NEW DELHI SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2020 - SPLessons

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NEW DELHI SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2020

THE ASIAN AGE

It has always been a question whether ThePhantom of the Opera (1925) is a great film, oronly a great spectacle. Carl Sandburg, one ofthe original reviewers, underwent a change of

heart between his first Chicago Daily News review(he waited for the Phantom’s unmasking “terriblyfascinated, aching with suspense”) and a reconsid-eration written a month later (“strictly among thenovelties of the season”). It was not, he added onthe level of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or Greed,mentioning two of the greatest films of all time.

He was right about that, and could have added thegreatest of all silent horror films, Murnau’sNosferatu (1922), whose vampire may have influ-enced Lon Chaney’s performance as the Phantom.But as an exercise in lurid sensationalism, strain-ing against technical limitations in its eagerness tooverwhelm, the first of the many Phantom filmshas a creepy, undeniable power.

The story is simply told — too simply, perhaps, sothat all of the adaptations, including the famousAndrew Lloyd Webber musical, have been muchado about relatively little. In the cellars of the ParisOpera House lives a disfigured masked man whobecomes obsessed with the young singer Christine.He commands the management to give her leadingroles, and when they refuse, he exacts a terriblerevenge, causing a great chandelier to crash downon the audience.

Christine’s lover, a pallid nonentity, is little com-petition for her fascination with the Phantom, untilshe realises with horror that the creature wants herto dwell in his mad subterranean world. Sheunmasks him, is repelled by his hideous disfigure-ment, flees to the surface and her lover, and is fol-lowed by a Phantom seeking violent revenge. Thereis no room for psychological subtlety here.

It is the idea of the Phantom, really, that fasci-nates us: the idea of a cruelly mistreated man goingmad in self-imposed exile in the very cellars, dun-geons and torture chambers where he was, appar-ently, disfigured in the first place. His obsessionwith Christine reflects his desire to win back somejoy from a world that has mistreated him. Lerouxand his adapters have placed this sad creature in abizarre subterranean space that has inspired gen-erations of set designers.

There are five levels of cellars beneath the opera,one descending beneath another in an expression-ist series of staircases, ramps, trapdoors, and aStyxian river that the Phantom crosses in a gondo-la. The Phantom has furnished his lair withgrotesque fittings: He sleeps in a coffin and pro-vides a bed for Christine in the shape of a whaleboat. Remote controls give him warnings when any-one approaches and allow him to roast or drown hisenemies.

To Christine, he offers wealth, luxury and operastardom, and she is in no peril “as long as you donot touch the mask” — oh, and she must love him,or at least allow him to possess her (although hisprecise sexual plans are left undefined). Perhapswarned by the fate of the hero in her current pro-duction of Faust, she refuses this bargain, althoughfor an engaged woman, she allows herself to be dan-gerously tempted.

After taking over the leading role from an omi-nously ill prima donna, she follows a mysteriousvoice, opens a secret door behind the mirror in herdressing room, descends through forbidding cel-lars, is taken semi-conscious by horseback and gon-dola deeper into the labyrinth and sees the coffinwhere he sleeps. At this point, her sudden cry of“You — you are the Phantom!” inspired me to writein my notes: “Duh!”

Her lover, the Viscount Raoul de Chagny, is like-wise not a swift study. After the Phantom has pre-sumably claimed dozens of victims with the fallingchandelier and threatened Christine with death ifshe sees him again, Raoul agrees to meet her at theMasked Ball. This is held in the Opera House on thevery next night, with the chandelier miraculouslyrepaired and no mourning period, apparently, forthe dozens of crushed and maimed. Christine tellsRaoul the Phantom will murder them if they areseen together, but then, when a gaunt and spectralfigure in red stalks imperiously into the grand hall,Raoul unmasks himself, which is, if you ask me,asking for trouble.

The Phantom’s unmasking was one of the mostfamous moments in silent film. He is seated at hisorgan. “Now, when he is intent on the music,”Sandburg wrote, “she comes closer, closer, her fin-gers steal towards the ribbon that fastens the mask.Her fingers give one final twitch — and there youare!” There you are, all right, as Chaney, “the Manof 1,000 Faces” and a master of makeup, unveils adefacement more grotesque than in any later ver-sion, his mouth a gaping cavern, his nose a void, hiseyes widely staring: “Feast your eyes, glut yoursoul, on my accursed ugliness!”

The other famous scene involves the falling chan-delier, which became the centrepiece of the Webbermusical and functions the same way in JoelSchumacher’s 2004 film version. In the originalfilm, it is curiously underplayed; it falls in impres-sive majesty, to be sure, but its results are hard tomeasure. Surely there are mangled bodies beneathit, but the movie stays its distance and then hurrieson. Much more impressive is the Masked Ballsequence and its sequel on the roof of the operahouse. The filmmakers (director Rupert Julien,replaced by Edward Sedgwick and assisted byChaney) use primitive colour techniques to satu-rate the ball with brilliant scarlets and less obtru-sive greens. Many scenes throughout the film aretinted, which was common enough in silent days.

The Phantom of the Opera is not a great film ifyou are concerned with art and subtlety, depth andmessage; Nosferatu is a world beyond it. But in itsfevered melodrama and images of cadaverousromance, it finds a kind of show-biz majesty. And ithas two elements of genius: It creates beneath theopera one of the most grotesque places in the cine-ma, and Chaney’s performance transforms anabsurd character into a haunting one.

SUPARNA SHARMA

Kal, a girl in a blue skirt and aboy in khaki pants.

Aaj, a girl in shorts and a boywith questionable hygiene.

Kal, girl asking boy why he’schasing her.

Aaj, girl asking boy why he didn’tsleep with her.

Kal, boy says, “Okay, I will stopchasing you”.

Aaj, boy says, “You are special”.

Kal, girl responded, “Did I askyou not to chase me?”

Aaj, girl says, “Whateverrrr”.

Kal, boy is Veer (Kartik Aaryan),girl is Leena (Aarushi Sharma) inUdaipur, circa 1990

Aaj, boy is Raghu (KartikAaryan), girl is Zoe (Sara AliKhan) in Delhi 2020

Kal, Leena was a student in aconvent school.

Aaj, Zoe has career plans of run-ning an event management compa-ny.

Kal, Veer was studying to be adoctor.

Aaj, Raghu is a computer pro-grammer.

Kal, Leena did kathak.Aaj, Zoe does zumba.

Kal, Leena wore salwar-kameezwith dupatta.

Aaj, Zoe wears small, trendyclothes and high heels.

Kal, Leena stood in balcony steal-ing furtive glances.

Aaj, Zoe has tequila shots in apub.

Kal, Leena had a plait and wasvery scared of her mother.

Aaj, Zoe’s hair is streaked andshe shouts at her mother.

Aaj, a love guru, a philoso-pher-guide (Randeep Hooda)runs Mazi (past), a coffee

shop cum co-working space thathas a bar and booze.

He has a kal, and a room upstairsto make out with random girls.

Zoe works out of Mazi, and soonRaghu follows her with his laptop.

Whenever we are in aaj with loveguru, we go to his kal for some lovelessons.

Kal, Veer loved Leena, she lovedhim.

Aaj, Raghu loves Zoe, and sheloves him.

Kal, Veer and Leena had a thing— whenever they met, she wouldsuddenly, quickly kiss him.

Aaj, Zoe and Raghu make out andthen she lies on top of him.

Kal, he had issues, complexes.Aaj, she has issues, complexes.

Kal, Veer hurt Leena, but hurthimself as well.

Aaj, Zoe hurts Raghu, but hurtsherself as well.

Kal, parson, tarson, narson, infact for barson, Imtiaz Alihas been making the same

film, over and over — Jab We Met(2007), Love Aaj Kal (2009),Rockstar (2011), Cocktail (2010),Highway (2014), Tamasha (2015),Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017).

Aaj, he has made the same film,again.

Kal, parson, tarson, narson, hisheroes and heroines found them-selves through love, else they feltlost-lost, sad-sad.

Aaj, his hero and heroine findthemselves through love, and with-out it they feel lost-lost, sad-sad.

Kal, parson, tarson, narson,Imtiaz Ali’s films were about theredemptive power of love.

Aaj, his film is about the redemp-tive power of love.

Kal, his heroines were child-babes.

Aaj, his heroine is a child-babe,one at least.

Kal, Imtiaz Ali was besotted withboys and girls with tiny IQs.

Aaj, he is still obsessed with aboys and girls with tiny IQs.

Kal, I thoughtImtiaz Ali wouldgrow up afterhaving madethe same filmover andover.

Aaj, itis cleart h a t

Imtiaz Ali doesn’t want to grow upand will keep making the samefilm over and over, and then again.

Kal, Imtiaz Ali knew how towrite and had at least a semblanceof a story.

Aaj, he has lost that skill as well,and instead of a story has onlyexpository dialogue.

Love Aaj Kal 2020 has no storywhatsoever and so most ofthe time is spent talking

about love, how love feels, whatlove does, instead of showing it tous.

Imagine a road trip movie whereinstead of an actual road trip, thelead pair take turns to sit with anuncle at a coffee shop while he tellsthem about a road trip he oncewent on. But, rather than talkabout interesting, fun stuff, thestory he narrates goes like this: “Ichecked out a car, then I took it fora spin. It got a flat, I changed tyre.Again there was a puncture.Mileage wasn’t good. The gearstick was wobbly, the wipers werenot moving smoothly. When I putthe window down, the breeze wasnice, but her hair got tangled. Shewas not happy.”

Now imagine that the girl whocomes to listen to cafe-wale uncle,walks in and out hyperventilating,like, all of the time.

Leena of kal barely talks. ButZoe of 2020 more than makes upfor that Leena, and all the Leenasborn and brought up in the threedecades between them.

Zoe’s character is created out ofImtiaz Ali’s issues and complexesabout women and love. Thus, shehas a huffy demeanour, throwstantrums, has only exaggerated,petulant responses and speaks allthe time while gesturing frantical-ly. Yet, the instructions to the cam-eraman were to crouch in front ofher and stare up with a grin and athrobbing heart, like a duffer inlove.

At one point, after we returnfrom a flashback to aaj, Zoe says tocafe uncle, “Life, haan!”

The banality is just staggering.Zoe’s character is so idiotic that

she has a hissy fit before taking alllife-altering decisions, all of whichare based entirely on what some-one else has said or experienced.

Usually, Randeep Hooda isgood, but in Love Aaj Kal heis inept and quite unbear-

able. Sara Ali Khan is not just bad,she is terrible, as if she has

regressed as an actorsince Kedarnath

( 2 0 1 8 ) .After

suffering her dizzy gestures andchatter for a while, she actuallystarted grating on my nerves.

Kartik Aaryan and AarushiSharma barely have dialogue, inkal and aaj, and yet they try tohold the film with some attempt atacting. But neither love nor theiracting can save this meandering,dull banality.

Though I enjoyed Jab We Met,and liked Highway to someextent, I have never been a

fan of Imtiaz Ali and his world-view. But now, after Love Aaj Kal, Ihave developed deep contempt forhis baby doll heroines who act outand throw tantrums all the time,and his indulgent, moronic film-making.

Somewhere in the middle ofLove Aaj Kal sits a stand-up comicroutine by one Justice Chaudharywho says that because the malemembers of cattle at his home arenot into monogamy and don’t wearany clothes, he too has decided todiscard both, monogamy andclothes.

If you figure what that wasabout, do drop a line.

Else, please implore the mightyproducers of Bollywood who willpour in money for yet anotherbanal bakwas, to sponsor sometherapy sessions for Imtiaz Ali andhelp him grow up a little. And ifthey feel that ship has sailed, thenthe therapy could at least help himcreate female characters that don’tthat have the IQ, emotions andmannerisms of eight-year-oldgirls.

Imtiaz Ali has a very uneasy rela-tionship with grown women andthat is visible in the way he hascreated the character of Zoe’smother, who has an opinion onlike. Played by Simone Singh, thismommy wears her hair andexpression like Mrs Addam fromAddams Family and may have wellarrived to the sets of Love Aaj Kalon a broom with a black conicalhat.

Love Aaj Kal isn’t just anannoying, irritating film, italso moves at a glacial pace.

At some point after interval, Itried to fixate my eyes on the headof the man sitting in front.Watching his hair grow was lessexcruciating than watching ImtiazAli’s tantrum-throwing child-babe.

If you were planning a movie foryour Valentine’s date, I’d saycleaning public latrines in theservice of Swachhchh Bharatwould be more fun than watchingthis film.

CHRISTY LEMIRE

Margot Robbie is the mostadorable sociopathyou’d ever want to hangout and blow stuff up

with in Birds of Prey (And theFantabulous Emancipation of OneHarley Quinn).

The sour Suicide Squad gave usa little taste of the artiste former-ly known as Harleen Quinzel in2016, when she was the Joker’sdutifully violent girlfriend; Birdsof Prey offers a veritable smorgas-bord of this DC Comics super-vil-lain in all her charismatic, com-plicated glory. By detailing thecharacter’s origin story and estab-lishing her own franchise, direc-tor Cathy Yan pulls off the trickyfeat of blending elaborate actionsequences with compelling char-acter development, of transport-ing us to a richly specific GothamCity but sprinkling in just theright amount of pop-culture refer-ences, ranging from BernieSanders to Tweety Bird to FridaKahlo.

From its lively and vibrant ani-mated opening, Yan’s film is acomplete blast, filled with zippyenergy and irresistible girl power.And Robbie, in her seeminglyendless versatility, is up for everychallenge in a role that’s asdemanding physically as it isverbally. She is positively infec-tious in the candy-colouredchaos she creates.

Robbie shines radiantly at thefilm’s centre as the newly singleHarley Quinn — whether she’srhapsodising about a hangover-curing bacon-and-egg breakfastsandwich or emerging from a

cloud of rainbow-coloured glitterand smoke in slow motion, a slygrin on her made-up face. ButRobbie gets great help from adiverse and talented array of co-stars, including Jurnee Smollett-Bell, displaying serious actionchops in the fierce, physical role ofsongstress Black Canary. Thescript from Christina Hodson(Bumblebee) is a muscular cele-bration of feminine strength, ofwomen discovering and honingtheir powers to prop each other upin a world where men keep lettingthem down — or worse. These areladies who will happily offer eachother a hair tie before headinginto battle together.

But after a thrilling first act withits self-referential humour, cheeky

graphics and knowingnarra-

tion, Birds of Prey drags in themiddle as it jumps around in timeand establishes the backstories forthe various “birds” with whomHarley will team up eventually.This seems sort of inevitablewhen going through the motionsof setting up new characters with-in a burgeoning franchise, but thedownshift feels jarring comparedto the fast-paced section that pre-ceded it.

Besides Black Canary, the night-club singer whose voice carriesoverpowering sonic waves, there’sMary Elizabeth Winstead as theamusingly stoic and socially awk-ward Huntress, who’s spent herwhole life training to exactrevenge with a crossbow. RosiePerez’s Renee Montoya is a bitunderdeveloped as a former

Gotham City police detectivewho’s battling her demons even asshe finds new purpose as a vigi-lante. And Ella Jay Basco brings anaturalism to the role of teenagepickpocket Cassandra Cain, whodraws them all together when shesteals the film’s MacGuffin — avaluable diamond — from thehead honcho to mob boss RomanSionis, aka Black Mask (EwanMcGregor).

The glittery object that bindsthem to each other isn’t as impor-tant as the newfound freedomthey’re all enjoying from the jobs,relationships and circumstancesthat held them down for too long.The title refers to Harley’s eman-cipation but all fivewomen get to

feel what it’s like to blaze newtrails on their own terms. The tim-ing couldn’t be more apt in thispost-#MeToo era, and the tone ofBirds of Prey feels like a welcomebreath of hopeful air followinglast year’s well-acted but self-seri-ous Joker.

And the film is a consistentvisual treat. Matthew Libatique,Darren Aronofsky’s usual cinema-tographer, gives Gotham City acool, smoky sheen, all the better tomake the vibrancy of Harley’scolours pop. Along those lines, thecostume design from Erin Benach(Drive, The Neon Demon) is acomplete kick, and not just forHarley in her wide array ofplayful, punk rock get-ups. Perez’sRenee gets to wear a T-shirt that’sso unapologetically profane, wecan’t repeat what it says here. AndMcGregor parades about inaviators, jewel-toned velvet blazersand a collection of monogrammedgloves to protect his hands fromall the dirty work he does. Heseems to be having a ball.

Some of the song choices area little painfully on the nose,though. Joan Jett & theBlackhearts’ I Hate Myselffor Loving You blares asHarley soothes herself afterthe Joker break-up by lazingon the couch in a onesie,squeezing easy cheese intoher mouth and sobbing.Heart’s Barracuda blastsduring a climactic show-down between Harley andher crew vs Black Maskand the army of angrydudes he’s assembled.

But Yan was wise to letthe fight scenes play outrather than providing afalse sense of energy byoverly editing them,allowing us to appreciateall the athleticism andartistry the choreogra-

phy demands. These birdstruly do take flight, and

they’ll continue to soar.

By arrangement with Asia Features

Love Aaj Kal(U/A) 141 minCAST: Kartik Aaryan, Sara AliKhan, Aarushi Sharma, RandeepHooda, Simone SinghDIRECTOR: Imtiaz AliRATING: ★

Birds Of Prey(A) 109 minCAST: Margot Robbie, RosiePerez, Mary Elizabeth WinsteadDIRECTOR: Cathy YanRATING: ★★★

THE PHANTOMOF THE OPERAReleased in 1925Review writtenon December19, 2004

Roger Ebert’s

Great MoviesKal, Imtiaz Ali’s films were irritating,Aaj it is insufferable

These birds take flight, and continue to soar

RATINGOUR CRITIC’S Outstanding ★★★★★ | Great ★★★★ | Good ★★★ | Okay ★★ | Poor ★ | Truly Terrible TT

MOVIES pg 2THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

If you were planning amovie for your Valentine’sdate, I’d say cleaningpublic latrines in the service of Swachhchh Bharat would be more fun than watching Love Aaj Kal.

Max: 25OCMin: 11OCRH: 40%Rainfall: 0%

Forecast: Sunny

WINDOWS

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDE

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt judge Justice R.

Banumathi on Fridaymomentarily fainted in herchair while she was dictat-

ing an order adjourning thehearing on the Centre’s pleaseeking separate hanging ofthree death row convicts in

Nirbhaya case who haveexhausted all their legal

remedies and mercy peti-tions.

Full report on

Actress Tabu presents a cre-ation by designer Gaurangduring the Lakme FashionWeek 2020 Summer/Resortfashion show in Mumbai onFriday. — AFP

Vikari: UttarayanaTithi: Magha Bahula Saptami

till 4.34 pmStar: Vishaka till 5.08 am

(Sunday)Varjyam: From 11.24 am to

12.57 pmDurmuhurtam: From 6.46 am

to 8.18 amRahukalam: From 9 am to

10.30 amSUNSET TODAY 6.10 PM

SUNRISE TOMORROW 6.59 AMMOONRISE TOMORROW 12.50 AM

MOONSET TODAY 11.15 PM

Judge faints whiledictating Nirbhaya

case order in SC

Lucknow: The stringentNational Security Act has

been slapped on Dr Kafeel Khan, who is lodged

in Mathura jail, in connec-tion with his anti-CAAspeech at the Aligarh

Muslim University. Mr Khanwas arrested by the UP

Special Task Force fromMumbai on January 29 for

allegedly promoting enmity.Full report on Page 5

Dr Kafeel slappedwith stringent NSA

Patna: Former JNUSUPresident Kanhaiya Kumar’sconvoy was attacked while

he was travelling fromBuxar to Arrah on Friday.

This was the eighth attackin two weeks against MrKumar, who is leading a

massive state-wide Jan GanMan Yatra.

Full report on Page 4

Kanhaiya’s convoyattacked near Arrah

COUNTERPOINT

c m y k c m y k

TABLOID| 25NEWSMAKERS| 12Kareena Kapoor is again playing a Punjabi girl in nextfilm Laal Singh Chaddha

India, Portugal ink 7 pactsduring President MarceloRebelo de Sousa’s visit

NATION| 5Leadership of ‘FrenchOscars’ resigns amidPolanski controversy

THE ASIAN AGEwww.asianage.com RNI No. 57290/94, Regd No: DL-SW-05/4189/15-17 Vol. 26 No. 360 | 32 PAGES | `5.00

NEW DELHI SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2020

AGE CORRESPONDENTSNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

Exactly a year after thePulwama terrorist attack,which may have possiblyswung the election towardsthe BJP, a bitter war ofwords broke out betweenthe ruling side and theOpposition as Congressleader Rahul Gandhi asked“who had benefited fromthe strike”, while the BJPaccused him of being a“known sympathiser” ofterror groups like theLashkar-e-Tayyaba andJaish-e-Mohammed. Theruling party claimed the“so-called Gandhi familycan never think beyondbenefits”, and that theywere not just “materialisti-cally corrupt, their soulsare also corrupt”.

Earlier, paying homage tomartyrs of the attack,Prime Minister NarendraModi said the country willnever forget the martyrdomof the security personnelkilled in last year’s attackand said the slain security-men were “exceptional

individuals” who devotedtheir lives to serving andprotecting the nation.

Last year, on February 14,a convoy of vehicles carry-ing security personnel onthe Jammu-Srinagarnational highway was

attacked by a vehicle-bornesuicide bomber at Lethporain Pulwama district ofJammu and Kashmir, inwhich 40 CRPF personnelwere killed.

While paying tribute tothe CRPF martyrs,

Congress’ Rahul Gandhiraised questions onaccountability for theattack. “Today, as weremember our 40 CRPFmartyrs in the#PulwamaAttack, let usask: 1. Who benefited themost from the attack? 2.What is the outcome of theinquiry into the attack? 3.Who in the BJP Govt hasyet been held accountablefor the security lapses thatallowed the attack?” hetweeted. The BJP was quickto hit back at the Congressleader for his “dastardlycomment”, saying he wasinsulting the memory of theCRPF personnel, andsought an apology from himand his party.

“That was a dastardlyattack. And this is a das-tardly comment. Who bene-fited the most? Mr Gandhi,can you think beyond bene-fits? Of course not. This so-called ‘Gandhi’ family cannever think beyond benefits. Not just material-istically corrupt, their souls are also■ Turn to Page 8

■ Tributes paid to martyrs; Rahul asks ‘who benefited’

A year later, Pulwama setsoff a fresh Cong-BJP clash

SANJAY KAWNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

After its landslide victoryin the Delhi Assemblypolls, the Aam AadmiParty has decided to con-test elections to local bod-ies across the country aspart of an ambitious planto expand its footprintbeyond the national capi-tal.

Senior AAP leaderGopal Rai said the partyhas called a meeting of itsnational executive onSunday to deliberate onexpanding the party byprojecting its “positivenationalism”. The meet-ing, to be held after AAPchief Arvind Kejriwaland his Cabinet takes theoath in the morning, willdecide the future course

of action for the party.Mr Kejriwal has also

invited Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to hisswearing-in ceremony onSunday at the RamlilaMaidan, where the for-mer will take the oath as

Delhi chief minister forthe third time. It is, how-ever, not clear whetherthe Prime Minister willattend the swearing-inceremony as he is due totravel to Varanasi, hisparliamentary con-

stituency, on Sunday toinaugurate over 30 pro-jects.

After the oath-takingceremony, the AAP is setto launch a massive cam-paign to increase its vol-unteer base across thecountry. Mr Rai, a minis-ter in the outgoingKejriwal government,said people will be able tojoin the AAP’s “nationbuilding campaign” bygiving a missed call onthe phone number9871010101.

Mr Rai said: “We willfight local body electionsin other states also. Wewill be focusing on a fewstates as well. The deci-sion on the same will betaken on February 16. Infuture, we will also focus■ Turn to Page 8

■ Kejri invites PM to swearing-in, but it’s unclear if he’ll attend

After Delhi victory, AAP plans tofight local body polls nationwide

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal meets veteranwriter-lyricist Javed Akhtar at his residence in NewDelhi. AAP leader Sanjay Singh is also seen. — PTI

British PM Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during his first Cabinet meeting aftera reshuffle the day before, at 10 Downing Street in London on Friday. On his left isRishi Sunak, the new chancellor of the exchequer who replaced Sajid Javid. — PTI

AGE CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

The Indian embassy inJapan said on Friday thata third Indian crew onboard a cruise ship off theJapanese coast has testedpositive for the novel coro-navirus as authoritiesconfirmed that total 218people have been infectedwith the deadly virus onthe quarantined ship.Two crew members, out oftotal 138 Indians on boardthe cruise ship DiamondPrincess, were tested posi-tive for the virus earlier.

Meanwhile, aviationregulator DGCA hasasked airports and air-lines on Friday that pas-sengers arriving in flightsfrom Japan and SouthKorea must be screenedonce they step out of aero-bridges in order to pre-vent the spread of novelcoronavirus infection.Till date, only passengersarriving from four coun-tries — China, HongKong, Thailand andSingapore — were beingscreened for possibleexposure to the virus at 21identified airports.

■ More on Page 5

Third Indiantests positivefor corona onship in Japan

New Delhi/Washington,Feb. 14: India has offered topartially open up its poul-try and dairy markets in abid for a limited trade dealduring US PresidentDonald Trump’s first offi-cial visit to the countrythis month, people famil-iar with the protractedtalks say.

India, the world’s largestmilk-producing nation,has traditionally restrict-ed dairy imports to protectthe livelihoods of 80 mil-lion rural households

involved in the industry.But Prime Minister

Narendra Modi is trying topull all the stops for the USPresident’s February 24-25visit, aimed at rebuildingbonds between the world’slargest democracies. In2019, Mr Trump suspendedIndia’s special trade desig-nation that dated back tothe 1970s, after Mr Modiput price caps on medicaldevices, like cardiac stentsand knee implants, andintroduced new data local-isation norms and e-com-

merce restrictions.Mr Trump’s trip to India

has raised hopes that hewill restore some of thecountry’s US trade prefer-ences, in exchange for tar-iff reductions and otherconcessions.

The US is India’s second-largest trade partner afterChina, and bilateral goodsand services trade climbedto a record $142.6 billion in2018. The US had a $23.2billion goods trade deficitin 2019 with India, itsninth largest trading part-

ner in goods.India has offered to allow

imports of US chicken legs,turkey and produce suchas blueberries India mayopen poultry, dairy mar-kets for US trade deal andcherries, Indian govern-ment sources said, andoffered to cut tariffs onc h i c k e nlegs from 100 per cent to 25per cent. US negotiatorswant that tariff cut to 10per cent. The Modi govern-ment is also offering to■ Turn to Page 8

India may open poultry, dairy markets for US deal

Washington, Feb. 14: USattorney-general Bill Barron Thursday delivered ahighly unusual publicrebuke of Donald Trump,saying the President’stweets were making his jobat the justice department“impossible.”

“I have a problem withsome of the tweets,” MrBarr said in an interviewwith ABC News, adding: “Icannot do my job here atthe department with a con-stant background com-mentary that undercutsme.” “I think it’s time tostop the tweeting about

department of justice crim-inal cases,” said Mr Barr.

His interview came asTrump stands accused ofinterfering with the sen-tencing recommendation

for his former advisor,Roger Stone — promptingfour Justice Departmentprosecutors to resign fromthe case this week.

The outburst was all themore remarkable as Barrhas emerged as a powerfuldefender of Mr Trump,earning the nickname ofthe “president’s attorney”from critics. He has been atthe center of allegationsthat he decided — allegedlyunder pressure fromTrump — to overrule hisown prosecutors and seeka lighter prison sentencefor Stone. — AFP

US A-G blasts Trump, says histweets making job ‘impossible’

Washington: WhenPresident Donald Trumptravels to India thismonth to meet PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,the two leaders will out-line an ambitious visionfor the next chapter of the“natural alliance”between the two coun-tries, according to a top

American diplomat.Commenting on Mr

Trump’s maiden visit toIndia, acting assistant sec-retary of state for Southand Central Asia, Alice G.Wells, said the USPresident and PrimeMinister Modi enjoyed avery special rapport. — PTI

■ More on Page 5

US official: Trump, Modi to outlinenext chapter of ‘natural alliance’

CRPF personnel stand guard at the spot where deadly 2019 Pulwama terror attacktook place at Lethipora of Pulwama District in South Kashmir on Friday. — PTI

PARMOD KUMARNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

The Supreme Court onFriday sought a responsefrom the J&K govern-ment on a plea by SaraAbdullah Pilot challeng-ing invoking of the PublicSafety Act for the contin-ued detention of herbrother, former J&K chiefminister Omar Abdullah.Mr Abdullah wasdetained on August 4-5,2019, shortly before theabrogation of Article 370and the subsequent bifur-cation of J&K into twoUnion territories.

Issuing notice to theJ&K government, a benchof Justices Arun Mishraand Indira Banerjeedirected further hearingof the matter on March 2,as senior counsel KapilSibal urged the court itwas a habeas corpus pleaand an early date may begiven. Not acceding to therequest, Justice Mishrasaid you are coming solong after being detained.It is Sara Abdullah Pilot,sister of Omar Abdullah,who has moved thehabeas corpus petitionand challenged the invok-ing of the PSA, Mr Sibaltold the court.

The matter came upFriday before JusticesMishra and Banerjee asJustice Mohan M.Shantanahoudar, whowas a part of the benchhearing the matter, hadearlier recused himself onWednesday.

■ More on Page 5

SC seeks J&Kgovt reply onSara’s plea forOmar’s release


The Supreme Court onFriday threatened con-tempt proceedingsagainst top executives oftelecom giants likeBharti Airtel, VodafoneIdea and others for failingto comply with its direc-tive to pay an estimated`1.47 lakh crores in pastdues. In a judgmentwhich will have far-reaching implications forthe telecom sector, thecourt also expressed itsdispleasure at the “temer-ity” of a desk officer inthe department of tele-com for “scuttling” itsorder by issuing a writ-ten directive to not takeany coercive actionagainst firms for notdepositing dues by theJanuary 23, 2020 dead-line.

A bench of JusticesArun Mishra, S. AbdulNazeer and M.R. Shahsaid the companies haveviolated its order andasked them to clear thedues before the next dateof hearing on March 17.

“In spite of the dis-missal of the reviewapplication (filed by thetelcos), they have notdeposited any amount sofar. It appears the way inwhich things are happen-ing that they have scant

respect for the directionsissued by this court,”they said in the judg-ment.

Separate petitions filedby non-telecom firmssuch as gas utility GAILand power transmissionfirm PowerGrid, whowere slapped with ademand of Rs 2.65 lakhcrores by the DoT, werewithdrawn by the appli-cants after the court saidthey can represent theircase at appropriate forms.

After the Supreme Courtrap, the dpartment of tele-com withdrew its January23, 2020 order that calledfor no coercive actionagainst defaulting firmsand started issuingnotices to telcos askingthem to deposit duesbefore midnight of Friday.

While Airtel said it will■ Turn to Page 8

SC warns telcosof contempt fornot paying duesDoT official’s ‘temerity’ angers judges

◗ After the SC rap,the dpartment oftelecom withdrewits January 23,2020 order thatcalled for no coer-cive action againstdefaulting firmsand started issuingnotices to telcosasking them todeposit dues beforemidnight of Friday

Today as weremember our40 CRPF mar-

tyrs in the#PulwamaAttack,let us ask: 1. Whobenefitted the mostfrom theattack? 2.What isthe out-come oftheinquiry intothe attack? 3. Whoin the BJP Govt hasyet been heldaccountable for thesecurity lapses thatallowed the attack?

— Rahul Gandhi,Congress leader

That was adastardlyattack. And

this is a dastardlycomment.WhoBenefittedthe most?Mr Gandhican youthink beyond bene-fits? Of course not.This so-called'Gandhi' family cannever think beyondbenefits. Not justmaterialistically cor-rupt, their souls arealso corrupt.

— Sambit Patra, BJPspokesperson

I cannotdo my jobhere at

the depart-ment with a constantbackground com-mentary that under-cuts me.

— Bill Barr, US attorney-general

NATION pg 4THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

KERALA MULLINGOVER LAW ONSUPERSTITION

GILVESTER ASSARY THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,

FEB. 14

The Kerala government hasbeen contemplating to bringa Bill for effectively curbing

superstition, practices likesorcery and exorcism. Thedraft proposal is currently

under consideration of LawReforms Commission. The

Kerala Exploitation bySuperstition (Prevention)

Act drafted and proposed byhome department, warrant-

ed stringent punishmentagainst those responsible for

spreading superstition andputting people's lives in dan-

ger. The punishment rangesfrom three years to capitalpunishment. The CPI which

is second biggest ally in rul-ing LDF, wants the process

to be expedited and the lawpassed this year itself.

Karnataka and Maharashtrahad passed similar legisla-

tion earlier. Though the Leftparties had promised to

bring the law after comingto power in 2016, four years

have passed and things havenot moved at the desiredpace. CPI state secretary

Kanam Rajendran said thedemand will be raised onFebruary 20 which is also

the martyrdom day ofGobind Pansare, an anti-

superstition activist who waskilled by hardline right wing

group in Kolhapur in 2015.Many rationalists say despitehigh literacy rate, social andpolitical consciousness, sor-cery and exorcism are ram-

pant in Kerala. There havebeen several cases of deaths

under mysterious circum-stances linked to people

indulging in occult practices.

Jammu: A villager was killedand four others were injured

on Friday when Pakistanitroops engaged in heavy

mortar shelling and firing oncivilian areas and forward

posts along the Line ofControl (LoC) in Jammu and

Kashmir’s Poonch district,officials said. Pakistan Army

troopers launched mortarshells and fired from small

arms on villages and forwardposts in Shahpur and Kerni

areas of the district in viola-tion of a ceasefire agree-ment, they said. Pakistan

troops used 120-mm mortarsto target the villages, they

said. In the firing andshelling, one civilian waskilled and four other vil-lagers were injured, they

said. The injured have beentaken to a hospital, they

said. Indian troops guardingthe border retaliated befit-

tingly resulting in anexchange of fire, which con-tinued till reports last came

in, they said. Meanwhile, offi-cials said on Friday that ter-

ror-related violence in Jammu and

Kashmir has come down by 60 per cent in less than one

and a half months in the beginning of 2020, in com-parison to the same periodlast year, The informationwas conveyed by directorgeneral of police, Jammu

and Kashmir, Dilbagh Singhwho called on Union MinisterJitendra Singh in the nation-

al capital.

STUDENTS MADETO STRIP IN

GUJARAT COLLEGENew Delhi: The National

Commission for Women hasset up an inquiry committeewhich will meet the students

of a college in Gujarat whowere reportedly forced to

strip to prove that they werenot menstruating.

According to media reports,68 undergraduate hostellers

were paraded through thecollege into the restroomand forced to individually

remove their undergarmentsto prove that they were not

menstruating. TheCommission has also sought

an explanation from thetrustee of Sahjanand Girls’

Institute College, PravinPindora and the principal

Rita Raniga for this “shame-ful exercise”, an NCW state-ment said. The NCW has set

up an inquiry team, whichwill meet the girls of the

institute and inquire aboutthe incident. “NCW has also

appraised the KutchUniversity in-charge Vice

Chancellor Darshna Dholakiaand the DGP of Gujurat,

Shivanand Jha (IPS) to lookinto the matter thoroughly

and report to theCommission at the earliest

on their action taken report,”the statement added. — PTI

PARMOD KUMAR NEW DELHI, FEB. 14

The Supreme Court onFriday sought responsefrom J&K government ona plea by Sara AbdullahPilot challenging invokingof Public Safety Act forthe continued detention ofher brother and formerJ&K Chief Minister OmarAbdullah.

Omar Abdullah wasdetained on August 4, 2019,shortly before the abroga-tion of Article 370 of theConstitution and subse-quent bifurcation of theJ&K into UnionTerritories.

Issuing notice to the J&Kgovernment, a bench ofJustice Arun Mishra andJustice Indira Banerjeedirected the further hear-ing of the matter onMarch 2 even as seniorcounsel Kapil Sibal urgedthe court that it was ahabeas corpus plea and anearly date may be given.

Not acceding to therequest by Sibal, JusticeMishra said that “you arecoming after so long afterbeing detained.”

It is Sara Abdullah — thesister of Omar Abdullah— who has moved thehabeas corpus petitionand has challenged theinvoking of PSA againstformer Chief Minister,Sibal told the court.

Sibal clarified that thepetitioner Sara Abdullahhas challenged the furtherdetaining Omar Abdullahunder the PSA and priorto the invoking of thePublic Safety Act, the for-mer Chief Minister wasdetained under Section107 of the Code ofCriminal Procedure.

Section 107 of the CrPCprovides for steps to betaken by magistrate forkeeping peace.

In response to a poserfrom the court whetherany matter relating toOmar Abdullah’s deten-tion was pending beforethe J&K high court, MrSibal said that there wasnone relating OmarAbdullah.

The matter on Fridaycame before the bench ofJustice Mishra andJustice Banerjee asJustice Mohan M.

Shantanahoudar who waspart of the bench compris-ing Justice N.V. Ramanaand Justice SanjivKhanna had earlierrecused himself from par-ticipating in the matter onWednesday.

Omar Abdullah, hisfather and former J&KChief Minister FarooqAbdullah, former ChiefMinister Mehbooba Muftiand other senior Kashmirileaders are under deten-tion since August 4-5.

Sara Abdullah in herpetition has contendedthat there could not be anymaterial for furtherdetaining a person who isalready under detentionfor last six months.

She has also soughtquashing of the February5, 2020, order detainingOmar Abdullah under thePSA.

Describing detention as“illegal”, Sara Abdullahin her petition has said,“The grounds for thedetention order are whollylacking any material factsor particulars which areimperative for an order ofdetention.”

SHORT TAKES

Jawarharlal Nehru University Students Union president Aishe Ghosh raises slogans during her visit to show solidari-ty to Muslim women and their family members, who have been protesting against CAA, NRC and NPR for over amonth, at Park Circus Maidan in Kolkata on Friday. — PTI

Ahmedabad, Feb. 14: USPresident Donald Trumpwill be shielded from thesight of slums by a newlybuilt wall when he visitsthe city of Ahmedabadduring a visit to Indialater this month.

Construction workersbuild a wall along a slumarea as part of a beautifi-cation drive along a routethat U.S. President andPrime Minister NarendraModi will be taking dur-ing Trump’s visit laterthis month.

A senior governmentofficial said the wall wasbeing built for securityreasons, not to concealthe slum district.

But the contractorbuilding it said the gov-ernment “did not wantthe slum to be seen”when Trump passes byon the ride in fromAhmedabad’s airport.

“I’ve been ordered tobuild a wall as soon aspossible, over 150 masonsare working round-the-

clock to finish the proj-ect,” the contractor said,speaking on condition ofanonymity.

The government officialconceded that the wallwas part of a “beautifica-tion and cleanliness”drive.

Whatever the reason,the 400-metre-long andseven-feet-high wall willprevent the U.S. leaderfrom getting a glimpse of

a slum district that hous-es an estimated 800 fami-lies.

Trump, who has madehis pledge to build a wallalong the United States’border with Mexico a fea-ture of his presidency,will visit India on Feb. 24-25 to reaffirm strategicties that have been buffet-ed by trade disputes.

He is expected to attendan event dubbed “Kem

Chho Trump” (How areyou, Trump”) at a stadi-um in Ahmedabad alongthe lines of the “HowdyModi” extravagansa hehosted for Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi inHouston last September.

Speaking at the WhiteHouse on Tuesday, Tru-mp quoted Modi as say-ing “millions and mil-lions of people” wouldattend the rally.

The event providesTrump, who was impe-ached in December, withthe opportunity to woothe support of hundredsof thousands of Indian-American voters ahead ofthe U.S. presidential elec-tion in November.

But some slum dwellerswhose homes will be cor-doned off by the wall inAhmedabad — the largestcity in Modi’s home stateof Gujarat — said thegovernment was wastingtax-payer money to hidethe poor.

"Poverty and slums are

the reality of our life, butModi's government wantsto hide the poor," saidParvatbhai Mafabhai, aday worker who has livedthere with his family formore than three decades.

Meanwhile, the Con-gress on Friday allegedthat the AhmedabadMunicipal Corporation(AMC) is constructingthe wall to keep the slumcolony, where people livein poverty, out of sight ofthe US President.

Gujarat Congressspokesperson ManishDoshi said, “The BJP gov-ernment and the AMCare trying their best tohide reality from Trump.Instead of alleviatingpoverty, the ruling dis-pensation is hiding thepoor by building a wall.Such tactics of hidingpoor people were alsoused when ChinesePresident Xi Jinping vis-ited the city in 2014. Thisis very unfortunate.”

— PTI

Workers construct a wall in front of a slum ahead ofPresident Donald Trumps visit in Ahmedabad. — PTI


The Prime Minister willvisit his Lok Sabha con-stituency of Varanasi onSunday, where he wouldinaugurate over 30 proj-ects, including a 430-bedsuper-speciality govern-ment hospital.

According to the PrimeMinister’s Office, MrModi would flag offIRCTC’s ‘Maha KaalExpress’ through a videolink.

The first overnight pri-vate train in the countrywill connect threeJyotirling pilgrim centresof Varanasi in UttarPradesh, and Ujjain andOmkareshwar in MadhyaPradesh.

The Prime Ministerwould also dedicate to thenation the PanditDeendayal UpadhyayaMemorial Centre andunveil a 63-feet tall statueof the RSS ideologue.

The PMO said it wouldbe the tallest statue of the

leader in the country.Over 200 artisans workedday and night for the lastone year to complete thestructure.

The memorial centre willhave the engravings of thelife and times ofUpadhyaya. Around 30craftsmen and artists fromOdisha worked on the proj-ect during the past year.

Later, the PrimeMinister will attend apublic function, where hewould dedicate over 30projects to the nation.These include a 430-bedsuper-speciality govern-ment hospital at BanarasHindu University and a74-bed psychiatry hospi-

tal, also at the university.Mr Modi would inaugu-

rate a two-day “Kashi EkRoop Anek” event atPandit DeendayalUpadhyaya HastakalaSankul showcasing prod-ucts from all over UttarPradesh. He would alsointeract with buyers andartisans coming fromcountries, including theUnited States, Englandand Australia.

The Prime Minister isalso scheduled to partici-pate in the closing cere-mony of the centenarycelebrations of ShriJagadguru VishwaradhyaGurukul and wouldrelease the translated ver-sion of the Shri SiddhantShikhamani Granth in 19languages and its mobileapplication.

According to officials inVaranasi, PM Modi willaddress a public rally andinaugurate Chowkaghat-Lehartara over-bridge. Hewould also inaugurate theVedic Science Centre atBHU.

B. ARAVINDA SHETTYBENGALURU, FEB. 14

Cabinet expansion and theallocation of portfolios tonewly appointed ministershas upset many BJP old-timers and senior ministersin the B.S.Yediyurappa gov-ernment. The new ministerswere all earlier in theCongress and JD(S) and hadplayed a pivotal role in top-pling the previous H.D.Kumaraswamy government.

To placate the sulking min-isters and party loyalistswho are MLAs, ChiefMinister B.S.Yediyurappaand party state presidentNalin Kumar Kateel havecalled a legislature partymeeting on February 16.However the party main-tains that the meeting hasbeen called in view of thejoint session which willcommence from Monday, todiscuss floor managementand other important issuescoming up in the session.

Senior leaders including

MLAs like Umesh Katti,S.A. Ramdas, Tippeswamyand S. Angara have openlyexpressed their angeragainst the chief ministerfor not inducting them intothe Cabinet. Some partyfunctionaries are also upsetwith the CM for allottingplum portfolios to the newministers, sources said

At the legislature partymeeting, the upset MLAsare likely to raise the neg-lect of party loyalists whileforming the governmentand will insist on accommo-dating long-time BJP work-ers in the boards and corpo-rations.

Some senior ministers areupset that they had to giveup prime portfolios to thenewly inducted ministerswith ministers K.S.Eshwarappa, JagadishShettar, R. Ashok, C.T.Raviand Basvaraj Bommai nothappy with the chief minis-ter for succumbing to thepressure of the newentrants.

In this undated photo, Sitaram, a monk, plays a psalm as sloth bears gather aroundhim in Shadol district of Madhya Pradesh. Sitaram claimed that the bears appearfrom the forests to listen to his hymn and to-date have caused no harm to anyone.

— PTI

PARMOD KUMARNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

Supreme Court judgeJustice R. Banumathi onFriday momentarilyfainted in her chair whileshe was dictating anorder adjourning thehearing on the Centre’splea seeking separatehanging of three deathrow convicts in Nirbhayacase who have exhaustedall their legal remediesand mercy petitions.

While dictating theorder adjourning thehearing till February 20,Justice Banumathi bec-ame motionless and tiltedtowards her right butregained her composer ascourt staff escorted her tochamber.

The bench headed byJustice Banumathu isholding repeated hearingof the Nirbhaya case onone ground or the other.

After the rejection ofthe curative petitions bythe convicts, the court isnow, one after the other, ishearing challenge to therejection of mercy peti-tions by the President.

The court is also hear-ing Centre and Delhi gov-ernment’s plea for theseparate hanging of theNirbhaya convicts whohave exhausted all theirlegal remedies.

Justice Banumathi andJustice Bhushan werealso part of the benchthen headed by JusticeDipak Misra (who laterbecame CJI and sinceretired) which had heardand upheld the DelhiHigh Court verdict con-firming the award ofdeath sentence by thetrial court.

The court adjourned thehearing for February 20after it was informed thatthe trial court has fixed

February 17 for hearingCentre and Delhi govern-ment’s application seek-ing issuance of freshdeath warrants.

The bench comprisingJustice Banumathi, Jus-tice Ashok Bhushan andJustice A.S.Bopanna laterpassed the order in cham-ber. While deferring fur-ther hearing to February20, it made it clear that“the pendency of the peti-tions (before it) may notbe treated as an impedi-ment for the trial court toconsider the matter on itsown merit.”

Clearing the way forexecution of VinaySharma, one of the fourconvicts in the Nirbhayagang rape and murdercase, the Supreme Courton Friday dismissed hisplea against the rejectionof his mercy petition bythe President.

The top court refused toaccept Sharma’s con-tention that the Presidentdid not apply his mindwhile rejecting the mercyplea and it was done in a“mala fide” manner.

“When the highest con-stitutional authority,upon perusal of the noteand the various docu-ments placed along withmercy petition, has takena decision to reject themercy petition, it cannotbe contended that thehighest constitutionalauthority had not appliedits mind to the docu-ments,” the SupremeCourt said.

Up in arms

400-metre-long, 7-feet-high wall being built in Ahmedabad SNUBBING | POLICY

Another wall comes up for Trump

SC notice to J&K on plea bysister for Omar’s release

New Delhi, Feb. 14: SaraAbdullah Pilot, sister offormer Jammu andKashmir chief ministerOmar Abdullah, onFriday said all Kashmirisshould have the samerights as other citizens ofthe country.

Talking to reportersafter hearing on her peti-tion challengingAbdullah’s detentionunder the stringent PublicSafety Act (PSA) in theSupreme Court, Sara saidshe was hopeful of anearly hearing as it was “ahabeas corpus case andthe relief would be soon-er.”

She said that she and herfamily had full faith in thejustice system. “We arehere because we want allKashmiris should havethe same rights as the citi-zens of India and we arewaiting for that day,” shesaid and did not take anyfurther questions fromjournalists.

Earlier, the SupremeCourt issued a notice tothe Jammu and Kashmiradministration on theplea challengingAbdullah’s detentionunder the Public SafetyAct. — PTI

NAYEAR AZADPATNA, FEB. 14

Former JNUSU presi-dent Kanhaiya Kumar’sconvoy was attackedwhile he was travellingfrom Buxar to Arrah onFriday.

This was the eighthattack in two weeksagainst KanhaiyaKumar, who is leading amassive state-wide JanGan Man Yatra againstthe CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA),National PopulationRegister (NPR) andNational Register ofCitizens (NRC).

Sources said prior toreaching the venue inArrah a group of youthchanting pro-CAA slo-gans began peltingstones at his convoy.However, no one is saidto be injured in theattack. Activists travel-ling with KanhaiyaKumar said that slogansraised by the mob dur-ing the attack indicatethat they belong to a par-ticular ideology.

“We are not botheredby such attacks andKanhaiya Kumar willcontinue with his tour. Itis clear that the BJP israttled by the responseKanhaiya has beenreceiving from people ofBihar”, activists travel-ling with KanhaiyaKumar said.

The state-wide ‘JanGan Man Yatra’ whichbegan on December 30from BhitiharwaGandhi Ashram in WestChamparan is scheduledto conclude with a rallyon the theme “nagriktabachao, desh bachao”(Save Citizenship, savethe country) in Patna onFebruary 29.

Left leaders in Patnaon Friday condemnedcontinuous attacks onKanhaiya Kumar’s anti-CAA tour.

PM to launch 30 projectsin Varanasi tomorrow

Top court fixes March 2 for next hearing on plea by Sara

‘All Kashmirisshould havesame rights asother citizens’

Nirbhaya case:SC judge faintsin courtroom

Convoy ofKanhaiya’sattacked nearBihar’s Arrah

Senior BJP leaders in Karnataka upset

■ ■ CLEARING THE WAYfor execution of VinaySharma, one of the fourconvicts in the Nirbhayagang rape and murdercase, the Supreme Courtdismissed his plea againstthe rejection of his mercypetition by the President Sara Abdullah Pilot

◗ The Prime Ministerwould also dedicateto the nation thePandit DeendayalUpadhyayaMemorial Centreand unveil a 63-feettall statue of theRSS ideologue

VILLAGERKILLED

ALONG LoC


IN BRIEFCBI, ED files status

report in Aircel caseNew Delhi: The Enforcement

Direct-orate (ED) and CBIFriday submitted their status

re-ports in the Aircel-Maxiscase, involving former

finance minister P. Chida-mbaram and his son Ka-rti,before a Delhi court. Whilethe ED submitted its report

in a sealed envelope andinformed the court that“active investigation is

underway in the matter”, theCBI informed that “Letters

Rogatory (LR)” has beensent to Malaysia and the

respo-nse is awaited. LettersRogatory (LR) is a formalrequest from a court of a

sovereign nation to a courtof another sovereign nation

for judicial assistance in acase. On January 28, thecourt revived the Aircel-

Maxis cases filed by the CBIand ED against Mr

Chidamba-ram and his sonthat were earlier adjourned

“sine die”. District JudgeSujata Kohli put up the mat-

ter for further hearing onFebruary 20. Additional

solicitor general Sanjay Jainsubmitted the status reportof the ED investigation in a

sealed cover.

Bhopal: Three Bangladeshinationals including twowomen were on Friday

arrested in Indore in MadhyaPradesh on charges of for-

gery and staying in India illegally. The three Banglad-eshis’ identity came to fore

following their detention bypolice in connection with the

abduction of one Anil Pal, astaff of a local school in

Indore. “Three of the fourpeople arrested by police

were found to be Ban-gladeshis who were living

here illegally. We havereported the matter to theCentre,” deputy inspector

general of police, Indorerange, Ruchi Vardhan Mishra

told reporters. The policeinvestigation has revealedthat Begum Khatoon alias

Megha Verma, aBangladeshi national, was

staying illegally in Indore bymaking passport with the

help of a forged marksheet.

New Delhi: The CBI hasbegun a probe against 12

officials of the postal depart-ment who had allegedly

siphoned off over `11 crorefrom depositors' accounts

through 1,297 sham transac-tions between 2015 and

2019, officials said on Friday.A postal agent has also been

booked by the agency whohad connived with the offi-

cials to withdraw moneyfrom several post office

depositors’ accounts, theysaid. The alleged racket

involving 12 postal depart-ment officials ranging frompost master to postal assis-

tant continued unabated forfour years at Varanasi

Cantonment Head Office tillanomalies were detected in

a vigilance inquiry. — PTI

Bangla nationalsheld for forgery

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Friday was

informed that the TamilNadu Assembly Speaker P.

Dhanapal has issued noticesto 11 AIADMK MLAs on apetition seeking their dis-

qualification for votingagainst the confidence

motion moved by the ChiefMinister E. Palaniswami inFebruary 2017. The court

was informed on Friday thatSpeaker had issued notice to

11 MLAs including deputychief minister O. Panneers-

elvam on February 13, 2020.Noting the statement by the

Tamil Nadu advocate generalVijay Narayan that the

Speaker had issued noticeon the petition seeking dis-qualification of 11 MLAs on

February 13, a bench headedby the Chief Justice S. A.

Bobde disposed of the pleaby DMK seeking direction to

Speaker to act on the 2017petitions seeking the dis-

qualifications of 11 AIADMK,including Mr Panneerselvam.The court on Friday refusedto pass an order, asking theSpeaker for an early conclu-sion of proceedings. The top

court in the last hearing ofthe matter asked the

Speaker Dhanapal to informwhether he was going to

take cognisance of petitionseeking disqualification of 11

AIADMK MLAS includingDeputy Chief Minister O.

Panneerselvam.

SPEAKER ISSUESNOTICE TO 11

AIADMK MLAS

CBI starts probe into postal scam

MANOJ ANANDGUWAHATI, FEB. 14

In a significant move, thestate government in con-sultation with the min-istry of home affairs hasdecided that surrenderedmilitants indulging inany unlawful and anti-social activities will beexcluded from the pro-posed comprehensiverelief and rehabilitationpolicy of the government.

Pointing out that thegovernment has alreadystarted the process offraming a comprehensiverelief and rehabilitationpolicy for more than 1,600surrendered cadres of thefour factions of theNational DemocraticFront of Bodoland(NDFB), security sourcessaid that the proposedrelief and rehabilitationpolicy would be formulat-ed by the state homedepartment in consulta-tion with the Assampolice and leaders of allthe four factions of theNDFB and other stake-holders.

Admitting that evenafter the surrender ofNDFB cadres in largenumbers, there is appre-hension in security cir-cles that surrendered mil-

itants are holding backillegal arms, securitysources said that policehave been asked to keep aclose watch on the activi-ties of surrendered militants.

Referring the instanceof past when surrenderedmilitants were found tohave been involved in var-ious anti-social activitieswith their illegal sophisti-cated weapons, securitysources said, “We havemade it clear that surren-dered militants indulgingin anti-social activitieswould not be eligible forgetting the benefit of thecomprehensive reliefrehabilitation scheme ofthe government.”

According to new reha-bilitation scheme of theCentre, the militants whocome overground fortalks with the govern-ment would get `6,000each as a monthly stipendand an additional incen-tive if they deposit armsand ammunition depend-ing on the weapon thatthey deposit.


The Directorate Generalof Civil Aviation (DGCA)has informed airportsand airlines on Fridaythat passengers arrivingin flights from Japan andSouth Korea must bescreened once they stepout of aerobridges inorder to prevent thespread of novel coron-avirus (nCoV). Till date,only passengers arrivingfrom four countries —China, Hong Kong,Thailand and Singapore— are being screened forpossible exposure to therespiratory virus at 21identified airports inIndia.

Meanwhile, the IndianEmbassy in Japan saidon Friday that a thirdIndian crew onboard acruise ship off theJapanese coast has testedpositive for the novelcoronavirus as authori-ties confirmed that total218 people have beeninfected with the deadlyvirus on the quarantinedship.

Two crew members, outof a total of 138 Indianson board the cruise ship,Diamond Princess, testedpositive for the virus ear-lier.

In a circular, the avia-tion regulator was quoted

by news agencies, as stat-ing, “Universal screeningof all the passengerscoming in flights directlyfrom Japan, South Korea, Thailand andSingapore besides theflights from China andHong Kong shall beensured immediatelyonce they step out of thespecific identified aero-bridge.”

The DGCA circular was further quoted asstating, “It is advised toplace the suitable signageat strategic locations atall the airports and get-ting the self-declarationform filled by the passen-gers as per the instruc-tions of the ministry ofhealth and family wel-

fare.”The DGCA also stated

on Friday, “All airlinesshall make in-flightannouncements in theflights coming directlyfrom these countries andensure strict compli-ance.”

So far, India has report-ed three confirmed casesof nCoV, all from Kerala.Three medical studentsof the Wuhan University,all residents ofKerala, who returned toIndia on their ownrecently and self-reportedat a hospital in the statetested positive for the res-piratory virus, namedCOVID-19. One of themwas discharged afterrecovery.

Assam ex-rebelsto face music forunlawful actions

■ Indian crew on cruise ship off Japan coast test positive for virus

Screen fliers from Japan, S. Korea: DGCA

NAYEAR AZADPATNA, FEB. 14

With Assembly electionsslated to be held laterthis year, the grandalliance in Bihar faces adaunting task of resolv-ing the leadership issue.

Three political partiesRashtriya Lok SamtaParty (RLSP),Hindustani AwamMorcha (HAM) andVikasheel Insan Party(VIP) have created a flut-ter in the political circleby proposing the name ofveteran socialist leaderSharad Yadav as the faceof the grand alliance forthe Assembly elections.

Leaders aware of thedevelopment said that

both RJD and Congresswere not invited for themeeting, which wasattended by UpendraKushwaha, Jitan RamManjhi and MukeshSahani on Friday.

“In the absence of LaluYadav, the grand alliancehas been facing a leader-ship crisis. It would bebeneficial for all of us ifwe project veteransocialist leader SharadYadav as the face of thecoalition,” RLSP leadersin Patna said.

The proposal made bythese political parties isbeing seen as a majorsetback for the RJD,which leads the grandallianc. Sources saidthat Upendra Kushwaha,

Jitan Ram Manjhi andMukesh Sahani havebeen miffed over RJD’sdecision to declareTejashwi Yadav as thechief ministerial candi-date without consultinggrand alliance partners.

“Decision taken duringthe meeting will beannounced on Saturdayby Sharad Yadav. Wehave also decided to holdanother round of meet-ing later this month todiscuss strategies for thestate elections,” HAMchief Jitan Ram Manjhisaid on Friday.

Sharad Yadav, afterparting ways with JD(U)in 2018, had contested2019 Lok Sabha polls onRJD symbol.

Washington, Feb. 14:When President DonaldTrump travels to Indiathis month to meetPrime MinisterNarendra Modi, the twoleaders will outline anambitious vision for thenext chapter of the “nat-ural alliance” betweenthe two countries,according to a topAmerican diplomat.

President Trump andFirst Lady MelaniaTrump will pay a statevisit to India onFebruary 24 and 25 at theinvitation of PrimeMinister Modi, it wasannounced this week. Inaddition to New Delhi,Mr Trump will also visitAhmedabad to address ajoint public meeting withMr Modi at a newly-builtstadium.

Commenting on MrTrump’s maiden visit toIndia, acting assistantsecretary of state forSouth and Central Asia,

Alice G. Wells, said theUS president and primeminister Modi enjoyed avery special rapport.

“President Trump iseager to travel to India tomake his mark on thisvery important relation-ship,” she said onThursday at a receptionhosted by US IndiaBusiness Council in hon-our of the new IndianAmbassador to the US,Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

“We are approachingan important inflectionpoint in the US-India

relationship,” Wells said.“When President

Trump and PrimeMinister Modi meet laterthis month in front ofthousands of roaringfans, they’re going to out-line an ambitious visionfor the next chapter ofthis natural alliance,”Ms Wells said.

She reminded theAmerican business com-munity that it was twodecades ago that the thenPrime Minister AtalBehari Vajpayeedescribed India and theUS as “natural allies”.

“This year also marksthe 20th anniversary ofPrime Minister Vajpa-yee’s historic visit toWas-hington duringwhich he invoked thatfamous phrase, naturalallies. We have comesuch a long way over thelast two decades and areturning that vision into areality,” Ms Wells said.

— PTI


Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday held talkswith visiting PortuguesePresident Marcelo Rebelode Sousa after which thetwo countries inkedseven pacts including inthe fields of maritimetransport and port devel-opment, industrial andintellectual propertyrights, training for diplo-mats, and investment forstart-ups.

Seven otherMemoranda ofUnderstanding (MoUs)were announced betweenIndian and Portugueseentities including in thefield of production ofdrones, aeronautics,n a n o - b i o t e c h n o l o g y,start-ups for womenentrepreneurs and yoga.

The Portuguese Presid-ent is on a state visit toIndia from February 13-16on the invitation ofPresident Ram NathKovind.

The PortuguesePresident held delegationlevel talks with Mr Modiat Hyderabad House inthe capital. He will alsotravel to the states ofMaharashtra and Goa onSaturday and Sunday.

The pacts signed were“Memorandum of Under-standing for Cooperationfor Setting Up a NationalMaritime Museum Heri-tage Complex in Lothal(Gujarat) between thePortuguese ministry ofdefence and Indian min-istry of shipping, MOUbetween Economic andFood Safety Authority

(ASAE) and DPIIT, min-istry of commerce or co-operation in the field ofindustrial and intellectu-al property rights, agree-ment on Audio-Visual Co-production between Indiaand Portugal, MoU bet-ween Portuguese Diplom-atic Institute and ForeignService Institute for trai-ning, Co-operation Agre-ement on Maritime Tran-sport and Port Develop-ment between India andPortugal, Joint Declar-ation on India and Portu-gal Mobility Partnership,and MOU between InvestIndia and Start-UpPortugal.

Other pacts announcedwere “MOU between Inst-itute for Defence Studiesand Analyses (IDSA) andInstitute of Social andPolitical Sciences of theUniversity of Lisbon forco-operation in strategicand security areas.

Lucknow, Feb. 14: Thestringent National Secu-rity Act (NSA) has beenslapped on Dr KafeelKhan, who is lodged inMathura jail, in connec-tion with his anti-CAAspeech at the AligarhMuslim University.

Dr Khan was arrested bythe UP Special Task Forcefrom Mumbai on January29 for allegedly promotingenmity between differentreligions through thespeech he had deliveredduring a protest againstthe Citizenship Amend-ment Act (CAA) at AMUon December 12.

“NSA has been slapped

on Dr Kafeel. He willremain in jail,” Aligarhsenior superintendent ofpolice (SSP) AkashKulhari to PTI over phone.

In Aligarh, District Mag-istrate Chandra BhushanSingh told reporters thatKafeel Khan’s speech atAMU was instrumental intriggering violent inci-dents at the university onDecember 13 and 15.

“We had apprehensionsthat after his release onbail, Dr Kafeel Khanwould have caused morelaw and order issues in thestate,” the district magis-trate said.

Criticising his detention

under the stringent law,Dr Khan’s brother AdilKhan said the governmentwanted him to “remainquiet”.

The NSA allows preven-tive detention for severalmonths if the authoritiesbelieve the person is athreat to national securityor law and order.

Dr Khan is currentlylodged in Mathura jail

depsite bail granted tohim by a court in the case,registered against him atthe Civil Lines police sta-tion in Aligarh for promot-ing enmity between differ-ent religions.

Adil Khan said, “Thegovernment is trying tosilence my brother.

A few days ago, during aprogramme on a TV newschannel, he had revealedthat at BRD MedicalCollege (Gorakhpur), manychildren are dying dailybut the government is hid-ing the facts and data.”

“The (Mathura) jail wasabout to release him onFriday at 6 am. My brother

Kashif along with thelawyer reached the jail butby 9 am police presence atthe jail was increased andwe were told verbally byjail authorities that theNSA has been invoked onhim,” Adil Khan said.

After his arrest inMumbai, Dr Khan wasbrought to Aligarh, fromwhere he was immediatelyshifted to the district jailin neighbouring Mathura.

According to the police,this was done as a precau-tionary measure in viewof the anti-CAA protestson the AMU campus andat the Eidgah grounds.

— PTI


The Supreme Court onFriday permitted Cong-ress Lok Sabha memberKarti Chidambaram togo to London and Franceto attend the interna-tional tennis tourna-ment being played fromFebruary 17 to 23, 2020.

The InternationalTennis Tournament,AFT Open will be playedat Marseille, Francefrom February 17 toFebruary 23, 2020.

Mr Childambaran inhis application has saidthat as a tennis playerhimself, he is associatedwith the sport.

A benchheaded byChief Jus-tice S. A.B o b d epermittedChidamb-a r a m ’ splea to go

abroad from February14 to 28, 2020, saddledwith the conditions thatthe court had earlierimposed while permit-ting him to travel out ofthe country.

This includes deposit-ing with the top courtregistry a security of`10 crore.

Chidambaram is one ofthe accused in INXMedia corruption case.

Kafeel Khan slapped with NSA

‘Trump, PM will outlinenext chapter of alliance’

India & Portugalink 7 pacts afterModi-Sousa talks

Action taken in connection with anti-CAA speech at Aligarh Muslim University◗ Dr Khan wasarrested by theUttar PradeshSpecial Task Forcefrom Mumbai onJanuary 29.

Sharad Yadav should be faceof Bihar alliance: RLSP, HAM

Karti allowed by SCto travel to France

Prime Minister NarendraModi shakes hands withPortuguese PresidentMarcelo Rebelo de Sousaat Hyderabad House onFriday. — PTI

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman interacts with the staff and officers of theBudget division and Budget press, at a high tea session, in New Delhi on Friday. — PTI

Donald Trump

Karti

◗ ◗ Militants whocome overgroundfor talks with thegovernment wouldget `6,000 each

nCOV | THREAT

EDIT pg 6THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

Obfuscation is part of military science, as the Mahabharata storyabout Ashwathama informs us. Recent observations of the top tierof the ruling party appear to have extended this to the electoral bat-tlefield and the wider ambit of politics. This is evident from obser-

vations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister AmitShah not so long ago in the context of the CAA-NRC, and the recently heldelection to the Delhi Assembly. Indeed, the two appear to have been closelylinked since the BJP campaign for the Assembly election in Delhi wasfocused on the specific issue of CAA-NRC and punishing the peaceful pro-testers of Shaheen Bagh.

Of the PM’s memorable statements made at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan in thewake of the CAA-NRC protests that have shaken up the country, one isrecalled with particular emphasis by ruling party spokesmen and cadres —that the National Register of Citizens (which is so intrinsically tied to theCAA in a particular “chronology”, to quote the home minister) has not oncebeen considered officially by his government, thus suggesting that theprotests against NRC are an artifice, a low tactic of the BJP’s opponents torally public opinion on a false premise.

Fact-checkers immediately set about the relatively easy task of showingthis was not the case. President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to a joint ses-

sion of the two Houses of Parliament wasfished out. It revealed the government’sintention to make the NRC a reality.When the NRC comes up for discussionnow, BJP-RSS spokesmen have found anew technique to play their hand. Theysay this is not “yet” on the menu. They nolonger deny it outright.

Just like his leader, the home ministerresorted to outright denial in order to getout of an unenviable situation at a mediaevent in the national capital on Thursday.In the recent poll campaign in Delhi, heasserted — in response to a question —that no one had spoken of “bahu-betiyonka balatkar” or the “rape of women” (inHindu homes by those protesting at

Shaheen Bagh). Such an observation by one of BJP’s most significant lead-ers in a generation is apt to cause surprise as millions of Indians have seenon their television screens the BJP’s MP from West Delhi rant exactly onthose lines at a poll meeting. He was castigating Muslims by implicationand seeking to demonise the Shaheen Bagh protesters.

It is noteworthy that after such an execrable remark he was not de-ros-tered by the BJP as its lead speaker in the debate on the motion of thankson the President’s address in the Lok Sabha. It is no less remarkable thatthe home minister of India, who conceived and led his party’s failed Delhicampaign, did not see it fit to have the man arrested for his inflammatoryravings, causing enmity amongst the people, and threatening the unity ofthe country.

It is evident that Mr Shah was obliged to fudge about his MP’s words pre-cisely because this MP was chosen to expound on the BJP’s ideology inParliament. The gold standard of leadership is met when top bracket politi-cians are true to responsibilities set by their office. Seeking the softer wayout is for lesser beings.

15 FEBRUARY 2020

The order of the Supreme Court on Thursday directing political par-ties to upload the details of the criminal antecedents of their candi-dates on their websites should be seen as yet another attempt by the

court to help cleanse a system which refuses to change. Its impact, how-ever, is doubtful; and the suggestion that parties give reasons for selectingcandidates with criminal cases pending against them is more problemat-ic as it is hardly justiciable.

As it stands today, the affidavits candidates file when submitting theirnominations as candidates in elections must contain details of the crimi-nal cases they face. These details can now be accessed through the routeprovided by the Right to Information Act, and there are non-governmen-tal organisations which regularly collect this information and publish it.The latest order will only make this process simpler.

It was in 2013 that the Supreme Court scrapped Section 8 (4) of theRepresentation of the People Act, 1951, which protected MLAs and MPsagainst losing their positions even if convicted in a case and sentenced tomore than two years in jail. As a result, netas today stand stripped of their stature immediately on conviction. The Supreme Court has alsoordered the setting up of special courts to try cases against sitting and for-mer MPs and MLAs. Despite all the efforts by the Election Commissionand the courts, we have politicians facing serious charges, including rapeand attempt to murder, getting elected to legislatures and even becomingministers.

The latest was in Karnataka where an MLA who faces as many as 15cases, some under the Forest Act, has been appointed forest minister. Theground reality is that the state and its arms are pretty helpless if politicalparties choose to field candidates who can win an election by hook or bycrook. It’s a political issue that the polity as a whole must address; thejudiciary can do only so much in this regard.

Not by fiat alone

Denial, obfuscation byBJP after Delhi rout

THE ASIAN AGET. VENKATRAM REDDY

Editor in Chief

Printer & Publisher: T. VENKATESWARLU

THE ASIAN AGE offices are located at:New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi-110002. Phone: (011) 23211124.Mumbai: Sigma House, # 43, Ground Floor, R. A. Kidwai Marg, Near Wadala Rly Station, Wadala (West), Mumbai -400 031 Phone (022) 24195301 Fax (022) 24195347Kolkata: 4th Floor, Chowdhury Building, 8/1A Little Russel Street, Kolkata 700 071.Phone: (033) 2289 0676/77 Fax (033) 2289 0686Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office in the United KingdomAir surcharge for Kathmandu and J&K `1Published and Printed on behalf of and for◗ Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 110 002 at BFL Infotech Ltd., C-9, Sector-III, Noida -201301.◗ Mumbai: Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, Plot No 22, Digha MIDC, TTC Industrial Estate Area, Vishnu Nagar, Digha, Navi Mumbai-400708.◗ Kolkata: Satyajug Employees Cooperative Industrial Society Ltd, 13/A, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Kolkata 700 072. ◗ London: Quickmarsh Ltd, 8th Floor, Block 2, Elizabeth House, 39 York Road, London, SE1 7NQ.RNI Registration number: 57290/94Postal registration numbers: DL(S)-05/4189/15-17

Mr Shah was obliged tofudge about his MP’s

words precisely becausethis MP was chosen toexpound on the BJP’s

ideology in Parliament.The gold standard of

leadership is met whentop bracket politicians

are true to responsibili-ties set by their office.

William Shakespeare’s tra-gedy King Lear is not tobe watched on an emptystomach. It is a gut-wren-

ching story of betrayal, inhumanblinding, unnatural patricide, andgrey-haired hubris that ends withbroken-hearted remorse. It is an ind-ictment of those who all too oftendeclare their “fast intent to shake allcares and business” of governance,and then refuse to relinquish authority.

Adaptation of Shakespeare’s plays,whether in a modern setting or in aforeign language, is no longer aheresy. Shakespeare’s archaic lan-guage may sound unfamiliar to ourears, yet his plots are timeless, rele-vant to every age, which is why theycan withstand translation and trans-position. After all, didn’t Shak-espeare himself borrow his ideasfrom others’ works? He took Romeoand Juliet and also Much Ado AboutNothing from the mind of the ItalianGiovanni Boccaccio, his plays aboutRome came from the pen of Plutarch,and his sagas of English history from

the chroniclers Edward Hall andHolinshed. To each he added his owngenius, leaving pearls long aftertheir oysters have been forgotten.

Zia Mohyeddin’s latest productionKing Lear was performed in Lahoreby the National Academy ofPerforming Arts, after an earlier runin Karachi. Zia is the last of anendangered species — a genus ofShakespearean actors who under-stands the playwright, who hasdeclaimed his words on the Londonstage, and who still possesses theskill to present Shakespeare to anaudience of Pakistanis who maynever visit the Globe theatre orStratford-upon-Avon. Zia dared touse an Urdu translation. It was arisk. For any translation to succeed,the translator must understand theoriginal: its syntax, its subtleties, itsinbuilt nuances, and then transmutethat into a sibling of the original butwith its own features, its own idioms,its own personality.

Mr Mohyeddin the producer couldnot have found a more perfect trans-lator than the seasoned actor Khalid

Ahmad. Mr Ahmad had applied hisalchemy earlier on A MidsummerNight’s Dream. His translation wasfaultless, at times lyrically indepen-dent of Shakespeare’s original.Khalid Ahmad not only translatedKing Lear, he acted and became King Lear.

Mr Mohyeddin used bare props — athrone, a table as a catafalque, and asmall mound as a hilltop. He meldedhis performers with their disparateexperience into one seamless team.Memorable were Fawad Khan (Kent)well-known as a dastangoh; ParasMasroor (Gloucester’s illegitimateson Edmund) and Mira Sethi(Goneril) who have a television back-ground; and Raheel Siddiqui as DrBuddhu/the wise Fool. Every play isas strong as its weakest actor. KingLear may have been let down by hisdaughters; Zia’s audience had no rea-son to be disappointed by his choiceof cast.

Who hasn’t studied Shakespeare atschool? His plays were as aninescapable as chicken pox. If one’sdiction was good enough, one per-

formed in them; if lucky, one saw itperformed by the best. I studied KingLear for my ‘A’ levels in an Englishpublic school. Our class was taken tothe Old Vic, where King Lear wasplayed by the veteran actor PaulRogers, his ungrateful daughters byCoral Browne and Barbara Jefford(soon to become famous). The follow-ing morning, our English teacher MrMiller asked us what our reactionhad been during the closing scenewhen Lear cradles the lifeless body ofhis youngest, faithful daughterCordelia. Heartbroken, he shrieks:“Howl! Howl! Howl! O, you are men ofstones!/ Had I your tongues and eyes,I’d use them so/That heaven’s vaultshould crack. She’s gone forever.”

Mr Miller asked whether any of ushad cried. Sheepishly, I alone put upmy hand. “You are the only one whohad the right reaction.” E.M.Forster’s description fitted myAnglo-Saxon classmates, with their“well-developed bodies, fairly devel-oped minds and underdevelopedhearts”.

In the play, King Lear divides his

kingdom between his two obse-quious daughters, on the under-standing that he and 100 of hisknights would be supported by eachdaughter in turn. The sisters, howev-er, annoyed at the misbehaviour ofhis raucous entourage, demand areduction in his knights from 100 to50. Regan, the younger, goes further:“I’ll receive him gladly, / But not onefollower.” Angered by their uncon-scionable in-hospitality, Lear cursesthem and leaves.

Some might see a parable betweenKing Lear’s predicament and that ofthe governments of India andPakistan. An Indian newspaperrecently carried a report that read:“For the first time ever, the [Indian]defence budget allocates moremoney for army pensions (`1.13 lakhcrore) than for army salaries (`1.1lakh crore). Both the salary and pen-sion bills are bigger than Pakistan’stotal defence budget (`1 lakh crore).”

Shakespeare’s Lear and his knightsstill abound.

By arrangement with Dawn

Lear’s lessonsfor our times:

Should armiesbe retired?

Seismic changes hauntBJP after Delhi shock

On top of theBJP’s rudder-less leader-ship to get then a t i o n a l

economy out of a rut, orvery possibly because ofit, comes a humiliatingpolitical defeat in theDelhi Assembly elec-tions with ArvindKejriwal’s broom sweep-ing the Congress com-pletely out of the capi-tal’s politics and limit-ing the BJP to single dig-its in the 70-memberDelhi Assembly.

The dynamic GujaratiNarendra Modi-AmitShah duo who rule Indiafrom Delhi must be feel-ing the pinch of thethumbs-down they gotfrom 54 per cent of 10million Delhiites (out of15 million) potential vot-ers who cast their voteson February 8.

Coming as it does,despite desperate effortsto play divisive politics— the signature, win-ning political tune per-fected since L.K.Advani’s 1990 rathyatrato build a Ram Mandir— surely points to theneed for a considerablerethink, especially nowas Ram Lalla rests easyin Ayodhya.

Admittedly, Delhi is anoutlier. It ties with Goafor the highest per capi-ta income in the coun-try; has high literacylevels and is a grab bagof domestic high achiev-ers attracted to the capi-tal by the opportunitiesoffered — ranging fromabundant well-paid, lowskilled daily work tohighly overpaid, top ech-elon professionals andsavvy business folk.

Performance counts inDelhi. On that parame-ter, the BJP has little toshow while the AAPmerely points to the“positive lived experi-ence” of Delhi citizens inpublic services — elec-tricity, water, the management of sewage,education and healthservices.

The BJP rules at themunicipality level, but ithas nothing much toshow for it. More impor-

tant, land managementand the police, whichare under the lieu-tenant-governor andthrough him the Uniongovernment, haveremained pools of publicdissatisfaction and dis-content, with none of thespiffy governance antici-pated when NarendraModi became Primeminister in 2014.

To be sure the city ofDelhi — a cossettedchild of emperors start-ing with the GreatMughals — is spoiltsilly. It expects the earthfrom those who rulewithout cooperating inthe least to give some-thing back to the city.But it is an internationaland a national bell-wether purely becauseof its strategic locationat the political and economic crossroads of domestic and globalmatters.

If the BJP is to recoverfrom the series of recentbody blows —Rajasthan, Jharkhandand now Delhi — somedirectional changes areneeded over the nextfour years till 2024.

First, the BJP hasretained around 39 percent of the votes cast.But reliance on the“Modi magic” to get pastthe post without a sec-ond line of credible andcompetent North Indianleaders has cost it heavily.

Delhi is used to a longline of emperors whoconquer and then chooseto settle down here andadopt it as their own.The BJP has anticipatedthis need now byappointing J.P. Nadda asparty president — aHimachali born andbrought up in Bihar. Butthis is little more than apalliative in the face ofan absent layer of highranking North Indianleaders — beyondRajnath Singh — in keyCabinet positions.

Second, the abnormaldelay in firing on allthree engines — privateconsumption, publicinvestment and exports— is felt keenly in Delhi

where new projects,high consumption andexports drive the econo-my. The Budget for 2021failed to provide the liftso eagerly awaited byurban India — jobs,cheaper loans and incen-tives for investment.

The Reserve Bank haserred in not bringing therepo rate below the psy-chological five per centlevel. The initiative tofree investment loansfor specified purposesfrom the CRR require-ment are welcome, buttoo timid. Between theStatutory LiquidityRatio and Cash ReserveRatio (CRR), 22.25 percent of a bank’s assetsare compulsorilysequestered in low-return government debt,which earns barely twopercentage points morethan the cost of bankterm deposit rates. TheState Bank of India hasreduced its deposit ratesnow to lower its cost offunds. Sadly, no thoughtwas spared for the hapless lower middleclass for whom a bankdeposit is also a savinginstrument.

For profits, banks lookto private lending atusurious rates rangingbetween nine (houseloan) to 15 per cent (caror commercial loan).This is far too high toencourage spendingunless accompanied byhigh inflation to deflatethe real interest rate to abearable 1.5 per cent perannum — which has notbeen the case since 2015.

Pulling the plug on fis-cal restraint was theonly way to go. But ArunJaitley’s legacy of “fiscalpropriety” — as definedby the WashingtonConsensus — still ruleslike a staid aunt.

Third, L.K. Advani’srathyatra gambit seemsto have come to its end.Divide and rule makessense only if you retain acore group of supporters

who stand to benefitfrom you. This grouphas rapidly shrunk.Industry and business —once the rally boys of theBJP — now look a wor-ried lot as Delhiacquires undertones ofimperious Beijing.Indian entrepreneursare… well Indian, intheir rambunctiousness.They dislike too much restraint, unless it is aimed at their competitors.

The governance styleemerging out of Delhi isfar too authoritarian toassuage the averagebusinessperson longused to a laidback, wink-wink, nod-nod, non-com-petitive environment.This explains the over-tures made recently bythe government to raisetariff walls for theimport of a range ofgoods.

Expect many moresimilar actions to reachout to the core base ofthe BJP — Hindu votersfrom the upper and mid-dle castes in the beltstretching fromRajasthan to Biharacross north and centralIndia, with a focus onurban and peri-urbanareas. Dalits, rural Indiaand contested territoriesin the South and Eastare likely to be reducedto collateral politicalreserves to be accessedon a transactional basiswhen beneficial.

This does not augurwell in the immediatefuture for strategic fiscalreforms in inter-stategovernance — devolu-tion, decentralisationand enhanced federal-ism or for structuralreforms in labour, landmanagement and agri-culture.

Consequently, growthwill remain sluggish tillthe financial sector out-grows the drag of itsstressed assets; publicdebt levels may breachprudential levels andgovernment allocationsare likely to becomeeven more skewed tobenefit specific interestgroups — like big farm-ers — as the BJP gearsup for state elections inpredominantly agricul-tural Bihar in Octoberthis year, and later inUttar Pradesh inFebruary 2022.

The writer is adviser,Observer Research

Foundation

Divide and rulemakes sense only if

you retain a coregroup of supporterswho stand to bene-

fit from you. Thisgroup has rapidlyshrunk. Industryand business —

once the rally boysof the BJP — now

look a worried lot...

NEW DIASPORA HERORISHI SUNAK, Britain’s newchancellor of the exchequer, was noteven a member of parliament fiveyears ago, but is now running theworld’s fifth largest economy. The 39-year-old former Goldman Sachsbanker made it to the post in adramatic fashion after incumbentSajid Javid quit. As Britain movestowards recovery after the Brexitchaos, one of the youngest chan-cellors in history will face a PrimeMinister who wants to increasespending on everything, frominfrastructure and police to healthand education. Sunak is married tothe daughter of Infosys co-founderNarayana Murthy, Akshata Murthy.After his rapid rise through theranks, will he pass this acid test?

C.K. SubramaniamNavi Mumbai

THE CLEAN-UP JOBTHE SUPREME COURT orderingpolitical parties to publish the crimi-nal antecedents of their candidatesfor Assembly and Lok Sabha elec-tions, along with the reasons thatmade them choose tainted candi-dates over those with a clean record,within 48 hours of the selection of thesame, is a step in the right direction.The court expressed concern overthe alarming rise in the number ofcriminals in politics, with the“winnability” factor stealing amarch over the merit of the candi-date. A whopping 43 per cent of MPshave criminal cases pending againstthem and fielding candidates withclean hands can make our politicalsystem more reliable.

N.J. Ravi ChanderBengaluru

LETTERS

HEAD TO HEADUS President Donald J.Trump will be on a two-day visit to India thismonth. The main focus ofthis visit will be on tradeagreements between himand Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi. The twoworld leaders may alsoset the seal on a newdefence sale — that of aUS integrated air defencesystem. India is expectedto buy 24 MH-60 Sea-hawk helicopters for theIndian Navy. Mr Trump’svisit to India ahead of theUS presidential electionspeaks of his hope ofdrawing votes from theIndian diaspora. Who willget the better of theother — Mr Trump or MrModi?

Mohit Rawal Ujjain, MP

Every Monday the best letter ofthe week wins `500. Email:

[email protected].

Subhani

Sanjeev Ahluwalia

F.S.Aijazuddin

“The heathen in his blindnessBows down to wood and stone.The Colonial conceit was thatThe Brits knew God alone!The Heathen thinks thatChristiansWorship a wooden crossWhich today would be an elec-tric chairOr a noose to hang humans inthe air…”From The Song of KhatribaiGhulamfaggot by Bachchoo

My father, theI n d i a nArmy veter-an that hewas, wouldread thedaily head-

lines about various miscreants— hoarders of grain whocaused shortages of food, childrapists, large-scale fraudsters— and would inevitablyexclaim, in English or

Gujarati: “line the so-and-sosup against the wall and shootthem”. The so-and-so expletivewould vary with the languagein which he framed this sum-mary sentence.

Dad wasn’t given to theniceties of socio-political argu-ment. In India recently, I readin several publications, vocif-erously argued cases for andagainst capital punishment —these in the context of theNirbhaya rapist-murderersappealing for mercy againsttheir hanging. The argumentswere on the one side vengefuland, perhaps, karmic; on theother, a consideration thatrapists and murderers werereared by the social circum-stances, mentalities andmorals of our society and theseshould be reformed.

My father’s pronouncementshad no consideration for suchsubtleties. I can’t say if his

reaction was inspired by theZoroastrian theologicalcontention that the universeand life are the battleground ofgood versus evil and that,being on the side of good, hewas obliged to wipe out theperpetrators of evil. Perhapshis intolerance was morelikely influenced by militarymorals and a view thatsummary justice was betterthan the namby-pamby of “dueprocess”.

My wonderful, if hastily mis-taken, dad’s dictum came tomind this week in Londonwhen Prime Minister BorisJohnson and his dimwit homesecretary Priti Patel put intrain fast-track action and leg-islation on three fronts.

Firstly, they deported 27“Jamaican” criminals who hadserved their sentences formanslaughter, violent acts andeven paedophilia back to their“home country”. At least 50other such criminals were list-ed for deportation on the samechartered aircraft but appealedagainst it on the grounds thatthey were not afforded contactwith any legal representationbecause the jail in which theywere serving sentences had wi-fi problems. The courts upheldthe stay on deportation.

Liberal opinion in the coun-try opposed this measure but,without any statistical evi-dence, I feel that a vast majori-ty of the country would havecheered it on. The one argu-ment against such a cheer isthat very many of these indi-viduals, while not havingpapers to prove that they wereBritish, had lived from child-hood in this country and hadbeen socialised and perhapscriminalised by it.Nevertheless, technically theywere not British and conse-quently subject to expulsionfrom the sceptred isle.

The second measure whichPredatory Patel has initiated isa bill in Parliament to changethe liberal rule governing therelease of convicted terrorists

who have served half their jailterms. This is seen by thatsame majority that supportsdeportation as eminentlysensible. And it may be. In therecent past, two terroristsconvicted of offences such asharbouring materials andrecoding messages of terror,rather than having bombed aplace or killed anyone, werereleased from prison havingserved half the prescribedperiod. They went on tomurder innocents in the nameof jihad.

Of course, this legislation canbe seen as protective of thepublic, but there is theargument that spending sixrather than three years in jaildoesn’t necessarily stop theoffender when he is releasedfrom doing what he wouldhave done after serving onlyhalf that time. There may be acase for the three extra yearsin jail being used to effectivelyderadicalise jihadis throughrehabilitation and re-education programmes, butthere is not much evidencethat such programmes work.

There is an outcry now byprison wardens and by com-mentators that prison is itself aradicalising hothouse. Jihadisin contact with each other rein-

force their determination tocommit acts which will trans-port them to heaven and grantthem 72, willing or reluctant,virgins. They also come in con-tact with petty criminalswhom they sometimes succeedin converting into murderousterrorists. There is over-whelming evidence that pointsto these phenomena.

What would behsti Pappa(dad) have said? “Line them upagainst the wall and shootthem.”

Even Predatory Patel, what-ever her instincts, can’t followsuch advice in an avowedlycivilised and democratic soci-ety. And while she contem-plates a solution to this brew-ing of terror in the institutionof prison, she should considerevidence from other countrieswhere dispersing terrorists,isolating them or giving themlonger sentences hasn’t doneanything to stop the movementwhich is dedicated to recruit-ing new members.

If Prowly Patel can get themoney off the new chancellor(after Sajju Javid’s shock resig-nation from the Cabinet thisweek), her first move should bespending it on refurbishmentof prisons.

Today, there are 82,000 pris-

oners crammed into spacesdesigned for 60,000. There are10,000 assaults on prison offi-cers each year. Britain’s pris-ons are markets for drugs,smuggled in by bribed wardersor delivered by drones.

The programmes of rehabili-tation are laughable. Mullahsare sent in to preach Islamicvalues to those convicted ofserious jihadi offences such asthe making of bombs or themembership of cells with pub-lished plans for terrorist acts.There is no considered pro-gramme of rehabilitation andno supervision of what thesemullahs say and no assessmentof what effect their preachinghas on determined death-cultists.

A measure of discipline, com-passion and supervision is thedirection reform should take.

These would, at the least,enable an assessment of theprogress towards a solution.What they won’t do is make thesort of headlines this govern-ment wants in order to appealto their core voters.

I wonder what dad wouldhave said should be done toCabinet ministers who panderto populism instead ofimplementing effectivesolutions.

The deadly, undetect-ed and symptomlessepidemic coron-avirus appearsalmost synonymous

with China these days. TheChinese economy’s rise andthe dependence of at least 60Third World countries onChinese finance, and morethan 50 developed countriescoveting Chinese factory prod-ucts — from small tools tocomputer software, heavyengineering apparatus totelecommunications gear —appear to be in peril. Withlightning speed, the world hasstarted (physically) distancingfrom China, fearing a conta-gious and fatal epidemic.

At a time of China’s nationaldistress, foreigners shouldalso sympathise with thePeople’s Republic and think ofsolutions, but from a distance.The world media is exhaus-tively reporting the crisis situ-ation in China, but the report-ing in the Indian media is fair-ly low-key. It’s important foreveryone in India to get anaccurate picture of what ishappening in that country.

In a first-hand account,reported by China Daily’sGlobal Weekly (February 7-13,2020): “Unlike any other, 2019-nCoV (new coronavirus) ismore treacherous, hidingunder the camouflage of fluand SARS (severe acute respi-ratory syndrome) symp-toms...”. The debilitatingeffects of the contours of thedisease, as narrated by theChinese, stand thus: “Thepathogen is more noxiouslyevolved, embedded with mur-derous skills and savage veloc-ity to spread faster and infect

more furtively even during itsincubation period... This devilis also more evil... attackingthe very basis of the globalcommunity: air travel andconnectivity. It is unluckythat China has to withstandanother wave of intensivepathogenic assault in lessthan two decades. The countryis forced to pay heavy sacri-fices. Apart from losing hun-dreds of lives, thousands moreare hospitalised”.

This scenario, as reported bythe Chinese media, speaks foritself. The reality that Chinafaces today: If not controlledimmediately, things arebound to get worse. TheChinese economy seems head-ed for a downhill slide —which China fears most. Areport says: “It’s understand-able for each nation to applyself-protection in line with theWorld Health Organisationrecommendations. But pro-posals of ‘shutting the border’to maximise one memberstate’s interests may not nec-essarily immunise itself butwill certainly affect publichealth as a whole.”

This signals both a sense offear of the Chinese, and a(veiled) warning by Beijing toall nations which are planningand trying to reduce, if notstop, though perhaps tem-porarily, the chance of viruscontamination through cross-border physical contacts. TheChinese obviously have theRussians — their closest busi-ness and diplomatic partner— in mind. On January 30, theRussian Prime Ministerannounced that 16 Moscow-Beijing border crossings willbe closed “to protect our peo-

ple”. Russia also halted theissue of e-visas to Chinesenationals and suspended the“special permit” allowingChinese nationals short-termaccess to selected tourist desti-nations of the great Russianland mass. Thus the world’sfifth-largest land borderstands between the contagiousChinese coronavirus andMoscow’s desire for “self-defence”. In one stroke, thechemistry and economics ofthe Russia-China combine isin the line of virus fire.

Unless it is controlled fast,the coronavirus outbreak willnot only lead to a prolongedslowdown in China, but alsohit global growth, and disruptvarious mega-projects acrosscontinents. For the moment,international tourism is thefirst casualty. Aviation, trans-port, hotels, restaurants,retail stores and consumermarkets already are staring atan emptiness in the high-pro-file destinations of the West.

How does India stand in thissituation? How does India tryprotect its populace from thecoronavirus, which alreadyappears to have entered thiscountry. We have to ensure,above all, the good health ofour vast population, to takeevery possible step to keep thenation disease-free, and notallow Indians to be guinea pigsin an experimental laboratory.

As admitted by the Chinesethemselves, the Wuhan-origincoronavirus of 2019 is far moredangerous and deadlier thanthe 2002-2003 Yunnan-origin

SARS. It’s contagion charac-teristics, spreading throughthe air and physical proximitymake all public gatheringshighly avoidable. Our soldiersmanning the Sino-Indian fron-tier need to be particularlyalert in this regard, for if a sin-gle undetected coronavirus-afflicted Chinese border guardcomes into contact with anIndian guard, the fallout couldbe severe. Similar is the situa-tion at all international air-ports, where Indian personnelare pretty poorly equipped todeal with this deadly globalvirus of Chinese origin.

India must take the latestWHO warning seriously: “Theglobal virus spread is the tipof the iceberg.” Around theglobe, nations are waking upto the “Chinese threat”, andIndia needs to resort to animmediate and urgent coursecorrection. Whatever the pullsand pressures, the Indian gov-ernment would do well to takeits cue from the Russians,arguably the closest of all for-eign countries to the Chinese.Close the borders. Reduceflights. Control Chinese goodsas far as possible. Stop issuingvisas to the Chinese. HelpIndians first.

China is four times morepowerful economically thanIndia. Yet China is strugglingtoday due to its monumentalmiscalculations. It hasalready damaged a lot of its

fertile land and air, and vari-ous experimental centres. ButChina being a highly secretivestate, several gullible peopleand impressionable touristsare getting hoodwinked by theglamour and glitz of theCommunist superpower.

If China’s Wuhan-origincoronavirus becomes an epi-demic in New Delhi or its hin-terland, how will the Indianauthorities tackle it? Howmuch resources will Indianeed? What will happen to theeconomy, which is yet to showany signs of buoyancy? Thesluggish consumer market?The rising debt-ridden andstressed banking system? Thedistressed agrarian sector?The visibly rickety health sys-tem in semi-urban and ruralbelts?

For the Indian State, thegravity of China’s coron-avirus epidemic has increasedenormously. It’s a challengeas well as an opportunity. Weshould help China in all possi-ble ways, certainly, but not atthe cost of the health of 1.3 bil-lion Indians. “Health iswealth. Health is happiness”.The so-called economic andfinancial globalisation nowendangers the real health ofthe planet too.

The writer is an alumnus of the National Defence

College and is the author of China in India

Aperson’s nature isbuilt on personallikes and dislikes,some of which keep

changing, while others arefirmly rooted. As a result, itbecomes difficult to under-stand people. Likes and dis-likes being unpredictable, itbecomes difficult to pleaseeither oneself or others. It isperhaps for this reason somepeople prefer animals tohumans.

This capacity to change isalso the beauty of the human

being. They can also changefor the better. In the Gita,Bhagavan reveals the meansto bring about change. Atfirst, we must become awareof the likes and dislikeswhich govern our nature.Since they can neither bewiped out completely norneutralised immediately, con-vert them to become prefer-ences. It is better not to comeunder their sway becausethen we are unable to live theknowledge we have under-stood from the scriptures.

For example, if you areinvited for a meal and do notlike what is served, let themind not stir up a storm. Donot give way to your likesand dislikes, throw atantrum, get upset or pushthe plate away. Make the bestof whatever is available.

The best way of overcominglikes and dislikes is toremain steadfast in the per-formance of one’s own duty— svadharma.This is higher andnobler than doingthe duties ofanother, eventhough one maynot see greatvirtue or merit inthe workassigned. A door-keeper (dvarpal) may preferto perform the duty of theking (rajpal) but in our inter-est it is better to do the duties

assigned to us. Do what youare supposed to do. Better todie in the performance ofyour own duty than to do theduty of another, which isfraught with fear. If the clerkwho has to prepare the bankcheque imitates the boss’ sig-nature, it will be a crimebecause the duty of signingcheques is not assigned tohim.

Bhagavan tells Arjuna thathis duty is todefend dharma.In performingduty there is noroom for personallikes and dislikes.If we are lazy wewill be guided byraga and dvesa.Prohibited and

selfish actions are also per-formed for the same reason.In performing duties we can-not be controlled by likes and

dislikes. So the best way toneutralise them is to remainsteadfast in the performanceof obligatory duties, offeredas worship of the Lord. Whenwe perform obligatory dutiesand dedicate our actions toGod, His heart is touched. Hisgrace, which descends on us,purifies the mind and leavesus free of raga and dvesha.

We have built our nature.Take responsibility.Understand how it has beenformed. Then follow the pathof transformation to reachthe goal of purification andperfection!

Swami Tejomayanandais from Chinmaya Mission.

To find out more aboutChinmaya Mission and

Swamiji, visit www.chinmayamission.com.

© Central Chinmaya Mission Trust.

China’s coronavirus epidemic: ForIndia, a challenge and wake-up call

We must rise above likes and dislikes

Just shoot ’em…? UK must tackle jihadi cells in jailsPredatory Patel has initiated a bill tochange the liberal rulegoverning the releaseof convicted terroristswho have served halftheir jail terms. This isseen by that samemajority that supportsdeportation as eminently sensible.

Unless it is controlledfast, the coronavirusoutbreak will not onlylead to a prolongedslowdown in China, butalso hit global growth,and disrupt mega-projects across conti-nents. For the moment,international tourism isthe first casualty.

Swami Tejomayananda

OPED pg 7THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

Farrukh Dhondy

Cabbages & Kings

Abhijit Bhattacharyya


IN BRIEF

British woman triesto end life in Goa

Panaji: A British woman, dis-tressed over Being aban-

doned by her husband dur-ing their Goa trip, enteredthe sea at Baga beach to

commit suicide on Friday,but was rescued by life-guards, police said. The

woman, in her fifties, wasrescued by lifeguards onduty at Baga beach near

here in North Goa when theyfound her walking into the

sea beyond the area markedfor tourists, they said. When

lifeguards approached thelady, she went deep into the

sea and refused to acceptany help, police said. One ofthe lifeguards pulled her outof the seawater even as sheinsisted she wanted to endher life, a senior officer of

the Calangute police stationsaid. During questioning, the

woman said her husbandabandoned her during Goatrip and went away with alltravel documents, he said.

She was distressed over thisand hence wanted to end

her life, the officer said. — PTI

Bhubaneswar: OdishaAssembly’s Budget Sessiongot off to a stormy start on

Friday with oppositionCongress boycotting the

Governor’s inaugural addressand a ruckus later by the

Opposition forced theSpeaker to adjourn the

House for the whole day. Assoon as Governor Ganeshi

Lal started reading theachievements of the State

Government, seniorCongress leader NarasinghaMishra stood up protestingthe state government’s all-round failure in addressingpaddy procurement. Later,members of the Congress

party staged a walkout fromthe Assembly. Speaking to

media persons later,Congress leader Narasingha

Mishra criticised theGovernor’s address in the

Assembly. “The address ofthe governor has skirted themain issues confronting the

state,” alleged Mr Mishra.

Shillong: Human resourcesdevelopment minister

Ramesh Pokhriyal’s visit toShillong on Friday was metwith pro-Inner Line Permitactivists demonstrating on

the streets. The activistsfrom over 15 pro-ILP organi-

sations under the umbrellaof the Confederation of

Meghalaya Social Organis-ation (COMSO) shouted slo-

gans on the North-EasternHill University campus where

the minister attended anofficial event. Several

activists also held demon-strations near the NIT cam-

pus in Laitumkhrah areawhere the minister went for

lunch. The state had inDecember adopted a resolu-tion in the Assembly urging

the Centre to implement theILP under the 1873-legislated

Bengal Eastern FrontierRegulation Act. — PTI

Odisha session offto a stormy note

New Delhi: Sanjeev Chawla,an alleged bookie and a key

accused in one of cricket’sbiggest match-fixing scan-

dals that involved formerSouth African captain Hansie

Cronje, reached the TiharJail on Friday, officials said.Chawla got an interim relieffrom custodial interrogation

with the Delhi high courtsending him to the Tihar Jailon Friday till further orders.

Chawla (50), who was extra-dited from the United

Kingdom on Thursday, willbe kept in jail number 3. He

will be the only inmate in hiscell, a senior jail official said.According to the extradition

treaty between India and theUK, all basic facilities will beensured and consular accessprovided to Chawla and hissafety and security will be

ensured. Accompanied by acrime branch team from

London, Chawla reached theIGI Airport here on Thursday

morning. India has assuredthe UK authorities regarding

the medical facilities to beprovided to Chawla and pro-tection from intra-prison vio-

lence. Chawla is alleged tohave played a central role inconspiring with Cronje to fix

South Africa's tour of Indiain February-March, 2000.

British court documents sayChawla is a Delhi-born busi-nessman who moved to the

UK on a business visa in1996, but continued to make

trips to India. — PTI

JAIL NO. 3, BOOKIESANJEEV CHAWLA’S

ADDRESS IN TIHAR

AKSHAYA KUMARSAHOORAIGARH/BHUBANESWAR,FEB. 14

In a major developmentin connection with themurder of a 32-year-oldwoman and her daugh-ter in 2016, theChhattisgarh police onFriday revealed that for-mer MLA and BJDleader Anup Sai was theprime accused in thecase and he had con-fessed to the crime.

In a crowded press con-ference, Raigarh super-intendent of police (SP)Santosh Kumar said thatAnup had an “illicitaffair” with the victimKalpana Das after shegot divorced from herhusband in the year2005. Both of them start-ed living together alongwith Kalpana’s daughterPravati Das from 2011 to2016 in a flat bought byAnup in Sundarpadaarea of Bhubaneswar.

“While staying togeth-er for years, the victimasked Anup to marryher but he kept dodgingher request citing thathe was already married.Later, he plotted to killher. On May 7, 2016, heused a blunt weapon tokill both and later vehi-cle made to run over thevictims,” said RaigarhSP.

During the investiga-tion, as many as 700 peo-ple were interrogatedacross six states includ-ing Odisha, West Bengal,Chhattisgarh, UttarPradesh and Bihar,revealed the SP.

BJD leaderconfesses ofcommittingtwin murder

AGE CORRESPONDENTBERHAMPUR (ODISHA),FEB. 14

Alleging false implica-tion in an assault case,Krutibasa Mishra, aliasRaja, son of ruling BijuJanata Dal’s womenwing leader MeenakshiMishra, on Fridaythreatened to set himselfablaze in front of localpolice headquarters inBerhampur.

Raja’s statement camea day after he was grant-ed interim bail by thedistrict and sessionsjudge at Berhampur. Hewas arrested byBaidyanathpur policeover his involvement inan assault case onJanuary 28 and latergranted bail tillFebruary 25.

Earlier on February 12,Meenakshi had attempt-ed self-immolationprotesting the arrest ofher son. “The allega-tions against me arefalse. I was earlierreleased in a case sincethen I am being targeted.My hometown isBerhampur but the copsare asking me to stayoutside the city. Whyshall I live somewhereelse? My mother self-immolated her, I too willimmolate myself infront of DG office if I donot get justice within 15days,” threatened Raja.

Earlier on January 28,Raja had a fight with oneSunil Moharana in frontof a Kalyan Mandap atPanda colony underBaidyanathpur Policelimits in Berhampurover some parking issue.

Sunil along with hisfriends brutally assault-ed Raja.

Odisha BJDleader’s son threatens toself on fire

Pro-ILP protesterupts in Mizoram

AGE CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, FEB. 14

The senior-most judge ofthe Bombay high courthas resigned from hispost. Justice SatyaranjanC h a n d r a s h e k h a rDharmadhikari has ten-dered his resignationbefore the President ofIndia Thursday evening,which is yet to beapproved by the hon-ourable president. JusticeDharmadhikari toldmedia persons that he hastendered his resignationfrom the post due to fami-ly and personal issues.

According to him, hehad been elevated as ChiefJustice of some otherstate where he does notwant to go. He wants toremain in the city ofMumbai because he hassome personal responsi-bilities here. The higherauthorities were notready to elevate him asChief Justice of theBombay high court. “I hadto resign due to purelypersonal and family

issues... I did not want toleave Mumbai and theywere not ready to elevateme as the Chief Justice ofthe Bombay high court,”Justice Dharmadhikaritold reporters.

While hearing his sched-uled petitions Friday,Justice Dharmadhikaritold lawyers that he wouldnot be available next weekas Friday is his last day. Itis not yet clear whetherhis resignation has beenaccepted by the hon-ourable President.Advocate MathewNedumpara had men-tioned a petition seekingfor the court to hear it

next week. “When thejudge said he hasresigned, I initiallythought that he said it in alighter vein... He is a verysenior judge and his resig-nation comes as a shock,”Nedumpara later said.

Justice Dharmadhikariwas due to retire after twoyears. “I have some per-sonal responsibilitieshere in Mumbai, which iswhy I did not want to betransferred out ofMaharashtra,” the judgesaid.

Justice Dharmadhikariwas made judge of theBombay high court onNovember 14, 2003.

Bombay HC judgequits over transfer

ASIM KAMALNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

The government shouldbring an ordinance to“rectify” the SupremeCourt's recent decision onreservation in jobs for SC-ST communities and allsuch issues should beincluded in the NinthSchedule of theConstitution to insulatethem from judicial review,Union minister Ram VilasPaswan said on Friday.

He said the governmentwas also mulling filing areview against theSupreme Court decisionand was taking legal opin-ion on it.

“The review petition isthere, but the matter willagain go to court, it has tobe looked at whether itwill be successful or not.So, in my opinion the eas-iest way is to issue anordinance and make anamendment in theConstitution,” Mr Paswantold PTI in an interview.

The LJP leader’sremarks come amidst a

political storm after theapex court recently ruledthat the states are notbound to provide reserva-tion for Scheduled Castes(SCs) and ScheduledTribes (STs) in appoint-ments and there is no fun-damental right to claimquota in promotions.

“The Supreme Courtsaying that it is up to thestate government for giv-ing reservation in jobsand it is not a fundamen-tal right...This is all partof the Constitution, andthe people have this objec-tion that the verdict isagainst the interests ofthe SCs and STs,” MrPaswan said.

To “rectify” the Supreme

Court verdict, an ordi-nance should be broughtand the Constitutionshould be amended, theminister said.

An ordinance can bebrought when Parliamentis not in session. However,if the government stillwants to bring one duringa break in an ongoing ses-sion, one of the twoHouses is adjourned sinedie (indefinitely), and oncethe ordinance is signed bythe President, the Housethat was adjourned for thepurpose is reconvened, asenior government officialsaid. There have beenprecedents.

The ordinance has ashelf life of six months.Once a session begins ithas to be converted into alaw within six weeks, orelse it lapses.

LJP chief ChiragPaswan had also raisedthe matter in Lok Sabhaand demanded that allsuch matters related withSC/ST be put in the NinthSchedule, Mr Paswansaid. — PTI

Govt should bring ordinanceon quota in jobs, says Paswan

■ Continued from Page 1corrupt,” tweeted BJPnational spokesmanSambit Patra.

Taking on the Congressleader for his remarks, BJPMP Meenakshi Lekhi said:“Sad people with this mind-set still find relevance inIndian politics. It’s becauseof such an ethos that politi-cian are called vultures.You lost two members fromyour family at the hands ofterrorists, who benefitedfrom deaths of Mrs IndiraGandhi and Mr RajivGandhi?”

Another BJP MP, G.V.L.Narasimha Rao said thatwhen the nation was pay-ing homage to martyrs ofthe dastardly Pulwamaattack, Mr Gandhi, “aknown sympathiser of LeTand JeM”, attacks not just

the government but thesecurity forces as well, andthe Congress leader “willnever question real culprit,Pakistan”.

CPI(M) general secretarySitaram Yechury also paidhis “heartfelt homage” tothe martyrs of the “ghastlyterror attack”, and wantedto know what had beendone for the survivors andthe families of those whohad laid their lives downfor the nation.

“Modi and the BJP direct-ly asked for votes in thename of the martyrs ofPulwama. Where is theinquiry report one year onafter the terror attack?Who has been held account-able for the loss of so manylives and the massive intel-ligence failure?#Pulwama,” he tweeted.

Pulwama sets off a fresh clash■ Continued from Page 1deposit `10,000 crores out ofits dues of about `55,000crores within a week, therewas no word from Vodafoneon the payment of dues.

The court on Friday issuedshowcause notices to themanaging directors/direc-tors of the telecom serviceproviders, asking why con-tempt proceedings shouldnot be initiated againstthem for not complying withits 2019 order to pay the gov-ernment `92,000 crores indues.

The court order said: “It ismade clear that in case theorder passed by this court isnot complied with, the abovepersons shall remain per-sonally present in court onthe next date of hearing.”

Besides this, the court alsotook a serious view of the

“temerity” of a DoT deskofficer in directing theaccountant-general, a con-stitutional authority, “not toinsist for any payment pur-suant to the order passed bythis court and not to takeany coercive steps till fur-ther orders”.

Observing that this wasnothing but “staying” itsOctober 2019 order, the courtsaid: “This is nothing but adevice to scuttle the order ofthis court. This kind oforder should not have beenpassed by the desk officer atall.”

“In the circumstances”,the court said, “we drawcontempt proceedingsagainst the desk officer forpassing the order and violat-ing the order passed by thiscourt.” The court asked thedesk officer to file his reply.

SC warns telcos

■ Continued from Page 1on the Lok Sabha elections.”

Asked whether MrKejriwal could become theface of the Opposition in thenext Lok Sabha elections,Mr Rai said that the AAPsupremo had alreadybecome the face of positivenationalism and peopleacross the country relate tothis kind of nationalism. Hesaid: “Kejriwalji is not a face

of the Opposition. He is theface of the politics of work.He also attracts BJP sup-porters. The Delhi pollswere a fight between nega-tive nationalism and posi-tive nationalism. The BJP isstanding with negativenationalism and the AAP iswith positive nationalism.”

Terming the BJP’s nation-alism “negative”, Mr Raisaid the AAP will expand its

base by highlighting “posi-tive nationalism”. He said:“In Delhi, we spread positivenationalism, which is basedon love and respect. TheBJP’s nationalism is basedon hatred and divisive poli-tics... The experiment doneby the AAP in Delhi hasbecome a role model for theentire country. Our positivenationalism gives a guaran-tee of good education,

healthcare and livelihood toevery section of society,including farmers.”

On the BJP’s attack on MrKejriwal for reciting theHanuman Chalisa on a TVchannel in the run-up to theDelhi Assembly polls, MrRai said for the saffronparty, religion is a “politicalweapon”, but for the peopleof the country, religion is abelief.

After Delhi, AAP plans to go national

■ Continued from Page 1allow some access toIndia’s dairy market,but with a five per centtariff and quotas, thesources said. But dairyimports will need a cer-tificate they are notderived from animalsthat have consumedfeeds including inter-nal organs, blood mealor tissues of rumi-nants.

New Delhi has alsooffered to lower its 50per cent tariffs on verylarge motorcycles madeby Harley-Davidson, atax that was a particu-lar irritant for MrTrump, who haslabelled India the “tar-iff king”. The changewould be largely sym-bolic because few suchmotorcycles are sold inIndia.

Mr Trump will befeted in Mr Modi’shome state of Gujarat,then hold talks in NewDelhi and attend areception that the hostshave promised will bebigger than the oneorganised for formerPresident BarackObama in 2015.

It is far from clear,however, whetherIndia’s offers will beenough to satisfy UStrade representative

Robert Lighthizer, whocancelled plans for atrip to India this week.Instead, he has heldtelephone talks withIndia’s commerce min-ister Piyush Goyal.

The US dairy indus-try remained scepticalThursday that a viabledeal is at hand. “We’realways looking for mar-ket access, but in termsof India, as of today I’mnot aware of any realprogress going on,”said Michael Dykes,president of theInternational DairyFoods Association anda member of theUSTR’s agriculturaltrade policy advisorycommittee.

Mr Dykes said the USdairy industry waslooking for access inviable commercialquantities. Also, anIndian parliamentarypanel is reviewing adraft data privacy lawthat imposes stringentcontrols over cross-bor-der data flows and givesthe government powersto seek user data fromcompanies.

It is not clear if it willbe passed, or in whatform, but the possibili-ties have unnerved UScompanies and couldraise compliance

requirements forGoogle, Amazon andFacebook.

The draft law is notpart of the trade dis-cussions, Indian offi-cials say, because theissue is too difficult toresolve at the sametime.

“The privacy andlocalisation piece willbe raised independent-ly and in concert withtrade discussions,” saida Washington-basedsource with knowledgeof the US administra-tion’s thinking.

Mr Trump was non-committal on Tuesdayon sealing a trade dealbefore his visit. “If wecan make the rightdeal, we’ll do it,” hetold reporters.

Two US sources saidprogress had beenmade on proposedalterations to the med-ical device price caps.India’s new import tar-iffs on medical devices,walnuts, toys, electron-ics and other productsin this year’s Budget onFebruary 1 surprisedUS negotiators.

The new tariffs wereaimed at China, thatalso makes medicaldevices, according toan Indian source.

— Reuters

CRPF personnel pay tribute at a memorial at Letapora in Pulwama district of South Kashmir on Friday to the 40CRPF jawans who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack in February last year. The memorial is inscribed with thenames of all the 40 troopers along with their photographs and the motto of the Central Reserve Police Force —'Seva and Nishtha' (Service and Loyalty). — PTI

◗ JusticeDharmadhikari saidhe had been elevat-ed as Chief Justiceof some other statewhere he does notwant to go. Hewants to remain inMumbai because hehas some personalresponsibilities.S.C. Dharmadhikari

Remembering martyrs

AGE CORRESPONDENT with agency inputsNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

The railways’ next edi-tion of the RamayanaExpress, which takes pil-grims to locations associ-ated with Lord Ram, willgive passengers the feel ofbeing on a temple onwheels. The special fea-ture of the train will beRamayana-themed interi-ors and bhajans playingon board.

The train is likely to belaunched after March 10,Railway Board chairmanV.K. Yadav said and addedthat its annual schedulewill be released in thecoming week.

“The train will origi-nate from different loca-tions — north, south, eastand west — so that peoplefrom across the countrycan avail its services. Theexterior and the interiorof the train will beRamayana-themed. We

can have bhajans playingon board. IRCTC is plan-ning the schedule andpackages, and we are hoping to run the trainafter Holi,” Mr Yadavsaid.

Earlier, the railways rana special train namedafter Lord Ram, coveringthe destinations associat-ed with the mythologicalcharacter. This traincalled the ‘ShriRamayana Express’,which can carry 800 pas-sengers, started its serv-ice from November 14.

While the ShriRamayana Express cov-ered important destina-tions of the Ramayanacircuit such asNandigram, Sitamarhi,Janakpur, Varanasi,Prayag, Shringverpur,Chitrakoot, Nasik,Hampi, Ayodhya andRameshwaram, the itin-erary of the newRamayana train is yet tobe revealed.

SRIDHARKUMARASWAMINEW DELHI, FEB. 14

A day after a group of 25foreign envoys concludeda two-day visit to Jammuand Kashmir, theEuropean Union (EU) said“the visit confirmed thatthe Government of Indiahas taken positive steps torestore normalcy” butadded that it is importantthat the remaining restric-tions be lifted swiftly”.

The EU also said that it“recognises the serioussecurity concerns” ofIndian authorities, and

that “the visit presented awelcome opportunity tosee the situation on theground and to interactwith local interlocutors”.The EU’s statement isbeing seen as setting thestage for Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s expectedvisit to the Belgian capitalBrussels next month forthe 15th India-EU Summit.

“The EU ambassador toIndia along with someambassadors of EU mem-ber states accepted theinvitation extended by theGovernment of India tovisit Srinagar andJammu, on February 12-13

... The visit confirmed thatthe Government of Indiahas taken positive steps torestore normalcy. Somerestrictions remain,notably on Internet accessand mobile services, andsome political leaders arestill in detention. Whilewe recognise the serioussecurity concerns, it isimportant that theremaining restrictions belifted swiftly. The visit pre-sented a welcome opportu-nity to see the situation onthe ground and to interactwith local interlocutors,”the EU spokesperson forforeign affairs and securi-

ty policy Virginie Battu-Henriksson said.

“The programme of thevisit organised by theGovernment of Indiaincluded meetings withcivil and military authori-ties, some political repre-sentatives, as well asselected representatives ofcivil society and the busi-ness community. ...We lookforward to continuing thedialogue with India on thesituation in the region,”the EU added.

About half of the 25 for-eign envoys who formedthe second batch of for-eign envoys visiting J&K

had significantly belongedto the European Unionmember nations, includ-ing Germany and France.The envoys had visitedSrinagar on Wednesdayand Jammu on Thursday.As many as 12 of the for-eign envoys wereEuropeans. While 11 werefrom EU member-nations,one was the EU envoy.

Apart from the EU envoy,the EU member-nationsnations represented were— Austria, Bulgaria, CzechRepublic, Denmark,France, Germany, Hungary,Italy, the Netherlands,Poland and Slovakia.

‘India has taken steps to restore normalcy in Valley’

Ramayana-themed train set to launch next month

India may open poultry...

Ram Vilas Paswan

■ Finance ministry to give details of Vivad se Vishwas scheme soon

LALIT K JHAWASHINGTON, FEB. 14

India urgently needsmore ambitious structur-al and financial sectorreform measures and amedium-term fiscal con-solidation strategy due tothe rising debt levelswhile ensuring a moreaccommodative fiscalstance in the budget, theIMF has said.

Responding to a ques-tion on India’s budget,International MonetaryFund (IMF) spokesper-son Gerry Rice said theeconomic environmentin India is weaker thanwhat the organisationhad forecast earlier.

"While the budgettouches on ongoing sec-toral efforts, thereremains an urgent needfor more ambitiousstructural and financialsector reform meas-ures,” Rice said. —PTI

MICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, FEB. 14

The Supreme Court onFriday rejected theFederation of AutomobileDealers Associations’(FADA) appeal to extendthe deadline for sales ofBS-IV vehicles beyondMarch 31.

The new and stringentBS-VI emission norms aremandated to be imple-mented from April 1 allover the country.

FADA had asked for aone-month extension ofthe deadline, which wasrejected by the apex court.

The FADA appeal wasbased on the fact that theauto industry is facing asignificant slowdown inboth wholesale and retail.

At present, the overallsales for the auto industryin January was 1,739,975units, down 13.83 per cent,with passenger vehicles at262,714 units, down 6.2 percent, commercial vehiclesat 75,289 units, down 14.4per cent, three-wheelersat 60,903 units, up 12.69cent and two-wheelers at1,341,005 units, down 16.06per cent.

The auto dealers lobbyhad filed the applicationin Supreme Court onDecember 18, seeking

modification of itsOctober 2018 order, wherethe apex court orderedthat no BS-IV vehicles canbe sold after March 31,2020.

Automobile dealers hadpreviously said that theymight fail to liquidate theBS-IV inventory beforethis timeline.

With the new emissionnorms set to be imple-mented in less than twomonths time, severalautomakers, includingmarket leader MarutiSuzuki, Tata Motors,Hyundai and Mahindra,have already transitioneda major chunk of theirproduct portfolio to BS-VIfrom BS-IV.

Earlier on Monday,Mahindra had said that itwas stuck with some 3,000BS IV vehicles, as a coupleof couple of electroniccomponents were inshort-supply over theChina lockdown, andmight move the apexcourt for a relaxation ofthe March 31 deadline tosell the units.

FADA represents over15,000 automobile dealershaving 25,000 dealershipsacross India and employover 2.5 million directlyand another 2.5 millionindirectly.

Ready to go beyond Budgetto boost growth: Sitharaman

Urgent needfor more

reforms: IMF

DAVID RAMLI & ABHISHEK VISHNOISINGAPORE, FEB. 14

In the high-stakes world of giftgiving in Asia’s financial hubs,Montblanc pens and leatherfolios are out -- toilet paper andsurgical masks are most defi-nitely in.

As fears of the novel coron-avirus (Covid-19) spread acrossthe region, pharmacies andsupermarkets in Hong Kongand Singapore are running out

of basic supplies like toiletpaper, paper towels, hand sani-tiser and especially masks.

That’s created an opportunityfor financial service providerslooking to wow clients and bol-ster relationships. TheSingapore arm of online trad-ing provider IG Group wentviral after handing out partypacks with 3M Co’s N95 facemasks, digital thermometersand bottles of Dettol antiseptic.

IG began distributing thegifts after Singapore raised theviral alert to orange—a critical

level. What started as an amus-ing idea from the company’slocal management team quick-ly spiraled and now its staffand clients have been receivingthe care packs in the office andvia mail. The gift has proventimely with some banks acrossthe central business districtevacuating their offices andrequiring employees to workfrom home.

“It all started as a precautionfor friends and family and thenothers started asking how toget the masks and other

things,“ said Terence Tan,head of business developmentat IG Asia Pte. “So we thought:Why not get these things forour staff and clients?”

He said the first packages forclients went out today andthey’ll send out more packagesas additional supplies come in.

American Joel Werner runs ahedge fund, Solitude CapitalManagement in Hong Kong. OnFebruary 10, he bought theequivalent of 216 rolls of toiletpaper on Amazon.com Inc.after his family tried in vain

for days to find any in HongKong. The shipping alone cost$200 but he thinks it was worthit. He kept half of the bountyand plans to give the other halfto friends and colleagues.

“It’s a better gift than winenow,” he said.

Household items also aregaining traction in the sociallives of those in the financialhubs. Friends gathering at arestaurant in Hong Kong thisweek were asked to bring con-tributions of face masks or toi-let paper for a lucky draw.

And in a sign of love in thetime of the coronavirus, photosof bouquets stuffed withinstant noodles and vegetablesinstead of roses are making therounds of Singapore’s financeWhatsApp groups forValentine’s Day after a run onsupermarkets forced them toimpose limits on shoppers.

It all goes to show that whencrisis strikes, it’s the thought -and thickness of the toilet tis-sue—that counts.

—Bloomberg

SC rejects plea formore time to sell BS-IV vehicles

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, FEB. 14

The Karnataka HighCourt has ordered a stayon the competition watch-dog’s investigationsagainst e-commerce big-gies Amazon and Flipkart.

The court felt that theongoing investigation bythe EnforcementDirectorate (ED) shouldbe first completed beforethe CompetitionCommission of Indiacould initiate a probe. Lastyear, the ED had initiatedan investigation againstAmazon and Flipkart foralleged violation of for-eign direct investment(FDI) laws. The courtopined that FDI violations

being in the realm of theED and the adjudicatingauthority under the Fema,the case of CCI vs BhartiAirtel would apply to thiscase as well and the EDwould have to give itsreport before the CCIcould proceed with thematter.

The HC also noted thatwhile the CCI had askedAmazon for its commentsin a previous case filedby All-India OnlineVendors’ Association, itshould have also calledthe parties in the currentcase.

Amazon had filed a writpetition in the court onMonday against the probeordered by CCI inJanuary. The Competition

Commission had orderedthe probe against bothAmazon and Flipkart in acomplaint filed by theDelhi Vyapar Mahasangh(DVM), representing smallbusinesses. The petitionerhad alleged that the e-com-merce companies wereviolating the competitionlaws.

In its plea, Amazon hadsought "quashing and set-ting aside" of the CCI'sprobe order datedJanuary 13, claiming thatthe fair competitionwatchdog passed ordersagainst the company with-out applying mind andcaused serious loss to itsreputation.

Commenting on the stay,Amazon said: “while we

welcome and respect thedecision of the Hon’bleHigh Court of Karnataka,this is just a step in thelegal process. We are con-fident about our compli-ance”.

Both Delhi VyaparMahasangh andConfederation of All IndiaTraders (Cait), which hadimpleaded as a party tothe case, have decided tofile an appeal against theorder of the High Courtsoon. Meanwhile, Caitsaid it will ask the Uniongovernment to speed upthe ED investigation.

The court has asked therespondents in the matter,including CCI and Cait tofile their responses withineight weeks.

Amazon gets stay against CCI investigation

RAVI RANJAN PRASADMUMBAI, FEB.14

Telecom stocks ofVodafone Idea, BhartiInfratel, Bharti Airtel,Reliance Industries andtheir lenders were impact-ed after Supreme Courtcame down heavily on tele-com companies and gov-ernment officials for non-compliance of its October24 order to pay dues andrefused any relief in pay-ment of AGR dues anddirected them to pay up byMarch 16.

The telecom companies,Vodfone Idea, Bharti Airteland Tata Teleservices andHughes, had sought a mod-ification of the court orderin the light of the financialdistress.

The Supreme Court,however, made it clear thatthey will have to cough upRs 1.47 lakh crore inadjusted gross revenue(AGR) dues.

Shares of Vodafone Ideafell over 27 per cent totouch a low of Rs 3.25 onthe BSE and later closed23.21 per cent down at Rs3.44. Vodafone Idea postedover Rs 6,400 crore loss inthe third quarter, asreported by the companyon Thursday.

Bharti Airtel shares rose4.69 per cent to close at anew high of Rs 565.However, shares of anoth-er Bharti Group company,Bharti Infratel, fell 4.04 percent to Rs 235.25.

Reliance Industries,which owns Reliance Jio,gained 0.86 per cent clos-ing at Rs 1486.65.

Shares of lenders likeSBI and IndusInd Bank,which have big exposure tothe telecom companies fac-ing AGR dues, also fell by2.41 per cent and 4.38 percent, respectively.

Non-telecom PSUs sad-dled with AGR dues alsofell as the apex court alsodismissed similar pleas bynon-telecom PSUs, asking

them to challenge the gov-ernment demand noticesin appropriate fora.

Non-telecom PSUs losersincluded Gail India (-5.91per cent), Power GridCorporation (-3.26 percent) and Oil India (-2.87per cent).

The apex court’s strongwords means end of theroad on any further exten-sion of AGR dues, analystsaid.

“No company has paidthese dues for 20 years,”Justice Arun Mishra said.“This corruption mustend.”

“A review has been dis-

missed. There’s no stay,but not a penny has beenpaid,” Justice Mishra said.The bench of judges hear-ing the matter listed thecase for further hearingon March 17.

Jimeet Modi, founder &CEO, Samco Securities,said, "Supreme Court rul-ing on AGR dues is a bigjolt to Vodafone Idea andBharti Group…But, giventhe fundraising done byBharti Airtel, it seemsthat the company wouldremain ironclad from thisjudgment, Vodafone, how-ever, would suffer tremen-dously."

Supreme Court stancejolts several stocks

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, FEB. 14

Cotton Corporation ofIndia, which is stuck withexpensive cotton stocks,has received almost nilallocation for the next fis-cal against Rs 2,000 croreprovided in the previousbudget. The textile indus-try hopes that this willhelp correct the price dis-tortion in the market.

CCI had received an allo-cation of Rs 2,017 crore inthe previous budget, butthis time, the Budget 2010-21 has allocated only Rs0.01 crore.

“CCI is stuck witharound 50 to 60 lakh bales(one bale is 356 kg) of cot-ton procured from farmersas the agency is quoting aprice of about Rs 46,000 perbale against the currentmarket price of around Rs40,000. CCI had procuredthis stock at the MinimumSupport Price,’ said K.Selvaraj, secretary gener-al, South Indian Mills

Association.According to Sanjay Jain,

former chairman ofConfederation of IndianTextile Industry, CCI hadplanned to procure 80 to 90lakh bales of cotton. “Theycan procure the rest of thetarget by liquidating thecurrent stock. They actual-ly do not need additionalcapital,” he said.

However, this looks diffi-cult as CCI officials havealready announced thatthey will not sell the stockat a loss. In that case, fur-ther procurement of cot-ton from farmers remainsdoubtful.

CCI also cannot keep thestock for long, long storagewill affect the quality ofcotton. Further, cottonmills will prefer to importcheaper cotton rather thanbuying it from CCI at ahigher price.

The cotton price outlookalso looks rather gloomy inthe near- to medium-term.“After the arrival season,the export demand should

have picked up by now andlifted the prices. However,the coronavirus infectionin China has affected theexport demand and weanticipate further correc-tion in cotton prices,’ saidAjitesh Mullick, assistantvice-president, retailresearch, Religare Commo-dities.

The textile industry wel-comes the decision to cutthe allocation. “This willcorrect the price distortionin the market and makeIndian textile productsmore competitive in theinternational market,’ saidJain.

The higher MSP of cot-ton has been making theentire value chain costlier.“The government shoulddo away with MSP and pro-vide incentives to farmersthrough Direct BenefitTransfer. This will ensureproductivity and incomeimprove at the farm levelwithout raising cost of theraw material for the textilesector,” said Selvaraj.

Cotton Corp gets no fundsand industry is too happy

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 41,257.74 -0.49Nifty 50 12,113.50 -0.50S&P 500* 3,378.56 0.14Dollar (`) 71.39 0.07Pound Sterling (`) 93.06 0.36Euro (`) 77.50 -0.25Gold (10gm)* (`) 41,481▼75 0.18Brent crude ($/bbl)* 57.06 1.28IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.369 -0.864US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 1.585 -1.979

* As of 9:30 pm IST

SpiceJet posts`73 crore net profit in Q3SpiceJet reported a net profit ofRs 73.2 crore in the third quar-ter against Rs 55.1 crore a yearago and said Boeing has offeredan interim compensation overthe grounding of MAX planes.SpiceJet expects to take a deci-sion on Boeing compensationbefore March-end, CFO KiranKoteshwar said. Total incomerose to Rs 3,917.34 crore fromRs 2,530.84 crore. Standaloneprofit from air transport services(airline) was Rs 115 crore.

Forex reservessoar to record$473 billion

The country's foreign exchangereserves rose by $1.701 billionto a record high of $473 billionin the week to February 7 onaccount of an increase in for-eign currency assets. In the pre-vious week, the forex reserveshad swollen by $4.607 billion to$471.3 billion. Foreign currencyassets, a major component ofthe overall reserves, rose by$1.938 billion to $439.186 bil-lion. Gold reserves declined by$218 million to $28.779 billion.

Forms for lowercorporatetaxes notifiedThe Income Tax Departmenthas notified forms for compa-nies to avail of the reduced cor-porate tax rates that wereannounced in September lastyear. The Central Board ofDirect Taxes has notified Forms10-IC and 10-ID for existingcompanies that want to avail oflower I-T rate and new manu-facturing firms, respectively. InSept., the Centre announced acut in base corporate tax forexisting companies.

Srei Infra’s consolidated netfalls 34% to `60 cr

Printed & Published by T Venkateswarlu on behalf of DeccanChronicle Holdings Limited. Printed atBFL Infotech Ltd, C-9 Sector 3, Noida-201301. Published at 219, N D Tiwari

Bhawan, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg,New Delhi-110002.

Editor: T.Venkatram Reddy, RNIRegistration number 30074/09, Air sur-

charge Re 1. © All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part with-out written permission of The Editor,Financial Chronicle ® is prohibited.

Srei Infrastructure Financereported a 34.4 per cent fall inconsolidated net profit at Rs 60crore for the December quarterfrom Rs 91.41 crore in the year-ago period. Total consolidatedincome was down at Rs 1,402.81crore from Rs 1,722.52 crore..Hemant Kanoria, chairman, Srei,said: "For last few years, ourfocus has been to grow ourequipment finance portfolio,where we are witnessing asilent recovery in demand.”

pg 9SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

New Delhi, Feb. 14:Finance minister NirmalaSitharaman on Friday saidthat if required, the gov-ernment would take moresteps beyond the Budgetannouncements to boosteconomic activities.

At an interactive sessionon 'Budget and Beyond'with professionals fromasset management, wealthadvisory, tax consultancyand other related indus-tries, the minister also saidBudget 2020-21’s impact onequity, bond and currencymarkets would be positive.

"If more has to be donebeyond the Budget 2020, weare willing to do that,"Sitharaman said at the ses-sion, where the partici-pants made several sugges-tions to boost economicactivities in the country.

The government annou-nced a host of steps in thebudget, to expand the eco-nomic activities at a timewhen the country is facedwith a demand slowdown.

During the interactivesession, participants madesuggestions for increasingconsumption, giving moremoney into the hands ofconsumers, measuresrequired to boost liquidityand hosts of suggestionsfor the capital markets.

Several suggestions werealso made on the 'Vivad se

Vishwas' scheme to dealwith the disputes related to

the direct taxes. She saidthe finance ministry will

provide details of thescheme soon. —PTI

Toilet paper is the hot new currency in Singapore & HK

New Delhi, Feb. 14: With asharp rise in the prices offood articles like onionand potato, the wholesaleprice inflation, or WPI,for January rose to 3.1 percent, from 2.59 per cent inDecember and 2.76 percent in January 2019.

The food articles saw an11.51 per cent jump inprices in January from2.41 per cent a month ear-lier. Vegetable pricessurged by 52.72 per cent,mainly over onion, whichsaw a 293.37 per cent jumpin prices. —FC Bureau

WPI inflation rises to 3.1% New Delhi, Feb. 14: Thecountry's exports dropped1.66 per cent to $25.97 bil-lion in January, the sixthstraight month of con-traction, owing to a signif-icant fall in shipments ofpetroleum, plastic, carpet,gems and jewellery, andleather products. Importsalso fell for the eighth con-secutive months, down

0.75 per cent to $41.14 bil-lion, widening the tradedeficit to a seven-monthhigh of $15.17 billion.Gold imports shrunk byabout 9 per cent to $1.58billion in January.

Of the 30 key sectors, 18segments showed nega-tive growth in exports lastmonth. —FC Bureau

Exports contract by 1.6%

New Delhi, Feb 14: Withthe Supreme Court onFriday taking a strongview of non-complianceof its order on payment ofstatutory dues by telecomfirms, the situation forVodafone Idea is "particu-larly vulnerable" and therisk of duopoly in the sec-tor is higher than before,according to an analyst.

"There is no questionthat this is bad news forthe telecom industry. Itmakes situation ofVodafone Idea particular-ly vulnerable, even morethan it was," MaheshUppal, director at consult-ing firm Com First India,said. He also said the riskof a duopoly in telecomsector is higher thanbefore.

Now there are three pri-vate players in the Indianmobile market —BhartiAirtel, Vodafone Idea andReliance Jio— besides theailing BSNL & MTNL.

Uppal said the room formanoeuvre is less now forthe operators, but addedthat if the governmentsaw the situation as long-term problem, it could

consider a policy change.The Supreme Court

directed the managingdirectors and directors oftelcos and other firms toexplain why contemptaction be not takenagainst them for non-com-pliance of its order to payAGR of Rs 1.47 lakh croreto the Department ofTelecommunications.

Taking strong note ofthe non-compliance of itsorder, a bench of JusticeArun Mishra, Justice SAbdul Nazeer and JusticeM R Shah expressedanguish over the orderpassed by DoT's desk offi-cer, staying the effect ofits verdict in AGR matter.

"We don't know who iscreating this nonsense. Isthere no law left in coun-try... It is better not to livein this country and ratherleave the country," thebench observed.

In all, 15 entities owe thegovernment Rs 1.47 lakhcrore— Rs 92,642 crore inunpaid licence fee and Rs55,054 crore in outstand-ing spectrum usagecharges.

— PTI

Risk of duopoly in telecom seen

Adine Roode, founder of the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development center, tries to feed Khanysia, afive-month-old albino elephant in Hoedspruit, South Africa. Khanysia was severely wounded by a manmade snareset by a poacher in the lower Kruger park. She was found days later severely dehydrated and brought to theHoedspruit elephant rehab center. — AP

Seoul, Feb. 14: A tearfulreunion between a motherand her dead daughter viaadvanced virtual realityfor a South Korean televi-sion has become an onlinehit, triggering fiercedebate about voyeurismand exploitation.

The footage began withthe girl — who died ofleukaemia in 2016 —emerging from behind apile of wood in a park, as ifplaying hide-and-seek.

“Mum, where have youbeen,” she asks. “I’vemissed you a lot. Have youmissed me?”

Tears streaming downher face, Jang Ji-sungreached out towards her,wracked with emotion.

“I have missed you Na-

yeon,” she told the com-puter-generated six-year-old, her hands moving tostroke her hair.

But in the real world,Jang was standing in frontof a studio green screen,wearing a virtual realityheadset and touch-sensi-tive gloves, her daughter’sashes in a locket aroundher neck.

At times the camera cutto Jang’s watching hus-band and their three sur-viving children, wipingaway tears of their own.

A nine-minute clip of theMunhwa BroadcastingCorporation (MBC) docu-mentary I Met You hasbeen watched more than13 million times in a weekon Youtube. Many viewers

offered Jang their sympa-thy and support for theconcept. “My motherunexpectedly passed away

two years ago and I wish Icould meet her throughvirtual reality,” said one.

But media columnist

Park Sang-hyun said thedocumentary amounted toexploitation of personalpain.

“It’s understandable agrief-stricken motherwould wish to meet herlate daughter. I would dothe same,” he said.

“The problem lies in thatthe broadcaster has takenadvantage of a vulnerablemother who lost a child forsake of the viewer rat-ings.”

“If the mother had beencounselled before the film-ing,” he added, “I wonderwhat kind of a psychia-trist would approve this.”

It took eight months offilming and programmingto create the virtual Na-yeon, but the makers of

the documentary insistedthe broadcast was intend-ed to “console the family”rather than promote virtu-al reality in ultra-wiredSouth Korea.

The technology present-ed a “new way to keeploved ones in memory”,one of the producers toldreporters.

Jang herself — who hasher daughter’s name anddate of birth tattooed onher arm in memory —hoped the programmecould “console” otherswho had lost loved ones.

“Even though it was avery brief... I was reallyhappy in the moment,” shewrote on her blog — whichshe has since turned pri-vate. — AFP

Mom ‘reunites’ with dead daughter in VR showThe nine-minute clip has been watched more than 13 mn times in a week MEMORY | POWER

WORLD pg 10THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

IN BRIEF

Indian visits UAE,kills wife

Turkish novelistacquitted

Mali policemanescapes jihadists

Tractors snarlValencia

Dubai: An Indian in the UAEhas allegedly stabbed his

wife to death with a sharp-edged weapon over suspect-

ed infidelity outside heroffice here, media reports

said on Friday. She wasstabbed three times with a

knife in the UAE’s most pop-ulous city, Khaleej Times

reported. The 44-year-oldman, who was in Dubai on avisit visa, killed his wife over

suspicion that she wascheating on him, the Courtof First Instance has heard.

Istanbul: A Turkish court onFriday acquitted renowned

novelist Asli Erdogan oncharges of membership ofan armed terror organisa-tion. The court in Istanbul

also acquitted Erdogan, whois living in exile in Germany,

of disrupting the unity of thestate. Erdogan, whose books

have been translated intovarious different languages,was an occasional columnist

for pro-Kurdish newspaperOzgur Gundem which wasshut down after the failed2016 coup against Turkish

President Recep TayyipErdogan.

Bamako: A Malian policeofficer captured by jihadists

escaped and trekked 80kilometres to freedom, offi-cials said. Al-Qaeda-linked

militants attacked a camp inSokolo, central Mali, on

January 26, killing 20 gen-darmes and wounding five

more. The Group to SupportIslam and Muslims claimed

responsibility and said it hadalso captured three gen-

darmes, members of apolice force under military

control. But one captivemanaged to slip away and

walked 80 km south througharid terrain before reaching

the town of Niono, a localgendarme said on Friday,speaking on condition of

anonymity. The individualwas identified as a non-com-

missioned officer but hisname was not given.

Madrid: Thousands ofSpanish farmers were out

protesting on Friday, theirtractors gridlocking thestreets of Spain’s third-

largest city as they demand-ed “fair prices” for their

products. Since the end ofJanuary, thousands of farm-

ers and livestock breedershave joined a growing wave

of protest over low pricesand rising production costs

which unions say have erod-ed profitability across the

sector. During the late morn-ing, thousands of demon-strators and hundreds of

tractors brought the coastalcity of Valencia to a halt,

with tractors also blockingmany roads in the southernAndalusia region. Other ral-

lies were taking place inAsturias in the north as well

as in the northeastern regionof Catalonia.

Washington, Feb. 14:They’re flooding the air-waves with campaign adstargeting Donald Trump.And they’re paying forthem with their ownmoney.

Billionaires MikeBloomberg and TomSteyer have invested hun-dreds of millions of dol-lars in their efforts to winthe Democratic Party’spresidential nomination.And so far, it seems likethat strategy is working.

Bloomberg — whoskipped the Iowa caucus-es and New Hampshireprimary — is mountingin nationwide polls, whileSteyer is gaining groundin South Carolina, a keystate that votes later thismonth.

But some of their rivalsare crying foul, accusingthem of corrupting theparty’s contest for theright to take on Trump inNovember.

“He’s part of the prob-lem,” frontrunner BernieSanders said in an inter-view with SiriusXMradio.

“Look: Bloomberg —anybody else in America— has the right to run forpresident, but I think in ademocracy, you do nothave the right to buy thepresidency.”

From when he enteredthe White House race inNovember until end of2019, the 77-year-oldBloomberg, a mediamogul and former NewYork mayor, spent about$200 million of his ownmoney on ads, his cam-paign said.

According to tracking

firm AdvertisingAnalytics, he spent morethan $300 million throughearly February.

“It’s completely unique.There’s been nothing likethis in the history ofAmerican politics,” saidBill Sweeney, an experton politics at AmericanUniversity.

Bloomberg — the ninthrichest person in theworld, according toForbes with a net worthof more than $55 billion— has shaken up theDemocratic presidentialcampaign.

While most other con-tenders have been on thetrail for more than a yearmeeting voters, the adblitz by the one-timeRepublican has alreadyhad a serious impact.

Bloomberg is now run-ning third in nationwidepolls behind Sanders andformer vice-president JoeBiden, according to anaverage compiled byRealClearPolitics.

Of course, polls at thisstage of the game are tobe taken with a grain ofsalt, because the racereally is a state-by-stateaffair.

But even on that level,Bloomberg is investing,building a vast grassrootsstaff and setting up cam-paign offices. Some of hisrivals cannot afford tomatch such a presence.

Bloomberg is lookingahead to Super Tuesdayon March 3, when votersin 14 states will cast theirballots. He will also for-mally skip the Nevadacaucuses and the SouthCarolina primary. — AFP

Sydney, Feb. 14: The finalappeal by Cardinal GeorgePell against his child sexabuse convictions will be heldby Australia’s High Court onMarch 11-12, the courtannounced on Friday.

It is the final avenue for the78-year-old — who is serving asix-year sentence for sexuallyassaulting two choirboys in aMelbourne cathedral in the1990s — to get out of jail.

The former Vatican treasur-er, who once helped electpopes, was found guilty by ajury in December 2018 of fivecharges of abusing the choir-boys when he was the arch-bishop of Melbourne.

He was sentenced the follow-ing March and lost a firstappeal in August in Victoriastate’s Court of Appeal in alandmark decision that sawthe judges split in a 2-1 verdict.

That division — which sawtwo judges back the jury’s ver-dict and the dissenting judgeside with Pell — is at the fore-front of his latest bid to over-turn the convictions.

The case pitted the most sen-ior convicted Catholic childmolester against a formerchoirboy now in his 30s, whotwo of the judges found to be“very compelling” and some-one who “was clearly not aliar, was not a fantasist andwas a witness of truth”.

The third judge, however,found the victim's account“contained discrepancies”.

APPEAL OVERPELL CONVICTIONSET FOR MARCH

The documentary showcasing advanced virtual realitytechnology by engineering an encounter between amother and her dead daughter, has triggering an out-pouring of sympathy and debate over the issue. — AFP

Islamabad, Feb. 14:Turkish President TayyipErdogan on Friday said hewould help Pakistan stayoff a terrorism financingblacklist at a meeting of aglobal finance watchdog, amove he suggested wouldcounter “political pres-sure” from Islamabad’scritics.

The Financial ActionTask Force (FATF), whichtackles money laundering,told Islamabad late lastyear that it could faceblacklisting if it continuedto apply inadequate con-trols over terrorismfinancing.

The FATF is meeting

next week in France, andsupport from Turkey andlongtime allies like China,Malaysia and SaudiArabia could helpPakistan remain off theblacklist.

A minimum of threevotes are required for anycountry to escape theblacklisting.

If it joined the blacklistalongside Iran and NorthKorea, Islamabad wouldface sanctions and eco-nomic setbacks at a timewhen its economy is strug-gling with a balance ofpayment crisis.

“We will be supportingPakistan at the Financial

Action Task Force meet-ings, where Pakistan issubject to political pres-sure,” Erdogan toldPakistan’s parliament aday after he arrived inIslamabad.

The FATF already hasPakistan on its “gray-list”of countries with inade-quate controls over curb-ing money laundering andterrorism financing. ButIndia, which came close towar with its nuclear-armed neighbour last year,wants Pakistan blacklist-ed.

Of 40 recommendationsmade by the watchdog,Pakistan had fully com-

plied with only one, large-ly complied with nine, par-tially complied with 26,and totally missed fourparameters, which weremandatory if Islamabadwanted to be removedfrom the gray-list, a reviewby the group last year said.

The FATF says Pakistanshould adequately identify,assess and understandrisks associated with mili-tant groups operating inPakistan such as IslamicState group, al-Qaeda,Jamat-ud-Dawa, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, which contin-ue to raise funds openly.

Pakistan says it has

made a significantimprovement on therequirements since thelast review.

Islamabad says it hasseized the groups’ assetsand put the militants ontrials, like the entire lead-ership of the JuD, includ-ing its chief Hafiz Saeed,the alleged mastermind ofthe 2008 Mumbai attacksin India, which killed 166people.

In a move praised byWashington as an impor-tant step forward, Saeedwas jailed for 11 years onWednesday on terrorismfinancing charges.

— Reuters

Turkey to help Pak against FATF actionA minimum of three votes are required for any country to escape the FATF blacklisting

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan receives Turkey’sPresident Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Parliament inIslamabad on Friday. — AP

Mammoth task

New York, Feb. 14: Bythe time prosecutors atHarvey Weinstein’s rapetrial give their closingargument on Saturday, itwill have been morethan a week since jurorsheard one of his accus-ers recount what prose-cutors describe as a vilesexual encounter withthe disgraced Hollywoodmogul.

In the days since,Weinstein’s lawyershave called witnesseswho raised doubts aboutthe accusers’ testimony,brought in an expertwho spoke about memo-ries getting fuzzy overtime and offered an epic,hourslong closing argu-ment painting the prose-cution’s case as a “sinis-ter tale” and the allega-tions as “regretrenamed as rape.”

Now, prosecutors lookto focus the jury’s atten-tion back on the accus-ers who testified andtheir harrowingaccounts alleging rapes,forced oral sex, groping,masturbation, lewdpropositions and castingcouch experiences.

Several women testi-fied that Weinsteinignored pleas of “no, no,no” as he assaultedthem.

The woman Weinsteinis charged with rapingsaid he would turn vio-lent when he couldn’tget his way and that, “Ifhe heard the word ‘no,’ itwas like a trigger forhim.”

Another womanrecalled Weinsteinsneering, “You’ll nevermake it in this business,this is how this industryworks,” when shelaughed off hisadvances. Having thelast word before jurorshear instructions andstart deliberatingTuesday, prosecutorsmust also answer someof the defense’s knockson their case. Chiefamong them: that thetwo women Weinstein ischarged with attackingwere opportunists whowillingly latched on tothe once-powerful pro-ducer. — AP

PROSECUTORSGET FINALWORD ATHARVEY TRIAL

Dubai, Feb. 14: The firstHindu temple in theUAE’s capital Abu Dhabiwill not use any steel orferrous materials and willbe built adopting the tra-ditional temple architec-ture in India, temple com-mittee officials have said.

Two years after thegroundbreaking ceremo-ny, the Swaminarayantemple of theBochasanwasi ShriAkshar PurushottamSwaminarayan Sansth(BAPS) witnessed a majorconstruction milestone asfirst fly ash concrete pour-ing for its raft foundationtook place on Thursday.

A large number of expa-triates from the Indiandiaspora gathered at thesite of the temple to wit-ness the major construc-tion milestone.

Describing the ceremo-ny as UAE’s largest singlepouring of fly ash con-crete in 3,000 cubicmeters, Ashok Kotecha,spokesperson of the tem-ple committee, told GulfNews: Usually, (building)foundations have a mix ofconcrete and steel.However, as per tradition-al temple architecture in

India, no steel or ironreinforcements will beused.

“Fly ash will be used toreinforce the concrete inthe foundation.Throughout the (wholestructure of the) temple,the architecture is likeseveral pieces of jigsawput together without anysteel or ferrous materials.

Fly ash is used as a rein-forcement in concrete. Insome cases, fly ash canadd to the concrete's finalstrength and increase itschemical resistance anddurability. Fly ash can sig-nificantly improve theworkability of concrete.

Prime MinisterNarendra Modi laid thefoundation stone forBAPS temple in the capi-

tal of the UAE, home toover three million peopleof Indian origin, in 2018via video conferencingfrom the Dubai OperaHouse.

Over 3,000 craftsmen areworking tirelessly inIndia, carving icons andstatues with 5,000 tonnesof Italian Carrara Marbleand the exteriors will bemade of 12,250 tonnes ofpink sandstone.

India’s ambassador toUAE Pavan Kapoor, andIndian Consul General inDubai Vipul were presentalong with several promi-nent members of theIndian business commu-nity and members of theCommunity DevelopmentAuthority (CDA), Dubaiand Abu Dhabi, the GulfNews reported.

Addressing the audi-ence, Kapoor thanked theUAE government andsaid, it was a great privi-lege and honour to visitthe temple site for the firsttime.

The ceremony was con-ducted by BrahmavihariDas, the senior most saintof the BAPSSwaminarayan Templegroup. — PTI

UAE’s first temple not tohave steel, ferrous materials

Beirut, Feb. 14: Israelistrikes on Damascus air-port killed seven fight-ers, a war monitor saidon Friday, the latest in astring of attacks target-ing Iran’s military pres-ence in Syria.

Syrian state mediasaid only that its airdefences interceptedmissiles over the capitalovernight while Israeldid not immediatelycomment on the strikes.

Israel routinely firesmissiles at what it saysare Iranian targets inSyria, where eliteIranian forces and alliedmilitia play a key role.

According to theSyrian Observatory forHuman Rights, thestrikes launched on lateThursday hit militarytargets in the area of theinternational airport.

Rami Abdel Rahman,the director of theBritain-based Obser-vatory, said the deadwere three Syrian sol-diers and four membersof Iran's RevolutionaryGuard.

A Syrian army sourcequoted by SANA saidthe attack took place at11:45 pm. — PTI

ISRAELI ATTACKON DAMASCUSKILLS 7 FIGHTERS

New York, Feb. 14: A 30-year-old Indian citizen,who worked as an Uberdriver, has been sen-tenced to a year in prisonfor knowingly transport-ing individuals who hadentered the US illegally inexchange for money.Jaswinder Singh recentlyresided in Philadelphia.

He was sentenced onFriday to 12 months inprison for knowinglytransporting illegalaliens within the UnitedStates for the purpose offinancial gain, USAttorney Grant Jaquithsaid. Singh, who workedas an Uber driver, admit-ted that between January1, 2019 and May 20, 2019,

he picked up severalaliens whom he knew hadcrossed illegally into theUnited States and trans-ported them into the inte-rior of the country, inexchange for payment.

On May 20, 2019, the dayhe was arrested for thisoffense, Singh drove to alocation in New YorkState to pick up two aliens– including a child – whohad illegally crossed intothe US from Canada.

The aliens paid SinghUSD 2,200 after he pickedthem up. Singh, who pre-viously sought andreceived asylum in theUnited States, faces possi-ble deportation as a resultof this offence. — PTI

INDIAN SENTENCED FOR FERRYINGPEOPLE WHO ILLEGALLY ENTERED U.S.

Fat cat candidatesshake up race tobe US president

Madrid, Feb. 14: A babyborn on a rickety boatbound for the CanaryIslands was one of 87migrants picked up byrescuers overnight,Spanish rescuers said onFriday.

The migrants, all ofthem from sub-SaharanAfrica, were travellingon three boats whichwere picked up justsouth of the island ofGran Canaria, a spokes-woman for theSalvamento Maritimorescue service said.

“A new-born baby wasrescued and it seemsthat the mother gavebirth in the boat justbeforehand,” she said.

— AFP

BABY AMONG 87RESCUED OFFCANARY ISLANDS

■ ■ FLY ASH will beused to reinforce theconcrete in the founda-tion. Throughout thetemple, the architec-ture is like severalpieces of jigsaw puttogether without anysteel or ferrous materi-als.

Harvey Weinstein

11 passengers leave cruise ship Those who test positive will be transferred to the hospital, says Japanese health minYokohama, Feb. 14: Thefirst passengers beganleaving a quarantinedcruise ship off Japan'scoast on Friday to finishtheir isolation in govern-ment-designated lodgingafter testing negative forthe new coronavirus.

Japan’s government hasgiven passengers aged 80or older in poor health orconfined to windowlessinner cabins on theDiamond Princess thechance to move from theship to accommodation onland. But only those whotest negative for the virusthat has so far infectedmore than 200 people onboard the ship have theoption to move.

The first of them depart-ed the massive cruise shipon Friday afternoon, trav-elling in buses withblacked out windows.

At the wheel, one driverwas dressed in a head-to-toe white protective suit,complete with goggles andmask. A government offi-cial said 11 people had left,but declined to saywhether more woulddepart or offer furtherdetails.

The move comes a dayafter the number of infec-tions diagnosed on theship rose to 218.

Senior health ministryofficial Gaku Hashimotoboarded the ship Fridaymorning to announce thatall passengers “who areconsidered to be high riskin general health” wouldnow be tested for the virus.

“Those who test positivewill be transferred to thehospital. Those who testnegative will — at therequest of the individual— disembark and be trans-ferred to accommodationprovided by the govern-ment,” he said in a state-ment in English read outby the ship's captain in apublic broadcast.

“We are aware that manypeople are worried andconcerned about the situa-tion. However, to improvethe situation as much aspossible, the governmentis making its best efforts,”the statement said.

There were more than3,700 people on the shipwhen it arrived off theJapanese coast last week,but those diagnosed withthe virus have been takenoff the boat, along withsome people sufferingother health conditions re-quiring medical attention.

Ten of those hospitalisedare now in serious condi-tion, Health ministerKatsunobu Kato said onFriday. Excluding thecases on the ship, and aninfected quarantine offi-cer, Japanese authoritieshave so far diagnosed 33people with the newlynamed COVID-19.

The newly diagnosedcases include a woman inher 80s whose positive testresult emerged after shedied in hospital.

The woman was report-edly the mother-in-law of ataxi driver in Tokyo whohas also been diagnosedwith the virus. A doctor inWakayama prefecture anda patient treated in thehospital where the doctorworked have also beendiagnosed.

Officials in the regionsaid they were still notsure if the doctor hadinfected the patient. “It isdifficult to trace the routeof the infection”, governor

Yoshinobu Nisaka toldreporters.

He said officials wereasking people in the area“to report suspicious casesof pneumonia so that wecan immediately conducttests”. The hospital hasbeen closed to visitors andmedical staff are nowbeing tested for the virus,Nisaka added.

Despite the new infec-tions, government officialssought to play down con-cerns about the spread ofthe virus in Japan. “Thereis not enough epidemiolog-ical evidence to suggestthat the epidemic isspreading inside Japan,”government spokesmanYoshihide Suga toldreporters. “We will keepcollecting epidemiologicalinformation including on the routes of infec-tion.”

The Diamond Princesshas been quarantined offJapan since earlyFebruary after it emergeda former passenger whogot off the boat in HongKong had tested positivefor the virus.

The quarantine is due toend on Feb. 19 and those onthe ship have been mostlyconfined to their cabinsand asked to wear masksand keep their distancefrom other passengersduring brief outings onopen deck.

— AFP

WORLD pg 11THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

IN BRIEF

Saudi, Israel haveno plans to meet

48 Rohingyas heldat Myanmar coast

Man sentencedin Hisahito case

Balloon attacksre-emerge in Gaza

LANKA OKAYSEXTENSION OF

E-VISA FACILITY Colombo, Feb. 14: Sri Lankahas approved the extension ofthe free visa-on-arrivalscheme until April 30 for thecitizens of 48 countries,including India, a senior min-ister said, as the country’stourism sector took anotherhit due to the deadly coron-avirus outbreak in China.

In April, Sri Lanka suspend-ed its plans to grant visa-on-arrival to citizens of 39 coun-tries after the devastatingEaster Sunday bombings thatkilled 258 people.

In July, the island nationadded more countries, includ-ing India and China after it re-launched the free visa onarrival scheme, which wasimplemented from August 1.

“With the introduction of thefree visa scheme, we saw anincrease of 10 to 12 per cent intourist arrivals after theEaster attacks but with thecoronavirus onset, the sectoris getting adversely affectedonce more and hence it isimportant to extend the facili-ty for three more months,”Ramesh Pathirana said.

Dubai: Saudi Arabia’s foreignminister said no meeting isplanned between the king-

dom’s crown prince andIsrael’s prime minister, a

statement apparently meantto quash reports circulatingin Israeli media this week ofan alleged summit betweenthe two. “There is no meet-ing planned between Saudi

Arabia and Israel. SaudiArabia’s policy has been very

clear since the beginning ofthis conflict,” Foreign

Minister Prince Faisal binFarhan Al Saud told theSaudi-owned Al Arabiya

English news website in areport on Thursday.

Pathein (Myanmar): Nearly50 Rohingya Muslims have

been detained at sea byMyanmar’s navy, a local offi-cial said on Friday, the latestfrom the persecuted minori-

ty to be caught trying to fleecamps in Bangladesh and

Myanmar’s restive Rakhinestate. It was not immediatelyclear where the group start-

ed their boat journey butthey were likely aiming for

Malaysia or Indonesia.Thousands of Rohingya have

taken to the sea over theyears in high-risk attempts

to escape sprawling refugeecamps in Bangladesh and

oppressive conditions inRakhine.

Village administrator MyintThein told AFP by phone the

navy had picked up 48Rohingya men, women and

children, as well as five “traf-fickers”, at sea on

Wednesday evening.

Tokyo: A Japaneseman who left two kitchen

knives on the school desk ofJapan’s Prince Hisahito, who

is second in line to thethrone, was given a suspend-

ed sentence on Friday. Theman was handed an 18-

month sentence, suspendedfor four years, a Tokyo dis-

trict court spokesman said. Kaoru Hasegawa was

arrested in April on suspicionof illegally entering the

premises of the junior highschool that the prince

attends. He was also accusedof violating Japan’s

firearms law.

Gaza: As the bunch ofbrightly-coloured balloons

floated into Gaza’s eveningsky, there was a piercing

crackle of gunfire.Moments earlier, the bal-

loons had been launched bya group of masked youngPalestinian men huddled

near the Al-Bureij refugeecamp. They attached explo-sives to the weapon before

setting it adrift towardsIsrael. Israeli troops along

the border tried to down thedevice, but the balloons

floated on. Explosives tied toballoons and kites first emer-

ged as a weapon in Gaza,ruled by the Islamist group

Hamas, during intense prot-ests in 2018, when the devi-

ces drifted across the borderdaily, causing thousands of

fires in Israeli farms andcommunities. Israel blamed

Hamas for the balloonattacks, which eventually

stopped after the two sidesreached secret agreements

to slightly ease the blockadein exchange for calm.

Tokyo, Feb. 14: “Cupid'savocado” for dinner, heart-shaped messages for thecrew, but also painful sepa-ration: for those trappedon board the quarantinedDiamond Princess cruiseship, Friday is no ordinaryValentine's Day.

Wearing a red dress anda red hair tie, the ship’sentertainment managerNatalie posted a Valenti-ne’s Day video on Twitterto try to keep spirits up.

“I just wanted to check inwith everybody and saythat we are all hanging inthere, doing fine and keep-ing together as a big fami-ly,” she said, admittingwith a smile: “This hasn't

been my regular attire forthe last week or so.”Passenger Matt Smith, 57,was marking Valentine'sDay on board with his wifeof 21 years, KatherineCodekas, also 57 — andadmitted this was nottheir first-choice locationfor the special day.

“After 21 years of mar-riage, we don’t make a bigdeal of it, but I usually getKatherine a card at least,”he told AFP from the ship.

“I think she was a littledisappointed with our set-ting,” he added. “Facebookreminded me this morningthat three years ago wewere in Las Vegas. Way torub it in!” Passengers on

board were being offered a“Valentine’s Day” break-fast, Smith said. “We werereminded what day it wasby the delivery of what thecrew member said was a‘special’ breakfast,” hesaid.

“Not sure why hard-boiled eggs, sausage, andsauteed mushrooms arespecial.” The dinnermenu, on the other hand,promises several specialtreats in honour of the day.“Cupid’s Avocado andShrimp salad” to start, fol-lowed by “Shrimp Valen-tine Japanese style withrice and vegetables.” Themain course is the Frenchclassic Coq au Vin with

mashed potato and vegeta-bles, and a “Valentine’sDay surprise dessert ofthe day” is promised.

“Coq au Vin, yes please,”tweeted Yardley Wong, w-ho has been posting her ef-forts to keep her young sonentertained on the ship. “Aspecial meal for Valenti-ne’s Day, a reserved bottleof red,” she added, withher usual hashtag# h a n g i n t h e r e D i a m o -ndPrincess and a pictureof a bottle of wine.

She also posted a drawing by her son for Valentin-e’s Day, with the caption“Stay strong, we are withyou Diamond Princess.” —‘Love never fades’ — AFP

Beijing, Feb. 14: The deathtoll in China’s novel coron-avirus outbreak hasspiked to nearly 1,500 with121 new fatalities reportedmostly from the worst-affected Hubei provincewhile the confirmed casesof infection jumped tonearly 65,000, health offi-cials said on Friday.

The hard-hit Hubeiprovince, the epicentre ofthe outbreak, has reported116 new fatalities andreported 4,823 new con-firmed cases on Thursday,the provincial health com-mission said on Friday.

The death toll in China’scoronavirus epidemic hasgone up to 1,488, the healthofficials said on Friday.

The National HealthCommission said, with5,090 new cases the totalnumber of confirmedcoronavirus cases soaredup to 64,894 as ofThursday.

The commission said itreceived reports of 121deaths on Thursday with5,090 new confirmed casesof novel coronavirusinfection from 31 provin-cial-level regions.

Among the deaths, 116were in Hubei Province,two in Heilongjiang, andone in Anhui, Henan andChongqing respectively,the commission said.

The number of newcases in Hubei Provinceincluded 3,095 clinicallydiagnosed cases, whichhave been seen as con-

firmed cases. The newdeaths also include eightwho were clinically diag-nosed.

The latest report broughtthe total confirmed casesin Hubei province to51,986, state-run Xinhuanews agency reported.

The World HealthOrganisation on Thursdaysaid a sharp rise of 254cases of COVID-19 (officialname for coronavirus)cases in China, due to achange in counting meth-ods, did not represent a bigshift in the epidemic.

Of the 254, Hubei and itsprovincial capital Wuhanreported 242 deaths, thesingle highest in a day sofar. “This does not repre-sent a significant changein the trajectory of theoutbreak,” Michael Ryan,head of WHO's healthemergencies programme,told a press conference inGeneva.

“We're not dealing, fromwhat we understand, witha spike in cases of 14,000on one day,” he said.

— PTI

Hong Kong, Feb. 14: HongKong’s flower markets arelamenting dismalValentine’s Day sales asthe city battles the deadlycoronavirus outbreak,with admirers joking thata box of face masks is abetter way to say “I loveyou” than a bouquet.

A man Fong, an art direc-tor at a flower shop in thedistrict of Mong Kok, saysthe usually bumper weekleading up to Valentine'sDay has been horrendousfor business. “It's muchworse than previous years,not many people are goingout onto the streetsbecause of the virus,” hetold AFP, estimating a 40percent drop in sales.

The supply of flowershas “also dropped as manyof our original supplierson the Chinese mainland...are closed because of thecoronavirus,” he said, add-ing his company has hadto import flowers from theNetherlands and Taiwaninstead.

A manager at anotherstore, who gave her nameas Joyce, said her shop hashad to reduce what theybuy as customer interestwilts. “Fresh flowers couldonly keep for five to sevendays. We don't want toorder too much in case wecan’t sell them,” she said.

The hot commodity thisyear is instead face masks,an item in short supply,

with lengthy queues pop-ping up outside any phar-macies that announce anew delivery.

A third of respondents toa customer survey by localmatchmaking serviceHong Kong Romance Dat-ing said surgical masksand hand sanitiser werethe Valentine's Day giftsthey were most hoping for.

Social media was full ofpictures of alternativebouquets — of masks, rice,wet-wipes, toilet roll andother commodities disap-pearing from supermarketshelves.

Businesses are bracingfor a hit, knowing couplesare less likely to leavetheir apartments but someare implementing meas-ures to draw the intrepidout. Multiple cinema chai-ns have said they will onlysell tickets for every otherrow in a bid to widen thedistance between cus-tomers. — AFP

A bus with a driver wearing protective gear departs from the dockside next to the Diamond Princess cruise ship atthe Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama port on Friday. — AFP

A jubilant passenger reacts as he disembarks from the Westerdam cruise ship inSihanoukville, Cambodia on Friday. — AFP

Love in the time of Coronavirus

■ ■ BUSINESSES ARE brac-ing for a hit, knowing cou-ples are less likely to leavetheir apartments but someare implementing meas-ures to draw the intrepidout. Multiple cinema chai-ns have said they will onlysell tickets for every otherrow in a bid to widen thedistance between cus-tomers

■ ■ ALREADY 15-MEMBERadvance WHO team hasarrived in China onMonday.

■ ■ COMMISSION SAID itreceived reports of 121deaths on Thursday with5,090 new confirmedcases of novel coronavirusinfection in China

121 new deaths fromCOVID-19 in China

Masks top V-daygift in Hong Kong

Beijing, Feb. 14: China onFriday rejected US allega-tions that it is not transpar-ent enough in sharing thedetails about the coron-avirus outbreak, saying itwas working with the inter-national community in an“open and highly responsi-ble manner” to contain theglobal crisis.

China’s comments cameafter Larry Kudlow, thedirector of PresidentDonald Trump's EconomicCouncil, said that the US islittle disappointed over notbeing invited in the medicaloperations and the lack oftransparency coming fromthe Chinese over coron-avirus outbreak.

Stressing that unansweredquestions were mountingand there was no sign of thepromised cooperation,Kudlow said: “We're morethan willing to work withthe WHO on this(coron-avirus) and they won't letus”.

“I don't know what theirmotives are. I do know thatapparently, more and morepeople are suffering overthere,” Kudlow said inWashington.

The death toll in China'snovel coronavirus outbreakhas spiked to nearly 1,500with 121 new fatalitiesreported mostly from theworst-affected Hubeiprovince while the con-firmed cases of infectionjumped to nearly 65,000,health officials said onFriday.

State-run CGTN reportedthat 505 cases of the viruswere abroad, including 15cases of the virus in the US.Ever since the coronavirusoutbreak that shook Chinaand the world, Beijing hasnot acceded to requests bythe US to permit Americanspecialists to visit the coun-try to take part in the med-ical operations to counterthe virus. Instead, Chinahas permitted a team of the

WHO specialists to visitthe country and assist itto contain the virus.

While a 15 memberWHO advance team hasarrived on Monday, therest expected to reachhere soon.

However, China’s for-eign ministryspokesman GengShuang said that Chinahas been working withthe international com-munity to tackle theepidemic in an open,transparent and highlyresponsible manner.China has been work-ing with the interna-tional community totackle the epidemic inan open, transparentand highly responsiblemanner for the sake ofglobal public healthsecurity and all people'shealth,” Geng was quot-ed as saying during anonline media briefingby the AFP. — AFP

China refutes charges on lack of transparency on patients

Published by T. Venkateswarlu for and on behalf of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited at Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi 110 002. and Printed by him at BFL Infotech Limited, C – 9, Sector – III, Noida – 201301. Editor – T. Venkatram Reddy,RNI Registration number 57290/94, Price in Nepal - Nep. Rs. 20.00 per copy.

IN BRIEF

Los Angeles: Filmmaker MattReeves has revealed the first

look of Robert Pattinson asThe Batman from his upcom-ing film about the iconic DC

superhero. The filmmakertook to Twitter to shared the

first camera test for theupcoming film, titled TheBatman. In the short clip,Pattinson, dressed as the

caped crusader, is approach-ing towards the camera that

is set in a dark room saturat-ed in red light. First capturing

the superhero’s official logoon the chest, the camera then

moves upward to show theactor with the iconic cowl. All

this while, MichaelGiacchino’s thunderous and

emphatic score is ringingaloud in the background.

Pattinson is taking on a partthat was previously played by

the likes of George Clooney,Christian Bale and Ben

Affleck, among others. — PTI

Los Angeles: Teen pop sensa-tion Billie Eilish has come out

with the official theme songof Daniel Craig’s upcoming

James Bond movie No TimeTo Die. The 18-year-old singer,

who has written the songwith her brother Finneas

O’Connell, is the youngestartiste in history to record thetheme track for the long-run-ning spy franchise. The slow,moody track song produced

by Eilish, Finneas andStephen Lipson, and has

orchestral arrangements byHans Zimmer and Matt

Dunkley and guitar fromJohnny Marr. “It feels crazy tobe a part of this in every way.To be able to score the theme

song to a film that is part ofsuch a legendary series is a

huge honour. James Bond isthe coolest film franchise everto exist. I’m still in shock,” the

singer said in a statementposted on official site of the

franchise. With her track,Eilish follows in the footsteps

of British singers Adele andSam Smith, who won an

Oscar for Bond franchisesongs. — PTI

Pattinson’s Batmanrevealed in new video

Billie Eilish unveilsJame Bond’s music

Los Angeles: Actor RufusSewell will be essaying the

role of Elvis Presley’s fatherVernon Presley in filmmaker

Baz Luhrmann’s much-antici-pated musical drama on thelife of the legendary singer.Austin Butler is playing theking of rock and roll in the

film, titled Elvis, which alsofeature actor Tom Hanks as

Presley’s manger, Colonel TomParker. The movie will followthe veteran manager and theyoung singer, who came from

dirt-poor origins to becomean icon who changed the

course of music history,reported Variety. BesidesSewell, the film also star

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Presley’smother Gladys. — PTI

Rufus Sewell to playElvis Presley’s father

Los Angeles: Actor BrianTyree Henry’s Phastos in

Marvel Studios big budgetfilm The Eternals will be thefirst LGBTQ character of the

Marvel Cinematic Universe(MCU), his co-star Haaz

Sleiman hasrevealed. Henry,best known for

starring inmovies such asIf Beale Street

Could Talk,Widows and

Joker, is starringalongside

Richard Madden,Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek,

Gemma Chan and KitHarington in the much-await-

ed film. The project, beinghelmed by Chloe Zhao, will

release worldwide inNovember this year. Sleiman,

who has starred in moviessuch as The Visitor and Those

People, told New Now Nextthat he is playing the husbandof Henry’s character, who willbe the first gay superhero of

the MCU. “I just shot a Marvelfilm with the first openly gaysuperhero, The Eternals. I’m

married to the gay superheroPhastos, played by Brian TyreeHenry, and we represent a gay

family and have a child,” the43-year-old actor said. — PTI

BRIAN HENRY TOPLAY MARVEL’SFIRST GAY HERO

NEWSMAKERS pg 12THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

Board of French Oscarsquits after Polanksi rowParis: The entire board ofthe Cesar Academy,France’s equivalent of theOscars, resignedThursday just two weeksahead of its gala awardnight after more than 200actors, producers, direc-tors and movie personali-ties demanded “profoundreform”.

The academy had comeunder fire after RomanPolanski’s new film AnOfficer and a Spy toppedthe list of nominations forthis year’s Cesar awardswhich will be handed outon February 28.

Polanski has been want-ed in the US for the statu-tory rape of a 13-year-oldgirl since 1978 and is per-sona non grata inHollywood.

“To honour those menand women who made cin-ema happen in 2019, tofind calm and ensure thatthe festival of filmremains just that, a festi-val, the board... Has unan-imously decided toresign,” the academy saidin a statement.

“This collective deci-

sion will allow completerenewal of the board,” itadded.

A general meeting willbe held after the upcom-ing awards ceremony toelect a new board andmanagement which willwork on implementingreforms and modernisa-tion, it said.

On Wednesday in anopen letter, more than 200actors, producers, direc-tors and movie personali-ties denounced the “dys-function” at the academyand “opaqueness” in itsaccounts.

They also complainedthat the founding statutes

of the Cesars had notchanged “for a very longtime” and that the acade-my’s nearly 5,000 mem-bers do not get a vote or asay in its decisions.

The academy’s board inresponse said it would askthe National Centre forCinema, a culture min-istry agency, to appoint amediator to oversee “deepreform” of its statutesand governance.

The academy had previ-ously announced meas-ures to boost female repre-sentation in its member-ship and representation.

The inclusion ofPolanski’s film on the

Cesars’ shortlist wascondemned byFrance’s equalityminister, women’sgroups and film crit-ics, but the CesarAcademy said itcould not be expect-ed to take “moralpositions” whenevaluating films.

The accusation,which Polanski,now 86, denies,sparked a furtherbacklash againstthe film, with somescreenings can-celled. Despite this,An Officer and aSpy did well at thebox office in France, withmore than 1.5m ticketsales.

Polanski, who wasexpelled from theAcademy of MotionPicture Arts and Sciencesin 2018, launchedJ’Accuse in France lastyear days after a Frenchphotographer, ValentineMonnier, accused him ofraping her in a Swiss skiresort when she was ateenager. — AFP

Brian henry

Russian soldierrolls out tanksfor romanticmanoeuvreMoscow: A Russian sol-dier has pulled out all thestops to propose to hisgirlfriend, with his fel-low officers manoeu-vring 16 tanks to sur-round the couple in aheart shape. The high-octane romantic stuntwas filmed in a videopublished by the defenceministry on Friday,Valentine’s Day.

As snow fell, the T-72B3tanks rolled into positionon the Alabino trainingground outside Moscow.

Lieutenant DenisKazantsev led his long-term partner AlexandraKopytova into the centreas she held her handsover her eyes, thedefence ministry’s TVchannel Zvezda reported.

Kazantsev, a platooncommander, went downon bended knee, holdinga bunch of red roses.

“We’ve been together avery long time. We’vestood the test of time anddistance. Marry me!” hesaid as his girlfriend nod-ded silently. He then puta ring on her finger.

“I still don’t under-stand what’s going on,”Kopytova said. “It’s veryunexpected.” The tanksused falso take part inthe annual VictoryParade on Red Square,Zvezda reported. — AFP

Antarctica shatters temperature record with 20.75ºCSao Paulo: Scientists inAntarctica have recordeda new record temperatureof 20.75 degrees Celsius(69.35 Fahrenheit), break-ing the barrier of 20degrees for the first timeon the continent, aresearcher said Thursday.

“We’d never seen a tem-perature this high inAntarctica,” Brazilian sci-entist Carlos Schaefer toldAFP.

He cautioned that thereading, taken at a moni-toring station on an islandoff the continent’s north-ern tip on February 9,“has no meaning in termsof a climate-changetrend,” because it is a one-off temperature and not

part of a long-term dataset.

But news that the icycontinent is now record-ing temperatures in therelatively balmy 20s islikely to further fuel fearsabout the warming of the

planet.The reading was taken at

Seymour Island, part of achain off the peninsulathat curves out from thenorthern tip ofAntarctica.

The island is home to

Argentina’s Marambioresearch base.

Schaefer, a soil scientist,said the reading wastaken as part of a 20-year-old research project on theimpact of climate changeon the region’s per-mafrost.

The previous high wasin the 19s, he said.

“We can’t use this toanticipate climaticchanges in the future. It’sa data point,” he said.

“It’s simply a signal thatsomething different ishappening in that area.”

Still, he added, a temper-ature that high had neverbeen registered inAntarctica.

Accelerating melt-off

from glaciers and espe-cially ice sheets inAntarctica is helpingdrive sea level rises,threatening coastalmegacities and smallisland nations.

The news came a weekafter Argentina’s NationalMeteorological Servicerecorded the hottest dayon record for ArgentineAntarctica: 18.3 degreesCelsius at midday at theEsperanza base, locatednear the tip of theAntarctic peninsula.

The previous recordstood at 17.5 degrees onMarch 24, 2015, it said. Ithas been recordingAntarctic temperaturessince 1961. — AFP

Filmmaker wanted in US for raping 13-year-old girl since 1978

Macron’s candidatefor Paris mayorquits over sex videoParis: EmmanuelMacron’s candidate formayor of Paris in nextmonth’s municipal elec-tions has been forced tostand down after the leakof sexual images and mes-sages online, blamingwhat he called “vile”attacks on his private lifeon social media.

Benjamin Griveaux, whowas standing for the presi-dent’s governing centristLa République En Marche(LREM) party, made theannouncement on Fridaymorning less than 48hours after the materialwas first posted to a web-site.

“My family does notdeserve this. Nobodyshould ever be subjectedto this kind of abuse,”Griveaux said in a state-ment after a crisis meet-ing at his Paris campaignheadquarters.

“For more than a year,my family and I have beensubjected to defamatoryremarks, lies, rumours,anonymous attacks, therevelation of stolen pri-vate conversations anddeath threats. As if all thiswas not enough, yesterdaya new level was reached.”

Griveaux received sup-port from politiciansincluding the PrimeMinister, EdouardPhilippe, and hard-leftleader Jean-LucMélenchon, who said “Thepublication of intimateimages to destroy anadversary is odious.”

A video and text mes-sages to a young womanpurportedly fromGriveaux, whose cam-paign has been strugglingagainst rivals includingthe Socialist incumbent,Anne Hidalgo, and the for-mer LREM MP CédricVillani, were published bya website late onWednesday and thenspread to social media.

— Agencies

NEWS NUGGETS

Washington: Accordingto recent study, playinggolf at least once amonth can lower olderadults’ risk of prema-ture death.

“The intensity level ofthe activity is such thatit can be maintained fora longer period of time,and it’s something thatpeople can continue iton a regular basis,” saidDr. Adnan Qureshi, thestudy’s lead author andneurology professor.

The complete findingswill be presented laterin February at theAmerican StrokeA s s o c i a t i o nInternational StrokeConference in LosAngeles. — Agencies

Playing golf mayhelp older adultslive longer: Study

Boston: Scientists havedeveloped a wirelessly-controlled bandage,and a smartphone-sized platform that canprecisely deliver dif-ferent medications tofacilitate the healing ofhard to treat wounds.

According to theresearch, the bandageis equipped with minia-ture needles that can becontrolled wirelessly —allowing the drugs tobe programmed by careproviders without evenvisiting the patient.

“This is an importantstep in engineeringadvanced bandagesthat can facilitate thehealing of hard to treatwounds.The bandagedoes not need to bechanged continuously,”researcher said. — PTI

‘Smart bandagemay help healchronic wounds’

Toronto: A storylinewith emotionally evoca-tive details may reducefeelings of nausea, dis-orientation, and eyestrain associated withvirtual reality (VR) insome people, accordingto a study.

Researchers found thatstorylines that providecontext and details canhelp users reduce cyber-

sickness.“We found that people

who had little to no expe-rience playing videogames had reducedcybersickness if theyreceived this enhancednarrative, but regularvideo gamers did notneed it because theywere not predisposed tofeeling symptoms,” saidresearchers. — PTI

Emotional storyline can reduce virtualreality cybersickness, says study

Mariah Carey to headlineBrighton Pride festivalLos Angeles: MariahCarey will headline theBrighton Pride festivalthis summer, organisershave announced.

The singer, who has had19 number one singles andsold more than 200 millionalbums, will play Pride inthe Park on Saturday 1August.

The three-day event runsfrom 31 July to 2 August.On Sunday, The PussycatDolls — who recentlyreformed — are the head-line act.

Chris Jepson, from thefestival, said Mariah was“a huge LGBTQ+ ally”.

Last year, Kylie Minogueheadlined the festival, and

in 2018 Britney Spearswowed a crowd of 57,000.

Spokesperson for the fes-tival, Mr Jepson, saidsigning Mariah had takenmonths of planning andorganising.

He added: “She wants tocome and do this event.She got the GLAAD award

in 2016 so she's a hugeLGBTQ+ ally and workswith the community foracceptance and inclusion.She’s been a friend of thecommunity for manymany years. She’s a globalicon, not just for theLGTBQ+ community.”

He also said that he didnot know how much shewas being paid for the gig.

Last year the festivalbrought more than 250,000people to the city.

However, environmen-talists criticised revellersfor the volume of litterleft behind, including ahuge amount of laughinggas canisters.

— Agencies

Robot waitress serves in war-torn AfghanistanKabul: Afghanistan’s first-ever robot waitress glidesup to a table of curiousdiners in central Kabuland presents them with aplate of French fries.

“Thank you very much,”the machine says in Dari,one of Afghanistan’s twomain languages.

Restaurant managerMohammad Rafi Shirzadsays the humanoid robot,imported from Japan anddesigned to look vaguelylike a women wearing ahijab, has already pulledin new customers since itstarted working last

month.“It is interesting for

many people here to see a

robot in real life,” he said.“Sometimes kids jump

in joy and surprise when

they see the robot bringthem food.”

While robots are becom-ing increasingly common-place in Japan and China,they are not unusual inc o n f l i c t - w r a c k e dAfghanistan.

After decades of warthat has left much of thecountry’s infrastructurein ruins, the sight of a bat-tery-powered waitress hasprovided some light reliefin Kabul. Named “Timea”and measuring about fivefeet in height, the robotperforms only rudimenta-ry tasks. — PTI

� The academy hadcome under fireafter RomanPolanski’s new filmAn Officer and a Spytopped the list ofnominations for this year’s Cesarawards which willbe handed out onFebruary 28Roman Polanski

Waitress robot Timea delivers food to customers at arestaurant in Kabul on Thursday. — AFP

A model displays a design partially made of chocolate in a fashion show during anannual chocolate festival in Brussels on Thursday. — AP

Benjamin Griveaux

A view of Orne Harbour in South Shetland Islands,Antarctica.

A model (clockwise), Diana Penty,Dia Mirza and Malaika Arora (below) during the Lakme FashionWeek in Mumbai on Friday.

— SHRIPAD NAIK, PTI

Miley Cyruswalks theramp during aFashion showin New York onThursday.

— AP

NNeeww DDeellhhii:: A 19-year-oldman was arrested for

allegedly stealing watermotors and meters in south-

east Delhi, police said onFriday. Acting on a tip-off,police laid a trap in KalkajiExtension area on Tuesdayand nabbed Bilal while hewas attempting to steal a

water motor, deputy com-missioner of police

(Southeast) R.P. Meena said.During interrogation, theaccused said he used tosteal water motors and

meters from the Govindpuriand Kalkaji. Six water

motors and three metreswere recovered from him,

the DCP said.

1 held for stealingwater motors

Liquor mafia heldafter encounter

1.10L Saudi Riyalsseized at IGI airport

GUIDE TO FORTUNE

SHORT TAKE

■Pacific ocean ■Mudumalai WildlifeSanctuary ■President FranklinDelano Roosevelt

THE ANSWERS TO TODAY’S GUIDE TO FORTUNE

Tick the answer and checkthem below.

11TThhee ddeeeeppeesstt ttrreenncchheess ooff tthhee oocceeaann aarree ffoouunndd iinn

tthhee??

■ Indian ocean■ Pacific ocean ■ Atlantic ocean

22WWhhiicchh oonnee ooff tthhee ffoolllloowwiinngg nnaattiioonnaall ppaarrkk

iiss sspprreeaadd oovveerr tthhrreeee ssttaatteess??

■ Mudumalai WildlifeSanctuary■ Eravikulam National Park■ Bandhavgarh NationalPark

33TThhee aauutthhoorr ooff tthhee NNeewwDDeeaall wwaass??

■ President Franklin DelanoRoosevelt■ President TheodoreRoosevelt■ President John Kennedy

NNooiiddaa:: A 35-year-old liquormafia, who was trying to flee

with his accomplice on amotorcycle, was held after anexchange of gunfire with theNoida Police early on Friday,officials said. The encountertook place around midnight

near the Noida SpecialEconomic Zone (NSEZ), under

Phase II police station limits,they said. Two men riding on

a motorcycle were interceptedby the local police for check-

ing. Their vehicle did not havea registration plate and were

gestured to slowdown forinquiry. Instead, they sped

away and were chased downby the police. While fleeing,

one of the men opened fire atthe police team. The cops

retaliated with gunshots inwhich the pillion rider got

injured and fell off the motor-cycle. The injured man was

identified as liquor mafiaMehndi Hasan, who has beenpreviously booked in at least

nine cases, including oneunder the Gangsters Act,

police said. Combing opera-tion was launched to nab his

aide who managed to escapein the night after the

encounter, they added.

NNeeww DDeellhhii:: The CISF detect-ed 1.10 lakh Saudi Riyals

worth `20 lakh at the IGIAirport on Thursday, officials

said. CISF surveillance andintelligence staff noticed the

suspicious activities of apassenger in check-in areaof Terminal-3. The passen-

ger, identified as AfzalAhmad, an Indian citizen,

was bound for Dubai by anAir India flight. On physical

checking of his hand bag,40,000 Saudi Riyal were

found concealed under thefalse back of his backpack.

On thorough checking,70,000 Saudia Riyal was

also found concealed underthe false bottom of his regis-

tered baggage.

Kejri invites PM, city BJPMPs, MLAs for swearing-in

AGE CCORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

After Aam Aadmi Party’s(AAP) spectacular victoryin the Delhi Assembly elec-tions, Bollywood directorAnurag Kashyap, onFriday, visited the anti-CAA-NRC protestors atJamia Millia Islamia. Hetook the stage andexpressed concerns aboutthe political situation inthe country.

Mr Kashyap told the pro-testers that he does notsupport the NRC (NationalRegister of Citizens) or theCAA (CitizenshipAmendment Act) andurged them not to losehope as it was a “fight ofpatience” they were bat-tling for the past 60 days.

He started off by sayingthat this was his first visit

to Jamia and that he feelsalive as he steps into thepremise, “Main Jamiamain pehli baar aaya hoon.Kahin lag raha tha hummar gaye hain, par yahanaa kar laga ki hum zindahain.”

Mr Kashyap’s speechreceived thunderous

applause from everyonegathered. When somestarted peaceful sloganeer-ing, urging Mr Kashyap tojoin in, he said: “Mainnaare nahi lagata. Mainsirf dil ki baat kehta hoon.”

Talking about the anti-CAA protests that startedwith Jamia and that have

now become a nationwidephenomenon, Mr Kashyapsaid, “Mere liye yehandolan Jamia se shuruhua. Yeh ladaai bahotlambi hai. Kal parson aurchunaav ke sath khatmnahi hogi.”

Mr Kashyap, who hasbeen vividly critical ofUnion home minister AmitShah, said that he doesn’ttrust what he says becausenone of what he or hisparty says is coherent.

“Humein vishwas nahihai home minister kyakehete hain. Woh contra-dictory statements detehain. Unhone kaha billnahi layenge. Phir kaha kiteen din main baatkarengey. Main sunta hinahi hoon ab.” Instead, MrKashyap said that hebelieves in people’s voice.“Hum ismain vishwas

karte hain ki aap kya kartehain. Woh log jo kuchnahin keh rahe hai, wohbhi silence main aapkesaath hain,” he added. MrKashyap said that the gov-ernment should have a dia-logue, rather than a mono-logue, with its people. Onlythat, according to him, willsolve the issue at hand.

Questioning the homeminister’s role in control-ling dissent, he said,“Home minister ka kaamhota hai humari security.Woh dissent dabane kakaam karte hain.”

Mr Kashyap also ques-tioned why there were noarrests made post theJamia violence. “Noarrests were made inJamia violence. The policeneeds to do its job; it needsto identify who those peo-ple were.”

Kashyap visits Jamia, offers support to students

Modi may not attend due to his scheduled Varanasi tripSANJAY KKAWNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

Aam Aadmi Party supre-mo Arvind Kejriwal hasinvited Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to hisswearing-in ceremony onSunday at the RamlilaGrounds where the for-mer will take oath asDelhi chief minister forthe third time.Preparations for theswearing-in ceremony areafoot at the historicRamlila Maidan whichserved as the battlegroundfor the 51-year-old bureau-crat-turned-politician dur-ing the Anna Hazare-ledIndia Against Corruptionmovement.

The sprawling RamlilaMaidan, where socialistleader JayaprakashNarayan had addressed amassive gathering duringthe “Total Revolution”movement in 1970s, has acapacity of about 1.25 lakhpeople. In 2013 after theAAP’s first poll victory,Mr Kejriwal’s swearing-inceremony was held atRamlila Maidan. In 2015too, his oath-taking cere-mony had taken place atthe same venue on theValentine’s Day onFebruary 14.

Though an invitationhas been sent to the PrimeMinister, it is, however,not clear whether Mr

Modi would attend theswearing-in ceremony ashe is travelling to his par-liamentary constituencyVaranasi on Sunday toinaugurate over 30 proj-ects. Invitations for theswearing-in ceremonyhave also been sent toBJP’s newly elected eightlegislators and the party’s

seven sitting local MP’s. Cutting across party, Mr

Modi, Congress leaderRahul Gandhi, NCP supre-mo Sharad Pawar , TMC’sMamata Banerjee , BJD’sNaveen Patnaik and DMKsupremo M.K. Stalin(DMK) had congratulatedMr Kejriwal for the his-toric victory.

Wishing Kejriwal on hisDelhi success, the PM hadt w e e t e d :“Congratulations to AAPand Shri@ArvindKejriwal Ji forthe victory in the DelhiAssembly Elections.Wishing them the verybest in fulfilling the aspi-rations of the people ofDelhi.” Acknowledgingthe wishes from the PM,Kejriwal tweeted back:“Thank u so much sir. Ilook forward to workingclosely wid Centre tomake our capital city intoa truly world class city.”

The Delhi government,North Delhi MunicipalCorporation, which ownsRamlila Maidan, andPublic Works Departmentare working in tandem tomake the venue ready forthe occasion. Senior AAPleader Gopal Rai will visitthe Ramlila Maindan onSaturday to assess thepreparations for theevent.

Mr Kejriwal has extend-ed invitation to Delhiitesto attend his oath-takingceremony to “bless theirson”. “Delhiites, your sonis going to take oath ofDelhi chief minister forthe third time. You mustcome to bless your son.Sunday, February 16, 10am, Ramlila Maidan,” MrKejriwal tweeted inHindi.

■ ‘Controversial statements by Union ministers, MPs backfired’

DELHI SPECIALNEW DELHI SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2020

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Openers fail seam andbounce test before Vihari,Pujara come to rescue

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City BJP holds meetingsto review party’s defeat

� Mr Kejriwal has invit-ed Delhiites to attendhis oath-taking ceremo-ny. ‘Delhiites, your sonwill take oath of DelhiCM for the third time.You must come tobless your son. Sunday,February 16, 10 am,Ramlila Maidan,’ MrKejriwal tweeted inHindi. Arvind Kejriwal

SHASHI BBHUSHANNEW DELHI, FEB. 14

BJP’s Delhi unit on Fridayheld a series of meetingsto review the party’s deba-cle in the recent Assemblyelections.

The meetings wereattended by Delhi BJPpresident Manoj Tiwari,national general secre-taries Arun Singh andAnil Jain, and state unitgeneral secretary (organi-sation) Siddharthan. TheUnion minister for state,Nityanand Rai, was alsopresent in the meeting inthe evening.

The attendees of thesereview meetings pointedout that the inactivenessof municipal councilors,local organisation, andfailure of leadership tocounter AAP’s govern-ment freebies are key rea-sons apart from many oth-ers for their defeat.

A party insider said:“Leaders in these reviewmeet strongly complainedabout the inactiveness ofBJP councillors andclaimed that majority actedagainst party candidates.Some said that groundworkers and office-bearersat block level were leastinterested in ensuring vic-tory of BJP candidates.”

Some leaders and work-ers also questioned aboutthe membership driveheld last year, in whichthe party claimed that

nearly 18 lakh new mem-bers were enrolled in theparty. Few pointed outthat all the data of mem-bership drive were fudgedand that the in-charge ofthese membership drivesmust be questioned aboutmissing members.

Some pointed out thatcontroversial statementsby Union ministers andMPs also worked againstthe party. Few felt thatyouths, especially collegestudents, voted againstthe party to vent out theiranger in the recent vio-lence in campuses.

Some leaders told thestate leadership that thepresence of too many sen-ior leaders, Union minis-

ters, and MPs also did notbenefit as all the resourcesand time of candidateswere wasted in makingarrangements for theseleaders instead of cam-paigning. Some com-plained late announce-ment of names of candi-dates.

“It was noted that notonly were names of candi-dates announced late giv-ing them a very shortperiod of campaigning,their door-to-door visitswere hampered by a largenumber of start cam-paigners holding largenumber of meetings dur-ing the limited days avail-able for it,” said a partyleader.


The race for the post ofLeader of Oppositionamong party MLAs in thenewly elected DelhiAssembly has started.

According to partysources, the top con-tenders for the postinclude MLA (Rohini)Vijender Gupta, theLeader of Opposition inthe previous Assembly;

MLA (Karawal Nagar)Mohan Singh Bisht; andMLA (Badarpur) RavirSingh Bidhuri.

Sources claimed thatbesides the trio, the partycan also nominate a freshface from among theremaining MLAs. In caseof freshers, first timeMLAs Ajay Mahawarfrom Ghonda and AbhayVerma from LaxmiNagar, too have goodchances,” said a source.

NNeeww DDeellhhii,, FFeebb.. 1144:: TheSupreme Court Fridayrefused to grant interimbail to former Congressleader Sajjan Kumar,sentenced to life impris-onment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, and saidit will hear his plea dur-ing the summer break.

Kumar, who soughtbail on health grounds,was awarded life impris-onment by the Delhihigh court on December17, 2018 in the case.

A bench headed byChief Justice S.A. Bobdemade clear that the med-ical report of All IndiaMedical Sciences(AIIMS) on health condi-tions of Kumar would beconsidered by it inMarch after a nine-judgeConstitution benchwould conclude hearingin the Sabarimala refer-ence matter.

“There are cases. Butthis case is different andyou (Kumar) have beenconvicted by the HighCourt... You (seniorlawyer Vikas Singh)argue at length duringsummer vacations,” saidthe bench which alsocomprised Justices B.R.Gavai and Surya Kant.

Singh, appearing forthe former Congressleader, said Kumar hadbeen on bail all alongduring the trial and thelower court had acquit-ted him in the case andthe high court set asidethe verdict. “The appel-lant was of 67 kgs andhas lost 13 kgs in lastalmost 13 months... Whowill be responsible ifsomething happens tohim,” the lawyer said,adding that the bail pleabe considered urgently.

— PTI


A day after a trial courtallowed custodial interro-gation of Sanjeev Chawla,the alleged bookie andkey accused in one ofcricket’s biggest match-fixing scandals thatinvolved former SouthAfrican captain HansieCronje, the Delhi highcourt on Friday sent himto Tihar jail till furtherorders.

The trial court onThursday sent Chawla to12-day custodial interro-gation by the Delhi policenoting that the matterwas to be probed furtherfor which he has to be tovarious cities across thenation.

Chawla, extradited fromthe UK, has challengedthe trial court order say-ing that during the extra-dition, the MHA hadgiven assurance to the UKgovernment that he willbe kept in Tihar jail onlyto face trial.

As the investigating offi-cer was not present,Justice Anu Malhotradirected the crime branchto file a status report in

the matter and said thatChawla be sent to Tiharjail till further orders.

The court also issuednotice to MHA on the peti-tion and listed the matterfor further hearing onFebruary 19. Cronje, whodied in a plane crash in2002, was also involved,the police told the court.

Chawla is alleged tohave played a central rolein conspiring with Cronjeto fix a South Africantour to India in February-March 2000.

The British court docu-ments say Chawla is aDelhi-born businessmanwho moved to the UnitedKingdom (UK) on a busi-ness visa in 1996, but con-tinued to make trips toIndia.


Two more persons werearrested in connectionwith the alleged molesta-tion of girls during a cul-tural festival at the all-women Gargi College herelast week, officials said.Both the accused were 19years of age, they added.

The police arrested twopersons in connection withthe incident on Thursday.On Wednesday, 10 persons,

aged between 18 and 25years, were arrested in thecase. One of the accusedarrested on Thursday is a22-year-old graduatepreparing for competitiveexams, while another, aged19, is working as a tele-caller in a company in thenational capital.

On February 6, a group ofmen broke into the GargiCollege during the“Reverie” fest and alleged-ly groped, harassed andmolested the attendees,

who claimed that securityofficials stood watchingwhen the incident tookplace.

Scores of students tookout a march in DelhiUniversity’s north campuson Friday in solidaritywith anti-CAA protestersand the students of GargiCollege. The studentsstopped at various pointson the campus where theyrecited poems and raisedslogans of “azaadi” and“Inquilab Zindabad”.

NNeeww DDeellhhii,, FFeebb.. 1144::Experts from India andabroad will deliberate onthe strengths of the tradi-tional medicine systemand the challenges itfaces at a three-day con-ference from Saturdayhere. The 7thInternational Congressof the Society forEthnophar macolo g y(SFEC 2020), to be inau-gurated by minister ofstate for AYUSH ShripadYesso Naik, will beattended by more than2,000 experts and repre-sentatives from theindustry.

Organised by JamiaHamdard University,Delhi, the experts willdwell upon and endorsethe scientific validationof regional traditionalmedicines and their usein the world besidesdeliberating on theirregulatory aspects. Themega event is being sup-ported by the Ministryof AYUSH and depart-ment of biotechnology.

On the occasion, Naikwill also felicitate out-standing achievers fortheir contribution to thesector. The SFE-HerbalIndustry Leader Award -2020 will be conferredupon K.K. Sharma,founder of AIMILPharmaceuticals (India)for his contribution inthe field of herbal drugsas an industrialist,while the SFE LifetimeAchievement award willbe given to Dr NityaAnand in recognition tohis role in discovering,designing and develop-ment of herbal medi-cines. The award forO u t s t a n d i n gI n t e r n a t i o n a lEthnopharmacologist -2020 will be given to DrRoy Upton, founder ofAmerican HerbalP h a r m a c o p o e i a .“Traditional medicineknowledge often getslost while passingthrough generations andpreserving it could bethe key to address thecurrent medical chal-lenges,” Dr SayeedAhmed, organising sec-retary of SFEC 2020said. — PTI

Race begins for Leader ofOpposition in Assembly

A worker installs CCTV cameras at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhion Friday. — PTI

Youth Congress workers protest against LPG cylinder price hike outside Shastri Bhavan in NewDelhi on Friday. — BUNNY SMITH

SC refusesinterim bail to riots accusedSajjan Kumar

Global meet on traditionalmedicines incity from today

Sajjan Kumar

Bookie Chawlasent to Tihar jail

◗◗ Chawla has chal-lenged the trialcourt order sayingthat during theextradition, theMHA had givenassurance to theUK governmentthat he will be keptin Tihar jail only toface trial

2 more held in Gargi College case

Film director Anurag Kashyap addresses anti-CAA & NRC protestors on Jamia campus in New Delhi on Friday. — PTI

CRICKET pg 14THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

SHORT TAKES

Smriti rises to 4thin T20 rankingsDubai: India star Smriti

Mandhana on Friday rosethree rungs to fourth but

Jemimah Rodrigues droppedto seventh in the latest ICCwomen’s T20 International

rankings for batters.Harmanpreet Kaur has

remained static at ninth inthe same list. Among thebowlers, Poonam Yadav

dropped six places to fall outof the top 10 and take the

12th position. Although SuzieBates, New Zealand’s No.3,

retained her top spot, therewere other movements in

the top 10, with Bates’ team-mate and captain Sophie

Devine rising four spots tono.2, the ICC said in a state-

ment. Australia opener BethMooney and Mandhana, whomade two half centuries dur-ing the tri-series, both made

upward movements, whileMeg Lanning, despite drop-

ping three position, hung onto the top five. Among the

bowlers, Ellyse Perry’s gold-en run with the ball gave her

a jump of four places intothe top 10, to No.7. Englandfast bowler Anya Shrubsole

tumbled six places to fall outof the top 20. Anuja Patil

and Delissa Kimmince lostout big as well, falling 11

places to 31, and 14 places to33 respectively. — PTI

RCB unveil newlogo ahead of IPL

New Delhi: The Virat Kohli-led Indian Premier League

side Royal ChallengersBangalore on Friday

unveiled its new logo aheadof the upcoming season

starting March 29. The club said the new logo

design, which features a lion,“embodies the bold and

fearless attitude” of the side. Speaking on the launch of

the new visual identity,Sanjeev Churiwala, Chairman

of Royal ChallengersBangalore, said, “The ele-

ments in the logo is a com-mitment to continuously

entertain and engage withfans who are the force

behind Royal ChallengersBangalore.

“We believe a change inidentity for the club was

necessary to effectively liveand breathe this vision and

celebrate the passion forcricket and playing bold,” he

added. — PTI

SA call off Pak tourciting workload

Johannesburg: South Africahave ruled out participationin a proposed T20 series in

Pakistan following their Indiatour next month, citing play-

ers' workload.The tour will be rescheduled

at a later date suitable toboth the Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) and Cricket

South Africa (CSA), reportedESPNCricinfo. South Africa

play three ODIs in India fromMarch 12 to 18 and the tour

of Pakistan for three T20s inRawalpindi was planned

after that. South Africa arecurrently playing T20s

against England after com-peting in four Tests and

three ODIs. After the threeT20s against England, theProteas will host Australia

for three ODIs and as manyT20s with the last match

ending on March 7, leavingless than a week in between

for the series-opener in Indiaat Dharamsala. — PTI

MCC’S TOUR OF PAKISTAN

New Delhi: BCCI anti-corruptionchief Ajit Singh on Friday saidhe will request Delhi Police to

allow his team to questionSanjeev Chawla, an alleged

bookie and key accused in oneof cricket's biggest match-fixing

scandals that involved lateSouth Africa captain Hansie

Cronje. Chawla, who was extra-dited from the United Kingdom

on Thursday, has been sent to12-day police custody by a trialcourt, which he has challenged

in the High Court. Singh saidtalking to Chawla might helpthe BCCI get some valuable

information for future investiga-tions. “We will contact the Delhipolice as he is in its custody. We

would like to know from DelhiPolice what all information he

has shared with it. And if possi-ble, we would like to talk to him

also but totally depends onDelhi Police’s permission,”

Singh said. “It is an old caseand if it is time barred in our

courts, it doesn’t make a differ-ence. We can update our data

in terms of anything new hereveals which may not have

been in public domain," said theBCCI ACU boss.

— PTI

BCCI ACU CHIEFWANTS ACCESS

TO SANJEEV

Hamilton, Feb. 14:Hanuma Vihari’s gutsyhundred and the seasonedCheteshwar Pujara’s 92were the bright spots in anotherwise dreadful battingperformance by India onthe first day of theirwarm-up game againstNew Zealand XI here.

All the three designatedopeners — MayankAgarwal (1), Prithvi Shaw(0) and Shubman Gill (0) —failed the seam andbounce test, falling cheap-ly. With skipper ViratKohli opting for an intensenet session over the warm-up game, India managedonly 263 with none apartfrom Vihari (101 retired)and Pujara able to scoreeven 20 runs on a SeddonPark track that had liberalgrass covering.

What would worry theIndian team managementwas failure of all the threeopeners. Shaw and Gillwere undone by the extrabounce while Agarwalfailed to counter to seammovement. New Zealandpacer Scott Kuggeleijn(3/40) got the ball to rearup awkwardly from lengthduring his first spell andShaw’s dismissal was theugliest one.

Kuggeleijn, who was hit-ting the deck hard, got oneinto Shaw’s rib-cage leav-ing the batsman in no posi-tion to duck. The eyeswere not on the ball withthe bat face closed. Theawkward hit ballooned upand was taken by RachinRavindra at short leg.

Agarwal, who has beenin horrible form of late,then edged an away goingdelivery to keeper DaneCleaver behind thestumps. Another classicTest match dismissal wasGill, who was given theno.4 slot in absence ofskipper Kohli. The snorterfrom Kuggeleijn grew bigon Gill, who tried defend-ing but the thick edge flewto gully making it 5 for 3 inno time.

Ajinkya Rahane (18) wasout by the end of the firsthour, edging one to theslips, before Vihari andPujara stemmed the rotand got a 195-run stand.Once they saw ofKuggeleijn’s first spell andthe skiddy Blair Tickner,

batting became easy in thesecond and third session.

Once the spinners werein operation, Pujarapulled Ish Sodhi over longleg for a six while Viharialso hit three down theground off left-arm spin-ner Ravindra. Pujara wasfinally out in the final ses-

sion trying to hook Gibsoneven as Vihari got to thethree-figure mark.

— PTIBrief scores: India 263 in78.5 overs (CheteshwarPujara 92, Hanuma Vihari(retd out) 101, Kuggeleijn3/40, Ish Sodhi 3/72) vsNew Zealand XI.

Hamilton, Feb. 14: HanumaVihari on Friday said hewon’t mind taking up theopener’s role if the teammanagement asks afterIndia’s inexperienced open-ing options were technicallyexposed by a second-stringNew Zealand attack on theopening day of the warm-upgame here.

Coming in at no.6, Vihariscored a hundred butMayank Agarwal, PrithviShaw and Shubman Gillwere dismissed early, undoneby the extra bounce andseam movement during thematch against New ZealandXI.

The trio’s performanceraised doubts about its abili-ty to face the likes of NeilWagner, Trent Boult andMatt Henry. “As a player, I amprepared to bat anywhere. Asof now, I’ve not beeninformed anything. As I saidbefore as well, if the teamrequires me to bat wherever,I am ready to bat,” saidVihari, who retired afterscoring 101.

The Andhra player hasdelivered whenever given achance. Does he feel badabout not getting to play foursuccessive Tests after theseries-opener against SouthAfrica at Visakhapatnam lastyear in October?

“Sometimes you have tounderstand the team combi-nation as well. You can’t getdisheartened by it. I under-stood when you are playingat home, we play fivebowlers. It’s obvious that onebatter has to miss out. So Itook it in my stride. I don’twant to prove anything toanyone but just follow theprocess,” Vihari said.

Vihari was surprised by theextra bounce on offer onFriday but is happy to havecountered the challenge inthe warm-up game whichprovided him with an oppor-tunity to prepare well. Headded 195 runs withCheteshwar Pujara (93) afternone of the other batsmencrossed the 20-run mark.

“Initially, I thought theextra bounce surprised us.(In) the couple of matches Iplayed against New ZealandA, the pitch didn’t do asmuch as what it did in themorning today. “Once weadjusted, me and Puji(Pujara’s nickname), we got

our eye in, then we knewwe had to bat long andthat’s exactly what wedid,” Vihari said after

the end of day’s play. — PTI

Hamilton, Feb. 14: FormerNew Zealand skipperGlenn Turner is quite sur-prised that his countryhas its “nose ahead” in theongoing bilateral seriesagainst India and the rea-son, according to him, isthe underwhelming per-formance of the JaspritBumrah-led visiting pac-ers. However, Turnerexpects Bumrah andMohammed Shami to lifttheir game in the upcom-ing two-Test series, whichbegins on February 21.After winning the fivematch T20 series 5-0, Indialost the ODI series 0-3 fail-ing to defend 347 in onegame and nearly 300 (296)in the final match.

“I have no time at all forT20 cricket. It’s a blot onthe game. 50-over cricket,you can have a game.Technically, I felt bowlingfrom both sides have beenway below than what I hadexpected at internationallevels in both formats,”

Turner said. Turner believes Bumrah

and Shami’s ability toswing the ball will work toIndia’s advantage duringthe Test series. “At themoment, New Zealandhave their nose ahead but Ihave been rather sur-prised, that has been thecase. India have shown inthree-match series theyhave several whats and Iam surprised that theyhave not performed betterthan they have,” he said.

— PTI

Openers fail seam and bounce testbefore Vihari, Pujara come to rescue

Turner puts onuson Bumrah, Shami

Vihari ready toopen batting if requiredShaky start

Hamilton, Feb. 14: SeniorNew Zealand batsmanRoss Taylor has learnt tolive with his imperfectionsas he stands on the cusp ofa coveted 100th Test of hiscareer.

Only Stephen Fleming,Brendon McCullum andDaniel Vettori have playedmore Tests than Taylorwho will only enter anelite club by playing his100th Test in the seriesopener, beginning inWellington on February21. “No one has a perfectcareer and you fail at somestage especially as a batter.Mistakes and scenariosmake you grow as a per-

son,” Taylor told reporterson Friday.

Asked what does 100Tests mean to him, hecheekily replied:“Probably getting older!But no, I think I have beenhappy with what I haveachieved to date.”

“Test cricket and cricketin general as a batter, yougo through a lot of ups anddowns and that’s definite-ly what I have beenthrough, and as a team aswell. “But Wellingtonholds a special place in myheart and I am sure havinga lot of family and friendsthere will be somethingthat I will be proud of and

look back on at the end ofmy career with fond mem-ories,” said the 35-year-oldTaylor.

On emotions playing adistracting role in the firstTest, Taylor downplayedthat factor.

“I guess at the end of theday, it is another game ofcricket and you try andcontribute in any way

that’s possible. But at thesame time, you got toenjoy it for what it is. “ButI am sure once you get intothe game, you can enjoy itand just play cricket likeyou want to. Wellingtoncan do a little bit early on,so I am sure batting orbowling, it is going to bean interesting contest.”

For a journeyman crick-eter, a family ready tomake sacrifices is veryimportant which is wherewife Victoria’s role hasbeen pivotal in Taylor’ssuccessful journey. “It isnot easy on my wifeVictoria to raise three kidsfor as long as she has. We

play a lot but that’s proba-bly why when you do playat home, it’s nice to be adad and it’s nice for them,Jonty and Mackenzie to beold enough to sort ofunderstand what daddoes.”

And then he said whatperhaps holds true for anyprofessional. “Regardlessof whether you score runsor not, they (kids) give dada hug. That puts every-thing into perspective andhopefully when they arebit older than they arenow, they will be proud ofwhat I have achieved as acricketer for them,” addedTaylor. — PTI

No one has perfect career: Taylor on 100 Tests● Only StephenFleming, BrendonMcCullum andDaniel Vettori haveplayed more Teststhan Taylor.

Ross Taylor

India openers Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw getready to walk in to the field. — BCCI

Hanuma Viharicelebrates hishundred in awarm-up game.

— BCCI

Glenn Turner

Patiala, Feb. 14: Bengaland Karnataka scriptedcontrasting wins overPunjab and Barodarespectively to qualify forthe Ranji Trophy quarter-finals on Friday.

The results on day threeof the final round of RanjiTrophy also knockedDelhi out of the tourna-ment. Punjab, needing 190runs for victory, fluffedtheir run chase to bebowled out for 141, hand-ing Bengal a 48-run victo-ry.

Spinners dominated thegame with Bengal left-arm spinner ShahbazAhmed picking up fourwickets in the secondinnings to take his match-haul to 11. Resuming daythree at 199 for nine,Bengal scored only threeruns to set Punjab a 190-run target. It turned out tobe enough in a low-scor-ing game with Punjab get-

ting bowled out in 47. 3overs. Ramandeep Singh(69 not out off 104) ran outof partners in the end.

Bengal gained six pointsfrom the win, pushingthem on the top of thestandings.

In Bengaluru,Karnataka advanced tothe quarterfinals with aneight-wicket win overBaroda. It was animproved batting effortfrom Baroda in the secondinnings after being shotout for 85 on day one.

They ended their secondinnings at 296 all out, set-ting Karnataka a 149-runtarget, which the hostsreached in 44.4 overs withthe loss of just two wick-ets.

Karnataka skipperKarun Nair took the teamover the line with anunbeaten 71 off126 balls.

— PTI

Bengal, K’taka make itto Ranji quarter-finalsSanga’s poignant return to Pak

Lahore, Feb. 14: Sri Lankagreat Kumar Sangakkarawill relive his fateful 2009journey to Lahore’sGaddafi Stadium onFriday after returning forthe first time since thedeadly attack whichplunged Pakistan intocricket isolation.

Sangakkara is captain-ing England’s venerableMCC for four games inLahore, where he waswounded in a militantattack on the Sri Lankanteam that left eight peopledead in March 2009.

International cricket isonly now returning toPakistan, who hosted SriLanka late last year fortheir first home Testseries since the guns-and-rocket attack.Sangakkara, 42, sufferedshrapnel wounds to hisshoulder and narrowlyescaped a bullet whichwhistled past his head asthe Sri Lankan players laypinned down on the floor

of the team bus. ButSangakkara, who is alsothe president of theMarylebone Cricket Club(MCC), said Pakistan wasslowly restoring its repu-tation as a safe destinationfor visiting teams.

“Security is always amajor concern every-where in the world,” hesaid after arriving in

Lahore on Thursday. “I think the steps that

have been taken inPakistan over the past fewyears have instilled agreat amount of confi-dence in the cricketingnations.

“I think slowly and sure-ly that confidence is build-ing up and the more timesinternational sides tour,

that message becomesstronger and harder toignore.”

The few internationalgames in Pakistan havebeen guarded by tightsecurity, with snipers onrooftops, roads sealed offand heavily armedpatrols. But Sangakkara,one of the world’s bestbatsmen of the past twodecades, said playing inLahore sends out a power-ful symbol.

“I think the best thing isto send the message by theway we play on the field,”said Sangakkara.

“I am happy that we areable to play our part to tryand encourage countriesto look at Pakistan as oneof the best cricket destina-tions.

“It has been in the pastand I am sure it will bethat again very soon.”

The MCC will open theirtour with a Twenty20match in Lahore onFriday. — AFP

In Rajkot: Tamil Nadu 424 vsSaurashtra 346/6 (ArpitVasavada 126 not out, AviBarot 82; K Vignesh 2/57)

In Hyderabad: Hyderabad 272& 139/7 in 49 overs (BuddhiRahul 39, Prateek Reddy 26, A.Sarvate 4/68) vs Vidarbha 333in 113.4 overs (Faiz Fazal 151,Ganesh Satish 65; Ravi Kiran3/25).

In Bengaluru: Baroda 85 and296 (A Pathan 90,Abhimanyusingh 52; MPrasidh Krishna 4/45) lostto Karnataka 233 and 150/2(Karun Nair 71 not out;Bhargav Bhatt 2/62).

In Nadiad: Andhra 177 & 216/7in 89 overs (Karan Shinde 64,B. Sumanth 47, Axar Patel5/77) vs Gujarat 406 in 109.4overs (Parthiv Patel 57, AxarPatel 89, Chirag Gandhi 93;Shoaib Md Khan 4/80).

BRIEF SCORES

Kumar Sangakkara, captain of MCC team, walks in for atraining session at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. MCCteam will play a round of matches as part of the club’svision of supporting cricket in Pakistan. — PCB

Tatum pairs with Smart to outsmart ClippersWWaasshhiinnggttoonn,, FFeebb.. 1144::Jayson Tatum scored 39points, two off his careerhigh, and Marcus Smartadded 31 on Thursday tolift the Boston Celtics overthe Los Angeles Clippers141-133 in double over-time.

Tatum hit 14-of-23 fromthe floor, 5-of-10 fromthree-point range, andgrabbed nine rebounds inmore than 47 minuteswhile playing toughdefense against KawhiLeonard to send theCeltics into the NBA All-Star Game break as win-ners.

“This was a tough one.It’s nice to go to the All-Star break with a win andenjoy those moments off,”Tatum said.

Tatum’s hot night cameafter a 5-for-15 shootingeffort and 0-for-7 three-point performance earlierin the week againstHouston.

“Just a lot of hard work.My teammates trust meand vice versa. We do agood job of getting the hotguy the ball whoever itis,” Tatum said of his siz-zling shooting.

Tatum struck for twolate hoops in overtime, alayup over Leonard with24.8 seconds remaining toput Boston ahead 127-124.

But Landry Shamet’sthree-pointer pulled theClippers level and sent thegame into a second extraperiod, which the Celticsdominated to claim thetriumph.

Lou Williams came offthe Clippers’ bench toscore 35 points whileLeonard had 28 points and11 rebounds. MontrezlHarrell added 24 pointsand 13 rebounds.

In the only other gameon the last night of con-tests before the NBA All-Star Game break, Italianforward Danilo Gallinariscored 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting to lead theOklahoma City Thunderto a 123-118 victory at NewOrleans.

German reserve DennisSchroder added 22, NewZealand center StevenAdams contributed 11points — including hisfirst NBA three-pointer —

and 11 rebounds. ChrisPaul had 14 points and 12assists for the Thunder.

Pelicans rookie star ZionWilliamson scored agame-high 32 points in his10th NBA contest whileJ.J. Redick added 24 points

off the bench for NewOrleans. The Celticsannounced Thursday thatKevin Garnett, whohelped Boston capture the2008 NBA crown, will havehis number 5 jerseyretired next season, the

24th former player so hon-ored by the club.

“I’m honored and thank-ful to have my numberretired with the Celtics,”Garnett said.

He was the 2008 NBADefensive Player of the

Year and an NBA All-Starin five of his six seasonswith the Celtics.

In 396 games for Boston,Garnett averaged 15.7points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.7assists, 1.2 steals and 1.0blocks a game. — AFP

Celtics control LA

Dortmund look to Haaland againBBeerrlliinn,, FFeebb.. 1144:: BorussiaDortmund must tighten theirdefence and trust teenage strikerErling Braut Haaland to providethe goals against Bundesligagiant-killers Eintracht Frankfurton Friday after a “week to for-get”.

Dortmund conceded two goalsinside 82 seconds late on duringlast Saturday’s 4-3 defeat at BayerLeverkusen which left seniorclub bosses fuming.

After eight goals in his four pre-vious games, it was the first timenew signing Haaland, 19, hadfailed to score for Dortmund.

Former captain Sebastian Kehlsaid the Leverkusen defeatcapped a “week to forget”, fourdays after being dumped out ofthe German Cup with a 3-2 loss atWerder Bremen.

“We’re conceding too manygoals, which often means we losethe reward for our work as we’rescoring enough,” said sportingdirector Michael Zorc.

The league and cup disappoint-ments leave third-placedDortmund lagging four pointsbehind leaders Bayern Munich.

It will be no easy task to reboottheir title challenge at SignalIduna Park against Frankfurt,while they also have Tuesday’s

Champions League last-16 firstleg against Paris Saint-Germainlooming on the horizon.

Dortmund are missing injuredforwards Marco Reus and JulianBrandt, while visitors Frankfurthave already claimed two big

scalps in the league this season.Bayern suffered a humiliating

5-1 defeat in Frankfurt lastNovember, and second-placed RBLeipzig also went down 2-0 at theCommerzbank Arena in January.

Dortmund coach Lucien Favre

has been correcting defensiveflaws in training after neitherManuel Akanji nor centre-backpartner Mats Hummels coveredthemselves in glory inLeverkusen.

“It takes time to correct a fewthings, but it’s coming,” saidFavre, who comes under morepressure with each defeat.

“I don’t see any other solutionapart from work, work, work,” headded.

In the four Bundesliga gamessince the winter break,Dortmund have scored 18 goalsbut conceded eight.

January signing Emre Canurged his teammates to “playdirty — a foul here, defend betterthere”.

Eintracht welcome back Dutchstriker Bas Dost after a stomachbug kept him sidelined for lastweekend’s 5-0 thumping ofAugsburg.

Bayern could be without cap-tain and goalkeeper ManuelNeuer at Cologne on Sunday asthe Germany skipper has a virus,with reserve keeper Sven Ulreichon stand-by. The reigning cham-pions are bidding for a seventhwin in eight league games, afterbeing held to a goalless draw byLeipzig last Sunday. — AFP

GAMES pg 15THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

SHORT

Kuchar grabs leadas Tiger falters

LLooss AAnnggeelleess:: Matt Kuchar fireda sparkling

seven-under 64 on Thursday toseize a three-shot lead after the

first round of the GenesisInvitational at Riviera Country

Club.South Korea’s Lee Kyoung-hoon

and Americans Russell Henley,Wyndham Clark, Adam Schenkand Harold Varner shared sec-ond on 67 with Rory McIlroy —newly returned to world num-ber one — headlining a groupof 10 on 68 that also includedAustralia’s Jason Day and for-mer Masters champion Patrick

Reed.Tournament host Tiger Woodsclosed with a bogey to fall outof that bunch, cooling off aftera hot start to post a two-under

par 69 as he pursues a record83rd US PGA Tour title.

Woods was still a teenagerwhen he played his first US tour

event at Riviera, but he hasnever won on the classic coursein the Pacific Palisades west of

Los Angeles in 12 prior tries,and his struggles continued on

Thursday. — AFP

Park aims Tokyoslot for S. Korea

AAddeellaaiiddee,, AAuussttrraalliiaa:: ReigningOlympic champion Inbee Park

vaulted into the joint lead atthe LPGA Australian Open

Friday in her quest to makeSouth Korea’s team for the

Tokyo Games and defend her2016 gold medal.

The seven-time major winnerand former world number onecarded a four-under-par 69 atthe Royal Adelaide Golf Club,

with England’s Jodi EwartShadoff, the overnight leader,

sinking birdies on thefinal two holes for a 70 to join

her. They are one clear ofAmerican LPGA Tour rookie

Jillian Hollis and two ahead ofSouth Korea’s Ayean Cho and

American Marina Alex.Park has set an aggressive

early-season schedule to try toclimb the rankings and qualify

for the Tokyo Olympics. “It’s probably tougher than get-ting a medal in the Olympics to

make the team,” Inbee saidahead of the tournament.—AFP

NBA All-Star topay Kobe tribute

LLooss AAnnggeelleess:: Tributes to thelate Kobe Bryant, the Los

Angeles Lakers legend whodied last month in a helicoptercrash, will play a major role in

Sunday’s 69th NBA All-StarGame.

This year’s annual showcase ofleague talent will be played in

Chicago and feature numerousnods to Bryant, a five-time NBA

champion who also matched aleague record with four NBAAll-Star Game Most Valuable

Player awards.All-Star teams guided by

LeBron James and GiannisAntetokounmpo will competeto win each of the first three

quarters, which will all start 0-0and last 12 minutes.

At the start of the fourth quar-ter, the clock will be turned

off and a final target score willbe established by taking the

leading club’s cumulative scorethrough the first three quarters

and adding 24 points — thenumber representing the jerseynumber worn by Bryant for the

final 10 seasons of his NBAcareer. — AFP

WWaasshhiinnggttoonn:: Undefeated CalebPlant defends the InternationalBoxing Federation super mid-

dleweight title on Saturdayin a hometown appearanceagainst Germany’s Vincent

Feigenbutz at Nashville,Tennessee.

Plant, 19-0 with 11 knockouts,won the title with a unanimous12-round decision over former

champion Jose Uzcategui ofVenezuela in January 2019 at

Los Angeles.He comes into the bout after

defending the crown last Julywith a third-round stoppage ofUS compatriot Mike Lee at Las

Vegas.“I’m excited about fighting in

my hometown. I’m ready tohave a great performance. This

is going to be fireworks,” Plant said.

Vincent Feigenbutz, 31-2 with28 knockouts, has won his past

10 fights over four years to earnthe title bout in his first contest

outside of Europe.“I’ll win this fight anywhere it’s

fought,” the 2016 middleweighttitle holder said.

“I’m very happy to be here inthe US on this big stage. I’m

looking forward to winning aworld title here,” he further

added. — AFP

INVINCIBLECALEB TAKES

ON VINCENT

TAKES Tokyo Games aresafe, insists IOCTTookkyyoo,, FFeebb.. 1144:: Olympicchiefs admitted Fridaythey face a “very big com-munications job” to sootheconcerns over the coron-avirus epidemic in the run-up to this summer’s TokyoGames.

The head of theInternational OlympicCommittee (IOC) coordina-tion commission insistedthere was no danger ofTokyo 2020 being cancelledor moved, despite fearsover the fast-spreadingvirus which has killednearly 1,400 and infectedaround 64,000 — most ofthem in China.

But he said the IOC willsend out informationpacks to reassure athletesthat it’s safe to come intocontact with competitorsfrom China.

“The advice we havereceived from the WorldHealth Organization(WHO) is that there is nocase for a contingency planto cancel or move theGames,” John Coates toldreporters after a projectreview meeting.

“Certainly it’s a very bigcommunications job thatneeds to be undertaken,”he added, noting thatChina is set to send morethan 600 athletes to Tokyo.

“But we hear that most ofthe Chinese athletes arenow out of China. I don’tknow how many were to beinvolved in test eventshere, but I don’t see a prob-lem if they’re coming fromanother country,” headded.

Coates promised lessonswould be learned from Riofour years ago, when con-cerns over the mosquito-born Zika virus led to sev-eral top athletes pullingout of the Olympics,including golfers JasonDay and Rory McIlroy.“The WHO pointed out thelikelihood of Zika being aproblem at the time of theGames was very low,” hesaid.

“But we did lose some

athletes — Jason Day’swife was pregnant. We did-n’t communicate the infor-mation well enough,” headded.

Tokyo organisers haveslammed “fake news” andscare-mongering over thecoronavirus outbreak forcausing panic ahead of theGames, which open on July24.

More than 25 countrieshave confirmed cases ofthe flu-like disease, whichthe WHO has declared aglobal health emergency.

Japan, which registeredits first fatality onThursday of someone whohad tested positive for thevirus, is one of the worst-hit countries outside ofmainland China.

There have been 33 caseson land and more than 200positive tests of peoplequarantined on a cruiseship floating off Yokohamasince last week. Coatesconceded that there couldbe fear among athletesabout facing competitorsfrom China. — AFP

Abdel Nader (centre) of Oklahoma City Thunder shoots next to Jaxson Hayes (right) of New Orleans Pelicans dur-ing their NBA game in New Orleans on Thursday. The Oklahoma City won 123-118. — AP

In this file photo, Dortmunds Norwegian forward Erling Braut Haalandcelebrates after scoring during the German first division Bundesligafootball match against FC Union Berlin in Dortmund.

Stefanos Tsitsipas waves after losing his pre-quarterfinal5-7, 4-6 to Aljaz Bedene at the ABN AMRO World TennisTournament in Rotterdam on Thursday. — AFP

I am doing well,reassures PeleRRiioo DDee JJaanneeiirroo,, FFeebb.. 1144::Brazilian football legendPele sought to reassurefans on Thursday that hewas doing fine, after hisson alluded to depressionand said the ageing starnow barely leaves home.

“Thanks for your prayersand your worry. I am doingfine. I will be 80 this year,”Pele, considered by manyto be the greatest footballerof all time, said in a state-ment.

“I have good days and baddays, which is normal forpeople of my age,” headded.

Pele has been in and outof hospital in recent yearsfor various health issues.He never fully recoveredfrom one of his hip opera-tions, leaving him depend-ent on a walker, his sonEdinho said in an inter-view published Monday.

“I am not missing my(advertising) commitmentson my busy schedule,” saidPele, the only player to winthree World Cups — in1958, 1962 and 1970.

“I continue to accept myphysical limitations in thebest way possible, but I tryto keep the ball rolling,” headded.

In the interview pub-lished on the sports news

site Globoesporte.Com,Edinho said his father is“pretty fragile in terms ofhis mobility... And thatmakes him suffer a kind ofdepression. Just imagine,he’s the ‘King,’ he wasalways such an imposingfigure, now he can’t walknormally. He gets very shy,very embarrassed aboutthat. — AFP

PPaarriiss,, FFeebb.. 1144:: Papa Massata Diack, the son of formerworld athletics supremo Lamine Diack, has deniedcorruption linked to the Russian doping scandal, say-ing he is too rich to bribe.

Diack has been indicted by French prosecutors forallegedly accepting millions of dollars along with hisfather, Lamine Diack, in return for covering up posi-tive Russian doping tests.

Diack junior is a former marketing consultant for theInternational Association of Athletics Federations(IAAF), now renamed World Athletics, which was runby his father from 1999 to 2015.

He was due to go on trial in Paris from mid-Januaryalong with his father but has refused to cooperate withFrench authorities and remains in Senegal.

Despite two international arrest warrants issued byFrance, the Senegalese authorities have said they willnot extradite Diack junior. In testimony to an investi-gating magistrate in Senegal in November, PapaMassata Diack said he was too wealthy to need to takebribes and denied covering up positive Russian dopingtests from 2011.

“In all the years I worked with the IAAF and Dentsu-AMS (the IAAF marketing rights holders), I earnedaround $10 million (nine million euros) from sponsor-ing contracts and TV rights,” he testified. — AFP

DIACK JUNIOR DENIESRUSSIAN DOPING GRAFT

Jordan stunsIsner at NYNNeeww YYoorrkk,, FFeebb.. 1144::Australian JordanThompson upset UStop seed John Isner 7-6(7/2), 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 onThursday to reach theATP New York Openquarterfinals.

Thompson, who willface Italy’s AndreasSeppi on Friday for aberth in the semi-finals, avenged a loss toIsner in last year’sNew York quarter-finals.

The world number 63took his first victory infour meetings with thebig-serving American.

The 25-year-old fromSydney surged ahead 5-0 in the first tie-break-er, then fell behind 4-1in dropping the secondonly to take the lonebreak of the match inthe final set.

Defending championReilly Opelka got thebetter of Japan’sYoshihito Nishioka 6-4,6-4, sending the USthird seed into a quar-terfinal againstTaiwan’s Jason Jung,who upset British sev-enth seed CameronNorrie 6-4, 6-4.

— AFP

BOPANNA ANDSHAPOVALOV AREINTO SEMIFINALSRRootttteerrddaamm,, FFeebb.. 1144::India’s Rohan Bopannaand his Canadian partnerDenis Shapovalovadvanced to the men’sdoubles semifinals of theABN Amro World TennisTournament with animpressive win overfourth seeds Jean-JulienRojer and Horia Tecauhere.

They defeated theRomanian-Dutch pairingof Tecau and Rojer 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 in a quarterfinal.They next meet the win-ners of the quarterfinalbetween Henri Kontinenand Jan-Lennard Struff,and, Jamie Murray andNeal Skupski. — PTI

The advice we havereceived from the WorldHealth Organisation(WHO) is that there is nocase for a contingencyplan to cancel or movethe Games.

— JOHN COATEShead of the IOC’s

coordinationcommission

Thanks for your prayersand your worry. I amdoing fine. I will be 80this year. I have gooddays and bad days,which is normal for peo-ple of my age.

— PELERetired Brazilian star

footballer

GAMES pg 16THE ASIAN AGE | SATURDAY | 15 FEBRUARY 2020 | NEW DELHI

SHORT

CChheennnnaaii:: Tanvi Singh pulled offa surprise win over second-

seeded Sunayna Kuruvilla, win-ning in five games to reach the

women’s singles final of the77th Senior National Squash

Championship here on Friday.Top seeds Saurav Ghosal and

Joshna Chinappa marched intothe finals with easy victories

while the experienced HarinderPal Sandhu, on a comeback

trail, crashed out after goingdown to second seed Abhay

Singh. Tanvi prevailed 11-6, 3-11,11-8, 8-11, 12-10 in a thriller

against Sunayna, the local girl,for her maiden entry into the

national final.Ghosal, the 12-time champion in

the men’s and 17-time champi-on Joshna did not have to exert

themselves much to seal theirberths in the summit clash.

Sandhu appeared to be downand out after losing the first

two games against his Mumbaiopponent before launching a

tenacious fightback.— PTI

CChheennnnaaii:: Young Pranavi Ursmade a winning start to her

professional career as shenotched up a one-shot victory

in the third leg of the HeroWomen’s Pro Golf Tour here on

Friday.It was a second successive vic-

tory for Pranavi, who hademerged victories in the sec-

ond leg of the tournament,albeit as an amateur, last month

in Mumbai. The 16-year-oldfrom Mysore had won another

one in 2018 as an amateur.Pranavi carded two-over 74 in

the final round to end with atotal of 223, one shot ahead of

Amandeep Drall (77).Oviya Reddi, the local teen, had

a tough final day with threedouble bogeys and three other

bogeys against three birdies.Saaniya Sharma showed that

good course managementwould pay as she carded the

day’s only sub par score. It wasalso the second best of theweek after Pranavi’s second

round 69. Saaniya tied for thirdwith Oviya, for whom this wasthe best finish as a pro. — PTI

BBeennggaalluurruu:: Gokulam Keralawere crowned champions of the

Hero Indian Women’s Leagueafter a dramatic 3-2 victoryover Kangchup Road Young

Physical and Sports Association(KRYPHSA) FC in the final here

on Friday.Gokulam Kerala raced to a 2-0lead through early goals fromPrameshwori Devi and Kamala

Devi but Dangmei Grace pulledone back for Kryphsa to reduce

the deficit before half-time.Ratanbala Devi levelled the

scores in the second-half to sether team on course for what

would have been a phenomenalcomeback. However, it was

Sabitra Bhandari who struck alate winner for Gokulam.

The Malabarians took the leadafter just 49 seconds on theclock. Kryphsa were caughtnapping when a speculativeclearance from the Gokulamhalf found Sabitra Bhandari.

— PTI

BBhhuubbaanneesswwaarr:: Odisha FC keptthemselves in the hunt for a

Hero Indian Super League play-off spot after a come-from-

behind 2-1 win over NorthEastUnited FC at the Kalinga stadi-

um here on Friday.Martin Chaves (24th minute)had handed the visitors the

lead but Odisha turned itaround in the second half,

thanks to goals from ManuelOnwu (46th) and Martin Perez

Guedes (72nd).The win saw Odisha rise to the

fifth spot and still with a chanceto qualify for the play-offs,

while NorthEast United’s poorrun of form continued.

Odisha started the game on thefront foot with Guedes seeing ashot go wide early in the game.NorthEast started to grow into

the game but Odisha carriedthe bigger threat.

Odisha had a good chancewhen they broke forward froma NorthEast corner in the 18th

minute. Onwu charged forwardbefore finding Xisco Hernandezwho opted to go for goal from

distance which forced a savefrom Subhasish Roy

Chowdhury.However, against the run of

play, NorthEast took the lead inthe 24th minute. A quick free-

kick from Federico Gallego sentChaves through on goal and the

Uruguayan held off ShubhamSarangi and slid a finish pastgoalkeeper Arshdeep Singh.

— PTI

ODISHA FC KEEPPLAYOFF HOPESALIVE WITH WIN

TAKES BADMINTON ASIA || TEAM C’SHIPS

CAIRNS CUP CHESS

Gokulam crownedIWL champions

Saurabh, Joshna in national finals

Pranavi makes awinning debut

MMaanniillaa ((PPhhiilliippppiinneess)),, FFeebb..1144:: The Indian men’s teamassured itself of a medalafter progressing to thesemifinals with a thrilling3-2 win over Thailand atthe Badminton Asia TeamChampionships here onFriday.

After star shuttlersKidambi Srikanth and B.Sai Praneeth faced rever-sals in the first two singlesties, India fought back towin the next three ties,which included a singleand two doubles rubbers,to prevail over Thailand inthe quarterfinals and setup a last four meeting withtwo-time defending cham-pions Indonesia.

The men’s team had lastwon a bronze after losing 1-3 to Indonesia in the semi-finals of the 2016Hyderabad edition.

World Championshipsbronze medallist Praneethstarted the proceedings,but his gallant effort endedin a 14-21, 21-14, 12-21 loss toworld No. 12 KantaphonWangcharoen, as Indialagged 0-1.

In the second singles, for-mer world No. 1 Srikanthwent down 20-22, 14-21 toKunlavut Vitidsarn, athree-time world juniorchampion, as India slippedto 0-2.

The pairing of M.R.Arjun and Dhruv Kapilakept India in the hunt witha 21-18, 22-20 win overKittinupong Kedren andTanupat Viriyangkura inthe first doubles.

Young Lakshya Sen, whohad a stellar run in 2019with five titles, then regis-tered a 21-19, 21-18 win overworld No. 45 SuppanyuAvihingsanon to bring

India back on level terms.It then all boiled down to

the makeshift pair ofChirag Shetty andSrikanth and the Indianduo dished out a superbgame to outwit the pairingof Maneepong Jongjit andNipitphon Phuangphuapet21-15, 16-21, 21-15 in thedeciding second doublestie.

“It is an incredible resultfor us considering the factthat we didn’t haveSatwiksairaj (Rankireddy)and we generally dependon the singles to get us thewin. But after we lost thefirst two singles, the waywe got that doubles winand then Lakshya broughtus back to level, it was acomplete team effort,”Chirag said.

India, who had lost toChina 1-3 in the last editionin 2018, will now lockhorns with Indonesia inthe semifinals.

Indonesia boast of AsianGames champion andworld number sevenJonathan Christie andworld number fiveAnthony Sinisuka Ginting.They also have the worldnumber one pair ofMarcus Fernaldi Gideonand Kevin SanjayaSukamuljo, apart from theformidable HendraSetiawan and MohammadAhsan.

“Beating Indonesia willbe a difficult task becausethey have such formidabledoubles pairs and even insingles, there players areranked in top 10, so toughbut if we can put the bestfoot foward like today, wehope to do well,” Chiragsigned off.

— PTI

India pip Thailandto enter semifinals

SStt LLoouuiiss ((UUSSAA)),, FFeebb.. 1144::India’s Koneru Humpydefeated former worldchampion AlexandraKosteniuk of Russia in 61moves in the sixth round ofthe Cairns Cup chess tour-nament here to move intojoint lead with Chinese aceWenjun Ju.

Dronavalli Harika, theother Indian in the fray,shared points with theworld champion WenjunJu of China in 40 moves onThursday.

With four points in herkitty, Humpy shares thelead with Wenjun Ju.Harika, on the other hand,is on three points after sixrounds and is in joint thirdspot with two other play-ers.

Humpy, the reigningworld rapid champion andthe country’s number one,played the Nimzo-Indianagainst the experiencedKosteniuk and took advan-tage of a mistake on the

50th move to record hersecond win in the tourna-ment.

Harika, playing withblack pieces, opted forKing’s Indian andequalised rather easilyagainst Wenjun Ju.

American youngsterCarissa Yip posted her sec-ond straight win after fourlosses, beating ValentinaGunina in the only otherdecisive game of the day.

In the seventh round,Humpy will take onAmerican Irina Krushwhile Harika is up againstYip. — PTI

RReessuullttss aafftteerr RRoouunndd 66::Koneru Humpy (IND, 4)beat Alexndra Kosteniuk(RUS, 3.5), Wenjun Ju(CHN, 4) drew with D.Harika (IND, 3), KaternyaLagno (RUS, 3) drew withNana Dzagnidze (GRG, 3.5),Mariya Muzychuk (UKR, 3)drew Irina Krush (USA, 2),Carissa Yip (USA, 3) beatValentina Gunina (RUS, 2).

MMiillaann,, FFeebb.. 1144:: CristianoRonaldo’s injury-timepenalty grabbedJuventus a 1-1 draw at ACMilan in their ItalianCup semi-final, first legon Thursday as hisincredible scoring runcontinued.

The 35-year-old has nowscored 12 goals in his lasteight games in all compe-titions after thePortuguese ultimatelygot the better of old rivalZlatan Ibrahimovicdespite being largelyanonymous for much ofthe match.

Milan paid for TheoHernandez’s 71st-minutered card as they failed toclose out a game they haddominated for long peri-ods and led through AnteRebic.

Juve will now befavourites to finish thejob in the second leg atthe Allianz Stadium nextmonth, with a finalagainst either InterMilan or Napoli up forgrabs.

The hosts startedstrongly, withIbrahimovic headingover the crossbar insidethe first minute.

He continued to be athreat to his former clubearly on, but could onlydirect an ambitious back-heel flick beyond the farpost, before picking up abooking which will seehim miss the second legthrough suspension.

Juventus finally pro-duced their first shot inanger nine minutesbefore half-time, as JuanCuadrado saw his lowstrike well saved byMilan goalkeeperGianluigi Donnarumma.

Milan started the sec-ond half as they did thefirst, on the front foot, butRebic was denied anopening goal byGianluigi Buffon.

Samu Castillejo alsocalled Buffon into actionseven minutes after thebreak, with the 42-year-old goalkeeper able tomake a comfortable save.

Stefano Pioli’s sidefinally made the break-through in the 61stminute, though, asCastillejo’s clipped crosswas volleyed home at theback post by Rebic.

Juventus were gifted away back into the gamewith 18 minutes remain-ing as Hernandez washanded a second yellowcard for a late challengeon Paulo Dybala.

Dybala curled widewith five minutesremaining, but Juve wereawarded a spot-kick inthe final minute of nor-mal time as VAR spotteda handball by DavideCalabria.

Ronaldo stepped up andslammed the ball downthe middle to score his24th goal of the season.

— AFP

Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo (left) celebrates after scoring a penalty against AC Milan in their Italian Cup semi-final first leg match at the San Siro Stadium in Milan on Thursday. — AFP

Ron’s rescue actCristiano penalty snatches Juve first-leg draw at Milan

LLoonnddoonn,, FFeebb.. 1144::Liverpool are expected totake another steptowards clinching a long-awaited Premier Leaguetitle at bottom-of-the-table Norwich, whilebehind the runaway lead-ers the battle forChampions Leagueplaces takes centre stagethis weekend.

The Reds can extendtheir mammoth 22-pointlead over ManchesterCity at Carrow Road onSaturday as they aim tonot only win the leaguefor the first time in 30years, but smash therecord books in theprocess.

Jurgen Klopp’s menhave dropped just twopoints all season and areon a run of 16 consecu-tive league wins.

That march towardsthe title began on theopening night of the sea-son when Norwich visit-ed Anfield and were 4-0down inside 42 minutes.

An injury to AlissonBecker was the one bigconcern of that victoryfor Klopp as theBrazilian was sidelinedfor two months.

After taking some timeto get back to his bestform, Alisson has saved

26 of the last 27 shots hehas faced, with Liverpoolracking up an aggregatescore of 23-1 in that time.

“We want to win thetitle and for winning thetitle, you need to wineverything,” Alisson toldPremier LeagueProductions.

“The way we play, youneed to enjoy thatbecause if you don’tenjoy that then you can-not play all the gameswith our intensity.”

A massive 55 pointsseparate Norwich fromthe champions-elect withthe Canaries sevenpoints adrift of safety.

Daniel Farke’s men des-perately need to startturning good perform-ances into points to beatthe drop.

However, they haveshown an ability to upset

the odds with one oftheir four league winsthis season comingagainst Manchester City.

RROODDGGEERRSS WWEELLCCOOMMEESSAA RREESSTT

For a long time, Leicesterwere Liverpool’s closestchallengers at the top ofthe table, but the Foxes’form before a two-weekwinter break had fadedwith just one win in fourleague games.

An eight-match win-ning streak earlier in theseason means BrendanRodgers’s men still havea 10-point cushion in therace for a ChampionsLeague place and caneven move back up to sec-ond with victory atWolves on Friday.

And Rodgers is hopinga fortnight’s rest, with-out any overseas train-ing camp, will have beenthe perfect tonic torecharge his side for therun-in.

“There’s improvementsto be made, no doubt,”said the formerLiverpool boss. “We willnow regain a bit of sta-bility.

“We’re all fresh aheadof this final third of theseason.”

— AFP

MMaaddrriidd,, FFeebb.. 1144:: RealSociedad edged seconddivision Mirandes 2-1 intheir Copa del Rey semi-final first leg onThursday, taking a tenta-tive step closer to a poten-tial all-Basque finalagainst Athletic Bilbao.

Sociedad had knockedout Real Madrid 4-3 in thequarter-finals and theywere in control early on athome against Mirandes,the only second-tier sideto make the last-four.

Captain MikelOyarzabal gave them aninth-minute lead fromthe penalty spot after afoul by Odei Onaindia onPortu.

Mirandes were on levelterms on 40 minutesthanks to Matheus Aiasbut Sociedad restoredtheir advantage throughNorwegian prodigyMartin Odegaard just twominutes later.

Mirandes, however, willnot be cowed by the chal-lenge in the second legnext month as they bid tobecome the first seconddivision side to make thefinal in 40 years.

They have alreadyknocked out three topflight teams to get to thisstage having seen offCelta Vigo, Sevilla andVillarreal. — AFP

REAL SOCIEDADEDGE CLOSER TOSPANISH CUP FINAL

Live on TVPPRREEMMIIEERR LLEEAAGGUUEE

SSoouutthhaammppttoonn vvssBBuurrnnlleeyy

from 6 pm on StarSports Select 1, HD

NNoorrwwiicchh vvss LLiivveerrppoooollfrom 11 pm on StarSports Select 1, HD

TTHHEE RREESSUULLTTIITTLLIIAANN CCUUPP

SSEEMMIISS FFIIRRSSTT LLEEGG

AACC MMiillaann 11 (Rebic 61) JJuuvveennttuuss 11 (Ronaldo 90+1)

Reds look to extend leadas top-4 battle heats up

KKaallyyaannii ((WWeesstt BBeennggaall)),,FFeebb.. 1144:: A rampagingMohun Bagan mauledNeroca FC 6-2 for their fifthstraight win in the I-League, here on Friday.

Fran Gonzalez headlinedthe drubbing with a firsthalf hat-trick (10th, 24thand 45th minute), whileFran Morante (13th), BabaDiawara (37th) andAlexander RomarioJesuraj (70th) scored onceeach in the rout.

Mohun Bagan werereduced to 10 players aftercaptain DhanachandraSingh was sent off for han-dling a goal-bound ball atthe one-hour mark.

Nigerian frontman PhilipAdjah (41st) and SubhashSingh (45+2nd) scored forthe Imphal outfit as thefirst half saw seven goalsin front of an exitedKalyani Stadium crowd.

It was also for the firsttime in the I-League thatseven goals were scored inthe first-half.

Unbeaten in the last 10

matches, the 2014-15 cham-pions looked set for a sec-ond title in their last I-League season, with a mas-sive 11-point lead overMinerva Punjab (18) atopthe standings.

Neroca FC languished atthe bottom with 12 pointsfrom 13 matches with rele-gation threat loominglarge. Eight goals, twomissed penalties, a hat-trick and a red card — thegame had it all.

Seven of the eight goalsand a missed penalty camein a fascinating first-halfand it was all started byGonzalez as early as the11th minute.

Fellow Spaniard JosebaBeitia was in top form, reg-istering a hat-trick ofassists in the game, settingup Gonzalez.

The former also played apart in Morante’s goal, ashe sent in a corner thatwas controlled at the farpost by Komron Tursunov,whose shot was nodded inby Morante. — PTI

Humpy shares leadafter sixth round

Bagan’s ‘sixer’ maulNeroca in I-League

PPrraagguuee,, FFeebb.. 1144:: India’s Vidit Santosh Gujrathi and P.Harikrishna had to settle for half-a-point each on a dayof draws in the Masters event of the Prague ChessFestival here. Grand Master Gujrathi, the second high-est-ranked Indian in the FIDE list after five-time worldchampion Viswanathan Anand, had to settle for a drawagainst David Antón Guijarro of Spain in 49 moves lateon Thursday.

He is in joint lead with 1.5 points from two roundswith Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Nikita Vitiugov.

Harikrishna battled top-seed Duda of Poland andsigned the peace treaty in 31 moves in a Catalan open-ing game. “I thought I had some chances, but I missed24...Qd7. It’s a rather simple move, with which black iscompletely fine,” Harikrishna said. — PTI

GUJRATHI, HARIKRISHNA SETTLEFOR DRAWS IN PRAGUE CHESS

Action from the I-League match between Mohun Bagan and Neroca FC in Kalyani,West Bengal, on Friday.

NEW DELHI SATURDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2020 - SPLessons

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