VOL. 13, ISSUE 166 | Saturday, 16 June 2018 | New Delhi | Pages 16 | Rs 3.00

millenniumpost.in RNI NO.: DELENG/2005/15351REGD. NO.: DL(S)-01/3420/2018-20

PUBLISHED FROM DELHI & KOLKATA

BUKHARI KILLING

NO HALF TRUTHS

MPOST BUREAU

BENGALURU: As ques-tions over the longevity of the Congress-JD(S) coalition gov-ernment in Karnataka linger, Chief Minister HD Kuma-raswamy on Friday appeared upbeat that could ‘touch’ him at least till the 2019 Lok Sabha polls are over.

“This coalition govern-ment will function with sta-bility. I know, no one can touch me for one year. I will be there at least for one year until the Lok Sabha election is over. Until then, no one can do anything to me,” he said.

Addressing an event, Kumaraswamy said he would not remain silent during the period that he has got and would focus on taking deci-sions for the benefit of the state.

The Chief Minister said he would not waste his time and immerse himself in work as it was important that the state progresses in all spheres.

“So in the opportunity that I have got, rather than going into what others have done, what I have done will be my message. in doing this, the environment is also in my favour (with good rains),” he added.

Nobody can touch me at least

till 2019 polls: Kumaraswamy

In today’s paper

...CITY

UZBEK WOMAN PRISONER DIES 4

NATION

GOA CM RESUMES OFFICIAL WORK 5

EDIT

RISING KASHMIR ECLIPSED 8

INTERNATIONAL

PAK TALIBAN CHIEF KILLED 10

BUSINESS

UK COURT ORDERS MALLYA TO PAY UP 13

SPORT

INDIA CRUSH AFGHANISTAN 15

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PM chairs high-level meeting on Kashmir

Mamata to attend NITI Aayog meeting

Kolkata jewellery promoter arrested by DRI in multi-crore fraud case

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the security situation in Jammu and Kash-mir in which a decision on extending the ceasefire could be taken, officials said.

The meeting was attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advi-sor Ajit Doval, and senior offi-cials of intelligence and security agencies, they said.

The meeting is crucial as a call on extending the unilateral ceasefire post-Ramzan, which ends Friday, can be taken dur-ing it, they said.

It is expected that the issue

of security for Amarnath Yatra, starting June 28, and killings of Rising Kashmir editor Shu-jaat Bukhari and Army jawan Aurangzeb is also on the agenda, they said.

The fate of the Centre’s one-month-old policy of sus-pension of operations against militants in Jammu and Kash-

mir hangs in the balance, with a few security agencies flagging its disadvantages, including regrouping of militants, and some in the Home Ministry is in favour of extending it with a rider that intelligence-based operations should be increased, officials had said.

The valley has witnessed the killings of over 55 militants and the deaths of 27 locals this year.

The situation in Kashmir is considered to be turbulent as nearly 80 incidents of violence occurred there in the last four months. Civilians were often seen thronging to encounter sites to stage protests with the intention of giving the militants an opportunity to escape.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has con-firmed her participation in the NITI Aayog’s governing coun-cil meeting on Sunday. This comes after the Chief Minis-ters of different states urged her to be present.

After wishing “Eid Mubarak” to all, Banerjee said: “As you all know that the meet-ing of NITI Aayog was called on the day of Eid, which is on June 16. I had pointed it out. We need to attend prayers on the day of Eid. It is difficult for us to go for the meeting on June 16. They had changed the date

of the meeting and it has been rescheduled on June 17. The meeting is going to start at 9 am.”

Banerjee, who will be attending the prayer on Red Road on Sunday morning, fur-ther said: “Despite my unwill-ingness, I am going to attend the meeting.”

She said: “The Chief Minis-ters of different states have also urged me to attend the meeting of the NITI Aayog and I am going just because everyone wants me to go.”

Meanwhile, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chan-drababu Naidu, who is set to attend the NITI Aayog meet-ing in New Delhi as well, has organised a series of meetings with his officials and discussed the issues to be raised in the meeting.

Mamata, will be setting out for Delhi on Saturday evening. She will attend the meeting the next day and will come back to Kolkata on Monday.

MPOST BUREAU

KOLKATA: Shree Ganesh Jewellery House Ltd pro-moter Nilesh Parekh has been arrested for fraud in diversion of over 1,700 kg of primary gold, the Directorate of Reve-nue Intelligence said on Friday.

Parekh was last year arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation in connection of defrauding a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India, for non-payment of loan to the tune of Rs 2,672 crore.

“We have arrested Kolkata-based Shree Ganesh Jewellery House’s promoter on Thursday and he was produced before court on Friday. He has been

remanded eight days of judi-cial custody,” a DRI official said.

“Our investigation sug-gested that he was found to be actively involved in the fraud of diversion of primary gold of over 1700 kg among other violations like non-realisation of remittance on account of export of gems & jewelleries to the tune of Rs 7,500 crore,” the official said. Intelligence was developed by DRI that the firm having several units in Man-ikanchan Special Economic Zone, Kolkata was involved in diversion of gold imported duty free on the strength of being a nominated agency and also in its capacity as a SEZ unit, a DRI statement said.

MPOST BUREAU

BENGALURU: Parashuram Waghmare, the last of the six suspects arrested in connection with the killing of journalist-actvist Gauri Lankesh, was her assassin, the SIT probing the sensational case said on Friday.

A senior official in the Spe-cial Investigation Team also said the same weapon was used to shoot Lankesh, and rational-ists Govind Pansare and M M Kalburgi.

“Waghmare shot Lankesh, and the forensic report has con-firmed that (rationalists) Gov-ind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Lankesh were murdered with the same weapon,” a senior offi-cer in the SIT said.

He, however, said the weapon was yet to be traced.

A forensic examination can lead to such a conclusion when the hammer of a gun has left identical marks at the rear of a bullet even if the weapon itself has not been found.

The official said the organ-isation, composed of peo-ple drawn from Hindu right groups, had around 60 mem-bers spread across at least five states but had no name.

“We discovered that this gang has a network in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. We did not find their Uttar Pradesh con-nection so far,” the official said.

He said though it recruited people from hardline Hindutva

organisations like Maharash-tra-based Hindu Jagruti Samiti and Sanatan Sanstha, these out-fits may not be directly respon-

sible for the killings.Both organisations had

denied their role in the killing of the three.

Sujith Kumar alias Praveen used to recruit people for the gang, the official said, adding it was following his interrogation that the network was busted.

The SIT, he said, suspected three more were involved in the killing of Lankesh, who was shot dead at the entrance of her Bengaluru residence on Sep-tember 5 last year, and a hunt was on for them.

Speculation was rife that Waghmare, whose physi-cal appearance matched that of the man whose image was caught on the CCTV camera at Lankesh’s home on the day of the killing, was her assassin.

The officer said the gang meticulously planned its oper-ations before executing them.

The entire process of recon-naissance, identifying the weaknesses of the targets and their elimination would take anywhere between 6 months and a year.

“The gang had almost reached the last phase of kill-ing Prof K S Bhagawan (Kan-nada writer) when we nabbed them,” the officer said.

The Karnataka police had uncovered the plot to kill Bhag-wan recently, and it was during the interrogation of the four arrested accused that they grew suspicious about their involve-ment in Lankesh’s killing.

Bhagwan had often angered the right-wing outfits with his writing and utterances against Hindu Gods. (WITH PTI INPUTS)

Waghmare killed Lankesh; outfit has footprints in 5 statesTHE MURDER WAS METICULOUSLY PLANNED

Soon, cashless treatment at AIIMS for CGHS card-holders

DHIRENDRA KUMAR

NEW DELHI: It may come as a big relief to Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) beneficiaries as the government has decided to provide cashless treatment facilities to all CGHS beneficiaries at premier health-care institutes of All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

A pilot project in this regard would soon start in AIIMS, New Delhi, wherein CGHS beneficiaries wouldn’t have to pay for diagnostic procedures as well as other chargeable lab tests, including bed charges.

Notably, the OPD facilities and some tests in AIIMS are free for all, while the institute offers free of cost diagnostic procedures for patients belonging to BPL categories, while general category patients need to pay to get lab facilities at the premier insti-tute, which are far less compared to other hospitals.

As per the proposal, the Health Ministry is about to sign an agreement with the AIIMS to start cashless treat-ment facilities for all CGHS benefi-ciaries and the expenses incurred on

CGHS beneficiaries would be directly reimbursed to the premier institute.

“Given that CGHS cardholders are entitled to get treatment at any Central government hospital, we are working on the proposal to make it cashless in AIIMS. The beneficiaries would have to visit the healthcare cen-tre and get his/her treatment done, and the CGHS would take the bill-ing part care,” a senior official in the Health Ministry said.

The official further added that the talks are in the final stage and it would be formalised very soon. “The AIIMS, New Delhi has agreed to roll out the scheme, and once it becomes success-ful, the facility would be launched in every government hospital across the country,” the official said, adding that separate registration counters would also be opened to implement the scheme.

“Once the scheme becomes oper-ational, it would prove to be a major relief for CGHS beneficiaries as they wouldn’t have to wait for long in queues to pay fees for procedures/tests,” said Vijay Kumar Gurjar, an AIIMS doctor.

CM PROPOSES TO LAUNCH DOOR-TO-DOOR CAMPAIGN PG3

NORTH-EAST FLOOD CLAIMS 12 LIVES PG7

RBI MUST ACT AS ALERT INSPECTOR, NOT OFF-SITE SURVEYOR: UNIONS PG13

FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT DAY

SAYANTAN GHOSH

NEW DELHI: A steady breeze slightly improved the city’s air pollution levels but the air quality remained in the “severe” category for the fourth day on Friday, monitoring agencies said.

There was a dip in the air quality level on Tuesday due to dust storms in western India, particularly Rajasthan, which increased coarser particles in the air, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said.

However, the influx of dust from Rajasthan slowed down significantly and local winds in Delhi have picked up due to which dispersion of pollut-ants have become faster, and the air quality is expected to return to “very poor” category from “severe” by Satur-day, said Gufran Beig, a scientist at the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research Institute (SAFAR).

The PM10 level (presence of par-ticles with a diameter less than 10 mm) was recorded at 626 in Delhi-NCR and 650 in Delhi, leading to hazy conditions.

The PM2.5 level (presence of parti-cles with a diameter less than 2.5 mm) that deteriorated from “very poor” to “severe” showed improvement today at 164 in Delhi region and 162 in Delhi-NCR, the CPCB data said.

On Thursday, the PM2.5 level in Delhi-NCR was at 268 and Delhi at 277.

According to the CPCB, the air quality index (AQI), a measurement of the concentration of toxic particu-

late matter in the air, at several places in Delhi remained over 500. An AQI between 0-50 is considered “Good”, 51-100 “Satisfactory”, 101-200 “Mod-erate”, 201-300 “Poor”, 301-400 “Very Poor”, and 401-500 “Severe”.

The India Meteorological Depart-ment (IMD) said that strong dust rais-ing winds of the order of 25- 35 kmph is likely to continue over Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi during the next 24 hours.

It also forecasts thunderstorms at isolated places over the city in the coming days, bringing relief from the dusty air.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Bai-jal had on Thursday ordered stop-

page of all civil construction activities across the city till Sunday as part of the emergency measures which also include intensifying mechanical road sweeping.

Worried over the situation doctors across the city have advised people suffering from breathing difficulties not to travel outside as it can exacer-bate their respiratory diseases. They have recommended patients use mask whenever they step out of their homes.

The number of cases of patients suffering from related respiratory ail-ments has increased 20 percent during the last two days, as per reports com-ing in from city hospitals. See inside

Delhi’s air quality remains ‘severe’

ILEANA OPENS UP ABOUT DEPRESSION, MARRIAGE & PREGNANCY PG16

pNIFTY 10,817.70 (+9.65) pSENSEX 35,622.14 (+22.32) qDOW JONES 25,006.81 (-168.50) qNASDAQ 7722.31 (-38.73) qRUPEE/DOLLAR 68.01 (-0.39) qRUPEE/EURO 79.12 (-0.33) pGOLD/10GM 32,190 (+330) pSILVER/K 42,400 (+450)

J-K Police arrests one suspect

MPOST BUREAU

SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the killing of veteran journal-ist Shujaat Bukhari and two of his PSOs, Kashmir’s top police officer announced on Friday.

The suspect has been identi-fied as Zubair Qadri, Inspector General (IG) Kashmir Swayam Prakash Pani said at a hurriedly called press conference.

He said Qadri was seen in the video stealing the pistol of the PSO who was shot dead along with Bukhari.

“The pistol has since been recovered, and he is being questioned about his presence at the scene of the crime. So far, he has not been able to give any convincing answers,” he said.

Pani added that the state police had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under Deputy Inspector General (central Kashmir) V K Virdi to probe the killing of the editor of Rising Kashmir yesterday.

Pani also described the kill-ing of the journalist as a “ter-ror attack”.

The identity of the other three attackers was being ascer-tained, the police official said.

Bukhari, 52, was given police protection after an attempt on his life 18 years ago. The father of two, who was often part of “track-2” diplo-

macy between India and Paki-stan, was also said to be on a terrorist hit list.

In 2006, Bukhari was kid-napped by unknown gunmen who then attempted to shoot him at close range. Miracu-lously, the gunman’s pistol got locked, and the journalist ran for his life.

In recent weeks, he had strongly backed the internal ceasefire announced by New Delhi for Ramzan.

Just days ago, he tweeted on the killings of two policemen in Pulwama in south Kashmir.

Hundreds of mourners in Kashmir on Friday joined the funeral procession of Bukhari at his ancestral village Kreeri in Baramulla. Despite heavy rain, crowds of villagers, friends and colleagues followed the march through the streets of the village. See P6

EID MUBARAKTO ALL OUR ESTEEMED READERS

Highlights » Winds slightly improve pollution levels

» Air quality is expected to return to “very- poor” category from “severe” by Saturday

» City hospitals flooded with cases of people suffering from respiratory ailments

A New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) worker sprinkles water on trees to reduce dust particles, in New Delhi, on Friday PTI

A CCTV image released by the J&K Police shows three bike borne suspects PTI

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Printed and Published by Jaiyendra Kumar Sharma on behalf of Front Row Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at The Indian Express Pvt. Ltd., A-8, Sector-7, Noida-201 301 (U.P.) and published from First Floor, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002. Editor: Durbar Ganguly, Executive Editor: Arya Rudra. Email: durbarganguly@gmail.com, Tel. No. 011-47777500

YOGA WORKSHOP BY HEALTH GURU

Ahead of International Yoga Day, a two day yoga workshop by Dr Mickey Mehta, India’s leading holistic health guru and corporate life coach for the residents of Gurugram is being organized to introduce the benefits of Yoga and its vital role in the life of an individual. WHERE: DLF Gardencity, Gurugram (June 16) and The Crest Clubhouse, Park Drive, DLF5 (June 17) TIMING: 7 am – 9 am

Reap the benefits of Yoga

“RACE 3”

Director: Remo D’Souza; Cast: Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Bobby Deol, Jacqueline Fernandez, Saqib Saleem, Daisy Shah, Freddy Daruwalla; Rating:

Action-packed but lacks thrills

Race 3, as the name suggests, is the third edition of the fran-chise, but has no narrative con-

nection with its previous editions. And unlike its predecessors, this one seems like jaded fare as it lacks thrills and the adrenaline rush so palpable in its earlier editions.

Convoluted and predictable, this action thriller is a forced fam-ily drama. In its broad outlines, Race 3 has a story similar to many Hindi films seen in the 1980s and 1990s, in which the family members are pitted one against another, only to realise

that blood bonds are stronger than any external greed.

In this cinematic uni-verse, we witness sibling jealousy and one-upman-ship, conning and dou-ble-crossing, loyalty and sacrifice. And all these aspects seem so feeble and unconvincing.

It’s the story of Shamsher Singh’s (Anil Kapoor) family. Origi-nally from Handiya in India, he has a flour-ishing arms manu-facturing and dealing business, operat-ing from the pri-vate island Al-Shifa. Greed makes him plot a heist. He ropes in his twins – Suraj

(Saqib Saleem) and Sanjana (Daisy Shah)

and his adopted son

Sikander (Salman Khan).The twins have a grouse against

their father. They feel he is neglect-ing them as he is fond of Sikander. So they plot along with Yash (Bobby Deol), Sikander’s loyal bodyguard to show him down. The plot advances relentlessly with twists and turns, and despite familiar elements it takes a complicated, longwinded path for a cliched finale.

With dialogues like, “Our business is our business, none of your business” and “They don’t make men like you anymore”, the writing is light, super-fluous and steeped in mediocrity. The inclusion of the Bhojpuri dialect at times makes the scene unintention-ally funny.

Anil’s performance as Shamsher Singh vacillates from sincere to per-functory at a high rate, but neverthe-less, he is the only actor worth a watch.Salman Khan and Bobby Deol are far from being agile they both seem world-weary and worn-out.

On the technical front, the film is astutely mounted with high pro-duction values. With swank, custom-designed cars and free flowing arms, the action sequences are well-cho-reographed and slickly edited. While some of the scenes with live action drama get your adrenaline charged, there are others that resemble an action-packed video game.

The 3D effects are far and few, even the shattering of the glass frames with the shards strewn all around are inef-fective. The songs are an aberration to the narrative. IANS

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

2 MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018mp around town

Ditch oily food and alcohol for cold soups, sorbets and fresh vegetables to combat the harsh effects of summer

on your body, say experts.

Here are a few dos and don’ts to combat the harsh summer heat:

DOS:4Fresh fruits, vegetables and sal-

ads: Summer heat could lead to dehy-dration and dehydration could lead to electrolyte loss, which could leave you feeling lethargic, nauseous, exhausted and may even cause diarrhoea and con-stipation. Up your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables in ways that are creative and yum like finger foods or fun salads so that you beat the heat. 

4Liquids and sorbets: Invite divine drinks into your life like kokum water, coconut water, chaas, fruit slushes and also frozen iced sorbets - the healthi-est way to make this is to simply slush your fruit by lightly beating it and then freezing it. These foods work well to restore electrolyte balance and also pro-vide healthy and interesting ways to pack in those nutrients. 4Water and infused water:

Apart from increasing your water consumption to about 10-12 glasses per day, why not try killing two birds with one glass by infusing your water? Take care of both dehydration and nutrition by adding a small piece of fresh fruit like kiwi or strawberry or even basil to your water with a pinch of Sugar Free Green.4Sauteed greens: Give a nod to

sauteed greens this season because these are light, can be made very entertain-ing and always bring nice gifts with

them like reduced cholesterol, can-cer-fighting abilities, anti-ageing

benefits, powerful vitamins and tons of energy.4Cold soups: Team up fresh

salads with the perfect escort: hearty cold soups that include

gazpachos, cold cucumber soups, tomato soups for that full flavour and

for that feeling of being full.

DON’TS: 4Excess protein: Pro-

teins are harder to digest in general and coupled with heat and dehydration, could leave you feeling uncomfortable

and possibly nauseous if consumed in excess. The recommended daily intake of protein is one gram per kilo of ideal body weight (the appropriate weight for your height). So, no matter what you currently weigh, if your ideal body weight is supposed to be 57-58 kilos, your protein intake should not exceed 57-58 grams per day.4Alcohol: Nothing

looks more tempting and refreshing than a cool cocktail, all frosty and pink, beckoning you to drink it. The harsh real-ity is that alcohol adds to more heat; alcohol is a vasodilator, which means that more blood gushes through your system leaving you feeling hot-ter and sweatier. Alco-hol is also extremely dehydrating.4Oily food:

When bodies are not hydrated, they are not always able to expel all by-products of heavier, oilier foods through the kid-ney, which is why uri-nation is not as frequent when you are dehydrated. To coun-ter this, the load of excreting oily food comes on to the skin – the second larg-est excretory organ – which will make you sweat more, dehydrate you further, kick-starting a vicious cycle. IANS

Dos and don’ts for summerSummer heat could leave you feeling lethargic, nauseous,

exhausted and may even cause diarrhoea and constipation. Experts suggest a list of items that should/shouldn’t be

consumed to combat the harsh effects of the season

PORCINI RAGOUT AND PECORINO BRUSCHETTA

INGREDIENTS

Ciabatta 1 loaf

Onions 100 gms

Porcini 100 gms

Chantrelles 100gms

Garlic 50 gms

Button mushroom 100 gms

Philadelphia cheese 25 gms

Pecorino 15 gms

Truffle oil 5 ml

Extra virgin olive oil 10 ml

METHODHeat oil in a pan, add gar-lic and onions and lightly sauté them.Add sliced button mush-rooms, porcini and chante-relles to the pan and cook until they release all their juices.Season with salt and pep-

per and add the pecorino and Philadelphia cheese. The mixture will turn into slight creamy texture.Take the sliced toasted ciabatta bread and spread the mushroom mixture over it. Slightly drizzle with truffle oil and serve.Not to be left behind, fresh Burrata, paired with heirloom tomatoes,

wild arugula and its complex flavors lends itself to a carefully crafted summer appetizer. With pesto and micro greens rounding out the dish, drizzled with a simple balsamic reduction, the light yet filling dish is best enjoyed with a glass of Prosecco. The cooling creamy Burrata and the crunch of Pine-nuts that accompany it is always a real crowd pleaser.

INGREDIENTS

Burrata Cheese 130 gm

Heirloom tomatoes 100 gm

Balsamic reduction 10 gm

Extra virgin olive oil 5 ml

Pesto 20 gms

Microgreens 2 gms

Wild aragula 5 gms

Pinenuts 5 gms

Raisins 5 gms

Salt and pepper to taste

METHODSlice the heirloom toma-toes and lightly sprinkle them with salt and pep-per.Place the burrata on top of tomatoes, sprinkle the aragula, pine nuts, microgreens around to make it look attractive.Drizzle with balsamic reduction, pesto and extra virgin olive oil

Beat the summer heat with cooling foodOUR CORRESPONDENT

Summer time in India brings with it intense heat, with a touch of humidity. Cooling foods are often in demand, and salads and light bites rule the palate.

At Playground, JW Marriott New Delhi Aeroc-ity, the menu by Rishi Verma, Chef De Cuisine emphasizes on fresh ingredients and seasonal fruits and vegetables. This often translates into quick bites curated to satiate the critic and the connoisseur alike.

A perfect appetizer on a warm summer afternoon comes replete with mushrooms and Ciabatta bread. It’s easy to whip up and always leaves people want-ing another bite. The Porcini Ragout and Pecorino Bruschetta makes for a wonderful start to any meal.

IF YOU ARE AN early riser, you are significantly less likely to develop depression, according to researchers.

“Being an early type seems to be beneficial, and you can influence how early you are,” said lead author Celine Vetter, Director at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Conversely, people who are up till late at night are twice as likely to suffer from depression, studies have shown.

It is because the late chronotypes – or night owls – are less likely to be married, more likely to live alone and be smokers, and more likely to have erratic sleep patterns, the researchers explained.

Lack of sleep, exercise, less time spent outdoors, bright lights at night, and low exposure to daylight all can con-tribute to depression.

For the study, published in the Journal of Psychiat-ric Research, the team analysed more than 32,000 female nurses to explore the link between chronotype – the pro-

pensity for the individual to sleep at a particular time dur-ing a 24-hour period, or sleep-wake preference, and mood disorders. The results showed that even after accounting for environmental factors like light exposure and work sched-

ules, chronotype – which is in part determined by genetics – appears to mildly influence depression risk.

“Our results show a modest link between chronotype and depression risk. This could be related to the overlap in genetic pathways associated with chronotype and mood,” Vetter said.

However, early risers still had a 12-27 per cent lower risk of being depressed than intermediate types, while late types had 6 per cent higher risk than intermediate types (this modest increase was not statistically significant).

“This tells us that there might be an effect of chronotype on depression risk that is not driven by environmental and lifestyle factors,” Vetter noted.

Vetter stressed that while the study does suggest that chronotype is an independent risk factor for depres-sion, it does not mean night owls are doomed to be depressed. IANS

Give an early start to your day to cut depression

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CULTURALLY RICH IN ART, music and dance – the state of Odisha/Orissa initiated India’s first private sector triennial titled ‘OTIA’ (Odisha Triennial of International Art).The initiative which was taken by Sahank Mahp-tra; Founder of ANPIC and OTIA took place in the three major cities of Odisha namely Bhu-baneswar, Puri and Konark.

OTIA, which was formally launched in Bhu-baneswar  in  May made its national announcement – ‘Delhi Declaration of OTIA’ at the National Gallery of Modern Art on June 14, in the presence of Pinaki Misra, MP (Lok-Sabha)  and  Jef-frey Sexton, Minister Coun-selor of Public Affairs and the US Embassy. The evening was also graced by the pres-ence of famous personalities like Anand Moy Banerji, Kan-chan Chandra,  Pratul Dash, Artist Sidharth, Raghu Rai, Jatin Das and many more.

The Chief guest of the program,  Pinaki Misra, MP (Lok-Sabha) said, “It has been observed that the activities of ANPIC is promoting Indian

culture and their initiative OTIA will give a boost to the state and its culture.”

Sashanka Mohapatra, Founder Director of OTIA said, “While the state exhibitions are exclusively for national artists, OTIA is an inter-national platform which gives stage to the inter-national artists for showcasing their art along with the artists of India and from the Odisha state in particular.” 

“OTIA is a great challenge given to me and I am going to make it one of the worth memorable

experiences in the Indian art scene,” said JohnyML who is the Curatorial Director-designate of OTIA. “I have envisioned an international triennial in which the local aesthetics will find a chance to stand shoulder to shoul-der with the international art. My idea is to create a ‘global’ feeling about art and culture through the OTIA platform by integrating art, music, dance, theatre, film, craft and literature,” he fur-ther added.

It’s the first time that Orissa’s local artists got a platform to showcase the cul-ture on a national and inter-national level.

OTIA: An initiative to showcase Odisha culture

mp city 3MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

CM proposes to launch door-to-door campaignArvind Kejriwal writes fresh letter to PM Narendra Modi, seeking

his intervention to end the ‘strike’ by IAS officers in the CapitalSAYANTAN GHOSH

NEW DELHI: Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced that he will launch a door-to-door campaign after Sunday, if the Centre continues to be mute over the demands submitted by him to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

He also wrote a fresh letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention to end the ‘strike’ by IAS officers in the Capital, even as he hit out at his detractors, saying the sit-in was “not for personal gains” but for the greater good of the people of Delhi.

In a video released from the sit-in at LG’s office, Kejriwal asked AAP workers to do a similar campaign like the one they did over electricity bills in 2015.

“After Sunday, if there is no response on our demands, go door-to-door and bring the signatures of at least 10 lakh families. We will forward it to

the Prime Minister. He is not responding to my demand, so the people of Delhi will ask him,” the Chief Minister said in the video.

Kejriwal also said that he was expecting the LG to approve the demands in some time, but was “astonished to see that the IAS strike was still going on.”

“We wrote to the LG,

texted him. We wrote to the Prime Minister. Why has the Prime Minister not ordered the officers to call off their strike? On the other hand, BJP members are protesting to support the officers’ strike,” Kejriwal added.

On Thursday, AAP had warned of a protest at the Prime Minister’s residence on Sunday if the demands of the

Delhi Cabinet ministers were not met.

A team of doctors on Thursday also conducted a health check-up of Kejriwal’s deputy Manish Sisodia and Delhi Health minister Satyendar Jain at the LG office, who are on an indefinite hunger strike to press for their demands.

As part of their demands, the Delhi Cabinet ministers have sought that the LG direct the IAS officers to end their ‘strike’ and initiate punitive against those officers who have hampered work.

The ministers also want the LG to approve the proposal for doorstep delivery of ration scheme.

“I have again asked him (PM) to do something. It is not alright to have this strike be allowed. So, on Sunday, will go to the PM’s residence, a lot of people of Delhi will go to his residence and appeal to him to have the strike cancelled,” Kejriwal said in the letter to the PM.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita (front right) and mother (front left) wait in a car near the LG’s residence on Thursday PIC/PIT

SAYANTAN GHOSH

NEW DELHI: Major reshuf-fling was undertaken within the ranks of IAS officers in the Delhi government on Friday, with the Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Anindo Majumdar being brought back to the Capital.

This has sparked specula-tion that there is likely to be a change in the position of the Chief Secretary of Delhi.

Moreover, five senior IAS officials were transferred in the Capital, includes the CEO of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Anil Kumar Singh. The Board comes directly under Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who serves as its chairman.

“With the approval of Competent Authority, Anindo Majumdar, (IAS, AGMUT 1985), Chief Secretary, A&NI Administration is hereby trans-ferred from A&NI to NCT of Delhi with immediate effect,” noted an order issued from the Union Home Ministry.

When contacted by Millen-nium Post, Majumdar acknowl-edged the order, but did not comment on the position that he will be offered.

Earlier, in 2015, the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi gov-ernment had a standoff with Majumdar, who was removed

from his position as Princi-pal Secretary of the Services department by Kejriwal.

The other senior IAS offi-cials who were given transfer orders on Friday include Anil Kumar Singh, Tarsem Kumar, SK Bhandari, Sanjay Kumar Jha and Chokha Ram Garg.

The reshuffle comes at a time when the national Capital is going through a churning, as the elected AAP government is at loggerheads with the bureau-crats and IAS officers, who have been on a ‘strike’.

The conflict started all the way back in February 19, dur-ing a midnight meeting at the residence of the Chief Min-ister, when some of MLAs of the ruling AAP allegedly man-handled Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash.

Thereafter, officials of the Delhi government started a non-cooperation movement with the ministers.

However, the officials continued doing all essential works.

The AAP government, however, claims that the offi-cials are on ‘strike’ as they are not attending any meeting called by ministers.

Demanding that the strike be withdrawn, AAP ministers have been protesting at the LG office.

Former Principal Secy Anindo Majumdar brought back to Delhi

SAYANTAN GHOSH

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Friday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the logjam in the Capital and urged him to pac-ify the situation.

The AAP leader said that the meeting was success-ful, however later alleged that Lieutenant Governor Anil Bai-jal wants the people of Delhi to suffer as neither he nor the Prime Minister are “con-cerned” to address the issue his party has raised.

“I narrated to him the entire situation in Delhi and how IAS officers have been avoid-ing important government meetings during the past four months,” Singh said.

“The Home Minister has promised he will take up the matter with the LG and find a solution to the issue,” he added.

However, he also observed that the LG and the Prime Min-ister are “not concerned about the resolving the issue.”

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with his dep-uty Manish Sisodia and Cabi-net ministers Satyendra Jain

and Gopal Rai have been camp-ing at Raj Niwas – the official accommodation-cum-office of Baijal – since Monday evening.

They have been demand-ing the LG to direct IAS officers working in the Delhi adminis-tration to end their undeclared strike, take action against offi-cers who have hampered work for “four months”, and approve the AAP government’s pro-posal for doorstep delivery of ration to the poor.

Kejriwal has that said he and his colleagues would not leave Baijal’s office until their demands are met.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A PhD scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru Univer-sity accused the administration of unleashing acts of institu-tional torture on him for the last two weeks through con-stant hostel transfers and fines adding up to Rs 50,000 because he participated in a hunger strike to protest the University Grants Commission gazette.

The student Dileep Kumar Yadav, from the Centre for Inner-Asian Studies, housed under JNU’s School of Inter-national Studies, said that the university has issued four hos-tel transfer in the last two years, imposed heavy fines, cut access to the mess and even de-acti-vated his internet access.

He submitted an open let-ter to the vice-chancellor, M. Jagadesh Kumar, on June 14, 2018, detailing the harassment and asking the administration to cease their attempts to ‘spoil’ Yadav’s academic career. He had also sent a letter to the vice-chancellor earlier in June to request him to hold the trans-fer till his degree is done.

Yadav said he has been compliant with all the demands of the administration so far and has transferred hostels thrice.

PhD scholar accuses JNU of

harassment

Sanjay Singh meets Home Minister to end logjam

AAP leader Sanjay Singh arrived after meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh residence in New Delhi on Friday PIC/PTI

BJP leaders at Delhi Secretariat turns dharna into hunger strikeNEW DELHI: Leaders of the Delhi unit of Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday began an indef-inite fast against the sit-in pro-test by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet col-leagues at the Lieutenant Gov-ernor’s residence.

“West Delhi BJP MP Pravesh Singh Saheb Verma, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta, MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and I have decided to start indefinite hunger strike from today (Friday),” suspended Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kapil

Mishra told reporters.Mishra said the BJP MPs

and the legislators have sat on hunger strike in the Delhi Sec-retariat since morning over the acute water shortage in several areas of the national Capital.

Mishra also said they have written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind, urging him to intervene and direct Kejriwal over the constitutional crisis.

The BJP leaders are also sit-ting on protest at Delhi Secre-tariat against the sit-in protest by Kejriwal and his Deputy

Chief Minister Manish Siso-dia, Health Minister Satyen-dar Jain and Labour Minister Gopal Rai.

The BJP leaders sat on pro-test on Wednesday.

The sit-in protest at Lieu-tenant Governor Anil Bai-jal’s office by Kejriwal, and his cabinet colleagues entered the fifth day on Friday, while the hunger strike by Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain entered day three and that by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia entered day two. MPOST

Six DCPs transferred

ROUSHAN ALI

NEW DELHI: The sit-in pro-test by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his three Cabinet colleagues at Lieutenant Gover-nor Anil Baijal’s office entered the fifth day on Friday, despite no response from the Centre over fulfilling the ministers’ demands.

However, the dharna has found support from almost all Opposition parties, who criti-cised the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre for its authoritarian attitude.

From former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to actor-turned-politician

Kamal Hassan, from dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha to major Leftist parties like CPI and CPI(M), the list of sup-porters for Kejriwal’s protest is increasing.

Even Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu expressed solidarity with the elected Delhi government, who on Friday tweeted, “The trend of using the Governor’s Office for Political benefits of the rul-ing party at the centre, goes against the spirit of the Con-stitution. We express our soli-darity with the Government of Delhi elected by people.”

The protest has already been backed by West Bengal

Chief Minister Mamata Baner-jee, and former BJP MP Yash-want Sinha.

In his tweet criticising the BJP leaders protesting at Delhi Secretariat, Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said that the “situation worse than the killing of the democracy”.

“This is an arrogance of the power. Those who are captur-ing the democracy with their power today will also capture the houses of the people. The people are angry as well as scared,” Yadav said.

Kamal Hassan, president of Makkal Needhi Maiam, equated the situation in Delhi and Pondicherry. “Interference

in the functioning of an elected government is unacceptable in a democracy. In fact what is happening in Delhi and in TN/Pondicherry are not too differ-ent. It is frustrating for people who want a change for the bet-ter. @ArvindKejriwal,” he had tweeted on Thursday.

Despite the widespread support, Congress, the largest Opposition party in the Par-liament, have not backed the AAP government. However, on Friday, the Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said his party does not want the elected gov-ernment of the Capital to be removed and will oppose any move for President’s Rule.

Opposition parties across nation back protest by Kejriwal, Delhi ministers

ABHAY SINGH

NEW DELHI: A dispute over water connection resulted in the death of a 45-year-old man, who was shot dead by his neighbour in south Delhi’s Sangam Vihar area on Thurs-day. Police claimed that they have arrested five persons in this regard.

Cops said the deceased man was identified as Krishan Bhadana, whose wife and chil-dren were also injured in the incident. The family lives in a three-storey house in Sangam Vihar’s B Block area.

Krishan, the brother of BJP councillor from CR Park Sub-hash Bhadana, worked in a construction company.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Romil Baaniya on Friday said that a PCR call was received at Sangam Vihar police station around 8.00 pm on Thursday Rampat Gali in B Block area.

The caller told cops that a dispute had erupted over water connectivity, which led to a scuffle between accused Babli, his family members, and residents of the area, which included Krishan.

On Thursday evening, Krishan’s wife, Suman and son Manish were trying to set up a

connection to a Delhi Jal Board pipeline, which runs through the house of the accused’s fam-ily. Babli objected to this and the two families got into a ver-bal confrontation.

“The accused Babli and his family assaulted the other party with bricks and called their associates, who later fired gunshots. The victim Krishan and Manish sustained gunshot injuries (one each) and their other family members also got injured,” said the DCP.

Babli and his brother were also injured during the scuffle.

After recording Manish’s statement, a case under sec-tions 307 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered at Sangam Vihar police station

and investigation taken up.During the probe, cops

found that Babli also fired at the victims. He is currently admit-ted to Batra Hospital and will be arrested once discharged.

Police further added that Babli’s two brothers, father Rampat and cousin Kaviraj have been arrested.

“Further raids are being conducted to apprehend the remaining accused persons. The other arrested accused are being interrogated to affect recovery for the weapon of offence,” said Baaniya.

Family members of the deceased claimed that they talked to the accused and his family in a very peaceful man-ner, who, in return, shot at and killed Krishan.

Dispute over water connection claims one in Sangam Vihar

Family members of the deceased man Krishan Bhadana, who was shot dead in Sangam Vihar on Thursday night PIC/MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who, along with Health Minister Satyendar Jain is on an indefi-nite hunger strike at Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s office, on Friday said they will also stop taking water if they are forcefully taken to a hospital.

Ambulances and a team of over 20 doctors reached the LG office on Friday, as Jain and Sisodia’s fast entered the fourth and third day, respec-tively. Additional security was also deployed in the area.

According to sources, the LG office is planning to take them out of the office forcefully.

Sisodia released a video say-ing they are not going to end the fast until their demands are met. “We are sitting inside the LG Office from the past five days. Jainji is on a hunger strike from the past four days and I am from the past three days,” Sisodia said in the video.

“We are totally fit, our body is totally fine. We have been informed that a number of doc-tors were called here and there is a plan to pick us up force-fully,” the Deputy Chief Min-ister added.

“Instead of forcing us to break the fast, kindly focus on our demands,” he added.

Will stop taking water if forced

out: Sisodia

NEW DELHI: Six Deputy Commissioners of Delhi Police have been transferred to other union territories, an official order said on Friday.

DCP (Traffic) Vijay Singh has been shipped to Anda-man and Nicobar Islands, while DCP (Dwarka) Shi-besh Singh has been trans-ferred to Lakshadweep.

Principal of Police Train-ing College in Jharoda Kalan Parmaditya has been sent to Goa, while DCP (North) Jatin Narwal, has been sent to Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

DCP (Headquarters) Vikramjit Singh has been sent to Dadra and Nagar Haveli, while DCP (South West) Milind Dumbere will go to Chandigarh.

Moreover, Joint Com-missioner (Northern Range) Sagar Preet Hooda has been sent to Arunachal Pradesh.

Additional Commis-sioner (Traffic) MN Tiwari has been sent to Mizoram.

Monika Bhardwaj, addi-tional DCP (South West) has been sent to Mizoram. MPOST

mp city4MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

Hospitals see surge in patients with respiratory problems

Doctors advise people with breathing difficulties not to travel outside

Students get road safety tips from Delhi Police officials

HC DIRECTS DU, STEPHEN’S COLLEGE TO ALLOW STUDENT IN SPORTS TRIALNEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Friday directed the Delhi University and St Stephen’s College to permit a student, who has applied for admission under the sports quota, to provisionally participate in sports tri-als commencing from June 18. Justice C Hari Shankar also sought response of the university and the college on the petition and listed it for hearing on July 3. “Re-spondents (DU and college) are directed to permit the petitioner (student) to provisionally participate in trials commencing from June 18 in A-2 category. Participa-tion of the petitioner in trial is entirely at her risk and shall remain subject to outcome of this petition,” the court said. While the counsel for DU sought time to respond to the plea, no one appeared for the college despite advance service of the petition.

THE ELDERS DELEGATION TO VISIT MOHALLA CLINIC IN DELHINEW DELHI: A team from The Elders, an international NGO founded by South African statesman Nelson Mandela and comprising noted public figures, on Friday sought to meet Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and proposed to visit a mohalla clinic here. In a letter dated June 13, Nobel Peace recipient and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Chair of The Elders, informed Kejriwal that “an Elders delegation will visit India from September 5 to 8. They would be honoured to meet you during their visit and would also propose to visit a mohalla clinic.” The delegation, led by Deputy Chair of The Elders and three-time Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, will also have former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

WEEKLY SUMMER SPECIAL TRAIN TO RUN BETWEEN JAMMU TAWI AND HOWRAH NEW DELHI: To clear summer rush of passengers, Northern Railways will run 03051/03052 Howrah–Jammu Tawi–Howrah weekly summer special train. The 03051 Howrah–Jammu Tawi train will depart Howrah at 11.55 pm every Thursday between June 21 and 26, to reach Jammu Tawi at 1.20 pm the third day. The 03052 Jammu Tawi–Howrah train will depart Jammu Tawi at 2.30 am every Sunday between June 24 and 29, to reach Howrah at 12.15 pm next day.

CITY BRIEFS

PIYUSH OHRIE

GURUGRAM: Aspersions have been again cast on the working of officials in Bhondsi jail after a woman Uzbek national died under mys-terious circumstances. The woman who had been identi-fied as Shamroz was arrested by Gurugram Police as she was residing in the city with-out the tourist visa. Not only is her death under suspicion but also questions are being raised that how a foreign national was able to live and work in the city without proper official documents.

The 38-year-old Uzbek national was arrested along with her friend from a bar at a prominent mall on June 10. The police officials arrested her after they got a tip-off that there were certain foreign

nationals who were living in the city without proper docu-mentation. She was arrested on the charges of foreigners act under Sections 3,14 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to officials, the health condition of the inmate worsened on Thursday. As the doctors inside the jail prem-ises were not able to treat her, she was admitted to the Civil hospital where she eventu-ally succumbed to her illness. The mysterious death of the woman foreign national inside the Bhondsi jail prompted the officials to order the magiste-rial-level inquiry into the mat-ter. Meanwhile, investigations are on to ascertain the reason behind the death of the Uzbek national.

Providing more detail about the deceased, sources in

the district police claimed that she came to India with tourist visa. She along with her friends had signed a contracts with a local entertainment company under which they use to per-form musical shows in various bars and restaurants of Guru-gram and South Delhi. Though this may be for the first time when a foreign national may have died inside the Gurugram jail, it’s not a first for foreign-ers to be arrested by the Gur-gram police.

From indulging in sex rack-ets, drug trafficking to illegal stays, a number of foreign nationals have been arrested by the law enforcement officials. Last year, a woman Afghan national, who was embroiled in sex racket, was arrested by the Gurgram police. It was found that she had fake documents of her Indian identity.

Mystery shrouds Uzbek woman prisoner’s death in Bhondsi jail

PIYUSH OHRIE

GURUGRAM: Sudden change in weather con-ditions may have deteriorated the levels of pol-lution in Gurugram but it is important to note that in 12 months there are only 20 days when city residents breathed clean air. Pollution caused by dust is one of the major factors in deteriorat-ing air of Gurugram. Despite various steps, the officials have not been able to devise any effec-tive plan to fight this major challenge. However, there is still no concrete measure in solving this challenge.

While there was an announcement that the roads will be swept through mechanised clean-ing measures, most of the roads including the prominent ones like MG road, Golf Course road continue to be cleaned through brooms. More-over, roadside dust due to depleting green cover is a concern that has also been raised by senior officials of the district administration. While felling of trees is a major concern, the civic body has also been criticised for not devising a mecha-nism to maintain the present green cover. Most of the greenery and trees are wilting due to lack of maintenance.

Medical experts claim that cleaning dust by brooms have not been an effective medium in dealing with the dust pollution. Large scale con-struction activities, depleting green cover are some of the major reasons attributed to rise in air pollution caused due to dust. Though mech-anised trucks have been contracted by the civic body, but it seems to be very less and are rarely being used on the city roads.

At a time when the civic agencies are strug-gling to find an effective solution to deal with the

pollution, the city’s air is worsening by the day. On Friday, the particulate matters 2.5 microns was recorded at the level of 215-220 micrograms per cubic metre that is way beyond the safe limit of 60. There was also high concentration of other particulates like PM10, sulphur dioxide, nitro-gen oxide.

According to experts, the climatic condition and less winds are only going to make the situa-tion bad in the coming days. “The haziness that has enveloped the city is enough for the author-ities and the residents to know that air we are breathing is not healthy. Yet, the urgency that needs to be shown by the authorities is some-where missing,” said Ankita Rai, a city resident.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Students who have to appear in the entrance exams of various courses at Delhi University may now download their admit cards from the web portal (http://admission.du.ac.in). As per a notice on the official DU web-site on entrance exam admit cards “Admit Cards for exams scheduled on June 17 and 18 are available for download. For other exam dates, admit cards will be released shortly.”

The varsity has also issued telephone numbers and cre-ated a Help desk to help stu-dents with their queries. The varsity had said that the stu-dents having any confusion could contact on 911-980-1912 , 911-980-1984, 911-980-1915, 911-980-1916. The univer-sity has also issued an email id DUET2018.CBOTEXAM@gmail.com.

POLLUTION CHOKING DELHI-NCR

Gurugram breathed clean air only for 20 of 365 days

Our CorrespondentNew Delhi: In order to

mitigate the effect of dust pol-lution, South Delhi Munici-pal Corporation has stopped the construction activities in areas under its jurisdiction and have conducted water sprin-kling and mechanical sweep-ing exercise.

SDMC, on Friday, took measures in view of alarm-ing levels of dust pollution in Delhi. Taking immediate action, the SDMC has stopped all construction activities in the areas under its jurisdiction. It further intensified mechani-cal road sweeping with water sprinkle and sprinkling of non potable water on the roadsides as part of emergency mea-sures to combat the dust pol-lution. SDMC deployed total 123 tractors, trolleys, tank-ers and 407vehicles for this purpose. For sprinkling non- potable water has been used at Adhchini Road, Venketsh-wara Road, ring road, outer ring road etc, said the officials.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: To inculcate good road safety habits in the students, Delhi Police held road safety awareness summer Camp-2018 at Traffic Train-ing Park in Baba Kharak Singh Marg. Amulya Patnaik, Com-missioner of Police, Delhi, was the Chief Guest at this occasion.

The objective behind orga-nizing the summer camp was to inculcate good road safety habits and also improve the awareness of participating stu-dents in various important

aspects pertaining to life which would prove to be helpful in the overall development of their personality. The summer camps were organized at four venues from May 21 to June 15. Around 2600 students from various schools of Delhi partic-ipated in the summer camps.

With a view to sensitizing the students about the nuances of traffic management, partici-pating students were also taken to select intersections where they assisted Traffic Police in traffic regulation using hand signals. They also educated road users and distributed road

safety literature to the public,” said the police officer.

Speaking on the occasion, Amulya Patnaik said, “Organ-ising Road Safety Camp of school children is one of the most outstanding initiatives, which Delhi Traffic Police has taken over the years to catch children at the formative stage and make them used to traffic rules and regulations”.

He stressed that we should take a pledge to obey traffic rules, as it would not only con-tribute to better traffic man-agement in Delhi, but road discipline would also contrib-

ute to nation building as one of the components.

Patnaik also emphasised that such camps can prove to be very beneficial for the stu-dents, who in turn will sensi-tize their peers and parents to follow traffic rules. He com-mended Delhi Traffic Police for managing heavy Delhi traffic in climatic extremes. Dependra Pathak, Special CP (Traffic), Joint CP (Traffic) Garima Bhat-nagar and Joint CP (New Delhi Range) Ajay Chaudhary were also present on the occasion besides representatives from the stakeholders and NGOs.

YOGESH KANT

NEW DELHI: As the air pollu-tion has reached alarming lev-els in and around the national Capital for last two days, major city hospitals witnessed a surge in the number of patients com-plaining of respiratory prob-lems with doctors saying some may develop life-threatening conditions. Meanwhile, wor-ried over the situation, doc-tors across the city have advised people suffering from breath-ing difficulties not to travel out-side as it can exacerbate their respiratory diseases. They have advised patients to use mask whenever they go out.

According to the CPCB, the air quality index (AQI)-a mea-surement of the concentration of toxic particulate matter in the air- at several place in Delhi remained beyond the 500-mark. Experts have instructed people, especially patients suf-fering with respiratory disorder should take immediate precau-tionary measures, advised to keep the windows of the house

closed and avoid the exposing with the environment.

Dr Rajneesh Malhotra of Max hospital said that due to the conditions of the haze, 20 percent of the sick patients have increased in the OPD. About 85 percent of patients coming to the hospital are more than 40 years of age. According to doc-tors, the current condition of

Delhi's environment can prove to be dangerous even for the eyes. An ophthalmologist said that the number of eye patients is also increasing.

Mover over, Dr Avi Kumar, Consultant, Pulmonology at Fortis Escorts hospital talked about air pollution and how people could protect them-selves from harmful effects

of air pollution. Dr Kumar advised that people should avoid going outdoors for doing physical activities like cycling, jogging or any other outdoor exercises. He also suggested that N95 masks should be used if it is necessary to go out.

Dr Avi Kumar added that air purifying plants such as Aloe Vera, Ivy and Spider plant can be placed in the home and offices. To ensure that indoor air pollution does worsen, make sure there is a chimney in the kitchen and an exhaust in the bathroom. “Consume fruits rich in Vitamin C, Mag-nesium, foods rich in Omega Fatty Acids, have herbal ginger and Tulsi tea.

Due to entering the dust in the air, the cause of the infec-tion is going on. AIIMS has also recorded an increase in the number of patients compared to normal days. According a doctor at Plomonary Depart-ment, it is not easy to avoid pol-luted particles in the current environment which is affecting the lungs of the people.

A morning-walker wears an anti-pollution mask as the air quality becomes poor, at Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi on Thursday

ABHINAV SINGH

NEW DELHI: In a bid to improve the sporting infra-structure of country's premium varsity and to produce more international sporting stars, the University Grants Commission (UGC) recently allotted Rs 1.75 crore for the Delhi University Sports Council (DUSC) in an effort to build new sporting amenities for the University students.

“Owing to the increase in applicants and dwindling sporting facilities, UGC has granted approximately Rs 1.75 crore to the DUSC,” said Dr Anil Kumar Kalkal, Director of DUSC, who also stated that out of the Rs 1.75 crore, 90 lakh will go out for the construction of international state-of-the-art shooting range, Rs 75 lakh for the construction of 50 bed sports-hostel facility and Rs 10 lakh for the purchase of miscel-laneous sporting equipment.

According to a DU Sports Council official, “currently, the sports quota trials of shoot-

ing take place in Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, and it's a monetary and logistical nightmare for the university, the students have to go to the Sports Authority of India main-tained shooting range for prac-tice too,” he said. He added that the proposed hostel will allow DU’s sports fraternity to host camps and it will also serve as residential quarters for the sportspersons coming to DU to participate in inter-univer-sity competitions. As of now, the university have to make arrangements for the stay of competitors in hostels of its affiliated colleges, which was itself a big task given the lack of hostel seats in the university.

Meanwhile, the sports quota trials begin from June 22 and the DU on Thursday night uploaded the marks of the applicants on the dashboard of respective students. “Any griev-ances regarding the marks and rejection of applications will be entertained till June 19, on the university's Website up to 3 pm,” said Dr Kalkal.

ABHAY SINGH

NEW DELHI: Making the cheating more organized had been a trend of the criminals this year, the recent busting of a gang in SSC cheating case who were using Team Viewer was one such example. In the year 2018, the National Capital wit-nessed more than 1700 cases of the different types of cheating.

The police in their data claimed that they nabbed over 400 people involved in cheating cases. “Out of 1,723 cheating cases, city police solved 238 of them,” added the data accessed by the Millennium Post. In 2017, the National Capital wit-nessed more than 4000 cheat-ing cases in which 752 of them was solved and around 1,123 persons were nabbed for their involvement in the crime.

In one of cases this year, one gang was busted from North

Delhi in which technology was used in cheating. The gang of four persons started operat-ing in 2011. They would help candidates in cheating dur-ing examination which was manual but with the time the gang found loopholes in online examination and helped candi-dates cheat in the SSC online exam by using remote access tool software like Team Viewer but their luck ran out when Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police in a joint operation with Delhi Police arrested them from North Del-hi's Timarpur.

Another arrest came from Jamtara in Jharkhand where a gang of fraudsters were nabbed by the cyber cell of Shahdara district. The accused used to cheat by taking bank details of the persons sitting in other states and then transferring the money in their e-wallet.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

GURUGRAM: The Gurugam police has arrested Tina Chat-wal, a former model. She had won Ms Asia Pacific title in 2002. She was arrested on the charge of beating her domestic help. The victim who has been identified as Maya Das was later admitted to the hospital in the Gurugram government hospital where she is receiving treatment. Subsequently a case was registered in the Sector-53 police station that led to the former model’s arrest.

Following the merciless beating of the maid by the owner, a group of domestic maids and informal workers congregated at the posh condo-minium society to register their protest. They have demanded strict action against the people who exploit the workers.

1700 cheating cases reported this year

RAHUL SINGH

GHAZIABAD: In a major move to decongest Ghazi-abad busy nodes, the Ghazi-abad Development Authority (GDA), on Friday, approved a proposal to build a 2.3-km long four lane elevated road at the heart of city in Ghanta Ghar, an area infamous for frequent traffic jams.

“The elevated road will be extending from Ghanta Ghar to Bhatia mod, which is in the middle of city. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the project has been completed and we will now move ahead with the tender procedure for it. Once completed the road will help in reducing traffic conges-tion in this area,’” said Dr Prab-hat Kumar, Chairman, GDA.

According to GDA officials, the elevated road project will cost Rs 253 crore to the author-ity and will provide seamless flow of traffic from Shahdra

to GT road at lal Kuan. A 7.5 meter wide service road will also be constructed at both sides under the elevated road.

The decision was taken at authority's board meeting that was held on Friday. The board majorly focused on the infrastructural growth in the city and allocated a bud-get of Rs 800 crore for various infrastructural projects which included a Foot over-bridge (FOB) at Mohan Nagar, two multi-level parkings at RDC and Swarn Jayanti Park and U-turns at Raj Nagar exten-

sion, Modinagar and Murad-nagar area.

In other major decisions taken, the authority has also cut the interest rates, that are applicable on all the residen-tial housing schemes, by 1.5 per cent.

“Residential allotments would incur an interest rate of 10.50 % while for commercial schemes the rates have been reduced to 11 % from 12 %. All the penalties have also been reduced by 1 % on the dues to be cleared by an allottee,” added Kumar.

Former model held for beating

her maid

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A 22-year-old aspiring architect was killed and her mother was injured after their vehicle was hit by a truck in North West Delhi. Police claimed that they have arrested the errant truck driver in the case. Police claimed that the deceased was identified as Khushbu who lived with her family in North West Delhi area. The injured has been identified as Anju Sharma.

The incident took place on Thursday evening when the mother-daughter duo was returning from Keshavpuram area on a Scooty when they were hit by the truck driven rashly by the errant driver iden-tified as Chotu Kumar. “The vehicle was hit by the truck from the back side due to which the rider lost the con-trol and both of them fell on

the road,” said a police officer.The accused was nabbed by

the passerby and a PCR call was made after which police team reached the spot and nabbed the accused. Both the victims were rushed to the hospital where the woman was declared brought dead and the mother was receiving treatment. A pro-test was also seen by the local residents in this regard. Police have registered a case in this regard and investigation is going on.

Recently in another inci-dent reported on April, a seven-year-old girl died and 17 children were injured after the van in which they were travelling was hit by a mini truck containing milk in North West Delhi's Kanhaiya Nagar area. The impact was such that the van toppled over thrice and some children fell out of the van.

Girl dies, mother injured after truck hits their scooter

GDA nod to build 2.3-km long 4 lane elevated road

DECONGESTING TRAFFIC UGC grants to boost sporting infra at DU

DU admission: Admit cards for entrance exams available online

mp nation 5MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said his pet Digital India initiative is a war against touts and mid-dlemen, helping check black-money and black marketing while creating immense job opportunities in small towns and rural areas.

Interacting with benefi-ciaries of the various Digital India efforts, Modi pushed for use of RuPay, the Indian ver-sion of credit/debit card, say-ing when other similar cards are used the transaction or pro-cessing fee goes to foreign com-panies. However, when RuPay is used, the money remains in India and is used for develop-ment works and infrastructure projects.

The Prime Minister said people made fun of him when he first spoke of digital pay-ments in the country where people were used to stashing money underneath the pillow and ration could not be availed without middlemen.

But experiences narrated by beneficiaries of how services are reaching people directly are

a befitting reply to such naysay-ers, he said.

Now, some people are spreading rumours that money is not safe when used digitally, he said, adding such conspiracies will be hatched as he has created problems for middlemen.

“Digital India is a fight with dalali (touts),” he said. “Digi-tal India has checked black-money and black marketing and uprooted middlemen.” 

From booking rail tickets to paying bills and availing government services like pen-sions by giving proof of exis-tence digitally, people are being empowered, he said.

“Kisi ko dikhe ya na dikhe, par desh badal raha hai (people may or may not see, but the country is changing),” Modi said.

Digital India is about edu-cation, employment, entrepre-neurship and empowerment. “It will help realise the objec-tive of reform, perform, trans-form,” he said.

“The movement towards more digital payments is linked to eliminating middlemen,” he said.

Modi associated use of RuPay card with nationalism.

“Not everyone can go and fight on the borders. Using RuPay is also a kind of national service,” he said, adding more than 50 crore RuPay cards have been issued in less than four years of its launch.

RuPay, he said, is bringing a revolutionary change in digital payments. The card is not just being used in India but abroad as well, he said, narrating how he used RuPay to buy some goods during his recent visit to Singapore.

Digital India is a campaign launched to ensure the govern-ment services are made avail-able to citizens electronically by improved online infrastruc-ture, increasing internet con-nectivity and by making the country digitally empowered in the field of technology.

Complementing it has been the launch of large-scale digital payment processing platforms like the Unified Pay-ments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and India’s home-grown card network RuPay.

Modi said while the National Knowledge Network has linked over 1,700 educa-tional and research institu-tions, libraries, academicians, government officials and more than 5 crore students, citizen engagement platform ‘mygov’ has 60 lakh volunteers.

“We can now fight for our rights,” he said.

He said the push for domes-tic electronic manufacturing has seen setting up of 23 elec-tronic manufacturing centres in 15 states and the number of units manufacturing mobile handsets and their components

multiply from just two in 2014 to over 120 now, providing direct and indirect employ-ment to 4.5 lakh people.

Also, the Rs 550 crore BPO promotion scheme has led to the creation of two lakh job opportunities as it took busi-ness process outsourcing cen-tres to smaller cities and towns by providing financial assis-tance of up to Rs 1 lakh for every seat.

“Along with digital empow-erment, we also want technol-ogy to boost innovation,” he said.

Modi said the network of about three lakh Common Ser-vice Centres (CSCs), which act as access points for delivery of digital services, have bolstered employment and entrepre-neurship opportunities, thus empowering citizens.

He said the initiative was launched with an objective of bringing benefits of technol-ogy to people, especially in rural areas. “We ensured that the advantages of technology are not restricted to a select few but are there for all sections of society. We strengthened the network of CSCs.” 

The initiative is creating a group of village level entrepre-neurs, he added.

Addressing the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs), who run these centres, via video conferencing, Modi said Digital India was launched with an aim to connect India’s villages and youth.

Over the last four years it has brought a slew of ser-vices to the doorsteps of the common man, he said. “Every aspect of digital empowerment has been worked on, from roll-ing out fibre optics in villages to digital literacy,” Modi said.

Some of the beneficiaries narrated their experience of Digital India.

Jitender Solanki from Gau-tam Budh Nagar stated that after his village got internet access, children are availing online coaching.

Also, digital literacy is ris-ing and pension-related issues for elderly are now getting resolved through technology.

Modi asked the beneficia-ries to press traders and shop-keepers to install BHIM app to facilitate paying for goods and services digitally.

Digital India is fight against touts: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves during a visit to the Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh on Thursday PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

HYDERABAD: Telan-gana Chief Minister K Chan-drasekhar Rao on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi and raised sev-eral issues, including request for funds for the Kaleswaram irrigation project and handing over some defence land here to build a new state Secretariat complex.

Other issues raised by Rao at the hour-long meeting were expediting construction of railway projects,special High Court for Telangana, releas-ing funds for certain back-ward districts, sanctioning an IIM, releasing funds for a pro-posed Information Technol-ogy Investment Region, assent to the new zonal system (vis--vis government employment) announced by the state govern-ment, the Chief Minister’s office said here. Modi responded pos-itively to the issues brought to his notice by Rao, it said.

The Chief Minister submit-ted 10 memoranda. Thanking the Prime Minister for expe-ditiously giving clearance to the Kaleswaram irrigation proj-ect, Rao sought Rs 20,000 crore

financial aid for it, the release said.

The project cost is Rs 80,000 crore and the government has allocated Rs 25,000 crore in its budget.

Another Rs 22,000 crore has been obtained as loan from financial institutions, it said. Rao requested amending the Presidential order on the zonal system concerning government employment, it said.

He sought Modi’s nterven-tion to set up a special high court for Telangana as the High Court in Hyderabad continues to be common for both Telan-gana and Andhra Pradesh.

Rao sought the transfer of

Bison Polo ground in Hyder-abad for construction of a new Secretariat complex, it said, adding the government has already requested the Defence Ministry, which currently holds the said land, for its transfer.

The Chief Minister also sought expediting rail-way projects in the state and funds for the ITIR project in Hyderabad. Referring to media reports which quoted Union Electronics Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as having said that the proposed ITIR proj-ect in Hyderabad stands with-drawn, Rao said the project should not be withdrawn, the release said.

Telangana CM raises many issues concerning state with PM Modi

LUCKNOW: It was not Akbar, but Rajput king Maharana Pratap who stood up to the might of the Mughal Army, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said.

Speaking at a function to mark the Maharana Pratap Jay-anti on Thursday, he asserted, “It was not the Mughal emperor Akbar, but Maharana Pratap who was great for he displayed exemplary courage in the face of the might of the Mughal army.

“It is not important as to who won the Battle of Hal-dighati...what is important is who stood up to the most powerful army of those times...Maharana Pratap displayed the courage and valour which is rare in history...the battle con-tinued for years in the hills of Aravalli, and finally after win-ning back all his forts, it was proved that it is was not Akbar, but Maharana Pratap who was great,” he said.

It is a popular view of histo-rians that the forces of Mughal emperor Akbar had defeated Maharana Pratap in the battle of Haldighati in 1576. MPOST

Maharana Pratap was greater than

Akbar: UP CM

NEW DELHI: The Central Intelligence Agency, in its recent edition of the ‘World Factbook’, has named  the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal as “religious militant organisations”.

The agency, the intelligence wing of the US government, has categorised them under “political pressure groups”, defined as organisations that are involved in politics or that exert political pressure but whose leaders do not stand for legislative election.

The CIA also lists the RSS, Hurriyat Conference and Jamiat Ulema-e Hind among the political pressure groups in India. The RSS has been defined as a “nationalist organ-

isation”, the Hurriyat Confer-ence as a “separatist group” and the Jamiat Ulema-e Hind a “religious organisation”.

The CIA annually publishes a World Factbook which feeds intelligence or factual reference material on a country or issue to the US government. This includes information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transpor-tation, military, and transna-tional issues. Data is available for 267 countries.

The agency has been pub-lishing this material since 1962, but only made it public in 1975.

The Factbook is produced for US policymakers and

coordinated throughout the US intelligence community. It is one of the types of intelli-gence delivered, the other two are ‘The President’s Daily Brief ’ and the ‘National Intelligence Estimates’.

Khemchand Sharma, for-mer national convenor of the BJP’s Samvad cell, on Friday rejected the CIA’s assertions.

Calling it “fake news”, he said legal action will be initiated against the agency.

“We completely reject CIA reference to VHP and Bajrang dal as religious militant orga-nizations.. these r the nation-alist organizations, all knows it. Legal proceeding will be initiated against this reference soon,” Sharma tweeted. AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday threatened to launch an agitation against the American intelligence agency CIA, which reportedly termed it a “religious militant organisation”.

In a statement, the VHP called the Central Intelligence Agency “anti-India” and sought an apology from it.

It was reported that the agency had allegedly termed the VHP and the Bajrang Dal “religious militant organisations”. The Hindu organisation’s General Sec-

retary Surendra Jain said it’s a nationalist group which works for the country.

Asserting that the CIA’s allegations were “baseless” and “false”, Jain in a statement said, “The CIA was respon-sible for creating Osama bin Laden and has no moral right to lecture it.” He said the map of India used by the CIA shows a significant por-tion of Jammu and Kashmir as non-Indian territory.

“This shows the CIA’s anti-India mindset. The VHP will launch an agitation against it,” he added. MPOST

CIA calls VHP and Bajrang Dal militant religious organisations

VHP threatens to launch agitation against CIA

PANAJI: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Friday resumed work at his office in the state secretariat, a day after returning from the US, where he underwent treatment for a pancreatic ailment for three months.

The chief minister started his day with a visit to the Devki Krishna temple at Khandola village in North Goa, 15 kms away from Panaji, to seek bless-

ings of the deity, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said. Devki Krishna is the family deity of Parrikar.

The chief minister then drove back to Panaji, where he visited the Mahalaxmi temple.

Thereafter, he went to his office in the state secretariat at Porvorim on the outskirts of Panaji, where he chaired a meeting of senior bureaucrats and police officers to take stock

of the law and order situation in Goa.

The meeting was attended by senior officials, including state Chief Secretary Dhar-mendra Sharma and Director General of Police (DGP) Muk-tesh Chandar.

In a half-a-minute long video released later, Parrikar assured the people of Goa that he will “always be there for the welfare and development” and

will continue to serve them.He thanked the people for

their prayers for his speedy recovery. “I am back from the USA after taking the treatment.

When I was there, all of you prayed for my speedy recovery and health,” he said.

“With your blessings and prayers, I am back in Goa and resumed the work... I will con-tinue serving the people,” the CM said in the video. MPOST

Day after return from US, Parrikar resumes official work

SIMONTINI BHATTACHARJEE

NEW DELHI: Taking a note of the growing impact of media, the ruling BJP is taking effort to 'tackle' media discreetly, eleven months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

"Be specific on your com-munication with media," top leadership of the party directed its media unit during a meeting at its headquarters here on Fri-day. They also asked media in-charges not to use controversial words, and to undertake 'fake' news with eyes wide open.

Union Minister Ravi Shan-kar Prasad, Rajya Sabha mem-bers of the party Anil Jain and Anil Baluni and party's gen-eral secretary Arun Singh were

present in the six hours long meeting. However, earlier it was reported that BJP chief Amit Shah and party's general sec-retary Ram Lal will address the meeting, but they both attended a two-day long BJP-RSS meet-ing at Surajkund in Haryana, a party source mentioned.

In another effort to reach out to the mass with the accomplished tasks and major achievements of Modi-led gov-ernment in the last four years, the saffron party is also looking for 'knowledgeable' and 'articu-lated' youths having good com-munication skills in every state. “The participants of the meeting were asked to make a list of 10 youths, including female party workers or associated with any

Morcha in every state," sources said.

Following few regional par-ties’ styles, the national party also ready to adopt the policy to train youths from any sector, having good communication skills as party's spokesperson, can repair the local and national communication route ahead of the general elections.

The media team was also asked to prepare another list

of party's district presidents, MLAs and MPs on the basis of their performances during the 'Sampark for Samarthan' cam-paign- which is also a commu-nication strategy of the party leading by the BJP national president Amit Shah.

Meanwhile, the party seems very much in the poll-mode with the recent outreach pro-grammes, road shows and scheduled meetings with the parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

With this course of actions, the party's core team is also planning to strengthen its organisation base in booth wise, with the help of RSS. They have also planned to boost its shakti kendras.

Be specific on your communication with media: BJP leaders to media team

NEW DELHI: Congress Pres-ident Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused the RSS and the BJP of spreading “poisonous politics of hatred” in the country and said “history will not forgive us” if this is not opposed.

He also tagged a video of two minor boys from a back-ward community allegedly being beaten up after being paraded naked in Maha-rashtra’s Jalgaon district for swimming in a well that belonged to a person of a dif-ferent caste.

“In Maharashtra, these Dalit children’s mere offence was that they were bathing in a ‘golden’ well.

“Today, even humanity is trying to save itself with the support of the last straw.

“History will never for-give us if we do not oppose the poisonous politics of hatred by RSS/BJP’s ‘Manuwaad’,” he tweeted. Union minister Ram-das Athawale has condemned the parading of two minor boys and said he will visit the village, where the incident took place, tomorrow to ensure the victims get justice. MPOST

Rahul targets RSS, BJP over beating, parading naked of

two minor boys

The saffron party is also looking for ‘knowledgeable’ and ‘articulated’ youths in every state

MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

PREZ GREETS CITIZENS ON EVE OF EIDNEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday greeted fellow citizens on the eve of Eid, and hoped that it would promote “fraternity and understanding in our shared society”. “On the auspicious occasion of Idu’l Fitr, I offer my greetings and good wishes to all fellow citizens, and especially to our Muslim brothers and sisters in India and abroad,” he said in his mes-sage.

4 KILLED IN ROAD ACCIDENT IN BIHARSAMASTIPUR: Four women were on Friday killed and eight persons seriously injured in a collision on National Highway-28 in Bihar’s Samastipur district, police said. The incident occurred near Chausima village under Musrigharari Police Station, when an ill-fated autorick-shaw, carrying a dozen passengers, collided head on with a truck coming from the opposite direction, they said. Musrigharari Police Station SHO Parmanand Lal Karna said that the deceased have been identified as Piyariya Devi (60), Kusma Devi (48), Chuniya Devi (40) and Ranju Devi (34).

UP: 45-YR-OLD MAN STABBED TO DEATHVARANASI: A 45-year-old businessman was stabbed to death by four unidentified men at his house in Chit-tupur which comes under the jurisdiction of Sigra police station, an official said on Friday. The deceased was identified as Narendra Jaiswal, who used to work as distributor in a local firm here. The four men stabbed him with a sharp knife outside his house on Thursday night, the official said.

TWO KILLED AS CAR FALLS INTO GORGENEW TEHRI: Two persons from Delhi were killed when their car fell into a deep gorge in Tehri district early on Friday, police said. The accident occurred early this morning on Chamba-Mussoorie road, Chamba Police’s Station in-charge Devendra Singh Chauhan said. The deceased were identified as Dhirendra Singh (35) and Vijay Kumar (38) who hailed from Mayapuri area in New Delhi. The bodies were recovered from the gorge with the help of the police and locals.

2 MORE HELD IN ASSAM LYNCHING CASEGUWAHATI: Two persons were arrested on Friday for their alleged involvement with the lynching of two men in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district last week, taking the number of people arrested in the murder case to 30, a police official said. The Assam Police spokesperson identified the persons arrested on Friday as Bubai Rabha and Bijay Swargiary. Altogether 65 people have been arrested from various parts of Assam for killing Nilotpal Das (29) and Abhijeet Nath (30).

NATION BRIEFS

mp nation6

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KREERI (J&K): Rising Kash-mir editor Shujaat Bukhari was on Friday laid to rest in his ancestral village with thou-sands of friends and admirers braving heavy rain to mourn a veteran journalist, who had championed peace in times of conflict and may have been killed for it.

As preparations were under way for the funeral procession of the journalist, shot dead two days ahead of Eid outside his office in Srinagar with two of his PSOs, readers of the Rising Kashmir woke up to a paper with its front page carrying a full-page black and white pho-tograph of its editor-in-chief against a black background.

The Rising Kashmir, which hit the stands as usual, also car-ried the message that it would not be cowed by cowards who had snatched him from them.

You left all too sudden but you will always be our lead-ing light with your professional conviction and exemplary courage. We won’t be cowed down by the cowards who snatched you from us. We will uphold your principle of telling the truth howsoever unpleasant it may be...Rest in peace! the paper said.

The message found wide echo as crowds of tearful mourners from across the Valley followed the cortege through the streets of this sleepy hamlet in Baramulla district, a short distance from Srinagar.

Among those who took part in the last rites of Bukhari and visited his ancestral home to condole with the family were opposition leader Omar Abdul-lah and ministers from the PDP and the BJP.

It was probably the biggest funeral procession the village had seen, observers said.

There was a traffic jam in the area as the crowds of mourners swelled.

Bukhari, 50, was gunned down on Thursday evening soon after he got into his car from his office at Press Enclave in the city centre, Lal Chowk.

The killing of the journal-ist, on his way to an Iftar party, and that of an army jawan going home for Eid comes just before the Centre’s Ramzan ceasefire ends, triggering debate on whether the Centre should resume operations against the militants.

As outrage grew over the audacious killing during the holy month of Ramzan, police on Friday sought help of the

public in identifying the sus-pects. The police issued a screen grab from a video, recorded by a passerby following the attack, showing a bearded man sur-veying the inside the journal-ist’s vehicle.

Late on Thursday night, the police had released two pictures of three bike-borne men, who were caught on a CCTV cam-era and are suspected to have killed Bukhari.

Bukhari, who is survived by his wife and two children, was instrumental in organising several conferences for peace in the Kashmir Valley. He was also part of the Track II process with Pakistan.

According to Omar Abdul-lah, the Rising Kashmir had published a fitting tribute to its editor.

The show must go on. As Shujaat would have wanted it to,” the former chief minister wrote on Twitter while shar-ing a picture of the front page of the paper.

Expressing extreme sadness at Bukhari’s death, BSP chief Mayawati said the time had come for the Narendra Modi government to “shun its stub-born attitude and immediately review its Kashmir policy in the interest of the country”.

N Ram, the chairperson

of The Hindu group, where Bukhari worked between 1997 and 2012, said the late journal-ist was not a government man, he was not an establishment man, nor was he in sympathy with the extremist elements.

“He believed, I think, he was voice for a just solution how-ever difficult that is going to be in Jammu and Kashmir,” Ram told NDTV in an interview.

The noted editor said the killing had come as a shock

because it was believed that journalists will not be killed in Jammu and Kashmir.

“There have been such cases in the past but not many. You have to go back 15 years before you could recollect that a jour-nalist was killed,” he said.

Bukhari is the fourth jour-nalist to be killed by militants in the nearly three-decade vio-lence in Kashmir.

In 1991, the editor of Alsafa, Mohammed Shaban Vakil, was

killed by militants of the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Four years later, in 1995, former BBC correspondent Yussuf Jameel escaped with injuries when a bomb exploded in his office. ANI cameramen Mushtaq Ali lost his life in the incident.

In 2003, Parvaz Moham-med Sultan, editor of NAFA, was shot dead by Hizbul Muja-hideen at his Press Enclave office.

Shujaat Bukhari laid to restHis paper says they won’t be cowed by cowards

People offer funeral prayers of veteran journalist Shujaat Bukhari, at Kreeri in Baramulla district of North Kashmir, on Friday PTI

LONDON: The International Press Institute (IPI) on Friday vehemently condemned the killing of editor Syed Shujaat Bukhari by unidentified gun-men in Kashmir.

IPI Head of Advocacy Ravi R Prasad denounced Bukhari’s murder, saying “The killing of Mr Bukhari, an upright and bold journal-ist, is an act of cowardice by elements of society who are unable to tolerate criticism”.

“Without swift state action, his murder will silence the many brave journalists in Kashmir. The government of India must thoroughly inves-tigate this assassination and bring the killers to justice,” he said. Vienna-based IPI is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists working towards media freedom.

Media body condemns

killing of veteran journalist

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia on Friday condemned the brutal killing of Rising Kash-mir editor Shujaat Bukhari and demanded an immediate probe into the dastardly crime.

In a statement, the Delhi-based FCC urged authorities to punish the people behind the killing of the veteran journalist.

“The Foreign Correspon-dents’ Club of South Asia, New Delhi, condemns the brutal and senseless killing of senior Kashmiri journalist Shujat Bukhari in Srinagar on June 14. We demand an immediate probe into this dastardly crime, and appeal to the authorities to find the guilty and punish them,” it said.

Bukhari had worked for several years as state corre-spondent for ‘The Hindu’. He was instrumental in organis-ing conferences for peace in the valley and was also a part of the Track-II dialogue process with Pakistan.

The FCC is a group of more than 500 journalists and pho-tographers covering South Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

FCC condemns killing of Bukhari, demands punishment for guilty

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: About 96 per cent of young girls in India between the age group of 7 and 14 years expressed their desire to learn more about technology in schools, according to a sur-vey of 200 participants.

The survey was conducted by global digital payments platform PayPal, as part of a two-week annual initiative conducted across its tech cen-tres in India.

As many as 61 per cent of the girls surveyed said they pursue their interest in tech-

nology through active reading and workshops outside school as the existing curriculum does not cover enough.

About 51 per cent of the participants also said that their mothers inspired them the most to pursue technol-ogy careers, followed by 34 per cent crediting their fathers while the rest (15 per cent) said their teachers inspired them the most.

“The average gap in the availability of skilled talent in India has risen from six per cent in January 2014 to 12 per cent in January 2018 in the Sci-

ence, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sec-tor,” said Guru Bhat, GM Tech-nology & Head of Engineering at PayPal.

“The need of the hour is quality technology craftsmen with a desire to strengthen

the tech community in India rather than mere coders and engineers.

“Women representation in STEM courses has traditionally been low and the Girls in Tech programme is our effort is to bridge the gap through appli-cation-based learning,,” he said.

Paypal’s Girls in Tech pro-gramme, which saw the par-ticipation of over 200 girls and boys since inception in 2015, has also been extended to girl students from government schools, where the curriculum ranges from basics of technol-ogy to coding programmes.

96% of young girls in India want to study technology in schools: Survey

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Condemning the killing of Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari, the Left parties on Friday said the incident highlights the difficult situation journalists work in Jammu and Kashmir.

Bukhari and his PSO were shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside the newspa-per’s office in the heart of this Jammu and Kashmir summer capital on Thursday.

While the CPI(M), in a statement, termed the senior journalist’s killing “targeted and planned murder”, CPI said “brutal killing has no place in a civilized democracy”.

“The politburo of the

CPI(M) strongly condemns the cowardly killing of Shujaat Bukhari, senior journalist and editor in-chief of Rising Kash-mir. This was a targeted and planned murder. His killing also highlights the difficult cir-cumstances in which indepen-dent journalists work in J&K,” the statement said.

Condemning the attack, CPI said that it is “of the firm opinion that all vexed issues

can be solved within the frame-work of the constitution and through dialogue. In civilized democracy, communalism, narrow nationalism and bru-tal killing using bullets have no place.”

The left parties called Bukhari fearless and indepen-dent who refused to bow down to pressures from any quarter, and said those who committed the dastardly act on the eve of Eid, have no respect for reli-gion, humanity or restoration of peace.

The killers must be identi-fied and strong action should be taken against them, the par-ties said and demanded a thor-ough judicial probe into the incident.

Left parties: Bukhari’s killing highlights difficult situation scribes work in J&K

In civilized democracy, communalism, narrow nationalism and brutal killing using bullets have no place

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday asked all its departments and the state governments to implement reservation in pro-motion for employees belong-ing to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) cat-egories. The move comes fol-lowing a recent verdict by the Supreme Court in this regard.

The Personnel Ministry, in an order, said, “The cadre con-trolling authorities of Central government ministries, depart-ments and Union territories are to carry out promotions in accordance with the directions of the Supreme Court.”

Every promotion order must clearly mention the stipu-lation that the promotion shall be subject to further orders which may be passed by the Supreme Court, it said.

According to the order, besides the Central gov-ernment departments con-cerned, state governments are also advised to take necessary

action in this matter.The personnel ministry

order will be applicable to SC and ST category employees working with the Centre and the state governments, an offi-cer said.

The apex court had on June 5 allowed the Centre to go ahead with reservation in pro-motion for employees belong-ing to the SC and ST category in “accordance with law”.

The top court took into account the Centre’s sub-missions that entire process of promotion has come to a “standstill” due to the orders passed by various high courts and the apex court had also ordered for “status quo” in a similar matter in 2015.

“We will say you (Centre) can go ahead with promo-tion in accordance with law,” a vacation bench comprising Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ashok Bhushan had told Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh, repre-senting the Centre.

Govt asks its departments, states to implement quota in promotion to SC, ST staffOUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who is leading an Indian Par-liamentary goodwill delegation to Latvia, observed that warm relations between India and Latvia are based on the abiding trust in democratic tradition and continued cooperation at global level.

Mahajan, who also called on Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis during her visit to the country, said that the bilateral relations would see new heights as it can be further strength-ened by mutual high-level gov-ernmental, parliamentary and cultural exchanges.

She mentioned that the visiting Indian Parliamen-tary delegation had very fruit-ful meetings with the Prime Minister and the Speaker of Latvian Parliament, which would provide a new momen-tum to mutual trust and cooperation.

While appreciating Latvian support to India’s aspirations for permanent membership of the reformed and expanded

UN Security Council, the Speaker said that India and Latvia share a broad conver-gence of views on issues such as United Nations reforms and other aspects of global order.

Reiterating her observa-tions in earlier meetings held with the Latvian Prime Minis-ter and Latvian Speaker, Maha-jan congratulated Latvia for taking over the Chairmanship

of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

She further reiterated that India attaches great importance to its developmental cooper-ation with fellow developing countries and that there is enor-mous scope for development cooperation between the two countries under Indian Tech-nical and Economic Coopera-tion (ITEC).

India, Latvia relations to see new heights, says Mahajan

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan calls on Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis in Riga on Friday

OUR CORRESPONDENT

RAIPUR: Three Naxals were killed in an encounter with security forces in Sukma dis-trict of Chhattisgarh on Friday, an official said.

The gunbattle took place in the forest area located between Gattapad and Tokanpalli vil-lages under Chintagufa Police Station area around 10 am, Sukma Superintendent of Police Abhishek Meena said.

“A joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) had launched a search operation in the forest of Chintagufa, located

around 500 kms away from the capital Raipur, last night,” he said.

When the patrolling team was cordoning off the forest between Gattapad and Tokan-palli, the Naxals opened fire on them, he said.

Security forces fired in retal-iation and the gunfight con-tinued for a while. However, Naxals soon escaped into the forest, he said. During a search of the area, bodies of three ultras clad in ‘uniform’ along with four weapons, including a 315 bore rifle, a pistol and a muzzle-load-ing gun, were recovered from the spot, he said.

3 Naxals gunned down by security forces in C’garh

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SRINAGAR: A youth was killed and a girl injured alleg-edly in firing by security forces during clashes with stone-pelt-ing protestors in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Friday, the police said.

However, a defence spokes-person said during a patrol by Army personnel, a mob gath-ered there and started hurling stones, forcing them to resort to aerial firing after giving a verbal warning.

They then extricated them-selves and continued with their patrol, he said.

According to the police, a mob started throwing stones at Army personnel in Nowpora of

Pulwama district.As the stone-pelting became

intense, Army personnel alleg-edly opened fire in which two persons were injured, a police official said, adding Waqas Ahmad succumbed to his injuries at a hospital while Ruqaya Bano is undergoing treatment.

A defence spokesperson said, “The road at Nowpora was blocked due to three to four cars being parked on the wrong side. Army personnel got off their vehicle to request the drivers to move the cars.”

On seeing the Army per-sonnel, a huge crowd gathered at the site and started throwing stones at them, the spokesper-son said.

Youth killed in Army firing in Pulwama

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SRINAGAR: A video of Army rifleman Aurangzeb, understood to have been shot moments before his killing, sur-faced on Friday in which he was seen being interrogated by the militants about encounters in which he had participated, offi-cials said on Friday.

Aurangzeb, who was in blue jeans and t-shirt was being asked by suspected Hiz-bul Mujahideen militants about his duties, posting and encoun-ters in which he participated in 1.15 minutes video probably shot in a forest area, they said.

The rifleman, who was ‘buddy’ of a company com-mander, was abducted by mil-itants at Kalampora in Pulwama yesterday morning when he was on his way home in Rajouri dis-trict for Eid celebrations.

His body was found by a team of police and Army at Gussu village, about 10 km away from Kalampora, in Pulwama district. He was shot in his head and neck, police said.

Video shot before killing of army

jawan circulated on social media

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi on Friday night hosted dinner for key functionaries of the BJP and the RSS, including party presi-dent Amit Shah and Sangh's executive head Suresh Bhai-yyaji Joshi, at his official resi-dence, sources said.

Around 60 functionaries of the BJP and the Sangh have gathered at Surajkund in Hary-ana for a three-day meeting, where various brainstorming sessions will be held to take stock of the work done across the country, to draft strategy for the future and how to fur-ther strengthen coordination among various saffron organ-

isations. "PM Modiji has called all of us for a dinner tonight," a senior functionary who is attending the meeting said on condition of anonymity.

The conclave in Surajkund, which began yesterday, is being attended by all organisational secretaries of the BJP, who are drawn from the Sangh, RSS' General Secretary Joshi and its two Joint GSs Dattatreya Hosa-

bale and Krishna Gopal.This gathering of Sangh and

BJP is an annual affair, but this time is assumes significance as a blueprint for better and effec-tive coordination between the party and its ideological men-tor is expected to be drawn as the assembly polls in various states are around the corner and the Lok Sabha elections are due next year. The BJP has one organisational secretary for every state who will give details about their performance in their respective region. BJP chief Shah is expected to attend the meeting tomorrow. The prime minister, a longtime RSS pracharak before he joined active politics, has often hosted Sangh leaders at his residence.

PM hosts dinner for senior functionaries of BJP, RSS

The PM, a longtime RSS pracharak before he joined active politics, has often hosted Sangh leaders

mp nation 7MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shan-kar Prasad on Friday said that the government is planning to set up 20,000 WiFi choupals across the country to bring gov-ernment at the doorstep of peo-ple’s houses.

While attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s interaction with the beneficia-ries of Digital India in Dankaur (Uttar Pradesh), the IT Minister said that he was inspired and excited to find out impact sto-ries shared by the beneficiaries of digital initiative.

Prasad also congratulated a 19-year-old girl who cleared Uttar Pradesh police exam using WiFi service provided by the common services centres (CSCs). The minister said that the CSCs are serving more than its purpose and the real bene-fits can be seen. “This medium has brought significant changes in women’s lives through vil-lage level entrepreneurs and has connected them with the

government directly,” the min-ister said.

“It’s a big achievement as common people are connect-ing themselves with the chang-ing environment in the country and are engaged with the gov-ernment to put forth their ideas. The daughters of the country will excel and lead in every sphere of their lives with the help of CSCs,” the minister said.

On an earlier occasion, the minister had reiterated that close to 2.9 lakh digital kiosks or common service centres spread across rural India will expand their services to also serve as extension counters of banks and provide rail ticket booking.

CSCs provide e-services to rural and remote locations. As part of its efforts to provide better connectivity to such locations and deliver services directly villagers, the govern-ment had on Monday said that it would turn 5,000 villages into digital villages, offering Inter-net under the Wi-Fi Choupal project.

‘Centre planning to set up 20K WiFi choupals’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOZHIKODE: The toll in rain related incidents in Ker-ala since onset of the monsoon rose to 45 on Friday with the recovery of the body of a baby girl and a teenaged boy being washed away in flash floods in the district, officials said.

The body of one and half year old Rifa Mariyam was recovered from under the rub-ble in a landslide at Kattipara, while Abhinav (17) was swept away in flash floods near his village in Vadakara taluk, they said.

Miriyam’s mother has also been reported missing in the landslide.

A total of six more persons from three families are yet to be traced from under the rub-ble, officials said, adding search operations were continuing to try and rescue them.

Meanwhile, Chief Minis-ter Pinarayi Vijayan directed authorities to disburse com-pensation to those who suffered losses and whose property was damaged.

He gave the directions to District Collectors through vid-eoconferencing at the Collec-torate at Thiruvananthapuram.

State ministers TP Ramak-

rishnan and AK Saseen-dran visited affected areas in Kozhikode district and later told reporters that the delayed arrival of the 50 member National Disaster Response Force team was due to flooded roads and had not hampered rescue and relief operations.

Fire and Rescue Force and police, along with local people swung into action in search of the missing persons, they said.

The NDRF also intensi-fied search operations in the affected areas after their arrival, the ministers said.

The affected people, housed in relief camps, have been pro-vided with food, medicines and drinking water, they said.

Meanwhile, leader of the opposition in Kerala assem-bly, Ramesh Chennithala, who visited the affected region on Friday, sought a special pack-age for those hit by landslides in the district.

Speaking to reporters later, he demanded action against unauthorised check dams and sought closure of illegal quarries in hilly regions of the district.

He also urged the authori-ties to set up a NDRF unit in Kozhikode.

Body of child recovered, teenaged boy washed

away; toll now 45 in Ker

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday granted two weeks time to the Centre to respond to a plea filed by the son of a missing mediator, who was working as a peace negoti-ator between the government and separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) since 1991.

Mediator Rebati Phukan’s son has claimed in the top court that his father had gone missing on April 22.

A vacation bench com-prising Justices U U Lalit and Deepak Gupta allowed the request made by the Centre’s counsel, who said they have been recently served with the notice and would file an affi-davit within two weeks.

The counsel appearing for Assam told the bench that they would place certain “confiden-tial documents” in the matter before the court for its perusal.

“Union of India prays and is granted two weeks time to file affidavit. The counsel appear-

ing for Assam submits that he would like to place certain con-fidential documents before the court for perusal. Let the mat-ter be called on in the second week of July,” the bench said.

On June 1, the apex court had sought responses from the Centre as well as Assam and Meghalaya governments on the plea which has claimed that a doctor has reportedly treated Phukan in Meghalaya few days back.

The petitioner had earlier told the court the Assam chief minister has assured him of all possible help in finding Phukan but they do not know whether

he was in captivity, as various central agencies were involved in it.

Phukan was working as a peace negotiator between the Centre and ULFA since 1991 to facilitate a peace dialogue and the plea filed by his son has sought a direction to authori-ties, including Assam govern-ment, to produce him before the court.

He was appointed as a member of the erstwhile Peo-ple’s Consultative Group (PCG) formed by the ULFA in 2005 to mediate between the outfit and the Centre.

The petitioner has also urged the top court that the case be transferred to the CBI or any other independent agency or a special investigat-ing team as there was “a loss of faith in local police” due to its alleged lethargic conduct.

The petitioner has said that his father went for a morning walk on April 22 but did not return to his rented house, after which a complaint was filed at a police station in Guwahati.

Missing peace negotiator: SC asks Centre to respond within 2 weeks

NAGPUR: Prof Shoma Sen, who was recently arrested for alleged Maoist links, was sus-pended on Friday by Rash-trasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU), where she was the head of Eng-lish department.

On June 6, the Pune police probing the January 1 Bhima Koregaon violence, had arrested five people, including Sen, for allegedly having Mao-ist links.

Talking to PTI, Vice Chan-cellor of the university Dr S P Kane said Sen has been sus-pended from the service till further orders.

“She was suspended on the basis of information received from Pune police that she has been detained under various IPC sections,” Kane said while replying to a query.

“Similarly, I had sought legal opinion on the issue and her suspension is also due to

her remaining in police cus-tody for more than 48 hours,” he said.

Besides Sen, Pune police had also arrested activ-ist Mahesh Raut and lawyer Surendra Gadling from Nag-pur, prominent Dalit activist Sudhir Dhawale from Mum-bai and Rona Wilson from his flat in Delhi.

Shoma Sen’s husband Tushar Kranti Bhattacharya was arrested from Nagpur station for alleged Naxal links in 2010. According to police, Dhawale was one of the organisers of Elgar Parishad, which was held to commemorate 200 years of the Bhima Koregaon battle on December 31 at Shaniwarwada.

Kabir Kala Manch activists had allegedly made provocative speeches at the wvent leading to violence at Bhima Koregaon in the district, according to an FIR registered at Vishrambaug police station after the event. PTI

Nagpur university suspends Prof held for ‘Maoist links’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

THIRUVANANTHA-PURAM: The daughter of a senior IPS officer of Kerala cadre has been booked under non-bailable charges for alleg-edly manhandling his official driver following a quarrel.

Based on her counter com-plaint, a case was also registered against Assistant Director Gen-eral of Police (ADGP) Sudesh Kumar’s driver, Gavaskar who is now undergoing treatment at the district hospital for the injury he suffered in the alleged attack yesterday, police said.

The incident kicked up a row as more police personnel, deployed as camp followers for the personal service of senior officers, have complained against ill-treatment they were facing from the higher-ups and their family members.

Gavaskar, attached to the

Special Armed Police (SAP) camp here, has been serving as driver for Sudesh Kumar, head of Armed Police Battalion.

In his complaint, Gavas-kar alleged that the IPS offi-cer’s daughter had verbally abused him and hit hard on his neck and shoulder with her mobile phone. The incident happened when the woman and her mother had gone for a morning walk, according to the complaint.

Irked over the delay in bringing the vehicle, the woman abused the driver and later thrashed him when he requested her to stop the ver-bal abuse, Gavaskar said in the complaint.

The driver soon sought treatment at a district hospital and lodged a complaint with the police.

According to the police, a case was registered late last night against the ADGP’s daughter under various sec-tions of the IPC, including 294-B (verbal abuse), 332 (vol-untarily causing hurt to deter public servant from perform-ing duty) and 324 (causing hurt using weapon).

A case was also registered against Gavaskar based on a counter petition by the woman under IPC Section 354 (out-raging the modesty of woman) and 294-B.

IPS officer’s daughter booked for ‘assaulting’ police driver

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH: A blanket of dust haze covered Punjab and Haryana for the third day on Friday, affecting normal life and disrupting flight operations at the airport here.

Barring couple of flights which operated today, as many as 26 domestic flights had to be cancelled due to low visibility levels that included seven of Indigo airlines, eight of Jet Air-ways, one each of Vistara, AirA-sia, SpiceJet, three of GoAir and five of Air India, airport offi-cials said.

Indigo airlines’ Dubai flight was to operate from Delhi and all passengers, who were booked to board from here, were shifted to Delhi by road, they said. In view of the prevail-ing weather condition, some flight operators had on Thurs-day announced cancellation of flights scheduled for the day, the airport officials said.

On Thursday, over 30 flights were cancelled here as visibility levels dropped considerably due to the dust haze.

Motorists at many places had to switch on their head-lights during the day as visibil-

ity levels were low.“I had never seen anything

like this before. The situation was not this bad even by the air pollution caused by stubble burning in the months of Octo-ber-November last year in many parts of Punjab and Haryana,” said Baldev Chand, an elderly resident living here.

Layers of dust had accumu-lated on vehicles in the morn-ing parked in the open during the night. Air quality and vis-ibility levels have been hit by the dust haze.

The meteorological (MeT) department has said that the

situation was likely to improve from Saturday.

“The situation should be better from Saturday. A Western Disturbance is approaching the

region, which is likely to bring some rain and help dissipate the dust,” Chandigarh’s MeT Department Director Surinder Paul said.

Dust haze throws normal life out of gear in Punjab, Haryana

ZAFAR ABBAS

NEW DELHI: To give a boost to interfaith solidarity, Shias and Sunnis in Delhi are up to stand shoulder to shoulder for a joint Eid Prayer on Saturday. Intellectuals from both the Muslim sects have decided to do it to bridge the gaps between communities and destroy prejudices.

“It is always a great idea to stand shoulder to shoulder with our Sunni brothers during important festivals like Eid. The joint namaz will give a mes-sage to harmony and unity and its high time both these sects start intermingling and give a befitting reply to all the hate mongers,” said Azhar Zaidi, a resident of Delhi Cant.

“To counter decisive forces we are organising a joint Namaz for both Shias and Sun-nis at Dargah Shahe-Mardan, Jor Bagh, we have also done this in the past. We also appeal to people from all sects to rise above differences and organise unity namaz at their respective

places wherever they are,” said Bahadur Abbas, general secre-tary of Anjuman-e- Haideri.

Also, a joint Eid Namaz of both the sects will also take place at Masjid Abdul Nabi at Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg at ITO, Delhi.

During the time of Ramzan, both the Shias and Sunnis have come together for a joint iftar this year. The idea is to pro-mote brotherhood and unite

the Muslim community.“Occasions like these are a

good platform to spread the message of love and brother-hood. Time has arrived for the young generation to think logically and rise above little difference if any,” said Shadab Ahmed, a resident of Delhi.

The religious leaders of both sects have recently pressed for unity amongst Shias and Sunnis.

Shias, Sunnis stand shoulder to shoulder for joint Namaz this Eid

WASHINGTON: The Maharashtra government is aspiring to make the state the first trillion-dollar economy by 2025, five years early, by investing in infrastructure, agriculture and services and by leveraging foreign investments in various sec-tors, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said.

Maharashtra’s economy at present is USD 400 billion and at the current growth rate it is destined to become trillion-dollar economy by 2030, he said asserting that he wants to achieve that milestone five years early.

“We want (Maharashtra) to become a trillion-dollar economy by 2025,” Fadnavis told a Wash-ington audience here at an event organised jointly by India Initiative of the Georgetown University

and the CSIS. Fadnavis gave a detailed presenta-tion of the achievements of the state government in the last nearly four years, including efforts to achieve the goal of a drought-free state, massive investment in the infrastructure sector, including transportation and marching ahead in the new technology sector like artificial intelligence. “We are trying to grab those opportunities,” he said.

Ahead of the assembly elections in 2019, Fad-navis said he would come out with a new vision document for the state.

The promises made in the last vision docu-ment are in implementation phase and most of them are likely to be completed in the next few years, he said. PTI

‘Aiming to make Maharashtra a trillion-dollar economy by 2025’

NAINITAL: The Uttarakhand High Court on Friday scrapped the Master Plan for Dehra-dun, directing the authorities concerned to prepare a fresh one within eight weeks and send it to the Centre for approval.

The court directed that all tea gardens that were put to other uses in the area as part of the master plan be restored to their original status and also slapped a fine of Rs five lakh each on officials responsible for preparing the plan. Hearing a petition challenging the mas-ter plan on the grounds that it did not have the approval of the Centre and entailed use of around 124 acres of tea estate land, justices Rajiv Sharma and Lokpal Singh scrapped it saying a fresh one should be prepared in consonance with the rules.

The court ordered drafting of a new master plan within eight weeks and said it should have the Centre’s approval. MPOST

HC scraps Doon Master Plan

Gavaskar alleged that the IPS officer’s daughter had verbally abused him and hit hard on his neck and shoulder with her mobile phone

OUR CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI/AGARTALA: The flood situation in the Northeast deteriorated on Fri-day, with four more people in Manipur and one in Tripura losing their lives, taking the death toll in the region to 12.

The situation worsened in Assam, Tripura and Manipur as train services remained sus-pended on some routes and roads were washed away.

Nearly four lakh people have been affected across seven districts of Assam.

According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), 3.87 lakh people have been affected in Hojai, Karbi Anglong East, Karbi Anglong West, Gola-ghat, Karimganj, Hailakandi and Cachar districts in the first wave of floods to have hit the state this year.

So far, three persons have lost their lives in landslides and flood-related incidents in dif-ferent parts of the state.

According to the report issued today, Hailakandi has been the worst-hit with nearly 2.06 lakh people affected, fol-lowed by Karimganj with almost 1.33 lakh people.

Due to fresh landslips between the Bandarkhal and

Damchara stations, rail move-ment continues to remain suspended on the Lumding-Badarpur section.

Currently, Dhansiri river at Numaligarh in Golaghat, Jia Bharali at NT Road crossing in Sonitpur, Kopili at Kampur in Nagaon, Barak at AP Ghat in Cachar and Badarpurghat in Karimganj, Katakhal at Mati-zuri in Hailakandi and Kush-iyara at Karimganj town are flowing above the danger mark.

In Manipur, over 1.5 lakh people were marooned in two flood-hit districts as the situa-tion in the Imphal Valley wors-ened with the death toll rising to six.

The Relief and Disas-ter Management in a report said the intensity of flooding has been increasing at Thou-bal and Imphal West districts with 1.5 lakh people being marooned.

About 12,500 houses have been damaged and 5,200 peo-ple moved out of the area, according to latest reports.

Concerned over the dev-astating flood situation in the state, Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla on Friday said she would donate a day's salary to the Governor's Relief Fund for the flood-affected people.

Heptulla told reporters

that the entire Raj Bhavan staff would contribute a day's sal-ary and appealed to others to chip in.

Acknowledging that the flood situation was bad, she said once the water recedes, there is a possibility of outbreak of fever and other diseases and she will discuss the matter with the health minister to take pre-

ventive measure.Officials said the water level

continued to rise in Nambol and Thoubal rivers in Bishnu-pur and Thoubal districts.

The situation in Tripura also deteriorated with the rain-fed Khowai river inundating fresh areas rendering thou-sands homeless and damaging roads and crops, officials said.

Three people have so far died in flood-related incidents in the state.

Around 2,000 flood-affected people have taken shelter in freshly opened relief camps this morning as water level of the Khowai has been swelling following continuous rain since last night, Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Uttam Mandal said.

Currently, 6,000 people are marooned in Khowai district, he said, adding it has caused extensive damage to road con-nectivity as well as crops.

The Kalilashshar sub-divi-sion of Unakoti district, which was badly affected by the flood,

is yet to recover from the disas-ter with over 21,000 people still putting up in relief camps.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Friday visited the Kalilashshar sub-division.

In Mizoram, at least 1,066 families have so far been evac-uated to safer places due to floods, state disaster manage-ment and rehabilitation depart-ment officials on Friday said.

The worst-hit villages were south Mizoram Lunglei dis-trict's Tlabung town and its surrounding villages as their homes were inundated by the flooding Chhimtuipui river along the Mizoram-Bangla-desh border.

Heavy rainfall continued to lash the state again last night and this morning which trig-gered another massive land-slide at Ramlaitui village in Lunglei district which blocked the Aizawl-Lunglei via Then-zawl highway.

Public Works Depart-ment's Chief Engineer K Lal-sawmvela said excavators were used to clear the debris while the National Highway No 54, which was swept away by land-slide near central Mizoram's Serchhip town yesterday, was still not repaired.

Lalsawmvela said that it would take days, if not months, to restore the National High-way as the whole hillock col-lapsed pulling down around 100 metres of the highway.

North-East flood claims 12 livesSituation worsens in Assam; six

dead in Manipur so far

Villagers look on as a part of an embankment is being washed away by the flooding water, at Nam Doboka village in Hojai district of Assam on Friday PTI

In Mizoram, at least 1,066 families have so far been evacuated to safer places due to floods, state disaster management and rehabilitation department officials said

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mp editorial8MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

SARWAR KASHANI “We shall meet when you come here,” Shujaat Bukhari told me over the

phone some months ago. We could not. I only encountered his bullet-per-forated body as I returned home for Eid.

“He is dead. We will all be killed,” a journalist friend shouted over the phone, crying bitterly when I called to confirm that Bukhari, an iconic editor in Kash-mir, was killed by “unknown gunmen” – mysteriously faceless assassins who go around executing the death warrants of their monstrous masters.

However, I wished it were not true, the story of one of the best news story-tellers in the Kashmir Valley had come to an abrupt end. It was like a dagger had pierced my heart – the man who had helped me and many other strug-gling scribes through their formative years and troubled times will never be able to help any new entrant in the dif-ficult world of journalism in Kashmir.

I had planned to call and meet him after Eid. But, two days before the fes-tival, I saw pictures of his inert, blood-splattered body. It had collapsed on one side on the seat of his car, his shirt and his torso pierced by multiple gunshots. Some newspapers lay by his side, blood splattered across them.

Bukhari lived for journalism and its values and he indeed died in the line of duty. He gave his blood to the profes-sion – quite literally.

Even on the morning of the day he was killed, the Editor of “Rising Kash-mir” – the Srinagar-based English daily that Bukhari founded about a decade ago – defended his journalistic integrity and that of other Kashmiri scribes after he was tagged in a video and accused of “biased” reportage on Kashmir.

Bukhari’s tweet came in response to one from a Delhi-based TV scribe who had posted a video in which the author of “Land of the Wilted Rose”, Anand Ranganathan, “rips apart biased media reportage from the Kashmir Valley with one sample case of an editor who does not practice what he preaches”.

Ranganathan, during an Observer Research Foundation (ORF) panel dis-cussion, accused Bukhari of confess-ing “openly” how he was “proud to be intolerant” when it came to Prophet Mohammed in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and that there was no absolute freedom of speech when it

comes to faith.Ranganathan, speaking at a seminar

on “Fourth Estate at the Frontlines – Tackling Insurgent Ideologies”, referred to a tweet from Bukhari, posting a snap-shot of a paramilitary vehicle running over a Kashmiri youth during a stone-pelting protest in Srinagar.

The editor had posted “very disturb-ing” pictures, asking the government and the CRPF to explain if it is the new Standard Operating Procedure?

A consulting editor with “Swarajya” magazine, Ranganathan argued that “when an editor of the publication... has taken this side, quasi-religious side, you are absolutely sure as to (his) coverage” of Kashmir.

Bukhari retweeted the video some seven hours before his killing, saying he was proud to be doing what he does and that there was nothing that would stop him from reporting whatever happens on the ground in the troubled Valley.

“It is unfortunate that a credible think-tank like the ORF should allow this diatribe in absence of the person referred to. In Kashmir, we have done journalism with pride and will continue to highlight what happens on ground,” Bukhari tweeted.

He was unbiased, fearless and true to his credentials. When he did not agree with your opinion, he would gift you a

broad smile, encouraging you to speak your mind.

Ever a news-hungry person, he would always greet you with a ques-tion – “Kya haz khabar chaa?” – col-loquial Kashmiri for “how are you” or, literally, “What is the news?”

Bukhari was the state correspon-dent with The Hindu before he set up his own publication in Srinagar. Dur-ing one of my earlier meetings with him, when I had just completed my journalism major from Kashmir Uni-versity, he recommended me for quite a few jobs with Delhi-based media out-fits and personally spoke with some TV editors in Delhi.

A deeply engaging, empathetic pro-fessional and a decent human being, Bukhari, a recipient of fellowships from the World Press Institute (WPI) in the US and the Asian Centre for Journalism in Singapore, would always discuss my last story whenever we met.

“You should be careful,” he once advised me. “No story is worth the life of a journalist.”

I had laughed away the advice of a veteran who had braved many attempts on his life. He was, in 1996, abducted by the government-backed militant group Ikhwan-ul-Muslimeen along with 18 other local journalists. They were later set free.

He was kidnapped and driven out of Srinagar on June 10, 2006, after he had been threatened several times over his coverage of the insurgency in Kashmir. That day, as he left his The Hindu office, two Kashmiri-speaking men forced him to board an auto-rickshaw at gunpoint and took him several kilometres out of the city before they pushed him out.

One of them then tried to shoot him, but the gun jammed and Bukhari man-aged to flee. He told global media watch-dog, Reporters Without Borders, that the instigators and perpetrators of such attacks are rarely caught in Kashmir.

“It is virtually impossible to know who are our enemies and who are our friends,” he said 12 years ago.

Today, as he lies in his ancestral graveyard in north Kashmir, his kill-ers remain unknown and nobody knows why he was killed. And, maybe, we will never. There will be narratives, counter-narratives, claims and coun-ter-claims. The truth lies in between, buried along with the countless dead, killed by “unknown gunmen”.

Rest in peace, Shujaat. You could have taken your own advice to me seri-ously: “No story is worth the life of a journalist.” IANS

(The author is IANS bureau chief in New Delhi. The views expressed

are strictly personal)

Rising Kashmir eclipsedEDITORIAL

With Shujaat Bukhari’s death, we, yet again, face the dilemma of balance between honest journalism and radical sentiments

Today, as he lies in his ancestral graveyard in north Kashmir, his killers remain unknown and nobody knows why he was killed. And, maybe, we never will. There will be narratives, counter-narratives, claims and counter-claims. The truth lies in between, buried along with the countless dead, killed by “unknown gunmen”

That saving Antarctica is of paramount importance to save the world environment today need hardly be underscored. Indeed, sea levels will rise and all coastal countries could be seriously threatened

by flooding if nothing is done to stop the massive melting of sea ice in Antarctica, according to nine award-winning scientists who have spent decades studying the icy conti-nent and the waters around it. They are proposing two sce-narios, one bleak, one promising, for what could happen by 2070, in Wednesday’s edition of the journal Nature, that most scientists consider to be of utmost credibility. True, the paper is also speculative rather than only positing fore-casts. These scenarios are more like data-driven conversa-tion starters, according to the authors, all of who have won the Tinker-Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarc-tica. They game out what could happen if the world does nothing, or if policymakers take significant action in the next 10 years to stop the destruction. And, although one may never get to see Antarctica, these scientists want all to know that what happens in this remote region has a signifi-cant impact across corners of the globe. There are adorable penguins living there, but that’s not the only reason that Antarctica should be cared about. It is covered by ice sheets that are channelled into the oceans through a network of ice streams and glaciers. Recently, the continent has witnessed a reduction in the extent of floating ice shelves. The shelves have also thinned due to our warming planet. The Southern Ocean that surrounds the continent is vital to the health of all the rest. It soaks up more heat and carbon than any other ocean and, in doing so, it helps slow the speed with which the atmosphere is warming. The region also does the world a real service by returning nutrient-rich deep water to the surface and it exports these nutrients to the lower latitudes that rely on them to support the life in our seas. The hole in the ozone, which is centred over this region, is caused in part by the release of chlorofluorocarbons that come from air-conditioning, aerosol cans, solvents, refrigeration and other manufacturing processes. The hole allows in too much ultraviolet light, which contributes to the increasing tem-peratures. Increased ocean acidity, a problem seen world-wide due to the increased amount of carbon dioxide from pollution, also hurts the animals that live in the waters and can cause some reproductive issues with fish.

In the first scenario laid out in the new report, if no one does anything to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the planet continues to warm, the Southern Ocean and Ant-arctica could see a major melt. That’s on top of the record rate at which the continent is already losing sea ice. Ant-arctica is believed to have lost an average of 71 billion to 53 billion metric tonnes of ice per year between 1992 and 2011. If the sea ice melts, that would mean a rise in sea levels around the globe. The water in the Southern Ocean could become corrosive to any animal with a shell. The warmer ocean would create more icebergs, which would have to be carefully watched to protect fishing, shipping and tourism. Fishing would get harder, since fish stocks would decline. There would be severe declines of penguins, other seabirds and seals. By 2070, if the world worked together and made pollution a priority, limiting greenhouse gases, the second scenario predicts that there is a chance Antarctica could look much like it does now. The ice sheets would still be thin-ning, but that could slow, as would the increases in ocean acidity. Some of the more sensitive species would still see population declines, but others would adapt. The continu-ing decline of sea ice would still be forcing seal and seabird populations to change the way they forage for food and these animals may still have some challenges with breeding but sea ice stabilisation could reduce the frequency with which extreme events happen and hurt these species. Technology developed to redesign Antarctica’s bases in the wake of these changes could be used to improve building and waste man-agement in other parts of the world. The interdisciplinary team of researchers behind the theoretical glimpse into two possible futures hopes that it will motivate policymakers to make melting sea ice a priority. While it is speculative, the scenarios they have chosen are not out of the bounds of reason. Fisheries that provide a lot of jobs and food for the masses will be impacted. Coastal regions will feel this. It has far-reaching consequences across the planet.

Marking a black day in the holy month of Rama-dan, and indeed blotting a shameful speck on Indian national security, two innocent civil-ians were gunned down by unrecognised ter-

rorists in Jammu & Kashmir on Thursday. Aurangzeb of the 4 Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry, posted with the 44 Rashtriya Rifles camp as a part of the ongoing anti-terror-ist operations was abducted on his way to his Eid vacation; later, his bullet-ridden body was recovered from the Guppu Village with shots in the head and neck – a sharp reminder of 22-year-old Lieutenant Umer Fayaz’s death, last year, in a similar manner following an abduction in May. Shujaat Bukhari, veteran journalist who had already survived an assassination attack in 2006, also met his sudden end as vio-lent gunmen, riding a bike, attacked him outside his office as he approached his vehicle. These incidents unfold at a time considered to be the holiest by Muslims across the globe, as they fast in penance and prepare for joyous Eid celebrations. Despite the Indian government’s vehement clarion call to dispose military crackdowns and anti-terrorist operations in this holy month, to prevent violence and bloodshed, reports have suggested that this month of May has witnessed only a surge in terror and criminal activities across the valley. Kashmir, jannat, whose meadows, mountains, valleys, and gushing rivers spell only messages of spectacular natural beauty has been eclipsed of its grandeur by the silly vehe-mence of two nations. A staggering United Nations review has revealed and condemned the extent of civilian violence that has been met out in Kashmir, pointing fingers largely to India. Though the Indian government has rejected the authenticity of the report, questioning its stance and bias – the truth, that the valley has been reduced to shambles, is irrefutable. Perhaps India isn’t alone to blame in this fight, but India too has failed to recover from this modern-day measured genocide. Bukhari, a voice of peace in the valley, was ruthlessly murdered during Ramadan – hinting only to the idea that the separatist forces fuelled in the valley by Pakistan are unmoved by the plight of peace. Victory, in their eyes, is only in the severance of Kashmir. Dineshwar Sharma, the current interlocutor for the Valley, had made some initial strides by entering into discussions with separat-ist groups and Hurriyat leaders. Yet, the ceasefire violations by Pakistan are proving to be disruptive and unfavourable to any process of negotiating. Though India and Pakistan share a very complex history, with insurmountable variations in their respective recollections of the past – negotiating and reaching a closure on Kashmir is possibly the most urgent task at the hands of Indian diplomacy today.

Saving Antarctica

Dark day in democracy

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millenniumpost.inRETHINKING DECISIONSdear

EDITOR

The dutiful journalist, Sujaat Bukhari was brutally killed in Kashmir by the terrorists as the government in this state is unable to do away terrorism. When the Central government starts cease-fire in this disturbed region on the ground of humanity for Ramadan time, do the terrorists value it? Rather they take advantage of it. But, our country feels lenient at the cost of true Indians like this dutiful journalists. The government must not go into quagmire with the religious bodies but make exemplary punishment to them in no time. It is the journalists who must yank out the poison-fang of the terrorism that destroy peace in India.

SAMIR CHAKRABORTY Via email

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people

Quote martial

HOWARD ZINN

Fitness challenges seem to be the rage today. From ripped sportspersons to the very vis-ibly out-of-shape politicians,

everyone is out to prove their fitness quotient. It is laughable that politi-cians with rotund paunches claim to be fit and others who look like they have never exercised in their life wax eloquent about their fitness regimes. It, however, is a healthy bandwagon to get onto.

The older you get, the more you struggle to stay fit. Unfortunately, for many of us, being fit means getting into those skinny jeans or having a beach-ready body. True fitness though is not only about how you look; it is about strength, stamina and agility. As a young TV journalist, I ravaged my body for years. Poor eating habits, lack of exer-cise, punishing work hours and copious intakes of alcohol were normal. During those years, youth bore the brunt of indiscipline and, outwardly at least, the anatomy looked and felt great. A decade later, however, the debilitating effects of a high-pressure work life started to show, and I too struggled to turn back the slowing metabolic rate.

Social media with its cyberbullying and unsavoury comments along with its ‘picture perfect’ people, does not add to a positive body image. Our ambition often becomes to look like that actor or model, whose job, by the way, is to look good. That is what they are paid for, among other things. The rest of us are not. But we aspire for that perfection too. The race becomes not to actually be fit but just to look it. And, if exer-cising and fad diets will not do it, there is always help coming from a doctor.

India is fighting growing obesity with numbers set to increase to 5 per cent by 2025 from 3 per cent in 2014. Studies conducted in Delhi schools have found

that 22 per cent of the children are over-weight and 6 per cent are obese. A con-trarian country by all counts, India leads in its underweight population (40 per cent of Indian children are underweight) and also ranks in the top five in obesity!

A country that is still fighting pov-erty and malnutrition, how fit can we really be? And does fitness only extend to physical fitness, what about men-tal and intellectual fitness? There is a malaise plaguing our nation; it is the infirmity of not understanding dissent. Divergent views, different opinions, liberal thought often pays the price. And, no one protects us. The brazen-

ness with which voices of reason are being stomped upon should serve as a wake-up call for all.

On Thursday, senior journalist, Shu-jaat Bukhari’s body was riddled with bullets. Bukhari had always advocated peace for the strife-ridden Kashmir valley. Even though he had police pro-tection since 2000, it did not stop his assailants from committing this das-tardly act. Gauri Lankesh, MM Kalburgi, and Narendra Dabholkar, also paid with their lives for standing up to irrational thinking. At an age, where people crawl when asked to bend, who is protecting people like them?

The country definitely needs to get fit. It needs to fight poverty and hunger. It needs to cope with new diseases and obesity. But most importantly, India must prove that there is a law of the land, that politicians and leaders think about their citizens’ well-being and safety. India must show that divergent views are safe and her citizens and journal-ists can voice opinions without fear or favour. India must prove that she is ‘fit’ to be called a democracy.

(The writer is a journalist and media entrepreneur. The views expressed are strictly personal)

India is fighting growing obesity with numbers set to increase to 5 per cent by 2025 from 3 per cent in 2014. Studies conducted in Delhi schools have found that 22 per cent children are overweight and 6 per cent are obese

High on obesity and malnutrition, India fights to get fit. But, are there more illnesses plaguing the country than just the physical?

Is India fit?

Fitness, in India, demands more attention than aiming for a well-sculpted body (Representational Image)

Shujaat Bukhari’s dedication to honest journalism fell victim to the violence of hate

SHUTAPA PAUL

Winter of 2014: Kejriwal Version 1.0On a cold January night of 2014, the

maverick Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sat on a dharna outside Rail Bha-

wan protesting against police non-cooperation and the erstwhile UPA government’s recalcitrance in punishing policemen who refused to act on issues of minor rape, and suspected drug peddling and prostitution in two differ-ent cases of that time. Detractors termed it ‘anarchy’ and the PM of the day went on to call it ‘urban Naxalism’. The AAP government later resigned on the ground of the Jan-lokpal Bill not being allowed by the Centre and returned to power with a thumping 67-03 majority.

Summer of 2018: Kejriwal Version 2.0Today, in the summer of 2018, Kejriwal and colleagues

are resorting to a dharna at the house of the Lieutenant Governor – this time, demanding action against the non-cooperation of IAS officers and LG not allowing the door-step delivery of services to citizens. Every fight against the LG is virtually a fight against the NDA, as the appointed LG is the Centre’s representative in sight of the peculiar legal status of Delhi ruled by multiple agencies.

Confronted with stonewalling in policymaking and implementation, Kejriwal has finally taken the fight to the LG’s home – Raj Niwas. Twitter is agog that the muf-fler-man is back, the activist-turned-chief minister has reverted to his roots.

Opposition’s responseThis may well turn out to be a significant moment for

the AAP to ramp up the Centre-state battle, transform-ing it into a full-fledged political and constitutional con-frontation. Interestingly, unlike the last time around, this time, a plethora of regional parties, significantly the SP, RJD, JDU, JDS, RLD, NCP, TMC, TDP, TRS, DMK, CPI and CPM have expressed complete support to the AAP’s agitation – with the Congress on the same side as the BJP.

Paradoxically, despite leaning towards a broad united front against the BJP, the Congress continues to treat the AAP as a political pariah. This stems from the fact that the AAP has decimated Congress to come to power, is its major challenger in Punjab and is focussing on building its organisation bottoms-up in states which are bipolar between Congress and BJP and forms a short-term adver-sary first for the Congress there. But, the current stoicism of Congress would make it rather suspect in the eyes of the regional parties and is not in the interests of its 2019 plans.

Unprecedented vendettaAfter failing to win Punjab, AAP had hoped to expand

its political footprint by building a model of governance that, with its emphasis on health and education, would stand apart from the BJP model. But, the tenacity and meticulousness with which the BJP has thwarted the Delhi government’s functioning has made one thing clear that you need not dismiss a state government to render it vir-tually ineffective. And, if it is a ‘half-state’, like Delhi, the task is all the more easy, more so, as the Supreme Court is yet to give its verdict on the constitutional position of the elected Delhi government’s rights and responsibilities vis-a-vis the nominated LG.

When Kejriwal decided to transform a people’s move-ment into an electoral party, he did not anticipate the stub-born resistance he encountered from a government that once boasted about scripting a new chapter on ‘cooperative federal relations’, deepening the Centre’s engagement with state governments. Kejriwal may not have had anticipated

the hurdles that have paralysed the Delhi government.

Fundamental Constitutional questionsThe cardinal questions that the AAP government’s

continued conflict with the Centre has thrown up are fun-damental to the functioning of an electoral democracy. Does an elected government have the right to make poli-cies and implement them? Do bureaucrats have the right to strike work? Most importantly, what good are elections when elected representatives are rendered powerless and held hostage by a non-elected government nominee?

Kejriwal entered the system as an outsider – the status that enhanced his appeal among the disgruntled elector-ate. And, his unconventional methods of protest – con-sidered radical or anarchist by the elite – could earn him the favourable tag of an ‘outsider within’.

Former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha, who resigned from the BJP recently, also joined AAP leaders and workers outside the chief minister’s Civil Lines resi-dence denouncing the Modi government’s high-hand-edness. There are numerous regional parties extending their unambiguous support – in these lay the seeds of a new pro-federal pan-Indian movement.

In the meantime, party MP Sanjay Singh has written a letter to President Kovind seeking an appointment for a party delegation to raise the issues pertaining to problems being faced by the Kejriwal government due to the alleged non-cooperation and strike by IAS officers. In the letter, Singh also claimed that all works pertaining to the home delivery of rations, CCTV cameras, work in unauthorised

colonies, Signature Bridge and whitewashing in schools have been completely stalled due to the four-month-long “strike” by IAS officers in Delhi.

Litany of AAP’s woesAt a time when an MLA accused of raping a teen-

ager could only be arrested after the issue escalated and became front-page national news, one state is an excep-tion to this lawlessness – Delhi. In total, 13 MLAs of the Delhi assembly have been arrested on various charges and 20 have been disqualified for holding offices of profit since the current government came into power three years ago. All arrested MLAs are now out on bail and two have been acquitted on all counts. The Delhi High Court sub-sequently restored the membership of all 20 disqualified MLAs on the grounds of no evidence of constitutional violation. The indiscriminate undermining of the state government touched a new low when the Central gov-ernment recently cancelled the appointment of nine advi-sors to the Delhi government, including the immensely successful adviser to the Education Department, Atishi Marlena, an Oxford qualified expert working at the royal sum of Rs 1 per month, at a time when the Modi govern-ment has advertised for outside professional experts to join its various departments as Joint Secretaries, bypass-ing the UPSC.

The Central government appears to be taking away the main electoral plank of the Delhi government – an untarnished image, coupled with welfare successes in edu-cation, health, water, power et al. It systematically seems

to be maligning the AAP. The Delhi MCD election is a good case in point that the Centre succeeded to an extent. AAP was restrained there.

The decisive electorateBut the sinister designs of the Centre seem to be mov-

ing towards a massive anti-democratic angle. Do not let the Delhi government work, it will be unable to deliver on its electoral promises and be voted out in the next elec-toral cycle. A central government crippling all works of a state government and a state government crying help-lessly with claims of sabotage is absolutely unprecedented for democratic ideals.

However, a lot would depend on what the citizens of Delhi choose to do. Would they give in to this coercion? Would they be ready to suffer for another five years by voting for the current government? Would they uphold the ideals of a democracy that our forefathers enshrined in our Constitution? Will Delhi show the way to the entire country? Or is Delhi just another capital that favours establishment, along with political and moral corruption?

Delhi stands a test to prove that democracy is not dead. It should, though, restrain from becoming an example of how democracy never really existed in essence because democracy is actually all about the co-existence of com-peting ideologies and strategies. Bereft of that, it is noth-ing but fascism of one variety or another.

(Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury is the School Head, School of Media, Pearl Academy, Delhi &

Mumbai. Views expressed are strictly personal)

KAVYA DUBEY

UJJWAL K CHOWDHURY

The afternoon of June 14 came with what might have added a glimmer to the festiv-

ities in Kashmir. By evening, the lurking butchers of cheer planted a grave message.

In a first, the United Nations released its report on the situation of human rights in Kashmir (primarily, and PoK cursorily) and related developments from June 2016 to April 2018. The Indian Union’s response to it is but obvious: that it is biased and reeks of some interest that it does not recognise the terror-ism exported, outsourced and monitored from Pakistan. As a matter of fact, there happens to be nothing ground-breaking about this assessment. It high-lights the same things which are discussed at length at vari-ous levels of political engage-ment. The label of the United Nations on the freshly pack-aged old discourse of Kashmir dispute did, however, bring respite to the separatist bri-gade and its UN-hallmarked acknowledgement gives vali-dation to the persevering pur-suit to draw attention to and address a deteriorating condi-tion of humanity in Kashmir.

The UN’s intervention in this bilateral dispute is an oblig-atory mediation and serves no real purpose. Reiterating the obvious and stating afresh the conditions for resolution, its report amounts to nothing more than an arm-chair assess-ment of stock taken of a situ-ation from afar – comparable to a post-graduate assignment in its method of accomplish-ment. Drawing from informa-tion already available in public domain and a small number of interviews to corroborate

the information, it admits to disconnect with the ground realities due to lack of access to Kashmir – just like the case with many other individu-als and organisations intend-ing to undertake a project in the region. This speaks loud enough of the powerlessness of the grand institution and the futility of banking on it for any resolution.

On the contrary, the com-plexity of the matter can be expected to receive a more effective mandate if it is approached from a legal per-spective. Following from Kulb-hushan Jadhav case between India and Pakistan, Pakistan is said to be speculating taking the case to International Court of Justice (ICJ). It is maintained by India that going to ICJ will be a redundant move and a strategy to compound the case internationally as disputed matters between India and Pakistan already stand sorted

(in theory) from the Shimla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration with an MoU incorporated for a joint com-mitment to intensify efforts to resolve the Kashmir conflict to enhance bilateral dialogue. In what is established to be a bilat-eral discord, any international pronouncement will hold little water as matters will again boil down to the crisis of implemen-tations of corrective measures.

The general assessment and coverage of human rights vio-lation pertain exclusively to the overt violations marked by brazen harassment and phys-ical and sexual assault with impunity. The covert violation of rights is also a constant as basic education and engage-ment of youth is hindered on the pretext of political turmoil. Awareness is systemically dis-couraged and alternate views are extinguished. In what shocked the journalist frater-nity, Rising Kashmir Editor

Shujaat Bukhari’s assassination is a move to keep peace and moderation (and the effective channel of it) at bay. Journalists who have been eliminated have in common the grit to pursue their cause despite all the deter-rence from the lords, fearless-ness, and the refusal to cower; they were formidable counter-forces that impeded sinister anti-people agendas.

Disregard for lurking death in Kashmir has the other side brought out by the Rising Kash-mir Editor. His insistence on dialogue for the resolution of persisting and festering prob-lems in the valley without taking sides had made him a balanced means towards peace. He was crucial to Track -II diplomacy and remained truthfully on the side of Kash-mir and its people, not of New Delhi or Islamabad. Silencing sane and pragmatic voices and augmenting chants for inde-pendence that betray the pup-

petry the citizenry is reduced to, speaks of the institution-alised methods to keep the common people ignorant and/or intimidated. Any remotely pro-India gesture is warned to meet with a violent end – sim-ply seeking a secure job in the Army is an intolerable dare.

The UN is a body that has refused to acknowledge India’s contribution to global peace. Despite being proven the best peace-keeping force, India is not permanent in the UN Security Council while the five permanent members lag far behind in contribution in terms of military, police, and civil-ian personnel in maintaining and establishing peace around the world. Kashmir is a con-flict not frozen in time but one that has been snaking through the valley for decades. It is a region encroached upon by the industry of conflict, and, like all industries, this one’s closure too remains possible in theory unless a political miracle severs and uproots it. The UN report makes extremely predictable and obvious recommenda-tions. Pitfalls remain as there is a haunting lack of alternate narrative to fill the vacuum from dropping some abused and misused provisions like AFSPA and PSA. Mr. Bukhari’s assassination stands to testify that internationalising the dis-pute guarantees no resolution. In the words of the slain Editor, “political dialogue is the only way.” Until the elusive dialogue sees effective implementation, the carrot of peace continues to be dangled before a Kash-mir that is starved for consis-tent normalcy.

(The author is Senior Copy Editor with Millennium Post.

The views are strictly personal)

Kejriwal entered the system as an outsider – the status that enhanced his appeal among the disgruntled electorate. And, his unconventional methods of protest – considered radical or anarchist by the elite – could earn him the favourable tag of an ‘outsider within’

Shujaat Bukhari’s assassination stands to testify that internationalising the dispute guarantees no resolution. In the words of the slain Editor, “political dialogue is the only way”. But pitfalls remain as there is a haunting lack of alternate narrative to fill the vacuum from dropping abused and misused provisions like AFSPA and PSA

Of competition and collaborationThe constant tiff between the Delhi government and the Lieutenant Governor ultimately places the ball in the citizens’ court to save the face of democracy

Dastardly deterrence and averting peaceIn a bilateral discord, any international pronouncement will hold little water as

matters will boil down to the crisis of implementation of corrective measures

tweetRETWEET

BRAHMA CHELLANEY @Chellaney

The folly of Modi's Ramadan "ceasefire": After Pakistani army killed 6 Indian border troops in two separate shootings, terrorists abduct and kill an Indian soldier and assassinate a prominent journalist. India's response? It "condemns" the killings (as if they could be welcomed).

INDIRA JAISING @IJaising

To avoid allegations of hand picking a judge to support her judgement , CJ INDIRA Banerjee sets a precedent delegating her power of Master of Roster to the second senior most judge to nominate a third judge in the disqualification of MLAs case,. Well done Madam Judge

RAHUL RAJ @bhak_sala

Shujaat Bukhari was a big name in journalism, but he will soon be forgotten. He wouldn't be remembered like Gauri Lankesh. There won't be outrage on "Press is under threat" for a long time. All this just because discussing his murder will need condemnation of Islamic terrorism.

RAKSHA MANTRI @DefenceMinIndia

Smt @nsitharaman visits Củ Chi tunnels in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.It is a part of complex underground network of tunnels which was used by Vietnamese soldiers for communication, essential supplies & other purposes during combat.

9mp in focusMILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

There is concerted effort to extinguish any voice of moderate reason in the direction of peace in Kashmir (Representational Image)

Along with a unique style of protesting, Kejriwal also faces a unique challenge to democratising his governance

mp world10MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

Over 100 exoplanets that may host habitable

moons identified

LOS ANGELES: Scientists have identified more than 100 giant planets outside our solar system that may potentially host moons capable of sup-porting life.

The finding, published in The Astrophysical Journal, will guide the design of future telescopes that can detect these potential moons and look for tell-tale signs of life, called biosignatures, in their atmospheres.

"There are currently 175 known moons orbiting the eight planets in our solar sys-tem," said Stephen Kane, an associate professor at Univer-sity of California, Riverside in the US.

"While most of these moons orbit Saturn and Jupi-ter, which are outside the Sun's habitable zone, that may not be the case in other solar systems," said Kane.

The researchers, including those from the University of Southern Queensland in Aus-tralia, identified 121 giant plan-ets that have orbits within the habitable zones of their stars.

At more than three times the radii of the Earth, these gas-eous planets are less common than terrestrial planets, but each is expected to host sev-eral large moons.

"Including rocky exomoons in our search for life in space will greatly expand the places we can look," he said.

Since the 2009 launch of NASA's Kepler telescope, sci-entists have identified thou-sands of planets outside our solar system, which are called exoplanets.

A primary goal of the

Kepler mission is to identify planets that are in the habitable zones of their stars, meaning it is neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water - and poten-tially life - to exist.

Terrestrial (rocky) planets are prime targets in the quest to find life because some of them might be geologically and atmospherically similar to Earth.

Another place to look is the many gas giants identified dur-ing the Kepler mission.

While not a candidate for life themselves, Jupiter-like planets in the habitable zone may harbour rocky moons, called exomoons, that could sustain life.

Scientists have speculated that exomoons might provide a favourable environment for life, perhaps even better than Earth.

That is because they receive energy not only from their star, but also from radi-ation reflected from their planet.

Until now, no exomoons have been confirmed.

"Now that we have created a database of the known giant planets in the habitable zone of their star, observations of the best candidates for host-ing potential exomoons will be made to help refine the expected exomoon properties," said Michelle Hill, an under-graduate student at the Univer-sity of Southern Queensland.

"Our follow-up studies will help inform future telescope design so that we can detect these moons, study their prop-erties, and look for signs of life," said Hill. AGENCIES

UNSC rejects plan to demand ceasefire at Yemen’s Hodeidah

Yemen rebel attack kills 12 soldiers south of HodeidaAL DURAIHMI: A Yemeni rebel attack killed 12 pro-government soldiers south of the battleground Red Sea port city of Ho-deida on Friday, military and medical sources said.The rebels launched the attack on the coast road from the government-held ports of Khokha and Mokha along which Saudi-backed troops advanced on Hodeida earlier this week, the military source said.Dozens of combatants have been killed since the offensive began on Wednesday and the United Nations has voiced concern for the vital aid shipments that pass through the city's docks. AGENCIES

Pak Taliban chief linked to Malala attack killed in US drone strike

WASHINGTON DC/ISLAM-ABAD: Maulana Fazlullah, the dreaded chief of Pakistani Tal-iban, has been killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan’s restive Kunar province, an Afghan defence ministry offi-cial said on Friday.

Fazlullah was the man in charge of the Pakistan Taliban’s (TTP) operations in Pakistan’s Swat Valley when student activ-ist Malala Yousafzai was shot in 2012.

He was designated as a global terrorist by the US and carried a bounty of USD 5 mil-lion. He had been on the run since his loyalists were routed in a major military operation in Pakistan’s Swat district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa prov-ince in 2009.

US forces had conducted the strike close to the border of Pakistan, targeting the “Emir” of the group, according US Forces-Afghanistan spokes-man Lt. Col. Martin O’Donnell.Fazlullah had been a major fig-ure in the TTP even before he became emir in late 2013, and led a Pakistan Taliban militia in the country’s Swat Valley prior to his elevation to leadership of the group.

The US military said on Thursday it carried out a strike targeting a senior mili-tant leader in Afghanistan. It, however, did not identify the militant.

In Kabul, Afghan Ministry of Defense spokesman Moham-mad Radmanish confirmed to CNN that Fazlullah, who is believed to be in his for-ties, was killed in the strike on Wednesday.

The Express Tribune, cit-ing sources, also said the drone strike that took place in the Nur Gul Kalay village of Dangam district in eastern Kunar prov-ince killed Fazlullah and four other TTP commanders.

Fazlullah, also known by the alias Radio Mullah or Maulana Radio due to his long sermons on a private radio channel, and his commanders were having an Iftar party at a compound when a remotely piloted US aircraft targeted them, reports said.

The TTP, however, did not confirm the death of its chief in the drone strike.

Fazlullah had directed numer-ous high-profile attacks against the US and Pakistani targets since he was appointed the group’s leader in 2013, includ-ing the December 2014 attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar that killed 151 peo-ple, including more than 130 children.

The US strike comes amid a ceasefire between the Afghan Taliban and Afghan secu-rity forces to mark the end of the Muslim’s holy month of Ramazan.

Gen John Nicholson, the commander of US Forces-Afghanistan and the NATO-led Resolute Support, said the United States would adhere to the ceasefire announced by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, which did not include US counterterrorism attacks on other terror groups. AGENCIES

Threat of US withdrawal hangs over UN rights bodyGENEVA: The UN Human Rights Council will kick off a new session Monday under a cloud of growing US criticism and the threat of Washington withdrawing from the body altogether.

Longstanding US criticism of the council for its alleged bias against Israel has escalated since

UN-sceptic Donald Trump came to power.

US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley gave a fiery speech before the Geneva-based coun-cil a year ago, demanding deep reforms to fix its "chronic anti-Israel bias".

She also demanded the body throw out abusive regimes, like Venezuela and Burundi, which hold seats on the rotat-ing 47-seat council.

Despite the tough US rhet-oric -- which essentially said reform or we are leaving -- little

has changed. Tired of waiting for reform, Washington a few weeks ago circulated a proposed reso-

lution unilaterally laying out the full makeover it was looking for.

But the US received little

support and has not yet formally tabled the resolution, sparking fevered speculation it was about to quit, and fears of the impact that would have.

"If they withdraw, one can expect serious consequences for the council," Swiss ambas-sador to the UN in Geneva Val-entin Zellweger told reporters this week. The US draft text called for dramatic changes to the rules governing how the General Assembly in New York elects countries to fill vacant council seats. AGENCIES

ADEN: The UN security council has rejected a move to demand an immediate end to the fighting around the stra-tegic Yemeni port of Hodei-dah despite warnings from aid agencies that an attack could jeopardise vital aid to a country on the brink of famine.

The 15-strong body failed to agree to a statement calling on forces led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to implement a ceasefire, with the US and UK both voicing opposition to the text intro-duced by Sweden.

The council instead called for restraint and “urged all sides to uphold their obligations under international humani-tarian law” in fighting for the city currently held by rebel Houthi forces. Pro-government forces backed by the UAE and Saudi Arabia began an assault on Wednesday.

The Swedish ambassador to the UN, Carl Skau, said: “It is time for the security council to call for an immediate freeze of the military attack on Hodei-dah to give the special envoy

and United Nations-led efforts a chance to avert disaster and find a sustainable political solu-tion to the conflict.”

David Miliband, the chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, sup-ported the Swedes and chal-lenged claims Hodeidah’s port and humanitarian aid could be protected during an attack, say-ing there was “a great danger of besiegement and long-term urban warfare”.

He told the BBC Radio 4 On Friday programme that the Saudi-led coalition, back-

ing Yemen’s exiled government against the Houthi rebels, had repeatedly failed to make the progress it had predicted since it entered the war in 2015.

“The immiseration of the Yemini people is quite extraor-dinary: 22 million in need of humanitarian aid; 8 million at risk of starvation; 50,000 died last year from cholera or cholera-related diseases,” he said.

The impasse at the UN keeps open the option of a direct attack on the port for the Saudi-led coalition, but it is aware this could lead to a massive backlash from west-ern governments and aid agencies.

Arab warplanes and war-ships on Thursday pounded

Houthi positions in south-ern Hodeidah, with more than 40 fighters reported killed.

There was no direct attack on the port, in the north-west of the city, and the coalition said the aim was to keep the port functional.

Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE ambassador to the UN, insisted the military offensive was “a deliberate, carefully prepared and executed operation”.

Saudi Arabia’s UN ambas-sador, Abdallah al-Mouallimi, added: “Our desire in Hode-idah is not to infuriate the Houthis or to kill as many of them as we possibly can. To the contrary, we have allowed them safe passage to the north of the city if they want to drop their arms and leave.”

He challenged reports calling Hodeida “a lifeline to Yemen for humanitarian aid”, arguing there were nine ports in Yemen and two in Saudi Arabia that could be used to reach those in need.

The security council’s refusal to call for a cease-fire suggests the UK, US and France have accepted the Saudi and UAE claim that jeopardis-ing aid flows is a justifiable risk if Houthi forces can be ousted from the city. AGENCIES

mp worldMILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

11

Hawking's voice beamed into space during London burialLONDON: A message from late British astrophysics giant Stephen Hawking was beamed towards the nearest black hole on Friday as his remains were laid to rest in London's West-minster Abbey.

With celebrities and science enthusiasts from around the world in attendance, the ashes of the theoretical physicist were interred by the graves of fel-low science greats Isaac New-ton and Charles Darwin.

A specially-written musi-cal piece by Greek composer Vangelis featuring Hawking's famous synthesised voice was beamed into space by radio waves from a European Space Agency satellite dish in Spain.

The ESA said the six-min-ute message, drawn from a speech Hawking gave about

preserving the planet, was being transmitted towards the black hole 1A 0620-00, which was discovered in 1975 and is located 3,500 light years from Earth.

“This is a beautiful and symbolic gesture that creates a link between our father’s pres-ence on this planet, his wish to go into space and his explo-rations of the universe in his mind,” said his daughter Lucy Hawking.

“It is a message of peace and hope, about unity and the need for us to live together in har-mony on this planet,” she said.

- Most famous equation -Hawking, who was wheel-

chair bound due to motor neu-rone disease, dedicated his life’s work to unravelling the myster-ies of the universe and fought

to overcome his disability.Although Hawking was an

avowed atheist, Friday’s ser-vice was nonetheless held at London’s giant Westminster Abbey to accommodate large numbers of family, friends and

colleagues.The memorial stone on top

of Hawking’s grave included his most famous equation describ-ing the entropy of a black hole.

“Here Lies What Was Mor-tal Of Stephen Hawking,” read

the inscription on the stone, which included an image of a black hole.

Hawking, who captured the imagination of millions around the world, died on March 14 at the age of 76.

Propelled to stardom by his 1988 book “A Brief History of Time”, an unlikely worldwide bestseller, Hawking’s genius and wit won over fans from far beyond the rarefied world of astrophysics.

His death triggered a flood of tributes from Queen Eliz-abeth II to NASA, reflecting his impact as a scientist but also a beacon of hope for peo-ple affected by motor neurone disease.

It celebrated not only his achievements as a scientist, but also his character and endur-

ance living with a devastating illness.

“We are so grateful to West-minster Abbey for offering us the privilege of a service of thanksgiving for the extraor-dinary life of our father and for giving him such a distin-guished final resting place,” said his children Lucy, Robert and Tim.

Around 1,000 members of the public drawn from more than 100 countries attended the service, following an online ballot in which 25,000 applied for tickets.

Applicants needed to give their birth date -- but eagle-eyed fans spotted that it could be any day up to December 31, 2038, opening the door to time-travelling guests from the future. AGENCIES

Taiwan indicts three over deadly quake building collapse in FebTAIPEI: A Taiwanese developer was indicted on Friday over the partial collapse of a building that killed 14 people during an earthquake in February, prosecutors said. The building’s architect and a civil engineer were also charged with causing death and injury by professional negligence, punishable by a maximum five-year jail term. The lower floors of the 12-storey Yun Tsui residential building -- which also housed a restaurant and hotel -- pancaked when a 6.4-magnitude quake struck the tourist hotspot of Hualien on February 6. A total of 17 people died across the eastern coastal town, 14 of them in the Yun Tsui building. Developer Liu Ying-lin was unlicensed and did not have the necessary engineering qualifica-tions but oversaw the building’s construction instead of contracting a professional firm, said Hualien District Prosecutors Office. “Yun Tsui building collapsed within eight seconds of the earthquake... due to serious flaws in design, supervision and construction,” said Wang Yi-jen, a spokesman for the office. The flaws included inadequate pillars and reinforcing steel that signifi-cantly weakened the building’s seismic capacity, he added. Despite its comparative wealth and a reputa-tion for cutting-edge technology, Taiwan still often sees deadly building collapses during quakes. AGENCIES

‘Comey mishandled FBI's Clinton email inquiry’

WASHINGTON DC: Former FBI director James Comey did not follow protocol in his han-dling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and improperly shared information about the probe with the public, a review of the agency's actions during the 2016 US presidential cam-paign has concluded.

But the report by the Jus-tice Department's internal watchdog found no evidence to support President Donald Trump's claim that the agency was motivated by political ani-mus as it investigates potential collusion between his campaign and Russia.

The FBI's probe stemmed from Clinton's use of a persona email server while she was the secretary of state. The investiga-tion focused on whether Clin-ton sent or received classified information through a server in the basement of her New York home, which was not authorized to handle such messages.

"We concluded that Comey's unilateral announcement was inconsistent with the depart-ment policy and violated long-standing Department practice and protocol by, among other things, criticising Clinton's uncharged conduct," the report said.

"We also found that Comey usurped the authority of the attorney general, and inad-equately and incompletely described the legal position of department prosecutors," it added.

Reacting to the report, Pres-ident Trump said it is a "total disaster" for Comey and the FBI itself.

"The IG Report is a total disaster for Comey, his min-ions and sadly, the FBI," Trump tweeted in his first public com-ment on the Justice Department inspector general report issued on Thursday.

"Comey will now officially go down as the worst leader, by far, in the history of the FBI. I did a great service to the people in firing him. Good Instincts,"

Trump added.The over 500-page report

Office of the Inspector General, said it had discovered text and instant messages between some FBI employees that expressed statements of hostility towards the then candidate Trump and that of support for Clinton.

"We also identified mes-sages that expressed opinions that were critical of the con-duct and quality of the investi-gation," said the report, which the White House said vindicates the consistent stand of Trump in this regard.

The report largely focuses on the conduct of the US top law enforcement agency, which is historically non-partisan, during the 2016 presidential election.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Comey had bro-ken "dramatically from FBI and department norms" in handling an inquiry into Clinton's emails.

Clinton, 70, has blamed Comey for her election loss to Trump in 2016.

The report by the Justice Department also said Comey used a private email account to conduct official FBI business.

FBI director Christopher Wray said he accepted the report's findings but he added that nothing in the report pointed towards political bias or impugned the FBI as an institution.

The inspector general criti-cised Comey's decision to reveal publicly a week before the elec-tion that he had reopened the inquiry into Clinton's emails, rejecting his argument that he had acted in the interests of transparency.

He found that while Com-ey's actions were not the result of political bias, "by depart-ing so clearly and dramatically from the FBI and department norms, the decisions negatively impacted the perception of the FBI and the department as fair administrators of justice".

The report also found "a troubling lack of any direct, substantive communication"

between Comey and Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

In a statement, Senate Dem-ocratic Whip Dick Durbin said the report made clear that Comey and FBI personnel failed to follow the rules, and in doing so, hurt Clinton's campaign and helped Trump's.

"In a frenzy of tweets since taking office, the President has claimed a vast conspiracy in his own government against his campaign and administration, but this report found no evi-dence that political bias affected the FBI investigations," he said.

In the report, a paragraph summarising the factors that led the FBI to assess that it was pos-sible that hostile actors accessed Clinton's server was added, and at one point referenced Clinton's use of her private email for an exchange with then President Obama while in the territory of a foreign adversary.

This reference later was changed to "another senior gov-ernment official," and ultimately was omitted, it said.

Republican Congressman Darrell Issa said the report from the Department of Jus-tice's Inspector General shed new light on the cumulative bias at some of the highest levels of the FBI during the lead-up to the 2016 election. AGENCIES

Trump praises Kim on Fox & Friends: 'I want my people to do the same'

WASHINGTON DC: An “antsy and bored” Donald Trump reportedly attempted to bring his summit with Kim Jong-un of North Korea for-ward by a day, asking aides after his arrival in Singapore last Sunday: “We’re here now. Why can’t we just do it?”

The one-day summit, aimed at reducing the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea, went ahead as planned on Tuesday.

But on Thursday night, cit-ing two people “familiar with preparations for the event”, the Washington Post said the presi-dent’s impatience and a “tense” staff meeting with North Korean officials left “left some aides fearful that the entire summit might be in peril”.

In a Friday morning inter-view on the White House lawn with Fox & Friends, mean-while, Trump risked provok-ing critics of his praise for Kim when he said the North Korean dictator was “the strong head” of his country.

“He speaks and his people sit up at attention,” Trump said. “I want my people to do the same.”

The president also claimed his predecessor in the White House, Barack Obama, had been “essentially ready to go to war with North Korea”, then claimed to have “solved” the problem of the nuclear threat from Pyongyang.

Citing “people familiar with

the talks”, the Washington Post detailed how Trump’s request to move the summit was par-ried by senior members of his administration.

“Ultimately,” the Post wrote, “Secretary of State Mike Pom-peo and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders per-suaded Trump to stick with the original plan, arguing that the president and his team could use the time to prepare.”

“They also,” the Post said, “warned him that he might sacrifice wall-to-wall televi-sion coverage of his summit if he abruptly moved the long-planned date to Monday in Sin-gapore, which would be Sunday night in the United States.”

Trump’s preparation was long a point of contention. In May, after North Korea criti-cised his vice-president, Mike Pence, Trump said the summit was cancelled. He later said his approach was not about prepa-ration, but “about attitude”.

He then told a press con-ference in Canada before trav-elling to Singapore he would know “within the first minute” if the summit would be a suc-cess, thanks to “just my touch, my feel”.

After meeting Kim, he told reporters he and the dictator “got to know each other well in a very confined period of time. I know when somebody wants to deal and I know when some-body doesn’t”.

The Post also reported Trump laughingly praising North Korean state TV. The president “joked that even … Fox News was not as lavish in its praise”, the newspaper said.

The Trump-Kim summit has been widely criticised in the US, in most part for the failure to secure written commitment to North Korean denucle-arisation, which the Trump administration has repeatedly demanded. AGENCIES

Awami League leader shot dead after prayers in

BangladeshDHAKA: A senior leader of Bangldesh's ruling Awami League was shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside a mosque in Dhaka's Badda area when he was returning home after Friday prayers.

Farhad Ali, general sec-retary of the ruling Awami League's Badda Union wing, died on the spot as bullets pierced his chest and head.

Two men opened fire on Farhad from their motorbike outside Baitus Salam Jame Mosque in Badda area, known for gangland violence and turf wars, a police officer told bdnews24.com.

"Farhad was shot dead on the spot when he was leaving the mosque after Jumma (Fri-day) prayers," police said.

The police did not imme-diately confirm the motive for the killing.

The latest killing mirrors the murder of another Awami League activist in April over an internal conflict in the same area. AGENCIES

Peace for Eid as Afghanistan observes ceasefire

KABUL: Afghans greeted the beginning of Eid with prayers on Friday as the Muslim holi-day dawned in peace for the first time since the 2001 US-led invasion, after the Taliban agreed to an unprecedented ceasefire.

Flocking to mosques for special morning worship mark-ing the first day of the festival, youngsters in the war-battered country expressed cautious optimism, following the sus-pension of fighting between Afghan security forces and the militants.

"On almost every Eid we have had attacks -- this is a rare Eid without violence," Samiul-lah, 17, who is almost the same age as the conflict, said after prayers at the Shah-e Do Sham-shira mosque in central Kabul.

"We are hopeful peace will come to Afghanistan." Four-teen-year-old Sohrab Ahmad, who earns money polishing shoes outside the mosque, said he could not remember an Eid without fighting.

"I believe there will be peace between the Taliban and the Afghan government," he

said. But not everyone was so hopeful.

"I don't think there will be peace in Afghanistan. We are seeing an increase in attacks on a daily basis," Imran, 13, said.

Defence ministry spokes-man Mohammad Radmanesh said there had been no reports of Taliban attacks on Afghan forces since the start of the holiday.

President Ashraf Ghani announced last week that police and troops would cease operations against the Tali-ban for eight days, starting Tuesday -- though he warned that operations against other

groups, including the Islamic State group, would continue.

The Taliban said Satur-day their fighters would stop attacking Afghan security forces for the first three days of Eid, the first time the Tali-ban had declared a nationwide ceasefire in the nearly 17-year conflict.

They said they would con-tinue attacking US-led NATO troops. Eid al-Fitr is one of Islam's most significant holi-days, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, and is typically celebrated by feast-ing and gift-giving by Muslims all over the world. AGENCIES

UK launches review of monthly visa cap to ease entry for professionals

LONDON: The UK govern-ment on Friday tabled changes to its immigration policy in Par-liament, which includes a review of its strict visa quotas available to professionals from countries like India.

As part of the immigration changes, the government said it would ask the independent Migration Advisory Commit-tee to review the composition of the Shortage Occupation List.

This is likely to further ease up the visa regime for businesses to be able to bring in profession-als from countries like India to work in the UK. The Indian IT sector is among those expected to benefit from the easing up of the cap, a move welcomed by Indian industry.

Coming in the wake of long-standing demand from Indian professionals, the news to ease the Tier 2 visa category by the British government is a welcome development. This move will certainly smoothen the movement of highly-skilled professionals and increase over-all competitiveness of the UK industry in the long run, said Rashesh Shah, President of the

Federation of Indian Cham-bers of Commerce and Indus-try (FICCI).

"FICCI has always stood for a free, fair and transparent UK visa regime for ensuring and promoting vibrant trade and economic relations between the two countries, he said.

In an announcement in the lead up to the parliamentary statement on Friday, the gov-ernment had already announced that doctors and nurses from countries outside the European Union (EU) would be exempt from its Tier 2 (General) visa limit to address particular short-ages and pressures facing the

state-funded National Health Service (NHS).

With doctors and nurses exempt from the current monthly quota of 1,600, the Tier 2 category is expected to free up places for other key professions.

Businesses will welcome these reforms as a good first move. International skills and talent are a core foundation of the Global Britain employers want to help build, said Matthew Fell, Chief UK Policy Director for the Confederation of Brit-ish Industry.

"A successful migration sys-tem should focus on people's contribution to the UK econ-

omy and society, not numbers. Until our immigration system is reformed to reflect this, includ-ing scrapping the net migration target, businesses will continue to struggle to get the people they need to create jobs and growth, he said.

A number of further changes to the UK's visa routes include opening up the exceptional tal-ent visa to include leading fash-ion designers.

They will have their appli-cation assessed by the British Fashion Council under the endorsement remit of Arts Council England (ACE), one of the existing five endorsing bodies on that route.

"On Friday's changes show that we are able to adapt to meet the demands of our frontline services and ensure we are able to attract people who can bring real benefits to our creative industries, said UK immigra-tion minister Caroline Nokes.

The Tier 2 visa route, which has had an annual cap of 20,700 since 2011, has in recent months seen the number of applications exceed the monthly allocation of available places. AGENCIES

Nawaz Sharif's wife Kulsoom suffers cardiac arrest in UK

LONDON/ISLAMABAD: Kulsoom Nawaz, the wife of Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, suffered a cardiac arrest in the UK and put on ventilator as her health deteriorated, her family said on Friday.

Kulsoom, 68, underwent multiple surgeries last year to remove lymph nodes after she was diagnosed with throat cancer.

In April, her medical reports indicated that her health had worsened after her throat cancer began to spread to the rest of her body. Late last night, she was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the London hospital after her condi-tion deteriorated further, Maryam Nawaz, her daughter said.

"Ami had a sudden cardiac arrest when we

were on the flight and is in ICU and on the ven-tilator since," Maryam tweeted.

Maryam, who flew to London along with her father, requested well-wishers to pray for her mother's health.

Kulsoom was readmitted to the hospital on Wednesday, where her health deteriorated and she was immediately taken to the emergency unit in the night and has not regained consciousness since, The Express Tribune reported.

She was rushed to the ICU as she collapsed after suffering a cardiac arrest on Thursday and has ever since been kept under intensive care. Hussain Nawaz, son of Nawaz Sharif, also appealed to the nation to pray for his mother's wellness. AGENCIES

Nepal’s NCP faces legal challenge for violating constitutional provision

KATHMANDU: The newly formed ruling Nepal Com-munist Party is facing a legal challenge after a group of lawyers moved the Supreme Court demanding quashing of its registration for failing to fulfil a constitutional provi-sion of allocating 33 per cent seats to women in its central committee.

Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli-led the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marx-ist Leninist) and Prachanda-led the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) were merged

last month to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

According to local media reports last month, there were only 70 women in the 441-member Nepal Com-munist Party (NCP) central committee, which is just 16 per cent, far behind the legal requirement of 33 per cent women's representation in all party committees.

A group of 13 lawyers, including senior advocates Surendra Bhandari and Indu Tuladhar, on Thursday filed a plea in the apex court demand-

ing quashing of the NCP's reg-istration with the Election Commission (EC).

They argued that the EC's decision to register the NCP as a political party without fulfill-ing the legal provision of man-datory 33 per cent women representation in the party's central working committee was against the Constitution.

Bhandari said they had also demanded the SC to issue a order of mandamus to all polit-ical parties to renew their regis-tration as per the constitutional and legal provisions. AGENCIES

mp business12MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

NEW DELHI: Public sector banks (PSBs) have written off bad loans worth a whopping Rs 1.20 lakh crore, an amount that is nearly one-and-a-half times more than their total losses posted in 2017-18, according to official data. This is a dou-ble whammy for the struggling PSBs as they had massive write-offs as well as huge losses in the last financial year.

This is for the first time in a decade that banks have made huge write-offs of bad loans along with booking of hefty losses. Till 2016-17, 21 state-owned banks made combined profit while in 2017-18, they posted a staggering loss of Rs 85,370 crore, as per the data.

During 2016-17, PSU banks wrote off non-performing assets (NPAs) worth Rs 81,683 crore as against combined net profit of Rs 473.72 crore. SBI alone has written off bad loans of Rs 40,196 crore, nearly 25 per cent of the total write-offs during 2017-18. This was fol-lowed by Canara Bank (Rs 8,310 crore), Punjab National Bank (Rs 7,407 crore) and Bank

of Baroda (Rs 4,948 crore).As per the data provided

by rating agency Icra, Indian Overseas Bank has written of NPAs worth Rs 10,307 crore, followed by Bank of India (Rs 9,093 crore), IDBI Bank (Rs 6,632 crore) and Allahabad Bank (Rs 3,648 crore). These banks along with 7 others come under Prompt Correc-tive Action framework of RBI.

As per the government data, banks' write-offs stood at Rs 34,409 crore in 2013-14. The figure has jumped nearly four-fold in five years. In 2014-15, the banks wrote off Rs 49,018 crore ; Rs 57,585 crore in 2015-16, Rs 81,683 crore in 2016-17 and hitting a record high of Rs 1.20 lakh crore (provisional) in 2017-18.

Write-off in banking par-

lance means that the bank has made 100 per cent provision from its earning against that account. Following this, NPA is no longer part of its balance sheet. However, a write-off puts pressure on balance sheet of banks as it erodes operating profit.

The Indian banking sec-tor is grappling with mount-ing NPAs and host of scams

and frauds. NPA in the bank-ing sector stood at Rs 8.31 lakh crore as of December 2017. Weak financials due to mounting bad loans have already pushed 11 banks, out of 21 , under the Prompt Cor-rective Action (PCA) frame-work of RBI.

The recent tight pruden-tial norms released by RBI on February 12 have added to the NPA woes. Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has announced setting up of a committee to give recommen-dations in two weeks on forma-tion of an Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC) for faster res-olution of stressed accounts.

The committee under Sunil Mehta, non-executive chairman of PNB, will make recommendations for the same. The finance minister said the committee will con-sider whether such an arrange-ment will be good for the banking system and, if any such suggestion is advisable, it will also consider the modal-ities by which such an ARC should be set up. AGENCIES

NEW DELHI: India will from November not be able to use European banks for mak-ing payments for crude oil it buys from Iran as US sanc-tions against the Persian Gulf nation take effect, senior offi-cials said on Friday. State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, has communi-cated to oil refiners that the euro payment route will be not available after Novem-ber 3, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Director (Finance) A K Sharma said.

US President Donald Trump had last month pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal and said sanctions will be re-imposed on Iran within 180 days. However, it is not "doomsday" for Indian refin-ers and alternate crude oil sources in the Middle East, US and Russia can be tapped should Iranian supplies dry up due to payment problems, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) Director (Finance) R Ramachandran said.

"Once the current pay-ment channel is blocked, sup-plier (Iran) has to decide if it wants to trade with us in rupee or sell oil on credit in anticipation of channels re-opening in future," Sharma said.

India pays its third larg-est oil supplier in euros using European banking channels and imports can continue on alternate modes should it be blocked, he said. Currently, oil firms first transfer funds to SBI, which in turn uses Ger-many-based Europaeisch-Iranische Handelsbank AG (EIH) to pay in euros to Iran.

During the first round of sanctions in 2012 when Euro-pean Union joined the US in imposing financial restric-

tions, India initially used a Turkish bank to pay Iran for the oil it bought but beginning February 2013 paid nearly half of the oil import bill in rupees while keeping the remainder pending till opening of pay-ment routes. It began clear-ing the dues in 2015 when the restrictions were eased.

Besides, New Delhi sought to get around the restrictions by supplying goods includ-ing wheat, soybean meal and consumer products to Iran in exchange for oil. Back in 2012, EU put restrictions on insur-ance of Iranian oil and ships carrying them. To get around the problem, Iran supplied oil in its own tankers.

Ramachandran said while Iran offers an economic advantage because of lower freight for shipping oil, alter-natives are available. "Our refineries are flexible and a large number of options are available (to replace Iranian oil). We have suppliers, the Middle East, US and Russia," he said. "It is not doomsday for us."

Sharma said Iran has to take a call on how supplies are to be made. On the issue of India seeking a waiver from sanctions, he said it is for the government to decide and he has no comments to offer.

Like last time, India can seek a waiver from US sanc-tions on condition that it will cut down Iranian imports.

Iran is India's third-largest oil supplier behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It supplied 18.4 million tonnes of crude oil during April 2017 and Janu-ary 2018 (first 10 months of 2017-18 fiscal).

Iran was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11 but western sanctions over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the 7th spot in the subsequent years. In 2013-14 and 2014-15, India bought 11 MT and 10.95 MT, respec-tively from the country.

Sourcing from Iran increased to 12.7 MT in 2015-16, giving it the sixth spot. In the following year, the Ira-nian supplies jumped to 27.2 MT to catapult it to the third spot. Iranian oil is a lucrative buy for refiners as the Persian Gulf nation provides 60 days of credit for purchases, double the amount of time given by other producers.

Following Trump's announcement, companies are not allowed to strike new deals in the Iranian oil and energy sector. By August, transactions in Iranian gov-ernment debt or currency and purchases involving the country's automobile sector or Iranian gold and other met-als must end. In November, deals involving Iran's oil and energy sector, shipping and ports, and insurance services will be prohibited. AGENCIES

PSBs’ NPA write-offs gallop by 140% over their FY18 losses

Banks make huge write-offs along with hefty losses for 1st time in a decade

Iran oil payment route to be blocked from November

‘Once the current payment channel is blocked, supplier (Iran) has to decide if it wants to trade with us in ` or sell oil on credit in anticipation of channels re-opening in future’

NEW DELHI: French out-sourcing firm Teleperfor-mance on Friday said that it will acquire BPO firm Intelenet from Blackstone for a total con-sideration of $1 billion. "Tele-performance has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Intelenet from Blackstone ... The transaction will be com-pleted for a total consideration (enterprise value) of USD 1 bil-lion," a statement said.

The transaction is expected to close by September 30, 2018, subject to receipt of cer-tain regulatory approvals and other customary closing con-ditions, it added. "We share the same management values, the same passion for service, and

the same strategic vision. Inte-lenet's strong integrated solu-tions and digital optimisation capacities will immediately and significantly enhance Teleper-formance's offering," Teleper-formance Chairman and CEO Daniel Julien said.

He added that Intelenet's

"amazing footprint in India" will help the company to strengthen its presence in this key geography going forward.

"Thanks to the Intelenet acquisition, Teleperformance is poised to move quickly ahead with its 2018-2022 strategic plan. Moreover, upon closing this deal will be immediately accretive for Teleperformance shareholders, as it should have a positive impact of around 10 per cent on the Group's earn-ings per share in 2018 on a pro forma basis," he said.

Intelenet was founded in 2000 with HQ at Mumbai. It posted revenue of $449 million for the fiscal ended March 31, 2018. AGENCIES

French Teleperformance to buy BPO firm Intelenet for $1 billion NEW DELHI: Tata Con-

sultancy Services on Friday became the first company to close the trading session with a market valuation of over Rs 7 lakh crore on a day when its board approved a share buy-back of up to Rs 16,000 crore. Shares of the company jumped 2.75 per cent to close at Rs 1,841.45 on BSE. During the day, it surged 3.16 per cent to Rs 1,849 At the NSE, it closed at Rs 1,840, up 2.93 per cent.

Led by the gain in the stock, the company’s market valua-tion soared Rs 18,836.98 crore to Rs 7,05,012.98 crore (USD 103 billion) at close of trade. On the equity volume front, 7.66 lakh shares of the com-pany were traded on BSE and over 91 lakh shares changed

hands at NSE during the day.On May 25, TCS’ market

valuation had briefly crossed the Rs 7-lakh crore mark. “...Board of Directors of the com-pany at its meeting held today ... has approved a proposal to buy back up to 7.61 crore equity shares...of the company for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 16,000 crore...,” TCS said in a regulatory filing.

TCS market valuation had earlier this year went past the Rs 6 lakh crore level, mak-ing it the second company to achieve the milestone after Reliance Industries. The Mum-bai-headquartered TCS had in April became the first Indian company to close the trading session with over USD 100 bil-lion market valuation. AGENCIES

TCS ends trade with `7 lakh cr m-cap

NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: Cen-tre and the ‘concerned state’ will equally share the amount depos-ited by erring businesses in the con-sumer welfare fund set up as part of the GST anti-profiteering rules, as per a Finance Ministry notification. Following the rollout of GST in July last year, the government set up a national anti-profiteering authority to penalise businesses for failure to pass on tax benefits to consumers. In case the customer is not identifiable, the money has to be deposited in the consumer welfare fund.

The ministry has amended Cen-tral GST rules stating that 50 per cent of the amount is to be depos-ited in the consumer welfare fund constituted by the Centre and the remaining to the fund set up by the ‘concerned state’. As per the amend-ment, the ‘concerned state’ would mean the state where the anti-prof-iteering authority has passed its order against the business. So far, CGST rules did not clearly state on the splitting of the amount collected from erring businesses and conse-quently deposited in the fund.

As per the structure of the anti-profiteering mechanism, com-

plaints of local nature are first sent to the state-level screening commit-tee while those of national level are marked for the Standing Commit-tee. If the complaints have merit, the respective committees would refer the cases for further investiga-tion to the Directorate General of Anti-Profiteering.

The Directorate would generally take about three months to complete the investigation and send the report to the anti-profiteering authority. If the authority finds that a company has not passed on GST benefits, it will either direct the entity to pass on the benefits to consumers or if the beneficiary cannot be identified will ask the company to transfer the amount to the consumer welfare fund within a specified timeline.

The authority also has the power to cancel registration of any entity or business if it fails to pass on to con-sumers the benefit of lower taxes under the GST regime, but it would probably be the last step against any violator. According to the anti-profiteering rules, the authority will suggest return of the undue profit earned from not passing on the ben-efits to consumers along with an

18 per cent interest as also impose penalty.

In case the consumer is not iden-tifiable, the penal amount would have to be deposited to the con-sumer welfare fund.

Meanwhile, states are likely to

gain an additional Rs 37,426 crore in revenue in the current fiscal on the back of surge in oil prices and better tax collection due to the GST, says a report. According to SBI Research, the impact of GST on tax revenue is minimal except in a few states.

As many as 16 of the 24 states, have seen thier revenue increasing over and above the 14 percent base-line/ mutually accepted minimum tax growth rate between the Cen-tre and the states post-GST rollout below which the states have to be

compensated.“We have found that on an aggre-

gate lever, the states have gained by Rs 18,698 crore in additional rev-enue in FY18. If we combine this figure with the gains that the states have made due to increase in crude

prices, the overall figure will be Rs 37,426 crore,” the report said.

The amount will be sufficient to neutralize the Rs 34,627 crore of revenue forgone if the states impose VAT only on base the price of crude. Post-GST implementation in July last year, the tax revenue of the states has gone up in FY18 due to increased tax compliance and broader tax base.

While Gujarat, Haryana, Maha-rashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Punjab have gained the maxi-mum from GST, Karnataka, Bengal, UP, MP and Assam have reported a decline in tax collection post-GST.

These states were impacted due to the changes in the nature of taxa-tion as GST has subsumed indirect taxes such as service tax, VAT, excise duty, entry tax, entertainment tax into one, including the taxes under the Centre and the states which con-tribute to an aggregate of over 55 per cent of tax revenue of these states.

“We expect that while there is a need to optimise tax revenue, for funding social security pro-grammes, there is also a need to insulate consumers from adverse price shocks,” the report said. AGENCIES

GST ‘anti-profiteering’ receipts to be split between Centre, statesThe states are likely to gain an additional `37,426 crore in revenue in the current fiscal on the back of the surge in oil prices and better tax collection due to the goods and services tax, says an SBI Research report. The impact of GST on tax revenue is minimal except in a few states

MUMBAI: Growth in the cur-rent fiscal year will be faster in the first half and will likely face pressure in the second half to end the year at 7.5 per cent, a Japanese brokerage said on Friday. The rate hike by RBI and the the oil prices raise con-cerns over the sustainability of what was termed as a “cyclical, broad-based recovery”, Nomu-ra’s chief India economist Sonal Varma said.

“We feel growth will be front-ended in FY19. The first quarter can see growth of 7.5-8 per cent, but it will likely dip in the second half. We should have an overall growth of 7.5 per cent for FY19,” she told reporters here. It can be noted that there was a dip in

the growth in the first half of the previous fiscal, which was attributed by analysts to GST implementation and the wan-ing effects of demonetisation.

GDP growth for FY18 had come at 6.7 per cent and March quarter had clocked 7.7 per cent. Varma said the financial

conditions are tightening in the recent times and warned that it may also impact private sec-tor investments going forward.

The RBI, which hiked rates earlier this month, may go for one more rate hike at the next policy review in August, she said, adding that the central

bank will not veer away from the “neutral” stance of the policy.

Varma also said that she was surprised with the 0.25 per cent policy hike earlier this month and added that the RBI may go in for more than one hike in the remainder of the fiscal, even though she expects a hold after the August review.

The government is likely to ensure that it adheres to the fiscal deficit target, she said, adding that there may be some compromise on the quality of the deficit wherein the govern-ment goes slow on investments, if fiscal pressures increase.

It expects inflation to come down to 5 per cent on an aver-age for FY19, she said. AGENCIES

‘Higher oil prices, interest rate may cap GDP at 7.5%’NEW DELHI: SAIF Partners-

backed realty portal NoBroker.com achieved 1.05 lakh buy-sell and home renting transac-tions during last fiscal, helping customers save about Rs 650 crore in brokerage, a top com-pany official said. Bengal-uru-based NoBroker.com is a brokerage-free property search portal that connects house owners and seekers directly by eliminating the middleman. It also has presence in Mumbai, Gurugram, Chennai and Pune.

Founded in 2014 by IIT and IIM alumni Akhil Gupta, Amit Kumar Agarwal and Saurabh Garg, it has raised $20 mil-lion so far from investors. It raised an initial round of fund-ing from SAIF Partners of $3 million in 2015, followed by a Series B of $17 million from

Japanese Beenext and Korean investor KTB Ventures in 2016.

“Our portal makes it possi-ble to buy-sell and rent houses without paying any brokerage. About 1.05 lakh transactions took place on our platform during 2017-18 fiscal which is a very encouraging number for us,” Agarwal said. Since incep-tion, he said about 40 lakh cus-tomers have used the platform and every month 1.8 lakh cus-tomers are being added.

Out of total transactions, he said about 97,000 deals were of renting while around 8,000 of buying-selling of housing properties, he said, adding that this led to a saving of about Rs 650 crore as brokerage, based on the average fees charged by the brokers for renting and buy-sale. AGENCIES

NoBroker.com helps its customers save ̀ 650 cr

MUMBAI: State-owned con-struction firm NBCC plans to invest around Rs 500 crore to acquire majority stake in two loss-making public sector firms, a top company official said. “We are gradually mov-ing towards consolidation in the construction business. As a part of the strategy, we acquired loss making HSCL. We will be completing the acquisition of two more PSUs by the second quarter of this fiscal,” compa-ny’s chairman-cum-managing director Anoop Kumar Mittal told reporters here today.

He added that the com-pany will invest around Rs 500 crore from internal accruals to acquire the other two loss-making firms. Last year the company acquired 51 per cent stake in Hindustan Steel Works Construction (HSCL), also a

public sector company under the steel ministry, with an investment of Rs 35.70 crore.

“Like HSCL, these two firms are also engaged in the construction business and therefore their acquisition will be strategic. Also, both these firms have a cumulative order book of around Rs 15,000 crore. So with the acquisition, these orders will be a part of our order book,” Mittal added.

Currently, the company’s order book stands at around Rs 80,000 crore and it hopes to add around Rs 20,000 crore. “With the addition of orders from HSCL, which was around Rs 4,000 crore when we acquired it and the Rs 15,000 crore orders from the new acquisitions, we will cross Rs 1 trillion mark in order book this fiscal,” he said. AGENCIES

NBCC to invest ̀ 500 crore to acquire 2 loss-making PSUs

mp business 13MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

POWER OF TECHNOLOGY

Durgapur Steel Plant Chief Executive Officer A K Rath and Tata Steel President (TQM & Steel Business) Anand Sen releasing the souvenir of a two-day national seminar on ‘Expanding Horizons of Technology Applications in Iron & Steel’

LALIT K JHA

WASHINGTON DC/ BEI-JING: US President Donald Trump on Friday announced stiff tariffs of 25 per cent tar-geting $50 billion in Chinese imports, as he accused Beijing of intellectual property theft, triggering a trade war between the world's two largest econo-mies. In a statement, Trump said 25 per cent tariffs will be applied to Chinese goods that "contain industrially significant technologies."

Trade between the two countries "has been very unfair, for a very long time," Trump said, adding that "this situa-tion is no longer sustainable." Asserting that this is essential to prevent further unfair trans-fer of American technologies, Trump warned China of more

tariffs if Beijing retaliated on today's announcement.

In light of China's theft of intellectual property and tech-nology and its other unfair trade practices, the United States will implement a 25 per cent tariff on USD 50 billion of goods from China that contain industrially significant technol-ogies, he said.

This includes goods related to China's 'Made in China 2025' strategic plan to domi-nate the emerging high-tech-nology industries that will drive future economic growth for China, but hurt economic growth for the US and many other countries, he said.

"America can no longer tol-erate losing its technology and intellectual property through unfair economic practices," he said. These tariffs are essential

to preventing further unfair transfers of American technol-ogy and intellectual property to China, which will protect American jobs, Trump said.

In addition, they will serve as an initial step toward bring-ing balance to the trade rela-tionship between the US and China, he asserted. Currently, the US has a trade deficit of more than USD 370 billion per annum with China.

Trump warned that the United States will pursue addi-tional tariffs if China engages in retaliatory measures such as imposing new tariffs on US goods, services, or agricultural products, raising non-tariff bar-riers, or taking punitive actions against American exporters or American companies operat-ing in China".

He reiterated that his

friendship with President Xi Jinping and America's relation-ship with China are both very important to him. The US says its tariffs on Chinese goods are in response to what it cat-egorises as theft of intellectual property.

Trump's approval to impose tariffs on Chinese exports fol-lowed a 90-minute meeting he

had with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secre-tary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer .

Reacting to Trump's latest announcement, China said it has imposed "equal" tariffs on US products "We will imme-diately launch tax measures of equal scale and equal strength,"

the Chinese ministry of com-merce said in a statement on its website. It also called on other countries to "take collective action" against the US move, calling it "outdated and back-wards behaviour".

Earlier, the Chinese for-eign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had warned that "If the US side adopts unilateral pro-tectionist measures and dam-ages China's interests, we will immediately react and take necessary measures to firmly safeguard our legitimate rights and interests".

China had previously said it would respond to American tariffs on USD 50 billion worth of Chinese exports with retal-iatory tariffs on USD 50 billion of US products such as cars, air-craft and soybeans.

Trump first announced

that the US would impose trade penalties on about USD 50 billion worth of Chinese goods in March. After China warned it would retaliate, Trump threatened tariffs on a further USD 100 billion worth of Chinese products. In mid-May, both sides announced a ceasefire after two rounds of trade negotiations. The two sides had said in a joint statement that China would "significantly increase" pur-chases of US agricultural and energy products to reduce the trade imbalance, a top Trump demand.

Ten days later, the White House abruptly said it would proceed with the tariffs. A fur-ther round of trade talks in Bei-jing earlier this month failed to yield any breakthroughs.

Trump's decision to impose

fresh tariffs on China follows his recent imposition of steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union on national security grounds.

Those penalties have been met with consternation by world leaders, and led to a fraught G7 meeting with Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK, last weekend.

The EU and Canada have said they will enact retaliatory tariffs starting in July. Mexico has already retaliated with its own tariffs on US goods.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde yesterday warned that the Trump administration's trade policies were likely to hurt the US economy and undermine the world's trade system. PTI

Trump slaps tariffs on $50 bn Chinese goods; Beijing to hit back

MUMBAI: The employees union of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, in a surprise move, backed governor Urjit Patel's for his stern action to stem the bad loan problem and other ills plaguing the public sector banks, and urged him, in a letter, to continue to actively monitor banks as an 'alert inspector' and not just as an 'off-site surveyor'. The union support has come as a letter to the governor from the All-India Reserve Bank Employees Association.

The move also comes within days of the bank offi-cers unions moving the Delhi High Court challenging the RBI decision to ask banks to refer the 40 largest dud loan accounts to the bankruptcy courts, saying the move will wipe out banks balancesheets which may also have a cascad-ing impact on their jobs. These 40 accounts constitute over 40 per cent of the dud loans in the system.

Earlier in the week, the RBI

governor had appeared before a Parliamentary panel where he had reportedly made a strong case for more powers to effec-tively regulate public sector banks. To a query from panel members on the Rs 13,500-crore fraud committed by dia-mond merchant Nirav Modi and his associates at the Pun-jab National Bank, the gover-nor had reportedly said it was impossible to look after each and every branch for audit purposes.

"You have stressed that it is not possible for RBI to inspect/audit the 1,20,000-odd bank branches spread over the whole country. That is unexception-able. But that should not mean that RBI will totally withdraw itself from on-site supervi-sion and rely on reports sent by banks taking those as sac-rosanct," the All-India Reserve Bank Employees Association said in a letter to the governor.

On the PNB scam, the unions said if the RBI believes

that banking authorities are responsible enough to mind their operations and RBI can safely rely on them that will definitely be a dereliction of duty.

"So, we strongly feel that RBI must remain in the scene, not only as an off-site surveyor but an active and alert inspec-tor," the letter, dated June 14, said.

The union has also sug-gested that RBI to undertake random but periodic supervi-sion of bank branches across the country covering at least 10 per cent of branches across the regions on an annual basis.

Monitoring of banks by RBI should be a triad -- a combi-nation of risk-based supervi-sion, off-site surveillance and random on-site inspections of operational systems, the let-ter said.

"We feel this will give the best result instead of RBI totally dispensing with on-site inspec-tions," the unions said.

The letter said the RBI

could train newly recruited computer-savvy assistants in banks for helping it in this monitoring exercise, which will stand RBI in good stead without stretching its human resources too much.

Patel reportedly told the House panel, headed by Con-gress leader Veerappa Moily that the RBI has "inadequate" control over public sector banks and asked for more pow-ers to regulate them.

He cited 10 areas like no powers to remove chairmen/ directors/CEOs of state-owned banks and also its inability to impose restrictions on com-mon directors on their boards, among others, where RBI has no control over PSBs.

The union has thanked Patel for bringing to the fore regulatory impediments that RBI is facing in regard to public sector banks. They also praised him for putting forward that banking regulation and super-vision should be "ownership neutral". AGENCIES

RBI must act as alert inspector, not off-site surveyor: Unions

Staff back Guv Urjit Patel's stern action to stem bad loan problem, other PSB illsADITI KHANNA

LONDON: The UK High Court has ordered embattled liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya to pay a minimum of 200,000 pounds towards the costs incurred by 13 Indian banks in their legal battle to recover alleged dues. Last month, Judge Andrew Henshaw had refused to overturn a world-wide order freezing Mallya's assets and upheld an Indian court's ruling that a consor-tium of 13 Indian banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) were entitled to recover funds amounting to nearly 1.145 bil-lion pounds.

As part of the judgment, the court has also ordered Mal-lya, 62, to pay costs towards registration of the worldwide freezing order and of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) of Karnataka's judgment in Brit-ain. "The court ordered that Mallya pay the banks' costs. The standard order is that the court will assess those costs unless the parties can other-wise agree a figure for what should be paid, said a legal expert familiar with the case.

The court's assessment of

costs is a separate process, which ends with another court hearing before a special-ist costs judge in the UK. But in the meantime, Mallya must pay 200,000 pounds towards this legal costs liability.

In a high court ruling dated May 8, Judge Henshaw had refused to overturn a world-wide order freezing Mallya's assets and upheld an Indian court's ruling that the consor-tium of 13 Indian banks State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Corporation bank, Federal Bank Ltd, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of Mysore, UCO Bank, United Bank of India and JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Co. Pvt Ltd

were entitled to recover funds amounting to nearly 1.145 bil-lion pounds.

The legal costs owed to the banks emerged in a sub-sequent court order by the same judge. "The First Defen-dant's (Mallya) application for permission to appeal is refused. Any further applica-tion for permission to appeal should be made to the Court of Appeal to be dealt with by a judge of that court, the judg-ment notes.

Mallya, who is separately also fighting extradition to India on fraud and money laundering charges worth an estimated Rs 9,000 crores, has since filed an appeal notice at the Court of Appeal, which includes an application for permission to appeal. Per-mission will only be granted if the court considers that the appeal would have a real pros-pect of success or there is some other compelling reason for the appeal to be heard.

Meanwhile, Mallya is due back at Westminster Magis-trates' Court in London next month for one of the final hearings in his extradition case. PTI

UK court orders Vijay Mallya to pay costs to Indian banks

LALIT K JHA

WASHINGTON DC: The Trump administration in the United States has recon-firmed its intent to rescind the H-4 visa rule on employ-ment authorisation to certain spouses of H-1B visa holders, a proposal that could hit tens of thousands of Indian women in the US.

The Trump administra-tion is currently reviewing the H-1B visa policy that it thinks is being misused by companies to replace American work-ers. The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ for-eign workers in speciality occupations.

The work visa is popular among Indian IT profession-als. H-4 visas are issued to the

spouses of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled profes-sionals from India.

"Removing H-4 Depen-dent Spouses From the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employ-ment Authorisation," said the Department of Homeland Security's Unified Agenda in the federal register notifica-tion of its semi-annual regu-latory agenda.

The move will have a major

impact on Indian women as they are the major beneficiary of the Obama-era rule.

As per the notifica-tion published on Monday, the Department of Home-land Security is proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants as a class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation.

It was in February 2015 that it had published a final rule extending eligibility for employment authorisation to certain H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B nonimmigrants who are seeking employment-based lawful permanent resi-dent (LPR) status. The federal register notification said that the notice of the proposed rulemaking would be pub-lished this month. PTI

Trump to rescind H4 rule on H1B visa holders' spouses

SAN FRANCISCO: Wireless and broadband colossus AT&T announced the close of its 85 billion merger with media-entertainment conglomerate Time Warner. The news came just two days after a US fed-eral judge approved the deal, delivering a stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump's administration in its first major antitrust court case.

"We're going to bring a fresh approach to how the media and entertainment industry works for consumers, content cre-ators, distributors and adver-tisers," AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson said in a statement yesterday stating the acquisition was completed.

Stephenson noted that the merger comes as the way video is created, distributed and con-sumed is rapidly changing in an age of streaming digital con-tent to a broad spectrum of internet-linked devices "The content and creative talent at Warner Bros., HBO and Turner are first-rate," Stephenson said. "Combine all that with AT&T's strengths in direct-to-consumer distribution, and we offer customers a differenti-ated, high-quality, mobile-first entertainment experience."

AT&T closes $85-billion merger with Time Warner

NEW DELHI: India's exports grew 20.18 per cent to $28.86 billion in May — the highest in six months, even though the trade deficit widened to a four month high of $14.62 billion. Imports too rose by 14.85 per cent to USD 43.48 billion dur-ing the month, according to the data released by the com-merce ministry. The previous high growth of exports was recorded at 30.55 per cent in November 2017.

Similarly, in January this year, the trade deficit was at USD 16.28 billion. Exporting sectors, which helped to push the shipments in May include petroleum products, chemi-cals, pharmaceuticals and engineering.

However, exports of cashew, iron ore, textiles, gems and jew-ellery, handicrafts and carpet registered negative growth. Gold imports during the month under review dipped by 29.85 per cent to USD 3.48 bil-lion as against USD 4.96 billion in the same period last year.

During April-May 2018-19, exports grew by 12.58 per cent to USD 54.77 billion, while imports were up by 9.72 per cent to USD 83.11 billion. Trade deficit widened to USD 28.34 billion in the two months of this fiscal as compared to USD 27.09 billion during the same period previous fiscal.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said that in May, exports grew by 20.18 per cent. Also, in 2017-18, exports of goods and ser-vices put together rose by 12.78 per cent, which is highest in about 6-7 years. "Exports have increased significantly in 2017-

18 despite the fact that we are facing lot of challenges particu-larly this year," the minister told reporters here.

He said that issues such as delay in GST refund is more or less sorted out and "2018-19 fis-cal should be better than 2017-18". Payment of GST will help exporters deal with the issue of working capital, he added.

Prabhu said the ministry is working with all the con-cerned ministries to promote shipments. "We are working on a strategy to involve all the con-cerned ministries. They have decided to fix targets for them-selves for export," he said., add-

ing that in May exports have increased in volume terms.

When asked about the credit issues being faced by the gems and jewellery sector after Nirav Modi bank fraud, he said: "bank finance is one of the challenges for this sector so we have raised this issue with the finance ministry. We told (them) that they should take export as a priority sector lend-ing because that will address many of the issues".

Oil imports were up 49.46 per cent to USD 11.5 billion on back of surge in international crude prices. Meanwhile, an official statement said that the Department of Commerce will soon open 10 offices in Indian missions abroad for accelerat-ing export promotion activities.

This was informed by the minister during review of the sectoral export promotion plans prepared by ministries and departments here . A con-ference of heads of Indian mis-sions has been scheduled in June end. AGENCIES

May exports at 6-month high of $28.86 bn

WASHINGTON DC: Presi-dent Donald Trump's aggres-sive trade policies, and expansive tax cut at a time when the US economy is growing, are creating risks that could damage the domes-tic and global economies, the International Monetary Fund warned on Friday. The tax cuts will generate a near-term boost to growth but also "will elevate the risks to the US and global economy," and increase the size of those risks, the IMF said in its annual review of the US economy.

Meanwhile, the puni-tive import duties the US has imposed and threatened could harm the world eco-nomic recovery by "catalyzing a cycle of retaliatory responses" and interrupting global sup-ply chains, the report said. On the eve of an expected White House announcement of the

list of perhaps USD 50 bil-lion in Chinese goods that will be hit with 25 percent tariffs, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said trade wars had no winners.

If there is tit-for-tat retalia-tion from US trading partners, which they have threatened, there will be "losers on both sides," Lagarde told reporters. And that outcome would have a "serious" economic impact on the United States and global economies, she said, includ-ing by causing inflation to accelerate.

While the direct economic impact is hard to calculate since it will depend on the size and timing of the responses, trade conflict could undermine con-fidence and cause businesses to hold off on investments, of which there already were signs in Europe, she said. AGENCIES

'US fiscal and trade policies creating risks

for world economy'MUMBAI: The country's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Friday announced a Rs 16,000-crore share buyback, second in as many years, as part of its long-term capital allocation policy of return-ing excess cash to the share-holders. Within minutes of the announcement, the shares surged 3 per cent in late trade hitting a new life-time high of Rs 1,849 on the BSE, tak-ing its market capitlisation to a record Rs7.06 trillion. The counter closed Rs 1,841.45 , up 2.75 per cent in a dull trade.

The company is offering to buy back shares at a pre-mium of over 15 per cent at Rs 2,100 a share. "The capi-tal allocation policy is para-mount to the company. We've always believed in rewarding the shareholders.

We've steadily increased

our payout to shareholders and now we are at the upper end of the band of 80 to 100 per cent bad," managing direc-tor and chief executive Rajesh Gopinathan told report-ers after the 50th AGM. The company plans to buy back 7.61 crore shares or 1.99 per cent of the total paid-up equity share capital through the exer-cise, which follows a similar Rs 16,000-crore programme undertaken last fiscal.

At the AGM, sharehold-ers cheered when chairman N Chandrasekaran spoke about the buyback decision. Chan-drasekaran, who used to head TCS, the largest cash contrib-utor to the diversified Tata conglomerate before being becoming the group chairman last February, said Tata Con-sultancy Services expects the buyback process to get over by September. AGENCIES

TCS offers shareholders ̀ 16,000 cr in 2nd

buyback in two years

mp sport14MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

France test for Australia in Group C

95th-minute own goal gives Iran its second win

ever at World Cup

KAZAN: France, boasting of one of the most talented squads in the FIFA World Cup, will be overwhelming favourites as they open their Group C cam-paign with a clash with Aus-tralia at the Kazan Arena here on Saturday.

France, who lost the Euro 2016 final and reached the 2014 World Cup quarter-finals under head coach Didier Deschamps, have a squad crammed with individual tal-ents — which increased the responsibility of the coach to fit them into a balanced team.

For Australia, the match against France is a great oppor-tunity as well as a huge test of quality and character. Even if they don’t earn a point against France, they will have matches against Peru and Denmark to keep alive their chances of going through to the knock-outs. They face an opponent who has arrived in Russia with the ambition of getting their second World Cup title after victory at home in the 1998 edi-tion. A string of talents have emerged over the years for France to stake their claim to the title.

Hugo Lloris should take the number one position in front of goal. Samuel Umtiti and Raphael Varane are expected

to play as central defenders. Benjamin Mendy and Djibril Sidibe, both shrugging off inju-ries, will play as full-backs on both flanks. Playmaker Dimitri Payet is one among the promi-nent names sidelined due to injuries. The role will be handed over to Paul Pogba, although he was left out for some time in Manchester United. The area in front of four defenders should be protected by veteran Blaise Matuidi and N’Golo Kante. They also have Corentin Tol-isso of Bayern Munich.

Chelsea striker Olivier Gir-oud, who just joined Zinedine Zidane as the fourth all-time leading goal scorer for France, will start up front. He will be partnered by Atletico Madrid creative forward Antoine Griezmann. Pars Saint-Ger-main forward Kylian Mbappe, the No. 10 jersey owner, can provide additional firepower with his speed and flexibility.

Ousmanne Dembele can offer offensive variety from bench, along with Nabil Fekir, Thomas Lemar and Florian Thauvin following their glit-tering seasons in Ligue 1.’ To halt the multi-talented attack of France, Australian interim coach Bert van Marwijk is aware of the enormity of the task he has been handed. AGENCIES

ST. PETERSBURG: After a tortured an groggy 94 minutes in St. Petersburg, Iran’s offense awoke in added time to force a Morocco own goal and steal a 1-0 victory in the teams’ World Cup opener.

Team Melli largely played on its back foot the entire match, thwarting Morocco’s mediocre offensive chances and rallying on the counter-attack. But none of those run-outs yielded any scoring, and Iran mustered two shots on goal for the entire contest.

But a late Moroccan foul gave Iran a free kick from the left wing four minutes in to the six-minute added time. The sweeping cross from Ehsan Hajsafi missed its target, Mehdi Torabi, but found the head of Atlas Lions’ forward Aziz Bou-haddouz. Morocco could not mount a rush on offense to tie the game. The win for Team Melli means a critical three points toward advancing to the knockout stage out of Group B, which also includes world-class soccer powers Spain and Por-

tugal. It took 94 minutes and change, and finally a burst of offense from Iran.

A set piece from Iran sent so many bodies forward that Moroccan defender Aziz Bou-haddouz headed the ball into his own goal.

Iran won the match, 1-0, and secured a crucial three points toward advancing out of Group B and into the knock-out stage. It was Team Melli’s second ever World Cup vic-tory; the first came against the United States, 2-1, in 1998.

We’ve seen a lot of bumbling offense and good defense. And then finally the Atlas Lions gen-erated some momentum and Alireza Beiranvand fought off the shot. It is still scoreless in St. Petersburg in the 84th min-ute. A reminder that both these teams need a win if they have any hope of advancing, which means someone has to score. A draw would likely dash the hopes of either team from mak-ing the knockout round from Group B, which includes Por-tugal and Spain. AGENCIES

Germans against political boycott of Russia World Cup, says pollMOSCOW: A total of 69 percent of Germans consider it inappropriate of German politicians to boycott the FIFA World Cup in Russia, a poll conducted by German research institute Infratest dimap for ARD broadcaster has revealed. The survey, which was revealed on Thursday night, says only 26 percent of respondents said German politicians should stay away from this summer’s tournament, reports Sputnik news agency. The opinions on whether FIFA should have chosen Russia as the host nation divided almost equally as 45 percent said they agreed with the decision while 42 percent did not. AGENCIES

Nervy Argentina seek Messi magic against Iceland

MOSCOW: Lionel Messi’s Argentina aim to put a sham-bolic World Cup build-up behind them and make a state-ment in their opening match against tournament debutants Iceland on Friday.

The two-time champi-ons arrived in Russia dogged by poor form, injuries and controversy.

But Messi is a man on a mission as he chases his first World Cup winner’s medal and will not tolerate complacency against the minnows at Mos-cow’s Spartak stadium.

“Iceland showed they could compete with anyone at the last Euros,” he said, referring to their giant-killing run at the 2016 European Championship in France.

Messi was devastated by Argentina’s loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, with the agony compounded by back-to-back Copa Amer-ica defeats to Chile in 2015 and 2016.

Despite his achievements with Barcelona, the five-time world player of the year is yet to win a major international tour-nament and time is running out as his 31st birthday looms.

He briefly retired from international football after the 2016 Copa America and has hinted he will do so perma-nently if the campaign in Rus-sia ends in failure.

The Group D clash pits an Argentine side that critics say is too focused on superstar Messi against a band of grafters who pride themselves on teamwork.

On paper, the South Ameri-cans should have little trouble disposing of Iceland, an island nation of 330,000 that is the smallest country to ever reach the finals.

But the Icelanders revel in their underdog status and

showed at Euro 2016 they will not be cowed on the big stage.

Spurred on by their fans’ thunderous “Viking clap”, they earned a 1-1 draw with Cris-tiano Ronaldo’s Portugal then famously dumped out England to reach the quarter-finals.

“We kept Ronaldo quite quiet so hopefully we can do the same against Messi,” said Burnley winger Johann Berg

Gudmundsson.“We know we’re probably

going to be defending for a lot of the time and obviously he’s one of the best players in the world and he can turn it on.”

Iceland, ranked 17 places behind Argentina at 22nd in the world, topped their group in European qualifying with comfortable wins over Croatia, Ukraine and Turkey. AGENCIES

THE LEGENDS’ CORNER

Soccer icons Ronaldo, Maradona along with others at the start of the Fifa World Cup 2018

Heartbreak for Egypt as José scoresEKATERINBURG: José Giménez scored in the 90th minute to hand Uruguay a hard-fought 1-0 win against Egypt in a Group A match of the FIFA World Cup here on Friday.

Uruguay, who defeated Egypt in their only previous encounter in 2006, once again proved the better team when Giménez scored through a header off Carlos Andrés Sánchez free-kick from the right.

Uruguay dominated ball possession in the opening exchanges, and Egypt found no chance to steal the ball.

But soon, the Egyptians started to find their groove after coping with Uru-guay’s early onslaught but in the process they gifted the first attempt to score the goal to Uruguay as Edinson Cavani fired a low shot from outside the box which El-Shenawy managed to keep out comfortably.

After 10 minutes, Egypt, who were without star player Mohamed Salah, also counter-attacked as Trezeguet chested the ball down to create some room just inside the box but failed to connect his shot properly. Trying to find the opening goal, both teams tried hard, counter-attacking each other. Amr Warda of Egypt won a free kick in the attacking half but could not find the net.

After the first 15 minutes, Uruguay found themselves on the back foot as their opponents attacks were getting stronger. But in the 23rd minute, Luis Suarez got a good chance to open the scoring when a corner fell to the Barce-lona star at the far post but the 31-year-old striker sliced his effort into the side net. Suarez was not at his best as the Barcelona player could not hold several forward passes a few metres

away from the box. Egypt’s and Manchester United

player Guillermo Varela, on the other hand, seemed impressive down the left as he created many chances but could not finish on the final ball.

The last few minutes of the first half saw more and more attacking football from both the teams but neither side was incisive in the final third. As a result both teams went to the tunnel goalless.

The second half saw the same Suarez as he once again missed a golden oppor-tunity to put his team ahead. Cavani

flicked a ball over the defence to the striker, who smashed a shot at the goal but El-Shenawy saved it perfectly.

Uruguay then got two back-to-back chances to score but the result was the same as the team could not finish on the final third. Sharpening their attack, Suarez once again messed up with the ball when Cavani passed the ball to. He dribbled around goalkeeper El-Shenawy to keep the ball away but the goalkeeper dived at the striker’s feet to produce another brilliant save.

The second half saw much more

action as both the teams tried hard to break the deadlock and also shot the ball on target.

In the 81st minute, Egypt built up the attack but could not find room for a shot and soon after that Uruguay got a chance when Cavani unleashed a pow-erful volley from Suarez which was bril-liantly saved by keeper El-Shenawy.

The last few minutes of the game saw a couple of free kicks and the ball hitting the second bar. Cavani curled a free-kick that had El-Shenawy beaten but it bounced back off the post. AGENCIES

This is just the beginning, says Russia coach

MOSCOW: Russian coach Stanislav Cherchesov has called for calm following his team’s 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in their opening World Cup Group A match.

The result on Thursday marked Russia’s first win in football’s showpiece event since a 0-2 defeat of Tunisia at the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea. It was also the biggest victory margin in the opening game of a World Cup since 1934, reports Efe.

Such was the magnitude of the result that Cherchesov had to temporarily leave his post-match news conference to take a call from Russian president Vladimir Putin. “He asked me to share my congratu-lations with the team and told us to keep playing like this,” the coach said after return-ing three minutes later. When asked how the result made him and his team feel, Cherchesov replied: “It’s just the beginning. It could have been 1-1 and nothing would have changed. “We need to get through the group. We won the first match in the (2017) Confederations Cup 2-0 but we didn’t get very far. This result shows that we are on the right track. But we should turn the page now and focus on what’s ahead.” AGENCIES

A fresh start in World Cup history for Peru, Denmark

Ronaldo agrees 18.8 million tax settlement: Legal source

SARANSK: Peru will take on Denmark in a Group C match which will be their first FIFA World Cup encounter after a gap of 36 years at the Mordovia Arena here on Saturday.

Peru had appeared in the FIFA World Cup for the last time in 1982 and in their comeback match, they face an opponent who is also making a comeback after missing out on the 2014 edition. A vic-tory in the first game will go a long way to guaranteeing the winner’s place in the knockout phase since unheralded Aus-tralia are expected to struggle. The South

American nation, coached by Ricardo Gareca, overcame Chile, Ecuador and even Paraguay to qualify for Russia after finishing fifth in the South American group and then overcoming New Zea-land in the intercontinental play-off.

Peru conceded only seven goals in eight matches in 2017 — which speaks volumes of their strong defensive struc-ture and hard work. Peru will head to Russia with their talismanic captain Paolo Guerrero after almost missing him due to a doping ban. The 33-year-old, who has been capped 86 times by his

country, scored six goals in qualifying. His hopes of playing at the World Cup appeared to have been dashed by the doping ban, which was overturned after the captains of France, Denmark and Australia — the other teams in Group C — appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Watford’s Andre Car-rillo and Lokomotiv Moscow’s Jefferson Farfan have been picked to spearhead the attack. Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese and defender Alberto Rodriguez also made the cut despite still recovering from injuries. Both were key starters

during the team’s World Cup qualifying campaign. Although lacking in individ-ual brilliance, Peru will be hoping their ability to adapt to different conditions serves them well in Russia. The players have already shown through qualifying that they can handle everything from the altitude of the Andean mountains to the heat of the Amazon jungle.

Their opponent Denmark boasts of depth and, in Tottenham Hotspur play-maker Christian Eriksen, world class talent, even if there are question marks over the team’s attack. AGENCIES

MADRID: Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed to pay the Spanish taxman 18.8 mil-lion euro ( 20 million) to settle a tax fraud claim, a legal source said Friday.

The deal between the fiscal authorities and the advisors of the star comes hours before Ron-aldo’s Portugal face Spain in the World Cup in Russia.

The agreement still has to be ratified and will likely come with a two-year jail term — although sentences of up to two years are not generally served in Spain.

The former Manchester United player, who is at the World Cup on the back of a third straight Champions League title with Real, appeared in court last July at Pozuelo de Alarcon, a wealthy Madrid suburb, to answer four counts of tax evasion.

Procecutors allege the five-time Ballon d’Or winner took “advantage of a company structure created in 2010 to hide income generated in Spain from his image rights from tax authorities”.

He is alleged to have used companies in low-tax foreign jurisdictions — notably the British Virgin Islands and Ireland — to avoid having to pay the tax otherwise due.

In 2014, Spanish authorities say he was late in declaring that year just 11.5 millions euros of revenue earned in Spain for the period 2011-2014 when his earnings in his country of resi-dence totalled 43 million euros.

The Spanish taxman also found he did not declare 28.4 million euros in image rights agreed for 2015-2020, leaving 14.7 million owing. His legal team had blamed the affair on a simple dif-ferent interpretation of which revenue he was

obliged to declare in Spain.In May, legal sources indicated that the Por-

tuguese, the world’s highest paid sportsman last year with 93 million for 2016-2017 according to Forbes magazine, had proposed making a 14

million settlement. Had the case gone further, without the player offering a full settlement, he could have faced a fine of a reported 28 millions euros as well as a three-and-a-half-year jail term, according to the Spanish tax office union Gestha.

Ronaldo’s big La Liga rival, Barcelona’s Argentinian star Lionel Messi, paid a two-mil-lion-euro fine in 2016 in his own tax wrangle and received a 21-month jail term, the latter reduced to a further fine of 252,000 euros equivalent to 400 euros per day of the original term.

In a statement issued by the Gestifute sports agency which represents him, Ronaldo insisted last year that he had “never hidden anything, nor have I had the intention of evading taxes”.

Prosecutors had alleged a “voluntary and conscious breach of his fiscal obligations in Spain.” AGENCIES

Costa Rica’s Matarrita leaves World Cup after injurySAN JOSE: Costa Rica defender Ronald Matarrita will not play in the 2018 World Cup due to a right hamstring injury, and has been replaced by Kenner Gutier-rez, the Costa Rican Football Federation said. According to the official medical report, the New York City FC player has suffered a “grade-one injury” to his right hamstring, the same area where he has a history of a previous injury, the fed-eration explained in a press release, reports Efe. The recovery period is estimat-ed to be at least two weeks, prompting coach Oscar Ramirez to replace him with another player, Kenner Gutierrez, currently a defender of Costa Rica’s football club Alajuelense, who is set to travel to Russia for the mega event. AGENCIES

Uruguay’s Jose Gimenez, right, celebrates with his teammates after scoring in Yekaterinburg on Friday AP/PTI

AP/PTI

mp sport 15MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

India crush Afghanistan by an innings & 262 runs in debut Test

BENGALURU: India took full advan-tage of Afghanistan’s inexperience in red ball cricket, dismissing them twice on the second day to romp home by an innings and 262 runs in the one-off Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday.

India lived up to their billing as the No 1 ranked Test side, by riding on a collective team effort that saw them posting a commanding 474 in their first innings before the bowlers joined the party to dismiss the rookie visitors twice in two consecutive sessions.

After being bowled out for a pal-try 109 in the first innings, the visitors were once again skittled out in a single session for 103 in their second essay.

Left-hander Hashmatullah Shahidi (36 not out) waged a lone battle, show-ing great resilience against a disciplined Indian bowling unit but failed to find support from the other batsmen who still seem to be in the T20 mould.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (4/17) and pacer Umesh Yadav (3/26) were the wreckers-in-chief in the sec-ond innings as the duo exposed the inexperienced Afghan line-up not once but twice in the same day.

Umesh started the onslaught in the second innings by ripping through the Afghan top order, which saw Moham-med Shahzad (13), Javed Ahmadi (3) and Mohammad Nabi (0) back in the hut with just 22 runs on the board.

Umesh’s fellow pacer Ishant Sharma then struck with the wicket of Rahmat Shah (4) before Jadeja joined the party

with the wickets of skipper Asghar Stanikzai (25), stumper Afsar Zazai (1) and Rashid Khan (12) in no time.

Ishant then jolted the visitors again by breaking through the defences of Yamin Ahmadzai (1) as the Afghans started looking down the barrel.

Jadeja then came back to pack Mujeeb Ur Rahman (3) while last man Wafadar fell for a duck to offie Ravi-chandran Ashwin, giving India a hand-some win within two days.

Earlier, in the first innings, star

off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin led from the front with four wickets to bowl Afghanistan out for a meagre 109, the lowest total at the Chinnas-wamy Stadium.

Ashwin was well supported by Jadeja and Ishant, who picked up two wickets each to dismiss the visitors inside the second session.

Earlier, No.1 ranked India rode on centuries from Shikhar Dhawan (107) and Murali Vijay (105) and fluent half centuries from Lokesh Rahul (51) and

all-rounder Hardik Pandya (71) to post a commanding 474 in their first innings.

India managed to add 127 runs to their overnight total of 347/6 on the second morning, thanks to Pandya’s third Test half century and coupled with some cameos from the tailenders. For Afghanistan, pacer Yamin Ahmadzai was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while fellow quick Wafadar and wrist spinner Rashid Khan chipped in with two wickets each. AGENCIES

Our batting was brilliant, says Rahane

BENGALURU: A delighted stand-in captain Ajinkya Rah-ane praised his batsmen after India’s emphatic innings and 262 run victory over Afghani-stan in the one-off Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday.

The visitors, playing their first ever Test, gave a forget-table account of themselves, folding up in two sessions after managing totals of 109 and 103 respectively in two innings.

The hosts took 40 wickets on Friday after posting 474 in the first innings.

“The way we played, espe-cially batting, Shikhar (Dha-wan), (Murali) Vijay, (Lokesh) Rahul and Hardik (Pandya). We did not take Afghanistan lightly. It was important for us to keep the basics and good habits,” Rahane said at the post match presentation ceremony.

Openers Dhawan (107) and Vijay (105) scored tons as Rahul (54) and Pandya (71) racked up half centuries to blunt the Afghans’ spin threat and post a challenging total.

Rahane praised Afghan-istan pace duo of Yamin Ahmadzai and Wafader, who shared five wickets and looked good in the final session of the opening day. “Their seamers bowled really well, especially in the third session yesterday and I am sure they will go a long way,” Rahane added. AGENCIES

BENGALURU: Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons on Friday said his “team has a mountain to climb” before it emerges as a strong Test playing nation.

Simmons made his com-ments after Afghanistan suf-fered a crushing loss against India on their Test debut with the one-off game finishing inside two days.

“I believe, the team has the potential to emerge as a good Test-playing country but the task at its hands is like climbing a mountain,” he told reporters after Afghanistan lost to India by an innings and 262 runs.

Before the match, Simmons had called batting as the weak-est link in the side and his worst fear came true when the visi-tors were bowled out twice on day two.

Afghanistan were all out for 109 in their first innings before struggling to 103 in second after India had scored 474 in their first essay.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were chief wreckers for India, picking up four wickets each in first and second innings respectively.

Asked if facing a lower-ranked team on their debut made more sense, Simmons said the match may have been competitive in that case but they would not have learnt much as

they did facing India, the num-ber one Test side in the ICC rankings.

Star spinners Rashid Khan and Mujeed Zadran too strug-gled on the opening day before bouncing back in the last session.

“The first two sessions of day one did not go their way, but as the game progressed, they showed glimpses of what they are capable of, but I don’t think they will be happy with their performance,” said Simmons.

The West Indian said the huge defeat has made the play-ers realise where they stand in the five-day format.

“You can play as many four days matches, but facing number one team in the world has showed in a big way how competent Test cricket is,” he said.

Replying to another query, Simmons said Afghan-istan have to play a lot of A-series cricket against India, England, Australia and Bangla-desh to close the gap between domestic and international cricket.

“I think there has to be a lot more A-series against India, Australia, England and Bangladesh.

“That is the best way to close this (domestic and international cricket) gap,” he added. AGENCIES

LONDON: Former tennis champion Boris Becker has claimed diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceed-ings against him by taking up a role with the Central African Republic as a sports envoy.

Becker, 50, was declared bankrupt by a British court in 2017 in connection to a debt to private bankers Arbuthnot Latham & Co. He has recently been pursued for “further assets”, according to a statement by his lawyers.

The German former world number 1 lodged a claim at the High Court in London to halt the case because his appoint-ment as Attache to the Euro-pean Union on sporting, cultural and humanitarian affairs entitled him to immunity under the 1961 Vienna Conven-tion on Diplomatic relations, the statement said. Becker said the proceedings against him were “unjustified and unjust”.

“I have now asserted diplo-matic immunity ... in order to

bring this farce to an end, so that I can start to rebuild my life,” he said in a statement.

“I am immensely proud of my appointment at the Sports and Culture Attache for the Central African Republic.”

Arbuthnot Latham & Co had no immediate comment on Becker’s move.

The former French colony is one of the world’s poorest coun-tries and has suffered a string of bloody political crises since for-mer president Francois Bozize seized power in a 2003 military coup. Violence erupted again in 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted Bozize, prompting reprisals from mostly Christian militias.

A UN report last year said many of the incidents of rape, murder, torture and looting by various groups and governments from 2003-2015 could consti-tute crimes against humanity. Becker has appointed human rights lawyer Ben Emmerson to handle his claim. AGENCIES

‘Afghanistan have a mountain to climb’

Becker claims diplomatic immunity to fend off

bankruptcy case

Kohli takes YoYo test but no clarity on neck injury

Roger Federer into Stuttgart semi-finals, closes on No.1 spot

Rahane invites Afghanistan to join India in team photograph

BENGALURU: Indian cap-tain Virat Kohli, along with for-mer skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on Friday took the fit-ness test which would deter-mine his availability for the gruelling tour of United King-dom starting June 27.

The neck injury sustained during the IPL had thrown Kohli’s build-up for the UK tour haywire as he had to pull out of a planned stint with Sur-rey in the County Champion-ship this month.

The YoYo test, which is the basic fitness parameter set by the Indian team management before any tour, was conducted at the National Cricket Acad-emy ground, in the presence of Team India trainer Shan-kar Basu and the other sup-port staff.

Kohli along with Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the injured Kedar Jadhav (not in any squad meant for UK) took the advanced beep test in the first batch.

While the scores were not

known (minimum required to pass is 16.1), Kohli didn’t look in any discomfort as he matched paces with Dhoni during the test.

But he was seen feeling his shoulder and back region after the completion of the test.

While the YoYo test is the basic parameter but it will be the status of his neck injury that will decide his availability for the Ireland T20 Internationals, on June 27 to 29.

The tour of England, com-prsing three T20 Internation-als, three ODIs amd five Test matches, starts July 3.

The likes of Jasprit Bum-rah, Siddharth Kaul, Washing-ton Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manish Pandey were also seen taking the test after the batch comprising Kohli and Dhoni were done with theirs.

The Indian team manage-ment tried to keep the media away from the NCA and the team security officer did ask the journalists to stay away from the session. AGENCIES

STUTTGART: Roger Federer edged closer to displacing Rafael Nadal at the top of the world rankings as he hammered Guido Pella 6-4, 6-4 on Friday at the Stutt-gart Cup.

The Swiss top seed needs to win one more match against either Australian fourth seed Nick Kyrgios or 2017 finalist Feliciano Lopez to return to the No. 1 spot for the second time this season.

The quarter-final victory in 55 min-utes, which ended on a backhand, fea-tured two breaks of serve for the Swiss, who executed well in his second match in three months after skipping the clay sea-son and last playing in March.

Federer is aiming for a first title in Stuttgart after losing in the 2016 semis to Dominic Thiem and going out in an open-ing match a year ago to longtime friend Tommy Haas.

The 36-year-old won his 19th match from 21 played this season as his Wimble-don buildup continues on track.

At the All England club next month, the 20-time Grand Slam champion will be seeking a ninth title at the grass-court major.

At the bottom of the draw, Milos Raonic reached his second semi-final of the season to set up a clash with defend-

ing champion Lucas Pouille.Raonic used his big-serving game to

dominate a pair of tiebreakers in a 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/1) defeat of Tomas Berdych.

“I got fortunate in the tiebreakers,” the 27-year-old Canadian seventh seed said after reaching his first semi-final since Indian Wells last March.

“He gave me some points at the start of both tie-breaks and I was able to keep myself disciplined on serve to win them.

“I like this court, the speed is good for me, there are no bad bounces and it's holding up well,” he said of the lawns first curated under the supervision of Wimble-don groundsmen. AGENCIES

BENGALURU: The Indian team beat Afghanistan by an innings and 262 runs, thus giving them a rather brutal welcome to Test cricket. It was the first time ever that India won a Test match with three days to spare. But Indian captain Ajinkya Rahane and man of the match Shikhar Dhawan heaped praise for their perfor-mance in their debut Test. Ajinkya Rah-ane then went a step further and asked the Afghanistan squad members to pose with India while they took a team photo-graph with the trophy.

In a video clipping from the broad-cast that the BCCI put up on its social

media handles, Ajinkya Rahane calls the Afghanistan captain Asghar Stani-kazai and the rest of the team to join the Indians in the team photograph. Harsha Bhogle said from the commentator’s box that before the presentation, the Afghan-istan players were taking pictures with India’s stars.

India put up 474 in their first innings and managed to dismiss Afghanistan for 109 and enforced the follow-on. The visi-tors then managed to make just 103 runs, and the final Afghanistan wicket was the 24th wicket of the second day, a first in the history of Test cricket in India.

Afghanistan had their moments, they dominated the final session on Day 1 and showed a caliber to improve when given more chances to play. Shikhar Dhawan said that it is a learning process and they will learn as they play more long-form matches.

“I want to congratulate Afghani-stan for making it to this level and Eid Mubarak to all of them. It’s always a learning process. Once they play other sides and start winning, they will get confidence. It’s a big boost for their coun-try,” he said in the post-match press con-ference. AGENCIES

Lorenzo sets pace on Day 1 of free practice for Catalonia MotoGP

BARCELONA: Spain's Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) on Friday set the pace on the first day of free prac-tice for the Catalonia MotoGP, which saw Marc Marquez crashing and ending up on the ground. Valentino Rossi of Italy (Yamaha) set the pace in the morning session, but Lorenzo clocked in a time of one minute 38.930 seconds in the 14th lap, set-ting a new track record, reports Efe. Once more, Lorenzo showed that his victory at the Italy Grand Prix was not a freak occurrence, as he got the bet-ter of Italy's Andrea Iannone (Suzuki), who recorded a time of one minute, 39.037 seconds. AGENCIES

Yuki surprised at TOPS exclusion NEW DELHI: Yuki Bhambri is aghast at be-ing excluded from the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) after preferring the US Open over Asian Games even as a red-faced All India Tennis Association said it is trying to convince the Sports Ministry to reconsider its decision. AITA had ex-empted the country’s top singles player consider-ing that playing at the Grand Slams is crucial to secure ranking points, which would earn him a direct entry into the Tokyo Olympics. AGENCIES

Ajinkya Rahane and Afghanistan captain Asghar Stanikzai greet each other after India won the one-off Test in Bengaluru on Friday PTI

mp Entertainment16 MILLENNIUM POST | New Delhi | Saturday, 16 June, 2018

She was all of 18 when her acting career took off, land-ing her in the cobweb of celebrity hood. But actor

Ileana D’Cruz has managed to escape it her way – by prioritis-ing family over work, maintaining a slow pace, conquering depres-sion that stemmed from superficial judgments by faceless people, and ignoring constant rumours about

her marriage and pregnancy.“I’m not pregnant. In

fact, I would have been super happy if I was. It’s something I have always wanted. But there’s still time. I still don’t want to become pregnant yet,” said Ileana.

Ileana says a relationship is about restraint

and respect.“There’s respect

there,” Ileana said, adding: “I had a differ-

ent perception of what a rela-tionship or love is like. I was all giddy-headed and fairytale about it in my head, but it’s so differ-ent. There’s a lot of restraint that you’ve got to have, compromis-ing in certain situations – and you’ve got to have a lot of respect.” Respect, in her checklist for a rela-

tionship, precedes trust and love.“I feel we’ve sort of evolved

into that,” asserted Ileana, who mostly avoids opening up on

her personal life to keep it away from being “frivolised”.

It was Andrew, in fact, who egged on Ileana to see a therapist when depression struck her.

“Things had got so bad that I was pushing people away. I

didn’t realise how much I was alienating people.

I would constantly refuse to go out

when friends would call.

At one

point, I didn’t realise I was at home for a week... After that, I got an ulti-matum from him,” shared Ileana.

She is calmer today.“Now I don’t look at life where

I’d say: ‘Oh gosh, my life’s over if I don’t have films any more’. My approach is that there’s so much more for me to do... It (depression) really was in a way godsent... That depression and that phase in my life, as horrible as it was needed in a way to switch things back and change who I was as a person.” Now she enjoys balancing her personal and professional life at a pace she controls. IANS

up about depression, marriage and pregnancy

Ileana opens When Ileana’s career was at its peak, she took a decision to

prioritise family over work and

conquer depression that stemmed

from superficial judgments

Depression in my life, was as horrible as it was needed in a way to switch things back and change who I was as a person. I don’t look at life where I’d say: ‘Oh gosh, my life’s over if I don’t have films any more’

MUMBAI: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan has thanked actor Salman Khan for making the Zero dream come true. Calling the Dabangg star his brother, SRK tweeted on Friday: “A big thanks to brother Salman Khan, Jaaved Jaaferi, Red Chillies vfx and Aanand L. Rai for making the Zero dream come alive. Dil se (from the heart).”

Shah Rukh and Salman wished India “Eid mubarak” by featuring

together in a special song in a teaser of Aanand L. Rai’s Zero, which was shared on Twitter recently.

The two stars, who have earlier worked in films like Karan Arjun, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam, shared a warm cama-raderie in the teaser, which will be attached to Salman’s Eid release Race 3. Shah Rukh enters a stadium, followed by Salman. They are seen danc-ing together as a voice in the background says: “Dono bhaiyon ke taraf se saare Hindustan ko Eid mubarak. (Here’s wishing Eid mubarak to the whole of India from the two brothers).” The movie will release on Decem-ber 21. IANS

MUMBAI: Actor Kartik Aaryan says the success of Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety has opened many opportunities for him. “Post Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, now there are more opportuni-ties for me in terms of films. I’m getting offers from the makers I always wanted to work with. Industry have always been nice to me but yes, now they are ready to invest more in me,” Kartik said.

Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, a new-age love triangle set with a ‘bromance’ twist, released on February 23 has crossed the Rs 100 crore mark.

Talking about his work, he said: “I always try to pick up interesting scripts and thank-fully, I have been lucky to get scripts like Pyaar Ka Punch-nama, Akash Vaani and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety.”

“Luv sir (Ranjan) and my combination has always worked at the box-office and with SKTKS, we have managed to connect with a wide range of audience,” he added. IANS

LOS ANGELES: ‘This is Us’ fans can relax. Actor Susan Kelechi Watson, who plays Beth in the show, has confirmed that her character is not being killed off in the family drama.

The season 2 finale of the show ended on a cliff-hanger.

In a flash-forward scene, the future-Randall (Sterling K Brown) tells his daughter Tess,

“It’s time to go see her.” Tess replies, “I’m not ready,” and Randall says, “I’m not either.”

Fans have speculated that Randall is referring to a grave-yard visit to see his wife but

Watson says she is not wor-ried about Beth’s fate.

“I didn’t know that I was going to die. It didn’t even cross my mind, so when I saw people tweeting about it, writing articles about it, I was like, Oh, they’re kidding!’ My first thought was, ‘Oh, this is hilarious’. And then people really took it seriously,” Watson told Entertainment Weekly.

The actor said her

mother was most disturbed about it and declared that she would not watch the next sea-son. “I was like, ‘Why?’ She’s like, ‘Because they’re going to kill you, and I don’t like it.’ And I was like, ‘Mom, they’re not going to kill me!’. PTI

SRK thanks Salman for making ‘Zero’ dream come alive

‘This is Us’ is not killing Beth, says Susan Kelechi Watson

Susan, who is playing the character of Beth in the series, confirms that her character is not being killed off Actor Brie Larson

says playing Cap-tain Marvel made her aware about

her own strength. Captain Marvel, which is set to release on March 8, 2019, is a first Marvel Studios proj-ect to be fronted by a female superhero. “I will say that I learned that I’m much stron-ger than I realise in playing

her,” she told Variety on the carpet of the Crystal + Lucy Awards.

The 28-year-old actor said playing the iconic super-hero was a surreal moment of her career.

“A lot of my life recently has felt like it’s happening to somebody else. I think part of it is a defense mecha-nism. It feels better to kind

of continue to have my own understanding of myself, rather than one that was put

on me by the outside world,” she said.

Larson revealed she trained extensively for nine months in order to build her physical strength prior to the filming. “My highest right now is 215 lbs in deadlifts 400 lb hip thrusts. Being able to lift weight like that changed my understanding of myself,” she said. PTI

‘Playing Captain Marvel made me aware of my strengths’

Knowing my capabilities during the training changed my perception about self

‘Industry ready to invest more in me’