Centre, Assam move SC for sample reverifi - SPLessons

wednesday, july 17, 2019 Delhi

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OPPORTUNITIES A PAGE 15

The Centre and the State ofAssam on Tuesday made anurgent mention before theChief Justice of India for anextension of the deadline forthe fi��nal publication of theNational Register of Citizens(NRC) from July 31, 2019, to a“future date”.

In identical but separateapplications, they urged theSupreme Court for moretime to conduct a “samplereverifi��cation process” ofthe names included in thedraft NRC published on July30, 2018.

They said a 20% samplereverifi��cation of the namesshould be conducted in districts bordering Bangladeshand a 10% sample reverifi��ca

tion in the remaining districts.

The Assam government,represented by advocateShuvodeep Roy, said the

20% sample reverifi��cationshould target border districts where illegal migrationfrom Bangladesh was higherand where population

growth had been reportedhigher than the State’s average, as per census reports.

Centre, Assam move SC for sample reverifi��cation of NRC Seek 20% recount in border districts, extension of July 31 deadline for fi��nal list

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

More time sought: The Centre and the State said the exercise should be done by Class I offi��cers. * REUTERS

The Supreme Court onTuesday took a swipe at theCongressJanata Dal (Secular) combine in Karnatakafor questioning its power togive directions to the Speaker after welcoming thecourt’s intervention lastyear.

“When our order is inyour favour, you do notcomplain… Remember,there is no rule on the extent of powers of this court.To try to trap the parameters of the Supreme Courtwithin infl��exible limits is totally abhorrent to the Constitution,” Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi told senioradvocates A.M. Singhvi andRajeev Dhavan, appearingfor Speaker K.R. RameshKumar and Chief Minister

H.D. Kumaraswamy. The observation came when theyquestioned the court’s power to give directions to Mr.Ramesh Kumar.

The court reserved forjudgment pleas fi��led by rebel MLAs against the Speak

er’s “delay” in acceptingtheir resignation. It announced that it would pronounce its order at 10.30a.m. on Wednesday.

Don’t try to lay down thelimits of our jurisdiction: SC Court to rule on plea against Karnataka Speaker today

legal correspondent

NEW DELHI

Turmoil in House: BJP members staging a protest in theLegislative Council in Bengaluru on Tuesday. * K. MURALI KUMAR

NIGHT OF WAIT A PAGE 8

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 12

In a massive relief for air travellers and airlines, Pakistanreopened its airspace for allfl��ights early on Tuesday aftera gap of six months since theIAF launched strikes in Balakot. Hours after the announcement, an Air India fl��ightfrom San Francisco to Delhibecame the fi��rst Indian aircraft to fl��y over the neighbouring country and reachthe destination 90 minutesearly.

The curb meant airlines

had to take a longer route totheir destinations and burnmore fuel, stop midway forrefuelling and roster morepilots and cabin crew astheir duty hours are regulated.

An increase in fuel expenses, which constitute40% of an airline’s operational costs, resulted in anincrease in fares and, insome cases, cancellation offl��ights.

“Pakistan has cancelledthe NOTAM [notice to airmen] for its airspace with ef

fect from 0038 IST, the consequential NOTAMS by Indiaalso cancelled. Airlines likely to resume normal routesthrough Pakistan airspace,”an offi��cial of the Ministry ofCivil Aviation said.

The move will benefi��t Indian carriers as well as theairlines that enter or exit Pakistan from its eastern border with India, such as SouthEast Asian airlines, as Pakistan had lifted its curbs onmost other airlines.

Relief for airlines as Pakistan opens its airspace after 6 monthsJagriti Chandra

NEW DELHI


As the International Courtof Justice (ICJ) at TheHague prepares to deliverits verdict in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case on Wednesday, the Indian government is pinning its hopeson two precedents, both incases against the UnitedStates in 2001 and 2004,when the ICJ ruled for a review and revision ofconvictions.

ICJ to deliververdict onJadhav today

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

LONG QUEST A PAGE 13

Over one lakh people havebeen declared foreigners bytribunals in Assam tillMarch, Minister of State forHome G. Kishan Reddyinformed the Lok Sabha onTuesday. “Up to March 31,2019, 1,17,164 people havebeen declared foreigners,”he told Congress memberAbdul Khaleque.

1 lakh declaredforeigners Special Correspondent

New Delhi

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After protests by RajyaSabha members from Tamil Nadu against the dropping of regional languages,especially Tamil, as a medium of the examinationheld by the Postal Department for recruitment ofpostmen, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesdaysaid the test held on Sunday would stand cancelled.

Centre annuls test to recruitpostmen

Special Correspondent

New Delhi


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

Kejriwal inaugurates Rao Tula Ram fl��yoverNEW DELHI

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

on Tuesday inaugurated the

2.85kmlong signalfree

Rao Tula Ram fl��yover. The

elevated fl��yover is expected

to help decongest the area as

well as facilitate a more

convenient commute for

those travelling towards the

IGIA from south Delhi and

Noida.

CITY A PAGE 2 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

NEARBY

Lucky escape: Rescue personnel with a woman who was pulled out of the rubble after a fourstorey building collapsed in the Dongri area of Mumbai on Tuesday. Ten persons were killedand over 40 are feared trapped. * VIVEK BENDRE (REPORT ON PAGE 9)

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Fighting against the odds

It takes a powerful SUValmost nine hours on nonrainy days to cover 296 kmfrom Mizoram capitalAizawl southward toLawngtlai, headquarters ofthe State’s remotest districtLawngtlai borderingBangladesh and Myanmar.

Loaded commercialvehicles take much longer,and those carryingperishables mainly fromAssam’s Silchar, 180 kmnorth of Aizawl, take ages.By the time the pickup orminitrucks reachLawngtlai, the fruits and

vegetables are usually notfi��t to be consumed and thebest of the lot are tooexpensive for many to buy.

This was what ShashankaAla noted when she wasposted as the DeputyCommissioner of Lawngtlai,Mizoram’s most backwardand disasterprone districtwhere a fourth of some 170villages remain cut off��during the monsoon. Itdidn’t take her long torelate the shortage ofquality fruits and vegetableswith the defi��ciencies in thedistrict’s children belongingmostly to the Chakma andLai ethnic minorities.

Lawngtlai has 35.3%stunted, 21.3% underweightand 5.9% severely wasted(low weightforheight)

children under 5 — higheston all counts in Mizoram.

Ms. Ala and her teamdesigned a remedy: Kan

Sikul, Kan Huan. In theMizo language, it means‘My School, My Farm’.

“Vegetables and fruitsavailable in Lawngtlai townare costly. But thetownspeople at least getthem unlike the villageswhere transportingperishables is unthinkable.So we thought of involvingschool children, theirparents and teachers tocreate a nutrition garden ineach school,” Ms. Ala toldThe Hindu.

The fi��rst phase of theprogramme covering 213schools, Anganwadi centresand childcare institutes was

launched a few days ago.Another 188 would beadded in the second phasewhile the third phasefocussing on livestock andpoultry farming wouldcover all 776 schools andcentres to benefi��t 15,042children.

“The aim is to makeevery school, Anganwadi,child care institution andhostel in Lawngtlai selfsuffi��cient in the localvariety of fruits andvegetables by March 2020.This is to reducemalnutrition andstuntedness amongchildren,” Ms. Ala said.

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Schools turn nutrition gardens in Mizoram district

RAHUL KARMAKAR

GUWAHATI

Selfsuffi��ciency in fruits, vegetables helps them nourish children when the villages remain cut off�� in monsoon

New idea: The fi��rst phase of the programme to create ediblegardens has been launched in 213 schools and anganwadis.

The Congress governmentin Rajasthan has decided tobring a law to curb moblynching and honour killing.A Bill on the subject is likelyto be introduced in the ongoing budget session of theState Assembly.

Chief Minister AshokGehlot made the announcement while replying to thedebate on the State budgeton Tuesday. He expressedconcern over the rising incidents of mobs targeting individuals on suspicion ofcrime and killing them.

The latest incident oc

curred in Rajsamand district on July 13, when a police head constableinvestigating a land disputecase in Padmela village wasallegedly beaten to death bya mob.

Recently, the Uttar Pradesh Law Commissionframed a draft legislation tocombat mob lynching. TheCongressled Madhya Pradesh government is alsoplanning a similar law.

In July last year, the Supreme Court had urged Parliament to consider enacting a new law to tackleincidents of lynching.

(With PTI inputs)

Rajasthan to bring lawagainst mob lynchingBill likely to be tabled in ongoing session

Mohammed Iqbal

JAIPUR

A ND-NDE

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DELHI THE HINDU

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CITY

0DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested toverify and make appropriate enquiries tosatisfy themselves about the veracity ofan advertisement before responding toany published in this newspaper. THGPUBLISHING PVT LTD., the Publisher &Owner of this newspaper, does not vouchfor the authenticity of any advertisementor advertiser or for any of the advertiser’sproducts and/or services. In no event canthe Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s, Employees of this newspaper/company be held responsible/liable inany manner whatsoever for any claimsand/or damages for advertisements inthis newspaper.

DELHI Timings

Wednesday, July 17

RISE 05:34 SET 19:21

RISE 19:50 SET 05:42

Thursday, July 18

RISE 05:35 SET 19:20

RISE 20:32 SET 06:36

Friday, July 19

RISE 05:35 SET 19:20

RISE 21:11 SET 07:30

Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., Chennai600002. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).

Regd. DL(ND)11/6110/20060708 ● RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 751X ● Vol. 9 ● No. 169

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday inauguratedthe 2.85kmlong signalfreeRao Tula Ram (RTR) fl��yover.

He claimed that therewere more such projectswhich would come up in theCapital before the end of hisgovernment’s tenure.

Missed deadlinesThe newly built fl��yoverbranches out of Munirkafl��yover and ends before theArmy Research and ReferralHospital near Subroto Park,close to National Highway8.

While the fl��yover, whoseconstruction began in November 2014, was expectedto be completed by November 2016, missed severalconsecutive deadlines.

“In 15 years, the SheilaDikshit government built 70fl��yovers. In the last fourandahalf years, our [AAP] government has built 23 fl��yovers. We do our work, but wedon’t advertise much. Now,it is for the people to spreadword about the work wehave done in the last fourandahalf years,” the CMsaid after inaugurating theproject.

The elevated RTR fl��yover,built at a cost of ₹��205 croreon the Outer Ring Road, isexpected to help decongest

the area as well as facilitate amore convenient commutefor those travelling towardsthe Indira Gandhi International Airport from southDelhi and Noida.

According to the Delhi government, the elevated corridor will save fi��ve minutesof travel time for both to andfro traffi��c from IIT to airport.

Slams OppositionHitting out at his politicalopponents without namingthem, the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) convener alleged, citing the inauguration of theSignature Bridge, an attemptby Delhi BJP chief and NorthEast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwariseeking to take credit for theproject.

“We believe in doing ourwork and not indulging in

dirty politics. The Delhi government has worked a lotin education, health andother sectors, and our workwill speak,” he said.

Mr. Kejriwal also said thatthe AAP government hadnot only worked on mega infrastructure projects but also built roads, sewage linesand provided other facilitiesin unauthorised colonies toreach out to ordinary citizens.

Asked if more projectswere in the offi��ng before theend of his government’s tenure, Mr. Kejriwal claimed,“Yes, a few more such projects will come up soon.”

The Chief Minister furthersaid that the RTR fl��yover wasthe 23rd fl��yover to be builtby his government in the lastfourandahalf years.

Swift travel to IGI possiblenow as RTR fl��yover opensMore projects to come up before end of govt.’s term: CM

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The newly inaugurated Rao Tula Ram fl��yover near Munirka inNew Delhi on Tuesday. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

With the city government yet to sendany proposals for construction ofhouses under the Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana (Urban), the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Aff��airs has askedthe Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to complete itssurvey to identify eligible slumresidents.

According to a Ministry statementon Tuesday, Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry Secretary DurgaShanker Mishra held a meeting withthe Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), DUSIBand Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation(DSIIDC) offi��cials to discuss the issueof people lining up outside the Ministry to apply for PMAY (U).

The Secretary asked the DUSIB tocomplete its demand survey of eligible benefi��ciaries in slums, and askedthe State government to submit a sta

tus report on the already constructed 17,660 houses and 16,000 underconstruction houses.

Online forms“It was also decided that the DUSIBand the DDA shall call for applicationforms online through their websitesso that benefi��ciaries may be benefi��ted under all verticals of PMAYU.These forms will be submittedthrough Common Service Centres also. The DUSIB shall undertake rehabilitation of slum dwellers whereasthe DDA shall undertake housing demand for other urban poor,” thestatement read. Mr. Mishra also toldthe DDA to organise camps to sellthe 40,000 houses constructed byit, along with fi��nancial institutionsso that the buyers can avail of thecreditlinked subsidy scheme ofPMAY (U). Last week, the Ministrylodged a complaint with the policeregarding fake PMAY forms beingsold in Delhi outside its offi��ces.

Centre asks State govt. to submit status report


NEW DELHI

Complete demand survey forhousing scheme, DUSIB told

In a coordinated action conducted by the Uttar Pradeshpolice, four gangsters, including Rohit Saandu whohad escaped from police custody on July 2, were killed intwo separate encounters inMuzaff��arnagar and Meeruton Tuesday.

Rohit and his accompliceRakesh Yadav were eliminated in the Nai Mandi area ofMuzaff��arnagar after an exchange of fi��re with the policepersonnel. With over 40 cases against Rohit, the U.P. police had declared a bounty of

₹��1 lakh on his arrest.SP (City) Muzaff��arnagar

Satpal Antil told The Hinduthat the police had information that Rohit and his accomplices were in the area.

Looted to mislead“We were waiting for themsince Monday night. At 4.30a.m., we noticed four menon two motorbikes. As it wasraining, two slipped awayfrom the cordon while theother two opened fi��re on us.We retaliated and in the process Rohit and Rakesh gotbullet injuries. They were taken to a district hospital

where they were declareddead.”

The two who slipped awaywere Ravinder Kalia andAmit alias Sheru. Accordingto Mr. Antil, Ravinder andAmit looted occupants of anSUV on the way in order toconfuse the police.

“But we had alreadypassed the information toMeerut Police and the SUVowner had lodged a complaint of theft. They werecornered in Daurala area ofthe district.” Ravinder was also a notorious criminal andhad a bounty of ₹��50,000 onhis head.

On July 2, Rohit, languishing in Mirzapur jail, wasbrought to Muzaff��arnagar inconnection with a casewhere he managed to fl��eewith the help of a historysheeter Bhupendra Bafarand his men. SubinspectorDurg Vijay Singh was injuredin the incident.

On Monday, the police arrested Bafar and his accomplices in Meerut after whichRohit was tracked down.“Bafar wanted to use Rohit toeliminate another criminalSushil Moonch, who islodged in Meerut jail,” hesaid.

One of them had escaped from police custody in Muzaff��arnagar on July 2


Ghaziabad

4 gangsters killed in separate U.P. encounters

Talk: Discussion around the new book“Mahatma Gandhi: Tryst withSatyagraha” written by Mandira Ghosh.Discussants: Ambassador AmarendraKhatua, author and former DirectorGeneral, Indian Council for Cultural Relations; and Sagari Chhabra, columnist,award winning author and fi��lmmaker.Chair: Dr. Balmiki Prasad Singh, formerGovernor of Sikkim at ConferenceRoom – I, India International Centre(IIC), 6:30 p.m.

Talk: Seminar on “Indian Perspectiveon Space Security”. Keynote Addressby Prof. Ricky Lee, University of NotreDame, Australia and Partner at Globalex. Chair: Dr. Sanat Kaul, Chairman,International Foundation for AviationAerospace and Drones at SeminarRooms IIII, Kamaladevi Complex, IIC,10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Talk: Lecture on “Emerging NuclearDisorder and Asia” by Prof. R. Rajaraman, Emeritus Professor of Physics atJNU. Chair: Cmde. C. Uday Bhaskar,Director, Society for Policy Studies atGulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre(IHC), 7 p.m.

Exhibition: A solo painting show byJoydeb Bala, at Convention CentreFoyer, IHC, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Exhibition: “The Food DiplomacyMakan Ngga Makan Asal Kumpul”, agroup art show by curated by M. HaryoHutomo at Exhibition Gallery, KoreanCultural Center, A25, Lajpat Nagar IV,9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

(Mail your listings for this column [email protected])

DELHI TODAY

A 50yearold man identifi��ed as Bashir Ahmed Ponnu, an alleged JaisheMohammed militant, hasbeen arrested from Srinagar by the Special Cell, thepolice said on Tuesday. Areward of ₹��2 lakh was announced on his arrest.

DCP (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said thatBashir was arrested by theunit along with three otheralleged JeM operatives Shahid Gafoor, Fayaz AhmedLone, and Abdul Majid Baba in 2007 after a shootout.

The police claim to havehad recovered detonators,hand grenades, arms andammunition from theirpossession at the time anda case under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act wasregistered.

“On Monday, Bashir’s location was traced to Srinagar’s Kothibagh fromwhere he was nabbed. Histransit remand was soughtand he was brought to Delhi,” Mr. Yadav said.

JeM militantarrested fromSrinagar Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday refused to review its order thathad imposed an interim penalty of ₹��10 crore on threebuilders in Gurugram for alleged violation of environ

mental norms. A Benchheaded by NGT ChairpersonJustice A.K. Goel observedthat there was “no merit” inthe review plea moved byAnsal Buildwell Ltd, Adarshila Towers Private Ltd andRigoss Estate Networks Private Ltd.

NGT refuses to review orderon Gurugram builders

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

A Delhi court on Tuesdaygranted bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in twocriminal defamation complaints fi��led by the BJP andits leader Vijender Gupta.

Additional CMM SamarVishal granted relief to himon a personal bond of₹��10,000 and one surety oflike amount in both the cases, after the AAP leader appeared before the court.

In the fi��rst case, the BJP,through its leader RajeevBabbar, had sought proceedings against Mr. Kejriwal for harming the reputation of the party byblaming it for deletion ofnames of voters from electoral rolls in Delhi.

In the second case, Mr.Gupta had accused Mr. Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia of “maligning”his image by accusing himof attempting to kill the Delhi CM. Mr. Sisodia was alsogranted bail by the court.

(With PTI inputs)

Pleas fi��led by BJP leaders; Deputy CM also gets relief in one case


New Delhi

Court allows bail to Kejriwal in two defamation cases

The Opposition BJP on Tuesday demanded that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal andhis Deputy Manish Sisodiahad no moral right to continue in their respective posts,after they were granted bailin a defamation case fi��led bythe BJP.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)leaders, including party’sconvener Mr. Kejriwal, weresustaining their politicaljourney through “lies”, DelhiBJP chief Manoj Tiwari alleged. Mr. Kejriwal and Mr.Sisodia were granted bail bya city court in a criminal defamation case fi��led by Leader of the Opposition in theDelhi Assembly VijenderGupta who accused them of“maligning” his image by al

leging that he was involvedin an alleged conspiracy tokill the Chief Minister.

The Delhi Chief Minister isalso on bail in another defamation case, fi��led by himagainst the BJP in retaliationto the charge that the BJP got30 lakh names deleted fromthe voters’ list ahead of theLok Sabha poll.

‘CM, Sisodia have no rightto continue in their posts’AAP has been relying on lies: BJP

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Manoj Tiwari

Three AAP Rajya SabhaMPs on Tuesday met UnionHome Minister Amit Shahon “increasing” crimes inthe Capital and urged himto hold a meeting on the issue with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and PoliceCommissioner Amulya Patnaik.

The MPs — Sanjay Singh,N.D. Gupta and Sushil Gupta — submitted a memorandum to the Home Ministerover increasing crime inDelhi and urged him tolook into the situation andtake eff��ective steps to improve law and order, theAAP said. The MPs saidthat there has been an increase in the number ofmurders and snatchings inthe city in 2019.

AAP urgesShah to holdmeeting overrising crime

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Over 400 sanitary napkin vending machines will be installed at schools, colleges, Industrial Training Institutes andhospitals across Nuh to promote menstrual hygiene under the Centre’sSwachh Bharat MissionGramin.

Additional Deputy Commissioner(Nuh) Rahul Hooda told The Hindu thatinstallation of the machines will begin ina few days and be completed within 710days. “The machines will become operational as soon as they are installed,” hesaid, adding that the district administration may rope in women selfhelpgroups to procure the napkins.

Mr. Hooda held a meeting on Tuesday where he directed health and education department offi��cials to providedetails on the number of machines required. Nuh is among the hundredmostbackwards districts of India faringpoor on health and education fronts.

Nuh schools, collegesto get napkinvending machinesSpecial Correspondent

Nuh

CMYK

THE HINDU DELHI

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CITY

A 25yearold man suff��eredsevere injuries and hisfriends, including two women, were allegedlythrashed by three men inKotla Mubarakpur. Two ofthe accused have been arrested while one is still absconding, said the police.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (South) Vijay Kumarsaid that Pranay Pradhan,who works as a chef in aKhan Market restaurant, wasallegedly assaulted by threemen: Vishal, Yogesh alias Judi (19) and Saurav alias Nalla(23), on Saturday. Yogesh andSaurav have been arrested.

The incident happened

around 2 a.m. when Mr.Pradhan and his friends Ganesh, Laxmi, Leena and Nitesh Shankar, were walkingto their residence in Rishi Nagar after attending a friend’sbirthday party.

“When we reached Subhash Gali, three men weresitting there and they appeared to be drunk. We weretalking among ourselves andthey asked ‘Why are you talking in English?’ and startedquarreling. They thought wehad said something aboutthem,” said Ganesh, who isfrom Darjeeling and works asa cashier in a Khan Marketrestaurant.

The group told them thatthey live nearby and were

not talking about the accused, but the men did notlisten and allegedly startedattacking the group.

“They hit Leena and Laxmi and abused them. Thenthey picked up a woodenplank and asked us to leave.When Pranay tried to talk tothem, two of the men caughthold of Pranay and one attacked him with the woodenplank,” said Mr. Shankar.

Mr. Pradhan, who wasbleeding from the head, wasrushed to Safdarjung Hospital by his friends. He is said tobe in a critical state.

“We come here [Delhi] towork. We do not feel safe inKotla Mubarakpur... or thiscity,” added Mr. Shankar.

Youth beaten up by three men ‘for talking in English’Two accused arrested; victims say perpetrators were drunk

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Three persons have been arrested after a briefencounter with the police near Munirka metrostation. The men were wanted for allegedlycheating people by swapping their ATM cards.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (CrimeBranch) Rajesh Deo said that the accused Abid,Sakib and Adil are all residents of Haryana.

“Information was received on Monday thatthe accused would be near Munirka metro station. When they arrived, the men were signalled to stop, but they tried to fl��ee after fi��ringat the police. They were chased down and arrested on Nelson Mandela Marg near CoolieCamp signal,” Mr Deo said, adding that policedid not fi��re in retaliation.

During interrogation, the accused allegedlyrevealed that they operate across India and targeted the elderly. A total of 95 ATM cards,₹��20,000 in cash, a pistol, two live cartridge anda car were recovered from the accused.

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

3 held after encounter

A 32yearold man has been arrested for allegedly supplying imported drugs at highprofi��leparties in the Capital.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (CrimeBranch) Ram Gopal Naik said that the accused,Karan Khanna, a resident of Mehrauli, supplieddrugs to organisers of farmhouses parties insouth Delhi. “The accused was arrested on atipoff��. During a search, 1200 grams of charas,one THC Shatter (500 mg of cannabis oil) andone gram of imported weed was recoveredfrom his possession. The drugs cost a total ofaround ₹��25 lakh,” said the offi��cer.

During interrogation, Karan allegedly toldthe police that he and his brother studied in areputed school in south Delhi and fell in badcompany after which they started doing drugs.

Drug peddler arrestedStaff Reporter

New Delhi

The Delhi High Court onTuesday declined to giveany direction for setting upa separate police station todeal with power theft cases.

“Establishment of a separate police station cannotreduce theft of electricityor change the mindset ofpeople indulging in it,” saida Bench of Chief JusticeD.N. Patel and Justice C. Hari Shankar, adding: “Whatis required is separate police staff�� to investigate thecases of power theft.”

The Delhi governmenthad submitted that a separate staff�� could be createdwithin the District Investigation Unit of the police.

‘No separatepolice stationto deal withpower thefts’

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The Delhi government has nominated four representatives, including AAP leaders RaghavChadha and Atishi, to be appointed to the Delhi Metro RailCorporation’s board of directors, sources said.

This is the fi��rst time that nonbureaucrats have been nominated by the government.

Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission vicechairman Jasmine Shah and AAP MPN.D. Gupta’s son Naveen Guptaare the two others nominatedby Transport Minister KailashGahlot as the government’s representatives, a top offi��cial said.

The board comprises 17members, including fi��ve eachfrom the Centre and the Delhigovernment. “Currently, DMRCMD Mangu Singh, and former fi��nance secretary Ramesh Chandra are serving as Delhi government nominees,” a source said.

Mr. Gahlot did not respond tomessages and phone calls. Inhis July 13 communication tothe DMRC, the Minister did notspecify why it nominated fourpersons when only three postsof directors are vacant. “It is notclear whether they wish to remove Mr. Singh or Mr. Chandra,” the source said.

The move comes at a timewhen the AAP government’sscheme for providing free rideto women in public buses andmetro trains is taking shape.

The issue of free ride to women in metro trains is yet to beresolved as the DMRC hassought eight months to implement it while the AAP government wants it to be implemented before the Assembly pollsscheduled early next year.

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

Delhi govt. namesAAP leaders for DMRC board

CMYK

THE HINDU DELHI


CITY

Which institutions otherthan airlines encash on thediffi��culties of the public,the Delhi High Court askedthe Directorate General ofCivil Aviation on Tuesday,referring to the practice ofairlines hiking price of tickets when road and rail services are aff��ected.

The court’s sharp comment came while hearing acouple of public interest petitions highlighting the arbitrary and exorbitant priceof air tickets during emergent situations.

“Name any other institution, it may be hospitals,

schools anything, whichbehaves like airlines. Arethere any other institutionswhich are encashing on thediffi��culties of the public atlarge. Who are encashingon the negative situation,”asked a Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and C. HariShankar.

Final hearing in Nov.“Think about it and answer,” the Bench told thecounsel for DGCA beforeposting the case for fi��nalhearing in November.

The Bench further reminded the counsel, “Whatwill happen if hospitalsstart charging extra during

the time of seasonal diseases? What will happen ifmedicines are being sold atan increased rate?”

The Bench’s remarkscame after the DGCA counsel said that airfares fi��xation does not fall within theregulator’s ambit.

“We cannot interfere inpricing of airfares. We areonly regulating the safetyand security of the airlines,” the DGCA’s counselsubmitted.

One of the petitions, fi��ledby advocate Amit Sahni,urged the court to directthe authorities to frame“guidelines so as to put acap on airfares and prevent

private airlines from charging arbitrarily, irrationallyand exorbitantly forfl��ights”.

Mr. Sahni’s petition citedthe 2016 Jat agitation in Haryana, during which private airlines allegedlycharged exorbitant airfaresfrom passengers.

The other petition wasfi��led by activist Bejon Kumar Misra seeking directionto the Civil Aviation Ministry and the DGCA to ensurerefunds or provide alternative travel mode to passengers who had booked tickets with the Jet Airwaysbefore it shut all domesticand international fl��ights.

What if hospitals hike chargeslike airlines, HC asks DGCACriticises practice of carriers levying exorbitant airfares in adverse situations

Soibam Rocky Singh

New Delhi

A 14yearold girl from Nagaland, who recently shifted toDelhi, has moved the HighCourt here as she has notbeen able to secure admission in any local government school since she hasbecome overage for Class VIby two months during thetransfer period.

The academic season inNagaland starts and endsbetween January and December, while in Delhi itstarts in April and ends inMarch.

Mary Karki was earlier living with her maternalgrandparents in Nagaland,while her parents have beenliving and working in Delhifor the last eight years. Shestudied in a local school inJalukie Town, Peren in Nagaland till Class V. After completing Class V in December2018, she started living withher parents in Delhi.

Academic season Advocate Ashok Aggarwal,representing the girl, saidthat though she completedher Class V in December

2018, for admission in Delhigovernment school she hadto wait till April 2019 whenthe academic session starts.

Mr. Aggarwal said her parents have been regularlyapproaching their neighbourhood school, Government Coed Middle School,Vasant Vihar. He said theschool has denied admission to the girl saying shehas crossed 14 years of ageon May 31, 2019 and henceshe is not entitled to admission in any class in any government school in Delhi.

Mr. Aggarwal argued thatright to education is a fundamental right at all levelsand not only confi��ned to upto Class VIII or the age of 14.

“The respondents [Delhigovernment] are under constitutional as well as statutory obligations arising out ofArticles 21 and 21A of theConstitution, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 andDelhi School Education Act1973, to grant admission tothe petitioner in Class VI,”the petition said whichcould come up for hearinglater this week.

Denied admission,schoolgirl moves HCGovt. schools cited overage as reason

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The Delhi High Court onTuesday sought responsefrom the Centre and theAAP government on a pleaseeking to link movableand immovable propertydocuments of citizens withtheir Aadhaar number tocurb corruption, blackmoney generation and ‘benami’ transactions.

Petitioner advocate andBJP leader Ashwini Upadhyay said it is the duty ofthe State to take steps tocurb corruption and seize‘benami’ properties madeby illegal means to give astrong message that the government is determined tofi��ght against corruptionand black moneygeneration.

“If government linksproperty with Aadhaar, itwill lead to an incrementof 2% in annual growth. Itwill clean our electoralprocess, which is dominated by black money and benami transaction andthrives on a cycle of largeblack investments, captureof power through foulmeans, use of politicalstrength to amass privatewealth, all with disdain ofthe citizen,” the plea said.

The HC Bench has posted the case for furtherhearing on October 15.

In a separate plea fi��ledby Mr. Upadhyay, the HCdirected the Election Commission to decide withineight weeks the representation for taking steps tolink voter ID with Aadhaarto curtail bogus and duplicate voting in polls.

HC seeks govt.reply on plea to link propertyto AadhaarStaff Reporter

New Delhi


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

WEST

The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) made major changes toits organisational structureon Tuesday by appointingRevenue Minister Chandrakant Patil as head of the Stateunit of the party.

It also appointed MalabarHill MLA and founder of thereal estate Lodha Group,Mangal Prabhat Lodha, asthe Mumbai unit chief inplace of Ashish Shelar, whohas been inducted into thegovernment as a Cabinet Minister.

Mr. Patil replaces Raosaheb Danve, who has been inducted into the Union Cabinet in the second term of theNarendra Modiled government at the Centre. Announcing the appointmentof the two leaders, party national secretary Arun Singhsaid the changes have beenapproved by party president

Amit Shah. “The appointments are from immediateeff��ect,” Mr. Singh said onTuesday.

Senior leaders said as perparty rules, one can not holdthe same term for two years.It was with this in mind thatMr. Danve met the PrimeMinster in New Delhi and requested for a change ofguard earlier this month. Mr.Danve is believed to havetold Mr. Modi it would be dif

fi��cult for him to juggle theresponsibilities of State chiefalong with that of the Unionminister in the runup to theelections in Maharashtra.“We have some very capableleaders in our party and theycan perhaps come forwardto take this responsibility,”he said.

Mr. Danve was appointedState party chief in 2015 andhas been instrumental in theBJP expanding its base

across the rural hinterland.“The BJP has since captured25,000 gram sabhas, 23Members of Parliament(MPs) and 18 corporationsacross rural Maharashtra.We have only managed to doso under the able leadershipand guidance of the PM andMr. Shah,” he said.

Mr. Patil has been CabinetMinister since July 2016, handling the Revenue, Reliefand Rehabilitation and Public Works department(PWD). A prominent member of the BJP, he is also theGuardian Minister of Kolhapur and Pune districts.

Speaking on his appointment Mr. Lodha said, “Theparty has entrusted me witha major responsibility and Iplan to fulfi��l it diligently. Iwould do that keeping inmind Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan Sabka

Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sab-

ka Vishwas.”

Eye on elections, BJP gets newheads for State, Mumbai Chandrakant Patil is Maharashtra unit president, Lodha to take charge of city

New role: Chandrakant Patil (left) and Mangal Prabhat Lodha.

Sharad Vyas

Mumbai

The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) onTuesday held their fi��rstmeeting to discuss a seatsharing arrangement forthe upcoming Assemblypolls in the State.

“We held a primarymeeting today. The issue ofseat sharing isn’t of concern to us as we are concentrating on winning theelection and ensuring thatour front’s Chief Ministercomes to power. We are notto judge each other’sstrength and demand seatsbased on that. On the contrary we will be working asa united front to win theelection,” said newly appointed Maharashtra Congress committee presidentBalasaheb Thorat.

“The only criteria is thecandidate’s capability towin the election. We areconcerned only aboutthat,” he said.

In the 2009 Assemblypolls, Congress contested174 seats while NCP foughton 114. In 2014, both parties

contested independently.A group within the NCP isdemanding an equal seatshare based on thechanged political equations as Congress has onlyone MP from Maharashtracompared to four from theNCP.

In reply to a question onsharing of seats with allies,Mr. Thorat said no such discussion was held, and added, “This is a continuousprocess. The decision onhow many seats will beshared with whom will betaken in next meetings.”

Both the parties however, are far from reaching aconsensus on the divisionof 288 Assembly seats asthey may have to incorporate several other playerssuch as the Raju ShettiledSwabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana (SSS), left parties, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA),factions of Republican Party and possibly, the RajThackerayled MaharashtraNavnirman Sena (MNS).

Mr. Thorat also said thatno discussion on MNS tookplace in the meeting.

Cong., NCP begintalks on seat sharing Only criteria is capability to win: Thorat

Alok Deshpande

Mumbai

Sowing for this year’s kharifseason is already in progress, but banks in Maharashtra have achieved only30% of the target of kharifcrop loan disbursement.

Despite repeated warnings from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, nationalised and commercial bankshave failed to speed up croploan disbursement as theyhave achieved only 17% and18% of the target respectively. District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) have tilldate achieved 58% of loandisbursement.

According to data available with The Hindu, the target of ₹��43,844 crore set bythe State Level Bankers’Committee seems far frombeing achieved as bankshave managed to disbursejust ₹��12,972 crore. Nationalised banks were given a target of ₹��30,778 crore, ofwhich they have managed todisburse only ₹��5,331 crore.The target given to commercial banks was ₹��27,918 crore,out of which only ₹��4,899crore has been disbursed.

Last year, loan disbursement was 54%, even thoughdemand for crop loans diminished due to drought.DCCBs had disbursed 60%of loans while the remainingbanks achieved 50% of thetarget.

Following the kharif re

view meeting in June, Mr.Fadnavis had said, “The demand for crop loans was lesslast year owing to drought.This year, the demand islikely to increase, but banksare likely to face action ifthey are found not providingcrop loans to farmers.”

According to sources inthe Agriculture Department,the delayed monsoon haspushed back sowing in someparts of the State. “The CMhimself had asked farmers todelay the sowing process.We expect loan disbursement to speed up once themonsoon spreads throughthe State,” said the offi��cer.

Another possible factorfor the poor disbursement ofloans is the delay in waivingcrop loans. “Following loanwaivers, farmers’ accounts

were charged with interest,even though banks had accepted that they would notdo so. As a result, crop loanscannot be disbursed to thoseaccounts,” he said.

Agriculture Minister AnilBonde on Tuesday said thegovernment will conductcloud seeding experimentsin three districts and is waiting for instructions from theIndia Meteorological Department. “Many parts of theState have yet not receivedrains and this experiment isbeing done to overcome theproblem,” he said.

Meanwhile, ruling coalition partner Shiv Sena willhold a protest rally in Bandra Kurla Complex againstinsurance companies, demanding they disburse theamount that farmers claim.

Delay in sowing season, crop loan waiver could be the reasons

Alok Deshpande

Mumbai

Cause for concern: The delayed monsoon has pushed backsowing in several parts of Maharashtra. * FILE PHOTO

Banks disburse just 30%loans this kharif season

Police on Tuesday seized100kg red meat, suspectedto be beef, from a 30yearold man in Akola, an offi��cialsaid.

Police raided a place onLohara village road on atipoff�� and seized the meatfrom one Shaikh ImranShaikh Malang, a local offi��cial said. Malang has beenbooked under MaharashtraAnimal Preservation(Amendment) Act, 2015,which prohibits slaughterof cows, bulls and bullocks,said Ural police station inspector Satish Patil.

100 kg meatseized, suspectedto be beef Press Trust of India

Akola

Raja Dhale, one of the founders of the radical outfi��t Dalit Panther, passed away athis residence in Vikhroli onTuesday morning. He was78.

Family sources said Dhalefell after he got up this morning. He was taken to a nearby hospital where doctorsdeclared him dead. The lastrites will be performed atChaityabhoomi in Dadararea on Wednesday.

Hailing from Sangli district, Dhale along with Sahitya Akademi award winnerlate Namdeo Dhasal, J.V. Pawar and others, in 1972founded Dalit Panther, ayouthbased organisation inspired by the Black Pantheroutfi��t of African Americansin the U.S., with an aim toraise the voice of Dalits moreaggressively in the State.

Dhale’s aggressive writing, audacious nature toquestion those in authority,and connect with the massescreated a stir across the Stateand soon Dalit Panther began to be considered as amajor force to reckon with in

the struggle for equal rightsto Dalits, women and oppressed sections of the society.

His article ‘Black Independence Day,’ in Marathimagazine Sadhana on August 15, 1972, where he questioned whether the atrocities on a Dalit woman are oflesser concern than the insult of the national fl��ag,raised a storm in Maharashtra. Apart from his writingson atrocities against Dalits,he wrote poems for children, articles on literature,analytical pieces and bookson Buddhism.

He parted ways with Dhasal over ideological diff��e

rences claiming that the manifesto of Dalit Panther wascommunist in nature.

“Dhale was a principledand wellstudied individualin the Ambedkarite movement. Dalit Panther was aplatform to society’s oppressed and depressed sections and it remains one ofthe most important chaptersof country’s political history,” said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Union Minister of State forSocial Justice and RPI(A)chief Ramdas Athawale expressed grief over his demise. “Dhale brought me into this organisation (DalitPanther) and mentored me.His death is a personal lossfor me,” Mr Athawale said.

The Maharashtra Congress working president Nitin Raut said Dhale’s contribution to the Ambedkaritemovement can never be forgotten. “He worked to raisean Ambedkarite organisation which could take thediffi��culties head on. Theworkers he created in his lifetime are thereg even todayacross diff��erent fi��elds,” saidMr. Raut.

Raja Dhale, a Panther no moreFounded Dalit Panther in 1972 for Dalits to raise their voice

Alok Deshpande

Mumbai

1941-2019

Two children died of suff��ocation after getting stuck ina car in Buldhana, the policesaid on Tuesday.

Another child was pulledout alive from the car but isin a serious condition, an offi��cial at Buldhana city policestation said.

The three children, residing in the Gawalipura area,went to play outside onMonday evening. But, aftersome time when their parents could not fi��nd them,they lodged a policecomplaint.

The police launched a

search and around 2 a.m. onTuesday, and found thethree children lying unconscious in a car parked in thesame area, the offi��cial said.

The children were rushedto a nearby governmenthospital where two of them— Azim Shaikh (3) and AdilSheikh Jamil (5) — were declared dead, he said.

The third one, a fi��veyearold girl, was found alive andis admitted to the same hospital where her conditionwas reported to be serious,he said. The police suspectthe children saw the carwith its doors open andclimbed in.

Two children get trappedin car, die of suff��ocation Press Trust of India

Buldhana

A 30yearold man has beenarrested for allegedly pushing his wife to death fromthe peak of a mountain inNashik, the police said onTuesday.

According to the police,Babulal Kade, pushed hiswife Kavita (22) from theNanduri mountain, wherethe famous temple of goddess Saptashrungi is locat

ed, on Sunday.The couple hailed from

Madhya Pradesh.Kalwan police station in

spector Pramod Wagh saidMr. Kade was overpoweredby other pilgrims who handed him over to police afterhe allegedly pushed Kavitainto the deep valley. Bothhad visited the temple andhe clicked his wife’s photos.Kavita’s body has been recovered from the valley.

Man pushes wife off�� cliff��, held Press Trust of India

Nashik

The Congress high command will take a decision onappointing the new leaderof opposition in the Goa Assembly, party MLA Digambar Kamat said on Tuesday.

The Congress has suffered a major setback lastweek when 10 of its MLAs,including the then Leader ofthe Opposition (LoP) Chandrakant Kavlekar, joined theBJP.

The Congress, whichemerged as the singlelargest party after the 2017 Assembly polls, is now reduced to fi��ve legislators.

The monsoon session ofthe Assembly began onMonday with the chair ofLoP remaining vacant.

Mr. Kamat told reportersoutside the Assembly complex on Tuesday that party’sGoa incharge A. Chellakumar has met the fi��ve legislators and gone to New Delhi.

“The new Leader of Opposition will be announcedfrom New Delhi,” the formerchief minister said.

Of the 10 Congress MLAswho joined BJP, four wereinducted into the PramodSawantled State cabinet.

Mr. Kavlekar was designated as Deputy Chief Minister and given charge of thetown and country planning,agriculture, archives and archaeology, and factoriesand boilers departments.

Congress high command to decide onLoP in Goa Assembly, says Kamat From being the singlelargest party, Congress now has 5 MLAs


Panaji

The High Court of Bombayat Goa will on Wednesdaypronounce its verdict in thedeath and rape case of aBritish teenager a decadeago. The incident had madeheadlines worldwide.

The Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) hascharged two men, Samsung D’Souza and PlacidoCarvalho, with death andrape of the girl, who wasthen 15yearold, when shewas holidaying in Goaalong with her family.

Her bruised seminudebody was found at the Anjuna beach on February 18,2008.Advocate VikramVarma, representing thevictim’s mother, on Tuesday confi��rmed that the verdict is scheduled to be pronounced on Wednesday.

The matter was heard bya Division Bench comprising Justices R.D. Dhanukaand Prithviraj Chavan.

HC verdict indecade-oldrape, murdercase today


Panaji

And then there were fi��ve: Four former Goa chief ministers Digambar Kamat, Luizinho Faleiro,Pratapsing Rane, and Ravi Naik along with Curtorim MLA Reginald Lourenco (third from right)on the second day of the ongoing Assembly session at Porvorim on Tuesday. They are the onlyremaining Congress legislators in Goa after 10 MLAs joined the BJP recently, including theLeader of Opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar. * ATISH POMBURFEKAR

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SOUTH

Sabarimala templeopened for ritualsPATHANAMTHITTA

The Sabarimala Ayyappa

temple was opened on

Tuesday afternoon for the

monthly rituals in the

Malayalam month of

Karkidakom that begins on

Wednesday. The Melsanthi

V.N. Vasudevan Namboodiri,

opened the sanctum

sanctorum at 5 p.m. The

rituals will begin with the

Tantri Kandararu Rajeevararu,

performing the Ashtadravya

Maha Ganapati homam on

Wednesday.

IN BRIEF

NRI suicide case: familyseeks CBI investigationKOZHIKODE

The widow of Sajan Parayil

has sought a CBI probe into

the death of the NRI

businessman who ended his

life after he failed to secure

an ownership certificate for

his convention centre project

at Bakkal in Anthoor

municipality in Kannur

district. In a letter to the

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi

Vijayan, E.P. Beena said she

suspected that efforts were

being made to sabotage the

investigation by vested

interests who falsely

attributed his death to

family discord.

Kerala nun rape caseposted to July 23 KOTTAYAM

The judicial first class

magistrate court in Pala on

Tuesday posted the hearing in

the nun rape case against

Bishop Franco Mulakkal to

July 23. The case was posted

to another date following a

submission by the accused’s

counsel that a couple of

documents handed over by

the prosecution were not

legible. The court then asked

the prosecution to hand over

fresh copies of the

documents by July 23.

Governor P. Sathasivam onTuesday ordered the ViceChancellor, Kerala University (KU), to urgently fi��le a report on the seizure of answer sheets from the house of aStudents’ Federation of India (SFI) leader on Sunday.

The Cantonment policehere had stumbled upon theanswer sheets, purportedlyvalidated by the KU, whenthey searched the house ofSivarenjith.

The police had named theundergraduate as the primesuspect in the nearfatalstabbing of a collegemateand SFI activist Akhil duringclass hours at University College here last Friday.

Investigators had alsofound a seal of the Directorof Physical Education of Kerala University, at Sivarenjith’s room.

The seizure of 83 answersheet bundles from the SFIleader’s house at Attukalclosely followed by the discovery of more sheaves ofanswer sheets from the Un

iversity College union room,which is controlled by theSFI campus unit, raised serious questions about thecredibility of examinationsheld at the institution.

Principals complainedThe Governor’s move follows public statements byformer college principals

who claimed that they hadreported widespread examination malpractices in University College by SFI leaders to the KU repeatedly, butto no avail.

They cited partisan teachers, lack of a robust ParentTeacher Association, absence of rival student outfi��tsand a delinquent subculture

that demanded total deference from students to theSFI, as reasons that had rendered faculty members andinvigilators helpless.

The police said the illegaldiversion of answer sheets topolitically infl��uential leadersof the SFI pointed to activeconnivance on the part ofcollege insiders.

Governor asks Kerala VC forexplanation on answer sheets Sheaves of papers, seal were seized from SFI leader’s house, college union


Thiruvananthapuram

Loud and clear: Members of the Kerala Students Union staging a protest on Tuesday at theKerala University demanding the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor. * S. MAHINSHA

Pandemonium prevailed inthe Andhra Pradesh Assembly over unparliamentarywords allegedly used by Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Minister PerniVenkatramaiah (Nani)against TDP MLA K.Atchannaidu.

The House was in disorderfor quite some time as thetreasury and Oppositionbenches blamed each other

during question hour onTuesday.

Speaker Tammineni Sitaram’s repeated pleas for order went unheeded withYSRCP and TDP memberssticking to their guns.

At one point, the Speakersaid it would be diffi��cult torun the House if the pandemonium continued. Intervening, Mr. Venkatramaiahclarifi��ed that he merely saidthat the Tekkali constituencyelectorate would feel guilty

for electing Mr. Atchannaidu. But the TDP members alleged that the Minister usedabusive language while addressing Mr. Atchannaidu.Responding to it, the Minister urged the Speaker to verify the records, and said hewas ready to apologise if hecommitted a mistake.

Mr. Sitaram said that therecords would be verifi��edand unparliamentary words,if any, would be expunged.

The Speaker took objec

tion to Mr. Atchannaidu’s remark that he would read outwhatever the Chair says.

Stating that he was behaving in a dignifi��ed manner inthe House, the TDP membersaid he was being targeted ashe belonged to the BackwardClasses. Intervening, Finance and Legislative Aff��airsMinister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy pointed out thatMr. Atchannaidu had usedoff��ensive language in the previous Assembly.

Pandemonium in Andhra Pradesh AssemblyYSRCP Minister’s remarks against TDP MLA kick up a row during question hour

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA

Awaiting the tag: A view of the Kappad Beach in Kozhikode, Kerala, which the Union Environment Ministry has selected, alongwith 11 others, to be recommended for the Blue Flag tag. It is a quality recognition conferred on beaches that meet certaincriteria of cleanliness by the Foundation for Environmental Education, an international NGO. * S. RAMESH KURUP

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CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Blue-eyed

The Andhra Pradesh government will order a vigilance inquiry into the controversial sale of theSadavarthi Satram (choultry) land in Chennai, whichhad rocked the State duringthe TDP government.

“The government is contemplating an inquiry intothe issue by a senior offi��cer.The inquiry report will beplaced on the table of theHouse in three months. Action will be taken against theguilty offi��cials, if any,” according to Endowments Minister Vellampalli SrinivasaRao.

He was replying to a question raised by MangalagiriMLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy during the question houron Tuesday.

The MLA said the land,originally over 471 acres,had been donated by the

descendants of the last rulerof Amaravati, Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu, to theSadavarti Trust for providing facilities such as education for the poor in 1881.With no proper care, muchof it had been encroachedupon, leaving 83.11 acres,the Minister said.

‘Tenders not invited’ The previous governmenthad decided to hand overthe land for a pittance to anindividual though the market value was very high, theMinister alleged. The upsetprice was fi��xed at ₹��50 lakhper acre while the marketvalue was ₹��6 crore.

Also, the government didnot follow due proceduresand etenders were not invited. An Endowments Department offi��cial was transferred for pointing out themarket value, the Ministersaid.

A.P. for probe intoSadavarthi land issueFaults TDP govt. on move to auction it

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA

Shivajinagar MLA R. RoshanBaig on Tuesday moved theKarnataka High Court stating that he was taken into“illegal captivity” by theSpecial Investigation Team(SIT) on Monday to allegedlyserve the “purpose of theruling party to coerce himto support the governmentduring the coming fl��oor testeven though he had submitted his resignation on July 11itself.”

Hearing adjournedJustice Alok Aradhe, beforewhom the petition came upfor hearing around 5.15p.m., ordered issue of notices to the State and the SIT after Mr. Baig’s counsel, whohad in the afternoon soughturgency to hear the petition, said that there was nourgency as the SIT had released the MLA after the petition was fi��led.

Further hearing was ad

journed till July 30.Mr. Baig was detained by

the SIT from KempegowdaInternational Airport onMonday when he was on hisway to board a fl��ight toPune. It has been claimed inthe petition that the offi��cersof the SIT “suddenly attacked” him in a highhanded manner at the airportand took him into “illegalcaptivity” stating that he isrequired for an inquiry intothe IMA scam case, thoughthe SIT itself had given himtime till July 19 to appear “asa witness” in the case.

Baig moves HC against‘illegal detention’ by SIT Special Correspondent

Bengaluru

R. Roshan Baig

Bharat Dynamics Limited(BDL), celebrating its goldenjubilee this year, has ordersworth ₹��8,000 crore for making various missiles for theArmed Forces to be delivered within the next fi��veyears.

Orders are expected to increase to ₹��25,000 crore inthe next fourfi��ve years, evenas BDL ramps up the production of nextgenerationmissiles.

Pact with IIITWorking under the Ministryof Defence, BDL has also entered into a pact with International Institute of Information TechnologyHyderabadfor making use of artifi��cial intelligence in the development of systems and pro

ducts. Further, it would betying up with THub for developing an ecosystem forstartups to solve problemsthrough hackathons, saidChairman and Managing Director Commodore (Retired)Siddharth Mishra onTuesday.

Addressing a press conference on the institute’s pre

mises at Kanchanbagh, Mr.Mishra said BDL has alsocommenced exports, andhas just completed an orderfor the fi��rst consignment ofmissiles to a “friendly country”, with more orders in thepipeline.

BDL is game for more exports depending on the demand, and permissions ob

tained from the governmentof India.

Established this day in1970 as a manufacturing baseof guided missiles and allieddefence equipment to meetthe Indian Armed Forces’ requirements, BDL began workwith the AntiTank GuidedMissile (ATGM) SS11B1 undertechnical collaboration with

Aerospatiale of France. BDLnow works in partnershipwith the Defence Researchand Development Organisation (DRDO) and the ArmedForces in making the latestmissile systems.

The company currentlymakes ATGMs, Akash surfacetoair missiles, torpedos, seekerbased multiroleair defence missile or theMRSAM (mediumrange surfacetoair missile) beingjointly developed by theDRDO, IAI (Israel) and others. It has also been in theprocess of collaborating withvarious original equipmentmanufacturers for technology transfers for nextgeneration missiles.

A listed fi��rm, BDL had aturnover of ₹��4,586 crore in201718, up from ₹��3,069crore the previous year.

BDL going strong with missile orders for ₹��8,000 crore We plan to make thirdgeneration missiles soon, says CMD Siddharth Mishra

Ready for action: Akash, a surface-to-air missile, manufactured by Bharat Dynamics Limited tomeet the requirement of the Armed Forces. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT


HYDERABAD

In an operation early onTuesday, 23 foreigners hadbeen identifi��ed as overstaying or staying without validdocuments in Hyderabad.The joint operation was taken up by the Hyderabadpolice and the Foreigner Regional Registration Offi��ce(FRRO).

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar saidsome of the 23 persons, including children, were fromSomalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Visa, passport and otherrelevant documents of foreigners were checked during this operation which wasconducted at Banjara Hills,

Golconda, Asifnagar, Osmania University, Amberpet,Chikadpally, Chandrayangutta and other locations. Atotal of around 74 peoplewere questioned.

Mr. Kumar told the mediathat they would be given anoption to regularise theoverstay by paying penaltyas per rules. He said theycould leave after producingpapers and taking exit visa,failing which they would bedetained and deported.

“The joint verifi��cationprocess was conducted byaround 21 teams from theHyderabad police, SpecialBranch, Task Force andFRRO. Intelligence department offi��cials also participat

ed. For the police and theFRRO, those who are overstaying without any documents are important,” Mr.Kumar said.

This exercise was takenup a week after the policehad collected biometricsfrom around 65 foreigners aspart of the drive.

The Police Commissionerclarifi��ed that nobody wastargeted and as per rules, itwas the duty of the police tocheck foreigners, their documents and their validity.“Hyderabad is a metropolitan city. It always welcomespeople from other countriesfor business, tourism andstudies, but as per rules andprocedure,” he said.

23 foreigners staying illegallyin Hyderabad identifi��edThey will be given the option to regularise their overstay

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD

It is one more night of uncertain wait for all the politicalparties in Karnataka, withthe Supreme Court reserving for Wednesday morningits order on the plea of 15Congress and JD(S) MLAswho have sought that theirresignations from the Assembly be accepted.

The ruling coalitionpartners as well as the Opposition BJP have stationedtheir MLAs in diff��erent resorts on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Rebel MLAs whohave resigned and are awaiting their acceptance, meanwhile, continue to stay in aMumbai hotel.

The Supreme Court onTuesday heard the case ofthe lawmakers whose resignations, if accepted, willleave the government in aminority. Chief MinisterH.D. Kumaraswamy is set to

move a confi��dence motionon Thursday.

Hope against oddsAgainst all odds, Janata Dal(Secular) leaders remainedhopeful of the survival of thegovernment, said sources inthe party. A senior leadersaid the party was hopingone of the three rebelswould return to the partyfold and also some from theCongress.

The party is expecting a“positive development”from the Supreme Court andat the Speaker’s offi��ce too.

Fearing poaching of moreparty MLAs, currentlylodged in a city hotel, theCongress on Tuesday movedits lawmakers to a privateresort on the outskirts ofBengaluru. A total of 76 legislators, including MLCs,are provided accommodation in the resort, sourcestold The Hindu.

“We are keenly awaitingthe ruling of the SupremeCourt. Our next plan of action will be only after the order on Wednesday,” said aCongress leader.

The Opposition BJP leaders, according to sources,are not worried as the partythinks that it is in an advantageous position in terms ofnumbers, irrespective of thestand to be taken by the Supreme Court.

The BJP leaders are reportedly in touch with a slewof legal experts and most ofthem are said to have beenof the view that the party’sprospects may not be aff��ected.

Meanwhile, party Statepresident B.S. Yeddyurappaspent the day with party legislators at a resort in Yelahanka. He even playedcricked with them and engaged them in informal conversation.

One more night of wait forKarnataka MLAs in resortsH.D. Kumaraswamy to move confi��dence motion tomorrow


Bengaluru

In control: Karnataka BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa playing cricket with party MLAs at aresort in Yelahanka on Tuesday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

NATION

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

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

Forecast for Wednesday: Heavy to very heavy rainfall likely overKerala, Mahe, coastal Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu,Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Goa, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh,Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh and Odisha

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala ................ —....35.8.... 24.0 Kozhikode................. 9.0....29.8.... 25.1

Ahmedabad ........... —....39.1.... 28.1 Kurnool..................... 0.1....36.1.... 25.7

Aizawl................ 7.0....25.7.... 20.7 Lucknow ................. 26.6....33.6.... 22.7

Allahabad .............. —....37.5.... 26.6 Madurai .................. 11.4....37.5.... 25.0

Bengaluru .......... 2.8....30.4.... 21.0 Mangaluru .............. 18.0....28.2.... 22.6

Bhopal .................. —....34.6.... 26.2 Mumbai .................... 3.1....31.4.... 26.2

Bhubaneswar......... —....35.8.... 26.0 Mysuru ........................ —....31.0.... 21.2

Chandigarh....... 19.8....30.0.... 24.0 New Delhi............... 29.2....33.4.... 24.0

Chennai............ 37.3....36.2.... 23.8 Patna........................... —....36.8.... 27.8

Coimbatore ........... —....32.4.... 23.4 Port Blair.................. 0.8....31.2.... 26.6

Dehradun ......... 15.8....26.0.... 22.2 Puducherry .................. —....35.8.... 26.2

Gangtok ............. 8.6....20.2.... 17.2 Pune............................ —....30.3.... 22.7

Goa.................. 53.6....30.7.... 24.2 Raipur.......................... —....37.3.... 27.2

Guwahati............ 5.2....27.4.... 24.4 Ranchi ...................... 5.6....32.8.... 24.5

Hubballi ................ —....27.0.... 22.0 Shillong .................... 9.5........ —.... 17.0

Hyderabad........ 10.4....34.2.... 23.2 Shimla .................... 11.9....18.7.... 15.6

Imphal ............... 1.2....25.4.... 20.5 Srinagar....................... —....30.6.... 15.7

Jaipur ................... —....34.6.... 28.9 Thiruvananthapuram...... 0.6....31.1.... 24.6

Kochi ................. 6.8....30.8.... 25.2 Tiruchi...................... 2.1....38.6.... 26.8

Kohima .............. 5.0....24.5........ — Vijayawada ............... 1.8....36.9.... 25.7

Kolkata ................. —....37.2.... 29.1 Visakhapatnam.............. —....34.4.... 27.5

(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at 4.00p.m., Jodhpur, Rajasthanrecorded an overall airquality index (AQI) score of307 indicating an unhealthylevel of pollution. Incontrast, Eloor, Keralarecorded a healthy AQIscore of 23

Ahmedabad..... ..— 132 .54 ....72 .....— ....*

Bengaluru ....... ..4 .12 .75 ....26 ...33 ....*

Chennai .......... ..6 .34 .53 ....74 .....— ....*

Delhi .............. 14 .42 .19 ..154 .....— ....*

Hyderabad ...... 42 .29 .12 ....58 ...96 ....*

Kolkata........... ..9 .58 .17 ..122 .123 ....*

Lucknow ......... ..4 .30 .49 ....73 .....— ....*

Mumbai .......... ..— .18 102 ....19 ...58 ....*

Pune............... 68 ...9 .67 ....65 ...64 ....*

Visakhapatnam ..— ...— .43 ..... — .....— ....*

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

Delhi High Court grantsparole to O.P. ChautalaNEW DELHI

The Delhi HC granted a

sevenday parole to INLD

Chief O.P. Chautala, serving

10year jail term in teachers’

recruitment scam, to attend

the engagement ceremony of

his grandson. Justice I.S.

Mehta directed the 85year

old not to contact, threaten

or coerce any of the family

members of the victims

during this period nor indulge

in any illegal activity.

IN BRIEF

Sangeet Natak AkademiRatnas announcedNEW DELHI

The Sangeet Natak Akademi

named Zakir Hussain, Jatin

Goswami, Sonal Mansingh

and K. Kalyanasundaram Pillai

as Akademi Fellows or

Akademi Ratnas and

announced awards for 2018,

the Union Culture Ministry

said on Tuesday. The Akademi

selected 44 artists from

music, dance, theatre,

puppetry and overall

contribution to performing

arts for the Awards for 2018.

Bihar transgenders to get₹��1.5 lakh for surgeryPATNA

Transgender members in

Bihar who opt for sex change

operation will get ₹��1.5 lakh

and those who refuse to give

them house on rent, show

disparity in providing them

healthrelated facilities and

violate their rights will get jail

term from six months to two

years, Deputy Chief Minister

Sushil Kumar Modi has said.

Ten persons were killed andnine injured when a portionof a decrepit, fourstoreybuilding collapsed in southMumbai’s congested Dongrilocality on Tuesday morning.

Police suspect around 10persons are still trapped under the rubble as rescue operations continued late intothe evening.

Large portions of top twofl��oors of the several decadesold Kesarbai building in Dongri’s Tandel Street, Nishanpada, collapsed around 11.30a.m. Close to 20 familieswere said to be living in thebuilding, which is owned bya private Trust.

Several people trapped inthe rubble were rescuing bylocal people as fi��re and rescue personnel struggled toreach the site amid crowded,narrow streets. Later traffi��cpolice created a green corridor for fi��re tenders and ambulances to reach the spot.

Search and rescue operations were undertaken jointly by fi��re services and theNDRF with eight fi��re enginesdeployed.

Nine persons were rescued from the debris, including a young girl who wastrapped under a heavy ironbeam. She was rescued afterclose to two hours.

“This was one of the mostdiffi��cult rescue operationssuccessfully carried out,”said Prabhat Rahangdale,chief fi��re offi��cer.

“We are afraid around 10more people are trapped.The debris will be removedcompletely by tonight, onlyafter which picture will beclear,” said Sandeep Bhagdi

kar, senior police inspector,Dongri police station.

Initially in 2017, BMC haddeclared this particularbuilding as extremely dilapidated. It later found out thatthe building is a cessedstructure and therefore, directed MHADA through a letter in 2017 to look into thematter.

10 dead, several feared trappedas Mumbai building collapses Nine pulled out alive from debris of the decrepit structure in a crowded area

Staff Reporter

Mumbai

Reduced to rubble: NDRF personnnel and rescue workers searching through the debris of thebuilding that collapsed in Dongri, south Mumbai, on Tuesday. * VIVEK BENDRE

Unusually torrential rainfallin catchment areas in Nepaland subsequent massive discharge of water in rivers ledto fl��ash fl��oods in Bihar, ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar toldthe State Assembly on Tuesday. A total of 25.72 lakh people have been aff��ected bythe natural calamity so far,he said.

In a statement, Mr. Kumarsaid fl��oods normally strucknorth Bihar in August or sometimes, in September, butthis time they came a monthearlier primarily because ofunusually heavy rainfall inthe Terai region of the neighbouring country.

As a result, several riversin Bihar like Kosi, Bagmatiand Mahananda have beenin spate, the Chief Ministersaid in the House.

Twelve districts havebeen aff��ected by the fl��oods,the Chief Minister added.

Kosi, Bagmati andMahananda riversin spate, says CM


Patna

Seeking shelter: A group of rhinoceroses moving to anelevated area following the fl��oods. * PTI

Heavy rain in Nepal causesfl��oods in Bihar, over 25 lakh hit

The All India Kisan Sabha(AIKS) on Tuesday demanded that the Centre scrap theManual for Drought Management, 2016, which hadchanged the way thatdroughts are declared andthe circumstances underwhich Central help can besought by aff��ected States.

Latest data from the IndiaMeteorological Departmentshow over half the country’sland area still faces rainfalldefi��cits of more than 20%this monsoon season. Saurashtra and Kutch are theworst aff��ected region, with a60% defi��cit as of June 16, followed by Gangetic WestBengal, parts of Rajasthan,Haryana and Kerala. Acrossthe Deccan peninsula — inMarathwada, Vidarbha,Andhra Pradesh, Telanganaand Tamil Nadu — the defi��cits hover in the 3035%range.

“At the All India KisanCouncil meeting over thisweekend, our leaders frommany parts of the countryall spoke of how drought isaff��ecting farmers in theirareas,” said Vijoo Krishnan,AIKS joint secretary. “Rain

fall is low, but even in areaswhere the defi��cit may not behigh now, the rain has comelate, aff��ecting the sowingand growing of crops,” headded.

Mr. Krishnan assertedthat before 2016, it was considered a drought year in aparticular area if there wasdefi��cient rainfall and thecrop yield was less than 50%of the average of the previous 10 years.

However, the Manual forDrought Management, issued in 2016, brought instringent new parameters.States are required to assessconditions using fi��ve indicators: rainfall, agriculture,soil moisture, hydrologyand crop health. The Manual allows States to requestfor support from the National Disaster Response Fund ifa drought is declared as“severe”. This can only happen if three impact indicators (apart from rainfall) fallinto the “severe” category,he explained.

“These conditions are sostringent that an area maynot be offi��cially declared asfacing a severe drought evenwhile its farmers are suff��ering,” said Mr. Krishnan.

Farmers’ group wantsdrought norms revisedScrap drought rules of 2016, says AIKS


NEW DELHI

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has directed all Statesand Union Territories to furnish a report on the amountof biomedical waste generated and asked them to set upcommon treatment and disposal facilities, if not doneyet.

A Bench headed by NGT

Chairperson Justice AdarshKumar Goel directed the District Magistrates acrossStates to monitor compliance with the biomedicalwaste management rulestwice a month.

Stating that a District Environment Plan needs to be inplace across the country, thegreen panel said the plan canbe operated by district com

mittees comprising representatives from the respective panchayats, localbodies, regional offi��cers andState pollution controlboards.

“We place on record ourdisapproval of the inactionof States in furnishing the inventory studies as well as forincomplete inventories. TheStates which have not yet

constituted advisory committee may also do so withintwo months. The actionplans and their executionmust be carried out havingregard to the key performance indicators,” theBench said.

It warned States that environmental compensationwill be imposed if the ordersare not complied with.

Monitor biomedical waste management: NGTAsks States to set up common treatment and disposal facilities, if not done yet

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

The Defence Ministry hassuspended business dealings with Pilatus of Switzerland for a year, over allegations of corruption in thesupply of Basic Trainer Aircraft (BTA) for the Indian AirForce (IAF).

“Business dealings withthe fi��rm will remain suspended for a period of oneyear for violation of article6.6 of the Pre Contract Integrity Pact (PCIP) and ongoing investigation by the CBI,Delhi Police, Enforcement

Directorate (ED) and IncomeTax department into corrupt practices, unfair meansand illegal activities by Pila

tus Aircraft Limited,” the Ministry said in a notifi��cation.

IAF operates 75 PC7 MKIItrainer aircraft procured under a $532 million deal withPilatus in 2012. The DefenceMinistry issued a show causenotice to the company in January 2017 following allegations of corruption, afterwhich Pilatus admitted having engaged the services ofOff��sets India Solutions (OIS),owned by fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari, and paying it at least 1 million Swissfrancs in 2010 in connectionwith the trainer deal.

Defence Ministry suspendsdealings with Swiss company Ties with the fi��rm severed following charges of corruption


NEW DELHI

PC7 training aircraft

Four people lost their livesand two onehorned rhinosdrowned in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) on Tuesday as Assam continued toreel under fl��oods and raininduced landslides.

The day also saw UnionJal Shakti Minister GajendraSingh Shekhawat inspectingsome of the worsthit areasand the Centre releasing₹��251.52 crore as partpay

ment for relief and rescueoperations in the State.

Assam State DisasterManagement Authority offi��cials said the fl��oods have affected 44.96 lakh peopleacross 4,620 villages. Morethan 1.01 lakh people havetaken refuge in 226 reliefcamps. “Four peopledrowned today [Tuesday],taking the human toll to 19.Landslides in two districtskilled two of them,” an ASDMA offi��cial said.

Assam fl��ood toll rises to 19;

2 rhinos drown in KazirangaSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI

Pilots suspended for‘unstabilised’ landingNEW DELHI

The DGCA suspended two

SpiceJet pilots after a flight

they operated was involved in

an unstabilised landing at the

Kolkata airport. The aircraft

veered to the edge of the

runway and damaged runway

lights on July 2. An

investigation found that the

aircraft touched down

approximately 1,300 feet

from the runway threshold

point and towards the right of

the runway centre line.

Poor weather forced a Vistara fl��ight to turn from one airport to another requestingfor permission to land, before it declared a fuel emergency and arrived at Lucknow after two extra hours ofbeing in air.

Passengers, meanwhile,had an anxious time waitingfor their ordeal to end.

As heavy rain lashed thenational capital on Mondayand led to traffi��c congestionat Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport, Vistara’sUK 944 fl��ight from Mumbaito Delhi was forced to hoverover the airport for nearlyan hour. It was then diverted to Lucknow, but poor visibility in the U.P. capitalforced it to head to Prayagraj, and then again reroute

to Lucknow, where it landedafter the pilot gave a call fora fuel May Day.

The plane landed at Lucknow at 6.49 p.m., nearly twohours after its scheduledtime of arrival at Delhi.

When the aircraft landedit had 300 kg of aviation turbine fuel, enough for 10 minutes of fl��ight.

Vistara said in a statement that it had compliedwith regulatory norms requiring it to carry suffi��cientfuel for the nearest alternative airport in case of emergencies.

Meanwhile, the DGCAand the airline have grounded the pilot forinvestigation.

A fl��ight from Lucknow toDelhi fi��nally left at 12.15 a.m.to ferry the passengers totheir destination.

Inclement weather delayslanding of aircraftRemains in air for two extra hours

special correspondent

NEW DELHI

At least 45 cows, seized bythe Border Security Forcewhile being smuggled toneighbouring Bangladesh,died due to alleged neglectat a cow shelter run by anNGO in Tripura.

The incharge of the cowshelter at Devipur in Sipahijala district, said the cowsdied of “hyperthermia” asthey were kept in open dueto paucity of space andthere were incessant rainsover the last six days.

The deaths took placeduring last three days starting from Sunday, offi��cials

said.At present, 700 cattle are

lodged in the ‘gaushala’,cow shelter incharge Joshine Antony said on Tuesday.

The cow shelter was constructed by a DelhibasedNGO on May 14 last following an agreement with theTripura government.

She said 45 cows died inlast three days as they wereunder open sky anddrenched in rainwater.

“There were incessantrains for the last six daysand the 45 cows were underan open sky, drenched inrains and died due to hyperthermia,” she said.

45 cows seized fromsmugglers die in Tripura ‘Were kept in the open due to lack of space’


Agartala


DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

Sohail Ahmad &

Felix Creutzig

Congested streets and polluted air are common experiences in India’s metropol

ises, although the average Indiancontributes only minusculeamounts of transportrelated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to global climate change. Patterns ofroad transport, however, divergewildly between cities and districts.Delhi tops the charts and emissions are more than twice as highas other Indian megacities, such asMumbai, Bengaluru or Ahmedabad.

Studies show that India’s roadtransport emissions are small inglobal comparison but increasingexponentially. In fact, the GlobalCarbon Project reports that India’scarbon emissions are rising morethan two times as fast as the globalrise in 2018. Globally, the transport sector accounts for a quarterof total emissions, out of whichthree quarters are from road transport. Reducing CO2 emissions ofroad transport leverages multiplecobenefi��ts, for example, improving air quality and increasingphysical activity, which are criticalfor wellbeing, particularly in urban areas.

Climate action also requires anunderstanding of how emissionsvary with spatial context. In India,we fi��nd in our new study (published in Environmental ResearchLetters), that income and urbanisation are the key determinants oftravel distance and travel modechoice and, therefore, commutingemissions. The way cities are builtand the design of public transit arecritical for lowcarbon mobilitysystems. The study is based on themost recent results of the IndianCensus in 2011.

Average commuting emissionsin highemitting districts (Delhi)are 16 times higher than lowemitting districts (most districts in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh). Averageper capita commuting emissionsare highest for the most affl��uentdistricts, which are predominantlyurban, and that heavily use fourwheelers for commuting. This is asurprising result, as in other partsof the world such as the UnitedStates, commuting emissions arelow in urban areas but high in suburban or exurban settings. In contrast, average per capita commuting emissions are lowest for Indiandistricts that are poor, and commuting distances are short andrarely use threewheelers.

Focus on wellbeingTwo policy implications follow.First, mayors and town plannersshould organise cities around public transport and cycling, therebyimproving mobility for many,while limiting car use. Uptake of

nonmotorised transport emergesas a sweet spot of sustainable development, resulting in both loweremissions and better public healthin cities. According to the recentNational Family Health Survey(201516), nearly 30% of all menare overweight or obese in southwest Delhi, but only 25% in Thiruvananthapuram and 13% in Allahabad. These data correlate withhigh reliance of car use in Delhiand low demand for walking.

Another of our studies that investigates data from the India Human Development Survey showsthat a 10% increase in cyclingcould lower chronic diseases suchas diabetes and cardiovascular diseases for 0.3 million people, whilealso abating emissions. Car use, incontrast, correlates with higherrates of diabetes. Therefore, fuelprice increases, congestion charges or parking management couldbe a strategy that improves thewellbeing of individuals living inurban areas. In contrast, fuel priceincreases would be detrimental inpoorer rural areas, impairing mo

bility where there is a lack ofalternatives.

Technology transitionSecond, India should double downin its strategy to transition to electric two and threewheelers. Indiais the thirdlargest market for automobiles; about 25 million internalcombustion engines were sold in2017, including about 20 milliontwowheelers. A recent study reports that India has 1.5 million batterypowered threewheeler rickshaw (over 300,000 erickshawssold in 2018). In the coming years,experts judge that the electricthreewheeler market is expectedto grow by at least 10% per year. In2019, nearly 110,000 electric twowheelers were also sold, and theannual growth rate may be above40% per year.

The current statistics even suggest that electric threewheelersand electric twowheelers, ratherthan electric cars, will drive theelectric vehicle market in India.Electric car sales are minusculeand even falling (dropping from2,000 in 2017 to 1,200 in 2018).Consumers realise the practicaladvantages of lighter in weighttwo and threewheelers that require much smaller and less powerful batteries and are easilyplugged in at home.

India is one of the world’s largest producers and consumers intwo and three wheelers and Indian companies can take a leadingrole in switching to electric vehicles. This will also help in trans

forming India’s vision of ‘Make inIndia’.

Compact cities improve accessibility and reduce emissions fromtransport and even the buildingsector. Most Indian cities are already very dense, with few benefi��tsexpected by further highrise. Citymanagers should ensure that existing urban areas provide shortroutes and fast access to schools,hospitals and jobs, otherwise, residents would be required to travellong distances. To achieve thisaim, mayors and decisionmakersneed to rethink how to deliver basic services such as education andhealth. Building schools and hospitals matters especially for informal settlements and are critical inachieving low carbon development as well as improving thequality of life.

Providing access to public service, choosing rapid transit overcar driving in cities and supporting the rise of electric two andthreewheelers will help drive India to a modern and lowcarbontransport system fi��t for the 21stcentury.

Sohail Ahmad is a Research Fellow at the

GCRF Centre for Sustainable, Healthy and

Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods

(SHLC), University of Glasgow. Prof. Dr.

Felix Creutzig is the head of the working

group Land Use, Infrastructures and

Transport at the Mercator Research

Institute on Global Commons and Climate

Change, and Chair of Sustainability

Economics at Technische Universität

Berlin

The wheels to a low-carbon transport system It rests on accessing public service, choosing rapid transit over car driving and supporting electric vehicle transition

GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

Adistinct genre of political

theatrics in which electedrepresentatives play ‘hide

and seek’ in plush resorts to escape poaching by their very ownand rival party leaders is currentlyplaying out in Karnataka. Whilethe dramatis personae, the layoutof the plot, the resources deployed, and the message conveyedare distinct this round, this modeof doing politics is not new to theState.

In fact, following the State elections last year, leaders of the rulingcoalition enacted a similar play almost 14 months ago by shepherding the elected representatives oftheir respective parties to safe havens; this was done ostensibly tostop them from being poached bythe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)which laid claim to power as thelargest party in the House andneeded a few more legislators tosecure a majority.

The bare sketchSuch mimetic displays have notbeen rare in the past either. Theymake room for extended inventionof subplots and even erasure of afew, often delving deep into therich folklore Karnataka is knownfor. Analogical practices are therein other States too, although Karnataka can claim a certain expertise in this regard by now. Whilesuch theatrics may have tacticalpolitical purpose at times, thequestion to be asked is the purpose for which such a political tactic is employed; the bearing it hason electoral representation, andthe aff��ront such political meansoff��er to nurture a democraticculture.

In Karnataka, there is a coali

tion government of the Indian National Congress and the Janata Dal(Secular), or JD(S). The Chief Minister, H.D. Kumaraswamy, is fromthe JD(S) that has 37 members,while its majority partner, theCongress, has 78 members in the224member House. While thereare two independents, the BJP,which is in the opposition, has 105members. From the beginning,the relationship between the coalition partners has been very uneasy, with the media constantlyabuzz with rumours of a breakdown. On its part, the BJP hasmade umpteen attempts to weanaway a few members from the coalition, widely termed ‘OperationKamala (lotus)’. After the Lok Sabha election, and the BJP’s resounding victory where it got 25 Lok Sabha seats out of 28, the rumblingswithin the coalition have becomelouder; moving to the greenerside, i.e. the BJP, has become moretempting for the fencesitters.

A few days ago, there was drama when 16 members of the Assembly, three from the JD(S) and 13of the Congress, most of themsheltered in a luxury hotel inMumbai, announced that they hadresigned from the Assembly. Twoindependents, who were made ministers earlier in order to retainthem within the coalition fold, resigned from the cabinet and extended support to the BJP. TheSpeaker of the House, however,faulted the procedure adopted by10 legislators to tender their resignations, dragging in the SupremeCourt to decide its rectitude.While receiving these resignationsafresh, following the court’s directive, the Speaker stood his groundon ascertaining their constitutional and legal validity.

In Parliament, the Oppositionaccused the ruling BJP of employing unfair means to bring down anelected government. With the Karnataka government having decided to convene the Budget session,the coalition partners issued awhip to its members to attend,

holding out the threat of disqualifi��cation for noncompliance. TheSupreme Court was made to stepin in order to decide the relativestatus of resignation and disqualifi��cation of elected members andtheir precedence, given theirwidely diff��erent political implications. On the fl��oor of the Assembly, the Chief Minister announcedthat he would move a trust motionon his government, which hasmade the issue of status and precedence crucial to the ambitions anddesigns of the rebels, and alsoplacing them in a quandary. Theunfolding of these events has beenlaced with several subplots: lavishliving, private jethops, invocationof divine help, political “attempts”to cajole the rebels to return to thepartyfold, and a roughing up ofparty colleagues, and each partymoving its Assembly members towellsecured and lavish resorts.

Disaff��ection within coalitionWhile the coalition governmentand the parties supporting themhave targeted the BJP for attempting to pull down the government,the fi��rst group is primarily responsible for allowing disaff��ectionwithin its fold to spread for threereasons.

First, for reasons known to itself, the Congress did not includethe most important leaders fromNorthern Karnataka in the ministry for months; a small coterie ofVokkaliga leaders in the coalitionfrom the erstwhile Mysore regionhave attempted to direct thecourse of political developments.The Lingayatdominated northernregion, already smarting under

years of neglect and drought, hasconsolidated itself as a bloc to resist the encroaching dominance ofits traditional rival, and has gravitated wholesale towards the BJPwhich has been nursing it foryears. Second, the JD(S) with theChief Minister at the helm andwith the support of a section of theState Congress leadership, has systematically attempted to undercutthe lucrative wheelerdealer network that the Siddaramaiah government of the Congress (201318) had built — it involves mining,land, construction and transport —and which directed those resources to its henchmen. It led to interference in departments and transfer of employees which theministers concerned regarded astheir fi��efdoms. It made Mr. Siddaramaiah, the preeminent leaderof the Congress in the State, toblow hot and cold occasionallyagainst the coalition.

Third, the Congress and JD(S)are traditional political rivals inthe southern region of the Stateand over the years, a signifi��cantsection of the Vokkaligas, the pronounced social base of the JD(S),have been attracted to the Hindutva agenda. The inability of the coalition to forge an overlapping voting base is what has led to itsoverwhelming defeat in the veryregion of its strength.

The data is telling. In the Assembly elections of April 2018, theBJP, the Congress and the JD(S) secured 36.34%, 38.14% and 18.3% ofthe voteshare respectively, whilein the Lok Sabha elections, it was51.4%, 31.88% and 9.67%, respectively. The disaff��ection has led alarge number of Congressmen toquestion the utility of the coalitionon grounds of sectarian loyalties,personal interests, and future electoral prospects; some of them withlarge interests at stake have decided to jump ship. The hand of theBJP has always been there with thebait and off��ering promises.

The disaff��ection mentionedabove have little to do with repre

sentational logic, i.e., upholdingthe interests of one’s constituency,striving to further the interests ofthe political community of theState, or even the objectives ofone’s own party. Due to a numberof historical reasons, castes andcommunities are key players onthe political scene in Karnataka.Hindutva has been attempting tofi��ll this vacuum in recent years buthas a very tentative hold still.

Personal gain, sectarianismEven today, the elected representatives primarily consider themselves as members of castes andcommunities, and in the distribution of public resources, the gainto one’s community becomes anoverriding consideration. Therefore, elected representatives forma clique with a powerful leaderwith access to public resources,and strive to tilt the scales in theirfavour. Being elected as a memberof the Legislature is often perceived as an entry point to seekother goodies such as a ministerialberth through which the membercan channelise public resourcesfor personal gain and to extend patronage. In the context of the weakening party leadership of coalition partners, since arepresentative may have to largelyfend for himself or herself, thetemptation to accumulate as muchas possible during one’s stint isseen as a mark of political common sense.

It is time Karnataka politics discovers not merely its egalitarianand pluralistic traditions and setsout to reconstruct its political architecture to refl��ect them. A publicculture imbued by such a perspective may not eliminate all diff��erences but there would be someyardsticks to hold elected representatives to accountability. Butfor the time being, it seems a mirage.

Valerian Rodrigues taught Political

Science at Mangalore University and

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Making sense of Karnataka’s politics Castes and communities are the key players, where gain to one’s community becomes an overriding consideration

Valerian Rodrigues

K. M

UR

ALI K

UM

AR

103rd amendment

In M.R. Balaji (AIR 1963 SC649), the Supreme Courtmade a signifi��cantobservation by saying,“social backwardness is, inthe ultimate analysis, theresult of poverty”. For thewriter (Editorial page, “Atest of law and justice”, July16) “to say that there cannotbe reservation for theeconomically weakersections of society unlessthey are socially backward”may not be wholly right. Tosay that reservation for theeconomically weakersections goes against thebasic structure of theConstitution is to ignore/dilute the signifi��cance ofArticle 14. The very purposeof reservation is to achieve

equality as envisaged underArticle 14. However, if theprocess of reservation getsoverheated so as to deprivethe economically weakersections a moreproportionate share in theadministration and accessto opportunities, then itwould be a violation of theirfundamental rights. Onehas to see how reservationhas worked to thedetriment of economicallyweaker sections so thatthey don’t become sociallybackward also. N.G.R. Prasad,

K.K. Ram Siddhartha,

Chennai

In court

The resolution moved bythe Rajasthan High Court

advising advocates torefrain from addressing itsjudges as “My Lord” and“Your Lordship” must beencouraged across thejudiciary. There weredirections over a decadeago, to settle for “YourHonour”, “HonourableCourt” and “Sir”, but itdoes not seem to havecaught on. In fact, a littlemore is required to be doneto maintain gender equalityespecially when femalejudges hold court as asingle bench. Besides this,it would also be moreappropriate if the use ofarchaic and colonial termsin law suits is alsoamended. For instance anypetition fi��led in courts orjudicial tribunals often

resorts to the use ofphrases such as “thepetitioner/applicant mosthumbly showeth that ….”S.K. Khosla,

Chandigarh

Final outcome

New Zealand’s KaneWilliamson was all gracewhile fi��elding questionsfrom the media. As theunderdogs, the Kiwisdeserve accolades andempathy for the way theyhandled the postmatchsituation, despite losing thefi��nal match to England andthe unconvincing rules. It isheartbreaking to lose dueto some extraneousreasons. The composureshown by Ben Stokes afterreaching his 50 was in quiet

the umpiring errors, the oddrules made a mockery of thegame and its intricacies.What if there was a tie in thenumber of boundaries?Would the ICC then use thecriterion of the number ofcatches? One can go onadding all sorts ofpermutations andcombinations. In the truespirit of the game, the ICCshould revisit the result.S. Seshadri,

Chennai

contrast to the swordcelebration by RavindraJadeja in the semifi��nals.Players should realise thatwild gestures sometimestake away the focus fromthe main target of winninga game. Finally, one hopesthat with its victory,England is able torejuvenate the game. V. Subramanian,

Chennai

■ True fans of cricket willnever accept the result of theICC World Cup. Apart from

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

No player in the last decade has so thrillingly dis

rupted the Roger FedererRafael Nadal binary

quite like World No.1 Novak Djokovic. Back in

2008, when Federer and Nadal met at Wimbledon in

that iconic fi��nal, the contest had a defi��nitive feel to it —

to crown that era’s best. The two met again this year,

eleven summers since, just to earn the right to chal

lenge Djokovic. Such has been the Serb’s excellence

that in the time between the two FedererNadal meet

ings, he increased his Grand Slam count from one to 15.

Sunday’s pulsating fi��veset victory over Federer

brought him his fi��fth Wimbledon to put him just two

shy of Nadal (18) and four behind Federer (20) in the all

time list. At times, his oncourt demeanour and his

grinding style of tennis have detracted from the percep

tion of his success. To not celebrate his greatness, ho

wever, would be a severe disservice. Nadal and Federer

are still ranked two and three in the world and are play

ing at nearpeak levels. But even at their best, Djokovic

has left them short of breath. In fact, starting from the

2011 Australian Open — his second Major — Djokovic has

triumphed at nearly every second slam he has entered

(15 of 34). Federer in the same period has accumulated

four and Nadal nine, of which seven have come at the

French Open. Remarkably, Djokovic has vanquished

either Federer or Nadal in 12 of the 16 slams he has won.

Eight of those victories have come in fi��nals.

That Federer, just three weeks shy of turning 38,

came within one stroke of upstaging Djokovic is credit

to the Swiss’s genius. Even in a career as storied as his, it

would have been more than just a normal data point if

he had clinched his ninth Wimbledon by beating Nadal

and Djokovic — two of his greatest rivals — backtoback.

It is a testament to Djokovic’s supreme mental strength

that he did not fl��inch, even under extreme pressure,

and despite not being the better player on the day.

When he started out, Djokovic was among the most

emotionally fragile. Questions abounded as recently as

last July when he slipped outside the top20. But by se

curing four of the past fi��ve Majors, he has truly redisco

vered the mind of a champion. Among women, it was

the turn of Simona Halep to display similar powers, by

adding Wimbledon to her 2018 French Open win. There

was a feeling that following her breakthrough in Paris

she had suff��ered a meltdown, as she had not progressed

beyond the quarterfi��nals at any Major since then. Ho

wever, the way she mowed down one formidable oppo

nent after another at SW19, including the legendary Se

rena Williams in the fi��nal for the loss of just four games,

was enough proof of her strong mental makeup.

One for the agesAlongside Federer and Nadal, Djokovic is

ensuring tennis is at its competitive best

The Chinese economy is seeing the fi��rst signs of

trouble after long years of sustained growth that

rode on cheap labour and high volumes of ex

ports. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics

on Monday revealed that the economy grew by 6.2% in

the second quarter, its slowest pace in 27 years. This is

in contrast to the growth rates of 6.4% and 6.6% report

ed for the fi��rst quarter and the full year of 2018, respec

tively. The faltering growth rate was due to a slump in

exports in June amidst China’s ongoing trade war with

the United States and the downturn witnessed by sec

tors such as housing construction, where investor senti

ments play a major role. Many economists believe that

the worst may not yet be over for China and that eco

nomic growth could further worsen in the coming

quarters. But just as growth seems to be faltering, the

latest growth fi��gures also showed that the retail sales

and industrial output components of the growth num

bers witnessed steady growth, suggesting that domestic

demand may be compensating for the dropping appe

tite for Chinese exports weighed down by high tariff��s.

But with China still heavily reliant on exports and its

trade war with the U.S. showing no signs of coming to

an end, the pressure on growth is likely to remain for

some more time. So the Chinese government, which

has tried to boost the economy through measures such

as tax cuts, increased public spending and a relaxation

in bank reserve requirements to encourage banks to in

crease lending, will hope that domestic demand for its

goods will hold up the economy.

China’s quarterly GDP numbers, while useful in ma

ny ways, don’t reveal very much about the underlying

challenges facing the country. One is the need to im

prove the credibility of data released by the Chinese go

vernment. An even larger challenge is the urgent need

to restructure the Chinese economy from one that is

driven heavily by stateled investment and exports to

one that is driven primarily by market forces. The high

growth years of the Chinese economy were made possi

ble by the huge amount of liquidity provided by the Chi

nese state and the large and aff��ordable workforce that

helped build China into an export powerhouse. But

now, with China’s tried and tested growth model facing

the threat of getting derailed as the export and invest

ment boom comes to an end, the Chinese will have to

build a more sustainable model, or forfeit hopes of dou

bledigit economic growth in the future. As of now,

there are no signs to suggest that the Chinese authori

ties are looking at implementing deepseated structural

reforms reminiscent of its early decades of liberalisa

tion that can help fundamentally restructure the eco

nomy. There might not be a need for radical macroeco

nomic changes, but China’s economic troubles will not

go away unless the government boosts domestic con

sumption and reduces the reliance on exports.

Chinese check China’s famed model of growth is under

pressure due to fall in exports and investment

corrections & clarifications:

A Sports page report headlined “DPR Korea downs Tajikistan”(some editions, July 16, 2019) erroneously said both Tajikistan andDPR Korea had six points from two wins and a draw. Actually itshould be two wins and a loss for each team.

The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300;

E-mail:[email protected]


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE

OPED

On the occasion of laying the foundationstone of a Council Hall at Jamnagar by theMaharaja of Alwar, a ceremonious durbarwas held at which sardars, offi��cers and localgentry were present. In requesting the Maharaja of Alwar to lay the foundation stone ofthe Hall, Jamsaheb Ranjit Singhi said that hehad according to the timehonoured cultureof his Aryan ancestors instituted an advisorycouncil composed of his subjects, whose advice and opinion he proposed to invite regularly on matters connected with social, industrial and economic progress of hissubjects. In indicating the constitution of theadvisory council His Highness said that they(Indian Princes) did not belong to a schoolthat idolized democracy for democracy’ssake and left but a thin line between anarchyand allmenrule. They were advocates ofpopular rule in the sense that weighty, stable and reasoned public opinion should beat the back of strong, benefi��cent paternalGovernment. It was not diffi��cult to work outa constitution that aims at securing the representation and advice of such interests aswere stable, sound and trustworthy intellectually, commercially and otherwise.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO JULY 17, 1919.

Indian States and Reform.

Apart from the fl��oods in Assam, anannual event aff��ecting thousands offamilies, another humanitarian crisisawaits the State this year. The date isalready set for it. It is July 31.

On that day, the fi��nal list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) willbe released, the culmination of afraught process conducted since2015 at the urging of the SupremeCourt, and monitored by it.

While reports of the many anomalies that dog the process of determining citizenship, including the constantly changing list of documentsthat are (or are not) accepted, areknown, the sheer enormity of the crisis facing the State is yet to register inthe rest of India.

Numbers alone do not indicatethis. What is known today is that ofthe 32.9 million who have applied tobe listed as “genuine” Indian citizensin the NRC, roughly 29 million havebeen accepted. The future of the fourmillion excluded so far, a numberthat might reduce when the fi��nal listis published on July 31, provides thefoundation for the impending human crisis awaiting Assam. Even ifhalf of this number is excluded, weare looking at the future of two million stateless people.

What will happen to me and my family after July 31? That is the question that haunts hundreds of menand women as they wait hours in inclement weather, clutching plasticbags full of documents, to meetanyone willing to answer this question. This was the scene that confronted us as we travelled to threedistricts in Assam at the end of June.

The majority left out of the NRC sofar are abjectly poor; many are unlettered. They cannot understand thelegal complications of the process,nor do they have the money to hirelegal help. As a result, thousandsstand in danger of being declared“foreigners” even though they couldbe “genuine” Indian citizens.

Three categoriesThe people aff��ected by this processof verifi��cation of citizenship fall into

three diff��erent categories. Those labelled as ‘D voters’, or doubtful voters, were categorised as such whenthe electoral rolls were revised in1997 and thereafter. Their names areexcluded from the NRC unless theycan establish their credentials beforea Foreigner’s Tribunal. There arecurrently just under 100 such tribunals in Assam. The opacity that surrounds the way decisions are madein these quasijudicial courtrooms isa part of this larger crisis.

In the second category are peoplewho have been picked up by the police on suspicion of being illegal immigrants. The border police, presentin every police station, picks up people, often poor workers in cities, fi��ngerprints them, and then informsthem in writing that they must appear before a Foreigner’s Tribunal.

In the third category are thosewho have registered with the NRC,but have been excluded becausethere was a discrepancy in the documents they submitted. Two lists havebeen published so far: one with 4million names last year and anotherwith just over 0.1 million on June 26this year. Their fate will be known onJuly 31.

In addition, there are people whohave already been declared “foreigners” by the tribunals. In February2019, the government informed theSupreme Court that of the 938 people in six detention centres, 823 hadbeen declared foreigners. How longwill they be held? Can they be deported? To which country? Thesequestions remain unanswered. In

this haze of numbers and judicialprocesses, the real and tragic storiesof individuals often go unheard.

Left out Take Anjali Das, 50, in Bijni, Chirangdistrict. Dressed in a rust saree, Anjali cannot hide her anxiety. Her maternal home is in Jalpaiguri, WestBengal, where her father and brotherstill live. Anjali came to Assam in 1982when she married. She has no birthcertifi��cate, like many in India. Shehas a school certifi��cate that confi��rmsshe was a student up to Class 5 andgives her date of birth as June 1, 1969.She also has a certifi��cate from thePanchayat and her father’s Aadhaarcard as proof that she is Indian. Butthis will not suffi��ce. Anjali’s name hasbeen excluded from the NRC, the only one in her marital home.

Anjali is only one of thousands ofmarried women who have been leftout of the NRC for similar reasons.Although disaggregated data is notyet available, it is estimated thatmore than half of those excludedfrom the NRC are women like her.

Then there are women who arestruggling to understand why onlysome members of their families havebeen excluded. In Hanchara villagein Morigaon district, Jamina Khatunpulls out a photocopy of the June 26list of names excluded from the NRC.It has the names of her husband, hertwo sons, and her 11yearold granddaughter. But not hers, or that of herdaughterinlaw. Jamina’s son, Nur Jamal Ali, was referred to the Foreigner’s Tribunal based on a complaint

by his landlord in Jorhat, where heworked as a construction labourer.As a result, Nur Jamal was fi��ngerprinted by the border police, sent anotice to appear before a Foreigner’sTribunal, and then declared a foreigner. His only daughter has alsobeen excluded from the NRC.

After July 31, the focus will shift tothe Foreigner’s Tribunals. The Stategovernment plans to set up 200 bythe end of this month and eventually1,000, as all those excluded from theNRC will have to present themselvesbefore these tribunals.

Expensive and time-consuming Only the litigants and their lawyersknow what happens within the fourwalls of these tribunals as neither thepublic nor the media are permittedthere. I tried to get a peek into one inGuwahati. Foreigner’s TribunalCourt Room 3, Kamrup Metro district, Guwahati, is located in a residential colony on the ground fl��oor ofa building. The small room is arranged like a courtroom. A white railing separates the podium on whichthe tribunal member sits from the litigants. The railing becomes a smallwitness stand at one end. The tribunal member has the help of an assistant who sits on the side. Accordingto him, cases are heard simultaneously, stretching out to fi��ve days. Buta lawyer tells a diff��erent story. Thecase he has come for began in March.It is still being heard in July.

This then is the other problem.Poor people travel long distances toappear before these tribunals. Theircases stretch out over months. Theyhave to spend on travel and lawyers’fees, unaff��ordable for most. If theygive up, or cannot aff��ord to make thejourney, their cases will be judged“ex parte”. In a statement in the LokSabha on July 2, the Minister of Statefor Home Aff��airs, G. Kishan Reddy,said that from 1985 to February 2019,63,959 people had been declared foreigners in ex parte rulings.

The citizenship issue in Assam islayered and complex. It is not easyfor people outside the State to understand the multiple threads. What isclear though is that the brunt of thesystemic problems of establishing citizenship in this manner, and in suchhaste, is being borne disproportionately by the poorest.

Kalpana Sharma is an independent

journalist

The brunt of the systemic problems of the National Register of Citizens is being borne by the poorest

“The citizenship issue in Assam is layered and complex.” Offi��cials checkdocuments at an NRC offi��ce in Dhubri, Assam in May. * AFP

The many hurdles in proving citizenship

Kalpana Sharma

Earlier this year, the Cabinet approved theKisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM). With a Budget allocation of₹��34,000 crore, and a similar contribution expected from the States, KUSUM aims to provide energy suffi��ciency and sustainable irrigation access to farmers. At present, despiteburgeoning farm power subsidies, nearly 30million farmers, especially marginal landholders, use expensive diesel for their irrigationneeds as they have no access to electricity.More than half of India’s net sownarea remains unirrigated. KUSUM could radicallytransform the irrigation economy if the government chooses an approach of equity bydesign and prudence over populism.

Equity by designFirst, KUSUM should aim to reduce the existing disparity among States with regard to solar pumps deployment and irrigation access.Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan together account for about half of the two lakh solarpumps currently deployed in the country.This is surprising given the low irrigation demand in the former and poor groundwatersituation in the latter. On the other hand,States such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and WestBengal, where penetration of diesel pumpsis among the highest, have not managed todeploy any signifi��cant number of solarpumps. This disparity highlights poor Statebudget allocation towards solar pumps andthe lack of initiative by State nodal agencies.To encourage more equitable deployment of17.5 lakh off��grid pumps by 2022, the Centreshould incentivise States through targetlinked fi��nancial assistance, and create avenues for peer learning.

Second, KUSUM must also address inequity within a State. For instance, 90% of Bihar’s farmers are small and marginal. Yet,they have received only 50% of governmentsubsidies on solar pumps. On the otherhand, in Chhattisgarh, about 95% of benefi��ciaries are from socially disadvantaged groupsdue to the mandate of the State. Learningfrom these contrasting examples, a share ofcentral fi��nancial assistance under KUSUMshould be appropriated for farmers withsmall landholdings and belonging to sociallydisadvantaged groups.

Third, instead of a onesizefi��tsall approach, KUSUM should provide greater fi��nancial assistance to smaller farmers. KU

SUM proposes a 60% subsidy for the pumps,borne equally by the Centre and the States,and the remaining 40% will be the farmer’scontribution — 10% as down payment and30% through loans. This unilateral fi��nancingapproach will exacerbate the interfarmerdisparity given the inequity in access to credit and repayment capacity between smalland large farmers. A higher capital subsidysupport to small and marginal farmers andlongterm loans with interest subsidies forlarge and medium farmers would be a moreeconomical and equitable alternative.

Prudence over populismFourth, solarising existing gridconnectedpumps, as proposed under the scheme,needs a complete rethink. Existing gridconnected farmers, who have enjoyed powersubsidies for decades, would receive thesame fi��nancial support as that received by anoff��grid farmer. In addition, they would earnregular income from the DISCOM on feedingsurplus electricity, furthering the inequitable distribution of taxpayers’ resources. Instead, the scheme should only provide Central government subsidy of up to 30% forsolarisation, and use the proposed State support to incentivise DISCOMs to procure energy from the farmers.

Also, solarising gridconnected pumpsmust include replacement of the pump. Pooreffi��ciency levels of the existing pumps wouldmean unnecessary oversizing of the solar panels and lesser available energy to feed intothe grid. Moreover, instead of feeding surplus energy to the grid, solar pump capacitycould be used to power postharvesting processes, which complement the seasonal irrigation load and can enhance farm incomesthrough local value addition. Further, the injection of solar power by farmers would require the entire agriculture electricity line(feeder) to be energised throughout the daytime, including for those not having solarised pumps. This would aggravate DISCOMs’losses on such feeders. Instead, an eff��ectivealternative is to solarise the entire feederthrough a reversebidding approach, andprovide waterconservationlinked incentives to farmers as direct benefi��t transfer.

KUSUM should not woo a certain sectionof farmers with shortsighted objectives. Ifdesigned better and implemented eff��ectively, it holds the potential to catapult the Indian irrigation economy from an era miredin perpetual subsidy, unreliable supply, andinequitable distribution of resources to a regime of aff��ordable, reliable, and equitableaccess to energy and water.

Tauseef Shahidi was a Research Analyst and Abhishek

Jain is a Senior Programme Lead at the Council on

Energy, Environment and Water

Rethinking KUSUM If designed better and implemented eff��ectively, the scheme could radically transform the irrigation economy

Tauseef Shahidi & Abhishek Jain

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DATA POINT

The UN Sustainable DevelopmentGoals include ensuring good healthand wellbeing for all by 2030. Thisincludes the commitment to end theAIDS epidemic. In many countries,continued access to HIV treatmentand prevention options are reducingAIDSrelated deaths and new HIV infections. But there are still too manycountries where AIDSrelated deathsand new infections are not decreasing fast. In fact, they are rising insome cases, though we know how tostop the virus. Why are some countries doing much better than others?

The road to successSuccess is being achieved where policies and programmes focus on people, not diseases, and where communities are fully engaged from theoutset in designing,shaping and implementing health policies. This is howreal and lastingchange is achievedand this is what willreduce the devastating impact ofAIDS. Adopting thelatest scientifi��c research and medicalknowledge, strong political leadership, and proactively fi��ghting and reducing stigma and discrimination areall crucial. But without sustained investment in community responsesled by people living with HIV andthose most aff��ected, countries willnot gain the traction necessary toreach the most vulnerable. And onlyby doing that can we end the AIDSepidemic. Community services playvarying roles depending on the context. They often support fragile public health systems by fi��lling criticalgaps. They come from — and connecteff��ectively with — key populationssuch as gay men, sex workers, peoplewho use drugs, and transgenders.They provide services that bolsterclinicbased care and they extend thereach of health services to the community at large. They also hold deci

sionmakers to account. By signing the 2016 UN Political

Declaration on Ending AIDS, countries affi��rmed the critical role thatcommunities play in advocacy, coordination of AIDS responses and service delivery. Moreover, they recognised that community responses toHIV must be scaled up. They committed to at least 30% of services beingcommunityled by 2030. However,most countries are nowhere nearreaching that commitment. Andwhere investment in communities ismost lacking, there is often weakerprogress being made against HIV andother health threats.

Reliable partnersAll over the world, communities aredemonstrating time and again thatthey can, and do, deliver results.Since the beginning of the epidemic

in India until now,communities havebeen the mosttrusted and reliablepartners for the National AIDS ControlOrganization andthe Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS. They are fully engaged in manyaspects of the Na

tional AIDS Response, including prevention, care, support and treatmentprogrammes. There are over 1,500communitybased organisationsreaching out to key populations. InIndia, there are around 300 districtlevel networks of people living withHIV which are supporting treatmentprogrammes through psychosocialsupport, treatment literacy and adherence counselling.

Our communities present us witha lot of untapped potential. Unleashing this is the key to gaining the momentum we need to make faster progress towards reaching UNAIDSFastTrack targets. The more we invest in communities, the closer weget to ending the AIDS epidemic.

Gunilla Carlsson is Executive Director, a.i. of

UNAIDS

Tapping the potential ofcommunities to end AIDSSuccess is achieved where policies andprogrammes focus on people, not diseases

Gunilla Carlsson

The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Morarji Desai, resigned in protest from the Central Cabinet today [ July 16, New Delhi], when thePrime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, relievedhim of the Finance portfolio and herselftook it over in a surprise political move to hitback at the party bosses and reassert her supremacy in the wake of her latest setback inthe Congress Parliamentary Board over presidential candidature. This precipitate action by the Prime Minister has confrontedthe country with the most serious politicalcrisis since Independence — with the Congress leadership at the Centre now so irrevocably divided and the ruling party clearlyheading towards an internal trial of strengthbefore Parliament meets on Monday [ July21]. Though Mrs. Gandhi has requested himto continue as Deputy Prime Minister withany portfolio other than Finance, Mr. Desaifelt that his selfrespect demanded that heshould resign immediately to vindicate hisposition — and presumably fi��ght it out in theCongress Parliamentary Party. But she wasnot accepting his resignation in haste.

FIFTY YEARS AGO JULY 17, 1969

Morarji Desai resigns

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FROM

ARCHIVES

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

it is awaiting clearances tostart operations on the reopened route.

Afghanistan’s Ariana Afghan is expected to resumeoperations between Kabuland Delhi next week and Kazakhstan’s Air Astana,which resumed four fl��ightsfrom Almaty to Delhi says itwill return to its 11 fl��ights aweek midAugust after demand picks up.

As per government data,Air India was the worst affected among all Indian carriers. It lost ₹��490 crore untilJuly 2 due to the sheer number of fl��ights it operates tothe U.S. and Europe.

According to IATA, beforethe ban at least 220 fl��ightsused the Pakistan airspaceevery night between Asiaand Europe.

Until now, only two of the 11routes between the twocountries had been opened.Around 3 a.m., Turkish Airlines’ IstanbulDelhi fl��ightbecame the fi��rst to use thePakistan airspace, according to the offi��cial. An hourlater, Air India’s fl��ight fromSan Francisco followed it.

An AI offi��cial said all theirfl��ights between Delhi anddestinations in the U.S. andEurope were fl��ying throughPakistan from Tuesday.

SpiceJet’s JaipurDubaifl��ight, too, fl��ew over Pakistan, but the airline is yet toannounce the resumptionof its fl��ights to Kabul.

IndiGo, whose fl��ight to Istanbul had to take a long detour via Qatar and stopthere for refuelling, doubling its fl��ight duration, says

Pakistan opens itsairspace after 6 months

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Tuesday pulled upMinisters for playing truantfrom roster duty in Parliament, taking cognisance ofcomplaints by Oppositionleaders.

Addressing the weeklymeeting of the BJP’s Parliamentary Party (when session is on), Mr. Modi said hehad “asked for the names”of errant Ministers and taken the matter seriously.

Ministers are placed onroster duty to be present inParliament when the sessionis on.

“Prime Minister Modi saidthat several Opposition leaders had mentioned to himthat Ministers were missingfrom Parliament, and thathe was not happy with thatstate of aff��airs,” said a seniorMP present at the meeting.

At a July 2 meeting, thePrime Minister listed out

several criteria based onwhich he selected MPs tojoin his Cabinet, with participation in Parliament proceedings being an importantfactor. Signifi��cantly, Mr. Modi indicated that there was

much on the government’slegislative agenda, and that“if need be, the session canbe extended”, the MP said.

Members who attendedthe meet did not share thecontext in which this remark

was made. Mr. Modi alsoasked the MPs to associatethemselves with causes related to social welfare suchas the rehabilitation of thosesuff��ering from leprosy or thegovernment’s tuberculosis

eradication programme thatseeks to remove TB from thecountry by 2025, Parliamentary Aff��airs Minister PralhadJoshi told presspersons afterthe meeting.

Social causes“He said, “logon ko yaad ra-hey, aisa koi kaam kaor [dosomething that will be longremembered by the people],” adding that if MPs hadany aspirational districtswithin their constituencies,then they should get intouch with the offi��cers serving there to lend a helpinghand in the various socialwelfare programmes,” theMP said.

“He said that offi��cers werethemselves in competitionin these districts againsteach other and MPs shouldhelp them compete. Theseactivities were to be undertaken in an apolitical spiritand not for votes,” said asource quoting Mr. Modi.

PM pulls up Ministers who played truantAfter complaints from the Opposition, Modi takes note of those who skipped roster duty in Parliament


New Delhi

Clear call: Narendra Modi with J.P. Nadda, left, and Amit Shah at the BJP Parliamentary partymeeting in New Delhi on Tuesday. * SANDEEP SAXENA

The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Central Universities (Amendment)Bill, 2019, for establishing aCentral University and Tribal University in AndhraPradesh.

HRD Minister RameshPokhriyal “Nishank” assured the House that theuniversities would be setup in the next four years.

The Lok Sabha hadcleared the Bill on July 12.

The government has setaside ₹��450 crore for thefi��rst stage of the CentralUniversity project againstthe total amount of₹��902.07 crore and ₹��420crore for Tribal Universityagainst an outlay of ₹��836crore, the Minister said.

The Tribal Universitywill off��er research facilitiesin the fi��elds of art, cultureand technology to the tribal population.

CentralUniversitiesBill cleared


NEW DELHI

Union Road Transport andHighways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said peopleshould be willing to pay toll ifthey wanted to save time bytravelling on good roads andmade it clear that tolls werehere to stay.

“Toll zindagi bhar bandnahi ho sakta... kam-zyaadaho saktha hai. Toll ka jaa-namdata mein hoon (Tollsystem can never endthough the rates may varyfrom time to time. Tolls aremy brain child),” the Minister told the Lok Sabha.

“If you want good services, you have to pay for it,” headded as he stressed that thegovernment funds wereprioritised to build allweather roads in rural andremote areas or hilly areassuch as the northeast to improve connectivity.

Mr. Gadkari was replyingto the debate on the demandfor grants under the RoadTransport and HighwaysMinistry.

E-toll systemHe said that within the nextfour months, the electronictoll collection process wouldbe put on fast track andmade mandatory to avoidcongestion at toll plazas.

He said over 40,000 km ofroads had been constructedin the past fi��ve years andwork totalling nearly ₹��11 lakhcrore had been awarded bythe Ministry during thisperiod.

To emphasise on the quality of road building, Mr. Gadkari referred to former U.S.President John F. Kennedy’squote that “American roadsare not good because America is rich, but America is richbecause American roads aregood.”

He said since land acquisition was a problem, especially in some States such asWest Bengal and Bihar, hisMinistry has made a rule thata project is started onlywhen 80% of the land wasacquired.

“There were 403 projectspending when Narendra Modi came to power involving acost of ₹��3.85 lakh crore. It isa great achievement of Indian government that wesaved bankers ₹��3 lakh croreof NPAs and now 90% of projects are moving fast,” hesaid.

Green expresswayThe Minister also informedthe House about a new greenexpressway that will enableroad travel between NewDelhi and Mumbai in 12

hours. He said by working ona new route that would passthrough backward and tribalareas of Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, the Ministry wouldsave ₹��16,000 crore in landacquisition.

The Minister said pollution in Delhi had come downby 32% due to eff��orts such asbuilding the peripheral expressway to enable trucksgoing to other States skipDelhi by taking the circularbypass.

He also said all new vehicles from April 1, 2020 willcomply with Euro 6 emission norms, reducing pollution further, adding that thegovernment was working ontechnology to make the useof electric vehicles costeffective and attractive tousers.

Training for driversThe Minister said the country faced a shortage of 25lakh trained drivers and promised MPs that he was willing to set up training institutes that could help youthfi��nd employment.

Expressing concern overthe high rate of accidents,the Minister urged membersto support the proposedamendments to the MotorVehicles Act.

When several MPs raisedthe issue of changes to theutilisation of the CentralRoad Fund in the Budget,Mr. Gadkari said he wouldtalk to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Highway tolls here to stay: Gadkari Says people should be willing to pay if they want to save time on travel


New Delhi

Senior BJP leader andformer Union Minister RajivPratap Rudy and UnionTransport Minister NitinGadkari had an interestingexchange in the Lok Sabhaon Tuesday over projectdelays, with Mr. Rudystating that though theMinister wanted speedyresolutions, people sittingin the gallery [a reference toMinistry offi��cials] did notseem to want it.

Investigation onThe Minister was quick todefend the offi��cials, andpointed out the particularcontractor that Mr. Rudyreferred to was facinginvestigation into seriousfraud.

The Minister, however,

added that a ‘positive andtransparent approach’along with timebounddecisionmaking couldresolve all issues.

“There are some peoplewho convert problems intoopportunities and there aresome who convertopportunities intoproblems,” said the UnionMinister without naminganyone.

Rudy questions delays Special Correspondent

New Delhi

Rajiv Pratap Rudy

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is unlikely tomeet before July 22 as thepolitical turmoil and theKarnataka trust vote has taken precedence, said a senior leader on Tuesday.

Though senior leaderswho have been discussingabout fi��nding a consensuscandidate for the next Congress president had informally set July 15 as a cutoff��day by when the partywould decide on the nextpresident, all plans are nowon hold.

The CWC meeting couldnow be delayed until thecurrent Parliament sessiongets over on July 26. No fi��naldecision, however, has beentaken on the date.

So far, names of severalsenior leaders like MukulWasnik, Mallikarjun Khargeamong others have been incirculation. However, noconsensus candidate hasemerged.

A section of senior leaders have also approachedCongress ParliamentaryParty (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi to become theprovisional party presidentonce again but she is learntto have categorically turnedit down.

Another section of seniorleaders are of the opinionthat the next CWC meeting,after Mr. Gandhi’s formal resignation, should start theprocess of election of a new

All India Congress Committee (AICC).

And until the AICC election process gets completed, general secretaries whoare in charge of party aff��airsin the States should be fullyempowered to dischargetheir responsibilities.

Mr. Gandhi had informedthe CWC, as far back as May25, about his decision tostep down to own responsibility for the 2019 Lok Sabhadebacle. Though the CWChad rejected it unanimously,Mr. Gandhi has been fi��rm onhis decision.

Since then more than seven weeks have passed andCongress veterans havequestioned the delay. “Assomeone who joined theCongress in 1967, over half acentury ago, I am aghast tosee the confusion and disorientation into which theparty has fallen since RahulGandhi resigned on May25,” Karan Singh had saidlast week.

CWC meet not beforeJuly 22, says senior leaderNo decision on Rahul’s successor yet


New Delhi

Sonia Gandhi and RahulGandhi have turned downthe role of Congress chief.

The Trinamool Congress onTuesday said it would oppose the Motor Vehicle Billand try to move amendments in the Rajya Sabhawhere the Opposition wasbetter placed to oppose it.

The party’s Rajya Sabhaleader Derek O’Brien toldreporters here that the Motor Vehicles (Amendment)Bill, 2019, infringed on theState’s rights and the government did not adopt anyof the corrections suggestedby a committee during theBill’s earlier introduction inthe 16th Lok Sabha.

On Monday, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkarireintroduced the Bill in theLok Sabha. Originally, theUPA government had started working on it and it hadgone through many changessince then.

“The government is trying to promote the Bill as alegislation that will cutdown accidents. That’s ahalf truth. The Bill is againstthe federal structure of ourConstitution and takes awaythe State’s powers,” Mr.O’Brien said. It seeks to have

one common driving licence and also introduceuniform road taxes as commuterfriendly steps.

Mr. Gadkari had on Monday clarifi��ed in the Lok Sabha that the Bill would not bebinding on States.

“None of the recommendations made by the selectcommittee have been adopted by the government. Inthe Lok Sabha, they havethe numbers but in the Rajya Sabha we will moveamendments,” Mr. O’ Briensaid.

Trinamool Congressagainst Motor Vehicle Bill Says it takes away State powers


New Delhi

<> None of the

recommendations

made by the select

committee have

been adopted by

the government

Derek O’Brien

Trinamool leader

Over 300 Centrallyprotected monuments and sites, including World HeritageSites, across the country are“under encroachment”, according to the government.

Responding to a questionby Nationalist Congress Party member Vandana Chavanin the Rajya Sabha, UnionMinister of State (independent charge) for Culture andTourism Prahlad Singh Pateladmitted that Centrallyprotected sites and World Heritage Sites had been encroached upon.

Asked whether a studyhad been done to assess theimpact of the illegal constructions or encroachments on the sites, he replied in the negative.

“Although no impact study has been done, proactivesteps have been taken by theArchaeological Survey of India under the provisions ofthe Ancient Monuments andArchaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 and Rules,1959 to keep the historicalmonuments free from en

croachments,” he stated. Ofthe total 321 encroachedupon monuments and sitesthat Mr. Patel’s reply listed,the highest number were inUttar Pradesh (75), followedby Tamil Nadu (74), Karnataka (48), Maharashtra (46),Rajasthan (22), Delhi (11),Chhattisgarh, Haryana andPunjab (seven each), Assam,Bihar and Odisha (six each),Himachal Pradesh (three),Madhya Pradesh (two) andWest Bengal (1).

Among the monumentsthat have encroachmentsare Purana Qila in Delhi, Ellora Caves in Maharashtra,Sun Temple in Konark in Od

isha and Brahma Temple inPushkar, Rajasthan.

“In order to contain theencroachments and removethem, the superintending archaeologist in charge of theCircles have been vestedwith the powers of Estate Offi��cers to issue eviction notices/orders to the encroachersunder Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971. In additionto the regular watch andward staff��, private securitypersonnel, State policeguards and CISF have alsobeen deployed for the safetyand security of selectedmonuments,” the reply said.

321 protected monuments,sites encroached upon: govt. No study to assess impact of illegal constructions: Minister

Damini Nath

New Delhi

The Ellora Caves near Aurangabad. * VIVEK BENDRE

As the controversy surrounding HTN’s TirangaTV channel sudden paringback of news operations —leaving most of its 200 employees facing imminentredundancy — continues,some senior journalists associated with the channelhave started speaking out.

After Barkha Datt tookto Twitter to criticise Congress MP Kapil Sibal andhis wife, Pramila Sibal, foroff��ering the Tiranga staff��only onemonth notice andsalary, Karan Thapar, whohad also worked with thechannel, told The Hindu, “Ibelieve employees have aright to a fair severancepackage related to their individual lengths of service,and this can neither be unilaterally imposed by management nor unilaterallydemanded by employeesthemselves.”

Given the sudden announcement of downsizingof the channel, he addedthat any such arrangementwould have to be “mutually negotiated and agreed toby both parties,” Mr. Thapar said.

‘Tiranga TVshould havepay out talks’

Narayan Lakshman

Chennai

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Both the Centre and theState said the reverifi��cationexercise should be conducted by Class 1 offi��cers of theState government from other districts who have knowledge and experience ofhandling the process of enquiry/investigation. The applications further sought anorder that the sample reverifi��cation should be undertaken at a place diff��erentfrom where the NRC exercise happened. The Assamgovernment agreed that thiswould cut out the possibilityof local infl��uences, bias/threat, etc.

“But why should we grantan extension?” asked the CJIeven as Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta pressed foran early hearing.

“We will have it on August 1 then,” the CJI said. Tothis, Mr. Mehta said the lastdate of publication of NRCwas July 31. “We will see,”the CJI fi��nally said.

The applications may belisted soon for hearing before a Special Bench of theCJI and Justice Rohinton Nariman.

The Union Ministry ofHome Aff��airs (MHA), in its

application, tried to impressupon the court the “unprecedented large scale of complexities” involved in theNRC process.

‘Impact social harmony’The Ministry informed thecourt that the NRC exercisehad created apprehensionsin the minds of the citizensand could very well impactsocial harmony, and law andorder in the State.

“It is pertinent that theexercise of sample reverifi��cation must necessarily follow before the publicationof the fi��nal list,” the application said.

The draft NRC list, published on July 30, 2018,had included 2,89,83,677persons as Indian citizensbut found 40,70,707 persons ineligible. The Centresaid reverifi��cation shouldbe done for both inclusionsand exclusions.

In its separate applicationto the court, Assam said thatan “additional exclusionlist” was issued on June 26,2019. This list contained1,02,463 names which hadbeen earlier included in thedraft NRC list.

SC moved for samplereverifi��cation of NRC

Mr. Dhavan told the ChiefJustice that this should notbe viewed as a crossing ofswords between the Supreme Court and the Karnataka Speaker.

“My Lord, this is not theSpeaker versus the Court.This is Chief Minister versussomebody (Yeddyurappa)who wants to be Chief Minister by bringing down thepresent government. Youshould not have entertainedthis petition... your order(of July 11) asking the Speaker to decide on the resignations forthwith exceededyour jurisdiction,” Mr. Dhavan submitted.

Mr. Singhvi counteredthat the current turmoilcannot be compared withthe events leading to the formation of the Kumaraswamy government in 2018.

“At the time of the midnight hearing in May 2018,

there was no Speaker, no government and no Assemblyin Karnataka. The SupremeCourt had ordered pro temSpeaker K.G. Boppaiah toconduct a fl��oor test becauseotherwise no governmentwould have been formed inthe State,” Mr. Singhvi submitted. Mr. Dhavan said theSupreme Court should notcome in the way of a proposed vote of confi��dencemotion scheduled in the Assembly for July 18.

Mr. Singhvi said theSpeaker should be allowedto take his fi��nal decision onthe resignations in his owntime. The court could testhim after he takes a call.

“We are not restrainingthe Speaker in any way.What stopped him from accepting or rejecting theseresignations on July 6 whenthey were tendered to himby the MLAs,” the CJI asked.

Don’t lay down limitsof our jurisdiction: SC

A fresh one would be held inall regional languages, hesaid.

The House had to be adjourned thrice in the prelunch session.

Members of the AIADMK,a key NDA ally, trooped intothe well, tore up and fl��ungpapers, demanding the annulment of the exam.

They were joined by theirrivals, the DMK, the Congress, the CPI and the CPI(M), and the Trinamool Congress.

The protests started soonafter the listing of papers,with AIADMK membersshouting slogans and de

manding that the government hold a fresh examination for the recruitment ofpostmen by including Tamilas a language. Both theAIADMK and the DMKraised the issue during a zero hour reference on Monday. They contended thatexcluding the regional languages put rural students ata disadvantage.

On Tuesday, within nineminutes after the House metat 11.00 a.m., Chairman M.Venkaiah Naidu orderedstopping the live transmission of the proceedings owing to the ruckus and adjourned the House till noon.

Postal department examination annulled

CMYK


THE HINDU DELHI


NEWS

The International Court ofJustice (ICJ) in The Haguewill pronounce its judgmentin the Kulbhushan Jadhavcase at 3 p.m. (6.30 p.m. IST)on Wednesday in the PeacePalace in the Netherlands.

According to an ICJ statement, the President of theUN judicial organ Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf willdeliver the judgment. Fifteenother judges on the panel —including the representativefrom Pakistan — will eitherconcur fully with the fi��nalverdict or read out supporting or dissenting opinions.Offi��cials familiar with ICJworkings say the processcould take anything from afew minutes to more than anhour.

Indian offi��cials say theyhope to see the ICJ adjudgethe 2017 trial of Mr. Jadhavrule the death sentence delivered to the former IndianNaval offi��cer by a Pakistani

military court as “illegal”,and order a retrial. Pakistan,on the other hand, remainshopeful that the Indian petition at the ICJ will bedismissed.

Two-year processThe verdict will bring to aclose India’s twoyear longquest for a reprieve for Kulbhushan Jadhav, who, the government believes, was convicted falsely on charges of

terrorism in Pakistan.While Pakistani prosecu

tors maintain that Mr. Jadhavwas a “spy” in Balochistanprovince, India has consistently held that he was working as a businessman in Iran,and was kidnapped by Pakistani agencies.

India has taken a twopronged approach in thecase: pleading that the Jadhav trial held in a militarycourt was only quasijudicial

and hence lacked internationally recognised procedures, and that Pakistan hadviolated the Vienna convention on consular relationsthat stipulates that foreignnationals under trial be offered consular access.

In the petition, India hadasked that the ICJ suspendMr. Jadhav’s death sentence,restrain Pakistan from carrying out the military court'sverdict, provide the government consular access to Mr.Jadhav, and annul the trialentirely. Finally, the government asked that the ICJ direct Pakistan to “release theconvicted Indian nationalforthwith”.

Pakistan has said it will behave “responsibly”, but hasgiven no undertaking that itwould accept an adverse verdict. Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said he would notcomment on the matter, buthit out at India for “stateterrorism”.

Long quest to get Jadhav backAt the ICJ, India has questioned quasijudicial trial and lack of consular access

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

One-on-one: Kulbushan Jadhav’s wife and mother meetinghim in a Pakistani prison in December 2017. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Seeking “sample reverifi��cation” of Assam’s draft National Register of Citizens(NRC) in the Supreme Court,the Union Home Ministry, inits affi��davit, attached a letterfrom an Assambased NGO,Sachetan Nagrik Mancha,Axom (SNM), that had demanded an “errorfreeNRC”.

The Supreme Court hasdirected that the fi��nal NRCbe published by July 31. If thefresh affi��davit fi��led by the Ministry and the Assam government seeking “20% reverifi��cation of names included inthe fi��nal draft NRC in districts of Assam borderingBangladesh and 10% verifi��cation in other districts” is admitted by the court, it wouldfurther push back the date ofthe fi��nal publication of theNRC. If the SC rejects theproposal, the Centre maytake the legislative route, asenior government offi��cialsaid.

In an affi��davit fi��led onTuesday, the Ministry saidthe SNM has on June 29 forwarded an appeal to the Pre

sident signed by more than“25 lakh indigenous Indiancitizens of Assam” demanding an errorfree NRC containing the names of all Indian citizens of Assam withcomplete exclusion of all “illegal migrants”.

SNM secretary Atul Burman told The Hindu that theNGO was formed in 2013 andit worked for “national integration” and denied it wasaligned to the BJP.

“There are 5,800 members in our organisation.When the NRC was being updated, we conducted 442meetings in Assam. We arenot associated with the BJP;

people from all communities— Hindu, Muslim, Christian— are part of it [SNM],” Mr.Burman said.

While several groups inAssam have vociferouslyprotested against the Citizenship Amendment Bill,2019 that would benefi��t Hindus excluded from the NRC,the NGO supported it. TheBill lapsed with the dissolution of the previous LokSabha.

Shah’s statementOn July 1, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told the RajyaSabha that the governmentwould bring in a Bill to pro

vide citizenship to “Hindusrefugees” left out of the NRC.He was responding to theTrinamool’s Derek O’Brienwho raised the issue of theprobability of 23 lakh Bengali Hindus losing citizenshipwhen the fi��nal NRC ispublished.

In 2017, the NGO fi��led apolice complaint againstformer Assam Chief MinisterTarun Gogoi in a “cash forjob” scam.

In its affi��davit, the Ministry cast aspersions on the offi��cials who initially conducted the verifi��cation drive. Outof 3.29 crore applicants,around 40 lakh people wereexcluded from the fi��nal draftNRC that was published onJuly 30 last year. Anotherone lakh were excluded inanother list published lastmonth. Of these, 36 lakh people fi��led claims against theexclusion whereas objections were fi��led against inclusion of 2 lakh persons.

“There have been instances where fi��eld offi��cers havebeen arrested for takingbribes for entering names inthe NRC list,” the affi��davitsaid.

Centre cites NGO’s letter on NRC Group, which has supported the Citizenship Bill, denies ties to the BJP

Anxious moments: Verifi��cation process in progress for theNational Register of Citizens in Guwahati last month. * PTI

Vijaita Singh

New Delhi

If you have a dog in thefi��ght, never let it go. So itseems seeing the rulingCongress and the BJP hurlcharges at each other overthe transfer of 46 policedogs and their handlers inMadhya Pradesh.

Hitting back at the Opposition party for saying thatthe State government hasnot spared even police dogsand their handlers fromtransfers, the Congress onTuesday came up with a listof canines transferred bythe previous BJP regime.

“There is nothing unusual about the transfers,whether of offi��cials or dogs.It is the prerogative of thegovernment to see who isneeded where, and the BJPcan’t dictate us on that.They are making a laughingstock of themselves,” Shobha Oza, State Congress media chief, said.

Party workers producedan 18page document listing

orders issued by the BJP government from June 2012 toMarch 2018 transferringdogs and their handlers atthe residence of the thenChief Miniser Shivraj SinghChouhan.

In a tweet on July 13, BJPState president RakeshSingh wondered why weredogs, which could not communicate with humans directly, transferred to a location more than 500 kmaway.

Stating that the change ofgovernment had necessitated the transfers as the BJPhad not complied with thetransfer policy during its 15year regime, Ms. Oza said,“Then, offi��cials remained

posted at one place for fi��veor six years, fl��outing thepolicy which mandatestheir transfers after everythree years. The new government had to correctthe wrong, stick to the rulesand transfer offi��cials.”

“One day, you transferseveral DSPs (Deputy Superintendent of Police) andthe next day you cancel thetransfers of most of them.This shows how corrupt theCongress is. For them, governance is not jan sewa(serving people), it is jeb se-wa (lining one’s pocket),”BJP State spokesman GulrezSheikh said.

Dog’s mentalityPublic Works DepartmentMinister Sajjan Singh Verma told presspersons thatthe BJP leaders were making such accusations as theyhad a “dog’s mentality”.

Mr. Sheikh retorted,“Yes, we have a dog’s mentality. We are loyal to thepeople and work for them.”

Parties trade charges over transfer of 46 police dogs

Sidharth Yadav

Bhopal

On M.P. transfers, Congress andBJP won’t let sleeping dogs lie

Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister ChandraShekhar, who quit the RajyaSabha and left the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday,joined the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) on Tuesday inthe presence of general secretaries Bhupendra Yadavand Anil Jain.

He met Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and UnionHome Minister Amit Shahbefore the formal joining,and with party working president J.P. Nadda after the induction.

Popular mandateSpeaking at his formal joining, Mr. Shekhar said that hehad been feeling for sometime that he was “not beingable to work” in the placethat he was before [SP] and

that infl��uenced his decisionto join the BJP. “The mandate that Prime Minister Modi has got has made it clearthat the people of the country feel that the nation is safewith him, and I too felt that Ishould join the party as a refl��ection of that feeling,” hesaid.

He expressed gratitude toMr. Yadav, Dr. Jain and Union Railway Minister PiyushGoyal, who he said treatedhim with aff��ection and facilitated his joining the BJP.

Mr. Shekhar had beencontesting the Lok Sabhaelections from his father’sconstituency of Ballia andhad won twice in 2007 and2009 but lost in 2014. TheSamajwadi Party then senthim to the Rajya Sabha, butdenied him ticket in the 2019Lok Sabha election.

BJP sources said the partyis likely to nominate him asits candidate for the RajyaSabha from Uttar Pradesh.Currently, the BJP’s tally inthe Rajya Sabha stands at 78,with the recent addition offour MPs from the TeluguDesam Party and one fromthe Indian National Lok Dal.

Though Chandra Shekharwas not in the SamajwadiParty, the party’s patriarchMulayam Singh had neverfi��elded any candidateagainst him from the Balliaconstituency.

Former PM’s son says he ‘wasn’t able to work’ in SP


NEW DELHI

Neeraj Shekhar

Neeraj Shekhar joins BJP,likely to be fi��elded for RS

Concerned by the incidents of workers dying while cleaning sewers andseptic tanks, the Union Housing andUrban Aff��airs Ministry has asked allStates and Union Territories to setup emergency response sanitationunits (ERSU), which would includetrained cleaners wearing protectivegear.

In letters to all Chief Secretarieson July 12, Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry Secretary DurgaShanker Mishra wrote: “The Government of India is seized of pressreports regarding number of fatalities attributed to entry into sewersand septic tanks (both public andprivate) of personnel employed fortheir cleaning or removal ofchokes.”

While manual scavenging is offi��

cially banned, under the Prohibitionof Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act,2013, incidents of private individuals, local bodies and contractorsforcing people to enter sewers andtanks to clear blockages continue tobe reported. The offi��cial said theworkers had not been given protective gear, training or backup supportby their employers.

“To implement the provisions ofPEMSRA Act, 2013 regarding hazardous cleaning of sewers/septictanks, it is advised that States/Uts/ULBs [urban local bodies] should setup an ERSU, on the lines of the fi��reservice station, in capital cities ofeach State/UT and in all major citieshaving a municipal corporation and/or water and sewerage board withpopulation of more than one lakh,”the letter said.

Stress on trained cleaners, protective gear


NEW DELHI

Sewer deaths: Centre callsfor quick response units

The Punjab police on Tuesday said it had arrested thekingpin of a drug racket ofhabitforming drugs, including the ‘tramadol’ tablets.

Chief of the AntidrugSpecial Task Force andAddl. DGP Gurpreet KaurDeo said the police had recovered a consignment of10,67,800 tablets from accused Pardeep Goyal, aLudhianabased chemist.“Goyal was operating fromhis medical store in Ludhiana. He was arrested bythe Bathinda police on information provided by apeddler Sunil Kumar. Thechemist was dealing withlargescale diversion ofbanned drugs and tablets,”she said.

She said the accusedhad supplied 70 lakhbanned tablets throughoutPunjab in the last 10months.

Kingpin ofdrug racketarrested

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

MOHALI

A 19yearold woman, whowas arrested for sharing anoff��ensive social media posttargeting Muslims, hasbeen granted bail by a localcourt here on the condition that she donate fi��ve copies of the Koran to separate institutions in the city.

The court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) ManishKumar Singh asked RichaBharti to submit one copyof the holy book to the local Anjuman Committee inthe presence of policeauthorities, and four morecopies to diff��erent librariesin the city, her advocateRampravesh Singh said.

The Magistrate has alsosought the receipts or theacknowledgements of thedonation within a fortnight, he said.

Md. Jamil Khan, a member of the Anjuman Committee, said it has welcomed the court’s verdict.

SP (Rural) Asutosh Sekhar said the offi��cers werestudying the court order tounderstand thestipulations.

Woman getsbail, told todonate Koran


Ranchi

The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill to amendthe Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of IndiaAct, 2008, whereby the Airports Authority would notdetermine tariff�� structuresin the case of privatised airports as that was part of thebid off��ered at the time of theprivatisation.

In all, 16 airports wouldcome under the AirportsEconomic Regulatory Auth

ority of India (AERA), whilethe others would continueto be under the Civil Aviation Ministry.

After introducing the Bill,

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in2006 the total number ofpassengers at Indian airports was about 1.5 millionper annum. Therefore, aregulatory mechanism wasneeded for fi��xing tariff��s. In2009, only two major airports had traffi��c of 1.5 million passengers per annum.In 2011, the number wentup to 16 and in 2016, therewere 24 such airports.

“Today, the passengerthroughput at the Airport

Authority of India airportsis in the vicinity of 344.69million. So, the limited purpose of this amendment isto substitute the fi��gure 1.5million, which defi��ned amajor airport, which refl��ected 1.3% of passengertraffi��c at that point of time,with the fi��gure 3.5 millionwhich accurately refl��ectsthe state of traffi��c today,” hesaid.

The Bill was fi��rst approved in December 2017,but could not be passed.

RS nod for changes to airports regulator Bill Amendment restricts AAI from fi��xing tariff��s for private airports

Hardeep Singh Puri


NEW DELHI

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


WORLD

Von der Leyen securesEU executive top jobSTRASBOURG

Germany’s Ursula von der

Leyen secured European

Parliament’s nod on Tuesday

to become the fi��rst female

President of European

Commission. She presented

her vision for a greener and

rulebased Europe. REUTERS

ELSEWHERE

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SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12679 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

Andal’s Thiruppavai can be seen as praise of Ramanujacharya, said G. Satyabhama in a lecture, adding that all theverses were interpreted in this manner by PrativadhiBhayankaram Annangarachar Swami. The fi��rst verse beginswith the words Margazhi thingal. In Tamil, this is a referenceto the month of Margazhi, that is Margaseersha. But margameans path, and if we take this meaning, then it can be taken as referring to the best path to moksha, which Ramanuja showed us. If we have the grace of our Acharya, then weare assured of moksha.

All of the Thiruppavai is about reverence for Acharyas.Mati niraindha, sings Andal, indicating that it is full moon.But mati can be taken to mean jnana, and niraindha, meaning full, shows that the world was fi��lled with jnana. This happened when Ramanuja was born, for he dispelled the darkness of ajnana, just as the bright moon dispels darkness onfull moon day. It is a nan naal, says Andal, a good day. It isgood because the Gopikas are going to see Krishna. If wetake it as referring to Ramanuja, that too is appropriate, forit was certainly a good day for mankind when Ramanuja wasborn. Andal refers to Krishna as kumaran, the eternallyyoung one, and this is a most suitable description for Krishna, for He hid His greatness and mingled freely with the Gopas and Gopikas. Ramanuja too was kindness personifi��ed.

Krishna is an ilam singam — a fi��erce young lion. Ramanujatoo was like a lion when it came to winning argumentsagainst opponents. Kaarmeni is the word Andal uses to describe Krishna’s beautiful dark hue. But how can this applyto Ramanuja, of whom traditional records say that he wasfair skinned? Ramanuja was always thinking of Vishnu andso he too took on his beloved Krishna’s colour.

FAITH

Apt interpretations 3 Demeaning and dodgy, if

daring (5,3)

4 Carriage is ample, in a manner

of speaking (6)

5 Moist, cold and ample, in a

manner of speaking (6)

7 Spanish governess for Dutch

girl from the South (6)

8 Absolute certainty seen in

Luke and John, for example

(6,5)

14 Motorbikes gutted,

customised with cell

synthesiser (8)

15 She throws a monkey wrench

in the works (8)

16 Police Sergeant overwhelmed,

a mite upset by jargon (6)

17 Sharpsightedness you

exhibited in a large town (6)

19 Jack in India uncovered fl��ash

card with detailing (6)

20 Black eye for the Polish guy!

(6)

11 Foolish people initially

rejected wicked spirits (4)

12 Bar aims to strip off

architectural element (10)

13 Your future lies in the stars

with her (11)

18 Keeners in Engineering hitting

library at start of dawn on

Saturday (5,5)

21 Oppose bill in the US (4)

22 Spooner's drunk winner to

oversee digs in owner's

absence (53)

23 Canadian First Nation claims

Trudeau's beginning to bypass

reason (6)

24 Sergeant Major fi��nds all the

soldiers obsequious (6)

25 Criminally underpay retiring

District Attorney in straitened

circumstances (6)

■ DOWN

1 Digital computers! (8)

2 Central components in clue

(cryptic) (6)

(set by Skulldugger)

■ ACROSS

5 Doing away with North

American vagabond for

murder (3,3)

6 In charge of the soul (6)

9 Elector vetoing old highfl��ier

(6)

10 Terrible women throttling

proportional representation

advances (8)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12680

Sudan paramilitaries‘torture’ civilian to deathKHARTOUM

Sudan’s paramilitary

personnel beat and tortured

to death a civilian in the

Darfur region, a doctors

committee linked to the

country’s protest movement

said on Tuesday. AFP

Indian-origin man in U.S.convicted for killing wife NEW YORK

A U.S. court has convicted an

Indianorigin man for killing

his estranged wife 12 years

ago when she sought divorce.

Avtar Grewal was extradited

to the U.S. in 2011. He was

found guilty of murder. PTI

Democratic Congresswomentargeted in a xenophobic tirade by President DonaldTrump hit back on Monday,saying he was trying to distract attention away from hispolicies with his “blatantlyracist attack.”

The President fi��rst attacked the four lawmakers —all but one of whom wereborn in America — with a series of tweets on Sunday, saying they should “go back” totheir countries of origin.

The four — AlexandriaOcasioCortez of New York,Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota andAyanna Pressley of Massachusetts — struck back at anews conference on Mondayand urged people not to“take the bait.”

Mr. Trump was simply trying to distract with his “blatantly racist attack” on thefour women of colour, Ms.Omar said.

“This is the agenda ofwhite nationalists,” she said.

Ms. Pressley also urgedthe American people “to nottake the bait.”

“This is simply a disruption and a distraction fromthe callous chaotic and corrupt culture of this administration, all the way down,”Ms. Pressley said.

‘The Squad’The four lawmakers — whohave been nicknamed “TheSquad” by some media —said attention should insteadbe focused on healthcareand immigration and, in particular, the treatment of asylum seekers on the southernborder.

“Weak minds and leaderschallenge loyalty to ourcountry in order to avoidchallenging and debating thepolicy,” said Ms.OcasioCortez.

Mr. Trump “does notknow how to defend his policies, so what he does is attack us personally, and thatis what this is all about,” shesaid.

Ms. Tlaib said Mr. Trump’stweets and remarks were “acontinuation of his racist andxenophobic playbook.”

“We cannot allow thesehateful actions by the President to distract us from the

critical work to hold this administration accountable tothe inhumane conditions atthe border that is separatingchildren from their lovedones and caging them up inillegal, horrifi��c conditions,”she said.

Ms. Omar and Ms. Tlaibrepeated calls for Mr. Trumpto be impeached.

At a White House event later, Mr. Trump said, “All theydo is complain”.

“These are people thathate our country. If you’renot happy here, you can

leave.” Mr. Trump also accused the four fi��rsttermCongresswomen — who areof Hispanic, Arab, Somaliand African American origin— of having “love” for U.S.“enemies like AlQaeda.”

Asked by a reporterwhether he was concernedthat many people saw hiscomments as racist, Mr.Trump said: “It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me.”

Mr. Trump’s extraordinary attacks on the lawmakersprompted outrage.

The President also cameunder fi��re from some members of his Republican partybut remained unrepentant.

“My view is that what wassaid and what was tweetedwas destructive, was demeaning, was disunifying,and frankly it was verywrong,” said Senator MittRomney, a Republican fromUtah.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern becamethe latest international leader to condemn Trump’stweets. “I completely and utterly disagree with him,” shetold Radio New Zealand, noting that her country welcomed diversity.

No racist bone: TrumpMeanwhile, Mr. Trump denied accusations of racism.

“Those Tweets were NOTRacist. I don’t have a Racistbone in my body!” he tweeted, as lawmakers preparedto vote on a resolution condemning his “racistcomments.”

Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau and Britain’sTheresa May also expresseddisapproval.

Congresswomen hit back at Trump‘The blatantly racist attack is a distraction from the chaotic and corrupt culture of the administration’

Agence France-Presse

Washington

(From left) Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley andAlexandria OcasioCortez in Washington. * AP

Pakistani journalists heldnationwide protests onTuesday to denounce rampant censorship by thecountry’s powerful securityservices, massive layoff��s dueto budget cuts and monthslong delays in payments oftheir wages.

The rallies, dubbed Dayof Protests, were spearheaded by the Pakistan FederalUnion of Journalists, whichsaid that journalists, whoface the roughest phase inthe country’s history, havedecided to “fi��ght the unprecedented censorship.”

Tuesday was only the“beginning of a protestmovement,” said Afzal Butt,union president.

Ad budget slashedJournalists and press freedom advocates say that thePakistani military is pressuring media outlets to quashcritical coverage while thenewly elected governmentis slashing its advertisingbudget.

In the last few months,hundreds of journalists havebeen laid off�� as media houses came under fi��nancialconstraints after government advertising was drastically reduced.

Journalist wore blackbands and held banners demanding an end to censorship, economic woes forthose working in the mediaand abuse of media laws tocurb free expression.

Authorities control “evenminute details of the mediacontent these days, and dictate who will be the face ofprint and electronic media,”Mr. Butt said.

‘Army seeks to quash critical coverage’

Associated Press

KARACHI

Protesters holding a bannerthat reads: ‘Stop sackingjournalists’, in Peshawar. * AP

Pak. scribes protestagainst censorship

Pakistan expressed hopes onTuesday that Prime MinisterImran Khan’s maiden trip tothe White House later thismonth would help repair itsacrimonious relationshipwith Washington as the U.S.seeks its help in ending thewar in Afghanistan.

Observers believe that thenearly 18year confl��ict will bethe major focus of talks between Mr. Khan and President Donald Trump whenthey meet on July 22, asWashington presses for Pa

kistani assistance in securinga peace deal.

“Pakistan has been facilitating the U.S.Taliban talksin good faith, underscoringthat it remains a shared responsibility,” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshisaid during a seminar inIslamabad.

‘Bitter pill’“It will therefore be appropriate to work for broaderengagement from Afghanistan to bilateral issues, economic and trade cooperation, to peace and stability in

South Asia,” he added. Mr. Khan and Mr. Trump

have clashed in the past,with the Pakistani premieronce describing a potential

meeting with the U.S. president as a “bitter pill” to swallow.

But on Tuesday, Mr. Qureshi said that Mr. Trump’sinvitation to the PakistaniPM refl��ected the “importance of the relationship forboth sides”.

Relations between Pakistan and the U.S. have beenturbulent since Mr. Trumptook offi��ce in 2017, with theU.S. leader frequently singling out Islamabad for failing to rein in extremists andbeing an unfaithful partnerin the fi��ght against militants.

Khan to visit U.S. to ‘refresh’ tiesWashington may seek Pak. assistance in securing a deal to end war in Afghanistan

Imran Khan


Islamabad

China on Tuesday rejectedclaims from U.S. PresidentDonald Trump that it is being forced to make a tradedeal because of its slowingeconomy, as the two sidesprepare for more talks.

Beijing and Washingtonhave been locked in a tradewar that has seen them hiteach other with tariff��s covering over $360 billion intwoway trade.

On Monday, China published data showing itsquarterly growth hadslipped to 6.2% — the slowest in nearly 30 years.

Mr. Trump tweeted:

“This is why China wants tomake a deal... with the U.S.,and wishes it had not broken the original deal in thefi��rst place.”

But Beijing has rejectedthe comments. “It’s completely misleading to say, asthe U.S. side does, that because of its economic slowdown, China is eager toreach an agreement,” saidForeign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.

“I would like to onceagain call on the U.S. towork together with China,to meet halfway, and tostrive for a mutually benefi��cial and winwinagreement.”

Beijing rebuff��s Trumpclaims over slip in growthEconomy slides to lowest in 30 years


Beijing

Iran confi��rmed on Tuesdaythe arrest of a FrenchIranian academic without giving any details of her case,the latest in a long list of dualnationals held in the country’s prisons.

The detention of FaribaAdelkhah, 60, risks increasing tension between Parisand Tehran at a critical moment in eff��orts to save alandmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Ms. Adelkhah is a wellknown expert on Iran andShiite Islam at France’sSciences Po university.

“She is among suspectsthat have been recently arrested,” Iran’s judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said, without

specifying the accusationsagainst her.

Sciences Po said the arrest of the researcher was“unacceptable and shocking”.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday expressed concern for her welfare. He added that Francehad so far received no meaningful explanation fromIran.

Other Iranian dual nationals jailed in Iran include IranianAmerican Siamak Namazi and his father Baquer,who are serving 10year sentences for espionage.

It risks raising tension between Paris and Tehran


Tehran

Fariba Adelkhah

Iran confi��rms arrest of academic

U.S. President DonaldTrump said his administration will “take a look” ifGoogle has been workingwith the Chinese government. The fi��rm swiftly denied the allegation.

“Tech Investor PeterThiel believes Googleshould be investigated fortreason,” Mr. Trump said ina tweet. “A great and brilliant guy who knows thissubject better than anyone!The Trump Administrationwill take a look!”

Google’s tiesto China needreview: Trump


Washington

The armoured black limousines appear everywherewith Kim Jongun, sleekWestern chariots for theyoung ruler of North Korea.

The cars are topoftheline MercedesBenzes — theMaybach S600 PullmanGuard and the Maybach S62,popular with world leadersand costing up to $1.6 millioneach. And Mr. Kim is usingthem in open defi��ance of UNsanctions intended to banluxury goods from NorthKorea.

Highend Western goodsare making their way toNorth Korea’s elite through acomplex system of port

transfers, secret highseasshipping and shadowy frontcompanies, according to research by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, andan investigation by The New

York Times.

From 2015 to 2017, around90 nations served as thesources of luxury goods forNorth Koreans, according toa report. Moreover, the networks run through the territories of some UNSC mem

bers and U.S. allies — China,Russia, Japan and South Korea among them.

The journey taken by apair of armoured MercedesMaybach S600 sedans fromEurope to East Asia illustrates how one of the luxurygoods transportation networks operated.

Mysterious voyageThe voyage began in the portof Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In June 2018, twosealed containers, eachholding a Mercedes worth$5,00,000, were brought bytruck into a shipping terminal, according to cargo tracking records. The cars travelled by ship for 41 days to

Dalian, in northeast China.They were then put on a shipfor Osaka, Japan. Fromthere, they were put on avessel for a threeday voyageto Busan, South Korea.

Then came the most mysterious part of the passage.The containers were transferred within one day of arrival to the DN5505, a cargoship sailing under the fl��ag ofTogo, a West African nation,and bound for the port ofNakhodka in the far east ofRussia. Then the ships wentdark. When the signals cameback on again, the ship wasin South Korean waters. Nowit was on a return trip to Busan, but laden with 2,588tonnes of coal. NY TIMES

How North Korea’s leader gets his luxury carsBypassing UN sanctions, a complex system of port transfers, secret shipping ensure supply of vehicles

Comfort trip: A fi��le photo of Kim Jongun waving from a car inthe truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea. * NYT

Edward Wong

Christoph Koettl

German Chancellor AngelaMerkel remained seatedfor national anthems at anoffi��cial ceremony on Tuesday for the second time in aweek, after a series of shaking spells sparked concernabout her health.

Ms. Merkel took a seatnext to visiting MoldovanPM Maia Sandu during military honours for her gueston Tuesday.

She has suff��ered threebouts of shaking whilestanding at ceremonies,and remained seated lastweek as national anthemswere played during a ceremony with Denmark’s PM.

Merkel seatedagain aftershaking spells


Berlin

CM

YKA ND-NDE

wednesday • july 17, 2019

ThoughtWorks will behosting a multicityedition of ‘Vapasi’, a

technical training programme for women technologists who are planninga comeback to the industryafter a career break. Theevent will be held simultaneously at the Chennai,Hyderabad and Gurgaon offi��ces of ThoughtWorks onAugust 5.

According to a press release, the fourweek programme will help experienced womentechnologists to return tothe world of programming.Upon completion of the programme, shortlisted candi

dates will be off��ered a threeto sixmonth internship atThoughtWorks. They can later apply for permanentpositions.

In a press release, Tina Vinod, Head of Diversity andInclusion, ThoughtWorks inIndia, says the company isaiming to run at least eighteditions of the programmeacross its seven offi��ces in India this year. The last sixbatches of Vapasi, tailoredmade for developers andquality analysts, witnessedparticipation of around 100women, the release adds.

The last date for registration is July 25. To register, visit www.thoughtworks.com/

talktech/vapasi.Photo used for representational purpose

Returnship programme in three cities

HR questions answered online Noble House, a human resources consultant, haslaunched ‘Expert Connect’ on its website. Theinitiative aims to help corporates and independentconsultants seek advice orvet their policies.

Inhouse HR teams oforganisations, both at astartup and midtolargecompany level can use thefeature to understandnew policies and trends.

According to a press release, this would allowboth corporates and freelancers to interact withskilled HR professionalsvia a prepaid video call ora chat option. The consultants come from diverseindustries, the releasesays.

Job fair Equiv, a job portal for women, diff��erentlyabled,LGBTQ and veterans, isconducting a job fair forwomen on July 20 in Bengaluru. Titled ‘WomenChangemakers’, 18 companies are expected toparticipate in the event,says a release. To register,visit wcmi.in/events.

NEWS BYTES

Most of the time, entrepreneurship isabout treading a sol

itary path. Meeta Verma isamong the lucky ones whofound support early on. Sixmonths before she turned40, Meeta received a call tojoin a oneyear Women Startup Programme (WSP) offered by the Indian Instituteof Management Bangalore(IIMB) with the support ofGoldman Sachs and the Department of Science andTechnology, Government ofIndia.

Meeta could not havehoped for a better launchpad. Through mentoringand opportunities for networking and industry collaboration, the programmewould enable participants togive their entrepreneurialidea more than a fi��ghtingchance in the market. To topit all, every participant willtake home a stipend of ₹��40,000 a month.

“I just had an idea when Ijoined the programme, anddid not know how to executeit,” says Meeta, who startedWorksera, a freelance jobsplatform for Indian women,in 2017.

It was with the networkshe had forged through WSPthat Meeta found her earlyclients. The stipend helpedher pay the rent for the offi��cespace she had taken.

Now, Worksera is 150 projects old, and has four employees, all of them women,on its rolls. Around 800 people have signed up on theplatform.

Meeta’s success story not

only illustrates the value ofsuch programmes, but alsounderlines how supportfrom large corporations sustains them.

There are two scenarios.One, large corporations support such initiatives, as inthe case of IIMB’s WSPwhere the programme receives support from Goldman Sachs.

The other scenario isabout these corporationsstarting these initiativesthemselves.

Cisco and Shell are amongcompanies that have beenrunning “accelerator programmes” for entrepreneurs

who have just started uptheir enterprises.

Cisco’s ‘LaunchPad’ isheld twice a year with eightstartups in each cohort. Participants go through a 24week training programme.The organisation has so farhelped more than 40 startups and provided mentorship, grants, investor connects, tech platform,customer partner access andcoworking space. It doesnot stop with this. Some ofthe “mature startups” movefrom the accelerator to the“innovation centre programme”, which providesthem with a bigger platform

to develop their productsand showcase them.

Shell has been accelerating energyrelated technologies under its programmecalled ‘E4’ (Energizing andEnabling Energy Entrepreneurs). The startups are incubated for six months. Inthe recent edition, 10 startups that had a strong connect with the company’s business, were helped.

Recently, Dell opened itsIndia chapter of what iscalled ‘Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network’ (DWEN),enabling networking amongwomen entrepreneurs fromIndia.

“We need to change thesenumbers,” says Sheenam.

Win-win situation What do large corporationsgain by working withstartups?

Saras Sarasvathy, Paul M.Hammaker Professor of Business Administration, The

Darden School of Business,says both big corporationsand startups can gain a lot bypartnering with each other.Startups think they needfunding. But they shouldrealise that building a directrelationship with the potential customer is of greaterimportance, she says.

That is a learning they arelikely to receive from theirassociation with large corporations. Large corporationsfi��nd it diffi��cult to leave theirpredictable market and therefore work with an inherenthandicap while attemptingnew product development.And this is one area startupsare naturally good at.

Before launching DWEN,Dell did a survey, connectingwith 300 entrepreneurs, tounderstand what kind ofsupport entrepreneurs lookfor. The majority of entrepreneurs said they neededhelp in expansion, sales strategy and leveragingtechnology.

Sheenam Ohrie, vice president, Enterprise Data andMobility Engineering, DellDigital, says there were twostrong reasons for startingDWEN.

Referring to studies, shesays 40% of startups fail inthe fi��rst year. And only 2% ofventure capital funding goesto women entrepreneurs.

Big corporates see immense value in off��ering mentoring support to startups that are just out of the blocks

Liffy Thomas

Participants at a Women Startup Programme organised by IIM-B. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

A guide on the entrepreneurial journey

<> In a Dell survey,

the majority of

entrepreneurs said

they needed help

in expansion, sales

strategy and

leveraging

technology

100 Open Startups isone of the largest evaluation and matchmak

ing platforms for startupsto connect with big corporations.

Started by Bruno Rondani from Brazil in 2007,100 Open Startups worksin major countries to enable corporatestartup engagement.

Currently, 2,400 bigcorporates are on the platform. Ten thousand contracts have been signedup so far.

In India, the initiativehas been running since2015. “We have 190 corporates who are part of ourprogramme,” says VaradKrishna, cofounder andmanaging director Asia,100 Open Startups.

The programme runs

through the year and isopen to anyone, irrespective of age and sector. Earlystage startups are preferred. Participants areshortlisted based on fi��vefi��lters.

Problems are defi��nedby the corporates in verticals, numbering around24. For example, innovative cities, future of education and healthcare. Anybody with a solution forthese questions can apply.The programme getsmore challenging at everysuccessive level.

“At Level 4, we have theopen innovation weekwhere corporates andstartups negotiate andcontracts are signed,” saysKrishna, adding that 90startups from India havereached this level so far.

“It’s a start of a journeywhere we begin by mentoring and this goes on tillstrategic acquisition,” saysKrishna.

He says corporates liketo partner with the platform as they fi��nd this aneffi��cient resource for innovation.

Talking about how theprogramme has evolved,he says initially the programme was started torate and rank startups.

“Now, we also rate corporates based on howthey engage with entrepreneurs,” he says.

The startups with morematches and contractssigned are ranked in the100 Open Startups’Top100.

For details, visitwww.openstartups.net

A ‘matchmaking’ platform

CMYK

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU


NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417.75. . . . . . . . . 8.65

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1372.30. . . . . . . 19.15

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761.05. . . . . . . 11.30

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2732.45. . . . . . . 18.45

Bajaj Finserv. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7881.70. . . . . 167.25

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3448.70. . . . . . . 36.60

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350.75. . . . . . . . . 0.15

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354.45. . . . . . . . . 7.05

Britannia Ind . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2747.15. . . . . . -26.45

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553.55. . . . . . . . . 3.00

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232.80. . . . . . . . . 2.40

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2676.50. . . . . . . 48.90

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 19041.25. . . . . 207.40

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147.35. . . . . . . . . 1.85

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 930.50. . . . . . . . . 8.20

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019.65. . . . . . . . -7.85

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2277.55. . . . . . . 12.20

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2391.20. . . . . . . . -3.55

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 2544.35. . . . . . . . -1.20

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199.10. . . . . . . . -1.05

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1741.30. . . . . . . 24.35

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 646.35. . . . . . . . . 7.40

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424.60. . . . . . . . . 2.30

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1473.20. . . . . . . . -1.90

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 263.70. . . . . . . . . 1.45

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784.85. . . . . . . . . 5.50

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 147.05. . . . . . . . . 1.65

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271.95. . . . . . . . . 1.00

JSW Steel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273.90. . . . . . . . . 2.95

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1501.45. . . . . . . . -6.65

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1461.20. . . . . . . 20.60

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622.90. . . . . . . . -8.95

Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6158.05. . . . . . . 78.35

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130.95. . . . . . . . . 3.00

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152.25. . . . . . . . . 1.55

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 208.90. . . . . . . . . 3.95

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1293.00. . . . . . . 16.90

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364.35. . . . . . . . . 4.30

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433.30. . . . . . . 10.35

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170.00. . . . . . . . . 9.05

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476.70. . . . . . . . . 8.40

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2106.00. . . . . . -39.70

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 675.95. . . . . . . . -1.95

Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1114.75. . . . . . . 25.35

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4600.90. . . . . . . . . 3.90

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641.90. . . . . . . . -5.50

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166.90. . . . . . . . . 0.15

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260.00. . . . . . . . . 0.10

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103.85. . . . . . . 10.65

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 346.25. . . . . . . . . 0.65

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on July 16

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 68.51. . . . . . . 68.83

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 76.86. . . . . . . 77.22

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 85.18. . . . . . . 85.59

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 63.46. . . . . . . 63.76

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.96. . . . . . . 10.01

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 69.39. . . . . . . 69.72

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 50.47. . . . . . . 50.71

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 52.51. . . . . . . 52.78

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 16.66. . . . . . . 16.78

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

July 16 rates in rupees with previousrates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41.8. . . . . . . . . . (41)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 3312. . . . . . (3296)

market watch

16-07-2019 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 39,131 ddddddddddddddd0.60

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 68.71 ddddddddddddd-0.25

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 35,570 ddddddddddddddd0.28

Brent oil dddddddddddddddddddddddd66.7 ddddddddddddd-0.22

Cashstrapped mortgage lender Dewan Housing FinanceCorporation Ltd. (DHFL),which was asked by banks toprepare a resolution plan,will be seeking ₹��1,200 croreto ₹��1,500 crore in loans permonth to kickstart its lending business.

Banks have stopped lending to several housing fi��nance companies, includingDHFL, following the debt default by IL&FS in September.

According to highly placessources in DHFL, the resolution plan envisaged restructuring of the debt fi��rst, whichwill pave the way for a newinvestor to pick up equitystake. The total debt of DHFLis about ₹��80,000 crore, ofwhich bank loans constitute₹��40,000 crore. The remain

ing ₹��40,000 crore are interms of money market instruments, mostly nonconvertible debentures.

“The resolution planseeks shortterm loans bybanks, with a maturity ofone year, every month, forabout one year. This will berequired to kickstart lend

ing. Home loans, which areextended with these bankloans, will be securitisedwith the banks again afterone year,” the source said.

While banks are trying toexecute a comprehensive resolution plan by including allthe creditors, including themutual funds which also

subscribed to the NCDs ofDHFL, some of the fundhouses are not agreeing to bea part of the debt recast process. “Banks are in discussion with some of the mutualfunds who are not agreeing.In any case, these funds havea small exposure of about₹��2,500 crore,” the sourcesaid. Of the ₹��40,000 croreNCDs and other money market instruments, banks alonehave an exposure of over₹��12,000 crore.

Nod by month-endThe company expects banksto approve the resolutionplan by the monthend.

At ₹��80,000 crore, this willbe the biggest debt restructuring exercise carried outby banks in the country.DHFL had assured that thiswould be a comprehensive

resolution plan, without anyhaircut to the lenders.

Banks have already signedthe intercreditor agreementand will scrutinise the resolution plan, and aim to makeit operational before September 25. After the debt recast, which is essentiallyelongating the repaymentschedule to match liabilitieswith assets, a new investor isexpected to come in.

DHFL is in talks with Cerberus Capital, Aion Capitaland Loan Star for the stakesale. Promoters of DHFLwho have 39.8% stake in thecompany, could see theirshareholding reduced byhalf after the deal. DHFLaims to raise about ₹��5,500crore from the stake sale.

On Tuesday, DHFL stockrebounded to close 4.33%higher at ₹��50.60.

DHFL to seek ₹��1,500crore loans a monthMove part of the cash-strapped mortgage lender’s resolution plan to kick-start its lending business

The resolution plan includes debt restructuring, to pave theway for a new investor to pick up stake. * REUTERS

MANOJIT SAHA

Mumbai

Post its takeover of Mindtree, Larsen & Toubro’s CEOand managing director S.N.Subrahmanyan opened hismaiden address to the ITfi��rm’s shareholders here onTuesday with a ‘warm pat’on the shoulders of founders and promoters.

Mindtree was a modernday startup with an uniqueculture and has evolved intoan institution in its ownright, he said, adding, “fullcompliments to the founders/promoters of Mindtree, all fi��rstgeneration entrepreneurs, for creating abilliondollar revenue business, earning over $100 million in profi��t and 40% return on capital from scratchin 20 years.”

To allay concerns over‘cultural misfi��t,’ he said,much like Mindtree, L&Twas also a venture startedby foundermanagers andhad successfully transitioned into a wellrespected,highperforming, professionallymanaged company.

Addressing the Mindtreeshareholders at its crucialAGM, he said, L&T would focus on ‘continuity’ as a keytheme in management transition and continue to runand grow the business ofMindtree independently.

Mindtree would continueto have its independentmanagement, unique culture and committed ‘Mindtree minds,’ he said.

“We believe L&T, with itsexperience and track recordof managing two very successful IT businesses, canadd value to Mindtree andits stakeholders.”

Mindtree will be kept distinct from L&T Infotech(LTI), L&T Technology Services (LTTS) and the recent

lyformed business division,L&TNxt.

‘Minimum overlap’LTI off��ers services to banking, fi��nance, manufacturing, oil and gas, media andhealthcare sectors, whileMindtree’s clients are inCPG, retail, hospitality,communication and hightech. They operate in diff��erent areas, with minimumclient overlap, he explained.

“L&T can provide furtherimpetus to the longtermgrowth of Mindtree by wayof boardlevel oversight andrelevant client connects. Wewill be able to harness theserelationships for the benefi��tof Mindtree’s stakeholders.”

Further reassuring shareholders, employees andclients of Mindtree, Mr. Subrahmanyan said: “Let me assure [you], that the management will be focussed ondoing everything possible tokeep the services being rendered to various clients at itsbest.”

To investors who askedwhether L&T would agree tothe ₹��27 dividend Mindtreehad announced for its 20thanniversary, he said: “Wehave always been fully supportive of the dividend.” Healso said that there were noplans to delist Mindtree andits head offi��ce would continue to be in Bengaluru.

‘Mindtree will retainits independence’Focus is on ‘continuity’, says L&T CEO


Bengaluru

S.N. Subrahmanyan

Wipro’s best is yet to comeand the company will continually transform to scalenew heights as the worldchanges, while remainingfi��rmly committed to its values, said chairman AzimPremji in his farewell address here on Tuesday.

Wipro was making signifi��cant investments in digital,cloud, engineering servicesand cybersecurity as it wasall set to outshine its previous performances, he said.

Digital technologiesTransformative digital technologies are emerging at anunprecedented rate andtechnology is becoming partof the core for all productsand services, he added. Esta

blished business models arebeing challenged to give wayto the new, he said, emphasising the importance ofchanging and reinventing.

“We have evolved by constantly reinventing ourselves and creating neweropportunities. This has beenpossible because of the dedication and hard work of Wi

proites and our absolutecommitment to our values,which we call the spirit ofWipro,” Mr. Premji said.

Based on clients’ needs,Wipro had sharpened itsstrategy into four pillars —business reimagination, engineering transformationand modernisation, connected intelligence andtrust.

To build the capabilitiesneeded to deliver these strategies, the fi��rm had been investing signifi��cantly in fourareas — digital, cloud, engineering services and cybersecurity, he said.

After leading the company for more than half a century, Mr. Premji will pass thebaton over to his son RishadPremji by the end of thismonth.

The best is yet to come: Premji‘Wipro to continually transform itself to scale new heights’


Bengaluru

Azim Premji

In a sign of stress wideningacross India’s credit market,Suzlon Energy has defaultedon redemption of its foreigncurrency convertible bonds(FCCBs) worth $172 million,or ₹��1,200 crore, due onTuesday.

Suzlon has asked bondholders to hold on till thecompany completes its onetime settlement with banks,said a source in the know ofthe development. However,its settlement with the banksdepends upon its plans tosell stake to Canadian investor Brookfi��eld, a move thatmay see promoters, with19.8% stake, ceding management control.

“The company has notmade the payment of theprincipal amount of the outstanding bonds, being $172,000,000, which was dueon July 16, 2019 in accordance with the terms and

conditions of the bonds,”said the company in a statement, adding that it wasworking on a holistic solution for its debt and that itcontinued to be in discussions with various stakeholders in relation to outstanding debt (including thebonds).

Brookfi��eld is eyeing a majority stake in the companyand discussions are on for aonetime settlement planwith creditors to restructureoutstanding bank loans.

The fi��rm has an outstanding debt of ₹��7,761 crore, including FCCBs and workingcapital debt of ₹��3,380 crore.

The fi��rm’s bank facilityratings were cut to default byCare Ratings in April afterthe lossmaking companydefaulted on repaymentsworth ₹��412 crore on termloans and working capital facilities in March. Suzlon hadbecome India’s largest FCCBdefaulter when it missed itspayments in 2012.

In January 2015, Suzlonwas forced to sell its primeasset, Senvion SE (formerlyREpower) to U.S.based private equity fi��rm CenterbridgePartners for €1 billion (then,over ₹��7,200 crore).

Sun Pharmaceuticals promoter Dilip Shanghvi is thelargest shareholder in Suzlon, who acted as a whiteknight to help the companyin 2015, buying a 23% stakefor ₹��1,800 crore when it wasin deep fi��nancial trouble.

Suzlon defaults on $172 mn bondsFirm asks bondholders to wait for settlement with banks

Piyush Pandey

MUMBAI

Tyre major MRF Ltd. expectsthe current year to be a tumultuous one for the autosector on account of variousregulatory changes and theswitch over to BSVI norms.

“The next six monthswould see a volatile auto sector on account of the shift toBSVI emission norms,” saidK.M. Mammen, chairmanand managing director, MRFLtd, in a message to shareholders. “The tyre industrywould have to align its production in line with this requirement,” he added.

The Indian automotive industry is at an infl��ectionpoint where both opportunities and challenges aboundin equal measure. The coming year will be witness toseveral landmark disruptions and changes in the auto industry which will shapethe direction of future

events in the industry, MRFsaid.

Inventory build-upAsserting that these shortterm hiccups would have tobe factored in by automobilefi��rms and tyre manufacturers, he said that the uncertainty over the next sixmonths would be furthercompounded by low consumer sentiments, resultingin inventory buildup and all

OE (original equipment) manufacturers aligning production in line with demand.

While anticipating an increase in scooter prices (dueto BSVI norms), volatile fuelprices and rising insurancecosts, the company said thatthere could be some uncertainties around how thecomplete impact of BSVInorms will play out duringthe next fi��scal year.

Compliance with BSVInorms will require higher investment by automakers intechnology to upgrade vehicles in stock and in makingnew vehicles. This will alsomean signifi��cantly reducedlaunches till the new normscome into force, eff��ectiveApril 1, 2020, MRF said.

While describing the electric vehicle segment as asunrise industry, Mr. Mammen welcomed the incentives off��ered as they wouldhave a longterm impact.

‘Auto sector to face a volatile year’Industry will witness many landmark disruptions, says MRF


CHENNAI

K.M. Mammen

The demographic changeIndia is going through, coupled with the banking infrastructure being put inplace, stands to greatly increase savings in the country, Chief Economic Adviser KrishnamurthySubramanian said onTuesday.

Mr. Subramanian alsosaid India needs to moveout of the mindset of beingapologetic for profi��t, aslong as they are legallyobtained.

“The demographicchange India is goingthrough is very importantfor savings growth,” Mr.Subramanian said, whilespeaking at a book release.“As life expectancy increases, people realise that theymust begin saving by atleast 40 years because theywill live for much longernow.

“And, as people havefewer children, they willrealise they need to savebecause their childrenmight not be able to takecare of them,” Mr. Subramanian added. This shiftwill be enabled by the JanDhan Yojana, which iscreating the necessarybanking infrastructure, especially in rural India.

The CEA also spokeabout the importance ofdigitisation in the bankingspace and how it stands togreatly increase the reachof savings and credit instruments. However, headded that this digitisationneeds to be accompaniedby greater digital literacy.

“I don’t know why people are apologetic aboutprofi��ts,” Mr. Subramaniansaid. “If you are workingwithin the law and arehelping the economy grow,then profi��ts are good!”

Also speaking at theevent, HDFC Bank MD Aditya Puri said that banks, infact, were the safest whenit came to data security.

‘Demographicchange, bankinfra will helpsavings grow’


NEW DELHI

Rating agency Crisil has revised its rating watch on thelongterm bank facilities anddebt instruments of Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited (IBHFL) to ‘RatingWatch with Negative Implications’ from ‘Rating Watchwith DevelopingImplications’.

The rating on the shortterm bank facilities and theshortterm debt programmehas been reaffi��rmed at ‘Crisil A1+’. IBHFL was under‘Watch with developing implications’ when the company announced its mergerwith Lakshmi Vilas Bank(LVB).

“With progress on the

merger, the rating watch hasbeen revised as it is possiblethat the credit profi��le of themerged entity as a bankcould be relatively weakerthan other Crisil AAA ratedprivate banks, at least in theshort term,” the rating agency said.

CCI nod for mergerIBHFL has received approval from the CompetitionCommission of India for theproposed merger, while itawaits other approvals.

Crisil said there could betransitional challenges oncethe merger goes through, asthe entity would need to establish its liabilities franchise to compete eff��ectivelywith banks.

Crisil revises rating watchon Indiabulls Housing Implications tag changes to ‘negative’

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mumbai


THE HINDU DELHI


BUSINESS

IN BRIEF

Coca Cola names SarvitaSethi in M&A roleNEW DELHI

Global beverages major

CocaCola on Tuesday

announced toplevel

changes in its India and

southwest Asia unit with the

appointment of Sarvita Sethi

as vicepresident, M&A and

new ventures and Harsh

Bhutani as vicepresident,

fi��nance (CFO). Ms. Sethi, who

was earlier VP fi��nance, India

and southwest Asia, in her

new role will provide

leadership to business

incubation, CocaCola said in

a statement. PTI

Cummins India MDSandeep Sinha resignsNEW DELHI

Engines maker Cummins

India on Tuesday said its

managing director Sandeep

Sinha had resigned to pursue

his business interests outside

the company. Mr. Sinha had

joined Cummins in 2004 as a

corporate indirect purchasing

manager. Over his career at

Cummins, he held several

leadership roles in corporate

strategy in the U.S. and India,

playing a key role in starting

manufacturing plants in the

country. PTI

Ecommerce fi��rm Snapdealon Tuesday said it had “signifi��cantly” narrowed its losses to ₹��186 crore in the 201819 fi��nancial year.

This is a decline of 69.55%from a loss of ₹��611 crore in201718.

As per regulatory documents fi��led by Snapdeal,consolidated revenues grewto ₹��925.3 crore in 201819from ₹��535.9 crore in 201718,an increase of nearly 73%.

“Two years ago, we werecoming off�� a challengingpatch for our company. However, disciplined and focussed execution by ourteam over these past twoyears shines through in ouraudited fi��nancial results,”CEO and cofounder KunalBahl said in a blogpost on

LinkedIn. He added thatSnapdeal’s transacting customers grew 2.2 times andthe traffi��c surged 2.3 times to70 million unique users permonth. “And all this in a yearwhen the ecommerce companies in India burnt

through about $2.5 billion inthe pursuit of growth,” hepointed out.

Mr. Bahl said the fi��rm’sstrategy was to focus on theneeds of valueconsciousbuyers in India, who constitute the Snapdeal’s of their

users. “They are the fastestgrowing mega segment in Indian ecommerce and will benearly 400million strong over the next few years,” headded.

Snapdeal was among thetop ecommerce players inthe country a couple of yearsago, but lost share, given thefi��erce competition from rivals such as Amazon andFlipkart.

In 2017, the company wasalso in talks to merge thefi��rm with Flipkart. However,the deal did not go throughand the company decided to“pursue an independent

path”, calling it Snapdeal2.0. Snapdeal said its selections had grown to over 200million listings on the platform and in the last twoyears, the company had seenover 60,000 new sellerpartners coming on board.

For the ongoing year, Mr.Bahl said the company’s focus areas would not be verydiff��erent.

“The past couple of yearshave been about getting backin the saddle and putting thecompany on a path that has avery long runway to grow —with strong fundamentalsand a fantastic culture. Weare not aiming for tripledigitgrowth rates, as we don’t believe that one can achievethem without compromisingon parameters that we consider critical — economicsand experience,” he said.

Snapdeal cuts losses by 70% to ₹��186 croreFor 201819, a period following failed merger talks, the fi��rm’s revenues too grew 73% to ₹��925.3 crore

Clear target: Snapdeal aims to focus on valueconsciousbuyers in India, says its CEO Kunal Bahl. * REUTERS


NEW DELHI <> [We will not]

compromise on

economics and

experience

Kunal Bahl,

CEO and cofounder

Kesoram Industries Ltd.(KIL) will seek the nod of itsshareholders, secured andunsecured creditors, separately, for the proposedscheme of demerging itstyre business, as directed bythe National Company LawTribunal.

Its main lines of businessare cement and tyres. Thecompany is now planning tospin off�� the tyre business,which functions under thename of Birla Tyres. “Theseare two distinct lines of business, with diff��erent natureof risks and competition necessitating diff��erent management approaches and focus. Moreover, thecompetitive dynamics ofthese businesses are also

diff��erent, the company saidin its rationale for the decision. The lossmaking fi��rm(₹��254.3 crore in 201819),posted its fi��rst quarterly netprofi��t at ₹��20.8 crore in thefourth quarter of last fi��scal,making this the fi��rst net profi��t in 10 quarters.

The improved performance came through costsavings and effi��cient logistics, according to the fi��rm.

KIL’s debt now stands at₹��2,950 crore. “The separation of the tyre businesswould bring signifi��cant benefi��ts to both the businesses,” it said. These would bethrough dedicated management focus and acceleratedgrowth for the tyre businessand access to varied sourcesof funds for the rapidgrowth of both businesses.

Demerger: Kesoram toseek shareholders’ nodFirm plans to spin off�� tyre business


KOLKATA

Private sector lender Federal Bank on Tuesday reported a 46.25% jump in its Junequarter net at ₹��384.21 croreon a healthy growth in noncore income and stable asset quality.

The lender reported a17.77% growth in core net interest income to ₹��1,154 croreon a 19% growth in advancesand a stable net interestmargin which stood at 3.1%.

Treasury operationsBoosting the bottom line,other income clipped44.55% to ₹��391.52 crore.

Shyam Srinivasan, MDand CEO, attributed this tobroader growth across thecore fee lines and also trea

sury operations. The banksaw fresh slippages of ₹��415crore during the quarter, including those for ₹��32 crorein loans to two special purpose vehicles of the crippled infrastructure lenderIL&FS, while the overall recoveries rose to ₹��300 crore.

The gross nonperforming assets (NPA) ratio stoodat 2.99% as against 3% in thein the same period of theprevious year, while netNPA ratio improved to 1.49%from 1.72% in the Marchquarter.

About the exposure tothe troubled mortgage lender DHFL, Mr. Srinivasandeclined to name the account but said the bank’s exposure to certain accountswas standard.

Federal Bank net surges46.25% on fee income Sees fresh slippages of ₹��415 crore


Mumbai

The ongoing regulatoryprobe into the alleged siphoning off�� of funds by thepromoters of Leel Electricals, formerly Lloyd Electricand Engineering Ltd., is getting delayed as the companyoffi��cials are allegedly notcooperating in the forensicaudit process, which hasbeen mandated by the Securities and Exchange Boardof India (SEBI).

While Deloitte has beentasked with the forensic audit to fi��nd out if the promoters diverted funds after thecompany sold its consumerdurables business to HavellsIndia in 2017 for about₹��1,600 crore, SEBI offi��cials

recently visited the company’s premises in Noida inconnection with the probeand have communicated theregulator’s concerns overnoncooperation with the inquiry process, said a personfamiliar with thedevelopment.

“The company has been

told that the audit is a timebound exercise with stringent deadlines but is still taking time to share the complete set of documents asrequired in the audit,” saidthe person.

“While the company hasshared some documentssuch as the annual reportand the balance sheet, theforensic audit team hassought more informationand the company is sharingthe documents only in parts,thereby slowing the auditprocess,” he added.

In the past too, the bourses had penalised the entityfor noncompliance with theregulations in timely fi��ling ofthe fi��nancial results and shareholding pattern reports.

‘Leel Electricals offi��cials notcooperating in SEBI investigation’Regulator probing alleged fund siphoning by promoters

ASHISH RUKHAIYAR

MUMBAI

As part of its $850 millioninvestment in its VadinarRefi��nery towards expansion in petrochemicals,Nayara Energy has licensedUNIPOL PP Process Technology from W. R. Grace &Co to produce a broadrange of phthalatefreeproducts from the 20 metric million tonnes per annum (MMTPA) refi��nery, according to the company.

As part of the expansion, Nayara plans to set upup a 4.5 lakhtonnes a yearpolypropylene plant.

“The primary source offeedstock is its existing FCCunit, which is optimisedfor booting performance,”said Nayara Energy in astatement

Nayara buystechnologyfor refi��nery


MUMBAI

Hospitality chain OYO onTuesday announced its foray into coworking spaceswith a new brand — OYOWorkspaces — with an aimto have 50 centres acrossthe country by end of 2019.

The company confi��rmedthat it had acquired coworking fi��rm Innov8,which has about 16 centresin the country, providingseats to about 6,000 employees of brands like Swiggy, Paytm, Pepsi, Nykaa,OLX and Lenskart. Whilefi��nancial details were notdisclosed, the acquisitionis being pegged at about₹��200 crore. The fi��rm hasalso introduced two othercoworking brands — Powerstation and Workfl��o.

OYO enterscoworkingspaces


NEW DELHI

Centre cuts interest onGPF by 10 bps to 7.9%NEW DELHI

The interest rate on the

general provident fund (GPF)

has been cut by 10 basis

points (bps) to 7.9% from

8% with eff��ect from July 1,

the Finance Ministry said in a

statement. “In 20192020,

accumulations at the credit

of subscribers to the GPF and

other similar funds shall

carry interest of 7.9% with

eff��ect from July 1, 2019 to

September 30. This rate will

be in force with eff��ect from

July 1,” it added. ANI

At fi��rst it might seem a bit disjointed: The smooth glass and slick neonblue interface of the tabletopsare at odds with the wine and beigeinteriors. It’s only when you turnaround to spot a kitty group playing spinthebottle that it makessense.

The tech functions well as frontofthehouse gimmickry, but happily stays out of the way when youjust want feel like you’re in arestaurant.

The menu is a mishmash of thisand that — socalled fusion food(from Kolkata Ghugni Pate and Butter Chicken Terrine to Jackfruit Filoand Maggie Thukpa).

Do try: Tandoori Thai Prawns,where the char elevates redcurrypaste marinated prawns. Threecompact minced chicken sliderspacked in a cylindrical shell called‘Ever ready’ which actually workeddespite all my cringing.

Skip: Trying to discuss your order with CAD’s course nameswhich range from ‘Attributes’ to‘Bread Drive’; a dry Chicken Puff��called ‘Bookmark’; succulent Amritsari Mutton Tikka paired sadlywith a fl��at Green Chilli Appamwhich looked like it dropped deadright out of the griddle.

Go with: If you’re a techper

son, just go. This is some of the bestimplementation of tech with foodaround. However, you could alsojust go on a Tinder date and playtruthordare or go with family and

friends and let the kids fi��ddlearound with the touchscreen whileyou down beer with TandooriPrawns.

Space bar: The languid sofas

which run along the wall at theback can easily seat large groups.There’s also an airy al fresco areaon the porch, which would be fabulous on a winter afternoon.

How much? ₹��2,000 for 2 sansalcohol

Reach: It’s best to cab it or driveto 32nd Milestone on NH 8. Compulsory valet parking is ₹��50.

Robust, with a side of gimmickryAmit Patnaik FOOD REVIEW

Culinary mishmash The interiors; and Cajun SpicedPaneer Tikka * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The touchscreen tables are ahighlight, but CAD’s easygoing

Indianfusion dishes and relaxedair are for everyone


DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

A ND-NDE

Music appreciationComposer and lyrist Madan Gopal Singh will

deliver an illustrated lecture titledThe Politics of

Sacred Music at the India International Centre.

The presentation will trace the difficult journey

of various singerpoets who lived between the

12th t0 20th centuries, and belonged to what is

now known as the Sacred Music of South Asia.

Venue: Lecture RoomII, Basement Annexe, IIC

Time: 6:30 p.m.

LECTURE

Coastal delightsZambar, a dining restaurant that specialises in

South Indian cuisine, has launched a new menu

called Coastal Delights, which goes far beyond

the staple offering of sambar, dosa, vada and idli.

The list has dishes like, Malbari baby potato,

Bombay vada pao sliders, koliwada prawns,

Andhra fish curry, and more.

Venue: Zambar, Ambience Mall, Gurugram

Time: 10 a.m. 10 p.m.

FOOD

Funk rock from KolkataThe Piano Man Jazz Club is hosting South

Kolkatabased funk rock band, Slave to the

Groove, tonight. This threepiece band with

Suryadoy Ghosh on the vocals and guitar, Joy

Bhowmic on the bass, and Bappaditya Karmakar

on the drums, promises various musical genres

including indie rock and pop.

Venue: B 67/22 Safdarjung Enclave Market,

Time: 9 p.m.

MUSIC

Stand-up comedyPlayground Comedy Studio will stage Jokes Line,

a Hinglish standup comic act by three

comedians, Daahab Chishti, Himanshu Bhardwaj,

and Kushagra Srivastava. Known for their

signature “chill comedy”, the artistes will tell

new jokes, which will deal with themes ranging

from gender, vanity and beauty.

Venue: C2, SDA Market, Hauz Khas Enclave,

Time: 8 p.m.

PERFORMANCE

Sanskrit classicIndia International Centre, in collaboration with

the National Film Archive of India will screen the

Sanskrit film Adi Shankaracharya. Directed by

G.V. Iyer, the film is set in 8th century Kerala,

andis based on the life of saint Adi

Shankaracharya, who consolidated the doctrine

of Advaita Vedanta in Hindu philosophy.

Venue: C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium, IIC

Time: 6:30 p.m.

FILM

5 EVENTS WORTH YOUR WHILE

Anavila has launched

her festive collection

exclusively at Good

Earth in Delhi. She'll

soon take the

exhibition to Bengaluru

(July 18th), Chennai

(August 1st),

Hyderabad (August

2nd), and finally to

Mumbai. As the

temperature drops a

few degrees, Delhi, she

says is most ready for

that little bit of silver

and gold. Colour

stories begin with

blush, go on to brick,

and finally cinnamon,

with zari woven

through in stripes,

checks, and sometimes

throughout the fabric, a linen warp and zari weft. She

hasn't deviated from her signature linen, and sees more

people requesting for eveningwear in the material.

Silhouettes are relaxed, some layered (linen with silk

overlays). Anavila has recently launched her online store,

but the collection will be available there August onwards.

Available at Good Earth, Khan Market, ₹��5,0000 upward

Toned down in Delhi

POP-UP

Despite working at a small café in Karkardooma, Sonia, 19,

never felt like she was learning the ropes. The work

environment was unsafe too, but that didn't stop her from

wanting to train for a job in the hospitality sector.

But, for the last six months, her stint at Kitchen With A

Cause, a café in Karol Bagh, is slowly skilling her. “I have

learnt how different pieces of cutlery have different names,

and I have also learnt to speak and understand English,” she

says, recalling details of the internship that she found out

about through a friend.

Kitchen With A Cause is a fully commercial café, started

in January 2018 by Abhishek Chhetri and Govind Jha, who'd

just graduated (the latter in hotel and tourism

management). The cafe also provides a space for young,

underprivileged people interested in the hospitality sector

to receive training, with a ₹��7,500 stipend.

Snuggled in the popular Karol Bagh market, KWAC hires

those over 18, who come through contacts that Abhishek

and Govind have built at various NGOs. There's a round of

interviews to select candidates. Each set is then given

common training for the first month, after which they are

either placed in the kitchen or in service, depending on

individual interest and skill level.

A month before Sonia, another 19yearold, Kushmita

too joined KWAC as an intern. Originally from Bengal, she’d

lost her father at an early age. Given the financial hardship

of the family, Kushmita’s mother sent her to Delhi in the

hope that she’d become an earning member of the family.

In 2014 she finally became a part of Kilkari Rainbow Home,

an NGO in Kashmere Gate.

“I used to cook for hundreds of people in the NGO too,

but there is a difference in cooking there and cooking at a

restaurant. The audience consuming it is different,”

Kushmita says, adding that “I am learning [the right way] to

chop vegetables, and I observe minute details [of the

cooking process] while a dish is being prepared.” Kushmita

hopes to become a professional chef someday.

“We never considered this just a business. It was an

opportunity,” says Abhishek. They bring on board friends

from the industry to guide and advise the interns. The

programme also helps those interested in a career in the

business to find jobs in the market.

KWAC just started with a fresh batch of interns. This

time, from the Navjyoti India Foundation, which was

established in 1987 by former IPS office and current

governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi.

To know more about KWAC’s internship programme, @kitchenwacon Instagram

Sonakshi Goel

A kitchen with a cause

This café provides a space for people to grow

PLACES

For a listing or to be featured here, email us [email protected]

In 2017, Swati Soharia decided she’d stop buyingclothes. This is importantsince Soharia is a knitweardesigner, with a degree fromthe National Institute ofFashion Technology. Butshe just couldn’t get herselfto work in the fashion business. “I’ve neverbeen one to stickto buying garments often, andto consumerism,”she says.

For a while before she cut newbuys fromher closet,she’d workedin visual merchandising, witha company that didshoots for brands as diverse as Chivas Regal, Absolut, Wella, and Olay. Soharia’s job was to makeinstallations that’d featurein these shoots.

For instance, if they weredoing a visual campaign fora set of nail colours, she’dmake display boxes out of amediumdensity fi��breboard(MDF), a material made bycombining wood fi��bre, wax,and resin at high pressureand temperature.

Typically, this processgenerated a lot of waste. Shebegan noticing how muchwould accumulate in theirfactory spaces. It started tomake her uncomfortableand restless. Which is whenshe quit, started looking atways to reuse all sorts ofwaste material, and set upan eponymous label to dojust this.

Beyond a trend

Upcycling isn’t really new.These days, we outgrow thenovelty of most things giventhe glut of posts, shares, retweets that tire us fast. Butthe upcycling and sustainability movement in fashionis still important — in fact,more so now, given how thewater table in our cities isdipping further and further.

In late 2017, Soharia got intouch with a curator working in the area of sustainability. This gave her the avenueto display her initial workwith the label at the Ara In

novation Space, a community in Vienna that brings together artists, researchers,and industries to ideate onfuture resource effi��ciencyand work towards a circulareconomy.

Soharia, buoyed by thisexperience and orders thatstarted coming in throughword of mouth, opened herstore in February 2018.Soon, she started collaborating with bigger brands forcorporate gifting orders,meeting demand needs byreaching out to NGOs who’dalready recognised womenwith basic tailoring skills.

“I train them further inupcycling,” she says. “I bankon this sort of collaboration.We need orders, they needemployment, and the corporates are happy with thissort of social collaboration,”Soharia adds.

She spreads the word onupcycling with workshopsat various women’s

selfhelp groups in andaround Delhi, making wordslike slow, conscious, sustainable, and upcycling gobeyond being niche and hipster. It’s now a workablemeans of livelihood.

Much work across genre

The connect with the urbancrowd isn’t secondarythough. Soharia holds workshops and hobby classes,meant to infl��uence people,helping to keep upcyclingalive in everyday memory,fuelling thoughtful pur

chase and behaviourchange.

One such project is Refash.in, a website (not to beconfused with the Singaporean website of the samename, which sells secondhand clothes) by Mumbaibased Akanksha KailaAkashi, specialising in allthings upcycled. It is billedas a portal that lets you dis

cover, access, and educateyourself on designers andbrands who “are creatingnew, contemporary products out of old, discardedmaterials.”The websitestarted in April last year,soon after Akashi attendedone of Soharia’s workshopsin Mumbai.

“There are a lot of upcycling brands in the market,but what was missing was aplatform to bring them together,” she says. “We’vebuilt a database of over 200upcycling brands from allover the world. I discovernew designers and brandson a daily basis. They justdon’t get enough momentum or coverage,” she says.

Akashi, who moved toMumbai from Delhi in 2016,fi��nds that in India, themovement is yet to gobeyond niche brands. “Theterm upcycling also remainsrelatively new here. But thecore of it is running throughour veins. Indian mothersand grandmothers have

been reused fabric for ages,”she says.

Through its various interviews, features, and directory of upcycling brands, Refash.in seeks to contributeto upcycling becoming “amass movement in a coupleof years.”

Currently, they’re running a series, where theyspotlight upcycling eff��orts inone world city every month,and it has covered brandslike Queen of Raw, IleneFisher’s Waste No Morecampaign. They featuredNew York last month. Thismonth, they offi��ciallylaunched their eshop forhomegrown upcycledbrands like Dwij and Inai.The footwear brand Paduks,will soon feature.

Even if you can’t stopbuying clothes, like Sohariadid, the hope in the shortterm, says Akashi is to see awhole “Refash” section atmainstream fastfashionstores like Zara. Baby stepsdo turn into adult strides.

Soharia’s upcoming workshop willfocus on making bags withupcycled fabric. At the StainlessSteel Gallery, Mathura Road.₹��2,200 per head; all materialsprovided. To register: 9958011198

MAKING SUSTAINABILITYMASS

Inspired by Swati Soharia’s upcycling workshops,Refash is a website that was set up earlier this year, tooff��er products and knowhow on sustainable clothing

Making it new (from left) Acoaster from Soharia’s studio;one of her earlier workshops;a session by Akashi; a tote bySoharia * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Vangmayi Parakala

OTHER UPCYCLERS

DOODLAGE: Delhibasedupcycling brand, makescontemporary clothing

SATTHVAM TRUST:Bengalurubased projectthat upcycles carton boxesinto carry bags

POZRUH BY AIMAN: ADelhibased upcycledwomenswear brand

MIESU BY SEERAT VIRDI:A Ludhianabased

brand that usesrecycled polyesterand discarded cottonAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Swati Soharia

SHOWCASE

Mahindra MarazzoThe fi��rst madeinIndia MPV to gain a 4star rating, theMahindra Marazzo did far better than fellow peoplecarriers such as the Renault Lodgy and Chevrolet Enjoy.The Marazzo MPV scored 12.85 out of 17 in adult safetyand 22.22 out of 49 in child occupancy (two stars), thanksto safety kit such as dual front airbags, ABS, a driver’s sideseatbelt reminder, front seatbelt pretensioners and Isofi��xanchorages for the rear seats — standard across allvariants.

Global NCAP fi��rst began testing massmarket models sold in the Indianmarket back in 2014. Since then, the safety ratings agency has testedand rated nearly 30 models and variants, ranging from hatchbackssuch as the Maruti Alto and VW Polo to SUVs and MPVs like the Mahindra Scorpio and Renault Lodgy. We take a look at the fi��ve safest cars (asrated by Global NCAP) that you can buy for under ₹��10 lakh.

5 safest carsunder ₹��10 lakhThe Global NCAP rates these cars as thebest money can buy in that given range

Tata Zest

While the fi��rst round of tests for the Zest compact sedanearned it a 0star rating, Tata was allowed anotheropportunity and thus it introduced an upgraded compactsedan, which was crashtested in 2016. This model scoredan impressive 4star rating (11.15/17) in adult occupancy andtwo stars in child occupancy (15.52/49). The Tata Zest camewith two airbags and a seatbelt reminder for the driver, butwas later updated with ABS, EBD and corner stabilitycontrol.

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza

A feather in Maruti Suzuki’s cap,the Vitara Brezza compact SUVreceived a 4star rating for adultoccupancy in the latest round ofGlobal NCAP’s crash tests (12.51out of 17). However, the SUV onlymanaged two stars for childoccupancy (17.93 out of 49) withthe 18monthold dummy in thetest suff��ering injuries to its headand shoulders. The markings forthe Isofi��x anchorages did notmeet Global NCAP testingprotocols, either. All variants ofthe Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezzaare equipped with two airbags,ABS with EBD, front seat belt withpretensioners, a driver’s seat beltreminder and Isofi��x childseatmounts.

Toyota Etios Liva

Tested by Global NCAPback in 2016, the EtiosLiva hatchback was oneof the few models thatregistered acommendable 4starrating for adultoccupancy in its veryfi��rst crash test (13/16);for child occupancy, itscored two stars (20.02/49). While the ToyotaEtios Liva was updatedlater with more safetykit such as ABS withEBD and Isofi��x childseat mounts, the modeltested only had dualfront airbags and frontseat belts withpretensioners.

Volkswagen Polo

One of the fi��rst madeinIndia cars to be tested by the safety ratingsorganisation, the Volkswagen Polo without dual front airbagsscored zero stars for adult occupancy; but the version with twoairbags managed a solid 4star crashtest rating (12.54/17). Bothmodels scored three stars for child occupancy, although the Polowith airbags managed a marginally higher 29.91/49, as compared tothe 26.97 of the model without the safety feature. Remember, thiswas back in 2014 and the Polo at the time didn’t even get ABS,Isofi��x child seat mounts and seatbelt reminders as standard. Thetopspec Volkswagen Polo GT TSI on sale in India now gets featureslike traction control, ESC, hillstart assist and rear parking sensors.

Tata Nexon

Tata’s compact SUV recently achieved a 4star ratingfrom NCAP for adult occupancy (13.56/17) and threestars for child occupancy (25/49). After this, Tataupdated all variants of the model with a seatbeltreminder for the driver and front passenger and hadthe compact SUV pass the UN95 sideimpact protectionrequirements — resulting in the Nexon becoming thefi��rst madeinIndia model to achieve a 5star rating,achieving a score of 16.06/18 in adult occupancy. GlobalNCAP rated the Nexon’s body shell integrity as ‘stable’while providing good protection for the head and neckof the driver and the passenger. All variants of the TataNexon come with two airbags, ABS and Isofi��x child seatmounts as standard.

Honda AmazeThe madeinIndia Honda Amaze — sold here and in selectAfrican markets in the same specifi��cation — was tested aspart of Global NCAP’s Safer Cars For Africa campaign.Safety equipment such as dualfront airbags, ABS andseatbelt reminders helped the compact sedan achieve acommendable 4star rating (14.08/17) for adult occupancy.However, despite coming with Isofi��x child seat mounts asstandard, the Amaze performed poorly in terms of childoccupancy. Global NCAP gave the car just one star (8.16/49), as the child seat mounts were not up to its standards.

Honourable mentions:

Rivan RS

■ Across

1 Diminutive folk hero

(3,5)

5 Serious break in

friendly relations (4)

9 From the Italian

capital (5)

10 Mobster (7)

11 16th-century

Spanish adventurer (12)

13 Warm up again (6)

14 Keen insight (6)

17 One way to leave a

pirate ship for ever?

(4,3,5)

20 Vibrating

membrane in the head

(7)

21 Regular (5)

22 Bluish shade of

green (4)

23 Lineage (8)

■ Down

1 Sour — acid (4)

2 Enormous (7)

3 Animal’s rear (12)

4 Fabric made with

angora wool (6)

6 Did little or nothing

(5)

7 Large tropical

seedpod with tangy

pulp — mad train

(anag) (8)

8 Gardening (12)

12 Bully (8)

15 Search for a

fugitive (7)

16 Dirty rats? (6)

18 Insect’s feeding

stage (5)

19 Have fun —

theatrical work (4)

THE GUARDIAN QUICK CROSSWORD-13124

6

Solution will appear in

The Hindu dated

July 18, 2019.

Solution No. 13123

POOCH CAFE

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

TIGER

PEANUTS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

WUMO


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE

SHOWCASE

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SPORT

Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday endorsed a second Super Over to decide the winnerinstead of considering theboundary count if such anextraordinary situation arises like it did in the World Cupfi��nal.

“I feel there should beanother Super Over to decide the winner, instead ofconsidering the number ofboundaries scored by bothteams. Not just in a WorldCup fi��nal. Every game is important. Like in football,when teams go into extratime, nothing else matters,”Tendulkar said to 100mb.

Current and formercricketers including RohitSharma, Gautam Gambhirand Yuvraj Singh, have questioned ICC’s “ridiculous”rule on boundary count thatdecided the World Cup title.

Kohli’s suggestionAfter table toppers India wasknocked out of the WorldCup after losing the semifi��nalto New Zealand, skipper Virat Kohli had suggested IPLlike playoff��s instead ofknockouts in the World Cup,going forward.

Asked if the World Cupformat needs to be changedin the knockout stages, Tendulkar said: “I think the twoteams that fi��nish at the topshould defi��nitely have something going for them forhaving played consistentlythrough the tournament.”

Dhoni’s slotDuring India’s semifi��nal,former skipper M.S. Dhoniwas sent at No. 7 with HardikPandya and Dinesh Karthik

being promoted in the batting order.

Asked what batting orderhe would have gone with forthe chase, Tendulkar said:“Without a doubt, I would’vesent M.S. Dhoni at his usualposition, No. 5.

“With the kind of situationthat India was in and the experience that he has, theneed of the hour was for himto build the innings. Hardikcould’ve batted at 6 and Karthik would’ve followed at 7.”

Several cricketers have also questioned the boundaryrule


New Delhi

For rule change: Tendulkar favoured another Super Over, notjust in a World Cup fi��nal but whenever required. * PTI

Another Super Over shoulddecide winner: Tendulkar

The World Cup fi��nal was a celebration of cricket, revealing the pos

sibilities of the 50over game whichwas thought to be on its death bed.So England were lucky, we need tovisit the rules afresh, and shouldn’tNew Zealand have won for good behaviour and longterm consistency?Yes, but what does all that matterwhen the game brought so much joyand gave us what all sport hopes toprovide: a nailbiting climax?

For a long time, it wasn’t a particularly good match. The Lord’s wicketwas too slow and the occasionseemed to get to the performers. Butthe fi��nish changed everything. A tieis exciting enough, but a double tie?The questions will remain, though.Were England given an extra runwhen a diving Ben Stokes inadvertently defl��ected an overthrow to theboundary? What was that strangerule about boundaries deciding amatch? How could England havewon when New Zealand didn’t lose?

Sport is not perfect. Often imperfection is the crack through whichwe see it at its best. After all, sport is,“the voluntary attempt to overcomeunnecessary obstacles,” as the philosopher Bernard Suits said, and the fi��nal was full of unnecessary obstacles.

Rules are arbitrary, so it is as valid

to say the team with most boundaries wins as it is to say that the teamwhich loses the fewer wickets doesso. In the end, the best team took thetitle. Too much analysis and too many complaints will only extinguishthe pleasure.

Diverse approachesIt may not be politically correct tosay this, but New Zealand did not deserve to win the World Cup. Theyplayed a brand of cricket that was athrowback to the English style of old— overcautious, unadventurous, riskaverse. This, at a time when the format was in danger of being wiped outby T20, and the sport itself was struggling to attract new fans. Somethingwas needed to provide the energyand fl��air that would revive it, and England delivered that in style. The ac

cent was on attack — whether battingor bowling — and the approach attractive.

The essential diff��erence betweenwhite ball cricket and the red is this:in the shorter formats, the result iseverything, the ends justify themeans. The longer format demandslogic, style, and emphasis on the process as much as on the result. Onlyone question needs to be answeredin white ball cricket about strategy,tactics, selection: did the team win?If it did then it was all brilliant. If itdidn’t, it’s time to move on.

Good for the gameWorld Cupwinners tend to set theagenda. Had New Zealand won, itmight have been a step back. England winning means that otherteams might attempt to play like

had an issue with it before the tournament began when all teams approved.

The case of ‘extra run’Former umpire Simon Taufel hassaid that England were given an extrarun, six instead of fi��ve, when Stokes’sbat defl��ected the ball. A philosopherin a US University has countered thatby saying the law is ambiguousthanks to a misplaced comma, andfi��ve runs was right. Interpretation iseverything. The argument that England’s ‘extra run’ led to victory assumes that everything else wouldhave remained exactly the same. Butone variable can aff��ect others too inreallife situations.

Tournament rules (framed by theInternational Cricket Council) andlaws of the game (the preserve of theMarylebone Cricket Club) are notwritten in stone, they evolve. BeforeDuckworthLewis appeared and fansstopped complaining about resultsbecause they didn’t understand therule, ODIs were decided in a varietyof ways. We can get too mathematical about the Lord’s fi��nal, and forgetthe human drama and the spirit ofthe players involved. Ben Stokes, forone, deserves better.

The fi��nal will have greatnessthrust upon it over the years as morepeople than the ground could possibly accommodate claim to havewatched it live. It was unforgettable,even if Williamson might not echoRoger Federer’s words after his lossat Wimbledon a few kilometres and afew minutes away: “I shall try to forget.”

For the moment, that is enough.

them, in a positive, sexy style thatcan only be good for the game.

New Zealand were the underdogs,they have been the bestbehavedteam in international cricket, and inKane Williamson they had a graciouscaptain with a fi��ne tactical brain. Itwas diffi��cult not to love him and histeam — I wrote here earlier how aNew Zealand win would be something to look forward to. It is diffi��cultnot to sympathise with the team forthe nondefeat that ended alldreams, and in the ideal world, theCup might have been shared.

But sport abhors such fragmentation. Competition demands thatthere be one winner, and all gameshave rules for breaking the tie frompenalty shootouts to (in the old days)bowl outs and Super Overs. It is not aperfect system, but it is there, no one

Deserving winners England pump energy into fading formatIt is diffi��cult not to sympathise with the Kiwis for the nondefeat that ended all dreams, and the Cup might have been shared

BETWEEN WICKETSsuresh menon

Take away: England’s triumph means that other teams might try to play like them, in a positive style. * AFP

New Zealand coach GaryStead has called for theCricket World Cup’s rules tobe overhauled, labelling theshowpiece fi��nal “hollow” after England defeated theBlack Caps on a technicality.

The teams could not beseparated at the end of bothregular play and a Super Over shootout, so England washanded victory because ithad a superior boundarycount.

“It’s a very, very hollowfeeling that you can play 100overs and score the sameamount of runs and still losethe game, but that’s the technicalities of sport,” Steadtold reporters in commentsreleased by New ZealandCricket on Tuesday.

He said such a thrillingmatch, which has beenhailed by many experts asthe greatest oneday game inhistory, deserved a betterway to determine the result.

“There’s going to be manythings they look at over thewhole tournament — I’msure when they were writingthe rules they never expected a World Cup fi��nal to happen like that,” he said.

“I’m sure it’ll be reviewed(and) there’s many diff��erent

ways that they’ll probablyexplore.”

Stead shrugged off�� suggestions England had been mistakenly handed an extra runafter a throw from a fi��elderhit the bat of a diving BenStokes’ and defl��ected to theboundary in the fi��nal over ofregular play.

England was awarded sixruns but former umpire Simon Taufel said it should only have got fi��ve as the batsmen had not crossed fortheir second run when thethrow was made.

“I didn’t actually knowthat,” Stead said. “But at theend of the day the umpiresare there to rule.

“They’re human as well,like players, and sometimesthere’s a mistake but that’sjust the human aspect ofsport.”

‘We didn’t lose’Skipper Kane Williamsonpointed out his team was notdefeated on the pitch, sayingit instead fell victim to “fi��neprint” in the rules.

He said that was a shamebut the New Zealanders hadsigned up to the rules thatgoverned the tournament.

“At the end of the daynothing separated us, no onelost the fi��nal, but there was acrowned winner and there itis,” he told Newstalk ZB.

I’m sure rules will be reviewedand possibilities explored: SteadAgence France-Presse

London

Hollow feeling: Gary Stead believes such a thrilling fi��nalshouldn’t have been decided the way it was. * REUTERS

The BCCI has initiated theprocess of recruitment forhead coach, batting coach,bowling coach, fi��eldingcoach, physiotherapist,strength and conditioningcoach and administrativemanager of the Indianmen’s team.

The BCCI’s contract withthe present coaching andsupport staff�� ended withthe World Cup in England,but most of them have beenasked to continue till thecompletion of the tour ofthe West Indies that will runfrom August 3 to September4.

The BCCI though has acceded to the wishes of physiotherapist Patrick Farhartand strength and physicalconditioning coach ShankarBasu to be relieved after India’s campaign in the quadrennial event.

According to a press release issued by the SupremeCourt appointed Commit

tee of Administrators, aspiring candidates have to apply for particular posts onor by July 30 after which theCricket Advisory Committee (CAC) will take the recruitment process forward.The release also said thatthe current coaching staff��will get an automatic entryin the recruitment process.The BCCI has posted an advertisement on its website.Bcci.tv giving details of eligibility criteria and experience required for diff��erentposts.

The former director ofIndian cricket (2014 to 2016)Ravi Shastri returned ashead coach of the team after a bitter end to Anil Kumble’s tenure as head coachimmediately after theChampions Trophy in June2017. Once Shastri was appointed as head coach, Bharat Arun and R. Sridhar alsoreturned as bowling andfi��elding coach. The presentbatting coach is Sanjay Bangar.

BCCI invites applicationsfor coach, support staff��Special Correspondent

Mumbai

The gutwrenching fi��nal atLord’s, visceral, brutal andexplosive, was adjudged by athoughtless, arbitrary numberofboundaries rule thatactually overlooked whichteam had lost less wickets ina tie after 100 captivating tensionfi��lled overs.

The World Cup shouldhave been shared betweenEngland and New Zealandand it’s still not too late toright a grievous wrong thatso cruelly denied the gallantKiwis.

Idea of sharing honoursNew Zealand coach GaryStead is open to the idea of ashared World Cup if the ICCdecides to relook the eventsand circumstances of thatepic Sunday that left millionsof afi��cionados, cuttingthrough barriers, feeling justice had not been done.

Former Sri Lankan World

Cupwinning coach DavWhatmore said, “Sharing theTrophy would be the rightthing to do but I don’t knowwhether it is possible. This isthe fi��rst time I have heard ofa game being decided on thebasis of boundaries.”

New Zealand ‘lost’ by zeroruns in both regular play andthe Super Over, and was, unlike England, not bowled outduring normal play.

Umpiring errorThen it emerged that the fi��nal over’s pivotal moment —that left the luckless NewZealand devastated — whenthe ball rocketed off�� the desperately diving Ben Stokes’bat and shot past the ropes,was marred by a matchturning umpiring error.

The umpires awarded sixruns which as celebrated umpire Simon Taufel revealedlater, was a clear mistake.The batsmen had not crossedfor the second run whenMartin Guptill unleashed histhrow and the umpiresshould have awarded En

gland fi��ve runs and not six. This also meant Adil Rash

id would have been on strikeand not the infl��uentialStokes. These ‘gamechanging’ umpiring mistakes hurtNew Zealand in a game ofsuch fi��ne margins.

The umpires could havetaken their time and referredthe contentious extra run tothe television umpire. Surely,they would have been awareof the rules.

In a game as big as this,the ICC should have left nothing to chance. At least, itcould have continued withSuper Overs until a conclusive result was reached muchlike penalty kicks in footballthat go on till a winner isfound.

“This is actually a goodidea,” said Whatmore.

The neversaydie NewZealanders, gutsy, nerveless,skilful and full of grace andpoise under extreme pressure, have been done in by abizarre set of rules and questionable umpiring. Now, theball is in ICC’s court.

New Zealand done in by a bizarre set of rulesArbitrary approach to determine the winner led to England walking away with the trophy despite the Kiwis ‘not losing’

S. Dinakar

Chennai

WORLD CUP

Not your day, mate! Chris Woakes consoles a crestfallen Martin Guptill after New Zealand went down in the World Cup fi��nal.* MICHAEL STEELE/GETTY IMAGES

England’s World Cuphero Ben Stokes couldbe awarded aknighthood, if PrimeMinisterial candidatesBoris Johnson andJeremy Hunt are to bebelieved.

The pair was askedduring a debate onMonday if they wouldgive Stokes aknighthood if either ofthem replaced TheresaMay as the PrimeMinister.

Johnson, regarded asthe frontrunner for therole, said “I will givedukedoms, whatever —I will go to themaximum, to, what, theGarter King of Arms.Yes is the answer,absolutely”.

When the questionwas put to Hunt, hereplied succinctly: “Ofcourse.”

Stokes was born inNew Zealand and hisfather Ged hasrepresented thecountry in rugby.

Arise, Sir Ben? IANS

LONDON

The prime ministers of England and New Zealandlauded their cricket teams’performance in the WorldCup, which helped bring thesport into limelight in nations obsessed with footballand rugby.

Prime Minister TheresaMay thanked the Englandteam for winning the showpiece and ending a 44yearwait. “You have helped thenation fall in love with cricket once again,” May told theEngland players.

Sport at its best“The fi��nal was not just cricket at its best but sport at itsbest — courage, character,sportsmanship, drama, incredible skill and even theodd slice of luck — all combining to create a real thriller, one of the great sportingspectacles of our time,” sheadded.

Football remains the

most popular sport in England, while rugby has aloyal following in New Zealand but cricketers in boththe countries have caughtthe public imagination following the pulsating WorldCup summit clash.

May added, “It was a fi��tting end to what has been agreat tournament — and Iwant to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in once again makingour country a sportingshowcase for the world.”

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardernpraised the Black Caps forputting their all on the lineand then accepting the gutwrenching defeat withgrace.

“That was undeniably anincredible game. I think as anation we all aged a year inthat super over. Congratulations to England. And to theBlack Caps, I feel nothingbut pride. What a team,”wrote Ardern on Instagram.

PM May thanks Englandfor ending 44-year waitJacinda Ardern praises the Kiwis for putting their all on the line


London/Wellington

CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


SPORT

Over the last fi��ve years, theIndian men’s hockey teamhas had Australian, Dutchand homegrown coaches incharge, with the frequentchanges at the helm now amatter of routine.

When Graham Reid wasappointed in April this year,he became the team’s thirdcoach in less than 12 months,after Sjoerd Marijne and Harendra Singh. Adapting to varying coaching styles andphilosophies may appear tobe a tough task for players,but Manpreet Singh disagrees.

“It’s not diffi��cult at all,” theIndian captain says.

“Whenever a [foreign]coach comes to India he triesto see what India’s best qualities are and he wants to retain them. So far, we’ve never found it hard to adjust toany coach. Because coachesadapt to the team they have;they don’t have one fi��xedstyle they impose on allteams. They always taketheir time and see what they

have to do. It’s the same withGraham.”

Reid has sought to makethe most of India’s attackingstrengths while building onthe defence, states Man

preet.

“Graham has been watching India for some time. He’snot trying to change much.He believes that our fi��nishingand our defending have to

improve. He sees that we aregood at attacking and counterattacking. We have quickforwards; so his idea is for usto move the ball forward asquickly as possible. The

higher up the pitch we play,the better it is for us,” hesays, after a training sessionat the SAI here.

Working with Reid has apparently been enjoyable.

“He’s a friendly man,” saysManpreet. “He talks to all ofus. He spends time with usoff�� the fi��eld too.”

India will travel to Japannext month, for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Test Event, before preparing for the allimportant Olympic qualifi��ers,to be played in OctoberNovember.

The identity of India’s opponent in the twolegged affair is not yet known butManpreet is not worried.

“I know it’s a matter ofqualifying for the Olympicsbut we shouldn’t come under pressure,” he says.

Confi��dent“We just want to play ourbest hockey. If we are at ourbest, we can beat any team inthe world.

“We are not worried aboutwho our opponent is going tobe. No matter who we play,we are confi��dent we canwin.”

‘Adapting to diff��erent coaching styles not diffi��cult’ Reid believes that our fi��nishing and defending have to improve, says Manpreet Singh

HOCKEY

Shreedutta Chidananda

Bengaluru

Gelling well: Manpreet says Reid talks to all the team members and spends time with them off�� the fi��eld too. * BISWARANJAN ROUT

<> I know it’s a matter

of qualifying for the

Olympics but we

shouldn’t come

under pressure

He is too young to be acoach, but too good, not tobe one! The 28yearold Rakesh Manpat, who beatOlympic champions AbhinavBindra and Alin George Moldoveanu to the gold, with aborrowed weapon, in the Intershoot at the Hague in2016, is mentoring the women’s world No.1 air rifl��eshooter Apurvi Chandela,among others.

Rakesh also trains Meghana Sajjanar at his base inBengaluru, where he is allset to open a second trainingcentre, better equipped.

It has been a golden season for Olympian Apurvi thisyear, as she won two goldmedals with world record inDelhi and Munich, apartfrom the mixed team silver.

“Apurvi has been mentally very strong. She is able tokeep many things off�� thelane in control and focus onherself more than anyoneelse in the world.

“It makes her a world beater. She has been shootingwell in the past as well’’, saidRakesh.

After the spell of WorldCups, Apurvi has been training in Bengaluru. She makesit a point to visit the centreonce every two to threemonths.

“We are currently training

in Bengaluru at our new academy. We are able to train ina very controlled environment.

“Depending on the need,we train overseas as well.Earlier this year we trainedin the Netherlands’’, saidRakesh.

It has been a long association with Apurvi, who has

been training with Rakeshfrom 2013. There was abreak around the Olympicsin Rio in 2016, but Apurviresumed the stint in 2017.

Apart from Apurvi, Rakesh has been working withMeghana Sajjanar for the lastthree years.

“Meghana has shaped upwell in the last three years.

The second year was sensational. We changed the rifl��eand it was a slight burn outowing to the number of competitions she has played.Now she is able to recoverwell. This year she had twoscores around the 630 mark.She is able to gain the confi��dence back.

“Working with the shooters on the fundamentals iswhere I try to match up theircurrent determination torealise potential’’, observedRakesh.

There is demand for training from more shooters, andRakesh feels that the twocentres with a total of 12 electronic targets, and six manual targets for beginners,would help him mentormore shooters to world classstandards.

Good teamIn the Elite Shooting Academy, he has a good team, including sports psychologistG.U. Sathwik. “Together weenjoy our work, which isabout 15 to 18 hours a day oflate’’, said Rakesh.

He continues to shootwhenever he gets the time,and Rakesh feels that he has“not lost any touch’’.

Rakesh Manpat is on a“mission’’, and is “extremelyhappy’’ to guide and ensurequality training for his athletes.

Apurvi Chandela and Meghana Sajjanar are among his students

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI

Grooming champions: Rakesh Manpat with Apurvi Chandelaand Meghana Sajjanar. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Manpat — a mentor for the shooters

Celebrated coach Dav Whatmore was here on Tuesdayto promote Sports Exotica’sLuxury Sports vacation andthe launch of its Cricket Leisure League, but predictablyended up answering a barrage of questions on Indiaand the recent ICC ODIWorld Cup.

Whatmore said, “Indiahad a good tournament. Ittopped the group after ninematches, made runs, had avery good bowling attack,both pace and spin.”

He added, “But India raninto New Zealand in the semifi��nal, and the Kiwis madefull use of helpfulconditions.”

Whatmore said, “Theteammanagement made decisions which were in thebest interests of the team. India was unlucky with injuries, lost some key players.”

Right techniqueHe observed, “But the No. 4issue kept raising its head.India should look at the future. Shubman Gill is a fantastic young batsman and hecould well fi��ll that slot. He’sgot the technique.”

Whatmore added, “Then

you have Vijay Shankar whois a fi��ne batsman and a useful mediumpacer. Unfortunately, he got injured duringthe World Cup. As a coach Iam always worried aboutcricketers picking up injuries during net sessions.”

He saw a bright future forVirat Kohli as captain.

‘Just one defeat’“It’s just one defeat in aWorld Cup semifi��nal thatcan happen to any team.

New Zealand did too muchdamage in the fi��rst 10 overs.India has got some powerfulstrokemakers and a potentattack. It should do very wellin the coming days.”

Turning his attention toM.S. Dhoni, Whatmore said,“You need to look at the infl��uence he has on the teamand the youngsters as a senior player, on the fi��eld,dressing room, team meetings, in the bus.

“ Dhoni’s contributionhas been enormous. Healone should decide whenhe leaves the internationalstage.”

Whatmore’s message wasclear — Give Dhoni the respect he deserved.

‘Gill, a fantastic young batsman, could well fi��ll the No. 4 slot’


Chennai

Right calls: Dav Whatmore said the Indian thinktank madedecisions which were in the best interests of the team. * PTI

India was unlucky withinjuries, says Whatmore

<> Dhoni’s

contribution has

been enormous. He

alone should decide

when he leaves the

international stage

Coach Jacco Verhaeren hasset brutally diffi��cult qualifying standards to make Australia’s team for this month’sWorld swimming championships team after a poor showing two years ago.

Australia, a traditional powerhouse, had a disappointing campaign last time in Budapest, slumping to eighthon the medals table.

It’s haul of just one gold,fi��ve silver and four bronze inthe pool left it badly trailingthe tabletopping Americans,who scooped 18 golds.

Verhaeren’s new selectionpolicy means the Aussie teamthat competes in Gwangjufrom July 21 is smaller thanusual, but looks very strong.

He has moved the Australian trials much closer to thechampionships — emulatingthe allconquering Americans — while setting qualifying times far harder than required by swimming’sgoverning body FINA.

It means the team is downto 27 swimmers compared tothe upwards of 40strongsquads who have featuredpreviously. Verhaeren said

that while it was leaner it wasalso meaner with all swimmers clocking times thatshould put them in medalcontention. “There havebeen some fantastic individual performances,” said theDutchman. “We now have toconvert and capitalise onthese performances.”

Serious threat

The Dolphins will be a serious threat in a host ofevents, headlined by Olympic100m freestyle championKyle Chalmers and formerWorld record holder CateCampbell. Mitch Larkinboasts a Worldleading time

in the 200m individual medley and will also line up inhis favoured backstrokeacross 100m and 200m — forwhich he was World champion in 2015.

There are also high hopesfor a handful of Australia’syounger generation, led byteen sensation Ariarne Titmus, who recently set a newCommonwealth best of3:59.35 in 400m freestyle.

While Mack Horton failedto make the grade in eitherthe 200m, 400m or 800m,he was added to the squad asa discretionary pick, meaning he will almost certainlyrenew his bitter rivalry with

China’s Sun Yang.

Horton is the only man totopple Sun over 400m in major competition over the pasteight years, winning the RioOlympic gold after publiclycalling the controversial Chinese giant a “drug cheat” inthe leadup to the race.

“He’s an Olympic champion, it’s not panic stations,he could turn it around inweeks,” Verhaeren said ofHorton’s inclusion.

Chalmers qualifi��ed for Korea in 47.35sec to put himselfin prime position for goldand perhaps even threatenBrazilian Cesar Cielo’s 10yearold World record of46.91sec.

Campbell is also in fi��neform, clocking the fastest100m time this year of 52.12 —quicker than the 52.27 swumby American Simone Manuelto win the world title in 2017.The twotime Olympic champion is desperate to makeamends after famously fl��opping in the Rio fi��nal as theredhot favourite, but acknowledged everything mustclick perfectly.

“It is the trickiest race,”said Campbell. “That is whyit’s the blue riband event.Your margin for error is sosmall.”

Leaner Australia means businessCoach Jacco Verhaeren sets tough qualifying standards for the Gwangju meet

WORLD SWIMMING


SYDNEY

Raring to go: Former World record holder and twotimeOlympic champion Cate Campbell is determined to makeamends for her poor show at the last Worlds . * FILE PHOTO

Reigning Asian Tour Orderof Merit champion Shubhankar Sharma will getanother opportunity to playalongside World No.1Brooks Koepka of the UnitedStates after being paired together in the opening roundof The 148th Open startingon Thursday.

Together with 2010 Openchampion Louis Oosthuizenof South Africa, the trio willtee off�� at the Royal Portrushas they commence theirquest of lifting the iconicClaret Jug at the year’s fi��nalMajor.

After six yearsShubhankar was only 16 andplaying in his fi��rst professional event when he waspaired with Koepka in the fi��nal round of the GujaratKensville Challenge on theEuropean Challenge Tour in2013.

“Brooks is the World No.1and I’ve played with him before in India. He came forthe Challenge Tour event in2013 and I’m looking for

ward to playing with himagain,” said Shubhankar.

“Obviously there’s goingto be a lot of people following us and hopefully morepeople back home in Indiawill watch it too. It’s alwaysgoing to be fun playing withthe Major champions,” saidShubhankar.

“It was a long time ago. Ihaven’t spoken to him sincethen. It will be fun to playwith him again,” saidKoepka.

Shubhankar to tee off��alongside Koepka

THE OPEN


Portrush (Northern Ireland)

Shubhankar. * REUTERS

<> Hopefully more

people back home

in India will watch

the event

The cream of junior talentacross the country is all setto get fi��nancial and technical support from the AllIndia Tennis Association (AITA) Trust.

Players in the under14age group have been calledfrom various States for a selection camp to be held atthe DLTA Complex from July 19.

Each State has beenasked to nominate a boyand a girl for the selection.Overall, 16 boys and 16 girlsare scheduled to assemble.To start with, 50% of themwill be chosen for support.

A panel of coaches, including Vishaal Uppal andAnkita Bhambri, will bepart of the committee inthe selection process.

The players will be supported for competing intournaments at home andabroad, and there will alsobe possibilities of coachestravelling with them to enhance their performance.

The selected players willbe monitored through theyear, in consultation withtheir coaches, and appropriate measures taken periodically for furtherimprovement.

Since one of the Statesdid not send its share oftwo players, Delhi will fi��eldfour players for the selection camp. There will bemore players added forsupport in due course oftime, to cover all the bestplayers from across thecountry in the age group.

Arrangements havebeen made for lodging atthe R.K. Khanna Stadium.The accompanying parentswill be able to stay in nearby hotels at special rates.

AITA Truststarts talent hunt


NEW DELHI

Former Olympic medallistand professional star, AmirKhan feels India has a robustsystem in place to keep producing good boxers for theworld stage and singled out2017 World Championshipbronzewinner Gaurav Bidhuri for Olympic glory at the2020 Tokyo Games.

The 32yearold from Bolton, who clinched the WBCinternational welterweighttitle during a Super BoxingLeague (SBL) bout in Jeddahlast week, believes India hasthe wherewithal to producechampions, who can followthe likes of Vijender Singhand MC Mary Kom.

“Indian boxing is doingvery good. What I like is thatthey have a system whichnot many countries have,”Amir, who had knocked outAustralian Billy Dib last Saturday, told PTI during an interview.

“In India, all fi��ghters getan opportunity to fi��ght international tournaments, theyare funded and they also getpaid, because these boxerscan’t get jobs as they have tofocus on boxing.

“All countries should follow this system. That’s why

they have Olympic medallists like Vijender and MaryKom and many more willcome from this, it will onlyinspire the next generation.”

Asked if India can win amedal at the 2020 Olympics,the Britishborn boxer said:“One kid I follow is GauravBidhuri, he is a very goodboxer. I like his style, I likehow he fi��ghts, how he pushes himself. I have seen his videos. This kid will get far, ifhe can stay focussed. He is inthe national team and hemade a lot of noises, he hadsome good performances,”added Amir.

Bidhuri is only the fourthIndian boxer to get a medalat World Championship,claiming the bronze at the2017 edition in Hamburg,

Germany.

Takeover by IOC Speaking on other issues inboxing, Amir said it is ashame that the AIBA wassuspended last month andthe International OlympicCommittee took over thequalifi��cation and competition for the Tokyo Olympics.

“It is crazy what is happening in boxing. IOC has taken full control and AIBAhas been stripped off��. Ifought under AIBA rules andit was fi��ne when I wasaround, but it is just ashame, you know they arenot giving opportunities toyoung fi��ghters,” he said.

“AIBA needs to be thereand so they need to set up aproper committee and workhandinhand. It is the onlyway boxing will work. Without amateur boxing, I won’tbe here. Champion boxerslike Mike Tyson, all of themstarted from amateur. Sowithout AIBA it is going to bediffi��cult.”

Amir said he is planningto open super boxing gymsin India and Pakistan nextyear. “I would like to helpthese boxers in any way Ican. I would love to open anacademy in India.”

Indian boxing looking up: AmirCredits the system; backs Bhidhuri to win Olympic medal


New Delhi

Amir Khan. * REUTERS

UP Yoddha announced onTuesday that young defender Nitish Kumar will leadthe side in the seventh ProKabbadi League, startingon July 20.

“UP Yoddha’s team captures the warrior spirit ofUttar Pradesh and itsplayers are ready to givetheir blood, sweat andtears in the battlefi��eld. Nitish Kumar will be the captain this season,” Team UPYoddha said at an event toannounce itel smartphoneas their offi��cial partners.

The Greater Noida basedfranchise made its debut inthe fi��fth season and endedthird in both the editions ithas participated in. Theteam will play its fi��rst gameon July 24 against BengalWarriors in Hyderabad.

PKL: Nitish to

lead UP YoddhaPress Trust of India

New Delhi

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SPORT

Iniyan fi��nishes second

CHENNAI:

Grandmaster P. Iniyan

finished second in the

Thailand open chess festival

at Pattaya with seven wins

and two losses from nine

games. After winning the

first two games, the

youngster from TN lost the

next two before getting back

on winning ways. Iniyan had

earlier won the gold medal in

under 18, Commonwealth

chess championship 2019.

There were 33 titled players

including six GM’s, 10 IM’s

and 1 WIM from 19 countries

with a total of 67 players.

IN BRIEF

Australian newspapers

lose Gayle

defamation appeal

SYDNEY

An Australian media group on

Tuesday lost an appeal

against an Australian

$300,000 defamation payout

to West Indies cricket star

Chris Gayle. Gayle was

accused by former media

group Fairfax, which at the

time was publisher of The

Sydney Morning Herald and

The Age, of indecently

propositioning the woman in

a dressing room during the

2015 World Cup in Sydney.

Gayle won the defamation

case in October last year. The

publisher appealed the case

arguing it did not receive a

fair trial. Gayle also appealed

the size of his payout, seeking

an increase. A New South

Wales court dismissed both

appeals. AFP

Mashrafe stays skipper

for Lanka ODIs

DHAKA

Bangladesh is resting

allrounder Shakib Al Hasan

but has retained skipper

Mashrafe Mortaza for the

threematch ODI series

against Sri Lanka later this

month, officials said on

Tuesday.

Leftarm spinner Taijul Islam

and toporder batsman

Anamul Haque were also

recalled to replace Shakib and

batsman Liton Das, who has

been rested for personal

reasons. The squad: Mashrafe Mortaza(Capt.), Tamim Iqbal, SoumyaSarker, Anamul Haque,Mohammad Mithun,Mushfiqur Rahim,Mahmudullah Riyad,Mosaddek Hossain, SabbirRahman, Mehidy Hasan, TaijulIslam, Rubel Hossain,Mohammad Saifuddin andMustafizur Rahman.

Indonesia Open badmin

ton: Star Sports 1 (SD & HD),7.30 a.m. Commonwealth TT championship: DD Sports, 11 a.m.

TV PICKS

India opener and No. 1ODI batswoman SmritiMandhana is in no moodto take it easy after amemorable season and isbusy tweaking her allround game in the leadup to the Women’s T20World Cup early nextyear.

The season that wentby saw the 22yearoldreach the top of the ODIrankings. Smriti is notjust known for her stylishstrokeplay anymore. Shehas added the muchneeded power to hergame to meet thedemands of the moderngame.

Ready for the grind “It was a good fi��tnesscamp. Finally after anyear or two, we got amonth off��. It was goodfor us to come back anddo a fi��tness camp. It wasmuch needed becausewe are going to have ahectic eight months, sowe have to get our bodyprepared for the grind.”

On her batting, shesaid: “I and coach

Raman sir have beendiscussing quite a bitabout my game. How Ican become moreconsistent in T20 cricket,how I can add morepower to my game. I stillfeel I need to improve onthat front.

“You have to improvebecause other teams arealso keeping an eye onyou. Adding new shots isnot something which Iam looking at. I amlooking to consistentlyhit the same length ofballs in diff��erent places,”Smriti, who is confi��dentof another stellar seasonin the Kia Super Leagueto be held in the UnitedKingdom next month,said.

While she was India’sstandout performer inODIs and T20s, theteam’s performance inthe shortest format hasleft a lot to be desired asit lost six games in a row.The team did not haveenough fi��repower andthough the issues facingthe side were discussedat length in the camp,Smriti feels there is still along way to go.

Smriti wants toadd more power Press Trust of India

NEW DELHI

It was after nearly a year thatRohan Bopanna was able tolay his hands on the Arjunaaward, as he received it fromthe Union Sports MinisterKiren Rijiju here on Tuesday.

“It is an amazing feeling tohold the award. Defi��nitely, Iwould have loved to receiveit from the President at theRashtrapati Bhawan, alongwith other athletes andachievers. But that does nottake anything away from thethrill of receiving it,” said Bopanna, who received the trophy along with his wife Supriya Annaiah.

Bopanna, a former WorldNo. 3 doubles star, said heenjoyed his meeting with theminister.

“He is such a big tennisfan, and has been watchingtennis for a long time. Wespoke for nearly 45 minutesand it was very positive.

“He also talked about following women’s cricket, asSmriti Mandhana also gotthe award today,” saidBopanna.

During his interactionwith the Sports Minister, Bopanna also requested that allthe matches featuring Indian tennis players on theTour be streamed live on theinternet for the benefi��t ofyoungsters in the country.

“It may be diffi��cult to get iton television, but livestreaming is something thatcan inspire the young

players. The minister wasvery receptive and said thathe would see how it can bedone,” said Bopanna.

Not having received anymoney so far this year despite being part of the TOPSfunding, Bopanna broachedthe subject with the minister.

He was told that the national tennis federationneeded to keep the athletesin its Annual Calendar forTraining and Competition(ACTC) so as to make it asmooth aff��air.

Since Bopanna and DivijSharan had won the AsianGames doubles gold, theyhave been kept in the TOPSas a team.

Thus, whatever money issanctioned would be splitequally between the two.

“I would love to continueto play with Divij on theTour. But, the fact is thatwith our ranking, we are notgetting into the ATP500 andMasters events.

“ It is not easy to play onlythe big tournaments withother partners. Even now,the cut for Washington DC is47. Denis Shapovalov and Iare one out at the moment,and have to wait. That is thereality.

“If we don’t play the bigtournaments on the Tour,how do we prepare for theGrand Slams and the Olympics?” queried Bopanna.

Thrilled to hold Arjuna award: Bopanna The former World No. 3 doubles star requested live streaming of matches featuring Indians


NEW DELHI

Recognition: Rohan Bopanna and Smriti Mandhana receivedtheir Arjuna Awards after nearly a year. * PTI

Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost62, 62 to Marcel Granollersof Spain on grass in the fi��rstround of the ATP tournament here on Monday.

Ramkumar Ramanathanwon his second and fi��nalqualifying round, againstYuichi Sugita of Japan 64, 67(6), 63, to make the maindraw. The results:

$652,245 ATP, Newport, USA:

First round: Marcel Granollers(Esp) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran62, 62.

Doubles (prequarterfi��nals):

MaoXin Gong & Ze Zhang(Chn) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Purav Raja 76(3),76(10).

Qualifying singles (second

and fi��nal round): RamkumarRamanathan bt Yuichi Sugita(Jpn) 64, 67(6), 63.

$135,400 Challenger, NurSul

tan, Kazakhstan: First round:

Sidharth Rawat bt Sanjar Fayziev (Uzb) 62, 62.

Prajnesh falls earlySPORTS BUREAU

NEWPORT (USA)

Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu,Adarsh Singh and VijayveerSidhu clinched the juniormen’s sports pistol gold forIndia with a total of 1738, tenpoints ahead of China, hereon Tuesday. The best individual fare was Rajkanwar(582) placing fourth, a pointbehind Florian Peter of Germany.

India continued to topthe medals table with sevengold, seven silver and twobronze medals. China wassecond with fi��ve gold, threesilver and fi��ve bronzes.The results: Junior men: 10m

air rifl��e: 1. Grigorii Shamakov(Rus) 250.0 (625.0); 2. ZhangChanghong (Chn) 249.1(625.2); 3. Xu Yuannan (Chn)228.6 (628.7); 4. Hriday Hazarika 207.3 (627.9); 7. Yash Vardhan 142.9 (628.4); 9. Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar

624.7; 24. Paarth Makhija621.1. Team: 1. China 1877.8WRJ; 2. India 1877.4; 3. Hungary 1887.1.

25m sports pistol: 1. Xia Qi(Chn) 584; 2. Yuriy Kolesnyk(Ukr) 584; 3. Florian Peter(Ger) 583; 4. Rajkanwar SinghSandhu 582; 6. Dilshaan Kelley581; 8. Adarsh Singh 578; 10.Vijayveer Sidhu 578; 30. Harshawardhan Yadav 567; 37. Agneya Kaushik 562. Team: 1. India 1738; 2. China 1728; 3.Czech Republic 1726; 5. IndiaA1710.

Junior women: 25m sports

pistol: 1. Miroslava Mincheva(Bul) 30 (578); 2. Camille Jedrzejewski (Fra) 28 (580); 3. ZhuSiying (Chn) 25 (580); 21. Abhidnya Patil 569; 23. PriyaRaghav 568; 32. Arunima Gaur566; 34. Devanshi Rana 565;41. Esha Singh 560; 51. SnehaBhardwaj 552. Team: 1. China1734 EWRJ; 2. France 1729; 3.Thailand 1718; 8. IndiaA 1694;9. India 1686.

Indian men claim 25m sports pistol goldSports Bureau

SUHL (Germany)

It was one of the mostsoughtafter tournaments onthe table tennis calendar tillabout two decades ago. Butwith the everincreasing opportunities on the global circuit, the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championshiphas lost its sheen in the lastfew years. While India makesan eff��ort to revive the tournament — staging it for thethird time in succession withthe tournament fi��nding nohost for its last edition in2017 — the hosts will enter asfi��rm favourite to sweep a majority of titles.

Five pull-outsThe 21st edition — seventh inIndia — will see 12 teams, despite fi��ve pullouts for a variety of reasons, vying for gloryat the Jawaharla Nehru indoor stadium on the banksof the Mahanadi. In the lastfour years — when India tallied three gold, four silverand seven bronze medals inSurat — the Indian table tennis has reached greaterheights. Add to that the factthat some of the other contenders, including Englandand Nigeria, have rested topplayers and have insteadfi��elded secondstring teamsto plan for the future itmakes India’s job easier tobetter the medal haul.

While England, the topseeds in men’s, has travelledwithout its top two players,World No. 15 Liam Pitchfordand veteran Paul Drinkhall,

Nigeria has travelled withoutstar paddlers Aruna Quadri(World No. 21) and Segun Toriola.

India men, on the otherhand, have stuck to G. Sathiyan (World No. 24) and A.Sharath Kamal (World No.32) to lead the charge.

That would mean the Indian men will be the team tobeat in the teamchampionship.

Even in the women’s section, with Singapore notfi��elding its top four playersand Australia travelling without their highestrankedpaddler, Manika Batraled India will be in contention forthe yellow metal. It will beinteresting to see if Manikacan lead Indian women’scharge to a second glory atthe Commonwealth stage inas many years.

Top stars hope to make best of prominent absentees

Amol Karhadkar

CUTTACK

Aiming high: Manika Batra will be hoping to lead the Indian women to a second successivetriumph. * BISWARANJAN ROUT

Indians target a rich medal haul

C’WEALTH TT

Triple jumper MohammedSalahuddin, who is enjoyingthe best phase of his career,had just one legal jump at theTatyana Kolpakova international athletics meet in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday and therewas a painful reason for that.

“The track was not ingood condition, it was damaged and uneven. And I started getting heel pain from myfi��rst jump, so I did not continue after the fourth round,”Salahuddin, the country’sleading triple jumper thisyear, told The Hindu fromBishkek after his 16.53m second round eff��ort thatbrought him the gold.

Salahuddin had jumped apersonal best 16.64m earlier

this month in another meetat Almaty, Kazakhstan.

“If the heel pain had notappeared, I would have donemy best again. Some peoplehad also warned us about thetrack even before we camehere,” said the 25yearoldwho hopes to qualify for this

September’s World championships in Doha (entrystandard 16.95m).

Poor condition

“Worst condition…we arelucky we came out withoutany injuries after competingon that track,” said P.T. Usha.

Usha, who was also inBishkek with quartermilerJisna Mathew, sent somephotos of the track to thiscorrespondent and it clearlyappeared worn out and damaged in many places.

“This ‘worst condition’athletes ran in Kyrgyzstan,”she said.

Some of India’s biggestathletes are down with injuries this season.

Asian Games and Commonwealth Games javelin

does not show anything. So, Idon’t know what exactly isthe problem,” said Rajiv. Buta national coach revealedthat it could need surgery.

That should be a big blowand could hurt the country’srelay chances of qualifyingfor the World championshipsin SeptemberOctober in Doha.

And the mile relays areevents where the AthleticsFederation of India feels thatthe country has a chance ofwinning a medal at nextyear’s Tokyo Olympics.

The Indian men’s 4x400mteam will be running in theBalkan Relays at Erzurum(Turkey) on July 24 and 25.

Poovamma getting better

Meanwhile Galina Bukhari

na, the coach for quartermilers and relays, said that M.R.Poovamma, who had suffered an Achilles heel injuryrecently, is recovering well.

“It is getting better, shewill compete in the CzechRepublic on July 20,” saidBukharina from the Indianteam’s training base in Spala,Poland, on Monday evening.

Quartermilerhurdler A.Dharun is also recoveringfrom a shin bone stress fracture and could be in action inthe Czech meet.

With many in the injuredlist and the Worlds a coupleof months away, the nationalfederation should ensurethat its athletes are off��eredquality meets and the best ofconditions, be it in India orabroad.

throw champion Neeraj Chopra had an elbow injury andhad surgery a few weeks agowhile Hima Das, the under20 World champion andAsian Games women’s 400msilver medallist, had a backinjury that forced her to retire midway through thequartermile heats at theAsian championship in Dohain April.

She has been running a series of 200m in meets in Poland and the Czech Republicthe last few days.

Back home

Meanwhile quartermilerArokia Rajiv has returned toIndia to treat the injury nearhis big toe.

“I came back three daysago. I had an MRI done and it

Track trouble for athletes at Bishkek; AFI needs to check injury listStan Rayan

KOCHI

Mohammed Salahuddin.* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Indian shuttlers had agood day in offi��ce at the$1,250,000 Indonesia Openwith two doubles pairs entering the second round ofthe BWF World Tour Super1000 tournament here onTuesday.

The men’s doubles duo ofSatwiksairaj Rankireddyand Chirag Shetty saw off��Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin 2119, 1821, 2119 in theiropening match that lastedan hour, their fourth win over the Malaysian pair.

The world no. 20 Indianpair, who had won the Brazil

International Challenge inMay, will face Indonesiantop seeds Marcus FernaldiGideon and Kevin SanjayaSukamuljo next.

The mixed doubles combination of Pranaav JerryChopra and Sikki Reddy alsodished out an impressiveperformance, edging outNetherlands’ Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek 2523,1621, 2119 in a 63minutecontest.

Commonwealth Gamesbronze medallists AshwiniPonnappa and Sikki foughthard before going down 2022, 2220, 2022 to the Malaysian combination of Vivian Hoo and Yap ChengWen in women’s doubles.

Two Indian pairs begin well

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

JAKARTA

BADMINTON

India produced a cohesivedisplay to hold Syria 11 in itsconcluding league outing ofthe Hero IntercontinentalCup at the EKA Arena hereon Tuesday.

Narender Gahlot foundthe target for India while Firas AlKhatib equalised forSyria off�� a penalty. The drawsaw Tajikistan and DPR Korea progress to the fi��nal withsix points each while Syria(4) joined India (1) on the sidelines.

India’s gritty resistancekept Syria at bay in the fi��rsthalf. Head coach Igor Stimacfi��elded a side that appearedthe best combination fromthe two previous outings —against Tajikistan and DPRKorea. With Adil Khan suspended (two bookings) andSandesh Jhingan injured, Sti

mac went for a new combination in defence, trying outthe young Gahlot and RahulBheke in the fullback position. Pritam Kotal retainedhis rightback spot whileMandar Rao Dessai rejoinedthe side as a leftback.

Back in the swingThe midfi��eld saw the returnof Lallianzuala Chhangte,Anirudh Thapa, Samad Abdul Samad and UdantaSingh, who joined AmarjitSingh Kiyam to make thecreative zone a youthful one.Sunil Chhetri, who has 71 international goals, mannedthe attack while GurpreetSingh Sandhu regained hisposition in goal.

Needing a win to secure aspot in the fi��nal, Syriapushed for an early lead. India, however, soaked up thepressure and also retainedits backline shape. Gurpreetcleared an attempt by Syrian

striker Mohammad Almarmour in the third minute before India regrouped quicklyand almost found the lead inthe sixth minute. Udanta essayed a fi��ne cross across theSyrian goalmouth, but Samad and Chhangte failed totap home in tandem.

Following a barren fi��rsthalf, India returned withmore purpose after thebreak.

It created more chancesand fi��nally found the breakthrough in the 52nd minutewhen Gahlot rose above hismarker to head home. Thiswas his fi��rst goal in only hissecond appearance for thecountry.

India held on to its leadtill the 77th minute when thereferee awarded a penalty toSyria. Alakhatib made nomistake with it. The result: India 1 (NarenderGahlot 52) drew with Syria 1(Firas Alakhatib 78pen).

Gritty India shares honours with SyriaThe result knocks the latter out of contention

Amitabha Das Sharma

AHMEDABAD

Nodding home: Narender Gehlot hoists the lead for India with a perfect fi��nish. * COURTESY AIFF

INTERCONTL. CUP

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