D4 c`aVd Z_ 43: :3 a`]ZTV - Daily Pioneer

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T he Supreme Court on Wednesday roped in CBI, Intelligence Bureau and Delhi Police to go into the larger con- spiracy behind the attempt to “frame” Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in a sexual harassment case. The court emphasised that it will go to the root of the alleged conspiracy and the sensational claims made by a lawyer that he was offered bribe to “fix” the CJI. A three-judge Special Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra said if fixers continue to work and manipulate the judi- ciary as claimed, neither this institution nor any of “us” will survive. The Bench, also compris- ing justices RF Nariman and Deepak Gupta, asked lawyer Utsav Singh Bains, who has made claims of a larger con- spiracy, to file another affidavit by Thursday morning after he claimed that he has some more “incriminating evidence”. The Bench said it will take up the matter for hearing on Thursday. “We will inquire and go to the root of alleged claims of fix- ers at work and manipulating the judiciary. If they continue to work then none of us will survive... Fixing has no role to play in the system. We will inquire and take it to the logi- cal end,” it said. Earlier in the day, the apex court directed chiefs of the CBI, IB and Delhi Police to appear and meet in chambers the three judges who are hear- ing his claim that there was a larger conspiracy to frame the CJI. After meeting the directors of the CBI and the IB, and the Delhi Police Commissioner, the Bench reassembled at 3 pm to hear the matter at length. The court turned down a request by Attorney General KK Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to order a court-monitored SIT probe into the matter, saying the court was not venturing into any enquiry at this moment. The Bench also clarified that there is no connection between the hearing of Bains’ claims of larger con- spiracy and the in-house inquiry ordered into the sexu- al harassment allegations against the CJI. “It is not an enquiry. We are meeting these officers in secret. We don’t want any evidence to be disclosed,” the Bench said. It had asked the three officers to meet the judges in chamber at 12.30 pm. At the outset Bains, who has filed an affidavit in the top court claiming a larger con- spiracy of alleged fixers to frame the CJI on allegations of sexual harassment, placed before the Bench material to substantiate his claims. The Bench after perusing the material, placed by him in a sealed cover, said “very dis- turbing” facts have emerged in the matter. “Can you call some respon- sible officers from the CBI, preferably the director? Can you call him to meet us in our chambers?” Justice Mishra asked Venugopal. He replied in the affirma- tive and referred to the April 20 Facebook post of Bains in which he had claimed that there was a larger conspiracy by some people to fix verdicts of the Supreme Court and malign the office of the CJI. Mehta told the Bench that he was very disturbed with the allegations against the CJI as well as claims made by the lawyer and said they concern the judiciary in the country. I n a non-political interview on Wednesday Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed that notwithstanding political rivalries West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee used to send him Bengali sweets and his favourite ‘Kurta-Pyjama’ from Kolkata. In an interaction with film star Akshay Kumar, the Prime Minister detailed some inter- esting anecdotes of his life say- ing he has never been nervous while speaking at internation- al fora. Modi said so when Kumar asked him whether he was nervous when he first spoke in the United Nations after taking over as Prime Minister. Pointing out that contrary to public perception there is good bonhomie among polit- ical leaders and they keep good relations with each other, Modi said Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazid used to send her Bengali sweets and when Mamataji (West Bengal Chief Minister) came to know about it she would also send him Bengali sweets. The Prime Minister said TMC chief would also send him a set of ‘kurta-Pyjama’ each year from Kolkata. Detailing some of his habits, he said he is habitual of taking tea without sugar at 5 am and then in the evening at 6 pm under open sky. “But that is not possible in his South Block office”, he said. Asked what would he want if he gets the magical lamp ‘Aaladeen-ka-chirag’, the Prime Minster said there was noth- ing like this exists as the con- cept has come from outside. Neverthless, he said he would wish that all the people in the country be instilled with a notion that hard-work makes everything possible. This is what our ancient wisdom has bequeathed to us, he said. Relating an interesting inci- dent where he hit out at the `double-faced` practices of ‘Samajwadis’, the Prime Minister said once when he came out of the Pune Railway station and was walking down the road, a three-wheeler was slowly mov- ing by his side. After a distance he stopped and asked the ‘Rikshaw wala’ why he was fol- lowing him. To his surprise, the three-wheeler driver quizzed him “Are you a Samajwadi ?” To that Modi asked “ what makes you say so ?” “Sir, all Samajwadis walk a distance for a while before stepping into a rickshaw as they do not want public to see that they are taking to rickshaw comfort”, Modi said and laughed suggesting that there was a gap between the preach- ing and practice of ‘Samajwadis’ in the county. While answering the actor’s answer, Modi also quipped about his wife and columnist Twinkle Khanna’s views saying she takes her anger against (me) that would have balanced Kumar’s family life. “ That way I am doing a favour to you”, said an smiling Modi. “I keep tabs on social media to know what is happening in the world. I al- so keep an eye on your and Tw- inkle Khanna’s Twitter ac- counts. The way she vents her anger against me, your family life must be quite peaceful. She would take out all the anger against me. You must be at peace. In a way, I feel I have helped you, especially in Twinkleji’s case,” Modi told Kumar in Hindi. A day after being denied party ticket and outwitted by the poll managers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the sitting Member of parlia- ment (MP) from the North west Delhi seat, Udit Raj deserted the saffron party and joined Congress. He termed the BJP and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “anti-Dalit”. Launching a blistering attack on the BJP leadership, the dis- gruntled Udit slammed his for- mer party saying it wants ‘Dalit votes’ but not a leader from the community who speaks his mind. The BJP has replaced Udit from the North West Lok Sabha constituency with Punjabi Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans. High drama had unfolded on Tuesday the last day of filing of nomination for Delhi’s seven LS seats that go to the polls on May 12. Udit waited for some communication from the BJP and in the process kept chang- ing goal posts. He had threatened to file his nomination as an Independent candidate on Tuesday if the BJP denied him the party ticket, but did not do so. He removed the prefix ‘Chowkidar from his twitter handle in the afternoon, only to add it again by Tuesday evening. T he Delhi Police on Monday arrested wife of Rohit Shekhar Tiwari for allegedly killing him last week. Citing a turbulent and unhappy mar- riage as the motive behind the murder, police said Apoorva strangled her husband Rohit, the son of the late veteran politician ND Tiwari and choked him with a pillow fol- lowing a heated argument. Apoorva was produced in Delhi’s Saket Court on Monday where she was send to two days police custody. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Deepak Sherawat allowed inter- rogation of Apoorva after the police sought her 3-day custody. Rohit, 40, was smothered to death on the intervening night of April 15 and 16, an autopsy report said. Apoorva, a lawyer by profession, was questioned by police for last three days. Rohit was earlier believed to have died of a car- diac arrest but the autopsy report by the forensic experts of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), turned the case on its head. The autopsy said the cause of death in this case is asphyxia as a result of strangulation and smothering and also stated that the death occurred within two hours of his last meal around 11 pm. “Rohit had gone to Kathgodam in Uttarakhand to vote on April 10 and returned on the night of April 16. He was in an inebriated state when he returned home. During investigation it was also revealed that on way back to Delhi he had been drinking all the way along with a woman relative,” said Rajeev Ranjan, Additional Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch. “The couple had a fight over a rela- tive. Rohit was in inebriate state and was not in a condition to resist,” said Additional CP. “She has confessed. As of now, from the fact and circumstances, it seems the killing was not planned. The background was there that they had a turbulent marriage and Rohit and his family were thinking of separation. After interrogation, it was found that Apoorva and Rohit had a rocky marriage and were not on good term owing to their inherent contradictions,” said the Additional CP adding that discrepancies were found in her statements which led police to suspect her involve- ment. I n a major relief to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court here on Wednesday rejected a plea seeking to restrain her from contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Bhopal, even as it upbraided the investigating agency for mentioning in its response to the plea that it had given a “clean chit” to Sadhvi Pragya in the case. Hearing an application filed by Nisar Ahmed Sayyad Bilal, father of one of the vic- tims in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, seeking to restrain Sadhvi Pragya from contesting the Lok Sabha polls, Special Judge VS Padalkar noted: “In ongoing elections this court does not have any legal pow- ers to prohibit anyone from contesting elections; it is job of electoral officers to decide. This court can’t stop the accused number one (Pragya Singh Thakur) from contesting elections. This application is negated”. While dismissing Bilal’s application, the special court did not mince words when it expressed its displeasure over the NIA’s mention of “clean chit” being given to Sadhvi Pragya in its reply to the plea seeking a bar on her contest- ing the Lok Sabha polls. “There was no need to mention in your reply that you have given clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur. Applicant did not ask about it. Keep in mind that the court has framed charges against her because it found some substance in allega- tions made against her,” Judge Padalkar observed. Sadhvi Pragya is one of the seven accused who are being tried by Special Court under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and various other sections of the IPC for their alleged involve- ment in the 2008 Malegaon blasts. On October 30, 2018, the special court in Mumbai had framed charges against Sadhvi Pragya, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit and five other accused in the 2008 Malegaon case. T here seemed no political "hangover" of gifts being exchanged between Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee as the duo pounced on each other from public rallies hours after a televised interview of the Prime Minister highlighted Mamata's 'sweet diplomacy' with Modi. In the interview, the PM said he often received gifts like sweet and apparel from his stated arch rival, the Bengal Chief Minister. "Yes I send him sweets but I will not let him take votes," Mamata told a huge rally at Serampore in Hooghly even as the Opposition CPI(M) and the Congress promptly went to town "exposing the nexus between the BJP and the TMC so as to divide the votes in order to establish a pro-rich and anti-working class Government in Delhi”. The PM in an interview to film star Akshay Kumar con- ceded having received sweet and apparel from Mamata at the cost of affecting electoral prospects. “It may affect me during elections but I can admit that Mamata still gifts me kur- tas," said the PM, adding that when the Chief Minister heard that "Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina gifted me Bengali sweets, she also started sending me the same." But before the Opposition could exploit the statement, particularly among the Mamata's minority voters, the Chief Minister hit out at the Prime Minister saying how during his regime the two major scams had taken place in the name of Jandhan and demonetisation. She said, “Notebandi and Jandhan were two scams that happened during Modi's rule" paving way for huge amount of black money that went to the saffron coffer. "With that black money they have been fighting elections, buying votes," she said warning, "When we will come to power will definitely get them probed." She said, "If someone mis- takes political courtesy for something else then one is liv- ing in a fool's paradise because we in Bengal will give them sweets but not votes." Reacting to Banerjee's remarks a senior Marxist leader promptly said, "Didi will probe Modi the way he has probed the chit fund for the past five years." E ven after the Election Commission of India crack- ing down heavily on the politi- cians over loose comments, especially women leaders, politicians in Madhya Pradesh seem unfazed. Two senior leaders from BJP and Congress were engaged in below the belt remarks on women. Former BJP State head and the Khandwa candidate Nandkumar Singh Chauhan who made headlines calling scribes Pakistainis for asking uncomfortable questions and also said that Rahul Gandhi could say he was bringing a machine where he would put a man form one side and a woman would come out of the other. Chauahn when accosted by the media over his remarks crossed the line even further. “There are women who give birth to kids every week and produce 52 babies every year,” said the senior BJP leader who has stirred controversy with his bizarre remarks in the past as well. Another senior leader, for- mer Leader of Opposition of Congress Ajay Singh while comparing his family’s works with that of his opponent-- BJP’s Reeti Pathak also crossed the line. “Unko aap log ajma chuke, thik maal nahin tha (You peo- ple have tried her and she wasn’t a good choice), Singh had said in Baghelkhandi. Continued on Page 4 RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008 C M Y K C M Y K

Transcript of D4 c`aVd Z_ 43: :3 a`]ZTV - Daily Pioneer

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The Supreme Court onWednesday roped in CBI,

Intelligence Bureau and DelhiPolice to go into the larger con-spiracy behind the attempt to“frame” Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi in a sexualharassment case. The courtemphasised that it will go to theroot of the alleged conspiracyand the sensational claimsmade by a lawyer that he wasoffered bribe to “fix” the CJI.

A three-judge SpecialBench headed by Justice ArunMishra said if fixers continue towork and manipulate the judi-ciary as claimed, neither thisinstitution nor any of “us” willsurvive.

The Bench, also compris-ing justices RF Nariman andDeepak Gupta, asked lawyerUtsav Singh Bains, who hasmade claims of a larger con-spiracy, to file another affidavitby Thursday morning after heclaimed that he has some more“incriminating evidence”.

The Bench said it will take up the matter for hearing

on Thursday.“We will inquire and go to

the root of alleged claims of fix-ers at work and manipulatingthe judiciary. If they continueto work then none of us willsurvive... Fixing has no role toplay in the system. We willinquire and take it to the logi-cal end,” it said.

Earlier in the day, the apexcourt directed chiefs of the CBI,IB and Delhi Police to appearand meet in chambers the three judges who are hear-ing his claim that there was alarger conspiracy to frame theCJI.

After meeting the directorsof the CBI and the IB, and theDelhi Police Commissioner,the Bench reassembled at 3 pmto hear the matter at length.

The court turned down arequest by Attorney GeneralKK Venugopal and SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta to ordera court-monitored SIT probeinto the matter, saying thecourt was not venturing intoany enquiry at this moment.

The Bench also clarifiedthat there is no connection

between the hearing of Bains’ claims of larger con-spiracy and the in-houseinquiry ordered into the sexu-al harassment allegationsagainst the CJI.

“It is not an enquiry. We are

meeting these officers in secret.We don’t want any evidence tobe disclosed,” the Bench said. Ithad asked the three officers tomeet the judges in chamber at12.30 pm.

At the outset Bains, who

has filed an affidavit in the topcourt claiming a larger con-spiracy of alleged fixers toframe the CJI on allegations ofsexual harassment, placedbefore the Bench material tosubstantiate his claims.

The Bench after perusingthe material, placed by him ina sealed cover, said “very dis-turbing” facts have emerged inthe matter.

“Can you call some respon-sible officers from the CBI,preferably the director? Canyou call him to meet us in ourchambers?” Justice Mishraasked Venugopal.

He replied in the affirma-tive and referred to the April20 Facebook post of Bains inwhich he had claimed thatthere was a larger conspiracyby some people to fix verdictsof the Supreme Court andmalign the office of the CJI.

Mehta told the Bench thathe was very disturbed with theallegations against the CJI aswell as claims made by thelawyer and said they concernthe judiciary in the country.

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In a non-political interviewon Wednesday Prime

Minister Narendra Modirevealed that notwithstandingpolitical rivalries West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee used to send him

Bengali sweets and his favourite‘Kurta-Pyjama’ from Kolkata.

In an interaction with filmstar Akshay Kumar, the PrimeMinister detailed some inter-esting anecdotes of his life say-ing he has never been nervouswhile speaking at internation-al fora. Modi said so whenKumar asked him whether hewas nervous when he firstspoke in the United Nationsafter taking over as PrimeMinister.

Pointing out that contraryto public perception there isgood bonhomie among polit-ical leaders and they keepgood relations with each other,Modi said Bangladesh PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina Wazidused to send her Bengali sweetsand when Mamataji (WestBengal Chief Minister) came toknow about it she would alsosend him Bengali sweets. ThePrime Minister said TMC chiefwould also send him a set of‘kurta-Pyjama’ each year fromKolkata. Detailing some of hishabits, he said he is habitual oftaking tea without sugar at 5am and then in the evening at6 pm under open sky. “But thatis not possible in his SouthBlock office”, he said.

Asked what would he wantif he gets the magical lamp‘Aaladeen-ka-chirag’, the PrimeMinster said there was noth-ing like this exists as the con-cept has come from outside.Neverthless, he said he wouldwish that all the people in thecountry be instilled with anotion that hard-work makeseverything possible. This iswhat our ancient wisdom hasbequeathed to us, he said.

Relating an interesting inci-dent where he hit out at the`double-faced` practices of‘Samajwadis’, the Prime Ministersaid once when he came out ofthe Pune Railway station andwas walking down the road, athree-wheeler was slowly mov-ing by his side. After a distancehe stopped and asked the‘Rikshaw wala’ why he was fol-lowing him. To his surprise, thethree-wheeler driver quizzedhim “Are you a Samajwadi ?”To that Modi asked “ whatmakes you say so ?”

“Sir, all Samajwadis walk adistance for a while beforestepping into a rickshaw as theydo not want public to see thatthey are taking to rickshawcomfort”, Modi said andlaughed suggesting that therewas a gap between the preach-ing and practice of ‘Samajwadis’in the county.

While answering the actor’sanswer, Modi also quippedabout his wife and columnistTwinkle Khanna’s views sayingshe takes her anger against(me) that would have balancedKumar’s family life. “ That wayI am doing a favour to you”, saidan smiling Modi. “I keep tabson social media to know whatis happening in the world. I al-so keep an eye on your and Tw-inkle Khanna’s Twitter ac-counts.

The way she vents heranger against me, your familylife must be quite peaceful.

She would take out all theanger against me. You must beat peace. In a way, I feel I havehelped you, especially inTwinkleji’s case,” Modi toldKumar in Hindi.

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Aday after being deniedparty ticket and outwitted

by the poll managers ofBharatiya Janata Party (BJP),the sitting Member of parlia-ment (MP) from the Northwest Delhi seat, Udit Rajdeserted the saffron party andjoined Congress. He termed theBJP and the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi as “anti-Dalit”.

Launching a blistering attackon the BJP leadership, the dis-gruntled Udit slammed his for-mer party saying it wants ‘Dalitvotes’ but not a leader from thecommunity who speaks hismind. The BJP has replacedUdit from the North West LokSabha constituency with PunjabiSufi singer Hans Raj Hans.

High drama had unfoldedon Tuesday the last day of filingof nomination for Delhi’s sevenLS seats that go to the polls onMay 12. Udit waited for somecommunication from the BJPand in the process kept chang-ing goal posts.

He had threatened to file hisnomination as an Independentcandidate on Tuesday if the BJPdenied him the party ticket, butdid not do so. He removed theprefix ‘Chowkidar from histwitter handle in the afternoon,only to add it again by Tuesdayevening.

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The Delhi Police on Mondayarrested wife of Rohit

Shekhar Tiwari for allegedlykilling him last week. Citing aturbulent and unhappy mar-riage as the motive behind themurder, police said Apoorvastrangled her husband Rohit,the son of the late veteranpolitician ND Tiwari andchoked him with a pillow fol-lowing a heated argument.

Apoorva was produced inDelhi’s Saket Court on Mondaywhere she was send to two dayspolice custody. ChiefMetropolitan MagistrateDeepak Sherawat allowed inter-

rogation of Apoorva after thepolice sought her 3-day custody.

Rohit, 40, was smotheredto death on the interveningnight of April 15 and 16, anautopsy report said. Apoorva,a lawyer by profession, wasquestioned by police for lastthree days. Rohit was earlierbelieved to have died of a car-diac arrest but the autopsyreport by the forensic expertsof All India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS), turned the

case on its head. The autopsysaid the cause of death in thiscase is asphyxia as a result ofstrangulation and smotheringand also stated that the deathoccurred within two hours ofhis last meal around 11 pm.

“Rohit had gone toKathgodam in Uttarakhand tovote on April 10 and returnedon the night of April 16. Hewas in an inebriated statewhen he returned home.During investigation it was

also revealed that on way backto Delhi he had been drinkingall the way along with a womanrelative,” said Rajeev Ranjan,Additional Commissioner ofPolice, Crime Branch. “Thecouple had a fight over a rela-tive. Rohit was in inebriate stateand was not in a condition toresist,” said Additional CP.

“She has confessed. As ofnow, from the fact and circumstances, it seems thekilling was not planned. Thebackground was there thatthey had a turbulent marriageand Rohit and his family werethinking of separation.

After interrogation, it wasfound that Apoorva and Rohithad a rocky marriage and werenot on good term owing totheir inherent contradictions,”said the Additional CP addingthat discrepancies were foundin her statements which ledpolice to suspect her involve-ment.

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In a major relief to SadhviPragya Singh Thakur, a

Special National InvestigationAgency (NIA) court here onWednesday rejected a pleaseeking to restrain her fromcontesting the Lok Sabha pollsfrom Bhopal, even as itupbraided the investigatingagency for mentioning in itsresponse to the plea that it hadgiven a “clean chit” to SadhviPragya in the case.

Hearing an applicationfiled by Nisar Ahmed SayyadBilal, father of one of the vic-tims in the 2008 Malegaonblasts, seeking to restrainSadhvi Pragya from contestingthe Lok Sabha polls, SpecialJudge VS Padalkar noted: “Inongoing elections this courtdoes not have any legal pow-ers to prohibit anyone fromcontesting elections; it is job ofelectoral officers to decide.This court can’t stop theaccused number one (PragyaSingh Thakur) from contestingelections. This application isnegated”.

While dismissing Bilal’sapplication, the special courtdid not mince words when itexpressed its displeasure overthe NIA’s mention of “cleanchit” being given to SadhviPragya in its reply to the pleaseeking a bar on her contest-ing the Lok Sabha polls.

“There was no need tomention in your reply that

you have given clean chit toSadhvi Prag ya Thakur.Applicant did not ask aboutit.

Keep in mind that thecourt has framed chargesagainst her because it foundsome substance in allega-tions made against her,” JudgePadalkar observed.

Sadhvi Pragya is one ofthe seven accused who arebeing tried by Special Courtunder the Unlawful ActivitiesPrevention Act (UAPA) andvarious other sections of theIPC for their alleged involve-ment in the 2008 Malegaonblasts.

On October 30, 2018, the special court in Mumbaihad framed charges againstSadhvi Pragya, Lt Col PrasadShrikant Purohit and five other accused in the 2008Malegaon case.

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There seemed no political"hangover" of gifts being

exchanged between NarendraModi and Mamata Banerjee asthe duo pounced on each otherfrom public rallies hours after atelevised interview of the PrimeMinister highlighted Mamata's'sweet diplomacy' with Modi. Inthe interview, the PM said heoften received gifts like sweetand apparel from his statedarch rival, the Bengal ChiefMinister.

"Yes I send him sweets butI will not let him take votes,"Mamata told a huge rally atSerampore in Hooghly evenas the Opposition CPI(M)and the Congress promptlywent to town "exposing thenexus between the BJP andthe TMC so as to divide thevotes in order to establish apro-rich and anti-workingclass Government in Delhi”.

The PM in an interview tofilm star Akshay Kumar con-ceded having received sweetand apparel from Mamata atthe cost of affecting electoralprospects. “It may affect meduring elections but I can admitthat Mamata still gifts me kur-tas," said the PM, adding thatwhen the Chief Minister heardthat "Bangladesh PM SheikhHasina gifted me Bengalisweets, she also started sendingme the same."

But before the Oppositioncould exploit the statement,particularly among theMamata's minority voters, theChief Minister hit out at the

Prime Minister saying howduring his regime the twomajor scams had taken place inthe name of Jandhan anddemonetisation.

She said, “Notebandi andJandhan were two scams thathappened during Modi's rule"paving way for huge amountof black money that went tothe saffron coffer. "With thatblack money they have beenfighting elections, buyingvotes," she said warning,"When we will come to powerwill def initely get themprobed."

She said, "If someone mis-takes political courtesy forsomething else then one is liv-ing in a fool's paradise becausewe in Bengal will give themsweets but not votes."

Reacting to Banerjee'sremarks a senior Marxistleader promptly said, "Didiwill probe Modi the way hehas probed the chit fund forthe past five years."

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Even after the ElectionCommission of India crack-

ing down heavily on the politi-cians over loose comments,especially women leaders,politicians in Madhya Pradeshseem unfazed.

Two senior leaders fromBJP and Congress wereengaged in below the beltremarks on women.

Former BJP State head andthe Khandwa candidateNandkumar Singh Chauhanwho made headlines callingscribes Pakistainis for askinguncomfortable questions andalso said that Rahul Gandhicould say he was bringing amachine where he would put aman form one side and awoman would come out of theother.

Chauahn when accosted bythe media over his remarkscrossed the line even further.

“There are women whogive birth to kids every weekand produce 52 babies everyyear,” said the senior BJP leaderwho has stirred controversywith his bizarre remarks in thepast as well.

Another senior leader, for-mer Leader of Opposition ofCongress Ajay Singh whilecomparing his family’s workswith that of his opponent--BJP’s Reeti Pathak also crossedthe line.

“Unko aap log ajma chuke,thik maal nahin tha (You peo-ple have tried her and shewasn’t a good choice), Singhhad said in Baghelkhandi.

Continued on Page 4

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Indira Gandhi RashtriyaManav Sangrahalaya under

its popular summer series of‘Do & Learn’ educational pro-grammes, commenced thetraining workshop of Gondpainting of Madhya Pradesh tillMay 1, 2019.

In this workshop, tradi-tional Gond artists, Ram SinghUrveti and his assistant, areimparting training of this fig-urative and narrative visualart. On this occasion, ProfSarit Kumar Chaudhuri,Director, IGRMS, Dilip Singh(Joint Director, IGRMS) andParticipant formally inaugu-rated Museum’s training work-shop for Gond Painting ofMadhya Pradesh.

On this occasion,Traditional artist, Ram SinghUrveti said that the clay hous-es of Gond community are

centre of Gond paintings. TheGond houses are the bestexamples of rural primitivearchitecture and Gond paint-ings represents the tradition-al festivals of the community.

Making mural paintingson whitewash clay walls is oneof the favourite activities ofwomen of Gond Community.With the formation of thewall, the Gond women makedifferent design from theemerging lines, which is called

'Nohadora', the beginning ofeach painting.

Besides, the IndiraGandhi Rashtriya ManavSangrahalaya is organisingthe next chapter of its popu-lar series, Curatorial TalkShow on Thursday at 4.30 pm.In this Curatorial Talk,Assistant Curator of ManavSangrahalaya, Shri Arun Kirowill speak on ‘Bhagiran: Avanishing folk theatre of theRabhas of Assam’.

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Bilkharia police has seized acar transporting liquor ille-

gally and nabbed two persons.The police recovered 61 litresof liquor worth �23,640 nearBilkharia check post in thenight of Tuesday.

Acting on a tip off, policerushed to the spot and afterstopping the car, bearing reg-istration numberMP04CV8878, found liquorinside the car. When the twoinside the car were asked aboutthe illegal liquor, they failed toprovide any details and then,they were detained.

The two were identified asDeepak Thakur and SanjayPunjabi of Chawni Pathar. Thecrime record of the two wouldbe investigated. The loading ofthe vehicle and scheduleddelivery of the liquor could notbe ascertained.

The circumstantial evi-dences suggest that a nexus isworking behind the illegaltransport as the quantity ofliquor transported was sched-

uled to be delivered but itcould not materialise as thesmugglers were nabbed beforedelivery.

The police have registereda case under section 34 (2) ofthe Excise Act and have start-ed further investigation.

Police have recovered twoplastic sacks in which 250 bot-tles of country made liquorwere recovered. The car wascoming from Raisen but it wasnot immeditely confirmed.

The Police are also tryingto verify the details of theseized car.

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CRISP Bhopal has launchedIndustrial training

Calendar for engineering andpolytechnic students exclu-sively for summer vacation2019. These programmes are oftwo weeks, three weeks andfour weeks’ duration.

These are designed in suchmanner that students will getchance to get exposure ontechnology related toUniversity curriculum.Programs are useful for allbranches of engineering i.e.Electrical, Electronics,Mechanical, Automobile, Civiletc.

Most of these programswill get start from Mayonwards. Various batcheswould start from May 8, 16,June 2 and 4.

Online registrations havealready started in it and stu-dents can enroll it onwww.crispindia.com. In addi-tion to students of Bhopal

region, students from insti-tutes of other states i.e. IITBHU, NIT, Government col-leges of Chhattisgarh, VITVellore, VIT Bhopal, SRMChennai, Jaypee Noida,SGISTS Indore, KITBhuvneshwar etc has startedenrolling in these Industrialtraining programs.

The CRISP in a statementinformed that these pro-grammes have been designedkeeping in mind needs ofCorporate world and moreand more focus is given onpractical. Almost 80 per centtime is spent on performingpractical, which lead toimprovement in placement.With the support of corporateworld, four new labs have beenstated functioning.

Three labs in Automobilefields have been established inassociation with M/s Eichertractors Mandideep, M/sVolkswagen Pune and M/sTVS Chennai. These are usefulfor students of Mechanical,

Production and Automobileengineering. Another LNElectrical and Electronics Labhave been established in asso-ciation of M/s Lucas Nuelle. Itis useful for students ofElectrical, Electronics andCommunication engineering.Students will get chance towork on State of the Art equip-ments and instruments.

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For shooting players, DCourse has been organised

by the International ShootingFederation from April 25 to 28at the shooting academy locat-ed in the Capital city.

In this four-day event, 60training coaches from all overthe country will be trained andparticipated.

Director, Sports and YouthWelfare, Dr. S L Thoussen,said that the training pro-gramme is being done by theInternational ShootingFederation for the purpose ofapplying technical training pro-gram to the Academy.

Under this, Kevin Kulti ofGermany; Annie Grith of Oslo,the President of Oslo, will pro-vide technical training to thetrainers in Shantgan, Pistoland Rifle, all the three games ofDante Devipat ShikshanShooting game.

This is the first time whenthe D-course is being organisedsimultaneously in all the threeshooting genres. Shri RajivBhatia, Secretary, IndianShooting Federation will be inthe D-Course programme onApril 26 and 27.

It is to be noted that it is aninternational level shootingacademy. Interestingly, at theacademy the equipments areprovided from theInternational Shooting SportsFederation and players are pro-vided with international facil-ities.

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An exhibition of designerdresses, kurtis, saris and

other accessories on displaywooed the shopaholics of thecity. Tara, a lifestyle exhibition,began here at Hotel Sayaji fromTuesday that concluded onWednesday.

The two-day exhibition cumsale was all about the designerdresses, kurtis, saris, clutches andaccessories. The exhibition cumsale was organised by the womenentrepreneurs of the city.

Named Tara this exhibitionwas an offering to fashion loverswho are passionate to wearsomething beautiful, exclusiveand unique. This was also anattempt to get the vibrant coloursand Indian couture on the samestage.

The exhibition cum saleshowcased a magnificent mix ofcontemporary fashion and morefrom across the State. The exhi-bition cum sale was a fusion ofvarious styles of MadhyaPradesh. Some stalls displayedbagh print while some show-cased chanderi and mahesh-wari with a western twist. The

exhibition cum sale gave shop-pers ample choice of accessories,clutches and Indian wear such assaris, dresses and kurtis.

Besides, the exhibition cumsale Tara aims to capture not onlythe young crowd but also midaged and aged ladies to be in theleague of latest trends prevailing.

This exhibition covered allthe accessories, fashion trendsand other lifestyle essentials thatare must in this festive season.

The exquisite variety of fab-rics and colours, unique patterncreations and trend setting pieceswith attention down to theminutest detail, was the highlightof the exhibition. It displayed acolourful range of designerKurtis, Salwar Kameez, Suits,Handbags and other elegantaccessories, that are sure towhet the appetite for designerwear.

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Crime Branch nabbed fourgamblers from two different

places in the State Capital foraccepting bets on the ongoingIPL T20 cricket matches late inthe night on Tuesday. The policerecovered 3 mobile phones, oneLED TV, betting slips and�18,300 cash from their posses-sion. The police team conduct-ed raids at MP Nagar andLalghati area and nabbed twopersons each from the areas.

From Roof Tree fourth floorbuilding in MP Nagar zone 2,police nabbed a person identi-fied as Bharat Mangwani andrecovered betting slips, mobilephones and �10,500 and whenhe was quizzed, he revealedthat he worked for Arman of TTNagar and would get 10 percenton the betting booked.

The police have registered acase under section 4 of thePublic Gambling Act and sec-tion 66 of IT Act.

The Second place whichwas raided was Hotel Moksh atLalghati and nabbed DeepakShivnani, Sagar Israni andPraveen Manglani. Three mobilephones, one LED TV, one set topbox and �7,800 cash and bettingreceipts were recovered.

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townhall 03BHOPAL | THURSDAY | APRIL 25, 2019

IN BBRIEFFIRING AT PRISONERS’ VAN: POLICE STARTS PROBEBhopal: Police have started investigation in a case of firing byunidentified miscreants who opened fire at a police van at VIP roadcarrying 42 prisoners back to Central Jail after appearing in a hearingcase at district court in the evening on Tuesday.ASP Zone 3 Manu Vyas said that an ASI with the prisoner inside thevan spotted miscreants firing in air but cartridges have not been foundat the spot. A case has been registered and further investigation hasbeen started.The incident occurred at around 4 pm on Tuesday whenthe prisoners of central jail were on their way back in police custody.ASI Shobharan Singh spotted three bike-borne miscreants who fired inair. The nearby CCTV cameras and other details would be investigated.

MASSIVE FIRE ENGULFS FACTORYBhopal: A car, two bikes, massive amount of raw material of incensesticks and goods at servant quarters of incense sticks factory worthover `10 lakh at Lambakheda were gutted in fire in the evening onTuesday.Fire tender vehicles from Chola Mandir, Gandhi Nagar andFatehgarh fire stations were pressed into service after fire broke ataround 4 pm. The fire rapidly spread in the incense sticks makingfactory Pooja Path incense sticks owned by Congress leader GovindGoyal.Panic prevailed in the area. There were few workers and security guardat the time of incident. After the fire tenders reached the spot, theystarted extinghishing fire but it took more than an hour for around adozen fire tenders.In the fire, apart from vehicles, huge amount of rawmaterial was also gutted. The fire broke out due to short circuit whichwas found in the initial investigation.

17 BHEL EMPLOYEES GIVEN FAREWELLBhopal: In a simple programme held at Third Floor AdministrativeBuilding BHEL, Bhopal Shri D K Thakur, Executive Director badefarewell 17 employees comprising of, 02 supervisors and 15 workmenon their superannuation from the organisation. Shri Thakur, in hisaddress, wished all the employees a happy retired life. On thisoccasion, M Isadore GM (HR), all general managers and DROs werepresent.

TRAINEE NAIB TEHSILDARS CALLS ON GOVERNOR Bhopal: Trainee Naib Tehsildars on Wednesday called on GovernorSmt. Anandiben Patel at Raj Bhavan and shared their trainingexperiences with her. Since March 11, as many as 102 Naib Tehsildarsare undergoing a10-week training at RCVP Noronha Academy ofAdministration.Governor Patel said that prompt redressal of public grievances alongwith regional development should be the first priority of theadministrative officers. If the officers discharge their duty with patienceand fairness, the results will always be pleasant and satisfying. She saidthat administrative staff should work as a team, only thenimplementation of schemes will be ensured at the ground level.Director General of the Academy AP Shrivastav presented a book, ‘Myexperiments with truth’ by Mahatma Gandhi, to the Governor. Thetrainees told about the positive change that came over in their work-style from innovations during training, Deputy Director of the AcademyShweta Pawar was present.

SAGAR STUDENTS CELEBRATE ENGLISH DAYBhopal: Students of Sagar Public School Gandhi Nagar and RohitNagar celebrated English Day mirroring works of Jane Auesten andWilliam Shakespeare in its state-of-the-art auditorium. The schoolcelebrates English day to inform, communicate and enrich students onvalues of literature for the enrichment of lives.At Sagar Public School, Rohit Nagar students depicted the execution oftheatrical performance King Lear written by William Shakespeare. The flawless performance of the students accompanied with theirmesmerising and stupendous dance performances was witnessed byChief Guest Seema Raizada and Director, Sagar Public School, JaishreeKanwar. At Sagar Public School, Gandhi Nagar, Students of Class VI toX staged different nuance of Jane Auesten famous novels - Pride andPrejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion and evoking theconsciousness of the Era amongst the audiences. With their acts students depicted Women are Strong and are genderequal in society. The acts were adjudged by Rakesh Dubey, Manager, Training andDevelopment at Veta and Kuldeep Ganju, Principal SISTec Pharmacy.Radhika Sagar Agrawal, Director Sagar Group, Jaishree Kanwar, Director,Sagar Public School also graced the celebration as special guest.

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

The Iftekhar Theatre Fest isevoking a good response. It

is being conducted at RavindraBhavan. Marking the third dayof the fest, a comedy play ofmid twenties Chacha Chakkanwas staged here on Wednesday.

The play is a story byImtiyaz Ali Taj and it wasdirected by Sayed Alam. Theplay was presented by theartists of theatre troupe fromNew Delhi.

Chacha Chakan (1926) is ahilarious comedy of plays forchildren with themes of satireand humour. Chacha Chakanis considered the funniest char-acter in Urdu drama. Chakkanis said to be based on JeromeK. Jerome's character UnclePodger.

The play revolves aroundChacha Chakkan, a forty-five-year-old gentleman, his fami-ly, and the quirky misadven-tures that emerge from hispenchant for interfering inhousehold affairs.

The play showcases twen-

ty four hours in Chacha’s lifefrom three stories of the series:“Talaash”, “Teemaardaari”, and“Dhoban Ko Kapde Diye”. Tjehilarious play was a satire onsociety.

The character ChachaChakkan is an entirely differ-ent man present on this plan-et. He loves to interfere in eachand every thing. He is lovablebut at the same time he isannoying. All the comedy sto-ries were beautifully makingaudience laugh thier heartsout.

The play was muchenjoyed by the audiences.Somewhere down the line itbrought a huge smile on theirfaces as they burst out laugh-ing at comical situations, it alsosomewhere told about the ill-fated situation of a commonman. Sensible acting skillsalong with a good presentation,the play received much appre-ciation of the audiences.

The comedy play beauti-fully describes the social evilsthrough the play. It was per-formed with much intelligence.

Congress senior leader and party's candidate for Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, Digvijaya Singh, meets Aamil Shaikh Taher Bhai andother Community members of Dawoodi Bohra Community at the office complex of Anjuman-e-Mohammadi Dawoodi BohraJamaat during an election campaign in Bhopal on Wednesday Pioneer photo

Iftekhar TheatreFestival evokesgood response

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

Security has been beefed upto Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) candidate Pragya singhThakur’s local residence inBhopal on Wednesday.

The security cover wouldbe led by a CSP rank officerand Thakur’s safety would betaken care of by 22 armedpolice personnel and a metaldetector has also been installedat Thakur’s residence.

Every person entering theresidence based in Rivera Townin the city would have to gothrough frisking. Officialsources also claimed that themove has come following analert from security agencies.

Chief Minister Kamal Nathreplying to the media query onthis, claimed that it was onlydone to ensure that the BJP can-didate does not blame the Stategovernment on security coverin case any untoward incidenttakes place.

On being asked whether itwas done on the basis of anyintelligence input, Nath said hewas not aware of this and policeofficer could answer this.

Notably, a man was arrest-ed by the police on Tuesdayafter he showed black flags tothe sadhvi during her proces-sion taken out before filingnomination papers and wasalso beaten up by the BJPworkers.

With large number ofwomen coming to meet the BJPcandidate, some women policepersonnel too have beendeployed at her residence.

The sadhvi could also Zplus security cover shortly, saidsources.

Sadhvi Pragya’sresidence getsextra security

Every personentering theresidence based inRivera Town in thecity would have togo throughfrisking. Officialsources alsoclaimed that themove has comefollowing an alertfrom securityagencies

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

In memory of Dr. Babu RaoGujrar, a programme was

organised by Smriti Babu Raoin Dushyant Kumar MemorialManuscript Museum. Variouspersonality traits of Baburaowere discussed on this occa-sion.

Initially, the museumdirector Rajurkar Raj told thatBabu Rao was an integral partof Museum. Baburao's pres-ence is still felt in one of themuseum mammals.Remembering Baburao, themuseum patron, Shri RamraoVamankar said that Baburaoused to live in the role of a saintin the true sense. He continuedworking as a museum and theright hand of Rajurkar. Notonly for the museum, but alsothe presence of Dr. Babu Raoin the entire city is knowntoday, he added.

Recalling Babu Rao,Shailendra shared a secret thathe also wanted to contest theelection of the Ward Councilor,Ghanshyam Maithil Amrit toldthat Baburao used to practicewrestlibg by going to the exer-

cise school.Presiding over the function,

Mahesh Saxena said thatBaburao was friendly and was avery serious person. The ChiefGuest Ashok Nirmal said thatBaburao had a different kind ofcreativity .

Special guest MamtaTiwari said that Baburao'shabit was made to reach itswork at any cost. He used toput himself in trouble, but hewould have done the work.

All the speakers remem-bered his work and his contri-bution as well. A piets neet wasslso held on the occasion.

On this occasion, RajendraSharma letter, RamvallabhAcharya, Rajshree Rawat,Ramesh Nand, Gokul Sonietc. remembered Baburao.Finally, Vice President VipinBihari Vajpayee expressed grat-itude.

Programme heldin memory of DrBabu Rao Gujrar

All the speakersremembered hiswork and hiscontribution aswell

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

About `1.58 crore was spentfor making arrangements

for the stay of Madhya PradeshChief Minister Kamal Nathand three of his top bureaucratsin Switzerland, among otherexpenses, according to RTIdocuments.

In a note sheet, a copy ofwhich was received in responseto the RTI application filed byanti-corruption activist AjayDubey, necessary approval forexpenditure of nearly Rs 1.58crore on the trip, including thaton a session on MadhyaPradesh, was sought on January5.

Kamal Nath and MadhyaPradesh Chief Secretary SRMohanty, Principal Secretary tothe chief minister AshokBarnwal and PrincipalSecretary, Department ofIndustrial Policy andInvestment Promotion of thestate government, MohammedSuleman participated in theWorld Economic Forum, 2019

in Davos, Switzerland held inJanuary, it said.

The delegation of MadhyaPradesh government partici-pated in the exclusive businesslounge in Davos to co-brandthe state along with theDepartment of IndustrialPolicy and Promotion, gov-ernment of India, the RTI doc-uments said.

“The dedicated team mem-bers of the delegation in col-laboration with 'Invest India'will closely interact with poten-tial investors, academia, policymakers, etc. To highlight thestate as a highly potentialinvestment destination in cen-tral India so as to get themattracted for making invest-ments in various sectors inMadhya Pradesh,” the stategovernment had defined asthe purpose of the visit.

It said if the visit is notundertaken then MadhyaPradesh “may lose opportuni-ties of investment promotion toget investments in the state.”

“Further, it is clarified that

a representative of theConfederation of IndianIndustry, Madhya Pradesh isalso accompanying the delega-tion and the financial sanctionof Rs 1,57,85,000 accorded forthe above visit to Davos, alsocovers the cost of air tickets,accommodation, etc. Of the CIIrepresentative,” an order said.

Giving the break up, itsaid Rs 30 lakh was paid for airticket and visa expenses forDavos, Rs 45 lakh for hotel(stay and meeting room), Rs9.5 lakh on local conveyance,Rs two lakh for VIP loungeaccess at Zurich airport, `50,000 on travel insurance and` 40 lakh on DIPP lounge par-ticipation charges and promo-tional material.

A sum of Rs 1.5 lakh wasthe Dearness Allowance (DA)at the rate of USD 100 per dayand `15 lakh was for miscella-neous expenses, the RTI replysaid. An amount of `14.35lakh was paid as ten per centadministrative fees to the CII,it said.

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

Annoyed over taking mobilephone by her mother, a 20-

year-old girl committed suicideby hanging with the ceiling atKiran Nagar under Piplanipolice station area on Tuesday.

Police said that thedeceased Urvashi was foundhanging and was rushed tonearby hospital where she wasdeclared dead. The deceasedwas pursuing BCA from pri-vate college and was eldestamong three siblings.

In the initial investigationpolice found that on Tuesdayevening Urvashi’s mother rep-rimanded her after her fortalking for long on mobilephone and took away herphone and went outside housewhich irritated Urvashi and she

went inside her room in angerand committed suicide, thefamily members spotted herhanging and rushed her to JPhospital where doctors declaredher dead and informed police.

Police have not found anysuicide note. Body was sent forpost mortem after preliminaryinvestigation and a case undersection 174 of the CrPC wasregistered by police.

Meanwhile, a 26-year-oldman committed suicide byhanging with the ceiling atShankracharya Nagar underBajaria police station area onTuesday. Deceased identified asShahbaz Khan was found hang-ing by his house owner andother tenants and later he wasdeclared dead when taken tohospital.

Police found that the

deceased used to remaindepressed and was frequentlyteased by friends and on teas-ing he would warn of commit-ting suicide.

The body was sent for thepost mortem after the prelim-inary investigation and a caseunder section 174 of the CrPCand started further investiga-tion.

20-year-old girl commitssuicide at Kiran Nagar

THE DECEASEDWAS PURSUINGBCA FROMPRIVATE COLLEGEAND WAS ELDESTAMONG THREESIBLINGS

About `1.58 cr spent on Kamal Nath and threeof his top bureaucrats’ stay in Switzerland

RTI revelation

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

Govindpura police hasarrested a 40-year-old man

who had stabbed his 38-year-old wife at Bengali colony inthe evening on Tuesday. Thehusband attacked wife sus-pecting her illicit relationship.

The victim was identifiedas Rajni Ahirwar. she wasattacked with a sharp-edgedweapon by her husband NareshAhirwar after a verbal spatewhich soon turned violent.

The victim was rushed tonearby hospital where she isreportedly stable.

In her complaint womanstated that she separated fromher first husband in the year2012 and along with her par-ents she came to Bhopal andstarted living with her parentsin Alkapuri and later startedliving in a rented house inBengali Colony where shecame in contact with herneighbour Naresh and later tiedknot in Bhojpur temple arounda year ago but their relationshipwent sour as Naresh addictedto liquor started fighting fre-quently with her suspectingillicit relationship and from

past few days he used to dropand pick her wife from work-place in Shakti Nagar areawhere she used to work asdomestic help. On Tuesdaynight while bringing her home,the accused entered a fight atShakti Nagar area and attackedher injuring her in her neckand faces and she was rescuedby locals.

Based on the complaintafter the preliminary investi-gation the police have regis-tered a case under section 307of the IPC and started investi-gation. Accused was nabbed bythe police later in the investi-gation. The crime record of theaccused would be searched.

One arrested forstabbing wife over‘illicit relationship’

Priyadarshini Raje Scindia, wife of Congress candidate for Guna Lok Sabah seat Jyotiraditya Scindia during an electioncampaign in support of her husband in Chanderi State Assembly constituency, Ashok Nagar district on Wednesday

Pioneer photo

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

One hundred forty ninecandidates have been

declared valid after the scruti-ny out of the total 169 candi-dates, who had filed their nom-inations for Lok Sabha election-2019 for 8 parliamentary con-stituencies to be held under the3rd phase (6th phase of thecountry) of the State. The par-liamentary constituenciesnamely Morena, Bhind (SC),Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha,Bhopal and Rajgarh are includ-ed under this phase. The lastdate for withdrawal of nameand voting has been fixed asApril 26 and May 12 respec-tively.

After the scrutiny, 25 can-didates in Morena, 19 in Bhind(SC) (Hearing against objectionof one candidate has beenfixed for April 25), 19 inGwalior, 11 in Guna, 12 inSagar, 15 in Vidisha, 35 in

Bhopal and 13 candidates inRajgarh parliamentary con-stituency are left in poll fray.

For the election under the3rd phase, 27 nominations inMorena, 22 in Bhind (SC), 27in Gwalior, 11 in Guna, 13 inSagar, 16 in Vidisha, 39 inBhopal and 13 in Rajgarh par-liamentary constituency havebeen filed till Tuesday April 23.

Besides, 15 nominationpapers of 14 candidates havebeen received for the fourthphase (seventh phase of thecountry) in the state under LokSabha Elections-2019.

This phase includes 8 par-liamentary seats which areDewas (SC), Ujjain (SC),Mandsaur, Ratlam (ST), Dhar(ST), Indore, Khargone (ST)and Khandwa. One nomina-tion of one candidate each hasbeen received in parliamentaryconstituency of Ujjain (SC)and Dhar (ST), two nomina-tions of two candidates each in

Mandsaur and Khandwa, twonominations of one candidatein Ratlam (ST), four nomina-tions of four candidates inIndore and three nominationsof three candidates have beenreceived in Khargone (ST)from the publication of notifi-cation dated April 22 to till datefor fourth phase election.

Today one nominationeach of one candidate receivedin Ujjain (SC), Dhar (ST) andIndore parliamentary con-stituency, 2 nominations of 2candidates in Mandsaur andKhandwa and 3 of 3 candidatesin Khargone (ST).

LS election:149 candidatesdeclared valid out of 169

Besides, 15nomination papers of14 candidates havebeen received for thefourth phase (seventhphase of the country)in the state under LokSabha Elections-2019

STAFF REPORTER n BHOPAL

State Capital recorded high-est day temperature of the

season at 42.2 degree Celsius onWednesday while day temper-ature in the State soared to 46degree Celsius.

After a little period ofrelief harsh weather conditionsare again making weather con-ditions unbearable. Metdepartment issued warningof heat wave conditions inIndore, Hoshangabad and

Chambal divisions in the next24 hours.

With clear sky and scorch-ing heat mercury was set torise significantly on Tuesday asthe morning was witnessedwith high temperature andbright sunshine which wasintense hot. The state capitalrecorded night temperatureat 24.4 degree Celsius.

Khargone remained thehottest place of the state byrecording 46 degree Celsius.

Dhar recorded day tem-

perature at 45 degree Celsius,while Raisen, Damoh,Nowgong, Hoshangabadrecorded 44 degree Celsiuswhich were among the placeswhere mercury peaked toextreme levels making theweather conditions discom-forting.

Most of the places in thestate recorded day temperaturearound 42 degree Celsius onTuesday. Very few places wit-nessed day temperaturesaround 41 degree Celsius.

State Capital temp soarsto 46 degree celsius

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Aday after Akali powercouple of Sukhbir Badal

and Harsimrat Badal declaredas party’s candidates fromFerozepur and Bathindarespectively, Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh on Wednesday declaredto “personally campaign” toensure their defeat.

“I will personally cam-paign in Bathinda andFerozepur to ensure that theSukhbir-Harsimrat Badalcouple is forced to bite thedust in these Lok Sabha elec-tions,” he declared, addingthat even the BJP’s delayingtactics in not making thechopper available to him oneweek after it was hired by theCongress would not help theBadals.

Lashing out at the Badalsfor making the SAD a familyaffair, the Chief Ministerquestioned their claim tobeing Akalis, who he said had

played a very important rolein the Gurdwara movement.

“They (Badals) have for-gotten history and havedefamed the Akal Takht,”added the Chief Minister whowas addressing a public gath-ering in Faridkot, in supportof Congress candidate MohdSadiq, who filed his nomina-tion papers later.

Also unleashing a virtu-al war on the Badals, CaptAmarinder made it clear thatthey could not escape inves-tigation in the Bargari andKotakpura firing cases bygetting an SIT officer shiftedout by the BJP-controlledElection Commission.

Taking the Badals head-on over the Bargari andKotakpura police firing inci-dents, the Chief Ministerwarned that they could notevade inquiry by using theirinfluence with the ruling BJPto get IG Kunwar Vijay PratapSingh shifted by the ElectionCommission from the SIT

probing the case. “The EC belongs to the

BJP and they got the officerremoved, despite the fact thateven courts do not interferein the ongoing investiga-tions,” he pointed out, declar-ing that the same officerswould probe the case andtake it to its logical conclu-sion once the elections areover.

“They (the Badals) havesimply managed to delay theprobe for some time, butthey will eventually have topay,” said the Chief Minister,vowing to ensure that nobodyfound guilty of the crimeescapes punishment.

Taking a dig at formerChief Minister Prakash SinghBadal for claiming ignoranceabout the Bargar i andKotakpura f ir ing, CaptAmarinder termed it a com-plete lie, pointing out that “noofficer could have openedfire without orders from thetop”.

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The electoral battle for the rul-ing Bharatiya Janata Party

would not be a cakewalk inHaryana with its sitting MPs fac-ing anti incumbency and pub-lic ire during election cam-paign.

The incidents of publicprotests in various corners of thestate have gone viral on socialmedia, causing major embar-rassment to the BJP while it hashanded opposition fresh ammoto target the saffron party in theelection season.

Four out of five MPs re-nominated by the BJP havefaced awkward situations, find-ing themselves at the receivingend of public anger during elec-tion campaigning in the state.

Only a day before, BJPnominee from Ambala seat,Rattan Lal Kataria was leftembarrassed when the residentsof Bhagwali village of RaipurRani block of Ambala districtasked him why he failed to visitthem in the past five years.

The villagers alleged thatneither they were allowed tomeet the MP nor he visited themin the last five years.

The video that went viralsaw Kataria seeking forgivenessand votes with folded hands. Hewas also seen arguing with thevillagers that it was not possibleto cover all villages and askedthem to have faith in him.

Later, Kataria justified theanger saying that he got around6 lakh votes in 2014 polls whileother 6 lakh voters in the con-stituency supported oppositionparties. Thus, 6 lakh peoplewho voted against me in last elec-tions, could speak their mindwhenever they want, he said.

BJP’s nominee Kataria isfacing a tough challenge fromCongress’ candidate Rajya SabhaMP Kumari Selja in Ambalaconstituency this time. AnotherBJP lawmaker and party’s nom-inee from Sonipat, RameshKaushik also had to face theanger of villagers on two separateoccasions during canvassing.

Ramesh Kaushik, who islocked in a three-cornered elec-toral contest with Congressnominee former Chief MinisterBhupinder Singh Hooda andJannayak Janta Party candidateDigvijay Chautala in the fray,has faced protest by people ofPouli village and Chhichhranavillage in his constituency.

When Kaushik was asked byvillagers on why he did notredress their grievances in lastfive years, the outgoing MPhighlighted his achievementsand went onto say that he has100 percent attendance inParliament sessions.

Recently, BJP’s Bhiwani-Mahendragarh candidate andoutgoing MP Dharambir Singhwas also left red-faced due toprotest in Gaindawas villageduring his election campaign inthe constituency.

Upset over videos of protestsurfacing on the social media,Dharambir had a day backalleged that his opponents aretrying to defame him by postingvideos on the social media. TheBJP nominee is pitted againstCongress candidate, former MPShruti Choudhry, who is daugh-ter of CLP leader KiranChoudhry and granddaughter offormer CM Bansi Lal.

In another incident, UnionMinister Krishan Pal Gurjar,who is seeking mandate for thesecond term in Faridabad had toface protest from his own partyworkers.

Last month, BJP workershad protested against KrishanPal Gurjar at party’s much-

hyped ‘Vijay Sankalp rally’ atPirthala in Faridabad. In thevideo which had gone viral,workers were seen shouting slo-gans against Gurjar in the pres-ence of Kalraj Mishra, party’sincharge in Haryana for LokSabha polls and party MLAs,

Interestingly, not only sittingMPs but party’s candidate fromSirsa constituency, Sunita Duggalalso came under fire from farm-ers during canvassing inHassanga village in Fatehabad.She had reportedly engaged in awar of words when they criti-cized BJP for not doing anythingfor the farming community.

Notably, the saffron party,which was riding high on theNarendra Modi wave in the 2014Lok Sabha elections had wonseven seats out of 10 seats inHaryana.

Eyeing to win all 10 LokSabha seat in Haryana whichgoes to polling on May 12, theparty has retained its MPs name-ly Rao Inderjit Singh(Gurugram), Krishan Pal Gurjar(Faridabad), Rattan Lal Kataria(Ambala), Ramesh ChanderKaushik (Sonipat) andDharambir Singh (Bhiwani-Mahendergarh) for 2019 LokSabha polls

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Perform or perish! TheCongress party has cau-

tioned Punjab Ministers andparty legislators to ensure vic-tory of the party candidates orelse face action.

The party has made it clearthat all the Ministers and theMLAs would be held account-able for the party’s Lok Sabhacandidates’ performance intheir respective constituencies.

“As per the high com-mand’s decision, incumbentMinisters in Punjab who do notsucceed in ensuring a victoryfor the Congress, especiallyfrom the constituencies theyrepresent, will be dropped fromthe Cabinet. In the case ofCongress MLAs, it has beendecided that those who fail toperform in their constituencieswill not be considered for tick-ets in the next Assembly elec-tions,” said Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh onWednesday.

Capt Amarinder said thatthe party has decided to pushthe bar of performance for its

leaders by fixing the responsi-bility for the victory of the can-didates in Punjab on theMinisters and MLAs of the rul-ing party.

“The decision has beentaken by the Congress highcommand, under the leader-ship of Rahul Gandhi, to accel-erate the momentum forachieving the party’s Mission13 in the ongoing Lok Sabhaelections,” he said.

Chief Minister said that theparty has also made the crite-ria for allotment of chairman-ships of various Board, andCorporations, etc more strin-gent. “Toughening its stance,the Congress has decided thatsuch chairmanships will beallotted on the basis of the per-formance of individuals in theongoing Lok Sabha polls,” hesaid while adding that perfor-mance and not seniority will bethe criteria determining theireligibility for boards and cor-porations.

He clarified that the objec-tive behind these decisionswas to promote a performance-based culture in the party.

Sangrur: Terming the “brazenuse” of the Akal Takht forpolitical gains as the act of anon-Sikh, Punjab ChiefMinister Capt AmarinderSingh on Wednesday lashedout at the Badals for playingwith the religious sentimentsof Sikhs by abusing the com-munity’s highest temporal seatto promote their vested inter-ests.

“Such politicisation ofreligion would backfire onSAD,” said the ChiefMinister, declaring that “any-one who tries to use the

Akal Takht is not a Sikh inmy eyes”.

Capt Amarinder, address-ing a public rally beforeCongress candidate fromSangrur Kewal Singh Dhillonfiled his nomination papers,minced no words in con-demning the outrageousattempts of the Badals toundermine the supreme powerof the Takht.

The Akalis claim to bethe custodians of Sikh reli-gion but have always used itto promote their politicalinterests, he added.

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BJP President Amit Shahwill hold election rallies in

Chandigarh and Yamunanagar(Haryana) on May 5 to boostparty’s Lok Sabha poll cam-paign.

Apart from these two ral-lies, Amit Shah may alsoaddress another rally in theregion on the same day.

Chandigarh, being the jointcapital of neighboring states ofPunjab and Haryana, is a pres-tigious Lok Sabha seat in north-ern India.

On the other hand, parts ofYamunanagar district fallsunder two Lok Sabha con-stituencies including Ambalaand Kurukshetra in the state ofHaryana.

The ruling BJP is facing atough challenge to retain threeLok Sabha seats of Chandigarh,Ambala and Kurukshetra in theensuing Lok Sabha polls.

While voting to 10 LokSabha seats in Haryana isscheduled to be held on May12, the polling in Chandigarhwill be held on May 19. InHaryana, the BJP had won 7out of 10 seats in last generalelections.

Only a day before, the BJPhad announced to re-nominateMP Kirron Kher to contest thegeneral elections fromChandigarh parliamentary seat.Seeking a mandate for the sec-

ond term, BJP’s Kirron Kher isonce again pitted againstCongress’ nominee and formerfour-time MP Pawan KumarBansal while the Aam AadmiParty’s candidate is formerMinister Harmohan Dhawan.

While Kher had managedto register her maiden victoryand defeat former MP PawanKumar Bansal in 2014 pollswhile riding high on Modiwave and lapping up the anti-incumbency votes againstCongress, she is locked in atough triangular battle inChandigarh this time.

Similarly, BJP nominee andoutgoing MP Rattan LalKataria from Ambala seat andHaryana Minister Nayab Sainifrom Kuruksherta constituen-cy are pitted against strong con-tenders of opposition parties.

BJP’s Rattan Lal Katariawill take on Congress’ heavy-weight Rajya Sabha MPKumari Selja in Ambala con-stituency while Nayab Saini isfacing a triangular electoralcontest against Congress’ for-mer Minister Nirmal Singhand INLD candidate ArjunChautala, fourth generationpolitician from Chautala fam-ily in Haryana.

Rattan Lal Kataria, whiletalking to the mediapersonssaid that the BJP chief AmitShah will address an electionrally on May 5 in Yamunanagar.Apart from him, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi

Adityanath, Union MinistersRajnath Singh and NitinGadkari will also address elec-tion rallies in the region in thecoming days, he said.

Chandigarh BJP media-incharge Ravinder Pathaniainformed that as per the ten-tative schedule received by theparty city unit, national presi-dent Amit Shah will address arally in Chandigarh on May 5.

The Chandigarh BJP unithas also requested the partyhigh command for a rally ofPrime Minister Narendra Modiand senior Central leaders inChandigarh, he added.

Notably, Prime MinisterNarendar Modi, BJP chief AmitShah, Union Ministers andsenior national leaders areamong the star campaignersnamed by the BJP in Haryanaand Chandigarh.

The star campaignersinclude Central leaders includ-ing Home Minister RajnathSingh, Road and HighwaysMinister Nitin Gadkari,Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyand External Affairs MinisterSushma Swaraj.

BJP vice president UmaBharti, Railway Minister PiyushGoyal, HRD Minister SmritiIrani, UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, Haryana ChiefMinister Manohar Lal, actressand MP Hema Malini, actorturned politician Sunny Deolare among other senior leadersnamed as star campaigners.

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No less than nine leaders areeyeing to traverse the road

from Punjab Vidhan Sabha tothe Parliament during LokSabha elections.

Banking on their not onlytried and tested, but also win-ning horses, the major politicalplayers in the State are bankingon their elected representa-tives to romp home to victoryin the May 19 elections.

While the ruling Congressand its arch rival ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD) has decided tolay their bet on two sittingMLAs each, Bharatiya JantaParty has fielded a sitting leg-islator from one out of the total

three seats it contests in alliancewith the SAD.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP),which has snatched the positionof the main opposition partyfrom SAD after 2017 stateassembly polls by bagging 20seats, has also decided to fieldits one MLA in the ensuingelections.

A total of three sittingMLAs would be representingthe Punjab Democratic Alliance(PDA) — a conglomeration ofsix political outfits and newly-created splinter groups.

Maximum three legislatorswould be facing each other inthe most watched-out electoralbattle of Bathinda against theSAD’s sitting MP and the Union

Minister Harsimat Kaur Badal.Congress’ MLA fromGidderbaha Raja AmarinderSingh Warring, AAP’s MLAfrom Talwandi Sabo ProfBaljinder Kaur, and AAP’s‘rebel’ MLA from BholathSukhpal Singh Khaira wouldfight it out against each other inthe known Badals’ bastion.

Khaira, who had rebelledagainst his party after he wasunceremoniously removedfrom the post of the Leader ofOpposition and left AAP, float-ed his own political outfit by thename of Punjab Ekta Party(PEP) and would be contestinghis first Lok Sabha electionfrom Bathinda as PDA’s jointcandidate.

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From Page 1Congress in Rajgarh has

also accused the Badrilal Sonithe former BJP MLA fromSusner of making a derogato-ry comment on its womancandidate in Rajgarh.

There was an unlikemember in the list in formerMadhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan who is known as asober and decent takes onopponents.

Chouhan was scheduledto address two rallies atChowrai and Umreth inChhindwara on Wednesdaybut the district collector didnot permit his chopper toland at Umreth which leftChouhan fuming.

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The Uttarakhand HighCourt has directed the State

Government to reply withinfour weeks regarding the skele-tal remains of pilgrims missingsince the 2013 disaster inKedarnath. The HC divisionbench of chief justice RameshRanganathan and justiceNarayan Singh Dhanik alsoasked that if DNA tests wereconducted on the skeletalremains and which laboratorywere these being conducted in.

Delhi resident AjayGautam had filed a PIL in thehigh court stating that since the2013 disaster, 4,200 personshad been missing fromKedarnath and that skeletalremains of 600 had been foundso far. The government is notdoing anything to remove the

remains of thousands of peoplestill buried in Kedarnath, thepetitioner had stated. In thepast too, the court had direct-ed the government to removethe remains from Kedarnathvalley and cremate them butthe government has not doneso. The petitioner has alsostated that even now remains ofthe disaster victims are beingfound in Kedarnath. More than900 people had approached thegovernment so far seeking theremains and were also ready forDNA tests. The governmentshould extract the remains,get the DNA tests conductedand hand over the remains tothe family members, the peti-tioner has demanded.Considering the seriousnessof the matter, the HC hasdirected the State Governmentto reply within four weeks.

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True to his style of hoggingthe limelight, former chief

minister Harish Rawat isattracting media attention byseries of posts on social mediaplatforms.

After his barb on chiefminister Trivendra SinghRawat that he has remained inthe heart and minds of the peo-ple of Uttarakhand even aftersuffering electoral reverses, theformer CM has now launchedtirade against BJP on hisFacebook page.

In his new message, HarishRawat has said that the BJP hasbecome highly arrogant.

Turning philosophical hesaid that electoral losses don’tcast any effect on importanceof any leader. In one of his lat-est posts on social media, theformer CM has sarcasticallysaid that he is happy as one ofhis tweets jolted theUttarakhand BJP which is nowtrying to portray chief minis-ter Trivendra Singh Rawat as itssuper star.

He added that the CMshould be thankful to him ashis party is now recognising hiscontribution albeit belatedly.

In his tweet on Monday,Harish Rawat had questionedTrivendra Singh Rawat; “wherewere you in the elections? Didanyone seek votes on yourname and works?”

What is interesting is thatthe former CM lost no time inleaving Assam where as a incharge of party he wasengrossed steering theCongress party’s campaignafter end of campaigning andtaking on CM of Uttarakhandon social media.

Political pundits are of theview that an astute politician heis, Harish Rawat is trying tounderline the fact that he stillis the tallest leader inUttarakhand Congress and

electoral losses has not under-mined his image in past andnor it would do so in future. Itis known fact that former CMwho also is the member ofCongress Working Committee(CWC) is fighting battle of hislife from Nainital- UdhamSingh Nagar Lok Sabha con-stituency against President ofstate unit of BJP Ajay Bhatt. Itis widely believed that a elec-toral loss at this juncture oftime would push him to thepolitical oblivion. It is pertinentto mention here that HarishRawat contested from Kichhain Udham Singh Nagar andHaridwar rural assembly con-stituencies in 2017. However,the veteran leader lost fromboth seats.

Senior journalist Jai SinghRawat said that the reasonbehind sudden spurt in theactivity of Harish Rawat onsocial media platform in whichhe has targeted CM TrivendraSingh Rawat appears thatHarish Rawat wants to make itvery clear that he would retal-iate and retaliate hard if he istargeted. “ Harish Rawat isvery intelligent and seasonedpolitician and knows what tosay and when to say. He wasperfectly right when he saidthat people have forgotten thenames of those who havedefeated him in the past elec-tions but he continues to lingerin heart and minds of people,’’Jai Singh Rawat said.

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With Congress general sec-retary Priyanka Gandhi

insistent on contesting theParliamentary polls againstPrime Minister Narendra Modifrom Varanasi, the party hasauthorised UPA chairpersonSonia Gandhi to take a final callon the issue.

The decision was taken ina meeting on Tuesday nightattended by Congress presidentRahul Gandhi, party’s generalsecretary in-charge of EasternUP Priyanka, senior party lead-ers KC Venugopal, AhmedPatel and others where theGandhi scion was taking stockof the prospect of three phasepoll ending April 23.

AICC sources said whenthe deliberations over Varanasicandidate was initiated,Priyanka reportedly expressedher keen interest to take headson with Modi who is all sched-uled to file his nominationsfrom the seat which he repre-sented in the current LokSabha.

Though Priyanka has beenmaking statements regularlyabout her desire to contest theLok Sabha elections, Rahulhimself is learnt to be precari-ous about fielding his siblingagainst a heavyweight for thefirst time. The last date ofnominations for the last phaseof May 19 polls is April 29 and

the party has to decide the can-didature during the next cou-ple of days.

A senior leader in themeeting, sources said, recalledthat late Prime Minister RajivGandhi had once regrettedabout roping in Bollywoodstar Amitabh Bachchan, whosuccessfully defeated one of thetallest leaders of his time,Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna,in 1984.

“Retrospectively there hasbeen no big contest during thetimes of Jawahar Lal Nehru,Ram Manohar Lohia, JayPrakash Narayan, IndiraGandhi or Atal Bihari Vajpayee.It is a sort of convention. It stillexists barring a couple of exam-ple slike Sushma Swaraj takingon Sonia Gandhi once. RahulGandhi has given a secondthought to Priyanka’s idea andthus has thought it wise to sendthe matter to Sonia’s court. Sheis an astute politician and only

her advise will decide the fateof Varanasi Lok Sabha,” said atop leader privy to the meetingwhich discussed.

Priyanka is understood tohave conveyed that a win orloss does not matter to her butit has to be an exercise to res-urrect the grand old party inHindi heartland which hasonly two Lok Sabha MPs of the80 from Uttar Pradesh in theParliament.

“I have said this repeated-ly that I will do what the partyasks me to do. Am ready tofight from Varanasi if Rahul askme to do so,” Priyanka repliedto media when asked last onthe issue.

Priyanka was appointedGeneral Secretary incharge ifEast UP comprising of 40 seatsand has been campaigning inthe region which also includesRahul’s Parliamentary con-stituency Amethi and Sonia’sseat Rae Bareli.

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India may be the largest man-ufacturer of generic medi-

cines in the world, but cancer-afflicted children, who areamong society’s most vulnera-ble groups, remain a deprivedlot as far as availability andaffordability of essential anti-cancer drugs are concerned.

This has been pointed outby a new study published in theBritish Medical Journal (BMJ)Global Health, which foundthat there is a lack of availabil-ity of essential anti-cancerdrugs, in both public and pri-vate sector pharmacies even inthe national Capital , for treat-ing childhood cancer, so muchso that it is much below theWorld Health Organisation’sprescribed standards.

The study titled, ‘Evaluatingaccess to essential medicines fortreating childhood cancers: amedicines availability, priceand affordability study in NewDelhi, India,’ was led by theGeorge Institute for GlobalHealth in collaboration with theUniversity of Sydney, CankidsIndia, Max Super SpecialityHospital, and Boston UniversitySchool of Public Health. Sevenhospitals — four public andthree private — and 32 private-

sector retail pharmacies weresurveyed.

The researchers used amodified WHO/Health ActionInternational methodology tocollect data on availability andprice of 33 strength-specificanti-cancer essential medicinesand four non-cancer essentialmedicines. Affordability wascalculated for the two mostcommon cancers in India:acute lymphoblastic leukaemiaand Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“Mean availability ofessential anti-cancer medicinesacross all hospitals and phar-macies surveyed was less thanthe WHO’s target of 80%. Lowavailability and poor afford-ability of anti-cancer essentialmedicines highlight the need tostreamline public sector andprivate sector medicine pro-

curement and supply systems,”said Neha Faruqui, principalauthor of the study from theGeorge Institute for GlobalHealth.

Median prices were calcu-lated by comparing consumerprices with international refer-ence prices. On an average, themean availability of essentialanti-cancer medicines in thesurvey hospitals and retail phar-macies combined was 70%, inretail pharmacies it was 38%, inpublic hospital pharmacies 43%and in private hospital phar-macies it was 71%.

The study found that onlythree anti-cancer essentialmedicines were available on theJan Aushadhi website. Theprices of Jan Aushadhi pricesare much lower than retailpharmacies but compared to

public-sector procurementprices, a patient would pay twotimes and 2.9 times for anti-cancer and non-cancer medi-cines in the private-sector.Therefore, initiatives toimprove public-sector medi-cines availability are needed,the researchers said.

“Availability is low in thecapital city of India which canbe considered the best case sce-nario for access to anti-cancermedicines. We don’t expectavailability to be higher inother states,” said Rohina Joshi,associate professor atUniversity of Sydney.

Medicine prices were rela-tively low in Delhi comparedwith international referenceprices. However, the cost ofchemotherapy medicinesseems unaffordable in the local

context. “When calculatedusing the lowest (and most-sold) generic price offered inpharmacies, the estimated costof chemotherapy medicinesneeded for treating a 30 kgchild with standard riskleukaemia was �27,850 and �17,500 for early stage Hodgkin’slymphoma, requiring 88 and 55days’ wages, respectively, for thelowest paid government work-er,” said Ramandeep Arora,paediatric oncologist. “If thepatient/family is not offeredany pharmacy discount andhad to buy the same medicinesat maximum retail price, theyrequire an extra 12 days’ wagesfor both diseases,” he said.

“Government insuranceschemes and discount phar-macy initiatives should expandthe inclusion of essential anti-cancer medicines, as a waytowards limiting the cata-strophic out-of-pocket expen-diture associated with cancertreatment,” said Faruqui.

Childhood cancer com-prises almost 3-5 percent of thetotal cancer cases in India.According to the Indian cancersociety, it is estimated thatabout 50,000 children and ado-lescents ages 0 to 19 years willbe diagnosed with cancer eachyear in India.

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The Supreme Court warneda lawyer on Wednesday

that he will be “thrown out ofthe court” after taking umbrageat his remarks that AttorneyGeneral K K Venugopal was“personally targeting” him dur-ing the hearing on his claims offixing and manipulation in thetop judiciary.

A special three-judgebench headed by Justice ArunMishra told advocate UtsavSingh Bains, who has filed anaffidavit alleging “larger con-spiracy” to frame Chief Justiceof India Ranjan Gogoi, thatVenugopal is one of the mostrespected members of the barand he should also must respecthim.

“You (Bains) must knowthat we learn from him(Venugopal). You must respecthim,” the bench, also compris-ing Justices R F Nariman andDeepak Gupta, told Bains.

When Bains reiterated thatVenugopal was attacking himpersonally, an irked JusticeNariman said, “You must nothave even an iota of doubt onhim. He never attacks anyone

personally. He is the mostrespected member of the bar.We also learn from him.”

“...Otherwise we will throwyou out of the court,” JusticeNariman told the counsel,adding, “he (Venugopal) is atrue gentleman”.

Minutes later, Bains said,“Since Justice Nariman said hewill throw me out, I myself optto walk out of the court.”

However, Justice Mishratried to pacify Bains and saidthat what Justice Nariman

meant was that he shouldrespect the Attorney General.

“We, all of us, have somuch respect for him. You area young man and you shouldunderstand this,” Justice Mishrasaid.

“Do not take anything toyour heart. What my lord(Justice Nariman) advised youis to be polite. He does notmean to throw you out (of thecourt) really. Nobody is attack-ing you. You are doing animportant job,” he added.

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With total assets worthmore than �660 crore,

Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Kamal Nath’s sonNakul Nath is the richest can-didate of the fourth phase ofpolls that will be held on April29. Nakul is contesting fromMP’s ChhindwaraParliamentary seat, represent-ed by Kamal Nath for nineterms.

He is followed by SanjaySushil Bhonsle of VanchitBahujan Aagadhi party, con-testing from Mumbai SouthCentral seat, with total assetsworth of �125 crore. BJP’sAnurag Sharma who is con-testing from Jhansi is the thirdposition having assets worth of�124 crore.

According to the ADR(Association for DemocraticReforms), three Independentcandidates-Priyanka Shiroleand Vithal Natha Chavan, bothof them from Nashik andPremlata Banshiwal from TonkSawai Madhopur have declaredzero assets in their affidavitwhile Prince Kumar ofJhalawar Baran, Shamshudin of

Chittoragarh and Baban Thokeof Mumbai North East havedeclared total assets worth of�500, �786 and �1100 respec-tively.

These candidates have notgiven details of their assets.There are 306(33%) candidateswho have assets worth Rs. onecrore and more. Among themajor parties 50(88%) out of 57candidates from Congress,50(88%) out of 57 candidatesfrom BJP, 20(37%) out of 54candidates from BSP, 13(62%)out of 21 candidates from SHS and 8(80%) out of 10 candidates from SP havedeclared assets worth morethan �1 crore.

As per ADR report, asmany as 24 candidates out of928 contestants, who are con-testing during the fourth phaseof polling, are facing attempt tomurder charges in the court.Five candidates have declaredcases related to murder (IPCsection 302 ) and 12 have beenconvicted cases against them.

The ADR also says 210(about 23%) candidates in thefray have criminal cases againsttheir names. Of them,158(17%) have declared serious

criminal cases. The ADR alsosays four candidates are facingcharges of kidnapping suchkidnapping for ransom (IPCSection-364A), kidnapping(IPC Section-363), Kidnappingor abducting with an intentsecretly and wrongfully confineperson (IPC Section-365),against them.

The report further says 21candidates have declared casesrelated to crime against womensuch as assault or criminalforce to woman with intent tooutrage her modesty (IPCSection-354), husband or rela-tive of husband of a womansubjecting her to cruelty (IPCSection-498A),” the ADR said.

The ADR says among the

major par-ties, 25(44%)out of 57candidatesfrom BJP,18(32%) outof 57 candi-dates fromC o n g r e s s ,11(20%) outof 54 candi-dates fromB S P ,12(57%) outof 21 candi-d a t e sa n a l y s e dfrom SHS,and 60(17%)

out of 345 independent candi-dates have declared criminalcases against themselves.

“Among the major parties,20(35%) out of 57 candidatesfrom BJP, 9(16%) out of 57candidates from Congress,10(19%) out of 54 candidatesfrom BSP, 9(43%) out of 21candidates analysed from SHS,and 45(13%) out of 345 inde-pendent candidates havedeclared serious criminal casesagainst themselves. Besides,37 out of 71 constituencies arered alert constituencies. Redalert constituencies are thoseconstituencies where 3 or morecontesting candidates havedeclared criminal cases againstthemselves,” it said.

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The Congress on Wednesdaytook a dig at Prime

Minister Narendra Modi overhis interview to actor AkshayKumar saying it seems a “failedpolitician” who is about to berejected by the people on May23 - when the Lok Sabha elec-tion results come-is looking foran alternative employmentavenue in Bollywood.

The Congress’s swipe atModi came after channels aired the Prime Minister’sinterview with the Bollywoodstar, who described it as a“candid and completely nonpolitical” chat.

Reacting to the interview,Congress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said:“Akshay Kumar ji is a greatactor and we like him. He is avery successful actor. Anunsuccessful politician whohas decimated

India’s economy, who hasdecimated India’s jobs, who hasmade life hell for India’s farm-

ers and the poor, is now tryingto become a better actor thanAkshay Kumar ji.”

“It seems a failed politicianwho is about to be rejected onMay 23, 2019, is looking for analternative employment avenuein Bollywood, but I don’t thinkso, a failed politician like Modiji will be a successful actor inBollywood. Akshay Kumar willremain Akshay Kumar,” hetold reporters.

To another question onthe interview, Surjewala saidPrime Minister Modi is tryingto “become a better actor thanAkshay Kumar but he hasagain failed miserably like hehas failed India”.

Asked about Modi’sremarks in the interview thatother prime ministers left early,but he works till 11 PM,Surjewala asked if he used towork in the Prime Minister’sOffice or he used to do PM’sscheduling. Surjewala allegedthat the Prime Minister makesa joke of everything.

“You looted the entire cur-rency of this country and wereclapping and laughing duringdemonetisation. Is the PM’s jobto make fun of people, makefun of institutions, make fun ofpeople whom the country feelsproud of, or will he do somework also,” he said.

In the interview, whichaimed to unveil “some lesserknown facts” about Modi, theprime minister touched uponvarious aspects of his child-hood and his journey before hecame to power.

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The biopic on Prime MinisterNarendra Modi is a “hagiog-

raphy”, which treats the subjectwith undue reverence, and itspublic screening during pollcampaign will “tilt the electoralbalance”, theElectionCommission (EC) hastold the Supreme Court whileopposing the release of themovie starring Vivek Oberoibefore the polls end on May 19.

In its 20-page report sub-mitted to the apex court benchheaded by Chief Justice RanjanGogoi on the film titled ‘PMNarendra Modi’, the poll panelsaid that the biopic “produces apolitical environment where anindividual acquired cult status”and its public screening duringthe period when model code ofconduct is in operation wouldfavour a particular politicalparty.

The EC said “there are sev-eral scenes depicting a majoropposition party as corrupt andshowing them in poor light.Their leaders have been depict-

ed in such a manner that theiridentification is clear and obviousto the viewers.”

It said that the biopic wasmore than a biography and wasa “hagiography” (which treats thesubject as saints and gives unduereverence) and the construct ofthe movie was “unabashedlyuni-dimensional”, which puts anindividual on a higher pedestalthrough use of specific symbols,slogans and scenes.

The report was submittedafter the apex court had on April 15 directed the EC to re-examine its earlier order and take an informed decisionon banning pan-India therelease of the biopic after watch-ing the full movie. The courthad asked the poll panel to pro-vide its report to the producerof the movie.

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The EnforcementDirectorate on Wednesday

attacheed 25 moveable andimmoveable assets worth over�40 crore belonging to the sonof expelled DMK leader MKAlagiri in connection with amoney laundering case.

The agency has attachedland, buildings in Madurai,Chennai and fixed depositstotalling to �40.34 crore ofOlympus Granites Pvt. Ltd.and others under Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act, 2002(PMLA) in the illegal granitemining case, the ED said in astatement.

The company’s share hold-ers S Nagarajan and AlagiriDhayanidhi along with otheraccused, criminally conspiredand indulged in illegal mining

activities in the adjacentTAMIN leased land and there-by causing wrongful loss to theGovernment and correspond-ing wrongful gain to them-selves, the agency alleged.

The ED initiated the probeunder PMLA against OlympusGranites P Limited, Madurai toidentify the crime proceedson the basis of FIR and chargesheet filed by Tamil NaduPolice against the company, itspromoters and directors andother individuals.

The charge sheet disclosescommission of various offencesincluding offences under theIndian Penal Code, ExplosiveSubstances Act, by the accusedconsequent to the illegal gran-ite mining indulged by thecompany and other accused.persons.

Investigation under PMLA

revealed that the company andits promoters have committeda scheduled offence andderived proceeds of crime byindulging in the illegal quar-rying and the trade proceeds ofthe company were furtherrelentlessly incubated resultingin further accruals of proceedsof crime, all of which werecamouflaged in the organisa-tional system as business earn-ings, the ED further said in thestatement.

The statement claimed thatthese earning were gained outof the illegal activity.Accordingly, 25 movable andimmovable properties wereidentified as part of crime pro-ceeds and the properties worthof �40.34 crore were provi-sionally attached under theprovisions of PMLA. Theseinclude land and buildings inand around Madurai andChennai and a fixed deposit, itadded.

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If one looks at India’s development dur-ing the five last decades, one can onlyadmire the progress made by it.However, there are some fields wherethe country has been left far behind by

the ‘great’ powers, particularly in the domainof innovation. China’s case is worth study-ing. Huawei technologies, which often forthe wrong reasons, has been in the news inrecent months, has been a role model interms of innovation for the Middle Kingdom.

In February 2018, Reuters reported thatthe giant telecom group of companiesincreased “its annual spending on Researchand Development (R&D) to between $15 bil-lion and $20 billion as it races to be a glob-al leader in 5G technology.” Can you nameany Indian telecom company investing inR&D in this way and on this scale? No. Thebig Indian business houses simply prefer toremain in the “service” field, without takingthe risk of investing in any long-term vision.As a result, during the next 10 or 20 years,China and Western companies will remainthe leaders while India will have to buy theirtechnologies, with all the risks involved.

According to Reuters, Huawei, China’slargest telecommunications equipmentand smartphone maker, spent $13.23 bil-lion on R&D in 2017, a whopping 14.9 percent of its total revenue. The world’s topR&D spenders, Amazon and Alphabet, thetwo biggest spenders on R&D in the USrespectively, spent $22.6 billion and $16.6billion in 2017. About 80,000 of Huawei’semployees or 45 per cent of its total work-force are engaged in R&D. Should India notstart emulating world leaders such asHuawei or even Google, Apple or Amazoninstead of just being proud of the Indianorigin of Google’s CEO? In the defencedomain, China is innovating too. Earlierthis month, the China ShipbuildingIndustry Corporation (CSIC) announcedthat the first armed amphibious drone boatwas successfully delivered to the People’sLiberation Army Navy (PLAN)

The Global Times pointed out: “Chinahas built the world’s first armed amphibi-ous drone boat, which military analysts saidcould be used in land assault operationsand is capable of forming a combat triadwith aerial drones and other drone ships.”

Named ‘Marine Lizard’, the drone leftthe factory in Wuhan in Hubei Province:“The 12-metre-long Marine Lizard is a tri-maran propelled by a diesel-powered hydro-jet and can reach a maximum speed of 50knots while maintaining stealth. Whenapproaching land, the amphibious droneship can release four continuous track unitshidden under its belly and travel at 20km/hour on land,” wrote a local newspaper.Another gadget, said to be capable of deliv-ering precision bombs, is the weirdlyshaped helicopter drone Blowfish A2. TheChinese Press said that it already “sparkedinterest from many countries’ militaries.”

In a statement from the Guangdong-

based Zhuhai Ziyan UAV com-pany, the manufacturerexplained: “The 1.87-m long,0.62-m tall helicopter dronehas a maximum take-off weightof 38 kilograms and is capableof carrying a 12-kilogram pay-load. In its strange belly-lessfuselage, the Blowfish A2 cancarry radar, jamming devices,guns or bombs under its spine.”The speed of the helicopterdrone is 130 km/hour.

The examples can be mul-tiplied. The most prestigious isundoubtedly the J-20 (orMighty Dragon), a single-seat,twin jet, all-weather, stealthfifth-generation fighter aircraftdeveloped by China’s ChengduAerospace Corporation. Thefirst aircraft was delivered to thePLA Air Force (PLAAF) inMarch 2017 and inducted inFebruary 2018. The J-20 is theworld’s third operational fifth-generation stealth fighter air-craft after the US F-22 and F-35.

In March 2016, on theoccasion of the third plenarysession of the National People’sCongress, President Xi Jinpingasked the PLA delegates to“pour efforts into developingcutting edge defence technol-ogy, which has strategic signif-icance.” Xi, who chairs thepowerful Central MilitaryCommission, affirmed: “Thecapability to innovate willdetermine the future of theChinese armed forces.”

In recent years, China hasbeen pouring funds into devel-

oping high-tech weapons; someof this armament is also beingexported. Another articlereported that the Chinese sci-entists continue to researchstealth and camouflage materi-als that can hide from a broadspectrum of electromagneticwaves, “after they successfullyfabricated a material that canhide a hot object from heat-sensing infrared cameras.”

The research, published inAmerican Chemical SocietyJournal, affirmed that the newmaterial, a kind of aerogelfilm, has good thermal insula-tion properties: “It is enhancedby coating its fibres with poly-ethylene glycol (PEG) and aprotective waterproof layer.”

One can also give the exam-ple of a new turbofan engine topower China’s carrier-basedstealth fighters, though the exactoutcome should perhaps betaken with a pinch of salt.According to The Global Times,a team of young researchers andaero engine designers receivedan award “for successfullydesigning and prototype testingof a new top-class turbofanengine that will help Chinesefighter jets take on theiradvanced foreign counterparts.”

The new engine may beinstalled on China’s new carri-er-based stealth fighter jets; theprevious aircraft had facedserious issues. The manufactur-ers’ statement said that this willhelp China rival advanced for-eign fighter jets.

Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military analyst, told TheGlobal Times: “With the newengine, China’s future advancedfighter jets will finally solve the‘heart problem’ …This is great,great news.” All this does notimply that the outcome of theChinese research will soon bereaching the level of the US orEuropean technology but itsimply means that the gapbetween China and the mostadvanced nations is being filledup …while India is left behind.

At the same time, all is notrosy in China. The Hong Kong-based South China MorningPost recently observed: “Theslowing Chinese economy maybe claiming some unexpectedvictims …Despite healthy cap-italisation, investors are findingthat some companies’ underly-ing technologies may not be asinnovative as hoped…”. In otherwords, the most innovative willbe the fittest to survive. Even iftomorrow China produces lessnew Baidu, Alibaba or Tencent,there is no doubt that the futurebelongs to those who innovate.

In Nehru’s socialistic world,research was a state monopoly,it can’t remain so forever. Theprivate sector, with itsdynamism, has no choice but toinvest large parts of its profitsin the future. The next IndianGovernment has lessons tolearn from China if it wantsIndia to become a great power.

(The writer is an expert onIndia-China relations)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Terror returns” (April 23).Terrorism is a threat to humani-ty. A series of blasts in Sri Lankathat ripped through high-endhotels and churches on EasterSunday is a sad reminder that theworld is not free from terrorism.It is necessary that the world com-munity stands united in fightingterror. While the UN needs toimpose sanctions on nations,who sponsor terrorists and allowit to be used as a state-policy,India needs to remain persistent-ly on guard.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Sir — It may be true that casteand religious considerations doinfluence the voting pattern inrural areas. But it is not the onlyreason. In rural areas, people gen-erally back people who are pop-ular locally so as to gain employ-ment opportunities and otherbenefits. In urban areas, peopleare generally well-informed aboutthe policies and work of political

parties and form strong opinionson parties.

TR AnandanCoimbatore

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Hindu nationalism: Ultimatetrump card” (April 24) by KalyaniShankar. In a recent interview,

Prime Minister Narendra Modihad said that he felt “a sense ofresponsibility.” But by fieldingPragya Singh Thakur, an accusedin the 2008 Malegaon blasts casewho is out on bail, the BJP hasshown to the world that this elec-tion, the party will brashly playthe Hindutva card.

One wonders how the BJP hasremained non-chalant about theSupreme Court’s recommendation

to Parliament to enact a “stronglaw” which would direct politicalparties to revoke the nominationsof candidates against whom“heinous and grievous” chargeshave been framed. In India, thereare many lawmakers who holdcriminal charges. Their place is notin State Assemblies or Parliament.

The Modi-led BJPGovernment has failed to deliv-er on almost all of its major elec-

tion promises of 2014. Now, theonly option for it to attract votesis to use Hindutva as a politicaltool. Further, given that theCongress nominated two-timeformer Chief Minister DigvijayaSingh as its candidate fromBhopal, the BJP felt the direneed to ratchet up a Hindutvacomponent by announcing thecandidature of Thakur in thesame constituency. In effect, theBJP has let short-term electoralgains dictate its policies.Unfortunately, this will only serveto divide the Indian societyirreparably in the long-run.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

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Sir — The world must unite tohelp Sri Lanka recover from thetragedy. In particular, India mustgo all out to help while also beingwatchful against terror elementsslipping into its own soil. The wayNew Zealand responded shouldbe a template.

AditiVia email

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It is now a universally-acknowledged fact thatIndia has shown spectacular performance infinancial inclusion and is now a guiding light for

the developing world. Several international surveysand studies have vouched for this. They also high-light the impressive gains made by women.Drumbeaters are excited about India climbing theladder of financial inclusion. According to the WorldBank’s Global Findex Survey (2017), 80 per cent ofadults in India now have a bank account — 27 pointshigher than the 53 per cent estimated in the Findex2014 count, which showed a 17-point addition tothe 2011 measure (35 per cent). Findex 2017 esti-mates that 77 per cent of Indian women now owna bank account against 43 per cent and 26 per centin 2014 and 2011. On this basic measure of finan-cial inclusion, females are more empowered thanbefore. The male-female difference, or the gendergap, in account ownership narrowed to 6.4 percent-age points in 2017; it was 19.8 in 2014.

However, a deeper view will reveal that thisgranular and rosy picture is tinted. While morewomen have been enrolled for bank accounts, a larg-er gender gap persists in account usage. And beyondaccount ownership, in terms of credit and insuranceusage, gender gap remains high. For example, femaleaccount owners showed 11 per cent point gap againstmen in terms of account usage; 54 per cent ofwomen with an account made no deposit or with-drawal in a year as compared to 43 per cent of men.The credit gender gap is more stark. Distributionof outstanding credit in small borrower accountsshowed 24.5 per cent share of female account own-ers against 72 per cent of men as on March 2017.

Financial inclusion of women is one of the manypowerful levers that can advance gender equality.Efforts to get more women signed up for accountshas seen good results in recent years as developmentagencies and Governments alike have stated focus-ing on financial products as a tool for poverty alle-viation and female empowerment. Despite increasedattention to financial inclusion for women, we havenot been able to translate these efforts into large-scale, meaningful progress. Significant change cancome only through focussed efforts fromGovernments and banks. It is here that increasingawareness can play a big role to bridge the gap.

Women have the power to make, spend, saveand control their money — they make gains not onlyfor themselves but also for their communities. It isnow a recognised fact that “women’s market” rep-resents numerous segments of clients — from low-income salaried workers (factory and domestic) andlow-income self-employed women in the informalsector to women who work in agricultural valuechains to small and medium enterprises.

Gender characteristics shape cultural beliefs,which, in turn, impact women’s attitudes aboutmoney and finances. The top barriers that constrainwomen’s effective financial inclusion are: Not hav-ing enough money to invest; unexpected expens-es; not knowing whom to trust; inability to main-tain balance between spending and saving so as toachieve a healthy balance between short-term needsand long-term goals; being overwhelmed by choic-es when it comes to financial options; and not under-standing financial jargon. More broadly, these bar-riers break down into three categories: Insufficientknowledge, insecurity and lack of control. Moreover,woman customers continue to be served by gener-

ic products that are only superficially tai-lored to their needs.

Women face several barriers towardstheir path to financial inclusion: Limitedaccess to mobile phones, low literacy lev-els, less confidence in using technologyand restrictions on travel or social inter-action. We need to address these throughbehavioural and reformist approachesinstead of the usual hardware-basedapproach so that demand and supply sidebarriers faced by them in accessingfinance are eliminated. A simple all-embracing broadest possible definition offinancial inclusion for women wouldinclude not just access to services andcredit but meaningful use of valuable andinnovative financial products to buildsecurity and prosperity.

Women’s participation in the finan-cial system can have significant benefitsin terms of economic growth, greaterequality and societal well-being. Whenwomen are empowered as economicactors, benefits touch everyone. Womenhave more child-centered preferences thanmen. Access and usage of financial ser-vices are levers for increasing their par-ticipation in the economy. This enhancestheir self-confidence and gives them thepower to make financial decisions, thusresulting in large development payoffs.

In short, financial inclusion enableswomen to smooth consumption, ensuresecurity, increase saving and investmentrates, lower financial risks and facilitatenew livelihood and income opportunitiesfor the family. It enhances financialresilience for low-income women. Further,there are several barriers that constrain thefull inclusion of women in formal finance.Product-driven financial literacy is nec-essary to ensure that poor women are notshort-changed. While financial productshave their benefits, there is a clear dan-

ger of mis-selling that can damage mar-ginalised segments, who have an uncer-tain cash flow. The philosophy shared bythe financial inclusion community is thatengagement creates knowledge, whichcreates confidence. The goal must be toensure that women become confidentfinancial stewards, make wise decisions forthemselves, their families and the world.Women are more discerning customers,asking for more information before buy-ing products and services than men.

Financial products are often notdesigned, distributed or bundled to meetthe needs of women. They are usuallytasked with stretching the family budgetin times of financial hardship. Providingmicro credits or a small affordable andaccount-linked overdraft can help womencover their day-to-day household emer-gencies. Women’s financial needs andresponsibilities require bundled solu-tions of savings, credit and insurance.

Professionals and practitioners haveput forth some silent features of financialproducts and services that foster women’sactive participation in formal finance.They found that women do not have asmooth financial journey and have moreinterruptions and life-stages in theirfinancial lives (withdrawal from employ-ment during pregnancy and in medicalemergencies for nursing sick familymembers). They may remain active usersof the accounts during these periods.Women should be able to reactivate theiraccounts without much hassles or penal-ties. Women are also more price-pointsensitive and expect affordable fees.

Women clients, particularly in ruralareas, find interacting with male staff atbanks an intimidating experience and maynot trust them. Banks are not consideredpart of their trusted service providers. Toovercome such psychological barriers,

financial institutions can increase womenstaff and appoint dedicated people to servewomen customers because most of themhave a preference for a non-inhibitingenvironment.

Women customers are likelier toentrust such a retailer with their finances.Women look for a consistently high-qual-ity experience and the qualities they lookinclude: Trustworthiness, understand-ing, dependability and accessibility. In fail-ing to develop client experiences rootedin men and women’s fundamentally dif-ferent perspectives on finance, financialservices institutions are missing a signif-icant business opportunity. Employingmore women as bank tellers or mobilemoney agents can make it easier forwomen to board financial services.Women want financial services to bedelivered to them by someone who expe-riences similar issues as them. The coun-try has only five per cent women as busi-ness correspondents. India has 8.7 millionSHGs comprising more than 100 millionwomen members. The number of SHGsin the business correspondent spaceneeds to be stepped up.

To make financial inclusion forwomen more relevant and meaningful, wealso need to educate men about the pecu-liarities and needs of the female lot.Inadequacies of focussing on women inisolation have long been recognised:Women live in communities, they live infamilies and with men. Abstractingwomen from their social realities distortsour understanding of the relational natureof gendered power and the interdepen-dency of women and men. This has astrong bearing on women’s motivations,choices and possibilities.

(The writer is Member, NITI Aayog’sNational Committee on Financial Literacyand Inclusion for Women)

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The spectre of climate changehas spread its tentacles farbeyond the ambit of the envi-

ronment. As global warming andGreen House Gas emissions scalenew heights, their aftershocks arebeing felt across new quarters.According to a recent StanfordUniversity study, global warminghas increased economic inequalitysince the 1960s. Changes in temper-ature caused due to climate changehave not only enriched cooler coun-tries like Norway and Sweden butalso dragged down economicgrowth of warmer countries such asIndia and Nigeria. These observa-tions are disturbing since Indiaspecifically features in the report.

According to the study, Canadaand Norway witnessed per capitagrowth of more than 30 per cent dueto global warming. On the otherhand, economies of India and Sudanhave become over 30 per cent small-er than what it would have been ifthere was no global warming.

Researchers at the universityexamined 50 years of annual tem-perature data as well as GDP from165 countries during the same timeperiod to analyse effects of temper-ature fluctuations on economicgrowth. By looking at 20 differentclimate models, the team deter-mined how much each nation hadalready warmed between 1961 to2010. The team also calculated20,000 versions of what a nation’seconomic output would have beenif climate change was not a factor.Post the examination of the data,researchers came to the conclusionthat crop yield and people’s healthare better when it’s neither too hotnor too cold.

This means that in countrieswhich witness cold conditions, lit-tle warming can help. The opposite

is true for places that are warm. So,ironically, countries with high his-torical emissions are among thosethat have enjoyed the highest percapita GDP and fastest economicgrowth since the 1960s. On theother hand, global warmingreduced per capita income in thepoorest countries by 17-30 percent. The researchers claimed thatclimate change has brought few ofthe largest economies to perfecttemperature for economic output,while some smaller nations aretaking the hit.

However, the good news fordeveloped economies is only shortlived for if uncontrolled globalwarming continues, it will push thebig economies further away fromthe ideal temperature optimum,thus changing the entire econom-ic scenario again. So, even thoughthe impacts of rising global temper-atures may seem smaller year toyear, they can yield dramatic gainsor losses over the next 30 to 50years. The study emphasised on theimportance of improving sustain-able energy access for the purpose

of economic development of thepoorer countries.

No matter how climate changefuels economic inequalities, it is alsotrue that economic and socialinequalities, too, are exacerbatingclimate change conditions. It is, infact, a vicious cycle. In order toarrive at a sustainable solution, it iscrucial to understand that socialand economic inequality itself canact as drivers of climate change.

Several researches in the pastfew decades have shown thatunequal societies inflict more envi-ronmental damage than more eco-nomical ones. One key issue that isstill being overlooked is how envi-ronmental degradation and cli-mate change are the toxic byprod-ucts of our inequality problem.

There is also an urgent need toget a grasp of the link between cli-mate change and inequality. Manypeople, who live in low-incomecommunities, for example, cannotafford to retrofit their homes tomake them more energy-efficient.Meaning, they use more powerthan necessary, thus generating

more pollution. Strategies for controlling cli-

mate change and ensuring econom-ic equality that are in consonancewith environmental principles haveto be tailor-made and region spe-cific. This due to the fact thatevery country and region has itsown peculiarities and differentiat-ing features.

India must understand that glob-al policies to control climate changeand ensure economic equality are notdirectly applicable for conditionsover here. The problem of poverty isdeep-rooted in our country and canonly be weeded out through a cus-tomised solution. To ensure that cli-mate change does not further wreakeconomic havoc, the agriculturalsector would have to be insulatedagainst the vagaries of climate change.

Additionally, the impact of cli-mate change in urban India willhave to be valued economically anddamage assessments must be doneat regular intervals. This is crucialbecause one cannot improve some-thing when it is not quantified.

The Government must also

embark on an awareness campaignthat seeks to educate the peopleabout their financial well-being.They must be told that their posi-tion in the society is dependent ontheir carbon footprint. This willencourage the masses to seek envi-ronmentally-friendly solutions fortheir energy and transportationneeds. An aware population that hasembarked on an eco-friendly way oflife can turn the clock back on cli-mate change and start restoring thetemperatures to previous levels.All of this is possible through ahybrid collaboration of the legisla-ture and the judiciary.

Socio-economic inequalities as aresult of climate change are not newand were long expected. What is con-cerning though is the alarming rateat which this is taking place, leavingno room for evasive action byhumanity. This is worrisome and hasto be resolved at the earliest. Thebeginning, as always, will have to beat the grassroot level by adopting sus-tainable development solutions.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Congress general secretaryand UP east in-charge

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra onWednesday hit out at theBharatiya Janata Party andPrime Minister Narendra Modifor questioning the achieve-ments of the Congress in the past 50 years and wenton to dub Modi as ‘PradhanPrachar Mantri’.

In a tweet, Priyanka alsoaccused the BJP of “wastingdrinking water” to clean roadsin Banda, an arid town inUttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhandregion. Priyanka’s attack onModi and the BJP came a dayahead of the Prime Minister’svisit to Banda on Thursday.

“Water from tankers wasbeing used to clean roads to wel-come our Pradhan PracharMantri (chief publicity minister).This is happening at a time whenthe entire Bundelkhand, menand women living there, school-going children, crops, birds andanimals are facing the spectre ofdrought,” Priyanka tweeted.

“Is he a ‘chowkidar’ (watch-

man) or a ‘shahenshah’ (emper-or) coming from Delhi?” askedthe Congress leader in hertweet. Later, addressing a pollrally in Khaga town ofFatehpur, Priyanka attackedModi for questioning theCongress work in the last 50years. “The BJP is not sayingwhat they have done in the pastfive years but questioning whatNehru had done, what IndiraGandhi had done in the past 50years,” she said.

Priyanka claimed that nei-ther the BJP had any policy nordoes it have any intention to

develop the country. “Thementality of the BJP is just toattack my family as all speech-es of their leaders’ revolvearound Congress,” she said.

On Congress’ promise togive Rs 72,000 every year to thepoor, Priyanka said, “It is theBJP leaders who are spreadinglies that our NYAY scheme is ajumla. We have worked on itand my brother Rahul Gandhiis committed to fulfilling thepromise.”

The Congress leader did notspare the Prime Minister for hisinterview to Bollywood actor

Akshay Kumar, saying, “Nowthe PM is only interested in giv-ing interviews to big actors, toshowcase how big he is.’’

Reiterating her allegationthat the PM did not visit anyvillage of his Varanasi parlia-mentary constituency, Priyankasaid Modi had no concern forpoor in his constituency.

The Congress leader saidthough the Prime Ministercalled himself a ‘chowkidar’,everybody knew that only therich could afford ‘chowkidars’.

Priyanka appealed the vot-ers to help her and her partycandidates to end the politics of‘divisiveness and negativity’and teach the BJP a lesson inthe Lok Sabha election.

“Change the governmentnot only for your needs, but foryour future generations andsave the country as the coun-try is in danger. Remove thepolitics of divisiveness andnegativity, and usher in politicswhich speaks about you, yourgrievances and makes efforts toredress them. Do not to go fora person who speaks lies anddoes not work for you,” theCongress leader said.

“The reality of the BJP’spolitics is that farmers, youth,women and workers feelexploited, so wake up. Onceyou are awake, these people willnot be able to destroy thecountry,” she said.

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The fourth phase of electionsin Uttar Pradesh will focus

more on political personalitiesthan on parties in the 13 LokSabha seats where polling willbe held on April 29.

The 13 seats are Kannauj,Shahjahanpur, Lakhimpur,Hardoi, Misrikh, Unnao,Farukkhabad, Etawah, Kanpur,Akbarpur, Jalaun, Jhansi andHamirpur.

Among theseShahjahanpur, Hardoi, Misrikh,Etawah and Jalaun are reservedseats. For the Bahujan SamajParty (BSP), the five reservedseats provide a major challengesince the BSP has been losing on

reserved seats over the years.In 2014, the BJP had won

all seats, barring Kannauj,where Dimple Yadav had wonon a Samajwadi ticket, albeitwith a slender margin.

Dimple Yadav now facesthe challenge of retaining herseat in face of the tough chal-lenge posed to her by BJP can-didate Subrat Pathak. If DimpleYadav manages to retain theseat for her party for the eightconsecutive times, she willhave a lot to thank the BSP forher win.

In Farukkhabad, it is for-mer union Minister SalmanKhurshid who is battling tomake a comeback into centrestage politics. After his defeat

in 2014, Khurshid has beenkeeping a low profile and hissupporters want to see himback in action.

After denying MurliManohar Joshi the ticket, theBJP is facing a tough challengein Kanpur. Uttar PradeshMinister Satyadev Pachauri,contesting the seat, is facingresistance from party cadres,making the electoral battle eas-

ier for Congress candidate andformer union Minister ShriPrakash Jaiswal.

In Etawah, the BJP hasfielded its MP from Agra, RamShankar Katehria. This hasagain left the cadres upset.The denial of ticket to sittingMP Ashok Dohre, who is nowthe Congress candidate on thesame seat, is another factor thatis troubling the BJP.

Ashok Dohre said,“I am thankful to theCongress and theresults will prove thatthe scales have tilted inmy favour.”

In Unnao, BJP MPSakshi Maharaj, knownfor his controversialremarks, is seeking re-election but AnnuTandon of Congress is givinghim a run for his votes.

Sakshi Maharaj, however, isboisterously over-confident andsays, “Every person with aconscience and a golden heartwill vote for me. I am going toget elected with a record mar-gin this time.”

In Shahjahanpur, the BJP

has denied ticket to its unionminister Krishna Raj andreplaced her with Arun Sagarthat has made party workersrecede into their homes.

This phase, in fact, is rathertroublesome for the BJP sinceit has changed six of the 12 can-didates, causing ripples of dis-content among its cadres.

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Though elections to the 38Lok Sabha and 18 assembly

constituencies in Tamil Nadugot over on April 18, the heat and dust generated duringthe poll are yet to settle downin the State.

Tamil Nadu is in for yetanother bout of bypolls as fourmore Assembly constituencieswould elect their representativesto the State Assembly on May19. The results of these bypollswould be declared on May 23simultaneously with that of the38 Lok Sabha and 18 Assemblypolls which were held on April 18.

Bypolls for two constituen-cies (Thirupparankundram andSulur ) were necessitated by thedeath of the sitting members,while the remaining two con-stituencies (Aravakurichi andOttapidaram) saw the disqual-ification of the legislators by the

Speaker of the House under the provisions of the Anti-Defection Law.

Despite the support of 134AIADMK MLAs in a housewhich has an effective strengthof 234 members, the EdappadiPalaniswamy Government wasalways under the threat ofTTV Dhinakaran, the lonemember of the AMMK whohad declared from day one thathis ‘sleeper cells’ in the treasurybenches would strike at theright time and bring down thegovernment. But over the lastone year, Dhinakaran hasstopped speaking about thesleeper cells while it is theDMK which has upped theante with claims of change ofGovernment in the State.

The DMK which has 97MLAs in its bench should win21 of the 22 seats for which by-polls are held to touch themagic figure of 118 for gov-ernment formation. Even hard-core DMK supporters do not

share the optimism of partychief MK Stalin who claims ateach and every opportunitythat the end of the AIADMKGovernment is near.

Senthil Balaji, the DMKcandidate for the Aravakurichiassembly constituency whofiled his nomination paper onWednesday said that TamilNadu would see a change ofgovernment immediately afterMay 23, the day when resultsare declared. “The DMK will

win all the 22 by-elections andStalin would be sworn in aschief minister,” said Balaji, whohad returned to the DMK aftera stint with the AIADMK andthe AMMK .

Enthused and energisedby the results of the opinionpolls held be certain privateagencies which claimed that theDMK would make a cleansweep in the election, Stalinand some of the senior leadershave even started the processfor forming the government,said a source close to the partyleadership. Udhayanidhi andSabari, son and son-in-law ofStalin are the persons entrust-ed with the task of selecting theMLAs to be sworn in ministers.

Some of the bureaucratsand leaders of Tamil NaduGovernment Employees andTeachers Organisation (afrontal organisation of theDMK) have started lobbyingfor positions at theGovernment Secretariat.

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Renowned theatre personal-ity and film actor

Naseeruddin Shah who is vocalin criticising Modi ledGovernment feels space forrational debate has disappeared.In a brief chat on Wednesday attheatre Ranga Shankara inBengaluru Naseeruddin Shahfeels sad about disappearingspace for rational expression.However he was very firm andsaid he stood by his earlierstatements which were sub-jected to right wing criticism.

He said, “Anything you saytoday becomes controversial.The space for rational debatehas just disappeared. I don’twant say anything. So far whatI have said I stand by it. I standby all my previous statements;I don’t want to make any fur-ther statements because myfamily and I have been put tolot of harassment”. “ I don’twant to get in to any sort ofcontroversies or create the con-troversies. And I have lot to doinside the theatre,” he added.

On Modi’s biopic he said itlooks hilarious. He said “Wemake terrible biopic. As youmust have seen the biopic ofMilka Singh. It’s bogus andfalse. And there is Dhoni oneI did not bother tosee. And I don’tthink we make goodbio picks. I don’tthink we should doit. Modi’s it lookspretty hilarious.That’s all I can say asI have seen only thetrailer”.

Na s e e r u d d i nShah made manystatements against

the divide created by the BJPand vehemently criticised theintention of divide of Hindusand Muslims. He had said hewas worried for children intoday’s India. He’s worriedbecause he imagines a situationwhere his children may be sur-rounded by an angry mob andasked: “Are you Hindu orMuslim?”

“My children will have noanswer,” Naseeruddin Shahsays, “Because we chose not togive a religious education toour children.”NaseeruddinShah also says that there is a“poison” that has spread in theIndian society. “It will be verydifficult to capture this djinn(genie) back into the bottle.”

“There is completeimpunity for those who takethe law into their own hands,”Naseeruddin says. “We havealready witnessed that thedeath of a cow has more sig-nificance [in today’s India]than that of a police officer.”

Recently he was one of thesignatories of artists askingpeople to vote against BJP.

He is in Bengaluru to per-form the play “Father” along withhis troupe. The play has hadthree-month-long runs inSeptember 2017 and 2018 at theNCPA, Mumbai, and November

to December 2017 atPrithvi Theatre,Mumbai. Written byFrench novelist-play-wright Florian Zellerand translated byBritain’s ChristopherHampton, The Father isan emotional play aboutDementia, and how amental dysfunction canaffect both the suffererand carer.

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BJP president Amit Shah onWednesday tore into the

Rahul Gandhi-led Congressand its allies accusing them ofbeing soft on terror and of tac-itly approving Kashmirs seces-sion from India.

Shah also lambasted theCongress for coming up withpromises of scrapping theArmed Forces Special PowersAct (AFSPA) and abolition ofsedition law in its poll mani-festo and declared that suchmoves would be stoutlyopposed by the BJP even if itwas no longer in power.

The BJP chief was on awhirlwind election tour of Biharwhere he spoke at three back-to-back rallies at Munger,Begusarai and Ujiyarpur in asmany Lok Sabha constituencies.In Munger, BJP’s ally JD(U)candidate Rajiv Ranjan SinghLallan, a close associate ofChief Minister Nitish Kumar isin the fray. Union MinisterGiriraj Singh is trying his luckfrom Begusarai while atUjiyarpur in Samastipur districtstate BJP president NityanandRai is the NDA nominee.

When elections were beingheld in Jammu & Kashmir, lead-ers of the National Conferencewhich is a Congress ally cameout with the demand that thepost of Prime Minister berestored in that State. “For thepast fortnight, I have been chal-lenging the Congress to comeclean on the issue. But Rahul issilent and so is his allies like Laluand Rabri Devi (RJD leaders,allies of the Congress in Bihar)”,Shah said at his rally in Ujiyarpur.

Can any country havemore than one Prime Minister.The Congress and its allieswant Kashmir to secede fromIndia. It is for the voters todecide whether it is acceptable,

Shah alleged referring to for-mer J&K Chief Minister OmarAbdullahs controversial state-ment favoring restoration of theoffice of Wazir-e-Azam.

With the surgical strikesafter Uri terror attack and the airstrikes after Pulwama, Indiafound itself on par with the USand Israel which are known toact tough against terrorism.But the leaders of the Congressmade faces as if a tragedy hadbefallen on them. Their facialexpressions resembled those ofthe Pakistanis. Were terroristsblown to smithereens by ourarmed forces cousins of theseOpposition leaders, Shah asked.

Let Rahul hear and let Laluhear inside his prison cell, youare free to do Ilu Ilu (a famousBollywood song of the 1990sthat abbreviated the expressionI love you) with terrorists. Butat present Narendra Modi is thePrime Minister and he is goingto assume power again. Evenwhen the BJP was no longer inpower, every worker of theparty will oppose your designsagainst AFSPA and sedition law.

“Rahul Gandhi will not beable to do as he pleases in hislifetime. We will ensure thatafter him if another Gandhirises to power, he too does notplay with national interests,Shah said evoking frenziedreactions from the crowds.

Earlier, speaking atBegusarai where Union ministerGiriraj Singh is in a triangularcontest with CPIs KanhaiyaKumar and RJDs TanveerHussain, Shah launched a caus-tic attack on the former JNU stu-dents union president, who isfacing sedition charge. You mustteach a lesson to this ‘namoona’(sample). Defeat this member ofthe tukde tukde gang and sendhim back to Delhi for cooling hisheels, Shah said without men-tioning the CPI candidate byname.

New Delhi: The ElectionCommission is examiningPrime Minister NarendraModi’s remarks urging youth tovote in the name of those whocarried out Balakot air strikes,but its grievance redressal por-tal shows that the complainthas been “resolved”.

Now, the Commission hassought an explanation from theconcerned returning officerfor the error.

“The status should haveshown that the matter hasbeen referred to ElectionCommission headquarters. Butthe entry reflected that thecomplaint as resolved ... It isbeing rectified,” explained asenior EC functionary.

An explanation has beensought from the concernedofficial the functionary said.

PTI

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The Election Commissionwill “soon” take a decision on

complaints regarding politicalleaders invoking armed forces incampaigns, highly-placedsources said on Wednesday.

While the commission hadasked Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath to becareful in his utterances infuture on his “Modi ji ki sena”remarks, it is examining reportson comments made by PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andBJP president Amit Shah on thearmed forces.

Union Minister MukhtarAbbas Naqvi was also asked tobe careful in future for his“Modi ji ki sena” remarks.

The EC had sought reportson Modi and Shah in the con-text of its advisory issued lastmonth asking parties to desistfrom indulging in political

propaganda involving actionsof the armed forces.

“...Parties/candidates areadvised that their campaign-ers/candidates should desist, aspart of their election cam-paigning, from indulging in anypolitical propaganda involvingactivities of defence forces,” thecommission said on March 19.

“Decision will be takensoon. The commission is exam-ining the matter,” highly-placedsources said. On Tuesday,Deputy Election CommissionerChandra Bhushan Kumar,responding to a question onShah’s reported remarks on‘Modi ji ki vayu sena’ made inWest Bengal on Monday, hadsaid, “details have to be col-lected which will come in a dayor two”.

Responding to a volley ofquestions on ‘delay’ on the partof the commission in finalisingits response on the prime min-

ister’s remarks in Latur,Maharashtra on April 9 urgingyoung voters to cast ballot in thename of heroes of Balakot airstrike, Chandra Bhushan Kumarhad said, before taking a deci-sion, the EC looks into the issuein its “entirety”.

Initially, he said, districtauthorities had sent only therelevant paragraph of the PM’sspeech. “The officials there aregood in English and Marathi.But Hindi is an issue. When wedemanded, a certified tran-script was sent to us on April16. The matter is (now) underexamination,” he said.

Asked why in some cases theEC has taken decisions imme-diately and why was it delayingin other matters, another DeputyElection Commissioner SandeepSaxena said the EC takes decisionafter looking into various aspectssuch as model code of conduct,legal angle.

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Firing a fresh salvo at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,

Congress president RahulGandhi on Wednesday accusedhim of shielding the interest of“15 selected people” and leav-ing “high and dry” farmers andthe poor.

Rahul was addressing anelection rally here to boost theprospects of the party’s candi-date for the Kheri Lok Sabhaseat Zafar Ali Naqvi and itsnominee for the NighasanAssembly bypoll Atal Shukla.

Claiming that Modi duringhis last visit to Kheri hadassured farmers in UttarPradesh that they will get theirsugarcane dues within 14 days,the Congress chief asked, “Hasany assurance come true in fiveyears?” “Narendra Modi in2014 made a number of falseassurances of ‘achhe din’ (bet-ter days), of two crore jobs, ofRs 15 lakh in every bankaccount but none of themcame true,” he said.

Taking a jibe at Modi forreferring to himself as “chowki-

dar (watchman)”, Rahulalleged, “This chowkidar oblig-ed 15 selected people during hisfive-year term but told sugar-cane farmers that cane-farmingcaused sugar (diabetes).”

The diabetes remark is,however, mostly attributed toUttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath. Raking up theRafale issue, the Congress chiefsaid, “Anil Ambani, who nevermanufactured an airplane, wasawarded with a Rs 30,000 crorecontract, but cane farmers weretold that cane-farming causedsugar (diabetes) when theydemanded their dues.”

The Government hasrepeatedly denied any corrup-tion in the Rafale deal.Elaborating on his party’s min-imum income guarantee ‘Nyay’scheme, Rahul said, “Thescheme was pronounced afterdue consultation with econo-mists and think-tanks.”

“The scheme will provideannually Rs 72,000 in individ-ual bank accounts of 25 crorepoor people,” he said. Theparty has promised to give anannual income support of Rs

72,000 to poor families underthe scheme, if voted to power,even as the BJP claimed ‘Nyay’will “ruin” fiscal discipline andthe Congress will impose newtaxes on the middle class tofinance it.

“The scheme has beenthoroughly discussed and ifcrores of rupees owed by AnilAmbani, Vijay Malya, NiravModi and Mehul Choksi can bewaived, then Rs 3,60,000 crorefor five crore families underNyay can also be afforded,”Rahul said in a bid to allay fearsabout the scheme’s feasibility.

He said, “Unlike noteban-di (demonetisation) and‘Gabbar Singh Tax’ by ModiGovernment which disturbedthe economy and employment,Nyay will benefit the economyby enhancing demand for con-sumer goods and thus, boost-ing the manufacturing sectorand employment.”

The Congress chief hasoften termed the Goods andServices Tax (GST) as ‘GabbarSingh Tax’. The Congress’smanifesto reflects the views andsuggestions of the common

people and not “mann ki baat”,Rahul said taking a swipe atModi’s monthly radio broad-cast. He said as per suggestionsfrom the people, the Congressmanifesto provides no jail termfor farmers who default loans.

“Similarly, the Congresshas decided to present a sepa-rate budget for farmers so thatthey can know about MSP(minimum support price),bonus and cane dues inadvance,” the Congress chiefsaid. He promised the youthsthat if the Congress is voted topower, the Centre will fill up 22lakh Government vacancieswithin a year after assumingoffice, besides employing 10lakh youths in panchayats.

Rahul also assured them“to scrap permission for newentrepreneurship for initialthree years to boost selfemployment.” Raising the issueof stray cattle in UP, he said,“The Modi Government hasmade every farmer chowkidarof their crops and he (PM)himself became the chowkidarof Ambani.”

He claimed that his party

will form government at theCentre and that “after the LokSabha polls, the next target was(UP) Assembly elections (in2022) to ensure that the Stateis at the top in education,health and employment as

before.” Earlier, Congress gen-eral secretary in-charge of westUP Jyotiraditya Scindia madea scathing attack on the Modiand Adityanath Governmentsand accused them of ignoringthe farmers and youths.

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SP chief Akhilesh Yadav onWednesday lashed out at the

Congress over its “big ego”while continuing his attack onthe BJP, suggesting that voterswill walk away this time fromthe tea being offered by the‘chaiwala’ Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Mocking Modi at a publicmeeting in Hardoi, he saidpeople voted for the ‘chaiwala’in 2014. “As you know the tasteof the tea now, will you vote forhim again?” the SamajwadiParty president asked.

He also called the PrimeMinister a “prachar mantri”, ora publicity minister. At hisKanpur rally, Yadav sharpenedhis attack against the Congress,which has been kept out by theSP and the Bahujan Samaj

Party from their alliance inUttar Pradesh for the LokSabha elections.

“Like the BJP, the Congresstoo believes in threateningpolitical opponents,” he said.

“We had an alliance with the Congress, but foundthat their ego is too big,” Yadav said.

The SP had an under-standing with the Congressduring the 2017 Uttar PradeshAssembly elections.

In the ongoing Lok Sabhaelections, the alliance of the SP,the Bahujan Samaj Party andthe Rashtriya Lok Dal hasshunned it.

However, the alliancedecided not to field any candi-date from Rae Bareli andAmethi, the bastions held byCongress leaders Sonia Gandhiand Rahul Gandhi.

Varanasi: PrimeMinister NarendraModi will hold a road-show and take part inthe Ganga ‘aarti’ onThursday, a day beforehe files his nomina-tion papers from thisUttar Pradesh con-stituency, a partyfunctionary said.

The nomination on Fridaywill also see a show of strengthwith several BJP allies, includ-ing Shiv Sena’s UddhavThackeray and Janata Dal-United’s Nitish Kumar, expect-ed to accompany Modi whenhe files the papers.

The roadshow will begin ataround 3 pm after the PrimeMinister garlands the statue ofBanaras Hindu Universityfounder Madan MohanMalaviya, according to the

schedule availablenow.

The processionwill end at about 7pm at theD a s h a s hw a m e d hGhat, the mostprominent ofVaranasi’s ghats,where Modi will take

part in the evening prayers.On Friday, the PM will

hold a meeting at 9 am withBJP workers at a hotel in thecantonment area. He will thenoffer prayers at the KaalBhairav temple before leavingfor the collectorate to file hispapers, seeking re-electionfrom the Lok Sabha seat.

Senior leaders from theBJP and other parties in theNational Democratic Alliancewill accompany Modi to thecollectorate. PTI

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General OfficerCommanding (GOC) of

the Srinagar-based 15 Corps,Lt Gen Kanwal Jeet SinghDhillon, on Wednesday saidafter the elimination of overone dozen top commanders ofPakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit,(cat-egorised as A+terrorists),postPulwama attack, no one inKashmir Valley is coming for-ward to take over the leader-ship in the Valley.

Addressing a joint Pressconference with the DirectorGeneral of J&K Police, DilbaghSingh in Srinagar, Lt-GenDhillon said, “post Pulwamaattack we have “targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader-ship across Kashmir Valley”. Hesaid,”the situation now is thatno one is coming forward totake over the leadership ofJeM in the valley.

“Even after Pakistan’s bestefforts, we will continue to sup-press JeM, especially afterPulwama,” he said.

“Operations against theterrorists will continue with fullvigour and we will not let ter-rorism rise up,” the top Armycommander said.

Sharing details of CI oper-ations conducted so far in thisyear, Dhillon said, “as many as69 terrorists have been killedand 12 have been apprehend-ed this year. “Post Pulwama 41terrorists have been killed andout of them 25 belonged toJaish-e-Mohammed, 13 of

them were Pakistanis and 13were A+ Category terrorists,”he added.

During the Press briefing,Dilbag Singh revealed,

“Recruitment of local youthcontinues to be low, it is ahealthy sign. He said, in 2018,272 terrorists were eliminatedacross the State and a largenumber of them were appre-hended.”

After the Press briefingwas over, the State police alsoproduced a Pakistan basedLashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) ter-rorist in front of media.

LeT terrorist identified asMohammad Waqar Awan, aresident of Mohalla Miana inMianwali area of Punjab inPakistan, was arrested earlierthis week in Baramulla andparaded before the media at thePolice Control Room.

Senior Superintendent ofPolice (Baramulla), AbdulQayoom, said Awan had infil-trated in the Valley in July 2017.He was active in Handwara

(area of north Kashmir’sKupwara district). For the lastabout two years, he was activein different places of Srinagar.When he was returning toBaramulla, he was interceptedat a naka (check post).However, the driver of hisvehicle rammed it into policevehicle and sped away.

Police chased them andabout 1.5 km away from thenaka, they left their vehicle onthe road and tried to flee, butwere apprehended. The driver,a conduit, is a Kashmiri. Wewill share further details whenwe have them, the SSP said atthe Press conference.

Qayoom said Awan’s pri-mary task was to revive mili-tancy in those areas whichhad been declared militancy-free. We had this input thatsince Baramulla was declared

free of militancy, they (militantleadership) were under pressure to revive the militan-cy there and that is why thesetwo were going to Baramulla,he said.

He said a pistol and someother things were recoveredfrom the Pakistani militantwhen he was arrested. Asked

about Awan’s activities inSrinagar, the SSP said he most-ly visited areas aroundSrinagar-Baramulla highwayand few areas in downtown theinterior areas of the city here.

“We are identifying andpinpointing more peopleinvolved with him,” Qayoomsaid.

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APakistani terrorist, whowas indoctrinated and

trained by 26/11 Mumbaiattacks mastermind ZakiurRehman Lakhvi, was arrestedfrom Baramulla district ofJammu & Kashmir, police saidhere on Wednesday.

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT)terrorist Mohammad WaqarAwan, who was tasked withreviving militancy in certainareas of the Kashmir Valley,was arrested earlier this weekand paraded before the mediaon Wednesday at the PoliceControl Room.

Awan, a resident ofMohalla Miana in Mianwaliarea of Punjab in Pakistan, wasindoctrinated by Lakhvi at hisresidence in Rawalpindi, offi-cials said. The initial armstraining to the Pakistani ter-rorist was also given by Lakhvi,who along with six others hasbeen charged by the Pakistaniauthorities with planning and

executing the Mumbai attacksin November, 2008 that left 166people dead. Lakhvi is cur-rently on bail, and the case ismoving very slowly.

Awan, known by alias of“Chota Dujana”, told reportersthat before he joined militan-cy, he was told that atrocitieswere being inflicted on the peo-ple of Kashmir by securityforces but he saw no suchthing in the Valley.

“I received training forfour months at a camp inMuzaffarabad. I was told thatatrocities are committed onchildren and women. Prayersare not allowed in mosques andhouses of Muslims aredestroyed,” he told reporters,adding he found that the con-ditions were different inKashmir. Police officials saidAwan’s arrest and “confession”is “live evidence” for Pakistanas to how youths are manipu-lated on its soil, prepared formilitancy and then sent here tojoin Jaish-e-Mohammad or

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba.Asked if he was involved in

any attacks in the valley, Awansaid, “I was not involved in anyattack.”

The Senior Superintendentof Police (SSP) of Baramulla,Abdul Qayoom, said Awanhad infiltrated into the valley inJuly 2017. “He was active inHandwara (area of northKashmir’s Kupwara district).

For the last about twoyears, he was active in differentplaces of Srinagar. When hewas returning to Baramulla, hewas intercepted at a naka(check post).

However, the driver of hisvehicle rammed it into policevehicle and sped away. “Policechased them and about 1.5 kmaway from the naka, they lefttheir vehicle on the road andtried to flee, but were appre-hended. The driver, a conduit,is a Kashmiri. We will sharefurther details when we havethem,” the SSP said at the pressconference.

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The Finance Ministry hasintroduced changes in the

e-way bill system, includingauto calculation of distancebased on PIN codes for gener-ation of e-way bill and block-ing generation of multiple billson one invoice, as it seeks tocrack down on GST evaders.

Touted as an anti-evasiontool, the electronic way or e-way bill was rolled out onApril 1, 2018, for moving goodsworth over �50,000 from onestate to another. The same forintra or within the state move-ment was rolled out in a phasedmanner from April 15.

With instances of mal-practices in e-way bill genera-tion getting detected, the rev-enue department decided torework the system for genera-tion of e-way bill by trans-porters and business.

The new enhanced systemwould come with auto-calcu-lation of distance between thesource and destination, basedon the PIN codes. The userwould be allowed to enter theactual distance as per themovement of goods, whichwill be limited to 10 per centmore than the auto calculateddistance displayed, according to

the e-way bill portal.For example, if the system

has displayed the distancebetween Place A and B, basedon the PIN codes, as 655 kms,then the user is allowed to enterthe actual distance covered upto 720 kms (655 kms + 65kms).

Besides, the Governmenthas decided not to permitgeneration of multiple e-waybills based on one invoice.This means, if the e-way billis generated once with a par-ticular invoice number, thennone of the parties — con-signor, consignee or trans-porter — can generate anoth-er e-way bill with the sameinvoice number.

The enhanced featurewould permit extension ofvalidity of the e-way bill when

the goods are in transit/move-ment.

The e-way bill portal,which has been developed bythe National InformaticsCentre (NIC), the country’spremier informatics servicesorganisation, would also gen-erate a report for users on thelist of e-way bills about toexpire.

This would help the user toanalyse the data and ensure thatthe goods reach the destinationwithin the valid time period.

Transporters of goodsworth over �50,000 would berequired to present e-way billduring transit to a GST inspec-tor, if asked. Failure to producean e-way bill can attract apenalty of �10,000 or amountof tax sought to be evaded,whichever is higher.

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Wi r e l e s sbroadband

subscriber basesurged to 532 mil-lion in February2019, onboarding10.2 million usersduring themonth, withReliance Jio cor-nering nearly 56per cent of theoverall wireless broadbandmarket, ICRA said.

“The wireless broadbandsubscriber base continues tomaintain its strong growth tra-jectory, increasing to 532 mil-lion in February 2019, or 45 percent of the total subscriberbase, witnessing addition of10.2 million during the month.R Jio leads the wireless broad-band market, with marketshare of 56 per cent, followedby Bharti and Vodafone-Idea at21 per cent each,” ICRA said inits latest report.

ICRA noted that 100 percent of Reliance Jio’s subscribersare broadband subscribers, whilethe same ratio for Vodafone-Ideastood at 27 per cent and forBharti at 32 per cent.

The wireless subscriberbase in India increased to1,183.7 million in February2019, adding 1.7 million sub-scribers over the previousmonth, the report said.

The active wireless sub-

scriber base remained steady at1,023 million. It added to thewireless broadband subscriberbase maintained strongmomentum, demonstrating agrowth of two per cent duringthe month of February.

“The growth in subscriberbase in February was primari-ly driven by RJio, which added7.8 million subscribers. State-owned BSNL or MTNL (BharatSanchar Nigam Ltd/MahanagarTelephone nigam Ltd) was theonly other telco gaining sub-scribers in the month, adding0.9 million users,” HarshJagnani, sector head and vicepresident — Corporate Ratings,ICRA said.

“The overall active sub-scriber base remained at 1,023million in February, as increasein RJio’s and BSNL or MTNL’sactive subscriber base has beenat the expense of other indus-try participants, who lost 10.4million active subscribers on acombined basis,” he added.

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The Reserve Bank has hasdivested its entire stake in

National Housing Bank (NHB)and the National Bank forAgriculture and RuralDevelopment (Nabard) for�1,450 crore and �20 crore,respectively.

The central bank sold stakein NHB on March 19, while itsold the stake in Nabard onFebruary 26, the bank said ina statement Wednesday.

“With this, theGovernment now holds 100percent stake in both thesefinancial institutions,” the RBIsaid.

Divestment has been doneon the recommendation of thesecond Narasimham commit-tee report and the discussionpaper prepared by the RBI on‘harmonizing the role andoperations of developmentfinancial institutions andbanks,’ the central bank said.

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US-based co-w o r k i n g

operator WeWorkon Wednesdaysaid it will offerjob opportunitiesto Jet Airwaysemployees, whowere affected bythe recent suspen-sion of operations.

Running intoa debt of morethan �8,500 crore,Jet Airways hasshut down opera-tions temporarilyafter lendersdecided againstextending emer-gency funds forits survival.

Cash-starvedJet Airways, which has around23,000 employees, has delayedpayment of salaries to theemployees, including pilots.

WeWork, in a statement,said it will actively consider jobapplications from Jet employ-ees for openings across mar-keting, community manage-ment and sales.

“In line with WeWork’s mis-sion to create a world where peo-ple work to make a life, not justa living, the company is openingup opportunities for jet employ-ees to be a part of the globalshared community,” it added.

WeWork said interested

candidates can send theirresumes to an email ID creat-ed specifically for applicationsfrom Jet employees, and theseprofiles will be considered onpriority for any of the openroles across verticals.

Lowe’s India — the tech-nology products and solutionscentre for $71.3 billion Lowe’sCompanies — has also offeredto recruit employees from theIT division of Jet Airways.

“We at Lowe’s India wel-come any employee of the ITdivision of Jet Airways to applyfor technology positions withus. Interested candidates can

send their resumes...And wewill fast-track the process toschedule a meeting with you,”it said in a statement.

SpiceJet Chairman AjaySingh has stated that the airlinehas absorbed nearly 1,000 JetAirways employees and willcontinue to hire more.

Startups like CureFit havealso stepped in to offer employ-ment to the distressed workersat Jet.

CureFit co-founder AnkitNagori had recently tweetedthat the company would beopen to hire candidates from Jet.

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The CBI has issued LookOut Circulars (LOCs)

against chairman of BhushanPower and Steel Limited SanjaySinghal and his wife Aarti,who is vice chairman of thecompany, in connection withcheating in loans worth over�2,348 crore, sources said.

The LOCs have beenopened recently to prevent anyattempt by the accused to leavethe country without permissionfrom the authorities, thesources said.

A look out circular is a let-ter used by authorities to keepa tab on an individual. TheImmigration authorities at allairports and entry-exit pointsacross the country will have toinform the CBI if Singhal andhis wife attempt to leave thecountry.

The agency had on April 6carried out searches at 18 loca-tions connected to the compa-ny after registering a case ofcheating amounting to �2,348

crore against Singhal and others.

Loans worth �47,204 crorewere availed from 33 banks andfinancial institutions from 2007to 2014 and the companydefaulted on their repayments,the CBI said.

The searches were carriedout in a number of cities,including the Delhi-NCR,Chandigarh, Kolkata, Odisha,at the office and residentialpremises of the company, itsdirectors and promoters andtheir associates in the bankfraud case.

The CBI has also alreadybooked Sanjay Singhal, AartiSinghal, directors Ravi PrakashGoyal, Ram Naresh Yadav,Hardev Chand Verma,Ravinder Kumar Gupta andone Ritesh Kapoor besidesunidentified public servants.

The company deliberatelydefaulted on repayment andalso claimed inadmissible cred-it causing a loss approximate-ly of over �2,348 crore to thebanks, the CBI had alleged.

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Giving relief to compositionscheme taxpayers under the

GST, the finance ministry hasallowed such businesses to file‘self-assessed tax’ return on quar-terly basis in a simplified form.

So far, businesses opting forcomposition scheme had to filetax returns every quarter inGSTR-4 which ran into aroundseven pages.

As per a Central Board ofIndirect Taxes and Customs(CBIC) notification, composi-tion scheme taxpayers will nowfile GSTR-4 annually by April30 for the previous financialyear ending March 31.

The CBIC has notified thesimplified ‘statement for pay-ment of self-assessed tax’ inForm GST CMP08 to be filedby taxpayers who have optedfor composition scheme, under

which businesses have to paylower rate of tax on theirturnover.

The CMP08, which has tobe filed by the 18th day of thesubsequent month followingthe end of a quarter, willinclude details like outwardsupplies, inward suppliesattracting reverse chargeincluding import of services;tax, interest payable; and taxesand interest paid.

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Music streaming app Gaanaexpects to double the

number of monthly active userson its platform to 200 millionin the next two years repre-senting around 50 per centshare in the overall market, atop official of the company saidWednesday.

“With increased competi-tion, the market stands at about160 million total online musiclisteners. That will go to 400million in the next two years.We will continue to be the mar-ket leader. We will get next 100million (monthly active) newlisteners in two years,” GaanaChief Executive OfficerPrashan Agarwal said on thesidelines of achieving 100 mil-lion monthly active users(MAUs).

He said the next 100 mil-lion MAU will come for thecompany from Tier-III townsand cities.

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The Centre has purchased55.17 lakh tonnes of

wheat from farmers in theongoing 2019-20 marketingyear so far, a senior FoodMinistry official said onWednesday.

Haryana and MadhyaPradesh have contributed themost to wheat procurement sofar, the official said.

The Centre has set thewheat procurement target at357 lakh tonnes for the 2019-20 marketing year (April-March) on hopes of a record1,000 lakh tonne productionthis year.

State-run FoodCorporation of India (FCI)along with state governmentagencies buy wheat at the min-imum support price to meetthe demand of welfare schemes.The Government has fixed thewheat MSP at �1,840 per quin-tal, up from �1,735 a year earlier.

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Colombo: Sri LankanGovernment on Wednesdayadmitted that "major" intelli-gence lapses led to the horrif-ic Easter Sunday blasts andasked two top security officialsto resign, even as the death tollin the coordinated attacks roseto 359 amidst a nationwidemanhunt to nab the perpetra-tors.

Nine Suicide bombers,believed to be members oflocal Islamist extremist groupcalled National ThowheedJamath (NTJ), carried out aseries of devastating blasts thattore through three churchesand three luxury hotels.

President MaithripalaSirisena has asked DefenceSecretary Hemasiri Fernandoand Inspector General ofPolice Pujith Jayasundara toquit after their failure to pre-vent the blasts despite havingprior intelligence.

Sirisena Tuesday nightpledged that he will makechanges in top positions in the

security establishment withinthe next 24 hours, saying thepeople were questioning whyaction had not been taken bythe top security officials despitethe availability of intelligencesupport from a friendly neigh-bouring country.

Meanwhile, several peoplesuccumbed to their injuriessustained in the blasts, takingthe death toll to 359.

"The number of death nowis 359," police spokesman

Ruwan Guansekera said.He said that the search

operations were being carriedout and so far 60 people, all SriLankan nationals, have beenarrested in connection with theattacks.

Many of the arrested peo-ple have suspected links to theNTJ, the group blamed for thebombings. However, the NTJhas not claimed responsibilityfor the attacks.

The Islamic State has

claimed responsibility for theattacks and identified the sevensuicide bombers who carriedout the devastating blasts.

Guansekera said that therewere nine suicide bombersincluding a woman involved inthe bombings. "Eight of themhave been identified," headded.

Top officials have acknowl-edged that Sri Lanka receivedintelligence about possible ter-ror strikes ahead of the attacks,but both President Sirisenaand Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe have said thatthey did not receive the infor-mation.

State Minister of DefenceRuwan Wijewardene acknowl-edged that there had been"major" lapses in the securityarrangements.

"We (the government)have to take the responsibility,"he said.

"Some of them (the attack-ers), in earlier incidents, hadbeen taken into custody (after)

small skirmishes, but nothingof this magnitude,"Wijewardene told reportershere.

Intelligence suggested thatthe attackers were motivated bythe Christchurch shootings,the minister said.

"One of the suicidebombers studied overseas.Most of them are well-educat-ed, and come from maybemiddle-class or upper-mid-dle-class. So they are finan-cially quite independent andtheir families are quite stablefinancially.

"We believe that one of thesuicide bombers studied inthe UK and maybe later on didhis post-graduate in Australia,before coming back to settle inSri Lanka," he said.

Wijewardena said the mul-tiple bomb attacks were carriedout by a splinter group of theNTJ. The group had differ-ences and the final attack wascarried out by a group that leftthe main NTJ, he added.

Local and internationalmedia reported that India andthe US provided specific warn-ings about terror attacks to SriLanka, ahead of the EasterSunday bombings.

However, US Ambassadorto Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitzsaid, "We had no prior knowl-edge of these attacks."

Meanwhile, police said thatas many as 34 foreign nation-als who lost their lives havebeen identified.

Of them, 10 are fromIndia, three from Denmark,one each from Japan, theNetherlands, Portugal,Bangladesh, Spain, two eachfrom China, Saudi Arabia,Turkey, six from the UK, twoholding the US and the UKnationalities and two holdingAustralian and Sri Lankannationalities, officials said.

The mortal remains of nineout of 10 Indians have beensent to India, according to theIndian High Commission inColombo. PTI

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Colombo: A senior Sri LankanMuslim leader on Wednesdaydismissed as "nonsense" theGovernment's view that thedeadly attacks on Easter Sundayon churches and luxury hotelsmay have been a retaliation forlast month's massacre ofMuslims in two mosques inNew Zealand.

Addressing an emergencysession of Parliament on Tuesdayto discuss the country's worst ter-ror attacks, state minister ofdefence Ruwan Wijewardenesaid the early findings of the

ongoing probe found that thesuicide bombings were inrevenge for the March 15 killingsat two mosques in Christchurchwhich left 50 people dead.

But Hilmy Ahamed, theMuslim Council of Sri Lanka'svice president, did not buy thegovernment's version.

Pointing to the relativelyshort period of time between theattacks, Ahamed said it wasimpossible for the bombings inSri Lanka to have been plannedin the period, saying it was like-ly in the works for longer, with

foreign influence.The Islamic State terror

group has claimed responsibili-ty for the attacks in Sri Lanka, butdid not mention New Zealand asa justification.

"It is nonsense to link (theattacks) to New Zealand,"Ahamed told CNN.

"The New Zealand attackopened the eyes of the world tothe crisis the Muslims are facing,"he said, adding it was somethingof "blessing" for drawing atten-tion to growing Islamophobiaworldwide. PTI

7��� �� �-������)����) ����F(8�����>��)���!� ������������ Colombo: The US has said

that it did not provide SriLanka with advance intelli-gence prior to the EasterSunday militant attacks thatkilled over 350 people.

This comes amidst whatthe Sri Lankan governmentminister Harsha de Silva saidMonday that advance intelli-gence had been provided by"both India and the UnitedStates."

"We had no prior knowl-edge of these attacks," USAmbassador to Sri LankaAlaina Teplitz was quoted assaying by the CNN.

At least four Americanswere killed in the attacks.

She said, "the Sri Lankangovernment has admittedlapses in their intelligencegathering and informationsharing."

When asked her about deSilva's claim, Teplitz respond-ed, "Well I can't speak for oth-ers. I don't know what othersources of information thegovernment of Sri Lankamight have had. I can just tellyou that we had no priorknowledge."

Sri Lankan authoritieshave started an investigation

into how warnings about pos-sible attacks were not passedto top ministers.

Nine suicide bombers,including a woman, wereinvolved in the massive EasterSunday bombings and 60 peo-ple have been arrested so farfor their suspected links to SriLanka's worst terror attackthat killed at least 359 people.

Suicide bombers, believedto be members of localIslamist extremist group, car-ried out a series of devastat-ing blasts that tore throughchurches and luxury hotels inSri Lanka on Sunday. PTI

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Washington: President DonaldTrump threatened onWednesday to fight a possibleimpeachment effort byCongressional Democrats inthe US Supreme Court.

That could be difficult —the US constitution, and thecourt itself, have made clearthat it has no role in impeach-ment proceedings, which rep-resent the legislature's power tocheck wrongdoing by the pres-ident.

But Trump's tweet sug-gested the White House is tak-ing seriously a debate amongDemocrats on whether tolaunch the process that couldremove the president on thebasis of evidence of obstructionof justice in the Mueller reportreleased last week.

"The Mueller Report,despite being written by Angry

Democrats and Trump Haters,and with unlimited moneybehind it ($35,000,000), didn'tlay a glove on me. I DIDNOTHING WRONG," Trumpwrote.

"If the partisan Dems evertried to Impeach, I would firsthead to the US SupremeCourt." Released on Thursday,Special Counsel RobertMueller's final report from hisRussia meddling investigationlisted a dozen separate actionsby Trump that supportedobstruction allegations.

But Mueller demurred onconcluding if they amounted toa crime, leaving that decision toCongress, where the House ofRepresentatives has the powerto impeach a president — for-mally charge him — and theSenate to find him innocent orguilty. AFP

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L ondon: The ScottishGovernment will introducelegislation "shortly" as a firststep towards another inde-pendence referendum to beheld by 2021, First MinisterNicola Sturgeon announcedon Wednesday.

"We will shortly intro-duce legislation to set therules for any referendum,"the Scottish National Party(SNP) leader told lawmakersin Edinburgh.

She said she hoped thelegislation would be agreed bythe end of 2019.

Her government aims to"give people a choice on inde-pendence" from the UnitedKingdom before the end of thecurrent term of parliamentexpires in May 2021. AFP

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Tehran: Iran's supreme leaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei onWednesday called the end ofoil sanction waivers by theUnited States a "hostile mea-sure" that "won't be left with-out a response".

"US efforts to boycott thesale of Iran's oil won't getthem anywhere. We willexport our oil as much as weneed and we intend," his offi-cial English-language Twitteraccount said.

The United States onMonday announced it will nolonger grant sanctions exemp-tions to Iran's oil customersand will start imposing sanc-tions on countries such asIndia, China and Turkey ifthey buy Iranian oil.

In May 2018, PresidentDonald Trump withdrew theUS from the 2015 Iran nucleardeal which had given theIslamic republic sanctionsrelief in exchange for curbs onits nuclear programme.

Washington reimposed oilsanctions on Iran inNovember but initially gaveeight Governments six-monthreprieves.

Five of the countries —Greece, Italy, Japan, SouthKorea and Taiwan — havealready heavily reduced theirpurchases from Iran.

"They (the US) wishfullythink they have blocked Iranoil sales, but our vigorousnation and vigilant officials, ifthey work hard, will openmany blockades," Khameneisaid on Twitter. AFP

Berlin: The UN's human rightschief is calling Saudi Arabia'smass execution of 37 men,including three who were sen-tenced as minors, "shocking" and"abhorrent."

Michelle Bachelet's officesaid Wednesday the beheadingsin six cities across Saudi Arabiawere carried out Tuesday despiterepeated warnings from rightsofficials about lack of dueprocess. The men mostlybelonged to the minority Shiite

branch of Islam and had beenconvicted of terrorism-relatedcrimes. The body and severedhead of a convicted Sunniextremist were pinned to a poleas a public warning. Bachelet saidit was "particularly abhorrent thatat least three of those killed wereminors at the time of their sen-tencing." She urged Saudi Arabiato review its counterterror leg-islation, expressly prohibit thedeath penalty for minors and haltpending executions. AFP

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Kuldeep Yadav's sudden loss of form in the ongoingIPL will not in any way impact his performance in

the World Cup where he will have ample chance of acomeback, feels senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.

Kuldeep, who is expected to be a vital cog in India'sWorld Cup campaign, has got only four wickets in ninegames forKolkata KnightRiders and wasdropped in thelast gamea g a i n s tS u n r i s e r sHyderabad dueto "poor form".

"There isno doubt thatKuldeep isgoing througha rough patchin IPL. T20 is aformat whichcan destroy theconfidence ofany bowler butlet's not com-pare formats.O n e - d a y(match) is adifferent ballgame and you will see a very different Kuldeep,"Harbhajan said.

Harbhajan said from what he has seen Kuldeepbowling in the IPL, the wrist spinner has no technicalproblems as such.

"I have watched a bit of his bowling and I don't thinkthere is any technical problems. And please check whoall are hitting Kuldeep? The Indian guys are primari-ly hitting him. Virat (Kohli) in two games, Mayank(Agarwal), Mandy (Mandeep), Prithvi Shaw, ShreyasIyer, Shikhar Dhawan.

"Leave aside Virat, who is in a different league, allthese guys are competent players of spin bowling. Theyread Kuldeep's wrists much better than foreign bats-men. So in World Cup, Kuldeep will be bowling most-ly to those who are still not reading him well. I thinkyou will see a different Kuldeep," said Harbhajan, whohas played two World Cup finals.

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His job safe for now, skipperDinesh Karthik will be pray-

ing for a turnaround in the for-tunes of a struggling KolkataKnight Riders, as they meetRajasthan Royals at EdenGardens on Thursday.

KKR have suffered fivedefeats on the trot, exposingtheir over-reliance on AndreRussell, and Karthik has coppedcriticism for not promoting thebig-hitting West Indian up theorder.

Chosen ahead of the youngRishabh Pant in the World Cupsquad, the Tamil Nadu veteran,who was KKR's leading run-get-ter last season, is struggling forruns with an average of 16.71from nine outings.

Facing a must-win situationahead of the remaining fourmatches, head coach JacquesKallis has backed the under-fireskipper to script a 2014-like turn-around when they won their sec-ond title with nine wins in a row.

The biggest letdown for theteam has been its bowling unit,especially the spinners who havelacked sting at the Eden Gardens,something that was its mainstrength during the title-win-ning campaigns in 2012 and2014.

The famed trio of Kuldeep

Yadav, Sunil Narine and PiyusChawla have accounted for just 16wickets from 10 matches, sum-ming up their misery.

The seam attack too has beenordinary and they may be forcedto rejig their bowling attack onceagain.

Clinging to one spot belowKKR at seventh in the eight-teamstandings, Rajasthan Royals' fatetoo hangs by the thread. Theyshowed urgency with Steve Smithreplacing Ajinkya Rahane as thecaptain ahead of their clashagainst Mumbai Indians.

The move has clicked and RRwere able to bring their campaignback on track beating Mumbai.Rahane, too, roared back to formwith an elegant century, albeit ina losing cause, against DelhiCapitals in their last match.

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AB de Villiers' scintillat-ing half century and a

121-run stand with MarcusStoinis propelled RoyalChallengers Bangalore to202 for four against Kings XIPunjab in a must-win IndianPremier League match hereon Wednesday.

Sent into bat, De Villiersscored a brilliant unbeaten82 off 44 balls with threefours and seven sixes, whileStoinis hammered 46 off 34balls with two fours andthree sixes.

In the last two overs,both Stonis and De Villiershamered 45 runs offMohammad Shami andHardus Viljoen.

After reaching his 50off 35 balls, De Villiers,smashed Shami for threesixes, plundering 18 runs inthe penultimate over.

In the last over, both

Stoinis and De Villiers ham-mered 27 runs off Viljoen,which helped the hosts torace past 200 runs mark.

Put into bat, openerParthiv (43 off 24 balls) andVirat Kohli gave a rollickingstart getting 35 runs onboard in 18 balls but RCBcaptain was dismissed byShami after he was caught byMandeep Singh at extracover.

Parthiv then got intothe act for RCB, hitting outof the park Shami for threeboundaries and a six in sixthover, who conceded 18 runsin his third over.

The left-hander also wassevere on Ankit Rajpoot,hitting him for four bound-aries and a six. The wicket-keeper batsman did not lastlong as he was caught byRavinchandran Ashwin offMurugan Ashwin, after hehad smashed seven 4s andtwo sixes.

Looking good at 71 for2 in 38 balls, RCB lost twoquick wickets of Moeen Ali(4) and Akashdeep Nath(3), leaving RCB at thecrossroads way 81 for 4.

De Villiers brought upthe fifty runs partnership forfifth wicket with Stioniswith a mighty six over deepmid-wicket off Murugan.

Giving him an able sup-port at the other end wasStoinis, who notched up auseful knock.

It turned out to be a for-gettable day for Shami andVilljoen as they conceded 53and 51 runs, respectively.

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Shane Watson couldn'tthank Mahendra Singh

Dhoni and StephenFleming enough after end-ing his prolonged slump inform, saying he wouldhave been "dropped a longtime ago" in his previousfranchise.

He had gone withouta fifty in his first 10innings of the ongoingIPL before striking 96 off53 balls on Tuesday toguide Chennai SuperKings to a win overSunrisers Hyderabad.

"I can't thank StephenFleming and M S Dhonienough for their belief inme. Just about every otherteam I've been in... For meto miss out on not scoringruns for long as I hadthroughout the tourna-ment, if I had been in aprevious team I wouldhave been dropped a long

time ago," Watson said.Thanks to Watson's

knock, CSK chased downa target of 176 with sixwickets to spare.

"... So, for Stephen

Fleming and MS Dhoni inparticular to keep the faithin me and knowing that Ihad a really good inningsin me it was great," the 37-year old Watson told

reporters."For me personally,

knowing that I had comeoff from the PSL and com-ing into this I was flyinghigh and then things did-

n't go my way. I lost a bitof rhythm in my batting.

"So, for them to keepfaith in me I really appre-ciate it. In the end, youneed a bit of luck goingyour way as well. Bhuviworked me over in thefirst couple of overs in par-ticular and you need thoselittle bits of luck," headded.

The strongly builtbatsman who hammeredleg-spinner Rashid Khanfor quite a few runs, saidthe Afghan is one of thebest in this format.

The Australian waseffusive in his praise ofcompatriot and SRHopener David Warner,who has been in tremen-dous form this IPL.

"I really don't sort ofremember for the lastfour-five years a tourna-ment where Warner has-n't scored a hell lot of runs.He's a world-class player.

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Chennai Super Kings' success mantra is a "tradesecret" revealing which could leave Mahendra

Singh Dhoni unsold at the IPL auctions, jocularlysays the talisman.

"(On CSK's mantra of success) If I tell every-one what it is, then they won't buy me at the auc-tions. It's a trade secret," Dhoni said cheekily afterCSK's six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad and

their 97th overall.Dhoni has led

his team to glorythree times in theIndian PremierLeague (2018, 2011and 2010) andunder himChennai SuperKings have quali-fied to the playoffin every season ofthe league, barringin 2016 and 2017,when they werenot part of the IPL.

"The crowdsupport and fran-chise's support arekey of course.Huge credit has toalso go to the sup-port staff who playa huge role inkeeping the teamatmosphere goodfor the team andother individuals.

"Other thanthis, I can't reveal

anything till I retire. It's alright, not showing signsof getting worse. With the World Cup coming, I needto be careful as that comes first," the 37-year-old said.

CSK, sitting pretty at the top with 16 pointsfrom 11 games, will next lock horns with MumbaiIndians on Friday.

Chennai Super Kings have lost only three offtheir 11 matches in the 2019 IPL.

Dhoni has led CSK in 155 matches and won 97while losing 57.

Battling a sensitive back for a long time, Dhoniwants to be careful with it as the ICC World Cupis round the corner.

The CSK skipper said that there has been somestiffness but it is holding up as of now.

"The back is holding up, it's not getting worse,with the World Cup coming up, can't afford that,because that's too important," Dhoni said at thepost-match presentation ceremony after CSK beatSunrisers by six wickets.

Dhoni said that at the highest level, there aren'tany players who are not playing with a niggle ortwo.

"If it becomes worse, I certainly take some timeoff but at this level you play with some niggle orthe other. Because if you wait to get fully fit, thenthere will be a gap of five years between two match-es," the skipper said.

In 10 matches for Chennai this season, Dhonihas been their top-scorer scoring 314 runs at anaverage of 104.66 and a strike rate of 137.11.

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Former skipper Rahul Dravid reckonsIndia's recent 2-3 loss to Australia in a

home ODI series will not have much impactin the Men in Blue's 2019 World Cup cam-paign and their good show in the past fewyears has made them the strong title con-tenders.

After taking a 2-0 lead in a five-match ODIrubber last month, India faltered and weredefeated in the rest three matches and lost theseries.

"In the last 30 months, India has beenplaying really well, and the loss, much to thecredit of the way Australia played, came at theback end of a very busy series," Dravid wasquoted as saying by The Times of India.

"We have the right combination for theWorld Cup. If India wins the World Cup, wewill not be worrying about who won 2-3 or3-2. There will be an odd series that India willlose. But the (ICC) rankings prove that Indiais there and should win the World Cup tobecome No 1," he said.

When asked what he thinks of the Indiansquad for the showpiece event as stumperRishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu were notincluded in the team, Dravid termed the sideas 'well-balanced'.

"India has a very good, balanced team forthis World Cup. They have a lot of combina-tions, lot of options. It is a question of them

performing in the tournament. You canalways argue one or two cases, one or twonames. The team has been picked and hopethey do really well," the 46-year-old opined.

Dravid also felt that unlike the previoustimes, the wickets have changed in Englandand the upcoming tournament will witnesshigh-scoring games.

"This World Cup will probably be amuch high scoring one, and India is well

equipped for that. English conditions haveactually changed, especially for ODIs. We werethere last year for an 'A' series, and the scoreswere really high, 300 was par score, and wasbeing chased consistently.

"ODIs have changed in England and youcan't go with the typical mindset that it willbe the old English conditions of swing andseam. Wickets have become flatter, encourag-ing higher scores."

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World Cup snub couldsurely be disappointing

but 21-year-old Rishabh Pantwill play "many more WorldCups" and don the nationalcolours for at least 15 years,said former skipper SouravGanguly.

The 21-year-old Pant waspipped by veteran DineshKarthik as the second-choicewicketkeeper in the WorldCup squad.

"Dhoni will not play onforever. DK will also not playon forever. Rishabh is thenext best. Pant is the futureabsolutely," Ganguly said.

"He's got 15-16 yearsahead of him. I don't see it asa major blow. I don't think it'sa problem. He might miss thisWorld Cup but he will playmany more World Cups. Thisis not the end of road forhim."

As a 'selector' Gangulywould have picked Pant in theside but overall he said it's awell-balanced side for theshowpiece event beginningMay 30.

"Maybe I would have(picked Pant as a selector).But I think Dinesh Karthik isalso very good... I think it's agood team, they picked them-selves. I don't think manymissed out. Rishabh wouldhave been great but that's theway it goes."

As an advisor, Ganguly'spat on the back during toughtimes was something thatPant needed and he got fromone of India's greatest cap-tains.

"Obviously, you tell him,he's just 21 years of age. Youget upset for a couple of daysand then you recover. I thinkRishabh has been a betterplayer outside Delhi than inDelhi because of the wickets.He enjoys fast wickets wherethe ball comes on to the bat,"Ganguly said talking aboutPant's explosive knock in inJaipur.

A passionate Ganguly wasseen lifting the youngster inthe air in celebration, some-thing many related to with hisjersey-waving celebration atthe Lord's balcony after win-ning the NatWest Trophy.

Ganguly also posted thepicture on his official Twitterhandle with a caption:"Rishabh pant@ R i s h a b P a n t 7 7 7@ParthJindal11 u deservethis.. U r wow."

"Old habits don't go, whatto do? It means a lot becauseyou get involved with teams tomake them successful. Whenyou win the happiness isthere," Ganguly said.

Ganguly is also creditedfor Shikhar Dhawan's turn-around as he's back amongruns with three half-centuriesincluding an unbeaten 97against Kolkata Knight Ridershere.

"I can help him becausehe's a left-hander. During atournament, you can't talkmuch about skills, you just tellthem how to bat in most sit-uations. Dhawan's record inone-day cricket is as good asanybody in India. So the tal-ent was always there. When heplayed for SRH, he had a fan-tastic record. He's just a goodplayer."

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In every marriage, husband or wifedoes something that hurts the other.It’s bound to happen because noneof us is perfect. And in some cases,a spouse has a habit of doing the

same thing over and over again, even afterthe behavior is confronted. Bitternesscomes when you hold on to hurt and refuseto forgive the person that hurts you.

Most of the time, this comes as a resultof ongoing actions of a small nature forexample, lack of understanding, misuse offinances, harsh comments etc that build upover time. Each offence takes residence inthe heart, and at some point, there is nomore room left to take in more. That’swhen bitterness is manifested and causesthe most damage

Bitterness is a silent killer of life anddestroyer of marital destiny. Many mar-riages have been destroyed because onepartner decided to harbour bitternessagainst the other. Bitterness is an unnec-essary weight, it is deadly. It stores itself inthe soul, and slowly poisons the one whocarries it. It’s a blade meant for another thateventually severs the hand that tightly con-ceals it. Take a look at this setting and seewhat bitterness can do to your marital rela-tionship: The problems with your spouseare real, and your anger is justified. Beingable to forgive and to let go of past hurtsis a critical tool for a marriage relationship.Additionally, being able to forgive is a wayto keep yourself healthy both emotional-ly and physically. In fact, forgiving and let-ting go may be one of the most important

ways to keep your marriage going strong.Resentment can begin to threaten the

survival of your relationship withouteither of you knowing it and with neitherof you doing anything wrong. You start toforge chains of resentment when one ofyou inadvertently lets your interest in theother decline. That's not hard to do, sinceinterest, left on its own, naturally waneswith familiarity.

Be open and receptive to forgiveness.Make a conscious decision to forgive yourspouse. When images of the betrayal orhurt flash in your mind, think of a calm-ing place or do something to distract your-self from dwelling on those thoughts. Donot throw an error or mistake back in yourspouse's face at a later date. Also, do notuse it as ammunition in an argument.

Do not seek revenge or retribution.Trying to get even will only extend thepain. Chances are this won't really makeyou feel better anyway. Accept that youmay never know the reason for the trans-gression, behavior or mistake. Rememberthat forgiveness does not mean you con-done the hurtful behaviour. Be patient withyourself. Being able to forgive your spousetakes time. Don't try to hurry the process.If you continue to be unable to forgive, oryou find yourself dwelling on the betray-al or hurt, please seek professional coun-seling to help you let go and forgive

If you’ve been holding in your hurt,your spouse may not even know he or shehas offended you. Bitterness often comesfrom hurt that has been suppressed with-

out communication, like filling up a bot-tle with pressure—eventually that bottlewill explode. In the same way, the outburstin your heart can result in a broken mar-riage, and your spouse never even saw itcoming. In this case, go ahead and tell himor her what’s been bothering you. Sit downand try to work it out.

Perhaps your spouse does know ofyour unhappiness, but chooses to contin-ue in the same patterns. This does notnegate your responsibility to remove thebitterness from your heart. You still needto give your spouse the chance to repent,although stronger measures, such as mar-riage counseling, may need to take place.

If the decline in interest is equal inboth parties, the couple has a good chanceof remaining connected as they put moreenergy into things that indirectly supportthe relationship, such work, children, andsocial networks. Unfortunately, the declinein interest is rarely equal.

To understand the painful effects ofone party losing interest, think of a timewhen you wanted to talk or do somethingwith your partner but couldn't engage hisinterest, or worse, she lost interest whileyou were talking or doing what you want-ed to do. Your gut emotional response wasrejection, which stimulated shame or fearof isolation. Because these are such painfulexperiences, you were likely to avoidthem by shifting interest into somethingelse or, more commonly, with blame andresentment. The trouble is, declininginterest can be so subtle that couples are

completely unaware of what is happeningto them, until the chain of resentment,which builds mostly under the radar,chokes the life out of their relationship.

Marriage, like other close relationships,needs forgiveness to thrive. Remember thateveryone makes mistakes. We all have bador grumpy days. Many people say thingsthey do not mean now and then. Everyoneneeds to forgive and to be forgiven. Thisis especially true if the person who hurtyou is attempting to make amends andseek forgiveness.

No relationship, especially a mar-riage relationship, can be sustained over along period of time without forgiveness.Even though you may find it find it diffi-cult to forgive, being able to do so is cru-cial in a marriage.

Couples miss the absurdity of resent-ment because they succumb to the urge tojustify it by pointing out how unfair theother is. Convinced that they have a rightto feel resentful and to express it (whichonly makes them more resentful), theymiss the sad fact that their resentment hasmade them just as insensitive as the part-ner they resent.

If you want to tilt the see-saw in favourof connection, you must be the first per-son in your relationship to replace resent-ment with compassion. That is how youescape the powerlessness of reactivityand realise the true power of fidelity toyour deepest values.

Thanks a lot for sharing.Thanks a lot.Thank you.

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The mere mention ofAghoris triggers an imageof fear, intrigue, mystique

and bafflement in our minds,simply because little is knownabout this reclusive cult of sadhus.The instant visual that floatsbefore the eyes is that of an ash-smeared man with intense eyes,sporting dreadlocks, reciting vers-es and, the most intriguing aspectof all, practising cannibalism.But there’s so much more tothem than what meets the eyes.Did you know that a man wholooks just like us, has a job andseems well-adjusted sociallycould also be a worshipper ofAghora? Well, actor GauravChopra’s forthcoming showAghori revolves around the same

concept. He apprises us thatAghoris, contrary to their gener-al perception, are actually healers.

He explains that the impres-sion that we have of them is basedon misconception. “An Aghori issomebody who follows a life of anAghor, which is disciplined anddoes not demarcate between one-self and another human being.Practitioners are the purest andcan feel you like a beehive. ManyAghoris are part of modern soci-ety but at the same time also fol-low the discipline of an Aghor.Just the way there are all kinds ofpeople — Hindus, Christians,Muslims — similarly all kinds ofAghoris exist. They are the vic-tims of stereotypes. There areconvictions that get exaggerated

over a period of time. And onceexaggerated, they become a type-cast for the entire community.This show will reveal what theyare meant to do and how theyactually are.”

The Uttaran actor clarifiesthat Aghoris are followers ofShiva. And the God has twoforms — of the maker and of thedestroyer. As a manifestation ofthe latter, they practise their crafton cremation grounds whichhave an all-pervasive sense ofdeath.

“Everything comes from theGod who kills and he killsbecause he has to give you anoth-er life,” says the actor with final-ity ringing in his voice.

However, he disagrees withthose people who might arguethat shows like this feed mythsand make them grow bigger. “Idon’t want to talk about myths.I’m trying to explain the truth.Within them also there are goodand bad versions. There are thosewho go towards the cult and oth-ers who go towards tantra. Thiscan happen to anybody just likepeople get corrupted in office

with the sense of power. In a sim-ilar manner, when they acquirethese powers, some Aghorisdirect their energies towardstantra.”

People often refer to them assuper humans and they do haveimmense powers as compared toan ordinary person. “But it’s upto them where they channelisethe power. It is nothing but ener-gy. And that’s exactly what thisstory is centered around — thefight between good and evil.Even if Ravan wouldn’t haveabducted Sita, Ram, the protec-tor of the good, would havekilled evil,” he adds.

Gaurav explains further thatit is also the attitude whichmakes them different. He says,“As an Aghori, I don’t see a dif-ference between you and me oron account of colour and creed.I don’t have anger, vengeance orjealousy. All the powers and thesiddhis that he acquires is used forhealing. For instance, there’s painin my wrist and it’s bothering me,I’ll do something about it, prob-ably go to a doctor. Similarly, ifyou have a pain in your wrist, I’ll

do something about that too.Your pain is my pain.”

What if a girl happens to fallin love with a seemingly ordinaryman and later discovers that heis actually an Aghori? What if hehas consciously held back his trueidentity for a hidden motive?Gaurav tells us that it is a storyof love, mysticism and deceit. “Itwill shatter all the stereotypessurrounding love and happy end-ings. It will also present a sagawhich is set against the backdropof the Aghori world,” he says.

Gaurav had his reasons forsigning up for the show. He says,“When you have been around forso many years and have givensuccessful shows, people startslotting you. Every time they con-struct another character which issimilar to what you have playedbefore, they call you. However, asan actor, you feel trapped becausehow will you explore and do newthings? The whole point of beingan actor is to be versatile whereone can play different roles andlive different lives.”

To play such a characterrequires a lot of research. Gaurav

had 100 questions when he heardthe script and he says, “I didn’twant to misrepresent Aghoris. Idefinitely don’t want to wrecksomething which is so sacred. Iwatched many documentariesand did the groundwork. I wassurprised to see that there areAghoris who are engineers andare well-educated. It is just a wayof life. It doesn’t have to be in aform of a sadhu.”

Did his opinion change afterdoing this show? Well, he saysthat he had to modify his outlookeven before he started doing itbecause “how will I play withconviction if I do not get myselfinto the skin of the character.”

However, this show is not theonly thing that he has up hissleeve. Gaurav teases us aboutAvengers: Endgame, by sayingthat he is probably the only per-son who has seen the much-hyped film as “I am the officialvoice behind the character ofThor in the Hindi version,” hechuckles.

(The show will soon premiereon Zee TV.)

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About five years ago, MarvelStudios president Kevin Feigefound himself on a retreat inPalm Springs plotting thefuture for the wild, experi-

mental “cinematic universe” that hehelped start in 2008. He wanted to dosomething that they hadn’t done. Hewanted an ending.

And after a quick pitch to RobertDowney Jr, he, directors Anthony and JoeRusso and screenwriters ChristopherMarkus and Stephen McFeely, startedplotting a way to bring this saga to a close,brainstorming whenever they had amoment — even in between takes ofCaptain America: Civil War.

Anyone who saw Avengers: InfinityWar knows they weren’t kidding aroundeither. Thanos literally dissolved half ofhumanity, including Spider-Man andBlack Panther in an event known as “thesnap” that’s inspired tears, memes andmore fan theories than the internet canhold. Talk about a cliffhanger.

Endings are a rarity in the franchisemovie-making business; especially whenone’s popularity has only multiplied as themovies of Marvel have. But MarvelStudios, which has never shied away froma little rule-breaking, is taking a sledge-hammer to that old “don’t leave money onthe table” maxim, and audiences will final-ly be able to see how they do it whenAvengers: Endgame opens nationwidetoday.

“Ending is not a scary word,” Feigesaid. “It’s a necessary word.”

What exactly that means for theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) issomething of a state secret. Feige said thatthis will be “definitive,” though.

“People can debate and discuss whatthat means before they see the movie,”Feige said. “But for us that means bring-ing to a conclusion the first three phas-es, the first 22 films in the MCU, so thateverything thereafter is a new start.”

So “new” in fact that Feige won’t evendiscuss what’s to come beyond the Julyrelease of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Hewon’t confirm reportedly in-the-worksprojects like the Black Widow stand-alone,The Eternals or Shang-Chi, or talk aboutplans for the 20th Century Fox proper-ties like Deadpool and X-Men that are nowunder his purview. They have the next fiveyears mapped out; they’re just not lettingaudiences peek behind the curtain untilafter Endgame. It’s that big.

“How we leave Endgame will helpdefine where we’re going for many peo-ple,” Feige said. But how does one talkabout a movie that no press has seen andno actors or creators are allowed to dis-cuss in detail? Well, carefully and crypti-cally.

It was Robert Downey Jr.’s TonyStark (Iron Man) who kicked things offfor the MCU, and it’s him who opens“Endgame” and most often takes centrestage. Providing even the most basic ofplot points in Endgame is a fool’serrand, but it’s fair to say that it takesplace some time after the rapturecaused by the megalomaniac boul-der Thanos (Josh Brolin).Having obtained all six ofthe “infinity stones,” hewiped away 50 per centof Earth’s creatures(and superheroes) atthe end of InfinityWar with thesnap of his fin-gers.

Rather thanbask in theextra parkingspaces and

uncrowded check-out aisles, the sur-vivors have spent the ensuing time in aprolonged state of mourning. The remain-ing superheroes are also reeling, ashamedof their defeat. One has turned angry andvengeful, another has grown a beer belly.As nauseating as the aura of momentous-ness around Endgame has been for some,the movie — while certainly not lackingin ominous solemnity — is frequentlyfunny, as the Russos, working from ascript by Christopher Markus and StephenMcFeely, arrange their heroes in freshpairings and unlikely contexts.

That’s owed sizeably to the cast,which sports a number of top-tier comicactors, chief among them Downey Jr, butthere’s also the thankfully prominentPaul Rudd (Ant-Man) and Avengers reg-ulars Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and MarkRuffalo (the Hulk). While Marvel hasimproved in gender parity (Brie Larson’srecently launched Captain Marvel playsa small but pivotal role here) its cosmoscould still use some funny actresses. CanMaya Rudolph, please, be made queen ofthe galaxy?

From the previous outing, we knewsome things. That the heroes left like IronMan, Captain America (Chris Evans),Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor,Hulk and War Machine (Don Cheadle)are dealing with the devastating loss post-snap while trying to figure out what to dowith Thanos. A helpful “Avenge theFallen” campaign served as a reminder ofwho survived and who didn’t (some of thedusted were even a surprise, like BlackPanther’s Shuri). We also know theyhave a new weapon in Brie Larson’sCaptain Marvel, who Samuel L Jackson’sNick Fury managed to page before dis-solving into dust.

Characters die. But it is at least threeclown cars worth of superheroes. Seldom,if ever, have more movie stars been

brought together in one place; a filmwith this kind of collection of talent

really can’t help but be decent, atminimum.

Filming proved an emo-tional experience for

many of the actors, alot of whom have

now been work-ing together foralmost a decadeor more.

“I waspretty teary-eyed,” Evanssaid. “This isthe culminationof a really longendeavor. It kind

of wraps up the journey for a lot of thesecharacters.”

It led to a lot of reflection, about wherethey started and how they’ve grown.Johansson noted that she’d been develop-ing her character for 10 years now, and isexcited that Black Widow has evolvedfrom a “sexy secretary” type to a morefully realised woman.

“The whole shoot felt pretty nostal-gic,” Hemsworth added. “We were con-stantly talking about when it all started tohow we pulled this off and what we werea part of.”

But he also admits he was “kind ofhappy to get off the set.” An eight monthshoot can wear even on Thor.

And indeed the shoot was grueling.The directors, who did Winter Soldier,Civil War and Infinity War said it was thehardest of their life. “This went farbeyond anything we’d ever done before,”said Anthony Russo. “There’s a reason whymovies aren’t made this way normally.”

But that this was unconventional wasalso the draw. “I think the only reason westuck around, is because they were com-mitted to an ending and we’re deconstruc-tionists,” said Joe Russo. “We like to takethings apart and see the ramifications ofwhat happens. Winter Soldier the goodguys became the bad guys, Civil War, wedivorced the heroes, Infinity War, we killedhalf of them. We like to smash it and lookat how you can put the pieces back togeth-er.”

And no one, not even Feige, regretsputting the MCU on this one-way path.That’s not to say he never second guess-es himself, however.

Two weeks before Infinity War cameout he had a moment of panic about thesnap. “That ending was one of the reasonswhy we wanted to make the movie. That’show we sold it to Disney. We were confi-dent in it,” Feige said. “But then a week ortwo weeks before the film came out, I went,‘Oh no. We’re killing all these people. Whatif the audience totally rejects it?’”

Generous in humor, spirit and senti-mentality, Endgame is a surprisingly fullfeast of blockbuster-making that, throughsome time-traveling magic, looks backnostalgically at Marvel’s decade of worlddomination. This is the Marvel machineworking at high gear, in full control of itsmyth-making powers and uncoveringmore emotion in its fictional cosmos thanever before.

But the main difference is that a doseof finality has crept in to a universe wheredeath is seldom visited on anyone but thebad guys. Endgame will likely be mostremembered for its teary goodbyes. To saywho would, of course, invite my own

demise. But the send-offs, tender and sin-cere, capture something about the Avengersfilms. At their root, they are about fami-ly. Never has that been more apparent thanin the daughters, fathers, sons, mothers,sisters, brothers and spouses that populateEndgame, making up the connections thatbind this fantasy realm — one that, for allits turmoil, is far more unified than ours.

Other farewells are more legitimate-ly sombre. The late Stan Lee here makeshis final cameo, and it’s a good one. Lee’sswan song, as much as anything, verifies

that Endgame marks the end of an era. Theconclusion of this chapter in the MCU, ofcourse, won’t last long; Marvel’s assemblylines are already humming. And I suspectit will be some time before we understandjust what Marvel has wrought with thesemovies. At their worst, they are colossal,inhuman products built for a supersizedform of binge-watching. At their best, theyare grand, mega-sized Hollywood specta-cles. It’s not a spoiler to say that Endgameverges more on the latter.

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The liver (Yakrit), is a vitalorgan. It converts rasa

dhatu to rakta dhatu (blood).It also produces bile (ranjakpitta) and detoxifies the body,eliminating ama from theblood. Wrong diet and lifestyledamages the liver tissues andleads to diseases like jaundice,fatty liver and hepatitis.Thankfully, Ayurveda canhelp. Include these five simpleAyurvedic herbs in your life tokeep your liver healthy.

KUTKI: This bitter tastingherb is cooling in nature andhas a cleansing effect on theliver and the gallbladder. InAyurveda, kutki is prescribedto improve the appetite and to

treat jaundice or bile disorders.The herb is beneficial in skindisorders and also improvesthe metabolism.

TURMERIC: This yellowherb supports liver functionsand cleanses the blood. It canalso aid the process of trans-forming rasa into rakta.

Turmeric also promotes elim-ination of toxins from thebody. In most cases, you donot need to take any addition-al turmeric if you already useit in your meals.

GUDUCHI: This herb isknown for its detoxifying andblood cleansing properties.Ayurvedic herbal medicinesprepared for liver problems

contain guduchi. The herbalso has known benefits intreating Kamala (jaundice),hepatitis and fatty liver.Guduchi should be takenunder the guidance of anAyurvedic doctor.

TRIPHALA: The mixture ofamla, bibhitaki and haritakihelps in regularising metabo-lism and bowel movements. It

cools down the body and bal-ances all tridoshas in the body.Triphala churna can be takenby anyone every night beforebed.

ALOE VERA: Aloe vera juiceflushes toxins out of the liver(hepatoxicity) and promotes

good bowel movements. Inaddition to soothing the diges-tive system, aloe vera alsofights stress and strengthensthe immune system.NOTE: Please do not self-medicate with herbs. For treat-ment of liver problems, pleaseconsult a doctor.

(The views expressed arepersonal. Dr Partap

Chauhan is an author, publicspeaker and a

Ayurvedacharya).

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The 4th Trans India LawAssociates (TILA)International Energy

Conference was organised by the DrGopal Energy Foundation (DGEF)at New Delhi recently. The interna-tional event was inaugurated by thedirector general of the InternationalSolar Alliance, Upendra Tripathi.The chief guest on the occasionreleased the ‘Right to EnergyDeclaration’ and launched the ‘TICEAchievers Award 2020’, for institu-tions and/or individuals who con-tribute to accelerate the pace of ener-gy revolution through various inno-vative means. The dignitaries presenton the occasion included the man-aging director of Solar EnergyCorporation of India (SECI), J NSwain, the managing director ofPTC, Pawan Singh, the managingdirector of the Indian RenewableEnergy Development Agency(IREDA), KS Popli, Anjuli Chandrafrom Punjab State ElectricityRegulatory Commission (PSERC)and Ramesh Chaudhry from BERC,among others.

DGEF is a premiere non-profitorganisation founded on April 15,2015, which has been working toenable an energy revolution by serv-ing the international community inthe disciplines of power, petroleum,gas, coal, nuclear and renewableenergy sector, with the motto—‘Energy for All’.

The conference witnessed an‘Open House Multilateral Dialogue’on need for energy revolutionbetween representatives of variouscountries including Nigeria, SouthKorea, Cameroon and Canada

among others. The internationalcommunity, including representa-tives from the Solar Alliance,Electricity Regulatory Commission,public sector undertaking units,energy funding agencies and variousfinancial corporations, participatedin this conference.

The convener of the conference,Raj Singh Niranjan, who is also anenergy law expert and the manag-ing partner of TILA, said that theobjective of the conference is tobring about an 'energy revolution' bybringing together all key stake-holders on a single platform. Thiswould allow them all to discuss theexisting government's initiatives,policies and innovative ideas and tosuggest potential measures for awholesome implementation of theIndian government's initiative (UrjaKranti) to remove the course of

energy poverty in India. Some of thethemes on which the delegatesdeliberated included sovereignfund/lending to the power sectorand state regulatory bodies. Duringthe conference, the delegates and

energy experts from across theglobe resolved to observe April15th as ‘Right to Energy Day’ everyyear. Keeping in view the above, the5th TILA International Conferenceon Energy 2020 will be convened on

April 15 in New Delhi.The conference was supported

by leading companies in the ener-gy sector like Power FinanceCorporation (PFC), RuralElectrification Corporation (REC),IREDA, Tehri Hydro DevelopmentCorporation India Limited (THD-CIL), Satluj Jal Vidyut Limited(SJVNL), Railway EnergyManagement Company Limited(REMCL), National Hydro ElectricPower Corporation Limited(NHPC), Power System OperationCorporation Limited (POSOCO),Patel Engineering, Jakson, DelhiMetro Rail Corporation (DMRC),Gujarat Metro, Maharashtra Metro,PTC Financial Services and others.Trans India Law Associates, the legaladviser to the International SolarAlliance (ISA) was the knowledgepartner of the conference.

In an attempt to fulfill the aspira-tions of the Indo-Russian business

fraternity, the first ever national levelparticipation in the sixth edition ofthe Irkutsk International Trade Fair,Irkutsk, Russia (August 21 to 24,2019) is being organised by the IndiaTrade Promotion Organisation(ITPO) at the Irkutsk ExhibitionComplex in Russia.

The event aims to carry forwardthe momentum to further strength-en the bilateral trade relations andprovide an excellent business plat-form to the Indian companies inRussia’s untapped Balkan region.The event will feature bonhomie ofthe people of Russia towards Indianproducts as they have a special placein their hearts. Significantly, theevent will be visited by the companiesfrom main cities of Siberia, Russia andIndia’s neighboring countries likeChina, Mongolia, Kazakhstan,Ukraine, Belorussia and so on.

India's participation assumes spe-cial significance as both the countrieshave made a resolution to set a tar-get for US$ 30 billion in bilateral tradeby 2025 and both the countries areworking together towards devel-oping a Free TradeAgreement (FTA) tofacilitate this target.This also includesthe sale of com-modities alongwith civilnuclear energyand defenseequipment. Themulti-productB2B and B2Cevent is being heldwith the support ofthe Embassy of India inRussia, the Government ofIrkutsk Region, the East SiberianChamber of Commerce and theIndustry and City Administration of

the Irkutsk city. India's country levelparticipation will bring the two coun-tries together to work jointly towardsintegrating them into a regionalvalue chain, thereby promoting mutu-

al trade and investment.The multi-productdisplay profile includes

goods and indus-tries including

e n g i n e e r i n ggoods, informa-tion technolo-gy, renewalenergy, elec-tronics, build-ing and con-

struction indus-try (hardware, san-

itary ware, ceram-ics, tiles, interior and

décor), pharmaceutical,chemicals, medical and surgical

equipment, apparel, textiles andhandloom, jewellery, handicrafts,

footwear, coir and jute products, hor-ticulture, print and packaging tech-nologies, sports goods, food process-ing machines/equipment, food andbeverages, Ayurveda, yoga, herbalproducts and cosmetics, health careservices, educational institutions,hospitality and tourism industryalong with participation from themedia and entertainment industry.The business visitors to the exhibi-tion would include importers andexporters, wholesalers, local andregional buyers, among others.

Those who wish to participate inthe exhibition can pay the participa-tion fee of $300 per square meters forthe equipped shell stands. Theexhibitors can order additional equip-ment and furniture from the exhibitormanual. The catalogue and tariff forextra display stands, renting extrashowcases, tables, chairs, and otheraccessories are available on requestwith the organisers.

IndianOil’s Northern Regionkicked off the ‘Safety Week’

celebrations by observing the‘National Fire Service Day’ tocreate awareness on fire pre-vention, fire protection andrenew its employees’ com-mitment towards safety. Thecompany’s employees under-took the safety pledge whichwas followed by various safe-ty awareness events and com-petitions. A safety trainingprogram for contract workersof the Northern Regionaloffice was also organised dur-

ing the week, wherein, inputswere provided to all the work-ers on usage of various fireand safety equipment, firechemistry, fire organogramand emergency evacuationprocedure. An exhibition offire and safety equipment,inaugurated by HarshSachdev, Executive Director(Regional Services),IndianOil, Northern Region,was also set up to refresh theoperating knowledge. He alsoreleased a booklet on ‘SafetyBriefing’.

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The first knowledge sharing workshop between the PublicRelations Society of India (PRSI) Chapters was conducted

in Bhopal recently, under the patronage of Pushpendra Pal Singh,the chairman of the Bhopal Chapter and Naresh Kumar, the chair-man of the Delhi Chapter. The former general manager (PR) ofthe Airport Authority of India, G S Bawa, was also present onthis occasion. The workshop was organised by the Bhopal Chapterof PRSI on the occasion of the National Public Relation Day. Theevent was attended by professionals from the industry and stu-dents of the Makhanlal Chaturvedi University.

Anew coast guard vessel —C-441—was commis-

sioned at the VizhinjamHarbour by the chief secre-tary of the Government ofKerala, Tom Jose. He com-missioned the ship into theseries in a ceremonial func-tion hosted under the aegis ofthe Regional CommanderWestern Region, InspectorGeneral Vijay D Chafekar,PTM, TM. The function waswitnessed by senior officersfrom the Army, Navy, AirForce, BSF, police, AirportAuthority of India, Centraland state authorities and theNational Cadet Corps. It wasconducted with full ceremo-ny of parading the guard andthe band. The Indian CoastGuard ship C-441 is capableto undertake multifarioustasks such as close coast sur-

veillance, interdiction, searchand rescue and renderingassistance to boats and craftsin distress at sea. It willenhance the search and res-cue capacity of Kerala seas.

The ship is commanded byAssistant Commandant AmitK Choudhary, TM and has a13 member crew onboardwith specialisation in variousfields.

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At the recently concludedGoafest 2019, Muthoot

Finance’s 45-day mega activa-tion effort at the PrayagrajKumbh 2019 called ‘MuthootVishwaas Ki Tijori’, bagged theSilver Medal at the AbbyAwards 2019. Abhinav Iyer,DGM (Marketing andStrategy) accepted the awardon behalf of the brand.

Partnered with RadioMirchi, ‘Muthoot VishwaasKi Tijori’ offered technology-enabled, free locker servicesfor all devotees. This is for thefirst time in the history of theKumbh Mela, that locker ser-vices were offered to all visi-tors to keep their personalbelongings safe before theyproceed to have their holy dip.

It was observed that moreoften than not, people comingfor the festival found it amajor challenge to keep theirvaluables safely and had toleave their personal belongingsunattended on the banks of the

river and thus were unable tofocus or enjoy having a peace-ful holy dip. Identifying thisproblem, Muthoot Financedecided to leverage on its coreasset of ‘trust’ and offer thisunique solution.

Powered by a speciallydesigned mobile App, onlinee-KYC was done while avail-ing this service. Photographsof their belongings were takenand a physical confirmationdocument along with thephotograph of their belong-ings was given to the depos-itors, providing them anadded layer of assurance. Thelockers were also equippedwith 24x7 CCTV surveillancesystems, security guards,metal detectors, alarm sys-tems, fire extinguisher andother essentials to ensureadded safety. On their return,their belongings and identitywas re-verified and handedover to them in the same pris-tine condition.To sweeten

their experience, all theirbelongings were returned inMuthoot branded biodegrad-able non-plastic bags along with some interestinggoodies.

To add to this, the exteri-or design and overall look andfeel of the locker too was likethat of an actual golden vaultwhich by itself became a spec-tator’s delight. During the acti-vation, more than 10,000 ben-eficiaries availed this free ser-vice thereby, letting more than50,000 family members have apeaceful holy dip during theirKumbh visit.

In addition to the above,innovative Muthoot BoatServices were also introducedto ferry people. Free transitshelter homes were also organ-ised at multiple cities for devo-tees, free of cost. For overseasvisitors who converged forthis festival, Muthoot Forexhelped them with instant for-eign exchange services.

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Barcelona will win La Liga onWednesday if Atletico

Madrid lose to Valencia after a2-0 victory over Alaves gavethem a 12-point lead at the topof the table.

Lionel Messi started on thebench at Mendizorrotza onTuesday in a move that madeclear just how comfortableBarca are in this title race, itsconclusion surely nowonly a matter of whenrather than if.

Should Atleticoavoid defeat to Valenciaat the WandaMetropolitano, theCatalans will still becrowned champions onSaturday at the Camp Nouwith a victory over Levante.

They could even have itwrapped up before kick-off onSaturday if Atletico fail to takeat least four points fromValencia and Real Valladolid,the latter whom they face a fewhours earlier on Saturday.

"It's an incredibly valuablewin," coach Ernesto Valverdesaid. Real Madrid, who playtheir game in hand againstGetafe on Thursday, sit 16points adrift in third. Alavesstay eighth, their hopes of aEuropa League spot fading fast.

Messi came on as a substi-tute in the 61st minute shortly

after his team had scored twice,Carles Alena guiding one intothe corner before Luis Suarez,in Messi's absence, took anddispatched a penalty.

Valverde leaving out hiscaptain and star player, presum-ably with an eye on next week'sChampions League semi-finalagainst Liverpool, was a luxu-ry Barcelona have earned andcan afford.

Liverpool, still jostling withManchester City in thePremier League, areunlikely to feel thesame sort of confidencewhen they faceHuddersfield onFriday.

Other players werepreserved too. Jordi

Alba, Clement Lenglet andArthur Melo all began on thebench, allowing Samuel Umtitimore minutes as he recoversfrom a knee injury, while thestruggling Philippe Coutinhostarted in a front three withOusmane Dembele and Suarez.

Alena, the 21-year-oldSpaniard, scored his second LaLiga goal and showed againwhy many believe he could bea key figure for Barcelona in theyears to come.

Suarez's goal, meanwhile,was his 21st in the league andmarks the fourth consecutiveseason in which he has passedthe 20 mark for Barca.

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Mauricio Pochettino admittedhis tired Tottenham stars arepushing themselves to their

limits after Christian Eriksen's superblate strike sealed a hard-fought 1-0 winover struggling Brighton on Tuesday.

Pochettino's third-placed sidedominated from start to finish at theTottenham Hotspur Stadium, but acombination of brave Brighton defend-ing and poor finishing kept the matchin the balance until the 88th minute.

Eriksen finally ended Brighton'sstubborn resistence with a sensation-al long-range drive that liftedTottenham three points clear of fourth-

placed Chelsea and four ahead ofArsenal in fifth.

"The team are not as fresh as wewanted, not just legs, but minds, so wehave to congratulate the players. I'mso proud of them," said Pochettino.

"Brighton were a really braveopponent. The most important thingis we believed, we didn't give up."

Although Arsenal can close thegap to one point if they win at Wolveson Wednesday, this was a vital resultin Spurs' bid to qualify for next sea-son's Champions League via a top fourfinish.

Tottenham have now won all fourgames in all competitions at their plushnew arena, scoring eight goals with-

out reply.This was the most frustrating fix-

ture at the £1 billion ($1.3 billion)ground as the hosts looked hamstrungwithout injured striker Harry Kaneuntil Eriksen came to the rescue withhis ninth goal of the season in all com-petitions.

But Pochettino was delighted withthe way his players kept plugging awayright to the end despite the drainingeffects of their hectic fixture list.

"There were more than 20attempts and the reward is massive,"he said.

Tottenham can take another steptowards securing their top-four berthin Saturday's crucial London derby

against West Ham before focusing onthe first leg of the Champions Leaguesemi-finals against Ajax next week.

����������:���*����������\�Southampton strikerShane Long scored the fastest goal inPremier League history on Tuesdayafter netting just 7.69 seconds into hisside's 1-1 draw at Watford, whosnatched a point thanks to AndreGray's late equaliser.

Long's record-breaking goal cameimmediately after the kick-off when heblocked a clearance from Watforddefender Craig Cathcart, allowingthe Republic of Ireland internationalto dink a cool finish over Ben Foster.

The 32-year-old's effort surpassedthe previous fastest Premier Leaguegoal, scored by Tottenham defenderLedley King in 9.9 seconds againstBradford in December 2000.

"It's a record, is it?" Long told SkySports News with a grin after the game.

"Straight from the kick-off wewanted to put them under pressure. 99times out of a hundred you block it andit doesn't work but this time it did."

Long's historic goal, just his fourththis season, didn't prove to be the win-ner at Vicarage Road after Gray's 90thminute equaliser for the FA Cupfinalists but nonetheless moved themsix points from the relegation zonewith three matches remaining.

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Amit Dhankar clinched aSilver medal while

Commonwealth Games cham-pion Rahul Aware won aBronze as Indian men'sfreestyle wrestlers continuedtheir impressive performanceat the Asian WrestlingChampionships here onWednesday.

Amit, who won Gold in66kg in the 2013 edition, set-tled for a Silver in the men's74kg freestyle event after los-ing to Daniyar Kaisanov ofKazakhstan 0-5 in the final.

Aware, who won a 57kgGold at the CWG in GoldCoast , produced a dominantdisplay to beat Jincheol Kim 9-2 in the men's 61kg freestyleBronze medal play-off.

The 27-year-old Indianlost to Behnam EshaghEhsanpoor of Iran in the quar-terfinals in a Victory by Fallverdict.

But since Ehsanpoorreached the final, Aware wasup against Siripong Jumpakamin the repechage round whichhe won 12-1 in in a Victory byTechnical Superiority.

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GSathiyan was the lone sur-vivor at the 2019 ITTF

World Championships as theIndian edged past ChristianPletea of Romania 11-5, 11-9,6-11, 11-7, 11-6 in a round of64 match in Budapest.

The world No 28 willmeet Hugo Calderano ofBrazil, ranked No 7, in theround of 32 later onWednesday.

Sharath Kamal, on theother hand, was woefully outof sorts against Tomislav Pucarof Croatia when he went down9-11, 10-12, 11-8, 4-11, 9-11 inthe round of 64.

The Indian, ranked No 36,failed to come to grips againstthe world No 58, who had abetter control over the matchand Sharath.

Manav Thakkar, who had

made the main draw cut,failed to go past AustrianRobert Gardos despite a verygood fight. The young Indianpaddler lost 13-11, 6-11, 11-8,11-3, 2-11, 10-12, 6-11 in theround of 128.

Both Manika Batra andSuthirta Mukherjee endedtheir world championshipscampaign, bowing out in

round of 64 Tuesday night.Taipei's Szu-Yu Chen beat

Manika 11-2, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 as the world No 24needed mere 34 minutesagainst the world No 56Indian. In contrast, Suthirtamanaged to take two games ofher rival before losing toPuerto Rican Adriana Diaz 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 3-11, 9-11.

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Top Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwalnotched up contrasting wins to enter the second

round but Kidambi Srikanth suffered a shock defeat inthe Asia Badminton Championship here on Wednesday.

Olympic and world championship Silver-medallistSindhu eased pastTakahashi Sayaka ofJapan in straightgames.

Sindhu looked incommand from thebeginning and regis-tered a thumping 21-14, 21-7 victory in just28 minutes. Thefourth-seeded Indianwill next faceChoirunnisa ofIndonesia.

World numbernine Saina had to workhard to get the better ofChina's Han Yue.

The seventh seed-ed Indian came backstrongly to pull off athrilling 12-21, 21-11,21-17 win after con-ceding the first game. She will next square off againstKim Ga Eun of South Korea.

In men's singles, fifth seed Srikanth lost toIndonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito in 16-21, 20-22 ina match that lasted 44 minutes.

Sameer Verma notched up a hard-fought 21-13, 17-21, 21-18 victory over Sakai Kazumasa of Japan.

It was end of the road for the men's doubles pair ofM R Arjun and Ramchandran Shlok, who went down18-21, 15-21 to the duo of He Jiting and Tan Qiang.

In the women's doubles event India's campaign cameto end as all three pairs lost their matches.

Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram lost 21-13, 21-16 to the Thai pair followed by Pooja Dandu andSanjana Santosh going down 21-13, 12-21, 21-12.

Aparna Balan-Sruthi K were ousted after a 12-21,10-21 loss in just 25 minutes to the unseeded Singaporeanpairing of Jin Yujia and Sugiarto and Barkah Yulfira.

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The men have already equalled theirbest ever medal haul, while the

women have maintained their consis-tent domination to put India on top ofthe standings ahead of the semifinalsof the Asian Boxing Championshipshere on Thursday.

Thirteen of the country's boxers —seven men and six women — areassured of at least Bronze medals afteradvancing to the last-four stage of themarquee continental championship.

The performance has placed Indiaahead of powerhouses Kazakhstan(seven men and four women) andChina (two men and eight women).

The men in medal rounds areDeepak Singh (49kg), Amit Panghal(52kg), Kavinder Bisht (56kg), ShivaThapa (60kg), Ashish (69kg), AshishKumar (75kg) & Satish Kumar (+91kg).

Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Manisha(54kg), Sonia Chahal (57kg), L SaritaDevi (60kg), Simranjit Kaur (64kg) andPooja Rani (75kg) make up India's rep-resentation in the women's semifinals.

Wednesday is rest day in the tour-nament, being held simultaneouslyfor men and women for the first time.

"So far we have done exceptional-ly well but now comes the big test. Allthese semifinals are being treated asfinals," India's High PerformanceDirector Santiago Nieva said.

The best performance by menwas in 2009, which led to seven medalsin India's kitty, including one Gold. Thebest by women was back in 2005 inTaiwan when India finished overallchampions with 11 medals, seven ofthem Gold.

The Indian juggernaut has beenunstoppable so far and national coachC A Kuttappa said rediscovering theaggressive streak has been vital to thesuccess.

"It's good to be cautious when youare faced with a tough opponent butoverall it is better if you make a state-ment from the word go. That's what wehave succeeded in doing consistentlyhere," he said.

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India's top women's singles playerAnkita Raina shocked former US

Open champion Samantha Stosur forthe biggest win of her career, progress-ing to the second round of KunpingOpen here on Wednesday.

The Indian, an Asian GamesBronze medallist, shocked the fanciedAustralian 7-5, 2-6, 6-5 in a gruellingtwo hours and fifty minutes battle atthe WTA 125K event.

This is the second time the twofaced off, with Stosur winning their lastencounter in straight sets.

The 26-year-old Indian struggledto hold her and managed only threeaces throughout the match comparedto Stosur, who smashed seven aces.However, the world No 77 mademore errors — 18 double faults —compared to Ankita's six.

She will face Kai-Lin Zhang ofChina in the second round.

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Angelique Kerber will face compatri-ot Andrea Petkovic in the second

round of this week's WTA tournamentin Stuttgart, after Petkovic beat Spain'sSara Sorribes Tormo in straight sets onTuesday.

World number five Kerber was

granted a bye to the second round afterSimona Halep withdrew from the tour-nament with an injury, and will now faceher friend and compatriot in an all-German duel on Thursday.

"I will send Angie a SMS or two thisevening," said Petkovic after beatingTormo 6-3, 6-4.

"Usually, the loser has to buy theother one dinner," she added.

In the other ties Belgium's GreetMinnens sprung a surprise when shebeat Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova,ranked 159 places above her, to set up asecond round meeting with world num-ber three Petra Kvitova.

Laura Siegemund became the thirdGerman to reach the second round whenshe beat Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko,while Anna-Lena Friedsam went downfighting in two sets against Dutch sixthseed Kiki Bertens.

Earlier in the day, Elise Mertens ofBelgium was knocked out by Russia'sDarya Kasatkina, and AnastasikaSevastova overcame fellow Latvian JelenaOstapenko in a rollercoaster battle overthree sets.

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Alexander Zverev has admitted he is ata loss to explain his dip in form after

the world number three was beaten bylucky loser Nicolas Jarry in the secondround of the Barcelona Open on Tuesday.

Zverev spurned a match point at 6-5and then a 3-0 lead in the final-set tie-break before going down 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5)to Jarry, ranked 81st in the world.

The German had taken a late wildcardin Barcelona in search of both matches andform after a string of surprise defeats.

"I just play bad, it's not a secret,"Zverev said afterwards.

"The tennis was very low-level. Mostof the points that I won were unforcederrors by him. I'm in a hole and I don'tknow how to get out of it."

Jarry had even lost in qualifying toSpain's Marcel Granollers but, after beinggiven a reprieve, knocked out the sameopponent in the first round to set up ameeting with Zverev, long-considered a

future star of the men's game.The Chilean upset both Marin Cilic

in Shanghai and Dominic Thiem inHamburg last year but this was thebiggest victory of his career and anothersetback for Zverev, with just over a monthto go before the start of the French Open.

Jarry, meanwhile, will face eitherBulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov or veteranSpaniard Fernando Verdasco in the thirdround on Thursday, with Japan's KeiNishikori now the highest ranked seed leftin the bottom half.

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