Govt. not serious about Budget session: Opposition

#3 3 1 0 0 7

monday, january 29, 2018 Delhi

City Edition

28 pages O �10.00

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

follow us:

thehindu.com

facebook.com/thehindu

twitter.com/the_hindu

New book, backed by

heir, claims Netaji died

on August 18, 1945

page 7

Rijiju: smart fencing on

Indo-Bangladesh and

Pakistan border soon

page 10

Police detain Russian

Opposition leader

Navalny at protest

page 12

Unadkat the most

expensive Indian

buy at IPL auction

page 15

EDGE A 4 PAGES

DELHI METRO A 6 PAGES

NEARBY

At the allparty meeting heldon Sunday evening, Opposition parties hit out at the government for a short sessionof Parliament, with both theCongress and the TrinamoolCongress pointing out thatthere are only four workingdays in this session.

“E�ectively there are justfour working days in this session and there are so manyissues — there is a crisis inthe judiciary, the implementation of the GST, farmers’distress and so on — where isthe time to discuss all of it,”Leader of the Congress inthe Lok Sabha MallikarjunKharge told The Hindu.

Trinamool Congress MPDerek O’Brien also backedMr. Kharge. “Number of ‘full’working days in �rst phase of

Budget Session Feb 5, 6, 7, 8.Just four days. This Govtcares two hoots about Parliament,” he tweeted after themeeting.

The Opposition parties also raised the issue of the January 12 press conference byfour seniormost judges ofthe Supreme Court allegingselective allotment of casesto preferred Benches. All

through the discussion,Prime Minister NarendraModi, who arrived late, andother senior Ministers, including Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, remainedsilent.

The Congress is still totake a stand on support to animpeachment motionagainst Chief Justice of India

Dipak Mishra, suggested lastweek by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Sources said the Triple Talaq Bill, which virtuallystalled the Rajya Sabha in thelast session, was not discussed at the meeting. Thegovernment has, however,indicated it will make a freshpush for its passage. “We willleave no stone unturned andpersuade and request allparties so that the Bill ispassed in the Rajya Sabha,”Parliamentary A�airs Minister Ananth Kumar said afterthe meeting.

Many parties also raisedthe law introduced by the SriLankan government imposing heavy penalties on �shermen straying into its waters.

Govt. not serious aboutBudget session: Opposition Little time for issues with only four working days in �rst phase: Cong., Trinamool

Sobhana K Nair

New Delhi

Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azadwith Ananth Kumar and PM Modi on Sunday. * R.V. MOORTHY

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

A “murder” and “attempt tomurder” case has been registered against the Armyunit involved in the �ring onprotesters in Shopian on Saturday that left two civiliansdead. The Kashmir Valley remained tense over the incident on Sunday.

The FIR lodged by the police in the �ring incidentmentioned the Army’s 10Garhwal unit and a Majorfrom the unit, identi�ed asAditya. A case under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 336(endangering life) has beenregistered.

Two civilians, both youngstudents, were killed whenthe Army opened �re on“stonethrowing” protestersin Ganowpora village on Saturday afternoon. The Armysaid it �red in selfdefence

when the protesters resorted to “intense stonepelting,attempted to lynch an injured Junior CommissionerO�cer and set Army vehicles on �re.”

Chief Minister MehboobaMufti, who ordered a magisterial inquiry and sought areport within 20 days, spoke

to Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Saturdayevening. According to theJ&K government spokesman, Ms. Sitharaman assured the Chief Minister“that a detailed report willbe prepared of the incident.”

J&K police charge Armyunit, Major with murderMehbooba orders probe into death of students in �ring

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

A CRPF man stands guard in Srinagar on Sunday. * NISSAR AHMAD


The Kerala government isunhappy that a SupremeCourtappointed committeeis ordering overly generouscompensation to dogbitevictims in the State,touching even �20 lakh.

The Pinarayi Vijayangovernment has complainedto the Supreme Court thatits committee has beengiving “exorbitant amounts”to treat dog bites. Thegovernment is arguing thattreatment for dog bite in theState is free. Governmenthospitals don’t ask formoney from victims.

What is the logic ofordering such hugecompensation fordog bites evenwhen thecommittee hasnever foundhealth carelacking ine�cacy, the Stategovernment hasasked.

‘Cap compassion’ An a�davit �led by theState in the Supreme Courtcontends that it is time tocap the committee’scompassion at �5 lakh. Eventhe Chief Minister’s Distress

Relief Fund pays victims oftragedies �5 lakh, it argued,calling for a “balance.”

Rolling out an economicargument, Kerala saidmoney for payment ofcompensation for dog bitesgoes from local selfgovernment co�ers. Thelocal bodies simply cannotbear the �nancial burden ofseven�gure compensationsand also keep the stray dogsat bay.

Stray dog parksBesides, the State isunhappy with “animallovers” as they have shotdown its idea of opening“stray dog parks” in everydistrict.

The SC committee

headed by former KeralaHigh Court judge, S. SiriJagan, was set up in April2016 to hear dogbitevictims, check the severityof their injuries and monitorthe treatment and facilitiesavailable to them.

The State’s a�davit saysthe committee has alreadyawarded a total of �1.73crore to victims. In somecases, the awards peaked at�20,25,000 and stood at�16,66,000 and �9,50,000in some other cases. These“disproportionate amounts”even covered the “travel andallied expenses” incurred bythe victims.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Payouts to dog-bite victims painful, Kerala tells SC

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

In a freak accident, a 32yearold man died after hewas sucked into an MRImachine at the BYL NairHospital here on Saturday.

Rajesh Maru, relative ofLakshmi Solanki, who wasadvised an MRI scan, wascarrying a metal oxygen cylinder when he entered thescan room as he was toldthe machine was notswitched on. But as he entered the room, he waspulled into the machineand died after he inhaledgas that leaked from the cylinder in the impact.

Man suckedinto MRImachine dies

Ajeet Mahale

Mumbai

DEADLY PULL A PAGE 7

Refuting allegations that hisassociation with a politicalparty was the reason for hisjoining three other seniormost judges of the SupremeCourt in speaking out on itsadministration, Justice J.Chelameswar said he gaveup any such allegiance themoment he became a judge.

Speaking at the Kantamneni Ravindra Rao Memorial Lecture on ‘ConstitutionalismCivil Society,’ hewondered how many ofthose who attributed motives to his conduct had de

clared that they were notconnected with any politicalparty.

He also vowed not to request any government togive him a job after his retirement in about fourmonths.

Don’t want help afterI retire: Chelameswar ‘Won’t approach government for a job’

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA

J. Chelameswar


Bundles of joy: A health worker administers polio vaccine to newborns at a hospital on National Immunisation Day, in Agartala on Sunday. * ABHISEK SAHA

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Safe start

The 20yearold Punewoman, who was almostlabelled a “suicide bomber”by security agencies andarrested in south Kashmirahead of Republic Day,travelled to the KashmirValley a month ago to meeta person she wanted tomarry. “She had noexplosives on her,” ano�cial said. A PAGE 10

Pune woman hadno explosives

ILLUSTRATION BY DEEPAK HARICHANDAN

REPORT ON PAGE 17

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Compensation of over �20 lakh ordered in some cases is proving una�ordable, says State government

CMYK

A ND-NDE

monday, january 29, 2018

Speeding SUV hits twowomen, one run overNEW DELHI

Two women were injured

after they were hit by a

speeding SUV on Hauz Khas

Village road on Thursday, a

day before Republic Day. The

driver of the vehicle,

however, sped away. CCTV

footage of the accident

shows a woman being struck

and hurled across the street

before being run over by the

vehicle.

DELHI METRO A PAGE 1

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Girl accidentally drinkspaint thinner, diesNEW DELHI

A Class XII student of a

government school who

allegedly drank paint thinner

mistaking it for cough syrup

died during treatment at east

Delhi’s Lal Bahadur Shastri

hospital on Sunday, the

police said.The incident took

place in east Delhi’s Pandav

Nagar on Saturday afternoon.

DELHI METRO A PAGE 1

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Plea to exclude SC/STcreamy layer from quotaNEW DELHI

The Supreme Court will hear

a petition to exclude the

a�uent members, or the

creamy layer, of the

Scheduled Castes and

Scheduled Tribes from the

bene�ts of reservation. A

Bench, led by Chief Justice of

India Dipak Misra, will hear

the petition which argues

that the rich among the

SCs/STs are “snatching away”

the bene�ts, while the

deserving and impoverished

continue to “bite the dust.”

NATION A PAGE 7

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Ex-CMs eligible forprivileges, U.P. tells SCNEW DELHI

The Yogi Adityanath

government in Uttar Pradesh

has told the Supreme Court

that the State’s former Chief

Ministers are considered a

privileged class who deserve

to enjoy certain bene�ts even

after demitting o�ce. The

Supreme Court is examining

laws enacted by the U.P.

Assembly which allow former

CMs and Ministers o�cial

bungalows and sta� at public

expense.

NATION A PAGE 7


Despite fresh violence beingreported from curfewbound Kasganj on Sundaymorning, normalcy gradually returned to the town.

A peace meeting was organised and attended by people of all sections.

Early in the morning, despite heavy police deployment, rioters managed totorch three shops, two buses and one car. The �re brigade extinguished the blaze.Shops and markets openedlater in the day after themeeting.

The administrationbrought the situation undercontrol by late Sunday afternoon.

One person died and twowere injured in a clash on January 26.

Peace meet held incurfewbound KasganjShops, markets open after meeting

Mohammad ali

Meerut

Security personnel keepingvigil in Kasganj.

DETAILS ON A PAGE 11

downloaded from : www.visionias.net downloaded from : https://t.me/Material_For_Exam

CMYK

NORTHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2018 3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI Timings

Monday, January 29

RISE 07:11 SET 17:58

RISE 15:42 SET 04:44

Tuesday, January 30

RISE 07:11 SET 17:59

RISE 16:46 SET 05:47

Wednesday, January 31

RISE 07:10 SET 18:00

RISE 17:54 SET 06:45

Alleging that in recent yearsseveral cases of encroachment on forest and panchyatland under the Punjab government in areas surrounding Chandigarh have come tothe fore, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has demanded implementation of the Punjaband Haryana High Courtmonitored Justice KuldeepSingh interim report on thematter.

Leader of the Oppositionin the Punjab AssemblySukhpal Singh Khaira andKharar MLA Kanwar Sandhu

have alleged that in recentyears multiple cases havebeen witnessed where powerful political people, bureaucrats and others haveencroached on land, violating section 42(A) and ThePunjab Land PreservationAct, 1900.

‘Without consent’

Mr. Khaira and Mr. Sandhupointed out that a case hademerged recently where theKharar SubDivisional Magistrate had quashed an illegalgirdawari of 458 kanals andtwo marla land in Seonk village that was transferred

without the consent of theland owner.

“There have been hundreds of similar cases in thearea during the previousSADBJP regime, and illegaland forced encroachment isstill going on. The VidhanSabha in 2007 had passed anorder prohibiting the registration of land in the forestarea, but even after that cases were witnessed where illegal registration was doneby the o�cers in connivancewith political leaders,” theyalleged.

Mr. Sandhu said a committee was formed by the

Punjab and Haryana HighCourt in 2012 under JusticeKuldeep Singh on the issue.He submitted his interim report in 2013. “Till now nothing has been done on the reports submitted by JusticeKuldeep Singh and no actionwas initiated against thoseviolated the law,” he said. Hedemanded a judicial inquiryin the case.

“All the registries andtransfers that happened after 2013 must also probed. Iurge the Punjab and Haryana High Court to take suomoto cognizance in the matter,” he added.

AAP demands probe intoencroachment on forest land‘Implement Justice Kuldeep Singh interim report on the matter’

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

The budget session of the UttarPradesh Assembly is set to beginon February 8 with the Governor’s address to a joint sitting ofboth the Houses.

In view of the Opposition’sprotest during the Governor’s address at the Assembly’s �rst session last year, Speaker H.N. Dixithad recently warned the MLAs ofdisciplinary action if they carryout “planned obstructions” during the address.

According to Principal Secretary of the Assembly Pradeep Kumar Dubey, Governor Ram Naikhas summoned the Vidhan Sabha’s �rst session of this year onFebruary 8.

Mr. Naik will address a joint sitting of both the Houses at VidhanBhawan to mark the opening ofthe budget session.

The agenda of the Assembly islikely to be issued on Monday.

The State Cabinet, at its lastmeeting on January 23, had decided to convene the budget session

from February 8. The business advisory commit

tee of the two Houses will decideon the number of sittings.

The budget session is likely tosee the Opposition and the Assembly Speaker at loggerheads.For nearly two decades, it has become a practice for the Opposition to disrupt the Governor’saddress.

Last year, in the �rst session ofthe present Assembly, the Opposition Samajwadi Party had obstructed the Governor’s addressby raising slogans and throwingpaper balls at the podium.

U.P. Speaker warns MLAs ‘Will take action if Governor’s address disrupted’

Press Trust of India

Lucknow

H.N. Dixit *

A resident of Jagraon,Mandeep Singh, wasbooked for allegedlyduping Jagdish of�20.5 lakh, the policesaid. Mandeep posed

as OSD to the thenCM Parkash Singh Badal, allegedly took�20.5 lakh from Jagdish for getting hisdaughter a job in thepolice department in2016, the police said.

Booked for cheating

PTI

Phagwara


CMYK

A ND-NDE

WESTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 20184EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Clean-up needed: Foam from chemical e�uents �oats along the polluted Valdevi river near Pimpalgaon Khamb village, around15 km from Nashik, on Sunday morning. Factories in the area regularly release chemical waste into the river. * AJAJ SHAIKH

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Spot the river

The police, acting on a courtorder, have registered a caseagainst a Congress MLA andhis four associates for allegedly grabbing the land of a55yearold tribal in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district.

Dukhlal Kanwar, a resident of Chuiya village, hadmoved the special court under the Scheduled Caste andScheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, seeking action against the MLA,Jaisingh Agrawal (48), fromKorba, and his associates —Surendra Jaiswal (52), BholaSoni (38), Vijay Singh (48)and Darshan Manikpuri (45)

— for allegedly capturing0.45 hectare of his land.

The Judge, Yogesh Pareek,had on January 15 directedAnusuchit Janjati Kalyan pol

ice station in Korba to lodgean FIR against the �ve. Thecase was registered undervarious sections of the SCand ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on Saturday evening, station house o�cerR.S. Mandavi said.

They were also bookedunder IPC sections, including 506 (B) (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarilycausing hurt), and 120 B (criminal conspiracy). No onehas been arrested so far.

According to Mr. Kanwar’spetition, Mr. Agrawal hadpurchased a piece of land inChuiya village from AbdulGa�ar in 2010. When theboundary wall construction

was under way on that plotin 2012, Mr. Kanwar hadraised objection that his landadjacent to it was being captured in the process.

Later, when the measurement of the plot was done bythe revenue inspector andthe patwari, it was foundthat besides 45 decimal belonging to Mr. Kanwar, theland of two villagers wascaptured by Mr. Agrawal.

Mr. Kanwar lodged a complaint with the police, but noaction was taken, the petition said. Last November,Mr. Kanwar �led an application under Section 156(3) ofthe Criminal ProcedureCode in the court.

Congress MLA booked forgrabbing tribal man’s landLegislator’s four associates also booked under prevention of atrocities Act, IPC


Korba

Jaisingh Agrawal * PHOTO

COURTESY: TWITTER

COOP Cooperative, one ofSwitzerland’s leading retailand wholesale companies,on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding(MoU) with the Marine Products Export DevelopmentAuthority (MPEDA) to develop exportoriented organicaquafarming in India to caterto the growing demand fororganic seafood productsacross the European Union.

MPEDA chairman A.Jayathilak and COOP Member of Management GerhardZurlutter signed the MoU atthe ongoing India International Seafood Show 2018.

The MPEDA will identifyentrepreneurs and providethem with technical advice

on the production of highquality organic shrimp thatmeet national and international certi�cation protocols. COOP, which has nearly2,200 sales outlets throughout Switzerland and wholesale/production business activities across Europe, haso�ered to procure the processed shrimp at a premiumof up to 15% and with an additional 5% through �nancing for development activities, including training.

Incentive for farmers“The reason why manyfarmers are hesitant to getinto organic production isthe increased costs involved.The premium price o�eredwill o�set the extra cost andincentivise them to explore

organic farming,” said Mr.Jayathilak.

The pilot project will berun in Kerala to produce Organic Black Tiger Shrimp, initially on about 1000 hectares. If successful, theproject will be extended toother places. MPEDA andCOOP will facilitate the certi�cation of a shrimp hatcheryfor the production of organicshrimp seed, and certify andempanel a smallscale feedmill unit to source the organic feed.

Mr. Zurlutter, who is alsothe head of overseas buyingof frozen products for COOP,said the project in Indiawould be their second leg inorganic farming after Vietnam, where they have hadsuccess with similar projects

and organic producers whoare generating considerablyhigher revenues than conventional farmers.

Towards sustainability“For us organic is not just aninvestment, it is the future.We are retailers with a deepseated commitment to sustainability, and we understand that we have to getfarmers into a positionwhere they can readilyadopt organic farming practices, so we support themwith higher prices,” Mr. Zurlutter said.

Kochibased JASS Ventures and Baby Marine International will collaboratewith COOP to organise thesupply chain in Kerala andprocess the produce.

MPEDA ties up with Swiss cooperative Plans to boost organic aquafarming through collaboration

Prakash Kamat

Panaji

The State government hasreceived clearance from theMinistry of Defence for preparing a project report ofthe proposed internationalairport near Pune.

German company Dorschis preparing the detailedproject report (DPR), andwill also develop the airportat Purandar, a revenue o�cial said. “The work wasslow as necessary permissions from the defence ministry were pending. Thepermissions were received acouple of days ago.”

“The primary estimatedcost of the airport is �14,000crore. Once the report is

completed, we will knowthe actual cost,” he said.

The airport, which is expected to take around �veyears to complete, will bespread across 2,400 hectares. The acquisition ofland will take place in sevenvillages of Purandar tehsil.According to Pune DistrictCollector Saurabh Rao, theland acquisition cost will be�2,000 crore.

Dorsch, which has developed airports in Berlin,Munich, Kuwait, and Frankfurt, was given the contractfor the Pune project inMarch last year.

Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis had announcedthe project in October 2016.

German �rm preparing the DPR


Mumbai

Pune airport getsDefence approval

Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis has congratulatedthe team behind the State’stableau, which won the �rstprize at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi.

A certi�cate issued by theMinistry of Defence saysthat the tableau on the coronation ceremony of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj hasbeen awarded the �rstprize.

Calling the win a “proudmoment”, Mr. Fadnavis,said in a tweet on Sunday,“Congratulations to entireteam who worked hard andachieved this!”

The tableau was created

by art director Nitin Desaiand his team.

Leader of OppositionRadhakrishna VikhePatil also congratulated the team .

R-Day tableau win aproud moment: CMCongratulates artistic team for e�orts


Mumbai

The tableau depictedShivaji’s coronation. * PTI


#3 3 1 0 0 7

YKA ND-NDE

SOUTHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



Anna Hazare plans freshstir against Modi govt. KALABURAGI

Attacking the Centre and

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi for their ‘procorpora

te’ and ‘antipeople’

governance, social activist

Anna Hazare said here on

Sunday that he would launch

a stir at the Ramlila Maidan in

Delhi from March 23.

IN BRIEF

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called for amass movement to protectscience and wage a battleagainst superstitious beliefsand rituals at a time when‘those in power’ were propagating ‘pseudoscience’.

Inaugurating the 30th Kerala Science Congress at theGovernment Brennen College campus here on Sunday, Mr. Vijayan said Article51 of the Constitution, whichtermed the promotion of ascienti�c temper as a citizen’s fundamental duty, empowered people to open anew front in the struggle tosafeguard science against attempts to spread superstitious and antiscienti�c beliefs.

E�orts to increase scienti�c awareness had to be taken up to equip people to in

voke Article 51 againstattempts to propagate superstition, he added.

‘New viruses’“Contagious diseases thatwere thought to have beeneradicated are coming backand new viruses and diseases that are unheard of arecausing panic in many partsof the world,” the Chief Minister said, adding that the

scienti�c community wastrying to develop new drugsto �ght against them.

Calling on the scienti�ccommunity to study suchdiseases to �ght them, hesaid the theme of the 30thKSC — ‘Viruses and infectious diseases’ — indicatedthe scientists’ preparationsfor such interventions.

Though Kerala was farahead in healthcare com

pared to other States, outbreaks of contagious diseases were causing problems,Mr Vijayan said. He expressed the hope thatthrough proper sanitationmeasures and scienti�cmethods, such diseasescould be controlled.

‘State a model’The Chief Minister said theState was emerging as a model for other States in thescience sector.

The government was extending its support to theKerala State Council forScience, Technology, and

Environment (KSCSTE), organisers of the KSC, to makethat progress more meaningful.

He also complimented theKSCSTE for launching a project that enabled all — fromschool students to retiredscientists — to carry outscienti�c activities. He alsosaid the Virology ResearchDevelopment Centre, beingdeveloped under the aegis ofthe KSCSTE, would be a reality soon.

Mr. Vijayan said the scienti�c community was also expected to contribute initiatives to equip the State toface natural disasters such asthe recent Ockhi cyclone.

Later he presentedawards, including youngscientist gold medals, the Dr.S. Vasudev Award, ScienceLiterature Awards, and theKSCSTESGRF SPARK Awardat the function.

Pinarayi for battle against pseudoscienceUrges mass movement against superstitious beliefs, seeks measures to deal with disease outbreaks

Special Correspondent

THALASSERY

New struggle: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurating theKerala Science Congress at Thalassery on Sunday.

<> Article 51 of the

Constitution

empowers people to

open a new front in

the struggle to

safeguard science

Pinarayi Vijayan

Kerala Chief Minister

Amid the ongoing politicalcontroversy over the sharingof the Mahadayi waters, adelegation from Goa, led byits Speaker Pramod Savant,visited Kanakumbi, the origin of the river and the siteof the KalasaBanduri Nalaproject in Karnataka, onSunday.

The delegation includedDeputy Speaker Michael Lobo, two MLAs, presspersons, police, and IrrigationDepartment o�cials fromGoa apart from Mr. Savant.

Banduri Nala projectThey walked along the canaland the barricade near theKalasaBanduri Nala projectand inspected the site.

Mr. Savant refused tospeak to presspersons fromBelagavi. However, he toldBelagavi Superintendent ofPolice Sudheer Kumar Reddy, who was at the site, thathe and his friends were onan excursion to Khanapur.

Speaking to reporters atKhanapur, Mr. Lobo demanded that Centre set up acommittee to investigate allegations that Karnataka hadresumed work on the KalasaBanduri Nala project, in vio

lation of Supreme Court guidelines.

An o�cial from Goa saidthe legislators were forced tovisit Kanakumbi owing topressure from environmental activists following rumours that Karnataka hadresumed work.

Belagavi district o�cialssaid they had no prior information about the visit.

CM’s instructionsKarnataka Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah, meanwhile,told reporters that instructions had been given to theo�cials concerned to cooperate with the Goa delegation as per protocol.

Even as he made it clearthat there was no prior intimation regarding the visit,Mr. Siddaramaiah sought toplay down the visit, sayingKarnataka had not violatedany norms as it had not continued construction.

Some Kannada organisations condemned the delegation’s visit. Ashok Chandaragi, convener of afederation of Kannadagroups, urged the State government not to allowanyone near the Kalasa Banduri Nala project site, without prior permission.

No prior intimation: Siddaramaiah Special Correspondent

Belagavi

Goa Speaker visitsMahadayi’s origin

Amala Paul quizzed againin tax evasion caseKOCHI

In view of discrepancies in her

earlier statements regarding

vehicle tax evasion fraud,

actor Amala Paul was again

interrogated by the Economic

Offences Wing of the Crime

Branch. Official sources said

she appeared before the EOW

team on Saturday. As per the

case, Ms. Paul had registered

her luxury car in the Union

Territory to avoid 20% tax on

luxury cars levied by the

Kerala Government.

A day after the withdrawalof a controversial circularon dropping cases registered against “innocent minorities”, Karnataka ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah onSunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of giving a caste and communalcolour to the issue to defame the State government.

Addressing presspersonsat his homecumo�ceKrishna here, after launching the pulse polio drive,Mr. Siddaramaiah hit out atState BJP leaders saying instead of looking at it from ahumanitarian angle, theBJP was trying to gain polit

ical mileage from the issue.Cases registered against innocent persons belongingto any religion, caste, andcommunity would be withdrawn, he said.

The BJP had criticised

the earlier circular by terming it as “minority appeasement” by the governmentahead of elections, and thisforced the Home Department to issue a revised version.

Revised versionThe revised version replaced the word “minorities” by “all innocent people”.

“Farmers, students, andpeople belonging to minority communities have participated in several agitationsin the past.

“We are taking back cases registered against innocent people only,” the ChiefMinister clari�ed.

BJP criticised ‘dropping of cases against innocent minorities’


BENGALURU

Siddaramaiah

Don’t give communal colour tocircular issue: Siddaramaiah

The pulse polio immunisation drive is not an easy taskin forested and remote villages with visible population of “teenmothers,” inthe age group of 1417 years,in Bangarupalem mandal.The �rst leg of the missionby the district medical andhealth department hasachieved 100% target by covering all the 2,220 childrenin 33 villages and a dozenhamlets, vulnerable tochildmarriages on the very�rst day.

The Christian Children’sFund of Canada and the Rural Organization for PovertyEradication Services, whichadopted these villages, hadto undertake a weeklongawareness campaign aboutpulse polio.

Each village was supervised by three volunteers.School children, workers ofrural health, teachers andsarpanches were involved inthe programme.

Some villages like EguvaBandarlapalle, Bandladoddi, CJF Colony, Nethaji Colony, Veluthulachenu have agood number of mothersbelow 17.

Pulse polio a dauntingtask with ‘teen-mothers’Staff Reporter

CHITTOOR

Polio drops being given at avillage in Chittoor district.

Reality check: Goa o�cials, led by Speaker Pramod Savant,inspecting the project site on Sunday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Artiste dies duringperformance in KeralaTHRISSUR

‘Ottan Thullal’ artiste

Kalamandalam

Geethanandan, 58, died while

performing at the Mahadeva

Temple in Avittathur near

Irinjalakuda on Sunday. He

has performed in more than

5,000 stages in and out of

the country and acted in over

30 films. He played a major

role in making the traditional

art form popular outside

Kerala.

20-year-old raped, killedby spurned lover KALABURAGI

A 20yearold girl was raped

and killed by her spurned

lover at Kosam village of

Bhalki taluk in Bidar district of

Karnataka. The body of the

victim was found in the forest

area near Mylar village.

Shamshuddin raped the BA

student and slashed her neck

with a knife. A case has been

registered against him.


EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



CMYK

A ND-NDE

NATION

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: Skymet (Taken at 17.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Monday: Dense fog likely at isolated places overBihar, sub-himalayan West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Chand-igarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala.................. -.... 26.8...... 5.5 Kozhikode ................ -.... 34.2.... 23.4

Ahmedabad............. -.... 29.8.... 10.1 Kurnool .................... -.... 32.2.... 19.0

Aizawl .................... -.... 26.8...... 5.5 Lucknow................... -.... 20.8...... 5.0

Allahabad ............... -.... 26.0...... 9.0 Madurai.................... -.... 33.0.... 20.0

Bengaluru ............... -.... 28.2.... 16.6 Mangaluru................ -.... 33.3.... 22.6

Bhopal.................... -.... 26.2...... 9.4 Mumbai.................... -.... 30.1.... 15.0

Bhubaneswar .......... -.... 28.0.... 14.4 Mysuru..................... -.... 29.8.... 15.6

Chandigarh ............. -.... 15.4...... 6.9 New Delhi ................ -.... 19.2...... 7.6

Chennai .................. -.... 30.7.... 21.0 Patna ....................... -.... 23.1...... 7.2

Coimbatore............. -.... 32.2.... 19.5 Port Blair ................. -.... 30.3.... 24.4

Dehradun................ -.... 20.3...... 6.6 Puducherry............... -.... 30.2.... 18.5

Gangtok...............0.7...... 7.0...... 4.5 Pune ........................ -.... 30.3.... 11.1

Goa ........................ -.... 31.0.... 20.0 Raipur ...................... -.... 28.2.... 12.2

Guwahati ................ -.... 24.2...... 8.6 Ranchi...................... -.... 24.2...... 7.0

Hubballi.................. -.... 29.0.... 17.0 Shillong.................... -.... 15.2.....-0.7

Hyderabad .............. -.... 30.5.... 15.3 Shimla...................... -.... 13.2...... 4.1

Imphal.................... -.... 22.2...... 4.2 Srinagar ................... -.... 13.6.....-4.8

Jaipur ..................... -.... 25.4...... 9.0 Trivandrum ...........4.1.... 32.5.... 23.6

Kochi...................3.2.... 32.2.... 23.4 Tiruchi ..................... -.... 31.2.... 21.2

Kohima................... -.... 18.0...... 6.2 Vijayawada ............... -.... 31.6.... 20.0

Kolkata................... -.... 25.3.... 12.9 Visakhapatnam .......... -.... 29.9.... 20.6

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 COPM2.5PM10CODE

In observations made at4 p.m., Agra recordedan air quality index (AQI)score of 392, indicatinghigh levels of pollutantsin the air. In contrast,Alwar recorded arelatively healthy AQI score of 71.

Ahmedabad.....130102..28.. 180......- ....*

Bengaluru ...........9..33..24.... 83......- ....*

Chennai ..............7..22..47.. 155......- ....*

Delhi.................20202111.. 379 .349 ....*

Hyderabad ........14..45..31.. 153 .137 ....*

Kolkata ........... ....- ....- ....-.......-......- .....-

Lucknow .............7....4..54.. 317......- ....*

Mumbai .......... ....- ....- ....-.......-......- .....-

Pune.................48..27..56.... 47 ...69 ....*

Visakhapatnam..23..50..40.. 169 .138 ....*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

Sonowal invites socialgroups for talks GUWAHATI

Assam Chief Minister

Sarbananda Sonowal on

Sunday invited a number of

social groups for a discussion

to defuse tension after

violence and death of two

persons in police firing in

Dima Hasao district. The

indefinite curfew clamped at

Maibang town of the district,

the epicentre of violence,

was relaxed for five hours on

Sunday, even as the 48-hour

Dima Hasao bandh ended on

Sunday. PTI

IN BRIEF

Two drug peddlersarrested in Jammu, Doda JAMMU

Two alleged drug peddlers

were arrested along with

poppy straw and charas in

separate operations in Doda

and Jammu districts, the

police claimed on Sunday.

Gurpreet, hailing from

Punjab, was arrested during

vehicle checking at Manda

Naka. In another operation, a

drug peddler was arrested

from Kahara bridge near

Gandoh in Doda district last

evening and some ‘charas’

was recovered from him, he

said. PTI

Aglow with lights: A panoramic view of Awadh Shilp Gram, venue of Lucknow Mahotsav, in Lucknow on Sunday. * RAJEEV BHATT

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

All decked out

Three persons were burntalive after their bike caught�re following an accidentwith another vehicle on National Highway49 near Katasa village in Mayurbhanj district on Saturday night.

Eyewitnesses watched inhorror as the bike burst into�ames soon after the accident. Two bikers died on thespot while the third succumbed to injuries on theway to hospital.

The accident took placearound 9.30 p.m. on Saturday when the three, identi�ed as Satrughan Marandiand Babuli Marandi of Ghadabindha village and MotilalBindhani of Bangiriposhiarea, were returning home.

An explosion Their bike was hit from behind by a speeding vehiclewhich could not be traced after the accident. The bikeskid a long distance due tothe impact of the accident.Within seconds, the bikecaught �re and it soonspread to the fuel tank. Locals heard an explosion andthe bikers were foundcharred after the accident.

Ramesh Lenka, a Bhubaneswarbased automobileengineering working in atwowheeler retail company,said: “It could be the rarestof rare incidents. We haveseen accidents that leavebikes mangled. But a bikegetting gutted in a �re afteran accident is somethingnew to me.”

Following the accident,locals blocked the nationalhighway and demandedadequate compensation forthe bikers. However, intervention by the local policehelped defuse the tense situation.

Three bikersburnt alive in accident

Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR

Two days after gunningdown mostwanted gangsterVicky Gounder, the Punjabpolice on Sunday claimed tohave nabbed two moregangsters, who were providing �nancial support andshelter to Gounder.

“Love and Amritpal Singhhave been arrested fromnear a gurdwara at Jhabal inTarn Taran district,” SeniorSuperintendent of PoliceDarshan Singh Mann saidover phone.

Love is the brother of

dreaded criminal GurpreetSingh, alias Gopi Kaura, whowas associated with VickyGounder’s gang, the SSPsaid, adding that Amritpalwas a proclaimed o�ender.

“Both of them were providing �nancial support andhideout to Gounder,” Mr.Mann said.

Encounter in RajasthanNotably, the Punjab policegunned down two gangsters Vicky Gounder and his associate Prema Lahoria inan encounter in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan on

Friday.Another person, who sus

tained bullet injuries, diedlater.

The operation was conducted by the Punjab police’s special wing OrganisedCrime Control Unit.

A headacheGounder was had become aheadache for the police afterhe and �ve other prisonersescaped from the highsecurity Nabha Jail in November 2016. Since then, Gounder was successful indodging the police on sever

al occasions.The Punjab police had

said on Sunday that it wouldshift its focus to other dreaded criminals and gangstersin the state, including HarryChattha, Gopi Ghanshyampuria, Gopi Kaura and Jaipal, who were accused inseveral cases of murder andextortion.

Punjab Director Generalof Police (DGP) Suresh Arorahad said as many as 17 Acategory (dreaded criminals)and 21 Bcategory gangsterswere believed to be active inPunjab as of January 2017.

Gounder aftermath: two moregangsters arrested in Punjab ‘Were providing �nancial support and shelter to the mostwanted criminal’


Chandigarh

Five killed in roadaccident in Rajasthan JAIPUR

Five people were killed and as

many injured when a jeep they

were travelling in collided

head-on with a truck in

Bharatpur district on Sunday,

the police said. The accident

occurred on Nagar-Deeg road

under the Nagar police station

area when the victims were on

their way to the Govedhan

temple in Mathura, they

added. The deceased were

identified as Anurag (14),

Sharmila (45), Babulal (50),

Bhanu (16) and jeep driver

Umardeen (45). PTI


#3 3 1 0 0 7




CMYK

A ND-NDE

NATION

Govt. mulls apex centreto �ght cybercrime NEW DELHI

To deal with cybercrimes, the

Union Home Ministry is

planning to set up an apex

coordination centre and has

asked the States to establish

similar centres. It has also

released �83 crore for setting

up of cyberforensic training

laboratorycumtraining

centres for police officers in

each State. PTI

IN BRIEF

Acid attack victims to getquota in Central govt. jobs NEW DELHI

People with autism, mental

illnesses, intellectual

disability and victims of acid

attacks will now get quota in

Central government jobs, an

official order said. In case of

direct recruitment, 4% of the

total number of vacancies, up

from the existing 3%, in

groups A, B and C shall be

reserved for people with not

less than 40% of a specified

disability, the order said. PTI

2 U.P. policemen among 7dead as jeep falls in pond ALIGARH

A jeep skidded off the road

and fell into a pond on

Sunday morning killing seven

persons, including two

policemen, officials said here.

The driver of the vehicle

failed to notice the pond due

to dense fog, and the vehicle

plunged into the water. The

driver of the jeep, however,

escaped, they said. PTI

The Agripada police have arrested the resident doctorand the ward boy on duty atthe BYL Nair Hospital following the death of Rajesh Maruon Saturday evening after hewas sucked into an MRI machine.

According to o�cials, Maru was visiting his sister’smotherinlaw, Laksmi Solanki, who had been admitted to the hospital on Fridayand was scheduled to undergo an MRI scan.

“We were all helpingmove my mother from theward to the MRI centre forher scan at 7.30 p.m.,” saidTribhuvan Solanki, Ms. Laksmi’s son, who was present inthe hospital with his sisterPriyanka and father HarishSolanki.

The Solankis said the doctor on duty, Siddhant Shah,asked them to go into thescan room, saying he wouldjoin them in 10 minutes.

O�cials at the Nair hospi

tal, however, said the doctorwas completing the requisitepaperwork before the scan,which is standard practice,and that family members ofpatients are not allowed intothe MRI room.

“The ward boy told us wecould carry the oxygen cylinder, which was provided formy mother to help herbreathe, inside the room because she would need it. We

asked the ward boy howcould we carry the metal cylinder inside, and he said itwas safe since the MRI machine was switched o�,” Mr.Solanki said.

However, as Rajesh Maru,the �rst to enter, walked inwith the oxygen cylinder, hewas sucked into the machine, which had beenswitched on.

“As soon as we opened the

door, he was sucked into themachine along with the oxygen cylinder. His left handgot wedged between the oxygen cylinder and the MRImachine. The impact alsotriggered a leak in the cylinder. It all happened in a matter of seconds. We tried topull him out. But it was toolate,” Ms. Priyanka said.

Maru was pulled out of themachine and rushed to the

emergency ward where hedied ten minutes later. Hisbody was subsequently taken to the JJ Hospital at Byculla for postmortem.

“When we received thebody, it was extremely swollen due to the excessive supply of the oxygen,” said adoctor from the JJ Hospital,who did not wished to benamed.

Protesting the hospital’sapathy and lack of help following the incident, members of Maru’s family occupied the o�ce of Dean Dr.Ramesh Bharmal in NairHospital on Sunday morningand refused to leave until action was taken against thedoctor and the hospital sta�.They also refused to claimMaru’s body from the JJ Hospital unless action was taken. They were joined bymembers of the Meghwalcommunity and MangalPrabhat Lodha, MLA fromMalabar Hill.

Mumbai Police spokesperson DCP Deepak Deoraj saidDr. Shah and the ward boy,Vittal Chavan, were arrestedon Sunday evening andcharged with causing deathdue to negligence.

The deadly pull that snatched a lifeDuty doctor, ward boy arrestedfor negligence

Ajeet Mahale

Mumbai

A pall of gloom descendedon Harharwala chawl atChinchpokli as the body ofRajesh Maru was broughthome on Sunday evening.

The sole breadwinner ofthe family, Maru was a salesman at a garments store atParel. He lived with his parents in a 6 feet x 8 feetroom.

His elder brother is settledin Surat and three elder sisters are married.

Rajesh’s mother Gala,who collapsed on hearing

the news of his death andhad to be treated at the NairHospital itself, said her sondid not even intend to go into the MRI room initially.“My soninlaw was supposed to take his mother intothe MRI room, but the ring inhis �nger got stuck andwouldn’t come o�. Which iswhy Rajesh volunteered togo in,” she said.

Maru’s elder sister Manisha is in a state of shock andwas unable to recognise relatives at the cremation.

“My son was extremelyobedient, he never said no to

anything and out of all mychildren, he was the onewho cared for me the most,”said Maru’s grieving fatherShyaamji.

“I had been telling him toget married for a few yearsbut he always kept delayingit. He �rst wanted to buy anew and bigger house andwas working hard towardsachieving that goal.

“Finally, two months ago,when he got a new job, heagreed to get married andwas even excited to meetprospective brides,” Ms. Galasaid.

‘He was the most caring of all my children’

Gala, mother of Rajesh Maru, shows a photo of her son at theirresidence on Sunday. * EMMANUAL YOGINI

Rachna Dhanrajani

Mumbai

The Supreme Court willhear a petition to excludethe a�uent members, orthe creamy layer, of theScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from the bene�ts of reservation.

A Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra,will hear the petition whichargues that the rich amongthe SCs/STs are “snatchingaway” the bene�ts, whilethe deserving and impoverished continue to “bite thedust.” It is this lack of percolation of bene�ts to the poorand really backward amongthese communities that hasled to social unrest, Naxalitemovements and perennialpoverty, it says.

This is the �rst time a petition has been �led, urgingthe Supreme Court to introduce the creamy layer concept for the SCs/STs. In1992, a ninejudge Bench ofthe court in the Indra Sawhney case, or the Mandal caseas it was popularly known,upheld the castebased reservation for the OBCs as valid. The court also said thecreamy layer of the OBCs(those earning a speci�edincome) should not get thebene�ts of reservation. Theruling, however, con�nedthe exclusion of the creamylayer to the OBCs and notthe SCs/STs. Now, the petition �led by Samta AndolanSamiti, which representsthe poor strata of the SCs/STs in Rajasthan, wants thecreamy layer of the SCs/STsexcluded from the bene�ts.

The petition, �led by advocate Shobhit Tiwari, ref

ers to the ConstitutionBench’s 2006 judgment inthe M. Nagaraj case that the“means test [a scrutiny ofthe value of assets of an individual claiming reservation]should be taken into consideration to exclude the creamy layer from the group earmarked for reservation.”

“The uplifted/a�uentand advanced sections ofthe SCs/STs snatch away themaximum bene�t and the95% members of these communities are at a disadvantage. The a�uent amongthe SCs/STs are siphoningo� the reservation bene�tsgiven to them by the Stategovernment as well as theCentral government... Thebene�ts of the reservationpolicy are not percolatingdown to the people who arein actual need of them,” thepetition argues. This lack ofpercolation of quota bene�ts to the poorest of thepoor ensures that the “weakalways remains the weakand the fortunate layersconsume the whole cake.”

The petition argues thatno class or caste remainedhomogeneously backwardacross time. Only the backward portion of castes included in the list of SCs/STsalone are constitutionallyentitled to the bene�ts ofreservation.

Supreme Court to hear thepetition

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

A Bench led by Chief Justiceof India Dipak Misra will hearthe petition.

Plea to excludeSC/ST creamylayer from quota

The head priest of a templewas killed and one of hisfollowers seriously injuredafter unidenti�ed personsopened �re at them in thetemple in Vaishali district,the police said here onSunday.

The incident happenedunder the jurisdiction ofRaghopur police station onSaturday night, the policesaid.

The priest, Mauni Baba,65, was shot dead insidethe Ram Janaki Mutt temple, while his followerChhotan Das was seriouslyinjured in the attack, station house o�cer RupeshKumar said.

The incident came tolight on Sunday morningwhen another follower ofMauni Baba found his master’s body lying in a pool ofblood. Chhotan Das was taken to the NMCH hospitalin Patna, the SHO said.

The police was trying toascertain the identity ofthe attackers, he added.

Temple headpriest shotdead in Bihar


Hajipur

Reports by Japanese and otherinternational authorities haveconclusively proved that NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose died inan air crash on August 18, 1945, anew book has claimed.

Author Ashis Ray’s �ndings inLaid to Rest: The Controversyover Subhash Chandra Bose’sDeath have been endorsed byNetaji’s only living child andheir Anita Pfa�, who has urgedJapan and India to conduct DNAtests on the remains at the Renkoji shrine of Tokyo for �nalcon�rmation.

The air crash has long been atthe centre of speculations as it

was reported initially to be thecause of his death. However,mystery persisted over Netaji’s�nal moments and it was feltthat he might have �ed the crashsite to avoid being arrested bythe victorious Allied powers ofthe Second World War.

No frank conversation“There ought to have been nomystery about what happenedto Bose after September 15,1945, or four weeks after his demise, since on that date, the Japanese government con�rmedthe tragedy in an interim reportto the American general Douglas MacArthur, whose forcesoccupied Japan after its surren

der in the Second World War,”Mr. Ray states in the book,which claims that the tensionbetween Netaji’s older brotherSarat Chandra Bose and PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru mighthave played a role in preventinga frank conversation about the

heartbreaking truth of Bose’sdeath.

Following the Japanese report of September 15, 1945, tenmore reports were produced toprobe Netaji’s fate.

Irrational behaviourMr. Ray says that the continuedspeculation about Netaji’s fateindicates irrational behaviourby some sections of Indians.

“Two of these inquests werecommissioned by the Indian government and their �ndingswholly accepted by it. Yet, NewDelhi has pandered to a motleysection of Indians who havebeen irrationally in denial orhave opposed the truth for political reasons, or worse, for �nancial bene�t, by perpetrating outright fraud,” Mr. Ray says.

Sarat Chandra Bose, a promi

nent Congress leader in his ownright, was a Cabinet Minister inthe prePartition interim government led by Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.However, the writer says thatneither Nehru nor Patel sharedthe reports by the Japanese government or the subsequent reports by the British authoritieswith Mr. Bose.

The author indicates that lingering doubts over Netaji’sdeath in the air crash might haveresulted from the early death ofSarat Bose himself in 1950 as healone could have made a publicdeclaration on his brother’sdeath.

As Sarat Chandra Bose died,so did the possibility of presenting the tragedy to the Indian public through an authoritative family member.

New book asserts Netaji died in 1945 crashFindings of two inquests accepted by Indian government, says author Ashis Ray

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose* THE HINDU ARCHIVES

Kallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI

Karni Sena is not Padmaa-vat’s only foe. Like all other�lms it has a powerful adversary in piracy too.

According to Germanybased company TECXIPIOGmbH, as many as 39 torrent�les of the �lm have appeared online since its o�cial release on Thursday,most of them titled, ‘preDVDrips’ or ‘camrips’. Inthe �rst two days – January25 and 26 – the �lm wasdownloaded and shared by atotal of 4,07,034 �le sharersworldwide on P2P (peer topeer) networks.

The �rst two torrent �lescontaining the �lm wereleaked to P2P networks onThursday evening. At lastcount around 82.72% of total�le sharers came from India,whereas nearly 4.46% camefrom Pakistan.

Most �le sharers werefrom Indian cities, withMumbai topping the list fol

lowed by Delhi, Kolkata,Hyderabad and Pune.

A detailed report with updated �gures is expected onthe company’s website onMonday evening.

�100 crore markDespite all this, the perioddrama remained steady atthe box o�ce with no signsof slowing down.

According to Viacom18Motion Pictures, the �lmopened to select paid pre

views across the country onJanuary 24 and collected ₹5crore. On its opening day, January 25, the �lm minted ₹19crore and went on to rake in₹32 crore on January 26 and₹27 crore on Saturday, takingthe total up to ₹83 crore.

The �gures come at a timewhen several multiplex owners had shown reluctance toscreen the �lm in Rajasthan,Gujarat, Madhya Pradeshand Goa.

(With PTI inputs)

Piracy adds to Padmaavat’swoes As many as 39torrent �les of the�lm appear online

Hunger for success: Actor Deepika Padukone relishingRajasthani dishes in Mumbai on Saturday. * PTI

Namrata Joshi

Mumbai

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh hastold the Supreme Court thatthe State’s former Chief Ministers are considered a privileged class who deserve toenjoy certain bene�ts evenafter demitting o�ce.

The Supreme Court is examining laws enacted by theU.P. Assembly which allowformer CMs and Ministers toretain o�cial bungalows andsta� at public expense.

In written submissions�led in the apex court, theU.P. government said a“former Chief Minister” is a“class in itself”.

“As the holder of suchhigh posts in a democraticnation as ours, it becomesimperative that even afterdemitting o�ces certain privileges are provided to suchpersons. The holders of other high constitutional postshave been classi�ed as a separate class even after demit

ting o�ces, like former ChiefJustices and judges of HighCourts and the SupremeCourt, President, Prime Minster,” the State governmentsaid.

NGO’s pushThe submissions came on apetition �led by NGO LokPrahari, challenging the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries and Allowances andMiscellaneous Provisions)Amendment Act of 2016 andThe Allotment of Houses un

der Control of the Estate Department of 2016.

The NGO has sought action against State authoritiesfor acting in contempt of aSupreme Court verdict inAugust 2016, directing themto ensure that the formerChief Ministers vacate thebungalows.

‘Against Article 14’In the previous hearing before a Bench led by JusticeRanjan Gogoi, amicus curiaeand senior advocate GopalSubramanium submittedthat it is a violation of Article14 (right to equality) of theConstitution to allow formerChief Ministers to retaintheir o�cial bungalows inde�nitely. Once they demito�ce, they are just ordinarycitizens ineligible for specialprivileges.

S.N. Shukla, for the NGO,submitted that the SupremeCourt should intervene orelse the practice would extend to other States.

Former CMs eligible forprivileges, U.P. govt. tells SCCourt scrutinising law on allotment of o�cial bungalows

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi

Yogi Adityanath

Two unidenti�ed youthsthrew petrol bombs insidea cinema hall screeningPadmaavat in Muza�arnagar, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday night, the policesaid.

However, no major damage was reported by thetheatre’s owners, theyadded.

“Last night Padmaavatwas being screened inChandra Talkies when twopeople came on a motorbike and tried to set thebuilding on �re by throwing petrol bombs. The cinema hall security personnel tried to chase theculprits but they escaped,”circle o�cer Hareesh Bhadauria said.

He added that the policehave enhanced securityaround the three halls playing the movie in the town.

Petrol bombthrown inU.P. theatre

Staff reporter

Meerut

No rethink on AFSPA yet: Army chief RawatNEW DELHI

Time has not come for any

rethink on AFSPA or for

making some of its provisions

milder, Army Chief General

Bipin Rawat has said,

asserting that the Army has

been taking adequate

precautions in protecting

human rights while operating

in disturb areas like Jammu

and Kashmir. PTI


#3 3 1 0 0 7




CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

rama mohana r. turaga

Reports, late last year, on India’s improved ranking inthe World Bank’s ‘Ease of

Doing Business’ Index (from 130 to100) have been cause for much celebration. As a followup to this,the government announced additional reform measures to furtherimprove the ranking.

Low green scoreHowever, coinciding with this isthe news that out of the 180 countries assessed, India ranks low inthe Environmental PerformanceIndex (EPI) 2018, slipping fromrank 141 in 2016, to 177 in 2018. TheEPI is produced jointly by Yale University and Columbia Universityin collaboration with the WorldEconomic Forum. In comparison,emerging peer economies, Braziland China, rank 69 and 120, respectively. The EPI ranks countrieson 24 performance indicatorsacross 10 issue categories. No index is perfect. But if an improvement in an index for ease of doing

business is cause for celebration,then, equally, a drop in an indexranking environmental performance should be cause for concern and used as a context to examine our policy measures.

A look at recent initiativesshows that the government has setambitious targets for environmental protection. In December 2015,it noti�ed new, strict environmental standards for coal�red powerplants, to be e�ective from January 2018. An aggressive target wasset to implement Bharat Stage VIemission norms from April 1,2020, skipping Stage V norms. In2017, the Minister of State for Power and Renewable Energy said thata road map was being prepared sothat only electric vehicles wouldbe produced and sold in the country by 2030. In order to acceleratethe transition to renewable sources of power, the government, under the National Solar Mission, revised the target for setting up solarcapacity from 20 GW to 100 GW by202122. The Centre has also assured the Supreme Court of Indiathat the highly polluted Ganga willbe cleaned up by 2018.

A gapWhat are we missing then? Unfortunately, there appears to be a biggap between policy goals and ac

tion. While we seem to be movingin the right direction on solar targets, we are seriously lagging behind in a number of other goals.For example, the government hasgone back on its promise of implementing strict power plant emission norms by December 2017,and may even dilute the norms.The automobile industry has categorically stated that based on current estimates, full conversion toelectric vehicles is realisticallypossible only by 2047. After setting electronics manufacturers areasonable annual electronicwaste collection target of 30% ofthe products sold in the market,the �gure has now been relaxed to10%. And late last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General, in areport, pulled up the governmentfor not developing an action planand for its poor utilisation of allocated funds in the cleanup of theGanga. The list can go on.

Should we ignore environmental degradation as being just a costof development? It turns out thatthe costs are pretty high. A recentstudy by the World Bank and theInstitute for Health Metrics andEvaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, U.S., showed air pollution to be the cause of an estimated 1.4 million prematuredeaths in India, which translatedinto a welfare loss equivalentaround 8% of India’s GDP in 2013.In addition, the cost of lost labourproductivity was 0.84% of its GDP.These estimates do not accountfor many other forms of environmental degradation and are quiteconservative also because of ourlack of scienti�c understanding ofseveral other key ecological impacts. A signi�cant concern is alsothe fact that the poor are a�ecteddisproportionately because of environmental degradation.

The right priceThus viewing environmental problems even from a purely marketlogic suggests that the solutions liein recognising the environmentalcosts of development and “gettingthe prices right”. Rapid transitionto solar energy can be accomplished not only by enabling subsidies but also by pricing the morepolluting fuels correctly. The strict

environmental standards for coalplants are expected to do preciselythat — the price we pay for coalbased electricity re�ect, at leastpartially, the true costs of producing such electricity. The failure toimplement these standards wouldbe a step backwards. Similarly, thetransition to electric vehicle usewould be aided by pricing petroland diesel, and perhaps the vehicles that use these fuels, to re�ecttheir external costs to society.

It is of course not the case thatthe current environmental messwe are in is entirely because of ourrecent environmental policy failures. It is linked also to the lack ofpolitical will to implement evenexisting environmental laws andregulations. It is not possible torestore environmental qualityovernight. However, we must ensure that we are moving forwards,not backwards, in meeting our environmental targets. Being amongthe four worst countries in theworld in terms of environmentalperformance should hopefullyserve as a wakeup call.

Rama Mohana R. Turaga, a faculty

member at the Indian Institute of

Management Ahmedabad, teaches

environmental sustainability and public

policy. The views expressed are personal

Red alert on the green indexIndia’s poor ranking in the Environmental Performance Index should force a policy appraisal

GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES/I

ST

OC

KP

HO

TO

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

Indian elections are the world’sbiggest exercise in democracybut also among the most expen

sive. India’s campaign spend is only rivalled by the American presidential race, the world’s mostexpensive election. Parties andcandidates need large sums of money for voter mobilisation, advertising, consulting, transport, propaganda and printing of campaignmaterials to reach voters in constituencies. Corporate donationsconstitute the main source of election funding in India which isawash with black money, with business and corporate donations topolitical parties commonly takingthis form. The public disclosuresystem that exists is limited. Onlyin 2008, using the provisions ofthe Right to Information (RTI) Act,the Central Information Commission allowed disclosure of incometax returns of political parties,though it is an open secret that actual expenditure is much, muchhigher than what is disclosed.

Best practices elsewhereIndia’s privately funded electioncampaign stands in contrast to thetrend in most countries, whichhave partial or full public fundingor transparent regulation and �nancial accountability of political�nance as in the U.S. Corruption inelection �nance and the �awedparty funding system drive political parties to misuse government’sdiscretionary powers to raisefunds for election campaigns. Thecombined e�ect is the absence of alevel playing �eld which has reduced the e�ectiveness of our democracy.

In his 2017 Budget speech,while emphasising the absence oftransparency in funding, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley noted thateven 70 years after Independencethe country had not been able to

evolve a transparent method offunding political parties which isvital to the system of free and fairelections. But the concern fortransparency in political fundingis at complete odds with the electoral bonds scheme noti�ed by thegovernment this month to cleanelection �nance. Simply put, anybody can buy electoral bonds inthe form of bearer bonds fromspeci�ed branches of the StateBank of India and donate it anonymously to a political party of theirchoice; the party must cash thebonds within 14 days. All donations given to a party will be accounted for in the balance sheetsbut without exposing the donordetails to the public. Donors continue to prize anonymity as theyfear disclosure could invite adverse consequences from politicalopponents. As a result, the Election Commission (EC), the IncomeTax department and the voterwould remain in the dark about it.However, the ruling dispensationat the Centre, if it wants, can ferretout information on who’s fundingwhom from banking authoritieson some pretext or the other.

The most signi�cant aspect ofthe electoral bonds scheme is thatit will not carry the name of thepayee as there is reluctance to donate to parties through bank instruments citing loss of anonymity. Bonds will allow corporatehouses to make anonymous donations through banking channels tothe party of their choice. Thiswould lead to further opacity inthe funding process and further limit oversight and accountability.Transparency is a global normwhile opacity of election fundingis an area of existential concern fordemocracies. Subversion thatsuch anonymity a�ords is perhapsone of the biggest threats to ourdemocracy today; it is the verywellspring of institutionalisedcorruption.

Far from reducing the largescale corporate funding of elections, the introduction of electoralbonds does not even address thisissue. The government’s principalaim is to reduce the role of unac

counted cash in the electoral process and not the corporate controlof politics. Sure enough, the bondsscheme imposes no restrictions onthe quantum of corporate donations. Consequently, electoralbonds cannot address the problems that arise from the corporate control over politics and corporate capture of governmentpolicies and decisions. Rather,electoral bonds will result in unlimited and undeclared funds goingto certain political parties whichwill be shielded from public scrutiny as the balance sheets will notshow which party has been the bene�ciary of this largesse.

Three steps backElectoral bonds must be seen inconjunction with: (1) lifting of themaximum limit of 7.5% on the proportion of the pro�ts a companycan donate to a political party,thus opening up the possibility ofshell companies being set up speci�cally to fund parties; (2) amendment of the Foreign Contribution(Regulation) Act (FCRA) openingthe �oodgates of foreign fundingto political parties, especiallythose which have a foreign support base; and (3) the refusal ofpolitical parties to come under theRTI Act in order to conceal their

sources of funding. These threethings will end up strengtheningthe businesspolitics nexus. It goesagainst the position taken by various electoral reform committeesthat the existing pattern of political funding encourages lobbyingand capture of the government bybig donors. Far from making thefunding process transparent, thebond scheme could provide abackdoor to corporates and otherlobbies for shaping public policyto bene�t their interests. There isthus a legitimate fear that policydecisions of political parties andpoliticians after being elected maybe biased in favour of groups thatfund them.

Moreover, these bonds are likely to reverse the small steps towards transparency of political �nance that came as a result ofRTIdriven public disclosure of income tax returns of political parties arguing that these disclosureswere a matter of public interestand should be available to citizens.Furthermore, all registered parties were required to disclose tothe EC the identity of individualsand private entities donating morethan �20,000 every year. Proposed amendments to the IncomeTax Act and the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) Act will exempt partiesfrom keeping records of donationsmade through bonds. However,the decision to reduce cash contributions from �20,000 to �2,000 isa step in the right direction, butthe net e�ect is debatable, since itcould prompt parties to takesmaller cash donations, and therefore not declare their source. Thiswould not decrease the drift towards nontransparent funding reported by the Association for Democratic Reforms which foundthat nearly 70% of party fundingover an 11year period came fromunknown sources; nearly �7,900crore donations came from unknown sources in 20152016. Electoral bonds will not change this. Infact, political parties don’t need toreveal the donor’s name for a contributions above �20,000 provided these are in the form of electoral bonds.

Elections that work well are essential for democracy; conversely,money power can corrode the entire process. A major concern associated with the high cost of elections is that it prevents politicalparties and candidates with modest �nancial resources from beingcompetitive in elections. Whilstthe bond scheme can be an attempt to burnish the anticorruption credentials of the NarendraModi government ahead of the2019 general election, it is clearly aregressive and �awed move. Anumber of government committees have outlined reform proposals to contain the negative e�ectsof the high cost of elections. Theseinclude strong disclosure norms,strict statutory limits on electionexpenses and ceiling on corporatedonations to political parties. Therules to limit and restrict the campaign expenditure of parties arelargely inoperative because it is easy to circumvent them.

Staring at the solutionState funding of elections (in various forms) is a potential solutionto this problem. The Indrajit Gupta Committee on State Funding ofElections had endorsed partialstate funding of recognised political parties and their candidates inelections way back in 1998, but thelack of political will has preventedany serious discussion on this. Themechanics of this process need tobe carefully worked out to establish the allocation of money tonational parties, State parties andindependent candidates, and tocheck candidate’s own expenditure over and above that which isprovided by the state. Based onthe experience of countries thathave total or partial state fundingof elections, it will not be di�cultto work out a formula that is bothe�cient and equitable to ensurethat democracy works for everyone and not just for the wealthyfew.

Zoya Hasan is Professor Emerita, Centre

for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru

University

A vote for state fundingElectoral bonds cannot clean up campaign �nance

Zoya Hasan

GE

TT

Y IM

AG

ES/I

ST

OC

KP

HO

TO

Player auctionIt is sad to read about oursportspersons and playersbecoming commodities inthe hands of corporateauctioneers. The very spiritof the game is lost in suchcommercialisation and it isbound to a�ect a player’sperformance and the gameor sport itself. Cricketersappear to be topping thechart in such auctions,followed by footballers. Inthe good old days, it wasthe team that came �rst.‘Filthy lucre’ has replacedteam spirit and loyalty. Thetrue spirit of a game isbeing sacri�ced for moneyand shortlived fame. A.V. Akhilesh,

Bengaluru

n It is sickening that ourcricketers are being “sold”for whopping sums in an

auction. Fixing a price tag onthem is akin to selling sheepin a shandy. If the IndianPremier League’s co�ers areover�owing with money, itcan be spent on noblecauses. O�ering crores inexchange for cricketers issheer madness.K. Pradeep,

Chennai

n It is high time that thisform of cricket, and whichrepresents the ugly face ofIndian cricket, fades quickly.It is distressing to read ofhow crores are being spenton individual cricketers,which is jarring in a countrywhere farmers face agrariandistress and governmentslook the other way instead ofalleviating their plight. Apartfrom being a den in terms ofencouraging undeservingauction prices for cricketers,

encouraging betting andmindless advertising, the IPLis only in�icting greatdamage by corrupting thevery values of cricket as agame, which have takenyears to evolve. One hopesthat there is a miracle soonand that there are checksand balances to keep theBCCI juggernaut undercontrol.Nagarajamani M.V.,

Hyderabad

ASEAN tiesMake hay while the sunshines aptly suits thesituation for India indeveloping closer ties withASEAN. With the U.S.’sgrowing disengagement inthe region and risingsuspicion of China’s rise, thestrains are clearly visible inthe Southeast Asian region. Itis time for India to lead from

the front. China is known forthe exploitative nature of itsinvestments and everwidening territorial claims,which can pose a danger inthe region. The DelhiDeclaration articulates thissentiment very well. If India’srenewed ‘Act East’ policy isto have any meaning, it isbetter New Delhi does notprocrastinate any longer butacts swiftly and delivers thegoods as far as pendinginfrastructural projects areconcerned. India’s advantageis that it is a safe and reliablepartner.Ajay Kiran S.,

Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu

Row over seatThe Congress Partyneedlessly got embroiled in arow over the seatingarrangements for its partypresident Rahul Gandhi at

getting his pension alongwith arrears calculated from1980, and two, mostimportantly, that we havesome in the judiciary whocan empathise with theplight of longsu�eringlitigants and even apologisefor the delay. Though judgesare widely perceived to shunany form of emotion, it isheartening to be provenwrong. At the same time, justas it would anger any rightthinking person, it wasshocking to read about theinsensitive way in whichbureaucrats delayed thesanctioning of Mr. Gandhi’spension despite his havingcompleted all the formalities.Bureaucrats need to go theextra mile to serve us.A. Jainulabdeen,

Chennai

the Republic Day parade.Whether it is the �rst row,the fourth or the sixth, it isparticipation which matters.Instead of crying foul, theCongress President shouldhave opted to sit with thegeneral public to show andexpress his solidarity withthe common man. It wouldhave also sent a message tothe government. Finally, itmight be a good idea todeclare Republic Day a “NoPolitics Day”. N. Nagarajan,

Secunderabad

Pension for Mr. GandhiIt was heartwarming to readthe report, “Court apologisesto Mr. Gandhi” (Someeditions, January 26) for tworeasons. One, that theChennaibased freedom�ghter has �nally overcomebureaucratic hurdles in

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

The Indian Premier League player auction is a pa

rallel cricketing universe with a distinct dynamic.

Over the weekend at a Bengaluru hotel, the IPL’s

top brass congregated with a wishlist that had no space

for nostalgia. Lasith Malinga found no takers while

Chris Gayle, perhaps the most explosive batsman in the

history of Twenty20, was rejected twice before he got

thirdtime lucky when Kings XI Punjab snapped up the

opener at his base price of �2 crore. There was no res

pect either for doughty batting performances in Tests.

South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who played his part in the

recent match at Johannesburg’s Wanderers, was ig

nored, and Cheteshwar Pujara found no suitors in the

IPL. In Twenty20’s rollercoaster ride, the attributes of

patience and grit, so mandatory in Tests, have compa

ratively little value. The accent is on explosive batting,

miserly bowling, athletic �elding and, above all, the

ability to remain icebergcool when the �res of a nerve

racking last over are raging. The allrounder, cricket’s

version of a miracledispenser, remains mighty expen

sive. It was no surprise when England’s Ben Stokes, des

pite the legal issues trailing him back home following an

assault incident, got the highest bid at �12.5 crore from

Rajasthan Royals.

Royals and Chennai Super Kings, both coming back

after a twoyear suspension following spot �xing and

betting allegations, struck to their usual methods.

Royals remained alert to building a strong core. CSK

continued its patented approach of nurturing its nu

cleus, as was evident in the way it retained M.S. Dhoni,

Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja prior to the auction,

and when auctioneer Richard Madley punched his ga

vel, IPL’s most consistent out�t exercised its rightto

match card and snapped up another regular Dwayne

Bravo. CSK was also aware of its cost dynamics and

didn’t pursue R. Ashwin once he crossed the �4 crore

mark but instead nailed Harbhajan Singh at �2 crore.

True to its trope of bucking trends, the auction wit

nessed massive money chasing a leftarm fast bowler,

and Jaydev Unadkat became the most expensive Indian

with a �11.5 crore price tag from Royals. As in previous

years, the latest auction gifted a bonanza to the unsung

�rstclass cricketer. Krunal Pandya got �8.8 crore from

Mumbai Indians, and he is yet to play for India unlike

his famous sibling Hardik. Among the overseas players,

it was heartening to see the price that Afghan players

like Rashid Khan commanded, while Sandeep Lamich

hane, picked by Delhi Daredevils, became the �rst Ne

pal cricketer to join the IPL bandwagon. The eight IPL

squads have taken shape afresh and the players are

laughing all the way to the bank. Whether that would

translate into ideal performance will be known once

the league’s eleventh edition starts in April.

Retail therapyWith the player auction, the eight IPL squads

have taken shape with a few surprises

About �1 lakh crore is expected to be pumped into

India’s 21 public sector banks by March, which

the Centre hopes will enable them to extend

fresh credit lines worth over �5 lakh crore to spur eco

nomic activity. Of the capital injection — the �rst half of

an ambitious �2.11lakh crore recapitalisation pro

gramme for ailing public sector banks announced last

October — about �8,100 crore is from the government’s

budgetary resources. Banks are expected to tap the

markets for �10,300 crore, while recapitalisation bonds

worth �80,000 crore are to be issued to �nance the

rest. Leaving aside the marketraising e�orts by banks,

over half the fresh capital of over �52,000 crore is being

directed to the 11 public sector banks that the Reserve

Bank of India has placed under the prompt corrective

action, or PCA, framework. The RBI deploys the PCA to

monitor the operation of weaker banks more closely to

encourage them to conserve capital and avoid risks. For

these entities, this capital o�ers a fresh lease of life as it

will help meet regulatory requirements under the Ba

selIII regime as well as cushion them to an extent from

possible haircuts on stressed loans that are going

through the insolvency resolution process. State Bank

of India, the country’s largest, and the nine others that

are out of the RBI’s PCA net will receive nearly �36,000

crore in order to strengthen their lending capacity.

While announcing this package, the government has

described each of the banks as “an article of faith”. Its

assertion that no public sector bank will fail and that de

positors’ money will remain safe should allay custom

ers’ worry about the safety of their savings under the

proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance

legislation. Rating agencies have given the move the

thumbs up, but remain unimpressed about governance

reforms packaged with it. These include tweaks to ex

isting systems for closer monitoring of bigticket loans,

identifying niche areas where a bank has strengths, res

tricting corporate exposure to 25%, and a new perfor

mance management system. Actual capital in�ows will

depend on their performance on these fronts and their

ability to meet the government’s service priorities, in

cluding smoother credit �ows to small businesses.

More structural reforms may well be on the anvil in the

second half of this recap plan, which RBI Governor Urjit

Patel had described as providing a real chance to meet

the banking sector’s challenges for the �rst time in a de

cade. Yet, the absence of any reference to consolidation

through mergers is glaring. Moreover, while the govern

ment has repeatedly ruled out privatisation of these

banks, the only one where it intended to o�oad its ma

jority stake, IDBI Bank, has got the largest allocation of

�10,610 crore. At best, this sends out mixed signals.

Banking on good faithMore structural reforms are needed

to maximise the bank recapitalisation e�ort


#3 3 1 0 0 7

CMYK

A ND-NDE

OPEDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

DATA POINT

The Soviet Prime Minister, Mr. Alexei Kosygin said today [ January 28] he was convinced the United States intelligence shipPueblo violated North Korean territorial waters. He told foreign newsmen here [Hardwar] that the North Korean seizureof the vessel was an issue to be settled only by the two countries involved. Asked for his views on the incident, he �rstsaid: “I cannot add anything to what has been published”. Replying to an American correspondent who asked if the issuewould be solved by the U.S. admitting the vessel was in NorthKorean territorial waters, Mr. Kosygin said: “Ask the Koreans –there has been an American intrusion of alien waters”. “Whenthere is a violation by one country of the air space or territorialwaters of another, the two countries must somehow solve thatproblem”, he said. “It is for them (U.S. and Korea) to �nd someway of solving this matter”.

FIFTY YEARS AGO JANUARY 29, 1968

Kosygin asks U.S. to settle with N. Korea

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

FROM ARCHIVES

Under Sec. 262 of Act III of 1904, the Corporation of Madraswere levying license fees for all pandals made of in�ammablematerials, whether they were constructed for the �rst time orreconstructed. The expression “shall be made” in the sectionhas been interpreted by the High Court to mean “shall be constructed” in Emperor v. Audikesavalu Naidu, vide 1912: Madras Weekly Notes, page 84. Notwithstanding this decision theCorporation continued to insist on license being taken outeven in cases where the old pandals had been renewed and onthe ground that when the old pandals had been reconstructed, they became “constructions” and as such were liable for licenses.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO JANUARY 29, 1918.

Pandals and License Fees.

Lemming e�ectPsychology

This refers to a phenomenon wherein crowds of people, across various �eldsof life, exhibit a certainkind of behaviour for noreason other than the factthat a majority of theirpeers do so. Many psychologists even argue that human beings are conditioned by nature to followthe larger group instead ofundertaking the risk of independent thought andaction. It is named afterthe popular myth of rodents called lemmingsfound in the Arctic regionsthat are supposed to exhibit herd behaviour, somuch so that they followeach other even when itleads them into some obviously dangerous situations that could cost themtheir lives.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

CONCEPTUAL

All you need to know

about Mujeeb Zadran

http://bit.ly/2Gqctr1

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

MORE ON

THE WEB 3

Soon after World War II, Americanschose to align their cities not withEuropean ideals but with places thatre�ected American conditions. Thatgreat swathes of cheap land and newer technologies for constructionwere available meant that the newAmerican city could have denser civic centres, a large component of suburban homes, private cars to accesslong distances, and a new conception of city life.

Dynamic Indian citiesThe Indian city of the 21st century isa similarly dynamic entity, with palpable di�erences from its modernconception after Independence.Chandigarh, under Jawaharlal Nehru, began with a minuscule population of 20,000. This has grown to 1.2million people today and the city’sconstruction has no allegiance to itsoriginal conception. Similarly, Delhibegan its postIndependence lifewith less than a million inhabitants.Today, on a GPS map, the NationalCapital Region’s unhindered spreadacross three States resembles muddywater spreading from a broken drain.

Delhi’s per capita GDP rate givesno indication of its true demographics. The city has the largest population of urban poor in the world. Itsantiquated urban policies — bylaws,civic regulations and building parameters — that were drawn for a city of750,000 middleclass residents aretoday out of sync for a population of22 million, of which 80% are poor,homeless, or slum inhabitants. Withsimilar statistics, a continual expansion northwards, and a system out oftouch with ground reality, Mumbai isa close second.

The liberalised economy of thelast few decades has created twopockets of city life: a small exclusiveelite that occupies urban space butremains cloistered and outside of itscivic forces, and a majority of dispossessed who �ll the empty crevices ofthe city with meagre possessions andrudimentary needs. A supposedlythriving middle class remains a �gment of the bureaucratic imagina

tion, while the overwhelming population is of the poor. What does thissay about the future of civic planningand urban life?

Looking to West AfricaIf the bureaucrat and the politicianwish to deal with the real city today,they must look closely at Lagos andKumasi rather than Copenhagen orShanghai. Like Delhi and Mumbai,West African cities are migrant townswhose development and future prospects are tied to the economy of daytoday minor endeavours. To givecivic space to people with nothing, toallow for a spread of temporary commerce, cattle fairs, public festivalsand vegetable markets as the mainstay of civic life makes West Africantowns strikingly similar to Indian cities. A mix of agricultural town, ruraloutpost and cosmopolitan centre,the city’s migrant economy takescentre stage in civic life. Indian townstoo rely on the surrounding farmingeconomy or are artisan centres forsmallscale — often illegal — industry.

Consequently, the signals are alldirected towards a future urbanitymade up of rural inhabitants, wherethe more pressing needs of civic lifewill be addressed by informal associations. Norms of space occupation,building design, size and densityhave to therefore grow out of people’s own comfort and familiarity,not as an imposition of imaginary European models or even Indian middleclass values. Civic mayhem iscreated by persistent and erroneouscalls for public space, cultural

centres, stadia, etc., rather thanopen maidans and temporary bazaars where migrant patterns can beopenly expressed in city life.

Demographic changes in Indiancities occur much too fast to be acknowledged in government policy. Infact, perceptible changes in the city’spublic disposition have already begun to project rural patterns. Thewide open green space at Delhi’s India Gate — designed as ceremonialspace for government monuments —now functions as an unselfconsciouscity ground for the capital’s poor.The northern fringe of hillocks outside Jaipur’s old city is a cataclysm ofexpanding tenements. Mumbai’s Marine Drive is public space without intent, as is Chennai’s Marina Beach.

Revitalising citiesUnless there is a serious rethink ofthe value of urban life, the city willremain mired in its present muddledstate of trial, error and miscalculation. Cities throughout India have tobe revitalised, for which three serious approaches are available.

First, given the trends of migrationand the freeforall approach to civicresources, land and facilities, the government’s inclination to appeasethe larger numbers should take precedence. The city’s overriding planshould be directed towards an accommodation of all migratory tasks— home, employment, entertainment, and commerce — in buildingsand public facilities altered to suittheir primary needs. This may radically change the overall structure of

the city. But when bylaws and regulations are speci�cally and only written for a migrant city, it would be farmore acceptable than the current city pro�le as desperate slum.

The second idea could adopt adraconian model of restrictions similar to Chinese and some European cities, allowing entry and civic facilities only to those with either home oremployment. Physical control andaccess to roads, parks, housing andutilities becomes a position of fewerpeople sharing a limited reserve ofurban space and resources. As mostsocial scientists now admit, only controlled undemocratic space can be afunctioning model for a city.

The third model, which is themost di�cult and yet most soughtafter, seeks a divergent and allinclusive solution. It is what American urbanist Jane Jacobs described as ‘acultural cohesion’ where the integration of economic disparities is socomplete that it resembles a �nelywoven carpet. The design incorporates all the essential elements ofhabitation — home, commerce, recreation and institution — and merges them mysteriously in the carpetweave. The city and its neighbourhoods are no longer a visible intrusion of small private capitalist partsin a larger socialist citystate, or viceversa, but an unconscious mixing ofinterdependence. People live blissfully unaware of the other’s presence, class or economic status.Hints of such places are visible in oldEuropean and American cities, insmall medieval towns in western India, even in some longestablishedpoorer city tenements. Such cities donot follow physical, statistical or design models, but are formed out of adeeper evolutionary social core — anintent that despises easy de�nitionsof community, residence, commercial area and public space. It takes abrave government to believe theseare worth doing, and an even braverone to attempt such coalescing.

The extreme variation in all threeapproaches still demands decisivethought and implementation. It willtake civic municipalities a seriouscommitment to a task so far given over to a decaying formless city — partslum, part farmhouse — born out ofneglect and complacency.

Gautam Bhatia is a Delhi-based architect andsculptor

It will take a brave government to revitalise Indian cities in an inclusive way

* GETTY IMAGES/ I STOCK PHOTO * GETTY IMAGES

Rebuilding our cities

Gautam Bhatia

An inherent challenge in journalism is tomeet deadlines without compromising onquality, while sticking to the word limit. However, brevity takes a toll when it comes toreporting on surveys, indexes, and big data.Let me examine three sets of stories whichwere based on surveys and carried prominently by this newspaper, to understand thelimits of presenting data without providingcomprehensive context.

Three reportsThe Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), Oxfam’s report titled ‘Reward Work,Not Wealth’, and the World Bank’s ease ofdoing business (EoDB) rankings have beenwidely reported, commented on, and editorialised. In most cases, the numbers andrankings were presented asneutral evaluations; they werenot seen as data originatingfrom institutions that have political underpinnings. Data become meaningful only whenthe methodology of data collection is spelt out in clear terms.

Every time I read surveys, indexes, and big data, I look for atleast three basic parameters tounderstand the numbers: the sample size,the sample questionnaire, and the methodology. The sample size used indicates therobustness of the study, the questionnairereveals whether there are leading questions,and the methodology reveals the rigour inthe study. As a reporter, there were instanceswhere I failed to mention these details in myresolve to stick to the word limit. Those weremy mistakes.

The ASER study covering speci�c districtsin States is about children’s schooling status.It attempts to measure children’s abilitieswith regard to basic reading and writing. It isa signi�cant study as it gives us an insight into some of the problems with our educational system. However, we must be aware of thefact that these �gures are restricted only tothe districts in which the survey was conducted. It cannot be extrapolated as a Statewide sample, nor is it fair to rank Statesbased on how speci�c districts fare in thestudy. A news item, “Report highlights India’s digital divide” ( Jan. 19, 2018), con�atedthese �gures.

For instance, the district surveyed in Kerala was Ernakulam, which is an urban district; in West Bengal it was South 24 Parganas, a complex district that stretches frommetropolitan Kolkata to remote villages atthe mouth of the Bay of Bengal. How can wecompare these two districts with Odisha’sKhordha, Jharkhand’s Purbi Singhbhum andBihar’s Muza�arpur? It could be irresistiblefor a reporter, who accessed the data, topaint a larger picture based on these speci�cnumbers. But we may not learn anythingwhen we compare oranges and apples.

Questionable methodologyOxfam, in the ‘Reward Work, Not Wealth’ report, used a methodology that has beenquestioned by many economists. Inequalityis calculated on the basis of “net assets”. Theeconomists point out that in this method,the poorest are not those living with very little resources, but young professionals whoown no assets and with a high educationalloan. Inequality is the elephant in the roomwhich we cannot ignore. But Oxfam’s �guresseem to mimic the huge notional loss �gures

put out by the Comptroller andAuditor General of India. Readers should know that Oxfam’sstudy has drawn its �gures fromdisparate sources such as theGlobal Wealth Report by CreditSuisse, the Forbes’ billionaireslist, adjusting last year’s �gureusing the average annual U.S.Consumer Price Index in�ationrate from the U.S. Bureau of La

bour Statistics, the World Bank’s householdsurvey data, and an online survey in 10 countries.

When the World Bank announced theEoDB index last year, there was euphoria inIndia. However, this newspaper’s editorial“Moving up” (Nov. 2, 2017), which looked atIndia’s surge in the latest World Bank ranking from the 130th position to the 100th in ayear, cautioned and asked the government,which has great orators in its ranks, to be abetter listener. In hindsight, this positionwas vindicated when the World Bank’s chiefeconomist, Paul Romer, said that he couldno longer defend the integrity of changesmade to the methodology and that the Bankwould recalculate the national rankings ofbusiness competitiveness going back to atleast four years. Readers would have appreciated the FAQ section (“Recalculating easeof doing business”, Jan. 25) that explainedthis controversy in some detail, had it lookedat India’s ranking using the old methodology.

[email protected]

Numbers aren’t neutralAnalysing data without providing su�cient context is dangerous

FROM THE READERS’ EDITOR

A.S. Panneerselvan

GE

TT

Y I

MA

GE

S/

IST

OC

K

Hearing ‘VR, AR, AI, Bitcoin’ in one sentence is like hearing ‘5GB, 512KB andPentium’ in the late ’90s. It �res up yourinner geek. But to the discerning, VRand AR are so 2017 that they are almostretro. And at the moment, Bitcoin islooking bubblier than a bubble bath.

But AI is a di�erent story. The stridesthat are being made in the areas of machine learning, imageprocessing, and natural language processing are on a scalethat resembles the moon landing. And it is permeating intoeveryday life at several Mbps, aided by the smartphone.

If Google Photos is able to positively identify you in photos that you yourself cannot, it is because it has been goingthrough millions of images, pixel by pixel, and learning thepatterns. If a Tesla car can apply brakes foreseeing a collision between the two cars in front, it is because it is doing itsown calculations. If Google Assistant seems to be able to understand Punjabi English just as well as it does Malayali English, it is because it does not just listen; it learns.

The most discernible impact of highly capable AI is in thetech �eld, particularly software development. The processof programming and testing will become increasingly automated, signi�cantly reducing the number of people required in the supply chain. In fact, last year, Google’s machinelearning programme started generatingmachinelearning programmes that were better than whathuman programmers could code. And the best part: thatmother code, AutoML, is now available for public use on thecloud. These programmes can study Xray images for doctors and legal documents for lawyers.

If ‘bluecollar automation’ could be cutting jobs on thefactory �oors with robots, AIdriven ‘whitecollar automation’ will be cutting jobs in call centres, stock exchanges andeven laboratories. In this scenario, any decision to get intophotography, cooking or writing after an engineering degree is starting to look quite well informed.

Beyond the more tangible questions of jobs and skills, AIalso brings with it moral conundrums. There are basic questions such as ‘who should a selfdriving car try to save: itsdriver or a pedestrian?’ and the more complicated onessuch as ‘are we passing on our biases to machines?’

In 2016, researchers at the University of Virginia published a paper that described how two massive image collections used to train programmes to process images thathad gender biases, like associating images of cooking withwomen. These collections passed on the biases to their ‘students’, who not only reproduced the bias but even ampli�edthem. Other research shows that AI also picks up racial biasfrom online text content, and gender bias from generalnews. If what singularity, that muchspeculatedon churn ofAI generating better AI, �nally spits out is a version of ourworst self, with a tendency for racist tweets and sexistmemes, then there is much to be disappointed about.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

SINGLE FILE

What are we teachingthe robots?AI picks up racial and gender biases,which is a cause for concern

P.J. George

GE

TT

Y I

MA

GE

S/

IST

OC

K

ery diplomatic nuance orthe conduct of international a�airs in multilateral and bilateral fora.

This is because of a fundamental �aw in IR practice and theory. IR is limited to mean the conduct ofnation states in a world order that is characterisedlargely by anarchy andwhich necessitates selfseeking behaviour by nation states seen as individuals. This theory �owslargely from the ideas espoused by Kenneth Waltzin Theory of InternationalPolitics, which spawned aparadigm of IR termed asneorealism or structuralrealism, one which reignssupreme in India too.

There have been various critiques of this paradigm and new alternatives have emerged, butthe most promising approach to study the continuum of both the domestic and the internationalhas been by the international theorist BennoTeschke. He seeks to com

On the news website TheWire, Sushil Aaron asks animportant question: whyis it that the internationalrelations (IR) communityof strategic thinkers in India, barring a few, is silenton what a�icts governance in the country today? By strategic thinkers,he means commentators,former diplomats and academics who are in the business of suggesting andformulating policy goalsby analysing global political economy issues, diplomatic relations, and worlda�airs. This is a pertinentquestion that is not just directed at the myopic andcareerist tendencies ofsome members of thiscommunity. It is also acomment on the limitingnature of “strategicthought” that turns ablind eye to domestic politics, the policies framedby the ruling class andtheir e�ects on public life,while keenly following ev

bine insights from history,political economy, historical sociology and international political economyto draw a new paradigmcalled political Marxism.His book, The Myth of1648, tears apart the realist understanding of thePeace of Westphalia andinstead analysis it throughan understanding of thetransformations in socialproperty relations in theregimes that formed thepact.

In Indian academia too,there are works that gobeyond the narrow framesof reference set by structural realism and its variants. For instance, in TheMaking of India’s ForeignPolicy, Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya combinesan analysis of the changesin the domestic systemand the international environment and theorises theconduct of foreign policy.India Engages the Worldby N.C. Behera and AchinVanaik is also worth aread.

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

SHELF HELP

An alternative look at IR

On the critiques of the mainstream realist paradigm

Srinivasan Ramani


#3 3 1 0 0 7

CMYK

A ND-NDE




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

A section of political partiesalso questioned the government's ambivalent stand onthe longpending women'sreservation bill.

DMK MP M. Kanimozhiasked why the Lok Sabhawas reluctant to take up abill that has been alreadycleared by the Rajya Sabha.

CPI MP D. Raja pressedthe government to table theSC/ST Reservation in Promotion Bill in the Lok Sabha.

The Bill was cleared inthe Rajya Sabha in 2012. “Inview of rising atrocitiesagainst Dalits, Parliamentshould take note of the legislation cleared by it,” Mr Rajasaid.

National issues Speaking at the end of themeeting, Mr Modi saidthough there are only few

working days, issues of national interest should be debated. He also stressed thatparliamentarians work hardin standing committees andthat advantage should be taken of this system.

The Budget session willbegin on Monday with thecustomary address of thePresident to a joint sitting ofthe Lok Sabha and the RajyaSabha.

Following President RamNath Kovind’s address, theeconomic survey will be tabled in both Houses.

Finance Minister ArunJaitley will present the current BJPled NDA regime'slast full�edged budget onFebruary 1. The �rst spell ofthe session will end on February 9. The Parliamentwill meet again betweenMarch 5 and April 6.

(With PTI inputs)

Government notserious: Opposition

Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley at the allparty meeting in New Delhi . * R.V. MOORTHY

The Union Defence Ministeralso assured Ms. Mufti that“�eld formations will beasked to set up mechanismsso that such incidents donot recur in the future”.

Terming the Army actionas “justi�ed”, BJP MLA Ravinder Raina dismissed thepossibility of a magisterialenquiry. “The Army enjoysimpunity under the ArmedForces Special Powers Act.It has its own court. The police FIRs don’t work [againstArmy]” he said.

Kashmir tenseMeanwhile, Kashmir remained tense with the authorities imposing restrictionsin parts of the Valley and theseparatists’ organising ashutdown call against thekillings.

District Magistrate, Srinagar, Syed Abid RasheedShah has ordered restrictions under Section 144 “interritorial jurisdictions of

Srinagar’s Khanyar, Rainawari, Nowhatta, Safakadaland M.R. Gunj policestations”.

“The restrictions havebeen imposed as a precautionary measure to avoidany untoward incident,” hesaid.

Internet suspendedTrain and internet serviceswere suspended in southKashmir for the day. Allshops and business centresremained closed in the Valley.

Separatists leaders, including Syed Ali Geelani,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq andYasin Malik, had called for aValleywide shutdown overthe killings.

In Shopian, the victimswere buried in Balpora andGanowpora villages. Hundreds of mourners o�eredfuneral prayers. There werereports of minor clashes after the funerals.

J&K police charge Armyunit, Major with murder

Commenting on the speculation about his politicalleanings, Justice Chelameswar said his critics had unleashed a similar campaignafter his dissenting judgment on the National Judicial Appointments Commission.

He said that on both occasions, he felt the peoplecould have their opinionsbut there should be limits

and a rationale behind suchexpressions which should �tin the constitutional framework.

“I have mentioned my af�liation to a party at thetime of my appointment as ajudge but gave it up afterthat as I �rmly believed thatpersonal likes and beliefsshould not come in the wayof my responsibilities,”hesaid.

Don’t want help afterI retire: Chelameswar

The stakes are high for majorpolitical parties as key byelections are held in WestBengal and Rajasthan onMonday.

In Rajasthan, electionswill be held to the Alwar andAjmer Lok Sabha seats andthe Mandalgarh Assemblyseat in Bhilwara district, allof which were with the BJP.The party faces an uphill battle because the Rajput community has announced itssupport for the Congress inthe three constituencies,though the winners will haveonly about a year in o�ce.

While an unnerved BJPhas been trying to controlthe antiincumbency factor,caste equations are set toplay a major role. The presence of two Yadav stalwartsas candidates in Alwar andthe �elding of Jat and Brahmin candidates in Ajmer andMandalgarh, respectively, indicate the caste preferencesof the two major parties.

Ajmer MP Sanwar Lal Jat

collapsed at a meeting in Jaipur and died on August 9,while Alwar MP MahantChand Nath died on September 17 following a prolongedillness. Kirti Kumari, MLA,died of swine �u on August28.

Extensive campaignChief Minister VasundharaRaje and Pradesh Congresspresident Sachin Pilot havecampaigned extensively inAjmer in view of the consti

tuency’s role in strengthening their own position withintheir respective parties.

The byelections to theUluberia Lok Sabha and theNoapara Assembly seats inWest Bengal will be heldamid heavy security. TheUluberia seat in Howrah district fell vacant after thedeath of Trinamool CongressMP Sultan Ahmed last September. The Noapara Assembly seat in North 24 Paraganas fell vacant after the

death of Congress MLA Madhusudhan Ghosh in April lastyear.

The Trinamool is con�dent of retaining the Uluberia Lok Sabha seat, which ithas been winning since2009. The party wants towrest the Noapara Assemblyseat from the Congress. TheBJP, however, is con�dent ofincreasing its vote share inboth seats to keep up themomentum it gained fromthe Sabang Assembly byelec

tion, when it increased itsvote share by nearly 15%from the �gure for the 2016Assembly polls.

However, the BJP su�ereda major embarrassment recently in Noapara when,soon after the party announced the name of formerTrinamool MLA Manju Basuas its candidate, she deniedhaving any association withit. The party’s candidate,Sandip Banerjee, said such aturn of events would have noe�ect on its electoralprospects.

Litmus testThe Uluberia byelection isexpected to be a litmus testfor the BJP as it not only hasto face the organisationalclout of the ruling Trinamoolbut also deal with substantialminority votes in the constituency. The BJP is the onlyparty to have �elded a Hinducandidate. In the previouselections, the Trinamool secured a 48.08% vote share,while the BJP could get only11.55%. The results will be declared on February 1.

Bypolls decisive for major partiesIn Rajasthan, it’s a semi�nal before the Assembly polls; BJP tests its might against Trinamool in Bengal

Mohammad Iqbal

Soumya Das

Jaipur/Kolkata

Final show: Congress candidate Raghu Sharma campaigns in Ajmer. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Former Finance Minister P.Chidambaram’s dig at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi forclaiming that people sellingpakodas could also be considered employed triggered awar of words between theBJP and the Congress.

“Even selling pakodas is a‘job’, said PM. By that logic,even begging is a job. Let’scount poor or disabled persons who are forced to begfor a living as ‘employed’ people,” Mr. Chidambaramsaid on Sunday.

The BJP responded bysaying that the former Finance Minister had insultedthe poor.

“The Congress party insults poor and aspirationalIndians again ... Comparinglivelihood means of millionsof hardworking Indiansfrom humble background tobegging betrays Congressparty’s perpetual disdainfor the poor,” the ruling party said on Twitter.

The BJP said the Congresshad not come to terms withthe Prime Minister’s humblebeginning of being a teaseller.

Mr. Chidambaram countered by saying, “BJP is the

master of distortion and deception. Selling pakodas ishonourable selfemployment for the poor but thatcannot be counted as a job.”

“The BJP should answerthe question how many certain, regular and reasonablysecure jobs were created inthe last three years,” hesaid.

In a series of tweets earlier, the former Finance Minister said the debate onjobs should make a distinction between a job and selfemployment.

“A ‘job’ is certain, regularand reasonably secure. Wewant to know how manysuch jobs have been created,” he said. The reality ofthe last three years is “modest jobless growth”.

He also challenged government contention thatMudra or micro loans cancreate regular jobs.

Chidambaram, BJPin war of words He says selling pakodas is not a job


New Delhi

P. Chidambaram

Prime Minister NarendraModi �agged the “pioneering role” of Indian women inestablishing “milestones” inthe country’s progress in his�rst Mann Ki Baat radiobroadcast for this year onSunday.

“If India has to progressand reach new heights, itcan only be possible if andwhen women walk shouldertoshoulder with men, andin fact lead the way,” he said.He added that it was in India’s culture to respect thegirl child.

Quoting verses from theSkanda Purana, he said thatone girl child was equal to 10male children. “We also havehad Vidushis or knowledgeable women like Lopamudra,Gargi and Maitreyee,” hesaid.

Referring to a letter written by Prakash Tripathi who

wanted Prime Minister Modito mention the contributionsof the late astronaut KalpanaChawla, he said that e�ortsby the government throughthe programme “Beti bachao, Beti Padhao” wasaimed at harnessing thepower of women for trans

formational change. In a nod to new ally, Bihar

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,he lauded the human chaininitiated in the State lastweek to protest against social evils such as child marriage and dowry harassment.

Mr. Modi said he wishedto show appreciation for thewomen of Dantewada inChhattisgarh. “This is aMaoista�ected area, but thewomen there are operatingerickshaws. This is creatingopportunities, it is alsochanging the face of the region and is also environmentfriendly,” he said.

On Republic Day, an allwoman contingent of theBorder Security Force dazzled spectators with theirdaring bike stunts. The allwomen daredevil bikerssquad, Seema Bhawani, wasraised in 2016, on the lines oftheir muchacclaimed malecounterparts, he said.

He reminded people ofthe change in the nomination of the Padma awardees,freeing it from opaque procedures to make it easier foranyone to nominate unknown people doing extraordinary things for society.

Modi lauds woman power Says India will only progress when women walk shouldertoshoulder with men


NEW DELHI

Noting that three formerChief Ministers were “rotting in jail” for corruption,Prime Minister NarendraModi said on Sunday that noone would be spared in thegovernment’s antigraftdrive. He was referring toformer Bihar CMs Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra

and Om Prakash Chautala ofHaryana.

Speaking at an NCC rallyhere, Mr. Modi urged theyouth to join him in the �ghtagainst corruption andblack money. He also madea strong pitch for the use ofAadhaar, saying it curbedleakages and helped government money reach targetedbene�ciaries.

Youth should join �ghtagainst corruption: PMPress Trust of India

New Delhi

A 20yearold Pune womanwho was almost labelled a“suicide bomber” by security agencies and arrested inKashmir ahead of RepublicDay, had travelled to the Valley a month ago to meet aman she wanted to marry.

“She was with the man[she wanted to marry] whenshe was detained. She hadno explosives on her. We arein a �x as no terror charge ismade as of now,” a securityo�cial said.

The woman, still in thecustody of the J&K police,has been detained by the

police in Pune, Jammu andDelhi over the past twoyears.

O�cials say she is “selfradicalised” and because ofher extreme views, she wasdetained and counselled bythe Maharashtra police inDecember 2015.

Sparks panicShe reached Srinagar withher mother in the �rst weekof January.

Security agencies went into a tizzy when they receiveda message from their counterparts in Maharashtra thatthe woman had travelled tothe Kashmir Valley.

The secret message (TheHindu has a copy of the text)that was �ashed by the o�ceof the InspectorGeneral ofPolice, J&K, on January 23said, “There is a strong inputthat one [name withheld] resident of Pune, Maharashtra,who is presently in Valley,may cause suicide explosionnear or inside Republic Dayparade venue in KashmirValley.”

A source in the securityestablishment said the woman had come into contactwith a resident of the bordertown of Uri on Facebook andwanted to marry him.

“She told her mother that

she was going to Kashmir.She said either she wouldsettle down there or becomea shahid (martyr), but wouldnever come back. The mother, fearing for the safety ofher daughter, accompaniedher to Srinagar,” the o�cialsaid.

Mother returnsHowever, a few days afterreaching Srinagar, whenthey were in an autorickshaw in Budgam, the womanjumped from the vehicle.Unable to trace her, hermother went to Banihal andtook a train back to Pune.

On January 26, Additional

Police Commissioner, AntiTerrorism Squad (ATS), Ravindra Kadam told The Hin-du, “We received inputs thatthe girl, who hails fromPune, was in Jammu andKashmir and supposedlyplanning to execute a terroract in Kashmir on RepublicDay. While we could not locate her in Pune, her parentsclaimed that she was at theplace where she had beensent for her studies. Theywere anxious about not revealing her location as theyfelt it could attract adversepublicity.”

The police said that in2015, the woman, who was a

student in a Pune institution,was planning to leave thecountry to join the IslamicState. She was detained bythe ATS after it tracked an alleged conversation betweenher and a recruiter. The girlallegedly came under thethrall of the terror groupthrough social media platforms such as Facebook andTwitter. According to theATS, her handler had managed to convince the womanto come to Syria. The personalso reportedly promised toprovide her with medicaleducation there.

(With ShoumojitBanerjee)

Pune woman came to Kashmir in search of manPolice say she wants to marry him and no explosives found on her; authorities in a �x as no terror charge made against her

Vijaita SIngh

New Delhi

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

By the end of 2018 or early2019, smart fencing will beerected all along the IndoBangladesh and IndoPakistan border to prevent in�ltration and illegal migration, Union Minister ofState for Home Kiren Rijijusaid on Sunday.

“Smart border fencingtechnology has been introduced in some pockets inthe Bangladesh and Pakistan border. The Border Security Force (BSF) has beengiven the mandate, andthey have tested the technology and found it to bee�ective,” he told mediapersons on the sidelines ofthe passingout parade ofthe second allwomanbatch of Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF) constables at the RegionalTraining Centre inArakkonam.

The Minister said thecountry had “so many borders”. “We have the coastalboundaries of peninsularIndia, which are around7,500 kilometres long. Wehave the border with Pakistan on the western frontwhere there are maximumcases of in�ltration of extremist elements, especially in the Line of Controlarea. We have increasedour vigilance,” he said.

With China, there wereno issues related to in�ltration, and only boundary issues were present, he said.Mr. Rijiju said the borderwas porous in Myanmar.“There is a visafree regimealong the IndoMyanmarborder due to a treaty,” hesaid.

Airport securityHe said the Home Ministryhad decided to hand overcharge of security at all airports in the country to theCISF. VIP security, too,would be given to theforce. A new division hadbeen formed in the Ministry for counterinsurgencycybersecurity. “We want todevote more resources onthe issue of cybersecurity.”

All bordersto be fenced,says Rijiju

Staff Reporter

VELLORE

A senior BJP leader refusedto contest from the constituency allocated to him asresentment is brewing in theparty over the selection ofcandidates for the February18 Assembly elections in theState. Subal Bhowmik, vicepresident of the party Stateunit, cited personal reasonsfor his refusal to �ght fromthe Sonamura constituencyin Sepahijala district.

“The party has honouredme with the nomination. However, I am unable to acceptit because of family issues,”he told The Hindu onSunday.

The BJP announced thelist of 44 candidates in NewDelhi on Saturday. The partyhas allocated nine of the 60seats to the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura.

Party workers displayedtheir ire against rejection ofcompetent candidates in theconstituencies of Barjala,Pratapgarh, Bamutia and

Nalchar, all reserved for theScheduled Castes.

But Mr. Bhowmik’s decision not to contest has rattled the party as he is credited with the fast expansion ofthe BJP in the State in recentyears.

Asked for the reason forhis decision not to contestfrom Sonamura, Mr. Bhowmik said he had neversought the nomination, butwhen approached by theleaders, he insisted on a constituency in Agartala.

His aides said he hadwanted Banamalipur or Bordawali which have continuously elected nonLeft candidates.

Trouble in Tripura BJP,leader rejects ticketParty workers display ire in several reserved constituencies

Syed Sajjad Ali

Agartala Vijay Keshav Gokhale, senior diplomat of the External A�airs Ministry, is likelyto take charge as Foreign Secretary on Monday.

Mr. Gokhale will succeedS. Jaishankar, who becameForeign Secretary two yearago.

The new Foreign Secretary will assume responsibility on a day when Parliament begins the crucialbudget session.

For the External A�airsMinistry, however, the mainissues are likely to be the situation on the Doklam plateau, IndiaPakistan ties andthe orange passports

planned to be issued to citizens under the ECR category.

An allparty meeting onSunday discussed the agenda of the session and severalissues related to the Ministry, said sources present atthe meeting.

Key issues await newForeign SecretaryVijay Gokhale assumes charge today


NEW DELHI

Vijay Keshav Gokhale


#3 3 1 0 0 7

Kasganj has slowly returnedto normal, after traders, political leaders and membersof the two communities involved in a clash on January26 came together for a meeting at the town municipalhall on Sunday. One person,Chandan Gupta, was killedand two persons were injured in Friday’s clash.

Early in the morning, despite heavy police deployment, rioters managed totorch three shops, two busesand one car. The �re brigadeextinguished the blaze.Shops and markets openedlater in the day after themeeting.

The meeting was headedby Divisional Commissioner,Aligarh, Subhash ChandraSharma. Additional DirectorGeneral of Police, Agra Zone,Ajay Anand; BJP MLA Devender Singh Rajput; BJP Etahdistrict president PurendarSingh Solanki; former municipal chairman ChaudharyNurul Hasan and former Samajwadi Party MLA Hasratullah Sherwani participated.

All the civil society representatives spoke about bringing peace to the town.

Appeal to tradersTalking to The Hindu onphone, Mr. Solanki said,“The violence and the clashwas an unfortunate incident.All of us need to work forpeace in the area.”

He said at the meeting thathe would ask traders in areaswhere both communitieshad a presence, to talk totheir neighbours and opentheir shops.

“This incident of violencewas an aberration. All of ushave been living in peaceand harmony. There were attempts to divide us, but wehave to make sure that theideology of hatred does notwin,” Mr. Sherwani said.

‘Police caught unawares’Many of the speakers saidthe violence was a consequence of a policing failure.

They said the police hadnot been aware of the AkhilBharatiya Vidyarthi Parishadrally and police personnelreached the location of theclash late.

They said the local intelligence unit also had no clueabout the rally.

Aligarh Police Commissioner S.C. Sharma toldpresspersons that police

would make every e�ort tobring peace. “We have requested the residents to bevigilant and ensure that noconfrontation of any kindhappens between childrenand any groups that couldpossibly vitiate the atmosphere. We have sent a recommendation to the Chief Minister’s O�ce for �nancialhelp to Chandan Gupta’s fa

mily,” Mr. Sharma said. For better coordination,

the police have divided thetown into 10 zones and a police team led by a senior o�cer is carrying out intensivesearches for rioters in eachof the zones.

Drones deployedDrones are also being usedby the police for vigilance.

The police have arrested oneyouth with a pistol and petrol bombs.

Later, the house of one ofthe riot accused wassearched and countrymadebombs and a pistol were recovered.

Internet services were suspended and the police didnot allow newspapers to bedistributed.

Peace meet soothes Kasganj’s nervesPolitical and community leaders, police and civil o�cials decide to enforce peace in the U.P. town

MohammAd Ali

Meerut

Security personnel keeping vigil at Kasganj city in Uttar Pradesh. * MANOJ ALIGADI

CMYK

A ND-NDE




NEWS

The Congress on Sunday demanded an independentjudicial investigation by aHigh Court judge into theKasganj violence.

Congress leader PramodTiwari alleged that callousness and mismanagementon the part of the State government and the local administration led to clashesbetween two communitiesin Kasganj.

“How did this happen,who did it? The truth willcome out only when an independent judicial investigation is conducted by a sittingHigh Court judge,” Mr. Tiwari said.

‘Lax administration’The Congress leader hit outat Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying the BJP government had been ine�ective inmaintaining law and orderin the State.

“Till when will incidentsof gang rape continue underyour rule and in the BJPruled States? When will youapprehend the culprits andgive them exemplary punishment,” Mr. Tiwari askedPrime Minister NarendraModi.

Kasganj has been tensesince the death of a personin police �ring during a Republic Day procession, witha mob setting ablaze shops,vehicles and houses.

Cong. calls forjudicial probeinto violence


New Delhi

Blaming the BJP governmentfor the Kasganj violence,BSP chief Mayawati said hereon Sunday that such incidents were taking place allover the country as the BJPand its sister out�ts werespreading chaos andviolence.

Ms. Mayawati said “jungleraj” prevailed in the BJPruled States, especially UttarPradesh.

“The dismal state of crimecontrol, law and order anddevelopment and welfare inBJPruled States shows usthat the ruling BJP has beencriminalised at all levels,”she said.

She said people wereforced to overlook the corruption, failures and falsepromises of the BJP governments and instead worry

about safeguarding their lifeand property.

Ms. Mayawati demandedstrict punishment for theguilty in the Kasganj incident, and said the Yogi Adityanath government hadfailed to bring the situationunder control.

The former Chief Ministersaid that by dropping casesof rioting, crime and violence against BJP leaders,the party was trying to “in

stitutionalise jungle raj”.The courts were feeling restrained in punishing theguilty because the government was not providing security to government witnesses, many of whom werebeing murdered.

Worrisome: SP chiefSamajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav also attackedthe BJP, accusing it of throttling democracy and spreading communal hatred. Hetermed the Kasganj incident“highly unfortunate andworrisome”.

“The BJP has a record ofspreading hate. In the Stateswhere the BJP rules, it worksto cause social rifts. The waysocial rifts have increased inU.P. due to the BJP’s policiesover the past 10 monthspose a big danger to the social order,” he said.

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

Mayawati

Mayawati, Akhilesh blame BJP

A day before the start of thebudget session of Parliament, Varun Gandhi, BJPMP, urged Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to “initiate a mission” to get LokSabha members to forgo salaries for the rest of this termor set up an autonomousbody to regulate their salaries. At present, MPs andMLAs can legislate on theirown remuneration.

In his letter, Mr. Gandhivoiced worries over thegrowing income disparitiesin the country and underscored the need for theelected representatives toaddress the issue. “India’srichest 1%, who now hold60% of the country’s totalwealth, held less than 21% in

the late 1930s, 84 billionaires hold wealth equal tothe bottom 70% of the country,” he said.

Instead of doing something to bridge the gap, thelawmakers were gettingtheir salaries increased, headded. “In 2016, the Telangana MLAs became thehighestpaid lawmakers inthe country when they gavethemselves a hike of 163% intheir salaries,” he wrote. “InJanuary 2018, while TamilNadu is still reeling under alongstanding agrarian crisisthat started in 2017, the Assembly doubled the salaryof the MLAs with e�ect fromJuly 2017,” he said. The number of MPs who own assetsworth over �1 crore hadseen a sharp rise from 319 in2009 to 449 now, he said.

Get MPs to forgo pay,Varun tells Speaker Nistula Hebbar

NEW DELHI

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The Punjab Regiment hasbagged the award for thebest marching contingentamong the three servicesand the IndoTibetan Border Police among the paramilitary and other auxiliary forces in the RepublicDay parade, the DefenceMinistry said in a statement.

Maharashtra got the �rstprize for the best tableau.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave awaythe awards at Cariappa Parade Ground in Delhi Cantonment on Sunday.

Maharashtra’s tableauwas titled Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj coronation.

Assam’s tableau depicting traditional “masks andsastras” bagged the secondprize.

The third prize went toChhattisgarh’s display ofRamgarh’s ancient amphitheatre and artistes performing dance based onKalidasa’s Meghadootam.

Among the tableaux byUnion Ministries and departments, the �rst prizewent to Khelo India of theYouth A�airs and SportsMinistry.

Students’ categoryFor performance byschoolchildren, the SouthCentral Zone CulturalCentre from Nagpur gotthe �rst prize for the Baredi dance of MadhyaPradesh.

The North East ZoneCultural Centre from Dimapur, Nagaland, and OxfordFoundation School in Najafgarh, Delhi, won consolation prizes for performing the Sangrai Mog danceof Tripura and the ShikshitBharat, Shashakt Bharatdance, respectively.

Of the 23 tableaux, 14were from the States andUnion Territories.

The External A�airs Ministry presented two tableau depicting the “longsociocultural, religious,educational and trade relations” between India andASEAN countries.

PunjabRegimentbags awardSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

Afghanistan has seen asharp increase in violenceafter U.S. President DonaldTrump’s statement on NewYear’s day criticising Pakistan, the former AfghanistanPresident Hamid Karzai hassaid.

He called for pressure on“Pakistan’s military and intelligence” after the latestbombing in Kabul on Saturday in which more than 100people were killed.

“We have only seen astatement from PresidentTrump, which is an a�rmation of our stand for the past15 years [on involvement ofPakistanbased groups].Now, they have to take action, which means stoppingthe Pakistani military andintelligence from doingwhat they are doing,” Mr.Karzai told The Hindu here,drawing a link betweenthree attacks in a week.

Next moveTaliban terrorists laid siegeto the Kabul Hotel Intercontinental on January 21. Aninternational children’sNGO in Jalalabad was attacked by a suspected ISaf�liated group on January 23.The spate of attacks has ledto a greater focus on thenext move of the U.S.

After President Trump’stweet on January 1 that accused Pakistan of “lies anddeceit” and being a “safe haven” to terrorists and decision to freeze military aid tothe country, the U.S. government promised further action if it did not act againstTalibana�liated groups.The U.S. carried out a dronestrike along the AfghanPakistan border on January 24,killing three militants of theHaqqani group.

However, Mr. Karzai saiddrone strikes would notserve as an answer and was“counterproductive”.

“If the U.S. is genuineabout addressing the issue,they should address it in thePakistan military and intelli

gence, bring pressure onthem, and together with therest of the region, raise avoice against the Pakistaniestablishment … the wayforward is not to hurt the civilians of Pakistan, but tonip this in the bud, which isthe Pakistani establishment,” Mr. Karzai said.

Meanwhile, also speakingat the Jaipur Literary Festival here, the former IndianHigh Commissioner T.C.A.Raghavan said it was necessary to go a step further, andsuggested that sanctionsagainst key Pakistani o�cials might be an alternativeoption for the U.S.

A case for sanctions“The U.S. has a template ontaking action by placingsanctions in Iran and Myanmar, and they could consider that for Pakistan,” Mr.Raghavan said when askedby the audience on whetherthe U.S.’s new “South Asia”plan for Afghanistan, announced �ve months ago,would be e�ective.

India has condemned thelatest attack in Kabul and offered to assist with treatment of the injured.

U.S. Secretary of StateRex Tillerson said, “The Taliban’s use of an ambulanceas a weapon to target civilians represents inhumanedisregard for the people ofAfghanistan and all thoseworking to bring peace, andis a violation of the mostbasic international norms”.

Rein in Pakistanmilitary: Karzai‘Trump’s remarks support our stand’


JAIPUR

Hamid Karzai

<> The U.S., together

with the rest of the

region, should

raise its voice

against the

Pakistani

establishment

The Parliamentary Committee on Salary and Allowances will meet Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary A�airs MinisterAnanth Kumar to demandthat the salary of MPs be atleast �1 more than that of theCabinet Secretary.

The decision was taken ata meeting on January 12.

MPs draw a basic salary of�50,000 and constituencyallowance of �45,000.When Parliament is in session, they get a daily allowance of �2,000.

In 2015, the committee,then headed by Yogi Adityanath, recommended a 100%increase in salary, alongwith a raise in other allo

wances. But the government junked the report.

The basic salary was lastincreased in 2010 from�16,000 to �50,000. Afterthe implementation of theSeventh Pay Commission’srecommendations on January 1, 2016, the Cabinet Secretary, the topmost bureaucrat in the country, gets�2.5 lakh a month and a Secretary in the Union government �2.25 lakh.

“Not all MPs are industrialists, or come from welltodo families. Many of usare dependent on the salarywe get from Parliament,” acommittee member said.

Other members said thelawmakers, if not treatedbetter than the top bureaucrat, must be treated at leaston a par with him.

Panel to press Centrefor MPs’ salary hike Sobhana K. Nair

New Delhi


#3 3 1 0 0 7

CMYK

A ND-NDE




WORLD

ProRussian incumbentwins Czech presidencyPRAGUE

The Czech Republic was

looking east on Sunday after

the Kremlin and Beijing were

among the �rst to

congratulate populist

President Milos Zeman on his

reelection in a cli�hanger

vote. Mr. Zeman scored

51.36% of the vote, edging

out his liberal proEuropean

challenger Jiri Drahos with

48.63%. Analysts saw the

election as a tugofwar

between East and West in

Czech society. AFP

ELSEWHERE

Syrian Kurds not toattend Sochi peace talksBEIRUT

Authorities in Syria’s Kurdish

autonomous region said on

Sunday that they would not

attend peace talks in Russia’s

Sochi next week because of

Turkey’s o�ensive against the

Kurdish enclave of Afrin. The

o�ensive “contradicts the

principle of political

dialogue”, said regional

o�cial Fawza alYussef. AFP

‘Defective wiring couldhave caused hospital �re’SEOUL

Defective wiring is suspected

to have caused the �re at

South Korea’s Sejong hospital

in Miryang on Friday that

killed at least 38 people and

injured more than 150, police

said. “There were no traces of

burns on the �oor, but clear

signs of �re spreading toward

the bottom from the top,” an

o�cial told a press brie�ng

on Saturday evening. AFP

Kabul was in despair on Sunday, a day after a Taliban suicide bomber killed morethan 100 people and wounded at least 235 in the worstattack in the Afghan capitalin months.

A week ago, the Talibankilled more than 20 peoplein a siege of the city’s Intercontinental Hotel.

Another six people werekilled later in the week in anassault claimed by IslamicState (IS) on the o�ce of aidgroup Save the Children inthe eastern city of Jalalabad.

Despite pressure on President Ashraf Ghani’s Westernbacked government toimprove security, the attacksshow no sign of abating, giving rise to helpless angeramong residents.

“How are we to live?Where should we go?” askedshopkeeper Mohammad Hanif, who was in his shop nearthe site of the explosionwhen it went o�.

Warning on more attacksInterior Minister Wais Barmak said the casualty tollhad risen to at least 103 deadand 235 wounded. He said atleast two vehicles painted asambulances were involvedin the attack, one of whichblew up at when it wasstopped at a policecheckpoint.

Security o�cials havewarned of possible furtherattacks.

The Taliban said their attack was intended as a message to U.S. President Donald Trump who last yearsent more American troopsto Afghanistan and orderedan increase in air strikes andother assistance to Afghanforces. “The Islamic Emiratehas a clear message forTrump and his handkissersthat if you go ahead with apolicy of aggression andspeak from the barrel of agun, don’t expect Afghans togrow �owers in response,”Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a state

ment, using the term theyuse to describe themselves.

Worst since MayThe attack in one of the mostheavily protected parts ofthe city, close to foreign embassies and governmentbuildings, was the worstseen in the Afghan capitalsince a truck bomb near theGerman embassy killed 150people in May.

Despite a major tighteningin checks following the May31 attack, the ambulance wasable to get through thecheckpoints, apparentlywithout di�culty.

With Mr. Ghani embroiledin confrontation with pro

vincial power brokers defying central rule, pressure ismounting on the government to set aside political divisions and focus onsecurity.

Saturday’s attack, described as “an atrocity” bythe head of the UN missionin Afghanistan, drew universal condemnation fromneighbouring countries andallies who had expressedcon�dence that the new U.S.strategy was producing results.

Following a recent visit toKabul, the U.S. Ambassadorto the United Nations, NikkiHaley, said the strategy wasworking and pushing the insurgents closer to peacetalks. However, the Talibanhave dismissed any suggestion that they have beenweakened by the U.S. approach and say they will onlyagree to talks when international forces leave Afghanistan. Pakistan, which deniesaccusations it fosters the Afghan war, condemned theattack and called for “concerted e�orts and e�ectivecooperation... to eradicatethe scourge of terrorism”.

Afghanistan declared Sunday a day of mourning andsaid Monday would be a dayo� to allow care of the victims’ families. Joko Widodo,President of Indonesia, isdue to visit Kabul on Monday, Mr. Ghani’s o�ce said.

Afghanistan observes day ofmourning as toll reaches 103‘At least two vehicles painted as ambulances were involved in the attack’

Reuters

Kabul

Attack and after: Afghan men carry the co�n of one of thevictims of Saturday’s car bomb attack in Kabul. * REUTERS

Russian police wrestled opposition leader Alexei Navalny into a patrol wagon onSunday, moments after heappeared at a rally to urgevoters to boycott what hesaid would be a rigged presidential election in March.

The numbers whoshowed up at protests acrossRussia on Sunday were lower than previous demonstrations Mr. Navalny hadstaged, according to estimates, indicating that themomentum may have shifted away from him.

Video footage posted onsocial media showed Mr. Navalny appear on Moscow’smain thoroughfare, Tverskaya Street, a few hundredmetres from the Kremlin, tojoin several hundred supporters taking part in theprotest, which the authorities had said was illegal.

He had only walked ashort distance when he wassurrounded by helmetcladpolice o�cers. Theygrabbed him and forced himto the ground on the pavement, and then dragged himinto the patrol wagon.

Mr. Navalny’s personalTwitter feed carried a post tohis followers saying that hehad been detained. “Thatdoes not matter. Come toTverskaya. You’re not coming out for me, but for yourfuture,” it said.

He was taken to a policeprecinct in central Moscow,Mr. Navalny’s Internet sitereported. Police said in astatement that he would becharged with violating lawson holding demonstrations.The maximum penalty hefaces for the o�ence is 30days in jail.

Mr. Navalny emerged as athreat to the Kremlin’s tightgrip on power on June 12 lastyear, when thousands of his

followers de�ed police prohibitions to protest in citiesacross Russia. The scale ofthe protests, some of the biggest in six years, took theKremlin by surprise.

On Sunday, severalhundred people gathered inMoscow’s central Pushkinsquare, ignoring police appeals over a loudhailer forthem to disperse. Hundredsof people also protested inSt. Petersburg, in Yekaterinburg in the Ural mountains,and other major centres.

By 15.00 Moscow time(12.00 GMT), police had detained 180 protesters nationwide, according to OVDInfo, a nongovernmentalgroup that tracks the arrests.

Earlier on Sunday, policeforced their way into Mr. Navalny’s Moscow o�ce usingpower tools, citing reports ofa bomb threat, an onlinefeed run by Mr. Navalny’ssupporters showed.

Police shut down a TV studio at Mr. Navalny’s o�ceduring the same raid whichhad been broadcasting online news bulletins, butanother studio in a di�erentlocation continued tooperate.

He had appeared at a rally asking people to boycott the polls

Reuters

Moscow

A protester in Moscow onSunday. * AP

Navalny held after protests

U.S. President DonaldTrump would take a“tougher” approach toBrexit negotiations thanBritain’s Prime MinisterTheresa May, he said in atelevision interview broadcast on Sunday.

In the interview withBritish channel ITV, Mr.Trump said the EuropeanUnion (EU) was “notcracked up to what it’s supposed to be” and claimedthat he had predicted theresult of the June 2016referendum.

Mr. Trump also said thathe had been invited by Ms.May to make two visits toBritain this year.

Asked in the interview ifhe had been invited to thewedding of Britain’s PrinceHarry and his American�ancée Meghan Markle,Mr. Trump said: “Not that Iknow of.”

‘Would betougher thanMay on Brexit’

Reuters

London

Las Vegas casino mogulSteve Wynn resigned as �nance chairman of the Republican Party’s fundraisingarm on Saturday, a day afterThe Wall Street Journal reported that he routinelysubjected women whoworked for him to unwanted sexual advances.

“Today I accepted SteveWynn’s resignation as Republican National Committee�nance hair,” RNC chairRonna Romney McDanielsaid in a statement.

Mr. Wynn has denied theaccusations published bythe Wall Street Journal as“preposterous”. But he saidin a statement released onSaturday evening that hewas resigning to avoid unnecessary distraction.

Also, Senator Marco Rubio on Saturday �red hischief of sta� for improper

relations with subordinates.Mr. Rubio said he received“su�cient evidence to conclude that while employedby this o�ce, my chief ofsta� had violated o�ce policies regarding proper relations between a supervisorand their subordinates”.

His o�ce con�rmed theidentity of the dismissedsta�er as Clint Reed, butthere were no details on thenature of the improperrelations.

Republican quits aftermisconduct claimsWynn mistreated women sta�: report

Reuters

Washington

Steve Wynn resigned as thechairperson of the party’sfundraising arm. * AFPAs the February 8 court ver

dict in a graft case against theBangladesh Nationalist Party(BNP) leader Khaleda Zia approaches, Bangladesh’smostly peaceful political environment risks turning volatile. The BNP, backed by itsIslamist allies, has warnedthat it would take to thestreets if the verdict goesagainst their leader.

Ms. Zia, her son TariqueRahman, who has been living in London for nine years,and four others are the accused in the case, which con

cerns the alleged embezzlement of Tk. 21 million inforeign donations meant forthe ‘Zia Orphanage Trust’.

Ms. Zia, who faces life imprisonment if found guilty,held a crucial party meeting

on Saturday to discuss thenext course of action. BNPsecretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said theparty urged the people to“launch a democratic movement” against the “government’s conspiracy in thename of trial”.

Many senior BNP leaderssaid that if their leader isconvicted, “a disastrous situation” might be created inthe country, no matterwhether the BNP announces

any protest programme ornot. However, independentanalysts do not foresee anymajor unrest as the BNP’s organisational strength hasabated after the party was reduced to the status of a nonparliamentary oppositionfollowing its boycott of the2014 general election.

In response to BNP’sthreat, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamalwarned of stern action ifanyone tried to create anarchy after the verdict.

The ruling Awami Leagueand its secular allies, it is understood, are determined to

preserve the peaceful political environment until thenext general election due later this year. On the otherhand, the BNP’s leadershiplooks divided: hardliners arefor street agitation while others are for appeal against theverdict. Party’s vice chairman, Shamsuzzaman Dudusaid: “Our decision for nowis to counter the issuethrough legal means”.

Meanwhile proBNP political analysts have stressed theimportance of an e�ectivecontingency plan so that theparty can be given a direction if Ms. Zia is incarcerated.

Could a jail term for Khaleda spell unrest?Weeks before verdict, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party has warned that it would launch an agitation

Bangladesh Nationalist Partyleader Khaleda Zia. * AFP

Haroon Habib

Dhaka

NEWS ANALYSIS

Yemen’s government accused southern separatistsof an attempted coup onSunday after they took overits headquarters amid �erceclashes in the city of Aden.

The �ghting, which killedat least 15 people, threw Yemen into further chaos andthreatened to underminePresident Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who ordered hisforces to stand down.

The government urged

the Saudiled military coalition, which has been supporting Mr. Hadi againstIranbacked Houthi rebels incontrol of much of thenorth, to intervene. “A coupis ongoing here in Adenagainst legitimacy and thecountry’s unity,” said PrimeMinister Ahmed bin Dagher.

Security sources said thatproseparatist units trainedand backed by the UAE hadtaken over the governmentheadquarters in Aden afterclashes.

Yemen governmentwarns of coup

Southern separatists seize headquarters

Agence France-Presse

Aden

Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died aged 91, thecompany said on Sunday,leaving behind a global empire built on revolutionary�atpack furniture. The company said in a statement thathe “passed away peacefullysurrounded by his lovedones” at his home in Smaland on Saturday “followinga brief illness”.

“Ingvar Kamprad was aunique entrepeneur whohas meant a lot for Swedishbusiness and who has made

home furnishing availablefor many people, not just thefew,” Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told TTnews agency. Mr. Kamprad,whose 2017 fortune was estimated at €37.3 billion(around $46 billion) according to the Swiss magazine Bi-

lan, founded the companyat the age of 17. The story ofIkea — acronym for IngvarKamprad, Elmtaryd andAgunnaryd (the name of hisfarm and municipality of origin) began in 1943.

Ikea’s selfassembly model — which would cut transport and storage costs —was conceived in 1956 afteran employee suggested tablelegs be removed duringfreight so that the packagewould �t into a car. Twoyears later, Mr. Kampradopened its �rst store in Almhult, south of his hometown.

Ikea founder Kamprad deadThe Swedish entrepreneur’s fortune was estimated at $46 bn


Stockholm

Ingvar Kamprad

Israel summoned Polishenvoy Piotr Kozlowski onSunday to express concerns over legislation thatWarsaw was advancing regarding the Holocaust andthe de�nition of Nazi deathcamps.

Poland’s Parliamentadopted legislation on Friday setting a maximumthreeyear jail term foranyone who accuses thePolish nation or state ofcomplicity with Nazicrimes, or who refers toNazi German death campsas being Polish. Late on Saturday, Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu accused Poland of seeking todeny history with the Bill.

Polish envoysummonedby Israel

Agence France Presse

Jerusalem When Helga Weyhe beganwork at her beloved bookshop, the Red Army was on themarch towards her east German town, Hitler still clungto power and Sartre had justpublished No Exit.

Fastforward more thanseven decades and the remarkably spry 95yearold,Germany’s oldest bookseller, swats away any talk of retirement, or even slowingdown. Still sta�ng the storesix days a week, Ms. Weyhesaid books got her throughtwo dictatorships and wouldsee her through her lastchapter too.

Ms. Weyhe represents thethird generation of her family to run the shop, which hasoccupied the same spot

since 1840. Her grandfatherhad the caramelbrownshelves built in the 1880s,when Otto von Bismarckruled Germany.

A tome about the life ofthe Iron Chancellor ispropped among the politicalbiographies, one of the specialities of Ms. Weyhe’seclectic selection rangingfrom French existentialists

to German classics to Hollywood screenplays.

Each volume in the shopcarries Ms. Weyhe’s endorsement, even if she hasn’tread each cover to cover.

With the Second WorldWar still raging, Ms. Weyhestarted working with herfather Walter at his shop.They ran it together underSoviet occupation and the

East German communiststate (GDR) and she took over in 1965. Last year she accepted a lifetime achievement prize from the GermanBooksellers’ Association,which o�cially proclaimedher the country’s oldestpractitioner of the trade.

She said Salzwedel, with apopulation of 25,000, lying200 km northwest of Berlin,has long punched above itsliterary weight thanks to hershop. “I try to have booksthat amaze people and makethem say ‘you sell that in thislittle town’?” Ms. Weyhesaid.

Ms. Weyhe is coy whenasked when she might easeinto retirement — she nevermarried and has no children. But she is �rm that sheis irreplaceable in her shop.

Age is just a number for this bookseller95yearold German Helga Weyhe has been in the business for more than 70 years

Still going strong:Helga Weyhe in her shop in the Germantown of Salzwedel. * AFP


Salzwedel


#3 3 1 0 0 7

CMYK

A ND-NDE

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



The insolvency law might beamended depending on recommendations of the panelreviewing issues related tothe legislation, includingthose pertaining to homebuyers, a senior governmento�cial said.

While everything is timebound under the Insolvencyand Bankruptcy Code (IBC),Corporate A�airs SecretaryInjeti Srinivas said the issueis how the interests of stakeholders are to be balanced.

A 14member panel, alsochaired by Mr. Srinivas, isworking to identify and suggest ways to address issuesfaced in the implementationof the IBC, which came intoforce in December 2016.

“There is a feeling thatthis law is skewed a little toomuch in favour of �nancial

creditors. It is not adequately addressing the requirements or expectations ofother stakeholders. It is a serious area we have to look at.The committee is looking atall the issues,” he said.

Competition, regulatoryclearances, tax liabilities andother aspects would also belooked at, he said. “It wasfelt that there was enough

reason to have a comprehensive stock taking eventhough it is a oneyear oldlaw... Based on recommendations of the InsolvencyLaw Committee, in the future there may be changes inthe IBC,” Mr. Srinivas said.

A large number of caseshave been �led under theIBC, which provides for amarketdetermined andtimebound insolvency resolution process. “There are also apprehensions on whether this system [insolvencylaw] can be abused. Can somebody trigger this systemfor some sort of wrongful intent?” the secretary said.

Valuation debateAmong others, issues suchas whether the insolvencyprocess should be governedby liquidation value or enterprise value would also be

looked into. “What are therights of homebuyers? Whatis the capacity of insolvencyprofessionals? These areamong the issues that has tobe seen,” he said.

In recent months, therehave been concerns aboutincomplete realty projectsand consequent hardshipsfaced by home buyers. Somereal estate �rms are also facing insolvency proceedings.

There have also been suggestions from certain quarters about having provisionsthat would help provide relief to home buyers.

Responding to a queryabout home buyers’ rights inthe context of the insolvencylaw, Srinivas said, “whateveryou do, it has to be calibrated in a way that public interest is not a�ected. You maximise bene�ts and minimiselosses“.

Govt. may alter insolvency law‘Panel looking into claims that IBC was skewed in favour of �nancial creditors’

Injeti Srinivas


New Delhi

IN BRIEF

Waiting period mayease for Maruti carsNEW DELHI

Maruti Suzuki expects

easing of waiting period

pressure on its popular

models as it is slated to get

2.5 lakh units in 201819

from Suzuki’s Gujarat plant,

an o�cial said. In the

current �scal, the �rm will

get 1.5 lakh units from the

plant, from where the

popular hatchback Baleno

is rolled out. “Currently it

[the plant] is on full swing

in A and B shifts and in

201819 it will give us full

production across the year,”

the o�cial said. PTI

P-Notes investment hitssix-month high in Dec. NEW DELHI

Investments in domestic

capital markets through

participatory notes surged to

a sixmonth high of over �1.5

lakh crore at Decemberend

despite stringent norms put

in place by regulator SEBI.

According to SEBI data, the

total value of Pnote

investments — equity, debt,

and derivatives — increased

to �1,52,243 crore at the end

of December from �1,28,639

crore at the end of

November. PTI

A couple of major issueshave impacted the country’stextile and clothing sector inthe past year. Expectedly,the industry’s aspirations forthe Union Budget are relatedto the revival of exports andthe GST.

According to data available with the industry and theexport promotion councils,readymade garment exportsgrew less than 1% betweenApril and November 2016 indollar terms and dropped3.03 % in rupee terms.

Fabric exports were to thetune of $230.37 million inApril 2017 and slumped to$113 million in October. Yarnexports fared better in valueterms at $267.33 million inApril and $354.05 million inOctober last year.

However, in terms of volume, yarn exports stayed almost �at. Apparel exportsdropped 8% in Decemberalone compared with a yearearlier.

“Between 2009 and 2015,the domestic market grew10% every year for the Indian textile and clothing sector, and exports rose almost8% yearonyear,” said P. Nataraj, chairman of SouthernIndia Mills’ Association. “Forthe last three years, exportshave almost stagnated.Countries such as Vietnamhave overtaken India in yarnexports to China.”

When the global economic slowdown hit the industryseven years ago, the Centrehad come out with a timebound stimulus package.The two major policy decisions of the government inthe recent past, demonestisation and GST, have impacted the industry more thanthe economic slowdown, hesaid. “What the industryneeds now is a stimulus

package.” The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) pointed out that ina study of 600 SME units,the number of units underthe SME 2 category rosefrom 54 to 191 betweenMarch and September andthe number of units thatwere categorised as nonperforming accounts by lenderswent up from 18 to 32 in theperiod.

A stimulus package willgive relief to the units,saidSanjay K. Jain, chairman, CITI. Rebate of State levies(ROSL) is critical for revivalof exports. Towards this, thegovernment should sanctionadequate funds for ROSLand extend it to all productsinstead of just garments andmadeups, said Mr. Jain.

According to data available with the ministry, the allocation for ROSL for 20172018 was �1,555 crore and ithas been exhausted. However, according to the industry,garment exporters got ROSLonly for April and May and

madeup exporters receivedrebates till July this �nancialyear. India exports garmentsand madeups worth $23 billion annually. The averagetax rate after GST for garments and madeups is 1.8%;it was 3.7% before GST.

‘Allocations must rise’The industry estimates itneeds about �2,100 crore toclear pending ROSL reimbursements and another�2,500 crore for the next �scal. So, allocations need togo up substantially, sourcessaid. The Centre should announce the drawback rates,restore the preGST level ofincentives for exports andincrease the import duty,said representatives of industry associations.

The Apparel Export Promotion Council has said thatunder schemes such as Advance Authorisation andEPCG, applicants should getearly approvals. This willlead to higher investments.

O�cials in the ministrysaid thrust areas now wereto be powerlooms, technology and export promotion.

Textiles sector seeks a legup from government‘Stagnant exports, technology upgradation need attention’

M. Soundariya Preetha

COIMBATORE

BUDGET WATCH

Reliance Industries’ eastern o�shore KGD6 gas�elds have seen production plummet to the lowestlevel of 4.9 mmscmd in thethird quarter of the ongoing �scal.

Natural gas productionfrom Dhirubhai1 and 3(D1&D3) gas �elds as well asthe MA �eld totalled 4.9million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd),the company said in an investor presentation.

The output came fromseven wells on D1&D3 �eldsand three wells on the MAoil and gas �eld, the company said, attributing thefall to a natural decline andingress of water and sandin the wells.

RIL’s KGD6gas �elds’ Q3output falls


New Delhi

Essar Power tosurrender Tokisud mine MUMBAI

Faced with delays in key

approvals and sudden

change in tari� terms, Essar

Power has decided to

surrender the Tokisud North

coal block in Jharkhand in

which it had invested �490

crore. The move will cripple

the �rm’s 1,200mw Mahan

plant in M.P. The �rm said it

had made signi�cant

progress in developing the

coal block, which has

extractable reserves of 52

million tonne. PTI

If India were to join the megaregional Free TradeAgreement (FTA) called theTransPaci�c Partnership(TPP) and adopt its norms,they would severely hurt thecountry’s agriculture, manufacturing, services and thegeneric pharma industry, according to a new book.

Titled “TransPaci�c Partnership Agreement: A framework for future traderules?” the book — coeditedby Abhijit Das, Professor andHead, Centre for WTO Studies (CWS), Indian Instituteof Foreign Trade (IIFT) andShailja Singh, Legal Consultant, CWS — has done an analysis of almost the 5,544 pages of the TPP text. Releasedon January 27, the bookcomes in the backdrop ofU.S. President DonaldTrump’s statement at the

World Economic Forum thathe was open to the pact provided it o�ered substantiallybene�ts for his country.

It was under his ordersthat the U.S. had withdrawnfrom the TPP early last year.The other 11 countries ( Japan, Australia, Canada, NewZealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Mexico, Peru,Chile and Vietnam) that

were part of the agreementare now expected to ink anamended version in March.

Sti� competitionAccording to the book, if India were to conform to theTPP template of rules onmarket access in goods, itwould pose severe challenges to India’s manufacturingsector. The domestic indus

try may not be able to faceimport competition in a dutyfree regime, it added.

On the agriculture front,the farmers will be continuously exposed to the risk ofbeing knocked out of themarket by cheap and subsidised exports, particularlyfrom the U.S., Australia andNew Zealand. The TPP template may pose severe challenges to the government inregulating services in the future, the book claimed.

Ms. Singh said the TPP also “would severely restrictthe entry into the market, orthe reimbursement for use,of generic medicine. If Indiawere to adopt [TPP] rules, itwould require signi�cantchanges in the domestic regulatory regime…” She addedIndia’s export prospects ingovernment procurementmarkets may continue to below, if it entered the pact.

‘Transpaci�c pact could hurt India’ If India joins FTA, norms may hit agriculture and manufacturing, says book

Dim prospects: Indian farmers may be a�ected by subsidisedexports from member nations. * GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK


New Delhi

The Commerce Ministry haspitched for a single Goodsand Services Tax (GST) ratefor multimodal transportation of vehicles to improvelogistic services and reducethe compliance burden onautomobile manufacturers,an o�cial said.

Multimodal transportation includes a combinationof more than one mode ofmovement, such as rail, roador sea, for endtoend delivery of goods.

Automobile industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM)had approached the logisticsdepartment of the Ministryraising issues faced by com

panies due to lack of a clearly de�ned multimodal GSTstructure.

Currently, manufacturersand their logistics serviceproviders have to deal withthe issue of variable GSTrates, applicable on varioussectors of the entire multimodal transportation process, according to SIAM.

They had stated that currently there was no clearlyde�ned multimodal GSTstructure where vehiclemakers could hand over �nished goods through a singledocument to a thirdpartylogistics service provider.

Complexity, ine�ciencyThe government o�cial saidthat the current structurewas leading to complexity inthe entire taxation system,often leading to ine�ciencies. SIAM had also pointedout that in the multimodalmovement of goods, the present GST law was subjectiveand was left to the interpretation of consultants to provide a better understandingof applicable tax rates.

‘Move will help lighten compliance burden for automakers’


New Delhi

*G

ET

TY

IMA

GE

S/I

ST

OC

K

Ministry urges single GST rateon multimodal transportation

The Finance Ministry wouldsoon initiate a performancereview of heads of publicsector banks that are underthe RBI’s Prompt CorrectiveAction (PCA) as part of thereform process, o�cialsources said.

So far, the Reserve Bankhas put 12 public sectorbanks under watch in viewof poor performance on parameters such as high levelsof nonperforming assets(NPAs), low capital level andlow return on assets.

These parameters indicate the �nancial health ofbanks and a need to initiateremedial measures to putthem on the right course.The government has committed adequate funds, theysaid, adding that now thesebanks have to prove their

mettle on the NPA front.If these lenders “perform

extraordinarily”, they willbe rewarded, sources added. The list includes IDBIBank, Central Bank of India,Indian Overseas Bank, DenaBank, Allahabad Bank andBank of India. In the Reforms Agenda for Responsive & Responsible PSBs, thegovernment had committed�52,311 crore for the 12banks under PCA.

PCA: Ministry toappraise bank heads ‘12 lenders must prove mettle on NPAs’


New Delhi

*A

P

Japanbased virtual currency exchange Coinchecksaid it would refund about$400 million to customersafter hackers stole hundreds of millions of dollars’worth of digital assets.

The �rm said it woulduse its own funds to reimburse about 46.3 billionyen to all 2,60,000 customers who lost their holdingsof NEM, the 10th biggestcryptocurrency by marketcapitalisation.

On Friday, the �rm detected an “unauthorisedaccess” of the exchange,and later suspended trading for all cryptocurrenciesapart from bitcoin. The resulting 58 billion yen ($530million) loss exceeded thevalue of bitcoins which disappeared from MtGox in2014.

Coincheck torefund $400mn to clients


Tokyo

In a bid to give tough competition to rivals, JSW Steelis expected to double itsbid value for debtladenBhushan Steel, a sourceprivy to the developmentsaid.

The last date to submitthe bids now is February 3,2018. On January 24, the insolvency resolution professional of Bhushan Steel hadextended the deadlinefrom January 25.

“The liquidation valuehas set been set at �15,000crore; below that the bidwill not be accepted. Looking at the competition, JSWSteel is expected to doubleits bid amount. It can bebetween �25,000 croreand �30,000 crore,” thesource said.

ArcelorMittal and TataSteel are also in the race.

JSW mayraise bid forBhushan


New Delhi


#3 3 1 0 0 7




CMYK

A ND-NDE

BUSINESS REVIEW

The eway bill, set to be introduced across India fromFebruary 1 as part of theGoods and Services Tax(GST) regime, could lead to‘large scale’ disruption in thetransportation of goods,transporters caution.

While the bill is intendedas a mechanism to preventleakage of GST by trackingthe movement of goods fromone party (and place) toanother, transport industryo�cials said it would havebeen better to have addressed ‘several key issues’before migrating to the newsystem.

Lack of preparedness andpossible harassment by taxo�cials citing compliance issues could hinder movementof trucks. They cited the initial confusion witnessed after demonetisation andmore recently the introduction of GST.

“The Central Goods andServices Tax (Sixth Amendment) Rules, 2017, requiresevery person causing themovement of goods worthmore than �50,000 from oneState to the other to generatean eWay or electronic Waybill for each such movement,” said Rohit Chaturvedi, CEO, Transport Hub.

Though eway bill formsare easy and intuitive andcould be generated througha variety of platforms including a mobile app, SMS, webplatform and APIbased integration, multiple issues havebeen raised by the industry.

“There are several practical and operational problems that have not been addressed,” said AbhishekGupta, treasurer, BombayGoods Transport Association. “The transportation industry is predominantly ano�ine industry. Expectingthem to go online suddenlyis di�cult to cope with. Thegeneral feeling in the industry is that it will be impractical to roll out the eway billfrom February 1,” he said.

“At a recent meeting, 450members of the BGTA raised25 issues with GST o�cialswho did not have answersfor half of the issues,” Mr.Gupta said. “The government is adamant [on going

ahead] and the decision willadversely impact the industry even as it is coping [with]GST,” he added. Transporters fear that unintendedlapses on their part couldlead to the imposition of heavy penalties. Also, consignments could end up gettingstranded mid way due todrivers’ inability to pay the�ne at remote locations.

“Transporters and othertaxpayers will not be required to visit any tax o�ceor checkpost under this system and the eway bill can begenerated electronically,”said Prakash Kumar, CEO,Goods & Services Tax Network. The transporters canmanage subusers and allocate roles to them. Largetransporters can declaretheir various o�ces as subusers. There is provision forcancellation of an eway billwithin 24 hours by the person who generated the eWayBill. The recipient can alsoreject the eway bill within 72hours of generation. The validity of an eway bill is �xedas one day for every 100 kmor part thereof.

Slow moving cargoMovement of project cargoor heavy cargo, which takesmonths to reach the destination, could su�er as a resultof the eway bill rule thatmandates 100 km per day

movement. Such cargo generally does not travel morethan 20 km a day, transporters said. “We are expectingthe return of the InspectorRaj as the RTO and sales taxcheck posts are still there,”said Nitesh Bagadia, director,Premier Logistics, a leadingheavy lift project cargo �rm.“The eway bill will createdocumentation problemsand harassment citingnoncompliance.”

“In our type of business, ittakes a long time to transportheavy lift cargo due to logistics issues and requirementof multiple permissionswhile in transit. If, for somereason, the eway bill wouldlapse, it would invite penalty.” The government must issue a blanket order to o�cials not to harass truckdrivers in transit. If the driver has an eway bill then [it isclear] there is no intention tocheat,” Mr. Bagadia said.

Transporters have urgedthe government to ensure of�cials di�erentiate betweenerrors in the eway bill andintentional tax evasion.

“Eighty lakh trucks tran

sport goods across India,”said Ramesh Agarwal, chairman, Agarwal Packers &Movers. “It is not possible tomake everyone understandthe way the eway bill works.There will be errors and thegovernment will levy penalty. So we need a platformthat should address the errors and establish evasion.”

Plugging evasionM.S. Mani, senior director,Deloitte India, said while itwould have been ideal not tohave had an additional document in the form of an ewaybill, the government waskeen on introducing it in order to plug suspected evasion of GST.

“The lower revenue collections encountered duringthe past few months despitean enhancement of the taxpayer base could possibly bedue to the fact that some taxpayers are not paying the appropriate tax,” Mr. Mani said.

“While the eway bill existed in some States even earlier, the countrywide introduction across all sectors islikely to pose documentationand system challenges initially to smaller businesses,”he added. Low literacy levelsand poor technology awareness among a majority oftruck owners could alsocreate stumbling blocks.

“One major issue high

lighted by transporters is increased �nancial burden dueto �ling of eway bills,” saidMr. Chaturvedi of TransportHub. “A majority of the smalltransporters who are driverowners will �nd it di�cult togenerate eway bills as theprocess requires comfortwith using electronic medium such as apps,” Mr. Chaturvedi said. Seeking professional help would only costthem more, he added.

The stipulated time limitfor delivery of goods is alsocausing jitters.

In case of a breakdown inhilly areas or remote villageswith no mobile connectivity,the eway bill will not be easily updated. There is no clarity on the resolution of suchissues in the rules, he said.“There is lack of clarity onthe issue of vehicle detentionin the case of mispresentation of details such as priceof goods. The responsibilityshould lie with either theconsignee or the consignorwithout detaining the vehicle,” Mr Chaturvedi said.

Moreover, rules also givethe right to inspect the vehicles at random(138 B) whichincreases the chances of harassment by inspectors, transporters fear. Inspectorshave the right to unload theentire consignment to checkcompliance. There is no guidance provided for genuinerandomness as against “targeted” checks, industryplayers said.

However, the rules provide for redressal against anysuch harassment. Still, implementation would be thekey. “Going by historical antecedents, discretion leadsto harassment and corruption, and rules could havedone better by de�ning discretionary measures moretightly,” Mr. Chaturvedi said.

Pirojshaw Sarkari, CEOMahindra Logistics, said,“With just the eway billnumber, all transactions cannow be tracked and averagewaiting time for vehicles willnow reduce, as veri�cationprocesses will be online. Thecompulsory introduction ofeway bill may face initialglitches, but in the longterm, it will bene�t not onlythe logistics industry, but thecountry as a whole.”

Where intent overrides impactStrict enforcement of e-way bill rules, and lack of clarity, may cause disruption, warns industry

Lalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

Letter of the law: The e-way bill rules give the authorities the right to inspect vehicles atrandom. Transporters fear that this would increase the chances of harassment by inspectors.

<> If the driver has an

e-way bill then [it is

clear] there is no

intention to cheat

Nitesh Bagadia

Director, Premier Logistics

Private lender Federal Bank has been growing at more than20% in the last few quarters. Shyam Srinivasan, MD andCEO, said he believed reforms in the last 4-5 years are expect-ed to bear fruit in 2018 and growth momentum will pick upwith capital infusion in public sector banks and budgetaryproposals in the upcoming Budget.

What is the outlook for

banking in 2018?

n There is positivity in manyareas. Bigger geographieshave registered growth. Every trading day, the indicesregister a new high. Theseare indicators that systemically things are looking moreconducive for growth. However, higher oil prices arehaving a bearing on India.

But structural reforms over the last 45 years in Indiahave matured enough for action to commence, combined with capital coming into the banking system andreasonably elaborate resolution on bank credit, whichwould provide more risk appetite for larger public sectorbanks. In the last 45 years,large private sector bankslike us has become really formidable. On balance, theoutlook for 2018 looks a lotmore encouraging. Everything depends on the capitalthat comes in and the tone ofthe Budget. Bias seems to befocused around growth.

For a bank like Federal,when oil prices are good, it isgood for banking. The stability in the West Asia market isincreasing, which means remittances to India are increasing. When remittancesrise, Federal Bank bene�ts.

Can you elaborate on the

rise in remittances?

n If you see the remittances,we have 15% of India’s remittances; four years ago, wewere at 7%. So we have morethan doubled our share of remittances. Even if the remittance number were �at, weare gaining overall share.92% of our book is retail deposits. In December, wecrossed �100,000 crore indeposits. We are almost 1% ofIndia’s deposits (marketshare); 40% of it is from residents and nonresident deposits are grown and in threeyears it doubled. Its growingat 2022 per cent. Institutionally, we feel that we areequipped to face challenges.

We are one of the top �vebanks [in terms of the least]NPAs. There are very fewbanks with better creditdeposit ratio than us. If we takethe last 810 quarters, eachquarter we have grown morethan 20% and the quality ofcredit is good.

How has the merger of SBT

with its parent SBI helped

your bank?

n Certainly we got a goodshare. We want to dominateKerala. In this geography, wehave 1415% share of the market. Earlier it was SBT, SBI,Federal and others. Now itshas become SBI and Federal.SBI is still a giant, can’t ignore that. However, thismerger bene�ted us. Any in

tegration of any two institutions is a distraction forthem. We are well capitalisedwith good credit appetite.We are an organisation willing to get business. So we areable to get a good share inthis market.

Which are the major NPA

accounts of your bank?

n Thankfully, we don’t haveany big names in stressed assets. I don’t have any residual major cases.

From the second half of2018, some recovery willcome in. My view is that byMarch 2019, we will see someof these extremely largestressful cases �nd meaningful solutions. But public sector banks were facing disproportionate challenges in thelast few months.

Now [with IBC], peoplethink twice or thrice beforemaking any signi�cant default and the chance of default would come down fromthe scale at which it was happening. Towards the secondhalf of this year, recoverymomentum will gather.

Are bank mergers likely to

solve the NPA problem?

n To my mind, NPA and resolution is one and merger isanother. One is not a solution for the other. Conceptually ‘big’ is good and, conceptually again, ‘strong’ isgood. With size, you getscale, the ability to managethe right kind of talent, better utilisation of capital...

Banking in India is a capitalhungry business. Herecapital is not cheap andthere is a need for judicialuse of capital. Today investors are looking at 1518% return on equity. But somelarger public sector banksare yielding less than 10%.

Interest rate and in�ation

outlook for 2018?

n Interest rates may not goup too much nor will they

trend down. The government and RBI agree theydon’t want high in�ationaryenvironment. Rate cut willnot be there in the foreseeable future. I think it is �attishfor calender 2018.

In the FRDI Bill, do we need

to raise deposit insurance?

n It’s an overreaction to animaginary problem. FinanceMinister has clari�ed thatseveral times. Putting an inconvenience to the depositorwill not happen. There is adebate on whether equityholder or the depositorshould take the hit [if a bankfails]. But the Ministry had already clari�ed that. Depositinsurance is a commercialdecision. If insurance goesup, somebody has to pay thepremium. Once it goes up,the impact will only comeback to the customer.

What suggestions do you

have for the Budget?

n The government is likely tostrengthen the architectureof the resolution mechanism[of NPAs] so that clearanceshappen faster. In 201819,strong recovery may happen. With availability of goodcapital in abundance, bankscan lend; that can stimulatethe economy.

For a bank to generate money, it needs good growthand strong recovery. TheBudget is likely to stimulatethe economy by activatingrural economy and agriculture. We are still an agrarianeconomy. Opportunities areplenty but are not fully leveraged to create one crore jobsin a year.

INTERVIEW | SHYAM SRINIVASAN

‘Fresh capital, budget proposals to fuel economy’ Stability in West Asia is rising, which means remittances to India are increasing, says Federal Bank MD

Oommen A. Ninan

<> The upcoming

Budget is likely to

stimulate the

economy activating

agriculture

Achieving the target of allelectric vehicles by 2030 willneed a substantial pushfrom the government andthe private sector in terms ofsetting up the charging infrastructure, enablingcheaper availability of rawmaterials and incentivisingmidway measures such ashybrid vehicles.

What is the aim?

J Prime Minister NarendraModi to Transport MinisterNitin Gadkari and erstwhileEnergy Minister PiyushGoyal have all spoken aboutthe target to achieve an allelectric �eet of vehicles by2030, in line with the ongoing global push away fromthe internal combustionengine.

What steps have been

taken?

J Di�erent departmentsand ministries have steppedup their engagement withthe electric vehicle industry.Energy E�ciency ServicesLimited, a government �rm,has put in motion plans toprocure 10,000 evehiclesand has already given outtenders to the likes of TataMotors and M&M. EESLaims to lease these vehiclesout to government departments so as to replace theirexisting �eets of petrol anddiesel vehicles.

The Government also noti�ed the scheme for FasterAdoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) ElectricVehicles in India (FAME), asa part of its National ElectricMobility Mission Plan 2020.

The scheme has four focusareas: technology development, pilot project, charginginfrastructure and demandcreation. The scheme hasbeen extended till March 31,2018.

Is the infrastructure ready?

J There are several initiatives, by both the government and the private sector,to enhance the requiredcharging infrastructure. TheCentre has begun pilot projects in this regard, havingalready installed 25 chargingstations in Bengaluru, andplanning to expand this toother metros.

Last year, Fortum Indiainaugurated a 22 KW ACcharger on a pilot basis inDelhi, and the company saidit was looking to install up to160 charging stations over ayear in Delhi, Mumbai andBengaluru. The parent company Fortum Oyj also signedan agreement with governmentowned NBCC (India) tobring cloudbased backendinfrastructure for electricvehicles to India.

Reliance Energy also hassaid it planned to install 15charging stations across itsdistribution licence area in

Mumbai over the next threeyears. “The company is alsoworking on a thirdparty business model to providecharging station facilities forelectric twowheelers andfourwheelers in public places, parking plazas near highways, and o�ces and malls,”the company said. Tata Power has also installed twocharging stations inMumbai.

What are the roadblocks?

J There are several. The�rst is that very few globalcarmakers have broughttheir electric variants intoIndia. The fact that the government has also made adistinction between EVs andhybrid vehicles under theGST regime is seen as a problem. While EVs are to betaxed at 12%, hybrid vehiclesare taxed at 28% plus a 15%cess.

The view among carmakers is that people are stillsceptical about the shift toallelectric vehicles sincethey fear the charge duration of the batteries. Assuch, they are more likely totry hybrid vehicles, but thatsector is not being encouraged by the current taxstructure. The other issuehas to do with the chargingstations themselves.

While sector specialistssaid that EVs can be chargedat home using AC power,this would take about 58hours for a full charge. DCchargers, on the other hand,can do the same in a fractionof the time. Most of thechargers being installedacross the country, however,are AC chargers.

EXPLAINER CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

EVs: charging infrastructureneeds a jolt to meet 2030 targetTCA Sharad Raghavan

new delhi

*A

P

Risk is inbuilt in banking. If,one day, all the customers ofany bank turn up demanding their deposits, the bankwould be unable to repaythem. Banks don’t face a runon their deposits becausecustomers trust banks. Governments often bail outbanks, and don’t liquidatethem, because they supportthe business of banking.

The Financial Resolutionand Deposit Insurance(FRDI) Bill 2017 now pending before the joint committee of Parliament contains anew method for saving a failing bank — a ‘bailin’ of customers deposits instead of a‘bailout’ by thegovernment.

It sees no moral hazard inrecapitalising a bank withcustomers’ deposits whilethe owners of banks aregranted immunity by the ‘limited liability’ of a corporate identity. The bill aims at�nancial stability throughthe lens of an accountant.

The Resolution Corporation (RC), the proposed super regulator (the ReserveBank, SEBI and IRDAI wouldall report to the RC) and thegovernment are empoweredto use uninsured deposits ofcustomers to set o� banklosses. The bankrupt bankcarries on with its businessbut with ‘good’ assets andinsured deposits. Subsequently, the RC would bringin new management that infuses fresh capital by buyingthe equity of the now‘healthy’ bank!

The ‘bailin’ owes its origin to the 2008 bankruptcyof the ‘too big to fail’ Lehman Brothers that spookedcentral bankers in G7 countries. Lehman Brothers wasforced to �le for bankruptcydue to its inability to pay $3billion to its creditors.

This triggered a chainreaction among banks andinsurance �rms �nanciallyinterconnected with Lehman Brothers. As a consequence, the Financial Stability Board was set up and itproposed the ‘bailin’ as akey attribute to cope withbank failures wherein the

unsecured creditors is amarginal advantage since abank is not likely to have toomany unsecured creditorsother than customers.

Circa 2015, the o�cial administrator of LehmanBrothers was left with a surplus of roughly £7 billion inhand! In the end, no one suffered a loss; not even retailcustomers.

This raises a serious question on the raison d’être of‘bailin’. In 2008, if ‘bailin’had been law, customer deposits would have beenneedlessly appropriated. Itis equally disturbing that‘bailin’ may be triggered forreasons unrelated to banking.

In 2013, European creditors dictated a ‘bailin’ onthe Laiki Bank in Cyprus inaddition to other austeritymeasures and reforms as aprecondition to a €11billionbailout package by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Despite contentious credentials, ‘bailin’ is theshowstopper of the FRDIbill. If the ‘limited liability’clause can protect the personal wealth of corporateborrowers despite the hugeloans their bankrupt companies owe to public sectorbanks, the Centre must protect all retail customers fromthe ‘bailin’ clause.

Financial stability can beachieved by conservative,old fashioned banking instead of ‘bailin or bailout’.

(The writer is associateprofessor in Commerce, Un-iversity of Delhi)

price for ‘�nancial stability’is paid by the customer. Thegovernment argues that deposit insurance protects93% of the depositors whokeep up to �1 lakh in theirbank accounts. This is a halftruth. These depositors account for only 30% of totalbank deposits. Deposit insurance can never be adequateprotection for the remaining7% retired or aged customers who have depositedtheir life savings in a bank.

Stress test shockerIt is naive to believe that‘bailin’ shall never be applied. The unstable character of banking is highlightedin the routine stress testsconducted by the ReserveBank. According to the December 2017 Financial Stability Report, if customers of54 commercial banks in India were to withdraw 15% oftheir uninsured deposits, 18banks would fail to repay thedeposits of customers.

Similarly, if the top threeborrower groups of eachbank default, then six bankswould fail to maintain theirminimum capital requirement of 9%. In a severe economic downturn, one bankcan trigger failure of 18 outof the 54 banks only becauseof �nancial interconnectedness. The safeguards in application of a ‘bailin’ appearfragile.

It would be di�cult to categorise riskiness of a bank�uctuating rapidly amonglow, moderate, imminentand critical levels. Prioritising uninsured deposits over

GUEST COLUMN

Conservative banking,not bail-in, will bail us outDr. Meera Nangia

Look ma, no cash: Deposit insurance cannot adequatelyprotect life savings of aged customers. * GETTY IMAGES / ISTOCK


#3 3 1 0 0 7

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

The victory at the Wanderers will instil belief in ViratKohli and his men going intothe away series in Englandand Australia.

The batsmen displayedguts on a surface that wasparticularly nasty on thethird day. The manner inwhich Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and M. Vijay tookblows on the body but stillgot behind the line showcased their commitment.

It was as brave as theycome. This game is as muchabout heart as techniqueand South African openerDean Elgar, whose unbeaten86 here was an innings of

great character, will vouchfor this too.

He said, “The pitch wasextremely freaky. I’ve facedmany fast bowlers beforeand I know the Wandererswicket has steep bounce,but I have never experienced anything like this.On this pitch, even a goodleave or a block is sendingout a message to the bowlers”

And the Indian pacemenretained faith on day four.Once India got the breakthrough, Mohammed Shami& Co. ran through the SouthAfrica lineup.

Looking back, this was aseries that India could havewon had it played the bigmoments of the Tests atNewlands and Centurionbetter.

If the Indians bowled better at the South African lower order and tail — therewere too many deliveries onthe leg on a conducive pitch— in the �rst innings at Newlands, it could well havewon the �rst Test.

And then when Kohli’smagni�cent century virtually evened up the match afterthe �rst innings of bothsides at Centurion, India putdown catches when it hadSouth Africa on the mat.

And in both Tests, Indiacould not put together sizable partnerships on thechase. Rahane, who conjured a nugget in the secondinnings at Wanderers,should have played earlier.

India needs to get the selection of the eleven right,particularly on overseas

campaigns where everyplace counts.

Kohli marshalled histroops capably — his desireto win appears limitless —and batted with rare brilliance in di�cult conditions.He notched up more runsthan anybody else in thebowlerdominated series;286 from three Tests at47.66.

Importantly, Kohli hastightened his game aroundthe o�stump on seamingpitches.

Vijay’s battling innings atthe Wanderers — he almostbatted through the entire�rst session of the third daywith courage, focus andtechnique — should book hisplace for the England tour.

He continues to be theside’s No. 1 Test opener. K.L.

Rahul, who needs to playcloser to the body, is still thebest candidate to partner Vijay in away Tests.

Cheteshwar Pujara pulledhis weight in the �nal Testafter ‘running’ into troubleat Centurion. Hardik Pandyacan whip up moments ofbrilliance but needs to mature as an allrounder.

The Indian pace pack wasbusy headhunting. Bhuvneshwar Kumar — he shouldqualify as a genuine allrounder after his vital batting performances here —bowled beautifully, movingit both ways at good speed.

Shami had spells of inconsistency, but, when hefound his rhythm, �redthem in with pace and incision to scalp 15 batsmen inthe series.

Jasprit Bumrah hustledthose facing him with speedand lift and, if he worksmore on control, will addteeth to this lineup. IshantSharma bowled o�stumpline, extracted bounce andadded depth to the attack.

Bowling coach B. Arunhas done a wonderful jobwith the pacemen. And theslip catching improved asthe series progressed.

R. Ashwin impressed atCenturion, where the conditions suited his bowling, anddid appear a muchimproved spinner on overseaspitches even when he bowled at Newlands.

India fought, competedand then won at the Wanderers. Talk to the SouthAfricans here and they haverespect for Kohli’s side.

Wanderers turnaround will instil beliefThe series could well have gone India’s way had it played the key moments better

S. Dinakar

Johannesburg

Future-ready: The win at Johannesburg will stand India in good stead in upcoming tours. * AP

INDIA IN SA

Jaydev Unadkat emerged themost expensive Indianplayer while Chris Gaylefound a franchise after twicegoing unsold as the 2018 IPLauction drew to a close.

Unadkat was sold to Rajasthan Royals for �11.5 croreafter fevered bidding. Gayle,an icon of T20 cricket, wastwice snubbed by teams before being presented a thirdtime minutes from the end.Kings XI Punjab signed himfor his reserve price of �2crore. There was spontaneous applause in the auctionroom.

Australia’s Andrew Tyecost Punjab �7.2 crore whilethe uncapped Karnataka o�spinner K. Gowtham signedfor Rajasthan for a sum of�6.2 crore.

The fourth set of themorning featured cappedfast bowlers and there was atonce a scramble for theirservices. Only one out of 10went unsold — South Africa’sDale Steyn.

The pursuit of Unadkatwas predictable. The leftarm quick carved out a reputation as a �ne T20 bowler in

the IPL last year with his 24wickets — the second highest— at 13.41. The Saurashtrabowler was hugely e�ectivein the deathovers.

Chennai Super Kings andPunjab — both of whom badly needed fast bowlers atthat stage — went toetotoe,raising the paddle nonstoptill the former pulled out at�11 crore. Preity Zinta, Punjab’s coowner, thought shehad her player but Rajasthan, which had stood bywatching the action, leapt inwith a late winning bid.

A gifted o�spinner withthe ability to strike the balllong, Gowtham had foundhimself in hot water earlierthis season after skipping aDuleep Trophy game, butfranchises were happy tooverlook such matters. Rajasthan, Mumbai and Bangalore all sought his signaturebefore he was snapped up

by Royals for 31 times hisbase price of �20 lakh.

Rashid Khan had alreadyensured Afghan representation in the 2018 IPL on Saturday, and he was joined bythree compatriots on the second day of the auction.

The 16yearold o�spinner Mujeeb Zadran — whotied New Zealand in knots inthe U19 World Cup quarter�nals on Thursday — went toPunjab for �4 crore. The experienced Mohammed Nabirejoined Sunrisers for �1crore, while leftarm spinnerZahir Khan Pakteen, currently part of the Afghanu19 team, was bought by Rajasthan for �60 lakh.

M. Vijay and Parthiv Patelhad gone unsold on day one.They were signed up on Sunday. However, Hashim Amla,Lasith Malinga, Joe Root, Ishant Sharma, and Morne Morkel went unsold.

Gayle �nally gets a buyer; more joy for Afghanistan players

Shreedutta Chidananda

Bengaluru

Unadkat strikes it rich

V.V.S. Laxman may havestressed on the need for afull auction periodicallywith an option to retain thecore, but the IPL authoritiesare considering modi�cations to the system to helpthe teams maintaincontinuity.

“This time we had thisbig auction after four yearsbecause we had two suspended teams for (the last)two years. So we extendedthe player regulations byone year and had this auction,” said Hemang Amin,the IPL chief operatingo�cer.

“Going forward, thethinking is that we will nothave this mega auction butwill consider having a draftsystem for the new playerswhich acts as a feeder system for the teams. The IPLGC is already thinking alongthose lines... how to cutdown on the big auctionsand ensure continuity forthe teams.”

With the franchises starting to run out of the allottedpurse, a better part of thesecond day’s proceedings —just like the earlier big auctions — saw a majority of theplayers remaining unsold.Amin said they were tryingto address the issue.

“In the 2014 auction, wehad presented around 320players before going intothe accelerated biddingprocess. This time, we presented 170 out of whicharound 120 were sold. Ifyou compare it with 2014when 200 went unsold, itwas just 50 or 60 who wentunsold. On day one, 70 [78]out of 110 were sold.”

IPL o�cialsto downsizeauctions?

Amol Karhadkar

BENGALURU

The moment ChennaiSuper Kings bought LungiNgidi for �50 lakh, theinternet exploded.

It was, for those fond ofa pun or two, a gift fromgod. “Lungi dance start!”tweeted the o�cial CSKhandle while one userasked Ngidi if he couldbowl fast wearing a lungi.

‘On behalf of all lungibrands,’ another chortled,

‘we welcome Lungi’. The South African

bowler was quickly onboard.

Loving it“Just listened to the#LungiDance song loving italready,” he tweeted, to anoutpouring of appreciationfrom fans.

If his form in Chennai isanything like it was inCenturion, Ngidi couldbecome a cult �gure.

Loving #LungiDanceSpecial Correspondent

Bengaluru

India coach Ravi Shastri revealed he was taken abackwhen having a look at thepitch on fourth daymorning.

Speaking to The Hindu

here on Sunday, Shastri noted, “I was very surprised tosee the pitch so wet, although it was under covers,when I saw it on Saturdaymorning.”

Shastri added, “I don’tknow how that could havehappened. Then the SouthAfricans used the heavy roller to bind the surface. Itseemed to play better.”

The Indian coach has apoint. The cracks on the surface are more visible anddangerous when the pitch isdry.

The Indian team was veryunhappy with the extent ofmoisture on the surface onthe fourth morning since ithad rained in the earlyhours of the other days tooand the pitch, protected

well by covers, had beendry. It is learnt that a reportcould be sent to the BCCI inthis regard.

Shastri termed India’svictory at the Wanderersone of the country’s �nestaway wins.

“It’s right up there withthe best. Look at the conditions, the wicket, and whatwe were up against.

“Many laughed at uswhen we elected to bat on agreen pitch. But we had ourreasons. Then the way wefought. We played like theNo. 1 team in the world.”

Surprised to see thepitch so wet: ShastriS. Dinakar

Johannesburg

Ravi Shastri. * AP

Suresh Raina has been recalled for the threematchT20I series against SouthAfrica.

The Uttar Pradesh lefthander had played his lastmatch against England atBengaluru in February 2017and did not �gure in the next10 T20Is for the country.

The squad: Virat Kohli (Capt.),Rohit Sharma (vicecapt.),Shikhar Dhawan, K.L. Rahul,Suresh Raina, M.S. Dhoni (wk),Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya,Manish Pandey, Axar Patel,Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat,and Shardul Thakur.

The T20I schedule: Feb. 18:Johannesburg; Feb. 21: Centurion; Feb. 24: Cape Town.

Raina in T20 squadG. Viswanath

MUMBAI

Even as the Saurashtraplayers were training at theSaurashtra Cricket Association stadium in Rajkot fornext week’s Vijay HazareTrophy group stage, amember of the supportsta� kept a constant watchon television in the dressing room.

The moment the fourthbatch, featuring thecapped pace bowlers arrived, he alerted theplayers. The moment auctioneer Richard Madleycalled up player No. 150,the entire Saurashtra contingent rushed to the dressing room. For the next 10minutes, cheers andlaughter continued as Unadkat, the Saurashtra limitedovers captain, fetched�11.5 crore, the highest foran Indian in the auction.

“We all watched my auction together. After a while,it started getting a little toomuch... it felt good that somany teams were puttingfaith in me,” an elated Unadkat told The Hindu. “Iwas sure I would earn areasonable bid but the �nalprice was hard to believe. Iam con�dent I can repeatlast year’s performance.”

‘Hard tobelieve’

Amol Karhadkar

BENGALURU

Jaydev Unadkat.* FILE PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK

Talking shop: SRH mentor V.V.S. Laxman, RCB bowling coach Ashish Nehra and KXIP mentorVirender Sehwag after the auction. * PHOTO: K. MURALI KUMAR

Sandeep Lamichhane wasnot originally part of thelonglist of 1122 players whohad entered the IPL auction.

He was, however, later included among the 578players who eventually wentunder the hammer.

The 17yearold made history on Sunday when he became the �rst cricketer fromNepal to sign for an IPLteam.

Lamichhane was boughtby Delhi Daredevils, coachedby Ricky Ponting, for his

base price of �20 lakh. The legspinner �rst made

an impact at the U19 WorldCup in 2016, where heclaimed a hattrick in Nepal’sdefeat of Ireland.

Later that year, while taking part in the Hong KongT20 Blitz, he made a deepimpression on former Aus

tralia captain MichaelClarke, who invited the bowler to train under him andplay grade cricket in Sydney.

“He had a great U19World Cup. We called himfor a trial and we liked him.We went ahead and boughthim,” said Delhi DaredevilsCEO Hemant Dua.

He hoped the move wouldopen doors for more cricketers from Nepal.

“It’s very heartening,”Dua said. “What IPL hasdone for Afghanistan iscreate heroes. We’re happyfor Sandeep and Nepal.”

IPL’s Nepal connectionShreedutta chidananda

Bengaluru <> Lamichhane had a

great u-19 World

Cup. We called him

for a trial and we

liked him

Hemant Dua

CEO, Delhi Daredevils

Viswanathan Anand drewwith Shakhriyar Memedyarov to settle for the tied �fthplace before Magnus Carlsenoutwitted Anish Giri 1.50.5in the two �veminute blitztiebreak games to win theTata Steel chess tournamenthere on Sunday.

In the Challengers section, top seed Vidit Gujrathiwon the title and with it,gained the right to play inthe Masters section in 2019. 13th round results: Masters:Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Aze,

8.5) drew with ViswanathanAnand (8); B. Adhiban (3.5) lostto Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 8.5);Wei Yi (Chn, 5.5) drew with An

ish Giri (Ned, 9); Sergey Karjakin(Rus, 7.5) drew with MagnusCarlsen (Nor, 9); Wesley So(USA, 8) bt Hou Yifan (Chn, 2.5);

Fabiano Caruana (USA, 5) drewwith Peter Svidler (Rus, 6); Maxim Matlakov (Rus, 5) drew withGawain Jones (Eng, 5).

Challengers: Vidit Gujrathi (9)drew with Jorden van Foreest(7.5); D. Harika (5) drew withMichal Kransenkow (Pol, 5.5);

Dmitry Gordievsky (Rus, 7.5) btAnton Korobov (Ukr, 8); Matthias Bluebaum (Ger, 6.5) lostto Je�ery Xiong (USA, 7.5); Lucas van Foreest (5.5) bt Olga Girya (Rus, 3.5); Erwin L’Ami (Ned,6) drew with Aryan Tari (Nor, 6).

Carlsen wins; Anand tied �fthSports Bureau

WIJK AAN ZEE

Magnus Carlsen. * AFP


#3 3 1 0 0 7

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12225 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Human birth is a rare gift for here is a chance for the jivatmato know its true nature and its relationship with the Supreme Brahman. But the extent to which a jivatma is able torealise this during a particular birth is the result of the samskaras, good and bad, earned in one’s past lives. Krishnashows that the yogabhyasa attained by a jivatma is an invaluable asset that automatically propels him to consolidatehis spiritual wisdom, pointed out Sri M. V. Anantapadmanabhachariar in a discourse.

The case of Jadabharata typi�es this truth. As Bharata theking, he had practised renunciation and lived a life of extreme devotion to the Lord. But due to some reason, he hadslipped form his yoga and became attached to a deer at thetime of his death. Bharata is born a deer and leads a life ofisolation, indicating perhaps the previous life’s attainmentthat remains latent then. After this life, he is born as Jadabharata and is realised even from birth. This is how the case ofSabhari’s bhakti and moksha attainment can be explained.

She belonged to family of hunters and was not aware ofsastras or the ascetic’s way of life. But without any e�ort, shewas drawn into the company of Sage Matanga and his disciples and practised devotion to Rama of whom she had heardonly from the sage. Her patient wait for Rama’s visit to thehermitage is the yoga siddhi that makes her behold the Lordin person and attain moksha in His presence. The story ofDharma Vyadha in the Mahabharata also endorses this truththat one can reach a high level of awareness by striving toperfect one’s skills and duties whatever be his calling in life.Kalidasa says Parvati, who had been Sati Devi in her previous birth, is able to recall the jnana at the appropriatetime, without going through formal training.

FAITH

An invaluable asset3 Calm around midnight, it's

back to the park (9)

5 Caroline points out law to act

as a guardian (2,4,8)

6 Summarise fast bowler's

runup (5)

7 Hunter's mistake breaking a

bank (7)

8 Sign to assemble men inside

(6)

9 Approve to be part of drama —

to help is Royal duty (8,6)

16 Semicircular ring, stable man

has a ring (9)

17 End up covering low ground,

it's uncultivated (8)

19 Focus on annexing the peak,

force out the creature (7)

21 Denied increasing trade union

involvement in delay (7)

22 Old city's resurrected, like to

drink gin (6)

24 Wine, that's up or down? (5)

12 Ghastly child, learn to behave

properly (7)

13 Fancy hat on Paddy (7)

14 Admonition for cutting credit

will follow (5)

15 It's expensive town having

mobile convenience (8)

18 Hector — he gets into action,

covers a pit (8)

20 Returned smash, Ted goes for

a replay (5)

23 Not this one in metal plant (7)

25 Gas tank empty, no energy in

short (7)

26 Quick and silent incursion

during assault (5)

27 Cook writes his item on the

menu (5,4)

28 Many a choice between say

Jack and William (8)

29 War casualties said to be �xed

(6)

n DOWN

1 Drew picture, tense really (8)

2 Fruits trade picks up —

watermelon and pineapples

initially (7)

(set by Arden)

n ACROSS

1 Testify receiving regular help,

keep drug out (6)

4 A Greek letter — basically takes

one piece of jewellery (8)

10 Motor operated pawl, perhaps

(5,4)

11 Starts with cakes and rolls,

only baker to make St. John's

bread (5)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12226

HYDERABAD: Adam runs with agood chance in the Kakatiya Million (1,200m), the chief event ofthe races to be held on Monday.There will be no false rails.

1 ANMOL RATAN PLATE (Div. I),(1,400m), md. 3yo only, Cat. II

(Terms) — 1.20 p.m.: 1. AdamantAnd Rising (3) Naresh 55, 2. Barnabas (7) Akshay 55, 3. Darshish (2)Parmar 55, 4. Golden Fortune (9)Trevor 55, 5. Moka (6) Ajit 55, 6.Solo Winner (8) Nakhat 55, 7. Staridar (4) Suraj Narredu 55, 8.Madonna (1) Arshad 53.5 and 9.Stormy (5) Sai Kiran 53.5.1. STARIDAR, 2. BARNABAS,3. SOLO WINNER

2 BAILE LALITH PERSHAD ME-MORIAL PLATE (Div. I),

(1,100m), md. 3yo only, Cat. II(Terms) — 150: 1. Antwerp (5)Vikrant 55, 2. Evon Von Brando (3)I. Chisty 55, 3. Lazer Beam (6)Deep Shanker 55, 6. Net Profit (10)Parmar 55, 5. Loch Stella (1) C. P.Bopanna 53.5, 6. Nissiashton (2)Gaddam 53.5, 7. Noble Profession(7) Naresh 53.5, 8. Royal Faith (4)Akshay 53.5, 9. Sindhu (8) Ajeeth53.5 and 10. Yogya (9) Sai Kiran53.5.1. LAZER BEAM, 2. EVON VONBRANDO, 3. ROYAL FAITH

3 ANMOL RATAN PLATE (Div. II),(1,400m), md. 3yo only (Cat.

II) (Terms) — 220: 1. Aflatun (7) Arshad 55, 2. Brave Warrior (5)Rawal 55, 3. Durango (3) Trevor55, 4. Mark My Day (1) Akshay 55,5. Naucratis (8) Kuldeep 55, 6. Wil

low Glen (4) Parmar 55, 7. Alta Vita(2) Deepak 53.5 and 8. Nicola Tesla(6) Vikrant 53.5.1. ALTA VITA, 2. NAUCRATIS,

3. DURANGO

4 ADLER PLATE (2,400m), 4yo& over, rated 42 to 62 (Cat. II) —

255: 1. Limitation (1) Nakhat 60, 2.Euro Zone (4) Srinath 58, 3. Carolina Moon (5) Arshad 57.5, 4.Dahlois (2) Gopal 57.5, 5. Ice Crystal (6) C.P. Bopanna 55 and 6. Reunion (3) Akshay 52.5.1. DAHLOIS, 2. EURO ZONE

5 ORIGINAL VEL V. BALASUB-RAMANI MEMORIAL CUP

(1,600m), 4yo & over, rated 26 to46 (Cat. III) — 325: 1. Avantika (5)Sweeney 60, 2. Nautanki (9) Tograllu 60, 3. Valee Tiger (12) Akshay 59, 4. You Can I Can (4) Aneel58, 5. Lady Admiral (6) Naresh 56,6. Platinum Claasz (8) I. Chisty 56,7. San Vinto (3) Ajit 55.5, 8. SilverDollar (10) Dileep 55.5, 9. All StarGeneral (1) Ajeeth 53.5, 10. Escobar (2) Deepak 53.5, 11. Recumbentibus (11) Sai Kiran 53 and 12. Kohinoor Legend (7) Gaddam 52. 1. YOU CAN I CAN, 2. ESCOBAR,

3. PLATINUM CLAASZ

6 BAILE LALITH PERSHAD ME-MORIAL PLATE (Div. II),

(1,200m), md. 3yo only (Terms)— 355: 1. City Of Ayaansh (5)Ajeeth 55, 2. Guiding Force (4)Naresh 55, 3. Tiger Of The Sea (7)Trevor 55, 4. Jazz It Up (9) Arshad53.5, 5. Just Like That (3) Gaddam53.5, 6. La Mer (2) Akshay 53.5, 7.

Once More (8) Nakhat 53.5, 8.Southern State (1) Deepak 53.5 and9. Yogastha (6) Sai Kiran 53.5.

1. JAZZ IT UP, 2. ONCE MORE, 3.SOUTHERN STATE

7 KAKATIYA MILLION (1,200m),4yo & over (Terms) — 430: 1.

Adam (7) Trevor 56, 2. AmorousWhite (2) Akshay 56, 3. Chase TheDreams (6) Allan 56, 4. ExclusiveWind (3) Srinath 56, 5. Mr.Baahubali (1) Parmar 56, 6. LikeWise (5) Nakhat 54.5, 7. Rahuls Pet(4) I. Chisty 54.5 and 8. Time ForFun (8) Kunal 54.5.

1. ADAM, 2. AMOROUS WHITE, 3.CHASE YOUR DREAMS

8 HOVERCRAFT PLATE (1,100m),5yo & over, rated upto 30

(Cat. III) — 505: 1. Born To Do It(9) Akshay 62, 2. Divine Heights (7)Rawal 62, 3. Great Glory (3) Ajeeth62, 4. Vijays Delight (11) Gaddam62, 5. Carnival Express (4) Trevor61, 6. In Command (8) Vikrant 61,7. Avenida (2) Sai Kiran 60, 8.Sprint Legend (12) Kunal 60, 9. Rohini (6) Kiran Naidu 59.5, 10. Ryuzaki (13) Khurshad 54.5, 11. Hammer (14) Pawar 53, 12. Mastaani (5)Kuldeep 52.5, 13. Cashel (10) Gopal52 and 14. Yes Baby (1) Rohit 50.

1. BORN TO DO IT, 2. CARNIVAL EX-PRESS, 3. ROHINI

DAY’S BEST: STARIDAR

DOUBLE: LAZER BEAMALTA VITA

Jkt: 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8; Tr (i): 1, 2 & 3; (ii):3, 4 & 5; (iii): 6, 7 & 8; Tla: all races.

Adam for Kakatiya MillionIndia su�ered a heartbreaking loss to Belgium inpenalty shootout afterholding the World No. 3 to44 in regulation time inthe �nal of the FourNations Invitational hockeytournament’s second leghere on Sunday.

Heartbreakfor India

Press Trust of IndiaHamilton

Pakistan laid claim to beingthe best Twenty20 side inthe world here on Sundayafter beating New Zealandin the third T20.

The 18run victory gavePakistan a comefrombehind 21 series win that willsee it overtake New Zealand at the top of the rankings. The scores: Pakistan 181for six in 20 overs (Fakhar Zaman 46, Sarfraz Ahmed 29,Ish Sodhi two for 47, MitchellSantner two for 24) bt NewZealand 163 for six in 20 overs (Martin Guptill 59, RossTaylor 25, Shadab Khan twofor 19).

Pakistan ontop of theT20 worldAgence France PresseMount Maunganui

HYDERABAD: Mahateji, ridden bySweeney, won the GolcondaDerby Stakes, the feature event ofthe races held here on Sunday( Jan. 28). The winner is owned byM/s Rakesh R. Jhunjunwala, BerjisMinoo Desai and Ashok KumarGupta, and trained by SrinivasReddy.

1 ARISTOCRAT PLATE (1,400m),4yo & over, rated 42 to 62

(Cat. II): MOONDANCER (Trevor) 1,Phenomenal Cruise (Deepak) 2,Scooby Dooby Doo (Akshay) 3and Top Link (Kuldeep) 4. 33/4, 13/4 and hd. 1m 25.17s. �6 (w), 5, 6and 11 (p). FP: 14, SHP: 14, Q: 14,Tla: 57. Favourite: Moondancer.Owners: M/s Villoo PoonawallaRac. & Breed. Pvt. Ltd rep. by Dr.Cyrus S. Poonawalla and Mr. AdarC. Poonawalla, Mr. ThimmarajaYelamarthi & Mr. C. Krishna Kannaiah. Trainer: Satyanarayana.

2 DECCAN PRINCE PLATE(1,100m), (Cat. II), md. 3yo

only (Terms): TRUMP GIRL (Aneel)1, Meka’s (Akshay) 2, AmazingScript (I. Chisty) 3 and Drogan(Suraj Narredu) 4. 23/4, 11/4 and31/2. 1m 5.73s. �28 (w), 7, 9 and 7(p). FP: 331, SHP: 35, Q: 151, Tla:1,342. Favourite: Shiloh. Owner:Mr. Eswarachandra RajagopalTripuraneni. Trainer: R.H. Sequeira.

3 SQUANDERER PLATE (1,600m),4yo & over, rated 58 to 78: SU-

PREMO (Arshad) 1, Prince Caspian(Nakhat) 2, Batur (Deepak) 3 andDestined Dynamite (SurajNarredu) 4. 23/4, hd and 1. 1m38.83s. �30 (w), 7, 8 and 8 (p), FP:183, SHP: 20, Q: 90, Tla: 930, Favourite: Destined Dynamite. Owners: M/s Rajesh Shaghani, KeerthiNarasimhachar, P.A. Raju and E.Anoop Kumar Reddy. Trainer:L.D’Silva.

4 PEDDAPALLI PLATE (1,200m),4yo & over, rated 42 to 62

(Cat. II): DANCE OH DANCE(Sweeney) 1, That’s My Class (Akshay) 2, Kireeti (Aneel) 3 andHighly Acclaimed (Trevor) 4. Notrun: Starlight and Warrior Supreme. 1/2, 61/4 and 1/2. 1m11.26s. �11 (w), 5, 5 and 14 (p). FP:33, SHP: 13, Q: 17, Tla: 410, Favourite: Highly Acclaimed. Owner: Mr.S. Pathy. Trainer: Laxman.

5 STORM TROOPER PLATE(1,600m), 4yo & over, rated

upto 30 (Cat. III): HANDSOME BOY(Pawar) 1, Charlie Brown (SurajNarredu) 2, Mountain Of Light(Parmar) 3 and Novaturient (SaiKiran) 4. 11/4, nk and 13/4. 1m41.31s. �64 (w), 17, 8 and 10 (p),FP: 445, SHP: 20, Q: 193, Tla:3,556. Favourite: Charlie Brown.Owners: M/s Zaveri Stud FarmPvt. Ltd. rep. by Mr. ChampakilalZaveri, Mrs. Bindu C. Zaveri, MissHarsha N. Desai and Miss Niti N.Desai. Trainer: Deshmukh.

9 GOLCONDA DERBY STAKES(2,400m), 4yo only (Terms):

MAHATEJI (MULTIDEMENSIONAL-BLUE SKY) SWEENEY 1,

AIR STRIKE (Burden Of ProofCrown Princess) Srinath 2,

NICARAGUA (Midnight InterludeGolden Bright) Sandesh 3,

ROMANTIC STAR (MultidemensionalMoonlight Romance) Allan4.

1, 3/4 and nk 2m 31.11s. �21 (w), 8,17 and 19 (p), FP: 479, SHP: 77, Q:231, Tla: 3,969. Favourite:Shaman. Owners: M/s. Rakesh R.Jhunjunwala, Berjis Minoo Desaiand Ashok Kumar Gupta. Trainer:Srinivas Reddy.

1 0RACE CLUB PLATE (1,100m), 4yo & over, rated upto 25 (Cat.

III): ROYAL GIFT (Kunal) 1, Sefarina (Deepak) 2, Cashel (Nakhat) 3and Conroy (Koushik) 4. 51/2, shdand 11/2. 1m 7.46s. �77 (w), 16, 34and 12 (p). FP: 5,386, SHP: 140, Q:2,635, Tla: 72,387. Favourite: Big.Owners: Mr. Gudur NarayanReddy, Mr. P.S. Reddy, Mr. K.S.N.Murthy and Mr. Shailendra Singh.Trainer: Prasad.

Treble: (i): �790 (53 tkts); (ii):�1,261 (43 tkts); (iii): �3,776 (33tkts).

Consolation jackpot: (i): �606(289 tkts); (ii): �438 (1,112 tkts).

Jackpot: (i): �45,471 (nine tkts);(ii): �66,922 (17 tkts).

6 SECRETARIAT CUP (1,200m),4yo & over, rated 74 & above

(Cat. I): DREAM CATCHER (SurajNarredu) 1, Ambitious Approach(Akshay) 2, King Of Pop (Nakhat) 3and Paprika (I. Chisty) 4. 13/4, 11/4 and 1/2. 1m 11.23s. �8 (w), 6, 6and 7 (p). FP: 20, SHP: 18, Q: 15,Tla: 63. Favourite: DreamCatcher. Owner: Mr. ChitturiKrishna Kannaiah. Trainer:Satyanarayana.

7 SIKANDER-E-AZAM PLATE(1,200m), 4yo & over, rated

26 to 46 (Cat. III): MOZAMBIQUE(Neeraj) 1, Sarvatra (Nakhat) 2,Good Opinion (Suraj Narredu) 3and Indian Aristocrat (Deepak) 4.11/2, shd and 11/4. 1m 12.64s. �17(w), 8, 8 and 8 (p). FP: 133, SHP:24, Q: 86, Tla: 650. Favourite:Mozambique. Owners: M/s. FiveStars Shipping Co. Pvt. Ltd. rep.by Mr. and Mrs. K.N. Dhunjibhoy,Mr. Z.K. Dhunjibhoy and Mr. Berjis Minoo Desai. Trainer: Laxman.

8 ARTISTIC TRIBUTE PLATE(1,400m), 5yo & over, rated

26 to 46 (Cat. III): SUNDAY CARNI-VAL (Akshay) 1, Indian Dreams(Ajeeth) 2, Man Of The Series(Pawar) 3 and Market Leader (C.P.Bopanna) 23/4, 13/4 and shd. 1m26.57s. �18 (w), 7, 7 and 31 (p). FP:77, SHP: 20, Q: 34, Tla: 1,820. Favourite: Indian Dreams. Owners:M/s. Munawar Hussain and MirzaAyub Baig. Trainer: Faisal Hassan.

RACING

Mahateji wins Golconda Derby Stakes

Leander Paes and JamesCerretani of the USA defeated Treat Huey of the Philippines and Denis Kudla ofthe USA 64, 75 in the doubles �nal of the $150,000Challenger on Saturday. The results: $150,000 Chal-lenger, Newport Beach: Fi-nal: James Cerretani (USA) &Leander Paes bt Treat Huey(Phi) & Denis Kudla (USA)64, 75.

Paes winsChallengerSports BureauNewport Beach

Gokulam Kerala FC playeddelightful football andscored three beautiful goalsto stun Lajong Shillong onSunday.

Its fans, after watchingthe 32 win over the Meghalaya side at the CorporationStadium, would havewished the team had playedlike that slightly earlier inthe ILeague.

It was the hosts’ �nest

hour after making the ILeague debut a couple ofmonths ago, having startedthe match as the bottomplaced team. In fact, its �rstmatch was against Lajong,which it lost 01 at Shillong.

The revenge certainlywould have tasted sweet, asGokulam came from behindtwice to script a memorablevictory.

The result: Gokulam Kerala FC3 (Mahmood AlAjmi 52, KiviZhimomi 74, Arjun Jayaraj 90)bt Lajong Shillong 2 (Abdoulaye Ko� 25, Oh Juho 53).

Gokulam stuns LajongFor its maiden home victory

I-LEAGUE

P.K. Ajith KumarKOZHIKODE

Sweet revenge: Mahmmod AlAjmi scored Gokulam KeralaFC’s equaliser before the hosts posted their maiden win at home. * K. RAGESH

Five victorious Indians — P.Hari Krishna, Shardul Gagare, Abhjijeet Gupta, Sandipan Chanda and S.L. Narayanan — moved into thejoint fourth place at fourpoints after �ve rounds ofthe Tradewise GibraltarMasters chess on Saturday.

Third seed Hikaru Nakamura (USA) maintainedhis allwin record to leadwith �ve points, halfapoint ahead of Mikhail Antipov (Russia) and DavidHowell (England).

Five share fourth spotSports BureauGIBRALTAR

England �nished its testingtour of Australia on a highon Sunday with a thrilling12run win in the �fth and�nal ODI in Perth.

Despite resting ChrisWoakes and Mark Wood,and having Jake Ball struggling with illness, the tourists managed to defendtheir total.

Young seamer Tom Curran was the matchwinnerwith �ve wickets as Australia was dismissed for 247with 10 balls remaining.The scores: England 259 in47.4 overs (Joe Root 62, Jonny Bairstow 44, Jason Roy 49,Andrew Tye �ve for 46) btAustralia 247 in 48.2 overs(Marcus Stoinis 87, Tom Curran �ve for 35, Moeen Alithree for 55).

Tom Curranon �re

Agence France-PressePerth

Even as an abashed PradeepSangwan walked up to receive the Syed Mushtaq AliT20 Trophy at the Eden Gardens, the rest of Delhi sidewas grinning wildly on theside, hanging on to his everyword.

Most of the faces therewere 20year olds, winningtheir �rst domestic title.None, barring GautamGambhir, had been aroundwhen Delhi last reached the�nal a decade ago.

A day later, the state women replicated the successto end what has been a fruitful season for DDCA after along time on a high. Eventhough the Vijay Hazare oneday competition is yet to beheld, Delhi cricket can rightfully claim to be on the righttrack in terms of results.

Consider this: Delhi wascrowed the T20 champion inboth men and women, wonthe Under23 men’s title, became women’s zonal champion in both Under16 andUnder19 categories, �nishedrunnerup in the women’soneday competition,topped by reaching the �nalof the Ranji Trophy.

The victories across agegroups and genders provedthat the achievements wereno �uke. And while the talent was always there, itneeded a direction for whichthe Cricket Advisory Committee, Justice Vikramjit Senand the selectors deserveequal praise.

It isn’t often that Delhicricket makes news for theright reasons. For long considered among the mostopaque and mismanaged af�liates of the BCCI, theDDCA was a mystery formost. It produced some ofthe best talents in Indian andworld cricket, supplied both

batsmen and bowlers consistently for the national sideand yet had horror tales ofhow nothing went right forthe game in the city.

The 201718 season wasdi�erent. While the administration of the association hadbeen handled by a courtappointed judicial o�cer ( Justice Mukul Mudgal) for sometime now, his replacementJustice Sen brought in people in the know to delegateresponsibility, forming theCAC. It began with changingcaptains without droppingthe previousarmbandholders.

“You have several formercaptains in your side, how

did that go,” was a legitimatewonder from Amol Mazumdar to Sangwan after winning. After all, ego issues hadbeen the bane of Delhi cricket even without captaincystruggles. With it, it was atinderbox.

But the latter, givencharge for the T20s in placeof Rishabh Pant, was the seniormost in the side afterGambhir but acknowledgedhis predecessors who included, besides Pant and Gambhir, Unmukt Chand also. Ishant Sharma had beencaptain for the �rst few RanjiTrophy games.

Despite the constantchanges and chopping, ho

wever, the core of the teamwas largely retained. FormerIndia pacer Manoj Prabhakar played a huge role inguiding Ishant as Delhi hadone of its best opening to thedomestic season this year.This, despite being forced toplay two of its home gamesaway at Palam because of international �xtures.

The CAC played its part toensure the teams selectedhad, by and large, legitimateclaimants to the spots. WhilePant’s removal as skipperwas questioned, Sangwan,backed by coach K.P. Bhaskar, proved himself with hisperformance, includingpicking up the Man of theMatch in the �nal.

Youngsters Hiten Dalaland Himmat Singh oscillatedbetween the Under23 andthe senior side across formats but passed every test.Unmukt Chand was hardlyplayed in the longer format,dropped for zonal T20s andbrought back for two gamesin the superleague, topscoring in the �nal.

Bhaskar’s focus on raisingthe bench strength andsome excellent work by thestate selectors ensured Delhidid not lose direction.

All of this was, in a way,held together by the onlyvestige of the team, its link toa onceglorious past —Gambhir. There were discipline issues, leadershipsquestions but amidst it all,Gambhir, the team’s topscorer this season at 36, notonly proved he had the gameat this level but also supported the younger lot.

DDCA is a strong contender to win the best association award for this season. Itwould be the perfect culmination to a dream season ifthat happens. Even withoutit, Delhi cricket has provedits worth.

Delhi cricket rises again The team’s performances and results this season have been outstanding

Uthra GanesanNEW DELHI

Old warhorse: Gautam Gambhir, the team’s top scorer thisseason, not only proved his worth, but also supported theyounger lot. * PRASHANT NAKWE

London Olympics bronzemedallist and �vetime WorldChampion Mary Kom enlivened the proceedings onthe opening day of the Spicejet India Open internationalboxing championship by recording a convincing 50 victory over compatriot VarshaChoudhary in the women’s48kg category on Sunday.

In the men’s 69 kg section,Commonwealth Games goldmedallist Manoj Kumar

moved into the quarter�nalswith a robust performanceagainst Kimathi Jacob of Kenya, winning a unanimous50 verdict from the judges.

In the women’s 51kg category, Meena Kumari beatcompatriot Shivinder Kaur toreach the semi�nals and ensure a medal. She will �ghtanother Indian Jamuna Borowho had a bye into the semi�nals.

From the bottom half,Manisha beat Machai Bunyanut of Thailand to set up a

semi�nal against BimalaShrestha of Nepal whose�ght against Farida Samievaof Tajikistan had to bestopped by the referee.

In the women’s 51kg section, Nikhat Zareen and PinkiRani reached the quarter�nals to join Sarjubala Deviand Ritu, who had byes.

Overall, it was an encouraging start for the host asmany of the Indian boxers,being �elded in nine teams inall in the men’s and women’sevents, progressed.

Good start for Indian boxersKamesh SrinivasanNEW DELHI

MUMBAI: The Bombay HighCourt recently refused togrant relief to cricketer Hiken Shah and rejected hisplea to reduce his �veyearsuspension from playing orrepresenting cricket in anyform after he was foundguilty of corruption.

The bench said it dismissed the petition “in orderto maintain the higheststandards of ethics and fairplay in cricket in line withBCCI’s zero tolerance policy in matters pertaining toany form of corruption insports, ”

No relief forHiken Shah


#3 3 1 0 0 7

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

Jamshedpur FC returned towinning ways, downing defending champion ATK by asecond half penalty, in thelatter’s home here at the SaltLake Stadium on Sunday.Trindade Goncalves scoredthe winner.

The �rst half was a tamea�air with Jamshedpur trying some shots initiallywhile the host made a fewattempts towards the end ofthe action.

Jamshedpur had the �rstopportunity in the 12th minute when Trindade had ago from outside the box butmissed narrowly. The visitoragain came close at the halfhour mark when forwardIzu Azuka cut inside the ATKbox from the left before hisattempt missed its mark.

The host had its �rst goodchance in the 40th minutewhen Martin Patterson attempted a direct shot from

David Cotterill’s corner butthe ball went straight to theJFC custodian Subrata Paul.Next it was Robin Singh forATK but the forward failedto connect with his headerwhen Jayesh Rane had located him unmarked.

JFC doubled the initiativeafter the change of ends asthe host somehow lost themomentum it had gained towards the end of the �rsthalf. The visitor had at leasttwo chances to secure thelead but failed to convertTrindade could not producethe desired �nish.

The closest was in the56th minute when Azukacurled a cross inside the boxand Trindade failed to convert a header from a handshaking distance. The goal�nally materialised in the66th when the Brazilian wastripped inside the box byATK mid�elder Hitesh Sharma for the penalty.The result: ATK 0 lost to Jam-shedpur FC 1 (Trindade Gon-calves 66-pen).

Jamshedpur back towinning ways

ISLAmitabha Das Sharma

KOLKATA

Napoli vaulted back to thetop of the Serie A standingsafter a comefrombehindwin over Bologna on Sunday. Rodrigo Palacio put thevisitors ahead in the very�rst minute but an own goalfrom Mbaye four minutes later and a brace by DriesMertens either side of thehalftime break ensured fullpoints for the hosts.

Juventus brie�y went ontop after Sami Khedira andGonzalo Higuain scored in a20 win at nineman Chievoon Saturday.

The results: Serie A: Sassuolo0 lost to Atalanta 3 (A. Masiel-lo 30, Christante 83, Freuler86); Chievo 0 lost to Juventus2 (Khedira 67, Higuain 88);

SPAL 1 (Paloschi 90) drew withInter Milan 1 (Vicari 48-og);Napoli 3 (Mbaye 5-og, Mertens37-pen, 59) bt Bologna 1 (Pala-cio 1); Torino 3 (Falqus 3, Niang40, Obi 45) bt Benevento 0;Crotone 1 (Trotta 29-pen)drew with Cagliari 1 (Cigarini45+7); Genoa 0 lost to Udinese1 (Behrami 61); Fiorentina 1(Dias 53) lost to Verona 4 (Vu-kovic 11, Kean 20, 46, Ferrari55).

La Liga: Malaga 0 drew withGirona 0; Villarreal 4 (VictorRuiz 5, Fornals 17, Bacca 20,Castillejo Azuaga 34) bt RealSociedad 2 (Llorente 24, Wil-lian Joss 58); Leganes 3 (MarioHermoso 10-og, 82-og, Guer-rero 69) bt Espanyol 2 (MarcNavarro 49, Mario Hermoso88); Atletico Madrid 3 (Griez-mann 61, Torres 73, Thomas88) bt Las Palmas 0.

Bundesliga: Bayer Leverkusen2 (Bailey 48, Wendell 68-pen)bt Mainz 0.

Napoli tops Serie A EURO LEAGUES


Milan

Saina Nehwal su�ered herseventh straight defeat toWorld No. 1 and old nemesis Tai Tzu Ying, goingdown in the summit clashof the $350,000 IndonesiaMasters badminton onSunday.

Playing the �nal of an international tournament after a year, Saina, who iscoming back from an ankleinjury, failed to lift hergame against Tzu and lost219, 2113 in just 27minutes.

Tzu has now defeatedthe Indian nine times intheir last 10 meetings.

The World No. 12 was nomatch for Tzu, who displayed supreme agility.

Tzu beatsSaina again


Jakarta

A tearful Roger Federersurged home to beat MarinCilic in �ve riveting sets andwin his sixth AustralianOpen and 20th Grand Slamtitle in Melbourne onSunday.

The Swiss defendingchampion dropped his onlysets of the tournament before completing a 62, 67(5),63, 36, 61 win over thesixthseeded Croatian in 3hr3min.

Federer, playing in his30th Grand Slam �nal,joined Novak Djokovic andAustralian great Roy Emerson as joint top for the mostAustralian Open men’s titles.

“I’m so happy it’s unbelievable. This is a dreamcome true, the fairytale continues for me,” Federer saidat the presentation.

“After the great year lastyear, it’s incredible,” the 36yearold added as he brokedown in tears.

“This is what you live for,to one day experience thesemoments.

“This one tonight reminded me more of 2006 herewhen I beat Marcos Baghdatis in the �nal and had a greatrun to the �nal and was ahuge favourite going in,” helater explained.

Imposing recordFederer added to his alreadyimposing winloss record inMelbourne and is now 9413.His overall his Grand Slammark stands at 33252.

Despite his latest triumph,he will remain world No. 2behind Nadal, with Cilicmoving to a careerhighthree.

The roof was closed overRod Laver Arena as the tour

nament’s heat policy was implemented amid enervatingevening temperatures of 38Celsius.

Federer broke Cilic’s servesix times and lost his twiceand hit a total of 24 aces tothe Croat’s 16.

Cilic’s serve came underimmediate pressure with awhipping backhand returnwinner for break pointwhich the Croatian followedwith a smash into the net fora break in the opening game.

The Croat found it di�cultto settle as he dropped serveagain to trail 03.

The Swiss star served outthe set in just 24 minutes,capitalising on Cilic’s shakyopening.

Cilic worked his way backinto the match and in the second set tiebreaker he got totwo set points when his forehand clipped the line beforea winning smash levelled thematch as Federer droppedhis �rst set of thetournament.

But the six seed lost serveon the back of a couple ofground stroke errors and Federer raced 42 up in thethird set.

The defending championshifted gears with a stunningforehand o� his toes andcon�dently held serve to

lead 52 before clinicallyserving out the set in 29minutes.

Cilic was then broken inthe opening game of thefourth set with a poor backhand dropshot into the net,but he broke back in thesixth game after workingthree break points.

He was now more in the�ow and broke Federer againwith his big forehands starting to �nd their mark. Heserved it out to take the absorbing �nal into a �fth.

But Federer stayedcalm and cruciallybroke to 20, andthen got a vitaldouble breakwhen Cilic netteda forehand, leaving him to serve outfor thechampionship.

Advantage lostRohan Bopanna and hisHungarian partner TimeaBabos frittered away a oneset advantage, going down toMate Pavic and Gabriela Dabrowski in the mixed doubles �nal on Sunday.

Ageless Federer creates history againOutlasts Cilic in �ve tough sets for his sixth Australian Open crown and Slam No. 20


Melbourne

<> This is what you live

for, to one day

experience these

moments.

A fairytale: Roger Federer breaks down at the presentationas he acknowledges what the win means to him.

* MARK KOLBE/GETTY IMAGES

Men: 2-Roger Federer (Sui) bt6-Marin Cilic (Cro) 6-2, 6-7(5),6-3, 3-6, 6-1.Mixed doubles: 8-GabrielaDabrowski (Can) & Mate Pavic(Cro) bt 5-Timea Babos (Hun) &Rohan Bopanna 2-6, 6-4,[11-9].

THE RESULTS

Mumbai City came frombehind to pull o� a hardfought 43 win over 10manFC Goa in a thrilling matchof the Hero Indian SuperLeague (ISL) at Nehru Stadium, here on Sunday.

Mumbai City, down 12at half time, scored threegoals in a thrilling secondhalf after Goa was reducedto 10 men in the 48thminute.

The win takes MumbaiCity to �fth place with 17points from 12 matches,while FC Goa remained infourth place with 19 pointsfrom 11 matches.

This is Mumbai City’s�rst win in the new year.

The result: FC Goa 3 (FerranCorominas 34, 78, Bruno45+1) lost to Mumbai City 4(Thiago 36, 70, Emana 54-p,Balwant Singh 86).

Mumbai Citydowns 10-manFC Goa

Press trust of india

Margao


#3 3 1 0 0 7

CMYK

A ND-NDE

LIFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

French climber saved onPak. ‘killer mountain’ ISLAMABAD

Volunteers were able to

rescue a French climber from

a Himalayan peak but called

off efforts to retrieve a Polish

climber, Tomek Mackiewicz,

who was declared deceased, a

Pakistani official said on

Sunday. The team rescued

Elisabeth Revol in a daring

highaltitude rescue mission

on Nanga Parbat, nicknamed

“killer mountain’’.AFP

Jay-Z leads Grammys’ list of nomineesNEW YORK

JayZ, who once boycotted

the Grammy Awards for being

biased against hiphop, was

hailed on Saturday by the

music industry’s power

brokers ahead of the latest

awards on Sunday, where he

is in the running for eight

awards, including for his

album 4:44. AFP

The need to recognise theimportance of education intriggering a country’sgrowth was the focus of asession featuring economistSurjit Bhalla, entrepreneurand chairperson of IIMBangalore Kiran MazumdarShah and former PlanningCommission member ArunMaira on the penultimateday of the Jaipur LiteratureFestival.

“Education is a dominantin�uence in the growth, individual incomes and fortunesand misfortunes of a country,” Mr. Bhalla said duringthe discussion centredaround his book, The NewWealth of Nations, a title thatreferences Adam Smith’swellknown work. If landwas thought to be the mainwealthcreating asset inSmith’s time, education isthe new wealth of a nation,

he said. Developing countries have transformed in thepast 40 years only becauseof the spread of education.Mr. Bhalla claimed that therecognition, and documentation, of how educationhelps to increase one’s income came only as late as inthe 1960s with economistGary Becker.

Mr. Bhalla’s book contends that there is a corelation between the percentage

of poor with illiteracy rate inthe country, that educationhas allowed for the rise of anew meritoriented elite inIndia, as well as empoweredwomen.

Slams quota in educationMr. Bhalla, however, criticised the quotabased education system. “Part of our problem in education isreservations,” he said, turning to journalist Rajdeep Sar

desai’s comment that crickethad �ourished in India onlybecause it didn’t have a quota system to make his point.Agreeing with him, Ms. Shawsaid that if the country hasthe right to education as apolicy, everyone should beable to enter no matter what.

Ms. Shaw was also criticalof policy decisions on education. The focus, she emphasised, should be on creatingnew knowledge clusters, andon research and innovation.

Ms. Shaw pointed out thatonly 0.69% of the GDP isspent on scienti�c research.“It’s the lowest in BRICS andASEAN countries. If Indiawants to move the needle, itwill need to double or treblethis. Only researchbasededucation model will createwealth,” she said.

These knowledge centres,she believes, need to becreated around centres of excellence.

‘Education is wealth of nation’Session on the penultimate day of Jaipur Lit Festival focusses on literacy’s link to growth

Elizabeth Kuruvilla

Jaipur

Learning to learn: Kiran MazumdarShaw and Surjit Bhalla atthe Jaipur Literature Festival on Sunday. * ROHIT JAIN PARAS

A cosmic event not seen in36 years — a rare “superblood blue moon” — may beglimpsed January 31 in partsof western North America,Asia, the Middle East, Russiaand Australia. The event iscausing a buzz because itcombines three unusual lunar events — an extra big super moon, a blue moon and atotal lunar eclipse.

A blue moon refers to thesecond full moon in amonth. Typically, a bluemoon happens every twoyears and eight months. Thisfull moon is also the third in

a series of “supermoons,”which happen when themoon is closest to Earth in itsorbit.

This point, called the peri

gee, makes the moon appear14% larger and 30% brighter.During the eclipse, the moonwill glide into Earth’s shadow, gradually turning thewhite disk of light to orangeor red.

The alignment of the sun,moon and Earth will last onehour and 16 minutes, visiblebefore dawn across the western U.S. and Canada. Thosein the Middle East, Asia, eastern Russia, Australia andNew Zealand should look forit in the evening, as themoon rises. Unlike a solareclipse, this lunar eclipsecan be safely viewed withoutprotective eyewear.

The cosmic event will be witnessed after a gap of 36 years

Agence France-PressE

Miami

The lunar eclipse can besafely viewed without aprotective eyewear. * REUTERS

Watch rare ‘super bloodblue moon’ on January 31

Your grandmother’s insistence that you receivemore bug bites becauseyou are ‘sweeter’ may notbe that farfetched as a study claims that mosquitoescan rapidly learn and remember the smells ofhosts.

Mosquitoes can rapidlylearn and remember thesmells of hosts, it suggests.Dopamine is a key mediator of this process.

Hosts who swat at mosquitoes or perform otherdefensive behaviours maybe abandoned, no matterhow sweet they are, according to the study published in Current Biology.

Mosquitoescan recallhosts’ smells


New York

A new thermal spray coatingtechnology used for gas turbine engine in spacecraft developed by a Rajasthanbased researcher has caughtthe attention of a NASAscientist, an o�cial said.

Expressing his interest inthe research, James L. Smialek, a scientist from NASAwrote to Dr. Satish Tailor after it was published in thejournal Ceramics Interna-tional and Thermal SprayBulletin, said S.C. Modi, thechairman of a Jodhpurbased Metallizing Equipment Company (MEC).

Coste�ectiveWhile working at MEC as achief scientist, Research andDevelopment, Dr. Tailor developed the controlled seg

mented YttriaStabilised Zirconia (YSZ)Plasma sprayedcoating technology, whichaccording to him could reduce the thermal spray coating cost by almost 50%.

“In simple language, vertical cracks (segmentation)in the coating are bene�cialfor gas turbine engine application used in spacecraft,”Dr. Tailor said.

“At present, researchersare developing such cracksthrough very expensive processes (in several crore) andcracks are generated duringthe coating deposition process, and crack generation isnot controllable,” he said.

Dr. Tailor said he hasshared his research paperswith the NASA scientist whohad written him an email regarding this. Scientists working at the country’s leading

research organisations — theCouncil of Scienti�c and Industrial Research (CSIR) andDefence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) —are equally impressed withthe new technology.

Dr. R.M. Mohanty, thechief scientist at the CSIRheadquarters in New Delhi,said that indeed the outcome of the reported R&Dpresents an inexpensive solution for superior survivalof current YSZ thermal barrier coatings produced by atmospheric plasma sprayed(APS) technique, and has apotential of wider industrial/strategic acceptability.

DRDO scientist Dr. R.K.Satpathy said if it can be industrially adopted to make astraintolerant coating thenit will de�nitely be moreeconomical.

NASA keen on India-madetechnology for spacecraftSatish Tailor’s thermal spray coating useful for gas turbine engine


Jaipur

Bangladesh started work onSunday on an “anger management park” in the capitalDhaka which the Mayor saidwould help the 15 million inhabitants cope with risingdaily stress.

Tra�c jams which keepcommuters imprisoned intheir cars for up to �ve hoursa day, noise and dust pollution, rainy season chaos andpetty crime are daily complaints.

Sayeed Khokon, Mayor ofthe southern half of the giantcity, hopes the $7 million 38acre park near the main go

vernment o�ces will easethe stress.

The Goswa Nibaroni (anger management) Park is expected to take 1214 monthsto complete and will feature

a lake, snack corners, relaxing music and giantscreentelevisions.

Drawing on traditionThe concept comes from anancient Bangladeshi tradition in which villages had an“anger hut” on the nearestriverbank for angry peopleto calm down, the mayorsaid. “Such ideas have longgone. Urban life can be verystressful. City dwellers easilybecome victims of anxiety,”Mr. Khokon said. “If youquarrel with your wife, youcan go this park and relax.”

Dhaka, one of the world’sfastest growing metropolis

es, has been losing greenspace to the mass construction of new residential districts. Once a Mughaleragarrison town famed for itstreelined roads, Dhaka hasbecome one of the world’smost polluted cities with levels inching closer to NewDelhi.

The anger managementpark has divided social media between supporters andthose who call it is a waste ofmoney.

Critics say the park couldsu�er the same fate as othergreen spaces in Dhaka whichhave become havens for criminals and drug addicts.

In Dhaka, a park to manage angerThe 38-acre sprawl will help its 15 million inhabitants cope with rising daily stress

Staying stress-free: Tra�cjams, dust pollution andcrime are daily complaints.


Dhaka

Tiwa tribals carrying raw broom sticks for drying in Karbi Anglong district of Assam on Sunday.Broom grass is widely cultivated in the hills of Karbi Anglong. * RITU RAJ KONWAR

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Green sweep

Google Home’s incapability to answering questionsabout Jesus has led thecompany to bar the devicefrom answering questionsabout all religious �gures,the media reported.

When people askedtheir speaker ‘Who is Jesus?’ the general responsefrom Google Home seemsto be “I’m not sure how tohelp you with that”, DailyMail reported on Friday.

Google issued a statement saying it would disable answers for all majorreligious �gures.

“The reason the GoogleAssistant didn’t respondwith information about‘Who is Jesus’ or or ‘Who isJesus Christ’ wasn’t out ofdisrespect but instead toensure respect,” DannySullivan, Google’s publicsearch liasion, tweeted thestatement on Friday.

According to reports,Google Home can identifyreligious heads like Buddha, Muhammad and Satanbut couldn’t provide anydetails about Jesus.

Jesus leavesGoogle Homeconfused

Indo-Asian News Service

San Francisco

Comic strip artist Mort Walker, a Second World War veteran who satirised the Armyand tickled millions of newspaper readers with the antics of the lazy private “Beetle Bailey,” died on Saturday.He was 94.

Walker died at his homein Stamford, Connecticut,said Greg Walker, his eldestson and a collaborator. Hisfather’s advanced age wasthe cause of death, he said.

Walker began publishingcartoons at age 11 and was involved with more than ahalfdozen comic strips inhis career, including Hi andLois, Boner’s Ark and Sam &Silo. But he found his greatest success drawing slackerBeetle, his hottempered sergeant and the rest of thegang at �ctional CampSwampy for nearly 70 years.

The character that was tobecome Beetle Bailey madehis debut as Spider in Walker’s cartoons published bythe Saturday Evening Post

in the late 1940s. Walkerchanged Spider’s name andlaunched Beetle Bailey as acollege humour strip in1950.

At �rst the strip failed toattract readers and King Features Syndicate considereddropping it after just sixmonths, Walker said in a2000 interview. The syndicate suggested Beetle jointhe Army after the start ofthe Korean War, Walker said.

“I was kind of against itbecause after Second World

War, Bill Mauldin and SadSack were fading away,” hesaid. But his misgivings wereovercome and Beetle “enlisted” in 1951. Walker attributed the success of the strip toBeetle’s indolence and reluctance to follow authority.

Beetle Bailey led to spino� comic strip Hi and Lois,which he created with DikBrowne, in 1954. The premise was that Beetle wenthome on furlough to visit hissister Lois and brotherinlaw Hi.

Second World War veteran satirised the Army to tickle readers

Associated Press

Los Angeles

The funny side: Mort Walker, the author of Beetle Bailey, inhis studio in Stamford. * AP

Beetle Bailey cartoonistMort Walker dies at 94

Turmeric improvesmemory and mood: study LOS ANGELES

Researchers at the University

of California have found that

eating turmeric may boost

one’s memory and help in

uplifting mood. Found in

turmeric, curcumin has anti

inflammatory and antioxidant

properties. Besides, It is seen

as a possible reason why

Alzheimer’s disease is less

prevalent in India, where

curcumin is a dietary staple.PTI


#3 3 1 0 0 7

CMYK

B ND-NDE

follow us:

thehindu.com

facebook.com/thehindu

twitter.com/the_hindu

monday O january 29, 2018

IN BRIEF

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Man stabbedoutside AIIMSA 23yearold man was

stabbed and robbed of his

car outside AIIMS Trauma

Centre on RDay Page 3

Rise of theimmortalsJoel Kinnaman, the star of

Net�ix’s Altered Carbon,

talks about adapting the

sci� novel for TV Page 4

Memories ofchildhoodDr. Irfan Nabi’s ongoing

photo exhibition captures

the beauty of Kashmir

and Ladakh Page 5

The best bikefor your buckBefore you reach deep into

your pockets, take

stock of what cycle you

need as a beginner Page 6

Duo snatch phone, getcaught covering tracksNEW DELHI

Two men were arrested onSunday in southeast Delhifor allegedly snatching amobile phone and making afake call regarding bagsnatching to cover theirtracks, the police said. Theymade the call afteraccidentally dropping theirbag at the crime spot.

CITY A PAGE 3


Fire breaks out in 12-storey building NEW DELHI

A �re broke out in the 12storey Kailash Building onKasturba Gandhi Marg hereon Sunday. No casualtieswere reported. Nearly 40people, most of themjournalists with a Hindi daily,were present in the buildingat the time of the incident.

CITY A PAGE 3


Five canteens to servepoor in HaryanaGURUGRAM

Following the footsteps of

other States running

canteens for the poor, the

Haryana Government also

plans to provide food at

subsidised rates in four of its

districts soon. Haryana Chief

Minister Manohar Lal Khattar

will launch the canteens

on February 15.

CITY A PAGE 3


If joining the Armed forces ison your mind, think twicebefore you go for that permanent ink on your body.

The Delhi High Court hasupheld the decision of theAir Force cancelling a man’sappointment for the post ofairman as he sported a permanent tattoo on the external side of his forearm.

The Air Force grants relaxation and permits certainkind of tattoos, including incase of tribals, which are asper customs and traditions.

Though there is no restriction on the size or type of thetattoo, the discretion ultimately rests with the Selection Committee to allow or

disallow the candidate forappointment.

The man had challengedthe Armed force's decision tocancel his appointment forthe post, saying he had dulydeclared that he had a tattoo.

Position of tattooThe counsel appearing forthe Air Force said that the advertisement issued by it inviting applications from thecandidates had speci�callystated that candidates withpermanent tattoos must submit a photograph, along withsize and type of the tattoo.The counsel said that theman had failed to do so.

The counsel added thattattoo on the inner side of forearms, the back part of the

hand or reverse side of thepalm are permitted.

A Bench of Justice HimaKohli and Justice Rekha Pallinoted that the entire disputehinges on the position of thetattoo. After perusing the details of the tattoo and whereit was placed, the Bench concluded that the tattoo wasnot in conformity with therelaxation granted by theforce.

“We do not �nd any in�rmity in the impugned orderof cancellation of his appointment,” the Bench said,while noting that the applicant had failed to submit aphotograph of his tattoo atthe time of submitting his application, as prescribed inthe advertisement.

HC upholds decision of the Air Force to cancel appointment

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Forearm tattoo keeps manfrom landing Air Force job

Two men were arrested onSunday from Durg Gol Chakar here in connectionwith a murder case. Thepolice also recovered two3.15 bore live cartridges, acar and two mobilephones.

The accused were identi�ed as Kaushal KishoreDikshit and ShaliendarDikshit, both residents ofKannauj district in UttarPradesh. The police saidthat Kaushal, with the helpof Shailendar, had allegedly run a truck over his wifeVineeta and his fatherinlaw, Harikrishan, on December 23, 2017, at Gulistanpur village of GautamBuddha Nagar district.

Harikrishan died whileVineeta survived and is incritical condition.

Often hit his wife During police interrogation, Kaushal admitted thathe suspected Vineeta’s character and often physicallyassaulted her. His fatherinlaw was unhappy with thisbehaviour and often triedto stop him.

Kaushal conspired to killhis wife and fatherinlaw.On December 23, Kaushal,accompanied by Shailendar, ran a truck over theduo and tried to make itlook like an accident.

Man arrestedfor runningover wife,father-in-law

Staff Reporter

Noida

Two women were injured after they were struck by aspeeding SUV on Hauz KhasVillage road on January 25, aday before Republic Day,when the city was on high alert and all roads were putunder surveillance and barricaded for security check.

The driver of the vehicle,however, managed to speedaway. The police are yet totrace the car or the driver.

The CCTV footage of theaccident shows a woman being struck and hurled acrossthe street before being runover by the vehicle.

Some eyewitnesses gavechase to the car after the incident but the errant drivermanaged to speed away.

The injured, 25yearoldNeha Samant and 24yearold Ukranian national ElenaLimane, were leaving theiro�ce when they were hit.

“I was with Neha and Elena. We were walking towardsAurobindo Market fromHauz Khas Village at around8.30 p.m. when the car hitElena, who fell on the side ofthe road. It then struck andran over Neha. I too had anarrow escape,” said ManishMehta, a friend of thevictims.

The three work in a production studio in Hauz Khas

Village. Neha is an assistantdirector.

Miraculous escapeMr. Mehta said that when theSUV hit Neha, she fell over 10feet away, but the driver ofthe SUV did not stop and ranher over. “She had a miracleescape after being run overby the car as she fell betweenthe tyres,” he added.

“I rushed her to Safdarjung Hospital where she isundergoing treatment. Sheis out of danger. Elena wasdischarged after �rst aid,”

said Mr. Mehta.“The SUV car was greyish

in colour and a young manwas popping out of the sunroof. They were playingsongs on high volume and itappeared that they were alldrunk,” said Mr. Mehta.

“A case under Sections337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 279 (rashand negligent driving) of theIPC has been registered. Efforts are on to trace the accused driver,” said RomilBaaniya, DCP (South).

Speeding SUV hits twowomen, one run overIncident occurred on Republic Day-eve during tight security

SAURABH TRIVEDI

NEW DELHI

(Top) CCTV footage shows one of the injured, Neha Samant,lying on the road after being hit by the SUV on Hauz KhasVillage road. (Below) A man can be seen standing in theo�ending car’s sunroof as it speeds away. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

A Class XII student of a government school who allegedly drank paint thinnermistaking it for cough syrupdied during treatment ateast Delhi’s Lal BahadurShastri hospital on Sunday,the police said.

The incident happened ineast Delhi’s Pandav Nagar on

Saturday afternoon. Gulistan lived with her pa

rents and four siblings inShashi Garden. Gulistan’sfather, who is a painter, hadkept the paint thinner in abottle that looked like thecough syrup bottle prescribed to the victim.

“The family’s statementhas been recorded. Theysaid she was down with fev

er and had been taking medicines. The paint thinnerwas kept in a bottle thatlooked like her cough syrupbottle. She mistook it for thesyrup drank it. The familydid not raise any suspicionsover her death and the bodywas handed over to them after the postmortem,” saidDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (East) Omvir Singh.

Dies in hospital; mistook liquid for cough syrup

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Girl accidentally drinks paint thinner


#3 3 1 0 0 7




CMYK

B ND-NDE

CITY

Less than three years afterDelhiites elected a government in the 2015

Assembly elections, 20 of theCapital’s 70 constituenciesare once again abuzz withtalk of polls and promises.

With the President signingo� on the Election Commission’s recommendation todisqualify 20 Aam AadmiParty (AAP) MLAs for holding an o�ce of pro�t, on January 20, the constituenciescould see byelections soon.However, a plea by the MLAsagainst the decision is pending with the Delhi HighCourt.

The MLAs, including Transport and Law Minister Kailash Gahlot, had been appointed as parliamentarysecretaries to Ministers in2015, but the court set asidethe appointment order in2016.

Still in majorityThe disquali�cation of 20MLAs has left the AAP with46 MLAs in the House, wellabove the majority mark required to stay in power. Thebypolls may not change thatbut could prove importantfor the AAP going forward.

In constituencies aroundsouthwest and west Delhi,voters were divided in theirsupport to the AAP. In unauthorised colonies, residents said the subsidies inwater and electricity givenby the AAP government will

be a factor they will consider.“Our water bills are zero

and electricity bills have alsocome down substantially.The Congress and the BJP areboth parties of the rich. Forthe �rst time, we have an assurance that a party is doingsomething for people like us.If we have given so manychances to the Congress andthe BJP, then why not another to the AAP?” said BirjuLal, a resident of Shiv Enclave in Najafgarh, the constituency Mr. Gahlot was disquali�ed from.

For the AAPPeople from Tilak Nagar andMoti Nagar, which werestrongholds of the BJP beforethe AAP swept the 2015 elections, said the AAP had ended VIP culture in the area.

“We cannot predict thevoters’ mind. However,things have changed with thecoming of the AAP. Beforethem, the MLA was treatedlike god. Roads would becleared for them and theirparty workers would startpreparing for their visitsmonths in advance. The MLAnow walks around herealone sometimes, talks to people and listens to them as ifhe is just one among us,” saidMahendra Singh (68), a resident of Nala Colony in TilakNagar.

Supporters of JarnailSingh, the disquali�ed MLAfrom the constituency, saidthey were con�dent of regaining the seat with a highermargin this time.

“Voters are not blind.They can see all that the BJPat the Centre is doing to sabotage the AAP’s work in thecity. They will vote wiselyand will bring back the AAP.This is just a minor setback,”said Sukhjeet Kaur, an AAPvolunteer.

In Wazirpur, residents of aslum cluster in the industrialarea seemed to be buyingthat argument.

“[Prime Minister Narendra] Modi is not letting [DelhiChief Minister Arvind] Kejriwal work. Mr. Kejriwal hasimproved our schools, thereis a community toilet nearbythat we can use for free andour electricity bills are less,”said Prakash, a Wazirpur resident who works as a driver.

In Mehrauli, which is towards the end of the Delhi JalBoard’s water network, increase in water supply standsout for residents. Hari Krishan Prajapat, a resident of Lado Sarai village in Mehrauli,said the government had increased daily supply of waterfrom 15 minutes to �vehours.

‘More than freebies’Many, however, believe thereis more to a government thatjust providing “freebies” toappease the voters. In several pockets of Janakpuri, residents believe that peoplemight judge the AAP moreharshly in comparison to theBJP and the Congress, because they had come with alot of promise and havefailed to deliver.

“What we have heard tillnow is only accusationsagainst the BJP and Mr. Modi.We are tired of a Chief Minister blaming the Prime Minister for everything that is nothappening in the city. As avoter I don’t care how workis done, I just want to see improvement in my lifestyle,”said Prakash Ahuja, a resident of Janakpuri CI.

In south Delhi’s Kalkaji, residents of planned coloniessaid encroachment and traf�c problems had worsened.

Many grievances“The AAP is only giving bene�ts to unauthorised colonies. Recently, the number ofencroachments on the mainroad has increased and theTra�c Police is not doinganything about it. Nor is theMLA or the municipal corporation,” said Kalkaji residentAnil Kumar.

In the subcity of Dwarkatoo, residents claimed thatnot much has changed withthe coming of the AAP.

“The tra�c is a messaround Dwarka and publictransport connectivity isquite bad. People have noother option but to dependon private vehicles. Yes, wedo need to give them creditfor bringing steady watersupply to the area. Beforethis, we were heavily dependent on tankers and now wehave regular piped supply,”said Subhashree Banerjee, aresident of Dwarka Sector 14.

In east Delhi’s Kondli,though sewers lines were

not looking forward toanother election.

“It seems like elections areheld in Delhi every year. Thecity is always in electionmode,” said Laxmi Nagar resident Atul Garg.

Fatigued by the 2013 and2015 Assembly elections, the2014 Lok Sabha electionsand the 2017 civic body elections, voters questioned thefrequency.

‘Too many elections’“It is a waste of public money. The money that shouldbe spent on the progress ofthe city is being wasted onelections again,” said VijayKumar, a resident of Jangpura Ashram area.

In the slum clusters of Burari, the constituency of Sanjeev Jha, volunteers have visited doortodoorexplaining the decision ofthe Election Commissionagainst the AAP.

“Why would the ElectionCommission disqualify theMLAs without listening totheir version? And doesn’tthe President have more important �les to clear thanmaking such a hasty decisionon a Sunday?” said Mehtab, aresident of the area.

The area has a majority oflower middle class families,and lack of sewer lines andbroken roads are a majorproblem here.

Ms. Mehtab said evenamong nonsupporters of theAAP, a sliver of sympathy hasbeen ignited with this decision against the AAP MLAs.

laid recently, residents complained of water mixing withsewage — something theyclaimed to have informed thegovernment authoritiesabout many times.

“For many days, everycouple of months we get dirty water from the tap. It becomes so bad that we have tobuy several bottles of waterfor everything — cooking,cleaning and bathing,” saidKondli resident Shivani.

For a section of voters, theBJPruled municipal corporations’ drive to seal commercial units over pending conversion charges was on topof their minds.

“No one is bothered aboutencroachment by vendorsbut everyone is after traderswho have been paying taxesand charges for years,” saidParamjeet Singh, who owns ashop in Rajinder Nagar.

In constituencies falling inOld Delhi, such as Sadar Bazar and Chandni Chowk,which are the hubs for traders, the problem of sealing islikely to a�ect their votes incase of a bypoll.

Lesser of two evils“Our MLA from the AAPmight not be great but theBJPruled civic body has notbeen e�cient either. For us,it will be choosing the lesserof the evils,” said Suryaprakash Trivedi, a wholesalecloth dealer in ChandniChowk.

In east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar and Laxmi Nagar constituencies, many voters are

Talking points: (Left) The Wazirpur Industrial Area; At right, a drain clogged with garbage at Chaukhandi in west Delhi’s Tilak Nagar. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA, SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Mixed emotions for residents of 20 constituencies In constituencies around south-west and west Delhi, voters were divided in their support to the AAP. In unauthorisedcolonies, residents said they will consider the water and power subsidies given by the AAP government

Development works: Municipal work in progress at Old Kondli (left) and Hari Nagar Ashram (right) in Jangpura constituency. * SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

Damini Nath

Soumya Pillai

NEW DELHI


#3 3 1 0 0 7




CMYK

B ND-NDE

CITY

Trio arrested forkidnapping businessman GHAZIABAD

Three men were arrested

from Haridwar on Saturday

for kidnapping a businessman

from Patel Nagar here on

Thursday evening, the police

said on Sunday. One of the

accused men claims to be an

Air Force official, they added.

PTI

Apex court to scrutinisechange in rules at NGT NEW DELHI

The change in rules enabling

even a singlemember Bench

of the National Green

Tribunal (NGT) to discharge

judicial function has come

under the scanner of the

Supreme Court. An SC Bench

agreed to hear the plea on

January 29. PTI

IN BRIEF

Two men were arrested onSunday morning in southeast Delhi for allegedlysnatching a mobile phoneand making a fake call regarding bag snatching tocover their tracks, the police said.

Arjun Singh and hisfriend Chetan Kumar, both25, are residents of Khanpur, the police said.

Late night incidentKamod Yadav had called thepolice control room at 11.45p.m. on January 27 statingthat two men on a scootyhad snatched his mobilephone near Mata Mandirand �ed.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (southeast) ChinmoyBiswal said the accusedwere near Modi Mill �yover

when they realised they haddropped their bag containing a mobile tablet and oneidentity card at the spot.Fearing arrest, they decidedto call the police controlroom pretending that theirbag had been snatched bytwo youths on a scooty inNew Friends Colony.

While Arjun, who had

snatched Mr. Yadav’sphone, stayed back at ModiMill �yover, Chetan wentnear Mata Mandir to makethe fake complaint at 11.25p.m.

Two calls“Mr. Yadav’s phone wassnatched around 11.10 p.m.The victim, who lives near

the crime spot, went hometo get another mobilephone. He returned to thespot and called the police at11.45 p.m. Meanwhile, therobbers called the police at11.25 p.m. After getting twocalls regarding robberyfrom the same spot, a teamswung into action swiftly,”added Mr. Biswal.

The contradictions inChetan’s story led to his interrogation on Sundaymorning, the police said.

He reportedly confessedto both crimes and told thepolice that Arjun was waiting for him at Modi Mill�yover. A police team arrested Arjun.

Arjun claims to have wonan award in a body buildingchampionship in 201516.Chetan is a salesman in amobile showroom in LajpatNagar.

Duo snatch mobile phone, heldMake fake call to cover tracks after they dropped their bag at crime spot

In police net: Arjun Singh and his friend Chetan Kumar, both25, are residents of Khanpur. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Talk: Panel discussion on “ElectoralFinance Reforms in India” Panellists:Dr S.Y. Quraishi, former Chief Elec-tion Commissioner of India; and ProfRajeev Gowda, Member of Parlia-ment and Academic at ConferenceRoom - I, India International Centre(IIC), 6 p.m.

Talk: “Water: Rethinking ServiceDelivery in India” Speaker: JunaidAhmad, World Bank Country Directorfor India. Chair: Isher JudgeAhluwalia, Chairperson, Board ofGovernors, ICRIER at Gulmohar Hall,India Habitat Centre (IHC), 7 p.m.

Talk: “Adolescent DevelopmentGender & Identity” - the talk willfocus on the issues related to analys-ing gender inequality, orientation,expression, discrimination and dis-cussion on related areas. Speaker:Dr. Neetu Rana, Consultant Psycho-logist, Vimhans at Casuarina Hall, In-dia Habitat Centre (IHC), 7 p.m.

Dance: Bharatanatyam by RadhikaGanju Sehgal at The Stein Auditor-ium, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 7:30p.m.

Music: Sarod and Slide Guitar duetrecital by brothers, Dipanker Roy andAbhijit Roy from Delhi, Lecture Room- II, Basement, (Annexe), India Inter-national Centre (IIC), 6:30 p.m.

Exhibition: “Glimpses of Ladakh,Kashmir and Naropa Festival –Kumbh of Himalayas” – an exhibitionof photographs at Main Art Gallery,Kamaladevi Complex, Main Building,India International Centre (IIC), 11a.m. – 7 p.m.

Exhibition: “Earth Worms” a soloshow of paintings by Tensing Josephat Triveni Gallery, Triveni KalaSangam, 205, Tansen Marg, MandiHouse, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Exhibition: “Ruminating thePurple” Paper collage art show bySukanta Dasgupta at Shridharani ArtGallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, 205,Tansen Marg, Mandi House, 11 a.m. –7 p.m.

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

DELHI TODAY

A 23yearold man wasstabbed and robbed of hiscar just outside the gate ofAIIMS Trauma Centre on Republic Day, the police saidon Sunday. Okhla residentShubhash Mavi is undergoing treatment, they added.

Mr. Mavi stated in hiscomplaint to the police thathe had gone to AIIMS withtwo of his friends on January26 as one of their acquaintances was in the hospital.

Shouts for help“I parked my white sedanoutside gate no.1 of AIIMSTrauma Centre at 11.30 a.m.The others went inside tosee their friend. I was insidethe car and talking to afriend on the phone whentwo youth arrived and stoodon either side of the car,” hesaid in his complaint, addingthat the duo opened the cardoors and sat inside despitehis objections.

“One of them snatchedmy mobile phone and toldme to get out. When I resisted, they dragged me out.One of them then stabbedme in the right thigh with aknife,” Mr. Mavi claimed.

He said he ran for help towards the hospital gate aftergetting stabbed, with twoother robbers who were

standing near the car in hotpursuit. Mr. Mavi managedto get inside the hospitalgate and shouted for help.Realising that he will soon besurrounded by locals and security guards, the accused�ed.

“All four of them got inside the car and drove away.I was taken to the hospitalfor treatment by the guardson duty at main gate,” he

said.A senior police o�cer

said, “A case under IPC Sections 394 [voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery] and 397 [robbery, ordacoity, with attempt tocause death or grievoushurt] has been registered atSafdarjung Enclave policestation. We are examiningCCTV footage from the locality to get clues.”

Incident happened on RDay, four accused �ed in his car

Saurabh Trivedi

New Delhi

Man stabbed outside AIIMS

A 28yearold woman allegedly committed suicide onher wedding anniversaryin Shahdara district’s Raghubarpura on Sunday. Nosuicide note was recoveredfrom the spot.

Shalu is survived by husband and two daughters,aged �ve and two years,the police said. The policereceived a call from herhusband and reached thespot. Shalu was taken to ahospital, where she wasdeclared brought dead.

The husband told thepolice about the marriageanniversary during questioning. Other family members have also been interrogated, the police said.They suspect that the deceased was being pressured to conceive a boy.

Another suicideIn a separate case, a 28yearold doctor died aftershe allegedly consumedpoison at her residence inat Keshav Puram on Fridayevening.

Deputy Commissionerof Police (NorthWest) Aslam Khan said the doctor’shusband Hemant Kumarfound her unconsciouswhen he returned fromwork on Friday evening.He took her to a nearbyhospital, which referredher to AIIMS. She diedthere during treatment onSaturday. She was allegedlyupset over not qualifyingfor postgraduate degree after �nishing MBBS, the police said. Her family has notlodged a complaint regarding her death.

Womanfoundhanging

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The Special Cell has arrested a 26yearold member ofthe interState ShaukatPasha gang wanted in connection with robbery of 6.9kg silver from a jeweller inOld Delhi, the police said onSunday. There was a bountyof �25,000 on his head.

Sharpshooter“Jahid is a member of theShaukat Pasha gang, whichis involved in several armedrobberies in Uttar Pradeshand Delhi. Jahid, who is asharpshooter, was part ofthe armed robbery in OldDelhi,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (SpecialCell) Sanjeev Yadav.

Special Cell o�cers received a tipo� that Jahid

would visit east Delhi’s Karkardooma on Saturday andarrested him. “He is aschool dropout who fell inbad company. He graduallycame in contact with Shaukat,” said Mr. Yadav.

In 2016, Jahid, Sanu andSu�yan, robbed 6.9 kg of silver from Hari Om . The triohad �red three rounds at Mr.Om, who escaped unscathed. Su�yan was arrested while the others managed to �ee.

In February 2015, Jahidand two others robbed acloth merchant at gunpointin Anand Vihar. A few dayslater, they robbed �8 lakh atgunpoint from the managerof Punjab National Bank(PNB) in Sambhal, U.P. Jahidwas arrested but grantedbail in some earlier cases.

Member of interStaterobber gang arrestedAccused of robbing 6.9 kg silver

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The Special Cell arrested a25yearold interState armssupplier, who had a bountyof �1 lakh on his head, on January 23 following a tipo�,the police said on Sunday.

Graduate in biology“Shiv Pratap Singh alias Raju was arrested on January23, and a loaded pistol and�ve live cartridges wereseized. The accused, a graduate in biology, hails fromMainpuri in Uttar Pradesh.He is an accused in threeother cases under the ArmsAct,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (SpecialCell) P. S. Kushwah.

The arrest was part of thedrive launched by the Special Cell against gangs supplying illegal �rearms andammunition to criminals inDelhi and the National Capi

tal Region. The Special Cell had ar

rested four members of thesyndicate earlier.

“We had arrested Kailash,Madhav, Rifakat and Nanak,who belong to the samegang, earlier. A carbine, 68pistols and some ammunition were also seized,” Mr.Kushwah said, adding thatthe accused had disclosedRaju’s name but he went underground after their arrest.

Tipo�The police received a tipo�that Raju would arrive at Karol Bagh on January 23 tomeet an associate. Duringhis graduation, Raju came incontact with Shiv Kumar, acriminal from Farrukhabadin Uttar Pradesh.

Shiv introduced Raju toother criminals, includingRifakat, and they startedsupplying arms to them.

Arms supplier nabbedThere was a bounty of �1 lakh on his headStaff Reporter

New Delhi

A �re broke out in the 12storey Kailash Building on Kasturba Gandhi Marg here onSunday evening, the policesaid, adding that no casualties were reported.

Nearly 40 people, most ofthem journalists with a Hindi daily, were present in thebuilding at the time of the incident.

The cause of the �re is being investigated, said a senior police o�cer.

Delhi Fire Service Additional Director Atul Gargsaid the �re broke out in the11th �oor o�ce of the Australian Council for EducationalResearch around 4.30 p.m.

Five �re tenders Five �re tenders wererushed to the spot and �rewas doused around 5.30p.m., said Mr. Garg.

Those present inside atthe time of the incident saidthey exited the highrise after the entire building got�lled with smoke, making itdi�cult for them to breathe.

Nearly 40 people were in building at time of the incident

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

A �re broke out in Kailash Building at Kasturba Gandhi Marg inNew Delhi on Sunday. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Fire breaks out in highrise

Following the footsteps ofother States running canteens for the poor, the Haryana government plans toprovide food at subsidisedrates at �ve canteens in fourof its districts. The mealswill be priced at �10.

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar is setto launch the �ve canteensunder “Antodaya Aahar Yojana” on February 15. StateLabour and EmploymentMinister Nayab Singh saidtwo of these canteens willbe set up in Gurugram andone each in Hisar, YamunaNagar and Faridabad.

Proposed sitesMr. Singh was in Gurugramon Saturday to inspect theproposed sites for the canteens near BhuteshwarTemple and at a night shelter in Bhim Nagar.

Stating that the government was serious aboutopening these canteensnext month, he blasted theLabour Department o�cialsfor their lackadaisical attitude towards the scheme.

Mr. Khattar had inaugurated a similar canteen inSonipat on September 17last, coinciding with thebirthday of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, and had announced opening of morecanteens across the State.

Tender �oatedAdditional Labour Commissioner, NCR, Naresh Narwal,said the proposed canteenat Bhim Nagar will be functional by midFebruary. Hesaid a tender has alreadybeen allotted to the HaryanaPolice Housing Corporationfor construction of the second canteen and that itwould take a few months.

“While food will cost �20per person, it will be provided at a subsidised rate of�10. The di�erence will beborne by the Food and Supplies Department, LabourDepartment, and Buildingand Other ConstructionWorkers’ Board,” said Mr.Narwal.

Food quality will be ensured by the Assistant Director and Deputy Director ofIndustrial Health and SafetyDepartment, he added.

Khattar to launch canteens on Feb 15

Staff Reporter

Gurugram

Five canteens to providemeals for �10 in Haryana

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)will lead a march of councillors, MLAs and volunteerson Monday against the ongoing sealing drive in the markets across the Capital.

AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj on Sundayannounced that the ‘SansadMarch [March to Parliament]’ on Monday will startat 11 a.m. from Patel Chowkmetro station.

“The idea is to send a

message to the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre thatwe are with the traders ofthe city and they need tobring changes to the MasterPlan 2021 and scrap the conversion charges,” Mr. Bharadwaj said.

He said only the BJP in themunicipality and the DelhiDevelopment Authority(DDA) under the Centre can�nd a solution to the problem of sealing that hasgripped the traders in thecity.

“The BJP created all the

drama and called a jointmunicipal session on Saturday, where ultimately theyagreed that it was undertheir jurisdiction to �nd a solution to the issue. Theyhave requested the Centre tohelp the traders, which theyshould have done long timeago. Why the whole farce?”Mr. Bharadwaj said.

He added that the AAPhas also requested a meetingthe LieutenantGovernor after the march to appeal forchange in the �oor area ratio(FAR) in the Master Plan.

AAP to lead Sansad MarchIn protest against ongoing sealing drive across city markets

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The Delhi High Court hasheld that sitting for an examination by a student inthe successive academicyear owing to illness or other similar circumstances inthe previous year will still beconsidered the “�rstattempt”.

The order came as a reliefto a BA LLB student at AmityLaw School who despitescoring highest marks in hisbatch was denied a gold medal on the ground that hehad taken the examinationin respect of two papers inthe following year.

Justice Indermeet Kaurobserved that the universitycould not deprive the student of the award citing thatexaminations taken by thestudent in 2014 shall be regarded as his “�rstattempt”.

The student was enrolledin the �veyear course of BALLB in 2010. For his 6thsemester examination, outof �ve papers, he could notappear in two papers, thepaper of Code of Civil Procedure and the paper of Codeof Criminal Procedure.

These two examinationswere scheduled for May,2013.

He could not appear inthe examinations as he wassu�ering from chicken pox.He wrote his examination inthe two papers in 2014. Hegraduated from the university with the highest score/cumulative performance index (CPI) for the course.

In February 2016, helearned that he was not being considered for the goldmedal despite having scoredthe highest in the course.The university had contended that under the governingordinance, any student whofails to appear in examinations at the �rst time andthereafter appears in thesaid examinations on a subsequent date would qualifyas a “second attempt” on hispart.

But the court relied onthe judgments of variousHigh Courts and the Supreme Court to arrive at theconclusion that examinations taken by the student in2014 shall be regarded as his“�rst attempt” and directedthe university to confer thegold medal on him.

Can’t deny medal totopper, HC tells varsity Had missed �rst exam due to illness

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The Delhi High Court hascensured the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes(NCST) for going beyond itsjurisdiction to adjudicate thecomplaint of a man regardinghis contractual rights to a petrol pump.

“The NCST has misunderstood its role under Article338A of the Constitution. TheCommission is not an alternative forum for dispute resolution and has no adjudicatoryfunction,” Justice Vibhu Bakhru said.

It set aside the NCST’s direction to the Indian Oil Cor

poration Limited (IOCL) torestore the petrol pump dealership agreement to a man,who belongs to a ScheduledTribe, in Maharashtra.

Under Article 338A of theConstitution, the NCST has aduty to investigate and monitor all matters relating to safeguards provided for the Scheduled Tribes. “This, plainly,would not extend to entertain a case of an individual,”Justice Bakhru noted.

The IOCL moved courtchallenging the NCST’s orderto review its decision to cancel the dealership agreement. It had contended thatthe man had made no allega

tion of discrimination or hostile treatment on account ofbeing a member of the Scheduled Tribe. “The representation made by him merelyarticulated his grievance regarding the action taken byIOCL, which he described ashighhanded,” it had argued.

The antiadulteration cellof IOCL had during a surpriseinspection of the petrolpump owned by the manfound unauthorised �tting attached to the nozzle of thepetrol dispensing unit. Further, a test revealed that the attachment was a mechanismto deliver 100 ml less fuel forevery �ve litres. Subsequent

ly, the dealership agreementwas cancelled and the manmoved the NCST with hiscomplaint. The NCST hadcautioned of action againstthe IOCL o�cial under theScheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention ofAtrocities) Act if its directionwere not complied with.“False claims of hostile discrimination on the basis ofcaste are equally divisive andpernicious to the integrity ofthe people of this nation asacts of hostile discriminationon that basis,” the court remarked, quashing the orderof the NCST as “clearly without any authority of law”.

Soibam Rocky Singh

New Delhi

HC slams National Commission for Scheduled Tribes

A threeyearold boy whowent missing on RepublicDay was rescued by thenorthwest Delhi Policefrom a woman on Sunday.

The accused, a residentof Badli area, was arrestedand produced before theDuty Magistrate on Sunday,they said, adding that thewoman kidnapped the boyas she could not have children.

The police said the boywas reported missing fromthe weekly market in theevening on January 26. AnFIR was registered under relevant sections of the IPC at

Shalimar Bagh police station. Local intelligence wasalerted.

“We received a tipo� regarding the kidnapper andthe child was safely recovered from the woman’shome in Badli,” said a seniorpolice o�cer.

DepressionThe o�cer added, “She hadadopted a child, who died anatural death, a while back.She was depressed and decided to kidnap a child. Shespotted the boy playing inthe market while his motherwas busy shopping. Shegrabbed the boy and tookhim home.”

Kidnapped boy rescued He had gone missing on Republic Day

STAFF REPORTER

New Delhi

The Delhi High Court hasasked the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC)not to �nalise the tenderprocess with regard to construction of an automatedmultilevel car parking structure behind the posh Defence Colony Market in theCapital.

The petition, �led by Defence Colony resident Rajeev Suri, has alleged thatthe multilevel parking is proposed to be constructed bytaking land from a children’spark and an arterial roadnamed Varun Marg.

The court took on recordthe assurance given by thecounsel appearing for theSDMC that it will not �nalisethe tender process for theautomated multilevel parking facility till the next dateof hearing on May 3.

Advocate Shikhil Suri, appearing for Mr. Rajeev Suri,had contended that theSDMC was proceeding with�nalising the tender, even asit was being challenged before the High Court.

The lawyer said the immediate cause of action for�ling the petition is the decision of the SDMC to �oat atender for construction, op

eration and maintenance ofthe automated multilevelparking facility.

He argued that the decision is in violation of the stated land use of the area, andin absence of any consultation with the residents andenvironmental or tra�c circulation studies.

The counsel said theSDMC had attempted a similar project in 2012, whichwas located in a green areaon land belonging to theLand and Development Of�ce. He said the proposalwas withdrawn after a petition was moved at the HighCourt.

‘Don’t �nalise multilevel parking tender’Staff Reporter

New Delhi


#3 3 1 0 0 7




CMYK

B ND-NDE

SHOWCASE

For the �rst two days of shootinghis Net�ix show, Joel Kinnamanhad only his birthday suit on.There were more than 250 peopleon set and the actor was naked infront of all of them. “It’s healthyfor you to let go of your inhibitions. Anything that’s scary is agood process,” he says, in an exclusive chat with Weekend in Korea. But when you have a bodythat’s as ripped as Kinnaman’s is(a mere image search online willquell any unlikely doubts), it’spretty easy to be entirely bare forpeering eyes. The 38yearold actor, who famously let costar WillSmith tattoo the millennially spelt‘skwad’ on his arm, is the leadingman of the streaming giant’smuchawaited sci� magnumopus, Altered Carbon.

Adapted from Richard K Morgan’s2002 hardboiledbook of the samename, the 10episode show is setin a futurewhere humanbeings’ consciousness canbe stored ina stack and

downloaded into new bodiesknown as sleeves. Kinnaman starsas Takeshi Kovacs, a Japanesedescent former UN elite soldierwho has been sleeved (downloaded) into a Caucasian frame. He’sbeen brought to life after being onice (sleeping) for 250 years.

Novel adaptationsBefore he became famous as Governor Will Conway in House ofCards or o�cer Rick Flag in Suicide Squad (2016), Kinnaman entered the American mainstreamwith the AMC thriller show, TheKilling, adapted from the hugelypopular Danish Nordic noir show,Forbrydelsen (The Crime). “The

dark in Nordic countriesmakes people have a veryweird imagination and adark sensibility,” says theactor, who moved to California when he was 29.

The upcoming booktoscreen adaption has been 15years in the making. Showrunner Laeta Kalogridis had initial

ly intended it to be a feature �lmbefore Net�ix greenlit the seriesin January 2016. “TV has gotten toa place that they have a budgetthat makes it possible to createthis world,” says Kinnaman, referring to the vast universethat’s been created in AlteredCarbon. “When you make a�lm out of a novel, there’s somuch that gets lost. The bookhas so many layers, I can’t imagine how you would cram thatinto a twohour movie.” Expect �ying cars (a police vehicle features Devanagariscript), transcendent race

identities and a nearconstant dark setting where inhabiting di�erent planetshas become possible.It’s a universe where humans have manipulatedtechnology to become immortal. “I think the idea of getting tolive forever is very appealing,”says Kinnaman.

Noir attractionSo far, the show has polarisedviewers: those that are gushing

over the ambitious project andothers panning its gratuitous sexscenes, intense screenplay andcomplicated plot.

Indeed, it can be an acquiredtaste for those not overly fond ofscience �ction. But Kalogridis hasdeftly married the genre withnoir, sculpting her actors to execute a Maltese Falconlike atmosphere. Take, for instance,Kinnaman’s swaggeri�c turn asKovacs, who belongs more in atrench coat and downturned hat

rather than the modern garb hedons. “While building the character I was very aware of where myimagination was taking me,” hesays. “With Kovacs, I had animalimpersonations — I was thinkingabout how big cats move. A bigchallenge was to take the actionto another level. We were alltraining for six months beforeshooting for three to �ve hours aday. My ambition was to do all thestunts on my own and it wasincredible.”

Casting callDespite author Morgan himselfwriting Kovacs as a man struggling with his Caucasian sleeve,the show has courted controversyabout whitewashing an ethniccharacter. Kalogridis, who haspreviously worked on �lms likeShutter Island, Avatar and WhiteHouse Down, famously came onrecord to criticise Ghost in theShell, a project she was attachedto brie�y. The 2017 �lm starredScarlett Johansson playing a Japanese character, Motoko Kusanagi.For Altered Carbon, Kalogridisapproached the subject cautiously, even going so far as to consciously diversifying the cast andalter Morgan’s literary e�ort.

While she extended the femalestorylines, she also cast actors ofcolour for Caucasian characters.“There were a lot of challengeswith playing Takeshi,” says Kinnaman. “It was intriguing to play aperson who’s an expert at adapting, yet is in a state of oblivion because of being sleeved into awhite body. Everyone he’s lovedis dead, whatever he’s fought foris lost. For him to �nd the will tolive was a great journey to play.”

Altered Carbon is available onNet�ix from February 2

The writer was in Korea at theinvitation of Net�ix.

Rise of the

immortalsJoel Kinnaman, the star of Net�ix’sAltered Carbon, talks about adaptingthe sci� bestseller into an ambitious10episode television show

‘re-sleeved’ 150

years later?

J “I hope to see the questionof dying oceans addressed,more unity, and that we havecombined our resources toexplore space. I hope to notsee that we have invented thistechnology (to stay immortal)and that Trump is livingforever.”

Kalogridis on

whitewashing

J “Speaking as a nonAsianperson I’m not trying towhitesplain this. I worked onGhost in the Shell and I wasgone when they made thedecision to cast someone who’snot Asian. I mean, you can’tcast a white guy as BlackPanther [the Marvelsuperhero]. When I read thebook, it was very speci�c thatTakeshi was sleeved in a whiteguy and it’s recognised thatthere’s a foreigner that’s in thatbody and [Takeshi as a whiteman] can’t get rid of it, makinghis life complicated. I tried toconsciously make an e�ort andcast not one but two Asian menas Takeshi [Will Yun Lee andByron Mann]. I am deeplyuncomfortable withwhitewashing and I don’t agreewith iconic Asian charactersbeing replaced by Angloactors.”

I think the idea ofgetting to live forever isvery appealing

A new universe: (Left) Joel Kinnaman, and stills from the show

Deborah Cornelious

Having a little patch of greenhas always been importantfor Bengalurubased AnjaliChalisgaonkar. “I grew up insmalltown India and mymother is a gardening enthusiast. So, we’ve always hadgardens,” she says.

When she set up her ownhouse, she decided to carryforward that gardening tradition, starting with a few potson the balcony and soon expanding. “The pleasure ofgrowing plants is tremendous,” she says, admittingthat working in her gardengives her a sense of wellbeing and happiness.

She isn’t the only one. A

2016 metaanalysis of research conducted by theNCBI concludes that there is,“robust evidence for the positive e�ects of gardening,”and that it can, “improvephysical, psychological, andsocial health.” The Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention, US, adds that, “Gardening can be a great way toenjoy the outdoors, get physical activity, beautify thecommunity, and grow nutritious fruits and vegetables.”This is what our team of experts has to say.

“Plants relax a person,”says Kolkatabased psychologist, Mansi Poddar.

Which is why, perhaps,there is a speci�c treatment

programme called ecotherapy, that aims to improvemental and physical wellbeing through a range of outdoor activities, including gardening. “It gives people whoare depressed a sense of purpose and meaning,” saysPoddar, pointing out thatsince it is an activity with anoutcome, “it makes peoplefeel a sense of achievementand improves their selfesteem.” It can also be a greatoutlet for negative emotions,improves attention and focus, calms an overactive nervous system and helps people who �nd contact with theworld di�cult, “establish safer and gentler transition intothe world,” says Poddar.

It is also great at relationship building and emotionalintelligence. “Gardening tapsinto the part of us that nurtures. And having that senseof warmth and comfort reduces stress,” says Poddar.By becoming a communityactivity that fosters a sense ofbelonging, it becomes especially useful for older peoplewho often struggle with loneliness. However, it is equallybene�cial for children, sinceit encourages a sense of responsibility and inculcates environmental consciousness.Also, “it is also a spiritual activity. I see many people using gardening as a metaphorfor life.”

“Gardening helps you staylimber.” says Gurugrambased functional �tness andrehab specialist, Vani Pahwa.

It’s especially importantas you age and develop conditions like arthritis and muscular degradation, she says.A spot of light gardening —think weeding, digging,mulching — can help you perform movements like squatting and balancing, naturally.Of course, this is dependenton other factors, includingage, bodyweight, genderand intensity, but the fact is,

“any movement counts,”says Pahwa, adding thatkeeping active is especiallyimportant for people whodon’t train regularly.

Even seasoned athletescan bene�t, of course, by adding in a few sessions of gardening. “Constantly performing at a high intensity isdetrimental to health,” saysPahwa. More importantly,however, gardening helps

you connect to nature. “Youbecome part and parcel of alifecycle that gives you emotional satisfaction. Thisbrings in a separate dimension to health,” she says.

“The quality of foodgrown at home is always superior,” says DelhibasedLovneet Batra, a sports nutritionist. Better water, homemade compost, no labmadefertilisers, ensure that food

grown at home is more �avourful and nutritious. Besides, the less the food has totravel, the less is its carbonfootprint. So what could bebetter than heading out intoyour balcony to pick up freshpalak, tomatoes or mint?

Batra, who herself growsmany of her own vegetables,says that easy access to seedsand superior systems like hydroponics, make it very convenient to grow much ofyour own produce.

“There is de�nitely a shiftwith more people growingtheir own food,” says Batra,adding that this is especiallyuseful for food eaten raw,like salad or coldpressedjuice.

“Commercial vegetablesand fruits are often full ofpesticides or injected withchemicals,” she says, pointing out that there have beencases of people falling sick after consuming them.

Why having your own little patch of green is therapeutic

Preeti Zachariah

How does your garden grow?

Retrospective

Altaf Mohammedi (19422005), an artist trained

in London, created works evocative of his belief

in the politics of power, corruption,

marginalisation of proletariat, and are haunted

by the spectre of death.

Venue: Delhi Art Gallery, 11 Hauz Khas Village

Time: 11 a.m. 7 p.m.

EXHIBITION

Classical beats

Radhika Ganju Sehgal, an exponent of the

Vazhuvoor School of Bharatanatyam, to present

an evening of dance. She will be accompanied by

Lavanya Sundaram on vocals.

Venue: The Stein Auditorium, India Habitat

Centre

Time: 730 p.m.

DANCE

Solo exhibition

Ahmed Firoz’s evocative images ranging from

Delhi’s best known historical monuments to the

people at work who have been caught unaware.

It showcases life of the common man.

Venue: Delhi 'o’ Delhi Foyer, India Habitat Centre,

Lodhi Road.

Time: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Sarod and slide guitar duet

Dipanker Roy from Delhi, disciple of Ustad

Shujaat Khan and Abhijit Roy from Delhi, disciple

of late Pt Bholanath Bhattacharya, to give classic

music lovers a glimpse of their talent.

Venue: Lecture Room 2, Basement, Annexe

Building, India International Centre

Time: 630 p.m.

MUSIC

5 EVENTS WORTH-YOUR-WHILE

"Water: Rethinking Service Delivery in India"

IHCICRIER Conversations on Urbanization Series

will have Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country

Director for India, as the speaker.

Venue: Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Centre,

Lodhi Road

Time: 7 p.m.

TALK


#3 3 1 0 0 7




CMYK

B ND-NDE

SHOWCASE

Even a passing reference to Kashmir is commanding enough toevoke the feeling of romanticism.Her verdant beauty and snowcapped mountains have enraptured creative geniuses who laterhave captured many shades of thelandscape with great �nesse. Formany, Bollywood has been themost popular and dependablevehicle to transport them to thebreathtaking beauty of fullyblossomed Tulip gardens or the experience the dreadful and chillingwinter. In fact, a regular dose of information is being fed to people aswell via mainstream media as theValley, gripped in con�ict, �nds amention almost every day in manyconversations.

How di�erently then would aperson relook at Kashmir? Thiswas the most pertinent questionDr. Irfan Nabi kept on asking himself when he decided to quit themedical profession in 2013 in order to pursue creative ambitions.“This question got me thinkingand I decided that I would presenta di�erent side of Jammu andKashmir through my work. Thepart that I associate with my childhood. The memories of Kashmirthat are still vivid in my mind,” recollects Irfan.

Spring and harsh winter, hesays, were his muse for the photography project, initially and ashis work started getting recognised, he decided to look at his

subjects through the lens of storytelling. The stories of his subjectsbecame integral to his captivatingframes.

His photographs not only dojustice to the spectacular beautyof Kashmir as well as Ladakh butalso weave a story that connectsinstantly with the spectator. First,these frames delighted the readerin a book titled, “Alluring Kashmir:

The Inner Spirit”, and now, someselected frames are displayed in,“Glimpses of Ladakh, Kashmirand NaropaFestival Kumbh of Himalayas, 2016’, an exhibition curated by Nilosree Biswas.

Ladakh, as many would agree,is a dream come true for anyone

who even has the slightest inclination for photography. The vivid,colourful and myriad mountainterrain is often described as a“postcard” destination, where no�lters are required to get the perfect sel�e. Hence, Irfan’s work toodoes justice to this gorgeous landscape as he freezes several Buddhist monasteries, an old grandmother with her grandchild andthe festivities of Naropa Festival tocreate bagful of memories for theaudience.

Eye for detail

However, it is his sharp eye fordetail that speaks for itself whenone looks at his images from Kashmir. One of the captivating photographs is that of Pari Mahal, a seven terraced garden located at thetop of Zabarwan mountain range.From this Mahal, people get abird’seye view of Dal Lake and Srinagar. When he �rst clicked the

photographs, he was unsatis�ed.The image that he had in his mindwasn’t translating on the digitalframes.

Thus, he decided to look for different angles and luckily managedto �nd a perfect spot. From thisplace, the historical architecturalmarvel was ensconced in the lushgreen trees. The image, “Abode OfFairies – Pari Mahal a terraced garden, 17th Century architecture,Kashmir, 2012” is thus a perfectode to its unmatchable beauty.

“This was captured in spring,”he says, adding that the reason hechose to focus on these two seasons was because people’s ideaabout Kashmir is usually limited tosummer. “I wanted to change thatnotion. Also, there is alreadyenough material on the populardestinations in Kashmir. Hence, Ihad to do something di�erent.”

And, di�erent it is. Another powerful frame is that of a lone �sh

erman wading through Dal Lakeon an early winter morning. Titled“Solitude – Fisherman, earlymorning, Dal Lake, Kashmir,2014”, the frame in a way talksabout the resilience people inKashmir have for the harsh weather. “I was driving one early morning and looking at this man, I realised how one has to brave cold andcon�ict alike to go on in life.”

Con�ict is synonymous withKashmir. It could have been easierfor Irfan, who was born andbrought up in Kashmir, to train hislens on highlighting the plight ofKashmiris. “I left Kashmir for mystudies and eventually a job in Dubai much before the con�ict started. This doesn’t mean that I am insome sort of denial. I am the son ofthe soil but I wanted to capturewhat I believed in. My photographs are a kind of documentation to show Kashmir in a di�erentlight.”

Memories of childhoodDr. Irfan Nabi’s ongoing photography exhibition vividly captures the breathtaking beauty of Kashmir and Ladakh

Shilpa R

Haunting images: “Pari Mahal” and “Solitude” by Irfan Nabi * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

DOWN MEMORY LANE

With an aim to ful�l his dream of �lmmaking, director Hussein Khan embarked on a long journey way back in1993 only to come with a completelydi�erent �avour of the Valley. Havingseen the problem of drug abuse fromclose quarters during his journalismdays, Khan decided to make a movie onthis socially relevant subject, which isoften overlooked due to the politicalproblems in the Valley.

The �lm, Kashmir Daily – Story of aJournalist, addresses the gnawing issueof drugs and its intricate relation withunemployment. Bringing forth the roleof facilitators in this trade of drug, the�lm leaves audience with much toponder.

On the concept of the �lm andchoosing the medium of cinema toexpress his concerns

At the outset, I would like to statethat �lmmaking has always been mypassion, something that I can do well. Isaw this problem of drug abuse and unemployment very closely, during myjournalism days from 20012008. It wasthen that I thought of making a �lm onthis subject. I went to Mumbai where Istayed from 19932001 to become an actor. But I got more interested in behindthescenes work and I began makingprogrammes for television industry.

In 2008, I started thinking about �ction again and in the following year Imet several people to discuss my idea.But I received pessimistic responsefrom those people. They advised me tonot venture into something that doesn’tpromise pro�t. But then I pursued withthe idea that the �lm could be screenedoutside Kashmir. The one motivatingfactor was the talent around me inKashmir as well as the diverse locations– picturesque landscape of Kashmir, acity like Jammu and the deserts of Ladakh. I knew that I was surroundedwith very talented Kashmiris and Iwanted to channelise their. The onlydisadvantage that I faced was the lack ofinfrastructure.

In this journey, I received a lot of support from a number of people, especially Mir Sarwar, the lead actor in this �lm,who stood by me through the project.The government was also supportive inthe sense that it gave me the space toscreen the Kashmiri version of the �lmfor two weeks, free of charge.

On the subject of unemployment

and drug use, which, in popularimagination, are not core problems in the Valley

I don’t think that everything that ispresented in media as “core issue”ofKashmir is always true. I chose this subject because the media doesn’t addressthis international problem. The truth is,in Kashmir, the use of drugs has beennormalised among people, includingvery young children. It is a serious social problem and I thought of bringing itout, especially the role of the white collar people who are the main facilitatorsof this social evil.

Though it is a work of �ction, but ithas a serious underlying message thatunravels the layers of this trade. It is also important to note that there are bigger problems in Kashmir that such issues get overshadowed.

On whether the �lm addressesthe relationship between drugabuse, unemployment and con�ict

We have not indulged in con�ict politics in the �lm. This was a consciousdecision. But there are some dialoguesin the �lm that implicitly show the political angle. Still I would say that I wantedto focus on the social perspective of theproblem. And, we chose not to give asolution to this problem. In fact, the�lm closes with a question that is openfor the audience to ponder over. Yescertainly, I believe that unemploymentand drug abuse are interlinked. Weneed to see that how unemployment isconducive for the thriving use of drug.

On the �nancial and social challenges in making the �lm

When I started the �lm I didn’t evenknow that I would be able to successfully complete it. Since I am involved with

the advertisement industry, I startedpicking up projects, small and corporate ads, and they would fetch me somemoney that I would use it for the shooting. We took three and a half years tocomplete the �lm out of which we shotfor only 6065 days. It was a slow gradual process, depending on the intermittent �ow of money.

Another challenge was that of distribution. In fact, I would like to say that itis a bigger challenge than �lmmaking.The distributors look for big names inthe star cast. Thankfully, I was successful in tying up with PVR to screen the�lm on demand. This was one bigachievement and the �lm has beenscreened almost everywhere. Thesedays we are screening it in Jammu.

On establishing local �lm industry in Kashmir

If we have to build our own industryand make �lms, then we need to gobeyond Kashmir into the realm of worldcinema. We have set boundaries forourselves, and I think, we need to breakthose boundaries to showcase our talent.

In terms of players, I think we needcorporategovernment collaboration topromote �lmmaking in Kashmir. Wehave several philanthropists in theworld who can magnanimously contribute and help sustain the culture of storytelling through cinema.

On future projects My next project is Bed No. 17. This

�lm will be a role reversal for Mir Sarwar and me. The �lm will be directedby Sarwar and I will be seen acting inthe �lm. The �lm is about medical ma�as operating in the Valley, who areboth corrupt and in�uential.

As Kashmir Daily �nds viewers outside the state, director Hussein Khan suggestscorporategovernment collaboration for reestablishing the local �lm industry inKashmir Valley

Adil Bhat

Reviving cinematic magic: Hussein Khan

Beyond the daily reportage...

There are four watches ofthe day and �ve of thenight. At least that’s howthe Ancients divided the 24hours, with the perennialquestion: “Watchman whatof the night?” and thewatchman replying,“Morning comes and alsothe night”. That’s what’swritten in the Old Testament of the Bible too. Nowonder the chowkidar carries the mystery of thenight with him and if youlook at him hard you willknow what I mean. Chowkidars are mostly Garhwalis or Poorabiyas from EastUttar Pradesh and Bihar. Inone’s DDA colony, Thapaused to be an institution inhimself, though his wifewas more dominating.Both are dead and theirson, who used to go aboutwith a felt hat and a cigarette in his mouth, has disappeared somewhere. However, others are there likeBabban and Tiwari. Oneasked Babban if he hadseen anything unusual during his nightly rounds. Hescratched his head, tryingto recollect. “The peepultree,” he said, “emitsstrange noises and �ashesas though somebody waslighting diyas after midnight. In the adjoining Maharishi Dayanand Park,two women, one old andthe other young, are seenon some nights. They disappear after reaching thedust patch, where straycows and calves rest atnight. “Who are they?” Hehazarded a guess: “Someyears ago, a girl committedsuicide in one of the colony�ats. Two days later hergrieving mother also endedher life by hanging from aceiling fan. Maybe their spirits haunt the park.” Thismay not be true but it lendsan air of mystery to a dulland drab colony. Alright.

Next time, if your late evening walk gets tiring, befriend the chowkidar andhe may well send you homewith your ears buzzingwith excitement.

“Banshee wails of a woman in agony are said toemerge from another peepul tree in the wee hourswhen Delhi is asleep andonly the night watchmenare astir on the road. Butduring the day the treedoes not look so mysterious as buses swerve pastit; nor for that matter doesit seem to be 110 years old.It would be easy to demolish the myth on severalcounts, just as one wouldthe legend of the headlessman who is believed to patrol the road in front of theRed Fort, or the White Lady, gossip says, loiters nearthe Kashmere Gate. But atnight things do assumestrange shapes and thesenses are lulled into acredibility that de�esrationality.

Be that as it may, few indeed remember the signi�cance of this peepul tree inan age when even thegrandmothers of nearbyDaryaganj have stoppedamusing their grandchildren with uncanny tales.But the tree luckily standsuntil such time as man andnature connive to bring itdown. Until then the pee

pul leaves murmur in thebreeze and share their secret with the Delhi Gate – orso one would like to think;for it takes many generations to perpetuate a mythand just one to lay bare thefacts and smother thecharm that lingers aroundmundane things long afterthe deed is done.

Take the case of an o�cer who stayed at the DelhiDak Bungalow for a night inthe �rst decade of the 20th

Century and this is what hehad to relate; “Salam Sahib,” said the khansama, Inodded. Myself JummaKhan and this Ram Singh,he added. Then withoutanother word Jumma Khanled me to my quarters. I remarked that they were dusty, but by the time I returned after seeing to thecomforts of the horse theyhad been cleaned by theboy.

“At long last the khansama announced dinner. Iresponded immediately,walking with hasty steps tothe middle room where Inoticed that the table hadbeen laid for three. But thekhansama served me rightaway without waiting forthe other two to make theirappearance. “I retired earlyand slept �tfully because ofthe strong perfume of �owers coming from the halfopen window. Then, feel

ing thirsty and itchy (because of bugs, perhaps) Igot up, drank from theglass on the side table andpeered out of the window.Someone was walking below the trees with a lanternand from the dress itseemed it was a woman.

“But what was strangewas the fact that she waswalking about in circles. Iwatched her for some timeand then putting on mynight coat ventured to seewhat she was up to, whilethe chowkidar was dozingsomewhere. When I got upit was early morning andthe Sun had not come up.After a quick wash Idressed up to �nd that thekhansama had already laidbreakfast. After breakfast, Iwalked back to my roomand was soon ready toleave for my nextdestination.

Engrossing tale

“Before mounting myhorse I told the old chowkidar about my experience ofthe night before. He shookhis head and whispered:“Memsahib here walking.She lost necklace week ago.Eyes halfbandh nightround karta hai.” And hechuckled. That solved themystery. The woman I sawwas not a lost spirit. Shewas just a sleepwalker staying with her husband at theDak Bungalow. No wonderthe khansama had laid thedinner table for three”

Ask the neighbourhoodchowkidar, if you want tosavour some tale like thisone, though initially he willdeny seeing anything unusual but then reluctantlycome out with a yarn thatmay make your hair standon end and bring the sweatto the brow, despite thechilly winter night.

That mysterious chowkidarIf your late evening walk gets tiring, befriend the watchman and he may wellsend you home with your ears buzzing with excitement

On vigil: A security guard at work * SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

R.V.smith

the author is a veteran

chronicler of delhi

Happy with success ofPadmaavat

Deepika Padukone, whowas threatened with beheading over her latest �lmPadmaavat, is happy andproud as the Sanjay LeelaBhansali directorial hasraked in 56 crore (nearly $9million) net in India.

Padmaavat registered 5crore net on Wednesday(paid previews), 19 crorenet on the opening day onThursday and 32 crore neton Friday, according to theproducers Bhansali Productions and Viacom18Motion Pictures.

“I cannot even begin toexpress how happy andproud this makes me feel!Thank you for all the love,”Deepika, who has delivered blockbusters like OmShanti Om, Yeh JawaaniHai Deewani, Chennai Ex-press, Goliyon Ki RaasleelaRam—Leela and Piku,tweeted on Saturday.

Earlier, Deepika hadsaid that she is not someone who has ever been excited so much about box of�ce numbers but “I have tosay that this time I am. Ithink it’s going to be earthshattering”.

The movie, based on16th Century poet MalikMuhammad Jayasi’s Pad-mavat, released on Thursday, ahead of Republic Day,amid protests from the ShriRajput Karni Sena, whichclaim the movie distortsfacts.

IANS

SHORT TAKE

<> I am the son of the soil

but I wanted to capture

what I believed in. My

photographs are a kind

of documentation to

show Kashmir in a

di�erent light.


#3 3 1 0 0 7

The best bikefor your buckBefore you reach deep into your pockets, takestock of what cycle you need as a beginner

................................................................................................................

Get your saddle height

�xed properly;

otherwise you will end

up expending energy

needlessly

Muscle memory is real, say scientists. Which means that all thoseyears of riding a bicycle to schoolwill pay o�, even if you haven’tbeen on one since childhood. Theminute your hands grip the handlebar and your feet hit the pedals, your muscle memory willkeep you going. So get in the saddle, given the range of bene�ts foryour body and mind.

Doc prescribedApart from bene�ts like improvingmuscle tone, mass and endurance; giving your cardiovascularsystem a boost; pumping up thesecretion of feelgood hormones,cycling is one the best lowintensity exercises. “Even if you are overweight and need to avoid stress onyour knee joints, you can take itup. It’s one of the best ways tokeep �t,” says Dr AbhimanyuSingh, Assistant Professor, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences,Delhi. He is an orthopaedicianand a weekend cyclist himself.

Sellers’ market“Once upon a time, buying a cyclewas easy. You could choose between a ladies’, gents’, kids’ andspecials. But now the de�nitionsand classi�cations have increased,” says Pravin V Patil, MDand CEO of Starkenn Sports, inPune. “You have o�road cycles,onroad cycles, Xroad (voiced ascrossroad) cycles and hybrids.Another way of classifying themis: lifestyle, sport and professional, depending on whether you’reat the entry level, a regular butamateur cyclist or a sportsperson,

respectively. Cycles today are gender agnostic,” he adds.

Safety �rstBefore you plunge into your lovea�air with cycling and commit toan MTB or hybrid, before you givein to the siren call of the Merida orGiant, heed the advice o�ered byRajesh Kalra, one of the most experienced amateur cycling enthusiasts from Gurugram, “Start theright way. Get an entrylevel bikeand upgrade with the components slowly, rather than buying areally expensive bike at the verybeginning. Get your saddle height�xed properly; otherwise you willend up expending energy needlessly. Along with your bike, get agood helmet and wear it everytime you cycle, secured properly.Use eye protection and alsogloves.” Preeti Chima, a Delhibased personal trainer, nutritionist and cycling enthusiast, addsthat it’s important to warm up,and go riding in unknown terrainonly with someone who is moreexperienced and familiar with thearea. “Don’t listen to music while

riding, stay hydrated and don’tride for long hours without proper nutrition,” she says. So which isthe bike for you?

Your choiceChima says, “I suggest the obvious: a road bike if you want toride primarily on the road or forcommuting, an MTB if you wantto do trail riding, and a hybrid ifyou want to do both. There are also commuter bikes (some manufacturers call them lifestyle bikes)that are �ne for daily commutes.Set a budget and be prepared togo over for something that reallytalks to you. It’s important to get abike that you will want to ride, butgo with a low number of gears.Avoid something too expensivejust because you can a�ord it. Usethe bike, and see if you �nd the activity pleasurable. If you keep riding for three months, upgrade!There’s a healthy aftermarket forinexpensive bikes. If you don’tend up riding, on the other hand,it ends up being an expensive towel stand!” So before you overspend on an expensive towelstand, here is what you need toknow about each kind of bike.

MTBWhat it is: MTB is an abbreviationfor Mountain Terrain Bike, fortrails or o�tarmac. With heavyduty brakes (using motorcyclestyle discs) and heavy suspension(in the front and/or rear), thesebikes mean business. They havemultiple gears to help you go upor down steep terrain. Thesetough bikes come with knobbytires that are good for catching a�rm grip on all kinds of terrain.

You should buy it if: You plan toride on trails. You can use theseon roads as well, but these bikesare heavy. The riding position isquite comfortable. “If you love nature and are comfy riding a solidbike, go for an MTB,” says Chima.Road BikesWhat it is: The road bike is meantfor tarmac roads and aims to giveyou a fast, smooth ride. There areseveral features in a road bike thathelp in providing the smoothride: narrow, highpressure tires,an aerodynamic structure, multiple gears and lightweightmaterial.

You should buy it if: You are going to be riding in the city. “I �rstbought a mountain bike for myself, but it turned out to be tooheavy for roads. I then bought aroad bike. But Indian roads arenot very good,” says Patil. Start byriding on roads that aren’t pitted,even if it means you can’t ridedaily.Hybrid or XRoadWhat it is: Hybrid technicallymeans an ebike. But in the popular context, hybrid refers to a typethat blends the best of MTB androad bikes. It o�ers stability andcomfort with speed and the ability to handle di�erent terrains.The sitting posture is upright, thehandlebars are straight, thewheels are thinner, tires smooth.

You should buy it if: You wantto ride on typical Indian road conditions. “This should be the �rstbike for anyone,” says Patil. The Xroad is ideal for the di�erentkinds of terrain one can �nd in anIndian city: tarmac road, unpaved, cement, tracks.

* GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

Soni Sangwan




CMYK

B ND-NDE

HEALTH

Seema Sondhi discovered yoga when she su�ered three lumbar slipped discs and wasadvised complete bed rest. Over the last 18 years, she has trained and been certi�edfrom the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre and Matthew Sweeney. Shehas also written six books on the subject

A runner’sguide

Before you launch into a steady run, hereare some yoga asanas that are sure tostrengthen the legs, activate the core,build endurance and open up your body

TIRYAKA TADASANA(SIDE STRETCH POSE)

l Stand with the feet together orhip-distance apart. Ground the feet.

Lengthen the tailbone towards theearth, keeping the natural curvature

of the spine. Roll the shoulderstowards the ears and drop them

down towards the hips. Focus on thebreath.

l Inhale; raise both the arms uptowards the sky, interlock the

fingers.l Exhale; bend the torso towards the

right, stretching the entire left sideof the body, and giving the spine a

lateral stretch, engage the legs.l Inhale; lift the the torso up.

l Exhale; repeat on the left.l Repeat on both sides 10 times and

relax. Benefits: This pose increases lung

capacity and helps you breathebetter. Also, it will engage the legs

and help you stretch them for a run.

VIRABHADRASANA (WARRIOR 1)

l Stand with feet 4 or 4.5 feet apart, with arms onthe waist. Open the right foot 90 degrees and theleft foot 10 degrees inwards. Make sure the rightankle makes a T-position with the left ankle. Inhale;raise your arms out towards the side, palms parallelto the floor.l Exhale; bend the right knee in line with the rightankle, making a 90-degree angle. If possible, theright thigh should be parallel to the floor. Engageyour hips very lightly and draw the hip bonestowards the floor. Relax the shoulders and lift thechest up to encourage deep breathing.l Engage the left leg by pressing the foot towardsthe floor and lift the quadriceps or the thighs uptowards the hip joint. Hold this pose for 5 breaths,breathing deeply.l Inhale; lift the body back. Exhale; release the poseand repeat on the left side.

Benefits: This pose builds strength in the legs,arms and the spine. It helps with respiration andcirculation and energises the entire body.

HASTA UTTANASANA(RAISED ARMS BACKBEND)

l Stand with the feet together or hip-distance apart,ground the feet into the earth, lifting the energyfrom the ground up towards the torso. Tuck the tailbone down towards the earth and the pelvis intowards the body creating an extension through thespine, keeping the natural curvature of the spine. Rollthe shoulders up towards the ears and drop themdown towards the hips. Focus on the breath.l Inhale, raise your arms up towards the sky, and asyou exhale, place the palms in namastey position onthe chest, close to the sternum.l Inhale, engage the legs and abodminal muscles,extending the spine up. Exhale, lift the chest up andback. If you have a weak lower back, place the palmsaround the low back.l Inhale, lift the torso back and exhale. Repeat thesame 5 to 8 times.Benefits: This pose helps in stabilising and activatingthe abdominal muscles, which you as a runner mustbe aware of. It reduces pressure on the lower backand improves the cardiovascular system.

TADASANA(STANDING POSE)

l Stand with the feettogether or hip-distanceapart. Ground the feet.Lengthen the tail bonetowards the earth,keeping the naturalcurvature of the spine. l Roll the shoulders uptowards the ears anddrop them down towardsthe hips. Focus on thebreath.l Inhale; raise the armsup towards the sky,stretching and extendingthe torso up, andinterlock the fingers.l Exhale; lift the entirebody up on the toes,pressing them into theground. Engage thethighs and the hips,maintaining the extensionof the spine. Fix the gazeat a point in front andbreathe deeply for 5 to 10breaths, balancing on thetoes.l Inhale; release the poseand gently place theheels and arms down.Repeat 3 times, thenrelax.Benefits: This poseengages the thighs andactivates the calf musclesand prepares the legs forthe run.

Throughout history, to mostBengalis of re�nement, a gardenhas represented what ShashiTharoor would call the refulgentepitome of magni�cence. Apartfrom a regular ancestral residence in Kalighat or Bhobanipur,which housed a large joint familyand surprisingly few toilets, itwas expected for Bengali Gentryto also own a garden home, preferably next to the river, althoughShantiniketan was also acceptable. Your average gentleman ofleisure would spend many a happy hour in such a garden, whilehis maid pressed his feet, hiswife starched his dhotis, and hisold family retainer ensured thathis glass was always full. Sometimes there would be dancinggirls, as depicted in the motionpicture Jalsaghar. At othertimes, there would be Old Monk.They would gaze up at the nightsky, breathe in the night air, andall would be well. This would lastuntil they would have to sell thegarden, owing to the fact thatthey had spent too much time sitting in the garden instead ofearning money. Most of thesegarden homes are now guesthouses belonging to State Bankof India and Macneill and Magor,and can be enjoyed by membersof the public if they know one ofthe managers. The ones on thebanks of the Hooghly are particularly good, just a short drive fromCalcutta and exceptionally quiet

since all the factories shut down.My family on my father’s side

was not so fortunate, so I grew upwithout gardens. Many of themwere refugees, who had left theirgardens in Bangladesh. Every refugee in Calcutta left behind extensive gardens in Bangladesh, aswell as ponds brimming with�sh. Almost any elderly refugeeyou talk to will tell you abouttheir estates across the border. Ifall of this were true, then Bangladesh would be the size of theMongol Empire under GenghisKhan, and �sh would be cheaperthan potatoes. On my mother’sside, the family was better o�.They owned a home in Shantiniketan, and even knew people inMcCluskieganj. For upperclassBengalis, McCluskieganj was likethe French Riviera, only poorer.The people who really matteredspent their summers there, andfrom what I could make out, all ofthem stayed in the same �ve orsix houses. I’ve been there a couple of times myself. It’s a niceplace to relax in. This is when Ibegan to feel more positive aboutthe idea of gardens. Once weshifted to Delhi, we managed toacquire a small garden of ourown, and I no longer mock garden owners quite as much. It’s tiny, but very pleasant. It’s verynice on winter evenings, despitethe sounds of the tra�c, and thebarking dogs, and sometimes, ifyou’re lucky, you can see thestars twinkling through thesmog.

In Shovon Chowdhury’s most recentnovel, Murder With BengaliCharacteristics, the leader of the NewThug Society owns a garden home inShantiniketan

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

THE CREAKING TREE

My experiencewith gardens

Shovon Chowdhury

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

ON THE MAT

seema sondhi

*P

HO

TO

S: G

ET

TY

IM

AG

ES/I

ST

OC

K


#3 3 1 0 0 7

This one will be a breakoutbudget. Why? This will be the�rst one after GST implementation as well as the last fullbudget before the 2019 elections. People from everywhere, including students, teachers, andparents have big expectations from this year’s union budget for educationsector. Here’s what we couldanticipate in the comingbudget:

Increased budgetallocationThe education sector, oftendiscounted, now requires amuchneeded boost morethan ever before as the students are expecting an increased budget allocation thisyear. It is expected thatschool education will get upto 14% increase, compared tothe last full budget of the Modi government.

This year’s budget is anticipated to be used for some ofthe current schemes from government as well as to improve the overall quality ofeducation. Furthermore, an

important expectation fromthe budget is to focus on aspects such as the national assessment survey, heightenedinnovation in schools, andmapping of learning outcomes with school curricula.

Future of Sarva ShikshaAbhiyanSarva Shiksha Abhiyan focuses on providing a range of interventions for universal access and retention, bridginggender and social gaps in elementary education and improving the overall quality oflearning. With the programme completing 100% enrolment, students are expecting that the shift will be onteachinglearning outcomes.

It is expected that a part of

the budget from SarvaShiksha Abhiyan will provide�nancial boost to NationalCouncil for Education Research and Training (NCERT)to map the learning outcomeof students in districts.

Programmes such as National Assessment Survey,which got only �1 crore in theprevious budget, might get amuchneeded hike this time.

Relief in education loanConsidering how expensiveeducation has become today,students are anticipatingsome relaxation on educationloans. Section 80E has a provision to claim the interestpaid on an education loan asa tax deduction. However,this bene�t is available only

for eight �nancial years. Thisdeduction was introducedback in 2006 when the average monthly school fee was�2,000 – 3,000. However, thecost of education has risenquite sharply with the average monthly school fee, especially those of privateschools, as �5,000 – 6,000.The current interest rates oneducation loans range from10.5% to 13.5%. This meansthat a borrower may have toextend the term of the loanwell beyond eight years.

Therefore, a key expectation from students and parents is to widen the tax deduction window. Just likehome loans, education loansshould be available for a fulltenure of the loan. This will

encourage parents to providebetter quality education totheir kids. On the �ipside,this may also be a farfetcheddream considering the surgein the default rate of education loan to 7.67%, leading tobanks’ NPA woes.

Other expectationsAnother development fromthe government is anticipatedin the area of teacher training considering the target oftraining them all by 2019.Last year saw several initiatives such as the setting up ofAtal Tinkering Labs and AtalIncubation centres to bringinnovation to young mindsand encourage curiosity.Some of these e�orts are expected to continue with agreater focus from the government. This may alsoform the basis for better public private partnerships inthe education sector.

Additionally, students areexpecting more edutech initiatives in continuation to theones from last year such as‘ShaGun’ to track and monitor the performance of SarvaShiksha Abhiyan, or SWAYAMapp that provides free of coststudy material and digitalclasses to the students.

Taking everything into account, the coming union budget will be interesting, withstudents closely watching thegovernment’s roadmap forthis year and potentially, forthe next term.

The author is ManagingDirector, Pearson India.

b Vikas Singh

: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It is expected that schooleducation will get up to14% increase, compared tothe last full budget of theModi government.

FR

EE

PIK

What is in the union budget forstudents this year?

Budget boost?

CM

YKND-X

DELHIMonday • January 29, 2018

0

EDGE::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

www.thehindu.com/education

www.facebook.com/thehinduedge

www.twitter.com/thehinduedge

Cutting expensesAround 10,000 students will miss out ongovernment funding for university thisyear, peak body Universities Australiasays, as the sector looks toaccommodate AU$2.2 billion in fundingcuts by the Turnbull government. Morethan 190,000 students are expected tocommence university from March, aftera similar number graduated last year.

Global ed)

<>Whether you think you can or youthink you can’t — you’re right. Henry Ford

Growing ecosystemEntrepreneurFirst, a Singapore andLondon-based startup accelerator,unveiled its second Singapore cohort of14 startups across industries. The 12startups from EF Singapore’s previouscohort have already received interestfrom global and local venture capitalfirms.

It’s o�cialFor the first time, Israel’s Council forHigher Education appointed someone toprevent sexual harassment, councilrepresentatives told the KnessetCommittee for the Advancement of theStatus of Women. Sigal Mordoch,assistant to the deputy head of theCouncil for Higher Education, will bedealing with related issues.

b FRI Admission Test

Location: Forest Research Institute Deemed to be University, Dehra Dun Test date: May 20Test centres: 12 Application form: Downloadfrom the website and applynow.Application fee: � 1,200 foreach courseDeadline: April 6Courses: MSc forestry, woodscience and technology, environment management (38seats each) and MSc celluloseand paper technology (20seats)Eligibility: BSc botany/ chemistry/ geology/ mathematics/physics/zoology/agriculture/ forestry/BE/B.Tech inenvironment science/chemical/mechanical with 50%marks (45% for SC/STcategories)www.fridu.edu.in

b B.S Research Admission atIISc

Location: Indian Institute ofScience (IISc), BangaloreCourse: Bachelor of Science(B.S. Research)Total seats: 120Application fee: � 500 ( � 250for SC/ST/PwD categories)Application mode: Apply onlinefrom February 1 Deadline: April 30Eligibility: A pass in Plus Two/equivalent examination in2017 with physics, chemistryand mathematics and minimum 60% marks/equivalentgrade. SC/ST students are required to pass class marks. Selection: Based on merit ineither one – KVPY SA, SB,SX; Main 2018, IIT JEE Advanced 2018, NEET UG 2018(Securing minimum of 60%(GN), 54% (OBC NCL), 30%for SC/ST/PwD candidates).www.iisc.ac.in/ug,www.iisc.ac.in

Compiled by GopakumarKarakonam

save the date)

Institution: School of Communications and Reputation(SCoRe), MumbaiDuration: 10 monthsApplication: OnlineEligibility: Graduation in anydiscipline. Students awaiting�nal yearresults can alsoapply.Selection: Entrance test and

For Physics, students are required to have taken Mathematics (including calculus)up to Class XII.Selection: Personal interviewfollowed by a mandatory onthespot essay and an optional Ashoka Aptitude Test(AAT).Deadline: April [email protected]

interviewDeadline: June 30bit.ly/SCoReregisteronline

b Undergraduate degrees inPhysics and Biology

Institution: Ashoka University, HaryanaEligibility: SAT or ACT or Ashoka Aptitude Test (AAT) or �nal class XII board scores.

admissions)

b Mobile AppDevelopment intern atEdumonk Foundation

Category: SoftwareLocation: Delhi Stipend: � 2,000 —�5,000/month

Who can apply:

Computer science/IT students UG /PGDeadline: Jan 30 http://bit.ly/Twenty19THEDM

b Business DevelopmentExecutive intern at AlignBooks

Category: SoftwareLocation: Kolkata Stipend:

� 15,000 — �25,000/monthWho can apply: All studentsDeadline: Jan 31 http://bit.ly/Twenty19THALBIndia Fellow Social Leadership ProgramInternship Category:NGO/volunteerInternship Location: Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Indore, Mumbai,Pune, Chennai, Delhi,Lucknow, KolkataStipend: � 15,000 �18,000/MmonthWho can apply: AllstudentsDeadline: Last Date: Jan 312018http://bit.ly/Twenty19THiFP

b Human Resources (HR)Intern at Danamojo

Courtesy: twenty19.com

INTERNSHIPS)


#3 3 1 0 0 7

Those of us who spend anylength of time on social media platforms may be familiar with the gutsinking,minddulling, vaguely anxious feeling that we are being overtaken by the world,and that everyone in it has ahappier, more exciting, ful�lling, successful life than weare. Especially at that precisemoment, when the sum ofour existence takes the formof a �gure hunched over adigital device, scrolling,swiping and clicking, even asothers are partying, vacationing, smiling at camerassurrounded by friends andfamily, or eating impossiblycolourful meals. Some mightbe winning awards or achieving high honours of one kindor another in academic orprofessional spheres, whilewe sit there, looking on.

Virtual connectionResearch into socialmedia use suggeststhat there is a tendency to engage in what iscalled “social comparison” as we look atthese sites and watchwhat other people aredoing — or what theyappear to be doing —and constantly judgeour own lives againstwhat we see. Overtime, this has the effect of making us feel

and a sense of worthlessness. It can shift our focusfrom the things we could bedoing to things that we imagine we should be doing,based on what we see othersdoing.

I have a little note on thewhiteboard in my room thatsays “I am enough!” Nowthat might seem to comefrom selfcentredness oreven arrogance but what ittells me is that I am responsible for my life — my work, myfeelings, my ideas. Even if Itake inspiration, advice orsupport from others, it is ultimately up to me to set mygoals and map my path toreach them. It reminds methat while comparisons withothers may be motivational,the only comparisons thatwill really help are the onesbetween where I was andwhere I am, or where I amand where I want to be. Inshort, it is about setting mypriorities based on an internal compass.

Social media can be fun;those colourful windows into other people’s lives give

one a great way topass an idle moment.But when it startsmessing with yourhead — on the basis ofnothing more thanpretty pictures — it istime to pull back andcheck that internalcompass.

The author teaches at

the University of

Hyderabad and edits

Teacher Plus.

usha. [email protected]

Comparisons can be toxic Social comparisons have become a bane; is this reallyneeded? Take a cue and judge only for yourself

FR

EE

PIK

like our own lives are uninteresting and dull, even if the

logical part of our brainsknows that people onlyshow the best parts oftheir lives on theseplatforms.Of course, social compari

son that happens on digitalplatforms is only an extension of what we do every day,in our o�ine lives. We feel apressure to keep up with ourpeers, and judge ourselvesand our actions according tosome standard set by society, family or friends — and sometimes the media. Suchcomparison can have bothpositive and negative e�ects.It could lead to “healthy”competition that motivatesus to do something better, orto set goals for ourselves thatwe commit to working towards. As long as these goalsare realistic and draw from agood sense of our own abilities, this can be productive.But it can also have the opposite e�ect, making us feelthat we can never quite measure up to the levels we seeother people achieving, often leading to depression

BACKPACKER’s Guide)usha raman

The dying of the new year, thearrival of a new one.

Has anything changed? No!No? Well — Happy New Year!At the eternal level, nothing

has changed. The sunrise onJanuary 1 is guaranteed to beno di�erent from what we experienced on the day beforewhen we told ourselves thatthe previous year had come toan end. Likewise, the water inthe pipes on New Year’s Daywill fail exactly like it did onDecember 31, or 30. The electricity too might drop for anhour or two.

Abstract notionsConsider the power of our abstract thought. We have divided and parceled up Time itself:A.D./B.C, The Middle Ages,Modern Era, the 21st century,and more. Until fresh evidenceis produced, we are tellingourselves that our species is70,000 years old — give ortake. We have surrendered tothe mythology of the calendarso completely that we are nowobsessed with the passage ofyears. We want to either stop itor reverse it. Some people believe that its signs can be reversed with treatments; weeven make arrangements topreserve our own blood incase we need our past to repair the possible disaster insome distant future.

Concepts of timelessnesshave always bothered humankind ever since we grew conscious of ourselves as memorymaking creatures. We trainourselves to be mindful of howrapidly things grow, ripen andwork towards their end. It issomething we constantly livewith. The Buddhists spenddays drawing elaborate mandalas and then wipe them out.Likewise, we have the Kalamezhuthu of South India,which too, is fashioned arduously with colours and materials found in nature. This toois rubbed out after the ritualperformances end. One of thepurposes of these acts is to remind ourselves of the impermanence of our own lives andtheir products in order towarn people not to get too at

tached to the idea of themselves — selfseriousness beingjust next door to narcissism.

Time! How it rules us.“Send me your response by

the end of the day” is a frequent demand (bordering onthe discourteous) on email orphone — another timerelatedpressure designed to destroye�ciency and accuracy. Andyet another part of the arti�cial framework into which wehave gracefully inserted ourselves.

The outsourcing of humanmemory and ingenuity to electronic data banks is the �rststep towards our species becoming redundant some day.If a smart truck doesn’t need adriver and a robot can do yourhousework, where does thatleave human cleaners anddrivers? And yet — can any machine replace a teacher likeJothi Thiagarajan? She places aglobe on her student’s desk,asks him to close his eyes andspin it. She then says: “Placeyour �nger anywhere on theglobe to stop it. Open youreyes, and tell me what materials you would use to build ahouse if you were living whereyour �nger is?”

It is only in the classroomthat one can arrest the spinning of the globe. The onlyway we can manage the marchof time is to manage ourselves.For that, we need to look within, examine ourselves and livewith awareness. Then perhapswe master time by making ourdays meaningful.

The author is the series editor of

Living in Harmony (Oxford

University Press).

Transcending time Looking within to manage ourselves is a way of coming toterms with the impermanence of our lives

Ethics and You)mini krishnan

SA

TH

EE

SH

VE

LLIN

EZ

HI

: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

We train ourselves to bemindful of how rapidlythings grow, ripen andwork towards their end.

EDGE

CM

YKND-X

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 20182EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

EAR SHOT

ASHOK RAJAGOPALAN

Power of PlanningAuthor: Vinay MahajanPublisher: BecomeShakespeare.comPrice: �300This is a guide to personalfinancial planning that is all aboutvision — dreaming big and settinglofty goals. Of course, this shouldbe backed up with the rightplanning and execution. Theauthor says that though finance isa topic many shy away fromassuming that it’s “boring”, it issomething we need to discuss. Weput so much thought and researchinto finding the right kind of smartphone to buy —similar work should go into understanding thefinancial products we buy, and that is where this bookcomes in handy. Through the four golden rules ofinvestment broken down and discussed in this book,create a second source of income from your ownsavings. In other words, learn how to make yourmoney work for you, and not the other way around.

Street Smart — Beyond MBAAuthor: Suresh PadmanabhanPublisher: Manjul Publishing HousePrice: �175This book analyses the strategiesof Indian communities known tohave been successfully involvedin business and building wealthfor many years. As the titleimplies, being street smart is theunderlying basis of the strategiesand mantras employed. Theauthor emphasizes that thisquality can be learned — it isn’tnecessarily a talent that you areborn with. He devotes a chapteror two to each of communities totell us what we can learn from them about combiningspiritual and financial growth and attracting wealth.These are tried and test strategies that have beenpassed down for at least four generations. Forexample, making decisions based on ethics andhonesty, or trusting one’s instincts and be willing totake risks.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

ON THE SHELF

b Spatika Narayanan

Are you an artist who dreams ofcreating the multimillion dollarmasterpiece or are you just keen toset your feet �rmly on the ground before losing your head in the clouds?

Here are some career optionswhere you can put your �ne art skillsto use:

Graphic designersBranding budgets in India are growing. With massive rebranding exercises led by big brands like Airtel,new brand launches by large companies like Maruti, and even startupslike PayTM allocating large sums tobranding the time for great graphicdesigners has really come. Graphicdesigners make logos, print ads, brochures, �iers, packaging materialand other visual communication material. They �nd employment not only with the marketing departmentsof small and large companies but also creative teams at advertising agencies and design agencies, as also afair amount of freelance work.

Animators With gaming revenues expected tohave crossed over $100 billion in2017 (as per gaming market researcher Newzoo) and the animation industry touching $250 billion in 2015 (asper the Global Animation Industry2017 report by Research and Markets), animation studios and gamingcompanies are doing big business.The role of animation graphic designers is to create characters thatsuit the plot, design di�erent levelsfor games like the multiple Minecraftenvironments or Choota Bheem’s

Dholakpur; and make attractive animated graphic elements.

Art teachersWith art becoming a big focus foreducators, and parents, several positions for teaching art at leadingschools or in hobby centres can be

explored. One can also work withpsychologists or clinics as art therapists or run workshops on Art Therapy with companies, schools, andother organisations.

Cartoonists and illustratorsThis artistic species with highly en

viable jobs are mostly selfemployedand work with newspapers, magazines, websites, publishers or authors from project to project.

Cartoonists may work with newspapers or websites o�ering newscommentary (Laxman’s CommonMan), entertainment (Dennis the Menace) or satire (Dilbert). Illustratorsmay work with publishers or authorsbringing to life a children’s book series, a graphic novel, or even a bookof recipes.

Online clip art has created another avenue for artists to produce andsell work to websites or stock illustration marketspaces like iStock or Getty (research).

SculptorsSculptors create threedimensionalart using stone, clay, mud, wood,metal, and other materials to createartistic forms. Sculptors may be commissioned by hotels, resorts, urbanplanners and architects and evenmall owners to create art installa

tions around speci�ed themes.

Art consultantsArt consultants work with art collectors, hotels, interior decorators, andalmost anyone who wants to buy andinstall great art. They keep uptodate with artists’ works, galleries,and art dealers to source the mostappropriate installations, sculpture,paintings and craft items to suit aclient’s budget, home or hotel. Theycharge the client a percentage oftheir budget or a �xed fee.

Art dealers They are typically entrepreneurswith an eye for great art and a nosefor a great market. Art dealers mayown galleries, o�ine or online storesand seek to sell works of art made by�ne artists.

An art dealer typically seeks outartists to represent and builds relationships with collectors and museums whose interests match thework of these artists. Many dealersspecialise in a particular style, period, or region.

And if you are looking for uniquecareer opportunities, explore forensic art jobs with law enforcementagencies to assist in identifying suspects by drawing images of peopleand situations based on verbal descriptions given by witnesses. Or youcould just be an artist and use colours, lines, canvases and other material to express an idea and createan outoftheworld experience!

While you are �nding your eye,your voice and your style, you canexplore some of these options tolearn, grow and �nd some stability!

The author leads the India o�ce of a

Californiabased career guidance �rm,

Stoodnt, and is the author of The

Ultimate Guide to 21st Century Careers,

from which this article is partially

excerpted. [email protected]

Art of thematter Find your feet in a career in �ne arts that nowspans several industries

CAREER CUES)richa dwivedi saklani

<> Art, being a subjective �eld,

has a niche audience.

Identifying your audience

and agents who could take

your art to the right

audience will make you

reach your goal faster.”

Leena Namjoshi, Founder-cum-Arts and

Design Consultant, ARTWORKZZ

CV

.SU

BR

AH

MA

NY

AM

V S

RE

EN

IVA

SA

MU

RT

HY

What is the di�erence between ‘intolerable’

and ‘intolerant’? (C. Aditya, Chennai)

When you say that the situation that youare in has become ‘intolerable’, what you aresuggesting is that it has become unbearable;you �nd it extremely di�cult to deal with.The word can be used with both people andthings. For example, when you say that themovie was intolerably boring, what you aresuggesting is that you could not sit through it.The word ‘intolerant’, on the other hand, ismostly used with people, and it is always usedto show disapproval. Someone who is intolerant is very narrow minded; he is not very accepting. He is not willing to consider ideas orbeliefs of others that are di�erent from hisown; he expects everyone to be like him. One

is usually ‘intolerant of ’ someone orsomething.

My grandmother is very intolerant of girlswho wear jeans and tshirt.

You’re our party leader. How can you be sointolerant of other people’s beliefs?

The constant criticism from his boss madeRavi’s life at work intolerable.

The pain from the wound was becoming intolerable.

What is the meaning of ‘be in it for the long

haul’? ( J Indrani, Delhi)

This is an expression that is quite frequently used in American English in informal contexts. When you say that you are going to be insomething for the long haul, what you are suggesting is that you are going to be committedto it or be involved in it for a very long time. Ifthe something is a project, then you will continue to work on it till it has been successfullycompleted. You realise from the beginning

that it is going to take a long time to complete,and no matter what, you are not going toabandon it anytime soon.

The people of the town are very scepticalabout the project. We need to convince themwe’re in it for the long haul.

Jai knows that being a doctor in a small village is very di�cult, but he said he’s in it forthe long haul.

Can the word ‘mothball’ be used as a verb? ( J

Hegde, Bengaluru)

Yes, it can. When used as a noun, the wordrefers to the white balls that we normally putin trunks and suitcases when we wish to putour winter clothes away — we do this in orderto keep the moths and other insects away.When used as a verb, the word ‘mothball’means to ‘cancel or postpone’ work on a project. If a company mothballs one of its factories, it means that it is going to shut it downtemporarily or for a very long time.

The University’s plan to start a new centrein Kochi has been mothballed.

If you ask me, all these old buildings needto be mothballed.

Is it okay to say, ‘Everyone wants to see the

latest Star Wars movie, and Prithi is not an

exception’? (S. Rama Devi, Anantapur)

No, it is not. The standard expression is‘and X is no exception’, and not ‘and X is notan exception’.

All children love chocolate ice cream, andAnika is no exception.

Every Sunday I go to the beach, and lastSunday was no exception.

* * * * *A smart person knows all the rules so he

can break them wisely. — Lubna Azmi

The author teaches at the English and Foreign

Languages University, Hyderabad.

[email protected]

Are you in it for the long haul?

know your english)s. upendran

Need for Speed Payback

Publisher:

Electronic ArtsGenre:

RacingThis is the 23rdinstallment of thispopular car racing series.Set in an open world environment, Payback featuresthree playable characters: streetracer Tyler “Ty”Morgan, extremeracer Sean “Mac” McAlister andwheelman Jessica “Jess” Miller. The game can beplayed in the singleplayer mode offline as well asonline. While following the storyline, players canalso take part in billboardsmashing challenges,racer duels, checkpoint and speed camerachallenges. The game takes place in Fortune Valley,which is loosely based on Las Vegas. NFS Paybackhas been published for Microsoft Windows,PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

SpellForce 3

Publisher:

THQ Nordic GmbHGenre:

Realtime strategy, roleplayingDeveloped by THQ Nordic and Grimlore Games, thisgame takes place in the world of ‘Eo’ before theevents of SpellForce: The Order of Dawn. Its USP isthat it is a fusion of realtime strategy and roleplaying, thus giving you the best of both worlds. Thegame features a single player mode as well as amultiplayer mode where one can play against otherplayers or an AI. Players can choose from threedifferent factions: Elves, Humans and Orcs. Thegame’s story and missions are really engaging andthe graphics and soundtracks will leave youspellbound.

Playerunknown’sBattlegrounds

Publisher:

PUBG Corporation/Microsoft StudiosGenre:

Battle RoyaleThis game is the embodiment of the phrase: Survivalof the fittest. As up to a 100 players parachute ontoan island, the objective is to stay alive whilescavenging for weapons and eliminating otherplayers. One can choose to fight alone or with asmall team of up to four players. The player needs toeject from the plane at the right time in order to landat various strategic points of the map. Once youland, the hunt begins. You can either choose to playfrom the first or the thirdperson perspective. Themap keeps shrinking periodically, increasing thedifficulty level of the game. It has been published forMicrosoft Windows and Xbox One.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

GAME ON

b Sarthak Saraswat


#3 3 1 0 0 7

EDGE

CM

YKND-X

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2018 3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Ad guru, restaurateur, entrepreneur, scuba diver, environmentalist... Prahlad Kakar dons several hats. But the�rst one he donned is that ofan ad �lmmaker. He hasworked with brands such asPepsi, Kit Kat, Nestle, andWhirlpool, through his ad�lm agency, Genesis. If youstill hum jingles like “YehiHai Right Choice Baby! Aha!”(Pepsi), “Ting Ting Ti Ting”(Britannia), and quote taglines like “It’s di�erent”(Maggi Sauce), then Kakar isthe one who should get thecredit.

The latest hat he has cometo wear is that of an educationist with the launch of ThePrahlad Kakar School ofBranding and Entrepreneurship (PKSBE), along with cofounder Pratish Nair. It is aoneofakind businessschool where aspiring entrepreneurs and advertising�lmmaking professionals arehoned on their risk intelligence, decisionmaking, crisis management, and crisisprevention skills.

For Kakar, this decadeslong journey from �lmmakerto entrepreneur took shapein college, where he learntlifelessons that he valueseven today. Here he sharesmore about his years incollege...

Yesteryears“I attended Fergusson Col

lege, Pune. Though I graduated in Economics honours, the subject I reallyliked was military strategy.Economics sounded farmore respectable in terms ofgetting a job. But my truepassion was military strategy, which is basically the history, strategy, and tactics ofall major wars,” he explains.It taught him why the victors

were victorious, sometimesfrom sheer luck and accidents, and sometimes fromsheer brilliance of strategyand tactics.

Later in life, when he opted for a career in advertisingand marketing, he realisedhow military strategy helpedhim nail it! “Economics, aswe studied, has no practicaltranslation. The marketplace is a war zone and myunderstanding of strategyand tactics has given me a farbetter insight, and therefore,the edge in the business ofbrand building in a hugelycompetitive �eld. My under

standing of the art of war hashelped me much more thananything else in the battle ofbrands,” he adds.

College taught me...Other than the conven

tional curriculum and focuson reallife lessons that onelearns from teachers, batchmates and friends, Kakarsays college helped him withskills to face the future andbe a winner. “My collegetaught me that most peopleare hypocrites; they all havedouble standards, and aretaught to accept being second best because being bestis far too exposed to risk,

criticism, and failure. On thefunnier side, it also taughtme that pataoing girls is a bigdeal! I had to use all my wits,charms, intelligence, andacting abilities to impressthem, and I did very well.This was the most di�cultexam of all, and to be honest,it made me think outofthebox, which has helped me alot throughout life,” he says.

Memorable momentKakar was quite popular

in college. Once, when hecame back from the holidays, he found that somemiscreants had painted theback wall of the ladies hostel

in big letters: “Lock up yourdaughters. Robin is back intown.” Kakar was known as‘Robin’ in college!

Favourite mentor“Shyam Benegal will al

ways be my most favouritementor. I started assistinghim in 1972 and he taught mehow illiterate I was! I felt utterly humiliated when heasked me about movies because I knew nothing andwas completely clueless!What he really did for mewas by criticising me at thatearly age, he forced me to become �lmliterate. And alsoliteratureliterate! Shyam Benegal is largely responsiblefor my voracious appetite forreading,” he states.

Message“My advice to the youth of

today is that there is only oneconstant in your life and thatis change,” says Kakar. “Asstudents, if you are nottrained and ready to acceptchange on an everyday basis,you will struggle, and possibly not survive.” Change, hesays, comes in most unexpected places, and as students, one needs to be �exible, adaptable, and not havea huge ego which can ultimately destroy you. “Successstories today are written bythose who have learnt to takethe risk. The ones — thosewho are incapable of takingrisk because they are afraid —usually end up taking a job orworking for somebody else,”he adds.

my collEge years)

‘Be ready to accept change’Ad guru Prahlad Kakar shares how college helped him prepare for a war zone of a di�erent kind

b Archana Subramanian :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The market place is awar zone and myunderstanding ofstrategy and tactics hasgiven me a far betterinsight, and therefore,the edge in the businessof brand building.

K.

BH

AG

YA

PR

AK

ASH

After completingmy bachelor’s inBiomedical Engineering from SRMUniversity, Chennai, I was determined to pursuemy master’sabroad. Like most,

I was unsure of how to go about it. Initially,I just focused on applying to universities inGermany because of the very minimal oreven no tuition fees for courses. Havinggrabbed the silver medal and a semesterabroad experience in Harvard MedicalSchool, U.S., for my bachelor’s degree, Iwas con�dent I would get into one of thetopuniversities in the world.

It was in April 2017, after being advisedby a friend, I applied to the University ofShe�eld. Being consistently ranked one ofthe top ten universities in the U.K. for student experience by the Times Higher Education, I knew it was a step in the right direction.

It was a dream come true when I received an email on July 28, 2017, stating thatI had received the India Post Graduate Merit Scholarship.

Combination courseAfter gaining experience on medical instruments and learning the diagnosis methods,I wanted to explore the biomanufacturingprocesses and treatment methods associated with medicine. Biological and Bioprocess Engineering is a oneyear postgraduate course which is a combination ofbiopharmaceutical, biotechnology, andbioprocess.

The department has over 40 academicsta� and in each module we are taught byexperts who have specialisation and research interests in their respective �eldsand are supported by links with the industry.

The course is a blend of both theory andpractice. There are numerous lectures, tutorials, workshops, and elective coursesthat can be opted by students from di�erent departments. Further, a key component of the course is the researchbasedproject.

We are required to undertake a researchproject which is assessed via a dissertationand oral presentation, which gives us prac

tical experience ofresearch inour chosen�eld and the opportunity to tackle reallifeproblems.

The university provides the best studentexperience. Starting from preregistrationprocess to counselling and accommodationto �nding parttime jobs, all kinds of helpand guidance are provided.

One can seek immigration advice, medical help, or get help in �nding private property.

The facilities also include 24/7 libraryservices, the latest technology laboratoriesfor every department in the Diamondbuilding, advanced labs for research and amultiactivity Students’ Union where onecan relax, make new friends, attend concerts and become a part of di�erent societies. Also, the Goodwin Sports Centre provides amazing sport facilities and eventshappen round the year.

She�eld has a very comfortable vibeand friendly atmosphere. It Is a pedestrianfriendly city with a rich cultural background and natural landmarks.

Sibanwita Mohanty is pursuing Masters in

Biological and Bioprocess Engineering at

University of She�eld , U.K.

Postcard from... Sheffield )

Dream come trueThe best of student experience and a wellstructuredcourse make She�eld a wonderful destination

Name:

Sibanwita MohantyCollege:

University of She�eld , U.K.Course:

Biological and Bioprocess

Engineering

b OET for nursing and midwifery inUK, Ireland

The Occupational English Test (OET)for healthcare professionals is now accepted by the Nursing and MidwiferyCouncil, UK (NMC) and The Nursingand Midwifery Board of Ireland(NMBI) as proof of English pro�ciencyfor overseastrained nurses and midwives for registration purposes. Offered by: Cambridge Assessment English and Cambridge Boxhill Language AssessmentTest centres: Kochi, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai,NewDelhi, Thiruvananthapuram; test venue network in over 40 countriesTest dates: Exam dates available for every month. www.occupationalenglishtest.org

etcetera)

The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an All India Entrance Examination for admissionsfor M.Tech, M.E courses at the IITs,NITs, other reputed Tier 1 institutionsand many private universities acrossthe country. GATE 2018 is going to beconducted by IIT Guwahati this yearfor 23 papers on February 3, 4, 10and 11 across eight sessions.

The mode of the examination is expected to remain the same as forGATE 2017. It is a computerbased exam and will be held for three hours.Virtual calculator will be providedduring the online exam. There are 65questions containing MCQ (MultipleChoice Questions) and NAT Questions (Numerical Answer Type) for100 Marks.

Crack thisThis year, more than 50 PSUs are recruiting through the GATE18 score.Some of the prominent PSUs that recruit via GATE Score are DRDO,BHEL, NTPC, PGCIL, IOCL, SAIL andBAARC. “To get good GATE score,one should have a very good command on technical subjects, as GATEstrongly tests your knowledge in alltechnical areas. Also, to crack a PSUjob through GATE, getting a good

GATE score is not the only importantcomponent, you also need to have adeep insight into the subject as manyPSUs have an interview round duringtheir recruitment process,” says president of T.I.M.E. Institution, R .V.Reddy.

Here are some tips and strategieson “what to do?” and “what not todo?” in the last few days from theexperts.

Don’t spend time going all over the topics again

This is not the time to start readingfrom the scratch. You need to goahead with short notes and revise thepractice questions and answers youhave read before. One important advise to students is to �gure out a way

to �nd out about topics which werenot covered by you at all. This can bedone by looking at the synoptic noteof the topic mentioned in the studymaterial/textbook so that you can bein a position to answer if the questioncomes out as a direct question.

Easy subjects �rstStart studying the subjects which

is easier and prioritise them accordingly. The more you solve, the moreyou answer correctly, and this con�dence will help you get energised toattempt the di�cult questions too.This is important to keep your energy and excitement intact for crackingGATE.

Use short notesTry and make short notes from the

tutorials or common discussion forums or from any other study material. This will help you speed up yourpreparation, as notes don’t go intothe details of the subject. This willtherefore help you cover the essential concepts needed for the examand thus save time.

Solve previous question banksTry to solve as many papers as you

can. If you are not able to solve or getthe correct answers, go back to yournotes or explanations and understand those from the study book and

move on. Don’t stick to books whichhave vast explanation of topics.

Avoid Internet It is very common for students to

search on the net and download thesoft copies of the books and notes.These soft copies can be found easily,downloaded and shared. But the disadvantage with soft copies is that theInternet also has many other thingsto distract you like music, videos,chats and so on.

Don’t think too much, startworking

If you think about all subjects youneed to �nish, you will feel the burden. Just plan out what you want tostudy today and be sincere and complete it the same day.

“Finally do not take too muchstress or study late at night. Eatingand sleeping on time will give you themuch needed energy to put in yourbest during the exam. Relax on the �nal day and sleep early. Hard worknever goes unpaid, so keep calm. Allthe best.” says Mr. Reddy.

Exam prep)

Relax and revise With only a few days to go, these tips will help you crack the GATE

Take notes: Cover the essentials.

: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Figure out a way to �nd outabout topics which were notcovered by you at all.

K.

MU

RA

LI

b Riley Family Scholarship

MBA aspirants who demonstrateacademic merit, and are from adisadvantaged background canapply. The scholarship is for admission into Imperial College Business School.Eligibility: Candidates will be selected on the basis of performance during admission, essaysubmission, GMAT score, academic and professional records.Prizes and rewards: GBP 51,000.How to apply: Online.Deadline: January 26http://www.b4s.in/EDGE/RFS1

b United NationsJapanLongterm FellowshipProgramme

b Cultural Talent SearchScholarship

This scholarship is meant to support and encourage 620 talentedstudents in cultural activitiessuch as Indian classical music,light music, classical dances,theatre, folk, traditional and indigenous art forms and visualarts.Eligibility: Students of 10 to 14years of age studying in recognised school or belonging to families who practise traditionalperforming arts.Prizes and rewards: �, 3600 p.a.and reimbursement up to �9,000 p.a. for fee paid for training will be provided.How to apply: Through postDeadline: January 31http://www.b4s.in/EDGE/CTS5

Courtesy: www.buddy4study.com

The United Nations O�ce forOuter Space A�airs and the Government of Japan, in cooperation with the Kyushu Institute ofTechnology, invites applicationsfrom graduate and postgraduatestudents for this programme.

Eligibility: Applicants must not bemore than 35 years old and musthave completed fouryear bachelor’s degree or equivalent, or�veyear master’s degree orequivalent in engineeringrelatedsubjects and receive nominationfrom the institution.Prizes and rewards: 1,45,000 yenper month to cover housing,food, local transportation andmiscellaneous expenses till 23years of fellowship programme.How to apply: Through emailDeadline: January 28http://www.b4s.in/EDGE/UNL2

SCHOLARSHIPS)


Govt. not serious about Budget session: Opposition

Documents

Transcript of Govt. not serious about Budget session: Opposition