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thursday, february 15, 2018 Delhi

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A policeman steps on a rose that was o�ered by students of the Government Law College, Ernakulam, after they restrainedthem from taking out a Valentine’s Day rally to the nearby St. Teresa’s College for Women on Wednesday. * THULASI KAKKAT

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Lathis in the time of love

The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) government has announced free travel for senior citizens aboard allStaterun buses in theCapital.

Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said “ordershave been issued” and thescheme would be implemented soon.

Later in the day, Mr.Gahlot said the DTC was“examining” the modalities related to the implementation of the scheme.

At present, the DTC issues passes to senior citizens on concession forboth airconditioned andnonAC low�oor buses.

Free travel forsenior citizensin DTC buses?

Staff reporter

new delhi

NEARBY

The EnforcementDirectorate plans to launchmoneylaunderinginvestigations againstactivists of the PopularFront of India who faceserious criminal charges,including cases under theUnlawful ActivitiesPrevention Act (UAPA).

The Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act’s schedulelists various UAPAprovisions as predicateo�ences, empowering theagency to probe the moneytrail. The move, a senioro�cial said, is on the linesof the recent measuresagainst terror funding inJammu and Kashmir.

ED to probemoney trailspecial correspondent

NEW DELHI

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

In what could be one of thebiggest frauds in the Indianbanking system, staterunlender Punjab National Bank(PNB) reported unauthorisedtransactions worth �11,500crore in one of its branchesin south Mumbai.

The Enforcement Directorate has registered a moneylaundering case in the matter, which involves Mumbaibased billionaire diamondmerchant Nirav Modi.

A case has been registeredby the Central Bureau of Investigation against him andhis business associates aswell as a serving PNB o�cialand a retired deputy manager of the bank.

In a communication to thestock exchanges on Wednesday morning, the country’s

second largest lender said ithad detected some unauthorised transactions in one ofits branches for the bene�t ofa few select account holderswith their apparent ‘connivance.’ “The quantum ofsuch transactions is $1771.69million. The matter is alreadyreferred to law enforcementagencies to examine andbook the culprits as per lawof the land,” the communication said.

�3,900 crore lost

The bank’s stock plunged almost 10% through the dayand its market capitalisationeroded by nearly �3,900crore by the end of tradingon the Bombay StockExchange.

(With TCA Sharad Ragha-van and Gautam Mengle)

�11,500 crorescam rocksPNB, stocks hitCBI and ED register separate cases

Devesh Pandey

Manojit Saha

Mumbai/New Delhi

CONTINUED ONA PAGE 10

PNB WARNS PEERS A PAGE 13

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and PrimeMinister Ranil Wickremesinghe have agreed to reshuf�e the Cabinet, ending daysof uncertainty over theircoalition government’s future after a recent local polldebacle.

The two leaders met lateon Wednesday night. Thediscussions were “positive”,said a top source present atthe meeting. The source refused to share further details. Neither of the leadershas made known his position after the meeting.

Lastminute bid

Party sources said theywere not aware of the speci�cs of the said Cabinet reshu�e, but saw the latenighttalks as an attempt to savethe unity government that,earlier in the evening,seemed to be on the vergeof a split.

The development cameon a day of hectic backroomnegotiations among legislators, with members of theSri Lanka Freedom Party(SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) stakingseparate claims to a possibleparliamentary majority.

Earlier in the evening, senior leaders in President Sirisena’s SLFP wrote to himexpressing their desire toform the government. Ifeither party succeeds in itsattempt, it will bring downthe �rst national unity government the two traditional rivals formed in 2015,ousting former PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa.

Sirisena, Ranilagree to rejigCabinet

Meera Srinivasan

COLOMBO


Kerala has asked for a ban onthe Popular Front of India(PFI), a Muslim organisationthat is mainly operating outof the State, Minister of Statefor Home A�airs Kiren Rijijuhas said.

The issue was discussed atthe annual DGP meet held inMadhya Pradesh’s Tekanpurin January, where Kerala police chief Lokanath Beheragave a detailed presentationon the PFI’s growth and activities in the State.

DGP cites four cases

The session was attended byPrime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister RajnathSingh and other senior o�cials in the security establishment. “Kerala has pressedfor a ban on the PFI and weare examining the case,” saidMr. Rijiju.

Mr. Behera listed four cas

es where members of the PFIwere involved in criminal activities, said a senior HomeMinistry o�cial. The Centrewill collect more facts andevidence about the activitiesof the out�t before declaringit an “unlawful association”,the o�cial added.

Attempts to reach Mr. Behera for his comments werenot successful.

“It has never happened inthe past that activities of a

particular organisation werediscussed threadbare at aDGP meet. The PFI is underthe scanner, but is not yetbanned. On earlier occasions, organisations like SIMI(Students’ Islamic Movementof India) and Indian Mujahideen were discussed at DGPmeets, but only after theywere banned,” said theo�cial.

Centre studying plea to ban PFIKerala had raised issue at annual meet of DGPs, attended by Modi and Rajnath

Vijaita Singh

New Delhi

Under watch: A �le photo of a convention organised by thePopular Front of India in Kozhikode. * K. RAGESH


The Delhi police’s specialcell has arrested the mastermind of serial bomb blastsacross the country in whichabout 165 persons werekilled and over 535 injured,the police said onWednesday.

Ariz Khan, the 32yearoldbombmaker of terror groupIndian Mujahideen (IM) thatcarried out serial bombingsin Delhi, Jaipur, Uttar Pradesh and Ahmedabad a decade ago, was arrested in Ne

pal on Tuesday.“He is an expert bomb

maker and a core member of

the Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, module of the IM. Hewas the executor and key

Ariz Khan alias Junaid wouldbe coming to UP from Banbasa on the IndoNepal borderto meet an associate. Acting

conspirator of serial bombblasts carried out by the IMin 2007 and 2008. He was recruiting cadre for the out�t,”

on the information, a trapwas laid and he was apprehended on Tuesday eveningfrom a location in Banbasa,Nepal Road,” added Mr.Kushwaha.

He had done engineeringin IT trade from a college inMuza�arnagar, U.P.

His family stays in Azamgarh district of U.P.

said P.S. Kushwaha, DCP(Special Cell).

Mr. Kushwaha said inputshad been received that absconding terrorists of the IMand the Students IslamicMovement of India had setup base in Nepal and werevisiting India to indoctrinateunemployed youth and �llthe gaps left by arrests of topleaders.

“We got information that

Indian Mujahideen’s bombmaker arrested in Nepal Ariz Khan masterminded serial blasts killing over 165 people a decade agoStaff reporter

NEW DELHI


Indian Mujahideen suspect Ariz Khan in police net. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

DELHI METRO A 6 PAGES

In a twist be�tting a campuslove story, it appears thatthe wink that launched athousand memes andturned 18yearold PriyaPrakash Varrier into anational heartthrob mayend up breaking a millionhearts. ‘Manikya MalarayaPoovi’, the song fromMalayalam �lmmaker OmarLulu’s forthcoming �lm, OruAdaar Love, which wentviral on social media, led toa debate on whether itshould be retained onYouTube and in the �lm.

This is in the wake of a

complaint �led inHyderabad on the groundsthat it hurt the religioussentiments of a community.

Mr. Lulu told a TV newschannel on Wednesday thathe would not like to hurtanyone’s sentiments. “Wenever intended to hurtanyone through its lyrics,but unfortunately a case hasbeen �led,” he said.

However, at the end ofthe show, Mr. Lulu andmusic director ShaanRahman said they wereready to retain the song inthe �lm due to support fromthe people in Kerala.

On Wednesday, a

complaint was registered atthe Falaknuma policestation in Hyderabad bysome individuals who

objected to the lyrics,alleging that it talked aboutProphet Mohammed and hiswife Hazrath Khadeeja in amanner that would hurt thesentiments of Muslims. “Thecomplainants raisedobjection both to the lyricsof the song and the visuals.We have registered a case,”said Assistant Commissionerof Police Syed Faisal.

A star is born

The song, featuring 18yearold Priya Prakash Varrier inher maiden �lm, has alreadyregistered over 15 millionviews on YouTube. Varrier’sseesaw with her eyebrows

and the lingering winkturned her into a socialmedia sensation overnight.

In just two days, theyoung actor’s Instagramaccount added over twomillion followers. HerFacebook page, where shestarted posting on February10, has already added over2,50,000 followers. And onFebruary 11 and 12, thewords ‘Priya PrakashVarrier’, ‘Priya Varriervideo’, and ‘Priya VarrierInstagram’ were some of themost searched for words onGoogle in India.

She is a B. Com student atVimala College, Thrissur.

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A viral wink, a new heart-throb, and a controversy

G. Krishnakumar

KOCHI

Millions loved the ‘Manikya Malaraya Poovi’ song featuring Priya Varrier, but some have protested

Priya Prakash Varrier* YOUTUBE

DETAILS ON A DELHI METRO PAGE 1

We don’t communalisetroops: ArmySRINAGAR

Warning against

communalising the ranks of

Indian Army, Lt. General

Devraj Anbu, GOCinC,

Northern Command, on

Wednesday said: “Indian

Army is a ‘sarv dharam sthal

[An abode for all religions]’

and do not communalise

troops.”

NEWS A PAGE 10

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downloaded from : www.visionias.net downloaded from : https://t.me/Material_For_Exam

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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

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DELHI Timings

Thursday, February 15

RISE 07:00 SET 18:11

RISE 06:35 SET 17:47

Friday, February 16

RISE 06:59 SET 18:12

RISE 07:15 SET 18:41

Saturday, February 17

RISE 06:58 SET 18:13

RISE 07:52 SET 19:37

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Wednesday said there has been a“considerable decline incrime” in Uttar Pradesh andits impact is visible.

Speaking to the mediaduring his visit to Meerut onWednesday, Mr. Maurya saidthat crime may not havebeen �nished completelybut the Yogi Adityanath government is dealing strictlywith criminals in the State.

“No one is being spared asfar as law and order is concerned and neither isanyone being discriminatedagainst while dealing withcrime in the State,” said Mr.Maurya.

He expressed concern over the shocking murder of ason and mother in broaddaylight in Meerut lastmonth and said that the police will have to deal strictlywith the culprits who arekilling and threatening witnesses of criminal cases.

Nicchettar Kaur and herson Balwinder were killed bya group of people who �rstpublicly warned them not toappear as witnesses in the

murder case of Kaur’s husband Narendra. The brazendouble murder had led toprotests by residents of thearea and the Oppositionleaders had alleged that atleast six persons, who werewitnesses in di�erent cases,had been killed by criminalsin Meerut alone in the lastone month.

Fixing potholesWhen asked about the deadline for repairing potholeson the roads, the DeputyChief Minister said: “Mostroads in the States have beenmade potholefree, butthere is no deadline rightnow for repair of all potholed roads in the State. Thegovernment is ensuring thatthere is no compromise inthe quality of material usedin road construction. O�cials who allow badqualitymaterial to be used in roadconstruction will not bespared.”

Mr. Maurya highlightedthat Yogi Adityanath is busy“�lling up the corruptionholes” created by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party governments inthe State in the past.

‘Impact of cut incrime visible in U.P.’ No one is being spared: Deputy CM Staff Reporter

Meerut

The Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court on Wednesdaystayed the singleBench order setting aside the appointment of retired IAS of�cer Suresh Kumar as ChiefPrincipal Secretary to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

While staying the operation of the order, Justice Mahesh Grover and Justice Rajbir Sehrawat issued a noticeof motion to the petitioner,Ramandeep Singh, a resident of Mohali, and Mr. Kumar besides other respondents for April 17.

The Punjab governmenthad last week �led a plea inthe court challenging thesingleBench judgment onthe grounds that the Statehad unequivocal powers tomake contractualappointments.

Former Union FinanceMinister P. Chidambaram,

who appeared for the Punjab government in court,pleaded that it was the prerogative of the Chief Ministerto appoint anyone as a sta�o�cer to assist him.

“The matter pertaining toMr. Kumar’s appointmentcame before the DivisionBench of Justice MaheshGrover and Justice RajbirSehrawat, who have stayedthe operation of the judgment. As of now, the settingaside of his [Mr. Kumar’s]

has been stayed,” Atul Nanda Advocate General, Punjab, told reporters.

The State argued that Mr.Kumar did not have anypower to pass any order. Itwas also pointed out that itwas only the Chief Ministerwho passed an order andsuch decision were recordedon the �le.

‘Violation of Art. 166(3)’Earlier on January 17, the singleBench of the High Courthad set aside the appointment Mr. Kumar stating thathe was holding the positionin violation of Article 166(3)of the Constitution andhence the appointment was“null and void”.

Mr. Kumar, who retired asAdditional Chief Secretary in2016, was appointed byCapt. Singh as the Chief Principal Secretary in March2017, after the Congress government came to power inthe State.

HC stays order quashing topPunjab o�cer’s appointmentThe State govt. had challenged the singleBench judgment

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

Suresh Kumar was appointedChief Principal Secretary tothe Punjab Chief Minister. *

A new loan agreement forwater sector is set to bene�tthe desert areas in Rajasthan through restructuringof Indira Gandhi Canal andformulation of �ood management systems for the Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and Ghaggarrivers.

The agreement with theNew Development Bank,stipulating the release of�1,000 crore as �rst instalment of a loan worth �3,300crore, was signed by Rajasthan Principal Irrigation Secretary Shikhar Agrawal,Joint Secretary in Union Finance Ministry Govind Mohan and an NDB representative in New Delhi onTuesday.

Mr. Agrawal said the project to be undertaken byutilisation of the loanamount would facilitate usage of rainwater and �oodwaters of the four riverscoming from Punjab, besides stopping the �ow ofexcess water towards the IndiaPakistan border. Theloan amount of secondphase will be released inApril, followed by the release of subsequent instalments to match the project’simplementation.

The restructuring and repairing of Indira Gandhi Canal and its distributaries willhelp solve the problems ofloss of water and waterlocking in the agricultural �elds.It will also ensure the supplyof irrigation water to thefarmers at the tailends ofthe Indira Gandhi CanalProject.

The project will bene�t 10districts in Rajasthan – Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh,Churu, Nagaur, Bikaner,Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Sikar,Jhunjhunu and Barmer. Mr.Agrawal said the issue ofscarcity of clean drinkingwater in these districtswould also be resolved to asigni�cant extent with thehelp of the project.

Funds push for projectto bene�t desert areas Restructuring of Indira Gandhi Canal

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR

An irrigation channel fed bythe Indira Gandhi Canal inGharsana district ofRajasthan. *

The Uttar Pradesh Police onWednesday morning arrested the main accused in themurder of a Dalit law studentat a restaurant in Allahabad.

Vijay Shankar Singh, whowas absconding since the incident last Friday, was arrested from a bus station in hishome district Sultanpur, apolice spokesperson said.

Singh is employed as aticket examiner in the IndianRailways and allegedly haslinks with former BSP MLAand Sultanpur strongmanChandra Bhadra Singh, whojoined the RLD after a stintwith the BJP.

The other three accusedin the case, Ramdas Maurya,Gyan Prakash Awasthi andMunna Chauhan, were arrested earlier. Chauhan is awaiter at the restaurantwhere the incident tookplace. The police have alsorecovered the rod and bricksused in the assault from thespot of the crime.

Apart from being bookedfor murder and voluntary assault, the accused will also

face charges under Section 3(2) (V) of the ScheduledCastes and the ScheduledTribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Minor argumentDileep Saroj (26), a secondyear LLB student at the Allahabad Degree College, diedon February 11 more than 24hours after he was assaultedby the accused over a minorargument. Dileep, a residentof Pratapgarh, had gone tothe restaurant in Katra Bazaar for dinner, along withthree friends, when his legaccidentally brushed against

one of the accused leading toan altercation. Some parts ofthe assault were captured ona mobile phone by a bystander and circulated on socialmedia, leading to massiveoutrage. The police also relied on CCTV footage tomake the initial arrests.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice, Allahabad, Akash Kulhary in his report said thatDileep had received “seriousinjuries to his head” whichwere probably caused by therod.

The Opposition partieshave criticised the Yogi Adityanath government for the

incident. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati describedthe incident as “brutal” andsaid the entire Dalit community was hurt and disturbed by the murder.

“Nothing else but the BJP'scasteist, narrow and hatepolitics is responsible for it,”she said. Ms. Mayawati deputed her party’s State president Ram Achal Rajbhar tomeet and console the victim’s family in Pratapgarhdistrict.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said theincident was a proof of thedismal law and order situation in the State.

“Under the present government, the poor, peoplefrom backward castes andDalits are becoming targetsof criminals,” Mr. Yadav said,demanding that Dileep’s family be given�50 lakh ascompensation.

Enraged by the incidents,several students came out onthe streets and torched a buson Monday, forcing the administration to deploy RAFon the premises of AllahabadUniversity.

Main accused in Dalit lawstudent murder arrestedVijay Shankar Singh, a ticket examiner in Railways, caught from Sultanpur

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

Nabbed: Accused Vijay Shankar Singh in police custody inAllahabad on Wednesday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

A 30yearold woman wasattacked with acid by a manat a mall in Jhotwara areahere on Wednesday.

The woman, working as ahousekeeper at the mall,su�ered 15% burn injurieson her face, arms and torso.The accused, MehboobKhan, 40, an auto driver,

threw acid on her when shereportedly turned down hismarriage proposal. Mehboob too was injured in theincident. Both of them havebeen admitted to Sawai ManSingh Government Hospital.

The woman is marriedwith three children. The accused has reportedly divorced both his wives, saidthe police.

Woman hurt in acid attackSpecial Correspondent

JAIPUR

A Lieutenant Colonel posted at Jabalpur in MadhyaPradesh has been pickedup for questioning by ateam from the Army Headquarters in Delhi, a defence o�cer said onWednesday.

“The o�cer is beingquestioned after he waspicked up from Jabalpur bythe Army HQ team lastnight,” Defence PRO, Allahabad, Wing CommanderArvind Sinha said.

The o�cer, however, refused to disclose details.

“We are not in a positionto clarify the exact reasonbehind this episode at present,” Wing CommanderSinha said when askedwhether it was a case of“honey trap”.

“The o�cer is beingquestioned and is undergrilling at present,” thePRO said.

The o�cer also refusedto share whether the Lt.Colonel was taken to Lucknow for further questioning or is in Jabalpur.

The incident came daysafter Group Captain ArunMarwah was interrogatedby the IAF’s counterintelligence wing on charges ofespionage.

Army o�cerpicked up forquestioning

Press trust of india

Bhopal


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THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

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Bus fares in Kerala togo up from March 1THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Bus fares in Kerala will go up

by 6 to 15 paise per km from

March 1. The minimum fare

for the ordinary and city

service will go up from �7 to

�8, the minimum fare for fast

passenger will go up from

�10 to �11, and that of super

fast service from �13 to �15.

IN BRIEF

Five new additionaljudges join Karnataka HC BENGALURU

The number of judges in the

High Court of Karnataka has

reached 30 against the

sanctioned strength of 62,

with the swearing in of five

additional judges. Justices

Dixit Krishna Shripad, Shankar

Ganapathi Pandit,

Ramakrishna Devdas,

Bhotanhosur Mallikarjuna

Shyam Prasad, and Siddappa

Sunil Dutt Yadav took oath on

Wednesday.

For several months, students in the 6 to 14 age groupat a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP primary school at Lakkasandra)were allegedly harassed bythe principal who wouldforce them to strip, takephotographs of them in theirunderwear, humiliate themin the classroom, cane themand even make them perform personal chores, suchas selling snacks afterschool.

The BBMP after conducting an inquiry based on acomplaint �led by ChildLinesuspended the teacher onWednesday.

During the inquiry, students also con�ded to civico�cials that the principal,Sulochana, would forcethem to massage her, andcharge them for free mate

rial provided by the government such as textbooks,shoes, and so on.

“The behaviour of theteacher is unacceptable andshe has been suspendedbased on the preliminary investigation,” said BBMPCommissioner N. ManjunathPrasad.

Video submitted

The harassment �rst cameto light after ChildLine tookup the matter with the civicbody last month, and submitted a video of the teachercaning a student in the classroom for not writing a letterof the Kannada alphabetproperly on the blackboard.Following this, the civic body took up the matter twoweeks ago and initiated aninquiry.

The inquiry, however, revealed that in�icting corporal punishment was just one

form of abuse. S.G. Raveendra, Special Commissioner(Education), said that duringthe inquiry, all the studentsof the school con�ded thatSulochana would torturethem and use foul language.

“We’ve been told that shewould use foul language andif she caught a girl and a boyexchanging glances in theclassroom, she would humiliate them,” said Mr.Raveendra.

Vasudev Sharma, Bengaluru nodal director, ChildLine, said it was violationof child rights and alsopointed out that corporalpunishment was violation ofthe Right of Children to Freeand Compulsory EducationAct, 2009.

The civic body, however,has not registered a policecomplaint and are waitingfor the �nal report to be submitted before taking action.

Illtreatment came to light after ChildLine took up the case

Staff Reporter

Bengaluru

Bengaluru principal in thedock for harassing students

Come March 1, you will notsee reservation charts pasted at the entry of reservedcoaches of trains originatingfrom A1, A and B categorystations across the country.

The Railway Ministry believes that this move willcontribute to reducing useof both paper and expenditure.

The practice will be inplace for six months on experimental basis, afterwhich the Ministry will decide on continuing it.

Decision to extend theplan panIndia was taken after its pilot for three monthsat New Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Mumbai Central,Chennai Central, Howrahand Sealdah stations duringOctoberDecember was asuccess, the Ministry said ina circular issued on February 13.

�21 lakh saved

The �rst such experimentwas done in the BengaluruDivision (SBC) of SouthWestern Railway (SWR) inNovember 2016, which

saved paper worth �21 lakh ayear. The Ministry, however,said that display of reservation charts on station platforms — either digitally orphysically — would continue. Zonal Railways can stopdisplay of physical charts onstation platforms whereelectronic chart display plasma are installed.

Rajiv Dutt Sharma, Additional Member (Commercial), Railway Board, saidthat though savings on costwas not the guiding factor,the initiative would saveabout �7 crore a year.

Move will help reduce use of paper and cut expenditure

Anil Kumar Sastry

MANGALURU

From March 1, no reservationcharts on train coaches

Even as the investigation into the murder of Youth Congress worker Shuhaib atEdayannur, near Mattannur,here is under way, the district police are under pressure with the Congress leadership alleging that thedelay in arresting the assailants is suspicious.

Leader of the OppositionRamesh Chennithala saidthe delay raised suspicionabout attempts by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to produce ‘proxy’ accused, as the four assailants,allegedly CPI(M) workers,who came in a car andhacked the youth leader to

death, were yet to be identi�ed. Police o�cers remaintightlipped about theinvestigation.

“There is progress in theinvestigation into the murder,” said Iritty Deputy Supe

rintendent of Police PrajeeshThottathil. The details couldnot be disclosed at this stageas it would adversely a�ectthe probe, he said.

Police sources said the investigation could not achieve

any breakthrough in identifying the assailants and tracing their hideouts. It was apparently a meticulouslyplanned murder, they said.

24hour fast

Shuhaib was murdered by afourmember group. TheCongress will highlight themurder as an evidence of theCPI(M)’s ‘red terror’ in thedistrict. A 24hour fast byDistrict Congress Committeepresident Satheeshan Pacheni was planned as the beginning of that campaign. Senior Congress leader K.Sudhakaran urged the Collector and the district policechief to ensure justice to thefamily of the deceased.

No breakthrough yet in murder probeChennithala says CPI(M) trying to produce ‘proxy’ accused in Shuhaib case

Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala at the venue ofa 24hour fast by District Congress Committee presidentSatheeshan Pacheni in Kannur on Wednesday. * S.K. MOHAN


KANNUR

The magistrate court atBhimadole in West Godavari district on Wednesdaysentenced A.P. government Whip and DenduluruMLA Chintamaneni Prabhakar to three years imprisonment and slapped a�ne of �2,500 in connection with a 2011 case.

According to the prosecution, the then MinisterVatti Vasantha Kumar registered a complaint withthe police accusing Mr.Prabhakar of assaultinghim in the public during a‘Grama Sabha’ held in Denduluru in 2011.

MLA gets 3years in jailfor assault

Staff Reporter

ELURU

The YSR Congress Party willnot stop its agitation untilAndhra Pradesh is grantedSpecial Category Status(SCS). Its MPs are ready to resign or make any other sacri�ce for it, said party o�cial spokesperson AmbatiRambabu here onWednesday.

Addressing a press conference, Mr. Rambabu saidparty president Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy had alwaysbeen stressing on the SCS fordevelopment.

The ruling Telugu DesamParty (TDP) was, however,trying to “bury” it.

The YSRCP was trying torevive the proposal which

was “on the verge of death”.Instead of lauding the de

cision of the YSRCP MPs, theTDP leaders, including A.P.Chief Minister ChandrababuNaidu, were trying to belittleit by referring to it as “drama.”

The people of Andhra Pradesh could see for themselves which party was stag

ing a “drama”, Mr. Rambabusaid.

While one TDP MP gave a‘performance in a fancy costume’ outside Parliament,another wore tatteredclothes and acted like a beggar. Yet another MP delivered dramatic dialogues inParliament directed at thePrime Minister when the latter was not in the Lok Sabha.A local TDP MLA got hishead tonsured.

“If this was not drama,what was it?”

Weak argument

He said the argument that itwas too late to resign had nobasis. He wondered if TDPMPs would resign to achievetheir demands at least a single day before their termends. The TDP strategy of“taking what is given andcontinue to �ght for the rest”was �awed, he said.

‘YSRC will not end agitationtill special status is granted’Party �ays TDP for describing the stir as ‘drama’ Special Correspondent

Vijayawada

Ambati Rambabu

Equipped with modestpossessions, 33yearoldKolla Venkat embarked onthe arduous journey of pedalling from Tirupati toNew Delhi on Wednesday.

Mr. Venkat commencedhis cycling expedition tothe country’s capital tomobilise support for Special Category Status to Andhra Pradesh.

Mr. Venkat would behighlighting the issuethrough placards, urgingthe Central government toful�l its promises to A.P. Hewould be travelling 100120km or more per day.

Cycling for a ‘special’cause

Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI


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NATION

Kedarnath temple toreopen on April 29GOPESHWAR (UTTARAKHAND)

The Kedarnath shrine in the

Himalayas will be reopened

at 6.15 a.m. on April 29.

Kedarnath chief priest

(Rawal) Bhimashankar Ling

announced the timing and

schedule on the occasion of

Mahashivratri, its spokesman

said. PTI

IN BRIEF

7-year-old girl dies incelebratory firingGWALIOR

Sevenyearold Sejal Jadon

died in celebratory firing

during a wedding here, the

police said on Wednesday. A

bullet hit her in the stomach

when some people fired in

the air during a wedding in

Old Gwalior area on Tuesday

morning, said the police. PTI

Two killed as car hitstheir motorcycle UJJAIN

Two persons were killed and

another injured after a car

rammed their motorcycle on

the KotaUjjain road, the

police said. The car also hit

three pedestrians, injuring

them. The deceased are

identified as Bheru Singh and

Bhagwan. PTI

2 held with gold bars inbody cavity at airport GUWAHATI

Two Kolkatabound

passengers have been

apprehended by the CISF at

the Silchar airport in Assam

for allegedly trying to

smuggle gold bars worth �60

lakh by concealing them in

body cavity.PTI

Engineering student held for theft KENDRAPARA (ODISHA)

An engineering student from

Dhumat village in Kendrapara

was arrested on theft charges

at the house of Gajapati

Collector Sudhanshu Mohan

Samal on January 11, the

police said on Wednesday. PTI

It was an unusual sight as Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday rode a motorcycle in Jindwhere he reached to takestock of the arrangementsfor BJP chief Amit Shah’s mega bike rally on Thursday.

According to BJP leaders,over 1,00,000 bikes will participate in Mr. Shah’s rally.

“All necessary arrangements for Thursday’s rallyhave been made,” Mr. Khattar told reporters.

Mr. Khattar is personallyoverseeing the arrangementsalong with State party president Subhash Barala and Haryana BJP party inchargeAnil Jain.

The rally is being seen asan attempt by the BJP to consolidate its hold on Jind andadjoining areas. Jind is considered to be the nerve centreof Haryana politics.

State BJP leader Rajiv Jainsaid the rally was part of‘Mission Vistaar’ or to strengthen the party at the boothlevel and to gear up thecadre for polls. The ‘YuvaHunkar’ rally will attractyouth and energise workers,a BJP leader said.

As he oversaw the prepa

rations, Mr. Khattar drove abike for sometime whileanother person rode pillion.Mr. Shah will also ride a bikefor a short distance to reachthe venue on Thursday.

Tight security arrangements have been made inview of the rally, o�cialssaid. Armed jawans could be

seen in di�erent parts of Jindand some adjoining towns,including roads leading tothe venue at Pandu Pindaravillage, on the outskirts ofthe Jind city.

A few companies of paramilitary forces have alsoreached Jind. Police and security forces have been put

on alert to prevent any untoward incident during therally.

The AllIndia Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti had earlier withdrawn their proposed protest rally in Jind onThursday after talks with Mr.Khattar and Union MinisterBirender Singh on Sundaynight.

The Opposition parties,however, have decided toprotest in a peaceful manner. State AAP chief NaveenJaihind has announced presenting ‘pakodas’ to Mr.Shah over the BJP’s allegedfailure to generate the promised 3,00,000 jobs for theyouth in the last three years.

The main opposition, Indian National Lok Dal, hadannounced it will show black�ags and balloons to protestfailure of the BJP government on various fronts, including the SutlejYamunaLink canal issue.

Khattar vrooms through Jind preparationsRiding a bike, Haryana Chief Minister reviews arrangements for Amit Shah’s rally today

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Chandigarh

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar in Jind on Wednesday. * PTI

India’s fastest train, Gatimaan Express, which runs ata speed of 160 kmph, willslow down to 130 kmph afterit is extended to Gwalior andJhansi, according to seniorrailways o�cials.

Railway Ministry o�cialssay the Railway Board has taken a decision to extend theroute of Gatimaan Express —which runs between Delhiand Agra at a speed of 160kmph to Gwalior and then toJhansi.

On the new stretch, thetrain will run at a speed of130 kmph and not at its original speed.

“The AgraGwaliorJhansiroute is �t for only 130kmph, so the train has to runat that speed,” an o�cialsaid.

Fare structureThe train’s extended run, expected to begin any daynow, however, is stuck as theboard is still contemplatingthe fare structure, Ministrysources indicated. The di�erence in speed limits is making their task di�cult.

At present, the fare fortravelling in an executiveclass is �1,505 and a bookingfor AC chair car costs �755between Delhi and Agra.

The board now faces two

options: either to reduce theticket fare in lieu of the reduced speed on AgraGwaliorJhansi stretch or stickwith the structure for thebetter amenities it provides.

Gatimaan Express isequipped with modernamenities including biotoilets, �re alarms, GPSbasedpassenger information system, automatic sliding doorsand free WiFi Internetservice.

O�cials say the decisionto extend the train’s run wastaken because it reachesAgra in the morning andthen it is stationed there allday. Now, it will make its wayto Jhansi.

‘The AgraGwaliorJhansi route is �t for 130 kmph only’

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

India’s fastest train to slowdown on extended run

Mizoram Chief Minister LalThanhawla has urged UnionHome Minister RajnathSingh to beef up securityalong the border with Myanmar to prevent RohingyaMuslims from entering theNortheastern State, an o�cial statement said onWednesday.

Serious problemsMr. Lal Thanhawla had metMr. Singh in Delhi on Tuesday and discussed wideranging security issues withhim, it said.

The Chief Minister informed the Home Ministerthat the State could face serious problems if Rohingya

refugees and terrorists fromthe Rakhine state in Myanmar enter Mizoram.

He also expressed concern over the recent clashesbetween the Myanmar Army and the Arakan militantsalong the border on theMyanmar side, resulting inthe entry of over thousandsof refugees to Mizoram, thestatement said.

Refugees in MizoramOver 1,600 Myanmarese nationals have taken shelter insouth Mizoram’s Lawngtlaidistrict after the MyanmarArmy launched a massivecrackdown on the Arakanmilitants since November 25last, the State governmento�cials had said recently.

Mizoram seeks moresecurity along borderTo stop Rohingya from entering the State


Aizawl

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: Skymet (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Thursday: Thunderstorm accompanied with hailstorm is likely at isolated places over Assam and Meghalaya

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala................. —.... 28.5.... 14.8 Kozhikode ............... —.... 32.3.... 24.9

Ahmedabad............ —.... 29.6.... 16.0 Kurnool ................... —.... 33.1.... 20.6

Aizawl ................... —.... 30.0.... 11.0 Lucknow.................. —.... 25.1.... 11.5

Allahabad .............. —.... 24.9.... 14.5 Madurai................... —.... 34.4.... 22.2

Bengaluru .............. —.... 30.7.... 17.9 Mangaluru............... —.... 35.4.... 22.5

Bhopal................... —.... 24.4.... 13.0 Mumbai................... —.... 36.1.... 16.8

Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 33.4.... 16.6 Mysuru.................... —.... 31.0.... 17.2

Chandigarh ............ —.... 21.5...... 8.4 New Delhi ............... —.... 23.4.... 10.2

Chennai ................. —.... 30.9.... 24.9 Patna ...................... —.... 27.0.... 14.6

Coimbatore............ —.... 31.9.... 20.5 Port Blair .................3.... 30.2.... 23.2

Dehradun............... —.... 24.4...... 8.4 Puducherry.............. —.... 32.0.... 20.3

Gangtok................. —.... 15.6...... 8.6 Pune ....................... —.... 30.6.... 13.3

Goa ....................... —.... 33.8.... 20.0 Raipur .................13.8.... 28.0.... 15.2

Guwahati ............... —.... 30.0.... 14.5 Ranchi.................10.4.... 25.0.... 13.7

Hubballi................. —.... 32.0.... 20.0 Shillong................... —.... 20.0...... 7.6

Hyderabad ............. —.... 30.5.... 18.7 Shimla...................7.4.... 14.6...... 1.9

Imphal................... —.... 28.0...... 8.8 Srinagar .................. —...... 7.5.........—

Jaipur .................... —.... 24.7.... 11.1 Trivandrum ............. —.... 35.0.... 23.5

Kochi..................... —.... 31.6.... 25.0 Tiruchi .................... —.... 32.6.... 22.0

Kohima.................. —.... 22.0...... 9.4 Vijayawada .............. —.... 31.3.... 20.6

Kolkata.................. —.... 30.4.... 19.3 Visakhapatnam ......... —.... 31.3.... 21.6

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 COPM2.5PM10CODE

In observation made at 4.00 p.m.,Siliguri, West Bengal recorded anoverall air quality index (AQI)score of 348 indicating anunhealthy level of pollution. In contrast, Ludhiana recorded a healthy AQI score of 40

Ahmedabad....... ..— ...— .— ..... — .....—.....—

Bengaluru ......... ..6..3166 ..... — .134 ....*

Chennai ............ ..8..3433 ..161 .....— ....*

Delhi..................2412275 ..174 .184 ....*

Hyderabad ........ ..8..7249 ....93 .104 ....*

Kolkata ............. ..— ...— .— ..... — .....—.....—

Lucknow ............15..1434 ..317 .....— ....*

Mumbai .............32..4454 ..149 .138 ....*

Pune ................. ..— ...— .— ..... — .....—.....—

Vishakhapatnam.11 ...—20 ..109 .115 ....*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

(Individual pollutant data for various cities are averages for the previous day)


#4 6 2 1 9 5




CMYK

NATION

Don’t arrest Mukul Roytill March 31: High Court KOLKATA

The Calcutta High Court on

Wednesday extended an

interim order, preventing the

West Bengal police from

arresting BJP leader Mukul

Roy till March 31 in

connection with a complaint

over the death of Mrinal

Kanti Singha Roy in 2015.

Singha Roy is considered to

be a mentor of the BJP leader

during his initial days in

politics. PTI

IN BRIEF

Passengers force snoringman to stay awake MUMBAI

A man on a train was given a

‘sound’ punishment by fellow

passengers for snoring loudly

and disturbing their sleep.

The incident took place last

week in an AC coach of the

Mumbai LTT-Darbhanga

Pawan Express when

passengers found the snoring

of a traveller so offending

that they decided to keep him

awake so that they could

catch up with their sleep. PTI

Maharashtra Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis said hedidn’t mind topping the listof CMs with most criminalcases as the majority ofcharges against him werepolitical in nature andslapped on him in the courseof his activism against thecorrupt practices of previousgovernments.

“Yes, I had the maximumnumber of cases but all ofthem were political in nature. They were part of myactivism against the [previous] governments,” hesaid, adding there were “no

more” cases pending againsthim in any court in the State.

The Association for Democratic Reform this weekreleased a report featuringIndia’s 31 Chief Ministers,with Mr. Fadnavis shownhaving the highest numberof criminal cases, 22, as well

as three “serious criminalcases,” registered againsthim. The charges include“abetment of such assault, ifthe assault is committed”,“voluntarily causing hurt bydangerous weapons ormeans,” “being part of anunlawful assembly, rioting,voluntarily causing hurt andwearing garb or carrying token used by public servantwith fraudulent intent.”

Non-serious casesOf the nonserious casesagainst Mr. Fadnavis, mostare registered under Sections 143, 147 and 148 of theIPC, all related to unlawful

assembly, rioting, etc.“There is a single case related to Section 324 of IPC forvoluntary causing hurt bydangerous weapons,” theADR report said.

“I am not denying I hadmaximum cases, but none ofthese were related to corruption and moral turpitude,”he told The Hindu.

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar and J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti have only one case each against theirname. After Mr. Fadnavis,the Chief Ministers who havemost cases against them areof Delhi and Kerala: 14 and 11respectively.

Cases against me political, says Fadnavis‘Filed in the course of activism against corruption of previous governments’

Devendra Fadnavis

Sharad Vyas

Mumbai

After price caps on cardiacstents and knee implants, acap is now eagerly awaitedon hip implants, which arehighly priced due to excessive pro�teering by manufacturers, distributors aswell as healthcare providers. “The price control onall implants has been widelydiscussed. A cap on hip implants is also likely,” said orthopaedic surgeon Dr. RamPrabhoo, president of theIndian OrthopaedicAssociation.

Following the price capon knee implants, the mostwidely used cobalt chromium implant now costs�54,720, while the ones using titanium and oxidisedzirconium cost �76,600. Thehigh�exibility implant hasbeen capped at �56,490while the revision knee surgery has been capped at�1,13,950. The prices exclude GST.

“Patients have bene�tedtremendously,” said Dr.Prabhoo, adding that cap

ping of orthopaedic implants was extremely tedious as there were manycomponents and materialsinvolved.

At present, a hip implantcosts anywhere between�40,000 (for a basic cemented implant) to �1.80lakh (for a fourthgenerationceramic head implant). Revision implant surgery costsbetween �3 lakh to �4 lakh.

‘Has worked well’“A price cap on the knee implants has worked extremely well. We feared that highend implants would bephased out, but because of aclause put by the NPPA (National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority), the stockscould not be withdrawn. Over the past few months,more patients have optedfor surgeries,” said Dr. Pradeep Bhosale, joint replacement surgeon at NanavatiHospital, which has seen a40% rise in the number ofkneejoint replacementssince the price cap wasintroduced.

Price cap on hipimplants awaitedJyoti Shelar

Mumbai

The controversy surrounding the discharge of seniorIPS o�cers from Gujaratand Rajasthan from the alleged fake encounter case ofSohrabuddin Sheikh got afurther boost with retiredBombay High Court judgeAbhay Thipsay saying thatthe High Court has suo motupowers to look into discharge applications andframe charges against theaccused.

Mr. Thipsay said he hadto give bail to NarendraAmin and D.G. Vanzara because the Supreme Courthad granted bail to Rajkumar Pandiyan and B.R.Chaubey in the alleged fakeencounter.

Talking to the media athis o�ce on Wednesday, Mr.Thipsay said the case hadmany discrepancies: 15 outof the 38 accused had been

discharged. “It is unusualthat so many witnesses haveturned hostile. Despite having prima facie case againstmany accused, they havebeen discharged. Dischargeis termination of the proceedings,” he said.

Pre-trial detention“Those who were not granted bail for so many years,even they were discharged.This initially started whenSupreme Court granted bailto Rajkumar Pandiyan, (the

then Gujarat Superintendent of Police) and B.R.Chaubey (subinspector ofGujarat Police) only on thegrounds of prolonged pretrial detention and no prospects of the trial commencing immediately. Highercourts have previously denied bail to many of thosewho got discharged, which,as common sense suggested, means that there was aprima facie case. But for thetrial court to say there is noprima facie case is unusual,”he said.

Mr. Thipsay added, “Inthis case, the normal process are not followed. Theperson whose bail was rejected later is discharged. Ithink discharge applicationsneed to reexamined. Eventhough a number of accusedwere granted bail, nobodyhad said at the time of granting bail that there is no prima facie case.”

HC can relook into ‘fakeencounter’ case: exjudge‘Sohrabuddin Sheikh case has many discrepancies’Special Correspondent

Mumbai

Abhay Thipsay

A preliminary investigationby the police into the blaston board a driller ship at theCochin Shipyard on Wednesday attributed the accidentto gas leakage.

P.P. Shams, AssistantCommissioner of Police(ACP), Thrikkakara, and ateam of experts from the Forensic Science Laboratory(FSL), Thiruvananthapuram,on Wednesday visited the accident site and collected evidence. “Preliminary investigations pointed to leakage ofacetylene leading to theblast, but further investigation is required to ascertainhow the leakage occurredand whether it was a case ofhuman error or not,” hesaid.

The ACP is slated to complete the investigation in thenext couple of days and a detailed report on the accidentwill be submitted before theadditional chief judicial magistrate court, Ernakulam.According to the o�cial, thereport will also incorporate�ndings of the FSL team.

Case of unnatural deathThe police have registered acase of unnatural death inconnection with the blast, inwhich �ve persons werekilled.

Meanwhile, o�cial sources pointed to a delay by theCochin Shipyard Limited inreporting the incident to thepolice. “The departmentwas alerted about the accident only around 10.30 a.m,about an hour after the accident, when the victims weretaken to the hospital,” theysaid. Fire and rescue department o�cials also maintained that they had come toknow about the blast fromTV news channels.

Acetylene leak led to blaston ship, �nds initial probeFurther investigation needed to ascertain cause of the gas leak, say Kochi police

Staff Reporter

KOCHI

Taking stock: Pon Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Shipping, visiting the CochinShipyard, on Wednesday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Sanju Joseph heard a loudsound just before thickfumes engulfed him in awhisker.

A machinist working withthe Cochin Shipyard for thelast 10 years, Mr. Joseph wason the deck along with hiscolleague T. Abhilash whenan explosion in the ONGCrig that was under repair atthe shipyard killed �veworkers. He was among the12 injured in the accidentcaused by the highimpactblast that occurred near theA/C plant of drill ship SagarBhushan, which has beendrydocked at the yard fornearly two months now.

Splinter injuriesA day after the tragic incident, images of the tragedystarted to creep into Mr. Joseph’s memory when hewas asked to recollect those

moments. “It was a loudsound. Before we couldsense what had happened,thick fumes from the ballasttank covered us. We realisedthat we had su�ered splinterinjuries,” he said.

“We were working on thedeck and had no idea onwhere the accident occurred. Three of us were onthe deck when we heard thesound,” he said.

A native of Kuruppantha

ra in Kottayam district, Mr.Joseph said that he hadknown the victims for long.He was discharged fromhospital on Tuesday and later left for his home. OnWednesday morning, hewas getting ready to meetAbhilash, who was recovering at the Medical Trust Hospital. “I am feeling betternow,” said Mr. Abhilash,joined by his family members at the hospital. “I suffered minor injury on myright eye after being hit by asplinter. The splinters alsohit my hand, causing minorinjuries,” he said.

A hospital medical bulletin said the condition ofSreerup, 35, who had sustained 45% burns and inhalational injuries, continuedto be critical. The conditionof the other injured, including Tiju, 26, Jaison, 41, Abhilash, 31, and Tintu, 28, remained stable.

‘A loud sound, thick fumes’ Special Correspondent

KOCHI

ONGC drill ship SagarBhushan, in which the blastoccured. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Supreme Court has clari�ed that its order directingthe government to installCCTV cameras in courts andtribunals is meant solely forsecurity purposes and not torecord proceedings.

The apex court said courtproceedings were anywayopen to the public.

“We have passed ordersfor installation of CCTV cameras so that concerns regarding safety and administration of justice could beaddressed,” a Bench of Justices A.K. Goel and U.U. Lalitsaid.

On March 28 last year, theSupreme Court had directedthat CCTV cameras should

be installed in courts and important locations of courtcomplexes in at least two districts in every State and Union Territory. The monitor ofthese cameras should beplaced in the chamber of theDistrict and Sessions Judgeconcerned.

RTI ActThe apex court had, in its order, made it clear that footage would not be made available to the public under theRight to Information Act orwithout the permission ofthe High Court concerned.

The court had also considered the issue of CCTV cameras in Tribunals where openhearing takes place likecourts.

CCTV cameras in courts

solely for security: SC ‘Not to be used to record proceedings’

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Gujarat’s farm crisis is set toworsen as Narmada water in5.5 lakh hectare areas in over a dozen districts in theNarmada command areawill be stopped because thegovernment has decided toreserve the water availablein the dam only for drinkingpurpose.

The storage in the SardarSarovar dam in Gujarat fellby 45%, the lowest in the last15 years, mainly due to poorrainfall in the Narmadacatchment areas in MadhyaPradesh last monsoon.

Over 10,000 villages, 150cities and towns in the Stateare dependent on Narmadato meet their daily requirement of drinking water.

Water curbs may worsen

farm crisis in GujaratMahesh Langa

AHMEDABAD

Jayalalithaa death: panelsummons AIADMK leaderCHENNAI

The Justice A.

Arumughaswamy

Commission looking into

former Tamil Nadu CM

Jayalalithaa’s death

summoned AIADMK leader

Paul Manoj Pandian on

Wednesday. Last year, he

raised suspicions over the

circumstances surrounding

the former CM’s death.

Woman ‘sacrifices’tongue in templeKORBA

In a shocking incident, a

28-year-old married woman,

Seema Bai Gond, cut off her

tongue and ‘offered’ it to

Lord Shiva on Wednesday in

Nunera village in Korba

district, Chhattisgarh, police

said. She was rushed to a

local hospital after villagers

spotted her bleeding in the

temple. The woman is stable

now. PTI

Tapan Ghosh, leader ofHindu Samhati, was arrested by the Kolkata police onWednesday when he andhis supporters assaulted agroup of journalists at a rally called by the organisation here.

Hindu Samhati had organised a rally in the city’sEsplanade area when it announced that 14 membersof a family were embracingHinduism. When journalists present at the rallytried to talk to the family,supporters of the Samhatiresisted, attacked andpushed them, injuring aperson. Mr. Ghosh andthree others were taken into custody.

Hindu out�tleader heldfor attack

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA


462195

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CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

Feroze Varun Gandhi

The idea of rating an individual, an entity and even anation has been there for ae

ons. The historian Herodotus,along with the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene, made lists of theoriginal Seven Wonders, describing them and their worth in soaring rhetoric. Modern day creditrating agencies, however, have afar more recent origin — ironically,they were �rst established afterthe �nancial crisis of 1837 in theU.S. Such agencies (with the �rstestablished by L. Tappan in 1841 inNew York) were then needed torate the ability of a merchant topay his debts, consolidating suchdata in ledgers. Soon enough, suchratings were being applied to equity stocks.

Demand also rose for independent market information, o�eringtrustworthy analysis of creditworthiness, with Moody’s ratings’ publication increasingly focusing onindustrial �rms and utilities, o�ering letter based ratings. By the1920s, the big three of the ratingsworld (including Fitch, Standard &Poor’s) had been incorporated.The passage of the GlassSteagall

Act in 1933 helped formulate theseparation of the securities business from banking, with Americanbanks authorised to only hold investment grade bonds, as determined by such ratings. Soonenough, by the 1960s, such ratingshad spread over to commercialpaper and bank deposits, alongwith expansion into rating the global bond market (including sovereign bonds), albeit with a business model change — suchagencies were starting to chargeboth the investors and the entitycovered.

Yet, despite their vital role inthe global �nancial world, ratingagencies fail to inspire con�dence,with allegations of improper andinaccurate ratings occurring frequently. Prior to the subprimemortgage crisis in U.S., Moody’shad issued an AAA rating to45,000 mortgagerelated securities between 2000 to 2007, whichafter the crisis had slumped to justsix AAA ratings for mortgagebacked securities in 2010. The U.S.Department of Justice launched aninvestigation in 1996 into a potential improper pressuring of issuersby Moody’s. Such agencies havebeen subject to a range of lawsuits,especially after Enron’s collapseand during the recent subprimemortgage crisis in the U.S. The National Commission on the Causesof Financial and Economic Crisisin the United States (2011) held thefailure of rating agencies to be es

sential cogs in the wheels of �nancial destruction. Moody’s has been�ned across various geographiesfor nonadherence to standard rating protocols. For instance, Moody’s has raked up �nes of $864 million for its role in 2008 crisis,while incorrect rating practiceshas led to �nes of €1.2m in Europe.Standard & Poor’s (S&P) paid $1.4billion for rubber stamping diceymortgage bonds.

Case for regulationEven in India, rating agencies havehad a mixed record. Cases such asAmtek Auto and Ricoh India ledthe Securities and Exchange Boardof India (SEBI) to investigate ratingagencies and tighten rules and disclosure norms.

More importantly, such ratingagencies can have a global impact,a�ecting the �scal fortunes of nations, due to �ight of capital, aswitnessed during the East Asiancrisis of the 1990s. Recent downgrades of U.S. and European sove

reign debt have been criticised,with the relegation of Greece, Portugal and Ireland to “junk” status,leading to a sovereigndebt crisis,along with ensuing unemployment and eurozone instability.Such credit rating agencies havebeen criticised for failing to predict the 1997 Asian �nancial crisisand then downgrading such countries several notches during theevent. The lack of recognition ofIndia’s economic achievementsand its noncorrelation with its sovereign rating is an issue that rankles with most Indian economists.Such arbitrary behaviour has ledto moves by Russia and China toset up their own ratings agency —S&P cut its rating on Russia to onenotch above junk, in 2014, a fewmonths after the annexation ofCrimea, a change dismissed byRussia as politically motivated.

Nations perhaps give too muchimportance to the achievement onsuch ratings, despite their structural �aws. Consider the con�ict ininterest — such rating agenciesgenerate a signi�cant portion ofrevenues through nonrating activities, and despite maintaining aniron curtain between their ratingand nonrating businesses, common management and search forpro�ts lets con�ict of interestcreep in. Numerous studies haveshowcased that rating agenciesseek to provide issuers, whetherentities or nations, with nonratingservices, along with potentially in

�uencing a higher rating (for instance, “Nonrating revenue andcon�icts of interest”, by R.P Baghai and B. Becker).

Development mattersIn our development journey, wemust utilise such rating agencies,preferably indigenous, to helpclean house in our corporate sector. To safeguard investors, SEBIcan explore reforms so that creditrating agencies do not providenonrating advisory services totheir clients, even at the cost of reduced pro�ts. A �xed operatingfee model may also be explored,thereby eliminating incentives tobe the “lowestbidder” with compromised quality. Outstanding ratings and sudden downgrades needto be subjected to greater supervision. Akin to auditors, corporatesshould be pushed to change ratingagencies on a regular basis. The“issuerpays” model needs tochange to an “investorpays” model, with fees being standardisedby the market regulator. However,at the governmental level, our �scal decisions should be marked bya push towards developing an economy with full employment andinnovation, instead of seeking tochase down ratings quarter byquarter.

Feroze Varun Gandhi is a Member of

Parliament representing the Sultanpur

constituency for the BJP

The ratings illusionNations give too much importance to credit rating agencies despite their structural �aws

GE

TT

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AG

ES/I

ST

OC

KP

HO

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more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

corrections & clarifications:

A photograph of the current CMD of Oriental Insurance — A.V.Girija Kumar — was published instead of the picture of M.N. Sarma,current CMD of United India Insurance, along with the Businesspage story headlined: “‘PSU insurers’ merger may be completedby March 2019” (Feb. 14, 2018).

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

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

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

Sri Lanka’s local governmentelection held on February 10has become more than a mid

term poll that usually helps the opposition. Rather, it has led to animmediate political crisis of sorts,threatening the stability of the present government.

While the disunited ruling coalition, jointly headed by PresidentMaithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, haslost the election badly, the newlyformed Sri Lanka People’s Front,uno�cially backed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has secured a sweeping victory in provinces except in the north andeast.

Pressure pointsThere are two dimensions to thecrisis. The �rst is the pressurefrom the Rajapaksa camp for theWickremesinghe government toresign, interpreting the local government election as a referendum on the government as well asa loss of its popular mandate of2015. The government can easilydismiss that pressure by showingthat Mr. Rajapaksa’s new partypolled only 44% of the popularvote this time while the partiesthat were partners in the coalitionthat brought them into power in2015 have nearly 52% of votes between them.

Besides, the outcome of the local government election has no direct bearing on the government’sparliamentary majority. Mr. Rajapaksa has only about 50 MPs.Thus, the balance of power withinParliament has not been altered,and it is likely to remain that way

unless the ruling coalition breaksup.

It is in that sense that the second dimension is more seriousthan the �rst. The hostility and disunity between the two centres ofpower of the ruling coalition — oneheaded by Mr. Sirisena and theother by Mr. Wickremesinghe —has shaken the very foundations ofthe government. Mr. Wickremesinghe heads the United NationalParty (UNP), which is the largestcomponent of the coalition with106 MPs. Mr. Sirisena heads the SriLanka Freedom Party (SLFP) andUnited People’s Freedom Alliance(UPFA), with only 37 MPs with himin the coalition government. Thelocal election showed 32% votersupport for Mr. Wickremesinghe’sUNP —and Mr. Sirisena’s UPFA andSLFP polled a low 12%.

The discord buildupThe discord between the President and the Prime Minister hasbeen building up for over a yearon a mixture of policy and personal issues. The President has beenopen in saying that Mr. Wickremesinghe and his ministers hadbeen mishandling the economy,slowing down the investigation into alleged corruption by the Rajapaksa family, and even engaging inlargescale corruption whilepreaching clean governance. Mr.Sirisena also felt that Mr. Wickremesinghe has been ignoring himon policy issues. Thus, due to thesimmering disharmony, bitternessand mutual distrust, the Sirisenaand Wickremesinghe camps of thegovernment could not even contest this election as a coalition.Once in the fray as competitors,the two main parties of the coalition quickly transformed themselves into rivals and adversaries.

In the backdrop of the escalating cold war between the two leaders was a major policy failure ofthe government — a massive �nancial fraud that was committed dur

ing the central bank’s bond salesin 2015. This was under the newgovernment, within three monthsof its coming to power on a platform of corruptionfree goodgovernance.

Much of the blame for the bondsales fraud was laid at the door ofthe Prime Minister by the opposition and the media for allowing itto happen and then attempting acoverup. Amidst a public outcry,Mr. Sirisena appointed a commission last year to investigate thefraud. In its report, submitted tothe President late last year, thecommission recommended theprosecution of the bank’s formerGovernor, his soninlaw and theiraccomplices. This was a blowagainst the government, andcaused further deterioration of relations between the President andthe Prime Minister.

The issue dominated campaigning for the local government election, which began early in December, with Mr. Sirisena targeting theUNP. He also pledged that he wasgoing to clean up the governmentafter the election, indirectly suggesting a change in the composition of the cabinet.

It is this con�ict that explodedin February 11 soon after the election results showed Mr. Rajapaksa’s new party winning comfortably. Mr. Sirisena began to searchfor a replacement for Mr. Wickremesinghe, despite not having theconstitutional authority to sack orappoint the Prime Minister or

members of the cabinet. Mr. Sirisena failed to make any headwayafter two days of manoeuvring.Alive to the threat, UNP Ministersand MPs, even amidst fresh divisions, have now closed ranksagainst Mr. Sirisena. By the nightof February 13, the UNP began aline of action independent of Mr.Sirisena and his SLFP/UPFA andthen to reconstitute the coalitiongovernment.

In this scenario, the UNP envisages an outcome in which Mr.Wickremesinghe will continue asthe Prime Minister of a recon�gured coalition government, witha much weakened Mr. Sirisena asPresident. Mr. Wickremesinghehas 106 UNP MPs in the 225member Parliament.

There is speculation that nearlya dozen SLFP Ministers, who arecurrently with Mr. Sirisena, areready to join Mr. Wickremesinghe’s new government in caseof a clear split between the twoleaders. There is also speculationthat the Tamil National Alliance(TNA) is ready to o�er conditionaloutside support to Mr. Wickremesinghe. Devolution, peace buildingand constitutional reform are sureto be the themes of those conditions.

There is another scenario inwhich Mr. Sirisena will continue toinsist on Mr. Wickremesinghe’s resignation as Prime Minister. Thiswill certainly deepen the crisis because the UNP is no mood to losethe power struggle. As mentionedearlier, the President is reportedto be searching for a replacementfor Mr. Wickremesinghe fromamong senior members of theUNP, but with limited success. Apart of Mr. Sirisena’s strategywould also be to create dissentwithin the UNP with a view to weakening Mr. Wickremesinghe.

Thus, the political crisis that hasbeen precipitated by the electionseems to be intensifying but is expected to end with the signi�cant

step of reconstitution of the government.

Di�culties aheadWhatever happens, the undeclared power struggle between thetwo main coalition partners willhave to come to an end in a newcon�guration of coalition forces.As things stand now, the two leaders do not seem to be giving way inthe battle for supremacy withinthe coalition government. Reconciliation between the two coalitionleaders is not in the realm of immediate possibilities, but they willhave to �nd a framework of cohabitation given that the Rajapaksa family is waiting to move in. However, the political drama that beganon February 10 is unlikely to endsoon. Buoyed by the surprise winfor its party which was formed justa year ago, the Rajapaksa familywill continue to stake claim topower both within and outsideParliament. It will also have another chance of consolidating its newly gained electoral power in theProvincial Council elections to beheld later this year. After this, presidential elections will have to beheld by end2019, followed by parliamentary elections. Sri Lankawatchers can expect more political surprises ahead.

Meanwhile, if the President andthe Prime Minister do not �nd aframework of constructive reconciliation between them, governance in Sri Lanka will crawl alongfor two years. Worse still, themuchvalued programme of constitutional and political reform,peace building, interethnic reconciliation and democratic consolidation will enter an extended stateof stalemate. Its resurgence, sadlyand ironically, might requireanother phase of democraticsetback.

Jayadeva Uyangoda is Professor Emeritus

at the University of Colombo

Back to the chessboard?The political crisis in Sri Lanka will likely end in a recon�guration of coalition forces

Jayadeva Uyangoda

RE

UT

ER

S

Notes on PalestinePrime Minister NarendraModi is walking adiplomatic tightrope bymaintaining that Indiafollows an independent,dehyphenated policy withPalestine and Israel(Editorial – “Ramallahrecall”, February 14). What is hearteninghowever is that hisPalestine visit has resultedin signi�cant agreementsbeing signed. With the U.S.President having all butabandoned the Palestiniancause and given that Indiahas deftly struck adiplomatic balance in WestAsia, enjoying goodrelations with bothPalestine and Israel, it isonly natural that as aresponsible growing power,India plays a more proactive, mediatory role inresolving the West Asian

con�ict. Perhaps, on thelines of the 2002 peaceinitiative, the MadridDiplomatic Quartet, Indiashould strive to initiate apeace process with the UN,the EU and Russia to �nd alasting solution to the WestAsian crisis. China, byvirtue of its increasingglobal in�uence, should bepersuaded to occupy thevacuum left by the U.S.Nalini Vijayaraghavan,

Thiruvananthapuram

Lessons from historyA historical event such asPartition is looked at fromat least two angles — factualand emotional (“Thedanger of counterfactuals”,February 14) We can adopta simplistic view and claimthat while it is the historianwho should be dealing withthe facts, the task ofemotional valuation falls

upon the litterateur and thepolitician. Nevertheless, itis reasonable to demand ofthe latter that they at leastget their facts correct andnot manufacture them tosuit their emotive designs.As for the barbarismgenerated leading to and inthe wake of Partition itself,it is instructive to compareit with the comparativebloodlessness and civilitywith which the USSR brokeup. The lesson for us is thatassociations built upon hatefor the other or on the basisof racial and ethnic claimsof supremacy are liable toproduce violence in timesof crisis for their enforcedexistence or breakup. Firoz Ahmad,

New Delhi

n The venom and hatred inthe aftermath of Partition

continue to haunt us to thisday and are proving to bedetrimental to our harmonyand coexistence. On eitherside, an obsession withreligious identity andpushing this to the forefronthas only proved counterproductive. For long,politicians have beenexploiting this segregationfor vote bank politics.Partition had taught us verysound lessons about falsepropaganda, hatred,aversion and brutality. R. Ramanathan,

Coimbatore

More green coverWith the burgeoningpopulation in India, it isobviously an arduous task toensure that there is noreduction in existing forestarea (Editorial – “Woods andtrees”, February 14). Keychallenges such as public

The cackleWhy is there such ahullabaloo over boisterouslaughter by a seniorparliamentarian in the UpperHouse? The barrage ofcriticism over it is strange. Our elected representativesappear to be “entertainingus” both inside Parliamentand outside. Theatrics morethan good governanceabound in politics.B. Gurumurthy,

Madurai

pressure, abysmal strengthof �eld forest sta� needdynamic solutions. Involvingprivate stakeholders andlocal bodies may helpincrease tree cover further.Making sure that there are nohurdles before theCompensatory A�orestationFund Management andPlanning Authority (CAMPA)Bill would help ensure thatdegraded open forest areacan be treated and laterclassi�ed as forest area. N. Vijai,

Coimbatore

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

Anew law in Poland that makes it a crime to blame

the country for Nazi atrocities has reopened the

Holocaust denial issue. Expressions such as Pol

ish death camps to describe concentration camps in

cluding Auschwitz have touched a raw nerve over the

years. Now the ruling ultranationalist Law and Justice

party (PiS) appears intent on drawing political mileage

from this dark chapter in Polish and European history.

The government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki

has enacted legislation to impose a �ne and threeyear

imprisonment for all references that imply the complic

ity of the Polish nation and the state in Nazi war crimes.

Its contention that artists and scholars would be ex

empt from the restrictions has not assuaged critics,

who are challenging assaults on freedom of expression.

Clearly, responsibility for the atrocities perpetrated

against Jews during the Holocaust rests with the occu

pying Nazis, and not the people of Poland. Yet, to dis

count or deny the complicity of some Polish o�cials

who may have acted in collusion with the Nazis would

be tantamount to falsifying history. Any refusal to re

cognise the heroism of Poles who rescued and rehabil

itated Jews would also be liable to oversimpli�cation of

that larger narrative. The motive behind the latest law is

to suppress evidence that has emerged of some of those

uncomfortable truths. But then, rewriting Poland’s re

cent history has been a persistent preoccupation with

the current dispensation since its 2015 election.

Predictably, the ‘Holocaust’ law has stoked a major

controversy with international reverberations. In an

equally selective reading to counter the Polish move,

some Israeli lawmakers are for expanding the de�nition

of Holocaust denial to include a refusal to admit the role

of those who collaborated with the Nazis. The U.S. State

Department has cautioned Warsaw about the implica

tions of the law for its strategic relationship with Wash

ington. Warsaw has already come under sharp scrutiny

from the European Union for attempting to undermine

the independence of the judiciary. A formal sanction by

Brussels for the breach of the rule of law and deviation

from European values would be an unprecedented

step. Moreover, the resulting loss of Poland’s voting

rights in the bloc would be most ironic for a govern

ment that has staked its position on the assertion of na

tional sovereignty on the EU stage. Polish President

Andrzej Duda seems more alive to the ire the Holocaust

legislation has invited internationally. He gave his as

sent to the bill, but sought a review from the constitu

tional court, a body already rendered toothless by par

liament. Moderates within PiS should exert greater

in�uence to roll back the extreme steps taken by the go

vernment, such as the ‘Holocaust’ legislation, or Poles

risk denial of the fruits of their 2004 EU membership.

Suppressing historyPoland’s ‘Holocaust’ legislation highlights

its continued shift to the far right

The number of casualties in the terror attack on

the Sunjuwan Army base in Jammu has risen to

seven after clearing operations. The garrison of

the 36 Brigade of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry

was attacked last Saturday by a small group of heavily

armed terrorists that managed to enter the residential

quarters of soldiers. While three terrorists were killed,

six soldiers and a civilian lost their lives. Many more

sustained injuries. This is the latest in a series of attacks

on military installations over the last few years. The

worrisome aspect is the repeated success of terrorists

in in�ltrating highsecurity military complexes. As in

every case, the Army will conduct a court of inquiry in

to the incident to identify lapses. However, the Sunju

wan attack exposes the vulnerabilities in perimeter se

curity and the scant progress made in improving the

security protocol since the attack on the Pathankot Air

Force station in January 2016. Since then, there have

been major attacks in Uri, Handwara, Nagrota and

Panzgam, with signi�cant casualties. In the aftermath

of Pathankot, a committee headed by a former Army

vice chief, Lt General Philip Campose, undertook a se

curity audit of all military bases across the country. It

identi�ed sensitive installations and recommended

measures to fortify them. In addition, in July 2017 the

government delegated substantial �nancial powers to

the three services to strengthen perimeter security at

military installations. The Sunjuwan attack under

scores the need for speedy measures on the ground,

beyond the inquiries and policy announcements, to

overhaul the system.

As the terror attack in Jammu was under way, the De

fence Ministry sanctioned �1,487 crore to strengthen

sensitive military installations across the country as per

the recommendations of a 2016 audit. Defence Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman has also directed the Army to com

plete its implementation by the end of the year. This im

petus is welcome, but the implementation must be

broadbased, and go beyond ad hoc measures. It must

be borne in mind that a successful attack does not ne

cessarily mean that the soldier on the ground is lax in

performing his duties. Many bases along the border are

located in tough terrain, and are in close proximity to

civilian dwellings, demanding care from the soldier to

avoid civilian casualties in cross�re while adhering to

the standard operating procedures. For a country that

takes pride in its modern, technologically advanced

military, India still relies heavily on putting more boots

on the ground and on the calibre of the soldier. It is time

the Defence Ministry adopted a holistic approach, mak

ing sure that the soldier is fully backed by technology

and calibrated security drills. Preventing terrorists

from scoring a strike is the best defence.

Mind the perimeterThe security protocol at military installations

must be speedily upgraded


462195

#4 6 2 1 9 5

CMYK

A ND-NDE

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DATA POINT

The Union Home Minister, Mr. Y.B. Chavan, announced in theLok Sabha today [February 14, New Delhi] that the Central Bureau of Investigation had been entrusted with the investigationinto the causes of the death of the Jan Sangh President, Mr.Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. He said that the Deputy InspectorGeneral of the Bureau was proceeding immediately to thescene of occurrence. Mr. Chavan told the House that the ChiefMinister of Uttar Pradesh concurred with the Central Government’s decision asking the C.B.I. to take up investigation. Mr.Chavan was replying to a callattention motion tabled by Mr.K.L. Gupta ( Jan Sangh) and four others on Mr. Upadhyaya’sdeath. Mr. Chavan said the investigations would now be conducted by a single team under a senior o�cer of the C.B.I.

FIFTY YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 15, 1968

CBI to probe Jan Sangh Chief ’s death

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FROM ARCHIVES

The Chief Presidency Magistrate disposed of a case in whichthe C.I.D charged Terence Patrick Crawley with cheating Captain Augier by representing himself to be a Lieutenant of the47th Unit, Australian Wireless, and inducing him to deliver tohim Rs. 70 on the 27th June and Rs. 300 in September last, monies belonging to Government. Superintendent Sullivan saidhe doubted that the accused was in Gallipoli and he was making inquiries. He declared that he was a deserter from Britishmilitary service. The accused pleaded guilty.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 15, 1918.

A Bogus Lieutenant.

Melt upFinance

This refers to the rapid risein the price of a stock orany other �nancial security during the �nal stages ofa bull market and suggestsa likely end to the rallysoon. Such a melt up, although unwarranted by fundamentals, is caused bythe fear among investorsof missing out on furthergains in the price of stocks.This causes them to pourmore capital into the market, thus further boostingthe prices of stocks. Thereis generally, however, node�nite criteria on whatde�nes a melt up. Themelt up phase of a stockmarket rally can last formany weeks or months,and is usually followed byan equally rapid fall instock prices that leads topanic among investors.

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CONCEPTUAL

Constitutional validity of

Aadhaar: the arguments in

Supreme Court so far

bit.ly/AadhaarArguments

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MORE ON THE WEB 3

Studying the impact of sanitation onstunting is tricky, and the muchawaited results of two ambitious newtrials published this year show why.

The trials, which implementedwater, sanitation and hygiene(WASH) interventions in Bangladeshiand Kenyan villages for two years,were an e�ort to prevent stunting(low height for age) seen in childrenunder two years in developing countries. Speci�cally, the WASH interventions included replacing poorquality toilets with improved ones,chlorinating drinking water, and promoting handwashing — all in an attempt to protect toddlers from thefaecal pathogens that are believed tointerfere with their growth. Butwhen the trials ended, disappointingly, the researchers found thesechildren were not taller than thosewho did not receive these interventions. The �ndings are a setback tothe hypothesis that improving sanitation can thwart childhood stunting.But how big a setback they are isdisputed.

The problem of open defecationOne point of view is that even thoughBangladesh and Kenya see childhoodstunting, they are dramatically di�erent from countries such as India ona critical count. India is the onlycountry today in which over 50% ofthe rural population still defecates inthe open. Bangladesh, while close toIndia in population density, broughtdown open defecation rates from42% in 2003 to just 1% in 2016.

This critical di�erence was apparent in the two trials as well. Onlyaround 39% of the participants inthe trial in Bangladesh, and less than5% in the trial in Kenya, defecated inthe open at the start of the experiment. Most people already had toilets, albeit poorquality ones, whichthe trial improved. It is likely that thechildren sampled were exposed tolower levels of faecal pathogens inthe �rst place, which is why the trialsdidn’t impact stunting, says DeanSpears, an economist at the ResearchInstitute of Compassionate Econom

ics (RICE). He argues that the onlything the trials show is that upgrading from a basic toilet to an improvedtoilet, along with other WASH interventions, didn’t make children taller.“But it is not as informative for someone focussed on India’s policy challenges, because the policy challengein India is open defection,” he says.

Others say the new trials raisedoubts about the link between sanitation and stunting in India too. WolfPeter Schmidt, an epidemiologist atthe London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine, points out thateven in countries like Bangladesh,poorquality toilets can cause heavyfaecal contamination. Stephen Luby,an epidemiologist at the StanfordWoods Institute for the Environmentand lead investigator in the Bangladesh study, says that the villages inhis study saw high rates of both contamination and stunting. Yet theWASH improvements made no di�erence, which means that other factors could be driving stunting. “Thisheightens concerns that similar mechanisms underlie the associationbetween open defecation and stunting in India,” he says.

Stunting is a complex problem.Children in richer South Asian countries are shorter on average thanthose in poorer SubSaharan Africancountries, and no intervention so farhas closed this gap. Even though prenatal health, breastfeeding and diet,among dozens of factors, have beenimplicated in stunting, trials to encourage breastfeeding or supplement the mother’s and child’s dietshave come up short. Simultaneously,researchers have homed in on an al

ternative hypothesis: that poor sanitation plays a greater role in stunting,because faecal bacteria and parasitesdeprive the child of nutrition.

Evidence for this hypothesis haspiled up over the decades. Studies inGambian children in the 1990sshowed that intestinal in�ammation,possibly caused by exposure to faecal germs, is correlated with stunting. Among animals, baby mice infected with Escherichia coli, a faecalbacterium, grew slower, and showedsigns of such intestinal in�ammationwhen dissected. In 2013, Mr. Spearsanalysed data from 65 countries andfound that much of the height variation among those regions could beexplained by di�erences in open defecation rates. The study also showedthat open defecation had a strongerimpact on height when populationdensity was higher, as is the case ofIndia and Bangladesh.

The problem is that most of thedata which show that children inhouseholds with poor toilets aremore likely to be stunted comes fromdescriptive studies. Descriptive studies have a downside: they can showassociation but not causation. “Theconcern with these studies is thatthey may be explained by some otherdi�erence between households withnice toilets and those without,” saysMr. Luby. This is why randomisedcontrol trials (RCTs), like the ones inBangladesh and Kenya, matter.

But this is where researchers runinto another stumbling block. It is extremely hard to conduct RCTs onsanitation. Since 2010, some sixgroups, including three in India,have experimented with sanitation

approaches to tackle stunting. Nearlyall failed because they were unable toconvince enough people to use toilets in the �rst place. One RCT in Mali, in 2015, did increase toilet use by30% and saw a small increase in childgrowth. But RCTs need to be replicated before their �ndings can be extrapolated to other countries, says AmyPickering, one of the study’s authorswho is from Tufts University. Another predicament is that for WASH interventions to be truly e�ective,more than one generation of familiesmay need to adopt them. Most trialsdo not last longer than two years, given how expensive and logisticallychallenging they are.

Changing habitsIndia’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA)is an example of how di�cult it is tochange people’s sanitation habits.Even though the SBA aims to eliminate open defecation by 2019, datafrom the 201516 National FamilyHealth Survey show the campaignhasn’t changed much since it began.“Almost halfway through the SBA,open defecation remained quitecommon in rural India and its distribution across districts looked prettysimilar to 2011,” Mr. Spears says. InWhere India Goes, Mr. Spears andRICE demographer Diane Co�ey argue that programmes like the SBAthat focus on constructing toiletscan’t do much in the face of deeprooted cultural beliefs about opendefecation because they presumethat people do not build toilets for �nancial reasons. If behaviouralchange campaigns are not initiatedto tackle the problem, Indians willcontinue to defecate in the openeven if they get toilets for free.

Against this background, the Bangladesh study is signi�cant because itdid succeed in changing participantbehaviour. It provides critical information for countries that have already eliminated open defecation. Theymay now want to weigh the merits ofsanitation against other interventions like nutrition. What the trialsmean for India is a tougher question.For an RCT to test the link betweenopen defecation and stunting, itmust �gure out �rst how to get Indians to stop open defecation. Several researchers have tried this, buthave come up dry.

[email protected]

Testing this hypothesis is hard, given how di�cult it is to change toilet habits

“If campaigns to change behaviour are not initiated to tackle the problem ofopen defecation, Indians will continue to defecate in the open even if they gettoilets for free.” An eco-friendly public toilet in Bengaluru. * G.R.N. SOMASHEKAR

Can sanitation reduce stunting?

Priyanka Pulla

In 1863, British geologist and archaeologist Robert Bruce Foote discovered the �rst Palaeolithic stonetools from India at the Attirampakkam site, close to Madras. Sincethen, this site has been visited bymany investigators, and considerably more knowledge about the civilisation has been obtained.

It was believed until recently that modern human ancestors moved out of Africa and settled in various places wherethey left their mark by introducing small tools, around140,000120,000 years ago. However, a recent paper published in Nature, ‘Early Middle Palaeolithic culture in Indiaaround 385172 ka reframes Out of Africa models’, by Akhilesh Kumar, Shanti Pappu and others, has revealed stunningnew evidence that small tools — as opposed to larger onesthat characterised early human species — were being madeat this site way before — nearly 385,000 years ago.

Does this then contradict the theory of humans migratingout of Africa? Perhaps not, but it is no less important in thatit sets a time to when the transition from larger hand axesand cleavers, known technically as the Acheulean culture,to smaller tools such as scrapers, used in the Middle Palaeolithic culture, happened.

In the paper, the researchers have built up a picture ofearly hominins as huntergatherers who occupied this region on a seasonal basis. The reasons for visiting this areamay have di�ered: once to acquire a speci�c resource,another time to make tools. The research is also cautious instating that it does not actually identify who made the smaller tools — it may have been archaic hominins who had �gured out that these were more useful than larger tools, or itcould have been modern humans who coexisted with thelast of the archaic hominins.

Ms. Pappu of the Sharma Centre for Heritage Educationsays that the Attirampakkam puzzle is a complex one tosolve. One reason is that close to this region, there is poorfossil record, owing to the prevailing soil conditions.

Cranium fossils from this period have been found in Hathmora near the Narmada region, but it is di�cult to correlatethis with the Attirampakkam �ndings. It is only through thediscovery of additional material from this site that researchers can hope to determine why the technology transfer happened, and its relevance to understanding Indian and globalcivilisation. Such research takes time and patience, and it isnot often that one gets to discover a complete “toolkit” suchas in the present �nding.

One thing is certain: since over a million years ago, the Indian region has not been deserted at any time and has beenthe crucible of numerous civilisations including the Acheulean, Lower Palaeolithic and Middle Palaeolithic, up to5,000 years ago. As to deciphering the story of these civilisations, their behavioural changes, their adaptation to the environment, movement across countries and connectionwith the prehistories of West Asia and Southeast Asia, manymore longterm and interdisciplinary studies are needed.

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SINGLE FILE

Crucible for civilisationSince over a million years ago, the Indianregion has not been deserted at any time

Shubashree Desikan

AP

Markus Dohle is the global Chief ExecutiveO�cer of Penguin Random House, theworld’s largest trade book publisher. Additionally, he is Chairman of the Association ofAmerican Publishers and serves on the PENBoard of Trustees and the Board of Directorsof the National Book Foundation. Excerptsfrom an email interview:

The playwright David Hare said that the two

most depressing words in the English

language are “literary �ction”. What is your

sense of the future of literary �ction? People

are reading more than ever, but is there still a

place for longer, textured novels?

n I believe in the future of literary �ction. Ithink �ction is more important than ever intoday’s world because it helps people escapefrom the neverending news cycle by immersing themselvesin great stories and complexcharacters. Additionally, therepeating nature of �ctionmakes it the most sustainingand viable category inpublishing.

The obituary of the book is

written every time a new

threat occurs — the ebook,

Amazon and its crushing e�ect on

independent booksellers, Net�ix — and yet,

books in paper form have continued to

survive. What do you think the future of the

book will be?

n Bright. Let me give you �ve reasons. First,book markets have been growing over thelast 15 years since the digital transformationstarted. Second, we have relatively stable business models for print and ebooks. Third,we’ve reached a healthy coexistence between print and digital formats. Fourth, international book markets have tailwind fromdemographic change, a growing world population, and growing literacy rates. And �nally, children’s and young adult books havebeen the fastestgrowing categories of thelast decade.

What are the most exciting technological

innovations and platforms in publishing, and

what future global trends do you foresee?

n Let me mention three main trends in publishing. First, a signi�cant sales shift towardonline/ecommerce. Second, the growth ofdigital audio books. And third, the strength

of print. As publishers, we will continue to beformatagnostic and laserfocussed on publishing the �nest stories. In India, I’m excited about a new eshorts imprint we arelaunching called Penguin Petit. We are curating the content for this new platform fromour physical books in the �ction, children’s,self help, erotica, and mythology genres, toname a few. Each eshort will be about 50pages, designed for easy consumption ondigital devices at a highly accessible price.

Penguin Random House India recently

invited actor Priyanka Chopra to deliver its

annual lecture. Many felt that a uniquely

literary space was being overtaken by a

celebrity. What is the role of publishers in

protecting these literary spaces, while

conceding that commercial gains often fuel

these spaces? Is it important to have these

spaces, or is this an elitist view?

n Priyanka Chopra’s lecture wasa huge success and the feedbackhas been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, the video of the talkalone has garnered several million views. As publishers, westand for diverse voices and personalities, and clearly [hers] isan important voice. The Penguin Annual Lecture has alwaysbeen a platform for artists

across di�erent professions and industries.We see it as a forum for writers, but also witha wider scope, for achievers and culturalicons across other industries as well.

In 2014, Penguin Random House withdrew

Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative

History. Many felt that the case for freedom of

speech was not fought hard enough on her

behalf. As a PEN board member and

publisher, what are the instances when this

freedom comes at a cost? Since the Doniger

case, the climate in India regarding

censorship has only intensi�ed. Has Penguin

Random House revisited the Doniger case

and its commitment to its authors’ right to

freedom of speech?

n Publishers around the world are trying tonavigate the terrain of freedom of expressionin the context of di�erent regions, territories, cultures, local circumstances or evenchallenges faced around a particular issue.Our goal remains the same: to make diversevoices and opinions heard.

Tishani Doshi is a writer, dancer, and poet

INTERVIEW | MARKUS DOHLE

‘I believe in the futureof literary �ction’The CEO of Penguin Random House on trends in publishing

Tishani Doshi

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FAQ

Is the Syrian crisis

escalating further?

Last year, after the regimeforces made advancesagainst the rebels, and theIslamic State was defeated, the Syrian civil warseemed to be windingdown. However, the crisisis escalating with the regime beginning a newphase of the war in Idlibprovince, which is controlled by rebels and alQaedalinked jihadists;Turkey sending troopsacross the border to �ghtthe Kurdish rebels; andthe U.S. seemingly determined to stay in Syria for alonger term. Like the �rstphase of the civil war, thisphase is also multidirectional. The regime,backed by Iran and Russia,is �ghting against the rebels and jihadists in Idlib,Eastern Ghouta, and somesouthern enclaves. Turkish proxies, backed bythe air force, are attackingKurdish militias in Afrin, a

border town. The U.S.,despite Turkey’s warnings, continues to supportthe Kurdish militias in several other towns in theborder region.

What’s Israel doing in

Syria?

The downing of an Israeli�ghter jet in Syria lastweek triggered this question once again. From theearly phase of the civilwar, Israel has been a passive player. In the initialstages, it backed rebels onthe Golan side to create abu�er between the GolanHeights that have been occupied by Israel since 1967and the Syrian mainland.With Iran and Hezbollahexpanding their presencein Syria, Israel’s focusbroadened to curtail theirin�uence. Last week, anIsraeli �ghter jet was carrying out a raid against anIranian drone control facility in Syrian desertswhen it came under Syrian antiaircraft �re. Following the incident, Israel

has steadily enhanced itsair campaign in Syriaagainst what it calls “Iranian targets”.

Where is it heading?

The con�ict is becomingmore complex with morepowers intervening. Earlier, among external powers, only Russia and theU.S. were making directinterventions, with Iran,Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Turkey all supporting their respectiveproxies. Saudi Arabia andits Gulf allies may have taken a beating after rebelslost Aleppo, but Turkishand Israeli jets are nowcarrying out airstrikes inSyria. Russia appears to bestuck in the con�ict. Itsheavy bombing campaignhelped turn the war in favour of the regime, but itsattempts to push the government to make concessions in peace talks havebeen a failure. With morepowers in the war, �ndinga solution is becomingmore complicated.

The many con�icts in Syria

With more interventions, the war is now more complicated

Stanly Johny


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NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

The government also swunginto action with the FinanceMinistry asking all the banksto carry out a cleanup exercise. Financial Services Secretary Rajeev Kumar saidthe government will not tolerate ‘unclean banks.’

Mr. Kumar said the casedates back to 2011, when afraudulent Letter of Undertaking (LoU) was submittedto PNB. “However, the PNBcase is an isolated one. TheCBI is looking into the case,and 10 employees of thebank have been suspended,” he added.

“I don’t think this is out ofcontrol or too big a worry atthis point,” Financial Services Joint Secretary Lok Rajansaid.

On January 29, AnveeshNepalia, the deputy generalmanager of PNB’s zonal of�ce �led a complaint on theissue with the CBI.

Mr. Nepalia alleged thatNirav Modi, Nishal Modi,Ami Modi and Mehul Choksi— all of whom are partnersat Diamond R US, Solar Exports and Stellar Diamonds,conspired with a retiredbank employee and a current sta�er to defraud thebank.

The retired PNB o�cialGokulnath Shetty and current employee Manoj Kharat fraudulently issued LoUsworth �280 crore to thesecompanies in 2017, without

going through the properchannels and bypassing alot of procedures.

Bank o�cials stumbledon the deceitful transactions on January 16 this year,when these three �rms approached the branch andpresented a set of importdocuments with request toallow buyers’ credit for making payment to overseassuppliers.

Since there was no sanction limit in the name ofthese �rms, the branch insisted on 100% cash marginfor issuing LoUs for raisingbuyers’ credit.

However, the �rms contested they had been availing this facility in the past,although branch records didnot have details of any suchfacility.

A senior CBI o�cer said ithas booked Mr. Shetty andMr. Kharat of PNB, alongwith Nirav Modi, Nishal Modi and Ami Modi, the owners of the two diamond�rms.

All the accused have beenbooked for cheating and criminal conspiracy under theIndian Penal Code alongwith criminal misconductby a public servant underthe Prevention of Corruption Act.

“We are examining thebank records and details ofthe LoUs issued during theperiod,” the o�cer said.

�11,500 crore scamrocks PNB, stocks hit

As submitted before thecourt by the Kerala government, PFI activists havebeen allegedly found involved in over two dozenmurder cases, 86 attempttomurder and more than100 communal cases. TheState police have also arrested a large number of activists. The National Investigation Agency has alsoregistered cases against alleged PFI activists.

The Directorate has alsostarted a money launderingprobe against Naxal operatives in coordination withthe a�ected States.

Earlier this month, it attached assets worth �86lakh of an alleged Naxalleader operating in the BiharJharkhand region.

“Similar action is beingtaken against extremist elements in the northeasternStates,” said the o�cial.

ED to probe PFI’smoney network

that had some references tothe Prophet Mohammad,which the attackers said insulted the Prophet.

In May 2015, a court convicted 13 PFI activists in thecase.

The NIA said it examinednine cases where men andwomen converted to Islamand in at least four of them,the involvement of members of the PFI was established.

Another o�cial in the security establishment said theban could come not beforeApril as lots of paperworkwas pending.

In 2010, some membersof the PFI, armed with weapons, attacked Professor T.J.Joseph in Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam district, andchopped o� his right hand.Mr. Joseph was targeted over a question paper he setfor a college examination

Centre studying plea to ban PFI

operation.He and Shehzad escaped

from the �at. They visitedtheir relatives and acquaintances in Delhi, U.P., Rajasthan and Maharashtra toseek shelter and �nancialaid. “They were on the runfor a month and thereafterthey got separated and he(Ariz Khan) went to Nepal.With the help of Nizam Khan(his uncle), he managed toprocure Nepali CitizenshipCard and Passport in thename of Mohd. Salim,” saidMr. Kushwaha.

On September 19, 2008,when a team of the specialcell raided a hideout of bombblasts suspects at BatlaHouse, Delhi, where he,along with other IM operatives were present, two Indian Mujahideen terroristswere killed and as many arrested.

Ariz Khan and another,Shehzad, had, however,managed to escape from the�at in Jamia Nagar.

Inspector Mohan ChandSharma, who led the policeteam, was killed during the

IM’s bombmaker arrested in Nepal

Warning against communalising the ranks of the IndianArmy, LieutenantGeneralDevraj Anbu, General O�cerCommandinginChief,Northern Command, saidhere on Wednesday, “IndianArmy is a sarv dharam sthal[an abode for all religions]’and does not communalisetroops.”

“We don’t communalisemartyrs and those makingstatements don’t know theArmy well ... I never doubtanybody’s credentials whoare under my command.They are motivated and patriotic soldiers,” said Lt. Gen.Anbu at the Investiture Ceremony of the NorthernCommand.

Stinging attackThe statement came a day after All India MajliseIttehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chiefAsaduddin Owaisi said �ve of

the seven persons killed inthe Sunjuwan attack wereKashmiri Muslims.

“They call Muslims Pakistanis. The militants are killing us too. Terrorists are notseeing that they are Muslims

or Hindus. They are considering us Indians. But thereare people in our countrywho doubt our loyalties,” Mr.Owaisi said.

Lt. Gen. Anbu said 185 to220 militants in the south

and 190 to 225 in the north ofthe Pir Panjal “are ready forin�ltration”.

“The enemy is frustratedand is trying to attack the softer targets. When they fail atborders, they attack camps,”

he said. Describing HizbulMujahideen, JaisheMuhammad and LashkareTaiba as“one tanzeem [group]”, theArmy commander expressedconcern over youngsters, especially in the age group of

20 to 30, joining the terrorout�ts.

“We need to address thistrend. In 2017, we focussedon leadership and eliminated it. Social media is also responsible for the increase interror. It is engaging theyouth on a large scale,” hesaid.

Cease�re violationThe Pakistan Army on Wednesday violated cease�reagain by resorting to heavymortar shelling and �ring oncivilian areas along the Lineof Control in Rajouri districtof Jammu and Kashmir.

“Pakistan Army initiatedcease�re violation by resorting to small arms, automatics, and mortar �ring inNoushera sector in Rajouridistrict from 18.15 hours today [Wednesday]”, a defence spokesperson said.

The Indian Army retaliated e�ectively, he added.

(With PTI inputs)

We don’t communalise troops, says ArmyStatement comes after AIMIM chief Owaisi said �ve of the seven persons killed in the Sunjuwan attack were Muslims


Srinagar

Lost lives: The cortege of Lance Naik Mohammed Iqbal Sheikh, who was killed in the Sunjuwan attack. * NISSAR AHMAD

Seeking to turn the tables onthe Narendra Modi government, the Congress on Wednesday pulled out an old clipof Mr. Modi from the 2014election campaign in whichhe is seen criticising the thenUPA government for unending terrorism, and repeatedhis questions in the contextof the recent terror attack onthe Sunjuwan Army camp inJammu.

On Saturday, seven people, six of them Army personnel, were killed whenthree terrorists stormed intoa camp of the 36 Brigade ofthe Jammu and KashmirLight Infantry.

“Where do these terrorists and militants get theirarms and ammunitions?

That comes from across theborders. All the borders areunder the Central government’s jurisdiction. Bordersecurity forces come underyour jurisdiction. Then howdo they get these arms,” Rajya Sabha member and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi asked at apress conference here.

Terrorist funding “The second question is howare the terrorists funded,

considering the entire money transaction business isunder the jurisdiction of theGovernment of India. Whycan’t Prime Minister Modinot keep surveillance onthese transactions,” heasked.

Quoting from the statisticsof the Home Ministry, theCongress said the number ofmajor terror incidents was96 during the UPA regimeand 207 under the BJP rule.

“Borders are under your

control. Coastal security isunder your control. BSF isunder your control. Navy isunder your control. Thenhow can these in�ltratorsenter India?” Mr. Singhviasked.

The Congress then questioned the government on itsinability to gather intelligence by intercepting phonecalls and emails. It alsoasked what the governmentwas doing for extradition ofterrorists from foreigncountries.

Mr. Singhvi said that inreply to these questions, allthat the country was gettingwas “eloquent silence”.

“Please answer thesequestions, don’t answer bygiving lessons in nationalismand chest thumping,” theCongress spokesperson said.

Cong. hits back with Modi video In the 2014 clip, the PM is seen criticising the UPA govt. for unending terrorism


New Delhi

The Prasar Bharati Board onThursday will discuss a proposal of the Information andBroadcasting Ministry to appoint an IAS o�cer a boardmember, giving it a largersay in the working of the autonomous public servicebroadcaster.

Surya Prakash, recentlyreappointed Prasar BharatiChairperson, is likely to red�ag the appointment as it isin contravention of twoclauses of the Prasar BharatiAct.

The agenda of Thursday’sboard meeting proposesthat a member’s post thathas been vacant for morethan a year now should be�lled by an IAS o�cer.

It does not mention anyspeci�c name. The member(personnel) is responsiblefor all the personnel and administrative matters of thebroadcaster.

Against the ActClause 4(1) of the Act saysthe Chairman and all themembers of the board are tobe appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee comprising the VicePresident,the Press Council Chairmanand a nominee of thePresident.

Clause 6(2) says the member (personnel) “shall bewholetime member”.Clause 6(7), however, sayswholetime members shallbe the employees of thecorporation.

“It is not under theboard’s jurisdiction to makesuch a suggestion to the government when there is anAct that clearly lays downthe method to make such anappointment. The proposalseeks to bypass the o�ce ofVicePresident M. VenkaiahNaidu and if such a resolution is cleared, it will deni

grate his position,” one ofthe board members told TheHindu.

Applications junkedThe Ministry advertised thepost twice last year — in Juneand in August.

Senior Prasar Bharati o�cials say more than 50 applications were received in response to the �rstadvertisement and nearly40 to the second.

The o�cials complainthat the Ministry did not setthe wheels rolling for the appointment, and the applications were junked.

“The Ministry’s proposalis clearly to have a bettercontrol over the autonomous body, which completely defeats the purposeof having an independentorganisation,” anothermember said.

Editorial appointmentsThe board will deliberate ona proposal to appoint Siddharth Zarabi and AbhijeetMajumder, journalists, toeditorial positions.

Mr. Zarabi is the Executive Editor of Business TVIndia and Mr. Majumder isthe Managing Editor of MailToday.

The Board has to vet theappointments of Mr. Majumder as the Chief Editor ofPrasar Bharati News Serviceand Mr. Zarabi as the headof news in DoordarshanNews.

Ministry wants IAS o�cer on board

Sobhana K. Nair

New Delhi

Prasar Bharati, Centreon collision course

IST

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The Supreme Court mayhear a plea to direct theCentre to give a “seriousthought” to the rise in population and adopt the twochild policy norm in familyplanning.

The PIL petition �led byactivist Anupam Bajpai saidcouples who followed thepolicy should be rewardedwith incentives, while thosewho violated the “norm”should be punished by withdrawal of government “facilities and concessions”.

“The citizen should have alimit in giving birth only to amaximum of two children,failing which the concernedperson shall attract disquali�cation with respect to go

vernment facilities and otherbene�ts being provided bythe government to its citizens,” the petition, �ledthrough advocate Shiv Kumar Tripathi, said. It said unless measures are not takento course correct the mindsetof the present generation, future generations may be leftto lead miserable lives.

The petition asked thecourt to direct the Centre to

“motivate the people of thiscountry” to follow the norm.

It said the pressure put onnatural resources by thegrowing population has ledto land degradation, dangerous levels of pollution, globalwarming and depletion ofground and surface water.

“The rapid populationgrowth and economic development in the country aredegrading the environmentthrough the uncontrolledgrowth of urbanisation andindustrialisation, expansionand intensi�cation of agriculture and destruction of thenatural habitat.”

“If the population of Indiacontinues to multiply withthe existing rate, the impacton the environment could bedevastating,” it said.

SC may hear plea to takeup twochild policy norm Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHIExpressing concern over theVishwa Hindu Parishad’s‘Ram Raj Rath Yatra’, whichwas �agged o� on Wednesday in Ayodhya, the CPI(M)said it had the potential totrigger communal polarisation in the country.

The yatra intends to retrace the route of Lord Rama to Sri Lanka, as described in the Ramayana.The VHP has said that itaims, through this yatra, toadminister a pledge to thepeople for the constructionof the Ram temple on thedisputed site in Ayodhya.The Supreme Court is stillhearing petitions on the status of the disputed site.

The yatra will passthrough the BJPruled States

of Madhya Pradesh andMaharashtra, spendingnearly a fortnight in Karnataka where Assembly elections are due.

It will then proceed viaKerala to reach Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu.

“This yatra has an incendiary potential to sharpencommunal polarisation inorder to strengthen thecommunal Hindutva votebank for the RSSBJP. Thereare grave implications ofpossibilities of communaltension, violence and mayhem,” the CPI(M) Polit Bureau said in a statement.

The party has calledupon the Central and Stategovernments to strengthenthe law and order apparatusto ensure that communalpeace is not disturbed.

VHP yatra likely topolarise nation: CPI(M)Special Correspondent

New Delhi

A war of words has brokenout between India and Pakistan after reports allegedthat Islamabad had deniedvisas to 173 pilgrims whowanted to visit the famousKatas Raj temple near Lahore.

“The applicants havesubmitted their applications to the High Commission and Pakistan is empowered to grant the visaswithout shifting the blameon its refusal to the applicant country,” sourcessaid.

However, the Ministry ofForeign A�airs of Islamabad issued a statement saying it was India that refusedto clear the pilgrims.

War ofwords overpilgrim visas


NEW DELHI

Di�erences within the alliance grew rapidly over thelast few days, especially after SLFP members demanded that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, who leads theUnited National Party, resign while taking responsibility for the defeat in the local elections.

With pressure mounting

on their leader, many withinthe UNP — the senior coalition partner — were keen tobreak o� the coalition andform a UNP government.

The party needs sevenmore seats in Parliament toraise its 106memberstrength to a simple majority in the 225memberHouse.

Sirisena, Ranil agreeto rejig Cabinet

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) has summoned three o�cials of theNagaland Chief Minister’sO�ce for questioning in connection with an investigation into alleged diversion ofgovernment funds to thebanned terrorist organisation NSCN(K).

An NIA o�cial said the of�cials, including Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang’s O�cer onSpecial Duty, RuokuovizoChupno, had been asked toappear before the chief investigating o�cer JasveerSingh in Guwahati on Thursday in the yearandahalfold case.

The State is going to thepolls on February 27. The

Nagaland People’s Front ofMr. Zeliang and the BJP arein alliance, but for the elections, the BJP has tied upwith a breakaway group, theNationalist Democratic Progressive Party.

Since August 2016, theNIA has been investigatingcases against various Stategovernment departmentsthat allegedly paid levies tothe Naga National Political

Groups. Seven governmento�cials have been put ontrial in the case so far.

State government employees took out a rally inNagaland on November 21last year, demanding thatthe the Union governmentwithdraw the NIAinvestigations.

In October, the NIA arrested former Tourism DirectorPurakhu Angami, AdditionalDirector of Agriculture V.Aza, Joint Director of Irrigation Hutoi Sema and Fisheries Superintendent Kekhriesatuo Tep on charges ofalleged extortions and illegaltax collections on behalf ofthe NSCN(K). The NIA saysIsac Sumi, selfstyled brigadier of the banned out�t,has ordered the collections.

NIA to quiz o�cials of Nagaland CMO Alleged diversion of funds to banned terrorist organisation

T.R. Zeliang


New Delhi

The diarrhoea outbreak reported from 10 wards insouth Kolkata may havebeen triggered by a bacterial growth in the drinkingwater supplied by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

State Director of HealthServices Ajay Chakrabortysaid the preliminary reportof tests conducted by theCalcutta School of TropicalMedicine suggests a “bacterial growth”, but added thatnothing conclusive could besaid so far.

According to sources inthe State Health Department, faecal samples of patients sent from the Baghajatin State General Hospitalhave revealed presence of apathogenic bacterial strain,E. coli.

Bacteria linkto Kolkatadiarrhoeaoutbreak

Shiv Sahay Singh

Kolkata


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The storyteller in TripuraChief Minister Manik Sarkaris in full �ow as he crossesthe urban limits of the Statecapital of Agartala.

But the habit of embellishing his narrative withmetaphors invariably makeshim overshoot the schedule.

At Thalibari, about 90 kmsouth of Agartala, breakingdown the BJP’s “dangerousdesign” for the predominantly tribal voters takeshim 80 minutes.

Thalibari is a market almost on the cusp of the tribal autonomous districtcouncil and the nontribalpart of Mr. Sarkar’s petDhanpur Assembly constituency bordering Bangladesh. He is seeking his �fth

straight victory from here.“The BJP is like the cuck

oo that comes in the springto sing, never to be heardagain for the rest of the year.They will try to lure youwith cash once so that theycan �eece you on behalf ofthe rich people for the restof the term,” he says.

Colour symbolismMr. Sarkar then tries to drivehome the di�erence between colours – the red ofcommunism that is irrigatedwith the blood and sweat ofthe underprivileged and thesa�ron of fundamentalismthat only spills blood.

The tenor was similar atUttar Taibandal and Dakkhin Taibandal earlier in theday, and in Baramura later.“He has been attending anaverage �ve public meetings, and he uses a style thepeople at the grassroots canrelate to,” a representative

of the daily Desher Katha,the mouthpiece of the CPI(M), says.

The style is in contrast to

the acerbic tone Mr. Sarkaroften adopts in the urbanlandscape. In Agartala thenight before, he was matter

offact: “The BJP’s credo ischalo paltai (Let’s change).Do they want to change thepeace Tripura has been ex

periencing, or the performance of the State in various bene�ciary schemes?In that case, they want vio

lence and underdevelopment.”

Dhanpur in Sepahijaladistrict is one of the few constituencies in Tripura wherethree categories of voters —tribal, Bengali Hindu andMuslim — are almost equallydistributed. Geographically,about 40% of the constituency falls in the tribal autonomous district council.

“It will be di�cult for theBJP to penetrate this seatwhere the tribal people andMuslims are solidly behindthe Left Front,” the party’sdistrict committee memberNakul Malla says.

Mr. Sarkar, who had onlytwo rivals in 2013, is upagainst two women — Laksh

mi Nag Barman of the Congress and Pratima Bhoumikof the BJP — and Jahir Uddinof the Trinamool Congress.

‘Battling two Maniks’Ms. Bhoumik, who fanciesher chances in Dhanpur riding the “change wave”, saysshe is battling two Maniks —the Chief Minister and theReturning O�cer, Manik LalDas, who is the AdditionalDistrict Magistrate.

“One Manik [o�cer] isworking for the other Manik[CM] to harass us. We havelodged a complaint againstthe ADM,” she said.

Mr. Das denied he was being partial. “I am doing myjob according to the guidelines of the Election Commission,” he told The Hindu.

Mr. Sarkar is known asthe poorest Chief Ministerwith �1,520 in hand and abank balance of �2,410, assaid in his election a�davit.

Says the BJP is like the cuckoo that comes in the spring to sing, not to be heard again for the rest of the year; it will try to lure you with cash and then �eece you

Easy engagement: Manik Sarkar with tribal women at Thalibari in Sepahijala district of Tripura on Wednesday. * RITU RAJ KONWAR

Rahul Karmakar

THALIBARI

DUST TRACK

In his rural turf of Thalibari, Manik Sarkar revels in the local idiom

<> Do they want to

change the peace

Tripura has been

experiencing, or

the performance of

the State?

No GST on food servedto patients by hospitalsNEW DELHI

The GST will not be charged

on food served to inpatients

by hospitals on doctors’

advice, the government has

said. However, patients not

admitted will have to pay the

tax. No GST would be levied

on services of senior doctors,

consultants and technicians

hired by hospitals. PTI

ED to summon fatherof Lalu’s soninlawNEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate

(ED) will summon the father

of RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s

soninlaw Rahul Yadav for

questioning in connection

with the railway hotels’

maintenance contract case.

On Monday, the ED recorded

the statement of Mr. Rahul.

IN BRIEF

Iranian President HassanRouhani will visit India fromFebruary 15 to 17, a month after Israel Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, Iran’sbiggest rival, made a historicvisit.

O�cials say Mr. Rouhani’svisit will send out a messagethat India aims for balance inits ties in West Asia.

Mr. Rouhani and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi willseek to iron out issues ontrade, connectivity, bankingand energy.

“During the forthcomingvisit of the President of Iran,both sides would review theprogress achieved in bilateral relations and also exchange views on regionaland international issues ofmutual interest,” the External A�airs Ministry said in astatement on Wednesday.

Since Mr. Netanyahu’s visit, Mr. Modi has visited Palestine, Jordan, the UAE andOman.

“Clearly, the governmentis trying to cover all bases,”former Ambassador to IranK.C. Singh said. “But it remains to be seen whetherthe Iranian establishment,including the clerics and theIranian Revolutionary

Guards, are comfortablewith India’s relations with allthese other countries. Iran isafter all, not just importantfor India’s energy needs butalso its only route for accessto Central Asia.”

Port projectAmong the subjects expected to be discussed are theprogress of the $500millionBeheshti port project in Chabahar, where India is expected to complete developmentof berths later this year. India is already routing a consignment of 1.1 milliontonnes of wheat to Afghanistan through the existing facilities at Chabahar.

On bilateral trade, the biggest stumbling block is banking channels, say diplomatsin Tehran and Delhi. The twosides are now discussing thepossibility of a “rupeerialmechanism”, in addition tothe current channel throughUCO Bank for rupee payments.

However, European bankshave refused to support thetrade, given the uncertaintyover fresh sanctions from theU.S.

Another issue is the pending negotiations over the FarzadB gas and oil �elds thatIndia has expressed its interest in. During Mr. Modi’s visitin 2016, the two sides had

hoped to see an agreementsigned quickly, but according to o�cials dealing withthe negotiations, the discussions had not made muchprogress because of whatthey called “Iran’s shiftinggoalposts” on the bid for FarzadB.

Sources said even negotiations for India’s bid for Russian and UAE oil�elds thatstarted much later had beenconcluded by now.

Russia’s Gazprom has concluded deals for several oil�elds and plans joint ventures with Iran’s NationalIranian Oil Company, muchto India’s chagrin.

However, o�cials believe

that India’s oil imports fromIran, which had plummetedto new lows last year, will goup this year, because of “better terms from Iran”, whichis anticipating possible newsanctions being imposed bythe Trump administration.

FATF meetingIran is likely to seek India’ssupport at the upcomingmeeting of the UN’s Financial Action Task Force,where Tehran is hoping toexit a blacklist on moneylaundering and terror �nance, even as India hopesto see Pakistan put on a“greylist” at the meeting.

Mr. Rouhani will arrive inDelhi on February 17 aftervisiting Hyderabad, wherehe will address students andreligious scholars at a seriesof functions and the Fridaycongregation at the MakkahMasjid. He will be the �rstIranian head of state to doso.

On Saturday, he will be given an o�cial welcome atthe Rashtrapati Bhavan before he and Mr. Modi sitdown for bilateral talks. Mr.Rouhani is expected to return to Tehran the sameevening, after delivering aspecial address at a foreignpolicy thinktank.

Rouhani visit signals balance in ties Iranian President coming exactly a month after Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

Closer ties: Narendra Modi and Hassan Rouhani in Tehran in 2016. * GETTY IMAGES

Under pressure to actagainst banned groups, Pakistan has launched a crackdown on seminaries andhealth facilities run by theMumbai attack mastermindHa�z Saeed, a media reportsaid on Wednesday.

The action came after ahighlevel UN sanctionsteam visited last month toreview progress againstgroups and individualsbanned by the world body.

Following orders by thePunjab government, the district administration of Rawalpindi took control of aseminary and four dispensaries run by the Saeedlinked JamaatudDawa( JuD) and FalahiInsaniatFoundation (FIF).

Under Auqaf dept.The seminary has beenhanded over to the Auqafdepartment, which controlsthe religious properties, theDawn newspaper reported.

The paper reported thatthe provincial governmentlast Friday directed the Auqaf department to take control of the seminaries.

“The provincial govern

ment handed over a list offour seminaries in Rawalpindi to the district administration. The district administration teams havevisited the seminaries, butJuD has denied any link withthe madrasas,” said a senioro�cial of the districtadministration.

The o�cial said the government had directed thedistrict administration tocheck the details of studentsand teachers of the JuDrunseminaries and doctors andparamedical sta� of the FIFdispensaries.

He said the governmenthad constituted a team ofthe district administration,the police and the Auqaf department to check the details. A similar operationwould be launched in Attock, Chakwal and Jhelum.

Pakistan takes overseminary, dispensaries

Action against JuD in more districts


Islamabad

Ha�z Saeed

India has called for a comprehensive political settlementand reconciliation in Iraq, atthe International Conferencefor Reconstruction of Iraq inKuwait attended by majorworld powers to chalk out aplan of recovery for thecountry.

Union Minister of State forExternal A�airs M.J. Akbar,who is leading the Indian delegation, has announced that India will play its part in the reconstruction, and called for anend to global terrorism.

Collaborative approach“We will play our part withprojectspeci�c proposals. Wesupport the important role assigned to private sector investors in the rebuilding of the terrorista�ected areas in Iraq.We are willing to play a substantive role in major projectsin petrochemicals, health,education, infrastructure andother sectors. We will also lookat any speci�c requests for rehabilitation projects and essential supplies like medicines,equipment, etc., as requiredfor internally displaced persons as part of our assistanceprogramme,” said Mr. Akbarindicating a collaborative approach to rebuilding the country, which has witnessed war

since the early 1980s. The conference being held

in Iraq’s neighbour Kuwait hasso far received promises of billions of dollars in the form oflines of credit from the international community and privateinvestors, but reports say thatBaghdad is yet to raise the resources for recovery from thedestruction from years of foreign invasion and war withthe Islamic State.

Pact against terrorMr. Akbar drew the attentionof the conference towards India’s current campaign for acomprehensive global convention against terrorism.

“This is also the moment toremind the international com

munity that an early adoptionof the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, a draft of which was proposed by India as early as1996...,” he said.

During the visit of Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jaafarilast year, India assured Baghdad of support in the reconstruction of the country. Sincethe outbreak of the war in2003, India had frequently responded to the humanitarianneeds in Iraq and contributedin several ways, including providing $10 million in aid towards the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq(IRFFI) for investments, reconstruction and development inIraq.

India o�ers support forreconstruction of IraqAkbar says country will come up with projectspeci�c proposals

Special correspondent

NEW DELHI

UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres, right, at a pressconference at the Kuwait International Conference forReconstruction of Iraq in Kuwait City on Wednesday. * AFP

The Armed Forces Tribunal hasinstructed the Navy to constitute a special promotion boardfor S.S. Luthra, a nuclear submarine engineer, whose allegation that nepotism scuttled hiscareer were upheld by the Supreme Court.

The tribunal issued the order as the Navy and ViceAdmiral P.K. Chaterjee (retd.), who isaccused of undermining the careers of highly skilled nuclearengineers, returned to it afterthe Supreme Court refused toentertain their appeal.

“All assessments of the SRO[ViceAdmiral Chaterjee] in thecon�dential reports of Commander Luthra are herebystruck down and will be expunged from the o�cer’s records and quanti�ed merit asrecalculated and already approved by the Chief of the NavalSta� will replace the old quanti�ed merit assessed by the SRO,”the tribunal said in its ruling.

Promotion deniedCommander Luthra was one ofthe 11 nuclear submarine engineers of the Navy trained inRussia to operate and maintainnuclear reactors. However, heand several others were deniedpromotion allegedly to favourCaptain Agashe, soninlaw ofViceAdmiral Chaterjee, whowas in the same promotionbatch of Commander Luthra.

ViceAdmiral Chaterjee,then the InspectorGeneral,Nuclear Safety, was the SeniorReviewing O�cer (SRO) for of�cers serving on the submarines INS Chakra and INS Ari-hant. He and the Navy �led anappeal in the tribunal after amilitary tribunal indicted himin the case and imposed a �neof �5 lakh.

“Since the o�cer [Commander Luthra] has, of his own volition, already proceeded on premature retirement, if approvedfor promotion, the o�cer willbe granted his rank from theoriginal date of his batch, andwill be entitled to full pensionand all terminal bene�ts in hisenhanced rank,” the rulingsaid.

Accepting his charge, the tribunal noted that ViceAdmiralChatterjee, in his capacity asSRO, had shown favour to Capt.Agashe.

Special promotionboard for Navy o�cerTribunal has upheld his nepotism charge


New Delhi

A view of INS Chakra.

�17 lakh in cash seizedin pollbound MeghalayaSHILLONG

Authorities in pollbound

Meghalaya have seized over

�17 lakh in cash from six

persons, officials said on

Wednesday. A sum of �4.62

lakh was seized in the Garo

Hills region and the rest from

a vehicle in the State capital

late on Tuesday evening, they

said. PTI


462195

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A ND-NDE




WORLD

Boris Johnson seeks toreassure Brexit skepticsLONDON

Britain should make a clean

break with European Union

laws and regulations after it

leaves the bloc, Foreign

Secretary Boris Johnson said

on Wednesday, arguing that

the U.K. would prosper after

Brexit by “going global.” He

used a speech in London to

argue for “an outwardfacing,

liberal and global Britain”

after Brexit. AP

ELSEWHERE

Nepal slammed for notprobing wartime abuses KATHMANDU

Rights groups have criticised

Nepal for failing to prosecute

wartime rights abuses.

Human Rights Watch,

Amnesty International and

the International Commission

of Jurists said on Tuesday that

the government had

hamstrung two panels

probing crimes committed

during the civil war. AFP

U.S. President DonaldTrump threatened retaliatory action against two majorAsian trading partners onTuesday, warning of sanctions against China whilevowing to revise or scrap afree trade deal with SouthKorea.

Accusing Beijing of decimating American steel andaluminium industries, Mr.Trump said he was “considering all options”, including tari�s and quotas.

Mr. Trump recently received two Commerce Department reports concerning alleged Chinese subsidiesfor steel and aluminium exportsmaterials that are vitalfor industries from construction to autos.

Spectre of a trade warHe has another two monthsto decide on possible retaliatory action, but strongly indicated that he is leaning toward hitting back at Beijing.

“I will make a decisionthat re�ects the best interests of the U.S., including theneed to address overproduction in China and othercountries,’ he said.

Experts believe any U.S.sanctions would prompt China to respond with sanctionsof its own, raising the spectreof a trade war between theworld’s two largesteconomies.

China produces aroundhalf of the world’s steel andis accused of �ooding themarket to keep the economicwheels turning at home.

For decades, Chineseleaders have been consumedwith the need to — as formerPresident Hu Jintao once putit — create “25 million jobs a

year.” But Mr. Trump also isunder domestic pressure. Hecame to o�ce vowing to be achampion of America’s rustbelt and said Monday he hadto act to save the “empty factories” he saw on the campaign trail.

Widening trade de�citThe U.S. trade de�cit —which Mr. Trump has vowedrepeatedly to �x — widenedeven further during his �rstyear in o�ce, up 12% to $566billion.

“They’re dumping anddestroying our industry, anddestroying the families ofworkers, and we can’t letthat happen,” Mr. Trumptold a group of Republicanand Democratic lawmakersat the White House.

Mr. Trump received somesupport from the group, butalso warnings that actionagainst China could drive upprices and hurt U.S. manufacturing outside the steel

and aluminium sectors.“Mr. President, I think we

do need to be careful here,that we don’t start a reciprocal battle on tari�s,’ said Republican Senator Roy Blunt.“You know, we make aluminium and we make steel” hesaid. “But we buy a lot of aluminium and we buy a lot of

steel as well.”Daniel Ikenson of the pro

trade CATO institute saidthat Trump may be forced tomoderate his actions, if nothis tone.

“Despite the rhetoric, Mr.Trump doesn’t want to subvert ‘his’ economy,” Mr.Ikenson wrote this week.

Trump mulls China sanctions,scrapping S. Korea trade dealAccuses Beijing of decimating American steel, aluminium industries via subsidies

Agence France-Presse

Washington

No free trade: A �le photo of Chinese workers packaging aluminium rolls at a productionfacility at Huaibei in east China's Anhui province.

China appealed toPresident Donald Trump onWednesday to avoiddisrupting trade and tosettle steel and aluminiumdisputes throughnegotiation.

U.S.Chinese trade is“mutually bene�cial” anddisagreements are

inevitable, said ForeignMinistry spokesman GengShuang. He said allgovernments should “spareno e�ort to avoid negativeimpacts” on the globalrecovery.

“We should see thesedi�erences in a reasonableand objective manner andmanage them throughdialogue,” said Mr. Geng.

Don’t disrupt globaleconomy, China warns Associated Press

Beijing

President Donald Trump’spersonal lawyer told theNew York Times on Tuesdaythat he paid $130,000 of hisown money to a porn star,who once said she had an affair with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, said he was notreimbursed for the paymentto the actress, whose realname is Stephanie Cli�ordand who goes by the stage

name of Stormy Daniels, theTimes reported.

Mr. Cohen said the payment was legal but declinedto give details like why hemade it or if Mr. Trump wasaware of the payment.“Neither the Trump organisation nor the Trump campaign was a party to thetransaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed me for the payment,”he said.

“The payment to Ms. Clif

ford was lawful, and was nota campaign contribution ora campaign expenditure byanyone.”

The payment was allegedly made one month beforethe November 2016 electionto keep the liaison quiet.

Mr. Trump was a privatecitizen when the 2006 sexual encounter with Ms. Clifford allegedly took place.Mr. Trump and Ms. Cli�ord,38, have denied anything ever went on between them.


Washington

Paid porn star from ownpocket, says Trump’s lawyer

Pakistansupported terroristgroups would continue tocarry out attacks inside India, America’s intelligencechief has warned, amid aspike in terror attacks inJammu and Kashmir.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats’ remarkscame days after a group ofPakistanbased JaisheMohammad terrorists struckthe Sunjuwan Military Campin Jammu, killing seven people, including six soldiers.

Pakistan, in fact, will continue to threaten U.S. interests by deploying new nuclear weapons capabilities,maintaining its ties to militants, restricting counterterrorism cooperation, anddrawing closer to China, Mr.

Coats said in his testimonybefore the Senate SelectCommittee on Intelligence.

Safe havens“Militant groups supportedby Islamabad will continueto take advantage of theirsafe haven in Pakistan toconduct attacks in India and

Afghanistan, includingagainst U.S. interests,” Mr.Coats said during the hearing on ‘Worldwide ThreatAssessment’ of the U.S. intelligence community.

He said Pakistan’s perception of its eroding positionrelative to India, reinforcedby endemic economic weakness and domestic securityissues, almost certainly willexacerbate fears of isolationand drive Islamabad’s pursuit of actions that run counter to U.S. goals for theregion.

“Ongoing Pakistani military operations against theTaliban and associatedgroups probably re�ect thedesire to appear moreproactive and responsive toour requests for more actions against these groups.”

‘Pak.-backed militants tocontinue attacks in India’It is restricting counterterror cooperation: U.S. intel chief


Washington

Dan Coats

In the limelight: A man impersonating North Korean leader Kim Jongun in front of cheerleaders attending the uni�ed Koreanice hockey game against Japan at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, in South Korea on Tuesday. * AFP


The dear double

A man stabbed six bystanders in a series of apparently unprovoked attacksin northern Paris on Tuesday night before being arrested by police in a drunken state.

The rampage began ataround 11 p.m. (2300 GMT)in an area known for itshigh levels of street crimeand homelessness to thenorth of the Gare du Nordtrain station in the 18thdistrict.

The injured were admitted to hospital but nonesu�ered lifethreateningwounds, the police sourcesaid.

The attacker was arrested two hours later in theneighbouring 10th district.He was “very drunk” andthe knife was found nearby, said the source.

Six hurt instabbings in Paris


Paris

South Africa’s ANC unveiledplans on Wednesday to sackPresident Jacob Zuma via aparliamentary nocon�dence vote, hours afterarmed police raided the luxury home of his friends, theGupta brothers, as part of ananticorruptioninvestigation.

In his �rst response to anavalanche of pressure fromthe African National Congress (ANC) for him to quit,Mr. Zuma — who has beendogged by scandal throughout his political life — proclaimed his innocence andsaid he was being “victimised” by Nelson Mandela’sformer liberationmovement.

“There’s nothing I’vedone wrong,” a relaxed butindignant Mr. Zuma said during a nearly hourlong interview with the SABC, South

Africa’s state broadcaster. “Idon’t think it’s fair. I think it’sunfair.”

When asked pointblank ifhe would step aside, the President avoided the questionand continued to allege alack of principle in moves bythe party’s National Executive Committee to oust him.He said he would make a formal statement later onWednesday.

He did not comment onthe police raids, whichmarked a dramatic tightening of the net around the 75yearold and the political faction around him accused ofmilking state resources fortheir own ends.

Limited optionsEven if he refuses to quit,with the ANC backing an Oppositionled nocon�dence

motion on Thursday, Mr. Zuma appears to have run outof road after nine years in of�ce marked by political tumult and economicstagnation.

Beginning of the end ANC chief whip JacksonMthembu said Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa,whose election as head ofthe ANC in Decembermarked the beginning of theend of Mr. Zuma’s tenure,could be sworn in as head ofstate as early as Friday.

“After we have voted forthe removal of the Presidentof the Republic — and depending on the availability ofthe Chief Justice — we will also elect a new President,”Mr. Mthembu told a newsconference in Cape Town.

The early morning raid,which the police’s eliteHawks unit said resulted inthree arrests, took place

amid reports that Mr. Zumawas preparing to tell thecountry he was steppingdown.

The SABC said a Gupta family member was amongthose detained. A senior judicial source said police expected to arrest up to sevenmore people and that Guptafamily members would beamong them.

“You can’t bring a matterof this nature to court andnot charge the people whohave bene�ted the most,”the source said.

Mr. Zuma and the Guptas,a family of wealthy Indianborn businessmen, deny anywrongdoing. A lawyer for theGupta family said he couldnot comment on the raid because he had yet to see thesearch warrant.

Police also raided theGuptas’ Oakbay holdingcompany in Johannesburg’sSandton �nancial district.

ANC to sack Zuma via nocon�dence votePolice raided the home of President’s friends, the Gupta brothers and detained some family members

In trouble: A �le photo of President of South Africa JacobZuma at the 54th ANC National Conference. * REUTERS

Reuters

JOHANNESBURG

Aid to Jordan up despiteTrump’s threats of cuts AMMAN

Despite United States

President Donald Trump’s

repeated threats to punish

countries that don’t agree

with his country’s policies in

the West Asia, the U.S.

administration took a more

realistic approach and

announced an increase in aid

to Jordan by over $1 billion

over the next five years. AP

The name of Ratan Tata �gures in the Israeli police recommendations seeking toindict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on graftcharges, according to an Israeli media report, whichwas on Wednesday dismissed by the industrialist’s of�ce as “grossly incorrect” inits references about him.

In the socalled Case1000, in which Mr. Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, aresuspected of receiving illicitgifts from billionaire benefactors, Israeliborn Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and Australian resortowner James Packer, the Indian industrialist is also saidto be a part of a project thatMr. Netanyahu tried to pushforward to help Mr. Milchan.

“According to the police,the most glaring example ofNetanyahu working againstIsrael’s interests to bene�tMilchan was his e�orts (to)

promote a free trade zoneon the IsraelJordan border,a project the Hollywood producer sought to promote aspart of his partnership withIndian industrialist RatanNaval Tata,” Ynetnewsreported.

Project scrappedThe project, which policenoted went against the recommendations of the defence establishment, wouldhave generated Mr. Milchan

and Mr. Tata “a huge pro�t”,but ended up beingscrapped because it wouldhave cost the state an unreasonable amount in securityexpenses, the news portalsaid.

Commenting on the newsreport, the Indian industrialist’s o�ce on Wednesdaysaid that it is “grossly incorrect in its references aboutMr. Ratan N. Tata”.

Tata testi�edLast year, the Israeli mediareported that Mr. Tata “testi�ed” before the Israeli policein connection with this allegation during his trip to TelAviv in the end of OctoberNovember on the sidelinesof a business event.

A statement emailed toPTI by Mr. Tata’s o�ce didnot deny the meeting between him and the Israeli o�cials. But it said the reportsin Israeli media on the contents of the meeting are “factually incorrect and appearto have been motivated”.

Ratan Tata’s o�ce called it a ‘grossly incorrect’ reference


Jerusalem

Ratan Tata

Israeli police name Tata in case against Netanyahu

Britain warned on Wednesday it would cut o� ties withforeign aid charities that cover up sex scandals after revelations involving Oxfam,which has seen a spate incancellations of donations.

“Unless you report everyserious incident or allegation, no matter how damaging to your reputation — wecannot be partners,” Britain’s International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt told a conference inStockholm, according to extracts of her speech releasedby her Ministry.

‘Ensure accountability’“The same message goes outto any organisation or partner which receives U.K. aid.We want procedures to

change. We want leaders tolead with moral authorityand we want sta� to be heldaccountable,” she said.

Ms. Mordaunt called allegations about the use ofprostitutes by some Oxfamsta� in Haiti in 2011 “horrifying”. Oxfam has denied covering up the scandal but admitted it should have beenmore transparent. “Sexualabuse is an issue the entire

development sector needsto confront,” Ms. Mordauntsaid, calling for a culturethat “ensures victims andwhistleblowers can comeforward without fear”.

Oxfam ambassador quitsMeanwhile, British actressMinnie Driver has quit herrole as an Oxfam ambassador, saying she was “devastated” by the charity’s response to the scandal.

The scandal has led to theresignation of Oxfam’s deputy head and has thrown intoquestion government funding for the charity, whichamounted to around £32million last year. A charityspokeswoman on Wednesday said it had received 1,270cancellations of donationsby direct debit between Saturday and Monday.

Same message to ‘any organisation or partner receiving our aid’


London

Penny Mordaunt

U.K. aid chief warns charitiesafter Oxfam sex scandal

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

One hurt in shooting nearU.S. NSA headquartersFORT MEADE

Shots were fired on

Wednesday when a vehicle

tried to enter the National

Security Agency, the U.S. spy

agency outside Washington,

without authorisation. At

least one person was injured.

The FBI has said it did not

appear to be a terrorist

attack. AFP


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BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413.00. . . . . . . . . 9.65

Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 254.15. . . . . . . . -2.75

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1139.15. . . . . . . . -5.25

Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 602.10. . . . . . . . -5.20

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543.90. . . . . . -20.30

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3109.75. . . . . . -44.35

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1669.95. . . . . . . 26.15

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434.80. . . . . . . 10.40

Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19515.10. . . . . . -30.75

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460.10. . . . . . . . -7.45

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616.15. . . . . . . . -5.50

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306.95. . . . . . . . . 6.30

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2183.30. . . . . . -20.95

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 28027.60. . . . . 126.20

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466.90. . . . . . . . . 1.90

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 937.80. . . . . . . . -1.35

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1814.00. . . . . . . . . 8.55

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1883.15. . . . . . . . . 6.50

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3596.05. . . . . . -15.85

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243.25. . . . . . . . . 0.00

HPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382.65. . . . . . . . -8.80

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1349.40. . . . . . . . . 4.95

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1348.20. . . . . . . 33.35

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318.95. . . . . . . . -7.30

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1694.45. . . . . . . . . 6.65

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 327.40. . . . . . -10.85

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1097.75. . . . . . . . -5.05

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 377.35. . . . . . . . -1.70

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266.50. . . . . . . . -3.35

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1042.45. . . . . . . . -0.50

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1361.20. . . . . . . 10.70

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827.60. . . . . . -12.85

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746.95. . . . . . . . . 0.95

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9001.60. . . -116.25

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162.95. . . . . . . . -1.95

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185.75. . . . . . . . -5.25

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 195.45. . . . . . . . -3.05

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 933.65. . . . . . . 18.15

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276.20. . . . . . -12.55

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574.80. . . . . . -14.35

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376.85. . . . . . . . . 5.05

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708.00. . . . . . . . -5.10

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2911.80. . . . . . -55.50

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 611.50. . . . . . . 21.15

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4175.50. . . . . . -24.80

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721.90. . . . . . . . -4.60

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315.75. . . . . . . . . 0.20

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293.45. . . . . . . . . 4.50

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320.35. . . . . . -15.05

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 576.60. . . . . . . . -7.90

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on February 14

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 63.89. . . . . . . 64.21

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 78.90. . . . . . . 79.30

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 88.53. . . . . . . 88.98

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 59.51. . . . . . . 59.81

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 10.07. . . . . . . 10.13

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 68.46. . . . . . . 68.81

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 48.42. . . . . . . 48.66

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 50.81. . . . . . . 51.07

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 16.29. . . . . . . 16.41

Source:Indian Bank

market watch

14-02-2018 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 34,156 ddddddddddddd-0.42

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 64.09 ddddddddddddddd0.36

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 31,300 ddddddddddddddd0.00

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 62.22 ddddddddddddd-1.64

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

February 14 rates in rupees with previousrates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.3. . . . . . . (41.5)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 2889. . . . . . (2891)

On Wednesday, even as thebenchmark Sensex endedthe day in the red, the broader BSE MidCap and BSESmallCap indices gainedground, mirroring a trendthat is being seen quite oftenin the recent past.

Market participants saythe midcap and smallcapsegments are seeing a rallyas many investors, especially retail, are once again selectively buying into stocksthat had corrected signi�cantly in the recent past andare now available at attractive valuations.

While the Sensex has lostmore than 5% this month,the BSE SmallCap index hasdropped only 1.2%.

The BSE MidCap indexhas declined less than 3% tilldate in February.

Further, in the 12monthperiod ended January, themidcap and smallcap indices had gained 35% and45% respectively, while theSensex had added 30% inthe same period.

‘Corrected a lot’“The midcap universe hascorrected a lot and manygood quality stocks are nowavailable at levels that areway below the highs theytouched early this year,” saidSiddhartha Khemka, Headof Research (Retail), MotilalOswal Financial Services.

“Investors are still cautious but are selectively buying into this space. They mayfeel that the market has notyet touched the bottom butare buying since they lookattractively valued at current levels,” Mr. Khemkaadded.

In most of the recentmonths, the broader indices

had outperformed the gainsof the benchmark and evenin months when the Sensexfell sharply, these indicesmanaged to restrict theirfall.

Incidentally, on manydays in the recent past whenthe Sensex ended in the red,the market breadth was positive as many of the sidecounters managed to gainground.

On February 7, when theSensex lost 113 points, themarket breadth was strongwith more than 2,000 stocksgaining ground as against757 declines on the BSE withthe SmallCap index climbingalmost 2%.

Thereafter, on February9, the Sensex lost more than400 points but the marketbreadth was only slightly negative with 1,403 stocks declining as against 1,369 gainers.

Again, the BSE SmallCapalong with some of the otherbroader indices posted ad

vances on that day.While the midcap space

spans across several sectors,analysts say that the currentbuying activity is mostly limited to infrastructure, capital goods, auto & auto ancillaries and companiesdependent on a rural recovery and consumer spending.

‘Gaining momentum’Amarjeet Maurya, AssistantVice President Research(Midcap), Angel Broking, isof the view that mid caps arein the limelight as the market seems to be gaining momentum and investors believe that such stocks willoutperform the large capsover a longer period of time.

“Some of the domesticconcerns related to earningsand demand growth seem tohave subsided as the lastquarter saw many mid capsreporting strong corporatenumbers. In some cases, thequantum of earnings growthin the December quarterwas not seen in the previous45 quarters. This is leadingto increased buying in themidcap space with consumption theme getting special attention,” said Mr. Maurya.

Mid, small caps rule asinvestors hunt value BSE MidCap, BSE SmallCap have outpaced Sensex in Feb.

ASHISH RUKHAIYAR

MUMBAI

<> Mid caps will

outperform large

caps in the long

run

Amarjeet Maurya

Angel Broking

President Donald Trump onTuesday cited the level ofcustoms duty levied in Indiaon HarleyDavidson motorcycle imports as an exampleof unfair trade and threatened to increase the importtari� on “thousands andthousands” of Indian motorcycles shipped to the U.S.

Mr. Trump had �aggedHarleyDavidson in his maiden address to U.S. Congressin March 2017, and severaladministration o�cials havesubsequently cited the issueas an example in discussionson the ‘America First’ policy.

The Indian government’srecent decision to reduce thetari� on highend motorcycles from 75% to 50% wasnot enough, the U.S. president said and sought “zerotax” on the import of motorcycles, since the U.S does

not impose any tari� on motorcycles from India.

“We have so many countries... we pay a tremendoustax to get into their countries... Harley Davidson itgoes into a certain country; Iwon’t mention the fact that ithappens to be India, in thiscase,” Mr. Trump told members of Congress during adiscussion on the steel industry. “If you are Harley Davidson, you have 50 to75%tax, tari� to get your motorcycle, your product in. And

yet they sell thousands andthousands of motorcycles,which a lot of people don’tknow, from India into theUnited States. You knowwhat our tax is? Nothing,” hetold the lawmakers.

After Mr. Trump had mentioned the tari� on highendmotorcycles in March, theIndian government hadworked on reducing it.

On February 12, India announced a reduction in tari�s on highend motorcycles, a move that was incontrast with duty increaseson several items announcedin this month’s Budget.

Mr. Trump indicated hehad been informed aboutthe decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi even before it was announced.

“A great gentleman calledme from India and he said,we have just reduced the tari� on motorcycles, reduced

it down to 50% from 75, andeven 100%,” Mr. Trump said,in an apparent reference tohis conversation with Mr.Modi, which was on February 8. The Central Board ofExcise and Customs (CBEC)announced the decision toslash customs duty on motorcycles to 50%. Earlier, itwas up to 75% for new bikeswith engines exceeding800cc capacity and 100% forused motorcycles.

‘Very unfair’But Mr. Trump expressed hisdissatisfaction with the duty.

“I say we should have reciprocal taxes for a case likethat. I’m not blaming India. Ithink it’s great that they canget away with it. I don’t knowwhy people allowed them toget away with it. But there’san example that’s very unfair. And I think we shouldhave a reciprocal tax.”

Harley tari� cut ‘not enough’: TrumpWants India to reduce import duty on motorcycle to zero, or face ‘reciprocal tax’

Varghese K George

Washington

Telecom �rm Bharti Airtelis in discussions with consultants and intermediaries for listing shares of itsNetherlandsbased unit,BAIN BV, that controls the�rm’s Africa operations, ona global stock exchange.

“The board of directorsof BAIN BV on February 12,has authorised its management to initiate nonbinding exploratory discussionwith various banks/intermediaries to explore possibility/feasibility of listing ofits shares on an internationally recognised stockexchange,” Bharti Airtelsaid in regulatory �ling.

Bharti Airtel operates in14 African countries.

Bharti mullslisting Dutchunit BAIN BV


NEW DELHI

U.K.based Liberty HouseGroup has emerged as thenew bidder for all Bhushanassets, including BhushanPower and Steel, a move thatleft existing bidders fumingas the Londonbased �rmshowed interest after deadline for the bidding ended.

A Liberty House Groupspokesperson in an emailreply to query by The Hindu

said, “Yes, we are biddingfor Bhushan Power and Steeland Bhushan assets.”

JSW Steel and Tata Steelhad submitted bids forBhushan assets. JSW Steel’sbid of �28,000 crore for

Bhushan Steel was reportedly higher than Tata Steel’s.

Highest bidderJSW Steel had emerged asthe highest bidder forBhushan Power and Steel byagreeing to pay �13,000crore while Tata Steel’s bidwas said to be less than

�12,000 crore “The deadlinehas got over. What prevented them (Liberty House)from submitting bids withinthe prescribed deadline?They now know our bidsand so shouldn’t be allowedto bid,” an o�cial of a steel�rm, which had submittedits bids, told The Hindu.

A Liberty House Group of�cial said, “We have been invited to bid and we will submit a viable resolution planfor Bhushan assets in a couple of weeks. Our biddingwill comply [with] all guidelines of the regulators andwill be in [the] best interestof all the stakeholders, especially the lenders.”

U.K.’s Liberty House bidsfor Bhushan assetsExisting bidders cry foul over ‘postdeadline’ bid

Piyush Pandey

MUMBAI

India has initiated a reviewof antidumping duty on �atbase steel wheels from Chinato take a call on “the needfor continued imposition ofthe duties in force.”

The Directorate Generalof Antidumping and alliedDuties (DGAD) has initiatedthe review investigation “toexamine whether the expiryof such duty (on imports of�at base steel wheels fromChina) is likely to lead to continuation or recurrence ofdumping and injury to thedomestic (Indian) industry.”

Huge trade de�citThe move comes in the backdrop of India’s huge tradede�cit with China ($51.1 billion in FY’17).

Kalyani Maxion Wheels

Pvt. Ltd. and Wheels IndiaLtd. have �led an application“alleging likelihood of continuation or recurrence ofdumping of the subjectgoods, originating in or exported from China and con

sequent injury to the domestic industry.”

They have sought a reviewand continuation of the antidumping duties, imposed onsuch imports. “The Authority (DGAD) has considered

the period of October, 2016to September, 2017 as the period of investigation. The injury investigation period hashowever, been considered asthe period 201415, 201516,201617 and the period of investigation,” the DGAD said.

India had in 2013 imposedduty up to $613 per tonne onimport of the product fromChina for �ve years. As perthe World Trade Organisation, if a company exports aproduct at a price lower thanthe price it normally chargeson its own home market, it issaid to be “dumping” theproduct.

The global body has alsosaid that the WTO agreement allows governments toact against dumping wherethere is genuine (“material”)injury to the competingdomestic industry.

India initiates review of anti-dumpingduty on Chinese steel wheel imports In 2013, India imposed duty of up to $613 per tonne on the imports for 5 years

Wider gamut: The probe would �nd out if expiry of the importduty would lead to recurrence of dumping.


New Delhi

Kumar Mangalam BirlaledGrasim Industries is planning to invest more than $1billion in capacity expansion of its viscose and chemicals businesses.

“The investments willhelp the company to scaleup its viscose capacity by58% to 788 ktpa (kilo tonneper annum) and chemicalscapacity to 1.14 mtpa (million tonne from annum)from 854 ktpa,” Sushil Agarwal, wholetime director,Grasim, told The Hindu.

Internal accruals“All the investments will befunded through internal accruals of the company,” hesaid. Grasim reported a 17%fall in its third quarter consolidated net pro�t to�786.9 crore due to loss

from subsidiaries. Revenuerose 78% to �15,523 crore asthe company merged AdityaBirla Nuvo with itself. Thecement assets of JaypeeGroup were also mergedwith the �rm.

“Of the �6,440 crore, investments, �5,260 crore willbe invested for viscose business and �646 crore towardschemicals business,” DilipGaur, MD, Grasim Industries, told The Hindu.

Grasim to invest $1 bnin viscose, chemicals Q3 pro�t falls 17% on loss from units

Piyush Pandey

MUMBAI

Kumar Mangalam Birla

Reeling from a �11,500crorefraud, Punjab National Bankreached out to alert otherlenders to the perpetrators’modus operandi, while atthe same time apportioninga share of the blame to itscompetitors’ overseasbranches.

In a letter dated February12, to the CEOs of otherbanks, PNB said it wasfound that the SWIFT system had been misused by ajuniorlevel branch o�cial,who had fraudulently issuedletters of undertaking(LoUs) on behalf of somecompanies for availingbuyers’ credit from overseasbranches of Indian banks.The SWIFT network andidenti�cation codes aremost commonly used for international wire transfers.

“The companies weremaintaining only current account with the branch andwere not enjoying any fundor nonfund based limits.None of the transactionswere routed through theCBS [core banking solution]system, thus avoiding earlydetection of fraudulent activity,” PNB wrote. In one instance, LoUs were openedin favour of overseasbranches of Indian banksfor import of pearls for a period of one year, for whichas per RBI norms, the totaltime period allowed is 90days from the date ofshipment.

“This stipulation wasoverlooked by overseasbranches of Indian banks,who are required to followRBI guidelines,” PNB said,adding none of them hadshared any information.

Fraudhit PNB warnspeers about LoUs‘Rivals’ foreign branches also to blame’

MANOJIT SAHA

Mumbai


#4 6 2 1 9 5

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

TII net rises 28%, to pay125% interim dividendCHENNAI

Tube Investments of India

Ltd. (TII) posted 28% growth

in standalone net pro�t for

the third quarter ended

December 2017, to �35 crore

against �27 crore in the

yearearlier period. Revenue

rose by 21% to �1,173 crore

against �973 crore (net of

excise duty). The board

declared an interim dividend

of �1.25 per share (125%). “

Bicycle market was sluggish

but the auto sector

registered good growth,”

said MD L. Ramkumar.

Carborundum UniversalQ3 pro�t rises 56%CHENNAI

Carborundum Universal Ltd.

has reported a 56% increase

in its standalone net pro�t

for the third quarter ended

December, 2017, to �53 crore

against �34 crore in the

yearearlier period following

better performance from

abrasives, ceramics and

electro mineral businesses.

Gross sales increased 15% to

�419 crore from �366 crore,

driven by better performance

from all segments. The board

recommended an interim

dividend of �1 per share.

Startup HackerRankraises $30 millionBENGALURU

Recruitment technology

startup HackerRank said it

had raised $30 million in a

Series C funding round led by

JMI Equity, an American

growth equity �rm. Existing

investors, including Khosla

Ventures, Battery Ventures,

Randstad Innovation Fund,

and Chartline Capital

Partners, also participated in

the round. This brings

HackerRank's total funding

to $58.2 million. HackerRank

would use the funds to

accelerate growth and

advance data science R&D.

The Centre, through its company Energy E�ciency Services Limited (EESL), is planning to replicate its successin the LED space in the commercial sector by creating amarket for lowcost, energye�cient motors, a senior of�cial said.

“A large chunk of energyconsumption goes to industry,” S.P. Garnaik, nationalprogramme manager (CGM)at EESL told The Hindu.

“About 3034% of the totalenergy consumption goes tothe industrial sector, whichis a substantial amount. Andout of that, about 70% iselectrical energy consumption.” Most of this electricityconsumption is due to theuse of motordriven systems,Mr. Garnaik added.

“Now, we can address thee�ciency issues in the entiresystem or as at the subassembly level, which is at themotor level,” Addressing theentire system has larger opportunities but is more complex. You need so many

technological interventions.So, initially, we decided toaddress it at a component level,” Mr. Garnaik said.

Using a combination ofeconomies of scale and design e�ciencies, Mr. Garnaiksaid EESL had so far been

able to create motors in thecapacity range of 1.1 KW to 22KW that are 30% cheaperand result in an average of15% lower electricity usage.

‘Other levers’“Apart from the price bene�t, one of the other levers tocreate demand is the factthat the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotionhas issued a quality assurance guidance that says thatmanufacturers will have tosupply a minimum energyperformance standard adhering to the ‘InternationalE�ciency2’ (IE2) level,” Mr.Garnaik said.

The EESL motors are ofthe IE3 level, which savebetween 7% to 23% of electricity compared with thecurrent industry standard,depending on the applica

tion, Mr. Garnaik said. “The present practice is of

using nonIE motors,” hesaid. “About 99% of the motors being used are IE1 ornonIE.” Phase 1 of the nationwide programme, to beunveiled by Power MinisterR.K. Singh, would seek to replace 1.2 lakh motors of thecapacity of 1.122 KW, whichwould save 175 million unitsof electricity, he said.

In the second phase, , twolakh motors would be replaced, including those of acapacity higher than 22 KW.“There are in total about 11million motors that can bereplaced, which works out toabout 15 billion units of electricity being saved,” Mr. Garnaik said. “This can lead to6,000 MW of capacity reduction. But 11 million cannot be done overnight.”

Centre targets industry to save powerAfter success with LED, EESL aims at 6,000 MW savings by creating market for energye�cient motors

TCA Sharad Raghavan

NEW DELHI

Powering e�ciency: As many as 11 million motors can bereplaced, saving 15 billion units of power, says Mr. Garnaik.

Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) would soon beginexporting power to Bangladesh on the basis of a bid ithad won, through its powertrading partner NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd., forsupplying 300 MW.

International tenderThis is the �rst time thatDVC had won a global tender for crossborder powersupply, according to a statement. DVC is administeredby the Union Power Ministry and coowned by theCentre and the States ofWest Bengal and Jharkhand.

With an installed capacity of 7,237.2 MW, DVC supplies power to six States,apart from its two holding

States. DVC would supplypower to Bangladesh fromJanuary 2020 to May 2033.The shortterm supplywould commence from June2018 and end in December2019. The power would beevacuated through the 500MW HVDC transmission linethrough Baharampur inWest Bengal and Bheramarain Bangladesh. The linewould be commissioned inJune 2018, an o�cial said.

DVC to start exportingpower to BangladeshUtility had won a bid to sell 300 MW


KOLKATA

Piramal Finance Ltd. (PFL),a subsidiary of Piramal Enterprises Ltd., plans to invest $2 billion (more than�12,800 crore) in the a�ordable housing sector by 2020,a top executive said.

“A�ordable housing willtake o� in a big way with government push,” saidKhushru Jijina, managing director, Piramal Finance Ltd.and Piramal Housing Finance Ltd. “Almost all bigdevelopers are getting intothis space and we are willingto provide end to end solutions to such developers,” headded.

“A�ordable housing willcome up on the outskirts ofthe cities on 100 to 300acres of land parcels. So, we

are providing equity capitalto buy land and also construction �nance for building the houses. We are alsoproviding housing loans toselfemployed people andothers to help the developerto easily �nd buyers. Withour endtoend solution, thedeveloper will only concentrate on getting approvals

and constructing the projecton time,” he added.

‘2020 target’“We have identi�ed projectsin Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Bengaluru andChennai with investmentpotential of �3,000 crore.Our target is to invest $2 billion by 2020 in a�ordablehousing, said Mr. Jijina.

The �rm, with a loanbook of �65,000 crore as onDecember 31, 2017, has setup a dedicated team to invest in a�ordable and midincome residential projectsacross major metros in India. PFL is also pursuing opportunistic acquisitions ofland on its own accord andwill invite developers to participate on a joint development basis.

Eyes projects on 100300 acre parcels on outskirts of cities

Lalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

Khushru Jijina

Piramal Finance plans to invest$2 billion in a�ordable housing

Pininfarina, the Italian cardesigning company of theMahindra Group, hasbagged a contract fromVietnamese carmaker VinFast Trading and Production Ltd. Company for development of two cars, anSUV and a sedan, the company said.

Pininfarina is known fordeveloping sports cars including Ferrari and AlfaRomeo. The two models tobe developed by Pininfarina are the two most voteddesigns by Vietnameseconsumers in a contest thatstarted in October, 2017.

After unveiling 20 concept designs submitted byleading design houses including Pininfarina, Vinfast asked customers tochose the best designs.

M&M unit todesign carsfor Vietnam


MUMBAI

International Tractors Ltd.(ITL) expects to hit full production capacity in the nextthree years as the maker of‘Sonalika’ tractors increasesfocus on the southern market, including Tamil Nadu,said a top o�cial.

“Tamil Nadu is dominatedby tractors in the 4150 HPsegment,” said Mudit Gupta,president, commercial andstrategic alliances, ITL.

‘Priority market’“Hence, it becomes a priority market for us. We arecommitted to bring our besto�erings to the farmers inthe region. Sonalika has thewidest range from 20 HP to120 HP and tractors sold in

Tamil Nadu range from 20HP to 60 HP. We aim to increase our regional presencethrough strong dealership,”he said. ITL’s Hoshiarpurplants have a combined capacity to produce three lakh

tractors per annum. “We will be closing this �

nancial year with one lakhtractors at our two Hoshiarpur plants in Punjab against81,000 units produced lastyear,” Mr. Gupta said.

ITL to lift tractor output asit targets more sales in TNFirm plans to introduce tractors for intercrop cultivation


CHENNAI

Long haul: International Tractors would try to increaseregional presence through strong dealerships.


462195

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CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

India captain Virat Kohli saidhis team may test its benchstrength in the sixth and �nalODI against South Africa onFriday, but asserted that intensity won’t be lacking despite the match’s deadrubberstatus.

“After this series iswrapped up we’ll sit downand think about where to improve.

“For now, 41 feels great.We want to win 51, for sure,but there might be a scenariofor a few more guys to get achance in the next match,”Kohli said.

“But the ultimate priorityis to win and we’ll do anything we can to win,” he added.

The performance of Kohliand wrist spinners KuldeepChahal and Yuzvendra Chahal stood out, but the captainsaid the series win was theresult of a team e�ort.

“I’m very pleased, it wasanother complete performance from us,” he said referring to Tuesday’s win.

“They (South Africa) hadthe pressure of losing this se

ries and we knew that. Eversince the third Test in Johannesburg, it’s been a goodtime for us. It’s been a collective e�ort to create history,”he added.

Outplayed

South African standin captain Aiden Markram said hisdepleted team was outplayedby India in the series.

“Firstly, credit goes to India. Our batting wasn’t up toscratch. You struggle to buildmomentum when you losewickets.

“They’ve got their gameplans nailed so credit to howthey’ve played,” saidMarkram.

“I do believe we’ve playedtheir spinners progressivelybetter in the series. It’s alearning process. There’s stilla lot of pride to play for nowand we’re gonna look tobounce back and end the series on a positive note,” added Markram.

Collective e�ort helped us create history, says Kohli India skipper hints at changes for �nal ODI; Markram blames batsmen for loss


Port Elizabeth

A lot to celebrate: Having clinched the ODI series with a match to go, India captain Virat Kohli, centre, has every reason to feelmighty pleased. * AFP

INDIA IN SA <> Our batting wasn’t

up to scratch. You

struggle to build

momentum when

you lose wickets

Aiden Markram

A disappointed South Africacoach Ottis Gibson says hehas no excuses to o�er forthe “hiding” his depletedside has taken from a rampaging India, leaving himwith a lot to think about going forward.

“You take three of yourbest batsmen out of anyteam, they will struggle andwhen you do it against a verystrong Indian team it has exposed us.

“We have got a good hiding from India, let us not kidourselves about that, but ithas also given us a lot of foodfor thought going forward,”said Gibson.

Gibson also conceded thatIndia’s wrist spin pair of Yuzvendra Chahal and KuldeepYadav have tormented hisside in this ODI series but felt

they may not be that usefulin the World Cup in England.

“I think India has twoworldclass spinners andthey might spin it anywhere,but we have got a whole yearto learn to deal with thatstu�. But I don’t believe itwill spin that much in England,” he said.

He felt his batsmen let theteam down at crucial junctures through the entire ODI

series, particularly in the�fth match. “We were optimistic the series was stillthere to be drawn.,” he said.

Gibson said on the contrary the Indian topordermade the di�erence in theODI series by scoring thebulk of runs.

“A lot of credit has to go toIndia. In every game, one oftheir top three (batsmen) hasscored a hundred and that isbeen the di�erence in the series.

“We’ve got one hundredfrom captain Faf du Plessis inDurban, and we’ve not beenable to get another since. It’snot that we can’t,” Gibsonadded.

Gibson lamented that injuries cost South Africa in theseries and hampered itspreparation for the 2019World Cup as it looked to tryout new faces.

‘India’s top three made the di�erence’ Defeat has given us food for thought going forward: Ottis Gibson Press Trust of India

Port Elizabeth

Ottis Gibson. * FILE PHOTO

India allrounder YuvrajSingh is ‘looking forward tothe 2019 World Cup’ despitehaving fallen out of favourwith the selectors.

“I have had to start mycricket again, literally fromscratch,” Yuvraj told Sport-star. “I am going throughthe grind of domestic cricket. For someone like me,motivation comes fromwithin.

“The team has transformed under Virat (Kohli).He is taking them in the rightdirection with his �tnessand diet discipline, keepingin mind the 2019 WorldCup,” said Yuvraj.

Asked if the team management has been averse to utilising the experience of Indian veterans, Yuvraj noted,

“Age is not a factor, performance is.

“If you perform wellthroughout the season youwill be picked,” before adding, “To reward consistency is the best thing, and alsoplease remember that someplayers perform better afterthey become 30. Not everyone matures early.”

Yuvraj, who has played inall seasons of the Indian Pre

mier League (IPL), feels thebowlers are �nally gettingtheir due in the shortest format.

“Earlier, teams were batsmanheavy. The franchiseswould spend more moneyon batsmen who could alsobowl. It has changed now.They want to spend on bowlers as well. The pace of thegame has changed and bowlers are as important as thebatsmen,” he said.

After 18 years of international cricket, has thethought of retirementcrossed his mind yet?

“I want to go when I feel itis the right time to go; whenI feel I have done my bestand I could not have doneany more than this.

The motivation is de�nitely to play for India. I feel twoor three IPLs are left in me.”

Yuvraj hopes to play in WC Veteran says he has two or three IPLs left in him

Sports Bureau

CHENNAI

Yuvraj Singh * FILE PHOTO

Egypt’s Mohamed Safwatkept talking about the“change in perspective.”

Winning ITF Futures singles and doubles titles dimea dozen and not being ableto win anything of note inthe ATP Challenger Tourmade Safwat realise something was wrong.

But after recently hiringthe services of Austrian Gilbert Schaller, a former Worldtop 20 player, Safwat hasstarted to focus on improving and enjoying his game.

It showed as the 27yearold, seeded four, scripted afacile 64, 62 win over quali�er Arjun Kadhe of India toenter the quarter�nals of theChennai Open ATP Challenger tennis championshipshere on Wednesday.

With quali�er S. AbhinavSanjeev joining Kadhe in thecasualty list after losing toSouth Korea’s Duckhee Lee,the third seed, 62, 64 it was

left to India’s top player YukiBhambri and the secondseed to keep the country’s�ag �ying high. And hedidn’t disappoint as he walloped a hapless Sidharth Rawat 62, 63. Yuki will nexttake on Japanese YasutakaUchiyama, who defeatedCem Ilkel of Turkey 64, 75.

Since November 2015 — involving six Challenger eventsin India — this tournament isthe worst in terms of numberof Indians entering the lasteight.The results (prequarter�nals): Jordan Thompson (Aus)bt Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (Tha) 63, 62; Duckhee Lee(Kor) bt S. Abhinav Sanjeev 62,64; Mohamed Safwat (Egy) btArjun Kadhe 64, 62.

Danilo Petrovic (Srb) bt Enrique Lopez Perez (Esp) 64,00 (retd.); Yasutaka Uchiyama(Jpn) bt Cem Ilkel (Tur) 64,75; Antoine Esco�er (Fra) btGerard Granollers (Esp) 76(2),62; Pedro Martinez (Esp) btLucas Catarina (Mon) 76(2),60; Yuki Bhambri bt SidharthRawat 62, 63.

Safwat outclasses Arjun Kadhe Yuki Bhambri lone Indian in last eight

Enjoying himself: Egyptian Mohamed Safwat reacts afterwinning a point against Arjun Kadhe of India. * K.V. SRINIVASAN

K. Keerthivasan

CHENNAI

Kalu Uche’s 87th minutestrike helped Delhi Dynamos defeat NorthEast United FC in their ISL matchhere on Wednesday.

Though Dynamos had amajor share of the possession in the �rst half, it wasNEUFC which had a goldenchance to go ahead. However, Seiminlen Doungel’s weak shot was savedby Dynamos custodian Xabier Iruetagueana.

Just as the contestlooked headed for a goalless draw, Uche struck. Released by MohammadDhot, David Ngaithe surgedfrom the right to cross tothe Uche who made nomistake.

The win took Dynamosto 11 points, the same asNEUFC.

Uche givesDynamosfull points

SPORTS BUREAU

GUWAHATI

Kerala’s Jinson Johnson, theAsian Championship 800mbronze medallist in Bhubaneswar last year, and themen’s and women’s mile relay teams struck gold at theinvitational athletics meet, atest event for this year’sAsian Games, in Jakarta onWednesday.

Jinson breezed throughhis race and was more thansix seconds ahead of SaudiArabia’s Raed Al Jadni at the�nish.

The 4x400m relay teamsalso did not have to sweatmuch for victory and the women’s quartet, virtually anew combination which included talented sprinter Hima Das, was the lone team inthe event.

Sarita Romit Singh won asilver in women’s hammerthrow and Tamil Nadu’s junior national champion K.Kamalraj took the men’s triple jump bronze but he wasway behind his personal bestof 16.41m.

India topped the athletics

medals table with 13 golds,�ve silvers and four bronzesbut there was some disappointment too with its men’s4x100m relay team beingdisquali�ed.

The results (gold medallists &Indian performances):

Men: 800m: 1. Jinson Johnson(Ind) 1:47.96s. 4x100m relay: 1.Indonesia (39.07s). India (Anuroop John, Elakkiya Dasan, S.Vidyasagar, Mohammed Sadath) disquali�ed. 4x400m relay: 1. India (P. Kunhu Muhammed, Jithu Baby, SumitKumar, K. Jeevan Suresh)3:07.06s. 3,000m steeple

chase: 1. R.M.S. Pushpalrumara(SL) 8:59.70s. Triple jump: 1.Zhu Yaming (Chn) 16.79m, 3. K.Kamalraj (Ind) 15.73.

Women: 800m: 1. Yume Kitamura (Jpn) 2:06.37s. 4x100m relay: 1. Indonesia (46.42s).4x400m relay: India (HimaDas, A. Nithya Shree, Sarita BenGayakwad, Sonia Baishya)3:37.76s. 3000m steeplechase: 1. Uda Rathnayaka (Sri)9:55.59s. High jump: 1. WangYang (Chn) 1.85m. Hammer: 1.Luo Na (Chn) 72.11m, 2. SaritaRomit Singh (Ind) 61.75. Heptathlon: 1. Yuki Yamasaki (Jpn)5,646 pts.

Gold for Johnson and mile relay teams Sports Bureau

Jakarta

Grigor Dimitrov and DavidGo�n advanced at the Rotterdam Open with straightsets wins on Wednesday.

While second seed Dimitrov fought back to beat Japan’s Yuichi Sugita 64, 76(5) in the �rst round, Go�nmade light work of veteranSpaniard Feliciano Lopez,cruising through 61, 63 inthe second round. Other results: First round:Robin Haase bt Thiemo deBakker 62, 62; Andrey Rublev bt Lucas Pouille 75, 64.

Dimitrov,Go�nprogress

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

ROTTERDAM

South Africa pacerKagiso Rabada has been�ned 15% of his matchfee and given onedemerit point forbreaching the ICC Codeof Conduct during the�fth ODI against India.

The incidenthappened in the eighthover of India’s inningswhen Rabada, after

dismissing openerShikhar Dhawan, wavedat the departing batsmanand also made acomment which couldhave resulted in areaction from thebatsman, according to anICC release.

Rabada admitted theo�ence and accepted thesanction proposed bymatch referee AndyPycroft.

Rabada pulled upIANS

Port Elizabeth


462195

#4 6 2 1 9 5

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12240 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Arjuna wants to know which form of meditation is better —meditation on the self, or meditation on the Lord. There aremany problems in meditating on the jivatma. The jiva andthe body are not one and the same, and we should keep thisin mind. So, when a person begins to meditate on the jivatma, where will he place his focus — on the body or the atma?Obviously, he should place his focus on the jivatma. But thatis not so easy as it sounds. Many of us get confused and thinkboth body and jivatma are the same, said Valayapet Ramachariar, in a discourse.

A jivatma may assume any body — it can be an animal, ora deva or a human being. So, an atma cannot be categorisedon the basis of the body it assumes. The jivatma is avyaktam— it cannot be comprehended through the sense organs. Allwe do know about it is that it controls the body. Every jivacontrols the body it occupies. Beyond that we �nd it di�cultto understand the atma. Whatever changes has movement.Or to put it di�erently, whatever moves also changes. Thatwhich does not move does not change. The atma movesfrom one body to another, and yet it is unchanging. So howcan this be? The body is sthula — gross. But the atma takes asukshma sareera and moves. Even though it is unchanging,it is hard to focus on it. The atma is aNu — minute. The Paramatma is vibhu — all pervasive. Extremes do not change. So,neither the jivatma nor the Paramatma undergo changes.Because of all these factors, understanding the jivatma andfocusing on it is di�cult. Those who focus on the atma, withthe full knowledge that it is the embodiment of jnana willreach the Supreme One, but those who focus on Him willreach His feet faster. In other words, it is far simpler to adorethe form of the Lord to attain moksha.

FAITH

Forms of meditation 3 Worldly wife in pursuit of

money (8)

4 Criminal, online and on liners

(6)

5 Sumptuous meal animated

disheartened Redcaps (6)

7 Round models for girl's skirts,

topless clothes (6)

8 A men's singles almost turned

out to be insigni�cant (11)

14 People following Sporty Spice,

for example (8)

15 Excellent, crafty arti�cer

needing no introduction (8)

16 Understand exactly what is

needed to get special �gures

(6)

17 Bravery of lawyer coming

down on cartel (6)

19 Main issue is time (6)

20 Consternation not clear, for

instance, when southerner

heads north (6)

11 Bear illwill towards hearties

regularly (4)

12 Held prisoner, Rose dies

violently inside (10)

13 Notable nature (11)

18 Mutilated word wizard goofed

(10)

21 Raise soldiers using army

regulation (4)

22 A,B,C,D are some organic

compounds (8)

23 The devil's backbone (6)

24 Ripped off scarf by mid

morning (6)

25 American activist goes after

mass production (6)

n DOWN

1 Asian apes monkeying around

with Jane (8)

2 Impotence striking men, while

terrible, could be a form of

justice (6)

(set by Skulldugger)

n ACROSS

5 Gloom had spread outside (6)

6 Thrifty Salvation Army branch,

reportedly (6)

9 Reach the top side by side after

peak collapse (6)

10 Blitzed lover ate something

that is both upper and

downer! (8)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12241

Kenyan athletes Rudisha,Kiprop opt out of CWGNAIROBI

Kenya’s 800m Olympic

champion and world record

holder David Rudisha and

twotime Olympic 1500m

champion Asbel Kiprop will

not seek selection for this

year’s Commonwealth

Games, team officials said.

Rudisha and Kiprop have

opted to focus on the season

of Diamond League meetings

starting in Doha in May. PTI

IN BRIEF

Apple signs Durant toproduce new TV series NEW YORK

NBA star Kevin Durant has

agreed to coproduce a

basketballthemed drama

television series ‘Swagger’

that will be part of Apple’s

original TV programming.

The new series will be

inspired by Durant’s youth

basketball experiences,

including amateur leagues

and families dealing with the

opportunities, problems of

the richer professional

leagues. AFP

Bayliss won’t rush Stokesback into team HAMILTON

England coach Trevor Bayliss

has welcomed the return of

Ben Stokes but said he is

unlikely to play the first ODI

of the New Zealand series.

“He hasn’t played for a while.

It is not as if we can maybe

bring him straight back for

these T20s, for example. At

this stage I’d have to say it

was unlikely (he’ll play the

first ODI). We’ll have to wait

and see,” he said. REUTERS

Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka:1st T20I, SS Select 2 (SD &HD), 4.30 p.m.ISL: Star Sports 2 (SD & HD),8 p.m.Europa League: Sony Ten 2,3 (SD & HD), 9.30, 11.30 p.m.& 1.30 a.m. (Friday)

TV PICKS

South Korea to pay forNorth’s presence SEOUL

South Korea on Wednesday

approved a $2.6 million

budget to cover expenses for

North Koreans visiting for the

PyeongChang Winter

Olympics, officials said, after

the North’s leader praised the

South’s hospitality. The

budget will cover transport,

hotel, food and other cost for

229 cheerleaders, a

taekwondo demonstration

team, and around 140 art

performers. The bill for 22

North Korean athletes

attending the Games will be

paid separately by the IOC,

officials said. AFP

Former captain Mush�qurRahim and opener TamimIqbal have added to Bangladesh’s injury woesahead of its �rst Twenty20international against SriLanka in Dhaka onThursday.

Tamim complained ofmuscle pain in his left armand Mush�qur did nottrain on Wednesday because of a wrist injury.

Bangladesh selectorshave added batsman Mohammad Mithun to thesquad as cover.

The �nal T20 of the twomatch series will be playedin Sylhet on Sunday.

Bangladeshsweats over�tness issues


Dhaka

Six Indian boxers, including youth world championShashi Chopra (57kg), advanced to the �nals whilefour others settled forbronze medals at the AsianGames Test event here.

Signing o� with bronzemedals were MuhammedEtash Khan (56kg), RituGrewal (51kg), Pawan Kumar (69kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg).

Shashi and Pavitra(60kg) advanced to thesummit clash in the women’s draw. Among themen, India Open goldmedallist Manish Kaushik(60kg), threetime King’sCup goldmedallist K.Shyam Kumar (49kg),Shaikh Salman Anwar(52kg) and Ashish (64kg)entered the �nal.

Six Indiansenter �nals


Jakarta

MUMBAI: Trainer M. Narredu’sward Kramer, who is in goodshape as evidenced by his trackperformance, may win the SirCharles Forbes Trophy, the chiefevent of Thursday’s (Feb. 15)evening races here.

Rails will be placed 9 metreswide from 1200m to 1000m and13 metres wide from 800m uptothe winning post.

1 EMPERADO PLATE (1,600m),Cl. IV, rated 20 to 46, 4.30

p.m.: 1. Sumaaq (2) C.S. Jodha 61,2. Pretty Angel (3) Bhawani 54, 3.Dragonmoss (6) Nirmal 53.5, 4.Honourable Eyes (4) Trevor 53.5,5. Massimo (1) Probert 53.5 and6. Scion (5) Nikhil 52.5. 1. MASSIMO,

2. HONOURABLE EYES

2 SIR CHARLES FORBES

TROPHY (1,200m), Cl. II,rated 60 to 86, 5.00: 1. ExcellentGold (3) Dashrath 59, 2. Governor General (5) Sandesh 58.5,3. Undisputed (4) Merchant 56,4. Kramer (1) Chouhan 53.5 and5. Charging Tigress (2) S. Amit53. 1. KRAMER, 2. EXCELLENT GOLD

3 TRANCE PLATE (1,000m), Cl.III, rated 40 to 66, 5.30: 1. As

cension (1) Ajinkya 60, 2. Clymene (6) Sandesh 58, 3. WiseChild (7) Trevor 55.5, 4. Loire (4)Dashrath 54.5, 5. Miss Moneypenny (5) Zeeshan 54.5, 6. Glorious Land (3) Neeraj 53 and 7.Glorious Angel (2) S.K. Jadhav50. 1. CLYMENE, 2. WISE CHILD

4 M.D. MEHTA TROPHY

(1,000m), Maiden, 3yo only,6.00: 1. Buddyholly (7) Chouhan55, 2. Clark Kent (4) Mosin 55, 3.Daring Eagle (2) Bhawani 55, 4.Greek Legend (6) Jaykumar 55, 5.Whitewalker (3) Trevor 55, 6.Godsword (5) Chinoy 53.5 and 7.Whispering Queen (1) Shelar53.5. 1. BUDDYHOLLY,

2. WHITEWALKER

5 ICE MAGIC PLATE DIV. II

(1,200m), Cl. IV, rated 20 to46, 6.30: 1. Ridgewood Star (8)Trevor 59, 2. Alyaties (6) Zeeshan 57, 3. Bee Quirky (2) Prasad53.5, 4. Royal Ace (7) C.S. Jodha53.5, 5. Highland Woods (1) Santosh 53, 6. Huzzah’s Phoenix (5)Chinoy 53, 7. Storm Star (3)Dashrath 53, 8. Theobroma (9)Ayyar 53 and 9. Aquarius (4) T.S.Jodha 51.1. ALYATIES,

2. ROYAL ACE,

3. BEE QUIRKY

6 SECRET ROMEO PLATE DIV. I

(1,200m), Cl. V, rated 1 to 26,7.00: 1. Hudson (7) Chouhan61.5, 2. Shakin Stevens (8)Mansoor 61.5, 3. Tally Ho (1)Dashrath 61.5, 4. ImperialBeauty (6) Bhawani 61, 5. Exosphere (2) C.S. Jodha 60.5, 6.Windfall (4) S. Amit 60.5, 7. Bullion Express (5) Merchant 60, 8.Time Of My Life (12) Zeeshan 60,9. Xoxo (9) T.S. Jodha 60, 10. StarAnise (11) G. Amit 59.5, 11. SweepAside (10) Nikhil 59.5 and 12. Silver River (3) Joseph 59. 1. HUDSON,

2. STAR ANISE,

3. XOXO

7 ICE MAGIC PLATE DIV. I

(1,200m), Cl. IV, rated 20 to46, 7.30: 1. Philadelphia (8)Neeraj 59, 2. Lord Commander(6) Chouhan 57.5, 3. Ame (5) T.S.Jodha 56.5, 4. Arsenal (10) Zeeshan 56, 5. Man Of Word (1) Trevor 55.5, 6. Rare Silver (2) C.S.Jodha 55.5, 7. Harrier (4)Sandesh 54, 8. Lilac Time (9)Dashrath 53.5, 9. Super Strength(3) Nirmal 53.5 and 10. RoystonRock (7) Merchant 52. 1. LORD COMMANDER,

2. HARRIER,

3. AME

8 SECRET ROMEO PLATE DIV. II

(1,200m), Cl. V, rated 1 to 26,8.00: 1. Montecasino (2)Chouhan 61.5, 2. Top Wizard (6)T.S. Jodha 60, 3. Commandperformance (4) S.J. Sunil 59.5, 4.Milwalkee (9) Nazil 59, 5. EmpireState (10) Chinoy 58.5, 6. ForeverFree (1) S. Amit 58.5, 7. Synchronicity (12) Merchant 58.5, 8.Aloha (11) C.S. Jodha 58, 9.Golden Horde (5) Santosh 58, 10.Isinit (7) Zeeshan 58, 11. Wildcard Warrior (8) Shubham 58and 12. Western Lights (3)Sandeep 49. 1. MILWALKEE,

2. ISINIT,

3. MONTECASINO

Day’s Best: MASSIMO

Double: CLYMENE — LORD

COMMANDER

Jackpot: 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8. Treble: (i) 5, 6 & 7. (ii) 6, 7 & 8. Tanala: All races. Super Jackpot: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8.

RACING

Kramer tipped for main event

Hockey India (HI) on Wednesday announced a 34member squad for the women’s national camp beginning on Friday as chiefcoach Harendra Singh emphasised on the need forspeed and agility ahead of abusy year.

“Since 2018 is extremelyimportant with megaeventsin the pipeline, it is necessary for the team to stay �tand injuryfree. At the sametime, the players need to befast and agile,” Harendrasaid ahead of the camp.

“We will have a series ofclasses and sessions to guideplayers and educate themon signi�cance of �tness andachieving our target in majorcompetitions,” he added.

The Indian women’shockey team, which ended2017 by winning the AsiaCup in Japan, will report forthe camp at SAI, Bengaluru.

The team will begin itscampaign this year with the

tour of Korea from March 3to 12 where it will play �vematches. In May, the teamwill return to Korea to defend the Asian ChampionsTrophy title.

“The Korea tour is important as we want to implement a few combinationsand get some good matchpractice before we leave forthe CWG,” Harendra said.

“With the Women’s AsianChampions Trophy beingheld in Korea, it is good toget used to the playing con

ditions. And matches againstthe host ahead of a big competition is always good.”

The players’ �tness graphhas witnessed a steep climbover the past year includingsigni�cant improvement inthe YoYo Test which measures an athlete’s ability torepeatedly perform highintensity aerobic work.

The team will also featurein the World Cup in Londonin July and the Asian Gamesin August.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Savita, Rajani Etimarpu, Swati.

Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, P.Sushila Chanu, Sunita Lakra,Gurjit Kaur, Hnialum Lal RuatFeli, Navdeep Kaur, RashmitaMinz, Neelu Dadiya. Mid�elders: Namita Toppo, NikkiPradhan, Deepika, KarishmaYadav, Renuka Yadav, NavjotKaur, Monika, Lilima Minz, Neha Goyal, Udita, M. Lily Chanu,Nilanjali Rai, Suman Devi Thoudam. Forwards: Rani, VandanaKatariya, Preeti Dubey, ReenaKhokhar, Anupa Barla, Sonika,Lalremsiami, Poonam Rani,Navneet Kaur, Navpreet Kaur.

Emphasis on speed and agilityWomen’s hockey national camp begins on Friday


New Delhi

Harendra Singh.* FILE PHOTO: RAJEEV BHATT

Suresh Raina may have leftfor South Africa to join theIndian side for the upcomingT20I series, but has left behind inspirational examplesfor his younger Uttar Pradesh colleagues to raise theirgame for the remaining twoGroupB matches of the VijayHazare Trophy onedaytournament.

Raina, who joined the U.P.squad after two losses,helped the team notch uptwo thrilling wins againstBengal and Himachal Pradesh and stay in contentionfor a quarter�nal berth.

Uttar Pradesh coach Sujith Somasundar acknowledged Raina’s impact on theyoung players. “Raina is aninspiration, a complete teamman.

“Whether he is batting,bowling or �elding, he giveseverything for the team. Hebrings in a lot of positivity...unfortunately, he has notspent too much time. Forthat kind of understandingto happen (in others), it requires some amount of time.

“He comes with so manyyears of experience at thehighest level. He understands what would be thebest gameplan. Through hisexperience he has been ableto turn around some of thegames. In the last match, wewere defending a low scoreand through his intelligencehe could manoeuvre his resources,” said Somasundar.

Somasundar, who took upthe coaching job before theMushtaq Ali Trophy, wouldlove his players to pick upsome matchwinning traitsfrom Raina and implementthose in their next twomatches, against Kerala onThursday and against Tripura on Saturday.

“For a team that had a badRanji Trophy campaign,coming out of it is di�cult.The only thing we coachescan do is bring the selfcon�

dence and belief back. Atthis level they are competentindividually. They are all independent, but need to beinterdependent,” said Somasundar, also a mentaltoughness coach.

For its crucial test againstU.P., which has eight pointsfrom four matches, Keralaneeds to be more competitive after witnessing three ofits four matches going downto the wire.

With a pack of promising

pacers, including M.D. Nidheesh, F. Fanoos and Abhishek Mohan, and talentedbatsmen like Sanju Samson,Sachin Baby, Jalaj Saxenaand Mohammed Azharuddeen in the squad, Kerala —which has 10 points fromfour outings — stopped Delhi’s winning momentum andis capable of seeing o� UP.

Thursday’s Group B matches:Kerala vs. Uttar Pradesh (Dharamashala), Delhi vs. HimachalPradesh (Amtar), Maharashtravs. Tripura (Bilaspur).

‘Raina is an inspiration and a team man’U.P. coach Somasundar all praise for the India international

Y.B. Sarangi

DHARAMSHALA

Making an impact: Suresh Raina’s presence has galvanised the Uttar Pradesh team. * FILE PHOTO

HAZARE TROPHY

NEW DELHI: Manish pickedup an incredible nine ofthe 10 wickets to fall, conceding just 17 runs, as LICthrashed EIL by a massive281 runs in the DDCALeague on Wednesday.Love Sharma slammed anunbeaten 165 for thewinner.

Karan Chaudhary andAkshay Saini scored unbeaten centuries as RaghuvirWillowers thrashed ChandKhanna CC by 10 wickets inanother match. The scores: LIC 338 for two in40 overs (Love Sharma 165not out, Vishal Saini 93) bt EIL57 in 15.3 overs (Manish ninefor 17); Chand Khanna CC 211in 39.4 overs (Rahul Sharma81, Ankur Kaushik 34; VikasMishra three for 32) lost to

Raghuvir Willowers 212 forno loss (Karan Chaudhary 108not out, Akshay Saini 106 notout); Patel Nagar Gymkhana253 for nine in 40 overs (Deepak Sharma 63) bt Super StarCC 69 in 24.2 ovoversDeepakSharma three for two, Mandeep Singh three for 19).

Manishscalps nine

Lakhan scorescenturyManoftheMatch JayantLakhlan slammed a centuryand Dhruv Sharma tookthree wickets for 29 asHaryana Academy beatBlue Star Academy by 53runs to enter the semi�nalsof the �rst HCA under17cricket tournament.The scores: Haryana Academy202 for seven in 40 overs(Jayant Lakhlan 100) bt BlueStar Academy 149 in 38.4overs (Gurdutt Singh 47, DhruvSharma three for 29).

Three Yes Academyin semifinalsIshan Makkar’s 75, LakhanRawat’s 47 and PrateekSharma’s �ve wicketshelped Three Yes Academydefeat host SatyawatiCollege by 99 runs andenter the semi�nals of the30th Sandeep Surimemorial crickettournament.The scores: Three YesAcademy 239 in 40 overs(Ishan Makkar 75, LakhanRawat 47, Manish Tyagi threefor 30) bt Satywati College140 in 26.1 overs (PankajKaushik 39, Prateek Sharma�ve for 38, Sunny Bhati threefor �ve).

Hartaj, Kunwar starin GNDU’s big win Hartaj Singh Aujla stuckfour times and manofthematch Kunwar Dilraj Singhtwice as Guru Nank DevUniversity, Amritsar kept itswinning record intact witha 113 win against LNIPE,Gwalior to advance into theknockout rounds of the25th Nehru All India interuniversity hockeytournament at the NationalStadium here onWednesday.

The other Pool A game sawSRM University, Chennaidraw 22 with VBSP,Jaunpur but the result was

enough for the latter tobook a spot in the nextround.

The other two quali�ers forthe quarter�nals werePunjabi University, Patialawith a 61 win in Pool B andBangalore University thatrode on Abharan Sudev’shattrick to beat MG KashiVidyapeeth 50.

Quarter�nalists from PoolsC and D would be decidedafter the last day of leaguematches on Thursday.

The results:

Pool A: GNDU, Amritsar 11(Hartaj Singh Aujla 4, KunwarDilraj Singh 2, AmanpreetSingh, Prince, Maninder Singh,Jagjot Singh, Geet Kumar) btLNIPE, Gwalior 3 (Vikas Joshi2, Vivek Runwal).

SRMU, Chennai 2 (J. Prabhu,M. Hariharan) drew with VBSP,Jaunpur 2 (Shubham Singh,Dharmendra Kumar).

Pool B: Bangalore University 5(Abharan Sudev 3, AchaiahDM, Stalin Abhilash C) bt MGKashi Vidyapeeth 0.

Punjabi University, Patiala 6(Prabhjot Singh 3, LovejeetSingh, Bakshinder Singh,Sukhvinder Sngh) bt SGBU,Amravati 1 (Ravi Patidar).

All-round show

by Jitender

Jitender Bakshi topscoredwith 48 runs and picked upsix wickets as KarkardoomaCourt beat Tiz Hazari Courtby 38 runs in the KK Luthramemorial crickettournament.

The scores: KarkardoomaCourt 139 for eight in 20 overs(Jitender Bakshi 48, PradeepTewatia 39 not out, DushyantNayak four for 20) bt TisHazari Court 101 in 13.5 overs(Arun Premi 36, JitenderBakshi six for 18).

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

\ NEW DELHI ROUND-UP \


#4 6 2 1 9 5




SPORT

An 86thminute strike byAryn Williams sealed a vital10 win for Neroca FC overChurchill Brothers in theirILeague clash at the Khuman Lampak Stadium hereon Wednesday.

The win for the Manipuriout�t makes the titleracemore intriguing as it hasnow overtaken MinervaPunjab FC at the top,though it has played twogames fewer. The win takesNeroca’s tally to 31 points in16 games two more thanMinerva.

Neroca takestop spotANI

Imphal

Harry Kane and ChristianEriksen pulled Tottenhamback from the brink to holdJuventus 22 in Turin, spoiling what had looked set to bea Gonzalo Higuain onemanshow in the ChampionsLeague last 16, �rst leg hereon Tuesday.

Higuain had put Juventus— losing �nalists twice in thepast three seasons — twogoals up within the �rst nineminutes at the AllianzStadium.

The Argentine’s lightningstrike after just 73 secondswas followed by a secondfrom the spot to leave Mauricio Pochettino’s sidereeling.

Costly missesBut the 30yearold missedtwo further chances to hammer home Juventus’s advantage in the �rst half, including striking the crossbarwith a second penalty on thestroke of halftime.

Kane had pulled Tottenham back into the tie, beat

ing veteran keeper GianluigiBu�on on 35 minutes withEriksen whipping in the second with a 70thminutefreekick to leave it all to playfor in London next month.

“The team showed realcharacter to come here andchallenge a team like Juventus,” said Pochettino, whoblamed the inexperience ofhis side for their sluggishstart.

“I think we weren’t focused and it was di�cult tomanage the �rst seven minutes. I’m very happy thatit’s still open and we’re goingto play the second leg inLondon.”

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri warned theywould be ready to challengeagain for a place in the quarter�nals after extendingtheir unbeaten run at homein Champions League �xtures to 23 games.

“I don’t think there is anyneed to be depressed. If someone thought that Juventus could win 40 they wereway o�,” said Allegri.

“Tottenham had a greatgame and turned thingsaround.

“After going 20 up westopped playing, but part ofthat was also down to Tottenham’s performance.They are a very physical andtechnical team.”

Quick�re goals

Meanwhile at Basel, Manchester City e�ectively killedo� its Champions League tieagainst FC Basel after 23 minutes on Tuesday, �atteningthe Swiss champion withthree quick�re goals on itsway to a 40 away win.

Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Agueroscored within nine minutesof each other in the last 16�rstleg tie to almost certainly extend Basel’s wait for a�rst quarter�nal appearancein the competition.

Gundogan curled in thefourth from the edge of thearea in the 53rd minute.

The results (Round of 16, �rstleg): At Basel: Basel 0 lost toManchester City 4 (Gundogan14, 53, Bernardo Silva 18, Aguero 23).

At Turin: Juventus 2 (Higuain 2,9) drew with Tottenham 2(Kane 35, Eriksen 72).

Kane and Eriksenspoil Higuain showManchester City makes it a nocontest against FC Basel

Pulsating encounter: Harry Kane starts o� Tottenham’s �ghtback rounding Juventusgoalkeeper Gianluigi Bu�on before Christian Eriksen scored the second to cancel out GonzaloHiguain’s twogoal burst in the �rst 10 minutes and leave the Argentine frustrated. * REUTERS

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Agence france-presse

Turin

The dominant Petroleumteams completed a titlesweep with ‘perfect’ scoresin both sections andstamped its authority on theNational team chess championship here onWednesday.

This was only the secondtime Petroleum was winninga double — the �rst one beingin 2015. The title win in theopen section was 10th for Petroleum and only the thirdfor the women.

Ironical as it may sound,for their superb collective effort, Petroleum’s SuryaShekhar Ganguly, B. Adhiban, G.N. Gopal, M. Karthikeyan and Deep Sengupta —all GMs — shared �25,000.

In the women’s section,the share for the winningmembers was even smaller —with Eesha Karavade, Soumya Swaminathan, MaryAnn Gomes, Padmini Routand Nisha Mohota receiving�20,000!

Though assured of regaining the titles, Petroleum (18matchpoints) crushed BSNL3.50.5 in the ninth round af

ter Adhiban split the pointwith Himal Thanki on thetop board.

In the race for the secondspot, Airports Authority ofIndia lived up to its seedingand drubbed defendingchampion RailwaysA 31.

After draws on the toptwo boards, AAI rode on thevictories of M. Shyam Sundar and N.R. Visakh who surprised higherrated SwapnilDhopade and M.S. Thej Kumar, respectively. The defeatpushed RailwaysA to thefourth spot, behindRailwaysB.

In the women’s section,Petroleum (14 matchpoints)drubbed Telangana 40 toregain the title, won here in

2016. Defending championAir India (11) �nished runnerup after blanking Tamil Nadu 40, a scoreline withwhich AAI defeated UttarPradesh for the third spot.Important results:

Open (ninth round): BSNL (10)lost to Petroleum (18) 0.53.5;Airports Authority of India (14)bt RailwaysA (13) 31; OdishaKIIT (11) drew with RailwaysB(13) 22; Bihar (10) lost to AirIndia (12) 04; LIC (12) bt TamilNadu (10) 2.51.5.

Women (seventh round): Telangana (6) lost to Petroleum(14) 04: Tamil Nadu (8) lost toAir India (11) 04; Uttar Pradesh(7) lost to Airports Authority ofIndia (10) 04; LIC (8) bt Himachal Pradesh (3) 40.

Final standings (top �ve):

Open: 1. Petroleum (18 matchpoints), 2. AAI (14), 3. RailwaysB (13), 4. RailwaysA (13),5. Air India (12).

Women: Petroleum (14 matchpoints), 2. Air India (11), 3. AAI(10), 4. Tamil Nadu (8), 5. LIC(8).

Board prizes winners: Open:Board 1: Karan Trivedi (Gujarat,7/8), Board 2: B. Adhiban (Petroleum, 8/9), Board 3: G.N.Gopal (Petroleum, 6/7), Board4: Ajay Kumar Rai (Defence,8/9), Board 5: Deep Sengupta(Petroleum, 6/6).

Women: Board 1: Swati Ghate(LIC, 7/7), Board 2: Kiran Manisha Mohanty (LIC, 5.5/7),Board 3: Sakshi Chitlange (AAI,5/6), Board 4: Padmini Rout(Petroleum, 5/5), Board 5:Nisha Mohota (Petroleum,4.5/5).

Double delight for Petroleum

AAI �nishes second after drubbing RailwaysA

NATL. TEAM CHESS

Rakesh Rao

Bhubaneswar

Dominant show: The Petroleum Sports Promotion Board players are a happy bunch after theirsuccess in the National Team chess championship. * BISWARANJAN ROUT

Snowboarding great ShaunWhite brilliantly won histhird Olympic gold in thehalfpipe as strong windscaused chaos at the PyeongChang Winter Games onWednesday.

It was redemption for the31yearold veteran, knownas the “Flying Tomato” because of his red hair, whowon gold in 2006 and 2010and helped put the hipstersport on the map, but�opped in Sochi, Russia,

four years ago.It was a landmark win be

cause it brought USA its100th Winter Olympics goldstretching back to speed skater Charles Jewtraw in 1924.

Wind also delayed in theNordic combined normal hillevent, before Germany’s Eric Frenzel retained his title.

Jorien ter Mors won thewomen’s 1,000m speed skating, extending the Netherlands’ perfect record in thecompetition so far, and Germany’s Tobias Wendl andTobias Arlt defended theirtitle in the men’s doublesluge.

White wins USA’s 100th Olympic goldWINTER GAMES


PyeongChang

Back on top: Shaun White put behind the disappointment ofSochi to win his third Olympic gold on Wednesday. * AFP

Tamil Nadu beat Manipur21 to lift its maiden title inthe 23rd edition of the Senior Women’s Nationalfootball championshiphere on Wednesday.

The result: Tamil Nadu 2 (Indumathi 3, Indrani 40) bt Manipur 1 (Ratanbala 57).

TN triumphsPress Trust of India

Cuttack

Rohan Bopanna andEdouard RogerVasselin ofFrance were beaten 64, 67(5), [105] by Karen Khachanov of Russia and LucasPouille of France in thedoubles prequarter�nalsof the ABN Amro tournament here on Tuesday.The results: At Rotterdam:ABN Amro tournament: Doubles (prequarter�nals): Karen Khachanov (Rus) & LucasPouille (Fra) bt Edouard RogerVasselin (Fra) & Rohan Bopanna 64, 67(5), [105].At Perth: $25,000 ITF women: Singles (�rst round):Gabriella Taylor (GBR) bt Karman Kaur Thandi 64, 63.Doubles (prequarter�nals):Chihiro Muramatsu & AyanoShimizu (Jpn) bt PrarthanaThombare & Valeria Savinykh(Rus) 36, 76(1), [102]. At Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt):$15,000 ITF women: Doubles(prequarter�nals): FedericaArcidiacono & Claudia Coppola (Ita) bt Anna Pribylova(Rus) & Natasha Palha 63,64.At Manacor (Spain): $15,000ITF women: Doubles (prequarter�nals): Claudia Cianci(Por) & Snehadevi Reddy btFrancescamaria Panarale &Gaia Squarcialupi (Ita) 61,76(7).

Bopannaloses indoublesSports Bureau

ROTTERDAM


#4 6 2 1 9 5

CMYK




LIFE

A gene that protectsagainst heart disease A newly identified gene,

called MeXis, acts within key

cells inside clogged arteries

in the heart to help remove

excess cholesterol from

blood vessels, say scientists

at University of California,

Los Angeles. Results of the

study, conducted on mice,

were published in Nature

Medicine. PTI

IN BRIEF

Sabyasachi apologises for controversial sari remark NEW DELHI

Fashion designer Sabyasachi

Mukherjee on Wednesday,

apologised for his comment

that it was a “shame” that

some Indian women did not

know to drape a sari. His

views were incorrectly

interpreted as being

patriarchal, he said. PTI

Previouslyunknowntongue re�ects way of lifeKUALA LUMPUR

A previously-unknown

indigenous language in

Malaysia reflects a way of life

where the sexes enjoy great

equality and there is little

violence, researchers have

found. Linguists recently

discovered Jedek, spoken by

only 280 people. AFP

A gleaming monument to theambition and creativity of itsage, the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse will onceagain welcome visitors to seesome of the world’s rarestplants following a lengthyfacelift.

“Temperate House” inLondon’s Kew Gardens islarge enough to house threejumbo jets, and was home toaround 1,000 species ofplants from around theworld before it was shut in2013 after falling into a stateof disrepair.

“There was rust everywhere, all the paint was fallingo�, and look now, it’s allbrand spanking new,” project manager Andrew Williams said, as a �eet of diggers and teams of workersput the �nishing touches tothe £41 million renovationproject.

The wrought iron andglass structure was designedby esteemed Victorian architect Decimus Burton in 1860and opened in 1863.

The facelift required theremoval of 69,000 individualelements to be cleaned, re

paired or replaced and therestoration of 15,000 panesof glass.

Enough paint to coverfour football pitches wasused to spruce up the hugeiron columns, and Kew expects hundreds of thousandsof visitors to pass through itsdoors annually after reopening in May.

“A building like this deserves it,” said Mr. Williams.

“I don’t think you’d builda building like this now,” headded.

Love-hate relationship“I had a lovehate relationship. You end up loving it atthe beginning [of the project], then hating it in themiddle and loving it at theend. It’s hard work. Everybody who has worked in here isreally proud and now yousee the plants going in, it’s afantastic space.”

With weeks to go beforethe grand reopening, horticulturalists are hard at workrehousing the plants, manyof which were transferred toonsite nurseries during therenovation work.

“It’s been a really huge operation,” Temperate House

supervisor Scott Taylor said.“In 2012, we started liftingand propagating plants to bemoved out of the house, thattook us until 2014 when theconstruction work began.It’s going to take us aboutnine months to get all theplants back in,” he added.

Around 1,300 m3 of soilwas brought in to supportaround 1,500 species.

The house will be split into geographical areas, showcasing plants from Africa,the Americas, Australia, theHimalayas and Asia.

“Our main drive for the reopening is rare and threatened �ora,” explained Mr.Taylor. “You don’t go pickthem up from the shop, it’s abit of an ordeal.We’re reallylucky we’ve got the Milleni

um Seed Bank 20 milesdown the road. I’ve been onthe phone with them, emailing them and getting all theseplants. We’ve got about 50species that are rare andthreatened,” he explained,including plants that no longer occur in the naturalworld. One of the rarestplants on display will be theSouth African Encephalartos

woodii, a palmlike cycadwith leathery, green leaves.

Only one such specimenwas ever found growing inthe wild, and it has longsince disappeared from thenatural world.

Conservation in focusSigns will inform visitorsabout the threats to �ora, including changing land use,invasive plants brought infrom di�erent ecosystemsand deforestation.

New ventilation and anupgraded heating system,largely �red by nearby biomass boilers, have both beeninstalled to help the plants�ourish, although some treasured specimens were unable to make the move.

With a new maintenanceplan in place, Kew expects togo 25 years before having tocarry out any more majorwork. The structure still bene�ts from its robust Victorian engineering. “The keycolumns, the key structure isall original and we haven’thad to do a lot of work to it,”said Mr. Williams. “They’lllast for another 100 years.It’s a big solid building, it’snot going anywhere!”

U.K. glasshouse to reopen with rare plantsProject manager Andrew Williams describes the meticulous facelift given to the Victorian structure over four years

To bloom once more: Work in progress at the Temperate House, Kew Gardens. * AFP


London

Rainbow Warrior

docks at Manila BayMANILA

Greenpeace’s iconic vessel,

Rainbow Warrior, docked at

Manila Bay for a visit to the

Philippines on Wednesday.

The ship will provide a

platform for indigenous

communities and farmers

dealing with impacts of

climate change. AFP

The entire genome of KingRichard III will be madeavailable online as a resource after the DNA sequencing project is completed by U.K. scientists,said geneticist Turi King.

Ms. King was recently inChennai for the BritishCouncil’s Great Talk campaign, where she spokeabout her team’s work inusing DNA samples frombones and teeth to con�rmthat the skeleton found in2012 in Leicester was indeed that of King RichardIII. She said the projectcould help to study thecommon illnesses duringthe era of the king andtrack how diseases like tuberculosis and plagueevolved over time.

“You may remember thestory of Ötzi the Iceman.He was discovered buriedin the Alps mountains andhis DNA study pointed outthat he had Lyme diseaseabout 5,000 years ago. Similarly, we can �nd if theking had any infections orany genetically transferreddiseases,” she said.

King’s DNAgives insightson diseaseAswathi Pacha

CHENNAI

A woman in southern Chinaaccompanied her pursethrough a railway station’sluggage xray machine rather than part with the bagamid the Lunar New Yearholiday rush, Chinese mediareported.

Video from the digitalnews platform Pear Video,linked on the Facebook pageof the Staterun People’s Dai-ly newspaper, showed aguard apparently telling thewoman that small bags needto go in the machine as well.

The security video showsher leaving the screen andthen emerging from the device. Still xray images onlineshow a person in high heelskneeling among bags andother items.

The woman rode through

the screening machine onSunday in the southern cityof Dongguan because shewanted to protect her money, the People’s Daily’s Facebook post and other media reports said.

Many Chinese migrantworkers carry their annualearnings home to family in

cash during the Lunar NewYear holiday, the busiest travel period of the year.

“Passengers are warnedthat not only is this kind ofbehaviour forbidden, butthe radiation from the machine is incredibly harmfulto human health,” the Peo-ple’s Daily said.

Wanted to protect her purse in the Lunar New Year rush

Reuters

SHANGHAI

Close at hand: Screengrab from a video showing an X-rayimage of the woman inside the scanner. * PEAR TV

Chinese woman ridesthrough baggage scan

African Matabele ants dressthe wounds of comrades injured during hunting raidsand nurse them back tohealth, according to an “astonishing” discovery reported on Wednesday.

After collecting theirwounded from the battle�eld and carrying themback home, nestmates become medics, massingaround patients for “intenselicking” of open wounds, according to a study in thejournal Proceedings of theRoyal Society B.

This behaviour reducesthe fatality rate from about80% of injured soldiers to amere 10%, researchersobserved.

The study claimed to bethe �rst to show such nursing behaviour in any nonhuman animal.

“This is not conductedthrough selfmedication, asis known in many animals,but rather through treatment by nestmates which,through intense licking ofthe wound, are likely able toprevent an infection,” saidstudy coauthor Erik Frank.

He contributed to the research when he was at theJulius Maximilian Universityof Wuerzburg in Germany,and continues his work atthe University of Lausannein Switzerland.

Mr. Frank had also takenpart in a previous study, published last year, describingthe ants’ battleground rescue behaviour.

The new research focused on what happens tothe injured back in the nest.

Matabeles, one of theworld’s largest ants, are�erce warriors and attackeven humans with their ferocious bite.

Named after warriorsNamed after Southern Africa’s feared Matabele warriortribe, the insects hunt termites bigger than themselves, attacking their feeding sites in columnformations of 200600individuals.

This hunting methodcauses many ants to gethurt, often having their legsbitten o� by termitesoldiers.

In the aftermath of �ghting, while some of the antsreturn home with their deadtermite prey, others scuttlearound the battle�eld looking for injured colleagues.

“After the battle, injuredants call for help with pheromones,” a chemical SOSsignal produced in a specialgland, said Mr. Frank.

Rescuers use their strongjaws to pick up the woundedand drag them back to thenest for treatment.

African ants treatinjured comradesStudy tracks social behaviour


Paris

Friends indeed: Matabeleants. * AFP/ROYAL SOCIETY

Top dog: Flynn, a bichon frise and winner of ‘Best In Show’ title, cuddles up to handler Bill McFadden at the 142nd WestminsterKennel Club Dog Show in New York on Tuesday. * REUTERS


Put your paws together

Pramodini Roul, a 25yearold acid attack survivor, andher friend Saroj Sahu, whostood by her in the most trying of times, were engagedon Valentine’s Day onWednesday.

Ms. Roul and her 26yearold �ancé celebrated the occasion at Sheroes HangoutCafe, which is run by theStop Acid Attack Campaign.After their wedding, the couple plans to go to Odisha torun a Sheroes cafe, to provide employment to moreacid attack survivors.

80% burnsIn 2009, in Odisha’s Jagatpur, Mr. Roul su�ered 80%burns and lost her sightwhen a spurned lover attacked her with acid.

Overcoming the physicaland emotional trauma wasan arduous task.

But Mr. Sahu’s unstintingsupport helped heal emotionally while medical treatment helped her gain 20%sight.

“I was critically injured inthe attack on that day when Iwas returning from collegeafter appearing in an examination,” Mr. Roul recalled.

After initial treatment,she spent �ve years bedridden at home as the familydid not have enough funds.

In 2014, she was admittedto a private hospital, whereshe met Mr. Sahu, a medicalrepresentative. A nurse in

troduced them to each other. Mr. Sahu took it uponhimself to help Ms. Roul.

She got to her feet in fourmonths, when senior doctors had declared that itwould take at least tenmonths. “He even quit hisjob to stand by me duringthose trying times,” Ms. Roulsaid. In 2016, she moved toDelhi to get advanced medical treatment.

Her departure made Mr.Sahu realise the meaningshe had brought to his life.Days later, he called her andproposed marriage. Mr. Sa

hu said, “She was only adear friend till then, butwhen she left Odisha, Ifound what she meant tome. I confessed my feelingsfor her on phone and proposed marriage.”

But it was not a proposalthat Ms. Roul found easy toaccept. She felt her lack ofsight and physical challenges would not allow themlead a normal life.

Unstinting support“But, on his persistence, Iunderwent eye treatmentand today I have 20% vision,” she said. Sheroes Cafeconvenor, Alok Dixit, whomade all preparations forthe couple’s engagement,said he hoped the two willtie the knot next year on thesame day.

Roul and Sahu hope to open a Sheroes Cafe of their own


Lucknow

Friends for life: Pramodini Roul with Saroj Sahu. * PTI

2018 A Love Story: acid attacksurvivor engaged to friend

<> He even quit his job

to stand by me

during those trying

times

Pramodini Roul


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