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SUNDAYmillenniumpostVOL. 3, ISSUE 95 | Sunday, 9 April, 2017 | Kolkata | Pages 16 | Rs 3.00PUBLISHED FROM DELHI & KOLKATA

RNI NO.: WBENG/2015/65962

NO HALF TRUTHS

CITY PAGE 3ARMED MEN STORM INTO GOLD LOAN OFFICE, SHOOT WOMAN

INTERNATIONAL PAGE 6SUSPECT DEVICE FOUND IN STOCKHOLM ATTACK TRUCK

postpostpostNO HALF TRUTHS

postpostpostpostNO HALF TRUTHS

postFILM PAGE 16 I AM NOW CONFIDENT OF TAKING UP CHALLENGES: SONAKSHI

GAUTAM LAHIRI

NEW DELHI: A little over forty-�ve years a�er the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini’s comprehen-sive victory over the Pakistan Army in the 1971 war, Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday made a momentous pitch to take India’s friendship with our eastern neigh-bour, Bangladesh, to a historic high.

In the august presence of Ban-gladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi on Satur-day, our two countries signed 22 pacts in key sectors including defence and civil nuclear coop-eration and Modi conveyed the Indian government’s commitment for an “early solution” to the long-pending Teesta waters sharing agreement.

Modi , who held wide-rang-ing talks with Sheikh Hasina, also announced a new concessional Line of Credit (LoC) of $4.5 bil-lion for Bangladesh and an addi-tional assistance of $500 million to help its military procurement. “We in India rejoice in our ties with Bangladesh, ties that have been forged in blood and genera-tions of kinship, ties that seek a

better and secure future for our people,” Modi said at a joint media event with Hasina.

�e two countries also agreed to confront the challenges of ter-rorism with deeper security and defence cooperation with Modi terming the spread of radicalism a “grave threat”, not only to the

two countries but to the entire region. On her part, Hasina, on a visit here a�er seven years, said that her country will continue its zero-tolerance policy towards ter-ror and promised to take all steps to ensure peace and security along Indo-Bangla border.

Modi also thanked Banerjee

for her extraordinary e�orts in helping the Union Government to boost Indo-Bangladeshi rela-tions. “I am very happy that the Chief Minister of West Bengal is my honoured guest today. I know that her feelings for Bangladesh are as warm as my own. I assure you and the people of Bangladesh

of our commitment and continu-ing e�orts,” he said.

Modi also complimented Hasina for her government’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy towards terrorism and said “it is an inspi-ration for all of us.” A new bus and train service were also launched between Kolkata and Khulna in

Bangladesh. “India has always stood for the prosperity of Ban-gladesh and its people. We are a long-standing and trusted devel-opment partner of Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh are also determined that the fruits of our cooperation must bene�t our peo-ple,” said Modi.

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Quick News44

In today’s paper

...CITY

STATE TO TAKE OVER ROADS FROM ZILLA PARISHADS 3

NATION

21 UP SUGAR MILLS’ SALE TO BE PROBED 4

BUSINESS

‘KINGFISHER VILLA’ SOLD FOR `73 CR 5

INTERNATIONAL

THREE STRONG QUAKES ROCK PHILIPPINES 6

SPORT

EAST BENGAL-MOHUN BAGAN DERBY TODAY 7

INDIA FLOATS $4.5-BN LOC FOR BANGLA, INKS 22 ECONOMIC PACTS, SAYS DHAKA ‘AN INSPIRATION FOR ALL OF US’ IN TERROR WAR

Modi, Mamata unite to catapult Indo-Bangla ties to historic high

‘India’s number of MPs low compared to our population’

Hold political parties accountable for

breaking poll vows: CJI

In touch with USA over Indian’s murder in Washington: Swaraj

TV anchor breaks news of husband’s death!

200 pharma firms break Govt price caps Did state BJP President Dilip Ghosh lie about his academic credentials? DHIRENDRA KUMAR

NEW DELHI: �e government’s every move to reduce the prices of life-saving drugs has been blatantly foiled by pro�t-making major pharmaceutical companies. �e startling fact about pharma majors violating price ceiling order has come to the notice of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) during a sur-vey conducted by the drug price regulator.

In the survey, it has come to the notice of NPPA that over 200 drug majors have violated its noti�cation on ceiling prices of various medicines used for treating life taking diseases such as cancer, renal infec-tion, tetanus, fungal infections, etc. �e NPPA, through the �ndings of the sur-vey, learnt that pharma majors are over-charging 300 times more for drugs from noti�ed prices.

�e survey, which was conducted by analysing market data of prices of all noti-�ed drugs, found that a total of 613 noti�ed drugs were being not sold at �xed prices. �e companies, which were found selling

all noti�ed life-saving drugs at exorbitant prices, include Abbott Healthcare, Alkem Laboratories, Bharat Serums, Cipla, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, P�zer, Sun Phar-maceuticals, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Lupin Ltd, Zydus Cadila, Wockhardt, Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Sano� India, etc.

Taking swi� action against all errant

violators, the NPPA has sent preliminary notices and asked them to submit neces-sary documents in support of the com-pliance. According to an NPPA o�cial, a�er scrutinising the documents, the reg-ulator would take action against violators and collect the overcharged amount from them. Surprisingly, a drug called Tetglob

1000 IU injection, which is used to prevent tetanus, was found to be sold at Rs 3,289, which is 300 times more than its �xed price that is just Rs 11. �e drug manufacturer --- Bharat Serums – �outed the NPPA order and overcharged Rs 3,277 more from the patients. During the survey, it was found that the Abbott Healthcare manu-factured Ambisome 50 mg injection was being sold at Rs 11,500, which is Rs 6,712 more than the noti�ed price as the medi-cine, which is used for treating variety of serious fungal infections, was supposed to be sold at Rs 4,788 only.

Similarly, Abbott’s Imumax 300 mg injection, which is used for treating infec-tions a�er chemotherapy, was found to be sold at Rs 2,443 against the price �xed for selling it at Rs 1,336. �e company over-charged Rs 1,107 more from patients for one vial of the injection.

Dr Reddy’s manufactured key drug for treating chronic cancer — Reditux RA 500 mg — was found to be sold at Rs 71,095 in retail market, which is Rs 34,149 more than the price �xed by the NPPA.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Former BJP West Bengal State Committee member Ashok Sarkar has said that he will write to Speaker Biman Bando-padhyay to conduct a probe into the edu-cational quali�cation of state party unit president and MLA Dilip Ghosh. Ghosh had declared in an a�davit before the Assembly elections that he had studied at Jhargram Polytechnic.

However, later it was found that the name of the educational institution was Iswarch-andra Vidyasagar Polytechnic. Sarkar said that the polytechnic had stated in reply to queries raised by him in an RTI regard-ing Ghosh’s educational quali�cation that Ghosh did not study there between 1975 and 1990. Also, it could not con�rm his resi-dential address or his father’s name as stated in the a�davit. Sarkar said he would write to the Election Commission of India and the State Election Commission and request them to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

“How could an MLA give a false decla-ration about his educational quali�cation in an a�davit,” questioned Sarkar, who was expelled from the party two months ago for raising questions on the way Ghosh was functioning.

He had alleged that Ghosh had deliber-ately cornered the BJP old guard and had gi�ed key posts to those who had recently crossed over to the party from the CPI(M). When contacted, Ghosh refused to com-ment on the matter.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Now the push for strong electoral reforms has come from our Constitutional Head of State — Presi-dent Pranab Mukherjee. Advocating the need for electoral reforms to strengthen the democratic process, Mukherjee said, “It is time to look at legal provisions for increasing the number of parliamen-tary seats.”

Mukherjee also said that in the existing Indian parliamentary system, though political parties with less num-bers of seats enjoy equal rights and authority with the party in power, they have “no responsibility”. He said that it is necessary to undertake a “dispas-sionate analysis of the way in which our electoral process is functioning with a view to address the shortcomings in the system”.

“�e system of parliamentary gov-ernance is such that if somebody gets 51 (majority) out of 100, 51 has all the rights and authority and in our electoral process, less than 51 have all the rights and authorities but no responsibility.”

Elaborating the need for electoral reforms, the president said, “Freeze on the population �gure was imposed in 1976 which has been extended till 2026 by an Act in 2001 due to which Par-liament today represents the �gure of 1971 census whereas same has increased manifold.”

“�e Constitution (42nd Amend-ment) Act 1976 imposed a freeze on the population �gure for readjustment at the 1971 census and has been extended by the Constitution (Eighty-fourth

Amendment) Act 2001 till 2026. As a result the House of the People today represents the population �gure of 1971 census whereas our population has increased manifold in the recent decades,” he said while speaking at a seminar on economic reforms with ref-erence to electoral issues.

�e president said, “�is gives rise to an anomalous situation wherein today, India has over 800 million voters and 543 Lok Sabha constituencies represent 1.28 billion people. To give true expres-sion to the will of the people, it is time that we look at the legal provisions on the delimitation of the Parliamentary constituencies with a view to increase their number.” “If Great Britain can have more than 600 Parliamentary constitu-encies, why can’t India, with a much higher population, have more number of seats?” the President said.

NEW DELHI: India has received a report on the shootout incident resulting in the death of our national in the USA’s Washington state and is coordinating with the investigative agencies, Exter-nal A�airs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday. �e Minister also said that the Indian Consulate in San Fran-cisco is helping the family of 26-year-old Vikram Jaryal, who was shot dead allegedly by two masked armed robbers.

“I have received a report on the shootout incident resulting in the tragic death of Indian national Vikram Jaryal in Washington State USA,” Swaraj tweeted. “�e victim was only

26 years old and had reached US only 25 days back. He was working at the gas station of a family friend,” she said in a series of tweets.

Jaryal, who worked as a clerk at AM-PM Gas Station

in Yakima city, was behind the counter when the incident happened. His family had on Friday sought Swaraj’s help to bring his body back. “On 6 April two miscreants entered the shop at 1.30 am. �ey snatched cash from victim and shot on his chest. �is resulted in his death,” Swaraj said.

“We are coordinating with the investigative agencies. �ey have got the CCTV footage and are in the process of appre-hending the culprits,” she said.

“Our consulate in San Francisco is helping the family and following this up with the Police authorities,” she added. Jaryal hailed from Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. PTI

NEW DELHI: An anchor of a private TV chan-nel in Chhattisgarh faced the heart-rendering situation of reading out the ‘breaking news’ of the death of her husband in a road accident on Saturday morning. Surpreet Kaur was anchor-ing the morning news of Chhattisgarh’s private IBC-24 channel when a reporter phoned in with details of a fatal accident.

�e reporter said three of the �ve people travelling in a Renault Duster were killed at Pithara in Mahasamund district earlier. Kaur’s husband Harsad Kawade was expected to travel along the same route in a Duster and that was enough for her to instant realise it could be her husband. However, she managed to hold herself together during the newscast and broke down

only a�er walking out of the studio, the report says. Kaur has been working as a news anchor with IBC 24 for the past 9 years, and married Harsad Kawade only a year ago.

NEW DELHI: Electoral promises routinely remain unful�lled and manifestos turn out to be mere pieces of paper, for which political par-ties must be held accountable, Chief Justice of India J S Khe-har said on Saturday. “Nowa-days manifestos have become a mere piece of paper, for this political parties have to be made accountable,” the CJI said at a seminar titled ‘Eco-nomic Reforms with Refer-ence to Electoral issues’.

�e CJI, speaking in the presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, said political par-ties give “brazen” excuses like lack of consensus amongst their members to justify non- ful�lment of their poll prom-ises. He said that manifestos remain pieces of paper due to short term memory of citizens but political parties must be held accountable. On the man-ifestos released by parties dur-ing the 2014 polls, the CJI said none of them indicated any link between electoral reforms and Constitutional goal of economic-social justice to the marginalised section. PTI

YET ANOTHER HATE CRIME

BANGABANDHU INDIA » India gives Bangladesh $500 million for military procurements » Modi lauds Mamata for ‘extraordinary efforts’ » PM Modi vows early agreement on Teesta water sharing deal » Bus & train services trial run launched between Kolkata and Khulna » Pact to open new border haats for trade

Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina, PM Narendra Modi and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee inaugurate by remote control rail link and bus services from Kolkata to Khulna (Bangladesh), in New Delhi on Saturday Pic/Naveen Sharma

There is one thought in South Asia which breeds, inspires and encourages terrorism. The thought whose priority is not humanity, but extremism and terrorism

PM Modi in oblique reference to Pakistan

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee met Bangladesh President Sheikh Hasina on Saturday with a novel answer to the Teesta waters question. The Teesta already has an acute dryness problem. So, it would be better for New Delhi and Dhaka to stop harping on the Teesta and, instead, carry out a study of how to utilise the waters of some other rivers like the Torsa, which are better endowed with water. “I find our neighbour Bangladeshis’ water scarcity woes very painful. I urgently want a solution to this misery,” said Banerjee.

Mamata meets Hasina, gives Teesta alternative

Medicine Govt Ceiling Company Price Overcharge Tetglob 1000 IU injection `11 `3,289 `3,278Ambisome 50 mg injection `4,788 `11,500 `6,712Glioz 250 mg tablet pack `18,647 `21,537 `2890Reditux RA 500 mg `36,946 `71,095 `34,149Imumax 300 mg injection `1,336 `2,443 `1,107Altanib 400 mg `2,239 `3,110 `871Most of the drugs found to be sold at exorbitant prices are used for treating life taking diseases such as cancer, brain tumor, tetanus, fungal infections, renal disorders

BJP REBEL’S RTI PLEA

US Google ‘discriminates against, underpays women’

UP police stop church event after CM Adityanath’s men cry ‘conversion’

NEW YORK: �e US Department of Labour (DoL) has accused Google of discriminating against its female employees by paying them less than their male counterparts.

According to a report in the Guardian on Saturday, �e DoL, which is investigating the case, claims to have evidence of “systemic com-pensation disparities”. �e allegations surface days a�er Google announced on Equal Pay Day that it had “closed the gender pay gap globally”.

“Let’s make every day #EqualPayDay. All employers can take steps to eliminate the gen-der and race pay gaps, today,” @Google tweeted earlier this week.

�e government has collected informa-tion that points towards the violation of fed-eral employment laws by Google, the DoL said.

“We found systemic compensation dispar-ities against women pretty much across the entire workforce,” the report quoted Janette Wipper, a DoL regional director, testifying in a San Francisco court, as saying. See PG5

MAHARAJGANJ: Police stopped a church event attended by more than 150 people, includ-ing 10 American tourists, here a�er the right-wing Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) alleged that religious conversion was being carried out.

�e event was stopped a�er the youth bri-gade, set up in 2002 by Yogi Adityanath, now the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, �led a com-plaint against Yohannan Adam, the pastor of the church, accusing him of converting Hindus to Christianity, a charge the pastor denied.

SHO, Dathauli, Anand Kumar Gupta said no prior permission was taken for the meeting, which was held ahead of Good Friday. See PG4

RBI GOVERNOR URJIT PATEL

�ere is scope for lending rates to come down further

2|

mp

Weekend BreakKOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017 | millenniumpost

- Bob Marley

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.

LAHARI BASU

The man known for his excep-tional Tabla skills is also one of the pioneers of Neo-classical fusion. Bickram Ghosh – a mas-

ter weaver of musical tales has recently released ‘Maya’ on Sony Music that cel-ebrates Ravi Shankar and his legacy of peace through music. Using Hindu phi-losophy’s concept of Maya – the irresist-ible veil behind which the world conceals the real character of spiritual reality, it is an ode to the beauty of this illusion.

You are known for your experiments with music and you also dabble in a vast repertoire of musical genres, from classi-cal, rock, new-age, fusion to �lm music. Which is your favourite genre among them and why?

It’s di�cult to talk about a favourite genre. �e fact that one has dabbled in diverse genres shows that there is a desired quotient for each genre. If you ask me which is my core quotient, then that is classical music, since I started my career as a classical Tabla player. �en I shi�ed to fusion in the early 2000s, and more recently �lm composer which is also becoming broader every day. All the genres are done simultaneously, I’m involved in all three right now. I’m happy that I have the oppor-tunity to travel these worlds.

What other instruments are you com-fortable playing?

Tabla is my main instrument. �at is what I play best and am known for. I’m currently endorsing a German percus-sion company Mienl Percussion. I consider myself mainly a table player but I also play the Cajon, and Kanjira among some other percussion instruments. I’m also known

for my body drumming. I could dabble in pretty much any percussion instruments that I’m given.

What are your views on the use of old songs as covers in the current music industry?

Actually, I’m not a big fan of those. I do like the rendition in some of them but I don’t like the concept of an old song being used in remakes. It happened a lot in the ’90s and 2000s also, but I don’t feel very great about that. I’m sure that compos-ers can create great melodies even today. I don’t understand the idea of having to rehash the melodies of the past. But of course, it says a lot about the melodies of the past. �e songs are so strong and won-derful that even today when one listens to those songs they are in�uenced by them. �ere are some radio channels which are dedicated to the songs of the ’60s and ’70s, they play only old songs.

It means that the melodies which were created at that era are so strong and they still sustain. In this era, there are of course composers who could deliver beautiful melodies, I don’t understand why they have to depend on the older songs. It’s a fact that not many great melodies are hap-pening today. �e number of great melo-dies happening now is far outnumbered by what happened back in the ’60s and ’70s. We should move away from rehashing and revamping old melodies, and focus more on creating new songs.

Any memorable incidents with Pt Ravi Shankar?

�e �rst that comes to mind is the time when I played my �rst concert with him. I had gone to Brussels, Belgium to play at a concert where Raviji heard me for the �rst time. �at very day, past mid-

night he called me and said, “I have heard some good Tabla a�er a long time” and he invited me to play with him at one of the greatest auditoriums there. We per-formed the next day. It was like magic, and also one of the moments in life when you pinch yourself to wonder whether it’s actually true. �at’s how it started, and then we played for the next 11 years. �ere were some great fun moments with him as he could talk about anything under the sun. �at’s one of the things I enjoyed the most about him.

Please tell us a little about your new album ‘Maya’.

‘Maya’ is a dedication to Raviji. I’ve been in�uenced by him on so many levels – by his sitar, his compositional work, that hearing all his work and being with him for

so many years, I wanted to do an album which showcased what I have acquired from him as a composer.

Why did you name the album ‘Maya’?I named it ‘Maya’ because I believe in

the fact that this world is a world of ‘maya’. What we see is an illusion and that there is much more behind it. All the numbers on the album address various aspects of life, relations, youth, ageing – which together constitute ‘Maya’. �e sound is based on classical music, my forte, but it’s a new age sound. �e album features several Grammy winners and celebrated artists from around the globe. It’s a magnum opus projects dedicated to Raviji, and I believe that this is one of my best albums. It’s my personal favourite. Whoever has heard it has loved the meditativeness in the project.

‘Maya’ is meditating on life.How was the experience working with Sonu Nigam in ‘Jal’?

Since Jal, we have worked on several other projects. We are great friends and meet o�en. Girish Malik, (director of Jal) gave us an idea of what he wanted, then Sonu bhai and I composed the highly diverse songs, (from Indian classical to an English song). Sonu and I have a great chemistry. We believe in similar philos-ophies in life. �e sound that we cre-ate together, as a duo is called ‘Muddy Electronica’.

Could you share some information about your upcoming projects?

�ere’s a whole bunch of them com-ing up. As a Tabla player I’m doing a lot of shows, a major one would be in Vara-

nasi this month. On the album front, I’ll be doing an album titled ‘Massive percus-sion jam’ and there’s a project with Sonu on retro songs. I also have a collaboration with Spanish singer María del Mar Fernández, which we’ll release very soon.

I’m currently composing for two Hindi �lms – Band of Maharajas, (also acting in it), and a �lm of Harsh Chhaya. In Bengal, I’m composing for Durga Sohay, and two �lms by Suman Ghosh – ‘Mi Amor’ and an untitled venture. �ere are too many things happening right now, and I’m actually enjoying this phase.

I believe ‘Maya’is one of my best

works: Bickram GhoshThe Tabla maestro shares his anecdotes on Pt Ravi Shankar, his opinion on the use of old songs in recent Bollywood films,

and his experience of working with Sonu Nigam

Bickram Ghosh with Pt Ravi Shankar

Bickram Ghosh with Sonu Nigam

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Movies this week

MIRZA JUULIET

GHOST IN THE SHELL

BLUE MOUNTAINS

MUKTI BHAWANNAAM SHABANA 

POORNA

PVR - Avani Riverside Mall, Shibpur 12:40PM

BAAHUBALI - THE BEGINNING 

Ajanta Cinema Hall - Behala12:00PM 2:50PM 5:00PM 8:05PM

LAALI KI SHAADI MEIN LAADDOO DEEWANA

 PVR - Diamond Plaza Mall, Jessore Road 9:30AM 5:15PM 10:35PM

LAALI KI SHAADI MEIN LAADDOO DEEWANA

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- Mamata Banerjee on Facebook

Heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all on the occasion of introduction of Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka bus service, Kolkata-Khulna rail service and Radhikapur-Birol rail link

| 3millennium post | KOLKATA |SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017

CityArmed men storm

into gold loan office, shoot woman

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: A woman was shot at by some miscreants who stormed into a gold loan �nan-cial institution and looted gold ornaments at gunpoint.

�e incident took place at Khardah in North 24 Parga-nas at around 9.10 am on Sat-urday. �e incident triggered tension in the area. Police said that the victim Sarbari Ghosh received serious bullet injury and is undergoing treatment at a hospital. It may be mentioned that the incident occurred only few days a�er a gang of rob-bers from Bangladesh looted a jewellery shop and shot dead its owner at Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas.

Police said that when the security person of the �nan-cial institution along with some sta� was opening the o�ce, two armed miscreants suddenly entered into the gold loan o�ce brandishing arms. �e mid-dle-aged security man failed to put up any resist against the accused as he did not have arms with him when the incident happened. �e two miscreants who entered into the o�ce looted gold ornaments from the locker at gunpoint.

In the meantime, the vic-tim entered the o�ce when she was initially prevented by a gang member who was sta-tioned outside to monitor the situation. �e woman forci-bly entered the IIFL gold loan branch at Arunachal in Rahara Bazar. It was learnt that she had gone there to take a loan by depositing gold ornaments.

�e miscreants tried to snatch her bag. As she opposed them and shouted for help, one of the accused shot at the woman. �e miscreants �ed in a motorcycle which was parked in front of the o�ce. �e employees of the �nan-cial institution alleged that the miscreants looted ornaments worth few crore of rupees. �e local people also found that the miscreants were carrying bags containing valuables while �eeing from the spot on their motorcycle.

Ghosh was rushed by the local residents to Balaram Medical Hospital with a bul-let wound on her head. Senior police o�cials rushed to the spot immediately a�er the incident. Police have started a detailed probe into the inci-dent and raids are on to nab the culprits.

State to take over roads from zilla parishadsOUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: �e state government has principally agreed to takeover district roads from the zilla parishads and hand it over to the state Public Works Depart-ment (PWD) for construction, widen-ing and proper maintenance.

�e step has been taken a�er real-izing that it is not well possible for zilla parishads to carry out the work prop-erly for di�erent reasons including lack of su�cient funds.

�e decision has been taken dur-ing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s tour to districts including Bankura and Purulia. In an administrative review

meeting, the PWD has been directed to initiate the process for the same. Zilla parishads have been asked to identify the roads that they want to give to the PWD for construction, widening or repairing.

A�er identifying the roads, the zilla parishads will have to send proposals

to the PWD stating that they want to handover the identi�ed roads. So far, Bankura zilla parishad has identi�ed as many as 42 roads and has sent a pro-posal to the state PWD. Many other zilla parishads too have already sent their proposals including West Midnapore that identi�ed 10 roads.

However, the PWD would not take-over all the roads as proposed by the zilla parishads. �e PWD o�cials have framed a guideline based on which they would decide that which road they would take over.

Mainly, the zilla parishads have to provide mouza maps showing that there is no “private holdings or any discon-

tinuity, as per documents, on the pro-posed road”. “We would takeover if only there is continuity of the road as per the mouza map,” said a senior o�cer of the PWD adding that the process of screening the roads that can be taken over has started.

�e o�cial added that at present the PWD has almost completed the work of the roads that are right now under them. “For example, in Bankura and Purulia, work on all roads has been completed. �us, the o�cials of the state PWD in these districts can easily be assigned with the new projects once the zilla parishad roads are taken over,” the o�cial said.

Kanthi-Dakshin by-poll today, Chandrima to

contest for TMCOUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: �e bye-elections of Kanthi-Dakshin will take place on Sunday. Former min-ister Chandrima Bhattacha-rya will be the candidate of Trinamool Congress against Sourindra Mohan Jana of BJP, Uttam Pradhan of CPI, Naba Kumar Nanda of Congress and Shrabani Pahari of SUCI.

�e total number of vot-ers in this Assembly constitu-ency is 2,07337, among them, 1,06467 are males, 1,00869 are females and a lone transgender voter. �ere are 258 polling sta-tions and around 1,032 o�cials will conduct the polling pro-cess. �ere will be as many as 258 EVM machines used in the elections. Around six compa-nies of central police forces and 1,000 state police personnel will be deployed in the area during the elections.

To reduce power consumption, KMC set to light up parks with solar energy

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: �e Kolkata Municipal Cor-poration (KMC) has taken up an elaborate plan to illuminate 16 major parks in the city with solar lights.

�e Parks and Square department of the KMC will install solar panels to tap solar energy to illuminate these parks. With electricity bills shooting up, the KMC has stressed on the usage of renew-able energy.

�e state government has already sanc-tioned Rs 52 crore for the project. Accord-ing to a senior o�cial of the KMC, the solar plants will be set up at Desbandhu Park, Santosh Mitra Square, College Square, Md Ali Park, Maddox square, Subhas Sarobar Park and many others in the �rst phase and the construction work will soon start.

A solar power plant has already been installed at Deshapriya Park. It has reduced

the expenses by a huge margin. A�er mon-itoring the system, the KMC authorities noticed a drastic 80 percent fall in elec-tricity bill at Deshapriya Park. Around Rs 36,000 per month is being saved now at Deshapriya Park. As the initiative turned immensely fruitful, the KMC has taken the decision to light up 16 other parks.

Earlier there were battery-operated solar lights. It is for the �rst time in the country that the street lighting system is being supplied power through solar pan-els having not batteries. It was known that the solar panels will have micro-inverters �xed to convert solar energy.

�e KMC’s Electricity department has been entrusted with surveying the selected parks and it will submit a report a�er car-rying out a detailed study on the basis of which the construction work will begin.

IIEST & IPA sign MoU for masters in coating sciences and technology

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: �e Indian Insti-tute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) and Indian Paint Association (IPA) signed an MoU here on Friday for a masters programme in Coat-ing Sciences & Technology for the academic session starting July 2017. Subir Bose, former President, IPA, and Prof Kalyan Kumar Bhar, Dean, Research & Development, IIEST, signed the MoU in the presence of Prof Ajoy Kumar Ray, Director, IIEST and some leading mem-bers of IPA. As per the MoU, IPA will help IIEST frame a curricu-lum in a more industry-speci�c manner. It will also organise

developmental programmes for faculty members helping them in getting greater exposures to industrial problems.

IPA will also develop inno-vative technology solutions in related areas. Joint research projects would also be under-taken and joint academic activ-ities will also be formulated. Internship and placements of students are the two major outcomes expected from this partnership. During and a�er completion of the Masters Pro-gramme in Coating Sciences & Technology, IPA and IIEST will jointly explore means to provide internships and jobs to students. “�is collaborative education and research pro-

gramme will go a long way in creating appropriate manpower who will be able to serve the coating industry – an extremely important segment of the man-ufacturing industry. Our col-laboration will be based on development of advanced tech-nology in the area of corrosion and coating,” Prof Ajoy Kumar Ray, Director, IIEST, said. Subir Bose said: “India is progressing towards rapid industrialisation and the requirement for tech-nical persons is increasing on a regular basis. �is collabora-tion is an excellent example of e�ective and meaningful part-nership between an industry association and a leading edu-cational institution.

Soon, New Town to have park for differently-abledTARUN GOSWAMI

KOLKATA: Soon, the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) will set up the country’s �rst sensory park for di�erently-abled people in New Town.

�e proposed park will come up on a three-acre land. �e Social Welfare department has cleared the proposal and has agreed to provide funds for the same. �e park will be the �rst-of-its-kind in the coun-try and will come up in Action Area C that is behind Novotel in New Town.

Welcoming the NKDA’s move, Ratnabali Roy, a well-known psychologist said it is a noble move by the state govern-ment. “Di�erently-abled peo-ple cannot go to parks because majority of people have least empathy for them and many are scared of them. �is park will give them an opportunity to go and enjoy nature.”

�e park will have games for the visually impaired people which will be played with the help of Braille. �ere will be an

arena covered with sand where they can play other games too. �e paths will be wide enough so that wheelchair-bound peo-ple can be taken and there will be screens where they can play video games.

Apart from these, there will be entertainment programmes for the physically-challenged people. Work is on to prepare the design of the park. As the park is the �rst-of-its-kind in

the country, the architects have to be very careful in making the design.

It may be mentioned that New Town is coming up as a green and happy city. �e green cover has been increased and over 40,000 tress were planted in 2016 by the state Urban Development minister Firhad hakim to increase the green cover. �ere are tall trees in the area and their census has

been recently concluded. As the happiness concept is added to urbanisation, plans have been made in such a way so that there will be something for every resident of New Town.

It may be mentioned that there are several children’s park in New Town along with a senior citizen’s park called Swapno Bhor, the only of its kind in the state. �ere are morning walkers who visit the

park regularly. Also, there is an auditorium where senior citizens come and take part in cultural programmes.

�ere is a library and a cafe-teria where elderly people come and spend time. �ere is also a pet park adjacent to Swapno Bhor and a pet corner where the pets are looked a�er by vet-erinary doctors.

Debashis Sen, chair-man of NKDA said that the sensory park would give relief to the di�erently-abled persons and there would be games and entertainment pro-grammes for them. Work is on to make the design and once it is prepared, work to set up the park would start.

Darjeeling to host first-ever Telugu movie shoot

AMITAVA BANERJEE

DARJEELING: Immortalised in a timeless classic, Rajesh Khanna driving a Jeep along-side the Toy Train, serenad-ing the dusky beauty Sharmila Tagore with the lines Mere sapno ki rani kab aayegi tu, the Queen of the Hills since long has been a favoured shooting destination for Bollywood and Tollywood �lms. However, this is for the �rst time this picturesque hill town is going to play host to a Telugu movie as a shooting locale.

Raja the Great a Telugu �lm starring Ravi Teja will be shot in Darjeeling from next week. A song including some important sequences will be shot here. Shooting of the �lm has already commenced in Hyderabad.

“�e shooting is scheduled to start from April 11 and will continue for 10 days in Dar-jeeling. It will be shot mainly at the Chowrasta (popular as the Mall),” stated a source.

Raja �e Great is written

and directed by Anil Ravi-pudi and produced by Dil Raju under the banner Sri Ven-kateswara Creations. Sources claim that the movie has an interesting story line – a �rst in Telugu industry.

Mehreen Prizada of the Phillauri fame is starring opposite Teja. However, Ravi Teja’s performance is the major highlight of the movie.

Teja is known for his act-ing versatility and is one of the highest paid in the Telugu �lm industry. �is is for the �rst

time he is playing the role of a visually-challenged person. Sources state that the �lm will be fun-�lled with a few stunts performed by Teja himself.

�e makers of Raja �e Great have released its �rst look poster, in which Teja is seen dressed in black, sport-ing black shades and carry-ing a backpack. In his hand is a white cane. �e catch line states “Welcome to my world.”

“I am eagerly waiting for the shoot. We get to watch a lot of dubbed South Indian �lms on TV these days. �ey are entertaining as well as action packed. I have watched Ravi Teja’s Bengal Tiger,” stated Aniket Rai, a �lm bu�.

Darjeeling is steadily becoming a favoured des-tination for tourists from South India too. “Such �lm shoots will further increase the popularity of Darjeeling and in turn boost tourism,” stated Pradeep Lama, Secre-tary, Darjeeling Association of Travel Agents.

Bankura zilla parishad has identified as many as 42 roads and has sent a proposal to the state PWD

NOBLE GESTURE

The park will offer a wide range of entertainment facilities for the differently-abled and host special programmes

The woman received a bullet on her head and is currently under treatment

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE

Chandrima will be facing Sourindra Mohan Jana of BJP, Uttam Pradhan of CPI, Naba Kumar Nanda of Congress and Shrabani Pahari of SUCI

Bus services between Kolkata and Dhaka via Khulna flagged off

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: �e Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka bus service was �agged o� on Saturday from the state secretariat Nabanna. �e launch comes at a time when Bangla-desh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed is on her visit to New Delhi.

At the same time, a Rad-hikapur-Birol railway link and the trial run of Kolkata-Khulna rail route were also announced. �e Kolkata-Khulna rail route via Petra-pole and Benapole rail route, which will cover 120 km, is expected to start operations from July this year.

�e Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka bus service, which will cover 409 km, was �agged o� on Saturday. State Education minister Partha Chatterjee, Panchayat and Rural Devel-opment minister Subrata Mukherjee, Urban Develop-ment minister Firhad Hakim, Principal Secretary of state Transport department Ala-pan Bandyopadhyay and rep-resentatives from Bangladesh were present in the occasion.

It was known that the buses would start journey

from Karunamoyee at 7 am and would take around 12 hours to reach Kamalpur in

Dhaka. �e same bus will start from Dhaka on the alter-nate days at 7.30 am.

�is is the third such ser-vice that has been introduced between the state and Ban-

gladesh. �e two other ser-vices are already operating on the Kolkata-Dhaka-Agar-

tala route and the Kolkata-Dhaka route.

�e Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka service would be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday from Kolkata and on Tuesdays, �ursdays and Saturdays from Dhaka.

�e bus service will be run by the West Bengal Transport Department and by the Ban-gladesh Road Transport Cor-poration (BRTC). However, the fare for the route is yet to be decided.

It may be mentioned that railway services are also available between Kolkata and Dhaka. �e famous Mai-tree Express runs between Kolkata and Dhaka four times a week. But from July 2017, a new train service between Kolkata-Khulna via Petrapole and Benapole will be available. As a ceremo-nial run, a train came from Benapole to Kolkata Station on Saturday.

It may be recalled that the trial run of the bus service was conducted on October 30-31, last year. On the suc-cess of the trial run, the bus service has commenced from either ends on Saturday.

State ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee and Firhad Hakim flag off the bus service along with other senior officials of Nabanna and representatives from Bangladesh PIC/MPOST

WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW

The Kolkata-Khulna-Dhaka bus service will cover a distance of 409 km

The bus service will be run by the West Bengal Transport Department and by the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC)

A bus will start at 7 am from Karunamoyee and reach Kamalpur in Dhaka in 12 hours and the same bus would start its journey the next day at 7.30 am from Dhaka

The bus services will be available on Mon, Wed, Fri from Kolkata and Tue, Thur and Sat from Dhaka

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE

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Nation President Pranab Mukherjee

It is time to look at legal provisions for increasing the number of parliamentary seats

4| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017 | millenniumpost

BRIEFSNATIONEPIL MANAGER DEMANDS RS 1.5 CRORE BRIBE, CBI FILES FIR

NEW DELHI: The CBI had registered two separate cases against a manager of Engineering Projects India Ltd for allegedly demanding bribe from two companies to the tune of Rs 1.5 crore for award-ing them contracts. It is alleged that the manager Paritosh Kumar Praveen allegedly received part of demanded bribe from Piyush Patel of Patel Construc-tions based in Ambedkar Nagar (Uttar Pradesh) and Mahesh Aggarwala of Prabhu Aggarwala Construc-tions based in Guwahati, Assam for awarding them contracts for public works in Tripura and Kolkata, West Bengal.

SHAH, PARRIKAR TO BE FELICITATED BY GOA BJP TODAY

PANAJI: BJP’s Goa unit will felicitate party president Amit Shah, along with Chief Minister Manohar Par-rikar, here tomorrow over the party securing power in four of the five states, which went to polls recently. However, opposition Congress has slammed the BJP saying the party had no right to host such an event as it has used all possible “wrong methods” to come to power. BJP state unit president Vinay Tendulkar on Saturday said, “We will host a mega-public rally on Sunday in Panaji, which would be attended by over 30,000 workers. Our party president Amit Shah and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar would be felicitated on the occasion.”

26 PROJECTS WORTH RS 2,154.28 CRORE APPROVED FOR GANGA CLEANUP

NEW DELHI: The National Mission for Clean Gan-ga (NMCG) has approved 26 projects worth Rs 2,154.28 crore under the Centre’s ‘Namami Gange’ programme, aiming to reduce the river’s pollution load. As part of the projects, the NMCG will set up sewage treatment plants (STPs) and develop sewage network in four Ganga basin states: Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Delhi. It will create sewage treatment capacity of 188 million litres daily (MLD), setting up 13 new STPs in the states.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MAHARAJGANJ (UP): Police stopped a church event attended by more than 150 people, including 10 Ameri-can tourists, here a�er the right-wing Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) alleged that reli-gious conversion was being carried out.

�e event was stopped a�er the youth brigade, set up in 2002 by Yogi Adityanath, now the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, �led a complaint against Yohannan Adam, the pastor of the church, accusing him of converting Hindus to Christianity, a charge the pas-tor denied. SHO, Dathauli, Anand Kumar Gupta said no prior permission was taken for the meeting, which was held ahead of Good Friday.

“We stopped the prayer meeting a�er a complaint was registered. A probe is under-way and appropriate action will be taken if the charges are found to be correct,” he said.

Dathauli falls in Mahara-jganj district in eastern Uttar Pradesh. It borders Gorakh-pur, the Lok Sabha constitu-ency represented �ve times by Adityanath before he took over the reins of Uttar Pradesh.

Gupta said mass was held there quite o�en but as this time foreigners were involved, the HYV suspected that con-version was going on.

�e US tourists, including a few women, were let o� a�er police checked their travel doc-uments. A US embassy spokes-person said,

“We are aware of the news reports concerning this inci-dent. �e protection of Amer-ican citizens overseas is our highest priority.” �e spokes-person didn’t elaborate due to “privacy concerns”.

HYV leader Krishna Nan-dan, who surrounded the church with his supporters on Friday a�ernoon, said that the “presence of US nationals indicates that innocent and illiterate Hindus were being converted by missionaries who lured them with money to change their religion”.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday said he is committed to farm loan waiver and his government would soon �nd ways and means to bail out the debt-ridden farm-ers–with or without the Cen-tre’s aid.

�e Chief Minister was interacting with mediapersons at Zirakpur, near here, a�er inaugurating a 'D-Mart' store.

He said the state govern-ment has approached the Cen-tre for farm loan waiver.

"Even if we fail to get any support from the Centre, we will ensure that the farmers are freed of their mounting debts, for which the state machin-ery has already been set into motion," he said.

He said the Congress gov-ernment is committed to ful�l every promise made in its elec-tion manifesto.

Referring to the promise of eliminating the drug men-ace from the state, the CM said the STF constituted by the state government is �rmly dealing with the scourge.

He said the STF, headed by senior IPS o�cer Harpreet Singh Sidhu, is working dili-gently and soon the problem would be wiped out from the state.

He said necessary steps are being taken to eradicate the evil of corruption. He fur-ther said the state government would soon bring out a 'White Paper' on the state's econ-omy, "to expose the �nancial havoc wreaked by the Akalis on Punjab".

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP ruled Punjab for 10 years before being ousted a�er the Assembly polls last month.

Replying to another query, he said his government has ini-tiated the process to curb ille-gal mining, which had become "rampant" during the SAD-BJP misrule.

He said a number of mines would be auctioned in com-ing days, a�er which the price of sand and gravel in Punjab

would normalise.Earlier, inaugurating the

D-Mart store in Zirakpur, the CM welcomed the company's plans to set up 10 stores in the state with an investment of nearly Rs 500 crores initially, and providing direct employ-ment to about 1,000 youth.

�e focus of his govern-ment, he said, would be on get-ting Punjab "back on the track" with a highly investor-friendly climate, generating employ-ment for the youth and restor-ing investors' con�dence in the state.

Amarinder said his gov-ernment would unveil a new industrial policy aimed at woo-ing investors and concurrently generating employment for the local youth.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH: In a �rst, a court of �nancial commis-sioner in Haryana headed by IAS o�cer Ashok Khemka has ordered serving of sum-mons in a property dispute case through WhatsApp to one of the respondents who shi�ed to Kathmandu.

Summons in such cases are usually sent by registered post to the physical address of the respondents, but Khemka in his order observed that law fol-lows technological advance-ments and is not fossilised.

�e summons were ordered to be served through Whatsapp messenger service on April 6 to the respondent in a case involving a property partition dispute among three brothers in a village in Hisar district of Haryana. �e court of �nan-cial commissioner is a quasi-judicial body.

In the case, the process server (court o�cial) had sub-mitted a report that one of the respondents no longer resides in the village and had shi�ed to Kathmandu, but his address there was not known.

A mobile phone number belonging to the respondent was provided by the petitioner. �e respondent was informed over phone about the sum-mons from the court by the process server and was asked to appear before the court on

the appointed day.However, the respondent

refused to appear or to pro-vide his address in Kathmandu, when asked.

Khemka, a senior Haryana bureaucrat, who also holds the court of �nancial com-missioner to decide disputes related to revenue laws in the State, passed these orders while hearing the partition suit.

In this case, Satbir Singh had a dispute with his broth-ers Ramdiyal and Krishan Kumar over partition of a fam-ily property in the village in Hisar district. When the court of the �nancial commissioner issued notice to both the broth-ers seeking their replies in the matter, Ramdiyal received the summons but these could not be served to Krishan as he had shi�ed to Kathmandu.

However, when Kumar was contacted over phone he refused to appear or provide his address in Kathmandu, the order mentions.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

LUCKNOW: Suspecting a scam of about Rs 1,100 crore, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to conduct a probe into the sale of 21 sugar mills in the state during the BSP rule in 2010-11. �e state govern-ment might consider recom-mending a CBI probe into the matter, an o�cial spokesman said here on Saturday.

�e decision was taken at a review meeting of the Sugarcane Development department chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. �e state government suspects a scam of Rs 1,100 crore in the sale of the mills, the spokes-man said.

�e chief minister noted that nobody has the right to misuse public property and those violating it will be brought to justice.

Adityanath also said that FIRs will be lodged against sugar mills if they failed to pay arrears of sugarcane farmers by April 23.

He also directed o�cials to take all measures to make operational the defunct sugar mills of the cooperative sector in next crushing season.

Adityanath said a commit-tee should be set up to sug-gest maximum utilisation of resources of sugar mills dur-ing the o� season.

THANE: �e police has arrested Sagar �akkar alias ‘Shaggy,’ the alleged kingpin of a scam duping thousands of Americans of over $300 mil-lion by reaching them via call centres posing as US o�cials to extort money from them.

�akkar was arrested late Friday night at the Mumbai air-port following his return from Dubai and was produced on Saturday before a court which remanded him in police cus-tody till April 13, said �ane police commissioner Param Bir Singh. Singh told reporters at press conference that �ak-kar, who was living in Dubai, decided to return to India a�er the police initiated the process to issue Red Corner Notice (RCN) against him.

He seemed to have a thor-ough knowledge of computers and related technical know-how as well as that of the Indian and the US legal systems, said the commissioner, who inter-rogated �akkar brie�y before he was taken to the court.

Sagar was on the run since unearthing of the scam last year. �e police said the racket which he ran since 2013 through at least half a dozen call centres in �ane, targeted at least 15,000 US-based tax payers with Indian tele-call-ers calling them up, posing as US Internal Revenue Service or immigration o�cials and demanding payments for non-existent debts. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SRINAGAR: �e stage is set for the bypolls to the presti-gious Srinagar Lok Sabha seat on Sunday with adequate secu-rity arrangements being made, even as militants and miscre-ants tried to scare the elec-torate. Nine candidates are in the fray for the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat where more than 1,500 polling stations have been set up for nearly 12.61 lakh electorate.

All the polling stations have been declared as either sensi-tive or hyper-sensitive keeping in mind threats from various militant out�ts and separatist groups, including the Hurriyat Conference, an election o�-cial said.

�e seat fell vacant follow-ing resignation of PDP leader Tariq Hameed Karra, both from the Lower House of Par-liament and his party, in protest

against the "atrocities" on peo-ple during the agitation in the summer last year in the wake of killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces on July 8.

National Conference presi-dent Farooq Abdullah, who is the candidate of his party and the Congress jointly, will take

on the ruling PDP's candidate Nazir Ahmad Khan in a virtual direct contest.

Abdullah tasted his �rst electoral defeat in his over 35-year-long political career when he lost to Karra in 2014 general elections. Karra, who has since joined the Congress, is now supporting the National Conference president in the bypolls. Khan, on the other hand, joined the PDP a�er quitting the Congress in Feb-ruary and was announced the candidate by the ruling party for the bypolls.

Voter turnout in Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 polls was 26 per cent, slightly better than 25.55 per cent recorded in 2009 elections.

Director General of Police S P Vaid said security has been tightened and forces have been deployed in adequate number to thwart any attempt to disrupt the polls on Sunday.

AHMEDABAD: �e Con-gress on Saturday said it will waive farm loans if it came to power in Gujarat.

"We will waive all farm loans and make the farm-ers debt- free if we come to power in the Assembly elections," Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki said here.

Elections are due in Gujarat this year.

"As per our estimates, (total) debt of farmers in the state is around Rs 24,000 crore now," Solanki told reporters. �e promise of loan waiver would also �nd place in the party's mani-festo, he said.

Solanki also promised good minimum support price (MSP) for farm pro-duce, and removal of �ve per cent Value Added Tax on fertilisers levied by the BJP government. "Our gov-ernment will be farmer-cen-tric," he said. MPOST

JAMMU: Pakistani troops violated the cease�re along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir by resorting to �r-ing on forward posts on Sat-urday, drawing retaliation from Indian Army. "Pakistani Army �red indiscriminately from small arms and automatic weapons from 1545 hours today on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Noushera belt of Rajouri district," a defence spokesman said.

Army troops deployed on forward posts retaliated and the exchange was continuing till last reports came in.

�is is the ��h violation of the cease�re this month.

On April 5, Pakistani troops violated the cease�re along the LoC in Poonch district by shell-ing forward posts with mortar bombs.

On April 4, Pakistani Army �red mortar shells on Indian Army posts along the LoC in Bhimbher Gali sector of Rajouri district.

On April 3, Pakistani troops had shelled mortar bombs on forward posts in Balakote sec-tor of Rajouri district.

In the second cease�re vio-lation on April 3, Pakistani troops had shelled Indian posts along the LoC in Digwar area in Poonch sector. AGENCIES

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Heatwave intensi�ed in parts of Odisha while the northern plains expe-rienced moderate temperatures even as some areas of Jammu and Kashmir received rains and snow, and the arterial Sri-nagar-Jammu national highway remained closed for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday.

It was a pleasant day in the national capital with both max-imum and minimum temper-atures settling below normal levels. �e maximum temper-ature was 33.6 degrees Celsius, a notch below the season's average while the minimum temperature was 16.5 degrees Celsius, three notches below normal, said a Met department o�cial. In Jammu and Kashmir, the arterial Srinagar-Jammu national highway, connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country, remained closed for the fourth consecutive day due to landslides and shooting stones triggered by rains and snowfall.

Rainfall occurred at regular intervals in most of the areas along the highway yesterday, especially between Jawahar Tunnel and Ramban, resulting in fresh landslide in Ramsoo area and shooting stones at Panthyal and other places, an o�cial said.

Kashmir Valley continued to receive intermittent rain-fall during the night, while the higher reaches, including the famous tourist resort of Pahal-gam, recorded fresh snowfall.

Pahalgam received around 7 cm of snow. �ere were reports of snowfall in some other areas in the higher reaches of the Val-ley as well.

Srinagar received 3.4 mm of rains, while Kupwara in north Kashmir recorded 7.7

mm of rainfall. South Kash-mir's Kokernag area recorded 27 mm of rainfall during the night while the neighbouring Qazigund received 22.8 mm of rains till this morning.

Light rains and thunder-showers brought down tem-peratures in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh, bringing respite from hot weather conditions. Allahabad recorded the high-est maximum temperature of 41.9 degrees Celsius, the MeT department said. Heatwave intensi�ed in many parts of Odisha with Balangir record-ing the highest temperature of 44 degrees Celsius.

�e mercury hovered above 40 degrees Celsius in at least 10 places, mostly in western Odi-sha, while the coastal areas wit-

nessed overcast conditions, the MeT department said.

Jharsuguda and Hirakud both registered maximum temperatures of 42.6 degrees Celsius. In Bhawanipatna and Sambalpur the maximum tem-peratures were 42.5 degrees Celsius and 42.3 degrees Cel-sius respectively.

In Himachal Pradesh, mini-mum temperatures dropped marginally in mid and higher hills of the state even as the region experienced a dry but

windy day. A medium danger avalanche warning was issued for tribal areas and higher hills of the state. Una was hottest in the region with maximum temperature of 33 degrees Cel-sius, while Nahan and Sun-dernagar recorded a high of 29.1 degrees Celsius and 27.2 degrees Celsius.

Keylong and Kalpa in tribal Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts and Manali recorded minimum temperatures of minus 0.6 degrees Celsius, 1 degree Celsius and 4 degrees Celsius respectively.

In Punjab and Haryana, maximum temperatures stayed around normal levels in several parts of both the states with Chandigarh recording a high of 32.5 degrees Celsius.

Police stop church event after Adityanath’s HYV alleges conversion

Probe ordered into sale of 21 UP sugar mills

Khemka orders summons in property partition case via WhatsApp

Odisha continues to sizzle, parts of J&K

receive rain and snow

Stage set for Srinagar LS bypoll, militants try to scare voters

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Cutting across the party lines, the members of Parliament have dubbed the Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill as a crucial reform for road safety.

Stressing on passing the legislation without any fur-ther delay, Rajya Sabha mem-ber Oscar Fernandes said, “We are all aware that the Bill is a crucial legislation that will be a�ecting lives of all the citizens, either as a motorists or pedes-trians and it should be passed at earliest.”

Explaining the need of the hour, Parliamentarian KTS Tulsi highlighted pertinent points that requires attention and calls for accountability from the accused in the cases of road accidents.

“In a country of over 1.3

billion people, 48 per cent of populace succumb to road accidents in the cases of over-speeding, while 46 per cent people die due to drunken driving, as per the reports of the National Crime Records Bureau. �e bill is a move in the right direction and the sooner it is implemented, the better it will be for the citizens,” Tulsi, a noted lawyer, said.

Speaking on the occasion, Ashim Sanyal of Consumer Voice said, “If the bill is passed in this parliamentary session, it would help in following UN mandate of reducing acci-dent by 50 per cent by 2020.” According to Road Transport & Highways Ministry report, about 1,374 accidents and 400 accidental deaths have taken place every day on roads in 2015, which can be reduced by only bringing a tough law.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BHIND (MP): In order to "take revenge" of the drub-bing it received at the hands of BJP in Uttar Pradesh Assem-bly polls, the BSP has extended support to Congress for the crucial bypoll to Ater assem-bly seat, to be held on Sunday.

"BSP has extended support to the Congress ahead of the Ater bypoll," Congress General Secretary in-charge of Mad-hya Pradesh Mohan Prakash told reporters. Con�rming the development, BSP district chief Gambhir Singh said, "We have extended support to Congress for Ater bypoll to take revenge of the Uttar Pradesh assem-bly polls."

BSP enjoys good support in Bhind district, bordering Uttar Pradesh.

To ‘avenge’ poll defeat in UP, BSP supports Cong in MP bypoll

Committed to farm loan waiver: Amarinder

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said his government has approached the Centre for farm loan waiver

Congress promises loan waiver for Guj

farmers

A vehicle moves slowly on snow covered road after fresh snowfall,at Famous tourist resort in Pahalgam in south Kashmir on Saturday

MEETING OF MINDS

Pakistan Army violates

easefire along LoC

New motor vehicle bill will be crucial for road safety: MPs

Ashok Khemka

Cops arrest call centre scam kingpin who

‘duped’ Americans

NC chief Farooq Abdullah, who is the candidate of his party and the Congress jointly, will take on PDP candidate Nazir Ahmad Khan in a virtual direct contest

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi on Saturday

| 5

mpmillennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017

Business Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

I certainly would like to believe that the objectives of demonetisation are to a large extent met as the cash, which was never part of the circulation, has now reached bank

NEW DELHI: Defence Inno-vation Organistaion (DIO) is to be launched as a non-pro�t company later this month to foster technology develop-ment and innovative products with commercial potential for the defence sector, informed sources said.

�e company is being formed by defence electron-ics major Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and defence avi-ation major Hindustan Aero-nautics Limited(HAL).

�e Defence Ministry had in December approved the cre-ation of a Defence Innovation Fund (DIF) under which the DIO is being formed.

"�is was a Ministry of Defence initiative and was tasked to BEL and HAL. �e new entity will work under the guidance of the ministry which will provide the ideas and topics for innovation," a BEL source said.

�e company will fund development of new and innovative products and solutions for India's defence requirements.

"Anyone from academia, medium and small enter-prises, research and develop-ment institutes, individuals and start ups can approach DIO for funding," source said.

"BEL and HAL are con-tributing Rs 5 crore each to Defence Innovation Organ-

isation, a Section 8 company, to promote innovation in defence. �e company will be launched within this month," the source said. As per the Sec-tion 8 of the Indian Compa-nies Act, 2013, not-for-pro�t companies can be established for promotion of art, culture, science et al.

A�er the launch, DIO will choose a knowledge partner for screening the ideas received for funding support.

�e selected ideas will be �nancially supported to work on the proof of concept and those will go through fur-ther down selection process to select concepts that can be

funded for prototype devel-opment. �e successful pro-totypes will also be helped in their commercialisation.

"If we get good response then the fund can go up to Rs 100 crore, with Rs 50 crore each from both the partners," source added. �e process of the registration of the company

is in �nal stages.According to sources, the

company's board will initially have two nominated directors, one each from the HAL and BEL. �e process of selection of the nominee directors is underway. �e DIO, in future, may also have some indepen-dent directors. IANS

Defence Ministry to launch innovation organisation

NEW YORK: �e US Depart-ment of Labour (DoL) has accused Google of discrimi-nating its female employees by paying them less than their male counterparts.

According to a report in the Guardian on Saturday, �e DoL, which is investigating the case, claims to have evi-dence of "systemic compensa-tion disparities".

�e allegations surface days a�er Google announced on Equal Pay Day that it had "closed the gender pay gap globally".

"Let's make every day #EqualPayDay. All employ-ers can take steps to eliminate the gender and race pay gaps, today," @Google tweeted ear-lier this week.

�e government has col-lected information that points towards the violation of federal employment laws by Google, the DoL said.

"We found systemic com-pensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce," the report quoted Janette Wipper, a DoL regional director, testifying in a San Francisco court, as saying.

�e investigation in the case is not complete, but the DoL has said the government's analysis at this point indicated discrimination against women in Google is quite extreme.

�e labor department’s lawyers have asked the court to cancel all of the company’s federal contracts and block any future business with the government if it continues to refuse to comply with the audit.

"Every year, we do a com-prehensive and robust analy-sis of pay across genders and we have found no gender pay gap. Other than making an unfounded statement which we heard for the �rst time in court, the DoL hasn't provided any data, or shared its method-ology," a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying.

�e company has recently claimed that it has closed its gender pay gap globally and provides equal pay across races in the US.

Google is a federal contrac-tor, which means it is required to allow the DoL to inspect and copy records and informa-tion about its its compliance with equal opportunity laws.

Last year, the department’s o�ce of federal contract com-pliance programs requested job and salary history for Google employees, along with names and contact informa-tion, as part of the compliance review.

Google began releasing diversity statistics in 2014 and reported last year that women made up 31% of its overall workforce and that only 2% of workers were black and 3% Latino. White employ-ees accounted for 59% of the US workforce and Asians made up 32%. IANS

US tech giant Google ‘discriminates against

and underpays women’

MUMBAI: A luxurious beach front villa in Goa owned by absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya has been sold to Bolly-wood and South Indian �lm actor Sachiin Joshi, by a group of banks led by State Bank Of India, o�cial sources said here on Saturday.

�e property, known as the ‘King�sher Villa’, is situated on the picturesque Candolim Beach, a tourist hotspot.

It had earlier failed to attract buyers on three auction attempts by SBI Caps - which had taken over the possession

of the villa - ostensibly since the reserve price wa between Rs 81-85 crore.

For the current sale, the reserve price was �xed at Rs 73 crore and the villa found a buyer in actor-cum-business

baron, 33-year old Joshi, of the Mumbai-based Viiking Ven-tures Pvt. Ltd, said an SBI o�-cial who requested anonymity.

�e property sale com-prises a part of the recover-ies due of the Rs 9,000-crore plus amounts including loan and interest outstanding from Mallya who is currently living in the UK since over a year.

�e Pune-based JMJ Group of Industries belongs to Jagdish Mohanlal Joshi while his son Sachiin owns the Viik-ing Ventures Pvt Ltd., head-quartered in Andheri.

It is a media & entertain-ment conglomerate which has varied business interests in beverages including mineral waters and Goa strong beer, media, spas, hospitality and healthcare.

�e King�sher Villa, reportedly worth around Rs 100 crore, is built on a three acre plot and comprises mag-ni�cent bedrooms, arti�cial ponds and private swimming pools, open air dance �oors, lush green gardens with over a score of expensive cars dot-ting the landscape. IANS

ICA-T699(3)2017

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WB HIDCONOTICE INVITING TENDER

N.I.T. No.01 of OSD (Elect) of 2017-2018Sealed Single Part tenders on Percentage basis are invited for the work of Operation of 250 KVA D.G. set and Supply & installation of AC machine at Eco Park from the agencies having ability in execution for similar nature of work. Last date of receiving application 13-04-2017 upto 3.00 P.M. Detailed may be seen in our website at www.wbhidcoltd.com ICA/T690(3)2017

The company, being formed by defence electronics major Bharat Electronics Limited and defence aviation major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, will fund development of innovative products and solutions for defence requirements

CHENNAI: Country's lead-ing railway coach manufac-turers Integral Coach Factory (ICF) here is eyeing the grow-ing Metro train market in India and is in touch with the Union Urban Development Ministry and states.

ICF General Manager S Mani said the coach manu-facturer was currently making coaches for the Kolkata Metro and that they wanted to cater to others also a�er that.

"We have order for 24 trains for Kolkata Metro and want to deliver the �rst set by March 2019. We want to show that we have done it and want to strongly get into the Metro train market. We are in touch with the Urban Development Ministry and states," he said.

Many Indian states includ-ing Uttar Pradesh are mulling new Metro train routes even as people from Tier II cit-ies like Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu have been seeking Metro service.

Addressing a press meet organised to highlight ICF's performance for the year 2016-17, Mani, however, did not quantify the size of the domes-tic Metro train market.

LC Trivedi, Chief Mechan-ical Engineer, ICF, said while

the cost of a single metro coach globally was about Rs 10-11 crore, ICF was trying to cut it by 40 per cent.

�e focus was on mak-ing the coaches indigenous by using locally procured material for manufacture, he said.

Mani said ICF was also focussing on high speed train, called Train 18 which could clock 160 kph, and is likely to be rolled out next March.

Further, ICF had export orders for Sri Lanka for 13 trains and the �rst train was expected to be handed over by the end of this �nancial year, he said, adding, more orders were expected from the island nation as well as from Bangladesh.

Detailing ICF's perfor-

mance for the year 2016-17, he said the annual 'outturn',i.e. number of coaches manu-factured, had increased to 2,277 from 2,005 the previous year, registering a 14 per cent growth.�e target was 2,400 coaches in the coming years, he said.

�e city-based plant was switching over to making modern LHB German design coaches, replacing the conven-tional "ICF Coaches", especially a�er the recent Kanpur train accident, he said.

Trivedi said nearly Rs 1,000 crore of capital infusion has been made into ICF in the past three years on mod-ernisation, which had helped increase output. PTI

ICF eyes Metro train market

NEW DELHI: Ways to involve private real estate develop-ers in the government's ambi-tious 'Housing-for- all by 2022' programme was discussed at a meeting in the Prime Min-ister's O�ce on Saturday with focus on removing the "bottlenecks".

�e meeting called by the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra discussed how the bene�ts of the interest subsidy on a�ord-able housing could reach the prospective home buyers at the earliest, sources said.

�e deliberations centred around undertaking the proj-ects in the PPP mode to boost the supply of low-cost houses, they added.

�e two-hour-long meet-ing came amid the thrust given by the government to the implementation of the Prime Minister's Awaas Yojana (PMAY), as part of Narendra Modi's ambition of providing housing for all by 2022, when the country celebrates its 75 years of independence.

�e real estate develop-

ers were represented by two apex bodies CREDAI and NAREDCO. Tata Housing o�cials also attended the meeting.

�e real estate sector rep-resentatives �agged di�culties they face in launching proj-ects in smaller cities because of the speci�cations under PMAY scheme and wanted some relaxation on that front, the sources said. About two months back, Minister for Urban Development and

Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation M Venkaiah Naidu had said he was "disappointed" that not a single proposal had come from the private build-ers for the a�ordable housing projects.

He had said that reasons for this needed to be found out. �e government, in a bid to give a boost to the real estate sector, had accorded infra-structure status to the a�ord-able housing segment in this year's budget. On December

31, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced interest subsidy of up to 4 per cent on loans taken in the new year under the Pradhan Man-tri Awaas Yojana. Modi, in his national address on New Year's eve, had also said 33 per cent more homes will be built for the poor under this scheme in rural areas.

Besides, in urban areas housing loans of up to Rs 9 lakh and up to Rs 12 lakh will receive interest subsidy of 4 per cent and 3 per cent respectively, while in rural areas loans up to Rs 2 lakh will get an interest subven-tion of 3 per cent.

"Even so many years a�er independence, millions of poor do not have their own home. When black money increased in our economy, houses became out of reach of even the middle class.

�e government has taken some major deci-sions to ensure homes for the poor, the neo middle class and the middle class," Modi had said. PTI

PMO discusses ways to involve realty cos in ‘Housing-for-all by 2022’ programme

Mallya s famed ingfisher illa sold for ̀ cr

CAIRO: Egypt should strengthen its cooperation in pharmaceutical sector with India which has great advan-tages in terms of providing a�ordable and reliable medi-cation, India's envoy here said on Saturday.

Inaugurating the India Pavil-ion at the International Pharma exhibition "Pharmaconex 2017", India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya encour-aged the Indian and Egyptian partners to strengthen coop-eration in trade, investments and Research and Develop-ment (R&D).

"Pharmaceutical is some-thing in which India seeks to be a global leader. We already have great advantages in terms of providing a�ordable and reliable medication. Egypt is a huge market in which we see growing export poten-tials as well as possibilities of investments.

"We are hoping that the Egyptian market which is so mature will provide us with the base also to expand to other parts of the region, the Arab world and Europe," the envoy said. PTI

‘India, Egypt sho ld strengthen

cooperation in pharmace ticals

mp

World French President Francois Hollande

France expresses its sympathy and solidarity with the families of the victims and all Swedes

6| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017 | millenniumpost

A ‘BIG’ MAKEOVER

Portakabins being hoisted into the Parliament grounds as refurbishment work begins on Big Ben’s clock tower in London on Saturday AP/PTI

olum ia mu sli e oo 102 children among 314 killedBOGOTA: Colombian o�cials on Saturday formally aban-doned the search for survivors of �oods that killed at least 314 people in the small southern city of Mocoa, though 106 peo-ple remain listed as missing.

More than 102 children were among 314 people killed in the giant mudslide that slammed into the southern Colombian town of Mocoa last week, the government said.

Emergency workers will turn to excavating roads and buildings, distributing aid and trying to avoid the outbreak of epidemics in the town, where water and power ser-vices remained cut a week a�er the avalanche of debris-�lled water poured down from the mountains.

“Without adverse condi-tions, a person can survive a long time, but with the quantity of mud and rocks in Mocoa, that is very di�cult,” said Man-uel Infante, who has been lead-ing volunteer �re�ghters who

arrived from Cali. “I’d say that the missing are dead,” he added.

Defense Minister Luis Car-los Villegas said it “will take a generation” to completely restore the city.

He said the missing could be in hospitals in other cities, lost without phone contact, or simply dead beneath the mud and rubble.

Carlos Ivan Marquez, direc-tor general of the national anti-disaster agency, said emergency workers will begin using heavy

equipment. Authorities are investigating whether local and regional o�cials correctly enforced building codes and planned adequately for natu-ral disasters.

�e mayor, the gover-nor and their predecessors are also being probed to see whether they bear any respon-sibility, according to Colom-bian media reports.�e mudslide turned Mocoa into a wasteland of earth, boulders and debris. AGENCIES

Suspect device found in deadly Stockholm attack truck

STOCKHOLM: Swedish police found a suspect device in the truck that ploughed into a Stockholm crowd kill-ing four in Europe’s latest such terror attack, o�cials said on Saturday.

�e alleged driver, who is in custody, is a 39-year-old man from Uzbekistan who was already known to Swedish police, authorities said.

“We have found a device in the vehicle that doesn’t belong there ... A technical examina-tion is ongoing, we can’t go into what it is right now ... whether it’s a bomb or a �ammable device,” police chief Dan Eli-asson said. Intelligence agency chief Anders �ornberg added that the Uzbek suspect “has appeared in our intelligence gathering in the past”.

“�ere is nothing to indi-cate that we’ve got the wrong man. On the contrary, the sus-

picions have strengthened,” Eliasson added. Flags �ew at

half-mast across Stockholm on Saturday as the city slowly

returned to normal a day a�er the attack. A stolen beer truck

ploughed into a crowd of peo-ple at the corner of the bustling Ahlens department store and the Drottninggatan pedestrian street on Friday a�ernoon, above ground from Stockholm’s central subway station. Fi�een people were injured, nine of whom remained in hospital today. It was the third terror attack in Europe in two weeks, coming on the heels of assaults in London and St. Petersburg, although there has been no immediate claim of responsi-bility. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who said Sweden will hold a minute’s silence on Mon-day in memory of the victims, has beefed up Sweden’s border controls. “Terrorists want us to be afraid, want us to change our behaviour, want us to not live our lives normally, but that is what we’re going to do. So ter-rorists can never defeat Swe-den,” Lofven said. AGENCIES

Three strong quakes rock Philippines

MANILA: A magnitude-5.9 earthquake has struck the Philippines, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

�is was the strongest quake in a series of three earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 to 5.9 to hit Batan-gas in the Luzon province, about 55 miles (90km) south of Manila, around 3pm local time or 7 am GMT.

�e USGS said the quakes occurred over a period of about 20 minutes.

Hundreds of people �ed to higher grounds fear-ing a tsunami, authorities have said.

Lito Castro, head of the provincial disaster council, told local radio: “Residents in the coastal villages in two towns have evacuated to safer ground a�er the earth-quakes. �e people were afraid the earthquakes would generate a tsunami.”

But the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismol-ogy, Renato Solidum, said the earthquakes had not been powerful enough to cause a tsunami.

People were running out of o�ce buildings in Manila’s �nancial district.

Batangas o�cials said there were no reports of casualties but some areas were a�ected by power cuts and cracks have been reported in homes and some commer-cial buildings.

Landslides have also been reported in some towns and a portion of a Catholic church tower reportedly collapsed. AGENCIES

1st summit ends with 100-day plan to avoid trade row WASHINGTON/PALM BEACH: President Don-ald Trump and his Chi-nese counterpart Xi Jinping wrapped up their �rst summit by announcing a 100-day plan to improve strained trade ties, the only tangi-ble announcement a�er their meetings that were over-shadowed by the US military strikes in Syria.

Trump aides, who par-ticipated in the two-day talks held at the US President’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, described the meetings as pro-ductive and said the two leaders exhibited “positive” chemistry.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Friday said the two sides agreed to speed up trade talks to help close a lopsided imbalance in China’s favour, a common campaign-trail complaint of Trump’s.

During the meet-ings, Trump highlighted the challenges caused by the Chinese government interven-tion in its economy and raised serious concerns about the impact of China’s industrial, agricultural, technology and cyber policies on Ameri-ca’s jobs and exports, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said.

Spicer said Trump under-scored the need for China to take concrete steps to level the playing �eld for American workers, stressing repeatedly the need for recip-

rocal market access.�e 100-day plan to

improve trade ties was the only tangible announce-ment to come out of the meetings that few expected to be much more than a get-acquainted exercise, �e New York Times said.

China is now the largest trading partner of the US.

Last year, two-way trade reached USD 519.6 billion, compared to USD 2.5 billion in 1979 when the two nations established diplomatic ties.

�e talks were overshad-owed by a crisis in Syria as Trump, just before his his dinner with Xi, ordered a massive military strike on a Syrian air base in retalia-tion to a “barbaric” chemical attack on civilians allegedly by embattled President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

�e two leaders agreed that their �rst meeting was “positive and fruitful”, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said.

During their talks over the two days, Xi and Trump exchanged views on key areas of bilateral coop-eration as well as global and regional issues of common concern, it said. Xi, 63, said that he and Trump, 70, have gained better understand-ing of each other, cemented their mutual trust, scored many major consensuses, and built up a good working relationship. AGENCIES

British Foreign secy cancels Moscow visit over “developments in Syria’’

Nepali-American’s store damaged in apparent hate crimeNEW YORK: A grocery store owned by a Nepali-American in the US state of North Car-olina has been damaged a�er some unidenti�ed persons attempted to set �re to it in an apparent hate crime incident.

�e store in a predomi-nately Indian locality in Char-lotte city was attacked on �ursday and le� with a note signed “White America” and threatening to “torture” the ref-ugee business owners if they “did not go back to where they

came from”, police said.�ey said o�cers

were called to a �re at the Central Market.

On arrival, o�cers were advised by the Charlotte Fire Department that the �re was contained to the front door and burned itself out by their arrival, they said, adding that one of the windows in the store’s door had been broken with a rock and a note signed “White America” le� near the door.

Police said they were inves-tigating the incident as a pos-sible hate crime.

�e note stated “the sus-pect did not want any refugee business owners and that they would torture the owner if they did not leave and go back to where they came from,” they said.“We need more safety and more security as business own-ers,” said Kamal Dhimel, owner of the store, was quoted as say-ing by ‘�e Charlotte Observer’.

Dhimel, a Bhutan refugee

who moved to the US from Nepal in 2010 and started his business in 2014, said the let-ter is a sign that people don’t understand the importance of immigrants and refugees in the community.

“If they want to know about refugees and immigrants and our backgrounds, they need to come to us and listen to us. We can explain to them how we help this country, how we give back to this country,” Dhimel said. AGENCIES

‘Large asteroid to buzz past Earth on April 19’WASHINGTON: A relatively large near-Earth sized asteroid will �y safely past our planet on April 19 at a distance of about 1.8 million kilometres - over four times the distance from Earth to the Moon, NASA said on Saturday.

Although there is no pos-sibility for the asteroid to col-lide with Earth, this will be a very close approach for an asteroid of this size. �e aster-oid, known as 2014 JO25, was discovered in May 2014 by astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona, US.

Contemporary measure-ments by NASA’s NEOWISE mission indicate that the aster-oid is roughly 650 meters in

size, and that its surface is about twice as re�ective as that of the Moon.

At this time very little else is known about the object’s phys-

ical properties, even though its trajectory is well known.

�e asteroid will approach Earth from the direction of the Sun and will become vis-

ible in the night sky a�er April 19.It is predicted to brighten to about magnitude 11, when it could be visible in small opti-cal telescopes for one or two nights before it fades as the distance from Earth rapidly increases, NASA said. Small asteroids pass within this dis-tance of Earth several times each week, but the upcoming close approach is the closest by any known asteroid of this size, or larger, since asteroid Toutatis, a �ve-kilometre aster-oid, which approached within about four lunar distances in 2004. �e next known encoun-ter of an asteroid of compa-rable size will occur in 2027 when the 800-metre-wide

asteroid 1999 AN10 will �y by at one lunar distance, about 380,000 kilometres. �e April 19 encounter provides an out-standing opportunity to study this asteroid, and astronomers plan to observe it with tele-scopes around the world to learn as much about it as pos-sible. �e encounter on April 19 is the closest this aster-oid has come to Earth for at least the last 400 years and will be its closest approach for at least the next 500 years. Also on April 19, the comet PanSTARRS (C/2015 ER61) will make its closest approach to Earth, at a very safe distance of 175 million kilometres, NASA said. AGENCIES

20 killed in Myanmar wedding

boat crashYANGON: At least 20 people were killed when a boat car-rying scores of wedding guests collided with a river barge in Western Myanmar, authorities said on Saturday, with more feared drowned as rescuers searched for the missing.

�e boat, called “Silver Star” in Burmese, sank Friday evening in a river near Pathein, a port city west of commercial capital Yangon.

It was believed to be carry-ing around 60 passengers on their way home from a wed-ding ceremony, according to a local police o�cer. Of the dead, o�cials said 16 were women and four were men. “�ey were crossing to the other side of the river a�er attending a wedding in Pathein. Most of them were relatives from the same village,” said the police-man, who requested anonym-ity. Both ships were unlit when they collided in the middle of the river, he added.“We esti-mate nine people are still miss-ing,” regional MP Aung �u Htwe said, adding that some 30 people had been rescued alive the night before. AGENCIES

2 Indian-Americans nominated by Trump for key positions WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump has nominated two Indian-Americans for key administrative posts to coordinate US law-enforce-ment strategy around copyright, patents and trade-marks and oversee his plan to eliminate 75 per cent of federal regulations. Prominent Indian-Americans Vishal Amin and Neomi Rao will be Trump’s new IP and regulatory czars respectively as he nominated them on Friday while making many administra-tive appointments. Amin has been nominated to be the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator while Rao will be the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). If confirmed by the US Senate, Amin, who is currently a Senior Counsel on House Judiciary Committee, would succeed Daniel Marti. He also served in the administration of former President George W Bush at the White House, as Associate Director for Do-mestic Policy, and at the United States Department of Commerce, as Special Assistant and Associate Director for Policy in the Office of the Secretary, a statement said. AGENCIES

LONDON: Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has cancelled a scheduled visit to Moscow next week, his o�ce announced today, say-ing “developments in Syria have changed the situation fundamentally”.

“My priority is now to con-tinue contact with the US and others in the run up to the G7 meeting on 10-11 April,” said

Johnson, who was due to travel to Moscow on Monday.

“We deplore Russia’s con-tinued defence of the Assad regime even a�er the chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians,” added Johnson.

He then called on Russia to do “everything possible to bring about a political settle-ment in Syria and work with the rest of the international

community to ensure that the shocking events of the last week are never repeated”.

“I discussed these plans in detail with Secretary Til-lerson,” Johnson said, adding that the US foreign minis-ter would still visit Moscow as planned following the G7 meeting to “deliver that clear and co-ordinated message to the Russians.” AGENCIES

The destroyed truck is pulled away after it was driven into a department store in Stockholm

TRUMP-XI MEET

Sabah(MALAYSIA)

SuluSea

SouthChinaSea

Philippines

KBK

Panay

Luzon

Mindanao

Palawan

Detail

Samar

5.9 magnitudeearthquake

Manila

Mindora

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sport -Rohan Bopanna

For the last one week, we all have been practicing together. I think that makes a di�erence

| 7millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017

I-League: East Bengal take on Mohun Bagan in crucial derby today SILIGURI: Arch-rivals Mohun Bagan and East Bengal will have title aspirations �rmly in mind when they lock horns for the second I-League football derby at the Kanchenjunga Sta-dium here on Sunday.

Bagan are third in the points table with 26 points from 13 games while East Ben-gal are a rung above them, on 27 points from 14 matches. Aizawl FC are the surprise leaders at the top of the heap, having 30 points from 14 ties.

If Bagan, who have won their last two games con-

vincingly against defend-ing champions Bengaluru FC 3-0 in a rescheduled I-League tie and Abahani Limited Dhaka 3-1 in the AFC Cup group stage, manage to get the better of East Bengal they will be in touching distance of Aizawl.

East Bengal, who have not played since March 12 due to the I-League break, will hope the gap turns around their recent run of poor results.

A win for them would see them go level on points with Aizawl but the latter would

remain in pole position owing their solitary goal win at home in the second meeting between the two sides a�er both sides played out a 1-1 draw at the Barasat Stadium.

East Bengal lost to Churchill Brothers and Chen-nai City FC away consecutively before the breather denting their con�dence as they bid to win the I-League for the �rst time since it was rechristened from the National Football League (NFL) in 2007.

Going by form, Bagan will go into the marquee tie

as favourites. �e green and maroon shirts, who have tasted I-League success in the 2014-15 season under coach San-joy Sen, have winger Sony Norde in top form along with forwards Balwant Singh and Yusa Katsumi who starred in the AFC Cup game and league tie against Bengaluru respectively.

Norde was pivotal in all three goals scored by Bagan against Bengaluru as the Hai-tian wizard wowed the home fans at the Rabindra Sarovar Stadium with his sublime skills.

Katsumi netted a brace in the same game and Balwant also found the back of the net against Abahani Dhaka.

Jeje Lalpekhlua and Bagan’s highest scorer of the season, Scottish striker Darryl Du�y will further bolster their attack-ing arsenal.

East Bengal will depend on Wedson Anselme and Willis Plaza to deliver the goods. Plaza has so far scored seven goals, the highest for Trevor Morgan’s wards and the same as Du�y. Wed-son too has shown good

scoring instincts converting six times.

East Bengal will have the crowd baying for them though it is Bagan’s home game. Sili-guri has always had a strong East Bengal support base and on Sunday they will look to cash in on that.

�e last time the two sides met here, it was a tur-gid 0-0 draw. Another draw would mean no change in the points table with both teams depending on Aizawl to drop points in the �nal few games of the season.

Jadhav’s half ton lifts RCB to 157/8 vs Daredevils

BENGALURU: Kedar Jad-hav’s �ery half century li�ed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 157/7 before Delhi Daredevils (DD) applied the brakes in the ��h match of the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday. �e Maharashtra batsman not only blasted a quick-�re 37-ball 69, laced with �ve fours and as many sixes, but more impor-tantly shared a 66-run partner-ship for the fourth wicket with Stuart Binny (16) to help the hosts recover from a precar-ious 55/3. Jadhav picked out leg-spinner Amit Mishra for special treatment, hammer-ing two sixes and couple of fours in the 13th over. In the following over, the diminutive right-hander smashed West Indian medium pacer Car-los Brathwaite for a six and a four as he completed his 50 runs in 26 deliveries. Jadhav also chipped in with 21 runs for the ��h wicket with rookie Vishnu Vinod (9) before Delhi skipper Zaheer Khan put the brakes on the scoring rate with two quick wickets -- e�ected Vinod’s run out with Shahbaz Nadeem’s throw and induced Jadhav with a slower one only

to be caught by Chris Morris at mid-o�. �e fall of Jadhav and Vinod in quick succes-sion shi�ed the momentum in favour of the visitors, a�er which Pawan Negi (10), Iqbal Abdullah (5 not out) and Tymal Mills (0) failed to accel-erate. Earlier, Delhi pacers kept it tight at the beginning, keep-ing the runs in check. Morris accounted for the explosive Jamaican Chris Gayle (6), with the le�-handed batsman mis-timing a full toss delivery and was caught by Sanju Samson at mid-wicket. Mandeep Singh (12) too didn’t last long, chop-ping a delivery from Cummins on to his stumps as RCB were reduced to 41/2 in 5.5 overs. �eir problems increased as stand-in captain Shane Wat-son (24) missed the line of a delivery from spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and was stumped by wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant. At 55/3, Jadhav and Binny joined hands and they resurrected the RCB innings.Brief Scores:Royal Challengers Bangalore: 157 for 8 in 20 overs (Kedar Jadhav 69, Shane Watson 24 Delhi Daredevils: Zaheer Khan 2/31, Chris Morris 3/21). AGENCIES

iant sla er a ell fires KXIP to 6-wkt win over Pune INDORE: Captain Glenn Maxwell led from the front with a quick�re knock to fash-ion a six-wicket win for Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Pre-mier League opener against Rising Pune Supergiant here on Saturday.

Maxwell made short work of the 164-run target by blast-ing 44 o� just 20 balls as Kings XI cruised to victory with six balls to spare.

His unbeaten 79-run stand with David Miller (30 o� 27) took the game away from the opposition in front of a packed Holkar Stadium.

Maxwell’s �reworks came a�er Ben Stokes led Ris-ing Pune Supergiant’s recov-ery with a blistering 50 o� 32 balls, helping his team post 163 for six. With the win, Kings XI have begun the competition on a promising note a�er �nish-ing at the bottom in the pre-vious two editions. It was the �rst loss this season for Pune, who had beaten Mumbai Indi-ans in their tournament opener on �ursday. With Kings XI 73 for two in 10 overs and need-ing another 91 for victory, the match was hanging in bal-ance. �en Maxwell came and ran away with the match with some brutal hitting. �e Aus-tralian, made captain of the side ahead of established names like Eoin Morgan, hammered

four sixes and as many fours to begin his IPL campaign in style. Miller was mostly a spectator in this match-win-ning stand with Maxwell, who punished spinners as much as the pacers. �e Australian even did not spare Pune’s most impressive bowler Imran Tahir, hitting him for consecutive sixes in the 16th over that vir-tually sealed the match in Kings XI’s favour. Earlier, a�er the fall of the top order that le� Pune at 49 for three in the ninth over, Stokes showed why he com-manded a Rs 14.5 crore price at the auction. He got good sup-

port from Manoj Tiwary (40 o� 23).

Tiwary and Daniel Chris-tian, who both remained unbeaten, took Mohit and Sandeep Sharma to the cleaners at the end of the innings, col-lecting 30 o� the last 12 balls.

It appeared to be a tricky surface to bat on a�er Kings XI opted to �eld.Brief Scores: Kings XI Punjab: Glenn Max-well (44), David Miller (30), Sandeep Sharma 2/33Rising Pune Supergiant: Ben Stokes (50), Manoj Tiwary (40), Imran Tahir 2/29. AGENCIES

Malinga, Bhajji in mix as under-pressure MI take on in-form KKRMUMBAI: Under pressure post Steve Smith’s blitzkrieg, Mumbai Indians will be fretting over their team combination as they take on a marauding Kol-kata Knight Riders in an Indian Premier League encounter, here on Sunday.

Both teams had contrast-ing results in their opening games with Mumbai Indians losing to Rising Pune Super-giant by seven wickets while KKR thrashing Gujarat Lions by 10 wickets.

�e MI team manage-ment may be forced to make a couple of changes to bolster the bowling attack which suf-fered because of Kieron Pol-lard forced to bowl the �nal over where Steve Smith hit the big West Indian for two sixes.

In these circumstances, Lasith Malinga, fresh from a T20 hat-trick may replace Tim Southee in the bowling attack and the seasoned Harbhajan Singh a�er a ba�ing exclusion may come in place of Krunal Pandya, who was ordinary to say the least.

Mumbai Indians are noto-rious for their poor starts and will be keen to pull up their socks against a formidable KKR which tamed the Lions at their den.

Rohit Sharma may be worried about KKR’s swash-buckling opener Chris Lynn who smashed his way to an unbeaten 93 o� only 41 balls. Not to forget skipper Gautam Gambhir’s 76 in an unbroken 184 run opening stand.

Mumbai will be hoping that an extra day’s rest they got would stand them in good stead against KKR, who are now playing two away games in three days.

Quite a few Mumbai bats-men got starts against Pune but failed to carry on. �eir top order, including captain Rohit Sharma, �oundered againt South African leggie Imran Tahir, failing to read his googlies.

KKR too have handy wrist spinners in experi-enced Piyush Chawla and chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav to call upon and exploit any perceived weakness in the MI’s top order.

�e availability of IPL’s all-time leading wicket-taker Mal-

inga (143 wickets) will certainly sort MI’s problem at the death overs.

Harbhajan another mem-ber of the 100 plus club (119 wickets from 125 matches) also knows how to control proceed-ings during the middle overs.

Pandya’s is known for his batting exploits but purely on bowling skills, one of India’s �n-est spinner is still miles ahead. KKR too will have Bangladesh skipper and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan in their ranks giving them another quality option.

�e Shah Rukh Khan co-owned side have a formidable batting line-up which should �nd the Wankhede track, rated the best in successive years, an ideal one to express themselves. AGENCIES

Srini checks in; COA diktat puts BCCI in a

fi ahea o NEW DELHI: Former BCCI President N Srinivasan will be back in focus as some of the Board’s state units plan to prop up his name at its Spe-cial General Meeting on Sun-day despite COA seeking Supreme Court directives on this issue. �e meeting will be attended by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri as none of the four members of the Commit-tee of Administrators (COA) will be present.

It has already been inti-mated that Vinod Rai will be abroad. It will be Johri, who will be brie�ng the COA on the details of the SGM. In another separate develop-ment, Justice (Retd) Vikram-jit Sen has decided that under prevailing circumstances, no one from Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) will be attending the SGM on Sunday.

�e primary issue of the six-point agenda for the meet-ing is appointment of Board’s “representative or repre-sentatives to the meeting of International Cricket Coun-cil and/or similar confer-ences.” Srinivasan has already

reached the capital and is stay-ing at a di�erent �ve-star facil-ity instead of the one where the SGM is scheduled to be held. It is learnt that Srinivasan will be lobbying hard with the state units to push his name despite COA reminding them in their instruction sheet of not vio-lating the Lodha Committee reforms as per the Supreme Court order.

�e 72-year-old business magnet is a disquali�ed mem-ber and may not be allowed to attend the SGM but could be the man who would control the proceedings through his hardcore loyalists— joint secre-tary Amitabh Chaudhary and treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry. It will be interesting to see if the matter is put to a �oor test as there might be sti� oppo-sition from a number of state associations.

Another question is the number of state associations which will be attending the meeting. It will be interesting to see what Cricket Association of Bengal which will be rep-resented by President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Avishek Dalmiya decide. AGENCIES

UEFA Champions League Trophy to reach Mumbai on Apr 10MUMBAI: Mumbai has been chosen as one of the stops of the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour worldwide and the coveted silverware will be unveiled here on April 10. The trophywill be unveiled by the former UCL winner and Liverpool FC player Luis Garcia in the presence of Indian football star Sunil Chhetri at the Mahalaxami race course. Mumbai was chosen for the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour through a Twit-ter contest across four cities —Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata. The contest encouraged fans from each city to tweet, vote and compete for their chance to host the trophy. AGENCIES

Davis Cup: Bopanna and Balaji eal ndia la e in la off

BENGALURU: India on Sat-urday sealed their place in the Davis Cup World Group Play-o�s with Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji routing their rivals with clinical precision for an unassailable 3-0 lead against Uzbekistan, here. Bopanna and debutant Balaji defeated Farrukh Dustov and Sanjar Fayziev 6-2 6-4 6-1 in the dou-bles rubber of the Asia/Oceania Group I second round contest at the KSLTA stadium. Uzbeki-stan needed to win the doubles rubber to keep the tie alive but the Indians proved too good for the visitors with Balaji making an impressive debut.

Ramkumar Ramana-than and debutant Prajnesh Gunneswaran had handed India a comfortable 2-0 lead yesterday by winning the their singles against Temur Ismailov and Fayziev respectively.

Sunday’s reverse singles now will have no bearing on the outcome of the tie and will be the best of three sets.

India have now quali�ed for the World Group Play-o�s for the fourth straight year.

�ey lost to top teams —Ser-bia (2014 in Bangalore), Czech Republic (2015 in New Delhi) and Spain (2016 in New Delhi) in previous three years in the play-o�s.

�e play-o�s will be held in September and India’s next opponents will be known later when draw will be made in London. It was a tremendous start for Mahesh Bhupathi as captain of the team.

Bhupathi had chosen

Bopanna over Leander Paes, who is one win away from making the world record for most doubles victories in Davis Cup history.

Balaji not only served well he showed skills at the net and gradually started to return well.

Bopanna, whose weapon is his booming serve, car-ried the teammate nicely and his single-handed returns proved too hot to handle for the Uzbeks. AGENCIES

East Bengal will be wary of Mohun Bagan’s winger Sony Norde who is in scintillating form as well as Balwant Singh and Yusa Katsumi

IPL TURNS 10: MATCH PREVIEW

Glenn Maxwell makes short work of the 164-run target by blasting 44 off just 20 balls as Kings XI Punjab cruise to victory against Pune

Younis Khan to retire after West

Indies TestsKARACHI: Long-serving Pakistan batsman and former captain Younis Khan on Satur-day announced he will retire from international cricket a�er the upcoming Test series in the West Indies.

“I will be retiring... with my head held high,” the 39-year-old said at a press confer-ence here. “I think this is the right time as every sportsman has to take this decision in his career,” he added, bring-ing an end to a 17-year Test career. Younis, who has led Pakistan in all three formats and guided them to their only World Twenty20 title in England in 2009, needs only 23 runs to reach 10,000 Test runs. Younis, thus, joined teammate Misbah-ul-Haq in retiring from international cricket at the end of the tour of the West Indies in April and May. Younis has so far scored 34 Test centuries in 115 matches —the most by any batsman from the country — and is set to become the �rst Pakistani and 13th batsman in the world to score 10,000 or more runs. AGENCIES

ar ions a e u eat Sunrisers in tricky away game

HYDERABAD: Gujarat Lions will be keen to shrug o� the disap-pointment of a humiliating defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders as they gear up to face defending champion Sunrisers Hyder-abad in their �rst away game of the Indian Premier League, here on Sunday. Sunrisers are high on con�dence a�er a comfortable 35-run win in their opening game against a depleted Royal Chal-lengers Bangalore while Gujarat Lions were demolished by the KKR opening pair of Chris Lynn and Gautam Gambhir during their 184-run opening stand. With Yuvraj Singh in prime form and Australian Moises Henriques and Ben Cutting making all-round contributions, Sunrisers are favourites going into the match. Under the spotlight will be teenage

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan Arman, who got a cou-ple of wickets on IPL debut.

For Gujarat, save Praveen Kumar’s couple of overs, Gujarat’s primarily Indian bowling line-up were taken to cleaners by the KKR opening duo. �e likes of chinaman Shivil Kaushik, India discard Dhawal Kulkarni were hammered all around the park. �e defeat would certainly force Lions to ring in a few changes. Australia all-rounder James Faulkner may replace a horribly out-of-form and out-of-shape Dwayne Smith.

With Jason Roy and Brendon McCullum set to get a lon-ger rope at the top of the order, Faulkner’s better bowling ability makes him a more viable option that Smith, who is batting lower down the order.

Skipper Suresh Raina had acknowledged missing seasoned players like Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja. AGENCIES

IPL TURNS 10: MATCH PREVIEW

The Indian team celebrates after defeating Uzbekistan PIC/PTI

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Kedar Jadhav celebrates his fifty runs during the IPL match against Delhi Daredevils on Saturday PIC/PTI

mp8| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017 | millenniumpost

In retrospect

First things �rst. �e name of the national song of the Indian Union is Vande Mata-ram with a ‘V’. �e name of the part Sanskrit part Bangla song that Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote in the

1860s and included it in his famous Bangla novel Anandamath, however, was called Bande Mataram with a ‘B’. It was pronounced as such for about 50 years before this song got popular in the Hindi belt. And just like all things “Indian” a�er 1947, it is the Hindi belt mispronunciation that became the o�-cial format which partly became the national song of the Union. Of late, one can witness the tragi-comic spectacle where some Bengalis who pick this song up from TV and not from their social milieu actually pronounce the name of the song with a V. Perhaps it is only good this way. In Bangla, the letter for the “Bh” in Bharat is the nearest we have to the V sound. For example, if you wrote Love in Ban-gla, the ‘v’ would become that Bangla “Bh”. Bengal or Bangla starts with a B. Since this is the national song of Bharat Sangh or the Indian Union now, ‘V’ rules. As it turns out, Bankim Chandra did not have India or Bharat or their imaginary maternal forms in mind when he wrote that particular song.

�is song, a particular source of communal dis-harmony between upper caste Hindus and Mus-lims of Hindustan, Bengal and Punjab during the pre-Partition period, is up there with similar clas-sic divisive issues that animated that period. Other such issues include music before mosque especially during idol immersions, cow slaughter for ‘Korbani’ and such. �ese are still issues with explosive poten-tial, which can be triggered and are triggered by whosoever who wants a bit of Hindu-Muslim ten-sion and riot, for whatever purposeful ends. Not to be outdone by cows and music, “Vande Mataram” has a needling value and not so much of a riotous value. �is needling game was played once again on March 30, 2017, at the session of the Meerut Municipal Corporation. Seven Muslim council-lors walked out when the session started singing “Vande Mataram”. When they returned a bit later, they were not allowed back. Mayor Harikant Ahlu-walia defended that decision saying, “It was the decision of everyone in the session that those who boycott the national song should be boycotted. I just agreed with (the demand of) my people.” A motion to terminate the membership of these seven coun-cillors was passed. �us, this was a proposal to expel people’s representatives from an assembly of repre-sentatives, based on their refusal to sing along and

walking out on it. �e Municipal Commissioner disallowed the passed proposal since such a pro-posal was illegal.

�e Supreme Court has declared that singing of ‘Vande Mataram’ is not mandatory. Enthusiastic ‘Vande Mataram’ singing Hindu councillors appar-ently sloganeered, “Hindustan mein rehna hai to Vande Mataram kehna hai (If you want to live in India, you have to say Vande Mataram).” �is old, tired point of divide is as follows. Muslims contend that the song is basically a worship of an entity other than the ‘one true God’ and in Islam, the worship of anything but the ‘one true God’ is prohibited. �e Hindi side contends that song is a stand-in for Indian nationalism and any refusal/disrespect to it is a sign of disloyalty to Indian nationalism, and hence treasonous – the implication being that the creed of Muslims is inherently treasonous vis-à-vis Indian nationalism due to their prioritisation of Islam when asked to chose between creed and ‘Vande Mataram’.

�e song is particularly useful to Hindu nation-alists to buttress the age-old charge that Muslims are not loyal to the nation. �e centrality of such wedge issues in what was an assembly of a munici-pal body entrusted with matters of urban gover-

nance and services shows the extent of communal toxin that now �ows in the politics of Meerut. It is not accidental that Meerut is in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which along with its earlier bigger British manufactured avatar called the United Provinces, has been the stage for the maximum number of Hindu-Muslim riots throughout history. Hindi-Hindu and Urdu-Muslim nationalisms were both born here. Ever since Partition, they dominate the two biggest chunks of the erstwhile British con-quered territories of South Asia.

Since this ‘Vande Mataram’ issue has cropped up every now and then, the former Prime Minis-ter of the Indian Union Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said in 2006 during an earlier ‘controversy’, “We do not aim at idol worship (through a rendition of Vande Mataram). �ose who do not believe in idol worship are free to pray in their own way. But when it comes to worshipping India, our moth-erland, there should be no controversy.” Vajpayee gets one crucial thing wrong. �e song is not about worshipping India. It is indeed about worshipping motherland, but that motherland is not Vajpayee’s motherland but the song’s author Bankim Chan-dra Chattopadhyay’s motherland. �at mother-land is Bengal.

To understand that this song has nothing to do with India but has everything to do with Ben-gal, one needs to move beyond the stanzas that are designated as the “national song” and go on to the following stanzas. �is is how it goes as per legendary anti-colonial revolutionary-terrorist turned mystic Aurobindo Ghose’s translation that

has been o�cially adopted by the Government of India’s national portal (www.knowindia.gov.in).

“Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands When the swords �ash out in seventy million handsAnd seventy million voices roar�y dreadful name from shore to shore?With many strengths who art mighty and stored,To thee I call Mother and Lord!�ou who savest, arise and save!To her I cry who ever her foeman droveBack from plain and SeaAnd shook herself free.”

Who are these seventy million people? Well, the populace of then undivided Bengal, Hindus and Muslims. According to the 1871 census, the pop-

ulation of Ben-gal (including British adminis-tered areas and feudatory states) was 62.6 million. 70 million or 7 crore (Sapta-koti as Bankim Chandra wrote) was a common parlance then to refer to the population of then-Bengal. �e population of the Empire of India according to the same 1871 census was 238.8 million or 23 crores or Troyo Bingshokoti as Bankim Chan-

dra could have written. But he didn’t. Because he was not writing about India. He was writing about Bengal. �at was common knowledge.

In time, Bande Mataram became the war cry of Bengali revolutionary terrorists (Aurobindo being a key early �gure in that movement) starting in the early 1900s and their heroic deeds made their slo-gan ripe for adoption by the Bengal Congress and soon by the All India Congress. �e Bande Mata-ram slogan gained in geographical reach and in that process became ‘Vande Mataram’. �is co-option of something particularly Bengali in the convenient service of Bharat with accompanying history about origins is not unique.

Another contemporary divisive concept, again involving invocations to a mother, has similar roots. �e pictorial idea of Mother India or Bharat Mata is attributed �rst to the Bengali painter and polymath Abanindranath �akur, a nephew of Rabindranath �akur. His 1905 painting of a female monk-like �gure with 4 hands has been co-opted as Bharat-mata. No other image of Bharatmata exists before that. But this, at least for the painter Abanindranath himself, was Banga Mata or Mother Bengal for that’s what he had named his painting.

�at Bankim Chandra was writing about Ben-gal and Abanindranath was painting Mother Ben-gal will not seem odd at all if we remember what Aurobindo Ghose had to say about his own trans-lation of Bande Mataram, “It is di�cult to trans-late the National Anthem of Bengal into verse in another language owing to its unique union of sweetness, simple directness and high poetic force.” People like CR Das (Aurobindo’s lawyer in the famous Alipore bomb case) and Subhas Chan-dra Bose repeatedly refer to the “Bengali nation” in their writings and speeches.

�at Bengal might have had a national anthem and a nationhood separate from that of India might be treasonous today, but that was the idea of Ben-gal in the minds of people who came to be hailed as greatest Indian revolutionaries. Clearly, in their conception, Bengal was clearly a nation unto itself. �eir theory of India was not a one-nation or two-nation theory but a multi-nation theory.

The Mother in Bande MataramIS NOT MOTHER INDIA

Garga Chatterjee writes that in the conception of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay who wrote Bande Mataram, and Abanindranath Thakur, who painted the first image of Mother India, Bengal was a nation unto itself and their theory of India was not a one-nation or two-nation theory but a multi-nation theory

The pictorial idea of Mother India or Bharat Mata is attributed first to the Bengali painter and polymath Abanindranath Thakur,

a nephew of Rabindranath Thakur. His 1905 painting of a female monk-like figure with 4 hands has been co-opted as

Bharatmata. No other image of Bharatmata exists before that.

Painting of Banga Mata / Bharat Mata by Abanindranath Thakur (right)

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Aurobindo Ghose

An image from the partition of India

| 9millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017

mp

Beacon

We’re all going on a summer holi-day…/No more working for a week or two…./Fun and laughter on our sum-mer holiday/….Cli� Richards

With holidays and family get-togethers occupying top slots in our personal cal-endars, it’s that time of the

year again when we let summer take over every aspect of our lives. And what is a holiday without the right clothes and styl-ish looks? Keeping this in mind, fashion designer Pranay Baidya Atelier from Kol-kata has just launched his Spring Summer Resort collection that highlights easy to wear clothing with a dash of personal style. Be it destination weddings, partying a�er work, or simply being the toast of a family gathering, the collection �ts into every pos-sible occasion that celebrates letting go of the wintry months and coming into your own in the sunny season.

In this capsule cocktail collection styled with dazzling Swarovski SS-17 jewels, Pranay reinvents traditional Indian tex-tiles, blending them with contemporary silhouettes while experimenting with con-trasting textures and treatment. �e out�ts are designed as separates, keeping in mind the preferences of modern-day men and women and their idea of wearable fashion. Speaking about his collection, Pranay says, “I have blended traditional techniques with innovative ideas to create out�ts that are unique. An ensemble of fusion silhouettes including gowns, maxi skirts, sarees, jacket blouses, lehengas and contemporary ethnic menswear come to life in delicate hues of dust pink, peach, coral, grey and gold. �e range works with silk, muslin, chi�on and

organza, celebrating the timeless elegance of textiles from India.”

Summer is all about comfort, light fab-rics, and vibrant colours. �e season to wear �owery patterns and �owing drapes, summer fashion gets a new destination with a collection by well-known fashion designer Suchismita Dasgupta. �e sarees and other garments by Suchismita’s Nex-tiles are not only a testimony to the rich textile heritage of the country but also style statements are a perfect foil to the hot and humid weather. With Poila Boisakh around the corner, sarees, dhotis and kurtas with their intricate designs and traditional feel by Nextiles make them a perfect wear to stand out in the crowd.

Contemporary designer Purvi Doshi from New Delhi has just launched her resort collection named  ‘Hues in the Sun’ which is purely eco-friendly and

organic. Doshi is a favourite among dazzling Bollywood actors like Sonam Kapoor, Kajol Devgan, Nandita Das, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonali Bendre, Rad-hika Apte, Sonal Chauhan, Swara Bhaskar, and Rakul Preet Singh. Purvi Doshi’s line this season is about divine colours bathed in the sunshine silhouettes exclusively made of khadi.

�e soulful vintage in�orescences cre-ate a pleasing and balanced composition and the mirror brings out the magic of the creation. �e collection embodies the Sun’s radiant energy through its natural colours. Long and �owy garments add to the charm of the wearer for sure. Sustainability at its root and khadi in its soul, each garment is made in India, with utmost care and love so as to enhance Mother Nature’s pride and glory.  “Purvi  Doshi” – the label celebrates India’s cra�s and weaves by combining tra-ditional techniques with contemporary designs moulded into beautiful nature-friendly clothing. It chronicles and restores heirloom traditions from the heart of our villages and fashions them into contem-porary tales. �e label collaborates closely with artisans and helps to create a better livelihood.

Mumbai-based designer Fahd Khatri  has created a range of chic garments for di�erent occasions this summer. Keeping wearability and style in mind, Fahd has come up with a line of designs that can be termed ‘comfort fashion’. From �owy sil-houettes to weaves in vibrant colours, there is something for everyone. �is designer ably combines stylish cuts, Indian aesthet-ics and bright tones to match international standards in terms of diversity, quality, and elegance. �e purpose of Fahd’s creations is to make comfortable and easy out�ts.

Feel good hues and structured cuts make his collections full of poise. �e brand’s goal is to treat its clients with light-weight and stylish cotton gar-ments. Many of his collections include holiday-inspired, easy-to-carry out�ts for honeymoon couples and travel lovers. He also o�ers a lot of trendy airport-friendly garments and casual out�ts for luncheons or a fun day out in the sun.

Khatri’s creations are predomi-nantly a mix of stylish cuts, rich aes-thetics and vibrant hues to match international standards of qual-ity and diversity. Each garment has a personality of its own there are creations for both men and women. Launched in early 2014, the brand is cur-rently available at limited stores. His clothes are available at Juhu, Warden Road and Bandra West, Mumbai.

Cut to Kolkata, and the Kan-tha revivalist Shamlu Dudeja tells us that she and her team has been making cotton saris, dupattas, scarves, tunics, ponchos and multi-layered jackets.  Some of them are being repeated for the ongoing summer. “We are introducing newer cuts, and lighter cotton fabrics such as Chanderi, which are more suitable for the younger genera-tion. We will be using more crepes and georgettes for the US and France since they prefer so�er and lighter fabrics,” Dudeja told Millennium Post. Dudeja retails from her home in Alipore, Kolkata.

Back in the Capital, Sunil Mehra, a

bespoke luxury designer presented the “SS-17 collection” for his clients

as summer took over. �e collection comprises of striking checks and stripes, vibrant shades and warm hues, animal and �oral prints – vital additions to your summer wardrobe. In fact, Mehra seeks to make your summers comfort-able by introducing an exclusive range of garments which com-prises breathable fabrics for blaz-ers like cotton silk, linen silk, and also a whole range of cotton scarves, animal themed cu�inks and ties as well as leather shoes.

Says Saggar Mehra, the cre-ative director, “To make summers striking and contrasting, go for quirky prints like �oral or ani-mal prints in shirts and acces-sories. Vibrant or warm pastel shades like yellow, cream, blue and pink enhance the elegance

and make you feel pleasant. When it comes to accesso-ries, a scarf can jazz up your look. Floral, stripes, paisley

are some of the trending patterns. Pocket Squares in artful patterns are per-fect to enhance the poise in your formal look. To add a touch of casual look in your formals opt for animal or �oral themed ties, pocket squares or cu�inks.”

Be it simple or hybrid look, monochrome or

vibrant shades, the collection is comprehensive and perfectly

apt for any look one desires. A leading fashion player, Sunil

Mehra stands out for his ability to reconcile fashion with innovation

and original thinking.

Wearcomfort

on your sleeves this summer!Nandini Guha takes a quick peek at what is

in store for fashionistas this year, from the new Spring-Summer collections of some fashion

designers across the country

Shamlu Dudeja

A Sunil Mehra scarf (top); Suchismita Dasgupta creations (above and right); Purvi Doshi (extreme right)

Fahd Khatri

A Pranay Baidya creation

Natural dyes like catechu, indigo, turmeric, natural lac, madder roots, manjistha, ratnajyot, kesudo, pomegranate skin, henna and marigold

flower, are used in patola-making

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Inland10| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017 | millenniumpost

Flamboyance and vibrant are the words that come to mind when talking of Gujarat – whether in the attire of its people, its festi-vals, its cuisine or cra�s. �is is more than

true in relation to the much-coveted, world-famous Patola of Patan.

Patan is only one of three regions in the world that produce double Ikat fabric, the most com-plicated of all textile designs, Tenganan village in Bali and Okinawa in Japan being the other two. Amongst these, Patan alone enjoys the pride of weaving the longest measure of the material – a divinely beautiful 6 yards of unyielding labour!

What better time to visit Patan to watch the weavers give form to this exquisite fabric than dur-ing the annual International Kite Festival in January! We leave behind the broad city roads of Ahmedabad and travel on a state highway that is bulging with tra�c and is �anked by vast emerald �elds of greens, sun�ower and cotton. A little over two hours we enter Patan, the ancient forti�ed town on the banks of the Saraswati River, founded by Vanraj Chavda in 745 CE and subsequently ruled by the powerful Solanki dynasty.

A melange of intricately sculpted balconies with balustrades, marble domes and lintels of havelis in a dilapidated state, jostle for space with several Jain temples. It is at once palpable from the ruins that Patan, the home of Hemchandra Acharya the Jain monk and polymath who gave the Gujarati lan-guage its �rst grammar, had enjoyed a glorious past.

We negotiate our vehicle through narrow alley-ways to come upon the humble abodes of Patan’s dwellers where the exotic patola is woven.

No whirring of machines, no noise, no smell of fuel or fumes here. �e gentle, rhythmic and barely audible sound of a bamboo shuttle moving back and forth, greets us. A primitive hand-operated harness loom cra�ed from teak or rosewood, and bamboo strips, displays closely packed skeins of meticulously arranged thread. A sari is in the making. Even in its infant stage of weaving, the patola appears stunning. Its beauty is based on simple geometric patterns with an exuberant expression of colours set against a red background.

Textile connoisseurs con-sider patola as re�ec-

tive of perfection in weaving

because if even a single thread is displaced, the resulting design would be warped. �e process of producing a patola piece is extremely complex and time-consuming, requiring a blend of mathemati-cal precision and creativity.

�e design to be woven is �rst drawn on graph paper and then copied onto the yarn. Narikunjar, ratanchawk, phul bhat, butta bhat, navaratna are some of the most popular patola patterns but chang-ing times bring with them contemporary �avours. Motifs sculpted on Patan’s stupendous Rani ki Vav stepwell, �nd themselves on patola saris.

Patola borrows its style partially from the intri-cate Bandhani art of tie and dye on the warp and we� (vana and tana in local parlance) separately before weaving.

�e dyeing process is tedious and intricate, requiring each one of the warp threads to be tied and dyed according to the pattern selected. Since raw silk is thinner than human hair, eight silk strands are enmeshed to a single string before being bleached. Natural dyes like catechu, cochi-neal, indigo, turmeric, natural lac, harde, madder roots, manjistha, ratnajyot, katha, kesudo, pome-granate skin, henna and marigold �ower, are used in patola-making. However, chemicals including alum, copper sulphate, ferrous sulphate, potassium dichromate and other mordents are also used in the dyeing process.

Tying, dyeing, untying and retying for further dyeing with di�erent colours is an endless process. “It takes six hours of continuous work for only 10 inches of yarn getting dyed,” reveals Ujjwal Salvi, one of the youngest generations of a Salvi family engaged in the art!

�e pattern becomes visible once the dyed threads of the warp of di�erent, repeat patterns are put together in a sequence on the loom. Weaving the threads is yet another cumbersome process that yields at best 10 inches of woven stu� at the end of 10 hours or a day’s work by two weavers working on it. Needless to say, six yards of the �ne fabric takes as many months to complete!

No wonder then, the price of a patola sari ranges from a he�y minimum of Rs 1 lakh to a whopping Rs 6 lakhs and above, depending on the intricacy of the design and use of dyes – natural or synthetic. According to the Salvis, it is true that 75% of the cost of a saree is attributed to labour with the cost of raw material accounting for a mere 25%. A patola sari

is a lifetime investment that endures for over 100 years! Besides, the unique feature of the double ikat weave is that the �nished cloth is identical on the obverse and reserve!

Historically speaking the art of double ikat patola weaving goes back several centuries as evidenced by paintings in Ajanta caves. Patola weavers known by the surname Salvi were patronised by Kumarpal the Solanki ruler who would o�er daily worship at the temple, sporting a new patola out�t each day. He obtained the fabric from Jhalna in Southern Maha-rashtra which was then the centre of patola weav-ing. When Kumarpal discovered that the Jhalna exports were not new, but used as bedspread by its king, he was infuriated. He waged a war against the king and defeated him. 700 cra�smen of patola were then brought to Patan to ensure pure supply of the fabric for his worship. Kumarpal, a follower of the Jain faith it is believed, later converted the weaving community into Shwethamber Jains! �is probably explains the presence of over hundred Jain temples in Patan.

Even a�er the decline of the Solanki dynasty, patola continued to enjoy the patronage of wealthy merchants of Gujarat for whom it became an estab-lished status symbol. Besides, it was also imported by the royal families of Indonesia. However, foreign demand for the fabric declined drastically in the years following the Second World War. �e Salvis who struggled to make a livelihood from it moved to greener pastures. �e cra� steadily declined over the decades. Only four families are engaged in it today!

�e Salvis have won several national and other awards for their remarkable creations. Two volumes of the book ‘�e Patola of Gujarat: Double Ikat in India’, authored by Germans, Alfred Buhler and Eberhard Fischer, were published in 1979. �e Gov-ernment of India launched a postage stamp of Rs 5 on Patan ka Patola on November 15, 2002. Patola also enjoys the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. A couple of patola saris bought by Queen Elizabeth during one of her visits to India, enjoy the pride

of place in museums in London and Switzerland. Sonia Gandhi is believed to have worn on the occa-sion of the closing ceremony of Com-monwealth Games 2010, a patola sari handed down to her by Mrs Indira Gandhi.

While patola, undoubtedly enjoys a niche market and every piece is a made-to-order gor-geous splendour, it is equally true that the art is struggling for survival! �e art which takes 8-10 years to learn and perfect, is laborious and time-consuming, has a restricted market, and involves an inordinately long payback time. �ese factors deter the younger genera-tion from pursuing it. In such a scenario, it is heartening to see Ujjwal Salvi, equipped with degrees in Commerce, and Rahul Salvi, an architect by quali�cation, engaged in patola-weaving. �e Salvi family of Patola House to which Rahul belongs is one of the four families that has carried forward this heritage art since the 11th century over roughly 35 generations. For them, as for the other three families, it is a tapasya or meditation of sorts to keep the rich heritage a�oat.

As I leave the Sal-vis with their looms and creative narra-tions on an exotic fabric, I won-der if the glo-rious weave is an ode to the beauty of silk or vice versa! It is impossible to remain unmoved by this exquisite work of mankind which feeds and fans human vanity!

Patan’s PatolaA Labour of Love

Chitra Ramaswamy writes how a patola sari is a lifetime investment that endures for over 100 years! Besides the unique feature of the double ikat weave,

the finished cloth is identical on the obverse and reserve

tive of perfection in weaving

According to the Salvis, it is true that 75% of the cost of a saree is attributed to labour with the cost of raw material accounting for a mere 25%. A patola sari

Geometric patterns at Rani ki Vav used as Patola designs

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Read| 11millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017

VIKAS DATTA

Questions may seem incomplete without answers but respond-

ing to some particular ones, say “To be or not to be?”, “How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?”, or even “You talkin’ to me?” (for Robert De Niro fans) may seem pointless, if not impossible. Is it? �eoretically yes, for these par-ticular ones and their ilk belong to a class known as rhetorical questions, or those which don’t “expect or require an answer” due to their use for dramatic e�ect.

But that doesn’t still stop Car-oline Taggart from dealing with a ra� of them, drawn from all forms of culture, ranging from philoso-phy to TV serials, science, reli-gion, psychology, economics and more with ready and rapid wit and keen insight.

Rhetorical questions, says freelance editor-turned-author Taggart, are all around, from the Bible (right from the begin-ning when Cain poses a rhetori-cal counter-question: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”) to popular songs, and range from the “deep and meaningful” to the “anxious” to the “frivolous”.

However, “what they have in common is that someone, somewhere, has thought them worth asking and – by de�nition been le� without a satisfactory response”, she says, adding she has tried to remedy the de�ciency in a “sensible, no-nonsense way”.

To take the questions listed �rst, we �nd that for the �rst – from Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, which can be restated in contem-porary language as “Is it nobler to put up with the crap that life slings at us or to decide that enough is enough?”, a million people a year, as per WHO, go for the second option. However, Taggart goes on to note how Hamlet himself notes the lack of information about its a�ermath as have done several people since. Similarly, the answer to the question posed by Bob

Dylan in the beginning of his cel-ebrated anthem could work out to about 5,222 km “which is prob-ably quite a lot of roads, unless your road happens to be, say, the Pan-American Highway, when you will barely have covered a ��h of it”. Taggart goes on to deals with over 10 dozen more in the same vein.

Dividing her work into nine sections, she begins with health, science and law, goes on to ask “Do you know the way to San Jose?” covering geography, sci-ence and nature, and then “Who wants to be a millionaire?” on those related to business to �nance. 

“Is the Pope a Catholic?” with questions of the meaning of life is the largest section, followed closely by the one with matters of social intercourse. �e remaining four sections deal with literature, history and politics; domestic life; food and drink; and last but cer-tainly not the least, “Will you still love me tomorrow?” dealing with sex and romance. It should not be dismissed as merely of academic and pedantic curiosity but used to understand one very impor-tant lesson, in view of the popu-list demagoguery on the ascent around the world, that rhetoric is not always admirable or bene�cial and has to be countered with hard facts where it a�ects our liveli-hoods, rights and choices.

Understanding the human condition

Price: `250 Publisher: Hachette India

LAB GIRLAuthor: Hope JahrenPublisher: FleetPrice: `374

Lab Girl is a book about work and about love and the mountains that can be moved when the two come together. In Lab Girl, we see anew the complicated power of the natural world and the power that can come from facing with bravery and conviction the challenge of discovering who you are.

THREE MARKETEERS Author: Ajeet SharmaPublisher: Black Ink Price: `159

With the help of 3 bright and charming women – a resourceful hotel manager, an America-returned salsa instructor, and an aspiring Bollywood actress – the three marketeers will have to make the most of the available resources and navigate their way around those to remove them from their turf.

JAFFNA STREETAuthor: Mir Khalid Publisher: Rupa Publica-tionsPrice: `280

Combining anecdotes, personal memories and extended interviews, the author takes us behind the scenes into Srinagar city’s ‘notorious’ perpetually politically charged downtown as well as its upper cityside belt to create a panoramic portrait of Kashmir history.

MY DRIVER TULONGAuthor: Paul La FargePublisher: Penguin Price: `1414

Through mesmerizing char-acters who personify the ancient soul of Cambodia and epitomize its mod-ernizing mind, the author conjures up a vision of con-temporary Cambodia and its people. Their lives and loves, joys and tribulations, their hopes is captured in these delightfully inter-connected stories.2017 2017 2017 2017

There is something peculiar about the lives of iconic historical per-sonalities, that most of their stories are studied keenly and recorded in

both academic and scholarly books, mak-ing them almost like open pages that narrate these stories. Yet, for reasons beyond one’s imagination, this book succeeds in delving deeper into the personal life of Pakistan’s Qaid-e-Azam. ‘Mr and Mrs Jinnah: �e Mar-riage �at Shook India’ comes 70 years a�er the partition of the subcontinent and nearly a century a�er Jinnah gained prominence by raising the demand for carving Pakistan out of India. What is it that we still do not know about the man?

“Ladke lenge Pakistan” is perhaps about all that is popularly known of Jinnah today – in India, the divisive politician who played the communal card, and the Qaid-e-Azam, who freed the country from both the British and Indians, in Pakistan – but this realisation comes notwithstanding the fact that even today, little is known of Jinnah’s personal life.

Look at Mahatma Gandhi, for instance. While Jinnah and Gandhi were the two most towering �gures of their times, today there is no aspect of Gandhi’s life that has not been studied, critiqued and recorded. On the other hand there is an absolute dearth of informa-tion regarding Jinnah’s personal life and mar-riage. �is is where ‘Mr and Mrs Jinnah: �e Marriage �at Shook India’ comes into play and attempts to break the historical amnesia that most of us su�ered from. A successful

barrister and a rising star in the nationalist movement, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was 40 when he fell in love with vivacious Ruttie Petit, the daughter of his good friend and the fabulously rich baronet, Sir Dinshaw Petit.

But Ruttie was just 16 and her outraged father forbade the match and as fate would have it, as soon as Ruttie turned 18, they mar-ried. Bombay society, its riches and sophis-tication notwithstanding, was scandalised. Everyone sided with the Petits while Rut-tie and Jinnah attracted bad press. It was an unlikely union that few thought would last. But Jinnah, in his undemonstrative, reserved

way, was unmistakably devoted to his beau-tiful, wayward child-bride – as proud of her fashionable dressing as he was of her intelli-gence, her wide reading and her �erce com-mitment to the nationalist struggle.

Ruttie, on her part, worshipped him and could tease and cajole the famously unbending Jinnah, whom so many people found intimidating and distant. “But as the tumultuous political events increas-ingly absorbed him, Ruttie felt isolated and alone, cut o� from her family, friends and community. �e unremitting e�ort of sub-mitting her personality to Jinnah’s, his fre-

quent coldness, his preoccupation with politics and the law, took its toll. Ruttie died at twenty-nine, leaving her daugh-ter Dina and her inconsolable husband, who never married again,” author Sheela Reddy writes.

Needless to say, as Jinnah got more and more involved in the nationalist movement, the more distance increased between the two and while Jinnah was obviously occu-pied in what he was doing, it was Ruttie Petit who was le� all alone. It was an emo-tional vacuum for her, as the book nar-rates, leading her from a fun-loving girl to a morphine addict, absorbed in depression. According to the author, one of the last mes-sages that Ruttie sent to Jinnah read: “Try and remember me beloved as the �ower you plucked and not the �ower you tread on.”

A product of intensive and meticulous research in Delhi, Mumbai and Karachi, and based on �rst-person accounts and sources, the book brings this little known facet of Jinnah’s life and his lonely wife to life. Despite being a rich and scholarly o�er-ing, there are some disappointments too.

�e book is not footnoted and the end-notes are not carefully numbered. All the endnotes are listed chapter-wise without any numbering and thus fail to provide its readers an easy opportunity to check the various claims that the author makes in the book. And the book goes on and on. It car-ries at least 50 extra pages that could have been done away with some crisp and tight editing. �e author’s chapters take all the facts into consideration but spread more like extended feature stories, with o�en more description of things little related to the o�ering and lesser explanations of the facets crucial to the narrative.

Price: `699Publisher: Penguin India

FRESH OFF THE SHELF

Toxic and messianic politics, misgovernance, corrup-tion, xenophobia, extrem-ism, ethnic strife, poverty

and inequality... most of our world doesn’t seem a very positive place, as media reports regularly tell us. Are there any solutions to these mala-dies? Yes, and they can be seen in some unexpected places.

�ere are American, Asian and African countries, ranging from some of the world’s biggest to a city state, and even a city, that have suc-cessfully dealt with one or more of these problems and can serve as model to many others – provided we know about them. And this is where this book comes in. “�is is a good news book... a collection of success stories gathered over several years I spent travelling around the world in

search of solutions to the great prob-lems of our day – and the leaders who �gured them out,” says author Jonathan Tepperman, Managing Editor of the in�uential ‘Foreign A�airs’ journal of the New York-based Council on Foreign A�airs.

But before taking us on his “tour of the laboratories, which also hap-pen to be some of the most suc-cessful (or at least most interesting countries) on the planet”, he �rst draws a succinct but gloomy picture of the global situation since the 2008 economic crisis to support one of his basic premises that while details of the troubles the world faces may vary “they share an underlying cause – the failure of politicians to lead”. Or rather, more speci�cally, their failure to adequately address 10 big problems, roughly half politi-cal and half economic which “goes a long way towards explaining the mess we are in today”. And these

problems, which include inequality, immigration, corruption, energy, Islamic extremism, growth and political gridlock, are not unsolv-able as certain analysts hold – as his examples show, he says. A�er dis-cussing these 10 problems in some detail for “understanding the prob-lems in depth is also the �rst step towards understanding their solu-tions”, he begins with telling us how

Brazil tackled its gaping inequality – in a way that would horrify any orthodox economist.

�en there is the story of Cana-da’s changing stance on immigration (including the role of the present Prime Minister’s father on this issue during his stint in power) and how Mexican leaders achieved a degree of political concord that can teach a thing or two to many older/larger/

stable democracies. �e US wins a spot for its business and economic system that made possible energy self-su�ciency, while New York City, victim of the most infamous terror attack, comes in to show how cities, under su�ciently dynamic leadership, can ensure their own safety. Moving over to Asia, Tep-perman chronicles how the world’s most populous Muslim country

overcame the threat of Islamist extremism, identi�es the factors and policies that propelled South Korea’s (continuing) economic miracle and the stringent and meticulous ways Singapore tackles corruption – its policemen have to declare the cash they have when they start work and the amount when they go o�. 

In Africa, he shows how a land-locked and impoverished coun-try achieved stability and growth a�er independence – and even a�er discovering mineral riches, didn’t fall prey to the infamous “resource curse” that has blighted many devel-oping countries. In another signi�-cant lesson, we learn how Rwanda, which experienced the most hor-rifying genocide of recent times, achieved a high level of social rec-onciliation within two decades of it. Packed with fascinating facts and personalities, Tepperman’s detailed, accessible and balanced account,

which also examines the criticisms/shortcomings of the programmes and policies in question, also seeks to be prescriptive.

Despite this, there is much to learn in this for concerned citizens – and rulers – across the world, and especially in India, where most of these problems are present, our leaders could �nd it of some ben-e�t despite their infallible belief in their own expertise and capability.

A world of good newsVikas Datta points out that India can learn from the way some countries have tackled various social issues

Jinnah’s marriageLifting the historical amnesia on

Saket Suman writes how little known facets of Jinnah’s life and his lonely wife have been brought to life through meticulous research

Price: `499Publisher: Bloomsbury

Jonathan Tepperman

Mohammad Ali Jinnah with Ruttie Petit (right)

mp12| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017 | millenniumpost

Routes

ROMANCING THE ROMAN RUINS

N Shiva Kumar writes how a trip to Rome is as much about lapping up the dolce vita

lifestyle as gorging on art and cultureis as much about lapping up the dolce vita

lifestyle as gorging on art and culture

Sitting still on a long �ight from Delhi via Dubai to Rome made me grimace and gave me a queer feeling, but I was hoping to cheer up by taking a walk as soon as I

landed in Rome, to the most iconic, ancient struc-ture that represents this romantic, vibrant city – the Colosseum. And by the time I �nally reached the colossal Colosseum with my camera, the sun had set and the twilight shadows and night lights created a dreamy e�ect.

�e Colosseum, a truly gigantic stone amphi-theatre, could accommodate nearly 60,000 spec-tators at any given time and witnessed ancient gladiatorial combats with dangerous animals, where men fought each other to death. �e Arch of Constantine, a huge, handsomely decorated 4th-century triumphal arch erected by Emperor Constantine, stands next to it. Few cities can rival Rome’s astonishing artistic heritage.

�roughout history, the city has starred in the great upheavals of Western art, drawing the top artists of the day and inspiring them to push the boundaries of creative achievement. �e result is a city awash with priceless treasures. Ancient stat-ues adorn world-class museums, Byzantine mosa-ics and Renaissance frescoes dazzle in the city’s art-rich churches, baroque facades �ank medi-eval piazzas. Walk around the centre and without even trying you’ll come across masterpieces by the giants of the artistic pantheon – sculptures by Michelangelo, canvases by Caravaggio, Raphael frescoes and fountains by Bernini.

Even a�er 2700 years, the city that is lovingly called “Roma” is always captivating and throbbing with life. Considered the most beautiful city in the world, Italians call it “la Città Eterna”, the Eter-nal City. Next day, as the weather was balmy and

enchanting, with delicate e�ects of dappled sun-light playing on tree-lined streets, I preferred to take the hop-on-hop-o� double-decker buses that run through town. Sitting on the open deck gives you splendid views of the city as the bus meanders all around the sightseeing spots in town.

�e result of 3000 years of ad hoc urban development, Rome’s cityscape is an exhilarating spectacle. Besides ancient icons such as the Col-osseum, the Roman Forum and Pantheon recall Rome’s time as the fearsome hub of the Roman Empire, the caput mundi (capital of the world),

while catacombs and clandestine churches hark back to the early days of Christianity. Lording it over the Vatican, St Peter’s Basilica is the great-est of the city’s monumental basilicas, a tow-ering masterpiece of Renaissance architecture. Elsewhere, ornate piazzas, magni�cent palaces, elaborate churches and ancient temples add a baroque �ourish to the city’s historic streets. I greedily took in its bridges, graceful fountains and spectacular gardens.

Eating out is one of Rome’s great pleasures and the combination of romantic al fresco set-tings and the superlative food is a guarantee of good times. For contemporary �ne dining and �ve-star wine there are any number of re�ned restaurants, but for a truly Roman meal, search out the city’s boisterous pizzerias and convivial neighbourhood trattorias. �ese are where the locals go to dine with friends and indulge their passion for thin, crispy pizzas, humble but deli-cious pasta, and cool white wine from the nearby Castelli Romani hills.

Originally built on seven striking hills along the banks of the River Tiber, Rome now is a city of over three million people and thousands of tourists. �e Roman Forum, a centre of political, commercial, and judicial life in ancient Rome, is �lled with striking architectural ruins. �e Cap-itoline Museums, housed in palaces surround-ing an elegant square designed by Michelangelo, include such remarkable, ancient works of art as a large, lifelike, equestrian statue in bronze and the famous ancient Greek statue of the she-wolf.

According to legend, this wolf nurtured Romulus and Remus, the two brothers who founded Rome. �e nearby magni�cent Span-ish Steps, which overlook a fountain, are a pop-

ular place to sit and observe Roman life, as local people and tourists mingle and while away the time. �e Roman Republic was credited with some brilliant innovations that are still in use today all over the world, like its famed Aqueducts for distributing water resources and the creation of concrete, a material that results in long-lasting constructions. Newspapers and bound books were made popular, as it was the best way for the king to communicate with the public. A pro-found sense of grandeur was created by building wide boulevards connecting Rome with sur-rounding areas.

In the centre of modern Rome, there are numerous high-end designer boutiques with stunning window displays, that shoppers will �nd hard to resist. Shopping streets in other areas of the city also o�er chic fashions at more a�ordable prices. Best buys include leather goods of all kinds - jackets, shoes, and bags, ready-to-wear Italian clothes, antiques, and

art. A trip to Rome is as much about lapping up the dolce vita lifestyle as gorging on art and culture. It’s about relaxing into the city’s Medi-terranean rhythms and idling around the pictur-esque streets. Whiling away hours at streetside cafes and people-watching on pretty piazzas are an integral part of the Roman experience. �e tempo rises as the heat of the day fades into the evening cool and the fashionably dressed aperi-tivo (aperitif) crowd descends on the city’s bars and cafes. Restaurants and trattorias hum with activity and cheerful hordes mill around popu-lar haunts before heading o� to cocktail bars and late-night clubs.

To see Rome one needs at least seven days, with a whole day fully devoted to its numer-ous museums and their fabulous collection of Roman art and another day to the Vatican. As they say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” so eat, drink, and be merry in this grand city not overwhelmed by its own greatness.

Photo credits: N Shiva Kumar

Magnificent and muscular, the Colosseum, with its colossal dimensions, looks stunning when lit up at night

PICS: UDIT NIGAM

Bickram Ghosh, percussionistBirthday: October 20

Best compliment ever receivedAs a table player, I recall Raviji (Pt Ravi Shankar) calling me his favourite accom-pany as a very big compliment. As a fusion artist, hearing tonnes of people say they loved my album and they listen to it ev-eryday is a huge thing which comes from across the world And as a film com oser the biggest compliment was getting the Os-car contention – an unexpected and great honour.

If you weren’t a musician, what would you have been?I’d be a professor of English literature, i did my masters in English literature. I love reading and writing. Favourite musiciansKishore Kumar and RD Burman. AR Rah-man (for his work from the 1990s to 2007). Shreya Ghoshal is a big favourite and also Arijit Singh.

Any musician you’d love to work with? Carlos Santana. I think that my music will be great as a collaboration with him.

How did you cope with stage fright for the very first time you performed?Being a second generation Tabla player, I didn’t really have a stage fright as I had grown up see-ing my father perform.

Finish the proverb:

An Englishman’s home is his _______________.

ADELAIDE, AUSSIEBEACHESBOOMERANGBRISBANE, CAN-BERRA, COMMON-WEALTH, CONTI-NENT, CORAL-SEA, CROCODILESDESERTS, DIDGERI-DOODINGO, DOWN UNDER, EMUSEUCALYPTUS TREESHUGH JACKMANKANGAROO, KEITH URBANKOALA, KOOKA-BURRA, KYLIE MINOGUE

MARSUPIALSMELBOURNE, MONARCHYNEW SOUTH WALES, NICOLE KIDMAN, OCEANS OUTBACK, PAR-LIAMENT, PERTH, PLATYPUSPRIME MINISTER QUEENSLANDRAINFORESTSRUSSELL CROWESEAFOOD, SHRIMP, SURFINGSYDNEY, TASMA-NIA, VEGEMITEVICTORIA, WOMBAT

BRAIN DRAINSUDOKU WORD SEARCH

chuc

kles

GRANDMA’S RECIPESuzanne was preparing a ham dinner. After she cut off the end of the ham, she placed it in a pan for baking. Her friend asked her, “Why did you cut off the end of the ham?” She replied, “I really don’t know but my mother always did, so I thought you were supposed to.” Later when talking to her mother she asked her why she cut off the end of the ham before baking it, and her mother replied, “I really don’t know, but that’s the way my mom always did it.” A few weeks later, while visiting her grandmother, Suzanne asked, “Grandma, why is it that you cut off the end of a ham before you bake it?” Her grandmother replied, “Well dear, it would ne er fit into my ba in an

SEND YOUR SNAPS ALONG WITH YOUR NAME AND A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE STORY BEHIND THEM TO MPSUNDAYPOST@GMAIL.COM. IF WE LIKE IT, WE’LL PUBLISH IT!

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Jantar Mantar in the Capital, consists of 13 architectural astronomy instruments built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur. The primary purpose of the observatory was to compile astronomical tables, and to predict the times and movements of the sun, moon and planets.

Candid Talk

mp| 13millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017

STORIES IN A FRAME

TrendingJANTAR MANTAR TALES

INGREDIENTS1 cup milk1 (14 ounce) can cream of coconut1 1/2 cups heavy cream1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut (optional)

METHOD1. Combine the milk and cream of coconut in the container of a food processor or blender, and mix thoroughly. Stir in cream and flaked coconut.2. Pour into the container of an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Ingredients1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour4 teaspoons baking powder5 tablespoons unsalted butter5 tablespoons white sugar2/3 cup whole milk1/2 cup currants1 egg yolk, beaten

Method1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200

degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with baking parchment.

2. Sift flour and baking powder into a medium bowl. Rub butter and sugar into flour to form a fine crumble. Make a well in center, and add milk and currants. Knead gently together, being careful not to over mix. Dough will be sticky.

3. On a generously floured surface, roll out dough to 3/4 inch thickness. Stamp out 2 1/2 inch rounds with a plain pastry cutter. Transfer to pre-pared pan, and brush tops with egg yolk. Allow to stand for 15 minutes.

4. Bake in preheated oven until risen and lightly golden on top, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool.

(courtesy: allrecipes.com)

Coconut ice cream

An Englishman’s home is his _______________.

BRUNCH SCONES

mpp

Insight COURTESY: www.horoscope.com

You

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Born on April 9, 1990, Kristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress and model. Born in Los Angeles to parents working in show business, Stewart began her acting career in 1997 with uncredited roles and a minor charac-ter appearance in several films. She gained notice in 2002 for playing Jodie Foster’s daughter in the thriller Panic Room, which garnered her a Young Art-ist Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Feature Film. She went on to star in Speak (2004), Catch That Kid (2004), Zathura (2005), and Into The Wild (2007), for which she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. She received widespread recognition in 2008 for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga film series (2008–12). In her February 4, 2017 appearance on Saturday Night Live, Stewart described herself as “so gay.” In another interview, she said “it’s cool that you don’t have to nail everything down any more. That whole certainty about whether you’re straight or gay or what-ever”, and then talked about being bisexual.

KRISTEN STEWART

As Mars powers through your sign, you may feel quite pleased with your progress to date. Howev-

er, two planets turn retrograde this week, which could delay your plans. Mercury’s retrograde phase in particular could mean that you’ll need to hold back re-garding one idea, as further information may be required. Doing the groundwork first can help restore your enthusiasm!

Taurus (April 21–May 21)

Certain areas of your life might require rethinking in order to set matters right. Although it might

be tempting to rush ahead, this may not be wise as Mercury and Saturn enter their retrograde phase. You now have an opportunity to iron out any obstacles to success, though. In addition, the developing Full Moon in your relationship sector could intensify feelings.

Aries (Mar 21–April 20)

You could face opposition that causes your confi-dence to drop a little. However, with the Sun in

fiery Aries, it might be time to take con-trol by letting others know how you feel. There could be ways to compromise even if it means cutting back on your original plans. Even so, with both Mercury and Saturn turning retrograde this week, it’s best not to rush into anything.

Cancer (June 22–July 22)

With two planets flipping backward, including your ruler Mercury, you could find that delays

are inevitable. Is this such a bad thing? A retrograde can provide an opportunity to go over ground already covered and make sure you’ve done a thorough job. You may emerge from this period much better equipped to succeed with your plans.

Virgo (Aug 24– Sept 23)

As Mercury turns retro-grade in the topmost sector of your chart, you might need to postpone one plan

and perhaps research the details further. Though you’re likely eager to move ahead, it’s worth making sure that you have all the information you need before making your move. And while progress could be delayed in general, there is a strong sense of purpose running through your chart and life that could encourage you to persevere no matter what.

Leo (July 23–Aug 23)

With a strong focus on your sector of routines, this can be a good time to restore order to your

life and develop the habit of being as organized as possible. With a develop-ing Full Moon in Libra, be prepared for one or two unexpected events that could bite into your usual schedule over the weekend. Cutting back on less important activities may be the way ahead for you.

Scorpio (Oct 24–Nov 22)

It might seem as though you have to choose between your partner and family, which could bring

your tactful and diplomatic side to the fore. The way you handle this could make the week much more pleasant. With both Mercury and Saturn turning retrograde this week, delays could occur regarding shared finances and communication matters. Take care when signing anything of importance.

Libra (Sept 24– Oct 23)

You could be pitted against family members regarding a key decision this week, but this might

be part of a bigger issue that may come into the spotlight as the week goes on. The way to handle this may be to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Do-ing so should encourage discussion and help you reach a compromise. Your ruler Saturn turns retrograde on Wednesday.

Capricorn ( Dec 22– Jan 20)

You could be going over old ground again as Sat-urn turns retrograde on Wednesday. As this phase

will last some months, progress could be delayed. However, doing the necessary work now and creating a sound structure for further development can assure future success. Remember to back up important documents on your computer and be care-ful when closing key deals.

Sagittarius ( Nov 23–Dec 21)

Saturn turns retrograde in the topmost sector of your chart, so you might have to reconsider a plan

or go over the details of a deal, and you could be busy with this all month. But view this as a chance to affirm that you’re on the right track. With a Full Moon building over the weekend, you could be encouraged to shop. If you do, be sure to keep receipts and paperwork.

Pisces (Feb 19 –March 20)

As Mercury, your personal planet, flips backward this week for a three-week stay, you might need to

go over old ground again. But would this be such a bad thing? If obstacles keep cropping up in a key area, this could be a clue that something isn’t working. By revising your plans, you might be able to accomplish much more. There could be a cause for celebration or a romantic tryst.

Gemini (May 22– June 21)

As Venus is retrograde in your sector of per-sonal finances, you might become more aware of

how you’re investing your money and how you might save more in the future. And with Mercury turning retrograde this week, it might be wise to avoid purchasing any big-ticket items, at least for the coming three weeks. Enjoy a few small luxuries instead.

Aquarius (Jan 21–Feb 18)

What are the ways in which we can pro-vide �rst aid to birds injured due to kite strings?

Kite �ying injures kills thousands of birds. If you �nd an injured bird, it is best to hold birds with two hands. Once caught, the bird should be examined quickly and should be placed in a well ventilated box. Di�erent kinds of injury require di�erent treatment.

Broken blood feather - �ey are rel-atively easy to treat. At home, pack the broken sha� with styptic powder or �our. Apply minimal pressure with a gauze pad while traveling to the veterinarian.

Bleeding toenail - Apply a styptic stick or powder to the toenail. �en, take the injured bird to a veterinarian.

Injured leg or foot -  In case of an injured leg or foot styptic powder, corn

�our or baking soda can be used to stop the bleeding. A mixture of alum and cold water can also be applied. Place a gauze pad over the wound and apply �rm pressure. Also, use an antibiotic ointment and bandage.

Broken wing bones - cut the toe out of a sock and place the injured bird inside with its head through the hole. Ensure the bird can breathe comfortably and there are holes for its feet.

Give an overview of the bird trade in India.

 �e top ten traded species in terms of numbers are the Rose-ringed Parakeet Psittacula krameri, Plum-headed Parakeet P. cyanocephala and Alexandrine Para-keet P. eupatria followed by passerines namely the Black-headed Munia Lonchura malacca, Red Munia Amandava aman-dava, White-throated Munia Lonchura malabarica, Baya Weaver Ploceus philippi-nus, Spotted Munia Lonchura punctulata, Redheaded Bunting Emberiza bruniceps

and the Blue Rock Pigeon Columba livia. �ese ten species contribute to nearly 75% of the indigenous bird trade. �e rest of trade comprises of waders, ducks, larks, pipits and mynas. Species in very high trade demand are the Hill Myna Gracula religiosa, Red-whiskered Bulbul Pycnon-otus jocosus, Red-breasted Parakeet Psit-tacula alexandri, Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus, Spotted Owlet Athene brama, Red-billed Leiothrix or Pekin Robin Leio-thrix lutea, Oriental White-eye Zosterops palpebrosa, Himalayan Green�nch Car-duelis spinoides, Grey Francolin Franco-linus pondicerianus and Shikra Accipiter badius. Also the Bank Myna Acridoth-eres ginginianus, Common Myna A. tris-tis, Asian Pied Myna or Starling Sturnus contra, Brahminy Starling S. pagodarum, House Sparrow Passer domesticus, and Large Grey Babbler Turdoides striatus are some commonly traded species.

Fourteen threatened species have been recorded at least once in the trade, and four

of these, namely Green Munia or Avadavat, Finn’s Baya or Yellow Weaver, Swamp Fran-colin and Sarus Crane have been recorded in trade on various occasions. �e Green Munia is a globally threatened endemic species found very locally and unevenly in Central India. Despite the ban on both trade as well as export of the species from India, the Green Munia is still reported in international bird markets . Although little is known about the bird’s habits in the wild, the species is rather delicate, and di�cult to acclimatize in captivity, especially in tem-perate countries. Since it is also di�cult to breed in captivity, its continued presence in international markets suggests that wild-caught birds are smuggled out of India . In addition to habitat destruction, trade seems to be the major threat to the Green Munia population. Recent studies suggest that about 2,000 individuals of this spe-cies are caught each year and a majority of them are smuggled out of India for the pet-trade under the name of ‘Tiger �nch’. O�en

coloured females of Red Munia are mixed and fraudulently sold as Green Munia. �e species is regularly sold in important trade centres of Patna, Lucknow, Kolkatta and Delhi. �e Swamp Francolin Franco-linus gularis has been regularly recorded in the Indian bird trade (Ahmed 1997) and is regularly trapped outside protected areas, notably the Indo-Nepal border. In some areas, �eld surveys suggest that the adult Swamp francolin may be seldom targeted but ends up being trapped as by-catches of Black francolin and Crow pheasants trappings. However, in places where the species is found in good numbers, it may attract targeted trapping. For instance, dealers in this species suggested that in Nepalganj, Lakhimpur-Kheri and Pilib-hit districts, the species is o�en caught for food. Some trapped birds �nd their way to two main trade centres in Lucknow and Kanpur. �e Finn’s Baya or Yellow

Weaver Ploceus megarhynchus is another globally threatened bird with a very local distribution in Kumaon terai and some parts of Assam. Previously reported to be an endemic resident of north India , it has been recently reported from Nepal . It has been exported over a period of many years - as early as 1901 with several birds handled at the Heathrow airport and reportedly sold in Indian bird markets from time to time . �e combination of habitat destruc-tion and possibility of uncontrolled acci-dental trapping with other weaverbirds and munias and occasional targeted trap-ping is a major threat. �e Sarus Crane Grus antigone is another species trapped regularly for zoos and aviculture trade and occasionally for meat. Chicks are collected to be tamed and sold as captive-bred birds.

(Send your questions to manekaanimallove@gmail.com)

Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, MP & Union Cabinet Minister, also an eminent animal rights activist and environmentalist answers Millennium Post readers queries related to animal welfare issues

Maneka Sanjay Gandhi,

Heads

tails

Tips to take care of an injured bird

If you find an injured bird, hold the bird with both hands and once caught, place it in a well ventilated box and get it examined

14| KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017 | millenniumpost

Always remind yourself that nothing is more important than your peace and happiness. You are born to be happy!

Ways to remain happy

ROOPSHA DASGUUPTA RAY

My father is in a transferable job and we are going to shi� to a new town next month. I don’t want to leave my school and my friends. Can you help me?

Avishkar Joshi, Noida I completely understand how pain-

ful it must be to relocate and reset-tle. Yet what is unfamiliar isn’t always bad! �e opportunity you are getting can surely bene�t you. �ere is a lot we know and learn when we have to start afresh. Adapting is fun. Alterna-tively, you can always convince your parents and can stay back at a hostel or with some family member. Weigh your options and have faith on your parents. �ey surely will do the best for you.

I’m having sleepless nights a�er I have seen a blue �lm. I’m in class 11 and scared that I can’t concentrate

on my career. Please guide. Rajib, Kolkata Take a deep breath and learn to

relax. We all have had such beginnings and trust me there are many who go through this phase. Try to concentrate on outdoor sports, read books and watch movies that add fuel to your soul. Spend time doing things that keep you happily engaged.�e e�ect of watching something that is �lmed and created cannot be stronger than your own will power. You are not a kid anymore and nothing is impossible if you make an e�ort. Chill and remain cool. It’s just a phase and it will pass

My wife is pregnant and she is causing a lot of problems between my mother and me. I hate return-ing from work. I don’t know how to handle the situation at home.

Name unknown At present I strongly recommend

you to forgive, forget and learn to

accommodate more than you have ever done. You know well enough that your wife is going through a new and challenging phase of womanhood. She needs your love, care and sup-port. Talk to your mother and express your concern. Her love and support will help you sail. Don’t get angry or neglect your home at any cost.

Try never to lose your temper and stay in the situation to �x it. I’m sure things will be �ne in the near future. Enjoy the journey and happy parenting!

Please suggest tips on how to remain happy. I don’t want to stay sad.

Saloni Mehta, New Delhi I love your question as I’m a big

fan of people who choose to remain happy. Here are few ways that I follow. Hope they help you too.

A. Hang around with positive peo-ple who make you smile. Avoid those who are perpetually complaining and

criticising.B. Always remind yourself that

nothing is more important than your peace and happiness. You are born to be happy!

C. Always keep a goal in life, some-thing to look forward to. �at will keep you motivated.

D. Try to make the best of every situation. Spend time reading, watch-ing movies, exploring your hobbies and most importantly travel. Travel as much as you can. Focus on collecting memories that last a lifetime.

(Send your questions to roopshashotm@gmail.com)

Always keep a goal in life, something to

look forward to. Try to travel a lot and focus on

collecting memories

Heartof the

Matter

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Game on| 15millennium post | KOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017

At the beginning of the year, it was a dis-tant dream for Roger Federer and his devotees to see the Federer’s name atop the ATP rankings — cut to April, it is a

realistic possibility. At the age of 35, the 18-time Grand Slam winner is truly staring at a chance of becoming the oldest world No 1.

�e current record of holding the top position in the men’s ranking belongs to Andre Agassi, and Stan Wawrinka, world number 3 and Feder-er’s fellow countryman believes that his friend and compatriot can de�nitely become the oldest world No 1 in the history of tennis.

“He’s playing really well, what is di�erent maybe is, he is playing closer from the base-line, preferring, using less his slice, he is using more topspin, putting more pressure all the time, returning better, that’s the di�erence I see,” Waw-rinka said at the Miami Open. “For sure he has a shot for No 1, he has just won the �rst Masters �nal. For sure he has a big shot,” he said.

Wawrinka didn’t hold back from praising the resurgent Federer. “From him, nothing is a sur-prise, but for sure to see him moving that well at that age it is something amazing,” he said. “It is good for me to see that you can be at the top [at that age]. It is amazing to see how he is playing a�er a six-month injury,” Wawrinka said.

Federer began the year by emerging victo-rious in his age-old rivalry with Spain’s Rafael Nadal to take home the Australian Open, the �rst Grand Slam of the year. �e Swiss (Federer) followed that up by winning two Masters tour-

naments - Indian Wells and Miami Open. A�er li�ing the Miami Open

trophy, Federer raced up to the fourth spot in the men’s ranking with 5,305 points while Andy Murray sits at the top with 11,960 points, Novak Djokovic holds the second spot with 7,915

points and Wawrinka sits just above Federer with 5,785 points. �e landscape of the men’s tennis has seen a humongous shi� from late last June when Djokovic looked like an unstoppable force while Federer was battling with age, form and injury. Today, Djokovic’s game and mental state are in shambles and Murray has had an extremely rough start to the year. On the other hand, post a six-month injury lay-o�, Federer looks bet-ter than before and all set to conquer the tennis world for one last time.

What has changed in Federer? Perhaps the knee injury was the body’s way of tell-ing Federer that he must respect his age and body,

and provide

his system with adequate rest. A�er playing ages of tennis, that six months of rest was much required for his body. Also, dur-ing the last six months of 2016, Federer may have worked on devel-oping his game. Federer has always had a cer-tain amount of grace in his game that he still exhibits but his overall game has seen a sharp change which is why his oppo-

nents are �nding it tough to beat him — and yes, even Nadal is unable to �nd answers to this new Federer. He looks �ercer, bosses the baseline and is making his beautiful backhand is accurate. Federer has enhanced his will power to an extent that he’s able to squeeze himself out of tough situ-ations to ultimately taste the victory.

�e regular ATP rankings work on a rolling system that resets every week (only a player’s points from the last 52 weeks are used). For instance, Federer earned 2,000 points for his Australian Open win but only jumped 1,280 points in the rankings as he was defending the 720 points he earned from reaching the 2016 semi-�nals.

At Indian Wells and Miami Open, he won wholesome points — Federer gained 1,000 points each with his victories as he hadn’t

played either tournament the previous year. Since Federer hadn’t played for the whole second half in 2016, the scenario of points defence is going to be the same for Federer that he had in Indian Wells and Miami Open. With only four tour-naments to defend and none a�er Wimbledon, Federer has just 1,260 points that’ll come o� his total with the chance to gain thousands. �at’s exactly where the No 1 spot comes in sight.

Federer, a�er winning the Miami Open, announced that he will be taking an eight-week break.

“It’s more about relaxing right now, more about injury prevention. My knee was strange on the clay last year so maybe being away from it as much as possible is a good thing, even though I don’t think it was because of the clay as such. But my physio, my �tness guy, thought that could be a good thing not to be too much on clay.

“I feel very comfortable, very con�dent, it is the right decision. I will probably stay on hard courts for the next few weeks and I will get on the clay two weeks before the French. Hopefully, I will play the French and then for me that’s when the season really starts,” Federer said.

“Wimbledon has to be the biggest goal now,” added the 35-year-old.

It is evident that Federer is aiming for the top spot and is going to play on his strengths. Clay has been Federer’s least favourite and except the French Open, the Swiss will give the rest of the clay court tournaments a miss. It is the grass and hard courts that Federer will make a comeback at, the environment where Federer has always �ourished.

With this new-found ‘just happy to be play-ing” attitude, Federer has found his way to late

blooming. If Federer continues his monstrous form and manages his

schedule smartly, the top spot isn’t miles away.

With this new-found ‘just happy to be playing” attitude, Federer has found his way to late blooming , writes Abreshmina S Quadri

Monte-Carlo (quarter-final) 180 pointsRome (third round) 90 pointsStuttgart (semi-final) 90 pointsHalle (semi-final) 180 pointsWimbledon (semi-final) 720 points

POINTS FEDERER MUST DEFEND

Total = 1,260 points

Federer back in No1 reckoning

16|

mp

FilmKOLKATA|SUNDAY, 9 APRIL 2017 | millenniumpost

-Lady Gaga

Some women choose to follow men, and some women choose to follow their dreams

Ever since Sonakshi Sinha made her dream debut in Bollywood with Dabangg in 2010, she has largely played the quintessential heroine who has romanced some of the

top stars in the industry on-screen. However, since last year, we have seen a shi� in Sinha’s career. �e actor reveals that she is �nally con�dent of taking up more challenges to portray characters that will liberate her creatively. So, a�er play-ing a badass action heroine in Akira and Force 2, she is all set to show o� her talent as the vivacious journalist Noor, to be followed by another very di�erent character in Ittefaq. Excerpts from the interview:

Noor comes across as a light-hearted and fun char-acter. What was your impression of her when you �rst heard the script?

I instantly connected with the character. When I heard the narration, I felt it could be me, it could be you, it could be anybody. �ere are traits of her in so many of us and one can easily relate to her. When my director, Sunhil Sippy, started narrating the �lm to me, I felt that this is the character I want to be. �at is how I immediately connected with Noor and said ‘yes’.

While the character does look appealing, what exactly is the �lm Noor all about?

Everybody goes through a phase when they know they have to pull up their socks and take things seriously. Everybody makes mistakes and has to take steps to rectify those mistakes. Noor is

a very real character, she is today’s girl who wants everything in life. We want a great career, we want a great love life, we want a great work-life balance, we want the perfect body, we want a perfect situation with our friends, we want to party, we want to go out… we want it all. And in this desire to have it all, something happens in Noor’s life, where she realises that she has to be serious, she has to undo what she did wrong… and that’s when you see the serious side of the �lm. When you watch the �lm, you will see what happens to her and why she has chosen the path that she has taken.

Noor  is based on the bestselling novel Karachi, You’re Killing Me! by Pakistani journalist-writer Saba Imtiaz. Have you read the book?

Yes, it was a very enjoyable read. Obviously, the situations are di�erent as the book is based in Karachi and our �lm is based in Mumbai. So we have altered certain situations to suit Mumbai. Also, Sunhil Sippy, our director, wanted to por-tray Mumbai the ways he sees it. He is very familiar with the city as he is a street photographer.

It was a discovery of Mumbai, not only for Noor but for me as well. I was born in Mumbai but there are so many places I didn’t know existed until I did this �lm.

What new facets did you discover about this city of dreams during the �lm-

ing process?I visited a lot of places that I had never been

to before. Like we shot at various location in the Mumbai including Mankhurd (a suburb in eastern Mumbai), SRA colonies, salt pans in Wadala, and at a cement factory, which I had never seen before… Otherwise, I wouldn’t have imagined going to any of these places. It was a

really, really nice rediscovery.

While director Sunhil Sippy helped you dis-cover new places in Mumbai, what did he unlock in you as an actor?

What did he unlock? Well, he just let me be. Like I said, Noor is such a relatable character that there were certain parts where I felt I wasn’t really acting. Many of those reactions and nuances came naturally to me because she is such a real girl. And, honestly, when you watch the �lm, you will see real people instead of actors. And that is the beauty of Sunhil Sippy’s direction. He has a very realistic approach and he craves to show something real on screen. �at aspect comes out beautifully in the �lm. It is the quality of his work that makes him one of my favourite directors, which I say about very few people. Another favourite director of mine is Vikramaditya Motwane, who directed me in Lootera, and now Sunhil Sippy.

Whether Akira or Noor, how exciting or stress-ful is it to carry the weight of an entire �lm on your shoulders without the support of an established male co-actor?

It is really exciting! It gives you a sense of inde-pendence, it is liberating. �e very fact that you don’t have to depend on anybody else to give this �lm to the audience is exciting. Maybe it is just me but I feel a sense of power. Even with Akira, I pro-moted the �lm all on my own. I had a great team. Every �lm I have worked on had a great team and even in this �lm, every person is playing a real per-son, so I feel like I am with friends and that makes the process even more enjoyable and easier.

Do you think that choosing �lms like Akira and Noor, which ride on a female pro-tagonist, is a risk, since women-centric �lms are still a rarity in Bollywood?

But which �lm is not a risk? �ere are lots of �lms with the biggest stars that have not worked at the box o�ce. Every �lm is a risk because you never know what the audience is open to seeing and what they would like. Going by the trend, I think we are now a little more accepting of �lms with female protagonists.

What is working right now are concepts. �e

audience has become very smart and everyone wants to spend their money wisely. You can’t give them crap and expect them to like it. You have to give the audience their money’s worth. And if they like what they see, they are more than happy to spend on it. �en there is word-of-mouth publicity.

And what about box-o�ce �gures, doesn’t that bother you?

For me, it has always been the experience of shooting a �lm, being a part of a good �lm and working with good people… that has always been most important. Box-o�ce �gures are a by-product of whatever experiences I have had. Sometimes a movie does good business, sometimes it doesn’t. But, to me, that is secondary.

I am not saying box-o�ce �gures don’t matter. At the end of the day, it is a business and we all want our �lms to do well. But that is not in our hands.

No doubt, content is king. What kind of scripts are you looking forward to doing now?

I think I have been very instinctive when it comes to choosing my �lms. When I listen to a script, I immediately take to it or don’t feel it. I don’t sit on it or delve into it. I have to connect with it immediately. In the last few �lms I have done, I have played really strong characters that challenge me in some way and I feel I am in a position right now where I can take up those challenges. I am con�dent enough to take up a couple of challenges, and that’s exactly why I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I am trying to be more real on-screen. It is also sometimes scary but, yeah, it is really nice to be challenging myself. I am going to continue to choose roles that do that for me. It is creatively liberating.

Talking about your next �lm Ittefaq with Sid-harth Malhotra, tell us something about your character.

It is already known that it is a murder mystery and it involves an investigation. So there is obvi-ously one aspect where the girl is innocent and one aspect where she is guilty. I had to play it in both ways. Again, portraying those two emotions and two frames of mind, in the same �lm, is very excit-ing. It was like playing two di�erent characters. BOI

I am now confident

of taking up challenges: Sonakshi Sinha

The badass

action heroine of Akira and Force 2 is all

set to show off her talent as the vivacious journalist Noor, to be followed by another very

different character in Ittefaq

For me, it has always been the experience of shooting a film, being a part of a good film and working with good people. That has always been most important. Box-office figures are a by-product of whatever experiences I have had. Sometimes a movie does good business, sometimes it doesn’t. But, to me, that is secondary. Though, we all want our films to do well. But that is not in our hands