Modi, Trump set new course on terrorism, border security

monday, september 23, 2019 Delhi

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serieslevelling win

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EDUCATIONPLUS A 4 PAGES

In a fi��erce defence of the government’s actions in Jammu & Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi onSunday said those criticisingthe decision to revoke Article 370 of the Constitutionwere “promoting terrorism”.

Mr. Modi’s commentscame during his address,along with U.S. President Donald Trump, at a rally of over50,000 IndianAmericans atthe NRG stadium in Houston.Both leaders announced ajoint front on several key issues, but articulated an entirely new script on cooperation on terrorism.

Attack on Pakistan

In a scarcely veiled attack onPakistan, Mr. Modi said the“whole world knows wherethe threads from the 9/11 terror attacks to the 26/11 Mumbai lead”.

“It is time to fi��ght a decisive battle against terrorismand all those who promoteterrorism,” he added, askingthe crowd to give Mr. Trumpa standing ovation for hiscommitment to fi��ghting terrorism.

In a show of support, Mr.Modi and Mr. Trump heldhands and walked out of thestadium together, meetingcheering crowds, gatheredto see the unprecedented

joint rally by the two leaders.Earlier, Mr. Trump said

the two countries were committed to “combatting radical Islamic terrorism”, andlinked Indian and U.S. positions on security and terrorism to show that bilateralties between both countriesare closer “than everbefore”.

“Both India and the U.S.understand that to keep ourcommunities safe we mustprotect our borders,” Mr.Trump said in commentsthat seemed to refer to thegovernment’s resolve tocrack down on human traffi��cking, and also endorsed

India’s actions in fi��ghtingcrossborder terrorism andactions on Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir.

“Border security is vital tothe United States and bordersecurity is vital to India,” Mr.Trump added, vowing “unprecedented action” on theU.S.’ southern bordersagainst illegal immigration.

Speaking about the withdrawal of Article 370, Mr.Modi said the legislation had“kept the people of Jammu &Kashmir and Ladakh awayfrom development andstrengthened those promoting terrorism”.

He also asked for a stand

ing ovation for all parliamentarians in India who hadpassed the new legislation inboth Houses with a twothirds’s majority.

“India’s action within itsboundaries are causing discomfort to some people whoare unable to manage theirown country. These peopleput their hatred of India atthe centre of their politicalagenda. These are peoplewho support terrorism,” hesaid, in another reference toPakistan.

Modi, Trump set new courseon terrorism, border securityPM defends action on Article 370 at massive joint rally in Houston

Suhasini Haidar

HOUSTON

On the same page: U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the ‘Howdy Modi!’ event in Houston, Texas, on Sunday. * REUTERS

BIG-TICKET LNG DEAL SETS

TONE OF PM’S TRIP A PAGE 13

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 12

It’s “no work, no pay” forOmar Yousuf, a computerengineer in Srinagar. Hecomes to offi��ce every daythough.

The future of Yousuf andhundreds of others employed in the IT sector in theKashmir Valley is in jeopardy due to the prolonged Internet shutdown. Severalworkers have been handedpink slips.

The sprawling Information Technology (IT) hub atRangreth in Budgam district, on the outskirts of Srinagar, wears a desertedlook.

Since Internet connectivity was snapped on August 5following the revocation ofthe special status of the Stateunder Article 370, one of theonly IT hubs in the Valley isstruggling for survival.There are approximately1,200 employees who workin the Rangreth complex.

Funds crunch

Some fi��rms that have beenoperating here for over a decade have had to lay off�� asmuch as 60% of their staff�� asthey are unable to bear fi��nancial losses as a result ofthe shutdown. “Internet isoxygen for the IT sector;how can we survive in its absence?” said one of the founders of a fi��rm at Rangreth.He, however, wished to remain anonymous.

The entrepreneur saysthe Valley has seen severaldisturbances in the past, including the 2016 unrest afterthe killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander BurhanWani, but the IT sector wasnever hit the way it has beenthis time.

He said the Departmentof Telecommunications(DoT) has stringent compliance protocols for IT service providers in the State.The service providers haveto maintain a log of each Uniform Resource Locator(URL) accessed by them andtheir clients through thecommercial leased lines andreport to the authorities on adaily basis.

“We have to send peopleto Delhi to check emails. In

the past one month, we losttwo clients and suff��ered aloss of ₹��89 crore. We are asmall company... 60% employees are serving notice;we have no option but to laythem off��. It feels bad — theseyoung men and women havebeen associated with us forseveral years,” he said.

“We come here, talk toeach other and leave whenever we wish to. There isnothing to do, we did not receive salary for the month ofAugust,” says Khalid Bhat,who works at an IT servicesand software fi��rm.

Mr. Bhat earned ₹��20,000per month.

Kashmir Valley’s IT hub gaspsas Net shutdown continuesSeveral workers at the Rangreth facility have been laid off��

Vijaita Singh

Srinagar


SURINAME BACKS DECISION

ON SPECIAL STATUS A PAGE 12

Cannabis legalised formedicinal and industrial usemay give Manipur’s startupdream a high.

The Bharatiya JanataPartyled coalitiongovernment, headed byChief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh, has beenhardselling its ‘StartupManipur’ campaign sinceAugust 2018. Round two ofthe campaign began onSeptember 20.

On Sunday, Mr. Singh toldThe Hindu from Imphal thathis government wasplanning to legalisecannabis, or marijuana, toenable units of companiesusing it as an ingredient formedicines or for otherindustrial purposes to open.

Startups would also beconsidered. “But suchcompanies have to becapable,” he said.

Mr. Singh said he hadtaken his cue from Statessuch as Arunachal Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand that have

legalised cultivation andharvest of cannabis formedicinal purposes.

“Oil extracted fromcannabis is known to beuseful in strengtheningnerves and treating peoplesuff��ering from paralysis.Also, legalising cannabis canboost the economy,” he said.

After the fi��rst round of‘Startup Manipur’, the Stategovernment reportedlyidentifi��ed 334 entrepreneursfor fi��nancial assistance. Ofthem, 29 were seen to havehigh potential.

‘Best weed’

Cannabis competes withopium across large swathesof land in ArunachalPradesh, Manipur andNagaland. Drug enforcementoffi��cials say the cannabis

grown in remote areas ofManipur is considered the“best weed” across thecountry.

Agencies such as theNarcotics Control Bureau(NCB) destroy poppycultivation but have a toughtime checking cannabisgrown on a large scale ininterior areas. Moreover,many plantations are inareas controlled byextremist groups.

Surveys by the NCB andsome private agencies saymuch of the marijuana inManipur has been cultivatedfor at least four decades inChurachandpur, Senapatiand Ukhrul districts.

Manipur is on the edge ofthe Golden Triangle of drugtrade, comprising Thailand,Myanmar, Laos and China.

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Cannabis high for Manipur’s start-up dream

RAHUL KARMAKAR

GUWAHATI

The State government is exploring the possibility of using it for medicine

Wanted weed: Cannabis isoften grown in extremistcontrolled areas. * K.R. DEEPAK

Festive spirit: Dancers in traditional attire rehearsing Garba, a dance style which originated in Gujarat, ahead of Navaratri, inAhmedabad on Sunday. The festival begins on September 29. * VIJAY SONEJI

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Swaying to the season

Warning Pakistan not to repeat the “mistakes of 1965and 1971”, Defence MinisterRajnath Singh on Sundaysaid the neighbouring country could get broken into various parts due to fl��agranthuman rights violationsagainst the Baloch and thePashtun.

On the government’s decision to revoke Article 370in Jammu & Kashmir, he saidthe constitutional provisionwas like a “canker” that bledthe State, and asserted thata majority of the populationin the State supported themove.

Addressing a ‘Jan JagranSabha’ (public awarenessmeeting) organised by theBJP, where leaders spoke onthe decision to strip theState of its special status, Mr.

Singh said his party hadlived up to its promises.

“As a nationalist party,the BJP never softened itsstand on the issue. Article370 was like nasoor (canker), which left Jammu andKashmir bleeding. We havenow demonstrated that weare an honest and credibleparty, which fulfi��ls its promises,” he said.

Rajnath warns Pak. notto repeat its mistakes‘Rights violations can break up nation’

Press Trust of India

Patna

Rajnath Singh at the ‘JanJagran Sabha’ in Patna onSunday. * RANJEET KUMAR


Kicking off�� the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign forthe Maharashtra Assemblyelection on Sunday, partypresident Amit Shah askedvoters to choose betweennationalistic parties, such asthe BJP that withdrew Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir and familyoriented parties, such as the Congressand the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), that opposed the decision.

“This is the fi��rst electionafter the decision on Article370. Those parties that opposed the abrogation of Article 370 should be showntheir place in this election.The people of Maharashtranow need to take a decision.Will they choose a nationalistic party that takes pride inserving them or a party that

just serves a family,” askedMr. Shah.

He was addressing a public rally organised by theMumbai unit of the BJP onthe withdrawal of Article370.

The BJP is set to contestthe coming Maharashtraand Haryana Assembly elections on this plank.

Choose nationalistic parties, says Amit ShahBJP kicks off�� Maharashtra campaign

special correspondent

Mumbai

Amit Shah at a meeting in Mumbai on Sunday.

* ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

LOCAL MATTERS A EDITORIAL


The Centre’s move to cutcorporate tax rates from30% to 22% through an ordinance issued on Fridaywill yield tax savings of atleast ₹��37,000 crore for thetop 1,000 listed companies, said Crisil Research inan impact note called ‘Taxs(h)aving’ released on Sunday.

These fi��rms account forover a fourth of the ₹��1.45lakh crore tax revenue lossestimated by the government. The tax savings forthese fi��rms could be evenhigher, Crisil reckoned, asthe ₹��37,000 crore estimateis based on profi��ts beforetax for 201819.

₹��37,000 crore tax savings for top fi��rms

Lalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

CONTINUED ONA PAGE 12

NO TARGET REVISION A PAGE 12

CMYK

A ND-NDE

No leads in Madhu Viharkilling, 30 questionedNEW DELHI

Even after questioning over

30 people, the police are yet

to make a headway in the

murder of a 59yearold

woman, who was shot dead

by bikeborne assailants in

east Delhi’s Madhu Vihar on

Saturday. An offi��cer said on

Sunday that they had

obtained footages from 20

CCTVs along the possible

escape routes taken by the

two assailants after the

murder.

CITY A PAGE 3

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NEARBY

Women molested atrestro-pub; probe onNEW DELHI

Three women were allegedly

molested by a group of men

at a restobar in south Delhi’s

Greater Kailash, the police

said on Sunday. The

complainant posted her

ordeal on social media. DCP

(South) Atul Thakur said, “We

have registered an FIR and

obtained CCTV footage to

ascertain the identity of the

accused.”

CITY A PAGE 3

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The Punjab police on Sunday said it had busted a terrorist module of the revivedKhalistan Zindabad Force(KZF) that was conspiring tounleash a series of terroriststrikes in Punjab and adjoining States.

The module was backedby the Pakistanbased chiefof the KZF, Ranjeet Singh,alias Neeta, and his Germanybased associate, Gurmeet Singh, alias Bagga.

Four persons were arrested and and a huge cache ofarms, including fi��ve AK47rifl��es, pistols, satellitephones and hand grenades,seized.

The module was planningto carry out multiple terrorist strikes in Jammu andKashmir, Punjab and otherStates.

Given the internationallinks and ramifi��cations ofthe conspiracy, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has decided to hand over the investigation to the NationalInvestigation Agency to ensure that the conspiracy isfully and expeditiouslyunravelled.

With initial investigationsrevealing the use of dronesto deliver terrorists weapons and communicationhardware from across theborder, the Chief Minister

urged the Union government to direct the Indian AirForce and the Border Security Force to launch countermeasures to check anythreat from drones to theborder State.

DirectorGeneral of PoliceDinkar Gupta said the weapons were suspected tohave been delivered recently across the border fromPakistan through drones.He said the aim was to scaleup terrorism in J&K, Punjaband the Indian hinterland,in the wake of the recent developments in the Valley.

Neeta and Bagga had reorganised their terrorgroup. “With the help ofsleeper cells, they had spotted, radicalised and recruited local members, besidesarranging funds and sophisticated weapons from acrossthe border,” Mr. Gupta said.

Khalistani terror module busted Initial probe reveals use of drones to deliver weapons

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

Punjab CM Amarinder Singhhas decided to hand overprobe to the NIA.

CMYK

A ND-NDE

DELHI THE HINDU

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CITY

Outside her asbestosroofedtworoom rented house in Vikas Nagar, 40yearold Sheelais worried about how to feedher six children. For manylike her, pottery making isthe only livelihood. But theywere shattered after theSouth Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) had sealed22 pottery units in the areaon September 11 for causingpollution.

“They [offi��cials] came andsealed the furnace last Wednesday. I am really tensedabout what we will eat. Weare not educated and wedon’t know any other job. Ifthere is no work, we will gohungry,” she said and added,“There is no help from thegovernment to convert to gasor electric furnace. How willwe do it then?” Sheela asked.

Across Kumar Colony inVikas Nagar, which houses

around 600 potter families,people said that governmentshould help them in movingto cleaner fuels instead ofshutting them down. Most ofthe potters use earthen furnace to make pots and diyas.

The civic body had sealedthe units for using wood andsawdust and thus causingpollution, following directions from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee

(DPCC). The move came afterthe National Green Tribunal(NGT) asked the DPCC to fi��lean action taken report on anongoing case of alleged pollution due to pottery units operating in the city in April.

“We would inspect thearea again and decide the future course of action,” aDPCC offi��cial told The Hindu,when asked whether moresuch units will be sealed.

Sheela’s husband, Mahaveer Prajapat, 45, from Rajasthan said his family has beenmaking pottery for at leastfi��ve generations now. “Myfather came to Delhi from Alwar and I have been in Delhifor the last 35 years. After aweek, I have starting makingpots since last Wednesdayand plan to use a friend’s furnace,” he said, while puttinga chunk of mud onto the pot

ter’s wheel. “We will have todo something to eat, right?”he said with a sigh.

“We sell one batch ofabout 250300 pots for about₹��4,500,” he said.

A little away from Sheela’shouse, Giriraj Prajapat, 50,whose furnace was alsosealed demanded help fromthe government. “Either giveus another job or move us toanother place or give us sub

sidy or loan to buy electric orgas furnace,” he said.

As a crowd gathered at Giriraj’s house, other potterssaid they feared that theirfurnaces will also be sealed.“Sarkar ko humara kaamdabana nahi chahiye, utha-na chahiye [Governmentshould not destroy our work,but they should uplift it],”said Kuldeep Prajapati, 30,who works as a potter in thecolony.

“Modi government talksabout banning plastic and inthat case people will have touse more of earthen vessels.Still, why are you destroyingpotters?” he asked.

Mohan Kumar, 32, anotherpotter, was worried as hewould be among the next setfacing government action.“We can’t just stop our workand go. What will our children eat? They will also remain illiterate like us,” thefather of two lamented.

Sealing drive in Vikas Nagar renders potters jobless They want government to help them in switching over to cleaner fuels instead of shutting down the pottery units

Women at work in Kumhar Colony, which is home to severalpotters. * SANDEEP SAXENA

Nikhil M Babu

New Delhi

Hari Kishen gives shape to a clay utensil at Kumharon ki Bastiin Bindapur. * V.V. KRISHNAN

Talk: “5G and US China TechnologyConfl��ict” by Prof. ArogyaswamiPaulraj, Emeritus Professor, Stanford University. Chair: Prof. AmbujSagar, Vipula and Mahesh ChaturvediProfessor of Policy Studies & Head,School of Public Policy, IIT, Delhi.The talk will outline what is 5G andwhy it is important from an economicand security perspective at India International Centre , 6:30 p.m.

Exhibition: “Magic of Realism”, asolo painting exhibition by ShuvenduSarkar atIndia Habitat Centre (IHC),11 a.m. 7 p.m.

Exhibition: “Rumination of An Unfettered Mind”, a solo show by LaxmiGupta at Triveni Gallery, Triveni KalaSangam, 205, Tansen Marg, 11 a.m. 8 p.m.(Mail your listings for this columnat [email protected])

DELHI TODAY

The Delhi BJP unit on Sundaylaunched a campaign with aslogan ‘Dilli Bachao BhajpaLao’ in 22 Assembly constituencies to expose the“fraud and failures” of Arvind Kejriwal’s governmentto regularise unauthorisedcolonies.

BJP leaders directly apprised the people in 22 Assembly constituencies ofhow the Kejriwal government has “misled” the people of Delhi in the name ofregularisation.

“At the time of electionspolitical parties make promises but forget it after coming to power. In his electionmanifesto, Mr. Kejriwal hadpromised that unauthorised

colonies will be regularisedand all the basic amenitieswill be provided. However,even after about fi��ve years,he has not done anything,”the State BJP said.

Addressing meetings atBurari, Karawal Nagar andMustafabad constituencies,Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari said, “Kejriwal government does not want to regularise these unauthorisedcolonies. During the last 55months Kejriwal has beenthe cause of suff��erings of people living in these coloniesand now in view of elections,he is trying to becomesympathetic.”

“In 2015, when Delhi government was required tosubmit a report to the UrbanDevelopment Ministry re

garding the regularisation ofunauthorised colonies, Kejriwal demanded two yearstime to submit the report. After two years when the Ministry sought the report, theDelhi government again requested extension of thetime period by two years,”alleged Mr. Tiwari.

Hardeep Puri and the DelhiBJP chief have exposed falsehood of the BJP.

“Till now there was a confusion among people as towhose job is it to regularisethe colonies. And it was responsibility of both the governments. Any colony, inorder to be regularised, hasto fi��rst be provided basic facilities like water, electricityand sewage. Delhi government has played its role ofproviding all basic facilitiesin this colonies and the onlystep left is approval for regularisation, from the Centre,”an AAP spokesperson said.

Mr. Puri said that the Delhi government had fulfi��lledits obligations and now it wasthe Centre who should playits role.

He added that the UrbanDevelopment Ministry tookit seriously and formed acommittee under the LG ofDelhi, adding that the committee submitted its reportwithin three months and onthe basis of it, the process ofregularisation has been started.

“The people living in unauthorised colonies cannotbe left at the mercy of Kejriwal. Central government hasalready framed scheme forregularising these unauthorised colonies and soon thepeople will get the healthservices, education, employment and better living conditions,” Mr. Tiwari said.

Responding to the BJP’scampaign AAP said that Urban Development Minister

Leaders apprise people in 22 constituencies of how govt. has ‘misled’ them in name of regularisation

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

BJP launches campaign to expose AAP govt.’s ‘failures’

<> During the last 55

months Kejriwal

has been the cause

of suff��erings of

people living in

these colonies and

now in view of

elections, he is

trying to become

sympathetic

Manoj Tiwari

Delhi BJP president

On the fourth Sunday of the‘10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute’campaign that the Delhi government has been carryingout against dengue, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the people of Delhi to become champions inthe fi��ght against the diseaseand nominate others on social media to post picturesof themselves checking theirhomes to eliminate breeding of mosquitoes.

CM’s tweet

“Today, after checking myhouse for 10 minutes, Icalled 10 of my friends andencouraged them to check

their houses. This time wehave to defeat dengue.#DilliKeChampion,” the CMtweeted.

He also released a videoof himself checking hishome and urged Delhiites tonot only inspect theirhomes but also post themessage on WhatsAppgroups and write, “I have inspected my house for dengue. You also do the same”.By doing so, he said, Delhiites would become champion against dengue.

The number of denguecases recorded till September 7 stood at 122, with 30 ofbeing reported in the current month and 52 in August.

Be a champion in fi��ghtagainst dengue: Kejriwal122 dengue cases recorded till Sept. 7

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

To tackle the issue of opendefecation in its jurisdiction, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation hasplanned to run public toiletsfree of charge. The civic body has invited tenders forthe operation and maintenance of these units on a‘free user charge’ basis,from interested parties.

ODF certifi��cation

Despite repeated eff��orts, theNorth civic body has failedto receive an Open Defecation Free (ODF) certifi��cation, which forms an important part of the Uniongovernmentinstituted‘swatchatta rankings’. In July, prior to inspections for

ODF certifi��cation, the civicbody had carried out regular inspections and reportedly built 500 extra toiletsto ensure it gets the certifi��cate, but failed to do so. TheSouth and East Delhi Municipal Corporations, on theother hand, have issued thecertifi��cate.

On September 18, tenderswere invited for the maintenance of 131 community toilet complexes with a total of3,029 water closet or toilet.While user charges are typically allowed in order tosupplement the upkeep ofpublic toilets, in the presentcase, the civic body will becovering the charges. TheNorth civic body will bearthe cost of operation, management and maintenance

croachments, proper lighting around the toilet complexes, provision ofdustbins, including separatedisposal of sanitary napkins,provision of soap and washing powder free of chargeand other basic facilities.The toilets will have to beopen round the clock,throughout the year.

The tender also makesspecifi��cations with regard tolabour laws, liabilities onwater and electricity charges and other guaranteeswhich fall upon the contracted agency. Among other instances of default, if theagency charges user fees, itwill be a breach of the agreement with the civic bodyand could lead to termination of the contract.

and the agency will “not bepermitted to take usercharges from users underany circumstances”, thedocument states.

The scheme is being implemented to get rid of the“menace of rampant opendefecation”, it states, addingthat the agency which winsthe contract would be expected to work towards thistarget.

Overall, the estimatedcost of maintaining all units,which have been groupedinto 13 categories, has beenpegged at about ₹��10 crore.

The contracted agencywill be responsible forcleanliness of the facility,mopping on an hourly basis,provision of security, dailyrepairs, prevention of en

North civic body plans to run free public toilets

Estimated cost of maintaining all units has been pegged at about ₹��10 crore

Sidharth Ravi

New Delhi

Overnight rain in parts ofthe Capital brought themercury down, the Met department said on Sunday.

The minimum temperature recorded on Sundaymorning was 23.7 degreesCelsius, a notch below theseason’s average. Humiditywas recorded at 89%.

The Safdarjung observatory, which provides offi��cial fi��gures for the city, recorded 23.4 mm rainfallwhile the Palam observatory recorded 33.4 mmrainfall.

The maximum temperature was recorded at 35.2degrees Celsius while theminimum temperature settled at 26.3 degrees Celsiuson September 21.

The minimum temperature on Monday is likely tobe around 23 degreesCelsius.

Mercury dips withovernight rain


New Delhi

The Delhi government organised its fi��rst musicalconcert of the season withCarnatic music vocalistT.M. Krishna performing atConnaught Place’s CentralPark.

The event titled ‘Awamki Awaz’ is part of the government’s initiative on decentralising art and cultureand making performancesby renowned musicians accessible to people.

“T.M. Krishna is one ofthe most wellknown classical vocalists of India andhis songs always carry amessage of harmony anddiversity. The goal of thisevent is to spread the message of harmony throughculture,” said Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodiawhile inaugurating theevent.

Mr. Krishna performedalong with Jogappas, members of a traditional community of transwomenmusicians.

T.M. Krishnaperforms atAwam ki Awaz

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

A walkathon titled ‘Walk foryour Heart’ was organisedon the occasion of WorldHeart Day in Sector 51 hereon Sunday to spread awareness about heart diseases.

The event, which beganat 6 a.m., saw participationof several hundreds. It wasaimed at informing peoplethat by regulating risk factors, such as unhealthydiet, physical inactivity andtobacco use, one can contain up to 80% of premature deaths.

Starting and culminatingat Artemis Hospitals, thewalkathon covered a 5kmand a 10km route. Theevent also supported thecause ‘My vote – Myresponsibility’.

Devlina Chakravarty,MD, Artemis Global LifeSciences and ManjinderSandhu, Director, Cardiology & Artemis Cardiac CareHospitals, fl��agged off�� theevent.

Walkathonheld on WorldHeart Day

Special Correspondent

GURUGRAM

The Delhi government onSunday said that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalwould be participating inthe C40 Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, scheduledbetween October 9 and 12 atwhich he would be presenting the government’s experience in tackling air pollution in the city.

Mr. Kejriwal is expectedto join leaders of cities likeNew York, London, Paris,Los Angeles and Berlin todeliberate on the climatecrisis impacting the world.

“He will present the initiatives taken by his government that led to 25% reduction in air pollution andexplain how after years ofgaining notoriety as one ofthe world’s mostpollutedcapitals of the world, a major shift was made in the discourse,” the governmentsaid.

It added that the CM is ex

pected to speak on the roleof improved electricity supply, phasing out of generator sets, peripheral highways, crackdown onconstruction sites, increased green cover andmassive reduction in industrial pollution due to shutting down of two thermalpower plants and shifting industry to CNG, apart fromthe oddeven scheme.

Environment MinisterKailash Gahlot said, “It is amoment of pride for Indiathat a leader of the countrywill present a major governance success story beforethe world.”

CM to take part in climatesummit in DenmarkHe will speak on solutions to pollution

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Arvind Kejriwal *

Health Minister SatyendarJain on Sunday alleged thatthere was an incident oftheft at his residence in Saraswati Vihar, the policesaid. A case has been registered.

The police received acall regarding the theftaround 9.30 pm.

The complaint made byMr. Jain’s wife, Poonam,stated that the house hadbeen locked for the past sixmonths and that the neighbour intimated them thatthe main gate seemed to beopen. Mr. Jain also sharedpictures on Twitter showing the ransackedpremises.

Some kitchen and bathroom taps and some showpieces were found missing,the police said, adding thata probe is under way.

Theft atMinister’shouse, caseregistered

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

CMYK

A ND-NDE

THE HINDU DELHI

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CITY

A 33yearold man was arrested for allegedly killinghis wife on suspicion of infi��delity in Rohini’s Prem Nagar, the police said onSunday.

“On Sunday afternoon, aman came to Prem Nagarpolice station and told theduty offi��cer that he hadkilled his wife, Seema, anddumped the body into aseptic tank after choppingit,” said an offi��cer. The policemen then reached thespot where a forensic and acrime team were called. “Abody was found but the torso was missing. When the

accused was further questioned, he said he haddumped the torso in a nearby drain,” the offi��cer added.Aashu said he committedthe crime as he suspectedhis wife of having an aff��airwith someone, the police

said.The couple had a fi��ght on

Saturday over some domestic issue. Following this, hebrought her to their oldhouse in Prem Nagar on thepretext of some work.

He fi��rst hit her with a

brick and then stabbed her,the police said.

Informed in-laws“After the killing, Aashucalled his motherinlaw andsaid he has murdered hiswife. Initially, his inlawsthought it was a prank butwhen they were unable totrace their daughter, theystarted looking for Aashu,”added the offi��cer.

The couple got married10 years ago and is survivedby three daughters. DCP(Rohini) S.D. Mishra said theaccused, who worked at acomputer repair shop, hasbeen arrested under IPCSection 302 (murder).

Man confesses to killing wife over suspicion of infi��delity, heldHe chopped the body, dumped parts into a septic tank and a drain: police

STAFF REPORTER

New Delhi

(From left) Seema; her husband Aashu in police custody.* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Even after questioning over30 people, the police areyet to fi��nd a lead in the murder of a 59yearold womanin east Delhi’s Madhu Vihar,the police said on Sunday.She was shot dead by bikeborne assailants onSaturday.

An offi��cer said they haveobtained 20 CCTVs from thepossible escape routes taken by the two assailants after the murder.

“We have questioned thepeople who hold criminalrecords to get a clue in thecase. CCTVs are beingscanned,” the offi��cer added.

The incident took placewhen the woman was driving her husband to MaxHospital in Vaishali for hisdialysis. “In a CCTV footage

near the crime spot, twomen on a black bike can beseen opening fi��re at the woman. We are tracing the motorbike. It could be the robbers, who live in Ghaziabadand operate in Delhi,” added the offi��cer.

‘Act of desperation’The motive of murder willbe clear only after the accused are nabbed, the police said, adding it could bean act of desperation after afailed robbery attempt.

The victim, Usha Guptafrom Radhey Shyam ParkExtension, worked as assistant manager at New IndiaInsurance company.

A murder case has beenregistered and teams areprobing all angles, including personal enmity, thepolice added.

Eff��orts on to trace assailants’ bike

STAFF REPORTER

New Delhi

No lead in Madhu Vihar killing,over 30 criminals questioned

Five men have been arrestedfor their alleged involvement in cases of ATM theftsin NCR, the police said onSunday.

The accused were nabbedfrom south Delhi’s MaidanGarhi when they were aboutto target an ATM. The gangused to spray paint onCCTVs installed both insideand outside ATM booths toavoid detection, the policesaid.

The accused — Ali Jaan(32), Akhatar Hussain (47),Amir (22), Shamshaad (21) —all from Haryana’s Mewatand Mohammad Waseem(39) from Delhi’s ChandanHola, used to target unguarded ATMs in isolatedplaces, the police said.

On the intervening night

of September 14 and 15, thefi��ve men robbed ₹��28.89 lakhafter cutting open an ATM inAsola using gascutter. Atrap was laid after which Ali,Amir and Hussain werenabbed on Saturday morning after a brief chase, saidDCP (South) Atul KumarThakur.

On their instance, Shamshad and Waseem wereheld.

Criminal historyThe police claimed to haverecovered ₹��2 lakh, three luxury cars, one countrymadepistol with 41 live cartridgesfrom their possession, Mr.Thakur added. Ali was involved in 11 cases, while Hussain and Amir in two caseseach. Shamshad was involved in a case of Arms Act,the police added.

Five held for ATM theftsin city, ₹��2 lakh recoveredAccused used to spray paint on CCTVs

STAFF REPORTER

New Delhi

A 44yearold woman wasbeaten to death allegedly byher landlord and his familymembers over suspicion oftheft in south Delhi’s Mehrauli, the police said on Sunday.

Satish Pahwa (54), his wife,son Pankaj (29) and their helpKamlesh have been arrested,they said. Manju Goyalworked as a cook at Satish’sresidence. The victim’s brother, Mahesh Jindal, called thepolice on Saturday informingthem about the incident.

On Saturday morning, Jindal’s wife received a call fromPahwa, who accused Manju

of theft, the police said. Jindalrushed to Pahwa’s residenceand found that his sister wasbeaten up. He then got her tohis house when she complained of chest pain.

He then called a doctor athis home but Manju succumbed to injuries, the pol

ice said. “Her body has beensent to AIIMS mortuary for apostmortem. The accusedhave been arrested under IPCSection 302 [murder],” saidDCP (South) Atul KumarThakur.

No money foundThe accused said they suspected that Manju had stolen₹��47,000 from the house. Nomoney was found with thevictim, the police said. Thevictim has bruises on her body, said an offi��cer, adding thatmedical report is awaited toascertain the cause of death.Manju is survived by two children.

Landlord kills woman over ‘theft’Accused, his wife, son and help arrested, say police

STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI

Manju Goyal.* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Three women were allegedly molested by a group of men at a restobar insouth Delhi’s Greater Kailash, thepolice said on Sunday.

The complainant posted her ordeal on social media in which she alleged that how she and her friendswere harassed and obscene gestureswere passed at them with no onehelping them.

“Two men sat behind our tableand one of them rested his arm onMy chair. I moved my chair as hisarm was very close to her head. Atdoing this the other man sitting with

him pushed my chair very aggressively, to which I went fl��ying ahead[sic],” the complainant wrote in hersocial media post.

The incident took place at 10.30p.m. and the men left the bar whenthe women informed the police, saidoffi��cials. DCP (South) Atul Thakursaid the complainant alleged that theaccused had made obscene comments after they had an argument.

“We have registered an FIR underIPC Section 354 [molestation]against unknown persons. We haveobtained CCTV footage to ascertainthe identity of the accused,” the offi��cer added.

FIR lodged; victims post incident on social media

STAFF REPORTER

New DELHI

Women allege molestation bygroup at restropub; probe on

Two juveniles have beenapprehended for allegedlykilling a 16yearold boy over some monetary disputein Nabi Karim on Sunday,the police said.

After the incident, thevictim was rushed to a hospital by his friend, who wasalso there at that time of incident, a senior offi��cersaid. The boy was declaredbrought dead at the hospital. The juveniles said thevictim used to often askthem for money, the policeadded.

Minors heldfor stabbingboy to death

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Three criminals travelling in a caropened fi��re at a police team outsideAkshardham metro station during achase, said offi��cials on Sunday.

At 10.45 a.m., a team from Mandawali police station laid a trap tonab a gang, which dupes people oftheir belongings near Akshardhammetro station on the pretext of offering them a ride.“Trap was laid after we got complaints from people

stating that they were robbed by afew men travelling in a white caroutside Akshardham metro station,” said DCP (East) JasmeetSingh.

“There was an exchange of fi��re.No policemen were injured,” Mr.Singh said, adding that the teamchased the accused towards GandhiNagar but they managed to escape.

“A case has been registeredagainst the suspects under relevantSections of IPC,” added Mr. Singh.

Criminals open fi��re at policemen, fl��eeSTAFF REPORTER

New Delhi

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

A ND-NDE

CITY

As Delhi’s civic bodies prepare to biomine their landfi��ll sites, a researchgroup at IITDelhi —professors ManojDatta, G.V. Ramana, T.R. Sreekrishnan and research scholars Mohit Somani and Garima Gupta — workingin the areas of geoenvironment andbiochemical engineering, off��er theirview on the project in an email interview to Sidharth Ravi. Excerpts:

What are some of the diffi��cultiesthat might come up during abiomining exercise and whatwould be their possibleconsequences? ■ Biomining is an appealing solutionas it off��ers the option of progressivereduction in height of waste dumpsand their eventual disappearance. Asmall part of the recovered materialcan be used for recycling or generating energy. The bulk [more than50% to 60%] of the segregated material produced by biomining lookslike soil and gravel. Unfortunately,they contain several contaminantswhich were present in the originalwaste, even though the waste hasundergone biodegradation as well aswashing, due to infi��ltration of rainwater over the years. Reuse or disposal of this ‘contaminated soillike material’ is the biggest challenge. Inseveral countries, this material, often referred to as ‘secondary soil’,have specifi��c guidelines for their off��site applications.

What are the fi��ndings of yourresearch on leachatecharacteristics of ‘soillikematerial’ from Indian landfi��lls? ■ Our study on fourfi��ve Indiandump sites has shown that the soillike material from mining of MSW[municipal solid waste] releasesbrownish leachate when rainwaterpercolates through it. The leachatehas high soluble salts and elevatedheavy metals in comparison to thelocal soil. These fi��ndings are supported by results of overseasresearchers.

If excavated material is usedwithout further processing oruse of liners what wouldhappen?■ If the soillike material is spread inthin layers, say a few inches or lessthan 30 cm, its impact is likely to beminimal. However, if it is placed inthickness of several metres, as in fi��lling lowlying areas or embankments,or tens of metres, as in deepmined

pits, the contaminants can aff��ect thesubsoil as well as the groundwaterthrough colouration, increase in salinity and elevation of heavy metals.In such cases, the importance of liner systems, cover systems and leachate collection systems cannot beunder emphasised.

What kind of diffi��culties may befaced in fi��lling a mine withexcavated landfi��ll material?■ The base of deep pits, created bymining in the past, is close to thegroundwater table. The fracturesand fi��ssures in the base rock act likesmall conduits interconnected to thegroundwater. Placing excavated andsegregated soillike material fromlandfi��lls on the base of these pits, inclose proximity of the water table,without polluting it, is a dauntingtask. Single liners such as clay, geomembranes or geosynthetic clay liners alone would not be enough tostop leakages. Double composite liner systems, with leachate collectionas well as leakage detection systems(similar to those used at the base ofhazardous waste landfi��lls) would bedesirable. Placing such liners alongthe steep side slopes of the pits aswell as along the jagged base of thepit would be complex andexpensive.

Any other observation on theexercise being undertaken bythe municipal corporations ofDelhi…■ Biomining is a slow process involving the use of rotating screens(trommels) to segregate the material. A critical step relates to dryingof the wet excavated waste byspreading and aeration (sundrying)prior to screening. This is a naturalprocess which takes time. Trommelscreening of dry waste is desirablefor good quality of segregation, butit produces dust. If the waste is notdried adequately, it forms lumpsand clods which clog the screens oftrommels. A fi��ne balance is neededto prevent dust emissions or the entire operation has to be performedunder a gigantic cover. The processcan be hastened by using severaltrommel screening plants concurrently, if adequate land area is available. But it is still likely to take several years to process the entire wasteat any large dump site of 50 mheight, keeping in view the fact thatoperations are interrupted duringthe monsoon season.

‘Reuse of contaminatedmaterial biggest challenge’ Study by research group at IITDelhi sayscontaminants may aff��ect subsoil andgroundwater if not treated cautiously

The infamous garbage hillsof Delhi — at Okhla,Bhalswa and Ghazipur —

will soon be “biomined” in order to have them cleared.

The landfi��lls are proposed tobe dug up and the garbage, after processing, would either berecycled, or sent to fi��ll up theabandoned Bhatti Mines on theborder of south Delhi, or beused as road construction material. But without clarity onthe toxicity levels of what willbe dug up and sent to themines, there remains a risk ofcontaminating a whole newarea, especially if done withoutadequate safeguards.

A study by researchers at IITDelhi, recently published in theJournal of Hazardous, Toxicand Radioactive Waste — ‘Leachate Characteristics of AgedSoilLike Material from MSWdumps: Sustainability of Landfi��ll Mining’ — tackles exactlythis question. Through multiple mined samples from threelandfi��lls in diff��erent parts of India, including the one at Okhla,the study determines the presence of dangerous levels oftoxicity in the leachate (darkcoloured liquid producedwhen water seeps through garbage) produced from such excavated and processed landfi��llmaterial.

The exercise of biominingand bioremediating the landfi��lls was ordered by the National Green Tribunal in July. Basedon the reported success of similar work carried out by the Indore Municipal Corporation atits landfi��ll site, the tribunal instructed the three municipalcorporations of Delhi to beginthe project on their landfi��lls byOctober 1. And fi��nish clearingthem within a year.

The cost of carrying out thework at all three sites, estimated at ₹��250 crore by the court,has been set aside in an escrowaccount. The NGT has instructed that this amount would beforfeited if satisfactory progress is not shown within sixmonths.

‘Capping’ ruled outWhile passing the order, theNGT cited multiple reports ofgroundwater pollution, fi��rebreakouts, festering of unhygienic conditions and an increase in air pollution causedby such landfi��lls across thecountry. Taking cognisance ofthe hazards of such dump siteson public health and the environment, it was determinedthat they must be cleared at theearliest. To this end, the tribunal rejected the alternative ofan engineered “capping” of thelandfi��lls.

According to the guidelinesof the Central Pollution Control

Board, presented to the NGT,“Capping of dump sites was notadvisable as it would lead togeneration of more leachateand methane gas which wouldfurther contaminate the already heavily contaminatedgroundwater.” Such cappingcould only be allowed in thecomplete absence of potentialof biomining and bioremediation, the NGT observed.

The Indore exampleThe case of the Indore Municipal Corporation, which had reportedly cleared 15 lakh metrictonnes of a landfi��ll site withinone year through biomining,was cited to recommend thesame. Asad Warsi, who assistedin the Indore model and presented the case to the tribunal,explained the process thus: thematerial after being excavatedand aerated for decompositionwas put through trommels (alarge sieve tube) to segregate it.Construction and demolitionmaterial thus separated wassent to cement plants, whileothers like cloth and plasticwere used as refusederivedfuel. The remaining soillikematerial was spread out overthe area of the landfi��ll.

While multiple studies haveshown that such soillike material constitutes 50%60% of thelandfi��ll, in terms of volume it

would be only about 30%, Mr.Warsi claimed.

The project carried out in Indore was also used to recommend similar works in Ahmedabad and Gurugram.However, the scale of work tobe carried out in Delhi, wherethe three landfi��lls have a combined capacity of 2.8 crore metric tonnes of garbage, spreadover 152 acres of land, and theplan to fi��ll the abandonedmines to attempt aff��orestationwould be a fi��rst of its kind, saidMr. Warsi, who has been ropedin as a consultant by the Delhicivic bodies.

‘Safeguards needed’As part of the study, varioustests for toxicity were performed on leachate produced ina lab from soillike material,which was dried, mixed andscreened after being from collected from landfi��lls in Hyderabad, Delhi and Kadapa. Resultsof these tests were comparedwith water passed through regular soil, collected from 5 kmaround the landfi��ll. The studyshowed that heavy metal concentration was up to 96% higher

in the soillike material. Othercharacteristics and elementssuch as hardness, calcium, magnesium, sulfates, chlorides, bromides, organic matter, alkalinityand ammoniacal nitrogen wereall found to be in much higherconcentration.

“We can expect that about20% of the landfi��ll will probablybe toxic,” Mr. Warsi conceded. Itwould perhaps also be ladenwith heavy metals given the sizeof the city and the age of thelandfi��lls, he added. While the oldest landfi��ll at Ghazipur hasbeen operational since 1984, theone at Bhalswa has been operational since 1993 and the one atOkhla since 1994.

A lot of unchecked hazardousmaterial not supposed to bedumped at landfi��lls may havefound its way here, he explained. This would aff��ect thetoxicity of the soillike materialwhich would be derived fromthe landfi��lls. But to make sure itdoesn’t contaminate the mine itis shifted to, safeguards such assandwiching the material between layers of soil and geosynthetic clay liners would be undertaken, he said.

However, the quality of theseliners, the diffi��culty of layingthem inside a mine and the riskof leachate collecting at the bottom of the pit over time wouldhave to be kept in mind, said experts.

Apart from this, Mr. Warsi also suggested that certain varieties of trees could be plantedover the site to absorb toxic material. However, here too, the level of penetration of the rootsinto the soil and their ability toabsorb heavy metals will haveto be considered. In any case,Mr. Warsi said that the solutionwith the least environmentallyhazardous impact had to bechosen.

While such techniques, possibly unaccounted for costs, maybe deployed to safely dispose ofthe waste in the country’s capital, similar safeguards will alsohave to be kept in mind whiledealing with biomining exercises set to start across the country.The NGT in its order has also directed all municipal corporations in the country to carry outsimilar projects, starting November 1, one month after thework commences in Delhi.

Can Delhi dispose of its garbage hills?The green tribunal’s directive to biomine landfi��ll sites at Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur has prompted experts to question the

risks involved in the process. Sidharth Ravi probes the pros and cons of the proposed exercise

INTERVIEW

The trommel machine being installedat Ghazipur landfi��ll. * PRASHANT SONI

A view of the Bhalswalandfi��ll. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Fortyyearold software engineer Nidhee Pathak, a mother of two, had diffi��culty dropping her children to schoolevery morning. Though thetwo study at a school a fewhundred meters away fromtheir house in The Palms, thefootpaths in the South CityI,the township, are encroached upon leaving littlespace for them to walk. Manyparents in the group housingsociety face similar problem.

With authorities failing totake action, Ms. Pathak,along with 60 other residents, including women andchildren, decided to take it

upon themselves to work outa solution to this. They wentfrom doortodoor on Unitech Patio Road in South CityI on Sunday morning,making a request to the bun

galowdwellers to remove encroachments along the roadand give enough space forpedestrians to walk.

The residents also plan tohand over a petition to the lo

cal authorities concerned.“While the footpaths in

the township are encroachedupon by those residing inbungalows by fencing thegreen area outside theirhouse and by parking theircars, there is no place left forthe pedestrians to walk. It isdiffi��cult for the parents toeven walk up to the school inthe neighbourhood to droptheir kids. Residents cannoteven walk up to the HUDA City Centre metro station,which is just a few metersaway. There are no speedbreakers in the area and themotorists drive at a menacingspeed posing danger to thepedestrians. A child and a

park their cars other than thefootpaths. Mr. Tambi saidthat he had been staying inGurugram for more than adecade and the problem ofencroachment on footpathswas rampant.

Associate Director, Nagarro, Sarika Panda, an urbanplanning expert, said thatwalking was the largest modeof transport in Gurugram butpedestrians were the mostvulnerable as they formedthe highest proportion of people who got killed everyyear in road traffi��c crasheswhich was around 200 people. She said that it was timeto give them their due sharein infrastructure design.

vendor were killed and a woman was injured in an accident recently,” said Ms.Pathak.

Mixed responseThe residents implored thebungalow owners to leave atleast four feet wide space adjacent to the road for pedestrians. However, they got amixed response.

Amit Tambi, 48, who wasalso part of the campaign,said that many were notaware that they were causingproblems to the pedestriansunwittingly and agreed to cooperate. But some expressedtheir inability saying thatthey did not have space to

Encroachments on South CityI footpaths leave no space for pedestriansResidents go doortodoor, request bungalow owners to remove encroachments; they also plan to hand over a petition to authorities

Residents implore bungalow owners to leave at least four feetwide space for pedestrians . * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Ashok Kumar

GURUGRAM

Police offi��cials have soughtshifting of Ghazipur andBhalswa police stations to“less polluted” areas, sayingthe smoke emanating fromthe landfi��lls is harmful forhealth.

They claimed that twopolice offi��cers of the Ghazipur police station died dueto lung infection from201317.

While Ghazipur policestation falls in the east district, Bhalswa Dairy policestation falls under the outernorth district of the Delhi

police administrativearrangement.

“We have written to thepolice headquarters andasked them to shift the police station from its currentplace to a less pollutedarea,” said a senior police offi��cer of the east district.

However, sources at thepolice headquarters saidthat the shifting of policestations is not a feasibleidea.

Sources said governmentbodies give them land andthey cannot have a policestation outside the area ofits jurisdiction.

Call to shift police stationsaway from landfi��lls ‘Two offi��cers died due to lung infection’


New Delhi

CMYK

A ND-NDE

NORTHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI


Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 9 ● No. 226

0DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested toverify and make appropriate enquiries tosatisfy themselves about the veracity ofan advertisement before responding toany published in this newspaper. THGPUBLISHING PVT LTD., the Publisher &Owner of this newspaper, does not vouchfor the authenticity of any advertisementor advertiser or for any of the advertiser’sproducts and/or services. In no event canthe Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Dir-ector/s, Employees of this newspaper/company be held responsible/liable inany manner whatsoever for any claimsand/or damages for advertisements inthis newspaper.

DELHI Timings

Monday, Sept. 23

RISE 06:10 SET 18:17

RISE 00:00 SET 14:13

Tuesday, Sept. 24

RISE 06:10 SET 18:16

RISE 00:56 SET 15:09

Wednesday, Sept. 25

RISE 06:11 SET 18:15

RISE 02:00 SET 16:01

The Jannayak Janata Party,the breakaway faction of theIndian National Lok Dal, onSunday sounded the poll bugle for the upcoming Assembly elections in Haryanaby holding a “Jan SammanDivas” rally in Rohtak tomark the birth anniversaryof its ideologue, late DeviLal.

Hitting out at the rulingBharatiya Janata Party government, former Lok SabhaMP and JJP’s senior leaderDushyant Chautala accusedthe party of “befooling” thepeople of the State for thelast fi��ve years by failing tofulfi��l any of its electoralpromises.

Exhorting the people tothrow out the “arrogant” BJPgovernment, Mr. Chautala al

leged that under its regimeall sections of society havebeen suff��ering, be it theyouth, farmers, women, businessmen or others.

‘Give JJP a chance’“The BJP has hit the peoplehard by bringing strict punishment under the new traffi��c rules, women are not feeling safe due to high rate ofcrime against them, oldagedare not getting pensions,” al

leged Mr. Chautala. He urgedthe people to give the JJP achance to serve and promised to ensure allrounddevelopment of the State.

After the split in the Indian National Lok Dal, theJJP has been trying to claimthe legacy of its founder,Chaudhary Devi Lal. TheINLD saw a split in 2018 aftera bitter power struggle between brothers Ajay Chautalaand Abhay Chautala. Amidthe family feud, Ajay and hisson Dushyant Chautala fl��oated the JJP.

JJP sounds the poll bugle inHaryana, holds rally in RohtakParty blasts the BJP government in the State for ‘nonperformance’


CHANDIGARH <> BJP befooling the

people of the State

for the last fi��ve

years by failing to

fulfi��l any of its

electoral promises

Dushyant Chautala

Senior JJP leader

A group of 13 alleged accomplices of fugitive Haryanagangster Vikram Gujjar aliasPapla were handcuff��ed andparaded in undergarmentsthrough the roads of Alwardistrict’s Behror town by thepolice on Sunday. The police, who are yet to arrest Vikram, claimed that the parade would instil faithamong the public about thecapability of law enforcement agencies.

Vikram, 28, had fl��ed fromthe Behror police station onSeptember 6 in a daredevilact, when more than a dozen persons stormed intothe building and opened indiscriminate fi��re at the lockup. He was earlier detainedfor questioning after the police intercepted his SUV andseized ₹��31.90 lakh from him

during night patrolling.Police have announced a

reward of ₹��1 lakh for information leading to the arrestof Vikram, who remains atlarge. During the raids in different towns and villages ofHaryana, Uttar Pradesh andthe National Capital Regionin the last two weeks, theSpecial Operations Group ofRajasthan police has arrested about 20 alleged accomplices of Vikram.

A large police team, led byBhiwadi Superintendent ofPolice Amandeep Singh Kapoor, paraded 13 of the arrested persons — handcuff��edand in undergarments —from the government highersecondary school grounds tothe police station throughthe roads in Behror. Each ofthem carried a reward of₹��50,000 on his head.

Eyewitness accounts said

while the police offi��cerswere trying to get clues fromthe suspected criminalsabout their escape routesand hideouts, the crowdwhich gathered on eitherside of the road clapped, ridiculed the accused and tookpictures and made video recordings of the parade ontheir mobile phones.

Large police teamA large number of armedpolicemen and the personnel from SOG, Quick Response Team and AntiTerrorism Squad formed part ofthe parade. SOG AdditionalSP Karan Sharma and Behror Deputy SP Atul Sahu alsowalked in the parade.

As the parade’s videoswent viral on the social media, several persons expressed outrage over the actof police.

‘Would instil faith of people in law enforcement agencies’


JAIPUR

Gangster’s aides paraded inundergarments by police

A farmer carries paddy after harvesting rice in Budgam district of Kashmir on Sunday. * NISSAR AHMAD



Life as usual

A 40yearold Dalit man wasbeaten to death for allegedlystealing a water pump in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar district,police said on Sunday.

The incident took place inGhatoli area on Saturdaymorning, when a 60yearold man, his two sons, andsome other unidentifi��ed people thrashed DhulichandMeena of Mewakheda village, alleging that he stole awater pump from theirfi��elds, Station House Offi��cerNainuram Meena said.

When Dhulichand was onhis way to a nearby village,Purilal Tanwar, his sons, Devi Singh (23) and Mohan (20)and the other men confronted him, the SHO said.

He said a heated exchangebetween Dhulichand andthe group of men over thestolen hand pump soonturned violent and he was

beaten up badly.Dhulichand’s father

reached the spot and tookhis injured son home. Later,his condition deterioratedand he was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead,the SHO said.

He said preliminary investigation revealed that Tanwar and his sons had on Friday complained about thetheft to Dhulichand’s father,who reprimanded his sonand asked Tanwar to lodge apolice complaint againsthim.

Booked for murderA case under Section 302(murder) of the IPC and theSC/ST Act has been registered against Tanwar, hissons and seven unidentifi��edmen, the SHO said.

Dhulichand’s body washanded over to his family after a postmortem.

Man beaten to death for‘stealing water pump’FIR fi��led against 10 in Jhalawar

press trust of india

Kota

Two policemen have beentaken off�� from the investigation of a gangrape case of aDalit girl in Uttar Pradesh’sKaushambi district and sentto police lines over allegations that they misbehavedwith the complainant, an offi��cer said on Sunday.

The 16yearold was allegedly gangraped on Saturday at a village under the Sarai Akil police station limitsand the accused also recorded a video of the act, Superintendent of Police Pradeep Gupta said.

He said the villagers accused the police of “misbehaving with the aggrievedside”, following which SubInspector Deepak Guptaand Head Constable Ramnath Yadav were sent to pol

ice lines. The role of another poli

ceman, Station House Offi��cer Manish Pandey, is beingprobed by the circle offi��cerof Manjhanpur, the SP said.

Narrating the sequence ofevent, the SP said, the girlwas collecting fodder at aneighbouring village for herlivestock when three menallegedly attacked her.

One accused caughtThey then allegedly draggedher to an isolated place andraped her, the SP said.

When the girl raised analarm, some villagersreached the spot and caughtone of the accused, whilethe other two managed toescape, he said.

The villagers beat up theman and handed him overto the police.

2 policemen taken off��gangrape probe in U.P.Duo ‘misbehaved’ with complainant

Press trust of india

Kaushambi

At Rajgirbased Nalanda University in Bihar, a new research entitled “Aquifer Storage & Recovery forSustainable Agriculture”(ASRA) is being carried outby the School of Ecology andEnvironment Studies tocreate a model of “AquiferStorage and Recovery” (ASR)technology using fl��oodwaters to provide an opportunity to farmers to raise theirincome.

The research is being undertaken with support from

the Australian Centre for International AgricultureResearch.

The model aims to helpfarmers of south Bihar toraise their income throughagriculture and allied activities with the help of assuredirrigation from reuse of water stored beneath the surface during episodes of highrainfall, runoff��s and waterlogging.

“The project will benefi��tfarmers by making them coparticipants in the process...widespread recharge activities during the rainy season

over several years is likely tobuild up an undergroundwater bank...ASRA researchwill reveal if there is a net recharge of aquifers and ifthere is a positive impact onthe natural water systems related to underground aquifers,” said a Nalanda University note.

‘Avant-garde courses’“Innovative research is theonly way forward for a global institution such as Nalanda. Our eff��ort therefore hasbeen to have avantgardecourses at the University and

research aimed at buildingnew regional structures withglobal peace and growth inthe direction of development through emerging newresearch,” said Prof. SunainaSingh, ViceChancellor ofthe University.

Aquifer mapThe university research is essentially focussed on converging water solutions thatprimarily address the irrigation needs of an agrariancommunity but could alsoprovide drinking water security with appropriate safe

guards. The project would also

deliver a comprehensiveaquifer map for rechargeand estimation of the potential injection of surface waterinto the selected aquifer.

“A model for implementation, including awareness,local capacity and chain offacilities, will be available ina manual to ensure sustainability of the technology andwider adoption in the regionin areas with similar hydrological characteristics,” theUniversity note on the research further said.

New research at Nalanda varsity to raise farmers’ incomeAssured irrigation from water stored beneath the surface during high rainfall and waterlogging

Special correspondent

patna

Five persons were killedand ten others injuredwhen a bus in which theywere travelling collidedwith a truck in Ajmer district of Rajasthan on Sunday, police said.

The incident happenedin Mangliawas area.

Those injured have beenadmitted to a hospital inBeawar town, police said.

Eff��orts are on to ascertain the identity of the deceased persons, they said.

5 killed inRajasthanaccident


jaipur

Union Minister Giriraj Singhon Sunday gave a dressingdown to a government offi��cial in his Lok Sabha constituency here for apparentlyshowing reluctance to alightfrom a vehicle while speaking with him.

On Sunday morning,while he was travelling on

foot, accompanied by supporters, the car of Nishant,Sub Divisional Offi��cer ofTeghra, pulled up close by.

When Mr. Singh addressed the offi��cial, he replied from within the car.

The BJP leader got soreand remarked, “Why wouldhe alight from his vehicle.He is a babu. I greet himwith folded hands.”

Giriraj rebukes offi��cial Press trust of india

Begusarai (Bihar)

Two women and a fouryearold girl died and 50others took ill after drinking water from a handpump in Chanhia Kala village in Madhya Pradesh’sChhindwara district on Saturday evening, an offi��cialsaid.

Those who drank fromthe handpump complained of uneasiness,vomiting and loose motions, Additional CollectorRajesh Shahi said, addingthat 25 people are still admitted to hospital while therest have been discharged.

“Ramauli Usrethe, 80,Meera, 50, and child Rishina Evanati died after drinking water from a handpump located in villageChanhia Kala village in Pindaraikala on Saturday. Water may have been contaminated,” he said.

Handpumpwater provesfatal for three


Chhindwara (M.P.)

The Aam Aadmi Party released a list of 22 candidates here on Sunday forthe next month’s Assemblypolls in Haryana.

Three women have fi��gured in the list released byAAP’s Haryana unit president Naveen Jaihind.

In the Lok Sabha polls,AAP had an electoral understanding with the Jannayak Janata Party. But after the Lok Sabha debacle,in which the alliance failedto win even a single seat,both parties parted ways.

AAP releaseslist of 22candidates


Chandigarh

Two newborn girls weredrowned in a pond by theirparents in an Uttar Pradeshvillage, with the fatherclaiming that they killed the20dayold twins as theycould not bear theirexpenses.

Parents arrestedWaseem, a daily wager, andhis wife Nazma were arrested on Sunday for killingAfrin and Afi��ya at Bhikki village here, Station House Offi��cer Ajay Kumar said.

“Our fi��nancial conditionis very weak. We could nothave borne the expenses forour two daughters,” Waseem, who has a sevenyearold son, told police.

The couple had an argument on Saturday night following which the newbornswere thrown by them in thepond near their house, theSHO said, adding that thetwins drowned.

The father lodged a missing complaint on Sundaymorning, but during investigation it was found that thetwins had been killed, Mr.Kumar said.

Waseem, in the complaint, said when he woke

up this morning, he foundhis daughters missing, theoffi��cer said.

The parents have beenbooked under Indian PenalCode sections 302 (murder)and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of off��ence,or giving false information toscreen off��ender), Mr. Kumarsaid.

Bodies recoveredThe bodies were recoveredand sent for postmortem,he said.

“The parents have confessed to killing their daughters,” Mr. Kumar said.

Residents of the villagesaid Waseem was angry overthe birth of two girls and frequently fought with his wifeover it.

Parents drown 20dayoldtwin daughters in U.P. villageFather tries to mislead police by fi��ling missing complaint


Muzaffarnagar <> Our fi��nancial

condition is very

weak. We could

not have borne the

expenses for our

two daughters

Waseem

father of the dead twins

The police in Bihar’s Bhojpur district on Sunday attached the properties ofRJD MLA Arun Yadav, whois absconding in connection with a case of sexualabuse of a minor girl, a senior police offi��cer said.

The process of attachingthe RJD MLA’s property athis native village Lasarhibegan this morning amidtight security, the offi��cersaid.

“The properties belonged to MLA Arun Yadavlocated at his native villageLasarhi were attached today,” Additional Superintendent of Police (Operations) Nitin Kumar said.

The move comes days after Sessions Judge R.K.Singh, who holds thecharge of special POCSOcourt, issued the NBWagainst Yadav following anapplication fi��led by police.

Properties ofabscondingMLA attached


Ara (Bihar)

The Rajasthan governmenthas transferred 70 IAS offi��cers, including 10 districtcollectors, according to anoffi��cial order.

The Offi��cer on SpecialDuty to former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje wasamong those transferredon Saturday night.

Additional Chief Secretary, Administrative Reforms, Ravishankar Srivastava has been madechairman of the RajasthanState Road TransportCorporation.

Additional Chief Secretary, Industries, SubodhAgrawal has been givenMSME dept. in addition tohis existing departmentswhile principal secretary,MSME, Alok was transferred as MD of RSRTC.

70 IAS offi��cerstransferred inRajasthan


Jaipur

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


EAST

A group of students fromIndian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes ofManagement and NationalInstitutes of Technologyhave expanded the scopeof their “careershaping”examination and scholarship to urban centres in theNortheast.

The group from thesethree institutes had startedthe “one nation, one exam”National Level CommonEntrance Examination(NLCEE) for Classes IX toXII this year. About 22,000students appeared for thefi��rst exam on March 31 conducted at 62 centres acrossIndia.

“This time, we have included all tier 2 and tier 3cities in the Northeast asour examination centresfor better penetration andopportunity to underprivileged students in geographicallychallenged areas. Weare also off��ering an additional scholarship of up to₹��60,000 to deserving students, besides an opportunity to visit research anddevelopment centres suchas Indian Space ResearchOrganisation and IITs for 315 days,” NLCEE’s overallcoordinator Ullas M.S., anNIT Karnataka product,told The Hindu.

Scholarshipschemeexpanded


GUWAHATI

CBI offi��cials on Sunday intensifi��ed their operations to locate former city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar whohas been evading summonsin connection with the multicrore Saradha ponzi scam.

Separate teams of CBI offi��cials visited Alipore Bodyguard Lines and Mr. Kumar’s

offi��cial residence on ParkStreet.

Since the Calcutta HighCourt withdrew the protection granted to Mr. Kumarfrom the CBI taking any coercive action against him, offi��cials of the probe agencymounted the operation totrace him.

Mr. Kumar is currently theState CID’s Additional Direc

tor General.Teams of the special crime

branch of the CBI had visitedthe offi��ce of the CID at Bhabani Bhavan and variousparts of the city to ascertainthe whereabouts of Mr. Kumar on Saturday. The AliporeDistrict and Sessions courthad on Saturday rejected hisanticipatory bail plea.

Mr. Kumar is alleged to

have suppressed evidencecrucial for the investigationinto the scam. The State police has informed the CBI thatMr. Kumar is on leave fromSeptember 9 to 25.

The Saradha group ofcompanies allegedly dupedlakhs of people of ₹��2,500crore promising higher ratesof return on their investments.

CBI intensifi��es search for Rajeev Kumar Teams visited Alipore Bodyguard Lines, his offi��cial residence on Park Street


Kolkata

Three persons were killedand two injured in separateincidents of lightning strikein West Bengal’s Malda district on Sunday, a seniorpolice offi��cer said.

Superintendent of PoliceAlok Rajoria said Hussain

Alia of Paranpur Uportolavillage, Anarul Haque ofChunakhali Parampur village and Sk Hassain ofChandpur Karbala villagedied when lightning struckthem while they were working in the fi��eld. Two personswere injured in Chandpurvillage, the SP said.

Lightning kills three in Malda Press Trust of India

Malda (W.B.)

Gurkhas excluded from Assam’s updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) willnot go to the Foreigners’ Tribunals to prove their citizenship, an umbrella organisation of the community saidon Sunday.

Defamation casesThe Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha (BGP), representing10.5 million members of thecommunity across India,justifi��ed its stand saying thegovernment had no right totry Indians in such tribunalsmeant for foreigners.

“The Gurkhas of Assamwill not go to the Foreigners’Tribunals to prove their citi

zenship, as being tried insuch tribunals is an insult totheir identity as Indians. Wecan fi��le defamation casesagainst the system of challenging the citizenship ofGurkhas and Nepalispeaking people,” organisation’spresident Sukhman Moktansaid.

Based on data providedby its local units across the33 districts of Assam, theBGP said more than 1 lakh

Gurkhas had been excludedfrom the fi��nal NRC published on August 31. A totalof 19.06 lakh people out of3.3 crore applicants havebeen kept out of it.

Mr. Moktan said the BGPleaders had been touring Assam to meet the NRC victimsand those marked D ordoubtful voters and theirdescendants.

Exemption notice“The NRC guidelines say theGurkhas whose citizenshiphas been challenged need togo to the Foreigners’ Tribunals despite a notifi��cation ofexemption by the Ministryof Home Aff��airs. This is anattempt of a few vested interests within the system to

disrespect Indian Gurkhaswho are actually original inhabitants as is proved by ourhistorically and mythologically recorded presencesince centuries,” Mr. Moktansaid.

BGP secretary generalNirmal Kumar Pun said: “NoIndian Gurkha should be leftout of the NRC. As a vigilantcivil society organisation,we will play a vital role as itis a judiciary monitoredprocess.”

Nanda Kirati Dewan,BGP’s national secretary,said the organisation hadasked the State governmentto form an empowered committee comprising MHA offi��cials to dispose of the NRCexcluded cases.

NRC-excluded Gurkhas inAssam to shun tribunals‘Govt. has no right to try Indians in such tribunals meant for foreigners’


GUWAHATI <> This is an attempt

of a few vested

interests within the

system to

disrespect Indian

Gurkhas

Sukhman Moktan

Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangha president

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THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE

WEST

Visiting Mumbai, a day afterannouncement of Assemblypolls in Maharashtra, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) presidentAmit Shah on Sunday chosenot to meet Shiv Sena chiefUddhav Thackeray maintaining secrecy over whether ornot both parties will contestthe election as an alliance.

Addressing a public rally inGoregaon, Mr. Shah announced that Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis wouldcontinue at the post even afterthe polls. The BJP presidentwent on to say that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)would get threefourth majority in the Assembly of 288seats. While his reference tothe NDA has sent mix signals,Mr. Shah did not mention ShivSena in his speech. This is being viewed as a snub to the Sena which is projecting AadityaThackeray, son of party chiefUddhav Thackeray, as its nominee for the CM’s post.

“The Fadnavis governmentworked alongside NarendraModi government at theCentre. The Modi government

got a second term and I amclear voters have made uptheir minds to give Fadnavisanother term,” Mr. Shahsaid.

However, throughout theday Mr. Shah did not holdany political meeting eitherwith the BJP leaders or withMr. Thackeray, as speculated. It was widely believedthat the meeting betweenboth the leaders would ironout any wrinkles in their

partnership and an alliancebetween two parties wouldbe fi��nalised.

The Sena chief has already said that he is hopeful ofan alliance with the BJPwhile Mr. Fadnavis too hassaid that both parties willcontest as part of a coalition.Mr. Thackeray has also saidthat the seatsharing formula for the Assembly polls wasdecided by himself, Mr. Fadnavis and Mr. Shah before

Lok Sabha polls. Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai onFriday said that the Senawould accept the number ofseats given to it by the BJP.

Intense speculation iscontinuing on the number ofseats each part would contest, with the latest versionbeing BJP would contest 162seats with Sena contestingon 126. The smaller partieswould be accommodatedfrom BJP’s quota.

Senior Sena leader Divakar Raote had said that partyexpects 50:50 seat sharingformula and failing to do sowould result in the breakingof the alliance. The BJP however has retorted by sayingthose not part of the seatsharing talks should not getinvolved.

NDA will get three-fourth majority: Shah BJP president does not name Shiv Sena in speech; no meeting with Uddhav

Shadow of Kashmir?: Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s face is shadowed by his fi��sts as hegestures during a speech at a rally in Mumbai on Sunday. * ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

Staff Reporter

Mumbai

Monsoon of 2019 has been very diff��erent. After a twoweekdelay in arrival, its withdrawal from Mumbai and Maharashtra is also delayed and islikely to stretch into October.Light showers are expected tocontinue till then even as thedays are getting sunny inMumbai.

This year, monsoon arrived in Kerala a week lateand in Mumbai two weeks later than the projected onsetdate. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared on June 25 that monsoon had arrived in Mumbaiand entire Maharashtra.

So far, Mumbai has received 3603.7mm rainfall, or143.35% of annual average. Inthe 24 hours leading upto8.30 a.m. on Sunday, Mumbaireceived only 0.8mm rainfall.There was some scatteredrain in Mumbai on Sunday.However, maximum temperatures remained on thewarmer side, with Sunday recording 33.3 degrees Celsius.This is three degrees abovenormal.

Normally, withdrawal ofmonsoon starts around Sep

tember 1 from west Rajasthan. However, that has nothappened so far this seasonand the weather conditionsare not conducive for it tohappen in the next few days.Some of the conditions thatmeteorologists look at include, absence of rain for fi��vedays straight, increase in temperature, and reduction inhumidity. IMD has forecastvery light to light rains forMumbai, Thane, Palghar, Raigad until Thursday and hasforecast similar daytime temperatures for Mumbai.

When asked about thewithdrawal of monsoon fromthe State, K.S. Hosalikar, deputy director general, IMD,

said, “There is depressionformed in Arabian Sea, sowithdrawal will not happenfor next couple of days.”

Mahesh Palawat, vicepresident (meteorology and climate change) at private forecaster Skymet Weather said,“Withdrawal of monsoon isdelayed this season. Rightnow, the easterlies are still active and humidity has not reduced and therefore, theweather conditions have notbuilt up yet in west Rajasthanfor withdrawal. It may happen in fi��rst week of Octoberfollowing which it will coverentire India including Maharashtra. In 2011, withdrawalhad happened in late Septem

ber and in 2010, it happenedin October.”

Akshay Deoras, a meteorologist and Ph.D. researcherat the University of Reading,U.K., who has been trackingthe monsoon closely, said,“Withdrawal from westernRajasthan is expected to commence by September 27. However, the offi��cial declarationmight happen only in earlyOctober due to which monsoon’s withdrawal this yearwill be delayed by a monthfrom its normal date of September 1. Thereafter, we canexpect a rapid withdrawal ofthe monsoon from parts ofnorthwest and central India.In Maharashtra, rainfall activity will start terminating fromearly October and we can expect the withdrawal to startfrom the second week.”

Meanwhile, an IMD pressrelease issued at 11.15 a.m. onSunday said a depression inthe Arabian Sea off�� Gujaratcoast could intensify into adeep depression in the next12 hours, and a cyclonicstorm in 24 hours. This couldresult in lead to light to moderate rainfall at many placeswith isolated heavy falls overSaurashtra and Kutch.

Extended monsoon likely to linger till Oct.Weather conditions not conducive over west Rajasthan for withdrawal to begin

Tanvi Deshpande

Mumbai

In this monsoon season, Mumbai has so far received 3603.7mm of rainfall, or 143.35% of its annual average. * FILE PHOTO

Congress MP Shashi Tharoorslammed the BJP for thesurge in moblynchingdeaths since the party’s ascendancy following the 2014elections and said its idea ofHinduism was a “narrow political ideology” with no connection to its beliefs.

Addressing a session organised by the All India Professional Congress (AIPC) inthe city, Mr. Tharoor, criticised Union Home MinisterAmit Shah for his push to impose Hindi as a common language over regional ones,saying Mr. Shah’s pitch for“one nation one language”was inimical for unity.

Detailing the number ofmoblynching deaths since2014, Mr. Tharoor said:“What have we seen in thepast six years? It started withthe killing of [IT professional] Mohsin Shaikh in Pune.Then Mohammad Akhlaq [inDadri in Uttar Pradesh] waskilled on suspicion ofslaughtering his cow andconsuming beef.”

Recounting the grisly killings of Tabrez Ansari and Junaid Khan, the MP said: “Isthis our Bharat? Is this whatHindu Dharma says? I am aHindu but not of this kind…Further, victims are beingforced to chant ‘Jai Sri Ram’.It is an insult to the HinduDharma. It is an insult toLord Rama that people arebeing killed using his name.”

Remarking that it was appalling that one election result (BJP’s 2014 Lok Sabhawin) gave so much power tosuch elements to do anything and kill anyone, he ob

served that Pehlu Khan (whowas killed by cow vigilantesin Alwar in Rajasthan) waslynched despite having a licence to carry cows for dairyfarming.

Asked about Mr. Shah’spitch to impose Hindi as acommon language, Mr. Tharoor said the threelanguageformula that had worked sowell for the past 70 yearsought not to be tinkered withtoday.

“There was a discussion inthe Constituent Assembly onthis issue [of Hindi as a common language]... at the time,many opposed this move owing to the wide range of languages spoken in our country. By the BJP’s proposedimposition, for those whomHindi is not their mothertongue will feel disadvantaged and national unity willsuff��er,” he said.

He said 60% or more ofthe parliamentarians todayspeak in Hindi. “But thosewho cannot speak it must bemade to feel that India istheir country as well wherethey will be heard,” he said,adding that English had proven useful as a “linking language” in transcending communication barriers.

In the event that Hindiwas decreed as the languageto be used for all administrative and bureaucratic purposes, Mr. Tharoor observedthat nonHindi speakers, especially those in the southern States, would feel like secondclass citizenscompelled to master a second language just to knowwhat their rights were.

“We have been trying tomake the BJP understandthese problems over thecommon language imposition issue both within Parliament and without, but theysimply aren’t willing to evenlisten,” he said.

Asserting that the BJP’s intransigence over the issuewas the main reason why theparty had failed to make anysignifi��cant electoral gains inKerala, Andhra Pradesh andTamil Nadu, he said the BJP’sperpetual promotion of itsidea of ‘Hindi, Hindutva andHindustan’ was “dangerous”for the country’s unity.

Refuting suggestions of acrisis at the top, he said theCongress was gearing up forcrucial State elections as thereins were now fi��rmly in thehands of its president SoniaGandhi.

‘Promotion of Hindi, Hindutva and Hindustan dangerous’

Shoumojit Banerjee

Pune

Shashi Tharoor, MP, addressing a session at All IndiaProfessional Congress in Pune on Sunday. * MANDAR TANNU

Shashi Tharoor slams BJPfor surge in mob lynchings

Ahead of holy days: Potters give fi��nishing touches to earthen pots which will be in demand during the upcoming Navaratricelebrations, in Nagpur on Sunday. * S. SUDARSHAN

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Getting ready for festivities

Two tigers from Aurangabad’s Siddharth Zoo will besent to Byculla Zoo in Mumbai in exchange for a varietyof birds, a senior civic offi��cialsaid here on Sunday.

The Siddharth Garden andZoo, run by the AurangabadMunicipal Corporation, is being renovated and the tigerbird exchange was decidedupon due to excess numberof big cats here, said Zoo Director BS Naikwade.

“We have decided to givetwo tigers to Mumbai’s VeerMata Jijabai Bhosale UdyanAnd Zoo (popularly known asByculla Zoo) and get severalspecies of birds from there.Two civic offi��cials will be visiting Mumbai to complete formalities. We currently have 12tigers,” Mr. Naikwade

informed.Speaking about the reno

vation of the Siddharth Zoo,Mr. Naikwade said, “A cagethat previously housed ele

phants will be used by twobears that are being broughtin from Hemalkasa. Leopardsfrom the Manikdoh RescueCentre can also be brought

here.” He said the cost estimation process for the renovation work, to accommodate these animals, wascurrently underway.

Mumbai zoo may get two tigers from Aurangabad Renovation on, tigers to be exchanged for a variety of birds

A tiger at the Siddharth Garden and Zoo in Aurangabad. * FILE PHOTO


Aurangabad

The NDA government hada chance to strengthen theeconomy fi��ve years backwhen the crude oil rateswere low, but it could nottake advantage of the situation, noted economistH.M. Desarda has said.

India’s gross domesticproduct (GDP) growthslowed for the fi��fth consecutive quarter in AprilJune 2019 to 5%, the lowest in six years. This wason the back of falteringdomestic demand, withboth private consumptionand investment provinglacklustre.

Delivering a lecture onthe ‘current economicdownfall — causes impactsand remedies’ at the Mahatma Gandhi Mission

campus here in Maharashtra on Saturday, Mr. Desarda said in 2013, the crudeoil rates were around $ 110per barrel.

“When the Modiled government came to power,the crude oil pricesdropped. That time, thegovernment spent hugeamounts on crude oil import to meet the petroland diesel demands,” hesaid

“The government couldhave utilised this fi��nancialgain to strengthen the employment guaranteeschemes, water resourcedevelopment, curbingdrought and fl��ood control.But the government couldnot take advantage of thatsituation,” said the formermember of the Maharashtra State Planning Board.

Govt. lost chance to strengthen

economy 5 yrs back: Desarda


Aurangabad Founderchairman of HCLand Padma Bhushan awardee Shiv Nadar will be thechief guest at the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh’s Vijayadashmi function hereon October 8, the Sangh’sNagpur Mahanagar Sangh

chalak Rajesh Loyaan saidon Sunday.

The annual event, an annual aff��air, is keenlywatched by political observers as the speech by theRSS chief tends to lay downthe agenda for it as well asoutfi��ts affi��liated to the Sanghfor the year ahead.

Shiv Nadar to be chiefguest at RSS event Press Trust of India

Nagpur

The Opposition on Sundaysaid that Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) should understand that Assembly elections have been announcedin Maharashtra and not in

Jammu & Kashmir.“Prime Minister Narendra

Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, along withthe BJP leaders are harpingabout the Kashmir issue.Shah came to Mumbai to givea lecture about the decisionon withdrawal of Article 370.The leaders of BJP need to bereminded that the electionsare for Maharashtra and notfor Kashmir. Amit Shahshould go to Kashmir if hewants to talk about Article

370,” said Maharashtra Congress spokesperson SachinSawant.

“Maharashtra’s debts havedoubled in the last fi��ve years.Farmer suicides have tripled. The number of smalland medium enterprisesthat closed down in the Statehas quadrupled. Unemployment has increased tenfold.Corruption has increased bya hundredfold. The lies ofthis government have increased a thousand times.

BJP leaders should talk aboutthis,” said Mr. Sawant.

Mumbai unit president ofNationalist Congress Party(NCP), Nawab Maik, said thatthe issue of Article 370 hasbeen raised to hide BJP’s failure as a ruling party in Maharashtra. “If Prime MinisterModi gave Kashmir to India,then BJP should explainwhere were they running thegovernment with MehboobaMufti? Amit Shah says noteven a single bullet has been

fi��red in Kashmir, but he doesnot tell us that the area is under curfew,” said Mr. Malik.

The NCP leader said thatthe absolute failure of theBJP to address requirementsof citizens of Maharashtraand key issues such as unemployment, farmer suicidesand failure in fl��ood management has resulted in the BJPfocusing its campaign on Article 370. “This is nothingbut an attempt to hide failures,” he said.

Alok Deshpande

Mumbai

Elections are in Maharashtra, not J&K: Opposition ‘BJP focusingcampaign onArticle 370 to hidefailures in State’

People in Jammu &Kashmir would havehad goldroofed homesif previous governmentsspent all the fundsreleased by the Centrefor its, Union HomeMinister Amit Shah saidon Sunday. adding, “theIndian government hasspent ₹�� 2.27 lakh croreso far on J&K.”

‘J&K homes

would have

had gold roofs’


Mumbai

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SOUTH

SC to take up Maraduapartments’ case todayKOCHI

The Kerala government is

waiting to gauge the mood of

the Supreme Court — which

will take up the Maradu

apartments case on Monday

— to finalise its strategy. The

SC had ordered the

demolition of four complexes

for violating coastal

regulation zone norms.

Three Maoists, includingtwo women, were killed inan exchange of fi��re with security forces, comprisingthe elite antiNaxal forceGreyhounds and the SpecialPolice Party, near the MadigamalluKondajartha forestarea at GK Veedhi mandal inVisakhapatnam district,Andhra Pradesh, on Sunday.

The identity of the slainMaoists is yet to be ascertained.

Several Maoists are suspected to have been injuredin the incident at Gummarevula panchayat.

The security forces seizedone SelfLoading Rifl��e (SLR),two .303 rifl��es, one 12 borerifl��e, six kit bags and one

landmine. Sources said thedead Maoist was suspectedto be Gemmela Kamesh aliasHari, a Galikonda Area Committee member, but therewas no confi��rmation fromthe police.

Foundation dayThe exchange of fi��re comesat a time when the bannedCPI (Maoist) is celebrating itsformation week from September 21 to 27.

It was on September 23,2018 that the then Araku Valley MLA, Kidari SarveswaraRao, and former MLA SiveriSoma were killed by theMaoists near Livitputtu village under the Dumbrigudapolice station limits in thedistrict.

According to sources, the

extremists, led by senior woman leader Aruna, wereconducting a meeting in theMadigamallu area. Based oncredible information, thepolice forces rushed to thearea. When the Maoistsopened fi��re, the securityforces retaliated. ManyMaoists managed to escapeinto the forest. None of thepolicemen were injured inthe gunfi��ght.

According to Superintendent of Police (Visakhapatnam Rural) Attada Babujee,the exchange of fi��re tookplace around 2 pm.

The Greyhounds, SpecialPolice Party and the CentralReserve Police Force had intensifi��ed combing in theAgency following the encounter, he said.

Three Maoists killed in Vizag encounterExtremists were holding a meet; several members injured

Staff Reporter

Visakhapatnam

The Comptroller and AuditorGeneral of India (CAG)has found fault with the Telangana government foroverstating its revenue surplus and understating fi��scaldefi��cit on account of misclassifi��cation, noncontributionto statutory funds and classifying subsidies as loans.

The CAG said the State’srevenue surplus, pegged at₹��3,459 crore, for the year201718 was overstated by₹��3,743.74 crore while the fi��scal defi��cit of ₹��26,700 crorewas understated by ₹��954.6crore. “Eff��ectively, there wasa revenue defi��cit of ₹��284.74crore and fi��scal defi��cit was₹��27,654 crore,” the CAG said

in its State Finances AuditReport for the year endedMarch 2018.

Further, the CAG said thefi��scal defi��cit (₹��26,700 crore)was 3.55% of the Gross StateDomestic Product (GSDP)pegged at ₹��7,52,230 crore,which marginally exceededthe 3.5% limit fi��xed by the14th Finance Commission.

The outstanding publicdebt to GSDP was 19%,which was within the 22.82%ceiling fi��xed by the fi��nancepanel. The outstanding liabilities too at 22.05% of the

GSDP was well within theprescribed limit of 25% asper the medium term fi��scalpolicy statement of the Stategovernment, the report said.

According to the report,the revenue receipts (RR)and revenue expenditure(RE) had increased duringthe period 201516 to 201718even after accounting for infl��ation. However, the RR andRE had decreased as percentage of the GSDP.

Pat for tax collectionThe growth of RR and RE decreased in 201718 in comparison to the preceding yearand the capital expenditure,which increased in 201617,declined in 201718.

The State, however, came

in for praise for tax collection, with the CAG statingthat the cost of collection ofmajor taxes had decreasedduring the last three years,indicating greater effi��ciency(measured as cost of collection of tax as a percentage oftax collection).

Telangana also fared favourably in its focus on development expenditure(₹��84,006 crore) and capitalexpenditure (₹��23,902 crore)compared to other generalcategory States. The burdenof committed expenditure asa percentage of revenue expenditure was steadily risingdue to increase in interestpayments (26% over 201617)and pension payment (32%over 201617).

Telangana infl��ating surplus: CAGRevenue surplus overstated and fi��scal defi��cit understated, says audit report


HYDERABAD <> Greater reliance on

market borrowing

has led to increase

in liabilities

Comptroller and Auditor-General

The Bharatiya Janata Partyleadership is waiting for clarity to emerge on the issue ofthe disqualifi��ed MLAs contesting the Assembly bypollsas the Supreme Court takesup their petitions for hearing on Monday.

According to highlyplaced sources in the BJP,the central leadership has taken a stand to honour itscommitment. “There is noquestion of ignoring them[the former MLAs] even ifthe Supreme Court decisionis not in their favour. Theparty will fi��eld them as candidates if they get a favourable verdict. Otherwise, wewill give preference to candidates suggested by them,” aprominent BJP leader said.

If the court does not take

any decision sooner or if itsverdict goes against them,then they are most likely tosuggest the names of theirfamily members. Some ofthem are likely to seek partyticket for their wives, sources said.

However, there is a feelingamong a section of the leaders managing the bypollsthat the family members arepolitically not a match for

the disqualifi��ed MLAs themselves as most of them (family members) are not active inpublic life. But there is nochoice for the party as it cannot choose its own candidates in the constituencies.

Senior BJP leaders alsopointed out that a couple ofdisqualifi��ed MLAs havemade it clear that they ortheir family members wouldnot contest the bypolls. Insuch constituencies, the party would make its ownchoice of candidates in consultation with the disqualifi��ed MLAs, they said.

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa met party nationalpresident and Union HomeMinister Amit Shah on Sunday and held consultationswith him. Mr. Shah reportedly asked him to wait forMonday’s hearing.

SC hearing today to decidefate of disqualifi��ed MLAs ‘BJP will protect their interests whatever the verdict’

B.S. Satish Kumar

BENGALURU

B.S. Yediyurappa

Law might have taken a lenient view of Purushothaman, but life has not.

Locked up in a cell in Kerala two decades ago in a criminal case, he was acquittedby a court in 2009, but theKoodaranji native has notbeen able to walk to freedomyet. He has been forced tospend his life in the specialcell at the Government Medical College, Kozhikode, ashis relatives have been reluctant to take him back to theirfold.

Medical records say Purushothaman is suff��eringfrom paranoidschizophrenia.

A data compiled by theKerala Legal Services Authority (KLSA) indicate that 77prisoners are languishing ingovernment mental health

centres in Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Thrissur. They could not standtrial as they were found to beof unsound mind.

Section 84 of the IndianPenal Code deals with suchsituations. “Nothing is an offence which is done by a person who, at the time of doing

it, by reason of unsoundnessof mind, is incapable ofknowing the nature of theact or that he is doing what iseither wrong or contrary tolaw,” reads the Code.

Wait continuesThough 14 persons havebeen acquitted by courts,they are still remaining inprisonlike cells as their relatives are reluctant to takethem back.

Kurumban has been inconfi��nement for a quartercentury. Though the JudicialFirst Class Magistrate, Mannarkad, discharged him ofall charges way back in 1996,he continues to beimprisoned.

Muhammad Sherief, amurder accused, was admitted to the rehabilitation facility in Kozhikode in 2012. Lastyear, he was acquitted by the

Special Judge (for the trial ofoff��ences against women andchildren), Thalassery. Butthe court ordered his continued custody as the judgewas convinced that he wassuff��ering from mental illnessand had to be properly takencare of and prevented frominjuring himself or any otherperson.

Safe custodyTwo decades have passedsince Shanmughan of Kasaragod was acquitted of murder charge by SessionsCourt, Kasaragod, and ordered his safe custody. Hetoo was found “not fi��t forrehabilitation.”

It may require an intervention from the higher judiciary to bring justice tothem, pointed out a judicialoffi��cer involved in the welfare of these prisoners.

Acquitted by law, shunned by relatives Several mentally ill persons remain ‘imprisoned’ as kin refuse to take them back

Over 70 persons arelanguishing in threegovernment mental healthcentres in Kerala.

K.S. Sudhi

KOCHI

This is a district known formigration of its people insearch of livelihood, leavingbehind their children in theelders’ care. But the seniorcitizens bent with age areoften unable to take theirgrandchildren to school.This is one of the majorreasons for childrendropping out of school.

The Jammu Mandal PrajaParishad School, located onthe outskirts ofVizianagaram, used to facethe same problem. But nowit has a decent strength of120 students. Thanks to theinitiatives of the schoolheadmaster MantriRammohana Rao.

He arranged one autorickshaw for the safe

transport of children fromtheir homes in nearbyvillages and colonies to theschool and back. He paysaround ₹��4,500 per monthfrom his pocket to ensurecontinuation of thechildren’s education. Over30 students have joined the

school recently with theavailability of transportfrom C.R. Nagar and otherlocalities.

New-look schoolIn fact, the school was in adilapidated condition fi��veyears ago and cyclone

Hudhud did the rest.Without waiting for helpfrom the government, Mr.Rao approached the alumniand local residents forfunds.

With a kitty of ₹��10 lakh,the school’s compound walland other infrastructurewere rebuilt. Now theschool premises resembles apark. Further, as part of theSwachh Bharat programme,plastic is not allowed in theschool. Westernstyle toiletswere also constructed forthe benefi��t of physicallychallenged students.

After observing Mr. Rao’scommitment, Shirdi SaibabaSeva Sangham executivemember Kurivella Harigopalcame forward to supplybreakfast for all students at7.30 a.m.

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School head ensures pick-up, drop of children

K. SRINIVASA RAO

VIZIANAGARAM

Vizianagaram headmaster’s initiative has seen the dropout rate go down

Safe ride: The autorickshaw provided to the students ofJammu Mandal Parishad School. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Orthodox faction of theMalankara Church, led bybishop Mathews Mar Severios of the Kandanad Westdiocese, celebrated Mass atthe St. Mary’s Church onSunday, marking a major development over the last 45years of dispute betweenthe church groups.

“It is a historic momentsince the Malankara churchfactions went their separateways in 1974,” said an Orthodox church member on Sunday after the Mass thatmarked the implementationof a Supreme Court verdictin July 2017, handing overcontrol over Malankara parishes to the Orthodoxgroup. The Orthodox groupentered the church and celebrated the Mass with police protection.

The Kandanad church is ahistoric one for the Malankara church as a whole, andover the last four decades,services had been conducted on alternate weeks.

If the Orthodox group celebrated Mass on a particular Sunday, the space was allotted to the Jacobite groupfor the following Sunday. Ritual necessities like burialsand marriages were conducted according to theturn allotted to the two factions, church sources said.

A large number of the Jacobite church membersgathered in front of the Kandanad church as a sign ofprotest on the church premises. The Jacobite faction,led by Catholicos BaseliosThomas I, will go on a 12hour fast on Tuesdayagainst the “denial of justice”.

Amid row, Orthodoxfaction conducts MassJacobite group to hold fast tomorrow


KOCHI

A legal notice was sent to theKerala Chief Secretary on behalf of four minor Endosulfan victims to whom the Supreme Court had orderedthe State to pay ₹��5 lakhcompensation

A Bench of Justices D.Y.Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee had in July fi��rst weekordered the Kerala government to pay the compensation in two months to thevictims, suff��ering the eff��ectsof the pesticide which wasaerially sprayed on cashewplantations adjoining theirhabitations.

However, the notice datedSeptember 6 by advocate Ka

leeswaram Raj, who represented the victims in theapex court, told the Chief Secretary that it was “totallyunfortunate” on the part ofthe State to “wilfully refuse”to pay the compensation.Nonpayment of the moneywould lead to contempt ofthe Supreme Court, it said.

In fact, the July order ofthe apex court had given the

lawyer liberty to revive thecontempt action against theKerala government.

The July order had comeon a contempt petition fi��ledby the four children — Archana, Afsal, Nisha and M. Badhavi — through their naturalguardians for the nondisbursement of the ₹��5 lakh bythe Kerala government toEndosulfan victims in viola

tion of an order passed bythe Supreme Court on January 10, 2017. The victims saidthat even a list prepared bythe State government of victims entitled to get ₹��5 lakhcompensation comes toaround 6,000 persons.

The State cannot limit disbursement of the amountonly to the persons includedin the list maintained by it,the contempt petition whichhad arraigned Chief Secretary K.M. Abraham said.

In January, the Kerala government claimed it earmarked over ₹��180 crore forpayment of compensation.

Responding to the contempt petition by the children, the State through Mr.Abraham said the four victims were classifi��ed in the‘Other’ category list and noteligible for the ₹��5 lakh compensation.

Endosulfan victims send notice to Kerala They are yet to getthe SCordered relief of ₹��5 lakh

A fi��le photo of a protest by endosulfan victims inThiruvananthapuram. * S. MAHINSHA

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

Ode to the brew: This unique teapot sculpture, installed at the busy intersection at Kompally in Hyderabad as part of thebeautifi��cation eff��orts by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, has become a major attraction. * K.V.S. GIRI



Cup of joy

A minor girl has been sexually assaulted allegedly bya group of around 30 people for over two years inMalappuram district ofKerala, the police said onSunday.

Two persons were arrested and remanded injudicial custody for rapingthe 12yearold.

The police were alertedby the child helpline. “Weregistered a case and arrested the duo,” the investigating offi��cer told PTI without giving further details.

Investigation revealedthat the group of men hadsexually assaulted the girlover a period of two years.The police are also probingthe role of her father.

The girl has given herstatement to a magistrateand has been shifted to ahome, the police said.

Minor rapedby 30 men,two arrested


Malappuram

Instead of trying to changethe languages of the people,the government should focus on changing the language of our “broken system” to strengthendemocracy, journalist Ravish Kumar said after receiving the fi��rst Gauri LankeshNational Award for Journalism, conferred by the GauriLankesh Memorial Trust,here on Sunday. It was presented to him by freedomfi��ghter H.S. Doreswamy.

“We are living in a timewhere Godse is seen as a patriot and Gandhiji is seen asan extremist, and dissentersare made out to be enemies,antinationals, urban naxals, proPakistanis. Thisshows that our democracyis inching towards a slowdeath,” Mr. Kumar said.

Teesta Setalvad, social activist, said the award commemorated the values of democracy and fearlessjournalism. “In these darktimes when truth has become a casualty and socialjustice a mockery, free andfearless media is the onlyway of hope to restore socialsanity,” she said.

Dissenters seen as enemies: Ravish

Staff Reporter

Bengaluru

Freedom fi��ghter H.S.Doreswamy presenting theGauri Lankesh award toRavish Kumar of NDTV.

‘Democracy inchingtowards a slow death’

Woman dies as Metrowall chunk falls on herHYDERABAD

A 26yearold woman was

killed when a chunk of

mortar from the Ameerpet

Metro station here fell on her

head on Sunday. The victim,

K. Mounika, was taking

shelter from rain under the

Metro station. Her husband,

Harikanth Reddy, has filed a

complaint with the police.

IN BRIEF


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE

NATION

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

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

Forecast for Monday: Heavy to very heavy rainfall likely overTelangana, Karnataka, eastern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Meghalaya, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,Puducherry and Karaikal.

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala................—....34.3....26.5 Kozhikode....................—....33.2....25.4

Ahmedabad...........—....33.9....25.6 Kurnool .......................—....33.3....24.2

Aizawl...................—........ —........ — Lucknow................. 25.4....29.7....26.0

Allahabad......... 21.0....31.0....24.9 Madurai .......................—....35.8....25.6

Bengaluru .......... 7.9....30.8....21.2 Mangaluru ................ 6.0....31.6....23.7

Bhopal ............... 8.0....31.8....22.6 Mumbai .................... 0.8....33.3....25.0

Bhubaneswar.........—....34.6....25.4 Mysuru ........................—....32.2....20.0

Chandigarh ...........—....34.5....25.0 New Delhi .............. 23.4....29.8....23.7

Chennai ................—....33.1....26.5 Patna ..................... 10.4....28.6....24.8

Coimbatore ...........—....33.6....23.7 Port Blair................ 33.6....26.6....23.4

Dehradun ......... 47.0....31.5....19.6 Puducherry ............... 0.3....33.0....23.6

Gangtok........... 22.4....21.6....15.7 Pune......................... 2.1....31.3....20.5

Goa.................... 0.2....30.3....23.8 Raipur .........................—....33.5....26.0

Guwahati ..............—....35.7....25.4 Ranchi .........................—....32.7....22.6

Hubballi ................—....28.0....21.0 Shillong.................. 14.9....24.6....15.9

Hyderabad ............—....32.7....24.4 Shimla.................... 26.0....21.1....14.0

Imphal ............. 22.9....31.9....20.9 Srinagar.......................—....28.3....11.5

Jaipur ...................—....32.7....22.4 Thiruvananthapuram.........—....32.8....24.9

Kochi ................. 4.2....31.4....24.8 Tiruchi.........................—....33.9....25.8

Kohima .............. 4.5....24.4....18.4 Vijayawada ..................—....33.2....25.9

Kolkata .............. 9.7....33.5....25.6 Visakhapatnam .............—....33.4....27.2

(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at4.00 p.m., Ahmedabad,Gujarat recorded an overallair quality index (AQI)score of 164 indicating amoderate level ofpollution. In contrast,Narnaul, Haryana recordeda healthy AQI score of 14.

Ahmedabad..... 99 158 151 ....78 ...89 ....*

Bengaluru ....... 10 .59 .75 ..... — ...90 ....*

Chennai .......... 12 .15 .42 ....79 ...97 ....*

Delhi .............. ..4 109 .12 ....56 ...74 ....*

Hyderabad ...... 18 .22 .15 ....38 ...63 ....*

Kolkata........... ..9 .35 .12 ....64 ...67 ....*

Lucknow ......... ..4 .31 .47 ....81 .....— ....*

Mumbai .......... ..8 .25 .86 ....32 ...82 ....*

Pune............... 86 ...8 .67 ....42 ...42 ....*

Visakhapatnam 18 .16 .20 ....10 ...31 ....*

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

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

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

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

and monuments.

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

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

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

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

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

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

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

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

death in people with heart or lung disease

Even though there are a fewanecdotal accounts aboutAsian elephants’ reaction todeath in connection withmembers of their herd,scientists have for the fi��rsttime observed and recordedthe behavior of freerangingAsian elephants towards dying and dead elephants.

The paper titled Behavioural responses of freeranging Asian elephants(elephas maximus) towardsdying or dead conspecifi��cs,(conspecifi��cs refers to member of same species) was published in the Springergroup of publications earlierthis year.

In the publication researchers observed that theelephants showed beha

viours like exploratory(sniffi��ng and inspecting) andepimeletic (supporting thedistressed animals) or physically helping supporting dying calves.

“We also recorded highfrequency vocalisation(trumpets) by an adult female in the case of dyingcalves. Our observations indicate that, like their Africancounterparts, Asian elephants might experiencedistress in response to deathof conspecifi��cs and mayhave some awareness ofdeath,” the paper authoredby Nachiketha Sharma, Sanjeeta Sharma Pokharel, Shiro Kohshima and Raman Sukumar states.

Through the publicationscientists have observed andrecorded three specifi��c cas

es of elephants respondingto injured, dying or deadconspecifi��cs.

“Two of the three casesinvolved adult female calfpair and involved epimeleticor helping behavior towardsthe injured and dyingcalves. In all three cases, exploratory and approach/visit behaviours towards thedying and dead individuals

were observed,” the scientists record in the paper.

Wellknown ecologistfrom the Indian Institute ofScience and elephant expertRaman Sukumar who hascontributed to the papersaid that from the evolutionary biology perspectivethese behaviours of elephants appear as an adaptive feature. “We are just be

ginning to understand this,especially the calf deaths because those are not easy toobserve in the wild. Thewhole social cognitive makeup of the elephant, thesekinds of signifi��cant emotions are a part of this framework,” he said.

Prof. Sukumar said that inthe case of African elephants a behaviour was ob

served which involves taking interest in the bones ofother elephants. “But thatkind of behavior has notbeen observed in Asian elephants so far,” the scientistsaid.

In the ninepage long publication, the fi��rst examplewhich the scientists cite inthis context is of a reactionto a dying calf from an adult

female elephant Sita and hertwo daughters (S1 1015years and S2 510 years)from Mudumalai NationalPark in October 2012.

“The three females surrounded the calf with theirlegs. S1 sniff��ed the calf,while Sita gently kicked withher forelegs in an attempt tomake it stand. S1 and S2joined Sita to help,” thescientists observed. Duringthe entire period of observations of 506 minutes whichincluded the subsequentday when the calf died, nosigns of agitation or aggression were observed from Sita and her daughters and novocalisations were heard.The scientists observed verylittle movement from Sitawhen she was with her calf.

The Forest Departmentalso provided drinking water to the elephants in alarge steel container but only Sita drank. She also

showed no signs of aggression when the scientists approached the calf. Thedeath of the new born calfwas possibly due to dehydration andmalnourishment.

In the case of anotheradult elephant F1 (15 to 20years old) the reaction to aninjured and dying calf appeared to be somewhat different. These observationswere recorded in March2017 when a lone male calfless than a year old restedagainst the trunk of a deadtree. “The calf stayed in thesame position after falling,while F1 touched and sniff��edthe calf's genital region. F1blew saliva on herselfthrough her trunk and stoodnext to the calf, touching itrepeatedly. She used her forelegs to encourage the calfto stand on its feet but without much success,” Mr. Sharma said.

Asian elephants perceive distress and also respond to it, say researchersFree-rangers were seen to inspect andsupport dying calves in the wild

Distress call: Apart from sniffi��ng and physically helping dying calves, female elephants produced high frequency trumpets.

Shiv Sahay Singh

Kolkata

With less than two weeks leftfor Durga Puja, Bengal’s biggest religious festival, theTrinamool Congress and theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)have locked horns to controlas many of the puja arrangements as possible.

Over the last decade, theTrinamool has controlled local clubs that conduct thePujas, while the BJP has beenstepping up its activities forthe same in 2019. This has resulted in clashes at multiplelevels, such as the one atSanghashree, a prominentsouth Kolkata club, recently.

Sanghasree is a wellknown community puja inthe Kalighat area, locatednear the residence of West

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

It became a battlegroundfor the parties when somemembers approachedSayantan Basu, a general secretary of the BJP, to be theconvener of the Puja committee, so far been chaired

by Karthik Banerjee, theChief Minister’s brother.

Aroon Shah, a BJP leader,claimed that Sanghashree itself had approached the BJP:“They said they don’t wantto work with the Trinamoolbecause they’re taking awaythe club’s pride and their in

dependence to conduct Durga Puja.”

A clash broke out betweenthe BJP and the Trinamool,causing a delay in beginningpuja pandal construction.Eventually, the committeeheaded by Mr. Basu was dissolved and Mr. Banerjee wasrestored at the helm.

Ms. Banerjee has announced that all the pujacommittees in the State willbe receiving ₹��25,000 fromthe government. Last year,the amount was ₹��10,000.

“This is to promote heritage, national festival, ourtourism, culture and community development. Wewill not let anybody politicize Bengal's puja,” Ms. Banerjee said at a conference ofthe puja committees.

Trinamool, BJP lock horns overcontrol of Durga Puja festivitiesTwo parties spar over chairing the committee of a club celebrating the occasion

Sanjukta Bose

Kolkata

Preparations on: Shoppers at New Market ahead of Durga Pujain Kolkata on Saturday. * PTI

Days after drugmakers andglobal public health regulators claim to have takensteps to remove supplies of apopular heartburn medication currently under invesigation the by U.S. Food andDrug Administration (FDA)for the presence of humancarcinogen called NDMA, orNNitrosodimethylamine inZantac and its genericforms, doctors in India toohave cautioned the generalpublic about this populardrug and asked for an urgentadvisory by the Indian drugregulator.

Novartis AG’s Sandoz unitsaid earlier this week that itwas halting worldwide distribution of generic versionsof the stomach drug Zantacafter regulators in the U.S.and Europe began investi

gating the drug.“In India Ranitidine

(some versions of Zantac is isalso known by the genericname ranitidine) is used fortreating gastrointestinal disorders and discomfort. Thenews regarding the presenceof NDMA in Ranitidine is disturbing. Ranitidine remainsthe most commonly prescribed medicine for acid

peptic disorders and hasgenerally been consideredsafer than many other medicines,’’ said Dr. Shanti Swaroop Dhar, principal consultant, Gastroentorology,Panchsheel Park.

Awaiting fi��ndingsHe said that doctors need toknow whether NDMA is present as an additive and if it ispossible to make Ranitidinewhich is NDMAfree.

“Further we also needmore information as towhether the amount ofNDMA present is above thethreshold and a genuine riskas small amounts of NDMA ispresent in many commonfoods. Short of above clarifi��cations it is prudent to exercise caution in prescribingthis drug pending the directives from competent authorities.’’ he said.

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

New Delhi

Zantac. * AFP

Doctors issue warningagainst heartburn drug

The Odisha Lokayukta hasdirected the State CrimeBranch to submit a detailedreport about the inquiry theagency had conducted pertaining to alleged irregularity in land transactions involving high profi��lepoliticians of the State.

The inquiry pertains tothe purchase and sale ofhigh value lease land atGhangapatna area on theoutskirts of Bhubaneswar in2014.

The crime branch hasbeen asked to submit its report by October 17 whilenext hearing in the case hasbeen fi��xed on October 21.

Pradip Pradhan, an RTIactivist, had fi��led a com

plaint with the Lokayukts alleging the land irregularitieswere suppressed under instructions from top government authorities.

“In August, 2014, local people and media had exposedthat vast stretches of leasedland belonging to tribal people had been illegally acquired by late KalpataruDas, who was then an infl��uential BJD minister, andhis son , and the daughter ofa BJP MLA,” alleged Mr.Pradhan.

After concerns were expressed over land deals,Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on August 28, 2014 haddirected the crime branch toconduct a probe into thescam and submit its reportwithin two months.

“Local tahsildar, in his report to the revenue department, had also pointed outlargescale irregularities inthe sale and purchase ofland and how middlemen, inconnivance with offi��cials,had fraudulently sold land inthe area to several persons,”said Mr. Pradhan.

He said during the courseof Crime Branch inquiry, aseries of arrests of poor tribal lease holders were madeand it was claimed that 76acres of illegally acquiredland had been brought backto government record.

According to the activist,though Crime Branch arrested poor tribals and few government offi��cials, no actionwas taken against infl��uentialpoliticians.

Odisha Lokayukta seeks reportfrom police on 2014 land dealProperty of tribals was acquired and sold to politicians

Staff Reporter

BHUBANESWAR

A mainstream Ayurvedicpain therapy has been givena northeastern twist withbetel leaf and Naga Chilli,one of the hottest on earth.

The hot experimentbased on an acupuncturetheory by Imlikumba Jamir,the sole Naga panchakarmaspecialist in India, has beenapproved by the Ministry ofAYUSH.

Panchakarma, entailingfi��ve procedures, is thepurifi��cation therapy used inAyurvedic medicine whileAYUSH expands toAyurveda, Yoga andNaturopathy, Unani, Siddha,Sowa Rigpa andHomoeopathy.

Naga Chilli (Capsicumchinense), also known asKing Chilli, is more popularas Bhot Jolokia, whichderives its name from thepopular belief that itoriginated in the hills ofBhutan.

The Guinness Book ofWorld Records had in 2007named it as the hottest chillibut lost its position fi��rst to aU.K. variety called Infi��nityand then the U.S.developedCarolina Reaper.

Tradition gives way“Ayurveda prescribes apungent paste to be used asshoolaprashamana, or painreliever. What I have donefor osteoarthritis of kneejoint is replace some

traditional ingredientsfollowing the paingaptheory in acupuncture togive more pain to anaff��ected part for reducing orkilling the original pain,” Dr.Jamir told The Hindu.

The 32yearold fromNagaland's Mokokchung,now a medical offi��cer at theNorth Eastern Institute ofFolk Medicine in Pasighat,did his masters inPanchakarma from Shri

now being administeredonly after a skin test toascertain if a person is notallergic to the pungency ofthe hot mix,” he said.

Room for improvementThe higher degree ofpungency compared to thetraditional mix, Dr. Jamirexplained, makes thenutrients penetrate deeperto particular tissues thatneed to be stimulated forpain relief.

“Itching in one case aside,all the 10 patients wererelieved of painconsiderably with areduction in swelling. Theresult has been encouraging,but there is room for furtherclinical trials,” he said.

DharmasthalaManjunatheshwara Collegeof Ayurveda in Hassan,Karnataka.

Dr. Jamir replaced theprimary ingredient,common chilli, in thetraditional paste with theNaga Chilli and added betelleaf for its astringentproperty. The otheringredients – garlic, ginger,rock salt and sesame oil –remained the same.

“The idea was to useeasily available localsubstitutes and in the rightproportion to make thepaste least expensive andmost eff��ective. I used thepaste on 10 people and onlyone, a woman, complainedof irritation. The paste is

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Ayurvedic pain therapy gets northeastern twist with chilli

Rahul Karmakar

Pasighat

Based on an acupuncture theory, the recipe developed by a Naga practitioner has received the approval of Ministry of AYUSH

Mix and match: Imlikumba Jamir has used local substitutes tomake the mix economical and eff��ective.

Ghost beneficiariesidentified at anganwadisNEW DELHI

As many as 19.96 lakh ghost

beneficiaries have been

identified at anganwadi

centres in Assam through a

daily headcount, said an RTI

query. Anganwadi centres are

rural child care centres set up

to combat undernutrition and

stunting among children

below the age of six and also

to meet the nutritional needs

of pregnant and lactating

women. PTI

AlQaeda terroristarrested in JamshedpurRANCHI

The AntiTerrorist Squad of

the Jharkhand police arrested

an AlQaeda terrorist from

Jamshedpur, a senior police

officer said. On receiving a

tipoff, an ATS team nabbed

Mohammad Kallimuddin

Muzahiri near Tatanagar

railway station. Active with

AlQaeda’s Indian sub

committee organisation, he

prepared youths for jihad and

terror acts, police said. PTI

IN BRIEF

Technology and coordination with counterparts inother States helped a specialteam of the Chennai Citypolice crack a burglary casein Nanganallur within 24hours and nab 10 suspectsbelonging to a gang fromRajasthan.

According to police, 120sovereigns of gold jewellerystolen from the house of Ramesh, in SBI Colony Extension in Nanganallur on Friday evening. Mr. Rameshand his wife Komalavalli hadgone out when the burglarsstruck.

Based on their complaint,a case was registered and aspecial team was constitut

ed by Prem Anand Sinha,Additional Commissioner,South. It started checkingCCTV footage from the locality and identifi��ed the suspects.

“We collected many telephone dumps from the locality and found a few suspicious persons and startedtracking them. They werefound moving towards Ajmer,” said Mr. Sinha.

The team found that thesuspects were travelling bytrain No. 12969 to Jaipur.The police tipped off�� theircounterparts in Ujjain. “Thehelp of the Railway Protection Force was taken andthe gang was intercepted atNagda station after Ujjain,”said the police offi��cer. A special team fl��ew to Jaipur tobring the accused to Chennai. Three of the accusedwere identifi��ed as Kailashpati, Babloo and Saawariya.

Chennai police tap tech tocatch burglars in 24 hours

Rajasthani gangthat stole 120sovereigns held


CHENNAI

Kerala kept off highwaydevelopment projectTRIVANDRUM

Kerala has been sidelined

again by the National

Highways Authority of India

(NHAI) with the State failing

to make it to the 950 km of

highway development

projects to be built at

₹��30,000 crore under the

PublicPrivate Partnership

(PPP) mode. Kerala is the lone

southern State that has failed

to make the cut.

Australian held with drugsworth ₹��21 cr. at IGI airportNEW DELHI

An Australian national was on

Sunday apprehended by the

CISF at Delhi airport for

allegedly carrying narcotics

worth ₹��21 crore, a senior

official said. He said

Mohammed Umar Turay was

intercepted around 11.30 a.m.

when he arrived at the Indira

Gandhi International Airport

to take an Air India flight to

Melbourne. PTI


DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

Nonica Datta

Ihappened to be in Amritsar forsome research work on the dayof the Archbishop of Canterbu

ry’s visit to Jallianwala Bagh in early September. I actually bumpedinto him and spoke to him briefl��yin the hotel lobby. He came acrossas aff��able, kind and humble. Hewas ready to talk to a stranger likeme.

Gesture of atonementHis presence in Jallianwala Bagh,on September 10, as we rememberthe 100 years of the massacre thisyear, is momentous. What he didinside the premises of the Baghwas even more dramatic. He laydown fl��at to pray in front of thememorial and said he was “personally very sorry”. This was no publicity stunt. It requires courage todo that.

The Archbishop further added,“I have no status to apologise onbehalf of the UK, its governmentor its history. But I am personallyvery sorry for this terrible atrocity.” He said, “Coming here arousesa sense of profound shame at whathappened in this place. It is one of

a number of deep stains on Britishhistory. The pain and grief that hastranscended the generations sincemust never be dismissed or denied.” No words could be more appropriate, welltimed and consoling.

As head of the Anglican Churchof the world, the Archbishop, Justin Welby, commands a worldwidestatus. But he also has a specialplace in Britain. A post granted bythe Queen, he crowns the Britishmonarch and holds a signifi��cantposition in the hierarchy of theBritish state. In his statement onthe Amritsar massacre, he said hewas not speaking for his country,but the Anglican Church. As thesenior most churchman in a Christian country, his words do matter.

In the light of the descendantsof the victims appealing for anapology from the Archbishop toassuage their “hurt feelingsagainst the British atrocities”, theArchbishop’s repentant gestureseeks to lend a healing touch to theechoes of the dead. The Jallianwala Bagh massacre is one of themost horrifi��c acts of violence inmodern history. The impact ofGeneral Dyer’s coldblooded, rational shooting of hundreds of innocent lives, on April 13, 1919, with1,650 gunshots continues to torment. We still have not got over it.Many may never. Not just confi��nedto Punjab, the pain of the carnageforms the collective agony of en

tire India. The Archbishop didmore than what anybody in his position could possibly do. Predictably, his visit brings to the fore onceagain the ageold hypersensitivequestion of the U.K. taking responsibility for its own imperial pastand violence. This is the unresolved and controversial historicalissue of colonial injustice and apology. The Queen did not apologise.Prince Philip did not. Former British Prime Minister David Cameronon a visit to India in 2013 did not.The current British High Commissioner in 2019 did not. The listgoes on and each time a Britishdignitary comes to Amritsar, itfeels like scratching a scab on thewound. A perpetual wound. Thecity of Amritsar continues to grapple with the legacy of Dyer’s savagery. The ensuing military violenceechoed across the Punjab.

Contours of imperial violenceDyer’s monstrous act was principally a racially motivated onslaught, which formed the core ofimperial violence. He ordered the

troops to fi��re without warning andcontinued even when he could seethat people were running for theirlives. In his evidence to the HunterCommittee, he persisted, “… I hadcommitted a just and mercifulact.” Dyer regretted nothing, andmade no attempt to conceal anything. After the fi��ring, there was noprovision for the relief of thewounded. When questioned, theunrepentant Dyer said, “It was notmy job.”

Dyer’s brutality was justifi��ed inthe racial climate of those times.He was celebrated as a hero in certain British circles. The Dyer Fundwas set up for his survival back inEngland. What is appalling is thatthe colonial monstrosity continued even after April 13, 1919 inPunjab. Martial law was imposedfrom April 15. The British heldsummary trials, tortured prisoners and executed Indians. Punjab,which provided the largest number of recruits during World War I,was rewarded with such type ofterrible punishment and broughtunder a rule of terror. Punjabcould never be the same again.

On April 19, Dyer promulgatedthe “crawling order” on a street inAmritsar where a lady missionary,Miss Sherwood, had been attacked. The order instructed people to crawl on all fours throughthe lane. They were tied to fl��ogging posts and fl��ogged with severalstripes. Dyer’s excessive use of ra

cial force was designed to, in hisown words, create a “wide impression” and “moral eff��ect”. He hadthe backing of Michael O’Dwyer,the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab and Lord Chelmsford, the Viceroy of India.

The shrieks of the victims of themassacre continue to hound thelegacy of the British empire. Theyecho as haunting cries of a victimised generation of a communitywhose trauma has not been fullyaddressed. The shrieks have nowturned into a seething rage. This isnot just a matter of apportioningblame and instilling guilt on theBritish Empire and its aftereff��ectsand holding it culpable for its unwarranted monopoly on violenceagainst the colonised. It is alsoabout introspection, acknowledgment and responsibility thatwould facilitate healing and restitution. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s compassionate gesture iscertainly a symbolic sign of reconciliation and empathy. The peopleof India demand that the Britishgovernment takes the “historicstep” towards tendering an apology. Is it not time for Britain to acknowledge the inconvenient truthand trauma of colonial and racialviolence? Perhaps, the Archbishop’s initiative marks a newbeginning.

Nonica Datta teaches history at

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Punjab’s pain, India’s agony, Britain’s unrepentance The U.K. needs to build on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s repentant gesture at Jallianwala Bagh

AP

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

Can global diplomatic jawboning backed by an upsurge of popular youth mo

bilisation shift the hard economicand political calculus of nations?Today’s global Climate ActionSummit, convened and energetically backed by the United NationsSecretary General, seeks to pull off��just this feat. It seeks to spur national pledges and action to address climate change in the face ofmounting information that thecommunity of nations is doing toolittle, and too late. How likely isthis eff��ort to be successful? Andwhat are India’s stakes in thissummit?

Visible signs and scienceThe summit occurs amid a steadydrumroll of scientifi��c alarm. Thescientifi��c advisory group to thesummit (of which I am a member),reports that the fi��ve years since2015 is set to be the warmest ofany equivalent recorded period,sea level rise is accelerating, andoceans have become 26% moreacidic since the dawn of the Industrial era. Recent weather eventsbring into focus the likely implications of a warming world. Thissummer saw Delhilike temperatures across southern Europe;Hurricane Dorian rendered largeparts of the Bahamas unliveable;and witnessed simultaneous raging fi��res in the Amazon, centralAfrica and even Siberia.

Scientists are increasingly ableto link these individual events withclimate change — the heat wave inFrance and Germany was madeeight to 10 times more likely by cli

mate change. Yet, concentrationsof carbon dioxide continue to rise,and current country pledgeswould not stem this increase evenby 2030.

The growing evidence of climate change — scientifi��c and experiential — has spurred an upwelling of social action, notably amongthe youth. While more noticeablein the global North, young peopleare also mobilising in India andother countries in the globalSouth, with The New York Times reporting that organisers estimatefour million youth turned out inprotest (on Friday) against inaction on climate change around theworld.

A political disconnectIf science, experience and publicalarm are increasingly on the sideof action, unfortunately, nationalpolitics in country after country istrending in the wrong direction. Aturn toward nationalism in multiple countries has created a shortterm, lookoutforourown mentality that is inimical to the globalcollective action needed to address climate change. Thus, in theUnited States, President DonaldTrump not only refuses to enhance actions, he has activelyrolled back measures in the electricity sector and actions to limitmethane emissions in the name ofcompetitiveness. In Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro has made itclear he sees environmental protections as limiting Brazilian business. And nationalism in somecountries makes it much harder topursue aggressive action even incountries where the politics ismore conducive.

Backed by popular mobilisationand scientifi��c evidence, can theUN Summit swing the tide towardenhanced action? The SecretaryGeneral is pinning hopes on a twotrack approach.

First, in an exercise of diplomat

ic pressure, countries have beenurged to enhance their pledges foraction made as part of the ParisAgreement, committing to lowerfuture emissions. The intention isto provide a platform for climatechampions to step up and claimleadership of an important globalagenda.

So far, the response is underwhelming. A number of small andmidsized countries, including theUnited Kingdom, have alreadycommitted to achieving the objective of making their economies netcarbon neutral by 2050 (that is,the sum of emissions and uptakeof carbon through ‘sinks’ such asforests is zero). By contrast, several large countries, notably the United States, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Japan and Mexico arereportedly not even going to participate in the event at a high level.China and India have issued statements hinting that they are doingquite enough, and India has highlighted the need for enhanced fi��nance if it is to do more. Whilethere may be last minute surprises, the UN Summit does not looklike shifting any entrenched positions — those willing to act areknown, and those unwilling areunmoved. International suasion,even backed by science and popular mobilisation, seems unlikely toshift entrenched national politics.

The second track operates lessin the realm of diplomacy andseeks instead to induce changes inreal economies around a set of ‘ac

tion portfolios’. These include, forexample, furthering and accelerating an energy transition towardlowcarbon energy, making citiesmore climate friendly and moreresilient to climate disruption, andstarting the process of turningenergy intensive sectors such assteel and cement more carbonfriendly. Notably, domestic objectives are central to these conversations: promoting solar energy forenergy security reasons; makingcities more liveable; and makingindustries more effi��cient and therefore competitive. These initiatives serve as a focal point forbroader conversations includingcoalitions of business and researchers. If the UN Summit is toresult in enhanced action, thismay well be the more fruitfultrack.

A path for IndiaWhat does this canvas of global climate politics mean for India? First,that the prospects of eff��ective global action required to address climate change are so weak is extremely bad news for India. We area deeply vulnerable country to climate impacts. It would behove India not to be a status quo player inthis context, but to argue for enhanced global collective action.

Second, India has the potentialto show the pathway to accelerating action on climate change evenwhile pursuing its development interests. A notable example is itsenergy effi��ciency track record,which helps limit greenhouse gases even while saving the nationenergy. However, there are inconsistencies in India’s story as a climate champion. India is justifi��ablyrecognised for promoting renewable energy, yet also muddies thewaters by sending mixed signalson future coal use. The choice ofHouston — the U.S. oil capital — forthe Indian Prime Minister’s recentpublic event, risks signalling that

India sees its energy independence as tied to enhanced fossilfuel use. While some increase infossil fuel is inevitable for India,the messaging is incoherent atbest. India needs domestic energypolicies that are more clearly andcoherently tuned to a future lowcarbon world.

Third, such a domestic messagewould position India to be a trueglobal climate leader, rather than aleader only among climate laggards. Could an India, fi��rmly committed to a lowcarbon future thatbrings development benefi��ts,strike common cause with otherpowers? Could, for example, Indiaand China, both jostling for infl��uence in African nations but alsoboth losers from climate impacts,jointly help ensure that Africa’s development is powered by renewable energy rather than fossil fuelsand based on an energy effi��cientfuture? Such an agenda couldbring together economic, environmental and political gains.

The UN Summit is likely toteach us hard lessons about climate politics in an era of nationalism. The pathway to enhanced action is unlikely to overrideentrenched national politics, powered by international suasion. Instead, the aim should be to makeaccelerated climate action congruent with an enlightened notionof national interest by focusing onkey actions in rapidly changingareas such as energy and urbanisation. Such a pathway holds enticing prospects for India. But it requires that India can build adiplomatic approach on a fi��rmdomestic foundation that takes seriously climate change as a factorin its future development pathway.

Navroz K. Dubash is a Professor at the

Centre for Policy Research, and the editor

of the forthcoming book, ‘India in a

Warming World: Integrating Climate

Change and Development’

The nationalist hindrance to climate actions The UN Climate Action Summit is likely to hand out hard lessons about climate politics in an era of nationalism

Navroz K. Dubash

AFP

Children for changeIt has been heartening toread about and see visualsof the protests staged bymillions of school studentsacross the world last Fridayover inaction on climatechange. These protests andstrikes off��er many valuablelessons. The fi��rst is thatstudents’ lives are notconfi��ned to the four walls ofthe classroom buttranscend beyond that.Since they are also socialbeings, they too must havedeep awareness of burningsocial issues. What is thelogic of fi��lling their mindswith information aboutglobal warming and climatechange if they have no rolein bringing about changesin the world ? The studentcommunity across theworld must take a leaf outof the youth climatemovement’s book and learnto protest over substantiveissues rather than trivial

ones. It is delightful that theyouth climate movementlaunched by the youngSwede, Greta Thunberg,has been able to invigorateand mobilise e youth acrossthe world againstenvironmental degradation. Venu G.S.,

Kalluvathukkal, Kollam, Kerala

Houston and afterIt is strange that thesponsors of the mega eventin Houston, U.S., “HowdyModi”, do not even appearto realise that ultranationalism, which gripssome in the curiouslyambivalent IndianAmerican community, is adoubleedged sword(Editorial page, “Onepeople, many countries”,September 21). One daythey could end up facing abacklash from those of theirilk on foreign soil. Itappears that the upsurge ofpopulist nationalism in

both the U.S. and India inrecent times has somethingto do with this. There is atrend in both countries topush forward narrow andexclusivist defi��nitions ofnational identity . Beyondall this, the IndianAmerican community mayalso have been looking forsome kind of a parity — oran illusion of parity —between the U.S. and Indiain getting the two leaderson a common platformeven as the world waitswith bated breath for thelikely binationalramifi��cations of the meet.M. Jameel Ahmed,

Mysuru

■ I fail to understand whatthe multiple identities andsplit loyalties are which thewriter is arguing about andhow such identities, if at allthey exist, are beingtrampled on in India under‘Hindutva rule’. Individual

identity, regional identity,language and religiousidentities have beenfl��ourishing from timeimmemorial and willcontinue to irrespective ofthe ideology of whicheverparty rules. In a democracy,the ruling party does notdrop from the sky but ischosen by the majority.Indian voters are moremature and intelligent; thenational identity is supreme. Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao,

Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh

Oscar entryOnce again a Hindi fi��lm hasbeen nominated for theOscars (Page 1, “Gully Boy isthe offi��cial entry for Oscars”,September 22). And this fi��lmtoo has its gaze on the slumsof India. The point is that thejury needs to understandthat there are fi��lms in Indiain other languages too —especially from south India —which may not have the

Everything went onsmoothly as long as therewas only an exchange ofnostalgic moments. Enterpolitics, the villain of thepiece. Soon posts grew witha counterwave of replies.Fake versions of politics hada free run. As a groupadministrator, my requeststo stop posting politicalcontent went unheeded. Theinnocence of schooldays hadvanished. After a while,some friends left the groupin a huff�� while relations withothers soured. It was ironicalthat while we were united ona social platform, wesuddenly found ourselvesdivided. It is disturbing thatwhen it comes to making achoice between politicalaffi��liation and personalrelationships, there are manywho prefer the fi��rst. V. Subramanian,

Chennai

“slum touch” but havenevertheless won audiencesover with their focus oncritical issues such as caste,education, religion, women’srights and even music.G. Padmanabhan,

Bengaluru

Hardly unitedThe column, ‘Letter from aConcerned Reader’(Magazine, “Tea andParleG”, September 22,sums up in its ownhumorous way how a singleman’s “wave” is unwittinglyhaving a huge impact onrelations among family andfriends. Three years ago,after shifting to Chennaifrom Mumbai, I created aWhatsApp Group of schoolfriends, now scatteredacross. It was a major onlinereunion after nearly 30years. It led to eveninvitations being extended toeach other to visit home andattend family functions.

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

Ever since the Centre and the States passed the

landmark legislation in 2016 adopting a single

countrywide Goods and Services Tax (GST), the

federal council that is tasked with overseeing all the reg

ulatory aspects of the indirect tax has had its hands full.

From recommending the rates that could apply to va

rious products and services, to deciding on what could

be tax exempted, the GST Council has had the onerous

task of laying out the policy framework for administer

ing the tax in a manner that benefi��ts all stakeholders –

the governments, the consumers and the suppliers

along the value chain. Given the complexity of the lega

cy taxes that GST subsumed and replaced and the teeth

ing troubles of operating a new tax system, ensuring

optimal outcomes has proved an abiding challenge. A

signifi��cant concern relates to the loopholes that un

scrupulous operators have sought to exploit, whereby

revenue that ought to have accrued to the Centre and

the States has leaked while allowing these elements to

derive illicit profi��ts. And the scale of some has been

breathtaking. Earlier this month, the Directorate Gen

eral of GST Intelligence and the Directorate General of

Revenue Intelligence conducted a panIndia joint oper

ation, which saw about 1,200 offi��cers simultaneously

conducting searches at 336 diff��erent locations. In the

process they unearthed a network of exporters and

their suppliers who had connived to claim fraudulent

refunds of Integrated GST, with more than ₹��470 crore

of input tax credit availed being based on nonexistent

entities or suppliers with fi��ctitious addresses. A further

₹��450 crore of IGST refund is also under review.

It is against the backdrop of such cases, and the fact

that frauds totalling up to a staggering ₹��45,682 crore

have been detected since the rollout of the tax in July

2017, that the GST Council has decided “in principle” to

recommend linking Aadhaar with registration of tax

payers. In its 37th meeting in Goa on Friday, the council

also agreed to appraise the possibility of making the

biometricsbased unique identifi��er mandatory for

claiming refunds. Already the GST Network — the infor

mation technology backbone on which the whole tax

system runs — has made it mandatory for new dealers

registering under the composition scheme for small bu

sinesses to either authenticate their Aadhaar or submit

to physical verifi��cation of their business, starting Janu

ary 2020. The council too needs to follow the network’s

lead and move swiftly to recommend mandatory link

ing for refunds, especially since that has proved to be

the main source of most frauds. In a becalmed econo

my, neither the Centre nor States can aff��ord to forego

even a rupee of revenue that is due to the public coff��ers.

Seeking to secureThe move to link Aadhaar with GST registration

is a tentative step in the right direction

Politics is set to take the centre stage in national de

bates with the announcement of Assembly elec

tions in Maharashtra and Haryana, though there

was hardly a lull after the Parliament election earlier

this year. The BJP is in power in both States currently, in

Maharashtra with its oldest and most combative ally,

the Shiv Sena. In 2014, the BJP got its fi��rst Chief Minis

ters in both the States, reaping the reward for some au

dacious political moves. In Maharashtra it gambled

away its alliance with the Shiv Sena and contested sep

arately to win 122 seats compared to Sena’s 63. The Se

na lost its position as the alliance leader in the postpoll

alliance, and that reality will now be formalised in a

prepoll alliance. In Haryana, the BJP dramatically rose,

assembling a nonJat social coalition and later reinforc

ing it by appointing a nonJat CM in Manohar Lal Khat

tar. In Maharashtra too, the party’s political strategy in

volved the appointment of a nonMaratha as CM —

Devendra Fadnavis. In both States, the Prime Minister’s

popularity provided further momentum to the BJP’s

rise, which continued into 2019. The track records of

the State governments can be debated but the party’s

advantage over its political rivals is evident.

The disarray in the opposition ranks, which is partly

a refl��ection of the underlying social factors including

deep communalisation of the polity in both States, is

the biggest advantage for the BJP. In Maharashtra, the

CongressNCP alliance had long become a bastion of dy

nastic politics and vested interests. The BJP’s strong

arm tactics has contributed to furthering the existing

vulnerabilities of the alliance. In Haryana, the Opposi

tion is split into three — the Congress, the Indian Nation

al Lok Dal and another breakaway faction of the party.

These groups are in the grip of the dominant Jat com

munity, which gives a tremendous starting advantage to

the BJP. The Congress, under pressure from former CM

Bhupinder Singh Hooda, replaced its State Chief Ashok

Tanwar, a Dalit, just ahead of the poll announcement.

Altogether, the Congress’s messaging has been unin

spiring for its crucial social base of disadvantaged

groups. Despite these remarkable advantages, the BJP

has shown a tendency in recent weeks to stir up contro

versial issues. In Haryana, the CM wants to implement

the NRC; in Maharashtra the government is, unlinked to

the NRC, planning detention centres for undocument

ed people suspected to be immigrants. The BJP has also

sought to bring issues such as the hollowing out of Arti

cle 370 into the campaigns. As two industrialised

States, Haryana and Maharashtra must be at the centre

of any eff��ort to infuse fresh momentum in the country’s

sagging economy. Not surprisingly, these States are also

hosts to migrant communities. A sharp focus on gover

nance and economy at the State level in the forthcom

ing campaign will be helpful not only for Maharashtra

and Haryana but for the entire country too.

Local mattersIssues of livelihood, governance should shape

poll campaigns in Maharashtra and Haryana


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE

OPED

BY S. SATYAMURTHI

London The industrial situation in England isshowing symptoms of grave unrest. Meantime, Mr. Montagu is very anxious that theBill [on bringing political reforms in India]should go through Parliament before theend of the year. On the other hand, I heardfrom a good source that the prospects of thatare not very encouraging. And, as I sit therelistening to the taking of evidence by theJoint Committee, I cannot help feeling thatthere are at least some members of the Committee who are not overanxious to bring theBill through. Lord Selborne announcedsome time ago as the Chairman of the Committee that his function was to see that evidence was not repeated. But sometimes heseems to forget his function. Under these circumstances, I should not be surprised, if thereport of the Committee is delayed till thebeginning of December. That seems to bethe Chairman’s anticipation — although Mr.Montagu is, I am told, rather anxious to haveit by the beginning of November. PersonallyI do not mind what happens, for the failureof the Bill in its present form may, in manyways, be a blessing to India.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO SEPT. 22, 1919

(THERE WAS NO ISSUE ON SEPT. 23, 1919)

The Congress Deputation.

Recently, while I was returning fromMumbai to my hometown Nagpur after meeting my best friend fromschool, a security offi��cer at the Mumbai airport expressed a desire to examine the belt I was wearing. The airport staff��er assisting me tried todissuade the offi��cer from putting methrough this inconvenience, whispering loud enough for me to be ableto hear, “He is a blind passenger.”

As someone born blind, I have often been confronted with off��ers ofwhat I would call ‘untoward assistance’ — support that is apparentlybased on my disability but actually inno way correlated to it. From peoplewho bend over backwards to exclusively off��er me a chair whenever theysee me standing even though myblindness has nothing to do with myability to stand for long periods oftime, to airport offi��cers who exhibitthe willingness to allow me to carrymore luggage than the prescribedceiling; from security offi��cers at barswho ask me not to pay the entry feeto taxi drivers who insist that theywill not charge me for the ride, manyhave made such gestures.

Perhaps the type of behaviour Iam referring to is typifi��ed by an incident from an economics class when Iwas in Class XI. Our teacher hadasked all students to stand on oneside of a classroom for committingan infraction. Soon after making mestand along with the other erring students, she asked me to go back andsit in my assigned location. I soonrealised that the reason I was singledout for this benevolence was myblindness though my infraction was,objectively speaking, no less seriousthan that of my peers. I stood up andrequested her to let me continuestanding, arguing that my blindnessbore no relationship with the relaxation I was off��ered.

Social interactionsThis pattern of behaviour, premisedon placing the disabled on a pedestal, also extends to social interactions. When I was in school, class

mates would often address me withthe pronoun aap, a Hindi term connoting a high degree of formalityusually used to refer to elders. Theywould refer to all my other classmates with the more informal andcasual tu or tum.

My experience is not an aberration. In his New York Times bestseller Eyes Wide Open, blind lawyerturnedbusinessman Isaac Lidskywrites: “While my blindness has never helped me win a trial, it oftenhelps me get a table in a crowded restaurant. I am usually treated as alongtime regular by my second visitto a business.”

Why, it may be reasonably asked,should we be concerned about whatare benign gestures of kindnessaimed at mitigating the hardship ofthose perceived as having been dealta bad hand? Personally, I think this isbecause these actions are often rooted in stereotypes about the capabilities of blind people.

A security offi��cer who thinks that ablind person cannot be dangerous inany circumstance essentially equatesa visual impairment with an inabilityto commit violence. Someone whothinks a blind person always needs tobe seated operates on the unstatedpremise that visual impairment necessarily results in reduced stamina.Someone who refuses to let a blindperson pay in an economic transac

tion essentially brands the latter as asupplicant.

Some may argue that many peoplecapitalise on diff��erent facets of theiridentity to march ahead in diff��erentspheres of human endeavour. As David Brooks argues, we live in an agein which it is important to build identity capital — elements of our personality which can set us apart — so,some may think, there is nothingwrong in using the ‘blindness card’to obtain these kind of benefi��ts.Further, it may also be argued thatthe reality is that far too many blindpeople continue to face persistentpatterns of discrimination owing totheir disability, so they should not goout of their way to relinquish any favourable treatment that they are offered in a particular life domain, asthings even out in the fi��nal analysis.

Acting with integrityIn my view, however, as blind people, it is important that we act withintegrity when it comes to asking forreasonable accommodations. Thismeans only asking for accommodations that aim to remove the roadblocks imposed by our blindness —certainly no less but also no more.This is important not only to be accountable to our own conscience,but also if we wish to be taken seriously when we complain of disabilitybased discrimination. By taking

an undue benefi��t of entering a bar forfree when our sighted peers mustpay an entry fee, we lessen our moralauthority to complain about beingunduly prevented from enjoying theclubbing experience because thesame bar is then found to be inaccessible. If we do not question an airportstaff��er’s decision to allow us to carrymore luggage than the ceiling just because we are blind when the relaxation has nothing to do with our blindness, on what basis can we then takethe same airport staff��er to task whenshe does not provide us the sightedassistance we need to navigate thecrowded airport?

Reasonable accommodationThere may, of course, be circumstances when one’s blindness is coupled with other disabilities, makingthe type of support I characterise asuntoward assistance a reasonable accommodation. It may also be thecase that one’s blindness results in adenial of opportunities to be economically selfreliant, making feeconcessions and waivers an appropriate course of action. What I amagainst, however, is simplemindedpigeonholing of the disabled into objects perpetually in need of favourable treatment that betrays a profoundly impoverishedunderstanding of what it means to bedisabled — an understanding rootedin nothing but stereotypes and asense of pity.

As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburghas explained in the context of thefi��ght for gender justice, the pedestalon which women are made to standis often a cage. To put it another way,what is considered a measure to protect a certain group from harm or toadvance its interests often, in fact,has the unintended consequence ofsubstantially undercutting those very interests. This is because it prevents members of that group fromfully participating in all societal institutions on equal terms and therebycircumscribes the scope of their aspirations. Therefore, it is high time thatthose of us truly invested in the welfare of the disabled recognised thatthe pedestal on which disabled people are often placed is a cage, for onlythen can we begin to free ourselvesfrom its shackles.

Rahul Bajaj is a postgraduate law student atthe University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar

Public spaces need to be made more accessible to the disabled, but not through gratuitous gestures

When the pedestal feels like a cage

Rahul Bajaj

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The offi��ce of the Readers’ Editor (RE) is a visible institutional framework “to improve accuracy, verifi��cation, and standards in thenewspaper; and to strengthen bonds between the newspaper and its millions of printplatform and online readers.”

This means the RE has to be an eff��ectiveinterlocutor between the newspaper and itsreaders and ensure a twoway communication. One of the tasks I have been performingis also to explain the rationale that governsthe news judgment and the ethical framework that governs the editorial judgment ofthis newspaper on various contentiousissues.

Last week, there was a frontpage storyheadlined “Four of Muslim family injured inattack at Aligarh railway station”. DushyantKumar, a reader from Baraut, Uttar Pradesh,who gets the Mohali edition of the newspaper, felt that the headline was both misleadingand communal. Oruganti Srinivas, an advocate from Visakhapatnam, discovered a design not just in the headline but also in thetone of the report. His argument was that thereport cast a doubt as if the violence was instigated by the majority community in acommunally sensitive city and felt that thereport promoted enmity between two religious communities. K.R.A. Narasiah, whohas often written in this newspaper, saw anantiModi streak in the story and itsheadline.

Conceptual frameworksI would like to share some of the conceptualframeworks that defi��ne the daily practice ofa newsroom, for, the overall ethos of thenewspaper organisation informs its choicesand its editorial judgment. That is the reasonwe fi��nd a multitude of methods in both reporting and in news processing among diff��erent news organisations. The content of anewspaper is organised by a principle callednews hierarchy, which varies from publication to publication.

Some media scholars have argued thatfi��ve diff��erent types of proximities determinenews hierarchy: geographical proximity,temporal proximity, aff��ective proximity,practical proximity, and utilitarian proximity. These often contending and contesting

ideas are mediated to arrive at a consensus innews meetings where the fi��nal decision is taken about any story. This involves a few critical questions: Where should a news item beplaced? Is it a frontpage story or can it be ininside pages? What should be its length?Whether a story requires an explainer ornot? Does it warrant an editorial?

The editorial team told me that they makea distinction between common crime andhate crime, and that common crime is covered in the inside pages while hate crime iselevated to the front page given its enormityand its impact on the social fabric of thecountry. The U.K. police have come up withan accessible defi��nition of hate crime: “Ahate crime is when someone commits acrime against you because of your disability,gender identity, race, sexual orientation, religion, or any other perceived diff��erence.”

Realising the diff��erence between crime ingeneral and the toxic nature of hate crimes,the U.S. passed a special law called “The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., HateCrimes Prevention Act of 2009”. In a country where the First Amendment has givenlatitude to hate speech and off��ensive rhetoric, for instance to the utterances of the members of the Ku Klux Klan, the courts and thelegislature in the form of both the Congressand the Senate have carved out notable,carefully drafted narrow exceptions to freespeech which authorises prosecution for language deemed to fall out of bounds.

Longterm damageThe rise of hate crimes may be a product ofour current polarised polity. As it has beenpointed out in many learned articles andpieces of legislation, hate crimes infl��ict longterm emotional and societal damage, createadditional fault lines, fracture communities,depress individuals to the point of selfharmand cannibalise the space for reconciliationand coexistence.

The editorial team and the reporter decided to go ahead with the story on the frontpage because they did manage to ascertainthat the attack on the family of four in Aligarh railway station was indeed a hate crime.It is the duty of a newspaper not only to unambiguously distinguish hate crimes fromother forms of breaking the law but also labelthem accurately. I would like to draw the attention of the readers to the July 17, 2018, observation of the Supreme Court of India,which came down heavily against the recurring hate violence, which it warned shouldnot become the new normal.

[email protected]

The importance oflabelling hate crimes Such crimes impact the social fabric of the country

A.S. Panneerselvan

When Prime Minister Narendra Modiaddresses the UN General Assemblyon September 27, his country willfi��nd itself in an unfamiliar position.

For the fi��rst time in some years, India is in the cross hairs of some segments of the international community, thanks to its recent actions inJammu and Kashmir. While governments around the world have largelyremained quiet, some infl��uentialvoices have lambasted New Delhi’sdecision to dilute Article 370 and criticised the country over the eff��ects ofits ongoing lockdown in Kashmir.

In the U.S., members of Congress,the State Department, and even Bernie Sanders, a frontline 2020 presidential candidate, have registeredtheir concern. It has been a long timesince there was so much negativenoise about India in Washington,where for quite a few years there hasbeen — and rightly remains — a strong bipartisan consensus in favourof a close partnership.

Here, the annual UNGA meetings off��er the government an opportunity to regain its footing inthe court of internationalpublic opinion.

On Kashmir lockdownTo achieve that outcome, the mostreasonable, and realistic, expectation is for a speech that features twocore components: a clear acknowledgement of the international community’s concerns about humanrights in Kashmir, and a focus on India’s robust eff��orts to tackle the global development challenges that attract considerable concern in the UNand beyond, issues such as health,sanitation, and climate change.

Yes, it will be asking for too muchfrom Mr. Modi if one expects him tomention, much less acknowledgeconcerns about, a sensitive issue thatNew Delhi regards as internal anddoes not want to get further internationalised. Still, Mr. Modi, by statingthat he recognises the world’s worries about the lockdown and its effects, can push back against globalperceptions that his government iswholly dismissive of a real and se

rious problem. And by striking a noteof humility, he could undercut thenarrative of Pakistan Prime MinisterImran Khan who, at the same forum,will in all likelihood come out withguns blazing on Kashmir.

Underscoring the bona fi��desWhat would also resonate well is aspeech that underscores India’s bonafi��des as a rising and responsible global power, in contrast to what areperceived by some overseas observers as irresponsible actions in Kashmir. Here, Mr. Modi can pick upwhere the late Sushma Swaraj, former Indian External Aff��airs Ministerwho delivered India’s UNGA speechlast year, left off��. She highlighted India’s progress in meeting the UN’sSustainable Development Goals, particularly through increasing people’saccess to safe sanitation, and shespoke of India’s eff��orts to mitigate theclimate change threat. By homing in

on India’s track recordin tackling challengesthat aff��ect nearly everynation, Mr. Modi canproject his country as awilling and able globalpartner. This isn’t tooversell the infl��uence ofthe UNGA speeches.Outside of India, Mr. Modi’s address won’t exact

ly be mustsee TV. Further, antiModiprotests are planned during his timein New York, and media coverage ofthese protests could undercut themessages articulated in his speech.

Indeed, one UNGA speech won’teliminate the critical global narratives about India that have emergedsince August 5. So long as the Kashmir lockdown remains in place, andlikely after it’s lifted as well, and solong as New Delhi carries out a divisive social agenda, those narrativeswill be present. Still, for a government and a Prime Minister who placea premium on branding, the UNGAoff��ers a useful opportunity to pushback against growing threats to India’s image. It’s an opportunity thatwould be a pity to squander.

Michael Kugelman is Senior Associate for

South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson

International Centre, Washington DC

India’s opportunity at the UNThe Modi govt. has a chance to regain its footingin the court of international public opinion

Michael KugelmanThe Army today [September 22] took overcomplete control of Ahmedabad City andsuburbs to tackle the riot situation. Troopstook up positions at all strategic points. Thelocal police, Armed Reserve Police andHome Guards will help the Army personnelto create conditions for return to normalcy.The Governor of Gujarat, Mr. Shriman Narayan, the Chief Minister, Mr. Hitendra Desaiand other leaders went round the city andappealed to the local leaders to help theauthorities bring back order. An offi��cial spokesman said tonight [September 22] that thesituation in the disturbed areas was fast improving. Stray incidents of looting and arsonwere reported earlier in the riot torn city. Except for the patrolling vehicles the city presented a deserted appearance. The local station of All India Radio has been repeatedlyappealing to the citizens for blood donationsfor treatment of the injured. The policeopened fi��re twice. The incidents of fi��ringwere at Jagdish Park and at Gujarat Vidyapeeth where Mr. Morarji Desai had gone on afast. An emergency meeting of the GujaratCabinet this evening [September 22] tookstock of the violent situation. Unoffi��cialsources placed the casualty fi��gures at 350.

FIFTY YEARS AGO SEPTEMBER 23, 1969

Army takes charge of Ahmedabad

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DATA POINT

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

Mr. Modi’s comments cameeven as Mr. Trump listenedin the audience. On Monday, Mr. Trump is due tomeet with Pakistani PrimeMinister Imran Khan, andSunday’s rally appeared tohave set the tone for a fairlytough line the U.S. Presidentis likely to take during thatmeet.

“On India’s concerns overcrossborder terrorism, Ithink Mr. Trump wentbeyond the script, and certainly the expectations ofthe government,” said senior analyst at the ORF, Ashok Mallik.

Both leaders made separate pitches to their respective domestic constituenciesas well, and while PM Modidwelt on rural sanitation,connectivity and easing business regulations, President Trump spoke of strengthening Americanmanufacturing, rising employment fi��gures, as well asbecoming a major worldenergy exporter.

While neither leader re

ferred to the trade issuesbetween the countries, theyraised optimism that theywould resolve diff��erencesduring their bilateral talkson Tuesday, and Mr. Trumpsaid he looked forward to“major defence purchases”by India in the near future.He also announced that inNovember this year, Indianand U.S. forces will hold everjoint triservicesexercises.

In their speeches to theaudience, where Mr. Trumpspoke for about 25 minutes,and Mr. Modi for about double that time, both madeseveral warm references toeach other and theirfriendship.

While Mr. Modi referredto Mr. Trump’s warmth andwit, Mr. Trump called PMModi a “loyal friend of theU.S.” and “full of wisdom”.Hinting at a possible visit toIndia in November, Mr.Trump said he might like tocome and watch the fi��rstmatch by the U.S. basketballleague NBA in Mumbai.

Modi, Trump set newcourse on terrorism

According to another person working in the complex,the trouble started whenformer J&K Chief MinisterMehbooba Mufti put out aseries of tweets on August 5afternoon criticising the government though Internetconnections had been shutdown from the night of August 4.

“The authorities werepuzzled when they sawMehbooba Mufti tweetingamid the Internet shutdownwhile in detention. Till thenthe Internet connection wasfunctional here. The authorities bizarrely assumed thatwe provided her the connection through somemeans.... it is not possible.Security offi��cials visited thehub and snapped all communications saying theydon’t trust anyone any

more,” he said.The IT employee said the

system used by them hasenough safeguards and nosocial media sites could beaccessed from any computer due to fi��rewalls. “Wehave nothing to do with social media — why would wedestroy our prospects? Weare operating in this confl��ictzone for 20 years. Is it necessary to drag everyone inthe same negative narrative?” he asked.

Representatives from theIT companies have held several meetings with the police and civil authorities butto no avail.

“We were promised thatInternet will be restored in afew days but it has not happened. This has severely impacted our business,” hesaid.

Valley’s IT hub gasps asNet shutdown continues

Mr. Shah urged party workers to reach out to everyhousehold explaining thedecision on Article 370. “Weabrogated Article 370 because until it was active, J&Kwasn’t an integral part of India,” he said.

Targeting former Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his opposition to themanner in which the decision on Article 370 was ta

ken, Mr. Shah said, “Congress leader Rahul Gandhisays Article 370 is a politicalmatter. He has just arrivedin politics. We have beengiving our lives for the lastthree generations for Kashmir. It could be a politicalmatter for the Congresseven today. For us, it was amatter of uniting the nation,a dream that Prime MinisterModi has made true.”

Choose nationalistic parties, says Amit Shah

Oil and gas, fi��nancial services and consumerfacing businesses will benefi��t themost from the tax cuts,while exportoriented sectors including IT and pharmaceuticals may not gainmuch as their eff��ective taxrates are already low thanksto tax incentives andexemptions.

The average eff��ective taxrate for the 1,000 listedfi��rms had crept up from 27%

in 201314 to 33% in 201819,said Crisil.

“Companies in the highest bracket account for alarge proportion of taxesand would also benefi��t moregiven the higher tax rates...Nearly 40% of these (1,000)companies had an eff��ectivetax rate of over 30%,” it said.

The eff��ective tax rate fordomestic corporates, inclusive of surcharges, will fallfrom 34.94% to 25.17%.

₹��37,000 crore tax savings for top fi��rms

The Executive Director ofthe Tobacco Board of Indiacancelled her appearance atthe last minute at a U.S. conference aimed at promotingtobacco, avoiding embarrassment to the governmentbecause it would have violated not only Indian lawsbut also World Health Organization (WHO) rules.

The issue arose when antitobacco and public heathactivists brought to the notice of the Health Ministrythat an offi��cial of the Tobacco Board was going to takepart in the conference. Theysaid this was in contravention of the WHO FrameworkConvention on TobaccoControl (FCTC) and the Cigarettes and Other TobaccoProducts (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulationof Trade and Commerce,Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.

Sunitha Kolaventy, Executive Director of the Tobacco Board under the Commerce Ministry, was tospeak on Tuesday at theGlobal Tobacco and Nicotine Forum 2019 in Washington, DC. However, HealthSecretary Preeti Sudan toldThe Hindu on Saturday thatMs. Kolaventy would not attend the event. As on Sunday, the event website hadher listed as a speaker.

Public health Under Article 5.3 of theWHO FCTC, of which Indiais a signatory, “in settingand implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect thesepolicies from commercialand other vested interests ofthe tobacco industry in accordance with national law.”

The activists argued thatthe Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum was an annual

tobacco industrysupportedand organised event aimedat the promotion of the tobacco industry globally andas such, Ms. Kolaventy’s appearance as a speaker at theevent would be in violationof the WHO FCTC.

This is not the fi��rst timethe Tobacco Board has beenprevented from associatingitself with the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum. The2010 edition was to havebeen held in Bangalore withthe sponsorship of the Tobacco Board. In response toa public interest litigationpetition by the Institute ofPublic Health, the Karnataka High Court ordered theBoard to desist from sponsoring the event as it violated the Cigarettes and OtherTobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement andRegulation of Trade andCommerce, Production,Supply and Distribution)Act.

The law says: “No personshall take part in any advertisement which directly orindirectly suggests or promotes the use or consumption of cigarettes or any other tobacco products.”

The government has runinto criticism for helping thetobacco and cigarette industry by banning ecigarettes,which were emerging as asafer alternative to conventional cigarettes.

Tobacco Board offi��cialopts out of U.S. eventAppearance would have violated norms


NEW DELHI

It would have also violatedWHO rules. * GETTY IMAGES

The Congress is yet to offi��cially come up with a campaign theme for the upcoming Haryana Assemblyelection but it will focus onmandi aur taalabandi (slowdown and shutdown) modeof the economy.

The Congress has identifi��ed specifi��c industrial clusters where slowdown hashad a direct impact in termsof scaling down of businesses and job losses.

Several sectorsAmong the industrial beltand sectors identifi��ed are theplywood industry in YamunaNagar, cooking utensil manufacturing industry in Jagadhri, scientifi��c equipmentmanufacturing clusters inAmbala, agricultural equipment factories in Karnal, textile units in Panipat, apparelexport units in Gurugram

and the automobile plants inManesar.

“I have been using mandi

and taalabandi wherever Iam campaigning as all theseareas have seen shutdowns.But the party is in the process of crystallising the issues,” said Randeep Surjewala, chief spokesperson ofthe party and Kaithal MLA.

The Congress said the cutin corporate taxes, announced by the Centre onThursday, would not help asit neither created jobs norwould increase demand.“Small jobs are created bymicro enterprises and traders. These sections have got

nothing. So, how can theycreate additional jobs,” Mr.Surjewala asked. “In the restof India, unemployment is6%, but for us, it is as high as29%.” After being decimatedin the Lok Sabha election —BJP won all the 10 seats — theCongress is fi��ghting a battlefor its survival in a State thatit ruled for 10 years since2004.

So, while its top leaderslike Bhupinder Singh Hoodahave backed the governmenton sensitive issues such asArticle 370 and the demandfor a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Haryana, theCongress is trying to focus

on the State government’strack record in areas such asjobs, law and order and farmsector distress in the agriculturedominated State.

The Congress, for example, has alleged that exportof premium quality rice tointernational markets hasbeen aff��ected after traces ofpesticide were found inthem but Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s government had failed to come tothe rescue of rice growers.

“Exports worth ₹��2,000crore have not been liftedfrom the ports of Arab countries because neither theCentre nor the Khattar government acted in time,”claimed Mr. Surjewala.

On Sunday, State chief Kumari Selja tweeted that theparty had seen a heavy rushof ticket seekers and so it extended the date to receiveapplications till September25.

Slump to be key Cong. themeParty identifi��es Haryana clusters, which saw scaling down of businesses, job losses

Sandeep Phukan

New Delhi

India will join Bangladesh tocommemorate 100 years of‘Bangabandhu’, the founding father Sheikh MujiburRahman, in 2020, and an International Fleet Review in2021 to mark 50 years of theLiberation of Bangladesh, offi��cial sources said. Navy chiefAdmiral Karambir Singh ison a visit to Dhaka wherethese issues would be discussed along with other maritime and security issues.

“Both sides are workingon a proposal for a joint boatexpedition with veteransfrom both sides to retracethe voyage of the Mukti Jodha from Khulna to Hoshangabad during the LiberationWar of Bangladesh in 1971,”defence and diplomaticsources told The Hindu. Themodalities are being workedout. Earlier the proposal was

to conduct it in December2018 but was put off�� due toelections in India.

In 1971, before the Liberation War, Mukti Bahini withtraining and assistance fromIndia had launched attackson Pakistan Navy vesselsalong Mongla, Chittagongand other areas in then EastPakistan.

Admiral Singh will be inBangladesh till September

24 and the visit is intendedto enhance the bilateral maritime relations, the Navy saidin a statement.

Top among the discussions would be the proposalto bring Bangladesh into India’s coastal radar chain network which several countries in the region havealready joined.

The issue of coastal radarchain network in Bangla

desh will be discussed tofasttrack it, defence and diplomatic sources confi��rmed.A Bharat Electronics Ltd.(BEL) team went there recently and a Memorandumof Understanding (MoU) wassigned and if all goes well, itcould be signed in the nexthighlevel bilateral visit,sources added.

As part of its foreign cooperation initiatives, the Navyalready imparts extensivetraining to Bangladesh at alllevels and also provides assistance in hydrographyamong others. As Dhakalooks to expand its domesticship building industry, Indiahas off��ered assistance in shipdesign.

The Chittagong Dry DockLimited is looking to buildsix frigates for which Indiahas off��ered to build some under the $500million Line ofCredit to boost ‘Make in India’ eff��orts and also assist inbuilding some locally. “Theyrecently sent a team to lookat our facilities,” a defenceoffi��cial said.

Delhi, Dhaka to boost maritime tiesPlan on to retracehistoric voyage ofMukti Jodha

Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with Bangladesh Prime MinisterSheikh Mujibur Rahman. * THE HINDU ARCHIVES

The government will not revise the fi��scal defi��cit targetimmediately and is not planning any spending cuts atthis stage, Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said onSunday.

The government cut corporate tax rates on Friday,which will reduce revenueby ₹��1.45 trillion in the cur

rent fi��scal year. But Ms. Sitharaman said the government would only review thefi��scal defi��cit target closer tothe 202021 Budget. “Thedecision will be taken later,”she told presspersons at herresidence in New Delhi.

She added that the alsosaid the government woulddecide on additional marketborrowings for the secondhalf of 201920 later.

No plans to revise fi��scaldefi��cit target: SitharamanReuters

New Delhi

Mr. Singh blamed Article370, and Article 35A, whicharose out of it, for Jammuand Kashmir being in thethroes of terrorism. “J&Kwill now be transformedwithin fi��ve years. In fact,more than threefourths ofits population wanted thisprovision to go. Our intentions were good and it is nosurprise that our move wassupported wholeheartedlyby our alliance partners.”

Cautioning Pakistanagainst promoting crossborder terrorism, in thewake of the recent developments in Kashmir, the Defence Minister said, “Talkswith Pakistan will henceforth resume only after itstops promoting terrorism.And it must also keep inmind that J&K is an integralpart of India. All discussionswill only take place aboutPakoccupied Kashmir.”

Rajnath warns Pakistannot to repeat mistakes

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting withthe 15member Caribbeanblock in New York, the VicePresident of Suriname hasvoiced support for India’s actions in Kashmir.

Speaking in response to aquestion, VicePresident Michael Ashwin Adhin said hiscountry had respect for India’s Kashmir action sinceSuriname follows the UNCharter and therefore won’tinterfere in the internal affairs of India.

“Suriname has includedsome of the UN ideals likenoninterference in our Constitution. If you are able totalk to each other, it is alwaysgood. That is our position,”

said Mr. Adhin in response toa question from The Hindu

about the withdrawal of Article 370 and the subsequenttension in South Asia.

Mr. Adhin was on a privatevisit to Delhi ahead of PrimeMinister Modi's meeting with

the Caribbean Community(CARICOM) countries on thesidelines of the UN GeneralAssembly.

The 15member CARICOMhas emerged as an importantblock of member nationswhose support is crucial for

India as New Delhi seeksgreater support at the UN.

Crucial supportThe Caribbean Communityhas a large population of Indianorigin people who areseen as crucial by India. TheIndian government underMr. Modi has reached out tothe community through various platforms.

Pakistan is expected toraise the Kashmir issue at theUNGA and India’s diplomaticcounter is therefore, gearedat mobilising support fromall members and regionalblocks.

When asked if Surinameexpects the Kashmir issue tobe raised at the UN, Mr Adhin said, “There is a possibility of the issue could be

raised on the margins of UNGA. Suriname will not raisethe issue.”

He highlighted that Suriname always stood for dialogue and reconciliation especially in the LatinAmerican region, where several countries like Venezuelaand Nicaragua have askedfor Suriname’s help in peacebuilding. Mr. Adhin said therequests showed the supportthat his country enjoys in theregion for being impartialand for respecting constructive approach to end confl��icts.

“We are known for the Surinamese way which ismeant for mutual respectand conserving our historically diverse regional culture,” said Mr Adhin.

Suriname backs India’s decision on J&KVicePresident Michael Ashwin Adhin for talks between India and Pakistan to resolve tension

Suriname Vice-President Michael Ashwin Adhin.

Kallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI

Following the announcement of the byelection tofour Assembly seats in Punjab on October 21, the Congress and the ShiromaniAkali Dal have lost no time infi��ring salvos at each other.

Union Minister and SADleader Harsimrat Kaur Badalon Saturday accused theCongress government of “refusing” to honour its commitment to pay the State’sshare in the GST to the highest sacred place of the Sikhreligion, the Golden Temple.Chief Minister AmarinderSingh on Sunday hit back al

leging Ms. Badal of exploiting religion for her petty political gains by spreadingfalsehood.

“Bereft of any meaningful

political issue to fi��ght the bypolls, Harsimrat and the restof the Akali leadership areagain resorting to outrightfabrications in a desperate

bid to deceive the people,who had repeatedly rejectedthem since the 2017 Assembly elections,” he said.

The Chief Minister saidthe Union Minister’s statement had not even an iota oftruth.

“The fact is the State government had not only notifi��ed 100% GST refund forPunjab’s share in respect ofDarbar Sahib [Golden Temple], Durgiana Mandir, Amritsar and Valmik Sthal, RamTirath, Amritsar but had alsoallocated a whopping ₹��4crore to the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, in Mayfor the same,” he said.

“With falsehoods, Harsimrat is evidently trying to helpher party claw its way backinto the Punjab electoralscene, from which the Akalishad virtually disappeared inthe past three years or so.”

Congress, Akali Dal in war of wordsTrade charges on payment ofState’s share ofGST to shrines

VIKAS VASUDEVA

CHANDIGARH Punjab Chief Electoral Offi��cer S. Karuna Raju said onSunday that the notifi��cationfor the October 21 byelectionto four Assembly seatswould be issued on September 23.

He said nomination wouldstart immediately in thePhagwara, Mukerian, Dakhaand Jalalabad constituenciesafter the notifi��cation was is

sued. The last date would beSeptember 30.

Jalalabad and Phagwarafell vacant after Sukhbir Badal of the Shiromani AkaliDal and Som Parkash of theBJP were elected to the LokSabha. The byelection inDakha was necessitated bythe resignation of formerAAP MLA H.S. Phoolka. Mukerian fell vacant last monthon the death of CongressMLA Rajnish Kumar Babbi.

Punjab bypoll notifi��cationto be issued todaySPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

Following publication ofthe National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, theMeghalaya government iscontemplating addingmore teeth to a law, enacted in 2016, to check illegalimmigration into the State,Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said onSunday.

The State governmentwill soon hold a consultative meeting with all political parties in the State todiscuss about the proposedamendment to the Meghalaya Residents Safety andSecurity (MRSS) Act, 2016,and once agreed, the samemay be passed in the formof an ordinance, he said.

‘Meghalaya to

add more teeth

to MRSS Act’

Press trust of India

Shillong

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CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


NEWS

All that jazz: The 50,000strong crowd at the NRG Stadium in Houston fl��ashes the NaMo sign moments before the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump, with folk artists pumping up the excitement levels. * NYT, PTI & AFP

Petronet, an Indian liquefi��ednatural gas (LNG) importer,has decided to invest $2.5 billion in American companyTellurian Inc., in an agreement that will give India access to up to fi��ve milliontonnes of LNG a year.

The MoU, an updated version of the one signed in February, was exchanged hereby offi��cials in the presence ofPrime Minister Narendra Modi in his fi��rst engagement after landing here. Under theagreement, the fi��nalised dealis due to be completed byMarch 31, 2020.

Symbolic value“Increasing natural gas usewill enable India to fuel itsimpressive economic growthto achieve Mr. Modi’s goal ofa $5trillion economy whilecontributing to a cleaner en

vironment,” said TellurianInc. president and CEO MegGentle in a statement aftersigning the new MoU.

Offi��cials said that whilethe MoU still needed to benegotiated, the announcement had symbolic value atthe start of the Prime Minister’s visit to the U.S., showingIndia’s intent to become amajor energy buyer forAmerican companies.

Ahead of Sunday’s rallywith U.S. President DonaldTrump, the Prime Ministermet heads of 17 energy companies to speak about the potential of the Indian marketand listened to their views onthe challenges of supplyingoil and also investing inIndia.

According to a senior offi��cial, the companies were“appreciative” of India’s purchases of U.S. oil and gas,which have more than dou

bled in the last year. They also pointed to certain systemic issues with the Indianmarket during the twohourmeet.

Among the issues raisedby the businessmen, who included the top leadership ofExxonMobil, BP, Schlum

berger, Cheniere, Total andother big energy companies,were problems with arbitration and the dispute resolution mechanism in India.

Some asked Mr. Modi toconsider a unifi��ed Ministryfor all energy issues insteadof separate Ministries for Pe

troleum and Natural Gas,coal and renewable energyto streamline processes.

Upbeat on economy“The CEOs lauded the government's eff��orts towardsease of doing business, stepstaken towards deregulation

Energy, but India has had toresell much of its Americanintake due to lower demand.

The announcement of theTellurian MoU, which was reported by The Hindu on Friday, was anticipated as a“bigticket” investment announcement during thePrime Minister’s U.S. visit.

Meanwhile, CommerceMinistry offi��cials are still negotiating with the U.S. TradeRepresentative’s offi��ce inWashington in the hope ofannouncing a limited tradedeal next week, which is expected to be announced after the bilateral meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr.Trump on Tuesday. Offi��cialsare discussing lifting of tariff��s, and a possible restoration of export subsidies forIndia under the GeneralisedSystem of Preferences,which the Trump administration withdrew in June.

in the [energy] sector ... andwere upbeat on the Indianeconomy,” External Aff��airsMinistry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

Government offi��cials saidthe massive investment fromIndia in Tellurian’s $29 billion Driftwood project would“create 50,000 direct and indirect jobs” in the U.S., andwould support manufacturing in 18 U.S. States.

However, senior offi��cialswho were present at themeeting refused to commenton how soon India would beable to consume the amountof LNG the MoU insulated, inorder to justify theinvestment.

In 2011, GAIL (India) Ltd.,a stakeholder in Petronet,had already entered into a20year contract to buy 5.8million tonnes a year of U.S.LNG, split between Dominion Energy and Cheniere

Ahead of ‘Howdy, Modi!’, India struck big-ticket LNG dealUpdating an MoU signed in February, Petronet to invest $2.5 billion in Tellurian Inc., giving India access to up to 5 million tonnes of gas a year

Suhasini Haidar

HOUSTON

PM Narendra Modi at a meeting with CEOs from the energy sector in Houston. * PTI

Dosti fl��ag on lecternHOUSTON

In a rare move reflective of

IndiaU.S. friendship, the

Trump administration

replaced the presidential seal

with an “IndiaU.S. dosti flag”

emblem on the presidential

lectern. This was a pleasant

surprise to many at the

‘Howdy Modi’ event.

NBA game in MumbaiHOUSTON

The U.S. President on Sunday

announced that India will

soon have access to another

worldclass American

product. “Next week,

thousands of people will

gather in Mumbai to watch

the firstever NBA basketball

game in India,” he said.

Belated birthday wishesHOUSTON

U.S. President Donald Trump

on Sunday wished Prime

Minister Modi a ‘Happy

Birthday’ at the ‘Howdy,

Modi!’ event. He turned 69

last week. Mr. Trump said this

marked ‘another milestone’

for him. PTI

Houston’s keys with PMHOUSTON

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi was on Sunday

presented with the keys to

Houston city by its Mayor

Sylvester Turner on his arrival

at the ‘Howdy Modi’ event

here as a mark of respect and

the long standing India

Houston ties.

IN BRIEF

Prime Minister NarendraModi had a special interaction with a 17member delegation of Kashmiri Panditsfrom across the U.S. and assured them of “building anew Kashmir”, as part of hisweeklong visit to the U.S.

“New winds are blowingin Kashmir and we will allbuild a new Kashmir together that will be for everyone,”he told the delegation.

Mr. Modi also thanked thecommunity for their “patience for over 30 years.”

Earlier, External Aff��airsMinistry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted: “InHouston, a delegation of theKashmiri Pandit communitymet the Prime Minister.They unequivocally supported the steps being taken forthe progress of India andempowerment of everyIndian.”

The delegation said thattheir 700,000 communitymembers were “indebted”to Mr. Modi’s government.

The delegation also presented a memorandum toMr. Modi, requesting him toset up a task force under theUnion Home Ministry tobring the community together, develop the region andrepatriate Kashmiri Pandits.

“Modiji brought smiles tothe faces of our Kashmiri

Pandit delegation, by promising a new Kashmir thatwe will build together, foreveryone,” Rajiv Pandit,who was part of the delegation, said.

Another delegate, RakeshKaul, said that the meetingwas important to requestthe PM to initiate steps to address the ethnic cleansing ofthe community.

The PM met teams of theDawoodi Bohra community.

PM meets Pandit delegation,promises a ‘new Kashmir’Indebted to Modi government, the 17-member team says


Houston

Making a promise: PM Narendra Modi exchanging greetingswith a delegation of Kashmiri Pandits in Houston. * PTI

After a weekend in Houston,Texas, focused mainly onthe diaspora, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s week begins in New York City withthe 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The highlight of Mr. Modi’s packed schedule will bethe IndiaU.S. bilateral interaction, carrying forwardthe weekend engagement ofPresident Donald Trump’sparticipation at the “Howdy,Modi!” diaspora rally.

Plurilateral meetingsIndia is pushing for greaterplurilateral engagement thisyear – forums with largegroups of countries, India’sUN envoy Syed Akbaruddintold reporters in New York.The two scheduled plurilaterals are the India Pacifi��c Island Leaders’ Meeting andIndiaCARICOM meeting (includes island nations such as

Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Haiti,Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago).

Mr. Modi will be accompanied by External Aff��airs Minister S. Jaishankar, MoS V.Muraleedharan and Environment Minister PrakashJavadekar. The Prime Minister and Mr. Jaishankar have atotal of approximately 75meetings scheduled, withthe Prime Minister participating in over 40 of these.

Mr Jaishankar will leadthe Indian side in meetingsof the Quadrilateral Dialogue, BRICS and SAARC onThursday.

Mr. Modi will start his

week by addressing the UNClimate Action Summit onMonday where he is expected to outline India’s environmental and climate actionpolicy, in their domestic andinternational aspects, Mr.Akbaruddin said. Mr. Modiwill announce that India hassurpassed the solar powertargets from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Consistent with a greentheme, he will inaugurate,on Tuesday, the Gandhi Solar Park, an installation ofsolar panels and a ‘greenroof’ at the UN headquarterswith a projected annual output of 86,244 kWh/year asper India’s UN Mission.

Meet on healthMr. Modi will also participate in a high level meetingon Universal health coverage and in a leaders’ dialogue on strategic responsesto extremist and terroristnarratives. `On Tuesday Mr.Modi will hold a bilateral

with President Trump, afterthe latter has delivered hisUNGA address. The tone forthis meeting was set over theweekend with the joint participation of both leaders inthe Houston rally and the exchanging of an (updated)MoU between Indian LNGcompany Petronet and U.S.energy company TellurainInc. Petronet intends to invest $2.5 billion in TellurianInc.’s in return for rights toup to 5 million tonnes ofLNG per year over 40 years.

Mr. Modi’s week will endwith his UNGA address onFriday morning.

India has the seventh slotthat day, followed by Norway, Singapore and then Pakistan.

Since Mr. Modi will speakbefore Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, it is possiblethat India will exercise itsright of reply, which can bedone in several ways, including via statements made atthe end of the day.

After Houston, it’s a busy New York weekModi will attend 40 meetings, culminating in the UN General Assembly address

Sriram Lakshman

New York A 50member delegation ofSikhs from across the U.S.met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and thankedhim for removing the namesof over 300 communitymembers from blacklist.

The Centre last week re

moved names of 312 Sikh foreign nationals involved inantiIndia activities after reviewing the Adverse List.

The team also presenteda memorandum listing theirdemands and thanked Mr.Modi for bringing to justicesome perpetrators of the1984 antiSikh riots.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Houston (U.S.)

Sikh delegates thank PMfor decision on blacklist

U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential contenderBernie Sanders said on Sunday in a newspaper articlethat the ModiTrump rally ishappening at a time whenKashmir remains underlockdown. “We will hearmuch about the friendshipbetween the American andIndian peoples,” the 77yearold leader said in anopinion piece in HoustonChronicle.

“However, there will be adeafening silence” on the“human rights crisis” inKashmir, he added.

‘Deafeningsilence onKashmir’


Houston

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


WORLD

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12736 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Devotion is an overwhelming experience felt in one’s innerbeing when the human soul longs to reach the Lotus feet ofthe Lord. The restless human mind is given to fear and allkinds of phobias when it is involved in worldly aff��airs. Allthis only makes one further rooted in the cycle of birth. Akrura exemplifi��es the truth that true devotion and jnana arecomplementary and not antithetical, pointed out Sri B. Damodhara Dikshitar in a discourse.

Kamsa entrusts Akrura with the mission of bringingKrishna and Balarama to Mathura. In all humility, Akruraunderstands that though he is worldly minded and engagedin the service of Kamsa, he is now most lucky and fortunateto be able to see Krishna in person. He sets forth to Gokula,with his mind fully engrossed in Krishna. Akrura ruminateson the greatness of the Lord and His incarnations that provide a chance for ordinary people to know about the HighestTruth. His mind revolves around his hopes and expectationsabout the Lord. He also wishes for the removal of all obstacles. So much takes place in his mind about the forthcomingmeeting with Krishna. As he enters Gokula, he feels the vibrations of the place sanctifi��ed by the Lord’s presence. Hesees the footprints of the Lord on the ground and he rolls onthe sands to savour the divine contact with His Lotus feet.He is caught in the river of spiritual joy. Adi Sankara, the famous exponent of Advaita Siddhanta, extols bhakti as thestate of mind that fi��nds solace in God even as the rivers fi��ndtheir refuge in the ocean. He asserts that bhakti is the bestpath for emancipation of the human soul. The mind gets attracted to the Lord even as iron fi��lings gets drawn to themagnet or when the creeper reaches out to the tree for support.

FAITH

Bhakti for emancipation4 Anger on small road is normal

(7)

5 Pub note rewritten; includes

one male singer (8)

6 Dance bar doesn't have love

for gramophone record, for

example (4)

9 General allowance (5)

13 Housetrained hornets fl��y

away excitedly! Goodbye! (5)

15 Enigma solver's explosive

device, I hear (5)

17 Girl hugs star in American city

(3,5)

19 Riptide fl��ows around head of

Navajo brave (8)

20 Sketch box containing egg (7)

22 Main container (5)

24 Great river carp (6)

26 Champ's new skin disorder (4)

28 State: Moon's over

Washington (4)

14 Goes around bistro

redevelopment (6)

16 Little bone of sinuous snake is

cut lengthwise easily, in the

beginning (7)

18 Legendary female I dream

about after end of fi��lm (7)

21 Walks or stays? (6)

23 Increases soldiers in August

mobilisation, after loss of

uniform (8)

25 Pub date dances around

commencement of soiree in

capital (8)

27 Comedian Hardy's duck's

organ (6)

29 Ok, a sarong is designed for

animals down under (9)

30 Flog political functionary (4)

■ DOWN

1 Burns' steamer sails behind

cape (8)

2 Isabella hides murder victim

(4)

3 Revolting Bulgarians throw

buns to get sheep (6)

(set by Incognito)

■ ACROSS

7 Complain: "It's a small bed" (4)

8 Making clear evil anger is bad

(9)

10 Ms. Earhart, America's

enterprising lady in air, for

starters (6)

11 Mac's Croatian dressing (8)

12 If grants can be organised for

fi��ring from aircraft at ground

targets ... (8)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12737

EU’s Juncker says not too late for Brexit deal MADRID

There is still time for London

and Brussels to make a Brexit

deal, European Commission

president JeanClaude

Juncker said in remarks

published on Sunday, as the

clock runs down to a October

31 deadline. AFP

ELSEWHERE

BRIEF

Iran’s President called onSunday on Western powersto leave the security of thePersian Gulf to regional nations led by Tehran, criticising a new U.S.led coalitionpatrolling the region’s waterways as nationwide paradesshowcased the Islamic Republic’s military arsenal.

President Hassan Rouhaniseparately promised to unveil a regional peace plan atthis week’s upcoming highlevel meetings at the UnitedNations, which comes amidheightened Mideast tensionsfollowing a series of attacks,including a missileanddrone assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.

The U.S. alleges Iran carried out the September 14 attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, which caused oilprices to spike by the biggestpercentage since the 1991

Gulf War. While Yemen’s Iranianallied Houthi rebelsclaimed the assault, SaudiArabia says it was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran.”

For its part, Iran deniesbeing responsible and haswarned any retaliatory attack targeting it will result in

an “allout war.” That’s as ithas begun enriching uranium beyond the terms of its2015 nuclear deal with worldpowers, which the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from over a year earlier.

Mr. Rouhani spoke from ariser at the parade in Tehran,

with uniformed offi��cers fromthe country’s military and itsparamilitary RevolutionaryGuard beside him. The clericlater watched as goosestepping soldiers carrying submachine guns and portablemissile launchers drove pastas part of “Holy Defense

Week,” which marks thestart of the IranIraq war in1980.

Mr. Rouhani said Iran waswilling to “extend the handof friendship and brotherhood” to Persian Gulf nations and was “even ready toforgive their past mistakes.”

“Those who want to linkthe region’s incidents to theIslamic Republic of Iran arelying like their past lies thathave been revealed,” the President said. “If they aretruthful and seek security inthe region, they must notsend weapons, fi��ghter jets,bombs and dangerous armsto the region.” He added thatthe U.S. and Western nationsshould “distance” themselves from the region.

“Your presence has always been a calamity for thisregion and the farther you gofrom our region, the moresecurity would come for ourregion,” he said.

Rouhani warns West to stay out of Gulf Iranian President promises to unveil a regional peace plan at this week’s highlevel meetings at the UN

Associated Press

Tehran

Military might: Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and military offi��cials at the “Sacred DefenceWeek” parade in Tehran. It marks the start of the IranIraq war in 1980. * AFP

A bus crash in northern Pakistan killed 26 people onSunday after its brakesfailed on a winding mountain road, police said.

Another 20 passengerswere injured when the bussmashed headon into adirt embankment.

Such road accidents arecommon in Pakistan,where motorists largelydisregard traffi��c rules andsafety standards on wornout roads. Last month, aspeeding bus fell off�� a roadinto a river in the northwest, killing 24 passengers.

Rescue eff��orts werehampered by the remoteterrain near the town ofChilas on the route between the cities of Rawalpindi and Skardu.

26 killed in Pakistan bus crash

Associated Press

ISLAMABAD

Doctors, nurses, dentistsand midwives who wish topractice in the U.K. will nolonger have to appear forEnglish language tests likeTOEFL and IELTS as thecountry will now acceptscores of Occupational English Test (OET), which thecandidates have to anywayclear for registering with therelevant health careregulator.

The OET is an international English language testthat assesses the languagecommunication skills ofhealth care professionals,who seek to register andpractise in an Englishspeaking environment.

The candidates had toearlier take OET to register

with Nursing and MidwiferyCouncil and the GeneralMedical Council, which arethe two health care boardsin the U.K., as well as TOEFLor IELTS like exam to applyfor visa.

“The U.K. Home Offi��cehas streamlined English language testing ensuring thatdoctors, dentists, nursesand midwives, who have already passed an English language test accepted by therelevant professional body,do not have to sit anothertest before entry to the U.K.on a Tier 2 visa,” said SujataStead, CEO, Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment,which conducts the OET.

The change will apply toall Tier 2 (General) visa applications submitted fromOctober 1.

Doctors, nurses can workin U.K. sans TOEFL, IELTS OET enough for health care professionals


New Delhi

Stena Impero, the Britishfl��agged tanker detained byIran on July 19, may be released within hours, thehead of the Swedish fi��rmthat owns the vessel saidon Sunday.

The Stena Impero wasdetained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the Straitof Hormuz waterway for alleged marine violations,two weeks after Britainseized an Iranian tanker off��Gibraltar. That vessel wasreleased in August.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT quoted StenaBulk chief executive ErikHanell as saying: “We havereceived information thismorning that it seems likethey will release Stena Impero within a few hours. Sowe understand that thepolitical decision to releasethe ship has been taken.”

Iran to releaseBritishfl��aggedtanker

Reuters

STOCKHOLM

Prodemocracy protestersclashed with riot police outside a mall on Sunday, withsome activists vandalising anearby subway station anddefacing a Chinese fl��ag, butplans to disrupt the airportdid not materialise.

Police fi��red brief volleysof tear gas and rubber bullets in the northern town ofSha Tin late Sunday afternoon, capping a day whichsaw thousands rally peacefully inside a mall before themood soured.

Authorities reduced railand bus links to the city’sairport while police steppedup security checks in a successful bid to stop a crowdfrom massing at the bustlingtransport hub.

The airport — the world’seighth busiest — has becomea frequent target for demonstrators pushing for greaterdemocratic rights and police accountability.

‘Stress test’

Online forums used by thelargely leaderless movement had called for a “stresstest” of the airport on Sunday, code for disrupting travel links or occupyingbuildings.

Instead thousands gathered inside a mall in thenorthern town of Sha Tin tosing protest songs and makeorigami cranes, the latestrally in what has now been16 consecutive weekends ofprotests and clashes.

Many shops inside thecomplex shuttered but theunsanctioned rally remained civil for much of theafternoon.

“Even if we are very tired,we can’t give up on ourrights,” a teacher at the rally, who have her surname asChing, told AFP.

“If it (the movement)stretches to 100 days, 200days or even 1,000 days andwe still don’t get what wewant, we will continue tocome out.”

Tensions rose later in theafternoon.

Masked activists paradeda Chinese fl��ag through themall that had been torndown from a nearby government building. It was laterthrown into a nearby river.

Groups of masked protesters then vandalised ticketmachines in Sha Tin’s subway before riot policerushed in to close the station down.

Police snatch squadsmade multiple arrests.

Hong Kong police foilbid to disrupt airportProtesters deface Chinese fl��ag

Agence France-Presse

Hong Kong

Police offi��cers detaining an antigovernment protester in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, on Sunday. * REUTERS

Israel’s ArabdominatedJoint List party moved onSunday to back the centreleft bloc of Benny Gantz,who is challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’srightwing alliance, to form anew government.

With fi��nal results all butin, neither Mr. Gantz nor Mr.Netanyahu command a majority in 120seat Parliament,so the Arab List’s decision toend its usual policy of withholding support for any candidate in the wake of elections could nudge PresidentReuven Rivlin to ask Mr.

Gantz to form a government.Mr. Rivlin, who began

consulting with party leaders on Sunday to discusswho should lead the countryafter no clear victor emergedfrom Tuesday’s election,suggested Mr. Gantz and Mr.Netanyahu join forces.

No party drawn from the21% Arab minority has everbeen part of an Israeli government. But an increasedturnout saw the Joint Listwin 13 seats, making it thethird largest grouping.

This would provide anoutlet to voice Arab complaints of discrimination inIsraeli society and give a big

ger platform to Arab parties.“We want to bring an end

to the era of Netanyahu, sowe recommend that BennyGantz be the one to form thenext government,” party

head Ayman Odeh said.Joint List’s support does

not mean it will sit in the governing coalition, but itsbacking gives Mr. Gantz’scentreleft bloc 57 seats,compared to Mr. Netanyahu’s rightwing bloc of 55.

Mr. Netanyahu denounced the Arab party support of Mr. Gantz.

Meanwhile, former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose party YisraelBeitenu won eight seats, toldMr. Rivlin on Sunday hewould not recommend either candidate. He could play akingmaker’s role in shapingthe fi��nal outcome.

Israel’s Arab party backs Gantz for PMAvigdor Lieberman says he will endorse neither Netanyahu nor Gantz

Ayman Odeh

Reuters

JERUSALEMThe British government hasplans in place to bring homestranded holidaymakers ifThomas Cook goes out ofbusiness, an event thatwould likely spark chaoticscenes at resorts and airports around the world.

The bosses of the world’soldest travel company werestill meeting lenders andcreditors in London on Sunday to try to thrash out alastditch deal to keep thecompany afl��oat.

The company’s board willthen meet in the early evening to decide the company’sfate, with it potentially going

into administration in theearly hours of Monday.

Running hotels, resorts,airlines and cruises, Thomas Cook has 600,000 customers on holiday, meaninggovernments and insurancecompanies could be forcedto step in and bring themhome if the company goesout of business. The government and the aviation regulator have drawn up a planto step in and use other airlines to bring Britons homeif needed.

It needs to fi��nd another£200 million to see itthrough the winter monthswhen it needs to pay hotelsfor their summer services.

Travel fi��rm Thomas Cookbattles to keep afl��oatReuters

London

Tanzania not sharingdetails on Ebola: WHO NAIROBI

The World Health

Organization has accused

Tanzania of failing to provide

information on suspected

cases of Ebola in the country.

East African nations have

been on high alert over an

outbreak of Ebola in the

Democratic Republic of

Congo. AFP

U.S. President DonaldTrump on Sunday confi��rmed he did discuss formerVicePresident Joe Biden andcorruption allegations in aphone call with Ukraine’sleader, as Mr. Trump’s opponents called for hisimpeachment.

A whistleblower’s complaint sparked off�� accusations that Mr. Trump hadsought to persuade President Volodymyr Zelensky toprovide damaging information on Mr. Biden, Mr.Trump’s possible 2020 election challenger.

Mr. Trump confi��rmed thatthe conversation, held in July, had addressed alleged

corruption involving Mr. Biden and his son Hunter, andhe fl��oated the possibilitythat a transcript could bereleased.

“We had a very great conversation, very straight, veryhonest conversation. I hopethey can put it out,” Mr.Trump said, repeating that

he had done nothing wrong.The Wall Street Journal

reported that Mr. Trumppressed Mr. Zelensky abouteight times on the call to investigate possible corruption involving Mr. Hunter,who worked with a Ukrainian natural gas companywhile his father wasVicePresident.

Mr. Biden said that Mr.Trump’s actions appeared“to be an overwhelmingabuse of power.”

Infl��uential congressmanAdam Schiff��, chairman ofthe House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday said thathis own reservations aboutimpeachment were fadingover Mr. Trump’s Ukrainecall.

Trump says Biden was subjectof his call to Ukraine President He pressed Zelensky for damaging information on his rival’s son


Washington

Joe Biden

Sri Lanka’s PresidentMaithripala Sirisena onSunday ordered a fresh inquiry into the Easter suicide bombings that hit SriLanka killing at least 258people.

Mr. Sirisena said thecommission has wide judicial powers to gather evidence on those responsiblefor the attack, and to probesecurity and intelligencelapses. The fi��vememberpanel is to report back withrecommendations withinthree months.

The inquiry waslaunched amid fearsvoiced by the CatholicChurch that a parliamentary probe and police investigation into the attacksare not independent.

Sirisena formspanel to probeEaster attacks


Colombo

If you’re an investor in debt mutual funds, you’re probablypuzzling over reports on ‘sidepocketing’ of bonds that fi��gurein fund portfolios. Last week,UTI Credit Risk Fund and Reliance Ultra Short DurationFund announced their intent tosidepocket bonds issued by Altico Capital after it as rated default grade by an agency. Previously, Sundaram MutualFund announced, and thenbacktracked on, its decision tosidepocket bonds from thetroubled DHFL. If you’re confused by what all this means toyou, here are a few answers:

When debt funds face adowngrade or default on abond they own, they writedown its value in the NAV.Why is sidepocketingneeded?

When debt funds write downthe value of a bond, they usually aren’t sure if the bond is acomplete dud or will realisesome value later. But in the interests of conservatism, SEBIrules require funds to writedown the value of such bonds

by 25, 50, 75 or even 100% intheir portfolios, based on theircredit ratings. When a fundtakes such writedowns, theNAV takes an immediate blow.But if the issuer of the bond later pays up his dues, the fundwill then have to increase itsNAV to account for the repayment. In such cases, investorsin the scheme who exit earlytaking NAV losses would fail tobenefi��t from the recovery.

On the other hand, new investors who entered thescheme after the writedownwould stand to pocket unfairgains on a bond theynever owned. Segregating downgraded bondsin a fund’sportfolio into a‘sidepocket’avoids such unfair treatment. Whena schemesidepockets a doubtfulbond, any recoveryfrom the bond is distributed toall investors who were invested

in the scheme when the downgrade happened. Investors whogot into a scheme after thedowngrade, get to buy only intothe main portfolio excludingthe doubtful bond.

When and what kind ofbonds are debt funds supposed to segregate?

SEBI rules allow debt fundsto sidepocket only those bondsthat are downgraded below investment grade by rating agencies. When a bond rated BBB orabove is pegged down, it turnsfrom an investment grade bondto a noninvestment grade one.

Fund houses are required todecide on sidepocketing

and secure the approval of their trusteesfor it, on the day thedowngradehappens.

When a bond isdowngraded, whydo some fund

houses announce side

pockets while others don’t?SEBI has not made side

pocketing compulsory for allbonds that turn noninvestment grade. This decision is leftto the discretion of the AMCand its trustees. So, when abond slips into noninvestmentgrade, some AMCs may writedown its value and hang on,while others may sidepocket it.

What happens when asidepocket is created?

The scheme separates itsportfolio into the good portion,consisting of investment gradebonds, and the bad portioncomprising the downgradedbond. The NAV of the schemewill be carved out to the extentof the value (after write down)of the bad bond. All existing investors in the scheme will receive one new unit in the sidepocketed portfolio in addition to existing units inthe scheme.

No transactions areallowed in these new

units. So, if you re

deem the fund after sidepocketing, you will only receive theNAV of the main portfolio. Butif the scheme eventually recovers money from the bond, theywill get automatically redeemed and you will receive apayout. The trustees of theAMC are supposed to monitorthe recovery of proceeds in thesidepocketed bonds.

AMCs have put out newspaper ads about sidepocketing, off��ering a onemonthexit window. Does thismean the scheme will take ahit from a bad bond? Do Ineed to exit it?

No, you shouldn’t. The ad isonly an enabling provision thattells you that the scheme may,in future, use sidepocketing forsome of its debt schemes if they

take a hit on theirbonds. When

MFs makechanges totheir fundamentalattributes,SEBI rules

require them

to give their investors a onemonth exit window (withoutload). Given that SEBI’s sidepocketing rules are recent andmost AMCs are introducing thisfeature into their debt funds forthe fi��rst time, they have beenadvertising and off��ering investors a onemonth exit window.Once all fund houses incorporate these enabling provisionsinto their scheme attributes,they can go ahead with sidepocketing in future withoutseeking the okay of theirinvestors.

If I don’t check MF websites or newspaper ads,how will I know if a debtscheme is creatingsidepockets?

On the day a scheme decidesto sidepocket a bond, it is required to issue a press releaseand send an SMS as well asemail to all its investors. It mustalso inform investors as soon asit secures trustee approval forthis. On the day the announcement is made, all new purchases or sales of units in thescheme are frozen.

How sidepocketing aff��ects youAarati Krishnan

If debt mutual funds create sidepockets and off��er investors an exit window without load, should you sell?

CMYK

A ND-NDE

MONEYWISEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI


PERSONAL LOAN RATES AND CHARGES

Name of Lender Interest rate (%)

EMI (₹��) Loan

amount

5 lakh Tenure

5 years


amount

1 lakh Tenure

5 years

Processing fee

State Bank of India 10.6515.05 10,78411,908 2,1562,381 Upto 1% of loan amount

Citi Bank 10.9913.24 10,86811,438 2,1732,287 Upto 3% of loan amount

HDFC Bank 11.25 21.50 10,93313,667 2,1862,733 Upto 2.5% of loan amount

Indian Bank 10.513.15 10,74611,414 2,1492,282 Upto 0.512% of loan amount

Bank of Baroda 11.416.4* 10,97112,265 2,1942,453 Up to Rs 10,000

Axis Bank 15.75 24 12,09214,383 2,4182,876 Upto 2% of loan amount

ICICI Bank 11.50 19.25 10,99613,039 2,1992,607 Upto 2.25% of loan amount

Union Bank of India 10.3514.35 10,70911,725 2,1412,345 Upto 0.5% of loan amount

Canara Bank 10.713.7 10,79611,556 2,1592,311 0.5% of loan amount

Punjab National Bank 11.114.85 10,89611,855 2,1792,371 Upto 1.8% of loan amount

UCO Bank 11.211.6 10,92111,021 2,1842,204 Upto 1% of loan amount

Bandhan Bank 1515.9 11,89412,132 2,3782,426 1% of loan amount

South Indian Bank 11.3514.45 10,95811,751 2,1912,350 2% of loan amount

IDBI Bank 1214 11,12211,634 2,2242,326 1% of loan amount

Corporation Bank 12.6513.65 11,28711,543 2,2572,308 1.5% of loan amount

Kotak Mahindra Bank 10.516.99 10,74612,423 2,1492,484 Upto 2.5% of loan amount

Central Bank of India 10.2511.75 10,68511,059 2,1372,211 Upto Rs 500

Federal Bank 11.9918 11,11912,696 2,2232,539 Upto 3% of loan amount

*Strategic premium in addition to the interest rate may be levied, which depends upon the customer's risk profi��le.

Rates as on September 20 Source: Paisabazaar.com

LOOSE CHANGE

Ravikanth

NEW CAR LOAN RATES AND CHARGES

Name of Bank Interest rate (%)


amount5 lakh

Tenure5 years

Processing fee

MCLR Linked Loans

Andhra Bank 9.1 10,403 ₹��1,00025,000

South Indian Bank 9.4510.7 10,48810,796 1%

State Bank of India 8.912.25 10,35411,185 NIL till 31.10.2019

Canara Bank 8.79.35 10,30610,464 ₹�� 1,0005,000

Dhanlaxmi Bank 9.810.4 10,57410,722 1%

Axis Bank 8.8 11.05 10,33010,883 ₹��3,500–5,500

HDFC Bank 910.25 10,37910,685 ₹��3,00010,000

Bank of Baroda 8.410.4* 10,23410,722 ₹��500 till 31.12.2019

Union Bank of India 8.68.85 10,28210,342 Upto ₹��1,000

Indian Overseas Bank 9 10,379 ₹��50010,000

Karnataka Bank 9.2510.5 10,43910,746 Upto 0.5%

Punjab National Bank 8.99.35 10,35410,464 Upto ₹��1,500

UCO Bank 8.68.85 10,28210,342 1%

Bank of India 8.959.55 10,36710,513 NIL till 31.12.2019

Federal Bank 9.259.5 10,43910,500 ₹��1,5002.500

Repo Rate Linked Loans

Union Bank of India 8.68.75 10,28210,318 Upto Rs 1,000

Punjab National Bank 8.659.1 10,29410,403 Upto Rs 1,500

Bank of India 8.859.45 10,34210,488 NIL till 31.12.2019

*Strategic premium in addition to the interest rate may be levied,depending upon customer's credit profi��le

Source: Paisabazaar.com

Q. My wife is a senior citizen (under 80years) and I am a super senior citizen (80plus). We have limited income and that too,only from interest. So, we would like to planfor getting the maximum amount byinvesting in very safe avenues. The limit ofinvestment in Senior Citizens Saving Schemeis ₹��15 lakh. Can you please let me knowwhether both of us can individually invest inthis, having the other as nominee? Is thislegally permissible? Is there any other safescheme which would give a return of morethan 8%?

SUBRAMANIAN V

A. Yes, you can individually invest ₹��15 lakheach in Post Offi��ce Senior Citizens’ Scheme.So, you can eff��ectively invest up to ₹��30 lakh.Since the entire amount invested isattributed to the fi��rst account holder, you canalso hold it jointly with each of you being thefi��rst holder in two diff��erent accounts and theother a joint holder.

One other good scheme for senior citizensis LIC’s Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojanafor citizens aged 60 years, introduced by theGovernment of India. It has an 8% p.ainterest payable monthly (eff��ectively 8.3%p.a). It is also available as quarterly, halfyearly and annual payouts. The policy term is10 years and the maximum amount that canbe invested is ₹��15 lakh. The purchase pricewill be refunded to the nominee/legal heir onthe passing away of the policy holder. Onsurvival of the pensioner over the policy termtoo, the purchase price shall be paid backwith the fi��nal pension instalment.

Q. I am shortly due for a VRS in view of somehealth issues. I hope to invest most of thefunds into totally secure and guaranteedreturns but I am aware that unless I invest alittle bit in mutual funds, NCDs or othermarketlinked schemes, my family and I maynot be able to cope with the increasing costof infl��ation in the future. Kindly advise. Inone of your recent replies you talked aboutSEBI advisers. How do I choose a suitableone?

SUKUMAR P

A.You are right in recognising that you willneed marketlinked products like mutualfunds to ensure that your corpus lasts longer.It is a good idea to seek a registeredinvestment adviser’s help to aid in drawingup a plan as follows: your monthly cash fl��owplan, your requirement for medical expensesand any amount for emergencies and anyfi��nancial goals for your family.

You must then identify how much you needto invest in lowrisk fi��xed income products,to meet your monthly expenses for the next35 years. The remaining corpus is whatshould be used to grow, until such time youneed to tap it for your monthly requirements.You can visit https://www.sebi.gov.in/sebiweb/other/OtherAction.do?doRecognisedFpi=yes&intmId=13 to fi��nd a RIA near your place,in the city you live in. Look for a person whohas understanding across personal fi��nanceproducts and not just mutual funds andinsurance. Understand if the fee the advisercharges includes not just a planning fee butto also regularly monitor your investments.

Q. I am 24 and I earn ₹��35,000 per month. Myexpenditure is ₹��5,000 per month. How can Iinvest the remaining ₹��30,000 to getmaximum returns in 5 to 6 years?

BHAWNA KHATRI

A.You are starting with a good sum. Givenyour age, you should invest in marketlinkedinvestments such as mutual funds andstocks. To start with, consider consistentlyperforming multicap equity funds with somelowrisk debt fund, using the systematicinvestment plan (SIP). Do not stop SIPs if yousee the market going down.

(The author is co-founder, RedwoodResearch)

ASK US

Vidya Bala

Readers can send in queries on personal fi��nanceand investing to [email protected] experts who write on personal fi��nance willanswer these queries. Moneywise will not givespecifi��c recommendations for investment in aparticular mutual fund scheme, share or fi��xed deposit.

“Bargain sale! Bargain sale!!Bargain sale!!”

Over the past 1215 months, aspate of corporate bonddowngrades and defaults hasmade fi��xedincome investorsjittery. Bonds issued byIL&FS, DHFL, Essel Groupand Reliance ADA Groupwere all downgraded sharply. Such downgrades led to asharp erosion in the value ofthe investment products thatheld these distressed assetsin their portfolio. Mutualfunds, insurance schemes,NPS and EPFO were amongthose that took a hit.

Capital safety has now become a prime concern for retail investors.

Investors looking for debtinstruments that providecapital safety and decent returns can consider taxfreebonds available in the secondary market. Since these entities are backed by the government, investments intheir taxfree bonds enjoycapital safety.

Further, the bonds issuedby most of these companiesare rated with the highestgrade of AAA.

Taxfree bondsConservative investors, including retirees, looking forcapital safety can considerbuying the taxfree bonds issued by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) that are

available in the secondarymarket.

HUDCO issued 32 series oftaxfree bonds totally, withvarying maturities of 10, 15and 20 years in FY12, FY13,FY14 and FY16.

Many series are activelytraded on the BSE and theNSE with relatively higheryieldtomaturity (YTM) andliquidity.

According to data compiled by HDFC Securities’ retail research, fi��ve series ofHUDCO taxfree bonds, with

YTM (yieldtomaturity) of5.45.9%, are actively tradedon both the exchanges. Forinstance, the HUDCO N3 series (ISIN INE031A07832),with a coupon rate of 8.1%and residual maturity of 2.5years, trades with a YTM of5.6% on the NSE.

The daily average tradedvolume in the series over thepast one month has been1,120 units.

Since the interest paid bytaxfree bonds are exemptfrom income tax, the currentyield of 5.8% translates to 8%of pretax yield for investorsin the 30% bracket. This rateis relatively higher than therates off��ered by bank fi��xeddeposits currently.

About the companyHUDCO is a wholly governmentowned entity, providing loans for housing and urban infrastructure projectsin India.

It has been conferred thestatus of Miniratna (catego

ryI public sector enterprise)by the Centre. The companyfocusses on funding thehousing needs of economically weaker sections (EWS)and lowincome group category, along with fundingnoncommercial urban infrastructure projects.

Since its inception, HUDCO has funded 19.34 milliondwelling units, about 86% ofwhich belong to the economically weaker sections.

The Centre supports HUDCO by way of allowing accessto lowcost funds, extendingguarantees, easing variousnorms and guiding its broadpolicies and contours.

HUDCO’s gross nonperforming loans stood at 4.5%in FY19. The company’s netNPA stood at 0.5% in FY19. InJuly 2019, India Ratings andResearch affi��rmed HUDCO’slongterm issuer rating at‘IND AAA’ with a stable outlook. AAA rated bonds off��era high degree ofcreditworthiness.

HUDCO’s instruments come with high rating; returns are higher than bank FDs’

Dhuraivel Gunasekaran

TAX-FREE BONDS: HUDCO

Bonding with safety

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

In a nutshell

● HUDCO is a Miniratna

focussing on housing needs

of economically weaker

sections

● Government supports

HUDCO by allowing access

to lowcost funds and

extending guarantees

● HUDCO has issued 32

series of taxfree bonds in

total

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

What is expense ratio?

■ Expense ratio, as the name suggests, is that part of a mutual fundscheme that takes care of expensesrelated to managing the fund. It isused to meet the administrative,management and other operatingexpenses of the scheme. Fundhouses have to pay salaries to fundmanagers, commissions to distributors and other marketing costs. Asper Securities and Exchange Boardof India (SEBI) regulations, all theexpenses incurred while managinga particular scheme have to beborne out of the scheme only.

How much is the expense ratio?

■ As part of its measures to ensurethat fund houses do not charge exorbitant amount or percentage asexpense ratio, the capital marketsregulator has capped expense ratiolimit.

Last year, the board of the regulator capped the maximum total expense ratio or TER at 2.25% foropenended equity schemes, someof which were earlier charging2.75%.

Though the cut looked marginalin terms of overall cap, the benefi��tsare believed to be signifi��cant as theregulator has also laid down various slabs based on the assets ofthe scheme with the TER goingdown as the assets rise.

For instance, if the assets undermanagement (AUM) of a particularscheme is in excess of ₹��50,000crore then the TER has beencapped at 1.05%. Earlier, any

scheme with an AUM of more than₹��300 crore could charge 1.75%. So,for large schemes, the expense ratio was brought down by almost 70basis points.

According to SEBI's own estimates, the reduction in TER wouldlead to investors saving around₹��1,3001,500 crore in commissions.

Is the expense ratio standardised?

■ No. As a fund house has to put inmore eff��orts and money to increasethe overall penetration level of mutual funds to the far corners of thecountry, the regulator has allowed ahigher TER for garnering fl��owsfrom beyond the top cities of thecountry.

While lowering the cap for maximum TER, the SEBI allowed for anextra 30 basis points for retail fl��owsfrom beyond the top 30 cities.

More importantly, it has beenmandated that the additional expense will not be allowed for fl��owsfrom corporates and institutionsand will be limited only to retailfl��ows.

Incidentally, all mutual fundhouses, industry body Associationof Mutual Funds in India (AMFI),along with SEBI have been puttingin a lot of eff��ort to channelise morehousehold savings from farfl��ungtowns into the stock marketsthrough the mutual funds’ route.

Taking care of expenditureASHISH RUKHAIYAR

BLACKBOARD: EXPENSE RATIO

<> For a scheme

whose total assets

exceed ₹��50,000

crore, the total

expense ratio is

capped at 1.05%

It is an enviable world for a cricketcrazy fan. A collection of 1,300 articles, allbearing signatures of the subjects.Twentyfi��ve albums of 50 pages each,storing autographed photos of some ofthe greatest names the game hasknown. Letters from the likes of DonBradman and Sunil Gavaskar, all arranged in chronological order. For D.N.Raghavendra Rao, a Bengalurubasedcollector of cricket memorabilia, thishas been a 69yearold journey of love.

Rao was 11 when he wrote his fi��rst letter to a cricketer — CR Rangachari. Hisfather, DR Narasinga Rao, a DistrictJudge, told him to be “polite” whenwriting to the cricketers. His request foran autograph would be accompaniedwith a selfaddressed stamped envelope. “I have never been disappointed,”says Rao, even though sometimes theresponses came late. Recently, the WestIndian great Brian Lara wrote back tohim. “After six months,” Rao chuckles.His fi��rst West Indian “prey”, however,was the great Sir Frank Worrell.

What a “thrill” it was for the now 80yearold when Bradman responded tohis request promptly. His letter arrivedin September 1982 and Rao considers ita “rare treasure.” Bradman’s reply triggered his love for seeking autographs

them.” A majority of the articles arefrom The Hindu and Sportstar.

Having started this wonderful association with cricket in 1950, Rao hassome fascinating tales to share. “I gotthe group picture of Bradman’s 1948 Invincibles from All Sport (now Getty Images) with just one request. I got the address from an autographed photo thatMerv Hughes sent me as a bonus. It wasso kind of them (Hughes and Getty).”And then he collected the autographsof some Invincible team members: BillBrown, Arthur Morris, Neil Harvey,Sam Loxton and Keith Miller, by writingto them individually.

He also values the replies from KapilDev, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravidand Anil Kumble. Sadly, the currentcrop of cricketers is not high on his list.“I do seek their autographs but throughfriends. Where do they have time to respond to letters?”

His prize possession is a reply fromAustralian legspinner Bill O’Reilly, whowrote back, “Your sugarcoated penshould be put to use in diplomatic affairs of state.” He has been assisted inpreserving these priceless assets bywife Vidyullata, son Amar and daughterRoopa. Needless to say, he is extremely“possessive” of his treasures and keepsthem away from prying eyes. “In an almirah,” he signs off��, laughing.

from cricketers all over the world. Gradually, he added Len Hutton, DenisCompton, Keith Miller, Neil Harvey, Richie Benaud to his list of “conquests.”Indian greats — Lala Amarnath, CK Nayudu, Vijay Hazare, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Manrekar, GR Viswanath — also embellish his collections.

Of all these, Rao remembers how diffi��cult a feat reaching out to Harold Larwood was. The address he put was Harold Larwood, former Englandcricketer, residing in Radwick, suburbof Sydney…. And yet somehow, “I got areply from him,” he says. Cricketershave been an integral part of his life. “Ihave passion for the game and respectfor those who play it. I love them because they take the time and trouble tosign the articles and photos and post

Total recallPictures ofKapil Dev,SachinTendulkar;Shane Warne;Brian Larafrom Rao’s(below)collection

* K MURALI

KUMAR

D.N. Raghavendra Rao owns atreasure trove of cricket memorabilia:

letters, photos and 1,300 articlesautographed by legends like Don

Bradman, Sunil Gavaskar and more

Gentleman’scollection

VIJAY LOKAPALLY

Savio Mascarenhas willnot remove ShikariShambu’s hat, nomatter how manytimes you ask. Currently GroupDirector at AmarChitra Katha, Saviohas been withTinkle comics since1994, and has beendrawing the popularShikari Shambu characterfor 20 years. “Shambu was created in 1983, and Vasant Halbe, theartist who first drew him, created this very quirky,funny character,” says Savio, adding that one ofVasant’s ideas, was to draw Shambu’s helmetcovering his eyes. “Children keep writing to me to askif he ever takes off his helmet. They want to knowhow he can see. So I say he has strong instincts. Orhe’s afraid of the animals,” Savio chuckles. However, given how Shambu has started traipsingaround the world on his adventures, it does becomechallenging. “It’s tough when he goes on vacation,”sighs Savvio. When Shambu went into the desert,Savio put him in a keffieh. “When he was underwater,I put on a diving helmet,” he says. “Once the writerswere making fun of me, and said they will force hishat to fly off in the next story. I said go ahead. Whenthe scene came, I drew his hat falling off. Then in thenext panel, I drew his head covered with a leaf.”Under Savio, Shambu has packed on a couple ofpounds. “I gave him a little rotundity in terms of hisface and structure. After all, he loves ladoos. Helazes around a lot. And it works. Kids love him in thatshape and structure.” Savio says he was nervous when he started drawingShambu. “I got a letter from a child, who was verydisappointed that I had taken over from Halbe. Iwrote and told him that over time artists grow old,and when we move, someone has to continue. This iswhat life is about.”

(Can’t) Lookinto his eyes


DELHI THE HINDU


CMYK

A ND-NDE

SHOWCASE

Before the ubiquitous TV invaded the homes of the richand poor alike, peoplepassed the long eveningsbefore dinner by tellingtales while sitting in thecourtyard, or on the balcony or terrace. There was Rafael Baba who was nevertired of relating the incidentof when a porcupine ravaged the vegetable fi��eld ofSt. Stephen’s College wherehe served as a gardener.The predator was fi��nallytrapped and taken away bythe sweepers who werefond of Sehi Gosht (as porcupine meat is called).

Ramzani, the excook ofthe Baptist Mission Schoolin Ludlow Castle Road (now

Raj Niwas Marg), liked talking about the time when heprepared Jal Farezi (a spicymutton dish) for the principal, who was tired of eatingthe “bland” English dinnerof Roast Meat, Fried Potatoes and Bread Pudding. After the ‘Sahib’ tasted hispreparation, he began tosweat because of the abundance of chillies, but nevertheless acquired a liking forit and always had Jal Farezion his dining table.

At Thakur Nahar Singh’shouse on Probyn Road (nowDeshbandhu Gupta Road)the stories were about theFirst War of Independencein 1857, when his grandfather defi��ed the British duringthe attack on Flagstaff�� Tower on the Ridge. As for thefamily of Elias Sahib, the incident at the house of a ladydoctor (Dr Ulrick) was thesubject of much mirth.Once there was a riot in Pipal Mandi area near theAgra Fort and a detachmentof ‘Gora Tommies’ (British

mercenaries, as they weredeprecatingly called) wassent to quell it. Pleased withtheir eff��orts to save her dispensary, Dr Ulrick invitedthem for lunch and servedBesani rotis (made of gramfl��our) and pumpkin sabzi.She left them to their mealand when she returned shewas dumbfounded to fi��ndthe rotis all lined up againstthe dining room wall whilethe sabzi had been eaten.The soldiers had taken therotis for a kind of Indiandinning plates and so didnot eat them.

Mrs Rawat of Wazirpuraused to talk of the timewhen her husband wasaway on World War II dutyand she was left alone withher three children. To keepthem amused she would tella bedtime story every day,

invoking the tulsi plant inher courtyard as a silentwitness to yarns of rajas andprincesses of Rajput states.

It was C.A. Kincaid, anICS offi��cer, who wrote hisTales of the Tulsi Plant. Later, after nearly a hundredyears, Prof Saros Cowasjeehas come out with his version of ‘new tales of the tulsiplant’: The Oxford Antholo-gy of Raj Stories. The taletellers are mostly British Civil Servants: Philip Masonand Leonard Woolf (whomarried the writer Virginia), for instance. There areothers like Rudyard Kipling,John Lang, Flora AnnieSteel, Bithia Mary Croker,Alice Perrin, Maud Diver,Christine Weston, EdmundCandler, Otto Rothfi��eld.

Lang was an Australianpoet who made India hishome before the ‘Mutiny’and lies buried in Mussoorie. His tomb was discovered by Ruskin Bond in1960. Lang was the one whowent all the way to Englandto plead the case of the Raniof Jhansi before she revoltedagainst the East India Company. A good lawyer, he however lost the case and feltgreatly disheartened.

Saros carried his love forRaj tales from Agra to Canada, where he taught Englishas Professor Emertius at theUniversity of Regina. Bornin Bombay, Kipling enteredthe very soul of India andchurned out tale after talewith great fl��ourish and conviction. In spite of his lovefor imperialism he did likeIndia in his own way for heowed his popularity to it.

The generation that livedduring the Raj is fading out,along with faithful cooks,barbers, dhobis, bearersand khansamas. But the bittersweet memory of thosetimes refuses to fade awaythanks to Raj fi��ction and theaura it imparts to the landwhere the tulsi grows.

The writer is a veteran chroniclerof Delhi

Tulsi talesGossip and true stories all have theirplace where storytelling in concerned

Gossiping heads Women inconversation; (below) theTulsi * GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

R.V. SMITH

DOWN MEMORY LANE

not show it to them in the magazine.” She adds, “We do pushboundaries though. We pushfor gender equality. We showfathers cooking. We have women superheroes, as well asfemale villains.”

There is also an eff��ort topush back against stereotypes.

Shikari Shambu’s wife, Shanti, forexample, is more than just a crochety spouse, now, with a strong,brave personality.

Shambu also has a less controversial job these days. “He is a conservationist,” says Reena I Puri, Executive Editor, Amar Chitra Katha.“I also felt that putting animals in

the zoo was wrong, so now he releases them into a reserve.” Sheadds, “If he must use a gun, he’s only given a tranquiliser gun... We gota PETA award after that!”

Reena worked with Pai from1991, when she joined as AssociateEditor of Tinkle. She helped develop a slew of new characters, including spinoff��s from the old favourites: Little Shambu, JuniorTantri, and Little Suppandi. (So far,Tinkle has created about 140 characters for readers.)

“I was there till 2005, afterwhich I moved to ACK,” says Reena,adding that Pai always insisted that70% of the stories came from theirreaders. “The children would write

Kalia the crow hits the Big FourOhnext year. He’s become more complex over the years, expanding hissocial circles as he moved from thelittle forest he was born in, to colourful Big Baan.

He is not the only character fromthe well loved Tinkle universe whois suddenly all grown up. Earlierthis year Tantri the Mantri, theprime minister who was as incompetent as he was ambitious, has fi��nally become king, after just fourdecades of devious plotting.

Suppandi, who made his debutin 1983 as a village simpleton inspired by a character called Chappandi, from a Tamil folk tale, isnow much slicker. He has lost hisshoulder towel and gained both agirlfriend as well as a Twitter account boasting more than 11,000followers. As for ShikariShambu? He’s now a politically correct, ifstill rather cowardly, conservationist.

This monthAmar Chitra Katha(ACK) celebrates thebirthday of Anant Pai, fondlyknown as Uncle Pai, who startedACK in 1967 to encourage Indianchildren to learn about India’s epics, literature, folk lore and more.In 1980, he launched Tinkle, amagazine for children, with35,000 copies that sold out.Next year, Tinkle, whichnow has a circulation of 3lakh per issue, turns 40.

Over the past four decades, audiences have

changed. “The fact is, we can’thave the same characters we did inthe 1980s,” says Rajani Thindiath,EditorinChief of Tinkle. “The kidof the 1980s was watching Doordarshan,” she says. “Each child is aproduct of their time. And today’schidren are much more aware ofthe world, but also more demanding.”

Given that this is also the age ofoutrage, a lot of the tropes thatworked for the comics in the 1970sand ‘80s would be unacceptablenow. Cautiously agreeing that writers need to tread more carefully,Rajani says “Because we are writingfor children, it makes it easier. Wewill not show blood and gore, violence or murder. Sex is anywayout... I know that kids can see a lotof this on TV anyway, but I will

to us with ideas, sometimes on little scraps of paper,” she says.“Once, during summer holidays,we got 10,000 in a month. We wereinundated, but we still read andresponded to each one.”

Rajani says a lot of their ideasstill come from children. “Theywanted superheroes, but I did notwant another Superman. So we introduced a wonky superhero, withSuperWeirdos. Aisha wants to be asuperhero, but her only power is togiggle...” When children asked forhorror, Tinkle created Dental Diaries, starring a cowardly vampirewho has lost his fangs. “We realisethat every child struggles with being diff��erent, so we want to makethe ‘odd’ special.”

Despite Tinkle’s new, nuancedcharacters, Suppandi still reigns supreme. Reena is thoughtful whenasked why. “Mr Pai used to saymost of these characters are not very bright. They make mistakes.When they make mistakes, thechild reading allows himself tomake mistakes. They realise thereare no perfect superheroes outthere. They need to rely on the onewithin, get up and walk on.”

A bravenew world

‘Shikari’ Shambhu is now a conservationist,Suppandi has a girlfriend, and Tantri is fi��nally

king. As Amar Chitra Katha celebrates UnclePai’s birth month, Tinkle comics which turns

40 next year, is busy updating its universe

Old and new (Clockwise from top)Suppandi; Shambhu and its artistSavio Mascarenhas; WingStar andTinkle’s Editor-in-Chief RajaniThindiath * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

CHACHA TO THE RESCUE

Chacha Chaudhary, anotherbeloved comic character, wasfirst created bycartoonist Pranfor the Hindimagazine Lotpot,sometimebetween 1969and 1971.

Shonali Muthalaly

She was on a fl��ight from Dubai to Mumbai and had a headache. She needed aglass of water and requested the steward to bring her one. He ignored her. Ashort while later, she requested him tobring her some water again. He ignoredher again. Undeterred she once againcalled the steward, a white man, and requested that she be given some water.He ignored her once again. A shortwhile later, a woman seated next to herrequested a blanket. He brought it toher in the blink of an eye and a widesmile. The other woman was white.

Does the incident spark a sense of

outrage? It did in Anuranjita Kumar,who was at the receiving end of this incident. The senior HR professional hadbeen travelling on work. Not one to takeit lying down, she escalated the matterto the cabin manager.

“I was on a full fare ticket; a glass ofwater is not too much to ask. We’ve allfaced biases of some sort... at the workplace, while travelling overseas, whileshopping. What would worry me waswhy we didn’t do anything about it. Wetend to let things slide to avoid confrontation,” she says during an interviewwhile launching her book Colour Mat-ters?: The Truth That No One Wants toSee.

“By escalating the issue, I made surethe steward wouldn’t do it again.” Herbook deals with the various biases people face on an everyday basis. It explores cross cultural dynamics, highlights the diffi��culties of being a minorityin diff��erent geographies, and off��ers perspectives of diff��erent ethnicities.

Inspired by the worldFilled with stories from around theglobe, spanning ethnicities and professional backgrounds, the book off��ers personal encounters. “It deals with storiesthat I came across during my researchfor the book — white and black dilemma, brown and black, brown and white,Chinese, Japanese and all kinds of biases people face across the world by virtue of being a minority,” says the author,who is also the MD and head, HR atRoyal Bank of Scotland.

“The stories essentially point towardthe fact that people who have a privilegedon’t see that privilege... The booktouches upon all kinds of codes: howblack parents who tried to adopt a whitechild were treated; a white person’s experience in India; an Indian’s experience in China and so much more,” shesays. Colour Matters?, she says, is an attempt to bring these issues to the foreand talk about it constructively.

“It is basically a minority’s perspective on colour and ethnicity whilstthey’re dealing with a situation wherethe majority may be brown, white orblack,” says Anuranjita, adding thatthere was quite a bit of push back whenshe fi��rst wanted to write this book.

“I had friends advising me against it.Some of the leading publishers in thecountry asked me if bias on the basis ofcolour was actually an issue in today’stime. Luckily, my organisation was supportive and asked me to go ahead withthe book.”

While the topic had been on Anuranjita’s mind for a while, she says she started working on it last September. She undertook public research and had severalpeople writing in to her with their experiences. “It was then about fi��ltering therepetitive stories and clustering them. Iused the word Colour as an acronym(C= connect, O= openness, L= love, O=objectivity, U= unbiasedness, R= resilience) and bunched up stories underthese themes so there were takeawaysfor the readers.”

Anuranjita’s books are an off��shoot ofher personal experiences. “My fi��rstbook Can I Have It All? is about being amother and the dilemmas and choices awoman faces. Writing for me is aboutleaving a legacy for my children... aboutleaving the world better than the onewe inherited,” she says.

Wrapped inIDENTITIES

SONG OF OPPRESSION

Poet Claudia Rankine's Citizen: AnAmerican Lyric is abook-length poem thatlooks at racism andmicro-aggressions in21st-Century USA.

The little thingsThe book was sparkedby an incident Anuranjita experienced

* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

......................................................................................................................................

Filled with stories from

around the globe, spanning

ethnicities and professional

backgrounds, the book

off��ers personal encounters

Anuranjita Kumar, author of Colour Matters?,

talks about the unconscious biases we face in our everyday lives

Ranjani Rajendra

■ Across

1 Permit to do

something (6)

4 Potential oaks? (6)

8 Put down on paper

(5)

9 Dominance (7)

10 Vehicle seen on the

roads in wintery

conditions (7)

11 Synthetic silk-like

fabric (5)

12 Bogus trap (anag)

— somewhere good to

eat and drink? (9)

17 Ghastly (5)

19 Convey (7)

21 Out of order —

erratic (7)

22 Cause of computer

failure? (5)

23 One suffering for

their beliefs (6)

24 Very dull (6)

■ Down

1 Hauling something

with a rope (6)

2 Nauseating (7)

3 Happening (5)

5 Twitter (7)

6 All set to go (5)

7 Proverb (6)

9 Game bird (9)

13 In a suave way (7)

14 Largest German

state, home of BMW

cars (7)

15 Six feet down? (6)

16 Worthless (6)

18 Entrance hall (5)

20 Beau (5)

THE GUARDIAN QUICK CROSSWORD-13181

6

Solution will appearin The Hindu dated

September 24, 2019.

Solution No. 13180

POOCH CAFE

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

TIGER

PEANUTS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

WUMO


THE HINDU DELHI


CMYK

A ND-NDE

SHOWCASE

I am a 17-year-old boy. As a child, the

paediatrician said I would be a 6-footer,

but I am only 5’10”. Is there anything I can

eat to change this?

■ Unlike weight, there’s no set formula to predictyour adult height. Near the end of puberty, somewhere between ages 14 and 19, hormonal changes inboys cause the growth plates to harden or close andthe lengthening of bones to stop. However, the fi��nalspurt can be seen even later in your teen years. Tosupport proper growth, you must focus on eatingwholesome meals spread throughout the day, comprising: wholegrains: 56 servings; lentils, beans: 34cups; eggs: 12; milk and yoghurt: 23 cups; vegetables: 5 and more servings; fruits: 2 and more servings; lean meat or paneer: an approximately 100gserving.

My daughter is going away to college this

year, and I feel her nutrition will be

impacted in hostel. What long-lasting

snacks can I pack?■ Hectic student life, especially when staying awayfrom home, makes healthy eating a challenge. Hereare some snacks that can come to the rescue:Pinni: Our bespoke energy ball using a mix of wholewheat, almonds, roasted sesame, fennel, ghee andjaggery is an ultimate bone and muscle strengthener.It aids in memory and concentration and is a suitablesugar fi��x.Roasted chana and peanut mix: It’s a perfectblend for snacking in between meals, that is energising and gives a quick serving of healthy protein, fat,fi��bre, iron, calcium, magnesium, biotin, folate and vitamin E, all in one.Sattu: A desi meal replacer to combat skippingmeals on days there’s hardly time to eat in betweenclasses. A quick mix in water or yoghurt guaranteessatiety, repair and restful sleep at night.

Lovneet Batra is a nutritionist, a member of the Academy ofNutrition and Dietetics, USA; lecturer at IHM Pusa; a consultantto the Sports Authority of India, having counselled the Indianboxing, gymnastics, cycling, archery teams; and a consultant atFortis La Femme Hospital, Delhi

Nothing in this column is intended to be, and isnot, a substitute for professional medical advice,diagnosis or treatment. Please seek independent ad-vice from a licensed practitioner if you have anyquestions regarding a medical condition. Email uswith your questions at [email protected]

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Q&A

*G

ET

TY

IM

AG

ES/I

ST

OC

K

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SPORT

An insipid batting displaysaw India sink to a resounding ninewicket defeat in thethird and fi��nal T20 international here on Sunday. Somequestionable shotmakingsaw Virat Kohli’s men scramble together a modest 134 in20 overs after winning thetoss at the M. ChinnaswamyStadium.

On the rampageQuinton de Kock then wenton the rampage, smashing anunbeaten 79, as South Africaraced home with 19 balls tospare to level the series.

De Kock’s 52ball eff��ortcontained fi��ve sixes, all executed in his trademark styleover the legside boundary.India’s bowlers failed tomake an early breakthroughas de Kock and Reeza Hendricks put on 76 for the opening wicket.

Kohli will be frustrated bya number of things. Primaryamong them will be his use ofthe review. India wasted itsonly review on a frivolous appeal against Hendricks in thesixth over, when Deepak Chahar’s delivery was sliding waydown leg.

In the next over, de Kockwas trapped in front byWashington Sundar for 28.Umpire Nitin Menon ruledhim not out. A little later, replays showed the ball wouldhave crashed into thestumps. de Kock carried onunfl��ustered as South Africawrapped things up in style.

India won the toss and opt

ed to bat fi��rst, Kohli believinghis team needed practice indefending totals ahead of theT20 World Cup. But what followed was a poor, chaotic effort that frittered away abright start. From 62 for onein seven overs, Indiaslumped to 99 for six in 15,and never really recovered.

The home team was unchanged from the secondT20 while South Africabrought in the leftarm pacerBeuran Hendricks. The movepaid off�� at once.

In his fi��rst over, Hendricksangled a delivery across Rohit Sharma (9) that the batsman pushed at halfheartedly. The resulting edge fl��ew to

fi��rst slip. Hendricks wouldeventually fi��nish with excellent fi��gures of two for 14 fromhis four overs.

Early momentumIndia's early momentum wassupplied by Shikhar Dhawan,who picked up from wherehe had left off�� in Mohali. Hedrove Andile Phehlukwayodown the ground, and welcomed Tabraiz Shamsi with apair of tall sixes. But Dhawanfell to Shamsi for 36, reachingfor the ball and lofting it high.Temba Bavuma settled underthe catch at extracover.

That was the start of India’s troubles. Kohli went for9, caught within an inch of

the deep midwicket boundary by Phehlukwayo. Rishabh Pant made a start, getting to 19, before he holed outto longoff�� against the leftarm spin of Bjorn Fortuin.

Shreyas Iyer unwiselycharged down the pitch twoballs later. Fortuin dragged itdown the legside, andShreyas was comfortablystumped.

The stadium crackled withanticipation when HardikPandya arrived at the crease.But he failed to produce thefi��reworks the crowd craved.Ravindra Jadeja managed justthe solitary six as South Africa’s deathovers bowlingproved watertight.

de Kock takes charge as South Africa levels seriesBeuran Hendricks’ incisive bowling and the home team’s insipid display hand the visitors a resounding ninewicket victory

Shreedutta Chidananda

Bengaluru

Calling the shots: Quinton de Kock was in a punishing mood, hitting six fours and fi��ve sixes in his unbeaten 79. * K. MURALI KUMAR

SA IN INDIA

Rahul Aware bagged abronze to ensure India’sbestever medal haul at theWorld wrestling championships here on Sunday afterDeepak Punia fi��nished witha silver, having pulled out ofthe fi��nal due to injury.

Aware outclassed TylerLee Graff��, the 2017 PanAmerica champion, 114 inthe 61kg bronze playoff�� totake India’s tally to fi��ve medals — one silver and fourbronze.

Aware was in completecontrol of the bout andjumped in joy at the end,having won the biggest me

dal of his career. Graff�� surprised Aware

with a double leg attack themoment the bout startedand earned two points witha takedown.

However, he became alert and twice wriggled outof Graff��’s single leg attacks.He also scored consecutivetakedown points to lead 42at the break.

In the second period too,Graff�� got hold of Aware’sright leg but the Indian gothimself out of trouble in animpressive manner.

He then turned things inhis favour with quick moves— the takedowns and expose— and took a commanding102 lead.

Eventually he won 114.

India fi��nishes with fi��ve medals

ANI

Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan)

Keeping it tight: Rahul Aware, right, was in complete controlof the bout against 2017 PanAmerica champion Tyler LeeGraff�� of the USA. * AP

Aware wins bronze

WORLD WRESTLING

Even after being forced towithdraw from the men’s86kg freestyle gold medalbout in the World wrestlingchampionships on Sundaydue to an ankle injury, Deepak Punia took heart fromhis excellent performance inNurSultan to focus on the2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Deepak, a former Woldcadet champion, hadclaimed the World junior title in August last and was eyeing to corner the rare gloryof being an elite Worldchampion as well. However,the injury in his left leg and aswollen eye spoilt his plan.

He ended up being thefourth Indian to secure a silver after Bishambhar Singh(1967), Amit Kumar (2013)and Bajrang Punia (2018).

Painful“My leg is swollen up and itis hurting. The eye is swollentoo. I picked up both injuriesduring the fi��rst round(against Kazakh opponentAdilet Davlumbayev). That’swhy I chose not to fi��ght inthe fi��nal,” Deepak told TheHindu from NurSultan onSunday.

Deepak had defi��ed an in

jured shoulder and a cutabove his eye to bag theWorld junior title, but the injury in NurSultan was toopainful to fi��ght Iranian Hasan Yazdanichara in thefi��nal.

“Throughout the nightDeepak was running feverbecause of the pain. The injury had become more painful in the morning. I advisedhim not to take risk as itcould have aggravated theinjury and adversely impacted his Olympic participation,” said Virender Kumar,Deepak’s coach at the Chha

trasal Stadium in Delhi.Deepak, who also booked

an Olympic quota place,sounded positive. “My morale was high after the Worldjunior championships andmy preparation was good.The silver here is the resultof my hard work. This willinspire me to do well in theOlympics.”

The youngster agreed thatluck was on his side. “I waslucky to have been placed inthe upper half of the draw.The lower half was tougher(with the presence of wrestlers from traditional countries like Iran, Hungary, Korea, Russia, Uzbekistan,Georgia, China, Japan andUSA). But I found toughcompetition in every boutand had to carry on despitethe pain.”

Pat from the coachVirender patted his studenton the back. “Deepak is anobedient student, wholearns from his mistakesquickly. He and Ravi Dahiyaare partners and their life revolves around wrestlingwithout any distractions.Happy to see their successand hope they can repeat itin the Olympics,” said Virender.

Silver is the result of my hard work: Deepak PuniaWithdraws from the 86kg freestyle fi��nal due to injury

Y.B. Sarangi

KOLKATA

Deepak Punia. * PTI

Trent AlexanderArnold’sthunderous strike inspiredLiverpool’s 21 win againstChelsea as the PremierLeague leader moved fi��vepoints clear at the top onSunday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side extended its perfect start to thetitle race as it became the fi��rstclub to win its opening sixgames in consecutive topfl��ight seasons.

Roberto Firmino increased Liverpool’s advantage before the interval andN’Golo Kante’s fi��ne goal wasnot enough to give Chelseatangible reward for a vibrantsecond half.

Tenman Arsenal twice

came from a goal down toclaim a muchneeded 32 winover Aston Villa in dramaticfashion thanks to PierreEmerick Aubameyangs freekick six minutes from time atthe Emirates.

Earlier West Ham infl��ictedmore awayday pain on apoor Manchester United sideon Sunday, lifting itself tofourth in the league with acomfortable 20 win at theLondon Stadium.

Earlier on Saturday, Barcelona threw on its stars of thepresent and the future butneither Lionel Messi nor Ansu Fati could save it from adismal 20 defeat away atGranada.

But while both came on athalftime with Barca trailingto Ramon Azeez’s opener, itwas Granada that scored

again, Alvaro Vadillo converting a penalty after Arturo Vidal was found guilty of a

handball.Barcelona has now won

only two of its opening fi��ve

league games and none awayfrom Camp Nou.

With seven points on the

board, this is its worst start toa season since 1994.

Instead, Granada goes topof the table after capitalisingon Atletico Madrid’s goallessdraw at home to Celta Vigo afew hours before. Barcelonais sixth.

The results: Premier League:Crystal Palace 1 (Dendonckerog 46) drew with Wolves 1 (Jota90+5); West Ham 2 (Yarmolenko 44, Cresswell 84) bt ManUtd 0; Arsenal 3 (Pepe 59pen,Chambers 81, Aubameyang 84)bt Aston Villa 2 (McGinn 20,Wesley 61); Chelsea 1 (Kante 71)lost to Liverpool 2 (AlexanderArnold 14, Firmino 30).

Bundesliga: Borussia Monchengladbach 2 (Thuram 74, 88) btFortuna Duesseldorf 1 (Adams7); Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (Silva44, Delaney 88og) drew withBorussia Dortmund 2 (Witsel 11,Sancho 66).

La Liga: Getafe 4 (Baba 7og,Molina 33pen, Nyom 63, Angel84) bt Mallorca 2 (Budimir 70,77); Espanyol 1 (Zaldua 71og)lost to Real Sociedad 3 (WillianJose 18, 34, Isak 75); Valencia 1(Parejo 21pen) drew with Leganes 1 (Rodriguez 35).

Serie A: Sassuolo 3 (Caputo 26,45+2, Duncan 47) bt SPAL 0;Sampdoria 1 (Gabbiadini 56) btTorino 0; Lecce 1 (Mancosu 61pen) lost to Napoli 4 (Llorente28, 82, Insigne 40pen, Ruiz52); Bologna 1 (Sansone 54pen) lost to Roma 2 (Kolarov48, Dzeko 90+4); Atalanta 2 (Ilicic 84, Castagne 90+5) drewwith Fiorentina 2 (Chiesa 24,Ribery 65).

Saturday: La Liga: Granada 2(Azeez 2, Alvaro Vadillo 66pen) bt Barcelona 0.

Serie A: AC Milan 0 lost to InterMilan 2 (Brozovic 49, Lukaku78).

Aubameyang comes to Arsenal’s rescue; Manchester United trips at West Ham; Granada ambushes Barcelona


Madrid

Early shocker: A Junior Firpo error for Barcelona ends with the simplest of headers forGranada’s Ramon Azeez. * AP

Liverpool beats a gritty Chelsea to maintain perfect start

EURO LEAGUES

U Mumba produced an allround show to beat GujaratFortunegiants 3125 in a VIVO Pro Kabaddi Leaguematch at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here onSunday.

Abhishek Singh secureda Super 10 (11 raid points)for U Mumba.

The team was equalymiserly in its defence, withSurinder Singh and Harendra Kumar picking up vitalpoints.

The victory meant theMumbai side jumped to thefourth place on the pointstable to consolidate itschances of making theplayoff�� stage.

U MumbaovercomesFortunegiants


Jaipur

Alexander Zverev sealed Europe a dramatic Laver Cuphattrick over Team Worldon Sunday, as the Germanbeat Milos Raonic in the deciding singles match.

The holders trailed 117midway through the fi��nalday but Zverev, after RogerFederer had edged past JohnIsner 64, 76(3), downedRaonic 64, 36, 104 to denyJohn McEnroe’s visitors theirmaiden triumph in the thirdedition of the event.

After Rafael Nadal withdrew from Sunday’s playwith a hand injury, Isner and

Jack Sock beat Federer andStefanos Tsitsipas in theopening doubles encounter,before Taylor Fritz saw off��Dominic Thiem to leaveTeam World one win fromthe trophy.

World No. 6 Zverev tookthe fi��rst set courtesy of abreak in game seven, withbigserving Canadian Raonichitting back to force a supertiebreak, saving four breakpoints to serve out the second set.

But the 22yearold Zverev, selected by Borg aheadof Tsitsipas and Fabio Fognini for the fi��rstever decider,raced to victory as Raonic’s

serve deserted him. Earlier Federer won a

tense tiebreak over WorldNo. 20 Isner to take threepoints in the penultimatematch, smashing an ace onthe fi��nal point to raise theroof in Geneva.The results: Europe bt World13-11 [Alexander Zverev bt Milos Raonic 64, 36, 104; Roger Federer bt John Isner 64, 76(3); Dominic Thiem lost toTaylor Fritz 75, 67(3), 108;Federer & Stefanos Tsitsipaslost to John Isner & Jack Sock57, 64, 108; Saturday: RafaelNadal bt Raonic 63, 76(1); Nadal & Tsitsipas lost to Nick Kyrgios & Jack Sock 64, 36,106].

Team World loses after being one win away from maiden win


GENEVA

Team Europe’s reign continues

The winning cast: Team Europe completed a hattrick of triumphs with a fantastic comefrombehind victory on Sunday. * GETTY IMAGES

INDIAShikhar Dhawan c Bavuma bShamsi 36 (25b, 4x4, 2x6), RohitSharma c R. Hendricks b B. Hendricks 9 (8b, 2x4), Virat Kohli cPhehlukwayo b Rabada 9 (15b),Rishabh Pant c Phehlukwayo bFortuin 19 (20b, 1x4, 1x6),Shreyas Iyer st de Kock b Fortuin5 (8b), Hardik Pandya c Miller bRabada 14 (18b, 1x4), KrunalPandya c de Kock b B. Hendricks4 (7b), Ravindra Jadeja c&b Rabada 19 (17b, 1x4, 1x6), Washington Sundar run out 4 (1b,1x4), Deepak Chahar (not out) 0(0b), Navdeep Saini (not out) 0(1b); Extras (b1, lb2, w12): 15;Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 134.

FALL OF WICKETS122 (Rohit, 2.2 overs), 263(Dhawan, 7.2), 368 (Kohli, 8.3),490 (Pant, 12.4), 592 (Shreyas,12.5), 698 (Krunal, 14.3), 7127(Jadeja, 19.1), 8133 (Washington, 19.4), 9133 (Hardik, 19.5).

SOUTH AFRICA BOWLINGFortuin 30192, Rabada 40393, B. Hendricks 40142,Phehlukwayo 40280, Shamsi40231, Pretorius 1080.

SOUTH AFRICAReeza Hendricks c Kohli b Hardik28 (26b, 4x4), Quinton de Kock(not out) 79 (52b, 6x4, 5x6),Temba Bavuma (not out) 27(23b, 2x4, 1x6); Extras (lb2,w4): 6; Total (for one wkt. in16.5 overs): 140.

FALL OF WICKET176 (R. Hendricks, 10.1).

INDIA BOWLINGWashington 40270, D. Chahar30150, Saini 20250, Krunal3.50400, Hardik 20231,Jadeja 2080.

Toss: India. Man-of-the-Match:B. Hendricks. Man-of-the-Se-ries: de Kock.

South Africa won by ninewickets with 19 balls remainingto draw the series 1-1.

SCOREBOARD India skipper Virat Kohlistated that his team shouldhave taken a more cautiousbatting approach on theslow M. Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch, in the third and fi��nal T20 against South Africa.

“We wanted to go for a bigscore. In the past, while batting fi��rst in T20Is, we havebeen 2030 runs short oncertain occasions, and thathas cost us the game. Butquickly into our innings today, we realised that thepitch would not allow us togo for a big score.

“After the start we got, wecould have reassessed andset our target to 170, insteadof looking for 200. But takenothing away from SouthAfrica — they bowled verywell, hit the right areas, andunderstood the pitch. Acombination of good bowling and not great decisionmaking from us cost us thegame,” Kohli said.

Pant or Shreyas?There was a moment of confusion during the Indian innings, when both RishabhPant and Shreyas Iyerwalked into the ground atthe fall of the second wicket.It was Pant who eventuallybatted at twodrop.

“There was some miscommunication there. Thatis what I understood afterwards. The batting coachhad a word with both ofthem, and there was a misunderstanding as to whohad to go in at what stage. Itwas funny afterwards, asboth wanted to walk in. Itwould have been funny had

both batsmen reached thepitch — three batsmen onthe fi��eld,” Kohli said.

South Africa captainQuinton de Kock praised hisbowlers Tabraiz Shamsi andBjorn Fortuin.

Good display“Shamsi is always prettyconsistent. But I’m more impressed with Fortuin. He isan upandcoming youngspinner — for him to comeinto conditions where theIndian team is very good atplaying spin and bowl theway he did was great. Hewas very clever as he mixedup his pace, and the areaswhere he bowled,” de Kocksaid. Batsman Rassie van derDussen added that he wassurprised that India chose tobat fi��rst.

Not great decisionmakingcost us, says KohliAshwin Achal

Bengaluru

Virat Kohli. * K. MURALI KUMAR

CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


SPORT

Koneru Humpy is back.She is back to playing the

kind of solid, ruthless, uncompromising chess thatmade her one of the strongest women in the history ofthe game. On Sunday, at theRussian village of Skolkovo,she won the fi��rst leg of theFIDE Women’s Grand Prixseries after fi��nishing hercampaign unbeaten.

All she needed was a drawin the fi��nal round from thereigning World championand top seed Ju Wenjun ofChina. She got that withouttoo much trouble, in 35moves.

Morale boosterThis is Humpy’s fi��nest performance since she returnedto the chessboard last year,after being away for over 15months following childbirth.It should be a morale booster

for the 32yearold fromVijayawada.

Victory in a major tournament was what she requiredat this stage of the career. Asa girl who had been earmarked for greatness from avery young age, and who was

far ahead of her contemporaries, she was tipped to winthe World championshipyears ago.

But she had to settle forthe runnerup’s trophy in the2011, though she was seededhigher than her opponent

Hou Yifan. While the Chinese woman grew instrength and stature since,Humpy saw her rating dropquite a bit.

She is still the third strongest female player of all time,behind Judit Polgar and Hou.

She is ranked fourth in theworld at the moment.

At Skolkovo, she was seeded third. It was her superlative display in the secondhalf of the tournament thattook her to the top: shescored four wins on the trot,from rounds seven to ten.

Five winsShe recorded fi��ve wins in all,and six draws, to fi��nish witheight points from 11 rounds.The other Indian in the tournament, Dronavalli Harika,ended with fi��ve points, following her draw in the fi��nalround with Russia’s KaterynaLagno.

This was the fi��rst of thefour Grand Prix tournaments. The top two fi��nishersin the series will qualify forthe 2021 Candidates match,the winner of which willchallenge the Worldchampion.

Humpy has every reasonto be hopeful of being thatchallenger.

Humpy clinches fi��rst Grand Prix in style Her fi��nest performance after being away for over 15 months

WOMEN’S CHESS

Unchallenged: Koneru Humpy played some solid chess to remain unbeaten. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

P.K. Ajith Kumar

Kozhikode

GM Koneru Humpy recorded her biggest win on her comeback trail, clinching theFIDE Women’s Grand Prixchess title in Skolkovo (Russia) with eight points from 11rounds (fi��ve wins and sixdraws) on Sunday. More importantly, she was the onlyunbeaten player in thechampionship.

Re-setting goals“This win gives me a lot ofhappiness and positive energy in what I believe is my ‘second innings’. And, alsomakes me reset my goals,which now includes becoming world champion,” shesaid.

“This was the most diffi��cult of the Grand Prix titles Ihave won as the preparations had to be intense andalso diff��erent because of family commitments. This ismy seventh Grand Prix titlesince the fi��rst in 2013,” the32yearold champion told

The Hindu from Russia.“All the top players — in

cluding the reigning Worldchampion, former champions and the Challenger —were in the fray. It is a bigwin for sure and one which Ibadly needed at this stage,”she said.

“Defi��nitely, winning theninth round game againstValentina Gunina of Russiawas the turning point in thisevent. It was a wild gameand a doubleedged one andI am glad I pulled it off��,” shesaid.

Half point lead“And, with World championJu Wenjun of China losing

that round, I took a halfapoint lead and maintained ittill the end,” Humpy said.

“The opponent playedsafe and I didn’t waste theadvantage of playing white,”Humpy said about the fi��nalround where she neededjust a draw to clinch thehonours.

Humpy also revealed thatshe would pick up 17 Elopoints and also move toWorld No. 3 from 4 in therankings.

Double challenge

Humpy, meanwhile, reminds that she held theWorld No. 2 spot for the longest tenure (more than a decade) before her marriage in2014 and the subsequentbreak saw her lose that spot.

“This tournament was adouble challenge for me as Ihad to leave my twoyearolddaughter Ahana for the fi��rsttime and also travel alone inmy career for the fi��rst time,”she said.

My biggest win, says Humpy‘Gives me a lot of happiness and positive energy’

V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

HYDERABAD <> Winning the ninth

round game against

Valentina Gunina of

Russia was the

turning point in this

event. It was a wild

game and a double

edged one. I am glad

I pulled it off��

The Union Sports Ministryhas directed the All IndiaChess Federation (AICF) totake necessary action on thecomplaint fi��led by Grandmaster Dibyendu Baruaagainst Bengal Chess Association (BCA) secretary Atanu Lahiri and fi��le an actiontaken report. This directive,issued on September 18,takes cognizance of Barua’sdetailed complaint made onSeptember 6 to Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.

Barua had alleged numerous acts of misuse of powerand misappropriation ofState Government funds byLahiri, who is also a joint se

cretary in the AICF.On August 30, AICF secre

tary Bharat Singh Chauhanissued a press statementcondemning Lahiri’s attitude and announcing thatthe AICF would initiate a“thorough enquiry of BCAand its secretary on thecharges levelled by Barua.”

The same day, an emergency meeting of the BCAwas unanimous in questioning Lahiri’s conduct that was“unbecoming of a secretary.”A twomember disciplinarycommittee was formed andLahiri was given 21 days torespond to a showcausenotice.

The deadline ends onMonday and so far Lahiri has

not responded to the notice.Further, he has sought judicial recourse and the case islikely to come up for hearingon Tuesday.

On September 9, AICFpresident P.R. VenkataramaRaja had written to all offi��cebearers and State associations that the press release(signed by Bharat SinghChauhan) on August 30“went beyond the brief givenby me and has created unnecessary emotions giving theimpression that AICF hasmade up its mind.”

Raja nominated a threemember committee comprising Messrs A. NarasimhaReddy (chairman), D.V. Sundar (AICF vicepresidents)

and Kishor Bandekar (AICFtreasurer) to oversee BCA’slongoverdue elections andenquire into Barua’s complaints. Strikingly, Chauhanwas kept out of the committee. As is the norm in mostNational Sports Federations,the secretary remains a defacto member of allcommittees.

On September 16, Reddyissued a letter, addressed toLahiri, directing the BCA tohold elections in early October. It was silent on the enquiry. The BCA offi��cials werebaffl��ed how the AICF committee could address a letterto Lahiri, who was facing serious charges and was yet toget a ‘clean chit’.

Union Sports Ministry directive to AICFSeeks action on Barua’s complaint against Lahiri

Y.B. Sarangi

KOLKATA

It was a historic day for Indian boxing as Amit Panghalentered the record books bybecoming the fi��rst men’s pugilist to bag a silver medal atthe World Championships,held at Ekaterinburg (Russia)on Saturday.

The journey has been farfrom easy. From Rohtak toRussia, boxing against odds,the pintsized boxer hascome a long way.

“It was a surreal momentwhen I entered the ring. Iknew it was going to betough, but I gave it all I had.Gold is what I dreamt of, butI am happy with the silver,”Panghal told Sportstar fromRussia.

Though his signature salute after winning a bout hasbecome a big hit, it’s the kisson the India jersey beforeentering the ring that Panghal prides himself on.

“India, Bharat” he pausesas a fl��ood of emotions chokehim. “It’s a dream to wearthis (India) jersey. To represent my nation is an honour

and I would like to thank mybrother Ajay who encouraged me to take up the sport.I believe one day I can become the World Champion,”he said.

Traditionally, tall boxersenjoy an advantage as theyhave greater reach whenthrowing punches and canalso defend eff��ectively. Thefi��nal proved that as Panghalwent down to Olympicchampion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in an intense 52kg bout.

Against the 5’7’’ ft tall Uzbek, the 5’2’’ Panghal failedto land his punches accu

rately and when counterattacked opened up his defence jacket.

Height factor“I can’t help with my heightbut I am trying to work howto tame the taller boxers. Itwas not the fi��rst time I wasfacing the taller guys.

“I discussed it with mycoaches and there was a PlanB. But, unfortunately, Icouldn’t pull it off�� today,”said Panghal, who had beaten Kazakhstan’s Saken Bibossinov (5’6”) in the semifi��nal.

Nimble feet, speed, duck

ing and swaying and, mostimportantly, the sidewaysmovement to disable the opponent’s reach, make Panghal a tough opponent.“That’s my game and I needto evolve further. Inside thering, I am myself and thetrick is to maintain my composure when the opponentis attacking. I know I have agood defence and I can understand what the opponentis thinking. I like to keepmoving around the ring,” hesaid.

The reigning Asian champion has now set his sightson the 2020 TokyoOlympics.

“Bagging a silver at theWorlds is an achievementbut to win an Olympic medalis a dream for every athlete.The training has to be rightand, more importantly, theprocess. It’s important totrain in a specifi��c mannerand it involves a lot of dedication, determination andeff��ort. Techniquewise nothing is going to change drastically, but I need to developin certain areas. I will defi��nitely come out a better boxer,” said Panghal.

I believe I can become World champion: Panghal

Reigning Asian title holder has now set his sights on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics

BOXING

All about confi��dence: Amit Panghal says he knows his gameand needs to evolve further. * PTI

V.S. Aravind

CHENNAI

Railways will be up againstManipur in the fi��nal of thesenior women’s Nationalfootball championship onTuesday.

Facing Odisha in the fi��rstsemifi��nal at the CHFground, Railways won 31with Yumnam Kamala Devistriking twice and Mamtaonce. Jasoda Munda scoreda consolation goal forOdisha.

In the second semifi��nal,Manipur enjoyed a mighty50 win over Tamil Nadu.Heigrujam Daya Deviscored a hattrick, whileNgangom Bala Devi andIrom Prameshwori Deviscored one each.

It’s Railwaysvs Manipur

Sports Bureau

Pasighat

Former ILeague club United Sikkim FC on Sunday decided to shut shop to “focuson grassroots football” andavoid “confl��ict of interest”issues arising out of its founder Bhaichung Bhutia’s association with the State governing body of the game.

Bhutia in a statement saidthat his club, founded in2004, will close down after15 years of existence duringwhich it made it to the country toptier ILeague in 201213 after winning the seconddivision league.

“This has been a very diffi��cult decision for us to take.It is with great pain that weare announcing that UnitedSikkim Football Club willcease to exist from today,”the club said.

Bhutia to shut downUnited Sikkim FC

FOOTBALL


NEW DELHI

Bhaichung Bhutia. * PTI

India played out a 11 drawagainst host Uzbekistanhere on Sunday to fi��nish ontop of Group B and qualifyfor the AFC U16 Championship to be held in Bahrainnext year.

India, coached by Bibiano Fernandes, fi��nished onseven points from threematches — the same as Uzbekistan but qualifi��ed asgroup winners by virtue ofbetter goal diff��erence (+10)in comparison to the hometeam’s +3.

India had earlier beatenTurkmenistan and Bahrainby identical 50 margins.

Needing just a draw totop the group, India tookthe lead in the 68th minutewhen Sridarth tapped theball home off�� a rebound.

But even though thehosts levelled the scores inthe 81st minute, the Indiansmanaged to hold on to adraw and achieve theirmission.

This is India’s third consecutive entry into the AFCU16 Championships andninth overall.

“I am extremely proud ofmy boys,” head coach Fernandes said moments afterIndia’s qualifi��cation. “Therehas been a lot of hard workput in.”

India qualifi��es for AFC U16 Championship Press Trust of India

Tashkent

Arjuna awardee Gaurav Gilland another driver werebooked on Sunday in connection with an accidentduring a National RallyChampionship race here inwhich a couple and theiryoung son were killed, police said.

A police offi��cial said companies involved in the event— Maxperienace, Mahindra,JK Tyres, MRF Tyres and theFederation of Motor SportsClub of India — have alsobeen named in the FIR.

Additional Superintendent of Police Khinv Singhsaid the FIR was lodged atSamdari police station at 2

a.m. on Sunday on a complaint by Rahul, the elderson of the deceased.

Rahul claimed that his parents were standing alongthe road with the motorcycle, talking to his younger

brother, when Gill’s car hitthem and two other carscoming from behind alsocrushed them.

Gill and driver M. Sharifwere booked under Section304 of the Indian Penal Code(culpable homicide notamounting to murder), theASP said, adding that theirnames were written on thevehicle that hit the motorcycle of the deceased.

Meanwhile, the bodies ofNarendra Kumar, his wifePushpa Devi and son Jitendra were still lying at thespot as villagers and familymembers demanded compensation, government jobto a kin and the arrest of theaccused.

Gill and another driver bookedFIR fi��led by the elder son of the deceased

Gaurav Gill.


Barmer

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SPORT

Rugby World Cup: Sony Ten2 (SD & HD), 3.30 p.m.PKL: Star Sports 1 &b 2 (SD &HD), 7.30 p.m.

TV PICKS

Muchova claims fi��rst title in SeoulSEOUL

Czech Republic's Karolina

Muchova thrashed fourth

seed Magda Linette 6-1, 6-1

in the Korea Open final here

on Sunday to claim her

maiden WTA title. World No.

45 Muchova, who is enjoying

the best season of her career

having also reached the final

in Prague, won 90% of points

on her first serve and did not

face a break-point en route to

the victory. REUTERS

Osaka back to winning ways at home TOKYO

Japan's Naomi Osaka ended

an eight-month title drought

by winning the Pan Pacific

Open in her home city on

Sunday, her first trophy since

her second consecutive

Grand Slam triumph at the

Australian Open in January.

The former World No. 1

overwhelmed Russia's

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

6-2, 6-3 to make it third time

lucky in finals at the

tournament after finishing

runner-up in 2016 and 2018.

She is the first Japanese to

win the Pan Pacific title since

Kimiko Date in 1995. AFP

IN BRIEF

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettelended his yearlong droughtwithout a win at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday,mastering a hazy circuit toclaim a record fi��fth triumphin the citystate.

The German was chasedhome by teammate CharlesLeclerc, who started on polebut lost the lead to the fourtime world champion aftermaking his pit stop, and RedBull’s Max Verstappen, whofi��nished third.

“It was a very late call onthe pit stop and I just gave iteverything on the out lap. Iwas surprised to come outahead and it was diffi��cult tomanage the tyres but we controlled it to the end,” Vetteltold reporters.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton fi��nished fourthbut extended his advantageover fellow Mercedes driverValtteri Bottas to 65 points,with six races remaining, after the Finn fi��nished in fi��fth.

Clean startThe race got off�� to a cleanstart with the top six retaining their grid positions despite Vettel putting immense

pressure on secondplacedHamilton in the opening lap.

While a few drivers wereshifting position furtherdown the fi��eld, the frontrunners were maintaining a onesecond gap between eachother as Leclerc set a slow

pace to make his soft tyreslast as long as possible.

Ferrari and Red Bull werethe fi��rst of the big teams tobring their cars in for pitstops as Vettel and Verstappen were fi��tted with themore durable hard tyres on

lap 20, with Leclerc following suit on the next lap.

Leclerc, however, was dismayed to leave the pits behind Vettel. Hamilton stayedout on track in the lead to setabout forging a big enoughgap to retain the lead when it

was his turn to come in.

But Vettel, Leclerc andVerstappen were lappingmuch quicker than Hamiltonand when the Briton fi��nallystopped seven laps after hisrivals, he emerged in a distant fourth place.

Vettel ends a yearlong drought Masters a hazy circuit to to claim a record fi��fth triumph in Singapore; Leclerc fi��nishes second

SINGAPORE GP

Agence France-PresseSingapore

Long lost love: Sebastian Vettel makes his feelings known after winning in Singapore. * REUTERS

1. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)1:58:33.667s, 2. Charles Leclerc(Ferrari) + 2.641s, 3. Max Ver-stappen (Red Bull) + 3.821, 4.Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +4.608, 5. Valtteri Bottas (Mer-cedes) + 6.119, 6. Alexander Al-bon (Red Bull) + 11.663, 7. LandoNorris (McLaren) + 14.769, 8.Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) +15.547, 9. Nico Hulkenberg(Renault) + 16.718, 10. AntonioGiovinazzi (Alfa Romeo Racing) +17.855, 11. Romain Grosjean(Haas) + 35.436, 12. Carlos SainzJr (McLaren) + 35.974, 13. LanceStroll (Racing Point) + 36.419,14. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) +37.660, 15. Daniil Kvyat (ToroRosso) + 38.178, 16. Robert Ku-bica (Williams) + 47.024, 17.Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +1:26.522.

Championship standings:Drivers: 1. Hamilton 296 points,2. Bottas 231, 3. Leclerc 200, 4.Verstappen 200, 5. Vettel 194, 6.Gasly 69, 7. Sainz Jr 58, 8. Albon42, 9. Ricciardo 34, 10. Kvyat 33,11. Hulkenberg 33, 12. Norris 31,13. Raikkonen 31, 14. Perez 27, 15.Stroll 19, 16. Magnussen 18, 17.Grosjean 8, 18. Giovinazzi 4, 19.Kubica 1, 20. George Russell 0.

Constructors: 1. Mercedes 527points, 2. Ferrari 394, 3. Red Bull289, 4. McLaren 89, 5. Renault67, 6. Toro Rosso 55, 7. RacingPoint 46, 8. Alfa Romeo Racing35, 9. Haas 26, 10. Williams 1.

THE RESULTS

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) annualgeneral meeting will be heldon September 26. This wasdecided at the State body’sexecutive committee meeting here on Sunday.

Nominations for the various posts may be fi��led tillSeptember 25 (5 p.m.). As ofnow, none from the groupopposing the ruling dispensation has come forward tostake a claim.

Meanwhile, the group owing allegiance to N. Srinivasan has been acting fast, deciding on its nominees at theEC meeting.

R.S. Ramaswamy from Salem has been named candidate for secretary, and K.A.Shankar for joint secretary.

Both have previous experience as administrators inthe TNCA.

And J. Parthasarathy, sonof the late S.R. Jagannathan,a popular fi��gure in theTNCA, is the ruling group’snominee for the treasurer’spost.

Dindigul Venkataramanhas been nominated for thejob of assistant secretarydistricts. Srinivasa Raju andAshok Sigamani are the ruling faction’s choice as vicepresidents.

Srinivasan’s daughter Rupa Gurunath’s name for president is expected to be announced on the fl��oor of thehouse on the day of the election, as is the norm. Thosecontesting for the president’s job do not have to fi��lenominations.

In the absence of a viableopposition, all the abovenames should sail through in

the election.

Some disappointmentThere was a tinge of disappointment, though, in somequarters on no formercricketer being in the mix.Although there are some experienced administrators inthose nominated, thereseems to be a certain lack ofdynamism.

With a young president inRupa — she has been quietlygroomed for the role by Srinivasan — likely to be running the show, a youngerand a more enterprisingteam could have taken theTNCA into the future with itschanging dynamics. And, acouple of former cricketerswould have fi��tted the bill.

Meanwhile, the TNCA district secretaries will meet onMonday to pick three candidates from the districts forthe executive committee.

Srinivasan’s daughter Rupa Gurunathtipped to contest for president’s post TNCA AGM to be held on September 26

EC MEETING

S. DinakarChennai

HYDERABAD: Mozambique, whois rousing form, may extend herwinning streak in the Totaram’sTrophy (1,200m), the featureevent of the races to be held hereon Monday (Sept. 23).

1 MALVADO PLATE (DIV. I),(1,100m), maiden 3yo only

(placed 2nd or 3rd not eligible),(Cat. II), (Terms), 125 p.m.: 1. Bedazzled (8) Kuldeep Singh 56, 2.Cerberus (9) Kiran Naidu 56, 3.Gold Label (3) Nakhat Singh 56, 4.Tough And Go (6) G. Naresh 56, 5.Best In Show (7) Gopal Singh 54.5,6. Coconut Coast (4) Neeraj 54.5,7. Royal Girl (5) I. Chisty 54.5, 8.Scared Lamp (1) Aneel 54.5 and 9.Top In Turf (2) Akshay Kumar54.5.1. BEST IN SHOW, 2. BEDAZZLED,

3. COCONUT COAST

2 ROYAL TERN PLATE (2,000m),3yo & over, rated 20 to 45

(Cat. III), 200: 1. Francis Bacon

(5) Neeraj 60, 2. Roll Call (1) SurajNarredu 60, 3. Satin Symphony(2) Santosh Raj 58.5, 4. CharlieBrown (4) Koushik 55, 5. Lancashire (6) R. Ajinkya 54.5, 6.Stormy (3) Afroz Khan 53.5 and 7.Symbol Of Star’s (7) Akshay Kumar 53. 1. ROLL CALL, 2. SATIN SYMPHONY,3. FRANCIS BACON

3 MALVADO PLATE (DIV. II),(1,100m), maiden 3yo (placed

2nd or 3rd not eligible) (Cat. II),(Terms), 230: 1. Bob Campbell (3)Koushik 56, 2. Dazzling King (4)Ajit Singh 56, 3. Gusty Note (7)Kiran Naidu 56, 4. Royal Tiger (5)B.R. Kumar 56, 5. Sputnic (1) Akshay Kumar 56, 6. Turbulence (6)G. Naresh 56, 7. Rasika (9)Kuldeep Singh 54.5, 8. Urvasi (2)Rohit Kumar 54.5 and 9. Whiskery(8) Suraj Narredu 54.5. 1. SPUTNIC, 2. DAZZLING KING,

3. GUSTY NOTE

Rafique Sk. 56.5 and 8. Bayrd (3)R.S. Jodha 55. 1. MOZAMBIQUE, 2. LONG RANGE,3. AMBITIOUS APPROACH

6 MALVADO PLATE (DIV. III),(1,100m), maiden 3yo only

(placed 2nd or 3rd not eligible),(Cat. II), (Terms), 400: 1. BraveSyera (3) Aneel 56, 2. Flag Of Honour (7) Akshay Kumar 56, 3.Hashtag (2) Deepak Singh 56, 4.Healthandhapiness (5) GopalSingh 56, 5. Sheldon (9) N. Rawal56, 6. Speed Warrior (6) NakhatSingh 56, 7. Time is Good (1) G.Naresh 56, 8. Free Way (8) KiranNaidu 54.5 and 9. Wah Ms Zara (4)Suraj Narredu 54.5. 1. WAH MS ZARA, 2. SPEED WARRIOR, 3. HASHTAGDay’s best: MOZAMBIQUEDouble: BEST IN SHOW — PASOROBLESJkt: 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6; Mini Jkt: 3, 4, 5 &6; Tr (i): 1, 2 & 3; (ii): 4, 5 & 6; Tla:all races.

4 RAJA SAHEB OF ITKYAL ME-MORIAL CUP (1,400m), 3yo

only, rated 20 to 45 (Cat. III), 300: 1. City Of Wisdom (6) DeepakSingh 60, 2. Galloping Gangster(7) Asshad Asbar 60, 3. PasoRobles (2) Suraj Narredu 60, 4.Queen Runner (5) Akshay Kumar58.5, 5. Friday Fury (4) B.R. Kumar 55, 6. Excelsior (8) AfrozKhan 54.5, 7. Let It Be Me (3)Kunal Bunde 54.5 and 8. Ace Misile (1) Nakhat Singh 51.5.

1. PASO ROBLES, 2. GALLOPINGGANGSTER, 3. QUEEN RUNNER

5 TOTARAM’S TROPHY(1,200m), 3yo & over (Cat. II),

(Terms), 330: 1. Ambitious Approach (7) Koushik 62, 2. DestinedDynamite (4) Kiran Naidu 62, 3.Long Range (6) Kuldeep Singh 62,4. Titus (8) Suraj Narredu 62, 5.Mozambique (1) Akshay Kumar60.5, 6. Champion Bull (2) I.Chisty 58, 7. Lightning Fin (5)

RACING

Mozambique primed to continue winning run

HYDERABAD: Mark My Word(Suraj Narredu up) won the MajorGeneral Nawab Khusru Jung Bahadur Memorial Cup, the mainevent of the races held here onSunday (Sept. 22). The winner is owned by M.A.M.Ramaswamy Chettiar of Chettinad Charitable Trust rep. by Mr.A.C. Muthiah and trained bySatheesh. Jockey Akshay Kumarscored a treble.

1 JATPROLE CUP (DIV. II),(1,600m), maiden 3yo only

(Cat. II), (Terms): NO COMPROM-ISE (Akshay Kumar) 1, Star OfTiara (Suraj Narredu) 2, Miss Marvellous (Ajit Singh) 3 and MindReader (B.R. Kumar) 4. 11/2, 81/4and 21/4. 1m, 38.84s. ₹��8 (w), 5, 5and 9 (p), SHP: 14, FP: 18, Q: 9,Tla: 37. Favourite: No Compromise. Owners: Dr. Peddi ReddyPrabhakar Reddy & Mr. P.Prabhakar Reddy. Trainer: Laxman Singh.

2 P.V.G. RAJU MEMORIAL CUP(1,800m), 3yo & over, rated

upto 25 (Cat. III): YOGASTHA(Afroz Khan) 1, Story Teller (Na

khat Singh) 2, N R I Flame(Kuldeep Singh) 3 and Recumbentibus (Suraj Narredu) 4. 4, 11/2and 3/4. 1m, 54.22s. ₹��19 (w), 6, 8and 15 (p), SHP: 52, FP: 1,20, Tla:1,374. Favourite: Royal Avenger.Owners: M/s. Sunil Kumar Sethi,Hanumanthu Rao Yerramsetty,Ashok Rupani & Kodali Venkateswara Rao. Trainer: A. Vatsalya.

3 RAJA SAHEB OF CHALLAPALLIMEMORIAL CUP (1,200m), 3

yo & over, rated 20 to 45 (Cat.III): ESTEVA (Akshay Kumar) 1, Celetitas (Suraj Narredu) 2, PrivateEmpire (I. Chisty) 3 and Hurricane (Abhay Singh) 4. Nk, 1/2and 33/4. 1m, 13.12s. ₹��12 (w), 6, 7and 9 (p), SHP: 17, FP: 27, Q: 13,Tla; 73. Favourite: Celeritas. Owners: Mr. Marthand SinghMahindra, Mrs. Rina Mahindra &Mr. P. Prabhakar Reddy & M/s.Hypersion Bloodstock Pvt. Ltd.rep. by Mr. Zaheer F. Rattonsey.Trainer: R.H. Sequeira.

4 JATPRAOLE CUP (DIV. I),(1,600m), maiden 3yo only

Ashwa Bahula (I. Chisty) 2,Nimble Mind (Akshay Kumar) 3and Yanga (Afroz Khan) 4. Nose, 2and 13/4. 1m, 39.27s. ₹��9 (w), 6, 5and 5 (p), SHP: 14, FP: 26, Q: 15,Tla: 45. Favourite: Mark My Word.Owner: M.A.M. RamaswamyChettiar of Chettinad CharitableTrust rep. by Mr. A.C. Muthiah.Trainer: Satheesh.

7 NAWAB SULTAN ALI KHAN ME-MORIAL CUP (1,100m), 4yo &

over, rated 20 to 45 (Cat. III):HAPPY TOGETHER ( JitendraSingh) 1, Magic Street (Rohit Kumar) 2, Crimson Fire (DeepakSingh) 3 and Running Fire (KiranNaidu) 4. Not run: Ta Ta. 3, 31/2and shd. 1m, 6.94s. ₹��20 (w), 9, 7and 11 (p), SHP: 21, FP: 109, Q: 47,Tla: 654. Favourite: Magic Street.Owner: M.A.M. RamaswamyChettiar of Chetitnad CharitableTrust rep. by Mr. A.C. Muthiah.Trainer: Satheesh. Jackpot: ₹��3,524 (111 tkts.), Runnerup: 203 (823 tkts.). Mini Jackpot: 1,610 (38 tkts.), Tr(i): 286 (132 kts), (ii): 100 (675tkts.).

(Cat. II), (Terms): NOVA SCOTIA(Akshay Kumar) 1, Mahashakti (I.Chisty) 2, Monte Rei (Rohit Kumar) 3 and Tapatio (B.R. Kumar)4. 3/4, 3 and 33/4. 1m, 40.46s. ₹��24(w), 8, 7 and 11 (p), SHP: 17, FP: 94,Q: 31, Tla: 378. Favourite: BronGreek. Owners: M/s. P’walla Rac.& Breed. Pvt.Ltd. rep. by Mr. Z.S.Poonawalla & Ms. Simone Zavareh Ponawalla, M/s. RamaKrishna Reddy & Tinder SinghAhluwalia. Trainer: L. D’Silva.

5 S.N. REDDY MEMORIAL CUP(1,200m), 3yo & over, rated

40 to 65 (Cat. II): ZAMORA (Ashhad Asbar) 1, Mon General(Gaurav Singh) 2, Shaquille (SurajNarredu) 3 and One One One(Abhay Singh) 4. Shd, 21/4 andnk. 1m, 12.56s. ₹��11 (w), 7, 5 and 6(p), SHP: 15, FP: 27, Q: 15, Tla: 47.Favourite: Zamora. Owner: Mr. N.Adil Mirza. Trainer: LaxmanSingh.

6 MAJOR GENERAL NAWABKHUSRU JUNG BAHADUR ME-

MORIAL CUP (1,600m), 3yo &over, rated 60 to 85 (Cat. II) MARKMY WORD (Suraj Narredu) 1,

Mark My Word lives up to its billing

Divij Sharan and partnerIgor Zelenay of Slovakia beatMatteo Berrettini and Simone Bolelli of Italy 63, 36,[108] to clinch the doublestitle in the $1,248,665 ATPTour tennis tournamenthere on Sunday.

The duo collected 250ATP points and $66,740. Therunnersup won 150 pointsand $34,200. It was the fi��fthTour doubles title for the 33yearold Divij, who had started the season winning theMaharashtra Open ATP titlein Pune with RohanBopanna.

It was also the third title ofthe season for Divij, who had

won the $125,000 NingboChallenger a fortnight earlier with Matthew Ebden ofAustralia. The 49thrankedDivij has so far won 16 Challenger and 19 Futures doubles titles, apart from thefi��ve Tour titles.

In the fi��nal on Sunday, theItalians led 52 in the super

tiebreak and stretched it to87. The IndoSlovakian pairturned the tide in its favourby winning the next threepoints and pocketing thetitle.

Earlier in the semifi��nals,Divij and partner had oustedthe top seeds Nikola Mekticand Franko Skugor of Croatia 75, 61.The results:

$1,248,665 ATP, St. Petersburg: Doubles (fi��nal): Igor Ze-lenay (Svk) & Divij Sharan btMatteo Berrettini & Simone Bo-lelli (Ita) 6-3, 3-6, [10-8]; Semifi��nals: Zelenay & Divij bt NikolaMektic & Franko Skugor (Cro)7-5, 6-1.

€46,600 Challenger, Glasgow:Doubles (semifi��nals): JamieMurray (GBR) & John-PatrickSmith (Aus) bt Marek Gengel(Cze) & Ramkumar Ramanathan6-2, 6-3.

Divij & Zelenay pair triumphs INDIANS ABROAD

Sports BureauSt. Petersburg

Divij. * FILE PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Sidharth Rawat and Zeel Desai are likely to be the topseeds in the men’s and women’s sections respectivelyin the Fenesta National tennis championships, startingat the DLTA Complex hereon September 30.

As per the acceptance list,three of the top10 players inthe country are scheduled tocompete in the men’s andwomen’s events, which off��er₹��3 lakh for the championsand ₹��2 lakh for therunnersup.

Apart from the likes of Niki Poonacha, Aryan Goveas,Kunal Anand, KarunudaySingh and Ishaque Eqbal,the men’s fi��eld will also havethree former national champions — V.M. Ranjeet, Dalwinder Singh and Mohit

Mayur.Most of the other top

players will be busy withtheir internationalcommitments.

In the women’s event, Mahak Jain, who won the title inthe last two years, does notfi��gure in the list of players.

Sowjanya Bavisetti, Bhuvana Kalva, Ramya Natarajan, Sai Samhitha and Vaidehi Chaudhari are some of theother leading players in themain draw list, apart fromfourtime National champion Prerna Bhambri.

Exempt spots In the absence of wild cards,there are two special exemptspots in the men’s and women’s events which will befi��lled by the upgradation ofthe qualifying list in the absence of suitable candidates.

With the organisers, DCMShriram Group, deciding tocelebrate nearly three decades of their associationwith Indian tennis with theconduct of the 25th editionof the championships, therewill be a photo exhibition atthe venue with vintage collection from the pasteditions.

More than recalling theprowess of the players in thepast, as everyone who hasbeen someone in Indian tennis has gone through thechampionship at some stageof their career, the exhibition will also catalogue thechanging face of the venuefrom the classic scenario ofthe past to the current modern structure.

Dev Javia and KashishBhatia are set to be the topseeds in the boys and girls

sections respectively in theconcurrently conducted under18 event.

There will be a bunch oftop quality players like MannMaulik Shah, Kabir Hans,Krishan Hooda, Ajay Malik,Sushant Dabas, Madhwin Kamath and Chirag Duhan inthe boys event.

Sarah Dev, SandeeptiSingh Rao, Rashmikaa Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, ReshmaMaruri, Prerna Vichare, Sanjana Sirimalla, Renee Singhwill be some of the topplayers in the girls section.

As usual, the second weekwill feature the under16 and14 events for boys and girls.

The qualifying event forthe fi��rst week will be playedon Sept. 28 and 29.

National tennis to kick off�� on September 30 Rawat and Zeel likely to be the top seeds Kamesh SrinivasanNEW DELHI

Ireland powered past Scotland 273 to put itself in thebox seat to reach the quarterfi��nals at the RugbyWorld Cup on Sunday.

Three pushover tries inthe fi��rst half did the damage before wing AndrewConway grabbed a fourthafter the break to secure abonuspoint win, withgames to come against Japan, Russia and Samoa inPool A.

Bulldozing centre ManuTuilagi scored two fi��rsthalftries as England labouredto an errorstrewn 353 winover Tonga.

Ireland andEngland post wins

Agence France-PresseYokohama

Vikram falls in last hurdleLONDON (CANADA)

India's Vikram Malhotra, the

top seed, went down in a

nerve-wracking final against

the second seed Auguste

Dussourd of France 6-11, 11-5,

11-4, 5-11, 11-9 in the Nash

Cup 2019 PSA challenger

event here late on Saturday.

Rajiv Sethu snaps up a pointSEPANG (MALAYSIA)

IDEMITSU Honda Racing

India’s Rajiv Sethu once again

snapped up a point for his

team with a top-15 finish on

Sunday’s final race at the Asia

Road Racing Championship

(ARRC). The 18-year-old

Senthil Kumar clocked his

personal best lap record of

2:28:241. Astra Honda Racing

team’s Awhin Sanjaya stopped

the clock at 19:43:339. PTI

The ProKabaddi League(PKL) has changed the worldfor all those involved with thesport.

Players now pay attentionto fi��tness, diet, enduranceand technique, given thatthey are under the scrutinyof television cameras.

Arjuna awardee Anup Kumar — member of the Indiateam which won the kabaddiWorld Cup in 2016 and nowPuneri Paltan coach — says:“I started playing kabaddi onmud, hence have to keep upgrading and updating in order to explain my techniques. Coaching and playingare two completely diff��erentthings."

On how technical thesport has become, U Mumbavicecaptain Sandeep Narwalsays, “I started playing onmud where a player can easily run out of your grasp. Onthe contrary, it is easier totrap a player on the matnow.”

The game has been speeded up with the inclusion ofthe super raid, super tackleand doordie, keeping viewers guessing till the last minute on the match result.

Puneri Paltan defenderGirish Maruti Ernak, who hasrepresented India in the last

couple of years, says, "Earliera raid lasted 4045 seconds,now it is 30 seconds. Also, after two empty raids there is alast raid (doordie. The gamehas become faster now.”

Naveen ‘Express’ Kumarof Dabang Delhi, famous forhis explosive speed and catlike refl��exes, says the sporthas given him a lot. Financially he is in a better position and gamewise he hasimproved tremendously.

“Whatever facilities a kabaddi player deserves, he isgetting it, like physios, nutrition and topclass coaching. Ihope kabaddi gets into theOlympics,” says the 19yearold raider who came throughthe New Young Playerscheme.

The shifting kabaddi scene PKL engineers sea change in the sport

Anant KaurNEW DELHI

<> Earlier a raid lasted

40-45 seconds, now

it is 30 seconds

Anup Kumar

Puneri Paltan Coach

Jacobus scored 17 points asBombay Gymkhana outclassed Madurai Veerans470 in the 86th allIndiaand South Asia rugby XVschampionship at theCC&FC ground here onSunday.

Prashant and Ammarscored 10 points apiece inGymkhana’s resoundingvictory.

Delhi Hurricanes andMagicians also recordedwins in other matches.The results: Magicians 5 (Go-vind 5) bt Jungle Crows 0;Delhi Hurricanes 46 (Prince15, Dipak Punia 6) bt ACEFoundation 0; Bombay Gymk-hana 47 (Jacobus 17, Prashant10, Ammar 10) bt MaduraiVeerans 0.

Jacobus starsfor Gymkhana

Special CorrespondentKolkata

Triple World champion Carolina Marin retained herChina Open title on Sunday, eight months after suffering a careerthreateninginjury.

The Spaniard recoveredfrom a game down to defeat Taiwan’s secondseeded Tai Tzuying 1421, 2117,2118 in Changzhou.

A tearful Marin collapsed to the court fl��oorand buried her head in herhands after powering tovictory in 65 minutes.

“There was some frustration with myself in thefi��rst game. I tried to keepcalm. I had to be patientand fi��nd the good lengthon the shuttle. But themost important thing is Icould fi��ght until the end.

“I just waited until shemade mistakes. I just wanted to play some long ralliesbecause I knew this matchwas going to be reallytough,” said the Spaniard

Kento Momota cemented his place as the topmen’s player with a 1921,2117, 2119 win over Indonesia’s seventh seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting intheir fi��nal.

Marin andMomotatriumph

Agence France-PresseSHANGHAI

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