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India’s economic growth is setto reach 7 per cent from a

five-year low of 5.8 per cent inthe first three months of 2019,but concerns will remain on thefiscal front following the eco-nomic slowdown and itsadverse impact on tax collec-tions amid rising farms sectorexpenditure.

The pre-Budget EconomicSurvey presented by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanto Parliament on Thursdaysaid the fiscal deficit estimatefor 2018-19 has been retainedat 3.4 per cent of the GDP, sameas projected in the interimBudget.

The country would need ahuge boost in spending andreforms to accelerate higherrate of expansion to double theeconomy’s size to $5 trillion by2024-25, the survey said,adding stepping up privateinvestments, exports and jobcreation will be key to achiev-ing the target.

The gross domestic prod-uct (GDP) growth is expectedto rise to 7 per cent in 2019-20,it said. GDP growth was 6.8 percent in 2018-19, down from 7.2per cent in 2017-18.

Interestingly, the surveypointed out that since lifeexpectancy has increased theretirement age has to go up.This could be music to the earsof the working class. “Since anincrease in the retirement ageis perhaps inevitable, it may beworthwhile signalling thischange well in advance — per-

haps a decade before the antic-ipated shift — so that theworkforce can be prepared forit,” the survey said.

“This will be key to the via-bility of pension systems andwould also help increase femalelabour force participation in theolder age-groups,” it said.

The survey pointed outthat countries such asGermany, France and the USare also hiking their retirementage. “Many countries such asGermany, the UK, and the UShave signalled that they willkeep increasing the retirement

age according to a pre-set time-line,” the survey said.

Investment rate, which wasdeclining since 2011-12, seemsto have bottomed out and isexpected to pick up in con-sumer demand and bank lend-ing, the survey said, addingeconomic slowdown impactingtax collections and rising Stateexpenditure on farm sectormay, however, put strains onthe fiscal front.

India is currently the sixth-largest economy in the worldwith a size of $2.7 trillion. It isexpected to overtake Britain to

become the fifth-largest econ-omy next year.

Authored by ChiefEconomic AdviserKrishnamurthy Subramanian,the Economic Survey saidinvestment (especially private),is the “key driver” that boostsdemand, creates capacity,increases labour productivity,introduces new technology,allows creative destruction andgenerates jobs.

At a media briefing, he saidstructural reforms such as onesin the labour sector are need-ed to bring in the much-need-

ed private investment. Also,micro, small and mediumenterprises sector needs focusas the bulk of the job creationand growth support wouldcome from this segment. Hestressed on sticking to the fis-cal consolidation path or riskcrowding out investment due tolarge public borrowings.

The survey propagated theeconomics of “nudge” at thehousehold level, judicialreforms to smoothen outenforcing of contracts, andinvestment reforms.

Continued on Page 7

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With liquor consumptionon the rise, alcohol has

emerged as the most commonpsychoactive substance used byIndians followed by cannabisand opioids.

While over 16 crore peoplein the country consumed alco-hol, around 3.1 crore usedcannabis, and about 77 lakhpeople take opioids. Of them,more than 5.7 crore alcoholusers, 72 lakh cannabis users,and about 77 lakh opioid usersare addicted and need help.

In a calling attentionmotion moved in the RajyaSabha over the use of drugsamong schoolchildren, SocialJustice and EmpowermentMinister Thawar Chand Gehlotgave out these numbers andsaid the Government is alsoconducting a survey in 10cities across the country toassess the pattern and profile ofsubstance use among schooland college students.

“Total sample size ofschools and colleges wouldinclude 6,000 students and2,000 college students. Thereport of this survey is expect-ed to be received by November

this year,” he said. The studycovers cities like Srinagar,Chandigarh, Lucknow andRanchi.

Elaborating on variousactions being taken by theGovernment to curb the drugaddiction menace, Gehlot saidit has prepared a NationalAction Plan for Drug DemandReduction (NAPDDR) for2018-2025.

As part of the NAPDDR,the Ministry is undertakingfocussed intervention pro-grammes in 127 high risk dis-tricts.

During 2018-19, theGovernment released Rs 112.33crore for the programme whilein the current fiscal an outlayof Rs 135 crore has been allo-cated, Gehlot said.

Continued on Page 7

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Peeved by the “poor” condi-tion of Mumbai-Goa high-

way, Congress MLA NiteshRane and his supporters onThursday created a ruckus bypouring mud on Public WorksDepartment’s sub-engineer andbriefly tying him to the railingof a bridge at Kankavli inSindhudurg district.

Amid seven-hour-longdrama that saw PrakashShedekar, a sub-engineer withthe PWD Department, lodge acomplaint against him, Nitesh— under severe flak from var-ious quarters — drove to theKankavli police station alongwith five of his supporters andsurrendered in connection withthe mud slush hurling incident.

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Months after the CentralZoo Authority (CZA)

blamed the Centre for not act-ing against those responsiblefor various irregularities,including allegations of mis-management in recordingdeaths of wild animals andtheir illegal procurement inDelhi Zoo, the UnionEnvironment Ministry hastransferred the latter’s admin-istrative control to the statuto-ry authority engaged in regu-lating zoos across the country.

Spread over 176 acres,Delhi Zoo is the only zoo in thecountry to be administereddirectly by the Ministry — theothers being under the super-vision of the CZA.

Justifying the move, asenior Environment Ministryofficial said transfer was aimedat streamlining the functioningof Delhi Zoo.

Delhi Zoo from time totime had been in the news forall the wrong reasons. InJanuary 8, 2019, in an explosiveaffidavit filed before the DelhiHigh Court, a panel led by thenCZA member secretary DNSingh (who is retired now),pointed out several irregulari-ties such as fudging of animaldeath data, not carrying post-mortem in case of unnaturalanimal death, concealing ofanimal deaths, and mysteriousnature of deaths among others.The panel had sought actionagainst the erring officials.

The panel was constitutedin 2017 at the behest of theMinistry following above men-tioned string of allegationsover a prolonged period oftime. Between 2016 and 2017,Delhi Zoo reportedly lost over320 animals.

The affidavit had alsoalleged that no correctiveaction appears to have been

taken by the EnvironmentMinistry against those respon-sible for irregularities observedin Delhi Zoo.

The Ministry’s move totransfer the administrative con-

trol to the CZA has raisedmany eyebrows with thesources saying there is morethan what meets the eye.

“Instead of taking actionagainst the erring officials as

pointed out by the panel lastyear, the Ministry has passed thebuck on the CZA. If they werereally serious about the welfareof the animals of Delhi Zoo,they could have acted on the

panel’s recommendations andtaken action against thoseresponsible about the misman-agement of Delhi Zoo as high-lighted by the panel.”

“The recent happenings inDelhi Zoo, as has come to theknowledge of the CZA, isshocking and it is not imagin-able and acceptable in any zooin the country, not to think ofit in wild dream, also it shouldbe happening in the nationalzoo of the country, which isidentified as national centre ofexcellence,” the CZA had saidin the affidavit.

The affidavit was filed inresponse to a PIL moved byactivist Ajay Dubey, who hadsought a probe either by theCBI or any other competentagency on illegalities in DelhiZoo pointed out by him. Actingon Dubey’s complaint, theMinistry had in August 2017constituted DN Singh-led com-mittee to look into the matter.

The CZA submitted thatthe probe panel did not get thecooperation from the zoo offi-cers and employees. Somehow,the enquiry was conductedand its findings were submittedto the Ministry in April lastyear, the affidavit said.

The enquiry found thatmonitor lizards were illegallycaught (from outside) andreleased in the cell of the ani-mal (inside the zoo). “Based onthe documentary evidence, ithas been found that the deathof many animals in the zoo wassuppressed by the authorities.The dead animals have beensubsequently replaced with ille-gally captured animals,” it said.

It said eight tortoises(unidentified species) and threered sand boa snakes were miss-ing from the zoo while therecords pertaining to captiveanimals of the zoo have beenmanipulated.

Continued on Page 7

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In an attempt to make thegovernment more responsi-

ble and sensitive towards the23 crore population of UttarPradesh, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Thursdaylaunched a toll-free ChiefMinister Helpline 1076 forpeople to lodge complaintsfrom anywhere in the state.

The Chief Minister willpersonally monitor the com-plaints and their redressal everymonth-end and the feedbackwill be recorded in the officers’Annual Confidential Report(ACR).

The helpline will thusestablish a direct mediumbetween the people and theChief Minister’s office.

“We are committed tomaking this government fullyresponsible and will not toler-ate any laxity on the part of theofficials in redressing publicgrievances. The departmentalheads concerned should reviewthe complaints registered withthe helpline on weekly basis. Iwill also review the complaintsrandomly on monthly basisand any anomaly or irregular-ity in redressal of grievanceswill not be spared as now a col-umn will be added in the ACRregarding the feedback fromthe helpline and how the offi-

cer concerned cooperated,” theChief Minister said whilelaunching the 24x7 helpline callcentre here on Thursday.

The Chief Minister saidthat all the complaints lodgedthrough phone call would beaddressed within stipulatedtime and the governmentwould take feedback from thecomplainants.

“After registration of acomplaint, its proper follow-upwill be done within 3-4 days tomake sure that it is redressed,”he said.

However, the ChiefMinister warned that if a per-son filed a wrong or biased

complaint, he/she would bepunished accordingly.

The Chief Ministerexpressed annoyance over thedelay in solving the problemsof the people. “Several depart-ments like Revenue, UrbanDevelopment, Irrigation, Law,Food and Civil Supplies,Panchayati Raj and others havenot worked efficiently to dis-pose of the complaints whiledistricts like Prayagraj, Kanpur,Sitapur, and Ballia have beenslow in resolving the com-plaints,” he said.

The Chief Minister saidthat during the first one year ofhis regime, around 22 lakh

complaints of the commonman were registered at theCM office out of which 20 lakhhad been disposed of but stillaround two lakh complaintswere pending disposal.

Yogi asked the officials tointegrate all other helplines ofthe state government with theCM Helpline so that people didnot face problem in registeringtheir complaints.

Deputy Chief MinisterDinesh Sharma, who headsthe IT department, said thatafter the launch of this helpline,people from far-flung areaswould not have to come toLucknow to register their com-plaint or meet the ChiefMinister and other officials toregister their grievances.

Earlier, Additional ChiefSecretary (IT) Alok Sinha saidthat a 500-seater call centre hadbeen set up for the CMHelpline in Lucknow whichcould be extended up to 1,000seats. He said that daily the callcentre could receive 80,000calls and 55,000 calls could beoutbound.

“We have categorised thecomplaints — level one, whenit can be solved immediately,level two when the depart-mental heads would beinvolved and level three, whereit will take some time to resolvethe complaint,” he said.

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Uttar Pradesh CongressCommittee president Raj

Babbar, who has taken moralresponsibility of the party’sdefeat in the state but has notyet tendered his resignation,made a one-day visit to theparty office here on Thursdaybut paid no attention to organ-isational work except for sign-ing a cheque for disbursementof salaries of the staff.

“Babbar had come to theUPCC office on Wednesday toperform organisational workbut he visited the party office,signed a cheque for salary dis-tribution and left without anydiscussion on organisationalaffairs,” disclosed a seniorCongress leader and generalsecretary of UPCC.

The leader claimed that healong with over 50 other senioroffice-bearers of the UPCChad already tendered resigna-tions from their posts but

Babbar spared no time to takea decision on their resignations.

Meanwhile, seniorCongress leader and MLCDeepak Singh on Thursdaydescribed Chief Minister YogiAdityanath’s action againsttainted and corrupt govern-ment employees as a “cosmet-ic exercise” aimed at fooling thepeople on his government’szero tolerance policy towardscorruption.

“The government shouldbring out a White Paper men-tioning the name of each offi-cial a long with thechargesheet served on themover their corrupt practices,”Singh said.

“The reality behind theso-called action is that a bignumber of government offi-cials had joined the serviceand later disappeared. As theywere selected for another job,they remained absent fromtheir first assignment withoutany information,” Singh said.

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The brief monsoon sessionof Uttar Pradesh Assembly,

commencing from July 18, willhave just seven sittings inwhich it will pass the first sup-plementary budgetary grantsfor the fiscal 2019-20.

Sources in the VidhanSabha secretariat said here onThursday that though the finalapproval of the sittings would bemade by the Business AdvisoryCommittee, as per the propos-al, the House would have sevensittings. The Business AdvisoryCommittee will hold meeting aday or two before the monsoonsession begins.

On the opening day, theHouse will be adjourned for theday after paying condolence toBharatiya Janata Party memberJagan Prasad Garg who passedaway in April.

The supplementary budgetis expected to be tabled on July22 by Finance Minister RajeshAgarwal and will be passed bythe House the next day.

As per the programme, theAssembly session will end onJuly 26. In the brief session, thegovernment is slated to bring acouple of bills for which ordi-nances have been issued.

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Bahujan Samaj Party supre-mo Mayawati on Thursday

attacked the Congress, sayingthat change of guard in MadhyaPradesh had no impact on thelives of the poor and Dalits.

She also fired salvo at theBharatiya Janata Party, sayingthat the entire nation wasshocked by the manner inwhich BJP MLA AkashVijayvargiya was given warmreception after his release evenafter Prime Minister NarendraModi’s adverse comments.

“Despite a change of gov-ernment in Madhya Pradeshand the Congress coming topower in the state, there hasbeen no improvement in thecondition of Dalits, poor, labour-ers, farmers, jobless, womenand backward classes. Like inBJP-ruled states, casteist andcommunal incidents continue inMP,” Mayawati said whilereviewing the BSP organisationin MP on Thursday.

The recent incident of BJPMLA Akash Vijayvargiya takinglaw into his own hands and mis-

behaving with government offi-cials in Indore also cropped upduring the review meeting.

“After Akash was releasedon bail, the way in which the BJPleaders garlanded and welcomedthe MLA stunned the wholenation and was criticised byeveryone,” the BSP chief said.

“It remains to be seen howmuch Prime Minister NarendraModi’s stern statements againstthe Indore incident will effect thebehaviour of the saffron partymembers. The BJP leadership’sstatements against mob-lynch-ing, cow-slaughter and moboc-racy have had no desired effect,especially in the BJP-ruled stateswhich is highly unfortunate”, theBSP chief added.

It may be mentioned thatduring BJP Parliamentary Partymeet on Monday, PrimeMinister Modi without takingnames, had warned partymenagainst indulging in acts ofhooliganism.

“Manmani nahin chalegi(Arbitrary acts will not do.)Whoever it may be, whoever’sson he may be... such arrogance,misbehaviour cannot be tolerat-

ed and action should be takenagainst them,” Modi had report-edly told the meeting, alsoattended by party general secre-tary Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJPMLA Aksah Vijayvargiya’sfather.

In the review meeting, theBSP resolved to strengthen theparty cadre and continue thefight for justice for the poor andoppressed people in a peacefuland democratic way.

The BSP president said thatto expand the base of the party,it was important to take the peo-ple into confidence and convincethem that their interests wouldbe secured by the BSP.

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Former Chief Minister andSamajwadi Party nation-al president Akhilesh

Yadav said that the BharatiyaJanata Party government wasmisleading the people as ithad failed to fulfill the promis-es the ruling party made to themasses during the electioncampaign.

“The BJP leaders hadpromised piped drinking waterto the people of Bundelkhandand every rural householdwithin two years but their gov-ernment has failed to providethe same,” Yadav said in astatement issued here onThursday.

He said during SamajwadiParty regime, a concerted effortwas made to re-charge groundwater in Bundelkhand by dig-ging new ponds or rejuvenationof water bodies. New treeswere also planted.

“The BJP regime has donenothing to continue that effort.

The result is that the pondshave dried up,” he said.

Even people in the statecapital are not getting adequateamount of drinking water, theSP chief claimed.

Yadav was reacting to astatement of Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath that pipedwater would be provided to thepeople in Bundelkhand by2022.

“This statement of theChief Minister is anotherpromise which the BJP govern-ment will not to fulfill. Waterwill not reach people’s housesonly through statements. Thegovernment should show thework plan, which incidentallythe Chief Minister has failed tospell out in his meeting withUnion Water ResourcesMinister,” the SP chief said.

Yadav also accused theUnion government of notadhering to its promise ofcleaning the Ganga.

“The government hadpromised to clean the Ganga

river under Namami Gange pro-ject but the water of the mightyriver is still polluted,” he said.

“Drains are still flowinginto the river,” he said, addingwho would believe that theGanga would be clean by 2020.

Besides the Ganga, therewas a need to clean the Yamunaand Kali rivers, the SP chiefsaid.

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Using the ‘secret servicesfund’, the Balrampur police

have hit upon a novel idea tocontrol crime. They havelaunched a ‘Mukhbir RozgarScheme’ with the tag line Gharbaithe paisa kamayen (earnwhile sitting at home) in theirattempt to control crime andalso motivate people living onIndia-Nepal border to be morevigilant if they want to makemoney.

The unique initiative wastaken by the Balrampur policelast month.

Reports said that theBalrampur district on India-Nepal border launched the‘Mukhbir Rozgar Scheme’ orinformer employment schemeto get information about crim-inals and crime.

A poster purportedlyissued by Superintendent ofPolice of Balrampur, DevRanjan Verma, has been doingrounds on the social media.The poster says, “‘Ghar baithehazaron rupaye kamayen.Mukhbir Rozgar Yojna.’’

As per the poster, �1,000cash will be rewarded forinformation about criminals.

“‘One thousand rupeesreward for helping to recoverstolen vehicle, �2000 for help-ing in recovery of country-made pistol and �5,000 forhelping in recovery of drugsand other illegal substanceincluding fake currency,’’ theposter adds.

The poster also carries theCUG number of SP Balrampurand promises to keep informa-

tion of the informer secret.Most importantly, the posterpromises the reward and evento deposit the money in bank.

The credit for starting thisunique initiative goes toBalrampur SP Dev RanjanVerma and now the police arepublicising this scheme byreaching out to villages.

Talking to reporters onThursday, Balrampur SP said,“This scheme was started lastmonth and it has already start-ed yielding results. Till now, wehave worked out six to sevencases, including a case of lift-ing of a truck from Saharanpur.The informer in this case wasrewarded �10,000 in cash.”

It may be mentioned herethat every district and otherpolice establishments, includ-ing Special Task Force (STF),intelligence agencies and Anti-Terrorists Squad, have a hugesum at their disposal as ‘secretservices fund’.

Money from this fund isused to lure informers and givevital information not just aboutcriminals and their activitiesbut to also check subversiveand other anti-national activ-ities.

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The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment is likely to file a

review petition against the CBIcourt order acquitting don-turned-lawmaker MukhtarAnsari, his brother and MPAfzal Ansari and five others inthe Krishnanand Rai murdercase of 2005.

Krishnanand Rai’s wifeAlka Rai has already declaredthat she would move the HighCourt against acquittal ofMukhtar Ansari and others bythe CBI court..

Government spokesmanAwanish Awasthi said thatChief Minister Yogi Adityanathhad taken cognisance of thejudgement in the KrishnanandRai case.

“The government shallexamine the judgement and fileappeal in the High Court,” hesaid in a written statementhere on Thursday.

The CBI court had onWednesday acquitted BahujanSamaj Party MLA from Mau

Sadar, Mukhtar Ansari, hisbrother and BSP’s GhazipurMP Afzal Ansari along with allother accused in the murder ofBJP MLA Krishnanand Rai,who was gunned down inbroad daylight in 2005. Rai wasMLA from Mohammadabad inGhazipur.

The accused were acquittedny the court as all the eyewit-nesses and material witnessesturned hostile. It said had theprosecution witnesses notturned hostile, the outcome of

the trial would have been dif-ferent and highlighted theabsence of a witness protectionscheme.

The CBI court held that theinvestigators failed to prove thecharges by not bringing enoughevidence against the personswho were accused of carryingout the gruesome killing ofseven persons, including Rai.

The trial was transferredfrom Ghazipur to Delhi by theSupreme Court in 2013 on aplea filed by Alka Rai, the wifeof Krishnanand Rai.

Mukhtar Ansari, who isMLA from Mau, has severalcriminal cases against him,including that of murder andabduction.

His brother Afzal Ansariwas elected from Ghazipurconstituency in the recent LokSabha election.

Earlier, the Allahabad HighCourt had directed a CBIinquiry into Rai’s killing.

Lucknow (PNS): Taking aserious note of Excise depart-ment employees’ tendency ofsubmitting application onbehalf of their family membersto get their transfersstopped/revised, PrincipalSecretary (Excise) Sanjay RBhoosreddy has directed theemployees to comply with theprovisions of Uttar PradeshGovernment EmployeesConduct Manual, 1956 andspecially Rule 27 and Rule 27(a). He has directed the ExciseCommissioner to upload theprovisions on the official web-site. “It has been seen that someemployees/officials are notcomplying with the above saidrules and are applying onbehalf of their family membersto get transfer order cancelled/revised instead of petitioningtheir case to government or theofficers concerned as per theprescribed method. This is notin accordance with the rule-book,” he said.

The Principal Secretarysaid the employees/officialsfound violating the instructionmay face suspension.

Lucknow (PTI): BJP’s newly appoint-ed working president JP Nadda faces abusy schedule when he arrives here onFriday afternoon and is likely to meetChief Minister Yogi Adityanath, party’sstate unit chief Mahendra Nath Pandeyand other office-bearers.

Nadda, who played a pivotal role in theLok Sabha polls as the Uttar Pradesh unitin-charge of the BJP, will also hold meet-ings with party workers and leaders toreview organisational matters, partyspokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said onThursday.

The working president is scheduled tomeet party office-bearers at the BJP head-quarters. He is also likely to meetAdityanath and Pandey, Tripathi added.

In all likelihood, the by-election to 12Assembly seats will be among the topissues on Nadda’s agenda, party sourcessaid. “After the party’s exceptionally goodperformance in the Lok Sabha elections,it will face a test to reiterate its suprema-cy in the by-election and Nadda will betaking it up with the state leaders, besidesother pressing organisational issues,” theysaid.

Other issues of importance are theexpansion of Adityanath’s cabinet to fill upvacancies created after three ministerswere elected to the Lok Sabha and the part-ing of ways by alliance partner SuheldevBharatiya Samaj Party, whose presidentOm Prakash Rajbhar was also a minister.

With Pandey also being inductedinto the Union cabinet, the issue ofappointing a new state unit president isalso likely to come up.

Discussions will also be held aboutBJP’s membership drive which will bekicked off by Prime Minister NarendraModi in Varanasi on Saturday.

According to Tripathi, party workersare making all out preparations to accorda grand welcome to Nadda, with plans tofelicitate him at different points along theroute from the airport to the BJP office.

BJP flags and banners have been putup across the state capital.

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Lakhimpur Kheri: The body of a 45-year-old man with injury marks on hishead and chest was found in a field hereon Thursday, police said. The family ofthe deceased, identified as Rafiq ofKafara village in Dhaurahra area, allegedthat he was murdered on Wednesdaywhile he was in the field. “On the fami-ly’s complaint, an FIR of murder impli-cating two persons of the village has beenlodged,” said Poonam, Superintendent ofPolice (Kheri). She, however, added thatthe body has been sent for post-mortemto ascertain the exact cause of death.

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Muzaffarnagar : A court hereThursday sentenced a woman and sevenof her family to life in prison in the mur-der case of her husband. The court alsoimposed a fine of �12,000 each on the vic-tim’s wife Sanjo, Jaipal (father-in-law),Praveen (brother-in-law), Dayanand,Sompal, Naveen, Vedpal and Pradeepafter holding them guilty under Sections147, 148 and 302 of the IPC. Accordingto government lawyer Firoz Ali, AnilKumar was beaten to death by the con-victs over a family dispute at Morkukkavillage under the Mansurpur police sta-tion in the district on August 23, 2013.Anil’s father Rampal had lodged an FIRagainst the eight people.

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Mathura: A college student alleged-ly hanged herself at a guest house hereafter failing an exam, police said onThursday. Twinkle Kesari (21), a residentof Shastri Nagar in Kanpur, hanged her-self from a railing outside the room shehad rented at the guest house in ChowkiBagh Bahadur here Wednesday, theysaid. She was found dead Thursday,police said, adding that the post-mortemreport confirmed strangulation as the cause of death. Kesari was a BSc student and took the extreme step afterfailing the exam. Her parents said she did not tell them about the results,

police said. She had told her parents thatshe was going to Mathura for an exam,they said.

�?�� 2�� B��Shamli: The authorities have seized

13 trucks transporting illegally minedsand in Shamli district, a senior officialsaid on Thursday. The vehicles wereseized during a drive against illegal sandmining at banks of Yamuna in Jhinjhanaarea here on Wednesday, Sub-divisionalMagistrate Surender Singh said.

:�� ;Etah: A 45-year-old woman alleged-

ly committed suicide by consuming pes-ticide here, police said on Thursday.Sunita Devi was depressed due to her hus-band’s death, police said, adding that theincident took place on Wednesday inShyam Nagar locality here. She wastaken to the hospital but died duringtreatment, police said.

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Muzaffarnagar: An SBI branch man-ager and four others have been bookedfor allegedly swindling crores of rupeesfrom customers’ accounts inMuzaffarnagar district, police said onThursday. An FIR was lodged in this con-nection by the bank’s regional manager,Mukesh Kumar, on Wednesday, StationHouse Officer Jitender said, adding thepolice was investigating the matter. Theaccused are Kakrauli Branch ManagerChander Mohan Sharma, Field OfficerRakesh Sharma, Cashiers Virbahadur andRavinder Dayal, and canteen contractorManoj Kumar, the SHO said. The bank suspended four of its officialsinvolved in the case last week, he said.The alleged fraud surfaced after manyaccount holders, most of them farmers,staged a demonstration claiming thatmoney was withdrawn from theiraccounts using fake vouchers. The SBI hasreplaced entire staff members of thebranch concerned and formed a teamcomprising the bank officials to verify thecharges. PTI

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The sight of mango slicessoaked in jaggery and

sprinkled with black nigellaseeds not only gets the salivarybuds activated but also revivesmemories of the forgotten eraof Lucknow when ‘galka’ wasa permanent accompanimentto meals in the households.

The ‘Amayana FoodFestival’ which kicked off at TajMahal Hotel on Thursdaycomes at the right time.

Shabahat Hussain, mediaspokesperson of Taj MahalHotel, said they had crafted amenu which is a mix of dish-es having existed since the eraof Nawabs era and the new-ageinnovations.

The chefs have tapped rawand ripe mangoes churningout the soothing ‘aam panna’,starters like ‘aam ke kebab’ aswell as ‘mango tawa fish’. Themain course includes ‘aambiryani’ while the dessert con-sists of ‘mango kheer’ and‘mango kalakand’. The chefsadmit they have played on thesourness, sweetness and tangi-ness of mangoes in the way itsuits the essence of the dish.

Recalling the bygone days

in the state capital when peo-ple savoured mango immersedin chilled water of the wells,Shabahat said: “Old timerscan still remember the ‘amiyadaal’ which means ‘arhar daal’cooked with raw mangoes.Cooked in earthen pots on‘chulhas’, that dish carried thesour taste of small unripemangoes. We are serving thisdish after naming it‘Malihabadi daal’.”

He said they had laidemphasis on Dussehri andnot the other varieties forpreparation of the dishesbecause it has no fibres andcan be grated, sliced and cut ina manner in which the chefswant. “For those who do notknow that the dishes have akey ingredient in mango willnot blink an eye and continueto savour the dish, unawarethat their favourite fruit hasbeen given a different form,”he added.

‘Murg ambia tikka’, as thename suggests, is chicken mar-inated in curd and gingerwhich roll on to the tonguewrapped in ‘amchoor’ flavourand is a delight for the non-vegetarians. ‘Kachche aam kekebab’, made with chick pea

lentil and raw mangoes, aredelicious and soft while‘mango biryani’ will be a pleas-ant surprise for the vegetari-ans. ‘Mutton mango’ has beentempered with curry leaves

that blend with the taste ofmango while ‘aam ka paneer’has chunks of paneer in agolden coloured gravy with ahint of mango. “Mango kulcha’has shreds of mangoes that

tickle the palate with soft andcreamy texture.

Fillet of sole fish marinat-ed in mango paste and ‘chana’powder is an innovation of thechefs but the cherry on the

cake is ‘mango kheer’, which isessentially ‘rice kheer’ mixedwith ripe mango pulp. It notonly makes for a pretty picturebut also settles on the tonguewith an aroma of its own.

Chef Harish ChandraSharma said the dishes whichwere once a part of commonhouseholds had been forgot-ten.

“We have brought in theold dishes and created theinnovative ones keeping inmind the taste of mangoes invarious stages of growth. Forthe mutton curry, we haveused curry leaves as they blendwell with the sour taste of themango,” he said.

Shabahat said it was a wayto attract tourists from outside.“Mango has been used inminced meat, in ‘semolinahalwa’ in Lucknow homes.During this fest, we are tryingto provide a bouquet of mangoflavours so that the out-boundtourists can spread the wordabout these dishes,” he said.

Chef Nagendra recountsseveral stories of his orchardwhen guests were not askedwhether they wanted to havemangoes as it was customaryto offer them the same.

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Amassive fire broke out at aplywood factory in

Talkatora Industrial area onThursday afternoon, givingthe neighbouring shop-ownersa huge scare. As many asseven fire tenders were pressedinto service and the flameswere extinguished after hecticefforts.

As per reports, someemployees working at GuptaPlywood factory saw fumesemanating from the rear por-tion and raised an alarm. Thestaff tried to douse the fire, but

in vain. Fire officials andpolice were informed but bythe time they reached thescene, the fire had taken a vio-lent turn.

The cops first rescued theemployees trapped in an openspace at the both ends ofwhich flames were leapinghigh. The firemen then dousedthe flames after hectic efforts.

Police spokesman said nocasualty was reported in theincident while losses werebeing estimated. He said thefire broke out probably due toa short-circuit or sparking inan uncovered live wire.

“The fire damaged hugequantity of prepared plywoodsheets besides the raw mater-ial used in manufacturing,”factory employees said.

“Adhesives used in fixingthe material used in manufac-turing of plywood sheets arehighly inflammable and theymay have stoked the firebeyond control,” they opined.

The police spokesman saidthe fire department had beenasked to conduct a probe andsend the report. “We will alsoexamine if factory owner AparGupta had proper fire safetygadgets,” he said.

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Two persons, including asurgeon, ended their lives

in different parts of the statecapital on Thursday.

In Ghazipur police stationarea, Dr Akash Singh (37) ofShakti Nagar locality was foundhanging at his house onThursday morning. Reportssaid Akash had completedMasters in Surgery from AgraMedical University and wassuffering from tuberculosis.His brother Vikas Singhinformed police about the inci-dent. Vikas was informed byhis family members that Akashwas not opening the door of therest room after the formerreturned to Lucknow fromJaipur around 8:35 am onThursday.

“I repeatedly knocked thedoor and called Akash, but hedid not respond. I then brokeopen the door and foundAkash hanging from the ceil-ing,” Vikas told the police. Headded that Akash was under-going treatment in New Delhi.

A Ghazipur police team,led by sub-inspector JitendraSingh Chauhan, reached thescene after control room offi-cial were informed about theincident.

“Akash was under depres-sion due to the disease he wassuffering from as it had becomeincurable. He may have endedhis life due to the same reason,”he said. Chauhan said Akashwas found hanging form theceiling with a bedsheet tiedaround his neck. “We did notrecover any suicide note duringinvestigation,” he said.

In another case, an elderlyman suffering from a diseaseended his life at his house inItaunja on Thursday. Reportssaid Mahmood Hasan (67) ofUrsana village in the area wasfound hanging from a woodenshaft in his house. “He wasfound hanging from the shaftwith a rope tied around hisneck and was spotted in thewee hours,” his son AbdulHasan told police. He said hisfather Mahmood was sufferingfrom some disease which thedoctors had said was incurable.Police sent both the bodies forautopsy and started furtherinvestigations.

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Alarmed over the incidentin which property dealer

Virendra Kumar aka Gorakhwas shot at near the GRP out-post at Lucknow Junction onTuesday afternoon, theLucknow division of NorthEastern Railway (NER), alongwith Railway Protection Force(RPF), has chalked out a secu-rity plan.

According to senior divi-sional security commissioner,NER, Amit Mishra, two high-resolution CCTV cameras willbe installed in the circulatingarea to a keep an eye onunlawful activities. Besides, aquick response team (QRT)consisting of a sub-inspectorand two constables wil lremain present round theclock to deal with any kind ofexigency. He said there was aplan to install more CCTVcameras in the time to come.“Most of the area outside therailway station is under CCTVsurveillance. We have identi-fied the places which are notcovered under CCTV camerasand it will soon be under thethird-eye watch,” he said. TheQRT wil l help theGovernment Railway Police(GRP) personnel, if need be.The team will be armed withmodern weapons.

About the checking of

suspects in the circulatingarea, Mishra said the QRTwould keep a watch and mightquiz the suspicious-lookingpersons. “The entry point atthe Lucknow Junction railwaystation circulating area is openfor passengers going to boardtrains and it is practically dif-ficult to conduct checking atthis point,” Mishra said.

Meanwhile, the GRP got aclue about the miscreants whohad shot at Virendra Kumaron Tuesday afternoon.“Virendra had accused Sanjayof Narkatiyaganj police stationarea in Bihar of orchestratingthe attack on him. Virendra’swife Priyanka lodged an FIRnaming Sanjay and we regis-tered a case of murderousassault against him and hismen,” SHO, GRP, SomveerSingh said, adding they wereclose to arresting the conspir-ator. “Teams are conductingraids in search of Sanjay. Wehope to nab him soon,” headded.

Virendra told the inter-rogators that he had a rivalrywith Sanjay who also runs ille-gal parking at different placesin Narkatiyaganj locality ofBihar. Sources said Virendrawas trapped by a woman whohad called him to meet her at

Lucknow Junction while theattackers were waiting for him.“The plot was possibly chalkedout by Sanjay, who has beennamed in the case,” the sourcessaid.

Meanwhile, a youth diedwhile his father sufferedinjuries in a road mishap inChinhat on Thursday. Thedeceased was identified asSooraj while his father as RamBahal (both of Barabanki).Reports said Ram Bahal wascoming to Lucknow alongwith his son Sooraj to resumeat a factory in Chinhat. Whenthey reached Deva road, abiker knocked their motorcy-cle from behind. Sooraj lostcontrol of his bike whichrammed into the road divider.

Elsewhere, a labourer,identif ied as Santosh ofLakhimpur Kheri, was electro-cuted while working at an

under-construction house inIndira Nagar on Wednesdaynight. Reports said Santoshwas hired by Atiq Ahmad ofVijay Vihar Cattle Colony inIndira Nagar for constructionof his house. Police spokesmansaid Santosh came in contactwith a live wire and suffered afatal electric shock. Atiq wasaccused of carrying out thework in a careless and irre-sponsible manner. The supplyline was broken at severalpoints and was also uncovered.

�� Three men impersonating

sleuths of Special Task Force(STF) duped a cashier workingwith a private firm of Rs 2 lakhin Madiaon on Wednesdaynight. The victim was identifiedas Raj Kapoor of Unnao. RajKapoor, who works inTadikhana locality of Madiaon,left for his house in Unnao afterhis duty was over.

On the way, a man stoppedhim introducing himself as anSTF sleuth. He asked him tomeet his senior while pointingto another man standing somefurlongs away. As soon as RajKapoor went there, anotherman came and introducedhimself as a sleuth of STF. Hethen instructed his “juniors” tosearch him. They take out thecash during checking and fledthe scene.

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Agirl was found lyingalongside Lohiya Path inHazratganj on Thursday

night, keeping the police ontheir toes for hours. However,it later surfaced that the girl washeavily drunk and she did notface any attack. Police said thegirl was with her friend whiletheir car was parked on theroadside.

As per reports, the policecontrol room got a messagearound 9 pm on Thursday inwhich it was stated that a girlwas lying in a heavily drunkstate near a car parked onLohiya Path, about 100 metresahead of the turn towards theDGP office in Hazratganj.

The message to police con-trol room about the girl, whois a resident of Indira Nagar,sent chill down the spines ofcops and soon, a police team,led by ASP Suresh Rawat andHazratganj circle officer AKMishra, reached the scene. Thepolice admitted the girl toCivil hospital and later calledher parents.

In the meantime, media-persons reached the scene andtried to talk to the girl in ques-tion. The cops stopped medi-apersons from talking to thegirl, saying they could not takethe statement of a victim beforepolice interrogation.

The ASP said that thereports of eve-teasing wereunfounded and could not be

verified during investigation.He said the police were waitingfor the girl to tell them aboutthe sequence of events. “Wewill also send the girl for med-ical test once she is back to hersenses,” he added.

Police spokesman said thegirl was accompanied by twoyouths and another girl in thecar. “All of them were in adrunken state and upon reach-ing Lohiya Path, the girl inquestion complained of uneasi-ness following which her com-panions stopped the car. In themeantime, a police team

reached there and seeing thecops, a youth and a girl fled thescene,” he said.

Contrary to police claim,sources said the car stopped allof a sudden and the girl inquestion got down from thevehicle. “Two youths startedpulling her inside the car firstand then towards the pavementalongside Lohiya Path. But atimely call by some commuterssaved the girl,” the sourcessaid. They said the girl wasprobably forced to consumehuge quantity of alcohol by hercompanions.

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Award boy of TB Hospitalin Thakurganj was

accused of acting fresh with aminor girl, who along with hermother, was there to see a doc-tor on Thursday afternoon.She was helped by her moth-er and other patients & atten-dants when she cried for help.The accused, identified asDeepak Gautam, was laternabbed by police.

As per reports, the girl,who is suffering from tubercu-losis, went to the hospital tosee a doctor. “The ward boytook my daughter inside abathroom on the pretext of

examining her. He latertouched her with a malafideintention and my daughterscreamed for help. We rushedto the bathroom and Deepakfled the scene,” victim’s moth-er said.

Police spokesman said acase under section 354 of IPChad been registered againstDeepak. “The accused, whowas nabbed from Thakurganjon Thursday evening, has alsobeen booked under POCSOAct,” the spokesman said.

Deepak is a native ofVaranasi and lives in a rentedhouse in Daliganj locality. Hehas been working at the hos-pital for a long time.

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Governor Ram Naik paidtributes to Swami

Vivekananda on his 117thdeath anniversary by garland-ing his statue at RamakrishnaAshram. It was a part of theyear-long programme in com-memoration of the 125thanniversary of Swami's ChicagoAddresses at the WorldParliament of Religions, whichwas held at VivekanandaPolyclinic and Institute ofMedical Sciences, on Thursday.Naik was the chief guest on theoccasion while mayor SanyuktaBhatia the special guest.

“Swami Vivekananda gavea new direction and thought to

the world. He created the feel-ing of self-respect amongstpeople of the country andshowcased before the world thephilosophy of Vedanta. Hisaddress in Chicago presentedbefore the world a better imageof India. Rabindranath hadsaid that if you want to knowIndia, you should read SwamiVivekananda,” the Governorsaid.

Naik said Vivekananda wasa cultural and religious ambas-sador and when he placed histhoughts at Chicago, the entireambience changed. He said itwas Swami Vivekananda whohighlighted the idea of‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’,highlighting the idea that the

entire globe is one family. Naik said that the principal

message of SwamiVivekananda was to march

ahead till the goal was reached.“In his epoch-making

address at the ChicagoParliament of Religions, Swami

Vivekananda was the only rep-resentative of Hinduism and heraised the flag of Hinduism byrestoring its unique message oftolerance and universalisation,”the Governor said.

Naik also announced thata statue of Swami Vivekanandain the Raj Bhawan premiseswould be unveiled soon.

The mayor said thatSwami Vivekananda wasimmensely applauded at hisopening speech at the ChicagoParliament of Religions. “OurPrime Minister Narendra Modiis implementing many pro-jects for the growth of thecountry in accordance withthe views of SwamiVivekananda,” she added.

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The Lucknow DevelopmentAuthority (LDA) adminis-

tration is said to be undecid-ed about the stamp duty onhouses being constructedunder the Prime MinisterAwas Yojana (PMAY). It hasnot received any clear-cutinstructions from the stategovernment on whether or notthe houses will be sold on thecircle rates.

Besides, no decision hasbeen taken on the increase inthe amount of joint subsidy.Vice-Chairman PN Singh issaid to have drawn the atten-tion of the state governmenttowards the increase in thecost of construction as theLDA administration has spentabout Rs 2 lakh on each flat,causing loss to its exchequer.

The Vice-Chairman saidthe construction work of thehouses under PMAY werealmost over and possessionwould be given to the buyersby October. However, there arequestion marks on this as theprices have not been fixed as

yet due to absence of anyclear instructions by the gov-ernment.

The Urban and HousingDevelopment department hasnot given any assurance to theLDA despite the involvementof Divisional CommissionerAnil Gupta, who is the Ex-Officio Chairman.

There is a big difference inthe prices of the circle ratesand the amount spent on theconstruction of houses. TheCentral government has saidthat the base price line will bethe amount spent when thescheme was launched in 2015.

But the spokesman Urbanand Housing Ministry is saidto have told the state govern-ment last year that the previ-ous decision had been amend-ed. However, he did notexplain the change.

Housing commissionerAK Chauhan said it was hightime that there were clear-cutinstruction on the price so thatthe houses could be sold. TheBoard is said to have sold over10,000 houses under thisscheme all over the state.

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Several organisations tookout Jagannath Yatra with

traditional gaiety and fervourin different parts of the city onThursday morning. Therewere huge crowds in eachyatra and the participantsseemed keen on pulling therath carrying the deity with

their own hands.Sri Jagannath Yatra Samiti

and Sanatan Mahasabha alsotook out Jagannath Yatra inLucknow Metro from KDSingh ‘Babu’ Stadium toSachivalaya. Dr Praveen fromthe organisation said it wasdone with a view to giving amodern nuance to the trip.

Madho temple also took

out Jagannath Yatra whichstarted from Madho templeand then went toShankarnagar crossing,Ramakrishna Math, IT cross-ing and Daliganj crossingbefore culminating at Madhotemple.

The procession was wel-comed at every point where itstopped with flower shower.

Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia wasalso among the devotees pre-sent on the occasion.

Nearly 56 preparations asa part of ‘bhog’ were present-ed to the deity after Jagannathaarti. The yatra stopped at fivepoints where the cultural par-ticipants as a part of the grouppresented dances. The groupof Krishna Challiya from

Vrindavan presented ‘KrishnaLeela’. Ten Punjabi dhols werein the front followed by ‘vanarsena’ at the back. The yatra wasalso telecast live on social net-working sites.

Gondiya Math inMotinagar took out JagannathYatra with all customs and thetraditions. The yatra movedfrom Aishbagh road, Naka

Hindola, Basmandi crossing,Latouche road, Ganeshganj,Aryanagar and Motinagarcrossing, and back to theMath. A member of the Mathsaid while in other religiousyatras, people had to visit theabode of the deity and face alot of problems, it was one ofits kind where the deity comesto devotees.

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Applications are invited frompotential students of age 23years and below fulfilling theeligibility criteria for enrol-ment as cadets of NCC in AirWing. The applicants should bein the first year of graduation,have three-year diploma orBTech from any of the collegesaffiliated to LucknowUniversity and AKTU.Preference will be given tostudents from Science stream atIntermediate level.

The last date for submis-sion of applications is July 5.Registration forms can bedirectly obtained from 5 (UP)Air Sqn NCC, near Rahim

Nagar crossing, from 9 am to2 pm. The NCC cadets aretrained for three years on gen-eral as well as military-orient-ed subjects and awarded ‘B’ and‘C’ certificates on passing ofexaminations conducted at theend of second and third yearrespectively. The curriculumincludes Flying of MicroliteAircraft, Aeromodelling, andWeapon Training includingFiring of Small Arms,Adventure Activities,Personality Development,social service activities etc.Deserving cadets are also pro-vided opportunities to repre-sent the nation in foreign coun-tries during youth exchangeprogrammes.

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District Magistrate KaushalRaj Sharma said here on

Thursday that a rally would betaken out on the occasion ofWorld Population Day on July11. It will be flagged off fromthe Chief Minister’s residenceby CM Yogi Adityanath. Therally will conclude at KD Singh‘Babu’ Stadium. A bike rallywill also be taken out on theoccasion.

The DM said this in a

meeting which was held toreview preparations for theWorld Population Day. Themeeting saw the participationof the Chief Medical Officerand chief development officer.Nodal officer and AdditionalCMO Anoop Srivastava saidfrom July 11 to 26, a populationstability programme would beorganised in the city. Givingdetails of the population rally,the District Magistrate saidthat it would witness the par-ticipation of students from dif-

ferent schools, 7000 employeesof the Health department andstudents from paramedical colleges.

Meanwhile, the DistrictMagistrate felicitated doctorsand students with ‘ChikitsaBhushan’ awards at KGMUunder the aegis of NationalMedicos’ Organisation. He saidthat teams from this organisa-tion not only reached differentparts of the district but alsothose parts of the countrywhere it was difficult to get

medical facilities. Meanwhile, a meeting was

also held to review variousschemes by the WomenWelfare department. The meet-ing was presided over by thechief development officer fol-lowing directions of the DistrictMagistrate. While reviewingthe ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’Yojana, CDO Manish Bansalsaid a budget of Rs 25 lakh hadbeen received and an expendi-ture of Rs 12.5 lakh madeunder the scheme.

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A five-member delegationof City Montessori School,Gomti Nagar Campus II, leftfor Austria to participate in themonth-long InternationalChildren’s Camp. The members

of the delegation were bidfarewell by their parents andteachers at Amausi airportprior to their departure.Student members of the dele-gation included KrishnaMehrotra, Sarika Yadav,Sanskriti Saigal and Jaskaran.

They are led by teacher JasjeetKaur. The month-long camp isbeing organised in Vienna(Austria) in which the host staffand leaders will comprehen-sively plan activities to inspirethe participants to strive for amore just and peaceful world.

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A30-year-old woman whoworked as a branch man-

ager in a private insurancefirm was found dead at her res-idence in Rajroopur localityunder the Dhoomanganj policehere on Wednesday evening.

The victim’s kin allegedthat the man with whom shewas in a live-in relationshipadministered her some poiso-nous substance to her. Herbody had been sent for thepost-mortem examination andfurther probe would be carriedout after receiving the report,the police said. According toa report, Tarannum Siddiqui,worked as a branch manager ata private insurance firm inCivil Lines. She lived inKalindipuram area here. OnWednesday evening, heryounger sister went to meet herbut found the door lockedfrom inside. She grew suspi-cious when Tarannum did notrespond to her repeatedknocks. On getting informationabout the matter Rajrooppurpolice outpost incharge SKNigam reached the spot andbroke open the door of the flatwhere Tarannum’s body wasfound on the bed. Later herother relatives too reached thespot and alleged that she hadbeen killed with a personbelonging to the Mutthiganjarea with whom she was in alive-in relationship. Sub-inspec-tor SK Nigam said that further

action in the matter would betaken after receiving the post-mortem examination report.

Meanwhile a minor whowas kidnapped from amadarsa, strangled and thrownfrom a water tank, had alsobeen sexually assaulted, anautopsy report said. A panel ofdoctors at SRN Hospital carriedout the post-mortem examina-tion on Thursday. The child’sbody was found inside a desert-ed building in Mundera Mandion Monday morning and onthe complaint of his father, anamed FIR was lodged againstAshfaq and his father, Abrar, inthis connection.

The police arrested Ashfaq,who confessed to have abduct-ed the child from a madarsa inKaushambi, where he used tolive and study. The accusedthen took the child to MunderaMandi where he threw himfrom a water tank. Ashfaqthen strangulated the boy todeath when he found that hewas still alive and threw thebody inside a deserted buildingof Mundera Mandi. Ashfaqclaimed that he and his fatherhad planned to kill the child toavenge the insult heaped by hisfather. The duo had borrowed�20,000 from the child’s fathera few years ago but was reluc-tant to return it. The autopsyreport of the child suggestedsexually assault. Civil LinesCircle Officer Brij NarayanSingh claimed that he was yetto receive the autopsy report.

However, the relevant sectionswould be added in the firstinformation report (FIR) ifsexual assault was confirmed,he added.

��A 40- year- old guard post-

ed at the army’s CentralOrdnance Depot (COD),Chheoki, was shot at by someunidentified miscreants inChaka, Naini, in the trans-Yamuna area on Wednesdayevening. The victim,Kanhaiyalal Dwivedi, wasadmitted to the Swaroop RaniNehru Hospital where his con-dition was stated to be critical.

An FIR had been lodgedagainst some unidentified per-sons in this connection on acomplaint being given by thekin of the victim, the policesaid. According to a reportreceived here, KanhaiyalalDwivedi, a resident of Chakaarea, was entering his houseafter returning from duty whentwo motorcycle-borne mencame from behind and openedfire at him. Kanhaiyalal sus-tained bullets in his head andback. On hearing the sound ofgunfire the locals rushed to thescene but the miscreants man-aged to flee from the spot. SPtrans-Yamuna DeependraChoudhary said Kanhaiyalal’skin denied enmity with any-one. Investigation in the mat-ter was on and suspects wouldbe questioned soon, the SPadded.

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Bahraich: Uttar PradeshMinister of State for BasicEducation Anupama Jaiswalon Thursday warned thatteachers found active on socialmedia during school hourswill face strict action, includingtermination of their services.

“It has been decided thatduring surprise checks, anyteacher found active on socialmedia during the teachinghours will face strict action. Itwill be sufficient for them tolose their jobs,” she said whilespeaking as the chief guestduring a programme at aschool in Dihva village. Jaiswal

warned the teachers that “noone’s word will be able to save”them if they are caught. “Youcannot hide when you areonline and when offline,” shesaid. The minister reiteratedthat the government is tryingto provide quality basic educa-tion to students in schools. Theminister also said it was acommon belief that leaders ofthe teachers’ associations werenot “interested” in teaching andmostly kept themselves busy inunion activities.

“To end this negativethinking, we called the leadersof the teachers’ unions in

Lucknow and requested themto post selfies with “mainpadha raha hoon” while teach-ing in schools and it is a mat-ter of pride that all have sentit,” she said. However, postingselfies does not guarantee useof mobile phones duringschool hours. It should belimited to that (posting selfies)only, Jaiswal warned. To aquestion on actor Zaira Wasimquitting Bollywood, she said, “Ido not see films but still feelthat the daughters should berespected. It is an individual’sdecision and it needs to berespected.” PTI

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The Lok Sabha on Thursdaypassed the Aadhaar

amendment Bill allowing vol-untary use of Aadhaar as proofof identity for opening bankaccounts and procuring mobilephones, with strong objectionsfrom Opposition parties accus-ing this will lead to breach ofprivacy.

The Aadhaar and OtherLaws (Amendment) Bill, 2019,was passed by a voice vote afterInformation TechnologyMinister Ravi Shankar Prasadassured the House thatAadhaar is voluntary andinformed consent of the bio-metric identity holder has to beobtained before it is used.

"The amendments addressthe privacy and security con-cerns. It provides that no ser-vice or benefit of any schemewill be denied for lack ofAadhaar," Prasad said. Theamended bill also provides fora stiff �1 crore penalty and a jailterm for private entities forstoring Aadhaar data.

"As many as 123 crorepeople are currently usingAadhaar... All safeguards are inplace to prohibit misuse ofAadhaar biometrics. Iris andfinger print data is stored inIndian machinery and it issafe and secure," Prasad said.

Displaying his personalAadhaar card in the House, theMinister said the card only dis-closes his name, father's name,date of birth, residential addressand does not give out anyinformation on medicalrecords or details of caste, reli-gion and community. He said

Aadhaar data can only beshared when there is a threat tonational security or there isCourt order. "Even if I, as an,Information TechnologyMinister, seek Aadhaar data, Iwill be subject to 3 years ofpunishment," Prasad said.

He said the Governmenthas saved �1.41 lakh crore dueto Aadhaar and removed 4.23crore and 2.98 crore bogusLPG connection and rationcards respectively. Prasad saidthe Bill is a wholesomeamendment following theSupreme Court order. "Since

crores of poor people are ben-efiting by using Aadhaar, hencein emergency we brought theOrdinance," he said.

Opposing the bill, AdhirRanjan Chowdhury, Leader ofthe Congress in the Lok Sabha,said the government used theordinance route to bring in thelegislation. He said the ordi-nance was issued by the lastgovernment (from 2014-19)and the current governmenthas brought it as a legislation.

Chowdhury said it was theUPA Government, whichbrought in the law, to whichLaw Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said the NDA govern-ment gave legal status toAadhaar. "You have loaned theconcept of Aadhaar from us(Aapne Aadhaar udhaar liyahain)," Chowdhury said. Hesaid the Supreme Court hadalso rapped the Governmentfor violating privacy inAadhaar. Prasad said, "Underyou (the UPA), Aadhaar lackedany backing (Aadhaar niradhartha). We made a law for it".

TMC MP Mahua Moitra

said the bill speaks of a regu-lator which will govern variousprovisions. She said there areno details of the proposedregulator in the bill, whichmakes it opaque. She said theregulator should be integratedin the bill itself. Referring tothe "Aadhaar ecosystem", shesought to know the legalrecourse one can take if theecosystem fails. "Without adata protection law, it is likeputting cart before the horse,"she said. Moitra claimed thatAadhaar was perceived as asystem to enable the poor getservices, but that now, it hasturned into an "aquisitive"entity.

Supriya Sule (NCP) saidthat "You are cheating commonman... What privacy we aretalking about?"

Hitting out at the BJP, shesaid that "they are only grow-ing on the programmes whichUPA started."

"Why is Aadhaar cardcompulsory? What is it? Whatis voter card then? We all havevoter ID," she said.

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Congress leaders are in a fixafter Rahul Gandhi's final

word on his quitting the post.While a section of them islooking for change, another setof leaders is perturbed over theprobable choice for Rahul'ssuccessor.

A top leader in the partysaid that the Congress' firstfamily too is worried over thefragile condition of the partycurrently and the prospect ofits further fragmentation, engi-neered by the BJP, ahead ofAssembly elections in someStates.

With Assembly electionsto States like Maharashtra,Jharkhand, Haryana and Delhiapproaching, many in the partyfeel the Congress has beenthrust in a "blind spot". Butsome leaders said RahulGandhi's decision will augurwell for a party that needs toreinvent itself and present aclear vision to again emerge asa credible alternative.

"The Congress faces anexistential crisis in the absenceof clear leadership and such asituation does not bode well forthe party which faces assemblyelections in the states just a fewmonths later," said a partyleader adding Rahul's succes-sor needs to be carefully cho-sen with a long term vision inmind and should be one whocould rise above factions andnepotism to rejuvenate theparty right from the grassrootslevel.

While Rahul in his firstreaction post his resignationstated that he would work 10times harder for the party, hissister and Congress generalsecretary Priyanka Gandhilauded his "courage" to quit thehighest post of the grand oldparty.

Rahul Gandhi in Mumbaitold reporters he will engage inthe 'ideological fight' with theBJP and the RSS with 10 timesmore vigour than he did dur-ing the last five years. Priyankaon her part took to socialmedia saying, "Few have thecourage that you do @rahul-gandhi. Deepest respect for

your decision." The Congress Working

Committee (CWC), the party'shighest decision making body,will meet next week to resolvethe presidentship issue. TheCongress' future too will bechalked out at the meeting.

"The Gandhi family isintegral to the Congress. Thetwo cannot be separated. Welook forward to their guidancein the coming times," said aparty leader pointing to thecontinuing sway the first fam-ily of the party will have on theorganization even if a non-Gandhi helms the affairs.

Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot also refused to

contemplate a Gandhi-freeCongress. "We will bounceback and Congress Party wouldcontinue to defeat the fascistforces under Rahul ji's dynam-ic leadership," he said, express-ing the hope that Rahul Gandhiwould lead the party with the"same zeal and spirit".

Karnataka Minister DKShivakumar also said:"Without Gandhi familyCongress can't be united, with-out Congress being unitedcountry can't be united.Gandhi family is the onlystrength to keep this partystrong, united & rebuild thisparty to bring it back topower."

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As Rahul Gandhi appearedbefore a Mumbai court in

a defamation case for hisremarks against the RSS, theCongress on Thursday attackedthe Hindutva organisationthrough a video on Twitteralleging that it "consistentlyparticipated in 'anti-India'activities".

Rahul pleaded 'not guilty'in the court in the defamationcase after he accused the RSSof being responsible for themurder of journalist GauriLankesh. "Think you knowwhat the RSS is all about,think again. The RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh has con-sistently participated in anti-India activities, includingpledging loyalty to the British,instigating violence & assassi-nating Mahatma Gandhi," theCongress said on Twitter, usinghashtag "RSSVsIndia".

"From the freedom strug-gle to the symbols ofIndianness, the RSS has alwaysopposed them. When free-dom fighters were fighting theBritish, the RSS as an institu-tion was bowing before the

British. Opposing the "idea ofIndia" has been the policy ofthe RSS," the party also tweet-ed.

The one-minute videotitled "RSS for Dummies"alleged that RSS founder 'KBHedgewar ordered the Sanghnot to participate inSatyagraha'. "Sangh leadersencouraged members to jointhe British civic guard... RSS'non-participation in India'sIndependence was compli-mented by their British mas-ters... The Sangh opposed ournational flag! Anti-national,much? Nathuram Godse shotand killed Gandhi," the partyclaimed.

It also alleged that "the RSSopposed liberalisation... Inshort and in shorts, the RSS isanti-development and foughtagainst freedom when wefought for it".

The video also alleges thatthe RSS considers the'Manusmruti' greater than theConstitution. The video comesa day after Gandhi formallyresigned as Congress presidentwhile taking full moral respon-sibility for the party's LokSabha poll debacle.

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Issues like the breach in a damin Ratnagiri, Maharashtra,

killing more than 23 people,high cut-off list in DelhiUniversity causing hardships toadmission seekers, buildersduping homebuyers and plightof rickshaw pullers of Kolkatafigured in the Rajya Sabha on

Thursday.Drawing the attention of

the house to the Tiware dammishap, HusainDalwai(Congress)demandedcompensation for the victimsand alleged that the breachtook place as the local admin-istration did not take timelyaction despite repeated warn-ings over the last few months.

The Congress leader demand-ed strict action against thoseresponsible for negligence.

Dalwai said it was not cor-rect that incessant rains in theregion led to the breach of thedam. The district collector wason February 12 in writinginformed of the dam requiringurgent repairs but it was neverdone, he said.

The dam, he said, was builtin 2012 at a cost of �12 croreagainst the initial estimate of Rs2 crore.

Raising the issue of highcut-off in Delhi University, RKSinha(BJP) suggested that allthe colleges in the national cap-ital should start evening class-es also. It will allow more stu-dents to seek admission on theone hand and give employmentto more teachers on the other,the BJP leader said adding stu-dents working part-time willalso benefit from such a move.Chairman M Venkaiah Naidusaid high cut-offs speaks ofstandard of education of DelhiUniversity adding he isChancellor of the varsity.

Ajay Pratap Singh (BJP)

raised the issue of delays bybuilders in handing over hous-es to buyers and demandedstrict laws to rectify the situa-tion as the existing legalrecourse was not effective.

Mahesh Poddar(BJP)saidthe practise of men pullingrickshaw in Kolkata was not apleasant sight and wanted animmediate end to it. He saidmore than 20,000 rickshawpullers were engaged in thisendeavour and lead a tough lifesurviving on footpaths. ManyMPs associated themselveswith Poddar on the issue.

AK Selvaraj (AIADMK)wanted subsidy for farmersgrowing fruits and vegetablesthrough drip irrigation beincreased to make up for theadditional cost incurred inhigh density farming andwhere higher intensity irriga-tion is required due to soil qual-ity. Vijay Pal Singh Tomar(BJP) urged laws be madestricter to deter food adulter-ation.

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Arange of issues figured inthe Lok Sabha on Thursday

including the Governmentseeking to put to rest the con-troversy over Puducherry Lt.Governor Kiran Bedi's tweetwhich, it said, she "deleted"and also expressed regret overit besides Trinamool CongressMP Mahua Moitra trying toraise the alleged false reportageand personal attacks on her bya TV news channel and its edi-tor.

DMK members had onWednesday objected to Bedi'salleged comments "insulting"politicians and people of TamilNadu. DMK leader TR Balu, forthe second day , raised the issueagain in the lower house anddemanded action against her.

Responding to the DMK'sprotest, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh said Bedi hasalready deleted the tweet andissued a statement expressingdeep regret. He said when thematter was raised in Parliamentby Baalu, the Ministry of HomeAffairs took notice of it and tooknecessary action in this regard.

Rajnath said she hasexpressed deep regret by saying,"What was written was a peo-ple perspective shared in mypersonal capacity, as it came ata time when people were huge-ly suffering for water inChennai. However, I admit it

was avoidable. And I should nothave shared it in public in thismanner and I too realised it."

"I have therefore deleted mysharing. I have the highestregards and warmth for the peo-ple of Tamil Nadu, like I have forthe people of Puducherry," hequoted Bedi's statement.

The Defence Minister saidin view of the LG's statement, hewould like to request membersof the House to put the issue torest.

After Rajnath's statement,Congress leader Adhir RanjanChowdhury demanded theHouse should adopt a resolu-tion condemning Bedi forallegedly humiliating the peo-ple of Tamil Nadu.

As Zero Hour commenced,Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlasaid a privilege motion sub-mitted by Moitra was under hisconsideration.

Moitra said she wanted tohighlight an important issuethrough a point of order.However, as soon as she tookthe names of the channel andthe editor and tried to read outa statement, the Speaker askedher not to do so. The Speakersaid he cannot allow name ofany person, not a member ofthe house, to be mentioned inthe house

Immediately, the Speakerasked another MP to speakwhich forced Moitra to take herseat without completing her

statement.The 42-year-old, who is a

former investment banker,trended on social media afterher speech on June 25 during adebate on the President'saddress where she sought todetail " seven signs of fascism"in India. She was reportedlyaccused of plagiarism by a for-eign-based publication to whichshe has expressed her surprisesaying her source was clearlymentioned in her Lok Sabhaspeech. Moitra is a first-timeMP from West Bengal'sKrishnanagar.

On another issue, the gov-ernment said there is no evi-dence to show that buildingswith glass facades utilise extraenergy. Housing and UrbanAffairs Minister Hardeep SinghPuri told the Lok Sabha that, infact, a glass building whenproperly designed, can havebenefits.

Citing a study by IIT Delhiin July 2011, the minister saidthough glass facade leads tohigher energy consumption inbuildings, the actual quantumof consumption depends onvarious factors such as buildingtype, glazing type, glazing ori-entation and climate type.

BJP MP Hema Malini, forher part, raised the issue ofattack on doctors, saying theyare assaulted by "lynch mobswith impunity" and demandeda strict law to protect them.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Thursday

announced that the election tothe Vellore Lok Sabha con-stituency, which was counter-manded due to excess use ofmoney power, will now be heldon August 5 while bypoll for thePatkura Assembly of Odishawill be held on July 20.

It was for the first time thatthe election to a Lok Sabha con-stituency was cancelled over useof money power. Earlier, thebypoll to the RK NagarAssembly seat in Tamil Naduwas cancelled in April, 2017,following seizure of huge cash,allegedly meant for bribingvoters. Similarly, the election tothe Patkura assembly was post-poned due to death of the can-didate. Later the poll was post-poned due to Fani cyclone.

Polling for the Lok Sabha

seat was scheduled for April 18,along with the other con-stituencies of Tamil Nadu, butwas cancelled on April 16 fol-lowing the recovery of a hugeamount of cash allegedly froman associate of a DMK leader.

The EC also announced theelection date to PatkuraAssembly election underKendrapara Parliamentary con-stituency. Polls to the seat,which was earlier postponeddue to the demise of BJD can-didate Bed Prakash Agarwalla,is now set to be conducted onJuly 20, while the counting ofvotes will be held on July 24,2019.

In an official release, theCommission said that the aftertaking into consideration var-ious factors like, festivals, elec-toral rolls and others, it took thedecision to hold the adjournedpoll to fill the Patkura seat.Later, the ECI postponed theelection further for another 60days in view of cyclone 'Fani'that hit the state on May 3. Withthe notification, the modelcode of conduct came intoforce from Thursday.

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As the recent Governmentdecision to tax disability

pension has led to unrestamongst the Services and vet-erans, a city-based organisa-tion of war disabled and battlecasualties has taken strongexception to the Army'sendorsement of the move claim-ing it affects the morale.

The Army on Tuesdaymaintained that disability pen-sion was being misused andsuch cases were on the rise.Defence Minister Rajnath Singhlast week had assured the LokSabha that he will look into thematter after the Congress raiseda din over the issue.

Disabled War Veterans(India), in a letter to the Army

said any "discrimination orinvidious distinction" whilemaking an official statement,affects the morale of the entiremilitary community.

In a series of tweets, theArmy had said over the years,broad-banding and the com-pensation awarded for disabili-ty with income tax exemptionhad led to a rise in the numberof personnel claiming disabilityeven for lifestyle diseases.

The issue was not of doingaway with tax exemption but toput an end to the alleged wronguse of the disability pensionthereby denying the facility tothe more deserving cases, offi-cials said. It was learnt the annu-al disability pension is about �50crore or so. The Central Boardof Direct Taxes in a directive

early last week informed that thedisability pension for those per-sonnel who serve full militaryservice and then retire will notbe exempted from income-tax.

The Army's endorsement ofthe order had upset severalveterans of the armed forces,some of whom had sufferedgrievous injuries in action. Inits letter, the Disabled WarVeterans (India) said, "It is alsowell known that disability in themilitary is on a rise all over theglobe due to operational com-mitments, transfers and otherstressors".

"Being at the forefront ofissues related to the war disabled,we must put it on record thatsensitivity must be displayed

towards genuinely disabled withnon-operational disabilitiesalso," reads the letter sent by theorganisation to ADGPI(Additional Directorate Generalof Public Information) of theArmy.

In the letter, dated July 3, theDelhi-based organisation alsounderlined that stress and strainof military service is known to"adversely affect" the health pro-file of troops.

"Rather than attaching stig-ma to low medical personnel ornegativity to disability compen-sation, we should be concernedabout ensuring better medicalcare for our soldiers and ensur-ing a stress-free health and notpayments," it said.

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The Defence Ministry hasdecided to grant Special

Family Pension or LiberalisedFamily Pension (LFP) for nextof kin of those personnel re-employed in military or civiland if their death is attributableto military service. Earlier,Ordinary Family Pension wasauthorised from the military orcivil department wherever theveteran was employed. In thelatest decision, the familieswill get ordinary family pen-sion in addition to SFP orLFP.

Giving details of the orderissued on Thursday, officialssaid prior to January 2013, theNext of Kins (NOKs) of ArmedForce Pensioner who got re-employed in civil departmentafter getting retired from mil-itary service were authorised todraw Ordinary Family Pension(OFP) either from militaryside or from civil side whichev-er was beneficial to them.

In March 2013, it wasdecided that the families of

Armed Forces pensioners, whogot re-employed in civil depart-ments or military after gettingretired from military serviceand were in receipt of militarypension till death, shall beallowed to draw family pensionfrom military side in additionto the family pension, if any,authorised from the re-employed civil department.

The Government wasreceiving grievances from var-ious quarters for grant of dualfamily pension includingSpecial FamilyPension/Liberalised FamilyPension where death of the re-employed government servantis attributable to governmentservice.

The matter has been exam-ined in the Ministry and nowwas decided that Special FamilyPension (SFP)/LiberalisedFamily Pension (LFP), wouldbe admissible on death of apensioner who was re-employed in military serviceand if his death is attributableto military service, in additionto Ordinary Family Pension.

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New Delhi: Pakistan is tryingto hoodwink the internationalcommunity with its "cosmetic"steps against terror groups, theExternal Affairs Ministry saidon Thursday.

The MEA's response cameafter Pakistan claimed that ithad "booked" Mumbai attacksmastermind Hafiz Saeed and12 of his close associates for"terrorism financing" in 23cases, amidst growing globalpressure on Islamabad to actagainst militant groups launch-ing deadly attacks in India.

"Pakistan is trying to hood-wink the international com-munity on taking action againstterror groups.

"Let us not get fooled bycosmetic steps against terrorgroups by Pakistan," MEAspokesperson Raveesh Kumartold reporters here. PTI

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Thursday soughtresponse from RVenkataramanan, a formermanaging trustee of TataTrusts, on an appeal ofShapoorji Pallonji Group chal-lenging the quashing of itsdefamation case against him.

"This is nothing but a cor-porate war," a bench compris-ing Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoiand Justice Deepak Gupta said,while issuing notice toVenkataramanan.

Senior advocate MaheshJethmalani, appearing forShapoorji Pallonji Group, saidthat the defamation complaintfiled by the firm was quashedby the Bombay High Court

erroneously.The Bombay High Court

had quashed a prosecutionorder issued by a magistratecourt against Venkataramananin the defamation case.

In October 2018, the mag-istrate's court at Ballard Pierhad issued the process of sum-moning Venkataramanan afterthe Shapoorji Pallonji Groupfiled the criminal defamationcase against him.

In the complaint, theShapoorji Pallonji Group,which owns 18.6-per cent stakein the Tata Group, had allegedthat Venkataramanan hadmade some comments in apress note which were false anddefamatory to the group. PTI

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Senior BJP leaderSubramanian Swamy has

alerted the Government of Indiaabout a plan to revive LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),a banned organisation, in TamilNadu. In a letter addressed to

Union Home Minister AmitShah, Swamy has said that theAIADMK Government in TamilNadu was “unwittingly” assist-ing in the revival of the LTTEand was giving money for thepurpose.

“On July 4, under the aus-pices of a pro-LTTE organisationFETA (Federation of Tamil

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Politics in Tamil Nadu gotenlivened as Udhayanidhi

Stalin, the 41-year-old actorson of DMK chief MK Stalinwas on Thursday appointed asthe general secretary of theparty’s youth wing paving theway for his anointment as thesuccessor to his father.Udhayanidhi, a popular filmactor was one of the star cam-paigners of the party in therecently held Lok Sabha elec-tions from the State which wasswept by the DMK-led

alliance. K Anbazhagan, the96-year-old general secretaryof the DMK said in a releaseon Thursday that he wasappointing Udhayanidhi asthe secretary of the youthwing under Rules 18 and 19 ofthe party. MP Saminathan,former Minister and MLAwho was holding the positionof the youth wing secretaryhas been relieved from thepost, said the release.

There is nothing surpris-ing in the appointment ofUdhayanidhi to the presentpost as he was being groomedby Stalin and his close confi-

dantes as the next party boss.Interestingly, Stalin was theyouth wing secretary of theDMK for 35 years and steppeddown in 2017 after hisappointment as working pres-ident of the party. The impor-tance of youth wing leadershipcould be understood fromthe fact that Stalin headed theorganisation even after himbecoming a grandfather.Saminathan, a close aide toStalin was given the charge ofthe youth wing to keep thechair warm for Udhayanidhi.

M Karunanidhi, who heldthe post of DMK president for

49 years had groomed Stalinto take over after his exitfrom the scene. Udhayanidhiis popular in Tamil Naduthanks to his career in thefilms. Even while acting inmovies, he was a regular inDMK’s official functions.

“We are all happy thatUdhayanidhi has beenappointed as the youth wingchief and there is nothingsurprising in it. He hasendeared himself to the partycadre and general publicthrough his affable manners.He is our future,” said DoraiMurugan, deputy leader of the

DMK in Tamil Nadu assem-bly.

Ravindran Doraisamy,political commentator and aDMK watcher for decadeswas of the view that the ele-vation of Udhayanidhi in theparty is major event in thepolitical history of TamilNadu. “Udhayanidhi is anarticulate speaker and hasshown his leadership qualities. Whether he would succeedas MP or MLA would beknown only after his election. But he is the political leaderto watch in Tamil Nadu,” saidDoraisamy.

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Aday after he resigned as theCongress president, Rahul

Gandhi said here on Thursdaythat he was being “attacked” buthe was “enjoying” it and that hewould continue to fight the ide-ological battle with the BJP andSangh Parivar “ten times” morefiercely than he did during theprevious years.

Talking to media personsminutes after he pleaded “notguilty” and was granted bail bya Mumbai court in a defama-tion case filed against him by anRSS worker, Gandhi said: “Thisis an ideological battle. I amstanding with the poor, farm-ers and labourers. I am beingattacked. I am enjoying it”.

Asked about his resignationas the Congress president,Gandhi said: “Whatever I want-ed to say, I stated in my resig-nation yesterday”.

When reporters persistedwith him and asked him aswhat he planned to do next,Gandhi said: “My battle willcontinue... It will go on moreaggressively. The battle will beten times more fierce than Iwaged during the previousyears”.

Earlier, Gandhi and CPMleader Sitaram Yechuriappeared before a Mazgaonmetropolitan magistrate’s court

nd CPM leader SitaramYechury in response to sum-mons issued to them inFebruary in connection with adefamation case filed byDhrutiman Joshi, a lawyer andRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) worker, for allegedly link-ing journalist Gauri Lankesh'skilling with the "BJP-RSS ide-ology".

After the court read outJoshi’s complaint asked them ifthey were pleading guilty or notguilty to the allegations made bythe complainant, both Gandhi

and Yechuri pleaded “notguilty” in the defamation.

Subsequently, the Mazgaoncourt granted bail to bothGandhi and Yechuri a suretyamount of �15,000 each andalso granted them permanentexemption from appearancebefore it during hearings in thecase. The court has posted thematter for next hearing onSeptember 21.

Former Congress MPEknath Gaikwad stood as sure-ty for Gandhi. Gandhi andYechury then signed the nec-

essary documents and left thecourt premises.

In his complaint filed in2017 immediately after GauriLankesh’s killing, Joshi hadalluded to tweets put out byGandhi allegedly blaming theRSS and its ideology for thejournalist’s murder. “For a merepolitical score, the accused(Gandhi) had unnecessarilydragged the name of RSS andit is a move to rake up negativesentiments in the minds ofpeople against the RSS,” Joshi’scomplaint said.

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Mumbai: Rahul Gandhi, whohas resigned as Congress pres-ident, Thursday held a briefdiscussion with party leadersin Mumbai, in which he askedthem to aggressively take upissues faced by citizens duringmonsoon.

Gandhi was in the city toappear in a local court in adefamation case.

The 49-year-old leader,who had announced his resig-nation as the Congress presi-dent on Wednesday, also dis-cussed the party's preparationfor the upcoming Assemblypolls in Maharashtra.

Mumbai Congress presi-dent Milind Deora and partylegislators from the city werepresent at the airport to receiveGandhi and see him off.

A party leader, who waspresent at the airport after thecourt hearing at Sewree said,"Rahulji appeared relaxed andtook updates from us about thepreparations for the assembly

polls.""He also asked us to aggres-

sively take up the issue ofproblems faced by Mumbaikarsduring the monsoons. We toldhim about the issues raised byus during the just-concludedmonsoon session of the statelegislature," the leader added.Gandhi said the party shouldhit the streets to highlight theproblems faced by citizens dur-ing rains, he said.

The leader also said thatthe city unit informed Gandhiabout the announcement byPrakash Ambedkar-led VanchitBahujan Agadhi (VBA) to"give" 40 seats to the Congressfor the assembly polls.

"He told us that instead offocussing on the vote share ofother parties like VanchitAghadi or MNS, it would bebetter if Congress leadersfocus on improving its ownvote share," another leadersaid on the condition ofanonymity. PTI

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KOLKATA: Days after a fatwawas issued against her forwearing 'sindoor' in Parliament,Trinamool Congress MP andactor Nusrat Jahan onThursday dubbed the dictate asbaseless saying she is still aMuslim. "I don't pay heed tothings which are baseless. Iknow my religion. I have beena Muslim by birth and I am stilla Muslim. It's about faith. Youhave to feel it inside your heartand not in your head," Jahantold reporters.

A fatwa was issued by acleric against Jahan for sport-

ing "un-Islamic" attire on June25, when she took oath as aMember of Parliament. "Thereis no political angle here, it'sjust the matter of faith andbelief," she added. Several otherleaders have also defendedJahan's stand including MoS forWomen and ChildDevelopment DebashreeChowdhury. "As an Indian cit-izen, Nusrat has the right to dowhat she desires. This is notPakistan, you can not issue aFatwah against a member ofParliament," Chowdhury hadsaid. Agency

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Mumbai: MaharashtraSwabhiman Party leaderNarayan Rane on Thursdayapologised for his MLA-sonNitesh Rane's assault on adeputy engineer.

Nitesh Rane, a CongressMLA, was Thursday caught oncamera pouring mud on adeputy engineer to protest thepoor condition of the Mumbai-Goa highway. The incidenttook place at Kankavli in thecoastal district of Sindhudurg.

On a complaint filed by theengineer, Prakash Khedekar, anoffence under IPC section 353(assault on government servanthas been registered againstNitesh Rane and his support-ers, police said.

Further probe is on andnobody has been arrested yet,they said.

As the video of the incident

went viral and caused an out-rage, Narayan Rane, a RajyaSabha MP from the BJP, apol-ogised for his son's misconduct.

"I apologise for my son's actof pouring mud on a govern-ment official. The protest(against poor condition of thehighway) was for the localpeople," the former chief min-ister told PTI.

In the video clip, Raneand Kankavli MunicipalCouncil president SamirNalawade are purportedly seentying Khedekar of the NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI) to the railing of abridge and pouring buckets ofmud on him.

Nitesh Rane, the MLAfrom Kankavli, and his sup-porters were protesting afterfinding potholes and mud onthe busy highway. PTI

(�8- ��-��+�� -4�8��=�� Guwahati: Forty-five people

have died till July 3 since theoutbreak of JapaneseEncephalitis in Assam, theNational Health Mission saidThursday.

Most of upper Assam dis-tricts, including Jorhat,Golaghat, Dibrugarh,Lakhimpur, and the lowerAssam district of Kamrup havebeen affected by the mosquito-borne disease.

"Assam is undergoing thetransmission season forJapanese Encephalitis cases. Atotal number of 45 JapaneseEncephalitis deaths have beenreported till July 3, 2019, in thestate," the National HealthMission (NHM) said in a state-ment.

It, however, said the situa-tion in the state is under closewatch and all preventive mea-sures are being taken to com-bat the situation.

Diagnostic services for

Japanese Encephalitis with Elisakits have been made availablein all district hospitals andgovernment medical collegehospitals, awareness pro-grammes intensified and fog-ging operations stepped up inareas from where JapaneseEncephalitis cases have beenreported.

The NHM also said thatfree transportation is beingprovided to patients with sus-pected JE fever through'Mrintunjoy 108 Ambulances'.

The Assam government isensuring that treatment anddiagnostic cost at medical col-leges and district hospitals areborne by the state while a cer-tain number of beds there havebeen reserved for JapaneseEncephalitis patients.

A round-the-clock centralcontrol room has been openedto deal with and monitor thesituation and all deputy com-missioners have been directed

to step up surveillance activi-ties.

Health and Family WelfareCommissioner and SecretaryAnurag Goel held a meetingthrough video conference onWednesday with all the deputycommissioners and principalsecretary of the AutonomousCouncils to review the JapaneseEncephalitis situation in thestate.

He also interacted withofficials of the National VectorBorne Control Programme,NHM Assam Mission DirectorJ V N Subramanyam, Directorof Health Services Assam Dr RBhuyan, and other healthdepartment officials.

On Monday, AdditionalSecretary Sanjeev Kumar, wholed a four-member centralteam to the state, had said Julyand August it would be a chal-lenge to contain the outbreakof the disease to the minimumin July and August. PTI

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Samgams in North America) the2019 convention is being held inthe town of Schaumburg inEurope and is going to beaddressed by the former INHigh Commissioner forRefugees Navi Pillai, a SriLankan Tamil and ThamiNesan, a pro LTTE CatholicBishop. But it is surprising thatthe Tamil Nadu Government isdonating Rs 3 crore and has senta 20-member delegation underthe leadership of Ma FoiPandiarajan, Tamil NaduMinister,” Swamy has stated inthe letter. Swamy has also sug-gested to the union home min-ister that any attempt to revivethe LTTE in Europe should benipped in the bud. He concludesthe letter by asking the HomeMinister to hold enquiries withthe Tamil Nadu Governmentabout sending the delegation tothe convention and also aboutthe donation being made by theState.

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Afailure on the part of banks,the government and the

regulator till 2014 has got usinto the current bad loan messand the resultant low capitalbuffers, Urjit Patel, the pastReserve Bank Governor, hassaid, asking all to resist thetemptation of going back to thestatus quo.

In his first comments afterresigning as RBI governor onDecember 10 last year amidsharp differences with the gov-ernment, Patel said banksindulged in over-lending, whilethe government did not “fullyplay” its role, and also conced-ed that the regulator shouldhave acted earlier. Speaking atan event in Stanford Universityon June 3, Patel listed out areasof concern for the country’sbanking sector, including highnon-performing assets (NPAs)especially at state-run lenders,and current capital buffersbeing “overstated” and beinginsufficient to tackle the hugestress.

“How did we get here?Plenty of blame to go around!Prior to 2014, all stakeholdersfailed to play their role ade-

quately. Banks, the regulatorand government,” he said in thepresentation.

It can be noted that after2014, which saw a change ofguard in government and alsoPatel’s predecessor RaghuramRajan assuming charge, theRBI started an asset qualityreview, which led to the recog-nition of the huge pile of hid-den stress in the system and res-olution through the introduc-tion of bankruptcy laws.

These actions led to a sharpdecline in banks’ ability to fundthe needs of the economy,where growth has been sagging.Patel, who spent over five yearsat the RBI, including his role asthe deputy governor, advised tostay on the course even in theface of difficulties.“Temptation to reset ‘back tothe past’ should be eschewed,”Patel said, adding that “episod-ic concerns” on stability arepossible if there is “foot drag-ging, or, worse, back-pedalling”.

“Short-cuts/sweeping theproblem under the carpet isunlikely to work; but will onlydelay unlocking of capital, andcome in the way of financingfuture investment efficiently,” hewarned.

In the presentation a copyof speech was not availablePatel also said, “After fiscaldominance over monetary pol-icy, are we looking at fiscaldominance over banking regu-lation now.”

Patel said an asset qualityreview for the non-bankingfinance companies is“inevitable” given their inter-connectedness in the financialsystem.

On the Supreme Courtstriking down the controversialFebruary 12, 2018A circular,which was also a major bone of

contention between him andthe government, Patel said onlytime will tell whether a systemof “extend and pretend” willmake a comeback.“Issues ofever-greening theA problemmay emerge again. Banks maydrag their feet on decisionmaking, viz. delayed negotia-tions/taking haircuts for time-ly resolution could come backto haunt the sector,” he warned.It can be noted that four daysafter this presentation atStanford, RBI did come outwith a revised framework afterbeing forced by the Supreme

Court which struck down theFebruary circular.

Patel also went public withhis disappointment with theexecution under the Insolvencyand the Bankruptcy Code, say-ing it has “thrown up a worry-ing number of exceptions” andsigns of “gaming” are visible asmany of the major cases aredelayed beyond the 350-dayresolution window.

He also sounded peeved atno divestment by the govern-ment in joint ventures, specialpurpose vehicles and assetmanagement companies despitethe equity markets overallremaining quite buoyant.

Patel said social sectorrequirements and an inability toaccess capital markets haveresulted in the government’sstake in many lenders going upas more infusions came fromthe government despite fiscalconstraints.

He also sounded disap-pointed at the recent govern-ment forces bank consolida-tions, saying such mergers have“eroded” the value of the enti-ty taking over weaker banksand termed IDBI Bank as a“highly problematic” entity,which was forced on LIC.

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Rise in retirement age for mostof India’s working population

from 60 years at present seemsinevitable due to increase in lifeexpectancy, according to theEconomic Survey. India’s popu-lation is expected to grow under0.5 per cent during 2031-41 dueto decline in fertility rate andincrease in life expectancy,according to the survey.

“Since an increase in theretirement age is perhapsinevitable, it may be worthwhilesignalling this change well inadvance – perhaps a decadebefore the anticipated shift – sothat the workforce can be pre-pared for it,” the EconomicSurvey for 2018-19, tabled inParliament by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman Thursday,said. The survey pointed out thatthis will also help plan in advancefor pensions and other retirementprovisions. Given that lifeexpectancy for both males andfemales in India is likely rise,increasing the retirement agefor both men and women goingforward could be considered inline with the experience of othercountries, it added.

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��555It put the fiscal deficit for

2018-19 at 3.4 per cent, butanalysts expected a short-termrealignment of the fiscal con-solidation map with the deficittargets being marginally raisedfor the current fiscal in theUnion Budget for 2019-20 to bepresented by Sitharaman onFriday. While the survey hasretained the fiscal deficit esti-mate for 2018-19 at 3.4 percent, the general fiscal deficit -- Centre and States combined-- has been pegged at 5.8 percent in 2018-19, down from 6.4per cent in the previous fiscal.

Former Finance Minister PChidambaram said theGovernment appears to be pes-simistic about the economy asthere are no sector-wise growthprojections. “It appears to methat the Government, speakingthrough the economic survey,is pessimistic about the econ-omy,” he said in a statement.

“The economic surveyflags (1) slowing growth, (2)shortfall in revenue, (3) findingresources without compromis-ing the fiscal deficit target, (4)impact of oil prices on the cur-rent account and (5) recom-mendations of the FifteenthFinance Commission onCentral Government finances.I am afraid, none of these ispositive or encouraging,” hesaid. The expansion in theeconomy will be driven byinvestment and consumption,with political stability auguringwell for the growth prospects,it said adding that the upsideand downside risks to growthare evenly balanced with mon-soon rainfall seen tipping thescales. But for India to becomea USD 5 trillion economy(more than double the currentsize) by 2024-25, it needs tosustain a real GDP growth

rate of 8 per cent, which inter-national experience suggests ispossible only through a sus-tained “virtuous cycle” of sav-ings, investment and exports.

“The political stability inthe country should push theanimal spirits of the economy,while the higher capacity util-isation and an uptick in busi-ness expectations shouldincrease investment activity in2019-20,” the survey said.

It said oil prices will declinein current fiscal, pushing con-sumption. Consumptionaccounts for about 60 per centof the GDP. “However, down-side risks to consumptionremain. The extent of recoveryin the farm sector and farmprices will decide the push torural consumption, which isalso dependent on the situationof monsoon,” it said addingsome regions are expected toreceive less than normal rains,which could prove to be detri-mental for crop production.

The survey suggested poli-cies to unshackle MSMEs togrow, create jobs and enhanceproductivity. It also called forreorienting policies to pro-mote young firms which havethe potential to become big,rather than MSME firms whichremain small. The surveyflagged the need to prepare forthe ageing of the population,necessitating more healthcareinvestment and raising theretirement age in a phasedmanner. Highlighting theimmense potential of data ofsocietal interest, the surveysaid data should be “of the peo-ple, by the people, for the peo-ple”. Stating that low pay andwage inequality remain seriousobstacles towards achievinginclusive growth, it called forlegal reforms, policy consis-tency, efficient labour markets

and use of technology focusareas. Contract enforcement, itsaid, remains the biggest con-straint to improving Ease ofDoing Business ranking.

�� 555Having booked him and 40

to 50 of his supporters underSections 353, 342, 332, 324,323, 120(A), 147, 143, 504, 506of IPC, the Kankavli police onThursday evening placedNitesh and five of his support-ers under arrest. They will beproduced before a court onFriday morning. Nitesh, knownfor politics of arrogance andintimidation, is the son formerChief Minister and thefounder-president ofMaharashtra Swabhiman Party(MSP) Narayan Rane.

Reacting to the incident, SrRane disapproved his sonNitesh’s act and said: “My sonhas done a wrong thing. I haveapologised on his behalf. Hehas to also apologise. Let’s faceit, the actual act has been com-mitted by Nitesh’s supporters.But, as a leader of the agitation,Nitesh has to own up his mis-take. At the same time, cannotthe officials see the potholes onthe highway?”

Trouble broke out earlier inthe afternoon, when Niteshaccompanied by KankavliMunicipal Council presidentand activists of the NDA-affil-iated MSP drove down to thestretch of a bridge on the GadRiver near Kankavli, to inspectthe road repairs being carriedout by the PWD officials on astretch of the bridge.

Nitesh and his supportersquestioned sub-engineer,Prakash Shedekar about thebad condition of the roadsand told the latter that the peo-ple had to routinely potholedhighway with mud slush.

“People are bearing bruntof the poor condition of theroad every day. Now, it is yourturn to experience it...,” anangry Nitesh told Shedekar.

Meanwhile, some of hissupporters emptied two buck-ets full of mud slush and slimeon Shedekar. They hurled abus-es at him, elbowed him andalso roughed him up. At onestage, the protesters tied upShedekar to the railing of thepartially constructed bridgeon which the incident tookplace, in a bid to teach the offi-cial a lesson. Before long,videos of the incident wentviral on social media, earningNitesh widespread criticismand condemnation from thetwitter users. Later in the after-noon, an unfazed Niteshdefended his act. “Now I willmyself oversee the repair workon this highway, with a stick inmy hand. Every day at 7 am Iwill reach here. Let me see howthe system wins. We have themedicine to tackle their arro-gance,” he said. However, afterhis father and senior Raneapologised and chided him,Nitesh drove to the Kankavlipolice station and surrenderedhimself. Nitesh has had morethan his share of controversies.In a recent incident that tookplace in 2017, he threw a fishat a senior Government officerafter he lost his cool during ameeting.

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The Minister said morethan 5.7 crore alcohol users, 72lakh cannabis users and about77 lakh opioid users are addict-ed and need help.

He said as per findings ofa national household surveyconducted by the Ministry ofSocial Justice and

Empowerment in 2018, 1.18crore people between the agegroup of 10-75 years are takingsedatives and 77 lakh are usinginhalents and children andadolescents were found to beusing inhalents more than oth-ers. “The report establishesthat a substantial number ofpeople use psychoactive sub-stances in India and the sub-stance use exists in all thepopulation groups with adultmen bearing the brunt of sub-stance use disorders,” Gehlotsaid. Gehlot said the householdsample survey covered all the36 States and Union territoriesof the country. It was done incollaboration with the NationalDrug Dependence TreatmentCentre (NDDTC), All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS), ten other medicalinstitutes and a network of 15NGOs. Over 1,500 personnelwere involved in the data col-lection from population of agegroup between 10-75 years.

Initiating the discussionon the matter, Rajya Sabha MPRK Sinha said the problem ofdrug addiction has reachedeven villages with many chil-dren falling prey to the menace.He sought capital punishmentfor the people involved in drugtrade. While ElamaramKareem (CPI-M) said effortsneed to be put in to make theeducational campuses morevibrant in order to check theproblem, TKS Elangovan(DMK) sought severe punish-ment for people involved innarcotics trade. Manoj KumarJha (RJD), Veer Singh (BSP),Vijaysai Reddy (YSRCP), AN a v a n e e t h a k r i s h n a n(AIADMK), Ravi PrakashVerma (SP), Sushil KumarGupta (AAP), Shamsher SinghDullo (Congress), KahkashanPerween (JDU) and Ram

Vichar Netam (BJP) amongothers, participated in thedebate.

�B��555The CZA based on records

available and complaints filedtime to time, observed irregu-larities in the NZP, it said. Thesame were brought to theknowledge of the authorities inthe Ministry through series ofletters,” the affidavit said. TheCZA conveyed these findingsto the Ministry for appropriateaction. “However, no correctiveaction appears to be takenagainst the responsible forirregularities observed in theNational Zoological Park,” itsaid, adding that the courtmay pass further orders as itmay seem fit in the given cir-cumstances of the case.

The habitats of wildlife areunder severe pressure andtherefore the zoos have notonly to sustain their own pop-ulations but also augment thedepleting populations ofendangered species in the wild,said the CZA suggesting thatthe zoos need to do more toadd to wildlife. However, whilethe matter is under the legalscanner, the Ministry througha letter on June 18, 2019 goneforward to shift the NZP’sadministrative control to theCZA. The decision followedrecommendations “from a highlevel panel set up by theMinistry to look into the issuesafflicting the Delhi Zoo.”

“We have received the let-ter and we will put it before atechnical committee in thenext 15 days. It will be taken upin a board meeting of the CZAwhich will be chaired byMinister (Union EnvironmentMinister) towards this month-end, CZA Member SecretaryAnup Nayak said.

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The Hague-basedInternational Court of

Justice on Thursday said it willdeliver on July 17 its verdict inthe case relating to Indiannational Kulbhushan Jadhav,who is on death row inPakistan.

Jadhav, a retired IndianNavy officer, was sentenced todeath by a Pakistani militarycourt on charges of espionageand terrorism in April 2017.India approached the ICJ inMay 2017 against Pakistan fordenying consular access toJadhav. India had also chal-lenged the "farcical trial" by themilitary court of Pakistanagainst 48-year-old Jadhav.The ICJ on May 18, 2017 hadrestrained Pakistan from exe-cuting Jadhav till adjudicationof the case.

The ICJ, in a statement,said a public sitting will takeplace at 3 pm (6.30 pm IST) onJuly 17 at the Peace Palace inThe Hague, during whichJudge Abdulqawi AhmedYusuf, the President of theCourt, will read out the ver-dict. The ICJ is the principal

judicial organ of the UnitedNations. It was established bythe UN charter in June 1945and it began its activities inApril 1946. The seat of theCourt is at the Peace Palace inThe Hague.

The court held a four-daypublic hearing in the case in

February during which bothIndia and Pakistan submittedtheir detailed pleas andresponses.

India based its case on twobroad issues — breach ofVienna Convention on con-sular access and the process ofresolution. It also urged the

ICJ to annul Jadhav's deathsentence and order his imme-diate release, saying the verdictby a Pakistani military courtbased on a "farcical trial" andit failed to satisfy even theminimum standards of dueprocess.

Pakistan on its part insist-ed that the Indian Navy offi-cer was a "spy" and not a busi-nessman. Pakistan claims thatits security forces arrestedJadhav from restiveBalochistan province onMarch 3, 2016 after he report-edly entered from Iran

However, India maintainsthat Jadhav was kidnappedfrom Iran where he had busi-ness interests after retiringfrom the Navy. Jadhav's sen-tencing had evoked a sharpreaction in India

Pakistan had rejectedIndia's plea for consular accessto Jadhav at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wantsto get the information gath-ered by its "spy".

However, Pakistan facili-tated a meeting of Jadhav with his mother and wife in Islamabad on December 25, 2017.

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India will continue to take"firm and decisive" steps

against all attempts of terroristinfiltration till Pakistan initiates"credible and irreversible"action to end cross-border ter-rorism and dismantles terror-ist infrastructure in the terri-tory under its control, theExternal Affairs Ministry saidon Thursday.

Replying to a question inthe Rajya Sabha, Minister ofState in the Ministry ofExternal Affairs VMuraleedharan said the gov-ernment desires normal neigh-bourly relations with Pakistanand is committed to addressingall outstanding issues bilaterallyand peacefully in accordancewith the Simla Agreement andthe Lahore Declaration.

"However, any meaningfuldialogue can only be held in anatmosphere free from terror,hostility and violence. The onusis on Pakistan to create such aconducive atmosphere," he said.

"India has asked Pakistanto take credible and irreversiblesteps to end cross-border ter-rorism and dismantle terroristinfrastructure in territory

under its control. Till then,India will continue to takefirm and decisive steps torespond to all attempts at cross-border terrorist infiltration andsupporting cover fire byPakistan forces,"Muraleedharan said.

The Minister said that as aresult of the government's per-sistent efforts, there isenhanced concern in the inter-national community over ter-rorism emanating fromPakistan, including the con-tinuing activities of interna-tionally designated terroristentities and individuals such asJuD, LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammedand Hizbul Mujahideen.

"International communitystrongly condemned the cross-border terrorist attack inPulwama in February 2019.Many countries have calledupon Pakistan to not allow itsterritory to be used for terror-ism in any manner," he said.

"Many terrorist entities andindividuals who find shelter inPakistan and are also engagedin terrorism against India havebeen proscribed by the UnitedNations (UN), the EuropeanUnion and other countries,"Muraleedharan said.

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There is no new proposalunder consideration for

water sharing between Indiaand Pakistan, the Governmentsaid on Thursday.

Replying to a question inthe Lok Sabha on whether thereis any proposal for water shar-ing among India, Pakistan andBangladesh, Minister of State forJal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria saidan agreement is already in placebetween India and Pakistan forsharing waters of the Indusriver and its tributaries.

"The use of waters of Indusis governed by the Indus WaterTreaty between India andPakistan in 1960. There is nonew proposal under consider-ation with regard to watersharing between India andPakistan," Kataria said in awritten response to a question.

The treaty specifies that thewaters of three eastern rivers —Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — havebeen reserved for India whilethat of western rivers Indus,Chenab and Jhelum are forPakistan.

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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)national spoke person

Raghav Chadha on Thursdayapproached the Delhi HighCourt challenging the resultsof Lok Sabha election of SouthDelhi constituency whichdeclared BJP's RameshBidhuri as elected.

The petition is listed forhearing on Friday beforeJustice Sanjeev Narula. Hecited incomplete disclosureof information by Bidhuri inhis affidavit as a candidate.

The plea sought that theelection results declaringBidhuri as the winning can-didate be held as void andChadha, who secured the nexthighest tally of votes in theconstituency, be declared asthe winning candidate.

The petit ion, f i ledthrough advocate RArunadhri Iyer, contendedthat the election of Bidhuriwas vitiated by the "corruptpractices of undue influencecommitted by the candidateinasmuch as by failing to dis-close material particularsregarding his antecedents..."

The plea, said, "The BJP

candidate willfully and inten-tionally concealed the fac-tum of registration of an FIRagainst him in Police Station...Muzaffarpur, Bihar, undersections 504, 506, 153 and153(a) of the IPC."

The petition alleged thatBidhuri had declared falseincome as also of his wife. Itclaimed that by not disclosingfully or publicising particularsof his criminal antecedents,the BJP candidate has com-mitted the corrupt practice ofundue inf luence in the exercise of electoral rights ofthe citizens of the national

capital."The returning officer

erred in accepting the nomi-nation of the BJP candidatewhen he willfully and inten-tionally failed to comply withthe mandates of the Act, theRules made there under aswell as the directions of theSupreme Court," it said.

Besides others, Bidhuriand Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) have been arrayed asparties in the election petition.

Chadha had also contest-ed from the South Delhi con-stituency, where Bidhuri wonby over 3.6 lakh votes.

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The Union Health ministry’sproposal to classify ENDS

devices including e-cigarettesas “drugs” in order to ban theirmanufacture, sale, distribu-tion and import, has been sentto the Attorney General for hisopinion, officials saidThursday. Banning such alter-native smoking devices like e-cigarettes, heat-not-burndevices, vape and e-nicotineflavoured hookah among oth-ers, is one of the priorities ofthe Health ministry in thefirst 100 days agenda of thesecond term of the Modi gov-ernment, an official sourcesaid.

“The proposal which hasbeen approved by the DrugTechnical Advisory Board(DTAB), the government’s topadvisory body on technicalmatters related to medicines inthe country is now awaitingopinion from the AttorneyGeneral,” the source said. TheUnion Health Ministry’s pro-posal pertains to classifyingENDS devices including e-cigarettes as “drugs” under theDrugs and Cosmetics Act.

A high-decibal debate is on

globally over the harm-reduc-tion aspects of ENDS withsome organisations claimingthat these devices help insmoking cessation and are lessharmful alternatives to tradi-tional cigarettes, while thegovernment is seeking to banthem contending that theypose health risks to users, sim-ilar to those of conventionalcigarettes. ENDS are devicesthat heat a solution to create anaerosol, which also frequentlycontains flavours, usually dis-solved into propylene glycoland glycerin.

The Central DrugsStandard Control Organisation(CDSCO), under the healthministry has proposed thatmanufacture, sale and distrib-ution of ENDS, including e-cigarettes and similar products,should be prohibited underSection 26A of the Drugs andCosmetics Act, 1940, whiletheir import should be out-lawed under Section 10A of thelegislation. The proposal stat-ed that under the provisions of‘drugs’ in the Act, any itemintended to be used as an aidto help quit smoking is coveredunder the definition of drugs.Apex research body - the

Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) has recom-mended a “complete ban” onElectronic Nicotine DeliverySystems (ENDS), saying theiruse can initiate nicotine addic-tion among non-smokers also.

In a white paper released

recently, the ICMR said e-cig-arettes adversely affects the car-diovascular system, impairsrespiratory immune cell func-tion and airways in a waysimilar to cigarette smokingand is responsible for severerespiratory diseases.

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There have been two distinctways of defending the indefen-sible in the Indian political nar-rative across partisan lines.Individuals/groups operating

under larger political denominations orpatronage have routinely and increasing-ly resorted to either the counter-accusato-ry distraction of whataboutery whenexposed or have attempted to weave a cre-ative context to justify their indefensible act.The society’s deeply polarised and divid-ed sentiment along partisan lines has dis-allowed the recognition of the indefensi-bility of the wrong act perpetrated. And,instead, remained satisfied in rattlingcounter-facts, attributable to their oppo-nents, or worse, bought into the yarn ofcontextual “necessity” for the said act. Withno higher authority calling the routinebluffs or the emergence of powerful soci-etal voice of restraining the indefensibleacts, the perpetrators often go scot-free,reading or misreading the “silence” of theleadership as being tantamount to encour-agement. So while political tempers boil fre-quently, chicanery reigns supreme and ulti-mately, Indian society gets even morewounded and regressed. Concurrently,the symbols of the law of the land getdiminished in the practical sense as indi-viduals/groups take upon themselves thetask of meting out “justice” by taking lawinto their own hands. This dangerouslyweakens and further discredits the requiredfaith in sovereign institutions like policingagencies, judiciary and Governmentaldepartments.

At an extremely pensive juncture of thenational mood, the Prime Minister person-ally intervened to express his displeasureat the rote spectre of whataboutery andready “contexualisation” of the indefensi-ble acts. Recent times have seen multipleinstances of individuals/groups (across allStates with different political dispensationsin-charge) usurping power to ostensiblydeliver instance justice; whilst acting inshades of brazen vigilantism, mobocracyor sheer hooliganism. This time, thePrime Minister reacted with alacrity, seri-ousness and specificity when he termed theconduct of a certain lawmaker “unaccept-able” and added for good measure, “nomatter whose son.”

The fact that the people called out werefrom the ruling party itself made the PrimeMinister’s act even more powerful, impact-ful and potentially transformational. Theentire political drama across the countryhas been embroiled in competitive one-upmanship with basic governance suffer-ing from the lingering hangover of elec-toral passions.

The usual mud-slinging, name-callingor whataboutery that followed such actsmade headlines for a few days but rarelyacted as a deterrent. This time, the messageseemingly was: Thus-far-no-more. This

augurs well for the country asa whole.

Certain people as also insti-tutions should always beexpected to be legally andmorally above board — logical-ly, the law enforcer (policeforces), law interpreter (thejudicial domain) and aboveall, the law-maker (electedMembers of Parliament andState Assemblies). They areexpected to be the first amongequals of the citizenry to per-sonify the Constitutional pro-priety, dignity and rectitude.

On assuming the leader-ship of NDA and the BJP par-liamentary party, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi hadfirst bowed and respectfullytouched his forehead on theConstitution of India — a sym-bolic move to register his rev-erence for the Constitution inthe “temple of democracy.”Sadly, the spirit ofConstitutionality is not demon-strated by some law-makers inmatching measure. This needsto be condemned outright,without fear, favour or selectivebias. Given that any such rep-rehensible act also has anecosystem that supports, breedsand actively encourages theperpetuation of such brazen-ness and lawlessness, it isimperative that the naming-shaming exercise extends to theentirety of such an ecosystem.

Therefore, the yeoman callto expel all those who partookin the unrepentant celebra-tions following the release of

the said law-maker from jail onbail, is far-reaching and veryconsequential in disabling sucha regressive culture and ecosys-tem. For far too long, Indianpolitics has mastered the art ofdeflecting and defending theindefensible, even as primafacie, optics warrant a certainobligatory introspection, if nota graceful acceptance.

The heavily tilted man-date in the recently concludedelections naturally lends itselfto either the undesirable pos-sibility of domineering andpresumptuous conduct bysome of those in the majoritygroup, or the overtly shrill, neg-ative and combative behaviorby those in minority — this inthe functioning of participativedemocracy is often at the costof reason, decorum and consti-tutionality. Therefore, giventhe fractured mood of Indianpolitics, it was imperative thatthe starting point of the “cor-rection” was triggered by insist-ing on putting the ruling housein order so that the nationalleadership cannot be accused ofany political bias or “conspira-cy” in the condemnation.Simultaneously, it puts a moralpressure on all those in theOpposition, too, to follow suit.

The 34-year-old first-timelaw-maker in question repre-sents not just his constituencyor his party, but also a certain“generation” that seeks positivechange, evolution anddynamism of fresh ideas in theIndia of 2019. The onus of

responding to the overwhelm-ing mandate, trust and respon-sibility reposed in the youthcutting across the party lines ofthis “generation” of law-makers,ought to walk-the-talk of“tomorrow” and not that of“yesterday”.

Indeed, there are glaringinefficiencies, sub-optimalcompetencies and ineptitude inthe functioning of various gov-ernmental arms but the onlything worse than that itself isthe smug conviction and thesense of entitlement in takingthe law in one’s own hand. It isin the legit functioning ofdemocracy to ensure that theOpposition plays its invaluablerole of opposing and ques-tioning the Government of theday. Whereas, the Governmentitself needs to simultaneouslyaddress all concerns raisedfairly and squarely, withoutattributing motives. However,the dance of democracy doesnot entitle the members of theruling party or that of theOpposition parties to behave ina manner that is not befittingof their Constitutional expec-tation, irrespective of the partyflag to which such erring mem-bers belong. Hopefully, thistimely intervention by thePrime Minister himself will goa long way in changing thecourse and conduct of ourelected lawmakers.

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islandsand Puducherry)

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Maximum woes” (July 3).Heavy rainfall in the past few dayshas brought life to a standstill forMumbaikars. With climate-change related calamities becom-ing an annual affair now, it is hightime Governments take remedi-al measures to mitigate the manydiscernible negative fallouts. Withfloods wreaking havoc on thelives and livelihoods of people inMumbai, besides exposing thecreaky infrastructure of our citieson a regular basis, scientific man-agement of floods has assumedmuch significance than ever.

KarunaVia email

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Sir — This refers to the report,“Modi slams assault & battery”(July 3). Taking serious note of theincident where BJP national gen-eral secretary KailashVijayvargiya’s son, AkashVijayvargiya, who had beaten amunicipal corporation officialwith a cricket bat during a demo-lition drive in Indore, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi said thatsuch incidents bring a bad nameto the party; that misbehaviourand arrogance were completelyunacceptable; and that such peo-ple, no matter whose son, shouldbe expelled from the party. Akashwas arrested by the police and sent

to judicial custody after the inci-dent but was later granted bail.Prime Minister Modi also calledfor the expulsion of Akash’s sup-porters, who garlanded him onhis release from jail.

Modi’s stand is laudable.However, the vital question is

whether BJP president Amit Shahwill set an example for all politi-cal parties by expelling Akash andhis accomplices from the party,thus sending a strong message topower-drunk legislators.

MC JoshiLucknow

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Sir — This is by no means the first,or even the worst electoral defeatthe Congress has suffered in recentyears but surely, it is the first timethat Rahul Gandhi saw fit tomount the moral high horse andoffer his resignation. While themove was commendable, his pro-longed sulking is not. What doeshis resignation mean? Is it merelyan admission of defeat or a largercourse correction, implying thatthe party needs a better leader?

If Rahul’s resignation stood outfor its candid and earnest tone, itdid not lift the curtain on an ele-ment of enigma that has alwaysenveloped him. Rahul stepped intopublic life reluctantly but immersedhimself in the battle. What was notclear was whether he was throwingdown the gauntlet to those who haddeserted him or if he was hopingto act as a countervailing moralforce, operating outside theprecincts of the party’s organisa-tional apparatus. All soap operasmust lead towards a finale.

JS AcharyaHyderabad

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The sudden death of Mohammad Morsi,Egypt’s first elected Prime Minister, whowas overthrown in a military coup in 2013

and was facing trial for various charges and a 20-year sentence, has once again brought the inter-national media’s focus on the MuslimBrotherhood (MB) — the party Morsi was amember of. The MB was not a new party thathad emerged from the rumblings of the so-called“Arab Spring” in 2011 — an uprising that saw thetoppling of a number of authoritarian regimesacross the Arab world. It was, and still is, one ofthe oldest mainstream “Islamist” outfits in theMiddle East, which succeeded in coming topower in Egypt in 2012 through a general elec-tion.

The MB members also managed to win thelargest percentage of votes — 37.4 per cent —during the 2011 Tunisia election as the EnnahdaParty. Turkey’s Justice & Development Party(AKP), which has been winning elections since2002, is often understood to be the Turkish ver-sion of MB. According to Fait Muedini’s The Roleof Religion in the Arab Spring, the MB only playeda “limited role” during the Arab Spring. Muediniwrites that MB didn’t want to overplay its“Islamist” credentials during the unrest, whichcould have made it convenient for the state andGovernment in Egypt and Tunisia to denouncethe uprisings as “Islamist.” This way, the protestsmay have lost international support.

As the ruling parties weakened and disinte-grated during the protests, new parties emerged,but they were not as organised as the MB. Overthe decades, the MB had established widespreadpolitical and social networks, which helped it winthe largest number of votes during the first post-Arab Spring elections in Egypt and Tunisia.Professor Edip Asaf of Istanbul University writesin an essay that the MB looked towards Turkey’sAKP “as an example”. He echoes French politi-cal scientist and author Oliver Roy’s assertion thatthe AKP’s “Turkish model” became popularamong Islamic outfits such as the MB in theirbid to become part of the political mainstream,without overtly flexing their “Islamist” muscle.

Refuting the influential American academ-ic Samuel Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilisations’hypothesis — which could not find any cultur-al or political common ground between the‘authoritarian Muslim world’ and the democra-tic West — the AKP and the MB responded witha new paradigm: Clash within civilisations. Thisdifferentiated between moderate, democraticMuslim forces and the radical and reactionaryones.

According to this paradigm, the friction andtension within the Muslim world (between themoderates and the radicals) had producedpolitical phenomena such as Turkey’s AKP andlater, the democratic coming to power of the MBin Egypt and the Ennahda Party in Tunisia. Thesewere Islamic outfits, who agreed to become inclu-sive, and focussed more on addressing econom-ic issues rather than on the imposition of reli-gious laws.

But the AKP had evolved in a staunchly sec-ular Muslim republic. The many movements,which preceded the formation of the AKP, werenon-militant and accepted the principles ofTurkish nationalism, established during the

formation of the modern Turkishrepublic in 1923 by Ataturk.

Even though the MB had decidedto let go of its militant tendencies in the1970s, it could not entirely alter the per-ception that the party remained root-ed in the ideas of one of its most cele-brated heroes, Sayyid Qutb, who wasexecuted in 1966 for allegedly plottingthe assassination of the then EgyptianPresident Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Interestingly, the MB was estab-lished in Egypt in 1928 as a movementinspired by Muslim Modernism andPan-Islamism. Muslim modernism hadbeen developing ever since the mid-19th century as a way to address the riseof European colonialism through theadoption of modern sciences and eco-nomics. Muslim Modernism advocat-ed the readjustment of Islamic tradi-tions and polities through “modernist”tools such as pragmatism, rationalism,science, capitalism and/or socialism.

Pan-Islamism, on the other hand,wanted to do this to help the Muslimsgain ascendency in colonial conditions,and once in, dismantle Western colo-nial supremacy and carve out a mod-ern universal Islamic caliphate.According to Malise Ruthven, in Islamin the World, the MB became more con-servative and militant once variousreformist ideas of Muslim modernismbegan being adopted by various non-religious Muslim leaders and outfits.

By the 1940s, the MB was beingaccused for organising assassinationsand bomb attacks against colonialBritish officials in Egypt and the coun-try’s monarch. In 1948, an MB mem-ber assassinated the country’s Prime

Minister. However, in 1949, MB’sfounder Hassan Al-Banna was killed ina retaliatory strike by Egypt’s secretpolice.

According to HM Hamouda’s 1985tome, Secrets of the Movement of FreeOfficers, the free officers movement,which toppled the Egyptian monarchyin 1952 and ousted the British, wasformed within the MB. According to anessay by Selma Botman in the 1986 edi-tion of Middle Eastern Studies, anti-monarchy and anti-British Egyptianofficers had used the secret networkconstructed by the MB to facilitate theirattempt to take over power.

However, by 1954, the now-in-power free officers movement clashedwith the MB, accusing it of trying toassassinate Nasser. MB denounced thenew Government as being “anti-Islam”and “secular.” Hundreds of MB leaderswere arrested and jailed.

One such leader was Qutb, an unas-suming man, who had joined MBafter returning from a trip to the US.Influenced by the writings of contro-versial French eugenicist and allegedNazi sympathiser Alexis Carrel — whooften attacked Western modernity —and by the prolific South Asian Islamicscholar Abul Ala Maududi, who haddescribed modernity as modern-day“jahiliya,” Qutb advocated an armedsocial and political struggle against thisjahiliya.

Many MB activists escaped arrestand were given asylum by Saudi Arabia.After Nasser’s death in 1970 and Egypt’srestoration of friendly ties with the USand Saudi Arabia, hundreds of MBmembers were allowed to return to the

country. MB decided to renounce vio-lence and enter mainstream politics.Disagreeing with this resolution andangered by Egypt’s recognition of Israelin 1979, two groups separated from MB.They insisted on following Qutb’steachings. One such faction assassinat-ed Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in1981.

Nevertheless, the MB as a wholecontinued on its “mainstream” path. Butthe MB is condemned by its own his-tory. Those who came out to protestagainst the Morsi regime claimed that,no matter how “moderate” it pretendsto be, MB’s end goal remains theenactment of a totalitarian theocracy.The opponents of this view bemoanthat the coup against Morsi marked theend of a unique experiment in whicha once-militant Islamist outfit waswilling to take a more pluralistic anddemocratic path.

MB’s erstwhile backers, the Saudimonarchy, disagreed. In an environ-ment of monarchy-backed reform with-in the kingdom, it now sees MB as adangerous impediment, which can useits vast network across the Arab worldto undermine Saudi influence andtrigger populist uprisings, including onein the kingdom.

Either MB will look to furthermodify its course to prove that it is nomore a theocratic threat or a democ-ratic ruse, or it may restore its militanttendencies. But I believe the latter is notpossible in a world where there will notbe a Saudi Arabia or a US welcomingescaping MB cadres from the arm of theEgyptian state.

(The Dawn)

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Amid all the noise arising fromthe recent farmers’ agitations,the remarkable growth story of

the dairy sector seems to have escapednotice. Milk production has beengrowing at over six per cent per annumduring the last five years, thus con-tributing to enhancing farmers’income, reducing rural poverty,empowering women and strengthen-ing farm resilience to climate change.It also ensures national food and nutri-tional security besides generatingemployment. With a total milk pro-duction of 176.3 MT during 2017-18and a growing milk production base,it is natural to ask whether the six percent plus growth is sustainable.

The growth of the dairy sector isprimarily propelled by demand-ledfactors on account of increasing pop-

ulation, urbanisation, disposal incomesand shift in dietary habits of anincreasingly health conscious popula-tion. It also depends on the supplyresponse from millions of small milkproducers, aided by various public-funded programmes that are aimed atenhancing milch animal productivi-ty and providing market access to alarge number of milk producersthrough village-level producers-ownedinstitutions (PoIs). The focus in thenext phase of growth should be onenhancing efficiencies, introducinginnovative technologies and openingnew opportunities for milk producers.

Recognising the role of animalhusbandry and dairying in contribut-ing towards the growth of farmers’income and employment, theGovernment constituted a separateMinistry of Fisheries, AnimalHusbandry and Dairying. This was alandmark move. The CentralGovernment’s announcement of a�13,343 crore scheme to control anderadicate Foot and Mouth Disease(FMD) and Brucellosis through massvaccination as also the creation of aDairy Infrastructure Development

Fund with a corpus of �8,004 crore lastyear, is a testimony to the priority itaccords to the dairy sector.

RELEVANCE OF POIS As small animal holders constitute

the bed rock of Indian milk produc-tion system, it is important that theyget a remunerative price for a highlyperishable commodity like milk. Thisis possible by organising village-levelPoIs so as to pool the milk procuredfrom producing members in a fair andtransparent manner. PoIs help farm-ers get remunerative price for the milkand provide them assured marketaccess. As per estimates by theNational Dairy Development Board(NDDB), there are more than one lakhvillages which remain to be covered byPoIs. NDDB and its associate organ-isations have already initiated pro-grammes in recent years to set up vil-lage-level institutions in less dairydeveloped regions. A time-boundaction plan to provide market accessto milk producers in less dairy devel-oped regions, including aspirationaldistricts, needs to be implemented inthe next phase of dairy development.

As it is, it is the women members,

who take care of dairying. Theirdirect representation in PoIs — bothin governance and management —will not only strengthen gender par-ticipation but also encourage socio-economic change. The sterling perfor-mance of a large number of all-women village-level institutions as wellas large dairy cooperatives/milk pro-ducer firms is testimony to the fact thatwomen participation can promote sus-tained growth of the dairy sector.

PRODUCTIVITY GAPS Animal breeding: Milch animal

productivity in India is very low(total cows — 4.5 kg/day, indigenouscows — 2.9 kg/day and buffaloes 5.5kg/day) as compared to other coun-tries. This is particularly true forindigenous breeds, on whose develop-ment the present Government isfocussing on in the interest of inclu-sive and climate-resilient growth ofdairying. A majority of these animalsare with small and marginal farmers,particularly in backward areas.Therefore, a multi-pronged approachto fast-track genetic progress of thisclass of animals should be taken up.This includes greater artificial insem-

ination coverage; production andpropagation of better genetics andgermplasm; introduction of AdvancedReproductive Technologies such as in-vitro embryo production and transfer;genomic selection of animals; indi-genisation of sex semen sorting tech-nologies; R&D efforts on cloning andsynthetic gamete production. This willhelp in leapfrogging genetic progressof our indigenous breeds like Gir,Sahiwal and Tharparkar. TheGovernment has already initiatedthese programmes under the NationalDairy Plan and is now implementingthe Rashtriya Gokul Mission.

Animal nutrition: Feed and fod-der constitute about 75 per cent of thecost of milk production. Will naturalresource constraints come in the wayof our continuing march in milk pro-duction growth? The good news is thatin our country, mostly crop residuesand agricultural by-products are usedas animal feed. There remains a hugeuntapped potential of unutilised bio-mass, which along with the adoptionof better technologies in securing,enriching, densifying and conservingthe existing biomass, can be a source

of nutritious feed to our milch animals.However, the Government shouldbring in a comprehensive “animal feedregulation” to ensure availability ofquality and cost-effective feed.

Animal’s health is farmers’wealth: It is time that a cost-effectiveand efficacious preventive and cura-tive animal healthcare system is put inplace to control and eradicate animaldiseases through mass vaccination andpromotion of Ethno VeterinaryMedicines, based on ayurvedic prin-ciples to treat animal diseases. TheUnion Cabinet’s allocation of �13,343crore to fully control FMD andBrucellosis in the next five years is wel-come. These diseases have directimpact in declining milk production,adversely impact animal and humanhealth and our dairy exports.Implementation of the scheme willrequire coordinated efforts.

Human resources and data-dri-ven dairying: All interventions toexpand market access and introduceproductivity enhancement measuresare not achievable unless PoIs and vet-erinary institutions have trained andqualified human resources. If our dairy

sector has to grow, focus needs to beon training existing manpower andcapacity-building of PoIs on a sus-tained basis. Use of ICT tools and sys-tems, both in creation of a national ani-mal data base to ensure animal iden-tification and traceability and toensure transparent milk procurementsystems, will make our small holderdairy system viable, efficient, transpar-ent, accountable and sustainable.

Public funding: As the dairy andanimal husbandry sector has thepotential to play a significant role indriving growth, employment andincomes in rural India, adequate bud-getary allocation is needed. Providinginterest subventions to PoIs tostrengthen and expand their process-ing infrastructure and announce-ment of a major animal disease con-trol scheme by the Union Cabinet arewelcome measures. Sourcing ODAassistance from bilateral and multilat-eral funding agencies such as JICA andWorld Bank for our dairy sector canbe explored by the Government to sus-tain the growth momentum.

(The writer is Chairman, NationalDairy Development Board)

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Guided by the dictum of“blue sky thinking”, theEconomic Survey 2018-

19 Thursday laid out the ambi-tious agenda of applying prin-ciples of behavioural econom-ics to achieve 8 per cent of sus-tained GDP growth to makeIndia a USD 5-trillion econo-my by 2024-25.

The Economic Survey2018-19, tabled in Parliament,is the first for the new govern-ment, which came to powerwith an overwhelming man-date.

“With the aspirations thathave been kindled among ourpredominantly young popula-

tion, India stands at a historicmoment when sustained higheconomic growth has becomea national imperative,” Chief

Economic AdviserKrishnamurthy VSubramanian said in his pref-ace to the Survey.

Prime Minister NarendraModi has already laid down thevision of India becoming aUSD 5-trillion economy by2025.

Imbued by the power ofthe opportunity that beckons,he said the team for EconomicSurvey 2018-19 has been guid-ed by “blue sky thinking.”

‘Blue sky thinking’ refers touninhibited approach toachieve goals.

“The Survey adopts anunfettered approach in think-ing about the appropriate eco-nomic model for India. This

endeavour is reflected in thesky blue cover of the Survey,”the CEA said.

The sky blue cover design

captures the idea of comple-mentary inter-linkages betweenthese macroeconomic variablesusing the pictorial descriptionof several inter-linked gears.

The last survey prepared byformer CEA ArvindSubramanian had a cover pagein pink to show support forwomen empowerment fromthe finance ministry.

To achieve the vision of‘Economy@5trillion’, Indianeeds to shift its gears to accel-erate and sustain a real GDPgrowth rate of 8 per cent, hesaid.

“The Survey departs fromtraditional thinking by viewingthe economy as being either ina virtuous or a vicious cycle,

and thus never in equilibrium.“Rather than viewing the

national priorities of fosteringeconomic growth, demand,

exports and job creation as sep-arate problems, the Surveyviews these macroeconomicphenomena as complemen-tary to each other,”Subramanian said.

According to him, thecover design captures the ideaof complementary inter-link-ages between these macroeco-nomic variables using the pic-torial description of severalinter-linked gears.

The CEA further said thatgiven India’s rich cultural andspiritual heritage, social normsplay an important role in shap-ing the behaviour of each oneof us.

Behavioural economicsprovides the necessary tools

and principles to not onlyunderstand how norms affectbehaviour but also to utilisethese norms to effect behav-ioural change.

“The Survey, therefore, laysout an ambitious agenda forbehavioural change by applyingthe principles of behaviouraleconomics to several issuesincluding gender equality, ahealthy and beautiful India,savings, tax compliance andcredit quality,” he said.

Volume I of the Survey,which attempts to capture “bluesky thinking”, provides evi-dence-based economic analy-ses of recent economic devel-opments to enable informedpolicymaking.

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There is a need to address the“burgeoning food subsidy

bill” in order to sustain the gov-ernment’s food security pro-gramme for the poor, theEconomic Survey saidThursday.

The government, in itsinterim budget presented inFebruary, had pegged foodsubsidy bill at Rs 1,84,220 crorefor 2019-20 as against Rs1,71,298 crore last year.

“For sustainability of foodsecurity operations, the issue ofburgeoning food subsidy billneeds to be addressed. ...Therationalisation of food sub-sidy and greater use of technol-ogy in food management willensure food security for all,” thesurvey, presented inParliament, said.

The food subsidy bill has“risen substantially” over theyears because of widening of

the gap between the econom-ic cost and the central issueprice (CIP) of foodgrains underthe National Food SecurityAct (NFSA).

The economic cost is theexpenditure incurred by thecentral government on pro-curement of wheat and rice atthe minimum support price(MSP) and storage. Whereasthe CIP is the subsidised rate atwhich the grain is sold to thepoor. Under the NFSA, thegovernment is providing food-grains at a highly subsidised(CIP) rate of Rs 1-3 per kg tomore than 80 crore poor peo-ple in the country.

The economic cost ofwheat has increased from Rs19/kg in 2013-14 to Rs 24.35/kgin 2018-19 on account of sharphike in MSP over the years.Similarly, the economic cost ofrice has gone up from Rs26.15/kg to Rs 34.72/kg in thesame period. “However, the

CIP of wheat and rice forNFSA beneficiaries has notbeen revised from Rs2/kg incase of wheat and Rs3/kg incase of rice,” the EconomicSurvey 2018-19 said.

These rates were fixedunder the NFSA initially for aperiod of three years from thedate of commencement of theAct (July 13, 2013). But theNDA government has notrevised it.

The NFSA provides awider coverage than the erst-while Targeted PublicDistribution System (TPDS)and with lower CIPs have obvi-ous implications for the foodsubsidy bill, it noted.

According to the survey,PDS has become more trans-parent at Fair Price Shops(FPSs) through technologyintervention. However, it saidthere is a need for “holisticmonitoring” along the supplychain to completely prevent the

diversions and leakages offoodgrains and also to maintainthe quality of foodgrains dis-tributed through FPS.

There are 5.33 lakh FPSsand over 23 crore ration cardholders in the country as onMarch 2019.

About 3.95 lakh FPSs havebeen automated by installingthe electronic point of saledevice. “However, the level ofcomputerization of FPSs acrossStates is not uniform,” the sur-vey added.

It also emphasised the needto further improve the manage-ment of food supply in variousaspects in view of lower scoreand rank of India in the FoodSecurity Index 2018.

“India’s food security chal-lenges lie in the areas of lowGDP per capita, sufficiency ofsupply, public expenditure onresearch and development(R&D) and protein quality,” thesurvey added.

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The gross tax to GDP ratiodeclined to 10.9 per cent in

2018-19 as indirect tax rev-enues fell short of budget esti-mates by about 16 per cent, dueto shortfall in Goods andServices Tax (GST) mop up, theEconomic Survey said.

The survey, authored byChief Economic AdvisorKrishnamurthy Subramanian,also suggested that the cooper-ative federalism as depicted bythe GST Council can be replicat-ed in labour and land regulation.

In 2018-19, direct taxesgrew by 13.4 per cent owing toimproved performance of cor-porate tax. However, indirecttaxes fell short of budget esti-mates by about 16 per cent, fol-lowing a shortfall in GST rev-enues as compared to the bud-get estimates.

“Accordingly, gross tax rev-enue as a proportion of GDP

declined to 10.9 per cent of GDPin 2018-19, lower by 0.3 percent-age points as compared to 2017-18,” said the survey tabled inParliament by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman.

The Government had bud-geted to collect Rs 11.50 lakhcrore from direct taxes and Rs7.43 lakh crore from GST in2018-19. The survey said thoughthere has been improvement intax to GDP ratio over the last sixyears, gross tax revenues as aproportion of GDP has declinedby 0.3 percentage points in2018-19 over 2017-18.

“Indirect taxes have fallenby 0.4 percentage points ofGDP primarily due to shortfallin GST collections. This hasbeen partly offset by 0.1 percent-age points increase in directtaxes,” it said adding that GSTcollections are yet to stabilise.

Revenue buoyancy of GSTwill be key to improve theresource position of both cen-

tral and State governments, thesurvey said.

The survey further notedthat fiscal federalism strength-ened significantly when the14th Finance Commissionincreased the share of states inthe divisible pool of centraltaxes from 32 per cent to 42 percent. “Niti Aayog has helpedinstitutionalise cooperative fed-eralism by setting up teamsfrom both the states and thecentral government to jointlyevolve strategies for addressingdevelopment challenges. Stateshave also been involved in afriendly competition to improvetheir Key PerformanceIndicators (KPIs),” the surveysaid.

Stating that the launch ofthe GST in July, 2017, added anew dimension to centre-stateand inter-state financial rela-tions, the survey said “the GSTCouncil experience provideskey learning for implementing

cooperative federalism in sever-al other areas such as labour andland regulation”.

In the run-up to the imple-mentation of India’s biggestindirect tax overhaul Goodsand Services Tax on July 1, 2017,the Centre and states had agreedto set up a GST Council, chairedby Union Finance Minister andcomprising finance ministers ofall states.

The introduction of theGST represented an instancewhere policymakers exhibitedthe appetite to introduce boldreform by eschewing loss aver-sion, the survey said.

Stating that introductionof GST barely increased the eco-nomic policy uncertaintydespite the enormous changethat it entailed, the survey said“this illustrates that path-break-ing reforms that are consistentwith a well-articulated vision donot create as much disruption assome people may fear”.

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India needs to have a well-designed minimum wage

system, which would decreasewage inequality, alleviate pover-ty and bring inclusive growthespecially at lower levels,according to the EconomicSurvey 2018-19.

According to the Surveytabled in Parliament Thursday,over the last 70 years, the min-imum wage system in India hasexpanded and become com-plex. The first set of complex-ities arises from issues relatingto its coverage.

“A well-designed mini-mum wage system can be a

potent tool for protecting work-ers and alleviating poverty, if setat an appropriate level thatensures compliance.International experience hasshown that relatively simplesystems are more effective andusually complex systems areleast effective,” the documentstated.

The well-designed wagesystem would remove wageinequality especially at lowerlevels and among women whoconstitute majority of bottomrungs of wage distribution.

Today, there are nearly 429scheduled employments and1,915 scheduled job categoriesfor unskilled workers. This

massive expansion in job cat-egories and wage rates has ledto major variations not onlyacross states but also withinstates. The Survey pointed outthat one in every three wageworkers in India is not protect-ed by the minimum wage law.

It suggested that minimumwages should be fixed for fourcategories namely, unskilled,semi-skilled, skilled and high-ly skilled based on the geo-graphical region and shouldcover all workers, irrespectiveof any wage ceilings.

As per the document, asimple, coherent and enforce-able minimum wage systemshould be designed with the aid

of technology as minimumwages push wages up andreduce wage inequality withoutsignificantly affecting employ-ment. An effective minimumwage policy is a potential toolnot only for the protection oflow paid workers but is also aninclusive mechanism for moreresilient and sustainable eco-nomic development.

The document pitched forthe Code on Wages Bill, whichwas approved by the UnionCabinet Wednesday for intro-duction and passage in theParliament. The governmentintends to push the bill for pas-sage in the ongoing session ofthe Parliament. The Survey

said the rationalisation of min-imum wages as proposedunder the Code on Wages Billneeds to be supported.

This code amalgamates theMinimum Wages Act, 1948, thePayment of Wages Act, 1936,the Payment of Bonus Act,1965 and the EqualRemuneration Act, 1976 into asingle piece of legislation.

It suggested that the defi-nition of wage in the new leg-islation should subsume thepresent situation of 12 differentdefinitions of wages in differ-ent Labour Acts.

It also said,”the central gov-ernment should notify anational floor minimum wage”

that can vary broadly acrossfive geographical regions.Thereafter, states can fix theirminimum wages at levels notlower than the “floor wage”.

This would bring someuniformity in minimum wagesacross the country and wouldmake all states almost equallyattractive from the point ofview of labour cost for invest-ment as well as reduce distressmigration.”

It said the Code on WagesBill should consider fixingminimum wages based oneither of the two factors — theskilled category i.e. unskilled,semi-skilled, skilled and high-ly skilled, and the geographi-

cal region — or else both asthis key change would substan-tially reduce the number ofminimum wages in the coun-try. The proposed Code onWages Bill should extendapplicability of minimumwages to allemployments/workers in allsectors and should cover bothorganized as well as the unor-ganized sectors, it said.

The Survey also said amechanism should be devel-oped to adjust minimumwages regularly and more fre-quently.

A national level dashboardcan be created at the Centrewith access to state govern-

ments whereby states can reg-ularly update the notificationsregarding minimum wages. This portal must be madeavailable at Common ServiceCentres (CSCs), rural ‘haats’etc, with the required massmedia coverage so that theworkers are well informedabout their bargaining skillsand decision-making power isstrengthened, it said.

There should be an easy toremember toll-free number toregister grievance on non-pay-ment of the statutory mini-mum wages. It should be givenwide-publicity to provide low-paid workers a forum to voicetheir grievance, it added.

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The government is expectedto further ease the foreign

direct investment (FDI) normswith a view to bridge thewidening current accountdeficit (CAD), according to theEconomic Survey 2018-19.

“Government policies areexpected to further lift restric-tions on FDI inflows, whichwill continue to increase thestability of sources fundingthe current account deficit,” thesurvey, tabled in the parliamentThursday.

It said that from a macro-economic perspective, the dete-rioration of CAD may be con-tained if consumption slows in

the economy while increase ininvestment and exportsbecome the new drivers of theIndian economy.

The deficit increased toUSD 57.2 billion or 2.1 per centof gross domestic product(GDP) in 2018-19 as against 1.8per cent in the previous year.

The CAD, which is the netof foreign exchange inflows andoutflows, had stood at USD48.7 billion in 2017-18.

It said the widening ofCAD has been driven by adeterioration of trade deficitfrom 6 per cent of GDP to 6.7per cent across the two years.

Rise in crude prices in thefourth quarter of 2018-19 anda decline in the growth of

merchandise exports have ledto the deterioration of tradedeficit, it added. FDI inflowsinto India have dipped margin-ally by one per cent to USD44.37 billion in 2018-19.

The survey stated thatamong the major economiesrunning current accountdeficit, India is the largest for-eign exchange reserve holderand eighth-largest among allcountries of the world.

“India’s external debt wasUSD 521.1 billion at end-December 2018, 1.6 per centlower than its level at end-March 2018. The key externaldebt indicators reflect thatIndia’s external debt is notunsustainable,” it added.

Further, talking aboutIndia’s exports, it said the com-position of exports and importbasket has almost remainedunchanged in 2018-19 over2017-18.

Petroleum products, pre-cious stones, drug formula-tions, gold and other preciousmetals continue to be topexport items. Crude petroleum,pearl, precious, semi-preciousstones and gold remain as topimport items.

“Heightened US-Chinatrade tensions has been statedas one of the reasons behindthe global slowdown that hasspilled into other economiesincluding India through thechannel of exports,” it said.>� �� 1��2�� !��4567+68*�� &�� *��

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The country’s inflation ratehas moved to a more sta-

ble and low level in the lastfive fiscals, and controllingprice surge remains a key pol-icy focus area of the govern-ment, the Economic Survey for 2018-19 saidThursday.

Retail inflation based onconsumer price index -Combined (CPI-C) fell to3.4 per cent in 2018-19 from3.6 per cent in 2017-18, 4.5per cent in 2016-17, 4.9 percent 2015-16 and 5.9 percent in 2014-15, theEconomic Survey 2018-19,

tabled by Finance andCorporate Affairs MinisterNirmala Sitharaman inParliament, said.

Retail inflation duringthe first month of the currentfiscal stood at 2.9 per cent,down from 4.6 per cent a yearago.

Food inflation based onConsumer Food Price Index(CFPI) declined to a low of0.1 per cent during the finan-cial year 2018-19, the surveysaid.

“The Economic Surveystates that the economy wit-nessed a gradual transitionfrom a period of high andvariable inflation to more

stable and low level of infla-tion in the last five years.

“The government hastaken a number of measuresto control inflation speciallyfood inflation,” as per the sur-vey.

Controll ing inf lationremains a key area of policyfocus and the general mea-sures such as regular moni-toring of inflation, issuingadvisories to states againsthoarding and black market-ing, holding regular reviewmeetings on prices and avail-ability of key commoditieswere taken to keep inflationin check, the survey said.

Higher Minimum

Support Prices (MSPs) forpulses and other crops toincentivise production andsett ing up of Pr iceStabilisation Fund (PSF) forprocurement of agri-horticul-tural commodities are amongthe other steps taken.

Specific measures suchas releasing onions at reason-able prices, utilisation of puls-es from buffer for strategicmarket interventions and tomeet the requirements of theArmy and Central Para-Military Forces were amongthe specific measures takenby the government, accordingto the survey.

The survey also finds that

food inf lat ion in the country has been extremelybenign.

“Average food inflationfor the financial year 2018-19declined to a low of 0.1 percent. The food deflation inthe second half of 2018-19 ismainly due to deflation invegetables, fruits, pulses andproducts, sugar and confec-tionary and eggs, whichtogether account for 13.1 percent rate in overall CPI-C,”the survey said.

The year also witnessedreduction in both rural andurban inflation, while manystates witnessed fall in retailinflation.

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Data “of the people, by the people, forthe people” must become the mantra

for the government, which needs to viewdata as a “public good” and make neces-sary investments, Economic Survey said onThursday. The Economic Survey for 2018-19 asserted that benefits of creating data asa public good can be generated within thelegal framework of data privacy.

It emphasised that the data and infor-mation highway must be viewed as equallyimportant infrastructure as the physicalhighways.

“Such a stance can help India leapfrog

to utilise the benefits of technologicaladvances for the welfare of its people. Inthe spirit of the Constitution of India, data‘of the people, by the people, for the peo-ple’ must therefore become the mantra forthe government,” it said in a full chapterdedicated to data.

It noted that India, through uniqueidentification programme Aadhaar, hasbeen at the forefront of data and technolo-gy revolution which is unfolding.

The Survey said that since data forsocial welfare may not be generated by theprivate sector in optimal quantity, the gov-ernment needs to view data as a publicgood and make the necessary investments.

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US tariffs against Chinamust be lifted for the two

sides to reach a deal to end thetrade war, the Chinese com-merce ministry said onThursday.

Trade teams from theworld’s top two economies“have maintained communi-cation”, ministry spokesmanGao Feng said, days after pres-idents Donald Trump and XiJinping announced a truce.

“The United States’ unilat-eral tariff increase on China’sexports to the United States isthe starting point for the Sino-US economic and trade fric-tions,” Gao said at a weeklypress briefing.

“If the two sides can reachan agreement, the tariffsimposed must be completelyeliminated. China’s attitudetoward this is clear and con-sistent,” Gao said.

The countries haveexchanged tariffs on $360 bil-lion in two-way trade andnegotiations broke down inMay after the United Statesaccused China of reneging onits commitments.

Trump and Xi agreed at theG20 in Japan on Saturday torevive negotiations.

The US leader said hewould not slap new tariffs onChinese exports and suggestedhe could take a softer stance on Chinese telecom giantHuawei, which he has movedto blacklist.

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Iran’s President warned thatTehran will increase its

enrichment of uranium to “anyamount that we want” begin-ning on Sunday, putting furtherpressure on European nationsto save its faltering nuclear dealand offer a way around intenseU.S. Sanctions.

President HassanRouhani’s threat, combinedwith Iran surpassing the stock-pile limits of the 2015 atomicaccord, could narrow the esti-mated one-year window itwould need to produce enoughmaterial for a nuclear weapon,something Iran denies it wantsbut the deal sought to prevent.

But as tensions rise a yearafter President Donald Trumpunilaterally withdrew Americafrom the deal, it looks unlike-ly that Europe can offer Iran away to sell its oil on the glob-al market despite U.S.Sanctions.

All this comes the U.S.Has rushed an aircraft carrier,B-52 bombers and F-22 fight-ers to the region and Iran

recently shot down a U.S. Military surveillance

drone.“Be careful with the threats,

Iran. They can come back tobite you like nobody has beenbitten before!” Trump tweetedin response to Rouhani’s warn-ing.

On Wednesday, Iran alsomarked the anniversary of theU.S. Navy shooting down anIranian passenger jet in 1988,a mistake that killed 290 peo-ple and shows the danger ofmiscalculation in the currentcrisis.

“The Trump administra-tion is pushing the center ofIranian politics to the right atthe determent of the Iranianpeople and the entire region,”said Ali Vaez, an Iran analystfor the International CrisisGroup. “Rouhani is clearly atthe end of his rope and has nochoice other than green light-ing further escalation.”

Rouhani, still viewed insideIran as a relatively moderatecleric in the country’s Shiitetheocracy, has taken an increas-ingly hard-line tone in hisremarks to the West.

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Britain is keeping its optionsopen, including slapping

sanctions on China over itstreatment of pro-democracyprotesters in Hong Kong,Foreign Secretary Jeremy Huntwarned on Thursday, amidst thewar of words between Beijingand London over the issue.

Hundreds of thousands ofHong Kongers have taken to thestreets in recent weeks over aproposed extradition bill whichChina critics fear would beused by Beijing to go after political dissidents in HongKong, a former British colony.

On Monday, student pro-testers stormed and brieflyoccupied the city’s legislature,causing widespread damage tothe building before retreating.

Beijing has hit out at the UKover accusations of “interfer-ence” in the domestic affairs ofthe semi-autonomous Chinesecity, after British ForeignSecretary Hunt expressed sup-port for Hong Kong protestersand said London would standby the city in preserving its lim-

ited democratic freedoms.Reaffirming his tough

stand, Hunt on Thursdaywarned China that it could face“serious consequences” over itstreatment of protesters in HongKong.

Hunt told the BBC that hewas keeping his options openover how the UK could respond,and refused to rule out sanc-tions. Hunt said he would notdiscuss any potential conse-quences “because you don’twant to provoke the very situ-ation you are trying to avoid”.

“Of course you keep youroptions open,” he added, insist-ing the UK would not just“gulp and move on” if Chinacracks down on protesters in theformer British colony.

Hunt said he “condemnedall violence” but warned theChinese government not torespond to the protests “byrepression”.

Hong Kong was a Britishcolony for more than 150 years,but it was returned to China in1997 after a treaty was signed bythe two countries.

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China bluntly told Britain onWednesday to “refrain from

further interference” andLondon summoned Beijing’sembassador for a dressing downin a rapidly-escalating diplo-matic feud over Hong Kong.

The protests sweeping theformer British colony have alsorevived tensions inherent inthe two sides’ historic agreementon the global financial hub’s ha-ndover to Chinese rule 22 yearsago. Hong Kong was meant tocontinue enjoying broad free-doms under the “one country,two systems” approach firstadopted by China in the 1980s.

But fears and frustrationsover Beijing’s gradual tighteningof those rules spilled over intomass demonstrations against anow-stalled draft law on HongKong residents’ extradition toChina.

They also saw UK ForeignSecretary Jeremy Hunt -- one oftwo candidates to becomeBritain’s next prime minister --take the global lead in con-

demning China’s entireapproach to its “special admin-istrative region”.

Hunt called on Beijing notto use the protests as a “pretextfor repressions” and warned of“serious consequences” if Chinabreaches the commitments itmade to London decades ago.

His comments provoked acascade of condemnations fromChina that began with its for-eign ministry in Beijing andcontinued with its embassy inLondon.

“He seems to be fantasisingin the faded glory of Britishcolonialism and in the badhabit of gesticulating whilelooking down on other coun-tries’ affairs,” Chinese foreignministry spokesman GengShuang told a regular briefing inBeijing.

“I need to re-emphasisethat Hong Kong has nowreturned to its motherland.”

The diplomatic offensiveraged on at a hastily-convenedpress conference in London byChinese ambassador LiuXiaoming.

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Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan said a solu-

tion could be found to helpMuslims interned in Chinesecamps “taking into account thesensitivities” of both sides, incomments published Thursday.

Turkey is one of the onlyMuslim-majority countries tohave criticised China over thedetention of an estimated onemillion ethnic Uighurs andother mostly Muslim minoritiesin the restive Xinjiang province.

But Erdogan struck a soft-er tone after meeting ChinesePresident Xi Jinping on Tuesdayin Beijing.

“I believe we can find asolution to the issue taking intoaccount the sensitivities of bothsides,” Erdogan told Turkishjournalists in Beijing beforeflying back to Turkey, accordingto Hurriyet daily.

Chinese state mediaclaimed Erdogan said ethnicminorities live happily inXinjiang, but he made no such

comments to Turkish reporters.He warned against those

who sought to “abuse” theXinjiang issue to create tensionswith China, a key investor andtrading partner.

“This abuse is having anegative impact on Turkish-Chinese relations. It is necessarythat we do not give opportuni-ty to such abuse,” Erdogan said.

He added that Turkey could“send a delegation to EastTurkestan”, the name given byactivists to Xinjiang.

The president’s communi-cations director, Fahrettin Altun,tweeted on Wednesday that theinvitation came from theChinese side.

Erdogan told his Chinesecounterpart that Turkey’s “solewish was for Uighurs in Chinato live in peace and prosperity,”Altun wrote.

China denies holding peo-ple against their will in what itdescribes as “vocational educa-tion centres” aimed at steeringcitizens away from religiousextremism.

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Malaysia’s anti-graft agencysaid Thursday it has

detained Riza Aziz, the stepsonof former Prime Minister NajibRazak and a Hollywood filmproducer, and will charge himwith money laundering.

A n t i - C o r r u p t i o nCommission chief LatheefaKoya said Riza was picked upThursday but has been releasedon bail.

“He has to appear before thecourt tomorrow to face chargesunder AMLA,” she said, refer-ring to the Anti-MoneyLaundering, Anti-TerrorismFinancing and Proceeds ofUnlawful Activities Act 2001.She declined to give details.

Riza was quizzed last July by the agency over alleged theft and money laundering atthe 1MDB state investmentfund.

US investigators say Riza’scompany, Red Granite PicturesInc., used money stolen from1MDB to finance Hollywoodfilms including the MartinScorsese-directed “The Wolf ofWall Street.” Red Granite has

paid the U.S. Government $60million to settle claims it bene-fited from the 1MDB scandal.

Alleged corruption at the1MDB fund helped bring on theunexpected defeat of Najib’scoalition in May 9 polls last year.The new government reopenedinvestigations that were stifledwhile Najib was in office.

Najib is currently on trialfor alleged criminal breach oftrust, abuse of power andmoney laundering linked to1MDB. He denies the charges.His wife, Rosmah Mansor, alsohas pleaded not guilty to moneylaundering and tax evasionrelated to 1MDB but her trialdate has not been set.

Najib’s daughter, NooryanaNajwa, slammed the legal actionagainst her brother. “Despite thesettlement in the U.S. And thefact that alleged wrongdoingsoccurred entirely outside ofMalaysia, the MACC decides topress charges after a whole yearof leaving this case in cold stor-age. He is not a criminal,” shewrote on Instagram, accompa-nied by a picture of her withRiza taken earlier Thursdaybefore his arrest.

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An appeals court onWednesday upheld a freeze

on Pentagon money to build aborder wall with Mexico, cast-ing doubt on President DonaldTrump’s ability to make goodon a signature campaignpromise before the 2020 elec-tion.

A divided three-judgepanel of the 9th U.S. CircuitCourt of Appeals in SanFrancisco agreed with a lowercourt ruling that preventedthe government from tappingDefense Department counter-drug money to build high-pri-ority sections of wall inArizona, California and NewMexico.

The decision is a setback

for Trump’s ambitious plans.He ended a 35-day governmentshutdown in February afterCongress gave him far lessthan he wanted. He thendeclared a national emergencythat the White House saidwould free billions of dollarsfrom the Pentagon.

The case may still be con-sidered, but the administrationcannot build during the legalchallenge.

“As for the public interest,we conclude that it is bestserved by respecting theConstitution’s assignment ofthe power of the purse toCongress, and by deferring toCongress’s understanding ofthe public interest as reflectedin its repeated denial of morefunding for border barrier con-

struction,” wrote JudgesMichelle Friedland, a BarackObama appointee, and RichardClifton, a George W. Bushappointee.

A freeze imposed by USDistrict Judge HaywoodGilliam Jr. Of Oakland in Mayprevented work on twoPentagon-funded wall con-tracts — one spanning 74 kilo-meters in New Mexico andanother covering 8 kilometersin Yuma, Arizona.

While the order appliedonly to those first-in-line pro-jects, Gilliam made clear thathe felt the American CivilLiberties Union was likely toprevail in their argument thatTrump ignored Congress’ wish-es by diverting DefenseDepartment money.

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The Libyan capital’s only func-tioning airport suspended

flights on Wednesday after an airraid claimed by strongmanKhalifa Haftar’s forces, airportauthorities said in a statement.

The attack did not causecasualties or damage, a securi-ty source at Mitiga airport said.

But Ahmad al-Mesmari, aspokesman for Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army,said that a “command centre fordrones at Mitiga” was destroyedin the raid.

Haftar launched an offen-sive in early April to take thecapital Tripoli, seat of the rivalGovernment of NationalAccord. The GNA is recog-nised by the international com-munity.

Over the past three monthshis self-styled Libyan NationalArmy (LNA) has repeatedlytargeted Mitiga airport. It says itis targeting “Turkish drones”which it claims take off fromMitiga to carry out strikes onLNA forces south of Tripoli.

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New Delhi: The Kremlin onWednesday refused to revealthe full story of a fire that killed14 officers on what was report-edly a nuclear-powered mini-submarine, saying the details ofthe tragedy were a “state secret.”

But apparently under pres-sure from critics, the defenceministry published the namesand photographs of the victimswho it said had saved “their com-rades and the deep-sea sub-mersible” at the cost of their lives.

Defence Minister SergeiShoigu said there were sur-vivors of the accident, withoutspecifying numbers.

The seamen died onMonday due to smoke inhala-tion, the defence ministry said,following the fire on a sub-mersible in the Barents Sea inRussia’s territorial waters, but theaccident was only made publicon Tuesday. Two days after thetragedy the defence ministrydescribed the victims as “truepatriots” and top professionals,adding they repeatedly tookpart in expeditions to study theArctic and plunged to “maxi-mum depths.” AFP

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The village of Ginostra onStromboli began sweeping

away layers of ash on Thursday,the day after a dramatic volcaniceruption on the tiny Italianisland killed a hiker.

Emergency workersbrushed and scooped volcaniccinders from streets and the tinyharbour in the village at the footof the still smoking volcano.

A veil of ash lay atop restau-rant terrace tables and parts ofthe coastline.

Canadair water-bombingplanes battled to put out firesstarted by two massive explo-sions which on Wednesday sentplumes of smoke two kilometres(over a mile) into the sky.

“We’ve dropped 320 waterloads and we’re continuing,”said forestry official GiovanniGiacoppo.

People were urged not toswim in the sea on Thursday

because of the risk of mini-tsunamis similar to those thatprevious eruptions have caused.

Vulcanologists and localstold Italian media that the vol-cano was unlikely to erupt againin the near future.

Around 1,000 tourists onWednesday fled the island

aboard ferries to the nearby Calabrian coast. Seventypeople were evacuated fromGinostra on the volcano’s south-west flank.

Many left without theiridentity papers and luggage.

Sicilian hiker MassimoImbesi, 35, was killed

Wednesday when he was caughtin the eruption’s flow of hotrocks and fumes, while hisBrazilian walking companionsuffered from shock, emer-gency services said.

Several people sufferedinjuries, though none serious,they said.

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More than 80 migrants havegone missing and only

four were rescued after theirboat capsized off Tunisia on itsway from Libya to Italy,Tunisia’s coast guard saidThursday.

The Red Crescent and the navy told AFP that three Malians and an Ivorianwere rescued off Zarzis insouthern Tunisia onWednesday by the coast guardwho had been alerted by localfishermen.

The Ivorian, however, diedin hospital and one of theMalians has also been hospi-talised in intensive care.

Those rescued had told Tunisian officials that 86people were on board theirinflatable boat when it leftfrom the Libyan town ofZuwara, west of Tripoli, on itsway to cross the Mediterraneanto Italy.

“About 80 migrants arefeared dead. More updates areneeded in order to confirmwhat happened and the actualnumber of missing,” Flavio DiGiacomo, a spokesman for theInternational Organisation forMigration, tweeted.

Libya, which has been wracked by chaos sincethe 2011 uprising that killedveteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi, has longbeen a major transit route formigrants, especially from sub-Saharan Africa, desperate toreach Europe.

On Tuesday night, 44migrants were killed in an airstrike on their detention cen-tre in a Tripoli suburb.

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Russian President VladimirPutin arrived in Rome

Thursday for a lightning visitincluding talks with the popeand Italy’s populist govern-ment, which has called for aneasing of sanctions despiteMoscow’s ongoing crisis withthe West.

Rome’s historic centre is onsecurity lockdown for the visitwith 50 streets blocked to traf-fic and Italian media reportingthat mobile phone signals couldbe scrambled.

Putin landed around anhour late at Fiumicino airportand his convoy drove intoRome and the Vatican Citywhere he met the pope for

closed-door talks.Putin has arrived late for all

three of their encounters, thelast of which was in 2015 whenthe pope urged all parties to theconflict in Ukraine to make a“sincere effort” for peace.

Thursday’s meeting comesa day before the pope receivesleaders of Ukraine’s GreekCatholic Church.

Pro-Russian separatists ineastern Ukraine are mostlyRussian Orthdodox, whilethose they fight are Orthodoxand Greek Catholic.

Francis first met Putin in2013, as the Roman CatholicChurch sought to improve tieswith the Russian OrthodoxChurch.

Only in 2009 did the

Vatican and Moscow re-estab-lish full diplomatic ties whichwere severed during Soviettimes.

Relations have improvedsince the coming to power inthe same year of PatriarchKirill, who headed up theRussian Orthodox Church’sdiplomatic arm for years.

The Russian OrthodoxChurch has frequently accusedthe Catholic Church of prose-lytising in Russia, an OrthodoxChristian country of 144 mil-lion.

The pope in 2016 held ahistoric meeting with Kirill inCuba, the first encounterbetween the heads of the twolargest Christian churches sinceChristianity split into Western

and Eastern branches in the11th Century -- an eventknown as “The Great Schism.”

Kremlin advisor YuriUshakov said on Wednesdaythat “for the time being a pos-sible invitation for the pope tovisit Russia is not on the agen-da.” The pope and Putin wereto discuss matters including“preserving Christian holy sitesin Syria”, the Kremlin said.

After meeting the pope,Putin will hold talks with PrimeMinister Giuseppe Conte andPresident Sergio Mattarella.

Putin is being drivenaround in his six-metre-long(20-foot) armoured limo by achauffeur who has been prac-tising negotiating his wayaround the Eternal City’s nar-

row streets. His talks withItalian leaders should be easi-er.

Far-right Deputy PrimeMinister Matteo Salvini hasoften expressed admiration forPutin, and his coalition gov-ernment advocates reviewingEU sanctions against Russia.

On the eve of the visit,Putin praised Salvini and hisLega party for having a “wel-coming attitude” to Russia.

“They are pushing for arapid abolition of the anti-Russian sanctions introducedby the US and the EU,” Putinsaid in an interview withCorriere della Sera.

The US and EU have pro-gressively imposed sanctionson Russia since its annexation

of Crimea in 2014 andMoscow’s involvement in theconflict in eastern Ukraine,

including the shooting down ofMalaysian Airlines flightMH17.

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First things first, there is no doubt thatvehicular transportation is staring

down the barrel of electrification, atleast from an urban transportationpoint of view. But the Indian automo-tive industry appears to be staring downthe barrel of a gun by the governmentwhich appears to be in a tearing hurryfor electrification. The reasons toswitch to electricity as the main modeof tractive power on vehicles are myr-iad. There is the dream to free theIndian economy from the vagaries offluctuating crude oil prices as well asthe huge amounts of money that Indiaspends on importing crude every year.

Then there is air pollution.Vehicular pollution is a reality of life.It might not be as visible as the hugeclouds of dust swirling around thanksto poor roads and never-ending con-struction projects, but it is a problem.Then there is that pipe dream of mak-ing India the ‘Detroit’ of electric-vehi-cle manufacturing, an argument thatoverlooks two things — Detroit’s fac-tories are rusting hulks right now andIndia has done nothing, nada, tosecure the resources needed to makethe batteries that electrifying India’sroads will need. Policy wonks in thegovernment talk of the need for privatesector to step up, not even lookingacross the border at what China hasdone with regards to Lithium,Palladium and the Rare earths thatmass-scale electrification will need. Thegovernment and policy think-tanksmay not like it but this requires govern-ment intervention, not loud and rudesessions with Indian private sectormanufacturers.

But the single-biggest elephant inthe room is cost. And this will be evi-dent with the Hyundai Kona, which isa Creta-sized electric SUV from Koreaand the Audi e-tron, Audi’s latest elec-tric SUV, based on the Q5 long-wheel-base. Both these cars will be launchedin India in the next few weeks. They willbe very modern and full of the latesttechnology, the e-tron dispenses withstandard outside rear-view mirrorsand replaces with cameras projectingimages onto screens mounted on thedoor trim. Electric cars have unbeliev-able running costs. A few months ago,I wrote about the BMW i3s that I drovethat gave me a running cost, with theair-conditioner and everything, of

under a rupee a kilometre. The prob-lem is that fixed costs of the vehicles areridiculous, because batteries are expen-sive. And India has no battery mega-factories, although Panasonic andSuzuki are in partnership to build thefirst.

Some problems are hyped up to bemuch worse than they are, the problemof charging infrastructure, for example,which actually can be fixed very easy.There is also the fallacy of there notbeing enough electricity in India,which is untrue. And even if the elec-tricity is thermal, an electric car is some-what cleaner in the long run than ainternal-combustion engine car, thoughgiven India’s energy mix, it has beenshown that plug-in hybrids are the mostcarbon efficient vehicles in India at thecurrent time. Also it has to be noted thatIndia’s energy mix will change goingforward with more renewables andmore nuclear power coming onstream.The problem with electrification is actu-ally in the back-end, the requirementfor three-phase power everywhere andthe massive investments in transform-ers and smart grids that will berequired. Given the precarious finan-cial health of most of India’s publicly-owned electricity suppliers, this is ahundred thousand crore question.

Back to costs for the consumer.There is one thing about the mad pushfor electric vehicles that I find discon-certing that even massive reductions intaxes and registration charges will notfix. The huge fixed costs of batteries. Ina four-wheel electric car, the batterycosts make up between 50-70 per centof the overall vehicular costs. In a two-wheeler, the battery will make upbetween 70-90 per cent of the cost,because really metal and plastics are notthat expensive. And if you have notnoticed, a bulk of the vehicles on India’sroads today comprise commutermotorcycles, the sweet-spot for themanufacturers being the �50,000 mark.However, this industry is suffering asales downturn because costs of pop-ular 100-125cc motorcycles will climb10-15 per cent thanks to BS-VI emis-sion norms, which will make Indianmotorcycles the cleanest in the world.So, expecting the poor guy on the streetto fork out ��1.2-1.5 lakh for an elec-tric two-wheeler is ridiculous.

Yes, there has to be some sort ofgovernment push, but the govern-ment also has to invest, they cannotexpect the private sector to shoulderthe burden of their myopia. In theWest, and Norway, which the govern-ment likes to quote where 39 per cent

of the cars are electric, ironic for acountry that makes it money export-ing crude oil, subsidies on electricvehicles are huge. The FAME-II sub-sidies by the Indian government, onthe other hand, are not even worthbeing called that. There needs to befar better thinking and thought puttowards electrification. Some studiesand pilot projects conducted havehighlighted the issues that India willface, poor electrical infrastructurecoupled with ambient Indian summertemperatures became a huge problemduring one pilot project. Demandingthe industry does one thing will notmake these problems magically dis-appear.

Electrification will happen, and itmight even happen sooner than wethink in the natural scheme of things,a properly planned out build-up.With huge battery factories, betterback-end electrical infrastructureand world-class vehicle manufactur-ing. A brainless ‘Charge of the LightBrigade’ style rush into electrificationwill be suicidal for the Indian auto-motive industry, which will be inun-dated with Chinese imports. Believeme, the Indian economy can affordthat much less than the amount wespend on crude oil imports.

Women don’t pleasure themselves.May be the adventurous andexperimental ones do. Or so goes

the urban myth. Although the dark ageshave passed by when self-pleasurers werethreatened with punishments like blind-ness, madness and impotence, there is aglaring discrepancy in the way male andfemale masturbation is referenced inmainstream conversation today. Butwomen across cities are themselves takingcharge of talking about their biologicalneeds and cravings thereby normalisingthem as part of social habits.

#OMH (#OhMyHrithik), a platformthat normalises female fantasies and erad-icates the stigma around self-pleasure inthe country, recently started discussionsaround it to make the act guilt-free.Founded by five 19-year-olds from differ-ent parts of the country, who happen to beclassmates in their college in Mumbai —Kriti Kulshrestha, Mansi Jain (both fromJaipur), Kevika Singla (from Bathinda),Vaishali Manek (from Gujarat) andSuparna Dutta (from Kolkata) — the plat-form has been making waves online as wellas offline as it has held sessions in Delhi,Mumbai and Jaipur.

Kriti says the idea emerged out of arandom conversation with her group offriends. “We realised that people feel so shyto admit or talk about it even though theymight not personally hesitate to do so. Andit is not just about women but men as wellto some extent. However, female mastur-bation gets the wrong, salacious attentionbecause people don’t ‘expect’ women to beindulgent,” she adds.

Until recently, even acknowledgingthat some women masturbate as anordinary self-care ritual that was as rou-tine as any exercise, felt odd. Part of thatalso happens to be the result of faulty sexeducation classes. Then there is thehome ecosystem. Where fathers andsons have what is called a “man to man”talk, most women don’t have any conver-sation between themselves or their moth-ers on selfie sex. As a result, for mostwomen self-pleasuring is like a hiddentruth or a forbidden territory. Therapistslist many benefits of female masturbation

like decreased anxiety levels to increasedimmune response. They claimed that notonly is it one of the most empoweringexperiences one can have, it helps in gen-erating self-awareness about what womenwant and what they lack.

Latest studies are eye-openers. Around95 per cent of males and 89 per cent offemales revealed that they have masturbat-ed. In fact, it is the first sexual act experi-enced by most males and females. In youngchildren, masturbation is a general part ofa growing child’s exploration of his or herbody. Psychology suggests that children, asold as nine, start to touch themselves as apart of their curiosity about their bodies.Most people continue to masturbate inadulthood, and many do so throughouttheir lives. However, the study furtherrevealed that while they talked about it inthe public space, there were judgementsmade around their character.

The study also revealed that whilearound 28 per cent of women fantasiseabout men with muscular thighs and abs,64.6 per cent women fantasise aboutbeing dominated sexually. Fifty seven percent women also fantasise about group sex.

The girls tell us that they have observed

a common pattern during their sessions,which do not aim to do any therapy ormotivate — women just want to have con-versations and ease their minds over it.Kriti tell us, “We begin by sharing our expe-riences and the challenges we have facedwhile expressing ourselves. At first, they area bit conscious but when they graduallystart relating to our incidences and stories,they also open up. And eventually, it’s justconversations that remain.”

And when we look at Bollywood, itseems as though sexuality comes natural-ly to men. This is why when recently

actresses Kalki Koechlin (in MargaritaWith A Straw), Swara Bhasker (in Veere DiWedding), Kiara Advani (in Lust Stories)and Shweta Tripathi (in Mirzapur) enact-ed self-pleasure scenes in their respectivefilms, there was a controversy, trolling ofthe actors, censor cuts and ‘A’ certificatesto the films too. However, it is also a pos-itive sign that the Hindi film industry hasat least begun to delve into female sexu-ality openly.

Kriti says, “It’s good to see mainstreammedia and cinema taking up female sex-uality and showcasing it as something that

is normal. It is inspiring. In fact, one of ourinspirations was also Kiara’s unfathomablymind-blowing role in Lust Stories.”

She continues to add that the title oftheir initiative ‘#OMH’ is just a name thatreplaces ‘G’ in ‘OMG (Oh My God)’ withHrithik. “Hrithik Roshan has been aGreek god and one of the most dashingactors in Bollywood. It does not say thatit is ‘just’ about Hrithik but about all themen who women have fantasised about.We just use it as a term here to validate theirfantasies and tell them — Women, it’s nor-mal.”

The trailer of Kangana Ranaut andRajkummar Rao’s Judgemental Hai Kya is

out and has been receiving praise from all over.Celebrities took to their social media to com-ment on it. Actress Taapsee Pannu was one ofthem and lauded it, saying, “This is so cool.Always had high expectations out of this oneand this looks so worth it. Judgmental Hai Kya.”

Rangoli replied, “Kuch log Kangana kocopy kar ke he apni dukaan chalate hain (Somepeople run their shop by copying Kangana),magar (but) please note, they never acknowl-edge her, not even a mention of her name inpraising the trailer. Last, I heard Taapseeji saidKangana needs a double filter and Taapseejiyou need to stop being a sasti copy.”

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap defendedTaapsee and said it was “really desperate” ofRangoli. “Come on Rangoli... this is going toofar. This is really, really desperate. I really don’tknow what to say to this. Having worked withboth your sister and Taapsee. I just don’t getthis. Praising the trailer means praising allaspects of it. Which includes Kangana.”

But Rangoli didn’t stop there. She wrote,“Sir, you can see it’s not about mentioningKangana so much. Clearly, a lot of people Ihave thanked haven’t mentioned her, it’s justthat I am tired of people taking digs at her.Who is this Taapsee to claim that Kangananeeds double filter. So now I am here show-ing everyone (the) mirror... I know you areworking with her, but please don’t get desper-ate without understanding the real issue... backoff.”

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Frank Lampard was appointed Chelsea headcoach on Thursday, confirming a dramatic

return for one of the club’s greatest ever players.Lampard has signed a three-year contract with

Chelsea, where he spent 13 years and became theteam’s all-time leading scorer with 211 goals.

The former England midfielder succeedsMaurizio Sarri after just one season in manage-

ment, having led Derby County to theChampionship play-off final in May, when theywere beaten by Aston Villa.

“I am immensely proud to be returning toChelsea as head coach,” Lampard said in a clubstatement.

“Everyone knows my love for this club andthe history we have shared, however, my sole focusis on the job in hand and preparing for the sea-son ahead.

“I am here to work hard, bring further suc-cess to the club and I cannot wait to get started.”Chelsea said Lampard has a “fantastic relationship”with the club’s supporters and he will certainly liftthe mood after a fractious season under Sarri.

Despite finishing third in the Premier Leagueand winning the Europa League, Sarri was criti-cised for his eccentric approach and rigid style ofplay.

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia said: “Itgives us great pleasure to welcome Frank back toChelsea as head coach.

“After 13 years with us as a player, where hebecame a club legend and our record goalscorer,we believe this is the perfect time for him to returnand are delighted he has done so.

“We will do everything we can to ensure hehas all the support required to be a huge success.”

He is expected to bring Jody Morris with himto Stamford Bridge. Morris also played forChelsea and worked as Lampard’s assistant atDerby.

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Atletico Madrid onWednesday signed 19-year-

old Portuguese striker Joao Felixfrom Benfica for 126 millioneuros ($142 million), theclubs announced.

The fee is a record fora Portuguese club and forAtletico Madrid andmakes the teenager one ofthe five most expensiveplayers in history.

Atletico tweeted a videoof the player in the Prado

gallery in Madrid contemplatingpaintings by old masters, with

the phrase, “enormous tal-ent”, before he turned andsmiled at the camera withthe caption: “Welcome Joao

Felix, pure talent.”Felix has reported-

ly signed a seven-yearcontract.

He is a potentialreplacement forAntoine Griezmannwho scored 133 goals

in five seasons at theclub. Atletico have

already said the French strikeris leaving. He is expected to joinBarcelona when his releaseclause, which dropped to 120million euros on Monday, is acti-vated.

The Felix signing came ona busy day for Atletico.

Earlier on Wednesday, theclub confirmed the signing ofMexican midfielder HectorHerrera from Porto while anoth-er midfielder, RodrigoHernandez, left Madrid forManchester City for 70 millioneuros.

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Peru stunned defending champions Chile 3-0to reach the final of the Copa America for the

first time in 44 years.Goals from Edison Flores, Yoshimar Yotun

and Paolo Guerrero handed Peru a deserved winwhich sends them into a final against Brazil atthe Maracana Stadium on Sunday.

The stunning upset prevented Chile’s gold-en generation from challenging for a third straighttitle, following their wins over Argentina in 2015and 2016.

Instead the finalists from the previous twoeditions will meet in Saturday’s third-place play-off in Sao Paulo.

Little was expected of Peru in the knock-outstages after they ended the group phase with ahumbling 5-0 thrashing by Brazil.

But after riding their luck — and being savedby VAR three times — to beat Uruguay on penal-ties in the quarter-final, they were a completelyrejuvenated outfit in Porto Alegre.

Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, the villain of that5-0 defeat, was again faultless, as he had been inthe quarter-final when decisively saving LuisSuarez’s shoot-out penalty.

He again saved a penalty and made a num-ber of other vital stops. From the start Peru dom-inated the reigning champions, Flores tookadvantage of an Erick Pulgar slip in midfield todart towards goal but he dragged his weak shotwoefully wide.

But a minute later he was alone at the backpost to lash home left footed from an AndreCarillo flick on from Cueva’s cross.

Yotun doubled the lead on 38 minutes afterpunishing Chile goalkeeper Gabriel Arias’s rushof blood to the head.

A 2-0 half-time lead was the least Peru

deserved after an enterprising performanceagainst tentative opponents.

Peru should have put the game to bed on arapier counter-attack on the hour but Guerreroand Cueva passed rather than shooting and Yotunballooned over from six yards with the goal gap-ing.

Peru started sitting deeper, inviting Chile toattack and Aranguiz sent a rasping shot whistlingpast the top corner with Gallese a mere specta-tor. But Guerrero put the icing on the cake ininjury time after rounding Arias, but Gallese hadthe last word from the penalty spot.

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The Netherlands’ riseas a force in women’s

football continued onWednesday as JackieGroenen’s extra-timestrike saw them edge outSweden 1-0 in a gruellingWorld Cup semi-final inLyon, taking the Europeanchampions through to thisweekend’s final against theUnited States.

After a goalless 90minutes, midfielderGroenen — a former judoEuropean ChampionshipBronze medallist as ayouth who recently agreeda move to ManchesterUnited — broke the dead-lock in the 99th minute ofa tense contest, breakingSwedish hearts in theprocess.

When Danielle van deDonk’s pass was touchedinto her path, Groenensent a low shot from 20yards beyond thereach of goalkeeperHedvig Lindahl andinto the far corner.

H a v i n gknocked out Italyand former winnersJapan in the previous tworounds, the Dutch are nowjust one game away from

adding a first World Cupto the title they won atEuro 2017 as hosts.

“We never knew thiswould be possible. It’s one

more match and wemight possibly beworld champions,”said a beamingGroenen.

Getting this far isa remarkable

achievement for the“Oranje”, appearing at justtheir second World Cup,

but they will need toimprove drastically if theyare to stand any chance ofdefeating the holders.

The Netherlands havelong been a force in themen’s game, but they hadnever even been to a majorwomen’s tournament untila decade ago.

“I think the potentialhas been in theNetherlands for a longerperiod of time but thefacilities were not there,”

said Dutch coach SarinaWiegman, pointing to thestart of the Dutch leaguein 2007 as the catalyst.

“It’s the whole devel-opment in the Netherlandsand also the individualsthat made bigger steps.

“Now they have beenin a couple of tourna-ments so they are veryexperienced now too andthey believe they can per-form really well.”

For the second game running Englandhave produced an incredible perfor-mance under pressure so hats off to

them.Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy set the

tone at the top of the order, and probablydeceived everyone into thinking this was a360-run pitch.

New Zealand did well to restrict them,but the last 20 overs of their innings wereprobably a better reflection of the wicket.

Then I thought that Chris Woakes andJofra Archer were exceptional with the newball. Their lines and lengths were impecca-ble and New Zealand just lost too manywickets early to have any chance of chasingit down. There will be some frustration atthe way those top four went, all four wick-ets were avoidable and that ended theirhopes.

From a New Zealand perspective, it isnot ideal to have lost three in a row, even ifthey are still pretty much assured of a semi-final place.

The fortunate thing for them is that theygo into a knockout game at Old Trafford,which is traditionally a very good wicket.

The way they have played over the last cou-ple of years against Australia, who they couldend up facing, should give them plenty ofconfidence.

In this game against England, I thoughtthat James Neesham bowled very well andplayed a big role in New Zealand pulling itback with the ball.

Kane Williamson probably would nothave expected to use Neesham as much ashe has with the ball but he’s been a stand-out. He’s been accurate and that has beencrucial not just for his economy rate but alsoin terms of wicket-taking.

I’ve also got to pay tribute to Trent Boult,he was fantastic again and the knuckle ballto dismiss Jos Buttler was a highly-skilledpiece of bowling.

Boult has now taken more wickets inICC Men’s Cricket World Cups than anyother New Zealander which is a remarkablefeat considering this is only his second.

He is obviously a supremely talentedbowler, but it is also testament to the hardwork he has put in to become the completepackage as a bowler.

At the top of the order he is a left-arm

fast swing bowler who can take wickets, andthen when Kane needs someone in the mid-dle overs to attack, he turns to Boult. He’salso got that ability to reverse the ball in thedeath overs, when he is an attacking anddefensive option.

There are not many bowlers who offerthat set of skills throughout world cricket.That comes from his natural skill as well asthe work ethic to improve his game.

New Zealand missed Lockie Ferguson inDurham, particularly because of the way hefits into the structure of the game. Kane likesto use his as a first-change bowler in short2-3 over spells. With him out, that meant theyhad to shuffle things around a little.

If he is back for the semi-final, that willgive New Zealand a lot more certaintyaround how they go about their 50 overs.

Despite the three straight losses, I don’tthink it will affect the team too much, par-ticularly knowing some of the guys well. Theyhave six or seven individuals who can wina game for them, and that is a pretty excit-ing way to think about it.

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Eight-time champion RogerFederer eased into the third

round of Wimbledon on Thursday,beating British wild card Jay Clarke6-1, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 to equalAmerican legend Jimmy Connors'srecord of 17 appearances in the last32.

The 37-year-old Swiss great'srival Rafael Nadal is unikely to havesuch an easy ride later on Thursdayas he faces the fiery but talentedAustralian Nick Kyrgios.

"I struggled to take care of busi-ness a bit from the baseline," said37-year-old Federer who has nowreached the third round at theSlams for the 70th time.

"Thankfully I played a prettygood breaker, I had some help fromhim as he gave me a couple ofunforced errors."

Federer and Nadal's half of thedraw lost two of the potentiallymore awkward customers in bigserving duo John Isner and MarinCilic.

Ninth-seeded Isner, whoplayed in the epic semi-final lastyear with Kevin Anderson whichlasted over six hours, fell in five setsto unseeded Kazakh MikhailKukushkin 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in just overthree hours of play.

Cilic, the 13th seedand finalist in 2017, lost instraight sets to Portugal'sJoao Sousa, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

There were no such upsetsin the women's singles.

Ashleigh Barty's bid to becomethe first woman since SerenaWilliams in 2015 to win the FrenchOpen and Wimbledon in the sameyear stayed on track with a 6-1, 6-3 second round victory overBelgium's Alison van Uytvanck.

The 23-year-old Australianworld number one will play Britishwild card Harriet Dart for a placein the last 16.

Barty said she would not beconcerned by taking on a homehope in front of a partisan crowd.

"I wouldn't be playing a Britishcrowd; I'm playing against Harriet,"said Barty.

"Yes, she'll get more supportbeing in Britain, as I would if

we were in Australia. It's nodifferent."

Barty, only the sec-ond Australian womanafter Evonne Goolagong

Cawley over 40 years agoto be number one in the

world, said the most pleasureshe has had in her new status iswhen she speaks to her niece backin Australia.

"Over and over she tells me youcan go to infinity and beyond," sadBarty.

"She's an incredible little girlwho gives me so much inspiration.

"It's been a very nice journeyfor myself, my team, my family,everyone. To be where we are nowis really special."

Barty, who if she achieves theRoland Garros-Wimbledon doublewill be only the eighth woman todo so, said she would not bewatching the blockbuster men's sin-gles match between Nadal and hercompatriot Kyrgios later onThursday.

"I think I'll be watching thecricket this afternoon," she said,referring to the second Ashesmatch between England's womenand Australia.

Dart, for her part, could notcontain her excitement at playingthe world number one.

"Super exciting," she said. "Agreat opportunity for me.

"I have nothing to lose. I actu-ally met her a few weeks ago at anLTA schools visit.

"Lovely girl, great champion."However, Dart, ranked 182 in

the world, had to be reassuredabout the Australian's recentexploits.

"She won the French Open,and she won Birmingham, right?"

Also easing through was 2017US Open champion SloaneStephens who took the first eightgames against her Chinese oppo-nent Wang Yafan before winning 6-0, 6-2.

Stephens, seeded nine, willplay British 19th seed and FrenchOpen semi-finalist Johanna Kontain the next round.

Home fans appetites will besated when former world numberone Andy Murray plays in themen's doubles — months after 'life-changing hip surgery' — withFrench partner Pierre-HuguesHerbert against Marius Copil ofRomania and Herbert's compatri-ot Ugo Humbert.

Murray's mixed doubles part-ner, seven-time champion SerenaWilliams will also be in action fac-ing Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan.

Williams is chasing a record-equalling 24th major at theWimbledon.

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Brazil’s attacking midfielder Willian will missSunday’s Copa America final against Peru

after injuring his hamstring, the tournamenthosts said on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Chelsea player was a sec-ond half substitute in Brazil’s 2-0 semi-final vic-tory over arch rivals Argentina, coming on forwinger Everton.

A Brazil football federation (CBF)spokesman said Willian had felt “pain in hishamstring” and was sent for tests onWednesday afternoon where it was found thathe had a “pulled muscle.” Brazilian media saidhe was injured during Tuesday’s match.

The CBF spokesman said the recovery timeneeded meant Willian would miss the final.

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�How do you see this game?First, Bangladesh versus Pakistan at

Lord’s, the beautiful Lord’s, there’s no suchthing as a dead rubber. We’re looking toobviously win. We want to win. We’ve prac-ticed well. We’ve come up with some goodplans. When we lost against India, it was-n’t a case of — it was we were out of thetournament, but we all recognise thatthere's one more game to go and one spe-cial occasion at Lord’s and a very good,tough team to beat as well.�If you win the toss, is there any sort ofcalculation there of what you could do?

Great question. Thank you very muchfor asking it. The reason I say that is I don’tlike to give away too much tactically goinginto a game because I get a lot of my infor-mation listening to head coaches on themedia from the opposition. I won’t betelling you what we’re going to do at the tossor how we approach the game. All I will besaying is there’s a game to win forBangladesh, and that’s the important thingfor us.�How are emotions running in theteam?

The one thing about Mashrafe with theplayers is that they respect him incredibly.I often use the word warrior, but he goesto war for the team, does Mashrafe, andpeople respect that, understand that, andthey love him because of that. The playersin the dressing room do love Mash, and thisis — he has said it's his last World Cup, andit will be emotional for him.�What’s the status of Mushfiqur’s injury?

Mushi got a little knock on the elbowin the nets, you might have seen. I’ve hadno chance to see the physio yet. Generally,that sort of area, most people are okay. Idon’t remember too many people breakingelbows off four rounds of the bottom hand.So I’m hoping that he’ll be okay.�How exciting the players are especial-ly the youngsters who come to Lord’sagain with a bigger dream?

They really enjoyed the walk from thecoach through the gates, the great gates. Assoon as they got in the pavilion, you couldsee them looking at the paintings along thewalls of the staircase, and then heading intothe changing rooms and looking at theboards with five wicket hauls and test match100s. A few of them straight out onto thebalcony and looking at the marvelous scenein front of them with a beautiful carpet ofgrass and big stands everywhere, and theywere taking it all in.�Which area you should concern toimprove before this match?

What we look at, where we do takegames a day at a time, match by match, butthe thing is, if you look back to that Indiagame, we didn’t turn up for those first 20overs when we were in the field. That wasa bad area for Bangladesh. We know that.We’ve addressed that. �How has it been working with Shakibin this World Cup?

I love working with Shakib Al Hasan.He’s an amazing person, an amazing play-er. He takes no motivation from me. Allcredit to Shakib Al Hasan. It's all internal.This was all done by Shakib. He was des-perate to do well in this World Cup.�Pakistan is almost out of the semis. Isit quite a relief or do you feel some pres-sure still?

No, I don’t really feel the pressures ofthat because, you know, with Bangladesh,we’ve got the pressure of 170 million backhome wanting us to win, but without thetournament, Pakistan can still qualify.Maybe the pressure is all on Pakistan goinginto this game.

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Facing the ire of critics and fans alike, thePakistan cricket team found an ally in

former captain Moin Khan, who believesthe 1992 champions did not have a disas-trous World Cup campaign despite stand-ing on the verge of ouster. Pakistan'shopes of sealing a semi-final berth weretrampled when arch-rivals India and NewZealand lost to England, leaving the roadto the knockout stage for Sarfaraz Ahmedand his men just an improbable mathemat-ical calculation. They will take onBangladesh in their final group stagematch at the iconic Lord's in London today."Look if we win against Bangladesh wewould end the World Cup with five winsout of nine with one match abandonedwhich is not a bad performance by my stan-dards. So, whatever the PCB does it needsto think very carefully because just chang-ing faces or positions will not help," Moinsaid. ��

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Their semifinal chancesreduced to just a mathe-matical possibility, former

champions Pakistan will need animprobable win over Bangladeshto have a shot at making thesemifinals of the World Cupwhen the two sides clash heretoday.

Pakistan’s resurgence in theWorld Cup looked eerily close tothe 1992 Cup-winning editionbefore India’s loss to Englanddented their hopes of a semifi-nal spot and when New Zealandwent down to the hosts lastnight, it was almost over forthem.

The road to the knockoutstage for Sarfaraz Ahmed andhis men is just an improbablemathematical calculation andthat too provided Pakistan winthe toss and bat first.

If Pakistan lose the toss andare asked to field, their minis-cule semi-final hopes will beover even before the first ball isbowled at the Lord’s.

New Zealand finished theirengagements at 11 points fromnine matches after their 119-runloss to England but despite themassive defeat, the Kiwis are wayahead in terms of their net run-rate, which is +0.175, comparedto Pakistan's -0.792.

Currently placed fifth withnine points from eight matches,Pakistan face the challenge ofbeating Bangladesh by 311 runsafter posting 350 or by 316 runsafter scoring 400, somethingwhich is practically impossible.

Following their loss to arch-rivals India, Pakistan staged aremarkable comeback with winsover South Africa, New Zealandand Afghanistan, riding on someimpressive performances byBabar Azam and Harris Sohailin the batting department.

Left-arm pacer ShaheenAfridi's five-wicket haul againstNew Zealand was also a big pos-itive as it added firepower totheir bowling led by MohammadAmir.

Bangladesh, on the otherhand, will rue their missedchances and would hope tobring some cheer to their fansback home with a solid perfor-mance against Pakistan, a teamthey had defeated in the 1999edition.

At present, placed seventh,Bangladesh have been impres-sive in their wins against SouthAfrica, Afghanistan and West

Indies.They have shown the stom-

ach for a fight even in losses andMashrafe Mortaza and his menwill hope for a good outing

against Pakistan on Friday.Bangladesh have been too

dependent on star all-rounderShakib Al Hasan, who hasbecome the only cricketer to

score 500 runs and claim 10wickets in World Cup history.

Led by Shakib, Bangladeshhave consistently crossed the300-mark this World Cup but itis their bowling which has letthem down, especially the lackof form of skipper Mortaza.

Mustafizur Rahman's varia-tions, which fetched him fivewickets, and MohammadSaifuddin's fifty helped themgive India a scare in their lastmatch and Bangladesh will hopefor a stronger show againstPakistan.

�H��Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed (cap-tain), Fakhar Zaman, Imam ulHaq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail,Hasan Ali, Shahdab Khan,Mohammed Hafeez,Mohammed Hasnain, ShaheenShah Afridi, Wahab Riaz,Mohammed Aamir, ShoaibMalik, Imad Wasim, Asif Ali.Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza(captain), Tamim Iqbal, SoumyaSarkar, Shakib Al Hasan,Mushfiqur Rahim (wk),

Mahmuduallah Riyadh, SabbirRahaman, Mehidy Hasan Miraj,Mosaddek Hossain, MohammedSaifuddin, Mustafizur Rahaman,Rubel Hossain, Liton KumarDas, Abu Jayed, MohammedMithun.

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Former Pakistan speed-ster Shoaib Akhtar has

been left utterly disappoint-ed with the “quality of crick-et” being played at the ongo-ing World Cup in Englandand Wales.

England, Australia andIndia have sealed their spotin the semifinals, while NewZealand is almost there inthe knockout stage of thetournament, despite theirloss to England in their lastgroup stage encounter.

“I am not happy with thequality of cricket beingplayed in this World Cup,”said Akhtar on his YouTubechannel.

“The quality of crickethas gone down immensely.It has become very easy toscore runs. The bowlers

don’t have the quality, thepace and the spin, whichbowlers in 1990s and early2000s used to have.”

“There are three power-plays and two new ballswhich has made it very easyto score runs,” he added.

Speaking aboutWednesday’s game whereEngland thrashed NewZealand by 119 runs to sealtheir spot in the semis,Akhtar said that the BlackCaps played like “amateurs”.

“I was disappointed withthe way New Zealand playedagainst England. They did-n't give any fight and meek-ly surrendered before

England. They played likeamateurs. They didn’t playquality cricket,” said Akhtar.

With England’s win,Pakistan are technically outof the contention of makingit to the semis. In order tomake it to the knockoutstage, Pakistan needed Indiaor New Zealand to defeatEngland in their last twomatches. However, it didn’thappen.

Akhtar, 43, feelsPakistan have no one toblame but themselves fortheir disappointing cam-paign in this edition of theWorld Cup.

“The match against West

Indies cost us badly. Thentheir match against SriLanka got abandoned. Afterthat, they lost the game toAustralia which they shouldhave won. These threematches made it very diffi-cult for Pakistan. Theythemselves have got out ofthe tournament. Nobodyelse is responsible for theirloss.”

He, however, wantsSarfaraz Ahmed’s men toplay for their pride againstBangladesh in their lastgroup stage fixture at Lord’stoday.

“All is not lost still. Wehave to play for our prideagainst Bangladesh. Pakistanhave to make sure they don’tget humiliated and thereforethey should play good crick-et against Bangladesh,” heinsisted.

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West Indies defeatedAfghanistan by 23 runs to fin-

ish their World Cup campaign on awinning note at Headingley onThursday.

Batting first, West Indies set upa difficult task for Afghans as theyosted 311-6 in 50 overs.

Carlos Brathwaite picked fourwickets for West Indies. With thisloss, Afghanistan remained the onlyteam in this World Cup sans a win.

After the early departure ofChris Gayle (7) in the last WorldCup innings of his career, WestIndies bounced back through half-centuries by Evin Lewis (58) andShai Hope (77).

Some late big-hitting fromNicholas Pooran (58 off 43) andJason Holder (45 off 34, includingfour sixes) in the middle orderhelped to take the Windies beyond300 in the last over, the kind of totalthat has been beyond Afghanistanthis tournament.

The Afghans' highest score intheir opening eight group gameswas 247-8 against England inManchester. The average score forteams batting second has been234.

Rashid Khan, Afghanistan'smost famous player, continued his

disappointing form at the WorldCup with bowling figures of 1-52and he also dropped Hope - on 5 -at midwicket. He finishes the tour-nament with six wickets in total, atan average of 69.

Summing up an often sloppy

display in the field by Afghanistanwas a bizarre incident off the finalball of the innings, when captainGulbadin Naib was lining up toattempt a catch off CarlosBrathwaite's shot at long off. At thelast minute, Gulbadin pulled out of

the catch - seemingly blinded by thesun - and the ball bounced rightnext to the rope and dribbled over.

Gayle needed 18 runs to topBrian Lara (10,348) as West Indies'leading scorer in ODIs but aftermostly scratching around in hiscrease, sometimes playing andmissing, he advanced and tried tosmash Dawlat Zadran to the fenceon the offside off his 18th ball. Heended up nicking it behind.

"The Universe Boss" - as the 39-year-old West Indies opener callshimself - trudged off, briefly hold-ing his bat up to the crowd on hisrecord-tying 295th ODI appearancefor the Windies, matching Lara'shaul.

Instead, it was Holder whoprovided the most entertainmentfor the Windies, smashing foursixes and a four on a sun-kissed dayin northern England.

That helped West Indies to rackup 65 off the last five overs andmaybe take the game away fromlast-place Afghanistan, which hasyet to register a point this tourna-ment. It only claimed one win in sixgames in its World Cup debut in2015, and that was against Scotland.

West Indies started the matchin next-to-last place on threepoints, courtesy of a solitary winover Pakistan and a washout.

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New Zealand wicket-keeper TomLatham is aiming to go one bet-ter than his father Rod by taking

the Black Caps to an ICC Men’s CricketWorld Cup final.

Despite losing by 119 runs toEngland, New Zealand have one foot inthe last four with Pakistan needing ahighly improbable margin of victory overBangladesh to oust them.

Rod Latham was part of the NewZealand squad who reached the semi-finals of the 1992 World Cup before los-ing to eventual winners Pakistan.

Latham junior said: “I’ve spokento him a lot over the years aboutthat tournament – it was thesame format as this one andhopefully we can go one betterthan they did.”

Left-hander Latham, 27, made hisfirst half-century of the tournamenthaving previously not passed 14 and headmitted: “It was nice to spend time inthe middle and get familiar with thethings that I do well but we weren’t onthe right side of the result.”

The Black Caps vice-captain was bat-ting in familiar surroundings at theRiverside, having played two seasons forDurham in 2017 and 2018.

He said: “It was nice to come backand see a lot of familiar faces. It was agreat day here in the north-east.”

He praised his bowlers for restrict-ing England after their openers’ blister-ing start, saying: “I don’t think the tosswas hugely important. The wicket didslow up a little bit but I think the way they

played at the start did put us under pres-sure.

“The way we managed to pull thingsback and restrict them to 300 was out-standing. Unfortunately we kept losingwickets at regular intervals. If we are inthat situation again hopefully we can cor-rect a few things.”

Latham said that New Zealand’splayers will start preparing for the semi-finals even though they will not know forsure they have qualified until Friday.

He said: “We’ll have a couple of daysoff which will be nice for the guys toregroup. Then it’ll be about going backto basics and doing the things we do wellto be successful.

“One you get to the semis it doesn’tmatter who you play you’ve got to playtwo good games of cricket to win thefinal.

“Hopefully we can get a little bit ofconfidence in those two training sessionsand then hit the ground running in thesemi-final.”

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England have had to dig verydeep just to get to the semi-

finals — but Jos Buttler knows thereal World Cup starts now.

After a mid-tournamentdefeats to Sri Lanka and Australia,England came out swinging tomake the final four.

And back-to-back wins overIndia and New Zealand — the lat-ter coming on Wednesday inDurham — put them into the lastfour.

The host nation and No 1ODI side in the world for much ofthe last two years will head toEdgbaston next week for theirsemi-final against either Australiaor India.

And Buttler knows that thetime is now, after becoming thefirst England men’s team to makethe semi-finals since 1992.

“It feels great. We’re excited,and have a bit of relief as well,” hesaid.

“It’s obviously been two toughgames to finish to qualify, and weshowed great character to comethrough with two very good per-formances.

“We are just very excited to bein a semi-final. From the start Ithink it was the minimum require-ment, the first stage we had to getto.

“We have given ourselves agreat chance and are excited toplay in the semi-final of a homeWorld Cup. It’s a great feeling and

we’re really excited for that chal-lenge.”

Buttler’s form with the bat hasslowed somewhat since his centu-ry against Pakistan at Trent Bridgefour weeks ago But at Chester-le-Street he influenced the game inother ways, taking a stunningcatch down the leg side to dismissMartin Guptill and also showingsome quick thinking and hands torun out Ross Taylor from AdilRashid's throw.

And the 28-year-old vice-captain is hoping he can comegood again on the biggest stage ofall.

He added: “We stood up andplayed our brand of cricket underthat pressure.

“That breeds a lot of confi-dence for the group, that our wayis the best way and gives us a lotof chance of performing. That’swhat we have resorted to in thetwo must-win games and showsthat we must continue that.

“I’ve been a bit disappointednot to have contributed as muchas I’d like, I haven’t quite execut-ed or made the right decision andhave found ways of getting out.Luckily I still have another chancefor another innings or two in theWorld Cup.

“For the country, it’s veryexciting that we are in a semi-finaland we have had some fantasticsupport all the way through thetournament. We are very excitedfor the atmosphere for a semi-finalin a home World Cup.”

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Glenn Maxwell insists he'snot out of form, just out of

runs, declaring he's never feltbetter with bat in hand asAustralia approach the pointyend of their sixth World Cuptitle tilt.

With the reigning champi-ons' top-order dominancelargely consigning him to late-innings cameos, Maxwell hasfaced just 75 balls but spanked143 runs at a tournament-leading strike-rate of 190.66.

The right-hander hasadmittedly passed up opportu-nities against West Indies,Pakistan and then NewZealand on Saturday to puttogether a more substantialinnings, but he says he isn'tstressing about not yet puttingtogether a big score.

"I feel like I haven't hit theball better in my career, I justhaven't got runs," the right-hander, whose highest score isthe unbeaten 46 he hit againstSri Lanka, told reporters inManchester ahead of Australia'sfinal group game against SouthAfrica on Saturday.

"It's nice to be relaxedwhen I go out in the middle.Runs just haven't come the wayI would have liked, but I don'tthink they're far away.

"If I was out of form andout of runs, I think I'd be a lit-tle more nervous.

"It's about not over-compli-cating it and not reinventingthe wheel at training. I've stuckto the way I've gone about mytraining … and making sureyou're not clouding your headeven further."

The 30-year-old admitshis calm outlook on his ownperformance has been some-thing he's had to develop overtime.

Maxwell spent time out ofthe ODI team in the years afterhis successful 324-run 2015World Cup campaign, butbelieves he's benefited fromearning the faith of selectors inthe lead-in to this edition of thetournament.

"It is a bit of maturity andgrowth and trust in my prepa-ration. I think I would havebeen searching for somethinga couple of years ago, whereasnow when I go out to bat I havebeen doing the right things andtraining the right way," saidMaxwell.

"To trust going in withouta lot of runs behind you doestake a few years to learn fromthat and grow from that.

"You might not get thetime out in the middle like thetop order does.

"But when you go get outthere you've got to make themost of it. To have the faith theselectors have had in me to behere and be the sole spinningallrounder in the squad is

nice."While a hayfever-induced

sneezing fit at training onWednesday masked it, Maxwellmay be in fact the most famil-iar of all the Australians with

the western foothills of thePennines.

He spurned the lure of alucrative Indian PremierLeague stint earlier this year toinstead play for Lancashire, the

county side that owns OldTrafford.

"What a place Manchesteris," said Maxwell. "Having thatmonth here, getting used toconditions, getting my tech-nique right for these conditionshas been a great benefit for me.

"I'm hoping to cash in atthe right time of the tourna-ment."Australia, having alreadyguaranteed themselves top-four berth, can sew up top spotby defeating the Proteas andensure they play their semi-final at the same venue.

Maxwell conceded stay-ing in Manchester would be amajor mental (and logistical)boost for the Aussies, havingearlier in the tournament trav-elled 700 kilometres and playedfour games in a gruelling nine-day stretch.

"I would love to stay here.The incentive to finish topwould be great," said Maxwell."To get as much time as you canin one place, you don't have topack your bags again.

"It feels like we did a lot ofthat early on in the tournament.We had four games in ninedays at one stage where it waspack, unpack, pack, unpack -repeatedly.

"To not have that at thisend of the tournament wouldbe nice."

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England fast bowler Mark Wood hopes his World Cupluck holds after his fortunate run out of New Zealand

captain Kane Williamson helped take the hosts into thesemi-finals.

England thrashed the Black Caps by 119 runs atDurham quick Wood's home ground of Chester-le-Street after posting 305-8 batting first.

Jonny Bairstow was named man-of-the-match forhis second successive hundred, but Wood also playedhis part, taking 3-34 and delivering a significant con-tribution that was something of a fluke.

When Ross Taylor struck a drive down the ground,Wood just managed to get fingertips to the ball anddivert it onto the non-striker’s stumps, leaving star bats-man Williamson — who had been averaging 113.50 forthe tournament prior to this match — run out for 27.

“He doesn’t know how unlucky he is because I’vegot the smallest hands for a bloke you’ve ever seen,” saida grinning Wood.

“I managed to just get a fingertip to it. The umpirewasn’t sure if I’d tipped it, and I said ‘I swear to God Idid’. I knew it had flicked the end of my finger.

“He was one of the best players I’ve ever bowled atso to get him out any way you can is pretty important.It saved me bowling at him any more so I was prettypleased.

“In big games, in big moments, you need thosemoments. I’m just pleased that in such a big game Imanaged to be so lucky.”

Meanwhile Williamson, asked about his freakishdismissal, said: “Is it luck or lack of it? It is one of thosethings.

“The English bowlers put us under pressure and Idon’t know whether that run-out came from that, butyou move on.”

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They live in a right-handed world,historically stigmatised and chal-

lenged by tasks as simple as using scis-sors — but when it comes to takingwickets at the World Cup, being a south-paw seamer is a distinct advantage.

Mitchell Starc leads the way at thetop of the World Cup bowling charts,with 24 wickets in eight matches so farand has Pakistan’s MohammadAmir and New Zealand pace-man Trent Boult for companyin the top six.

Beginning withAustralian Gary Gilmour’sfamous rout of England in

the semi-final at the inaugur-al World Cup in 1975, leftiessuch as Wasim Akram, Starcand Boult have confoundedtheir opponents again andagain at the World Cup.

The secret is in the dif-ferent angles that left-arm-ers create, giving bats-men an extraheadache and forc-ing them to re-cal-cuate.

“I think leftieschallenge the batsmen in theirside-on stance and even with a

straight ball, because the angle cre-ates problems, especially for right-

handers,” said Akram, whose threewickets helped win the 1992 final for

Pakistan against England.Egged on by a packed crowd inMelbourne, Akram came from

around the wicket to create beguil-ing angles that bewildered firstAllan Lamb and then Chris Lewis.

Remembered as “magicaldeliveries”, they helped Pakistanbeat England to win the WorldCup for the first time. Akramwas man-of-the-match and

ended as the tournament'sleading wicket-taker, with 18

dismissals.Since then, left-arm bowlers

from New Zealand to Sri Lankahave repeatedly proved theirvalue, becoming the leading wick-et-takers in four of the six WorldCups since.

The 2015 World Cup had aglut of left-armed fast bowlers, withStarc, Mitchell Johnson and Boultleading the pack.

Pakistan, still buoyed byAkram’s bowling performance27 years later, have benefited

more than most from thepower of lefties.

��;�2��:�Only about 10 percent of the glob-

al population are estimated to be left-

handed but Pakistan produce morethan their fair share of top-class left-armers.

Many of them have been inspiredby Akram, a fact that delights the for-mer Pakistan captain, who said: “Of

course it’s pleasing when you hear thatthe left-armers follow me.”

Pakistan’s 2019 World Cup squadboasts Wahab Riaz, highly promisingteenager Shaheen Shah Afridi andAmir, whose career was interrupted bya five-year ban for spot-fixing.

Amir, who was selected in thesquad despite a poor run of form, hasbeen a revelation at the tournament inEngland and Wales, with 16 wickets sofar.

Former India opening batsmanAakash Chopra said Pakistan’s left-arm-ers gave them an advantage.

“Facing a quality left-arm fastbowler is a challenge in itself becausethey make a straight ball look like it hasdone something spectacular due to theangle they create,” he wrote in a columnfor cricinfo.com.

But if left-arm bowlers are so com-mon, why do they still catch batsmenoff guard?

Pakistan batting great JavedMiandad believes the more a batsmanfaces left-armers, the easier it becomesbut he says they get more practiceagainst right-armers.

“Most batsmen develop their tech-nique against right-arm bowlers, throwdown and bowling machines from thesame angle, and they neglect the left-arm angles,” he said.

A good batsman should pay atten-tion to the details and practice from allangles, he added. That will help to“counter the threat left-armers pose”.

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West Indies batting greatBrian Lara on Thursday

likened Virat Kohli to a runmachine, avowing that the Indiaskipper is way ahead of rest of theworld when it comes to battingacross formats.

Indian batting great SachinTendulkar remains Lara's all-time favourite but in today'sera, he said it is Kohli, who is thebest.

"He (Virat Kohli) is a (run)machine. But sorry to say Sachin

Tendulkar is my (choice)," hesaid.

"But getting back to yourquestion, no doubt there is ahuge gap between Virat Kohliand the rest of the world in allforms of the game. Rohit Sharmamight have got four centuries inthis World Cup, (Jonny)Bairstow or whatever, if youwant somebody to bat in T20,T10, 100 balls (cricket) or Testcricket, it is going to be ViratKohli today," added Lara, whostill holds the record for highestscore in Tests.

Lara, who scored 22358(11953 in ODIs) in internation-al cricket, said if today Indianbatsmen are doing well in awayseries, it is because of Tendulkar,who instilled such confidence inthem.

"The (impression) Sachinleft on the game is just unbeliev-able, because he sort of bridgedthat period, where you felt thatwhen Indian batsman leavesIndian soil, Indian pitches, theyare not that good. But SachinTendulkar was good on everysurface and all of the Indian

batsman are good on every sin-gle surface today, I think simplybecause they took a page out ofhis (Sachin's) book," added Lara.

Meanwhile, Lara was painedto witness the plight of theCaribbean cricket. The WestIndies have already beenknocked out of the World Cupsemifinal race

"We have been turned to acorner. Every country, everysports team goes through a littlebit of cycle, but we seem to be inthe same position for quite some-time, which is unfortunate."

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New Zealand captain KaneWilliamson hopes an upcom-

ing break provides his side with achance to revive their falteringWorld Cup campaign.

The Black Caps suffered theirthird straight defeat of the tourna-ment in a thumping 119-run lossto England on Wednesday.

Had they won, it would havebeen New Zealand and not Englandwho were assured of a place in thesemi-finals.

But they were rarely in the huntand New Zealand, who won five oftheir first six games in a sequencethat included a washout with India,had to accept another defeat follow-ing losses to Pakistan and Australia— the team that beat them in the2015 final.

The consolation forWilliamson’s men is they are all butcertain of a place in the semi-finalsgiven their huge net run-rateadvantage over Pakistan.

And Williamson, whose teamwon’t play again until next week ifthey make the last four, believesgroup form will count for little nowthat the tournament is heading intothe knockout phase.

"If we are fortunate to be in asemi-final, then we do have a littlebit of a break," he said.

"If you are in a knockout stagewhere it's a semi-final opportuni-ty, anything can happen.

"We know that we haven't putout our best performance yet andwe know when we do it gives us thebest chance of beating anybody,

without a doubt."It is important for us to per-

haps have a couple of days away. Wesort of have a bit of a break now."

New Zealand's chase againstEngland saw them lose their topfour inside 17 overs with just 69runs on the scoreboard.

From then on it appeared theBlack Caps were involved in dam-age limitation, even though theywere still bowled out for 186 withfive overs to spare.

But Williamson was adamanthis side had not been trying tomanipulate the run-rate.

"We were trying to win thegame, but we didn't do a very goodjob of it," he said.

"We just needed a couple of bigpartnerships, certainly from the toporder and it wasn't there."

New Zealand were hamperedbefore the start when leading fastbowler Lockie Ferguson, who hastaken 17 wickets in seven gamesthis tournament, was ruled outbecause of tightness in his ham-string.

But the 28-year-old should befit in time for Tuesday's semi-finalat Old Trafford.

"He's been outstandingthroughout this whole tournamentand a real point of difference forus," said Williamson.

"Did we miss him? Yes. Butwe'd miss him more if we didn'thave him, hopefully, in anothergame's time.

"He should be fine. It's a fairlyminor injury, sort of a light ham-string thing, and he should beokay."

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England captain Eoin Morgan said it felt“pretty cool” to be in the World Cup

semi-finals as the hosts look forward toplaying their last-four clash at Edgbaston.

Morgan’s men secured a semi-finalspot — England’s first at the World Cupsince 1992 — with their impressive 119-run thrashing of New Zealand at Chester-le-Street.

Victory meant they are guaranteed tofinish third in the 10-team round robin andso take part in the second semi-final atEdgbaston on July 11. England beat India,their potential last four opponents, by 31runs at the Birmingham ground on Sundayand they have won their last 10 matchesin all formats at Edgbaston.

“It’s a place that we really like playing,”said Morgan.

“If we had a choice of where we wouldplay our group-stage games, Edgbaston, theOval and Trent Bridge would probably bethe three grounds where we would haveplayed the nine games.

“It is comforting that we are going toone of those three grounds.” England’s totalof 305-8 against New Zealand, made afterMorgan won the toss, was built on a thirdsuccessive century stand between openersJonny Bairstow and Jason Roy.

Bairstow’s 106 was also his second suc-cessive century after the Yorkshireman’s 111against India.

“We knew that these two games weremust-win games if we were to give our-selves the best opportunity to get into thesemi-finals because we knew the perfor-mances in the last couple of games hadn'tbeen up to scratch,” said Bairstow.

“So to play the way we have in the lasttwo games and hopefully in the semis ispleasing.”

Bairstow and Roy’s 10th century part-nership ensured England made the mostof good batting conditions on a pitch thatdeteriorated sharply as the game went on.

Morgan, asked if the openers made therest of the team feel calm, replied: “It is notreally calmness, it is more excitement.

“The guys are buzzing, laughing, smil-ing at how ridiculous some of the shots thetwo guys are playing, good balls being hitfor four or six, how difficult they are to bowlat. You have got to laugh at it.” England’sbig-match temperament was called intoquestion after back-to-back group defeatsby Sri Lanka and holders Australia.

“Whatever the way you play, it shouldbe the extremity of that on the day becauseyou don’t get another chance and it’s takenus time to get to grips with that,” saidMorgan.

“We do stick to our mantra the wholetime and not actually be cagey, or desper-ate, or anything in those sort of regards. Itdoesn’t work for us and it won’t win us theWorld Cup.”

England, who have never won the

World Cup, now have more than a weekoff before the semi-final, but Morgan does-n’t think that will be a problem.

“I can't wait to do nothing, or get dis-tracted by other things that I enjoy doing,”he said.

“I suppose we have rode the roller-coaster of playing well, playing terrible andplaying good again, so particularly ourbowlers, they need a rest, they need to getaway.

“And our batsmen need to get awayfrom the game and hopefully come backfresh.”

All of England’s three defeats thisWorld Cup have come batting second, sug-gesting the toss is becoming a key factor.

“Before the tournament started Ithought that might be a trend, the toss,being a huge deciding factor in the game,but I thought it would have been the otherway around,” said Morgan.

“I thought the ball might have swunga bit more if conditions were cloudy andthere was a bit of rain around and every-body would have bowled first and chased.

“It’s been the complete opposite, so itshows how much I know!”

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