Jagan to have 5 Deputy CMs, to form new Cabinet midterm

CMYK

saturday, june 8, 2019 Delhi

City Edition

24 pages O ₹��10.00

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Mamata not to attend

NITI Aayog meeting,

says it is ‘fruitless’

page 12

U.K. PM Theresa May

quits as Tory leader,

succession race begins

page 14

Nadal tops Federer with

ease, reaches his 12th

French Open fi��nal

page 18

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddyannounced on Friday thatthere would be fi��ve DeputyChief Ministers in his 25member Cabinet, which willbe sworn in on Saturday.

Addressing 151 YSR Congress Party candidates whowere elected to the Assembly but have not yet beensworn in and seven MLCs atthe second YSR Congress Legislature Party meeting atthe Tadepalli party offi��ce,Mr. Reddy said the posts ofDeputy Chief Minister wouldbe given to fi��ve MLAselectbelonging to the BackwardClasses, the Scheduled

Castes, the ScheduledTribes, the minorities andthe Kapus.

The Kapu community has

been agitating to be includedin the Backward Classes.

Mr. Reddy met GovernorE.S.L. Narasimhan, who

came here from Hyderabadin the evening for the swearingin of the Cabinet, andsubmitted to him the list of25 legislators to be sworn inas Ministers.

While the ChandrababuNaidu Cabinet had two Deputy CMs — one BC (K.E.Krishnamurthy) and a Kapu(Ch. China Rajappa) — Mr.Reddy has increased thenumber to fi��ve. Mr. Reddytold the legislators that 90%of the Cabinet memberswould be replaced after twoandahalf years to give achance to others.

Jagan to have 5 Deputy CMs, to form new Cabinet midterm Deputies will represent the BCs, SCs, STs, minorities and Kapus

G. Venkataramana Rao

Amaravati

Striking a balance: Jagan Mohan Reddy said 90% of theMinisters would be replaced after twoandahalf years.

BJP CHIEF RULES OUT

SPECIAL STATUS A PAGE 8

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 12

The Gauhati High Court onFriday granted interim bailto exserviceman Mohammed Sanaullah, whowas sent to a detentioncamp after a tribunal declared him a foreigner onMay 23.

A team of lawyers, led byIndira Jaising and Hafi��zRashid Ahmed Choudhury,appearing for the Kargil warveteran, moved the application for his release.

After hearing the arguments, a Division Bench ofJustices Manojit Bhuyan andPrasanta Kumar Deka ordered the release of the 52yearold former Junior Commissioned Offi��cer on his fur

nishing a bail bond of₹��20,000 with “two local sureties of a like amount.”

The court also asked Mr.Sanaullah to take steps toserve notice by registeredpost on Chandramal Das,former investigating offi��cerof the Assam Police’s borderwing, whose report in 2008

made the exserviceman a“foreigner.”

The judges also directedthe exserviceman not tomove out of the territorial jurisdiction of Kamrup andKamrup (Metro) districtswithout the approval of theSuperintendent of Police(Border), Kamrup. Guwahati, where he resides, falls under Kamrup (Metro).

The court also directedthe authorities to obtain Mr.Sanaullah’s biometrics andfi��ngerprints before releasinghim on interim bail. “In all likelihood, he will be releasedfrom the detention centretomorrow [Saturday],” Mr.Choudhury told The Hindu.

Kargil war veteran who wasdeclared foreigner gets bailAssam resident asked to initiate action against exoffi��cial

Special Correspondent

Guwahati

Mohammed Sanaullah

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 12

The terror outfi��t AlQaedahas announced a new chieffor its India wing, AnsarGhazwatulHind, twoweeks after its top‘commander’ Zakir Musawas killed. Hameed Lelhariwill replace Musa and GhaziIbrahim Khalid will be hisdeputy, a spokesman said ina video. Musa was killed onMay 23 in Tral. He hadreplaced slain militantBurhan Wani in 2016, butquit the Hizbul Mujahideen.A PAGE 13

New chief for AlQaeda in India

Home loan shoppers willhave a new product to optfor come July 1. The StateBank of India will introducea product where the interestrate is linked to the repo rateof the Reserve Bank of India.

Repo rates are benchmarkrates set by the RBI andthose opting for the SBI’snew home loan product willsee interest rates moving instantly in sync with the reporate.

Now, the SBI’s home loanrates are linked to its margi

nal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) due to whichtransmission of rate cuts areslower. All banks link theirretail lending rates to theirMCLR.

The SBI has also cut by 25basis points (bps) its rates oncash credit and overdraft ac

counts of over ₹��1 lakh linkedto the repo rate.

Also, Bank of Maharashtrareduced its lending rate by10 bps to 8.6%. The interestrate will come down for allloans having a residual maturity of more than sixmonths, the lender said.

SBI to off��er home loan linked to repo rate SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Mumbai

‘Delhi’s scheme biggerthan Ayushman Bharat’ NEW DELHI

The Delhi government’s

umbrella health scheme is

“10 times bigger and

comprehensive” than the

Centre’s scheme, Ayushman

Bharat programme, wrote

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

to Union Health Minister

Harsh Vardhan on Friday.

CITYA PAGE 3

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

NEARBY

DTC buses register lesserearnings: Outcome BudgetNEW DELHI

Staterun buses being

operated by DTC registered a

lower fl��eet size in addition to

lesser earnings while

ridership on Delhi Metro

registered a slight increase

but fell short of its target for

the 201920 as per the Delhi

government’s Outcome

Budget released on Friday.

CITY A PAGE 3


NPP fi��rst to becomenational party from NEGUWAHATI

The Election Commission on

Friday declared the National

People’s Party led by

Meghalaya Chief Minister

Conrad K. Sangma as a

national party. This made the

NPP, formed by his father

and former Speaker Purno A.

Sangma in 2013, the fi��rst

from the Northeast to earn

the tag.

NEWS A PAGE 12


First of the season: Two men hurry home as dark clouds gather over a river at Kadamakudy near Kochi on Friday. The IMD hasforecast very heavy rain in Thrissur on Monday and in Ernakulam, Malappuram and Kozhikode on Tuesday. * THULASI KAKKAT

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Monsoon checks in

Two JaisheMuhammad( JeM) militants and two policemen, who went missingon Thursday with their service rifl��es, were killed by thesecurity forces in Pulwamaon Friday.

The police said the twomilitants were surroundedin a residential area at Panjran in Pulwama’s Litter areaon Thursday evening, triggering an encounter thatcontinued into the night.

The operation followed atipoff�� that the militantswere meeting two SpecialPolice Offi��cers (SPOs), who

had deserted from the District Police Lines along withtheir rifl��es and intended tojoin the militant outfi��t.

“The two SPOs, who became members of the JeM,were also killed,” said thepolice.

The slain JeM militantswere Ashiq Hussain Ganaiefrom Pulwama’s Panjran andImran Ahmad Bhat from Arihal.

The two slain SPOs wereMohammad Salman Khanfrom Shopian’s Uthmulla,and Shabir Ahmad Dar fromTujan, Pulwama.

The policemen went missing from Pulwama

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

Two police deserters, twoJaish men killed in Kashmir

CONTINUED ONA PAGE 12

M.S. Dhoni’s wicketkeeping gloves have alwaysbeen an object of aweamong the cricketingfraternity. The manner inwhich he pouches catches,his lightning stumpingsand reverse fl��ick runoutshave further enhanced ahalo built around hismuscular batting exploits.

But little could he haveimagined that his wicketkeeping gloves wouldactually become the focusof a raging controversy thathas set social media abuzzwith a torrent of views ofvaried persuasions.

It started withWednesday’s World Cupmatch at Southampton,where India defeatedSouth Africa by six wickets.Lost in the reporting of theday’s cricketing exploitswas the sighting of anadditional logo on Dhoni’sgloves. The logo, an Armysignage depicting aregimental dagger insigniaof the Indian Para SpecialForces, raised the hackleswithin cricket’s governingbody, the InternationalCricket Council (ICC), asplayers are only allowed tosport two logos on gloves.

Dhoni holds the rank ofan honorary LieutenantColonel in the TerritorialArmy

Ever since news brokeabout the ICC’s request tothe Board of Control forCricket in India asking

Dhoni to remove the extralogo, a nationalisticnarrative emerged onTwitter.

The BCCI’s Committeeof Administrators chiefVinod Rai backed Dhoniand said: “The BCCI hasalready sent a formalrequest to the ICC forclearance.”

The ICC, however, madeit clear on Friday that theextra logo had to go.

“The ICC has respondedto the BCCI to confi��rm thelogo displayed by M.S.Dhoni in the previousmatch is not permitted tobe worn on his wicketkeeping gloves at the ICCMen’s Cricket World Cup2019,” it said in astatement. “Theregulations... do notpermit any individualmessage or logo to bedisplayed on any items ofclothing or equipment.”

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Row over Army logoon Dhoni’s gloves

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

London

ICC says he must remove insignia

M.S. Dhoni and the gloveswith the dagger insignia. *

AP

The Uttar Pradesh policeon Friday constituted aSpecial Investigation Teamto probe the murder of aninfant in Aligarh amid hugepublic outcry.

A forensic team will also

be part of the probe to ascertain the full nature ofthe crime; preliminary autopsy reports ruled outrape and concluded thechild was murdered bystrangulation.

SIT to probe Aligarh murderspecial correspondent

LUCKNOW

DETAILS ON A PAGE 13

https://t.me/TheHindu_Zone_official

https://t.me/SSC4Exams https://t.me/Banking4Exams https://t.me/UPSC4Exams

A ND-NDE

DELHI THE HINDU

SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 20192EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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DELHI Timings

Saturday, June 08

RISE 05:23 SET 19:18

RISE 10:10 SET 23:53

Sunday, June 09

RISE 05:23 SET 19:18

RISE 11:15 SET 00:00

Monday, June 10

RISE 05:23 SET 19:19

RISE 12:19 SET 00:35

CITY

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Saturday: Heavy/very heavy rainfall likely at isol-ated places over Assam, Meghalaya, sub-Himalayan WestBengal, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, coastalOdisha, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

city rain max min city rain max minAgartala................. —.... 33.5.... 25.2 Kozhikode ............... —.... 33.8.... 26.6

Ahmedabad............ —.... 44.2.... 29.8 Kurnool .................7.4.... 37.0.... 25.2

Aizawl ..................33.... 27.1.... 19.0 Lucknow................7.8.... 38.7.... 23.7

Allahabad .............. —.... 43.2.... 29.2 Madurai................... —.... 39.0.... 27.8

Bengaluru .............. —.... 31.5.... 20.6 Mangaluru............... —.... 35.0.... 22.2

Bhopal................... —.... 45.9.... 32.5 Mumbai................... —.... 34.9.... 28.5

Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 32.7.... 27.6 Mysuru.................... —.... 32.5.... 22.2

Chandigarh ............ —.... 40.0.... 26.3 New Delhi ............... —.... 40.5.... 26.4

Chennai ................. —.... 36.7.... 29.5 Patna ...................... —.... 40.0.... 28.2

Coimbatore............ —.... 35.7.... 25.5 Port Blair ............14.5.... 30.2.... 24.0

Dehradun............... —.... 37.4.... 20.8 Puducherry.............. —.... 36.2.... 28.6

Gangtok...............0.5.... 23.3.... 17.5 Pune ....................... —.... 37.6.... 25.2

Goa .....................3.3.... 34.0.... 25.2 Raipur ..................... —.... 40.8.... 25.1

Guwahati ............... —.... 34.4.... 26.4 Ranchi..................... —.... 34.0.... 25.2

Hubballi................. —.... 35.0.... 23.0 Shillong................... —.... 22.7.... 16.6

Hyderabad ............. —.... 40.2.... 26.6 Shimla...................0.2.... 27.0.... 17.7

Imphal.................0.5.... 28.6.... 21.6 Srinagar ................3.6.... 24.4.... 10.1

Jaipur .................... —.... 43.6.... 29.2 Trivandrum .........41.8.... 32.3.... 25.0

Kochi.................42.6.... 31.8.... 24.0 Tiruchi .................... —.... 40.2.... 28.4

Kohima.................. —.... 27.0.... 16.7 Vijayawada ..........56.2.... 40.6.... 26.6

Kolkata.................. —.... 31.3.... 27.5 Visakhapatnam .......0.7.... 34.0.... 29.4

(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at4.00 p.m., Satna, MadhyaPradesh recorded an overallair quality index (AQI) scoreof 369 indicating anunhealthy level of pollution.In contrast, Haldia, WestBengal recorded a healthyAQI score of 24

Ahmedabad..... 42 128 45 ....48 .....— ....*

Bengaluru ....... ..7 .79 86 ....56 ...89 ....*

Chennai .......... 18 .15 64 ....94 .....— ....*

Delhi .............. 30 .40 53 ....90 .225 ....*

Hyderabad ...... 10 .26 26 ....52 ...80 ....*

Kolkata........... ..3 .16 13 ....40 ...48 ....*

Lucknow ......... ..6 .35 45 ..129 .....— ....*

Mumbai .......... 25 .14 79 ....19 ...76 ....*

Pune............... 42 .20 29 ....64 ...63 ....*

Visakhapatnam 19 .52 39 ....87 .120 ....*

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

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Shortterm 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

Exhibition: "Utsav", an art show ofpaintings, photography, digital artsand sketches at All India Fine Arts &Craft Society (AIFACS), 1 Rafi�� Marg,11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Exhibition: "Breathless: An artisticcall to India’s air pollution crisis" aphoto project shot by photographerIshan Tankha, with stories penned byjournalist Aruna Chandrasekhar atBikaner House, Pandara Road, 10a.m. – 6 p.m.

Exhibition: "Escapes & CityScapes", a solo painting show byLena Acharya at Convention CentreFoyer, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 10a.m. – 8 p.m.

Exhibition: A solo show of artworksby T.K Hareendran at Art Konsult, 3,Ground Floor, Hauz Khas Village,10:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Screening: "Richard Wagner: Lohengrin (Part I: Acts I & II)" as part of'Summer Sonata A Festival of Operaand Ballet Films', dedicated to thememory of Dr. R.P. Jain at C.D. Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre (IIC), 6 p.m.

(Mail your listings for this columnat [email protected])

DELHI TODAY

Members of the Executiveand Academic Councils ofDelhi University wrote to theViceChancellor on Friday,demanding a rollback ofwhat they termed “drasticchanges” to the eligibilitycriteria of various undergraduate courses.

The letter specifi��callydraws attention to “majordeviations” in the eligibilitycriteria of seven courses.These include B.Com. (Honours), B.A. (Honours), B.A.Economics (Honours), B.Sc.Maths and Stat. (Honours),B.Sc. (Honours), B.A. (Prog).The eligibility criteria foreach of these courses havebeen changed compared tolast year in terms of eitherthe minimum aggregatemarks required or the inclusion of a compulsory subject

in the best of four.“These changes are arbi

trary, unwarranted and uncalled for as the admissionsare fi��nalised on the basis ofmerit as refl��ected in the cutoff�� of the various coursesand thus causing chaosamong the students. As perthe rules and regulations ofour university, such majorpolicy decisions must be taken in the Academic Councilwhich have farreaching consequences for SC, ST, OBC

and EWS students. The students have been caught unaware and they must be given suffi��cient time to adaptthemselves to these changes.” the letter reads.

Even the Standing Committee constituted for thepurpose of making thesechanges does not have theproportional representationof diff��erent segments of theelected members, it argued.The letter has been signedby Rajesh J. Jha, J.L. Gupta,Seema Das, Pradeep Kumarand Sudhanshu Kumar whoare members of the twocouncils.

It demanded that the eligibility criteria be restored tothe earlier criteria on an urgent basis and for future,changes be made in admission policy following the dueprocedure.

‘Roll back drastic changes in admission eligibility criteria’Members of Executive, Academic Councils call changes arbitrary

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Out of 2.58 lakh registrationsto Delhi University’s undergraduate programmes, only3,235 people have registeredfor admissions under theEconomically Weaker Sections (EWS) category, midway through the registrationprocess. The number of students applying under the STcategory stands at 4,410.

The number of applications in the EWS categorymight be low because of lackof awareness and information, said Rasal Singh, member of the Standing Committee on admissions.

While some confusionwas created during an ‘OpenDay’ session at Rajdhani College on Friday, when a professor claimed that studentsapplying under this categorywould only avail a fee con

cession, Mr. Singh and otheroffi��cials of the AdmissionsCommittee clarifi��ed thatthere would a separate cutoff�� list for students applyingunder the EWS category.“Just like SC, ST, OBC this is aseparate category,” he said.

Reservations under theEWS category was introduced by the Central Government in January thisyear through a constitutional amendment. In order toimplement the policy, DU iscarrying out an expansion ofits intake of students by 25%,spread over two academicsessions.

Students applying underthis category are required toobtain an income certifi��catedated after March 31, fromthe area SubDivisional Magistrate. However, severalapplicants who showed upto ‘Open Days’ have said that

the SDMs have been turningthem away with no knowledge of such certifi��cates. DUhad written to both the Stateand Central governmentsasking them to notify theSDMs.

Standing Committee member cites lack of awareness as reason

Sidharth Ravi

New Delhi

EWS: only 3,235 apply for admissions

A second session of the‘Open Day’, to be held at DUNorth Campus on Saturday,will aim at resolving concerns of female applicants,said Rajeev Gupta, Dean ofStudents’ Welfare. Panellists will include womenprincipals and experts.

Open Day for femaleapplicants

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

A court here on Friday granted bail to AAP leader Atishi,its Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta and MLA Manoj Kumar in a defamationcase fi��led by the BJP for theiralleged remarks over deletionof names from the voters’ listof the city.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is also an accused in the case but he couldnot appear. The court directed him to appear on July 6.

Those who appeared weregranted bail on personalbond of ₹��10,000 each.

The court had summonedthe accused persons onMarch 16.

The complainant, BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, on behalf ofthe Delhi unit of the partysought their prosecution forharming the reputation of theoutfi��t by blaming it for the de

letion of names from the voters’ list.

“Allegations of the respondents [Mr. Kejriwal and others] are prima facie, defamatory and refers tocomplainant BJP. The inquiryas contemplated under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been dulyconducted by examining theauthorised representative ofthe complainant and his witnesses. There exists suffi��cientgrounds to proceed against allthe respondents,” the courthad said while summoningthe accused persons.

Mr. Babbar, in the complaint, said that the accused,at a press conference held inDecember last year, allegedthat on the directions of theBJP, names of 30 lakh votersof Bania, Poorvanchali andMuslim communities weredeleted by the Election Commission of India.

AAP leaders get bailin defamation caseCourt directs CM to appear on July 6

Nirnimesh Kumar

New Delhi

North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Avtar Singh,met the LG on Friday andmade a plea for a ₹��3000crore ‘onetime bailoutpackage’ for the civic body.

The civic body has beenin a disadvantageous position due to a disproportionate distribution of resourcesto it. It runs six major hospitals, a medical college, twoayurvedic hospitals, 100 dispensaries and about 700schools as well as various inherited liabilities, whichwere supposed to be considered as a grant by the Delhigovernment, but have notbeen done so, he said.

North Mayorseeks bailoutpackage

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

DU students developfemale urination deviceNEW DELHI

A female urination vending

machine, developed by DU

students, has been installed

at the EDMC headquarters in

Patparganj. The device allows

women to stand and urinate

in “unfriendly toilets”, a

statement by the EDMC read.

IN BRIEF

SDMC officials commendoutgoing CommissionerNEW DELHI

South Delhi Mayor,

councillors and senior

officials commended

outgoing Commissioner

Puneet Goel a fruitful tenure

at a farewell event on Friday.



CMYK

THE HINDU DELHI

SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2019 3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

CITY

The Delhi government’sumbrella health schemewas “10 times bigger andcomprehensive” than theCentre’s scheme Ayushman Bharat programme,wrote Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to UnionHealth Minister Dr. HarshVardhan on Friday.

The Centresponsoredscheme aims to providecoverage of ₹��5 lakh per family, annually, supposedlybenefi��tting more than 10.74crore poor families in relation to secondary and tertiary care hospitalisationthrough a network of empanelled healthcareproviders.

Mr. Kejriwal said the average citizen would be at aloss if the government’shealth scheme is replacedwith Ayushman Bharathere.

His comments came inthe wake of Dr. Vardhanwriting to the Chief Ministers of Delhi, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal urging them to join the

Centre’s fl��agship health insurance scheme.

“I am happy to tell youthat Ayushman Bharat hasalready been implementedin Delhi a long time ago.The government’s healthscheme is 10 times biggerand comprehensive thanAyushman Bharat,” Mr. Kejriwal said.

In his twopage letter inHindi, Mr. Kejriwal said inspite of the implementation of Ayushman Bharat inHaryana and Uttar Pradesh, lakhs of patientsfrom these States come

here daily for treatmentwhile the opposite is nottrue and, in eff��ect, indicated that Delhi’s healthscheme was functioningwell.

“Those whose income ismore than ₹��10,000 doesnot come under AyushmanBharat, which means thoseearning less than minimumwages [notifi��ed by the government] is out of thisscheme,” Mr. Kejriwal said.

Comparison drawnHe also sought to draw acomparison between his

government’s scheme andAyushman Bharat. Underthe Ayushman Bharat therewere less than 10% benefi��ciaries in Delhi while underthe AAP government’sscheme, every citizen constituting the Capital’s population of two crore could bea benefi��ciary, he said.

The Chief Minister alsosaid that while under Ayushman Bharat benefi��ciaries could get treatment ofup to ₹��5 lakh but under theAAP dispensation’sscheme, there was no suchlimit and hence, the government bears all expenses, even if these amountedup to ₹��30 lakh.

“The objective of boththe Centre and the Delhigovernment is the same —the provision of inexpensive and quality treatmentto the citizens of the country, no matter under whichscheme...There is a goodscheme, which is currentlyfunctional in Delhi...If ourmodel suff��ers from any deficiencies, please let usknow so we can improveit...,” Mr. Kejriwal added.

‘Delhi’s health scheme 10 timesbigger than Ayushman Bharat’ Kejriwal writes to Harsh Vardhan after latter asks CMs of 3 States to join scheme

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Staterun buses operatedby the Delhi Transport Corporation reduced in fl��eetsize and registered lesserearnings while Delhi Metrotrains saw a slight increaseyet falling short of its targetfor the year as per the Delhi government’s OutcomeBudget released on Friday.

While the number ofcluster buses being operated by the government remained static, these registered more ridership andearnings than targetedeven as signifi��cant initiatives such as the installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera andthe deployment of marshals aboard all public buses remained static and registered slow progress,respectively.

Big-ticket initiativesBigticket initiatives likeprocurement of vehiclesfor the creation of a fl��eet ofelectric buses and the installation of WiFi servicesacross the Capital werepushed forward by a yearto March 2020 and September 2020 respectively.

Meanwhile, the provision of water lines at unauthorised colonies couldnot be achieved as per the

set target. The DJB laid water pipelines in 144 unauthorised colonies during thefi��nancial year 201819, falling 147 short of the target of291.

The number of operational DTC buses was 3,974in 201718 and the targetwas to raise it to 4,176 in201819, however, it reduced to 3,897.

The average daily ridership improved slightly being registered at 33 lakh asagainst a target of 32.93lakh in 201819.

Earnings per km weretargeted at ₹��31.10 in 201819but stood at ₹��30.32. Interms of earnings per busper day, the amount registered stood at ₹��5,898 asagainst the target of ₹��5,931in 201819.

Cluster buses, however,registered an average ridership of 12.24 lakh compared to the targeted 12lakh and per km earningsof ₹��30.30 in comparison tothe target of ₹��20.55

Safety of passengersThe number of bus marshals deployed for the safety of passengers was 2,153in DTC buses in 201718.

In 201819, the numberwas to be raised to 4,280but only 3,041 were available in the buses.

There was no progress

in installing CCTV camerasin buses as successive bidsfor it in December 2018and January 2019 failedand these remained available only on 200 buses.

Education sectorIn the education sector, thegovernment has managedto fi��ll 95% of its target whenit comes to providing quality early childhood education by introducing nursery classes with a ratio of30 students to one teacher.

As many as 448 schoolsunder the Directorate ofEducation have managedto enrol a total of 19,108students.

Under its scheme to provide teachers with tabletcomputers to monitor studentwise learning achievement, the government hasmanaged to provide 67% ofits teachers with tablets.

The Outcome Budget data also shows that in 201819, 71.58% of studentspassed in their Class X exams while 94.24% passedin Class XII exams.

When it comes to itsmuch publicised scheme ofbuilding additional classrooms, the data shows that8,095 classrooms havebeen made functional witha target of 12,000 classrooms by the end of theyear.

Installation of CCTV cameras remains static among others

Jatin Anand

Jaideep Deo Bhanj

New Delhi

Staterun DTC buses register drop infl��eet size, ridership: Outcome Budget

The biggest achievement ofthe Delhi government inthe fi��eld of governance wasthe “successful” implementation of the OutcomeBudget for several years ina row, said Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia onFriday.

“I consider OutcomeBudget as the biggestachievement of our government in past 4.5 yearsin the fi��eld of governance,”he said at a national conference on outcome budgeting organised by Dialogueand Development Commission of Delhi. He also released the Outcome Budget of the government for201920. The budget, introduced in 201718, hadhelped in removing bottlenecks to improve the delivery of services and goodsto people, he added. Theexercise tracks the performance of 567 schemes andprogrammes of the government through nearly 2,000quantifi��able indicators.

Mr. Sisodia said the Outcome Budget was the forcebehind bigticket reformsby the government in power and water supply, education and health servicesand the doorstep deliveryservices.

OutcomeBudget biggestachievement,says Sisodia

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal on Friday directed AAP legislatorsand councillors to holdconsultative publicmeetings to seek feedback from citizensabout the government’s proposal tomake travel aboard public buses and metrotrains free for women.

At a press conference in Mr. Kerjiwal’soffi��cial residence hereon Friday, his DeputyManish Sisodia said theformer had held ameeting with AAPMLAs, councillors andthe party’s women’swing to issue directions to hold 1,000sabhas with this objective across Delhi.

“Mr. Kejriwal has directed all AAP MLAs,councillors to hold1,000 small publicmeetings across Delhito take people’s feedback on the scheme.The MLAs and council

lors have been asked tohold 10 small meetingsin their respectiveareas,” Mr. Sisodiasaid.

He added that during the meetings, AAPleaders will ask peoplethe reason behindtheir support. “Mr. Kejriwal has asked themto submit the outcomeof these meetings in aweek,” Mr. Sisodia added.

AAP to seek feedbackon freeride scheme Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The Met department has forecastsevere heatwave in the city for thenext 48 hours with the maximumtemperature likely to record 46 degrees Celsius at Safdarjung weather station.

Areas such as Palam and Ayanagar are likely to record 12 degreeshigher temperatures thanSafdarjung.

The weather bulletin stated thatmainly, there will be clear sky onSaturday and June 9 with heatwave conditions likely at a fewplaces till June 10.

“Severe heatwave at isolatedpockets on June 10; heatwave conditions at isolated pockets on June9 and June 11 with the possibility ofthundery development on June 10;duststorm/thunderstorm accompanied by gusty winds on June 11,”reads the extended forecast.

On Friday, the mercury dippedmarginally to settle at 40.5 degreesCelsius, which is normal for theseason after a strong wind cooleddown the city overnight.

The minimum temperature wasrecorded at 26.4 degrees Celsius.Humidity levels oscillated between36% and 64%.

Met forecasts severe heatwave in city

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

‘Possibility of thunderstorms on June 11’

The DMRC is “exploring ways” to take forward the Delhi government’s decision tomake metro rides freefor women while keeping in mind the fi��nancial implication andtechnical feasibility associated with the proposal, said offi��cialsources on Friday.

‘DMRC looking at ways to rollout scheme’Press trust of india

New DELHI



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DELHI THE HINDU


Patel takes oath as Chief Justice of HCNEW DELHI

Justice Dhirubhai Naranbhai

Patel was sworn in as Chief

Justice of the Delhi High

Court on Friday. Lt. Governor

Anil Baijal administered the

oath of office to Justice Patel

at a function held at Raj Nivas

here.

IN BRIEF

Woman held for forgingneighbour’s signatureNEW DELHI

A 49yearold woman was

arrested from Uttam Nagar’s

Mohan Garden for allegedly

cheating her neighbour by

withdrawing ₹��3.6 lakh from

her account by forging her

signature.

Man held for stealingiron scrap worth ₹��35 lakh NEW DELHI

A 34yearold man identified

as Naushad Warsi, a resident

of Bhajan Pura, has been

arrested for allegedly stealing

12 tons of iron scrap worth ₹��

35 lakh belonging to Indian

Railways.

Three policemen were suspended after a 25yearoldman, who was arrested for allegedly supplying illicit liquorin North East Delhi’s NandNagri, died in police custodyon Thursday night. While thepolice claimed that the triowere suspended for procedural lapse, the victim’s familyalleged that he was beaten todeath.

Additional DCP (NorthEast) R.P. Meena said that thevictim, identifi��ed as Govinda,was a resident of Khoda Colony and had no previous criminal history. He was arrested with one Naeem around 7a.m. on Thursday from Sundar Nagri while they weretransporting illicit liquor inan autorickshaw. “They werebrought to Nand Nagri policestation. Around 9 p.m., Govinda complained of uneasiness after which he fell unconscious. He was taken toGuru Teg Bahadur Hospitalwhere he was given CPR afterwhich he died,” Mr. Meenasaid.

The offi��cer said that headconstable Abhishek and constables Vishal and UdhamSingh were suspended forprocedural lapse. “They didnot follow the procedurewhile registering the FIR. Sofar, there is no role of any offi��cer in his death,” Mr Meenasaid.

‘Demanded bribe’

Meanwhile, Govinda’s familyclaimed that the police demanded ₹��20,000 for his release and they didn’t even inform them about his death.They suspect that he was beaten to death.

Govinda’s brother Gopal

said that the victim was a labourer and on Thursday, hewas asked by his friendNaeem to unload some material in Sundar Nagri. “Naeemtold him that he will get ₹��300for the day. We don’t thinkthat he was aware thatNaeem was doing illegalwork. He was caught fromthere with Naeem and twoothers,” he said adding thatthey were later informed thatthe police had released thetwo, whom the illicit liquorbelonged to, after takingmoney.

The victim’s relative Reshma said that after she came toknow about Govinda’s arrest,

she went to the police stationwith Gopal. But they werenot allowed to meet Govindadespite repeated attempts.“Late evening, they demanded ₹��20,000 for releasing him.I said we can’t aff��ord suchhuge amount and we paid₹��10,000. But they didn’t release him,” she alleged.

A few hours later, as the family waited outside the police station, the police allegedly took Govinda to GTBHospital but “didn’t tell themthe reason”. He was allegedlybrought back to the policestation where Reshma waswaiting. “Around 2 a.m., afew journalists came and toldus that he is dead,” she said.

His family claimed that Govinda had no previous medical history and was healthy.

When asked about the allegations levelled by the victim’s family, Mr. Meena saidthat it will be looked into. “Anautopsy was conducted by aboard of doctors and the procedure was videographed. Amagisterial inquiry has beeninitiated into his death,” headded.

25yearold man dies in policecustody, family suspects foul play Three cops suspended; kin allege police demanded ₹��20,000 for his release

Hemani Bhandari

NEW DELHI

Relatives of the victim outside Guru Teg Bahadur HospitalHospital. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Govinda, who died in police custody in Nand Nagrion Thursday night, was aYouTuber. He used to act invideos with his groupcalled Jars Team.

His team members saidthat the group was formedabout fi��vesix years ago andthey used to make comedyvideos on social issues. Onthe YouTube channel, theyhave over 1,500 subscribers and thousands ofviewers.

“Govinda was a fi��ne actor. He was very passionateabout acting,” said Basruddin, a member of thegroup, adding that Govindawanted to make a diff��erence through the videos.His family said that Govinda was techsavvy and alsoknew how to edit videos.“After he started workingon the videos, he was engrossed in them. I would often ask him about gettingmarried but he wouldn’tcare,” said his father RamYadav adding that he usedto act in local plays on occasions like Ram Leela.

Deceased was a YouTuber,made videoson social issues

Hemani Bhandari

NEW DELHI

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has rapped the DelhiPollution Control Committee (DPCC) for failing to takeremedial action againstburning of plastic and PVCwires at a park in northwestDelhi’s Mangolpuri.

A Bench headed by NGTchairperson Justice AdarshKumar Goel came down heavily on the pollution controlcommittee and summonedMember Secretary, DPCC tobe present before the tribunal and state why the “responsibility was being shifted.”

Following the DPCC’s submission that the land inquestion was owned by theDelhi Development Authori

ty (DDA), the Bench said,“We consider it necessary torequire the presence ofMember Secretary, DPCC soas to explain why action benot taken in refusing to takesteps even after pollution isbrought to the notice andresponsibility is merelyshifted to the owner of theland.”

The Bench further added,“Being the guardian of environment, DPCC cannot disown its responsibility bysimply saying that it is theowner of the land who has totake action. The question ofownership of the land is irrelevant as far as enforcementof environment norms areconcerned for which thestatutory right and responsibility is of the DPCC.”

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

DPCC rapped for notacting on plastic burning

A Delhi court on Fridaygranted bail to CongressMP Shashi Tharoor in a criminal defamation case forhis alleged ‘scorpion’ remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SamarVishal granted bail to Mr.Tharoor on furnishing apersonal bond of ₹��20,000.

Defamationcase: Tharoorgets bail


New Delhi

Two members of Nasir gang,who carry a reward on theirarrest, were nabbed after anexchange of fi��re in Mukhmelpur in the early hours ofFriday, the police said.

DCP (Special Cell) P.S.Kushwah said that the accused are brothers and havebeen identifi��ed as Salmanand Nazim. While Salmancarried a reward of ₹��1 lakh

on his arrest, Nazim had abounty of ₹��50,000. They areboth residents of NewSeelampur.

“The shootout took placein northwest Delhi’s PustaRoad in Mukhmelpuraround 4 a.m. on Fridaywhen they were coming on abike. Around eight roundswere fi��red by the duo whilethe police fi��red six rounds inretaliation,” Mr. Kushwahsaid adding that Salman sus

tained a bullet injury in hisright leg and was rushed toBabu Jagjivan Ram Hospital.

The police claimed thatthe two along with their associates killed one Hakimuddin in New Usmanpur onMarch 31. “They were alsoinvolved in the murder ofone Sarfaraz in Krishna Nagar on April 5,” Mr. Kushwahsaid. Both murders were aresult of gang rivalry, saidthe police.

Two criminals held after shootoutStaff Reporter

NEW DELHI

A 52yearold man wasfound dead in quarters allotted for house helps in SouthAvenue in the early hours ofFriday. The police have detained three persons for

questioning in connectionwith the case.

DCP (New Delhi) MadhurVerma said that the victimhas been identifi��ed as Suresh. His wife Anju whoworks as a house help in VIPhouses in the area was allot

ted the quarters. The victim’s body was found withthroat slit.

“In the CCTV footage, twopersons can be seen entering the area wearing masksand returning,” a senior offi��cer said.

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Man found murdered in South Avenue

Delhi government hospitalsare facing “acute shortage”of antirabies vaccine dueto a fall in drug supply,prompting the Centre tocall a meeting of health offi��cers and hospital incharges on Friday, offi��cials said.

The LNJP Hospital, GBPant Hospital and other city governmentrun facilities are facing shortage asthe suppliers are unable toreplenish the antirabiesvaccine (ARV).

A senior health ministryoffi��cial said that a meetingchaired by the DirectorGeneral of Health Serviceswas convened to discussthe situation, and offi��cialswere assured all possiblehelp to tackle the crisis.

Shortage ofantirabiesvaccine

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

A 26yearold woman hailingfrom Bihar, allegedly jumped todeath after an argument withhusband in South West Delhi’sGhitorni on Friday, the policesaid.

The police said that the couplegot married in 2015 and her husband works as a tailor. “Around

3.30 a.m., he found his wife missing and launched a search forher. Later, he found that shejumped from the roof of theirhouse. He took her to AIIMSwhere she was declared broughtdead,” said a senior police offi��cer.

Suicide prevention helpline:Sanjivini, Society for MentalHealth, 011-4076 9002, Monday-Saturday (10 a.m.-7.30 p.m.)

Woman ends life over tiff�� Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered amoneylaundering caseagainst media website founder Raghav Bahl, based oncomplaints fi��led by the IncomeTax (IT) Departmentalleging nondisclosure ofthe source of money usedfor buying a London asset.Mr. Bahl sought the intervention of Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman.

‘Proof submitted’

In a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Mr.Bahl on Friday sought herintervention, saying thatadequate explanation andproof had already been submitted to the IT Departmentthat the amount, £2.73 lakh,had come from the taxpaidincome of his wife Ritu Kapur and was disclosed in herIT return.

“I have been constrained

to write this to you as anhonest and lawabiding citizen of India, who is gettingthe sense of being houndedfor doing no wrong despitepaying all taxes honestly anddiligently. I also have no defaults when it comes to thedebt obligations of myself ormy business concerns,” theletter said.

Mr. Bahl said he had onMay 13 provided full detailsafter the Departmentclaimed that he had failed todisclose information, as a result of which they presumedthe amount to arise fromproceeds of undisclosed income (black money), as pertwo show cause noticesserved to him by email in theafternoon of May 1. “I was given only until 3.30 p.m. onMay 2, 2019, to answer thenotices, and following an exchange of emails with theconcerned offi��cer, I provided a short factual reply tothe authorities,” he said.

Moneylaundering casefi��led against Raghav Bahl Media baron seeks Minister’s intervention


NEW DELHI



THE HINDU DELHI


NORTH & EAST

Severe dust storms andlightning in diff��erent parts ofUttar Pradesh claimed atleast 26 lives and left 57 people injured as houses andwalls collapsed and treeswere uprooted, promptingauthorities to launch largescale relief operations onFriday.

Mainpuri district bore theworst brunt of the vagariesof nature late on Thursdaynight as six people diedthere in separate cases ofwall collapse and lightning,the State Relief Commissioner said.

Fortyone people were injured in the district anduprooted trees blocked vehicular movement on theState highways, leading tomassive jams.

Police said most of the injuries occurred when peoplesleeping inside their mudhouses were caught unawares by the storm, whichwas accompanied by rain,leading to wall collapse.

People were also injured

when signboards and hoardings got snapped at severalplaces, and fell on them,they said.

“While six people died inMainpuri, three each died inEtah and Kasganj, two eachin Farrukhabad and Barabanki, and one each in Moradabad, Badaun, Pilibhit,Mathura, Kannauj, Sambhal,Ghaziabad, Amroha, Badaun and Mahoba in incidents related to dust stormand lightning,” data releasedby the State Relief Commis

sioner said.An offi��cial press note said

diff��erent parts of the Statewitnessed dust storms lateon Thursday evening, resulting in wall collapse anduprooting of trees.

Thirtyone cattle died and16 houses were also damaged in the incidents, offi��cials said.

Massive power cutsMassive power cuts were reported from various parts ofthe State, including Lucknow, as electricity lines gotsnapped in the gale.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed offi��cials totake all necessary measuresto provide relief to the aff��ected people.

“He (Adityanath) has directed Ministers in charge ofthe districts concerned tooversee relief operations,”Awanish Awasthi, PrincipalSecretary (Information),said.

A fi��nancial assistance ₹��4lakh has been announced bythe Chief Minister for the family of the deceased.

26 dead, 57 hurt in U.P.dust storms, lightning Mainpuri district bore the brunt with six deaths

Press trust of india

Lucknow

CM Adityanath announced₹��4 lakh compensation forthe kin of the deceased. *

In an attempt to check thegrowing drug trade acrossthe State, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hasdirected the Special TaskForce (STF) to identify andtake stringent action againstpolicemen found to be in cahoots with drug traffi��ckers,especially in the borderdistricts.

The Special Task Forceheld a meeting in Chandigarh on Friday, in whichCapt. Amarinder asked thePunjab Police chief to dealfi��rmly with policemen engaged in such unlawful activity. “The Chief Minister directed the ADGP(STF/Drugs) to constitutetwo STF teams in all border

districts to work in closecoordination with the concerned police offi��cials andmaintain strict vigil overtheir nefarious activities inorder to eradicate thescourge of drugs,” an offi��cialstatement said.

The CM also directed thehealth department to regularly monitor the working of

private drug deaddictioncentres, which were foundto be providing substandardservices while charging exorbitant rates for the treatment of addicts.

Legal trainingThe statement added thatthe Punjab Advocate General was asked to form a panelof eminent legal luminarieswho will impart practicaltraining to the police personnel to enable them to effectively present their casesin court. “Such handsontraining would equip thepolice offi��cials handling legal cases against drug traffi��ckers, peddlers, smugglersetc., in an eff��ective and resultoriented manner (sic),”said the statement.

STF to identify policemen inleague with drug traffi��ckers CM Amarinder strives to check drug menace in Punjab

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh.

An Assam MP has askedPrime Minister NarendraModi to extend the PM’sScholarship Scheme tochildren of forest personnel who get killed guardingnature.

The scholarship is forwards of exServicemenwho pass Class X and ClassXII.

“Forest personnel are also government servantswho often lose their lives inthe line of duty. Forestguards, beat offi��cers andrangers are uniformed soldiers who have the authority to register cases, arrestpeople and carry weapons,” Gaurav Gogoi, whorepresents Kaliabor parliamentary constituency,wrote in his letter to thePrime Minister.

Extend PM’sscholarshipscheme: MPSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Friday off��ered prayers at the makeshift RamLalla temple here, reiterating support for theconstruction of a temple at the disputed site.

“According to the expectations of the world,I wish a Ram temple is built soon in Ayodhya,”he said as he unveiled a sevenfoot rosewoodstatue of Lord Ram at the city’s Shodh Sansthan Museum. On his fi��rst visit to the templetown after elections, Mr. Adityanath also tookpart in celebrations to mark the birthday ofRam Janmabhoomi Nyas chief Mahant NrityaGopal Das.

Adityanath raises Ramtemple issue in AyodhyaPress trust of india

Ayodhya

A PWD junior engineer,who was allegedly forcedby a newly elected BJDMLA in Odisha to do situpsin public, on Fridayclaimed the legislator hadalso asked an executive engineer to slap him, even asthe police registered a caseagainst the lawmaker.

The alleged “rowdyism”of Saroj Kumar Meher, fi��rsttime MLA from Patnagarhin Bolangir district, alsotriggered a row with theOpposition BJP comingdown heavily on the BJDgovernment and demanding immediate arrest of thelawmaker and the Congress condemning theincident.

Mr. Meher, who drewfl��ak after a video purportedly showed him forcing aPWD junior engineer to dositups in public went viral,on Thursday apologisedfor his action, claiming hedid so to assuage public anger. Later on Thursday, theengineer’s wife lodged acomplaint with the policeagainst the MLA, accusinghim of publicly humiliatingher husband.

Police registercase againstBJD MLAPress Trust of India

Bhubaneswar



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THE HINDU DELHI


WEST

With only 54% of the targeted crop loans being disbursed in 201819, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavisissued stern instructions tobanks on Friday to ensurethat the numbers are signifi��cantly higher this year.

Mr. Fadnavis said, “Thedemand for crop loans wasless last year owing todrought. This year, the demand is likely to increase,but banks are likely to faceaction if they are found notproviding crop loans tofarmers.” The Chief Ministerwas addressing a press conference after a Statelevelkharif review meeting. A total of 151 hectares is underkharif crops in the State, ofwhich 55%60% is under cotton and soyabean cultivation, 10% rice, 8% sugarcane, and 11% corn.

‘Good production’Mr. Fadnavis said, “Compared with last year, thisyear’s production is good.Credit goes to agricultural investment and reducing dependency on rain.” In 2017

18, total production was118.58 lakh million tonnes,while in 201819, it was 115.7lakh million tonnes. Mr. Fadnavis claimed that the government had investedaround ₹��1.50 lakh crore inagriculture and allied activities, including ₹��34,000 crorefor irrigation, ₹��8,900 crorefor Jalyukta Shivar, ₹��19,000crore for loan waivers,₹��14,125 crore for assistance

to farmers in natural calamities, and ₹��16,778 crore forcrop insurance.

On the Prime Minister’sKrishi Sanman Scheme, Mr.Fadnavis said a change in criteria had benefi��ted around1.20 crore farmers in Maharashtra. He gave orders toupload the details of all benefi��ciaries on the scheme’swebsite before June 30. Mr.Fadnavis said the India Mete

orological Department(IMD) has forecast less thanaverage rainfall in June. “TheState government has appealed to farmers to delaysowing since monsoon islikely to be delayed,” he said.According to the IMD, Konkan and central Maharashtrawill receive 93%107% rainfall, Marathwada will receive90%111%, and Vidarbha92%108%.

Target disbursal of more croploans, Fadnavis tells banksSays Maharashtra govt. will take action against banks that refuse loans to farmers

Alok Deshpande

Mumbai

Setting goals: Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (right) interacts with the media after holding a Statelevel kharif review meeting in Bandra on Friday. * EMMANUAL YOGINI

Prakash Ambedkar, VanchitBahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader, on Friday alleged that discrepancies have been foundin the number of votespolled, counted and declared by the Election Commission or the Election Returning Offi��cer in all 48 LokSabha constituencies inMaharashtra. At a press conference, Mr. Ambedkar said,“In 26 parliamentary constituencies, the number ofvotes counted on May 23 isless than the number ofvotes cast. In another 22constituencies, the numberof the votes counted is morethan the votes cast.”

‘Not an exception’Mr. Ambedkar said that ofthe 26 seats, where therewas a shortfall in the votescounted, Raigad has theleast diff��erence in the fi��gures(16), while Parbhani has thehighest diff��erence of 2,101.Of the 22 seats where morevotes had been counted,Wardha has the highest difference (1,380), while Raverhas the least diff��erence: 8.

Mr. Ambedkar said that

exceptions can be made forone or two constituencies,but not all constituencies.He said, “We also appeal toall political parties in diff��erent States to carry out thesame exercise to verify discrepancies. In case there arediscrepancies, the nextcourse of action is fi��ling a petition in the respective HighCourts. I fi��rmly believe thatthe judiciary has the right tostrike down any election only after that election is over.It can do so if it is provedthat an election was held inan illegal, unfair manner or

any other grounds mentioned in the Representationof the People Act, 1951.”

Demands EC responseThe VBA has sought an explanation from the ElectionCommission of India forthese discrepancies. Mr. Ambedkar said, “Now, it is up tothe citizens of this countryto decide whether or not weshould continue with theuse of EVMs. These discrepancies adequately pointout that EVMs are not fullproof and there are chancesof foul play.”

Appeals to political parties to verify numbers in all States

Alok Deshpande

Mumbai

Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar (right) at theparty ofi��ce in Ballard Estate on Friday. * ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

Prakash Ambedkar allegesdiscrepancies in poll fi��gures

The Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, on Friday said thatthe Central governmentaims to make Plant India initiative a national movementled by people, like theSwachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Positive responseHe was speaking after holding a meeting with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavisand other State offi��cials onenvironment and forestrelated issues.

Mr. Javadekar said, “Wehave received thousands ofselfi��es from people posingwith saplings. People have

participated in the initiativein large numbers and we aremaking eff��orts to ensure thatmore people become a partof it. Many States are alsotaking the lead in promotingthis initiative.”

Mr. Javadekar said theplanting of saplings will continue till August 5 owing to

variability in the plantingseason. He said, “People arebeginning to understandthat unless we correct our lifestyle, it will aff��ect our livesadversely. Given the amountof oxygen we need to inhalein a lifetime, each personneeds to plant and grow atleast 10 trees and ensure thatthey remain protected. Thisis the duty of every citizen.We want to inculcate thatspirit in the people.”

The Union Minister saidthat a majority of the pending issues, demands and projects of the State raised between 2004 and 2014 hadbeen resolved in the last fi��veyears of the Modi government. He said that theCentre is taking quick action

to ensure that the environment is protected and development takes place.

Permission for projectsHe said the Centre had granted permissions for projectsin the State such as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue, Nhava Sheva bridge, Navi Mumbai airport, MumbaiMetro, MumbaiGoa Expressway, coastal road andrecycling plant in Malad. Healso said that changes weremade to the Coastal Regulation Zone Notifi��cation so thatfamilies living in those areascan avail of FSI regulations.

He said, “I will take up thisprocess with all States, andwe will solve problems bytaking policy decisions.”

‘Want to make Plant India a national movement’Union Minister Prakash Javadekar says saplings will be planted till August 5

Prakash Javadekar

Alok Deshpande

Mumbai

A case of attempt to murder has been registeredagainst a police subinspector in Vadodara for allegedly fi��ring at a man during analtercation with the latter’sfather, an offi��cial said onFriday. The incident happened on June 3 in the city’s Tarsali locality fallingunder Makaarpura policestation limits when subinspector S.V. Chudasama, incivil dress, had a heated exchange with Manilal Prajapati who owns a pan stall inthe area, the offi��cial said.

When Mr. Prajapati’sson Simit tried to interveneand asked Mr. Chudasamato show his identity card,the PSI allegedly fi��red fourrounds from his service revolver, the offi��cial said.

Simit received bullet injuries in his stomach andlegs and was rushed to anearby hospital while Mr.Chudasama, attached toMakaarpura police station,fl��ed from the spot. The offi��cial said Simit’s statementwas recorded on June 4and an off��ence was registered on Thursday. Mr.Chudasama is on the run.

Attempt to murder case againstGujarat cop


Vadodara

An unidentifi��ed man wasfound killed at Akola railway station, the RailwayPolice said on Friday.

The body of the man,who appeared to be agedbetween 30 and 35 years,was found on platformnumber 4 on Friday morning, the police said.

A person, who is said tobe mentally challenged,has been arrested in connection with the incident,the police said. It appearsthat the victim, whoseidentity is yet to be established, was attacked witha sharpedged weaponThursday night, they said.

Man foundkilled at Akolarailway station

Press Trust oF India

Akola

The monsoon this year is expected to be ‘below normal’,which is 93% of the long period average of 887 mm ofrainfall between June andSeptember, accoring to theKharif Estimate 2019, released by Skymet on Friday.

The report also indicatedthat soyabean and cottonproduction is likely to go up,as paddy cultivation is expected to go down this kharif season. “In terms of geographical risk, we expecteast India along with a majorportion of central India to beat a higher risk of being raindefi��cient, especially duringthe fi��rst half of the season,”the report said.

Skymet Weather Services,

a leading weather and agriculture risk monitoring company, said that the Pacifi��cOcean had become stronglywarmer than average. “Themodel projections call for80% chance of El Nino during MarchMay, dropping to60% for June to August. Thismeans, it is going to be a devolving El Nino year, thoughretaining threshold value allthrough the season,” it said.

According to the report,June is going to be sluggish,and defi��cit rains are likely tospill into July. Second half ofthe season would see betterrainfall and August is expected to be a shade better thanSeptember. Both monthswould manage to see normalrains. Live storage of waterin 91 reservoirs as per May

30 bulletin, is 114% of thesame period last year. TheCentral Monitoring Commission keeps tab on the statusof these reservoirs everyweek. Live storage availablein these reservoirs is 31.65BCM, which is 20% of the total live storage capacity ofthese reservoirs.

Defi��cient rains, it said,were expected over Bihar,Jharkhand, West Bengalalong with central parts ofthe country predominantlyVidarbha, Marathwada,southern parts of MadhyaPradesh and some parts ofGujarat. “With below normal monsoons, the possibility of defi��cient and largelydefi��cient rains is more than40% in 66% districts of thecountry,” the report said.

Monsoon likely to be ‘below normal’Defi��cit rains are likely to spill into July, says Skymet reportAditya Anand

Mumbai




DELHI THE HINDU


SOUTH

Congress president RahulGandhi began a threeday visit on Friday to Wayanad, theconstituency that electedhim to the Lok Sabha withthe biggest victory margin inKerala’s history (4.31 lakhvotes) in the recent elections.

He assured the peoplethat he would be Kerala’svoice in Delhi.

Mr. Gandhi took out roadshows at Kalikavu, Nilambur,Edavanna and Areekode, thetowns in Malappuram district coming under the Assembly segments of Wandoor, Nilambur and Eranad,which constitute the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency,together with Kalpetta,Sulthan Bathery and Mananthavady in Wayanad districtand Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district.

Greets crowdBraving the rain, a largenumber of United Democratic Front (UDF) enthusiastsgathered at Kalikavu to cheerMr. Gandhi. He made frequent stops to shake handswith the people. A largenumber of women were

among those who hadturned out to greet Mr. Gandhi along the roads.

Addressing the crowd atKalikavu, Mr. Gandhi assured them that he wouldtake up Kerala’s issues in Parliament. Thanking the votersof Wayanad for his overwhelming victory, Mr. Gandhi said he would be theirvoice in the Lok Sabha. Hisdoor would always be opento the people of Wayanad.

From Kalikavu, Mr. Gandhi’s motorcade proceeded toNilambur via Chokad, a

place that the police advisedhim to avoid, fearing Maoistpresence.

‘Defend the weak’Thousands of UDF supporters had gathered on bothsides of the road at Nilambur. Addressing them, hesaid the Congress wouldcombat hatred spread by Narendra Modi and his government through love and aff��ection. He would defend theweak and those who wereunder attack in the Modirule. On the way to Edavan

na from Nilambur, Mr. Gandhi stopped at Vadapuramand Mampad to interact withthe voters.

It was well past sunsetwhen he reached Edavanna.The rain had disrupted hisschedule, delaying him bymore than an hour. In spiteof the rain, people waited forhours to have a glimpse ofthe leader.

Mr. Gandhi ended his fi��rstday’s show at Areekode.

I will be your voice in LS: Rahul Cong. chief thanks people of Kerala, promises to combat Modi’s ‘hatred with love’

Staff Reporter

MALAPPPURAM

Tea break: Congress president Rahul Gandhi taking a break at a tea shop in Chokkad town,Nilambur, on Friday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

RAHUL REQUESTED TO TAKE

REINS AGAIN: A PAGE 10

SC allows JanardhanaReddy to visit BellaryNEW DELHI

In a relief for former

Karnataka Minister and

mining baron Galli

Janardhana Reddy, the

Supreme Court on Friday

allowed him to visit Bellary

district in Karnataka to meet

his ailing fatherinlaw. The

Vacation Bench of the court,

led by Justice Indira Banerjee,

allowed him two weeks' time

from June 8 to visit his

fatherinlaw, who had

suffered a stroke.

IN BRIEF

Tirumala nets a recordincome of ₹��89.02 croreTIRUMALA

The sacred hill temple of Lord

Venkateswara has registered

a record income of ₹��89.02

crore during the month of

May, which is ₹��2.67 crore

higher when compared to the

corresponding month last

year. Addressing the media,

TTD Executive Officer Anil

Kumar Singhal on Friday said

that the temple has been

experiencing an

unprecedented turnout in the

pilgrim crowd during the

current summer.

One more person currentlybeing treated at the isolationward of the GovernmentMedical College Hospital, Ernakulam, has tested negative for the Nipah virus. Sixsuspected cases had testednegative earlier, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja said inNew Delhi on Friday.

However, all the sevenpersons admitted to the isolation ward will be monitored for the entire length ofthe incubation period of thevirus.

Meanwhile, eff��orts totrace the source of Nipah virus continues, four days after a youngster tested positive.

An experts’ team from thePunebased National Institute of Virology has descended on the district tomark out places with high

concentration of bats. Theteam comprises an entomologist and a fi��eld biologist.The Forest Department hasidentifi��ed three spots withheavy concentration of batsin Vadakkekkara. Theyoungster who tested positive for Nipah hails from thearea.

The condition of the 23yearold continues to remain

stable, despite intermittentbouts of fever. He had foodand spoke to his mother.

New isolation wardNo fresh admissions for suspected Nipah have been reported in the district.

A new isolation ward hasbeen set up at the Government Medical College Hospital, Ernakulam.

Areas with heavydensity of batsto be marked

Staff Reporter

KOCHI

One more person in Keralatests negative for Nipah

Kerala Health Minister K.K.Shailaja met the UnionMinister of Health andFamily Welfare Dr. HarshVardhan in the city onFriday.

“We discussed the statusand preparedness of theState for containment andmanagement of Nipah virusand have assured the State

government that we arereviewing the statusregularly,” said the UnionHealth Minister.

He added that teams ofexperts from the HealthMinistry and Indian Councilof Medical Research (ICMR)are already stationed inKerala and are supportingthe State in investigationsand management of thedisease.

State Health Ministermeets Harsh Vardhan Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The police have set up foolproof security arrangements for the visit of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toGuruvayur on Saturday.

The Prime Minister, whowill reach the Sree KrishnaCollege ground at 9.45 a.m.,will visit the Sreekrishnatemple at 10.10 a.m. He willbe welcomed by GuruvayurDevaswom authorities withpoorna kumba. Mr. Modiwill off��er thulabharam withlotus fl��owers. Around 111 kg

of fl��owers have been arranged for this. He willspend around one hour atthe temple.

Mr. Modi will address thepeople at the Sree KrishnaSchool ground, Guruvayur.Union Ministers PiyushGoyal and V. Muraleedharanwill accompany him.

Around 1,500 police personnel, along with 100 women police personnel, shadow police, bomb squadand dog squad have beendeployed for the security ofthe Prime Minister’s visit.

Tight security for Modi’svisit to Guruvayur Will off��er thulabharam with lotus


Thrissur Prime Minister NarendraModi is all set to visit Tirupati on Sunday. His trip isperceived as a thanksgivingone to the hill temple ofLord Venkateswara at Tirumala.

According to the programme schedule, Mr. Modi will fl��y from Colomboairport at 3 p.m. to reachTirupati by 4.30 p.m., address about 5,000 partyworkers for 30 minutes at a‘Vijayotsava Sabha’ in thevicinity of the airport.

PM to visitTirupatitomorrow


TIRUPATI

By ruling out the possibilityof a rethink by the Centralgovernment on the demandfor Special Category Status(SCS) to Andhra Pradesh, BJPState president Kanna Lakshminarayana has kicked up afresh row. Andhra PradeshChief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is determined topursue the issue with theCentral government during

Prime Minister NarendraModi’s visit.

“Former Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu committed a grave mistake byharping on the SCS, whichthe Centre termed ‘a closedchapter’, and paid for it inthe form of his party’s stunning defeat in the elections.If he follows the same path ashis predecessor, Mr. Jaganwill only be misleading thepeople again,” Mr. Laksh

minarayana said. Addressing presspersons

here on Friday, Mr. Lakshminarayana said Mr. Jaganwould do well to rememberthat his eff��orts to secure theSCS would be a futile exercise because for the PM, whodid a lot for the bifurcatedState, giving SCS which isjust a nomenclature is not abig issue.

At the same time, he (theCM) could make a represen

tation to the PM for SCS.There was no need for theBJP to prevent him from doing that, as it was his right.

Special packageMr. Lakshminarayana recalled that Mr. Modi hadsanctioned a special fi��nancial package, which wasmore benefi��cial than theSCS. But Mr. Naidu virtuallyturned down the off��er by notforming the special purpose

vehicle due to hiscompulsions.

He pointed out that theCentral government gave₹��24,000 crore for rural development and sanctioned railway zone and many institutions of national importanceafter the BJPTDP alliancebroke. The Centre wouldcontinue to extend all possible support to the State government, the BJP State president said.

A.P. BJP chief rules out special status for State Kanna Lakshminarayana cautions Jagan Mohan Reddy against following in footsteps of Naidu


TIRUPATI

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD




THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

NATION

Search area for missingAn-32 expanded GUWAHATI

The search area for IAF’s

An32 transport aircraft that

went missing over Arunachal

Pradesh on June 3 has been

expanding, The aircraft had

13 IAF personnel on board.

“The P8i of Indian Navy

undertook a search mission

from Arakkonam in Tamil

Nadu on Friday morning

while UAVs and sensors were

engaged,” a defence

spokesperson said.

IN BRIEF

50 shops in Chandigarhgutted; no loss of livesCHANDIGARH

At least 50 temporary shops

were gutted at a local market

in Anandpur Sahib in the wee

hours of Friday. There has

been no report of any lives

being lost. The fire broke out

in the market near Gurdwara

Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib in

which goods worth crores of

rupees is being reportedly

said to be lost. The cause of

fire is yet to be ascertained.

HC grants bail to actorKaran Oberoi in rape case MUMBAI

The High Court on Friday

granted bail to actor and

singer Karan Oberoi, accused

of raping his former

girlfriend. Mr. Oberoi was

arrested on May 5 after a

34yearold woman alleged

that he raped her on several

occasions and also extorted

money and gifts from her. He

claimed that they were in a

consensual relationship and

after he broke off the

relationship, she levelled

allegations of rape. PTI

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)MP and main accused in the2008 Malegaon blast, PragyaSingh Thakur, appeared before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court onFriday and said she did notknow about the blast.

Ms. Thakur arrived at12.45 p.m. from Bhopal, afterthe court turned down herplea seeking exemptionfrom appearance in court.Judge Vinod Padalkar askedher to take her place in thespace demarcated for the accused, where Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sameer Kulkarniwere seated. She sat on a redvelvet cloth placed by heraides.

Lawyers requested permission to talk to Ms. Thakurbut the judge turned it

down, and called her to thewitness stand. The judgeread out his order, which directed the accused to be present in court once a week,and asked Ms. Thakur if shewanted a chair to sit whiledeposing. She, however, saidshe would stand.

The judge then ques

tioned her under Section 313(1A) (the court can questionthe accused) of the Code ofCriminal Procedure (CrPC)and asked in Hindi, “Do youknow how many witnesseshave been examined by prosecution? Has your lawyertold you?” To which she replied, “No, I don’t know.”

The judge then said, “Onehundred and sixteen witnesses have been examinedand it has been establishedthat a blast took place. I amnot asking who did it. Do youknow a blast took place on29th September, 2008?”

She said, “No, I don’tknow.”

Postlunch, the judgeasked Ms Thakur again, “Iam asking on humanitariangrounds, [do] you want to sitor stand?” to which Ms Thakur said she had a throat infection, which made it diffi��cult for her to hear properly.

After the court proceedings were over, Ms. Thakurexpressed displeasure overthe chair, and said, “This isnot the way to treat peopleafter calling them tocourt....there is no properplace to sit or stand here.”

Don’t know about Malegaonblasts, Pragya Singh tells court BJP MP appears before NIA court after her plea for exemption was turned down

Special correspondent

Mumbai

Facing trial: Pragya Singh Thakur arriving at the NIA court inMumbai on Friday. * PTI

The government on Fridayappointed Justice RaviShanker Jha as the ActingChief Justice of the MadhyaPradesh High Court even asthere was no word from theCentre on a May 10 SupremeCourt Collegium recommendation to appoint JusticeA.A. Kureshi as the Chief Justice of the High Court.

On May 10, the Collegiumled by Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi recommendedJustice Kureshi to the offi��ceof the Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh, saying he wasthe seniormost judge fromthe Gujarat High Court, presently functioning on transfer in the Bombay HighCourt.

‘Considered view’The Collegium had told thegovernment in its resolutionthat Justice Kureshi, in its“considered view”, was“suitable in all respects forbeing appointed as Chief Justice of the Madhya PradeshHigh Court” after the retirement of the incumbent Justice S.K. Seth.

However, it seems the fi��lehas not impressed the government. In a brief notifi��cation, the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law andJustice, invoked Article 223(appointment of ActingChief Justice) to appoint Justice Jha.

The Centre reasons thatJustice Jha is the “seniormost judge of the MadhyaPradesh High Court”. JusticeJha, the notifi��cation said,would take over as ActingChief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court from June10, when Justice Seth retires.

Not fi��rst timeIt is not the fi��rst time JusticeKureshi’s appointment hasbeen embroiled incontroversy.

When the offi��ce of ChiefJustice to the Gujarat HighCourt fell vacant somemonths back due to the elevation of Justice SubhashReddy to the SupremeCourt, Justice Kureshi, as thethen next seniormost judgein the Gujarat High Court,was expected to take overthe offi��ce.

Instead, he was facedwith an abrupt transfer tothe Bombay High Court andJustice A.S. Dave, the seniormost judge after Justice Kureshi, was appointed theActing Chief Justice — all onthe same day.

However, the governmenthad then quickly changedtrack to issue a second notifi��cation appointing Justice Kureshi as Acting Chief Justiceof the Gujarat High Court until he took over offi��ce in theBombay High Court.

The controversy hadraised questions about theway Justice Kureshi wasdealt with by the government, and whether this hadanything to do with adverseorders passed by himagainst the ruling dispensation.

Makes Justice R.S. Jha the acting Chief Justice of M.P.

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi

Centre silent on appointmentof Justice A.A. Kureshi

Personal touch: Central Reserve Police Force personnel carrying a 13yearold boy suff��ering from jaundice from Gumodi, aremote village in naxalhit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh on Friday. The boy was carried for eight km to a camp in Kondasawali,where his condition has stabilised after treatment. * ANI



Helping hand

The Food Corporation ofIndia has commissioned anew roadmap to speed upsilo construction to meetits target of 100 lakh tonnesof storage space by 2022.

With record harvestsand high procurement over the last few years, theFCI is sitting on a reservestock of foodgrains that isalmost double the requiredlevel, straining capacityand forcing the use of cover and plinth storage whichis not entirelyweatherproof.

The previous government had constructed 6.75lakh tonnes of storage capacity while work is ongoing for 22 lakh tonnes, saidFood Minister Ram VilasPaswan on Friday, addingthat the reason for slowprogress was due to the necessity of having 1.5 km railsidings next to the silos.Engineering consultancyfi��rm RITES Ltd had beenasked to prepare a roadmap for a new silo modelwithin the next 90 days, hesaid.

The FCI was in talks withits unions to streamline itslabour force and bring all40,000 workers under auniform direct paymentsystem, Mr. Paswan added.

FCI plans toincrease itsstorage space


NEW DELHI

An application was fi��led inthe Supreme Court on Friday for a modifi��cation of itsJune 4 order restraining students from changing theiroriginal option/preferencefor seats in the postgraduatemedical and dental coursesin Maharashtra for the academic year 20192020.

The application soughtthe court to allow studentsto seek a fresh choice ofseats, including seats reverted from the EconomicallyWeaker Sections (EWS) category to general category.

The application said seatsshould be allotted to alreadyregistered and qualifi��edmedical students duringmanual (physical) counselling, in accordance with merit, without insisting uponprevious choice/ options exercised by the applicants.

‘Ínvalid exercise’The application fi��led by Sagar Damodar Sarda said theoriginal exercise of optionsby the applicants and otherqualifi��ed students “cannotbe termed a valid exercise infacts of the given case whenthe said exercise was itselfrestricted by operation ofEWS quota, which is nownot applicable for the cur

rent academic year.”It said the “provisional

seat position of postgraduate courses in government/ governmentaided/BMC and central government medical colleges, published by the Governmentof Maharashtra, State Common Entrance Cell wouldfurther reveal that therewere several seats, discipline wise – college wisewhich were earmarked forEWS students (only); beforethe said reservation scheme(for EWS) was directed notto be applicable for this academic year 20192020” bythe apex court on May 30.

The application allegedthat the authorities, even after the issuance of directions by the court, did notcall for fresh choice fi��lling,to enable students in orderof merit to participateafresh in the recounselingprocess.

On June 4, the court directed the Maharashtra government to hold the lastround of physical counselling for postgraduate medical and dental seats by June14. The June 4 order followed an interim directionin May to the State to not implement the 10% economicquota for the admissions forthe 201920 academic year.

Plea in SC to modify PG admissions order‘Original choices by students not valid’

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi

In a major shift, the RailwayMinistry has decided to handover core public relations activities to private agencieswith more focus on socialmedia, particularly Facebook and Twitter.

The largest employer ofthe Union Government willnow hire professionals to devise communication strategies to promote the image ofthe Railways and also in themanagement of passengerfeedback and publicgrievances.

In the existing system, Public Relations in the railwaysis managed by a CPRO at thezonal level who is supported

by Senior Public RelationsOffi��cers, Public Relations Inspectors and supportingstaff�� at the headquarters and

divisional level. In a note to General Man

agers of zonal railways andproduction units, the Railway Board approved hiringof agencies to lend professional expertise to the PublicRelations department in disseminating various initiatives of the railways, management of customerfeedback/passenger grievances received though various social media platforms,sources in the Southern Railway said on Friday.

Communication strategy One of the primary tasks ofthe PR agencies would be toformulate a resultoriented,comprehensive communica

tion strategy on Facebook,Twitter, Instagram, Quora,YouTube, LinkedIn and Medium and other platformsthat would be decided fromtime to time by the competent authority.

Based on the content provided by the respective ChiefPublic Relations Offi��cers, theprivate agencies wouldcreate promotional materialsuch as creative crisp texts,images, GIFs, infographicsamd animations etc. in accordance with the social media guidelines.

The sources said the private agencies chosen by theZonal Railways throughopen bidding process wouldanalyse newspapers/maga

zines, websites and television channels as regardsnews relating to the Railways.

A dedicated team of qualifi��ed analysts would be deployed to work in backendoffi��ces to assist CPROs inidentifying issues/themesand “identifying infl��uencerswho are active in media.”The team would comprise ateam leader, social mediamanager, content analyst,content writers, video editors among others.

The outsourced workwould include online storageand management of dataand content and make themavailable to railway offi��cialswhen required.

Private agencies to handle PR work for RailwaysBoard bats for more focus on social media, particularly on Facebook and Twitter

The agencies will also pass oncustomers’ grievances tooffi��cials. * RANJEET KUMAR

S. Vijay Kumar

CHENNAI

The Home Ministry haswarned Non GovernmentalOrganisations, who havechanged their offi��cebearersand key functionaries without informing the Ministry,with penal action, if they failto do so within a month.

All NGOs and associationsregistered under the ForeignContribution Regulation Act(FCRA), 2010, which makesthem eligible to receive foreign funds and donations,have to submit online appli

cation for addition, deletionand change of details aboutoffi��cebearers and key functionaries within one month.

As per norms, all associations, granted a certifi��cate ofregistration under Section 11and 12 of the FCRA, 2010have reported details oftheir offi��cebearers and keyfunctionaries while applyingfor registration.

Call for updation“It is noticed that some associations/persons, havingbeen registered under the

Act, have changed their offi��cebearers/key functionaries without approval fromthe MHA and without updating this data on a real timebasis through the online application meant for changeof these details...all such associations are hereby calledupon to submit onlinechanges failing which penalaction shall be initiated under the appropriate provisions of the FCRA Act, 2010and Rules, 2011,” the orderissued by the MHA said onFriday.

Home Ministry warns NGOsMany have changed offi��cebearers without informing it


New Delhi

INLD MLA Balwan SinghDaulatpuria joins BJP CHANDIGARH

In a fresh setback to the

Opposition Indian National

Lok Dal in Haryana, its sitting

MLA from Fatehabad

constituency Balwan Singh

Daulatpuria joined the BJP on

Friday. Mr. Daulatpuria

announced his decision to

quit the INLD at a meeting of

BJP workers in Fatehabad. He

was welcomed by Chief

Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

The Bombay High Court on Friday extended protection fromarrest for Anand Teltumbde inthe BhimaKoregaon violencecase till July 1.

A singlejudge Bench of Justice Revati Mohitedere washearing a petition fi��led by Mr.Teltumbde seeking anticipatory bail in the case through senior counsel Mihir Desai.

On February 11, another

Bench had not only extendedhis protection from arrest tillFebruary 22, but also directedthe Pune police to release himon ₹��1 lakh personal bond ifthey arrest him.

On February 5, the Pune

police informed anotherBench that they would not arrest him till February 12 midnight.

On February 1, a specialcourt in Pune had quashed hisprearrest bail plea.

Teltumbde gets protection from arrest till next monthSpecial correspondent

Mumbai

The National Commissionfor Protection of ChildRights (NCPCR) has recommended exhuming the bodyof a 12yearold girl from Assam, who died under mysterious circumstances in thehouse of an Arunachal Pradesh MLA.

This was because theState police had the bodyburied in neighbouring Assam without an FIR and autopsy while MLA Techi Kaso’s family had allegedlydestroyed evidence thatcould have established thecause of the girl’s death onMay 20. Mr. Kaso representsthe Janata DalUnited ( JDU)from the Itanagar Assemblyconstituency. The minor girlfrom Line No. 4 of the Dolahat Tea Estate in northeastern Assam’s Lakhimpur dis

trict was reportedly foundhanging in the house of lawmaker Techi Kasoin Naharlagun town, about 15 kmfrom Itanagar.

The police in Naharlagunhas been asked to properlyinvestigate and submit a report. “Since the body wasburied without any postmortem, we have recommended exhuming it forknowing the cause ofdeath,” she added.

ASCPCR chairpersonSunita Changkakoti said thepolice claimed the 12yearold girl committed suicide.“But her death does notseem so. The room whereshe died was dismantled,people in the MLA’s househad brought her body downbefore the police arrived,and the dupatta with whichshe was said to have hangedherself was burnt,” she said.

Exhume body of Assamminor girl, says NCPCRSerious lapse of procedure by police


Guwahati




DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

Ramin Jahanbegloo

The recent commemorationof the 30th anniversary ofthe violent suppression of

China’s Tiananmen Square protests is a good occasion to lookback on the year 1989 and the nonviolent movements for democracywhich changed our world. It is afact that the nonviolent movements in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 ended the confrontation between East and West andstrengthened the possibility of a“new international order” basedon the extension of democracyaround the globe. As a result of thevictory of nonviolent campaignsin Poland (with the Solidaritymovement) and in Czechoslovakia(with the Velvet Revolution), thetechnique of nonviolent transformation of authoritarian and semitotalitarian regimes into liberal democracies turned into a globalcrosscultural phenomenon.

In other words, the selfempowerment strategies of nonviolentcivic actors of 1989 had a great im

pact on those around the globewho believed in a genuine processof democratisation. Let us not forget that the past 30 years have witnessed an unprecedented fl��owering of nonviolent experiences. Inmany areas of the world, such asLatin America, North Africa andWest Asia, where armed strugglewas once seen as the only path tofreedom, nonviolent campaignsare now considered institutionalised methods of struggle for democratic invention and democraticgovernance.

Good governance One of the important tasks thatwas set by the nonviolent movements of 1989 was the provision of“good governance”. For thesemovements and their leaders likeCzechoslovakia’s Václav Havel, thereal test of democracy was not only in the peaceful process of transition, but also in the nonviolentconsolidation of democratic institutions. For the advocates of nonviolence in 1989, democracy wasnot just “an institutional arrangement for organising the politicalsociety” but a new attitude and approach towards the problem ofpower. For example, from thepoint of view of a 1989 leader suchas Havel, the concept of powershould go hand in hand with res

ponsibility. As he pointed out,“Politics is an area of human endeavour that places greater stresson moral sensitivity, on the abilityto refl��ect critically on oneself, ongenuine responsibility, on tasteand tact, on the capacity to empathise with others, on a sense ofmoderation, on humility.”

In a Gandhian manner, the spirit of 1989 affi��rmed that the challenges and diffi��culties of democratic governance needed to beconfronted through selfrule, selfcontrol and the soul force. Undoubtedly, for all the nonviolentactors of 1989, the twin practicesof selfdiscipline and empatheticservice seemed necessary in orderto control an unjust and inappropriate power.

This is actually what was suggested by the studentled democracy movement in China. For the

Chinese students, the process ofdemocratisation was a way tochange the Communist power over society into a power from within it. As another leader of the 1989movements, Adam Michnik, declares, “The real struggle for us isfor the citizen to cease to be theproperty of the state.”

Truly, civic actors and freedomanimators such as Adam Michnikand Václav Havel did not learn tolove democracy and nonviolenceblindfolded and with their headslowered. They believed that democracy can be practised onlywhen we can look at it clearly andcritically. Accordingly, it was intheir minds that the Berlin Wallbegan to crumble. As the spirit of1989 dawned in Beijing, the Polishpeople, and the Czechs, Slovaks,Romanians, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Ukrainians andRussians came to understand thatthe empowerment of civil societyand the collective ability to ruledemocratically were the essentialconstituents of nonviolent transition to democracy.

Ironically, on the same day( June 4, 1989) that the Polish Communists were defeated for the fi��rsttime in elections in a Communiststate, the Chinese prodemocracymovement was crushed by thetanks in Tiananmen Square. Para

doxically, both Communist Chinaand postCommunist Polandturned to market economy and awild rush for wealth. But the lesson of 1989 remained intact andmore relevant than ever.

It’s still afl��oatAs a matter of fact, it took shapeonce again in the spirit of youngEgyptians and Tunisians whoshook Arab history though the tactics of nonviolent resistance. Certainly, the spirit of 1989 was nonviolence in the making. And today,we can fi��nd the same spirit of 1989,what we can call a Gandhian moment of history, in Algeria, Sudan,Iran, Indonesia, the U.S. and manyother countries around the globe.It shows that the dream of 1989which accompanied the Chinesestudents of Tiananmen, the workers of Poland and the civic actorsof Prague is not over. It shows thatwhere nonviolence is practised,democracy is honoured. Moreover, the spirit of 1989, which tookshape in the year of all freedoms,is a reminder that democracy is asystem based on trust in humanaction and the fact that the impossible could become possible.

Ramin Jahanbegloo is Director, Mahatma

Gandhi Centre for Peace, Jindal Global

University, Sonipat

The spirit of 1989, from Tiananmen to PragueIt is a reminder that where nonviolence is practised, democracy is honoured

RE

UT

ER

S

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

The American sociologist, C.Wright Mills, known for classic works like The Power

Elite, dubbed the years of theDwight D. Eisenhower presidency(195361) as the great celebration.The United States was celebratingits sense of dominance even as theCold War and the McCarthy erawere gnawing its entrails. Something of the hypocrisy and the complacency of the time haunts the India of today. We seem to belong tothe future, yet the more outdatedwe become as a country. The Narendra Modi government seems tocelebrate a series of ironic eventsas a great victory. The very scale ofits electoral score and the puniness of the Opposition seem tohave unhinged it.

Lost pluralismWe celebrate democracy at the very moment that our majoritarianism has destroyed our sense ofpluralism. The dissenting, themarginal, the minority seem tohave no place in the juggernautrolling before us.

We are hailing a nation statewhere ideas march in uniform,where the jingoism of the massesis labelled as patriotism.

We hail an alliance between corporate power and the nation statedubbed as development withoutrealising that such a theory ofgrowth has no ethical space for theidea of the Anthropocene. We

have confi��ned the challenge of climate change to the dustbin of dissent, indiff��erent to the vulnerability of our tribals or of ourcoastlines. Our piety as a ThirdWorld nation state has emptiedour ethics as a civilisation. Theemptiness of our Swadeshism hasdestroyed the creativity of ourSwaraj, our ability to see localityand planet as one whole.

We pretend that we are in pursuit of a knowledge economy,when our sense of knowledge haslost meaning as a culture and become totally instrumental. At thevery moment we are being outthought and outfought by the Westand by China, we claim a priorityfor our ancient civilisation as aknowledge economy. We have aregime which is committed to anancient past, but is clueless aboutthe problems it confronts in the future.

Yet the drum beat of this election has made us think that Indiahas arrived on the world stage. It isa piece of news our intellectualsare afraid to challenge lest they beseen as antinational. The questionis, how do we challenge such a situation when we celebrate the verythings that are driving us to theworld of mediocrity?

The general tomtomming thatthe Congress has been put in itsplace, that liberalism is dead, thatMarxism is as stale as yesterday’snewspaper makes one feel that India was suff��ering from a deepsense of inferiority. We saw ourselves as victims of history. Whereelse would politicians spend timerewriting the Battle of Haldighatias if a victory then was more critical than any battle in the future.India today feels as if it has won avictory against the Nehruvian mo

del that had haunted it. We feelthat we have exorcised ourselvesand this victory is the psychological beginning to a new India. It isthis psychological state that weneed to understand. We seem tothink that we have outgrown ourpast illusions. The electoral scoreis literally presented as a catharsis,a purging of the past where a renaissance India emerges ready fora global future. An India tired ofbeing a failure.

Reading the popular mindWe face the irony not that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party president AmitShah were successful psephologists, but that they were such brilliant readers of the contemporaryIndian mind. For all our talk of ourgreat nationalism movements, oursense of civilisation, Mr. Modi realised the sense of puniness thathaunted our minds. The Congressof Sardar Patel, Jawaharlal Nehruand Indira Gandhi was too arrogant to think of such a state. Itcould have thought of the povertyof the peasant, but not the povertyof philosophy, the little mindsetsthat haunted us. It is true we wereaspirational, yet our sense of beingaspirational hid our self doubts.

This election has created a newmindset, whereby we look confi��

dent having acquired the feathers,the plumage of those who conquered us. Before one reacts in ire,remember no regime has beenmore colonial than the present. Itis as if the whole country was waiting for a few certifi��cates from theadvanced nations. India hasdressed itself in the plumage of nationalism, development andscience, pretending that this millenarian arrival was India’s fi��rst stepto the future. In an ironic way India became Modi and Modi became India. We have transformedourselves into a mimic nation.

Let us face it. The ideas of ourelite, our liberals, our Marxists,our celebrations of the plural andcivilisational had no sense of thosewho felt left out. The latter feltthey had not joined history, thatthe bandwagon of the nation state,development had taken themnowhere. Mr. Modi realised thesense of loss and resentment, theneed for recognition. It was a cultural envy, a bit like his attempt totake the place next to Gandhi inthe KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission) calendar. Thissense of being left out haunted usas a nation. Mr. Modi harnessedthis envy, found the right epidemic of hate and legitimised it. TheOther had to be recreated and defeated, and 2002 became the mythfor that inauguration. Riot or moblynching became a moment of history. Every rioter felt he was conquering history. Violence becamethe rite of passage by which we recovered our lost sense of masculinity.

But recovering masculinity isnot enough. It needs a frameworkof legitimation and communalismexpanded into patriotism. Majoritarianism became the new nation

alism. The electoral analyses present

ed are antiseptic, almost rituals ofavoiding analysis. There is a banalsociology which either shows thatpolitical parties did not matter or ahosanna to leadership. It fails toconfront the collective psyche orthe Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) ability to convert folk psychology into mass psychology. Attempts to read it like a charteredaccountant reading electioncounts is irrelevant. It was likewatching an epidemic or an avalanche. The RSS had a deepersense of the resentment that waslocal to India, and it sublimatedthis violence to the Other with theright categories such as nation, security and patriotism. It understood the power of the irrationaland harnessed it. Mr. Shah’s sociology of the nukkad had morecreative power than the offi��cial sociology textbooks. As defeated activists and scholars, we can watchit voyeuristically, sense an Indiawe need to understand.

There is spaceNow Mr. Modi is Lutyens’ Delhi,and we need to understand theconsequence of it. We need a diff��erent set of insights to critique him.The challenge of the future will liein our ability to invent a diff��erentdemocracy, and not get caught inthe banality of policy critique or acritique of choices, where law andorder displaces democratic inventiveness. Our idea of India is stillhospitable to impossible possibilities.

Shiv Visvanathan is an academic

associated with the Compost Heap, a

group in pursuit of alternative ideas and

imagination

The great Indian celebrationThe country’s politics has changed, and new analytical tools are required to understand it

Shiv Visvanathan

AN

UJ A

RO

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The language narrativeThe natural bonding onehas with the mothertongue, and the conditionswarranting learning of alanguage other than one’smother tongue have beenjuxtaposed with theattempt to impose thethreelanguage formula bythe overzealous BJP(Editorial page, “Language,the opening move”, June 7).Perhaps the party thoughtit had successfully fi��red itsfi��rst salvo at the Statesdown south. That the BJPhas touched a raw nervehas been proved beyonddoubt by the enormity ofthe opposition to theimposition of Hindi, inTamil Nadu especially.Moves like these will onlyfurther widen the dividebetween the party and thepeople of Tamil Nadu whohave already rejected theillusions of nationalism andHindutva. G.B. Sivanandam,

Coimbatore

■ If only 30% of India’spopulation speaks Hindi, it isabsolutely clear what it is asfar as the remainder isconcerned. It is the English

language which connectsand unites nonHindispeaking States. At thisjuncture, the importance ofEnglish cannot be ignored.This is an issue that wecannot gloss over especiallywhen the States were formedon the basis of language. TheCentral government shouldstop unpleasant surprisessuch as the draft NationalEducation Policy. Antony C.J.,

Puranattukara, Muthuvara, Kerala

■ The article reminded me ofan incident, in 1966, when Ihad travelled to Chennai, totake part in the AllIndiaNational School Games, asthe captain of my State TTteam (Uttar Pradesh). Assoon as the train pulled intoMadras Central, the bogieswere set upon by antiHindiagitators. As a child of 14years, I was left traumatised.The team manager was ableto gather his wits and rush usout to a place near theYMCA. Next day, whentravelling in a bus, we wereintercepted, asked to getdown and caned heavily forno fault of ours. Theattackers could notunderstand our language,

Hindi, nor could we theirs—Tamil. We were inconfi��nement for the rest ofthe night. I couldcommunicate just a bit inEnglish and gathered that wewere being punishedbecause we had been heardtalking in Hindi. We werereleased the next day whenwe told the police that wehad come to participate inthe national games thatmorning to be inauguratedby the leader M.Bakthavatsalam. I feel itshould be left to a person tolearn Hindi. English is a mustas the major language inevery State.Ahmad Rais Siddiqi,

New Delhi

Rebooting the CongressSome of the regional partiesare doing a great disserviceto the nation by trying toobliterate the Indian NationalCongress. . Unfortunately,the entire political and socialspace in this country is beingovertaken by religion, whichis diffi��cult to reverse. The BJPappears to have become abenefi��ciary of this. It is alsounfortunate that the middleclass in India, which greatlybenefi��ted from the leftist

policies of the Congressparty and its liberalisationand globalisation policiessince the 1990s, is desertingit and heading for the BJP.The nation has a stake in therevamping of the Congressparty as a strong alternativeto the BJP in the interests ofIndian democracy (OpEdpage, ‘Parley’, “Is this theend of the road for theCongress party?”, June 7). P. Perraju Sarma,

Visakhapatnam

■ The Congress can ill aff��ordto be headed by a sulkingpresident at a time when theentire organisationalstructure is crumblingrapidly. That its leadershipcould not prevent as many as12 of its 18 MLAs in Telanganafrom switching over to theruling TRS betrays thepathetic state of itsleadership. The fi��ssuresbetween the Rajasthan ChiefMinister and the State partypresident too refl��ect poorlyon the leadership’s ability tomanage internal dissent.Infi��ghting in Karnataka toohas shown the party in a badlight. At the same time, thisis the opportune moment fora change in leadership

follow its rules andregulations and follow thepolicies laid down. No onecan raise any objection. Inthe same manner, Dhoni hasto obey ICC rules. Thomas Koshy,

Chennai

■ The familiar idiom is‘wearing your patriotism onyour sleeve’, which M.S.Dhoni seems to have taken toheart.. This is not toundervalue his boundlesslove for the country and theservices in any manner. Thefurore in India over the issueis hardly surprising as it isbeing made out to be anemotional issue at a timewhen nationalist sentiment isrunning high. Dhoni is on theplaying fi��eld in his capacityas an international cricketplayer. An internationalist issupposed to promoteinternationalism. It shouldnot be forgotten that we arean organic part of theinternational communityand need to act for thepermeation of a spirit ofgoodwill . G. David Milton,

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

starting from the top. S.K. Choudhury,

Bengaluru

M.S. Dhoni’s glovesCan we keep politics out ofsport and sports bodies? TheBCCI is already a victim ofexternal action and now toinject nonexistent andunwarranted emotion intothe matter of an Armyinsignia is unnecessary(‘Sport’ page, “Dhoni’stribute draws ICC’s censure”,June 7). The rest of us are aspatriotic as the personsbreathing fi��re and venom butfollowing the rules in thiscase does nothing to aff��ectour dignity. The generalelection is over and donewith. Politicians play gamesbut that is neither sport norsporting.T.C. Narayan,

Bengaluru

■ Mahendra Singh Dhonibeing a part of aninternational cricket team isunder the rules andregulations of theInternational Cricket Counciland is bound to follow thoserules. As long as one worksfor an employer or anorganisation, one is bound to

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

Telangana Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas

Reddy’s decision to endorse the merger of a 12

member group of legislators from the Congress

with the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi may be tech

nically justifi��ed under the Tenth Schedule of the Consti

tution. They constitute the requisite twothirds of the

18member Congress Legislature Party. But this orches

trated decimation of the Opposition in the 120member

legislature does not bode well. With this, the TRS’s

strength has gone up to 103. It had won 88 seats in the

2018 elections, but three MLAs — an Independent and

one each from the Telugu Desam Party and the All India

Forward Bloc — defected to its fold recently. These ac

tions seem aimed to reduce the Opposition's ability to

act as a check. Defections are not uncommon despite

the stringent conditions of the antidefection law. But

coming so soon after the Assembly elections, and de

void of a point of principle, they raise disturbing ques

tions about the ideological and programmatic cohesive

ness of the Congress. MLAs need not be tied to party

satraps and should assert their individuality in lawmak

ing — but it is dishonesty to switch sides after being

elected on a party ticket when the only plausible objec

tive is to grab the loaves of power. That there is no ide

ological distinctiveness to political representation in

States such as Telangana has made it possible for defec

tions to happen rampantly. In an ideologylite polity,

the MLAs seem to see no benefi��t in meaningfully repre

senting their constituents, and fi��nd it rewarding to align

with the ruling party for the purposes of patronage.

The antidefection law, that calls for disqualifi��cation

unless defecting legislators are part of a group that con

stitutes at least twothirds of the legislative strength of a

party and that merges with another party, was enacted

to prevent such machinations. However, defectors have

found ways to work around the law to avoid disqualifi��

cation. Dramatic shifts in allegiances by elected MLAs

have been a concern in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,

among other States. In many cases, even if the two

thirds rule has been fl��outed, the authority given to the

Speaker, who is invariably from the ruling dispensa

tion, has enabled dubious calls. This decisionmaking

structure has also allowed blatant defections to be ig

nored, as seen in Goa and Manipur, among other States.

In such cases, the Speaker has acted less as a constitu

tional authority and more as a partisan party loyalist. It

is time to reconsider the antidefection law’s procedu

ral implementation and to vest the power on decisions

over mergers of groups and disqualifi��cations of legisla

tors with an institution such as the Election Commis

sion. This could well bring about a more strict and ob

jective implementation of the antidefection law.

Unconscionable switchThe ease with which 12 Congress MLAs have

defected to the TRS raises troubling questions

In a reaffi��rmation of New Delhi’s ‘Neighbourhood

First’ policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fi��rst vi

sit abroad is to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, while S.

Jaishankar wraps up his fi��rst visit abroad as Foreign Mi

nister to Bhutan. Leaders of several neighbouring coun

tries were invited to Mr. Modi’s swearingin ceremony.

This is the fi��rst state visit by Mr. Modi to Male, which he

had visited briefl��y for the swearingin of President Ibu

Solih in November 2018. A series of agreements are ex

pected during the visits, including the implementation

of an $800 million Line of Credit to the Maldives. The

projects include a cricket stadium, water purifi��cation

and sewerage systems, as well as a Coastal Surveillance

Radar System and a Composite Training Centre for the

Maldives National Defence Force. This follows the In

dian practice of fulfi��lling the needs of neighbouring

countries that they themselves identify, much as it has

done in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister’s visit to the

Maldives aims to send a threepronged message: to con

tinue highlevel contacts between close neighbours, as

sist as development partners, and strengthen people

topeople ties. For Sri Lanka, Mr. Modi’s message is one

of solidarity in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday ter

ror attacks and the communal violence that followed,

as well as a commitment to continue bilateral coopera

tion on joint development projects agreed to in 2017. He

will be the fi��rst international leader to visit Colombo

since the attacks, and his visit sends a powerful mes

sage as Sri Lanka tries to recover from the trauma.

The atmospherics today are in contrast to the com

paratively trickier relationship with the previous go

vernments in Male and Colombo during Mr. Modi’s fi��rst

tenure. In 2015, Mr. Modi had cancelled a visit to Male at

the last minute following concerns over thenPresident

Abdulla Yameen’s crackdown on Opposition parties. Si

milar misgivings had cropped up regarding former Sri

Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime. China’s

inroads into the region had formed a common thread

straining ties with both countries. India protested when

the Yameen government signed a free trade agreement

with Beijing, and granted China land for development.

It made its displeasure clear over the many infrastruc

ture projects Mr. Rajapaksa granted to Chinese compa

nies under heavy Chinese loans. Deeper concerns arose

from the Chinese naval presence in both Male and Co

lombo. Now, the situation has turned. Governments in

both countries have changed. Besides a charm off��en

sive, India has chosen to mute its opposition to their

continued cooperation with China on the Belt and Road

Initiative. It also comes from a realisation in Delhi that

at a time when factors such as the U.S.China trade tuss

les and tensions in West Asia pose uncertainties, strong

neighbourhood ties can provide much comfort.

Itinerary symbolism The second Modi government sends a

powerful ‘neighbourhood fi��rst’ message




THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE

GROUND ZERO

It is the last Friday of Ramzan and lying on a blue rexine bed that is standard in private nursing homes, with

an intravenous tube (IV) and a catheterattached to him, Mohammad Qasim, 29,has the anguished look of a man who isweary of carrying the burden of hisname. As his cousins rush out of thenursing home to off��er Alvida Juma ( jumu’atul vida) namaz, tears course downQasim’s cheeks. He says, “I cannot evenget up to off��er my prayers, and this ismore painful than the bullet lodged inside me.”

Three days after the spectacular verdict of the 2019 general election thatgave Prime Minister Narendra Modi asecond term, Mohammad Qasim wasshot at for being a Muslim in Kumbhi village. It falls under the jurisdiction ofCheriaBariyarpur police station in Begusarai district, Bihar.

Looking back, it would appear thatthe atmosphere had already been vitiated by politicians in the runup to thegeneral election. Hindutva poster boyand Union Minister Giriraj Singh wonthe Begusarai Lok Sabha seat by defeating CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, aformer president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University student union; RashtriyaJanata Dal candidate Tanvir Hussaincame a distant third. Campaigning forthe polls, Singh repeatedly hit the headlines with controversial statements.“My ancestors died and were cremated… but you need a yard of land even after you die. If you say you cannot chantVande Mataram, this nation will neverforget you,” he had said in the course ofan election rally. He had also demandedthe Election Commission of India impose a ban on the use of green fl��ags.This was not the fi��rst time Singh hadcourted controversy in his attempts tocreate a wedge between religiouscommunities.

String of violenceThe past fi��ve years of the Narendra Modigovernment have seen a spate of lynchings across north India. A potent cocktail of religion, the issue of gau rakshakand intolerance towards other faiths appears to be fuelling the violence. Almostevery act is caught on camera andquickly disseminated on social mediawhich amplifi��es it. Politicians from theruling dispensation have kept their silence. Just a few days ago one such gruesome act was captured on camerawhere, in Uttar Pradesh, a group of menare seen beating daily wage labourersfor eating meat.

Qasim is a stout man who walks witha pronounced limp. Along with othermembers of his community, he weavesquilts for a living during the winter andsupplements his income by doing oddjobs in the summer. He says, “My younger brother suggested that I sell detergent doortodoor and I agreed. I had tosupport my family, after all.” Borrowingmoney from friends and relatives, Qasim bought a moped for ₹��25,000 andstarted selling detergent. An additional₹��800 was spent on getting a microphone fi��tted to the moped. The microphone blared promotional jingles exhorting people to purchase Qasim’s 3 kgdetergent powder for just ₹��100. On anormal day, Qasim’s earnings touched₹��300.

Selling detergents for a larkMay 26 was just another usual day withmuch of the celebrations that followedthe verdict of the general election having quietened down. Qasim had lefthome early to escape the heat and hoping to get some business done, persuading housewives to buy his detergent before they shut their doors for noon. Mayis a brutal summer month with most people preferring to stay indoors.

Qasim reached Kumbhi village, 10 kmfrom his home. He recounts, “I had justparked my moped outside a paan shop,when suddenly a man [later identifi��edas Rajiv Yadav] ordered me to switch off��the mike. I turned it off�� immediately. Heasked my name and upon hearing it,told me to go to Pakistan. ‘You shouldbe in Pakistan or...,’ and he looked up atthe sky. In a split second, he whippedout his katta (country revolver) andfi��red at me.”

As Qasim slumped forward, a number of bystanders stood by andwatched. None came forward to his aid.Qasim was barely conscious to realisethat he was losing blood. The bullet hadhit him on the left shoulder and, as doctors would later fi��nd out, it had not exited. After what seemed like hours, a woman came forward to dress his woundwith a cloth. Someone else came forward with a towel and took him to thevillage sarpanch’s house. The sarpanch,Raja Ram Sahni, off��ered to take Qasimto the local police.

By this time, news of the shootinghad spread like wildfi��re in the neighbouring villages. Qasim’s family members decided to rush him to the government hospital in Begusarai town some30 km away from Khumbi, only to betold by the doctors to admit him in theState capital, Patna. Says Qasim’s cousin, Mohd Mohd Mithun Alam, “It was atthat time that some people had come tothe government hospital in Begusarai torecord Qasim’s statement.” His youngerbrother Mohd Javed, who is also physically challenged, adds, “We thought hecould die of bleeding, so we requestedthe doctor to refer him to a local doctorin town. He then referred Qasim to aprivate nursing home.”

The police visited the nursing homeat 2 p.m. to record the statement. Says

Qasim, “I apprised the bara babu (incharge of police station) of all the detailsof the incident telling him categoricallythat I was shot at for being a Muslim, butthe FIR said I was shot at due to somescuffl��e.” He asks, “How could I have ascuffl��e with the accused whom I was notacquainted with? I put my thumb impression on the FIR without knowingwhat was written in it.” However, at oneplace in the FIR (no: 77/19 dated May26), Qasim’s statement that he was shotat for being a Muslim does fi��nd a mention. Following the registration of theFIR, a case against the accused, Rajiv Yadav, was lodged under Sections 341(punishment for wrongful restraint),342 (punishment for wrongful confi��nement) and 307 (attempt to murder) ofthe Indian Penal Code and Section 27 ofthe Arms Act (punishment for usingarms).

The accused was said to have beendrunk at the time of the incident — Biharis a dry State. He was arrested on May30 and sent to jail. Says Niraj KumarSingh, incharge of CheriaBariyarpurpolice station: “He is a local criminaland has also been involved in illegal liquor brewing and selling… he is accused in four other cases as well.”

However, the Begusarai Superintendent of Police, Awkash Kumar, expressed ignorance about Qasim’s claimthat he was shot at for being a Muslim.He said, “I do not know why he says so…we’ll investigate this but our investigations show that he was shot following ascuffl��e over the purchase of hisdetergent.”

But the shooting incident becameprime time news and was amplifi��ed bysocial media. Kanhaiya Kumar tweeted,“In Begusarai, a Muslim hawker wasshot at saying he should go to Pakistan.In order to promote such crimes, allsuch leaders are guilty who day andnight spread hatred for political virtues.We’re not at peace until the perpetrators are punished.”

All India MajliseIttehadul Muslimeen leader Asadudin Owaisi tootweeted, “Qasim almost lost his life forliterally just saying his name. But sure, Iam ‘fear mongering’. Where does Rajiv’s brazenness come from? BJP’s leadership has constantly demonised usand associated us with Pakistan. We’renot human in their eyes, we’re targetpractice.”

Giriraj Singh too did not take long torespond. He told a news channel:“Owaisi has a habit of sowing hatred.

The land of Begusarai is peaceful. I urgeOwaisi to let the people of Begusaraicontinue to live in peace. This is Modiji’s (PM Narendra Modi) raj and here,only peace will prevail.” But local Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Imtiyaz Ali, StateCommunist party leader Arun Mishraand social activist Pushpraj, who visitedQasim in hospital, admitted that “afterthe Lok Sabha poll, the atmosphere ofBegusarai has communally become toxic and people like Rajiv Yadav have started taking advantage of it”.

Meanwhile, the doctor treating Qasim says he is “out of danger now” butthe bullet is still embedded in his leftshoulder. Says Dr. Ashok Kumar, “We’llreview his condition after two to threedays and take a decision on whether togo for an operation to take out the bulletor to leave it there… it causes no dangerif it remains there.” Qasim’s family hasspent ₹��1.15 lakh on his treatment. SaysQasim’s younger brother, “Ornamentsof our wives have been mortgaged andwe’ve also taken a loan from people…villagers and relatives have also donatednearly ₹��10,000 but we’re in deep debt.”

In the distance, Qasim’s new mopedstands piled with detergent packetswaiting to be sold. After the incident,most of the villagers in Khanjahanpur,to which Qasim belongs, have stoppedhawking their goods for a living. The village has a substantial Muslim population engaged in petty trade, which appears to have taken a hit.

Another city, another beatingFor a few weeks in the runup to EidulFitr every year, Mohammad Murtazawould hire a couple of tailors on dailywages to handle the increased load ofwork. Working in the narrow confi��nesof a shop which is 10 ft by 5 ft, Murtaza,along with three other tailors, toiledaway, furiously pedalling their sewingmachines. All of them slept in the shop,which is an illegal unit operating fromthe basement of a house in the Jacubpura area of Gurugram. Shops such asthese are common in this area.

Murtaza had migrated to the Millennium City in 1996, then a sleepy, dustytown on the outskirts of Delhi, in searchof a livelihood. He worked with manywellknown tailors in the city for overtwo decades before he could set up hisown shop three years ago.

He had called his son Amir, whoworked as a mason in Bengaluru, to assist him. Most often, it was the biggertailors who outsourced their work tohim. This year Murtaza called his distant cousin, Mohammad Barkat Alam,25, from Bihar’s Begusarai district tolearn the tricks of the trade. He thoughtthe man would also be an extra hand inthe festive season.

Looking back at the incident of May25, Murtaza, who looks much olderthan his 45 years, with his grey dishevelled hair and stubble — is deeply perturbed by the turn of events over thepast few days. Says Murtaza, referring to

Alam, “It has not even been a monthand he has already invited so muchtrouble for himself and all of us. Thepolice and the media have all got involved. I had called him to teach tailoring for a better living, but will now sendhim back after Eid. That too will not beeasy as he is now involved in a legal tangle.”

This is what had happened. New tothe city, Alam was returning to the shopfrom the local Jama Masjid, about 100 maway, on May 25 around 10 p.m.through a narrow alley when a fewyoung men on a motorcycle and on footallegedly accosted him and told him toremove his skull cap. They told him thathe was not allowed to wear the skull capin this area. When Alam protested, oneof them slapped him and hit him on thehead, displacing the cap. An altercation

broke out. Though there is no evidenceto confi��rm or deny it, Alam claimed thathis tormentor asked him to chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Jai Shree Ram”,and threatened to feed him pork if hedidn’t obey his command.

Recalls Alam, “It was not too late for asummer night and there were many people around. Some safai karamchariswere also working nearby. But no oneintervened. They just laughed. The manpunched me and hit me with a stick lying on the road. I tried to push him backand run but he held on to my kurta andtore it. I just started weeping. The menwalked away.”

Alam is yet to tell his mother aboutthe incident and is not sure how she willtake it.

Murtaza, however, feels that thingswould not have come to such a pass hadAlam exhibited a little restraint. “He isyoung blood and the man was drunk.The man said something and he reacted. Had Alam acquiesced to what theman wanted him to do, there wouldhave been no trouble. He had onlythreatened to feed him pork, and notactually done so. I have encounteredsuch situations many times, but thematter never reached the police station,” he argues.

Millennial city no moreMurtaza, though, concedes that a lothas changed in and around the localityover the past couple of years. A thrivingmeat market that was a stone’s throwfrom his shop and had been running fordecades shut down two years ago following protests by Hindus. It all startedsome years ago with protests duringNavratri by some Hindu outfi��ts and theshops were forced to down their shutters permanently. Says Murtaza, “TheHindus objected to the presence ofshops close to the temple, though theshops and the temple had coexisted fordecades.” He rues how he has to walk alonger distance now to buy meat fromthe Jama Masjid market. In fact, themeat shops and dhabas in the Jama Masjid market too were forced to shut downduring Navratri in October last for thefi��rst time but were reopened a day laterafter the police intervened, he recounts.

Alam grumbles how despite being avictim, he has been at the receiving endof the law agencies and the media. Hebreaks down on a couple of occasions indejection. On fast for around 20 daysand beaten up, Alam had to sit in thepolice station till the early hours of Sunday after the attack while the policecompleted the legal formalities. He wascalled to the station the following day toidentify the culprits, though none wasarrested. Alam says he kept sitting in thestation for four hours and was let off�� only after a community leader intervened.

He is saddened by the narrative nowbeing falsely built by the police and themedia to discredit him. A host of reportsappeared in a section of media over thepast few days, with reference to the

closedcircuit television footage of theincident, and about some insignifi��cantdetails of the attack. The reportsclaimed that his skull cap was justtouched by the accused and did not fallto the ground and that he was assaultedby one and not two persons. Some reports also claimed that his “kurta” wasnot torn, though a scuffl��e is evident inthe footage. The police also said Alamcould have been tutored to make a falsestatement with regard to the chants of“Jai Shree Ram” and “Bharat Mata KiJai” when there was still no evidence tosupport it.

The chairman of the Muslim EktaManch, Hazi Shahzad Khan, says whilethe incident has been dissected to disseminate insignifi��cant details, no oneseems to be talking about the mootpoint — that a young man belonging to aminority community has been targetedfor his religious identity and preventedfrom practising his religion with freedom, as guaranteed in the Constitution.Khan says this is not the fi��rst time thishas happened and that there have beena series of incidents in Gurugram overthe past three years or so creating fearin the minds of the minorities.

He says, “Be it the protests againstmeat shops, mostly run by the Muslims,the off��ering of Namaz in open spaces,the cutting off�� of a Muslim man’s beardor the attack on a Muslim family inBhondsi recently, the intolerance towards Muslims seems to be on the risein Gurugram.”

Independent fi��lmmaker Rahul Roy,who is a part of the civil society group,Nagrik Ekta Manch, says the emergenceof Hindutva vigilante groups in Gurugram is linked to the creation of a newpolitical voice and the building of a constituency of support around issueswhich are both emotive and off��eredpossibilities of breaking through caste/clan social divisions. For a new set ofpolitical actors to break this stranglehold of old networks and claim leadership positions required the setting up ofnew political projects. Cow protectionand antiMuslim hate amplifi��cation aretimetested ingredients that have forlong ensured very high success rates inmobilising people.

Says Roy, “The administration hascompletely failed to address the genuine problems of Muslim and Christian residents when it comes to issuessuch as places of worship and burialgrounds. The campaign by the vigilantegroups to stop the Friday Namaz in public spaces was partially successful andthe administration provided legitimacyto these groups and their leadership bysetting up parallel negotiations with theMuslim community and the vigilantegroups.”

On his part, Murtaza says his familyback in Begusarai have been staunchsupporters of the Bharatiya Janata Partyand had been voting for the party. Heconsoles himself that his nephew returned home to tell his story. Alive.

Ignition point: “A deadly cocktail of religion, the issue of gau rakshak, and intolerance towards other faiths appear to be fuelling the spate of violence across north India.” Mohammad Qasim’s wife, Rehana Bibi, withtheir three children at their home at Khanjahanpur village * RANJEET KUMAR

A thread of fear and hate Street thugs have taken advantage of the post-election triumphalism to stage attacks on minorities in parts of north India. Amarnath Tewary and Ashok Kumar tell the stories of two victims

Mohammad Qasim being treated at aprivate nursing home, in Begusarai. Hismother, Aklima Bibi, (green saree) andgrandmother, Gandoura Bibi, look afterhim. * RANJEET KUMAR

<> Be it the protests against meat

shops, mostly run by the

Muslims, the off��ering of Namaz

in open spaces or the attack on

a Muslim family in Bhondsi

recently, the intolerance

towards Muslims seems to be

on the rise in Gurugram.

HAZI Shahzad Khan,

Chairman, Muslim Ekta Manch



CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

sed him from service onMay 29.

The border police hadmade a case against Mr. Sanaullah, from a village nearBoko about 60 km west ofGuwahati, in 2008. The casewas referred to a Foreigners’ Tribunal, which founddiscrepancies in his documents and declared him aforeigner.

On Thursday, CongressMP Gaurav Gogoi had written to Union Home MinisterAmit Shah demanding justice for the exserviceman.

“The bail is a temporaryrelief and I hope the Ministry of Home Aff��airs showszero tolerance in such sensitive matters by reviewingthe role of the enlisted government and police offi��cials in this incident,” hesaid.

The retired soldier was taken to Goalpara Central Jail,one of the six prisons thatserve as detention centresfor declared foreigners.There are more than 1,000such foreigners in thesecamps.

“We are grateful to Godthat he is coming home,although the fi��ght to provehis citizenship is far from over,” Samina Begum, the exserviceman’s wife said.

Mr. Sanaullah had joinedthe Army in 1987 and retiredin August 2017 after 30 yearsof service.

The following year, hewas appointed as a subinspector of the Assam Police’s border wing that istasked with detecting, detaining and deporting foreigners or illegal migrants.

The border wing dismis

Bail for war veteran whowas declared foreigner

posal to have more Dy.CMsand a new Cabinet after halfterm.

Party candidate, whowon from Santhanuthalapadu constituency, T.J.R. Sudhakar Babu told the mediathat much lip service hadbeen paid to the subject ofsocial justice in the past butMr. Jagan had elevated himself to the level of social reformers like Jyothirao Phuleby increasing the number ofDeputy CM posts.

While it was not possible forall 151 MLAs to become Ministers, nearly double thenumber of 25 could be accommodated through thisrotation system, he said.The YSRCP legislators saidMr. Jagan in his speech indicated that the purpose behind having fi��ve DeputyChief Ministers was to ensure that these sections getthe priority they deserve.

As many as 35 MLAs expressed support to the pro

Jagan to have fi��ve Deputy Chief Ministers

maker in Srinagar after SPOAdil Bashir joined the Hizbul Mujahideen last year.

“SPOs were also withdrawn from active policing,including working as Personal Security Offi��cers to protected persons,” said thepolice offi��cial. Around23,000 SPOs were servingin the police in 2016 on adhoc basis and 3,331 wereconverted as constablesbased on criteria like sportsactivities or qualifi��cationslike ITI. They were mainlydeployed for noncombatpositions such as driversand cooks.

Two policemen were injured in a grenade attack bymilitants on a police stationin Sopore, Baramulla. Theysuff��ered splinter injuriesand were shifted to hospital.

“Hussain was part of agroup which was involved inplanning and executing a series of attacks in the area.Bhat also carried out attackson security establishments.Incriminating material, including arms and ammunition, were recovered fromthe encounter site,” policeoffi��cials said.

The police said the operation was a success despitelocal youths resorting tostonepelting.

Personnel withdrawnA police offi��cial said mostSPOs were withdrawn in October 2018 after “a series ofcases of them deserting andjoining militancy.”

Seven AK rifl��es and onepersonal pistol went missing from the house of a law

2 SPOturnedmilitantsamong 4 killed in J&K

Days after the formation ofthe National Democratic Alliance government, PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khanhas written to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to congratulate him on his victory, whileForeign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has written aletter to his Indian counterpart Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar, congratulating him on hisappointment as well, sources in Delhi and Islamabadconfi��rmed.

The letters follow a phonecall from Mr. Khan to Mr. Modi, as well as an exchange oftweets between the twoleaders after the electionresults.

The letters, which NewDelhi hasn’t yet responded

to, conveyed offi��cial greetings as well as a hope that IndiaPakistan bilateral ties willimprove in the future. Theywere handed over to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad earlier this week.

According to Pakistani diplomatic sources, the letterssought “peace and stabilityin South Asia with the peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” aswell as “collective endeavours” for regional peaceand prosperity, a possible reference to a SAARC summit,which Pakistan is keen to organise, but India has refusedto attend.

The past few weeks haveseen tensions between NewDelhi and Islamabad rise over the titfortat surveillanceand harassment of their

guests at ‘Iftar’ functions ineach other’s capital. The Ministry of External Aff��airs(MEA) issued a public protestagainst Pakistani police offi��cials who intimidated guestsat the Indian High Commission’s Iftar event at a hotel inIslamabad on June 1, and thePakistan Foreign Ministrywrote two letters protesting

similar actions by Indian security agencies againstguests to the Pakistan National Day function on March23 as well as the Iftar event atthe Pakistan High Commission on May 28.

Overcoming irritantsDespite the bitterness on theground, however, the leaders of both the countrieshave kept up a steady set ofexchanges over the period.Mr. Modi wrote a letter to Mr.Khan ahead of the PakistanNational Day, saying it was“time for the people of thesubcontinent to work together for a democratic, peaceful, progressive and prosperous region, in an atmospherefree of terror and violence.”

Mr. Khan welcomed theletter, calling for dialoguebetween the two countries.

After the BJP’s win, Mr. Khantelephoned Mr. Modi to congratulate him. The conversation, which reportedly lastedabout 15 minutes accordingto one source, included theneed to improve bilateralties, India’s “neighbourhoodfi��rst policy” and a desire to“fi��ght poverty jointly.” Bothleaders have also exchangedpublic messages over twitter.

In addition, former Minister for External Aff��airs Sushma Swaraj and the PakistanForeign Minister met for ashort “exchange of pleasantries” at the SCO (ShanghaiCooperation Organisation)Foreign Ministers’ meet inBishkek in May, when Pakistan made an exception to theban on fl��ights to and from India to allow Ms. Swaraj’sfl��ight to travel through Pakistani airspace.

Pakistan sends congratulatory lettersIslamabad seeks peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues in notes to Modi and Jaishankar

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

S. Jaishankar

Union Parliamentary Aff��airsMinister Pralhad Joshi onFriday called on CongressParliamentary Party leaderSonia Gandhi at her residence ahead of the fi��rst session of the 17th Lok Sabha.

Mr. Joshi was accompanied by his colleagues, Narendra Singh Tomar and Arjun Meghwal.

“Our meeting with SoniaGandhi was very cordial. Wesought her cooperation forthe smooth functioning of

Parliament. She said they[the Opposition] also needcooperation from treasurybenches. I told her that thegovernment has always beenready to cooperate,” Mr.Joshi told reporters after themeeting.

Speaker electionThe fi��rst session will get under way on June 17 and willcontinue till July 26. Afterthe new MPs take oath onthe fi��rst two days, the LokSabha Speaker’s election isscheduled for June 19.

The full Union Budget forthe fi��nancial year 20192020will be presented on July 5.

Buoyed by the best everperformance by the BJPledNational Democratic Alliance, the Union government plans to push through10 ordinances, including theone that makes instant tripletalaq a criminal off��ence.

On Wednesday, Mr. Joshihad called on Leader of theOpposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad andDMK leader in Lok Sabha,T.R. Baalu.

Ministers seek Sonia’s help for smooth session Centre plans to push through 10 ordinances in Parliament


New Delhi

Reaching out: Union Ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Pralhad Joshi and Narendra Singh Tomarwith UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi at her residence in New Delhi on Friday. * ANI

Senior Congress leader andformer Karnataka Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily onFriday appealed to Congresschief Rahul Gandhi to fi��rmlytake over the reins of theparty once again to avoid‘confusion and crisis’ in theparty.

“It is important to protectthe unity and integrity of theparty and as the Congresspresident, it is his duty to ensure this,” Mr. Moily told TheHindu over phone from Bengaluru. He said if Mr. Gandhiis determined to step down,then he himself should fi��nd areplacement.

The Congress veteran’sassertions come in the backdrop of open factional fi��ghtsin States like Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, Haryana,and desertions in Telanganaand Maharashtra.

“When the leadershipdoes not act, all these thingswill happen. The Congresspresident needs to quellsuch indiscipline with aniron hand,” Mr. Moily added.

The Congress seems to bein a state of confusion anduncertainty ever since Mr.Gandhi told the CongressWorking Committee on May25 that he would step downas party chief and his position was ‘nonnegotiable.’

In the past two weeks,there has been a churn inthe party: Rajasthan ChiefMinister Ashok Gehlot andhis Deputy and State Congress chief Sachin Pilot indulged in a blame game forthe Lok Sabha washout, aninternal meeting of Congressleaders in Haryana saw uglyexchanges and in Punjab,Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh stripped his rival,Navjot Singh Sidhu, of an important portfolio.

Telangana worriesTo add to its woes, on Thursday, not only 12 elected Congress MLAs formally joinedthe TRS but a video clip ofNikhil Kumaraswamy, son ofJanata Dal (Secular) leaderand Karnataka CM H.D.Kumaraswamy, went viral.

In the video, Mr. Nikhil

could be heard telling hisparty workers to prepare formidterm polls in the Stateas the CongressJD(S) coalition government would notlast its term.

Mr. Gandhi is yet to send aclear signal whether or nothe would be on the saddle.

“If Mr. Gandhi thinks hecan get away from allegations of dynastic politics byresigning, it won’t work. TheGandhi family is a unifyingfactor and others can’t easilyfi��ll that void,” said Sriprakash Singh, professor in thedepartment of the politics,Delhi University.

Meanwhile, the Congressdownplayed the letter offormer Olympian hockeyplayer Aslam Sher Khan, offering his services to be Congress president for a periodof two years.

‘Congress chief should quell indiscipline with an iron hand’

Sandeep Phukan

New Delhi

Note of thanks: Congress president Rahul Gandhi greeting hissupporters in his constituency Wayanad on Friday. * PTI

Amid factional fi��ghts, Moilytells Rahul to take charge

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee said onFriday that she would not attend the NITI Aayog meetingscheduled for June 15.

“The States cannot placetheir views. There is no pointin attending [the NITI Aayog]meetings,” she said.

Earlier, she wrote toPrime Minister NarendraModi, who heads the NITIAayog, setting forth the reasons for her decision.

“I have said this before:the NITI Aayog is not eff��ective. They [the BJPled government] removed the In

terState Council that wasempowered to discuss theproblems of the States. TheStates cannot raise their issues any more at the NITI

Aayog meetings,” Ms. Banerjee said.

“The Planning Commission, founded by SubhashChandra Bose, was eff��ec

tive… There was space forthe States to talk, and it is absent now. Now, they [the Union government] have someagenda, they place the agenda, and we are expected todiscuss it. It is unacceptable,” she said.

Ms. Banerjee reiteratedthe need for all Oppositionparties to come together tooppose the use of electronicvoting machines. “Now, wehear that two million EVMsare missing. Where are they?In 2030% of the areas, problems [were reported]. It is abig scandal, and all partiesshould come together andprotest,” she said.

Mamata to skip NITI Aayog meeting Earlier, there was space for States to talk and it is absent now, says Bengal CM


Kolkata

Lashing out at Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee for herdecision to skip the NITIAayog meeting, the BengalBJP unit on Friday said theTrinamool chief was

behaving like an “antinational” and trying toscuttle the growth of Bengal.The Trinamool hit back,saying it does not needlessons on nationalism ordevelopment from a “communal party like the BJP”.

She is behaving like an antinational: Bengal BJPPress Trust of India

Kolkata

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

The Congress on Fridayasked the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) to disclose thesources of its election funding after a report by a thinktank claimed that the rulingparty spent nearly ₹��27,000crore out of a total of₹��60,000 crore spent in therecently concluded Lok Sabha election.

The principal Oppositionparty also demanded awhite paper on the excessive commercialisation ofelections and how the government planned to tackleit. “The BJP’s strategy is money, money and more money...Without a level playingfi��eld, you cannot have fair,independent, objective,nonpartisan elections. Andif you cannot have fair elections, then you cannot havedemocracy,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek ManuSinghvi told reporters.

“According to a recent report by an independentthink tank Centre for MediaStudies (CMS), the BJP spentclose to ₹��27,000 crore. Thisis 45% of the total expenditure which is estimated tobe close to ₹��60,000 crore.”

“The BJP’s spending inLok Sabha Elections 2019 isequal to 30% of India’s education budget, 43% of India’s Health Budget, 10% ofIndia’s Defence Budget and

45% of MGNREGA Budget,”he added.

‘₹��700 spent per voter’Mr. Singhvi said the electionexpenditure had gone upnearly six times from₹��9,00010,000 crore in 1998to ₹��55,00060,000 in the2019 Lok Sabha election.The report — based on secondary information, fi��eldstudies and analysis — calculated that ₹��700 was spentper voter and roughly ₹��100crore was spent for eachparliamentary constituency.

Asked if the Congresscould verify the amount ofelection expenditure mentioned in the report that estimated that it spent 1520%of the ₹��60,000 crore, hesaid: “I rely on a publishedresearch report by a nonpolitical independent organisation. This is a fi��gurearrived at after research...Certainly, if the party inpower discloses the details,every other party will defi��nitely disclose the fi��gures.”

Disclose source of poll funding, Cong. tells BJP‘It spent ₹��27,000 cr. during LS election’


NEW DELHI

Abhishek Manu Singhvi

Union Food and ConsumerAff��airs Minister Ram VilasPaswan, who did not contest the Lok Sabha electionthis time around, is likelyto enter the Rajya Sabha ona vacancy that arose afterBJP leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad became a Lok Sabha MP afterwinning the Patna Sahibseat in Bihar.

Mr. Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is a constituent of the BJPled National Democratic Alliance.It was hopeful of gettingone of the two seats thatfell vacant in Assam. TheBJP, however, handed oneto its own member, Kamakhya Prasad Tasa. The otherseat will be given to allyAsom Gana Parishad.

Paswan set to get RajyaSabha seat


New Delhi

The Election Commissionhas issued a formal directive, ruling that dissentingopinion in the Model Codeof Conduct violation caseswill not be included in the fi��nal order. Only the majorityor unanimous decision willbe communicated to theparties.

The written order datedJune 4 follows the EC’s decision on May 21, rejectingElection Commissioner Ashok Lavasa’s demand that mi

nority view be refl��ected inthe fi��nal order.

Lavasa’s pleaThe issue had come up before the full bench after Mr.Lavasa objected to his dissenting opinion not beingincluded in the orders.

Mr. Lavasa had given dissenting views in at least fi��vematters pertaining tospeeches by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah during thecampaigning for the LokSabha election.

Dissenting view not partof fi��nal order, says ECSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

The National InvestigationAgency arrested two members of the banned militantgroup, the United LiberationFront of Assam, for allegedlygunning down fi��ve Bengalimen in Assam’s Tinsukia lastyear.

The accused, identifi��ed asBubal Moran alias TigerAsom, 26, and Binanda Dahotiya alias Swadesh, werearrested on Friday. Both are

residents of Tinsukia. Theincident took place on November 1 last year.

“A case was registeredagainst six unknownarmed miscreants, suspected to be members ofULFA, for the killing of fi��veresidents of BichanimukhKherbari village in Tinsukia district of Assam, andcausing grievous injuries tothe sixth villager, outsidethe village last year,” NIAsaid.

Two ULFA men held Special Correspondent

New Delhi

The Election Commissionof India on Friday declaredthe National People’s Partyled by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma asa national party.

This made the NPP,formed by his father andformer Lok Sabha SpeakerPurno A. Sangma in 2013,the fi��rst from the northeastern region to earn thetag.

Four StatesIn its order, the ECI said thatthe NPP was given the national party status for fulfi��lling conditions such as polling more than 6% of thetotal votes in the last general election and being recog

nised as a State party in atleast four States.

The NPP is recognised asa State party in ArunachalPradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

“Glad to announce to ourparty supporters, wellwishers and members ofNPP that #ElectionCommissionOfIndia has accorded‘National Party’ status toNational People’s Party,”the Meghalaya Chief Minister said in a Twitter message. “It is a very nostalgicmoment for all of us,” hesaid in Meghalaya capitalShillong. The NPP is the single largest political family inMeghalaya with 21 MLAs inthe 60member House. MrSangma heads the coalitiongovernment there.

NPP fi��rst from NE to getnational party statusSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI

The Delhi police have reviewed the security for Union Home Minister AmitShah and moved more security men to his Akbar Road residence, a senior government offi��cial said on Friday.

Mr. Shah already has a Zplus security cover of theCentral Reserve PoliceForce.

Mr. Shah, who tookcharge last week, is living ina TypeVIII bungalow at 11,Akbar Road. The house was

allotted to him in his capacity as BJP president. He is expected to shift soon to former Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee’s 6A, Krishna Menon Marg residence.

The offi��cial said Mr. Shah’sresidence would be fortifi��edfurther and additionalcrowdcontrol measureswould be put in place.

The Delhi police had setup a multilayer security cordon around Rajnath Singh’s17, Akbar Road bungalowwhen he was the Home Minister.

More security men forAmit Shah’s residence Special Correspondent

New Delhi



CMYK


THE HINDU DELHI


NEWS

Admission to undergraduatecourses in all governmentfunded universities and colleges will soon be throughallIndia entrance tests, ifthe draft National EducationPolicy is approved. Privateinstitutions will also bestrongly encouraged tomake use of the common admission tests, which wouldbe available from 2020. Bothaptitude and subject knowledgebased tests would beoff��ered.

The system seems to havesome similarities to the SAT,a standardised aptitude testwidely used for admissionsto colleges and universitiesin the United States. TheSAT, however, is used as a

criterion alongside schoolgrades.

In India, the common entrance test has largely beenthe domain of aspirants toprofessional or postgraduate courses, but that is already changing. The newNational Testing Agency(NTA) has already conducted premier professional entrance tests — JEE, NEET,and CMAT — this year. Laterthis month, the NTA will alsoconduct admission tests forapplicants to more than 170Delhi University (DU) courses, including 12 undergraduate programmes.

“Admission to all undergraduate programmes of public HEIs [Higher EducationInstitutions] will be througha process of assessment

through the NTA,” says thedraft policy. This seems toindicate that the NTA assessment may replace Class 12marks as the criteria for admission to these statefunded institutions. “This willhelp to eliminate the intensity, stressfulness, and wastedtime of the Grade 12 examination season faced by students every year as well asby so many higher educational institutions and employers,” it adds.

Off��er fl��exibility The NTA testing systemwould off��er fl��exibility.“[From] 2020 onwards, [theNTA] will administer aptitude tests and tests in specific subjects that can be takenon multiple occasions dur

ing the year in order to reduce the intense and unnecessary pressures of theuniversity entrance examinations system,” adds thedraft. “The NTA tests willaim to assess essential concepts, knowledge, and higher order skills from the national commoncurriculum... for the purpose of aiding colleges anduniversities in their admissions decisions.”

Private institutions couldset their own criteria, but“most educational institutions and many employerswill be encouraged to usethese NTA tests.”

The draft projects theNTA establishing test centresacross the country, off��eringtests in multiple languages.

Policy moots all-India entrance tests for UG courses in public colleges Private institutions will be encouraged to use the common tests: draft policy

Priscilla Jebaraj

NEW DELHI

ED summons ChandaKochhar for questioning NEW DELHI

The Enforcement Directorate

has summoned Chanda

Kochhar, the former ICICI

Bank managing director and

CEO, for questioning on June

10 in connection with the

Videocon Group loans case.

Ms. Kochhar was earlier asked

to appear before the

investigators on June 6, but

she expressed her inability

to do so.

IN BRIEF

Cabinet Secretary gets3-month extensionAHMEDABAD

Cabinet Secretary Pradeep

Kumar Sinha was on Friday

given an extension of three

months in service beyond

June 12, 2019. Mr. Sinha’s

extended term as the Cabinet

Secretary will now expire on

September 12, 2019. This is

the third extension for Mr.

Sinha since his appointment

as the top bureaucrat in 2015

for a fixed term of two years.

The intensifying tussle between Punjab Chief MinisterCaptain Amarinder Singhand his cabinet colleagueNavjot Singh Sidhu threatensto hurt the Congress party’simage in one of the fewStates where it performedwell in the last Lok Sabhaelections, according to political analysts.

Mr. Sidhu is yet to takecharge of his new allottedPower ministry after beingdivested of the key Local Government ministry. Analystssaid the former cricketerwas unlikely to take thechange in portfolio lyingdown.

“Congress is already riddled with factionalism inmany States; the ongoingspat between the two leaders in Punjab is not a goodsign for the party,” said Mohammed Khalid, Professorof Political Science at Panjab

University. “Congress is going through a tough situation at the national level andsuch episodes [the internaltussle] will only make the revival of the party very diffi��cult,” he added.

Capt. Amarinder had onThursday divested Mr. Sidhuof the Local Governmentand Tourism and CulturalAff��airs departments and allocated the Power and Newand Renewable Energy

Sources portfolios. However, barring four ministers,the Chief Minister had madesome changes to the portfolios of all the other ministers.

The two leaders havebeen at loggerheads sincethe recently concluded LokSabha polls. Capt. Amarinder had hit out at Mr. Sidhuafter the results, assertingthat “Sidhu’s damaging remarks ahead of polling”might have aff��ected the party’s performance in Bathinda, where the Congress lostto the Shiromani Akali Dal’sHarsimrat Kaur Badal.

“Amarinder Singh hasemerged as a strong leaderafter the Lok Sabha polls,”said Ashutosh Kumar, Professor of Political Science atPanjab University. “On theother hand, Sidhu may alsonot back down. If the spatcontinues it will eventuallyweaken the party,” Prof. Kumar said.

Sidhu, Amarinder spat mayhurt Congress in PunjabFormer cricketer unlikely to accept change in portfolio

VIKAS VASUDEVA

CHANDIGARH

A fi��le photo of AmarinderSingh, left, and Navjot SinghSidhu. * PTI

Gujarat cadre IPS offi��cerR.S. Bhagora, an accused inthe 2002 Bilkis Bano case,was dismissed from serviceby the Union Home Ministryon May 30, a day before hisretirement on May 31.

The 60yearold offi��cerwas set to retire on May 31and was serving as DeputyCommissioner of Police(Traffi��c) with the Ahmedabad police when his dismissal order came.

Mr. Bhagora was promoted to IPS from the State police service in 2009. His dismissal from the servicemeans he would not get anypostretirement benefi��tsfrom the government.

Earlier in March this year,the Supreme Court had

asked the Gujarat government to take disciplinary action against the erring police offi��cials, including Mr.Bhagora, convicted by theBombay High Court for dereliction of duty in the BilkisBano gangrape case.

Among the police offi��cials, four — a deputy superintendent of police, two inspectors and a constable —have retired from service.

Compensation fi��atSubsequently in April, theSupreme Court directed theGujarat government to give₹��50 lakh as compensation, agovernment job with accommodation to Ms. Banowho was gangraped in oneof the worst mass murdercases in the 2002 Gujaratriots.

Faces action a day before retirement


AHMEDABAD

Bilkis case: IPSoffi��cer dismissed

Global terror outfi��t AlQaedahas announced a new chieffor its India wing, the AnsarGhazwatulHind (AGH), twoweeks after its top ‘commander’ Zakir Musa was killed inan encounter in Pulwama’sTral.

Hameed Lelhari alias Haroon Abbas will replace Musa and Ghazi Ibrahim Khalidwill be his deputy, Abu Ubaidah Hafi��zahullah, a spokesman of the group madethese claims in an 11minutevideo released on the outfi��t’soffi��cial media handle alHurron the occasion of Eid.

AGH chief Musa was killedin an operation on May 23 in

Pulwama’s Tral. He had replaced slain militant ‘commander’ Burhan Wani in2016, but quit the Hizb ulMujahideen. His name fi��rstappeared in an Arabic publication close to alQaeda inMay 2017.

The police suggested thatthe new chief Lelhari, 30,comes from a poor background, unlike Musa, and isa resident of Pulwama’s Lelhar area. Police records suggest Lelhari, after droppingout of school, took up smalltime jobs as a labourer, cookand mason “to meet ends”.

However, his name didnot fi��gure in the list of topten wanted militants complied by the Union Home Mi

nistry recently. Hours afterthe declaration on the newAGH chief, AlQaeda in theIndian Subcontinent (AQIS)spokesman Usama Mahmood, in another audio clipping, praised Musa in a bidto show global militants’sympathy for him. This audio clipping was released bythe outfi��t’s asSahab mediagroup.

‘Saddened, mourning’“Every militant in Afghanistan is saddened and mourning the killing of Musa... mayKashmir have many moreZakir Musas. Also, Muslimsin Kashmir and other Muslims should take ahead themission of Zakir Musa, Bur

han Wani and Afzal Guru,”the spokesman said in themessage released online.

AlQaeda social mediaplatforms have also releaseda video on militant Faisal Ishfaq Bhatt, erstwhile residentof Srinagar and apparentlyin Afghanistan currently. “Ji-had in Kashmir is no diff��erent than jihad in Afghanistan.

The AlQaeda in the Indian Subcontinent is counselling Afghan Taliban andalso many jihadis in Kashmir. Mujahideen and leadersof the AQIS are eager to meettheir brethren in Kashmir.They will launch attacks onArmy and Police,” the speaker, identifi��ed as Bhatt, says.

School dropout Hameed Lelhari will head the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

Al-Qaeda anoints new chief for India wing

A major plot by Pakistanispy agency InterServicesIntelligence (ISI) to revivemilitancy in the Jammu region has been unearthedwith the arrest of six persons, offi��cials said on Friday.Photographs and videos ofstrategic locations havebeen seized from those arrested, the offi��cials added.

The spies were in directcontact with their handler, aColonellevel offi��cer at theISI Kashmir cell, identifi��edonly by his fi��rst name Iftikhar, and with the terroristgroup HizbulMujahideenacross the border.

During interrogation,Mushtaq Ahmed Malik, 38,from Doda, and Nadeem Akhter, 24, from Kathua, revealed that they were alsobeing guided by their handlers in PakistanoccupiedKashmir.

They disclosed information about four others engaged as Pakistani spies inthe Jammu region, offi��cialssaid.

Based on that information, Saddam Hussain,Mohmmad Saleem andMohmmad Shafi��, all fromKathua district, and SafdarAli, from Basantgarh in Udhampur district, were arrested, the offi��cials said.

ISI plot foiled, six spiesarrested in JammuImages of strategic locations seized


Jammu

The Uttar Pradesh police onFriday constituted a SpecialInvestigation Team to probethe murder of an infant inAligarh amid huge publicoutcry.

A forensic team will alsobe part of the probe to ascertain the full nature of thecrime; preliminary autopsyreports ruled out rape andconcluded the child wasmurdered by strangulation.

The SIT would be headedby SP (Rural) Aligarh andwould include SOG and surveillance teams for technicalsupport, said UP ADG Lawand Order Anand Kumar.

The offi��cer said the SITwould gather “forensicscience and scientifi��c evidence” and the case wouldbe probed on a fasttrackmode and sent to court.

If fresh accused come tolight during the investigation, they would also be punished by law, he said. So far,the police have arrested twoaccused, Aslam and Zahid,for allegedly murdering the2.5yearold infant in Aligarh’s Tappal area. The victim’s family has alleged otherpeople were involved in the

crime. One of the accusedhas a criminal past: he facestwo cases of POCSO, one inAligarh and another in Delhi,said Mr. Kumar.

“We will try to secure forthem the stringest punishment,” said Mr. Kumar,stressing that the POCSO Actwill also be invoked againstthe accused. The police have

already initiated steps to slapthe NSA against them.

The postmortem reportcould not ascertain rape,police said.

SSP Aligarh Akash Kulhary said the use of acid onthe infant could also not beascertained. However, the“slides” have gone for forensic investigation in a labora

tory and it will take 1415 daysto get a report, said Mr.Kulhary.

A forensic team from Agrawill also come to Aligarh torecreate the crime.

The SSP said fi��ve policemen, including the inchargeinspector and two subinspectors, were suspendedfor negligence.

U.P. forms SIT to probe child’s murderA forensic team will also be part of the investigation to ascertain the full nature of the crime: ADGP

special correspondent

LUCKNOW

A videograb showing relatives mourning the death of theminor girl in Aligarh on Friday. Five policemen, including anSHO, have been suspended for alleged negligence. * PTI

Congress president RahulGandhi on Friday expressedshock at the horrifi��c killingof a threeyearold girl inAligarh and demanded swiftaction against the

perpetrators of the crime.“How can any human

being treat a child with suchbrutality?” he wrote onTwitter. Congress generalsecretary Priyanka GandhiVadra also condemned theinhuman crime.

Rahul, Priyanka expressshock, demand action Press Trust of India

New Delhi

Twitter restores handleof Chinar Corps SRINAGAR

The Twitter handle of the

Army’s Srinagarbased Chinar

Corps was restored on Friday

after a furore on social media

in the wake of its suspension

on Thursday. The Chinar

Corps — also known as 15

Corps — oversees anti

militancy operations on the

Line of Control and hinterland

in the Kashmir valley. PTI

Kolkata ex-top copdeposes before CBIKOLKATA

Former Commissioner of

Kolkata Police Rajeev Kumar

on Friday appeared before the

Central Bureau of

Investigation in connection

with the multicrore Saradha

scam. Mr. Kumar, presently

the Additional DGP in the CID,

reached the CBI office in the

morning to face questioning

for the second time, sources

in the agency said. PTI



CMYK

WORLDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU


Ethiopia PM in Sudan torevive peace talksKHARTOUM

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister

Abiy Ahmed arrived in

Khartoum on Friday seeking

to revive talks between

Sudan’s ruling generals and

protest leaders as heavily

armed paramilitaries

remained deployed after a

deadly crackdown, leaving

residents in terror. The talks

mission came after the

African Union suspended

Sudan on Thursday. AFP

ELSEWHERE

Iran rejects French callfor wider talksDUBAI

Iran rejected French calls for

wider international talks over

its nuclear and military

ambitions, saying on Friday it

would only discuss the 2015

atomic pact with world

powers, state TV reported.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it

would not hold any talks

beyond the pact. Reuters

British Prime Minister Theresa May stepped down asleader of her ConservativeParty on Friday, formallytriggering the race for a successor who will try whereshe failed to deliver Brexit.

Ms. May will remain PrimeMinister until a new leader ischosen, likely in late July, butwill make no further moveson Britain’s tortuous departure from the EuropeanUnion.

Brexit is still scheduled forOctober 31 but while the contenders thrash it out over theleadership, the project remains stalled, with the onlydivorce plan agreed withBrussels rejected inParliament.

Monday deadlineEleven Conservative MPshave declared their intentionto stand to replace Ms. May,including former Foreign Mi

nister Boris Johnson, butsome are expected to dropout before Monday’s deadline for nominations.

The winner will have onlya few months to decidewhether to try to salvage Ms.May’s plan, delay Brexitagain — or sever ties with Britain’s closest trading partnerwith no agreement at all.

The government is underpressure from eurosceptic fi��gurehead Nigel Farage, whohas called for a “no deal” option and whose newlyformed Brexit Party comfortably topped the EuropeanParliament elections lastmonth.

His singleissue party suffered a setback after narrowly missing out on winning itsfi��rst parliamentary seat, losing to Labour in a byelectionin the eastern city of Peterborough on Thursday.

Leadership contest frontrunner Mr. Johnson warnedthat the centreright Conser

vatives “must deliver Brexitby October 31 or we riskBrexit Party votes deliveringCorbyn to No 10”, referringto leftist Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn getting intoDowning Street.

Meanwhile leadership rival Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign

Minister, warned that therewas “no future for our party” until Britain leaves theEU.

Ms. May put on a braveface this week when hostingU.S. President DonaldTrump for a state visit, before joining him and other

world leaders to mark 75years since the DDay landings. “She remains Prime Minister for a good few weeksyet,” Ms. May’s spokesmaninsisted, noting that any successor must meet Queen Elizabeth II and assure the headof state that they have thesupport of enough lawmakers to take over.

Secret ballotsNominations for the Conservative leadership contestopen and close on Monday,and the 313 ConservativeMPs — including Ms. May —will hold the fi��rst of a seriesof secret ballots onThursday.

With the worst performers eliminated each time, thegoal is to have two candidates left by June 20. Theywill then be put to a ballot ofan estimated 1,60,000 partymembers. The contestshould be completed in theweek commencing July 22.

May quits as Tory leader, succession race beginsShe will remain British Prime Minister until a new Conservative leader is chosen; the process is likely to fi��nish by Julyend

Agence France-Presse

London

The Prime Minister’s offi��cial residence, 10 Downing Street,will get a new occupant by the end of next month. * AP

Twelve Indians were among17 people who were killed ina horrifi��c road accident inDubai when a bus entered arestricted lane and rammedinto a lowclearance sign,police and the Indian mission said on Friday.

Nine others were seriously injured when the driver ofthe bus, coming fromOman’s capital Muscat toDubai, on Thursday eveningwrongly entered a road notdesignated for buses.

Dubai Police authoritiessaid that there were someunidentifi��ed bodies and thenumber of Indians who diedin the accident could risefurther.

“With great sadness weinform that Indian fatalitiesin Dubai bus accident havegone up to 12,” Vipul, IndianConsul General in Dubai,tweeted.

He said that the Embassyoffi��cials were at the Rashidiya police station and mortuary to extend all assistanceto the families of thevictims.

Bus from OmanThe bus, belonging to theOmani bus transport company Mwasalat, was carrying 31 passengers andcrashed into a height barrierthat cut the left side of thebus and killed passengerssitting on that side, the GulfNews reported.

Dubai Police blamed thedriver, who was moderatelyinjured, for the accident,saying that “at times a smallmistake or negligence canlead to adverseconsequences”.

Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, now inBhutan, expressed his con

dolences to the families ofthe deceased. “Deeplygrieved by the unfortunatebus accident in Dubai thathas claimed 12 Indian lives.My sincere condolences tothe families,” he tweeted.

The Consul General alsoreleased a list of the Indianskilled in the accident.

Repatriation of bodiesMr. Vipul said that offi��cersfrom the consulate are taking all necessary steps to ensure repatriation formalitiesof all victims are completedas soon as possible.

“Once death certifi��catesare issued, the bodies willbe sent for embalming andother procedures,” he said.

An offi��cial from the Pakistani Consulate in Dubai confi��rmed the death of a Pakistani national. The offi��cialsaid the deceased had travelled to Oman to renew hisUAE visa, the Khaleej Timesreported.

Transport company Mwasalat issued a statement onTwitter announcing the suspension of their daily services between Muscat and Dubai and vice versa, untilfurther notice.

“Mwasalat family expresses its deepest condolences to the families of thedeceased and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured,”it tweeted.

12 Indians among 17killed in Dubai accidentBus rams into lowclearance sign


Dubai

The site of the bus crash in Dubai. * AP

Judges at London’s HighCourt have thrown out anattempt to prosecute BorisJohnson for allegedly lyingabout Brexit during the2016 EU referendum campaign. The case revolvedaround a claim famouslyemblazoned on Mr. Johnson’s “Leave” campaignbus that Britain would be£350 million a week betteroff�� outside the EU.

At a judicial review hearing on Friday at the HighCourt, Mr. Johnson’s lawyer Adrian Darbishiresaid that judge had eithererred in law or providedthe wrong legal test in allowing the case to goahead.

Court quashescase againstBoris Johnson

Reuters

London

Russia and the U.S. on Friday accused each other ofdangerous manoeuvres aftertheir ships came close to collision in the East China Sea.

On Friday morning, Russia’s Pacifi��c Fleet said thatthe USS Chancellorsvilleguidedmissile cruiser suddenly cut across the courseof its Admiral Vinogradovantisubmarine ship, passingin front of it at a distance ofjust 50 m. The Russian shiphad to carry out an emergency manoeuvre to avoidcollision, the Navy said, adding that it had sent a message of protest to the U.S.cruiser’s commanders.

In a later statement, theU.S. seventh fl��eet attributedthe incident to an “unsafe”manoeuvre by the Russianship, which it said had accelerated from behind to sail

within 50 to 100 feet of theChancellorsville, “puttingthe safety of her crew andship at risk.”

“We consider Russia’s actions during this interactionas unsafe and unprofessional,” the U.S. Navy said.

Russia and the U.S. regularly accuse each other ofcarrying out dangerous naval or aerial manoeuvres.

In June 2016, Moscow andWashington traded accusations after their naval shipssailed closely past each other in the eastern Mediterranean. A month later, the U.S.accused Russia of “aggressive” and “erratic” moves byone of its warships in thesame waters.

Russia, U.S. trade charges afterships come close to collisionNavies blame each other for manoeuvres in East China Sea


Moscow

A Russian destroyer, left,sailing close to a U.S. ship, in the Philippine Sea. * AP

President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday said that heconveyed to the Speaker earlier this week that the ongoing probe into the Easter attacks by a parliamentarypanel could hinder courtproceedings in the criminalinvestigations of the bombings.

On Thursday, however,the Parliamentary SelectCommittee (PSC) — whichwas informed of the President’s note — told the Speaker that sittings would continue. In a letter to theSpeaker, PSC members saidthe Parliament is the solejudge of its powers and privileges, and had exclusive jurisdiction over its own proceedings, The Hindu haslearnt.

In a meeting with seniorpolice offi��cers on Friday, Mr.Sirisena said he had writtento the Speaker, citing thebackdrop of fi��ve cases fi��ledon the Easter bombings. “Ishared with the Speaker theAttorney General’s writtenobservations that the [parallel] investigation by a Parliament committee could aff��ectproceedings. But, it is sad

that the Speaker did not express any view on the matterin Parliament,” he told theoffi��cers, according to a pressrelease.

In a letter dated June 4,Mr. Sirisena sought to drawthe Speaker’s attention tothe AG’s opinion that theproceedings of the committee “could be prejudicial andwould cause adverse impacton the judicial proceeding inthe Supreme Court.”

Panel dismisses requestIn a strongly worded response dated June 6, members of the PSC told theSpeaker that the judiciaryand the Parliament have“historically maintainedcomity of relations and arecapable of continuing thatgreat tradition”. Any attemptby the executive to interfere

in our relationship “is unlawful”, and potentially “abreach of privileges” of thecommittee and the House.

The response signed bythe PSC members also citesearlier rulings that the executive or the judiciary cannotinterfere with the powers ofthe legislature.

Further, in Friday’s meeting with the senior police offi��cials and later, at an “emergency Cabinet meeting”, Mr.Sirisena vowed not to sendany offi��cer in service to testify before the parliamentarypanel. He observed that thesittings, which the mediahave been allowed to cover,could have a bearing on national security, sources said.

His decision comes a dayafter a suspended IGP and aformer Defence Secretaryshared damning evidence of

having received prior intelligence on possible terror attacks ahead of the April 21bombings.

Coverage by mediaAt Thursday’s PSC sitting —the third session — actingchairperson JayampathyWickramaratne said it wasthe fi��rst time in the country’shistory that media could cover a parliamentary panel’ssitting.

On concerns that givingthe media access to proceedings may impact national security, Mr. Wickremaratneearlier said that exposing thenegligence of offi��cials, whohad failed to thwart terror attacks despite prior warnings,was not a threat to the country’s national security. “Thepublic have the right toknow,” he said.

Sirisena wanted Speaker to scrap parliamentary probeHe felt that a ‘parallel investigation’ into Easter attacks could hinder criminal cases on the bombings

Meera Srinivasan

Colombo

Sri Lankan PresidentMaithripala Sirisena. * AFP

A Sikh airman has been allowed by the U.S. Air Forceto serve with a beard, turban and unshorn hair, making him the fi��rst activedutyairman to be granted such areligious accommodation.

Harpreetinder Singh Bajwa, who joined the AirForce in 2017 and is currently positioned as a crew chiefat Washington’s McChordAir Force Base, was unableto follow the practice due tothe military branch’sgrooming and dress codes.

The Air Force grantedhim an accommodation after Mr. Bajwa gained representation from the SikhAmerican Veterans Alliance,and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), NBCnews reported.

“I’m overjoyed that theAir Force has granted my religious accommodation,”said Mr. Bajwa. “Today, Ifeel that my country has embraced my Sikh heritage,

and I will be forever gratefulfor this opportunity,” hesaid.

In 2016, Captain Simratpal Singh, a decorated SikhAmerican offi��cer and combat veteran, received a longterm religious accommodation from the U.S. Army toserve with long hair, abeard, and turban. The Army updated its regulationsthe following year, directingcommanders to allow accommodations for observant Sikhs.

U.S. Sikh airman allowedto sport turban, beardFirst airman to be given permission


Washington

Harpreetinder Singh Bajwa

Joe Biden on Thursday reversed his longstandingopposition to using federalfunds for abortions. Fordecades, the former VicePresident supported thecontroversial provisionthat many in his party arenow aiming to overturn.

The 40yearold HydeAmendment makes it illegal for U.S. tax dollars to bespent on abortions exceptin rare cases when a pregnancy endangers the life ofthe mother, or when thepregnancy results fromrape or incest.

“Women’s rights andhealth care are under assault in a way that seeks toroll back every step of progress we’ve made over thelast 50 years,” Mr. Bidentweeted.

“If I believe health careis a right, as I do, I can nolonger support an amendment that makes that rightdependent on someone’szip code.”

Biden favoursfederal fundingfor abortion


Washington



CMYK

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI


NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425.20. . . . . . . . -1.10

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1418.35. . . . . . -10.20

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804.00. . . . . . . . -3.70

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2961.40. . . . . . -30.25

Bajaj Finserv. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8202.35. . . . . . . 77.15

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3509.45. . . . . . . 56.50

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357.10. . . . . . . . . 3.30

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403.00. . . . . . . . . 5.95

Britannia Ind . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2899.30. . . . . . . . -2.05

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549.50. . . . . . -10.30

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265.55. . . . . . . . -3.60

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2580.70. . . . . . -76.60

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 19997.75. . . . . . -86.05

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313.85. . . . . . . . -2.45

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871.45. . . . . . . . . 1.90

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1079.60. . . . . . . . . 0.40

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2210.85. . . . . . . 27.40

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2447.65. . . . . . . 24.30

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 2762.80. . . . . . -25.95

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194.80. . . . . . . . -0.05

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1830.75. . . . . . . . -7.00

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 731.10. . . . . . . . -4.70

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416.60. . . . . . . . . 5.05

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1552.20. . . . . . . 29.55

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 279.65. . . . . . . . . 6.15

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739.10. . . . . . . . . 3.50

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 163.80. . . . . . . . . 0.25

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275.25. . . . . . . . -0.50

JSW Steel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262.40. . . . . . . . -4.30

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1511.80. . . . . . . . -2.45

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1513.85. . . . . . . . -2.05

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644.05. . . . . . . . . 9.95

Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6948.25. . . . . . -40.45

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135.15. . . . . . . . -1.40

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.50. . . . . . . . -1.90

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 191.75. . . . . . . . -3.70

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1314.90. . . . . . -12.45

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342.05. . . . . . . . . 5.15

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399.25. . . . . . . . -4.90

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169.50. . . . . . . . -0.20

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482.10. . . . . . . . -2.50

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2181.75. . . . . . . 15.65

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 750.75. . . . . . . 12.75

Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268.95. . . . . . . . -0.50

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4572.85. . . . . . . . . 1.65

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019.45. . . . . . . . . 7.25

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164.20. . . . . . . . . 1.10

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295.05. . . . . . . . . 3.55

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139.90. . . . . . . . -3.50

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 340.20. . . . . . . . -0.85

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on June 07

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 69.27. . . . . . . 69.59

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 78.08. . . . . . . 78.44

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 88.05. . . . . . . 88.47

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 63.85. . . . . . . 64.14

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 10.03. . . . . . . 10.08

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 69.78. . . . . . . 70.11

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 50.67. . . . . . . 50.92

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 51.84. . . . . . . 52.09

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 16.64. . . . . . . 16.74

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

June 07 rates in rupees with previousrates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40.1. . . . . . . (39.6)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 3123. . . . . . (3097)

market watch

07-06-2019 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 39,616 ddddddddddddddd0.22

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 69.46 ddddddddddddd-0.25

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 33,420 ddddddddddddd-0.20

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 62.44 ddddddddddddddd2.96

After the Supreme Courtstruck down the controversial February 12, 2018 circular of Reserve Bank of India(RBI) on stressed asset resolution, the banking regulatoron Friday released revisedset of norms which are substantially less stringent fromthe previous one.

In particular, neitherthere is a mandate to start resolution which results inhigher provisioning if thereis a single day default nor amandate for initiating insolvency proceeding if resolution plan is not implementedfor large accounts within atime frame. However, theRBI has sought to nudgebanks towards the insolvency courts by introducing adisincentive in the form ofadditional provisions for delayed resolution.

At the same time, the central bank said it would issuedirections to banks for initiation of insolvency proceedings against borrowers forspecifi��c defaults ‘so that themomentum towards eff��ective resolution remainsuncompromised.’

The new circular askedlenders to undertake a prima facie review of the borrower account within 30days from a default, which istermed as “review period.”

During this review period,lenders may decide on theresolution strategy, including the nature of the resolution plan (RP), the approachfor implementation of theRP etc.

Legal proceedings“The lenders may alsochoose to initiate legal proceedings for insolvency orrecovery,” the circular,which comes into eff��ect immediately, said.

If the RP is to be implemented, lenders have beenasked to enter into an intercreditor agreement (ICA),within the review period, toprovide for ground rules forfi��nalisation and implementation of the RP.

“The ICA shall providethat any decision agreed bylenders representing 75% byvalue of total outstandingcredit facilities (fundbasedas well as nonfund based)and 60% of lenders by number shall be binding upon allthe lenders,” the circularsaid. The RP will have to implemented within 180 daysfrom the end of review period, RBI said.

The review period shallcommence not later than thedate of the this circular forloans above ₹��2000 crore; January 1 ,2020 for loansabove ₹��1,500 crore to₹��2,000 crore.

For loans less than ₹��1,500crore, the reference datewould be announced later.

There is a disincentive forbanks if they delay implementing a viable resolutionplan. In case the plan is notimplemented within 180days from the end of reviewperiod, banks have to makeadditional provision of 20%

and another 15% if the plan isnot implemented within 365days from the start of the review period.

The additional provisionswould be reversed if resolution is pursued under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code(IBC).

Half of the additional provisions could be reversed onfi��ling of insolvency application and the remaining additional provisions may be reversed once case is admittedfor insolvency proceedings.

“Incentives to reverse50% of these provisionsupon reference under IBCwill incentivise lenders torefer such stressed cases toIBC for faster resolution,”says Karthik Srinivasan,group head, fi��nancial sectorratings ICRA, who thinks theoverall framework is positiveand will continue to incentivise banks for accelerated resolution of stressed assets.

Debt recast tools like corporate debt restructuringscheme and strategic debtrestructuring scheme arewithdrawn. Apart frombanks, these new norms arealso applicable for nonbanking fi��nancial companies,small fi��nance banks and other fi��nancial institutions.

RBI revises stressed asset resolution norms Introduces ‘review period’ of 30 days to recognise default


Mumbai

The Securities and ExchangeBoard of India (SEBI) and theMinistry of Corporate Aff��airs(MCA) signed a memorandum of understanding(MoU) to facilitate seamlesssharing of data and information for carrying out scrutiny, inspection, investigationand prosecution.

This assumes signifi��canceas the MCA has the databaseof all registered fi��rms whileSEBI only regulates listed entities that may have unlistedsubsidiaries, with the MCAhaving access to all the dataof such unlisted entities.

‘Backdrop of frauds’“The MoU comes in thewake of increasing need forsurveillance in the context ofcorporate frauds aff��ectingimportant sectors of the eco

nomy. As the private sectorplays an increasingly vitalrole in economic growth, theneed for a robust corporategovernance mechanism becomes the need of the hour,”said a statement issued bythe SEBI on Friday.

Incidentally, there is already a protocol of sharing

of data between the capitalmarkets regulator Ministryand, in many cases, the regulator has also sent its ordersagainst various entities tothe MCA for further action.

According to the SEBIstatement, the MoU will facilitate the sharing of dataand information between

the regulator and the MCAon an automatic and regularbasis, while enabling sharingof specifi��c information suchas details of suspended companies, delisted fi��rms, shareholding pattern from the SEBI and fi��nancial statementsfi��led with the Registrar bycorporates, returns of allotment of shares and audit reports relating to corporates.

The MoU will ensure thatboth the MCA and the SEBIhave seamless linkage forregulatory purposes and inaddition to regular exchangeof data, the two will also exchange with each other, onrequest, any available information for scrutiny, inspection, investigation andprosecution.

A Data Exchange SteeringGroup will meet periodicallyto review the data exchangestatus.

SEBI, MCA sign pact for more data scrutinyMoU to enable seamless sharing of data to carry out investigation, prosecution


MUMBAI

Target in sight: A steering group will meet periodically toreview the data exchange status. * GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

International airlines shouldbe given Jet Airways’ foreigntraffi��c rights, if domestic carriers do not have planes todeploy on internationalroutes, Minister of State forCivil Aviation Hardeep SinghPuri said on Friday.

The statement comes at atime when the Ministry of Civil Aviation has constituted acommittee to reallocate JetAirways’ foreign traffi��crights to various airlines.The position of the government so far is that thesewere ‘earmarked’ for domestic carriers.

The shutdown of Jet Airways, which had the largestmarket share among all Indian airlines on foreignroutes and second largest

domestically, has led to asharp rise in airfares.

“I personally believe thatwe should not be restrictivein terms of number offl��ights, etc. because if youhave the capacity domestically utilise it, otherwisedon’t deprive ourselves of

the economic opportunity.Because, I think if you havemore players, prices comedown,” Mr. Puri said at anevent.

Capacity challengeIndian airlines are facedwith the challenge of ramping up capacity for acquiringJet Airways slots at domesticairports, while there is also ahuge opportunity in terms ofavailability of the beleaguered airline's foreignrights.

The Minister, however,added that he was just expressing his opinion on thematter. Traffi��c rights refer toseats allocated by a countryto its airlines for operating toanother country as per theirbilateral air serviceagreement.

‘International airlines can begiven Jet’s foreign traffi��c rights’ Till now, domestic carriers have been earmarked the rights

JAGRITI CHANDRA

NEW DELHI

Hardeep Singh Puri

Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal saidon Friday that the RBI hadbeen asked to extend $25billion (₹��1,73,150 crore) lineof credit (LoC) for exportsand ensure that exportersget funds at interest ratesnot exceeding 2% aboveLIBOR.

The Minister was speaking at a meeting to look into the issues pertaining toexport credit sector.

“Goyal put forth the proposal to make credit in foreign currency available toexporters at London Interbank Off��ered Rate (LIBOR)plus maximum 200 basispoints and directed RBI,ECGC and other banks towork out the modalities tomake it possible,” a commerce ministry statementsaid.

Goyal seeks$25 bn creditfor exports


New Delhi

Amid a legal battle betweenKotak Mahindra Bank andthe Reserve Bank of India(RBI) over the former’s promoter stake dilution, thecentral bank has nowslapped a penalty of ₹��2crore on the private sectorlender for not disclosing information on promoter shareholding.

“The bank was directedby the RBI to furnish information about details of theshareholding held by itspromoters and to submit details of the proposed courseof action/plans/strategy ofthe bank for complying withthe permitted timeline fordilution of promoter shareholding,” the banking regulator said.

“Subsequently, the bankwas directed to convey itscommitment to achieve thedilution as per the timelinesstipulated. However, thebank failed to comply withthe said directions and anotice was issued to thebank advising it to showcause as to why penaltyshould not be imposed fornoncompliance with thesaid directions,” it added.

Last year, the lendermoved the Bombay HighCourt after RBI rejected itsbid to reduce promoter shareholding by issuing preference shares. The bank wassupposed to lower promoter stake to 20%, from about30%, by Dec 31, 2018 and to15% by March 31, 2020. Thecourt is yet to pronounce itsjudgment on the issue.

RBI raps Kotak bank forveil over promoter dataFines private sector lender ₹��2 crore


Mumbai

The exit of Jet Airways fromthe civil aviation scene haschanged the outlook of theairline sector from negativeto positive, according to anaviation consulting fi��rm.

In its latest forecast, theCentre for Asia Pacifi��c Aviation (CAPA) revised its FY20profi��tability outlook from aconsolidated loss of $550$700 million to a profi��t of$500$700 million for thesector.

“India’s leading airlinesare expected to report record profi��ts, while Air Indiacould break even at a net level. Low cost carriers arelikely to report a combinedprofi��t of $500$700 million,of which IndiGo alone couldaccount for $400$500 million,” CAPA said in its Q1Outlook.

It said while SpiceJet and

GoAir will make profi��t, AirAsia India and Vistara couldbe close to breakeven forthe fi��rst time since theylaunched operations overfi��ve years ago.

AI may break evenAir India could breakeven(or have a small loss) at a netlevel for the fi��rst time in overa decade, it added.

“The above projectionsare assuming oil at $70$75/

barrel and the U.S. dollartrading at ₹��7072, and aresubject to airlines maintaining pricing discipline,” CAPAsaid.

Most of the domestic capacity lost as a result of Jet’sclosure would be restored bythe end of the Q2.

“Domestic traffi��c growthwill be muted, with fullyeartraffi��c growth expected to bebelow 5% year onyear. Thiswill largely be as a result ofgrowth picking up from Q3,with traffi��c expanding by58% in the second half.

The high doubledigitgrowth rates observed during the last fi��ve years are unlikely to return for the foreseeable future,”it said.

International traffi��c is likely to be fl��at at best, and couldshow a slight decline of up to5%. Growth is expected toresume from FY21. “Jet’s closure leaves a notable gap in

the international market. Asa result Indian carriers willincrease their focus overseas. Indian LCCs are expected to deploy 40 additionalnarrow bodies (planes) onregional international routesin FY2020,” it said.

Prior to operations beingimpacted, Jet Airways accounted for 13.8% of domestic and 12.3% of internationalseats across India.

For the international sectors, Jet had a market shareof 28.5% from Mumbai and14.5% from the Delhi airport.

So, with Jet out of the picture, the trunk route of Delhiand Mumbai had seen a capacity drop of 23% whileeight international routeshad seen doubledigitgrowth as Jet was a dominantplayer in these sectors.

In the MumbaiLondonsector, Jet had a marketshare of 57.3%.

With Jet out of skies, sector may fl��y into profi��tCAPA fl��ips estimate from lossmaking scenario to $500$700 mn profi��t for FY20

Lalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

Mortgage lender DewanHousing Finance Corporation Ltd. has paid over ₹��350crore to diff��erent investors,including ₹��100 crore to investors of commercial paper (CP). The CP was due forrepayment on Friday.

DHFL sources said someinterest payments have alsobeen made to investors ofnonconvertible debentures(NCDs), which were due earlier this week, but were delayed.

The company still had seven working days to makethe payment to avoid default. DHFL, which is facingcash crunch after bankloans became expensive, isselling loans to other lenders to generate resources.

Meanwhile, UTI MutualFund on Friday said it hadwritten off�� its entire exposure to the securities ofDHFL.

“UTI MF anticipates thatthere would be enhancedpressure and legal action onDHFL from all creditors, including exercise of early redemption clause and legaloptions by various lenders.This is expected to furtherdelay the recovery eff��orts ofthe company in disposal ofits assets in an orderly manner,” UTI MF said in arelease.

The fund house said it has“increased the markdownto DHFL debt securitiesfrom 75% to 100% in theschemes which has an exposure to DHFL.”

(With PTI inputs)

DHFL repays over ₹��350 crore to investorsIncludes ₹��100 cr. repayment for CPs


Mumbai



BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU


IN BRIEF

ITC to open super luxury hotel in KolkataKOLKATA

ITC will inaugurate its secondsuper luxury hotel, ITC RoyalBengal, next week. Thelaunch will be done by WestBengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee. Thisproperty has come up besideITC Sonar with the twohotels connected by awalkway. The new hotel has374 rooms and suites and 82serviced apartments,according to a sales pitchlaunch for the property. Thenew hotel in Kolkata is a partof ITC’s expansion plans.

‘Student housing gets$100 mn investment’NEW DELHI

The student housing marketreceived an investment of$100 million last year, butthe sector has the potentialto attract $50 billion to meetthe demandsupply gap of 8million beds, said propertyconsultant Knight Frank.“The purposebuilt studentaccommodation market inIndia is in infancy, despite thecountry boasting one of thelargest populations ofundergraduate students inthe world,” it added. PTI

Germany’s Refu, BharatForge in JV for EV parts NEW DELHI

Auto components majorBharat Forge on Friday said ithas formed a joint venturewith Germany’s RefuElectronik GmbH for thedevelopment andmanufacture of electricvehicle (EV) componentswith an investment of €11.35million (about ₹��89 crore).The JV will be intodeveloping, manufacturingand selling of onboardcontrollers and components,Bharat Forge said. PTI

The two Cabinet committeesset up by the new government at the Centre to giveimpetus to employment andgrowth are expected toboost the Indian paint industry, said Abhijit Roy, the outgoing chairman of the IndianPaint Association.

“The outlook is good andmargins too may improvethis year on account of softerraw material prices,” Mr. Roysaid at a press meet.

“While employmentgrowth will boost demand,economic growth has a direct impact on the paint industry,” he added.

Value, volume growthDuring 201819, the paint industry grew 15% by valueand 12% by volume. However, margins came under

pressure due to high oil prices and the rupee volatility.

Mr. Roy said that whilethere was scope for optimism in the decorative andprotective paints segment,there was some concernabout the automotive paintsector in the fi��rst half of thefi��nancial year. “We are hop

ing [for] second half recovery for the automobile[paint] industry,” he said.

The organised sectorpaint industry accounts for70% of the ₹��50,000crore industry, while the rest is accounted for by the unorganised segment. Earlier at apublic session, Dipankar

Chakrabarti, executive director — technology optimisation lead, PwC, said that theindustry needed to understand the importance ofadopting a digital strategybeyond hosting a websiteand an app.

‘62% rise in profi��tability’“If you are innovative withyour process, productionand manpower, then it ispossible to enhance yourprofi��tability by around 62%,”Mr. Chakrabarti said.

Commander Manoj KrGupta (retired) of GardenReach Shipbuilders Ltd. saidthat there was a sustaineddemand for paints for warships as the Navy was expanding its fl��eet.

There was demand for anticorrosive paints as also forpainting new import substitute items.

Paint sector sees demand boostSofter raw materials prices may help raise margins, says Indian Paint Association

The Centre’s actions to spur jobs, growth will give an impetusto the paint industry, says Abhijit Roy. * ASHOKE CHAKRABARTY


KOLKATA

Infrastructure major Larsen& Toubro’s (L&T) open off��erto buy shares from individual shareholders of IT fi��rmMindtree will commence onJune 17.

In a stock exchange fi��lingon Friday, the company saidthe open off��er was at ₹��980per share.

The shares of the Bengalurubased midsized IT fi��rmclosed at ₹��969 apiece on theBSE on Friday.

L&T had off��ered to buyup to 5.13 crore shares, or31% stake in Mindtree.

L&T had proposed to buyadditional stake in Mindtreethrough an open off��er scheduled between May 14 andMay 27. However, it was delayed by three weeks as the

former was awaiting clearance from the SEBI.

L&T had been steadily increasing its shareholding inMindtree after it bought21.32% stake from coff��ee baron V.G. Siddhartha andCafe Coff��ee Day (CCD) inmidMarch. Since then, theinfrastructure fi��rm hadbeen actively picking upmultiple batches of Mindtree shares from the openmarket to increase its gripon the acquisition target.L&T is eyeing up to 66%stake in Mindtree for about₹��10,800 crore.

Infra fi��rm to off��er ₹��980 per share


Bengaluru

L&T’s open off��er forMindtree from June 17

<> L&T has been

raising stake in

Mindtree since

buying 21.32% from

Siddhartha, CCD

Vedanta Ltd. has proposedto step up the quantum ofdesalinated water sourcedfrom South Ganga WaterTechnologies (P) Limited(SGWT) for its Sterlite Copper unit at Thoothukudi.

Thoothukudi has a lonedesalination plant, which isoperated by SGWT. The unitstarted with an installed capacity of 3 million litres perday (MLD) in 201314 and expanded to 7 MLD.

The unit has been supplying desalinated water to Sterlite Copper since 201314.“We aim to signifi��cantly increase the quantum of desalinated water sourced from

SGWT,” said an offi��cial of thecompany. The Tamil NaduWater Supply and DrainageBoard (TWAD) is responsiblefor drawing water from localriver sources and allocatingit for various applicationssuch as domestic consumption, agriculture, utilitiesand industries in Thoothukudi region. The entire wa

ter supply infrastructure isinstalled and operated bythe TWAD board.

Also, Sterlite has a contract with SIPCOT for watersupply for industrial consumption. The fi��rm supplieswater to all industries withinthe SIPCOT complex inThoothukudi. SIPCOT has awater purchase pact withTWAD which enables theformer to ensure supply tofi��rms in the area for industrial use. “Although the sanctioned quantity by SIPCOTto Sterlite Copper was 3.5million gallons per day(MGD), its actual consumption never exceeded 2.5MGD,” the Sterlite offi��cialclaimed.

Propose to source moredesalinated water, says SterliteSouth Ganga Water Tech supplies water to T.N. plant

K.T. Jagannathan

CHENNAI

Spanish sanitaryware makerRoca is targeting to capture30% market share for cPVC(chlorinated polyvinyl chloride) pipes in Tamil Nadu,said a top offi��cial.

“We introduced the Parryware cPVC pipes for household plumbing pipe off��erings in Madurai andThoothukudi areas duringDecember 2018,” said K.E.Ranganathan, MD, RocaBathroom Products.

“Initially, the responsewas poor as we had off��eredonly four stockkeeping units (SKUs) as part of bathroom solutions. Based onthe feedback, we doubledthe number of SKUs and thesales picked up. Today, wehave orders booked for the

full year,” Mr. Ranganathansaid.

Garners 10% share In the last four months, Rocagarnered 10% market sharein Madurai. This was followed by introducing theproduct in Tiruchirapalliand Coimbatore.

On Friday, Roca launchedcPVC pipes in Chennai.“Chennai market accountsfor ₹��150 crore. We aim togarner 30% of it (about ₹��50crore) in two years. This willbe followed by entry intoother southern States androlling it out nationally,” hesaid.

On investments, he saidsince manufacturing wasoutsourced, the investmentwas not signifi��cant.

During 2018, Rocaclocked a revenue of ₹��1,100crore and this year, it hopesto touch ₹��1,300 crore.

“We have been growing at20% yearonyear. Going bythe growth rate, we mightclock ₹��650 crore in the fi��rstsix months of the current calendar year,” Mr. Ranganathan said.

To roll out product in southern States and later, nationally


CHENNAI

K.E. Ranganathan

Roca unveils cPVC pipes in Chennai

Nippon Life Company onFriday announced an openoff��er to acquire nearly22.49% stake in RelianceNippon Life Asset Management (RNAM) for ₹��3,179crore under a deal with Reliance Capital which is exiting the mutual fundbusiness.

Nippon will acquire upto 13.82 crore shares ofRNAM at ₹��230 per share,according to RNAM’s draft,fi��led with the SEBI. Thetransaction is to be paid forin cash for a considerationof ₹��3,179.41 crore. In May,Reliance Capital had said itwould exit the mutual fundbusiness, via a stake sale inRNAM to Nippon LifeInsurance.

Nippon Life’sopen off��er for22.49% stakein RNAM


New Delhi

Indiabulls Real Estate promoters have sold 14% stakein open market transactions to Embassy Group for₹��950 crore, as part of thegroup’s strategy to focus onfi��nancial services and exitfrom the realty business.

Promoters have around39% stake in IndiabullsReal Estate, of which 14%,or over 6.3 crore shares,was offl�oaded in a bulkdeal on Friday. IndiabullsGroup is looking to exit thereal estate business to getregulatory approvals forthe proposed merger of Indiabulls Housing Financewith Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

Promoters sell 14% inIndiabulls realestate arm


New Delhi



CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


SPORT

Cast in the blue shade, RohitSharma seems a diff��erentpersona. His luminous talentwas never in doubt but thesame potential was never fully harnessed in Tests.

But throw him into anODI, allow a fast bowler tosteam in or a spinner to amble down and just watch Rohit transform. There is assurance in his gait and anonchalance to the way heplays his strokes all over thepark. It is no surprise that hehas lorded over the formatand has even struck threedouble hundreds!

Second skinDominance is his obvious second skin but, on Wednesdayas India buckled down tochase South Africa’s 227 atthe Hampshire Bowl in

Southampton, the opener revealed that he does possesspatience too in abundance.

The pursuit wasn’t easy,the rival fast bowlers wereprobing around off��stumpand Kagiso Rabada and ChrisMorris used the bouncer totelling eff��ect. Rohit playedand missed a few, tried tohook some and edged but,importantly for India, hestayed at the crease. Thiswasn’t about being a prettypicture, it was all about lasting the course.

The result was an outstanding 122 spread over 144deliveries, and studded with13 fours and two sixes. Thisseemed more like a Testhundred in the way it wasconstructed and it turnedout to be a matchwinning effort during which he sharedpartnerships ranging fromthe small to the signifi��cantlylarger ones with diversepartners like Virat Kohli, K.L.Rahul and M.S. Dhoni.

Rohit kept the scoreboardticking over, and when theopportunity presented itself,clattered his fours and theodd six.

Though he was watchful,never was he bogged downand that kept the required

runrate under check. There was gameaware

ness and fi��erce focus, and anexcited Kohli later termed itas Rohit’s fi��nest ever ODI

hundred. “I think in my opinion this is by far his best ODIinnings because of the kindof pressure the fi��rst gamebrings from a World Cup

point of view. “And then I know, as a bat

sman, when you go in and afew balls bounce like that, it’snot easy to gather yourself

Rohit, who fi��rst turned outfor India in 2007, is amongthe squad’s senior professionals and his ton againstthe Proteas will help Indiastep in with an extra zing inthe games ahead. It is a goodtrend to nurse especially fora batsman who was notpicked for the 2011 WorldCup squad and had to subsequently fi��ght his way back into the unit.

He is also part of a fearedopening combine with Shikhar Dhawan.

The latter too needs toclick and once this duoprospers in the fi��rst PowerPlay, India will have a base tolaunch into a huge score or

commence a fruitful chase.Importantly, the pressure

on Kohli, the batsman, willdiminish if the rest of the castcontribute handsomely.

Rohit has made a start andit is time for the others to jointhe party.

Finally, the hitman hasshown that there is joy too inthe forwarddefensive shoteven in the nervejanglingarena of ODIs.

Rohit the sixthgear enforcer is a known entity. But thiszen monklike version of hiscan also be of equal servicewhen the pitches displaysome life and the bowlerssmell a wicket. India will notcomplain.

again and play in a calm manner. A lot of times batsmentend to hit their way out ofthe situation. But he was verycomposed,” Kohli said.

Hitman shows he is good at the waiting game tooIt’s time for the other Indian batsmen to join the party, following the sound start provided by Rohit

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

London

New dimension: The zen monk-like version of Rohit Sharma did the job for India in its opener against the Proteas. * AP

Carlos Brathwaite said theWest Indies were on thewrong end of too much poorumpiring following a 15runWorld Cup defeat by champion Australia as MichaelHolding slammed an “atrocious” display by the matchoffi��cials.

West Indies opener ChrisGayle and captain Jason Holder were both twice givenout on the fi��eld at TrentBridge on Thursday but, onboth sets of occasions, sawtheir decision to review vin

dicated by the third umpire.The side’s mood was not

helped when standing umpire Chris Gaff��aney missed aMitchell Starc noball the delivery before the leftarm

quick dismissed Gayle for 21.Brathwaite accepted Gaf

faney and Sri Lanka’s Ruchira Palliyaguruge were doingtheir best, but he made noattempt to hide his annoyance after the West Indies fell short chasing a target of 289 in Nottingham.

“I don’t know if I’ll befi��ned for saying it but I justthink that the umpiring wasa bit frustrating,” Brathwaitetold reporters.

“Even when we werebowling we thought a fewballs close to head heightwere called wides.

“And obviously three decisions...as far as I can remember being dodgy, it wasfrustrating and sent ripplesthrough the dressing room,”the allrounder added.

“To lose Chris in a chaseof 280, who can probably get180 of them himself obviously, broke the start that wewanted to have. But the umpires do their job, they try todo it to the best of their ability, we as players go outthere to do our job as well,so there was no confrontation between the playersand the umpires.”

Brathwaite questions umpiring decisionsAgence France-Presse

Nottingham

Carlos Braithwaite * AFP

Eoin Morgan says Englandwill not panic as it attemptsto get its World Cup campaign back on track againstBangladesh following itschastening defeat againstPakistan.

The hosts started its bid towin its fi��rstever World Cupwith a comprehensive 104run victory against SouthAfrica before it stumbled inthe second game, losing by14 runs.

Captain Morgan said En

gland would not changetheir aggressive approach inSaturday’s match in Cardiff��.

England’s tactics havebeen based on fearless attacking from their powerfulbatsmen and they are alsoaggressive as a bowling unit,boasting the pace of JofraArcher and Mark Wood.

“All we talked about issticking to what we do well,looking at our strengths,” hesaid in his prematch pressconference in the Welsh capital on Friday.

“Previous to the tournament starting we talkedabout losing games — howwould we react? What would

we counter that with?“Everything comes back

to focusing on ourselves,how we win games of cricketand get the best out ofourselves.”

England rotated its attackat Trent Bridge, bringing in

Mark Wood for Liam Plunkett. Conditions are expected to be more seamerfriendly in Wales, meaningPlunkett could return inplace of a spinner.

“We’ll see another daywhere the wicket is undercovers,” Morgan said. “Thepitches here have been a bitgreener and more seamerfriendly so that’s a potential(option), yeah.”

Bangladesh, which hasbeaten England at the pasttwo World Cups, is in a similar position to England, having followed a win overSouth Africa with a loss toNew Zealand

“It is going to be a diffi��cultgame, they’re a good side. Ithink people underestimatethem but we certainlydon’t,” Morgan said.

“Their senior players especially have played a lot ofgames, more so than our senior players. They are athreat but hopefully we canplay well and overcome it.”

Won’t panic, says captain Morgan ahead of Bangladesh clash


Cardiff

England keen to be back on track

PREVIEWS

Key strength: England captain Eoin Morgan said his team’s tactics have been based onattacking batting and aggressive bowling. * GARETH COPLEY/GETTY IMAGES

Ross Taylor insists New Zealand is ready for a trial byspin against Afghanistan onSaturday as it looks to keepits winning momentum going in the World Cup.

New Zealand, which wasfi��nalist in the 2015 edition,has relied on its paceman toget favourable results, butTaylor believes tackling spinwill be key against the Asianminnows at Taunton.

Lot of spin“I think against Afghanistan,they have a lot of spin there,so something to factor in,”said Taylor, who has recorded three 40 plus scores inhis last four ODI innings.

“But two from two, thatwas what we wanted to doand we were able to do it.”

Taylor beloves that Ferguson, with his express pace,is the key man for the BlackCaps. “Lockie, he just givesyou that Xfactor. Obviouslyour fastest bowler.

“He is going to be a key

factor for us if we’re going tofeature in this tournament,”said Taylor. “I think he’screating pressure for the guyat the other end (to takewickets),” he added.

Afghanistan, which isplaying just its second 50over World Cup, has lost itstwo games in the tournament so far but not withouta fi��ght.

Legspinner Rashid Khanleads the charge with Mohammed Nabi, who returned fi��gures of 430 withhis off�� spin in their previousloss against Sri Lanka.

But it’s the batting thathas let them down as theywere dismissed for 152 intheir revised chase of 187 ina rainhit game Cardiff�� onTuesday.

Shahzad out of WCWicketkeeperbatsmanShahzad was ruled out onThursday after suff��ering arecurrence of a naggingknee injury.

Naib admitted losing Mohammad Shahzad for the

rest of the World Cup is amajor blow to his side’shopes of upsetting the oddsin the tournament.

“Obviously it’s a big lossfor our side,” Naib said on

Friday. “Shahzad is a greatplayer for Afghanistan. Hedid a lot. I'm also upset forhim the last two, threeweeks he's been strugglingwith his knee.

Kiwis ready to counter Afghan spin: TaylorAgence France-Presse

Taunton

Main threat: New Zealand has to thwart Rashid Khan & Co. inorder to come up trumps. * ALEX DAVIDSON/GETTY IMAGES

Pakistan captain SarfarazAhmed was left frustrated after Friday’s World Cupmatch against Sri Lanka wasabandoned without a ball being bowled following persistent rain in Bristol.

The game was was eventually called off�� in the afternoon, with both teams beingawarded a point.

It is the fi��rst match at theWorld Cup in England andWales to be abandoned without a result.

Both teams now havethree points, with one winand a loss apiece.

After a couple of inspections, umpires Nigel Llongand Ian Gould decided to calloff�� the game at 3:46 p.m. local time.

The sky was still cloudywhen the fi��nal inspectionwas held, keeping in mind a20overaside game.

It was a blow to Pakistan’sbid to reach the semifi��nalsand Sarfaraz said: “As a teamwe really wanted to play thismatch, especially after gaining momentum with the winagainst England. It is unfortunate that we were not ableto play.

“Our next match is against

Australia. Like other teamsin the tournament they arealso a tough opponent andthey also have momentum asthey have won their fi��rst twomatches.”

Pakistan lost to the West

Indies by seven wickets atTrent Bridge before beatingEngland by 14 runs at thesame venue on Monday.

Sri Lanka crashed to a 10wicket defeat against NewZealand before pulling off�� a

34run win against Afghanistan in a rainaff��ected game.

Sarfaraz remains confi��dent Pakistan can still pushfor a lastfour place in the 10team tournament despite theSri Lanka washout.

Pakistan, Sri Lanka split points after wash outPress Trust of India

Bristol

Dull sight: Persistent rain ensured that the Pakistan-Sri Lanka match was a non-starter. * AFP

The Indian team woke upto a wet Friday atLondon.

The rain, largely apersistent drizzle,continued unabated wellinto the afternoon beforethe sun peeped out at2.30 p.m. The inclement

weather threw a spannerinto the squad’s plans totrain at the Oval and,consequently, thescheduled practicesession in the morningwas cancelled.

India will take onAustralia here on Sundaybut rains have beenforecast for the weekend.

Rain mars practiceSpecial Correspondent

London



CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12646 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Hanuman’s entry scene in the Ramayana is signifi��cant, because it has an important message for us, said AkkarakkaniSrinidhi in a discourse. Rama and Lakshmana arrive on thebanks of the river Pampa. Sugreeva is watching the brothers, and the sight of Rama and Lakshmana fi��lls him withdread. He is afraid that they lack good intentions. The agitated monkey king tells his ministers that the two men musthave been sent by Vali, and that their simple garments musthave been chosen to deceive Sugriva into thinking they wereharmless. Sugreeva and the other monkeys jumped fromone peak to another, looking down at Rama and Lakshmanain fear. Hanuman’s fi��rst words to Sugriva, and indeed hisfi��rst words in the Ramayana, are words of assurance: “Donot be afraid.” Hanuman says that Sugriva is safe on MountMalaya, which Vali dare not approach because of a curse.“Where is Vali? I do not see him anywhere. Why do you fearhim?” asks Hanuman.

Hanuman also off��ers advice to Sugriva and says that a ruler must be wise. An unwise ruler will never be able to off��ergood governance. But Sugriva is not convinced and says,“The two men are armed. Overconfi��dence is dangerous.” Hethen asks Hanuman to go and check if the two men whohave arrived are trustworthy or if they are men sent by Vali.Hanuman goes to meet them as an ascetic.

Hanuman tells Rama and Lakshmana that their garmentsproclaim that they are ascetics, but they look like royaltyand also wield bows. Rama is able to gauge from Hanuman’smode of speech that the latter is a great Vedic scholar. Thus,it was because Hanuman met Rama fi��rst that Sugriva wasable to make friends with Him later on. This shows the importance of the Acharya in guiding us to the Supreme One.

FAITH

Acharya’s importance 3 Business is about principles (6)

4 Go with fresh information

(5,5)

6 Deceive and invite scorn (8)

7 Work done by this guy at the

start of day when required

(2,6)

8 The one turnaround for actor

(8)

13 Straight to a matinee with

each person following the

other (3,2,1,4)

15 Infamous tirade after slump

(8)

16 Infi��nity in entirety originally

(8)

17 Prevent/stop deluge (8)

19 Penetrate large territory

that's endless (6)

20 Dog perhaps domesticated by

an American in exile (6)

21 Data about university's rank

(6)

12 Get together and drink with

basically money at stake (4,2)

14 Poorly adapting, an

endangered species (5,5)

18 Version of the altered

stationery (10)

22 Consider empty gallery at fi��rst

for dance (6)

23 Downpour, it's blinding (8)

24 Thin layer over a creature (6)

25 Wife is primarily happy with

lean needs (4,4)

26 Striving hard (6)

27 Appear smaller, say, and

continuous (8)

■ DOWN

1 Farewell performance no good

(2,4)

2 Piece of music that's more

unemotional (6)

(set by Vulcan)

■ ACROSS

1 City in Asia, not good

surprisingly (8)

5 Perform with cat? (3,3)

9 Climber edgy, then has gotten

fl��exible (8)

10 A day before game, extremely

nervous (2,4)

11 Nagging desire to have fi��sh (8)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12647

Earlier this year, whenShubman Gill joined up withthe Indian senior team inNew Zealand, Virat Kohliwas asked what he thoughtof the teenager. “Shubmanis a very exciting talent,” hesaid. “I saw him bat in thenets and I was like, wow Iwas not even 10 per cent ofthat when I was 19.”

Gill smiles when reminded of the Indian captain’spraise for him. “It makesyou feel really good but Ithink he was being verygenerous, really kind withhis words,” he says, on theeve of IndiaA’s second oneday match against Sri LankaA at the KSCA Stadiumhere.

Gill endured a diffi��cult senior debut on that New Zealand tour, making scores ofnine and seven in the twoODIs he played. But thatcallup, as a shortterm replacement for K.L. Rahul,was a sign that he was in theselectors’ thoughts.

“It was a great feeling torepresent the country,” hesays. “I wasn’t expecting thecall but I had had a goodRanji Trophy season, so Iwasn’t really surprised.Conditions were diff��erent(in New Zealand) but it wasnot as if the bowling was something I hadn’t faced before. Because of the A toursand the IPL, that margin hasdecreased.”

In the immediate after

math of India’s victory inthe 2018 U19 World Cup,there was predictably a clamour to fasttrack Gill andPrithvi Shaw — two of thetournament’s stars — intothe senior team. But Gillsays his focus has alwaysbeen on the present.

“You have to be patient.You don’t get picked afterone good performance. Youhave to keep doing it seasonafter season. I’m well awareof the fact that not everyonewho does well at U19 level isguaranteed to do well at thesenior level.”

It is easy, Gill admits, toget carried away by all thefame and attention. “Howmuch time does it take tolose your way? It takes yearsto develop good habits andonly a fraction of a secondto go off��track. Credit goes tomy parents for how theyhave brought me up. It’s easy to get off��balance, but youhave to keep working hard,”he says.

Last season, Gill aggregated 728 runs for Punjab inthe Ranji Trophy, with a topscore of 268 against TamilNadu. He is hungry for bigruns in fi��rstclass cricket, hestates.

“When I was growing up,I used to score big hundredsin multiday cricket at theU14 and 16 levels. I want todo that continuously in theRanji Trophy. If you’re notdoing well in First Classcricket, I don’t think you’llget picked for India.”

Easy to get carriedaway, says GillShreedutta Chidananda

Belagavi

Before this French Opensemifi��nal matchup it hadbeen all about the dizzyingnumbers and statistics, butonce great foes Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal stepped onto Court Philippe Chatrier,all that mattered was bothmen’s preternatural abilityto strike a small yellow ball.

On Friday, it was Nadal’sswinging, looping, whipcrack style which prevailedover Federer’s fi��nesse andnearperfect timing as hereached his 12th Roland Garros fi��nal 63, 64, 62.

The Spaniard had neverlost to Federer in their fi��veprevious French Open meetings, but hadn’t beaten theSwiss in their last fi��ve matches overall, a run stretchingback fi��ve years.

Something had to give.But for all the anticipation, inthe event it was Federer’swinning streak that gave waywith no little brutality.

Suiting his styleSimply put, the swirling, gusty winds inside Court Philippe Chatrier far better suited the Spaniard’s style whichhas more safety built in, hisheavily topspun shots clearing the net by some distance,and it resulted in his most

onesided Grand Slam triumph over Federer sincebeating him 61, 63, 60 herein 2008. “I don’t fi��nd anysparring partners... playinglike Federer. There are notwo people like Federer onthis planet. Luckily, actually,” Nadal said.

“It’s incredible, congratulations to Roger... incredibleto play at that level aged 37.

He’s probably the best playerin history, it’s a great pleasure to play with him.”

The wind barely droppedall match with both playersbuff��eted throughout, andrubbing grit from their eyesfrom time to time.

The wind factorWhile the conditions weretough for both men, as Fe

derer wistfully refl��ected, thegusts probably knocked thewind out of his game morethan Nadal’s.

“It was incredibly windy,”Federer said. “So you’re trying to see how much can youdo or can you not do? Areyou playing fl��atter or withmore spin?

“Are you keeping the ballin play? Are you going for

stuff��? I think that was basically the story of the fi��rst set,more or less.

“Holding serve against thewind with Rafa’s quality onthe return is just really hard,you know? He barely missesany. And then when he’s inthe rally, he plays with greatspin on the forehand, greatsort of control on the backhand side.

“So it’s just really hard tofi��nd holes, especially in thewind, if you’re trying to hitthrough the ball, which isreally diffi��cult, actually.”

Later, top seed Novak Djokovic’s semifi��nal clash withDominic Thiem was haltedfor the day in the third setdue to deteriorating weatherconditions.

The Austrian fourth seedwas leading 62, 36, 31against the World No.1 whenthe players left the court.

Nadal’s masterclass too good for Federer Defending champion hands out the Swiss his worst Grand Slam defeat in 11 years; Djokovic-Thiem match suspended

ROLAND GARROS

Thriving on attack: Rafael Nadal’s swinging, looping, whipcrack style prevailed over Federer’s fi��nesse and nearperfect timing inthe muchanticipated lastfour clash on Friday. * REUTERS

Reuters

PARIS

Just over two months ago,the Indian men’s hockeyteam had thumped Poland100 at the Azlan Shah Cup.On Friday, against the sameopponent with largely thesame side, the Indians fumbled, and stuttered to a 31win in Pool A at the HockeySeries Finals here.

The unbeaten Indian teamis now assured of playing thesemifi��nals. That would be oflittle comfort to coach Graham Reid, who had warned

against letting the focus dropagainst a defensive Poland.The opponents lived up totheir reputation but the Indians did not.

Friday’s match was allabout erratic passes, wayward shooting and messedup defence. The fi��rst warning sign came within 30 seconds of the start, Polandearning a penalty corner butunable to convert, much toIndia’s relief.

Resolute defenceGiven the resolute defendingit did, an early lead mightwell have led Poland to park

the bus in its half.As it happened, the In

dians found it diffi��cult tobreak past the Polish defenceeven otherwise.

And when they did, theycame up against Maciej Pacanowski, the Polish goalkeeper who staved off�� half a dozen chances including twobacktoback shots from Simranjeet Singh and AkashdeepSingh.

India could also manage toconvert only one of its fi��vepenalty corners and the forwards — Gursahibjit Singh,Akashdeep, Mandeep andSimranjeet — just could not

manage to get their shot angles right. Ramandeep, playing more of a feeder, managed to set them uprepeatedly, only to see theball rolling away before Manpreet Singh managed to lobin a rebound after Harmanpreet Singh’s attempt.

Poland stepped up to attack and Mateusz Hulbojmade no mistake in tappingin the rising ball to levelscores. Hardik Singh was theculprit and Krishan Pathakcompletely blinded and outof position.

The Indians managed tostick to their structure better

in the second half but thebasic errors in trapping andpassing continued to hauntthe side.

Need to regroupIf improvement and processare the focus for Reid goingahead, the Indian teamwould do well to regroupsooner than later.

Japan or South Africa —the likely opponents in thesemifi��nals and the fi��nal —would be tougher.

In another Pool A match,Russia seemed to come outkeen to avenge its drubbingagainst India and slammed 12

goals against a hapless Uzbekistan. Khakimboy Khakimov scored the lone consolation goal for the minnows.Pool B saw Asian championJapan stretched by Mexicobefore prevailing 31.The results: Pool A: Russia 12(Semen Matkovskiy 5, Alexander Skipersky 2, Sergey Lepeshkin, Alexey Sobolevskiy, MikhailProskuriakov, Marat Khairullin,Denis Starianko) bt Uzbekistan 1(Khakimboy Khakimov); India 3(Manpreet Singh 2, Harmanpreet Singh) bt Poland 1 (Mateusz Hulboj).

Pool B: Japan 3 (Hirotaka Zendana 2, Shota Yamada) bt Mexico 1 (Erik Hernandez).

India fumbles and stumbles its way past Poland, enters semifi��nalsHSF

Silence please: Captain Manpreet Singh gestures towards thecrowd after scoring the second goal. * BISWARANJAN ROUT

UTHRA GANESAN

BHUBANESWAR

Former Chief Election Commissioner, N. Gopalaswami,will be the electoral offi��cerfor the BCCI elections to beheld on October 22, according to decision taken by CoAon Friday.

“He comes with great experience and we decided tohand over the responsibilityto him to ensure a properelection process,” one of themembers of the Board said.

The process will begin onJune 30, with the electoraloffi��cer preparing an protocol in consultation with theCoA, which shall be communicated to all Stateassociations.

The schedule:

Sept. 14: Completion of elections of State associations.

Sept. 30: Preparation of theelectoral roll of nomineesqualifi��ed for the BCCIelections.

Oct. 22: BCCI election.

Gopalaswami tooversee BCCI electionsSpecial Correspondent

Mumbai

Semifinals: Men: 2RafaelNadal (Esp) bt 3Roger Federer(Sui) 63, 64, 62.Women: 8Ashleigh Barty (Aus)bt Amanda Anisimova (USA) 67(4), 63, 63; Marketa Vondrousova (Cze) bt 26JohannaKonta (GBr) 75, 76(2).

THE RESULTS

Ashleigh Barty and MarketaVondrousova setup a RolandGarros fi��nal showdown onFriday, shrugging off�� a sexism row which had seentheir semifi��nals shifted awayfrom the tournament’s showpiece court.

Barty reached her fi��rst fi��nal at the Majors, comingback from a set and 03 downto defeat 17yearold AmandaAnisimova 67(4), 63, 63 in arollercoaster match.

Czech teenager MarketaVondrousova also made sureof her place in a maiden fi��nal

at the Slams by edging outBritain’s Johanna Konta 75,76(2).

While Vondrousova is thefi��rst teenager in a Paris fi��nalsince Ana Ivanovic in 2007,eighth seed Barty, 23, is thefi��rst Australian in a FrenchOpen fi��nal since SamanthaStosur fi��nished runnerup in2010.

Amazing“That was amazing, bothgood and bad,” said Bartywho will rise to the top threein the rankings next week.“It was the hardest thing thatI ever had to do.

“I am really proud of theway I fought especially in theconditions which were coldand windy. “Now I can’t waitfor the fi��nal, it’s incredible.”

Both matches got underway after accusations of sexism were made against theorganisers who had decidedto shift the matches awayfrom the showpiece CourtPhilippe Chatrier.

The main arena had already been scheduled to stagethe men’s semifi��nals between Rafael Nadal and RogerFederer and Novak Djokovicagainst Dominic Thiem.

The WTA said the deci

sion, taken after Wednesday’s play was washed outand prompted by fears ofmore rain Friday, was “unfair and inappropriate”.Former World No.1 AmelieMauresmo of France said itwas a “disgrace”.

When she steps onto Chatrier on Saturday, it will beVondrousova’s fi��rst experience of the arena.

“I watched (compatriot)Lucie Safarova when sheplayed fi��nals there in 2015when I was junior, but I never played there. So it’s goingto be something huge,” shesaid.

Barty to take on Vondrousova for the crown Eighth seed rallies to stop Anisimova, while the teenager edges out Konta


PARIS

Thrilled: Marketa Vondrousova’s straight set win over Johanna Konta has made her the fi��rst teen in a Paris fi��nal sinceAna Ivanovic in 2007. * AP



CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


SPORT

NBA: Sony Ten 1 (SD & HD),6.30 a.m.Kings Cup: India vs Thailand,SS Select 2 (SD & HD), 2 p.m.ICC World Cup: Star Sports 1& 2 (SD & HD), 3 p.m.; StarSports 3, 6 p.m.Roland Garros: SS Select 1 &2 (SD & HD), 6.30 p.m.FIFA U20 World Cup: SonyTen 2 (SD & HD), 9 p.m.FIFA Women’s World Cup:Sony Six (SD & HD), 9.30 p.m.Euro 2020 Qualifiers: SonyESPN (SD& HD), 9.30 p.m.Ten 1 (SD & HD), 12.30 a.m.(Sunday).

TV PICKS

BENGALURU: Saint Petersburg,who has been well prepared isexpected to score in the Civil Service Cup (1,200m), the mainevent of the races to be held hereon Saturday ( June 8). False rails(width about 8.5m from 1,600mto the winning post) will be inposition.

1 ROYAL CHALLENGE PLATE(DIV. II), (1,400m), rated 30 to

50, 4yo & over, 230 pm: 1.Charmed Life (4) Trevor 60, 2.Pink Smile (7) Raghuveer Singh59.5, 3. Orenda (3) Sandesh 58, 4.Supernormal (2) R. Marshall 58,5. Bluejack (6) A. Merchant 57.5,6. Gold Mist (8) S. Mubarak 56.5,7. Ultimate Speed (5) Adarsh 56.5and 8. Turf Jaguar (1) HinduSingh 55.1. ORENDA, 2. CHARMED LIFE, 3.BLUEJACK

2 PRINCE KHARTOUM TROPHY(1,200m), maiden 3yo only,

(Terms), 305: 1. Akasi (4) Zervan56, 2. Blackhawk (9) P. Mani 56,3. Commodus (1) Trevor 56, 4.Elite Agent (10) Irvan 56, 5. OnThe Trot (8) Neeraj 56, 6. Richmond Hill (3) R. Manish 56, 7.Slice Of Heaven (5) Darshan 56, 8.Tenno Sho (—) (—) 56, 9. Awesome Girl (7) A. Merchant 54.5,10. Constanza (6) Sandesh 54.5and 11. Donna Bella (2) Suraj 54.5.1. DONNA BELLA, 2. CONSTANZA,3. COMMODUS

3 STAR SUPREME PLATE(1,400m), rated 15 to 35, 5yo

& over, 340: 1. Jayadratha (12)N.S. Parmar 60, 2. UltimatePower (7) Darshan 57.5, 3. Amazing Angel (6) Nazerul 55, 4. Agnar(9) P. Surya 54.5, 5. Fiorenzo (3)S. Shareef 54.5, 6. Firing Line (11)A.S. Peter 54, 7. Incitatus (4) Suraj54, 8. Blarney Stone (2) A. Ramu53.5, 9. Declarationoflove (1) R.Manish 53.5, 10. Granada (5) N.B.

Kuldeep 53, 11. Zala Princess (10)A. Merchant 53 and 12. Find (8)Neeraj 52.5.1. INCITATUS, 2. FIND, 3. AGNAR

4 CIVIL SERVICE CUP (1,200m),rated 60 & above, 415: 1. Bora

Bora (6) A. Imran 60, 2. SaintPetersburg (5) Trevor 59.5, 3.Courage (11) Suraj 59, 4. RegalMusic (4) Md. Akram 59, 5. FireGlow (2) T.S. Jodha 58.5, 6.Haedi’s Folly (7) Irvan 57.5, 7.Aeisir (9) P.S. Chouhan 56.5, 8.Cerise Noir (8) Sandesh 55.5, 9.Noahs Ark (10) Arshad 55.5, 10.Life Awaits (1) Rayan 55 and 11.Miniver Rose (3) R. Manish 53.1. SAINT PETERSBURG, 2. COUR-AGE, 3. CERISE NOIR

5 MEYDAN PLATE (1,200m),rated 15 to 35, 450: 1. Prodigal

(1) Anjar Alam 60, 2. After Hours(9) Akshay 57.5, 3. Stari Grad (2)Dhebe 55, 4. Desert Gold (4) AjayKumar 54, 5. Master Of War (5)Rayan 53.5, 6. Sri Lakshmi (6) A.Maerchant 53.5, 7. Adventurer (7)Arshad 53, 8. Barog (8) Irvan 52.5and 9. Youresohandsome (3) P.Surya 52.1. PRODIGAL, 2. STARI GRAD, 3.ADVENTURER

6 ROYAL CHALLENGE PLATE(DIV. I), (1,400m), rated 30 to

50, 4yo & over, 525: 1. Ambrosio (5) Trevor 60, 2. Akita Pro(8) Suraj 59.5, 3. Aeolus (9) Zervan 58.5, 4. Black Whizz (6) A.Imran 58.5, 5. Game Changer (2)Arshad 58, 6. Beond Reach (4) R.Manish 57.5, 7. Lawrence Of Arabia (7) Hindu Singh 57, 8. Constantinople (1) A.S. Peter 56.5 and9. Tanoura (3) Adarsh 54.5.1. AKITA PRO, 2. AMBROSIO, 3,AEOLUSDay’s best: SAINT PETERSBURGDouble: INCITATUS — AKITA PROJkt: 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6; Tr (i): 1, 2 and3; (ii): 4, 5 and 6.

Saint Petersburgprimed to deliver

RACING

Newlyappointed Indianmen’s volleyball team coachDragan Mihailovic is focusedon getting the unit ready forthe crucial Asian men’s volleyball championship, whichwill be held in Iran inSeptember.

“Our main goal is to get atopeight fi��nish in the AsianChampionship. A topeightfi��nish will secure a spot for usin the 2020 Tokyo Olympicqualifi��cation tournament.That is very important,” Mihailovic told The Hindu here.

The vastlyexperienced Mihailovic, who has won severalmedals as an assistant coachwith the former Yugoslavianational team, and with several top European clubs, stated that the team desperatelyneeds match practice.

“It’s very important to playlots of games against topteams. We plan to compete ina tournament in Ukraine (end

August), followed by matchesagainst three very strong Turkish professional clubs in Ankara.

“We are awaiting the government’s consent for theseplans,” Mihailovic said.

The Serbian, who has beenappointed for a period of fi��vemonths, is impressed with India’s talent pool, but there are

certain tough challengesahead. From the two or threetraining sessions I’ve hadwith the boys, I’ve noticedthat their biggest drawback isa lack of tactical knowledge.

“This is because they haven’t got the chance to playmany tournaments outsideIndia. They are not in touchwith how international vol

leyball has developed in thelast 20 years.

“Statistics, video analysis,scouting and so on — these aspects are lacking here.

“But the federation has recruited a top scout from Europe, which will be of hugehelp,” he said.

Mihailovic will be also assisted by Pryemyslaw Gas

zyoski and Valadimir Radosevic, who will don the rolesof team physio and physiotherapist respectively.

Boost to the sport

Mihailovic has been appointed to the post by the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) — a unique movethat the Volleyball Federationof India (VFI) has hailed as aboost to the sport in the coun

try. The FIVB, VFI and I areworking towards a commongoal. There are thousands ofyoung guys in India who wantto play volleyball.

“They have the exact bodyconstitution required to playvolleyball, and they are desperately waiting for a chanceto maximise their potential inorder to explode on the worldstage. I am sure that this canbe achieved,” Mihailovic said.

‘Main goal is a topeight fi��nish in Asian C’ship’ Mihailovic focused on getting the unit ready for Asian men’s championship

Ashwin AchalBengaluru

Task cut out: Dragan Mihailovic is impressed with India’s talent pool, but believes the teamdesperately needs match practice. * K. MURALI KUMAR

VOLLEYBALL

Renowned cricket coach P.K.Dharmalingam, who passedaway recently in Chennai,was described by Kapil Devas a “man of vision” and someone who was committedto promoting the gameselfl��essly.

“I got to know of his passing (only) late. I can visualisehim at the Chepauk, engaged with young cricketers,working hard to shape theircareers.

He was a familiar fi��gure atour camps in Chennai and tome he was special,” Kapil

told The Hindu here onFriday.

Dharmalingam, whoplayed 29 matches for Madras and Services, wasamong the early coaches toimpart training to womencricketers. He was also thefi��rst coach for L. Sivaramakrishnan and W.V. Raman atthe Grand Prix CC.

Disciplined person

“I knew him as a very disciplined person. Soft but fi��rmwhen it came to dealing withthe players at camps. Hisfi��elding sessions went a longway in helping us become

athletic on the fi��eld,” Kapilremembered.

A fi��tness freak himself, Kapil gave credit to Dharmalingam for helping him withsome crucial lessons. “He insisted I look after my fi��tness.

“As a fast bowler, bowlinglong spells, I knew I had tobe fi��t more than others andMr. Dharmalingam ensuredthat I picked up the right habits. He would make me run

a lot and I am glad I learnt itearly in my career. Therewas no gym. Running and exercises.

“He was ahead of time interms of acknowledging theimportance of fi��tness,” Kapilstressed.

“I know Mr. Dharmalingam was a hard taskmaster.Sometimes you would getthe feeling his methods werebackbreaking but (theywere) always aimed at helping you improve.

“He was a gentleman andserved the game outstandingly,” said Kapil.

Dharmalingam was a man of vision: Kapil He was ahead of time in terms of acknowledging the importance of fi��tnessVijay LokapallyNEW DELHI <> He would make me

run a lot and I am

glad I learnt it early

in my career

Kapil Dev

England’s long wait for a trophy since 1966 goes on asthe Netherlands set up a Nations League fi��nal meetingwith Portugal on Sundaywith a 31 win after extratime in Guimaraes.

Marcus Rashford’s penalty gave the Three Lions afi��rsthalf lead against therun of play, but Matthijs deLigt made amends for his error in leading to the spotkick to level 17 minutes fromtime.

Jesse Lingard thought he

had won the game late onfor England only for hisstrike to be ruled out for off��side by VAR and the Dutchtook full advantage of thatreprieve to deservedly earntheir place in the fi��nal.

England contributed toits own downfall with a comedy of errors for bothgoals in extratime with JohnStones and Ross Barkley atfault as Kyle Walker’s owngoal and Quincy Promes’stap in sent Holland into thefi��nal.

The result: Netherlands 3(Matthijs de Ligt 73, Kyle Walk-er 97 (og), Quincy Promes 114)bt England 1 (Marcus Rashford32-pen).

Netherlandsoutclasses England

NATIONS CUP

Agence France-PresseGuimaraes

Pouncing on: Quincy Promes, center, scores the Netherlands’second goal. * AP

The Asian VolleyballConfederation (AVC) hasconfi��rmed that India hassecured a spot in themain draw of the AsianMen’s VolleyballChampionship.

India was originallyscheduled to compete inan Central Asiaqualifi��cation tournamentinvolving Sri Lanka andTurkmenistan, with thetop two sides making the

cut. In an email exchangewith The Hindu, AVCexplained thatTurkmenistan fl��outedcompetition regulationsand was thus barred fromcompeting in thequalifi��cation tournament.This has allowed Indiaand Sri Lanka to sealspots in the Asianchampionship withoutthe necessity of holding aqualifi��cation tournament.

India in main draw

Viswanthan Anand slippedto the bottom of the pointstable after going down toShakhriyar Mamedyarov ofAzerbaijan in the secondround of the Altibox Norway Chess tournamenthere.The results (second round):Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 3.5)bt V. Anand (1.5-0.5); MagnusCarlsen (3) bt Levon Aronian(2); Fabiano Caruana (2) btMaxime Vachier Lagrave(0.5); Yu Yangyi, (3) bt DingLiren (2); Wesley So (2) btAlexander Grischuk (1).

Consecutivelosses forAnand Press Trust of IndiaStavanger (Norway)

The season’s opening roundof the MRF MMSCI FMSCI Indian National MotorcycleRacing Championship(INMRC) began at the KariMotor Speedway with thepractise sessions and qualifi��ers here on Friday.

Prabhu Arunagiri of TeamAlisha Abdullah clinchedpole position in the premium ProStock 301400ccclass. He timed 1:09.241s inhis very second lap, whilethe TVS Racing duo of JaganKumar (01:09.269) and K.Y.Ahamed (01:09.270) completed the front row of the

grid for Saturday’s race.

Jagan also underlined hisclass topping the practicesession in the ProStock165cc class with a fl��ying lapof 01:13:529s.

Record entries

The two wheeler events aregetting bigger every year.The MRF MoGrip Supercrossopener a couple of weeksago in this part of the regionsaw a record turnout. So isthe case with the INMRC.With 178 entries and a record15 teams in fray, it is the highestever in the championship’s history.

The twoday event features 17 races and the National championship will be

headlined by the ProStock301400cc class, besides ProStock 165cc, ProStock 201300cc and Stock 165cc (novice and girls).

There will also be the onemake championships byHonda (Idemitsu Honda Talent Cup, CBR 150) and TVSRacing (Apache RTR 310Open, RTR 200 Novice andGirls) run concurrently.

Honda and TVS have contributed hugely to the National championship withtheir respective onemakeseries. This season, in a landmark move, Honda will beintroducing FIM Moto3 specNSF250R that will replacethe CBR 250 in their onemake championship from

the next round.

It is part of the Honda India Talent Cup programmedesigned to unearth youngtalent that can be groomedfor participation in variousinternational events, including the WorldChampionship.

The Honda Novice class(CBR 150) will see a grid of 15riders, all under 19 years ofage. TVS Racing has alsoshortlisted riders, throughits talent spotting programme, for novice andgirls’ class.

The grid for the girls willwitness 16 riders, who werepicked from 33 entrants whoreceived training from TVSRacing’s experienced stars.

Prabhu Arunagiri clinches pole MRF INMRC getting bigger by the year

MOTORSPORTS

Special CorrespondentCoimbatore

A fi��veunder 67 third roundpushed Gaurika Bishnoi tothe top of the leaderboardof the Hero Women's ProGolf Tour 2019 Leg 7, atClover Greens near here.Gaurika holds a threeshotlead over secondplacedPranavi Urs. Gursimar Badwal, who held a fourshotlead overnight, slipped totiedthird after a threeover75.The scores (topthree): 208:Gaurika Bishnoi (71, 70, 67);211: Pranavi Urs (76, 69, 66);212: Tvesa Malik (74, 70, 68),Amandeep Drall (71, 71, 70),Gursimar Badwal (71, 66, 75).

Gaurika jumpsinto lead Sports ReporterBengaluru

Gurnihal Singh Garcha andAyush Rudraraju shot 70 outof 75 in three rounds in junior men’s skeet on theopening day of the 11th International Junior Shotgun Cuphere on Friday.

Ayush had two perfectrounds of 25, but tumbled to20 in the third. Gurnihal, onthe other hand, had roundsof 25, 23 and 22.

Abhay Singh Sekhon (67)and Sukdarshana Johal (59)were the other Indian shooters in the fray.

Richard Klika of Czech Republic and Cristian Ghilli ofItaly led with 73, while Peeter Jurisson (71) of Estoniawas the only other shooterahead of the two leading Indian marksmen.

In junior men’s trap, Vishwa Kundu had 70 followingrounds of 24, 24 and 22, tobe fourth with the third bestscore behind Matteo Maron

Greta (70), Sofi��a Littarne (69)and Gala Ragazzini (68) ofItaly.

In junior women’s skeet,Areeba Khan and ParinaazDhaliwal shot identicalscores of 65, to be in the topfi��ve behind leaders GiadaLonghi (68) of Italy, ZuzanaZaoralova (68) of the CzechRepublic and Eva TamaraReichert (65) of Germany.

The third Indian shooterin a small fi��eld of 11, Mufaddal Deesawala shot 57 to beahead of two others from Gemany and Finland.

glu (75) of Italy and MatiasKolvu (73) of Finland.

Manavaditya Rathore shot66 to be in 11th place, whileVivaan Kapoor, who has secured a call for the men’steam for the World Championship, shot 65.

Two more rounds on Saturday, will be followed bythe fi��nal for the top six.

In junior women’s trap,Manisha Keer (66), KirtiGupta (64) and Preeti Rajak(63) were among the top seven behind leaders Luppi

Identical scores by Gurnihal and Ayush SHOOTING

Sports BureauOrimattila (Finland)

India will travel to New Zealand early next year for atour which will begin with afi��vematch Twenty20 seriesand conclude with a twoTest series.

The T20I series will begin from January 24 andwill be followed by a threematch ODI series. The twoTest matches will be playedin Wellington (February 21to 25) and Christchurch(Feb 29 to March 4).

India to tourNZ early next year Press Trust of IndiaWELLINGTON

The day the men’s HockeySeries Finals concludes herenext Saturday, the Indianwomen will kickstart theirown journey to the TokyoOlympics with the women’sHSF in Hiroshima.

As the team led by RaniRampal left for the competition on Friday night, coachSjoerd Marijne was optimistic about his team but alsocautious in his expectations.

“As the highest rankedteam, it’s important for us to

win and get 500 rankingpoints, which will be veryimportant when it comes tothe draw for the next roundof qualifi��ers. But we mustplay consistent to be successful,” Marijne said.

India, ranked ninth in theworld, is grouped with Poland, Uruguay and Fiji inPool A and opens its campaign against the 24thranked Uruguay. Both fi��nalists advance to the Olympicqualifi��ers but India would behoping to fi��nish on a winningnote.

“We had three tours before this and they went well,giving us confi��dence. In between, we were able to workon our fi��tness and specifi��cskills during camps,” Marijnesaid.

“We played against diff��erent styles so we are prepared on everything. Wehave also worked on themental side to grow as ateam and as individuals. Weworked on stuff�� like givingfeedback to each other, leadership and taking responsibility so that we don’t get dis

tracted or hung up on theend result,” he added.

Japan and Chile, the nexthighest ranked teams, are inPool B, along with Mexicoand Russia, and Marijnestressed that they could notbe underestimated. While Japan is expected to make thefi��nal, the pressure would beon India since the former isboth host and Asian Gameswinner and as such alreadyqualifi��ed.

Marijne, though, is hopeful of India’s chances of Tokyo participation.

Women’s hockey team leaves for Hiroshima SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTBHUBANESWAR

Paras Dahiya quelled thechallenge from ShubhamMalhotra 62, 46, 62 in thefi��nal of the ₹��100,000 AITAranking men’s tennis tournament organised by VANSports Club in Balliawas onFriday.

In the semifi��nals, Shubham had fought his waypast Rohan Mehra in threesets, while Paras had outplayed Neeraj Elangovanfor the loss of two games.The results (fi��nal): Paras Da-hiya bt Shubham Malhotra6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Semifi��nals:Shubham Malhotra bt RohanMehra 6-3, 4-6, 7-5; ParasDahiya bt Neeraj Elangovan6-1, 6-1.Doubles (fi��nal): Kavin Masila-mani & Lohith Aksha Bathri-nath bt Shubham Malhtora &Rhythm Malhotra 6-2, 6-2.

Paras Dahiyaclinches title

Special CorrespondentGURUGRAM

Manas Dhamne outplayedtop seed Rushil Khosla andput himself in line for adouble crown as he wonthe doubles title with Arunava Majumder in theboys’ section of the SportsBoulevard Asian under14tennis tournament here onFriday.

Manas led 62, 50 whenRushil retired. In the doubles fi��nal, Manas partneredArunava Majumder to outclass Harsh Fogaat and Samar Malhotra for the lossof four games.

Arunava also made thesingles fi��nal by beatingOmaansh Chaudhary Saharia 63, 75.

In the girls’ section,Shruti Ahlawat overcame atricky start to outclassChandni Srinivasan 63,60. It was Chandni wholed 30 at the start, even asShruti lost confi��dence overthe line calls by the chairumpire, called the refereeSomnath Manna, only tobe told fi��rmly that the umpire was right. Regainingher composure and stepping up her game thereafter, Shruti, hit strong tooverwhelm her opponent. The results: Boys (semifi��nals): Manas Dhamne bt RushilKhosla 6-2, 5-0 (retired); Aru-nava Majumder bt OmaanshChaudhary Saharia 6-3, 7-5.

Doubles (fi��nal): ManasDhamne & Arunava Majumderbt Harsh Fogaat & Samar Mal-hotra 6-2, 6-2.

Girls (semifi��nals): Shruti Ahla-wat bt Chandni Srinivasan 6-3,6-0; Nandini Dixit bt SaumritaVerma 7-5, 6-2.

Doubles (fi��nal): Shruti Ahla-wat & Anannya Bhatia bt Mal-shika Kuramu & Chandni Srini-vasan 2-6, 6-4, [10-7].

Manas in linefor a double

Special CorrespondentNEW DELHI

Associations unite but divisions continue in Bengal table tennis

The two table tennis associations in Bengal — theNorth and West — resolvedto come together and forma unifi��ed body like the oneexisted before 2005 whenthe bifurcation happened.

New entityThe new entity will be

named the Bengal State Table Tennis Association(BSTTA) which was formally announced here in presences of a Table TennisFederation of India (TTFI)observer on Friday.

Despite the amalgamation, there will be two Statechampionships, with the affi��liated units of the erstwhile bodies continuing inthe same order.

“The TTFI, at the behestof the Indian Olympic Association and Ministry ofSports, decided in its lastAGM (March 17, 2019) tohave one State one association.

“The amalgamation process is a result of that,” saidArun Banerjee, the treasurer of TTFI, who oversaw theunifi��cation process.

Two teamsThe process failed to totallyobliterate the divide as itwas decided to have twoteams from Bengal in theNationals with West Bengalcontributing in formationof TeamA (four players),while the North Bengalplayers will representTeamB (four players).

“There will be another 16players from the State whowill be selected purely ontheir current national rankings,” said Banerjee.

The proportionate representation in the newlyformed BSTTA will be in theratio of 7030 in favour ofthe bigger West Bengalunit.

“With Bengal contributing so many players, wehave acted in the best interest of the state and ensuredthat the unifi��cation doesnot curtail the number ofplayers playing the nationals,” said TTFI secretarygeneral M.P. Singh

West and North Bengalunits to mergeDespite the amalgamation, there willbe two State championships

Special CorrespondentKOLKATA

TABLE TENNIS



CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


WEEKEND SPORT



CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


WEEKEND SPORT




DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

A ND-NDE

SHOWCASE

State reorganisationDr. Sheela Bhide will deliver a lecture: Challenges

of States’ Reorganisation: Case of Bifurcation of

Andhra Pradesh. Any Lessons to be Learnt? The

speaker, a retired IAS officer, headed The Sheela

Bhide Committee that oversaw the distribution

of assets and liabilities of government companies

between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Venue: Kamaladevi Complex, IIC

Time: 6 p.m.

LECTURE

PerformanceToday's schedule in the ongoing International

Musical Convention of Spic Macay will feature

the performances of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma

on santoor, Vidushi Prabha Atre on Hindustani

vocal. The lineup also includes Koodiyattam by

Vidushi Kapila Venu and Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar

on Dhrupad.

Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru University

Time: 6 p.m. 9:30 p.m.

MUSIC

Sunday brunchThis summer, Tres, a restaurant and bar, has

launched a botanicalinspired Sunday brunch

menu, infusing the philosophy of farm to table.

Some of the dishes that use botanical

ingredients are: a salad of junipercured Scottish

salmon with red onion, jasperbaked flat bread

with pulled lamb, and more.

Venue: Tres, Block 13, Lodi Colony

Time: 12 noon 4 p.m.

FOOD

ComedyAn Old World Culture will stage the English

comedy play, Animals Out of Paper, tonight and

tomorrow. Directed by Aditee Biswas, the play is

based on a story written by Pulitzeraward

nominated Rajiv Joseph. A quirky comedy about

the collision of mismatched people, it promises

twists and and turns of emotions.

Venue: Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre

Time: 7:30 p.m.

THEATRE

FashionThe International School of Design is hosting a

twoday fashion show under the theme Think

Design Summer Edition 2019. Starting today, the

show offers a wide range of women’s dresses,

fashion accessories and lifestyle products. The

collections have been worked upon by the

creative young minds of the institute.

Venue: Hotel Crown Plaza, Okhla

Time: 5 p.m. onwards

DESIGN

5 EVENTS WORTH YOUR WHILE

In April, the gay dating

and social networking

app Blued, launched

their first online queer

filmmaking contest. In

under two months, they

received over 60 entries

from around the

country, including

Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi,

and Coimbatore. While

Sanyam Sharma, the

marketing director at

Blued had curated the

selections, the final 10

that made the cut were put to a vote. The five with the

most votes are being screened today.

The initial purpose of Queer Flicks was twofold: first, to

find a way to creatively express the many realities, joys,

issues, and concerns of the LGBTQIA community; and

second, to be a platform for filmmakers and creative talent

form the community. With the screening, Sharma adds that

Blued hopes to engage not just with queer allies, but also

with those who’ve had longheld misconceptions about the

many identities within the spectrum.

Some of 10 films have already participated at multiple

festivals. For instance, Khwaaish, by Sumit Pawar, is fresh

off its screening at Kashish, the Mumbai International

Queer Film Festival. In November last year, Sumit, who is a

coordinator at the India HIV/AIDS Alliance in Mumbai, had

also taken the film to the Brixton Reel Film Festival in

London. Khwaaish follows the story of a middleaged gay

man’s quest for love.

Some films try to convey more delicate struggles. For

instance, there’s Praveen Kumar M.’s The Holy Mother, that

tries to go behind the physical and emotional struggles of a

transwoman’s quest to become a mother.

These two films, with their current 2nd and 3rd place on

Blued’s voting leader board, are sure to show at the final

screening. The other films include Outcast by Birth by

Shruti Kulkarni, The Mirror by Yadavendra Singh, and

Inaayat by Naveen Tokas. There will also be a stage

adaptation of Ismat Chugtai’s Lihaaf, directed by Shilpi

Marwah and put up by the Sukhmanch Theatre Group.

Queer Flicks, 10:30 a.m. 5:00 p.m; at the Russian Centre ofScience and Culture; Mandi House

Screened for pride

PURPOSE

VANGMAYI PARAKALA

In January this year,

Lakshay Dhupar, the

CEO of Limewit, a

company that offers

untapped talent a

platform, put three

performers on stage at

a tech fest in NIIT

University, Neemrana.

Lakshay, wasn’t sure

how many people

would come. Delhi

wasn’t familiar with

pomedy, a cross

between poetry and

standup comedy, and

Lakshay himself knew

that while the format had seen success in Mumbai,

audiences differed between the two cities.

“To our utter surprise we were able to gather around 150

people,” he says, with future editions running to housefull.

Each version has picked up fresh talent, while also

featuring a few of those who were hits the previous times.

Now in its sixth edition, Pomedy Eve V6.0 will have

performances by two comedians and one pomedian.

Lakshay is expecting the idea to go mainstream, so that

future editions can be in larger auditoriums, like Siri Fort

and Kamani. In terms of the process, “We first invite

candidates to different open mics, and from there we make

a choice,” says Lakshay.

Of the three performers, Mohit Arora (a comedian) and

Badel Sharma (a pomedian) have performed at previous

versions of Pomedy, while it’s a first for Amandeep (a

comedian). For Mohit, who has also seen success online, it’s

just the beginning. Earlier this year, a video he put out on

YouTube, crossed over a lakh views (it now has 3 lakh+

views). He told his family of his decision to pursue comedy

fulltime. Luckily, they were supportive. He practices in

front of a mirror and enjoys being on stage more than the

actual material creation.

Badel Sharma, a poet and comedian has integrating the

two from school, and decided to go fulltime with it after

he finished his postgrad degree in MBA from Jamia Millia

Islamia University. For him, poets and comedians have lots

of things in common, the most important, being sensibility.

At Akshara Theatre, Baba Kharak Singh Marg; ₹��199 per head;Saturday, June 8th, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.; tickets at BookMyShow andeventshigh.com

Poetry in comedy

Pomedy brings together standup comedy and poetry,

to off��er a comment on society, by eliciting both laughs

and eff��ecting poignant moments

PEOPLE

SAKSHAM BAKSHI

For a listing or to be featured here, email us [email protected]

He has been shooting an ad fi��lmsince daybreak in Delhi’s blistering heat, but Robert Richardsonlooks fresh in formals as he stepsin for his late evening interview.As he poses for the camera withhis dramatic white mane, thethreetime Academy Awardwinning cinematographer is anythingbut exhausted.

“It’s been a little hot for me,” headmits with a laugh. “The sun rises very rapidly this time of theyear, which makes it a little morecomplicated to shoot a good looking face if you are trying to utilisegood light,” says Richardson,known for his long collaborationswith visionary directors MartinScorsese, Quentin Tarantino andOliver Stone.

In fact, the veteran has been inthe news for the Cannes Film Festival’s biggest premiere this year,Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon aTime in Hollywood. However, he’scurrently director of photographyfor the global ad campaign of vodka brand, Absolut. Titled Colourless, it is set to release later thismonth, and addresses racism.

Light artHis sharp, lush frames with astutebacklighting and a widescreen aspect ratio have lent remarkabledrama to fi��lms. Ironically for a cinematographer, Richardson’s emphasis over a fourdecade careerhas been on doing ‘good fi��lms’ over just ‘good looking fi��lms’. To thatend, his style can be fl��uid and unconventional. “I’m a chameleonwhen I work with diff��erent directors because if a certain directordoesn’t want to use a certain lighting style, and wants to work withmore natural light, I go with it. Forexample, with Matthew Heineman, for A Private War (2018),there was no lightning at all. Evenwith Baltasar Kormákur’s Adrift

(2018), shot in Fiji, I was walkingaway from the lighting.”

Colour and TarantinoHaving done six feature fi��lms withTarantino — from Kill Bill (1 and 2)to Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight — he says his approach tofi��lming them would change in theway the director introduced eachfi��lm to him. “He will say: ‘You’re going to do a western’, or ‘you are going to do a martial arts movie’, or‘you’re going to do a war fi��lm’, or‘you’re going to do a period fi��lm in1969’. Then we talk about the wayQuentin wants to shoot the fi��lm.And he talks about the colour.”

Getting to the American fi��lmmaker’s most recent Once Upon aTime in Hollywood, a nostalgiasoaked period piece starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, heexplains, “It’s a brilliant fi��lmwhich is very rich in colour, with a

little more grain and grittiness toit. I pushed the colour higher, I litmore in some places than I liked,so the look is in the manner of a‘60s or ‘70s television show.” Healso recalls the challenges of colour when working with 65mmlenses for Tarantino’s The HatefulEight (2015). “It was complicatedbecause I had to learn the lensesand their attributes, how to turn adefect into a positive, and takecare of the sharpness, the colour.”

Known to be outspoken, Richardson has often discussed hisrelationship with the big trio:Stone, Scorsese and Tarantino. Infact, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter a few years ago,he talked about the time when hetook up a Scorsese fi��lm because afi��lm by Stone was getting delayed.The latter saw it as a major betrayal. “Working with a director islike having a lover. Each one re

quires something unique, with adiff��erent temperament andmood,” he says. This is the sameman who exited the credits ofBrad Pitt starrer, World War Z,when the studio decided to release the fi��lm in 3D.

For the love of KaliMaking the best of his fl��eeting visit to India, Richardson’s moodseems upbeat. His connection tothe country goes back many decades, he says, when he fi��rstcame here on his honeymoon(his fi��rst wife was born in Varanasi). Over the years, the spiritualbug bit, and now he even has analtar at home, with idols of Kaliand Shiva.

“I have been to India for numerous commercials, and to shoot thefi��lm Eat Pray Love. I love India.Each time I come back, Indiaopens up to me,” he concludes.

Freeze frame (Clockwise from left) RobertRichardson, stills from Django Unchained, KillBill and The Hateful Eight‘A director is

LIKE A LOVER’Cinematographer Robert Richardson on working

with three of the industry’s biggest fi��lmmakers andthe visual language in Once Upon a Time in

Hollywood

Make or breakBehind Richardson’s most

challenging scenes

Recreating the assassination of JohnF Kennedy for Oliver Stone’s

political thriller JFK (1991) was verytough as we shot with several

cameras in diff��erent formats at thesame time.

The fi��nal battle sequence in Stone’sPlatoon (1986) was challenging. Iwas very inexperienced. Light was

used in bursts, specifi��cally andsparingly for the sequence.

Acing the concert sequences inStone’s biographical drama The

Doors (1991) was tough. They weremagnifi��cently large and very real.

Creating a world of richly magical,goldenlit frames in Scorsese’s

historical adventure drama Hugo(2011) wasn’t easy because it took a

lot to get to that space.

Neha Bhatt

Long before chefs became celebrities, there was Imtiaz Qureshi. Those were the dayswhen what we know as gourmet food was restricted to afew top restaurants in the city.Dum Pukht, which celebratedthe many splendours ofAwadhi food, was one suchrestaurant at the ITC Maurya.And Chef Qureshi was theman who wielded the magickarchi there.

So, I was very happy toknow that the chef ’s son Ahsan Ali Qureshi had followedin his father’s footsteps. Lastweek, I had a taste of some ofthe dishes prepared by Ahsan, and was most impressed.

I am talking about a newdelivery outlet called the Biryani Central. It has been setup by Chef Ahsan and Ishita

Sudha Yashvi, who has a richbackground in marketing.They run a company calledCross Border Kitchens and Biryani Central from its outlet inVasant Kunj. (75, 9, Kishangarh Village, Vasant Kunj; thebiryanicentral.com,9873333047/8 for orders).Right now they deliver only in

south Delhi, but will soon extend to Gurugram. They alsocater and accept bulk orders.

I got a sampler, and thoroughly enjoyed the AwadhiMurgh biryani (₹��275), a surprisingly light preparation oflonggrained basmati ricewith nicely succulent piecesof chicken resting in it. The

fl��avours of the chicken andthe rice — enhanced by thefragrance of a natural attar —had mixed well together, andI had a very nice meal indeedof the biryani and an extremely creamy raita, with some salan on the side.

The galauti kababs (₹��495)were rather good, too. The ka

babs had been marinatedwith raw papaya, and the outcome was a soft, mincedmeatkabab, fl��avoured with just theright mix of spices. I had thatwith some taftan (₹��65), a tasty, puff��pastry kind of bread,and left the gheeladen sheermal (₹��75) for the Dal bukhari(₹��325). The urad dal, slow

cooked with some tomato puree, butter and cream, wassuperb. I think it outdid ITCMaurya’s Bukhara dal.

What didn’t work for mewas the Hyderabadi nihari(₹��545). I found the goat meatand trotters dish a bit toobland. But the malai phirnee(₹��150) was out of this world —granular rice mixed with creamy and thickened milk,topped with a generous helping of chopped nuts.

The menu is rather interesting. It includes Kathal burrahs ( jackfruit marinated inhung curd, ₹��395), Bombaymasala biryani (with plums,deepfried potatoes, ₹��245), lalmirch ka aloo (potatoesspiced with red chillies, ₹��295)and keema kaleji (mincedmeat slowcooked with liverand freshly ground spices,₹��495). It also has haleem, amix of grains and meat, garnished with fried onions,mint and lemon (₹��650).

Though Eid is over, there isalways time and a place in thestomach for the celebration ofbiryani and its allies.

The writer is a seasoned food critic

FOOD SPOT

After-Id celebrationsBiryani Central takes heritage and delivers it at your doorstep

rahul verma

Dum maro dum (left toright) Bombay paya biryani,biryani combo, dalbukhari * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT




THE HINDU DELHI


SHOWCASE

When Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby won an Oscar for Best ProductionDesign in 2014, the opulent chandeliers in Tom Buchanan’s palatial EastEgg house were one of the things everyone remembers. The opulent crystalcreations were custommade to fi��t theaesthetic of the time, by the artistesand engineers at Swarovski’s lightingdivision at Plattsburgh, New York, (afourhour drive from where the movieis set).

These handcrafted chandeliers aregetting a modern makeover as thecompany sets its sights on being futureready, says Roger Carthew, SeniorVice President of Swarovski’s Global

Lighting Business.India is a prioritymarket, he states.

“There is a strong, growing economy, as well as the connection withcrystals, and with Swarovski as abrand. So it was really about fi��ndingthe right partners,” he says, of theirlaunch in Chennai’s Drapes & Dreams.While traditional styles are a perennialfavourite, he says there is a markedmove towards contemporary products, with cleaner lines, a minimalistaesthetic and LED technology.

Future readyEven as architecture, home décortrends and a demand for multifunctional lighting impact their work, thebrand has stepped into the home auto

mation space with a line called Infi��niteAura, launched last year. “We werelooking for a product that reimaginedwhat chandeliers could look like in fi��veyears,” he says, adding that it wascreated in consultation with San Franciscobased design fi��rm, Ideo.

The multifunctional pieces are controlled by a standalone app. “It has theability to be a functional light whenyour kids are doing their homework,and when you’re hosting dinner, it canset the ambience, and be a discussionpiece,” he says. The same technologywas used by Marjan van Obel in herwinning entry for the Swarovski Designers of the Future Prize, which wasshowcased at the Salon del Mobile inMilan last month. It will also be

brought to the Indian market later thisyear, during the festive season.

While he doesn’t share exact fi��gures, Carthew says it is “the biggestinvestment we’ve ever made in product development for lighting”. It is also a technology that can be incorporated into their more traditionalchandeliers (from approximately ₹��1.38lakh for a sconce to ₹��3.46 lakh for alarge pendant). Currently, they are inthe process of researching what buyerswould want from a tech point of view.“Sometimes, they just want it to bebeautiful to look at,” he says.

Handmade historyWhat started in 1966 with the Sputnikchandelier, which still graces the Me

tropolitan Opera House in New YorkCity, now has operations spanningNorth America, Europe and Asia.“We’ve evolved into two verticals:consumerdriven retail, and a bespoke chandelier business (see box).

In 2007, we also acquired Schonbek (known for their handcraftedcrystal chandeliers since 1870), fortheir handmade tradition,” he says.They are still a small percentage of thedecorative lighting segment, but “weare keen on growing”, Carthew says.

Swarovski Lighting, MG Road,Ghitorni. Chandeliers upwards of

₹��1.25 lakh; ceiling lights from₹��79,000. Schonbek’s bespoke range

starts from ₹��1.25 lakh

Changing up the

chandelier

Home automationmeets handmade

tradition inSwarovski’s evolving

collection of lights

Thecollaborators

As part of their bespokerange, Swarovski alsocustomises their retailoff��erings. “We are seeingless formal dining areas andmore open plan, casual livingspaces. So we’re movingaway from designing for bigentryway or foyerchandeliers, and are lookingat ceiling pendant pieces,”explains Carthew. At the same time, they workon large, complexinstallations, too,conceptualised by theirdesign and engineeringteam. Currently, this includesprojects in Mumbai withMukesh Ambani. They alsowork with architects likeSteve Leung, who recentlycreated an installation called‘Shades in Ascent,’ whichilluminated the entrance ofArt Central in Hong Kong.The brand has always beenopen to working withartistes across genres, and itis no diff��erent with theirlighting segment. Under theCrystal Palace programme,they’ve collaborated withmore than 60 designers over15 years, including ZahaHadid, Yves Behar and TomDixon. “We understand thatcollaborating with local,wellknown designers isimportant to createexcitement. It hastraditionally been veryEuropeancentric, but we arein talks with a Chinesedesigner for a 2020collection. While nothing hasbeen confi��rmed in India, wedefi��nitely have plans for it inthe near future,” he assures.

Spot the Schonbek

How many of these have you seen on thebig screen?

DIE ANOTHER DAY(2002)This 16tiered Jubileechandelier, seen in theJames Bond movie,features 3,949 crystalsand 1,062 glass rods.

OCEANS 13(2007)

Cascade byVincent VanDuysen is afi��vemetre

tall piecemade up of

strings ofcrystal

combinedwith LEDs.

THE GREAT GATSBY(2013)Nine chandeliers can befound in the home ofTom and Daisy Buchanan,including this opulentrepresentation of the1920s.

Susanna Myrtle Lazarus



LIFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU


Every day, more than 1 million new cases of curablesexually transmitted infections (STIs) are detected inpeople aged 1549 years,according to latest data released by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO). Thisamounts to more than 376million new cases annuallyof four infections — chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis and syphilis.

Dr. Peter Salama, executive director, UniversalHealth Coverage, WHO,elaborated “We are seeinga concerning lack of progress in stopping thespread of sexually transmitted infections worldwide. This is a wakeup callfor a concerted eff��ort to ensure everyone, everywhere, can access the servicesthey need to prevent andtreat these debilitatingdiseases.”

Published online by thebulletin of the WHO, the research shows that, amongmen and women aged 1549 years, there were 127million new cases of chla

mydia in 2016; 87 millioncases of gonorrhoea; 6.3million cases of syphilis;and 156 million cases oftrichomoniasis.

These STIs have a profound impact on the healthof adults and childrenworldwide.

Harmful impactIf untreated, they can leadto serious and chronichealth eff��ects that includeneurological and cardiovascular disease, infertility,ectopic pregnancy, stillbirths, and increased riskof HIV. They are also associated with signifi��cant levels of stigma and domestic violence.

Syphilis alone caused anestimated 2,00,000 stillbirths and newborn deathsin 2016, making it one ofthe leading causes of infantmortality globally, WHOsaid. Timely and aff��ordabletesting and treatment arecrucial for reducing theburden of STIs globally,alongside eff��orts to encourage people who are sexually active to get screened forSTIs.

‘1 mn new cases of STIsdetected daily globally’WHO says it is a wakeup call for action


New Delhi

U.S. space agency NASA saidon Friday that it would openup the International SpaceStation to business venturesincluding space tourism —with stays priced at $35,000a night — as it seeks to fi��nancially disengage from the orbiting research lab.

“NASA is opening the International Space Station tocommercial opportunitiesand marketing these oppor

tunities as we’ve never donebefore,” NASA chief fi��nancialoffi��cer Jeff�� DeWit said in NewYork. There will be up to twoshort private astronaut missions per year, said RobynGatens, deputy director ofthe ISS. The missions will befor stays of up to 30 days. Asmany as a dozen private astronauts could visit the ISSper year, NASA said.

These travellers would beferried to the orbiter exclusively by the two companies

currently developing transport vehicles for NASA: SpaceX, with its Crew Dragoncapsule, and Boeing, whichis building one called Starliner. These companies wouldchoose the clients and billfor the trip to the ISS: around$58 million for a round tripticket.

That is the average ratethe companies will bill NASAfor taking the space adventurers up to the ISS. The tourists will have to pay NASA

for their stay in space, forfood, water and use of thelife support system on theorbiter. That will run about$35,000 per night.

The space station doesnot belong to NASA. It wasbuilt along with Russia starting in 1998, and other countries participate in the mission and send astronauts.But the U.S. has paid for andcontrols most of the modules that make up theorbiter.

Space station will be open to tourists from next yearA night’s stay is priced at $35,000 and a round trip ticket costs $58 million

Futuristic vacation: NASA chief fi��nancial offi��cer Jeff�� DeWit andISS deputy director Robyn Gatens making the announcementin New York on Friday. * AFP


New York Aerospace companies in theU.S. have already made reservations for the space tourism missions announcedby NASA on Friday.

Bigelow Aerospace ofNorth Las Vegas, Nevada,has reserved four launches.The company will use SpaceX, the rocket companyrun by Elon Musk, to takeprivate astronauts. Eachfl��ight would have four seats.

Axiom Space of Houston

is also arranging fl��ights andhopes to fl��y tourists nextyear.

In the 2000s, seven private citizens did visit thespace station, but thosetrips were arranged throughthe Russians, which operatehalf of the station. At thetime, NASA said it was notinterested in such ventures.

NASA also announcedthat it will be calling for proposals for adding a commercial module to the space station this month. NY TIMES

U.S. fi��rms make bookingsfor private missionsKenneth Chang



Jagan to have 5 Deputy CMs, to form new Cabinet midterm

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