed to get the three capitalsBills passed in the Council.

“What will be the mean-ing of governance if the Houseof Elders does not allow gooddecisions to be taken in theinterest of people and blockenactment of laws? We needto seriously think about it…Whether we should have sucha House or do away with it,”the chief minister had said inthe Assembly.

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The Centre has stepped upvigil in districts bordering

Nepal in view of a confirmedcase of novel coronavirusdetected there. The UnionHealth Ministry on Mondaysaid health teams have beendeployed in areas along theborder with Nepal at Panitankiin West Bengal and Jhulaghatand Jauljibi in Uttarakhand’sPithoragarh.

“Subsequent to confirmed#coronarvirus case in #Nepal,vigil strengthened at Panitanki(West Benal) entry point fromNepal,” the Health Ministrysaid in a tweet on Monday. “Inresponse to confirmed case of#nCoV2019 in #Nepal, Indiahas stepped up vigil in districtsbordering Nepal. Health Teamsdeployed at BOP with Nepal atJhulaghat and Jauljibi, DistPithoragarh, #Uttarakhand,” ithad tweeted on Sunday.

Central government hos-pitals in the national capital,AIIMS and RML Hospital,have set up isolation wards andkept beds ready to providetreatment to any suspectedcase of the novel coronavirusinfection if the need arises.Experts from the NationalCentre for Disease Control(NCDC) visited Dr RMLHospital here on Monday toinspect the isolation ward andreview the hospital’s pre-paredness for managementand control of the nCoV2019infection. “A team led by DrSujeet Singh who is director ofNCDC visited Dr RML hospi-tal to review preparedness formanagement of nCoV2019.They inspected the isolationwards, reviewed biohazard dis-posals protocols, assessedavailability of PPE marks,” theUnion Health Ministry tweeted.

As on 26th January, 29,707passengers from 137 flightshave been screened for novelcoronovirus infection symp-toms and no case has so farbeen detected in India. Over100 people have been keptunder observation in Keralaand Maharashtra followingscreening for a possible expo-sure to the novel coronavirusas the Prime Minister’s Officeon Saturday reviewed India’spreparedness to deal with anysituation amid mounting glob-al concern over rising cases inChina. Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan on Saturdaysaid samples of seven passen-gers have been sent to theICMR-NIV Pune lab.

“Secretary (HFW) reviewedpreparedness of agencies & hos-pitals in terms of orientation ofhealth dept and other agencies;adherence of various prevention& managt protocols; awareness

reg #ncov2020; self reporting;isolation wards; protective gearetc. She assured all support,” theHealth Ministry tweeted.

One person each fromThrissur, Thiruvanantha-puram,Pathanamthitta andMalappuram and three fromErnakulam are in isolationwards of various health centresin the state. A 24x7 NCDC callcentre (+91-11-23978046) hasbeen made operational to mon-itor the list of contacts fur-nished by the Ministry ofExternal Affairs; provide detailsof district and state surveillanceofficers to those who seek them;and in case of any clinical query,direct the concerned to the rel-evant Integrated DiseaseSurveillance Programme (IDSP)officer. Thermal screening isbeing done at seven designatedairports — New Delhi, Kolkata,Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru,Hyderabad and Kochi.

Continued opposition to theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA), which was passed byParliament last month, and tothe preparation of the National

Population Register (NPR) by several StateGovernments, who stand opposed to theruling dispensation, and their threateningpostures towards the Union Governmentdo not augur well either for the Republicor our Constitutional well-being.

The CAA, which has now become thelaw of the land, has amended theCitizenship Act of 1955 to provide succourto Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsisand Christians, who because of religiouspersecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh, crossed over to India beforeDecember 31, 2014, and are living herewithout any legal status. These nations areIslamic States, meaning Islam is the Statereligion over there.

Thus, automatically, unlike in India,adherents of all religions other than Islam aresecond or third-class citizens. Therefore, allnon-Muslims are Constitutionally inferior andthis has conditioned the majority to ill-treatthe religious minorities in these nations. Eversince Partition, the Hindus and other minori-ties have been subjected to all forms of harass-ment and cruelty in these nations, forcingthem to either convert to Islam or flee.

As a result, the population of Hindus inundivided Pakistan, which was around 24per cent in the mid-1940s, has crashed to just1.70 per cent. Similarly, in Bangladesh, whichwas earlier East Pakistan, the Hindu popu-lation has crashed from 30 per cent to aboutseven per cent. This should also answer thequestion as to why Muslims have been leftout of the list of persecuted minorities underthe CAA. First, they are not “minorities” andsecond, it is laughable to say that Muslimsare “persecuted” by an Islamic State. TheCAA seeks to offer some help to these sub-jugated minorities and to only those whoentered India before the cut off date. In otherwords, this is not an open-ended scheme toallow for future migrants from these nations.Nor does it have anything to do with the cit-izens of India, whether Hindu or Muslim.

Given this reality, the attempt made bythe Communists, the Congress and otherparties opposed to the BJP, to spread theword that the CAA is against the Muslim cit-izens of India is blatantly false. This Act seeksto provide succour to persecuted religiousminorities in Islamic States and it is also inline with the Bharatiya dharma andConstitutional dharma as well, to reach outto them. Those opposing this are abettingthe non-secular, non-democratic behaviourof the citizens of Islamic nations across India’sborder and will thereby lose the moral rightto talk about these values in the country. TheCommunists and the Congress are alsospreading canards about the NPR, the com-pilation of which is critical for policy formu-lation. Both parties were roundly rejected in

the last parliamentary election inMay 2019. In fact, although theCommunists hog 30 to 40 percent of the airtime on televisiondebates, public support for suchparties has fallen dramatically. Inthe 2004 Lok Sabha election, thetwo main Communist partieshad a combined vote share of7.07 per cent. In 2014, this wasdown to 4.07 per cent and in2019, it crashed to 2.36 per cent.

So, it appears that theJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) is their last bastion andwith the support of theCongress, the two parties seekto avenge the electoral humili-ation they suffered by whippingup passions against theGovernment that received over-whelming public support.

Meanwhile, in a resolution,the Kerala Assembly has said thatthe CAA passed by Parliamenthas created apprehensions invarious sections of society. Thiswas followed by the PunjabAssembly, which in its resolutionstated that the CAA had causedwidespread anguish and socialunrest in the country. It furthersaid that “the ideology behind theCAA is inherently discriminato-ry and is as far away as it can befrom being a humanitarian mea-sure.” The Rajasthan Assembly isthe latest one to demand repealof the CAA. These resolutions arenot unconstitutional but unprece-dented and are certain to pose athreat to the federal structure.

Even more worrying is thatthe Punjab Assembly’s resolu-

tion refers to “apprehensions”that the NPR is a prelude to theNational Register of Citizens(NRC) and that it is “designedto deprive a section of peoplefrom citizenship of India.” Itgoes on to say that because ofthese apprehensions, the UnionGovernment should amend theforms and documentation asso-ciated with the NPR.

However, Assemblies inKerala, Punjab or Rajasthannever shed tears for persecutedreligious minorities in theo-cratic States such as Pakistan,Afghanistan and Bangladesh.Further, all lectures on secular-ism are to be directed towardsthe secular, democratic citizensof India and the Governmentelected by them.

Three other developmentsin recent weeks are extremelyworrying. One, several ChiefMinisters have declared thatthey will not implement theCAA in their States. Two, the dis-graceful decision to bring kids toprotest sites and to get them toraise foul, abusive slogans againsta duly elected Prime Minister.And three, telling the Muslimsnot to respond to queries fromenumerators who are tasked toprepare the NPR.

Every Chief Minister andpolitician in the country, who hasdeclared that CAA will not beimplemented in his/her State,must immediately withdraw theirstatement because it will amountto challenging the supremacy ofthe Constitution. Parliament is

empowered to make laws regard-ing citizenship, naturalisation ofaliens under item 17 in theUnion List and no State or indi-vidual has the right to say that thelaw made by it will not be imple-mented. If Chief Ministers per-sist with this line, it will lead toa Constitutional breakdown andthe consequences will be terriblebecause the overwhelmingmajority in this country swearsby the Constitution and will notallow a few malcontents in pol-itics to disturb its rhythm and bal-ance.

Second, the decision byprotesters to bring infants toprotest sites and to get them tohurl abuses at the PrimeMinister is another act ofbrinkmanship which no reason-able person will support. Last,asking the Muslims to boycottthe NPR is equally risky becauseany attempt to stymie the work-ing of a duly electedGovernment at the federal levelwill have its own implications.

Those, who are encouragingsuch tendencies, are treading adangerous path. It is indeedunfortunate that one has to makesuch a gloomy prognosis aboutwhat lies ahead around the timewhen the nation just celebratedits 71st Republic Day. Everybodyhas to be alert to ensure that theConstitution and the democrat-ic way of life remain undis-turbed.

(The writer is an author specialising in democracy studies.Views expressed are personal.)

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Sir — As India celebrated its 71stRepublic Day, we need to pauseand introspect on the larger pic-ture than debate on transientaberrations — social, politicaland economic — to which wehave become so accustomed to.Yes, as a State, we have not slippedas have other contemporarynations who have attained inde-pendence. This, we owe to thelegacy bequeathed in our philos-ophy and culture, the tenets ofwhich run through our genes.

The Vedas and theUpanishads had delineated avibrant ethos for public and pri-vate good. Time and tide haveposed questions and we havechosen the right path many times.What is satisfying is that we striveto make amends to the wrongs.Each era is defined by a mix ofthinkers and leaders they offer.That at any given time we seem tomisplace their right proportionremains an enigma. And nonation is an exception to this. Letus nevertheless celebrate an envi-ous legacy we have inherited andpass it on to future generations.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — The Chinese have alwayshad a fascination with walls cul-minating in the “Great Wall of

China” to keep the invaders out.Soon, they realised that the wallsdo not stop things from coming in.

Now, they have put up anoth-er set of walls across a number ofcities, initially Wuhan, to prevent

the spread of coronavirus. Butagain, the walls failed.

Coronavirus has alreadyclaimed 80 lives in China and thecountry is making desperateattempts to stop its spread. But

emphasis must be on curingrather than just containing it. Themodern world moves too fast forwalls to work.

The real dilemma is to find acure to it using scientific research,including vaccinations. There’s adire need to raise funds for med-ical research. Let’s hope there is asolution and that it is found soon.

Dennis FitzgeraldMelbourne

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Sir — The coronavirus threat inChina has put millions of peoplein lockdown at a time when theyshould be celebrating the LunarNew Year. Given the way this dis-ease has been spreading, manyfear that it may become pandem-ic. Early reports suggest that thedisease may have originated inbats. China must learn fromKerala’s experience, which suc-cessfully contained the Nipahvirus outbreak in 2018 due toadequate planning and infra-structure.

Sravana RamachandranChennai

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Even as there are incessant promises from theruling establishment of electrifying all vil-lages in the country and making power

available to each and every household for max-imum duration in a day, the most crucial wheelrequired for making this happen has got stuck.And the irony is that the political brass is onlypaying lip service to the urgent need for extricat-ing it. The reference here is to the power distri-bution companies (discoms) — mostly owned andcontrolled by State Governments which procureelectricity from the independent power produc-ers (IPPs), Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) likethe National Thermal Power Corporation(NTPC), Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC)and so on, besides their own undertakings suchas Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam(RVUN) and sell to consumers. There are somediscoms in the private sector as well but they, too,can’t ignore the diktats of the state.

Ever since the dawn of the present century,the discoms have been incurring losses primar-ily due to three factors. First, being their soleowner and controller, the ruling establishmentruns discoms as an extension of the statemachinery, ordering them to sell electricity to acertain category of consumers viz. poor house-holds and farmers either at a fraction of the costof purchase and distribution or even free. On theunits sold to this class, the discoms incur heavyunder-recovery. At the same time, they are toldto sell to industries and businesses at a price muchabove the cost to enable them to offset under-recovery on sale to preferred customers. But, evenafter offset, losses remain.

Second, in the course of transmission and dis-tribution of electricity, there are so called “tech-nical and commercial” (T&C) losses. Most of itis plain theft which is facilitated by faulty trans-formers, meters and other equipment. Therebeing no revenue from stolen power, this furtherexacerbates the losses.

Third, under the power purchase agreements(PPAs) signed by discoms, States allow inflatedtariff to generators taking recourse to “gold plat-ing” (euphemism for claiming higher investmentthan actual), excessive overheads and over-invoicing of fuel bills and so on.

The above three factors make a deadly com-bination leading to shortfall in the realisation fromsale, vis-à-vis the cost of supplying electricitywhich gets manifest in their loss. Funded by bor-rowings, this leads to accumulation of debt tounsustainable level. To ensure that they are ableto sustain operations and the spillover effect onthe rest of the economy is arrested/avoided, theGovernment had come out with three bail-outpackages since 2000 — the latest being in 2015.

In 2015, under a financial restructuring pack-age (FRP) orchestrated by the UnionGovernment, over 75 per cent of the outstand-ing debt, about �400,000 crore of discoms weretaken over by State Governments whereas for thebalance 25 per cent, they were allowed to issuebonds — backed by sovereign guarantee — toraise funds at concessional interest rate. The FRPwas intended to enable discoms to wipe the slateclean, reduce losses and eventually eliminatethem.

During 2016-17 and 2017-18, they did showsignificant reduction with losses declining from

�52,000 crore during 2015-16 to �32,000crore during 2016-17 and �17,000 croreduring 2017-18. During 2018-19, thistrend was reversed with losses increas-ing to �28,000 crore. The trend contin-ues during the current year. A collater-al damage has been by way of increasein pending payment to power genera-tors. Thus, the amount due for morethan 60 days increased from about�23,000 crore as of March 2018 to�71,000 crore as of November 2019. Alldues including those pending for lessthan 60 days — as on this date — wereeven higher at about �81,000 crore.

This has a debilitating effect on theability of generators to service loanstaken from banks and financial institu-tions (FIs). A good chunk of those loanshave already become non-performingassets (NPAs). Moreover, given theirprecarious finances, discoms are forcedto reduce off-take which affects capac-ity utilisation. It leads to an anomaloussituation whereby despite ample capac-ity, electricity generation declines affect-ing supplies.

There is an urgent need to set thehouse of discoms in order, or else thiswill have catastrophic consequences forall stakeholders, viz. power producers,banks/FIs, finances of States and jeop-ardise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’sgrandiose plans to supply electricity toevery household. So, what is theGovernment doing to set things right?

From August 1, 2019, it mademandatory for discoms to open lettersof credit (LOC) for getting supply fromgenerators (gencos). Under the LOCarrangement, the bank guarantees thata buyer’s payment to a seller will bereceived on time and for the correctamount; in the event that the buyer isunable to pay, the bank will be requiredto cover the full or remaining amountwhich in turn, it will recover from the

buyer using all available legal means. Relying on the above, in September,

2019, the Union Power Minister, RKSingh even exuded confidence that thiswould prevent creation of fresh dues.But this has not happened as may beseen from arrears continuing to be onan upward trajectory from about�49,000 crore in February, 2019 to over�71,000 crore as of November 2019.Clearly, the mechanism has not workedeven as generators are forced to main-tain supplies despite not receiving pay-ment.

Singh was also optimistic that byincorporating a provision for penalty (orsurcharge) for delayed payment atcommercial rate of interest of 18 percent in the New Tariff Policy (NTP), itshould be possible to eliminate allpending dues. This may work whiledealing with private entities (in fact, inthose cases, the problem may not evenarise in the first place) but not when itcomes to dealing with state entities. So,it is unlikely that the legacy dues wouldbe cleared.

Under the NTP (this is yet to beapproved by the Union Cabinet), theGovernment has also proposed cappingof tariff hike to 15 per cent of the under-recovered power supply cost. Further,they won’t be eligible for grant or loanif they don’t make efforts to reduce loss-es. These, too, are unlikely to work inimproving their financial position andability to clear the arrears and maketimely payments in future.

Let us not forget that at present,even after increasing tariff — mostlydirected at industries and businesses (abig chunk of households and farmers arenever touched) — discoms incur loss.If a hike is restricted to just 15 per centthen their loss would be even bigger. Farfrom any help in reducing, such a stip-ulation will only end up increasing loss

as they lose the flexibility to hike tariff.Similarly, the pressure by way of deny-ing grant or loan won’t be of much help.

The Government is also contem-plating a Special Loans Plan (SLP) underwhich banks will be asked to give loansto discoms to enable them to clear theirdues to gencos. This will have seriousimplications for the banks. Consideringthat discoms won’t be able to pay back(given their precarious finances and noeffort being made to address the fun-damental factors behind their losses),these loans will be NPAs from day one.For banks struggling to come out of thecrisis they got into (courtesy, legacyNPAs), this will compound their woes.

True, payment by discoms to gen-cos (enabled by SLP) will enable the lat-ter service loans they had taken frombanks thereby preventing those loansfrom becoming NPAs. However, forbanks, this is no consolation as one setof NPAs would have been substituted byanother. Besides, the gencos will con-tinue to remain vulnerable to paymentdefault as long as the discoms remainfinancially unviable. The SLP may solvetoday’s problem but after some time,dues will pile up requiring Centre’s inter-vention yet again.

Let it be understood in no ambigu-ous terms that whether it is the FRP(granted thrice over earlier) or SLPunder consideration now, these aremerely “band aids.” These don’t offersustainable solution even as the prob-lem keeps on festering beneath.

A sustainable solution can emergeonly by tackling the fundamental caus-es which contribute to losses of discoms.The Centre and States should put theirheads together to do away with sops tofarmers and households, eliminate theftand rein in inflated tariff under PPAs.

(The writer is a New Delhi-basedpolicy analyst)

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On December 30, 2019, theNITI Aayog released the sec-ond edition of the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDG) IndiaIndex, 2019, which is more robustthan the first edition, SDG IndiaIndex: Baseline Report 2018, onaccount of a wider coverage of goals,targets and indicators and has greateralignment with the NationalIndicator Framework (NIF). A com-posite score was computed in therange of zero to 100 for each Stateand Union Territory (UT). If aState/UT gets a score of 100, it sig-nifies that it has achieved the 2030national SDG targets. The higher thescore, the closer the State/UT getstowards achieving the objectives.

For North India, the reportrevealed contrasting performances byStates, with Himachal Pradesh (HP)fortifying its position as the lead per-former and securing the secondrank with a composite SDG index of69. Punjab was placed 12th with ascore of 62 and Haryana rankedmuch lower at 18th place with a scoreof 57, which was even lower than thecountry’s average of 60. Overall,Kerala achieved the first rank witha tab of 70, while Bihar was the worstperforming State with a tally of 50.

The SDGs consist of a set of 17broad-based global goals adopted by193 countries at the United Nations(UN) Sustainable DevelopmentSummit at UN Headquarters inNew York in September 2015. Theobjectives were intended to beachieved by 2030 as a part of the res-olution, “Transforming Our World:The 2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment.” These SDGs for 2030evolved from the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) for2015. India is committed to achievethe 17 SDGs, the 169 associated tar-

gets and 232 SDG indicators, whichcomprehensively cover the social,economic and environmental dimen-sions of development.

The present analysis of the threeNorth Indian States covers only 15SDGs since the SDG 14 (life belowwater) is excluded as it applies onlyto nine coastal States and the SDG17 (Partnership for the goals) is onlyqualitatively analysed in the report.

Out of the 15 SDG indices, HPis the best performer among thesethree States on 11 SDG indiceswhile Punjab is the best performeron three goals viz. SDG 2 (zerohunger), SDG 3 (good health andwell-being) and SDG 7 (affordableand clean energy) and Haryana is thebest performer on only one of thegoals viz. SDG 9 (industry, innova-tion and infrastructure).

However, appreciably, at an all-India level, Haryana is among the topthree States in respect of SDG 9.However, Punjab has not foundmention among the top three Statesat the all-India level on any of the 17indices used for evaluating States and

UTs on parameters of development.Significantly, on the other hand, atthe all-India level, goal-wise HP hasbeen the top State in three SDGs viz.Goal 4 (quality education), Goal 5(gender equality) and Goal 11 (sus-tainable cities and communities).

Besides applauding the achieve-ments of the States, the report alsohighlights several challenges beforethem, which need to be comprehen-sively addressed by Governments.Some of the critical issues highlight-ed reveal that at the all-India level,Haryana ranks second-highest inurban income inequality. Punjaband Haryana have less than 10 percent of their geographical area underforest and tree cover. Both Haryanaand Punjab have surpassed the max-imum limit of annual groundwaterwithdrawal, which is 70 per cent, sothat the ground water is replenishedat a normal rate. These States haveto improve this ratio.

Unfortunately, in terms of sexu-al crimes against the girl child as wellas total crimes against children, HPis the worst. Moreover, it does badly

in terms of SDG 2 (zero hunger),which reflects poorly on the perfor-mance of the State Government onending starvation, thus requiring amore focussed approach on nutri-tion.

Among the positive aspects,Punjab has the highest agriculturalproductivity at 4,169.67 kg/Ha andis nearing the targetted productivi-ty of 5,033.34 kg/ Ha. Similarly,Punjab with Gross Value Added(GA) in agriculture at �2.4 lash, hasthe second-highest GA after Goad at�3.7 lash, which is already above thetarget of �1.3 lash.

Cellular density is over 100 percent in both HP and Punjab and witha HIV incidence per 1,000 uninfect-ed population at 0.01, HP is closestto achieving the UN target of zeroHIV-incidence. In terms of the aver-age annual drop-out rate at the sec-ondary level, HP is the best perform-ing State with a 7.03 per cent rate ascompared to 19.89 per cent in India.it leads the States in the Female LaborForce Participation Rate at 39.70 percent as compared to the all-India rate

of 17.7 per cent. In terms of the share of renew-

able power as a proportion of thetotal electricity generated, HP leadsthe country with 94 per cent of thetotal electricity generated in theState coming from renewablesources. The above analysis empha-sises that the SDG India Index Report2019 would spur the States towardsnecessary course-correction wherev-er required and encourage them toensure timely achievement of thegoals.

At the global level, it is widelyagreed that India will play a leadingrole in determining the relative suc-cess or failure of the SDGs, as it is thesecond-most populous country,accounting for one-sixth of theworld’s population. In this context,it is worthwhile to quote AntonioGuterres, UN Secretary-General,“The coming years will be a vitalperiod to save the planet and toachieve sustainable, inclusive humandevelopment.”

(The writer is an author and edi-tor)

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The government onMonday announced saleof 100 per cent stake in

debt-laden Air India as it issuedthe preliminary bid documentfor the strategic disinvestmentand has set March 17, as thedeadline for submitting expres-sion of interest.

As part of the strategicdisinvestment, Air India wouldalso sell 100 per cent stake inlow-cost airline Air IndiaExpress and 50 per cent share-holding in joint ventureAISATS, as per bid documentissued on Monday.

Management control of theairline would also be trans-ferred to the successful bidder.

This is the second time inless than two years that the gov-ernment has come out withproposal for selling stake in AirIndia, which has been in thered for long.

The government has setMarch 17, as the deadline forsubmitting the expression ofinterest (EoI).

AISATS is an equal jointventure between Air India andSingapore Airlines. It offersground handling services.

Air India also has interestsin Air India EngineeringServices, Air India AirTransport Services, Airline

Allied Services and HotelCorporation of India.

These entities are in theprocess of being transferred toa separate company — AirIndia Assets Holding Ltd(AIAHL) — and would not bea part of the proposed trans-action, the document said.

According to the docu-ment, debt of Rs 23,286.5 crorewould remain with Air Indiaand Air India Express at thetime of closing of the disin-vestment.

The remaining debt wouldbe allocated to AIAHL.

A person in the know ofPIM details said staff would begiven shares on discount underEmployee Stock OptionProgramme (ESOP).

Air India staff will beoffered three per cent of the air-line’s total shares in the gov-ernment’s disinvestmentprocess. About 98 crore shareswould be set aside under theESOP, the person said.

As on November 1, 2019,Air India and Air India Expresshad 16,077 employees on theirrolls, including permanent peo-ple.

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Civil aviation minister Hardeep SinghPuri on Monday said Air India along

with Air India Express is a “great asset”,as the government came out with pre-liminary bid document for disinvestmentof the national carrier.

The Minister of State for CivilAviation said the successful bidder wouldcontinue to use Air India brand.

The government on Monday

announced sale of 100 per cent stake indebt-laden Air India as it issued the pre-liminary bid document for the strategicdisinvestment and has set March 17, asthe deadline for submitting expression ofinterest.

As part of the strategic disinvestment,Air India would also sell 100 per centstake in low-cost airline Air India Expressand 50 per cent shareholding in joint ven-ture AISATS, as per bid document issuedon Monday.

Management control of the airlinewould also be transferred to the successfulbidder.

The Minister of State for CivilAviation further said the lessons havebeen learnt from 2018 with regard to AirIndia stake sale.

In 2018, the government proposed tooffload 76 per cent equity share capitalof the national carrier as well as transferthe management control to private play-ers. However, there were no bidders.

-��$��New Delhi (PTI): Various Air India employee unions will

meet here on Monday to discuss proposed privatisation of thedebt-laden airline, sources said.

The meeting was scheduled after the government, earlier inthe day, announced sale of 100 per cent stake in Air India as itissued the preliminary bid document for the strategic disin-vestment. Representatives of various Air India trade unions willmeet here to discuss the government’s privatisation plans, sourcessaid. There are around a dozen recognised trade unions at AirIndia.

As part of the strategic disinvestment, Air India would alsosell 100 per cent stake in low-cost airline Air India Express and50 per cent shareholding in joint venture AISATS, as per bid doc-ument issued on Monday.

Script Open High Low LTPICICIBANK 540.00 545.10 531.80 536.35HDFCBANK 1237.00 1237.95 1211.50 1212.90WOCKPHARMA 299.00 358.85 298.65 352.90PIIND 1492.00 1555.70 1488.90 1541.40DRREDDY 3037.45 3207.40 3001.60 3188.95IBULHSGFIN 318.50 329.65 317.00 323.00TATASTEEL 477.60 477.60 460.25 462.40RELIANCE 1515.05 1524.35 1505.00 1506.60YESBANK 42.50 43.45 41.90 42.40SBIN 321.70 321.90 315.75 316.20INDUSINDBK 1319.00 1319.00 1265.60 1271.60TATAMOTORS 185.90 186.90 180.95 182.25CESC 748.50 766.25 744.00 745.65BIOCON 289.15 297.80 286.15 287.80BAJFINANCE 4192.95 4207.95 4155.55 4165.50ADANIENT 230.00 236.35 226.55 230.55ULTRACEMCO 4640.00 4753.35 4624.90 4675.75JINDALSTEL 181.50 185.35 176.60 178.75MARUTI 7124.25 7224.95 7063.85 7143.75AXISBANK 733.80 748.25 732.70 740.00HEROMOTOCO 2469.90 2497.30 2427.00 2454.60BHARTIARTL 522.40 524.00 511.55 514.30TCS 2180.00 2193.45 2165.00 2168.65DISHTV 14.18 14.32 13.65 13.79AUBANK 1080.00 1105.00 1000.10 1022.65BANKBARODA 92.65 93.80 92.00 92.35HDFC 2439.80 2445.70 2388.70 2395.80TITAN 1230.00 1240.00 1209.10 1214.25JSWSTEEL 266.00 266.00 258.35 262.85ADANIPOWER 63.45 65.25 62.70 64.65LT 1350.00 1364.85 1343.00 1348.50BOMDYEING 88.70 96.20 87.70 92.20RBLBANK 330.00 338.65 327.00 336.20IDEA 5.88 6.03 5.77 5.81JUSTDIAL 608.00 611.05 593.10 596.85DLF 262.80 264.00 255.20 257.05KOTAKBANK 1630.00 1630.00 1609.00 1618.80VEDL 154.85 154.85 148.10 148.85ATUL 4613.00 4980.00 4515.85 4923.00NAM-INDIA 357.75 373.60 354.85 366.40INFY 779.70 784.50 774.80 777.90PEL 1676.55 1717.80 1662.60 1700.00STAR 415.00 456.75 415.00 451.00COLPAL 1510.00 1516.75 1477.40 1485.00BEML 990.00 1004.40 987.65 990.75ZEEL 280.05 281.80 275.45 278.95L&TFH 119.40 120.70 118.30 119.40APOLLOHOSP 1670.00 1712.20 1663.30 1697.25ASIANPAINT 1793.00 1805.25 1779.90 1787.05ITC 237.65 237.65 234.20 234.65INDIGO 1500.95 1513.05 1481.30 1492.85AUROPHARMA 503.95 517.50 500.00 511.00BPCL 468.00 471.85 463.15 469.30PNBHOUSING 479.70 488.75 450.00 458.55SIEMENS 1640.00 1640.00 1550.65 1558.40TATAGLOBAL 383.95 389.50 380.65 382.25PFC 115.00 118.70 115.00 115.80BATAINDIA 1849.90 1866.00 1833.00 1850.00ESCORTS 717.45 741.40 716.00 734.30SPARC 184.00 201.40 184.00 197.95M&M 560.05 582.50 560.05 578.30IGL 499.00 509.00 494.75 505.75IOC 120.00 120.30 117.05 117.40UPL 547.00 550.05 535.20 537.35GODFRYPHLP 1380.00 1480.00 1371.30 1438.75LTI 1967.95 1968.00 1938.20 1947.30SAIL 50.90 50.90 48.30 48.80GRASIM 813.65 836.55 810.00 812.80EICHERMOT 20815.00 21193.00 20800.00 21110.40HINDALCO 203.00 203.00 197.20 198.15MOTHERSUMI 143.80 144.15 140.20 140.75ASHOKLEY 86.00 87.00 85.00 85.30SUNPHARMA 449.40 451.80 442.50 448.35EDELWEISS 92.35 101.55 92.35 101.40ADANIGAS 174.05 179.40 172.10 173.80CIPLA 458.00 466.75 454.90 464.65HINDPETRO 247.90 247.90 240.00 240.75UJJIVAN 363.30 371.45 356.80 365.70HDFCLIFE 606.00 606.00 598.50 599.60DIVISLAB 1901.00 1935.95 1901.00 1917.75ONGC 118.75 118.75 116.85 117.20BAJAJ-AUTO 3079.00 3123.00 3045.80 3081.65M&MFIN 365.90 372.60 346.65 352.40ICICIPRULI 521.00 533.05 516.55 526.00NCC 58.85 60.65 57.90 58.25HDFCAMC 3220.00 3220.00 3160.50 3178.55JUBLFOOD 1820.00 1829.50 1800.00 1823.40MGL 1182.00 1206.90 1177.25 1185.80BHEL 44.90 44.90 43.80 43.95ICICIGI 1350.80 1363.00 1331.05 1340.65RCF 58.00 59.20 57.25 57.55CHOLAFIN 323.85 337.50 323.85 329.10ISEC 470.80 498.60 468.50 488.55EQUITAS 111.00 113.30 109.80 110.85MRF 70508.55 70621.40 69641.20 70246.90COALINDIA 193.95 194.95 192.15 193.30MANAPPURAM 187.00 191.40 183.75 184.90CGCL 186.00 195.90 182.15 194.20HINDUNILVR 2068.00 2068.00 2059.25 2061.35PAGEIND 26101.00 26735.00 26075.90 26294.90APLAPOLLO 2145.00 2216.95 2059.35 2066.70WELCORP 170.10 181.00 168.65 179.00DMART 1941.00 1961.00 1928.35 1952.60AVANTI 710.00 710.00 683.95 688.40NMDC 127.15 127.90 123.45 124.35NATIONALUM 46.20 46.60 45.50 45.60GNFC 213.00 214.10 205.25 209.00LUPIN 739.90 760.10 734.80 751.85

BAJAJFINSV 9600.00 9645.65 9529.35 9557.15GUJGAS 293.10 304.95 293.10 302.15DABUR 501.95 505.70 491.70 493.15GLENMARK 350.00 362.55 347.65 356.60VOLTAS 725.00 725.05 707.60 710.25LICHSGFIN 463.00 463.00 450.10 452.80NIITTECH 1905.15 1957.80 1905.15 1949.35CANBK 217.45 217.45 209.25 210.65VMART 1954.40 1975.00 1950.00 1974.05RAJESHEXPO 719.90 722.20 715.00 718.10GAIL 129.50 129.50 125.15 126.35PNB 61.95 62.30 61.10 61.35GRAPHITE 315.50 315.70 307.10 308.60AMBER 1363.00 1411.00 1359.70 1407.40NTPC 115.25 115.30 112.40 112.95SBILIFE 1003.00 1013.85 987.85 992.60CEATLTD 1002.00 1011.00 991.80 997.95CHAMBLFERT 173.90 181.70 173.00 177.70FEDERALBNK 96.00 96.80 94.85 95.65SPICEJET 99.50 100.95 98.40 98.70NAUKRI 2715.00 2749.00 2673.00 2701.20FORCEMOT 1421.00 1450.00 1326.30 1347.10DIXON 4200.15 4391.10 4200.15 4323.10CUMMINSIND 590.70 608.60 590.70 605.25PFIZER 4213.00 4379.00 4208.40 4360.90RECLTD 141.65 146.20 140.90 144.25DEEPAKFERT 117.40 126.85 117.40 121.25INDIACEM 86.50 89.55 85.55 87.10BBTC 1195.00 1235.25 1180.00 1188.55TORNTPOWER 323.65 330.60 320.55 325.55IDFCFIRSTB 43.90 44.25 43.40 43.70TATAMTRDVR 79.00 79.00 75.30 75.50NBCC 37.55 37.75 36.70 37.05TECHM 785.00 796.00 780.00 791.30ACC 1559.00 1578.05 1545.00 1549.20RALLIS 226.45 236.55 226.45 232.60HEG 1121.70 1121.70 1085.50 1092.00STRTECH 130.00 136.00 129.00 131.80RADICO 375.95 391.00 375.95 388.55PHILIPCARB 138.00 143.70 136.30 140.35JCHAC 2413.25 2497.25 2395.00 2432.90BANDHANBNK 484.00 484.45 473.35 474.30BRITANNIA 3191.55 3211.00 3155.15 3171.75NESTLEIND 15717.45 15854.90 15569.30 15670.80PETRONET 279.45 279.45 271.50 272.40VINATIORGA 2232.00 2337.00 2223.00 2291.65TORNTPHARM 2030.00 2056.05 2007.80 2026.85EXIDEIND 204.00 208.10 201.90 202.50GODREJPROP 1055.00 1078.65 1044.00 1059.75POWERGRID 196.05 196.30 192.30 192.90MFSL 522.50 525.65 512.45 513.60TATAELXSI 960.00 966.60 931.30 942.55GODREJAGRO 557.00 593.00 551.35 586.20GRANULES 153.00 158.45 150.30 151.55MARICO 340.50 343.75 337.00 338.40IBREALEST 101.00 105.95 99.30 105.70DELTACORP 195.20 195.20 186.40 189.05LALPATHLAB 1696.00 1779.50 1696.00 1753.30GMRINFRA 24.10 24.55 23.65 23.80PRESTIGE 394.60 401.35 381.00 389.05PIDILITIND 1457.00 1481.65 1453.35 1476.70UNIONBANK 52.20 52.25 51.60 51.75HCLTECH 609.00 609.00 602.00 604.35BEL 101.75 103.50 101.05 101.65FORTIS 155.10 158.00 154.20 155.70SUNTV 495.00 504.55 491.25 494.90RAYMOND 674.95 685.00 660.00 663.05APLLTD 591.90 633.00 591.90 614.80HAVELLS 623.30 626.45 617.00 622.00HUDCO 42.95 45.20 42.10 44.05CANFINHOME 471.00 474.70 463.05 469.50INDIANB 107.05 108.90 105.80 106.35PCJEWELLER 23.00 23.45 22.80 23.00GSPL 255.70 263.45 252.05 258.35BERGEPAINT 559.80 569.05 557.60 560.55INFRATEL 242.00 243.40 239.10 241.90FRETAIL 331.00 347.50 329.70 336.15ADANIGREEN 191.00 194.50 187.30 190.80MCX 1363.00 1371.25 1325.00 1331.20TVSMOTOR 470.00 476.65 462.20 464.50PVR 1963.00 1986.00 1947.75 1963.30SHREECEM 23119.00 23761.95 23048.20 23586.05GSFC 95.60 97.30 94.50 95.55

TATAPOWER 61.10 62.00 60.30 60.60SRTRANSFIN 1083.00 1096.15 1071.20 1081.75MEGH 65.25 67.30 65.05 65.80GLAXO 1663.50 1715.00 1644.25 1677.35DCBBANK 179.40 186.05 177.35 181.95SRF 3650.00 3714.00 3646.55 3674.55MUTHOOTFIN 750.00 764.80 747.00 751.35JMFINANCIL 108.75 108.75 101.35 103.90POLYCAB 1010.00 1018.00 992.00 998.50IRB 114.00 117.05 111.85 114.10JAICORPLTD 114.50 115.20 112.50 112.95WESTLIFE 440.50 455.55 428.40 433.70HINDZINC 207.80 208.20 200.00 201.10BHARATFORG 527.50 527.50 504.00 509.40WIPRO 248.95 248.95 244.85 245.30JKCEMENT 1383.70 1422.85 1375.80 1381.85RAIN 120.60 122.60 117.75 118.10TCIEXP 790.10 867.30 778.10 835.60RELCAPITAL 9.60 9.71 9.32 9.32ABCAPITAL 105.00 105.90 103.65 104.10GHCL 194.95 199.40 192.50 195.95CASTROLIND 130.00 131.45 127.55 129.00SUNTECK 402.00 404.25 393.50 403.10CONCOR 563.00 574.40 557.75 570.25RAMCOCEM 866.30 883.30 852.00 858.30CADILAHC 270.50 275.50 269.55 273.30RVNL 26.35 26.85 25.90 26.20GALAXYSURF 1480.90 1559.80 1480.30 1534.30WABAG 215.10 224.50 215.00 220.75KEI 553.00 567.35 544.70 560.65LTTS 1727.00 1780.00 1725.00 1739.55ADANIPORTS 384.00 386.00 379.95 381.10AMBUJACEM 214.65 218.90 214.55 215.50SWANENERGY 118.00 121.90 117.50 118.20VIPIND 465.00 473.55 458.45 461.50NOCIL 119.80 119.80 117.20 117.55TATACHEM 756.00 758.90 746.00 748.15OBEROIRLTY 561.60 583.55 556.40 563.40AMARAJABAT 805.00 814.00 797.70 801.25BALRAMCHIN 177.05 179.75 170.20 172.40SONATSOFTW 340.10 351.00 338.35 347.85NHPC 27.40 28.15 26.90 27.70LAOPALA 180.00 203.05 179.55 189.80NAVINFLUOR 1080.00 1120.00 1080.00 1104.05MINDTREE 919.60 919.60 880.95 884.40CARERATING 658.50 674.00 652.00 663.40BALKRISIND 1105.00 1109.10 1070.00 1073.85APOLLOTYRE 176.00 178.20 173.90 174.65CREDITACC 830.00 865.00 826.05 845.80DEEPAKNI 399.10 405.00 397.05 399.95JUBILANT 610.25 626.95 610.25 616.20JKLAKSHMI 366.80 378.00 366.20 374.25RPOWER 1.97 1.97 1.97 1.97JINDALSAW 96.10 97.90 95.10 95.35ALLCARGO 112.50 119.45 110.00 118.25MINDAIND 419.00 425.85 405.00 414.15RITES 314.00 323.00 314.00 317.70VENKYS 1744.85 1770.50 1725.00 1733.80GICRE 266.00 269.80 258.55 259.50IDBI 35.45 35.45 34.75 34.90UBL 1280.00 1286.35 1257.25 1261.20METROPOLIS 1675.00 1732.30 1625.00 1639.25ADANITRANS 332.70 334.50 329.00 330.10ITI 90.90 90.90 88.20 88.65JKTYRE 82.00 83.80 81.40 81.75INDOSTAR 265.00 279.80 260.50 271.00INOXLEISUR 412.90 420.00 404.70 408.50SUPREMEIND 1334.40 1368.00 1319.15 1352.90HFCL 17.10 17.15 16.85 17.00INFIBEAM 58.65 58.90 57.60 57.80QUESS 620.00 622.00 598.30 605.70SCI 60.65 61.05 60.00 60.15MOTILALOFS 831.00 834.00 810.00 811.05ASTRAZEN 2502.00 2617.95 2494.25 2552.00DCMSHRIRAM 394.05 399.95 378.90 387.65SUDARSCHEM 479.90 483.55 471.00 475.30VBL 852.45 869.95 845.50 850.30TEAMLEASE 2750.00 2870.30 2651.00 2676.10ASTRAL 1114.90 1164.00 1108.00 1150.45TIMKEN 994.90 1001.40 973.75 997.80RELINFRA 21.75 21.90 20.90 20.90OIL 142.75 143.50 140.50 141.35ALKEM 2344.00 2384.05 2343.00 2362.65LAURUSLABS 414.90 427.00 414.45 421.95KEC 335.20 340.20 319.00 337.45TATACOFFEE 103.75 104.40 101.50 102.00NIACL 165.85 167.30 161.55 164.05MRPL 47.50 48.25 47.00 47.95INDHOTEL 145.00 147.25 142.85 143.45AAVAS 1945.00 1961.95 1879.35 1914.55MIDHANI 168.05 170.75 166.15 168.15IEX 176.10 177.00 171.00 172.30DBL 418.00 420.00 400.00 407.60ESSELPRO 184.70 193.25 180.50 183.75PTC 61.85 62.30 60.65 60.80GODREJCP 749.00 752.30 735.20 738.05FSL 43.85 43.85 42.10 42.65INTELLECT 170.40 172.50 169.70 170.30IRCON 439.00 443.90 432.50 437.00BLISSGVS 143.80 145.05 142.95 144.10THYROCARE 550.00 587.00 550.00 571.70HEXAWARE 340.45 352.00 340.45 348.30HINDCOPPER 46.45 46.45 44.85 44.95RELAXO 698.95 712.00 692.55 707.55CERA 2687.15 2710.95 2656.50 2692.15RESPONIND 92.00 93.10 90.60 92.45SOUTHBANK 11.20 11.24 11.06 11.08TNPL 192.45 198.70 192.30 194.25ENDURANCE 1177.00 1201.90 1177.00 1191.65

COCHINSHIP 396.00 396.00 390.00 391.35ASHOKA 116.80 119.40 115.60 116.15SUNDRMFAST 515.25 533.00 508.95 512.80HSCL 69.00 70.20 68.60 68.75ASTERDM 164.00 169.40 163.55 167.95BANKINDIA 67.30 67.40 66.75 67.00HEIDELBERG 201.60 207.50 199.95 202.90TRENT 583.00 583.15 570.05 571.50NESCO 757.55 757.55 733.00 735.85WHIRLPOOL 2425.00 2470.90 2416.30 2442.05TRIDENT 7.14 7.17 7.06 7.11SUZLON 2.47 2.48 2.42 2.43COROMANDEL 606.00 609.50 596.40 604.00IIFL 171.40 174.40 166.80 169.65BASF 1006.05 1049.75 1002.75 1014.75WELSPUNIND 47.75 48.60 47.25 47.40BOSCHLTD 15010.00 15084.00 14855.10 14886.65DCAL* 84.10 85.50 82.10 83.60PGHL 4422.00 4489.25 4399.25 4437.50GARFIBRES 1516.80 1600.00 1492.05 1508.80IPCALAB 1224.00 1235.00 1221.85 1230.95CUB 235.50 238.90 234.75 236.05ABBOTINDIA 12697.20 12722.90 12630.00 12663.90BIRLACORPN 764.00 778.25 751.25 753.80TV18BRDCST 26.45 26.90 26.10 26.35CROMPTON 262.95 266.25 260.10 261.35ABFRL 235.00 236.70 231.10 233.70KTKBANK 75.40 75.40 74.25 74.50JISLJALEQS 8.39 8.51 8.15 8.32PNCINFRA 195.55 198.50 193.05 196.05CENTRALBK 19.30 20.45 19.25 20.10JSWENERGY 66.85 67.50 66.45 67.35MOIL 155.00 155.00 149.95 150.70ZENSARTECH 175.00 179.80 175.00 176.60DHANUKA 458.85 468.50 457.25 461.35EMAMILTD 333.75 334.80 321.55 323.70MAXINDIA 88.50 91.65 87.80 91.05NATCOPHARM 657.80 662.85 652.10 653.80KANSAINER 519.95 527.65 517.10 519.50AIAENG 1735.00 1779.95 1722.20 1729.30BDL 300.00 302.30 295.00 297.65J&KBANK 28.95 29.00 28.10 28.20AJANTPHARM 1178.00 1193.00 1157.00 1172.65ADVENZYMES 184.20 184.20 175.70 176.45SHANKARA 398.05 413.00 398.00 402.20LEMONTREE 52.65 53.20 51.85 53.05CARBORUNIV 344.70 356.00 342.00 347.70KRBL 277.65 284.95 272.60 279.50SANOFI 6673.50 6835.90 6673.50 6749.903MINDIA 22400.00 22500.00 22247.05 22296.65GMDCLTD 66.00 67.50 65.80 66.15GRINDWELL 637.05 661.50 637.00 650.85ITDCEM 65.00 65.00 60.75 60.80REPCOHOME 327.75 333.45 326.60 327.70SJVN 26.00 26.25 25.70 26.10JSL 45.30 45.30 42.95 43.45SCHNEIDER 87.60 88.00 84.50 84.90ENGINERSIN 100.00 101.35 99.15 99.35JAMNAAUTO 44.50 45.30 44.10 44.30NBVENTURES 90.10 90.10 86.05 86.60BAJAJHLDNG 3362.00 3372.20 3286.00 3308.60LAXMIMACH 3606.30 3648.45 3586.60 3614.50IDFC 37.05 37.10 36.55 36.70PRSMJOHNSN 71.80 75.70 71.80 73.05EIDPARRY 229.45 230.80 225.35 228.00IBULISL 122.05 125.50 119.05 120.25BAJAJCON 233.90 233.90 228.40 228.85FCONSUMER 24.55 24.70 23.65 23.80CHOLAHLDNG 554.60 568.20 548.20 557.75ORIENTBANK 53.85 54.10 53.15 53.45

SIS 520.00 555.50 514.70 519.90GDL 131.30 139.50 131.30 137.60EIHOTEL 149.00 153.00 147.30 148.30ZYDUSWELL 1487.65 1585.10 1483.00 1563.70SHK 114.20 115.95 112.50 112.85GSKCONS 8898.85 8901.70 8866.80 8871.75SKFINDIA 2197.00 2244.60 2173.30 2203.80SOLARINDS 1179.20 1202.55 1179.20 1193.60AEGISLOG 211.85 213.45 204.20 209.90DALBHARAT 864.85 872.15 855.00 860.90CHENNPETRO 146.00 146.00 141.40 142.25ITDC 306.20 309.85 302.20 303.10GUJALKALI 421.80 424.65 415.00 417.50GET&D 162.90 164.50 160.10 160.85HONAUT 27416.60 27632.00 27070.10 27497.05KALPATPOWR 460.00 460.50 445.00 451.50AKZOINDIA 2035.00 2042.65 2000.00 2038.30FINEORG 2250.00 2250.60 2221.70 2234.30KAJARIACER 572.25 580.00 562.55 576.65FINCABLES 415.00 420.00 413.10 418.50BAYERCROP 4156.00 4199.00 4140.00 4154.00DHFL 15.95 15.95 15.65 15.80

MAHLIFE 411.50 420.00 392.00 401.00PHOENIXLTD 850.35 851.00 811.00 821.80PARAGMILK 152.00 152.00 146.00 146.50TATAMETALI 628.65 640.50 616.65 632.10CCL 196.60 197.25 192.50 193.05MMTC 22.30 22.45 21.55 21.65GICHSGFIN 157.00 158.00 154.20 154.90SYMPHONY 1258.10 1284.95 1255.00 1263.65GPPL 90.00 91.15 88.80 89.90BLUESTARCO 840.00 851.05 833.20 840.55ORIENTELEC 211.90 219.60 208.70 215.15PERSISTENT 725.55 727.40 703.00 720.65BAJAJELEC 390.00 390.00 373.55 380.40NH 356.65 360.95 354.00 355.85MPHASIS 902.25 907.25 887.00 890.70KNRCON 292.50 298.15 289.00 292.25MASFIN 892.00 926.45 892.00 910.85SYNDIBANK 28.30 28.30 26.65 26.80CENTURYPLY 171.00 174.65 168.40 171.85BALMLAWRIE 124.10 124.30 123.10 123.50HAL 847.00 858.55 831.70 834.80BRIGADE 226.00 229.10 224.30 225.20IOB 11.00 11.05 10.45 10.82CAPPL 291.00 291.35 286.00 287.10ECLERX 677.90 686.45 666.00 681.35IFCI 6.50 6.54 6.46 6.47OFSS 2975.00 2980.00 2931.00 2955.20PGHH 11351.10 11401.85 11174.05 11202.75ERIS 508.00 517.80 498.05 505.55LUXIND 1484.00 1529.00 1465.00 1471.85FINOLEXIND 556.70 560.00 554.50 555.90HIMATSEIDE 135.90 136.00 131.85 132.70GESHIP 336.20 336.20 325.55 328.60ARVINDFASN 404.95 415.40 392.05 403.95SYNGENE 308.00 314.40 306.30 310.70GILLETTE 6302.75 6307.55 6259.00 6277.95CRISIL 1800.00 1813.95 1785.00 1787.35TATAINVEST 901.85 917.50 877.10 883.40NLCINDIA 56.65 59.20 56.65 58.95STARCEMENT 89.85 90.50 86.25 88.80JAGRAN* 70.25 70.85 68.80 69.65JYOTHYLAB 162.35 164.00 158.90 159.90CYIENT 487.00 498.50 486.80 491.30TTKPRESTIG 6023.10 6080.00 5995.80 6017.70BLUEDART 2728.25 2779.35 2725.00 2729.30GREAVESCOT 141.80 143.85 140.60 141.95MAHINDCIE 179.10 179.10 172.55 176.85VGUARD 228.50 229.75 226.40 228.90LINDEINDIA 718.30 727.00 715.25 716.50JSLHISAR 79.45 79.70 77.55 77.85ALBK 19.00 19.00 18.40 18.45MAHSCOOTER 4328.35 4372.40 4243.25 4257.35JBCHEPHARM 494.60 500.00 494.60 497.35SADBHAV 134.65 136.25 132.00 133.00SOBHA 441.00 442.90 434.70 437.00KPRMILL 687.80 698.85 687.80 694.40INOXWIND 41.40 42.55 41.00 41.65VAIBHAVGBL 980.00 1002.95 978.05 989.45THERMAX 1083.75 1095.00 1083.05 1090.75VSTIND 4596.60 4652.55 4500.05 4531.80TVSSRICHAK 1750.00 1774.00 1713.00 1748.55REDINGTON 115.80 117.55 115.00 115.15VRLLOG 267.80 275.00 267.70 272.85SOMANYCERA 222.00 223.70 216.00 218.65TIINDIA 519.45 525.45 516.85 521.55WABCOINDIA 6690.00 6717.70 6672.65 6690.95ORIENTCEM 84.75 85.75 82.60 83.20DBCORP 142.10 143.85 139.50 140.00CENTRUM 22.65 23.00 22.10 22.75FDC 227.00 230.60 223.20 228.40UNITEDBNK 9.10 9.30 8.86 8.92MINDACORP 106.55 109.00 105.10 105.90IFBIND 679.50 679.50 662.90 665.70NILKAMAL 1431.40 1468.75 1428.60 1445.75TEJASNET 85.30 86.45 83.55 84.25GEPIL 685.00 685.90 674.35 676.05HATHWAY 19.70 20.00 19.55 19.65TAKE 103.60 105.05 102.00 102.70CORPBANK 24.15 24.15 23.65 23.80MHRIL 237.30 238.30 235.05 236.15SHOPERSTOP 419.75 424.80 416.75 421.00TIMETECHNO 58.35 58.35 57.40 57.45MAHLOG 417.00 422.40 410.00 412.30KPITTECH 101.00 103.10 98.25 101.00MAHSEAMLES 405.10 406.95 400.00 401.45VARROC 484.30 499.40 484.30 489.95NETWORK18 27.60 27.80 26.75 26.85UCOBANK 16.00 16.15 15.90 15.95ANDHRABANK 17.80 17.80 16.75 16.95SUPRAJIT 204.80 205.25 201.00 201.30MAGMA 65.00 65.00 62.00 62.10MAHABANK 13.30 13.35 13.16 13.19TVTODAY 250.00 259.00 250.00 256.70GODREJIND 453.00 453.00 434.35 435.90GULFOILLUB 795.45 828.95 793.00 821.55LAKSHVILAS 15.95 16.25 15.90 16.05FLFL 404.05 414.95 402.00 412.40UFLEX 219.80 221.05 216.35 218.30SCHAEFFLER 4601.70 4601.70 4540.00 4576.25GAYAPROJ 66.20 66.20 66.20 66.20SFL 1470.05 1470.05 1419.00 1452.55HERITGFOOD 362.70 364.90 357.75 364.80VTL 1053.00 1053.00 1027.45 1031.00OMAXE 156.00 156.60 155.00 155.55RATNAMANI 1216.05 1217.60 1163.15 1184.20TCNSBRANDS 595.00 601.00 588.45 599.35SHILPAMED 260.00 274.95 253.80 269.50SHRIRAMCIT 1390.50 1393.25 1386.90 1386.95CHALET 339.15 343.20 337.50 339.70

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 12197.10 12216.60 12107.00 12119.00 -129.25DRREDDY 3029.00 3209.00 2997.50 3200.00 168.60M&M 565.00 582.50 563.00 578.35 10.60CIPLA 457.50 466.50 454.20 464.20 5.35ULTRACEMCO 4624.90 4754.10 4622.00 4686.00 43.25EICHERMOT 20850.00 21160.80 20775.00 21091.00 160.20TECHM 786.00 796.25 779.65 792.10 4.80ICICIBANK 538.50 545.00 531.50 535.90 2.05SUNPHARMA 447.00 451.75 442.20 448.75 0.95AXISBANK 732.45 748.45 731.00 738.70 1.30ASIANPAINT 1787.00 1805.75 1780.00 1790.00 3.20BAJAJ-AUTO 3069.80 3122.95 3044.05 3079.25 5.10MARUTI 7101.50 7225.00 7061.00 7125.00 -3.45BPCL 466.50 471.80 463.00 465.00 -1.10HCLTECH 607.70 608.00 601.75 605.55 -2.15COALINDIA 193.95 195.00 192.00 193.00 -0.95HINDUNILVR 2066.00 2068.75 2056.75 2062.95 -10.75ZEEL 280.80 281.90 275.20 279.35 -1.45HEROMOTOCO2456.00 2498.50 2425.05 2455.00 -13.65INFY 779.05 784.80 774.40 778.05 -4.70BRITANNIA 3187.00 3210.00 3155.00 3173.00 -19.50ONGC 118.35 118.50 116.80 117.55 -0.80TCS 2189.70 2193.45 2165.00 2168.30 -15.10BAJFINANCE 4174.00 4208.00 4154.00 4163.05 -31.45NESTLEIND 15700.00 15845.00 15559.95 15634.95 -120.55BAJAJFINSV 9590.00 9648.90 9535.00 9550.45 -83.30RELIANCE 1514.90 1524.45 1505.00 1508.00 -13.55LT 1340.00 1364.90 1340.00 1347.00 -12.20INFRATEL 243.00 243.50 239.00 242.00 -2.30WIPRO 247.90 247.90 244.75 245.20 -2.40UPL 545.40 550.10 535.00 538.00 -5.30ADANIPORTS 383.70 386.25 379.80 380.70 -4.05YESBANK 42.30 43.45 41.85 42.25 -0.55GRASIM 815.00 836.90 810.00 811.35 -10.65NTPC 115.00 115.30 112.60 113.15 -1.60TITAN 1228.00 1240.35 1208.85 1210.00 -17.85ITC 237.00 237.40 234.30 234.65 -3.50KOTAKBANK 1628.70 1629.00 1608.40 1617.00 -25.95IOC 119.25 120.20 117.00 117.30 -2.35GAIL 129.00 129.50 126.10 126.65 -2.85TATAMOTORS 185.70 186.90 180.85 182.35 -4.15BHARTIARTL 521.15 524.10 511.90 512.50 -11.75POWERGRID 196.40 196.45 192.30 192.45 -4.50SBIN 320.90 322.00 315.80 316.40 -7.65HDFC 2433.00 2445.00 2388.50 2389.95 -60.80HDFCBANK 1235.00 1235.00 1211.75 1213.50 -31.05HINDALCO 203.55 203.55 197.40 200.00 -5.40INDUSINDBK 1311.50 1312.00 1265.00 1275.00 -41.10JSWSTEEL 265.45 265.90 258.30 260.35 -11.55TATASTEEL 477.75 477.75 460.10 460.55 -22.85VEDL 153.40 153.40 148.10 148.35 -7.55

SE 500B

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 29058.75 29259.50 28895.00 28960.75 -193.00AUROPHARMA 499.60 518.00 498.20 511.35 10.25PEL 1674.00 1717.85 1660.10 1703.75 28.35CONCOR 559.00 574.50 557.00 570.00 8.65ICICIPRULI 521.00 533.35 516.35 527.80 7.85LUPIN 738.00 759.90 734.10 751.10 10.95SHREECEM 23099.90 23766.00 22960.15 23444.00 309.35NHPC 27.25 28.20 26.85 27.70 0.25PIDILITIND 1458.20 1481.70 1451.00 1465.55 7.95PAGEIND 26199.00 26738.40 26054.00 26300.00 85.50CADILAHC 270.10 275.60 269.20 272.85 0.70DIVISLAB 1910.00 1935.00 1893.70 1914.10 3.60IBULHSGFIN 318.30 329.70 317.05 322.85 0.25BERGEPAINT 562.00 569.50 557.35 560.00 0.25HAVELLS 622.00 626.60 616.80 622.95 0.05PFC 115.45 118.70 115.00 115.95 -0.40INDIGO 1499.00 1513.40 1480.25 1495.55 -5.95AMBUJACEM 214.60 218.90 214.30 215.00 -0.95DMART 1945.50 1961.50 1928.10 1939.00 -9.60NIACL 163.00 167.35 161.50 165.20 -0.85MARICO 340.55 343.75 336.90 338.75 -1.80MCDOWELL-N 575.00 582.90 572.65 574.25 -3.85SRTRANSFIN 1077.00 1096.00 1071.35 1075.10 -8.80SBILIFE 999.80 1014.70 987.35 991.00 -8.80HDFCAMC 3198.90 3204.00 3162.80 3178.80 -30.70BOSCHLTD 14939.90 15098.65 14840.00 14870.00 -152.45ACC 1555.00 1579.60 1544.15 1549.95 -15.95ICICIGI 1348.40 1362.95 1330.75 1336.60 -13.75UBL 1275.10 1286.30 1256.10 1260.80 -14.30L&TFH 118.90 120.70 118.20 118.45 -1.50HDFCLIFE 604.80 605.70 598.10 598.65 -8.60BAJAJHLDNG 3330.00 3372.75 3290.00 3291.00 -47.95ASHOKLEY 85.80 87.00 85.00 85.25 -1.25BIOCON 289.00 297.90 286.00 290.00 -4.35BANDHANBNK 478.40 484.40 473.90 474.50 -7.35DABUR 500.40 505.85 491.65 492.60 -7.90PGHH 11399.80 11399.80 11111.90 11159.00 -178.60PETRONET 277.50 277.95 271.30 272.30 -4.50GODREJCP 748.00 752.55 735.00 736.20 -13.15HINDPETRO 245.50 246.60 240.00 240.50 -4.30PNB 61.95 62.25 61.10 61.15 -1.20OFSS 2960.55 2984.90 2931.00 2931.20 -58.00COLPAL 1511.00 1517.00 1475.05 1482.05 -32.30GICRE 265.20 269.80 258.35 260.25 -5.80DLF 261.50 264.00 255.80 255.80 -7.05MOTHERSUMI 144.40 144.40 140.30 141.00 -4.10HINDZINC 207.95 208.10 200.00 201.40 -6.45BANKBARODA 93.25 93.90 92.00 92.60 -3.00NMDC 128.00 128.00 123.35 123.55 -5.30IDEA 5.85 6.05 5.75 5.80 -0.25SIEMENS 1629.00 1639.00 1550.55 1555.05 -69.90

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The upcoming UnionBudget may bring about a

new policy to reduce the loss-es of power distribution com-pany and revive them.

Union Power Minister RK.Singh on Monday said that thePower Ministry has discussedand proposed the new schemewith the Finance Ministry andwas hopeful that it would find place in the Budget2020-21.

The new scheme wouldinclude elements of the currentUDAY scheme and would pro-vide assistance for reduction ofdiscoms’ losses, he toldreporters on the sidelines of anevent here.

Allocations under the newscheme will make allocationsbased on efficiency.

The minister said that thegovernment aims to reducethe losses of discoms to 15 percent from 18.79 per cent loss inthe financial year 2018-19.

According to officialsources, the scheme may comeup as a revised version ofUDAY — UDAY 2.0 — whichwould provide another lease oflife to ailing power discoms byextending financial support inthe form of loans and grants.

This would support dis-coms to cover their payment tothe generators and lenderswhile also investing in upgrad-ing power infrastructure.

The accumulated losses ofall discoms have again shot upto over �80,000 crore, as ofnow, out of which close to�60,000 crore is overdue.

The new financial supportscheme will come with strin-gent conditions of regularpower tariff revision by dis-coms and bringing downAT&C (aggregate, technicaland commercial) losses to alevel of 15 per cent within ayear.

Non-adherance to condi-tions will stop loans and grantsfacility to state-run discoms.

The scheme for revival ofstressed power discoms waslaunched in November 2015.The Ujwal Discom AssuranceYojana’s (UDAY) prime objec-tives were financial turnaroundand operational improvementof the discoms along with thereduction of cost of generationof power development ofrenewable energy energy effi-ciency and conservation.

Singh observed that theproposed new scheme wouldbe replace the current multipleprogrammes into a singlefocussed initiative.

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The Enforcement Directoratehas arrested the CMD of

Dewan Housing Finance Ltd(DHFL), Kapil Wadhawan, inconnection with its money laun-dering probe against deceasedgangster Iqbal Mirchi and others,officials said on Monday.

They said Wadhawan, 46,has been arrested under thePrevention of Money LaunderingAct (PMLA) as he was allegedlynot cooperating in the probe andwas "untrustworthy" in his deal-ings and statements made to theagency. He was on Monday pro-duced before the designatedPMLA court which remandedhim in the ED custody tillJanuary 29.

"Kapil Wadhawan, beingchairman and managing directorof Dewan Housing Finance Ltd(DHFL), had visited Londonalong with a city-based realestate broker to meet Iqbal Mirchiin 2010. He has been instru-mental in siphoning off hugeamounts of money as part of theillegal deal between Mirchi andthe Wadhawans," the ED said inits remand note. "KapilWadhawan played a very crucialrole in the nefarious transactionsby way of money laundering. Hediverted huge funds from DHFLto shell companies which wasthen transferred to Wadhawans-owned Sunblink Real Estate PvtLtd," the agency said. The caserelates to Mirchi's Mumbai prop-erties, which have been called asproceeds of crime by the ED.

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China continued to reelunder deadly coronavirus

epidemic on Monday with thedeath toll due to it sharply ris-ing to 80 amid the country’sNational Health Commissionreporting 2,744 confirmedcases of the fatal affliction tilldate.

The Commission alsotermed the condition of the 461people being treated for thevirus, officially known as 2019-nCoV, as “critical”.

The Commission’s saidduring the past 24 hours, 769new confirmed cases, 3,806new suspected cases and 24deaths from the disease werereported.

By Sunday, the pneumoniasituation had resulted in a totalof 80 deaths, while 51 peoplehad recovered and 5,794remained as suspected patients,state run Xinhua news agencyquoted the Commission assaying.

A total of 32,799 closecontacts have been traced, thecommission said, adding

30,453 among them were cur-rently under medical observa-tion while 583 others weredischarged on Sunday.

Almost all provinces inChina except Tibet havereported the virus cases.

In addition, 17 confirmedcases were reported in HongKong and Macao specialadministrative regions andTaiwan, besides eight in HongKong, five in Macao and fourin Taiwan.

Overseas, confirmed casesincluded seven in Thailand,four each in Australia andSingapore, three each in theUnited States, the Republic ofKorea, Japan, France andMalaysia, two in Vietnam andone in Nepal.

The mayor of the Hubeiprovince capital Wuhan, whichhas emerged as the epicentre ofthe epidemic outbreak, said heexpects another 1,000 newpatients in the city, officialmedia reported.

“There are signs showingthe virus is becoming moretransmissible. These walking‘contagious agents’ [hidden

carriers] make controlling theoutbreak a lot more difficult,”he said.

Mayor Zhou Xianwangsaid “it was possible to addabout 1,000 cases” based on thenumber of patients in hospitalbeing tested or undergoingobservation in the city.

A high power committee,formed to fight the coron-avirus epidemic under thechairpersonship of Premier LiKeqiang, on Sunday said thevirus’ ability to spread wasgetting stronger andannounced a slew of measuresto combat it.

To curb the epidemic,China has decided to adopt ahost of measures includingdelaying and reducing confer-ences and major events,extending the current SpringFestival holidays and support-ing online work.

To reduce populationflows, the meeting decided onmeasures such as extending theSpring Festival holiday, whichis scheduled between Jan 24and 30, and delaying the startof the spring semester at col-

leges and schools.It called for maximum

efforts to reduce the mortalityrate of patients and enhancetheir treatment.

More research will be con-ducted on cured patients andtreatment measures will befurther refined, with moretraining programmes sched-uled for medical workers, anofficial statement said.

The Chinese Centre forDisease Control andPrevention (CDC) on Sundaysaid researchers have isolatedviruses and were selecting astrain, Xu Wenbo, a director ofCDC’s virus institute said.

Xu told media thatresearchers had used high-throughput genetic sequencingto identify pathogens one dayafter the first four sampleswere sent from Wuhan onJanuary 2.

China’s National HealthCommission on Sunday saidthe new coronavirus is conta-gious even in its incubationperiod, which lasts up to 14days, and that the virus’ abili-ty to spread is getting stronger.

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Adeadly virus that hasprompted travel restric-

tions in China is sendingshockwaves through Asia’stourism industry, which hasbecome increasingly reliant ongrowing numbers of Chinesevisitors.

At least 81 people havedied since the new strain ofcoronavirus emerged in China’sWuhan, and millions are nowunder an effective quarantine,with all flights in and out of thecity grounded and a ban onChinese tour groups domesti-cally and abroad.

The measures come amida boom in Chinese foreigntravel, with the number oftourists from the countryincreasing nearly tenfold since2003, according to a report by

research firm CapitalEconomics. But businesses indestinations that rely on thehuge numbers of Chinesetourists are already feeling theheat, with complaints of“deserted” beaches and shops,and concerns about the future.

The outbreak carriesechoes of the SARS crisis,which paralysed regional trav-el and battered local economiesfrom late 2002. Chinese touristnumbers then fell by around athird.

“If they fell by a similaramount again, it would knockaround 1.5-2.0 percentagepoints from (gross domesticproduct) in the most vulnera-ble countries,” CapitalEconomics said.

In Japan, the fall in Chinesevisitors was already being feltin Asakusa, a popular tourist

destination near the Sensojitemple.

“We’ve definitely been see-ing less people this year,” saidYoshie Yoneyama, 31, manag-er of a shop selling traditionalJapanese sweets and a rice-based drink called amazake.

“I think there are less thanhalf the numbers of last year orthe year before,” she told AFP.

The number of Chineseholidaying in Japan has explod-ed from around 450,000 in2003 to 8.4 million in 2018,accounting for 27 percent of allinbound tourists as Tokyoworks to expand the sector.

But it will now be “very dif-ficult” for Japan to achieve itstarget of 40 million tourists in2020, Yuki Takashima, an econ-omist at Nomura Securities,told AFP.

And the effects will be felt

beyond hotels, restaurants andtourist sites, because manyChinese tourists visit Japanspecifically to shop.

Electronic appliances andbeauty products usually top oftheir lists, Takashima said, soretail outlets will see their bot-tom lines affected.

The crisis has already sentJapan’s key Nikkei index plung-ing, with stock in Shiseido —a cosmetics brand popular withChinese tourists — plungingmore than five percent onMonday. “We can expect thosestocks to continue to fall likedominoes,” said Stephen Innes,chief market strategist atAxiCorp.

But he said Japan would bebetter placed to weather thestorm than another top desti-nation for Chinese tourists:Thailand.

Tourism accounts for 18percent of the nation’s GDP,with Chinese holidaymakersmaking up more than a quar-ter of total arrivals.

The country’s tourismminister has already warned acrisis on the scale of SARScould cost an estimated USD1.6 billion, and the effects arealready clear in Phuket.

“For two days, the streets,the shops and the beaches havebeen deserted,” said Claude deCrissey, who owns a 40-roomhotel and a restaurant on theisland. “Phuket has focusedalmost exclusively on Chinesetourism... if the situation con-tinues, we will all be impacted,”he told AFP.

Australia too, already reel-ing from the effects of the bush-fire crisis, is likely to feel theimpact.

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At least five persons, includingfour Chinese nationals, have

been put under observation inPakistan for suspected coron-avirus infection, according to amedia report. The deadly novelvirus, which causes pneumonia-like illness, has already killed 80people and infected more than2,700 others in China.

Two samples from Multanhave been sent to Hong Kong forconfirmation as there are no lab-

oratories in Pakistan equipped todiagnose the pathogen, TheExpress Tribune quoted thehealth ministry sources as saying.One of the two patients in Multanis a Pakistani national, the reportsaid. On Saturday, NationalInstitutes of Health chief MajorGeneral Dr Aamer Ikram said aChinese national has been admit-ted to a hospital in Multan andkept in the isolation ward after heshowed symptoms of the diseaseincluding flu, cough and fever.

Test reports are expected to

arrive in a couple of days, thereport said. According to sources,the Chinese national travelledfrom China to Dubai andreached Karachi on January 21.After landing in Karachi, hetook a flight to Multan.

Three Chinese nationalswere also admitted to a hospitalin Lahore and shifted to the iso-lation ward on Saturday.

According to hospitalsources, the suspected patientswere residents of the Chinese cityof Wuhan and had recently

arrived in Lahore.Meanwhile, the Foreign

Office has confirmed that allPakistanis in Wuhan, and inother parts of China, are safe.

The coronavirus, officiallyknown as 2019-nCoV, was firstreported in Hubei province’scapital city Wuhan and hasspread throughout China andaround the world including theUS, Australia and South Korea.

There are 41 incoming flightsfrom China to Pakistan everyweek, mostly taking away and

bringing the Chinese.Thousands of Chinese

nationals who are working onprojects in various cities inPakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridorregularly travel between the twocountries, raising fears they couldspread the disease.

The coronavirus has causedalarm because of its similarity toSARS (Severe Acute RespiratorySyndrome), which killed nearly650 people across mainlandChina in 2002-2003.

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ABritish court on Mondayordered that a luxury yacht

owned by Force India Limitedbe sold and its proceeds beused to pay back QatarNational Bank to enforce itsmortgage on the vessel.

During court proceedings,brought by the bank in theAdmiralty Division of the HighCourt in England, it had beenclaimed that liquor tycoonVijay Mallya’s son SiddharthMallya was the ultimate bene-ficial owner of the yacht.

However, the bank saidthat without grappling withthat issue, their claim wasfocused on recovering out-standing loan payments esti-mated at around Euro 6 mil-lion.

“Security for the loan…included a personal guaranteefrom Dr Mallya, an individualclosely connected with the bor-rower,” notes the judgmenthanded down by Justice NigelTeare in London on Monday.

“The sum claimed in thisaction in rem is Euro 5 millionplus interest and the costs of‘collection’ which the claimantis entitled to recover,” it adds.

The judgment also takesnote of the fact that theDefendant, listed as “the ownerof the yacht Force India”, chose

not to appear at a scheduledtrial earlier this month after itssolicitors “came off the record”in November last.

The yacht itself remainsunder arrest in Southampton,a port on England’s south coast,and court appointed AdmiraltyMarshal Paul Farren will nowproceed with organising theappraisement and sale of thevessel in order to recover thecosts.

As part of the process, anyother claimants to the proceedsof the sale will be given noticeto register their claims withinan advertised period of timeover the next six-10 weeks.

A consortium of Indianbanks, led by State Bank ofIndia, are likely to be amongthose claimants as they pursuea separate bankruptcy orderagainst Mallya over unpaidloans related to his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

“The court order todaymeans the yacht must be soldand large sums of money bepaid to the claimant (QatarNational Bank),” said GideonShirazi, the barrister whoappeared on behalf of QatarNational Bank.

The yacht, described as a49.9-metre Mangusta 165superyacht, was owned by acompany related to GizmoInvest SA, whose ultimate ben-

eficial owner is claimed to be64-year-old Mallya, and ForceIndia’s ultimate beneficialowner is said to be his son,Sidharth.

Shirazi told the judge onMonday that an allegationmade by the defence that therehad been “undue influence”involved in the mortgageprocess for the yacht wasremoved at a later stage in thecourt proceedings, causing sig-nificant extra costs to QatarNational Bank.

The judge agreed it hadbeen a “striking allegation”and granted the claimant costson an indemnity basis.

Mallya, meanwhile,remains on bail on a warrantexecuted by Scotland Yard inApril 2017 pending a HighCourt appeal next monthagainst his extradition order toIndia, signed off by former UKhome secretary Sajid Javid lastyear.

The former KingfisherAirlines boss had won areprieve in July last year whena two-judge panel at the RoyalCourts of Justice in Londongranted him permission toappeal against the extraditionorder of WestminsterMagistrates’ Court to face fraudand money laundering chargesamounting to Rs 9,000 croresin India.

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India’s 71st Republic Day cel-ebrations in the US on

Sunday were marred by somepeaceful protests and marchesby a large number of IndianAmericans in various cities ofthe country against the recentchanges in the citizenship law.

Among Indian Americans,the Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA), 2019, however,also had a fair share of its sup-porters who sought to counterprotesters by asserting that“India cares for NeighbouringMinorities” and “CAA Won’tImpact Indian Citizens.”

The supporters, however,appeared to be outnumberedby protesters, who held peace-ful rallies and marches in var-ious US cities, carrying anti-CAA banners and raising slo-gans against Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and demand-ing CAA’s repeal and revoca-tion of the proposed NationalRegister for Citizens.

They raised the demandruing that India’s secular fabricis under threat.

In some of the cities, par-ticularly New York, Chicago,Houston, Atlanta and SanFrancisco having Indian con-sulates, and at the IndianEmbassy in Washington DC,the protestors shouted sloganslike “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and“Hindu, Muslim Sikh, Isai:Aapas Mein Sab Bhai Bhai”.

The protesters, howeverwere countered by a number ofIndian Americans who sup-ported the enactment and con-gratulated the ModiGovernment for taking such a

bold step.The largest gathering of

anti-CAA protestors wasreported from Chicago whereIndian Americans gathered inlarge numbers and formed sev-eral mile-long human chain. In the American capital ofWashington DC, more than500 Indian Americans marchedfrom a park near the WhiteHouse to the Gandhi Statue infront of the Indian Embassy.

The anti-CAA protests inat least 30 US cities were orga-nized by recently formedCoalition to Stop Genocide,comprising several organiza-tions like Indian AmericanMuslim Council (IAMC),Equality Labs, Black LivesMatter (BLM), Jewish Voice forPeace (JVP) and Hindus forHuman Rights (HfHR).

“The brutal crackdown bygovernment in India on anti-CAA and anti-NRC protestshas created a situation in whichwomen in large numbers havecome out on streets to chal-lenge the divisive-communal-fascist agenda of the govern-ment,” Magsaysay Award win-ner Sandeep Pandey said,addressing a gathering inWashington DC.

“It gives hope that democ-racy and Constitution can ulti-mately be saved by the com-mon people from a govern-ment which is bent upondestroying them,” he said.

IAMC president AhsanKhan said from the Bay Areain California, the rally of IndianAmericans represents an exten-sion of the massive unrest inIndia against the ruling BJPgovernment for its relentless

attacks against the secularConstitution.

“Indian Americans andpeople of conscience in the USare seeking accountability fromthe Hindu nationalist regimethat wants to turn IndianMuslims into foreigners andrender them stateless,” saidKhan after the rally in SanFrancisco.

“Protests happening notonly in India but around theworld represent a global con-sensus against the draconianpolicies of the Modi-Shah gov-ernment,” said Dr Shaik Ubaidfrom New York.

“All Indians are equal citi-zens and that is the founda-tional social contract betweenthe Indian nation and its citi-zens,” said Minhaj Khan fromNew Jersey.

“Breaking this contract hasgrave implications for thefuture of India as a country,” headded.

Meanwhile in Houston,over 150 Indian-Americansrallied in support of the CAAand the NRC outside theIndian Consulate in Houstonon Sunday, saying these mea-sures were required to save theminorities in Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Carrying placards and ban-ners with pro-CitizenshipAmendment Act and NationalRegister of Citizens messages,the demonstrators lauded theIndian government for giving“persecuted minorities fromneighbouring nations a life ofrespect and dignity.”

The event closed withsinging of the national anthemsof the USA and India.

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Pro-Pakistani elements haveinfiltrated the anti-CAA

protests in the US to executetheir hidden agenda againstIndia, an Indian-Americancommunity leader has said.

During a recent protestagainst the CAA inWashington DC, posters wereseen reflective of the presenceof pro-Pakistani elements.

Not only this, at least twoPakistani-Americans wereamong the main organisers ofthe anti-CAA protests inWashington DC on Sunday,claimed Indian-Americancommunity leader AdapaPrasad.

The Citizenship

Amendment Act (CAA) cameinto force in India lastDecember amid protests inIndia and around the world.

The Indian governmenthas stressed that the new Actdoes not deny any citizenshiprights but has been brought into protect the oppressedminorities of neighbouringcountries and provide them cit-izenship.

“Darakshan Raja, aPakistani-American activistwho also co-ordinatesKashmiri separatist protests inWashington DC area alongwith another Pakistani-American Muslim activistnamed Khudai Tanveer, wereone of the main coordinators ofthe anti-CAA protests,” Prasad

told PTI.Prasad and his team shared

videos and pictures of the indi-viduals from the anti-CAAprotests in Washington DC,which was attended by morethan 500 Indian-Americansfrom in and around the city.

Prasad said one of theposters written in Urdu said“Hans ke Liya hai Pakistan, Larrke lengey Hindustan”.

“This in English meanswe easily got Pakistan, now wewill fight out to get India,” hesaid as he shared the picture ofthe said poster.

“This is disgusting. Pro-ISIand pro-Pakistani elements areusing this protest to executetheir hidden agenda which isdepicted in their own poster,”

Prasad said.He said the protests are also

being misused by pro-Khalistani activists to pushtheir agenda.

“Arjun Sethi, a proKhalistani activist, was alsoamongst the coordinators ofthe anti-CAA rally,” Prasadsaid.

Sethi had recently testifiedbefore a CongressionalCommittee on Kashmir.

In recent weeks, some ofthe Indian-Americans, duringprivate conversation inWhatsApp groups, hadexpressed apprehensions thattheir anti-CAA protests couldbe misused by elements close toISI and Pakistan.

There had been moments

during which the organisers ofthese protests had increasedscrutiny of those trying to leadthe anti-CAA protests.

“It could be a trap to por-tray Indians and IndianMuslims in a negative light bysomeone,” Mike Ghouse, anIndian-American who is thepresident of Washington DC-based Center for Pluralism,said in a recent blog.

Most of these anti-CAAprotestors chant “Bharat MataKi Jia” and carry Indian nation-al flag.

Some of the eye witnessestold PTI that the “HindustanPakistan” poster written inUrdu were withdrawn quicklyafter it came to the notice ofsome of the organizers.

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A27-year-old PakistaniPashtun minority leader,

known for criticising the coun-try’s powerful military, wasarrested on Monday for allegedsedition, media reports said.

Manzoor Pashteen, chief ofthe rights-based alliancePashtun Tahaffuz Movement(PTM), attended a gathering onJanuary 18 in KhyberPakhtunkhwa’s Dera IsmailKhan city where he hadallegedly said that the 1973Constitution violated basichuman rights, Dawn newspa-per reported.

He was arrested along withnine other PTM workers fromPeshawar, police said.

The PTM has been critical

of the Army’s policies in therestive northwestern tribalareas where a massive opera-tion against terrorists was car-ried out in recent years, lead-ing to large-scale displacementand enforced disappearances,the report said.

It also calls for endingextrajudicial killings, enforceddisappearances and unlawfuldetentions besides holding thepractitioners responsible.

The PTM chief has beenbooked for criminal intimida-tion, promoting enmitybetween different groups, crim-inal conspiracy, sedition andcondemning the creation of thecountry and advocating theabolishment of its sovereignty,the report said.

The FIR said that Pashteen

also made derogatory com-ments about the state.

Human rights watchdogAmnesty International hascalled for Pashteen’s “immedi-ate and unconditional” release.

“Manzoor Pashteen has beenarbitrarily detained for exercisinghis human rights to freedom ofexpression and peaceful assem-bly. He must be released imme-diately and unconditionally,” itsaid on Twitter. Taking toTwitter, senior PTM leaderand National Assembly mem-ber Mohsin Dawar said: “Thisis our punishment for demand-ing our rights in a peaceful anddemocratic manner. Manzoor’sarrest will only strengthen ourresolve. We demand the imme-diate release of ManzoorPashteen”.

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Four unidentified persons vandalised a temple in a village inPakistan’s Sindh province following which a case was regis-

tered against them, according to a media report on Monday.The Mata Deval Bhittani temple in a village near Thar’s

Chhachro town in Sindh province was vandalised by four menon Sunday night, Dawn newspaper reported.

A first information report (FIR) was registered on Mondayagainst the four men, the paper said.

The police were looking for the culprits and had sought helpfrom “local experts” who were examining the footprints of themiscreants to identify them, Chhachro Station House OfficerHussain Bux Rajar said.

The Special Assistant to Sindh chief minister on human rights,Advocate Veerji Kolhi, said that the miscreants had meant to dis-turb communal peace in the area and urged people of all com-munities to stay calm. He promised that those responsible willbe brought to justice.

Hindus form the biggest minority community in Pakistan.According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in

Pakistan. However, according to the community, over 90 lakhHindus are living in the country.

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Three rockets slammed intothe US embassy in Iraq’s

capital on Sunday in the firstdirect hit reported after monthsof close calls, as thousands ofprotesters kept up anti-gov-ernment sit-ins across thecountry.

The attack marked a dan-gerous escalation in the spreeof rocket attacks in recentmonths that have targeted theembassy or Iraqi military baseswhere American troops aredeployed.

None of the attacks hasbeen claimed but Washingtonhas repeatedly blamed Iran-backed military factions inIraq.

On Sunday, one rocket hitan embassy cafeteria at dinnertime while two others landednearby, a security source toldAFP.

A senior Iraqi official toldAFP at least one person waswounded, but it was not imme-diately clear how serious theinjuries were and whether theperson was an Americannational or an Iraqi staff mem-ber working at the mission.

The US embassy did notimmediately respond torequests for comment.

The US State Departmentcalled on Iraq late Sunday to“fulfil its obligations to protectour diplomatic facilities”.

The attack took place ear-lier in the day than usual, withAFP reporters hearing thebooms on the western bank ofthe river Tigris at precisely 7:30pm (1630 GMT).

Iraqi Prime Minister AdelAbdel Mahdi and Speaker ofParliament MohammedHalbusi both condemned theincident, saying it risked drag-ging their homeland into war.

Iraq has already beendragged into a worrying tit-for-tat between the United Statesand Iran over the last month.

A similar attack on anorthern Iraqi base killed anAmerican contractor, and theUS retaliated with a strike onan Iran-backed faction known

as Kataeb Hezbollah.Less than a week later, a US

drone strike killed Iranian gen-eral Qasem Soleimani outsidethe Baghdad airport —prompting Iran to fire ballisticmissiles at an Iraqi base whereUS troops are stationed.

Some 5,200 Americans arestationed in Iraq to lead theglobal coalition fighting theIslamic State militant group,but the US strike on Baghdadhas rallied top Iraqi figuresaround a joint call to orderthem out. Vehemently anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadrorganised a mass rally inBaghdad on Friday, wherethousands of his supporterscalled for American troops toleave. Sadr had previouslybacked separate anti-regimeprotests sweeping Iraq’s capitaland south, even though hecontrols the largest bloc inparliament and top ministeri-al posts. Bolstered by his ownprotest on Friday, Sadrannounced he was droppingsupport for the youth-domi-nated reform campaign rock-ing the country since October.

His followers, widelyregarded as the best-organ-ised and well-stocked of the

anti-government demonstra-tors, immediately began dis-mantling their tents and head-ing home.

Activists feared that with-out his political cover, author-ities would move to crush theirmovement — and indeed,within hours, riot police triedto storm protest camps.

Those efforts continuedinto Sunday, with securityforces using live rounds andtear gas to try to flush protest-ers out of squares and streetsthey had occupied for months.

One protester was shotdead in Baghdad and anotherin the flashpoint southern cityof Nasiriyah, medical sourcessaid, and dozens more werewounded across the country.

In the capital, riot policehave tried to clear streetsaround the main protest campof Tahrir Square but have yet toenter the symbolic area, wheremany protesters stood theirground even after tents therewere dismantled.

Just after midnight inNasiriyah, unknown assailantsstormed the main protest campin Habbubi Square and set thetents on fire, the flames light-ing up the night sky, an AFP

correspondent there said.Despite the renewed vio-

lence, thousands of studentsflooded the streets in the cap-ital and across the south in abid to keep national attentionfocused on their demands.

“Only for you, Iraq!” reada sign held by a young protesterin the shrine city of Karbala,hinting at the movement’s insis-tence on not being affiliatedwith any political party or out-side backer.

In Basra, hundreds of stu-dents gathered to condemnthe riot police’s dismantling oftheir main protest camp theprevious day, according to anAFP correspondent.

The youth-led protestserupted on October 1 in out-rage over lack of jobs, poor ser-vices and rampant corruptionbefore spiralling into calls fora government overhaul afterthey were met with violence.

More than 470 people havedied, a vast majority of themdemonstrators, since the ralliesbegan. Protesters are nowdemanding snap elections, theappointment of an independentpremier and the prosecution ofanyone implicated in corrup-tion or recent bloodshed.

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The stakes over witness tes-timony at President Donald

Trump’s impeachment trial arerising now that a draft of abook from former nationalsecurity adviser John Boltonappears to undercut a keydefense argument.

Bolton writes in the forth-coming book that Trump toldhim that he wanted to withholdhundreds of millions of dollarsin security aid from Ukraineuntil it helped him with polit-ically charged investigations,including into Democratic rivalJoe Biden.

Trump’s legal team hasrepeatedly insisted that thepresident never tied the sus-pension of military assistanceto the country to investigationsthat he wanted into Biden andhis son.

The account immediatelygave Democrats new fuel intheir pursuit of sworn testi-mony from Bolton and otherwitnesses, a question expectedto be taken up later this weekby the Republican-led Senate.The trial resumes Mondayafternoon with arguments fromTrump’s defense team.

Bolton’s account was firstreported by The New YorkTimes and confirmed to TheAssociated Press by a personfamiliar with the manuscript onthe condition of anonymity todiscuss the book, “The RoomWhere It Happened; A WhiteHouse Memoir,” ahead of itsrelease March 17.

When the Times reportwent online Sunday night, theseven House Democratic man-agers immediately called on allsenators to insist that Bolton becalled as a witness and providehis notes and other relevantdocuments. Sen. ChuckSchumer, the Senate’s topDemocrat, issued the samecall. Trump denied the claimsin a series of tweets earlyMonday. “I NEVER told JohnBolton that the aid to Ukrainewas tied to investigations intoDemocrats, including theBidens,” Trump said in a tweet.“In fact, he never complainedabout this at the time of hisvery public termination. IfJohn Bolton said this, it wasonly to sell a book.”

Trump said people couldlook at transcripts of his call,and statements by UkrainePresident Vlodymyr Zelinskiy

that there was no pressure forsuch investigations to get theaid.

Bolton, who acrimonious-ly left the White House a daybefore Trump ultimatelyreleased the Ukraine aid onSept. 11, has already told law-makers that he is willing to tes-tify, despite the president’sorder barring aides from coop-erating in the probe.

“Americans know that afair trial must include both thedocuments and witnessesblocked by the President —that starts with Mr. Bolton,” theimpeachment managers said ina statement.

First, though, Trump’s legalteam will begin laying out itscase in depth, turning to sev-eral high-profile attorneys toargue against impeachment.

The lawyers revealed thebroad outlines of their defensein a rare but truncated Saturdaysession, where they accusedHouse Democrats of using theimpeachment case to try toundo the results of the last pres-idential election and driveTrump from office.

The legal team is expectedto pick up on that theme andalso dive into areas that

received negligible attentionduring the Democrats’ pre-sentation, including the now-concluded investigation intoties between Russia andTrump’s 2016 campaign.

Trump’s lawyers aren’texpected to take as much timefor their arguments as theDemocrats, whose impeach-ment managers spoke for about24 hours over three days. But they also don’t need to:Acquittal is likely in a Senatewhere Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, with a two-thirdsvote needed for conviction.Still, they see an opportunity tocounter the allegations, defendthe powers of the presidencyand prevent Trump from beingweakened politically ahead ofNovember’s election.

Trump faces two articles ofimpeachment. One accuseshim of abusing his power byasking Ukraine to investigateJoe Biden, his Democratic rival,at the same time that hisadministration withheld hun-dreds of millions of dollarsfrom the country. The otheralleges that Trump obstructedCongress by directing aides tonot cooperate with theimpeachment inquiry.

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The US military on Mondaysaid it is investigating

reports of an airplane crash inTaliban-controlled territory inAfghanistan.

US Army Major BethRiordan, a spokeswoman forUS Central Command, said itremained unclear whose air-craft was involved in the crash.

Riordan declined to imme-diately comment further.

However, pictures on socialmedia purportedly from thecrash site showed what couldbe the remains of a BombardierE-11A aircraft, which the USmilitary uses for electronicsurveillance over Afghanistan.

Local Afghan officials hadsaid earlier on Monday that apassenger place fromAfghanistan’s Ariana Airlineshad crashed in the Taliban-held

area of the eastern Ghazniprovince. However, ArianaAirlines told The AssociatedPress that none of its planes hadcrashed in Afghanistan.

The conflicting accountscould not immediately be rec-onciled. The number of peopleon board and their fate was notimmediately known, nor wasthe cause of the crash.

Arif Noori, spokesman forthe provincial governor, saidthe plane went down around1:10 pm local time (8:40 amGMT) in Deh Yak district,some 130 kilometers (80 miles)southwest of the capital Kabul.

He said the crash site is interritory controlled by theTaliban. Two provincial coun-cil members also confirmed thecrash.

But the acting director forAriana Airlines, MirwaisMirzakwal, dismissed reports

that one the company’s aircrafthad crashed. The state-ownedairline also released a statementon its website saying all its air-craft were operational and safe.

The mountainous Ghazniprovince sits in the foothills ofthe Hindu Kush mountainsand is bitterly cold in winter.The Taliban currently controlor hold sway over around halfthe country.

The last major commercialair crash in Afghanistanoccurred in 2005, when a KamAir flight from the western cityof Herat to Kabul crashed intothe mountains as it tried to landin snowy weather.

The war, however, has seena number of deadly crashes ofmilitary aircraft. One of themost spectacular occurred in2013 when an AmericanBoeing 747 cargo jet crashedshortly after takeoff from

Bagram air base north of Kabulen route to Dubai in the UnitedArab Emirates.

All seven crew memberwere killed. The US NationalTransportation Safety Boardinvestigation found that largemilitary vehicles were inade-quately secured and had shift-ed during flight, causing dam-age to the control systems that“rendered the airplane uncon-trollable.”

Afghanistan’s aviationindustry suffered desperatelyduring the rule of the Talibanwhen Ariana, its only airline atthe time, was subject to pun-ishing sanctions and allowed tofly only to Saudi Arabia for Hajjpilgrimage.

Since the overthrow of theTaliban’s religious regime,smaller private airlines haveemerged, but the industry isstill a nascent one.

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The Portuguese hackerinvolved in the “Football

Leaks” revelations is also thewhistleblower behind the“Luanda Leaks” scandalembroiling the daughter of anex-president, his lawyers saidMonday.

Rui Pinto handed over “ahard-drive containing all datarelated to the recent revelationsconcerning Ms. Isabel DosSantos’s fortune, her family’sand all the actors that might beinvolved in the fraudulentoperations committed at theexpense of the Angolan State,”said a statement from hislawyers.

The tycoon daughter offormer president Jose Eduardodos Santos has vowed to fightcorruption allegations whichhave stretched across Angola’sstate oil and diamond indus-tries and banks.

Dos Santos has beenaccused of financial crimes

during her tenure at Sonangol,Angola’s state-owned oil giantwhich she headed during herfather’s rule.

Pinto had forwarded thehard drive to the Platform toProtect Whistleblowers inAfrica and the InternationalConsortium of InvestigativeJournalists, his lawyers said.

Pinto had “sought to helpunderstanding complex oper-ations conducted with the com-plicity of banks and juristswhich not only impoverish thepeople and the State of Angola,but may have seriously dam-aged Portugal’s general inter-est,” the statement said.

A Portuguese court decid-ed on January 17 to go aheadwith the trial of Rui Pinto,Teixeira da Mota told AFPafter a hearing in Lisbon, not-ing the number of offences hehas been charged with hasbeen reduced to 90 from 147.

Pinto was extradited fromHungary last March forallegedly attempting to black-

mail Doyen Sports, an invest-ment fund, asking for between500,000 and one million eurosin return for not publishingdocuments he had obtainedillegally from the computersystems of Doyen and ofSporting Lisbon.

His lawyers claim that hehad abandoned his blackmailattempt on his own initiative.

They say Pinto is a “veryimportant European whistle-blower”. The Football Leaksrevelations allowed prosecutorsin several countries, includingBritain and France, to investi-gate possible wrongdoing infootball.

Angolans call Isabel dosSantos “the princess”, and sheis Africa’s richest womanaccording to Forbes, whichestimates her assets at USD 2.1billion.

Hundreds of companies,many based in tax havens suchas the British Virgin Islands, arealleged to have helped dosSantos accrue her fortune.

�� Sydney (AFP): A woman diedwhile taking part in a cake-eat-ing competition to celebrateAustralia Day, local mediareported Monday.

Paramedics were called toa pub in the state ofQueensland on Sunday after-noon after a woman wasinvolved in a “medical inci-dent”.

Public broadcaster ABCreported the 60-year-old had aseizure after she “shovelled alamington into her mouth”.

Lamingtons, a traditionalAustralian dessert, are cube-shaped sponge cakes dipped inchocolate and covered in grat-ed coconut.

The woman was rushed tohospital in the coastal town ofHervey Bay but later died,ABC reported.

She was a contestant in theBeach House Hotel’s annualAustralia Day lamington andmeat pie eating contest.

In a post on Facebook,management and staff offeredtheir “deepest condolences” tothe woman’s friends and fam-ily.

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Italy’s populist leader MatteoSalvini appeared to have failed

in his bid to win a key regionalelection and topple the country’sfragile coalition government,according to exit polls lateSunday.

The far-right League hadhoped to score a historic upsetand force snap elections in theregional vote in Emilia Romagna,but a high turnout appeared tohave favoured the incumbentcentre-left candidate.

The Democratic Party’s (PD)Stefano Bonaccini had wonaround 50 percent of the voteagainst the anti-immigrantLeague candidate LuciaBorgonzoni’s 43 percent, accord-ing to projections made at 0100GMT, after vote counting gotunder way.

The wealthy centre-northregion of Emilia Romagna hasbeen a stronghold of the Italianleft for over 70 years, but while

left-wing values still hold sway inits cities, the right had rallied seri-ous support in towns and thecountryside.

Polls published before thepre-election media blackoutshowed the League neck-and-neck with the PD, which governsItaly in coalition with the anti-establishment Five StarMovement (M5S).

Turnout in the key regionwas almost double at around 67percent compared with 37 per-cent in 2014, potentially thanksto the support of the anti-populistyouth-driven Sardines move-ment.

Some 3.5 million citizenswere eligible to cast ballots to electthe region’s president.

“After 70 years there was amatch in Emilia Romagna,”Salvini told journalists after thefirst exit polls were published,without conceding defeat.

The candidate of formerpremier Silvio Berlusconi’s ForzaItalia, Jole Santelli, appeared to

have won as predicted in thesmaller southern region ofCalbria, exit polls said.

The League was hoping fora repeat of its historic win inOctober in Umbria, which hadbeen a left-wing fiefdom for 50years.

League candidateBorgonzoni, 43, was overshad-owed by Salvini, who held dailyrallies and inundated socialmedia with snaps of him sam-pling delicacies in the Parma hamand Parmesan cheese heartland.

Salvini infuriated the leftSaturday when he broke the pre-election silence — which underItalian law means candidatescannot campaign the day beforea vote — by tweeting about the“eviction notice” he was set todeliver to the government.

PD candidate Bonaccinihoped to win on his track recordin the region, which boasts lowjobless figures and is home to“Made in Italy” success storiessuch as Ferrari and Lamborghini.

He also benefitted from theSardines movement, which wasborn in the region just a coupleof months ago but has fastbecome a national symbol ofprotest against the far right.

But analysts said many localfamily-run, artisanal firms weredisgruntled and feeling leftbehind by the march of globali-sation.

The League triumphed inEmilia Romagna at the EuropeanParliament elections in May,becoming the leading party withnearly 34 percent of the votes,topping the PD’s 31 percent.

Just five years earlier ithad taken home a mere fivepercent, compared to the PD’s53 percent.

Voter Andrea Setti, a 34-yearold bank employee, told AFP hefelt it was even more importantthan usual for him to cast his bal-lot, as the region’s political“colour”, or allegiance, wasnowhere near as clear cut as itused to be.

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Irish Prime Minister LeoVaradkar believes the

European Union has the upperhand in upcoming trade negoti-ations with Britain after Brexit, hesaid in an interview broadcast onMonday. Varadkar argued thesize of the EU, which will com-prise 27 countries once Britainhas left on Friday, means it holdsmore sway in talks with Londonover their future relationship.

The Irish leader, who isfighting a general election onFebruary 8, also cast doubt onfinalising a free trade deal thisyear, as insisted on by his Britishcounterpart Boris Johnson.

“We (the EU) have a popu-

lation and a market of 450 mil-lion people. The UK, it’s about 60(million),” Varadkar told BBCtelevision.

“So if these were two teamsup against each other playingfootball, who do you think hasthe stronger team?” Varadkar,who played a pivotal part in thefirst phase of UK-EU divorcetalks, met the bloc’s chief Brexitnegotiator Michel Barnier inDublin on Monday.

The Irish leader added in theinterview that Brussels would notaccept anything less than a com-prehensive free trade agreementwith Britain moving forward.

“When I hear people talkabout piecemeal, it sounds a bitlike cake and eat,” he said, refer-

ring to securing only a partialdeal by the end of the year.

“That isn’t something thatwill fly in Europe.” London indi-cated earlier this month it couldseek a piecemeal post-Brexitdeal with the EU that leaves someissues unresolved but still lets itbreak free from the bloc at theend of the year.

Britain leaves the EU at 2300GMT on Friday, when it willbegin an 11-month transitionphase during which existingarrangements remainunchanged. Johnson wants toagree the terms of the future rela-tionship, modelled on the EU’sfree trade agreement withCanada, by the end of that peri-od.

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Seventy-five years after the lib-eration of Auschwitz, a dwin-

dling number of elderlyHolocaust survivors gathered atthe former German Nazi deathcamp on Monday to honour itsmore than 1.1 million mostlyJewish victims and to sharetheir alarm over rising anti-semitism.

More than 200 survivorscame from across the globe tothe camp the Nazis built atOswiecim in then-occupiedPoland, to share their testimo-ny as a stark warning amid arecent surge of anti-semiticattacks on both sides of theAtlantic, some of them deadly.

Survivors dressed in blueand white striped caps andscarves symbolic of the uniformsprisoners wore at the camp,passed through its chilling“Arbeit macht Frei” (German for“Work makes you free”) blackwrought-iron gate.

Accompanied by PolishPresident Andrzej Duda, theylaid floral wreaths by the Death

Wall in Auschwitz where theNazis shot dead thousands ofprisoners.

“We want the next genera-tion to know what we wentthrough and that it should neverhappen again,” Auschwitz sur-vivor David Marks, 93, saidearlier at the former death camp,his voice breaking with emotion.

Thirty-five members of hisimmediate and extended fami-ly of Romanian Jews were killedin Auschwitz, the largest of NaziGermany’s camps that has cometo symbolise the six millionEuropean Jews who died in theHolocaust.

From mid-1942 the Nazissystematically deported Jewsfrom all over Europe to sixcamps — Auschwitz-Birkenau,Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek,Sobibor and Treblinka.

Organisers insist thatMonday’s memorial ceremonymust focus above all on whatsurvivors have to say ratherthan the bitter political feuds thathave tainted the run-up to theanniversary.

“This is about survivors, it’s

not about politics,” RonaldLauder, head of the WorldJewish Congress, told AFP in theAuschwitz camp, now a memo-rial and state museum run byPoland. “We see anti-semitismrising now and we don’t wanttheir (survivors) past to be theirchildren’s future, or their grandchildren’s future,” he added.

Royals, presidents andprime ministers from nearly 60countries will attend the cere-mony, but no top world leaders,some of whom opted instead toattend a high-profile Holocaustforum in Israel last week seen asrivalling the ceremonies inPoland.

Poland’s President Dudaboycotted the Jerusalem forumafter he was denied the oppor-tunity to speak there whileRussian President VladimirPutin was given the floor, despitehaving earlier falsely accusedPoland of colluding withGerman Nazi dictator AdolfHitler and contributing to theoutbreak of World War II.

Duda was to make anaddress at the Monday ceremo-

ny in Auschwitz alongside sur-vivors.

While the world onlylearned the full extent of its hor-rors after the Soviet Red Armyentered the camp on January 27,1945, the Allies had detailedinformation about NaziGermany’s genocide againstJews much earlier.

In December 1942, Poland’sthen London-based govern-ment-in-exile forwarded a doc-ument, titled “The MassExtermination of Jews inGerman Occupied Poland”, tothe Allies.

The document includeddetailed accounts of the unfold-ing Holocaust as witnessed bymembers of the Polish resis-tance, but drew disbelief andonly muted reactions from theinternational community.

To inform the Allies, Polishresistance fighters Jan Karski andWitold Pilecki famously riskedtheir lives in separate operationsto infiltrate and then escapefrom Nazi death camps andghettos in occupied Poland,including Auschwitz.

�� !�� La Paz (AFP): Bolivia’s interimPresident Jeanine Anez asked allher ministers to resign a littlemore than three months beforea general election, a statementfrom the presidency said onSunday. The news came justhours after communication min-ister Roxana Lizarraga resignedin protest at Anez’s decision tostand as a presidential candidatein the May 3 election.

When assuming the interimpresidency on November 12,Anez had said she had no inten-tion of standing for the full-timejob. But that changed on Fridaywhen she announced her candi-dacy. Anez “has decided to ask forthe resignation of all ministers toapproach this new stage in themanagement of the democratictransition,” said the presidency’sstatement.

Every decade a zoonotic coro-navirus crosses species toinfect human populations

and in this decade, we have avirus, provisionally called 2019-nCoV, first identified in Wuhan,China, in persons exposed to aseafood or wet market.

The name of coronaviruscomes from its shape, whichresembles a crown or solar coro-na when imaged using an electronmicroscope.

The three deadly human res-piratory coronaviruses viruses sofar

�Severe acute respiratory syn-drome coronavirus [SARS-CoV]

�Middle East respiratory syn-drome coronavirus [MERS-CoV])

�2019-nCoV: The virus is 75to 80 per cent identical to theSARS-CoV

PathogenesisPeople infected with these

coronaviruses suffer a severeinflammatory response.

�It has high mortality. In thecurrent situation the mortali-ty rate is 3 per cent. The sever-ity of illness is concerning:almost a third of patients devel-oped acute respiratory distresssyndrome requiring intensivecare; six patients died; five hadacute cardiac injury; and fourrequired ventilation.

�Its Zoonotic. It is close-ly related to severalbat coronavirus-es. Bats are theprimary reservoirfor the virus.SARS-CoV wastransmitted tohumans fromexotic animals inwet markets,whereas MERS-CoV is transmit-ted from camelsto humans. Inboth cases, theancestral hostswere probablybats.

�It is moreinfectious tohumans. Notably, 2019-nCoV grows better in pri-mar y human air wayepithelial cells than in stan-dard tissue-culture cells,unlike SARS-CoV or MERS-CoV. It is likely that 2019-nCoV

will behave more like SARS-CoV.�Human to human infection

is weak. Both SARS-CoV andMERS-CoV infect intrapul-monary epithelial cells more thancells of the upper airways.Consequently, transmissionoccurs primarily from patients

with recognisedillness and notfrom patientswith mild, non-specific signs.

It appearsthat 2019-nCoVuses the same cel-lular receptor as

SARS-CoV (humanangiotensin-converting enzyme2 [hACE2]), so transmission isexpected only after signs oflower respiratory tract diseasedevelop.

The median time fromonset of symptoms to first hos-pital admission was 7·0 days

(4·0–8·0), to shortness of breathwas 8·0 days (5·0–13·0), to ARDSwas 9·0 days (8·0–14·0), tomechanical ventilation was 10·5days (7·0–14·0), and to ICUadmission was 10·5 days.

�Its unlikely to spread byeating sea food in India. It hasbeen traced to snakes in China sounlikely to spread in India by eat-ing sea food. Reports indicate thatsnakes were sold in the localseafood market in Wuhan, raisingthe possibility that the 2019-nCoV might have jumped fromthe host species — bats — tosnakes and then to humans.However, how the virus couldadapt to both the cold-bloodedand warm-blooded hosts remainsa mystery.

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Winter and illness go hand in glove. While the flu and thesniffle is just a minor hassle for most, it is not the case for

people with a weak constitution. If you have a compromisedimmune system, suffer from seizure disorders, or any other debil-itating sickness, then we are sure you know that even a small coldcan turn into a medical emergency, requiring you to make a tripto the hospital. Keeping yourself cocooned in a hypoallergenicbubble is also not an option. Doing that may keep the illness awaybut it is not going to magically improve your immunity. Whatpreventive measures can you take to keep yourself safe from unde-termined illnesses without disrupting your daily routines? Let’stake a look

�Take care of your gut: The health of your digestive sys-tem is directly proportional to the robustness of your immunesystem. Make sure you incorporate a good probiotic supplementin your daily diet. If that is not possible, include probiotic foodslike sauerkraut, kefir milk, kombucha, and yogurt. It will helpmaintain the balance of good bacteria in your gut, keeping yourimmune system healthy.

�Avoid immunosuppressant foods: Caffeine, alcohol,white sugar and fatty foods suppress your immune system.Consuming a lot of fat-rich food items can also clog up your lym-phatic system, making it more difficult for your body to fightinfection. Wean yourself of such food items slowly to increaseyour body’s natural defenses.

�Do plenty of exercises: Exercise helps boost the immunesystem by improving your circu-lation and reducing stress. Thebetter the blood circulation, themore freely antibodies can movearound in your bloodstream,making it easier for body to fightoff illnesses. Exercise alsoreduces the level of stress hor-mones like adrenaline and cor-tisol, increasing your lympho-cyte count and improvingimmune function.

�Observe sleep hygiene:Sleep is essential to keep theimmune system in good shape,and yet it is something we tendto overlook often. You must aimto get at least eight hours ofuninterrupted sleep every nightto help your body repair itself

from the damage caused by daily stressors, toxin exposure, andexercise.

�Drink plenty of juices: Fresh juices contain a lot of antiox-idants, vitamins, and minerals that help keep the immune sys-tem healthy in the winter. Adding ingredients like spinach, broc-coli, kale, brussel sprouts, beetroot, berries and apples will bol-ster your immune system and keep it functioning at peak capac-ity.

�Keep your skin from drying out: The dehydration andcold winter breeze can render your skin dry and flaky. The bestelixir for dry skin is coconut oil. Apply it externally to keep yourskin moist and fresh. Not only does it prevent your skin fromflaking up, but it also strengthens the underlying connective tis-sue. Incorporating organic ghee in your daily diet also helps deal-ing with winter dryness apart from keeping your body warm.

�Detoxify your body: No matter what the season, your bodycan always do with a little detoxification. Squeeze out a slice oflemon into a glass of lukewarm water, add a pinch of parsley anddrink it before breakfast. It is effective at eliminating toxins fromthe system. Cabbage juice, rosemary tea, and ginger-tulsi tea arealso equally good.

�Diet and Nutrition: Plays a vital role in improving theimmune response. Consume more citrus fruits, garlic, ginger,honey, cloves, kale, spinach, broccoli, yogurt and many others.

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�� Honey is thick, sweet liquid made by honeybees. Itis rich in antioxidants, including phenolic compounds likeflavonoids which helps to reduce the risk of heart attacks,strokes and some types of cancer.It may also promote eyehealth. It can also helplower blood pressure.

Honey is also knownfor its anti-i n f l a m m a t o r yproperties. You candrink it in milk or cansimply apply it to theaffected area.

It is also known toreduce the bad cholestrollevels thereby improvingheart health.

It also has healing powers.When applied to the skin, honey can be part of an effectivetreatment plan for burns, wounds and many other skinconditions. It is particularly effective for diabetic footulcers.

It may also help in boosting immunity.

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A study ofNo r t hw e s t e r nUniversity (NU)

found that bacteria livingin household dust canspread antibiotic resistancegenes, and the researchers believe thesegenes could potentially spread to pathogens,making infections more difficult to treat.

Bacteria can share many differenttypes of genes as long as the genes havemobile segments of DNA. NU researcherswere the first to find that antibiotic resis-tance genes in dust microbes have mobilecapabilities, the Xinhua news agencyreported. “We observed living bacteria havetransferable antibiotic resistance genes," saidErica Hartmann, an assistant professor ofenvironmental engineering in NU’sMcCormick School of Engineering.

Although it is rare for pathogens to livein indoor dust, they can hitchhike intohomes and mingle with existing bacteria.

“A nonpathogen can use horizontalgene transfer to give antibiotic resistancegenes to a pathogen,” Hartmann explained.“Then the pathogen becomes antibioticresistant.” “Microbes share genes when theyget stressed out," Hartmann said. "Theyaren’t equipped to handle the stress, so theyshare genetic elements with a microbe thatmight be better equipped.”

Hartmann recommends dusting witha damp cloth instead of using antimicro-bial solutions, which can make bacteriamore resistant to antibiotics.

The study was published in the jour-nal — PLOS Pathogens.

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Going for a party andneed to straighten hair?Do you reach for your

trusted hair straightener orhead to a salon? Here are a fewthings that one can dowithout causingdamage to the hairand getting agloss.

Many ofus have beenusing multanimitti on theface to rid ofthe pimples. Didyou know that itcan also helpstraighten hair? Make apaste using the powder. Applyths from the root to the tips.Leave it for over an hour. Theresults are great.

Use castor oil and soyabeanoil. Take two tablespoon castoroil and a tablespoon of soy-abean oil. Heat heat the togeth-

er and le it cool. Massage scalpand hair with it for a few min-utes. Leave it on for about 30minutes before Let your hairair-dry.

Use coconut milk andlemon juice. Mox one-

fourth cup coconutmilk and a table-spoon of lemonjuice. Refrigerateovernight. Applythe mixture thenext day — fromthe roots to the

tips. Leave it for 30minutes. Wash off

with cool water and amild sulfate free sham-

poo.Use milk and honey. Mix

one-fourth cup milk with twotablepoons of honey. Applythis on the hair. Leave it on fortwo hours. Wash off with coolwater and a mild sulfate freeshampoo.

Those who have long, curly andwavy hair are always looking for

ways to straighten them. Manyresort to harsh chemicals.

ROSHANI DEVI shares homeremedies that can help without

damaging the tresses

DadiKaKehna

When the temperature drops, adults run ahigher risk of health problems and bone

injuries. Cold air and damp weather con-tributes in a major way towards bone and jointflare ups, especially in people who already havea bone disease or are over 50 years old. Whenthe barometric pressure drops, tissues in jointsswell-up, pushing them against muscles andnerves in the area and causing pain. In winter,one tends to move less, which aggravates boneand joint problems more. Being a couch pota-to is bad for the joints.

As people age, after 50 years, calcium leaksets in, resulting in degradation of bone mass,and people are suggested to get their bone den-sity checked bone density measure is reportedin T score levels that identify the strength andagility of bones. T score of -1 and above is con-sidered normal, a score between -1 and-2.5 is asign of osteopenia, a condition in which bonedensity is below normal, and may lead to osteo-porosis. A T score of -2.5 and below indicatesosteoporosis. Elderly people also witnessincreased arthritis pain during winters.

If older people sustain a fracture, it shouldnot be seen as an isolated event. Just mendingit does not suffice, preventive measures shouldbe pursued. The fracture can be a result of osteo-porosis (Hollow Bone Disease), general erosion

of bone mass or overall infirmity of bones. Acomplete assessment of bone structure is sug-gested after breakage.

In contemporary times, multiple treatmentoptions are available which have proven to bevery effective in controlling and partially revers-ing bone fragility. A yearly injection(Bisphosphonate) has proven to be effective inpreventing aggravation of osteoporosis. There areother medicines — tablets and sprays — in themarket that prevent this condition.

Bone mass peaks at the age of 34 and 35, andit is suggested that one should have adequateservings of dairy products and foods that are richin calcium and Vitamin D, since bone infirmi-ty is a silent epidemic that affects large sectionsof our population, not just in Delhi and NCR,but across the nation. Exercise is one of the bestways apart from sun-basking to slow or preventproblems with the muscles, joints, and bones. Amoderate exercise program can help maintainstrength, balance, and flexibility. Exercise helpsthe bones stay strong. It is important to eat a well-balanced diet with plenty of calcium. Womenneed to be especially careful to get enough cal-cium and Vitamin D as they age.

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If you wish to lose those extra kg fat foodoptions and eat what your great-grand-

ma ate, said a top weight-loss surgeon.NHS doctor Andrew Jenkinson, who

has watched thousands try — and fail —to shed the extra weight, says peopleshould stick to the traditional fare,like a full English breakfast. Headvises people to buy food at tra-ditional stores, like greengrocer,butcher and fishmonger, as ourancestors would have done.“Imagine you are taking yourgreat-grandmother aroundshops. If there’s any food shedoesn’t recognise, don't buy it,”Jenkinson said.

In his book, Why We Eat (Too Much),the bariatric surgeon presents what helearnt over decades of practice. He claimsto have spoken to over 2,000 obese patients.“What they said about dieting was alwaysthe same story,” he says.

While crash diets might appear to workin the first few weeks, he says, they usual-ly backfire because they trick the body intobelieving it has to cope with a famine - andsave energy.

“They all say they lose weightto begin with, but then put it

on and end up heavier thanwhen they started,” thesurgeon says. Thus theweight-loss regime comesto an end and the dieteris driven to eat more bypowerful hunger hor-

mones. He then ends upblaming the lack of will

power, when the real culprit isa diet that is destined to fail. In his

book, Jenkinson says a far better approachis to ditch the quick-fix solutions for an old-fashioned approach — buying fresh fooddaily and cooking it yourself.

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Transmission of foodborne dis-eases on aircraft, including

cholera, shigellosis, salmonel-losis, and staphylococcal foodpoisoning, have been well doc-umented.

Transmission of small-pox on aircraft was reportedin 1965.

An outbreak of influen-za occurred in 1979 amongpassengers on a flight thathad a three hours’ grounddelay before takeoff. Theinfluenza attack rateamong the passengers was

very high (72 %), and wasattributed to the ventilation

system not operating duringthe ground delay. Epidemiological

investigations have also indicatedthat measles may have been transmit-ted aboard international flights.

To date, no case of active TB hasbeen identified as a result of exposurewhile on a commercial aircraft.

However, there is some evidencethat transmission of M. tuberculosismay occur during long (i.e. more thaneight hours) flights, from an infectioussource (a passenger or crew member)to other passengers or crew members.

�It’s a large droplet infection.Transmission of 2019-nCoV probablyoccurs by means of large droplets andcontact and less so by means ofaerosols and fomites, on the basis ofexperience with SARS-CoV andMERS-CoV.

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Drama over fairness and inclu-sion at the Grammy Awardscarried over to music’s bignight as newcomers andmainstays in the industry

supported Sean “Diddy” Combs and hispowerful speech putting the RecordingAcademy on a clock to fix the nomina-tion process when it comes to rap andR&B in major categories. “I think if theysmart, they listen to Diddy,” soulfulsinger Lucky Daye said on the red car-pet.

British rapper Labrinth added,“Hopefully there’s a conversation to real-ly think about what’s happened.” Daysago, the academy’s just-ousted CEODeborah Dugan claimed that the awardsare rigged and filled with conflicts ofinterest. At the Clive Davis gala, Combs— who was honoured — spoke for 50fiery minutes, saying in part: “So I say thiswith love to the Grammys because youreally need to know this, every year y’allbe killing us man. Man, I’m talking aboutthe pain. I’m speaking for all theseartistes here, the producers, the execu-tives. The amount of time it takes to makethese records, to pour your heart into itand you just want an even playing field.”

Combs urged in his speech that sub-stantive change should come within 365days. Legend Smokey Robinson hadwords of support for Combs, his friendbut he said he wasn’t surprised about theGrammy criticism. “Diddy could actual-ly be a politician. I thought this speechwas powerful. It touched on a lot of thingspeople were afraid to say,” he said.

Of Dugan calling out manipulationof the nomination process, he said, “It’snot like it’s news. We’ve known it all along.It’s just coming to the forefront. All thatis hidden will come to light.”

Tyler, The Creator said backstageafter his Igor won best rap album that he’s“half and half ” on the controversy overwhether Grammy voting is fair. “On oneside, I’m very grateful that what I madecould just be acknowledged in a worldlike this,” he said. “But also, it sucks thatwhenever we, and I mean guys that looklike me, do anything that’s genre-bend-ing, they always put it in a ‘rap’ or ‘urban’category. I don’t like that ‘urban’ word. It’sjust a politically correct way to say the N-word. When I hear that, I’m just like whycan’t we just be in pop?” His other halffeels like the “rap nomination was a back-handed compliment.”

Bluesman Keb’ Mo’, who has servedin academy positions over the years, saidhis experiences on the inside have been“nothing but integrity.” He added,“Nothing’s perfect but my experience isthe Grammys trying to maintain integri-ty and the artistic process.” Others saidCombs’ words and support will hopeful-ly go a long way.

“I believe that, you know, sometimesthere’s always a tweaking that can be done.I think sometimes you may have to justrevisit the process,” said gospel artistTasha Cobbs Leonard. “I have hopethat’s what’s happening now in every cat-egory.”

The Grammys have been criticisedover the years when Beyoncé, KanyeWest, Eminem, Mariah Carey and othertop stars have lost in major categories,

including album of the year and best newartist. The rap and R&B stars often fallshort of their pop, rock and countrycounterparts.

Boys Noize, along with Skrillex andand Ty Dolla $ign, also supported thecause on the red carpet. “Everybodyshould be here. More black, more female,”Boys Noize said. Ty Dolla $ign added:“The people will rise for sure.”

Billie Eilish has won album of the yearand record of the year to cap a dominantnight of five victories at the GrammyAwards. The 18-year-old Eilish won

album of the year for When We All FallAsleep, Where Do We Go? and record ofthe year for Bad Guy. Her album beat agroup of nominees that included LanaDel Rey, Lizzo and Ariana Grande. “CanI just say that I think Ariana deservedthis?” Eilish said as she accepted theaward. Her other Grammys include bestnew artist, and song of the year for BadGuy. She told the music stars in the crowdthat “I grew up watching all of you.”

John Legend, Meek Mill, DJ Khaledand a host of musicians paid tribute toNipsey Hussle at the awards, filling thevast stage with a soaring performance ofhis music. The tribute kicked off with Millperforming a new song called Letter toNipsey, which mentioned a letterPresident Barack Obama wrote in Hussle’shonour. “When we lost you, it really putsome pain on me,” Mill rapped. “Real hit-ters never die.”

Then DJ Khaled and Legend sangtheir collaboration with Hussle, DJKhaled’s track Higher, which later won theGrammy for best rap/sung performance.Legend sang while playing the piano asa choir sang along with them. Other per-formers including Kirk Franklin, RoddyRicch and YG, each took turns doingsolos.

Hussle was killed outside of hisSouth Los Angeles clothing store inMarch 2019. Sunday’s performance fea-tured musicians, background dancers andLegend wearing traditional Ethiopian andEritrean clothing in honour of Hussle’sAfrican roots. The tributes to Hussle weremade even more poignant by the loss ear-lier in the day by another icon — basket-ball superstar Kobe Bryant.

He played for 20 years for the city’sNBA team. Bryant’s death in a helicoptercrash earlier in the day was acknowledgedin the opening minutes of the Grammysbroadcast. Before her performance, Lizzosaid, “This is for Kobe.” She went on toperform Truth Hurts and Cuz I Love You.

Host Alicia Keys said she was feel-ing “crazy sad” about Bryant. She wasjoined on stage with Boyz II Men, whocollectively sang It’s So Hard to SayGoodbye to Yesterday. “The whole wideworld lost a hero,” the singer said in frontof the audience. “We are standing her lit-erally heartbroken in the house that KobeBryant built.” The NBA legend, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven oth-ers were killed in the crash on a steep hill-side in dense morning fog in SouthernCalifornia. He was 41 and had retiredfrom the Lakers in 2016.

Some shed tears for Bryant on thered carpet. Others were almost speech-less ahead of the 62nd annual awardsshow. Music artists including Billy RayCyrus, Rick Ross and Kirk Franklin paidtribute to Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star and five-time champion. DebbieAllen, who is married to former LakerNorm Nixon, was seen crying. DJ Khaledsaid the news about Bryant’s death was“devastating.”

Actor Priyanka Chopra also paidtribute to the late basketball star Bryantin a special way. She took a moment tostyle her decorated nails with the num-ber “24” written on her index finger. “RIPMamba,” Priyanka shared on herInstagram page with a purple heart

emoji, alongside an image of her tribute.While attending the Grammys, shewalked arm-in-arm with her husbandand singer Nick Jonas, wearing a customRalph & Russo design, which featured aplunging neckline and also included dia-mond-adorned pieces, fringe sleevesand intricate embroidery.

Outside Staples Centre, fans wearingBryant’s No 8 and No 24 jerseys flockedto the arena to show their respect for theLaker legend. A few hundred peoplegathered at LA Live in front of a megascreen with a smiling Bryant that read,“In Loving Memory of KOBE BRYANT1978-2020”.

With tears running down her cheeks,Demi Lovato stood on the Grammys’stage in a white ballgown and belted hernew single Anyone, written just four daysbefore her near fatal overdose in July2018. It was the 27-year-old’s first timeat the Grammy Awards in two years andher first big performance since that fate-ful day.

At age 61, Tanya Tucker has won thefirst two Grammy Awards of her career,48 years after her first hit at age 13.Tucker won best country album forWhile I’m Livin’, her first album of orig-inal material in 17 years. She also wonbest country song for Bring My FlowersNow, which is also nominated for over-all song of the year. Tucker has beennominated for Grammys 14 times. He isstill very young compared to the winnerof the other major country Grammy, 86-year-old Willie Nelson, who took homebest country solo performance for RideMe Back Home. It was Nelson’s ninthGrammy.

Hildur Guðnadóttir took home aGrammy for music she first thought noone would care to hear. The female com-poser won best score soundtrack for theHBO miniseries Chernobyl during thepre-telecast ceremony. The soundtrackalready won her an Emmy late last year.And in January she became the firstwoman in 19 years to win best originalscore for Joker at the Golden Globes. “Ithink it fit really well with the images ofthe film, and I was happy with how themusic worked with the narrative andcharacters in this series,” she said back-stage of the Chernobyl soundtrack. “ButI never thought anyone would ever lis-ten to the soundtrack record, honestly.I’ve very surprised to be here today.”

Michelle Obama is a Grammy win-ner. The former first lady won her firstGrammy Award for best spoken wordalbum for the audio book of her 2019memoir Becoming. Obama was not onhand to accept the award. Her husband,former president Barack Obama, has twoGrammys in the same category, one forhis 2005 audio book Dreams of My Fatherand another for his 2007 audio book TheAudacity of Hope. The spoken wordalbum category includes poetry, story-telling and audio books.

Beyoncé’s Homecoming has won theGrammy Award for best music film. TheNetflix film weaves together Beyoncé’s2018 performances at the Coachellamusic festival, which included numerousnods to historically black colleges anduniversities.

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Astudy on most searchedOTT content reveals thatSacred Games, Mirzapur,

Made In Heaven, Criminal Justiceand Lust Stories have been appre-ciated globally.

According to a study bySEMrush, the most searched forweb series online was SacredGames followed by Mirzapur,Made In Heaven, Criminal Justiceand Lust Stories. Each wassearched on an average of 5.01,3.51, 1.93, 1.77, and 1.37 lakhtimes respectively during theperiod mentioned. The globalresearch tracked the most-searched web content betweenJanuary and December 2019.

The study shows there is ahuge audience that wants to seeon-screen, life-like characters fac-ing real-world challenges.Fernando Angulo, head of com-

munications at the Boston-basedSEMrush, said, “Indian cinemahas come a long way. Our studyshows that the Indian audience isvery sophisticated and have access

to content that is at par with whatHollywood produces. Whatmakes web series even betterthan Hollywood fare is thatIndian audience find it relatable.

It also has the character depth andnarrative equal to the best any-where”.

While crime-based serieshave a huge following, web-series

centred on romance and cricketare popular as well. The studyfound, of the 10 most searchedweb series, Inside Edge, whichdelves into the highs and lows of

a fictional T20 cricket franchise,was searched an average 84,000times.

Selection Day, another crick-et-based series, was the 10thmost explored web-series. Anguloadded, “Our study is beneficial tobrands that want to reach asophisticated, cosmopolitan,enlightened audience that believesin societal change. We providebrands with the opportunity toassociate themselves with starsand stories that are thrivingonline. Brands can include narra-tives of popular web series intotheir advertising. For instance, abrand that wants to reach young,professional, independent, andaffluent women has a mirror intosuch women’s wants. We’ve foundhow large the demographic ofsuch women is.”

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Record of the year: Bad Guy, BillieEilishAlbum of the year: When We All FallAsleep, Where Do We Go?, BillieEilishBest new artist: Billie EilishBest pop vocal album: When We AllFall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, BillieEilishBest rap/sung performance: Higher,DJ Khaled featuring Nipsey Hussleand John LegendBest rap album: Igor, Tyler, TheCreatorBest comedy album: Sticks & Stones,Dave ChappelleBest pop solo performance: TruthHurts, LizzoBest rock song: This Land, GaryClark, JrBest spoken word album: Becoming,Michelle ObamaBest music film: Homecoming,BeyonceBest country album: While I’mLivin’, Tanya TuckerBest country song: Bring My FlowersNow, Tanya TuckerBest country solo performance:Ride Me Back Home, Willie NelsonBest rap song: A Lot, 21 Savage fea-turing J ColeBest music video: Old Town Road(Official Movie), Lil Nas X featuringBilly Ray CyrusBest score soundtrack for visualmedia: Hildur Guðnadóttir,ChernobylBest song written for visual media:I’ll Never Love Again, Lady Gaga andBradley Cooper

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Indian wrist spinner RaviBishnoi’s repertoire of skills

will meet a match inAustralian Tanveer Sangha’svariations in a face-offbetween two talented tweak-ers during the quarter-final ofthe ICC U-19 World Cuphere today.

The white ball cricket inrecent times has seen wristspinners emerge as an impor-tant cog and junior cricket isno different where Bishnoi,easily the tournament’s mostimpactful bowler, would liketo give his team the advantageover the Australian side.

With 10 wickets fromthree games, Bishnoi hasproved why Kings XI Punjabhas invested � 2 crore on himduring the auction.

Statistically, even Sangha

has been at his best with 10wickets with 5 for 14 againstminnows Nigeria. But there’sbeen a four-wicket haulagainst the West Indies and awicket to show againstEngland for the player of

Indian origin.Today, both the wrist spin-

ners will be key to their team’schances and Australia willlook to improve their dismalrecord against India at thejunior level.

In the last five U-19encounters since 2013 (differ-ent teams have playedthough), India have won fourwith one game being aban-

doned due to rain.As a team, India

are way ahead bothin terms of quality aswell as temperamentwith the likes of

Yashasvi Jaiswal (two half-centuries), his opening partnerDivyansh Saxena and skipperPriyam Garg showingglimpses of their talent.

In the bowling depart-ment, lanky UP boy KartikTyagi, who breaches the 140kmph barrier quite regularly,and left-arm seamer AkashSingh, moving the white ball

back into the right-handers,are a heady combination.

And there is left-arm spin-ner Atharva Ankolekar, whocame back brilliantly againstthe Junior Black Caps despitebeing attacked early on. He gotthree crucial breakthroughsbut a finger fracture in hisright hand could be an imped-iment while fielding.

While Jaiswal, Garg, NTTilak Verma and Saxena makeIndia’s batting look strong,Australia skipper MckenzieHarvey (nephew of formerAustralian all-rounder IanHarvey) is a tough customerwith the bat as he showed withan innings of 65 againstEngland in their final groupgame.

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In-form Sarfaraz Khan rescuedMumbai with an unbeaten

double century, powering thevisitors to a comfortable 372 forfive after a top-order collapse onthe opening day of their GroupB game against HimachalPradesh.

The 22-year-old Sarfaraz,who had hit an unbeaten triple-hundred in the last game againstUttar Pradesh, took a listless HPattack to cleaners, hitting 32fours and four sixes during hisunbeaten 226-run knock.

Electing to bowl the pic-turesque HPCA stadium, thehome pacers exploited thewindy conditions, grabbingthree quick wickets to leaveMumbai reeling at 16 for three.

Sarfaraz started the rescueact first by conjuring up a 55-runstand with ‘crisis man’ SiddheshLad (20), to steady Mumbai’sship.

And then he found an ablealley in Aditya Tare (62), withwhom he added 143-runs for

the fifth wicket.Mumbai lost its fifth wick-

et on 214 and Sarfaraz withShubham Ranjane (44 not out)then put an unbroken 158-run

stand, before umpires drewstumps early owing to bad lightafter 75 overs.

It was Sarfaraz show onceagain as he will strive to reachhis second successive triplehundred, a rare feat in anyform of cricket.

MAJUMDAR LEADSBENGAL�� AnustupMajumdar hit a unbeaten 94under pressure to help Bengalreach 286 for five in Group Amatch against Delhi at Eden

Gardens.Majumdar, who looked in

formidable form, had some anx-ious moments as he survived arun-out chance to remain

unbeaten, alongsideShahbaz Ahmed (39not out) at the end ofday one.

The home teamturned the game around

in the second session asMajumdar found a fine ally inwicketkeeper-batsman ShreevatsGoswami (59).

Scoring above four runs per

over, the duo stitched a 117-runfifth wicket stand to give Bengalthe edge.

Earlier put in to bat, Bengal’stop three batsmen, includinglast match’s triple centurion,Manoj Tiwary (7), got out insidelunch.

VINAY GRABS SIX��Puducherry foundthemselves on the mat at 37 for4 after their veteran pacer RVinay Kumar grabbed six wick-ets to bowl Chandigarh out fora paltry 134 in their top of thetable Plate clash.

Vinay Kumar triggered aChandigarh middle-order col-lapse with twin blows in his suc-cessive overs en route to 6/32 asthe hosts were dismissed afterlunch inside 38 overs after theywere sent in to bat.

In reply, the Plate leadersPuducherry were reeling at 37for four, trailing by 97 runs atclose on first day withChandigarh new ball bowlerShresth Nirmohi returning withfigures of 3/17.

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The title clash of the IndianPremier League (IPL) will

be held in Mumbai on May 24and the night matches will haveusual 8pm start as theGoverning Council decidedagainst changing the timings,BCCI president Sourav Gangulyannounced on Monday.

“There will be no change inthe timing of IPL night games.It will start from 8 pm like ear-lier years,” Ganguly toldreporters after the IPLGoverning Council meeting.

“We will have only fivedouble headers (4pm and 8 pm)this time. We have decided toreduce the number of doubleheaders,” Ganguly said addingthat the “final will be held inMumbai.”

In a first, concussion substi-tute and ‘third umpire no ball’will also be introduced in the

upcoming edition of the popu-lar T20 league, the former Indiacaptain informed.

“The concussion substituteand the no ball rule are newadditions for the season,” hesaid.

In a noble gesture, the BCCIwill have an ‘All Stars Game’between all top international

players before start of the IPL onMarch 29 for a charitable cause.

“It will be an IPL All StarsGame three days before start ofIPL. The venue is notAhmedabad as it is still notmatch ready. We have not decid-ed on where we will make thedonation,” the BCCI presidentsaid.

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Ben Stokes and Mark Wood made a doublestrike shortly before tea, breaking stubborn

South African resistance and setting up a 191-run win for England on the fourth day of thefourth and final Test at the Wanderers Stadiumon Monday.

The win clinched a 3-1 series victory forEngland.

Set to make a world record 466 to win, SouthAfrica reached 181 for two before Stokes bowledhome captain Faf du Plessis for 35.

In the next over man-of-the-match Wooddismissed Rassie van der Dussen for 98. He wenton to claim four for 54 to finish with match fig-ures of nine for 100.

Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavumashone briefly but South Africa were bowled outfor 274.

Van der Dussen and Du Plessis batted for allbut 13 minutes of an extended two-and-a-halfhour afternoon session to give South Africa somehope, making the England bowlers toil on a hotafternoon.

But Stokes bowled a ball which hit a crackand kept low, deflecting off the toe of Du Plessis’bat into the stumps.

Van der Dussen looked set for a maiden Testcentury but in the next over he fell to Wood twoshort of the landmark.

It was the second wicket for Stokes — bothwhich came at crucial times shortly before aninterval. His first victim was opening batsmanDean Elgar, who was caught and bowled play-ing an awkward pull shot in the penultimate overbefore lunch. Stokes finished with two for 47.

De Kock and Bavuma batted brightly in afifth wicket stand of 48 before Broad bowled avicious bouncer which Bavuma gloved to wick-etkeeper Jos Buttler.

Broad had Dwaine Pretorius caught at fineleg in his next over and the rest followed.

Vernon Philander, playing in his last Test,struck a couple of beefy blows before falling toWood who supplied the coup de grace, anoth-er lifting ball flicking Anrich Nortje’s glove onits way through to Buttler down the legside.

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Nine people were killed in the heli-copter crash that claimed the lifeof NBA star Kobe Bryant and his

13-year-old daughter, Los Angeles offi-cials confirmed on Sunday.

Los Angeles County Sheriff AlexVillanueva said eight passengers and thepilot of the aircraft died in the accident.

“There were no survivors... Therewere nine people on board the aircraft,the pilot plus eight individuals,”Villanueva said.

The helicopter crashed in foggyweather in the Los Angeles suburb ofCalabasas. Authorities said firefightersreceived a call at 9:47 am about the crash,which caused a brush fire on a hillside.

The Los Angeles Police Departmentair support division grounded its heli-copters until the fog lifted in the after-noon due to the weather conditions.

“The weather situation did not meetour minimum standards for flying,” saidpolice spokesman Josh Rubenstein.

Los Angeles County Fire ChiefDaryl Osby said firefighters had tohike to the site with medical equipmentand hose lines to extinguish the blaze.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetticonfirmed that Bryant’s daughter Giannawas among the victims.

“LA is grieving with the Bryant fam-ily over the loss of Gianna, who perishedwith her father and friends in today’stragedy,” Garcetti wrote on Twitter.

Gianna was one of Bryant’s four chil-dren with his wife Vanessa.

The retired NBA star, 41, andGianna were flying to a game his daugh-ter was expected to play in when theirhelicopter crashed, according to USreports.

Local media said the other victimsincluded another player and a parent.

Orange Coast College confirmedthat its baseball coach, John Altobelli, 56,was also on board the helicopter.

CNN said Altobelli’s wife, Keri, andone of their two daughters, Alyssa,were aboard the chopper as well.

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Afine second Test century bySean Williams enabled

Zimbabwe to dominate the open-ing day of the second Test againstSri Lanka in Harare on Monday,as they reached 352 for six at theclose.

The Zimbabwe captain, whowon the toss and chose to batfirst, made 107 from 137 balls, aninnings which swung betweenthe swashbuckling, with 10 foursand three sixes, and the pragmat-ic.

He was well backed up byBrendan Taylor who made arun-a-ball 62 and Sikandar Razawho hit two sixes and four foursin his 72.

Looking to bounce back from

last week's 10-wicket defeat in thefirst Test, Zimbabwe pressed onin the evening with RegisChakabva on 31 and debutantTinotenda Mutombodzi on 10.

Williams went on to bring uphis second Test century — hisfirst was against New Zealand inBulawayo four years ago — bysweeping Embuldeniya for four.

�� The revampedselection committee with anew chairman at helm willpick the Indian squad for thethree ODIs at home in March,BCCI president SouravGanguly said on Monday.

L Sivaramakrishnan, AjitAgarkar, Rajesh Chauhan andVenkatesh Prasad are some ofthe key contenders to replaceoutgoing chairman MSKPrasad (South zone) andGagan Khoda (Central zone)in the five-member panel.

“The Test squad for NewZealand has already beenpicked by the old committeeand new committee’s first

meeting will be held beforehome ODI series againstSouth Africa. The interviewsfor short-listed candidates willhappen soon,” Ganguly said.

The BCCI President alsoinformed that while MadanLal and Sulakshana Naik arethe members of CricketAdvisory Committee (CAC),Gautam Gambhir is beingreplaced as he can not holdany position being a Memberof Parliament.

Meanwhile Ganguly alsoinformed that all-rounderHardik Pandya has still notattained match fitness after hisback surgery. PTI

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Piotr Zielinski and LorenzoInsigne scored in the second

half as struggling Napolishocked championsJuventus 2-1 to spoil coachMaurizio Sarri’s return tothe Stadio San Paolo onSunday.

Sarri had not been backto Naples since being sacked inMay 2018 after three successfulcampaigns, and before movingto Chelsea.

This season he has takenover eight-time reigning cham-pions Juve, a move seen as abetrayal by his former team, thetwo-time Serie A runners-up.

Juve missed the chance toopen up a six-point lead on InterMilan at the top of the table,after Antonio Conte’s side wereheld for their third consecutive

draw.Inter are three points

behind Juve with Lazio a furthertwo points adrift in third aftercity rivals Roma ended SimoneInzaghi’s side’s 11-match win-ning streak.

“It is pleasant and exciting

to go back,” said Sarri despite thewhistles and insulting bannersof his former fans, reserving hiscriticism for his “under-par,mentally bland” team.

“We lost a match against anopponent who had done theminimum to win,” he added.

“We were passivethroughout the game,always halfway betweenpressure and waiting, wemade mistakes.”

In Naples, Zielinskibroke the deadlock after63 minutes finishing off arebound after Insigne wasdenied by Juve goalkeep-er Wojciech Szczesny.

Insigne volleyed in asecond after 86 minutes toan explosion of joy amongthe crowd.

Cristiano Ronaldopulled a goal back as thegame headed into injurytime for his 13th goal in

nine consecutive games in allcompetitions.

The visitors pushed for theequaliser but Alex Meretsmothered Gonzalo Higuain’sgoal-bound effort, as Juvecrashed to just their seconddefeat of the season.

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Rafael Nadal won a grudgematch with Nick Kyrgios toreach the Australian Open

quarter-finals and keep the heat onRoger Federer’s record for GrandSlam titles on Monday.

The world number one, labelled“super salty” by Kyrgios after he crit-icised the Australian’s behaviour lastyear, fought off a furious challengeto go through 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4).

As the tennis world mournedthe death of Kobe Bryant, Kyrgiosarrived at Rod Laver Arena wearingan LA Lakers shirt, and 15-year-oldCoco Gauff had tributes to the bas-ketball great scrawled on her train-ers during the doubles.

Nadal and Kyrgios had beenfeuding after some bad-temperedmatches but the Spaniard said hewas impressed by what he’d seenfrom the often-temperamentalAustralian at this tournament.

Kyrgios fought back to challengeNadal in a high-octane clash playedin good spirit, with a polite hand-shake afterwards — a far cry fromsome of their previous exchanges.

“When he is playing like today

with this positive attitude he givesa lot of positive things to our sport,”said the Spaniard.

“He’s one of the highest talentswe have on our tour and I like theNick Kyrgios during the whole ofthis tournament.”

The 19-time Grand Slam win-ner will next play Austria’s DominicThiem — his victim in the last twoFrench Open finals — as the clay

king targets Federer’s all-time recordof 20 Major titles.

Elsewhere, powerful Swiss StanWawrinka beat fifth seed DaniilMedvedev 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2),6-2 to set up a quarter-final withGermany’s Alexander Zverev, whoovercame close friend AndreyRublev 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

And Simona Halep rose tonumber two in the world with a 6-

4, 6-4 victory over EliseMertens, taking a big stepforward in a rapidly clear-ing women’s draw.

The Wimbledonchampion from Romania,who avoided an exodus oftop seeds in the previousround, will next playEstonia’s Anett Kontaveit,a 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 7-5 win-ner against Iga Swiatek ofPoland.

“She’s strong. I’m herejust to face any challengeI have. So I’m not think-ing negative,” Halep saidof Kontaveit. “I just wantto go there and to give mybest.” Angelique Kerber,the 2016 champion, was

the latest big name to fall asshe went down to Russia’s AnastasiaPavlyuchenkova 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/4),6-2.

Pavlyuchenkova’s quarter-finalwill be against Garbine Muguruza,the two-time Grand Slam champi-on who is resurgent since reunitingwith coach Conchita Martinez,beating Kiki Bertens 6-3, 6-3.

“It’s like couples, we all wantBrad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston to get

back together, right?” jokedMartinez, the 1994 Wimbledonchampion.

Earlier, Martina Navratilovaand John McEnroe were among thebig names to criticise Court, the 24-time Major-winner whose 1970sweep of the Grand Slam titles wasmarked with a short ceremony atRod Laver Arena.

Navratilova said the devoutChristian’s deeply conservativeviews were “actually hurting people”,while fellow American legendMcEnroe called Court a “crazyaunt”.

In today’s quarter-finals, six-time champion Roger Federer willplay America’s Tennys Sandgren andtitle-holder Novak Djokovic, goingfor his eighth title, is against big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic.

Australia’s women's world num-ber one Ashleigh Barty plays two-time Wimbledon winner PetraKvitova, and Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur,the top-ranked player from Africa,takes on America’s Sofia Kenin.

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Awadhe Warriors will lookto capitalise on home

advantage and bounce back toform when they take on theMumbai Rockets on the finalday of their home leg at thePremier Badminton Leaguehere today.

With both coming off a lossin their last tie, it will be a sterntest of nerves for the two teams.

The Awadhe Warriors suf-fered a 1-2 loss at the hands ofHyderabad Hunters while theRockets went down 2-5 to thePune 7 Aces in their previousoutings. Having begun theircampaign on a high with a grit-ty 4-3 victory over the NorthEastern Warriors, the AwadheWarriors were aiming to con-tinue their winning streak butthe Hunters proved to be toostrong.

Despite the outcome not

going their way, they had a fewpositives coming out of thematch.

Ko Sung Hyun and ShinBaek Cheol's partnership isgrowing stronger day by day.

The pair, who won three BWFtitles last year, has taken theirconfidence into the league andremains unbeaten so far.

Former world No 10 WongWing Ki Vincent gave an effort-less display in front of the roar-ing home fans while SubhankarDey's stamina and tenacityimpressed one and all.

The Warriors also haveworld No 14 Beiwen Zhang intheir ranks. "Our last match didnot go our way but that hasn'tdampened our spirit. Thecrowd support here has beenfantastic. We are looking for-ward to finishing our home legwith a win," said Zhang.

Meanwhile, MumbaiRockets will be gunning fortheir first victory of the seasonafter a disappointing start forthe former runners-up thatsaw them lose to the high-fly-ing Chennai Superstarz and thePune 7 Aces.

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Abrilliant bowling displayhelped The Pioneer crush

Amar Ujala by seven wicketsin the opening match of the10th Kabir Shah MediaCricket Tournament at KDSingh ‘Babu’ Stadium onMonday. Batting first, AmarUjala batsmen never lookedat ease against the disciplinedbowling unit of The Pioneerand could score only 106runs for the loss of ninewickets in the stipulated 20overs.

Ramakant Shukla, whowas the most successfulbowler with three wickets,was adjudged ‘Man of theMatch’. Ashutosh Pandeypicked two wickets. RajeevAnand and Mayank Dixitwere the main contributorsfor the losing team with 21and 18 runs, respectively.

In reply, The Pioneerachieved the target in mere

13.3 overs. Rizwan Khanremained unbeaten at 27 off19 balls while Ashu Bajpaiand Ranveer Yadav scored 24and 23, respectively.

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The Indian women's hockey team lost 1-2 to New Zealandin its second match of the ongoing tour here on Monday.The Indians had earlier defeated New Zealand Development

squad 4-0 in the opening match of the tour.New Zealand started the game on an attacking note and

earned a penalty corner early in the first quarter and the chancewas brilliantly converted by Megan Hull in the third minute ofthe match.

India drew parity when young Salima Tete converted a penal-ty corner in the dying minutes of the first quarter.

The visitors matched New Zealand in the second and thirdquarters but a defensive error in the final 15 minutes cost Indiadearly as they concede a penalty stroke, and Megan Hull madeno mistake from the spot.

India's chief coach Sjoerd Marijne was disappointed withthe result.

"We created enough scoring opportunities but we were notproductive enough. New Zealand were very successful in thelittle changes they got. They executed them well," he said.

"It is not about how many opportunities you create but howeffective you are. New Zealand were stronger today and in thebeginning we were struggling with that. But after the first quar-ter, we played much better.

"We created eight shots on goal and four penalty corners.We are definitely working on being more effective in the com-ing matches," he added.

India will again take on New Zealand in the third match ofthe tour on Wednesday.

4`c`_RgZcfd S]VVUd ^Rc\Ved - Daily Pioneer

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