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Charging the Opposition withinstigating anti-CAA protests

and spreading “falsehood”, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday warned that agitationsagainst laws passed by Parliamentand State Assemblies may lead to“anarchy”. He justified actionagainst PDP and NC leaders inJammu & Kashmir suggestingthat his Government cannot bewith those supporting “opensecession” and lampoonedCongress campaign of “saveConstitution”.

In a speech laced withhumour, “shayari” and verbalwallops at the Opposition lead-

ers, Modi quoted the first PrimeMinister of the country,Jawaharlal Nehru, to buttressthe case for the CAA saying it washe who first spoke of “pressure”on and “safety” of minorities inEast and West Pakistan and needto change the law to grant Indiancitizenship to “minorities” com-ing from Pakistan. Modi soughtto ask the Opposition bencheswhether Pandit Nehru was “com-munal” to raise the issue of theplight of “minorities” in theneighbouring country.

“This was not only MahatmaGandhi’s but also Nehru’s senti-ments. Was Pandit Nehru com-munal? Did he discriminatebetween Hindus and Muslims?

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The Delhi Assembly elec-tion campaign which

started as a three-corner fightamong the incumbent AAP,the BJP and the Congress hasnow narrowed down to adirect fight between the AAPand the BJP with the Congressappearing to have given uphope with its low-key can-vassing for the February 8election.

Hard-selling its five yearsof development works andfreebies provided to Delhiites,AAP convener and Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejrwial ishopeful of retaining power.

However, the AAP is facing

a stiff challenge from the BJPunder the stewardship of UnionHome Minister Amit Shah.Besides promising freebies like�2/kg atta, the BJP tried to cap-italise on the anti-CAA protestsin Shaheen Bagh.

The AAP throughout thepoll campaign played safe bynot getting drawn into theShaheen Bagh debate and keptits focus on development worksand freebies. It used other tac-tics to corner the BJP by rais-ing the question of the saffronparty’s inability in notannouncing its CM candidate.

It is too early to jump to anyconclusion about the electionoutcome, poll pundits think theAAP is likely to retain majori-ty in the Assembly.

Continued on Page 4

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With an aim to counter the“falsehood” spread by the

BJP, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)launched a satirical campaigntitled “AmitShahKaUltaChashma”on Thursday. The party launcheda website amitshahkaultachash-ma.com on which seven com-parative images are uploaded.

The seven pictures of aMohalla Clinic, a night shelter,playground, three visuals ofGovernment schools and one ofthe streetlight initiatives uploadedon the website convey the situa-tion in Delhi before and after theAAP came to power.

“Throughout his campaign,Union Home Minister Amit Shahblamed the AAP for not deliver-ing its promises. Whereas the factis that the party has not only ful-filled the 70-point manifesto aspromised in 2015 but also deliv-ered much more,” the AAP saidin a statement.

The fundamental idea of thissatirical campaign is that the BJP

is unable to see the developmentdelivered by the AAP dispensa-tion because its glasses are taint-ed, it said, adding that the AAPhas depicted how its has workedhard to develop DelhiGovernment schools by upgrad-ing infrastructure, introducingthe happiness curriculum, andcreating a positive environment.

The visuals depict how theMohalla Clinics have changed thehealth infrastructure of Delhi, itsaid, adding the concept is aninspiration for other States.

The party said these visualsalso communicate the bid tomake Delhi a dark spot-free city.

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The Bombay High Court onThursday granted bail to Peter

Mukerjea in the Sheena Bora mur-der case after observing that primafacie there is no evidence to provehis direct involvement in the crime.

Justice Nitin W Sambre grant-ed Peter bail on a surety of �2 lakhbut restrained him from travellingabroad without prior permission ofthe court.

It also ordered him not contacthis children Rahul Mukerjea andVidhi Mukerjea and other wit-nesses in the case. The courtordered Peter to deposit his pass-port with the CBI.

Peter will not be able to walkout of the prison immediately asJustice Sambre has stayed his ordergranting bail to the former for aperiod of six weeks to enable theCBI to appeal against the order.

Detailed report on P7

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Did he want Hindu rash-tra?” Modi asked, assertingthat several reports, includingthose of parliamentary panels,had recommended a law likethe CAA.

Modi referred to the 1950Nehru-Liyaqat agreement onminority security and non-discrimination against “reli-gious minorities”. Why didNehru not use “all citizens”?he asked to counter protestsagainst exclusion of Muslimsin the agreement. He said anyear ago before this agree-ment, Nehru wrote a letter toAssam Chief MinisterGopinath to distinguishbetween Hindu refugees andMuslim migrants from

Pakistan. Modi quotedNehru’s statement in the LokSabha on November 5, 1950that affected minorities com-ing to India have right to cit-izenship and “law needed tobe changed.”

Drawing attention to thepersecution of religiousminorities in Pakistan fromthe very beginning, the PrimeMinister gave the instance offreedom fighter UpendraNath Dutta — a member ofAll India CongressCommittee — who hadstayed in Pakistan butreturned to India after expos-ing abject persecution ofminorities in that country.

Continued on Page 4

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Two former ChiefMinisters of J&K, Omar

Abdullah and MehboobaMufti, currently under polit-ical detention for last sixmonths, were booked undercontroversial and stringentPublic Safety Act (PSA) thatallows detention of any indi-vidual for up to two yearswithout a trial. The move wasnecessitated as their six-month preventive custodyended on Thursday.

Detailed report on P7

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The election campaigninghas ended in Delhi with the

imposition of 48 hours silencehour for the high stakeAssembly elections scheduledto be held on February 8.

With the imposition of 48hours silent period in thenational Capital ahead of theelections, the data shared by theDelhi Chief Election Officer(CEO) shows that since theModel Code of Conduct(MCC) came into force onJanuary 6, the law and enforce-ment agencies have seized cash,liquor, drugs and narcotics,precious metal and freebiesworth �52,87,69,815, including�10,02,79,540 cash, �2,63,35,615 worth of liquor,�5,87,37,750 worth of drugsand narcotics, �32,18,06,910of precious metals, and�2,16,10,000 of other items andfreebies in the last one month.

The report shows that theoverall seizures by the lawenforcement agencies this yearis more than the double whatwas seized during 2015Assembly elections, the overallseizure was �2,42,79,766,including �42,38,500 cash.

Further, a total number of523 First Information Report(FIR) has been registered underDefacement of Public Propertyand five under defacement pri-vate property. Also, under thesame Act, a total of 558 entrieshave been lodged against thepolitical parties. Out of which 37is against the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), 14 against the Congressand 11 against the BJP andremaining 496 were under thehead of others/Independents/non-political parties.

The data also shows tilldate 402 FIR’s have been regis-tered under Arms Act, inwhich 440 persons are arrest-ed and 774.08797 kg nar-

cotics/drugs are seized. A totalnumber of 1,424 bottles, 432half, 1,45,200 quarters of IndianMade Foreign Liquor (IMFL)and 1,945 bottles, 2,322 half,36,0111 quarters of countryliquor and 3,164 bottles beerand FML 226.7 liters havebeen seized till Wednesday.

A total number of 1,021FIR’s have been registered inExcise Act and 1,029 persons arearrested in Excise Act As on date(February 5, 2020), 494 numbersof unlicensed arms, weaponsseized and 706 numbers of car-tridges, explosives and bombshave been seized. Whereas,7,397 licensed arms deposited,5,845 persons have been bookedunder various Sections of CRPCand 1,23,327 persons bookedunder the Delhi Police Act, aspreventive action.

Moreover, a total of 6,55,271hoardings, banners, posters havebeen removed underDefacement of Properties Act bythe civic authorities. Out ofwhich, 1,387 of New DelhiMunicipal Council, 4,664 ofEast Delhi Municipal Council,2,78,097 South Delhi MunicipalCouncil, 3,26,763 of North DelhiMunicipal Council and 2,360 ofDelhi Cantonment Board.

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To maintain law and orderand to avoid any untoward

incident during the DelhiAssembly elections, around40,000 Delhi Police personnelhave been deployed on specif-ic election duties, besidesinduction of 190 companies(COYs) of Central ArmedPolice Forces (CAPFs) for secu-rity of polling premises andmovement of Electronic VotingMachines (EVM). Police said inaddition, 19,000 Home guardswill assist local police in ensur-ing security for polling booths.

According to Anil Mittal,the Additional Public RelationOfficer (APRO), Delhi Police,additional forces have alsobeen deployed to bolster thesecurity of EVMs, criticalbooths and counting centres.

“There are 2689 pollingpremises (545 critical) and 21counting centres, which havebeen provided multi-layeredsecurity. Thorough area dom-ination will be ensured in sen-sitive and vulnerable areas,and all precautions will betaken to ensure smooth move-ment of voters to the booths,”said Mittal.

“Static surveillance teamsand flying squads have alsobeen deployed and specialchecking drives are being con-ducted in vulnerable areas to

check any attempt to influenceby money or muscle power andother unlawful practices. EVMtransportation drill has beenplanned in coordination withpolling officials,” said Mittal.

“Further, all necessary mea-sures have also been takenfrom the anti-terror angle invulnerable areas. Pickets onborders have been strengthenedto check transportation of illic-it liquor and other contraband.All border areas will be keptunder strict vigil by regularcoordination with counterpartsof NCR police,” Mittal said.

“Senior police officers willclosely supervise arrangementsat the ground level. Since theenforcement of Model Code ofConduct, special drives are

being conducted to check illic-it liquor trade and 96,798.8litres of illicit liquor and 774.1Kg drugs have already beenseized by the police,” Mittalsaid.

“Such drives are also beingconducted against illegalfirearms and during this peri-od, 494 illegal fire-arms and706 ammunition have beenrecovered. Besides, 7397licensed weapons have alsobeen deposited as a preventivemeasure. An appeal has beengiven to the public to reportand share objectionable mes-sages & other social mediamessages which violate ModelCode of Conduct and ElectionsCommission’s directions,”Mittal added.

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ADelhi court has soughtresponse by Friday of the

four death row convicts in theNirbhaya gangrape and murdercase on an application seekingissuance of fresh death war-rants against them.

Additional Sessions Judge(ASJ) Dharmendra Ranasought the convicts’ responseon an application moved onThursday by the Tihar Jailauthorities for the fresh deathwarrants. In its application,the states said the President hasalready dismissed the mercypetitions of three convicts andthat no application by any ofthe four is currently pendingbefore any court.

Pawan has not yet filed acurative petition -- the last andfinal legal remedy available toa person which is decided in-chamber. Pawan also has theoption of filing a mercy plea.

The authorities alsoinformed the court about DelhiHigh Court’s February 5 orderwhich directed the convicts totake steps within a week, if theywished, to avail any remedyavailable under the law.

“It is, therefore, mostrespectfully prayed that, keep-ing in view a week’s time given

to the convicts by high court,the fresh dates for execution ofdeath warrants...May kindlybe fixed specifying the date andtime for execution/ hanging ofconvicts Pawan Gupta, VinaySharma, Mukesh and Akshayin the interest of justice,” theapplication said.

The warrants, issued by thetrial court on January 7, waslater postponed “sine die” by iton January 31, giving the con-demned prisoners a reprievefor the second time in twoweeks.

The date of execution, firstfixed for January 22 in Tiharjail, was later postponed for 6am on February 1 by a January17 court order.

Meanwhile, the SupremeCourt has agreed to hear onFriday the Centre’s appeal chal-

lenging the Delhi High Court’sverdict dismissing its pleaagainst stay on the execution ofthe four death row convicts inthe Nirbhaya gang rape andmurder case.

Additional SolicitorGeneral K M Natraj, appearingfor the Centre, on Thursdaymentioned the matter forurgent listing before a benchcomprising Justices N VRamana, Sanjiv Khanna andKrishna Murari.

Natraj told the court thatjail authorities are unable toexecute the convicts in thecase despite the fact that theirreview petitions have been dis-missed and curative petitionsand mercy pleas of three ofthem have been rejected.

The Delhi High CourtWednesday held that all the

four convicts are to be execut-ed together and not separatelywhile setting a week’s deadlinefor them to avail the remainingremedies.

If the convicts choose notto make any type of petition inseven days from now, the insti-tutions/ authorities concernedwill deal with the matter, as perthe law, without further delay,it said.

Hours after the high court’sverdict, the Centre filed anappeal against it in the apexcourt. The high court said allthe four convicts in theNirbhaya case have to be exe-cuted together, not separately,and faulted the authorities con-cerned for not taking steps forissuance of death warrantsafter rejection of appeals of theconvicts by the Supreme Courtin 2017.

A lawyer associated withthe matter had said the groundstaken for challenge in the topcourt are almost the same astaken in the high court whilefiling the appeal against thetrial court order.

He had said the Centre hasstated in the petition in the apexcourt that the convicts can behanged separately as Mukeshhas exhausted all his remedies,including the mercy plea.

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Acourt of Additional Sessions JudgeSudhir Parmar on Thursday found the

personal security officer (PSO) guilty whoopened fire and killed the wife and son ofAdditional Sessions Judge Kishan KantSharma. Gunman Mahipal guilty under rel-evant Sections of the Indian Penal Code(IPC), including the Arms Act.

“He has been found guilty under sec-tions 302 (murder) and 201 (causing dis-appearance of evidence of offence) of theIPC, and Section 27 of the Arms Act. Thefinal arguments on the quantum of sentencewill take place on Friday,” public prosecu-tor Anurag Hooda said.

The sensational incident had takenplace on October 13, 2018, at the busyArcadia market in Sector-49 in Gurugram,when Mahipal, the personal security officer,(PSO) of the judge opened fire on Kant’s wifeRitu (37) and his 18-year-old son Dhruv.

He shot Ritu twice, in the chest andstomach, and Dhruv thrice, once on theshoulder and twice in the head.

“To establish the case, the police havepresented circumstantial and forensic evi-dence, key among them being the gun-powder residue on Mahipal’s hand and onthe car’s steering wheel, cellphone locationof the accused and the victims, details of thephone call made by the accused to the judgeand co-gunman after the incident andvideos that viral on the social media, twoeyewitnesses who had also shot the incidentvideos, dying declaration statement of Ritu,

CCTV footage installed at the arcadia mar-ket, bullet cells of .38 revolver (weapon usedin the crime) and bloodstains of the victim’scollected from the PSO’s uniform,” Hoodasaid. The wife of the judge succumbed to herinjuries on October 13, while Dhruv wasdeclared dead after ten days at the privatehospital.

The entire incident was recorded bybystanders show the accused trying to haulDhruv’s body into the white Honda City.Later he was arrested one and a half hoursfrom Gurugram-Faridabad road.

The whole incident occurred in a spanof 10 minutes and after committing thecrime the SPO informed the judge about thecrime. At that time during the probe, it cameto fore that the gunman was facing matri-monial problems and was short-tempered.He was also running two cabs with a cab agi-tator company and was involved in manyother things.

Police had also dismissed rumours thatthe accused was ill-treated by the judge orhis relatives and also the reports that havereportedly claimed his conversion toChristianity. Officials said he was treatedwell and the judge treated him as a colleague.

Mahipal had been posted as Sharma’sPSO for one-and-a-half years and had noprevious record of misconduct, police hadsaid. Terming the case one of “cold-blood-ed murder”, police said that the incidentoccurred in the spur of the moment afterRitu and Dhruv rebuked Mahipal for beinguntraceable when they returned to theirvehicle after shopping.

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In a view of the Assemblyelections in the national

Capital scheduled on February8, the Delhi Metro and DelhiTransport Corporation (DTC)will start the services earlier at4.00 am instead the routinestarting time of 6.00 am.

“Delhi Metro train serviceswill start from 04:00 AM so thatthe staff deployed in electionduty can avail the facility. Thetrains will run with a frequen-cy of 30 minutes on all the Linestill 06:00 AM. After that themetro trains will run as per thenormal timetable throughoutthe day on all Lines,” saidDMRC in a statement. Further,the DTC has also made all thenecessary arrangements for theproviding Bus Services to thestaff deployed on elections dutyand others.

“These buses will be oper-ated from at 04.00AM on 35routes such as Najafgarh -Nehru Place, Mayur ViharPhase-III to Dhaula Kuan,Anand Vihar ISBT to UttamNagar Terminal and so on,”said the DTC spokesperson.

Further, the public can alsoreach out to the DTC call cen-tre -23317600, for any enquiryregarding DTC bus routes, theofficials added.

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Delhi legislator and BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) candi-

date Narayan Dutt Sharma wasallegedly attacked with batonsby three unidentified people inthe early hours of Thursday.Sharma was earlier with AamAadmi Party (AAP) and hadjoined BSP recently.

Sharma, who is the legis-lator from Badarpur and he isseeking re-election to the Delhiassembly as a BSP candidate,received minor injuries.

“The attack on NarayanDutt Sharma is condemnableand shameful,” BSP chiefMayawati said on Twitter.

According to a seniorpolice official, the incidenttook place around 1 am whenhe was returning to his home in Badarpur after aparty meeting.

“Three men stopped hiscar and beat him up. The threeaccused are yet to be caught. Acase under relevant section ofIndian Penal Code (IPC) hasbeen registered. Police teamshave been formed to nab theculprits and they are also scan-ning CCTV cameras in the areato identify the accused,” thesenior police official said.

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The Delhi Police has arrested aJawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)

student for alleged sexual harassmentof a girl student inside the campus.Police said the incident occurred onWednesday and police have initiatedinvestigation into the incident.

The accused has been identified asRaghvendra Mishra, who is also called‘Yogi’ of JNU and he is pursuing PhDin Sanskrit from JNU.

According to a senior police offi-cial, the JNU student on Wednesday allegedly misbehaved witha girl student at his hostel room insidethe campus.

“A complaint was received onWednesday following which a caseunder section 354 (Assault or criminalforce to a woman with intent to outrageher modesty) and Section 323(Punishment for voluntarily causinghurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)has been registered at Vasant Kunj(North) police station and the accusedhas been arrested,” said the senior policeofficial.

“The girl told police that theaccused, Mishra, had called her to hishostel room and harassed her. She hadthen raised an alarm following whichthe security guards posted outside thehostel apprehended Mishra. Police is questioning Mishra regardingthe allegations of sexual harassment,”said a police official privy to investigation.

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Campaigning for highdecibel Delhi Assemblyelections ended on

Thursday with the Aam AadmiParty (AAP) and the Congresscandidates holding severalroadshows and public meetingson Thursday.

Party candidates ensured toreach and cover maximumareas as campaigning ended at6 pm on Thursday. The AAPcandidates focused on the

development work done byAAP Government in last fiveyears while the Congress keptclaiming that nothing on theground has been done by theAAP Government. TheCongress campaign talkedabout the work done by ShielaDikshit and the work done dur-ing her tenure.

On the last day of thecampaign, AAP senior leaderand party candidate fromPatparganj Manish Sisodia tookout a ‘padayatra’ in his con-

stituency in east Delhi. AAPcandidate from Timarpur con-stituency Dilip Pandey alsoheld a massive roadshow inWazirabad area. The AAP heldsilent marches against the BJPin all 70 constituencies in Delhifor three days to protest againstthe “terrorist” remarks made byBJP MP from West DelhiParvesh Verma.

The AAP also launched adoor-to-door initiative, urg-ing voters to back Kejriwal ifthey believed he is “a son of

Delhi” and vote for the BJP ifthey feel he is a “terrorist”. Italso launched a mega-cam-paign titled “Mera Vote KaamKo, Seedhe Kejriwal Ko”through a blitzkrieg of activi-ties on a massive scale with thesingle aim of reaching each andevery voter of Delhi.

The AAP has also held11,000 Jan Sabhas and nukkadnataks in Delhi in last sevendays to reach each and everyvoter. In addition to the doorto door campaign, all the can-didates, star campaigners andthe entire leadership of AAP in

Delhi also held Jan Sabhas.The Congress’ campaign

did not match the vigour of itsopponents. However, as pollingday drew closer, the partyjumped into action with formerPrime Minister ManmohanSingh addressed a rally inRajouri Garden on Tuesdaywhile Rahul Gandhi and hissister Priyanka Gandhi Vadraaddressed public meetings onTuesday and Wednesday.Besides, Raj Babbar, ShatruganSinha, Delhi Congress presi-dent Subhash Chopra alsocampaigned for the party.

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Attacking both the rulingAam Aadmi Party (AAP)

and the Congress, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah onThursday said, “Shaheen Baghwas a joint venture of both theparties and claimed that tukde-tukde gang would get a shockwhen the election results aredeclared”. Shah rana hecticschedule during the poll cam-paign and capped it with a mas-sive road show in Muslimdominated Seelampur area.

Addressing three road-shows, he asserted that the BJPwould emerge victorious inthe elections as people will votefor country’s security, devel-opment and good governance.

Amid chants of ‘Jai ShriRam’ at his roadshow in HariNagar, a group also raised golimaro slogans. However,policemen asked them to stop.

“Shaheen Bagh is the jointventure of the Aam AadmiParty and the Congress.Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi areworried that Shaheen Baghshould not be discussed. I wantto ask them why the security ofthe country should not be anelectoral issue? Why are thepeople sitting in Shaheen Baghdemanding ‘Jinnah Wali Azadi’and why the tukde-tukde gangis supporting them?

“Shame on these people. Iwant to tell all of you thattukde-tukde gang is going toget a shock, because you aregoing to press the button on thelotus symbol on February 8 forthe development of Delhi andthe country,” he said at a roadshow in Seemapuri con-stituency in North East Delhi.

Later addressing a roadshow in west Delhi’s Hari Nagarconstituency, seeking votes forparty candidate Tajinder PalSingh Bagga, Shah said,“Remember that a year ago,there was a terrorist attack inPulwama and our forces took revenge by conducting anair strike.

“You all know that thepeople of Delhi as well as thewhole nation was saluting thevalor of the army, but do youknow who was the most sad.First Rahul Gandhi, secondArvind Kejriwal and third wasImran Khan sitting in Pakistan”.

Shah said Kejriwal, RahulGandhi and Imran Khan had aproblem with the surgicalstrikes. “All three had a prob-lem with the surgical strikes. Iwant to ask whether such peo-ple should be handed over thepower in Delhi? These peopleare very dangerous for thesecurity of the nation.

“On the other hand, thecentral government is con-

stantly working for the publicinterest, providing housing,gas connections and basic facil-ities to the people,” he said.

Addressing public meet-ings in Adrash Nagar, Tri Nagarand Jangpura, BJP’s Nationalpresident JP Nadda said that thiselection is dedicated to clean,healthy, beautiful safe anddeveloped Delhi. Hitting out atKejriwal, Nadda said that AAPhave saved the Tukde - Tukdegang which has said to disinte-grate the country. “Where isclean Yamuna , Kejriwalpromised twice 2015 and 2019to clean Yamuna,” Nadda said.

In the last phase of cam-paigning, SAD leader ManjinderSingh Sirsa, Bollywood starSunny Deol campaigned inSeemapuri, Harinagar and MadiPur and Uttam Nagar,Pitampura constituency.

Taking a jibe on AAP andCongress both, Shah attackedand said Arvind Kejriwal andRahul Baba tell why the secu-rity of the country should notbe an electoral issue.

“The Tukde-Tukde Gang isgoing to get a shock on 11thFebruary, after the air strike, thewhole country was salutingthe valor of the Air Force, butRahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwaland Imran Khan sitting inPakistan were mourning.”Tiwari said.

New Delhi: Accusing theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ofdistributing cash and liquor insome of the areas, AAP seniorleader and Rajya Sabha MPSanjay Singh said the party hasformed 272 teams in all thewards of Delhi to keep a track onsuch incidents and to deal withBJP’s political propaganda.

“We have received inputsthat money and liquor are beingdistributed in some areas.Considering it, we havedeployed teams equipped withcameras to record such inci-dents. Anyone who comesacross such incidents can con-

tact us on 9355015501,” he said. Singh also said that the

AAP has filed a complaint tothe Election Commissionregarding the news that many240 BJP MPs are staying at dif-ferent Assembly constituen-cies and demanded an action.

Referring to media reports,he said that BJP’s 240 MPs willbe staying in differentAssembly constituencies fromFebruary 4 to 8. This is grossviolation of Model Code ofConduct as no MP and CabinetMinister can stay in Delhi afterelection campaign ends unlesshe is a resident of Delhi. SR

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)national convener Arvind

Kejriwal on Thursday said hewas ready for a debate on all theissues, including the ShaheenBagh protest, if the BJP declaresits Chief Minister candidate.Hitting out at Union HomeMinister Amit Shah for “refus-ing” to debate, Kejriwal whilereferring ‘Gita’ said that a trueHindu can never run away andbe scared of facing challenges.

Addressing the media,Kejriwal said that no one in theBJP is worthy of becoming theChief Minister of Delhi. “I chal-lenged the BJP to declare theirCM candidate and for an opendebate. The people of Delhi arescared that their vote might leadto someone like Sambit Patra asthe CM of Delhi,” he said.

“I had invited Amit Shah Jifor an open debate on any issueconcerning the people of Delhibut unfortunately he was notready to have a debate with meand answer the questions of thepeople. “Today is the last day ofthe election campaign in Delhi.I want to congratulate the peo-ple of Delhi for changing thebasis of politics in the country.It is time to transform politicsand to establish a new form ofpolitics based on work,” he said.

In the last 70 years, no partyhas ever asked for votes on thebasis of work done by them andno government asked for voteson the basis of bringing trans-formation in education and

health sectors,” he said, addingthat his is for the first time, AAPis asking for votes on the groundof work done by it in the last fiveyears. Kejriwal said that the BJPwas designated with the respon-sibility of handling MCD, butthey ensured that Delhi becamethe ‘garbage capital of India’,over the last 15 years.

“The people of Delhi gavethem the responsibility of theDelhi Police but the grave lawand order situation in Delhi isvisible to all. Now, they havestarted denigrating our work byreleasing misleading videos ofgovernment schools and mohal-la clinics as they lack issues to dis-cuss in the context of the capi-tal,” he added.

Targeting the opposition,he said “Since their strategy ofspreading lies did not work,they invited 200 MPs, 11 ChiefMinisters and 70 UnionMinisters to defeat a ChiefMinister of a state but all of themhave failed to make an impact.

“The politics of religion andcorruption should be substitut-ed by the politics of work. If wewant to make India a 21st cen-tury nation, we need to buildschools, hospitals, universities,construct roads and highways,conduct research and use scien-tific temper to design solutionsto problems. This will take thecountry forward. Hindu-Muslimrants would not take the coun-try forward,” he added.

Hitting back at the BJP formocking him for reciting theHanuman Chalisa on a show,

Kejriwal said, “I request all BJPleaders to recite ‘HanumanChalisa’. It will grant a calm andpeaceful mind and the tone andtenor of their speech will devel-op discipline and restraint. “Iwant to build a 21st centurynation, where there are schools,hospitals, industries, employ-ment, roads, transportation, sci-ence and technology andresearch. This will take the coun-try forward. But by their Hindu-Muslim rants, they will take thecountry backward by 200 years,”he added.

�� 34��456(

Accusing the BJP and theAAP of spreading false pro-

paganda, lies and using abusivelanguage as campaigning for theFebruary 8 polls closed onThursday, people of Delhi willhave an opportunity to reflectupon governance issues whichwill help Delhi transform into‘Congress Wali Delhi’.

Senior party leaderRandeep Singh Surjewala saidthe Congress may spring asurprise in Delhi like it did inthe elections in neighbouringHaryana last year.

“Some news channels weregiving us just two seats inHaryana but we won 31. It isgoing to happen again,” he said.Terming the BJP, which is inpower at the Centre, and theruling AAP in Delhi as“Jhoothon ki Sarkar aurJhoothon ke Sardar”, Surjewalaaccused them of failing in areasof health, pollution mitigation,education, clean drinking watersupply and public transport inthe national Capital.

Surjewala said that whileCongress built 36 schools peryear, AAP built only six per yearwhile promised 500 newschools. “AAP promised regu-larization of guest teachers, butmiserably failed them. There are11000 vacancies yet to befilled.Congress added six uni-

versities; six deemed universities,22 new colleges, 20 profession-al colleges, five ITI’s and 12Polytechnic in its 15 years rule.Modi-Kejriwal duo has failed toadd even a single university, col-lege or institute,” he said.

“The Congress govern-ment increased the number of

hospitals from 18 to 39 and thenumber of beds increased from4000 to 12000, the number ofdoctors went up from 440 to2400 and dispensariesincreased from 180 to 550.Why is it that Modi ji orKejriwal failed to add even onenew hospital, he said.

The Congress leader alsoslammed Union HomeMinister and BJP’s star cam-paigner Shah for his assertionthat the party was going to winmore than 45 seats in Delhi,Surjewala said “who told this tohim - ‘Prabhu’ (god) or EVM(electronic voting machine)”.

He accused Shah of beinga synonym for ‘dhong pra-panch’ (hypocrisy) and said hisattempts at electoral success inDelhi will fail as they did inHaryana and Maharashtra.

The Congress is contestingthe elections in alliance withthe Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD),giving it four assembly seats.The Congress, which ruledDelhi for three terms in a rowtill 2013, drew a blank in theAssembly polls in 2015.

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India on Thursday reactedstrongly to the reference to

Jammu & Kashmir in aPakistan-Malaysia joint state-ment, while Pakistan's effort tocall an immediate meeting onKashmir by Saudi Arabia-ledOrganisation of IslamicCooperation(OIC) seems tohave not yielded desired resultafter Riyadh showed reluc-tance to the move.

Upset with Malaysia move,India urged that country's lead-

ership to develop a betterunderstanding of facts andacknowledge that Pakistanremains an epicentre of globalterrorism. According to mediareports in Pakistan, there wereplans to convene a meeting ofthe foreign Ministers of theOIC on Kashmir by SaudiArabia, in an apparent move bythe kingdom to please Pakistanwhich skipped a recent summitof Muslim nations in Malaysia.The summit was seen byRiyadh as an attempt to createa new bloc to replace the 57-member grouping led by it.

Prime Minister ImranKhan had confirmed Pakistan'sparticipation in the summithosted by Malaysia, butskipped the event at theeleventh hour due to pressureexerted by Saudi Arabia and the

United Arab Emirates — keyfinancial backers of the cash-strapped country.

The report by Dawn Newscame ahead of the bloc's seniorofficials' meeting in Jeddah onFebruary 9 to make prepara-tions for the Council of ForeignMinisters (CFM).

Islamabad's feeling ofunease with the OIC over itsfailure to get the CFM's meet-ing appears to be growing, asRiyadh was showing reluc-tance to convene the meetingon Kashmir on Pakistan'srequest, the report quoted adiplomatic source as saying.

The Jeddah-headquarteredbloc, which is the secondlargest intergovernmental bodyafter the UN, has usually beensupportive of Pakistan and

often sided with Islamabad onthe Kashmir issue.

Prime Minister Khanvoiced frustration over theOIC's silence on Kashmir dur-ing his visit to Malaysia.

Although there has been ameeting of the contact groupon Kashmir on the sidelines ofUN General Assembly sessionin New York and a report bythe OIC's IndependentPermanent Human RightsCommission on the allegedrights abuses in Kashmir, noprogress could be madetowards the CFM's meeting.

Support from Riyadh isconsidered a must for anymove at the OIC, which isdominated by Saudi Arabiaand other Arab countries fromthe Gulf. The kingdom hasmade several proposals to

Pakistan to avoid the CFMincluding holding of a parlia-mentary forum or speakers'conference from Muslim coun-tries and, according to a source,a joint meeting on Palestineand Kashmir issues. Pakistanhas persisted with its proposalso far.

Soon after Pakistan'sabsence at the Malaysia sum-mit, Saudi Arabia showed flex-ibility in December on theproposal for the CFM onKashmir. The Saudi flexibility,however, was short-lived asRiyadh reverted to its tradi-tional position on Kashmir.

India, in a major diplo-matic achievement in Marchlast year, addressed the OICmeeting in Abu Dhabi for thefirst time. India's participation

came despite strong demand byPakistan to rescind the invita-tion to then External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj toaddress the grouping of theOIC which was turned downby the host UAE, resulting inPakistan's Foreign MinisterQureshi boycotting the ple-nary.

Reacting strongly to thereference to Jammu andKashmir in a Pakistan-Malaysiajoint statement, India onThursday urged the Malaysianleadership should develop abetter understanding of factsand acknowledge that Pakistanremains an epicentre of globalterrorism.

Making these observations,Ministry of External AffairsSpokesperson Raveesh Kumarsaid here India completely

rejects the references madewith respect to Jammu andKashmir, which is an integraland inalienable part of India.

"We once again call uponthe Malaysian leadership todevelop better understandingof the facts, including thatPakistan remains an epicentreof global terrorism, which con-tinues to recruit, train, arm andfinance cross-borderterrorism against India," he

said.His reaction came after a

joint statement issued byMalaysia and Pakistan at theend of Prime Minister ImranKhan's visit recorded that thePakistani premier had raisedthe issue of Kashmir duringtalks with his Malaysian coun-terpart

Nagpur: BJP leader and formerMaharashtra chief ministerDevendra Fadnavis onThursday visited the hospital,where the woman lecturer setablaze by a stalker in Wardhadistrict has been admitted, andenquired about her condition.

Fadnavis demanded thatthe case be tried in a fast- trackcourt to ensure speedy justiceto the victim.

Fadnavis visited OrangeCity Hospital& ResearchCentre in the city, where the25-year-old woman is under-going treatment, in the eveningand also met her relatives.

The Leader of Oppositionin the assembly spoke to doc-tors treating the victim andenquired about her condition.

The woman, AnkitaPisudde (25), a resident ofHinganghat in adjoiningWardha district, was allegedlyset ablaze by one VikeshNagrale (27) on Monday whileshe on way to her college.Pisudde suffered 40 per centburns.

In a medical bulletin issuedearlier in the day, the hospitalsaid her condition remainscritical. PTI

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Thiruvananthapuram: Amida global coronavirus scare andwith all three positive cases ofthe epidemic in the countrybeing reported in Kerala, thesouthern State has beenpounded with mass cancella-tions of hotel bookings andtour packages.

A senior official of thestate Tourism Departmentsaid the exact number of can-cellations was not yet available,but agreed that repeatedinstances of floods and epi-demics were affecting theindustry.

"As of now, the exact num-bers are not available. Butindustry sources told us thatmany hotel bookings, includ-ing that of KTDC (KeralaTourism DevelopmentCorporation), have been can-celled," the official told PTI.

KTDC help desks at vari-ous centres were receivingenquiries from people wantingto know the situation in thestate, he said.

"As of now, the situation inKerala is under control. Thereis no need to worry. But still thepeople are worried and somehave cancelled their bookings,"the official said.

"There are 15-20 per centcancellations after the report-ing of the coronavirus cases.But there are bookings also,"Jose Dominic, CEO of theCGH Earth Group of Hotels,told PTI. "We (Kerala) have areputation that we will put trav-

ellers' health first before com-mercial interest," he added.

Travel and tour operators,however, fear the state'stourism sector is likely to beseverely hit, especially becausethe Kerala government hasdeclared the outbreak a 'statecalamity' and Tourism MinisterKadakampally Surendranrecently admitted that the sec-tor has suffered asetback.

E M Najeeb, senior icepresident, Indian Associationof Tour Operators (IATO),said tour programmes andpackages are being cancelledwidely in the state and decla-ration of the epidemic as a'state calamity' by the govern-ment would adversely impactthe economic situation.

"We completely appreciatethe steps taken by the gov-ernment to protect infectedpersons, create awarenessamong the public and tacklethe situation. But as far as thetourism industry is concerned,such measures will scare thepeople. Not only tourism, allbusiness activities of the statewill be affected," Najeeb toldPTI. One of the most soughtafter tourist destinations inSouth Asia, 'God's OwnCountry' has been hit by thecoronavirus just as it wasrecovering from the Nipahoutbreak and two consecutivemonsoon floods during thelast two years, the worst in acentury. PTI

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Chennai: DMK president MKStalin on Friday exuded confi-dence that SuperstarRajinikanth will change hispro-CAA stand if he realisedthe ‘trials and tribulations’behind the contentious legis-lation.

Taking part in an ongoingDMK-led signature campaignagainst the CAA, NationalPopulation Register andNational Register of Citizens,he said all these went againstthe interests of people and inparticular the Muslims and Sri Lankan Tamilrefugees.

Protests were continuingacross the country seekingrepeal of the CAA and haltingthe NPR and NRC processes,

he told reporters here.Pointing out that a number

of States had passed resolutionsagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act, he hit out atthe AIADMK government inTamil Nadu for not heeding tohis party's call for a similarmove in the state Assembly.

To a question onRajinikanth backing the CAA,the DMK chief said:"Rajinikanth should take adecision (on supporting theCAA and NPR) after a scruti-ny of its flip side. It is sadden-ing that he has not come toknow the trials and tribulationsand ordeals involved. If he gotto know about it, I believe, hewill change his stand." PTI

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From Page 1However, observers feel

that aggressive campaigningby the BJP is likely to help itimprove on its 2015 tally ofthree seats. A few even predictthat the saffron party may getcloser to the half-way mark inthe Assembly.

The Congress, whoseprospects are dim, is likely toincrease its vote share in fiveboroughs, including DelhiCant, Kasturba Nagar, andMuslim-majority Mustafabad,where party workers hope togain strength.

The action packed politicalbattle of the national Capital'sturf has transformed into richversus poor as the BJP's trumpcard — CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) hasnot been accepted by themajority populace.

Despite different socialdemography — nationalCapital has been divided inthree groups which are: Higherincome group, middle andlower. As per the data analysisof previous results of the LokSabha and the Vidhan Sabhaelections both, it is estimatedthat 60-70 per cent vote sharewill of higher income groupmay go to BJP, 20-25 per centwith AAP and 5-10 per cent tothe Congress and other parties.In the middle income group,50-60 per cent of voters appearto be inclined towards the BJPwhile 40 per cent are with AAPand 5-10 percent withCongress and others. However,in lower income group, a high85 percent of vote is very like-ly to go to AAP, 10 percent toBJP and five percent with con-gress and others.

Delhi plays host to peoplefrom 'different socio-econom-ic background and from dif-ferent region of the country.What is pretty discernible inthe highly surcharges politicalarena, is the changed in narra-tive among the common peo-ple. Previously,Delhi was primarily a city of

Punjabis, Sikh, Baniya,Muslims, Scheduled Castes,Scheduled Tribes and,Hindispeaking Poorvanchalis fromUttar Pardesh and Bihar ).Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)Badal is not fighting electionswith the BJP, due to its differ-ences on CAA, the hardcoreSikhs and Punjabi (Khatri)voters appear to have tiltedtowards AAP.

According to Delhi SikhGurdwara Parabandhak

Committee, Sikhs have gloriouspast of battles with Mughals,and at the community has thisconfidence to take on Muslimsif there was a need. Sikh san-gat is miffed with the thoughtof Rashtriya Swayam SevakSagh (RSS) that Sikhs are partof Hinduism.

With statements of BJP'spolitical leaders, like - 'shootthe traitors' have developed asense of fear among PunjabiSikhs and refugees too. PunjabAssembly had recently passeda resolution against CAA. HariNagar, Rajouri Garden, TilakNagar , Jangpura and few other Punjbai dominatedseats are witnessing a toughbattle.

Baniya plays a crucial rolein Dehi's politics but the lowcash flow in market, sealing ofshops in market areas have bro-ken local economy in streets.While watching this contest aclose fight between Modi andKejriwal, Baniyas have main-tained the subtle balance withKejriwal for Delhi andNarendra Modi in Centre.Moreover - Kejriwal who him-self is a Baniya, has a strongnetworking with the commu-nity here.

Thirdly, the Poorvanchalfactor has become dominant inDelhi elections. AAP had won13 seats by fieldingPoorvanchali leaders in 2015elections. Analysis of the avail-able trends indicate that the'upper caste ' among poorvan-chali migrants to Delhi haveshown their unconditional sup-port to the BJP in Lok Sabhaelections and this time also,Barhamins and upper castesmay go with BJP.Poorvanchalis other the uppercastes may go the AAP.

Kejriwal's 'governancemodel' and his ability to con-vince the people by the deliv-ery of the promises made in theparty manifesto.

Construction of more than12 attached community bath-rooms/washrooms which wereone or two in Shiela Dikshit'sregime, free electricity andwater, availability of doctors forprimary health services inMohalla clinics, improvementsin Delhi government run hos-pitals, accreditation of parentsin government school as a vitalboard member have strengthened AAP and peopleare showing unconditionalsupport to the party irrespec-tive of national concern as a family is saving Rs 2000 -3000per month with free DTC trav-el in buses plus water/electric-ity.

Another important factorwhich is expansion of EWSquota in high end privateschools possible due to activeparticipation of Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia.

Fourth - Musilm and SCvoters both contain 22 assem-bly seats in Delhi. In previous2015 assembly elections, theoverall vote hare for AAP was54 percent. Interestingly SCand Muslim vote share washighest overall with vote per-centage 68 and 77 percentrespectively while OBC vote arewas 60 percent, Sikhs - 57 , non-literates - 67 , poor 66 andmigrants from Bihar andJharkahnd vote share was 64percent while 59 percent of votepercentage was from youngpeople(18 -35 years), on con-trary - overall BJP's vote per-centage share was 33 percent-age where Baniya vote per-centage was 60, Jat -59,Brahmin -49 , Rajputs -44 ,Upper Class 43 , migrantsfrom Punjab , Haryana - 42 ,college educated 39 and elder-ly (60 + years ) was 36 percent.In 1993 elections, BJP gainedmaximum support of SC com-munity. Delhi has 12 con-stituencies reserved for SCcandidates.

Interestingly, In 1993, BJPwon with 42.80 percent ofvotes while Congress was firstrunner with vote percentage -34.50, In 1998, BJP managed toget 34 percent vote whileCongress attained power with47 percent vote share. In 2003, Congress won with 48.10percent vote share while BJPgot 35.20 percent vote while in2008, Congress again won withvote share percentage 40.30while BJP got 36.30 percent, In2013 with induction of AAP ,BJP won in triangular fight andmanaged to gain 33.30 percentand AAP was first runner with29.70 followed by Congress. In2015, AAP managed to winwith 54.50 percent of vote andBJP was first runner with over-all vote percentage -32.30 per-cent.

While BJP's stakes are highin these elections but no pro-jection of Chief Ministerialcandidate has put voters indilemma who are unwilling tocast their vote to Congressand Kejriwal is the only choicefor them and keeping this fightbetween class versus class aslike Modi in Center , Kejriwalalso has ended caste politics inDelhi.

The elections results wouldprovide fodders of the pollstersas they sit back to analyse theoverall poll data of Delhi.

��---

From Page 1The PM quoted Dutt say-

ing in the ConstituentAssembly “so far as the side ofPakistan concerned, minoritiesare practically liquidated.Those who live in East Pakistanlive in total frustration”. Modialso gave another instance ofJogendra Nath Mandal, a back-ward caste leader also the firstLaw Minister in Pakistan who also likewisereturned to India after observ-ing that minorities were beingsuccessfully driven out of WestPakistan and the same wasbeing done in the East Pakistan.

As he accused theCongress of telling “lies” andspreading “false propaganda”on the CAA on account of itsvote-bank politics, the PrimeMinister assured that the CAAwill not “discriminate” betweenHindus and Muslims and cause no damage tominorities.

Taking a jibe at theCongress on its “saveConstitution” pitch, he recalledunconstitutional measures dur-ing Emergency, placing of

National Advisory Councilabove Prime Minister andPMO and recently violatingSupreme Court’s advise againstviolent agitations.

Modi also accused theCongress of discreetly insti-gating anti-CAA agitation.“Khoob parda hai, chilman selage baithe hain, saaf chhuptebhi nahin, samne aate bhinahin” (Closeted to screen butwould not come out in open),Modi recited a romantic poemto nuance his political message.

So much criticism of theCAA has been made ironical-ly by those who love gettingphotographed with the groupof people who want “tukdetukde” of India, he said.

Modi likened Congress’stand to that of Pakistan, say-ing Islamabad spoke the samelanguage for decades to misleadand incite Indian Muslims and that task is nowbeing performed by those“thrown out of the power”, hesaid.

On Kashmir, Modi quotedPDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, NC’sFarooq Abdullah and Omar

Abdullah’s “secessionist” com-ments and their warningagainst abrogation of Article370 and asked “can anyone seethem adhering them to theConstitution.

“These are people who donot trust people of Kashmir butwe trust people of Kashmir andtherefore removed Article 370and developing it,” the PrimeMinister said affirming hisGovernment’s commitment tothe Constitution.

Amid thumping of bench-es by ruling BJP members andtheir allies, the Prime Ministerinvoked the Constitution towarn against street protestsagainst decisions taken byParliament and Assemblies.The Congress was expected tobe a responsible Opposition,but it has taken a wrong turn,he said.

“What will then happen?Can the country run this way?This is road to anarchy... Sucha way can put you (Opposition)in trouble as well. I am givingthis warning as we all should beconcerned about the country,”the Prime Minister said.

Modi said his Government

and party is determined anddecisive and fast-tracking deci-sion as “we are on walking ona beaten track followed by theCongress”. “If we were to takeyour path of 70 years, wewould not have been able to terminate Article370”.

The Prime Minister said ifhis Government worked as perthe old ways, the RamJanmabhoomi issue would haveremained unsolved, KartarpurSahib corridor would not be areality and there would be noIndia-Bangladesh land agree-ment.

Modi also touched on theissues of economy, unemploy-ment and farmers distress. Onthe economy, the PrimeMinister said the Governmenthas kept the fiscal deficit incheck, price rise is also undercontrol and there is macro-eco-nomic stability.

Modi said the agricultureBudget, which was earlier Rs27,000 crore, has now beenincreased by five times to aboutRs 1.5 lakh crore. The agricul-ture budget has risen five timesduring the tenure of the NDAGovernment.

The Prime Minister saiddriven by politics, some Statesare not allowing farmers to

benefit from the PM KisanScheme.

“I appeal to them, let therebe no politics in farmer welfare.We all have to work togetherfor the prosperity of farmers ofIndia,” he said.

He said the PM-KISANSamman Yojana is transform-ing the lives of many farmers.Several farmers have benefiteddue to this. In this scheme thereare no middlemen and noextra file work.

Modi said the FDI in April-September 2018 stood at USD22 billion, while in April-September 2019 it increased toUSD 26 billion.

This reflects confidence offoreign investors in India, hesaid.

Referring to the North-East, Modi said for years, dis-tance became a reason toignore this region. Things havechanged now and the region isbecoming a growth engine asgreat work has been done in somany sectors and Ministers andofficials are regularly visitingthe North-East.

“The Bodo Accord signednow is special because it hasbrought all stakeholderstogether and we are movingtowards a more peaceful era,”he said.

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Listing out the steps taken inJammu & Kashmir post

abrogation of its special statusunder Article 370, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onThursday said an anti-corrup-tion bureau has been estab-lished in the Union Territoryfor the first time.

Replying to the debate inRajya Sabha on a motionthanking the President for hisaddress to the joint sitting ofboth Houses of Parliament,Modi said for the first time indecades, people of Jammu &Kashmir got benefits of reser-vation besides putting in placea comprehensive start-up, tradeand logistics policy.

There were BDC (BlockDevelopment Council) pollsand RERA (Real EstateRegulatory Authority) cameinto being there, Modi said.

He attacked the Oppositionfor not offering any "construc-tive suggestion" during thedebate, saying they made a"virtue out of stagnation".

Modi said one membersaid the decision to abrogatethe special status for Jammu &Kashmir in August last yearwas taken without discussion."This observation is not cor-rect. The entire nation hasseen the detailed discussionson the subject. MPs havevoted in favour of the deci-sions."

"People do not forgetthings easily. I want to remindthe Leader of the Opposition inRajya Sabha about the mannerin which proceedings regardingthe creation of Telangana tookplace" when the House was

locked and televised addressstopped when the Bill to bifur-cate Andhra Pradesh waspassed, the PM told the jointsession.

The Prime Minister furthersaid there is "unprecedentedpeace in Northeast" counteringthe Opposition charge of unrestin the region following an

amendment to the citizenshiplaw.

Many Central laws werenot implemented due to thespecial status provided to theerstwhile State of Jammu &Kashmir under the Article 370of the Constitution.

Even the Indian PenalCode (IPC) was implanted in

the style of Ranbir Penal Code.The erstwhile State was theonly one to have a separateconstitution and flag as per theprovisions of Article 370.

However, the status of J&Kchanged after the Article 370was nullified by the Parliamentand the then State was reorga-nized into two Union

Territories-Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh.

Following the reorganisa-tion of the erstwhile State intotwo UTs, a number of theleaders from the Valley wereput under detention as a pre-ventive measure and theOpposition has been cryingfoul over the move.

�� 34��456(

Aday after Congress leaderRahul Gandhi's remark

that the "youth will beat upModi with sticks over lack ofjobs in the next six months”,the Prime Minister onThursday countered him wit-tily saying he would increasethe number of suryanamaskars so that his back canbear the beatings.

Modi also took a dig withhis "tubelight" jibe at Rahul forhis delayed reaction during hisreply to a debate on Motion ofThanks to the President'sAddress even as he madesome made tongue-in-cheekremarks at other Oppositionmembers.

Outside the house, Rahulreacted saying the PM did nottalk about the main issue ofunemployment and allegedthat he was distracting peopleby talking about other thingslike Jawaharlal Nehru andPakistan.

Without naming RahulGandhi, the Prime Ministersaid: "In 70 years, no Congressleader has ever become self-

sufficient. I heard one leader's man-

ifesto yesterday. He said 'wewill beat Modi with a stick insix months'. I can imagine thatit is a difficult prospect, so itwill take six months to pre-pare.

"In these six months, I willdo more surya namaskar sothat my back is ready for thebeating. I have been subjectedto abuses in the past 20 years,I will make myself gaali-proof(abuse-proof) and also danda-proof (stick-proof)," Modisaid.

Addressing an electionrally in Delhi, Rahul had onWednesday said, "The PM isdelivering speeches, but sixmonths later, he will not beable to even leave his home.The youth of India will beat him up with sticks and make him understandthat this country will not beable to make progress until jobs are provided tothem."

When Rahul got up fromhis seat and questioned Modion the issue of unemployment,the Prime Minister said he was

waiting for the Congressleader's reaction but it tookhim 30-40 minutes. "I havebeen speaking for 30-40 min-utes but it took this long forthe current to reach. Manytubelights are like this," Modisaid prompting ruling NDAmembers to burst into laugh-ter.

Modi also took severaldigs at leader of Congress inLok Sabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury for frequently ris-ing from his seat and inter-rupting him, saying that he ispublicising 'Fit India' cam-paign of his Government inParliament.

Responding toChowdhury on the issueunemployment, Modi said hewill resolve unemployment inthe country but not his and ofhis party's.

On Congress leaderShashi Tharoor's criticism ofthe Government, Modi sug-gested that Tharoor shouldhave some soft corner forKashmir after all he was "son-in-law" of the region, referringto his late wife SunandaPushkar.

Hitting back at Modi,Rahul said, "All youngsters ofthis country want that afterstudies - school, college uni-versity - they get employ-ment.

We asked the PrimeMinister repeatedly that youhave given a one and a halfhour speech and if for 2 min-utes you can tell the youthabout employment and whatyour Government has doneabout it."

"You would have seen,youngsters saw, that the PrimeMinister could not give areply," the former Congresspresident said while speakingto reporters outsideParliament.

Earlier, the Governmentused to talk about economy,Make in India, USD 5 trillion,but the Prime Minister nowdoes not talk about the biggest issue facing thecountry and is distractingthe people by talking aboutother things, ranging from the Congress and Nehru to Pakistan andBangladesh.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday

attacked the Congress for thedelay in implementation of theGoods and Services Tax , say-ing that it was only after hetook office that the outstand-ing issues were resolved,paving the way for the rolloutof the unified tax regime.

"GST has seen a lot ofchanges. It is a big achievementfor the country. If you had thismuch knowledge and a clearvision then why didn't you

implement GST? Why didyou keep it hanging?" PMModi said in Rajya Sabha asthe opposition broke eruptedin protest.

"I had said that you shouldaddress the manufacturingstates issues in order to imple-ment GST.(Arun) Jaitley jiaddressed these issues. Theissues that I raised as a CM(Chief Minister), I have workedon them as a PM," he added.

The Central Governmenthad launched the GST in 2017,its biggest ever tax reform,aiming to replace more than adozen federal and state levies

and unify the sprawling econ-omy.

The move improved eco-nomic efficiency but critics saythe complexities of the newregime have driven manysmall enterprises out of busi-ness and forced hundreds ofthousands out of jobs. TheCongress, which had accusedthe BJP of holding up the GSTwhen it was in the opposition,has been one of the sharpestcritics of the implementationof the tax reform by the PMModi's Government, sayingthat bungled implementationhad hurt the economy.

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The Government onThursday said there is a

misconception about the rightto internet being a fundamen-tal right and emphasised thatthe country’s security wasequally important.

In an effort to clarify theissue, Communications andLaw and Justice Minister RaviShankar Prasad said, "TheSupreme Court has clearlystated that no lawyer arguedthat right to Internet is a fun-damental right. This kind ofmisconception needs to becorrected. What the SupremeCourt has stated is that forcommunication of your ideasand views the use of Internetwill also to be held a part ofyour fundamental right ofspeech and expression."

He also said no one candeny abuse of internet forspreading violence and terror-ism, and Pakistan has beendoing it in Kashmir and ISISprospered because of Internet."While right of Internet isimportant, security of thecountry is equally important"Prasad said adding there havebeen attempts to create unrestin Kashmir from across theborder through Internet.

He made this observationin the Rajya Sabha in responseto a question whether it is a fact

that the apex court declareduse of internet as a funda-mental right and took a seriousview of the internet lockdownin Jammu and Kashmir.

He emphasised that theConstitution which providesrights lays equal stress on itsregulation, saying "Use internetbut you cannot create violence.And weaken unity, integrityand security of nation."

In reply to a supplemen-tary question by Leader of theOpposition Ghulam NabiAzad, Prasad said having beena former Chief Minister ofJammu and Kashmir he hadalso been on the hit list of ter-rorists and was well aware ofabuse of Internet.

Whether it is a BJP gov-ernment or a non-BJP gov-ernment, internet has beenrestricted on several times onaccount of its abuse and "whatthe Supreme Court has done is

they have said temporary sus-pension of rules must be peri-odically reviewed", he said.

The minister said a com-mittee at the Centre compris-ing the Home Secretary, theLaw Secretary and the ITSecretary reviews it periodi-cally while there are commit-tees in states too.

Prasad said law and orderis a state subject and decisionsare taken based on ground sit-uation which are reviewedperiodically. He also said theuse of internet is subjected toreasonable restrictions for pub-lic order, for security andintegrity of India.

On Jammu and Kashmir,he said he had recently visitedKashmir and on demand ofapple growers at Sopore, whichproduces 300 varieties andsends out 450 trucks daily, hadinitiated the process of makingit an e-mandi.

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The Opposition on Thursdayaccused the Modi

Government of putting the econ-omy in a critical State.

Initiating the debate on theBudget in Lok Sabha, CongressMP Manish Tewari said thecountry's economy was affectedwith coronavirus but the Centrewas giving medication for com-mon cold.

Tewari said that BJPGovernment is responsible forthe lowest GDP and acute unem-ployment in the country. Hisremarks were countered by for-mer Union minister Jayant Sinhawho said that the Oppositionwas looking behind whereas thegovernment was looking aheadat a five-trillion dollar economy.

"India's economy is in verycritical stage...The economy hasbeen affected with coronaviruswhile the government was giv-ing the medication for commoncold," Tewari said initiating thediscussion on Union

Budget 2020-21. He accusedthe government for the PSU sell-ing spree to meet the fiscaldeficit target, blaming theGovernment's move to divestBPCL, Air India and LIC.

He claimed India's economywould be affected due to the

National Register of Citizens(NRC), Citizenship AmendmentAct (CAA) and NationalPopulation Register (NPR), andurged the government to riseabove

partisan politics. Sinhacountered the attacked of theOpposition, stating that theCongress is seeing through therear view mirror and lookingback and "we (BJP) are lookingahead at five trillion dollar econ-omy".

Claiming that crony capital-ism was at its peak during theUPA rule, he said that under therule of the Congress there was"billionaire raaj". "We removedthe UPA era 'billionaire's raj' andreplaced it with 'people's raaj',"he said. Stating tha budget wasfor the common man and a "feelgood" budget, he said, "We haveto look forward."

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Issues like contaminateddrinking water in many

part of the country due tounchecked industrial wasterin rivers, arsenic problemand check on online businessin food delivery sector fig-ured prominently in theRajya Sabha on Thursday.

Besides these matters,Elders, especially fromTrinamool Congress(TMC)demanded the Governmenttake adequate steps to curbmisuse of antibiotics.

Raising the issue, ManasRajan Bhunia said the centralGovernment should conducta survey to ascertain the sit-uation.

A recent study showsthat India is the top victim ofmisuse of antibiotics andmicro-biologicals. The WestBengal Government isalready scrutinising the mat-ter, he said.

On the issue of arseniccontent in water, AhamedHassan(TMC)called for aproper solution to addressthis problem and demandedadequate funds to under-take research in this area.Around nine districts areaffected in West Bengal.Similarly in Bihar, groundwater in 17 districts hasarsenic content beyond the

permissible limits, he said.Expressing concern

over quality of portablewater, Vijay Pal Singh Tomar(BJP) urged the Governmentto direct all bodies con-cerned to ensure monitoringof water treatment plantsand ensure they run in fullcapacity.

He said 80 per cent ofthe source of potable water ispolluted including Yamunaand Ganga in Delhi-NCRregion and causing variousdiseases like cancer andtuberculosis. Tomar attrib-uted unchecked industrialwaste dumped in rivers asone of the main causes ofunfit water. Mahesh Poddar(BJP) expressed concern overrise in cancer cases in thecountry and urged the gov-ernment to create moreawareness in this regard.

Drawing the attentionof the house to food deliverybusiness through e-com-merce, K Somaprasad(CPM)said it was uncontrolled andthere was no check on thequality and hygiene of food.It was causing a grave dangerto the consumers and calledfor regulations. Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu alsoexpressed concern and CivilSupplies and ConsumerAffairs minister Ram Vilas

�� 34��456(

A9-judge Constitutionbench said Thursday it

will answer the contentiouslegal issue on February 10whether the Supreme Courtcan refer questions of law to alarger bench while exercising itslimited power under reviewjurisdiction in the Sabarimalacase.

The bench, headed byChief Justice SA Bobde, said itwill pronounce the order onMonday as also frame largerissues for evolving of a judicialpolicy to deal with discrimi-nation against women in vari-ous religions.

The 9-judge bench said itwould commence day-to-dayhearing from February 12 onthe issues which were referredby a 5-judge Constitution

bench headed by the thenChief Justice Ranjan Gogoi(since retired) on November14, 2019.

Besides Sabarimala case,the verdict had also referredissues of entry of Muslimwomen into mosques and dar-gahs and of Parsi women, mar-ried to non-Parsi men, beingbarred from the holy fire placeof an Agiary, to the largerbench.

The bench, also compris-ing Justices R Banumathi,Ashok Bhushan, L NageswaraRao, M M Shantanagoudar, S ANazeer, R Subhash Reddy, B RGavai and Surya Kant, said itwould answer preliminaryobjection raised by some seniorlawyers with regard to its powerof reference to a larger benchwhile exercising authorityunder review jurisdiction.

During day-long hearing,senior lawyers like F SNariman, Rajeev Dhavan,Indira Jaising and Shyam Divanvehemently argued that the 5-judge bench was wrong inmaking a reference to a largerbench without deciding thereview petitions challengingthe 2018 Sabarimala verdict,which had allowed women ofall age group to enter the hill-top shrine.

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In the backdrop of coron-avirus outbreak in China,

India on Thursday said it can-consider evacuating Pakistanistudents from Hubei province"if such a situation arises" andif resources are available.Making this clear, the Ministryof External Affairs, however,said Pakistan had made norequest for it till now.

Hundreds of strandedPakistani students in the coro-navirus-hit Wuhan city havemade desperate pleas to theImran Khan Government toevacuate them from China'sworst-affected Hubei province,urging his administration totake a leaf out of India's book.

Asked about the pleas bythe Pakistani students andwhether India could help intheir evacuation, Ministry ofExternal Affairs SpokespersonRaveesh Kumar said, "No suchrequest has been received by usfrom the Government ofPakistan. But if such a situation

arises and keeping in mind theresources available, we canlook into it." However, he didnot clarify what would be thespecific pre-conditions

for considering the request.India airlifted 654 people,

including seven Maldivians,on Saturday and Sunday fromWuhan. The Health Ministrysaid all the evacuees have test-ed negative and no new casehas been reported.

Watching the Indian stu-dents leave, the Pakistani stu-dents posted videos on social

media asking theirGovernment to do the same.

In one of the videos,a Pakistani student while show-ing the Indian students board-ing the bus to go to the airport,said while India was evacuat-ing its citizens, the Pakistangovernment says "you live ordie we will not evacuate orfacilitate" their journey home.Shame on you Pakistan gov-ernment. Learn from Indiahow it takes care of its people,"he said in the video that wentviral.

Pakistan has more than28,000 students in China,including 500 in the worst-hitcity of Wuhan. China haspraised Pakistan for resumingflights to the country, a dayafter it received special medicalkits from Beijing to detect thedeadly virus cases.

Kumar also said all existinge-visas from China are nolonger valid. Similarly, nor-mal visas that have been issuedare also no more valid.However, those who have com-pelling reasons to visit India,can contact the Indian embassyor the nearest consulates toapply for visa.

As regards reports aboutrestrictions on airlines, thespokesperson said, "I am notaware of any restrictionimposed by government on theoperation of any commercialflight between India andChina."

He also said airlines arefree to take the decision basedon their own assessment onground.

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Patna: The BJP on Thursdayaccused RJD leader Tej PratapYadav of misogyny for hisremarks berating ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar andDeputy Chief Minister SushilKumar Modi and asking themto replace Kumar in theirnames with ‘Kumari’, oftenused with the names of girls.Yadav, the elder son of RJDsupremo Lalu Prasad, put hisfoot in the mouth at an anti-CAA, NRC, NRP rally wherehe flayed the JD(U), which isheaded by Kumar and BJP, towhich Sushil Kumar Modibelongs, for the dramaticrealignment of the two partiesin July, 2017.

“I therefore say NitishKumar, whom my father hadaptly named palturam (turn-

coat), can also be called NitishKumari. And his companionSushil Kumar Modi, the bear-er of the saffron flag, calledSushil Kumari Modi. Theycannot take us head on ...They sit in their homes wear-ing bangles,” Yadav jeeredbefore the crowds.The RJDrally was held at Masaurhi inrural Patna late on Wednesdaynight and video clips of it werebeamed by local TV newschannels.

BJP spokesman NikhilAnand reacted angrily,demanding an apology fromthe RJD leader. He remindedYadav of the allegations ofdomestic violence that hisestranged wife has levelledagainst him.

“Was Tej Pratap trying tosay that those whose names are

suffixed with Kumari and whowear bangles deserve norespect? His tasteless remarksand the applause they receivedfrom his supporters are proofthat misogyny runs deep in theRJD,” Anand said.

He said Yadav’s “misogy-nistic” remarks lend credenceto the charges his wife has lev-elled against him. He demand-ed that the RJD leader apolo-gize to the chief minister andhis deputy.

“If he is trying to emulatehis uncouth father, he mustbeware he may similarly landin jail one day, the BJPspokesman said.

Yadav had tied the knotwith Aishwarya Roy, daughterof RJD MLA Chandrika Roy, inMay 2018 but filed a divorcepetition six months later. PTI

Guwahati: One suspected anti-talk ULFA(I) cadre was arrest-ed on Thursday for plantingtwo improvised explosivedevices in the State Capitalahead of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s day-long visitto Assam.

Modi is scheduled to visitAssam on Friday and addressa public rally at Kokrajharafter the Bodo peace agree-ment, which was signed inNew Delhi on January 27.

Guwahati PoliceCommissioner Munna PrasadGupta told PTI that the twoIEDs were found in the busyPaltanbazar and Panbazar areasof the city late on Wednesdaynight.

“The bomb squad took the

IEDs away from the populouslocation and those were deto-nated safely later. We suspect itis the handiwork of ULFA(I),”he added.

The police team immedi-ately launched an operationand arrested one suspectedcadre of ULFA(I), Gupta said.

To queries whether thesebombs were planted targetingModi’s visit to the state, Guptasaid, “We cannot say immedi-ately that the IEDs were plant-ed targeting to the PM’s visit.We are investigating”.Police had recovered anotherfive IEDs from Panikhaiti area,near here on the same day.

Modi during his visit toAssam has no programme inthe city. PTI

Puducherry:The BJP inPuducherry on Thursdayopposed the CongressGovernment’s move to table ananti-CAA resolution in theAssembly in the coming sitting,claiming such a course would be violative ofConstitution.

A delegation of BJP MLAs,led by its leader V Saminathan,submitted a petition in theoffice of assembly Speaker VPSivakolundhu urging him notto permit the Government totable any motion to protest theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA) in the House scheduledto meet on February 12.

The petition was signed byall the three legislators—Saminathan, S.Selvaganapathyand KG Shankar. Saminathanlater told reporters that boththe Houses of Parliament hadalready passed the CitizenshipAmendment Bill which hadsince become an act with thePresident’s assent.

Puducherry functionedunder the direct administrative

control of the Union HomeMinistry and therefore therecould be no tabling of anymotion againstCAA in theassembly and any debate there-to will be violative of theConstitution, he said.

Besides, the UnionTerritory Act 1963 also laiddown that theterritorial assem-bly can debate only matters thatfell in the domain of the Stateor concurrent lists of theSeventh schedule of theConstitution.

As citizenship fell underthe purview of the Central list,the territorial assembly has nopower to discuss it,he saidadding any motion toopposethe CAA would be aninfringement on theConstitution under which allthe MLAs had taken the oathand pledged to uphold it. ChiefMinister V Narayanasamy hasrecently said the governmentwould move a resolutionopposing the CAAin theassembly on February 12`come what may`. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: KeralaChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanon Thursday assured the StateAssembly that the NationalPopulation Register will not beimplemented, but the Statewill go ahead with the censusprocess.

As the Congress-ledOpposition UDF and the trea-sury benches sparred over theNPR, Vijayan said the Statecannot cancel the Centre’s noti-fication asking officials to startthe enumeration process.

“But we can stay it. Wehave stayed the NPR process.Since the opposition leader isinsisting, the Government willlook into it.

We stand by the decisionthat census will go on. We willnot implement NPR. The ques-tionnaire for that is different,”the Chief Minister told theHouse.

The Government had inDecember itself ordered stop-page of all activities in con-nection with NPR in the stateconsidering ‘apprehensions’ ofthe public that it would lead toNRC in the wake of theCitizenship Amendment Act(CAA).

The Opposition troopedout of the House after SpeakerP Sreeramakrishnan refusedto allow a notice for adjourn-ment motion urging theHovernment to temporarilyhalt the census activities untilconcerns related to theNational Population Register(NPR) were cleared.

The UDF MLAs left thehall even as the chief ministerassured the House that allactivities related to NPR wasput on hold and the StateGovernment had issued direc-tion to the district collectors tostop all NPR related works.

“The census work is nothing new to the State. It isa normal process. Informationwill only be collected for thecensus.

The chief secretary hasalso issued directions to districtcollectors in this regard,”Vijayan said, replying to anadjournment motion moved byIndian Union Muslim League(IUML) MLA K M Shaji.

According to Shaji, NPRand the census require similardata and it was a huge mistaketo say that only the censusactivities will take place.

“The State Governmenthas claimed that it has decid-ed to avoid two questions fromthe census data questionnaire.But the centre itself has saidthey don’t require answers tothose questions.

The census officials havebeen appointed and now theywill directly report to the cen-tre and not the state govern-ment,” Shaji said.

However, Vijayan coun-tered Shaji saying opposition’sattempt to raise the matter inthe House was part of “someagenda” as the StateGovernment had made it clearthat it will not allow NPR inState. “I would like to make itclear that no detention campswill be opened in Kerala.Enumeration with regard toNPR will not be implemented.

We have issued specificdirection on the matter and ifany official goes beyond suchdirections, strong action will betaken,” Vijayan said.

Leader of the Oppositionin the Assembly RameshChennithala said they under-stand the importance of thecensus process, but cannotallow it to held without

addressing the concernsregarding it. “We can-not halt census proceedings.But we cannot simply moveforward without addressingthe concerns.

Until the confusion andthe concerns are cleared, weneed to stop the censusprocess,” Chennithala said.

The Congress leader alsosaid even though the chiefminister and his party were ofthe opinion that the UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act(UAPA) should not be imple-mented, two students are nowin custody and were beingprobed by the NIA underUAPA. The veteran leader latertold reporters that they werenot against the census.

“The President of Indiasays NPR will be implemented,Prime Minister says it will notbe implemented, while theHome minister says it will beimplemented. It is totally con-fusing. We need clarity in thismatter first,” he said. The statehad on January 16 directed allits officials to ensure that NPRwas not mentioned while send-ing the communication onCensus 2021. PTI

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The TMC women’s wingtook out a protest rally in

the city on Thursday in protestagainst the amendedCitizenship Act.

Carrying posters and plac-ards against the BJP govern-ment at the Centre on theissue of CAA-NRC-NPR, sev-eral senior TMC leadersincluding ChandrimaBhattacharya and Shashi Panjawere seen shouting slogansdemanding immediate repealof the contentious law.

The TMC women’s wingtook out the rally fromGariahat to Hazra More, aboutfive km away.

The CitizenshipAmendment Act has been thelatest political f lash point in West Bengal, withChief Minister MamataBanerjee, who is among themost vocal critics of the saffronparty, opposing it tooth and nail and the BJP keenon implementing it in the State.

Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa onThursday rewarded withCabinet berth 10 defectors,who helped the BJP bringdown the Congress-JD(S)coalition and come to power.

The Cabinet expansion ledto dissatisfaction among a sec-tion of ‘native’ BJP leaders whowere left out of the exercise asthe party sought to contain dis-sidence in the face of intenselobbying for berths by severalcontenders.

The then disqualifiedCongress-JD(S) MLAs whohad shifted loyalty to the BJPand won the December by-elections, were sworn-in at asimple ceremony at the RajBhavan with the GovernorVajubhai Vala administeringoath of office and secrecy.

The ten are: STSomashekar (Yeshwantpur

constituency),Ramesh Jarkiholi(Gokak), Anand Singh(Vijayanagar), KSudhakar(Chikkaballapur), ByrathiBasavaraj (KR Puram),AShivaram Hebbar (Yellapur),BC Patil (Hirekerur), KGopalaiah(MahalakshmiLayout), KC Narayana Gowda(KR Pet) and ShrimantBalasaheb Patil (Kagwad).

Thursday’s much-awaitedexpansion takes the strength ofthe Cabinet to 28, with sixvacancies now.

In the first expansion, lastAugust, 17 Ministers wereinducted. The latest exercisewasn’t a smooth affair for theChief Minister and it was notwithout a twist.

Yediyurappa hadannounced on Sunday that 13aspirants,including the 10 whowere sworn-in on Thursdayand three BJP old-timers wouldbe inducted.

The three who wereexpected to get Cabinet berthswere Umesh Katti, ArvindLimbavali and CP Yogeshwar.

A section of the BJP hadopposed making Yogeshwar aMinister, pointing out that hehad lost the Assembly electionsand not a member of eitherHouse.

Late on Wednesday,Yediyurappa said induction ofBJP old-timers had been put offfollowing directions from theparty’s central leadership.

The decision to take noneof the ‘native’ BJP leaders intothe Cabinet in the currentround came after intense lob-bying from several aspirantswhich threatened to go out ofhand at one stage, party sourcessaid.

The ten newly-inductedMinisters were among the then16 Congress-JD(S) MLAs whobrought down the coalition

Government headed by HDKumaraswamy.

Among these disqualifiedMLAs, 13 had contested the by-polls in December and 11 hadwon.

The one who had been leftout in the Cabinet expansion-is Athani MLA MaheshKumathalli who has beenpromised by theChief Minister“some other big responsibility.”

Apparently displaying their

resentment, Katti andKumathalli skipped the swear-ing-in ceremony.

While Katti’s name wasdoing rounds ever since theChief Minister announced onSunday that three old-timerBJP leaders would be inductedin his Cabinet.

Health and Family WelfareMinister B Sriramulu, who hadmade no secret of his ambitionto become a Deputy Chief

Minister, was also conspicuousby his absence, along withYogeshwar.

Kumathalli was aggrievedthat he didn’t secure theberth.

“It is difficult to make him(Mahesh Kumathalli) Ministernow. I will call him and discusswith him. We will try to givehim some other big responsi-

bility,” Yediyurappa had said onWednesday night.

Sriramulu later clarifiedthat there was no discordin theparty and Yediyurappa was hisleader.

He also said he was busydistributing invitations for hisdaughter’s wedding and hadsought the approval of theparty leaders to skip the swear-ing-in ceremony.

“There is no discord in theparty. As some people are-building the narrative of nativeand outsider, I don’t believeinsuch differentiation,” Sriramulutold reporters.

There was a section with-in the BJP, especially MPRenukacharya, whichopposed induction ofYogeshwar.

As the Thursday’s exercisewas meant to honour thepromise made to those whohelped BJP come to power

and make Yediyurappa chiefminister, the caste considera-tion did not matter much.

Reacting to Cabinet expan-sion, former Chief Minister andCongress leader Siddaramaiahsaid he is not happy that thosewho defected from Congressand the JD(S) became ministersbecause it was “anti-democra-cy” and they had betrayedtheir parties.

“They had won the electionand now became Ministers, soI will congratulate them. Iwant them to do pro-peopleworks,”Siddaramaiah, however,added.

When asked that his ‘good-old friends’ have become min-isters, former Chief Ministerand JD(S) leader HDKumaraswamy said, “I amhappy. They had put in lotsofefforts to fulfill their aspira-tions. Let them do some goodwork for the people.” PTI

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Aligarh (UP):District author-ities are issuing notices toabout 1,000 people sitting on ananti-CAA dharna here, warn-ing that they may lose theirproperty if they do not give asatisfactory explanation on whythey are violating prohibitoryorders.

In addition, police aresending out “red notices” tosome local leaders, cautioningthem against disrupting lawand order.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice Akash Kulhari said thenotices being sent to about1,000 people say that if they donot give a satisfactory reply, theformalities for attaching theirproperty will start.

The process of sending outthese notices to identified indi-viduals has begun, authoritiessaid.

“If they do not give a sat-isfactory reply to the noticewithin seven days, legal actionwill be taken against themunder relevant sections of theIndian Penal Code,” CityMagistrate Vineet Kumar Singhsaid.

Hundreds of women havebeen sitting on dharna roundthe clock near Eidgah in DelhiGate area for the past oneweek in protest against theCitizenship (Amendment) Actand the proposed NationalRegister of Citizens.

Authorities have imposedprohibitory orders that banassembly of people withoutpermission.On Wednesday,there was bedlam at the protestsite when a stray bull bargedinto the crowd of protesters.

A policeman posted theremanaged to push out the strayanimal from the crowd ofwomen protesters, many ofwhom were carrying children.

A 20-year-old woman wasrushed to hospital by police formedical aid. Some others alsoreceived minor injuries.

Some protesters reported-ly raised slogans against thepolice alleging that the bull hadbeen let loose deliberately toharass the protesters. Policedenied the charge. PTI

Azamgarh (UP): Police havebooked 135 people protestingagainst the CitizenshipAmendment Act for seditionand arrested 20 of them in thecity’s Bilariaganj area.

In the FIR, only 35 peoplehave been named and the restare unidentified, police said.The FIR lists sedition amongthe charges.

The protesters accused thepolice of thrashing them.Police, however, said they usedtear gas shells to tackle the pro-testers when they becameunruly.

“The FIR has been regis-tered against 35 named andover 100 unidentified personsinvolved in anti-CAA protestson Tuesday near Jauhar park inBilariaganj area. Of them 20have been arrested,”Superintendent of Police,Triveni Singh, said

He said Tuesday’s protestagainst the CAA was led byUlema Council national gen-eral secretary Tahir Madni,who was arrested onWednesday.

The officer said a reward of�25,000 each has beenannounced on abscondingUlema Council leaders NurulHuda, Mirza Shane Alam andOsama.

He alleged that the pro-testers used foul languageagainst Hindus and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

An NGO in Azamgarh hasalleged that nineteen peopleincluding minors were beatenup and arrested fromBilariaganj area when theywere ‘peacefully’ protestingagainst the amended citizenship law.

“The women were peace-fully protesting at Mohd Ali

Park. When the women got up from the spot tooffer namaaz, the policemenstarted hurling abuses at them.They even threatened them.The policemen started creatingtensions. They beat up theprotestors and also peltedstones at them,” Zakir from AlFalah Front, the NGO, saidhere.

“Women have been beatenup severely, pulled by their hair.One Sharavari Bano was bru-tally beaten up in front of pro-testors. She is under treatmentat Azamgarh hospital now,” hesaid.

The NGO claimed thatMaulana Tahir Madani wasallegedly pressurized to stop theprotests and threatened withdire consequences.

The 135 people have beenbooked under various sectionsof IPC , SP said. PTI

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Pune: A defence lawyer inthe Elgar Parishad-Maoistlinks case argued on Thursdaythat only the High Court cantransfer the case to the specialNIA court.

A sessions court in Puneis hearing an application filedby the National InvestigationAgency (NIA) to transfer thecase.

The agency moved thecourt after the UnionGovernment transferred theprobe to the central agency.

The NIA lawyer onThursday sought transfer ofcase papers, seized data, courtrecords and proceedings to thespecial NIA court in Mumbai.

Advocate Siddharth Patil,one of the defence lawyers,argued that as per section407 of the Code of CriminalProcedure, a case can be trans-ferred from one district toanother only by the highcourt.

“Not only the (main)charge sheet but supplemen-tary charge sheet has been filedand we are in the middle offraming charges,” he said. PTI

�� 34

The construction of Ramtemple in Ayodhya will

commence either on RamNavmi or Akshaya Tritiya inApril, Swami Govind DevgiriMaharaj, a trustee of Shri RamJanambhoomi Teertha KshetraTrust said here on Thursday.

The exact date, however,will be finalised in the firstmeeting of the Trust, he said.

Swami Devgiri Maharajwas talking to reporters here, aday after the Modi governmentconstituted an independent15- member Trust, includinghim, to oversee the construc-tion of Ram temple inAyodhya.

“I welcome Modi govern-ment’s decision to form a trustfor the establishment of Rammandir in Ayodhya. The con-struction of the temple willcommence either on RamNavmi (April 2) or AkshayaTritiya (April 26) this year asdiscussed during a meeting atPrayagraj,” he said.

Ayodhya: Muslim litigants ofthe Ram Janmabhoomi-BabriMasjid case here expresseddissatisfaction over the locationof the site granted for buildinga mosque to replace the demolished Babri Masjid, say-ing it is too far from the citycentre.

The UP Government hasgiven the allotment letter to theSunni Waqf board for the landin Dhannipur village inSohawal tehsil in Ayodhya onthe Lucknow highway, about 18km from the district head-quarters, state governmentspokesperson Shrikant Sharmatold reporters on Wednesday.

Speaking to PTI onThursday, litigant MohammadUmar said the site was not aprominent place.

“The Supreme Courtdirected that land should beallotted at any prominent placein Ayodhya, but the allottedland is 25 kilometers away in avillage and off the road, so thisis not prominent place,” hesaid.Another litigant,Hasbullah Badshah Khan, said,“The 1994 Supreme Courtjudgment in the Ismail Faruqicase clearly mentioned that

the mosque and temple will beinside the 67-acre precinct.According to the November2019 SC judgment, land for themosque was to be given at animportant place in Ayodhya.The plot identified is underRaunahi police station and inSohawal tehsil, it is not even inAyodhya.”

Reacting to the allotmentof the land by the Uttar PradeshGovernment, Zafaryab Jilani,executive member of All IndiaMuslim Personal Law Board,said renaming a town andextending its municipal limitsdoes not mean that the landoffered is still in Ayodhya.

“The Uttar PradeshGovernment had renamedFaizabad district as Ayodhyaduring Diwali celebrations lastyear. In all court documentspart of the litigation all thiswhile, Ayodhya was a smalltown, a town of Faizabad. ThisAyodhya cannot be equated tothe new district created by thegovernment now,” he said.

“Merely renaming a townand extending its municipallimits do not mean the landoffered is still in Ayodhya,”Jilani said.

He claimed that though theland was being given to theSunni Waqf Board, Muslimorganisations, including theAIMPLB, as also the Muslimcommunity, have denouncedaccepting the alternate land forBabri Masjid. The SupremeCourt in a historic verdict onNovember 9 last year in thepolitically sensitive RamJanmabhoomi-Babri Masjidland dispute case backed theconstruction of a Ram templeby a government trust at thedisputed site in Ayodhya, andruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for amosque in the Hindu holytown.

Based on this verdict, theCentre had asked the UttarPradesh government to allocate5 acres of land to the SunniWaqf Board.

The dispute over the site ofBabri Masjid, a three-domedmosque built by or at thebehest of Moghul emperorBabur, dates back centurieswith Hindus contending thatthe invading Muslim armieshad razed an existing Ramtemple to erect the mosque. PTI

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Sleuths of the Income TaxDepartment seized unac-

counted cash of about �77 crore from hideouts pur-portedly belonging to afinancier of Tamil films inChennai and Madurai insearches held on Wednesday.

This was revealed by a pressrelease by the official spokesper-son of the Central Board ofDirect Taxes on Thursday.

The Pioneer had reportedon Thursday that Tamil cinema’sreigning superstar Joseph Vijay(Thalapathy to fans and fol-lowers) was picked up by theIncome Tax Department froma location in Neyveli, taken tohis residence in East CoastRoad in Chennai and was ques-tioned about certain financialdealings for hours.

Though no names werefurnished by the CBDTspokesperson, the release saidthe searches were held ‘in thecase of four major players in thefilm industry including a pro-ducer, a prominent actor, hisdistributor and financer basedin Tamil Nadu’.

The release said that thecommon thread among all theseentities were the success of arecent film which was a boxoffice hit collecting around�300 crore. “About 38 premis-es of the group were covered insearch and survey actions

spread over Chennai andMadurai”, said the release.

The release issued by theCBDT on Thursday was silentabout the name of the actor. Butit said that the prominentActor’s investment in immov-able properties and remunera-tion received from the saidProducer for acting in the filmis the subject matter of investi-gation in the present search.“Searches in some of thepremises are still continuing, “the release said.

Large number of propertydocuments, Promissory notes,post dated cheques taken as col-lateral security were recoveredduring the search and havebeen seized. “As per evidencedetected during the search , it isestimated that the concealmentin this case is likely to exceed�300 crore,” said the CBDTspokesperson.

The release further statedthat all documents in originalrecovered from the hide outplace was under scrutiny. It alsosaid that the IT department waschecking and analysing thedocuments seized from the res-idence and premises of the filmproducer.

Though the release is silentabout the name of the film, ithas become clear that the filmin question is Bigil starred byVijay and which according tothe fans of the superstar grossed�300 crore in box office.

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Pune: The Indian armed forcesare maintaining a tight vigilalong the borders with Chinaand Nepal in view of the coro-navirus outbreak in China,Armed Forces Medical Services(AFMS) Director GeneralAnup Banerji said on Thursday.

The Government has sanc-tioned 10 research laboratoriesto screen and test samples ofvarious pathogens, includingthe coronavirus, Lt Gen Banerjisaid.

He was talking to reportersduring a conference at theArmed Forces Medical Collegein Maharashtra’s Pune city.

To a question, he said thearmed forces were taking strin-gent and foolproof action toprevent the outbreak of coro-navirus infection on the coun-try’s borders adjoining China

and Nepal.“We are keeping a tight

vigil at check-posts along theNepal and China borders, asthese areas are very porous,” hesaid.

He said the AFMS hasresponded to this national calland all stakeholders in thegovernment and the defenceare also pitching-in.

He also said that severalIndians evacuated from Wuhanin China’s Hubei province werebeing provided all medicalhelp at the quarantine facilitiesset up by the Army and ITBP.

The government hasalready sanctioned 10 labs tocarry out research on virusesand these could also be used forscreening and testing samplesfor coronavirus, if required, LtGen Banerji said. PTI

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In what came as a big relief tohim, the Bombay High Court

on Thursday granted bail toformer media baron and primeaccused Peter Mukerjea in theSheena Bora murder case, afterobserving that prima faciethere was no evidence to provehis direct involvement in thecrime.

Justice Nitin W Sambre ofthe High Court granted bail toMukerjea on a surety of �2 lakh, after restraining himfrom travelling abroad withoutprior permission from thecourt and directing that heshould not contact his childrenRahul Mukerjea and VidhiMukerjea and other witnessesin the case. The court orderedMukherjea to deposit his pass-port with the CBI.

65-year-old Mukherjea willnot be able to walk out of theprison immediately, as Justice

Nitin W. Sambre of the highcourt has stayed his ordergranting bail to the former fora period of six weeks to enablethe CBI to appeal against theorder.

The bail order is of signif-icance to Mukherjea, consid-ering that the Judge observedthat there was no evidence toinfer that Peter Mukerjea wasinvolved in the commission ofthe crime. “When the incidenttook place, the applicant (PeterMukerjea) was not in India.The trial in the case is alreadyunderway. The applicant is injail since over four years andhas recently undergone bypasssurgery,” Justice Sambreaverred.

In another importantobservation that comes as arelief to Mukherjea, the Judgenoted: “Except for statement ofthe approver in the case,Shyamwar Rai, there is no ref-erence to Peter Mukerjea in any

evidence. There is no other evi-dence to show his involve-ment in the conspiracy.”

The Prosecution’s case isthat key accused Indrani, alongwith her first husband SanjeevKhanna and her driverShyamvar Rai — who laterturned an approver in the case—had allegedly “kidnapped”Sheena Bora between 6.30 pmand 7.30 pm on April 24, 2012,from Bandra (west) in their car.Sheena was allegedly strangu-lated in the car on the sameevening and that on the fol-lowing morning they carriedthe body of the deceasedpacked in a bag (which hadthey kept in the rear side of thecar) to the jungles GogadeKhurd village off the Khopoli-Pen Road, where they dousedthe bag with petrol and set it onfire.

Sheena was daughter ofIndrani from her first live-inrelationship with Siddhartha

Das.Peter, who was not present

at the site of crime, has beencharged with having beeninvolved in a conspiracyhatched by Indrani to eliminateher daughter. He has also beencharged with destruction ofevidence in the case.

Virtually pulling up theinvestigators for arraigningMukherjea as an accused in thecase that too after six months

after the arrest of two keyaccused, the Judge said that onApril 24, 2012, on whichSheena was murdered, therewas the direct involvement ofIndrani Mukerjea and her pre-vious husband Sanjeev Khannain the offence, as alleged by theCBI.

Refusing to accept theProsecution’s contention thatMukerjea had conspired to killhis step-daughter Sheena as he

was unhappy with the rela-tionship between her and hisson Rahul Mukerjea, JudgeSambre noted: “This court hasperused various emailsexchanged between the appli-cant and Rahul Mukerjea. It isdifficult to infer there was anycriminal intent on part of PeterMukerjea to indulge in thecrime in question... The appli-cant was only trying to coun-sel his son, being a responsiblefather”

Having taken into consid-eration that the trial is currentlyunderway in the case, the Judgenoted in his order granting bailto Mukerjea: “The applicant isin jail since more than fouryears and has recently under-gone bypass surgery.Considering these circum-stances, this court is grantingbail”

Indrani, who was arrestedon August 25, 2015 for heralleged role in the murder of

her daughter Sheena, is the keyaccused in the Sheena Boramurder case.

The CBI — which tookover the investigations intothe Sheena Bora murder casefrom the Mumbai police onSeptember 29, 2015 — had onNovember 19, 2015 filed acomprehensive charge-sheet,running into 1,000-odd pages,against Indrani, her formerhusband Khanna and driverShyamvar Rai.

On the same (November19,2015) evening, the CBIarrested Peter Mukherjea inconnection with the sensa-tional crime.

Initially, there were fouraccused in the Sheena Boramurder case – Indrani, her for-mer husband Sanjeev Khanna,her driver Shyamvar Rai andPeter Mukherjea. Of them, Raiwas granted pardon and madean approver in the case on June20, 2016.

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With no love lost betweenChief Minister Mamata

Banerjee and GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar the BengalAssembly may on Friday turnout to be an arena of confrontation between RajBhavan and Nabanna (StateSecretariat).

This particularly becameclear after Dhankhar onThursday dropped hints of ahistory being created “when Iwill address the Assemblytomorrow.” The Governor hasalready drawn flak from theTrinamool CongressGovernment for reportedlyexpressing his desire to gothrough the Budget before its

being laid on the table.“I have been in politics for

the past several decades butnever saw a Governor actinglike this. Never saw a Governorwanting to read the Budgetbefore its being tabled in theHouse. It seems that he isworking with some purpose,”State Law Minister ChandrimaBhattacharya said on Friday.

Though the StateGovernment had been tryingfor the past a few days to reachout to Dhankhar with seniorMinister Partho Chatterjeemeeting him at the Governor’sHouse and the Governmentoffering him the State chopper—which it had refused on ear-lier occasions — for a short tripto Shantiniketan the Governor

tended to be in no mood to for-get previous altercations.

“There were learned gov-ernors before me, they all wereiconic people but when Iaddress the Assembly tomor-row I will be making history.My predecessors were all bornbefore Independence and I amthe first Governor to be bornafter the Independence. I willcreate history tomorrow,” theGovernor said raising eyebrows.

According to establishedpractice the Governor reads outthe speech prepared by theState Government whichincludes its own policies in thesaid speech.

However, Dhankharreminded that he too was with-

in his rights to put in his ownviews.

The State Government waswell within its rights to putforth its achievements in theGovernor’s address to theHouse, he said. “But asGovernor, as constitutionalhead of the state, I have also myown rights and I have given mysuggestions (accordingly). Iwon’t disclose what those sug-gestions were. I think it will beincorporated in my speech. Iwill act as per the Constitution,”he maintained.

His comments came a dayafter he had said that he mightmake changes to the speech heis scheduled to read out at thebeginning of the Budget sessionon February 7.

The TMC promptly react-ed with Bhattacharya accusingthe Governor of deliberatelytrying to create problems. “Weall know he is deliberately try-ing to create trouble and that iswhy he has crossed his brief onseveral occasions. He is actingas per orders of the centralGovernment,” the Ministersaid.

The State Government andthe Governor had not been ingood terms ever since he tookcharge last year. The face offcommenced after Dhankharalleged ignored theGovernment’s advice and per-sonally went to rescue UnionMinister Babul Supriyo toJadavpur University where hewas gheraoed by the agitating

students.Thereafter on a number of

occasions both sides tradedcharges alleging non-coopera-tion and interference in eachother’s domain.

The Chief Minister oftenalleged that the Governor wasacting as a BJP’s agent and wasrunning a parallel Governmentat the instance of New Delhi.

However the ChiefMinister extended olive brancha few days ago offering the statehelicopter —which was earlierdenied to him — for trips toShantiniketan and Farakka.“We hope things pass off peace-fully keeping in view the loftytradition of our State,” said aMinister.

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Two former Chief Ministers,Omar Abdullah and

Mehbooba Mufti, currentlyunder political detention forlast six months, were bothbooked under controversialand stringent Public Safety Act(PSA) that allows detention ofany individual for up to twoyears without a trial. The movewas necessitated as their six-month preventive custody wasending on Thursday.

Official sources privy tothese developments in Srinagarclaimed, the PSA order wassigned late night by the con-cerned authorities after whichboth the leaders were dulyinformed about the same.

Three other leaders AliMohd Sagar, Bashir AhmedVeeri of National Conferenceand Sartaj Madni of PDP werealso booked under PSA by theconcerned authorities onThursday.

Sitting MP from

Srinagar,and former CM andUnion Minister Dr FarooqAbdullah, is already detainedunder PSA act by the J&Kadministration. He is current-ly lodged in his residence locat-ed on the Gupkar road inSrinagar.

Though no formal state-ment was issued by the officialspokesman of Jammu &Kashmir Government till lateevening but highly placedsources claimed, PSA’s werefirst slapped on NationalConference General SecretaryAli Mohd Sagar, former NCMLC Bashir Ahmed Veeri andPDP leader Sartaj Madni and inthe end PSA orders of bothOmar Abdullah and MehboobaMufti too were signed onThursday. The trio were alsodetained in the aftermath ofabrogation of Article 370 and35-A since August 5, 2019.

A total of 389 people arealready in detention under thePublic Safety Act (PSA) inJammu & Kashmir.

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When the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP)-led NDAGovernment won the 2019Lok Sabha election, therewas an air of inevitability

about who would occupy the HomeMinister’s chair. Rumours and reports werecirculated weeks prior to the officialannouncement that the man in the hot seatwould likely be Amit Shah, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s right-hand man, the onehe often looks up to for guidance. This aspectwas most visible during his first and onlypress conference last year. Therefore, it was-n’t surprising that Prime Minister Modi gavesuch an important post to arguably his mosttrusted cadet.

On taking over the post of the HomeMinister, Shah stated and projected his viewsthat he wanted to establish a strong coun-try during his tenure and that he intendedto protect the citizens from threats — bothexternal and internal. Indeed, this was a love-ly thought: A strong India where citizens feelsafe. The problem, however, is that this ideahas all but been yet rhetoric of the ModiGovernment. Words were either left hang-ing in the air or were forgotten after beingprinted on a saffron pamphlet. The perfor-mance of the Home Minister ever since hisappointment last year has been egregious,even by the most liberal benchmark. I wouldgo so far as to say that it has been an unmit-igated disaster.

The reasons for his unequivocal failureto fulfil his responsibilities can be attributedto “incompetence” or “negligence” border-ing ineptness. In this week’s article, I willhighlight some of the major failings of theHome Minister ever since he took charge.I will also suggest some ideas and the pos-sible causes of the prevailing situation on theground.

The most obvious and visible exampleof Shah’s failure has been on account of theperformance and conduct of the DelhiPolice, which falls under the Home Ministry.With elections in Delhi nearing, the policeconducted itself in the most “irresponsible”manner. A perfect example of the police’sshocking behaviour and the Home Ministry’sinexplicable silence was the events thatunfolded on December 15, 2019, when itforcefully entered the premises of the JamiaMillia Islamia university and allegedlyassaulted students after a mob set severalbuses on fire near the college. The policealleged that they entered the university cam-pus to identify the agitators. However,ground reports stated that the police forciblyentered the university campus without anypermission from the administration andlobbed tear gas inside the campus even asthe students were studying inside the library.

The Jamia incident was indeed shame-ful but at least the police forwarded an argu-ment that they barged into the university to“identify the agitators.” A few weeks later,even this pretence of impartiality and fair-

ness was done away with. OnJanuary 5, an armed mobentered the Jawaharlal NehruUniversity (JNU) campus andattacked both the students andthe teachers. At least 23 peoplewere injured during this incidentand one of the images thatstood out from the entireepisode was of a “helpless”police standing outside the uni-versity campus even as the mobran rampant inside. What wasall the more shocking was thata month after this attack, thespecial investigation teamunearthed precious little aboutthe violence and the police’s“muted” response. This despitethe fact that a leading televisionchannel carried out a stingoperation and unmasked someof the prime instigators of theviolence, who happened to bemembers of the Akhil BharatiyaVidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), aRight-wing student’s organisa-tion associated with theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) and the BJP. Despite theseobvious leads and evidence, noarrests have been made by thepolice. What a shocker!

The image of a “helpless”police force came to the foreonce again when a man, armedwith a gun, fired shots at aprotest while shouting sloganslike “kisko chahiye azaadi, maindoonga azaadi.” This incidenthappened right in the centre of

the capital. All of these incidentsdo raise some uncomfortablequestions for the HomeMinister. However, what was allthe more deplorable was that thevideos and images that were cir-culated widely on social mediashowed visuals where the policestood by and just observed theshooter brandishing a gun as ifit was a regular day in the parkand the police wanted to bask insome sun. What was even moreunbelievable was that the shoot-er featured a live video onFacebook moments before theincident. Loudly and proudly heclaimed how he was going totake action against protesters.

How ironical it is that thepolice acted with alacrity whileentering the Jamia universitycampus to identify miscreantsbut showed bamboozling levelsof helplessness while dealingwith the incidents of violence atJNU and then with the shooter.It boggles one’s mind as to howthe police can blow so hot andcold depending on the event.But then what can they do?After all, they take orders fromthe Home Ministry and, there-fore, Shah is the captain of theirship. The police cannot actagainst the instructions of itscaptain or any other privilegeddeputies even if party membersraise slogans like “Desh kegadaaron ko, goli maaro saaloko.” A free and fair police would

have registered an FIR againstBJP MP Anurag Thakur for rais-ing such disgusting and vile slo-gans. A competent HomeMinister would have comedown strongly against suchstatements, which have visiblydeteriorated the law and ordersituation in Delhi for which thebuck stops with Shah.

But we must not forget thatwe live in interesting timeswhere the Home Minister of thecountry is actually the face of theBJP for the Delhi elections. Allhis time and effort has beenspent on disparaging the AamAadmi Party (AAP). The HomeMinister spent all his energyfighting this election on hatred,even if the consequence of thisapproach is that the safety of reg-ular everyday citizens of Delhihas been put at risk.

The BJP tried to tilt thiselection by inflaming peoplerather than by talking about“work” (as AAP has done).Shah has been too busy tonotice that while the BJP hasbeen flinging lit matches tocreate a fire in Delhi, it is hishome, ie, the Home Ministry,that has lost most. However,when all the din and noisefinally settles on February 11, thedamage done to his prestigiouspost will be lost on no one.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, a former MP and current-ly a member of the AAP)

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Sir — All eyes are on the Delhi elec-tion. The AAP and BJP are the keycontenders and it looks like a Davidversus Goliath contest. The momentof decision has arrived for Delhi’svoters. It all boils down to a vote foror against Arvind Kejriwal. TheAAP seeks re-election on the basisof its performance during its firstterm in office and its promises fora hoped-for second term. The AAPstands to benefit from the tangiblebenefits provided to the aam aadmi.Its honest intentions and its com-mitment to politics of deliveryenable people to identify themselveswith the primarily Delhi-basedregional party and give it an advan-tage over the mightier Hindutva-oriented Right-wing BJP.

Sadly, the BJP has run its elec-tion campaign on “religious hatred”and harped on the Shaheen Baghprotest to polarise the voters. Theinnumerable violations of the ModelCode of Conduct by BJP’s leadershave shown the party’s scant regardfor the sanctity of the electionprocess at the heart of a represen-tative democracy. This is a cryingshame.

David MiltonTamil Nadu

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Sir — The BJP seems to be pullingall stops to win the forthcomingDelhi elections. Apart from com-munalising the political narrativejust before the Assembly pollsthrough “hate speeches” beingspewed by its leaders on a regularbasis, the party has hardly beenplaying by the rules. Isn’t the PrimeMinister Modi’s announcement ofa trust for temple construction inAyodhya right now a violation of theModel Code of Conduct? Isn’t theEnforcement Directorate’s disclo-sure of Popular Front of India’s rolein the Shaheen Bagh protest in thenick of time not misuse of officialmachinery? Aren’t all these last-ditch attempts to avoid coming adistant second to the AAP? It is toAAP’s credit that it has refused torespond to BJP’s politics of polari-sation and perverse provocationsand stuck to its narrative of makingDelhi a better place to live in. TheBJP has no answer to Kejriwal’sargument that “better schools, notCAA, will build 21st century India.”

Ashmit AaronJammu

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There is an ongoing fierce debate in the coun-try about successful strategies of naturalresources management. At one end of the spec-

trum, we have the moral and political contract ofRousseau, where the Government has all the polit-ical legitimacy. Then there are views inspired byHobbes, that individual actions are influenced onlyby their personal power and conscience. In the samevein today, we have staunch advocates of the predom-inant role of individuals vs the state in matters of man-agement of forests, land, water bodies and other nat-ural resources. The fact remains that poor forest gov-ernance can have significant negative impacts indevelopment of outcomes on all the pillars of strat-egy, the environment, poverty-reduction and socialdevelopment.

SD Richardson, late Chairman of ForestEducation in the UN, once observed, “The greatestchallenge in conservation is not the conservation ofthreatened or vanishing species or even biologicaldiversity, it is the enhancement of soil fertility toenable sustainable development in a world reluctantto accept the steady state economics.”

One would like to add that there is no bettermeans to maintain, sustain or enhance the produc-tivity of the soil but for trees or perennial vegetation.Proper trees at the proper place are the key to main-taining, sustaining and enhancing soil productivity.This is also the answer to job-creation, reducing thedisparity of income and for maintaining, or decel-erating the rate of climate change, due to their uniquecapacity to sequester carbon.

Land is a finite and fragile resource in India. Itrequires a careful husbandry. The cost of soil ero-sion and degradation is seldom perceived becauseit is in various scales and magnitude. On site and offsite, the cost of soil erosion can be loss of produc-tive potential, reduction of infiltration rates, reduc-tion in water holding capacity, loss of nutrients,increased tillage operation cost, reduced storagecapacity of dams, reduced water supply and deple-tion of wildlife and so on. In case of rivers, health offorest greatly determines the quality and quantity ofwater. Riparian vegetation impacts metabolic func-tioning of biota. Branches and twigs often work asdebris dams and often serve as important habitat.

There are large areas in India where sustainableagriculture is only possible with the aid of trees,whether as a part of crop rotation, shade providersor as a fodder. Trees have an important part to playin land restoration/reclamation. There are large areasin the country, particularly the so-called dry landswhich have been so badly misused in the past thatthey are no longer capable of growing food and fod-der for people who live and depend on them. In allthese critical situations, their contribution will be deci-sive. This is about the most important job that treeshave to do in India today.

Technological innovation in agriculture is oftenadvanced as an answer to deteriorating productivi-ty. Most “agricultural innovation” theses fail to explainwhy in many parts of the country, completely dif-ferent technologies are being applied on lands, whichare similar but adjacent. Small, independent farm-ers may be applying a traditional technology to sus-tain themselves right next to an adjoining stretch ofland where modern, sophisticated technology is pro-ducing cash crops.

Similarly, it is oversimplification to regarddeforestation/degradation as a consequence of pop-ulation. Any incisive study or analysis of history willshow that deforestation is nothing but manifestationof unjust social relations. In such a scenario, an areawhich promises great hope but also requires carefulscrutiny is social forestry.

This connotes many concepts to many people,forests for socio-economic development, agro-forestry, urban forestry, recreation forestry and

forestry for rural development. These dif-ferent names signify different functions oftrees under different settings. But thesereflect a growth of social consciousnessabout trees. But first what does socialforestry mean? Though there is no clearor agreed meaning, it has come to coverany kind of forestry activity directed tosocial needs.

Agroforestry: A forester will often saythat agroforestry has changed the land-scapes in western UP, certain parts ofHaryana and or Punjab. Yamunanagar inHaryana is a hub of forest-based industri-al activity which served as a showcase ofwhat agroforestry can do. The fact remainsthat the drylands of India constitute aunique challenge for development plan-ning, observes economist Mihir Shah.

Biologists advanced various claims infavour of agroforestry like controlling soilerosion, maintaining organic matter,improving and maintaining the physicalproperty of soil, addition of nitrogen, addi-tion of mineral nutrition, reduction in soilacidity and alkalinity, addition biomassthrough tree root system, enhancement ofmycrorhizal associations, imputed captureof rainfall and sunlight, control of damagefrom disease and so on. All can be true oruntrue unless the choice of components,their arrangements and their managementare optimised within an environmentalconducive to it.

Agroforestry for sustainable agricul-ture: Agroforestry systems can provide sev-eral products, requiring different yardsticksfor their measurements. They occur in dif-ferent ways and on different scales of timeand space. Different products may requiredifferent units of measurement. For exam-ple, crop per season, timber or poles afterseveral years, non-timber forest productsin different units; or tonnes of top soilsaved, rainfall conserved. In short, bothshort and long-term benefits occur fromdifferent agroforestry systems (with tree-crop mixture). Short-term benefits occurin the shape of mulch and litter that affectroot growth and the soil’s physical prop-erties. Farmers need to be exposed to thefact that to measure a lasting benefit in nat-ural capital, we shall have to consider timeand space scale. Agroforestry can add toboth efficiency, stability and resilience forsustainable agriculture, provided the ben-

efits are considered in scale of time andspace. Trees can influence beyond theirimmediate environment. Their roots mayextend well outside their plots and trees onthe upper side of the watershed affectdownside farms, while trees in the valleyaffect the hydrology. Hence, while count-ing benefits of agroforestry, both goods andservices need to be considered and thereis no doubt that a right combination oftrees and crops can be both efficient,resilient and sustainable. But agroforestryis not simply limited to a matter of solv-ing technical problems. It is also necessaryto understand the socio-economic andhence political context within which agri-culture is practised. Research of this kindhas become all the more importantbecause day by day the area of land undertraditional agriculture is dwindling andsuitable use of trees can do so much toimprove soil productivity. Such areas ofresearch are just beginning to receive atten-tion. Agroforestry at present is largely con-fined to the prosperous pockets of fertileland and the benefits are mostly accruingto rich farmers. How these benefits orgains get distributed among the landless,small farmers and contract labourersremain to be analysed with location-spe-cific hard data.

There are various issues and innumer-able location-specific problems and solu-tions that need to be addressed for whichthere is neither effective institution, norcapacity or proper policy instrument.The rural poor, who have either no landat all or insufficient land to support them,are increasing in number every year. Theproblem will not go away by ill-conceivedschemes or absence of schemes. They canbe mobilised to restore the land, water bod-ies or for the conservation of local biodi-versity. City-trained extension purveyingorders and advice to farmers often findtheir advice ignored. It makes more senseto convey new ideas through individualschosen to represent them at their level ofknowledge or literacy. What is required istotal revamping or rejuvenation of the van-quishing ecosystem.

Recreation forestry: This is anotherdimension of social forestry, which requirescareful nurturing, because its users are byand large opinion makers of society. Theyare influential, with ability to mobilise pub-

lic/political opinion. The demand foroutdoor recreation and social cohesion iscatching speed and city dwellers love to getfirst-hand experience of forests. Forestedlandscapes in India are few and far fromthe reach of city and village dwellers.Hence, there is great demand for forestedlandscape for city dwellers like Kukrail inLucknow, or other big cities. It requiresskill, experience in anticipating the clearaim and the demands of the people or spe-cial interest groups, the finance to be putin and the returns.

Urban forestry: Is another conspic-uous kind of social forestry, which hasshown great potential and which is anoth-er pointer to social consciousness abouttrees. The main purpose of the urban for-est is shade, screening and aesthetic. Thecomposition of urban forested landscapeis also often on socio-economic strata.Hardy and economically useful species areselected (such as moringa, neem, jamuns,eucalyptus) for slums or for low-incomeareas. People living in the slums are gen-erally not bothered with trees except fora few species that provide fodder orshade for their temporary shops or homes.Urban forests of affluent areas generallyhave well-planted, well-tended trees.Urban trees are important for their ben-efits to city dwellers, climate ameliorationand engineering, architectural and aesthet-ic uses. But except a few cities, managementof urban areas generally reflects a lack ofskill and experience, in addition to financ-ing and proper monitoring and, of course,information, education and training ofstakeholders.

Trees have manifold roles to play.Forest policy expert Bjorn Lundgren hadrightly observed that there is a range oflocal problems that requires solutionsbased on different strategies. This is whythe key person may or may not be a foresterbut the one who links the local commu-nity to the store of expertise and acts as acatalyst in getting things on the way. It mat-ters little whether he/she is called anactivist, village representative or what haveyou. It is through such people that forestersor others can gain an understanding ofproblems and suggest feasible solutions.

(The writer is former Principal ChiefConservator of Forests, UP and Advisor,Amity)

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There are two things everyoneshould know about sexually trans-mitted infections (STIs). First,

almost all STIs can be preventedthrough the use of a highly-effectivetechnology — condoms. The four mostcommon STIs — chlamydia, gonorrhea,syphilis and trichomonas vaginalis —can be cured by antibiotics. Second, STIsdon’t always show symptoms. Untreatedgonorrhea and chlamydia can causeinfertility. Syphilis in a pregnant woman

can cause foetal and neonatal illness anddeath while human papillomavirus(HPV) can cause cervical cancer. Whenaccess to appropriate products andservices is provided, they are greatlyempowering: Practise safe sex, get test-ed and where necessary, use effectivetreatment. By working to ensure all peo-ple can access the products and servicesneeded to prevent, detect and treat STIs,member states of the WHO South-EastAsia Region have made significantprogress against them. In the mid-’90sthe region accounted for more than athird of all new STI infections global-ly. By 2012, it accounted for an estimat-ed 11 per cent. In 2016, Thailand elim-inated mother-to-child transmission ofsyphilis and HIV. In 2019, Maldives andSri Lanka achieved the same. FromBangladesh to Indonesia and on toMyanmar, the region’s member stateshave rolled out innovative policies to

tackle STIs. India in particular has madesignificant inroads against them, withstrong success at the sub-national level.However, the region’s battle against STIscontinues as new challenges haveemerged. As a recent WHO report out-lines, several gaps and constraints —including inattention and a lack ofresources — are undermining STI con-trol and causing diseases to increase inspecific areas and communities. Thiscannot continue. As health authoritiesand donors increasingly promote HIVservices, it is imperative that STIs aregiven the attention, resources and ener-gy required to sustain and accelerate theregion’s advances and promote healthfor all.

Our goals are clear. By 2030 wemust reduce the incidence of syphilisand gonorrhea by 90 per cent based onthe 2018 levels. Congenital syphilisshould amount to no more than 50 cases

per 100,000 live births. All countriesshould achieve and sustain 90 per centcoverage of the HPV vaccine. To makethe necessary progress, which will helpend STIs as a major public health prob-lem, several areas should be of focus.

To start with, STI control should berepositioned as a public health priori-ty. Resources, staffing and planningshould be allocated independent of HIVprogrammes. Public awareness, engage-ment and participation should be pro-moted. The common ground andpotential synergies in STI and HIV con-trol efforts should be better grasped andprogrammes should be integrated. Aclear line should be drawn from whereeach country is, to where it needs to be.To help do that, we must share and learnfrom member state successes. All coun-tries in the region have implementedsuccessful policies aimed at a range ofoutcomes, from eliminating mother-to-

child transmission of syphilis and HIVto increasing STI testing among keypopulations. Each country has much tooffer. Together we must leverage exper-tise to overcome barriers and drivedown the STI burden. Crucially, all gapsin STI data must be filled. To that end,basic STI surveillance must be carriedout, with all pregnant women andpatients from key populations screenedfor STIs routinely. Standard case report-ing procedures should be developed andfollowed, allowing authorities to trackthe efficacy of interventions and recal-ibrate them as and where needed.

To protect against HPV, which is acause of cervical cancer in women, twodoses of the HPV vaccine should reachall girls between the ages of nine and 14.To date, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailandand Maldives have introduced the vac-cine nationally, while in India, Sikkimis the only State to make it part of its rou-

tine schedule. Bangladesh, Indonesia,Nepal and several Indian States haveconducted pilot projects. We mustclosely guard the region’s progressagainst STIs. We cannot afford for it tobe reversed. As together we strive toreduce the incidence of syphilis andgonorrhea by 90 per cent by 2030 andachieve and sustain 90 per cent cover-age of the HPV vaccine, all stakehold-ers must refocus their attention,resources and energy on the task athand. WHO will continue to supportMember States in their efforts to do that,and to ensure all people are empoweredto practise safe sex, get tested and, wherenecessary, use effective treatment. Theend of STIs as a major public healthproblem is possible. Together we mustact.

(The writer is Regional Director,WHO South East Asia. Views expressedare personal)

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The Reserve Bank onThursday expectedly kept

interest rates unchanged amiduncertain inflation outlook butleft the door open for more eas-ing in future even as it tooksteps to spur credit growth inan economy facing its worstslowdown in more than adecade.

With all six members of theRBI Governor ShaktikantaDas-led Monetary PolicyCommittee voting unani-mously, the repurchase or reporate was maintained at 5.15 percent while retaining its accom-modative stance.

With food prices drivingretail inflation to a more thanfive-year high of 7.35 per centin December, the central bankraised its inflation projectionfor the six months toSeptember to 5-5.4 per centfrom 3.8-4 per cent previous-ly while terming the outlook onprice rise as "highly uncertain".

The RBI cut its policy rateby 135 basis points over fivestraight meetings last year,before hitting the pause buttonin December on inflationary

concerns. The RBI stuck to its pre-

diction of 5 per cent GDPgrowth in the current fiscal -the lowest in 11 years but low-ered its growth forecast for thefirst half of the coming finan-cial year to 5.5-6 per cent fromits December projection of5.9-6.3 per cent. For the full2020-21 fiscal, it put the GDPgrowth at 6 per cent, which isat the lower end of the 6-6.5 percent expansion projected by thegovernment's EconomicSurvey.

To boost credit growth, itscrapped the mandatoryrequirement for banks to setaside cash of 4 per cent forevery new loan extended toretail automobiles, residentialhousing, and small businessestill July 2020.

Also, in a major relief to thereal estate sector, the RBIextended the restructuring ofproject loans by a year. Loansfor projects that have beendelayed for reasons beyondthe control of their promotershave been extended by anoth-er one year without down-grading the asset classifica-tion. This aligns with the treat-

ment accorded to other projectloans for the non-infrastructuresector.

The move will bring much-needed relief to the cash-starved real estate sector.

At a news conference, Dassaid while the pause decisionmay be on expected lines, theRBI has several instruments upits sleeves, hinting at the use ofunconventional tools such asthe ones used by the US afterthe global financial crisis in2008 to boost growth as ratecuts were not effective enough.

"It has to be kept in mindthat the central bank has sev-

eral instruments at its com-mand that it can deploy toaddress the challenges theIndian economy faces in termsof sluggishness in growthmomentum," he said.

The MPC said that whileeasing global trade tensionsshould encourage exports andspur new investment, the out-break of the new coronavirusmay impact tourist arrivalsand global trade.

"Downside risks to globalgrowth have increased in thecontext of the outbreak ofcoronavirus, the full effects ofwhich are still uncertain and

unfolding,” Das said.The MPC said economic

activity remains subdued andthe few indicators that havemoved up recently are yet togain traction in a more broad-based manner. "Given theevolving growth-inflationdynamics, the MPC felt itappropriate to maintain statusquo."

On the announcementsmade by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman in herbudget last week, the MPC said,"the rationalisation of person-al income tax rates in theUnion Budget 2020-21, shouldsupport domestic demandalong with measures to boostrural and infrastructure spend-

ing."It said though there has

been a 0.50 per cent fiscalslippage in FY20, that has notincreased the market borrow-ings, and also noted that thegovernment has budgeted for aRs 70,000 crore increase in thegross borrowings in FY2021when it has managed to crimpthe fiscal gap to 3.5 per cent.

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RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas on Thursday said the

central bank has no plans tomonetise the rising fiscaldeficit. This is the third con-secutive year that the govern-ment has revised its fiscaldeficit target.

The budget has pegged fis-cal deficit at 3.8 per cent for thecurrent fiscal year, up from 3.3per cent projected in the pre-vious budget; and at 3.5 percent for FY21, up from 3 percent estimated in the July 2019.

The government hasalready crossed the fiscal deficitat 132 per cent of the estimateas of December end.

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The Reserve Bank of Indiahas raised upwards its

retail inflation projection forthe last quarter of the currentfiscal to 6.5 per cent onincrease in prices of milk,pulses amid volatile crude oilprices and termed the overalloutlook on price rise as "high-ly uncertain".

Going forward, the infla-tion outlook is likely to beinfluenced by several factorslike food inflation, crude pricesand input costs for services,RBI said.

On food inflation, RBIsaid it is likely to soften fromthe high levels registered inDecember and the decline isexpected to become more pro-

nounced during the fourthquarter of this fiscal as onionprices ease following arrivals oflate kharif and rabi harvests,the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) said in its last bi-month-ly monetary policy revealed onThursday. The RBI has keptthe key repo rate unchanged to5.15 per cent.

"Taking into considera-tion these factors, and underthe assumption of a normalsouth west monsoon in 2020-21, the CPI inflation projectionis revised upwards to 6.5 percent for Q4:2019-20 (January-March 2020); 5.4-5 per cent forH1:2020-21 (April-September2020); and 3.2 per cent forQ3:2020-21 (October-December), with risks broad-ly balanced," RBI said.

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The Government onThursday assured Rajya

Sabha that public sector tele-com companies BSNL andMTNL will not be shut downand efforts are being made to revive themsoon.

Replying to supplemen-tary queries during QuestionHour, Telecom Minister RaviShankar Prasad said as part ofa revival plan for BSNL andMTNL, there will be optimalutilisation of land and other assets of thesecompanies.

"We consider BSNL andMTNL as strategic assets, asthey have come to the aid of thepeople during natural calami-ties. There were problems inthese companies, but we willrevive them soon.

"Don't be under thisimpression that BSNL andMTNL will be shut down. Wehave infused a revival packagein them and I assure you thatthese companies will not beshut down," he told the house.

The minister said therevival package contains thecore of optimal utilisation ofthe assets of these companies.

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Central and state tax officerswill share information

about taxpayers for enforce-ment action as the governmentlooks to tighten enforcementmeasures to check GST evasion.

"CBIC launches applicationfor sharing informationbetween Centre and State fortargeted enforcement action

against GST evasion. A big leapin intelligence sharing andcooperative federalism #GST,"the Central Board of IndirectTaxes and Customs (CBIC)said in a tweet.

Currently, state tax officialsadminister and control 90 percent of the assessees below Rs1.5 crore annual turnover, andthe remaining 10 per cent iswith the central tax officers.

For those assessees with an

annual turnover of over Rs 1.5crore, the Centre and statesshare control in 50:50 ratio.

To plug leakage, the centraland state government officialshad last month decided toscrutinise goods and servicestax (GST) refund claims morediligently, compulsorily inves-tigate all fake claims and stepup coordination betweenincome-tax and GST authorities.

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China on Thursday said it will halvepunitive tariffs on $75 billion in

US imports from February 14, amonth after Beijing and Washingtonsigned a truce in their long-runningtrade war. The reduction will apply tolevies of five per cent and 10 per centthat were imposed on more than 1,700items in September, according to theState Council Tariff Commission.

Products that had been hit by the10 percent tariffs included freshseafood, poultry and soybeans.

Tariffs also applied to items such astungsten lamps for scientific and med-ical purposes, as well as some types ofaircraft. The move is aimed at "pro-moting the healthy and stable develop-ment of China-US economic and traderelations", the Commission said in astatement. It added that the reductionwill kick in at 0501 GMT on February14 — the same day Washington isexpected to halve tariffs on USD 120 bil-lion worth of Chinese products.

The Commission added it "hopesthat both parties will be able to abideby their agreement, strive to imple-ment its relevant content, (and) boostmarket confidence". Other retaliato-ry tariffs, however, remain in place.The US and China in January signeda partial deal that dialled down ten-sions in their bruising trade war, withBeijing agreeing to buy an addition-al USD 200 billion in Americangoods over the next two years.

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Mumbai (PTI): India’s riceexports is expected to witnessaround 20 per cent decline thisfiscal, due to heightened geopo-litical tensions in the MiddleEast and tighter trade norms, areport said on Thursday.

According to a report by theUS-based trade finance com-pany Drip Capital, export of ricehas witnessed a significantdecline across the world owingto heightened geopolitical ten-sions in the Middle East — oneof the biggest export market.

Following this, India’s riceexports is likely to go down by18-20 per cent in 2019-20, thereport said.

“Exports so far are lookingbleak with Iran, the biggestexport market, seeing a 22 percent fall in shipments. Otherexport markets like the UAE (33per cent), Nepal (23 per cent),Yemen (2 per cent), Senegal (90per cent) and Bangladesh (94per cent) have also seen a fall inrice shipments from India,”Drip Capital co-founder and co-CEO Pushkar Mukewar said.

On the other hand, exportsto certain nations defied thebroader trend and registered anincrease. Saudi Arabia wit-nessed a 4 per cent rise, whilefor Iraq it was 10 per cent, Benin(8 per cent) and the USA (4 percent), he added.

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Economists and financialexperts have welcomed

RBI’s widely expected statusquo on repo rate, and otherannouncements to spur eco-nomic growth and ensuremoney supplies effectively.

The RBI on Thursday keptthe key policy rate unchanged at5.15 per cent. This follows acumulative 135 basis points(bps) cut in repo rate sinceFebruary to December 2019.The six-member MonetaryPolicy Committee (MPC) head-ed by RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas unanimously decided tokeep the repo rate unchanged.

Bank of India MD andCEO AK Das termed the RBIpolicy quite progressive andforward looking. “Notwith-standing unchanged policy rates,introduction of Term Repoopens up ways to transmit thesignal rate changes,” he said.

“Measures like DCCOextension for realty, MSME win-dow expansion for restructuringand CRR exemption for incre-mental funding to key segmentsare growth oriented and promiseto provide the much neededimpetus to bank lending,” Dassaid.

According to Rajni Thakur,economist, RBL Bank, MPC’sdecision was on expected lines.

“The changes in develop-

ment and regulatory policieshowever were a positive surpriseand could potentially turn out tobe a big support to the troubledsectors in the economy,” Thakursaid.

Specific announcements interms of CRR relief or long-termdurable liquidity for banks pushthe overall credit availability inthe financial system. Whetherthese steps manage to improvedemand conditions is anotherquestion all together, she added.

Upasna Bhardwaj, econo-mist, Kotak Mahindra Bank,said very aptly, MPC hasaddressed the growth concernsthrough pushing transmissionvia tweaking the liquidity frame-work, providing long term liq-uidity operations and incen-tivising credit to select sectors.“We expect these measures toaid transmission with the short-er end of the yield curve expect-ed to rally meaningfully. Thesemeasures should help availabil-ity of funds at lower costs and aidsectors in stress,” Bhardwaj said.

ICRA economist AditiNayar said: “The tone of theMPC’s statement was ratherdovish, especially given the reit-eration that policy space is avail-able for future action.

“The accommodative stancewill be maintained for as long asnecessary to revive growth, inspite of the headline inflationhaving breached the upper

threshold of the MPC’s mediumterm target.”

The RBI also raised upwardsthe retail inflation projection forlast quarter of this fiscal to 6.5per cent citing high input costfor milk and pulses besidescostlier crude oil prices amid ris-ing geo-political tensions. Nayarsaid the statement suggests thenear certainty of at least oneadditional rate cut, even if itsmagnitude is modest, the tim-ing of which will depend on howquickly inflation appears to bereverting towards 4 per cent.

Umesh Revankar, MD andCEO, Shriram TransportFinance said the attention-grab-bing aspect of the policy ismarginal improvement in IIP,manufacturing index (PMI) andservice index. These numbersdepict beginning of increasingactivity though still under waitand watch radar to bring in anyfurther excitement, he said.

“We believe that all the pol-icy decisions along with pro-consumption budget corrobo-rates that there would be betterdemand from the consump-tion side. Once that increases,automatically there will be bet-ter credit demand,” Revankarsaid.

The expansionary monetarypolicy stance was necessary andis an assurance that there will beno reversal of easing and that theRBI will not hike rates immedi-

ately, opined Rumki Majumdar,economist, Deloitte India.

Engineering Exports andPromotion Council (EEPC)Chairman Ravi Sehgal said RBImeasures to provide one-timerestructuring window foradvances to MSMEs would helpgrowth revival in the employ-ment-oriented sectors.

“With global markets beingsubdued, exporters, particular-ly those in the SMEs are facingchallenges. The RBI measuresthrough loan restructuring andproviding CRR incentives tothe banks to lend to MSMEswould certainly help the export-ing sector,” he said.

Ample liquidity with thebanks should lead to lowering ofinterest rates as part of effectivetransmission of earlier reduc-tions, he added.

Anarock PropertyConsultants Chairman AnujPuri said the extension forrestructuring of project loans bya year is a major relief to the realestate sector. “Loans for projectsthat have been delayed for rea-sons beyond the control of theirpromoters have been extendedby another one year withoutdowngrading the asset classifi-cation. This is a big move andwill bring the much-neededrelief to the cash-starved realestate sector - and to both devel-opers and HFCs from the liq-uidity perspective,” Puri said.

�� +�+,7(

Equity indices marched high-er for the fourth session on

the trot on Thursday after theRBI left the policy ratesunchanged but maintained itsaccommodative stance to shoreup growth.

The 30-share BSE Sensexsettled 163.37 points, or 0.40per cent, higher at 41,306.03.The broader NSE Nifty rose48.80 points, or 0.40 per cent,to 12,137.95.

In the sixth bi-monthlymonetary policy review of2019-20, the six-memberMonetary Policy Committee(MPC) unanimously voted tokeep the repurchase or reporate unchanged at 5.15 percent while retaining its accom-modative stance.

The central bank also keptthe GDP growth estimateunchanged for the current fis-cal at 5 per cent but projecteda pick up to 6 per cent in thenext financial year.

To boost credit growth, italso relaxed cash reserverequirement for banks for everynew loan extended to loans forautomobiles, residential hous-

ing and small businesses tillJuly 2020.

Rate-sensitive financial,banking and auto stocks rallied,with BSE Finance spurting upto 1.21 per cent. However,realty settled in the red.

IndusInd Bank was thetop gainer in the Sensex pack,climbing 4.85 per cent, fol-lowed by SBI, Bajaj Finance,Bharti Airtel, HDFC, AxisBank and Hero MotoCorp.

On the other hand, Infosys,Titan, ITC, Kotak Bank andAsian Paints slipped up to 1.73per cent.

Broader BSE midcap andsmallcap indices rose up to 0.81per cent.

“Monetary policy actionfrom the central bank on ratescame on expected line whilemeasures to spur growth incredit came as a surprise.Removal of CRR for loansmade to specific sector andopen market operations willsupport the economy withmore credits at lower rates.

“Inflation rate is forecast-ed to subsequently reduce inthe coming months and pro-vide more room for RBI to cutinterest rates as and when nec-essary,” said Vinod Nair, headof research at Geojit FinancialServices.

RBI Governor ShaktikantaDas said while the pause deci-sion may be on expected lines,

the central bank has severalinstruments up its sleeves, hint-ing at use of unconventionaltools such as the ones used bythe US Fed after the globalfinancial crisis in 2008.

Global markets darted upafter China slashed tariffs onsome US imports.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong, Tokyo and Seoul settledup to 2.88 per cent higher.

Stock exchanges in Europetoo opened on a positive note.

Meanwhile, Brent crudeoil futures advanced 0.25 percent to USD 55.42 per barrel.

��1��-��

On the currency front, theIndian rupee on Thursday roseby 6 paise to close at 71.19against the US dollar.

Investor sentimentsstrengthened after the ReserveBank of India signalled to con-tinue with accommodativestance, while low crude oilprices, weakening of the US dol-lar and gains in domestic equi-ty market supported the domes-tic currency, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the localcurrency opened on a positivenote at 71.22. During the day,it saw a high of 71.11 and a lowof 71.30 and finally settled at71.19, higher by 6 paise againstits previous close.

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Script Open High Low LTPASIANPAINT 1865.50 1882.80 1846.30 1861.00IBULHSGFIN 274.50 326.30 268.20 319.00TCS 2155.00 2174.25 2116.00 2128.70ICICIBANK 539.90 546.90 536.20 541.65SBIN 311.05 323.60 310.25 322.00INFY 784.50 786.55 770.00 770.95KOTAKBANK 1682.05 1698.30 1668.00 1675.15RELIANCE 1453.00 1466.45 1440.20 1457.65TATASTEEL 477.30 487.25 471.85 477.95ZEEL 230.50 241.00 230.10 235.75TATAMOTORS 182.70 183.20 175.80 178.85BLUESTARCO 820.00 823.00 805.00 808.60PEL 1472.00 1614.55 1449.25 1570.80INDUSINDBK 1272.00 1340.00 1263.10 1334.55JINDALSTEL 192.30 198.60 191.20 197.75EICHERMOT 19659.60 20633.70 19250.00 20507.05SRTRANSFIN 1130.00 1234.80 1130.00 1220.00BAJFINANCE 4530.05 4678.85 4529.50 4666.00YESBANK 37.90 39.50 37.85 38.55MOTHERSUMI 136.20 139.00 135.20 136.70BHARTIARTL 533.60 552.85 533.60 546.75DMART 2250.05 2360.75 2250.05 2294.45HDFCBANK 1248.00 1248.30 1237.45 1239.85ADANIENT 238.45 243.60 234.15 234.55L&TFH 119.90 129.55 117.50 128.00LICHSGFIN 407.50 441.50 403.75 437.65ITC 217.05 219.80 211.85 213.50DLF 247.00 254.55 243.45 246.20HDFC 2390.00 2447.40 2370.95 2435.50RBLBANK 318.50 340.00 318.50 332.05AXISBANK 726.00 744.80 722.95 737.00NETWORK18 25.90 26.40 24.85 26.40LUPIN 730.00 738.40 706.05 720.50HDFCAMC 3201.00 3334.00 3169.00 3320.45ESCORTS 856.05 864.80 846.85 854.60MARUTI 7070.40 7120.25 6980.00 7010.00SUNPHARMA 428.00 438.20 424.35 430.95ULTRACEMCO 4476.15 4518.30 4446.80 4467.20BRITANNIA 3262.00 3292.05 3239.35 3248.60BPCL 503.00 510.00 492.40 494.00CANBK 184.60 194.40 184.10 189.60AUROPHARMA 508.30 514.50 505.75 511.20CAPPL 338.00 383.75 338.00 345.95DIVISLAB 1939.95 2079.75 1933.25 2021.00BANKBARODA 88.70 92.50 88.00 91.65HINDPETRO 235.80 244.90 233.10 243.35HEROMOTOCO 2382.00 2425.10 2379.10 2411.90HINDUNILVR 2160.60 2195.85 2134.80 2161.50BAJAJFINSV 9595.00 9700.00 9560.05 9612.20LT 1320.00 1325.00 1309.50 1317.35VEDL 144.90 146.80 142.95 143.85PNB 57.00 59.25 57.00 58.60PNBHOUSING 425.10 464.25 424.60 444.50HAVELLS 626.00 633.70 623.85 631.75DRREDDY 3138.00 3176.45 3138.00 3162.95MANAPPURAM 169.90 174.25 168.75 170.95TITAN 1285.00 1294.40 1252.50 1258.70JSWSTEEL 271.00 277.40 267.85 276.35TATAGLOBAL 398.00 398.00 387.50 392.15JUSTDIAL 528.05 541.70 521.70 530.10POWERGRID 190.00 193.60 188.95 192.35UJJIVAN 403.70 414.40 399.15 402.80BANDHANBNK 432.00 436.00 421.50 425.50CADILAHC 273.50 288.40 270.70 273.10RECLTD 152.40 153.40 150.15 152.70IDEA 5.32 5.50 5.10 5.18CIPLA 460.00 462.85 435.60 439.70STAR 494.00 503.85 488.70 490.00ICICIPRULI 480.00 500.40 479.85 488.10ASHOKLEY 80.75 81.85 79.60 80.95SRF 3988.20 4054.40 3977.40 4020.00PFC 123.75 124.50 121.75 123.80DISHTV 12.65 12.78 12.08 12.26ABFRL 239.40 260.65 232.15 254.40JAICORPLTD 115.40 118.45 112.15 113.55INDIGO 1446.00 1455.30 1387.80 1404.35ADANIGREEN 191.00 202.20 190.45 202.20ADANIPOWER 62.00 62.50 60.50 60.75MINDTREE 912.40 949.30 899.00 902.95BIOCON 295.80 300.75 293.90 296.10WOCKPHARMA 355.45 360.75 338.25 341.60M&MFIN 390.00 399.90 384.45 391.40HDFCLIFE 586.00 598.35 586.00 593.30AJANTPHARM 1252.00 1322.85 1250.95 1305.60BERGEPAINT 581.00 585.70 568.95 575.30AVANTI 599.00 629.00 598.00 624.00COALINDIA 180.50 181.50 178.30 179.80EMAMILTD 309.90 324.00 299.70 302.95JUBLFOOD 1940.80 1940.80 1857.65 1865.00IGL 516.00 527.00 515.00 522.25SAIL 49.05 49.70 48.40 48.70HEG 1099.80 1161.00 1081.00 1143.50NCC 52.70 53.65 52.05 52.85IOC 115.50 117.45 115.15 117.00TVSMOTOR 463.50 480.55 463.40 473.05NOCIL 96.00 100.85 93.85 98.15FEDERALBNK 91.20 93.65 90.55 92.35IBREALEST 90.50 93.00 86.70 91.35NMDC 115.40 117.40 112.20 116.30NESTLEIND 16385.10 16547.60 16166.00 16345.00IDFCFIRSTB 41.30 42.65 40.90 42.00CHOLAFIN 345.00 348.85 329.75 339.80HCLTECH 598.20 612.80 596.40 599.35FORCEMOT 1343.00 1414.00 1318.20 1394.00MUTHOOTFIN 760.55 772.15 749.50 764.45UBL 1320.00 1355.90 1317.05 1351.20JMFINANCIL 108.80 120.90 107.60 119.75

GUJGAS 298.95 305.00 297.00 301.95TATAELXSI 1026.00 1048.00 1015.00 1036.50ACC 1478.10 1492.95 1460.40 1489.55CGCL 208.00 214.05 206.20 207.10M&M 589.50 589.50 576.35 580.00ONGC 107.00 107.80 106.35 107.25AUBANK 1095.30 1113.00 1079.60 1082.00VOLTAS 694.40 694.80 678.00 685.15BAJAJ-AUTO 3199.95 3209.15 3140.30 3150.75MFSL 482.00 487.25 472.10 480.20AIAENG 1773.00 1844.45 1773.00 1817.60

TECHM 812.50 825.50 811.35 817.60GRAPHITE 303.00 312.00 301.30 309.15RAJESHEXPO 719.80 722.35 706.50 708.10INFRATEL 246.50 251.00 240.95 244.90BOMDYEING 88.85 90.60 88.20 89.10CANFINHOME 479.50 498.80 479.00 489.55GLAXO 1389.15 1400.55 1327.40 1343.00HONAUT 34780.00 35180.25 34195.50 34500.00GODREJCP 662.95 666.00 648.35 650.75UPL 539.00 545.25 533.90 536.65RELINFRA 20.00 21.75 19.75 21.75BEL 87.40 87.95 85.70 86.90MCX 1314.00 1316.00 1275.05 1288.60ADANIPORTS 370.00 373.15 367.75 370.00BHEL 39.80 40.20 39.45 39.55EXIDEIND 189.50 189.50 181.90 182.95RITES 316.70 321.00 308.00 314.75EQUITAS 114.75 116.50 112.75 114.45APOLLOTYRE 171.05 171.05 163.40 165.05SPICEJET 92.70 93.45 91.50 91.75ITI 88.50 94.70 88.50 89.80DCBBANK 176.25 178.20 175.05 178.00SPARC 191.50 195.70 187.35 189.60SBILIFE 911.00 924.70 911.00 919.60OMAXE 158.10 158.45 154.40 156.50NTPC 111.00 112.50 110.55 112.00BHARATFORG 522.00 527.50 510.50 511.70NATIONALUM 44.40 45.15 43.90 44.50PAGEIND 25150.00 25150.00 23900.00 24062.75ABCAPITAL 96.00 98.80 94.50 96.45NAUKRI 2993.75 3095.70 2962.35 3072.25BEML 989.00 1003.50 972.75 978.00MASFIN 1106.40 1112.30 1069.00 1092.00VIPIND 469.70 488.15 469.70 474.00PIDILITIND 1563.90 1563.90 1524.05 1558.30GRANULES 153.60 162.55 153.35 161.25MGL 1195.25 1212.05 1184.70 1191.50GAIL 123.00 124.35 121.50 123.55GRASIM 800.10 806.80 793.75 800.10APOLLOHOSP 1681.00 1681.00 1621.45 1653.70POLYCAB 1010.00 1063.60 1010.00 1057.85SCHNEIDER 90.00 94.35 89.40 94.35NIITTECH 1953.00 1960.10 1882.00 1909.75BALRAMCHIN 158.45 169.05 157.95 168.15MRF 72330.00 72894.60 71365.30 71646.90SHREECEM 25000.00 25252.00 24755.75 25000.00GODREJPROP 1151.00 1177.00 1143.80 1173.60MARICO 311.40 311.70 303.30 306.05HINDALCO 196.25 197.15 192.90 194.00DABUR 515.00 518.25 506.00 509.65ADANIGAS 174.70 174.70 169.20 170.25COLPAL 1389.00 1389.00 1368.50 1384.90CONCOR 599.70 601.95 582.70 584.10WELCORP 192.00 199.00 191.90 198.35PETRONET 268.60 274.75 268.60 273.25EDELWEISS 91.05 96.00 89.55 93.15NAM-INDIA 361.00 364.90 357.15 362.30GPPL 85.10 99.30 84.90 89.60BATAINDIA 1877.15 1883.10 1849.10 1853.25RADICO 407.00 412.25 401.75 407.05TATAMTRDVR 75.60 75.60 72.70 73.20SUDARSCHEM 505.00 505.95 478.00 479.85LUXIND 1515.00 1515.00 1474.85 1505.00SIEMENS 1497.95 1520.75 1496.00 1504.95ENGINERSIN 97.45 99.30 92.75 92.95STRTECH 124.80 126.70 123.75 125.45LALPATHLAB 1687.45 1687.45 1608.00 1615.45TATACHEM 754.30 756.70 746.80 752.85WIPRO 242.30 245.80 241.70 243.60HEXAWARE 373.50 378.95 372.80 378.60VMART 2170.00 2510.00 2170.00 2398.85SUNTV 482.00 493.40 479.40 490.85JBCHEPHARM 524.55 559.00 524.55 542.00INDIANB 96.00 99.70 95.90 96.40RAYMOND 645.80 645.80 632.30 635.00TATAINVEST 919.95 960.00 905.00 934.00GNFC 174.00 178.80 173.10 174.40RPOWER 1.65 1.70 1.61 1.70BALKRISIND 1100.00 1113.40 1085.50 1096.70

DHFL 10.09 11.14 10.08 11.14BANKINDIA 65.95 67.20 64.50 64.95TORNTPOWER 318.20 319.15 307.65 307.65RAIN 110.10 114.50 108.50 113.30WHIRLPOOL 2462.10 2531.00 2444.85 2500.00OIL 130.85 135.60 130.45 135.50DBL 385.25 398.00 384.00 392.30ADVENZYMES 174.10 182.00 171.00 173.35NIACL 146.90 159.30 146.50 151.30GODFRYPHLP 1268.10 1289.60 1251.70 1256.85AMBUJACEM 207.55 209.10 204.65 207.55PVR 2049.90 2065.45 2034.30 2045.30ITDCEM 61.90 69.25 61.35 63.20WESTLIFE 471.05 476.70 450.00 452.10REDINGTON 113.85 118.80 113.85 118.55PRESTIGE 376.95 386.35 368.55 381.20ICICIGI 1343.00 1380.55 1341.45 1376.95BOSCHLTD 13974.00 14179.15 13865.90 14118.70PHILIPCARB 123.55 129.70 123.55 128.30DEEPAKNI 413.00 413.35 395.70 397.40TORNTPHARM 1984.40 2028.15 1976.00 1996.35TATAPOWER 57.30 58.15 56.85 57.75ASTRAZEN 2513.40 2536.45 2416.60 2456.75GMRINFRA 22.95 23.40 22.75 23.20HINDZINC 193.90 198.40 192.00 192.45JINDALSAW 90.00 91.65 89.35 90.25SWANENERGY 136.00 141.00 132.70 134.05CHENNPETRO 118.80 127.00 118.80 121.90METROPOLIS 1658.00 1672.00 1521.80 1600.00VENKYS 1616.00 1648.00 1607.00 1609.65PCJEWELLER 20.65 21.75 20.35 20.70INTELLECT 168.95 169.00 164.35 165.10KEC 342.90 353.50 334.00 348.15DIXON 4660.00 4798.40 4650.00 4662.50GLENMARK 321.00 323.00 317.80 318.00LTI 1942.00 1946.35 1901.10 1914.00DELTACORP 174.20 176.50 172.70 173.55NBCC 33.20 33.40 32.80 32.95REPCOHOME 335.10 358.80 332.15 350.80CYIENT 486.00 514.00 486.00 486.75GICRE 255.35 266.10 253.50 255.40INDIACEM 78.50 79.00 77.30 77.70BDL 286.75 308.00 283.10 301.85INDHOTEL 141.00 141.95 140.55 141.35AMARAJABAT 772.00 793.50 772.00 781.25CARERATING 689.00 704.20 683.25 685.70SCI 62.80 63.05 60.40 61.15UNIONBANK 48.80 50.65 48.50 48.95SUZLON 2.18 2.28 2.14 2.26CASTROLIND 147.60 149.75 146.40 147.853MINDIA 23389.00 23826.30 23100.00 23425.00TRENT 598.50 598.50 590.50 596.05BAJAJCON 216.55 243.20 216.00 219.00SUNTECK 395.00 398.10 391.10 394.05RALLIS 237.40 240.95 234.00 235.40EIDPARRY 231.90 240.00 230.00 238.45APLLTD 632.50 651.20 632.50 640.40CROMPTON 286.25 286.50 279.30 284.00OBEROIRLTY 537.70 549.95 529.20 538.30RVNL 25.50 25.80 25.10 25.20VINATIORGA 1055.05 1093.40 1053.00 1065.05RELCAPITAL 8.45 8.58 7.92 8.58PNCINFRA 204.80 205.00 193.75 195.00ALKEM 2390.00 2422.75 2380.00 2391.95QUESS 614.00 623.10 601.40 614.05ISEC 460.00 468.35 458.75 466.20JUBILANT 575.00 575.00 565.60 568.60RAMCOCEM 796.20 799.40 783.55 793.15BLISSGVS 144.10 144.10 137.80 139.85GODREJAGRO 564.95 566.10 551.05 559.95HUDCO 37.95 39.80 37.60 38.70CUMMINSIND 572.60 577.00 564.80 568.00IRB 109.90 110.30 107.60 108.90IPCALAB 1220.65 1252.00 1220.65 1236.00JCHAC 2454.00 2490.00 2415.20 2475.00UCOBANK 15.95 16.70 15.20 15.80SOBHA 408.00 415.95 407.50 412.15J&KBANK 22.60 23.50 22.10 23.05JSWENERGY 63.00 63.75 61.90 63.00CCL 246.90 248.70 236.70 238.15DEEPAKFERT 95.65 99.00 95.45 97.35MOTILALOFS 809.40 826.00 806.00 806.20NHPC 24.60 24.60 24.15 24.30AEGISLOG 236.95 236.95 224.50 227.85ORIENTELEC 245.45 258.90 243.65 245.20ITDC 298.00 310.80 295.45 296.30BAJAJHLDNG 3868.65 3887.00 3759.05 3777.05GSKCONS 9340.10 9451.00 9197.65 9226.15COCHINSHIP 354.00 360.10 348.00 353.85IDBI 34.25 35.25 33.90 34.60ATUL 5050.00 5050.00 4905.00 4920.05KTKBANK 73.00 76.75 72.95 74.85MOIL 149.50 157.25 149.50 152.95AMBER 1570.00 1607.00 1560.35 1560.35HSCL 64.75 64.80 62.00 63.00CHAMBLFERT 170.00 170.05 166.00 166.30IRCON 465.05 471.00 465.05 466.55FSL 43.95 43.95 42.50 42.50LEMONTREE 56.05 56.55 54.80 54.85GET&D 159.05 179.45 159.05 170.80TRIDENT 6.00 6.05 5.90 5.99TV18BRDCST 24.20 25.50 24.20 25.35PTC 56.70 56.70 54.80 55.10PFIZER 4135.35 4136.00 4051.85 4063.30MPHASIS 929.40 947.90 928.00 940.00RESPONIND 88.50 88.60 85.25 87.80ABBOTINDIA 13127.20 13194.95 13017.55 13100.95DALBHARAT 885.45 898.40 882.40 893.10

MINDAIND 403.00 403.10 383.35 393.30GICHSGFIN 145.75 152.55 145.45 147.95IDFC 36.35 36.85 35.70 36.65NAVINFLUOR 1142.80 1150.00 1140.00 1141.55ORIENTBANK 48.15 48.95 47.80 48.35IEX 181.25 181.65 174.15 177.65BBTC 1150.35 1158.00 1140.20 1142.65BRIGADE 231.50 242.10 231.45 239.70IBULISL 106.90 111.60 104.75 109.25BIRLACORPN 769.15 769.15 750.00 758.00KEI 546.60 546.70 535.00 537.30FRETAIL 331.20 343.70 329.40 339.05LAOPALA 184.00 200.00 182.80 199.00HINDCOPPER 43.50 44.25 42.40 42.50LAURUSLABS 439.00 442.00 435.90 436.75SHILPAMED 371.05 390.00 364.40 372.10SOUTHBANK 10.14 10.20 10.06 10.12CREDITACC 818.00 844.90 816.40 820.25FORTIS 156.30 156.30 153.70 155.50RCF 47.80 48.05 47.20 47.25GALAXYSURF 1609.50 1609.50 1592.70 1603.00NESCO 780.00 782.65 761.50 765.65VBL 804.60 806.00 772.00 780.95MIDHANI 159.35 161.20 157.85 160.30BAYERCROP 4475.00 4557.05 4462.25 4500.00SUPREMEIND 1380.60 1380.60 1347.60 1348.00JKTYRE 74.25 74.45 73.00 73.20SANOFI 6687.60 7000.00 6665.00 6804.20VAIBHAVGBL 1020.00 1028.00 994.50 996.00ASHOKA 114.70 116.00 113.00 113.70GSFC 77.20 78.90 76.70 77.00INFIBEAM 57.75 57.75 56.20 56.20TIINDIA 524.55 540.00 505.05 535.10KANSAINER 506.65 509.00 496.70 506.50NATCOPHARM 651.00 651.90 638.90 641.00IIFL 165.90 174.30 163.20 172.75RATNAMANI 1298.00 1348.00 1265.00 1274.50PIIND 1533.00 1548.90 1526.85 1546.00GEPIL 700.10 741.35 700.10 730.20MEGH 58.40 59.00 57.50 57.80RELAXO 749.95 749.95 736.05 741.25BAJAJELEC 414.25 418.95 409.65 412.55VGUARD 216.00 216.50 213.45 214.05TATACOFFEE 100.05 100.05 98.10 98.25KALPATPOWR 441.30 456.80 438.60 450.05GULFOILLUB 810.60 810.60 772.00 795.00FINEORG 2383.90 2417.45 2354.95 2380.85ADANITRANS 342.00 343.95 336.00 339.10SKFINDIA 2195.75 2200.00 2146.25 2162.60SHANKARA 389.00 409.45 386.10 409.45CENTURYPLY 173.65 174.70 170.00 171.90CESC 727.90 729.60 718.80 722.30GRINDWELL 678.00 678.05 645.00 670.50

AAVAS 1950.85 2000.00 1940.00 1960.00CEATLTD 989.10 989.10 975.00 975.00MAXINDIA 88.55 91.45 87.55 89.40PARAGMILK 125.50 126.00 124.50 125.45APLAPOLLO 2004.00 2017.75 1995.05 2003.55DCMSHRIRAM 378.00 378.00 356.85 367.15HAL 820.00 825.25 799.40 801.10OFSS 3010.00 3025.10 2891.85 2901.00MRPL 42.85 43.55 42.70 43.20GILLETTE 6489.85 6489.85 6377.45 6408.95THYROCARE 619.45 625.00 605.45 610.75ALBK 16.30 16.50 16.10 16.10JYOTHYLAB 145.00 147.00 142.70 143.20GREAVESCOT 139.60 142.90 138.75 138.95JSL 42.30 42.80 41.60 42.20GUJALKALI 384.65 384.80 378.75 379.25HFCL 16.95 17.15 16.90 16.95JKCEMENT 1386.00 1417.85 1380.00 1391.15GESHIP 308.35 323.45 308.10 318.70SJVN 25.80 25.95 25.75 25.75KRBL 270.00 279.00 268.80 275.05UFLEX 224.15 224.95 219.60 221.65IOB 10.10 10.10 9.67 9.77GSPL 242.00 247.50 241.45 245.00LTTS 1694.00 1710.00 1662.00 1670.00TIMKEN 991.90 1008.50 979.70 981.35CHOLAHLDNG 550.45 551.40 524.80 548.00FDC 231.80 238.00 230.85 236.00WABAG 216.75 218.65 215.10 215.90KNRCON 283.10 285.90 280.25 284.00MMTC 20.20 20.75 20.05 20.15COROMANDEL 625.80 630.00 619.45 626.65TVTODAY 235.40 240.70 234.00 237.90LAXMIMACH 3219.65 3243.95 3179.40 3179.40SYNDIBANK 24.00 24.50 23.85 24.00

JAMNAAUTO 41.60 42.00 40.90 41.15VRLLOG 275.70 275.80 264.55 265.70WELSPUNIND 43.45 43.90 42.85 43.10JKLAKSHMI 359.55 361.80 350.65 359.00MAHSCOOTER 4492.95 4539.00 4465.00 4518.40BALMLAWRIE 120.00 120.10 118.00 118.40PGHH 11475.60 11733.35 11475.00 11475.00GHCL* 184.50 186.55 181.95 182.85PHOENIXLTD 885.15 898.00 874.80 874.80LINDEINDIA 731.00 738.50 729.40 730.45FCONSUMER 22.65 22.90 22.35 22.55TEJASNET 79.50 84.00 78.10 78.70PGHL 4446.00 4457.00 4382.10 4400.00ASTRAL 1199.00 1203.25 1187.00 1198.75SOLARINDS 1265.00 1284.75 1250.00 1281.65ERIS 526.00 527.80 512.25 514.70DCAL* 86.85 86.85 86.85 86.85NH 360.00 360.05 353.15 355.30SYMPHONY 1235.00 1267.45 1233.10 1239.90AKZOINDIA 2079.95 2079.95 2024.65 2035.00TATAMETALI 622.75 626.00 606.00 606.50CORPBANK 22.65 23.85 22.65 23.25TCIEXP 886.40 899.95 879.00 890.75INDOSTAR 289.95 296.95 285.00 290.00SYNGENE 314.85 318.10 311.60 315.45JISLJALEQS 6.75 7.06 6.74 6.93THERMAX 1061.15 1062.05 1047.95 1050.00IFCI 6.29 6.29 6.05 6.12PERSISTENT 705.25 707.85 700.60 707.85ZYDUSWELL 1480.00 1487.80 1454.85 1463.35DHANUKA 525.00 525.00 502.80 516.10SONATSOFTW 336.00 344.25 336.00 343.70GODREJIND 415.00 427.95 415.00 427.95ANDHRABANK 16.25 16.85 16.25 16.25ENDURANCE 1125.00 1125.00 1090.05 1093.00CUB 230.00 234.75 230.00 233.00WABCOINDIA 6770.00 6770.00 6735.40 6735.40HIMATSEIDE 127.95 129.90 126.40 127.80SUNDRMFAST 493.20 497.15 483.90 489.00MAGMA 60.30 60.30 57.50 59.00MAHLIFE 408.10 414.00 400.55 400.95NLCINDIA 56.70 56.70 56.00 56.60CENTRALBK 17.60 18.25 17.60 18.10KPITTECH 98.15 98.15 94.25 95.75NBVENTURES 71.50 73.60 70.65 71.10ARVINDFASN 349.00 356.65 340.15 351.50IFBIND 578.65 607.55 577.95 580.15JSLHISAR 77.25 78.05 76.70 77.15BASF 976.50 989.15 974.55 975.25HEIDELBERG 201.35 201.70 198.20 198.95CARBORUNIV 334.00 334.00 325.50 329.30INOXWIND 40.05 40.45 38.80 38.80FINOLEXIND 560.50 560.50 553.45 553.45ZENSARTECH 163.75 165.55 162.95 164.10TAKE 92.00 96.30 92.00 94.50BLUEDART 2818.60 2859.10 2779.50 2802.15ESSELPRO 188.15 188.15 178.20 178.20FINCABLES 381.50 398.00 381.50 396.60VARROC 459.50 465.65 445.80 449.65MINDACORP 103.90 105.45 101.40 101.85VSTIND 4290.00 4441.00 4245.15 4402.80PRSMJOHNSN 64.00 66.70 64.00 66.65STARCEMENT 85.80 92.40 85.80 91.65KAJARIACER 568.50 572.00 559.10 561.00INOXLEISUR 416.60 416.60 410.65 414.00SOMANYCERA 214.75 227.95 214.75 223.05SHK 112.50 112.90 110.00 110.75TTKPRESTIG 5888.25 5915.20 5811.10 5823.45CERA 2592.60 2669.00 2550.00 2575.80MAHLOG 403.40 418.20 397.00 418.20GMDCLTD 61.55 62.05 61.20 61.65UNITEDBNK 8.64 9.02 8.64 8.87ASTERDM 166.65 166.80 163.55 164.20TNPL 187.15 187.90 182.45 183.00ECLERX 635.00 643.80 630.00 635.00ALLCARGO 116.00 116.00 112.40 112.40MAHSEAMLES 384.80 390.00 379.80 385.00GDL 131.05 132.60 127.30 127.30HATHWAY 18.60 19.30 18.60 19.00SIS 520.00 538.00 515.25 533.25MHRIL 225.90 231.90 225.90 229.35FLFL 409.95 415.60 403.45 403.45GARFIBRES 1577.15 1577.30 1530.40 1537.20CRISIL 1670.00 1702.80 1670.00 1685.25TIMETECHNO 54.45 56.20 53.75 53.75HERITGFOOD 346.45 352.10 346.05 348.00MAHABANK 12.39 12.47 12.30 12.38JAGRAN* 69.80 69.80 69.00 69.65SHRIRAMCIT 1400.00 1472.10 1375.40 1394.85TEAMLEASE 2456.25 2467.40 2429.00 2448.00LAKSHVILAS 15.15 15.35 14.75 15.05TVSSRICHAK 1686.00 1721.00 1680.00 1698.00SFL 1530.05 1595.00 1460.10 1564.60DBCORP 132.70 133.00 132.00 132.05ORIENTCEM 80.45 80.95 79.15 80.50MAHINDCIE 174.70 176.35 173.60 174.70SADBHAV 118.25 118.25 116.10 116.50CENTRUM 21.00 21.60 20.80 21.55SHOPERSTOP 402.25 403.35 399.30 399.35NILKAMAL 1415.00 1431.30 1397.45 1415.40EIHOTEL 138.45 139.00 135.60 136.30KPRMILL 639.15 646.05 639.15 640.25GAYAPROJ 41.90 41.90 41.90 41.90SCHAEFFLER 4755.55 4798.00 4743.70 4745.25TCNSBRANDS 581.50 588.45 579.00 582.35SUPRAJIT 200.35 201.00 198.90 199.85VTL 1022.65 1025.00 1013.00 1025.00CHALET 327.40 336.00 327.25 335.60

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY 50 12120.00 12160.60 12084.65 12133.65 44.50EICHERMOT 19625.00 20641.60 19261.00 20530.00 1042.95INDUSINDBK 1280.00 1339.40 1262.40 1331.00 58.20ZEEL 231.00 241.10 230.10 235.50 8.85SBIN 311.20 323.50 310.10 321.05 10.05BAJFINANCE 4528.20 4677.85 4525.00 4664.00 135.80BHARTIARTL 535.05 552.80 534.10 547.00 13.65GAIL 121.45 124.40 121.40 124.00 3.05YESBANK 37.90 39.50 37.80 38.50 0.90JSWSTEEL 271.10 277.50 267.75 275.35 6.10HEROMOTOCO2395.00 2427.00 2355.00 2419.00 45.75IOC 115.50 117.50 115.40 116.80 2.10AXISBANK 727.45 745.00 723.00 736.70 12.65HDFC 2390.00 2447.80 2369.65 2433.00 41.35POWERGRID 189.95 193.75 188.65 192.45 3.10DRREDDY 3167.60 3176.80 3136.60 3165.00 31.65NTPC 110.50 112.50 110.50 112.30 1.10ADANIPORTS 370.00 373.20 367.65 370.10 3.50HCLTECH 598.95 613.00 598.00 601.00 5.40ONGC 106.80 107.80 106.30 107.50 0.70SUNPHARMA 428.20 438.00 424.00 428.80 2.55WIPRO 242.75 245.95 241.65 243.65 1.40LT 1322.90 1325.00 1309.05 1317.00 6.95RELIANCE 1454.10 1467.00 1440.10 1455.00 6.50VEDL 144.85 146.80 142.70 143.70 0.60TATASTEEL 478.00 487.25 471.60 476.80 1.75ICICIBANK 540.35 547.00 536.25 541.10 2.00TECHM 812.70 825.95 810.05 817.00 2.95COALINDIA 180.20 181.60 178.25 179.70 0.45BAJAJFINSV 9600.00 9709.00 9560.00 9610.00 18.60HINDUNILVR 2166.00 2196.25 2134.05 2160.00 -0.30GRASIM 802.40 806.65 793.30 799.50 -0.40UPL 537.05 545.20 533.60 536.90 -0.55BRITANNIA 3260.35 3293.00 3236.35 3248.50 -7.45NESTLEIND 16399.00 16549.45 16157.80 16337.00 -47.85MARUTI 7075.00 7120.35 6976.80 7014.20 -26.70HDFCBANK 1244.65 1248.70 1237.20 1239.95 -4.70ULTRACEMCO 4480.00 4519.05 4442.00 4453.65 -18.15INFRATEL 246.00 251.00 240.60 245.00 -1.05BAJAJ-AUTO 3170.00 3211.00 3141.40 3148.00 -13.50M&M 585.00 589.15 576.05 580.60 -3.75ASIANPAINT 1878.00 1882.40 1845.00 1861.00 -12.50TCS 2145.00 2174.20 2115.50 2129.45 -17.10KOTAKBANK 1693.90 1697.90 1668.00 1675.75 -14.00HINDALCO 196.40 197.35 192.65 194.00 -2.30BPCL 503.30 510.00 492.20 494.80 -6.90ITC 218.00 219.90 211.80 213.40 -3.05INFY 784.35 786.80 770.00 772.00 -12.55TITAN 1284.95 1294.20 1252.05 1259.30 -20.55CIPLA 462.50 464.35 435.35 438.55 -9.00TATAMOTORS 182.00 183.40 175.75 178.50 -5.25

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SCRIP OPEN HIgh LOW LTP CHANGENIFTY NEXT 50 28625.30 28934.70 28599.95 28890.65 352.85IBULHSGFIN 272.90 326.40 268.20 319.75 43.05L&TFH 119.25 129.65 117.50 128.30 9.85SRTRANSFIN 1132.50 1234.50 1130.40 1225.00 92.05PEL 1472.00 1615.00 1447.60 1576.10 117.10NIACL 146.50 159.50 146.50 152.45 9.80HDFCAMC 3205.00 3335.00 3165.60 3328.00 138.20BANKBARODA 88.60 92.50 88.00 91.55 3.40DIVISLAB 1950.00 2079.40 1930.00 2024.00 61.35UBL 1318.70 1356.00 1318.70 1353.00 39.95PNB 57.35 59.30 56.90 58.60 1.70ICICIGI 1340.50 1380.00 1340.00 1375.00 38.70ICICIPRULI 480.20 500.55 480.00 489.90 12.60HINDPETRO 234.05 245.00 233.00 242.95 6.00BOSCHLTD 13879.00 14198.80 13822.50 14111.15 317.45PETRONET 268.50 274.50 268.40 274.40 6.00NMDC 114.55 117.45 112.20 116.05 2.15MOTHERSUMI 135.70 139.00 135.05 137.80 2.45DMART 2255.00 2360.00 2255.00 2288.35 39.45HDFCLIFE 587.00 598.70 587.00 593.50 10.05HAVELLS 626.80 633.85 623.70 631.40 10.30ACC 1477.10 1493.70 1460.20 1490.10 20.30ASHOKLEY 80.75 81.90 79.55 81.20 0.85SBILIFE 916.10 925.00 912.05 920.00 9.45COLPAL 1373.50 1388.90 1367.00 1386.30 13.80HINDZINC 193.70 198.70 191.90 192.60 1.85AUROPHARMA 508.85 514.70 506.10 511.90 3.90LUPIN 731.50 738.75 706.00 728.00 5.50SIEMENS 1502.00 1521.00 1493.75 1506.65 9.00SHREECEM 25048.00 25274.95 24750.25 25005.00 111.55MCDOWELL-N 657.00 661.70 646.05 655.70 2.95PIDILITIND 1551.30 1558.75 1523.50 1556.00 5.05CADILAHC 274.20 288.60 270.40 272.50 0.85AMBUJACEM 207.25 209.25 204.55 206.95 0.55PGHH 11562.00 11710.20 11460.00 11546.95 19.15PFC 123.65 124.50 121.70 123.05 0.15DABUR 514.40 518.00 505.30 510.65 -0.50GICRE 257.05 266.00 254.00 254.25 -0.85BIOCON 295.50 301.00 293.85 294.00 -1.25MARICO 311.00 311.90 303.25 306.30 -2.05NHPC 24.60 24.70 24.15 24.35 -0.20BANDHANBNK 431.75 436.25 421.00 425.25 -3.95GODREJCP 664.40 665.00 647.85 650.45 -10.90IDEA 5.35 5.55 5.10 5.15 -0.10CONCOR 599.45 602.20 582.30 582.55 -11.95BERGEPAINT 587.95 587.95 569.00 574.90 -13.75BAJAJHLDNG 3872.00 3909.90 3761.05 3771.15 -94.35OFSS 3008.00 3027.00 2890.00 2905.00 -76.60PAGEIND 24840.00 24896.95 23903.65 24050.00 -666.75INDIGO 1450.00 1458.35 1387.00 1408.00 -42.35DLF 247.00 254.70 243.40 245.90 -7.55

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The Republican-controlledSenate has acquitted

Donald Trump in his high-profile impeachment trial, giv-ing the US President a majorpolitical victory in an electionyear but not before bitterlydividing the country and cost-ing millions of dollars to thetax payers.

The Senate voted onWednesday 52-48 to acquitTrump of abuse of power and53-47 to absolve him ofobstruction of Congress, thetwo charges he faced. Thevote along party lines foiledthe Democratic Party’s deter-mined bid to overthrowTrump from the White Houseahead of the November 3presidential election.

The Democratic-ledHouse of Representativesapproved the articles ofimpeachment on December18 after charging Trump withpressuring Ukraine to smearformer US vice president JoeBiden, a potential Democraticrival in the 2020 presidentialelection, using nearly USD 400million in military aid asleverage.

Though Trump, 73, hasbeen acquitted, he will becomethe first impeached Presidentto seek re-election.

A two-thirds majority votewas needed to remove Trump,which was always going to bea long shot in a 100-memberSenate controlled by hisRepublican Party with 53seats. “For now, the impeach-ment of Mr. Trump appears tohave evenly divided thenation,” The New York Timesreported. “The outcome rep-resented a political triumphfor the White House andSenate Majority Leader MitchMcConnell...,” The WashingtonPost noted.

White House PressSecretary Stephanie Grishamslammed the OppositionDemocrats. “Today, the shamimpeachment attempt con-cocted by Democrats ended inthe full vindication and exon-

eration of President Donald JTrump. As we have said allalong, he is not guilty,” she said.

“The Senate voted to rejectthe baseless articles ofimpeachment, and only thePresident’s political opponents— all Democrats, and onefailed Republican presidentialcandidate — voted for themanufactured impeachmentarticles,” Grisham said.

Trump 2020 campaignmanager Brad Parscale said,“The do-nothing Democratsknow they can’t beat him, sothey had to impeach him.This terrible ordeal was alwaysa campaign tactic to invalidatethe 2016 votes of 63 millionAmericans and was a trans-parent effort to interfere withthe 2020 election, only ninemonths away.”

Democratic Party accusedthe Republican-dominatedSenate of ignoring the facts,“the will of the American peo-ple and their duty to theConstitution”.

“Today, the President andSenate Republicans have nor-malized lawlessness and reject-ed the system of checks andbalances of our Constitution,”said Congresswoman NancyPelosi, Speaker of the USHouse of Representatives.

“The President will boastthat he has been acquitted.There can be no acquittalwithout a trial, and there is notrial without witnesses, docu-ments and evidence,” she said,a day after the powerfulDemocrat tore her copy ofTrump’s State of the Unionaddress to Congress.

“By suppressing the evi-dence and rejecting the mostbasic elements of a fair judicialprocess, the Republican Senatemade themselves willingaccomplices to the President’scover-up,” Pelosi said.

House Majority LeaderSteny Hoyer described it as asad day for the country. “TheUS Senate, acting as a court ofimpeachment under ourConstitution, did not removea president who abused hispower and invited foreign

interference in the upcomingelection to benefit himselfpersonally,” he said.

“The bipartisan vote infavour of holding himaccountable and preserv-ing, protecting, and defend-ing our Constitution againsta clear, impeachable offensewas, unfortunately, notenough to overcome a par-tisan firewall of senatorswho chose loyalty toPresident Trump over loyal-ty to their oaths,” Hoyer said.In her statement, White HousePress Secretary Grisham saidit was yet another witch-hunt that deprived thePresident of his dueprocess and rights andwas based on a series oflies.

“RepresentativeAdam Schiff lied toCongress and theAmerican people witha totally made up state-ment about the President’sphone call. “Will there be noretribution? Speaker NancyPelosi also lied to theAmerican people about the need to swiftly passimpeachment articles theydreamt up, only to sit on them for a month beforesending over to the Senate,”she said.

“In the Senate, theDemocrats continued to maketheir political motivationsclear — Rep. Schiff proclaimedthe issues ‘cannot be decidedat the ballot box’ — provingonce again they think theyknow better than the voters ofthis country.

This entire effort by theDemocrats was aimed at over-turning the results of the 2016election and interfering withthe 2020 election,” Grishamsaid. According to an estimatefrom the Heritage Foundation,the House of Representativesinquiry, cost taxpayers an esti-mated USD 3.06 million.

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��<��=� 4�� > �� ?��,��Washington: The White House said President DonaldTrump had got “full vindication and exoneration” inhis impeachment trial. After the Senate acquittal “thePresident is pleased to put this latest chapter of shame-ful behavior by the Democrats in the past,” spokes-woman Stephanie Grisham said. However, she alsoaccused the opposition Democrats of trying to influ-ence the upcoming presidential election and asked:“Will there be no retribution?” AFP

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China on Thursdaydenounced as “rumours

and lies” the reports of a muchhigher death toll and infectedcases in the coronavirus out-break that it said has killed 564people as the authorities fin-ished work on a second hospi-tal to treat thousands of patientssuffering from the disease.

Overall 564 people havedied in China due to the viruson Wednesday and 28,018 con-firmed cases have been report-ed from 31 provincial-levelregions, the National HealthCommission reported onThursday.

On Wednesday, 73 peopledied — the highest casualty ina single day — due to the virusand the new confirmed cases ofthe epidemic went up by 3,694,it added.

Chinese officials said 19foreign nationals living in thecountry have been confirmedof contracting the novel coro-navirus as of Thursday, but didnot disclose their nationalities.

China also said it haslodged diplomatic protests withcountries whose airlines havecancelled flights to Chinesecities alleging that they arespreading panic in the wake ofdeadly coronavirus.

Seventy of the deathsreported on Wednesday werefrom Hubei province and itscapital Wuhan, the epicentre ofthe virus outbreak, where

China is building a largenumber of hospitals at franticpace, including converting sta-

diums, auditoriums andschools into hospitals to copeup with the cases.

China on Thursday openeda new 1,500-bed makeshifthospital especially built forvirus patients days after a1,000-bed hospital startedfunctioning with prefabricatedwards and isolation rooms inWuhan. Chinese officials arguethat the death toll and con-firmed cases are rising in Hubeiprovince because of lack ofenough hospitals and beds.

State-run China GlobalTelevision Network, or CGTN,showed new tent hospitalscoming up in the city to treatpatients besides a host ofmobile clinics.

Meanwhile, China vehe-mently denied a Taiwan mediareport that Beijing is under-reporting the death toll andinfected cases from the virusoutbreak. Tencent, which runspopular social media APPweChat, over the weekendseems to have “inadvertentlyreleased what is potentially theactual number of infectionsand deaths, which were astro-nomically higher than the offi-cial figures,” Taiwan Newsreported.

“On late Saturday evening,the Tencent webpage showedconfirmed cases of the Wuhanvirus in China as standing at

154,023, ten times the officialfigure at the time...Most omi-nously, the death toll listed was24,589, vastly higher than the300 officially listed that day,”

the report claimed.When asked to comment

on the report, Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesperson HuaChunying told a media briefing

online on Thursday that “wehave noted some rumours andlies on this epidemic, which areworse than the virus itself ”.

“You may have noted thateven WHO Director-Generalhas repeatedly called on peopleto not believe in rumours orspreading them. In some coun-tries, relevant departments havebeen stepping up efforts tobring to justice to those creat-ing and spreading rumours,”she said.

China is acting with open-ness, transparency and a highsense of responsibility, Hua said,adding that the government hasbeen sharing information in atimely manner, enhancing inter-national cooperation.

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Chinese doctor Li Wenliang,one of the eight whistle-

blowers who warned othermedics of the coronavirus out-break but were reprimanded bythe police, died of the epidem-ic on Thursday, official mediareported.

Li, a 34-year-old doctorwho tried to warn other medicsof the epidemic, died of coro-navirus on Thursday inWuhan, the state-run GlobalTimes reported. He was the firstto report about the virus wayback in December last yearwhen it first emerged inWuhan, the provincial capitalof China’s central Hubeiprovince.

He dropped a bombshell inhis medical school alumni

group on the popular Chinesemessaging app WeChat thatseven patients from a localseafood market had been diag-nosed with a SARS-like illnessand quarantined in his hospi-tal. Li explained that, accord-ing to a test he had seen, the ill-ness was a coronavirus — alarge family of viruses thatincludes severe acute respira-tory syndrome (SARS) whichled to 800 death in China andthe world in 2003.

Li told his friends to warntheir loved ones privately. Butwithin hours screenshots of hismessages had gone viral - with-out his name being blurred.“When I saw them circulatingonline, I realised that it was outof my control and I wouldprobably be punished,” Li wasquoted as saying CNN recently.

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Human Rights Watch onThursday accused

China of suppressing criti-cism of its response to thedeadly novel coronavirusand said it had made the out-break worse.

HRW chief KennethRoth also criticised theChinese Government’s lock-down on various cities in anattempt to contain the virusas a “sledgehammer”approach.

“There have been bigproblems in China’s responseto the coronavirus that haveworsened the outbreak,”Roth told reporters inGeneva, although he alsosaid China deserved creditfor sharing the DNAsequence of the virus earlyon. Roth pointed in particu-lar to what he said was the“suppression” of reports onthe virus in China during theearly days of the outbreak, aswell as subsequent efforts tostamp out criticism of itsresponse on social media.

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Tata Motors has always puton a show at the Auto Expothanks to their extensive

range of commercial vehicles thatthey have always had the largestfloor area at the Expo for years.The Auto Expo has been wheretheir Chairman Emeritus, RatanTata has dropped some of themost significant cars in the Indianautomotive history. The TataIndica in 1998 and of course, theTata Nano in 2004.

However, this year, nobodyreally expected Tata Motors to doall that much. Their big launch forthe year, the Altroz had alreadybeen launched last month. Butthen again, never doubt the abil-ity. Surprisingly, Tata revived abrand name that had been mori-bund for over a decade, the Sierra.Yes, India’s “original” SportsUtility Vehicle (SUV) had beenreimagined for the electric vehi-cle future and well, Tata Motorsace designer Pratap Bose thoughtit should become a mobile loungeof sorts.

Well, even Tata Motors exec-utives admit that the Sierra won’tend up with polished wood floorsand a lounge set-up, but well, thesliding door could stay. Yet, forsome of us it was another car atthe Tata Motors stand that caughtthe eye, the ‘HBX’ compact SUV.While that will wear anotherbadge when it comes into produc-tion, this sub-compact SUV isalmost certain to make it ontoIndian roads in a slightly modi-fied form by late 2020. And it isthis sub-compact SUV segment,that is below four metres inlength and the compact-SUVsegment (between 4.2-4.4 metresin length) that saw the mostaction at the expo.

In addition to the Tata HBX

concept and Kia’s Sonet concept,both sub-compacts gearing up totake on the market leaders, theHyundai Venus and Maruti-Suzuki Vitara Brezza. Talking ofthe Brezza, it also got a refresh at

the expo, now featuring Suzuki’sK15 engine with 103 horsepow-er, a mild hybrid system and aproper automatic gearbox. AndKia’s Sonet, while also a conceptfor now, is almost in final form

according to Kia’s Global Designchief Karim Habib. The Sonet,which is almost certain to retainthat name, is expected to hitIndian roads around the festiveseason. It is a smart-looking car

and very likely will become a seg-ment leader. Kia also revealed theprice of the Carnival MPV, whichhas been priced at a very impres-sive range between �25-34 lakh,the top Carnival model has gar-nered nearly 70 per cent of the3,500 orders. Quite impressive!

The Volkswagen Group, nowheadlined by Skoda in India hada media night on the Mondaybefore the start of the Expo butbetween Skoda and Volkswagensome pretty neat cars on display.Volkswagen showcased their2021-bound Taigun CompactSUV alongside the longer T-Rocand the seven-seat variant of theTiguan. Skoda showcased theirVision-IN concept which willform the basis of their upcomingCompact SUV, the Taigun andVision-In based on the MQB-A0platform form the basis of theGroup’s ‘India 2.0’ strategy butone can question whether 2021 isgoing to be too late for anylaunch.

The Chinese were also at theExpo in force, between MGMotor, the brand used byShanghai Automotive IndustrialCorporation (SAIC) showcasingseveral exciting new modelsincluding their full size SUV theGloster. But the real surprise wasGreat Wall Motors, the Chinesemanufacturer that has just boughtthe General Motors factory inTalegaon. They showcased theentirety of their range includingseveral Haval brand SUV’s.Unfortunately, due to theCoronavirus outbreak most exec-utives from the Chinese operationcould not make it to India for theshow. That and the fact thatmanufacturers like Audi, BMW,Ford and Honda staying away aswell as all of India’s top twowheeler companies made theExpo have a slightly cold feelabout it. But you should still makea beeline to Greater Noida thisweekend.

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Every breath you take andevery move you makeEvery bond you break,

every step you take, I’ll bewatching you

Every single day and everyword you say

Every game you play, everynight you stay, I’ll be watchingyou.”

The 1980s’ song by thegroup, The Police, can seemscary rather than romantic ifsung in present t imes.Imagine, if one morning youfind out that all your person-al data and life is under some-body else’s control and hence,out in public. You are beingconstantly watched and everymove traced. You are hacked.And you have no control overhow to end this surveillance.What do you do?

Hacked , directed byVikram Bhatt, is one suchstory. It revolves around asuccessful businesswoman(played by Hina Khan), who istracked by a 19-year-old lover(played by Rohan Shah). Thefilm highlights how cyber-security and online privacy isin danger these days and howeasily anyone can be a target.

Actor Hina Khan tells usthat Vikram narrated manysuch real incidents. One of hisfriends was stalked so muchthat she was forced to move toa different city. Many are stillunaware of her whereabouts.“It’s so sad. You can’t use yourFacebook, Instagram,Snapchat or any social mediaaccount because a hackermight get to know where youare. You are terrified for therest of your life. It’s very unfor-tunate that a lot of them havetaken their lives because theycan’t deal with it,” says she.

It’s important to realisethat it is easy for hackers tosteal your passwords. We useemail every day and nothingmuch has changed since thefirst one was sent in 1971.However, its use is more wide-spread which has made it eas-ier for individuals to accessother people’s emails and see

what is being sent. We are nowmuch more vulnerable tohackers stealing informationsuch as your contact lists,confidential information andbank details, feels Hina.

Fan of using public WiFi?Yes, it’s convenient and free

but have you ever questionedwhether is it secure? Whileshooting, she learnt that sheneeds to be careful while log-ging on to a public network.She says, “Most WiFi hotspotsdon’t encrypt the informa-tion you send over the inter-

net and if the network requiresa password, it’s most likely nota secured network. If astranger comes to your placeand you give access to yourWiFi, s/he can hack all thedevices in your house. So nowI don’t give my password toanyone. All this is so scary.”

Hina feels that somewhereeven we are responsible. “Wewant to put our best foot for-ward on social media, when itcomes to pictures, tweets andeverything. I go to gym, clickpictures, post them. We alsostore our intimate moments inour galleries. We should not bedoing that. When we are notgoing to post it, why risk it? It’svery important to talk aboutthese things. We might getstuck in relationships wherethere are trust issues. There areways to navigate these but wedon’t do that and get carriedaway,” she points out.

While such shows areintended to make the audienceaware of online crime, dothey also give ideas to peoplewho have a negative mind?Actor Rohan Shah says,“Anyone will watch what theyfind interesting. You cannotsay that you are putting thoseideas in someone’s head as inorder to teach how to dealwith such situations, you haveto show them too, isn’t it? Youcannot make everyone amongthe audience think the sameway. They will eventually thinkdifferent no matter what. Itonly depends on the personand the way s/he looks atthings. Technically, koi kisi kosikha nahi sakta unless vohkhud sikhna nahi chahta. Ateacher can only share thingsand it’s the student who willgrab only what he likes.”

Hina agrees with Rohanand says, “When we make anyfilm, there’s always evil andgood. You can’t just have goodin the film and expect it tosucceed. Do we get inspired byevil? No, right? So it’s up to theperson. Such films are a learn-ing experience for people andnot to put them on the wrongpath.”

It’s the first time thatRohan is playing a dark andnegative character. So howdid he prepare for it? Werethere any references that hehad to take up? He says that tolearn the technicalities of thecharacter, there was a team. “Ijust had to prepare for theemotional quotient, which isto understand the mind of thecharacter. Why is he doingsuch things? My prep wasonly to realise what and why.There were no references assuch. My script was my onlyBible.”

The Yeh Rishta KyaKehlata Hai actor tells us thatshe didn’t give any audition forHacked. When Vikram narrat-ed the script, she wasn’t con-vinced at the first go. “I wasvery confused. I never thoughtI would debut in a film withsuch an impactful topic. Also,this film has been co-writtenby an ethical hacker.Eventually, all this moved me,”says she.

Well, it all seems perfecton the outside but a lot ofuncertainties and challengeshave gone behind Hina’s suc-cess in the industry. Shebelieves that god has beenkind on her. Her mantra is tonever stop working. “I believein the amalgamation of hardwork and destiny. They canmake you reach where youwish to,” says she. So how doesshe cope up with the negativecriticism and trolling towardsher work? She tells us that youcan’t really do anything aboutpeople. She adds, “I just pitythem because all they need isattention. It’s like — kuch tohlog kahenge, logon ka kaam haikehna.”

He was born Issur Danielovitch, a ragman’s son.He died Kirk Douglas, a Hollywood king.

Douglas, the muscular, tempestuous actor withthe dimpled chin, lived out an epic American storyof reinvention and perseverance, from the rich-es he acquired and risked to the parts he took onand the boundaries he defied. Among the mostpopular, versatile and recognisable leading menof the 20th century, he could will himself into arole or a favourite cause as mightily as he willedhimself out of poverty.

Douglas, who died at 103, was a force forchange and symbol of endurance. He is remem-bered now as a final link to a so-called Golden Age,the father of Oscar winner Michael Douglas anda man nearly as old as the industry itself. But inhis prime, he represented a new kind of performer,more independent and adventurous than ClarkGable, Spencer Tracy and other greats of the stu-dio era of the 1930s and 1940s, and more willingto speak his mind. His career began at the peakof the studios’ power and ended in a more diverse,decentralised age that he helped bring about.

Reaching stardom after World War-II, he wasas likely to play cads (the producer in Bad andthe Beautiful, the journalist in Ace in the Hole) ashe was suited for the hero-slave in Spartacus, asalert to the business as he was at home before thecamera. He was producing his own films at a timemost stars were content to act and was workingwith an enviable range of directors, from a youngStanley Kubrick to a middle-aged John Huston,from a genius of noir like Jacques Tourneur to suchmaster satirists as Billy Wilder and Joseph LMankiewicz.

Acting served as escape and as confession. Hisfavourite among dozens of films was the contem-porary Western Lonely are the Brave, which cameout in 1962 and included a line of dialogueDouglas called the most personal he ever spoke,“I’m a loner clear down deep to my very guts.”

He never won a competitive Oscar, but hereceived an honorary one, along with a lifetimeachievement award from the American FilmInstitute, an honorary Golden Globe and aPresidential Medal of Freedom. His standing camein part from his role in the downfall ofHollywood’s blacklist, which ruined the careersof writers suspected of pro-Communist activity.

By the end of the 1950s, the use of bannedwriters was widely known within the industry, butnot to the general public. Douglas, who years ear-lier had reluctantly signed a loyalty oath to get thestarring role in Lust for Life, delivered a crucial

blow when he openly credited the blacklistedOscar winner Dalton Trumbo for script work onSpartacus, the Roman epic about a slave rebellionthat was released in 1960.

The most famous words in a Douglas filmwere said about him, not by him, in Spartacus.Roman officials tell a gathering of slaves their liveswill be spared if they identify their leader. AsDouglas rises, a growing chorus of slaves jumpup and shout, “I’m Spartacus!” Douglas standssilently, a tear rolling down his face.

Critic David Thomson dubbed Douglas “themanic-depressive among Hollywood stars, oneminute bearing down on plot, dialogue andactresses with the gleeful appetite of a man justfreed from Siberia, at other times writhing not justin agony but mutilation and a convincingly hor-rible death.” While filming Lust for Life, he wasso caught up in Vincent Van Gogh he fearedbecoming suicidal himself.

Issur Danielovitch took the name KirkDouglas as he worked his way through theAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts, choosing“Douglas” because he wanted his last name stillto begin with “D” and “Kirk” because he liked thehard, jagged sound of the “K.”

In March 2009, he appeared in a one-manshow, Before I Forget, recounting his life andfamous friends. The four-night show in the KirkDouglas Theatre in Culver City was sold out. “Youknow, I never wanted to be a film actor,” Douglashad said. “My goal in life was to be a star on stage.Now I know how to do it. Build your own the-atre.” >��

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Almonds used to have about 170 calo-ries per serving. Then researchers

said it was really more like 130. A littlelater, they said the nuts may have evenless.

Calorie counting can be a simple wayto help maintain a healthy weight — don’teat and drink more than you burn. Andthe calorie labels on food packaging seemlike an immutable guide to help you trackwhat you eat. But the shifting numbersfor almonds show how the figures print-ed on nutrition labels may not be as pre-cise as they seem.

Last month, Kind said it was lower-ing the calorie counts for its snack bars,even though the ingredients weren’tchanging. The company cited studies thatindicate nuts have fewer digestible calo-ries than previously believed.

Conducted by governmentresearchers with funding from nut pro-ducers, the studies show the inexactmethod of determining calorie countsestablished more than a century ago. Thewidely used system says a gram of car-bohydrates and a gram of protein eachhave four calories, while a gram of fat hasaround nine. Companies can also subtractsome calories based on past estimates ofhow much of different foods are notdigested.

But based on anecdotal comments,researchers suspected more of the nutri-ents in nuts may be expelled in the bath-room than previously estimated. “Ifthey’re not digested, then maybe the calo-rie content is not correct,” said DavidBaer, a co-author of the nut studies at theUS Department of Agriculture, whichfunded the research along with nut pro-ducers like the Almond Board ofCalifornia.

To test the hunch, Baer and col-leagues gave 18 people meals with andwithout raw almonds and instructedthem to return daily with their urine andstool packed in dry ice. The contents wereanalysed to calculate that a serving ofalmonds has about 130 digestible calories,rather than the widely used figure of 170.

A few years later, in 2016, anotherstudy by Baer and colleagues also lookedat the effects of food processing. Theyfound cooking and grinding helpedbreak down cell walls in almonds, free-ing more calories for digestion. Roastedalmonds had slightly more digestiblecalories than raw almonds. When thenuts were ground up into almond butter,

nearly all the calories were digested.Notably, the second study also found

raw almonds had even fewer digestiblecalories than suggested by the first study.Baer attributed the discrepancy to vari-ations in how people digest foods andnatural differences in almonds them-selves.

“It’s unlikely you’re going to get theexact same number every time yourepeat the experiment,” he said. Thealmond studies are among several Baerhas co-authored on the digestibility ofnuts. Another last year was funded by theGlobal Cashew Council and foundcashews had fewer calories than estimat-ed.

Despite his findings, Baer said hethinks the calorie counts used for mostother foods are fairly accurate. Andeven though the US Food and DrugAdministration lets companies use differ-ent methods to determine calorie counts,the agency says products aren’t supposedto have more than 20 per cent more calo-ries than what’s stated on labels.

That’s why health experts said that thecalorie counts on nutrition labels are stillvaluable: They offer general guidance forpeople trying to keep their weight incheck. But it’s even more important to payattention to overall diet and not get hungup on small caloric differences, expertssaid. “That’s not what’s going to make orbreak someone’s attempt at weight man-agement,” said Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, aUniversity of North Carolina nutritionprofessor.

Mayer said that the studies on thecalories in nuts wouldn’t affect her gen-eral advice that they can be part of ahealthy diet. She said it’s more importantto pay attention to how they’re prepared,such as whether sweeteners are added.Kind’s founder, Daniel Lubetzky, said hehopes the studies will help overcome thereluctance some might have about eatingnuts because of their relatively highercalorie counts. The studies also mean thecompany’s most popular bar can nowdrop from 200 to 180 calories, whichcould be a marketing advantage thatsways decisions at the grocery store. “Itcan’t hurt.” Lubetzky said Mars, whichtook a minority stake in Kind in 2017,said it doesn’t have plans to update thecalorie counts for M&M’s with almonds.The Almond Board says it’s not aware ofother companies yet using the lowernumbers. >��

Petite, feminine, pretty,candy floss — some of thewords that come crowding

around as soon as we ascend thesteps to reach Tera Vita, a newrestaurant in Khan Market.Done up in shades of pink andblue, the restaurant has smallniches, quirky posters and morewhich add to its hip youngimage ideal for a girls’ night out.It has an old-world charm whichtransports you to a corner ofEurope. Certainly a place whereyou can click Instagram-worthyimages.

The brain behind the restau-rant is the very young and affa-ble Chahat Jain, who tells us itwas two things that inspired herto start the place. Having trav-elled the world, she felt that therewere certain segments in foodthat lacked authenticity in Indiaand she wanted to plug that gap.The second factor was that herelder brother is one of thefounders of Grub Fest, the mostsuccessful food festival, held inthe capital. “I had a job at handbut the joining date kept gettingdelayed. My brother wanted meto be a part of his team but Iwanted to strike out on myown,” she says.

First, she started out with afood delivery service and thendecided to start a dine-in. theresult was Tera Vita. The restau-rant is named ‘Tera’ after theRoman goddess of the ‘Earth’Terra, while ‘Vita’ translates as‘Life’ in Italian. “Everything here,from the colours and furnitureto the posters and artefacts haveall been selected by me. In factmy family tried to take off someload and bought some pieces butit was not what I had in mindand got it all changed,” she says.

Coming to food, the firstthing that grabbed eyeballs wasInvisible salad because of itsname. I noticed the ingredientsonly later and that made me cer-tain that this was the dish I want-ed to go for. A mix of greenapple, goat cheese, mesclungreens and candied nuts, tossedin a sundried tomato paste madefor a mix that was healthy anddecadent at the same time. Whilethe greens and the fruit made itnice and crunchy, it was the goatcheese which added a smoothtexture, a slightly salty taste andcreaminess to the melange. I

could practically make a mealout of this.

Next up was the Charm bro-colli, which was served withharissa, sour cream and peanutcrumble which combined bothcrunch and smooth texture.However, it was the Heavenbrulee with its warm Italian goatcheese, roasted beetroot, peeledmandarins and roasted walnuts

that had my heart. Not only didit walk the tightrope between thetextures but also balanced theflavours with equal panache.The tart mandarin, slightly sweetbeetroot, nutty sweet walnutand salty cheese were polishedoff the plate in record time. Thisone is certainly a winner onhands. And incidentally, also theowner’s favourite

Another one would be theHouse prawns, cooked withnothing more than roasted gar-lic, onion and olive which wasserved with sourdough crisps.while the prawns were cooked

just right, the garlic added a pun-gent flavour while onions andolives make for value additions.

Certainly the place to headto when you head out with yourgirl gang next time.

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�� 1�� The Indian men’shockey team began their FIHHockey Pro League campaignon a fantastic note after defeat-ing the Netherlands in boththeir matches last month. Andthe world No 5 Indian teamnow will face a bigger challengewhen they host world No 1 sideBelgium on 8 February and 9February at the KalingaStadium in Bhubaneswar.India’s Forward GurjantSingh expressed that theIndian set-up is improvingwith each match and isworking towards a commongoal of performing well at theOlympics this year.

“This is a very crucial timefor us. Every match is veryimportant for us. We are coor-dinating and playing well as aunit. However, we have toensure that we keep putting upgood performances consistent-

ly. Each and every player in theteam has the Olympics in theirmind and we are workingtowards doing well at the tour-nament,” said the 25-year-old.

The forward added thatthe team is confident ahead oftaking on Belgium since Indiaperformed brilliantly duringtheir tour of Belgium last year.

“We had a great tour ofBelgium last year, we wonall our matches there. Thatresult certainly gives us alot of confidence. All the

FIH Hockey Pro Leaguematches will help us prepare

for the Olympics. All the topteams in the world are playingthis tournament. Now theIndian team is performing well.We beat the Netherlands lastmonth, who are ranked third inthe world. So the team’s moraleis quite high at the moment,”said Gurjant. PNS

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Suryakumar Yadav blazed his wayto 134 to lead Mumbai’s fight backon the third day of their Elite

Group B Ranji Trophy game againstSaurashtra after the domestic giantsconceded 73 runs first-inningslead.

After losing openerBhupen Lalwani (3) early,Surya (134 off 130 balls, 17x4,3x6) and Jay Bista (46) wipedout the deficit in just 16 overs tokeep Mumbai in the hunt at theSCA Stadium in Khandheri.

Surya notched up his 14th first-class 100, as he played his usualaggressive game, while Bista playedsecond fiddle.

The duo added 119-runs for thesecond wicket and their partnershipbrought Mumbai back into the con-tention in what is a must-win game.

Surya got a life at 44 and he madeoptimum use of it.

All-rounder Shams Mulani waspromoted to number four and headded 98 runs for the third wicket withSurya as Mumbai looked to gain theupper-hand.

But left-arm orthodox spinnerDharmendrasinh Jadeja, who troubledSurya, won the battle after trappinghim in front of the wicket.

In-form Sarfaraz Khan joinedMulani and the two remained unbeat-en when stumps were drawn withMumbai at 285 for 3, extending thelead by 212 runs.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight257 for 6, Saurashtra overhauledMumbai’s first-innings score of 262.

A gritty unbeaten 84 by ChiragJani helped the hosts take a 73-run firstinnings lead.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu defeatedBaroda by an innings and 57 runs atMotibaug Ground in Vadodara withright-arm medium pacer K Vigneshtaking a fifer in the second essay.

Due to Vignesh’s heroics with theball, Tamil Nadu dismissed the hostsfor 259 in their second innings to reg-ister an emphatic win and picked upseven points.

His haul included the key wicketof captain Krunal Pandya, who madea defiant 74 (95 balls, 10 fours, 2 sixes),

having him caught in the deep by sub-stitute M Siddharth and DeepakHooda (4).

The 25-year-old medium-pacer,who made a comeback into the teamafter being dropped for the matchagainst Railways (which Tamil Naduwon comprehensively), said it wasgood to be back in the squad andamong wickets too.

“The wicket was good and we hadto really bowl well in the secondinnings because it slightly eased out

after we batted,” Vignesh said.

ANUJ RAISES DELHI HOPES�� 1�� Wicketkeeper batsmanAnuj Rawat’s stroke-filled hundredgave Delhi a slim chance of an outrightwin after Gujarat got the all-importantfirst innings lead in group Aencounter.

In reply to Delhi’s 293, Gujaratscored 335 after starting the day at 269for 4 with Manprit Juneja (124, 190balls) and Dhruv Raval (94)’s 221-run

stand for the fifth wicket proving cru-cial in a 42-run lead.

However left-handed Anuj, a for-mer India U19 captain, then took theattack back to the opposition campwith a superb 133 off 194 balls that had15 fours and two sixes.

Delhi ended the day at 228 for fourwith a lead of 186 runs going into thefinal day.

While the chances of an outrightwin on a good batting track might notbe more than 25 percent but Anuj’sinnings certainly gave Delhi a glimmerof hope if they can get a lead of 275by lunch and get 60 overs at opposi-tion.

“That’s the plan. The wicket isgood for batting but it is slightly up anddown at times. But yes, bowlers needto bend their backs,” said the studentof Rajkumar Sharma, who is also ViratKohli’s coach.

GOA RETURN TO TOP��.��Goa dished out an all-roundperformance to thrash Nagaland by229 runs inside three days to return tothe top of Plate table.

With a cushion of 142-run firstinnings lead, Snehal Kauthankar (68not out from 63 balls; 9x4s, 1x6) andskipper Amit Verma (66 from 73 balls;6x4s, 2x6s) put together 103 runs in 95balls for the fourth wicket to declaretheir second essay at 221 for four, set-ting a stiff 364 target for the hosts

In reply, only three Nagalandbatsmen reached double digit scoresas they were folded for 134 in 36.4overs to suffer their second defeat thisseason.

Stuart Binny top-scored with 58but there was little support from theother end with Shrikant Mundhe (38)being the other batsman to reach dou-ble figures.

�� 34��456(

Fourth-seeded Kwan Soon-woostormed into the singles quarter-finals

at the third of Tata Open Maharashtrawith a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) winagainst India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran atMhalunge Balewadi Stadium in Pune onThursday.

Despite losing the first set, the IndiaNo 1 put a brilliant show in attempt tocomeback which saw the second setgoing into decider. However, World No88 Soon-woo held his nerves in the tie-breaker to score crucial points andwrapped up the match.

Prajnesh, who entered the SouthAsia’s only ATP Tour tournament, whichis organised by Maharashtra State LawnTennis Association (MSLTA) in associa-tion with Government of Maharashtra,with a direct entry in the main draw,denied his opponent match points on acouple of occasions.

With Prajnesh’s loss in the round of16, India’s challenge came to an end in thesingles.

Earlier Sumit Nagal, RamkumarRamanathan, Sasikumar Mukund andArjun Kadhe lost their respective match-es in the opening round.

Earlier in other singles last-16 match,Australia’s James Duckworth held hisnerves during thrilling three-set 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 over Taro Daniel.Despite losing the first set, the sixth seed-ed Duckworth made timely comeback towin the hard-fought second set. However,the Australian had continued the momen-tum to win the decider easily to completevictory.

In doubles category, pair of RomainArneodo and Andre Begemann caused amajor upset in the tournament as theyknocked out top-seed pair of RobinHaase and Robert Lindstedt with athrashing 6-3, 6-3 win to enter the semi-finals.

However, third seeded Jonathan Erlichand Andrei Vasilevski also made their wayinto the last four. Erlich-Vasilevski hadfought hard before registering 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 win against Italian pair of StefanoTravaglia and Paolo Lorenzi.

!��1� �� Indian tennislegend Leander Paes onThursday confirmed his par-ticipation in the BangaloreOpen ATP Challenger, begin-ning here on February 10.

Paes, who is into hisfarewell season, will be seenin action for one last time onhome soil at the $162,000event at the KSLTA.

“Playing at home in front

of my fellow Indians has alwaysbeen a source of immensepleasure and motivation forme. Bangalore has always hada crowd that understands ten-nis and the vibe of the stadiumand the energy of the city real-ly invigorate me,” said Paes,who is currently playing at theTATA Maharashtra ATP Tourevent in Pune.

The 46-year-old veteranhas 54 ATP Tour doubles titlesbesides eight Grand Slam men’sdoubles crowns and 10 GrandSlam mixed doubles titles. Andwith just three short of 100Grand Slam appearances, Paesis now aiming to play all theSlams this year before signingoff.

“To my Bangalore friends,fans and tennis lovers, I amlooking forward to entertainingall of you One Last Roar time.See you guys soon,” said Paes,who last played in Bengaluru inthe Davis Cup 2014 when hepartnered with RohanBopanna. PTI

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;�'�$��(�!��$��)�� &�-��5%�!�$ �%A)%*��!��"�!-��1�� After a marvelousstart of their Pro League cam-paign which saw them defeatAustralia and New Zealandaway from home, WorldChampions and world No 1Belgium Belgian team led byexperienced midfielderThomas Briels, arrived in theBhubaneswar brimming withconfidence ahead of their twomatches against hosts India.

Expressing delight at theprospect of playing India atthe iconic Kalinga HockeyStadium, Briels said he’s look-ing forward to playing at thevenue where his side lifted theFIH Men’s Hockey WorldCup trophy in 2018. “It feelsreally good to be back in thecity where we became theWorld Champions. And I’m

expecting a great round ofmatches against India, whohave also improved massive-ly in the past couple of years,”said the 32-year-old.

Commenting on oppo-nents India, Briels said heexpects a good fight , “Indiais looking really sharp aswell, and they have beenplaying well which is some-thing we saw in their initialtwo matches against theDutch. We expect a toughcouple of matches, and itsgoing to be a good fight for usas well. Of course, we arewary of the threat that theypossess, but we are reallyexcited to play a tough oppo-nent like India so we canimprove further before theOlympics.” PNS

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Thomas Mueller weighed inwith a goal and an assist as

holders Bayern Munich edged a 4-3 thriller with Hoffenheim onWednesday to reach the GermanCup quarter-finals.

Mueller’s golden run contin-ued at the Allianz Arena to leavehim with seven goals and nineassists in the 14 games since HansiFlick replaced Niko Kovac ascoach last November.

Not to be outdone, Mueller’sstrike partner Lewandowskiclaimed two goals in the third-round tie.

However, Hoffenheim’sIsraeli forward Munas Dabburcaused Bayern a few nervousmoments with two late goals as thevisitors threatened a fightback

from 4-1 down.“In the second half, we gave

too much ball away and let themcome back into the game,” admit-ted Bayern winger Serge Gnabry.

“We have to look atthat, howeverwe had a

lot of fun going forward in attack.”It was Mueller who had

calmed Bayern’s early nerves,forcing an own goal fromBenjamin Huebner to equalise

after Bayern defender JeromeBoateng had turned the ballinto his own net.

Mueller then gave Bayerna 2-1 lead before Lewandowskinetted either side of half-timeto extend their lead beforeHoffenheim’s late fightback.

Bayern are the biggest nameinto the last eight after RB Leipzigand Borussia Dortmund bothcrashed out on Tuesday toEintracht Frankfurt and WerderBremen respectively.

Also, a goal by Argentinianstriker Lucas Alario helped BayerLeverkusen to a 2-1 win at sec-ond-division side VfB Stuttgart.

1�� Jose Mourinho admittedTottenham got lucky after SonHeung-min’s late penalty secured adramatic 3-2 win againstSouthampton in Wednesday’s FACup fourth-round replay.

Mourinho’s side were 12 minutesaway from being knocked out aftersquandering the first-half lead givento them by Jack Stephens’ own goal.

Shane Long and Danny Ingsscored as Southampton hit back to

take the lead at the TottenhamHotspur Stadium.

But Lucas Moura equalisedbefore Son won and convertedthe decisive penalty with just twominutes left.

“I have to be honest and sayI think the best team lost on thepitch but my team were theones with more heart and wentto their limit,” Mourinho said.“We suffered but we deserved to

win because we were in our limits.Southampton were fresher than usbut we played with our souls andheart and gave absolutely every-thing.”

Tottenham, who last won the FACup in 1991, will host strugglingNorwich in the fifth round in the firstweek of March.

North Londoners are without amajor trophy of any kind since the2008 League Cup & Mourinho woulddearly love to end that drought, buthis team will have to improve signif-icantly on this erratic display. AFP

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Pakistan’s confidence is boosted byBangladesh appearing vulnerablewithout Mushfiqur Rahim and

Shakib Al Hasan for the first Test start-ing on Friday.

Mushfiqur withdrew from the Testbecause of security concerns, while all-rounder Shakib is suspended.

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali said onThursday they must reap the advantageat Pindi Cricket Stadium.

“Test matches are always played onyour strength and at the moment wefeel our fast bowling is our strength,”Azhar said.

“They are missing a coupleof key players and on currentform we can say we have anupper hand. You take advantagein your home conditions.”

Young fast bowlers Naseem Shahand Shaheen Afridi, along withMohammad Abbas, snared 16 wicketsbetween them in December whenPakistan beat Sri Lanka by 263 runs inthe second test at Karachi.

The Pakistan top order also cashedin, as Azhar, Abid Ali, Shan Masoodand Babar Azam scored centuries atKarachi.

Abid, who also scored a century ondebut in the washed out RawalpindiTest against Sri Lanka, has a chance to

match former India captainMohammad Azharuddin’s record ofthree centuries in his first three Tests.

Bangladesh still has some claws,including opening batsman TamimIqbal, who scored a triple century lastweek in a domestic first-class game;Liton Das, who will keep wickets in the

absence of Mushfiqur; MohammadMithun and captain Mominul Haque.

“We have to play our best game tobeat Bangladesh,” Azhar said.

“Even though they don’t have seniorplayers, they have (other) players whocan give match-winning performances.We have to not give them a chance.”

Pakistan has 80 points in the worldTest championship, while Bangladeshhas none after losing both of its testsagainst India in India.

Mominul said they were still con-fident even without Mushiqur.

“When you don’t have one of yourbest players, sometimes it’s a bit diffi-cult, but on the other hand you can sayit’s a good opportunity for a new play-er,” Mominul said.

“(Our) expectation is we are goingto play good cricket here. We are notgood enough overseas, so we have to tryto improve ourselves here.”

Bangladesh has split its tour ofPakistan into three legs. Pakistan wonthe Twenty20 series 2-0 in January.After this first Test, Bangladesh will

return from April 3-9 for a one-off one-day international and the second Testat Karachi.

SQUADSPakistan: Azhar Ali (captain), Abid Ali,Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, FaheemAshraf, Bilal Asif, Fawad Alam, HarisSohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan,Mohammad Abbas, MohammadRizwan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen ShahAfridi, Shan Masood, Yasir ShahBangladesh: Mominul Haque (captain),Tamim Iqbal, Saif Hassan, NajmulHossain Shanto, Mahmudullah,Mohammad Mithun, Liton Das, TaijulIslam, Nayeem Hasan, Ebadot Hossain,Abu Jayed, Al-Amin Hossain, RubelHossain, Soumya Sarkar.

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World No 2 Tai Tzu Yingand Brice Leverdez

combined to take theBengaluru Raptors into thesemi-finals and help themstay on course for a success-ful defence of their title at theStar Sports PremierBadminton League at theGMC Balayogi SATS IndoorStadium in Hyderabad onThursday.

The Raptors faced theAwadhe Warriors in a must-win tie with both the teamscontending for the last semi-final spot to join the NorthEastern Warriors, ChennaiSuperstarz and Pune 7 Aces.

With the Raptors beingon the fourth spot in the

league table and separatedfrom the Awadhe team bythree points, they needed toensure that the Warriorsdon’t manage to get four

points. Even though theLucknow-based franchisebegan the highly-awaited tiewith a win in men’s doubles,Brice Leverdez beat theAwadhe Trump AjayJayaram to turn the tie on itshead and then Tai Tzu Yingfetched another vital point totake the Raptors into the last-four.

The face-off between theformer World No 1 Tai TzuYing and World No 14Beiwen Zhang was obvious-ly the cynosure of all eyes.Zhang trails the ChineseTaipei ace 2-8 in their head-to-head record on the BWFWorld Tour but she put in ashow on the court that oozedbrilliance and determina-tion to win15-12, 15-12.

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The Indian women’s cricketteam will have to address its

batting woes when it takes onEngland Women in a crucialleague match of the T20 tri-series here today.

A mid innings slump led toIndia’s four-wicket defeat intheir previous match againsthosts Australia. This was afterbeating England by five wicketsin the tournament-opener lastweek.

Except for opener SmritiMandhana (35) and captainHarmanpreet Kaur (28), Indianbatters showed complete lack ofapplication on a pitch offeringextra bounce at Canberra. Indialost their last six wickets for 21runs to concede the match withseven balls to spare.

The Indian bowling attackdid all it could, stretching thegame till the penultimate overbut there were not enough runs

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Top England fast bowler Jofra Archerwas on Thursday ruled out of the

upcoming Indian Premier League due toa stress fracture in his right elbow.

The England and Wales CricketBoard confirmed that Archer, who playsfor the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, willalso miss England’s Test tour of SriLanka. He is expected to be out of actionfor three months.

“Archer underwent further scans onhis injured right elbow yesterday in theUK which confirmed a low grade stressfracture,” said the ECB in a statement.

“He will now commence an injuryrehabilitation programme with the ECBmedical team with a view to be ready forthe international summer campaign start-ing in June against the West Indies in athree-match Test series,” it added.

Archer experienced discomfort in hisright elbow during the series in SouthAfrica when he could only play theBoxing Day Test.

The 24-year-old Barbados born pacerhas represented England in seven Testsand 14 ODIs, taking 30 and 23 wicketsrespectively. He has also played a T20I.

His absence is a big blow to theRajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL begin-ning next month.

In 21 IPL games, Archer has pickedup 26 wickets at an average of 23.69.

In his maiden IPL season in 2018, hetook 15 wickets in 10 games at 21.66before taking 11 in as many games at 26.45the following season.

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New Zealand batsman Henry Nicholls onThursday said the ODI squad did not carrythe baggage of the T20 side which was

blanked by India and that reflected in its highest runchase in 50-over cricket.

Riding on Ross Taylor’s 21st hundred, the hostschased down their highest total in ODIs onWednesday to take a 1-0 lead in the three-matchseries.

“We didn’t feel it as part of the group comingin. So I wasn’t feeling any pressure and there is noneed to prove anything. It was a small ground anda big chase, so it was nice we were able to do that,”Nicholls said in Auckland on Thursday.

“It was great, our biggest chase ever in ODIcricket and it was good to be able to contribute init. In the past, playing India in India, we have hada couple of chases around the 300-mark and oth-ers we got close to. It was nice to do that again athome, and to actually win the game, it was great,”he added.

Taylor smacked an unbeaten 109, with TomLatham knocking 69 off 48 balls. Their partnershipbroke India’s bowling strength in the middle overs.Nicholls paid rich tribute to the two senior batsmen.

“Having someone like that at number four, espe-cially with Kane Williamson not being there as well,the experience he brings is immense. It is not justabout the runs, because batting with him in the mid-dle, you keep having those conversations that helpyour batting too.

“The dimensions of the ground helped us andhe certainly likes batting there. It was a great part-nership and great knock from him. Ross being theretill the end to be not out and win the game wasimmense for us.”

On Lathham’s knock, he said: “Tom and I haveplayed together for a long time, so I have certainlyseen him play like that before. He is very versatileand adaptive to the game scenario and conditions.The way he started, well it was slow, 2 off 10 ballsor something.

“But he managed to put the pressure back onKuldeep (Yadav) and their other spinners. Being cap-tain he led from the front and that partnershipchanged the game for us,” said Nicholls.

The batsman said he will continue to open aslong as the management wants, despite suggestionthat Latham could move up top given his form.

“Opening is not too different. I am used to bat-ting in a few different spots. I was opening a bit forCanterbury coming into this series. So I am tryingto form a new partnership up top with MartinGuptill, and get those platforms in,” he signed off.

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Bangladesh stormed intotheir maiden ICC U-19

World Cup final with a com-prehensive six-wicket winover New Zealand onThursday, setting up the titleclash with record four-timechampions India.

Mahmudul Hason Joyrose to the occasion with a100 off 127 balls, helpingBangladesh overcome the212-run target in 44.1 overs.

After losing the openerscheaply in the chase, Joypaired up with TowhidHridoy (40) first before team-ing up with Shahadat Hussain(40 not out) to share a 101-run stand for the fourth wick-et and fashion a resoundingwin.

New Zealand had recov-ered to make 211 for eightfrom 74 for four, courtesy anunbeaten 75 offf 83 ballsfrom Beckham Wheeler-Greenall.

Shoriful Islam was thepick of the bowlers forBangladesh, taking threewickets for 45 runs in 10

overs.The final between

defending champions Indiaand Bangladesh will be playedhere on Sunday. Like India,Bangladesh too are unbeatenin the tournament.

Bangladesh captainAkbar Ali said his team willhave to play its best cricket toupstage India.

“We will play it as a nor-mal game. We can’t take thepressure of thinking that thisis our first final. India is a verygood side, and we have to playour A game. We have to dothe best in all three depart-ments. Bangladeshi cricketfans are crazy, and I hope wewill continue to get the samesupport that we've been get-ting,” said Ali at the post-match presentation.

One can expect a closefinish considering Indiascraped through by five runsin a low-scoring Asia Cupfinal against Bangladesh inSeptember.

India were able to defenda paltry 105 by bowling outBangladesh for 101 in thefinal held in Colombo.

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The tournament,which is an importantpreparatory event aheadof the T20 World Cup, isintriguingly poised withall the three teams on 2points from as manymatches after one winand one defeat each.

The Indianbatters, especial-ly in the middleand lower order,will need to produce amuch-improved showagainst England to bright-en their chances of reach-ing the final.

“Our lower orderdefinitely needs to bata lot better, especiallywhen the top-order

doesn’t get runs. However,really appreciate the per-formance of bowlers,”Harmanpreet said.

Harmanpreet, who

has been the top run scor-er for her side, will haveto once again lead fromthe front while hopingthat young Shafali Vermafires on top of the Indianinnings.

Another key middle-order batter VedaKrishnamurthy is due a

big inningsafter two fail-ures whileo n e - d o w n

Rodrigues also needs tocome good on Friday foran Indian win.

The England teamwas lucky to have wonagainst Australia viaSuper Over in their pre-vious match but it battedwell in both the matches.

A lot will depend oncaptain Heather Knightwho has been in red-hotform with two back-to-back half centuries.

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��!�� Four-time championAustralia’s skipper Meg Lanningbelieves the upcoming ICCTwenty20 World Cup has thepotential to turn around the fortuneof women’s cricket across the globe.

The ICC Women’s T20 WorldCup will be hosted by Australiafrom February 21 to March 8 andLanning said with so much hypeand buzz around, the tournamenthas the potential to infuse life intowomen’s cricket.

“This tournament can be a realturning point for women’s sportaround the world, it’s a really bigevent, there’s a lot of talk around it— certainly more hype than I’veever experienced before — sohopefully that’s a sign of everyonejumping on board and gettinginvolved,” Lanning wrote in her col-umn for the ICC.

“Hopefully we can look backon this tournament as a realmoment from which women’s

sport takes off.”The event will kickstart with

title-holders Australia taking onIndia in the tournament-opener inSydney and Lanning said their onlygoal is to feature in the March 8final at the Melbourne CricketGround.

“Having taken in an incredibleatmosphere at a sold-out MCG, thechance to lead my country infront of a full house would be anhonour to experience,” she said.

“There are a few hurdles to getover before we can think about theMCG, but to play there in the ICCWomen’s T20 World Cup Final, onInternational Women’s Day, wouldbe amazing for all of us.

“We’re very aware of what weneed to do to get there, there’s a lotof hard work involved and we needto make sure we start off well in thatfirst game against India and gofrom there. There are no guaran-tees in this sport,” she added. PTI

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��"0/�� Top Pakistan batsman BabarAzam is set to be named captain of thenational ODI squad after having alreadyreplaced wicketkeeper batsman SarfarazAhmed as skipper in the T20 format.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)in October had dropped Sarfaraz fromthe Test and T20 squads in a surprisedecision while naming Azhar Ali as cap-tain in the longer format and Babar forthe shorter version.

But the PCB didn’t name a captainfor the ODI format as Pakistan’s next50-over assignment will be a lonematch against Bangladesh on April 3here.

Critics, however, pointed out thatany decision to replace Sarfaraz as cap-tain in ODI format is not going to beeasy as the wicketkeeper-batsman ledPakistan to six straight wins last yearstarting with the World Cup leaguestage matches.

The Board and selectors havealready faced some criticism over

replacing Sarfaraz as captain and alsodropping him as a player after he tookPakistan to the world number one rank-ing in this format.

“There is no way the PCB orselectors can now justify not keepingSarfaraz in the ODI team or replacinghim with Babar Azam. It would begreat injustice with a fine captain anda player,” former chief selector and headcoach Mohsin Khan said.

He said it was acceptable to changeSarfaraz as captain in Test cricket butnot to drop him as a player for the Testand T20 formats.

“There was pressure on Sarfaraz ascaptain for all three formats but he isstill the ideal choice for the white ballformats,” Khan said.

Former Test batsman Ramiz Rajanoted that given Babar’s status asbeing the number one batsman forPakistan in all three formats, heappeared to be the logical choice to leadin ODIs. AFP

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