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july 15, 2018

Army chief Gen. Bipin

Rawat visits Akhnoor

in Jammu and Kashmir

page 12

Sonal Mansingh among

the four nominated

to the Rajya Sabha

page 12

Panel set up to look

into costing of military

platforms, says Nirmala

page 13

Rohingya in Bangladesh

will be given relief

supplies: Rajnath

page 13

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to clarify if his party wasonly for Muslim men or if ithad space for women fromthe minority community.

Speaking at an event atAzamgarh, Mr. Modi broughtup the controversy over Mr.Gandhi’s reported remarksthat the ‘Congress was a party of Muslims.’

Mr. Modi’s jibes cameeven as the Congress has rejected reports that Mr. Gandhi made any such remarksduring a meeting with a dele

gation of Muslim intelligentsia. The Prime Minister alsoaccused the Congress andother Opposition parties ofstalling the Triple Talaq Billin Parliament, saying they

want the custom to continueso that lives of Muslim women become hell.

Mr. Modi was in the eastern U.P. town to lay the foundation of the 341km Purvan

chal Expressway, which willconnect Lucknow to theeastern fringes of the State.

‘Cong. is against Muslim women’Prime Minister Modi rakes up ‘party of Muslims’ remark attributed to Rahul

Omar Rashid

AZAMGARH

When 23yearold S.Nagma’s marriage was fi��xed,she asked her father S.Inayat for an unusualwedding present — to makeher reception a platform fora mass marriage. And herfather granted the wish.

So on Wednesday, whenthe wedding reception ofthe computer sciencegraduate with S.K.N. Rasool,an interior designprofessional took place,there were 11 Hindu couplestying the knot.

The bride’s fathersponsored lunch for about5,000 guests at HagariBommanahalli in Ballaridistrict and topped it off��with gifts for the Hindubrides: new clothes, thali,

toe rings, and householdarticles.

“I was pleasantlysurprised by Nagma’s wishthat I arrange a massmarriage to help poorfamilies,” said Mr. Inayat, ateacher at a governmentprimary school at NarayanaDevara Kere in HagariBommanahalli. He was

actually prepared to helpcouples of all communitiesget married.

Mr. Inayat’s task wasmade easy because the localteaching fraternity chippedin and worked to fi��ndpeople who needed help. “Ibroached the subject withmy colleagues anddiscussed it with the Taluk

Primary School Teachers’Association,” he said.

The announcement aboutthe wedding grants wentaround by word of mouth,pamphlets, and on socialmedia.

Many sought helpTwo teachers — RanganathHavaldar and R. Kotragoudaidentifi��ed couples whocould participate – and therewere more than they couldsupport. Finally, amongthose who tied the knotwere two from ScheduledCaste communities andthree from ScheduledTribes.

Ms. Nagma said her fathertaught her compassiontowards the needy. “I wantto continue to help thepoor,” she said.

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A nikah, and other weddings

M. Ahiraj

Ballari

A Muslim teacher helps Hindu couples tie the knot at his daughter’s marriage

Gifting bliss: The couples who got married pose with Nagma(third from right) and her family. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The historic feat of an 18yearold sprinter has fuelledhopes for the future of athletics in India. But it meansmuch more in her birthplace, Dhing, that has beenrunning from an “ominous”present after losing the raceto save its golden past. OnFriday night, Hima Das became the fi��rst Indian athlete

to win a gold medal at a global meet: the IAAF WorldU20 Athletics Championship 2018 at Tampere.

For Dhing, constricted bya landeating Brahmaputraand an infl��ux of migrants, itwas the dawn of a new day.Hima has been at the forefront of a movement againstillegal infl��ux. The town andfi��ve of the last Assamese villages on its eastern edge had

basked in a diff��erent sun —one with the cultural and literary glow — 55 years agowhen Ratnakanta Barkakatibecame the 30th presidentof the 101yearold AssamSahitya Sabha, a moulder of

opinions. One of those fi��vevillages is Kandhulimari,where Hima was born on thebanks of the Leteri (dirty)channel of the Brahmaputra.

“Dhing has produced thelikes of dramatist Basanta

Kumar Saikia, actor Debananda Goswami and writerAnamika Bora. Yesteryear’stable tennis star MonalisaBaruah Mehta has her rootshere. But Hima’s performance has given the place anew lease of life almost sixdecades after Barkakati lit upthe place culturally,” BimanHazarika, an archaeologist,told The Hindu.

Dhing, which sits off�� Assam’s axis of developmentalong a national highway 30km south, is at the centre ofthe State map. The place was

the epicentre of a Britisheramovement considered theprecursor to the BJP’s 2016Assembly poll campaign —save jaati-maati-bheti (race,land, and homestead). Cultural activist MahendranathM. Dekaphukan launchedKhangrakkhini Andolan, amovement to save Assameseidentity, when the British began settling Muslims frompresentday Bangladeshalong the banks of the Brahmaputra in 1936.

Hima campaigns for change in Assam’s indigenous heartlandGolden athlete wants to end illegalmigration in her native village in Dhing

Rahul Karmakar

DHING (ASSAM)

SUNDAY SPECIAL

A champion’s home: Hima's mother and father (behind, toher left), with family members and friends. * RAHUL KARMAKAR CONTINUED ON A PAGE 12

Kerber returns: Germany’s Angelique Kerber, who had lost the 2016 fi��nal to Serena Williams,won her maiden Wimbledon singles title, beating the American 63, 63 on Saturday. Earlier,in a pulsating semifi��nal, Novak Djokovic edged out Rafael Nadal in fi��ve sets. * REUTERS (PAGE 20)

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Serena bows out

Two students are reportedto have died while six othersare missing after a countryboat carrying 30 people,mostly students, capsized inthe Godavari at PasuvulaLanka in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh onSaturday. Twentytwo persons have been rescued.

The boat was en route toSaladivari Palem from Pasuvula Lanka when the accident occurred around 5 p.m.Initially, 40 people werethought to have been on theboat, which sank after hitting the pillar of a bridge under construction amid swirling waters of the river.Teams of the State and theNational Disaster ResponseForces and naval divers fromVisakhapatnam are search

ing for the remaining sevenwho jumped into the waters.

Most of those on the boatwere school and college students returning to their villages. The children had participated in a drive to plantsaplings on their school premises at Pasuvula Lanka . Allthe students were residents

of Saladivaripalem and Serilanka island villages, withboats being the only mode oftransport to school. A bridgeto the mainland has beenunder construction for thelast six years.

(With PTI inputs)

6 missing as boat capsizesin Godavari; 22 rescued Several students were returning from tree-planting drive

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA

Anxious wait: Relatives waiting for news about those whowent missing after the incident in I. Polavaram. * S. RAMBABU

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The Congress said the PrimeMinister’s speech in UttarPradesh refl��ected the rulingparty’s “nervousness” aboutan imminent defeat. “He isso consumed by his desireto take revenge on RahulGandhi that he has becomeblind like ‘Dhritarashtra’

and has started spreadinghate,” Congress leaderRandeep Surjewala said.

Former Finance MinisterP. Chidambaram attackedNirmala Sitharaman forraising the issue of the“Congess being claimed aMuslim party.” A page 12

PM nervous, says Congress

Narendra Modi speaks inAzamgarh on Saturday. * PTI

‘PM STEALING PROJECT’ A PAGE 12

REPORTS ON PAGE 19

INSIDE

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CONTINUED ON A PAGE 12

Almost a month after 45yearold Qasim was lynchedin Hapur’s Pilkhuwa area, Samayuddin, a 63yearoldfarmer who survived thethrashing, says he is scaredto return home.

Nursing fractures in bothhands and the right leg, andinjuries near his neck, Samayuddin, a resident ofMadhapur village in UttarPradesh, recalls the June 18incident, sitting in a room atthe Indian Social Institutewith his lawyer Vrinda Grover. “I had gone to the farmswith my neighbour Hasan tobring fodder for my threecattle, when I saw a few menbeating Qasim. I asked themwhy and they turned againstme,” says Mr. Samayuddin.Mr. Hasan had fl��ed.

He remembers how themob of at least 30 to 40 people dragged him and Qasimfor about a kilometre, all the

while thrashing them withsticks, rods and “whateverthey found on the way”.They were dumped in a semiconscious state near atemple in Bajhera Khurd.

“They kept shouting thatwe slaughter cows. I toldthem I am a farmer, but noone listened. There were nocows in the fi��eld at the time.Qasim was walking throughthe farms when they

grabbed him,” he says.Mr. Samayuddin claims

that the police have not recorded his statement. “Theyhad come when I was in theICU. After I was shifted to theward, they did not come forthe statement.” Hapur SPSankalp Sharma said hisstatement was recordedtwice: once on June 19 andthe other “recently”.

Ms. Grover said written

statements of the victim, hisbrother Yaseen and DineshTomar, a resident of Handalpur village whom the familyknows well, were sent to IG,Meerut Range, demanding afair probe.

Police role Mr. Yaseen claims that thepolice asked Mr. Tomar towrite a complaint statingthat a few men beat up Qasim and Samayuddin as theyraised their voice after beinghit by a motorcycle. He alleges that he was coerced tosign the complaint. “Therewas no motorcycle. In fact,there was no road near theplace of the incident,” Mr. Samayuddin says. He says hecan identify at least fi��ve persons who thrashed him.

The SP said, “Arrest warrants have been issuedagainst 11 persons, includingthose he mentioned. Fourhave been arrested and onegiven bail.”

‘I told them I am a farmer, but no one listened,’ says Samayuddin of June 18 incident

Hemani Bhandari

NEW DELHI

Samayuddin, 63, suff��ered fractures in both hands and theright leg, and injuries near his neck. * SANDEEP SAXENA

U.P. lynching survivor tells tale of horror

The Madhya Pradesh Congress may be presenting aunited front at its publicmeetings ahead of the Assembly elections later thisyear, but a poster war hasbegun between the supporters of the party’s State chiefKamal Nath and Congress’selection campaign inchargeJyotiraditya Scindia on socialmedia.

Posters of the two leadersbeing projected as the futureChief Minister are doing therounds on social media evenas the Congress leadership istreading cautiously keepingin mind the intense factionalism that its M.P. unit haswitnessed in the past.

The poster of Mr. Nathwith hashtag KamlnathNextMPCM, posted on 'Kamal Nath Vichar Sadbhawna

ManchMP' Facebook page,carries the slogan — “RahulBhaiyaa ka Sandesh, KamalNath Sambhalo Pradesh (Rahul Gandhi’s message: Kamal Nath take charge of Madhya Pradesh).”

The source of Mr. Scindia’s poster circulating onsocial media is not knownbut it conveys the message —“Desh mein chalegi vikas kiaandhi, Pradesh mein Scin-dia, kendra mein RahulGandhi(There will be astorm of development in the

country, led by Scindia inM.P. and Rahul Gandhi at theCentre).” It has been postedby Mr. Scindia's “fan club”.Party president Rahul Gandhi’s photo is common toboth posters.

Faction-riven unitWhile the Congress remainstightlipped about the posterwar, it has added fuel to thealready raging factionalismin the M.P. Congress whichseems is divided into not twobut several groups led by Mr.

Nath, Mr. Scindia, DigvijayaSingh, Suresh Pachouri,Meenakshi Natrajan andleader of Opposition in theAssembly Ajay Singh.

The posters have comeout at a time when formerChief Minister DigvijayaSingh is on a yatra, meetingparty workers at the districtlevel with an aim to resolvethe diff��erences among them.

The Congress is in a directfaceoff�� with the BJP in M.P.,where it has been out ofpower for the last 15 years.

Cong.’s M.P. poster boys in poster war Kamal Nath, Scindia projected as CM candidate by their respective supporters

Special Correspondent

Bhopal

Posters of Kamal Nath (left) and Jyotiraditya Scindia circulating online. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

A lifeguard working at aprivate school in GreaterNoida was arrested on Saturday for allegedly rapinga threeandahalfyearoldgirl inside the school premises on Thursday.

The accused allegedlyraped the girl near theschool pool when nurserystudents were being takenfor their swimming class,said the police.

“The girl complained ofsevere pain in her lowerabdomen after returninghome. She was taken to aprivate hospital where thedoctors confi��rmed sexualassault,” said Manoj KumarPant, SHO, Surajpur policestation.

The accused has beenbooked under Section 376(rape) of the IPC and sections 7 and 8 of the POCSOAct, Mr. Pant said.

Lifeguardheld for ‘rape’of schoolgirl

Staff Reporter

Noida

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CMYK

A ND-NDE

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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

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CITY

Ola driver robs anotherat knifepoint, arrestedNEW DELHI

Three persons including an

Ola cab driver identified as

Amit Kumar (20) and his

associates Anshuman Chopra

and Rahul Babu were

arrested on Friday for

allegedly robbing another

Ola cab driver after holding

him hostage on Thursday.

The victim Devendra Yadav

told the police that the

accused took him to Greater

Noida where they robbed him

at knifepoint. He managed to

escape when the accused

stopped for gas filling.

STAFF REPORTER

IN BRIEF

Four months after video recording of Cabinet meetingswas started, the Aam AadmiParty dispensation decidedto end the practice after ameeting on July 10 wheremultiple departments expressed concerns about theappointment of a consultantfor procuring 1,000 electricbuses.

Chief Secretary attackAfter the alleged assault onChief Secretary Anshu Prakash by AAP MLAs at ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal’shome on February 19, theCabinet meeting that tookplace on February 27 was recorded by CMO offi��cials.From the next meeting onwards, the General Administration Department took over the responsibility ofrecording the Cabinet meetings.

This had become thenorm till the meeting on July10, when the Chief Ministerinstructed offi��cials to stop recording the Cabinet meetings from then on, accordingto three senior offi��cials withknowledge of the situation.

After the meeting, whichhad been called to approvethe hiring of a consultant,

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said at a pressconference that there hadbeen “technical defi��ciencies” in the proposal, whichwould be ironed out and presented at a Cabinet meetingthe next day. On July 11, Mr.Sisodia announced at a pressconference after the meetingthat Delhi Integrated MultiModal Transit System(DIMTS) Ltd., which operates CNG cluster buses currently, had been appointedas the consultant for the ebus procurement.

Concerns by many depts.However, according to documents related to the proposal that were accessed byThe Hindu, multiple departments had raised concernsabout the consultant appointed. Among the signifi��

cant concerns were thatDIMTS Ltd was not an expertagency for electric buses andthat it had asked for an exorbitant fee. Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, however,disagreed, saying that DIMTShad taken many steps to enhance its capacity in thefi��eld, including sending itsexperts for national and international conferences, visiting manufacturing facilitiesin China and conducting aseminar in Delhi, accordingto documents.

As The Hindu had reported on July 11, approval for theproposed fl��eet of 1,000 electric buses, priced at an estimated Rs. 2,500 crore in total, was postponed due towhat government sourceshad claimed were issues related to fi��nancial propriety.

According to the docu

ments, the preparation of aDetailed Proejct Report for a₹��2,000 crore project wasfl��agged as a requirement bythe Planning Department. Similarly, the Finance Department suggested that a DPRbe prepared because of thesize of investment, whichwould be approximately Rs.2,500 crore for the operation of buses and ₹��370 crorefor the charging infrastructure. The Transport Department concurred, stating thata DPR should be preparedbefore the procurement of1,000 electric buses wasconsidered. Mr. Sisodia, whois also Finance Minister, saidthe preparation of a DPR wasa moot point at this stage, according to the documents.

BJP slams partyWhile Mr. Sisodia did notrespond to request for comment, the Opposition BJP attacked the AAP governmentfor stopping the video recording.

“What happened in theCabinet meeting that daythat led to the order to stoprecording meetings in the future? On the other hand, theAAP government is proposing to install CCTV camerasinside school classrooms,”said Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta.

No more recording ofmeetings, orders AAP govt.Stopped it on the day when Cabinet overruled concerns on ebus proposal

Jatin Anand

Damini Nath

NEW DELHI

Recording meetings had become the norm after the allegedassault on the Chief Secretary by AAP MLAs at CM ArvindKejriwal’s home in February. * FILE PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Leprosy must not continueto be a ground for divorcenoted the National Centre forPromotion of Employmentfor Disabled People(NCPEDP) stating that thisdisease is now fully curable,and that the archaic laws relating to leprosy must be relooked at.

Leprosy is one of theworld’s oldest diseases withIndia accounting for over60% of the annual new casesof leprosy and a home toaround 800 selfsettled leprosy colonies.

World Health Organisations (WHO) data reveals thatin 2016, a total of 2,14,783cases of leprosy were reported worldwide. There were

18,000 child cases and 12,437cases who were already suffering from serious disabilities at the time of diagnosis.India had 1,35,485 cases.

Still face discrimination“While recognised as a disability under the Personswith Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection ofRights and Full Participation)Act of 1995, and being completely curable, persons affected by leprosy continue toface discrimination not onlyfrom the larger society butalso the disability sector itself,” noted a release issuedby the NCPEDP.

India’s archaic laws needto be changed if this has tohappen said the NCPEDP.

The release noted that

there are currently 119 provisions across various Actspassed by the Central and

(PAL). These are also directly in

contrast with the provisions

of the Rights of Person withDisabilities Act 2016, thatmandates nondiscrimination and equality for all irrespective of disability.

Push to repeal provisions“These 119 provisions not only violate the RPWD Act butalso Articles 14, 19 and 21 ofthe Constitution of India. Article 14 protects the right toequality of all persons, Article 19 protects the freedomof citizens to move freelythroughout the territory ofIndia and practise any profession, occupation, trade orcarry on any business, whileArticle 21 protects the rightto life and dignity of all persons. It is to give momentumto this discourse that we areorganising a special consulta

tion on the issue as part ofthe larger national disabilityconsultation being organisedby us on July 19 and 20 andwe hope the sector will cometogether as a collective forceto push for repealing of theseprovisions,” said Som Mittalof the NCPEDP.

The NCPEDP has now constituted a core group on leprosy consisting of personsaff��ected by leprosy, disabilitysector leaders, lawyers andactivists and has also thrownits weight behind VidhiCentre for Legal Policy,which has fi��led a civil writpetition asking the SupremeCourt of India to declarethese provisions as unconstitutional because they discriminate against persons affected by leprosy.

State governments that continue to discriminate againstpeople aff��ected by leprosy

The archaic laws relating to the disease should be reexamined, says NCPEDP which is organising a special consultation on July 1920

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI

‘Leprosy must not continue to be a ground for divorce’

Doctors have sought toknow how the Union HealthMinistry has planned to implement the proposed extension of timing for the outpatient departments (OPD)at the Centrerun Safdarjung Hospital successfully,stating that the hospital staff��are already overburdenedwith work.

They said the existingstrength of staff�� is alreadyinadequate if the number ofpatients that they handle isconsidered.

12-hour facilityThe pilot project, which isall set to take off��, states thatSafdarjung Hospital will off��er 12hour OPD each day.

OPDs in most government hospitals, includingSafdarjung, currently runfor fi��ve hours a day, from 8a.m. to 1 p.m., with specialafternoon clinics being operational for certain ailments, like diabetes.

Under the new proposal,the OPDs will be operationalfrom 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Resident Doctors Association (RDA) has demanded recruitment ofmore doctors for eff��ectiveimplementation of the proposal.

“Nobody is against treating more patients or makinghealthcare and OPDs available to the poor who come

here from across the country. However, the government has to understand thatto run a 12hour OPD eff��ectively is simply not possiblewith the existing strength ofstaff��. They are alreadycrumbling under work pressure. It is no hidden fact thatgovernment hospitals arefacing a shortage of doctorsand most of us have beenworking for longer hoursand under a lot of stress,”said a senior member of theRDA.

He said that although extension of the timing is a very welcome move, it willcreate more pressure ondoctors.

“We will have to bring inmore doctors to ensure thesuccess of the proposedprogramme,’’ he said.

“The move is aimed atproviding medical servicesto the patients round theclock,” a Health Ministry offi��cial said.

Once it is implementedsuccessfully at SafdarjungHospital, it will be replicated at other Central government hospitals, an offi��cialsaid.

Feedback soughtMeanwhile, the medical superintendent at SafdarjungHospital has directed all departments to give their feedback and submit strategiesto work during the proposed extended OPD hours.

Doctors against Centre’s pilot project

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

‘More staff�� requiredfor longer OPD hours’

People from all walks of lifealong with several childrenstaged a protest at Atul Kataria Chowk on Old DelhiGurugram Road here on Saturday against thegovernment’s plan to cuttrees for constructing a fl��yover and an underpass at theintersection.

Holding placards thatread, “Smart City is GreenCity”, “Don’t Cut Trees”,and “Trees Are Givers NotThe Takers”, the protestersraised slogans demanding

that the trees should not becut.

The protesters also clungto trees to demonstrate theirlove for them.

Anindita, who led theprotest, said the governmentcould not just cut trees in thename of development withthe promise to plant more.

“It is our city, we are thestakeholders. The administration needs to listen to us.The pollution levels are veryhigh in Gurugram. We all arefor development, but not atthe cost of green cover,” shesaid.

‘Do not want development at cost of green cover’People take out protest on Old DelhiGurugram Road against felling of trees

Staff Reporter

GURUGRAM

Gurugram residents participate in ‘Jadoo ki Jhaapi withtrees’ campaign on Saturday. * MANOJ KUMAR

A 55yearold man, who isthe son of a retired InspectorGeneral, was arrested on Saturday for stealing a replicaof an ancient artefact fromNational Museum on June24. The artefact has beenbeen recovered.

DCP (New Delhi) MadhurVerma said that the accused,identifi��ed as Udai Ratra, wasarrested from his residencein Haryana’s Pataudi in theearly hours of Saturday forstealing ‘Olduvai Handaxe’.

The theft was captured onthe museum’s CCTV camera.The footage was examined

by the police. “The man wasidentifi��ed after records werechecked. He has previouscriminal records with fourmore cases fi��led againsthim,” Mr. Verma said.

The police went to raidhis house on the interveningnight of Friday and Saturday.The local police were also informed. “When the policereached, the accused refused to open the door,” hesaid.

Mr. Ratra allegedly askedthe offi��cers to come back inthe morning. Mr. Verma saidhe appeared to be under theinfl��uence of alcohol.

The police said there were

about 10 dogs on the premises of the house, which were“continuously barking at thepolice on the instance of theaccused”.

The police team waitedoutside his house. After awhile, the accused came outfrom the back door andreached the lawn. He wascarrying something in hishand.

“He was immediately apprehended. The CISF staff��identifi��ed the object in hishand as the stolen handaxe,”Mr. Verma said.

“It seems that he is a kleptomaniac,” a senior policeoffi��cer said.

Theft was captured on CCTV; accused has criminal record

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Stolen National Museumartefact recovered, one held

The district unit of Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday planted paddy saplings at IFFCOChowk on MehrauliGurugram Road here to protestagainst waterlogging in thewake of rain in the Millennium City over the past twodays.

Leading the protest, AamAadmi Party State media incharge Sudhir Yadav saidthat MG Road was one of themajor roads in the city anddespite that waterlogging

was common on this road. He said that most of the

sector roads and servicelanes were fl��ooded after just510 mm rain in the city.

‘Authorities have failed’He sarcastically remarkedthat the protest was aimed togive a message to the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram and the Gurugram Metropolitan DevelopmentAuthority to allow people togrow paddy on the roadsand earn some revenuesince the two agencies had

failed to tackle the waterlogging issue.

“Gurugram is known asthe cyber city but the fact remains that it is struggling forbasic amenities such as electricity, water, road and public transport. We had a fewhours of rainfall on Fridayand the city faced massivetraffi��c jams, power cuts andwater entering houses,” saidMr. Yadav. He said that Gurugram was one of the best examples as to how the government should not dopolitics over development.

Says Gurugram is still struggling for basic amenities

Staff Reporter

GURUGRAM

AAP workers stage a protest to highlight waterlogging in Gurugram on Saturday. * MANOJ KUMAR

In unique protest, AAP plants paddysaplings on waterlogged roads

An over 8kilometre stretchof Delhi Metro’s Pink line,from Durgabai DeshmukhSouth Campus to Lajpat Nagar stations, will be inspected by the Commissioner forMetro Rail Safety (CMRS) onJuly 23, a DMRC spokesperson said on Saturday.

The inspection will pavethe way for opening of thesection, which is likely to beinaugurated early nextmonth, he said. The sectionhas six stations, includingtwo interchange stations atINA and Lajpat Nagar. Thenew stations are Sir Vishveshariah Moti Bagh, Bhikhaji Cama Place, SarojiniNagar, INA, South Extension and Lajpat Nagar.

Pink Linesection to beinspected

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

A 16yearold girl was allegedly raped by her boyfriendon the pretext of marriage inShahdara’s Seemapuri area.The accused has been arrested, the police said.

A senior police offi��cersaid that the accused hasbeen identifi��ed as ChandAlam (19) who was arrestedon Friday from hisresidence.

Were in a relationshipThe police said that the accused and the victim were ina relationship and had fl��edon July 7.

“The man told her that he

will get married to her. Hetook her to Jahangirpuriwhere he got physically intimate with the minor,” the offi��cer said.

Refused to marryThe girl’s mother convincedthe two to return home andthey came back on Thursday. When the mother toldthe boy to get married afterher she reaches her legalage, he allegedly refused.The girl approached the police on Friday.

A case under relevant sections of the Indian PenalCode and under Preventionof Children from Sexual Offences Act was registered.

Arrested after girl fi��les complaint

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Youth rapes minor onpretext of marriage

Citing Right to Information(RTI) replies, the AAPmembers of the Delhi Assembly’s Petitions Committee on Saturday said LieutenantGovernor AnilBaijal had allowed Delhigovernment offi��cers tomove court for reliefagainst its proceedings.

AAP MLA and chairperson of the Petitions Committee, Saurabh Bharadwajsaid the then Chief Secretary and the then PublicWorks Department (PWD)Secretary had in 2017 challenged the report of thecommittee into desilting ofdrains.

Mr. Bharadwaj said thecommittee had visited over100 drains across the Capital in June and July 2017,fi��nding that the claims ofthe municipal corporationsand the PWD regardingcleaning were far from thetruth. The committee hadrecommended actionagainst the offi��cials responsible and recommendations to improve the situation. However, Raj Niwashelped offi��cers not to implement these, Mr. Bharadwaj claimed. Mr. Bharadwaj said that while the LGhad approved the offi��cers’decision to move court, thepayment of the lawyers representing the Assemblywas not approved.

Offi��cers weregiven LG’snod to movecourt: AAP

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Senior AAP leader SanjaySingh tweeted a video of anaccident victim lying on aroad, claiming that his deathrefl��ected the “insensitivity”of the Delhi Police and passersby but the charge was refuted by the police whichsaid the man was taken to ahospital in time.

The Rajya Sabha MPshared the video on Friday,showing the severely injured

man, with some people andpolice personnel standingnearby.

“Akash...died in extremepain, while the police andpassersby did nothing. Thissad and painful incident refl��ects the insensitivity of theDelhi Police and passersby,”Mr. Singh tweeted in Hindi,along with the video. Thepolice said the incident occurred on July 11 and theman was taken to the hospital by the police in time.

‘Accident video showspolice insensitivity’Cops refute AAP leader’s charges


New Delhi


THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

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0DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested to verify and make appropriate enquiries to satisfy them-selves about the veracity of an advertisement before responding to any published in this news-paper. THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., the Publisher & Owner of this newspaper, does not vouch forthe authenticity of any advertisement or advertiser or for any of the advertiser’s products and/orservices. In no event can the Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s, Employees of thisnewspaper/company be held responsible/liable in any manner whatsoever for any claims and/ordamages for advertisements in this newspaper.

CITY

A 39yearold woman allegedly jumped to death fromthe terrace of her residencein south Delhi’s Hauz Khason Friday, the police said onSaturday.

Parents’ allegationThe police said that her parents have alleged dowryharassment by her husband.

DCP (South) Romil Baaniya said deceased Anissia Batra was an air hostess with aGerman airline. The incident took place around 4.30p.m.

“She had sent a messageto her husband Mayank, informing him that she was

going to take the extremestep,” Mr. Baaniya said.

Mr. Mayank was at homeat the time of the incident.He said he had reached theterrace immediately, but didnot fi��nd her. “She mighthave jumped immediatelyafter sending the text. Shehad fallen on the ground bythe time the husbandreached,” Mr. Baaniya said.

Anissia was rushed to thehospital, where she was declared brought dead.

A case of dowry death hasbeen fi��led. The probe is on.

Suicide prevention hel-pline: Sanjivini, Society forMental Health, Telephone:011-4076 9002, Monday-Sa-turday, 10 a.m. -7.30 p.m.

Air hostess jumpsto death, probe onCase of dowry death has been fi��ledStaff Reporter

NEW DELHI

A 13yearold student of aschool in southeast Delhi’sBadarpur allegedly slashedhis classmate on Friday afternoon, the police said onSaturday. The victim is saidto be stable now.

The police were informedaround 2.30 p.m. “The two

boys were arguing oversharing of seat in their classroom. The accused thenpulled out the blade of hissharpener and slashed thevictim on his back,” DCP(SouthEast) Chinmoy Biswal said.

Any FIR was not fi��led inthe case but a daily diary entry has been made.

Boy attacks classmate

Over sharing of seat; victim stable nowStaff Reporter

NEW DELHI





CMYK

NORTH & EAST

SAD seeks rollback ofhelmet notifi��cation CHANDIGARH

The Shiromani Akali Dal on

Saturday urged the UT

Chandigarh Administration to

roll back its notification

wherein helmets has been

made compulsory for all

women, except turbaned Sikh

women. It argued that Sikh

tenets forbid wearing of any

cap or helmet. PTI

IN BRIEF

Nigerian held with heroin in ShimlaSHIMLA

Himachal Pradesh police have

arrested a Nigerian from Delhi

for allegedly supplying drugs

and seized 25.46 grams of

heroin from his possession, an

officer said on Saturday. The

accused, identified as Kra

Basile, was arrested by a

Special Investigative Team

here, said SP (Shimla)

Omapati Jamwal. PTI

PREPAK militant arrested in Manipur IMPHAL

A militant was arrested in

Manipur on Friday, police

said. He is a member of

People Revolutionary Party of

Kangleipak (PREPAK-

Progressive group). PTI

Heroin seized nearIndoPak border, 1 held FEROZEPUR

A farmer was nabbed by the

BSF along the India-Pakistan

border fencing in Punjab’s

Ferozepur district after 700

grams of heroin was seized

from his tractor, a BSF official

said on Saturday. PTI

Six students of the CalcuttaMedical College and Hospital have been on hungerstrike since Tuesday in protest against the college authority’s refusal to providethem accommodation in thenew hostel. The students alleged that the main hostelbuilding where the second,third and fourth year MBBSstudents stay is in “deplorable condition”.

MCI guidelinesHowever, the college authorities cited guidelines issuedby the Medical Council of India which stated that fi��rstyear students have to be accommodated in a separatehostel to prevent raggingand hence they were accommodated in the new building. Two more studentsjoined the hunger strike onSaturday.

“The main hostel building– located in the southernside of the campus – wheresenior students are made tostay is in a deplorable condition. In the last two monthsthe false ceiling in the hostelhas collapsed four times andtwo students were injured,”said Aniket Chatterjee, oneof the students who are onhunger strike.

The agitating studentsfurther alleged that when

they gheraoed PrincipalUchhal Bhadra on July 5, hecalled in police into the campus who assaulted the students and forced them to liftthe gherao. One of the students on hunger strike washospitalised and later hiscondition deteriorated.

Allegations deniedDenying the allegations, Mr.Bhadra said that the decision to allocate four fl��oors ofthe new 10storey buildingto fi��rstyear students was taken as per MCA guidelines.“I am not denying that thecondition of the six hostelbuildings is not very good.However, the main hostelbuilding for which the agitation started is in the bestcondition among the oldhostel buildings,” he said.

Mr. Bhadra also said that heis ready to resolve the accommodation issue within10 days.

However, the studentspointed out that MCI in itsregulations has stated thatsenior students can be accommodated in the samehostel with fi��rstyear students if the facility of separate accommodation for thelatter is not available.

“Freshers shall be lodged,as far as may be, in a separate hostel block, and wheresuch facility is not available,the institution shall ensurethat access of seniors to accommodation allotted tofreshers is strictly monitoredby wardens, security guardsand other staff�� of the institution,” states an MCIregulation.

Students’ strikescontinue in KolkataHunger strike at medical college, sitin at Presidency

Staff Reporter

Kolkata

Calcutta Medical College students on hunger strike. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The All India Kisan Federation (AIKF) on Saturday saidit opposed a proposal by thePunjab State Farmers’ Commission to withdraw powersubsidy to farmers who ownmore than 10 acres of land.

AIKF president PremSingh Bhangu said the proposal would be detrimentalto the interest of farmerswho are "reeling under heavy debt and committing suicide".

“When corporations andbig industrialists are enjoying subsidies and conces

sions in the name of nonperforming assets and badloans, why should themeagre subsidy given tofarmers be withdrawn? Thedecision will create divisionamong farmers who arejointly fi��ghting against antifarmer policies of the Stateand Centre,” he said.

‘Insuffi��cient move’On the Central government’srecent step to hike minimumsupport price for kharifcrops, Mr. Bhangu said themove was “insuffi��cient”.

“The government has nottaken into consideration the

formula for calculating costof production as given byM.S. Swaminathan in his report. Moreover, the government should guarantee assured procurement of thewhole produce,” Mr. Bhanguadded.

The State Farmers’ Commission recently prepared adraft policy which recommended that the government do away with powersubsidy to big farmers.

The commission said thatfarmers with more than 10acres of land should becharged ₹��100 per horsepower per month.

Landholding-linked powersubsidy proposal opposedDetrimental to the interest of farmers, says AIKFSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

A new software waslaunched here over theweekend for monitoringand followup of the use of‘Antara’ injectable contraceptive among women.The contraceptive hasbeen made available in government hospitals of 14districts in the State forhelping women with thespacing of children.

Medical and Health Minister Kali Charan Saraflaunched the ‘Antara Raj’software at a ceremony organised here to felicitatethe achievers in the fi��eld ofpopulation stabilisation. Afortnightlong campaignfor population control andawareness about the familyplanning methods was alsostarted on the occasion.

The ‘Antara’ contraceptive, containing syntheticprogesterone, can be usedby women between the ages of 18 and 45 years.

Software tomonitorcontraceptive


JAIPUR

Four people were killed andsix others injured on Saturday when their car fell into adeep gorge in Uttarakhand’sChampawat district, policesaid. The car carrying ninepeople apart from the drivermet with the accident atDhon, about 12 km awayfrom the district headquarters, Champawat SP Dhirendra Gunjyal said.

Six criticalFour people died on thespot while six others whosustained injuries wererushed to the Champawatdistrict hospital, where

their condition is stated tobe critical, the SP said. Theyhave been referred to a hospital in Haldwani. The injured include two Armymen.

The car was on its way toPithoragarh from Khatimawhen the accident occurred, SP Gunjyal said. Thedriver of the car jumped outof it as it began rolling downthe gorge. He is also amongthe injured, the SP said.

Though the exact causeof the accident has not beenascertained, prima facie itappears to have beencaused partially by the driver’s carelessness, said thepolice offi��cer.

Four killed as carfalls into deep gorgeMishap took place in Uttarakhand

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Dehradun

Sunil Rathi, accused of killing dreaded gangster PremPrakash Singh alias MunnaBajrangi in Baghpat districtjail, was shifted to Fatehgarh central jail amid tightsecurity on Saturday.

The State governmenthad issued an order on Friday to shift Rathi fromBaghpat jail.

“Today at around 2.00pm, Rathi was sent to Fatehgarh central jail amidtight security,” Jail Superintendent Vipin Mishra said.

On July 9, mafi��a don Bajrangi was shot dead hoursbefore he was to be produced in a local court herein a case of extorting money from a former MLA.

Bajrangikiller shifted PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Baghpat

Nearly 1.5 million candidateswill appear in the constablerecruitment exam over twodays in Rajasthan, which began amid tight security arrangements on Saturday.

The exam is taking placein four shifts, two shiftsapiece on Saturday and Sunday, during which mobile Internet services will beblocked. The exam is beingheld for 13,143 posts.

As many as 664 centresfor the exam, including 209in Jaipur district, have beenset up, Inspector General(Recruitment) PrashakhaMathur said.

It is for the second timethe police department isholding this exam.

An online exam for recruiting constables was heldin diff��erent shifts in Marchthis year, but it was cancelled after special operations group of the State pol

ice busted a gang involved infacilitating candidates incheating in a hightechmanner.

The exam is offl�ine andoptical mark recognitionbased this time and arrange

ments for frisking each candidate and for biometric attendance have been made.

The candidates have beeninstructed to be in a specifi��cdress code, police said.

Mobile Internet have been

suspended during the examshifts to prevent any possibility of cheating through anydevice, they said, adding it isfor the fi��rst time that the services have been suspendedin the entire State.

In Rajasthan, all roads leadto examination halls1.5 million candidates, 664 centres for 13,143 constable posts; Internet blocked


Jaipur

Aspirants travelling on the roof of an overcrowded passenger train in Jaipur on Saturday toappear for the examination. * ROHIT JAIN PARAS

The Rajasthan High Courthas directed the State government to establish a permanent cell for monitoringfraudulent insurance andmotor accident compensation claims which are creating diffi��culties and fi��nanciallosses to the insurance companies. The cell should beset up preferably in Jodhpur,said the court.

The direction came earlier this week during thehearing of a writ petitionfi��led by seven insurancecompanies, which claimedthat a large number of frauds

were taking place in theclaims made on behalf of victims of accidents and thetouts were promoting fraudulent litigation.

The High Court had inMarch this year passed a direction for appointment of aSpecial Investigation Team,headed by an offi��cer of therank of Additional DirectorGeneral of Police, to probeinto the fraud cases. Stategovernment’s counsel AnilBissa informed the courtthat the SIT had been constituted and was examining thecases pointed out by thepetitioners.

Justice Sandeep Mehta at

the High Court’s principalseat in Jodhpur said that inview of the allegation thatfraudulent claim cases werebeing regularly fi��led in theMotor Accident Claims Tribunals, a permanent cell forexamining such casesshould be constituted. Thejudge asked the governmentcounsel to apprise the courtof the steps taken in this regard by the Home Department on the next date ofhearing.

The petitioners in thecase included Bajaj Allianz,Shriram GIC, Liberty Videocon GIC, L&T General Insurance and TATA AIG.

HC directs establishment ofcell for fraud accident claimsPlea by seven fi��rms claimed rampant fraudulent litigation


JAIPUR

The parents of a threeyearold boy have lodged a complaint with the policeagainst the staterun SSKMHospital alleging that theeyes of their son, who diedon Tuesday after an accident, were removed, policesaid on Saturday.

The boy’s parents also alleged that it was the handiwork of an illegal organtransplant racket working atthe hospital, a senior policeoffi��cer said.

SSKM Hospital doctorsdenied the allegations saying the boy’s eyelids werestitched up owing to thegrave injury that he had suffered in the accident.

The accident took placeon July 8 when the boy was

hit by a car when he wasplaying on the road near hishome at Kamarhati in thenorthern fringes of the city.

He was taken to a localgovernment hospital andthen to SSKM Hospital nextday where he died on July10. After postmortem, thebody was handed to his parents on July 11, his familysources said.

The parents in their complaint claimed that after getting their son’s body theyfound his eyelids stitchedand on removing themfound his eyeballs were missing. After the boy’s lastrites, they had lodged acomplaint at the police outpost at Kamarhati andanother at Bhowaniporepolice station under whichthe hospital falls.

Hospital gouged outeyes, allege parents 3yearold died after an accident


Kolkata Seven Odisha districts arelikely to receive heavy tovery heavy rainfall while 10other districts will get heavy downpour in the next 24hours due to a lowpressure area formation overnorthwest Bay of Bengal,the Meteorological Department said on Saturday.

The Met departmentsaid heavy to very heavyrainfall is likely to occur inGajapati, Ganjam, Puri,Khurda, Cuttack, Jagatsingpur, Kendrapara while heavy rainfall is very likely inNayagarh, Dhenkanal, Bhadrak, Balasore, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Angul, Rayagada,Boudh and Kandhamal.

Fishermen have beenwarned not to venture intothe sea.

Rain alertfor 7 Odishadistricts

Press trust of india

Bhubaneswar

‘Assam govt. to providequality health care’ GUWAHATI

The Assam government is

committed towards providing

quality health care to the

people of the State and Atal

Amrit Abhiyan has been a

major move in this direction,

State Health Minister Pijush

Hazarika said on Saturday. PTI


CMYK

A ND-NDE




SOUTH

No darshan in Tirupatifor six days from Aug. 11 TIRUMALA

The temple of Lord

Venkateswara will remain out

of bounds for pilgrims for six

days from August 11. The

devotees will not be allowed

darshan of the presiding

deity during the period. The

decision has been taken in

view of the ‘Astabandhana

Balalaya Maha

Samprokshanam’ observed

once in 12 years.

IN BRIEF

Karnad’s historical playto hit the stands on I-Day BENGALURU

Girish Karnad’s much

anticipated play that centres

around the Battle of Talikota

(1565), between Aliya

Ramaraya of the Vijayanagar

empire and the united forces

of the Deccan sultanate, will

be out on August 15. Titled

Rakshasa-Tangadi, the play is

now being printed, confirmed

publisher Samir Joshi of

Manohara Granthamala.

Services of panchayats to go online in Kerala PATHANAMTHITTA

The services at all panchayats

will be available online in a

year, Kerala Local

Administration Minister K.T.

Jaleel has said. The Minister

said online granting of

building construction permit

had been successfully

implemented in Kozhikode

and the facility would be

extended to the other

districts soon.

U.S. couple adoptabandoned Hassan girl HASSAN

A girl baby who was found

abandoned a year ago is now

all set to fly to the U.S. to be

with her new parents. Baby

Anvitha has been adopted by

a couple settled in Tennessee.

The newborn was found with

peacock bites close to a

resort near Sriramadevara

Katte on HassanHolenarsipur

Road on July 13, 2017.

A key accused in the sexscandal case involving fourclergymen attached to theMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church, Father Abraham Varghese aka Soni ofMundiyappally, fi��led an anticipatory bail applicationbefore the Supreme Courton Saturday.

The Crime Branch hadregistered a case againstFather Abraham Vargheseand three other priests —Father Job Mathew, FatherJohnson V. Mathew, andFather Jaise K. George — onJuly 2 on the basis of thestatements given by a homemaker belonging to thesame Church accusingthem of sexually assaultingher on more than oneoccasion.

PredatorsFather Varghese, represented by his lawyer, Karthik Ashok, moved theapex court against a KeralaHigh Court decision denying him and two other coaccused priests, Father JobMathew and Father Jaise K.George, anticipatory bail.

The High Court had dismissed their plea and ordered them to surrenderforthwith. It had observedthat “prima facie, it appeared that the applicantsacted as predators and taken undue advantage ofthe position of the survivor. From her version, itappeared that the survivorwas systematically abusedby the accused, who wereall well known to the familymembers of the survivor.The court said the apprehensions of the prosecution that the applicantswould tamper with the evidence and infl��uence thewitnesses could not beignored.

Key accusedseeks bail inchurch sexscandal case


PATHANAMTHITTA/NEW DELHI

Two centuries ago, tigersroamed Thrissur streets onthe Chathayam day ofChingom, in royal grandeur.It was majesty and powerthat Shakthan Thampuranprobably intended to infuseinto Kerala’s hallmarkharvest festival when heintroduced Pulikali, the tigerhunt–themed street art formthat has men done up intiger body art roaming thestreets in a feral dance,accompanied by rustic drumbeats.

Now, years later, thepomp is in place and eventhe gaiety, as Pulikali teamsget on street on Chathayamday. But the shades ofdraining pride are morethan conspicuous. The artform, Thrissur’s own, is

being ravaged mainly byfi��nancial crisis.

There are many teamsthat focus on the art form,but most of them arestruggling to make endsmeet, with expensesskyrocketing and funds atrickle. T.S. Sumesh of the

Viyyur Centre PulikaliSangam says it is a toughtime for the Pulikali teamsand many wellknown teamshave withdrawn from thescene over a period.

Unlike Thrissur Pooram,which is managed byDevaswoms (temple trusts),

Pulikali is managed bygroups of youth who want topreserve the dying art form.From paint and thinner tofi��bre for making the masksand dresses, everything hasbecome costly. Even thepayment for the artistes hasgone up, they say.

State apathyApart from aid from the cityCorporation and theTourism Department, amajor portion of Pulikalifund comes from locals, therest from sponsors. Blame iton economic slowdown orGST, sponsors areincreasingly hard to comeby, complain the Pulikaliteams. They even pawn goldornaments of their kin toraise funds, but often fallinto debt traps as costexceeds the collection.

The acute fi��nancial crisisis exacerbated by theattitude of the TourismDepartment towards the artform, say the Pulikali teams.While the art form shouldbe fl��aunted as a fl��agshipcultural event, it is grosslyneglected by thedepartment, they say.

“The average expense foreach team is around ₹��15lakh. The city Corporation isgiving ₹��1.5 lakh. But it hardlysuffi��ces. Though theTourism Department hasbeen promising ₹��1 lakh, it isnot available on time,” saysSumesh. We are yet to getthe fund for 2017 from theTourism Department. Nowit is already time for thepreparations for 2018, hesays. The departmentshould keep a separate fundfor Pulikali, he adds.

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Thrissur’s Pulikali on the road to extinction

Mini Muringatheri

Thrissur

Kerala’s hallmark street art form is fading due to state apathy and shortage of funds

Body art: A fi��le picture of Pulikali or the tiger hunt–themedstreet art form, a recreational folk art of Kerala.

Rumours of childlifting ledto another gruesome incident in Karnataka, in whicha 28yearold was killed andthree were injured in a mobattack at Murki village in Aurad taluk, near Bidar, onFriday.

Mohammad Azam Usmansab was lynched, whilehis friends Mohammad Salman Alinor, Talha Ismail Qureshi, and Noor MohammadSadique were injured. Theywere shifted to Hyderabadand were recovering, Bidarpolice said.

Afroz, who works in Hyderabad, had invited Mr. Qureshi, who had returned recently from Qatar, and theothers to his native village inBidar. The incident occurredwhen they were driving back

to Hyderabad from Bidarand stopped at Balkut Gokultanda to take pictures.

Chocolates invite attackWhen the friends spotted

some children in the village,they off��ered them chocolates brought by Mr. Qureshi.

The area had been tenseafter a series of messages on

WhatsApp had warned residents of childlifters who operated in groups. Accordingto the police, the residentsnoticed the men distributingchocolates and were convinced they were childliftersas their new car had no registration plates.

A mob gathered and theassault began. Mr. Afroz,

who had accompanied hisfriends, tried to explain thatthey were not kidnappers.But the frenzied mob was inno mood to listen.

In the melee, the friendssped away. However, the residents called their acquaintances in Murki village,about 6 km away, and askedthem to stop the car. Policesaid a WhatsApp groupcalled ‘Mother Murki’ spreadpanic.

Fearing another impending assault at Murki, the menattempted to speed throughbut the car fell into an emptystream. Some residentscalled the police while others pulled the men out andbeat them. Four policemenarrived soon, but they wereoutnumbered. Rumours ledto a lynching in Chamarajpetin May.

Mob kills one, injures threefollowing childlifting rumours Series of WhatsApp messages led to the second such incident in Karnataka


Belagavi

Fatal trip: A mob gathers around the car that skidded and fellinto a stream at Murki on Friday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Kerala government isreaching out to other southIndian States in a bid tocreate lobbying power to infl��uence the Central government policy on international trade treaties and tocushion the impact of FreeTrade Agreements (FTAs)on various domestic sectors.

Offi��cial sources said efforts were on to reach a consensus with other States onthe need for wider consultations on trade pacts that affected the market and impacted on the livelihoodsecurity of farmers, fi��shersand other vulnerablesections.

Regional blocAgriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar told The Hinduthat the government had received a favourable response to the proposal toform a regional bloc for thepurpose. “The governmentsof Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana haveindicated that they are favourably disposed to theidea of closing ranks to protect domestic interests. Weare trying to fi��nd commonground and demand a greater say in tariff�� negotiations.”

The Minister said moveswere afoot to network withsenior offi��cials across the sixStates. This would be followed by ministerialleveldiscussions on counteringthe impact of trade pacts.The outreach programme isbeing coordinated by theAgricultural Prices Boardand the WTO Cell.

Offi��cials said the initiativewas driven by the growing

public hostility to trade treaties such as the IndoASEANFTA and IndoSri LankaFTA. Kerala, they pointedout, was one of the worstaffected States, with domesticproduction and export ofcash crops such as pepperand rubber taking a hit.

The State governmenthas conveyed to the Centreits deep concern over thethe Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership(RCEP), a proposed FTA between 10member States ofASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia,Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand,the Philippines, Laos andVietnam) and their six FTApartners — India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia,and New Zealand.

It is raising the pitch forStates to be included in tariff��negotiations on the pact.

Experts felt that the agricultural sector in India waspoised to take a big hit asRCEP opened up trade tieswith China, a nation that relied on monopoly practicesto boost trade.

The liberalised import ofmilk and dairy productsfrom Australia and New Zealand and fi��sh, soyabean oil,rubber, rice, palm oil, tea,coff��ee, pepper, and poultryfrom ASEAN countries wasalso seen as a big threat.

To lessen impact of trade pacts

T. Nandakumar

Thiruvananthapuram

V.S. Sunil Kumar

Kerala pushes forconsensus withother States on FTAs

In an unfortunate mixup, afamily in Kerala, awaitingthe mortal remains of theirrelative after his untimelydeath in the UAE capital,was sent the body of anotherIndian expatriate who alsodied here around the sametime, according to a mediareport.

Nidhin Othayoth Kottaron, 29, who was working asa site supervisor in Ruwais,died last week. But his family received the mortal remains of Kamatchi Krishnan, 39, hailing from TamilNadu, the Khaleej Times reported. It reached Calicut onFriday by an Air India fl��ight.

“His (Kottaron’s) parentshad been waiting for the

mortal remains for oneweek. They are still in a stateof shock,” one of the relatives was quoted as saying inthe report.

Deaths two days apartKottaron was found dead onJuly 5 while Krishnan reportedly died on July 7, the report said, adding the causeof their deaths could not beascertained.

“While both Kottaron andKrishnan died two daysapart it is not clear how themixup happened,” the relative said.

Krishnan’s body is now inthe mortuary of a government hospital in Kottaron’snative place in Wayanad,Kerala.

According to an Air India

offi��cial, all the required documents were submittedwhile repatriating the body.

Human error“Kottaron’s body was to besent on Air India’s Kozhikodebound fl��ight on Fridayand Krishnan’s was bookedon an Etihad fl��ight to Chennai the same day. A relativeof the deceased was also travelling with the body. It wasa human error while embalming that caused the mixup,” Air India Manager forAbu Dhabi and Al Ain sectorRanjan Dutta was quoted assaying in the report.

An Indian embassy offi��cial, dealing with the case,said they were doing everything possible to help thefamilies.

Bodies were booked on diff��erent fl��ights from Dubai


Dubai

Bereaved Kerala family getsbody of Tamil Nadu man

In an oblique reference tosome Congress leaders whoare said to be grudging himfor occupying the top post,Karnataka Chief MinisterH.D. Kumaraswamy on Saturday said he would notkeep the post at the cost ofhis selfesteem.

“If I decide to do so, I canstep down within twohours,” said an emotionalMr. Kumaraswamy, who refused to accept felicitationby party workers in Bengaluru on Saturday. He said hedid not need felicitationwhen the people of the Statedid not take him into confi��dence and bring the party to

power on its own strength.The Chief Minister said he

was upset with the criticismhe faced.“I don’t waste timeand energy to save my chair.I have inherited the legacy ofmy father H.D. Deve Gowda,who quit the post of Prime

Minister,” he said.“I don’t know whether

farmers are satisfi��ed or not.The BJP is still accusing meof not fulfi��lling promises onold age pension, allowancefor pregnant women, amongother things,” he said.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Bengaluru

Emotional moment: Kumaraswamy at a party function inBengaluru on Saturday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

‘I won’t stick to CM post atthe risk of my selfesteem’

In a single major donation,Ravi Aika, an NRI settled inthe U.S., on Saturday contributed ₹��10 crore to theTTD. Likewise another NRIdevotee Srinivasa, alsofrom the U.S., donated₹��3.50 crore to varioustrusts being fl��oated by theTTD.

Chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadhav received thedonation on behalf of theTTD in the presence of Minister N. AmaranathaReddy.

Speaking to media, theMinister appreciated Mr.Aika and Mr. Srinivasa fortheir charitable gesture.

NRIs donate₹��13.5 crore to TTD


TIRUMALA

The World Cup is a celebration which has no parallel.On Sunday, as 3.6 billionsupporters all over the worldtune in to the fi��nale of Russia2018, the frenzy will be noless in tiny Kerala.

In fact, fans here havebeen euphoric for over amonth, glued to televisionsets and getting into animated discussions on the game,the teams, and their heroes.But what has kicked up a debate now is the promotion ofthe event through countlessfl��ex boards across the State.

Though there has been nooffi��cial accounting of the money spent on the multicoloured boards, media reports put the fi��gures from₹��300 crore to ₹��700 crore.While this does seem to bean exaggeration, as claimedby the Kerala Flex PrintingAssociation, the issue has

sharply polarised the State.

Greens unhappyEnvironmentalists, predictably, are unhappy with thenonbiodegradable nature ofthese boards and have calledfor a total ban on the plasticmaterials that go into theirproduction.

Interestingly, those in

volved with the sporting circles in the State too are divided, with one sectionsupporting the fans while avast majority condemn thepublicity blitz, saying themoney could have beenchannelised better for thebenefi��t of Kerala football, thereigning champions of theSantosh Trophy.

K. Bodhanandan, formersecretary of the Kerala Football Association, said, “Itwould have been better hadthe fans erected goals postsin nearby schools and painted them in colours of theirfavourite teams. ”

Former international V.P.Shaji hoped that the hugesurge in support for Russia2018 would prove to be aneyeopener for the government and the top football offi��cials in Kerala.

However, former memberof the State Planning BoardC.P. John, a selfconfessedfan of the game, has a diff��erent take on it. “The WorldCup has taught us quite a fewlessons over the years and Isee this expression of interest by fans in the State as aninterpretation of a new wayof life, which is antiparochial and more importantlya mature display of nationalism beyond boundaries.””

Kerala divided on World Cup fl��ex boardsWhile some have condemned it, others think it shows nationalism beyond borders

Football frenzy: A row of fl��ex boards on the football WorldCup on display in Thiruvananthapuram. * S. GOPAKUMAR

A. Vinod

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The commercial launch ofthe drones being producedby Andhra Pradesh Innovation Society (APIS) at its research and development facility in Visakhapatnam willbe done after obtaining certifi��cation for the four prototypes developed by it, CEOV. Valli Kumari has said.

Though there is a delay,the APIS, an autonomous society formed by the A.P. government to encourage innovation culture, isconfi��dent of rolling out thedrones for commercial operations in a few months. Certifi��cation for the prototypesby competent agencies inNew Delhi is a prerequisitefor commercial production.

Low-cost gadget “The ‘Make in Andhra Pradesh’ drones will be available in the market once we get

the statutory clearances.There is already a lot of enquiries to place indents withus,” Ms. Kumari told TheHindu.

Various departments ofthe government want to de

ploy the drones for mappingvarious resources. “Ourdrones will have a lot of demand as we want to marketthem at remarkably lowerprice,” she said.

The government has also

set up the A.P. Drone Corporation as a subsidiary of theA.P. State Fibre Grid Limitedto market the drones. Themanufacturing facility of theAPIS is located atRushikonda.

‘Make in A.P.’ drones await clearanceCertifi��cation for four prototypes awaited, says A.P. Innovation Society CEO

Aerial view: A fi��le picture of a drone camera in Visakhapatnam. * K.R. DEEPAK

Santosh Patnaik

VISAKHAPATNAM





CMYK

NATION

Naidu asks varsities toimprove global rankings DEHRADUN

Noting that Indian

universities had not been

able to make it to the list of

world’s top universities, Vice-

President M. Venkaiah Naidu

on Saturday asked them to

treat it as a “big challenge”

and work hard to distinguish

themselves from others. He

was addressing the

convocation of ICFAI

University here. PTI

IN BRIEF

60 poisonous snakesfound in school kitchenAURANGABAD

Sixty highly poisonous

Russell’s viper snakes were

found in the kitchen of a Zilla

Parishad school in Hingoli

district of Maharashtra, a

school official said on

Saturday. The snakes were

later caught by a snake-

catcher and handed over to a

foreign officer, the school’s

headmaster Triyambak Bhosle

said. PTI

UGC panel to probeallegations against V-CNEW DELHI

The University Grants

Commission has formed a

panel to probe allegations of

administrative negligence and

misuse of funds against

Manipur University Vice-

Chancellor Aditya Prasad

Pandey, a source from the

HRD Ministry said on

Saturday. Students have been

on strike for more than a

month demanding Mr.

Pandey’s resignation and an

independent probe. PTI

Divine journey: (Clockwise from top) Devotees pull the chariots of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra during the 141st Rath Yatra in Puri, Odisha, onSaturday; a deity being brought out of the Shree Jagannath temple to be installed on a chariot; and dancers perform in front of the chariots. * PTI, BISWARANJAN ROUT

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Pull of faith

Amid debate over tacklingthe spread of hate speechand misinformation via social media platforms, a recent poll has found that 78%respondents believe the platforms should be held responsible for taking actionagainst accounts engaged introlling, abuse andharassment.

“Issues such as trolling,abuse and spread of misinformation is rising exponentially, leading to lynchingand in cases, riots,” said Sachin Taparia, Founder of theonline community networkLocalCircles that organisedthe poll.

When asked what was themost practical solution forsocial media platforms totackle these issues, 59% respondents said real identityshould be made mandatory

for all accounts, while 26%said the abusive accountshould be immediatelyblacklisted.

On who should be liablefor trolling and abusive content on a platform, about 41%said it should be the userswho are primary source ofsuch content, 8% pitched forplatforms to be accountableand 48% said both users andthe social media platformswere responsible.

Asked if the social mediaplatforms should remove offensive, and rumour basedcontent proactively, majority 89% answered in the

affi��rmative.LocalCircles said it re

ceived over 58,000 responses from about 30,000 unique users across India.

Mishi Chaudhary, Managing Partner MCA (a law fi��rm)and former Executive Director, SFLC.in told The Hindu

that WhatsApp needs toshow serious commitment tostop its platform from beingused to spread misinformation without compromisingsecurity of the messagingapp.

SFLC.in in an open letterto internetbased messagingservice providers called formodifi��cations to platformsso users can no longer be added to group chats withoutexpress permission.

“Malicious actors can usethis feature in highly abusiveways, most notably by creating trollgroups to subjecttheir victims to largescaleharassment. Blocking suchactors is ineff��ective asblocked contacts can stillcommunicate with theirblockers over group chats,”said Ms. Chaudhary.

Social media platforms must stop abuse: pollRespondents callfor removal ofhateful content

59% respondents said realidentity should be mademandatory for all accounts.

Yuthika Bhargava

NEW DELHI

Haryana’s new initiativeto teach children EnglishCHANDIGARH

The Haryana Education

Department on Saturday said

that it has launched an

initiative aimed at capacity-

building of teachers to enable

them help students to read,

write and speak in English

right from Class I. The

programme is titled ‘I am not

afraid of English’.

To start with, a booklet

containing 1,000 sentences

and phrases has been

prepared. It contains 200

sentences per grade for all

the five grades at the primary

level of schooling. PTI

Pilgrims arrive at the Haj House in Srinagar before leaving forSaudi Arabia on Saturday. * NISSAR AHMAD

The fi��rst batch of Haj pilgrims was on Saturdayfl��agged off�� by Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who said preparations for ensuring asmooth pilgrimage havebeen completed.

The fi��rst batch of 410 Hajpilgrims from Delhi left forMadina from the IndiraGandhi International Airport on Saturday morning.A total of 1,28,702 pilgrimswill be facilitated by the government across Indiathrough the Haj Committeethis year. Over 1,200 Haj pilgrims are scheduled to leave

Delhi for Saudi Arabia inthree fl��ights on Saturday.Besides Delhi, 450 pilgrimsfrom Gaya, 269 from Guwahati, 900 from Lucknowand 1,020 pilgrims from Srinagar will also leave for Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Noting that Haj 2018 wasbeing organised accordingto the new Haj Policy, Mr.Naqvi said it had made theentire Haj process transparent and ensured better facilities for the pilgrims. Hesaid that despite the removal of the Haj subsidy andvarious new taxes imposedin Saudi Arabia, there wasno additional fi��nancial burden on the pilgrims.

First batch of Haj pilgrims

leaves for Saudi Arabia Press Trust of India

New Delhi

A 48yearold man waslynched by villagers in Bihar’s Rohtas district on Saturday after he bludgeonedhis wife to death with aniron rod.

The incident occurred atVishrampur village underMufassil police station ofthe district. Mufassil policestation SHO Jagniwas Singhsaid the deceased havebeen identifi��ed as Durgawati Devi,40, and her husband Gopal Nutt.

Police are investigatingthe double murder and ascertaining what led to thefi��ght between the couple.Nutt allegedly hit his wifeon the head, infl��icting fatalinjuries to her.

Devi, who was broughtto Sadar hospital by villagers, succumbed to her injuries. This angered the villagers who, in turn, beat upher husband and killedhim on the spot, the SHOsaid. The postmortem ofboth the bodies have beenconducted, the SHO saidand added that an unnamed FIR has beenlodged with Mufassil policestation.

Man lynchedin Bihar forkilling wife


Sasaram

Concerned about the growing cases related to spreadof misinformation via WhatsApp, the Maharashtra government will hire factchecking agencies to curbspread of rumours and fakenews on social media.

The government will alsostart a monthlong drive tocreate more awareness rather than indulging in any regulatory mechanisms to control social media, senioroffi��cials said.

Hinting that the government was not keen on regulating social media, ChiefMinister Devendra Fadnavison Friday said societyshould develop its own“contemporary norms” tocurb fake news.

“We have already put up

1,000odd hoardings acrossseveral cities to createawareness about fake news.Further, about one croremessages have been forwarded asking people to payattention to the infl��ammatory content of messagesand... immediately informthe right authorities,” saidSpecial Inspector General(cybercrime) Brijesh Singh.

“We are closely studyingthe patterns of viral messages and how they get spread.It is important to identifythe networks through whichthese are spread,” he added.

Maharashtra to focuson exposing fake newsNot keen on regulation, hints Fadnavis


Mumbai <> It is important to

identify the

networks through

which viral

messages spread

Brijesh Singh,

Special Inspector General, Cyber-crime

G. Arumugam, 31, who wasarrested on Friday for causing the death of a college student during an unauthorised disaster preparednessdrill here in Tamil Nadu, toldhis interrogators that he hadconducted 1,467 such sessions at various private colleges across the State since2011.

Logeswari, 19, died whenArumugam pushed her fromthe second fl��oor of the KovaiKalaimagal College of Artsand Science building hereon Thursday.

Arumugam, who claimsto be a trainer associatedwith the National DisasterManagement Authority, wasremanded in judicial custody in Coimbatore CentralPrison till July 27.

The police on Saturday also interrogated fi��ve persons,including a girl, who had assisted Arumugam in providing disaster managementtraining at various colleges.

The police said they havenot added any other chargeagainst Arumugam, who wasarrested under Section 304(ii) of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). When he was detainedon Thursday, Arumugamclaimed that he was trainerwith the National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA). However, he wasfound to be an impostor asthe NDMA denied his claimon Friday.

House sealed“Various statements givenby the accused need to beverifi��ed after taking him intocustody. A confession statement has to be recorded thereafter. Other charges, iffound necessary, will be added at a later stage,” said Pa.Moorthy, Superintendent ofPolice, Coimbatore District(Rural) Police.

Arumugam’s residence at

Mambakam in Chennai,which was found locked, hasbeen sealed by the police. Itwill be opened for evidencecollection in the presence ofArumugam during his custodial interrogation.

Several certifi��cates, including a course completioncertifi��cate from NDMA,which Arumugam claimedto have, are believed to be inthe house.

Meanwhile, Arumugamhas told investigators that hehas a bank account and apostal savings account. “Theinvestigating team will verifyif the accounts exist... Weare hoping to collect detailsabout his savings, sources ofincome and fi��nancial transactions if the accounts really exist,” said Mr. Moorthy.

Aide picked upOf Arumugam’s fi��ve associates, three had assistedhim during the disastermanagement drill held atKovai Kalaimagal College ofArts and Science at Alandurai on Thursday.

An aide named Ashok waspicked up by the police fromErode on Saturday for allegedly helping Arumugam prepare fake certifi��cates.

Perur DSP A. Velmurugansaid that those who assistedArumugam in his trainingsessions were not aware ofhis fake credentials.

The police are yet to register a case against the fi��vepersons.

Impostorconducted1,467 drills T.N. police question fi��ve of his associates

Staff Reporter

COIMBATORE

A picture shared by G. Arumugam on socialmedia shows him addressing students.

Don’t disband UGC,Palaniswami urges PM CHENNAI

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister

Edappadi K. Palaniswami has

written to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi, saying there

is no need to disband the

University Grants Commission

and bring in the Higher

Education Commission of

India in its place. In a letter,

he brought to the attention

of the Prime Minister the

apprehensions of the

Government of Tamil Nadu

with regard to the draft Bill

on the Higher Education

Commission of India.


CMYK

A ND-NDE




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

seem to be expanding because the Brahmaputra hastaken away much of ourland, forcing us to huddle insmaller spaces,” he says.

The Brahmaputra thatused to be miles away is nowfl��owing 3 km north of Hima’s village.

According to Tajmul Hassan, a sports secretary ofAASU, Hima, as lifetimesports secretary of AASU’sDhing unit, has locally beenat the forefront of a renewedmovement against illegal infl��ux. She has also been vocalagainst Delhi’s bid to pushthe “nonsecular” Citizenship (Amendment) Bill of2016 that seeks to grantquick citizenship to nonMuslims from Afghanistan,Bangladesh and Pakistan,he said.

Social changeBut some 190 families ofKandhulimari and adjoiningvillages know her more asan activist against social ills.In 2016, she led a group ofwomen in dismantling an illegal liquor outlet at AuniAti. The outlet’s operator retaliated, fi��ling a case againsther father Ranjit Das, 52,and two others.

“The last hearing was onJune 27. But I don’t mind appearing in court [at the district headquarters, Nagaon,26 km away] for a daughterwho has put me on top ofthe world,” says Mr. Das, afarmer.

Centurion Rajanikanta Boraof AuniAti village, adjoiningKandhulimari, said therewere only seven houses ofmigrants during Quit Indiain 1942. “Today, we are surrounded by migrants, bothMuslims and Bengali Hindus, who tend not to interact with us,” he says.

Many Assamese familiessold off�� their fi��elds andhomes because of migrantpressure and became urbanmigrants themselves.

“It breaks my heart whenever I visit Dhing, our ancestral town. It is a living example of how in onegeneration, one has to liveas a minority in one’s ownplace. Dhing now has over90% Muslims of East Bengal, East Pakistan and Bangladesh origin,” says Upamanyu Hazarika ofPrabrajan Virodhi Mancha,or antiinfi��ltration forum.Mr. Hazarika is the father ofMonalisa Baruah Mehta.

Writing on the wallThe last Assamese who wonthe Dhing Assembly constituency were Motiram Boraand Beliram Das ( jointly) in1951. The locals saw thesigns when the prominorityAll India United DemocraticFront won the seat in 2006and retained it in the nexttwo elections. In between,Dhing had become a byword for confl��ict. Duringthe language riots of the early 1960s, houses of manyBengali Hindus were burnt.And in the 1970s, the UnitedLiberation Front of Asom’sLuitporiya (the Brahmaputra riverbank) wing wasformed here to ‘liberate Assam from occupiers’. Mostof the cadre were from theindigenous villages aroundHima’s.

“Our fi��rst mission wasagainst the migrant peopleof RadhaAti, who were intoarmed robbery. Thingschanged after gunfi��ghts in1983,” says Dipak Bora,coordinator of the Luitporiya wing.

RadhaAti, just over a kilometre from Kandhulimari,used to be called Assam’sChambal.

Ashafuddin, resident ofthe nearby Muslim villageKhoirabari, trashes the infl��ux theory. “It is wrong tocall us Bangladeshis. We

Hima campaigns forchange in Assam

Hima Das

the lookout for the missingpeople.

Some students in the boatclimbed the base of the underconstruction pier andsaved themselves. Fishermen and local villagers besides bridge constructionworkers rescued about 20people.

According to a releasefrom the Chief Ministers Offi��ce, rescue operation is underway under the supervision of East Godavaridistrict Collector KartikeyaMisra and Superintendentof Police Vishal Gunni.

Though it was a pubic holiday for schools the studentswere asked to take part inthe Vana Mahotsavamlaunched by the State government.

Offi��cials in the RealTimeGovernance Centre at theSecretariat said six schoolchildren — Kondepudi Ramya, Polisetti Veera Maneesh, Polisetti Anusha,Sirikoti Priya, Polisetti Suchitra and Sunkara Sreeja —are believed to havedrowned. The governmentdepartments concernedhad been alerted to be on

7 missing as boatcapsizes in Godavari

Launching a strong counterattack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congresson Saturday said his speechin Uttar Pradesh refl��ectedthe ruling party’s “nervousness” about an imminentdefeat.

“The Prime Minister is soconsumed by his desire totake revenge on Rahul Gandhi that he has become blindlike ‘Dhritarashtra’ and hasstarted spreading hate,” saidCongress communicationchief Randeep Surjewala.

His comment was in response to Mr. Modi’s statement in Uttar Pradesh wherehe had referred to news reports that quoted Mr. Gandhias saying that the Congresswas a Muslim party.

At a briefi��ng at the partyheadquarters, Pramod Tiwari, Rajya Sabha memberfrom Uttar Pradesh, said, “Ifwe start calling you [Modi]by your various nicknamespopular among the public aswell as on social media, youwill not feel good. So pleasethink before you call seniorleaders of other partiesnames. We will have to for

get the dignity of your postthe way you have done.”

“We would have to rakeup all the names by whichthe common people call aperson who does not fulfi��lhis promises, who is allwords and little action,” hesaid.

Mr. Tiwari said after getting 73 Lok Sabha and 323Assembly seats, people ofUttar Pradesh wanted tohear about the BJP’s development track record.

“The public had been expecting to hear from the

Prime Minister about jobs,employment, farmers’ dues,about the reopening ofclosed factories and mills.But he spoke none of that because he has nothing toshow on the ground,” Mr. Tiwari said.

The Congress leader saidthat while the Prime Minister in Azamgarh claimed thathis government was fi��ghtingfor the rights of Muslim women, he did not mention incidents of rape in the State,including the one where BJPMLA Kuldeep Singh Sengaris involved.

The Congress also accused the Prime Minister oftaking credit for development work done by earlierState governments and theUPA.

Chidambaram’s salvoEarlier, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram attacked Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for herpress conference on Friday,where she raised the issue of“Congess being claimed aMuslim party”.

Taking to Twitter, Mr. Chidambaram said, “After taming Pakistan, eliminating ter

rorism, stopping infi��ltrationand acquiring Rafale aircraft, the Defence Ministerhas all the time in the worldto inquire into the religiousaffi��liations of parties andpersons!”

“The Defence Ministersays there are ‘plans to inciteriots in the runup to LokSabha election’. She shouldshare her secret (?) information with the Home Minister,” Mr. Chidambaramadded.

On Thursday, an Urdu daily had reported that Mr.Gandhi, who met Muslim intellectuals on Wednesday,had told them that the Congress was a Muslim party.

But on Saturday, one ofthe invitees, Professor S. Irfan Habib, denied any suchconversation took place.“Taken aback to hear thatRahul Gandhi is being accused of calling the Congressa Muslim party in a meetingwhere I was present. Itseems to have malicious intent, no such issue came upat all,” he said.

“When Governance fails,Rumour rules!,” Mr. Surjewala said at a press conferenceon Friday.

BJP is nervous, says Cong.’Modi has started spreading hate in his urge to take revenge on Rahul Gandhi’


New Delhi

P. Chidambaram

The Samajwadi Party (SP)and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday took onPrime Minister NarendraModi for taking undue credit for the Purvanchal Expressway and using it forpolitical mileage. Mr Modilaid the foundation stone forthe sixlane expressway, expected to cost over ₹��23,000crore, earlier in the day.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadavsaid not only was the projectconceived by his government, the alignments of the314 km expressway were also approved under him andmost of the land was alreadyacquired. He added that theBJP government had sacrificed the quality of construction to deceive people.

BSP chief Mayawati saidthe BJP was following its“old tradition” of launchingprojects just before elections with the purpose ofdeceiving people. “It’s anold project. Had PM Modiimplemented it at the righttime, soon after 2014, hewould have been inaugurating it today and not laying itsfoundation,” Ms. Mayawatisaid.

U.P. Chief Minister YogiAdityanath shot back at theSP, saying the Akhilesh Ya

dav government did not deserve any credit for the project. Mr. Adityanath saidonly 20% of land had beenacquired by the SP government and no work had started. Nor were environmentaland forest clearances acquired. He said the BJP government had managed tosave ₹��1,514 crore on the project cost in comparison tothe bidding by the AkhileshYadav government in 2016.

Once completed, the expressway would reduce travel time from Purvanchal toDelhi via the LucknowAgraExpressway and the Yamuna Expressway. The Stateplans to connect it with Varanasi, Ayodhya, Allahabadand Gorakhpur.

In Varanasi, Mr. Modi laidthe foundation stone and inaugurated projects worthover ₹��900 crore.

Modi stealing SPproject: AkhileshMayawati accuses PM of deception

Omar Rashid

AZAMGARH

Akhilesh Yadav

President Ram Nath Kovindon Saturday nominated RamShakal, Sonal Mansingh, Rakesh Sinha and RaghunathMohapatra as members ofthe Rajya Sabha.

Article 80(1)(a) of the Constitution, read with Article80(3), provides that the President can nominate to theRajya Sabha 12 persons having special knowledge orpractical experience in thefi��elds of literature, science,art and social service.

Vacancies fi��lledThere were currently onlyeight nominated members inthe Rajya Sabha, and hence,four vacancies.

Mr. Shakal “is an eminentpeople’s leader and publicrepresentative from UttarPradesh, who has devotedhis life for the welfare andwellbeing of the Dalit community”, said an offi��cial release.

It added that he was wide

ly respected for championing the cause of farmers, labourers and migrants. Hehas also been a threetimeMP, representing the Robertsganj constituency ofU.P.

Dr. Sinha is a Delhibasedacademic known to be closeto the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He is the founderand honorary director of thethink tank India Policy Foundation, teaches at MotilalNehru College of Delhi University, is a member of theIndian Council of SocialScience Research and also abiographer of RSS founder

K.B. Hedgewar. Dr. Sinha told The Hindu

over phone that as a doctoralstudent, he had done research on the CPI(M).

Stone carvingMr. Mohapatra is consideredan authority on stone carving. “Practising since 1959,he has trained over 2,000students. He has contributedto the preservation of traditional sculpture and ancientmonuments, and hasworked on the beautifi��cationof the Sri Jagannath Temple,Puri,” said the release. “Hisfamous works include a six

foothigh statue of the sungod carved in grey sandstone, in the Central Hall ofParliament; and the woodenBuddha, Buddha Temple,Paris.”

Classical danceMs. Mansingh is an exponents of Indian classicaldance. The release said,“She has been performingBharatnatyam and Odissi forover six decades. She is alsoa wellknown choreographer, teacher, orator and social activist. She founded theCentre for Indian ClassicalDances, in Delhi in 1977.”

Former Lok Sabha member, Delhi-based academic among the nominees

Roll of honour: (From left) Raghunath Mohapatra, Sonal Mansingh and Rakesh Sinha


NEW DELHI

Four nominated to Rajya Sabha

A Kolkata court has summoned Congress leader andformer Union ministerShashi Tharoor for his remark that the BJP will pavethe way for creation of a“Hindu Pakistan” if voted topower again, lawyerpetitioner Sumeet Chowdhurysaid here on Saturday.

Mr. Chowdhury moved apetition before a Metropolitan Magistrate Court, alleging that Mr. Tharoor’s comment created disharmonyand was “a deliberate andmalicious act intended tooutrage religious feelings.”

Mr. Tharoor was sued under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to NationalHonour Act, 1971. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (1) M. Dasgupta directed issuance of the summons

to the Congress leaderthrough post and on hisTwitter handle. The courtdirected him to appear before it on August 14.In thepetition, Mr. Chowdhurysaid Mr. Tharoor had refused to apologise. In Thiruvananthapuram, Mr. Tharoor said at a meeting that ifthe BJP returned to power, itwould rewrite the Constitution and turn India into a“Hindu Pakistan”.

Kolkata courtsummons Tharoor Press Trust of India

Kolkata

Shashi Tharoor

Amid a row over allegeduse of derogatory languagein a web series while referring to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, Congresschief Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the BJP and theRSS believe that freedom ofexpression must be policed, while he regarded itas a fundamental democratic right.

“My father lived anddied in the service of India.The views of a character ona fi��ctional web series cannever change that,” Mr.Gandhi tweeted onSaturday.

His remarks come daysafter a plea was fi��led in theDelhi High Court, seekingremoval of certain scenesfrom the Netfl��ix seriesSacred Games, claimingthat some of its contentwas derogatory to RajivGandhi. The High Courthas said it will hear theplea fi��led by advocate Nikhil Bhalla on Monday.

Police complaintAlso, a police complainthas been fi��led by Congressactivist Rajeev Sinha in Kolkata against the producersof the web series and actorNawazuddin Siddiqui overthe issue. The fi��rst seasonof the show, comprisingeight episodes, was released on July 6 and isavailable in 190 countriesin four languages.

Freedom ofexpression iskey: Rahul


New Delhi

The Chief of the Army Staff��,General Bipin Rawat, on Saturday visited the border region of Akhnoor in Jammuand Kashmir, amid politicaluncertainties in the Stateand ceasefi��re violations inthe area.

Mr. Rawat’s visit came aday after a soldier was killedat Keri, near Akhnoor, incrossborder fi��ring by Pakistani forces.

The Army said in a state

ment that Gen. Rawat wasbriefed on the “operationalpreparedness, prevailing security situation and actions

being undertaken to ensurea robust and eff��ective counterinfi��ltration grid”.

He reviewed the measuresand standard operating procedures (SoPs) institutedand being followed by theunits and formations.

The Army chief ’s visitcomes at a time when theAmarnath Yatra is under waywith intelligence inputsabout militant threats. OnSaturday, a fresh batch of2,986 Amarnath yatris leftthe base in Jammu for the

cave shrine in Kashmir. Theyatra will conclude on August 26, coinciding withRaksha Bandhan.

Amid the violence in theState, the political turmoiltoo continues. A BJPled effort to form a governmentwith support from PDP rebels is under way, even asthe former Chief Ministerand PDP leader MehboobaMufti warned that if her party split, it could have seriousimplications resulting in anew wave of militancy.

Army Chief visiting border areasBriefed on ‘operational preparedness, prevailing security situation’

Bipin Rawat


NEW DELHI

Mahendrasinh Vaghela,former Congress legislatorand son of former Chief Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela, on Saturday joined theruling BJP in Gujarat. Hewas inducted into the party by its state president JituWaghani.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that with Mr.Vaghela’s entry into theBJP, the party had got anew leader with mass basein north Gujarat.

The junior Mr. Vaghelawas a legislator in the previous Assembly and hadvoted against the Congressduring the Rajya Sabhapolls in which Ahmed Patelwas contesting from theCongress.

However, during the Assembly elections last year,Mr. Vaghela did not contestthe polls as the fathersonduo resigned from theCongress.

On Saturday, he joinedthe party amidst speculations that he will contestthe next parliamentarypolls as the BJP candidatefrom Sabarkantha Lok Sabha seat in north Gujarat.

His father, however, wasnot impressed with hisson’s decision and questioned his move in a pressconference. “I repeatedlytold him not to hurry andjoin any party. He shouldhave consulted his supporters and the electorate before joining the BJP,” Shankarsinh Vaghela said.

Vaghela’s sonjoins BJP Special Correspondent

Ahmedabad

The arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister NawazSharif on charges of corruption led to the BJP and Congress taking potshots at eachother on Saturday.

“Nawaz Sharif has beenarrested on corruptioncharges. We would like toknow what his dear friendPM Modi has to say aboutthis,” the Congress said in atweet.

This was seen as a dig atNarendra Modi’s surprise visit to Mr. Sharif at Lahore in2015 while returning fromAfghanistan.

The BJP hit back instantly,tweeting that leave alone the

PM, people of India were also thinking that those Indianpoliticians who were out onbail would also have to go to

jail. This was seen as a dig atCongress president RahulGandhi, as the BJP said afterthe Nirav Modi scam in Fe

bruary 2018 that Mr. Gandhiwas “out on bail in the multicrore National Heraldscam”.

The Congress’s remarkwas not its fi��rst; Mr. Gandhihad on Friday accused thePrime Minister of bowing to“pressure from a foreignpower” during his “noagenda” visit to China.

Mr. Sharif and his daughter Maryam are lodged in jailin Rawalpindi after their arrest upon returning to Pakistan from Britain.

A Pakistan court handedhim a 10year prison termand sentenced his daughterfor seven years over the purchase of luxury fl��ats in London in the 1990s.

War of words over Sharif ’s arrestCongress takes a dig at PM over his surprise visit to Lahore, BJP hits back


New Delhi

National Conference vicepresident Omar Abdullahsaid on Saturday that theCongress’s tweet aboutPrime Minister NarendraModi and former PakistanPrime Minister NawazSharif was disappointing.

“There are a lot of thingsI will be critical of PM Modifor but attempting to repair

India’s relations withPakistan is certainly notone of them. I’m not evengetting in to the internalpolitics of Pakistan thatmakes this tweet even moredisappointing,” Mr.Abdullah tweeted. TheCongress had posted aphotograph of Modi andSharif and asked what Modithought of Sharif arrestedin a corruption case.

Omar hits out at Cong. tweet


Srinagar

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“I want to ask the namdaarof the Congress party — Congress is a party of Muslims,apko theek lage, apko mub-arak — but tell us, is this party of Muslims only for menor does it have space for women? Does it have any spacefor dignity, honour andrights of Muslim women,”Mr. Modi asked at a rally inAzamgarh. He later addressed another rally inVaranasi.

Mr. Modi said the stand ofthe Opposition parties onthe issue of Triple Talaq hadexposed them. “These parties together, they are putting the lives of Muslim women in more diffi��culty,” saidMr. Modi. The PM promisedto provide Muslim women“mukti” from Triple Talaqand said he would try to

convince the other partiesin the upcoming session ofParliament, while suggesting that they interact withvictims of Triple Talaq andHalala.

After laying the foundation stone of the PurvanchalExpressway, Mr. Modi said“a Ganga of developmentwould fl��ow in east U.P.” afterthe completion of the project and take people’s hopesand aspirations to newheights.

The sixlane road, beingbuilt at a cost of over₹��23,000 crore, will passthrough Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkarnagar,Amethi, Sultanpur, Azamgarh and Mau before endingin Ghazipur on the easternfringes. The governmentplans to complete it by 2021.

‘Cong. is againstMuslim women’


CMYK




NEWS

Promising to help repatriateRohingya to Myanmar,Home Minister RajnathSingh told Bangladesh PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina onSaturday that India wouldprovide relief supplies forthe refugees in Bangladeshand build homes for them inRakhine state of Myanmar.

“The Indian Home Minister conveyed that India iscommitted to helping in thesafe, speedy and sustainablereturn of these persons totheir homes … India will alsocontinue to provide reliefmaterial and supplies to helpthe Government of Bangladesh deal with the needs ofthose in the relief camps,” astatement by the Indian HighCommission said.

Offi��cials present at themeeting told The Hindu thatMr. Singh said India was prepared to “step up” assistanceto approximately 7,50,000Rohingya refugees who hadfl��ed the violence in Myanmar, and provide food, medical or relief supplies needed.

The Home Minister’s dis

cussions with Ms. Hasinacame ahead of a visit by Bangladesh Foreign MinisterA.H. Mahmood Ali to Myanmar to oversee preparations

for the repatriation of thefi��rst batch of Rohingya refugees who have been verifi��edas residents of Rakhine, according to a deal brokered

between Bangladesh andMyanmar by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Indiahas off��ered to supply andconstruct prefabricatedhomes in Rakhine for the returning refugees.

Terror talksMr. Singh is in Dhaka to cochair the sixth round of IndiaBangladesh talks onHome aff��airs on Sunday. Heinaugurated the “BangladeshIndia Friendship Building” at the Bangladesh PoliceAcademy in Rajshahi. Histalks with Ms. Hasina focussed on tackling the “menace” of terrorism in the region, said the offi��cialstatement.

Briefi��ng the media, Hasina’s Additional Press Secretary M. Nazrul Islam said Mr.Singh had mentioned “somecountries in the region” thatwere not cooperating infi��ghting terror groups basedin South Asia, a reference toPakistan. Sources said thatMr. Singh suggested that ifthose countries were unableto curb terror groups in theirterritories, then they should“ask for help”.

“We are always in favourof holding dialogues to mitigate problems. We have resolved many issues — likeborder disputes — throughthis process,” Ms. Hasina reportedly told Mr. Singh.“Bangladesh does not allowits territory to be used by anyterrorist individual, groupand entity — against any stateor people.”

In a tweet after the meeting, Mr. Singh said his deliberations with Ms. Hasina hadbeen “extremely fruitful”.

Visa centreLater, Mr. Singh and his Bangladesh counterpart, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, inaugurated the largest Indianvisa centre in the world atabout 18,500 sq.ft in JamunaFuture Park in Dhaka. It replaces four visa centres inthe capital and will serve visaseekers with 48 counters.The Indian High commissionissued l.4 million visas lastyear.

The Home Minister’s visitto Dhaka comes one monthafter Ms. Hasina travelled toSantiniketan and met PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

India to help repatriate RohingyaRajnath tells Sheikh Hasina that the refugees in Bangladesh will be supplied relief material

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

Home Minister Rajnath Singh calling on Bangladesh PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka on Saturday. * PTI/ TWITTER

Asaduddin Owaisi, MP andpresident of the All IndiaMajliseIttehadul Muslimeen, on Saturday criticised BJP president AmitShah for his alleged comments on the constructionof a Ram temple on the disputed site in Ayodhya.

He rejected the BJP’s clarifi��cation that Mr. Shah didnot make any suchcomments.

Addressing presspersonshere on Saturday, Mr. Owaisi reiterated that the BabriMasjid title dispute case wasbeing heard in the SupremeCourt. The court would alsodecide whether prayers in amosque was an essentialpractice in Islam.

Given the seriousness ofthe case, he said it was concerning that time and again,the Sangh Parivar and theBJP had been claiming thatthe construction of the Ramtemple would begin aheadof the Lok Sabha election in2019. “This is sending a

wrong signal to the country,but it is clear that the BJPand the Sangh Parivar areplaying politics of polarisation as they have failed inmatters of governance.”

He said the BJP wouldlose badly in Telangana inthe next Assembly election.“These people [BJP leaders]are not seen anywhere, savein TV studios. They have nofuture,” he said.

BJP sending wrongsignal, says Owaisi‘Raking up of temple issue a concern’

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD

<> It’s clear that the

BJP and the Sangh

Parivar are playing

politics of

polarisation

Asaduddin Owaisi

AIMIM president

The Defence Ministry has appointed a committee to lookinto the costing of productsand military platforms manufactured by defence public sector undertakings(DPSU), Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman hassaid.

The fi��rst project to be reviewed is the indigenouslight combat aircraft, Tejas,being manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.(HAL). This developmentcomes after the cost quotedby the HAL turned out to behigher than those of manyimported fi��ghters.

Expensive platformsAlso several platforms manufactured under licence inIndia have been found to bemore expensive than the imported platforms.

“In general, we haveasked a committee to seehow the costing of productsmanufactured by the DPSUsis being done,” Ms. Sitharaman told presspersons onFriday. The committee willbe chaired by the Director

(Costs) in the Ministry. Shesaid the Indian Air Force(IAF) had come forward requesting that the LCA be thefi��rst product to be reviewed.“We feel there is a need for areview,” she said.

The committee will review all military hardwareand systems being manufactured by the DPSUs. The report is expected to be submitted within 60 days, Ms.Sitharaman said.

The IAF has committed toinducting 123 Tejas jets in various confi��gurations. Ofthese, 40 have already beenordered and negotiations areunder way for 83 Mk1A variants featuring specifi��c advancements. However, theHAL has quoted over ₹��463crore for each aircraft, whilethe advanced twinengineSukhoi30 assembled in India costs just over ₹��400crore. This price is also a

steep rise in comparison tothe LCA Mk1 variant forwhich the HAL quoted ₹��100crore.

There have been other instances where licencemanufactured products of theHAL have been costlier thanthose imported. The Su30fi��ghters imported from Russia and the advanced jettrainer Hawk from the U.K.are cheaper than those manufactured by HAL.

Tejas price comes under scrutinyNew committee to look into prices of products manufactured by defence PSUs

Hard on the purse: The HAL has quoted ₹��463 crore each for an LCA variant. * K. MURALIKUMAR

Dinakar Peri

New Delhi

BJP president Amit Shah onSaturday exhorted the youthto contribute to nationbuilding and participate indemocratic processes.

He was inaugurating atwoday Youth Parliament atKarnavati University inGandhinagar.

“For India to develop, weneed the participation ofyouth. Our youth have a bigrole to play in nationbuilding,” Mr. Shah said.

The twoday event, titledForum for Democratic Dialogues, is hosting nationalleaders including Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, Rajya Sabha memberSubramaniam Swamy, BJPparliamentarian MeenaxiLekhi, Congress spokespersons Priyanka Chaturvediand Pawan Khera andothers.

In his inaugural speech,Mr. Shah talked about theNDA government’s achievements. “We are the world’s

oldest and largest democracy. If we have to think aboutIndia of 2025, we need tostudy our past and analysewhere we are today. New India will be free of casteism,corruption and terrorism,”'Mr. Shah said.

“No nation can progresson its own or with the contribution of just a few individuals; hence, the youth havean important role to play in

building the nation andfurther strengthening it,”the BJP chief said.

He also used the platformto attack the Congress andblamed it for many problems the country is facingtoday. “The party that ruledthe country before NarendraModi became Prime Minister failed to create internaldemocracy in its workings,”Mr. Shah said.

Says party has no internal democracy in its workings


AHMEDABAD

BJP president Amit Shah speaking at Karnavati University inGandhinagar on Saturday. * VIJAY SONEJI

Congress caused India’smany problems: Shah

Sushma Swaraj arrives inBahrain on 2-day visitMANAMA

External Affairs Minister

Sushma Swaraj was accorded

a warm welcome here on

Saturday as she arrived here

on her twoday visit to

Bahrain. Ms. Swaraj, who is

visiting Bahrain for the third

time, will cochair the second

joint commission meeting

with her Bahraini counterpart

Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al

Khalifa. Issues of trade,

investment and counter

terror cooperation are likely

to be discussed at the

meeting. PTI

IN BRIEF

Civil Services prelimsexam results declaredNEW DELHI

The result of the Civil Services

preliminary examination was

declared by the Union Public

Service Commission (UPSC)

on Saturday. The examination

was held on June 3. The

results can be accessed on

the website www.upsc.gov.in.

Successful candidates have

been asked to apply in the

Detailed Application Form

(DAF) for the Civil Services

(mains) exam, a statement

said. Candidates have to first

get themselves registered on

the website before filling up

the online DAF, it said. PTI

Women street vendors of Manipur seek help IMPHAL

Women street vendors here

have taken up cudgels against

the Manipur government,

after the State made a second

attempt to evict them.

Seeking protection, the

Manipur Roadside Women

Vendors’ Welfare Association

on Saturday demanded

construction of a market

for them near the sports

complex in Imphal and

distribution of identity cards.

The association said the

women should be allowed to

occupy the first floor of the

main Ima market.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will hold Statewide protests against PrimeMinister Narendra Modiduring his visit to West Bengal on Monday.

The CPI(M) State leadership said black fl��ags wouldbe waved at the Prime Minister, who is scheduled toaddress a rally in the Midnapore town of Paschim Medinipur district.

“The Centre’s claim thatits decision to hike the minimum support price (MSP)for kharif crops is for thefarmers’ benefi��t is nothingbut treachery. Not only willwe greet the Prime Ministerwith black fl��ags during hisvisit, but we will also holdprotests across the State,”CPI(M) State secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said. However, he did not disclosethe places where CPI(M)workers would show blackfl��ags to the Prime Minister.

State BJP president DilipGhosh said the meeting —titled Krishak Kalyan Samavesh (Conference for farmers’ welfare) — was being organised by the State BJP to“congratulate” the PrimeMinister for hiking the MSPon kharif crops.

BJP president Amit Shahwill also attend a rally on Au

gust 3 in Kolkata, organisedby the party’s youth wing,the Bharatiya Janata YuvaMorcha (BJYM). “The rallywill be against the ‘murderof democracy’ by the Trinamool Congress in Bengal.BJYM national president Ponam Mahajan had urged Mr.Shah to attend the rally andhe agreed,” said Mr. Ghosh.

More meetings plannedHe also said that Mr. Modiand Mr. Shah would holdrallies at regular intervals inthe State ahead of the LokSabha elections in 2019.

“Apart from the Prime Minister and the party president, Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh and the Minister of Road Transportand Highways Nitin Gadkariwill also hold several ralliesin Bengal. However, thedates are yet to be fi��nalised,’said Mr. Ghosh.

Will greet PM withblack fl��ags: CPI(M)Modi to address rally in West Bengal

Staff Reporter

Kolkata

Surjya Kanta Mishra

That 11 proposed private universities applied for the status of institutes of eminenceseems to signal the ambitions of private universitiesin India. This, however,lends itself to the question:will they become as widelysought after by students astop government institutionsare now? And, if so, how?

Recent years have seenthe opening of institutionssuch as O.P. Jindal Global University, Ashoka Universityand Shiv Nadar Universitywith faculty from renowned

institutions the world over.Much before them, institu

tions such as the ManipalAcademy of Higher Education and BITS, Pilani hadcome up.

The older ones, however,were not able to match toppublic sector institutions,such as the IITs, the IIMs, Jawaharlal Nehru Universityand Delhi University.

A long way to goIn the National InstitutionalRanking Framework, there isstill no private institution inthe top 10.

A Professor teaching at a

top private university in theNational Capital Region toldThe Hindu: “You cannotcompare institutions whichhave come up recently with,say, the IITs, which date backto the 1950s.” He said good

private universities wouldcertainly break into the topleague, but such a reputationwould take a few years tocome.

While the most promisingprivate universities are already matching thefaculty pool ofthe top public institutions, the moot questionis whether the diff��erence infees between them will makeit possible for the brighteststudents from modest backgrounds to study there.

C. Raj Kumar, ViceChancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University, told The Hindu:

“The good private universities, particularly the onesthat are established throughphilanthropy, need to provide generous scholarshipsand fellowships that will empower the students who can

not aff��ord tobe educatedin top insti

tutions. Government scholarships should also be madetenable at the institutionalchoices of the student concerned. I don’t see any reason why meritorious students who qualify forgovernment scholarships belimited to only a few public

universities.”He said diff��erential fee

structures were not uncommon, and these needed to bebased on the cost of the programme and the earningability of the graduates.

He, however, said that faculty ability through proventrack record was a must inhigher education, addingthat Indian universities oftenignored this.

An academic from a topprivate university said thatsome private universitieswere already giving full scholarships to a certain percentage of students.

Private varsities need time to break into big leagueNone of them in top 10 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework, but new entrants are recruiting eminent faculty

Vikas Pathak

NEW DELHI

NEWS ANALYSIS

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday fi��led a supplementary chargesheetagainst Gujarat cadre IAS offi��cial Pradeep N. Sharma over money launderingcharges.

The Directorate had initiated investigation againstMr. Sharma on the basis ofFIRs registered by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Crime division inRajkot.

It was alleged by the CIDthat Mr. Sharma, as the thenDistrict Collector of Bhuj,had abused his power and allotted land to Welspun atlower rates and therebycaused loss to the exchequer.

The ED alleged that Mr.

Sharma had made an investment of ₹��1 lakh in the nameof his wife in 2008 in a fi��rm,Value Packaging, for channelling ₹��29 lakh in the guiseof profi��t distribution by thesaid fi��rm.

The accused used theNRO bank account of hiswife for the purpose of layering the proceeds of crime,received from Value Packaging, where his wife was oneof the partners.

About ₹��10 lakh was transferred to the account of Mr.

Dewashrayee, brotherinlaw of Mr. Sharma, whichhas been attached by theDirectorate.

Hawala channelsMr. Sharma had allegedly invested in immovable properties and also transferred ₹��1crore outside the countrythrough the “hawala” channels into the account of hiswife in the United States.

Accordingly, the agencyhas attached assets worth₹��1.19 crore in the case so far.

ED chargesheets Gujarat IAS offi��cer Directorate has attached assets worth ₹��1.19 crore in the case so far


NEW DELHI <> As Bhuj Collector,

Pradeep Sharma

allegedly abused his

power and allotted

land to Welspun at

lower rates

BJP, PDP in unnecessaryblame game: SinhaSRINAGAR

Rebel BJP leader Shatrughan

Sinha said on Saturday that

there was an “unnecessary”

blame game going on

between the BJP and PDP in

Jammu and Kashmir after

their ruling alliance in the

State collapsed last month.

Mr. Sinha, who has been at

loggerheads with the current

BJP leadership since the 2015

Bihar elections, said it was

wrong to shift the blame on

the other side as “nobody is

perfect”. He was visiting

Srinagar as part of a

delegation of the

parliamentary committee. PTI


desh, promising to move away fromsynthetic fertilizers and pesticides andrejuvenate the degraded soil, a retiredcivil servant, T. Vijay Kumar, is leadingthe project.

What is the mission?Mr. Kumar is being seen as the primemover of the ZBNF as Andhra Pradeshinches towards becoming India’s fi��rstnatural farming State, covering 60 lakhfarmers and 12,294 gram panchayats by2024, and 80 lakh hectares or 90% ofthe cultivable area by 2026.

For Mr. Kumar, a 1983batch IAS offi��cer, heralding a natural farming era is adream and comes at the end of a longcareer, 28 years of which were spent onthe Tribal, Rural and Agriculture Deve

lopment Departments. After retiringin September 2016, he became ad

viser to the government onagriculture and vicechair

man of the Rythu SadhikaraSamstha, a notforprofi��t

company set up by the

Like many other States, Andhra Pradesh is known for indiscriminate use ofchemical fertilizers and pesticides tothe extent that residues found their wayinto mothers’ milk in a few villages inGuntur. As Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) takes root in Andhra Pra

government to usher in natural farming.According to Mr. Kumar, “'for bothfarmers and consumers, natural farming is a winwin situation.” Simply put,the ZBNF is a practice that believes innatural growth of crops without fertilizer and pesticide or any other “foreign”elements. The inputs used for seedtreatments and other inoculations arecow dung and cow urine. Vidarbhafarmer and Padma Shri awardee Subhash Palekar, the biggest champion ofthe ZBNF, pioneered a cow dung andcow urinebased concept for seed treatment, inoculation, mulching and soilaeration.

How did he spread the word?Mr. Kumar realised that to promote theZBNF, he would have to speak to thefarmer in a language he understands.He prompted the Agriculture Department to identify community resourcepersons or ‘champion farmers’ from thevillages who would motivate other farmers to achieve the ultimate goal of ‘bio

villages’ (the entire village taking to natural farming) in phases. The initialcommitted group of 800, trained in natural farming, were used as CRPs tospread the concept. After preparatorywork, this massive task began with Mr.Palekar’s eightday training for 5,000farmers in the ZBNF in January 2016. Bythe end of 2017, 40,000 farmers in 704villages were covered, 201718 saw1,63,000 being roped in at 972 villages,and during the current year the target is5,00,000 farmers in 3,015 villages.

What were the challenges?For Mr. Kumar, one of the biggest challenges was that of mindset. Farmers hadbeen brought up to believe that chemicalbased farming, with external inputs,was necessary to increase yields. Butwhen fellow farmers who had taken tonatural farming briefed the others ofthe benefi��ts, especially of cost, theytook to it “like fi��sh to water.”

Having worked for rural welfare foryears, Mr. Kumar found it easy to reach

out to the community. In service, hehad initiated the novel concept of Community Coordinators. Under it, youngprofessionals from reputed institutes,like the IITs, would spend three years ina tribal village. Then as CEO of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty ofthe undivided Andhra Pradesh government from 2000 to 2010, he implemented a poverty eradication programme onan outlay of over ₹��2,600 crore. The programme, covering all villages, was successful in organising 1.15 crore ruralpoor women in thrift and creditbasedselfhelp groups. The key impact is thatthese groups mobilised bank credit tothe tune of ₹��65,000 crore in the undivided State as on March 2014.

What lies in store?Mr. Kumar is looking forward to the day,most likely by 2024, when Andhra Pradesh will be called a natural farmingState.

VENKATESHWARLU K

P Qp qWHO

Vijay Kumar,promotingnatural farming




CMYK

A ND-NDE

WHO ● WHAT ● WHY ● WHEN ● WHERE

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the counter attack. The development ofS400 (NATO name SA21 Growler) wasstarted towards the end of the SovietUnion in the 1980s and was disruptedby the collapse of the Communist blocin 1991. The system is specifi��cally designed to detect and destroy an array oftargets — strategic bombers; aircraftused for electronic warfare, early warning, and reconnaissance; fi��ghter jetssuch as F16 and F22; and incoming missiles such as Tomahawk. Russian forceshave deployed at least halfadozenS400 regiments, at least two of them

S400 Triumf is one ofthe world’s most ad

vanced air defence systems that can simultaneously track numerous incomingobjects — all kinds of aircraft, missilesand UAVs — in a radius of a few hundredkilometres and launch appropriate missiles to neutralise them. It is now bangin the middle of the ongoing standoff��between Russia and Western nations.Among the countries under pressurefrom the U.S. not to buy this weapon isIndia. The system is a large complex ofradars, control systems and diff��erenttypes of missiles. The highly automatedS400 has radars that can pick up an incoming object up to a 1,000 kilometresaway, track several dozen incoming objects simultaneously, distribute the targets to appropriate missile systems andensure a high success rate. The command post detects, tracks and identifi��esthe target. Then the tracked object is taken over by manned antiaircraft missilesystems of the complex, which launch

are for the protection of Moscow. Russiahas also deployed at least two S400 systems in Syria, much to the concern ofobservers who fear the system couldcontribute to a global confl��ict breakingout in Syria. A single unit, consisting ofeight launchers, 112 missiles and command and support vehicles, costs atleast $400 million (₹��2,500 crore).

S400 traces its origins to the desperation of the Cold War

period to fi��nd a credible counter to thethreat from missiles and incoming enemy aircraft. S400 is a dramatic improvement from its predecessor S300,which was the mainstay of Soviet Union’s air defence during the Cold War,when nuclear missile threat was at itspeak. S300 was initially developedagainst incoming cruise missiles and aircraft, but the latter versions could alsointercept ballistic missiles. They weredeployed in the 1970s across Soviet Un

ion for protecting key industrial complexes, cities, and other strategic assets.

Today, the S400 uses four diff��erenttypes of missiles and can track andshoot down incoming objects as faraway as 400 kilometres, while it alsohas shorterrange missiles to track andshoot down objects that are closer.

The acquisition ofS400 by countries suchas India and Turkey has

taken centre stage in the American diplomacy regarding Russia. Upfront, therecent sanctions against Russian entities, especially its military manufacturers and suppliers, mean any countrybuying the system may run into trouble.Besides, the U.S. has singled out the acquisition of S400, telling potential customers such as India and Turkey that itis opposed to the move. It believes thatS400 could access sensitive U.S. military technologies in service with the potential buyers. Congressman Mac

Thornberry, Chairman of the U.S.House Armed Services Committee, during a recent visit to New Delhi, said:“There is lot of concern in the U.S. overthe S400 system. There is concern thatany country, and not just India, thatchooses to acquire the system will makeit harder to have the level of interoperability we want to have.”

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on

Friday said the negotiations for theS400 were in a “conclusive stage.”There are confl��icting reports about Turkey’s plan. American diplomats have accused Russia of “fl��ipping” Turkey withthe S400 off��er, while Turkey claims it isa defensive system. At the NATO summitin Brussels early this week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu saidthe fi��rst batch of the S400 systemwould be in Turkey by late 2019.

JOSY JOSEPH

The lowdownon Triumfsystem

What is it?

How did it

come about?

Why does

it matter? What next?

P Qp qWHAT

says this is irrational. “HIV complications can be pretty serious. Cryptococcal meningitis requires costly antifungals,” he points out. This means bothillnesses must be compensated diff��erently, he says. The fundamental problem, according to doctors and hospitals, is that the reimbursement rateswere not calculated in a scientifi��cmanner.

Ayushman Bharat did rely on a studyof over 100 hospitals in 60 cities, according to Dinesh Arora, director of thescheme. But these were mostly hospitals with under 50 beds in tier2 andtier3 cities. The cost structure of thesehospitals is substantially diff��erent fromtertiarycare hospitals in tier1 cities formultiple reasons. Tertiarycare hospitals have superspecialists, a greaternurse/bed ratio, and hitech facilitiessuch as catheterization labs, all of whichcost more. Mr. Gyani says almost allneurosurgical procedures, and severalcardio procedures, have to be carriedout in such facilities, because few small

Why are hospitals displeased?

■ Ayushman Bharat, the world’s largesthealth insurance scheme aimed at covering 50 crore Indians, is facing teething troubles. In May, the governmentpublished the rates that insurance companies would pay hospitals for the 1,350procedures covered under the scheme.These rates have become a stickingpoint for hospitals, which have criticised them as arbitrary and low. For example, the price of Caesarean section,at ₹��9,000 for fi��ve days of hospital stay,food and consultation, is “laughable,”says Girdhar Gyani, directorgeneral ofthe Association for Healthcare Providers India (AHPI). Even government hospitals incur ₹��7,000 a day just to maintain a bed, he adds. Doctors have alsocriticised the clustering of medical conditions in the rate list. For example,treatment for tuberculosis and HIV withcomplications will be reimbursed at thesame rate of ₹��2,000 a day. AnupamSingh, assistant professor, medicine, atGhaziabad’s Santhosh Medical College,

er hospitals can do so. But the Ayushman Bharat rates don’t account forthese diff��erences.

What is the government stand?

■ For now, the government is committed to the launch date of August 15. Butoffi��cials have acknowledged that therates will be revised. Ayushman Bharathas asked the AHPI to submit a list of100 key procedures, for which a detailed cost study will be done. The results may come out around January2019, says Mr. Arora. Until then, Ayushman Bharat has asked hospitals to cooperate, and the AHPI has agreed. “Wehave more or less agreed to support thescheme until then,” says Mr. Gyani.

Aren’t there costing studies?

■ In 2016, the Karnataka KnowledgeCommission, a body under the State government, did a small study comparingthe costs of 20 frequent medical procedures with reimbursement rates underthe Vajpayee Arogyashree, Yeshaswini

and CGHS insurance schemes. The study found rates to be lower than costs foralmost all procedures under allschemes. For example, if a surgery torepair an atrial septal defect (a hole inthe wall between heart chambers) costhospitals ₹��1,59,438, they received between 29% and 34% of this amount under the CGHS. The problem was thatthis study covered only four private hospitals in Bengaluru, and was not representative of Indian variations. But it

showed that hospitals could be subsidising medical procedures greatly.

One reason reimbursement rates arelow under the CGHS is that they are decided through a tender system, whichpicks the lower quotes from hospitals.Further, even these rates are not paidon time. A 2010 paper from the IndianCouncil for Research on InternationalEconomic Relations calculated that theaverage delay in paying hospitals underthe CGHS was four months. Furthermore, the AHPI claims the CGHS stillowes hospitals ₹��400 crore in backpayments.

How will payment delays be avoided?

■ Mr. Arora says the problems plaguingthe CGHS will not aff��ect Ayushman Bharat. “We are committed to this. If yousee our guidelines, we say the paymentswill be made within 15 days.” A memorandum of understanding to this eff��ectwill be signed with the States.

PRIYANKA PULLA

is there a row overAyushmanBharat rates?

P Qp qWHY

15July 2018

P Qp qWHENThe countdown begins: Of the 32 teamswhich had qualifi��ed for the FIFA WorldCup 2018, France and Croatia will playthe fi��nal on Sunday at Moscow’sLuzhniki Stadium. While France won theWorld Cup in 1998, it is the fi��rst timeCroatia has reached this stage. With apopulation of 4.1 million, it is thesecondleast populated country ever toplay a fi��nal. Only Uruguay, which won in1930 and 1950, have fewer people.Croatia have been forced into extra timein each of their three knockout matches,edging Denmark and hosts Russia onpostmatch penalties before scoringlate in added play to beat England in thesemifi��nal. France, by contrast, havewon all of their matches since the roundof 16 inside 90 minutes. Ahead of theclash, France’s Paul Pogba said they arerejecting the favourites tag. Croatia maybe exhausted but led by midfi��elderwizard Luka Modric, they will play thebiggest match of their lives against aFrench side bursting with youth likeKylian Mbappe. * REUTERS

ern extremist groups from their hideouts beyond the boundary. The spotlight is on this frontier for allegedincursions by Myanmar soldiers.

Where is the incursion?Villagers along Manipur’s border say incursions are nothing new. For instance,Myanmar nationals have been occupying Govajang village near the trade townof Moreh in Tengnoupal district, thepredominantly Thadou people of thearea say. But the aggression has increased over the past six months. Theaction has been in the newly createdTengnoupal district, though the otherthree border districts — Chandel, Kamjong and Ukhrul — have issues too. According to the United Naga Council(UNC) of Manipur, an umbrella socioeconomic and cultural group of the Naga tribes, Myanmar soldiers on April 29vandalised a saw mill in Tengnoupal’sH. Lhangcham, a Maring Nagainhabited village between border pillars 75 and76. Two days later, Myanmar soldiers

Border disputes in the northeast areusually associated with China’s claim onArunachal Pradesh and alleged intrusion by Chinese soldiers. The 1,643kmborder with Myanmar along ArunachalPradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram often has more to do with smuggling of drugs, gold and wildlife bodyparts, as well as raids by the northeast

raided N. Satsang and Choktong, also inTengnoupal, and made 62 tribal families fl��ee. They dismantled the Indianboundary pillar number 82 and plantedtheir own. These villages are within 10km north of Moreh. The latest incidentwas reported from Kwatha Khunoufurther north, near where border pillar81 used to stand. Notably, only a 10kmstretch (Moreh area) of the IndiaMyanmar border is fenced.

What does Delhi say?The External Aff��airs Ministry has saidIndia has not shifted pillars demarcating the border with Myanmar and theboundary is settled and there is no confusion over its alignment. Manipur ChiefMinister N. Biren Singh has said his government has formed a highpowercommittee to investigate the incursions;it will seek a fresh survey if any discrepancy is found. But UNC leader GaidonKamei said Myanmar soldiers and civilians have illegally occupied a largechunk of land on the Manipur side of

the boundary from pillar number 81 to88. A Congress team that visited KwathaKhunou a fortnight ago found a subsidiary Myanmar pillar 100 metres in Indiafrom pillar 81. The team also found Burmese graffi��ti and a symbol of Myanmarfl��ag on the base of a tree that the Meiteipeople worship as a deity and claimedthat Myanmar took over half of Molfeivillage inhabited by the Kuki. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, who was in Manipurat that time, insisted that there was noborder dispute. The Congress and someNGOs took it as admission that India gifted land to “please Myanmar, whose rulers are getting closer to China.” Whythen do Assam Rifl��es soldiers stop people from inspecting the border and whydon’t Indian surveyors visit the area,they ask.

Is history responsible?The BJP had earlier blamed Manipur’sboundary problem with Myanmar on Jawaharlal Nehru for not claiming the Kabaw Valley (in Myanmar) during demar

cation in 1947. In the medieval ages,Manipur and Burmese kings oftenwrested the valley from each other untilthe British defeated the Burmese andsigned the Treaty of Yandaboo in 1826.But the valley was returned to Burma inthe second treaty of 1834 and a boundary line between British India and Burma was drawn by Captain R.B. Pemberton. The Pemberton Line had left outcertain restive Kuki areas that were included in a rectifi��ed boundary in 1881called Johnstone Line. The boundarywas redrawn again in 1896 to have 38pillars and be known as Maxwell orPembertonJohnstoneMaxwell Line.But Burma never participated in theseexercises until India and Burma becameindependent. After negotiations startedin 1953, both ratifi��ed the 1896 line viathe Rangoon Agreement on March 10,1967. Border residents in Manipur hopeNew Delhi makes it clear to Myanmarthat history needs to be respected.

RAHUL KARMAKAR

In Manipur,incursions on the border

P Qp qWHERE

ILLUSTRATION: J.A. PREMKUMAR





CMYK

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COLUMNWIDTH

Last year, when my son graduated, hetold me that he wanted to do a postgraduate course in International Security from Sciences Po in Paris. Tillthen, I had heard of neither the coursenor the institution, but he rattled off��facts: Sciences Po was one of France’shandful of Grandes Écoles, which areelite universities outside the Frenchpublic university system; the university (and the course) was amongst thehighest rated both in Europe and theworld; and Sciences Po had producedevery French President since WorldWar II. He is now in the second year ofhis course, a Masters degree, and enjoying it very much.

Nothing beats word of mouthThe point of this autobiographicalpreamble is that when it comes to education, particularly higher education,quality and desirability lie in the eye ofthe beholder. Certifi��cation by the government or selfmarketing by the institution cannot take the place of wordof mouth and, more importantly, theprofi��le and performance of past alumni in making a place desirable in theeyes of a student on the verge of making a lifealtering decision regardingher choice of subject and place of study. To the best of my knowledge,Sciences Po had neither done anythingto market itself to potential students inIndia, nor did it have any governmentcertifi��cation to fl��aunt. Nevertheless, a20yearold Delhi student had managed to acquire all the necessary information required to help make up hismind.

This helps to contextualise the realproblem with the government’s recentmove to once again try to ‘reform’ thehigher education setup in India. Thedraft Higher Education Commission of

India (Repeal of University GrantsCommission Act) Bill has been widely— and perhaps justifi��ably — panned forincreasing bureaucratic and politicalcontrol of higher education in thename of autonomy. The Bill proposesthat the HECI will oversee accreditation, curricular and quality issues,while the Human Resources Devbelopment Ministry will control the fundingand grantgiving process. And as withany attempt by the government tocreate a socalled independent regulator, the fear of regulatory and governance capture by vested interests isreal, and stems from bitter past experience in other sectors where this hasbeen attempted.

Perhaps the most telling commenton the real position of Indian institutesof higher learning visàvis the qualityof education they provide is that overhalf a million young Indian men andwomen leave our shores every year tostudy abroad. Together, they (rather,their families) spend over ₹��65,000crore a year on equipping themselveswith the chance to be competitive inthis rapidly changing world.

This sum is more than twice the government higher education budget.The day Indian institutes can get Indian families to spend this money onthem instead of some foreign institutesis when one can truly claim that Indiais providing competitive, worldclasshigher education.

But that won’t happen withoutsome major changes. Currently, India’s higher education space, with ahandful of honourable exceptions, ispopulated by governmentfunded in

stitutions in terminal decline and private institutions, most of which are littlemore than degree shops. There is rampant politicisation, chronic underfunding, and academic neglect in thegovernment institutions while theprivate ones charge outrageous sumsfor the quality of education they provide and make a mockery of the UGC’s‘not for profi��t’ condition imposed onsuch activity. The reason they surviveis that demand outstrips supply by ahuge margin. India’s gross enrollmentratio in higher education is onlyaround 25%, which means only one infour eligible students actually enrollsfor a college or university degree. Forinstance, over 6.5 lakh students qualify for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test but there are only 65,000seats. This means that desperate students take any option available, whichleads to the sector’s other big problem:unemployability. There is no matchbetween a candidate’s qualifi��cationsand skills. This is why holders of postgraduate and even research degreesseek (and mostly fail to secure) clericaljobs.

What to doWe are running out of time to fi��x thisproblem. A report by the State Bank ofIndia, released last month, warnedpolicymakers that they had less than10 years to solve this. If they fail, Indiawill be permanently stuck in the developing nation category, since its demographic dividend will not have the required education or skills to make it aproductive part of the workforce.

We need to open the sector to newinvestment by committed professionals (ditch the ridiculous ‘not for profi��t’rule for starters), rampup the qualityof curriculum and teaching in universities, and ensure quality at all stages,from qualifi��cations to exit. And thiswill have to be acknowledged by thestudents. The day Indian studentsprefer Indian universities, the day anIndian examination is recognised internationally, in the manner that China’s Gaokao is recognised in the U.S., isthe day we can claim that we have got ahandle on the problem.

Convince the student fi��rst Regulatory change won’t persuade students that they’re getting a better education

Raghavan Srinivasan

is Editor, The Hindu BusinessLine

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The unfamiliar thrumming is hard toidentify at fi��rst. As it grows louder coming over the hill, you guess it’s not something on the ground but somethingaerial. Suddenly, the celestial wardrumming is right overhead and youcan see the three machines that are aurally carpetbombing north London.The creatures look like a combination ofhelicopters and old turboprop airplanes, except the twin engines on eachare pointed upwards, comically priapic,the wings extending beyond the propellers looking extremely small, somewhat like a fat man with tiny hands. Theloud things head southwards and thenbegin to curve back. As I walk to myfriend’s house near Finsbury Park, thechoppers seem to be going around,

keeping me in the centre of the circle,and also coming lower and lower.

Noisy copters I ring my friend’s doorbell and he letsme in. It seems odd that the house isn’tshaking with the copter noise. “Aliens.And it’s clearly you they are after,” myfriend says. I shake my head. Could it bethe RAF showing off�� some new toys forits 100th anniversary? We check on theNet and identify the machines as V22Ospreys belonging to Donald Trump’sU.S. Marine Corps escort. The jokes arealready fl��ying about on the Net: “IsTrump trying to bomb us or is it BorisJohnson attempting a military coup?”And: “This is how Putin will make theU.K. submit — via a pawn POTUS and hisAir Force.” Then: “First Hitler’s Stukas,now Trump’s Ospreys, but we shall never surrender!” This last comparison isactually quite apt: the Stuka dive bomber was designed to make a terrorisingwail as it plunged to bomb hapless civilians. No doubt the good folks at BellBoeing kept that in mind while designing the sound output of their Ospreys.But what was it that Trump’s (or the

mangled apricot hellbeast as he hasmemorably been called) security escortwas looking for exactly? The V22s hadalready been seen over diff��erent parts ofLondon and its vicinity, but this eveningthey seemed to be concentrating onFinsbury Park. We concluded that theywere letting the people at the FinsburyPark mosque know they were around.“Maybe they can smell missiles. Orrogue nukes,” said my friend. “OrTrump baby balloons. Maybe they are

here to shoot down the blimp,” I added.

Some thoughts on ‘Sacred Games’Talking about rogue nukes, my Indianhost and I have been binge watchingNetfl��ix’s Sacred Games. This is not theplace for a proper review of the seriesbased on Vikram Chandra’s novel, butwatching the episodes sitting in Londonat this moment does throw up somethoughts.

First of all, for Indians of a certain

generation, such as my host pal and myself, the series provides some real pleasures. There is the tectonic layering ofBombay from the late ’70s till now, plotting and action which is understatedwhen compared to most Bollywoodfi��lms, and the background score by Alokananda Dasgupta, which is a real triumph. Saif Ali Khan’s overweight copSartaj Singh is the most convincing rolethe actor has played since, perhaps,Omkara, showing us that when the ballis in his hitting zone, he can score heavily. Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Ganesh Gaitonde has moments of great, powerfulacting and moments of OTT bathos, butit’s true that Nawazuddin has the bestlines and comic moments.

Most importantly though, this seriesis a kind of coming of age for Indian cinema and TV in that it brings in real historical events and political fi��gures anddeals with them without kid gloves. Weare used to seeing European and American fi��lms and TV series depicting historical leaders critically and making funof them — of U.S. Presidents Kennedyand Nixon, and British Prime MinistersChurchill, Aden, Macmillan and Thatch

er, for instance. This is how it should be.It is pleasing that the Congress, specifi��cally Rajiv Gandhi, and the Hindutvabrigade, with Advani’s role underlined,catch it a bit in the series. Bal Thackerayis missing, yet the most present in fi��ctionalised form. Hindutva terror leadersstart coming to the fore by the end ofSeason 1, something I will happily takegiven the rarity of such portrayals.

However, the references to recent Indian history and the intricacies of Indian politics will be totally lost on thenormal Western viewer. If you’re someone who has studied India in your undergraduate days, you may get somestuff��, but mostly the very texturing myfriend and I are so happy to see in a Indian work of fi��lmed fi��ction will work asan almost opaque fi��ller for most foreignviewers. The Shah Bano case, the Mandal upheavals and the Babri destructionmay hold pivotal value for us in following the story of Sacred Games, but therealisation also hits home that, at leastin the near future, these references willalways be carpetbombed by the noiseof events closer to home in Europe andnorth America.

‘Sacred Games’, a coming of age for Indian televisionWhile the series provides some pleasures, its numerous historical and political references could be lost on a Western audience

Ruchir Joshi

is a writer, fi��lmmaker and columnist

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Every trend betrays some of the anxieties of its times, and so it is with thecurrent fascination with book towns.In his celebratory and fabulously illustrated volume, Book Towns: FortyFiveParadises of the Printed Word, AlexJohnson is conscious of the concernsthat are behind these new commonspaces springing up around the world.He defi��nes a book town rather loosely,as I suppose one necessarily must: “Abook town is simply a small town,usually rural and scenic, full ofbookshops and bookrelated industries.” The model for this repurposingof small, scenic sites into book districtsis HayonWye in Wales, but it took along time from that moment of inspiration in the early sixties, and from thegrowth of Hay as a destination site, forthe concept of book towns to catch onglobally. It took the crisis of the bookas we know it, in the retail model (withdeep discounts online undermining independent and chain bookstores) aswell as technology (with ereaders putting not just sellers on edge but alsoupturning the publishing industry, especially in the West).

Bookshops and boardingWrites Johnson: “In hamlets, villagesand towns around the world, likeminded booksellers, calligraphers,bookbinders, curators, publishers andarchitects are coming together to ensure a future for the printed book, defying the ebook onslaught, and providing a new future for fadingcommunities.” The proximity of publishing and retail enabled in booktowns harks back to a time when theengagement between diff��erent sectorsof the book trade was more intimateand contributory. The scattering ofbookshops in homes and establish

ments within a circumscribed spacestands in contrast to the sameness ofthe big book chains and the algorithmic recommendations of onlinestores. Many bookshops in these btowns also off��er boarding, with someplacing beds among the shelves, withguests hopefully inhaling argumentsfor the importance of independentbookshops in the circulation of ideas.

The most famous of the ‘new’ booktowns is Wigtown in Scotland, withone of its retailers, Shaun Bythell, writing the hugely popular The Diary of aBookseller, about the joys and challenges of running the biggest secondhand bookshop, and another local establishment, The Open Book, drawinglong waitlists for a chance to live on thepremises and run the store for a fortnight. The Open Book too might be outwith a biography of itself soon — thelodgers are expected to keep a diary oftheir bookselling experiences. Johnson explains how book branding haschanged the local community. Wigtown, which makes for achingly scenicphotographs, was in economic declineby the midnineties with a downturn inits whisky distillery and creamery industries and with properties facing demolition. In the time since its makeover, the town is booming suffi��ciently,and “the distillery has reopened”.

In contrast with towns that havebeen refurbished, the South Koreansjust built a new city. Besides, PajuBook City is the only member of the International Organisation of Book

Towns (now, that’s that’s a high tablefor India to aim at) to have nothing besides the book trade: “Every singlebuilding and person here is dedicatedto making, publishing, selling, promoting Korean books (the cafes do sellcoff��ee too).” Located near the KoreanDemilitarised Zone, its presence alsocarries its own message of higher pursuits than confl��ict and nuclear rivalry.Being new, and given the attention toarchitectural detail, Paju strikes another contrast to the other book towns:while their environs have a nostalgicappeal, Paju does not carry the weightof local economic and real estate legacies. It appears to be looking ahead.

Adapting the concept locallyIn a short section, ‘Beyond the BookTown’, Johnson sets us off�� imagininghow the book town concept can bemodifi��ed to suit local conditions.There is, fi��rst, the extremely scenicBhilar in Maharashtra, where strawberry cultivation drives the economy.Last year, it became India’s fi��rst BooksVillage (Pustakanche Gaon), but instead of books being up for sale, inhomes and establishments across Bhilar books have been made available tobe borrowed. Most of the books are inMarathi, and it will be crucial to seehow this plan grows organically. Giventhe lack of neighbourhood librariesacross India (as elsewhere), a “bookarea” based on borrowing is perhaps aconcept whose time is now.

And what about towns that don’thave to declare themselves booktowns, they are already and characteristically so? “There are now twentyoffi��cial UNESCO Cities of Literaturedotted around the globe, but if onlyone could be awarded the honorarytitle of ‘Book Town’, Buenos Aireswould be a strong contender. It hasmore bookshops per person than anyother city in the world.”

Here, another trend of the futuremay be visible: librerias a puertas cerradas (or “closed door bookshops”),where the owner’s personal collection(“not for sale”) comingles with thevolumes that can be bought. No algorithm can beat that.

The new b-towns Ways to imagine spaces for just books and us

Mini Kapoor

is Ideas Editor, The Hindu

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Earlier this week, a senior retired diplomat tweeted a “joke” that France wasthe last African country to remain in thefootball World Cup. African ostensiblybecause many of the French playershave subSaharan ancestry. This is not aparticularly original joke or a newcharge. In 2005, the philosopher AlainFinkielkraut unwittingly went down thispath when he said that the French soccer team “has become black, black, blackand [France] the laughing stock of Europe”. Notwithstanding the infelicity ofdisseminating a racialist talking point ofthe French right wing, what the “joke”revealed is that even intelligent outsiders think of the ‘nation’ in terms that areat odds with what in fact constitutes it.

Across a wide swathe of IndoEuropean historical memory, the word na

tion has been intimately tied to the ideaof birth. The root word natio comesfrom the old Latin word gnaci (to beborn), which scholars tell us comesfrom a protoIndo European languageroot gena (to give birth). In Old Avestan(ancient language of Iran), the word appears as zizanenti (they give birth) andin Sanskrit as ‘jana’ (birth). In Indianpolitical history, the word goes onto acquire other valences and utility — as ‘jana’ (the people) or as ‘janapada’ (the republic). Today, the word nationalist hasa certain positive shine to it (albeit thecosmopolitans may disagree), in ancient Rome the word ‘natio’ had a derogatory fl��avour. The natives of Romeused the term to describe outsiders whowere united by their birth in a specifi��carea. Foreigners are, as the Greeks hadit, merely a stone throw away frombarbarians.

A marker of the eliteAround the late 13th century, when universities in Europe began to slowly acquire a patina of respectability, theysent out groups of theological scholarsto deliberate on disputes inside churchcouncils. A cluster of scholars who hadsimilar opinions or followed the same

schools of interpretation were oftenclassifi��ed as belonging to a nation. As isto be expected, where an authority toadjudicate exists, the political power ofthe state or the monarch soon intercedes. Before long, these interpreters ofthe ecclesiastics ended up as representatives of their secular masters — the local lords, lieges, and kings. Despite thisgrowing relationship with the secularpowers, the nation remained a markerof the elite who lived in a world of universities, courts, and churches. Beingpart of a nation implied being a willing

participant and adherent to a particularmode of thinking, a world far removedfrom farmers, blacksmiths, labourers.

A homogenous entityBy the early 15th century, however, thisidea of a nation became synonymouswith ‘the people’. Thus, a descriptorused by the elites to describe themselves ended up being deployed to include the lower classes across feudal societies of Europe, and more particularlyin England. With this commingling ofsubjects — the elite and the demotic —

under one category came a transformation of mentalities: people began to seethemselves as an homogenous whole.The visible diff��erences such as class andwealth were, under the gaze of the nation, ultimately less important. Withthis privileging of one kind of social cohesion over all others began the age ofnationalism.

At its heart, the nation demands atheory of homogeneity alongside with abelief in the distinctiveness, if not superiority, of the people. When the rightwing mocks the African origins of manyof the French players, to the questionabout what sort of homogeneity describes the French nation, their answeris: a biological homogeneity. Thus, according to this calculus, a nonwhiteperson could never be French. Elsewhere, when the RSS speaks about a HinduRashtra, the vision of homogeneity theydemand of the nation is a membershipin a Hindu cultural paradigm. In Israel,the homogeneity that marks the Jewishnation is, by construction, a religiousone. In Rwanda of the 1990s, the homogeneity demanded of the nation was anethnic one.

In each of these cases, there are fundamental barriers that prevent outsid

ers to be included to the nation. Formost people, these demands of homogeneity — based on skin colour, mothertongues, adopting new cultural practices, or religion — are not just onerous butalso violates their sense of self.

Meanwhile, liberal democracies buckthis trend. Citizenship in liberal democracies is a matter of voluntary subscription to a code of rules (the Constitution). The homogeneity demanded is ofthe mind and principles and not of body, race, or language. The result is thatliberal democracies can only survive bysupplanting the original value system.The wave of populist and nativist rhetoric that we see today, within andagainst liberal democracies, world over,is an eff��ort to return to an older conception of nation — one predicated on race,ethnicity, culture, and religion. The seductiveness of an older vision coupledwith the ineffi��ciencies and corruption ofthe liberal order should give any liberaldemocrat a pause. The responses andreactions to the football World Cup remind us that beneath all the feelgoodrhetoric of benign nationalism or postnationalism, a deeper and darker version of nationalism burbles, awaiting anviable opportunity to pour through.

A clash of nations The jokes about the France football World Cup team being mostly of African origin show that beneath the rhetoric of benign nationalism, a darker version of nationalism burbles

Keerthik Sasidharan

is a writer and lives in New York City

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



Crisper CRISPRScientists from University of

California, San Francisco,

successfully used CRISPR

technology to edit T cells

genes without using viruses to

deliver the DNA. This

development is likely to have

implications for treatment of

cancer, autoimmune and other

inherited conditions.

CAPSULE

Fate of the universeIn a paper in Physical Review

Letters, researchers report that

gravitational waves given off

by a black holeneutron star

binary is likely to give the

most accurate estimate of the

Hubble constant, a factor that

measures how fast the

universe is expanding. This will

give insights into the origin

and fate of the universe.

Warm zones in ice ageStudying corals in the Red Sea,

researchers reconstructed

annual temperature and

aridity. Stretching from the

present back to year 1751, this

includes a bit of the Little Ice

Age. They find that when

Europe experienced bitter

cold, the area around the Red

Sea grew arid, showing no

signs of cooling.

New volcano on IoUsing data collected by NASA’s

Juno spacecraft, scientists

have got clues to a previously

undiscovered volcano on the

Jupiter moon Io. With its

Jovian InfraRed Auroral

Mapper (JIRAM) instrument,

the Juno spacecraft found a

new heat source close to the

south pole of Io, NASA

researchers said.

Now, mind uploadsA new technology that is

receiving huge amounts of

funding is called mind upload.

This involves scanning the

brain, cell by cell, and

uploading the data on a

computer. The goal is to make

it possible to keep functional

copies of the human brain.

that is where the team’s success with hydrogel substrateto grow the cells holds greatpromise.

“The problem becomesparticularly acute in elderlypatients as fewer number ofmesenchymal stem cells canbe recovered,” he says.

Novel culture plates“We did see senescence setting in at an early stage itself(day 56) and gradually increasing when plastic plateswere used. But in the case ofgel, there was an increase insenescence around day sixbut it remained constant afterthat,” says Dr. Majumder.“Traction reduced, and theproliferative nature of stemcells got prolonged when weused the gel.”

Mesenchymal stem cellsadhere to the substrate andthe cells tend to contract,causing traction force to setin. The traction force applied

A major obstacle in using human mesenchymal stem cells(hMSCs) to treat a variety ofdiseases has been successfullyovercome by a team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. The team led by Dr.Abhijit Majumder from the institute’s Department of Chemical Engineering found hydrogel plate made ofpolyacrylamide was a perfectreplacement for conventionally used plastic culture plates.Unlike the plastic plates, thehydrogel ensured that stemcells multiplied and retainedthe stem celllike nature(stemness) for up to 51 days(20 generations) and diff��erentiated into bone, cartilage orfat cells. The preprint fi��ndings are reported in bioRxiv.

When grown on plastic culture plates, the mesenchymalstem cells become large andfl��at, and also irregular inshape. The cells stop multiplying and growing (reach senescence) after a certain numberof cell divisions. While only limited number of mesenchymal stem cells can be obtained from the body, a largenumber of cells is required forclinical applications. The onlyway to increase the number inthe lab is to allow them to multiply. But multiplication toreach the desired numbers iscurrently not possible usingplastic culture plates. And

by cells increases with stiff��ness of the substrate on whichit is grown.

Substrate stiff��ness, possiblyvia modulating cellular traction, determines how long thestem cells maintain theirstemlike nature. Plastic plateshave greater stiff��ness (in gigapascals), while gel used in theexperiments have only 5 kPa.

“When we used gels thatare too soft (12 kPa) stem cellsfailed to proliferate. Cellsstarted dividing as we increased the stiff��ness of the gel.But beyond 5 kPa, the cellspread area [size] got aff��ectedand the ability to maintainproliferation was compromised,” says Sanjay K. Kureelfrom IIT Bombay and fi��rstauthor of the paper.

When mesenchymal stemcells derived from umbilicalcord were cultured on plasticplates and gel, the cells losttheir morphology and entered senescence much ear

lier in the case of plasticplates. Similar results wereseen in the case of mesenchymal stem cells derived frombone marrow.

“While the stem cells maintained their shape and proliferative potential for 33 daysand beyond when cultured ongel, the proliferative potentialstarted to reduce after day 15when grown on plastic plates.That’s why we got more cellsat the end of the experimentwhen we used gel,” says Pankaj Mogha from IIT Bombayand the other fi��rst author ofthe paper. “The doubling time[time taken for cells to doublein number] also increasedwhen plastic was used.”

Thus by 50 days, a huge difference in the doubling timewas seen — 512 times morestem cells were obtainedwhen they were cultured ongel than on plastic plates. Putsimply, one cell multiplied tobecome 4 million cells after50 days when cultured onplastic plates, while one cellcultured on gel gave rise to2,000 million (2 billion) cells.

“We could show that physical microenvironment is associated with senescence. Andthe use of gel reduces the timetaken to attain a large numberof cells that can diff��erentiateinto specialised cells. This becomes particularly importantwhen we seek to treat patientswho are more vulnerable toinfection or need immediatetherapy,” Dr. Majumder says.

IIT Bombay: Breakthrough instem cell proliferation With the new method, stem cells retained the stem celllike nature for up to 51 days

Traction reduced and the proliferative nature of stem cells gotprolonged when we used the gel, says Abhijit Majumder (right)

R. Prasad

High salinity is one of themajor problems in agricultural fi��elds and manycountries, including India, use an organic sulphur compound thioureato minimise the negativeeff��ect of salt stress. Now,using molecular biologytools, scientists fromBhabha Atomic ResearchCentre (BARC), Mumbaihave reported how thistreatment altered theplant RNA and hormonesto facilitate this survival inmustard plants grownwith high salt stress (125150 milliMolar NaCl).

Anthropogenic factors,irregular irrigation andproximity to the sea cancause high salinity in theagricultural fi��elds and thisinduces redox imbalanceand damages the plant.Various studies haveshown that thiourea is agood redox stabiliser as itscavenges multiple reactive oxygen species including hydrogen peroxide. The researcherscarried out studies to understand how this thiourea activates the tolerance mechanisms.

Mustard seedlings, just20dayold plants, grownin a liquid nutrient medium, were given salinetreatment with and without thiourea, and theirgrowth was studied for seven days. The plantswhich were supplement

ed with 75 micromolar ofthiourea showed increased survival and better phenotype with largerleaves compared with thegroup grown in salinemedium.

The researchers thenstudied the microRNA ofthe plant as it is an important component that regulates plant transcriptomesaccording to the environmental conditions.

“We found that downregulated microRNAswere enriched in thethiourea group to facilitate transcriptional activation and adaptation under salt stressconditions,” explains Dr.Ashish Kumar Srivastava,at BARC and fi��rst authorof the paper published inScientifi��c Reports.

They also studied diff��erent genes and plant hormones that are involvedin stress managementand identifi��ed four keygenes responsible for theadaptation. Plant hor

mones such as ABA, Auxins, jasmonates whichhave been shown to playimportant roles in salt tolerance were all found tobe coordinately regulated upon thioureatreatment.

The team also studiedthe eff��ect on spraying diluted thiourea directly onthe shoot of rice plantsgrown in arsenic contaminated soil and found it effective in reducing arsenic accumulation in ricegrains.

Further studies are underway to validate the effects of thiourea in riceand multiple diff��erentcrops under varied environmental conditions.

“Thiourea based technology can sprovide easycumaff��ordable solutionto the farmers for minimizing abiotic stress induced losses in cropplants,” explains Dr. Penna Suprasanna at BARCone of the authors of thepaper.

Scientists decode howmustard plants tolerate saltThiourea is used to minimise bad eff��ects of salt stress

Aswathi Pacha

We identifi��ed four key genes responsible for theadaptation, says Ashish Srivastava (standing)

wound dressing was prepared using silkworm fi��broinsas the matrix and was coatedwith 0.1 mg/ml of recombinant spider silk proteins containing antimicrobial peptides, cell binding protein andgrowth factor peptide. Whereas the growth factor stimulates cell proliferation and recruits cells to the site ofwound, the cell binding protein also helps in recruitingcells to the wound site and inthe cell migration process.

“The spider silk has highaffi��nity towards silkworm silkand so readily selfassemblesas a thin coating on top of thematrix without the use of anychemicals. Since the interaction between spider and silkworm silk is strong the coat

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have developed bioactive wound dressings andbioartifi��cial skin by using silkworm silk fi��broin as matrixand coating it with recombinant spider silk proteins. Ifanimal trials are also successful, the wound dressing mighthelp in treating chronic andsevere wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers, while skingraft might come handy forburn patients.

Wound dressingsWhile wound dressings reduced bacterial populationby nearly fourfold andshowed good antibiofi��lmproperties, the silk scaff��oldsseeded with human dermaland epidermal cells led to thedevelopment of bioartifi��cialskin. The team led by Prof. Biman Mandal from the Department of Biosciences andBioengineering also vascularised (develop blood vessels)the bioartifi��cial skin by usinghuman dermal microvascularendothelial cells. The resultsof the study were publishedin the journal ACS AppliedMaterials & Interfaces.

Nanofi��brous silk mat for

ing remains stable,” saysDimple Chouhan from IIT Guwahati and fi��rst author of thepaper. Both mulberry andnonmulberry silk varietieswere suitable for producingthe matrix, with the nonmulberry silk showing quickerand stronger selfassemblywith spider silk.

If silkworm silk matrix isdirectly functionalised thenmore volume of the activecompounds will be requiredand tunable delivery of thecompounds will also bediffi��cult.

The functionalised spidersilk used in the study was developed by Dr. My Hedhammar from KTH Royal Instituteof Technology, Stockholm,Sweden, and coauthor of the

paper. The two cationic peptides

— Magainin I and Lactoferricin — contained in the spidersilkcoated silk mats showedgood antibacterial activityagainst two of the most common bacteria found inwounds — Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcusepidermidis. “The cationicpeptides are nonspecifi��c andso can target most bacteriapresent in the wound. Wetested the peptides againstboth Grampositive andGramnegative bacteria andthe peptides reduced thepopulation of both andstopped bacterial growth,”says Prof. Mandal. The peptides did not allow biofi��lm formation till the end of 24 hoursof study.

Since chronic wounds lackcell binding proteins andgrowth factor to recruit skincells to the site, the healinggets delayed or obstructed.But the presence of these proteins and antimicrobials inthe coated silk mat helped theteam achieve “functionallyactive mats” for wounddressing.

Skin graftsTo develop bioartifi��cial skingrafts, a soft, porous scaff��old

made of silkworm silk proteinwas coated with recombinantspider silk protein containingRGD proteins that promotecell binding and proliferation.Under in vitro conditions, thescaff��old was cultured with human dermal (fi��broblasts) andepidermal (keratinocytes)skin cells. While the dermaland epidermal skin cells ledto the development of a bilayer skin graft, blood vesselswere formed in the skin graftby culturing the scaff��old withhuman dermal microvascularendothelial cells.

“We maintained the scaffold cocultured with two skincells types and blood vesselforming cells for 21 days anddeveloped skin grafts,” saysChouhan. “We could mimicboth the epidermal and dermal layer of the skin and thuscome up with a facile, effi��cient and aff��ordable way todevelop functionalised constructs for tissue engineeringand possible drug screeningapplications.”

“We are currently performing follow up studies using various animal models to examine the effi��cacy of bioactiveconstructs, to understand thehealing properties and studycellmaterial interactions,”Prof. Mandal says.

IIT Guwahati’s innovation might help in treating chronic and severe wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers

The peptides reduced the population of both Grampositive andGramnegative bacteria and stopped their growth, say BimanMandal (right) and Dimple Chouhan.

Silk-based bioactive wound dressing and skin graft

R. Prasad

Computing may itself be acomplex world for many, butclassical computational complexity is an area literallybooming with research.Quantum computers add anew dimension to this fi��eldin the form of quantum complexity. Now, a major problem concerning quantumcomputing has been settledby Ran Raz, professor atPrinceton University, and Avishay Tal, now a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. “The quantumcomplexity world is rocking…” writes Lance Fortnow,Professor of ComputerScience at Georgia Instituteof Technology, in his blog,referring to the splash madeby a paper posted online onMay 31 in the Weizmann Institute website.

Now what could be so exciting? It’s a complex story

that begins with complexityclasses. First, computingproblems have degrees ofhardness associated withthem. The class in which youplace a problem is related tothe effi��ciency of the algorithm used to solve it, namely, the number of operationsa computer must make to arrive at the solution.

Think of a set of RussianMatrioshka dolls: the biggestdoll contains a smaller onewhich in turn contains asmaller one and so on. Thehierarchy of complexityclasses can be viewed as a setof Matrioshka dolls.

The smallest doll here isthe set P of problems forwhich there are known effi��cient, ‘polynomial time’ algorithms. One such exampleis matrix multiplication. Asthe size of the matrices increase, the time taken tomultiply them using a classical algorithm increases as a

polynomial function of thesize of the matrices. Linearprogramming is another problem in P.

A larger doll containing Pis the set NP. While algorithms that solve problems inNP are not yet known, effi��cient algorithms that can verify whether a proposed solution is a correct answer doexist.A typical problem inthe NP class is a version ofthe travelling salespersonproblem: Given pairwise distances between ‘n’ cities, weask if there is a route to visitevery city just once so thatonly ‘L’ litres of petrol arespent.

A still larger doll, or a classthat contains all the abovementioned classes, is PH,which stands for polynomialhierarchy.

Complexity crunchThe analogy of Matrioshkadolls must be taken carefully

though, because it is still notknown whether the problems in NP have effi��cient algorithms that can solvethem. Hence, whether Pequals NP is an open problem. Indeed, it is a millennium problem in the Clay Institute’s list. If someone showsthat the classes all have polynomial time algorithms,there could be a great complexity crunch!

Into this hierarchy of Ma

trioshka dolls comes theclass BQP which consists ofall the problems that can besolved effi��ciently by a quantum computer. For ‘effi��ciently’ read ‘in polynomial time’.

The question is will thisclass BQP fi��t into the classicalhierarchy or will it be disjoint? In the analogy of Matrioshka dolls, will it have adiff��erent shape, so that itwon’t fi��t in somewhere in between the class PH and NP?

An outright answer to thisquestion is diffi��cult, butscientists invoke the conceptof an oracle. An oracle is adevice that will give an answer to a query about the solution of the problem – like themaster gives answers in a‘twenty questions’ game.The more the number of queries posed to the oracle, themore the ‘time’ taken tosolve the problem.

Quantum and tractableRaz and Tal invoke an oracle,in the presence of whichthey have shown that thereare problems in BQP whichare not in PH. Using cluesprovided by an oracle, someproblems in BQP can besolved in polynomial time.Even with the clues, the problems would take much,much longer on a classicalcomputer. This is called an‘oracle separation’ betweenBQP and PH.

This is a big result because, as Raz puts it, “Our result shows that relative tosome oracles, for some computational problems, quantum algorithms are more effi��cient than the entire classicalpolynomial hierarchy.” Alternatively, as Lance Fortnowexplains in his blog, this result can be seen “as an indication that even in a worldwhere P=NP (and even if integer factoring is easy),quantum algorithms mightstill have an edge over classical computation,” explainsTal in an email.

The duo uses a conceptcalled ‘forrelation’ that wasintroduced by computerscientist Scott Aaronson ofUniversity of Texas at Austin,in the context of this veryproblem, a few years ago.

At a talk at Stanford's theory seminar in May 2018, computer scientist Pooya Hatamidescribed his recent work on

pseudorandom generators,jointly with Chattopadhyay,Hosseini and Lovett, and something clicked. “One lemma drew my attention and Ithought about it for a fewdays, looked at the proof,and tried to understand itspower. I then realised thatthis is exactly what we weremissing,” says Tal.

“The Raz and Tal work is agreat theoretical result, solving a 25yearold problem inquantum complexity theory,” says V Arvind, complexity theory expert and directorof Institute of MathematicalSciences, Chennai.

“It is not clear to me if wecan infer something newfrom this result about thepower of quantum computing in practice. A similar result showing an oracle separation of BQP from NP wasshown several years ago, using much simpler techniques. And anything practical we might want to infer isalready implied by the earlier result,” he adds.

Quantum computers have an edge over classical ones, says the oracleThis work settles a 25yearold problem in the fi��eld of computational complexity using innovative techniques that are extremely new

Shubashree Desikan

The hierarchy of complexity classes can be viewed as a set ofMatrioshka dolls * REUTERS

The US Food and DrugAdministration (FDA) approved the fi��rst drugwith an indication fortreatment of smallpoxon July 14.

Smallpox, a contagious and sometimes fatal infectious disease,was declared eradicatedin 1980 by the WorldHealth Organization. However, there have beenlongstanding concernsabout smallpox.

Antiviral treatmentTPOXX (tecovirimat) is asmallmolecule antiviraltreatment for smallpox,the fi��rst therapy specifi��cally approved for thisindication.

“To address the risk ofbioterrorism, Congresshas taken steps to enablethe development and approval of countermeasures to thwart pathogens that could beemployed as weapons.This approval providesan important milestonein these eff��orts. This newtreatment aff��ords us anadditional option shouldsmallpox ever be used asa bioweapon,” Scott Got

tlieb, FDA Commissioner, said in a statement.

TPOXX’s eff��ectivenessagainst smallpox was established by studies conducted in animals infected with viruses that areclosely related to the virus that causes smallpox.

More animals treatedwith TPOXX lived compared to the animalstreated with placebo.Further, TPOXX’s safetywas also evaluated in 359healthy human volunteers without a smallpoxinfection. The most frequently reported side effects were headache,nausea and abdominalpain.

TPOXX also receivedOrphan Drug designation. This provides incentives to assist and encourage development ofdrugs for rare diseasesand a Material ThreatMedical Countermeasure Priority ReviewVoucher, which providesadditional incentives forcertain medical products intended to treator prevent harm fromspecifi��c chemical, biological, radiological andnuclear threats, thestatement said.

FDA approves drug to treat smallpoxIndo-Asian News

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BEING

HEALTHLINE RITESH KUMAR

“About half of parents talked on a cell phone while drivingwhen their children between the ages of 4 and 10 were inthe car. One in three read text messages and one in sevenused social media.” — Journal of Pediatrics

What is nanokirigami?It is a relatively new fi��eld of research that combines origami(making 3D shapes by folding paper) and kirigami (whichallows cutting as well as folding) and applying them to fl��atmaterials at the nanoscale — measured in billionths of a metre.Researchers have recently applied this approach to makingnanodevices to manipulate light and potentially create newlightbased communications, detection, or computationaldevices. Nanokirigami employs standard microchipmanufacturing technology, and in an experiment, developersused a focussed ion beam to make a precise pattern of slits in ametal foil just a few tens of nanometers thick. The processcaused the foil to bend and twist itself into a complex threedimensional shape capable of selectively fi��ltering out light witha particular polarisation. — Science Daily

DEMYSTIFYING SCIENCE

Fighting cancer with cancer What if cancer cells could be re

engineered to turn against their own

kind? A new study claims to leverage

the power of gene editing to take a

critical step toward using cancer cells

to kill cancer. The researchers have

reported promising results in preclinical models across

multiple types of cancer cells, establishing a potential road map

toward clinical translation for treating primary, recurrent and

metastatic cancer. The new approach capitalises on the self

homing ability of cancer cells. Harnessing this power could

overcome drug delivery challenges, helping get therapeutics to

tumour sites that may otherwise be diffi��cult to reach. The

treatment increased the survival of the mice. Engineered cells

were equipped with a “kill switch” that could be activated after

treatment. PET imaging showed that this kill switch worked to

eliminate the cells. The fi��ndings have been published in Science

Translational Medicine.

AROUND THE WORLD

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Orange shield for eye diseaseA new study in Australia has shown

that people who regularly eat oranges

are less likely to develop macular

degeneration than people who do not

eat oranges. The scientists interviewed

more than 2,000 Australian adults

aged over 50 and followed them over a 15year period. Those

who ate at least one serving of oranges every day had more

than a 60% reduced risk of developing late macular

degeneration 15 years later. Reportedly, the fl��avonoids in

oranges appear to help prevent against the eye disease. Most

research, until now, has focussed on the eff��ects of common

nutrients such as vitamins C, E and A on the eyes. Flavonoids

are powerful antioxidants found in almost all fruits and

vegetables and have important antiinfl��ammatory benefi��ts for

the immune system. The fi��ndings have been published in the

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.


Smoking ups heartarrhythmiaThe more you smoke, the greater your

risk of a heart rhythm disorder called

atrial fi��brillation. That’s the fi��nding of

a new study that has found a 14%

increase in the risk of atrial fi��brillation

for every 10 cigarettes smoked per day.

There was a linear doseresponse relationship, meaning that

the risk increased with each additional cigarette smoked.

Compared to people who have never smoked, current smokers

had a 32% increased risk of atrial fi��brillation. Ever smokers

(current and former smokers combined) had a 21% increased

risk and former smokers had a 9% increased risk, all providing

further evidence of a doseresponse relationship. A lifetime

smoker has a 50% probability of dying due to smoking, and on

average will lose 10 years of life. Slightly less than half of

lifetime smokers will continue smoking until death. Atrial

fi��brillation is among the most common heart rhythm disorders

(arrhythmia). The fi��ndings have been published in the European

Journal of Preventive Cardiology.


Machine learning fi��x for schizophreniaScientists in Canada and the U.S. have

developed a machinelearning

algorithm to examine functional

magnetic resonance imaging images of

both newly diagnosed, previously

untreated schizophrenia patients and

healthy subjects. By measuring the connections of a brain

region called the superior temporal cortex to other regions of

the brain, the algorithm successfully identifi��ed patients with

schizophrenia at 78% accuracy. It also predicted (with 82%

accuracy) whether or not a patient would respond positively to

a specifi��c antipsychotic treatment named risperidone. The

developers claim this to be a “fi��rst step” to fi��nding reliable

biomarkers that can predict schizophrenia before the symptoms

show up. Approximately one in 100 people will be aff��ected by

schizophrenia at some point in their livesThe fi��ndings have been

published in Molecular Psychiatry.


Walking a dog can be fi��neexercise. But many people do not have access to

a dog, and many of those who dochoose not to walk them.

Two small new studies, however, may off��er novel ways to promote dog walking and its myriadbenefi��ts, even to people withoutdogs. But the results also indicatethat there can be substantial barriers to using a pet to improve yourhealth.

Anyone who owns a dog, whichincludes me, knows that most ofthem yearn to go on walks, whatever the time or weather. If I skip ourusual morning jog, my dogs fl��oponto the fl��oor, disconsolate andreproachful.

The walk would be good for allof us. According to recent studies,adults who often walk a dog aremore likely than those who do notto meet the standard exercise recommendation of about 150 minutes a week of moderate physicalactivity. Wellexercised dogs alsotend to be leaner and better behaved than sedentary canines.

But nearly 40% of dog ownersalmost never walk their dogs, other studies show.

Concerned by that statistic, Katie Becofsky, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, U.S., and dog

owner, began to wonder recentlywhether it might be possible andworthwhile to essentially trick people into walking their dogs moreoften.

So for one of the new studies,which was presented in June at theannual meeting of the AmericanCollege of Sports Medicine in Minneapolis, U.S., she and her colleagues invited a group of about 30local dog owners who reportedrarely walking their dogs to join aspecial dog obedience class.

The owners were told that theprogramme was designed to improve their dogs’ behaviour whileleashed, but the surreptitious goalwas to see if the classes could alsoincrease the owners’ dog walkingand physical activity after the instruction had ended.

To that end, half of the groupbegan six weeks of instruction

while others were waitlisted as acontrol group. The participants attended classes with their dogs several times a week, kept a log aboutextracurricular dog walks andwore an activity monitor, ostensibly to record those walks. The researchers asked them to continueto record any walks and wear theactivity monitor occasionally foran additional six weeks after theclasses ended.

The logs and monitors showedthat people in the class did start towalk their dogs for a few minutesmore each week than the controlgroup, both during and after thesix weeks of classes. Surprisingly,though, those minutes did not increase the owners’ overall weeklyexercise totals.

Dr. Becofsky might have beendisappointed with the results, shesays, but suspects that one factorwas that the programme collidedwith a particularly intractable EastCoast obstacle: the weather. Thestudy took place during a prolonged period of rain and cold inthe area, she says, so the increasein participants’ dogwalking time,while small, was notable.

More important, she says, mostof the class participants reportedfeeling closer to their dogs andhappier with their behaviourafterward.

“We know from other researchthat the best predictor of dog walk

ing is feeling a strong bond withyour dog,” she says.

She plans to conduct a largerstudy, she says, again featuringobedience classes but this time being open about the programme’sintent to increase owners’ physicalactivity. She’s also planning separately to study dogs’ selfchosenmovement patterns, on a leashand off��, using activity monitorsmade for dogs.

Much potential“Dog walking has so much potential to inspire more physical activity,” she says.

That possibility extends even topeople who do not own dogs, according to the other new study,which looked at dogs and pedestrianism. Also presented at theAmerican College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting, it involvedcollege students, a group notorious for their inactivity. Many collegians exercise seldom, if ever,studies show, often blaming timeconstraints and academic demands.

To bypass those barriers, researchers at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., U.S., created a forcredit physical educationclass centered on dog walking. Students who enrolled in the class visited the local animal shelter twicea week for 50 minutes and walkedone of the shelter dogs in a nearby

park while wearing a pedometer.The gadgets’ data showed that

the students were averagingaround 4,500 steps, or about twoand a quarter miles of walking,during each session with a dog.

“Most of them were surprisedthat they were walking so much,”says Melanie SartoreBaldwin, aprofessor at E.C.U. who led thestudy.

“They said that the time hadgone quickly and they hadn’t reallyfelt as if they were exercising,” shesays. Many also reported side benefi��ts. “They told us that the dogshad seemed so happy about thewalks, which had made them feelbetter about themselves and thewhole experience,” Dr. SartoreBaldwin says.

There were complaints, ofcourse, she adds. The class beganat 9 a.m., which the students considered punishingly early, andwere required to continue whatever the weather. But few studentsskipped any sessions, and the classcurrently has an enrolment waiting list, she says. She also is working with other universities that arelooking to incorporate dog walkinginto their P.E. programmes.

“There’s something very appealing about spending time with adog who is so delighted to seeyou,” she says, “and getting in aneasy 4,500 steps before 10 a.m.” NY

TIMES

Burning calories with the poochTwo studies highlight the benefi��ts ��of ��using a pet to improve your health �� Gretchen Reynolds

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Obesity on its own isn’t akiller. A study by re

searchers at York University’s Faculty of Health, Canada, has found that patientswith metabolic healthyobesity, but no other metabolic risk factors, do nothave an increased rate ofmortality. The results couldforce a rethink in how medicine and health consultants view weight management and ob esity,according to Jennifer Kuk,associate professor, Schoolof Kinesiology and HealthScience, who led the research team.

“This is in contrast withmost of the literature andwe think this is becausemost studies have defi��nedmetabolic healthy obesityas having up to one metabolic risk factor,” Dr. Kuktold Science Daily.

“This is clearly problematic, as hypertensionalone increases your mortality risk and past literature would have calledthese patients with obesityand hypertension,‘healthy’. This is likely whymost studies have reportedthat ‘healthy’ obesity is stillrelated with higher mortality risk.”

Medical literature says

that obesity — as a highmortality risk — is in thesame league as dyslipidemia, hypertension or diabetes alone. Dr. Kuk andcolleagues say this isn’ttrue.

The categoriesIn their study, they analysed profi��les from 54,089men and women from fi��vecohort studies who were categorised as having obesityalone or clustered with ametabolic factor; elevatedglucose, blood pressure orlipids alone, or clusteredwith obesity or another metabolic factor. Researcherslooked at how many peoplewithin each group died ascompared to those withinthe normal weight popula

tion with no metabolic riskfactors.

Current weight management guidelines suggestthat anyone with a bodymass index over 30 kg/m2

should lose weight. This implies that if you have obesity (even without any otherrisk factors) it makes youunhealthy. In their reportpublished in the journal,Clinical Obesity, they foundthat 1 out of 20 individualswith obesity had no othermetabolic abnormalities.

“We’re showing that individuals with metabolicallyhealthy obesity are actuallynot at an elevated mortalityrate. We found that a person of normal weight withno other metabolic risk factors is just as likely to die as

the person with obesity andno other risk factors,” saysDr. Kuk. “This means thathundreds of thousands ofpeople with metabolicallyhealthy obesity will be toldto lose weight, when it’squestionable how much benefi��t they’ll actuallyreceive.”

Indian contextObesity is major concern inIndia. The prevalence ofobesity is increasing andranges from 8% to 38% inrural and 13% to 50% in urban areas, according to theIndian Heart Journal. Obesity is a risk factor for development of type 2 diabetesmellitus (T2DM), hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease and manycancers. In Asian Indians,excess abdominal and hepatic fat is associated withincreased risk for T2DMand cardiovascular disease.

[email protected]

Rethinking the risksStudy challenges orthodoxy on how weight management, obesity are viewedJacob Koshy

<> We’re showing that

individuals with

metabolically

healthy obesity are

actually not at an

elevated mortality

rate.”

Dr. Jennifer Kuk,

School of Kinesiology and HealthScience, York University, Canada

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Amedia report recently

highlighted how thesupply of a vital, lifesavingdrug has dried up eversince the Indian drug pricing regulator slashed itsprice by a tenth. Thesemedicines were meant for

babies suff��ering from heart ailments. There is no doubt that when price control is im

posed on medicines and other medical technologies, itis done with the best intentions — to make them aff��ordable. However, when framing policy, addressing aproblem in its totality rather than in bits and pieces ismore likely to yield dividends for the intended benefi��ciary. In health care, this means having to address notjust aff��ordability but also the issues of quality, safetyand access.

The shortage of the drug referred to earlier illustrates this. With smaller doses now unavailable, desperate parents are being forced to administer a fraction of the adult dose to their children and not alwayscorrectly. Not only has it denied access but also promoted unsafe practices, in turn aff��ecting patientsafety.

Let us take the issue of access next. The prices ofheart stents were cut steeply last year. The problem ofstenting however is not just about price. It is that notall those who need it know that they do. Nor can theyaccess it easily. According to a study, 70% of cath labswhere stenting procedures are performed, are in metros and Tier1 cities where just 15% of the populationresides. There are also issues of access beyond cities,such as the lack of diagnostic facilities and skill setsamong primarycare physicians to interpret medicalreports. Lowering prices has had no impact on the uneven distribution of interventional cardiologists, cathlabs and other infrastructure and healthcare resources across urban and nonurban areas. Without equitable access, will all those who require stenting be ableto receive them unless they forego their income andcome to these cities for treatment? The answer is no.We must examine all such issues, answers to whichwill improve accessibility rather than price control.

Does the pricing policy reward investment in quality and improve choice? Not really. In the case of stents,for instance, whether a product is the result of patientcentric innovation or plainvanilla reverse engineering, it is awarded the same price. An innovation thatmakes it easier to implant a stent and cuts proceduretime is still priced as much as any other in its category.This discourages innovators from making such technologies available in India even to those who can afford them.

In short, price control ends up as a shortterm measure to bring down costs of only specifi��c consumables,and for the benefi��t of certain sections of the population who are in a position to access health care.

The government considers some of these price control measures as a stellar achievement. This is understandable in cases where the benefi��t has been passedon to the patient. However, this is not automatic. A reduction in the overall cost of stenting packages by hospitals does not refl��ect the steep drop in stent prices asthere have been compensatory increases elsewhere inthe package. Similarly, hospitals can even replace products that have passed stringent regulatory standardsset by regulators with those that are designed to meetlower standards.

The government needs to introspect on what wouldbest serve the interests of a patient in the long term.The answer lies in an approach that looks at all aspectsof health care as threads of an interwoven fabric. Froma pricing perspective this could mean controlling trademargins instead of capping retail price so that the benefi��t of any reduction does reach a patient. Indiaboasts of the world’s highest intermediary cost, ratherthan a lean trade margin, which makes products expensive and scarce. Research by the pricing regulatorhas shown that profi��ts made by hospitals and distributors on healthcare consumables are beyond acceptable levels — and partly responsible for overall pharma/medical price infl��ation. Capping such profi��ts will ensure aff��ordability without the accompanyingcompromise on patient safety and an availability ofquality products.

Bejon Misra is Founder, Patient Safety and Access Initiative ofIndia Foundation

The canvas of health care

Bejon Misra

Scanned in full colour: Scientists in New Zealand scientists have performed the fi��rstever 3D, colour Xray on a human,using a technique that promises to improve the fi��eld of medical diagnostics, according to Europe’s CERN physics lab whichcontributed the imaging technology. CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research, one of the world’s largestand most respected centres for scientifi��c research. The new device, based on the traditional blackandwhite Xray,incorporates particletracking technology developed for CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, which in 2012 discovered theelusive Higgs Boson particle. “This colour Xray imaging technique could produce clearer and more accurate pictures andhelp doctors give their patients more accurate diagnoses,” said a CERN statement. The CERN technology, dubbed Medipix,works like a camera detecting and counting individual subatomic particles as they collide with pixels while its shutter isopen. This allows for highresolution, highcontrast pictures. According to the CERN, the images very clearly show thediff��erence between bone, muscle and cartilage, but also the position and size of cancerous tumours, for example. Thetechnology is being commercialised by the New Zealand company, MARS Bioimaging, linked to the universities of Otagoand Canterbury, also in New Zealand, which helped develop it. Picture shows a 3D image of a left view of an ankle. Thebones are in white and soft tissue in red. AFP * AFP

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Technicolour insight

Cannabislike drug couldaid cancer fi��ghtA class of molecules formed when the

body metabolises omega3 fatty acids

could inhibit cancer’s growth and

spread, says a study in the U.S. using

mice. The molecules, called

endocannabinoids, are made naturally by the body and have

similar properties to cannabinoids found in marijuana — but

without the psychotropic eff��ects. In mice with tumours of

osteosarcoma (a bone cancer notoriously painful and diffi��cult to

treat) endocannabinoids slowed the growth of tumours and

blood vessels, inhibited the cancer cells from migrating, and

caused cancer cell death. In 2017, the researchers had identifi��ed

this new group of omega3 fattyacid metabolites (called

endocannabinoid epoxides, or EDPEAs). They found that these

molecules had antiinfl��ammatory properties and targeted the

same receptor in the body that cannabis does. The fi��ndings

have been published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.



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NON-FICTION

It was 1780. Great events wereshaping and shaking theworld. Four years earlier, in

1776, Britain had lost its fi��rst colony; a new nation was born, namely, the United States of America.And nine years, later, in 1789, theFrench revolution ushered in anew era of freedom and hope inEurope.

At a time when the westernworld was changing rapidly a newspirit was also taking shape in oneof Britain’s eastern colonies. Calcutta, then capital of British India, though the East India Company ruled only a small part ofIndia at that time, was witnessingdevelopments that were new notonly in India, but in all of Asia. Asfree thought and freedom of expression swept across the world,an Irishman called James Augustus Hicky gave Calcutta and Indiaits fi��rst printed newspaper in1780.

Taking on powerHicky’s Bengal Gazette, accordingto the young American scholarAndrew Otis, was a fourpageweekly newspaper priced at ₹��1.And it took on the rich andmighty of British Calcutta. Whatdid Hicky publish in the pages ofhis newspaper? “He tried to covereverything that might be important to Calcutta, devoting manysections to politics, world newsand events in India.” Topics thatfeatured regularly were poorquality of sanitation and lack ofroad maintenance. Houses ofpoor Indians had thatched roofs,prone to catching fi��re. The outbreak of fi��res was frequently reported in Hicky’s paper. Throughthe letters he solicited and published, the editor gave voice toCalcutta’s poor.

He attacked corruption in theEast India Company and in highechelons of society. The BengalGazette reported that the Governor of Madras, Sir Thomas Rumbold, had been recalled to England to answer charges ofcorruption in front of Parliament.“Hicky sarcastically wrote,” Otistells us, “Rumbold was a greatman for only amassing a fortuneof about 600,000 pounds whilein India, much of it from bribesand extortion.”

Hicky did not spare any institution. He exposed the problems oflow pay for soldiers in the subaltern ranks of the Company’s army. Failed wars of the Companyalso came under its gaze. TheCompany’s army suff��ered a

crushing defeat in the Battle ofPollilur at the hands of Hyder Ali,then ruler of Mysore. As the newsof the disaster trickled in, Hickyquestioned why the British werefi��ghting in India. He accused theCompany of squandering thelives of its soldiers. He evenpraised the noble actions of Hyder Ali in his treatment of the captured soldiers of the Company.

But as Hicky continued hisfearless mission against corruption, the powers of the day didnot sit idle. A rival newspaper wasborn in Calcutta. The India Ga-zette of Messink and Reed diff��eredfrom Hicky in every possible way.The two papers represented twosides of the political spectrum.

Tough rivalHicky emphasised independencewhile the India Gazette made nosecret that they had the supportof Governor Warren Hastings. Somuch so that Hastings had giventhe facility of free postage to IndiaGazette. There were hardly anyopinion columns in it, a clear signof their obeisance to Hastings’s

authority. And they did so for agood cause, that was monetaryrewards. India Gazette becamethe Company’s de facto mouthpiece; the Company’s departments placed advertisements andnotices in that paper.

Press freedomBut Hicky took on the might ofthe establishment. He allegedthrough his pieces in the paperhow one Simeon Droz had soughta bribe from him and wanted toget favours for him from MarianHastings, wife of Warren Hastings, in lieu of the bribe. Hastingsfumed that someone could showsuch imprudence. He passed anorder that the Post Offi��ce wouldno longer extend its facility to theBengal Gazette.

Hicky fought back. He hired 20hircirrahs (courier men) to deliver his newspaper, and his newspaper’s popularity soared. Hecontinued his fi��ght against themost powerful man of the dayand his entourage.

Hastings hit back and the ChiefJustice Elijah Impey decreed thatHicky be imprisoned on chargesof libel. A grand jury sat to decidethe fate of Hicky.

After a fi��erce courtroom battle,the jury acquitted him. Hickywon, Hastings lost. As Otis tellsus, “He had proven that it waspossible to protect the Pressagainst the most powerful peoplein British India.”

There were still three moretrials to come that tried to muffl��ethe voice of Hicky. What happened; did freedom of the presstriumph? For that you must turnto Otis’s book, as he sketches a riveting tale of the struggle of India’s fi��rst newspaper editor.

Winds of freedomIn 1780, an Irishman took on the British in Calcutta with a tell-allweekly that covered everything from corruption to politics

Sunandan Roy Chowdhury

Battle weary: Surrender of Baillie to Hyder Ali, 1780, illustration fromCassell's Illustrated History of England. * WIKI COMMONS

■ Hicky’s Bengal Gazette: The Untold Story of India’s First NewspaperAndrew OtisWestland/ Tranquebar₹��899

Drawing from extensivefi��eldwork on politicalcampaigns, pioneeringsurveys, and innovative dataanalysis, contributorsuncover the institutional andregulatory contextsgoverning the torrent ofmoney in politics. They tell usabout the sources of politicalfi��nance, how money fl��ows,infl��uences, interacts withdiff��erent tiers ofgovernment, and its impacton electoral democracy.

BOOKSHELF

■ Costs of Democracy:Political Finance in IndiaEdited by Devesh Kapur,Milan VaishnavOxford University Press₹��750

Over the past two decadesIndia has grown at anunprecedented rate. Yetmillions still languish in theshadows, trapped in theteeming slums of thecountry’s megacities. Fromthe sky terrace of the world’smost expensive home tomass political rallies in thestreets, Crabtree documentsthe struggle betweenequality and privilege playingout in the heart of India.

■ The Billionaire Raj: A Journey through India’s New Gilded AgeJames CrabtreeHarperCollins₹��799

As Russian President VladimirPutin moved to reassertRussian strength on theglobal stage, Moscow trainedits best hackers and trolls onU.S. political targets ahead ofthe 2016 election. This bookchronicles the scandal,explains the stakes andanswers how a foreigngovernment infi��ltratedAmerica’s political process.

■ Russian RouletteMichael Isikoff�� & David CornHachette India₹��699

This is an examination of thestruggle between twotendencies in Pakistanicivicnationalism — onemodernist, the othertheocratic — and the complexsociety it birthed. One pieceexplores why Mohenjodarohas been neglected as ahistorical site; there areessays on Pakistani pop musicand one on how a medievalemperor lives on in the swearwords of a Punjabi peasant.

■ Points of EntryNadeem Farooq ParachaTranquebar₹��499

One third of the earth’s landsurface is desert. What is itabout this harsh environmentthat has captivatedhumankind? From theprophets of the Bible, andLawrence of Arabia toGertrude Bell, travellers haveseen deserts as places to beavoided. Travelling to fi��vecontinents, Atkins discovers arealm that is as much internalas physical.

■ The ImmeasurableWorld: Journeys inDesert PlacesWilliam AtkinsFaber & Faber₹��1,543

The urgency with which abatch of homologous petitions have been fi��led against

halala and polygyny this year, andthe media attention that instant talaq received last year, would makeanyone think that these are big,and the only issues facing IndianMuslims.

The reality, however, is diff��erent. Instant talaq despite its atrociousness was never a major problem and its setting aside by theapex court had rendered halalatoo redundant. There is also nostatistical evidence to show thatpolygyny is widely prevalentamong Muslims.

Thankfully, Farah Naqvi’s latestbook Working with Muslims:Beyond Burqa and Triple Talaqwritten in collaboration with theSadhbhavna Trust makes a spirited attempt to pierce the veil ofnescience shrouding real Muslimissues. It looks at the complex historical processes of social exclusion which contributed to the economic, educational and politicaldecline of India’s single largestminority.

Comprehensive studyThe book catalogues the fi��ndingsof a seminal study conducted between 2011 and 2013 of 359 NGOsworking with deprived Muslims ineight states and Mewat, a regionthat straddles Haryana and Rajasthan. Naqvi’s reasons for profi��lingthese NGOs are perceptive. Shepoints out that while Dalits and tribals were constitutionally defi��nedas “development subjects” to overcome the historical discriminationthat had aff��ected their progress,

Muslims were imagined as “cultural subjects” and constitutionalcommitments to them were restricted to protection of their religious freedom and personal law.

This allowed the state to absolve itself of responsibility towards Muslims and instead locatethe blame in the “religiouscommunity space” where the community is faulted for its own backwardness.

It is no wonder that even yearsafter the formation of the Ministryof Minority Aff��airs and release ofthe pathbreaking Sachar Committee Report, government attitudehasn’t changed.

To prove her point, Naqvi citesAmitabh Kundu’s Post-SacharEvaluation Committee report of2014 which inter alia warned thatgovernment interventions werenot big enough to address thehuge deprivation of the Muslimsand that implementation structures had not been designed to directly and eff��ectively benefi��t theminorities.

Hence, says Naqvi, there was

never a greater need for the NGOsector in India to take forward along overdue engagement with theMuslim community especially itswomen who are invariably seenthrough the typical tropes of sha-riah and hijab and never as persons deserving education, health,employment and publicrepresentation.

In this context, her study explains the diffi��culty of addressingMuslim deprivation in terms oftheir religious identity. Naqviwrites that although NGOs do notdiscriminate against any commun

ity on the basis of religion theywere very reluctant to talk abouttheir work with the Muslims. Theirfear was that they may come under the CBI scanner or their fundsmay get frozen.

Climate of fearSome NGOs openly suspected thestated objectives of Naqvi’s study.They thought her research teamwas spying for the state and wanted to hide the fact that they wereworking with deprived Muslims.In other words, the NGOs wereable to “walk the walk” but did not

have the courage to talk. Yet Naqviand Sadbhavna Trust were able tolocate 76 NGOs who primarilywork with Muslims out of the 359they mapped. The rest workedwith other groups including Dalits,tribals and Muslims.

Working with Muslims also contains 30 fascinating stories fromacross India of the great workdone by dedicated NGOs for theMuslims in areas such as women’srights, rehabilitation of sex workers, education, urban and ruraldevelopment, child and disabilityrights, health, access to credit,

and democratic participation.Nonetheless, Naqvi decries the climate of fear under which theNGOs seem to be working for Muslims. She feels the prevalence ofsuch fear amounts to denying thatMuslims face a development defi��cit which polarises and isolatesthem selectively. Therefore, if aminority community is subjectedto such treatment on the basis ofits religious identity then thatidentity calls for secularrecognition.

Naqvi’s earnest appeal deservesto be taken seriously because secularism cannot be used as a pretext to ignore discrimination ongrounds only of religion or castewhich is prohibited under Article15 of our Constitution, or to violatethe spirit of this Article by neglecting to make special provisions forthe advancement of any sociallyand educationally backward classes of citizens.

Canadian political philosopherWill Kymlicka in his book Multicul-tural Citizenship states that “acomprehensive theory of justice ina multicultural state will includeboth universal rights, assigned toindividuals regardless of groupmembership, and certain groupdiff��erentiated rights or ‘special status’ for minority cultures.”

In this regard, Working withMuslims is a trailblazing contribution to the study of Muslim marginalisation in India. It not just encourages the Indian state to not letreligion hinder affi��rmative actionprogrammes for Muslims butserves as an invaluable source ofinformation for those genuinelyinterested in knowing if Muslimshave issues beyond polygyny, triple talaq and halala.

Life on the marginsA look at the processes of social exclusion which have led to the economic, educational and political decline of Muslims

A. Faizur Rahman

A long wait: ‘Muslim women are invariably seen through the typical tropes of shariah and hijab and never as persons deserving education, health and employment.’ * GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK

■ Working with Muslims: Beyond Burqa and Triple TalaqFarah Naqvi, with Sadbhavna TrustThree Essays Collective₹��450

“India is a geographical and economic entity, a cultural unity

amidst diversity, a bundle of contradictions held together by strongbut invisible threads.” India Mov-ing, Chinmay Tumbe’s new bookon migration begins with thesewords from Jawaharlal Nehru’s Dis-covery of India. Is India’s diversitythe result of successive waves ofmigration, or is it the result of longperiods of isolation of diversegroups that have been forced intounifi��cation at a more recent pointin time? Is the story of India madeup of the stories of thousands ofvillages spread out across the peninsula, with little or no interaction with each other? Or is it a story of wave upon wave ofmovement and churning?

Tumbe’s fascinating introduction to the subject shines a light onthe many diff��erent skeins of tangled thread that make up the colourful fabric of this country, aswell as the invisible threads fromthe past that connect India to otherparts of the world. It includes thestory of Malik Ambar, brought toIndia as an Ethiopian slave and la

ter freed, who revitalised the Ahmednagar kingdom to fend off�� theattacks of the Mughal emperor Jehangir. It includes the waves of migration caused by imperialism, especially in the form of indenturedlabour from India for other parts ofthe colonies; for example, in the19th century, half a million Indianswere taken to Mauritius to work inthe sugar plantations. It includesthe Indian postal service, whichuniquely provided home deliveryof cash from male migrants to theirfamilies in the interior parts of thecountry.

Constant immigration, emigration and internal migration over

the centuries — and more so in thelast 150 years — have led to thereshaping of existing diversities,forging a common sense of identity among very diverse groups.

This is an important and highlyreadable introduction to the subject of migration at a time whennot only formal employment butalso drought, fl�oods, climatechange, political strife, or justgrinding poverty continue to drivepeople out of their homes insearch of better lives for themselves and their children. Tumbenotes, for instance, that the diff��erential in fertility rates and wagesbetween the north and south of India, and the need for workers inthe care economy of the south, willsee large migrations from north tosouth.

It is time for cities to think seriously about migration: at one level, about the need to preserveand respect diversity; at anotherlevel, about how they should prepare to meet the multiple needs ofnew migrants for food, shelter,sanitation, healthcare, education,and livelihoods — especially for thepoorest among them who are oftenwithout documents.

Diverse connectionsThe movement of people to and from India and its impact

Uma Mahadevan-Dasgupta

■ India Moving: A History of MigrationChinmay TumbePenguin/Viking₹��599

Since World War II, Israel and itsprestate paramilitary organisa

tions have assassinated more people than any other country in theWestern world, writes Ronen Bergman in his book, Rise and Kill First:The Secret History of Israel’s Target-ed Assassinations. The Jewish nation has carried out some 2,300“targeted killing operations,”mostly against Palestinians since itwas established. Bergman, a senior defence correspondent for Ye-dioth Ahronoth, Israel’s largest daily newspaper, painstakinglyrebuilds this bloody history across753 pages. It’s not an easy task towrite about the untold history ofIsrael’s secret assassinations, particularly given that the military establishment is extremely warywhen it comes to sensitive securityissues. But Bergman has interviewed hundreds of sources, building a comprehensive historicalnarrative on how Israel uses killingas a tactic against its rivals.

Before the establishment of Israel in 1948, Jewish paramilitarygroups had used terror as a tacticagainst the British who were administering the historic Palestine.They carried out a campaign of

bombings and killings. Several ofthese paramilitary leaders, including Yitzhak Shamir and MenachemBegin, later became establishmentfi��gures. They brought in their guerrilla and terror tactics into the security establishment. And fromthe early days, assassination became an accepted tool, writesBergman.

Now, the Directorate of MilitaryIntelligence, the Mossad spy agency and the Shin Bet internal security service, make up “the most robust streamlined assassinationmachine in history.” They have carried out a series of daunting missions, like the assassination ofthose who killed Israeli athletes at

the 1972 Munich Olympics and the1976 commando raid at the Entebbe airfi��eld in Uganda. Bergmanquestions both the strategic benefi��ts and the ethical side of this policy. He lists out some examplessuch as the assassination of Abu Jihad, one of the close lieutenants ofPalestinian leader Yasser Arafat.The killing was a tactical victoryfor Israel over the Palestine Liberation Organisation, but it hadstrengthened the local PLO factions in the occupied territories inthe midst of the fi��rst intifada. Likewise, the assassination of Hamasleader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in2004 made the Islamist organisation more vulnerable to Iranianinfl�uence.

Bergman says a policy whichwas conceived as a military tacticfor survival later became “the coreprinciple of Israel’s security doctrine.” The killing of innocent civilians was called “accidental damage,” while the targeted murdersbecame known as “targeted preventive acts.” “You get used to killing. Human life becomes something plain, easy to dispose of,” AmiAyalon, who headed Shin Bet inthe 1990s, tells Bergman. “I call itthe banality of evil.” His words capture the mood of the book as well.

The killing machineHow Israel uses targeted deaths as a tactic of war

Stanly Johny

■ Rise and Kill First: The SecretHistory of Israel’s TargetedAssassinationsRonen BergmanPenguin Random House₹��1,099


After a monthlong fi��ght tothe fi��nish, two teams standtall and will lock horns to callthemselves the world champion for the next four years.It has been a World Cup ofspectacular goals, of setpiece mastery and surprisesaplenty, like no tournamentbefore.

While France travelled tothe fi��nal with pragmatic football, securing wins withoutmuch sweat, Croatia’s pathwas all hard work with theteam playing three gruelling120 minutes (two fi��nished onpenalties) of knockout football.

“We did not insist on practice sessions. We have nothing to practise. We need relaxation and rest. We havesome minor injuries but Ihope we will overcome thosetoday and all my players willbe ready to play,” the team’scoach Zlatko Dalic saidahead of the fi��nal.

ResilienceThe team, however, hasshowed excellent resilience, a fi��ghtingspirit that hashelped it to

close out games. For Croatia— the smallest country toreach the fi��nal since Uruguayin 1950 — the fi��nalprovides an opportunity to perhapswrite the most glorious chapter in itsyoung history.

After gaining independence in 1991, it took just seven years to reach the semifi��nals in France 1998 and 20years down the team is looking to exact sweet revenge asit faces its nemesis fromthen, France, in this summitclash.

“Win or lose tomorrowthere will be a seismic event(in Croatia). This gives usstrength and motivation.There can be no better moment for a player or a coachthan tomorrow.

“Whatever happens, wewill be happy and proud because we deserved it,” Dalicsaid.

“I do not give muchthought to statistics andtradition and to headtohead,” Dalic added. “Tradi

tions are there to be demolished. Tomorrowis the fi��nal. We don’tcare who is on theother side of the

pitch. We are here to enjoythe fi��nal and give our best.”

Croatia, though, have tofi��ght fatigue and also theeclectic pace of KylianMbappe, who has beenFrance’s standout performer

in an otherwisesteady but un

spectacularteam thathas banked

on defensive solidity ratherthan attacking dynamism tonavigate through the past sixgames.

Didier Deschamps, whowon the World Cup as a captain in 1998, is expected tostick with his shrewd approach that has delivered sofar with Oliver Giroud playing at the head of a 4321system.

“We have given ourselvesthis huge privilege of reaching the fi��nal of the World Cupand we want to win it. It isnot nothing to win the semifi��nal of a World Cup after losing the Euro fi��nal,” he said,still trying to exorcise the demons of losing the 2016 Eurofi��nal to a Cristiano Ronaldoinspired Portugal at home.

Midfi��eld enforcerUp against the goal threat ofIvan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic and possibly the tournament’s best midfi��eld pairing of Luka Modric and IvanRakitic, Deschamps will lookto N’Golo Kante — the midfi��eld enforcer — and PaulPogba, who too has showngreater defensive discipline,to keep the opposition atbay, while Giroud will holdon to the ball upfront tocreate space for Mbappe andAntoine Griezmann to run into.

With no serious injuryconcerns upsetting theirplans, both managers willcall on their best XI for thegame that will create immortals from one set of playersand only heartbreak for theothers.

Who will be the last one standing?Deschamps’ France will hope to banish memories of Euro 2016; Dalic’s Croatia has to overcome fatigue

Ayon Sengupta

Moscow

CMYK

A ND-NDE

SPORTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



GRAPHIC: KARTHICK S.T.

Belgium achieved its bestWorld Cup fi��nish as goalsfrom Thomas Meunier andEden Hazard secured a 20victory over England in Saturday’s thirdplace playoff��.

Meunier, who missed thesemifi��nal loss to France dueto suspension, scored afterjust four minutes before Hazard grabbed a late secondas Belgium eclipsed the sidethat came fourth at the 1986edition.

Belgium has now defeated England twice in a fortnight, having waited 82years to beat it before winning 10 in its group stage encounter.

Gareth Southgate’s menwere forced to settle for England’s joint best performance at a World Cupabroad, matching that of the1990 generation.

He made fi��ve changes tothe team beaten 21 by Croatia in the last four, as England fi��elded its youngestWorld Cup lineup in history— with an average age of 25years and 174 days.

Phil Jones, Danny Rose,Eric Dier, Fabian Delph andRuben LoftusCheek allcame into the side, whileBelgium boss Roberto Martinez recalled Meunier andhanded a start to YouriTielemans.

Meunier made a quick impression by fi��ring Belgium infront following an attackstarted by Romelu Lukaku.

The Manchester Unitedforward released Nacer Chadli down the right into space

behind the England defence,and his cross was turnedhome by Meunier whostepped in front of a staticRose.

Hazard sought to exploitthe spaces at every opportunity, the Belgium captainlinked up intelligently withTielemans on the edge of thearea but was blocked off�� ashe tried to pull the trigger.

England slowly worked itsway into the contest as LoftusCheek headed straight atThibaut Courtois on 15minutes.

Harry Kane blew a terrifi��cchance to add to his six goalsin Russia, the favourite forthe Golden Boot scuffi��ngharmlessly wide after an in

viting layoff�� from RaheemSterling.

Belgium lost Chadli to ahamstring injury before halftime, while Southgate introduced Marcus Rashford andJesse Lingard at the break forSterling and Rose.

Their pace and directnessgave England renewed vigour, with Lingard volleyingacross goal just out of thereach of a lunging Kane.

It received a letoff�� whenLukaku failed to control adefencesplitting pass fromDe Bruyne, allowing Pickford to charge off�� his line tosmother.

There was nothing Pickford could do though as DeBruyne and Hazard combined to wrap up the victoryon 82 minutes, the latterdrilling low inside the nearpost for his third goal of thecompetition.

Belgium bosses England Goals by Meunier and Hazard give it its best ever fi��nish

On target: Eden Hazard fi��nishes off�� a combo move with KevinDe Bruyne to end England’s hopes. * REUTERS

Agence France-Presse

St Petersburg


CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Jason Holder led the rout ofBangladesh with a fi��vewicket haul as the West Indiestook control of the secondTest at close on second dayat Sabina Park in Jamaica.

Having fought back well atthe start of the day to limitthe home side’s fi��rst inningsto 354, the tourists werebundled out for 149 off�� lessthan 47 overs with West Indies captain Holder claimingfi��ve for 44.

With the option of enforcing the followon available tohim, Holder chose to bat asecond time and althoughKraigg Brathwaite fell toBangladesh skipper Shakibal Hasan in the fi��nal over ofan eventful day, the West Indies will start day three at 19for one in its second innings,a commanding lead of 224runs.

Only Tamim Iqbal, whotopscored with 47, off��eredany meaningful resistancefor the visitors in an abject

batting display.The host is now poised to

complete an emphatic serieswin after scoring a crushingvictory by an innings and 219runs in less than three daysin the opening Test in Antigua last week.

Tamim’s was the fi��fthwicket to fall in the innings,giving debutant allrounderKeemo Paul his fi��rst Testwicket when he bowled theexperienced lefthander.

Paul, who had failed toscore in his maiden Test innings amid the clatter of Ca

ribbean wickets in the morning, immediately followedup with the wicket of NurulHasan.

Shannon Gabriel initiatedthe Bangladesh collapsewhen he disposed of Tamim’s opening partner, Liton Das, and MominulHaque in quick successionshortly after the lunchinterval.

The scores: West Indies 354 &19 for one (D. Smith 8, batting)vs Bangladesh 149 (Tamim Iqbal 47, Shakib 32, Holder fi��vefor 44).

Jason Holder leads Bangladesh rout with a fi��vefor


Kingston

Jason Holder scalped fi��ve to bundle out Bangladesh * AFP

Windies in commandHis personal best wouldhave brought him the silverbut javelin thrower Sahil Silwal was two metres behindit and had to be content withthe fourth spot at the IAAFWorld under20 athleticschampionships on Saturday.

With India’s Neeraj Chopra being the previouschampion and the juniorworld record holder, therewas much interest in theevent.

But Haryana’s Sahil — aformer discus thrower whois now in his fi��rst seasonwith the javelin and who hasa personal best of 74.88m —could only manage a best of72.83m. All the three medallists, Australia’s Nash Lowistook the gold with 75.31while the silver went toAmerican Tzuriel Pedigowith 73.76m, bettered theirpersonal best. Incidentally,none came close to Neeraj’sworld record of 86.48m.

Two legal jumpsTamil Nadu’s junior Asianchampion K. Kamalraj, whois recovering from injury,

was also nowhere near hispersonal best (16.41m), fi��nishing fi��fth with 15.82m. Theinjury appeared to be troubling him again as Kamalrajhad just two legal jumps. Cuban Jordan Diaz took thegold with 17.15m while theFrenchman Jonathan Seremes grabbed the bronzewith 16.18m, something thatcould rankle Kamalraj forlong.

Another Tamil Nadu triple jumper, PriyadharshiniSuresh, was below her personal best as she fi��nished20th overall with 12.50m inthe qualifi��cation round and

failed to make the fi��nal. TheChennai girl had won theAsian junior bronze in Japanrecently with a personal bestof 13.08m.

Meanwhile, the Indian4x400m women’s relayteam, comprising V. Subha,Jisna Mathew, Ritika and Hima Das, broke the junior National record with a time of3:39.10s (old 3:40.50, 2002,in Bangkok), but the fourthplace in the heats did nothelp it reach the fi��nal.

The men’s mile relay teamalso failed to make the cut,fi��nishing fi��fth in its heats in3:14.19s.

Sahil fourth; Kamalraj fi��fthSPORTS BUREAU

TAMPERE

Not his best: Kamalraj, plagued by injury, had to be contentwith the fi��fth spot. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The secondlongest match inGrand Slam history, betweenKevin Anderson and JohnIsner on Friday, consumedsix hours and 36 minutes, atotal of 569 points.

While the semifi��nal whichAnderson won 76(6), 67(5),67(9), 64, 2624 was tightand could have gone eitherway, the numbers clearlysuggest that, overall, theSouth African played a bettergame.

Anderson won 77% of hisservice points (against Isner’s 71%) and 29% of receiving points (compared to21%).

Interestingly, the SouthAfrican won an impressive84% of the points from hisfi��rst serve, a fi��gure that wentup to 89% in the last setwhich he never looked likelosing. Even on secondserve, which Isner enjoys aformidable reputation for,Anderson had the edge, winning 59% against the American’s 48%.

The eff��ectiveness of Isner’s second serve seemed toreduce as the match progressed. He won only 33% secondserve points in the

fourth set, which improvedonly a little to 43% in the lastone. Isner came into thismatch with the most numberof aces in the tournament

(161). He served 53 duringthe match, more than Anderson, but not by that much(49). Of these, more than half(25) came off�� Anderson’s rac

quet in the fi��nal set, a refl��ection of the comfort withwhich he held serve in thefi��fth.

On fi��rst serve, the twomen had similar speeds onan average — Isner at 125mphand Anderson at 124. Ofcourse, it was Isner who produced the bigger serve whenhe needed to — in each of thefi��ve sets, his fastest serveranged between 139mphand142mph.

The American’s huge second serve was much fasterthan Anderson’s on an average — a stunning 125mphagainst 108mph. He also hadmore winners than theSouth African (129 against118), but this was largely dueto his aggression at the net.

This is refl��ected in the farhigher number of net winners (41 against 16); on thebaseline, it was Andersonwho excelled (46 against 27).

There was little to choosebetween the two players, butthe numbers suggest that Anderson deserved to win.

AndersonIsner: what the numbers say Decoding the sixhour36minute slugfest — the longestever match on Centre Court

Mukund Padmanabhan

London

Slim margins: There was little to choose between Kevin Anderson and John Isner. * AP

In a shocker that lasted barely over an hour, an inspiredAngelique Kerber blew awaySerena Williams 63, 63,ending the American’s imperious run in this tournamentto become the Wimbledonsingles champion.

That Kerber’s gritty resilience would pose Williams

somequestionswas anticipated;what waswholly unexpectedwas she

would outplay her opponent, who would haveequalled Margaret Court’srecord of 24 Grand Slamshad she won, sooverwhelmingly.

Kerber stamped her authority on the match from thevery start, exploiting her opponent’s backhand errors tobreak serve. A stung American upped her intensity tobreak back and level 22, butas the set progressed somethings were beginning to become clear.

For a start, Williams wasunable to dominate her opponent in the customarymanner she deals with others. Kerber displayed an uncanny ability to absorb thispower by retrieving well onboth fl��anks and wheneverthe opportunity presenteditself, turn the heat back onWilliams.

The fearsome Williams

serve didn’t quite get going;in fact, Kerber made a mealof this in the fi��rst set inwhich Williams could win amere 14% of her secondserve points. In contrast, theGerman made her secondserve speak for itself, winning 57% and 60% of servicepoints in the two sets.

Flawless displayKerber’s nearly fl��awless performance was refl��ected inthe comparison on unforcederrors. While Kerber madeonly fi��ve, Williams made asmany as 24.

Kerber broke a secondtime in the fi��rst set to go up43 and then — to the astonishment of an audience thatwas expecting a comebackfrom the American — brokeWilliams a third time towrap it up 63.

Things went with serve atthe beginning of the secondset, but Kerber who wasdominating the rallies,broke Williams again with aforehand down the line to go

up 42. From then on, it appeared that the only thingthat could alter the course ofthe match was nerves.

At 53, Kerber displayed atouch of that, despite goingup 300 after Williams missed a facile volley, slumpingto the ground in disbeliefand the possible realisationthat the Wimbledon title wasslipping away from her.

She would recover tomake it 30all but Kerber —who had become extremelytentative with her serving —managed to squeeze a forehand down the line.

When Williams found thenet on the next point, Kerber won her fi��rst Wimbledon singles title, the last German to have won it beingSteffi�� Graf, 22 years ago.

Kerber wins it in styleBlows away Williams in a lopsided fi��nal

Regal show: Angelique Kerber made Serena Williams look pedestrian in winning her fi��rst Wimbledon title — the German’s third Major trophy. * AP

Mukund Padmanabhan

London

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who seemed as if theyhad never stepped off�� Wimbledon’s Centre Court onthat frenetic Friday night,sparkled once again on Saturday afternoon to producea truly epic and delightfulsemifi��nal.

It was the Serb, who wasleading two sets to one whenthe match was discontinued,who prevailed, though onlynarrowly, in a contest thatconsumed 5 hours and 15 minutes 64, 36, 76(9), 36,108. There was no doubt inanyone’s mind that in termsof sheer quality, as well asedgeoftheseat excitement,this was the best match ofWimbledon 2018.

The fi��rst game, whichtook a long 16 minutes, setthe tone for the match, withDjokovic severely testing theNadal serve, but after fi��vedeuces and two breakpoints, the Spaniard managed to hold. However, themomentum shifted instantlywith Djokovic dropping hisserve thanks to some goodreturning, particularly downthe line.

Leading 31, Nadal seemedcomfortable but handedback the break, makingsome uncharacteristic errorsin a poorly executed game.

But as the set progressed,Djokovic, who seemedweighed down by the factthat he had overcookedsome groundstrokes, choseto be somewhat cautious. Asa result, there were longerrallies, which suited Nadalwell, and he broke oncemore to go up 53.

In this match of many

twists, Nadal found himselfdown 040 when serving outthe set, but pulled himself

out of trouble and then tidedthings up with an imperiousace down the middle.

Both players were strongon serve in the fi��fth set, withNadal perhaps a nose aheadon the brilliance quotient,threading the needle withdowntheline strokes fromboth fl��anks. Djokovic had abreak point when up 43, butNadal saved it with a snarlingserve and then shut thegame out with a couple ofstunning forehands.

After they were locked55, both players, perhaps recognising that it was aggression rather than restraintthat was going to make a difference at that stage, uppedtheir games, producingsome of the fi��nest momentsof the match.

There were momentswhen Djokovic hung by a very slim thread but Nadal was

unable to convert any of thefi��ve breakpoints he had inthis set. Djokovic would havehis fi��rst breakpoint — andmatchpoint — when thescore was 87, but Nadalsaved that with a courageousand cheeky drop shot. However, three more presentedthemselves when he was up98 and a forehand pulledlong and wide gave Djokovicthe game.

The victory felt more likea draw, something that thestatistics bore out. Almostuncannily, both players hit73 winners each and bothmade the same number ofunforced errors — 42. And ofcourse each of them wonfour breakpoints. Of totalpoints won, Djokovic had 195to Nadal’s 191.

Given that the last tournament he won was in Eastbourne in 2017, Djokovic has

been in anything but goodform. Given that, this victoryrepresents a big comeback;on Sunday he will have acrack at another Wimbledontitle when he goes up againstKevin Anderson, a men’s fi��nal that nobody could havepredicted.

The Serb completes a marathon semifi��nal win over Nadal in a contest that spilled over from Friday

Mukund Padmanabhan

London

At full tilt: Novak Djokovic, who has struggled with inconsistency, stayed fi��rm. * AP

Djokovic prevails in a match for the ages





SPORT

Sindhu enters Thailand Open final BANGKOK

India’s P.V. Sindhu overcame

Indonesian Gregoria Mariska

Tunjung in three games here

on Saturday to setup the

Thailand Open women’s

singles final against reigning

World champion Nozomi

Okuhara of Japan. Sindhu

won 2321, 1621, 219.

Sindhu now faces Okuhara,

who Beiwen Zhang 2117,

2110 in the other semifinal.

IN BRIEF

It’s Groenewegen on stage 8AMIENS, FRANCE

Dylan Groenewegen won for

the second straight day after

a bunch sprint on stage eight

of the Tour de France on

Saturday, edging Andre

Greipel and Fernando Gaviria

to the Amiens finish line after

a 181km run from Dreux. But

there was drama to follow as

race organisers disqualified

the 2nd and 3rd placed

finishers Greipel and Gaviria

from their places on the

stage for breaching rules on

physical contact.

Badminton: Thailand Open:Star Sports 2 (SD & HD), 11.30a.m.TNPL: Star Sports 1 (SD &HD), 3 p.m. & 7 p.m.Tour de France: DSport,5.30 p.m.Wimbledon: SS Select 1 (SD& HD), 6.30 p.m.FIFA World Cup: Sony Ten 2(SD & HD), Sony ESPN, 8.30p.m.West Indies vsBangladesh: 2nd Test, SonyESPN HD, 8.30 p.m.

TV PICKS

BENGALURU: Desperado (Arshad up)won the Nawab M. Arshad Ali KhanMemorial Cup, the chief event of theraces held here on Saturday ( July 14).

The winner is owned by M R StudFarms Pvt Ltd rep by. Mr. N.Chandrashekar Rai and trained by NeilDarashah.

1 MYSORE CUP (1,100m), maiden 3yo only, (Terms): TRIGGAR (Vinod

Shinde) 1, Alpha (Arshad) 2, Yerwazan(Selvaraj) 3 and Rajveer (Dhanu Singh)4. 11/4, 3/4 and 11/4. 1m 07.90s. ₹��675(w), 157, 44 and 23 (p), SHP: 156, THP:43, FP: 16,621, Q: 5,907, Trinella:72,375 (carried over), Exacta: 1,62,947(carried over). Favourite: Sharp Response. Owner: M R Stud Farms PvtLtd rep by. Mr. N. Chandrashekar Rai.Trainer: Imtiaz Khan.

2 ADMIRAL HENDY JOHN ROUS CUP

(2,000m), rated 30 to 50: VELO-

CIDAD (Zervan) 1, Nitromax (T.S.Jodha) 2, Masada (Arshad) Auric Force( John) 4. 11/2, 33/4 and 1/2. 2m08.97s. ₹��26 (w), 14, 18 and 18 (p), SHP:53, THP: 40, FP: 217, Q: 131, Trinella:890 and 340, Exacta: 3,712 and 1,229.Favourite: Velocidad. Owners: Mr.Gautam Aggarwa & Mr. Rajan Aggarwal. Trainer: Pradeep Annaiah.

3 NAWAB M. ARSHAD ALI KHAN ME-

MORIAL CUP (1,400m), 3yo,(Terms): DESPERADO (Arshad) 1, CorfeCastle (Trevor) 2, Salvador Dali(Sandesh) 3 and Mr Handsome (Yash)4. 21/2, 41/4 and 2. 1m 26.03s. ₹��84(w), 22 and 11 (p), SHP: 53, THP: 18, FP:139, Q: 24, Trinella: 246 and 149. Favourite: Corfe Castle. Owner: M R StudFarms Pvt Ltd rep by. Mr. N.Chandrashekar Rai. Trainer: NeilDarashah.

4 D. KUMAR SIDDANNA MEMORIAL

CUP (1,600m), rated 45 to 65: ISN’T

SHE LOVELY (Trevor) 1, Athena(Sandesh) 2, Sporting Pleasure(Nazerul) 3 and St Pauli Girl( Jagadeesh) 4. Not run: Mulholland. 2,53/4 and Nose. 1m 39.35s. ₹��19 (w), 11,16 and 77 (p), SHP: 35, THP: 160, FP:41, Q: 32, Trinella: 1,501 and 809, Exacta: 7,975 and 2,051. Favourite: Isn’tShe Lovely. Owners: Poonawalla Racing & Breeding Pvt Ltd rep by. Mr. Zavaray S. Poonawalla & Mrs. Behroze Z.Poonawalla, Byramjee Jeejeebhoy PvtLtd rep by. Mr. Byram N. Jeejeebhoy &Vijay Racing & Farms Pvt Ltd rep by.Mr. Vijay Kumar Gupta. Trainer:Padmanabhan.

5 K.N. GURUSWAMY MEMORIAL

TROPHY (1,200m), rated 75 &above: INTO THE SPOTLIGHT (Trevor)1, Justice Angel (Sandesh) 2, AmbitiousApproach (Srinath) 3 and Occitan(Neeraj) 4. Lnk, 1 and 2. 1m 12.10s. ₹��22(w), 13, 19 and 14 (p), SHP: 45, THP: 58,FP: 88, Q: 76, Trinella: 172 and 52, Exacta: 606 and 394. Favourite: Into TheSpotlight. Owners: Poonawalla Racing& Breeding Pvt Ltd rep by. Mr. ZavarayS. Poonawalla & Mrs. Behroze Z. Poonawalla, Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Pvt Ltdrep by. Mr. Byram N. Jeejeebhoy &Capt. Jamshed J Appoo. Trainer:Padmanabhan

6 MUMBAI CUP (1,200m), rated 45 to65, 4yo & over: IRIS (Zervan) 1,

Regal Music (Darshan) 2, Shades OfDesire (Trevor) 3 and Harley Quinn(Arshad) 4. 31/2, Shd and Lnk. 1m13.38s. ₹��23 (w), 14, 15 and 17 (p), SHP:44, THP: 43, FP: 83, Q: 60, Trinella:222 and 75, Exacta: 1,081 and 523. Favourite: Iris. Owner: Mr. S. Pathy.Trainer: Irfan Ghatala.

7 DELHI CUP (1,400m), rated 15 to35: ORENDA (A. Imran) 1, Mea

Culpa ( John) 2, Spirit Bruce (B. Harish)3 and Firing Line (Raja Rao) 4. 21/2, 23/4 and 61/4. 1m 26.79s. ₹��28 (w), 12, 13

and 22 (p), SHP: 34, THP: 40, FP: 37,Q: 15, Trinella: 240 and 178, Exacta:2,602 and 1,622. Favourite: Mea Culpa.Owners: Aravind Ganapathy, Mr.Vikram P. Bavikatte & Sohna StudFarm Pvt Ltd rep by. Mr. GautamThapar & Sultan Singh. Trainer: G.Aravind.

8 INDIAN PATTERN COMMITTEE

TROPHY (1,600m), rated 00 to 20:INTERNAL AFFAIR (Kiran Rai) 1, Aleef(Darshan) 2, Ultimate Power( Jagadeesh) 3 and Amazing Angel(Rajesh B) 4. Not run: Regal Realm.Lnk 11/2 and 11/2. 1m 42.44s. ₹��183 (w),35, 14 and 18 (p), SHP: 35, THP: 45, FP:785, Q: 412, Trinella: 3,549 and 1,383,Exacta: 17,102 and 7,329. Favourite:Aleef. Owner: Mr. Gnanadeva Rao.Trainer: Narayana Gowda. NOTE: Originally Internal Affair first,Amazing Angel Second, Aleef thirdand Ultimate Power forth. The objection lodged by Jagadeesh rider of Ultimate Power against the Amazing Angelfor put him out near 300m, bumpingnear 200m and cutting across at 50mwas upheld by the stewards and theorder was revised as above.Jackpot: ₹��14,190 (60 tkts); Runnerup:₹�� 146 (2,494 tkts); Treble (i): ₹��657 (40tkts); (ii): ₹��2,663 (16 tkts).

Desperado clinches main event

BENGALURU: Sir Cecil, who is inpink of condition as evidenced byhis outstanding gallop onThursday, should be hard to tossin the Kingfisher Ultra Derby Bangalore (2,000m), the stellar attraction of the races to be heldhere on Sunday ( July 15).Suraj Narredu, who had a fall during the morning trials onThursday but escaped unhurt,will be riding Star Superior in thederby. Surprisingly, this is theonly race he is riding in the Derbyweekend. There will be no false rails.

1 HYDERABAD CUP (Div. II),(1,200m), rated 15 to 35, 4yo &

over, 130 pm: 1. Astron (11)Koushik 60, 2. Galino (9) Rayan58, 3. Halfsies (12) Srinath 58, 4.Final Destiny (3) P.S. Chouhan57.5, 5. Premier Premises (5) Darshan 57.5,6. Fantastic App (13)Vinod Shinde 57, 7. Perfectgoldenera () () 57, 8. Revan Star (6) T.S.Jodha 57, 9. Lassilo (8) S. Shiva K56.5, 10. Indian League (4) DhanuSingh 56, 11. Flying Bullet (7) Akshay 55.5, 12. Kruger Park (1)Nazerul 55.5 and 13. PrincessPride (2) Neeraj 55.1. ASTRON, 2. HALFSIES, 3. REVAN

STAR.

2 CHENNAI CUP (Div. I),(1,400m), rated 30 to 50, 4yo

& over, 200: 1. Reference (7) Irvan 60, 2. Silver Legend (4) Samson 60, 3. Good Time Indeed (12)Akshay K 58, 4. Amber Crown (3)A. Imran 57.5, 5. Black Lightning(10) S. Shiva K 57.5, 6. Tanoura (8)Jagadeesh 57.5, 7. Huemac (1) Antony 57, 8. Noahs Ark (9) Koushik57, 9. Call Me Maybe (2) P.S.Chouhan 56.5, 10. Starry Wind (6)Srinath 55, 11. Birchwood (5) R.Manjunath 54.5 and 12. Quick Action (11) T.S. Jodha 54.5.

1. HUEMAC, 2. GOOD TIME IN-

DEED, 3. STARRY WIND.

3 HYDERABAD CUP (Div. I),(1,200m), rated 15 to 35, 4yo

& over, 235: 1. Country’s Bloom(3) A. Imran Khan 60, 2. Imprimatur (11) Trevor 59.5, 3. Prazsky (1)Koushik 58.5, 4. Fine Barristor (2)Mudassar 57.5, 5. Princess Holly(8) Kiran Rai 57, 6. Tokyo Rose (13)Arshad 57, 7. Youresohandsome(12) R. Pradeep 57, 8. Oasis Breeze(6) Darshan 56.5, 9. Export Quality (5) Srinath 56, 10. Skybound(4) Md. Feroz 56, 11. PrincessRumela (9) Neeraj 55.5, 12. GoodWord (10) Nazerul 55 and 13.Dontbreaktherules (7) Chetan G54.5.1. TOKYO ROSE, 2. IMPRIMATUR, 3.

PRINCESS RUMELA.

4 KOLKATA CUP (1,400m), rated60 & above, 310: 1. Fire Glow

(2) Chetan G 62, 2. Fair Game (4)Darshan 60.5, 3. Automatic (7)Zervan 58, 4. Ravelnation (10) S.Shiva K 57.5, 5. Sedulous (8) T.S.Jodha 55, 6. Shining Magic (11)Ramesh K 55, 7. Super Success (3)Dhanu Singh 55, 8. Speed Hawk(6) Arshad 53.5, 9. Courage (5)Trevor 53, 10. Gusty Wind (1)Jagadeesh 53 and 11. Brainstorm(9) Sandesh 50.1. COURAGE, 2. BRAINSTORM, 3.

AUTOMATIC.

5 B.T.C ANNIVERSARY CUP

(1,400m), 4yo & over, 350: 1.Castlebridge (8) Trevor 60, 2.Bold Command (6) A. Imran 56.5,3. Your Royal Majesty (9) Sandesh55, 4. Admiral Hatsu (1) Zervan 52,5. Flash Drive (5) T.S. Jodha 52, 6.Knight Of Ke (4) Sai Kiran 52, 7.Smile Stone (3) M. Naveen 52, 8.Cavallo Veloce (2) Akshay K 51.5and 9. Savannah Sound (7) Arshad51.5.1. CASTLEBRIDGE, 2. YOUR ROYAL

MAJESTY, 3. SMILE STONE.

6 KINGFISHER ULTRA DERBY

BANGALORE (2,000m), 3yo,(Terms), 430: 1. Home Of TheBrave (3) Srinath 56, 2. Poseidon(7) Darshan 56, 3. Rikki Tikki Tavi(5) Neeraj 56, 4. Sir Cecil (6) Trevor 56, 5. Star Superior (4) Suraj56, 6. Van Dyke (2) Sandesh 56and 7. Punjabi Girl (1) Zervan 54.5.1. SIR CECIL, 2. STAR SUPERIOR, 3.

PUNJABI GIRL.

7 MYSTICAL MILLION (1,600m),maiden 3yo only, (Terms), 5

10: 1. Bradfield College (3) Neeraj56, 2. Grand Chieftain (8) A. Imran 56, 3. Hollister (9) Kiran Naidu56, 4. Indian Pharaoh (6) Trevor56, 5. Radiant Treasure (7) Arshad56, 6. Secretive Force (12) Srinath56, 7. Star Commando (4) T.S.Jodha 56, 8. Who’syourdaddy (11)John 56, 9. Bonafide (2) Zervan54.5, 10. Different League (10) P.S.Chouhan 54.5, 11. Roberta (1)Sandesh 54.5 and 12. Show Girl (5)Yash 54.5.1. BRADFIELD COLLEGE, 2. BON-

AFIDE, 3. SECRETIVE FORCE.

8 CHENNAI CUP (Div. II),(1,400m), rated 30 to 50, 4yo

& over, 550: 1. Allsettogo (10) Trevor 60, 2. Haedi’s Folly (2) Srinath59.5, 3. Queen Latifa (6) Arshad58.5, 4. Alverez (3) Samson 58, 5.Stanley (11) M. Prabhakaran 58, 6.Classic Cut (1) John 57.5, 7. Agneta(9) S. Shiva K 57, 8. Air Of Distinction (5) A. Imran 56.5, 9. RawGold (8) Jagadeesh 56, 10. SpiritOf London (4) Sai Kiran 54 and 11.Irish Prince (7) M. Kumar 53.5.1. SPIRIT OF LONDON,

2. QUEEN LATIFA, 3. CLASSIC CUT.Day’s best: SIR CECIL.Double: COURAGE —

CASTLEBRIDGE.Jkt: 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8; Tr (i): 3, 4 and5; (ii): 6, 7 and 8.

Sir Cecil fancied for feature

For Hima Das, Friday wasthe busiest day of her younglife. The night before, the 18yearold’s stunning performance — the women’s 400mtitle in the World under20championships at Tampere,Finland — had left the nationspellbound and the Assamquartermiler fl��ooded withcongratulatory messages.

Celebrations following themedal ceremony had deniedher the chance to cool down,making it necessary for herto catch up on some sleep onFriday and recover in timefor the relay the followingday.

Accommodative

Despite her pressing schedule, she was accommodative and polite in herresponse.

Hima is yet to be in syncwith her newlyacquiredstardom. “I am not any star. Idon’t like (to hear that).

“I am a lowkey Indian girlfrom a middle class family of

a small village,” a fi��rmlygrounded Hima told The

Hindu. Hima’s unboundedconfi��dence is her biggeststrength. It insulates herfrom nervous moments,which make or break many asporting career.

“I didn’t fear anything inthe fi��nal race (in Tampere). Itwas a very good race. I neverget afraid of anything. I onlyfear time,” said Hima, sharing her moment of glory.

Basant Singh, one the

400m coaches in the National camp, said he was confi��dent of Hima’s good showingat Tampere.

“She is very brave for herage. You can say she is like(Sachin) Tendulkar (at ayoung age).

“Since she had done wellin a more competitive fi��eldin the CommonwealthGames, the competitionhere was not a big challengefor her.

“I just hoped that she did

not get trapped because of afalse start,” said Basant.

The World under20crown has now propelledthe youngster to do well inelite competitions, includingthe upcoming Asian Games.

“My focus is on the AsianGames. I can celebrate afterthat,” said Hima, who willcompete in women’s 200mand 400m individual racesas well as women’s andmixed 400m relay events inthe Asiad in Jakarta.

‘I didn’t fear anything in fi��nal’ Hima Das says celebrations can wait as her focus is on the Asian Games

y.b. sarangi

KOLKATA

Cynosure: Hima Das’ unbound confi��dence is her biggest strength. * PTI


CMYK

A ND-NDE

SPORTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



found some swing with thenew ball, but failed to provide early breakthroughs.

As the openers started toplay more shots and boundaries fl��owed, India broughton Hardik Pandya into the attack in the fi��fth over. Themove didn’t yield any resultas the allrounder was takenfor 21 runs in his fi��rst twoover spell.

Later, as he had done inNottingham, Kuldeep struckwith the second ball of hisfi��rst over but this time his fi��nal fi��gures were a more modest three for 68 after again re

Joe Root’s composedhundred laid the platformfor England’s 86run win over India in the second OneDay International cricketmatch at Lord’s on Saturday.

Victory saw the 2019World Cup hosts England,fi��rst in the ODI rankings to India’s second, level the threematch series at 11 ahead ofTuesday’s fi��nale at Headingley —Root’s Yorkshire homeground.

Test skipper Root’s 113, allied to fi��fties from whiteballcaptain Eoin Morgan and David Willey, guided England to322 for seven.

This was signifi��cantlymore than its 268 all out during an eightwicket loss inThursday’s seriesopener atTrent Bridge and meant evenIndia’s powerful batting lineup faced a degree of scoreboard pressure.

Quick wickets

England’s pacemen then followed up by reducing Indiato 60 for three before it wasall out for 236, with fast bowler Liam Plunkett taking fourfor 46.

Rohit Sharma, fresh frombacktoback hundreds, including a superb 137 not outon Thursday, and ShikharDhawan shared a brisk fi��rstwicket stand of 49.

But England was gifted a

breakthrough when Rohit(15) was bowled by fast bowler Mark Wood after an uglyslog across the line.

Dhawan made a rapid 36,including six fours, beforecarving a wide ball from leftarm quick Willey to BenStokes at backward point.

K.L. Rahul then fell for aduck when he was brilliantlycaught by wicketkeeper JosButtler, who dived low to hisleft to hold an inside edge off��Plunkett.

But while India captain Virat Kohli, one of the world’sleading batsmen, and SureshRaina were at the crease, itshopes were intact.

India needed at least oneof the duo, however, to makea really big score but insteadthey both fell in the 40s.

Kohli’s patient 45, featuring just two fours, endedwhen he played across theline to a Moeen Ali off��breakthat kept low and was leg before.

With the runrate climbing, legspinner Adil Rashid,who took an impressive twofor 38 in 10 overs, bowledRaina for 46 with a ball thatspun past the lefthander’sintended sweep.

And when Buttler, divingwell down the legside,caught the bighitting HardikPandya (21) off�� Plunkett, India was deep in trouble at 191for six with 11 overs left.

With India’s situation increasingly desperate, M.S.Dhoni (37) holed out off��Plunkett before Yuzvendra

Chahal was out off�� the lastball of India’s 50 overs.

Earlier, England fansamong a packed crowd at asunny Lord’s might havefeared the worst when Indialeftarm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav, who fi��nishedwith stunning fi��gures of sixfor 25 at Trent Bridge, againtook early wickets.

Jason Roy (40) and JonnyBairstow (38) provided aquick start to England’s innings as they put on 69 forthe opening wicket off�� 62balls.

Umesh and Siddarth Kaul

moving Bairstow and Roy.This time Bairstow was

unlucky to see the ball defl��ect off�� both his pad and theback of his bat before hittingthe stumps.

Roy fell when he slogswept straight to Umesh Yadav at deepmidwicket. Kuldeep had taken two wicketsfor nine runs in 12 balls andEngland was 86 for two.

Watchful

But the watchful Root, whowas dropped for the fi��nalmatch of the precedingTwenty20 series, and Morgan kept Kuldeep at bay.

Root completed a 56ballfi��fty and Morgan, who wonthe toss, followed him to thelandmark in 49 balls.

But lefthander Morganfailed to press on, falling for53 when he holed out off�� aKuldeep fulltoss to end athirdwicket stand of 103.

England dangermenStokes and Buttler managedjust nine runs between them.

Root, however, held fi��rm,completing a 109ball century and then hoisting Pandyafor six over midwicket.

Willey has not had manychances to showcase his batting ability in a strong England side.

But the son of former England batsman Peter Willey,took his opportunity on Saturday with a maiden ODI fi��fty off�� just 30 balls, includingfi��ve fours and a six, beforeRoot was run out off�� the lastball of the innings.

Root’s composed century helps England level the series

Timely knock: Joe Root’s timely return to form helped England post 322 against India. * GARETH COPLEY/GETTY IMAGES

Morgan and Willey contribute useful halfcenturies; Indian batsmen fail to fi��re

INDIA IN ENGLAND


London

England: J. Roy c Umesh bKuldeep 40 (42b, 4x4, 1x6), J.Bairstow b Kuldeep 38 (31b,

5x4, 1x6), J. Root run out 113(116b, 8x4, 1x6), E. Morgan cDhawan b Kuldeep 53 (51b. 4x4,

1x6), B. Stokes c Dhoni b Hardik5 (8b), J. Buttler c Dhoni bUmesh 4 (7b), Moeen c Rohit bChahal 13 (16b 1x4), D. Willey(not out) 50 (31b, 5x4, 1x6); Extras (lb1, nb2, w3): 6; Total(for seven wkts. in 50 overs):322.

Fall of wickets: 169 (Bairstow,10.2 overs), 286 (Roy, 14.1), 3189 (Morgan, 30.3), 4203(Stokes, 33.5), 5214 (Buttler,36.3), 6239 (Moeen, 41.4), 7322 (Root, 49.6)

India bowling: Umesh 100631, Kaul 80590, Hardik 100701, Chahal 100431,Kuldeep 100683, Raina20180.

India: Rohit b Wood 15 (26b,

2x4), S. Dhawan c Stokes b Willey 36 (30b, 6x4), V. Kohli lbw bMoeen 45 (56b, 2x4), K.L. Rahul

c Buttler b Plunkett 0 (2b), S.Raina b Rashid 46 (63b, 1x4),M.S. Dhoni c Stokes b Plunkett37 (59b, 2x4), H. Pandya c Buttler b Plunkett 21 (22b, 1x4),Umesh Yadav st. Buttler bRashid 0 (2b), Kuldeep Yadav(not out) 8 (26b), S. Kaul lbw bPlunkett 1 (2b), Y. Chahal cStokes b Willey 12 (12, 2x4); Extras (lb2, w13): 15; Total (in 50overs): 236.

Fall of wickets: 149 (Rohit, 8.2overs), 257 (Dhawan, 9.6), 360 (Rahul, 10.5), 4140 (Kohli,26.6), 5154 (Raina, 31.1), 6191(Pandya, 38.6), 7192 (Umesh,39.3 ov), 8215 (Dhoni, 46.1 ov),9217 (Kaul, 46.4).

England bowling: Wood 50311, Willey 100482, Plunkett 100464, Stokes 50290, Moeen 100421, Rashid100382.

Toss: England.

Manofthematch: Joe Root

Three-match series level 1-1.

SCOREBOARD ENGLAND VS INDIA, SECOND ODI

The GenNext of Indian paddlers took centrestage with aplethora of talented youngsters storming into the lastfour of men’s and women’ssingles in the 11Sports Central Zone Nationalrankingtable tennis tournament onSaturday.

Manush Shah, the youngster from Gujarat, emergedas a giantkiller in men’s tokeep on course for a doublecrown along with fanciedManav Thakkar.

Southpaw Manush, having accounted for title contender Sanil Shetty in theround of 32, continued themomentum to stun SarthakGandhi and sixth seed Sushmit Sriram in a fl��awless manner.

So fl��uent was Manush inhis strokeplay against Sriramin the quarterfi��nals that thelanky Tamil Nadu paddlerwas left with no answer.

In the women’s draw, promising paddlers Archana Kamath, Surbhi Patwari and 15yearold Diya Chitale continued their form to enter thetopfour. While Archanadidn’t drop her guardagainst Yashini Sivashankar,Diya continued her dreamrun by coming on top

against Takeme Sarkar in anenthralling quarterfi��nal.

Patwari, having stunnedtop seed Sutirtha Mukherjeein the round of 16, accounted for Olympian Ankita Dasto set up a semifi��nal datewith Archana. Diya will facePooja Sahasrabudhe in theother semifi��nals. The results (quarterfi��nal):Youth girls: Naina (Tel) bt Vanshika Bhargava (Del) 911, 115,311, 119, 911, 114, 1210; S.Selenadeepthi (TN) bt ShailuNoorbasha (AP) 311, 112, 118,119, 127; Yashini Sivashankar(TN) bt Tisha Kohli (Del) 511,117, 611, 1012, 112, 113, 1210; Prapti Sen (WB) bt SreejaAkula (RBI) 411, 114, 118, 1412, 118.

Youth boys: Manav Thakkar(PSPB) bt Raja Kundu (NB) 115,116, 115, 117; Anirban Ghosh(RSPB) bt Abhimanyu Mitra

(WB) 119, 116, 113, 112; Siddhesh Pande (Mah) bt JeetChandra (Har) 1210, 1210,118, 116; Manush Shah (Guj)bt Ananth Devarajan (TN) 117,119, 116, 115.

Women: Surbhi Patwari (WB)bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 116, 118,611, 115, 117; Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Yashini Sivashankar (TN) 1210, 112, 119, 711, 1311; Pooja Sahasrabudhe(PSPB) bt Ayhika Mukherjee(RBI) 711, 1210, 119, 116, 611111; Diya Chitale (Mah) bt Takeme Sarkar (RSPB) 811, 115,1214, 114, 311, 116, 117.

Men: Manav Thakkar (PSPB) btJubin Kumar (Har) 117, 119,117, 1412; Raj Mondal (RBI) btVivek Bhargava (Raj) 511, 114,611, 1513, 811, 115, 119; Manush Shah (Guj) bt Sushmit Sriram (TN) 115, 115, 118, 118;Jeet Chandra (Har) bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) 113, 118,113, 811, 811, 1210.

GenNext of Indian paddlers make a strong statement

Amol Karhadkar

INDORE

Marching on: Archana Kamath got the better of YashiniSivashankar in the quarterfi��nals. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Manush emerges giantkiller

Kuldeep Yadav has done wellwith the white ball this English summer. He has perplexed the England batsmenin the air and off�� the pitch.

The 23yearold chinamanbowler has performed hiscraft expertly. A rich haul (28ODI wickets) in the West Indies, Sri Lanka and SouthAfrica mentally preparedhim for the fi��rst part of theEngland tour.

Former India seamer andformer BCCI junior selectioncommittee chairman AbeyKuruvilla, who has seen Kuldeep’s spectacular rise, said:“He’s got better every year. Isaw him fi��rst when he was 16or 17 at an under19 camp inMysuru (then Mysore). Hecould bowl the legbreak, thegoogly and much more.

“Playing against international batsmen has helpedhim improve faster. Theremay be a paucity of such

bowlers, but Kuldeep is aquality bowler himself. He isaccurate and has proved tobe good on slow wickets too.However, redball cricketwill be diff��erent.”

Not many in Test crickethave fancied being chinaman bowlers. The word hadits origin when England’s

Walter Robins wisecrackedsaying ‘Fancy being done inby a chinaman’,” after WestIndian Ellis Achong had himstumped in the 1993 OldTraff��ord Test. Even Achong(193035) bowled leftarmgooglies only for a change asdid England’s Johnny Wardle(194857), who bowled the

wrong’uns out of curiosity. Wardle picked up 102

wickets at an economy of20.39, and much later SouthAfrica’s Paul Adams took 134at 32.87. Australia’s ‘Chuck’FleetwoodSmith (193538)took 42 and Lindsay Kline(195761) 34, including a hattrick against South Africa.

In all, 23 cricketers (545wickets at 35.87) have bowled leftarm wrist spin inTests, including DenisCompton, Simon Katich, Ishan Ali, Brad Hogg and Michael Bevan. One among thecurrent lot is Sri Lanka’sLakshan Sandakan.

The one who didn’t bowlmuch and was consideredgood was Arthur Morris ofthe famous ‘Invincibles’. “Hecould bowl a good leftarmgoogly and often (he) bowledit in the nets. But he decidedearly that his batting wouldtake him further,” said DonBradman, while choosing hisbest World XI.

Upholder of an uncommon art The 23yearold chinaman bowler has performed his craft expertly

Mesmerising: Kuldeep Yadav has had the English batsmen inbind with his superb bowling. * REUTERS

G. Viswanath

MUMBAI Wicketkeeper WriddhimanSaha’s fi��tness is the only issue facing the National selectors ahead of the Test seriesagainst England.

In case of Saha failing torecover from the thumb injury, Parthiv Patel would beadded to the squad since theselectors insist on a reservewicketkeeper given the longtour where India plays fi��veTests.

Parthiv and Dinesh Karthik will be the two wicketkeepers with the latter having fi��gured in the Testagainst Afghanistan at Bengaluru in June. Karthik hadreturned to Tests after a gapof eight years.

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav looks to be a certainty following his outstanding hold over theEnglish batsmen, who havefound him hard to read.

England’s batting lineuphas been mesmerised by

Kuldeep who mixes hiswares in an intriguing manner. R. Ashwin and RavindraJadeja complete the spinners’ quota even though

skipper Virat Kohli hasshown interest in legspinnerYuzvendra Chahal.

The rest of the squadpicks itself with a healthy

competition for places. M. Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan,

K.L. Rahul, Virat Kohli andCheteshwar Pujara form thecream of the batting withsupport from Ajinkya Rahane and Karun Nair, apartfrom the wicketkeeper.

The selectors are alsopleased by the performanceof Hardik Pandya, whocomes in handy with his positive and attacking batsmanship. Ishant Sharma, UmeshYadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumarand Mohammed Shamiwould fi��t in as fast bowlers.Shami has submitted his fi��tness at the National CricketAcademy and is said to beraring to go.The likely squad:

Virat Kohli (Capt.), ShikharDhawan, M. Vijay, K.L. Rahul,Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair,Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik,Wriddhiman Saha or Parthiv Patel, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami,R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja andKuldeep Yadav.

Kuldeep looks a certainty for TestsSaha’s fi��tness the only issue facing the selectors

Will he, won’t he? Wriddhiman Saha’s fi��tness is the onlyconcern for the selectors. * PTI

Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI

South Africa collapsed dramatically against Sri lanka’sspin to crash to 73 all out inthe fi��rst Test on Saturday,their lowest total sincereadmission to international cricket. The dismal performance came a day afterthey were bowled out forjust 126, which had beentheir previous lowest Testinnings in Sri Lanka.

Off��spinner DilruwanPerera took six for 32, andveteran leftarm spinnerRangana Herath claimedthree for 32, as the pairbowled in an unbrokenpartnership for 28 overs,after Sri Lanka set SouthAfrica a target of 352 forvictory.

Herath moved to ninthon the alltime wicket tally,with 423 career dismissalsto his name, while Perera’sfi��vewicket haul was thesixth of his career. SouthAfrica’s match aggregate of199 was 20 runs fewer thanSri Lanka opener DimuthKarunaratne’s individualscore across both innings.

The scores: Sri Lanka 287 &190 bt South Africa 126 & 73(D. Perera six for 32, R. Heraththree for 38).

Dilruwanspins Lankato a big winAgence France-Presse

GalleAnkita Raina dismissedfourth seed Risa Ozaki ofJapan 62, 63 in the fi��nal ofthe $25,000 ITF women’stennis tournament onSaturday.

It was the second singlestitle this season for the 25yearold Ankita. Other results: €127,000Challenger, Braunschweig,Germany: Doubles: Final:Santiago Gonzalez (Mex) &Wesley Koolhof (Ned) bt Sriram Balaji & Vishnu Vardhan63, 63.$75,000 Challenger, Winnetka, US: Doubles: Semifi��nals:Austin Krajicek (US) & JeevanNedunchezhiyan bt JaredHiltzik & Tim Kopinski (US) 76(2), 64.$100,000 ITF women, Contrexville, France: Doubles:Semifi��nals: Eva Wacanno(Ned) & Prarthana Thombarebt Ysaline Bonaventure (Bel)& Oksana Kalashnikova (Geo)62, 63.

Ankitaclaims title

Sports Bureau

Nonthaburi

Ankita Raina. * REUTERS

Sheeraz Sheikh shot 117and missed the men’s skeetfi��nal by fi��ve points in theShotgun World Cup here.Sheeraz had a series of 24,24, 23, 25 and 21 to beplaced 32nd among 60shooters.

Mairaj Ahmad Khanbounced back from a badstart, when he had 23 and20 on the fi��rst day, to shoot24, 25 and 24 on the second day to be eventuallyplaced 35th with 116.

Angad Vir Singh Bajwa,who had shot 49 out of 50on the fi��rst day, could notsustain the good work andslipped to 47th followingrounds of 21, 24 and 20, fora total of 114.

The top three in thequalifi��cation list, Lee Jongjun of Korea, GiancarloTazza of Italy and StefanNilsson of Sweden won thegold, silver and bronzerespectively.The results: Men:

Skeet: 1. Lee Jongjun (Kor) 54(123); 2. Giancarlo Tazza (Ita)53 (123); 3. Stefan Nilsson(Swe) 42 (122); 32. SheeraSheikh 117; 35. Mairaj AhmadKhan 116; 47. Angad Vir SinghBajwa 114.

Sheeraznarrowlymisses fi��nal

Tucson (USA)

Sports Bureau

(Rus) 240.0 (575); 3. Anton Arisarkhov (Rus) 219.1 (574); 4.Arjun Singh Cheema 195.7(574); 5. Anmol Jain 176.6(575); 6. Anhad Jawanda 157.4(577); 9. Gaurav Rana 571.

25m sports pistol: 1. Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu 586; 2. Vijayveer Sidhu 585; 3. Udhayveer Sidhu 582; 6. AnhadJawanda 579; 7. Anish Bhanwala 578.

50m rifl��e 3position: 1. FilipNepejchal (Cze) 457.2 (1169);2. Zaltan Pekler (Hun) 455.7(1169); 3. Dragomir Matei Iordache (Rou) 444.9 (1165); 4.Aishwarya Tomar 433.0 (1173).

Junior women: 10m air rifl��e: 1.Elavenil Valarivan 250.8(628.0); 2. Nicole Gabrielli(Ita) 249.7 (627.3); 3. Aleksandra Szutko (Pol) 228.2 (623.6);4. Shreya Agrawal 206.8(624.8).

Saurabh Chaudhary outclassed Aleksandr Kondrashin of Russia by 5.4points to clinch the juniormen’s air pistol gold in the28th Meeting of ShootingHopes International championship on Saturday.

Saurabh, who had wonthe Junior World Cup inSuhl earlier, had toppedqualifi��cation with 578, fi��vepoints less than his bestscore in the internationalarena.

Earlier, Elavenil Valarivanbeat Nicole Gabrielli of Italyby 1.1 point to clinch the junior women’s air rifl��e gold,after having topped qualifi��cation with 628.0.

Three medals

The Indian junior menswept the three medals inthe 25metre sports pistol,with Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu winning the gold with586, one point ahead of Vijayveer Sidhu.The results:

Junior men: 10m air pistol: 1.Saurabh Chaudhary 245.4(578); 2. Aleksandr Kondrashin

Gold for Elaveniland RajkanwarSaurabh beats Kondrashin in juniormen’s air pistolSPORTS BUREAU

PLZEN

Elavenil Valarivan.* FILE PHOTO


CMYK

Delhi

Section 2

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

july 15, 2018

Trump-Putin meet may

be overshadowed by

poll meddling charges

page 4

While going for term

insurance plan, select

riders that best suit you

page 8

Investment managers

need skill and luck to

win, like football teams

page 9

India deploys ‘third eye’

technology in GSTN

to detect defaulters

page 10

China registers recordtrade surplus with U.S.BEIJING

China’s trade surplus with theU.S. widened to a recordmonthly high of $28.97billion, up from $24.58billion in May. This suggestsexporters were rushingshipments before U.S. tariff��stook eff��ect in the fi��rst weekof July. U.S. President DonaldTrump, who wants Beijing tocut the trade surplus, coulduse the latest result toratchet up pressure on China.Both sides imposed titfortat tariff��s last week. REUTERS

BUSINESS ABROAD A PAGE 12DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

IN BRIEF

It was supposed to be workas usual when a manuscriptdescribing a new antspecies, discovered from thesouthern foothills of PirPanjal Himalayas in Rajouridistrict of Jammu andKashmir, was sent to him forpeerreview beforepublication.

But Dr. Himender Bhartifrom the Ant Systematicsand Molecular Biology Labin the Department ofZoology and EnvironmentalSciences, Punjabi University,Patiala, was in for a pleasantsurprise to fi��nd that the newspecies was calledLeptogenys bhartii.

“This species is named inhonour of Dr. Bharti for hisoutstanding contribution tothe Indian ants,” said Dr.Shahid Ali Akbar from theCentral Institute ofTemperate Horticulture,Srinagar and senior authorof the paper published inthe Biodiversity DataJournal on choosing thename for the 1112 mm antthat he and his teamdiscovered.

Based on structure The new ant species wasidentifi��ed based onmorphology. The scientistslooked for specifi��ccharacters that areconserved in the genus in

question to ascertain that itis a new species.

Dr. Bharti and hisstudents have discovered 77new ant species from India,of which 22 are from theWestern Ghats. In addition,

he has discovered four newspecies from Southeast Asia— Vietnam, Malaysia andChina.

“He has been working onants for about 20 years andhas developed an ant

repository — PunjabiUniversity Ant Collection —where holotypes (fullspecimen) of all the newspecies he and his studentsdescribed and referencecollection of over 1000 antspecies from India and othercountries are kept,” says Dr.Akbar.

Global specimens too In addition , the repositoryalso has 20 paratypes(specimens other thanholotypes) of ant speciesdescribed from other partsof the world that have beendonated by the originaldiscoverers for objectiveidentifi��cation of newspecies.

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Pir Panjal Himalayas yield new ant species

R. Prasad

CHENNAI

The tropical insect is named after scientist Himender Bharti, who has developed a reference repository

A treasure: Himender Bharti and his students have discovered 77 new ant species from India.

Late last year, offi��cials of theDirectorate of Revenue Intelligence had been tracking alarge export consignment ofTramadol, a syntheticopioid, a prescription painkiller that was listed in theScheduleH of the Drugs andCosmetics Act. For severalmonths, drug enforcementagencies from various countries had been telling theirIndian counterparts howthere was widespread diversion of Tramadol tabletsoriginating from pharmaceutical units in India. One

case was proving particularly tough to track but the DRIwas able to fi��nally trace theshipment to Nigeria. However, the consignment vanished deep into the Africancountry.

Intelligence reports frominternational drug enforcement agencies indicated theopioid was getting into thehands of Islamic State fi��ghters in Syria and insurgents inAfrican countries, who hadtaken to using the drug bothas a pain suppressant and resilience booster.

For the manufacturers,exporters, middlemen and

the international drug cartels it was a lucrative proposition. Usually priced as lowas ₹��4 for every 50gm tabletin the domestic market, Tramadol fetched as much as₹��160 per tablet in the over

seas grey market. “The problem compounds when consignments get diverted tocountries with a very weakgovernance environment,”an enforcement offi��cer toldthis reporter.

As a result of increased vigilance, huge consignmentsof the drug began to be intercepted in Libya, the UnitedArab Emirates, Singaporeand Malta.

Widely abused“Tramadol is often used tomitigate pain during cancertreatment. But, studies showthat there is also a great possibility of Tramadol beingabused as a replacement forheroin and other opioids.The drug triggers a feeling of

euphoria, numbness, relaxation and outofbody experience,” a deaddiction expert said.

Such fi��ndings were alsorecorded in a 2012 paper titled “Tramadol Dependence:A Case Series from India” bya group of doctors at the Department of Psychiatry,Drug Deaddiction Treatment Centre, PGIMER(Chandigarh). “While thisdrug is abused in severalparts of the country, it is prevalent in Punjab where theaddicts, who were earlierhooked to Dextropropoxyphene, switched over to Tramadol after the former wasbanned,” said the expertwho was part of the researchteam.

With Tramadol fast turning into a global menace,and its wide abuse in India,enforcement agencies petitioned the Government todeclare it a psychotropicsubstance. The Departmentof Revenue under the Finance Ministry issued a noti

fi��cation to this eff��ect on April26. The notifi��cation broughtTramadol under the purview of the Narcotic Drugsand Psychotropic SubstanceAct.

Raids and seizuresActing on specifi��c intelligence, in the last week ofMay, the DRI raided two ma

nufacturing units at Valsadin Gujarat and Maharashtra’sPalghar.

The operation led to theseizure of about 13 crore Tramadol tablets/capsules,loose pills weighing morethan 4,800 kg and over 900kg in powder form. The orders had been placed on behalf of a Haryanabased exporter. And again, theultimate smuggling destination was Nigeria.

For now, a DRI offi��cialsaid, the unlicensed Tramadol manufacturing businesshas fallen silent after theraids. In the past few weeks,licences of several pharmaunits have been cancelledand enforcement agenciesare keeping a vigil.

Global trail: Tramadol high on drug enforcement agendaCrackdown on Indian manufacturingunits involved in smuggling racket

Devesh K. Pandey

New Delhi

SUNDAY SPECIAL

The drug has been used by IS fi��ghters in Syria. * GETTY

IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

Business as usual: An umbrella vendor from Rajasthan makes the most of the heavy rain lashing Hyderabad and Secunderabadas her baby sleeps in a makeshift hammock by the highway at Gachibowli on Saturday. * NAGARA GOPAL

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Rain cover

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and hisdaughter Maryam were provided “B” class facilities, asthey spent their fi��rst night inthe highsecurity Adiala Jailin Rawalpindi.

Offi��cials of the NationalAccountability Bureau tookMr. Sharif, 68, and Ms. Maryam, 44, into custody shortly after their arrival at Lahore airport on Friday night.They were then fl��own to Islamabad on a special aircraftand taken to the Adiala Jail inseparate armoured personnel carriers escorted by police convoys.

The authorities, according to new plan, have decided to keep the former primeminister and his daughter inthe Adiala jail in the garrisoncity, a media report said. According to a notifi��cation is

sued by the Islamabad administration, a rest house at theSihala Police Training College in the capital has beendeclared a subjail for thetwo with immediate eff��ectand until further orders.

The rooms of class A andB prisoners are usuallyequipped with one cot, onechair, one teapot, one lan

tern if there is no electriclight, a shelf, and necessarywashing and sanitaryappliances.

The expenses of facilitiesto prisoners under A or Bclass such as TV, airconditioner, fridge, and newspapers are usually paid by prisoners with the permissionof jail department, the re

port added. Meanwhile, the Ministry

of Law and Justice has issueda new notifi��cation, sayingthe accountability courtwould conduct the trial of remaining two corruption cases —Flagship Investmentsand Al Azizia Steel Mills —against Mr. Sharif and othersat the Adiala jail.

Sharifs get ‘B’ class facilities in jailFormer Prime Minister, daughter Maryam lodged at Adiala prison in Rawalpindi


Islamabad

Mounting anger: Supporters of Nawaz Sharif burn tyresduring a protest in Lahore on Friday. * AFP

Supporters of the formerPrime Minister Nawaz Sharifclashed with the police inPakistan’s Punjab provinceas they tried to reachLahore’s Allama Iqbalairport where the PML(N)leader and his daughterMaryam were arrested onFriday night on arrival fromLondon. A PAGE 3

Workers clashwith police

The apex body for childrights, the National Commission for Protection of ChildRights (NCPCR) has prepared guidelines for regulating admission fee levied byprivate unaided schools. TheCommission has also recommended setting up a districtlevel body which will consultparents and teachers whiledetermining school fee on acasebycase basis.

“We have submitted themodel framework to the Secretary of Human ResourceDevelopment Ministry andrequested her to ask States

to either adopt the guidelines or incorporate our suggestions to their own framework. We haverecommended an online mechanism as well as a democratic method for fi��xingschool fee,” said Priyank Kanoongo, Member (RTE &Education), National Commission for Protection ofChild Rights (NCPCR).

Mr Kanoongo said theNCPCR took suo motu cognisance of the problem of exorbitant school fees after it received several complaints onthe matter. He added thatthe Commission has studiedregulations framed by va

rious States over a period ofsix months and has includedbest practices in its modelframework. The guidelinesrecommend setting up a District Fee Regulatory Committee (DFRC) in each district.The body will be headed bythe Collector or District Magistrate.

For three yearsAs per the procedure laiddown by the NCPCR, everyschool will have to submit itsfee proposal online by October 31 for the next academic session, following whichan algorithm will calculatethe minimum and maximum

fee a school can charge. Thiswould be then analysed bythe DFRC, which will consultrepresentatives from theschool as well as its ParentTeacher Association beforearriving at the fi��nal decision.The fee fi��nalised thus will beapplicable for three academic years.

If a school fails to submitits proposal, it may face aban on new admissions forthe entire academic sessionor withdrawal of its formalrecognition. If a school is notsatisfi��ed with the DFRC decision, it can appeal to theState Appellate Authoritywhose decision will be fi��nal.

NCPCR moots model for school feesDistrict-level panels to decide quantum on case-by-case basis after consultation


NEW DELHI

Preparing for the upcoming festive season, the Indian Railways is planningto introduce about 2,000special trains between September and November.

About 600 trains will berun in September, about1,000 trains in October andnearly 500 trains in November. Of these, nearly1,180 trains will be addedby the Northern Railways.

Last year, 2,094 specialtrains were run during thisperiod, a Railways offi��cialsaid.

2,000 trainsfor festiveseason


New Delhi

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NEWS

It’s large; it’s exotic; and it’sdelicious.

But the Redbellied Pacu(Piaractus brachypomus) anative of South America,which has taken over fi��shfarms and kitchens in Kerala, is an illegal species,which has not yet beencleared for farming. Reports of the fi��sh being cultivated in Andhra Pradesh,West Bengal, Kerala andsome parts of Uttar Pradeshhave left fi��sheries expertsworried.

The Ministry of Agriculture has not cleared it, saidDirector of the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resource (NBFGR), Lucknow,Kuldeep K. Lal.

However, with demandfor the fi��sh growing, severallocal fi��sh farmers in Keralahave taken to breeding thespecies and ensure a regular supply to the stalls. Onan average, the fi��sh fetches₹��200 a kilo. Adults weighingover 3.5 kilos and over 45cms long are now availablein fi��sh stalls across Kerala.

The rich and tasty meatof the fi��sh, which is comparable to that of some local varieties, has many takers inthe local markets. The factthat no fi��sh diseases werereported during pacu farming has made it the darlingof Kerala aquaculturists.

Risk analysis Dr. Lal explains that beforepermitting the culture of afi��sh species, a risk analysisof the species in Indian waters needs to be carried out.Only species cleared by theNational Committee toOversee and Regulate theIntroduction of Exotic Aquatic Species in Indian Waters can be farmed. Currently, exotic speciespangasianodon (pangas), ti

lapia and white leg shrimphave been cleared for commercial farming.

The Department of Dairying, Animal Husbandryand Fisheries is reviewing areport submitted by the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) on therisks and benefi��ts of pacufarming, based on a studyconducted by theICARNBFGR, Dr.Lal said.

The impact offarming the species was studiedin Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, WestBengal and Uttar Pradesh, with the Kochibased Peninsular and Marine Fish Genetic Resource(PMFGR) Division ofNBFGR, conducting the study in Kerala.

The Union Ministry ofAgriculture had earlierbanned the farming of African catfi��sh (Clarias gariepi-nus), which again was illegally introduced into aquafarms. The elimination ofthe species was ordered toprevent it from establishingitself in Indian waters, prevent crossbreeding with Indian species and to control

the spread of fi��sh diseases.An earlier study, carried

out by N.R. Chattarjee andB. Mazumdar of the WestBengal University of Animaland Fishery Sciences in Kolkata, reported that the pacuwas “introduced as an alienspecies into India viaBangladesh.”

The PMFGR study conducted as part of risk

assessment surveysin 2016, confi��rmed pacufarming inaround 75 privatefarms in 39 pan

chayats of Alappuzha, Ernakulam and

Thrissur districts. The smaller varieties of

pacu have a greyishsilverbody with an orange huethat starts from its lower jawand runs till its anal fi��n. Theadult ones have more of adark grey body with theorange hue. Experts say thedentition helps them distinguish pacu from its dreadedcousin, the piranha.

However, the State Fisheries Department has started acting against the farming of the species. Noticeswere issued to farmers inErnakulam, said Deputy Di

rector (Ernakulam Zone) ofthe State Fisheries Department, S. Mahesh.

Crackdown beginsNotices were issued by

invoking Section 6 (i) of theKerala Inland Fisheries

and Aquaculture Act,which has prohibitedthe “propagation,rearing and market

ing of fi��sh specieswhich is not indige

nous.” For the fi��rsttime offenders, the Act prescribesan imprisonment of threemonths and fi��ne of ₹��10,000or both. Though some Kerala farmers had tried farmingthe banned species wayback in 2011, it spread onlyin the last three years.Agents source seeds fromWest Bengal, the NFDB report said.

Piranha vs pacuThe report says farmers usea wide range of feed optionsfor the pacu — from slaughter house waste and fi��sh feedto boiled tapioca and rice,food waste, groundnut oiland coconut oil cakes,wheat and vegetable waste.Though often mistaken forits deadly carnivorous cousin, the piranha, pacu areconsidered vegetarian,feeding on aquatic plants.

The ecological impacts ofpacu farming have not beenassessed in Kerala as noconclusive evidence of thespecies establishing itself inthe natural waters of theState is available, V. S. Basheer, ScientistinCharge ofthe PMFGR Centre, said.

However, some instancesof pacu in natural waterswere reported from Edathua, Pulinkunnu, Kuttanad,and Thakazhi in Alappuzhadistrict and from Thriprayar River and Kettuchirain Thrissur during the ICARNBFGR study.

Though not cleared for farming, South American ‘Pacu’ has a growing market

Current fl��avour: A vendor holding a giant Redbellied Pacuat his fi��sh stall in Kerala. * K.S. SUDHI

K. S. Sudhi

Kochi

A delicious alien in Kerala kitchens

A proposed move by theCentre to abolish the Right ofFirst Refusal (ROFR) clausefor transportation of Indiancargo by Indianfl��agged vessels — the only benefi��t available to Indian shipping companies — is threatening theexistence of the domesticshipping industry.

Anticipating a bleak future, Indian shipping companies — which have a combined fl��eet of 1,372 shipswith a total capacity of 12.35million Gross Tonnage (GT)— are mulling over deregistering their vessels from India and fl��ag them in tax havens of Panama and Bahamato survive and compete withforeign lines.

Having recently relaxednorms benefi��ting foreignshipping lines, the government is now preparingground to do away with theROFR clause which ensuresIndianregistered ships carryIndian bulk dry/liquid cargoof Indian public and privatesector companies at the lowest rate quoted by a foreignshipping line by matchingthe price. Thus, while it doesnot add any extra cost to theimporter or exporter, it provides assured business to thenational fl��eet at a rate quoted by a foreign line.

Multiple taxesCurrently, 92% of India’s export import trade is carriedby foreign fl��ag ships. And the8% that is assured to Indianships is likely to go if theROFR is scrapped.

This benefi��t is providedsince foreign fl��ag vessels donot pay any tax in Indiawhile Indian companies arecostlier since they have topay multiple taxes.

In 2017 alone, Indian ship

ping companies have invested around ₹��4,700 crore in assets in anticipation ofbusiness. All this investmentis at stake, said ship owners.

Recently, the Union Shipping Ministry issued ordersthat permitted foreign fl��agvessels to transport exportimportladen containers,agri products, horticulture,fi��sheries, animal husbandrycommodities and fertilizersbetween two or more Indianports without obtaining a licence from the DirectorateGeneral of Shipping. All thismeans is that an Indian fl��agvessel, if available, has lostthe opportunity of doing thisbusiness.

Indian shipping companies said the move was beingcontemplated without anyconsultative process.

Also, the integrity and security of transportation ofcritical cargo in times of war

or economic sanctions seemto have been completely ignored, they said.

“The proposal to removeROFR is not only retrogradebut also fl��ies in the face ofdata which shows that such apolicy has aided growth ofIndian fl��ag tonnage with benefi��cial freight rates to consumers — after all, Indianvessels only match the lowest rate of the foreign fl��ag,”Anil Devli, directorgeneral,Indian National Shipowners’Association, said.

“It is sad that an industrywhich employs close to30,000 persons with assetsof approximately ₹��68,000crore and whose contribution to the exchequer is inexcess of ₹��8,000 crore in ayear is being forced to shutdown needlessly,” he added.

“The right of fi��rst refusalis the only incentive to theIndianfl��agged ships, which

suff��er from many disadvantages compared to the foreign fl��agged ones. It is alsoan incentive that comes at nocost to anyone. Removal ofROFR will strike at the veryfoundations of Indian shipping,” said G. Shivakumar,executive director, The GreatEastern Shipping CompanyLtd.

The government’s moveto deny Indian shippingcompanies the ROFR will putthe alreadybattered fi��rms ata disadvantageous positionagainst foreign liners, saidRanjit Singh, executive director & CEO, Essar Shipping.

Mr. Singh added: “Thisuntoward move will push Indian ship owners to deregister their ships from IndianRegister and fl��ag them out ofIndia as it would reducetheir cost of operations.”

‘Strategic blow’Analysts said deregisteringof vessels from the Indianfl��ag would be a strategicblow to security as merchantnaval fl��eet always acts as asecond line of defence forcoastal security.

However, some expertsbelieve that the objective ofthe government is to shiftcargo movement from railways and roadways to thewaterways to reduce logistics costs and ensure fastermovement of cargo, whichthe domestic lines havefailed to deliver.

“This move should not belooked at in isolation. Thegovernment wants to buildvolumes and see a largescale shift of cargo movement to waterways which foreign lines can provide as wedo not have a strong domestic shipping industry,” saidJagannarayan Padmanabhan, director, CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory.

Indian shipping companiesheaded for troubled watersScrapping of ‘Right of First Refusal’ clause will hit domestic industry

Lalatendu Mishra

Mumbai

More burden: Wheat being loaded onto a ship in Gujarat.Indian fi��rms have a combined fl��eet of 1,372 ships. * REUTERS

Presently, foreign fl��agvessels are permitted tocarry Indian cargo afterobtaining licence from theDirectorate General,Shipping. Under the ROFRclause, an Indian vessel has

the right to carry this cargoat the same tariff�� as off��eredby the foreign vessel. Thus,cargo would be carried byan Indian ship without anyadditional cost toconsumers.

What is ROFR clause?

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD





WORLD

‘Will continue economicties with other nations’TEHRAN

Iran’s President Hassan

Rouhani said on Saturday that

his country will continue its

economic relations with the

rest of the world despite

more sanctions by the U.S.

“We are hopeful the trend of

economic engagement with

the world will continue as

before,” he said. AP

ELSEWHERE

Around 1,500 Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PMLN)workers and leaders, including former Prime MinisterShahid Khaqan Abbasi andShahbaz Sharif, werebooked on Saturday underterrorism and other chargesfor taking out a rally here insupport of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Police said the PMLNleaders and workers havebeen booked for rallying inviolation of law, attackingpolicemen and rangers,causing damage to publicproperty and hurling abusesat the Judiciary and military.

Thousands of party workers had tried to take out amarch to the Allama Iqbal International Airport here onFriday to welcome Mr. Sharifand his daughter Maryam

Nawaz arriving from Londonto face jail terms of 10 and seven years, respectively, inthe Evenfi��eld properties corruption case.

Police said FIRs have beenregistered against 1,500workers and 20 leaders inthree police stations of thecity under the 7ATA (antiterrorism Act) and various

sections of the Pakistan Penal Code. Police offi��cials arecomplainants in all FIRs.

‘Shahbaz led rally’According to the police, Mr.Shahbaz, the PMLN president and younger brother ofMr. Sharif, led the rally herein violation of Section 144that stops assembly of fi��ve or

more people at one place ata particular time.

The party has condemnedthe registration of FIRs anddemanded its immediatewithdrawal, as several of thebooked leaders are takingpart in the July 25 election.

“It is an attempt to stopour leadership to take part inthe elections. It is a prepollrigging,” PMLN spokesperson Marriyum Aurenzebsaid.

Besides Mr. Shahbaz andformer Prime Minister Abbasi, the other leaders bookedinclude Mr. Shahbaz’s sonHamza, Speaker of NationalAssembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq,PMLN chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, former InformationMinister Maryam Aurenzeb,Senators Mushahid HussainSyed and Musadiq Malik andformer Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry.

1,500 PMLN workers bookedfor rallying in support of SharifFIRs include names of exPM Shahid Abbasi and party chief Shahbaz Sharif

Mass support: PML-N workers in Lahore marching towardsthe airport to welcome ousted PM Nawaz Sharif. * REUTERS


Lahore

Supporters of oustedPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif clashed with police inPakistan’s Punjab provinceon Friday as they tried toreach the airport whereMr. Sharif and his daughterMaryam Nawaz were arrested on their return tothe country in a corruptioncase, prompting police tolob tear gas shells and usebatons that left at least 50people injured.

“At least 50 people, including 20 policemen havebeen injured in clashes between Pakistan MuslimLeagueNawaz workers,police and the Rangersmostly in Lahore and someadjoining districts in Punjab,” Punjab police spokesman Niyab Haider said.

PMLN spokespersonMarriyum Auranzeb condemned the police for using force to stop the partyworkers.

50 injuredamid clashesin Pakistan


Lahore

Twelve young footballersand their coach rescuedfrom a Thai cave will be released from hospital onThursday, a health offi��cialsaid, off��ering psychologicalsupport and urging thegroup to avoid media interviews despite huge interestin their againsttheoddssurvival story.

The group, called the“Wild Boars” after theirfootball academy, went intothe Tham Luang cave innorthern Thailand on June23 to celebrate a birthday,but became trapped asfl��oodwaters poured in.

They were all extractedon July 10, ending an ordealthat had the world holdingits breath for their safereturn.

“All 13 Wild Boars are ingood physical health... allare in good spirits,” PublicHealth Minister PiyasakolSakolsattayatorn told repor

ters on Saturday. “They willbe discharged altogether, initially on Thursday.”

The children — and theirparents — have been advisedto spend time with friendsand family and not to givemedia interviews as thatcould “trigger posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms,” the Minister added.

The boys appeared wellin short video message recorded from their hospitalward in Chiang Rai. Eachtook turns to introducethemselves, hands claspedtogether in a Thai greeting.

Thai boys to leavehospital on July 19Agence France-Presse

Bangkok

All safe: One of the 12 boysrescued from the cave givesa video message. * AP

A total of 459 Honduranchildren separated fromtheir parents as a result ofWashington’s “zero tolerance” immigration policyhave now been identifi��ed,offi��cials said on Friday, ajump from previous fi��gures.

The new number was issued by the Foreign Ministry, a day after the government said that the country’sconsular offi��cials in the U.S.had identifi��ed 313 Honduranchildren in visits to sheltersfollowing President DonaldTrump’s decision to end family separations.

A Ministry statement saidthe number of parents arrested and separated fromtheir children totaled 289.

It added that the Ministryhad sent a note to Homeland Security SecretaryKirstjen Nielsen, thankingthe U.S. for ending the policy and urgently seeking anoffi��cial list of the separatedfamilies.

The U.S. governmentcame under fi��erce international criticism for forciblyseparating thousands of families, most of them fromCentral America and seeking asylum due to violencein their home countries.

‘459 Honduran childrenseparated from parents’Foreign Ministry fi��gures show a jump


Tegucigalpa Heavy rain and thunderstorms are wreaking havocacross China, with fl��oodsalong major rivers destroying bridges, blocking roadsand railways and forcingthousands of residents toevacuate, state media reported on Saturday.

Weather authorities areforecasting more downpours throughout thecountry on Saturday.

The National Meteorological Center said rainfallcould exceed 80 mm perhour in some regions andcalled on authorities to haltoutdoor activities.

Heavy rain,fl��oods hitChina Reuters

SHANGHAI

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki pledged to resolve hiscountry’s dispute with Ethiopia on Saturday, in a historicvisit to Addis Ababa aimed atcementing peace less than aweek after the nations declared an end to their twodecades of confl��ict.

Mr. Isaias arrived in theEthiopian capital just fi��vedays after Ethiopian PrimeMinister Abiy Ahmed visitedEritrea as part of a dizzyingpeace process aimed at ending years of violence and animosity between the neighbours who were once part ofthe same nation.

Mr. Abiy and Mr. Isaiasshared laughs and hugs at anoffi��cial lunch on Saturday asthe Ethiopian leader said hiscounterpart was “beloved,

respected and missed by theEthiopian people.”

“We are no longer peopleof two countries. We areone,” Mr. Isaias told political

and cultural elites gatheredin a palace built during Ethiopia’s imperial days.

Mr. Isaias started histhreeday visit at Addis Ababa’s airport, where he andMr. Abiy strode down a redcarpet as a brass bandplayed and traditional dancers cheered.

Welcome home PresidentIsaias!!” Mr. Abiy’s chief ofstaff�� Fitsum Arega wrote onTwitter as the Eritrean leader arrived.

Eritrea was once part ofEthiopia and comprised itsentire coastline on the RedSea until it voted for independence in 1993 after decades of bloody confl��ict.

Eritrea’s Isaias arrives in EthiopiaIn a historic visit, the President vows to resolve dispute with neighbouring nation

Renewing ties: Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, centre, withEthiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa. * AP


Addis Ababa

Chilean bishops raidedover abuse allegations SANTIAGO

Chilean authorities on Friday

seized documents and

computers in raids targeting

the Catholic church in the

cities of Temuco and Villarrica

amid a pedophilia scandal

that has gripped the nation,

judicial sources said.

Local media reported that the

probe began on June 19

following allegations of

sexual abuse against five

clergy members. AFP

11 soldiers killed in westAfghanistan: officialsKABUL

At least 11 soldiers were killed

when their checkpoint came

under an attack by insurgents

in western Afghanistan, a

provincial official said on

Saturday. Four others were

wounded in the gun battle in

Bala Buluk district, the

spokesman for the Farah

provincial Governor said. AP

Team Trump meetsMexico President-electMEXICO CITY

Top officials from U.S.

President Donald Trump’s

administration on Friday met

with Mexican President-elect

Andres Manuel Lopez

Obrador, with both sides

upbeat on the potential for a

turning point in the countries’

troubled relationship.

Secretary of State Mike

Pompeo led the high-level

delegation. AFP


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WORLD

ELSEWHERE

Explosive thrown atGerry Adams’ homeBELFAST

An explosive device was

thrown at the home of Gerry

Adams in Belfast overnight,

the former Sinn Fein leader

said on Saturday, saying the

attack may have been carried

out by Irish nationalist

militants opposed to

Northern Ireland’s peace

deal. Reuters

Saudi Arabia interceptsHouthifi��red missileRIYADH

Saudi Arabia on Saturday

intercepted a missile fi��red

from rebelheld territory in

neighbouring Yemen, state

media said. A coalition

statement published by the

staterun SPA news agency

said the ballistic missile had

been fi��red from the northern

Yemeni province of Saada

towards the southern Saudi

city of Najran. AFP

Two dead in latestNicaragua violenceMANAGUA

Nicaraguan forces on Friday

attacked a university in the

capital Managua and a

neighbourhood in opposition

bastion Masaya, killing two.

Political tensions have soared

since protests against a

nowaborted pension reform

began on April 18 and

mushroomed into general

opposition to President

Daniel Ortega and his

government. AFP

Shabab gunmen targetpresidential palaceMOGADISHU

Three Shabab gunmen were

shot dead on Saturday after

exchanging fi��re with security

forces outside the

presidential palace in

Mogadishu in an attack in

which two car bombs were

also detonated, said security

offi��cial Abdulahi Ahmed. AFP

In early 2016, Russian intelligence offi��cers obtained anew pool of the virtual currency bitcoin. They quicklyput the digital money towork.

The Russian spies usedsome of the bitcoins to payfor the registration of a website, dcleaks.com, wherethey would later post emailsthat had been stolen fromHillary Clinton’s presidentialcampaign. When the operatives needed a computer server to host the dcleaks site,they paid for that with bitcoins as well.

The transactions were detailed in an indictment onFriday from the Justice Department, in which prosecutors accused 12 Russian operatives of interfering in the2016 presidential campaignthrough a sophisticatedhacking scheme.

The indictment providedone of the clearest illustrations to date of the innerworkings of the Russian operation that carried out thehacking of the DemocraticParty and other targets. It also showed how cryptocurrencies — and the anonymitythey provide — have becomeboth a tool and a challengefor intelligence agencies inthe battles between nationstates.

“This is the fi��rst clear example in court documents ofcryptocurrency being usedto purchase capabilities thatcould be leveraged in attackson national security,” said Jonathan Levin, a cofounderof Chainalysis, a fi��rm thathelps governments trackcryptocurrency payments.

Financial transactions

have been one of the trickiest parts of intelligence operations because electronicpayment networks andchecks are generally off��limits to undercover spies.That has led to famousscenes of covert exchangesof suitcases full of cash.

Moving money The bitcoin network allowsanyone to move millions ofdollars across the worldwithout any inperson meetings, and without the approval of any fi��nancialinstitutions.

First released in 2009 byits mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin wasdesigned to operate withoutany central authority thatcould block transactions orverify the identities of thepeople involved.

All bitcoin transactionsand wallets are recorded ona database known as theblockchain, by a network ofcomputers that anyone canjoin. The unusual structurehas long made bitcoin aprimary means of payment

for drugs on online blackmarkets, and more recentlyas a method for making ransom payments.

When bitcoin’s pricespiked last year, many big fi��nancial institutions took aninterest in the virtual currency as a new kind of investment and have looked tomove it away from its unsavoury associations. But Friday’s allegations are likely tomake that eff��ort more diffi��cult.

While the Russians accused of attacking Ms. Clinton’s campaign also used traditional currencies, theindictment said they had“principally used bitcoinwhen purchasing servers, registering domains and otherwise making payments infurtherance of hackingactivity.”

Bitcoin, the indictmentadded, “allowed the conspirators to avoid direct relations with traditional fi��nancial institutions, allowingthem to evade greater scrutiny of their identities andsources of funds.” NY TIMES

Russian spies hid behindbitcoin in hacking campaignJustice Dept. indictment illustrates the inner workings of the Russian operation

Nathaniel Popper

Matthew Rosenberg

SAN FRANCISCO

U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet his Russiancounterpart Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday. * AP

The notion that Russia is ideologically opposed to democracy fl��ies in the face ofits robust ties with India, Israel and Japan and the U.S.must work with the Kremlinon matters of common interest, said George Beebe,former director of CIA’s Russia analysis. Mr. Beebe is currently Director for Intelligence and National Securityat the Center for the National Interest, a think tank inWashington.

“Russia does not opposedemocracy per se. The veryfact that Russia has strongrelationships with India, Israel, Japan... many othercountries is proof that theyare not concerned whethera country is democratic ornot. I think what Russia isconcerned about is evangelical democratisation on thepart of the U.S. Attemptingto democratise Russia orcountries around Russia inways that Moscow believeshave destabilising eff��ectsand also hurt Russian security. That they oppose. I don’tbelieve at all Russia is opposed to democracy in anyideological way.”

Mr. Beebe said PresidentDonald Trump of the U.S.and President Vladimir Putin of Russia should not getvery ambitious in theirgoals, given the domestic divisions in America on relations with Russia. The Presidents are scheduled to meetin Helsinki this week.

“There are many peoplein the country who have ahard time understandinghow Trump could have become President. For manypeople, it is easier to believethat the election result was a

product of some extraordinary collusion between Russia and the Trump campaignthan it is to believe thatTrump actually won a majority in the electoral college. Those divisive feelings... have limited theTrump administration’s ability to conduct a normal diplomatic relationship withRussia,” Mr. Beebe, who wasa special advisor to VicePresident Dick Cheney for Russia/Eurasia and IntelligenceProgrammes, told The Hin-

du in an interview.

Confl��ict of interest“There are a number of issues on which Washingtonand Moscow have a real confl��ict of interest. But the stateof the overall relationship ismuch much more harderand dangerous than itshould be given the areas ofdisagreement. I think it hasreached a point where it hasbecome quite dangerous.”

Mr. Beebe said there aremany issues that require theU.S. to cooperate with Russia. “One is strategic stability. Washington and Moscoware the world’s largest strategic nuclear powers andhence we have a special responsibility to the world, tomaintain their relations in a

way that brings broader stability to the world order. However, the strategic order ischanging, with China growing its nuclear power andnew nuclear powers assert.India is one among them,”he said.

Changing order“Russia and China have aninterest in maintaining stability in this changing order.The second area of commoninterest is counterterrorism.Nuclear nonproliferation isthe third area. Russia has adiff��erent way of dealing withthis as we see in the case ofIran. Those are legitimatesubjects for diplomatic engagement.”

According to the expert,American eff��orts to isolateRussia were bound to failand it should not try to dothat. The U.S. should not betroubled by the fact that itsfriends such as India or Israel have good relations withRussia. “In principle, thereshould not be a problem. Itbecomes a problem onlywhen the U.S. tries to dealwith Russia by seeking to isolate it internationally. Andwe did attempt to do that inthe aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.”

“We imposed sanctionsand tried to isolate Russia. Atthe moment, we are not trying to do that and I don’tthink it is possible to isolatea country that is so large andso infl��uential, with so manyconnections around theworld. That kind of an approach was bound to fail. So,given that we can’t isolateRussia, the fact that friendsand allies of the U.S wantproductive relationship withRussia should not be troubling to us.”

‘Russia opposes forced democratisation, not democracy’

Varghese K. George

Washington

George Beebe.

U.S. must work withKremlin, says expert

Syrian rebels in the southerncity of Daraa were surrendering their heavy weaponsto government forces on Saturday, state media said, under a deal brokered by regime ally Russia.

State news agency SANAsaid opposition fi��ghters inthe neighbourhood of DaraaalBalad, a district in the city’s rebelheld southernhalf, handed over heavy ammunition and other equipment. It came a day after theregime and rebels began dismantling the dirt barriersthat had divided the city foryears. The pact reached onWednesday will see Daraa city — the cradle of Syria’s sevenyear uprising — fall backinto government control.

Negotiated by Moscow, it

provides for rebels to handover heavy and mediumduty weapons and to “reconcile” legally with the government, according to statemedia. The terms mirror abroader deal announced onJuly 6 for the entire provinceof Daraa, which would beimplemented in three stages: the eastern countrysidefi��rst, then the city, and fi��nal

ly the province’s west.While rebels have handed

over weapons to government forces in dozens oftowns, no transfers of fi��ghters or civilians to the oppositionheld north have takenplace yet. The Daraa dealsare the latest in a string ofsocalled “reconciliation”agreements that typicallyfollow military off��ensives.

Beginning on June 19, Syrian and Russian bombardment pounded rebel areas inDaraa and the neighbouringprovince of Quneitra, ostensibly protected by an internationally agreed ceasefi��re.

The onslaught came to anend with the July 6 ceasefi��re.

Regime forces now holdmore than 80% of Daraa province, according to the Syrian Observatory for HumanRights.

More than 80% of the province is now under regime control


Daraa

A protest against the regimein Daraa in June. * AP

Syrian rebels in Daraasurrender weapons

Annual celebrations: Fighter jets streaked over Paris on Saturday as part of a massive military parade in a demonstration ofcontrolled force on the annual Bastille Day. Thousands of people, many of them tourists, thronged the Champs Elysees avenueto watch the march past involving 4,290 soldiers, 220 vehicles, 250 horses, 64 jets and 30 helicopters. * AFP

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Bastille march

Former rebel FARC commanders in Colombia haveappeared at a historic tribunal where for the fi��rsttime they were made toanswer for kidnappingsand forced disappearances. “We apologise to all ofthem, we will do the impossible so they can knowthe truth of what happened, we will assume ourresponsibilities,” said Rodrigo ‘Timochenko’ Londono, the leader of whatwas until recently the mostpowerful guerilla group inSouth America.

Reconciliation systemHe was speaking at a tribunal that opened on Fridayunder a truth and reconciliation system agreed withthe government to recognise the hundreds of thousands of victims of morethan a half century ofconfrontation.

At the end of his appearance, the former guerillaleader reaffi��rmed to thepress commitments to contribute “as far as possible”towards reparations forthose aff��ected and to neveragain exercise violence.

During their long andfailed struggle for power,the FARC resorted to abductions for economic andpolitical purposes. Thousands of hostages, including military, police and politicians were kept for yearsdeep in the jungle beforebeing rescued or released,with many others perishing in captivity. The prosecution has documented8,163 victims of kidnappinginvolving the rebels.

The Special Jurisdictionfor Peace (known by itsSpanish abbreviation JEP)is examining the periodbetween 1993 and 2012.

FARC pledged to confesstheir crimes and make reparations to the victims aspart of the 2016 agreementthat disarmed 7,000 fi��ghters and led to the group becoming a political party.

FARC rebelsapologise tothe nation


Bogotá

At fi��rst glance, it may seemlike just a black truck fi��lledwith bottles of water, but acloser look reveals a darker —or rather murkier — side towhat’s sloshing aroundinside.

Its cargo of more than 500bottles of Nongfu Spring, aubiquitous Chinese brand,fi��lled with contaminateddrinking water from the village of Xiaohaotu in China’snorthwest Shaanxi province,has been driven around Beijing as a reminder of the costsof the country’s rapid economic development.

Mobile exhibitionThe mobile exhibition, created by “Nut Brother” — an artist known for advocacywork on environmental andsocial issues — was created indefi��ance after his initial showwas shut down. But an open

ing ceremony set to be attended by some 400 peopleSaturday was derailed byauthorities, who told the artist the vehicle was parked illegally.

The truck — which had already toured the capital’s798 art district prior to Saturday — is now off�� the road,although Nut Brother hopesto persevere with the mobile

exhibition using a smallervehicle.

Shocked by Shaanxi’s dirty drinking water during awork trip to the province inMay, Nut Brother, 37, enlistedthe help of villagers to fi��ll9,000 empty Nongfu bottlesand brought them back toBeijing, where they were installed in a museum.

The exhibition caught the

attention of Nongfu SpringCompany and two weeks later, authorities from the Industrial and Commercial Bureau dismantled his display,removing most of the bottledwater. The company laterfi��led a complaint claiming hiswork infringed on itscopyright.

Unfi��t for consumption“Nongfu Spring literallymeans ‘farmer’s spring water’, using village farmers asa brand,” said Nut Brother —who does not reveal hisname to the media. “But thereality is farmers don’t drinkthis water. A lot of their water is seriously tainted withpollution.” While much attention has been paid to theimpact of rapid industrialisation on China’s air, the effects on the country’s watersupply are less well known —and less visible.

Across China, much of the

water is “unfi��t for humancontact”, according to a 2017report by Greenpeace EastAsia, and 14 of 31 provincesfailed to meet water qualitytargets despite a nationwidepush for improvement.

The samples contain highlevels of iron and manganese, which can be toxic inlarge doses. “They’ve beendrinking this water for morethan 10 years,” Nut Brothersaid. “It’s not fi��t for consumption but the villagershave no choice.”

The roving exhibit seemsto have startled some visitorsearlier this week. “It’s shocking to know we have peoplewho drink this kind of water,” one of the onlookerssaid. Another passerbybravely took a swig from thebottle. “You can defi��nitelyfeel bits of the dirt,” he said.“It makes me feel very luckyto be able to drink clean water. Very lucky.”

Chinese offi��cials halt show on tainted waterThe exhibition aimed to highlight the eff��ect of rapid industrialisation on the country’s waterbodies

Risky manoeuvre: A passerby drinks polluted water collectedin mineral water bottles at a roving exhibition in Beijing. * AFP


Beijing

Israeli aircraft struck militant targets in the Gaza Stripand Palestinians launcheddozens of mortar bombsand rockets from the enclave into Israel on Saturday, the Israeli military said.

There were no reports ofserious casualties on eitherside of the border in the exchange of fi��re which followed a familiar pattern ofretaliatory attacks by the Israeli military and Gaza’sarmed groups.

40 targets struckGaza militants often vacatepotential target sites duringfl��areups and Israelis wholive in villages and townsnear the border have reinforced rooms in their homesand rocket sirens that alertof an incoming attack.

The military said it struckmore than 40 targets withinseveral militant compoundsbelonging to Hamas in whatit described as one of itswidest operations since a2014 IsraelGaza war.

Gaza militants fi��red morethan 50 mortar bombs androckets toward Israel, themilitary said, setting off�� sirens and sending Israelisfl��eeing to their shelters.

The fl��areup began onFriday, when thousands ofPalestinians gathered at theIsraelGaza border area forweekly protests that havenow entered their fourthmonth. Israeli troops shotdead a Palestinian teenagerand a second protester diedof his wounds on Saturday,Gaza health offi��cials said.

More than 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the protests.

Israel launches strikesagainst Hamas targetsSays militants fi��red 50 mortar bombs

Reuters

Gaza

U.S. President DonaldTrump played golf on Saturday at his course on thewestern coast of Scotlandahead of a summit withKremlin chief Vladimir Putin that could be overshadowed by accusations thatRussians meddled in theU.S. 2016 election.

In an uproarious trip toEurope, Mr. Trump harangued members of the NATO military alliance, scolded Germany for itsdependence on Russianenergy and shocked Britain by publicly criticisingPrime Minister TheresaMay’s Brexit strategy.

Mr. Trump apologised toMs. May for the furore overhis withering public critique, blaming “fake news”and promising instead a bilateral trade agreementwith Britain after it leavesthe European Union inMarch.

Protests continueA blimp depicting Mr.Trump as an orange, snarling baby was raised in theScottish capital where hundreds protested.

Around 100 supportersof Mr. Trump, some wearing “Make Britain GreatAgain” hats, expressedtheir admiration for thepresident opposite the United States Embassy inLondon.

Meddlingclaims mayovershadowsummit

Reuters

Turnberry/Glasgow


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DESPATCHES

Alan Dershowitz, professorat Harvard Law School for50 years and now emeritus,used to be a beacon for the

American civil liberties camp until the election of Donald Trump as President. The 79yearold was a lifelong Democrat and a vocalsupporter of Hillary Clinton for years. However, these days, he has become the staunchestdefender of Mr. Trump. His latest book, TheCase Against Impeaching Trump, is beingpromoted by Mr. Trump and his supporters.

Mr. Dershowitz’s career was built on his advocacy for civil liberties, and against the overreach of the state. His legal scholarship builtthe case for an expansive view of freedom ofspeech, freedom of religion and even animalrights. All that has changed overnight. His criticism of the special counsel’s offi��ce and defence of presidential powers over the last yearhave led to his expulsion from the progressivesocial circles.

“Why do we need to spend 20, 30, 40 million dollars, have special counsel appointed todo a routine national security investigation,”wondered Mr. Dershowitz on Fox News, afterDeputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein onFriday announced twelve indictments againstRussian citizens for hacking the email serversof the Democratic National Committee, the

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign offi��cials.

Mr. Dershowitz argues that his criticism ofthe special counsel’s offi��ce predates the rise ofMr. Trump and vehemently rejects the viewthat he is a Trump supporter. To be fair tohim, he was critical of the special counsel’s offi��ce when it hauled former President Bill Clinton over the coals. “The subjects of such investigations are often hounded andbankrupted. The independent counsel has noaccountability or continuity,” he wrote in his1998 book Sexual McCarthyism: Clinton,Starr and the Emerging Constitutional Crisis.Mr. Dershowitz, who believes that the veryidea of special counsel sets the stage for abuseof power, says he is merely sticking to his principled position.

The President’s authorityEarlier, Mr. Dershowitz shocked his progressive comrades by questioning their allegationthat Mr. Trump obstructed justice by fi��ringformer FBI Director James Comey. He arguedthat a President cannot obstruct justice bymerely exercising his authority to fi��re somebody. “The President can, as a matter of constitutional law, direct the Attorney General,and his subordinate, the Director of the FBI,tell them what to do, whom to prosecute andwhom not to prosecute,” he wrote last year.“Indeed, the President has the constitutionalauthority to stop the investigation of any person by simply pardoning that person,” he added. In April this year, when the offi��ce of Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, was raidedby the FBI, Mr. Dershowitz termed it a breachof the attorneyclient privilege.

The legal scholar is also agitated with theAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for being silent on the sweeping nature of the special counsel’s investigation. It has “abandonedits role as a neutral defender of civil liberties.For the ACLU... getting Trump trumps civil liberties,” he wrote.

His erstwhile comrades pointed out that hisarguments empower a President who standsaccused of undermining civil liberties. Mr.Dershowitz said that is no suffi��cient reason tosupport investigative overreach. While hispopularity on the left is waning, he has become arguably the most authentic voice insupport of Mr. Trump, and sales of his bookare going up.

WASHINGTON

A liberal sides himselfwith Trump

<> Alan Dershowitz, long feted by theAmerican left for his progressiveviews, now fi��nds himself on thesame side as Trump due to hislongstanding criticism of thespecial counsel’s offi��ce

Varghese K. George works for The Hindu and is

based in Washington

AP

For many within Afghanistan’s oncethriving Sikh andHindu communities, the attack in Jalalabad city on July

1, claimed by the Islamic State (IS), came as afi��nal blow to the plurality of the Afghan society. Fourteen of their compatriots were killed;among them was Avtar Singh Khalsa, the onlySikh nominee for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

A sense of gloom and hopelessness has fallen over the community since and the tragedyhas left them rethinking on their place in thecountry. “Seeing this incident has broken allof our hearts and spirits. We do not know howto move forward,” said Shyam Singh, an Afghan Sikh from Kabul, at a mass funeral at alocal gurdwara in Kabul. Mr. Singh, a tailor, isamong the many who have decided to leaveAfghanistan. “I cannot aff��ord to leave, most ofus can’t aff��ord it, but if we don’t leave, this ishow we will end,” he said.

Reduced to 150 familiesA refusal on the part of the Taliban to negotiate peace, alongside a steadily strengtheningIslamic State (IS) insurgency, has resulted inan increasing number of civilian casualties over the last two years. However, for the minorities, the threat to civilian life isn’t the onlyconcern. The Sikh and Hindu communitieshave seen a steady decline in numbers owingto religious persecution, especially during theyears of civil war and Taliban rule.

And despite the fall of the Taliban and theeff��orts of the following governments to introduce reforms, the two communities remainmarginalised, which has forced them to leaveAfghanistan in several thousands. “Thereused to be several hundred thousands of us atthe start of the war, but now there are nomore than 150 families left, roughly about1,3001,400 Sikhs and Hindus,” said NirmalSingh, a Sikh merchant from Jalalabad, whowas in Kabul to help relatives of the deceasedpeople.

Sikhs and Hindus here have faced a numberof issues like landgrab; the absence of an inclusive justice system; and an absence of spaces to practise their faith. “Our children are notin school, because they get harassed andabused,” said Shyam Singh. “We can’t evencremate our dead without the help of the Afghan government and security forces,” added

Omprakash Sachdeva, an Afghan Hindu fromKhost, who came to the mass funeral to payrespects to Avtar Singh. There have been reports in past of incidents of stonepelting onHindu and Sikh funeral processions by locals.“This land belonged to our ancestors for over300 years, but today we have no claim overit,” he added.

However, many refused to place the blameon their fellow Afghans, instead accusing Pakistan. “Pakistan is our enemy, the enemy ofall Afghans. It doesn’t matter if the Afghan government works to improve our lives, Pakistan will not let us thrive,” said Mr. Sachdeva,indicating that Pakistan’s intelligence agencymight have had a role in the attack.

The Afghan Sikhs and Hindus who spoke tothis writer appealed to the Indian governmentto intervene and support the community. “Atleast, help our children get education in India,” requested Shyam Singh. Others like Nirmal Singh and Mr. Sachdeva wanted India’shelp in migration, though they were not toohopeful that help would arrive in time. “Wewill end up in India eventually,” Mr. Sachdevasaid. “If not now as the living, then surely afterwe die; our ashes will be taken to Haridwar,”he said. The others nodded in resigned agreement. “But it would be helpful if we can leavewhile we are still alive,” said Mr. Singh.

KABUL

A blow to thelast vestiges of pluralism

<> Following the Jalalabad attack, theoncevibrant Hindu and Sikhcommunities are reevaluatingtheir place in the Afghan society.Many members have appealed tothe Indian government for help

Ruchi Kumar is a freelance journalist based in

Kabul

REUTERS

This time, the stars couldnot have been betteraligned. China had accumulated excess stock of renewa

ble energy hardware. Too many factorieswere churning out solar panels and wind turbines to fulfi��ll Beijing’s clean energy dreams.

The Chinese government had earlier declared that it intended to spend a whopping$360 billion on renewable energy wherewithal, such as solar panel and wind turbines, by2020. On the demand end, energyhungry India was positioning itself to absorb a signifi��cant portion of this surplus.

Renewable energy has continued to remainone of the top items on New Delhi’s powerand environmental agenda. “The drivingforce is the Paris climate agreement,” saidSanjay Sharma of Solar Energy Corporation ofIndia (SECI), referring to the deal which set limits to greenhouse gas emissions, with 2020as the starting point. Speaking at a Beijing seminar on renewable energy, he stressed thatIndia was looking at 2030, when renewableswould cover 40% of the country’s total installed capacity. Consequently, clean energytargets were being revised. By 2022, India hasplans to develop 100 GW of renewable energy.

China’s own plans to funnel copious dosesof renewable energy into its energy mix have

been rattled over the last few years. An economic slowdown has reduced overall energydemand, resulting in growing accumulation ofexcess capacity. Besides, the resistance fromthe coal lobby has also proved unusually hardy. The trade war with the U.S., which manyanticipate will dry up exports of renewables toAmerica, is adding further pressure on theChinese energy producers, forcing them toseek new markets. “Under these diffi��cult circumstances, India off��ers a natural lifeline toChinese manufacturers of renewable energyproducts,” said an Indian offi��cial, who did notwant to be named.

India’s fault lines During the brainstorming in Beijing, India’sown fault lines in the renewable energy domain were also exposed. For instance, thechronic problem of land acquisition at homewas forcing Indian planners to consider wideruse of water as a platform for fl��oating solar panels. “We can use reservoirs or even backwaters as in Kerala or in Lakshadweep for fl��oating solar PV projects,” said Y.B.K. Reddy,deputy general manager at SECI. He pointedout that three months ago, a team of Indianexperts had been sent to tap Chinese expertise in this fi��eld. “The team visited the ThreeGorges Dam, the world’s largest hydro project, on the Yangtze river. It has a massive reservoir ideally suited for fl��oating renewableenergy projects,” remarked Mr. Reddy.

The delegation also went to a plant in China’s Anhui province, where solar fl��oats werebeing built on an industrial scale. Mr. Reddyalso spotlighted that India was seeking Chinese expertise for developing “hybrid projects”, where solar and wind energy would becombined. “We need to colocate and combine wind and solar capacities on land as wellas water. Complementary battery storage maybe necessary to ensure uninterrupted supplyof power to the grid.”

As the candid back and forth between Indian and Chinese technocrats and businesspeople accelerated, it became evident that themood has changed markedly over the last oneyear. There is now buzz that in the backdropof the Wuhan summit between Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April, the moment has fi��nally arrived toignite the engine of ChinaIndia trade, commerce and investments.

BEIJING

The newrenewableenergy bridge

<> The trade war with the U.S., whichmany anticipate will dry upexports of renewables to America,is adding further pressure on theChinese energy producers, forcingthem to seek new markets

Atul Aneja works for The Hindu and is based in

Beijing

REUTERS

“How can people commitsuch crimes. And why,”asked a visitor, an elderlyperson, while he was walk

ing through the halls of the Kunstgebäude inthe heart of Stuttgart.

The city hosted an extravagant exhibitionin JuneJuly on the alleged crimes committedby the regime of Syrian President Bashar alAssad. Parts of the socalled Caesar Photos,which were fi��rst released in January 2014,along with a detainee report were displayed inthe exhibition.

According to the report, the photos revealed the systematic killing of more than11,000 detainees by the regime in one regionbetween March 2011 and August 2013. Caesaris the cover name of the source and he or sheused to be a photographer with the Syrian military police.

Some photos were too gruesome and theorganisers of the exhibition displayed themon a large table in a separate room. Theydidn’t want every visitor to stumble uponthose photos. But exhibiting the torture pictures in any way was still a controversial issuefor many people. “Some people claim that it isnot ethically correct what we are doing. Onevisitor supported our work but said that thebodies of White people would never be presented in such a way,” said Tina Fuchs, a localjournalist and one of the main organisers ofthe exhibition.

According to Ms. Fuchs, it was necessary tomake the public more aware of the crimes inSyria. At least 5,00,000 people have beenkilled since the beginning of the civil war in2011 and many more displaced. “I understandthe criticism and it is good that we can discusssuch issues on a higher level,” she said.

Several Syrians, who fl��ed from their country, worked with Ms. Fuchs. The German journalist claimed that all of them supported theexhibition since they believed that the war hasbeen already forgotten in many Western nations. The exhibition was accompanied withadditional artistic works and several otherevents. Syrian dissidents, human rights activists, law experts, university professors, refugees and artists talked about the daily realityof the war in Syria. One of them was AbeerFarhoud, 31, an artist whose work is part ofthe exhibition in Stuttgart. Ms. Farhoud, originally from Damascus, worked with the revolu

tionary council in the capital city and supported the democratic uprising against the Assadregime in 2011. The regime put her in a prison.

Personal revolution Several of her friends and family membersshared the same experience. Her installationsgave visitors an idea of the abuses that are taking place in Syrian prisons. They showedhanged body parts and the names of murdered inmates. Most of them happened to becivilians. “When I was in jail, I heard a lot ofstories. In each story I was told, there was onescene that will strike you and you will neverforget it again. These scenes inspired myworks,” Ms. Farhoud said. She pointed outthat while in jail she promised to a friend thatshe would fulfi��ll her artistic ambitions. “I gotout but she never did,” she said.

Ms. Farhoud is living in Germany since 2015with her husband and daughter. Expressingher feelings and experiences through art in acountry like Germany is important for her.“For Syrian activists and artists, such exhibitions are necessary to tell their stories. Unfortunately, many of us have had bad experiences in our home country since the regimedoesn’t like arts and culture. To express ourselves here like this is like a personal revolution,” she said.

STUTTGART

A window toSyria’s torturechambers

<> The Caesar Photos, whichrevealed the systematic killing ofmore than 11,000 detainees by theSyrian regime in prisons betweenMarch 2011 and August 2013, werepart of an exhibition in Stuttgart

Emran Feroz is a freelance journalist based in

Stuttgart

REUTERS

Sri Lanka’s prison authorities will soon call for applications to fi��ll a longtime vacancy — they need two

hangmen. The requirement arose after President Maithripala Sirisena recently said hemight sign orders on the execution of convicted drug peddlers currently in prison.

Though Sri Lankan courts continue to impose the death penalty under several statutes,the last time anyone was executed was in 1976.Ever since, the death penalty has often beencommuted to life sentence.

“I proposed to the Cabinet that I will sign[orders] for the execution of prisoners whoare already convicted of drug traffi��cking and[are] still doing the business from prison,” Mr.Sirisena said last week. His announcementcame days after the Narcotics Bureau seizedover 100 kg of heroin, worth about $7.5 million, in one of the biggest drug hauls in the island nation. According to Commissioner ofPrisons H.M.T.N. Upuldeniya, as many as 373persons in Sri Lankan prisons are on deathrow. “Of those, 18 were convicted for traffi��cking drugs,” he told The Hindu.

The President’s remarks have evokedsharply confl��icting responses — includingsome shocking endorsement from Archbishop of Colombo Albert Malcolm Ranjith, and

strong opposition from human rights defenders appalled by the move. In 2016, Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission made a strongrecommendation for the abolition of thedeath penalty. In a note to the President, itsChairperson said it was “imperative” to doaway with capital punishment in the wake ofgrowing global recognition that “the death penalty seriously violates several human rights,including the right to life and freedom fromcruel and inhuman punishment...” There hasbeen no offi��cial response to the recommendation in two years.

Political sources close to the President saidlast week’s announcement was meant to be awarning to those engaging in drug deals and“may not be actually implemented”. However, eff��orts are on to implement it, as can beseen in the announcement for recruitment ofhangmen.

In 2014, India made a strong case for deathpenalty to be commuted in Sri Lanka, whenfi��ve Indian fi��shermen, facing drugtraffi��ckingcharges, were on death row in the island. After frantic diplomatic eff��orts, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa used his executivepowers to commute their death penalty andthe fi��shermen were sent back to India.

Wrong directionFollowing the recent development, rightswatchdog Amnesty International warned thatSri Lanka was “heading in the wrong directionand joining a shrinking minority of states thatpersist with this horrifi��c practice”. Placing itin the broader Sri Lankan context, constitutional lawyer Kishali PintoJayawardena saidreactivating the death penalty would not remedy serious weaknesses of the criminal justice system and the policing system. “It is afact that police investigation procedures arecompletely undermined by politicisation, corruption and ineffi��ciency. The judicial systemis also riddled with grave fl��aws, not the least ofwhich is the lack of capacity of judicial offi��cers,” she told The Hindu.

The resumption of executions, in her view,will merely gloss over “fundamental defects”without addressing them at the core. “Thereis little doubt that an already brutalised society, accustomed to death and destruction afterdecades of confl��ict, would be further brutalised by the grisly spectacle of individuals being intentionally killed by the state,” she said.

COLOMBO

An island in search ofhangmen

<> Sri Lanka’s decision to punish drugoff��enders with the death penaltyhas attracted some shockingsupport but also provoked fi��erceopposition from human rightsactivists and lawyers

Meera Srinivasan works for The Hindu and is

based in Colombo

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO


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FRAMED

Muzaff��arnagar to Mandya is a huge distance to cover, but Raj Singh has been making the trip everyyear for two decades now. What connects the twosugar bowls — one in western Uttar Pradesh and theother in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka — are people like Singh who earn a living by making jaggeryout of sugar cane. Around Holi, he arrives in Mandya with a team of 10 people and takes charge ofone of the many rural jaggery units in the district,some 100 km from Bengaluru. By Deepavali, he isback in Muzaff��arnagar.

But Singh is not a happy man these days. Many ofMandya’s famed jaggery units have either closeddown or suspended operations mainly because ofthe fl��uctuating prices of the sweet lumps. A severelabour shortage is another reason. Unreliable power supply has increased the production cost as theunits have no option but to run on diesel. Add tothese the lack of water to support the rainfed sugarcane crop. Now with a good monsoon in the Cauvery basin, people hope the closed units will springback to life.

Singh, who has 30 years of experience in jaggerymaking, works in a unit at Dodda Byadarahalli village in Pandavapura taluk. There are plenty of orders during festivals and the wedding season, hesays. But the local labourers remain unskilled andare not interested in the work. Singh earns ₹��1,000and his team ₹��800 each for making 1,500 kg, or 300boxes, of jaggery — the minimum daily production.

But the prospects are turning bitter by the day. Ofthe 530 registered units in seven taluks of Mandya,at least 65% are facing an acute shortage of sugarcane and over 50% have become nonfunctional inrecent weeks, say offi��cials at the District IndustriesCentre and the Agriculture Department. The Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee used to collect 2,400 to 2,600 quintals of jaggery a day. Butnow, the arrivals have dipped to between 1,000quintals and 1,300 quintals, forcing many traders toshut shop. The stillfunctioning units face complaints of excessive use of chemicals. Food scientists have been suggesting chemicalfree processes.

(Muralikumar is a Special News Photographerof The Hindu based in Bengaluru)

Jaggery journey

Sweet grass: Sugar cane piled before a jaggerymaking unit at Kennalu village in Pandavapurataluk of Mandya district in Karnataka.

Spiking the sweetness: A jaggerymaker throws sugar into the solution to make the produce assweet as possible.

Bubbling up: Chandan Gowda, a handson owner of a jaggery unit at Kennalu, stirs the boiling solution. The unit has seven workers from Muzaff��arnagar.

Far connections: Ravi (left) from Muzaff��arnagar, who has learnt Kannada, and a family member of Sunitha, who has beenworking in Mandya for the past seven years, at a Chikka Byadarahalli unit.

Secret sauce: Tejpal, among the many from Muzaff��arnagar in Uttar Pradesh, heads a jaggery unitat Chikka Byadarahalli in Pandavapura. Ingredients other than sugar cane are behind him.

Sugar and spice: A woman of Tejpal’s family cooks lunch for the group in one corner while work isapace at the jaggery unit.

Giving shape: Workers pouring molten jaggery into a wooden mould at a unit at Kennalu.

Visit Mandya for the sweet lumps, despite a bitter turn for their producers

Text and images by K. Muralikumar

Expert hand: With 30 years of the experience under his belt, Raj Singh from Muzaff��arnagar heads aunit at Dodda Byadarahalli.

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THE BIG STORY

Buying term insurance is acritical part of your fi��nancialplanning; a musthave product which you must buy irrespective of your income level and risk profi��le. It makessure that your loved ones arefi��nancially secure when youare not around.

The term plan is a purerisk insurance policy off��eredby insurance companies, covering the life of the policyholder for a specifi��c time period. In case of death of theinsured during the policyterm, the death benefi��t ispaid by the insurance company to the benefi��ciary. Theyoff��er large insurance coverfor an aff��ordable premium.

But term plans do comewith addons. These ‘riders’can augment your policywith the added sum assured(SA), in certain cases, forsmall additions in premiums.There are others you can ignore as they are either tooexpensive or may not serveyour purpose.

For instance, by just paying ₹��308 extra along with thebase premium for a termplan, a 35yearold male canget the accidental disabilityrider that gives him an additional coverage for ₹��10 lakh.

The riders available withonline term plans in the market today are accidentaldeath benefi��t, accidental disability benefi��t, accidentaldeath and disability benefi��t,critical illness (CI), earlyclaim on terminal illness,waiver of premium on accidental disability and/or critical illness, and cash forhospitalisation.

Here, we discuss the various aspects and features ofthese riders and their suitability, while purchasing yourbasic term cover online. Wehave used data sourced fromwebsites of top 13 life insurance companies for ourstudy.

Accidental death benefi��t riderThis rider comes into play ifthe insured dies in an accident. The nominee will bepaid an extra amount. Thismeans the nominee will getthe rider SA, over and abovethe basic SA. For instance,let’s assume that a personbuys a term cover for ₹��1 crore

and an accidental death benefi��t rider for SA of ₹��50 lakh.If he dies in an accident, thenominee will get ₹��1.5 crore. Ifdeath occurs due to otherreasons, the nominee will getthe base cover of ₹��1 crore.

In insurance parlance, ‘anaccident is a sudden, unforeseen and involuntary eventcaused by external, visibleand violent means’. Accidental death means death by ordue to a bodily injury causedby an accident, independentof all other causes of death.Accidental death must becaused within 180 days ofany bodily injury.

The rider must be in forceat the time of availing the benefi��t. Insurance companieswill not pay the accidentaldeath benefi��t if death happens 180 days after the accident, or if it occurs under theinfl��uence of liquor, drug, orany narcotic. You have to refer to the policy documentscarefully for the full list of exclusions while buying thisrider.

Our take: Most termplans off��er this rider with thecoverage ranging from₹��50,000 to ₹��2 crore. The rider premium for ₹��10 lakh coverage is ₹��560860 based onthe insurer.

ICICI iProtect Smart, Edelweiss TotalSecure+, BhartiAXA Flexi Term, SBI Life eShield are some of the termplans off��ering this rider. Thepolicy would be most suitedfor people who work underdangerous conditions or travel very frequently as part oftheir work.

Accidental disabilitybenefi��t riderThis rider provides additional benefi��t equal to the riderSA on total and permanentdisability due to an accident.Please note that the riders offered by the term plans aremostly meant for total andpermanent disability, notpartial disability. However,the conditions for getting thebenefi��t vary among insurers.

The accidental total andpermanent disability is defi��ned as disability caused bybodily injury, which causespermanent inability to perform any occupation or toengage in any activity for remuneration or profi��ts.

In many circumstances, a

waiting period of six monthsis applied to pay the benefi��tto the policyholder.

As per the norms, the disability that lasts for at leastsix months without interruption is considered as permanent disability. However, thewaiting period is not applicable for loss of sight of botheyes and loss of two or morelimbs.

Our take: This rider is essentially as important as theterm cover. You get benefi��tswhen you are alive. Choosingthis rider with regular income payout will serve youif you are disabled due to anaccident.

The premium for this rider ranges from ₹��177472 for₹��10 lakh cover across insurers and is relatively cheaperthan the premium paid forthe accidental death benefi��trider. Term plan insurerssuch as HDFC Life pay the benefi��ts on a periodic basis —monthly 1 per cent of SA for10 years. Some plans, including Edelweiss TotalSecure+,settle the benefi��t only as alumpsum.

Canara HSBC OBC iSelectand Baja Allianz eTouch Online Term do not provide customisation on selecting theSA for this rider. You have tochoose the same SA that youchose for the base plan.

Accidental death &disability benefi��t riderThis comprehensive riderprovides additional protection benefi��ts in case youmeet with an accident, leading to dismemberment thatis permanent/partial ordeath.

The terms and conditionsfor accidental death and permanent disability due to accident are the same as thatfor other accidental benefi��triders mentioned above.

Our take: Insurers MaxLife, Aditya Birla and TataAIA off��er this rider. Full riderSA is given to the nominee incase of accidental death orpermanent disability.

Tata AIA life and AdityaBirla Sun Life also pay a certain percentage of SA for partial disability for such dismemberment as loss ofsingle limb or based on thepercentage of burnt area inthe body.

Following the partial dis

ability claim, the death benefi��t under these riders is reduced by the amount ofclaim paid. They charge rider premium of ₹��2,360 and₹��1,682 respectively for ₹��10lakh coverage.

Though the rider premiums under Tata SampoornaRaksha and Aditya Birla DigiShield Plan are relativelyhigher, one can opt for thisas they cover the partial disability due to accident.

Critical illness riderCritical illness (CI) rider provides a lumpsum benefi��t tothe policyholder on diagnosis of CI. This will help in covering expenses associatedwith the illness. Normally,the policyholder will be paidthe CI benefi��t amount at thefi��rst diagnosis stage itself.

Some of the critical illnesses covered under the riderinclude cancer of a specifi��edseverity, fi��rst heart attack —of a specifi��ed severity, openheart replacement, primarypulmonary hypertension,chronic lung disease and kidney failure. Please note thewaiting period of 90 days willbe applicable for many CI,from the date of the commencement of policy.

Our take: Though it is advisable to buy a critical illness rider with the termplan, one must look a littledeeper into this benefi��t before buying.

There are certain pointsthat you need to clarify —whether the claim is paid ondiagnosis or upon producingthe hospital bills and howmany illnesses of various levels of severity are covered.

Many insurers cover onlythe specifi��ed severity conditions in the illnesses. Thenumber of CI covered underthe rider varies among insurers.

For instance, Max OnlineTerm Plus covers 40 criticalillnesses, while Kotak eTermLife and Aegon life iTermPlus cover 37 and 36 criticalillnesses respectively.

The premium charged under the rider ranges between₹��3,221 and ₹��8,160 for ₹��10 lakhcoverage, among insurers.For instance, the rider fromKotak eTerm Life covers 37illnesses and charges ₹��8,160while Bharti AXA Flexi Termcovers 34 illnesses and

charges ₹��5,517. ICICI Pru andBajaj Allianz Life provide anoption called ‘Acceleratedcritical illness’. Under this,once the claim for CI is paid,the rider will cease and theSA under the base plan is reduced by the extent of CI benefi��t paid. Only the life insurance cover minus the CIcover stays in force. The subsequent term cover premiums are also reducedproportionately.

However, if you are looking for a comprehensive CIcover, you can look for standalone CI plans off��ered bygeneral insurers, whichcome for the same cost, butmay cover more illnesses.

Waiver of premium riderUnder this, all the future premiums for the term coverwill be waived off�� if the policyholder is unable to paythem due to accidental permanent disability or on being diagnosed with CI.

Our take: This can beconsidered by those who donot have adequate savings.The rider ensures that yourpolicy remains in force evenif you are unable to pay yourpremiums. ICICI iProtectSmart, HDFC Life 3D PlusLife and Bajaj Allianz LifeeTouch Online Term providethis waiver of premium onaccidental permanent disability benefi��t, free of cost.HDFC Life 3D Plus Life provides waiver of premium ondiagnosis of CI. Aegon lifeiTerm Plus, Max Online TermPlus, Edelweiss TotalSecure+and Kotak eTerm Life chargea nominal cost ranging form₹��93 to ₹��635 for this rider withbase SA of ₹��1 crore.

Early claim on terminalillness riderVery few term plans off��er thisbenefi��t, which generallycomes free of cost. If the policyholder (life assured) isdiagnosed with a terminal illness any time during the policy term, the entire base lifecover will be paid to the policyholder/nominee/legalheir immediately. This helpsthe policyholder pay all hisdues before his death. Thebase cover will terminate onpayment of this benefi��t.

Terminal Illness is defi��nedas the conclusive diagnosis ofan illness that is expected to

result in death of the life assured within six months.

The term plans that off��erthis benefi��t include ICICI PruiProtect Smart, HDFC Life 3DPlus Life, Aegon life iTermPlus, Canara HSBC OBC iSelect, Aditya Birla DigiShieldPlan and SBI Life eShield. ICICI Pru iProtect Smart coversAIDS too.

Free ridersCertain insurance companies off��er some riders free ofcost in their term plans. Theyare inbuilt with the base cover and no premium ischarged separately for theadditional benefi��ts.

The riders such as earlyclaim on terminal illness,waiver of premium on accidental total permanent disability and waiver of premium on critical illness areoff��ered free of cost by someinsurers.

Waiver of premium on accidental total permanent disability is off��ered free by termplans such as ICICI iProtectSmart, HDFC Life 3D PlusLife and Bajaj Allianz LifeeTouch Online Term.

No cost is charged byHDFC Life 3D Plus Life forthe waiver of premium oncritical illness rider.

Our take: Getting somebenefi��ts for free along withthe base cover is an addedadvantage. You have to compare the premium of thebase cover while decidingthe right plan.

For instance, HDFC Life3D Plus Life off��ers three riderbenefi��ts free of cost that areworth opting for, though thebase premium of the plan isrelatively higher. ICICI iProtect Smart scores on lowerbase premium and providestwo rider benefi��ts for free.

All the rider premiums areeligible for tax benefi��ts under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. The claimamount on death, accidentaldeath, accidental permanenttotal disability and critical illness are eligible under Section 10(10D).

Interestingly, the premium under the accidentaldeath and disability ridersenjoy tax benefi��t, while thatfor the standalone personalaccidental policies sold bygeneral insurers do not enjoyany tax benefi��ts.

Want frills on your

LIFE COVER?While zeroing in on the term insurance plan,

select riders that best suit you

Dhuraivel Gunasekaran

*GETTYIM

AGES/ISTOCK


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YOUR MONEY

HDFC launches title insurance

HDFC Ergo has launched a title insurancepolicy which provides cover to customersover title risks related to the land on whichtheir property rests. The cover providesindemnity to property developers and thesubsequent owners of the property againstlosses and risks related to defects inproperty titles arising out of thirdpartychallenges not discovered prior to thecommencement of the policy. It includesrisks of title of property belonging tosomeone other than the insured. Legal costsincurred are also covered under the policy.

‘Aadhaar not mandatory’

The government has clarifi��ed that Aadhaar is“desirable” but not mandatory to availoneself of the benefi��ts under the Centre’sambitious Ayushman Bharat NationalHealth Protection Mission. The clarifi��cationfollows certain media reports stating that theCentre had made Aadhaar mandatory underthe health insurance scheme. Thegovernment has clarifi��ed that there will beno denial of benefi��t for want of Aadhaarnumber. The service to provide insurancecover of ₹��5 lakh for hospitalisation to 10.74crore poor families will be provided with orwithout Aadhaar cards.

No cash for stockbrokers

SEBI has barred stockbrokers from directlyaccepting cash from their clients or toreceive cash deposits in their bank accountsfrom clients. Therefore, all payments byclients to stockbrokers should strictly bemade by account payee crossed cheques ordemand drafts or by way of direct credit intothe bank account through electronic fundtransfer, or any other mode permitted by theRBI.

Pollution certifi��cate a must

The Insurance Regulatory and DevelopmentAuthority of India (IRDAI) has directed allgeneral insurance companies not to insure avehicle unless it has a valid Pollution UnderControl (PUC) certifi��cate. Therefore, it ismandatory for every vehicle owner to have avalid PUC certifi��cate to comply with theprescribed emission norms. A vehiclewithout such a certifi��cate is liable to beprosecuted under the Motor Vehicles Act.

ALERTS

The Future Generali Heartand Health Insurance plan isa critical illness (CI) plan.While the plan as such covers 59 critical illnesses — themost any CI plan in the market off��ers today — the heartplan under option 1 and 3 ofthe policy covers 18 illnesses.

CI plans can’t be a replacement for a regular mediclaimhealth policy, where you arecovered for the hospitalisation costs, but they are necessary to take care of thelarge nonmedical and incidental costs following treatment for any critical illness.

CI plans pay the sum assured under the policy inone lump sum on diagnosisof the listed illnesses.

What’s on off��er?The plan provides four options — one, a heart coverwith a total of 18 critical illnesses related to the heart,and two, a critical illness cover for heart, cancerrelatedand other CI conditions, covering 59 illnesses, includingminor and moderateconditions.

In option three and four,there is a promise of returnof premium — the insurerwill return all the premiumspaid when the policy matures (option 3 — heart coverwith return of premium andoption 4 — critical illness cover with return of premium).

The policy also assures

waiver of premium for fi��veyears if you are diagnosedwith any of the stated conditions under the policy. Theplan continues without youhaving to pay premiums forfi��ve years.

Future Generali’s policyalso has an inbuilt death benefi��t cover. It is higher of 10times of the annualised premium or 105 per cent of totalpremiums paid or 25 percent of the sum assured orguaranteed maturity sum assured, if any. Guaranteedmaturity sum assured is thesum of all premiums paid,less any critical illness benefi��ts paid. The death benefi��twill be available from day

one, without any waitingperiod.

The policy provides sumassured of ₹��550 lakh. Maximum age at entry is 65 yearsand the cover is provided till75 years. The policy pays 25per cent of SA on diagnosisof a minor ailment; 50 percent in case of a moderatecondition and 100 per cent ifit’s a major condition. Theminimum policy tenure is 10years.

Our takeThis is the only CI plan thatcovers 59 illnesses. The listed illnesses include loss ofspeech, deafness, blindnessand Alzheimer’s disease

(without any age limitation),which do not get cover underregular health plans andeven some CI plans. Also,this policy has a larger sumassured, opening it to peoplelooking for higher risk cover.However, what you need tonote is that there is a survivalclause — the policy coversthe individual only if he/shehas survived 21 days after thediagnosis of the illness. Thiscondition doesn’t apply forcancer, but it is applicablefor heart ailments. Survivalperiod in CI plans in the market, including Apollo MunichOptima Vital, Bharti AXA LifeTriple Health, Bajaj AllianzCritical Illness, is 30 days.

Religare Health’s Assure, alsoa CI plan, has no survivalclause, but the plan coversonly 20 critical illnesses.

The Future Generali’splan is expensive comparedto other plans, given its comprehensive coverage. Thepremium on ₹��10 lakh planfor a 40 year term (the maximum the policy off��ers) for a35yearold male is ₹��8,136.The annual premium forEdelweiss Tokio Life CritiCare+ that provides cover for17 illnesses is ₹��4,832 (for a 30year term). The premium forApollo Munich’s Optima Vital that gives cover for 37 critical illnesses and comes withlifelong renewability is₹��4,425 (for 1 year term).

The premium for FutureGenerali’s ‘return of premium’ options is very expensive (₹��13,525 for the same individual). Given that theobjective is to cover a risk,look at it as a price for a worryfree life, and go for thebasic option of the plan.

The one negative pointabout the Future Generaliplan is that it excludes preexisting diseases (any condition for which the policyholder has symptoms in the 48months before signing up forthe policy).

Apollo Munich’s OptimalVital and Edelweiss TokioLife CritiCare+ cover preexisting diseases after 48months of commencementof the policy.

PRODUCT REVIEW

A critical illness plan close to your heartFuture Generali Life’s Heart and Health plan is comprehensive with risk cover for 59 illnessesRajalakshmi Nirmal

*GETTYIM

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CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

KEY BENEFITS

O Covers 59 critical illnesses

O Option to take cover for

just heart ailments (18

illnesses are covered)

O Sum assured of up

to ₹��50 lakh

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

The diff��erence

Critical illness plans differ

from regular mediclaim

plans as they pay the

sum assured in one

lump sum on diagnosis

of the listed illnesses

With so many of you watching the World Cup, wethought it fi��t to discuss the similarities between footballand investments.

Luck? Skill?Consider the following: First,Messi was arguably the bestfootballer at the start ofWorld Cup 2018. But his performance for Argentina left alot to be desired. A goodportfolio manager may suff��erfrom an extended period ofbad performance. Likewise,a notsogood portfolio manager may enjoy a streak ofgood luck and handsomeperformance.

Second, Italy, fourtimewinner of the World Cup,failed to qualify for the fi��nal32 for the fi��rst time since1958. Indeed, past performance is no indicator of thefuture. You can also considerhow Germany, winner of the2014 World Cup, performedin 2018. It is similar with in

vestments. Just because aportfolio manager has performed well in the past doesnot necessarily mean he hasto do well in the future.

Third, scoring goals is diffi��cult, especially if a team isalready behind. Consider Argentina’s game with Francein Round 2. The goals scoredby France seemed so easyand in quick time. Argentinalaboured through the matchto equal the score. Similarly,

it is easy to lose value on aninvestment portfolio. But it isdiffi��cult to recover those losses. This relationship, calledasymmetric returns eff��ect,shows that recovering unrealised loss is more diffi��cultthat giving up unrealisedgain.

Four, which team advances to the Round of 16 is nodoubt based on skill. Yet,randomness also plays alarge role. How? According

to The Guardian, Englandcould have been in a groupconsisting of Brazil, Icelandand Nigeria. But they wereinstead grouped with Belgium, Panama and Tunisia. Itis moot if England couldhave had a smooth ride toRound 2 if its opponentswere Brazil and Nigeria.

The same randomness isat work in the fi��nancial markets. Portfolio managers design rules to generate alpha(the excess returns over anappropriate benchmark index). Because of the inherentrandomness in the market,these rules sometimes work,and sometimes do not.

Why it matters?World Cup 2018 has shownthat the quality between thestronger and the notsogoodfootball teams is narrowing.How else can you explain theperformance of, say, Iranand Japan against strongeropponents during this WorldCup? It is the same with port

folio managers. Why? Forone, the cost of highlevelcomputing has declined.

It is, therefore, relativelyeasy for investment professionals to create alpha strategies. But as all of them engage in similar processes, nostrategy remains unique for along time. Also, with professionals exploiting mispricedsecurities from the same investment universe, returnsdiff��erential between the topperforming funds and thenotsogood funds is likely tonarrow. Then, there are factors beyond a portfolio manager’s control. Just like how abad decision by a referee canhave an adverse impact on ateam’s success, so can achange in tax law or otherregulation have an adverseimpact on the market and,therefore, on investmentperformance.

The writer is the founder of NaveraConsulting. Send your feedback [email protected]

PORTFOLIO IDEAS

Bouncing off�� ideas from World CupLike football teams, investment managers require both skill and luck to succeedB Venkatesh

Narrowing gap

From the same investment

universe, the returns

differential between

the topperforming and

the notsogood funds

is likely to narrow

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

RULES OF THE

GAME

O No investment strategy

remains unique for long

O Past performance is no

indicator of future

O Randomness is inherent

to fi��nancial markets

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

If you are a mutualfund investor, you’re probably being deluged by daily mails onTotal Expense Ratios fromdiff��erent fund houses. In February, SEBI had asked allfund houses to intimate theirinvestors before makingchanges to their TER. It alsoasked them to maintain anupdated daily spreadsheet oftheir schemewise TERs ontheir websites. So should youact on these disclosures? Only rarely.

TER basicsIn India, SEBI requires MFsto pack all the costs theycharge to investors, into TER— be it management fees,transaction costs, marketingcosts or distributor commissions. It lays down a slabstructure that caps the baseTER at anywhere between1.5 and 2.5 per cent of ascheme’s average assets.Apart from this, they cancharge a few extras — up to0.30 per cent for infl��owsfrom smaller cities andtowns, up to 0.20 per cent inlieu of exit loads, and a GSTcomponent. These add on tothe base TER to make up a

scheme’s total TER. Therefore, TER represents all thecosts that are charged toyour scheme before its portfolio returns can reach you.

SEBI is concerned aboutTER changes because even a50basis point change in TERcan make a signifi��cant diff��erence to what you fi��nally takehome from a mutual fund.An equity fund with 1.5 percent TER and 15 per centportfolio return, can convertyour ₹��1lakh investment into₹��6.68 lakh at the end of 15years. But if it bumps up thatTER to 2 per cent, your fi��nalproceeds will fall to ₹��6.25lakh.

But it is important not tooverreact to the frequentTER disclosures.

Go by categoryWhether a TER change is material to your returns will depend on the scheme category you’ve invested in and itsreturn potential.

In the equity or hybrid return categories, changes of0.50 percentage points ormore in TER may be something to worry about. Withtheir annual returns at 1215per cent, smaller TER in

creases may not make a material dent in their returns.But in the case of arbitragefunds or liquid funds, even a0.25 percentage point spikein TER can mean a bodyblow to returns.

A good way to evaluate if aTER change is material toyour scheme is to look atTER as a proportion of thescheme’s returns, ratherthan as a proportion of its assets. So, a 0.25 percentagepoint increase in an arbitrage fund’s TER will trim itsreturns from 6.50 to 6.25 percent, but an equity fund’s returns would just blip from 15to 14.75 per cent.

Also, TERs are far more

important for index funds —given the minimal scope forserious valueadd — than foractive equity funds, and forliquid funds than for creditfunds.

It’s a relative callWhen it comes to TER, relative numbers matter morethan the absolute. A fund’sTER email may inform youthat it has sharply hiked itsTER. But to know whetherthis rise is unreasonable, youwill need to stack up its TERagainst peers in its category.At times, schemes that haveset their TERs too low relative to peers may correctthem for size or popularity.

Peer comparison will helpput expenses in perspective.

Direct or regularA key benefi��t of the new TERmailers is that they allow youto compare the total TERs ofdirect and regular plans thatwere earlier wellhidden.

So, if a scheme charges 3per cent TER on its regularplan and 2.25 per cent on itsdirect plan, 0.75 per cent isthe extra cost you are bearing towards the services rendered by your distributor oradvisor.

But be sure to make thechoice between direct andregular plans based on notjust cost savings, but alsoyour knowledge and abilityto devote time and eff��ort tomanaging your MF portfolio.

Finally, a scheme’s TER isalready baked into its NAV. Ifyour fund is consistentlybeating its peers and benchmarks by a convincing margin, the fund manager is likely delivering suffi��cientvalueaddition to justify theTER, even if high.

If it is lagging, it may notbe worth hanging on to, evenif its TER is the biggest bargain in its category.

REAL RETURNS

Making sense of MF expensesShould you act on the daily mails on Total Expense Ratios from diff��erent fund houses?Aarati Krishnan

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CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

KEEP IN MIND

O All expenses are baked into

fund’s NAV

O Compare scheme costs

with those of peers

O Charges critical for debt

category, not so much for

equity MFs

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Reasonable?

If your fund consistently

beats its peers and

benchmarks, the scheme

charges may be justifi��ed,

even if high

less than Years

Bank 1 year 1 to 2 2 to 3 3 to 5 W.E.F

FOREIGN

Citi Bank 6.25 7.00 6.00 6.00 07-18

DBS Bank 6.10 7.00 7.50 7.50 04-18

Deutsche Bank 6.50 7.50 7.50 8.25 06-18

HSBC 6.00 6.25 7.00 5.00 06-18

Scotia Bank 4.00 4.50 4.50 5.00 04-17

StanChart 7.00 7.40 7.00 6.50 07-18

INDIAN- PUBLIC SECTOR

Allahabad Bank 6.50 6.60 6.50 6.50 02-18

Andhra Bank 6.25 6.60 6.50 6.50 05-18

Bank of Mah 6.00 6.50 6.60 6.00 05-18

BOB 6.35 6.70 6.60 6.70 06-18

BOI 6.25 6.60 6.65 6.40 06-18

Canara Bank 6.35 7.00 6.20 6.20 05-18

CBOI 6.50 6.60 6.50 6.50 04-17

Corp Bank 6.35 6.80 6.50 6.50 06-18

Dena Bank 6.25 6.70 6.60 6.30 06-18

IDBI Bank 6.50 6.75 6.70 6.75 06-18

Indian Bank 6.25 6.60 6.25 6.00 06-18

IOB 6.25 6.60 6.75 6.80 04-18

OBC 6.50 6.75 6.75 6.75 06-18

PNB 6.35 6.75 6.75 6.25 03-18

Punjab & Sind 6.40 6.75 6.60 6.55 03-18

SBI 6.40 6.65 6.65 6.75 05-18

Syndicate Bank 6.25 6.80 6.60 6.60 05-18

UCO Bank 6.35 6.60 6.60 6.60 06-18

Union Bank 6.75 6.75 6.50 6.50 03-18

United Bank 6.00 6.25 6.00 6.00 07-18

Vijaya Bank 6.50 7.10 6.75 6.75 07-18

INDIAN- PRIVATE SECTOR

Axis Bank 6.50 7.10 7.00 7.00 07-18

Bandhan Bank 6.80 7.40 7.40 7.40 06-18

Catholic Syrian 6.25 6.50 6.75 6.50 03-17

CUB 7.00 7.10 7.10 7.10 02-18

DCB 7.00 7.25 7.30 7.75 05-18

Dhanlaxmi Bank 6.00 6.60 6.50 6.50 08-17

Federal Bank 6.50 7.30 7.00 7.00 06-18

HDFC Bank 6.40 7.00 7.00 7.00 07-18

ICICI Bank 6.50 6.75 7.00 7.00 06-18

IDFC Bank 7.00 7.50 8.00 8.25 07-18

IndusInd Bank 7.00 7.65 7.25 7.25 06-18

J & K Bank 6.25 7.00 7.00 6.25 05-18

Karnataka Bank 6.50 7.35 6.50 6.50 06-18

Kotak Bank 7.00 7.30 7.00 6.50 06-18

KVB 6.90 7.00 7.00 7.00 06-18

LVB 7.00 7.50 7.50 7.50 06-18

RBL Bank 7.25 7.75 7.50 7.50 06-18

SIB 6.85 7.40 7.00 7.00 06-18

TMB 7.00 7.15 7.00 6.90 07-18

TNSC Bank 6.65 6.80 6.50 6.50 03-18

Yes Bank 7.00 7.10 7.10 7.10 06-18

Data taken from respective bank's website as on 13 July,

2018. For each year range, maximum offered interest rate

is considered; Interest Rate for deposit amount below

Rs. 1 cr. Contributed by BankBazaar.com, an online market

place for financial products.

BANK FD INTEREST RATES (%)


CMYK

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



Moody’s downgradesTata Motors’ rating NEW DELHI

Global rating agencyMoody’s on Friday said it hasdowngraded the corporatefamily rating on Tata Motorsdue to the weakening creditmetrics at Jaguar Land Rover(JLR). Moody’s InvestorServices has downgradedTata Motors rating to Ba2with a stable outlook.Moody’s said that TataMotors’ consolidatedadjusted debt/EBITDA islikely to remain elevatedover the 1218 months. PTI

ACME bags 600 MWsolar power project NEW DELHI

Independent power producerACME Solar said it hasbagged a 600 MW solarpower project at SECI’s3,000 MW InterstateTransmission System (ISTS)Solar bid. Technical bidstotalling 5,100 MW werereceived against thetendered capacity of 3 GW by12 companies, the companysaid in a statement, andadded that ACME bid for thecapacity of 600 MW. PTI

Dalmia Bharat Cementeyes premium segment KOLKATA

Dalmia Bharat Cement mayabandon the mass cementsegment as it tries to moveup the value chain withpremiumisation whileweighing options to enterthe newer markets of northIndia. “Premium and superpremium cement brandsaccount for 60% of revenuesand in the next two years, itwould rise to at least 80%,”senior ED marketing B. K.Singh said. PTI

‘Travel searches thismonsoon rose 25%‘MUMBAI

Travel searches this monsoonseason rose 25% over thelast year with Dubai,Singapore and Bangkokbeing the most preferreddestinations, a report said.Usual favourites like NewYork and London were also inthe top 10 mostsearchedlist, said travel portal KAYAK.“In this year’s monsoonseason, travel searches haveincreased by 25% than lastmonsoons,” it said. PTI

IN BRIEF

India has deployed businessintelligence or ‘third eye’technology in its Goods andService Tax Network to detect defaulters and will install radio frequency identifi��cation tags on truckstransporting goods to checkon compliance in the ewaybill process, Sushil KumarModi, who heads the GSTNpanel, said on Saturday.

“There is minimum manual interference now whenthere is a requirement to fi��lereturns as everything regarding payments is online,” Mr.Modi told correspondents inBengaluru. “We have business intelligence in our network. You cannot dupe thegovernment department.

‘Discrepancies stand out’“In the third phase of IT development, we have sent toStates the GSTR 3 and GSTR 1forms. They both have tomatch. If there is a discrepancy then the third eye willdetect. Notices will beserved.”

Mr. Modi, who is also theDeputy Chief Minister of Bihar, said the “business intelligence” within the networkcan generate more than 15kinds of diff��erent registrations. “Business intelligencecan give a 360degree viewof the taxpayer.”

“States can take actionagainst the defaulters. Thesystem, through bid dataanalysis, will send an alert tothose who purchase goodsfrom traders who have notpaid the tax as ‘nonfi��ler’,”

he said. “The governmenthas started serving notices todefaulters since April.”

The government is alsoplanning to install sensors atentry and exit points of eachState’s borders and deployRFID (Radio FrequencyIdentifi��cation) tags on trucksto monitor eway bills.

“Currently it is implemented in Maharashtra andUttar Pradesh. We will introduce it nationwide,” he said.

The government is alsomulling simplifi��cation of tax

return forms, he said. TheGST Council has approved anew procedure to simplifythe returns and the law committee will seek the approvalof GST Council to implementthe changes during the forthcoming meeting on July 21.

Infosys, India’s secondlargest software exporter, isdeveloping the informationtechnology infrastructure toimplement the new changes.

“In GSTR3 one needs tofi��le 37 returns in a year,” Mr.Modi said.

“Now we are practicallyreducing it to only one pageor maybe two pages. For business to consumer companies, it will be a threeline return form. It will be thesimplest return form Indiahas ever had.”

‘Raising threshold’The Law Advisory Committee set up by the Ministry ofFinance has suggested increasing the threshold of thecomposition scheme to ₹��1.5crore from the current ₹��1crore, he said.

“The GST Council will

take a call on when toamend.”

“It has also recommendeda special class of dealers forthe reverse charge mechanism, For service providers,the norm suggested is between 10% (of turnover) or ₹��5lakh whichever is lower.”

Another suggestion of thecommittee was that if restaurants, travel fi��rms, healthcare companies and beverage outlets provide transportfor women in the nightshifts, they can avail of inputtax credit, he said.

The funds left in the compensation cess, which isused to compensate theStates for revenue shortfallsuff��ered due to the GST rollout and amounts to ₹��22,000crore as of March, will be distributed among the Centreand State governments, hesaid.

“Under the IGST there isabout ₹��22,000 crore in thekitty,” Mr. Modi said. The Integrated Goods and Tax(IGST) is charged on goodsthat get transported betweenStates.

‘Third eye’ to monitor traders on GSTN GSTR 3 and GSTR 1 forms have to match, failing which notices will be served, says Sushil Modi

Move easy: The Centre plans to set up sensors at State bordersand use RFID on trucks to monitor eway bills. * K. K. MUSTAFAH


Bengaluru

Aurobindo Pharma hassigned a defi��nitive agreement to acquire Canadianfi��rm Apotex InternationalInc.’s commercial operations and certain supportinginfrastructure in fi��ve European countries in a €74million transaction.

The move is in line withthe fi��rm’s strategy to strengthen and grow its Europeanbusiness and expand inEastern Europe, the fi��rmsaid on Saturday.

Product pipelineThe acquisition includes aportfolio of more than 200prescription drugs and 88OTC products as well as anadditional pipeline of morethan 20 products that arelikely to be introduced overnext two years.

“We believe this acquisition is a key step towardsour goal of becoming one ofthe leading generics companies in Europe,” said V. Muralidharan, SVP, Aurobin

do’s European operations He expected a seamless

integration of the acquiredbusinesses with the rest ofthe Aurobindo Group “giventhe success we haveachieved in Europe to date.”

Aurobindo said the acquisition would enable it to addsignifi��cant sales in Polandon the established ‘APO’brand name as well as a dedicated sales force coveringphysicians and the pharmacy network. The companysaid it would become one oftop 15 generics companiesin both Poland and theCzech Republic.

In the Netherlands, theacquisition would make Aurobindo a leading OTC company by volume while inSpain the company’s position in the generics marketwould be strengthened. InBelgium, Aurobindo wouldforay into retail genericsspace. At present, Aurobindo has presence in nine European countries. In 201718, its sales in Europe totalled €577 million.

Aurobindo to buyApotex’s Europe unitTransaction is valued at €74 million


Hyderabad

As chief information offi��cerfor Cisco’s international operations and SVP of IT, V.C.Gopalratnam is responsiblefor digital transformationwithin the networking giant.His responsibilities includeshowcasing cuttingedgetechnologies to customersfrom across the world. Chasing such goals, Mr. Gopalratnam said that he saw a hugeopportunity to sell Cisco’stechnology to the Indian government as well as to largeand small fi��rms in India.

“[The] government is thebiggest part of that [opportunity] because it has theability to impact the countryat scale,” said Mr. Gopalratnam in an interview. India isone of the countries that ispart of Cisco’s country digitization acceleration (CDA)programme. He said thefi��rm, whose machines formthe backbone of the Internet, is providing support forthe national broadband ef

forts, creation of smart citiesand modernisation of defence and army. “India is oneof the countries around theworld that is digitising thefastest. And I don’t think it’sgoing to slow down,” he said.

Boosting GDPBy 2021, the digital transformation will add an estimated$154 billion to India’s grossdomestic product (GDP),and increase the growth rate

by 1% annually, according toa joint study by Microsoftand IDC Asia Pacifi��c.

The research, “Unlockingthe Economic Impact of Digital Transformation in AsiaPacifi��c,” predicts a dramaticacceleration in the pace ofdigital transformation acrossIndia and AsiaPacifi��c economies. In 2017, about 4% of India’s GDP was derived fromdigital products and servicescreated directly through the

use of digital technologies,such as mobility, cloud, Internet of Things, and artifi��cial intelligence, it says.

‘Rebirth of the network’“All of those will not survivewithout a network... you cancall it the rebirth of the network,” said Mr. Gopalratnam, an alumnus of PurdueUniversity. “And that’s why Ithink our partnership withthe government is soimportant.”

Benoy C. S., director andhead, digital transformation,at research fi��rm Frost & Sullivan, said network remainsthe key foundation for any‘digital transformation’ initiatives of the government.

“Cisco is eyeing to tap intothis networking opportunityat a very large scale in thecountry,” he said, adding forsmart cityrelated projects,the company is already a bigplayer in developed marketswith successful use cases. Also, in India, fi��bre reach is very poor, especially in rural

areas and tier 2 and tier 3 cities, “this is where Cisco islooking at playing a key rolethrough its wireless networkservices,” he said.

Cisco said it had also developed a digital transformation blueprint for the banking and fi��nancial servicessector in India.

The blueprint leveragesthe power of Cisco’s intentbased networking (IBN)portfolio, to integrate connectivity, security, automation, collaboration, and analytics across the businessvalue chain.

Cisco is also planning toacquire or partner with innovative startups in the country. “There are a lot of capable companies in Indiawhich are working in technologies that are of interestto Cisco,” said Mr. Gopalratnam. “It doesn’t always haveto be an acquisition, it can bepartnering with them, investing or incubating them.”

(The writer was in Goa at

the invitation of Cisco)

‘India is one of the fastest digitising countries’There is huge opportunity to sell Cisco technology to Indian fi��rms, says company’s CIO Gopalratnam

Bigger play: Cisco is providing support for the nationalbroadband eff��orts, says V.C. Gopalratnam. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Peerzada Abrar

BENGALURU

The Unique Identifi��cationAuthority of India (UIDAI)has allowed Aadhaar authentication ecosystem partners such as banks and telecom fi��rms to appointinformation security assessment agencies other thanthe single fi��rm it had empanelled for this purpose.

“Unique Identifi��cationAuthority of India (UIDAI)reemphasised that Authentication Service Agencies(ASAs) and the requestingentities may engage UIDAIempanelled auditor or anyCERTINempanelled information system auditor forthe purpose of annual auditas per the requirement ofRegulations 14(n) and 19(g)of Aadhaar (Authentication)Regulations, 2016,” theauthority said in astatement.

“UIDAI reiterated that all

requesting entities and ASAsshall ensure that their operations and systems are audited by information systems auditor certifi��ed bysome recognised body onan annual basis be it a UIDAIempanelled or anyCERTINempanelled information system auditor,” thestatement said.

Sole agency Last November, UIDAI hadtold banks and other authentication ecosystem partners that Deloitte ToucheTohmatsu had been empanelled as the sole Information Security AssessmentAgency and asked banks to‘enter [into] a contract’ withDeloitte.

In April this year , the Unique Identifi��cation Authority of India had issued a freshcommunique on the appointment issue, droppingthe word ‘sole.’

Telcos, banks free to choose audit fi��rm


Mumbai

UIDAI eases hiringof Aadhaar auditor

Synopsys India will hireabout 200 more softwareprofessionals over the nextcouple of years in a processwhich will prove to be “diffi��cult,” Aart de Geus, chairman and coCEO of Mountain View, CaliforniabasedSynopsys said.

“We have now more than2,500 people here,” Mr. DeGeus said in an interview.“The hiring plan is to add200 more people over thenext couple of years. On anaverage, we will add about10% a year. It is diffi��cult notbecause it is an absolutenumber but an absolutenumber multiplied byquality.

‘Quality is everything’“Because we are so much atthe heart of hightechnology, quality is everything. Because if we help you as a customer with a chip which isten times faster you win andif it is 10% slower you lose.Our customers are constantly in a race because that isthe nature of high tech andwith us, as the main supporter we are coresponsible forthem winning the race.”

Synopsys India startedoperations in Bengaluru asan off��shore research and development centre in 1995.

“There are a number oftop chips in the world thathave been designed here,”Mr. De Gus said.

Acquisitions tend to openup locations which “we may

have not thought about. Ifyou look at the overall AsiaPacifi��c space India has beenone of the highest growersbecause of the capabilities ofthe workforce and thegrowth of customers.”

Electronic automation design contributes 70% to Synopsys’s revenue while about20% comes in from its intellectual property business.The remaining 10% is accounted for by software integrity.

About fi��ve years ago Synopsys realised most of theircustomers were doing asmuch software as hardwarein electronics. “Then werealised the problem is goingto be at the intersection ofhardware and software andthe quality of the software.And under the word quality,the word security poppedup as a danger zone foranything electronic.

“So, around this softwareintegrity space, we havedone investments and anumber of acquisitions in

the last four to fi��ve years.The quality and security ofsoftware is an area that willcontinue to grow for us andwe may or may not do moreacquisitions.

‘Broadening market’“In the history of the company we have done 92 acquisitions. But we also think it(software integrity) hasbroadened the availablemarket quite signifi��cantly.As we interact with customers, who would never havetalked to us in the past, energy companies, health companies and fi��nancial companies, commercial entitieslike Starbucks all of thesehave lot of software that is allendangered if you don’twatch out.”

Synopsys may cross the$3 billionmark [in revenue]this year, Mr. De Geus said.

Firms would continue toinvest in new technologythat would drive the demand for electronic automation software, said Mr. DeGus. “Whenever you havevery big change factors, people tend to invest in order tobe at least in tune with thechange.”

“Computation is good forsome AI (artifi��cial intelligence). “What does the AIwant? Give me more computation. That will feed moreinvestment in companies.Once a loop like that getsrunning, it will reconfi��gurethe business models thathave existed for many, manyyears,” he said.

Software major to add 10% staff�� on an average every year

Jay Shankar

Bengaluru

Aart de Geus

Diffi��cult to fi��nd 200 ‘quality’engineers: Synopsys chief

Ashok Leyland Ltd.(ALL),the fl��agship company ofthe Hinduja Group, in association with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.(HPCL), rolled out ‘eNDhan’, a cobranded fuelcard that would off��er customised solutions to commercial vehicle owners,said a top offi��cial.

“About 1.5% to 3% savings would be there for customers when they use thiscard,” said Vinod K. Dasari,MD, ALL. “We are the fi��rstto off��er this facility. It canbe used at 15,000 HPCLoutlets across the country.”

“Since fuel cost is themajor expense, we cameup with this fuel card programme to help vehicleowners save on this expense” he said.

ALL, HPCLunveilco-brandedfuel card


CHENNAI The government has addedVishakhapatnam port to thelist of ports and inland container depots (ICDs) for importing new vehicles.

“Vishakhapatnam port isbeing added to the list of 15existing ports / lCDs, thereby taking the total numberof ports / ICDs to 16, for importing new vehicles,” theDirectorate General of Foreign Trade said in anotifi��cation.

Imports of new vehiclesare allowed only thoughthese 16 ports/ICDs, the notifi��cation added.

The other ports includeNhava Sheva, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ennore, Cochin, Kattupalli, Krishnapatnam, Mumbai Air CargoComplex, Delhi Air Cargo,Chennai Airport, TelegaonPune, Tughlakabad and Fa

ridabad. In a separate publicnotice, the directorate saidthe government has extended the MEIS, an export benefi��t scheme, for Bengalgram till September 20.

Earlier, it was allowed tillJune 20.

Under this scheme, thegovernment provides dutycredit scrip to exporters.The rates vary across products and the export destination, as envisaged in theforeign trade policy.

New vehicle importsvia Vizag port okayed Centre adds port to list of 15 others


New Delhi


CMYK

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

BoB gets shareholders’nod to raise ₹��6,000 cr. NEW DELHI

Bank of Baroda hasreceived shareholderapproval to raise up to₹��6,000 crore by issuingequity shares throughvarious modes, includingQIP, rights issue or a followon public off��er, the banksaid in a statement. Themeeting was chaired bychairman Ravi Venkatesanin the presence of MD andCEO P.S. Jayakumar andother directors. PTI

EuroKids plans to invest ₹��500 cr. over fi��ve yearsMUMBAI

EuroKids International, aplayer in preschooling, theK12 sector and onlinelearning said it is investingaround ₹��500 crore over thenext fi��ve years on expansion.“We have 1,034 preschoolcentres in 350plus cities...We now plan to increase it to3,000 in the next fi��ve years;[we are] also looking to add20 more Euro schools in sixcities and set up corporateday care centres,” ED andCEO Prajodh Rajan said. PTI

IFC sells AU bank sharesworth ₹��201.6 croreNEW DELHI

World Bank arm InternationalFinance Corporation (IFC)sold 32 lakh shares of AUSmall Finance Bank for₹��201.6 crore through anopen market deal. However,the buyer could not beascertained immediately.According to BSE data,International FinanceCorporation FDI AC offl��oadeda 32 lakh shares amountingto 1.12% stake in AU SFB. Atthe end of March, IFC held7.95% in the company.

CCI penalises Glenmarkfor unfair practicesNEW DELHI

The Competition Commissionimposed penalties totallingalmost ₹��47 crore onGlenmark Pharmaceutical, itsthree offi��cials, two otherpharma companies and fourchemist associations forindulging in unfair businesspractices. All the entitieshave been fi��ned for violatingnorms relating to mandatingnoobjection certifi��catesfrom the associations prior toappointing stockists. PTI

The U.S. District Court forthe District of New Jersey hasrestrained Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories from selling the generic version of British drugmaker Indivior’s Suboxonein the U.S., pending the outcome in a litigation over thepatent of the opioid dependence treatment.

Announcing the preliminary injunction against theHyderabadbased fi��rm, Indivior said in a statement thatfollowing the injunction restrictions imposed by a priortemporary restraining order(TRO) remained in force.

Patent litigationDRL would be “unable tosell, off��er to sell, or importits generic buprenorphine/naloxone sublingual fi��lmproduct, pending the outcome of recently fi��led litigation against DRL related toUS Patent No. 9,931,305 or a

decision of the US Court ofAppeals for the Federal Circuit dissolving theinjunction.”

Indivior CEO Shaun Thaxter said “as a result of ... thecourt ruling, Dr. Reddy’s isprevented from relaunchingits generic product until thepatent litigation related tothe ‘305 patent’ is concludedor until DRL prevails on anappeal of this injunction.”

Responding to the development, DRL on Saturdaysaid “the company disagreeswith the court’s decision andwill vigorously appeal it.”

In midJune, while announcing receipt of USFDAapproval for the generic version Dr. Reddy’s had said itwould be introducing theproduct in the U.S. with anapproved risk evaluationand mitigation strategy

programme.The Indivior statement

said DRL had sold a quantityof its generic buprenorphine/naloxone sublingualfi��lm in the U.S. prior to thegranting of a TRO on June 15.

“The company does notknow the exact quantity ofproduct sold by DRL prior tothe issuance of the TRO, butbased on the recent abruptloss of market share for itsSuboxone fi��lm anticipatesthe FY2018 net revenue impact to be at least $25 million,” the British fi��rm said.

The court also orderedthe parties to submit a fi��nalproposed injunction orderon July 16. It directed Indivior to post a bond to provide security to DRL shouldthe court conclude at theend of patent litigation thatthe ‘305 patent’ is invalidand/or not infringed. Thebond amount will be determined by the court later.

U.S. court restrains DRL’s saleof Suboxone anti-opioid copyDr. Reddy’s to appeal; U.K.’s Indivior says revenue impact is ‘at least’ $25 million

Point counterpoint: DRL announced the receipt of USFDAapproval for the generic version in June. * GETTY IMAGES / ISTOCK

N. Ravi Kumar

HYDERABAD

Atlas Copco’s power technique division is eyeing double digit growth in the domestic and export markets asinfrastructure projects gather pace.

Nitin Lall, general manager, power technique customer centre, Atlas Copco (India), said the division’s focuswas on sustained profi��tablegrowth, both in India and export markets, includingWest Asian countries, Africaand the Far East.

“We have done well forthe last four years, registering a healthy annual growthof 12% to 13%.

“Growth in the Indianmarket will depend on oursustained focus on infrastructure projects,” he said.

“We would be able to retain the same growth thisyear,” he added.

Roads, metro rail, bridges, rail corridors, airports,broadband and warehouse

projects are the areas driving the growth for the company, he added.

On the investments madeso far, Mr. Lall said the company had invested ₹��100crore in a greenfi��eld manufacturing facility at Chakan,Pune, in 2013.

It already has a facility atDapodi, Pune. They willmeet the immediate and future demands of both themarkets.

Indigenising projectsThe Chakan plant, where itmakes products such as portable air compressors, isthrice the size of the Dapodiplant and will be used for indigenisation projects forgenerators and pumps.

The annual turnover ofthe division is about ₹��1,000crore with exports constituting 10% to 12%, Mr. Lalladded.

There was strong demandfrom Africa, West Asian andFar East countries, he said.

Roads, airports among growing areas

M. Soundariya Preetha

COIMBATORE

Atlas Copco uniteyes infra boost

Private security agencies inthe country have reiteratedtheir demand for applicationof 5% GST on their gross income or, alternatively, theapplicable 18% GST on theiragency commission only.

“Private security agenciesare under fi��nancial constraints [due to] GST whichis collected on gross amountcharged to a client [the principal employer] which includes reimbursement ofwages and statutory benefi��tspaid to security guards,” Security Association of India(SAI) said in a recent letter tothe government.

‘Pleas yield no result’“From the beginning, wehave been representing thatwages and benefi��ts paid tosecurity guards should be excluded from the value forcalculating the amount forservice tax and that the taxshould be charged only on

the total value of commission/agency charges received by the security agency,” SAI said in arepresentation to the UnionFinance Minister.

The association said all itsearlier pleas have yielded noresult.

The umbrella organisation for this sector, the Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI) hascalled for a nationwide prot

est to press for its demands.In a meeting held in Mum

bai, the CAPSI and SAI, expressed fears that the 18%GST would force manyplayers to close down theirbusiness and tender thousands of guards jobless.

To highlight their cause,President of CAPSI Viswanath Katti said that securityagencies will demonstrate atGST offi��ces across the country on July 18, 2018 and a

memorandum will be submitted to GSTcommissioners.

Council urged to mullSAI president GurcharanSingh Chauhan said thatMaharashtra’s Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwarhas been approached andurged to discuss the issue inthe GST Council meeting.

He said the sector helpedemploy the poor from ruralareas and many of the estimated 70 lakh guards wouldbe rendered unemployed asthe cost of wages goes up.

They said GST should belevied on 10% of the agency’sservice charge of ₹��2,034which will attract GST of₹��366 per month per securityguard.

“The security guard whodraws the lowest monthlysalary of ₹��10,000 is beingtaxed ₹��4,028 per month,which is very high and unfairin comparison to his monthly wages,” the letter said.

Private security agencies seek GST on commission, not gross incomeAgencies fl��ag fi��nancial constraints, warn of job losses if discrepancy remains

Job creator: The sector employs an estimated 70 lakh guards,says Gurcharan Singh Chauhan. * SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

Lalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

The Indian economy is at a“take off��” stage and is expected to be the world’sthird largest by 2030 withGDP worth $10 trillion,Economic Aff��airs SecretarySubhash Chandra Gargsaid.

“Good days are aheadand lot of good work ishappening in the economy.The economy is on a stageof take off�� where Indianscan legitimately hold theirheads high,” he said here.

In the fi��rst 40 years of independence, the countryhardly grew at 3.5%, andtoday 78% is the norm, Mr.Garg said at a function tomark the platinum jubileecelebrations of the Institute of Cost Accountants ofIndia (ICAI).

“By 2030, we can legitimately expect to be a $10trillion economy. That isthe challenge. That is alsothe opportunity,” he said.

India to be$10 trillioneconomy by2030: Garg


NEW DELHI

India’s capital market regulator has proposed amendments to tighten laws governing auditors and otherthirdparty individuals hiredby listed companies for auditing fi��nancial results,among other things.

The Kotak Committee,formed to come up with proposals for improving corporate governance, last year recommended that theSecurities and ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI) shouldhave clear powers to actagainst auditors and otherthirdparty individuals orfi��rms with statutory dutiesunder the securities law.

Lapses led to fraudsAuditing lapses have causedseveral frauds to go unnoticed for years and the capitalmarket regulator has had nodirect control on the auditing fi��rms. SEBI has proposed

giving the board of directorsof the company the authority to take appropriate actionafter conducting an investigation against the individualor fi��rm that violates any regulations or submits a falsecertifi��cate or report.

The proposed changescome months after PunjabNational Bank, India’s second largest staterun lender, stunned markets afteruncovering a $2 billion loanfraud that had gone unde

tected for years.Merchant bankers, credit

rating agencies, custodians,among others, are registeredand regulated by SEBI butchartered accountants, company secretaries, valuersand monitoring agencies donot come under any directregulators.

The amendments wouldmean auditors must ensurecertifi��cates or reports issuedby them are true in all material respects and they mustexercise all due care, skilland diligence with respect toall processes involved in issuance of the report or certifi��cate.

The auditors would beresponsible to report in writing to the audit committee ofthe listed company or thecompliance offi��cer on anyviolation of the securitieslaw they noticed. SEBI hassought feedback and comments on the draft regulations over the next 30 days.

May empower boards to act against erring individuals

Reuters

SEBI mulls tighter rules forcompany auditors, valuers

Parvathy Hospital has drawnup plans to spread its wingsacross Tamil Nadu and toAfrican countries, to add 14hospitals at an outlay of ₹��96crore, said a top offi��cial.

“We have planned our expansion in two phases,” saidSujay Sambamoorthy, chiefexecutive offi��cer, ParvathyHospital. “The fi��rst phasewill consist of acquiring fourexisting properties in Chennai,” he said.

“Acquiring eight hospitalsin Tamil Nadu and setting upnew ones in Uganda andGhana will fall in the secondphase,” he said.

The citybased hospitalhas only one facility now inChennai with 120 beds providing trauma, orthopaedicand neuro care among others. It reported an income of₹��45 crore in FY18.

“By March 2019, we wouldhave added four more hospitals in Chennai, for which weare in advanced talks withproperty owners. Thiswould increase our bedstrength to 250. We have setaside ₹��20 crore and the expansion cost would be metthrough internal accruals,”he said. Besides, the hospitalis also mulling setting up fi��veurgent care clinics on theGST Road, each at a distanceof eight kilometres, to caterto accident victims. Thiswould cost ₹��80 lakh.

These clinics would be setup close to the villages andtownships on NH 45.

Regarding expansion inthe second phase, he said thefi��rm would require about ₹��75crore. About ₹��60 crore wasneeded for acquiring eighthospitals and ₹��15 crore forsetting up two new hospitalsin African countries. Thehospital would seek the assistance of an investment banker by next fi��scal to raise therequired funds.

“We need around ₹��75crore, the amount can go upif it is a good acquisition.There would be some dilution by the promoters. Ourvision is to have 500 beds by2020,” he said.

Eyes tier 2 citiesMr. Sambamoorthy said thefi��rm was in advanced stagesof acquiring an hospital inCoimbatore. It could be ajoint venture or a 100%buyout, he said. Plans werealso on to set up hospitals intier 2 cities of Tamil Nadu. Headded there was a good market for orthopaedics in Africaand that the fi��rm would setup a new unit there insteadof buying an existing facility.

Parvathy Hospitaleyes African markets

To spend ₹��96 cr. to buy, build hospitals

N. Anand

CHENNAI

Sujay Sambamoorthy

Demand for physical gold inIndia picked up this week asprices fell to a fi��vemonthlow, but buyers in other major centres in Asia awaited abigger correction beforeplacing orders, traders andanalysts said.

“In last few days, the rupee and international priceshave been moving in favourof buyers. Jewellers are placing orders,” said a Mumbaibased dealer with a privategoldimporting bank.

The rupee rose to its highest in a fortnight on Friday,rebounding from lastmonth’s record low.

In the Indian market, goldfutures were trading around₹��30,096 per 10 grams afterfalling to ₹��30,072 earlier onFriday, the lowest level sinceFebruary 14.

Dealers charge premiumDealers in India were charging a premium of up to $1.5an ounce over offi��cial domestic prices this week, unchanged from the last week.The domestic price includesa 10% import tax.

“Prices have come downbut the correction is not attracting investment demand. Prices need to fall to₹��28,000 to bring back investors,” said Bachhraj Bamalwa, a bullion dealer based inthe eastern city of Kolkata.

India’s gold imports fellfor a sixth month in June to44 tonnes as a drop in the ru

pee to record lows lifted local prices to a near 21monthhigh, curtailing demand.

Imports in July could riseto 60 tonnes if prices remainat current levels, the dealerat the private bank said.

In top consumer China,premiums of $1$4 an ouncewere being charged over theinternational benchmarkversus $2$5 an ounce lastweek.

Weak yuan hits demand“The weak yuan is aff��ectingdemand ... Other investmentareas are more favourablethan gold, especially amidsta trend of higher interestrates,” said Ronald Leung,chief dealer at Lee CheongGold Dealers in Hong Kong.

Premiums in Hong Kongwere between 60 cents and$1.30, mostly unchangedfrom last week.

In Singapore, premiums

were quoted between 80cents and $1.50, comparedwith 50 cents$1 last week.

“Suppliers are trying tocompensate for the low volumes by increasing theirpremium,” said Joshua Rotbart, managing partner at J.Rotbart & Co. in Hong Kong.

Spot gold prices weredown 1% so far this week.

“Physical markets in Asiahave been a little underwhelming ... There was a bitof buying action below$1,250 but that hasn’t maintained,” said Cameron Alexander, an analyst withThomson Reutersownedmetals consultancy GFMS.

“Investors may be lookingfor another leg down whichis still surprising given thatwe have seen the (SinoU.S.)trade war only ramping up.”

In Tokyo, premiums wereunchanged at around 50cents.

However, other Asian buyers wait for bigger correction

Reuters

MUMBAI/BENGALURU

Gold buying picks upin India on low prices

Halt and go: There was buying action below $1,250 but thathasn’t maintained, says Cameron Alexander. * PAUL NORONHA


CMYK

B ND-ND




BUSINESS ABROAD

IN BRIEF

U.S. lifts ban on fi��rmsselling to China’s ZTEThe U.S. Department of

Commerce lifted a ban on

U.S. fi��rms selling goods to

ZTE Corp., allowing the

Chinese fi��rm to resume

business. The ban was

removed shortly after ZTE

deposited $400 million in a

U.S. bank escrow account as

part of a settlement reached

last month. The settlement

also included a $1 billion

penalty that ZTE paid to the

U.S. Treasury in June. REUTERS

Fed emphasizes ‘solid’U.S. economic growthWASHINGTON

The Federal Reserve pointed

to “solid” U.S. economic

growth during the fi��rst half of

the year in its semiannual

report to Congress, where it

reiterated that it expected to

continue to raise interest

rates gradually. It is the Fed’s

second submission to

lawmakers since Chairman

Jerome Powell took the helm

of the Fed in February. REUTERS

U.S. curbs may bar Irancover on Lloyd’s IT toolLONDON

New U.S. sanctions are likely

to prevent the use of a

Lloyd’s of London IT platform

for any Iran insurance, adding

to diffi��culties for European

insurers providing cover for

the country. European

insurers, reinsurers, brokers

and shipping fi��rms have been

winding down Iranian

business as the U.S.

reimposes sanctions. REUTERS

Papa John’s to removeowner from promotionPapa John’s International Inc.

will remove founder John

Schnatter from its

promotions, the pizza chain

said on Friday, and baseball

team New York Yankees

suspended business

relationships with the

company. Mr. Schnatter on

Wednesday resigned as

chairman of the board after

he used a racial slur on a

conference call. REUTERS

China’s trade surplus withthe United States swelled to arecord in June as its overallexports grew at a solid pace,a result that could further infl��ame a bitter trade disputewith Washington.

But signs exporters wererushing shipments before tariff��s went into eff��ect in thefi��rst week of July suggest thespike in the surplus was aoneoff��, with analysts expecting a less favourabletrade balance for China incoming months as duties onexports start to bite.

The data came after theadministration of U.S. President Donald Trump raisedthe stakes in its trade rowwith China on Tuesday, saying it would slap 10% tariff��son an extra $200 billionworth of Chinese imports,including numerous consumer items.

China’s trade surplus withthe United States, which is atthe centre of the tariff�� tussle,widened to a record monthlyhigh of $28.97 billion, upfrom $24.58 billion in May,according to Reuters calculations based on offi��cial datagoing back to 2008.

‘Won’t help the sour ties’The record surplus “wonthelp already sour relationsand escalating tensions”, Jonas Short, head of the Beijing offi��ce at Everbright SunHung Kai, wrote in a note.

Mr. Trump, who has demanded Beijing cut the tradesurplus, could use the latestresult to further ratchet uppressure on China after bothsides last week imposed titfortat tariff��s on $34 billion ofeach other’s goods. Washington has warned it may ultimately impose tariff��s onmore than $500 billionworth of Chinese goods — almost the total amount of U.S.imports from China last year.

The dispute has jolted global fi��nancial markets, raisingworries a fullscale trade warcould derail the world economy. Chinese stocks fell into bear market territory andthe yuan currency has skidded, though there have beensigns in recent days its central bank is moving to slowthe currency’s declines.

China’s June exports rose11.3% from a year earlier,China General Administration of Customs reported,beating forecasts for a 10%increase according to the latest Reuters poll of 39 analysts, and down from a 12.6%gain in May.

‘Growth will cool’China’s commerce ministryconfi��rmed last month thatChinese exporters werefrontloading exports to theU.S. to get ahead of expectedtariff��s — a situation thatcould exacerbate any slowdown in shipments towardthe yearend.

“Looking ahead, exportgrowth will cool in the coming months as U.S. tariff��s

start to bite alongside abroader softening in globaldemand,” Julian EvansPritchard, Senior China Economist at Capital Economicsin Singapore, wrote in anote, though he noted aweaker yuan should help off��set some of the decline.

China’s exports to the United States rose 13.6% in thefi��rst half of 2018 from a yearearlier, while its importsfrom the U.S. rose 11.8% inthe same period.

Economic risksSeparate data suggestedsome Chinese retailersmoved up orders to the U.S.to insulate themselves fromthe intensifying trade warthat threatens to send upcosts on a growing numberof consumer products.

For JanuaryJune China’strade surplus with the United States rose to $133.76 billion, compared with about$117.51 billion in the same period last year.

After a strong start to theyear, growth in China’s exports has moderated recently, and is expected to facemore pressure from the initial round of U.S. tariff��s.Both offi��cial and private business surveys reported softer export orders last month.

China’s foreign trade faces

risks of slowing in the second half of the year, General Administration of Customs spokesman HuangSongping told a news conference — a view backed byanalysts and likely to putmore strain on an economyalready feeling the pinchfrom a multiyear debt battlethat has driven up corporateborrowing costs.

Investors fear a prolongedtrade battle with the UnitedStates could harm businessconfi��dence and investment,disrupting global supplychains and harming growthin China and the rest of theworld.

South Korea, Asia’sfourthlargest economy,warned on Thursday thatcomponents and materialsused in home appliances,computers and communications devices could becaught in the crossfi��re of thetrade war.

Cushioning the blowImports grew 14.1% in June,customs said, missing analysts’ forecast of a 20.8%growth, and compared witha 26% rise in May.

The commerce ministryalso said this week it will usefunds collected from tariff��scharged on imports from theU.S. to help ease the impact

of U.S. trade actions on Chinese companies and theiremployees.

In a sign Beijing is seekingalternative supplies of thecommodities as it hit U.S. imports with extra tariff��s, China had dropped import tariff��s on a range of animalfeed ingredients from several Asian countries.

Soybean imports easeSeparate customs data onFriday showed imports ofcommodities from soybeansto crude oil eased comparedwith a year ago, but China’ssteel mills and aluminiumsmelters sold much moreabroad spurred by higher international prices amidgrowing concerns aboutslowing demand growth.

The data could renewlongstanding criticism fromthe United States and Europe that the world’s top metal producer is selling its surplus product abroad,hurting foreign rivals.

“We expect slowing export growth to put downward pressure on the current account and RMB(yuan), and believe China islikely to be willing to makeconcessions in future roundsof trade negotiations withthe U.S.,” Nomura analystssaid in a note to clients.

China’s U.S. trade surplus hitsrecord on rush to beat tariff��sJune trade surplus widens to almost $29 bn as exporters race to ship more goods

Reuters

BEIJING

Risks stacked: A prolonged trade battle with the U.S. could harm business confi��dence andinvestment, disrupt global supply chains and harm growth in China and the world. * REUTERS, AFP

The big American banks getever bigger, more profi��tableand more cozy. JPMorgan setthe tone on Friday with a record $8.3 billion of earningsfor the three months endingJune 30. Return on equity atJamie Dimon’s $363 billioncolossus was a roomy 14%.Citigroup followed with $4.5billion of earnings, comfortably above consensus forecasts. Yet the largest lenders’pricetoearnings multipleshave fallen this year even asforecasts of their earningspower have risen.

Consider what might havebeen. When generous U.S.tax cuts started to takeshape in December, analystsbegan to juice up their estimates. Since then they haveadded around $4.5 billioneach to JPMorgan and Bankof America’s 2019 earnings,$1.4 billion for Citigroup and$1.1 billion for Wells Fargo,Eikon data show. Put thoseextra goodies on a multipleof 13 times, deduct oneoff��hits the tax cuts also

brought, and the combinedmarket value of the fourbanks should have risen by$140 billion. Instead, it’s upby onefi��fth of that at some$28 billion.

If anything the tax cutspromise to be even betterthan expected. Animal spirits have nudged companiesinto action, which ought tobenefi��t JPMorgan as theworld’s biggest earner of investmentbanking fees. Itsequity underwriting revenue was already up 49% inthe second quarter, complementing a strong 16% increase in trading income.The eff��ect of extra household income on consumerconfi��dence should also startto show for banks with bigcreditcard divisions.

Regulatory relief absentBut not everything haschanged for investors’ benefi��t. Regulatory relief hasbeen disappointing, despitethe Republican party con

trolling Congress and theWhite House. Adjustmentsto postcrisis rules have sofar only favoured smallerlenders. Trade wars, meanwhile, are bad news for theearnings of big banks thatservice globespanningclients.

And while Uncle Sammight be taking a smallershare of earnings, otherpressures are mounting. Thegap between shortterm andlongterm rates has beensteadily falling, just as competition for savings threatens to force banks to paycustomers more on their deposits. At some point low delinquency rates on consumer debt are sure to rise, evenif for now, at JPMorgan atleast, the opposite is happening. The four lenderstrade at an average 11 timesnext year’s earnings whereas the S&P 500 trades at 17times. That’s less than they’dlike, but they don’t yet meritmore.

(The author is a ReutersBreakingviews columnist.The opinions are his own)

Wall Street’s big banks tradeunder a widening shadow Trade wars are bad news for banks servicing multinationals

John Foley

NEW YORK

COMMENT

that constitutes the very essence of free speech.”

It could become possiblefor businesses to track visitors or customers, usingwhat they see for decisionsregarding credit scores, lending decisions, or employment opportunities withouttelling people.

‘Heighten responsibility’He said scenarios portrayedin fi��ctional fi��lms such as Mi-nority Report, Enemy of theState, and even the GeorgeOrwell dystopian classic 1984are “on the verge of becoming possible.”

“These issues heightenresponsibility for tech companies that create these products,” Mr. Smith said.

“In our view, they also callfor thoughtful governmentregulation and for the deve

Microsoft’s chief legal offi��ceron Friday called for regulation of facial recognitiontechnology due to the risk toprivacy and human rights.

Brad Smith made a casefor a government initiative tolay out rules for proper useof facial recognition technology, with input from a bipartisan and expertcommission.

Facial recognition technology raises signifi��cant human rights and privacy concerns, Mr. Smith said in ablog post.

“Imagine a governmenttracking everywhere youwalked over the past monthwithout your permission orknowledge,” he said. “Imagine a database of everyonewho attended a political rally

lopment of norms around acceptable uses.”

Microsoft and other techcompanies have used facialrecognition technology foryears for tasks such as organising digital photographs.

But the ability of computers to recognise people’sfaces is improving rapidly,

along with the ubiquity ofcameras and the power ofcomputing hosted in the Internet cloud to fi��gure outidentities in real time.

While the technology canbe used for good, perhapsfi��nding missing children orknown terrorists, it can alsobe abused.

“It may seem unusual for acompany to ask for government regulation of its products, but there are manymarkets where thoughtfulregulation contributes to ahealthier dynamic for consumers and producers alike,”Mr. Smith said. “It seems especially important to pursuethoughtful government regulation of facial recognitiontechnology, given its broadsocietal ramifi��cations andpotential for abuse.”

Concerns about misuseprompted Microsoft to“move deliberately” with facial recognition consulting orcontracting. “This has led usto turn down some customerrequests for deployments ofthis service where we’ve concluded that there are greaterhuman rights risks,” Mr.Smith said.

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Microsoft urges regulation of face-recognising technology


San Francisco

Concerns about misuse have prompted the software company to ‘move deliberately’ with facial recognition consulting or contracting, says chief legal offi��cer Brad Smith

Unambiguous norms: It is crucial to pursue thoughtful regulation of facial recognitiontechnology, given its societal ramifi��cations and potential for abuse, says Microsoft. * AP

Big brother: Scenarios portrayed in George Orwell’s 1984 areon the verge of becoming possible, warns Brad Smith. * AFP

Uncertainty on trade couldboost U.S. defensive sectors

As the U.S. ramps up import tariff��s and longdateTreasury yields remain low,stocks in socalled defensive sectors may have roomto run higher in price, eventhough expectations for thecurrent quarterly earningsseasons are high.

Stocks in defensive sectors, which generally paysteady dividends and havesteady earnings, languishedfor the fi��rst months of 2018.Utilities, real estate, telecommunications and consumer staples all saw theirstocks fall into early Juneeven as the U.S. benchmarkS&P 500 index rose morethan 4%. But over the past30 days, two of those sectors have led the S&P 500 inpercentage gains as geopolitical risk has risen.

Utilities have jumped7.7%, real estate has gained3% and consumer stapleshave risen 2.5%. All haveoutperformed the S&P’s0.4% advance.

By contrast, shares inseveral cyclical sectors,which tend to rise as theeconomy grows, havedropped over the same period. Industrials haveslumped 3.9%, while materials have slid 3.6% and fi��nancials have fallen 2.7%.Several conditions havesupported a rotation intodefensive stocks, investorssaid. They tend to performbetter when interest rates

are low, and they have risenas yields on the 10yearTreasury note have retreated from the 3% mark sinceearly June. A burgeoningU.S. trade war with Chinaand the European Unionhas also led investors toseek stability. The WhiteHouse has proposed 10% tariff��s on $200 billion more ofChinese goods.

Portfolio adjustmentsConsumer staples stocks also got a boost on Mondayafter PepsiCo Inc. reportedbetterthanexpected quarterly results. Seven out of 25of the S&P 500 consumerstaples companies have reported so far, and of those,86% have beaten analyst estimates for revenue andprofi��t. Generally, staplesand other defensive areaslag the other S&P 500 sectors in revenue and earnings growth.

Some market watchershave begun to recommendportfolio adjustments in anticipation of a downturn.

On Monday, MorganStanley’s U.S. equities strategists upgraded consumerstaples and telecom stocksto an “equal weight” rating,after raising utilities to“overweight” in June. Theydowngraded the technology sector, which accountsfor more than a quarter ofthe weight of the S&P 500,to “underweight.”

“We expect the path tobe bumpy for the next fewmonths,” said Keith Lerner,chief market strategist atSunTrust Advisory Services, which in May added exposure to real estate stocks.“Having some dividendstrategies is likely to be anice ballast.”

Few investors believe theend of the bull market is imminent though.

Some said the gains indefensive sectors are boundto be shortlived as strongcorporate earnings andcontinued economicstrength boost market sentiment. Others believe recent tensions between theU.S. and China over tradewill be resolved by the autumn as the U.S. midtermelections approach.

“We have solid earningsgrowth, and we have aneconomy that continues tomarch down the path of acceleration,” said Emily Roland, head of capital markets research at JohnHancock Investments.“Those [defensive] sectorsare not attractive to us.”

Utilities, realty, consumer staples are seen outperforming

*R

EU

TE

RS

WEEK AHEAD IN MARKETS

Reuters

NEW YORK


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Basking in food nostalgia

Those special Bengali culinary cravings at work to make a winning smorgasbordSRIJITA CHATTERJEE

Rides to remember

The outcomes of an unexpected experience of riding an autorickshawRANI DEVASAR

Musical journeys

For a winning combination of different elements to make good musicMADHUKUMAR P. THALAVADY

More on the Webthehindu.com/opinion/open-page

When I was 15 I announced what Iwould name my

child, ‘irrespective of whothe father is’, I would jokearound. It never occurred tome that I could be childlessone day. Never, until the dayI swallowed a lump in mythroat when the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) test resultscame negative.

I don’t know how I managed to sleep the day beforethe blood test. Time hungheavy, the heaviest from thetime my blood sample wasdrawn till the result appeared online. And it camenegative. After one full yearof medicines that set my hormones on a wayward spin,after spending hours at thehospital, after a zillion scans

and blood tests, and injecting myself, I didn’t expect tohear that my IVF had failed.

The fi��rst time I enteredthis hospital, it felt like a railway station. If you have beento Chennai Central, there is adisplay screen in front ofwhich hundreds of commuters sit and wait. The hospitalwas the same, hundreds ofcouples, typically not smiling. You are on the one handthinking you have a hugeproblem and then this overcrowded fertility clinicmakes you realise that youare defi��nitely not alone.

There is stress in the air,but I refused to take it intomyself. I was positive allthrough the ordeal of thischemical overdose.

We women who waited inqueues shared a camaraderie over the common pro

blem of fertility that weshared. Stories and experiences were shared withconcern and an undercurrent of anxiety. One told mehow a laparoscopic surgery

had caused damage to all hergood tissues, another toldme about a woman who underwent the IVF procedureas many as eight times, andone told me how she had

tried for years to conceiveand this was her last hope.

I had wondered where Iwould stand at the end of itall. I was less emotional andless stressed, though my case

was complex according to allthose doctors I had met. Mysurgery and my cysts haddone quite a bit of damage.Actually, I was still not readyto think that I might neverbear a child. It would be diffi��cult, but not impossible, thatwas my thought.

The day it all unfolded tostamp me as ‘IVF Failed’, alot of things changed. I criedbehind a closed door formaybe 15 full minutes. Butonce I was done crying, I hadno heavy heart. I stood upwith the conviction thatchildbearing is not the be alland end all of my life. I haveno clue how it feels to be amother. It was an imaginaryjoy that I had gathered in mymind from the experience ofother people. Why should Ifret about not having a certain happiness that I don’t

even know how it feels?I told my husband I will

not put my body through anIVF procedure another time.He, for whom the procedurewas equally taxing, thoughnot physically, accepted mydecision.

I’m 36 today, nine yearsinto marriage, and no regretsabout not having a child. Women around me, youngerand older than me, are becoming mothers. But thereare no melodramatic tearsthat appear in my eyes seeing other mothers. I am genuinely happy for them. I’mhappily married and happyabout life. My husband and Ihave all the love to give to thechildren borne by others. Weare not jealous, nor do we pity ourselves.

Many people who I meetfor the fi��rst time ask me

about children, and I nonchalantly say ‘we don’t havechildren’. Most people respond with ‘I’m sorry’. I smileit away; we can’t quite expecteveryone to be matureenough to know it’s not a terminal illness. There are onlytwo people who need toknow it’s not a terminal illness — that’s you and yourpartner.

If you happen to face theprobability of being childless, trust me, it’s not lifeshattering. It’s perfectly fi��neto not become a mother or afather. It could be the bestrated happiness on earth,but please, isn’t it stupid tosink in the sorrow of an imagined joy? Your life can’t possibly be wrecked by something that never occurred.

[email protected]

The lingering sorrow of imaginary delightFailure at the fertility clinic is not the end of the world. Your life cannot be possibly wrecked by something that never happened

Ranjini Sivaswamy

ILLUSTRATION: SREEJITH R KUMAR

Every year, many deluded Indian students arrive on campuses in

Europe, the U.S., Australia orCanada with dreams of aneasy time, freedom and abetter quality of life. All ofthis is subtly marketed by thebrochures of education consultants and by the Facebookfeeds of the senior students.

But it is only when you sitin a spotlessly clean, whiteand highly equipped kitchenin a country far away fromIndia and face the prospectof spending time preparing ameal that can qualify as edible, that you realise theamount of time your mother(or grandmother, or maid, orwhoever ruled your kitchen

in India) managed to save foryou. All the weekends youplanned to spend on socialising are now spent in thekitchen trying to fi��gure outhow raw ingredients can acquire the taste of the foodthat was available so easily inIndia. You are forced to setaside hours to attempt tocook Indian food — in a daythat is already hectic withclasses, lectures, seminars,library hours and studying.

Among the internationalstudent population of anyuniversity outside India, thisobsession with cooking isgenerally found moreamongst Indian students. Indians seem to have an irrepressible need to devotemore than a few hours aweek in the kitchen. The

blandness of western cuisineIndians cannot tolerate forlong. This often becomes amatter of life and death forvegetarians as they try to survive life in the West.

Admittedly, most Asiansare known for making cooking an indispensable part oftheir student life. But Indians

are known for it because ofthe unusually pungent smellthey generate for their entirebuilding — especially if it is ashared housing arrangement, a hostel or dormitory.

As you struggle with chopping onions while your eyeswater incessantly and sautévegetables in masalas amid acloud of suff��ocating vapours,your mind fervently praysfor the day when all of thiscan end and you can go backto being fed like a spoilt childat the dining table by yourdoting family members.

And as you fi��ll the entirebuilding with the longlastingodour of garlic, onions, chilies and other Indian spices,your Western neighbourswill in all likelihood despisethis obsessive hobby of yours

and wish you had lived somewhere else. The vapoursdrifting into every nook andcorner of the building fromyour culinary eff��orts is apleasant aroma for the Indian, and a stench for others.

But it’s not all bad. Experience is the best teacher, after all. In this day and age,when your career takes youall over the world and faraway from your family anddomestic help, learning theessentials of living independently is crucial. It is only amatter of time until one encounters this situation in life.So the earlier, the better!

The same Western acquaintances who gave youdisgusted looks while youwere cooking can easily become your friends once you

discover fully the art of Indian cuisine. Ultimately,there will come a day whenyou invite students from other countries to your room toserve them your amateur attempts at Indian cuisine.

And there will come atime when their eyes widenappreciatively and they declaim words of praise andwonder. Of course, it doeshelp if these people havenever really tasted Indiancuisine, or if they have astrange fetish for spicy food.

But ultimately, you willfi��nd that everyone has theability and the need to createsome remnants of homefrom one’s own hands whilein a diff��erent continent.

ankitha.cheerakathil@ifd21

A kitchen sans a mother, and one full of odours Away from home and forced to set aside hours to cook and fend for oneself is an experience in itself

Ankitha Cheerakathil

Are you thinking nothing? Or are you thinking nothing of impor

tance? In today’s day andage, it’s more likely to be thelatter (the former, as it turnsout, is extremely diffi��cultand takes years of practice toaccomplish). Recently Ilearned of Hong Kong’s daitau juk, or the headdowntribe — people who are foundglued to their increasinglysmart smartphones for themost part of the day.

As someone who likes tothink of herself as an acuteobserver, I hate to admit thatthis trend is gradually permeating into the Indian milieu. It pains me even moreto admit that I am one ofthose people. But I take asmidge of pride in the factthat I have been actively trying to not fall deeper anddeeper into the pit of distraction and despair that social

media and technology ingeneral have become.

A few nights ago, Francevs Argentina was live on television. While I don’t particularly mind watching footballby myself, I enjoy it morewatching it with my father.But a few nights ago, whenthe fi��rst knockout game wason and my father refused tomove his eyes away from hisphone, I snapped and calledhim out on it. I didn’t do itstraight away; but soon it wastime for dinner and hehadn’t moved.

My family has an unstatedrule of having no phones orwork at the table while eating (one fi��nal eff��ort to prevent technology from invading our personal lives), butmy mother has long given upon persuading my father.

France and Argentinawere giving each other ahard time on the fi��eld and Iwas bothered because I wasmissing the interesting facts

about the game my fatherusually sprinkled in thecourse of those 90 minutes.After I snapped, my wordssharp and curt, my father instantly put down his phone,seemingly breaking out of atrance. He realised his mistake and apologised, a littlesurprised to be at the receiving end of his own youngerdaughter’s annoyance.

‘Headdown tribe’ has become a (pseudo) triggeringphrase in our household —while it doesn’t actually setany of us off��, it does remindus of the fact that our eyescould defi��nitely do with achange of scenery. By callingeach other out on our weakness to fall prey to the physical clickbait that is a mobile,at least we are trying. If I’mbeing perfectly candid, itsimpact usually doesn’t lastlonger than about half anhour, but it’s better than justblatant ignorance.

On the same football

night, I called my father “theleader of the headdowntribe” — the clever part ofthis trick is that it gets themessage across and also defuses the tension with goodintentionednewsawarehumour.

Yesterday when I failed torespond to my father’s question because I was busy withmy own phone, he said:

“Aha! Looks like you’ve stolen my crown. You are nowthe leader of the headdowntribe.”

In my journey — for thelack of a better word — towards reducing technological invasion into my life, Imade another upsetting observation. Forgive me forsounding like cliché’s spokesperson, but I realised that

I had been missing out onwhat was beyond my 5.99inch screen. I had forgottenwhat it was like to look outside of the car window andsee strange faces walkingpast, whizzing trees, forgotten to watch the sun set diff��erently every day behind thetwo tall skyscrapers outsidemy window, forgotten hownice it felt to simply stare atthe dark ceiling of my roomand fall asleep to the rhythmic humming of the fan atnight when everyone on myside of the world was quiet. Ifelt as though I was on myway to becoming a robotwith artifi��cial intelligence.

Ever since my introduction to the dai tau juk, however, every day is an eff��ortto prevent myself from transforming into a smartphonezombie. Hopefully, somedayin the future I’ll be out forbrains and not notifi��cations!

[email protected]

The diary of a smartphone zombie Finally, as realisation strikes that she had been missing out on what was beyond that 5.99-inch screen

Sukriti Lakhtakia

Amongst my many failings and inadequaciesas a teenager was an

extreme reluctance to runminor errands for the family.I would have just settleddown with my favourite story book when mother wouldsay, “Bhashyam, run along tothe corner shop and get me amatch box.” After much procrastination, I would set off��,my displeasure at beinghauled from my book writlarge on my face. The ideawould always be to completethe task in as short a span oftime as possible and get backto my book. The result — ajob poorly done.

Sometimes the match boxbought would be damp, sometimes the seal would bebroken and a few sticks missing, and sometimes thebrand would be that of an in

ferior one. I even rememberone occasion when, in a hurry to get back to the programme on the radio that Ihad been listening to before Iwas dispatched on the errand, standing on the threshold, I had slid the match boxalong the fl��oor of the kitchento where my mother was sitting, and to my horror, thesilly object had burst intofl��ames and destroyed itself.While luckily no major damage was done, I had to goback to the shop, this timemuchchastened.

If errands involving singleitem purchases were a problem, lists were a nightmare.Those were the days whenlists were carried in thehead, not on a piece of paper, and certainly not on asmartphone. And headintheclouds Bhashyam wouldinvariably miss an item ortwo on the list. Things got so

bad that I started being compared to a character in a Marathi lesson we had in schoolcalled Visralu Vinu (forgetfulVinu). I didn’t like it one bit,but instead of trying tochange my behaviour, I keptplaying the victim card!

In time I grew up, blun

dered through college, got ajob, got married, raised a family, etc., etc. Through allthis the errandrun continued, albeit with a diff��erence. There was no one toadmonish me for a job poorly done. I guess my wife musthave tried, during the early

days, but I must have bawledat her for being a poor communicator, and she musthave learned to put up withforgetfulness, ineffi��ciency.

The upshot of it all wasthat I started feeling that thisfailing was but an adolescentaberration, and I have nowbecome lord and master ofthe house, always in chargeand always right.

Until yesterday, that is.You see, we are visiting ourdaughter who lives in theU.S., and one day while leaving for work she told me,“Appa, we are going shopping in the afternoon. Do sitdown and make a list of thethings we need.” Within 15minutes of her leaving thehouse I had got the list readyand was back at my book.

Her fi��rst question as shegot back from work was, “Doyou have the list ready?” I triumphantly patted my pock

et, “Not only is it ready, I’mall ready and set to leave too.Let’s go.”

Her fi��rst question fl��ooredme, “Did you consult amma?Are the items she needs inthe list?” Seeing the sheepishlook on my face, she had metake out my list, and after aquick glance pointed out halfa dozen items I had missedout. “Oh those?” I ended upsaying lamely. “Those werealready in my head. Theywere the obvious ones, yousee, didn’t need to be listed.”

The look on her face saidit all, and I was broughtdown to earth with the sadrealisation that I hadn’tchanged one bit from what Ihad been as a teenager. Itwas just that my failings hadbeen hidden from publicgaze for the most part of myadult life!

[email protected]

An absent-minded procrastinator grows up. But as it turns out, he has hardly changed from what he was while young

S. Bhashyam

The reluctant runner of errands is still not there

There’s a lot ofthings you have toadapt to when liv

ing away from home.Buses don’t stop whenyou run behind them,drinking water comesout of the tap and chai iscalled tea latte and willcost you a misspelt nameand two hundred rupees. You give up tryingto fi��nd idli batter andstart making pancakesand toast for breakfast.

Summer is 13 degreesand the sun doesn’t settill ten. The road traffi��corientation is inverted,and cars look driverlessat fi��rst glance. For a 22yearold displaced fromhome and planted in aforeign country for thefi��rst time, these were allpretty alarming situations to deal with.

But my true test awaited in the bathroom inthe form of gleamingwhite rolls of toilet paper. Except for the giantbathtub, there was no familiar faucet or any other source of water nearby. My mind grappledwith the idea of accepting this quirk of foreignness too, but in the end, Icouldn’t do it. Havingbeen brought up in a Kerala home with an abundance of water, a roll ofpaper had absolutely noplace in the cleaning process. I blessed the friendwho had suggested that Iget a mug, and placed itin its rightful positionnext to the toilet paper.

It was all smoothsailing from there, exceptfor one awkward conversation with my roommate explaining why Iwouldn’t be spending forthat particular utility.

From that day on, Iused a metaphorical line

of toilet paper to justifymy decision to comeback and work in India.For me, that line hascome to represent all thesmall comforts we giveup when living awayfrom home — like unabashedly singing whilestrolling through thestreets or even smiling ata cute baby. Doing eitherof those here might beconstrued as the symptoms of being a crazykidnapperlady.

You are always awareof how diff��erent you arefrom the people around,and you have no way ofknowing what is goingon in their head. This isunnerving, to say theleast, and I’ve oftenfound myself nostalgicabout the judgmentalmausis back homewhose thoughts were asunpredictable as the Bollywood movies.

This strangeness causes you to be constantlyalert, and the smallest incident can break yourbubble of selfesteem. Asnide comment from apasserby or your grocery bag breaking openon the street, is all ittakes for you to crave thefamiliarity of home. Andit is for that sense of assuredness that I hope I willcome back to India — ifonly to joyfully fall off�� mycycle and laugh about it.

[email protected]

Drawing the lineat toilet tissueParvathi Madhu Nair





LIFE

The two companies leadingthe pack in the pursuit ofspace tourism say they arejust months away from theirfi��rst outofthisworld passenger fl��ights — thoughneither has set a fi��rm date.

Virgin Galactic, foundedby British billionaire RichardBranson, and Blue Origin, byAmazon creator Jeff�� Bezos,are racing to be the fi��rst tofi��nish their tests — with bothcompanies using radically

diff��erent technology. NeitherVirgin nor Blue Origin’s passengers will fi��nd themselves

orbiting the Earth: instead,their weightless experiencewill last just minutes. It’s an

off��ering far diff��erent fromthe fi��rst space tourists, whotravelled to the InternationalSpace Station (ISS) in the2000s.

Virgin Galactic can takesix passengers and two pilotsaboard its SpaceShipTwo,VSS Unity.

Mr. Branson in May saidthat he hoped to be one ofthe fi��rst passengers in thenext 12 months. About 650people make up the rest ofthe waiting list, the companysaid.

Blue Origin, meanwhile,has developed a system closer to the traditional rocket:the New Shepard. Six passengers take their place in a“capsule” fi��xed to the rocket.After launching, it detachesand continues its trajectorytoward the sky. During anApril 29 test, the capsulemade it to 66 miles.

Company offi��cials were recently quoted as saying thefi��rst tests with Blue Origin astronauts would take place“at the end of this year.”

Space tourism may take off�� in 2019

Ready to roll: Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity. * AFP/VIRGIN GALACTIC


Washington

Archaeologists in Egypt saidthey have discovered amummifi��cation workshopand a shaft dating back some2,500 years at Saqqara necropolis of Memphis, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The fi��nd belongs to the SaitePersian Period, from 664 to404 B.C.

Archaeologists say it willreveal more about the oilsused in the mummifi��cationprocess in the 26th Dynasty.

Associated Press

CAIRO

Mystery trove: A gilded mummy mask was among theexcavated artefacts. * AP

Mummifi��cation site discovered


CM

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MAGAZINEfollow us:

thehindu.comwww.facebook.com/TheHinduSundayMagazine twitter.com/TheHinduMag

Delhi

Sunday, July 15, 2018

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The struggle of aboriginal artistsrefl��ects the arc of our own Warli,

Madhubani and Gond artists

page 4

In the 4th century BCE, Egyptiansused rock salt, mint and fl��owers to

create the fi��rst version of what?

page 8

“Even the French critics felt itwas over the top,” Astad Deboo

recollects a performance

page 2

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Sitting in the food court of a busy mall, Nick Rampal speaksbetween mouthfuls. He is devouring a club sandwich.

Rampal’s stubble is unkempt and hismilitary camoufl��age Tshirt has faded. Kolkata’s premier male modelisn’t making any heads turn today.When telling his story, the 30yearold starts by saying he grew up inSimlapal, a census town in West Bengal’s Bankura district. “For the longest time, we didn’t have any electricity. My story, you’ll see, is a littlediff��erent.” There’s something unaffected about the way Rampal talks.His accent isn’t manufactured. It’s somewhat easy to like him.

In 2007, when Rampal enrolled ina Kolkata evening college, he didn’thave money, but his friends were allcertain of a single fact — he had thelooks. He recounts, “I paid ₹��1,000 asrent. I ate roadside food. I sold usedphones and clothes. I was even a property broker for a while. Yes, I wasstruggling, but I had my prioritiesclear. I’d only work for mileage ormoney.” Things didn’t take long tolook up. Rampal travelled to Vizag fora fashion show in 2008 and thenmade it to the Top 20 of Gladrags MrIndia. “I was soon walking the rampwith Lisa Hayden at the Kolkata Fashion Week. You only get paid for modelling work if you’re famous, and Iwas slowly getting there. My commitment was paying off��.”

Too small a pieFor most Indian male models, a stable income remains elusive. Also,there just isn’t enough glory to goaround. The pie, aspirants quicklylearn, is small. They invariably droplike fl��ies. Rampal then has cause tofeel triumphant. In the past 10 years,he has walked the ramp for Sabyasachi Mukherjee. From 20112014, hewas a fi��xture at the Lakmé FashionWeek in Mumbai. TSeries has also recently hired him as a model for anupcoming music video.

“I now live in a house that cost me₹��50 lakh to buy. I have two cars, andto get this, I’m proud I never compromised.” Wiping crumbs off�� his face,Rampal explains the word “compromise” without hesitation: “There aresome male designers who prefermen, and many of them told me, ‘Ifyou sleep with me, we’ll give youwork.’ I always refused.”

Even though a fair share of Rampal’s Instagram posts are now throwbacks, pictures from yesteryearshoots, he is optimistic about the future. “If I play my cards right, I couldstill be a model at 50, like Milind Soman,” he says. Perhaps aware that his

Tshirt doesn’t entirely camoufl��agethe beginnings of a belly, Rampal hasalso started doubling up as a fashiondirector. “I’m much like a movie director. I tell models and photographers what to do at fashion shoots,”he soon adds. “Male models, especially those in Kolkata, have no future. They have to do something elseto sustain themselves. I was once offered a fi��lm, but my heart wasn’t in it.I had to start thinking about a business I could do on the side.”

Rampal, one fi��nally realises, hasalways had good business sense. “Onthe very fi��rst day I moved from Bankura, I changed my name. My nephew, I remember, was crazy aboutSalaam Namaste. Saif Ali Khan’s character was called Nick, so that stuck.But Nick Rampal is a brand. My nameis Falguni Patra.”

Out of fashionRelevance in India’s fashion industryis hard to fi��nd. Its benchmarks shiftcontinuously. Male models, in particular, are the fi��rst to be shortchanged.With the world of fashion dominatedby women, the glass ceiling is theirsto break.

This ceiling, however, almost always proves out of reach. Menswear,for instance, is mostly an afterthought. Since women make betterconsumers, they are easier to drape.

Based in Mumbai, fashion designer Aanchal Bubber Mehta is a rarityof sorts. Eight of the 10 garments shestitches are for men. Though Mehtais aware that the market she caters tois all too niche, she adds, “A decadeago, men wouldn’t experiment with

colours and shades. That conservatism has now slowly given way to ademand for freshness.” A brief visitto the Bubber Couture website makesclear that the “freshness” Mehtaspeaks of is both an aesthetic and anethic. Male models are never usedmore than the once. “Every collection has a diff��erent mood and requires a diff��erent muse.”

Mehta is, of course, justifi��ed in saying she wouldn’t like her pictures tolook the same year after year, but formale models, the designer’s demandfor someone new is yet anotherreminder of their career’smortality. They seldomhave repeat customers.Mehta, moreover, is alsodisillusioned with theircalibre. “When I lookaround, I see morestrugglers than models. Only a few goodmale models exist.”

Until a few yearsago, male modelsfound that it paid toget bulked up, butwith designers andbrands now preferring leaner physiques, they areagain desperatelytrying to fi��t that rightbody type. Indian female models, for theirpart, are discovering anew renown. They arenow being signed up byinternational modellingagencies. Their male counterparts, on the other

hand, are left behind, perfecting aWestern silhouette that prizes boyishness over muscle. Foreign modelstoo fl��y into India every year. In theweeks they spend here, they hit theIndian male model’s ego and also histhin wallet.

Not so fairWhile there doesn’t seem to be aclear pattern that dictates the hiringof foreign models, Aiman Ali, an adfi��lm director, says he has detected anobvious, if inverted logic. “Threeyears ago, when Indian companies

like Karbonn and Micromax werecoming in, they demanded fo

reign male models for theirproducts. There was a defi��nite white skin fascination.But slowly, with foreigncompanies like Amazon entering our market, I seesome demand for Indian

faces.” The balance, sadly, is altogetherunwieldy.

Arjun Dutta owes hispale complexion to his

British grandmother. Aspiring to be a tennis professional, he was 18 when hewas fi��rst spotted in 2013. “Iwas literally plucked from a

tennis court in Bengaluruand forced into a photosh

oot. I won’t lie. Having a relatively international look

helped me get opportunitiessooner than others.” It alsodidn’t take long for Dutta to feelbored, though. “After a while,

modelling gets monotonous. I gotpicky. Once you’ve done good work,you don’t want to downgrade yourself and work for anyone and everyone.” Speaking to me from Delhi,the 23yearold sounds naturally reticent. He says putting himself out

there left him disconcerted. Awarethat both he and his profession hadlimitations, Dutta quickly switched toPlan B.

Now owner of a company calledThe Shoe Factory, Dutta says, “Myshoe business is my main profession,modelling is something I do on theside. I’m still a part of the industry,and I still meet people every day. It’seasier to sell them shoes. I didn’t likeadvertising myself all the time.”

Use and throwThreats to the Indian male modeldon’t always come from the outside.There are clear and present dangerscloser home. Models in Kolkata are acase in point. Derided for not beinggroomed enough, they are often leftscavenging for the dregs their Delhiand Mumbai colleagues leave behind. Before he returned to Kolkatain 2012, fashion photographer IpsitoDas worked in Delhi for two years. “Ifasked to name competent male models in Kolkata, I can still only pointto Nick Rampal. There’s a vacuum oftalent here, and every time there’s ashow or a fashion week in the city,that vacuum comes to be fi��lled bymodels from Delhi and Mumbai.” Sowhere do Kolkata’s models go?“There’s always Odisha.”

Das says he makes it a point to forward the portfolios he shoots to recruiters and other corporate clients.“It’s a tough crowd,” he admits. Sumukh Parasramka’s WhatsApp isfl��ooded with such pictures and portfolios. Owner of Czarr Innovations,an advertising solutions provider, Parasramka says that grooming in themodelling industry boils down to justone thing — your relationship withthe camera. “It’s sad but Kolkata’smodels are usually not very camerafriendly. As a result of that, they really never get past that middle bracket.To have a lucrative modelling career,you have to be part of the cream, andthe cream can include only 50 men.Let’s face it, those 50 do come fromelsewhere.”

While Parasramka does his bit topromote local talent — “I give Kolkatamodels 70% of my work” — he saysthere are times when his clients don’tleave him with any money to paymale models. “All I can off��er them atthat point is a brand,” he confi��des.“Models who come from smaller cities like Rourkela, Raipur and Guwahati have an even tougher time.There’s a reason why male modellinghas this high an attrition rate.” Forthose who are not able to fi��nd another profession, Parasramka warns offashion’s “dark side.”

MALE. MODEL. MAKING DO

Always waiting for that elusive big break, male models quickly fi��nd that in this world the glass ceiling is theirs to break

BY SHREEVATSA NEVATIA

COVER STORY

<>With designers and brands now preferring

leaner physiques, male models are

desperately trying to fi��t that right body type Continued on page 2

Making waves (from left) Models Peka Fanai, AdhirajChakrabarty and Kashyap Shangari;(bottom) Arjun Dutta. Arunangsu Roy

Chowdhury & special arrangement


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PEOPLE

Is it sweet revenge to be acclaimed asa living legend of dance right herein the most conservative of dancebastions?” I ask Astad Deboo. He is

in Chennai to receive the YagnaramanLiving Legend Award for 2018 at the SriKrishna Gana Sabha July Festival.

Deboo is not pretending to be a livinglegend. It’s still morning. He is wearingpink and grey candystriped shorts anda Tshirt and sitting crosslegged on a sofa. His hair is steel grey. It is cornrowplaited into corrugated bands that hughis scalp. I am instantly reminded of theCaterpillar smoking a hookah in Alice inWonderland.

I have known him from his bad boydays when he electrifi��ed the Mumbaidance world of the late 70s with a performance at Prithvi Theatre. It was soraw it ripped the sensibilities of whathad been perceived as dance.

The stage was dappled with blood.His blood. That he allowed to drip fromthe incisions he made with a blade. A litfl��ame singed the hair on his powerful forearms. As a grand fi��nale he contortedhis body so that he became all tongue.The tongue became the dance. Helicked his way across the stage wipingthe dirt off�� the fl��oor.

Ups and downs“No. No. Revenge is never sweet,” hesays refl��ectively. “My journey has beenfull of ups and downs. Even today after50 years, or 40 years, it’s diffi��cult to geta sponsor for contemporary dance. It’snot easy to produce oneself. You are always dancing on the edge.”

Of late, it’s Astad Deboo the legendwho has been in the limelight. Last yearfor instance he was invited for a sparkling ceremony of artists, dancers, musicians and sportsmen at BuckinghamPalace to meet the Queen. He wore ablack Jodhpur outfi��t with a magnifi��centshawl from the northeast of Indiadraped over his left shoulder like acape.

“What did you say to the Queen?” Iask.

“Well, I said: Good evening your Majesty,” he replies. “She greets you andthen you move on.”

Later, he explains, as they werenudged discretely into smaller groups,the Queen came along and asked him;“You are a dancer?” And she added, “Ihear you are a pioneer?” and when henodded, she stretched out a glovedhand and said: “I too can dance a littleyou know!” And to Astad’s delight, shetwirled her left hand into a little mudra.

London was one of the watering

holes that nurtured the young Deboo’spassion for contemporary dance. Hehad been trained in the Kathak style early in life. He started when he was justsix. His parents were living at Jamshedpur. Though born into a traditional Parsi family (he still wears a sudreh and kus-ti — plain cotton undershirt andconsecrated waist string), Jamshedpurwas a melting place of modern India. Ashe is fond of saying, the Jesuits at theschool gave him a strong sense of Christian values, the Bengali Hindus included them in all their cultural activities,while the Kathak style instilled in himthe essence of Islamic culture.

It was only much later, when he returned from his travels across the danceworld, both learning and teaching diff��erent dance techniques, that he went toKerala to induct himself into Kathakaliand the martial arts.

It was the Age of Rebellion. Punk hadentered the soul with the promise of liberation. In the arts, in music, in dance,in fashion, in sex, amplifi��ed by the revolution in communication that allowedfor the dissemination of these radicalideas. The rebel was the antihero. Or asone of the popular mentors of the time,Carlos Castaneda, explained, the rebelwas a warrior. “We choose only once.We choose either to be warriors or to beordinary men. A second choice doesnot exist. Not on this earth.”

A disturbing languageDeboo chose to be a warrior. He doesnot actually say this. It informs thechoices that he makes. After his time inthe U.K. where he learnt the dance technique of Martha Graham, consortedwith the Pink Floyd group, trained under Alice Becker Chase of Pilobolus andPina Bausch, not to leave out the timehe choreographed the famous ballerinaMaya Plisetskaya in Paris under the eyesof Pierre Cardin, Deboo chose to spenda year in South America, where helearnt the Capoeira martial dance form.As he says, “I knew I had all theseworlds within my dance language that Iwanted to explore.”

Often, as the case has been with Deboo, the language of dance would be

harsh and even disturbing. In his depiction of a drug addict in ‘Broken Pane’ inthe 1990s, even his normally sedateWestern audiences were shocked as hejabbed a syringe into the veins of hisarm not just once, but three times in thecourse of the evening, banged his headrepeatedly on the ground and writhedwith the agony of the condemned. Itwas like a collaboration between Hieronymus Bosch and a Kathakali artist.

Giant puppets“Even the French critics felt it was overthe top, waving that syringe aroundsticking out of my arm. It should merelybe symbolic, they cried,” Deboo shakeshis head at the memory.

Equally disturbing were his experiments with ‘Death’ with the famous Parsi puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee’s giantpuppets.

As against these often stark and evenquasiviolent pieces, Deboo — who hasalso won formal accolades such as the

Padma Shri and a Sangeet NatakAkademi award for creativedance — displays his most delicately nuanced side when heworks with children.

His work with the street children of the Salaam Baalak Trustled to the piece ‘Breaking Boundaries’ that was shown at Kalakshetra.

And a longterm engagementwith the hearingimpaired children of Kolkata’s The Action

Players and The Clarke School for theDeaf in Chennai created some of themost lifeaffi��rming moments in dance.He led the audience and the performersin raising their arms in a ‘hand and fi��nger wave’ signal at the end instead ofclapping.

In every case Deboo has tried tocreate a narrative for himself. In thecontext of how so much of our ‘experimental’ work, whether in dance or thearts, is derivative at best, or imitative atworst, Deboo’s instinct to let the bodylead him into revealing its secrets hasbeen what makes him a ‘warrior’.

In recent times his work with Manipuri martial art dancers and drummershas led to a cultural crossfertilisation ofthe most vivid kind.

As he described it, the Manipuri dancers have a very strong tradition ofwielding their instruments of war andswirling with the momentum of gettingready to kill and be killed. While he wasin the process of deconstructing thesemovements for a performancebaseddisplay, he observed how their traditional teachers would come and watch.“It was only when I suggested that theycrouch as though crawling through thejungle, that they protested. Warriorsnever crouch. They leap!”

The dancer who turned 71 on July 13still walks with the leaping grace of awarrior.

The media critic and commentator decodes

the baffl��ing variety of human behaviour in

our global village.

BY GEETA DOCTOR

Living once We choose only once. We choose either to be warriors or to be ordinary men: Astad Deboo Sandeep Saxena

L Deboo joined a B.Com. course, but changed tack

when he saw a contemporary dance performance

L In his 20s, he trained with the London

Contemporary Dance School

L He later studied Kathakali under E. Krishna

Panicker in Kerala

L He has collaborated with Pink Floyd, Pina Bausch

and Pung Cholom dancers of Manipur

<>Deboo’s instinct to let

the body lead him into

revealing its secrets

has been what makes

him a ‘warrior’

<>Three times in the

evening, he banged

his head repeatedly

on the ground and

writhed in agony

60 MINUTES: WITH ASTAD DEBOO

Dancingon the edgeAt 71, Astad Deboo still walks withthe leaping grace of a warrior

He says, “Everyone from the makeupartist to the industrialist demands sexual favours. Even a few of my clientshave asked for ‘benefi��ts’, but I don’t putmy models in harm’s way.”

If the #metoo movement in India everwanted to include legitimate male voices, it need only turn to the country’smodelling industry. Cheap labour andabsent standards have left its men wholly vulnerable to ill treatment.

Everyday painGym buddy to some of Kolkata’s malemodels, Parasramka has come to feeltheir everyday pain. “We often only usethe word ‘compromise’ in a sexualsense, but for these men, compromisesstretch further. It extends to what theyeat, what they wear and the countlesshours they spend working out. It isn’tan easy life.” Even Delhi and Mumbaimodels would surely relate to a portraitthis empathetic. India’s male modelsknow only too well the many variationsof inequity.

Though he works as a producer andshoot coordinator in Mumbai, Parul Menezes says he detests the process ofcasting: “People are either accepted or

rejected like commodities, but that happens the world over. It’s a part of thejob. When it comes to male models, however, it becomes easier for people todispose or comment or be slightlyharsher. This industry certainly isn’t avery kind place.” Menezes is also sometimes irked by clients who want theirmale models to come cheap. “Models,”he says, “are generally treated like hangers across the board.” The recent intervention of agencies such as Inega andAnima Creative Management has givenMenezes hope. “Models do better whenthere’s someone handholding them,telling them what to do. It makes themmore professional.”

In the past decade, Inega has steadilybuilt a reputation for itself. Its roster of120 models are by now goto faces forcoordinators and advertisers alike. Mansi Mahta, Inega’s talent head, says, “Models get exploited left, right and centre.

Male models, especially, never get theirdue. Being with an agency gives theman immediate uplift, a pedestal of sorts.The respect we have earned over theyears passes on to our models.”

Tightrope walkingMen wanting to break into the modelling industry desperately hunt for mentors, someone to show them how thefashion tightrope is walked. Agencieslike Inega ensure that this educationisn’t left to chance. When faced withraw talent, Mahta puts her models infront of a camera. “This helps them understand their bodies better. We guidethe models through the entire initialprocess,” she says. Contrary to publicassumption, grooming a model hardlyever extends to bettering his spoken English. “There are these boys who cometo us from Haryana, Himachal andKashmir. They don’t need to speak well.If they look fantastic, we will hire them.Modelling is not about talking. It’s allabout the camera.”

Peka Fanai is from Mizoram. Shortlyafter moving to Mumbai in November2017, the 24yearold found himselfworking as a waiter in Raasta, a suburban bar in the city. After a stylist andphotographer spotted his obvious ta

lent, they sent pictures from his testshoot to Anima Creative Management.Fanai was soon signed on. He thanksAnima not just for easing his passage into the byzantine world of modelling, butfor also “changing my life.”

Stars in their sighsShooting an ad for Bajaj, Kahsyap Shangari felt he’d come full circle. A mediaprofessional in his 20s, Shangari wasonce employed with advertising agencyOgilvy & Mather. “Bajaj was then one ofmy clients.” Though it hasn’t even beentwo years since the 32yearoldswitched careers, he has already donesome modelling work for companiessuch as Airbnb, Shoppers Stop andBMW. Shangari, it’s clear, takes his earlysuccess lightly. Casting directors havetold him there are over 500 men whocome to Mumbai every day to becomemodels and actors. There is no room forcomplacency. “To be a model, though, Ionly need to be fi��t. I’d like to think I lookdecent enough. But my skill set is a lotbigger. I’m here to be an actor, and fi��lmsare the obvious goal.”

Back in the 1990s, male models suchas Milind Soman, Arjun Rampal, MarcRobinson and Dino Morea were all household names. While much of the Bollywood work they did has been forgettable, it’s their modelling catalogue thatstill makes them covetous. As the fashion director and licensee of MAX EliteModel Look India, Marc Robinson interacts with a number of young men who

queue up for Elite’s talent hunt. “Everybody has their eyes on Bollywood. People enter the fashion industry as a stepping stone to Hindi fi��lms.” Star of the1998 fi��lm Bada Din, Robinson says, “Wetoo had fi��lm off��ers, but we never felt thisgreat a need to take them up. We werealready icons in our industry. Today,modelling work is limited. You needfi��lms to sustain yourself.”

Before Vishal Malhotra moved toMumbai in 2012, he worked in Bengaluru as a software engineer. His boss therewould introduce him to clients as “ourhero from Bollywood.” Malhotra’s sisterhad won a national level beauty pageant15 years ago. There was cause for him tofeel he had what it takes. In the fi��rst yearof his struggle, he appeared in a commercial with Shah Rukh Khan, andthen, three years later, he saw his faceappear everywhere, on hoardings, ontelevision and in the country’s leadingnewspapers. Star Sports publicised the2015 World Cup with its ‘Mauka Mauka’campaign, and Malhotra had been chosen to play the protagonist — a confusedand beleaguered Pakistani. “I have a faircomplexion that fi��ts into that MiddleEast, Gulftype look,” he says. “‘MaukaMauka’ was special.”

In the past six years, Malhotra has sometimes had to survive on a singlecheque for months. “It’s this moneyfrom commercials that has helped pacify my parents in Delhi. They say they’resupportive, but I know how anxiousthey are.” Though advertising has givenhim a livelihood, Malhotra speaks morefondly of his bit roles in fi��lms such as Ra-gini MM2 and Sanam Re. Oddly, however, he doesn’t look at modelling as thebridge that brought him to Bollywood.“There are fi��ve industries that run parallel to each other in Mumbai — fi��lms,

TV and web shows, commercials, printads, ramp work. Work in one industrydoesn’t ensure work in another.” Driving home from the sets of a television serial he has been cast in, Malhotra doesadd, “But when you go for auditions,you see the same faces everywhere. Thefi��ve industries are diff��erent, but it’s thesame pool of people who are all hungryfor that one big break.”

The known unknowns In his days as a fulltime model, AdhirajChakrabarti had walked the ramp foreveryone from Sabyasachi Mukherjee toManish Arora. He fi��nds it hard to countthe brands he had appeared in print advertisements for. By becoming a photographer, he tried fi��lling a lack. “Forthe longest time, I had wanted to do something creative. It’s a nice change tobe behind the camera.” He says themale models who pass through hisdoors, looking for their portfolios to beshot, are predominantly clueless. “Theyusually don’t know what to do with theimages I shoot. Worse still, they don’tknow that modelling agencies sometimes only need a Polaroid, not a full folio.” Represented by Anima himself,Chakrabarti sends some of these models for haircuts they desperately need.He helps them walk better. “It’s reallythe least I can do.”

Born in Kolkata, Chakrabarti hadmoved to Mumbai 13 years ago to pursue a graduate course in Mass Media.When his college professor told himthat he had the face and physique to become a model, he had to confess thathis knowledge of fashion didn’t stretchbeyond Kimbadanti (an apparel store inSouth Kolkata). His mother was keen hebecome a model, so he decided to participate in Grasim Mr India. “At thatpoint, I felt modelling was all aboutfashion weeks. Strangely, I think that’sexactly what people think modelling istoday. Nobody knows what our worldentails.” Chakrabarti remembers thathis friends from Kolkata would react effusively when they saw his face on a billboard. “They said I was lucky, but it’sthey who were fortunate. To get a job,they had to give the one interview. Forme to get work, I had to appear for aninterview every day. People think theyknow us. I can only wish they did.”

The author of How to Travel Light relies on

books and pop culture for nourishment.

Moving on Nick Rampal poses for an ad fi��lm shoot; (below) Peka Fanai, AdhirajChakrabarty and Kashyap Shangari.Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury & Special arrangement

<>We often only use the

word ‘compromise’ in a

sexual sense, but for

these men, compromises

stretch further

Male.Model.Making

do

Continued from page 1


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REPORTING

It was August 11, 1992. Outside thepolice headquarters in the ITO areaof Delhi, the fi��rst known protest forgay rights in India was being held.

It was sparked off�� by the police picking up men from Central Park in Connaught Place on suspicion of homosexuality — in those days, this kind ofharassment was still a ‘normal’ practice.But activists from an organisation calledAIDS Bhedbhav Virodhi Andolan (ABVA) decided not to let it pass this timeand blocked the entrance to the policeheadquarters to protest the harassment.

Nothing came of it. Two years later, in 1994, a medical

team landed up at Tihar Jail to investigate the high incidence of sodomy reported from the quarters. ABVA activists wanted to distribute condoms tothe prisoners, but Kiran Bedi, then Inspector General of Prisons, refused permission. Bedi argued that it wouldamount to tacit admission that homosexual relations were prevalent in Tihar;more pertinently, that availability ofcondoms would encourage the practice.Tihar decided to deal with the “menaceof homosexuality”, as Bedi termed it, bymandatorily testing inmates for HIV andsegregating those found positive.

In 1994, ABVA fi��led a public interestlitigation (PIL) in Delhi High Court, chal

lenging the constitutional validity ofSection 377 — it was one of the fi��rst legalprotests against government repressionof the LGBTQ community.

Brave and prescient The PIL also gave India its fi��rst champion of gay rights, Siddhartha Gautam,who had become involved in the gayrights movement in the U.S. when hewent to study at Yale in 1989. He had cofounded ABVA on his return, and published a groundbreaking pamphlet,‘Less Than Gay’, a citizens’ report onthe discrimination faced by the community in India. Gautam died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma a few months after thepublication of the report.

“ABVA’s claim for the rights of queerpeople in India was brave, prescientand forthright,” says Naisargi Dave inhis book Queer Activism in India: A Storyin the Anthropology of Ethics. But afterGautam’s death, ABVA failed to followthrough, and the petition was dismissedin 2001. But it had set the ball rolling.

It was only a couple of years later thatVivek Divan, who would go on to headthe HIV unit of Lawyers Collective, a legal aid organisation fi��ghting for gayrights, stumbled upon ‘Less Than Gay’.Divan, then a queer 20something lawstudent in Mumbai, found the pamphletin the library run by Humsafar Trust, anNGO that provided support to Mumbai’semerging gay community.

Divan says the pamphlet ‘happened’to him, as if it was a force of nature. “Itwas pathbreaking for that time. Therewas no gay community, gay literature,or HIV movement then. I started attending support group meetings at Humsafar, and in 1997 I attended a workshopby Lawyers Collective. That’s when Iquit my practice to work fulltime in itsHIV unit,” says Divan, emerging at theend of the fi��rst day’s hearing in the Supreme Court on Section 377 on July 9.

On July 7, 2001, matters came to ahead. Enthusiastic about enforcing Section 377, Lucknow police raided a parkand once again arrested a few men onthe grounds of suspected homosexuality. One of them was a health workerwith an NGO called the Bharosa Trust,and the police immediately raided theoffi��ces of Bharosa, seized documentsand arrested nine more people. “Thepolice confi��scated safesex aids like condoms, lubricants, instructional videos —

and much to the delight of a giddy press— a variety of dildos,” writes Dave in hisbook.

“When the Lucknow incident happened, we were already contemplatinga petition. The media sensationalisedthe arrests, describing it as the bustingof a sex racket. For the most part, journalism around gay rights then was uninformed, nonnuanced and sensationalist,” says Divan.

The nine arrested were denied bail,with the court stating that “the work ofthe accused is like a curse on society”. Ittook a month for Lawyers Collective toestablish that Bharosa was not involvedin a sex racket, and bail out the arrestedmembers.

A public health measure Meanwhile, the health ministry was facing a diff��erent problem. By 2002, government estimates put India’s HIV affected population at around 3.97million people — more than any othercountry except South Africa.

This was before the appearance of generic antiretrovirals, and preventionwas literally the only cure. The homosexual community was in the throes ofthe epidemic, but the health ministrycould not convince the police to stopharassing them when they came forward for treatment.

Former Union health secretary Sujatha Rao recalls visiting NGOs in Benga

luru in 2006. “I was stunned andshocked to hear about the police violence and the amount of fear and exploitation these people were under.That visit strongly infl��uenced my thinking,” says Rao, who played a key role inconvincing the health ministry to take aproLGBTQ stand.

“The then Home Minister Shivraj Patil was bitterly opposed, but Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss was fi��rmlyin support,” says Rao.

Lawyers exploited this diff��erence ofopinion between the two ministries totheir advantage. “We wanted to makethe most of it,” says Anand Grover, president of Lawyers Collective. “I got anaffi��davit from Rao supporting our case.At that point, we could only argue thisas a public health measure in order tosucceed.”

When asked what the upcoming Supreme Court verdict means to him, Divan narrates an incident. In 2006, Lucknow police picked up six men from thechat room of Planet Romeo, a websitefor gay, bisexual and transgender men.The newspapers mentioned their realnames, contact details, and even landline numbers. “These were marriedmen, with wives and children. Theirlives were destroyed,” Divan recalls.

As this goes to press, the countryawaits the Supreme Court’s ruling.Awaits a decision that will prevent morelives from being destroyed.

It’s been a long, long time Tracing the storied, 25plus years of the fi��ght for LGBTQ rights in India that came to a head this week

<>For the most part,

journalism around

gay rights in those

days was uninformed,

non-nuanced and

sensationalist

BY VIDYA KRISHNAN

FIELD NOTES

Thumbs upMembers ofthe LGBTQcommunityand theirsupportersat theChennaiRainbowPride walk,June 24. PTI

Three months ago, Arsh Ali lost a coveted member of his aquarium: hislittle pet shark. But instead of disposing of its body, Arsh buried it in

a tray fi��lled with natron. A complex saltknown for its ability to dry things up, natron is naturally available in Egypt, butArsh had to create it by mixing multiplechemical elements.

He has learnt the method from the ancient Egyptians, about whom he knowsmuch. “There is no foul smell or any organisms growing in it, even after so manydays,” says Arsh, smiling proudly andpointing to the tray with the dead shark inthe lawn of his house in Allahabad. His goalis to mummify his pet shark just like the ancient Egyptians did.

Pharoah breadArsh’s knowledge of Egyptian history, archaeology and mummifi��cation runs deep:he has researched coffi��ns, funerary hieroglyphic inscriptions and even knows howto make bread like the ancient Egyptiandid. “Every other day he cooks somethingfor me,” laughs Fatima Ali, Arsh’s mother.

At 17, Arsh is already an archaeologist,although he doesn’t have a formal degreeyet. Unlike most kids his age, Arsh spendsmuch of his time researching ancient history, visiting digs, attending seminars, anddelivering lectures on history andarchaeology.

Acknowledging his talent, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has been inviting Arsh since 2015 to their programmes,seminars, excavations and explorations, aprivilege often restricted to postgraduatestudents of archaeology. Arsh has so far taken part in seven excavations and explorations. His fi��rst tryst was with the excavations at Binjor in Rajasthan in 201516under the ASI, followed by those in Rakhi

garhi, the largest known Harappan site inHarayana, conducted under the supervision of Deccan College in Pune.

“The Harappans were excellent craftsmen. Even 5,000 years ago, they produced a lot of things,” says Arsh as he describes each dig in detail. The cupboard ofhis room is crammed with specimens hehas brought back from sites for further study: wheat grains, terracotta bangles, potshards, shells, neolithic tools, starfi��sh, andan octopus.

Arsh’s adventure with art and archaeology started early. His parents, Fatima andFaisal, were convinced from the start thattheir son was special — when he was six, forexample, he sat at a restaurant in Kathmandu and sketched the Pashupati temple on apaper napkin in one shot, down to everydome and fl��ag.

When he was in Class VIII, during a visitto Bara Imambara in Lucknow, the familymet the site conservator of ASI who was impressed with Arsh’s knowledge. One thingled to another and soon Arsh was participating in ASI fi��eldwork.

Arsh knows 15 languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Brahmi, Greek, Ugaritic, Nabatean and Phoenician, besides Kharosthiand Hieroglyphics. He credits his precocious knowledge to curiosity and reading.“I did nothing but read books, and purchased nothing but books every time I gotan opportunity,” he says.

Smitten with AnubisAncient Egypt had him hooked early.

“When I was fi��ve, I had an encyclopedia onAncient Egypt. I didn’t knew how to readand write then, but that’s when I cameacross an image of Anubis, halfhuman,halfjackal.” He was smitten with the Egyptian god of mummifi��cation.

Arsh’s archaeological interest has culminated in a quest: he wants to establish theevidence of the existence of Buddhism inEgypt by tracing the route of the Buddhistemissaries of the Mauryan emperor Ashokain Ptolemaic Egypt in particular, and theHellenistic world in general.

He delivered a lecture on the subject atthe National Museum in Delhi last month,and visited Egypt a few months ago.

Arsh was allowed access to the antiquities at the national museums in Cairo andAlexandria, where he came across plentyof evidence to substantiate his theory: acoin with details of King Ashoka, literary references, terracotta items, objects of Indianart, and Brahmi inscriptions on pots. Whenasked about future plans, Arsh says, “Iwant to gift something to the world, something that might be useful.”

Walks like an EgyptianAt 17, Arsh Ali is an archaeology prodigy, alreadyparticipating in ASI digs and seminarsBY OMAR RASHID

Early start Arsh Ali shows off�� his mummifi��ed shark. Rajeev Bhatt

<>Arsh knows 15

languages, including

Hebrew, Arabic, Greek,

Brahmi, Nabatean and

Phoenician

PROFILE

Love Sonia

2 hrs

Directed by

Tabrez Noorani

When Tabrez Nooraniwas not acting as lineproducer for international titles beingshot in India, like

Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi, he was conducting raidson Mumbai brothels and rescuing women forced into sexwork with the help of police and NGOs. These two sides ofhis work meet in Love Sonia, where a teenage girl travels toMumbai to fi��nd her sister, whom their father, a farmer, hassold to a brothel to settle his debts. Sonia is herself forcedinto sex work and later traffi��cked. The fact that it is basedon reallife incidents gives the story a raw force. It featuresMrunal Thakur in the lead role and has a cameo by DemiMoore. Love Sonia has been getting rave reviewes eversince it had its world premiere at the London Indian FilmFestival on June 21.

CREDITS

Whitney2 hrsDirected by Kevin Macdonald

Stars who meet tragic untimely deaths seem to especially lend themselves to mythmaking. In July 2017,Nick Broomfield had released a documentary about theeventful life and sudden death of music legend WhitneyHouston. Now Kevin Macdonald has come up with yetanother documentary on her. He uncovers what heclaims to be a family secret explaining her chronic drugabuse: however, the ‘revelation’ isn’t convincing enough.But the documentary is still worth a watch, if only because of the hitherto unseen archive material, of Houston’s onstage performances and offstage home videos,that Macdonald brings to the table.

A curation of some of the most interesting news fi��lms and

videos from around the world.

Birth of a

movement

Tough fi��ght Gayrights activists atthe Supreme Court in 2013. Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

1986Journalist Ashok Row Kavi writes

what would become the fi��rst

“coming out” story in India in

Savvy magazine

1987First documented case of same

sex marriage. Leela and Urmila,

two Madhya Pradesh

policewomen, marry; both lose

their jobs

1991Siddhartha Gautam publishes the

fi��rst ‘citizen’s report’ on the

status of atrisk homosexual men

called ‘Less Than Gay’

1994Kavi sets up Humsafar Trust in

Mumbai, which becomes one of

the oldest LGBTQ organisations

in India

1996BOMGaY, a 12minute fi��lm

starring Rahul Bose and author

R. Raj Rao, is released

1999India’s fi��rst Gay Pride Parade

called the Calcutta Rainbow Pride

is held. It has only 15 people

marching

2001Naz Foundation and Lawyers

Collective fi��le a PIL asking the

court to read down Section 377

2010Delhi High Court passes a

landmark judgment granting

equal rights to ‘sexual minorities’


The struggle of aboriginal artists to havetheir work accepted as art, worthy ofmuseums and galleries, refl��ects in manyways the arc of our own Warli, Madhuba

ni and Gond artists, although in the case of Australian Aboriginal art, the transition has beenmore rapid.

Aboriginal culture goes as far back as 60,000to 80,000 years ago, when these communitiesfi��rst settled in Australia. The fi��rst evidence oftheir culture is to be found in the still visible rockart, more than 20,000 years old. It is heavilycoded with symbolism, mythology and the sympathetic magic performed by shamans, whosought to conquer animal spirits before the huntor appease forces of nature.

NGMA’s New Delhi exhibition, ‘IndigenousAustralia: Masterworks from the National Galleryof Australia’, gives a valuable insight into this artwith a wide range of works on display, featuringboth traditional Aboriginal artists and contemporary practitioners, with a special emphasis onartists of mixed ancestry. The exhibition isdrawn from NGA’s extensive collection, amongthe largest of its kind in the world.

The work on show includes intricate ‘dot art’,

drawings done with natural pigments on eucalyptus bark, decorated shields, carved boomerangs and masks.

There is also a striking collection of paintingson canvas and fabric made by contemporaryAboriginal artists: intricate paintings that speakof creation myths, in which ancestor spiritsbring the world into being in a state of dreaming.This is represented in a stunning work, ‘Yanjilypiri Jukurrpa’ (Star Dreaming), made by three senior Warlpiri artists, Paddy Sims, Larry Spencerand Paddy Nelson.

It is one of the fi��rst large canvases to emergefrom Yuendumu in the Northern Territory ofAustralia. It relates to the fi��re ceremony of theWarlpiri. According to folklore, participants ofthe fi��re ceremony shook smouldering branchesand specks fl��oated into the night sky to createthe constellations — these are represented by cir

cles and stars in the foreground while thickbands of colour in the background evoke the surface of the earth.

The Warlpirispeaking Yuendumu peoplewere the fi��rst Aboriginal community in the Western Desert region to begin painting for the artmarket. Although they made a hesitant start,they now have their own organisation, the Warlukurlangu Art Centre.

Inverted viewInterestingly, the gallery showcases the contemporary voices fi��rst. As you go further inside, youencounter the works produced by AustralianAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists fromthe late 1800s. This inverted view is a homage tothe concept of the ‘usable past’ — of makingsense of a national experience in ways that unifyrather than separate peoples. The arrangementof the artworks underlines the issue of racial discrimination that has dogged the country foryears.

In the contemporary section, one is struck by‘Austracism’, by Vernon Ah Kee, from Brisbane,Queensland. Ah Kee represents the Kuku Yalanji/Yidinji/ Waanyi/ Guugu Yimithirr/ Koko Berrinpeoples. His moving textbased work talks of racism. It begins by saying, “I am not racist, but I

don’t know why Aboriginal people cannot lookafter their houses properly… and I am not racistbut… they are very ungrateful people and… I amnot racist but they never wore any clothes untilthe coming of the whites… I am not racist, butyou know there are poor white people too…” andgoes on to take apart the bigoted beliefs of thecoloniser.

Kitschy complicityAnother disturbing work is ‘Ash on Me’, by TonyAlbert, who belongs to the Girramay/ Yidinji/ Kuku Yalanji peoples from Townsville, Queensland.The installation is made up of ‘opportunity shop’(charity shop) ceramic and metal ashtrays decorated with kitschy images of Aboriginal peopleand culture.

The old found objects, arranged in a way thatspells out the word ‘Ash’, underline their originaluse and the casual racism hidden in them: cigarette butts are to be stubbed out on the faces ofAboriginal men, women and children.

When seen in a curio shop, these items maylook kitschy enough to seem innocuous, but the

innocence comes apart when we look closer. William Barak (18241903) belonged to the Wu

rundjeri/ Woiwurung peoples, of Port Phillip.His work bridges the divide between the traditional and the contemporary.

He moves away from the traditional geometricpatterns in the work of the Aboriginals that didnot depict humans, but were a means to seizethe animal spirit. In Barak’s painting ‘Corroboree’ we have people of cooler regions, dressed inPossum skin cloaks. Barak was a child when Europeans began to make incursions into Port Phillip and he represents the transition of cultures inhis works. The Europeans referred to him as the‘last chief of the Yarra Yarra Tribe.’

Three sistersThe video room has works of the Bidjara artist,Christian Thompson. Three large monitors atthe centre show three women of mixed ancestry.An off��screen fan blows their hair and they arebathed in a yellow light. The idea is that they arein the Queensland desert, buff��eted by its aridwinds. A lilting piece of music — hypnotic, calming and sensuous — accompanies the images.

I learn that the three are not just any women —they are three sisters whose grandfather is Charlie Perkins, the fi��rst Aboriginal person to gain adegree and become a permanent head of federalgovernment. His parents were of mixed blood.His daughter, Hetti Perkins, is an infl��uential curator. Thompson chose the trio to comment notjust on their mixed heritage but also on the harshdesert landscape of Central Queensland towhich they belong and which is also his ownfather’s country.

“I love the mysticism and the seductive cruelty of the desert, my home, and how it can be soelusive, alluring and potentially life threatening,”writes Thompson. The artist is currently Londonbased, with a multidisciplinary practice thatexplores notions of identity, cultural hybridityand history.

The exhibition also includes haunting blackandwhite photographs by Ricky Maynard titled‘The Healing Garden’, ‘Wybalenna’, ‘Flinders Island’ and ‘Tasmania’. His photographs act asdocuments, recording the everyday lives of Aboriginal Australians in Tasmania. The landscapein his photographs also becomes a topographyof healing and loss.

Moving to the centre of the next gallery, oneencounters Lin Onus’s work, ‘Dingoes’, madefrom synthetic polymer, paint on fi��breglass, wireand metal. It may seem like a simple depiction ofdingoes, the wild dogs indigenous to Australiathat were muchmaligned and hunted in largenumbers by the colonisers.

But Onus has spent time at Lake Eyre studyingthe habits of these animals. Having observedthem keenly, he recognises their resourcefulnessand ability to survive in the wild: they seem toshare these qualities with the Aboriginal people,who have also suff��ered incredibly rough treatment in the hands of the colonisers. The injustice of history is brought out through fi��ve vignettes, from that of a mother with her pups to adingo lying dead in a trap.

ON SHOW: ‘Indigenous Australia: Masterworksfrom the NGA’ at National Gallery of Modern Art,

New Delhi, till August 26.

The writer is a critic-curator by day, and a creative

writer and visual artist by night.

SPOTLIGHT

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE DREAM

BY GEORGINA MADDOX

<>Specks of fi��re fl��oated into the

night sky to create the

constellations — represented

by circles and stars in a

painting by Warlpiri artists

Placing Australian aboriginal art within the context of the distantpast and the more recent history of racism

Alluring (Clockwise from left) ‘Untitled’ byWilliam Barak; 'Red Plains Kangaroo' by Yirawala;'Bush Plum Country' by Poly Ngal. National Gallery

of Australia

CM

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ART & CULTURE

Last month I attended what I like tocall a “theatre wedding”. Two people, involved in theatre, butmore importantly two people

who met because of theatre, exchangedvows/ took seven circles of fi��re/ enteredinto a holy union, surrounded by a fairamount of theatre people. A few yearsago, both of them were replacements inan outstation play. And they fell in loveon the fl��ight back, thanks to a commonlove for scuba diving, Shah Rukh Khan,and, probably, theatre.

I’ve seen quite a few theatre weddings.I’ve also seen an unfortunate theatre divorce. Theatre relationships are a dime adozen, but I’m focusing on more legalcommitments here. I guess in some waysa theatre wedding is like a workplacewedding. Same environment, similar interests, regular contact, shared experiences, and something clicks. Mine wasa theatre wedding too.

My brother’s fatherI met my wife thanks to the theatre. Sheattended a workshop we organised, andsoon after, acted in a few of my plays. Weremained colleagues and friends for awhile. When this graduated to love, wewere performing in a play as father anddaughter. Highly inappropriate, you maythink. But that’s theatre. My wife hasplayed my daughter, my father’s love interest, my brother’s love interest, and mybrother’s motherinlaw on stage. I’veplayed my brother’s father, and he hasplayed my father’s lover. Real life is a lotless complicated, I assure you.

One big advantage is that your partnerunderstands things like bizarrely timed

rehearsals, stuff�� from home vanishing tobe seen next on stage, and line learningthat involves a lot of speaking to yourself.When a cupboard is opened and furryscarves, handcuff��s, or a bear costume isfound, eyebrows aren’t raised.

Interestingly, bang in the middle of mywedding functions, there was a carnivalat Prithvi Theatre, for which I had directed a short piece. So between a fancy luncheon and a ‘sangeet’ function, I swungby the theatre in a threepiece suit tooversee the show. My wife was very understanding.

But as a result, friends now give ustheir ‘save the dates’ fi��rst, so we don’tschedule clashing shows. But this wasback in 2011, when we were averaging 150shows a year. We’re down to half now,and consciously so. Some streamliningwas necessary to avoid wear and tear andgeneral saturation. Seventyfi��ve stillmeans half a dozen shows a month,which is fairly formidable. We’ve doneclose to 50 shows this year already, and

have quite a few lined up, including performances in Nagpur, maybe Muscat, Kolkata, Delhi and Bengaluru. Travellingwith the troupe is among the best thingsabout a life in the theatre. It results in themost memorable stories, and on someoccasions, marriage.

Pushing boundariesSpeaking of Bengaluru, Ranga Shankarahas announced a very interesting themefor this edition of their annual festival. Itis a festival of “plays that almost weren’t”.This is rather topical and timely. For aslong as there have been plays, there has

been resistance to plays. Throughout history, there have been attempts to alter, silence or even completely destroy worksof theatre due to ‘unacceptable content’,whether the motivations for censorshipwere religious, social or political. Thisdates back to ancient Greece, and rightup to present day.

But, quoting the Ranga Shankara festival note, ‘theatremakers have longpushed boundaries of “off��ensive”through their imagery and content.’ Andthat’s what this call for entries is doingtoo. I immediately scanned through myproductions to see what fi��t the bill, andfound that Russian Tsarists had bannedGogol’s The Government Inspector, formaking fun of bureaucracy and people inpower. I should apply. But from my castof eight, one actor is shooting in Bulgaria,another is at football matches in Russiaand may settle down there, one actresshas found recent fi��lm success and will redirect me to her manager, while anotheractor is star of a huge regional franchiseand fi��nds it hard to catch up with the restof us for a drink. In my case, busy actorsand not governments are shutting playsdown.

Next week, a play I’ve directed willhave its last shows. This decision was taken because the content was such that itwas limiting the reach of the production,and hence it wasn’t able to justify expenses and upkeep. Ironically, the upcomingshows have a strong advance. It’s easierto shut plays because you had rights for alimited run, or you had a massive fall outwithin the unit, or you got booed off��stage, or have only losses to show. Something concrete as a reason alwayshelps. But ideological decisions aretougher. As is the understanding of whenyou’ve overstayed your welcome, andwhen it’s time to hang up your boots.Which is kind of where I’m at with this article. (Exits stage right)

STAGE WHISPERS

For better or for worseTravelling with the troupe results in fun stories. And sometimes in marriage

Theatre relationships ‘Real life is a lot less complicated.’ V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Akarsh Khurana

is a theatre producer and director and

hence often broke. To cope, he writes

and directs fi��lms and web series and

occasionally acts, albeit reluctantly

<>A theatre wedding is

like a workplace

wedding. Same

environment, similar

interests, and

something clicks

Jawahar Kala Kendra incollaboration withContemporary ClayFoundation presents thefirst ‘Indian CeramicsTriennale: Breaking Ground’,from August 31 toNovember 18. This is the

first ever international ceramics event to be held at JawaharKala Kendra. It will have 35 Indian and 12 international artistprojects, 10 collaborations, 12 speakers, a symposium, filmscreenings and workshops for adults and children. In India,ceramics and clay have always been considered as artisanalcraft. The Ceramics Triennale hopes to increase visibility ofthe artists and allow ceramics to be appreciated as art.

SCANNER

Colours of clay

An exhibition of Rembrandt’smasterpieces is going on atthe Scottish National Gallery,Edinburgh, till October 14.Titled ‘Britain’s Discovery ofthe Master’, the exhibitionhas major works by theDutch master alongside

those by the British artists he inspired, such as WilliamHogarth, Joshua Reynolds and others. The show suggestshow the taste for Rembrandt’s work in Britain evolved overthe past 400 years. The self portraits of the artist areespecially interesting, as is ‘The Mill’ (picture) from theNational Gallery of Art in Washington DC. There are finedrawings and prints besides the oils.

Rembrandt in Britain

The exhibition, The World’sGame: Fútbol andContemporary Art, on at thePérez Art Museum Miami tillSeptember 2, explores thespaces where art and footballintersect. It features 50artworks by 40 artists,

including Andy Warhol and Kehinde Wiley. There aredeflated soccer balls, videos of rapturous crowds andartworks from Latin America, the Caribbean and Miamiartists. Wiley, who executed Barack Obama’s presidentialportrait, has a painting of the Cameroonian striker SamuelEto’o. Warhol’s piece from 1975 is portrait of Brazilian soccerhero Pelé. (Picture courtesy Pérez Art Museum Miami)

Art and football


Making Ghost Hunting was notwish fulfi��llment but an innernecessity for renowned Palestinian fi��lmmaker Raed An

doni. He was incarcerated and interrogated by Israeli authorities as a teenager— and it’s the posttraumatic stress ofthis encounter that he tries to bring tofore in the fi��lm, in a straightforward,selfaware, yet disturbing way. GhostHunting may have started from a personal experience, but the psychodramaeventually refl��ects a shared reality. “It isnot just the story of a group of Palestinians but of almost the entire country. Itis part of our collective memory,” Andoni tells me over the phone from Tunis.

The 94minutelong, FrancePalestineItalySwitzerlandQatar coproduction won the Glashütte Original Documentary Award at Berlinale 2017. Thereviews ranged from describing it as‘boldly original’ to ‘ethically problematic’. Little wonder then that it is one ofthe most anticipated entries this year atthe 11th International Documentary and

Short Film Festival of Kerala that beginsin Thiruvananthapuram on July 20.

More signifi��cantly, after the festival,Andoni will also be visiting Mumbaiwith the fi��lm as part of an ongoing eff��ortby Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions(BDS), a Palestineled movement forfreedom, justice and equality, to reachout to Indian civil society (hopefully including Bollywood) to sensitise themabout Palestinians and the ‘injusticethey are living under’.

Creative catharsisFor Ghost Hunting, Adoni started off��with the bare bones of a script — whatwould happen if a group of former prisoners were asked to rebuild the detention centre they had been confi��ned in;in this case Israel’s main AlMoskobiyainterrogation centre. “[However], theimagined script could not remain the Bi-ble,” says Andoni; the lived experiencesof the real inmates (who working withhim on the fi��lm) took over.

Fragmented memories and detailedtales are shared as the cells begin to takephysical shape. Soon, repressed emo

tions, humiliations, defeats and guilt getdredged out. For some, it leads to catharsis. “It has been eating away at me tothis day,” says one former inmate, whorecollects how he refused to look afterhis own brother in the prison and laterheld himself guilty for his suicide. Having spoken about it for the fi��rst time inthree years, he admits feeling relieved.Another talks about using humour as aweapon, and a third thinks aloud thatthe whole point of a prison is to fostercreativity. Others talks of the prison asdeath. In the bleakness, however, thereis also the hope of love — the forthcoming marriage of one prisoner and his belief that he can make his own happiness.

Andoni’s works have always been arefl��ection of his politics. Through hisdocumentaries he explores not just thephysical colonisation but what he callsthe ‘inner occupation’ of Palestinians byIsrael. For him, being an artist and a political individual are not confl��ictual. Art,culture and politics reinforce each other: “Humaneness stands for being participative, caring, aware and for standingfor justice.”

So Ghost Hunting is a deeply personaland communityoriented fi��lm, and alsovery political. It is real, human, emotional and asks some very pertinentquestions. The Israeli fl��ag might be visible but there is no overt rabblerousingagainst it. For Andoni, Israel is all aboutthe illegal imposition of power. “Thereal enemy is [this] oppression, control,authoritarianism and the injustices. Itcould be happening anywhere in theworld — India, Africa, Sarajevo or America,” he says.

This essential humaneness compelshim to support BDS. “Fighting for justice is the fi��rst step to building peace,”

he says. He takes his resistance beyondhis work, turning down invitations fromIsrael, refusing to screen his fi��lms at Israelsponsored events.

In stark contrast, India’s Israel tilt hasgrown steadily since 2014. Call it political expediency, business sense or ignorance, but the Israel shift has been mostvisible in Bollywood. Ironic, becausePalestinians devour Hindi cinema, connect with it, and love it unabashedly.

Sops to BollywoodEarly this year Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu’s selfi��e with Hindifi��lm stars at the Shalom Bollywoodevent in Mumbai went viral. The Israelicharm off��ensive also meant sops to Bollywood for shoots in Israel. A dancenumber for Dharma Productions’ forthcoming Sushant Singh RajputstarrerDrive was shot in Tel Aviv last October.In early January, fi��lmmaker Ayan Mukerji and his lead pair — Ranbir Kapoorand Alia Bhatt — went to Israel to reccesites for another forthcoming Dharma

Productions movie Brahmastra. Netanyahu and Modi signed a fi��lm coproduction agreement in January.

All this is part of the ‘Brand Israel’strategy to improve the country’s imageabroad. Last December, director ImtiazAli went to Israel as part of a delegationof fi��lmmakers funded by Israel’s culture, tourism and foreign ministries. Inan interview to Haaretz magazine, hesaid: “Its true there is a confl��ict betweenMuslims and Jews, but to me this is stillthe Promised Land.”

Filmmaker Mira Nair, however, reacted diff��erently. When she was invited toIsrael as a guest of honour at the 2013Haifa International Film Festival, shesaid: “I will go to Israel when the wallscome down. I will go to Israel when occupation is gone. I will go to Israel whenthe state does not privilege one religionover another. I will go to Israel whenapartheid is over.” Several cultural iconshave taken this stand in recent times. In2016, Oscar nominees were off��ered a$55,000 Israeli governmentsponsoredluxury trip but all 26 turned it down.

Andoni, who views the changing IndiaPalestine dynamics with disappointment, speaks of the long history offriendship that Palestine has had withIndia. BDS seeks to reestablish thisthrough the medium of art and artistslike Andoni.

Andoni believes that Palestinian cinema has thus far been led by individualeff��orts; 2018 will be about a collectiveleap. It’s the fi��rst year Palestine set up apavilion at Marche du Cinema atCannes. And a Palestine Film Institute isin the pipeline. “It could start a new erain Palestinian cinema and inspire theArab world too,” says Andoni.

The cinemaconnection

When he brings Ghost Hunting to India next week, Palestinianfi��lmmaker Raed Andoni hopes to be both artist and ambassadorBY NAMRATA JOSHI

Refl��ections Stills from Ghost Hunting; Raed Andoni (left) alsostars in the documentary. Special Arrangement

<>Andoni explores not

just the physical

colonisation but what

he calls the ‘inner

occupation’ of

Palestinians by Israel

BIG SCREEN

When you’re on stage, are you looking atthe audience or being looked at?

The man with the whitepaintedface sits on stage, immobile,expressionless — like a puppetor a performing seal awaiting

its turn in the limelight. But a closeupshows us that his eyes are becoming alert and focused. He has noticed something happening in the audience ofcarnivalgoers watching him: a pickpocket is stealing someone’s watch.

When a woman is falsely accused ofthe theft, our performer calls out thathe has witnessed the incident. He thenproceeds to wordlessly enact whathappened. Justice is served; the crowdenjoys the performance; the womanthrows him a fl��ower; slapstick comedyand gallantry become unlikelybedfellows.

This sequence, early in the 1945French fi��lm Les Enfants du Paradis(Children of Paradise), is our introduction to one of the most captivating movie performances I have seen: JeanLouis Barrault as the mime artist Baptiste. His enactment of thepickpocketing is splendid, but I alsolove that closeup, our fi��rst clue thatthis seemingly peripheral fi��gure will beone of the fi��lm’s protagonists.

Most of all, I like how the scene reverses the gaze between performerand audience: someone whose job involves being looked at is looking rightback into the crowd, seeing a story unfold, and interpreting it. It feels so rightin a fi��lm that is about the theatre as life,and life as a giant theatre.

When you become an Old Movienerd in your early teens, discoveringhundreds of worldcinema classics,you can get jaded over the years: hardto surprise, a little smug about yourbank of knowledge. It’s rare, then, tosee a celebrated classic for the fi��rsttime in your 40s and to feel the thrillyou felt as an adolescent visiting fi��lmfestivals or embassy libraries. I knewthat Marcel Carné’s threehour epic —about a bunch of infatuated men orbiting around a courtesan named Garance in the 1830s’ Parisian theatreworld — was considered a milestone ofFrench cinema, but I was unpreparedfor the impact it would have on mewhen I watched it during the recentNavrasa Duende festival in Delhi.

This is the sort of fi��lm one expects tothink of in terms of its grand setpieces— but while Children of Paradise has

those, it is also a collection of memorable little gestures, skits and razorsharpbits of dialogue. Its theatre setting isthe perfect vehicle for commentarieson life vs. performance, for observations on how we behave in private andin public, and how both modes can involve putting on an act. One character,a theatre director, is in a constant stateof excitement backstage, behaving likehe is himself in a farce or melodrama.A ragman wandering the streets announces himself dramatically, creatingnew designations each time. Peopleselfconsciously analyse their thoughtsand actions. Curtains rise, come down,or are brutally drawn aside.

Brought to lifeAnd Barrault is among a superb cast ofperformers who bring these people —loosely based on reallife 19thcenturyfi��gures — to life. What I fi��nd intriguingabout Baptiste is that he is most aliveand expressive when donning a maskor costume. In one lovely pantomime,he plays a wouldbe suicide thwartedby people who come along wanting touse his rope for their own purposes (asa clothesline, or a skipping rope), andthis tragiccomic scenario refl��ects hisown real state of mind. During anotherperformance, he chances to look behind the curtain, sees the woman heloves embracing someone else, andfreezes — thus revealing his true feelings midact.

But when off��stage, he often comesacross as inert and passive, and thefi��lm’s plot hinges on this passivity. Despite being besotted with Garance, hefails to act on his impulse to spend thenight with her in the boarding housethey are both staying in. Infected byidealism or reticence, he backs away;another swain steps up; and the stageis set for a multipronged story aboutjealousy, pathos and retribution.

Watching Barrault as Baptiste, I wasreminded of the sinister ‘Master of Ceremonies’ in the 1972 American musical drama, Cabaret, magnifi��cently expressive when performing numberslike ‘Willkommen’ and ‘If You CouldSee Her’ but never seen as a characterwith a life off�� the stage. I also thoughtof the great scene in Govind Nihalani’s1984 fi��lm, Party (another story aboutpeople who wear many masks), wherean old man lurches about a stage, declaiming fi��ery lines from the play Nata-samrat — but later removes layers ofmakeup to reveal his real face, whichis much younger and blander. And weary too: he has expended so muchenergy on playing someone else, thereis little left to go out into the world and“play” himself.

Still From Les Enfants du Paradis.

Jai Arjun Singh

is a Delhibased writer and fi��lm

critic who fi��nds it easier to

concentrate on specifi��c scenes than

entire fi��lms as he grows older

<>Baptiste is most

alive and expressive

when donning a

mask or costume

With andwithout amask

ONE MOMENT PLEASE

CM

YKND-X




ART & CULTURE

Vikram Chandra’s SacredGames (2006), much like theBombay, Mumbai or Bambaiwhere it’s set, is allowed to

sprawl. Stretched over 947 pages,Chandra’s characters fi��nd room formelancholy, aches, even their ennui.The Netfl��ix frame, however, makesthe novel taut. Something is alwaysafoot. Chandra’s characters are nowconstantly looking over their shoulders. Almost every scene has a twist,every episode a climax. A rivetingscreenplay makes you greedy. Youdon’t miss that novelistic sprawl.

Respite always comes suddenly. Inthe aftermath of some irreversiblegore, you see the upright inspectorSartaj Singh (Saif Ali Khan) sit on abeach, talking to Constable Katekar( Jitendra Joshi). Singh is sometimesprone to metaphor. Much like theocean that washes up trash everyday, Singh says, Mumbai’s policeclean up the mess of crime.

Yet, each new day, there is moretrash, more crime. Katekar, though,is a mindful optimist. “At least it’sclean today,” he says, watching his family wet their toes. Like everythingprofound in the show, this exchangepasses quietly.

Cliched cityWhen churned, the ocean spews poison. In Sacred Games, we see thismythological reference play itself outagain and again. As Singh points out,Mumbai believes in repetition, andits fraught history has had a habit of

repeating itself. Obsessed about endlessly in fi��lms and literature, the cityand its epithets — ‘maximum city’ —are all clichés.

Ganesh Gaitonde (NawazuddinSiddiqui), a dauntless gangster, doessay “anything is possible here”, butwatching Singh pop one Alprazolamafter another, you realise these possibilities could well be those of an anxious mind, predicting grim catastrophes. Sacred Games makes theapocalypse imminent. Gaitonde tellsSingh he has 25 days to save his city.Mumbai gives nobody time to rest.

Anjali Mathur (Radhika Apte), aRAW analyst from Delhi, allows usthe advantage of an outsider’s gaze.Her view of Mumbai, we feel, mightbe objective, but neither her pragmatism nor her detachment ever reallyhelps her piece the city together. Unlike Delhi, where politicians separatethemselves in Lutyens bungalows,Mumbai makes nexuses more viable.

When everyone is a sardinepacked in a tin, it becomes hard totell which fi��sh reeks the most. Copsand ministers are as corrupt as mobsters. Film stars get caught in themiddle. The famed Mumbai underworld, it’s clear, works its way downthe echelons. Bollywood, of course,has already told us this a few times.

Codirected by Anurag Kashyap,some of Sacred Games seems familiar.Wearing a checked lungi, toting agun, Siddiqui reminds us why Gangsof Wasseypur (2012) was seminal. ButSacred Games — a tad closer to thebone and to Mumbai — is perhapsmore reminiscent of Kashyap’s BlackFriday (2007). The characters in bothare involved in schemes, the weightof which they can’t fully comprehend. In both, you see criminals catalyse the masses as much aspoliticians.

Lucrative secularismWhile Black Friday was about theleadup to the 1993 Mumbai blastsand its aftermath, Sacred Games putsthe HinduMuslim confl��ict in the context of modern history. Gaitonde, atone point, recounts how the thenPrime Minister Rajiv Gandhi orderedthe production of Ramanand Sagar’sRamayan to defl��ect attention fromhis mishandling of the Shah Banocase. It was Ramayan’s Sundaybroadcast, Gaitonde suggests, thatreignited the Ayodhya Ram Mandirmovement.

When a rightwing politiciancomes to Gaitonde for help, he pointsto members of his gang — a crew ofHindus, Muslims, Christians and Parsis. “We eat from the same plate,” hesays. Gaitonde, though, hasn’t heardthe price the politician is willing topay. A 1980s secularism, he realises,can be rather lucrative when sold.

In Sacred Games, religion is not abstract. It has direct and sometimesbodily consequences. Men are beaten, killed, their legs amputated fortheir faith. The Internet doesn’t justmake possible realistic portrayals ofsex and violence, it also enables thewriters and directors of SacredGames to tell a story of Mumbai thatmany of us will now identify with.

Singh asks, “Who is Mumbai?” Thequestion is rhetorical. “It’s us,f**ker!” Despite referring to the cityas a living entity, Sacred Games is toogritty to succumb to romanticisation.It might look like yet another copsandgangsters show, but it’s really astory about surviving a city thatspews hope and poison every day.

The author of How to Travel Light relies

on books and pop culture for

nourishment.

IN THE NEWS

Surviving maximum cityIn Sacred Games, the apocalypse is near; there is no time to restBY SHREEVATSA NEVATIA

True to character Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a still from the Netfl��ix show.

<>Religion is not

abstract in the show.

It has direct and

sometimes bodily

consequences


CM

YKND-X




ENVIRONMENT

India’s largest wintering groundfor waterbirds was a hunter’s paradise until two decades ago. Butit has turned into a remarkable

conservation success story becauseone man and his team coaxed and cajoled people to change.

Thousands of ducks, godwits, andother waders from the Caspian Sea inthe west to Lake Baikal in the east takewing every autumn. They head southfor about 4,000 km until they reachAsia’s second largest coastal lagoon,the 1,100sq km Chilika lake in Odisha.Until 20 years ago, many never returned to their northern waters at theend of their winter sojourn. Just asthey stuff��ed themselves on the plentiful fi��sh, people made use of the season’s bounty by shooting them andsetting traps and nets. The birds ended up in kitchen pans around the wetland. Some that chose to nest herecouldn’t have picked a worse location.Their eggs also slid their way downpeople’s gullets.

Waterbirds were part of the localdiet for generations. But the situationworsened when restaurants startedpaying between ₹��20 and ₹��60 a bird.Fishermen discovered a way of killingmore waterfowl using a pesticidecalled Furadan. According to manufacturers of the chemical, treatedcrops are safe to eat. Apparently,those eating the poisoned birds didn’tsuff��er any noticeable eff��ects. Huntersmade ₹��10,000 to ₹��40,000 a year.

Soon, the number of avian visitorsfell. The census fi��gure for 199899 inMangalajodi, the largest village on thebanks of the Chilika, was less than6,000. Even though hunting is illegal,the State Forest Department had nocontrol over the situation. The neighbourhood was rough, and Mangalajodi cultivated a reputation as the ‘village of thieves’. It was just a matter of

time before the vast lake emptied ofbirds.

Taming ‘Veerappan’Alarmed by the numbers, Nand Kishore Bhujbal decided to do somethingin 1997. Through his NGO, Wild Orissa, his team insinuated themselveswithin the communities and wontheir confi��dence. It helped that Bhujbal’s family belonged to a nearby village. The NGO identifi��ed the mainhunters, their hunting methods, theclientèle, and the economics. Andthen began the long process of proselytisation. Many renounced huntingby taking an oath on their deity MaaKalijai. They gave up a source of goodmoney for the respectability of a lifelived within the bounds of the law.

What’s a leader without followers?The most notorious hunters, one of

whom earned the epithet ‘Veerappanof Chilika’, felt threatened. One is saidto have intimidated Bhujbal with aknife. Eventually, even these mencame around to the side of conservation and the capitulation wascomplete.

In 2000, Wild Orissa set up an organisation, Sri Mahavir Pakshi Suraksha Samiti, with the new convertsfrom Mangalajodi village as members.The Chilika Development Authority,Royal Bank of Scotland Foundation India, Indian Grameen Services, and theState Forest Department supportedthe endeavour by providing land andfunds.

How were the former hunters tomake a living? The birdy spectacle attracted birdwatchers, so tourism wasan obvious choice. The men alreadyknew a lot about the waterfowls’ habits and where each species liked tohang out. They made excellent naturalists, but many tourists don’t speakOdia. Wild Orissa facilitated trainingprogrammes and raised funds forboats and binoculars. Some of the recruits learned the English names ofbirds, while others received trainingto take care of guests. When the groupwent into business, they off��ered tourists basic but comfortable accommo

dation and local cuisine. In return,the arrival of guests made the enterprise viable. A guide now earns about₹��30,000 in the fi��vemonth birdingseason.

Game-changerThe Samiti members use the boats notonly to ply tourists but also patrol thelake for hunters and eggthieves. Thewaterfowl responded to all thesechanges, descending from the October skies in fl��ocks. Last winter, censustakers counted nearly 900,000 birdson the lake, of which an estimated300,000 frequent Mangalajodi. Themore they arrived, the more theypooped. The more they pooped, themore enriched the waters became. Asa result, fi��sh thrived and so did thefi��shermen.

The enterprise is a gamechanger.Many fl��ashy resorts branded ‘ecotourism’, often do nothing more thanchange a few light bulbs. But here’s areal role model for one.

In March, when migrant birdsleave, the season closes. The boatsthat ferry guests become fi��shing vessels. As summer advances, the lakedries up but still remains fertileground for oriental pratincole nests.

Wild Orissa helped to set up sevenmore similar committees in other villages. The number of visitors has alsorisen. But the future sustainability ofthe programme needs to be takencare of. More tourists aren’t necessarily a good thing. Some of them are unruly and disturb the birds. But boosting visitor numbers is critical toproviding livelihoods to everyone. Or,some other avenues for making a living have to open up.

For their eff��orts, the Samiti received the 2001 Pakhshi BandhuAward and the 2007 Biju PatnaikAward for Wildlife Conservation fromthe State, and Mangalajodi Ecotourism Trust, another community venture, won the United Nations WorldTourism Organisation Award earlierthis year. Mangalajodi ought to become famous as the ‘village of conservationists’.

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

The bird lovers of MangalajodiChilika lake lost its birds to hunting in the late 90s. So what brought them back?

In fl��ocks Last winter, nearly 900,000 birds visited the Chilika. K.R. DEEPAK

<>In March, when

migrant birds leave,

the season closes. The

boats that ferry

tourists become

fi��shing vessels

Janaki Lenin

is not a conservationista but many

creatures share her home for reasons

she is yet to discover. @JanakiLenin

Monsoon clouds hang thick,and there is the promise of adownpour. Nearby, the Huvinane (Margondanahalli)

lake froths silently as hordes of watertankers noisily jostle for space with other vehicles on the narrow roads.

Last year, Bengaluru saw fl��oods, inundation and record rain. But for residents of Fern Meadows, a cluster of 70houses in Byrathi, on the northern edgeof the city abutting on periurban villages, massive IT parks and residentialcomplexes, their retirement haventurned barren. For over 20 years, thecomplex, once surrounded by farmland and plantations, had relied on anetwork of fi��ve borewells for their water. Last year, all but one dried up. Water tankers, sucking water from otherborewells kilometres away, becametheir lifeline.

“There are so many borewells in thearea now that our groundwater hascompletely drained off��. We had no other water source and we needed to fi��nd away to revive our borewells,” says Prithvi Devaiah, a member of the colony’s residents’ welfare board. And that’s howDevaiah and the other residentschanced upon their unlikely saviours:Manuvaddars, the community of welldiggers.

Walking along the colony, Peddanna,37, gauges the inclines. He has been awelldigger for 21 years and has dugnearly 5,000 recharge wells and 800open wells, Peddanna tells me. He haslearnt to “read” the land and its relationship with water.

In the shadowsPeddanna’s team of fi��ve work by hand,removing 70 kg of soil at a time, and after reaching a depth that will allow rainwater to fi��lter through or seepage to collect, they lower concrete rings andcrushed stone to seal the enclosure. Over 60 such recharge wells are proposedto be dug in the neighbourhood now. Intwo years, the residents hope the rainwill bring the borewells back to life. ButPeddanna wants the residents to makethe wells their sole source of water.“These wells can easily give 32,000litres of water daily, even during thesummer,” he says.

A city with a population of more than

10 million and which has no watersource to call its own, Bengaluru oftenfeatures at the top of doomsday listspredicting water crises. After all, thequantum of water drawn from the underdispute Cauvery is reaching a saturation point, while groundwater levelsare plummeting, particularly in thelarge urban swathes where piped wateris yet to reach.

Working in the shadows of the city’sIT hubs, the Manuvaddars and their traditional wisdom may hold the key toBengaluru’s water woes. As more than 4lakh borewells suck the city dry, a newcampaign called ‘A Million RechargeWells’ hopes to bring the “well” back inthe city’s water lexicon.

“Even if you consider small wells (3feetwide and 20footdeep), they canyield around 500 MLD (million litresper day) for the city, or 25% of the de

mand,” says Avinash Krishnamurthy, Director and Project Manager for BiomeEnvironmental Trust that is helming thecampaign.

There is also a clear ecological benefi��t: shallow aquifer wells rechargegroundwater, while borewells onlybring the water up. While highfunctioning borewells can retrieve water only at 600 feet or deeper, open wells cangive up to 50,000 litres of potable water

at just 60 feet. Open wells also share asymbiotic relationship with nearbylakes: one recharging the other when levels dip.

Lost connectionThe economics of it is more enticing:open wells give water at less than ₹��2 perlitre, borewells at ₹��9 per litre, and pipedwater from Cauvery at over ₹��25 per litre.

And then, there is water heritage.The city’s demographic has changed,and with it, the emotional connect withtanks and wells, which sustained the city until 50 years ago. “We have to begincreating this connection with the landscape and water heritage and bring it tothe contemporary city,” says Krishnamurthy. In pockets of ‘old Bengaluru’,one can still fi��nd the attachment. “It islike the Ganga. Without it, we can’twork or survive,” says 65yearold Muni

switched to welldigging fulltime.“Each well can employ up to four people and sustain them for a week,” saysRamakrishna.

There is much to do though, particularly on the government’s part. Thehope, says Krishnamurthy, is to create adecentralised system of water supplyand incentivise recharging, as opposedto the current system that consumeshighly subsidised, highlylimited riverwater.

The Belagavi example Perhaps, Bengaluru can learn from theimpressive turnaround by Belagavi cityin Northern Karnataka. The 800yearold city had its moment of reckoning in1995, when a drought brought it to thebrink. The city, which receives morethan 1,500 mm of rain annually and sitson porous soil, had run out of water.Civic offi��cials and citizens turned to aningenious and quick solution.

They revived the open wells in the city: Congress Well, dug in 1924 to supplywater to delegates of the Belgaum Congress Session, and the Britishera wellsin Veerabhadra Nagar (1908), ShettyGalli (1885) and Math Galli (1883),among others. Today, 23 years later, the29 revived wells work in tandem withthe city’s water supply to quench thethirst of nearly half the city’s populace.

“It has reiterated our faith in the sustainability of water from open wells,”says R.S. Nayak, chief engineer of Belagavi city corporation and the architectof the open well system.

Recently, though, Belagavi seems tobe going the Bengaluru way by dreaming up ambitious engineering solutions.Just like the IT city set its sights on theCauvery in the 60s, Belagavi seeks tobring the Ghataprabha river (some 35km away) under the ‘smart city project’,forgetting its wells and the solution under its nose.

(Additional reporting by RishikeshBahadur Desai in Belagavi.)

yappa, a dhobi in Frazer Town, aboutthe open well there that supplies over40,000 litres of water a day. Many oldertemples continue to rely on the wells intheir backyard.

The campaign is slowly reviving thelivelihoods of welldiggers. Three decades ago, nearly all the households inBhovipalya in rural Bengaluru were engaged in welldigging. As Bengalurugrew, the demand, and space, for wellsdiminished. “Nobody wanted to buildopen wells any more. We would walkaround town for days and approachhouses with disused wells. But convincing the residents of their importancewas tough,” says Ramakrishna, who hasbeen in the profession for the past 20years.

Now, with renewed demand, sometimes as high as three wells a week,about 50 people from Bhovipalya have

RED EARTH

All’s well that ends wellAs Bengaluru stares a water crisis in the face, residents turn to open wells, which can supply water at less than ₹��2 per litreBY MOHIT M. RAO

Lifeline Peddanna and his men dig recharge wells in Byrathi on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Sudhakara Jain

<>Open wells share a

symbiotic

relationship with

nearby lakes: one

recharging the other

when levels dip

<>The open well in

Frazer Town

supplies over

40,000 litres of

water a day

FLASHPOINT

Orcas of the United States PacificNorthwest are in danger of vanishing, aftertheir numbers in the region hit a 30-yearlow. Listed as endangered since 2005, thekiller whale species numbered just 75 thisyear. A report by the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration said this isprimarily because the orcas are beingstarved of their primary prey — chinook, orking salmon, which are said to be dying offthemselves because of overfishing andpollution. The report also said that no orcacalves have been born into the group anytime in the past three years.

Pacifi��c Northwest orcas hit 30year low

Nine mammals and an amphibian speciescould be added to the list of Australia’sextinct fauna, depending on the finalconsiderations made by the government’sscientific advisory group. The list, underthe Environmental Protection andBiodiversity Conservation Act, would growby 20% if these species are indeedconfirmed as extinct. They include themountain mistfrog, the Percy Island flyingfox, and the Christmas Island pipistrelle.Australia has the worst record of any

country in terms of mammalian extinction over the past 200 years. The mountainmistfrog has been missing since 1990, and not been found despite extensivesearches.

Australia’s extinct fauna list grows

Research has found that peopletravelling by vehicles in Delhi areexposed to five times more blackcarbon levels than motorists inEurope or the U.S. The report,published in Atmospheric

Environment journal, also foundthat pedestrians on busy roadsidesin countries in Asia are exposed to1.6 times higher fine particlematter. The number of vehicles in

Delhi is expected to increase from 4.7 million in 2010 to 25.6 million by 2030.According to a World Health Organisation report, 88% of deaths in low and middleincome countries in Asia can be attributed to air pollution.

High black carbon levels in Delhi


Jetlagged and in shock, I waited ona bright red couch in a small roomlabelled ‘Counselling’ right off�� theSurgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU)

at the Christian Medical College & Hospital (CMC) in Vellore. A doctor from ateam of critical care specialists delivered the prognosis with an empathythat showed recognition of their patientas a person, and of me as a daughterdesperate to hold on to her parent: Mymother was irreversibly paralysed fromthe neck down and was fi��ghting multiple lifethreatening injuries.

Twentyfour hours earlier, before Iwalked into a nightmare as surreal as aDali painting, my Sunday morning hadbeen upended by a call from my distraught sisterinlaw: She, my brotherand my mother had met with a road accident on the BangaloreMadras high

way. Mom was brought into CMC without a recordable pulse. My brother andmy sisterinlaw were, thankfully, not indanger.

Bidding farewellOn the fl��ight from Boston to Chennai, Iprayed and pleaded with the universe,anchoring my mother with a love thatfelt oceanic in its immensity. I wouldcradle her with fi��erce tenderness for thenext 21 days, at fi��rst devising an alphabet system of communication alongwith nods for yes and no when mymother was conscious — the varioustubes down her throat, mouth and nosemade verbal communication impossible — loving her, singing to her, makinglame jokes, telling her stories, andsoothing her. And when she faded into acoma, I talked to her Self, the one withthe capitalised S, recalling stories fromchildhood, pouring into her my grati

tude. I whispered prayers and words oflove as her systolic blood pressurespiked past 250 and when her heartbeat dropped to 35. My hope of bringingher home where we’d sit together in thegarden and hear the birds sing as I readpoetry to her changed to planning herlast rites the way she would have wanted. And at the moment of her passing,my one hand on her heart and the otheron her head, I bid her farewell with Ramanuja Acharya’s Tirumantram.

By then, CMC had become a secondhome. I almost lived there, ate there —the staff�� at the cafeteria gave me extrachips, the doctors let me sit for hours bymy mother’s bedside, a reverendprayed with me, nurses held me in theirarms as I left the ICU in tears. Securityoffi��cers, who see more than 8,000 outpatients a day, gave directions withcourtesy, pharmacists were kind, anddoctors served. Authority sat lightly ontheir shoulders.

One doctor, whom I began to think ofas a friend, brought me a pair of unmatched ICU slippers, cracking a jokeabout two left feet. He watched themonitors carefully as I answered mymother’s unspoken questions aboutwhere she was and why, and one nighthe even helped push her stretcherwhen the hospital was short of staff��.Another doctor sent out an attendant tobuy me juice after I almost fainted one

afternoon from exhaustion and lowblood sugar.

The head of neurology spoke to mefor nearly an hour about what was goingon in my mother’s comatose brain. Thespine surgeon sounded heartbrokenwhen he told me my mother was no longer moving her fi��ngers. I’d politely ambush people walking down the corridorwith stethoscopes around their necks toexplain a medical point to me, whichthey always did with great patience.And I saw these brilliant, topnotch doctors at one of India’s leading hospitalsextend empathy to everyone alike without discrimination — I had never beforeencountered empathy as an institutional culture.

The humanisation of medicine is notjust a mirror of our social character, ofhow we, as a society, accord value toour fellow human beings; researchshows that empathy from caregiversleads to better health outcomes whilereducing healthcare costs.

Findings from a 2012 study in Parma,Italy, showed that patients of physicianswho scored high on empathy had a signifi��cantly lower rate of acute metaboliccomplications from diabetes comparedto patients of doctors with moderateand low empathy scores. Research alsoshows that compassion reduces burnout among physicians and medical students. Almost all of us know someonesubjected to unnecessary tests by doctors trying to recover costs on expensiveequipment. In the case of my cousin, anangiogram was performed on her fatherafter he had died in the ambulance onthe way to the hospital. One can onlyimagine the plight of the poor and themarginalised.

At CMC, paying patients subsidisehealthcare for those who cannot aff��ordit. And those of us who do pay are billedat least a third less than what leadingprivate hospitals would typicallycharge. Dr. Kishore Pichamuthu, whoheads CMC’s Medical ICU, said that doctors are given the authority to write off��expenses incurred by the poorest patients. He pointed out that people are

drawn to CMC to serve, motivated bythe academic and intellectual rigour,and the opportunity to develop the nextgeneration of doctors — all of which areinstitutionbuilding factors.

I asked several doctors how everyoneshowed such a high level of compassionat CMC. Their answer? CMC’s selectionprocess for undergraduate and graduate students, and behavioural transference within the system.

The right fi��tThe 100yearold nonprofi��t institutionhas successfully developed a method ofadmitting students who will fi��t in andadd to the culture of medicine as a service. “We look for character, aptitudeand attitude,” said Dr. V.I. Mathan, professor, and a retired CMC director. “Ourselection process is central to our culture, and to the profession to which wecommit our lives.”

Prior to the now mandatory centralised common counselling for selectionto medical colleges — which evaluatesapplicants on marks, not aptitude, ascritics say — up to 45 CMC faculty members extensively evaluated potentialcandidates over three days. All selectedstudents are required to serve for twoyears in an area of need — mission hospital, the Army, a rural slum, HIV and leprosy centres. College fees are set at₹��3,000 p.a. so that doctors are not driven by return on fee investment. Fees atprivate colleges are as high as ₹��3 crore.

NEET, the common entrance test, is awelcome move that will hopefully reduce corruption in private colleges. Ameritbased exam, it should also helpstandardise the quality of applicants nationally. But in the case of nonprofi��t institutions like CMC that have a proventrack record, some amount of autonomy in the selection process is not onlynecessary, it is vital to sustaining its culture of medical excellence, whichserves as an example to hospitalseverywhere.

The journalist is with the U.S. nonprofi��t

Connecticut Health Investigative Team.

The humanisationof medicineMy mother’s tryst withparalysis showed me howempathy works as muchmagic as medicine

BY SUJATA SRINIVASAN

Getty Images/ iStock

<>Research shows that

empathy from

caregivers leads to

better health

outcomes and reduces

healthcare costs

CM

YKND-X




STORYBOARD

It’s free,’ I was told again and again.‘Facebook is free.’ Then came Twitter. ‘It’s free,’ I was told, again andagain. ‘Twitter is free.’

Then came WhatsApp.‘It’s free,’ I was told. Each time I said,

‘When it’s free, you’re the product,’ butno one listened. People like their information to be available to everyone. People like their data to be known to bigcompanies. People do not want privacy.Or so it seems. But the price tag hasturned out to be bigger than giving awayour data. Trolling began to rage acrossthe globe, making discourse coarse,turning debate into venom, turning themost ordinary conversation into exercises in vitriol.

Forwards and backwards‘Sticks and stones may break my bonesbut words can never hurt me,’ some people retorted, hiding behind an old sawthat has been disproved billions of timesover. Words hurt, words cut andwound. They also build and heal andnurture but you cannot have one without the other. You cannot allow thatwords matter and have libel and slanderlaws and then say: words are onlywords. Hate speech is hate speech. Ournational anthem and the prayers we sayare also words. If one has power, theother has power too.

But what of the power of the mob?For the hate has spilled out on to the

street. Now, WhatsApp groups are organising themselves into lynch mobs. Themob is thirsty, it is baying for blood. It’sout there, looking for victims and itneeds no evidence to convict and passsentence and execute. However, itwants evidence of what it did, it wantsto record the beating, the protestationsof innocence, the tears of the human being caught in this horror. These videoscelebrate savagery and death. Snuff��fi��lms are now being passed around. Youdon’t have to dig down into the darkweb for them now. Middleclass people,powered by their moral outrage, willsend them to you, right after the ‘GoodMorning’ rose and gurgly message.

So what is going on?

I believe all this is about power. When I began teaching at the post

graduate media course at SCM Sophia,Mumbai, 25 years ago, I would ask mystudents what they did for leisure. Theywould say that their downtime was cinema. Even then they did not remember what it was like to want to see aspecifi��c fi��lm, like in the 1970s, when Iwas a child. You were in the power ofthe man who owned the cinema andwhat he thought you should watch. Ifyou missed a fi��lm on its fi��rst run because it fl��opped unexpectedly, you hadto wait until it showed up at a matineeshow in some fl��eabag cinema and thencross the city to see it. The video cassette changed all that. You could own

the fi��lm. You could decide when to seeit. You could skip some scenes andwatch others again and again. You werethe boss.

But it was still someone else’s story.You might identify with the charac

ters, the situations might have resonances for you, but it was still someoneelse’s story. When you rose at the end,

tearstained or sides aching or both, youhad been manipulated — you only knewthis vaguely — by someone else.

Then along came Facebook and youcould be the author of your own story,you could have your own audience, youcould move them to laughter by recounting a faux pas, you could movethem to tears by your account of yourcat’s last days, you could get the airlineto respond to your claim by shamingthem on social media. You are now thehero of your own story and your audience response is measured in likesand shares and retweets or reposts.

Power to the masses! The democratisation of storytelling! Yay.

❋❋❋

The media did pretty much the samething. That’s us guys. We had power over you. We decided what you read andsaw.

Oh we let you have your space. Weprinted the letters to the editor and weshowed you what we thought of you byburying your words in the middle of the16 sheets. We rarely responded exceptwhen there was a legal letterhead onwhich your missive arrived.

Facebook and Twitter and WhatsAppmade you the editor of your own newspaper. But they liberated you from theresponsibilities that 400 years of newspapers had created, the legal systemsaround them.

Now if you say, ‘There’s a suspicious

family squatting on my street andthey’re about to steal some children because that’s the kind of people they are,’you are not going to be held accountable for the violence that follows. Perhaps someone will call you out, perhapsthere will be a storm around yourwords, perhaps you may even have toapologise and withdraw them and youwill end up feeling: ‘My gosh, isn’t thereany freedom of speech left in the land?’But it is also likely that someone will forward your words, and the words will goviral and a mob will form and the familywill be beaten to death.

The question is: are you responsible?I am not asking about the legality of

the issue. I hope at some point this willget the judicial and judicious attention itdeserves. I am asking: are those whoposted those incendiary messages morally responsible for the deaths theycause?

With great powerNow let’s expand the question: is themedium responsible?

Newspapers are. Legally responsible.Television also was supposed to be

though it seems to rage uncheckedagainst civility and civilisation thesedays.

Is WhatsApp? Is Facebook? IsTwitter?

When their power is huge, why aretheir responsibilities so small? Twitter isricher than Liberia but if Liberians wereto commit an outrage, the United Nations would have a thing or two to say.Facebook is richer than Cambodia andditto, ditto, ditto.

What’s WhatsApp got to do with thelynchings? Nothing, because it’s onlytechnology and technology is always innocent. The proponents of this kind ofthinking say: ‘A knife can be used to killand the same knife can be used to healin a surgeon’s hands.’ This is the kind ofdisingenuous argument that the progun people use when there’s anotherschool shooting in America and anotherdozen children die, roadkill in the protection of the rights of man. The FrenchRevolution would not have accountedfor so many deaths if the executionershad not had access to the nifty deviceinspired by the ideas of a certain JosephIgnace Guillotin.

The social media experts always say:Social media are magnifi��ers. They’rejust making things bigger than they are.

Do we like what we see in the magnifying mirror?

The author tries to think and write and

translate in the cacophony of Mumbai.

When the messenger shootsThe liberation of‘the medium’ hasrepercussions forcivility andcivilisation

BY JERRY PINTO

Instant messaging Mohinidevi Nath displays a photo of her cousin Shantadevi Nath who was killed by a mob following a WhatsApp rumour on childlifting. AFP

<>Words hurt, words cut

and wound. They also

build, heal and nurture

but you cannot have

one without the other


Later this evening, France will takeon Croatia for the ultimate prize inall of sport: the football world cup.The 88yearold quadrennial tour

nament is the last word in prestige, respect, pride, yada yada yada. But, aboveand beyond all the associated spoils of theWorld Cup is one iconic object: the WorldCup trophy itself.

Its history is quite the exciting tale ofpower, politics, heist, disguises, absurdrecoveries — involving a dog named Pickles, I kid you not — and the lot. To be clear,there hasn’t been one trophy.

The fi��rst trophy given out was the JulesRimet trophy, from 1930 to 1970, and thecurrent, more familiar one, from 1974onwards.

Named after the then Fifa Presidentand progenitor of the football World Cup,Jules Rimet, the original trophy wentthrough the Great Depression, two WorldWars, a few cold ones, the Independenceand Partition of India, and maybe eventhe invention of sliced bread, who knows.The 14inchhigh statuette showed theGreek Goddess of victory, Nike, holdingup a bowl, and was called ‘Victory’. Be

fore WWII broke out, the then VicePresident of Fifa, Ottorino Barassi, secretlyshipped the trophy from a bank, to prevent Nazis getting to it, and hid it in a shoebox under his bed.

Years later, months before the 1966 edition, the trophy was stolen from an exhibition. It was found later that month, underneath a garden hedge, wrapped innewspaper, by the aforementioned collie,Pickles.

After Brazil won the trophy for the thirdtime, in 1970, the Jules Rimet was handedover to them permanently, after which thecurrent trophy was commissioned. Showing two athletes holding up a globe, a replica was made for public showcases toavoid a repeat of the 1966 fi��asco. But thefi��asco repeated itself in 1983, when it wasstolen from Rio de Janeiro. And sadly, withPickles’ demise in 1967, it has stayed lost.

Contrary to a lot of popular wisdom,the current trophy is said to be hollow,and weighs around 6 kg. Every edition, abrass replica is made in Paderno Dugnano, near Milan, by GDE Bertoni. Completewith a varnish, a galvanisation, and agreen malachite marble base, this is asgood as trophies get. If only Messi ever lifted the damn thing.

Fifa World Cup trophy

BY SAURYA SENGUPTA

L The original, made of 18 karatgold, is stored in the FIFA WorldFootball Museum in Zurich

L A gold base at the bottombears the names of the winners

L Designed by Italian artistSilvio Gazzaniga in 1971

A-N-A-T-O-M-I-Z-E

CM

YKND-X




BACK PAGE

ECOTISM BY ASHVINI MENON

Across

1 Cold island, country without an insect (6)

4 Write song that’s repetitive, showingweakness (8)

9 Postal system in trouble after beginning to reach breaking point(7)

11 Deceiver hearty about retiring (7) 12 Resilient soul had got perturbed and

moved to sob (5,2,3,5) 13 First letter from Lauren? Not right —

second letter from Lauren (5) 15 Popular appeal that is receiving cheers

around launch (8) 18 Ancient monument from century be

fore end of paganism in part connected with church (8)

19 Tree of greater age (5) 21 Property with fleas on ground in abso

lute mess ultimately (8,7) 24 Revolutionary artist, bitter, turned

and left (7)25 Put forward gold in dramatic scene (7) 26 Thinker, hot, tires badly (8) 27 Push lever operated by foot in pro

nounced way (6)

Down

1 Nonsense about large fitting followedby rebuke (8)

2 Island held by fanatic or fugitive (5) 3 Not clear about a graph distorted in

partition (9) 5 Varied in themes, securing honour

with lines providing decorative detail (13)

6 Funny in taxi? Not a bit(5) 7 Outraged article supplied, filled with

pretence (9) 8 Tango with husband illjudged

in party (6)10 Novel end for festival with electronic

beams wrapping displays up (3,10)14 Game bird with split rib (9)16 Translation of fine story beyond de

scription (9)17 Quiet resolution with certain force (8) 20 One in climbing stumbles, showing

courage (6) 22 Award mark below zero (5)23 Belief in team lacking weight with

editor (5)

THE SUNDAY CROSSWORD NO. 3004

SOLUTION NO. 3003

The ace of clubs leadheld the fi��rst trickand West made theobvious shift to the

jack of diamonds — low, low,ace. South ruff��ed a club,cashed the ace and king ofhearts to discard a diamond,and ruff��ed a heart in hishand. Declarer led his lastclub and ruff��ed it in dummyas West discarded his remaining heart. Dummy’s lastheart was ruff��ed by Southwith the king of spades asWest declined to overruff��,

shedding a diamond instead.South had started this line ofplay, eliminating both heartsand clubs from his hand andthe dummy, in the hope thatEast held the singleton ace ofspades and could be endplayed with that card.

Declarer led a low trumpfrom his hand and saw Westrise with the ace and leadanother spade as East discarded clubs on both tricks.South had been paying closeattention and he realizedthat his contract was now asure thing. East had shownup with seven clubs, fourhearts, and no spades. Thatleft him with two diamonds,only one of which was remaining.

Declarer left the lasttrump outstanding and confi��dently led a low diamondtoward dummy’s queen.Should West have the king ofdiamonds, dummy’s queenwould be the tenth trick.Should East have that card, itwould now be singleton, andhe would have to give a ruff��sluff��, taking care of the remaining diamond loser. Welldone!

Neither vulnerable, South deals BY BOB JONES

Sure thing

GOREN BRIDGE

1 On July 15, 1799 French soldiers inNapoleon’s army were strengthen

ing the defences in Rashid, an Egyptian port city, when Lieutenant Bouchard spotted a black slab withinscriptions on it. Its signifi��cance wasimmediately known and Napoleonhimself made sure the slab was keptsafe. It contains a decree from 196 BCin three diff��erent scripts, the thirdbeing Ancient Greek and the secondEgyptian Demotic. This slab was vitalfor scholars to understand the fi��rstscript, which gets its name from theGreek words for ‘sacred writing’.What is this script, and what is theEnglish name of the city of Rashid?

2 Although these are found all overthe world and date back to thou

sands of years, the Egyptian ones arethe most famous due to their sheerquantity. The Egyptians carried outthe ritual to create them as they believed it was an important step to living well in the afterlife. Papyri from2000 BCE describe the process ofmaking one. What are these intriguing objects, which one is sure to haveseen either in cartoons, videogamesor movies?

3 There is evidence that the Egyptians invented this cosmetic in

4000 BCE (that’s 6000 years ago).They combined soot with a mineralcalled Galena and obtained a blackointment. If they added malachite toit they could get a green version aswell. They believed that by applying athick coating of this they could keepaway diseases and also ward off�� theevil eye, which is the same reason Indian mothers use this cosmetic. Whatdid Egyptians call this and what is itknown as in India?

4 The Nile was the biggest source ofemployment for Egyptians. It had

a very regular fl��ooding cycle that wasextremely important to know to en

sure crops did not get wasted. By2510 BCE Egyptians had invented something to correspond to the annualfl��ooding of the Nile and also helpthem identify three seasons (inundation, growth and harvest) which aredependent on this. This invention,and the version we use now, only diff��er slightly in a few instances becauseof Roman interference, which happened centuries later. What was thisinvention?

5 Evidence suggests that the ploughwas probably fi��rst used by the

Egyptians around 4000 BCE but wasnot very eff��ective so they improved itlater by adding an external source ofpower. This made it quicker and easier to loosen the soil. What had theEgyptians added to the plough thatrevolutionised farming forever?

6 Egyptians invented the shadowclock, which was simply a pillar

that cast a shadow on the ground andthey could tell the time of the day byseeing the length and direction of theshadow. This was a precursor to thesundial. They also had an ingeniousway to tell the time at night. It was

basically a stone vessel shaped like aninverted cone that had a tiny hole atthe bottom. Along the inside of thevessel there were columns of equallyspaced markings. What example of aclock is this?

7 Egypt shares space with the Sahara Desert and the Libyan Desert

and is known for its sweltering summers. The region was also known forinsects and other pests. To counterboth these issues Egyptians did something in the summer. But the result of this process was not regardedas aesthetically pleasing, hence theyinvented a covering entity made withplant fi��bre, sheep wool and the original material that was removed in thefi��rst place. Some of these coveringshad resin and beeswax added, whichmelted in the sun and added fragrance. What did the Egyptians doand what was the invention to hidethis?

8 This substance was created byburning tar with vegetable oil and

then suspending it in some kind ofadhesive like gum or other gluelikesubstances that enhanced the ability

to stick to a particular surface. Thelongevity of carbon allowed these tosurvive over millennia and examplescan be seen even today. Till then other civilisations had used red ochrethat did not last long. What was thisinvention and what was the surfaceon which they used it?

9 The Egyptians consumed a lot ofhoney and sugar, and to combat

the bad eff��ects they invented something for which a recipe exists from 4thcentury BCE. It uses rock salt, mint,dried iris fl��ower and 20 grains of pepper. What is this supposed to be thevery fi��rst example of?

10 In the mid20th century, Egyptdecided to build the Aswan

Dam, whose reservoir would eventually inundate a large stretch of theNile valley containing cultural treasures of ancient Egypt. An appealwas made to an international organisation, which then launched a campaign that resulted in the Abu Simbeland Philae temples being takenapart, moved to a higher location,and put back together piece by piece.The campaign, which ended in 1979,was considered a complete and spectacular success. Which now globalcampaign started this way?

A molecular biologist from Madurai, ourquizmaster enjoys trivia and music, andis working on a rock ballad called ‘Coff��eeis a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’.@bertyashley

Easy like Sunday morningWhat have the Egyptians ever done for us?

Answers

1. Hieroglyphics, Rosetta2. Mummies3. Kohl, kajal4. A civil calendar consisting of 365 days,12 months with 30 days each and an extra5 days for the fl��ooding.5. Oxenpowered ploughing plowing6. Waterclock7. Shaved their heads, wigs8. Black ink of Papyrus9. Toothpaste10. Unesco World Heritage Sites

BY BERTY ASHLEY

Getty Images/ iStock

Respected Sir/Madam,

You work in newspaper andall ok. And maybe it is notyour problem. But excuseme why does every bloody

nonsense fellow on news channelspeak like my excolleague one Mr.Dayanantham from Erode.

Have I told you stories about Dayanantham? Let me refresh thememory.

You cannot even say one thing toDayanantham. Not even one thing.You ask him for one small thing andhe will give English medium collegedrama troupe type dialogue.

Excuse me Mr.Mathrubootham,he will say, walking out of thestrong roomclapping hishands slowly,this is how you willperpetrate your tyrannical dictatorship on thefree speech andfree thoughts ofthe underclass.Why? Power.The madness ofpower. The zeal ofpower. The intoxication of power! Power corruptsthe mind, Mathrubootham.And when the mind is lost allhumanity is lost.

And I will say, Dayanantham, what nonsense youare talking. I just asked youto arrange passbook in alphabetical order of surname. If you can’t do,just tell me, pleasedon’t turn my brain intomuttaikose poriyal.

Or sometimes when we openbranch again after New Year everyone will ask manager please givemotivational speech during morningmeeting. And manager will say no,no, what speech, what can I say, youonly say something. Then suddenlywithout warning Dayanantham willstand up and he will start. Brothersand sisters, lend me your years. Letme ask you a question friends. Whatis time? What is this invisible demonthat rules mortal aff��airs?

At this moment, I will secretly indicate to peon to bring stick used forrolling shutter. So that I can secretlyinsert into electricity socket andhope for at least two hoursunconscious.

TV news fellows are exactly thesame. Nonstop overacting and overdialogue. Some poor fellow willcome on TV and say please do so

mething about potholes, I fell intothree potholes today while trying topurchase morning milk. Then presenter will start. WHAT IS THIS DEMOCRACY IF THERE IS POTHOLE?IS POTHOLE THE REASON GANDHIDIED FOR OUR COUNTRY? WHYDID GANDHI DIE FOR OUR COUNTRY? WHY NOBODY ELSE DIED?WHY ARE YOU NOT DEAD? GANDHIGAVE HIS LIFE AND YOU CANNOTSACRIFICE FALLING INTO POTHOLE? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMEDOF YOURSELF. IN YOUR POSITION IWOULD HAVE JUMPED INTO POTHOLE OVER AND OVER TILL INDIABECAME NUMBER ONE COUNTRY!

Sir/ madam, then you should seethe face of poor pothole man. InTamil there is a saying. Why didyou take cobra from the fence

and put it inside your lungi?Same cobralungi look on his face.Because of the tension I switched

off�� the TV and went outside on thebalcony to sit and relax. I took one

cup tea. I look at next doorbalcony and what do I see

sir/ madam? My friendand neighbour Mr. Bal

araman is standingupside down on hishead. Hello Balaraman, what you are

doing balcony yoga,I said.

Sir/ madam do youknow what he wasdoing? He told me.Mathrubootham, Iam trying tobreak a worldrecord.

I said, if youhavenon

sensethoughts like this standing properlythen you should never think of goingupside down.

He said no, no, did you see newsof man with longest fi��ngernails in theworld?

I said yes, I vomited for threehours after that.

Mathrubootham, they took him toU.S. for special function and his nailswill be kept in museum. So I thought,maybe I can also break some easyworld record and become famous.What do you think Mathrubootham?Give some ideas.

Sir/ madam, I have an idea. I willbreak the world record for maximum time spent inside fl��at withoutwatching news or talking to other human beings.

Idiots everywhere.

Yours in total exasperation,J. Mathrubootham

LETTER FROM A CONCERNED READER

Lend me your ears

getty Images/ istock


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