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A historic 3:2 majority judg-ment, delivered on Tuesdayby a multi-faith ConstitutionBench, set aside instant talaqas a “manifestly arbitrary”practice not protected byArticle 25 (freedom of reli-gion) of the Constitution.

On the five-judge Bench,Justices Kurian Joseph andRohinton Fali Nariman gaveseparate judgments againstthe validity of instant talaq.Justice U.U. Lalit supportedJustice Nariman’s view thatinstant talaq given by aMuslim man “capriciouslyand whimsically,” without anattempt at reconciliation,was “manifestly arbitraryand violative of Article 14(right to equality).”

The triumvirate of JusticesKurian, Nariman and Lalitoverwhelmed the minorityverdict pronounced by ChiefJustice of India J.S. Kheharand endorsed by Justice S.Abdul Nazeer, the junior-most judge on the Bench.

1,400-year-old practiceChief Justice Khehar heldthat talaq-e-biddat, as a per-sonal law practice, was an in-tegral part of Article 25 (free-dom of religion). Ninety percent of Muslims in India fol-low the practice. It was con-stitutionally protected as afundamental right, he said.

The Chief Justice reasonedthat talaq-e-biddat was invogue for over 1,400 years,and this made instant talaq a“matter of religious faith,”which cannot be tested on

the touchstone of Article 14.He held that personal lawslike instant talaq were an“exception” to the Constitu-tion’s avowed aim to protectgender equality.

But Justice Narimancountered that Section 2 ofthe Muslim Personal Law(Shariat) Application Act of1937 had already recognisedtriple talaq as a statutoryright and not a fundamentalright. Instant talaq was nolonger a personal law to re-main free from the rigours ofthe fundamental rights as itcomes under the ambit ofArticle 13 of the Constitution,he said. Article 13 mandatesthat any law, framed beforeor after the Constitution,should not be violative of thefundamental rights.

Objecting to the ChiefJustice's line of reasoning,Justice Kurian, in his separ-ate verdict, held that“merely because a practice(talaq-e-biddat) has contin-ued for long (over 1,400years), that by itself cannotmake it valid.”

No Koranic injunctionThe Chief Justice hadreasoned that instant talaqcannot be invalidated justbecause the Koran does notexpressly provide for or ap-prove of it. Talaq-e-biddat,though bad in theology, wasconsidered good in law, heheld. To this, Justice Kuriancountered that “Islam can-not be anti-Quran... An at-tempt for reconciliation andif it succeeds, then revoca-

tion are the Koranic essentialsteps before talaq attains fi-nality. In triple talaq, thisdoor is closed. Triple talaq isagainst the basic tenets ofthe Holy Quran and con-sequently, it violatesShariat.”

Justice Kurian also re-ferred to Section 2 of theShariat Act, observing thatthe statute had put an end tothe “unholy, oppressive anddiscriminatory customs andusages in the Muslim com-munity. After Shariat Act, nopractice against the tenet ofIslam is permissible.”

No, no, no: SC on instant triple talaq3:2 split verdict termed practice ‘manifestly arbitrary’; CJI Khehar held it was part of right to religion

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

UNITED AGAINST TRIPLE

TALAQ, DIVIDED ON LEGAL

POINTS; CENTRE TO SEND

ADVISORY TO STATES A PAGE 11OPPORTUNITIES A PAGE 2

DELHI METRO A 6 PAGES

NEARBY

A day after the merger of thetwo AIADMK factions, theEdappadi K. Palaniswamigovernment faced a crisison Tuesday, falling short ofa simple majority by twoMLAs in the 233-memberHouse.

The crisis was precipit-ated after 19 legislators, ow-ing allegiance to formerdeputy general secretaryT.T.V. Dhinakaran, met Gov-ernor Ch. Vidyasagar Raoand withdrew support tothe Chief Minister. TheMLAs reportedly told Mr.Rao that Mr. Palaniswamihad “forfeited” their confid-ence and that of the public,and urged him to “interveneand institute the constitu-tional process.”

Stalin for floor testShortly after the develop-ment, Leader of the Opposi-

tion and DMK working pres-ident M.K. Stalin wrote tothe Governor demanding anearly floor test to prove thegovernment’s majority andprevent horse trading.Other Opposition leadersalso endorsed the demand.

Later in the evening, 18 ofthe rebel MLAs were takento the Windflower Resortand Spa in neighbouring Pu-ducherry, reviving memor-ies of the manner in which123 MLAs were herded tothe Golden Bay Resorts inKoovathur, following the re-bellion by then Chief Minis-ter O. Panneerselvam inFebruary.

Mr. Palaniswami, DeputyCM Panneerselvam andother senior Ministers,meanwhile, held meetingsat the Secretariat on thethreat to the government.

EPS govt. fallsshort of majority19 Dhinakaran loyalists meet Governor

Dennis S. Jesudasan

CHENNAI

Banner of revolt: Andipatti MLA Thangatamilselvan, centre,near T.T.V. Dhinakaran’s house in Chennai. * M. KARUNAKARAN


FUSION AND FISSION A EDITORIAL

In a rare show ofconvergence, the BharatiyaJanata Party, the Congressand the Left partieswelcomed the SupremeCourt judgment on instanttalaq and termed it a steptowards gender justice andempowerment of Muslimwomen.

Prime Minister NarendraModi described thejudgment as “historic,” andone that would empowerwomen. “Judgment of theHon’ble SC on Triple Talaq ishistoric. It grants equality toMuslim women and is apowerful measure forwomen empowerment,” hesaid.

‘An aberration’Welcoming the verdict,Congress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi said, “Icongratulate the womenwho fought for it.” At theregular briefing of theCongress, the party’scommunication chiefRandeep Surjewala calledtriple talaq an “aberrationand adulteration” of theprovision of talaq asmentioned in the HolyKoran.

Modi terms it a historicjudgment Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

UNDOING INJUSTICE A EDITORIAL


Frogs are not exactly thecultural exemplars of goodlooks, as the famous fairytale, The Frog Prince,reminds us. But the newlydiscovered Nasikabatrachusbhupathi could set the bar acouple of notches lower — orhigher — depending on youraesthetic sensibility.

According to a paperpublished last month inAlytes, a scientific journaldevoted to the study of frogsand amphibians, Indianscientists have discovered anew species of frog that hasa snout-shaped nose, justlike a pig’s, evokingcomparisons with thePurple frog that took theworld by storm when it wasdiscovered in 2003.

The soiled-dwellingspecies, discovered byscientists from the Centrefor Cellular and MolecularBiology (CCMB) inHyderabad, has been namedafter the Indianherpetologist S. Bhupathy,

who died in a freak accidentin 2014. Bhupathy’s purplefrog inhabits the easternslopes of the Western Ghats,near the SrivilliputhurGrizzled Giant SquirrelWildlife Sanctuary in TamilNadu.

The discovery issignificant as it constitutesadditional evidence infavour of the theory ofcontinental drift. The Purplefrog is an inhabitant ofSeychelles, and thediscovery of Bhupathy’spurple frog in India suggeststhat the Indian subcontinentwas part of the ancientlandmass of Gondwanabefore splitting fromSeychelles 65 million yearsago.

Bhupathi differs from thePurple frog (Nasikabatrachussahyadrensis)morphologically andacoustically: it is darkbrown, and each of its callsconsists of four distinctpulses (while the Purple frogpauses once between itsthree-pulse-call).

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N. Bhupathi, a frog with the face of a pigClose cousin of Seychelles’ Purple frog, it strengthens the theory of continental drift

Aathira Perinchery

Kochi

New �nd: Each call of Nasikabatrachus bhupathi consists of four distinct pulses. * JANANI S. J

The new U.S. strategy forSouth Asia, unveiled by Pres-ident Donald Trump onMonday night after monthsof deliberations, has manyold elements, but in a depar-ture from the past, it com-mits troops in Afghanistanfor an open-ended period oftime.

The policy also sets thestage for a new wave of U.S.offensive against Islamist

forces in Afghanistan andPakistan.

The Pentagon and NATOallies are redrawing their op-erational plans in America’slongest war that began in2001, and an increase introop levels is expectedsoon.

Describing India as “a keysecurity and economic part-ner of the United States,” thePresident said Americawould further “develop itsstrategic partnership with

India — the world’s largestdemocracy.” He also urgedIndia to play a larger role inproviding economic and de-velopment assistance to thewar-torn Afghanistan.

In another component ofhis South Asia policy thatpleases India, he said Amer-ica would no longer toleratePakistan’s policy of harbour-ing terrorists.

Trump o�ers India a role in Afghanistan Varghese K. George

Washington

INDIA HAILS POLICY A PAGE 10

TRUMP LINKS INDIA’S ROLE

TO TRADE SURPLUS A PAGE 12

Hours before the NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF) arrived at the acci-dent site near the Khataulirailway station in Uttar Pra-desh, hundreds of workersof a nearby sugar mill wereamong the first to come tothe rescue of the trappedpassengers of the Puri-Harid-war Utkal Express.

Minutes after the train de-railed, at 5.50 p.m. Saturday,Triveni Sugar Mill vice-pres-ident (sugar) Ashok Kumarcalled up sub-divisional ma-gistrate Kanhai Singh andoffered him help in the res-cue. “Incidentally, our work-ers were about to go home atthe end of their shift. But themoment we got to know ofthe derailment, we startedmobilising our resources...We rescued around 100 pas-

sengers trapped in thecoaches,” Dr. Kumar said.

The first three teams ofthe NDRF left theirGhaziabad camp — 80 kmfrom the site — at 6.30-7 p.m.However, since seven of the13 derailed coaches had over-turned, many passengerswere trapped, and immedi-ate rescue measures were

necessary to save lives. “Before the NDRF teams

arrived, residents living onboth sides of the trackrushed to rescue the passen-gers. Many workers from thenearby mill who were welltrained in cutting arrived im-mediately with their equip-ment. As it was getting dark,the mill also gave generators

to supply electricity to en-sure better visibility,” Mr.Kanhai Singh said.

Around 100-150 workersrushed to the site nearly 500metres away from the mill.“We provided lighting ar-rangements and around 10-15 cutters to cut through thecoaches and take out thepassengers,” Dr. Kumar said.

“Our target was to cutopen the window grill of thecoaches so that we could freethe passengers straight outof the window because ourcutting equipment could notbreak the coaches,” said An-war Alam, who works at themill. “We started off with theS2 coach that crashed into ahouse near Khatauli, leavingthe passengers stuck. Wemanaged to save 10-12 per-sons from this coach,” hesaid.

Sushant Thakur, assistant

general manager (adminis-tration and security) at Triv-eni, said the mill provided 25halogen lights for properlighting at the site for the millworkers engaged in the res-cue. “Our medical officerswere present there toprovide immediate assist-ance to the injured passen-gers and we deployed ourambulances too,” he said.“The responsive passengerswere pulled out of the win-dow, but for those who weredeep inside the coaches, cut-ting equipment was used,”he said.

Finally, at 9 p.m., threeNDRF teams arrived andused their high-end cuttingtools to rescue the remainingpassengers. “The NDRFteams cordoned off the areaand rescued the passengersmore expeditiously,” Mr.Singh said.

When mill workers turned rescuers for Utkal passengers They provided lighting arrangements and around 10-15 cutters to cut through the coaches

Somesh Jha

KHATAULI

Rescue rangers: Workers of Triveni Sugar Mill who were the�rst ones to rush to the train accident site. * SANDEEP SAXENA

ODF drive: harsh actionupsets villagersGANGITHALA (BHILWARA)

Though villagers put up a

brave face, there is a

perceptible sense of

discontent in the Jahazpur

region of Bhilwara district

ever since the administration

went into overdrive to make

its Open Defecation-Free

programme a success. Harsh

actions, such as arrest and

order to cut electricity, have

created a sense of unease

among villagers.

NATION A PAGE 6DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Sasikala visited MLA’shouse: reportCHENNAI

D. Roopa, DIG in Karnataka,

has dropped another

bombshell in her report to

the Anti-Corruption Bureau

by claiming that she had

reliable information of V.K.

Sasikala, jailed AIADMK

leader, visiting a house

belonging to the Hosur MLA

near the Parappana Agrahara

Central Prison in Bengaluru.

NEWS A PAGE 10DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The Bharatiya Janata Partygovernment in Rajasthanhas recommended a CBIinquiry into 18 cases ofland deals in Bikaner dis-trict, including four in-volving Skylight Hospital-ity, promoted bybusinessman RobertVadra, who is the son-in-law of Congress presidentSonia Gandhi.

Home Minister GulabChand Kataria said here onTuesday that the decisionto send the cases to the CBIhad been taken in view of“multiple sales” of somepieces of land measuring1,400 bigha near the Ma-hajan Field Firing Range inBikaner by various personsand companies allegedlyon fake documents.

Rajasthan forCBI probe intoVadra dealsSpecial Correspondent

Jaipur

DETAILS ON A PAGE 3

DELHI METRO A PAGE 1

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THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

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Haryana propertyrecords to go online CHANDIGARH

The Haryana government on

Tuesday said that its revenue

department has rolled out a

cloud-based centralised

online system ‘Web-HALRIS’

to manage property

registration and land records

in the State. Revenue

Minister Abhimanyu

announced this at a meeting

with his department’s

officials. PTI

IN BRIEF

Man killed in roadaccident MOGA (PB)

A 65-year-old man, Jagtar

Singh, was killed and his wife,

Gurmail Kaur, seriously

injured when their motorcycle

collided with a scooter at

Dhoorkot Ranseeh village

here, the police said on

Tuesday. The accident

occurred on Monday night

when the couple was going

towards Nihal Singh Wala,

they said. PTI

Poppy husk worth ₹1.5 crseized from truck in MPMANDSAUR (MP)

The police have seized poppy

husk worth ₹1.5 crore in the

district, an official said. A

police team was deployed for

routine checking at Fatehgarh

on Mhow-Neemuch road here

when the truck driver, upon

noticing the security

personnel, left the vehicle

and fled from the spot on

Monday night, Bhaugarh

police station in-charge

Shrigopal Suryawanshi said.

During a search, the police

found 105 bags carrying

poppy husk placed between

sacks of de-oiled cakes of

soyabean. PTI

The Bharatiya Janata Partygovernment in Rajasthanhas recommended a CBI in-quiry into 18 cases of landdeals in Bikaner district, in-cluding four involving Sky-light Hospitality, promotedby businessman RobertVadra, the son-in-law of Con-gress president SoniaGandhi.

Home Minister GulabChand Kataria said here onTuesday that the decision tosend the cases to the CBIhad been taken in view of“multiple sales” of somepieces of land measuring1,400 bigha near the Ma-hajan Field Firing Range inBikaner by various personsand companies allegedly onfake documents.

The police had in January

last year cleared SkylightHospitality of any wrongdo-ing with the finding that thecompany was a victim ofconspiracy and cheating, asthe government landgrabbed by others had beensold to it.

According to the investig-ation, about 69.50 hectaresof land was sold in this man-ner to the company pro-moted by Mr. Vadra.

The Vasundhara Raje gov-ernment had launched po-lice investigation in the 18cases in 2014, shortly after itwas elected to power, afterregistering first informationreports at the Kolayat policestation. Skylight Hospitalitywas accused of buying atotal of 275 bigha land in2010 and selling it by 2012,when the Congress was inpower in the State.

Mr. Kataria said thepremier Central investigat-ing agency would unravelthe facts about the landtransactions. In lieu of theland acquired at the firingrange, about 1,400 bigha ofland was traded three tofour times by the locals andprivate companies and theallotment existed in revenuerecords by various names,he added.

Rajasthan for CBI probeinto Vadra land deals Decision in view of ‘multiple sales’ of some plots: Minister

Robert Vadra *

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR

The Opposition parties inPunjab have criticised theState government over thelatter’s job fair initiative,‘Mega Job Fair’, by calling itan attempt to take credit forthe routine campus place-ments.

The Punjab governmentwould host more than 900reputed companies, saidTechnical Education Minis-ter Charanjeet SinghChanni.

“During these fairs to beheld at various locations,employment to 50,000youth will be provided. Wehave started fulfilling ourelection promise to provideemployment to everyhouse,” he said on Tuesdayin Sahibzada Ajit SinghNagar.

He said 21 job fairs wouldbe organized across the

State that would continuetill August 31.

Senior Aam Aadmi Partyleader H.S. Phoolka, mean-while, termed the move bythe government of organ-ising job fairs along withroutine campus placementsas an attempt to gain polit-ical mileage.

“Campus placementshave been going for so manyyears..Now they (govern-ment) are trying to politiciseit and gain mileage. Such at-tempts by the governmentwould only harm the cause.Government should in factcreate jobs in private sectorand find alternatives,” Mr.Phoolka told The Hindu.

Earlier, Shiromani AkaliDal too termed the job fairof the State government as a‘drama’ aimed to take creditof the routine placementactivities of various educa-tional institutions.

Punjab governmentcriticised for job fairs

‘Taking credit for campus placements’

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

DELHI Timings

Wednesday, August 23

RISE 05:55 SET 18:53

RISE 07:15 SET 20:05

Thursday, August 24

RISE 05:55 SET 18:51

RISE 08:14 SET 20:43

Friday, August 25

RISE 05:56 SET 18:50

RISE 09:12 SET 21:20

Two boys take cover under a polythene sheet as a camel draws a cart in pouring rain at Vrindavanin Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. * V.V. KRISHNAN

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Under cover

An activist of ‘Buddha Dal’,a section of Nihang Sikhs,was shot dead allegedlydue to a factional fight atKahneke village in Barnaladistrict, police said onTuesday.

Deputy Superintendentof Police A. S. Sharma saidthat the assailants came ina jeep and pumped twobullets in the chest of Ba-hadur Singh (55) last mid-night when he was sleep-ing in the community hallof the village. He addedthat the crime was a resultof factional war betweenthe two groups of Nihangs.

Mr Sharma said that Ni-hang Balbir Singh wantedto take control over the de-ceased’s properties.

‘Buddha Dal’activist shot Press Trust of India

Barnala (Pb)

A Delhi court on Tuesdaydenied bail to Kashmiri sep-aratist leader Shabir Shah ina money laundering case.

Rejecting his bail plea, Ad-ditional Sessions Judge Sid-harth Sharma said that “theinvestigation is at a crucialstage...there are chances ofwitnesss being influencedand evidence beingtampered with...offence isserious, I do not consider it a

fit case for grant of bail to theaccused.”

Seeking bail, Mr Shah’scounsel submitted that he isa political leader and the al-legations levelled againsthim were politically motiv-ated. His lawyer further saidthat Mr Shah had been con-tinuously under house arrestsince 2011.

Opposing the bail applica-tion, Enforcement Director-ate (ED) counsel RajivAwasthi along Naveen Kumar

Matta submitted that it wasyet to be ascertained fromwhere a huge amount of cashin the bank account of theaccused came.

The ED had arrested himin connection with a 2005case in which the SpecialCell of Delhi Police had arres-ted Mohammed Aslam Wani,an alleged hawala dealer,claiming that ₹63 lakh wasrecovered from Wani, out ofwhich ₹52 lakh was to be de-livered to Mr. Shah.

Court refuses bail to Shabir ShahSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

Four persons on Tuesdaydied of suspected asphyxi-ation in a septic tank at anunder-construction house inChhattisgarh’s Surajpur dis-trict, the police said.

A labourer and the houseowner’s son climbed downinto the septic tank in Latorivillage to remove thewooden planks supporting

the slab, but they did notcome out, a police officialsaid.

Subsequently, the houseowner and another laboureralso went inside but they toodid not come out followingwhich the locals informedthe police, he said.

The four were later pulledout of the tank and taken toa local hospital where theywere declared dead, the po-

lice official said.Prima facie, it is suspec-

ted that they died of suffoca-tion inside the newly-builtseptic tank, he said. A casewas registered in connectionwith the incident, he said.The deceased were identi-fied as house ownerSatyanarayan Kushwaha(64), his son Bhanu (32), andtwo workers Vijay Kanwar(30) and Jhemal Kanwar (40.

Victims include house owner, his son and two workers

Press Trust of India

Raipur

Four die inside septic tank

Security in Haryana andPunjab has been beefed upahead of the court verdict inthe alleged rape case againstthe Sirsa-based Dera SachaSauda chief Gurmeet RamRahim Singh, slated for Au-gust 25.

While Haryana imposedprohibitory orders across alldistrictson Tuesday, PunjabPolice chief has beenprovided with the State gov-ernment chopper to con-duct aerial survey of thesensitive areas.

Haryana additional chiefsecretary, Home, Ram Ni-was said that Section 144 hasbeen imposed in all districtsand carrying of any stick orweapon had been prohib-ited at the “Naam CharchaGhar” of Dera (sect)followers.

Mr. Niwas said securityforces have been pressedinto service in border areasand the Centre has alreadybeen requested to provide115 companies of paramilit-ary forces.

“Leave of police person-nel have been cancelled andhome guards are beingcalled on duty. We have ad-equate police force. State

borders have been sealedand vehicles are beingclosely monitored,” he said.

“State government hasappointed senior IAS officerV. Umashankar, with the dis-trict administration, Sirsa, ,”he added

The CBI special court inPanchkula had last week re-served its judgement in thealleged rape case and direc-ted the Dera chief to bepresent in court on August25, when the judgement willbe pronounced.

Punjab Chief MinisterCaptain Amarinder Singh onTuesday warned against anyattempts to disrupt theState’s law and order, assert-ing his government wouldnot allow any disruption oflaw and order at any count.

“The State had received75 companies of centralforces to maintain securityand all steps were beingtaken to ensure that law andorder is not disturbed in anyway in the wake of the courtorders,” Capt. Amarindertold reporters in New Delhi.

Punjab DGP Suresh Aroravisited Bathinda and othersensitive districts borderingHaryana for a first-hand as-sessment of the security ar-rangements.

Security beefed up in Haryana, Punjab Ahead of verdict in Dera chief case


CHANDIGARH

CMYK

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HC adjourns hearing onYeddyurappa’s plea BENGALURU

The Karnataka High Court on

Wednesday adjourned further

hearing on the petitions filed

by former Chief Minister B.S.

Yeddyurappa questioning the

legality of the registration of

two FIRs against him on

alleged denotification of

land. The hearing was

adjourned after counsel for

the ACB sought time to

produce records.

IN BRIEF

Two undertrials escapefrom Kerala prisonPATHANAMTHITTA

Two undertrials escaped from

the Pathanamthitta district

prison here by scaling the

compound wall on Tuesday.

They were identified as

Jayadev Sahu, 29, and

Gopaldas, 25, both migrant

workers from West Bengal.

They were awaiting trial in a

ganja smuggling case.

Expressing displeasure overthe way in which theKarnataka government hashandled the rejuvenation ofBellandur lake, the NationalGreen Tribunal has given theauthorities 10 days toprovide a concrete actionplan to save the lake.

The case was heard by thetribunal’s Chairman Benchon Tuesday. In the govern-ment’s submission, Addi-tional Advocate General ofKarnataka Aditya Sondhisaid municipal solid waste,construction and demolitionwaste had been removedfrom the water body.

Presence of phosphorus The government said thefrothing was due to the pres-ence of phosphorus in deter-gent waste flowing into thelake from residential com-plexes. Of the 480 millionlitres per day (MLD) ofsewage entering the Bel-landur lake, around 308

MLD were being treated. While the next hearing

has been scheduled forSeptember 8, the greentribunal said the agencies in-volved in rejuvenation mustsubmit a detailed plan, in-cluding on the removal of siltand solid waste, upgrade ofprivate and public sewagetreatment plants, and treat-ment of sewage.

The petitioner, Namma

Bengaluru Foundation, saidthe proceedings and the gov-ernment’s lack of willingnessto go on record on the wastebeing cleared had “exposedthe negligence” of civic agen-cies. The petitioner claimedthat the Karnataka Lake Con-servation and Developmentauthority had refused to goon record in the court thatwaste had been cleared fromthe over 700-acre lake.

Submit plan on Bellandur lake: NGTGreen tribunal expresses displeasure over Karnataka’s steps at rejuvenation, seeks detailed report

Toxic ride: People drive through the froth emanating from theBellandur lake in Bengaluru. * V. SREENIVASA MURTHY

Staff Reporter

Bengaluru

The Telangana forestdepartment’s stand on theconstruction of eco-friendlybridges across the proposedPranahita canal in the Bejjurforests of Kumram BheemAsifabad district comes as asurprise.

While the National Boardfor Wildlife has approvedthe construction of 18 eco-bridges, especially on theover 5 km stretch of thecanal passing through theforest range, the forestdepartment has sought areduction in the number ofbridges.

According to forestofficials, the reduction in thenumber of bridges would

hamper tiger movement.“More bridges are meant toimprove tiger movement,”said an official.

The forest department isnot pressing for an alternatecanal alignment either. The

present alignment, whichhas the canal crossing twicethe existing Salgupalli-Penchikalpet road, willdestroy 622 hectares offorest land, which includes 1lakh fully grown trees and

another 2 lakh trees of lessthan 30 cm girth.

Canal alignmentThe alternative alignment,according to anenvironmentalist, could bethe one connectingSalgupally with Kondapallyfrom the right. Thisalignment had less of forestand would pass throughforest clearings that hadencroachments, he said..

“The loss of vegetationwill be lower and thegovernment would have noproblem acquiring theencroached forest land,” hesaid. The irrigationdepartment, however, wantsto stick to the samealignment for convenience.

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Bad news for Telangana’s big catsFewer eco-bridges in the Bejjur forest range will hamper movement of tigers

Feline matters: The Salgupalli-Penchikalpet road in the Bejjurmandal of Telangana. * S. HARPAL SINGH

S. Harpal Singh

ADILABAD

From bacteria to microbes,the Bangalore DevelopmentAuthority seems to bepresented with a number ofsolutions to a problem itdoesn’t seem to quiteunderstand.

Raaginni Jaain from theMumbai-based GeetanjaliEnvirotech poured overhundreds of litres of “soil-based” microbes into anoutlet of Bellandur lake. Sheclaimed that the “propriet-ary blend” of microbes haddecreased the voluminousfroth in a little more thantwo days.

This, however, was notbacked by the BDA, whichshut down the experimenton Monday evening. Accord-ing to officials, the frothinghad reduced because of a

combination of additionalsprinklers being installedand a lower quantum of wa-ter gushing into the lake.

Ms. Jaain is not the onlyone offering “low-cost” solu-tions using microbes.

In the past, too, peoplebacking effective microbialsolutions have come for-ward for a large-scale clean-up.

Bacteria vs. bacteriaA company had presentedthe use of a bacterial solu-tion to ‘counter’ the effectsof another bacteria, Nocar-dia, which the companyclaimed was the cause forthe froth.

While BDA officials saidthey were considering it,two expert committee mem-bers said the science behindit was dubious.

Staff Reporter

Bengaluru

Government mullsmicrobial solutions

The district additional ses-sions court in Ernakulam onTuesday sentenced SobhaJohn and Jayarajan Nair, ac-cused in the Varappuzha sexracket case, to 18 and 11years of rigorous imprison-ment respectively.

Justice K. Kamanees sen-tenced Sobha John to eightyears of rigorous imprison-ment and imposed a fine of₹1 lakh each under IPC Sec-tions 376 (rape) and IPC 34for acts done by several per-sons in furtherance of com-mon intention.

Accomplice sentencedJayarajan Nair, eighth ac-cused in the case, was alsofound guilty under IPC 376and was given the same

quantum of punishment. Incase of failure to pay thefine, stipulated as compens-ation to the victim, the con-victs would have to serve anadditional six months.

Sobha John, who was alsofound guilty under IPC 366A(procuration of minor girl),would require to undergoanother term of seven years,besides remitting a fine of₹10,000. The court sen-tenced both to three moreyears of rigorous imprison-ment under IPC 342 and IPC506 (i). As per the case,which came to light in 2011,the minor victim was takento several places in Kerala,Karnataka and Tamil Naduand sexually abused.

It was Sobha John who al-legedly handed over the vic-tim to the clients.

Varappuzha sex racket:woman gets 18 years RI Staff Reporter

KOCHI

A Division Bench of the Ker-ala High Court has drawn upa new schedule for admis-sion to medical seats in self-financing medical colleges.It has directed the Commis-sioner for Entrance Examin-ations to complete the pro-cess by August 31.

The court observed thatthe CEE had conductedcounselling only for govern-ment colleges. Though thesecond counselling was con-ducted on August 19, a sub-stantial number of seats re-mained vacant. The courtordered that the counsellingbe completed on August 24and details of vacant seats

notified on the website ofthe CEE and medicalcolleges.

The second counsellingshould be over by 4 p.m. onAugust 26, and the next day,the CEE should prepare theallotment list. “The CEEshould open business onAugust 28, which is a publicholiday, to facilitate the ad-mission pursuant to the al-lotment list” made on theprevious day, the court said.

Students should be giventime till 4 p.m. on August29. August 30 and 31 wouldbe the dates for “moppingup the admission” throughspot admission process.After this, no seats would beleft vacant, the court held.

HC’s new schedule formedical admission

‘Finish process in Kerala by August 31’


KOCHI

Crying for attention: Janata Dal (U) members protesting infront of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike head o�ceon Tuesday over the civic body’s failure to combat themosquito menace. * V. SREENIVASA MURTHY

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Biting issue

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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 20176EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

YKA ND-NDE

NATION

UP govt to use NSA tocurb power theft LUCKNOW

The Uttar Pradesh

government has decided to

slap the stringent National

Security Act and Goondas Act

against those obstructing

electricity officials from

discharging their duties while

checking power theft. State

Energy Minister Shrikant

Sharma said honest

customers suffer because of

power theft and the

government was committed

to check the menace. PTI

IN BRIEF

Waive loans of Rajasthanfarmers, Pilot tells PM JAIPUR

Congress leader Sachin Pilot

on Tuesday demanded that

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

announce loan waiver for the

State’s farmers during his visit

next week to Rajasthan. Mr.

Modi is likely to visit Udaipur

on August 29. PTI

V-P to lay foundation forRanchi smart city RANCHI

Vice-President M. Venkaiah

Naidu will lay foundation

stone for Ranchi smart city on

September 9. The Vice-

President has accepted the

invitation extended by

Jharkhand Chief Minister

Raghubar Das in New Delhi on

Tuesday, an official release

said. PTI

Patar made chairman ofPunjab Kala Parishad CHANDIGARH

Noted poet Surjit Patar was

on Tuesday appointed as

chairman of the Punjab Kala

Parishad. Tourism and

Cultural Affairs Minister

Navjot Singh Sidhu personally

handed over the appointment

letter to the poet at his

residence in Ludhiana, an

official statement said. PTI

Though the villagers put up abrave face, there is a per-ceptible sense of discontentand anxiety in the Jahazpurregion of Bhilwara districtever since the administrationwent into overdrive to makeits Open Defecation-Free(ODF) programme a success.

Harsh actions, such as ar-rest of people defecating inthe open and order to cutelectricity, have created asense of unease among thevillagers.

The small and nondes-cript Gangithala village,which gained “notoriety”overnight following the Sub-Divisional Officer’s order lastweek to snap electricity con-nections to households, is ata loss to understand the sud-den frenzy over the ODFdrive.

Insufficient assistance“Even if we start construct-ing toilets, we will not beable to complete them be-cause we don’t have enoughmoney. The government’s as-sistance of ₹12,000 is insuffi-cient even for erecting arudimentary structure,”rued Babulal Gujjar, a resid-ent of Gangithala.

While the villagers deman-ded an increase in the gov-ernment's reimbursement,they have conveyed to theauthorities that the ODFdrive cannot succeedwithout first creating the ba-sic infrastructure in the ruralareas. “There is no drainagesystem in our village. Wherewill the water from the toi-lets go?” asked another resid-ent, Sunil Kumar Tak.

Among the toilets built byabout 20% villagers inGangithala, several are unus-able either because of faultystructure or lack of facilities.

Kailashi Devi, 55, uses thetoilet with a broken door ather house for storing fodderfor the cattle. “We go to theopen fields for answeringnature’s call. This is a uselessstructure for us,” she said.

The arrest of four personsfrom Piplund and two fromSringar Chawri village oncharges of defecating in theopen has led to outrage inthe region. Seventy-year-oldGoru Gujjar, who was pickedup early on Sunday morningwhen he was just walking to-wards the fields to relievehimself, said he was insulted

in police custody and was re-leased only after he gave anundertaking that he wouldbuild a toilet within 15 days.

“I am a poor man, strug-gling to make ends meet.From where will I bringmoney for this?” said a vis-ibly upset Mr. Gujjar, whileprofusely thanking his neigh-bour Dev Karan who stoodsurety for him in the SDO’scourt.

Bansilal Meena, anotherresident of Sringar Chawri,who was also arrested underSection 151 of Criminal Pro-cedure Code for “disruptingpeace”, said he had built halfa toilet with the money hehad. “I cannot claim the re-imbursement of Rs.12,000without completing the con-struction,” he said.

Though the order to snapelectricity connections hassince been withdrawn, SDOKartar Singh insisted that thevillagers need to cooperatewith the administration inmeeting the ODF targets un-der the Swachh Bharat Ab-hiyan. “Our democratic sys-tem has given too much offreedom to the citizens. Theyshould show some disciplinewhen the government isworking for their own wel-fare,” Mr. Singh told The

Hindu.Asked about the arrests,

Mr. Singh said “coercive ac-tion” was also sometimes re-quired for ensuring effectiveadministration. “When Indi-ans travel abroad, they don’tspit on the roads. Why can’tthey stop defecating in theopen in their own country?”he asked.

Bicycle yatraWhile the SDO said he wouldshortly launch a “bicycleyatra” in the remote villagesof his sub-division to spreadawareness about sanitation,Gangithala sarpanch Pra-dhan Kumar Bheel agreedthat coercion to build toilets,coming after the oral ordersto stop giving ration to thehouseholds without func-tional toilets, would put thevillagers against the govern-ment and defeat the verypurpose of the campaign.

Of the 38 village panchay-ats situated in the Jahazpursub-division, 10 have beendeclared open defecation-free and eight have achievedover 50% of their target. Theadministration has alsolaunched a mobile app,‘Ujalo Bhiwaro’, to ensureregular inspection by teamsagainst open defecation.

ODF drive: Harsh action upsets villagersArrest of people defecating in open and order to cut power have created unease among villagers

Tension brewing: Seventy-year-old Goru Gujjar from SringarChawri village was arrested on charges of defecating in theopen. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Mohammed Iqbal

GANGITHALA (BHILWARA)

Chaos ensued at a Left stu-dents’ rally in Kolkata onTuesday addressed by Kan-haiya Kumar with his sup-porters beating up someyouths who tried to disruptthe programme.

The rally was organisedby the All-India Students’Federation (AISF), the stu-dent wing of the CommunistParty of India in the Jada-vpur area of the city. The

AISF representativesclaimed that those attackedwere Bharatiya Janata Party

cadres and others alliedHindutva organisationswhich tried to disrupt theprogramme.

CPI State council memberPrabir Deb, who was presentat the venue, said it was theplan of the BJP to disturb themeeting. “The people at thevenue were alert and foiledtheir plan. There is littledoubt that those trying tocreate a ruckus were BJPcadres,” Mr. Deb said.

The BJP, however denied

proach the stage. They wereoverpowered and beaten upeven as Mr. Kumar tried tocalm his supporters.

“Do not beat them, handthem over to the police,” hekept shouting as the mob at-tacked the group of youthslanding fists and blows.Some were seen even hittingthem with plastic chairs.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice Badana VarunChandra Sekhar confirmedthe commotion.

any involvement with the in-cident. “The BJP has nothingto do with the incident. It isa spontaneous expression ofoutrage of nationalist peopleagainst Kanhaiya Kumar.”

Slogans raisedThe incident took placearound 6.45 p.m. soon afterMr. Kumar started address-ing the gathering. Somepeople from the crowd star-ted raising slogans againstMr. Kumar and tried to ap-

Three youths beaten up at Left students’ rally ‘Those attacked were BJP workers who tried to disrupt the event addressed by Kanhaiya Kumar’

Staff Reporter

Kolkata

Student leader KanhaiyaKumar addressing a rally inKolkata on Tuesday. * PTI

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

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

Forecast for Wednesday: Heavy rain is likely at isolated placesover east Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Karnataka,sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Naga-land, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala.............20.8.... 34.8.... 24.2 Kozhikode ...........39.7.... 29.2.... 23.4

Ahmedabad..........4.8.... 33.5.... 25.6 Kurnool ....................5.... 34.0.... 24.8

Aizawl ..................12.... 29.9.... 13.2 Lucknow.................. —.... 34.5.... 26.9

Allahabad .............. —.... 36.3.... 28.4 Madurai................... —.... 36.6.... 26.0

Bengaluru .............. —.... 28.0.... 21.1 Mangaluru.............0.2.... 28.2.... 22.5

Bhopal................... —.... 28.7.... 23.8 Mumbai...............13.6.... 31.3.... 22.2

Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 33.6.... 25.1 Mysuru.................... —.... 28.7.... 20.4

Chandigarh ......115.2.... 30.0.... 26.2 New Delhi ............... —.... 35.1.... 28.5

Chennai ...............0.2.... 32.2.... 27.3 Patna ...................... —.... 34.8.... 28.0

Coimbatore..........2.2.... 30.6.... 21.8 Port Blair ............52.5.... 27.3.... 23.7

Dehradun.............5.1.... 30.0.... 23.4 Puducherry.............. —.... 33.3.... 25.7

Gangtok.............37.2.... 23.1.... 18.0 Pune .....................0.2.... 28.8.... 20.3

Goa .....................5.3.... 31.3.... 24.6 Raipur ..................... —.... 31.9.... 25.0

Guwahati ............... —.... 36.0.... 26.5 Ranchi..................... —.... 31.5.... 22.5

Hubballi................. —.... 27.0.... 21.0 Shillong.................7.5.... 25.9.... 14.8

Hyderabad ............. —.... 32.9.... 23.1 Shimla..................... —.... 21.6.... 16.6

Imphal.................1.2.... 30.6.... 22.6 Srinagar .................. —.... 30.3.... 17.8

Jaipur .................... —.... 36.0.... 25.7 Trivandrum ...........3.9.... 31.2.... 23.2

Kochi...................7.8.... 29.4.... 24.0 Tiruchi .................... —.... 35.3.... 26.6

Kohima.................. —.... 27.0.... 18.3 Vijayawada .............. —.... 35.4.... 25.2

Kolkata.................. —.... 31.8.... 27.3 Visakhapatnam .......0.9.... 32.3.... 26.8

Particulate matter in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at4.00 p.m., Durgapur,West Bengal recorded anoverall air quality index(AQI) score of 130indicating a moderatelevel of pollution. In contrast, Nashik,Maharashtra recorded ahealthy AQI score of 40

Ahmedabad ......... ....—.....— ...— ....... — .......—.......—

Bengaluru ..............10 ...41 ..78 ....... —......94 ......*

Chennai....................7 ...17 ..63 ...... 52 .......— ......*

Delhi........................7 ...29 ..40 ...... 91 .......— ......*

Hyderabad .............43 ...23 ..17 ...... 52......77 ......*

Kolkata ..................19 ...58 ..31 ....... —....105 ......*

Lucknow ................11 ...82 ..31 ...... 75 .......— ......*

Mumbai .................15 ...13 ..41 ...... 44......57 ......*

Pune ......................43 .....3 ..72 ...... 20......35 ......*

Vishakhapatnam .....22 ...14 ..59 ...... 53......96 ......*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good

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

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

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

and monuments.

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

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

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

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

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

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

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

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

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

(Individual pollutant data for various cities are averages for the previous day)




CMYK

A ND-NDE

NATION

In the backdrop of protestsagainst the use of Hindi in theState and demand for a separ-ate State flag, Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah reiterated thatHindi cannot be imposed andis not the national language.Refuting allegations that theseissues were being fuelled bythe Congress, he said in an in-terview that regional asser-tion cannot be seen as athreat to the unity of India.Excerpts:

In your letter to theGovernment of India,opposing the use of Hindi inMetro signboards andannouncements, you hadsaid a “persuasive” ratherthan “mandatory” approachshould be followed in use ofHindi. You reiterated yourstand against imposition ofHindi in your IndependenceDay speech also...You see Hindi cannot be im-posed; you must leave it topeople to learn. Hindi is notthe national language andcannot be. It is just one ofthe languages in this coun-try. I am not opposing learn-ing of any language, be itHindi, Tamil or even foreignlanguages; only thing is donot impose it.

Would you say there is asystematic effort to imposeHindi by the Centralgovernment? That is what I felt. In the caseof Namma Metro, for in-

stance, they have issued aletter to use Hindi. TamilNadu is not using it, but Ker-ala is using it. It is a matter ofchoice and they cannot im-pose it. I have told them thatthis is against the sentimentsof the Kannada people.

You have set up a committeeto decide on a State flag. Howwould you respond to theargument that having a Stateflag or reasserting linguistic,regional identities is againstthe Union of India?In my personal opinion, hav-ing a State flag is not againstthe Constitution. For ex-ample, in the United States,every State has its own flagor anthem. So, If I plead for aState flag, it is not above thenational flag. The nationalflag will always fly high andbelow that, the State flag willfly. Asserting regional lan-guage pride or having a flagis not against the Union ofIndia or the Constitution.

Why are these issuescropping up so close to pollsin Karnataka? Is this an effortto drum up a regionalsentiment to combat BJP’sportrayal of nationalism andpatriotism? Is this a counterto the fact that patriotismseems to have beenappropriated by the BJP?

Regional sentiments arethere, but it is not againstpatriotism. Everybodyshould be a patriot. I am apatriot. It doesn't mean thatif I oppose Hindi or demanda flag, I am not a patriot.This is an election betweensecularism and communal-ism. The BJP is communaland is destroying the secularfabric of the country andthat is what we are fightingagainst.

These issues have come up inthe backdrop of youraccusations that the Centrehas violated federalprinciples. It seems to haveclear political motivations.Incidentally, all of it hascome up now. But this is notour intention. I don't say it’snot a retaliation against theCentre or its imposition ofHindi. Any imposition willbe opposed.

Would you then be open toforming a secular front withthe JD(S), in the State?Not necessary. Congress willfight on its own and comeback to power.

On the issue of the demandfor a separate Lingayatreligion, that has beenbacked by the Congress — isthis an effort to drive a wedgein the BJP vote bank, whichhas a strong presence amongthe Lingayats, and hasprojected Mr. Yeddyurappa,also a Lingayat, as its chiefministerial candidate?

It is not fuelled or initiatedby the Congress. Some reli-gious leaders had given me arepresentation demanding aseparate religion and I havemerely said if they all cometogether, I will support it andforward it to the Centre.Only the Government of In-dia can take a decision inthis regard.

It is rare for the Congress toname a leader ahead of anelection. But they havecategorically stated that inKarnataka they are fightingunder your leadership. Doyou feel the balance of powerin Congress has now shiftedtowards regional leaders likeyourself? No, it has not shifted fromthe high command to theState. Strong regional leader-ship is necessary in anypolitical party, but thatdoesn't mean the high com-mand is weak or the regionalleader is strong. Since I amChief Minister, they havesaid the election will befought under my leadership.After elections the legis-

lature party, in consultationswith the high command, willdecide on the [next] ChiefMinister.

The BJP has raisedcorruption allegationsagainst your government,demanding the resignation ofMinister for Power D.K.Shivakumar and said theFIRs filed by the AntiCorruption Bureau againstMr. Yeddyurappa is a clearcase of political vendetta...The case against Mr.Yeddy-urappa is based on investiga-tions on a complaint againsthim. Law will take it's owncourse. But in D.K. Shivaku-mar's case, we are not op-posing raids on anybody.What we are opposing andasking is why are only Con-gressmen being raided? Whynot other party leaders, in-cluding [those from] BJP?

Would you consider thedemand for resignation ofMr. Shivakumar?Why? You please tell me whywe should? The I-T depart-ment has not disclosed any-thing. He is replying to theirnotice. Does it mean he hascommitted any offence?

Is it now clear that we willhave elections as perschedule and not ahead of itstime? Yes. Election will be as perschedule in the month ofApril or May and we are con-fident of a victory.

Hindi is not and cannot be thenational language: SiddaramaiahDemanding a State �ag or asserting Kannada identity not against unity of India, says Karnataka CM

Siddaramaiah

Veeraraghav T.M.

Two months after theGorkha Janmukti Morchacalled for a shutdown in theDarjeeling hills, West BengalChief Minister MamataBanerjee on Tuesday calledpolitical parties from dis-trict for talks on August 29at the at State SecretariatNabanna Building.

Ms Banerjee told thejournalists in Kolkata onTuesday that she has re-ceived a letter from GorkhaNational Liberation Front(GNLF) urging her to holdtalks on the ongoing stale-mate in the hills. Describingthe letter as “a constructivestep”, the Chief Ministersaid those in support of theconcern expressed by theGNLF could participate inthe meeting.

While Ms Banerjeeavoided any direct mentionof Gorkha Janmukti Morcha(GJM), the most prominentpolitical party of the hills,she said all major politicalparties in the hills were wel-come to participate in themeeting.

.One of the members ofthe GJM leadership SwarajThapa, a former journalist,said they had not yet de-

cided on attending themeeting. .

"We will hold discussionson the issue before announ-cing our stand as we havesome time before August29,” said Mr. Thapa.

The development comesa day after the GJM reques-ted governments — both atthe State and at the Centre —“to initiate talks at the earli-est so that peace and nor-malcy can be restored inour region at the earliest”.

In a letter to Ms Banerjee,GNLF president M. Ghisingsaid the party was “deeplyconcerned about the day-by-day deteriorating conditionof the people of hill areas ofDarjeeling and if this situ-ation is allowed to be contin-ued, the system maycollapse...".

Follows request from GNLF, GJM


Kolkata

Mamata calls for talkswith Darjeeling parties

Mamata Banerjee

In what is believed to be oneof the largest seizures of itskind in the country, officialsof the Wildlife Crime Con-trol Bureau (WCCB) and theWest Bengal Forest Depart-ment have seized 32,985mongoose-hair paintingbrushes from Kolkata’s Bur-rabazar area. Four shop-keepers selling thesebrushes in the wholesalemarket of Old China Bazarwere arrested in a joint op-eration late on Monday.“The seizure was so hugethat it took a dozen peopleseveral hours to count thenumber of brushes seized,”an official said.

Protected species“Mongoose is a protectedspecies under Schedule IIand part II of the WildlifeProtection Act,1972 and anytrade of its body parts in-volves similar punishmentas is laid down for tigers andrhinoceroses. Those con-victed face a minimumthree years in jail,” AgniMitra, Deputy Director(Eastern Region), WCCB,told The Hindu.

Several hundreds of an-imals must have been killedto make these brushes, ac-cording to Om Prakash,Deputy Conservator ofForest (Wildlife), WestBengal. “We had got the in-formation about a month

ago about mongoose-hairbrushes being sold in thecity. The operation was car-ried out carefully so thatthose responsible for illegalwildlife trade are also arres-ted,” Mr. Om Prakash said.

Inter-State networkWhile the arrests have re-vealed an inter-State net-work of the illegal wildlifetrade of mongoose hair, it isa village in West Bengal’sSouth 24 Parganas that hasemerged at the centre of thetrade.

Investigators said the vil-lage, located under Falta po-lice station near DiamondHarbour, almost 50 km fromKolkata, served as thecentre of the manufacturingof brushes made of mon-goose hair. “Over the pastfew years about a dozen ofpeople have been arrestedfor making brushes out ofmongoose hair. In certaincases, the supply was fromother States,” one of the in-vestigators said.

Experts pointed out thatartists preferred brushesmade of mongoose hair oversynthetic brushes.

“These brushes areprimarily used for water col-our. Across the globe usinganimal hair for makingbrushes is considered acrime and there are laws todeal to with it,” said ArjanBasu Roy, secretary ofNature Mates-Nature Club.

Huge haul of paintingbrushes made ofmongoose hair

Said to be largest seizure in country

Alarming act: Mongoose hair painting brushes which wereseized from Kolkata’s Burrabazar area. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Shiv Sahay Singh

Kolkata

About eight to nine lakhteachers in higher educa-tional institutions are set toget a salary hike, with theCentre ready to take theproposal to the Cabinet.

The hike would rangefrom 20-25%, said an officialof the Ministry of HumanResource Development whodid not wish to be named.

“It is already done and itis ready to go to the Cabinetfor approval. Once Cabinetapproval comes, teachers incolleges and universities willget their revised salaries,”he said. The lower level —that of assistant professors —is expected to get a hike of20%, which will go up at thelevels of associate professorand professor.

Payment of arrears However, arrears — whichthe teachers are supposed

to get from the time the UGCpay committee was set up —may come in a staggeredmanner, given the largenumber of beneficiaries.

Teachers in colleges anduniversities acquired a slightedge over the Central gov-ernment servants in termsof salaries from the time ofthe Sixth Pay Commission,and this is expected to stay.Much of the difference hasbeen because many entry-level teachers have a Ph.D.or M.Phil, for which they getadditional increments.

The revision will benefitemployees of the centraluniversities, State universit-ies and government-fundedtechnical universities.

The UGC had set up thepay committee under VSChauhan. It recommendedthat these be at par with thesalaries offered to the gov-ernment employees by theSeventh Pay Commission.

Salary hike for college,university teachers

Proposal is ready to go to the Cabinet

Vikas Pathak

NEW DELHI

The CBI on Tuesday filed asupplementary chargesheet against RJD leaderMohammad Shahabuddinover his alleged involve-ment in the criminal con-spiracy and murder ofjournalist Rajdeo Ranjan inBihar last year.

The charge sheet hasbeen filed in the Muzaf-farpur special court. Aboutthree months after takingover the case in Septemberlast year, the agency hadcharge sheeted one moreaccused. The local policehad filed a charge sheetagainst six accused.

Mr. Shahabuddin, afour-time former MP fromSiwan, is currently lodgedin Tihar Jail. He came un-der investigation after theslain journalist’s wife al-leged his involvement.Ranjan, who worked with aHindi newspaper, was shotdead on May 13, 2016.

Charge sheet�led againstShahabuddin Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The flood situation in UttarPradesh remained alarmingon Tuesday with reports of10 more deaths, taking thetoll to 82 in the current waveof floods in the State.

“As many as 2,855 villagesin 25 districts are inundatedaffecting a population ofover 22 lakh,” the ReliefCommissioner’s office saidhere, citing a flood report ason Monday.

Around 50,000 peoplehad taken shelter in campsin eastern U.P. where therewas no let-up in flood fury asthe raging waters of riversemanating in Nepal causedhavoc in vast areas, it said.

37 more deaths in BiharBihar reported 37 moredeaths on Tuesday, takingthe toll to 341. Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi will make

an aerial survey of the flood-affected districts of Bihar onAugust 26, said Deputy ChiefMinister Sushil Kumar Modi.

The flood situation in As-sam improved further onTuesday with water recedingfrom human habitations andfields. No fresh deaths werereported in the State and the

toll stood at 70, an AssamState Disaster ManagementAuthority report here said.

In Himachal Pradesh, oneman is feared to havedrowned in the swollenGovind Sagar Lake inBilaspur district. Thirteenhouses were damaged fol-lowing heavy rain.

2,855 villages in U.P. underwater, toll touches 82PM to do aerial survey in Bihar; �ood fury abates in Assam


Lucknow

Lifeline for �ood-hit: People being rescued from an inundatedvillage in Bihar on Tuesday. * REUTERS

Navy issues tender forhundreds of helicoptersNEW DELHI

The Navy has begun a multi-

billion dollar hunt to procure

hundreds of helicopters. The

Request for Information for

111 Naval Utility Helicopters

and 123 naval Multi-Role

helicopters was issued on

Tuesday. “The global tenders

were issued to global Original

Equipment Manufacturers

under the recently approved

Strategic Partnership model,”

a Navy source said.

Former Manipur CMRishang Keishing dead IMPHAL

Former Manipur Chief

Minister and a member of the

first Lok Sabha Rishang

Keishing passed away on

Tuesday, following a brief

illness here. The veteran

Congress leader was 96. A

Naga, he served as the Chief

Minister of Manipur from

1980 to 1988 and from 1994

to 1997. PTI

Shehnai maestro’s Padmacerti�cate damagedVARANASI

The Padma Vibhushan

certificate awarded to

shehnai maestro late Ustad

Bismillah Khan in 1980 has

been partially eaten by

termites, family members

said. They realised it while

organising his certificates on

his 11th death anniversary on

Monday. Khan’s grandson

Nasir said that due to poor

finances, they were not able

to preserve his awards and

musical instruments. PTI

IN BRIEF




CMYK

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EDITORIAL

By declaring the discriminatory practice of instant

triple talaq as unconstitutional, the Supreme

Court has sent out a clear message that personal

law can no longer be privileged over fundamental

rights. Three of the �ve judges on the Constitution

Bench have not accepted the argument that instant

talaq, or talaq-e-biddat, is essential to Islam and, there-

fore, deserves constitutional protection under Article

25. The biggest virtue of the two opinions constituting

the majority judgment is that they do not have to under-

mine any religious tenet to make their point. On the

contrary, as Justice Kurian Joseph says, the forbidden

nature of triple talaq can be gleaned from the Koran it-

self. Justice Rohinton Nariman, writing the main judg-

ment, locates the practice in the fourth degree of obedi-

ence required by Islamic tenets, namely, makruh, or

that which is reprobated as unworthy. The main ground

on which the practice has been struck down is a simple

formulation: that “this form of talaq is manifestly arbit-

rary in the sense that the marital tie can be broken ca-

priciously and whimsically by a Muslim man without

any attempt at reconciliation so as to save it.” In fact, the

�nal summation is so simple that the court did not even

have to elaborate on how triple talaq violates gender

equality. On the contrary, Justice Nariman says that hav-

ing held the practice to be arbitrary, there is really no

need to go into the element of discrimination. The court

deserves commendation for undoing the gender in-

justice implicit in the practice so e�ortlessly, within

constitutional parameters as well as the Islamic canon.

The present case was initiated suo motu by the court,

but opinion against triple talaq could not have gathered

critical mass and the case against it signi�cantly

bolstered if it weren’t for a few women standing up to

the community’s conservative elements and challen-

ging it. Any other outcome would have been a great in-

justice to them. Even the judges in the minority have

had to concede that their reasoning is based mainly on

the fact that this form of talaq is a matter of personal

law, and therefore entitled to constitutional protection.

“It is not open to a court to accept an egalitarian ap-

proach over a practice which constitutes an integral

part of religion,” writes Chief Justice J.S. Khehar in his

minority opinion. Interestingly, even his view segues

into a somewhat egalitarian position, restraining

Muslim men from pronouncing triple talaq until Parlia-

ment enacts a law to regulate it. The All India Muslim

Personal Law Board, and all those who supported its re-

gressive opinion that even an unworthy practice should

not be dislodged by judicial verdict, should now accept

the verdict in the interests of a modern social order.

And there is no reason to contend that their faith has

been unduly secularised. For, as Justice Joseph con-

cludes, “what is bad in theology is bad in law as well.”

Undoing injusticeThe Supreme Court invokes constitutional

norms and Islamic canon to bar instant talaq

New fault lines have formed in the All India Anna

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu.

When the factions led by Chief Minister Edap-

padi K. Palaniswami and former Chief Minister O. Pan-

neerselvam agreed on the merger, they must have

hoped it would lead to a period of political stability and

an unrivalled claim to power. Instead, they are now

faced with a new pressure group led by T.T.V. Dh-

inakaran, nephew of the polarising �gure that is V.K.

Sasikala, who is serving a four-year sentence in the dis-

proportionate assets case. By making the isolation of

the Sasikala family a pre-condition for the merger, the

Panneerselvam faction appears to have left Mr. Palan-

iswami on shaky ground. While Mr. Dhinakaran was not

against the merger per se, he and his kin have not taken

kindly to the depiction of the political reunion as a lo-

gical outcome of popular aversion to the Sasikala fam-

ily. The merger and the retrieval of the election symbol

of Two Leaves were seen as political necessities, but not

the insistence of the Panneerselvam faction on carrying

on a political campaign almost entirely on an anti-

Sasikala platform. Though Mr. Palaniswami managed to

defer a decision on expelling Sasikala until after the

convening of a general council meeting, in the popular

imagination the merger was made possible only by the

sidelining of the Sasikala family. To retain their relev-

ance, Mr. Dhinakaran and other members of the family

were forced to coalesce into an opposing group.

With the support of 19 legislators, Mr. Dhinakaran is

in a position to bring down the government. However,

rather than project his opposition as another split in the

party, he is keen to �ght the battle from within. The pro-

posal to pitch the Speaker, P. Dhanapal, as the group’s

choice of Chief Minister to replace Mr. Palaniswami is

part of an attempt to reassert control over the party and

the government. Even now, many ministers in the Pa-

laniswami cabinet are Sasikala loyalists; they are held

together only by their desire to avoid a snap election

just one year into the term of the Assembly. Given the

mood of the government at the Centre and the interests

of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Governor C. Vidyasagar

Rao might not act in a hurry on the plea by the MLAs

supporting Mr. Dhinakaran and order Mr. Palaniswami

to go through a �oor test. Indeed, the best course in the

current muddled circumstances would be to let matters

take their own course and allow any oppositional group

to move a motion of no con�dence against the govern-

ment. The Dhinakaran group would like a change at the

helm, but would not like to be seen as joining hands

with the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and

forcing a snap election. In such a situation, the proper

forum for a change of leadership is a meeting of the AI-

ADMK’s legislature party, not the Raj Bhavan, and not

the �oor of the Assembly. At least, not yet.

Fusion and �ssionThe merger of the two AIADMK factions

has led to the emergence of another

In Charlottesville, Virginia, acrowd of angry protestersmarched on August 12 in a man-

ner reminiscent of Nazi paramilit-ary gatherings. Most of them werewhite men protesting the removalof iconic statues of generals fromthe American Civil War who foughtto preserve slavery. Their appear-ance mimicked the famed Ku KluxKlan mobs united in their desire tokeep black Americans in their placethrough violence and intimidation.Their anger escalated to encom-pass Jews and immigrants throughchants like, “Jews shall not replaceus,” and “Blood and Soil” (a popu-lar Nazi slogan). A member of thisangry community drove his carinto a group of peaceful counter-demonstrators and killed a youngwoman. Events in Charlottesvillesaddened America, but whatshocked it was President DonaldTrump’s refusal to criticise this col-lection of Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups. He continues toequate these groups inciting angrywhite men with peaceful counter-demonstrators, and blames themboth equally.

Echo from Charlottesville Contrasting this chilling marchdominated by white men in Char-lottesville with the euphoric multi-colour crowd celebrating the elec-tion of America’s �rst African-American President eight yearsago, one wonders what changed inthe intervening eight years to allowhate and intolerance to replacehope and optimism for a mul-tiracial society. Could it be that inan era of rising economic instabil-ity, the election of Barack Obama toAmerica’s highest o�ce created animpression that African-Americanswere catching up with and perhaps

surpassing white Americans in in-come and achievement, fuellingwhite resentment?

Statistical data from a 2016 sur-vey conducted by the PEW Re-search Center sheds light on someof these trends. First, it documentsa sharp �ssure in American societybetween black and white Americ-ans. The income gap between thetwo groups remains large. Medianadjusted household income in 2014terms was $24,700 and $44,700 forblack and white households, re-spectively, in 1967. In 2015, incomesfor both groups had grown, reach-ing $43,300 and $77,900, respect-ively for black and white house-holds.

In absolute terms, this repres-ents a growing gap between thetwo groups. Gap in wealth is evengreater; today a median whitehousehold has 13 times the wealthof a median black household.These material di�erences spillover into perceptions with 88% ofblacks saying more needs to bedone to bridge the racial dividewhile only 53% of whites say so.Moreover, a far greater proportionof the black population feels thatblacks are treated unfairly by police(74%) than white (35%).

However, if these data show asharp racial divide in material andpsychological well-being, they alsoshow that a substantial proportionof white America recognises thevulnerabilities faced by their blackbrothers and sisters. Then what en-courages these brazen displays of

racism? Don’t these angry mobsknow that they are in the minorityin a public culture that embracesmulticulturalism? The answer tothis lies in the deep economic andcultural divide within whiteAmericans.

A growing inequalityWealth inequality in the U.S. hasgrown sharply over the past threedecades, as estimated by the U.S.Federal Reserve Bank. In realterms, the bottom 20th percentileof white Americans had net averagewealth of $15,248 over the period1992-98, and $19,650 in 2001-07.But post-recession, it fell sharply to$10,468 in 2010-13. In contrast, thewealth of the top 10% of whiteAmericans was $730,350,$1,210,554 and $1,260,430 in 1992-98, 2001-07 and 2010-13, respect-ively. Thus, while the bottom �fthbore the brunt of the recession of2008, the top tenth have notsu�ered much, increasing the90th/20th wealth ratio to 123 in re-cent years, compared to 48 twodecades ago. Education and wealthaccumulation go hand in hand withthe college-educated owning mostof the nation’s wealth. However,only 38% of white adults and 23% ofblack adults have a college degree.The PEW study also found that col-lege-educated whites are far morelikely to recognise their racial ad-vantages than those with only highschool education — 47% vs 17%.

Thus, it is not surprising thatwhite households in lower income

groups, most of whom lack collegeeducation, are resentful of theireconomic misfortune. In African-Americans and immigrants, theyhave found a handy target, with ahealthy dose of anti-Semitismthrown in. While racial inequalityin incomes has grown at the topand the middle of the distribution,that at the bottom has declined.Poverty rate among whites hasgrown from 8% to 10% between1974 and 2014, while that for blackshas dropped from 30% to 26% overthe same period. African-Americ-ans are still more likely to be poorthan the white population, but inthis war of perceptions, poorwhites feel that their conditions aredeteriorating while those ofAfrican-Americans are improving.

What is surprising is that thisfrustrated and vulnerable grouphas found an unlikely ally in Presid-ent Trump. One would normallynot expect a billionaire businessowner to tap into this well of dis-content among the nation’s dispos-sessed. Yet, as unlikely as it seems,Republican voters seem far morediscontent with what they perceiveas minority appeasement thanDemocrats. The PEW study foundthat 59% of Republican voters be-lieve that there is too much atten-tion to racial issues in Americacompared to 21% of Democrats.Thus, Mr. Trump was clearly re-sponding to his core voters whenhe refused to condemn the racistfringe elements that caused theCharlottesville tragedy.

However, a robust civil societyrebuke from highly unlikelysources that has condemned boththe Charlottesville violence and Mr.Trump’s morally bankrupt re-sponse to it gives cause for optim-ism about the strengths of Amer-ican civil society. In the wake of Mr.Trump’s equivocation, eight lead-ers of major companies and busi-ness groups resigned from the Pres-ident’s Manufacturing Council,beginning with Ken Frazier, theAfrican-American CEO of MerckPharmaceuticals, followed by CEOsof Under Armour and Intel among

others. This led to the Presidentdisbanding the ManufacturingCouncil. Similar condemnation haspoured in from artists and intellec-tuals, resulting in Donald andMelania Trump’s decision not to at-tend Kennedy Center awards cere-mony, only the fourth time a sittingPresident has skipped these hon-ours in four decades. Most import-antly, even Republican legislators�nd themselves at odds with thePresident on this issue and somehave publicly distanced them-selves.

There is something about eventslike Charlottesville that throw thenational character in sharp relief,highlighting both the forces thatunderpin these eruptions and thestrength as well as weakness of thecivil society. This past week hasbeen full of the saddest and theproudest moments in recent Amer-ican history. A President from theparty of Lincoln who has lost themoral authority to lead the nationis confronted with an unlikely op-position. Who would have thoughtthat corporate America would oneday provide moral leadershipwhere politicians fail?

Corporates take the leadIt would be a mistake for us to notrecognise that this revolt beganwith the courageous leadership of asingle individual, Ken Frazier ofMerck. It seems likely that Mr. Fra-zier’s black conscience did not al-low him to share a podium with Mr.Trump, but it also seems likely thaton the whole, corporate America isresponding to its stockholders and,to some extent, consumers, who donot want the nation’s political andeconomic agenda overshadowedby racial bigotry. As modern Amer-ica faces up to its underbelly full ofracism and hate, it is heartening tosee that a vast majority of Americ-ans refuse to be complicit in actionsthat shame its ideals.

Sonalde Desai is Professor of Sociology atUniversity of Maryland and Senior Fellowat NCAER. The views expressed arepersonal

The deep divide within white AmericansHow the U.S. went from electing a black President to choosing a successor with little compassion for minorities

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One of the most signi�canttrends visible in wildlifeconservation and manage-

ment today is the increased use of‘technology’. Camera traps, for in-stance, have provided new evid-ence of tiger presence in theMhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in Goaand of the Asiatic wildcat in Band-havgarh, Madhya Pradesh; radiocollars have helped solve the mys-tery of tiger deaths in Bandipur inKarnataka and Chandrapur districtof Maharashtra; and satellite tele-metry promises to provide new in-sights into the behaviour andmovement patterns of the Great In-dian Bustard in Gujarat, which in-cludes its journeys across the bor-der to Pakistan. New software andsophisticated surveillance techno-logies are being operationalised tokeep an eye on developmentsacross large landscapes and theuse of contraceptives has been sug-gested to contain runaway popula-tions of animals ranging from the

monkey in large parts of India tothe elephant in Africa.

Within easy reachWe may not be able to escape

such a technology-based framing,but is it possible that the currentset of technologies, like those men-tioned earlier, are profoundly dif-ferent from those of the earlier era?And is the change that we are see-ing, therefore, a more funda-mental one?

What these innovations appearto do is increase our proximity tothe subject of our interest and ofour investigation. Surveillancetechnologies are bringing distantand topographically complex land-scapes right into our homes and of-�ces so that they can be observedand monitored without moving aninch. More individual wild animalsare perhaps being caught andhandled today than has everhappened earlier. And then thereare various levels of physical intru-sion that these sentient beings aresubjected to — be it a microchip inthe tail, a radio collar around itsneck or a contraceptive injectedinto its body, not to mention thesedation that most of these indi-viduals are forced into to enablesuch intrusions.

Technology has always allowedus deeper access into and control

over our environment; in manyways it has been key in the humanconquest over nature. And yetthere are some things — a ferociouslarge cat or a free �ying bird or adeep-sea mammal — that had stillseemed out of reach. They werewild, de�ned as an animal ‘living orgrowing in the natural environ-ment; not domesticated or cultiv-ated’. They were wild and there-fore inaccessible or inaccessible,therefore wild. Technology is clos-ing that gap and it is the very idea ofthe ‘wild’ and ‘wilderness’ thatcomes into focus in important pub-lic initiatives such as conservationand protection of biodiversity.How wild or natural, for instance,is an animal that cannot performits fundamental biological func-tion of procreation because it hasbeen sterilised by human interven-tion? Is a tiger that has been sed-

ated multiple times and now car-ries a radio collar as ‘wild’ a tiger asone that has never been photo-graphed, sedated or collared? Howwild is a wilderness whereeverything has been mapped,where everything is known andwhere all movement is tracked inreal time?

Aesthetic and ethical issues The matter here is both aestheticand ethical. The basic pleasures ofenjoying the wild are essentiallytechnology mediated intrusions(think binoculars and cameras)into the private lives of animalsthat the human species does not al-low in its own case. Aldo Leopoldpointed out, for instance, to therole of the automobile, and thedense construction of roads to ac-commodate them, as central to theemergence of wilderness areas in19th century United States. Doesthe radio collar go only a step fur-ther, or is there a fundamental shifthere? One could argue that this col-lar is a signi�er of further humandominance and authority over thewild animal if not complete con-trol. A photograph of a collared ti-ger is unlikely to win an award in awildlife photography context justas an encounter with a collared an-imal is unlikely to evoke the sameexperience of thrill because the

element of surprise will have beenremoved. The issue is one that goesto the very heart of the notion ofthe ‘wild’ and of ‘wilderness’,marking as it does a paradigm shiftin our relationship to and under-standing of wildlife.

This is not an esoteric matter be-cause it has a direct bearing on theagenda of conservation; it is theconservation of this ‘wild’ life thatwe are talking about after all. If weagree that technologies and tech-nological interventions are bring-ing about fundamental changes inthe identities and essence of wildsubjects, it follows that currentideologies and methods of conser-vation will also have to change.

Are we willing to characterisewilderness areas as glori�ed themeparks? Are attempts at conserva-tion then just routes to managethese slippery slopes? If this is notan appropriate aesthetic or ethicalstance, then how do we think of theubiquitous use of high technologyto shape wilderness, and to in-trude into ‘wild’ bodies, even asthey are used in the name of pro-tecting them?

Pankaj Sekhsaria and Naveen Thayyil areresearchers at the DST-Centre for PolicyResearch, Department of Humanities andSocial Sciences, IIT-Delhi. The viewsexpressed are personal

Shaping wildernessThe use of technology is challenging long-held ideas about conservation

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Full circle?V.K. Sasikala appears to havelost the plot with formerTamil Nadu Chief MinisterO. Panneerselvam making areturn to the AIADMK foldas the Deputy ChiefMinister. The merger, said tohave been initiated by theBJP, was on predictable linesand shows that politics is theart of the possible. While thereturn of OPS, a welcomedevelopment, is certain togive the party more teeth, itremains to be seen whatin�uence the legislators whohave now expressed supportto ousted deputy generalsecretary T.T.V. Dhinakaranwill exert in trying to rockthe boat. The uni�ed partywould do well to get itshouse in order and devoteall its energy to running thegovernment e�ectively.N.J. Ravi Chander,

Bengaluru

High-pro�le casesThe slow pace of justice inIndia has always created aproblem for both theaccused and the victims.Stacks of pending cases, lack

of evidence andcumbersome processes ofinvestigation are seriousimpediments to the courseof free and fair justice.Politicians are using thecircumstances to give thrustto their own political gainsbut the fact is that it is thepeople on either side of theline of justice who su�er themost. Any failure indelivering justice ispernicious. The country’sjudiciary needs the requiredinfrastructure, sta�, toolsand technology to enablethe speedy delivery ofjustice. There should be noroom for creating doubt andsuspicion (“Malegaon case:SC gives Purohit bail”,August 22). Aparajita Singh,

Lucknow

■ The court saying that bailcannot be denied merelybecause some communitiesare against it is in itself atelling commentary on thetendency by political partiesto checkmate one anotherthrough the powerfulammunition of “high-pro�le

cases”.It has to be rememberedthat courts go by materialevidence, among others, toadjudicate on the merits of acase. Whether or not allsuch evidence wasproduced will be examinedby the court. All politicalparties must ponder overtheir priorities on casespending before court. Theintense debates over the“propriety” of the highestcourt of the land in grantingbail can be avoided if highlysensitive cases are fast-tracked. If procedures aresimpli�ed and cases are putup in all seriousness, therewill be no ground for partiesto play their favourite gameof �xing blame. But will ithappen in India?Ganapathi Bhat,

Akola, Maharashtra

What prisonThe Editorial, “Prison andprivilege” (August 22), is aneye-opener on the illegaland outrageous meansemployed by servingprisoners to take advantageof the weaknesses in the

system. Everyone inBengaluru who wasbrowbeaten into submissionby these two prisonersshould be brought to book.Globally, a prison break orprison escape is treated as agrave o�ence, especially ifthere is found to beconnivance of prison sta�.Suddapalli Bhaskara Rao,

Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

For a fresh startIndia-Nepal ties havewitnessed a lot of ups anddowns in the last two yearsstarting with confrontationover Nepal’s Constitutionand then going all the way tothe imposition of a blockadeby India (“Rebooting India-Nepal ties”, August 22). Allthis could have beenprevented had our politicalestablishment shown someresilience and maturity. It ishere that we remember theI.K. Gujral doctrine, whichput emphasis on mutualrespect and mutual non-interference with ourneighbours. We have toremember that beinggeographically and

economically the strongestnation in the subcontinent,the onus of some maturitywhen it comes to dealingwith our neighbours restswith us. Karan Choudhary,

Pathankot, Punjab

ODF targetsIt is extremely disconcertingthat villagers are beingthreatened with thesnapping of electricityconnections for not beingable to construct toilets intheir houses. (“No power ifyou go in the open, SDO tellsvillagers”, August 22). Someweeks ago, there was adetailed report of villagersbeing threatened by theadministration that theirPDS cards could becancelled for a similarreason. Here, one read ofhow villagers, mostlyAdivasis, already trapped ina debt cycle, were facinggreater impoverishment andvulnerability because of theadministration’s diktat. Onemust not forget the death ofZafar Khan of the sameState, Rajasthan, who was

killed while trying to protestthe shameful practice ofauthorities photographingwomen who were going torelieve themselves. Whatadds irony to this is the factthat the authorities whopass such orders are totallyinsensitive not only to therights of the very citizensthey are meant to serve butare also oblivious of theirfailure to meet the goals ofother schemes such asproviding electricconnections to each house.Obviously, theadministration too is undergreat stress and unduepressure because of thedemands and targets of thegovernment’s various pet,but myopic, schemes. Thegovernment must ensurethat the administrationremains faithful toconstitutional values anddoes not violate rights. Forthis, it has to remove allcoercive, threateningstratagems.Firoz Ahmad,

New Delhi

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

more letters online:

www.hindu.com/opinion/letters/

CMYK

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DATA POINT

The Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Morarji Desai’s nine-day visitto Japan came to an end here [Tokyo] on a warm and friendlynote with assurances from Foreign Minister Takeo Miki that Ja-pan would aid India to the maximum within the bounds of itsresources because Japan realised the importance of India’seconomic stability to the maintenance of peace in Asia. Mr.Desai was seen off at the airport by Mr. Miki, high Foreign Of-fice officials and Japanese admirers including yellow-robeddrum-beating Buddhist monks. The Air India plane in whichMr. Desai travelled left a few hours behind schedule as its ar-rival here was delayed due to a typhoon enroute in the SouthChina Sea.

FIFTY YEARS AGO AUGUST 23, 1967

Japan’s aid assurance

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FROM ARCHIVES

The District Traffic Superintendent, Egmore, wires the follow-ing further particulars re- Troop Naval special collision at Tiru-puvanam: The collision was caused by list and morse inter-locked points being disconnected by a fitter for repairs thusfollowing the points to be set with wrong signals. The fitter issaid to have absconded. The second vehicle on the Naval spe-cial, a second class coach, telescoped through the leadingbrake van. There has been extensive damage to stock. OneBritish seaman was killed and four injured, one with fracturedcollar bone, one with injured knee, two with internal contu-sions and shock. All the four are in our railway hospital atTrichinopoly.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO AUGUST 23, 1917

Naval Special Collision.

A career spent on the fieldhas its positives and negat-ives and the inevitable lifelessons. Especially ifyou’ve seen a fair share ofnatural and man-madecalamities — momentswhen life meant very littleto some people andeverything to others.Scenes from the past playout later, unsummoned.As Wordsworth said,“They flash upon that in-ward eye.” Sometimes it’sa good memory and youare lucky, but often theyare torturous scenes, ob-served, written about. Themind desperately tries toforget, but clearly cannot.

Sometimes they comeupon you, summoned,triggered by something re-cent — a news flash, a vis-itor from the past, a clip-ping from the archives, acourt judgment. In July2004, 94 children died be-cause they went to schoolthat day, in small-townKumbakonam. Theschool, a three-storeyed

building, caught fire aftera spark from the noonmeal kitchen landed onthe thatched roof. The cas-ualties were high becausethere was little room to es-cape. Before help couldarrive, children insidewere burnt to a cinder.

The Hindu ran picturescautioning viewer discre-tion, because anythingthere was to show washorrific. It was possiblythe worst-ever scene anyjournalist who was therehad seen, yet. Thetsunami five months laterwould alter that irrevoc-ably. But then there werethe burnt classrooms, theoverpowering stench, thesevered, the charred bodyparts lying strewn in stillpools of water that thefireman’s hose brought atad too late, the spines oftextbooks, and black-boards where the tar wentcurling up, as if trying toscurry to escape the lick ofthe flames.

The books lying in thewater still had names onthem, the ink running

with the wetness, but itbrought to us, in a suddenwhiff, a sense of the chil-dren who went to theseclasses, who wrote inthose books — one inwhich the Tamil curvedstylishly, another clearly achild’s hand scrawling in ahurry, a little blackenedfinger left behind lying ona partially burnt map ofTamil Nadu. A temporaryport seemed to open upand we had a fascinatingand yet macabre glimpseinto their world as it burnt— the sheer panic and madscramble, the screams andtears before everythingquietened down to a hiss,and then nothing.

The mind scarcely for-gets. Thirteen years later,as a court released thoseresponsible for the build-ing and its violationsagainst period servedalready, the mind sum-mons these ghosts again,with stunning clarity.They’ll fade away, ofcourse, but as the mindplays its tricks, they seemreal as of now.

When the mind plays tricks

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NOTEBOOK

Recalling the nightmarish Kumbakonam �re tragedy

Ramya Kannan

The news that the ruling TrinamoolCongress had swept elections toseven civic municipalities last weekwasn’t really a surprise. Barring one,which was a new municipality, theothers were controlled by the Trin-amool. Still, the extent of victory washuge: it won 140 of the 148 wards,notching up a success rate of 94.5%.The Left Front’s dismal performance

was on expected lines: it drew a blank. The Forward Bloc, aLeft Front partner, won one ward. The Bharatiya Janata Party,which has been trying to be a big player in the State, won sixwards. However, what came as a surprise was the BJP’s rousingcelebration. By no count was this a “vishal” (huge) victory, sowhat was it celebrating?

Admittedly, the BJP did well in two areas of north Bengal,but will this be enough to take on the might of Mamata Baner-jee? What will this translate to in the 2019 Lok Sabha electionswhere 42 seats are up for grabs? This may have been an elec-tion to only seven municipalities, but its reach extended fromDurgapur in the industrial belt in the south to Dhupguri in thenorth, and is as good an indication as any if the BJP’s tacticshave worked or not.

Whipping up a fervourIn the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won two seats: Darjeeling(hills), and Asansol (industrial belt in the south). In this civicpolls, the loss in Durgapur suggests it hasn’t been able to holdon to its gain. So, the BJP, apart from cutting into the Left andCongress’s votes, still remains a fringe player, sticking to thehills and some urban areas.

In March, after the massive victory of the BJP in Uttar Pra-desh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, national general secretary of theparty, said the BJP’s focus would be on West Bengal where the“appeasement policy of the Mamata Banerjee governmenthad reached a tipping point.” The BJP planned campaigns inten districts of the State where it thought law and order had be-come a “matter of serious concern”, with one eye clearly onthe impending panchayat elections. It did whip up a fervour.For instance, in April, there were never-before-seen RamNavami processions with sa�ron-clad men, women and evenchildren marching down the streets, brandishing swords andblowing conch shells.

As for the Trinamool, it’s not all rosy though the electionresults don’t necessarily show that. There were widespread al-legations of rigging, and the huge margins of victory in manywards didn’t help to discount the charges. The Narada,Saradha and Rose Valley chit fund corruption cases have stuckto the Trinamool and the Gorkha agitation has been on far toolong. If the BJP got carried away with its distant No. 2 positionin the State, Mamata Banerjee too overdid it by calling it a vic-tory of the people.

And the total decimation of the Opposition, can it ever be agood thing for democracy?

Surprise in the rhetoric

The Trinamool Congress sweep in thecivic polls in West Bengal does not tellthe whole story

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Framing effectPsychology

This is a cognitive biaswhere people react in dif-ferent ways to the samechoice depending on theway it is presented tothem. For instance, de-pending on whether a pos-itive or negative spin isgiven to a particularchoice, people’s reactionto it might differ accord-ingly. Thus, framing canplay a crucial role in influ-encing people’s everydaydecisions. Israeli-Amer-ican behavioural psycholo-gists Daniel Kahnemanand Amos Tversky pub-lished their pioneering re-search about the framingeffect in 1981. Many haveargued that policymakerscan exert a positive influ-ence on people’s decisionsby framing the choicesthey face in an appropriatemanner.

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Midnight’s child Sharad Yadav has had a long and chequeredpolitical career spanning well over four decades. Through it all,he has carved his own path, breaking even with the likes ofCharan Singh. His recent split with Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on the issue of joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Na-tional Democratic Alliance has placed him in the spotlight as heseeks once again to try and play a pivotal role in the opposition.Often dismissed as a drawing-room politician operating fromthe charmed centre of Lutyens’ Delhi, he prefers to be called anall-India politician. In a wide-ranging interview, he talks aboutMandal politics, the Socialist movement, why he broke with Mr.Kumar, the state of opposition politics and why preserving In-dia’s composite culture is at the top of his agenda. Excerpts:

On August 17, youorganised the SanjhiVirasat Sammelan thatwas attended by manyopposition parties. Howdid that happen?

■ The Preamble to our Con-stitution is about our sanjhivirasat, our composite cul-ture. Three months ago, theidea for the Sanjhi VirasatSammelan sprang from a dis-cussion on the current polit-ical situation I was havingwith CPI(M) general secret-ary Sitaram Yechury. Thenthere was an all-party meet-ing in (Leader of Oppositionin the Rajya Sabha) GhulamNabi Azad’s chamber inwhich this discussion wastaken further. A decision waseventually taken to hold thisconvention on August 17. Ihad no idea that so manypeople would turn up: theycame from all over the coun-try, by train, by air, thoughthere were more people whocame from the areas sur-rounding Delhi.

My political temperamentfrom the beginning has beento play a national role. I havenever been in State politics.When the National Front wasformed, Devi Lal and Iplayed a major role, alongwith Harkishan Surjeet. V.P.Singh was hesitant. Then wecreated a situation in whichhis Jan Morcha too joined.

Right at the start of mypolitical career, I was JP’s“people’s candidate” (fromJabalpur) in 1974. I was al-ways at the Centre, I neverwent to the States thoughthere were opportunities.During the National Frontdays, and Ajit Singh and Mu-layam Singh Yadav were boththere, many people sugges-ted I should go to Uttar Pra-desh. Mulayam Singh went, Idid not. In Bihar, after Kar-poori Thakur’s demise, I wasrunning the State unit.

You were kingmakerrather than king…

■ No one in politics can be akingmaker if he does nothave real influence… No onehas made more MPs andMLAs than I have. Who gavetickets to all those who werein the 1974 movement? ToMohan Singh, Harshvardhan,Brij Bhushan Tiwari, JamunaPrasad Nishad, people fromBihar. Devi Lal was confinedto Haryana. I must havemade hundreds of MPs andMLAs. I had very good rela-tions with Biju Patnaik.

In 2014, you played acritical role in bringingthe opposition togetheron the Land AcquisitionAct and in askingCongress president SoniaGandhi to lead it.

■ I did the entire coordina-tion for that — many partieswere hesitant to get involvedwith the Congress, becausethey have always foughtagainst it. But when the LandAcquisition Bill was intro-duced, it provided an oppor-tunity. I felt it was very anti-farmer, so I took on the taskof coordinating with opposi-tion parties on the issue. Aday before we were to marchto Rashtrapati Bhavan, Ghu-lam Nabi Azad said SoniaGandhi wants to be part of it.So I said, welcome. It be-came an all-party march —only two people spoke, So-niaji and I. She spoke briefly,I spoke more. After that,there were no obstacles leftin getting the Land Acquisi-tion Bill changed. At thattime, I was president of theJanata Dal (United), but eversince I left the position,things changed.

How did things change?

■ Problems were growing inthe JD(U). I would make astatement here and the newpresident (Nitish Kumar)would contradict it in Bihar.For instance, I opposed de-monetisation, but the nextday, there was a statementfrom the party that demonet-isation was okay... Then onthe presidential election, I

was asked to attend the dis-cussions with oppositionparties. I attended two meet-ings. Then there was onemeeting in Tamil Nadu whichwas attended by the ChiefMinister (Nitish Kumar) whois also the party president.But as soon as the BJP an-nounced that Ram NathKovind was its candidate, theJD(U)’s immediate response(backing him) placed me inan embarrassing position.

Recently, youaccompanied seniorCongress leaders toMandsaur in MadhyaPradesh to supportprotesting farmers. Buthistorically, the Socialistsand Lohiaites have beenstrongly opposed to theCongress. What hasbrought you togethernow?

■ This is not a change. Wewere opposed to the Con-gress, given the prevailing

circumstances of that period.I joined politics during IndiraGandhi’s time. The Congresswas a very strong party. Myfather was a Congressman,the district president ofHoshangabad in M.P. He waswith D.P. Mishra, SethGovind Das… but I came un-der the influence of Lohiaji.In my university days, I was apart of the political fermentfrom Patna to Baroda. I hadalso served the longest jailsentence. Nagbhushan Pat-naik and I were jailed in 1971.

Given the current situ-ation, when I look at ourConstitution, it is very clearthat the path it suggests is theproduct of the freedommovement. All those I fol-lowed — Lohia, JP, CharanSingh, Karpoori Thakur —were products of the free-dom movement. I was bornin 1947.

So this is a kind of gharwapsi for you?

■ No, I am only saying mychildhood home was a Con-gress home and still is.Among the values that I im-bibed were secularism and abelief in a composite culturethat is reflected in the Pre-amble to the Constitution.

On August 11, at themeeting of opposition

parties, Sonia Gandhi wasasked to form a smallcommittee that woulddraw up a plan of action.On August 17, her politicalsecretary, Ahmed Patel, atthe Sanjhi VirasatSammelan exhorted youto set up a committee anddraw up a blueprint forthe opposition. What’sgoing on?

■ Our party was representedat the first meeting by Ali An-war. The functioning of these17 political parties is beingcoordinated by Soniaji — thatis her responsibility. But ingiving shape to the campaignto preserve our sanjhi vir-asat, the sky is the limit.There are many agitations oncurrently — by farmers in dis-tress, by unemployed youth,by Dalits in the wake of thesuicide of Rohith Vemula, theUna episode in Gujarat, andfinally what happened inSaharanpur, against moblynching. My responsibility isto create a campaign to pro-tect our biggest legacy, ourcomposite culture that is en-shrined in our Constitution.The country broke once — wecan’t afford to have it happenagain. There is no contradic-tion. I will form a committeeon which there will be influ-ential people from all theseparties.

Who will lead theopposition? SoniaGandhi?

■ Hers is the biggest party inthe opposition, describe itanyway you like. It has an all-India base.

Nitish Kumar says hebroke themahagatbandhan becausethe mandate in Bihar wasfor the development ofthe State, not to enrichone family.

■ The mahagatbandhan wascreated not by Laluji. It is wein the JD(U) who took the ini-tiative. When it was a ques-tion of seeking votes, then

joining the RJD (RashtriyaJanata Dal) was right, andnow to break it because of anFIR (against Lalu Yadav andhis family) is ridiculous. El-even crore people who knewus and recognised us forwhat we were voted for us.This was the resurrection ofthe old Janata Dal, with theCongress standing with us.For one and a half monthswe all campaigned — thatvote was for five years, givento us in trust. Everywhere wehad attacked the NDA… Go-ing with the NDA was there-fore to break the agreementwe had with the people. Wehad a manifesto; the BJP hadits manifesto. How can thetwo be combined? That’swhy I regret this.

Most JD(U) MPs and MLAsare with Nitish Kumar.Even your well-wishersare saying that you havetaken an ideologicallycorrect position, but youhave made yourselfpolitically irrelevant.

■ I have fought many suchbattles in my life. I only wantto say wait for a bit. Suchthings have been said aboutme in the past, too. I have al-ways been the one to raisecritical national issues: doyou think it’s possible for meto become irrelevant sosoon? I raised the coal scam,the Commonwealth Gamesscam because of whichSuresh Kalmadi had to go tojail. Who raised the AsaramBapu issue? I am an all-Indiapolitician who travels all overthe country.

In 2013, when NitishKumar broke with the BJP,you urged him to stay on.

■ At that time, we had a mu-tually agreed agenda withAtalji and Advaniji. The con-tested issues — of the RamTemple, Article 370 and aUniform Civil Code — wereleft out. Who made thatagenda? George Fernandes,Ramakrishna Hegde and Nit-ish Kumar and Atalji and Ad-

vaniji… If we had not left in2013, the country wouldhave definitely been savedthe current crisis… We wouldhave come out of the NDAnow, not then in 2013, andfrom that would have sprunga big movement against theBJP. It would have been amore politically opportunemoment.

You were a Cabinetminister in Atal BihariVajpayee’s government.Was the Vajpayee-AdvaniBJP different from theNarendra Modi-Amit ShahBJP?

■ There was a nationalagenda. But the ideology isthe same. We have workedwith the BJP many times.When we were with Vajpayeeand Advani, these three is-sues were always kept out.Now they are back on theBJP’s agenda.

The Socialists and theLohiaites have a history ofbreak-ups, mergers andbreak-ups.

■ I agree that through theirmany break-ups, the countryhas suffered. But through themany battles, from the QuitIndia movement to the Emer-gency, they have fought onbehalf of the people, theyhave saved it.

Is the Mandal movementstill relevant today?

■ There will be completejustice in India only whenthere is social and economicjustice for all. Social disparit-ies have been caused by thecaste system. From social in-equality has sprung eco-nomic inequality and all theills in our society. The biggestbattles fought in India havebeen against social inequal-ity and that is still going on.This battle can’t end till thecaste system is eradicated.People in India think on thebasis of their caste, eventhough they may say theydon’t believe in caste.

‘The country broke once, we can’t a�ord to have it happen again’The Janata Dal (United) leader on parting ways with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the blueprint for opposition unity going ahead

Smita Gupta

<> Do you think it’s

possible for me to

become irrelevant so

soon? I raised the

coal scam, the CWG

scam... Who raised

the Asaram Bapu

issue? I am an all-

India politician.

THE WEDNESDAY INTERVIEW | SHARAD YADAV

<> When it was a question of seeking votes, then

joining the RJD was right, and now to break it

because of an FIR (against Lalu Yadav and his

family) is ridiculous.

* R.V. MOORTHY

CMYK

A ND-NDE




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

mental nature of Islamic re-ligion, as seen through anIndian Sunni Muslim’s eyes,will not change without thispractice (instant talaq),”Justice Nariman observed.

The verdict by JusticesNariman and Lalit differswith the Chief Justice’s sug-gestion that instant talaqshould be sent to Parliamentfor legislation.

Article 142Chief Justice Khehar had in-voked the extraordinarypowers of the SupremeCourt under Article 142 ofthe Constitution to injunctMuslim husbands from com-mitting instant talaq for thenext six months.

This six months’ time wasfor the government to framea law addressing the issue oftriple talaq, especially in-stant talaq.

This injunction has novalidity now as the majorityon the Bench has already setaside instant talaq.

However, the door is al-ways open for the legis-lature to discuss the legalityof the other two forms oftriple talaq — talaq ahasanand talaq hasan.

Justices Rohinton Fali Nar-iman and U.U. Lalit termedinstant talaq “irregular orheretical”.

“Triple talaq (instanttalaq) is instant and irrevoc-able, it is obvious that anyattempt at reconciliationbetween the husband andwife, essential to save themarital tie, cannot ever takeplace ... this form of talaqmust, therefore, be held vi-olative of the fundamentalright contained under Art-icle 14 of the Constitution,”Justice Nariman wrote.

Far from being an essen-tial religious practiceworthy of protection underArticle 25, Justice Narimanheld that instant talaq fellwithin the boundaries ofjiaz or mubah (permissibleacts as to which Islam is in-different).

Unworthy actThe judge wrote that the ir-revocable act of divorce waseven considered makruh (anunworthy act) in Islam.

Justice Nariman held thateven the Hanafi jurispru-dence castigated instanttalaq as “sinful”.

“It is clear that the funda-

No, no, no: SC oninstant triple talaq

given crores of Muslim wo-men the right to live withself-respect, equality anddignity by declaring thetriple talaq unconstitu-tional. I welcome this de-cision in favour of the wo-men victims who werefighting for their rights and Ialso compliment them fortheir struggle to be treatedas equal. I am thankful ofPM Narendra Modi and theGovernment of India forreasonably and justifiablyputting Muslim women'sviews in the SC.”

‘Positive impact’Calling it a positive impacton the struggles of women,CPI(M) politburo memberBrinda Karat said, “I wel-come the judgment, a vic-tory of women of one sec-tion will certainly have apositive impact on strugglesof women everywhere. Ifind the reactions of rulingparty amusing and unwar-ranted, the SC ruling is onspecific issue of talaq-e-bid-dat or instant triple talaq.The SC not only rejected butdidn’t take any cognisanceof arguments of A-G to ex-pand it to uniform civilcode.”

BSP chief Mayawati alsowelcomed the judgmentand said it was in the in-terest of Muslim women.

Law Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said the judgmentwould now bring into effectmuch-needed reforms thatmany Muslim-majoritycountries had alreadyundertaken.

“We need to understandthat as many as 22 countrieseither regulated, or abol-ished or laid down strictpre-conditions for its [tripletalaq’s] exercise. India beinga secular country was insu-lated from these changeswhich occurred even inPakistan, Afghanistan andBangladesh,” said Mr.Prasad.

Former Law MinisterKapil Sibal, who argued onbehalf of the AIMPLB, said,“I welcome the judgment asit protects the personal lawof all communities and de-precates the instant tripletalaq.”

Shah’s standBJP president Amit Shahsaid: “I welcome the historicverdict of the SupremeCourt today on triple talaq.This judgment is not a de-feat or victory for anyone.This is the victory of right toequality and the funda-mental constitutional rightsfor Muslim women. Triplelalaq law does not exist inseveral Muslim countriesalso. The apex court has

Cross-party supportfor SC verdict

presspersons outside theresidence of Mr. Dhinakaranin Adyar.

“You will have to wait andsee how we are going tochange the Chief Minister.”However, to a query onwhether they were ready forpeace talks, Mr.Thangatamilselvan said,“When did we say we arenot for that?”

Stalin’s letterIn his representation to theGovernor, Mr. Stalin said theaction of the 22 MLAs hadled to an “unprecedentedconstitutional crisis”.

He noted that when asimilar political situationhad arisen in neighbouringKarnataka in the past, theGovernor there had directedthen Chief Minister B.S. Yed-diyurappa to prove his ma-jority in the House.

“Any inordinate delay inasking the Chief Minister toprove his majority in the in-stant case will pave way forthe continuance of an un-constitutional governmentand it will destabilise thedemocratic norms and pre-cedents established indemonstrating the confid-ence of the House,” he said.

He urged the Governor todirect the Chief Minister toprove his majority by follow-ing the norms laid down bythe Supreme Court in theS.R. Bommai case.

Meanwhile, Governor Raoleft for Mumbai. In identicalletters submitted to Mr. Raoat the Raj Bhavan, the rebelMLAs claimed they were“disillusioned with the func-tioning of the governmentheaded by Mr. Palaniswami,as there has been abuse ofpower, favouritism, misuseof government machinery,widespread corruption”.

Quoting Deputy ChiefMinister O. Panneerselvam’srecent statement that thegovernment was “filled withcorruptive practice”, theMLAs said that despite this,within two weeks, Mr. Pa-laniswami had included theformer as Deputy ChiefMinister.

“This reveals Mr. Edap-padi K. Palaniswami’s fa-vouritism, abuse of power,misuse of government ma-chinery to cover up the cor-rupt practice,” the lettersaid. Consequently, theMLAs expressed lack of con-fidence in the Chief Ministerdeclared that they werewithdrawing the “earliersupport given to him”.

“The Governor patientlylistened to us and then toldus that he would take actionon our letters,” one of theMLAs told The Hindu.

“Our motive is to prompta no-confidence motionagainst the Chief Minister,”Andipatti MLAThangatamilselvan told

EPS government fallsshort of majority

Security agencies have notbeen able to “independentlyverify” reports that Shafi Ar-mar, the Islamic State’s chiefrecruiter in the Indian sub-continent, was killed in a sui-cide attack on Syrian Demo-cratic Forces (SDF) in Raqqain Syria, the terror group’s defacto capital and laststronghold.

“The message has beenput out on some newsagency run by a terrorist or-ganisation. We have not gotany confirmation from eitherSyria or U.S.-led coalitionforces who are active there.Even his family in Bhatkalhave not been informed,”said a senior Home Ministryofficial. A message releasedin Arabic by the IS-backedAmaq news agency said that

an Indian fighter named AbuYusuf al-Hindi was killedwhile “carrying out a suicidebombing on SDF in Raqqa”.The message also mentionedthat an Australian fightercalled Abu Fahad Kariteenwas also killed in the attack.

As per the records of In-dian agencies, Yusuf al-Hindiis a nom de guerre of Armar.

An official said that Yusufal-Hindi was also the onlineidentity of Mohammad Sajid,alias Bada Sajid, a former In-dian Mujahideen (IM) oper-ative from Azamgarh in U.P.said to have been killed twoyears ago in a drone strike bycoalition forces in Syria.

Propaganda videoIn May 2016, 10 months afteragencies confirmed hisdeath, Sajid and five otherIndians featured in a propa-ganda video shot near Syria’sLake Homs. In the videothey called on Indian Muslimmen to travel to IS-held ter-ritories to avenge “BabriMasjid [demolition] and thekillings of Muslims in Kash-mir, Gujarat andMuzaffarnagar”.

According to the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA),

Armar, a resident of Bhatkalin Karnataka and a formermember of IM, was made theterror group’s “media chief”last year and he oversaw re-cruitments not only from In-dia but across the world.

Both Armar and Sajid fledto Pakistan along with otherIM members after the 2008serial bomb blasts. Armarand his elder brother Sultanfloated the Ansar-ul-Tawhid(AuT) with the help of the al-Qaeda. The AuT laterpledged allegiance to the IS.The IM leaders are believedto have travelled to Syria viaAfghanistan in 2014. Sultanwas killed in a drone strike inSyria in 2015.

Armar’s name cropped upduring interrogation of atleast 35 men arrested acrossthe country for alleged linksto the IS, the NIA said.

Armar’s death not con�rmedIndian recruiter for IS reportedly died in a suicide attack on the SDF in Raqqa

Vijaita Singh

New Delhi

Sha� Armar

The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) said on Tues-day that the bail granted bythe Supreme Court to Lt.Col. Shrikant Purohit, an ac-cused in the 2008 Malegaonblast, would have no bear-ing on the ongoing trial at aspecial NIA court inMumbai.

An NIA official said thechance of Purohit, a servingArmy officer, influencingwitnesses was remote.

Intelligence and investiga-tion agencies have conclus-ive evidence of the role ofAbhinav Bharat, a terrorgroup floated by Purohit,and other fringe right-wingextremists, in multiple ter-ror attacks from 2006 to2008. Many officials whoplayed significant roles inuncovering Purohit and oth-ers of that network are vocalin their criticism of the NIAand the way those terrorcases are now unravelling incourts.

Joining the dots“Starting sometime in 2006,we have had several inputsto show that our investiga-tions were not going in theright direction. But it tookmuch more time, and sev-eral blasts, before we couldjoin the dots and solve themystery,” says a retiredsenior intelligence officerwho was involved in the in-vestigations that unravelledby 2008 the role ofHindutva fanatics in carry-ing out terrorist attacks.

“After a blast in JamaMasjid in New Delhi, we didpick up suspicious phonecalls to Indore, but couldn’tmake much way forwardwith it,” he said, referring to

the June 6, 2006 twin blastsin the courtyard of the his-toric mosque in which 13people were injured.

When the first blast tookplace in Malegaon onSeptember 8, 2006, therewas a section in the securityestablishment which keptarguing that small-scaleblasts, some of them myster-ious, in nearby towns in therun-up to the blast shouldalso be analysed in detail.“At least one of those blastshad taken place in the houseof an RSS activist,” he poin-ted out.

It was only in 2008 thatthe fact that a small group ofHindutva fringe elementswere orchestrating terroristattacks, on targets with ma-jority Muslim presence orsymbols of significance tothe community, hademerged. “We still haven’theard the full story,” aformer investigator in thecase said. He said that it wasstill not clear if Col. Purohitwas acting alone.

A CBI source said whenthe agency was handling thecase there was strong resist-ance from within. When re-quest was put up for ques-tioning certain key people,it was turned down, he said.“The NIA has only undonethe work done over a dec-ade. It is unfortunate,” theformer investigator said.

Purohit bail will haveno bearing on trial‘Chances of swaying witnesses remote’


New Delhi

Lt. Col. Shrikant Purohit

D. Roopa, Deputy Inspector-General of Police inKarnataka, has dropped an-other bombshell in her re-port to the Anti-CorruptionBureau (ACB) by claimingthat she had reliable inform-ation of V.K. Sasikala, jailedAIADMK leader and interimgeneral secretary of theparty, visiting a house be-longing to the Hosur MLAnear the Parappana Agra-hara Central Prison inBengaluru.

Detailing how Sasikala,who was convicted by theSupreme Court in a dispro-portionate assets case, en-joyed special facilities, Ms.Roopa, in her report submit-ted last Saturday to the ACB,said, “There is reliable in-formation that she some-times goes to a house nearthe Central Jail that belongsto the Hosur MLA. This maybe further ascertained byCCTV cameras placed at theentrance of the jail and thecameras placed in betweengate 1 & gate 2 of the jail.”

Ms. Roopa, formerly DIG(Prisons), who first exposed

the privileged treatment en-joyed by Sasikala such as ex-clusive cells for personal use,private space to meet visitorsand specially prepared food,said the prison authoritieswent out of the way to ex-tend the special treatmentwithout approval of thecourt or the government.

In her report, a copy ofwhich was accessed by TheHindu, Ms. Roopa saidprison authorities hadmisled the Home Ministerand the Home Secretary byfurnishing false informationon the facilities extended tothe convict.

Not Class 1As DIG, Prisons, Ms. Roopahad on March 4, 2017, writ-ten to the Home Secretarythat Sasikala was convictedin a disproportionate assetscase which came under thecategory of “crime involvingpersonal greed and moraldegradation as stated in theprison rules and therefore,as per rules, she cannot beconsidered for Class 1 orClass A category”. However,she said, Sasikala “managed”to live the life of a Class-1

prisoner against the court or-der. In another communica-tion during February thisyear, the Additional In-spector-General, Prison, hadin his letter vide J1/CR-88/2016-17 written to the HomeMinister’s Private Secretarythat the convict wore jailclothes and ate jail food“which are factually wrong”,the report to the ACB said.

Ms. Roopa said all con-victs in Karnataka jails wore

white jail uniform. However,Sasikala and Ilavarasi, who isalso convicted in the samecase, wore their own clothes,including saris and salwar-kameez. “She (Sasikala) hasbeen provided a luxuriousbed and a cot. This has notbeen brought to the notice ofHon’ble Court and no per-mission by Court taken evenif it is for health reasons,” thereport said.

Telgi also favouredThe report submitted by the2000-batch IPS officer alsoexplained in detail the spe-cial facilities given to AbdulKarim Telgi, who was con-victed in the fake stamp pa-per case.

He was given a brand newLED TV, a separate diet chartand had special food cookedseparately.

Ms. Roopa said giving spe-cial treatment to any pris-oner unauthorisedly andwithout court orders was notonly contempt of court butalso violation of Article 14 ofthe Constitution.

Moreover, it was an of-fence under Section-13(1)(C)of Prevention Of Corruption

Act because the jail cells orcorridor and other resourcessuch as LED TV and materialfor preparation of separatefood are properties belong-ing to the State and entrus-ted to the DGP and the IG,Prisons, for custody.

“He [the DGP] has dishon-estly/fraudulently allowed itto be unauthorisedly used/misappropriated by anotherperson. Therefore offenceunder Section 13(1)(C) andpunishable under 13(2) ofPrevention of Corruption Act1988 is made out,” she said.

Levelling several chargesagainst the then DGP of Pris-ons, Sathyanarayana Rao,the DIG said though an an-nual maintenance contract(AMC) worth crore of rupeeswas awarded to a privatecompany and money wasalso paid for phone jam-mers, they were not work-ing. “No efforts have beenmade to repair them as itsuits jail officials because theofficers, for pecuniary gains,wilfully allow the convictsand under-trial prisoners touse mobile phones in grossviolation of the PrisonRules,” the report said.

Sasikala visited MLA’s house: report O�cials of Bengaluru prison misled Home Minister and Home Secretary, it says

S. Vijay Kumar

CHENNAI

D. Roopa

<> There is reliable

information that

she sometimes

goes to a house

near Central Jail

Hitting out at cross-borderterrorism from Pakistan, In-dia on Tuesday welcomedU.S. President DonaldTrump’s new policy on Afgh-anistan, and said his movewould help target “safehavens” of terrorism inSouth Asia.

Senior diplomats said theAmerican leader’s call for anend to Pakistan’s involve-ment in terrorism in Afgh-anistan and his support forAfghan-led peace processhad addressed a core Indian

concern. “We welcome Pres-ident Trump’s determina-tion to enhance efforts toovercome the challenges fa-cing Afghanistan and con-fronting issues of safehavens and other forms of

cross-border support en-joyed by terrorists,” said theExternal Affairs Ministry inan official statement.

Mr. Trump urged India todo more to help Afghanistanwith development, andurged Pakistan to stop terrororiginating from its territory.

The External Affairs Min-istry said: “We are commit-ted to supporting the gov-ernment and the people ofAfghanistan in their effortsto bring peace, security, sta-bility and prosperity in theircountry. We will continuethese efforts.”

He calls for end to Pakistani involvement in terror

Kallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI

Donald Trump

India welcomes Trump’snew Afghanistan policy

The pace at which China ispicking up regional issueswith all its neighboursacross Asia is a cause ofconcern, said former Na-tional Security AdvisorShivshankar Menon. Ad-dressing an event of the In-stitute of Chinese Studies(ICS), he said China hadlittle to worry under thepresent global order andtherefore its behaviourmade little sense.

“The surprising thing isthe pace at which China ismoving [on regional is-sues]. Why this hurry espe-cially when they are in anadvantageous position inthe world,” he said.

‘Chineseactionssurprising’Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

China on Tuesday reiteratedits demand that Indiantroops pull out from the Dok-lam plateau in Bhutan bypointing to Beijing’s con-cerns regarding the revampof India’s border infrastruc-ture.

Chinese foreign ministryspokesperson Hua Chunyingsaid that there would be “ut-ter chaos” if Chinese troopsentered Indian territory inorder to counter New Delhi’smoves to improve its milit-ary infrastructure along theChina-Indian frontier. “TheIndian side illegally crossedthe boundary on the excuseof ... Chinese road building.The reason is ridiculous, vi-cious and facts are clear,”Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesperson Hua Chunyingsaid. “You may think aboutit. If we tolerate India’s ri-diculous logic, then anyonewho dislikes the activity at

his neighbour’s home canbreak into its neighbour’shouse.”

Utter chaos“Does that mean whenChina thinks that large-scaleconstruction of infrastruc-ture at the border area of In-dia is posing a threat, it canenter Indian territory?Wouldn’t that be utterchaos?” Ms. Hua added.

Her remarks follow theconduct of live drills by the

People’s Liberation Army(PLA) at an unknown loca-tion, seemingly to reinforcethe perception that a milit-ary option in Doklam wasunder active consideration.The Global Times dailyquoted the Lianhe Zaobaonewspaper as saying that theexercise and that they weremeant to “strike awe in In-dia”. However, analysts high-lighted that China routinelyconducts military exercisesin late summer.

No signs of Chinese build-upMedia report says that PLA live drills are meant to ‘strike awe in India’

Atul Aneja

Beijing

War still an option? Analysts say that China routinelyconducts military exercises in late summer. * AFP

The stalemate at Doklam islikely to continue till theBRICS summit early nextmonth, Defence Ministry of-ficials believe.

“Though there may notbe any talks on the standoff,there is likely to be somecovert discussion in thebackdrop of the summit.After that, we hope there

will be some steps fromboth sides to address thesituation,” a senior officialsaid. China is hosting the9th BRICS Summit from Au-gust 31 to September 4.

Prime Minister NarendraModi is expected to attend,though India is yet to con-firm it. However, officialscautioned against minor in-cidents flaring up across theLine of Actual Control.

Doklam stalemate maycontinue, say o�cialsDinakar Peri

NEW DELHI

There will be no tinkeringwith the original structureof the Nehru Memorial Mu-seum and Library (NMML),the annual general bodymeeting chaired by HomeMinister Rajnath Singh de-cided on Tuesday.

There was no concretedecision on the proposedmuseum on the NMMLgrounds to memorialise allformer PMs. “The existingmuseum will be modern-ised and expanded. Its es-sential emphasis on Jawa-harlal Nehru and thefreedom movement will bemaintained,” NMML mem-ber Jairam Ramesh said.

‘No plan toalter Nehrumuseum’Special Correspondent

New Delhi

Dawood Ibrahim, themost wanted man in In-dia, remains the only“Indian national” on anupdated list of financialsanctions released bythe U.K., which also lis-ted 21 aliases for the un-derworld don.

The dreaded crim-inal appears on the U.K.Treasury Department’s‘Consolidated List ofFinancial Sanctions Tar-gets in the U.K.’, whichwas updated onMonday with three ofhis recorded addressesin Pakistan, where he isreportedly based.

“Kaskar DawoodIbrahim” is recorded tohave lived at: House No37, 30th Street — De-fence Housing Author-ity, Karachi, Pakistan;Noorabad, Karachi,Pakistan (Palatial bun-galow in the hilly area);and White House, NearSaudi Mosque, Clifton,Karachi, Pakistan.

Dawoodstill on U.K. listPress Trust of India

London

CMYK

A ND-NDE




NEWS

Though he declared instanttalaq a fundamental right,Chief Justice of India J.S.Khehar on Tuesday em-ployed the Supreme Court’srare and extraordinary juris-diction under Article 142 toinjunct Muslim husbandsfrom divorcing their wivesfor the next six monthsthrough the same instanttalaq.

The issue of Chief JusticeKhehar employing Article142 was raised by anotherjudge on the Bench. “I haveserious doubts as to whether,even under Article 142, theexercise of a fundamentalright can be injuncted,”Justice Kurian observed.

Chief Justice Khehar is-sued the direction under Art-icle 142 after observing thateven theocratic IslamicStates had corrected theirShariat to banish instanttalaq.

In other countries“When the British rulers inIndia provided succour toMuslims by legislation, andwhen remedial measureshave been adopted by theMuslim world, we find noreason, for an independentIndia, to lag behind. Meas-ures have been adopted forother religious denomina-tions even in India, but notfor Muslims. We would,therefore, implore the legis-lature, to bestow its thought-ful consideration, to this is-sue of paramountimportance,” Chief JusticeKhehar observed.

Moreover, the ChiefJustice, who wrote theminority judgment for him-self and Justice S. Abdul Naz-

eer, directed the governmentto frame a law to address theissue of Muslim women un-der the yoke of triple talaq,especially instant talaq. Theminority verdict said socialevils such as sati, infanticideand devadasi system werecast out by way of legislationand not by judicial orders.

However, the directionunder Article 142 in theminority verdict failed tocome alive as the majority ofthe judges on the Bench setaside instant talaq with im-mediate effect.

Gender equalityIndia is committed to genderequality and eradication of

discrimination on the basisof sex, the minority verdictsaid. “We have not the leastdoubt, that the Indian stateis committed to genderequality. This is the clearmandate of Article 14 (equal-ity before law) of the Consti-tution. India is also commit-ted to eradicatediscrimination on theground of sex. Articles 15 and16 of the Constitution, pro-hibit any kind of discrimina-tion on the basis of sex.”

“There is, therefore, noreason or necessity while ex-amining the issue of ‘talaq-e-biddat’, to fall back upon in-ternational conventions.”

(With PTI inputs)

United against triple talaq, divided on legal pointsWhile Chief Justice wanted to invoke Article 142 and seek legislation to end the practice, the majority verdict set it aside as ‘manifestly arbitrary’

Sweet victory: Members of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan share sweets with the organisation’s founder Noorjehan Sa�aNiaz, centre, in Mumbai on Tuesday, following the Supreme Court verdict. * ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY


NEW DELHI

In his minority judgment inthe triple talaq case, ChiefJustice of India J.S. Kheharexpresses apprehensionabout the inroads “rational-ists” may make into other“personal law” practices,and advises judges to exer-cise absolute restraint, andnot activism, in matters ofreligious faith.

“A call of conscience mayhave a cascading effect ... At-torney-General wantedahasan and hasan [twoother acceptable and revoc-able forms of triple talaq] tobe declared unconstitu-tional. Halala and polygamyare already under challenge.It is not difficult to compre-hend what kind of chal-lenges would be raised by ra-tionalists, assailing practicesof different faiths on diversegrounds, based on all kindsof enlightened sensibilities,”the Chief Justice warned inhis judgment, supported byJustice S. Abdul Nazeer onthe Bench.

Be guardedThe Chief Justice goes on toobserve that “we have to beguarded, lest we find ourconscience traversing intoevery nook and corner of re-ligious practices and per-sonal law.”

Having declared instant

talaq a matter of religiousfaith, Chief Justice Kheharasks whether “a court,based on a righteous en-deavour, can declare that amatter of faith, be replaced— or be completely doneaway with?”

Constitutional guarantee“The Constitution assuresbelievers of all faiths, thattheir way of life, is guaran-teed, and would not be sub-jected to any challenge, eventhough they may seem toothers — and even rational-ists practising the same faith— unacceptable, in today’sworld and age,” Chief JusticeKhehar wrote.

He observed that a courtof law has limited jurisdic-tion in matters of faith.

“While examining issuesfalling in the realm of reli-gious practices or ‘personallaw’, it is not for a court tomake a choice of somethingwhich it considers as for-ward looking or non-funda-mentalist. It is not for acourt to determine whetherreligious practices wereprudent or progressive orregressive. Religion and‘personal law’ must be per-ceived, as it is accepted, bythe followers of the faith.And not, how anotherwould like it to be — includ-ing self-proclaimed rational-ists — of the same faith,”Chief Justice Khehar said.

Call for lawThe minority judgmentasked the government toframe a law on triple talaq,especially instant talaq.

Advising “absolute re-straint” while hearing mat-ters of faith, the Chief Justicesaid an “activist court” maynot be fully equipped tocope with the intricacies ofan issue which requires le-gislative attention. At best,the court may advise and fo-cus the attention of the stateto the issue, “shake it fromits slumber, goading it toawaken, march and reachthe goal.”

Advises ‘absolute restraint’ while hearing matters of faith


NEW DELHI

Call of conscience mayhave cascading e�ect: CJI

Chief Justice J.S. Khehar

<> At best, the court

may advise and

focus the attention

of the state to the

issue

Arif Mohammad Khan, whoquit the Rajiv Gandhi Cab-inet in 1986 over the govern-ment’s stand on the ShahBano case, is a satisfied manafter the Supreme Court ver-dict against instant tripletalaq.

“Honestly, today we arenot in a position to realistic-ally assess the impact thisjudgment will have on oursocial and national life.Muslim women have foughtagainst great odds. Today,they are an inspiration to allwomen not to cede theirrights. The message will gonot just to Muslim men butto all men to beware,” Mr.Khan, who delivered a stir-ring speech defending theShah Bano judgment in 1986,told The Hindu.

“Shah Bano casehappened at a time when lit-

eracy rates were alarminglylow; women were not aware.It had a trickle-down impact.In 1986, no one would puttheir neck out. Today, I amnot needed; women them-selves are capable of fightingtheir battle,” he said.

He said it would not take30 years for the change to re-flect on ground.

Mr. Khan, who joined theBJP in 2004, but quit it three

years later, said the govern-ment’s role needed to be ac-knowledged.

“Prime Minister NarendraModi supported Muslim wo-men; the government’s ownaffidavit took their side. Theentire credit for this judg-ment lies with Muslim wo-men and their lone struggle.At the same time, the gov-ernment’s positive role can-not be denied,” he added.

A step forwardLegal activists too welcomedthe judgment.

“This battle has been go-ing on for 25 years now. Itbegan with the Mary Royjudgment [1986] against in-heritance laws, which, tillthen, were biased towardssons. It resurfaced duringthe Geeta Hariharan judg-ment [2015] that gave rightsto mothers to be sole guardi-ans of their children. Today’s

judgment is also a step for-ward,” said Indira Jaising,counsel for Muslim womenpetitioners.

AIMPLB exposedHistorian and social com-mentator S.I. Habib said hadthe All India Muslim Per-sonal Law Board initiated re-forms, things would not havecome to this.

“These women had firstknocked on the doors of theAIMPLB, which ignored andmocked them. This situationwould not have arisen hadthe Board, whose membersclaim to be leaders of IndianMuslims, had acted on the is-sue long ago. Instant tripletalaq is an un-Islamic prac-tice. And the triple talaq thatthe Koran recommends is acomplicated and complexmethod that all maulvissimply ignore,” Mr. Habibsaid.

Sense of vindication for activistsArif Mohammad Khan says it won’t take 30 years for change to re�ect on ground

Sobhana K. Nair

New Delhi

Arif Mohammad Khan

“I have felt the pain of hav-ing my home broken. I don’twant other women to feelthat way. It is a historic dayfor Muslim women and fortheir improvement,” saidShayara Bano moments afterthe Supreme Court declaredits judgment setting aside in-stant triple talaq.

For Ms. Bano, the originalpetitioner, the SC’s verdictsetting aside the unilateralpractice was nothing short ofa personal triumph. Thoughshe regularly faced domesticharassment, after 13 years ofmarriage and two children,Ms. Bano’s life was shatteredin October 2015 when she re-ceived a speed post from herhusband, Rizwan Ahmed, aproperty-dealer based in Al-lahabad. The letter con-

tained a pronouncement ofinstant divorce — “talaq,talaq, talaq”.

In 2016, spurred by activ-ism against triple talaq, Ms.Bano approached the Su-preme Court with the de-mand that the talaq-e-biddatpronounced by her husbandbe declared void. She alsocontended that such a unilat-eral, abrupt and irrevocable

form of divorce be declaredunconstitutional.

Like Ms. Bano, AafreenRehman from Jaipur wasalso overjoyed at the verdict.

“I am very happy with thedecision. It is a positive wayforward,” said Ms. Rehman,also a petitioner. Ms. Reh-man, who was married inAugust 2014 through a matri-monial site, was divorced

through triple talaq commu-nicated to her through post.

Forward-looking verdictSeveral women’s groups is-sued a joint statement sayingthat “In arguing that thepractice of triple talaq isboth, un-Koranic and Un-Constitutional, it [the Su-preme Court judgment] is animportant departure fromearlier judgments on all wo-men’s rights, because it isbased on the tenets of equal-ity, dignity and secularism asenshrined in theConstitution.”

Zakia Soman, one of thepetitioners and co-founderof Bharatiya Muslim MahilaAndolan, which was at theforefront of the campaign,described the verdict as “his-toric” and “music to theears” of Muslim women.

Shayara Bano, who started it allThe original petitioner and women’s groups have welcomed the judgment

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

Good news: Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan’s co-founderZakia Soman speaks to the media in New Delhi. * PTI

The Centre is all set tosend an advisory to thrStates, asking them toensure compliance withthe Supreme Court orderdeclaring triple talaqvoid, illegal andunconstitutional.

“An advisory asking allDirectors-General ofPolice and Chief

Secretaries to keep aclose watch on thesituation will be issuedsoon,” a Home Ministryspokesperson said.

The Union Ministrywill be asking the Stategovernments to takeappropriate action andensure compliancewith the SupremeCourt order, thespokesperson said.

Centre to sendadvisory to States Special Correspondent

New Delhi

The All India Muslim Per-sonal Law Board (AIMPLB)has interpreted the Su-preme Court judgment as“vindication” of its standthat personal laws neededto be protected even as itdisagreed with the court’sdecision to hold triple talaqas unconstitutional.

The AIMPLB said it wouldhold internal deliberationsbefore responding in detailto the judgment, which, ac-cording to an executivemember of the body, willhave “wide ramifications”as it had affected the reli-gious rights of minoritygroups.

The next course of actionwill be decided by the AIM-PLB in its executive meet,where deliberations will beheld with its legal commit-tee, scheduled for Septem-ber 10 in Bhopal.

In a statement, the AIM-PLB welcomed the verdict“since it accords protectionto Muslim personal law andsays that personal laws can-not be tested by courts onthe grounds of violation offundamental rights.”

“The judgment vindicatesour stand and ensures thefundamental right of cit-izens of this country tofreely profess and practicetheir religious faith/beliefs,”the Muslim body said.

Two sidesTalking to The Hindu, KamalFaruqui, executive memberof AIMPLB, said the judg-ment had both positive andnegative sides to it.

“The positive part is thatthe majority of judges saidthat personal laws are pro-tected by Article 25 of Con-stitution of India. That is abig, big victory,” Mr. Faruquisaid.

He, however, said the SC

setting aside triple talaq as“illegal” had “disturbed” theAIMPLB. “Our contention iswe are for putting as muchrestriction as possible ontriple talaq, but we cannotdelete anything that is al-lowed under the Sharia.This is what is disturbingus,” Mr. Faruqui said.

“The Court said thattriple talaq is not in theQuran. But the Sharia is notwhat the entire Quran is. Itis a mixture of Quran,Hadees and Ijma. This iswhere they have faulted. Wewill see what correctivesteps we can take,” headded.

Detailed responseAIMPLB member ZafaryabJilani said a detailed re-sponse would be releasedonly after the executivebody meet.

“So far as the governmentis concerned, I don't think itwill be required to bring inany legislation because thatwill be again against ourfundamental rights,” Mr.Jilani said.

Islamic seminary DarulUloom Deoband also sup-ported the opinion of theAIMPLB. Deoband spokes-person Ashraf Usmani saidthe seminary would issue adetailed comment only aftertaking a look at the fullorder.

‘Personal laws are protected’

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

Kamal Faruqui

It’s good and bad,says AIMPLB

CMYK

A ND-NDE




WORLD

‘Erdogan supporterstried harassing my wife’BERLIN

German Foreign Minister

Sigmar Gabriel has accused

supporters of Turkish

President Recep Tayyip

Erdogan of threatening his

wife amid a festering

diplomatic crisis. He said that

Mr. Erdogan’s strident style

“had apparently led some to

feel motivated to try to

threaten and harass my wife”,

in comments broadcast

Tuesday by news channel

NTV. AFP

ELSEWHERE

WH placed on lockdownover unattended packageWASHINGTON

The White House was placed

on lockdown on Tuesday due

to an unattended package,

the Secret Service said. It

stated on Twitter on Tuesday

that, with local law

enforcement, they were

“responding to an

unattended package near the

North Fence of the White

House Complex”. In a

subsequent tweet, the Secret

Service said that pedestrian

tra�c on Pennsylvania

Avenue and in Lafayette Park

had been restricted. AP

U.S. slaps sanctions onChinese, RussiansWASHINGTON

The United States on Tuesday

slapped sanctions on 16

Chinese and Russian

individuals and companies,

accusing them of supporting

North Korea’s nuclear

programme and attempting

to evade U.S. sanctions.

The move follows a war of

words between Washington

and Pyongyang over recent

missile tests. Reuters

‘Barcelona cell wasplanning a bigger strike’MADRID

An alleged member of an

Islamist cell suspected of

carrying out last week’s

deadly Barcelona van attack,

Mohamed Houli Chemlal,

told a Spanish court on

Tuesday that the group had

been planning a much bigger

strike using explosives, a

judicial source said. Reuters

President Donald Trump,who announced his newAfghan strategy on Mondaynight, linked a proposal forIndia playing a bigger role inthe war-torn country to itstrade surplus with the UnitedStates.

“We appreciate India’s im-portant contributions to sta-bility in Afghanistan, but In-dia makes billions of dollarsin trade with the UnitedStates, and we want them tohelp us more with Afgh-anistan, especially in thearea of economic assistanceand development,” he said,echoing similar demandsthat he had made on SouthKorea, Japan and Germany,some of the closet allies ofthe U.S. India is the ninthbiggest trading partner of theU.S. and India had a tradesurplus of around $26 billionwith the U.S. in goods tradealone last year.

By inviting India to be apartner in Afghanistan, Mr.Trump has entirely over-ruled Pakistan’s position thatIndia’s involvement to itswest is part of the problem.

Nuclear flashpointThe President, who re-peatedly took potshots at hispredecessor, Barack Obama,without naming him, how-ever, appeared to follow theprevious administration’s un-derstanding of South Asia asa nuclear flash point, wherethere is also a risk ofPakistan’s nuclear weaponsfalling into the hands of Is-lamist terrorists.

“The threat is worse be-cause Pakistan and India aretwo nuclear-armed stateswhose tense relationsthreaten to spiral into con-flict,” he said. “…and wemust prevent nuclearweapons and materials fromcoming into the hands of ter-rorists and being usedagainst us,” he said.

Defense Secretary JamesMattis had recently saidAmerica was “not winning”in Afghanistan. The Presid-ent said America will fightthe war to victory anddefined victory in terms sim-

ilar to his predecessors — toprevent a terrorist attack ori-ginating from the region, andto politically stabilise Afgh-anistan. In an effort to differ-entiate his policy from histwo predecessors, George W.Bush and Mr. Obama, whooversaw this war earlier, Mr.Trump said: “We are not na-tion-building again. We arekilling terrorists.” The Presid-ent called his new policy“Principled Realism.”

Reverse Taliban gains The new strategy in Afgh-anistan, which seeks troopsincrease in the country, is aneffort to reverse the gainsmade by the Taliban in thelast year or so. Once theAfghan government regainsthe upper hand, the U.S. willseek a political settlement,the President said.

“Someday, after an effectivemilitary effort, perhaps itwill be possible to have apolitical settlement that in-cludes elements of theTaliban in Afghanistan, butnobody knows if or whenthat will ever happen,” saidMr. Trump.

Secretary of State RexTillerson explained the newU.S policy as an effort toforce the Taliban to negoti-ation. “Our new strategybreaks from previous ap-proaches that set artificialcalendar-based deadlines.We are making clear to theTaliban that they will not winon the battlefield. TheTaliban has a path to peaceand political legitimacythrough a negotiated polit-ical settlement to end thewar,” he said in a statementafter the President’s speech.

Trump links India’s Afghan role to trade surplus ‘New Delhi makes billions of dollars in trade with U.S., and we want them to help us more with Afghanistan on economic & developmental aid’

Varghese K. George

Washington

Husain Haqqani is Directorfor South and Central Asiaat the Hudson Institute andauthor of several acclaimedbooks on South Asia. Aformer Ambassador ofPakistan to the U.S., Mr.Haqqani says PresidentDonald Trump’s new SouthAsia policy signals aparadigm shift. Excerptsfrom an interview:

How is this South Asiapolicy different? President Trump has madeAmerican policy towardsSouth Asia unambiguous.He said America trusts

India, distrusts Pakistan,and wants America to winin Afghanistan, rather thanwithdraw. Question now ishow does Pakistanrespond. Until now, U.S.pressured Pakistan,occasionally bulliedPakistan, but has nevertold Pakistan that it couldstart looking at Pakistan asan adversary. Here, Trumpis holding out the prospectof treating Pakistan as anenemy. This is the first timethat instead of a carrot-based approach, there is amore stick-based approach.He is also scaring Pakistanwith the prospect of moreIndian involvement in

Afghanistan.

So, from carrot and stick, itis now stick and carrot?It is primarily a stick policy,with the promise of carrotif they change theirbehaviour.

Is this a dramatic change?

It is a paradigm shift in theU.S policy towards SouthAsia. Historically, the U.Shas looked upon Pakistanas an ally and India as afriend, not an ally. Now, itis looking at India as an allyand Pakistan as theproblem.

Will it be an easy ride forIndia?For India also. For all three,it’s going to be a difficultride. There is a newrecalibration of the balancein South Asia, with alldifferent reactions andoptions.

‘This is a paradigm shift in South Asia’Varghese K. George

Washington

Husain Haqqani, formerAmbassador of Pakistan tothe U.S. * WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Hours after President Don-ald Trump announced hisadministration’s Afghanstrategy on Monday,Pakistan’s Foreign MinisterKhawaja Asif met U.S. Am-bassador in Islamabad andreiterated the country’s de-sire for “peace and stability”in Afghanistan.

In a guarded response toPresident Trump’s harsh cri-ticism, the Minister high-lighted the country’s im-mense sacrifices in theenduring fight against ter-rorism and also expressedits continued desire to“work with the interna-tional community to elimin-ate the menace of terror-ism”, a statement he issuedafter the meeting stated.

U.S. Ambassador DavidHale conveyed the ForeignMinister that the U.S. Secret-ary of State, Rex Tillerson,would meet him in the nextfew days to discuss bilateralrelationship as well as the

new U.S. policy. There wasno official reaction by thePakistani military or the For-eign Office so far, but Op-position leaders were quickto react to Mr. Trump’sspeech in which heslammed Pakistan’s anti-ter-ror policy.

Imran Khan of thePakistan Tehreek-i-Insaafsaid Pakistan must reject be-ing made scapegoats for thepolicy failures of the U.S.and India. In a series oftweets, Mr. Khan said thisshould teach Pakistan onceand for all a valuable lesson:never to fight others’ warsfor the lure of dollars. “Wefought 2 wars in Afghanistanat the U.S. behest payingheavy human and economiccosts both times. We sacri-ficed 70,000 Pak lives inU.S. WOT,” he said, referringto the war on terror. “Oureconomy suffered over $100billion in losses. In addition,there were intangible costson our society. Time for Pakto say: Never again.”

Pak. govt plays downTrump comments

‘We want stability in Afghanistan’

Mubashir Zaidi

Karachi

The Maldivian militarylocked down the nation’sParliament on Tuesday inwhat Opposition lawmakerssaid was an attempt to blocka motion to impeach theSpeaker of the House.

Imthiyaz Fahmy, of the

Opposition Maldivian Demo-cratic Party (MDP), tweeted avideo of what he said weresecurity forces in plainclothes blocking representat-ives from entering the cham-ber, The Guardian reported.

Another lawmaker fromthe MDP, Eva Abdulla, saidMPs were eventually allowed

in but said that Speaker Ab-dulla Maseeh Mohamed wassurrounded by soldiers.

‘Session over quickly’A close ally of President Ab-dulla Yameen, Mr. Mohamedopened the session and thenimmediately closed it beforeMPs were able to vote on the

no-confidence motion, Ms.Abdulla said.

“The Opposition has notbeen allowed to summonany government officials. Weare not allowed to hold anypart of the state accountableat all,” she added.

A similar Opposition bidto oust the Speaker was de-

feated in March after severallawmakers were evicted orwalked out in protest againstwhat they said were discrep-ancies in the vote count.

Mr. Yameen had been ac-cused of reversing demo-cratic progress in a countrythat became a multi-partydemocracy in 2008.

MPs say they were prevented from entering chamber, not allowed to vote on Speaker’s impeachment

Indo-Asian News Service

Male

Maldives Army occupies Parliament to block vote

U.S. Defence Secretary JimMattis said on Tuesday thathe is confident that U.S.-backed Iraqi forces will fin-ish off the Islamic State (IS)militants clinging to strong-holds that are shrinking insize and number.

“ISIS is on the run,” Mr.Mattis told reporters aftermeeting with Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi and other Ir-aqi government leaders.“They have been shown tobe unable to stand up to ourteam in combat.”

Mr. Mattis spoke along-side Lt. Gen. Stephen Town-send, the top U.S. com-mander in Iraq.

Earlier, Mr. Mattis de-scribed the extremists as be-ing trapped in a ‘militaryvise’ that will squeeze themon both sides of the Syria-Iraq border. The Pentagonchief told reporters beforehe left neighbouring Jordan

that the Middle EuphratesRiver Valley — roughly fromthe western Iraqi city of al-Qaim to the eastern Syriancity of Der el-Zour — will beliberated in time, as IS takeshit from both ends of the val-ley that bisects Iraq andSyria. “You see, ISIS is nowcaught in-between conver-ging forces,” he said. “SoISIS’s days are certainlynumbered, but it’s not overyet and it’s not going to beover any time soon.”

Also, the Syrian Observat-ory of Human Rights saiddozens of civilians have diedin two days of intense U.S.-

led strikes on Syria’s ISstronghold of Raqqa, asfighting to retake the Syriancity from jihadists nears itsdensely populated centre.

The Syrian DemocraticForces (SDF) have so far cap-tured just under 60% ofRaqqa, monitors say, leavingIS with about 10 sq. km inthe heart of the city.

On Monday, U.S.-led airstrikes killed at least 42 civil-ians in several neighbour-hoods in Raqa under IS con-trol, according to themonitoring group. Nineteenchildren and 12 women wereamong the dead, it said. Italso said that 167 civilianshave been killed in coalitionstrikes since August 14, in-cluding 27 on Sunday.

However, Mr. Mattis in-sisted IS tactics were toblame for placing civilians indanger.

“We are the good guysand the innocent people onthe battlefield know the dif-ference,” he said.

IS is on the run, says MattisOn a visit to Iraq, he says the group’s days are numbered

Associated Press

Agence France-Presse

Baghdad/Beirut

James Mattis with IraqiKurdistan’s President MasoudBarzani in Irbil. * AFP

The Bangladesh High Courton Tuesday upheld deathsentences of 15 convicts —including Nur Hossain, aformer Awami League mem-ber and three former of-ficers of the elite Rapid Ac-tion Battalion (RAB) — in acase relating to the abduc-tion and murder of sevenpersons in Narayanganj, onthe outskirts of Dhaka, three

years ago. The abductionand gruesome killing in 2014of seven people, includingCity Corporation CouncillorNazrul Islam and senior law-yer Chandan Kumar Sarkar,had shocked the nation.

On January 16 this year, alocal court had found 35people, including Hossainand 25 former RAB officials,guilty. Of them, 26 were sen-tenced to death and nineothers to imprisonment.

Haroon Habib

Dhaka

Death sentences of 15upheld in murder case

Liu Qi, chairman of PQI In-dustrial Technology Group,opened an $18 million fact-ory in Shenyang last year,equipped with whirring ro-bots that pound out car partsfor the German automakerBMW. The factory, and themore than 200 jobs it hascreated, is just one smallpart of a grand plan led byChina’s government to reju-venate the city of eight mil-lion, by replacing stumblingstate industries with modernmanufacturing and start-upcompanies.

Whether the rejuvenationhappens will shape not justthe future of Shenyang, butalso, potentially, the entireChinese economy. The city’swoes represent a broader

problem: there are too manyunproductive, debt-ladenfactories that are losing busi-ness as China’s growthslows. If Beijing fails to over-haul those crumbling indus-tries and revive the com-

munities that rely on them,Shenyang and the surround-ing area — and other similarregions — could weigh heav-ily on the country’s eco-nomic progress.

The story of Shenyang will

probably sound familiar inplaces like Midwesterntowns in the United Statesthat have seen important in-dustries decline or depart.During China’s go-go years,when factories, roads andhousing were constructedwith wild abandon, the city’sheavy industrial companies,many of them owned by thestate, boomed.

But as China’s investmentbinge fizzled, Shenyang andits factories sputtered. Lastyear, the economy of thenortheastern province ofLiaoning, of which Shenyangis the capital, shrank 2.5%.

The entire northeast ofthe country, where muchheavy industry has beenconcentrated, runs the riskof being left badly behind.The decay of this factory

zone has left Beijing with asimilar knotty problem tothe one that has plaguedWashington for decades:how to resurrect down-on-their-luck areas.

Shenyang has set up a $7million fund to support high-tech industries, promised a$30,000 bonus for sometechnology firms, andoffered to pare the corporatetax rate for companies in fa-voured sectors.

The city authorities arealso striving to persuadelocal college graduates tostart companies in Shenyangby offering subsidies. The ef-fort is focussed on a shop-ping arcade of fast-food res-taurants and computeroutlets that had Start-Up andInnovation Street added toits name in 2015. NYT

China struggles to revive its industrial heartlandThere are far too many unproductive, debt-laden factories in industrial areas like Shenyang

Michael Schuman

Shenyang

Factory zone: Workers at the PQI Industrial Technology Group’sfactory in Shenyang, China. * NYT

CMYK

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BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

ACC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1789.30. . . . . . . . -3.30

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375.65. . . . . . . . -0.30

Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 273.15. . . . . . . . -1.25

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1129.45. . . . . . . . -5.00

Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 695.70. . . . . . . . -0.40

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499.20. . . . . . . . . 4.40

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2740.55. . . . . . -25.95

Bank of Baroda . . . . . .. . . . . . 139.35. . . . . . . . -2.75

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422.10. . . . . . . . . 2.95

Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21898.60. . . . . . -70.90

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 510.35. . . . . . . 12.60

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559.25. . . . . . . . -2.50

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240.55. . . . . . . . . 2.10

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 1984.15. . . . . . . 53.05

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 30977.15. . . -657.10

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377.75. . . . . . . . . 3.55

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875.85. . . . . . . . . 1.80

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1750.40. . . . . . . 12.25

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1747.00. . . . . . . . . 3.80

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3888.05. . . . . . -84.00

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228.90. . . . . . . . . 4.00

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1199.60. . . . . . . . . 8.15

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1176.35. . . . . . -22.35

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293.95. . . . . . . . . 0.45

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1626.30. . . . . . . 10.20

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 387.85. . . . . . . . . 1.25

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875.40. . . . . . . . . 2.00

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 423.20. . . . . . . 10.00

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282.90. . . . . . . . . 1.30

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970.80. . . . . . . . . 1.25

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117.70. . . . . . . . -9.40

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944.40. . . . . . . 21.00

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1374.65. . . . . . . . -4.00

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 7496.10. . . . . . . . -5.80

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.70. . . . . . . . -4.30

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159.45. . . . . . . . . 2.30

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 219.50. . . . . . . . -0.80

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1560.05. . . . . . . . -4.35

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273.90. . . . . . . . -0.75

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470.45. . . . . . . . . 9.90

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373.60. . . . . . . . -0.75

Tata Motors DVR. . . .. . . . . . 224.00. . . . . . . . . 1.15

Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80.05. . . . . . . . -0.15

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619.60. . . . . . . . -1.95

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2497.55. . . . . . -31.25

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 439.35. . . . . . . . . 8.25

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 3975.25. . . . . . -32.65

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293.05. . . . . . . . -0.75

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290.25. . . . . . . . . 2.55

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1712.90. . . . . . . . -3.80

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 516.45. . . . . . . . . 7.15

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on August 22

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 63.90. . . . . . . 64.22

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 75.13. . . . . . . 75.51

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 81.92. . . . . . . 82.34

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 58.39. . . . . . . 58.71

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.59. . . . . . . . . 9.64

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 66.13. . . . . . . 66.46

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 46.88. . . . . . . 47.12

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 50.77. . . . . . . 51.03

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 14.93. . . . . . . 15.02

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

August 22 rates in rupees with previ-ous rates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 41.90. . . . . (41.90)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,772. . . . . (2,758)

market watch

22-08-2017 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 31,292 ddddddddddddddd0.25

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 64.10 ddddddddddddddd0.06

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 29,800 ddddddddddddd-0.50

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 52.12 ddddddddddddddd0.52

Discussions are at a ‘well-ad-vanced’ stage for Australia’suranium sale to India, to fuelnuclear power plants in theenergy-starved developingnation, according to an Aus-tralian government body’stop official.

Dismissing allegations thaturanium supply was facing‘delays’ due to the Australiancoal mining sector ‘lobbying’to protect its interests, the of-ficial, however, said coal ex-ports will not slow down anytime soon from Australia foruse in India’s thermal powerstations.

Leonie Muldoon, MinisterCommercial and SeniorTrade and Investment Com-missioner, South Asia, Aus-tralian Trade and InvestmentCommission (or ‘Austrade’)told The Hindu that the pro-cess of uranium sale wasprogressing as anticipated by

the two sides and withoutdelays. She said: “In mid-July, we sent a sample [ofuranium] for testing pur-poses, as was anticipated [atthe bilateral discussions onthe issue during the Indiavisit of Australian Prime Min-ister Malcolm Turnbull inApril].”

She added, “There are on-going commercial discus-sions between Australianuranium exporters and theIndian Department ofAtomic Energy for possiblecontracts in civil nuclearprojects. These discussionsare well-advanced. Theamount [of uranium] that ul-timately will be exported willdepend on the commercialnegotiations.”

Rejecting reports regard-ing the alleged efforts byAustralian coal mining sectorto ‘delay’ uranium supply toIndia, Ms. Muldoon said,“It’s [the allegations] more of

a domestic issue in Aus-tralia... it’s not appropriatefor me to comment.”

‘Coal, largest in exports’“We are supportive of assist-ing India in meeting its en-ergy needs… There is no[emphasis on] one particularresource or energy solution.We engage with India acrossa broad range of energy op-portunities… Australia hasmuch to offer with regard tocoal, uranium and poten-

tially clean energy solu-tions… [However] historic-ally, our largest exports toIndia has been coal, and wesee that continuing for sometime,” said the senior official.

She said Mr. Turnbull andPrime Minister NarendraModi had a one-on-onemeeting in April as they wereenthusiastic about energyand energy solutions. On thecoincidence of the Australia-India CEO Forum being co-chaired by Gautam Adani,chairman, Adani Group, andSam Walsh, CEO, Rio TintoGroup, both with interests incoal mining, as well as theAdani Group’s plannedmulti-billion dollar coal mineproject in Australia, the offi-cial said, “We welcomeAdani’s interest in Australiaand Adani’s investment inthe Australian coal sector.”

On the reported environ-mental concerns over suchmining projects, Ms. Mul-

doon said, “In Australia, wehave very tough environ-mental regulations. There-fore, Australian companieshave developed a range oftechnology solutions to dealwith these aspects and to en-sure that the environmentremains protected.

“We believe it’s somethingthat they could share with In-dia.” Her comments assumesignificance as they comeahead of the ‘Australia Busi-ness Week in India’ (ABWI)to be held between August28-September 1 to “promoteAustralian capability and ex-pand Australia’s trade, in-vestment and education rela-tionships.”

In the ABWI, the miningsector will be a key focusarea. Australia produces60% of the world’s miningcomputer software thathelps in improving the sec-tor’s productivity, and in en-suring workers’ safety.

‘Uranium sale talks at advanced stage’ Australian trade o�cial rejects reports of ‘delays’, says coal exports from the country won’t slow down

ARUN S

New Delhi

Leonie Muldoon

India has granted Pfizer Inc.a patent for its powerfulpneumonia vaccine Pre-venar 13, in a blow to somehealth groups that said thiswould put the treatment outof reach of thousands inpoorer nations.

The decision by India’spatent office bars other com-panies from making cheapercopies of the vaccine and al-lows Pfizer to exclusively sellit in India until 2026.

Global generics impactIt’s a big victory for the U.S.drugmaker in a market thathas the world’s largest num-ber of pneumonia cases, alung disease that kills nearlya million children a yearglobally. The decision alsohas international implica-tions, as several poorer na-

tions rely on India’s robustdrugs industry to supplycheaper copies of medicinesand vaccines.

It also comes at a time ofongoing U.S. pressure on In-dia to tighten its patent laws.The United States Trade Rep-resentative expressed con-cerns about India’s intellec-tual property laws in a

report in June, and listed itamong countries whose IPlaws unfairly favour localcompanies.

Pfizer’s vaccine protectschildren and adults from 13types of pneumococcal bac-teria, and a full vaccinationcourse costs about $170 onIndia’s private market.

India started giving out

the vaccine for free under itsnational immunisation pro-gram earlier this year, butthe rollout like that of mostvaccines in the program, isin phases, so only about 2.1million of the 25 million eli-gible people in the countrywill get it this year.

The patent grant meansIndian companies won’t beable to make the vaccine fordomestic use, or exports.

“Manufacturers will haveto find new routes to de-velop a non-infringing(pneumonia) vaccine,” themedical charity MedecinsSans Frontieres (MSF) said ina statement. MSF filed an ob-jection to Pfizer’s patent re-quest last year.

At least one Indian firm,Panacea Biotec Ltd., is devel-oping a cheaper form of thevaccine, and had also filedagainst Pfizer’s request.

P�zer gets Indian pneumonia vaccinepatent in blow to aid group, PanaceaDecision grants U.S. drugmaker exclusivity till 2026 in a market with most casesReuters

MUMBAI

Big pharma: Decision has international implications, as severalpoorer nations rely on India’s robust drugs industry. * AFP

Infosys co-chairman RaviVenkatesan on Tuesday metFinance Minister Arun Jait-ley amid the uncertainty sur-rounding the company fol-lowing the suddenresignation of its CEO VishalSikka.

According to sources, Mr.Venkatesan met the ministerand is believed to have ap-prised him of the develop-ments at Infosys as also thesteps being taken to keepshareholders informed. In-fosys was not available forcomment.

Last Friday, the first non-founder CEO of Infosys, Mr.Sikka resigned from thecompany following monthsof acrimony with high-pro-

file founders, led by N.R.Narayana Murthy, citing ‘ma-licious’ and ‘personal at-tacks’ on him.

While Mr. Sikka did notname Mr. Murthy for hisexit, the board of the $10-bil-lion firm blamed thefounder for ‘continuous as-

sault’ through ‘factually in-accurate’ and ‘already-dis-proved rumours’ for theresignation of the CEO.

Mr. Murthy, however,maintained that his onlyconcerns were the lapses incorporate governance stand-ards, something that Infosyswas admired for at onepoint. However, the devel-opments of August 18 sentthe company’s stocks plum-meting almost 10%, withmarket valuation falling bymore than ₹22,518 crore in asingle day.

Infosys has been battlingchallenges such as an uncer-tain business environment,senior level exits and in-creased visa scrutiny in im-portant markets like the U.S.and the U.K.

IT major’s co-chair Ravi Venkatesanmeets Finance Minister amid crisis

Briefs Jaitley on recent events, steps to inform shareholders


New Delhi

Ravi Venkatesan

Essar Energy Holdings Lim-ited (EEHL) and Oil Bidco(Mauritius) Limited (OBML),the promoters of Essar OilLtd. (EOL) have agreed topay to former minorityshareholders, who tenderedEOL shares in the delistingoffer, an additional amountof ₹75.48 per share.

The amount has been ar-rived at based on the currentclosing numbers, followingthe completion of the saletransaction with the Rosneft-Trafigura-UCP consortium.

“The payment of around₹880 crore will be in addi-tion to the ₹3,064 crore thatOBML had paid to theminority shareholders fol-lowing EOL’s delisting in2015,” according to a state-ment from the company.

Essar founder Shashi Ruia

said: “I am extremely happywith this outcome where wecould maximise returns forour shareholders who hadinvested and believed in us.”

Essar Oil Ltd. was valuedat ₹2,000 crore at the timeof its listing in 1995, and hasnow been valued at about₹50,400 crore, Mr. Ruia

said. According to Dhanpat Na-

hata, director of EEHL, “Es-sar Energy has created valuenot only for itself but also forthe minority shareholders.”

‘No risk for shareholder’“The additional payment tominority shareholders is un-precedented as they got anexit and liquidity upon del-isting in December 2015, re-tained the upside from thetransaction that has closed20 months later, withoutcarrying any downside risk,”Mr. Nahata said.

The promoters are expec-ted to issue a public notice inthis regard shortly.

As committed in the del-isting offer of December2015, the additional payoutwill be made within twomonths thereafter, it is reli-ably learnt.

Payout at ₹75.48 per share, follows closure of Rosneft dealSpecial Correspondent

MUMBAI

Shashi Ruia

Former minority shareholdersof Essar Oil to get extra ₹880 cr.

India’s computer ship-ments dropped 18% to 1.75million units in the secondquarter ended June com-pared with the sameperiod a year ago due tothe impact of Goods andServices Tax (GST)implementation.

“GST implementationhas impacted the businessin India even as the effectof demonetisation has sub-sided,”said Manish Yadav,associate research man-ager, client devices, IDC In-dia, in a statement onTuesday.

The consumer personalcomputer market recordedan overall shipment of 0.81million units in the secondquarter of 2017, which is22.7% lower comparedwith the same period lastyear and a 22.6% declinequarter-on-quarter.

Q2 computershipmentsfall 18%: IDCSpecial Correspondent

Bengaluru

IT major Infosys is nolonger on the list of top 10most-valued companies onthe BSE and the NSE as thestock has taken a beatingfollowing the abrupt exit ofits CEO Vishal Sikka.

At close of trade onTuesday, the market capit-alisation (m- cap) of Infosysstood at ₹2.01 lakh crore onthe BSE. With this, thecompany now ranks 11 onthe m-cap chart of BSE lis-ted companies.

On the NSE, the com-pany’s market valuationstood at ₹2.01 lakh crore.Infosys takes the 11th spoton the NSE as well, interms of market cap. In-fosys’s scrip plunged al-most 10% on Friday afterMr. Sikka’s resignation.

Infosys fallsout of top 10m-cap listPress Trust of India

New Delhi

Markets regulator SEBI saidon Tuesday it is keeping aclose watch on the shareprice movement of Infosys,which saw CEO VishalSikka quitting last week.

Shares of Infosysplunged by almost 10% onFriday, wiping out ₹22,519crore from its market valu-ation, after Mr. Sikka’sresignation. It fell furtherby more than 5% onMonday despite buybackannouncement by thecompany. The country’ssecond-largest IT servicesfirm on Saturday said thatits board had approved ashare buyback offer of upto ₹13,000 crore. “We arekeeping a watch on Infosysshare prices,” SEBI Chair-man Ajay Tyagi said.

Share priceunder watch,says SEBIPress Trust of India

New Delhi

CMYK

A ND-NDE

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IN BRIEF

Hyundai unveils newVerna at ₹7.99 lakh NEW DELHI

Hyundai Motor India on

Tuesday unveiled a new

version of its mid-sized

sedan Verna at an

introductory price of ₹7.99

lakh (ex-showroom Delhi)

onwards. While the petrol

variant of the new car

(powered by a 1.6-litre

engine) is priced between

₹7.99-₹12.23 lakh, the diesel

variants (1.6-litre diesel

engine) are priced between

₹9.19 and ₹12.61 lakh.

Theintroductory price will,

however, is only for the �rst

20,000 customers.

HackerEarth allies withMonstar to enter ChinaBENGALURU

HackerEarth, a provider of

talent management software

to large companies such as

Amazon, Walmart Labs and

Honeywell, has unveiled a

strategic partnership with

Monstar Lab Technology in

China. As part of the

partnership, Monstar Lab, a

consumer and enterprise

mobile app development

�rm, will expand its services

in the space of technical

recruitment by reselling

HackerEarth products,

Recruit and Sprint.

Ribbit leads $45 millioninfusion in Capital Float BENGALURU

Digital lending �rm Capital

Float said on Tuesday it had

raised $45 million in Series C

equity funding. The round

was led by Silicon Valley-

based Ribbit Capital, with

participation from existing

investors — SAIF Partners,

Sequoia India and Creation

Investments. Capital Float

said it would utilise the funds

to increase its geographic

footprint, improve customer

experience and unveil

innovative credit products.

Estimating a ₹400-crore lossto the Darjeeling tea in-dustry due to prolongedclosure, the Indian Tea Asso-ciation (ITA) has sought a re-vival package for the in-dustry, includingmoratorium on long-termloans and interest-subsidies.

In an appeal to the UnionMinister of State for Com-merce Nirmala Sitharaman,ITA said that the Darjeelingtea industry had already in-curred an estimated croploss of about 4.5 million kgdue to the more than two-month-long strike called bythe Gorkha JanmuktiMorcha.

Export revenue“The indefinite shutdown intea estates in Darjeeling hascoincided with the high-quality second flush periodwhich generates substantialexport revenue .. this hascaused severe financial

stress to the industry threat-ening its viability,” accordingto the letter. Wages had notbeen paid to the workerssince the gardens’closure, itadded.

“Even if the estates wereto open in September, theweeds/overgrown green leafwill not be suitable for pro-duction and would have tobe slashed. The normal gest-ation period prior to the

next harvest would be min-imum three weeks,” the as-sociation said in the letter.ITA felt that about 80% of theyear’s crop would have beenlost due to the disruption.

ITA secretary general Ar-ijit Raha feared a loss in theexport market for Darjeelingtea as importers/interna-tional blenders and packet-eers may be compelled to re-place Darjeeling tea with

leaves sourced from otherorigins. “This happened inthe past, in the 1980s, follow-ing a ban on export of CTCteas,” he said.

ITA has sought relief onrepayment of loans by a two-year extension and 6% in-terest subsidy.

The industry’s loan expos-ure is about ₹500 crore andthe interest subsidy is estim-ated at about ₹30 croreannually.

Additionally, ITA alsosought expeditious settle-ment of pending subsidyclaims for the developmentworks, enhancement of the3% export incentive rate,and waiver of fees on certi-ficate of origin (payable tothe Tea Board).

However , the DarjeelingTea Association has not yetfinalised its revival package,saying it would need furtherdiscussions with the TeaBoard. The loss assessmentswere, however, close to theITA estimates.

Stir ‘shuts’ Darjeeling tea tradeRevival package sought as industry su�ers ₹400-cr. loss due to Gorkhaland strike

Indrani Dutta

KOLKATA

Hit hard: Even if the estates were to open in September,overgrown leaves will not help in production, says ITA.

Finolex Industries Ltd., In-dia’s leading PVC pipes man-ufacturer, is focusing on thenon-agriculture pipes seg-ment to cater to growing de-mand from the housing sec-tor and projects for ‘smartcities’, a top company exec-utive said.

‘One crore houses’“We foresee large opportun-ity from the government’splans to provide housing forall by 2022 and are focusingon the non-agriculture pipessegment which is poised togrow exponentially,”Prakash P. Chhabria, execut-ive chairman, Finolex Indus-tries Ltd. said.

The segment includeshousing, industrial and in-frastructure sectors. In theshort term, the company iseyeing orders from one

crore houses that will beconstructed by 2019 and fivelakh ponds to be construc-ted for drought proofing. Be-sides, the sanitation pro-gramme for rural areas hasalso created demand forpipes, the company said.

Finolex has entered into acollaboration with LubrizolCorporation, the inventorand largest manufacturers ofthe CPVC (Chlorinated

Polyvinyl Chloride) com-pound worldwide, to manu-facture and market CPVCpipes and fittings in India.

CPVC pipes are good al-ternatives over conventionalmaterials as they withstandhigher temperature vari-ations, the company said.

It has manufacturing ca-pacity of 2.9 lakh MTPApipes and is adding capacityto meet projected demand.

“We are adding capacityin a calibrated manner astwo crore houses will bebuilt by 2022 in a phasedmanner. So, we will be in-vesting ₹30 crore to ₹50crore a year for the next fiveyears,” Mr. Chhabria said.

The company, which re-ported revenue of ₹2,988crore in FY17, plans todouble revenue in 3-4 years,as benefits from most of itsexpansion would start to ac-crue from FY19, he said.

Aim to double revenue in 3-4 years, says chairman Chhabria

Lalatendu Mishra

MUMBAI

Prakash P. Chhabria

Finolex targets pipes forhousing, infra in expansion

Tata Communications willhire 400 people and invest$50 million in its cybersecur-ity services business in thenext three years, a top offi-cial said.

“Our revenues from thesecurity business are grow-ing more than 50% year-on-year and we expect thisgrowth to continue,” saidSrinivasan C.R., senior vicepresident, Global ProductManagement & Data, TataCommunications. “We arelooking to invest $50 millionglobally in the next threeyears to enhance our secur-ity capabilities.”

In the last 12 months, the

firm has been focusing onsecurity related to cloudtechnologies. It is also focus-ing on associated risk andcompliance, as companieslook to combat rising cyber-crime and data theft.

‘Analytics opportunity’“We are gradually establish-ing a global presence thatprovides customers ad-vanced insights on cyberse-curity threats. We will alsofocus on identity and accessmanagement and cloud se-curity, which are some chiefareas that require attentionin the near future. We arelooking at security aroundanalytics, as well,” he said.

Tata Communications

now has a team of more than100 cybersecurity experts,of which about 80 are in In-dia with a large portion ofthis talent in Chennai. Alarge chunk of its securityservices customers are fromthe BFSI segment.

According to him, thecompany has more than 300client engagements for se-curity services business. Ithas a security operationscentre (SOC), titled the cy-ber response centre, inChennai. The firm is also ex-panding its SOC footprintwith a focus on the Singa-pore, West Asia, the U.S. andthe U.K. to help customershandle their securityinfrastructure.

Mulls hiring 400 more people in bid to enhance capabilityN. Anand

CHENNAI

Tata Comm eyes cybersecurityboost; plans to invest $50 mn

Pharma major Dr. Reddy’sLaboratories Ltd has out-li-censed the future develop-ment, manufacturing, andcommercialisation rights ofDFD-06, a topical high po-tency steroid, to EncoreDermatology Inc.

The drug is intended tobe used for treatment ofmoderate to plaque psori-asis. Dr. Reddy’s on Tuesdaysaid under the agreement,Encore would be respons-ible for the commercialisa-tion of DFD-06 in the U.S.The out-licensing is to bedone through DRL’s whollyowned subsidiary PromiusPharma, LLC.

Promius is eligible to re-ceive certain pre- and post-commercialisation mile-stone payments of up to$32.5 million, followed byfixed royalty payments onnet sales. “We believe En-core and its managementteam are well positioned torealise the full potential ofthis asset DFD-06,” AnilNamboodiripad, senior VPProprietary Products andpresident at Promius, said inthe statement.

The firm “looked forwardto obtaining NDA approvalthis fall, enabling Encore’smanagement team toquickly deliver this productto the providers and theirpatients,” he said.

DRL out-licenses drugto U.S.-based Encore

Licensee to develop psoriasis remedy


HYDERABAD

Norway’s Orkla ASA, intro-duced its chewy candy,Laban, through its nation-wide network set up by itssubsidiary MTR Foods, in anIndian confectionery mar-ket worth ₹8,200 crore.

The Oslo Stock Exchange-listed Orkla ASA wants totap into the ‘huge potential’in India as the market wasgrowing at 7% year-on-year,Peter Ruzicka, CEO of Orklatold reporters here on Tues-day. Laban is Orkla’s topbrand offering in the confec-tionery segment in Norway.

A human-shaped, non-stick, fruit-flavoured chew,Laban marks the company’s

first product in the confec-tionery segment in the In-dian market.

The candy is being manu-factured and distributed inIndia by MTR Foods, whichOrkla acquired in February2007 for about $80 million,or ₹355 crore.

MTR Foods to make the chewy sweet


Bengaluru

Peter Ruzicka

Norway’s Orkla unveilsLaban candy in India

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

Boycott apologises for‘unacceptable’ remarkLONDON

England batting legend Geoff

Boycott made an apology on

Tuesday for remarking he

needed to ‘black up his face’

to get a knighthood at an

event last week. Boycott

shocked his audience with his

comment during a question

and answer session during

one of the intervals in the

first Test with the West

Indies. Boycott said

knighthoods had been

bestowed on West Indian

cricketers like “confetti”. AFP

IN BRIEF

Azarenka withdraws from US OpenNEW YORK

Two-time Australian Open

champion Victoria Azarenka

withdrew from the U.S. Open

because she was unable to

resolve a custody dispute

with her infant son’s father.

The 28-year-old star from

Belarus gave birth to her first

child in December and she

returned to the tour in June.

She detailed the dispute with

the boy’s father in a Twitter

post last week, saying she

might not be able to bring

her son with her to New York. AP

Raikkonen extends Ferrari contractPARIS

Kimi Raikkonen has signed a

one-year contract extension

with Ferrari for the 2018

season, the Formula One

team announced on Tuesday.

For Raikkonen, 37, Tuesday’s

deal secures his fifth

consecutive season with the

team after an initial spell at

Maranello when he captured

the world title in 2007. AFP

The elections to the Board of Control forCricket in India are, technically, due nextmonth. But who runs cricket in India? Is itthat half-way house headed by C.K.Khanna and comprising the twoChaudhuris who between them spent ₹3.2crore on allowances over a two-yearperiod?

Is it the Committee of Administrators,now reduced to two people, which hasbeen focusing on the symptoms ratherthan the malady itself? In its fifth status re-port to the Supreme Court which will betaken up today, the CoA has asked that itbe handed over the “governance, manage-ment and administration” of the BCCI.

Is it the non-elected members, the CEOand managers in charge of the day-to-day

running of the organisation?Or is it the Supreme Court which de-

cides today just how seriously it shouldtake its own CoA and its recommenda-tions which include the sacking of the topoffice bearers for non-compliance withthe Lodha Committee recommendations?

Is it all of the above, or none?

Three-layered structureDespite Lodha’s clearly laid out hierarch-ies and management policies, the boardright now is a three-layered structure withthe office-bearers at the bottom who deferto the CoA who look up to the SupremeCourt. A fourth entity, the Parliament,might come into the picture to pass newlaws before the dust kicked up in the spot-fixing case of 2013 finally settles.

Had the BCCI decided to set its ownhouse in order, as the Supreme Court sug-gested repeatedly in the early months, thematter might have been settled early andwithout any bloodletting. But thanks tothe attitude of two Presidents, N.Srinivasan and Anurag Thakur, whokicked in their heels and defied the Court,it soon went out of the BCCI’s control.

In January this year, both Thakur andSecretary Ajay Shirke were removed bythe Supreme Court, but seven monthslater, their successor Khanna seems to beplaying the same dangerous game.

State associations too have been ignor-ing the Supreme Court’s order with acavalier disregard for propriety, and havebeen allowed to get away. I can’t think of asingle example from any other field wherea Supreme Court’s order has been ignoredby so many for so long with so little reper-cussion.

Going nowhereThere has been some lip service, the occa-sional nod to the changes, but overall, em-boldened by the kindness of the SupremeCourt, the governing body has beenhappy to pretend to be running when inreality it is merely jumping up and downin the same place.

No one has been arrested for contemptof court, no one feels particularlythreatened, no one seems to understandthat judgement was pronounced over ayear ago and both review and curative pe-titions have been dismissed. What is the

BCCI waiting for?As the activist lawyer Rahul Mehra

pointed out recently, the BCCI’s responsecalls at least for a “civil contempt”, which,the law says, is “wilful disobedience toany judgement, decree, direction, order,writ or other process of a court or wilfulbreach of an undertaking given to acourt”. The jail term could be six months.

It is easy to get cynical over the wholeexercise. The BCCI wants to keep ruling,the CoA wants to try its hand instead, andthe Supreme Court is yet to draw the linewhich may not be crossed. The ambiguitysuits those in power who have beentrained for decades to turn ambiguities totheir advantage.

“We have already put in practice about90% of the Lodha Committee’s recom-mendations,” some officials of the BCCIhave been saying for a while now. Thisshows an intriguing ability to pluck im-pressive numbers out of thin air, but littleelse.

That the CoA, whose responsibility it isto get into the nuts and bolts of the trans-ition, is aware of the real situation can beseen from their status report: “It is clear

that current office-bearers are not in posi-tion to make good on their undertakingsand ensure that reforms mandated by thisHon’ble Court are implemented.”

Success has kept the focus awayIn some ways, the success of the nationalteam, now No. 1 in the world, has helpedkeep the focus away from the court-defy-ing officials. Had Virat Kohli’s men beenstruggling, the BCCI might have found itdifficult to escape the ire of the fans. Solong as the national team is doing well,supporters aren’t fussed about theofficials.

Perhaps the time has come to run theBCCI like a corporate, with in-built guar-antees to cater to the grassroots and en-sure the growth and spread of the game.Pay the office-bearers so they cannot hidebehind the “honorary” excuse. That is aquicker, sharper way to bring in account-ability and transparency. Advisory Com-mittees will have a role, but elections —the bane of the system — will be doneaway with.

It is a thought, as the Supreme Courtprepares to draw that uncrossable line.

The cricket imbroglio is beginning to make cynics of us Ambiguity suits those in power who have been trained for decades to turn ambiguities to their advantage

BETWEEN WICKETSsuresh menon

Barcelona sues NeymarBARCELONA

Barcelona is seeking at least

€8.5 million from Neymar for

breach of contract, the club

said on Tuesday. “The club

demands the amount already

paid as a bonus for the

renewal of his contract, for

breach of contract, €8.5

million in damages, and

additional 10% in interest,”

the statement said. AFP

Badminton World Champi-onship: STAR Sports 1, 1 HD,3.30 p.m.Cue Slam: Sony ESPN (SD &HD), 6 p.m.

TV PICKS

India bowling coach B. Arunis in search of a potent left-arm speedster who will en-able the team to have allbases covered.

Since Zaheer Khan’s de-parture, India has not foundanother capable left-armpacer. The skilful AshishNehra, despite his injuries,has done commendably inthe shortest format for sometime while Jaydev Unadkatlacked pace.

Barinder Sran was askiddy bowler, who fadedaway rather quickly, andAniket Chaudhary is still nota finished product.

In his second stint, Arunexpects better communica-tion with A-team chief coachRahul Dravid and bowling

coach Paras Mhambrey.

“I have just come into thisrole so definitely we will bespeaking to the coaches ofthe A-team. I guess thereneeds to be information thatneeds to be shared for us tomake best use of the bowlerscoming in. We have wristspinners like Kuldeep Yadavand Yuzvendra Chahal. So, ifwe can get even one goodleft-arm fast bowler, it will gowell for the side,” said Arunon Tuesday.

He insisted that R. Ash-win, despite playing only 15ODI matches since the 2015World Cup, is very much inthe scheme of things.

Extremely talented

Asked if the off-spinnerfigured in the 2019 WorldCup plans, Arun said: “Thisquestion should be asked tothe selectors, but as the

bowling coach I think he isan extremely talentedbowler. Even if you look athis last ODI which he playedin West Indies, he got threefor 28.

“He (Ashwin) is very skil-ful. I don’t want to look atwhat has happened so farbut he is definitely part ofthe ODI team. We would alsolike to give a lot of opportun-ities to other bowlers as well(hence the rotation),” saidArun.

Arun believes that thebowling has improved tre-mendously in the last twoyears. “If you look at thebowling unit as a whole,there has been tremendousimprovement since the lastcouple of years. But lookingahead to the 2019 WorldCup, we will need to haveback up options for everybowler that we have.”

Arun stresses need for a good left-arm pacerWill speak to the coaches of the A-team, says the India bowling coach


Pallekele

Looking up: B. Arun believes that India’s bowling has improved tremendously in the last twoyears. * PTI

INDIA IN LANKA

Chennai Strikers’ Pankaj Ad-vani and Vidya Pillai did notfind a riposte to wriggle outof six snooker situations,conceded 24 points, andeventually lost the secondframe of their mixed doubles6-Red Snooker match to Hy-derabad Hustlers’ Lucky Vat-nani and Amee Kamani onthe black ball shootout.

Vatnani won the black ballduel and the second frame33-26, but the Advani-Vidyapair ran away with the thirdframe and the match at 45-0.

The Strikers had the bestouting in the Cue Slam In-dian Cue Masters League onTuesday, when it won fivematches on the trot. Strikers’

second win in four matchesshould take it to the semi-finals.

The second league tie

between Bengaluru Buddiesand Gujarat Kings went tothe decider and LaxmanRawat clinched it for the

South side against SouravKothari, potting the yellowin the closing seconds.

The result: Chennai Strikers btHyderabad Hustlers 5-0 (6-RedSnooker Pankaj Advani & VidyaPillai bt Lucky Vatnani & AmeeKamani 53-13, 26-33, 45-0; Ad-vani bt Amir Sarkhosh 35-18,45-3; Faisal Khan bt KamalChawla 32-14; 9-ball poolDharminder Lilly bt Amir Sark-hosh 2-0; Pandu Rangaiah &Vidya bt Anuj Uppal & Amee2-0).

Bengaluru Buddies bt Gu-jarat Kings 3-2 (6-Red SnookerDarren Morgan & Anastasia Ne-chaeva lost to Andrew Pagett &Daria Sirotina 13-15, 26-24,11-25; Morgan bt Pagett 38-19,49-3; Laxman Rawat bt SouravKothari 18-17; 9-ball pool: Sun-deep Gulati bt Alok Kumar 2-1;Varun Madan & Anastasia lostto Kumar & Daria 1-2).

Strikers blank Hustlers, post second winRawat clinches decider as Buddies pip Kings in a close encounter

Combining well: Pankaj Advani and Vidya Pillai got the betterof Lucky Vatnani and Amee Kamani in three frames.

G. Viswanath

Ahmedabad

CUE SLAM

Gyanender (59kg) lost inthe second repechageround to miss out on amedal in the World wrest-ling championships onTuesday.

He beat Chinese LibinDing 4-1 in the first roundbut lost to Mirambek Ain-agulov of Kazakhstan in thenext.

As the Kazakh wrestlerreached the final, the In-dian qualified forrepechage.

Gyanender defeated Mo-stafa Hossain Abedlal ofEgypt 3-1 before losing toDmitriy Tsymbaliyuk ofUkraine after finishing tied2-2.

Ravinder (66kg), Har-preet Singh (80kg) andNeveen (130kg) lost in theinitial rounds in the otherGreco Romancompetitions.

GyanendermissesmedalSPORTS BUREAU

PARIS

Olympic silver medallist P.V.Sindhu advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the women’ssingles competition after de-feating Korea’s Kim Hyo Minin the second round of theWorld Championships hereon Tuesday.

Sindhu, who won bronzemedals at the 2013 and 2014editions, notched up a 21-16,21-14 win over Kim in a 49minute match, to extend herhead-to-head record againstthe Korean to 4-1.

Singapore Open cham-pion B. Sai Praneeth openedhis campaign with a straight-game win over Hong Kong’sWei Nan to reach the secondround of men’s singles event.

The 15th-seeded Indianfought back from 5-9 and 14-16 in the opening game andthen erased a deficit of 10-13and 15-17 in the second toeventually see off Wei Nan21-18, 21-17 in a 48-minutematch.

In another match, Ajay Ja-

yaram, seeded 13th, had themeasure of the AustrianLuka Wraber in 31 minutes,winning 21-14, 21-12.

Lee Chong Wei ousted

In the biggest upset in thesection, France’s BriceLeverdez pulled off the firstshock by defeating secondseed Lee Chong Wei 21-19, 22-24, 21-17 in 75 minutes andperhaps end Lee’s elusivesearch for the world titlewhich has seen him takethree silver medals just as hehas done in the Olympics.

India top mixed doublespair of Pranaav Jerry Chopraand N. Sikki Reddy, alsoseeded 15th, defeated Indo-Malaysian combo of PrajaktaSawant and YogendranKhrishnan 21-12, 21-19.

However, in the othermixed doubles matches, B.Sumeeth Reddy and AshwiniPonnappa, and SatwiksairajRankireddy and K. Manee-sha suffered contrastinglosses to bow out.

Sumeeth and Ashwiniwent down fighting 21-17, 18-21, 21-5 to 13th seeded

Chinese pair of Wang Yilyuand Huang Dongping, whileSatwiksairaj and Maneeshalost 22-20, 21-18 to 14thseeded Danish duo of Math-ias Christiansen and SaraThygesen.The results (Indians only):Men’s singles: Ajay Jayaram btLuka Wraber (Aut) 21-14, 21-12;B. Sai Praneeth bt Wei Nan (HK)21-18, 21-17. Doubles: Hiroyuki Endo & YutaWatanabe (Jpn) bt SatwiksairajRankireddy & Chirag Shetty21-8, 21-12.Women’s singles: Secondround: P.V. Sindhu bt Kim HyoMin (Kor) 21-16, 21-14. First round: Rituparna Das btAiri Mikkela (Fin) 2-0 retd.. Doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa &Sikki Reddy bt Ririn Amelia (Ina)& Anna Ching Yik Chong (Mas)21-15, 21-13.Mixed doubles: Second round:Pranaav Jerry Chopra & N. SikkiReddy bt Prajakta Sawant & Yo-gendran Khrishnan (Mas) 21-12,21-19; Wang Yilyu & HuangDongping (Chn) bt B. SumeethReddy & Ashwini Ponnappa 21-17, 18-21, 21-5; Mathias Christi-ansen & Sara Thygesen (Den)Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & K.Maneesha 22-20, 21-18.

Sindhu moves into the pre-quarter�nalsSai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram advance; Mixed fortunes for mixed pairs

Agencies

GLASGOW

No sweat: P.V. Sindhu started her campaign with a straight-game win over South Korea’s Kim Hyo Min. * AFP

WORLD C’SHIPS

Skipper Karun Nairanchored a tricky chasewith a polished 90 as In-dia-A beat South Africa-A bysix wickets in the second‘Test’ to share the honoursin the two-match series.

Chasing a target of 224,India-A took 62.3 overs tocross the line as Karun gotrid of his wretched form,hitting 13 boundaries in 144balls.

Opener R. Samarth, Kar-un’s Karnataka teammate,hit his second half-centuryof the match (55) and added74 for the third wicket withKarun.

The match-winning standwas the 93-run stand for thefourth wicket betweenKarun and Ankit Bawne(32).

Earlier, the Indian bowl-ers set up the victory as theSouth African second in-nings terminated at 177, thehost losing its last five wick-ets for 39 runs.

Speedster Ankit Rajpoot

(three for 15) and left-armspinner Shahbaz Nadeem(three for 47) shared thebulk of the spoils.

Nadeem was the most im-pressive among the Indianbowlers with a haul of 11wickets from the two ‘Tests’.The scores: South Africa-A 322and 177 in 65.2 overs (StephenCook 70, Shahbaz Nadeemthree for 47, Ankit Rajpootthree for 15) lost to India-A 276and 226 for four in 62.3 overs(Karun Nair 90, R. Samarth 55,Ankit Bawne 32); Man-of-the-match: Samarth; Man-of-the-series: Stephen Cook.

Karun Nair stars for India-A Press Trust of India

Potchefstroom

Karun Nair. * FILE PHOTO:

Rogers Kimaree’s 87thminute equaliser secured St.Kitts & Nevis a 1-1 drawagainst Mauritius in the tri-Nation tournament match atthe Mumbai Football Arenahere on Tuesday.

Jean Sarah had put Mauri-tius ahead in the first half.

After a 2-1 defeat to Indiain the opening match, it wasa much improved perform-ance from Mauritius, espe-cially in the second half asthe Caribbean outfit turnedon the heat. Mauritius wouldhave ended on the winningside had it converted a hand-ful of chances.

Mauritius looked organ-ised in the first half, showingpotency in attack, closinggaps in the midfield and

denying the opponents theroom in its quarter.

The St. Kitts & Nevis de-fence, which was anxiouslypassing back to goalkeeperto try and ease pressure, wascaught napping in the 18thminute. Pascal Balssonpicked out Sarah in the boxwith a floated ball, and thelatter leapt up and noddedhome without any defenderto trouble him.

Mauritius pressed on; itsforwards looked creativeand mobile right through.

In one instance, Sarahtook off on a run down theleft, dribbling and weavingpast a succession of defend-

ers before he was broughtdown near the left flag.

Another attempt at goal,by Jean Jocelyn, was palmedaway by Jeffers Jamal as St.Kitts & Nevis withstoodwaves of attacks.

At the other end, JamesCaserne rushed off the lineto narrow down the angleand managed to block a shotfrom Kimaree. Caserne hada couple of tense moments:he charged out and missedthe ball once, and laterfumbled with a collection.

The equaliser came whenKimaree found the net afterveering away into the spaceon the right and blasting ithome with only the goal-keeper to beat.

The result: Mauritius 1 (JeanSarah 18) drew with St. Kitts &Nevis 1 (Rogers Kimaree 87).

St. Kitts & Nevis holds MauritiusKimaree’s late strike negates Sarah’s �rst-half opener Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

B St. Kitts and Nevis takes onIndia on August 24 in theconcluding game

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

A majority of the Board ofControl for Cricket in India(BCCI) units continue todefy the Committee of Ad-ministrators (CoA).

Latest informationAccording to the latest in-formation updated on theBCCI website, 15 State asso-ciation have failed to fur-nish details of their votingmembers despite repeatedreminders from the CoA.

The State associationsrefusing to fall in line areArunachal, Assam, Chattis-garh, Cricket Club of India,Delhi, Goa, Haryana, All In-dia Universities,Karnataka, Maharashtra,Punjab, Saurashtra, Ser-vices Sports Control Board,Tamil Nadu and Tripura.

BCCI unitscontinueto defy the CoASpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12092 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The Supreme Brahman is the basis of all creation and torealise the Atma Tatva is the purpose of human existence,say the scriptures. They also try to guide humanity in thissearch and show that the subtle essence of Atma and Brah-man, though not perceptible to human senses, mind andeven the intellect, can be realised as an inner experience.Each human being, each object in creation is a blend of thesubtle atma and a physical form that gives it an appearanceand constitutes its individual entity. It is only throughvichara or deliberation that the atma swaroopa encased inthe physical covering can be realised, said Sri B. Sundarku-mar in a discourse.

Generally a valuable gift is carefully packaged by layers ofcovering so that it remains safe; and unpacking the wrap-pings to obtain the gift is done with great care. Likewise, sas-tras explain that Pancha kosa vichara helps to unravel thesubtle essence of the atma swaroopa that is believed to bethe essence of sat-chit-ananda. It is shown that the atma iscarefully held within the five kosas or sheaths that constitutethe human body. The body itself is an outer cloak withinwhich the atma resides. Just as many layers of clothing suchas the vest close to the body, the shirt, the waistcoat, coatand the overcoat cover the body, the atma is enveloped inthe five sheaths known as the Pancha kosas. The outermostis the annamaya kosa that is visible because it is gross. Fur-ther deliberation shows that other kosas also make up thephysical form.

The pranamaya kosa is the life sustaining breath, themanomaya kosa is the mind or antakarana in each one of usand the vigyanamaya kosa is the intellectual potential in thehuman being. The atma swaroopa being most subtle is deepwithin and is known as the anandamaya kosa. It pervadesthe entire being and all other kosas.

FAITH

Five kosas holding Atma 4 Element makes posh queen

essentially chummy (7)

5 Free artist involved in

defamation (7)

6 Regretting bankruptcy, with a

little gravity (5)

7 Thoroughly cooked! Sabaash!

(4-4)

8 He employs you and me with

odd leer (4)

14 Forces in a revamp connected

with court (8)

16 Not a parade for the living

(4,5)

17 LET edited dubious property

document (5,4)

19 Moving slowly in great part of

a country with girl (7)

20 Seaport dispatched grass (7)

22 Time of day that had us

kneeling in part (4)

23 Provide a shade of elegance to

joke (5)

25 A learner goes after American

university that is regular (5)

12 Odd sort of �ghter? (9)

13 Put back into shape �re-

damaged top of turret (5)

15 Mother �nds the French Right

bungling (9)

18 Story is of local resident going

round a luxury car (9)

21 A section, in short, is skilled

(5)

22 It may go to the dull-headed

(6,3)

24 Miss West has ultraviolet shade

(5)

26 Somehow I must start living

with essentially big activity

promoters (7)

27 Divert tourer racing to the East

(7)

28 Peeling hood discarded — put

away where it may belong

(11)

■ DOWN

1 Tin goes across English river in

this boat (9)

2 Approves timeless wine

variety, begins settling (5)

3 I get a raid foiled, by the grace

of God (3,6)

(set by Gridman)

■ ACROSS

1 Rajini, for one, who ensures a

large audience (5-6)

9 Worker's back, carrying an

Indian wrap, for an empress

(7)

10 Bad dogs, say, among a set of

�shermen, say (7)

11 Mean person is dumped in

French river (5)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12093

Years after earning the hon-our, some Arjuna Awardeesexpressed their anguish atthe manner in which thecoveted award was being‘distributed’.

At an event held to launchan NGO — Sports: A way ofLife — founded by KanishkaPandey, some celebratedsportsmen dug into the pastto share their experience totake Indian sport forwardbut did not hide their reser-vations at the flippant way inwhich the National sportsawards were being bestowedin recent times.

World Cup hockey winnerAshok Kumar said, “Theawards have been devalued.Why do you have to give itannually if there are no de-serving candidates. Is it ne-cessary? We have to putvalue to the honour butsadly that is not the casenow. Sportsmen have been

clamouring for these awardsbecause they have to applyfor the honours. How can Idemand an award?”

Need for change

The former hockey star ad-vocated a change in thenorms. “I strongly feel thatonly medallists at the AsianGames, Olympics and WorldChampionships should be

considered for the ArjunaAward.”

Middle-distance runnerSriram Singh, a soft-spokenathlete, agreed with AshokKumar.

“You have to set strictqualifying standards in or-der to put high value to theaward. When the standardsare high, you would get onlydeserving candidates. In mytime, you had to be best toget the Arjuna Award,” saidSriram.

In the opinion of formerIndia hockey captain ZafarIqbal, the awards were away of not only honouringthe sportsmen but also mo-tivating them.

“When you compete, youwant to win. With the win, ifthe nation honours you withan award, it is like icing onthe cake. The number 15 forArjuna Award is keeping inmind the size of the country.I don’t know if the Awardshave been devalued.”

Seniors decry the �ippant selection procedure in vogue

Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI

Ashok Kumar.* FILE PHOTO: R. RAGU

The awards have beendevalued: Ashok Kumar

Sixteen-year-old Grandmas-ter Aryan Chopra topped aseven-way tie at 6.5 points tofinish an impressive third inthe Abu Dhabi Masters chesschampionship here on Tues-day.

In the final round, the35th-seeded Delhi boystunned 15th-seeded Geor-gian Levan Pantsulaia to fin-ish behind winner, seededseeded Egyptian BaseemAmin (7.5) and runner-up,top seed Nigel Short (7).

Another youngster N.R.Vignesh finished 10th withsix points, way ahead of S.P.Sethuraman (15th), M.Karthiyan (18th), AbhimanyuPuranik (19th) and Shardul

Gagare (20th).Leading results (involving In-dians): Ninth round: Mircea-Emilian Parligras (6.5) bt Abhi-manyu Puranik (5.5); LevanPantsulaia (Geo, 5.5) lost toAryan Chopra (6.5); Constantin

Lupulescu (Rom, 5.5) drew withN.R. Vignesh (6); S.P. Sethura-man (6) bt Saveliey Golubov(Rus, 5); Nihal Sarin (5.5) drewwith Robert Hovhannisyan(Arm, 5.5); MohammadMmuradli (Aze, 5) lost to M.Karthikeyan (6); Dennis Wagner(5.5) drew with Shardul Gagare(5.5).

Sevag Mekhitarian (Bra, 6)bt Al Muthaiah (5); AbhijeetGupta (5.5) bt Arya Omidi (4.5);Aleksandar Indijic (Geo, 5) drewwith P. Iniyan (5); D. Harika(5.5) bt David Eggleston (Eng,4.5); Rahul Sangma (4.5) lost toNeelotpal Das (5.5); VantikaAgrawal (5) bt Raja Harshit (5);Artur Davtyan (4.5) drew withEesha Karavade (4.5); TaniaSachdev (4.5) drew with AdityaMittal (4.5); Kumar Gaurav (4.5)bt Raunak Sadhwani (3.5).

Aryan Chopra �nishes thirdSports Bureau

ABU DHABI

Aryan Chopra.* SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Grandmasters DeepanChakkravarthy and R.R. Lax-man produced flamboyantvictories to raise the possibil-ity of a thrilling finale to theNational Challengers chesschampionship here.

In the action-filled 12thand penultimate round,Deepan crushed fellow Rail-wayman Himanshu Sharmato move within half a pointof teammate Swapnil Dho-pade, who drew early withDebashis Das.

In the final round, currentleader Dhopade (10) playswhite against Deepan (9.5)and needs a draw to regainthe title. Deepan, riding ahigh of four successive vic-

tories, will be looking for an-other win to dash Dhopade’splans.

In just 32 moves, an irre-pressible Deepan destroyedHimanshu’s defences afterchoosing to trade a bishopfor a rook. Himanshu, feelingthe heat, blundered seri-ously with a queen-move onthe 26th move that allowedDeepan to attack the blackking relentlessly.

In desperation, Himanshugave up his queen for aknight and resigned a movelater. R.R. Laxman lived upto his reputation of being anunpredictable performer. Fa-cing his strongest rival in thecompetition, Laxman pro-duced his best to outwit M.R.Lalith Babu. What was more

amazing was the fact thatLaxman used up only 52minutes of thinking time toplay 42 moves!

Laxman (9) will take onDebashis (9) on the secondboard ahead of six boardswhere the players have 8.5

points. At this stage, it ap-pears that 13 players, oneight points, have a veryslender chance of beingamong the nine qualifiers forthe National championship.

Those who emerged vic-torious and kept alive theirchances of qualifying with8.5 points each were, Arghy-adip Das, Abhijit Kunte, Sri-ram Jha, Mary Ann Gomesand Fenil Shah.

The results: 12th round:Swapnil Dhopade (10) drewwith Debashis Das (9); DeepanChakkravarthy (9.5) bt Hi-manshu Sharma (8.5); R.R. Lax-man (9) bt M.R. Lalith Babu(8.5).

Aravindh Chithambaram(8.5) drew with S. Nitin (8.5); S.Ravi Teja (8.5) drew with S.L.

Narayanan (8.5); Arghyadip Das(8.5) bt Sammed Shete (8);Chakravarthi Reddy (7.5) lost toAbhijit Kunte (8.5); SaptarshiRoy Chowdhury (8.5) btSwayams Mishra (7.5); P.Shyamnikhil (8) drew withRajesh Nayak (8).

S. Satyapragyan (8) drewwith S. Dhananjay (8); Ankit Ga-jwa (7.5) lost to Sriram Jha(8.5); Mary Ann Gomes (8.5) btS. Jayakumaar (7.5); Akash Iyer(8) drew with Padmini Rout (8);Fenil Shah (8.5) bt BaivabMishra (7.5); N. Surendran (8)drew with K. Ratnakaran (7.5).

Top-8 pairings of final round:Dhopade-Deepan; Debashis-Laxman; Aravindh-Arghyadip;Narayanan-Mary; Babu-Saptar-shi; Jha-Himanshu; Kunte-Teja;Nitin-Fenil.

Deepan Chakkravarthy humbles HimanshuRAKESH RAO

AHMEDABAD

R.R. Laxman . * RAKESH RAO

Raheem Sterling came on toscore an 82nd-minute equal-iser as 10-man ManchesterCity rescued a 1-1 drawagainst Everton in its open-ing Premier League homegame on Monday.

Wayne Rooney put Ever-ton ahead with his 200thPremier League goal beforeCity home debutant KyleWalker was contentiouslyshown a second yellow cardfollowing a collision withDominic Calvert-Lewin.

Sterling, a half-time sub-stitute, rewarded heavy Citypressure by slamming in alate equaliser and Evertonalso finished with 10 menafter Morgan Schneiderlin,too, was given a debatablesecond caution.

City preserved its recordof never having lost its firsthome Premier League game,but the main upshot was thatManchester United, Hudder-

sfield Town and West Brom-wich Albion now boast theonly 100% records in theleague.

The results: Premier League:

Manchester City 1 (Sterling 82)drew with Everton 1 (Rooney35). La Liga: Levante 1 (Morales 88-pen) bt Villarreal 0; Malaga 0lost to Eibar 1 (Charles 57).

Sterling saves CityCancels out Rooney’s 200th Premier League goal

In the nick of time: Raheem Sterling helped Manchester Citypreserve its record of never having lost its �rst homePremier League game. * STU FORSTER/GETTY IMAGES

Agencies

Manchester

EURO LEAGUES

On the eve of the HCL 74thNational squash champion-ship which begins on Wed-nesday at the Shiv NadarUniversity campus here, thedefending men’s championSaurav Ghosal said it is hisresponsibility to competeand give the rest of the field,especially the juniors, a fullfield.

“When Harinder PalSandhu won the title in 2014,it was big deal,” said Ghosal.

Since 2004, only RitwikBhattacharya and Harinderhave beaten him at the Na-tional championships; lastyear, though, it wasHarinder Pal that Ghosalbeat — in a five-game thriller— to win the title last year.

The women’s side will bewithout its defending cham-pion; Dipika Pallikal with-drew on Tuesday owing to

an ankle injury.

The beaten finalist from2016, Joshana Chinappa — amultiple champion, will behere, though. Joshna hasbeen winning the nationaltitle since 2000, and onlyMekhala Subedar and Dipikahave been able to deny herthe title since then.

“Ever since I started play-

ing the National champion-ships at the age of 12, I’ve al-ways wanted to come back,”said Joshna.

“I am not able to playmore domestic events thesedays because of my hectic in-ternational schedule. I’vecompeted all these years,and missed only the 2011 edi-tion when I was injured.”

With 312 men and only 65women having entered thechampionship this year, thequestion of equal prize-money came up at the pressconference during thelaunch function here onTuesday.

“The prize money doesnot matter to me,” saidJoshna, who maintained thatshe would have participatedanyway.

Ghosal said the globaltrend was towards equality,and added that equal prize-money would perhaps in-spire more girls to take upthe sport.

While the top-eight menwill get into a knock-outdraw of 16 with eight qualifi-ers who will emerge after aseries of matches fromamong 300 players, the wo-men’s tournament will fol-low a straight knock-outformat.

National squash championship from todaySaurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa will begin as favourites

Raring to go: Despite their multiple titles, Saurav Ghosal andJoshna Chinappa say they are still hungry for success at theNational championships. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Kamesh srinivasan

GREATER NOIDAAnkita Raina breezed pastBasak Akbas of Turkey 6-2,6-1 in the first round of the$60,000 ITF women’s ten-nis tournament here.

The results: $60,000 ITF wo-men, Artvin, Turkey: Firstround: Ankita Raina bt BasakAkbas (Tur) 6-2, 6-1. Doubles(pre-quarterfinals): GabrielaCe (Bra) & Ankita Raina bt DeaHerdzelas (Bih) & TerezaMrdeza (Cro) 7-5, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF women, Rotter-dam, Netherlands: Doubles(pre-quarterfinals): FlaviaGuimaraes Bueno (Bra) &Malene Helgo (Nor) bt Can-dace Olivia Pedro (US) &Dhruthi Venugopal 6-1, 6-2.

$25,000 ITF men, Poznan,Poland: First round: SumitNagal bt Adrian Andrzejczuk(Pol) 6-4, 6-1. $25,000 ITFmen, Santander, Spain: Firstround: Jaime Fermosell (Esp)bt Vasisht Cheruku 6-4, 6-3.

Ankita beatsAkbas

Sports Bureau

ARTVIN (Turkey)

Sudden heavy downpourfailed to dampen the spiritson the opening day of theNew Delhi YMCA inter-school aquatics champion-ship on Tuesday, inaugur-ated by 1982 Asian Gameswater polo bronze medallistJoseph Kuok.The results:Boys: Group 1: 100m backstroke:Nanak (Bal Bharti PublicSchool) 1:21.60. Group II: 100m backstroke:Upal Majumdar (BBPS) 1:16.29;4x50m medley relay: BBPS(GR) 2:13.73. Group III: 4x50m medley re-lay: St Columba’s School2:27.06; 100m breaststroke:Bhargav (BBPS) 1:15.66. Group IV: 50m backstroke:Aryaman Jain (BBPS Pitam

Pura) 36:71; 50m breaststroke:Bhagya Gehlot (BBPS) 45:34;4x50m medley relay: BBPS2:38.18.

Group V: 4x50m medley relay:GD Goenka School 3:10.54;50m breaststroke: Dhurv Se-jwal (Gyan Bharti School)46:46.

Group VI: 25m breaststroke:Harshaan Pusuluri (StColumba’s) 0:25.03.

Girls:

Group III: 100m breaststroke:Jhanvi Choudhry (BBPS)1:23.97.

Group VI: 25m breaststroke:Almas Arora (Hansraj Model)33:50; 50m breaststroke:Nabhiya Yusuf (BVN) 43:07.

Group V: 50m breaststroke:Unniti Garg (Ahlcon Interna-tional) 53:85.

AQUATICS

Damp start to YMCAinter-school aquatics Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Chandni Srinivasan foughther way past AmreenSidhu 9-8(4) in the un-der-16 girls pre-quarterfi-nals of the AITA Champion-ship series organised by St.Stephen’s School, onTuesday.

The results (pre-

quarterfinals): Boys: Un-

der-16: Krishan Hooda btNishank Thakur 9-0; AjaySingh bt Mankeerat SinghBaidwan 9-7; Uddayvir Singhbt Pranay Sharma 9-3;Swamin Sharma bt Jitin KuarChetri 9-5; Manveer Singh btSiddharth Goel 9-3; AbhayMohan bt Arhaan Pahwa 9-1;Sarabjot Singh bt Gaurav Ku-mar 9-7; Bhupender Dahiya btDivyanshu Hooda 9-4.

Under-12: Rushil Khoslabt Aryan Mangal 9-5; Svar-manyu Singh bt Harjot Singh9-3; Harikesh Iyer bt KeshavDangi 9-5; Arjun JitendraAbhayankar bt MadhavSharma 9-6; Rijul Bhatia btSatvik Singla 9-1; NavyaVerma bt Azeez Anand 9-1;Shrey Vir bt Hitesh Chauhan9-3; Keshav Goel bt JashanGupta 9-1.

Girls: Under-16: AmeekKiran Batth bt Anya Jacob9-3; Aditi Singh bt AaditaaVashisht 9-7; Konika SinghDhull bt Harnoor Kaur Sidhu9-4; Chandni Srinivasan btAmreen Sidhu 9-8(4);Pawandeep Kaur bt MrinaliniSharma 9-8(2); Princy Pan-chal bt Anushka Sharma 9-3;Vaibhavi Saxena bt LavanyaSabharwal 9-7; Simran Pritambt Snigdha Sran 9-7.

Under-12: Vaibhavi Sax-ena bt Avneet Kaur 9-2;Vanya Arora bt Jui Kale 9-2;Durganshi bt Omesha Nischal9-4; AAgrima Gandhi btSukhman Kaur Samra 9-2;Chandni Srinivasan bt AanditaSharma 9-1; Anya Jacob btAnanya Dogra 9-0; MaitreyiPhogat bt Vishita Ranbir Ku-mar 9-7; Suryanshi Tanwar btMeher Kaur Brar 9-1.

Chandni getspast AmreenSports Bureau

Chandigarh

KOLKATA: Eminent lawyerUshanath Banerjee hasbeen appointed as the om-budsman of the Cricket As-sociation of Bengal (CAB).Banerjee was a BCCI legaladvisor.

Ushanath is CABombudsman

Eetee Maheta outplayedAsprino Fabiana of Brazil6-0, 6-1 in the women’ssecond round of tennis inthe World UniversityGames on Tuesday.The results: Men (secondround): Chung Hong (Kor) btParas Dahiya 6-1, 6-2; RomanSafiullin (Rus) bt Yuvraj Singh6-2, 6-2. Doubles (firstround): Sai Saran Reddy &Sunil Kumar bt Pathirage Per-era & Yasitha de Silva (Sri)6-4, 6-3. Women (second round):Eetee Maheta bt AsprinoChiaparini Fabiana (Bra) 6-0,6-1.

Easy for AsprinoSPORTS BUREAU

CHINESE TAIPEI

The All India Tennis Asso-ciation (AITA) on Tuesdayterminated the contract ofVijay Amritraj’s ChampionsTennis League due to non-payment of annual fee of₹30 lakh for the 2016 sea-son. However, the AITAwould allow CTL to place afresh bid when a tenderwill be floated in 2018.

AITA snaps CTL’s contract


New Delhi

CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

Ever since the Indian men’shockey team finished a dis-appointing sixth at theHockey World League semi-finals in London, there hasbeen speculation over the fu-ture of chief coach RoelantOltmans.

The recent Europe tourwas expected to be themake-or-break outing for theDutchman and a final de-cision will be taken whenthe Hockey India panel,formed to evaluate theteam’s performance, meetsin New Delhi from August 31to September 3.

That meeting, which willalso have High PerformanceDirector David John in at-tendance, is likely to posesome tough questions to Olt-mans.

India has a hectic calen-dar in the coming monthsbeginning with the Asia Cupin October and including theCommonwealth Games, theAsian Games and the WorldCup next year, besides theHWL Finals in December2017. Given that, Oltmansmay get a reprieve till at least

the end of this year.“There is not much time

to hunt for a new coach.That is, in case there is a de-bate on Oltmans’ continu-ing. Yes there are issues butwhether they are insur-mountable or not andwhether Oltmans can provehis planning will be dis-cussed. At the same time, noone wants to suddenly throwthe team into turmoil lessthan two months before theAsia Cup,” a Hockey India of-ficial confirmed to The

Hindu.The ‘issues’ have been

both on and off the field.Several former players andcoaches have criticised In-dia’s lack of a Plan B againstdefensive teams. Beginningwith the Sultan Azlan ShahCup, India’s tournament out-ings this year so far havebeen below-par.

The persistence withsome senior players despitepoor performances has alsobeen questioned.

The recent successes onthe Europe tour by a teamthat had six uncapped play-ers has increased rumblingsthat the youngsters need to

be blooded more ahead ofbigger tournaments.

“See, we all know Olt-mans has been a greathockey mind but we alsowant to know if he has aclear Plan A, B, and C for thecoming season, a blueprintto improve Indian hockeyhere on. What he has doneso far is appreciated butthere is now need to step upto another level, competeand win against the top-four.All of this will ultimately de-termine his and Indian hock-ey’s future,” the officialadded.

The Indian team is sup-posed to get together for itsnext camp in Bengalurufrom August 27 under Olt-mans, who is currently on abreak.

Oltmans is also said tohave a tenuous relationshipwith John and the differencein opinion, according tosources, was one of the reas-ons the final 18 selected forthe Europe tour allegedlyhad the stamp of approvalfrom John and not Oltmans.Ironically, the same 18’s per-formance in Europe maygive Oltmans a lifeline.

What’s in store: Roelant Oltmans’ continuation as the hockey chief coach hinges on the clarityand quality of his plans for India’s hectic season ahead. * FILE PHOTO: K. MURALI KUMAR

Crunch time forcoach OltmansIndia’s recent showing has raised questions about his future

Uthra Ganesan

LUCKNOW

Iranian Fazel Atrachali stoodtall against everything Pu-neri Paltan raiders threw athis team to ensure that Gu-jarat Fortunegiants contin-ued its unbeaten run in theProKabaddi League.

Relying on their all-roundsuperiority, Fortunegiantsoverwhelmed Paltan 35-21 inthe battle of Zone A table-toppers here on Tuesday.The result also ensured For-tunegiants’ continuation atthe top of the table.

Resuming after a day’sbreak and with the inter-zonal challenges over, the fo-cus shifted to the intra-zon-als, and Fortunegiants, oneof the four new teams thisseason, proved that theirwins at home were no fluke.

The only team so far to beundefeated at home was fa-vourite for the tie and theSukesh Hegde-led side didnot disappoint. While Hegdehimself scored quite a fewraid points, the star was Ira-nian Atrachali.

Combining with compat-riot Abozar Mighani to con-trol either corners of thefield, Atrachali manned thedefence expertly with excel-lent support from ParveshBhainswal and Sachin to en-sure Fortunegiants re-mained ahead at all times.The compactness of the de-fence can be gauged form

the fact that despite beingreduced to four players sev-eral times, Fortunegiantswere not all-out even once.

Instead, they turned thetables to score a lona (all-out) twice, once in each half.

Whether it was throughankle-hold, body-blocking orsimply pushing the raiderout of play, Atrachali waseverywhere.

It wouldn’t be wrong tosay that Atrachali was thedifference on the day, the Ir-anian proving his status as amarquee player and one ofthe highest paid foreignersin the league with a massivenine tackle points in 10 at-tempts.

For Paltan, all its key play-ers scored but not as muchas needed. Captain DeepakHooda, Sandeep Narwal,Girish Ernak tried their bestbut were unable to find away past the Fortunegiantsdefence.

UP Yoddha continued toflounder and crashed to itsthird straight loss at home,going down 31-32 to thestruggling Bengal Warriors.

It was the third time theteam had lost by a narrowmargin in the final fewminutes despite looking likewinning.

The results: Fortunegiants 35(Fazel Atrachali 9, SukeshHegde 5, Sachin 4, AbozarMighani 4, Pawan Sehrawat 4)bt Paltan 21 (Deepak Hooda 5,Sandeep Narwal 4, Girish Ernak4); Warriors 32 (Deepak Narwal10, Jang Kun Lee 4) bt Yoddha31 (Nitin Tomar 8, RishankDevadiga 7, Rajesh Narwal 4).

Helps Fortunegiants put it past Paltan

Uthra Ganesan

LUCKNOW

Reached! Pawan Kumar breaks free from the clutches ofPaltan’s Cheralathan and Sandeep Narwal. * RAJEEV BHATT

PKL

Atrachali’s day out

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Haryana Steelers vs DabangDelhi, 8 p.m.U.P. Yoddha vs TamilThalaivas, 9 p.m., STAR Sports2, 2 HDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

PLAYING TODAY

Jude Felix, who on Tuesdaywas officially announced ascoach of the junior Indianmen’s hockey team, intendsto see more players makingthe step up to the Seniorranks in the near future.

“I want to see these boysready to be challenging for aspot in the senior team inthe next 8-10 months,” Felixtold The Hindu.

‘Talented players’“These are good, talentedplayers. The challenge is toget them to apply whatthey’re learning in trainingduring a match.”

Felix, who has been incharge of the junior ‘coregroup’ for a couple ofmonths now, replaced Har-endra Singh, who coachedIndia to World Cup victoryon home soil last year. Hedenied that there was anypressure on him to matchhis predecessor’s feats.

“Not really. Whatever hedid or didn’t do doesn’tmake a difference. Thepoint is I’ve come here towin. They’ve appointed mefor the same reason. Even ifwe’d not won the WorldCup, my goals would havebeen the same.”

Felix was assistant coachwhen the senior men’s teamwon the Asian Games gold

in 2014, but his stint came toan abrupt end the followingyear. He denied he had anyhesitation in taking up thisjob. “Not at all. On the con-trary, I was excited,” he said.“It is a completely new chal-lenge. I’ve always lovedworking with youngstersand this is a great chance tomould them.”

A fine centre-half whoearned 250 caps for India,Felix stated that he wantedhis junior side to play attack-ing hockey. “I want them toattack but still be solid in de-fence,” he said. “I’m also try-ing to bring back some ofthe old skills.”

Replaces Harendra SinghShreedutta Chidananda

Bengaluru

Jude Felix. * FILE PHOTO

Felix is juniormen’s team coach

New Zealand’s oldest crick-eter Tom Pritchard passedaway here on Tuesday.

He was 100. Pritchardclaimed 818 wickets at23.30 across 200 FirstClass games, including 695during a decade of serviceat Edgbaston.

He, however, neverplayed Test cricket.

Pritchardpasses awayANI

WELLINGTON

CMYK

A ND-NDE

LIFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



Google rolls out ‘AndroidOreo’ with new featuresSAN FRANCISCO

The next version of Google’s

mobile operating system

‘Android Oreo’ is out in the

U.S. ‘Android Oreo’ features a

new picture-in-picture mode

and improvements to

Bluetooth audio playback,

Google’s Android website

posted in a blog on Tuesday.

The new Android OS was

released in conjunction with

the solar eclipse. IANS

IN BRIEF

Snapchat to overtakeFacebook, Instagram NEW YORK

Photo-sharing app Snapchat

is expected to overtake

Facebook for the first time in

the U.S., as the user growth

of Facebook will slow among

teens and adults, market

research firm eMarketer has

said. Snapchat is forecast to

overtake both Instagram and

Facebook in terms of total

number of users. IANS

WhatsApp adds coloursto ‘Status’ featureNEW DELHI

Making its “Status” feature

more interesting, Facebook-

owned WhatsApp on Tuesday

rolled out an update that lets

its 250 million monthly users

share “Status” updates in

different fonts and

background colours. Users

can also control who can see

their “Status” by controlling

the privacy settings. IANS

The giraffes were agitated.The flamingos huddled to-gether. And the rhinos justlooked confused.

At the Nashville Zoo, visit-ors watched and recordedhow the animals behavedwhen the sky turned darkduring Monday’s total solareclipse. And there wasplenty to see when the moonslipped in front of the sun.

The only trouble was with7,000 visitors and lots ofnoise drowning out the zooanimals, crickets and cica-das. Zookeepers still have tofigure whether the strangebehaviour was from the ec-lipse or the people there towatch the show.

Citizen scienceThe zoo project was one ofmany science experimentsplanned for the eclipse. Cit-izen-scientists and theirmore professional counter-parts loaded up on pictures,video, data and just weird ex-

periences as the eclipse’sshadow crossed the UnitedStates, especially paying at-tention to the edges flaringout of the darkened sun.

Telescopes on the ground,a fleet of satellites and astro-nauts in space watched theeclipse unfold. High-altitudeballoons were released

across the country, carryingexperiments and providinglive video. Now scientistshave to figure out what it allmeans.

“The balloon footage livewas fantastic,” said AngelaDes Jardins of Montana StateUniversity, who headed theballoon project.

“You could really see thesunset effect, the shadowcome across.”

Astronomers concen-trated on the plumes fromthe sun’s polar region to helpunderstand why the solarwind speeds up so much.The sun’s upper atmo-sphere, called the corona, or

crown, was the focus of as-tronomers’ attention. It’seasier to study when the sunis blocked. “It has been agreat opportunity and I havelearned so much,” she said.

At the Nashville Zoo, thegiraffes were the stars. Espe-cially 6-month-old Mazi and3-year-old Nasha. “They’recrazy running around,” saidNate Zatezalo, who camefrom Cleveland, where hevolunteers at the zoo there.

During the full eclipse, allfour giraffes ran. That’s notunusual for the two juvenileswho scamper at twilightafter the crowds leave. Butthe father giraffe, Congo,“usually doesn’t do anythingother than being the dad”and is regal and above it all,said zoo volunteer StephanFoust.

But even the above-it-alldad got in on the runningduring darkness. Zookeepersreported that before totalitythe orangutans climbed tothe highest heights they’veever gone.

When the gira�es ran in circlesVisitors to Nashville zoo in U.S. record how animals behaved during solar eclipse

Call of the wild: A �le photo of a visitor taking photographs at the Nashville Zoo, U.S. The zoohad asked visitors to observe and track animal behaviour during the solar eclipse. * AP

Associated Press

NASHVILLE

Scientists have created anoriginal music compositionusing data from the move-ments of the sun, the moonand the gradual darknessduring the total solar eclipsein the U.S.

This is the first time re-searchers have made musicwith eclipse information.

The team from GeorgiaInstitute of Technology inthe U.S. watched manyvideos of total eclipses todevelop the correct toneand pacing for the piece.They also used live datafrom the total solar eclipsethat swept across the U.S. onAugust 21, to add more mu-sical elements to the exist-ing piece.

As part of their research,the scientists spoke withtwo visually impaired per-sons. One had previouslyseen an eclipse.

The other described how

she listens to her surround-ings, allowing researchers tobetter understand how visu-ally impaired people useambient sounds to developa sense of their environmentand the moments in theirlives. The audio experienceat times sounds both hope-ful and ominous.

Increasing tempoDuring first contact, as themoon starts to slide in frontof the sun, high tonalsounds — representing themoon — gradually increasein volume and consistency.

During second contact,or the beginning of totality,the musical tension contin-ues to rise, even as the over-all pitch and loudness beginto diminish as light levelsfade. In this portion of themusic, the sound of cricketsis also heard to signify the“false dusk” effect createdwhen the moon completelycovers the sun.

Scientists create musicusing eclipse data

Aided by visually challenged persons


Washington

The massive asteroid strikethat wiped out dinosaurssome 66 million years agowould have plunged theearth into darkness fornearly two years, a study hasfound.

The asteroid triggeredglobal wildfires that loftedinto the air tremendousamounts of soot. This wouldhave shut down photosyn-thesis, drastically cooled theplanet, and contributed tothe mass extinction thatmarked the end of the age ofdinosaurs. The study, led byresearchers at the U.S. Na-tional Centre for Atmo-spheric Research, used acomputer model to paint a

rich picture of how theearth’s conditions mighthave looked at the end of theCretaceous Period.

The findings, published inthe journal Proceedings of theNational Academy of Sci-ences, may help better un-derstand why some speciesdied, especially in theoceans, while others sur-vived.

K-Pg extinctionScientists estimate that morethan three-quarters of allspecies on the earth, includ-ing all non-avian dinosaurs,disappeared at the boundaryof the Cretaceous-Paleogeneperiods, an event known asthe K-Pg extinction.

Evidence shows that the

extinction occurred at thesame time that a large aster-oid hit the earth in what isnow the Yucatan Peninsula.The collision would havetriggered earthquakes,tsunamis, and even volcaniceruptions.

Scientists also calculatethat the force of the impact

would have launched vapor-ised rock high above theearth’s surface, where itwould have condensed intosmall particles known asspherules.

As the spherules fell backto the earth, they wouldhave been heated by frictionto temperatures highenough to spark global firesand broil the earth’s surface.A thin layer of spherules canbe found worldwide in thegeologic record. “The ex-tinction of many of the largeanimals on land could havebeen caused by the immedi-ate aftermath of the impact,but animals that lived in theoceans or those that couldburrow underground or slipunderwater temporarily

could have survived,” saidNCAR scientist CharlesBardeen, who led the study.

“We wanted to look at thelong-term consequences ofthe amount of soot we thinkwas created and what thoseconsequences might havemeant for the animals thatwere left,” said Mr. Bardeen.

Researchers used theNCAR-based CommunityEarth System Model to simu-late the effect of the soot onglobal climate going for-ward. In the simulations,soot heated by the sun waslofted higher and higher intothe atmosphere, eventuallyforming a global barrier thatblocked the vast majority ofsunlight from reaching theearth’s surface.

Researchers say the impact triggered wild�res that formed a soot barrier to sunlight


Washington

‘Asteroid strike left the earth dark for 2 years’

Brian Aldiss, one of themost prolific and influentialscience fiction writers of the20th century, has died aged92.

Literary agency CurtisBrown said Aldiss died earlySaturday at his home in Ox-ford, England. Born in 1925,Aldiss served in India andBurma with the BritishArmy during the SecondWorld War and later becamea bookseller, publishing hisfirst stories in a trademagazine.

Aldiss’ 1969 short storySupertoys Last All SummerLong was an unrealiseddream project for the lateStanley Kubrick and formedthe basis for Steven Spiel-

berg’s 2001 film A.I. SonTim Aldiss tweeted that hisfather was “a drinking com-panion of Kingsley Amis &correspondent with C.S.Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien,” andyounger writers hailed himas a major influence and en-couraging mentor. On Twit-ter, Sandman author NeilGaiman called him “a largerthan life wise writer.”

British sci-� writerBrian Aldiss dies at 92 Associated Press

LONDON

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