SC proposes joint trial of Babri cases - Current Affairs ONLY

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Both Houses of Parliamenton Thursday witnessedheated exchanges on the al-leged killing of a man by ‘gaurakshaks’ (cow vigilantes) atAlwar in Rajasthan, withCongress Rajya Sabha mem-ber Madhusudan Mistry de-manding the dismissal of theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)government in the State inview of the “breakdown ofconstitutional machinery.”

Tapan Kumar Sen of theCommunist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), too, saidthe constitutional ma-chinery had broken down inthe State, seeing the incid-ent as a “clear case of gang-sterism.”

However, Minister ofState for Parliamentary Af-fairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvidenied that such an incidenthappened, promptingLeader of the OppositionGhulam Nabi Azad to cite areport in the New York Timesto claim that the Ministerwas “ill-informed.”

Mr. Naqvi also cautioned

that the House should not beseen as “supporting” cowslaughter.

Give details: KurienDeputy Chairperson of theRajya Sabha P.J. Kurien saidthe government should givedetails about the incident tothe House, as there wereconflicting versions.

“To the notice of theChair, two versions arebrought. If the incident hashappened, then it is serious.But if the incident has nothappened and has been nar-rated here as if it has

happened, that is also seri-ous. Therefore, I would liketo know the correct version.I am asking the Minister toconvey to the Home Ministerthe need to inquire into itand report to the House,” hesaid. In the Lok Sabha,Union Home Minister Ra-jnath Singh said the Ra-jasthan government hadtaken cognisance of the in-cident, and a police case hadbeen registered.

Alwar violence sparks war of words in ParliamentChair asks for correct version; Naqvi denies incident

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

CONTINUED ON � PAGE 8

BARBARISM UNLIMITED

� EDITORIAL

Noting that the 25-year pen-dency of the dual BabriMasjid demolition case trialsin Lucknow and Raebareliamounts to “evasion ofjustice”, the Supreme Courton Thursday indicated that itproposes to order a jointtrial in a Lucknow court afterreviving criminal conspiracycharges against BJP veteransL.K. Advani, Murli ManoharJoshi and other SanghParivar leaders in connec-tion with the razing down ofthe 16th century mosque inAyodhya on December 6,1992 by kar sevaks.

A Bench of Justices P.C.Ghose and Rohinton Nar-iman hinted that the courtwill invoke its extraordinaryconstitutional powers underArticle 142 to transfer thepending trial in a Raebarelimagistrate court and club itwith criminal proceedings inthe Lucknow CBI Courtagainst “lakhs of unknownkar sevaks.” The court indic-ated that it will order the CBIcourt to conduct a time-bound trial and complete itin two years. So far 195 wit-nesses have been examinedin the Lucknow case while awhopping 800 witnesses re-main to testify. In Raebareli,57 witnesses have been ex-amined while 105 wait theirturn. Mr. Advani, Dr. Joshiand six other politicians

were accused in the RaeBareilly case for giving pro-vocative speeches.

“Kindly notice that this isa matter of 1992. Twenty-fiveyears have passed. Our an-swer is have it on a day-to-day basis and finish it off inthe next two years,” JusticeGhose observed. Justice Nar-iman at one point orally re-marked how “many of theaccused are dead and somewill die now.”

Charges dropped A Special Court had in May2001 dropped the criminalconspiracy charges againstMr. Advani and top BJP andSangh Parivar leaders, in-cluding Ashok Singhal, Giri-

raj Kishore, Murli ManoharJoshi, V.H. Dalmia, VinayKatiyar, Uma Bharti and Sad-hvi Rithambhara.

The Allahabad HC had dis-missed the CBI plea to revivethe conspiracy charges inMay 2010, following whichthe agency moved the SC inFebruary 2011. The court re-served the appeal for judg-ment after a day-long hear-ing. “They cannot goscot-free. If Lucknow andRaebareli are pari materia,the conspiracy chargeagainst them should reviveand both cases be triedjointly,” Justice Narimanobserved.

SC proposes jointtrial of Babri cases 25-year delay amounts to ‘evasion of justice’, says Bench

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI


CBI re-registers case

against Bhupinder

Hooda in land allotment

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Skill development,

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life in Jharkhand: Modi

page 8

Jef Bezos selling

Amazon stake to fund

Blue Origin rocket irm

page 10

No place for Leander

Paes in Davis Cup team

to face Uzbekistan

page 15

FRIDAY REVIEW � 12 PAGES

(TABLOID)

Reserve Bank of India Gov-ernor Urjit Patel onThursday stressed the needfor building a national con-sensus on loan waiverschemes. Addressing apress conference here, hesaid this was needed sothat promises such as loanwaivers are not made dur-ing elections.

“We need to create con-sensus so that such loanwaiver promises are es-chewed. Otherwise, sub-sovereign fiscal challengesin this context could even-tually affect the nationalbalance sheet,” he said.

The Governor said loanwaiver undermined anhonest credit culture. “Itimpacts credit discipline. Itplugs incentives for futureborrowers to repay.” Suchschemes would also impactthe cost of borrowing forthe government. Thiscould, in turn, adverselyimpact private investment.

RBI chief hitsout at farmloan waiver SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI


GROWTH, WITH CAVEATS

� EDITORIAL

RBI HOLDS RATE � PAGE 11

Shiv Sena MP RavindraGaikwad on Thursday wroteto Union Minister for CivilAviation Ashok GajapatiRaju, expressing “regrets” atthe incident on board an AirIndia flight on March 23. TheMP has been accused of as-saulting the airline’s officerwith his slippers.

The MP’s letter, in the pos-session of The Hindu, statesthat he “regrets the incid-ent,” but stops short of ac-cepting guilt. Instead, hesays investigations will revealthe truth. He requests Mr.

Raju’s to lift the restrictionsimposed on him by variousairlines.

Sources in the Ministry ofAviation told The Hindu that

while the letter was a wel-come development, the ShivSena’s defiant press confer-ence on Thursday afternoonthreatening to boycott anNDA meeting on April 10 ifthe ban wasn’t lifted was aproblem. “There is, how-ever, a possibility that bothMr. Raju and Minister ofState for Civil Aviation JayantSinha would be holding apress meet on the issue,”said an official source.

House adjournedThe letter came at the end ofa day of dramatic develop-ments that included a state-

ment by Mr. Gaikwad in theLok Sabha and an adjourn-ment of the House forced byShiv Sena MPs who surroun-ded Mr. Raju when he madeno move to lift the ban onthe MP.

In a rapid sequence ofevents in the Lok Sabha andoutside it, Mr. Gaikwad firstwanted the House to hear hisversion of events that led tothe ban by several airlines.The MP tendered an apologyto Parliament, but insistedthat he owed no apology tothe airline officials.

Gaikwad ‘regrets’ Air India incidentBut insists he owes no apology to the airline’s oicials; wants ban lifted


NEW DELHI

Ravindra Gaikwad speaks inLok Sabha on Thursday. * PTI


The visit of the Dalai Lamato Arunachal Pradesh hassharpened the focus on In-dia’s commitment to the‘One-China’ policy, amidaccusations by the ChineseForeign Ministry onThursday that the Tibetanleader’s trip to the “dis-puted areas” was fuellingtensions between the twoneighbours.

Asked whether Beijingsaw any link between theDalai Lama’s visit and NewDelhi’s position on the‘One-China’ policy, ForeignMinistry spokesperson HuaChunying said: “I want tore-emphasise that on is-sues concerning China’smajor concerns and coreinterests, territorial andsovereignty, China’s posi-tion is consistent.

‘Fuelled tension’“By inviting and approving[the] Dalai Lama to [visit]areas of dispute betweenChina and India, India hasdamaged our interests andthe India-China relation-ship, and it has fuelled ten-sions. We oppose the visitto relevant areas and op-pose attempts by relevantcountries to arrange a plat-form for Dalai [Lama] toconduct anti-China activit-ies. We urge relevant coun-try to stop such erroneousactions and stop under-mining Chinese interests,”she said.

An editorial in the state-run China Daily drew a par-allel between Taiwan andTibet.

Beijing keepsup tiradeagainst visitof Dalai Lama Atul Aneja

BEIJING

No heat and dust: Srinagar was covered with snow on Thursday. The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was closed after landslipsas fresh snowfall occurred across the Kashmir Valley. Schools have been closed till Sunday. * NISSAR AHMAD (REPORT ON PAGE 3)

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Draped in white

Patnaik seeks to turnover a new leaf after jolt BHUBANESWAR

After sufering a jolt in the

panchayat elections in

February, Odisha Chief

Minister Naveen Patnaik

seems to be seeking a fresh

start to save the image of his

party as well his government.

What has made Mr. Patnaik

sit up and take notice is the

BJP’s hype over its

unexpected performance in

the rural polls.

EAST � PAGE 2DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

NEARBY

Punjab govt pursuingvendetta politics: SADCHANDIGARH

The Shiromani Akali Dal has

accused the Amarinder Singh

government of indulging in

vendetta politics and claimed

that any action against its

workers will be vehemently

opposed by the party.

NORTH � PAGE 3DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Farmers welcome BJPgovt’s loan waiverMEERUT

Farmers have largely

welcomed the UP

government’s decision to

waive farm loans worth

₹36,000 crore, even though

some of them accused the

government of betrayal.

NORTH � PAGE 3DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Delhi-based freelance journ-alist Aparna Kalra is battlingfor life after she was brutallyattacked at a park in NorthWest Delhi’s Ashok Viharwhere she had gone for anevening walk on Wednesday.

Twenty four hours afterthe incident, there is littleclarity about the sequence,motive or suspects who car-ried out the attack. Thepark, ‘Picnic Hut,’ where theincident took place, sees asizeable footfall and yet not asingle eyewitness has comeforward so far.

Ms. Kalra (45) sustainedmultiple fractures on herskull after being attackedwith sharp and blunt ob-jects, including a heavystone, the police said. She iscurrently in the ICU of FortisHospital in Shalimar Baghand the doctors said the next

48 hours were extremelycrucial for her.

The park where she wasattacked is barely 100 metresfrom her house and it was apasserby, Sanjay, who firstnoticed the injured Ms.Kalra.

“Sanjay informed usabout the incident but saidhe did not witness the at-

tack,” said Deputy Commis-sioner of Police (North-West)Milind Mahadeo Dumbre.The PCR call was madearound 7.30 p.m.

“As per her daily routine,she left home around 5 p.m.Later we got a call from thelocal police claiming that mysister has been hurt badlyand was getting treated atthe Deep Chand Hospital,”said Prachi, Ms Kalra’s sister.

Shifted to FortisIn Deep Chand Hospital,doctors told the family thatshe needed an immediateneuro surgery, which wasnot possible at their hospital,and the victim was referredto Fortis.

According to the police,before falling unconscious atthe hospital, Ms Kalra toldthem she had been attacked.The family said she kept slip-ping in and out of

consciousness.The park is poorly lit and

locals as well as the policesaid anti social elements anddrug addicts frequent thepark in the evening. The po-lice tried to recreate thecrime scene under similarlighting conditions and werealso speaking to people whoare known to be more regu-lar visitors at the park.

A journalist with over twodecades of experience, Ms.Kalra has worked with TheTimes of India, BusinessStandard, Financial Express.More recently she has beencontributing to newswebsites.

While robbery has beenruled out as the motive bythe police, Prachi and an-other relative, H.C. Bhatia,ruled out any link with herwritings. The family alsodenied that she had anyenmity with anyone.

Journalist battles for life after attackShe was taking a walk in a park when the crime took place, motive still unclear

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Aparna Kalra *

Reliance Jio on Thursday de-cided to withdraw its com-plimentary ‘Jio Summer Sur-prise’ offer after theTelecom Regulatory Author-ity of India (TRAI) asked the

Mukesh Ambani-led firm todo so.

“Jio is in the process offully complying with the reg-ulator’s advice, and will bewithdrawing the three-month complimentary bene-fits as soon as operationally

feasible over the next fewdays,” a company statementsaid.

On March 31, Reliance Jioextended the deadline forthe ₹303 plan until April 15.

TRAI asks Reliance Jio to withdraw oferSpecial Correspondent

MUMBAI


DELHI Timings

Friday, April 07

RISE 06:05 SET 18:42

RISE 15:15 SET 03:41

Saturday, April 08

RISE 06:03 SET 18:43

RISE 16:11 SET 04:20

Sunday, April 09

RISE 06:02 SET 18:43

RISE 17:07 SET 04:58

After suffering a jolt in thepanchayat elections in Feb-ruary, Odisha Chief MinisterNaveen Patnaik seems to beseeking a fresh start to savethe image of his party as wellhis government.

What has made Mr. Pat-naik sit up and take notice isthe Bharatiya Janata Party’shype over its unexpectedperformance in the ruralpolls in which the saffronparty made major gains andmanaged to emerge as theBiju Janata Dal’s main rivalby surpassing the Congress.

On Thursday, the ChiefMinister again hinted that hewould carry out a Cabinet re-shuffle in the near future.

Names handed overWith a view to give a new im-petus to governance, theState Cabinet meeting thatMr. Patnaik chaired on Wed-nesday gave new names to afew government depart-ments, including the Pan-

chayati Raj Department andthe Women and Child Wel-fare Department.

Mr. Patnaik was alsoprompt in ordering a CrimeBranch probe into the objec-tionable Facebook posts ofsome students of city-basedRama Devi Women’s Univer-sity on March 26.

On March 30, he directedthe police to inquire and

take immediate action inconnection with an incidentin which a journalist was al-legedly molested in a run-ning bus.

Active on social mediaApart from becoming activeon social media in recentweeks, Mr. Patnaik has direc-ted Director General of Po-lice to ask Superintendent of

Police of all districts to openofficial Facebook page andTwitter account to helppeople in distress and ad-dress their grievancesimmediately.

Daily interactionsIn order to strengthen hisparty organisation at thegrassroots level, Mr. Patnaikhas been interacting with hisparty’s newly elected pan-chayat representatives fromtwo districts each on a dailybasis since April 2. Duringthese ongoing interactions atthe BJD headquarters, Mr.Patnaik has been hearingsuggestions from the repres-entatives and advising themto work hard for the cause ofthe people.

The Chief Minister, whoon Wednesday termedUnion Minister Jual Oram’sTuesday’s statement thatsome BJD Ministers, MPs andMLAs were in contact withthe BJP “wishful thinking”, istrying hard to tighten hishold over the party.

Patnaik seeks to turn over anew leaf after rural poll jolt CM focuses on good governance, again hints at Cabinet reshule in near future

Fresh start: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at his residence inBhubaneswar on Thursday. * PTI

Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR

Prohibitory orders wereclamped and securitystepped up in Bhadrak townof Odisha after VishwaHindu Parishad and BajrangDal activists took to thestreets on Thursday over acontroversial post aboutHindu deities in socialmedia.

‘Objectionable’ remarksAfter tension gripped thetown in the afternoon, pro-hibitory orders under Sec-tion 144 of CrPC were im-posed banning thegathering of five or morepersons. Two persons weredetained in connection withthe post.

Demanding arrest of theperson who posted the ‘ob-jectionable’ remarks onHindu dieties, VHP andBajrang Dal activists lodgeda complaint with the Bhad-rak Town police station.They also laid siege to thepolice station and blocked

major roads to the town.The police resorted to a

mild lathi-charge to dispersethe protesters after someroadside meat shops wereset on fire at Banto Square.As the protesters startedshouting slogans after burn-ing tyres on the roads, com-mercial establishmentsrolled down their shutters.Vehicles were stranded asthe protesters squatted onNational Highway passingthrough the town. The po-lice cleared the blockadeand vehicles started movingin the evening.

About 10 platoons of po-lice were deployed in thetown. “The situation istense, but under control.We are keeping a closewatch and police personnelhave been deployed all overtown,” Ghanshyam Upad-hyay, Inspector General ofPolice, Eastern Region, toldThe Hindu over phone. Theprohibitory orders will re-main in force till Fridayevening, the police said.

Prohibitory ordersclamped in Bhadrak Communal tension in Odisha townSatyasundar Barik

BHUBANESWAR

He is a Cabinet Minister inthe newly sworn in BJP gov-ernment, yet to resignformally

The Opposition Congressin Manipur may go to courtdemanding disqualificationof Thounaojam Shyamku-mar Singh, who is a CabinetMinister in the newly swornin BJP government.

Won from CongTalking to The Hindu onThursday, Manipur Congressspokesperson K. Debabratasaid Mr. Shyamkumar Singh

took oath as Minister onMarch 15 while still a Con-gress MLA. He won theMarch elections from Androconstituency with a widemargin on a Congress ticketand is yet to resign from theparty formally, said the StateCongress.

Show-cause noticeThe party served Mr.Shyamkumar Singh a show-cause notice on March 15 butit was ignored. The partythen petitioned Speaker Y.Khemchand Singh to takesteps to disqualify him. TheSpeaker said the petition by

10 MLAs has been referredto the Assembly Secretaryand that the matter is “un-der process”.

However, the Oppositionmake take recourse to legalredress due to lack of a timeframe. Sources said Mr.Shyamkumar Singh wasn’tunduly worried about a by-election even if disqualifiedas he was confident of win-ning again.

Commenting on the anti-corruption cell set up by thenew government, the Con-gress denied that corruptionwas a legacy of its 15-yearrule.

Cong may go to court forMinister’s disqualiicationManipur Minister in BJP govt yet to formally quit Congress

Iboyaima Laithangbam

IMPHAL

Two persons were killedand another injured whenthe motorcycle they wereriding collided with a busnear Dhobhibigha villagein Nalanda, the police said.

The incident took placewhen the speeding busrammed the motorcyclekilling two persons on thespot while another sus-tained serious injuries,Asthawan police station in-charge Rajiv Ranjan said.The bodies have been sentfor post-mortem and theinjured man has been hos-pitalised, Mr. Ranjan said,adding that efforts were onto identify the injured.

Accident killstwo in BiharPress Trust of India

Biharsharif

Political parties and intellec-tuals have expressed concernover children carryingswords and knives in RSS-backed Ram Navami proces-sions in various parts of WestBengal on Wednesday. RulingTMC and Opposition Left

Front asked what “culture”was the RSS and BJP trying toimport into Bengal.

Over 200 Ram Navamiprocessions were taken outacross West Bengal under thebanner of Rama Navami Ud-japan Samity “to unite theHindus” against what theycalled “growing jihadi activit-

ies” in the state.

CM hits outStudents and minors wereseen participating withswords and knives in some ofthe processions. Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee also ac-cused “some BJP leaders” ofcarrying arms in the proces-

sions, and said the law willtake its course against suchpeople. “Some BJP leaderswho do not know Bengali cul-ture held processions withswords to create an atmo-sphere of fear (during RamNavami). But can anyone per-form puja with a sword?” shesaid.

Concern over armed children at rallyPress Trust of India

Kolkata

Courting trouble: Jan Adhikar Party chief and member of Parliament Pappu Yadav being takento court by the police in Patna on Thursday. He was arrested on March 27 for allegedlydisturbing law and order in the State. * PTI

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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

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EAST

RB Act).


THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

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CMYK

NORTH

Khattar asks I-T dept toprovide data for survey PANCHKULA

Haryana Chief Minister

Manohar Lal Khattar on

Thursday asked I-T officials

to provide the State

government authentic data

on people’s income, earnings

and properties so that it can

be incorporated in the SRDB

survey. - PTI

IN BRIEF

Clash over shifting ofliquor shop in M.P. BHOPAL

Two vehicles were burnt and

four others damaged in Bareli

town of Raisen district after

locals and employees of a

liquor contractor clashed over

shifting of the shop to a

residential area.

The residents of Krishna

Colony, where the shop was

being moved from the nearby

highway, opposed the

shifting. - PTI

Clash in Kanpur overprocession route Kanpur

A clash erupted in Akbarpur

town of Kanpur Rural district

after members of a

community objected to a

Navratra procession changing

its traditional route to pass

through a minority-

dominated area. The two

sides started pelting stones at

each other after an argument

over the route. - PTI

Maoists involved inattack on CRPF men heldRAIPUR

Two naxals, allegedly

involved in the last month’s

attack on a CRPF patrolling

team in Bhejji in which 12

troopers were killed, were

arrested from Sukma district,

police said on Thurtsday.

The cadres, identified as

Padam Mukka (28) and Kuram

Guddi (27), were picked up on

Wednesday by a joint police

team. - PTI

Unprecedented snowfall inJammu and Kashmirtriggered multiple ava-lanches in the Ladakh re-gion, trapping five soldiersunder snow, an Army officialsaid on Thursday.

They were trapped whenan Army post was buried inthe Batalik sector, the officialsaid.

Two of them have beenrescued, while efforts wereon to save the other three, hesaid. “The rescue operationfor the remaining three sol-diers is in progress. Speciallytrained Avalanche RescueTeams have been deployed,”the official added.

An flood alert were issuedin Kashmir on Thursdaywhile the death toll due toheavy rainfall climbed to fivein Himachal Pradesh.

An avalanche warning hasbeen issued for the next 24hours in the Valley’s hillyareas, especially in Kargildistrict.

“High-danger avalanchewarning has been issued forthe next 24 hours, from April6 to 7, for avalanche-proneslopes in Kargil. A medium-danger avalanche warningexists for Kupwara, Bandi-pora, and Baramulla districtsfor the same period,” said agovernment spokesman.

The flood alert was soun-ded after the Jhelum crossedthe danger mark in southand central Kashmir follow-ing incessant snowfall andrain since April 4.

‘Remain vigilant’According to a governmentspokesman, people livingalong the embankments ofthe Jhelum and those in thelow-lying areas of south andcentral Kashmir have beenasked to “remain vigilant”.Schools have been closed tillApril 9, while the KashmirUniversity and the IslamicUniversity of Science and

Technology have postponedexaminations scheduled forThursday.

The rain also triggeredflash floods in north Kashmirwith scores of people beingevacuated in Baramulla,even as several low-lying loc-alities in Srinagar weresubmerged.

The State Disaster Re-sponse Fund and Directorateof Health Service (Kashmir)have issued helpline num-bers and asked doctors to bealert.

The local MeT departmenthas said that the weatherwas likely to improve fromFriday and that a situationlike that of 2014 won’t arise.

Chief Minister MehboobaMufti, meanwhile, has calledfor a unified control room tomonitor the situation.

In Himachal Pradesh, an-ganwadi worker Laila Matudied in Chamba district’sDalhousie on Thursday aftera gate gave way during astorm. With this, the deathtoll in the State has touchedfive.

On Wednesday, twopeople were killed in Ram-pur while eight others wereinjured after being hit bylightning. Also, one persondied in Sundernagar sub-di-vision of Mandi district whileanother person died in Kan-gradistrict’s Dharjot.

Traffic was affected be-cause of dislodged Deodartrees and landslides, even aspower supply and telecom-munication links were dis-rupted at several places onThursday.

Chief Secretary V.C.Pharka held a State-level dis-aster management meetingto take stock of the situation.Considering the inclementweather over the last twodays, Mr. Pharka has direc-ted the Public Works Depart-ment, the Irrigation and Pub-lic Health Department andElectricity Department to re-pair the affected roads, wa-ter supply and electricity

connections on prioritybasis.

Report lossesHe has also asked the Agri-culture and Horticulture De-partment to report lossesfrom across the State at theearliest.Confirming thedeath of two people after be-ing struck by lightning atKhadaan in Shimla district,Mr. Pharka said that ₹10,000each had been given to thefamily of the deceased, whilethe injured had been given₹4,000 each.

He added that one critic-ally injured person had beenreferred to the Indira GandhiMedical College, Shimla, and₹10,000 been granted to hisfamily.

(With inputs from PTI)

Three soldiers trapped in Ladakh avalancheScores of people evacuated from Baramulla following a lood alert in Kashmir; ive killed in Himachal Pradesh

Nature’s fury: Vehicles crawl through a water-logged road in Srinagar on Thursday. * NISSAR AHMAD

Peerzada Ashiq

Kanwar Yogendra

Srinagar, Shimla

Roadblock: A damaged road in Shimla on Thursday after a landslide. * PTI

As many as 10 people of aminority community havebeen arrested for allegedlyraising “anti-India” slogansand uprooting an RSS flagpost in Gandhinagar hereon Sunday.

The police have alsobooked around 50 othersof the same group in thecase.

According to the police,the accused had objectedto a RSS shakha set up neartheir place of worship inGandhinagar. While RSSactivists alleged that themembers raised anti-Indiaslogans, the latter com-plained that the RSS work-ers had hurled stones attheir religious place.

Bone of contention“The two groups had dif-

ferences over the piece ofland, which belongs to thecivic body,” said a police of-ficer, who did not wish tobe named.

“Earlier, Muslims hadorganised taqreers [ser-mons] on the land locatedclose to their mosque.However, of late, the RSShad started holdingshakhas there, which didnot go down well withmembers of the minoritycommunity.

“The next day [April 3],some persons [RSS men]lodged complaint againstover 60 people, including14 identified members ofthe minority community,alleging that they hadraised anti-India slogansand removed the RSS flag.They also alleged thatmembers of the oppositegroup had attacked them,”said district Superintend-ent of Police Saket Pandey.

Following this, the mem-bers of the minority com-munity were booked underSections 295 (injuring ordefiling place of worshipwith intent to insult reli-gion of any class) and 506(criminal intimidation).

10 held foranti-Indiaslogans Press Trust of India

Sheopur (MP)

The Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) has accused the Capt.Amarinder Singh-led govern-ment of indulging in ven-detta politics and claimedthat any action against itsworkers will be vehementlyopposed by the party.

The remarks came afterthe government set up aCommission of Inquiry onWednesday to review allegedfalse cases and FIRs re-

gistered under the decade-long SAD-BJP rule in theState.

‘Several incidents’At a meeting held on Wed-nesday, SAD leaders Ma-heshinder Singh Grewal andDr. Daljit Singh Cheema saidseveral incidents of targetingof Akali workers had come tofore in a short span of twoweeks of the Congress govtrule.

“It has come to the notice

of the party that duly electedbodies being managed bySAD leaders, which have yetyears to complete theirterms, are being threatenedby Congress leaders by ad-opting unfair means. This isan illegal, unwarranted andundemocratic act of the Con-gress leaders to demolish theinstitutions of democraticprocess,” a statement issuedby the party read.

During the meeting, theleaders also met lawyers to

chalk out a strategy to “helpaggrieved Akali workers”.

As per the terms of refer-ence, the Commission will“inquire into cases wherepersons are said to havebeen wrongly implicated infalse cases/ FIRs in Punjabduring the last 10 years andsubmit its report to govern-ment after such inquiry.”

The body is headed byformer Punjab and HaryanaHigh Court judge MehtabSingh Gill.

Govt pursuing vendetta politics: SADSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

Rambeer Singh is a farmer inMeerut who owns an acre offarm land, which means hefalls in the category of smallfarmers. He had taken a loanof over ₹1 lakh from cooper-ative societies and said he isnow excited and happy atthe decision of the State gov-ernment to waive loansworth ₹30,729 crore of 2.15crore small and marginalisedfarmers who had taken acrop loan up to ₹1 lakh each.

Along with this, an addi-tional ₹5,630 crore was givento write-off NPAs of 7 lakhfarmers of the State, takingthe total farm loan waiveramount to Rs 36,359 crore.

Though a detailedguideline is yet to be noti-fied, Mr. Singh is hopefulthat the government de-cision would help him.Farmers have largely wel-comed the move, eventhough some of them ac-cused the government of be-traying the farmers by put-ting a limit to the extent ofloan and leaving two thirdsof the farmers from the am-bit of the relief and pittingthose farmers in the Stateagainst the small and mar-ginal farmers.

Sardar V.M. Singh, afarmer activist whose effortand legal battles have led toseveral historic judgments in

favour of the farmers, said:“The loan waiver is not ourright so thank you for thewaiver. But you had said inthe election that sabka saathsabka vikas. Then giving onlya section of farmers the be-nefit when the entire sectoris going through acute crisis,would be a betrayal of thepromise the Prime Ministermade to the people andfarmers of the State”.

Dharmendra Malik, afarmer and spokesperson ofthe Bharatiya Kisan Union,an influential body of farm-ers in UP, welcomed the de-cision as a “courageous”step. Talking to The Hindu on

the phone from Muzaf-farnagar, Mr. Malik said themove would benefit at least athird of the total farmers inUP.

‘Welcome step’“It is a welcome step whichwould benefit at least onethird of the small and mar-ginal farmers. In an environ-ment that had propagandaand an atmosphere againstloan waiver, this decision ofthe Adityanath governmentis a courageous move,” hesaid.

He, however, said that thecommittee of ministersshould also analyse how and

from where the small farm-ers take loan because theygenerally avoid institutionalloans due to technicalities in-volved in the process.

“So there is a danger thatthis would benefit only 20%of the small farmers. Buteven after that the decisionwould be extremely benefi-cial for the farming com-munity,” Mr. Malik added.

Advocating extension ofthe eligibility deadline ofMarch 2016 to December2016, he asked why the farm-ers who paid back the loanon March 2016 and took an-other loan for farming,should be punished?

Farmers welcome BJP govt’s loan waiverThough some accuse the govt of betrayal for leaving two-third out of ambit

Staff Reporter

Meerut

Some cheer: A farmer working on a sugarcane ield in Muzafarnagar district of UP.* FILE PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY

The Enforcement Director-ate has provisionally at-tached properties worth₹1.18 crore of land-record of-ficials and others in connec-tion with money launderinginvestigations into the al-leged Bikaner “land grab”case in Rajasthan.

“We have attached the as-sets of Jai Prakash Bagarwa,the then Patwaris UmaCharan Sharma and Ma-haveer Swami, and the thenNayab Tehsildar, Fakir Mo-hammad. They were al-

legedly involved in fraudu-lent allotment of land usingforged documents of non-ex-istent people,” said an EDofficial.

Meant for displacedThe land was meant for theallotment of persons dis-placed for developing theMahajan Field Firing Range.

“In this case, 18 caseswere registered at the Gajnerpolice station in Bikaner’sKolayat, during August-September 2014. Chargesheets were filed against theaccused persons in August

2015. On the basis of theFIRs and charge-sheets, aninvestigation was taken upunder the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act bythe Directorate in Septem-ber 2015.

“ED probe revealed thatwith a view to grab the land,accused stole some blank al-lotment letters with stampon them from the Colonisa-tion Department. The Pat-waries tipped off Jai Prakashabout the land. The stolenmaterial was used for pre-paring forged allotment let-ters,” said the official.

ED attaches assets worth ₹1.18crore in Bikaner ‘land grab’ caseSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

A body of clerics of KhwajaMoinuddin Chishti shrinein Ajmer have decided tochallenge the acquittal ofseven accused, includingSwami Assemanand, in the2007 Dargah bomb blast

case in the Rajasthan HighCourt.

The Anjuman Syed Za-dgan, a parent body ofkhadims, has decided tomove the High Court, Sec-retary for Anjuman SyedZadgan, Syed Wahid An-garahshah Chishty said.

Ajmer clerics to move HCPress Trust of India

Jaipur

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Investigation into the deathof a Dalit, M. Madhukar, inthe Peddapally district ofTelangana, allegedly in-volving the ‘upper’ castes ofhis village, took a crucialturn on Thursday.

The High Court in Hydera-bad directed the authoritiesto conduct another post-mortem of his body.

Dalit organisations andpeople's associations havebeen agitating for a fortnightto seek justice forMadhukar’s family. Theyhave alleged that the policeare trying to protect the ac-cused by registering a case ofsuspicious death.

The Manthani police ofthe newly formed Ramagun-dam police commissioner-ate, who had stuck to theirstand that it was a case of

suspicious death, could notexplain how Police InspectorPrabhakar had concludedthat it was suicide even be-fore doctors confirmed thecause of death, they said.

The organisations have ac-cused him of helping the cul-prits at the behest ofManthani’s ruling Telangana

Rashtra Samithi MLA PuttaMadhu who belongs to the‘upper’ caste. CommissionerVikram Jeet Duggal trans-ferred the Inspector twodays ago.

A resident of Khanapurvillage, Madhukar, a tractordriver, was reportedly inlove with a woman of an ‘up-

per’ caste in Venkatapur, loc-ated 10 km away.

Physical injuriesMadhukar left his house onthe morning of March 13 andwas found dead in thebushes the next day on thevillage outskirts.

“There were injuries onhis eyes and private parts.He was tortured to death bythe woman’s family mem-bers who came to know ofthe love affair,” Madhukar'ssibling M. Shekhar alleged.

Even as Madhukar’s fam-ily members alleged foulplay in the death, the policemaintained that Madhukarcommitted suicide by con-suming pesticide.

Suspicions raised by thevictim's family got supportafter some photos of hisbody with injuries surfacedon social media.

Dalit death: HC orders fresh autopsy Civil society organisations allege role of ‘upper’ castes in the mysterious incident

Raising questions: Parents of Madhukar, who was founddead last month, suspect foul play. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT


HYDERABAD The dawn-to-dusk hartalcalled by the United Demo-cratic Front and the Bhar-atiya Janata Party — toprotest against the ‘excess-ive’ use of force by the po-lice on Mahija on Wednes-day — hit normal life acrossKerala on Thursday.

Ms. Mahija is the motherof Jishnu Prannoy, studentof the Nehru College of En-gineering, Thrissur, whowas found hanging in hishostel room in January.

Family on indefinite fastVery few private vehicleswere on the road in mostparts of the State.

The Kerala State RoadTransport Corporation oper-ated only some services andprivate transport carriages.Universities chose to post-pone their examinations.

Mahija and her brotherhave begun an indefinite fastat the Government MedicalCollege here.

Mahija’s daugtherAvishna too has launched anindefinite fast at their homeat Vadakara in Kozhikodedistrict.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi-jayan, however, defendedWednesday’s police actionstrongly. The governmenthad announced the forma-tion of a Special Investiga-tion Team led by an ADGP tonab the absconding accusedin the case, he said.

Called to protest police action on Jishnu Prannoy’s mother


THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

An ordeal: People walk to the Thiruvananthapuram railwaystation on Thursday. * C. RATHEESH KUMAR

Hartal hits normal life in Kerala

The BJP has demanded ac-tion against Karnataka Con-gress women’s wing presid-ent Laxmi Hebbalkar forallegedly distributing moneyin the bypoll-bound Gundlu-pet constituency.

This followed a video clip,purportedly showing hergiving money to a woman,going viral.

The BJP, however, is yet tolodge an official complaint.The Congress, meanwhile,has questioned the authenti-city of the video.

The blurry video showsMs. Hebbalkar with a wad ofcurrency notes but the con-text in which she was hold-ing them is not clear.

Reacting to the incident,Chief Minister Siddarmaiahsaid the BJP should file a

complaint with the ElectionCommission if it had cred-ible evidence.

‘Footage not clear’ “So far, the BJP has not givenany official complaint. In theabsence of evidence, wecannot even presume thatthis incident took place inGundlupet. The video does

not show who is sitting nextto her, and we have tried toconvince the party to file anofficial complaint, untilwhich we cannot proceed,”said B. Ramu, Chamara-janagar Deputy Commis-sioner and District ElectionOfficer.

Mysuru Deputy Commis-sioner D. Randeep, who isalso the District Election Of-ficer, told The Hindu that BJPleader Shobha Karandlajehad submitted a letter al-leging that money was beingdistributed in the houses ofprominent political leaders,including H.C. Ma-hadevappa, which was notspecific to the case involvingMs. Hebbalkar.

“We have decided to stepup our vigilance. Thesehouses will be under surveil-lance,” said Mr. Randeep.

BJP accuses Cong. leader of dolingout money ahead of byelection

Stops short of iling oicial complaint with poll panel


MYSURU

Laxmi Hebbalkar

Ananthu Ashokan, a Plus-Two student, was beaten todeath by a gang in Cherthalaon Wednesday night. TheKerala Police said 10 per-sons were taken into cus-tody in connection with theincident.

The teenager was re-portedly attacked by thegang around 11 p.m. nearthe Neelimangalam Raja-rajeswari Temple at Pattana-kkad where he had gone fora festival. He had been in-volved in a quarrel with hisschoolmates earlier. Themurder was said to be theresult of the skirmish.

‘No weapons used’The attackers included RSSworkers but the incidentwas not a political murder, a

police official said. The vic-tim died of grievous injuriessuffered in the physical at-tack. No weapons were re-portedly used in themurder.

The LDF and the UDFhave called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Alappuzhadistrict on Friday to protestagainst the murder.

Former RSS loyalistLDF district committee con-vener R. Nasser alleged thatthe RSS was behind themurder. The deceased hadbeen an RSS loyalist earlier,but had kept away from itsprogrammes in recenttimes, he said in a state-ment. Cherthala townwould be exempted fromthe hartal in view of thePooram festival at thetemple, the statement said.

Plus-2 student beatento death in Kerala

It’s not a political murder, say police


ALAPPUZHA

Foundation stone ofSabarimala mast placed SABARIMALA

Sabarimala Devaswom

workers placed the specially

carved foundation stone of

the new temple mast in a pit

prepared on the Ayyappa

temple premises on

Thursday. The ceremonial

installation of the stone will

be held between 10.45 a.m.

and 12 noon on Friday.

IN BRIEF

Heat claims 11 lives in Anantapur districtANANTAPUR

More than 11 persons are

suspected to have died in the

past 15 days due to sunstroke

and exhaustion across

Anantapur district. In the last

six days, eight persons have

died.The officially accepted

figure is six, not counting the

three deaths on Wednesday

and Thursday. Temperature

continues to rise in spite of

the brief showers over the

last two days.

YSR Congress Party chiefY.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy,along with a delegation ofparty leaders on Thursday,called on President PranabMukherjee. He submitted amemorandum demandingaction against the TDP gov-ernment for providing Cab-inet berths to four “turn-coat’’ MLAs of his party.

Mr. Reddy later told The

Hindu: “The Andhra Pra-desh Chief Minister and theTelugu Desam president N.Chandrababu Naidu is re-sorting to unscrupulousmethods to woo and inducethe Opposition party legis-lators to cross over to hisparty with corrupt money.We have sought the inter-vention of the President.”

The YSRCP leader is on a

“save democracy mission”in Andhra Pradesh. Accord-ing to his party, he will meetleaders from across thepolitical spectrum in thenext two to three days togalvanise support to plugthe loopholes in the Anti-Defection Act.

‘Democracy in peril’The four-page memor-andum alleged that the de-fectors had become Minis-ters without resigning fromtheir party and posts. It saiddefection cases werepending against them.

The YSRCP chief said thiswould imperil democraticvalues. The TDP had cor-rupt money to buy offMLAs. “This has beenproved in the case of cash-for-vote scam,” he said aftermeeting the President.

Jagan seeks actionagainst TDP govt.

Submits memorandum to President


NEW DELHI

Centre declares Keraladrought-hitTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The Centre has declared

Kerala drought-hit, along

with seven other States.

Revenue Minister E.

Chandrasekharan said the

declaration was based on a

memorandum submitted to

the Union Ministry of

Agriculture seeking assistance

for drought relief activities.

He said a Central team would

visit Kerala on April 18 to

assess the situation. The eight

States have been sanctioned

an assistance of ₹24,000

crore from the outlay for the

Mahatma Gandhi National

Rural Employment Guarantee

Scheme.




NATION

Award for photo editorof The Hindu

MUMBAI

Prashant Nakwe, photo

editor of The Hindu, Mumbai,

won the second runner-up

award for best published

photograph at the Standard

Chartered Marathon 2017. Mr.

Nakwe won a citation and a

cash award for his photo of

professional runners hurtling

towards the finish line, from

among 120 entries from 19

publications.

IN BRIEF

Statement recorded inNarada sting operationNEW DELHI

The CBI on Thursday recorded

the statement of Mathew

Samuel of Narada which had

conducted a sting allegedly

against the Trinamool

Congress members. The

agency asked Mr. Samuel

questions pertaining to the

circumstances in which he got

the sting conducted. The

tapes were made public

ahead of the West Bengal

Assembly polls last year.

The Central Bureau of In-vestigation has re-registereda case against former Hary-ana Chief MinisterBhupinder Hooda and oth-ers in connection with al-leged irregularities in the al-lotment of land to theAssociated Journals Limited,the publisher of National

Herald, in Panchkula. The Enforcement Direct-

orate is already probing themoney laundering angle inthe case.

According to the case, the3,500 square-metre plot loc-ated in the Institutional Area

of Panchkula was allotted toAJL in October 1982 and sub-sequently, the possessionwas also given within days.

“As per the terms andconditions of allotment, itwas necessary for the com-pany to start the construc-tion on the plot within sixmonths from the date of de-

livery of possession andcomplete the constructionwithin two years. The com-pany failed to raise the con-struction within the giventime. Hence, the allotmentwas cancelled. The appealsfiled against cancellation ofallotment were also dis-missed,” said CBI spokesper-son R.K. Gaur.

It has been alleged thatMr. Hooda, as the thenHUDA Chairman, in viola-tion of the rules and by mis-using his official position, re-allocated the plot on Octo-ber 28, 2005, at the originalrates, plus interest thereontill date.

CBI re-registers case against Hooda

‘Irregularities’ in land allotment to Associated Journals Limited


New Delhi

Bhupinder Hooda

With autonomous vehiclesand robot-executed surger-ies becoming commonplacearound the world, the De-partment of Science andTechnology (DST) has initi-ated a Cyber Physical Sys-tems (CPS) programme. Stillat a nascent stage, it hasbeen conceived as a ₹3,000-crore exercise that would, atfirst, take root in some of theIndian Institutes of Techno-logy (IITs), according to offi-cials familiar with the pro-ject.

An initial budget of ₹100crore has been earmarked

for the project in the currentfinancial year.

Interdisciplinary fieldtCPS is an interdisciplinaryfield that deals with the de-ployment of computer-basedsystems that do things in thephysical world, such as, forinstance, the self-driven carsproduced by Google andTesla.

However, even smart grids(where electricity is optim-ally distributed on the basisof calculations in real timeby micro-processors) as wellas autonomous unmannedvehicles and aircraft naviga-tion systems qualify as ‘cyber

physical systems.’K.R. Murali Mohan, who

heads the CPS programme atthe DST, told The Hindu thatthe thrust of the initiativewould be to “break silos” inacademia and encouragegreater synergy between theuniversity scientists and in-dustry.

“Centres of excellencewould be developed at theIITs and universities. Therewould be dedicated courses[on the subject],” he added.

Important area: PMPrime Minister NarendraModi had referred to cyberphysical systems earlier this

year at the Indian ScienceCongress in Tirupati. Point-ing out that it was an “im-portant area that needed tobe addressed,” he had notedthat it had the “potential topose unprecedented chal-lenges and stresses to ourdemographic dividend.”

By ensuring that the fu-ture workforce is skilled in“robotics, artificial intelli-gence, digital manufactur-ing, big data analysis, deeplearning, quantum commu-nication and Internet-of-Things,” it could be turnedinto a huge opportunity, hehad said.

Though India is only now

developing a programme onCPS, the National ScienceFoundation of the UnitedStates had identified it as akey area of inter-disciplinaryresearch back in 2003.

According to Sandeep Ku-mar Shukla, computer sci-ence professor at IIT-Kanpur,the success of such a pro-gramme would require con-sortia of researchers in thefield to work together. “IITMumbai, for instance, isknown for research in powersystems, and IIT-Kanpur, forcomputer science. You needcertain groups [with expert-ise] to come together,” hetold The Hindu.

Centre kicks of programme on cyber physical systemsIt deals with self-driven cars, autonomous unmanned vehicles and aircraft navigation systems

Jacob Koshy

NEW DELHI

An eight-year-old girl foundliving with a troop of mon-keys in the KatarniyaghatWildlife Sanctuary is nowundergoing treatment at ahospital here.

After being spotted bylocals in the Motipur rangeof the sanctuary, a policeteam managed to rescueher in January, but not be-fore overcoming stiff resist-ance from the monkeys.

Assistant Superintendentof Police Dinesh Tripathisaid it appeared from herbehaviour that she hadbeen living with the mon-keys for a long time.

She is unable to commu-nicate and screams whenpeople approach her.

Visual in social mediaChief Medical Superintend-ent D.K. Singh said this washindering propertreatment.

Her curious condition

came into the limelightafter visuals went viral onsocial media in the pastcouple of days, police said.

“When rescued she hadunkempt nails and hair,and there were wounds allover her body... Our prior-ity is to give her propermedical care and look forher parents,” the ASP said.

Girl living withmonkeys rescuedFound inside wildlife sanctuary

Press Trust of India

Bahraich

Back from the wild: The8-year-old girl at a hospitalin Bahraich . * PTI

The Enforcement Director-ate (ED) on Thursday car-ried out searches in 10States against senior gov-ernment officials who facecorruption charges incases registered by variousenforcement agencies, in-cluding one related to thealleged ‘memorial’ scamduring the Mayawati gov-ernment in Uttar Pradesh.

The development comesdays after the agencycracked down on shellcompanies across 16 Statesas part of the Central gov-ernment’s drive againstblack money.

Money laundering On Thursday, the searcheswere conducted in Delhi,Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka, West Bengaland Goa, among otherStates.

The ED has already re-gistered money launderingcases against the accusedpersons.

Searchesagainst govt.oicialsin 10 StatesSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Attorneys of former DelhiUniversity professor G.N.Saibaba are appealing tohigher courts for his releasefrom jail as they fear thewheelchair-bound professorwon’t be able to survive along jail term.

The professor was sen-tenced to life imprisonmentlast month, for having Maoistlinks, by a court in Maha-rashtra’s Gadchiroli district.Four others, including aformer student of JawaharlalNehru University ( JNU), HemMishra, and human rightsactivist Prashant Rahi, werealso given the samesentence.

Advocate Barun Kumar,who is assisting SurendraGadling, the senior counselin the case, said, “[Prof.Saibaba] is 90% physicallydisabled and we don’t thinkhe will live for long if he con-tinues in jail for more than ayear. We have already ap-pealed against the lower

court’s judgement in theNagpur Bench of the Bom-bay High Court and our ap-peals have been admitted.The court has now asked forrecords from the lowercourt.”

Plan to challenge The lawyers also plan tochallenge his conviction onsome special grounds andseek an early release on bail.Mr. Kumar, however, de-clined to disclose more de-

tails about the petition.Meanwhile, after visiting

Prof. Saibaba in the NagpurCentral Jail on Wednesday,his wife, Vasanti Kumari,said, “His health is in danger.He is not getting the requiredmedical support, and hisblood pressure abnormal aswell. He has also started suf-fering from pancreatic painand is unable to consumethe jail food.” The Nagpur Jailin-charge could not bereached for a comment.

Professor’s wife, attorneys fear he won’t survive a long jail termPavan Dahat

Nagpur

Professor G.N. Saibaba * FILE PHOTO

Saibaba’s lawyers hastenappeal against his sentence

North India will soon get itsfirst DNA bank for wildlife.Scientists at the IndianVeterinary Research Insti-tute (IVRI) in Bareilly are inthe process of collectingthe DNA samples of allkinds of wildlife to set upthe bank.

It is expected to help inwildlife research and alsobring down poaching.

According to principalscientist and in-charge ofthe Centre for Wildlife,IVRI, Anil Kumar Sharma,scientists have been so farbeen able to collect about140 samples of 25 wild an-imals. The DNA bank is ex-pected to start from thisyear end.

Mr. Sharma told The

Hindu on phone fromBareilly: “We are making abaseline data of differentwild animals. Every timewe receive some identifiedspecimen, viscera, skin,part of the body of an an-imal from either the forestdepartment or zoo, wetake out the DNA.”

North to getwildlife DNA bank Staff Reporter

Meerut




CMYK

M ND-ND

EDITORIAL

The central bank was not expected to tinker with

key policy rates in its irst monetary policy review

of 2017-18 unveiled on Thursday, following its de-

cision to shift from an accommodative to a neutral mon-

etary policy stance in February. The Monetary Policy

Committee chaired by Reserve Bank of India Governor

Urjit Patel has, in fact, decided to raise the rate at which

the central bank borrows funds from banks (the reverse

repo rate) by 25 basis points, from 5.75% to 6%, while

leaving other policy rates untouched. This marginal

change is aimed at sucking out from the system excess

liquidity that remains a lingering concern, despite com-

ing of its peak in the aftermath of the demonetisation

exercise. The RBI has also proposed a new liquidity

management tool that awaits government approval,

making the draining of surplus liquidity a critical prior-

ity all through this year. The eicacy of the RBI’s liquid-

ity management toolkit will impinge on another key

concern: inlation, which is expected to climb to 5% by

the second half of this iscal. The RBI says achieving the

stated target of 4% inlation even next year could be

challenging, with no “lucky disinlationary forces” ex-

pected, such as benign commodity and oil prices. It has

also pointed to a one-time upside risk to inlation with

the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.

The RBI is quite optimistic about an uptick in the eco-

nomy this year, projecting 7.4% growth in Gross Value-

Added, compared to 6.7% in 2016-17. Along with im-

proved prospects for the world economy a rebound in

discretionary consumer spending at home is likely, in

line with the “pace of remonetisation” and investment

demand on account of lowered interest rates. While the

government may take heart from the higher growth

projection, it must pay equal heed to Mr. Patel’s plain-

speak on four key issues. First, the need to urgently re-

solve the surge of bad loans on bank books, for which

the RBI will unveil a new Prompt Corrective Action

framework by the middle of this month. Without this, a

virtuous cycle of healthy credit growth necessary for in-

vestment and job creation will remain elusive. Second,

the RBI has reminded the government there will be

“clearly more demand for capital” in the coming days.

The government’s allocation of ₹10,000 crore to recap-

italise public sector banks is obviously inadequate.

Third, while banks have reduced lending rates, the RBI

has pointed out there is room for more cuts if rates on

small savings schemes are corrected. Though a for-

mula-based rate was adopted to set these rates last

April, small savings schemes still deliver 61-95 basis

points higher returns than what they should if the for-

mula is followed, as per the RBI. Most important, the

government must not ignore Mr. Patel’s categorical call

to eschew loan waivers of the kind just announced in Ut-

tar Pradesh. This, he warned, would crowd out private

investments and dent the nation’s balance sheet.

Growth, with caveatsThe Centre must pay heed to

RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s plainspeak

The death of a man from injuries at the hands of

“cow protection” vigilantes in Rajasthan’s Alwar

district rightly animated Parliament. The details

of the violence inlicted by a mob on Saturday are

chilling and vividly caught on mobile phone video, and

demand an assurance from the government that justice

will be done. It is unfortunate that as the opposition

raised the issue, the response from the treasury

benches was anything but satisfactory. In fact, coupled

with comments from spokespersons of the BJP and

even the Rajasthan Home Minister, the message from

the authorities indicates that an outrageous equival-

ence is being sought to be made between the lynch

mob’s actions and the victims’ alleged — simply “al-

leged” — actions. The facts are these. Pehlu Khan, the

deceased, and four others were on their way back to

Haryana after buying cattle in Jaipur. A mob set itself

upon them in Behror on the Jaipur-Delhi National High-

way. The violence was explained as an attempt to pre-

vent the “illegal” transportation of cattle. Instead of

condemning the violence and stating that nobody has

the right to attack individuals no matter what they may

and may not have been doing, all that has emanated

from ministers at the Centre and in Rajasthan is evasive

prevarication. State Home Minister Gulab Chand

Kataria said no one had the right to take the law into his

own hands, but added it was “all right” that those illeg-

ally moving cattle were nabbed. In the Rajya Sabha,

Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi implied that no incident

of such cow vigilantism had occurred.

Over the last three years, governments in diferent

States, most of them ruled by the BJP, have tightened ex-

isting laws against cow slaughter. It is no accident that

the period has been attended by an aggressive vigilant-

ism. From the killing of a man in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh

in 2015 on suspicion that he had beef in his possession,

to the logging of a group of Dalit men who were skin-

ning a dead cow in Una in Gujarat last year, cow vigil-

antes, in the guise of being gau rakshaks, have created

an atmosphere of fear. It is disturbing that legislative ini-

tiatives and mob violence have been moving in step. It is

also true that while distancing organisations of the

Sangh Parivar from the incidents, individuals ailiated

to these organisations, including the BJP, have played

down the instances of violence by focussing on how the

alleged crimes had ofended believers. And in this con-

stant din of pledging support to the larger efort to pro-

tect the cow, there is little oicial deliberation on the ac-

tual implementation of anti-cow slaughter laws, let

alone a recognition of the incentives these laws create

for the illegal movement of animals across jurisdic-

tions. By failing to condemn lynch mobs for murder and

bring vigilantes to book, the government only dimin-

ishes Indian democracy.

Barbarism unlimited A man has been murdered by cow vigilantes.

The murderers must be brought to book

Maintenance of good relationswith the neighbours, friendship toall, malice to none — is the policy Ipursue throughout my life. My onlydesire in my political thought is tobuild a society for common peoplewhere none will sufer from thecurse of poverty while their basicneeds will be met. In other words,they will get the opportunity tohave the right to food, clothing,shelter, medicare, education, im-proved livelihood and a decent life.

I received the teaching of suchsacriice from my father. My father,Father of the Nation, BangabandhuSheikh Mujibur Rahman, did hispolitics with a motto to change thelot of the people. Wherever therewas an injustice, he would protestit. This was the policy ofBangabandhu and he was alwaysvocal for establishing the rights ofthe people. And, for that reason,he had to embrace imprisonmenttime and again and endure perse-cution. But he remained irm onthe question of principle.Bangladesh earned its independ-ence under his leadership.

The support and cooperation ofneighbouring and friendly coun-tries had accelerated our goal toearn the independence ofBangladesh. Among those, Indiaplayed the leading role.

India’s helping handThe Pakistani military junta star-ted a genocide launching armed at-tacks on the innocent Bangalees onMarch 25, 1971.

In the 1970 general elections,people of Bangladesh voted forBangladesh Awami League andmade it the majority party. This isfor the irst time that Bangalees hadgot the mandate to rule Pakistan.Although the population of EastBengal constituted the majority inPakistan, the Bangalee nation wassubjected to oppression and sub-jugation all the time, and deprivedof its rights. The nation was aboutto lose its right to speak in the

mother tongue. It was unthinkableto the military rulers that the Ban-galee nation would ascend to statepower and that was why they im-posed the uneven war onBangalees.

With the people’s mandate, theFather of the Nation declared theindependence of Bangladesh anddirected the people to carry on thewar of liberation. Responding tohis call, the people of Bangladeshtook arms and the liberation warbegan. The Pakistani rulers andtheir local collaborators engagedin committing genocide, rape,looting, arson and attacked the in-nocent people of Bangladesh. Theworld woke up. People and theGovernment of India stood besidethe oppressed humanity. Theygave food and shelter to nearly 10million refugees of Bangladesh.They extended all-out cooperationin our great liberation war andplayed an important role in creat-ing global opinion in favour ofBangladesh. This helped us to earnvictory and the country was freedfrom enemy occupation.

We are grateful to the friendlypeople of India. The Indian govern-ment had played an important roleeven in getting Bangabandhu re-leased from the Pakistani prison.Shrimati Indira Gandhi had playedthe leading role in earning our in-dependence, freedom ofBangabandhu and bringing himback to his beloved people. We gother government, political partiesand above all the people of Indiabeside us during our hard times.

The killers brutally assassinatedthe Father of the Nation on August15, 1975. I lost 18 of my family mem-bers, including my mother, threebrothers and sister-in-laws. I, alongwith my younger sister Rehana,survived as we were abroad. In ourbad days, India again stood besideus. I could not come back home forsix long years. The BangladeshAwami League elected me its pres-ident in my absence. I returnedhome with the support of thepeople.

In Bangabandhu’s foostepsOn my return, I started a move-ment for the restoration ofpeople’s basic rights and demo-cracy. We formed the governmentin 1996 after 21 years. I got the op-

portunity to work for the people. Idevoted myself to the task of wel-fare of my countrymen not as aruler but as a servant. My father gotthe opportunity to build the war-ravaged country for only three anda half years. And I got the chance toserve the people after 21 years.

During that time, the people ofBangladesh realised that the ob-jective of a government is to ac-complish the task of people’s wel-fare. We signed the Chittagong HillTracts Peace Treaty ending thetwo-decade-long conlict. Webrought back 62,000 refugeesfrom India and rehabilitated themin the country. We signed theGanges Water Sharing Treaty withIndia. The country’s imagebrightened in the outside world.

Two steps backA ive-year period is too short forthe development of any country.We couldn’t win the election of2001. The Bangladesh NationalistParty-Jamaat-e-Islami assumedstate power and destroyed all ourachievements. Again, the coun-try’s progress sufered a setback.Militancy, terrorism, corruptionand misrule made people’s lifemiserable. The country becamechampions in the corruption indexive times. The minority com-munity became victims of torture.The country’s socio-economic de-velopment had been stalled. TheAwami League leaders and work-ers became targets of persecution.Bangladesh once again fell underemergency rule. We demandedrestoration of democracy. Wefaced jail, torture and false cases.But inally, people triumphed.

The national election was heldafter seven years in 2008. Winningthe election, we formed the gov-ernment. We started implementa-tion of a Five Year Plan and 10-year-long Poverty Reduction StrategyPlan. We have been working toturn Bangladesh into a middle-in-come country by 2021 and a de-veloped one by 2041. The people of

Bangladesh started getting the be-neit of it.

Bangladesh is marching ahead.We earned over 7.1% GDP growth.Inlation is contained within 5.28%and the poverty rate has been re-duced to 22%. At this moment, onmany socio-economic indicators,Bangladesh’s standing is betterthan many other South Asian na-tions whereas a few years ago ourposition was at the bottom. But westill have a long way to go to ensureprosperity of the people. And weare working towards that end.

My objective is to fulil thedream of Bangabandhu throughbuilding a hunger- and poverty-free Golden Bangladesh being im-bued with the spirit of the War ofLiberation.

Regional cooperation the keyI always refer to poverty as themain enemy of this region. A largenumber of people of Bangladeshand India sufer from malnutrition.They are deprived of their basicneeds. Lack of nutrition is imped-ing the growth of a huge number ofchildren. They don’t have propermedicare and schooling. We haveto change this scenario. We havethe ability. The only thing we needis to change our mentality. I thinkeradication of poverty should bethe irst and foremost priority ofour political leaders. And, intoday’s globalised world, it is dii-cult to do something in isolation.Rather, collaboration and coopera-tion can make many things easier.That is why I always put emphasison regional cooperation and im-proved connectivity.

I believe in peace. Only peacefulco-existence can ensure peace.There are some issues between us.But I believe that any problem canbe resolved in a peaceful manner.We have demonstrated our will-power through the implementa-tion of the Land Boundary Agree-ment. There are some more issueslike sharing of waters of the com-mon rivers (the Teesta issue is cur-rently under discussion) that needto be resolved. I’m an optimisticperson. I would like to rest my truston the goodwill of the great peopleand the leaders of our neighbour. Iknow resources are scarce, but wecan share those for the beneit ofthe people of both countries. We

share the same culture and herit-age. There are a lot of commonalit-ies (at least with West Bengal). Weshare our Lalon, Rabindranath,Kazi Nazrul, Jibanananda; there issimilarity in our language, we arenourished by the waters of thePadma, Brahmaputra, Teesta; andso on. The Sundarbans is our com-mon pride. We don’t have anystrife over it. Then, why shouldthere be any contention over thewaters of common rivers?

Our foreign policy’s core dictumis: ‘Friendship to all, malice tonone.’ The Father of the Nation,Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rah-man, deined the policy. We arealso inspired from his words: “Thevery struggle of Bangladesh sym-bolised the universal struggle forpeace and justice. It was, there-fore, only natural that Bangladesh,from its very inception, shouldstand irmly by the side of the op-pressed people of the world.” At in-ternational forums, we support allinternational eforts towards build-ing a just and peaceful world.

In recent years, especially after2009, when my party assumed of-ice, cooperation betweenBangladesh and India has beenbolstered manifold. Rail, road, andwaterway connectivity boosted.Trade, commerce and investmentmaximised. People-to-people con-tact also got momentum. Such mu-tual cooperation is deinitely bene-itting our people. Relations, at apersonal or national level, largelydepend on give-and-take meas-ures. Mexican Nobel LaureateOctavio said ‘Friendship is a river’.I think that the friendship betweenBangladesh and India is like a low-ing river and full with generosity.This is the spirit of the people ofthe two neighbours. I think if ourcommitments are honest, wewould be able to achieve manythings that are beneicial to ourpeople. On the eve of my four-dayvisit to India, I myself, and on be-half of my countrymen, would liketo convey the heartiest greetings tothe people of India. I hope that thecooperative relations betweenBangladesh and India would reacha new height through my visit.

Sheikh Hasina is the Prime Minister of

Bangladesh

Friendship is a lowing riverIf our commitments are honest, India and Bangladesh can achieve many things that are beneicial to our people

SHEIKH HASINA

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Father Time has left nobody un-touched. Not Sachin Tendulkar, notLeander Paes, not ViswanathanAnand. The mind wants to con-tinue, but the body doesn’t follow.When the body shows signs ofpulling itself together, the mind isall over the place. It magniies everyloss and hurtles one towards the in-ish. As the legendary John McEnroewrote in his memoir Serious, “It’snever possible to be prepared whenthe future takes over from the past.”

In the last three months, how-ever, a certain Roger Federer hasseemingly deied all such hypo-theses. At the grand old age of 35,

popularly called the daddy of thetour, for he always travels with hiswife and four kids in tow, Federerwon a Grand Slam title at this year’sAustralian Open after a gap ofnearly ive years. The 18th Major hasnow been backed up with the In-dian Wells-Miami Masters double —a feat which he last accomplished athis peak in 2006 — and a return tothe top ive in the ATP rankings.

Following an injury-hit 2016,those who still kept faith in Federerhave no doubt tasted salvation now.But elite sport is much more thanthat. Fandom in sport is selish andrarely leaves space for the strug-gling team or athlete becausepeople always want happy memor-ies. There is an enormous difer-ence between how an elite cham-pion sees himself beyond a certainpoint and how his supporters seehim. If anything, Federer’s achieve-ments — the successes of the lastthree months, and dispiriting losses

in the four and a half years prior tothat — reveal this sporting dynamicin all its glory.

The last time Federer had a simil-arly gratifying run was in 2015,when he inished runner-up atWimbledon, U.S. Open, ATP WorldTour Finals and won the CincinnatiMasters. It, however, didn’t elicit aresponse similar to the one we seenow primarily because things aretoo result-oriented for fans but not

as much for the player himself. Per-haps the reason why he has been sosuccessful for so long is that he canstill not win certain things and yetconsider the process itself as atriumph.

The Zen of detachmentIn late 2015, Federer was in factasked how he has been able to man-age such a long career. “A change ishow you manage your experience,”he said. “Because experience canbe a very good thing, but sometimesit can also be a hindrance. You’renot playing as freely, you’re playingthe percentages too much. It be-comes too calculated. I have to re-mind myself to play like a juniorsometimes.”

Play like a junior is what Federerhas done this year. That he hasbested his nemesis Rafael Nadal enroute to each of his three titles lendsa degree of immortality unseen inrecent times — though to be fair, Fe-

derer still doesn’t own Nadal theway the Spaniard has ownedFederer.

Then again, the great perspectivehe has will tell him that this phasewill not last forever. The World No.1ranking may still come to him, buthe has already made it clear that it’snot something he wants to grindhimself towards.

During Wimbledon 2016, whilepreviewing Federer’s semi-inalagainst Canada’s Milos Raonic —which he eventually lost in ive sets— Paul Annacone, the celebratedformer coach of Pete Sampras andone who coached Federer to the2012 Wimbledon title and to the No.1 spot, told Sports Illustrated that hehad never been around a playerwho did a better job of “kind of de-taching from any wasted energy”.

The ringing endorsement of thesame is 2017 thus far.

[email protected]

Why a Federer is foreverExperience has never shackled Roger Federer, explaining his success at the grand old age of 35

N. Sudarshan

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Escalating tensionChina knows well that theDalai Lama is a spiritualleader who has visitedArunachal Pradesh severaltimes in the past. So why isit protesting now (“Tiesseverely damaged, saysChina”, April 6)? Chinamust learn to respect thesovereignty of India bystrengthening ties instead ofneedlessly poking its nose inIndia’s internal afairs andissuing damagingstatements which will onlyescalate tension in theborder areas, servingnobody’s interest in thelong run.K.R. Srinivasan,

Secunderabad

Farm loan waiverThe United ProgressiveAlliance government’s loanwaiver scheme of 2008helped it retain power in2009 (“In largesse wetrust”, April 6). Since then,political parties havedangled the carrot of farmloan waivers to woo voters.

There are existingprovisions to help farmerswho are not able to repayloans for reasons that arebeyond their control(natural disasters or anunexpected crash in marketprices). Relief could includerescheduling of repaymentinstalments, convertingaccumulated interests intolong-term loans to be paidafter a holiday period,reduction in interest rates,and so on. Loan write-ofscould be considered on acase-by-case basisdepending on the protectednature of the distress. Anacross-the-board loanwaiver does not make anydistinction between farmerswho have not been afectedin any way and those whoface agrarian distress owingto various reasons. However, it is unfair toblame the political classalone for resorting to iscaladventurism to capture orretain power. The votersseem to be easily enticed bypromises of loan waivers

without considering the factthat the beneiciaries willhave to share the burden ofthe waiver money alongwith the larger society inone form or another. Thesimple yet unacknowledgedfact is that money for thewaiver has to come fromsomewhere. In the longterm, loan write-ofs willcome to bite all of us in oneway or another in the formof unforeseen costs.V.N. Mukundarajan,

Thiruvananthapuram

■ Farm loan waivers havebecome sops that populistpoliticians misuse with noregard for the welfare offarmers and thedevelopment of agriculture.Uttar Pradesh, which is thelargest contributor toIndia’s agricultural output,deserves better in terms offollow-up policies enablinggreater infrastructureinvestment, bettertechnology, crop insurancesystems, and pluggingleakages in the ield-to-

market chain. The farmeconomy needs to bestrengthened. We mustempower farmers to claimtheir remuneration insteadof letting the middlemenand cartels rob them of theprice of their eforts. Loanwaivers are onlymomentary relief; hence,an eicient long-termagricultural policy is to beframed to stop this viciouscycle of debt and distressacross India.Salini Johnson,

New Delhi

■ While larger plans toimprove the farm sector arewelcome, the loan waiverscheme of the BJP in UttarPradesh and the order ofthe Madras High Courtdirecting the Tamil Nadugovernment to extend asimilar farm loan waiverscheme for small farmerscan’t be dismissed as anominous trend for a countrythat could face a Malthusiannightmare in the future.With the country’s

population projected toincrease, with thecontinuing loss of hugeswathes of farmland toindustry and real estate,and with the massivedisplacement of farmlabour, could India slideback into the dark dayswhen it imported wheatunder PL-480 from the U.S.?There is widespreadconcern that the exchequerhas lost trillions of rupees innearly a decade indistributing tax largesse toindustry, besides trillions innon-performing assets withthe public sector banks,created largely by the richand famous. Any farm loanwaiver across the countrywill be chicken feed incomparison.Kangayam R. Narasimhan,

Chennai

Miraculous recovery Central Reserve PoliceForce oicer ChetanCheeta’s miraculousrecovery after being struckby nine bullets is yet

another example of theindomitable spirit of India’sdefence services (“CRPFoicer bounces back after 9bullets, 16 days in coma”,April 6). On-ield battlesseem easier compared tolife battles in intensive careunits. And the brave oicerhas shown that he wasequally prepared for both.The team of doctors thattook care of Mr. Cheetaduring this critical time alsodeserves appreciation. However, the one thing thatstruck me was Mr. Cheeta’swife Uma Singh’s wish to seeher husband again inuniform. This is the highestlevel of one’s devotion toduty. A cheetah is the fastestcat in the wild. The braveoicer has shown that hecarries no less of thatattitude when it comes toguarding his own nation.Kiran Babasaheb Ransing,

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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Twenty-three years ago,Justice B.L. Hansaria ofthe Supreme Court de-scribed the plight of a rapevictim forced to stand trialfor the “crime” of attemptto suicide. In his judgmentin P. Rathinam v. Union ofIndia (1994), the judge de-scribed the trial in oneword: “persecution”.

In a passionate appeal,Justice Hansaria asked:“Why persecute thealready tormented wo-man? Have we becomesoulless? What is requiredis to reach the soul to stirit to make it cease to becruel. Let us humaniseour laws. It is never late todo so.”

It has taken Parliamentover two decades since topass the new MentalHealthcare Bill.

The Lok Sabha, late lastmonth, passed the Billwhich decriminalises afailed suicide. The Bill pre-sumes that the person wil-ted under severe stressand attempted suicide. In-

stead of punishing him/her under Section 309 ofthe Indian Penal Code (at-tempt to suicide) with anopen trial, a fine (eventhough in most cases atoken amount) or impris-onment extending to ayear, the new Bill rein-vents the state in the roleof a caregiver to the sur-vivor of the suicide at-tempt. The goal is to pre-vent the person fromtrying the act again.

One clause in the newBill says the government“shall, in particular, plan,design and implementpublic health programmesto reduce suicides and at-tempted suicides.”

In 1985, Justice R.A. Ja-hagirdar of the BombayHigh Court gave four reas-ons why Section 309 wasunconstitutional: Nobodyagrees on what constitutessuicide, much less attemp-ted suicide; mens rea isnot clearly discernible;temporary insanity, whichdrives suicide, is a validdefence even in hom-icides; individuals driven

to suicide require psychi-atric care.

The Law Commissionof India called Section 309“monstrous”. Criminalisa-tion of suicide was not intune with the globalwavelength, the SupremeCourt once said.

Unlike the SupremeCourt’s ConstitutionBench which concluded inthe Gian Kaur case thatthe right to life does notinclude the right to die, in-ternational case laws toler-ate even euthanasia. InMcKay v. Bergstedt (1990),the Supreme Court ofNevada took the view thatthe desire of a patient forwithdrawal of his respir-ator did not tantamount tosuicide but was rather anexercise of his constitu-tional and common lawright to “discontinue un-wanted medicaltreatment”.

However, the new Billdoes not define suicide.Differences among suicideresearchers as to whatconstitutes suicide re-main.

Suicide isn’t a criminal act

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ACT ONE

The Supreme Court’s views on suicide over the yearsKrishnadas Rajagopal

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DATA POINT

A majority of nations, nuclear have-nots, now negotiating a historicUnited Nations treaty in New York toban atomic weapons, are demon-strating unprecedented moral lead-ership on a question that continuesto threaten human survival. Predict-ably, the nine countries that cur-

rently possess these catastrophic arms, as well as others thatare part of the military blocs that some of them lead, are boy-cotting the talks that commenced last week. Even so, the lattergroup can do little to prevent an agreement whose modest aimis the codiication of the essential illegality of this last remain-ing category of weapons of mass destruction, even if theircomplete elimination is likely to prove more elusive.

Focus on humanitarian consequencesA major game changer in the decades-long global debate onnuclear disarmament appears to be the greater emphasis be-ing placed on the humanitarian consequences of the testingand detonation of nuclear weapons. This new focus has rightlyshifted attention away from the conventional narrative of pro-tection of national sovereignty and security, one that legitim-ised an arms race among nuclear weapons states, inducing po-tential aspirants to nurture superpower ambitions.

Current endeavours towards a comprehensive pact are aresult of many building blocks towards total abolition, begin-ning with the 1996 advisory opinion of the International Courtof Justice which ruled that the use of nuclear weapons had tobe compatible with humanitarian law. Yet, in a split verdict,the judges ruled that it could not pronounce deinitively on thelegality or otherwise of their use in circumstances of extremeself-defence. The landmark outcome was seized upon bymany governments and activist groups to lobby the UN with in-numerable draft conventions and resolutions in the GeneralAssembly calling for complete prohibition. Notable have beenthe three conferences on the humanitarian impact of nuclearweapons — the last one in Vienna drew participation from over150 nations and the UN. Ever since, the idea that targeting pop-ulated areas with nuclear weapons would constitute a viola-tion of humanitarian law has gained traction.

Further, several resolutions of the UN General Assemblyhave airmed that the use of nuclear weapons constitutes acrime against humanity.

Another rationale underpinning current eforts is also theneed to address the prevailing anomaly on the road to the pro-hibition of all types of weapons of mass destruction. That taskbegan with the ban on biological arms in 1975. Chemicalweapons, anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitionshave been outlawed in more recent years.

The next round of the UN talks, scheduled in late June, willgrapple with practical issues of deining the scope and reach ofthe treaty, as well as the number of ratiications required for itsentry into force. What is certain however is that once the pactbecomes law, the growing stigma attached to nuclearweapons, as well as to states that lex their military muscle, willonly further deepen.

Raging against insanity Will a UN treaty to ban atomic weaponsbe another exercise in futility?

GARIMELLA SUBRAMANIAM


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In India, racism is prac-tised in some quartersand by some Indians.This is evident in themanner in which we are

treated when we seek extension forour visas, in the problems we facein getting accommodation in thecountry, and in the general treat-ment of viewing us with suspicion.The prejudice and stereotypes areall too apparent. When we seek ac-commodation, most landlordscome out with an emphatic ‘no’without offering any explanation.We are left with little choice andmake do with what we get. We are

faced with a situation where wecannot even communicate with ourneighbours in case of an emer-gency. How do we talk with eachother with so many stigmas at-tached to us? How do we even be-gin to counter the prejudices?

Bias linked to caste system To an outsider like myself, when Ibegin to process this blatantly dis-criminatory attitude, I find that thisracism is linked to the prevalentcaste system which is very hierarch-ical. Black people, Dalits and un-touchables somehow seem to belinked to this caste system which is

discriminatory and ex-cludes people. Indiankids smoke in publicplaces. Yet when wesmoke, we are alwayssupposedly smokingmarijuana or weed,when there are manyIndians who smoke thesame. How can Africansplaying loud music be an excuse tobeat them up and complain to thepolice when Indians do the same? Iam not saying black people don’tsmoke weed or don’t do drugs butisn’t that true of others too? So, whysingle us out? Why do people herebecome aggressive when they seeus on the streets? Students from theNortheast face the same problemslike us.

Is Punjab’s drugproblem because of us?The State is reeling un-der a drug crisis affect-ing many young men. InGoa, the drug problemis largely due toEuropeans and Russi-ans who, along withlocal leaders, peddle

drugs, but will India discriminateagainst them? They give some dona-tions to NGOs and nobody daresspeak against them.

The Class XII student who passedaway in Greater Noida recently un-fortunately died of a drug overdose.He was an addict. You will beamazed to see what Indian schoolchildren are smoking. Unfortu-nately, Africa becomes a binary for

most Indians. The impression isthat we hail from a backward con-tinent, which is simply not true.Some African countries have betterhuman development indicatorsthan India and have a robust demo-cracy. Indians went as indenturedlabour to the African continent andelsewhere. If that is an acknow-ledged fact, how do Indians recon-cile with their racist attitude to-wards us? If Indians went asindentured labour and Africanswere treated like slaves, isn’t there acommon history of discriminationthat binds the two?

The wrong colour? Right from when we land here, ourcolour becomes an excuse for Indi-ans to display all their prejudices.

An extension of our visas whichshould not take more than sevendays takes at least three months forus. Police verification becomes anexcuse for extortion. Policemenkeep calling at odd hours. We aredeeply disappointed and hurt thatthe Government of India has notcondemned the attacks against us.The government must say this iswrong and that it will deal with it inan appropriate manner. The gov-ernment has to acknowledge thereis a deep-rooted prejudice first. It isonly after you acknowledge theproblem that you can address it.

But the Government of India ap-pears to be in denial. Due to thehostility of some Indians, the num-ber of African students coming tostudy in India may come down.

Is there racism in India? The Indian government must acknowledge there is

deep-rooted prejudice

Samuel Jack

is president of the

Association of African

Students in India

LEFT, RIGHT, CENTRE

LEFT

Some sporadic in-cidents cannot, andshould not, lead one tobrand any society asracist. Of course, one

cannot deny that there has beensome violence against people ofAfrican origin in some parts of thecountry. But a majority of these in-cidents have not been motivated bythe colour of the nationalities in-volved. The reasons are sex, drugtrafficking and behaviorial patternswhich unsettle the structured val-ues cherished by locals. A society’smulticulturalism depends on theblending of empathy and reason.

Chances of conflicts are higherwhen empathy and reason dimin-ish. What we are witnessing is theconflict of cultures which is a lawand order problem, not racism.

The case of Western societies Racism is a negative value of lifewhich is not a part of the Indianpsyche. That said, no society or na-tion can claim to have achieved acompletely ideal stage where its cit-izens are on their best behaviour.Whether a society is racist or be-coming racist can be judged only bythe collective consciousness of lar-ger masses. Unprovoked incidents

against Indians or Asiannationals in the form ofviolent attacks inCanada, the U.S., Aus-tralia, New Zealand tellus that all is not wellwith the melting pot ofWestern societieseither.

The notion of theOther is historically rooted in theWestern civilisation trajectorywhich erupts whenever societiesface an economic or political crisis.While the notion of egalitarianismrests easily with elites there, thisfeeling does not find resonancewith the masses. There is a hugedisconnect between academic dis-course on egalitarianism and socialrealities.

India’s history andthe psychology of itsmasses have remainedunchanged for as longas one can remember.During the anti-colonialmovement, leaders ofthe freedom movementwisely secularised thestruggle against colonial

forces. Indians had no problemwhen two westerners, George Yule(1888) and William Wedderburn(1889) became presidents of the In-dian National Congress (INC). Ac-ceptance is the norm in Indian soci-ety. There is an interestingobservation in the 1911 Census re-port that Indians had no problemsstating their religion. However,what mattered to most surveyed

was social status. Historically, Indiahas welcomed people of differentraces and creeds. The INC particip-ated in the anti-apartheid confer-ence in 1927 in Brussels.

We are one familyIt is this credo of Vasudhaiva Ku-

tumbakam (the whole universe isone family) which led Indians toembrace victims of religious or ra-cist persecutions. In 1931, as theCensus data revealed, there were24,000 Jews and 109,754 Parsis inIndia. They played a significant rolein our freedom movement and ineconomic activities that shaped In-dia. In the first session of the INC,there were nine Parsi delegates,and two each from the Muslim andChristian communities, of a total of

72. Their representation kept swell-ing in successive Congress sessions.Moreover, there has been con-sensus for Anglo-Indian representa-tion in Parliament. The funda-mental rationale underpinning thishas been one of cherishing diversit-ies. However, in India there havebeen clashes between Dalits andupper castes and some violent in-cidents against students from theNortheast. But drawing a parallelwith racism would not be correct.Racism is based on hatred whichmakes conciliation between peopleof different groups virtually im-possible. Spiritual democracy is thebasis of our secularism and ourmulticulturalism negates perpetu-ation of conflicts. These have littleto do with race.

What we are witnessing is the conlict of cultures which

is a law and order problem, not racism

Rakesh Sinha

teaches political

science at Delhi

University and is

president of the

RSS-ailiated India

Policy Foundation

RIGHT

The remarkable 1952novel Invisible Man byRalph Ellison is aboutthe experience of be-ing black in the U.S. Its

opening paragraph has the follow-ing lines: “I am a man of substance,of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids— and I might even be said to pos-sess a mind. I am invisible, under-stand, simply because people re-fuse to see me”.

The novel’s protagonist goes onto say that “the invisibility to whichI refer occurs because of a peculiardisposition of the eyes of those with

who I come in contact”. What is the peculiarity of the In-

dian eye that makes blackness suchan invisible – that is, insignificant –thing as to take an axe to it when itseeks normal, human visibility, ex-pressing the same desires and anxi-eties as those who think of them-selves if not as completely whitethen at least something like pos-sessing whiteness?

Confront the ‘messy’ presentWe could, for a start, begin with his-tory. There are, by now, a numberof books and exhibitions about an

Indian past that was ap-parently far more toler-ant of blackness. Histor-ians speak of an easyintermingling betweenIndians and people ofAfrican origin, with In-dian noblewomen tak-ing African men as lov-ers, and slaves beingraised to the status of rulers.

But to invoke history is to onlyadd to the problem of Ellison’s prot-agonist’s invisibility in the Indianpresent. History is easy. It is thepresent that is messy. A certainkind of, albeit well-meaning, his-tory has convinced us that we were,in fact, good and tolerant in thepast and hence that goodness must

lie somewhere sub-merged among us, onlyneeding minor prod-ding to emerge as joyfulguiding light of thepresent. Indians lovehistory because it al-lows an exit route to nothaving to deal with thepresent.

To the extent that 20th centuryracism has been addressed in theWest, it is not through constant ref-erences to the Black Madonna inChristian iconography andShakespeare’s Othello in literature.No. It has been done through ad-dressing the root causes and reas-ons for intolerance in the present.

We in India refuse to deal with

our present because history is sucheverlasting comfort.

Strategies for the presentWhat of the present, then? Wecould begin with school education.This crucial realm is one whereideas of the false basis of race andracism are almost never touchedupon. While it is more difficult toinfluence attitudes in the domesticsphere, early education is an im-portant field for providing the basisfor independent and criticalthought. But our social scienceschool books continue to deal with‘tribes’ – a category that flows on toblackness in general – in terms oftheir proximity to ‘civilisation’. Theterm itself – its bloody history, for

example – is hardly ever examined.We are willing to put up with the‘uncivilised’ as long as they knowtheir place. We might also consideranother strategy for the present.Our cities are now places where weincreasingly have declining toler-ance for strangers. We primarily ex-tend courtesies to those we know,and exhibit hostility to those out-side our circles of familiarity. Do wenot need an education on how tolive with strangers? Accounts of thepast – fascinating and important inthemselves – are about the past.The past is, actually, another planetand cannot be a guide to what is tobe done now.

As told to Anuradha Raman

Early education is an important ield for providing the

basis for independent and critical thought

Sanjay Srivastava

is professor of

sociology at the

Institute of Economic

Growth

CENTRE

The Punjab Vidhan Sabha adjourned sine die to-day [April 6,Chandigarh] on a motion by the Chief Minister, Mr. GurnamSingh, after unprecedented disorderly scenes and pande-monium. The Upper House, the Vidhan Parishad, was alsoadjourned in similar circumstances. There were deafeningshouts and counter-shouts, loud thumping of desks, gesticula-tions by members. The Speaker first adjourned for half anhour and after reassembly, amidst shouts of “No, no” fromthe Opposition, the Speaker declared the motion to adjournthe Assembly carried.

FIFTY YEARS AGO APRIL 7, 1967

Punjab Ministry refuses to quit


FROM ARCHIVES

The national funeral of one hundred and eighty victims of therevolution has taken place in the presence of a million civil-ians and soldiers (Petrograd, April 6). Factories, shops,schools and other establishments were closed. The bodieswere buried at the four corners of quadrangular space in thecentre of the snow covered Marsovoepale square. Six hugeprocessions started from different parts of the town in themorning carrying zinc coffins covered with red flags. Thecrowds sang the hymn “Eternal memory” alternating with therevolutionary march “You fell as victims” and the bandsplayed the Marseillaise. The guns of the fortress of St Peterand St Paul marked the lowering of every coffin into thetrench.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO APRIL 7, 1917

Russian Revolution: Funeral of victims

DiscourseanalysisLinguistics

Often defined as the ana-lysis of language beyondthe sentence, it is thestudy of the ways in whichlanguage is used in textsand contexts. This con-trasts with types of ana-lysis more typical of mod-ern linguistics, such asthose concerned with thestudy of grammar: phonet-ics and phonology, mor-phology, semantics, andsyntax. Discourse analystsstudy larger chunks of lan-guage as they flow to-gether. Foucauldian dis-course analysis, based onthe theories of Michel Fou-cault, for example, fo-cusses on power relation-ships in society asexpressed through lan-guage and practices.

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CONCEPTUAL

Inside Lucknow Metro’s

tunnels

http://bit.ly/LucknowMetro

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CMYK




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

Expressing concern over theincident, Congress leaderMallikarjun Kharge said fivedairy farmers had boughtthe cows for ₹ 75,000 andwere ferrying them whentheir vehicle was intercep-ted by vigilantes in Alwar.He said they were attackedby 200 people, but onlyfour of these had been ar-rested so far.

Mr. Kharge quoted theState Home Minister as say-ing that the villagers had gotinformation that cows werebeing smuggled and whilethere was nothing wrong in

people stopping cow smug-gling, they should not takelaw into their own hands.

Amid interruptions bysome BJP members, Mr.Kharge said this was thefifth such incident in Ra-jasthan, while three were re-ported in Uttar Pradesh andtwo each in Gujarat andHaryana. He also namedtwo Hindu organisations, towhich Parliamentary AffairsMinister Ananth Kumarraised objection.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajanhad by then ordered thatthe names be expunged.

Alwar killing sparkswar of words

newly formed BJP govern-ment in Uttar Pradesh an-nouncing farm loan waiversin line with its poll promise.

Uttar Pradesh ranks thirdin terms of agriculturalcredit exposure. The Statehas a 9.3% market share inagricultural credit. About45% of its total exposure isin the rural areas. Bank ofBaroda is the leading bankat the State level.

Bankers, too, have op-posed the move as they feltthat such schemes distortthe credit culture.

“It also entails, at the end ofthe day, transfer from taxpayers to borrowers,” Mr.Patel pointed out. “If on ac-count of this, the overallgovernment borrowing goesup, yields on governmentbonds are also impacted. Itcan also lead to crowdingout of private borrowers ashigher government borrow-ing can lead to an increasein cost of borrowing for oth-ers.” The RBI Governor’s ob-servations assume consider-able significance coming asthey did in the wake of the

RBI chief hits out atfarm loan waiver

The highway liquor ban im-posed by the SupremeCourt was raised by BJP vet-eran L.K. Advani’s lawyerand senior advocate K.K.Venugopal on Thursday asan instance of the SupremeCourt flexing its extraordin-ary constitutional powers todo more harm than thegood it intended.

“Your Lordships’ use ofArticle 142 should be in ac-cordance with law and dueprocess of law as guaran-teed in Article 21. Your re-cent order on the highwayliquor ban has renderedlakhsjobless,” he submitted.

Mr. Venugopal was react-ing strongly against a pro-posal by a Bench of JusticesP.C. Ghose and RohintonNariman to employ its ex-traordinary powers underArticle 142 of the Constitu-tion to order a joint trial of

the two Babri Masjid de-molition cases pending forthe past 25 years.

Article 142 empowers theSC to pass any decree or or-der necessary for doing“complete justice” in anymatter pending before it.

‘No unlimited power’“Excuse me for putting itbluntly, but Article 142 is nota source of unlimited powerfor you to go far ahead.There should be self-re-straint,” Mr. Venugopalsubmitted.

The senior lawyer had ob-jected that a joint trial nowwould disrupt existing trialin the two cases and therights of the accused. Hesubmitted how the liquorban, ostensibly meant toprotect the right to goodhealth, has boomeranged todeprive lakhs of employeesin the trade of their funda-mental right to earn a living.

‘Use restraint inusing Article 142’Lawyer tells SC to invoke it judiciously

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

Amid outrage over thekilling of a man allegedlyby ‘gau rakshaks’ in the Al-war district, civil rightsgroups here have deman-ded action against police-men. The opposition Con-gress raised an alarm overthreat to the rule of law,while accusing the BJPgovernment of supportingand sponsoring violence.

The three persons ar-rested on Wednesdaynight in connection with thedeath of Pehlu Khan, 55,were not among the six ac-cused named in the initialFIR registered at the Behrorpolice station. The police ar-rested Vipin Yadav, presid-ent of the Alwar Govern-ment College Students’Union, Ravindra Yadav andKalu Ram Yadav, after identi-fying them from the videofootage of Saturday’s viol-ence, which was circulatedon social media.

The three were producedin a court on Thursday,

which remanded them inpolice custody for a day.They have been booked un-der Section 302 (murder)and other provisions for un-lawful assembly, voluntarilycausing hurt, attempt tocommit culpable homicideand theft under the IndianPenal Code.

Blatant lie: Sachin PilotRajasthan Pradesh Congresspresident Sachin Pilot ex-pressed outrage over UnionMinister of State Mukhtar

Abbas Naqvi’s remarks inthe Rajya Sabha that nosuch incident took place.He asked how the govern-ment could lie “so blatantlyand that too in Parlia-ment”.

Senior Congress leaderAshok Gehlot asked theState government to re-strain such groups operat-ing in a “brazen manner”.

Seeking compensationfor the victims, the PUCLdemanded the immediatearrest of the culprits.

Violence by cow vigilantestriggers widespread outrage Three arrested remanded in one-day police custody; not named in initial FIR


JAIPURAgitating meat traders ofUttar Pradesh on Thursdayhardened their tone andthreatened to call a coun-trywide shut down of themeat business and alltrades associated with it ifthe State government didnot provide them with analternative set-up until themodernisation ofslaughter houses wascomplete.

This came after the Alla-habad High Court told theYogi Adityanath-led BJPgovernment that it cannotimpose a prohibition onmeat under the garb ofcracking down on illegalslaughterhouses. Termingchoice of food as part ofright to life, the court gavethe State 10 days to ensurethat its crackdown on unli-censed abattoirs did notdeprive people of theirlivelihood or food.

Slaughter houses shutThe government has said ithas shut down 26 illegalslaughter houses in the

State so far. To chalk out theirstrategy against the “unwar-ranted government interven-tion,” the All India JamiatulQuresh (AIJQ), a social bodyrepresenting the Qureshis, aMuslim community tradition-ally involved in the meattrade, convened a specialmeeting here. Apart from al-ternatives, they have alsoasked the government to dir-ect the concerned authoritiesto provide meat shops withnew licences and renewal ofthose pending for years. If theU.P. government does notmeet their “legitimate de-mands”, the Qureshis havethreatened to stage a protestin Lucknow on April 20.

U.P. meat traders callfor nation-wide protest

Seek alternatives till they get licences

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

Livelihood in peril: A familyengaged in meat trade restsbehind a shop that was shutrecently. * REUTERS

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday stressedthat his government’s fightagainst corruption and blackmoney would continue.

Addressing a functionwhile laying the foundationstone for a number of pro-jects, including a six-km longbridge over the Ganga atSahibganj in Jharkhand, Mr.Modi focussed on develop-ment, skill development anduse of solar energy. Onlythese could bring change inthe lives of people, he felt.

“Corruption and blackmoney has destroyed thecountry but our fight againstthem will continue…jinhonegaribon ko loota hai, unhegaribon ko lautana hi padega(those who have looted the

poor will have to return tothe poor)”, the Prime Min-isater said.

The proposed bridge willbe the biggest one across the

Ganga to connect Bihar andJharkhand.

Beginning his speech inthe local Santhali language,he said: “The era of honesty

has started in India...a goodlife can be led even withoutlooting the poor.”

Solar revolutionHe also appealed to the

people to protect the environ-ment. “We should also be-come sensitive towards en-ergy consumption”, he said,while making a reference tothe use of solar energy forlamps and pumps for irriga-tion. “In this century no cit-izen of India should live indarkness… I congratulate theJharkhand Government forharnessing solar energy”, hesaid, while adding that “solarpumps could be a big revolu-tion to better farmers’ condi-tion in the country…..”

He also distributed smartphones to women self-helpgroups.

Era of honesty has begun: Modi‘Government’s ight against corruption and black money will continue’

Amarnath Tewary

Patna

Reaching out: Narendra Modi distributing smartphones towomen entrepreneurs in Sahibganj, Jharkhand, on Thursday.Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das is also seen. * PTI

On the BJP’s 37th founda-tion day on Thursday, partypresident Amit Shah, in ameeting of its parliamentarygroup, exhorted his col-leagues to take the party toevery corner of the country,where it has no presence orhas lost ground.

Perhaps this is the reasonwhy, after the loss sufferedby the BJP in the 2015 As-sembly polls in Bihar, Mr.Shah is looking for a secondwind in the State.

Mr. Shah will be travellingby road from Patna toChamparan on April 19, tomark the centenary of thestruggle waged by MahatmaGandhi on behalf of indigentindigo farmers in that area,an iconic event in India’sfreedom struggle.

While party sources saidthe programme had beendecided sometime last yearitself, Mr. Shah’s trip comesat the back of a new set ofoffice-bearers being appoin-ted in the State unit of theparty — a caste and age com-bination that hints at a re-

vival plan for the party’s for-tunes.

Taking a cue from its suc-cess in Uttar Pradesh, theBJP in Bihar has decided tothrow in its lot with thebackward-forward castecombination that workedfor it in UP.

New lookWhile the State unit presid-ent, declared last year, isyoung MP Nityanand Rai,belonging to the Yadav com-munity, his team, with atotal of 30 members is dom-inated by backward classes,Mahadalits and ExtremelyBackward Class leaders.“Out of 30 office-bearers, 16are from backward com-munities, and 14 from for-ward castes,” said a senioroffice-bearer of the party.

“More significantly formaking a total break fromthe past, the average age ofthe team is below 50 years.That means that most ofthose in decision-makingpositions in the last 20 yearsare no longer in that posi-tion. It’s a new-look party,”said the source.

BJP plans to repeatU.P. formula in Bihar

Shah to hit the road to Champaran

Nistula Hebbar

New Delhi

The Supreme Court’s ruling toclose all liquor shops within arange of 500m from nationaland State highways has cre-ated a peculiar situation for‘dry’ Gujarat, where sale andconsumption of liquor isprohibited.

Except those holding per-mits issued by the state healthdepartment, no one can con-sume liquor in the State. How-ever, there are more than 50licensed liquor shops, mostlyin resorts and luxury hotels.These cater to permit holdersand to tourists who get tem-porary permits.

After the apex court’s rul-

ing, 16 resorts and hotels havebeen issued closure notices bythe State prohibition depart-ment, as they fall within the500m range of state or na-

tional highways.However, the licensed li-

quor shop operators andthe State authorities areconsidering approaching

the Supreme Court to seekrelief on the ground thatthe sale and consumptionof liquor is already a highlyregulated business in theState.

Different scenario“Gujarat is not like the restof India. Here, only a fewpeople with permits canconsume liquor,” said aprominent hotelier. “Wehave met some State gov-ernment officials and theyseem convinced by ourplea,” he added. “Sinceeven permit holders are notallowed to drink in publicplaces, the issue of drunkendriving does not arise.”

‘Dry’ Gujarat in a ix over SC orderSince liquor sale is already regulated, drunk driving not a worry, say hoteliers

Mahesh Langa

Ahmedabad

No entry: A hotel on the State Highway in Ahmedabad, which was afected by the liquor ban. * VIJAY SONEJI

Sibal arguing for a peti-tioner, Haji MehboobAhmad, said a joint trialwould require only thegranting of the right to anaccused to recall and cross-examine witnesses.

It does not require fram-ing of charges all over again,he added.

Objecting to the court’sproposal to transfer the Rae-bareli case to Lucknow,senior advocate K.K.Venugopal, appearing forMr. Advani and Dr. Joshi,said the Supreme Court can-not use its powers underArticle 142 to disrupt an on-going trial in Raebareli.

Appearing for CBI, Addi-tional Solicitor GeneralNeeraj Kishan Kaul submit-ted that the charge of anoverarching conspiracyleading to the demolitionhad never died.

In February 2001, the Al-lahabad HC had itself con-firmed there was prima facieevidence of conspiracy.

This order was never ap-pealed against.

Asked by the Benchabout the practical diffi-culties of a joint trial in Luc-know, Mr. Kaul said the trialmay have to start “de novo[afresh].”

But senior advocate Kapil

SC proposes joint trialin Babri cases

ing him to leave the House.Speaker Sumitra Mahajanadjourned the House andcalled all the parties con-cerned to her chambers.

The Sena then held apress conference andthreatened to boycott anNDA meeting on Monday.Party leader Sanjay Rautwondered if the CMD of AirIndia was qualified to banan MP from flying.

By evening the Sena MPsrealised that they had man-aged to offend their NDApartner TDP, with whomthey had had fairly cordialties thus far. After a secondmeeting between Ms. Ma-hajan and Mr. Raju late inthe evening, the Sena des-patched its letter of regret tothe TDP’s parliamentary of-fice and its legislative partyleader, Minister of State forS&T Y.S. Chowdhary.

“I am vinamr [humble andcourteous] by nature,” saidMr. Gaikwad. An official,when he asked for his iden-tity, had told him that hewas “Air India ka baap” [AirIndia’s father] and tauntedhim, asking “Are you Naren-dra Modi?” Mr. Gaikwadclaimed he only pushed anofficial, and that too after hehimself was pushed around.

Minister for Aviation,Ashok Gajapati Raju, saidthere was now a case per-taining to the issue, whichwould take its own course.He reminded the MP that hewas also just a passenger.“An aircraft is a machine tofly people. Safety is import-ant. Safety cannot becompromised.”

This comment did not godown well with the ShivSena MPs. They quickly sur-rounded Mr. Raju, not allow-

Gaikwad regretsAir India incident

The Rajya Sabha onThursday passed four Billsessential for the rollout ofthe Goods and Services Tax,the deadline for which is July1. The Lok Sabha had passedthese Bills on March 29.

One more piece of legisla-tion, the State GST Bill, willhave to be passed by the le-gislative assemblies of Statesand Union Territories withlegislature. The passage ofthe Central GST Bill, Integ-rated GST Bill, GST Com-pensation Bill, and the UnionTerritory GST Bills followeda two-day debate in the Ra-jya Sabha.

Several objectionsOpposition leaders raisedseveral objections to theBills, many of which weresimilar to those raised in theLok Sabha. These includeddisempowerment of Parlia-ment in setting tax rates andthe reason behind several

tax rates.“The GST is the collective

property of the country inwhich States, politicalparties and successive gov-ernments have taken part,”Finance Minister Arun Jaitleysaid in his statement.

“It is the only tax levied byboth the Centre and the

States. The fact of the matteris that with the advantages ofGST and the resultant free-flow of goods and servicesacross the country, a lot ofconveniences will come in.The GST Council will havethe power to make sugges-tions regarding the rate un-der the GST,” Mr. Jaitley ad-

ded. “But the plenary powerwill remain with Parliament.We can of course ask theCouncil to reconsider its sug-gestion.”

The Finance Minister,however, pointed out the im-portance of consensus whenit comes to the suggestionsof the GST Council. “We allhave to be guided by the fed-eral concern,” the Ministersaid. “Unilateral parties can-not derail the process.”

Last month, while speak-ing in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Jait-ley had said that the con-sequences of not acting onthe GST Council’s recom-mendations would renderthe implementation of GSTvery difficult if not im-possible. The Finance Minis-ter, during his speech in theUpper House on Thursday,also explained the need formultiple rates in the GSTstructure since luxury itemsand items of public good andnecessities cannot be taxedunder the same rate.

RS also clears 4 GST BillsIt is the only tax levied by both the Centre and the States, said Finance Minister

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley speaks in the Rajya Sabha in NewDelhi on Thursday. * PTI/TV GRAB


NEW DELHI

Subscribers who bought the₹99 Prime membership witha plan of ₹303 or higher areentitled to get free servicesfor three months from April15.

Customers who have sub-scribed to the offer prior toits discontinuation will re-main eligible for theconcession.

Jio, through its free offerssince September 5, 2016,has notched up more than100 million subscribers, ofwhich 72 million were will-ing to pay for Jio services asof March 31, opting for‘Prime’ membership.

Existing operators hadearlier criticised the regu-lator for being a “mute spec-tator” to the alleged viola-tions. On January 31, TRAIhad held that Jio’s free voicecalling and data plan were

not in violation of the regu-latory guidelines.

The arrival of Reliance Jiowas followed by a consolida-tion in the industry, even asit spurred a fall in profits forrivals.

In March, Idea Cellularmerged with the Indian unitof Vodafone Plc, making theentity a $23 billion giant andIndia’s largest mobile tele-phony and data service pro-vider.

In February, Bharti Airtelbought the assets of TelenorASA’s India unit while inSeptember last year the AnilAmbani-led Reliance Com-munications decided tomerge with Aircel. BhartiAirtel’s profits for thequarter ended December2016 fell to ₹422 crore from₹1,709 crore in December2015.

TRAI asks RelianceJio to withdraw ofer

Congress leaderRahul Gandhi onThursday attackedPrime Minister Nar-endra Modi and theRSS for the Alwar attack,saying there is no place inthe country for those dis-agreeing with them and thattragedies of huge propor-tion occur when govern-

ment “abdicates re-sponsibility.”

He said the PrimeMinister was propagat-ing a vision where onlyone idea would prevail.

“...anybody whodoes not listen to or agreewith Narendra Modi or RSShas no place in India. That’sthe vision,” Mr. Gandhi toldreporters outsideParliament.

‘This is Modi’s new vision’ Press Trust of India

NEW DELHI

Two persons, including aminor, were apprehendedand booked under the As-sam Cattle PreservationAct, 1950 in Jorhat for buy-ing beef, the police said.Citing the presence of atemple nearby, local resid-ents filed a complaintwhen the labourers ofBangladeshi origin boughtbeef. PTI

3 detained in Assam

Those readying rent agree-ments, mortgage papersand lease agreement in Ra-jasthan will now pay a sur-charge of 10% on stampduty for cow protection.The surcharge has been im-posed on all non-judicialinstruments, a finance de-partment order said. PTI

Surcharge to‘save’ cow

CMYK




NEWS

Discussions to rebootIndo-Myanmar ties held IMPHAL

India’s Ambassador to

Myanmar Vikram Mistry and

Manipur CM N. Biren Singh

met on Thursday to discuss

‘ways to revamp trade ties

between India and Myanmar’

here. Besides, the alleged

dismantling of a saw mill in

Haolenphai village near the

Indo-Myanmar border and

carting away of the

machineries to Myanmar also

figured in the talks.

IN BRIEF

NDA govt. does not wantLokpal, says CongressNEW DELHI

The Congress on Thursday

accused the BJP-led NDA

government of not wanting

the Lokpal in place as it did

not want any accountability,

saying was engaging in

“doublespeak” on the issue.

Congress spokesperson

Abhishek Singhvi said the

present government was not

appointing the Lokpal on the

basis of “frivolous, flimsy and

trivialised excuses” even

while the Act was in place

since 2014. PTI

India, Nepal agree totalks on bilateral pactsKATHMANDU

India and Nepal on Thursday

agreed on further studies and

discussions on updating and

reviewing some of the

bilateral agreements,

including the crucial Peace

and Friendship Treaty signed

in 1950. This was decided at

the third meeting of the

India-Nepal Eminent Persons’

Group, which concluded here

on Thursday. The two sides

held talks on the treaty and

on bilateral issues, former

Nepalese ambassador to India

Bhesh Thapa said. PTI

Two IPS officerscompulsorily retiredNEW DELHI

The Home Ministry has

compulsorily retired two IPS

officers following

“unauthorised leave” from

service, a senior government

official said on Thursday.

Abhishek Kumar Singh, an IPS

probationer of Gujarat cadre,

has been absent from

Junagadh, his last posting,

since 2014. The other officer,

Rajan Singh, is a 1996 batch

Kerala cadre officer.

The West Bengal govern-ment is not yet fully onboard on sharing of Teestawaters with Bangladesh, asenior official said onThursday.

Officials said India re-mained committed to dia-logue on Teesta withBangladesh, but indicatedthat the high point of thevisit of Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina from April 7 to10 is likely to be defence andsecurity agreements.

“There is still some degreeof doubt that has been ex-pressed by the State govern-ment on what will be the im-plications of such an accordon the people of WestBengal, and until that is re-solved, this [negotiation onthe agreement] remains achallenge that we have notyet reached a closure on,”said Sripriya Ranganathan,

Joint Secretary in charge ofBangladesh in the ExternalAffairs Ministry.

Talks with MamataThe official said Prime Minis-ter Hasina was likely to holdtalks with West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeduring a special reception tobe hosted by PresidentPranab Mukherjee at whichthe Chief Ministers of otherStates bordering Bangladeshhave also been invited.

The outcome of the meet-ing between Ms. Banerjeeand Ms. Hasina, however, re-mains unclear.

“I will sidestep this ques-tion for now,” said Ms. Ran-ganathan when asked tospell out if the deal could beachieved during the visit, ex-plaining that India would notdilute its commitment to fi-nalising the interim agree-ment signed on sharing ofthe river water.

“The Prime Minister [Nar-

endra Modi] during his visitto Dhaka last year … con-veyed that India is a federalstructure and we need tohave the full and unstintedsupport of the State govern-ment [while concluding thetreaty], and that is the por-tion that is the work in pro-gress,” she said.

The visit, which is expec-ted to see 20 government-level agreements, is likely to

be dominated by the bilat-eral defence pacts, whichwill address Bangladesh’sneeds.

Twin MoUs“We do intend to sign twoMoUs during the comingvisit. One is a frameworkMoU on defence engagementthat provides a structure forcooperation. It is a typicalMoU for a period of fiveyears subject to renewal inautomatic mode, that willprovide a way for bilateralties to go forward on R&D,defence supplies,” Ms. Ran-ganathan said.

A second agreement for$500 million will also be con-cluded to assist Bangladeshto source some of its milit-ary-grade equipment fromIndia.

A special memorandum ofunderstanding on training ofBangladesh military person-nel is also included on theagenda.

The official also said thatIndia’s support for the Rup-pur nuclear power project ofBangladesh and joint effortsto counter radicalism inBangladesh would be otherkey areas during the bilateraltalks that would be held onSaturday.

“Extent of cooperation[on anti-IS agenda] is goingahead very well. But wehope to sign a cybersecurityagreement during the visit,”she said.

India will also conclude aframework agreement oncivil nuclear cooperationwith Bangladesh.

Line of creditThe visit is also likely to wit-ness an agreement on a lineof credit with Bangladeshthat officials said would be“substantial”.

The Hindu had earlier re-ported that the line of creditwould be to the tune of $ 5billion.

Teesta hangs ire as Hasina arrivesWest Bengal not fully on board on water sharing, but Delhi and Dhaka to press ahead with ties

Sheikh Hasina

Kallol Bhattacherjee

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

India has taken over full op-erational control of Unit 1 ofthe Kudankulam NuclearPower Plant (KKNPP).

On Wednesday, Indiasigned a joint statement withRussia on the final takeoverof the unit, formally markingthe full transition.

The agreement wassigned between representat-ives of Nuclear Power Cor-poration of India Ltd. andthe ASE Group of Compan-ies, a subsidiary of ROS-ATOM State Atomic EnergyCorporation of Russia.

With the deal, the Russianand the Indian sides haveconfirmed fulfilment of allwarranty terms and obliga-tions of the contractor (ASEGroup of Companies) for theconstruction of Unit 1, Ros-atom said in a statement onThursday.

“The warranty period runshowed reliable and safe op-eration of Unit 1. Thus, theIndian side confirms that

ASE Group of Companies,which is a general con-tractor, has fulfilled all itstasks in full and accurately,”said Andrei Lebedev, vice-president of ASE for projectsin South Asia.

The commercial opera-tion and the warrantyperiod of Unit 1 started inDecember 2014. The war-ranty is typically for oneyear, which ended inDecember 2015.

However, the finaltakeover agreement was

delayed to ensure the reliab-ility of the plant and equip-ment as this is the first of aseries of six reactors.

Technical issuesUnit 1 had encountered tech-nical issues and was shutdown briefly after it com-menced power generation.

On March 30, 2017, thejoint protocol on provisionalacceptance of Unit 2 of theplant was signed, whichmarked the start of its com-mercial operation.

India, Russia seal dealon Kudankulam Unit 1New Delhi formally takes over its full operational control Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Critical push: A view of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plantin Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. * PTI

The Pipavav shipyard in Gu-jarat, owned by the Reliancegroup headed by Anil Am-bani, has emerged as themost important privateshipyard for the Indian milit-ary in recent times. Theshipyard, however, has notbeen able to meet deadlines,adversely affecting the oper-ational capabilities of theNavy, naval sources say.

The Navy told The Hinduthat it would impose penal-ties on the shipyard if therewere delays in delivery ofships and other contractworks.

Fresh impetusReliance Defence and Engin-eering Ltd. (RDEL), whichtook over Pipavav in early2016, insists that theshipyard has pulled up afterthe new management took

over and that it is confidentof delivering on time.

The shipyard is now en-gaged in the construction offive naval offshore patrol ves-sels (NOPV) and mainten-ance of at least two othernaval ships and is bidding forseveral major contracts. Itsengagement with the milit-ary significantly outweighswork by any other private In-dian shipyard.

In response to a detailed

questionnaire, the Navy saidthere had been a 65% pro-gress on the first two NOPVsand 30% on the other threeNOPVs as on February 16.However, this is after a delayof more than two years.

The original contract forthe NOPVs was signed in2011, with the first boat to bedelivered by early 2015. Ac-cording to fresh revisedtimeline provided to TheHindu by the Navy, the first

two NPOVs are scheduled tobe launched by May 2017and delivered by Octoberand December 2017.

The remaining three areexpected by November 2017and delivered by April, Juneand August 2018.

Despite speculation in thepast few years about the pos-sibility of the Navy imposinga financial penalty on theshipyard, there has been nosuch decision yet.

Faster executionA Reliance official told TheHindu that the firm had ac-celerated work since theRDEL took over.

“It’s a contractual issue.All these damages are basedon discussions ... there is astandard procedure. Theyknow what we have doneand how much we havedone and then we will dealwith whatever it is,” he saidabout the penalty clause.

Navy warns shipyard of penaltiesReliance-controlled Pipavav unit, however, is conident of delivering on time

Josy Joseph

Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI

Deadline pressure: The Pipavav shipyard in Gujarat hasemerged as animportant private dockyard for the military.

To encourage people withdepression to overcomestigma and seek treatment,the World Health Organisa-tion is focussing on the ill-ness this World Health Day,April 7. The public healthcommunity worldwide is re-cognising the damagecaused by the silence overdepression and mental ill-ness and has raised the slo-gan “Depression: Let’s Talk”to mark the day.

Nearly five crore Indianshave depression, and ac-cording to the latest WHO es-timates, over 300 million

people are living with it glob-ally. This is an increase ofmore than 18% over the lastdecade and accounts forover two-thirds of global sui-

cides that occur in low- andmiddle-income countriessuch as India.

Premature deathsDepression is the leadingcause of ill health and disab-ility. Lack of support forpeople with mental dis-orders, coupled with a fearof stigma, prevents manyfrom accessing the treat-ment they need to lead ahealthy and productive life. \

“Mental health cannot bedivorced from physicalhealth. In fact, people suffer-ing from major depressionhave a 40-60% chance of dy-ing prematurely owing to

physical health problemsthat are left unattended orsuicide. Suicide is the secondmost common cause ofdeath among young peopleworldwide. The MentalHealth Care Act, 2017 is a sig-nificant step towards destig-matising psychological dis-orders, recognising anattempt at suicide as an actcommitted under severemental stress,” said KeshavDesiraju, a former UnionHealth Secretary who was in-strumental in drafting thelaw. In India, the passage ofthe Mental Health Care Billhas steered the debate in apositive direction.

Breaking the silence on depressionWHO aims at encouraging people to overcome stigma and seek treatment


New Delhi

Nearly ive crore Indianssufer from depression.

* GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

Following a request by In-dia, Saudi Arabia deporteda Rajasthan resident for al-legedly propagating theideologies of the IslamicState (IS) terrorist outfit.

In a statement, the Na-tional Investigation Agency(NIA) said Amzad Khan,who operated online with anumber of aliases, was ar-rested after his deportationon April 4.

Mr. Khan (37) hademerged as a major sus-pect in the case against un-known and unidentifiedpersons involved in IslamicStates-related activities incountries that are at peacewith India.

The NIA had filed acharge sheet and a supple-mentary charge sheet lastyear in the case but theprobe is still on. Theagency said he was work-ing in Riyadh since 2014.

Saudi expelsRajasthanifor IS activity Special Correspondent

New Delhi

India and Australia will notsign the ComprehensiveEconomic CooperationAgreement during the visitof Prime Minister MalcolmTurnbull that begins onSunday, officials on bothsides confirmed onThursday. They, however,said the negotiations on thefree trade pact wouldcontinue.

During his four-day visit,Mr. Turnbull is expected tofocus on trade, investmentand education opportunit-ies.

He is likely to reaffirm hisgovernment’s support to thedecision taken by the previ-ous Australian governmenton civil nuclear cooperationand selling uranium to In-dia.

Mr. Turnbull and PrimeMinister Narendra Modiformalised the decision dur-ing their meeting on thesidelines of the G-20 summitin Turkey in 2015.

Diplomatic sources said

they expected a shipment ofthe nuclear fuel from Aus-tralia to arrive on Indianshores “later this year”.

The two sides will signsome agreements in thefield of security and energycooperation.

‘Ties expanded’“Our relationship has ex-panded dramatically sincewe established a strategicpartnership in 2009, fol-lowed by two-way PrimeMinisterial visits in 2014. Weare taking forward an activeand ambitious agenda,” Aus-tralian High CommissionerHarinder Sidhu said in apress release announcingthe Turnbull visit.

However, the CECA,which they have pursuedsince 2011 and completednine rounds on up tillSeptember 2015, is firmly offthe list. Officials refused tocomment on when it waslikely to be done, sayingonly that talks remained“complex” at the moment.

(With inputs from Arun S.)

Free trade pact ofTurnbull’s agendaAustralian PM arriving on Sunday

Suhasini Haidar

New Delhi

To bridge the quality educa-tion gap and provide stu-dents with tech-based learn-ing solutions, Google.org onThursday announced agrant of $8.4 million to fourIndian NGOs working to im-prove education in thecountry.

Pratham Books Story-Weaver, Pratham EducationFoundation, Million SparksFoundation and LearningEquality will receive thegrants over the next twoyears to expand the workthey have been doing.

‘Bridging the gap’“We believe technology canhelp bridge the gap. It canget more books to students,more lesson plans to teach-ers, and classrooms to kidswho can’t get there them-selves,” Nick Cain, Pro-gramme Manager at Google-.org, said.

The Million SparksFoundations, with its digitalcontent platform and social

community ‘ChalkLit’,provides teachers with les-sons plans, learning mod-ules and videos.

While Pratham Educa-tion’s hybrid learning pro-gram provides students with“self-driven” tablet-basedsolutions, Pratham Books’StoryWeaver is an open-source online platform,which allows teachers andparents to create and trans-late stories in over 67 lan-guages.

In association with localpartner Motivation for Ex-cellence, Learning Equalityaims to “help educators ac-cess, organise and custom-ise digital content even inthe most remote locations”through their platform‘Kolibri’.

To back tech-based learning solutions


New Delhi

4 NGOs get Google’s$8.4 million grant

Kirti Chakra, the secondhighest peacetime gal-lantry award, wasposthumously conferredon Lance Havildar PremBahadur Resmi Magar ofGorkha Rifles by PresidentPranab Mukherjee at thedefence investiture cere-mony in the Capital onThursday.

The late Lance Havildareliminated four terroristsduring an operation inJammu and Kashmir onJune 16 last year.

13 Shaurya ChakrasMr. Mukherjee also presen-ted 13 Shaurya Chakras, ofwhich four were posthum-ous, and 45 DistinguishedService medals.

These include 15 ParamVishisht Seva Medals, twoUttam Yudh Seva Medalsand 28 Ati Vishisht SevaMedals.

Kirti Chakrafor GorkhamartyrSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

CMYK

WORLDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



Thailand King signs new Constitution BANGKOK

Thailand’s King

Vajiralongkorn

Bodindradebayavarangkun

signed the country’s new

military-backed Constitution

on Thursday. The charter

could allow fresh elections

but limit the authority of

politicians taking oice. AP

ELSEWHERE

70% say Hollande is a ‘bad President’PARIS

Seventy per cent of French

people believe outgoing

Socialist leader Francois

Hollande was a “bad

President”, according to a

new poll published on

Thursday. He decided not to

seek re-election in December,

bowing to the inevitable in

the face of catastrophic

approval ratings. AFP

Bishop resigns over'inappropriate behaviour' DAX

The Bishop of the southwest

French diocese of Dax

resigned on Thursday over

“inappropriate behaviour”

towards youth, just weeks

after complaints came to

light. Herve Gaschignard

resigned at the suggestion of

the Vatican’s envoy to France,

Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the

Catholic Church said. AFP

Citing ethics complaints, thechairman of the House intelli-gence committee announcedThursday he is temporarilysurrendering his leadershippost in the panel’s probe intoRussian meddling in lastyear’s presidential election.

The decision by Repub-lican Rep. Devin Nunes ofCalifornia comes amid par-tisan turmoil on the commit-tee. Democrats have allegedthat Mr. Nunes, who was onPresident Donald Trump’stransition team, is too closeto the White House and can-not lead an impartial inquiry.

“The charges are entirelyfalse and politically motiv-ated,” Mr. Nunes said. “Sev-eral left-wing activist groups,”he added, filed accusationsagainst him with the Houseethics committee, charginghim with improperly disclos-ing classified information.

Nunes stepsaway fromRussia probeAssociated Press

Washington

The Syrian government setconditions on Thursday forany international inquiryinto a suspected chemical at-tack that killed scores ofpeople, saying it must not be“politicised” and should setout from Damascus and notTurkey.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Syria’s past ex-perience with internationalinquiries had not been en-couraging. The governmentwould only decide on theidea once its concerns wereaddressed, he said.

Mr. Moualem also reiter-ated the government’sstrong denial that it was be-hind the attack on Tuesdayin Khan Sheikhoun in thenorthwestern province of Id-lib, an area mostly con-trolled by rebel groups at theborder with Turkey.

U.S. President DonaldTrump on Wednesday saidPresident Bashar al-Assad’sgovernment had gone “bey-ond a red line” and said hisattitude towards Syria andMr. Assad had changed. Buthe gave no indication of howhe would respond.

Mr. Moualem did not dir-ectly respond to questionsabout Mr. Trump’s com-ments. But he said he recog-nised “the gravity” of recentU.S. statements, and cited

speculation U.S. commentsmay have been a means ofexercising diplomatic pres-sure at the United Nations.

Mr. Moualem, speaking ata news conference in Damas-cus, said the Syrian govern-ment’s Russian allies had putforward ideas for the forma-tion of a “non-politicisedcommission of inquiry”. “Itmust not be politicised, itmust leave from Damascusand not Turkey. We have nu-merous questions about thissubject. When we are cer-tain these questions are ad-dressed with convincing an-swers, we will give you ourresponse.”

Take action, Trump toldMeanwhile, two RepublicanSenators have called on U.S.President Donald Trump totake out Syria’s air force inresponse to the attack.

Senators John McCain ofArizona and Lindsey Gra-ham of South Carolina aredefence hawks and amongMr. Trump’s sharpest criticsin the party. They said in astatement that Syrian Presid-ent Bashar Assad “hascrossed a line” and “mustpay a punitive cost for thishorrific attack.”

Senator Graham said Mr.Trump had his “permission”to “hit this guy [PresidentBashar al-Assad]”.

(With AP inputs)

Syrian govt. sets terms forinquiry into chemical attack Foreign Minister says the regime did not carry out the gas assault in Idlib province

Searching for clues: WHO experts take part in an autopsy at ahospital in Adana, Turkey. Ankara said the autopsies provedthat people in Idlib faced a chemical weapons attack. * AP

Reuters

Beirut

U.S. Senate Republicans onThursday crushed a Demo-cratic blockade of Presid-ent Donald Trump’s Su-preme Court nominee in afierce partisan brawl, ap-proving a rule changedubbed the “nuclear op-tion” to allow for conser-vative judge Neil Gorsuch'sconfirmation by Friday.

With ideological controlof the nation’s highestcourt at stake, the Repub-lican-led Senate voted 52-48 along party lines tochange its long-standingrules in order to prohibit aprocedural tactic called afilibuster against SupremeCourt nominees.

That came after Repub-licans failed by a 55-45 tallyto muster the 60-vote su-per-majority needed to endthe Democratic filibusterthat had sought to denyJustice Gorsuch confirma-tion to the lifetime post.

An extreme breakThe Senate’s action pavedthe way to confirm JusticeGorsuch by simple major-ity, with a vote expected atroughly 2399 GMT on Fri-day. Republicans controlthe Senate 52-48. The rulechange is considered an ex-treme break with Senatetradition.

Mr. Trump had encour-aged Republican SenateMajority Leader Mitch Mc-

Connell to “go nuclear”.Confirmation of JusticeGorsuch would representMr. Trump’s first major vic-tory since taking office,after setbacks on health-care legislation and hisblocked order to preventpeople from severalMuslim-majority nationsfrom entering the UnitedStates. “This will be thefirst and last partisan fili-buster of the SupremeCourt,” Mr. McConnell saidon the Senate floor, accus-ing Senate Democrats oftrying to inflict politicaldamage on Mr. Trump.

“In 20 or 30 or 40 years,we will sadly point to todayas a turning point in thehistory of the Senate andthe Supreme Court, a daywhen we irrevocablymoved further away fromthe principles our foundersintended for these institu-tions: principles of bipar-tisanship, moderation andconsensus,” Senate Demo-cratic leader Chuck Schu-mer said on the Senatefloor.

GOP ends Democraticblockade of GorsuchTrump’s SC pick will be conirmed

Reuters

WASHINGTON

Justice Neil Gorsuch

The Kremlin on Thursdaysaid US allegations that Syr-ian forces carried out adeadly chemical attack arenot based on “objective” in-formation.

“We consider a muchmore measured approachnecessary and do not thinkit is possible to surrenderoneself to hasty conclusionsabout what happened inSyria in the Idlib province,”

spokesman Dmitry Peskovsaid.

“It was really a threaten-ing development of events,very dangerous and a mon-strous crime,” he said, refer-ring to the incident.

“No one could have anyrealistic, verified informa-tion. Any data that theAmerican side or our col-leagues in other countriescould have cannot be basedon objective materials orevidence.”

Kremlin lashes out at U.S. Agence France-Presse

Moscow

A British lawmaker is urgingmembers of the Indian dia-spora to lobby their Mem-bers of Parliament to sup-port a motion introduced byhim last month condemningPakistan’s announcementthat Gilgit-Baltistan was itsfifth frontier, warning thatMPs were continually lob-bied by “separatists” and the“right of self determinationlobby”.

Bob Blackman, the Con-servative MP for the Londonconstituency of Harrow Eastintroduced the Early DayMotion — a formal means forMPs to bring attention to is-sues outside the formal de-bating chamber — on March23, but remains the sole sig-natory to it. In an email in-terview with The Hindu, Mr.Blackman said his office hadbeen sending out letter tem-plates to community lead-ers, urging them to write totheir MPs, as part of a widerproject launched to engagewith the diaspora.

While some MPs had in-dicated they would be will-ing to support him in otherways, such as debates, Mr.Blackman said many MPswere “not well versed withthe actual situation on theground in Pakistan as well as

surrounding regions”. “Theyare constantly lobbied bythe separatists and the‘Right of Self Determination”lobby who give them the im-pression that it is India caus-ing human rights violations—far removed from the actualreality on the ground. MPsspeak on behalf of their con-stituents and I feel that thisis something where the In-dian diaspora are veryweak,” he added.

Highlighting the truth “They work hard, get onwith their lives, but hardlyever stand up to speak onmatters concerning Indiawith their MPs. They don’trealise that they are not in-terfering in matters pertain-ing to India and Pakistan butare actually highlighting thetruth by educating their MPs

about these matters. If leftuninformed, the MPs willcontinue to be fed misin-formation by the propagand-ists.”

The British government’sposition has been to be neut-ral on this issue, as it hasbeen on issues relating to In-dia and Pakistan. “On issuesof a bilateral nature, it is forthose two countries to reacha settlement; it is not for usto prescribe a solution or actas a mediator. Of course, weencourage both sides tomaintain good relations andwe will continue to talk tothem,” said Alok Sharma, aForeign Office minister, inresponse to a question fromMr. Blackman in the Houseof Commons last week.

“The U.K. governmenttakes a view of non-interfer-ence in the matter and quiterightly so,” said Mr. Black-man. “However, the U.K.’srelationship with India is dif-ferent from its relationshipwith Pakistan and I hopethat our friendship with In-dia gets the right attentionand strength that it so rightlydeserves. We are more equalpartners in that sense andthis friendship must be nur-tured therefore it is imperat-ive that the UK take a certainstand on human rights is-sues pertaining to Pakistan.”

Speak up for India, Britishlawmaker tells diaspora Seeks support for his motion on Gilgit-BaltistanVidya Ram

London

Bob Blackman

Standing against the back-drop of his New Shepardrocket booster and a full-scale mock capsule for car-rying humans into space,Jeff Bezos revealed on Wed-nesday that he was sellingabout $1 billion in Amazonstock a year to finance hisBlue Origin rocket company.

Mr. Bezos, the billionairefounder of Amazon, showedoff the reusable rocketbooster and the mock-up ofthe capsule that will takepeople up for panoramicviews back down at Earth,during a symposium here.

Mr. Bezos, who hopes tobuild Blue Origin into a com-mercial and tourist venture,also disclosed that it wouldcost about $2.5 billion to de-velop an even bigger rocket,New Glenn, capable of lift-ing satellites and, eventually,people into orbit.

Like his fellow technologytitan Elon Musk of SpaceX

and Tesla, Mr. Bezos hasidentified reusable rocketparts as a key to loweringthe price of admission to thefield, which he said on Wed-nesday would lead to a“golden age of space explor-ation”.

“If we can make access tospace low-cost, then entre-preneurs will be unleashed,”he said. “You will see cre-ativity, you will see dynam-ism, you will see the samething in space that I’ve wit-nessed on the internet in thelast 20 years.”

Wary of timetables Last month, Mr. Bezos an-nounced the first-payingcustomer, Eutelstat, a satel-lite company, for NewGlenn, whose commercialflights would help offsetcosts. New Glenn is expec-ted to fly by 2020, he said,but humans will not be pas-sengers on the heavy-liftrocket until many years afterthat.

Mr. Bezos has repeatedlyexpressed caution about set-ting timetables for the startof Blue Origin’s commercialor passenger trips, and hedid not diverge from thatWednesday.

He would not say whenNew Shepard would un-dergo its next round of testflights, or set a specific dateas a goal, merely mentioningnext year for possible tourist

trips. “It’s a mistake to raceto a deadline when you’retalking about a flyingvehicle, especially one thatyou’re going to put peopleon,” he said. “I still think wecan do commercial payingpassengers in 2018.”

Asked how much passen-gers would pay, Mr. Bezossaid he did not know yet,but he predicted ticketprices would decline as

spaceflight became morecommon. (Hundreds ofpeople have already putdown deposits to reserveplaces on similar commer-cial trips on Virgin Galacticthat could cost $250,000 aticket, although that com-pany’s spaceplane has yet totake anyone up.)

Modest start New Shepard is a modeststart for Mr. Bezos’ ambi-tions to tap into the nascentspace tourism market. It is asingle-stage booster with acapsule on top that is de-signed to carry six passen-gers at a time on trips ofabout 10 to 11 minutes.There will not be a Blue Ori-gin crew on the spacecraft.Passengers wearing sleekjumpsuits will be able topeer out what the companysays will be the largest win-dows in space, taking upabout one-third of the sur-face area of the dome.

About 12 feet in diameter,

the passenger capsule holdssix black seats that resemblerecliners, with panels offer-ing details about altitudeand other features of a trip.The engine that powers thebooster produces up toabout 110,000 pounds ofthrust.

On ascent, passengerswill experience forces ofabout 3 Gs, about threetimes the normal force ofgravity that humans experi-ence on earth.

When the boosterreaches a certain altitude,the capsule will detach andcoast above the Karmanline, which is 62 miles abovesea level, officially enteringinto space.

There, the passengers willexperience about four to fiveminutes of weightlessness.They can unbuckle theirharnesses and do somer-saults, if desired, in the pad-ded-dome interior.

On descent, they will en-counter forces of 5 Gs. NYT

Bezos selling Amazon stake to fund race to spaceBillionaire is building a commercial and tourist venture that will take people up for panoramic views of Earth

Nicholas St. Fleur

Colorado Spings

Aiming for the stars: Jef Bezos discusses his reusable rocketsystem in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Wednesday. * NYT

Aung San Suu Kyi hasdenied security forces havecarried out ethnic cleansingof Rohingya Muslims in My-anmar, speaking to the BBCafter the UN rights councilagreed to investigate allega-tions of rape, murder andtorture against the army.

Rights groups say hun-dreds of Rohingya werekilled in a months-longarmy crackdown followingdeadly attacks on Myanmarborder police posts.

Almost 75,000 Rohingyahave fled to neighbouringBangladesh where theyhave related grisly accountsof army abuse. Myanmar's

de facto leader Suu Kyi, aNobel Laureate whose in-ternational star as a rightsdefender is waning over thetreatment of the Rohingya,has not spoken out in de-fence of the persecutedminority.

She has also not con-

demned the crackdown,which UN investigators,who spoke to escapees,said likely amounted tocrimes against humanity.

‘Need space’Instead she has called forspace to handle the incen-diary issue in a countrywhere the more than onemillion Rohingya arewidely vilified as illegal im-migrants from Bangladesh.

“I don't think there isethnic cleansing going on,"Suu Kyi said in a rare inter-view televised on Wednes-day. “I think ethnic cleans-ing is too strong anexpression to use for whatis happening.”

Aung San Suu Kyi denies ethniccleansing of Rohingya minority Says it is too strong an expression for what is happening

Agence France-Presse

Yangon

Aung San Suu Kyi

North Korea is ready to de-liver the “most ruthlessblow” if provoked by theUnited States, its ambas-sador to Moscow saidThursday, after PresidentDonald Trump pledged tokeep building up defencesagainst Pyongyang.

“Our Army has alreadysaid that if there will beeven the smallest provoca-tion from the United States

during exercises, we areready to deliver the mostruthless blow,” Interfaxquoted ambassador KimHyong-Jun as saying.

Ready to counter U.S.“We have the readiness andability to counter any chal-lenge from the U.S.,” he wasquoted as saying.

Mr. Trump on Wednes-day pledged to JapanesePrime Minister Shinzo Abethat the U.S. would “con-

tinue to strengthen its abil-ity to deter and defend it-self and its allies with thefull range of its militarycapabilities,” a day after Py-ongyang fired a ballisticmissile into the Sea ofJapan.

North Korea’s ForeignMinistry on Monday as-sailed Washington for itstough talk and for an ongo-ing joint military exercisewith South Korea andJapan.

N. Korea warns U.S. against provocation Agence France-Presse

Moscow

CMYK

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NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

ACC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1489.75. . . . . . . 19.55

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356.65. . . . . . . . -1.50

Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 243.35. . . . . . . . . 4.60

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1086.90. . . . . . . . . 4.35

Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 670.45. . . . . . . . -7.05

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508.70. . . . . . . . . 0.40

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2806.30. . . . . . . 45.45

Bank of Baroda . . . . . .. . . . . . 174.90. . . . . . . . . 0.35

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341.80. . . . . . . . -2.70

Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22897.75. . . . . . . . -1.40

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646.20. . . . . . . . . 8.45

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590.30. . . . . . . . -2.75

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286.40. . . . . . . . -3.65

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2718.10. . . . . . -23.25

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 25596.30. . . -168.95

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386.65. . . . . . . . . 4.25

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1069.10. . . . . . . . . 3.80

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853.50. . . . . . . . . 3.00

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1482.60. . . . . . . . -7.55

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1438.50. . . . . . . . . 6.15

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3206.30. . . . . . . . . 8.25

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193.95. . . . . . . . -4.25

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 934.65. . . . . . . . -0.70

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 977.00. . . . . . . . -9.30

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280.85. . . . . . . . -4.00

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1421.65. . . . . . . 20.70

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 339.15. . . . . . . . . 1.45

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999.60. . . . . . . . . 3.65

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 385.75. . . . . . . . . 4.40

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274.10. . . . . . . . -4.85

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 894.35. . . . . . . . . 4.50

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1683.20. . . . . . -13.25

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1448.40. . . . . . . . -6.55

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1288.90. . . . . . . . -1.85

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6291.65. . . . . . -50.75

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167.70. . . . . . . . . 1.20

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187.55. . . . . . . . . 1.30

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 197.20. . . . . . . . . 2.20

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1438.50. . . . . . . 23.50

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292.85. . . . . . . . -4.50

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686.90. . . . . . . . -3.80

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473.20. . . . . . . . -0.30

Tata Motors DVR. . . .. . . . . . 286.45. . . . . . . . . 1.30

Tata Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87.30. . . . . . . . -0.90

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501.65. . . . . . . . . 8.35

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2400.05. . . . . . . . -1.20

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 446.90. . . . . . . . -0.05

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4111.15. . . . . . . 29.90

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514.70. . . . . . . . . 4.05

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1564.75. . . . . . . . -2.75

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 553.40. . . . . . . . . 9.90

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on April 06

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 64.31. . . . . . . 64.63

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 68.56. . . . . . . 68.90

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 80.08. . . . . . . 80.48

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 57.98. . . . . . . 58.27

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.32. . . . . . . . . 9.37

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 64.07. . . . . . . 64.40

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 45.89. . . . . . . 46.13

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 47.89. . . . . . . 48.13

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 14.49. . . . . . . 14.59

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

April 06 rates in rupees with previousrates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 45.50. . . . . (45.70)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,780. . . . . (2,781)

market watch

06-04-2017 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 29,927 ddddddddddddd-0.16

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 64.52 ddddddddddddd-0.54

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 29,275 ddddddddddddd-0.43

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 54.80 ddddddddddddddd0.62

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) kept the key policyrate, the repo rate, un-changed in the first bi-monthly policy review of2017-18 but narrowed thepolicy corridor by 25 bps byraising the reverse repo rateto 6%, from 5.75%.

All six members of themonetary policy committee(MPC) — which decides in-terest rates — voted in favourof the decision.

The central bank said thepolicy decision was consist-ent with the neutral policystance with the objective ofachieving the medium-termtarget for retail inflation,which is 4%.

“The MPC saw the path of

inflation in 2017-18 chal-lenged by upside risks andunfavourable base effects to-wards the second half of theyear,” Urjit Patel, Governor,RBI, said in the post policypress conference.

“Accordingly, inflation de-velopments have to beclosely monitored with foodprice pressures can bechecked so that inflation ex-pectations can be anchored.”

The central bank said thefuture course of monetarypolicy would largely dependon incoming data on howmacroeconomic conditionsare evolving.

‘Softer’ tone expectedWhile the repo rate actionwas in line with market ex-pectations, the Governor’s

‘hawkish’ tone disappointedbond traders who were ex-pecting a softer tone. Yieldon the 10-year benchmarkbond hardened to 6.77% as

compared with its previousclose of 6.65%.

RBI said the path toachieving 4% inflation wouldbe challenging. The central

bank has set its inflation pro-jection to an average of 4.5%in the first half of 2017-18 and5% in the second half, whilekeeping its GVA growth pro-jection unchanged at 7.4% forFY18 as compared with 6.7%in FY17.

“The move to the 4% tar-get inflation will be challen-ging. There is no lucky dis-in-flationary forces in thehorizon that were there inthe past,” RBI executive dir-ector in-charge of monetarypolicy, Micheal Patra said.

The central bank said sur-plus liquidity in the bankingsystem had fallen from closeto ₹8 lakh crore in January to₹4.8 lakh crore in March. Italso said it had proposed astanding deposit facility tothe government in November2015, approval for which wasstill awaited.

SDF is a mechanism todrain surplus cash at a rate

lower than the repo ratewithout the need for any col-lateral. “We are awaiting adecision on our preferred fa-cility, which is the standingdeposit facility,” Deputy Gov-ernor Viral Acharya said.“Beyond that, we may de-ploy other tools if our toolkitremains constrained andcontingencies that arise sodemand.”

Analysts said there wereupside risks to the 4% targetand there was a possibility ofan increase in the cash re-serve ratio, going forward.

“We expect higher ruralwage growth, a narrowingoutput gap and adverse baseeffects to push inflationcloser to 5.5-6.0% in H2FY18,” Nomura said in a re-port to its clients. “As infla-tion risks become apparent,we also expect a 100 bps CRRhike in H2 2017 to absorb sur-plus liquidity,” it said.

Though RBI has not re-duced the repo rate, banksstill have scope to cut lendingrates, the central bank said.

It added that the small sav-ings rates should also belowered as it noted that theserates are 61-95 bps highercompared with the ‘what-if ’formula (which was intro-duced in April 2016 to calcu-late it).

RBI holds policy rate, raises reverse repo rateReiterates resolve to attain 4% inlation target over medium term


MUMBAI

Wait and watch: The future course of monetary policy willdepend on macroeconomic factors, says the RBI. PAUL NORONHA

The Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India will, inthe next few weeks, comeout with amended qualityof service norms that tele-com services providers willneed to comply with.

“We are reviewing thequality of service norms it-self,” said R.S. Sharma,chairman, TRAI replying toqueries on steps to dealwith call drops. “We wantto finalise parameters thatare technology agnostic orwhich can be applied to alltechnologies be it 4G or3G. The main objective isthat customers get goodquality service,” he said.

Most of the work on theissue is almost complete.Hence, the order is likely tobe out soon, Mr. Sharmasaid at a FICCI event.

He said the regulatorhad identified seven im-portant issues, tariff regu-lations being one of them,on which consultations willbe initiated this year. TheTRAI had in January re-leased a consultation paperon review of the standardsof quality of service of ba-sic telephone services andmobile telephone services.

TRAI’s newservicenorms soonSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The Centre on Thursdaysaid more than 62% of the2.2 lakh subscribers that itsurveyed complained of calldrops.

The survey was conduc-ted using the IntegratedVoice Response System(IVRS) that the Departmentof Telecommunications(DoT) had rolled out lastDecember in Delhi, Mum-bai, U.P., Uttarakhand, Ma-harashtra and Goa. ByMarch, all States werecovered under the system.

“Since the launch of theIVRS system on December23, 2016 till February 28,2017, 16.62 lakh successfuloutbound calls have beenmade to subscribers of allTSPs across the country.About 2.21 lakh subscribersparticipated in the survey,out of which about 1.38 lakh(62.5%) subscribers have re-ported call drops,” accord-ing to a DoT statement.

As per feedback received,the problem of call drops “ismore severe” indoors, ac-cording to the statement.The subscribers receive an

IVRS call from short code1955 and are asked a fewquestions on the call dropproblem. They can also senda toll-free SMS to the sameshort code, containing thename of city/town/village,where they face frequentcall drops.

Telcos use feedbackThe feedback is then sharedwith the telecom serviceproviders on a weekly basisto take action in a time-bound manner. “The TSPshave set up an elaboratemechanism for using theIVRS feedback data sent byDoT,” according to thestatement.

The operators have in-

stalled about 2.13 lakh addi-tional Base Transceiver Sta-tions across the countrybetween June 2016 and Feb-ruary 2017, the DoT added.

The telcos submit an ac-tion-taken report to the DoTTask Force every fortnight.Additionally, the DoT TaskForce meets with the TSPsonce a month to discuss theissues that come up via theIVRS. The DoT said for theperiod February 15-28,43,403 feedback cases hadbeen taken up for investiga-tion by the operators. “Aftertelephonic calls and SMS tothe subscribers to seek addi-tional information on theircall drop problem, 7,210cases were identified for res-olution. During the fort-night, 2,467 cases were re-solved throughoptimisation, rectifyinghardware/power problems,through field visits.”

Cumulatively, a total of9,328 cases have been re-solved through the initiative.About 5,529 cases whichwere not associated with calldrops but related to data,roaming and billing werealso identified by the TSPs.

About 2.21 lakh subscribers participated using IVRS


NEW DELHI

The problem of call drops “ismore severe” indoors.

Over 62% customers face calldrops, says government survey

*

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Driving in style

More choice: The new Audi A3 Sedan was unveiled on Thursday. It is priced at ₹30.5 lakhonwards for the petrol version and ₹32.3 lakh onwards for the diesel variant. The company saidit wanted to regain the number one luxury carmaker spot in India. * BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Centre will likely at-tempt to secure legislativebacking for the Rail Develop-ment Authority (RDA) nextyear to give more teeth to thecountry’s first rail regulatorthat will initially be set upthrough an executive order.

The Union Cabinet onWednesday approved settingup the rail regulator respons-ible for recommending pas-senger fares, setting per-formance standards for railoperations and creating alevel playing policy forprivate sector participationthrough an executive order.

‘Dire need’“The idea was to make therail regulator functionalthrough an executive orderas the Indian Railways is indire need of reforming itstariff structure. The author-

ity will be subsequentlystrengthened later this yearthrough the legislativeroute,” said a senior RailwayMinistry official.

“We will also examine itsfunctioning and structure forthe first six-eight months andmay move to Parliamentnext year to give it statutorypowers,” the official said,adding that the Railways Act,1989 will be amended to in-sert a new chapter related tothe RDA.

The Ministry has targetedissuing a gazette notificationto set up the Rail Develop-ment Authority by April 15.Following selection of theChairman and three mem-bers of the regulator by acommittee headed by theCabinet Secretary, the func-tioning of the rail regulator isexpected to begin by Augustthis year.

After being formed, the

Authority will work withinthe parameters of the Rail-ways Act, 1989, an officialstatement had said on Wed-nesday.

This means it can only re-commend changes to pas-senger and goods fares to theRailway Ministry which willtake a final call on fixing thetariff.

‘Lacking autonomy’“It would be better if the Au-thority is set up through thestatutory support so that itsrecommendations becomebinding on the government.The regulator may lackautonomy if it’s formedthrough an executive order,”said former Railway BoardChairman Vivek Sahai.

The concept note releasedby the Railway Ministry earlylast year had stated that incases where the governmentdoes not accept the regulat-

or’s suggested fares, “the In-dian Railways would need tobe compensated” through“increased allocations in thegross budgetary support orthrough a suitable mechan-ism.”

However, a Railway Min-istry official said the pro-posal was dropped later asno appropriate mechanismfor compensation could bedeveloped.

All the six regulators inthe country have the sanc-tion of Parliament and havebeen accorded a statutorystatus.

These include the TRAI,AERAI, IRDA, CERC, TAMPand PFRDA.

In fact, the PFRDA be-came functional in 2003through an executive orderand legislative backing wassecured through the PFRDAAct which was passed a dec-ade later in 2013.

Functioning, structure of India’s irst rail regulator to be evaluated for 6-8 months

Somesh Jha

NEW DELHI

Centre may seek legislative nod for RDA

Toyota Kirloskar Motor is re-calling 23,157 units of itssedan Corolla Altis in Indiaas part of the ongoing recallof 2.9 million vehicles glob-ally for defective air bags.

The company, which ispart of Japan’s Toyota MotorCorporation, is recalling23,157 units of Corolla Altismanufactured betweenJanuary 2010 and December2012, a Toyota Kirloskar Mo-tor spokesperson told PTI.

Corolla Altis is pricedbetween ₹15.87 lakh and₹19.91 lakh (ex–showroomDelhi).

The exercise in India ispart of Toyota’s recall ofaround 2.9 million vehiclesin Japan, China, Oceania and

other regions, including itsCorolla Axio sedan andRAV4 SUV crossover, due topotentially faulty airbag

inflators.Millions of vehicles have

been recalled across theglobe due to defective safetyairbags manufactured by Ja-pan’s Takata Corp.

It has affected vehiclemanufacturers acrossbrands, including BMW,Chrysler, Daimler Trucks,Ford, General Motors,Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi,Nissan, Subaru and Toyota.

Earlier this year in Janu-ary, Honda had recalled41,580 units of the previousgeneration of Accord, Civic,City and Jazz models in Indiaas part of a global exercise torectify faulty airbags.

23,157 Corolla Altis units recalled in India

Potentially faulty Takata airbag inlators prompted Toyota’s global action

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI

Fault line: Toyota is recalling Corolla Altis cars manufacturedbetween January 2010 and December 2012.

BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

Hyundai unveils newCreta, Elite i20 modelsCHENNAI

Hyundai Motor India Ltd.

(HMIL), introduced new

models of Creta and Elite

i20. “The New 2017 Creta

depicts a modern and

high-tech SUV ofering with

advanced technology

features,” said Y.K. Koo, MD

and CEO, HMIL. The irm

also unveiled ‘New 2017

Elite i20,’ its compact sedan

with features encompassing

safety, style and

infotainment.

Essar Power registers49% growth in FY17MUMBAI

The Ruias-led Essar Power

has generated 49% more

power in the FY17 to 11,332

million units while adding

165 MW capacity to its

portfolio by commissioning

one unit each at its Paradip

and Hazira plants. The

generation increased by 57%

y-o-y to 2,920 million units

in the quarter ending 31

March 2017. K.V.B. Reddy,

CEO, Essar Power, said:

“Almost 80% of our planned

capacity of 6,100 MW is now

operational.”

Jubilant Life gets USFDAnod for arthritis drug NEW DELHI

Drug irm Jubilant Life

Sciences said on Thursday it

had received the inal

approval from the U.S. health

regulator for Celecoxib

capsules used for the

treatment of osteoarthritis

and rheumatoid arthritis. The

company “has received

Abbreviated New Drug

Application (ANDA) inal

approval for Celecoxib

Capsules, 50 mg, 100 mg,

200 mg, and 400 mg,” the

irm said in a BSE iling. PTI

The U.S. government’s newguidance for issuing H-1Bvisa, which allows techno-logy firms to hire skilledoverseas workers, may leadto increased litigation, im-migration lawyers said.

Just ahead of opening theH-1B visa application win-dow, U.S. Citizenship andImmigration Services (US-CIS), which oversees immig-ration into the U.S. and pro-cesses the applications,issued guidelines which saidcomputer programmersneed to prove that it is a spe-cialised skill to be eligible.

Increased scrutinyIn a separate note, theagency said there would beincreased scrutiny to detectH-1B visa fraud and abuse.The U.S. Department of

Justice also cautioned em-ployers seeking H-1B visasnot to discriminate againstU.S. workers, warning strictaction. “The new memos in-dicate that the USCIS willnot... continue to recognise acomputer programmer as aspeciality occupation for

H-1B purposes. This will nodoubt lead to numerous law-suits,” Carl Shusterman, aformer attorney for the U.S.Immigration and Naturaliza-tion Service said in an email.

He said there had been in-stances of U.S. programmersbeing terminated and re-

placed by the low-cost H-1Bvisa workers.

“It is pretty certain thatthe new memos are primar-ily focused on them. Timewill tell.” Cyrus D. Mehta,managing attorney andfounder of New York-basedlaw firm Cyrus D. Mehta andPartners, foresees more in-vestigations and lawsuitsbased allegedly on discrim-inating against Americanworkers if firms hire foreignH-1B workers.

“Still, the employer musthave an intent to discrimin-ate when replacing Americ-ans with foreign workers,and not when there is a law-ful business purpose for do-ing so, such as migrating tonew platforms with new skillsets,” he wrote in an email.

Indian IT firms have beenone of the biggest users ofthe H-1B visa programme.

H-1B visa guidance may leadto an increase in litigationNew memos aim to prevent replacement of local coders with low-cost H-1B staf

Think ‘glocal’: A U.S. employer can still recruit foreignworkers if there is a business case for it, say lawyers. * REUTERS

Sanjay Vijayakumar

Chennai Employees of the fast mov-ing consumer goods (FMCG)industry receive the highestsalaries in India at ₹11.3 lakha year as the average annualcost-to-company (CTC)across all levels and func-tions, according to a surveyby human resources serviceprovider Randstad.

The FMCG sector is fol-lowed by power and inform-ation technology, where em-ployees earn average annualsalaries of ₹9.8 lakh and ₹9.3lakh respectively, accordingto Randstad 2017 SalaryTrends Study findings.

‘Most lucrative’ Pharma and healthcare, of-fering an average annualCTC of ₹8.8 lakh, and tele-com at ₹8.7 lakh take thefourth and fifth positions inthe list as India's most lucrat-

ive industries.Dr. Moorthy K. Uppaluri,

MD & CEO, Randstad India,said: “In a country like Indiawhere job loyalty is consid-erably low, salary becomesone of the most critical para-meters that the workforcetakes into considerationwhile changing jobs. For em-ployers too, it is an imperat-ive to get the internal com-pensation structure right,

which is primarily a func-tion of various facets likecapability, experience, loca-tion, job profile, industry ofoperation etc.” As far as thelocation-specific salarytrends are concerned,Bengaluru, the IT capital ofIndia, tops the chart as thehighest paying city in thecountry, with an average an-nual CTC of ₹14.6 lakh whileMumbai offered ₹14.2 lakh.

Power, information technology rank second and third


MUMBAI

Money matters: Salary is a critical parameter that theworkforce takes into consideration while changing jobs.

FMCG is the highest-payingsector in India: Randstad

Emami Agrotech, the edibleoil arm of the Emami Group,said it planned to invest₹800 crore in expanding itsfacilities, a top company offi-cial said.

“So far we have invested₹800 crore in the edible oilbusiness and will further in-vest ₹800 crore to set up re-fining facilities and distribu-tion centres at Kandla, JNPTand other locations in In-dia,” said Aditya V Agarwal,director, Emami Group.

The company onThursday announced thefirst phase of the nationalroll out of its edible oil brandEmami Healthy & Tasty (HT)which was so far availableonly in the West Bengal mar-ket.

In 2016-17 Emami’s edibleoil business generated aturnover of ₹400 crore andwith a pan-India introduc-tion of its oil brands to becompleted in phases duringthis year, the company iseyeing a turnover of ₹5,000crore from edible oil in three

years. “There is a huge potential

for growth in the brandededible oil market in Indiawhere the per capita con-sumption is very low,” hesaid. “Based on our successin the West Bengal marketwhere we have grown CAGRof 50% for last three years,we are now going national.We are confident that ouredible oil will be well accep-ted by customers,” Mr. Agar-wal said.

The initial phase coveredmore than six States.

Eyes ₹5,000 crore turnover from edible oils in three yearsSpecial Correspondent

MUMBAI

Emami to invest ₹800 croreto expand facilities pan-India

Saudi Aramco, the world’slargest oil producer, is in-terested in picking up astake in India’s biggest oilrefinery being planned atMaharashtra. IOC, BharatPetroleum and HPCL planto set up a 60 milliontonnes a year oil refineryon the west coast to meetthe rising fuel needs of In-dia. “Saudi Aramco andAbu Dhabi National Oil Co.are talking to us for invest-ments in the Indian oil sec-tor,” Oil Minister Dhar-mendra Pradhan said.

Aramco eyesstake inreineryPress Trust of India

New Delhi

Twitter on Thursday rolledout a “data friendly” ver-sion of the platform calledTwitter Lite in India. Theproduct will use up to 70%less data while loading 30%faster, according to thecompany.

“India today is alreadyone of Twitter’s largest andfastest growing audiencemarkets worldwide,” MayaHari, managing director,Twitter Asia Pacific, said.“We’ve taken feedbackfrom our Indian users tomake Twitter Lite faster.”

Twitterunveils ‘Lite’ versionSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The number of point of sale(PoS) devices installed in thecountry is likely to increasefive-fold to 76 lakh in thenext five years, according toa report.

“Increased penetration ofdebit and credit cards,growing e-commerce sector,increasing disposable in-comes together with govern-ment’s massive thrust onpromoting a cashless eco-nomy provide a lucrativeopportunity for growth of

PoS devices in India,” saidthe report.

“Post-demonetisation,the PoS transactions havegrown manifold in the coun-try. The cash transactions inthe country has comedown,” said Assocham na-tional secretary general D. S.Rawat on the joint study byAssocham and RNCOS.

“The country’s retail in-dustry, together with sec-tors like healthcare, hospit-ality, food and beverage aremajor contributors to grow-ing revenue of PoS market.”

‘Point-of-sale devicesset for ive-fold growth’

Digital economy to spur sales: report

Staff Reporter

BENGALURU

CMYK

M ND-ND




SPORT

the real challenge and thereal test.On maybe falling short of

A.B. de Villiers may havetaken a long break from Testcricket, but it is clear he stillholds the format in highregard.

His absence from the five-day game, though, is bornout of a desire — at 33 — to ex-tend his ODI career throughto the 2019 World Cup, andwin a major trophy withSouth Africa.

Speaking after launchinghis new mobile application,AB17, developed by FanHero,here on Thursday, de Villierswas candid in his views on anumber of subjects.Excerpts.Future of Test cricket: Theway T20 has hit the ground,it was always going to be achallenge for Test cricket tokeep people involved and in-terested. But the ICC havegot it right in the last fewyears, and not neglectedTests. There's been some un-believable Test cricket played

over the last 5-7 years. Somegames I couldn't believe whatI was witnessing. It's defin-

itely here to stay, forever,hopefully. I love watchingTest cricket. As a player, it's

10,000 runs in Tests: Imean no disrespect to any-one who has ever achievedthat — but it means abso-lutely zero to me. I don’t careabout that at all.Dealing with SouthAfrica's history in ICCevents: (Graeme Smithcalled it an ‘unfortunate real-ity’ in a recent column forthe ICC.) I don’t think it’sever been difficult for us todeal with. Maybe Graemefound it difficult when hewas playing. I see it as a chal-lenge and an opportunity todo something special. Unfor-tunately we haven’t won atournament yet, but we getanother chance in 2017 andagain in 2019. I truly believethat we’re not far away. Untilwe cross that hurdle, thatquestion will always comeup. I feel our team spirit andour culture is exceptionallystrong, which is the kind ofthing you need when youcarry a 'tag' like that. Reconsidering wicket-

keeping: Definitely not. I'llmiss the next five years if Istart ’keeping again. My backwon't allow that. My back issore because of all thoseyears of ’keeping.Current fitness: I'm going totest it out this afternoon.We've got a nets session. I'llhit a couple of balls, see whatit feels like and then we'llmake a call. The quota system in SouthAfrican cricket: It is part ofour country. It’s somethingout of the team’s control. Weaddressed that issue in ourlast 'culture camp'. We had afull-on honesty sessionwhere everyone put all theirissues on the table, and that’sone of the things that cameup. It’s out of our circle oftrust. We’ve accepted it as acricket team. I still believethat we are, if not the best,one of the best teams in theworld. With all our chal-lenges and obstacles alongthe way, it’s something wehave crossed.

Major trophy for South Africa not far away: de VilliersSays he will miss the next ive years if he goes back to wicketkeeping with his bad back

Shreedutta Chidananda

Bengaluru

Looking to the future: A.B. de Villiers, seen relaxing with his son, has taken a break from Tests inorder to prolong his ODI career. * K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

A.B. de Villiers has hailedVirat Kohli as a “true leader”,while admitting that he ori-ginally harboured doubtsover the latter's captaincypotential.

“It has been an amazingjourney to watch him grow asa leader,” the South Africansaid here on Thursday.

“In the beginning, whenpeople mentioned to me hehas leadership qualities andmight become a captain oneday, I doubted it.

“Always a great player, butI thought he was very emo-tional with his reactions. Hehas found a way to deal withit. He is still an emotional,passionate character, but hecan manage and control that.

“He did not have the bestof series with the bat [againstAustralia], but what stoodout for me was his leadership.That's the greatest test for acaptain, when you don't do

well personally.

“They beat the Aussies andthe way they controlledthemselves by not goingoverboard with the celebra-tions [was good], they lookedthe opposition in the eye. Ithink all of those things comefrom him. He has become atrue leader.”

de Villiers added that Kohliwas the best batsman in theworld, while rejecting that la-bel himself.

“I don't think I can be thebest batsman. I don't play allformats,” he said.

Kohli and he had grown ineach other's company, de Vil-liers felt. “I enjoy watchinghis passion. He is giving methat passion in old age. I thinkhe is on the same kind of road[as I], realising it is not allabout passion and energy allthe time. You have to stepback sometimes and makesome clear decisions. Maybethat is something he has seenfrom me.”

Amazing to see Kohligrow as a leader: ABSpecial Correspondent

Bengaluru

Moises Constantino Hen-riques is the quintessentialteam man. In a chat withjournalists on Thursday, hehad more to say about hisSunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)teammates than his quickfire52.

That knock was pivotal inSRH’s 35-run win againstRoyal Challengers Bangaloreon Wednesday night.

“In an over where he got16, Shikhar Dhawan gave alot of momentum. Age didn’tmatter as Yuvraj made bat-ting seem so easy, his batswing pure and natural.Coming early in the tourna-ment, it’s fantastic to see himbatting so well,” gushed Hen-riques.

“In four seasons withSRH, I have seen Bhuvi(Bhuvneshwar Kumar) to bethe most consistent. His per-

formances have been worldclass on pitches that don’tsuit bowlers much.

“In yesterday’s win, hisyorkers were perfect,” saidthe towering pro, whoneeded three rounds of sur-gery on his broken jaw aftera collision with Surrey team-mate Rory Burns in a NatW-est T20 Blast game againstSussex at Arundel.

On his elevation to No. 3in the batting hierarchy, hesaid it was humbling to begiven precedence oversomeone such as KaneWilliamson.

“I rate Kane much higherthan myself for he is a worldclass batsman,” acknow-ledged the Aussie allrounder.

“It was nice to get a crackat 3, because it offers moreopportunities to score runs.The higher I bat inTwenty20, the better,” hesurmised.

On frequent switches informats, he said it had be-come part and parcel of in-ternational cricket. “It’s ne-cessary to perform onwhatever stage and adapt towhat’s thrown at you,” hesaid.

With such athleticism,how come he chose cricketin a sports-mad country ? “Iwas born to Portuguese par-ents, pretty fond of football.But right from childhood Iwas passionate aboutcricket,” he explained.

Is the IPL a calming influ-ence, considering the heatedseries against Australia thatpreceded it ?

“The IPL breaks downbarriers. Players get to knoweach other off the field andthat’s where true friendshipsare built. After all, life’s moreimportant than cricket,” con-cluded Henriques.

The higher I bat in T20, the better: HenriquesIPL breaks down barriers, says the quintessential team man

Hurricane: Moises Henriques’ quickire knock was pivotal inSunrisers’ win against RCB. * K.R. DEEPAK

A. Joseph Antony

HYDERABAD

Allrounder Mohammad Nabibelieves cricket can be thebinding force for peace backin Afghanistan given its pop-ularity as the No. 1 sport.

“A lot of youngsters aretaking up the game in a bigway. There is plenty of talentand this is a good augury forthe sport and for the coun-try too,” the off-spinner said.

“Conditions were very dif-ficult when we started play-ing. But they are a lot betternow. There are very good fa-cilities in some centres likeKabul, Kandahar, andJalalabad. The future reallylooks bright,” said Nabi.

“Afghanistan is ready forTest cricket especially afterbeating Zimbabwe at home

and away. You can’t do thatunless you play qualitycricket,” said the cricketerwith 80 ODIs under his belt.

Fresh from his impress-ive, match-winning six for40 against Ireland in Noida,Nabi is clearly relishingevery moment withSunrisers.

“It is a fact that when myname came up for auction, Iwas nervous as some of thebig names went unsold bythen. But once Rashid(Khan) and I were picked bySRH, we were delighted. It isa dream to play in the IPL,”said Nabi.

Fan following Nabi said he and Rashidplaying in the IPL meant alot for Afghanistan as there

was a lot of fan followingand more so for Sunrisers .

“The fan following isclearly growing,” he added.

“I know it is very tough toget into the playing XI forSRH given the very goodbench strength. But,whenever I get the chance, Iam ready to prove myself,”Nabi said.

“We don’t feel the pres-sure of being the onlyAfghan cricketers in action.Good performances by uscan help the sport in a bigway and I wish many morefrom my country play in thenext editions,” Nabi said.

“And I am eagerly await-ing to meet Muttiah Mura-litharan (SRH mentor) topick up a few tricks in the artof off-spin,” he added.

Afghanistan is ready forTest cricket, says Nabi The allrounder is relishing every moment with Sunrisers

V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD

The conversion of this edi-tion of the IPL into an In-jured Premier League hasled to many teams feelingthe heat due to unavailabil-ity of key players. The effectwill be felt at the SaurashtraCricket Association stadiumon the outskirts of Rajkot onFriday night as Gujarat Lionsattempts to keep its cleanslate against fancied KolkataKnight Riders.

Had all key players beenfit and available, the matchwould have seen RavindraJadeja, the Lions’ hometownhero, and KKR pace spear-head Umesh Yadav pittedagainst each other. However,with a BCCI diktat forcingboth to rest for the first twogames, the teams will haveto make minor changes totheir starting combinations.

On the back of last year’sperformances, the matchcould also well have been aface-off between Caribbeanall-rounders Andre Russelland Dwayne Bravo. How-ever, KKR’s Russell is servinga year-long suspension whileBravo — who joined theLions on Thursday — is stillrecovering from a hamstringinjury and is unlikely to playany part in the first half ofthe league stage.

Having said that, all is notlost for both teams, who fea-tured in the 2016 Playoffs.KKR has replaced Russellwith England’s ChrisWoakes, who is likely to havelanky pacer Ankit Rajpootfilling in for Umesh. Andwith an otherwise un-changed batting and spin de-partments, KKR is set tostart its campaign on a win-ning note.

Reason to smileLions also have reason tosmile with Dhawal Kulkarniraring to go after spendingalmost four months on thesidelines due to a knee in-jury.

The Mumbai pacer was

exceptional for Lions in theirdebut season and is hopingto make a statement on hisreturn to the big stage.Kulkarni looked at his bestwhile bowling to the power-hitters from his team underlights at Khanderi onThursday night.

Barring that, Lions haveplenty to ponder going intothe tournament. CaptainSuresh Raina has hardly hadany game-time ever sincefeaturing in the T20 seriesagainst England in January.

With Jadeja missing from

its ranks, the spin attack, in-cluding chinaman ShivilKaushik, left-arm spinnerShadab Jakati and young leg-gie Tejas Baroka, has be-come brittle, to say the least.

As Gambhir said onThursday, an injury tosomeone is an opportunityfor another.

Will the Knight Riders re-placements make a name forthemselves or will the Lionsroar in the opener of whatwould be their last season?

Will KKR’s replacementsmake a mark? Or will the Lions roar in the irst match of their inal season?

Think-tank: KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir, seen with coachJacques Kallis, feels that injuries open up opportunities forothers to stake a claim. * PTI

Amol Karhadkar

RAJKOT

IPL TELECASTDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

GUJARAT LIONS V KOLKATAKNIGHT RIDERSSony ESPN, Sony Six, Sony Max(SD & HD), 8 p.m.DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

<> Jadeja will be back

after two games and

Dwayne is (still)

doing his rehab... I

can’t say anything

on his comeback

Suresh Raina,

Gujarat Lions captain

Mumbai Indians: Parthiv Patel bTahir 19 (14b, 4x4), Jos Buttlerlbw b Tahir 38 (19b, 3x4, 3x6),Rohit Sharma b Tahir 3 (7b), Nit-ish Rana c Bhatia b Zampa 34(28b, 1x4, 2x6), Ambati Rayuduc & b Bhatia 10 (12b), KrunalPandya c Dhoni b Bhatia 3 (5b),Kieron Pollard c Mayank bStokes 27 (17b, 3x4, 1x6),Hardik Pandya (not out) 35 (15b,

1x4, 4x6), Tim Southee run out7 (3b, 1x6), Mitchell McClen-

aghan (not out) 0 (0b); Extras(b-1, lb-1, w-6): 8; Total (foreight wkts. in 20 overs): 184.Fall of wickets: 1-45 (Parthiv,4.2), 2-61 (Rohit, 6.3), 3-62(Buttler, 6.5), 4-92 (Rayudu,11.1), 5-107 (Krunal, 13.2), 6-125(Rana, 15.3), 7-146 (Pollard,18.2), 8-183 (Southee, 19.5),Rising Pune Supergiant bowl-ing: Ashoke Dinda 4-0-57-0,Deepak Chahar 2-0-21-0, BenStokes 4-0-36-1, Imran Tahir 4-

0-28-3, Adam Zampa 3-0-26-1,Rajat Bhatia 3-0-14-2.Rising Pune Supergiant:Ajinkya Rahane c Rana bSouthee 60 (34b, 6x4, 3x6),Mayank Agarwal c Rohit b Mc-Clenaghan 6 (5b, 1x4), SteveSmith (not out) 84 (54b, 7x4,

3x6), Ben Stokes c Southee bHardik 21 (14b, 3x4), M.S. Dhoni(not out) 12 (12b, 1x4); Extras(lb-1, w-3): 4; Total (for threewkts. in 19.5 overs): 187.

Fall of wickets: 1-35 (Mayank,3.1), 2-93 (Rahane, 10.1), 3-143(Stokes, 15.2).MI bowling: Southee 4-0-34-1,Hardik Pandya 4-0-36-1,Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-36-1, Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-29-0,Krunal Pandya 2-0-21-0, KieronPollard 1.5-0-30-0. Toss: Supergiant.Man-of-the-match: Smith.

RPS won by seven wicketswith a ball to spare.

SCOREBOARD RISING PUNE SUPERGIANT VS MUMBAI INDIANS

Ajinkya Rahane and SteveSmith showed the way forRising Pune Supergiant tonotch up a big victoryagainst Mumbai Indians inthe VIVO IPL-10 match at theMCA International CricketStadium here on Thursday.

On a surface that playedtrue, perhaps for the firsttime in many IPL matchesplayed here, Rahanestraightaway got into topgear to punish HardikPandya’s medium-pace forthree boundaries in thesecond over.

He proceeded to look forruns against Tim Southeeand Mitchell McClenaghan asSupergiant raced to 59 by theend of PowerPlay.

After Rahane departed,with Nitish Rana holding hisnerve to take a splendidcatch deep at square-leg,Smith took charge to enablehis team post a solid win.

Supergiant needed 36runs off the last four oversand 13 off the last. Pollardconceded just three runs offhis first three balls, butSmith finished a thrillingmatch with two sixes.

Earlier, Jos Buttler cameup with some hard-hitboundaries and at the fagend , Hardik Pandya found away to thump Ashoke Dindafor four mighty sixes to set achallenging target of 185.

Thanks to Tim Southeelifting a straight six off thelast ball sent down by Stokesand Pandya’s swashbucklingeffort in the last over, MI ad-ded 36 runs off the last sevenballs. None of the threebowlers, Smith tried in thefirst four overs vindicated hiscall at the toss.

But, Tahir found thebreakthrough in his firstover; making Parthiv Patelplay all over a ball that didnot turn and hit the left-hander’s leg stump.

Next, he foxed MI captainRohit Sharma with a deliverythat hastened off the pitchand immediately won a legbefore decision from umpireS. Ravi against the rampa-

ging Buttler. The right-hander appeared to have in-side-edged the ball.

Nitish Rana got into theact with some courageous

shots during his 28-ball ten-ure in the middle.

After Rana’s dismissal,Kieron Pollard took on Tahirin his second spell of twoovers. Even as he appearedto be set for his usual on-

slaught, Mayank Agarwalpulled off what has to be thefirst spectacular catch of thisedition; the Karnataka playerdived in front to hold thecatch that gave Stokes hisfirst IPL wicket.

Smith and Supergiantseemed to be in control ofthe innings. But, Hardik,held back till as late as theNo. 8 position, delivered thebig runs making an unbeaten35 off just 14 balls.

Supergiant Smith does the star turnAjinkya sets the chase in motion; Hardik Pandya’s late charge gives Mumbai Indians a challenging total

Breathing ire: Steve Smith’s knock took Rising Pune Supergiant to a thrilling win. * VIVEK BENDRE

G. Viswanath

Pune

IPL-10

CMYK

M ND-ND




SPORT

SUDOKU

M A N A G I N G P E O P L E

O O U E S N R X

D Y S E N T E R Y S C E N E

E T S D N U E R

W A R H O L C H R O N I C

L I E E I

S I G N P O S T A D D E R S

H I S C N E

A P A T H Y P R O F O U N D

T A E E N

T E S T B A N A B B A C Y

E C I A M R I P

R O O S T I N T R I C A T E

E R U L E L T L

D E E P E N P A V E M E N T

Solution to puzzle 11974 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The Tirukkural captures the spirit of renunciation and sur-render thus: ‘When one attaches himself with the Lord whois free from all attachments, he is bound to eternal happi-ness. A new bond is gained when all other bonds arebroken. One is no longer ensnared in delusion.’

Scriptures hail the renunciation of all that one considersas one’s own and offering oneself wholly to the Lord as thehighest spiritual attainment, the only means by which a jiv-atma can attain salvation. In a discourse, Damal Ramakrish-nan and Perundevi pointed out that Vibhishana exemplifiesthis spirit when he chooses to leave his ties with Ravana whostands in adharma. Though born in the rakshasa race,Vibhishana is described as a dharmatma, one who is bynature a righteous person. He can never be a part ofadharma.

Generally, the rakshasas engage in severe penance to gainboons that confer power and invincibility. But Vibhishanahad sought the boon of infinite wisdom, instead of infinitepower, and the tendency to tread the path of righteousness.Hence he knows all along that Rama is the Lord Narayanawhom he worships and so decides to seek His feet.

He appears before the group of monkeys on the northernshores where Rama and Lakshmana stay and stands in theskies along with four other rakshasa warriors. Even as themonkeys are ready to attack them, Vibhishana, freed fromdelusions, speaks fearlessly about the purpose of his comingto Rama’s camp when war with Lanka is imminent. WhenVibhishana’s plea is accepted, he falls at Rama’s feet, andonce again repeats his wishes: “I know fully well that youare the refuge for all beings and hence I seek your feet. Ihave renounced my friends, wealth, Lanka, etc and comehere. My place, life and well being henceforth belong toyour kindness and grace.”

FAITH

Spirit of surrender2 Dumpling, tea for tropical

American bird (5)

3 Exiles bears (7)

5 Missing receptacle lacking top

handle (6)

6 Served up pita fries with

pre-dinner drinks (9)

7 Turing’s machine initially

solved mysteries (7)

8 In a riot, noticed scenes of

vanity (13)

14 Darwin, extremely learned,

adjusted to European nation

(9)

17 Poison shell split by Myanmar

Buddhist (7)

19 Remove waste surrounding

America (7)

20 Sweetheart, adventurous,

embraces student (7)

21 Goldsmith has old European

currency, we hear (6)

24 Tata, for one, is returning in

Paris (5)

12 Is sucked in by allure of

middleman’s personality (8)

13 Mystic nag performs acrobatics

(9)

15 European capital’s chief

superintendent covered in fur

coat (5)

16 Auditor governs English city

(5)

18 Suspends station’s one end

(4,5)

22 Hatred of one report (8)

23 Meal missing second spice, but

starter is irst class (6)

25 Since dance, get facelift, glow

(10)

26 Looking back at endless

journal of attack (4)

27 Regularly impound returning

communist who’s forward

thinking (6)

28 Marching editor has drink with

girl (6)

■ DOWN

1 Excuse a traveller with empty

gypsy (7)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8

9 10

11 12

13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20

21

22 23 24

25 26

27 28

(set by Anon)

■ ACROSS

1 Equip irst computer

programmer with squadron

(6)

4 Father to secure mansion (6)

9 Fell backward into space (4)

10 Expert inally writes

dissertation on artiicial limb

(10)

11 I escape from riot with squad

(6)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 11975

Harden powers Rocketsover NuggetsHOUSTON

James Harden recorded his

61st double-double and

delivered a scoring flurry

down the stretch to carry

Houston Rockets to a season

sweep of Denver Nuggets in

the NBA on Thursday.

Rockets won 110-104. Other results: Clippers 112 btMavericks 101, Warriors 120bt Suns 111, Lakers 102 btSpurs 95, Thunder 103 btGrizzlies 100, Cavaliers 114 btCeltics 91, Raptors 105 btPistons 102, Heat 112 btHornets 99. AGENCIES

IN BRIEF

Brazil back on top ofFIFA rankingsZURICH

Brazil surged to the top of

the FIFA World rankings for

the first time in seven years

on Thursday, upstaging

Argentina. In third place is

Germany, followed by Chile

and Colombia. AFP

Chelsea ticked off threemore points in its PremierLeague title quest with a 2-1victory over Manchester Cityon Wednesday but Totten-ham Hotspur’s Houdini-like3-1 win at Swansea meansthe race is far from over.

With Chelsea leadingfourth-placed City at an edgyStamford Bridge courtesy ofEden Hazard’s first-halfbrace and Tottenham, whichkicked off 15 minutes earlier,trailing 1-0 at Swansea, a de-cisive swing in Chelsea’s fa-vour loomed.

However, Dele Alli’s 88th-minute equaliser for Totten-ham followed by stoppage-time strikes from Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksenmeans Chelsea’s lead re-mains seven points.

Sergio Aguero’s equaliser,his 15th league goal of theseason, looked to have givenCity the launchpad to in-crease Chelsea’s jitters butFernandinho’s rash tackle onPedro for a penalty whichHazard scored on the re-bound meant Guardiola wasoutsmarted by Conte.

Arsenal moved up to fifth,four points behind City witha game in hand, after a 3-0home victory over strugglingWest Ham United, a first winin four for Wenger’s side.Joshua King’s late leveller forBournemouth in a 2-2 drawat Anfield all but knockedLiverpool out of the titleequation as it is 12 pointsadrift of Chelsea.

The results:

Premier League: Liverpool 2(Coutinho 40, Origi 58) drewwith Bournemouth 2 (Afobe 7,King 87); Chelsea 2 (Hazard 10,35-pen) bt Manchester City 1(Aguero 26); Arsenal 3 (Ozil 58,Walcott 68, Giroud 83) bt WestHam 0; Southampton 3 (Red-mond 45, Yoshida 84, Ward-Prowse 85) bt Crystal Palace 1(C. Benteke 31); Swansea 1(Routledge 11) lost to Totten-ham 3 (Alli 88, Son 90+2,

Erikssen 90+4); Hull 4(Markovic 14, Niasse 27,Hernandez 33, Maguire 70) btMiddlesbrough 2 (Negredo 5,de Roon 45+1).

La Liga: Barcelona 3 (Suarez 25,Messi 27, 33) bt Sevilla 0; Leg-anes 2 (Pires 32, Neves 35) lostto Real Madrid 4 (Rodriguez 15,Morata 18, 23, Mantovani 48-og); Deportivo La Coruna 0drew with Granada 0; Alaves 0lost to Osasuna 1 (Berenguer88); Sporting Gijon 0 lost to

Malaga 1 (Sandro 40).

Bundesliga: BorussiaMonchengladbach 1 (Benes 16)bt Hertha Berlin 0; Mainz 2(Jairo 69, Muto 89) lost to RBLeipzig 3 (Sabitzer 48, Werner52, Keita 81); VfL Wolfsburg 0lost to Freiburg 1 (Niederlech-ner 78); Augsburg 2 (Verhaegh76-pen, Halil Altintop 82) lostto Ingolstadt 3 (Kittel 24, Co-hen 35, 67); Darmstadt 0 lost toBayer Leverkusen 2 (Brandt 15,Volland 56).

Hazard ires Chelsea chargeBournemouth holds Liverpool, Arsenal nails Hammers

Make that two! Eden Hazard slots in the penalty, for Chelsea’s second goal, past ManchesterCity ’keeper Willy Caballero. * MIKE HEWITT/GETTY IMAGES

Agencies

LONDON

India ranking third for thethird consecutive time in thelist of countries with anti-doping rule violations (AD-RVs) record for 2015 and thegovernment mulling overbringing a law to criminalisethe offence of doping havedirected the focus on the ef-ficiency of the country’santi-doping system.

Like many other coun-tries, the government is try-ing to fulfil an obligation tofall in line with the Interna-tional Convention againstDoping in Sports passed byUNESCO in October, 2005.But the point to ponder iswhether our country, whereathletes primarily comefrom humble backgroundsand awareness about anti-doping issues is far from be-ing satisfactory, is ready forsuch a law.

The other importantquestion is whether our anti-doping mechanism is match-ing the best standards beingpractised around the world.

Some sports administrat-ors, who are fed up with theembarrassing number ofdope positive results, may fa-vour sending the guilty to jail

but without adequate ex-pertise to handle such issuesit may turn out to be a pre-mature and harsh step.

“There are too manyloopholes in our system. Wehave a National Anti-DopingAgency (NADA) consisting ofsix people. They have notbeen able to educate (theathletes properly). They arenot taking any action againstany coach or federation (forspreading doping). You can-not just keep punishing theathlete. You have that crim-inal system when you have aproper system in place,” saidnoted lawyer VidushpatSinghania, who has workedas a counsel for several ath-letes charged with doping.

Even though the NADA,which functions under thedirect supervision of theUnion Sports Ministry des-pite being an autonomousbody, has achieved decentsuccess by testing a largenumber of athletes and pen-alising a good chunk of

them, the six-man organisa-tion catering to several thou-sand athletes across thecountry has not been able tofunction in a dynamic man-ner. Following the imple-mentation of the 2015 WorldAnti-Doping Agency (WADA)Code, the National Anti-Dop-ing Organisations (NADOs)were expected to take up thetask of investigation and in-telligence gathering.

NADA had been toyingwith the idea of roping in in-vestigators and collecting in-formation on drug supplychains for the last two yearsbut is yet to achieve any sig-nificant result.

“We don’t have any in-vestigation. In America, theydid a proper investigation ofLance Armstrong and ofBalco. Their police are doinga proper job. Here we don’thave any idea,” said Sing-hania. The lack of enoughawareness about drugs andsupplements is another areaof concern. “There is no sys-tem of supplement testing,No system to label drugs orsupplements. We have a sys-tem of ayurveda and othermedicines where we don’tknow what is happening,” headded.

Athletes’ awareness is far from satisfactory

Y.B. Sarangi

KOLKATA

India needs to strengthen its anti-doping system irst

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

� There are too many

loopholes in our system:

Noted lawyer Vidushpat

Singhania

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Novak Djokovic spearheadsSerbia’s bid to reach theDavis Cup semifinals for thefirst time since 2013 and re-boot a career which hasstalled since his history-mak-ing French Open victory.

Shock early losses atWimbledon, the RioOlympics and AustralianOpen have been compoun-ded by a recent elbow injurywhich sidelined him fromthe Miami Masters.

Since the start of 2017Djokovic has won just sevenmatches but he insists thatthis weekend’s Davis Cupclash at home to Spainprovides the perfect plat-form for the defence of hisFrench Open title, the onlyGrand Slam still in hispossession.

Five-time champion Spainwon the only previous meet-ing between the two coun-tries 4-1 in 2009, with RafaelNadal defeating Djokovic inthe decisive rubber.

The winner will take oneither France or Great Bri-tain for a spot in the final.The European rivals meet atRouen with Britainhampered by the loss ofworld No.1 Andy Murray, outwith an elbow injury.

In Brisbane, 28-time win-ner Australia hosts theUnited States, champion ona record 32 occasions. Thetwo meet for the 47th time.

USA and Australia face of


BELGRADE

Djokovic leadsSerb challenge

Belgium v Italy (Charleroi)Australia v USA (Brisbane)France v Great Britain (Rouen)Serbia v Spain (Belgrade)

DAVIS CUP QF

The Committee of Admin-istrators (CoA) onThursday informed allState units that it will seekthe Supreme Court’s dir-ective on BCCI’s represent-ative at ICC meetings andasked the members to keepthat in mind before takingany decision at the SpecialGeneral Meeting on April 9.

ICC nominee:SC’s directivesoughtPress Trust of india

New Delhi

K. Shyam Kumar (49kg) ad-vanced to the final but Ro-hit Tokas (64kg) tookbronze going down in thesemifinals of the ThailandInternational boxing tour-nament here on Thursday.

Shyam Kumar defeatedMongolia’s GankhuyagGan-Erdene in the last-fourstage.

Shyam ininalPress Trust of India

Bangkok

Karman Kaur Thandi de-feated Mila Eklund 6-2, 3-6,6-3 in the second round ofthe $15,000 ITF women’stournament here onThursday.The results: $15,000 Futures,Jakarta: Quarterfinals: BrydanKlein (GBr) bt Haadin Bava 6-1,6-4.

$25,000 ITF women, SantaMargherita di Pula (Italy):

First round: Vivien Juhaszova(Svk) & Polina Leykina (Rus) btEva Wacanno (Ned) &Prarthana Thombare 6-2, 2-6,[10-8].

$15,000 ITF women, Herak-lion (Greece): Second round:Karman Kaur Thandi bt MilaEklund (Fin) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF women,Hammamet (Tunisia): Firstround: Federica Arcidiacono(Ita) bt Snehadevi Reddy 6-7(6), 6-2 6-3.

Karman advancesSports Bureau

Heraklion (Greece)

Bukharina is India relay team coachKOCHI

Former Olympic sprint relay

bronze medallist Galina

Bukharina, a Russian who

later migrated to the US, has

been appointed coach of the

Indian 400m and relay teams.

The Union Sports Minister

Vijay Goel approved the

appointments of Bukharina

and Australian race walking

coach Dave Smith on

Thursday, and they will be

with the Indian team till the

2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

All-rounder Shawej starsfor Rann Star CC

Man-of-the-match ShawejKhan scored crucial 34unbeaten runs and pickedup three wickets, whileNitish Lochab and UnmuktChand scored half-centurieseach as Rann Star CricketClub beat Sonnet CricketClub by seven wickets andenter the prequarterfinals of

the 27th All India Om NathSood memorial tournament.

The scores:

SCC 206 all out in 39.1 overs(Milind Kumar 62, DhruvShorey 42; Shawej Khan threefor 20, Rahul Chaudhary twofor 37, Vikas Dixit two for 47)lost to RSCC 210 for three in29.3 overs (Nitish Lochab 58,Unmukt Chand 52, MohitAhlawat 39 not out, ShawejKhan 34 not out).

Playerz XI posts wins

Dhruv Jain’s 50 and AviralHimmatramka’s 42 helpedPlayerz XI beat Nav Durga XIby 19 runs in the 5thRoshanara Premier League. The scores: Playerz XI 169 forthree in 20 overs (Dhruv Jain50, Aviral Himmatramka 42,Jaspreet Singh Dhingra 30;Paras Anand three for 30) btNav Durga XI 150 for six in 20overs (Hridey Sagar 57).

ZenithXI 147 for five in 20 overs(Aditya Kaushik 47, GursimarSingh 31; Navdeep Sethi two for38) lost to Saya Rowdy Rhinos151 for one in 17.3 overs(Vinayak Gupta 77 not out,Kshitij Garg 51).

Ayush hits rapid century

Delhi under-19 player AyushBadoni scored a 73-ball 109and Sumit Kumar made 97 asTrans Yamuna CricketAssociation beat TN

Academy by 43 runs in the10th Hargopal under-19tournament.

The scores: TYCA 272 for six in35 overs (Ayush Badoni 109,Sumit Kumar 97; Ayush Jamwaltwo for 41, Vaibhav Chaudharytwo for 43) bt TN Academy 229for seven in 35 overs (AyushJamwal 67, Gagan Vats 49;Prashant Kumar two for 14,Rachit Kapoor two for 33,Sandeep Kumar two for 34).

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\ DELHI ROUND-UP \

Shashikant Rajput defeatedBhupender Dahiya 6-1, 6-4in the under-18 boys’ finalof the AITA Championshipseries junior tennis tourna-ment at the CLTA Stadiumon Thrusday.

It was a double crownfor Shashikant as he wonthe doubles title withNaresh Badgujar.The results: Boys: Under-18: Final:Shashikant Rajput bt Bhu-pender Dahiya 6-1, 6-4. Semi-finals: Dahiya bt NareshBadgujar 6-0, 4-6, 6-4; Ra-jput bt Tushar Sharma 6-1,6-2.Doubles: Final: Rajput &Badgujar bt Akarshit Mahajan& Yuvraj Kooka 6-2, 6-1.Under-14: Semifinals: AjaySingh bt Jitin Chetry 4-6, 6-2,6-0; Sarabjot Singh bt PranavChopra 6-4, 7-6(3).Doubles: Final: Chetry &Sukhpreet Jhoje bt Chopra &Sarabjot 6-4, 6-3.Girls: Under-18: Semifinals:Kaavya Sawhney bt AshpreetBajwa 6-0, 6-0; Harleen Kaurbt Himanshika 6-2, 6-3.Doubles: Final: Kavya &Srishti Dhir bt Harleen & Aish-warya Andalkar 6-1, 6-2.Under-14: Semifinals: NimratAtwal bt Krishti Boro 6-4,6-3; Kuhoo Atray bt PrachiBatra 6-2, 6-2.

Rajput winsboys’ u-18 titleSports Bureau

CHANDIGARH

Vanshika Thakur recoveredfrom a slow start to beatAnandini Nagda 2-11, 11-4, 11-8in the girls’ under-11quarterfinals of the PNB

Metlife junior badmintonchampionship at the Thyaga-raj Indoor Stadium onThursday.

The results:

Boys: Under-17 (third round):Mukul Teotia bt Lakhan Yadav15-9, 15-9; Vimal Prajapat bt AjitKumar Ashutosh 15-11, 6-15,15-9; Himanshu Dabas btNandis Poddar 15-11, 13-15, 15-11; Harsh Kumar bt Suraj Tewa-tia 15-6, 11-15, 15-4; AmanGupta bt Naman Singh Nehra15-10, 15-10; Chirag Seth bt Hi-mansh Batra 15-7, 14-15, 15-11;Rehan Rathee bt Hariom 15-14,14-15, 15-9; Devvrat bt SanskarChopra 15-10, 8-15, 15-9; MohitKumar bt Akash Paswan 15-1,

13-15, 15-7; Arjun Rehani btAkash 15-7, 13-15, 15-7; VaasuHimmatramka bt Keshav Mak-ker 15-5, 14-15, 15-8; RishiKukreja bt Kanishk 11-15, 15-14,15-10; Shubham Patel bt ShivamMehta 15-11, 15-11.

Under-13 (fourth round):Chirag Khatri bt Sarwar Deshwal15-7, 15-3;

Manish Phogat bt Vansh Dev15-11, 15-10; Anmol Bhutani btVeer Pratap Singh 15-13, 15-13;Ryan Ranjan bt AbhigyanSharma 15-12, 14-15, 15-9;Aaryan Sapiah bt Likhit Srivast-ava 15-12, 15-11; Neer Nehwal btAbdul Qadir Jeelani 15-12, 15-12;Pulkit Bansal bt SiddharthRawat 15-12, 15-13; KhoosheeKumar Pankaj bt Vedanth Sudhir15-10, 15-12; Manraj Singh btYash Dabas 15-6, 15-6.

Under-11 (quarterfinals): NeerNehwal bt Mohammad Arsh11-4, 11-7; Chirag Choudhary btVibhas Agarwal 11-6, 11-8;Vansh Dev bt Divyansh Rawat

11-7, 11-5; Devvang Tomar bRyan Ranjan 11-9, 11-9.

Under-9 (quarterfinals): Man-jeet Chaoudhary bt Shiven Up-manyu 11-5, 11-4; Arjun bt UdayBhan Mehra 11-8, 11-4; AyushKumar bt Nishant Sehwag 11-7,11-3; Akash Singh bt HarshChoudhary 11-1, 9-11, 11-9.

Girls: Under-17 (third round):Aashi Rawat bt Priyanshi Katiyar15-3, 15-4; Shehjar Chowdhurybt Khushi Thakkar 15-10, 15-10;Arushi Singh bt Ayushi Dhas-mana 3-15, 15-13, 15-12; SimranChaudhary bt Suhani Khatri 15-14, 10-15, 15-11; Adya Parasharbt Vibhuti Sharma 15-8, 15-7.

Under-15 (fourth round): SnehaRajwar bt Saloni Goyal 15-4,15-3;

Sakshi Phogat bt Ayush Dod-hwal 15-14, 15-13; KhushbooSao bt Meenal Rautela 13-15, 15-10, 15-14; Anupama Upadhyayabt Khushi Pant 14-15, 15-5, 15-7;Suhana Mansoori bt AnushaSingh 13-15, 15-9, 15-4.

Under-13 (third round): Anwe-sha Goowda bt Muskan Mishra15-10, 15-14; Stuti Agrawal btHiya Wadhwa 15-11, 11-15, 15-8;Muskaan Sangwan bt Siddhi Ku-mar 15-10, 15-11.

Khushboo Sao bt SuhanaMansoori 8-15, 15-13, 15-10;Myra Grover bt Megha Nasir 14-15, 15-5, 15-14.

Under-11 (quarterfinals): An-mol Kharb bt RiddhimaSahrawat 11-4, 11-1; UnnatiHooda bt Khushi Punia 11-4,11-5; Vansihika Thakur btAnandini Nagda 2-11, 11-4, 11-8;Anwesha Gowda bt Manvi 8-11,11-3, 11-1.

Under-9 (quarterfinals):Madhumita Ramamoorthy btManya Lalani 4-11, 11-8, 11-7;Ashe Singh bt Ashlesha Sharma11-6, 11-7; Ananya

Bhardwaj bt Harshita Yadav11-5, 11-2; Shruti Chouhan btNaisha Ahlawat 11-6, 11-4.

Vanshika overcomes sluggish start, in semiinalsSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI

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The city seems to havewretched luck with thename Novak Djokovic. Thelast time the leafy environsof the KSLTA Stadium insidethe pristine Cubbon Parkplayed host to a Davis Cuptie, it was decked up to re-ceive the Serbian superstar,only for him to pull out cit-ing personal commitmentsand fatigue.

This time it was the turnof Djokovic’s most-recentGrand Slam slayer — therehaven’t been many — DenisIstomin, who beat him at theAustralian Open, to keepeveryone on tenterhooks un-til he decided not to makethe journey owing to alingering foot injury.

As the Asia-OceaniaGroup I Round Two tie getsunder way, shorn of starpower, with India captainMahesh Bhupathi choosingto overlook Leander Paes’candidature also, and withall four singles players fromboth countries outside theATP top-250, it is indeed dis-tinctly underwhelming.

Golden opportunityTo be fair, Davis Cup hasnever been a top entertain-ment product. Its schedul-ing, format, terminologies allseem arcane. Only in recentyears have the big starsreally warmed up to it.

But its allure is best cap-tured in the words of therank and file and the unher-alded, for whom it is agolden opportunity to exper-ience the limelight and be-come heroes for a week ortwo.

“We are all getting achance to be a part of theteam and to play for the

country,” Prajnesh Gun-neswaran, India’s secondsingles player had told TheHindu recently.

“It feels like we are part ofsomething bigger.”

At the draw ceremonyheld at the Vidhana Soudha,the seat of the State legis-lature of Karnataka, itemerged that RamkumarRamanathan, India’s No.1singles player, would openagainst Temur Ismailov firstup on Friday.

This is Ramkumar’s fourthDavis Cup fixture and per-haps the most important,shouldering the responsibil-ity in the absence of YukiBhambri.

The 22-year-old, who of-

ten does his utmost to rev upthe crowd, will hope for aperformance to match hisactions. For Ismailov on theother hand, this will be hisfirst live rubber.

Familiar with five-settersIn the second singles Pra-jnesh will meet Uzbek No.1Sanjar Fayziev. Of all the foursingles players, the lattermight have the best prepara-tion as he is the only onewho has past experience ofhaving played five sets.

Against South Korea inFebruary, he stretchedHyeon Chung, a playerranked as high as 51 and onewho had just beaten theCroatian sensation Borna

Coric at the Aircel ChennaiOpen, to five sets. Then aday later, he combined withIstomin to play five moresets in doubles.

“These things shouldn’tbe an issue at all,” Bhupathisaid, to much surprise.

“To draw a parallel, fit-ness was never my forte butI’ve played 14 or 15 sets overa weekend in Davis Cup. Theadrenaline kicks in, the teamis behind you. Things justtake shape.”

The weekend will showhow but what might add tothe intrigue is the fact thatthese sets of players havenever met each other. Bhu-pathi’s source of knowledgewas “a lot of YouTubevideos”.

The closest the Uzbekshave come to acquaintingthemselves with the Indianswas when Farrukh Dustovsaw Ramkumar practice dur-ing a Futures tournamentback home.

In the past, these twoteams have split the last fourties between them but haverem

ained unassailable athome.

Bhupathi’s hope, in hisfirst tie as captain, will be forthat trend to continue.

Order of play (3 p.m. start)Ramkumar Ramanathan

vs. Temur Ismailov followedby Prajnesh Gunneswaranvs. Sanjar Fayziev

Ramkumar to start tieagainst Ismailov Prajnesh to play second singles against Fayziev; no place for Paes

Magniicient setting: India and Uzbekistan Davis Cup teamsat the draw ceremony held in the vicinity of the VidhanaSoudha on Thursday. * V. SREENIVASA MURTHY

N. Sudarshan

BENGALURU DAVIS CUPCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

ORDER OF PLAY

� Ramkumar Ramanathan

vs. Temur Ismailov

� Prajnesh Gunneswaran vs.

Sanjar Fayziev

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A disappointed LeanderPaes hit out at the rationaleused to drop him from theDavis Cup doubles rubber.

At the draw ceremonyheld here on Thursdaymorning, it was revealedthat Sriram Balaji and RohanBopanna will play together.

With Balaji being an auto-matic choice based on hisgood run in recent ITF Fu-tures events, it was a toss upbetween Bopanna and Paesfor the second spot.

While Bopanna reachedthe final of the Dubai Cham-pionship last month, he hashad three first round exits inhis last three tournaments.Paes took the Leon Chal-lenger Tour title at Mexicolast week.

“The criteria was sup-posed to be form, which ob-viously doesn’t seem to bethe case. I too won an ATPChallenger. Also, Leon’s alti-tude is over 1800 metres,which is double that ofBengaluru,” Paes said.

“Mahesh (Bhupathi) is thecaptain, so he has the rightto choose whoever hewants. But, I think whateverthe criteria is, it should beadhered to consistently. Atone time, it is based on rank-ings, the other time it isbased on likes and personalpreferences. Sometimes it isbased on who plays ondeuce court and who playson ad court. And now it isbased on form. On form, youknow who has played bet-ter,” Paes said.

The veteran doubles stardid not take kindly to beingcalled up to the squad, onlyto be dropped after travel-ling half-way across theworld.

Why not a phone call?“All this nonsense shouldn’tbe there. When it comes toplaying for the country. Ifirmly believe in one simple

phone call — you areneeded, or you are notneeded. In fact, on Monday,I’ve got a tournament inHouston. So from Mexico, Ihave come all the way here,now I have to go all the wayback again. It’s not easy. Ma-hesh is a professional, he’s

played until recently. Asimple phone call wouldhave done the job.” he said.

Paes emphasised that hislove for the sport and the na-tion will remain undimin-ished. “My love for the Indiaflag, the country, and thepeople, is unconditional,” hesaid.

The 43-year-old stayedoptimistic about what the fu-ture holds for him. “Some-times you have to take thingson the chin, and keep work-ing hard. I would like to playmore Davis Cups ties. I willplay Challengers and othertournaments, and I willwork my way back to the topagain” he said.

Paes added that he willnot be present during thetie.

Heartbreak for Paes The veteran hits out at the inconsistent selection policyAshwin Achal

Bengaluru

Leander Paes. * PTI

Davis Cup: India v Uzbek-istan, DD Sports, 3 p.m.World Group: Neo Sports,6.30 p.m.U.S. Masters: Live streamingon www.masters.com, 5.30p.m West Indies v Pakistan: 1stODI, TEN 2, 7 p.m.NBA: Sony Six & Six HD, 5a.m. (Saturday)La Liga: TEN 1 & 3, 12.10 a.m.(Saturday)

TV PICKS

India Davis Cup captain Ma-hesh Bhupathi defended hisdecision to pick RohanBopanna ahead of LeanderPaes, saying the formerposes a bigger threat on thecourt.

“The conditions are quickhere. Rohan has beenserving well, and seeing theball well. He has had a goodstart to the year,” said Bhu-pathi. He hinted that Paescould have been selected ifhe had practised with thesquad right from the startof the camp. “These boyshave been here sinceSunday. Sriram Balaji andRohan Bopanna have beenplaying a lot of sets to-gether,” said Bhupathi.

“Unfortunately forLeander, yesterday was hisfirst day. He played threegames before it startedraining. Doubles in DavisCup is always a high-stresssituation, so throwing

Leander and Balaji in wouldhave been a roll of the dicefor me.”

But when reminded thathe himself had turned up ona Wednesday for many a tieduring his playing days,Bhupathi said: “I think everycaptain has a differentstyle. I run the team theway I think it should be run.I think that 25 years of ex-perience should give me theability to do so.”

This is not the end of theroad for Paes, Bhupathi in-sisted. “His being on theteam is invaluable in termsof experience and energy.”

Meanwhile, former cap-tain Anand Amritraj said: “Ifeel both [Mahesh andLeander] played it wronghere. Leander should havebeen told earlier. I find ithard to believe that it [de-cision] was done late onWednesday. It should havebeen made earlier. AndLeander too should haveasked for clarity beforelanding.”

Bhupathi’s takePrincipal

Correspondent

BENGALURU

Bangladesh levels seriesCOLOMBO

Bangladesh beat Sri Lanka by

45 runs in the second T20I to

finish the two-match series

level in Colombo on

Thursday.

Bangladesh dismissed Sri

Lanka for 131 runs in 18 overs

after scoring 176 for nine at

R. Premadasa Stadium.

Bangladesh’s win spoiled a

brilliant hat-trick by Lasith

Malinga, who finished with

three for 34.The scores: Bangladesh 176for nine in 20 overs (ImrulKayes 36, Soumya Sarkar 34,Shakib Al Hasan 38, LasithMalinga three for 34 incl. ahat-trick) bt Sri Lanka 131 in18 overs (ChamaraKapugedera 50, ThisaraPerera 27, Shakib Al Hasanthree for 24, MustafizurRahman four for 21).

Jayaram stuns Axelsento reach quarterinalsKUCHING (MALAYSIA)

Ajay Jayaram entered the

quarterfinals of the Malaysia

Open Super Series with a

hard-fought 9-21, 21-14,

21-19 victory in 44 minutes

over fourth seed Denmark’s

Viktor Axelsen here on

Thursday. Unseeded Jayaram

will clash with fifth-seeded

Son Wan Ho of South Korea in

the last eight. PTI

IN BRIEF

England’s Justin Rose, Andy Sullivanand Matthew Fitzpatrick grabbed ashare of the early first-round leadThursday at the Masters after Belgi-um’s Thomas Pieters found waterydisaster in Amen Corner.

American Kevin Chappell joinedthe English trio and Masters de-butante Pieters on 2-under atop theleaderboard in cool and windy con-ditions at Augusta National in theyear’s first major championship.

Pieters made five birdies without abogey in the first 10 holes to seize athree-shot lead but opened Amen

Corner with a bogey at the par-4 11thand then plunked a shot into Rae’sCreek on his way to a double bogeyat the par-3 12th.

That’s the same hole where adouble splashdown into Rae’s Creekby Jordan Spieth led to his 2016quadruple bogey disaster that costhim the final round lead.

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson tookpractice swings at the Masterswithout apparent problems, amidoptimism he would play in the open-ing round despite a back injury.

Rose, Sullivan, Fitzpatrickgrab share of lead Agence France-Presse

Augusta (USA) AUGUSTA MASTERS

CMYK




LIFE

Pope Francis to washfeet of prison inmates VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis will wash the

feet of inmates at the Paliano

prison, which houses mafia

turncoats, in an Easter week

ritual meant to show

willingness to serve. The

April 13 Mass at the facility,

located in a fortress outside

Rome, would be “strictly

private”, the Vatican said. AP

IN BRIEF

NASA astronaut getsspace mission extendedWASHINGTON

Peggy Whitson, who broke

Indian-American astronaut

Sunita Williams’ record for

the most spacewalks by a

woman, is poised to set a new

record for cumulative time

spent in space by a U.S.

astronaut, NASA has said.

Instead of returning in June

as was planned, she will now

be back in September. PTI

Christian Bale may playDick Cheney in biopic LOS ANGELES

The ‘Dark Knight’ himself,

Christian Bale (43), is in talks

to play the lead in a biopic of

Dick Cheney that Paramount

Pictures and Plan B

Entertainment hope to begin

shooting in September. In the

film on the former U.S. Vice

President, Steve Carell may

play Donald Rumsfeld, the

former Defense Secretary. NYT

Rosa Parks fled the Amer-ican South for Detroit in the1950s at the height of hercivil rights struggle. Now thehouse where she soughtasylum has itself foundrefuge in a city an oceanaway: Berlin.

U.S. artist Ryan Mendoza,who is based in the Germancapital, helped rescue thedilapidated two-storey struc-ture from the wrecking balland rebuilt it board by boardin his garden. This week hewill invite the public to havea look.

Mr. Mendoza, 45, says thehouse’s odyssey holds up amirror to two societies: hisbitterly divided homelandgrappling with the rise ofPresident Donald Trump,and Germany, where morethan a million people fleeingwar and misery have soughtasylum in the last two years.

“By disregarding thishouse, the United States hasshown a disregard for civilrights,” Mr. Mendoza said, ashe gave a preview of the re-constructed clapboard struc-ture in the city’s ethnicallydiverse Wedding district.

“Civil rights are not justimportant for black peoplebut also for white peoplewho want to differentiatethemselves from their racistforefathers. The Germanscompletely understand whatthis house has to say.”

Having lived in Europe formore than two decades, Mr.Mendoza said Berlin’s earn-est reckoning with its own

dark history as well as amood of “love and toler-ance” made it the righthaven for the house.

Full circle“Maybe it’s not a coincid-ence that the city that is nowtaking into refuge this houseis a city born out of a wall be-ing broken down, and thecountry that is so intent on

building a wall up is thecountry that has lost thishouse,” he said.

Parks, an African-Amer-ican seamstress, refused togive up her bus seat to awhite man in Montgomery,Alabama on December 1,1955, triggering a wave of ul-timately successful protestsagainst racial segregation.She became a hero of the in-

ternational civil rights move-ment but relentless deaththreats in the South forcedher to escape to Detroit.

Mr. Mendoza said themodest three-bedroomhome at 2672 South DeaconStreet housed 17 people —her brother’s family — at thetime Parks lived there,between 1957 and 1959. Shenever moved back toAlabama, and died in Detroitin 2005 at the age of 92.

Battered by floods andbreak-ins, the blighted houseeventually ended up on thecity’s long demolition list.Parks’ niece Rhea McCauley,a retired artist, bought itback for $500 but was un-able to raise the funds to re-store it.

Enter Mr. Mendoza andhis wife Fabia, who hadalready transposed one De-troit house to Europe as partof an art project probingthemes of rootlessness anddisplacement. They saidthey have become the“foster parents” of the Parkshouse. Ms. McCauley, 69,said she is grateful to theMendozas and is sure Parksherself would have approvedof the move to Berlin.

Berlin gives refuge to Rosa Parks’ houseGermany-based artist Ryan Mendoza transported the dilapidated two-storey structure from the U.S.


Berlin

In safe hands: A ile photo of artist Ryan Mendoza in front of Rosa Parks’ house in Detroit. * AFP

Dashing through the rain: Children cross a channel illed with rainwater on their way to school in Morigaon district of Assam onThursday. The State has been receiving continuous showers in the past few days. * RITU RAJ KONWAR

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Puddle hoppers

Mathis Andreas, an indigen-ous Sami reindeer herder,sees a snowmobile withglowing fluorescent stripsapproach his remote cabinin the frozen tundra andworries what the neighbour-ing herder may think.

It’s the “reindeer police”in Norwegian Lapland, theonly force of its kind in theworld. Their job is to pre-vent conflicts between her-ders and ensure the FarNorth doesn’t turn into theWild West.

Here, far above the ArcticCircle, the reindeers’ grazinggrounds can be a source ofconflict. Some argue thereare just too many reindeer,while harsh weather condi-tions can make it difficult forthe animals to access theirmain diet, lichen, under theice-covered snow.

The Sami — formerlyknown as Lapps, a term nowconsidered pejorative —have been herding since an-cient times, selling thereindeer meat, pelts andantlers which are used inhandicrafts.

On the Finnmark plateauin northeastern Norway,where the herds spend thewinter grazing after return-ing from their summer pas-tures on the coasts, thenumber of reindeer hasbeen capped at 1,48,800.

Herders don’t alwaysagree on the division of theirgrazing grounds, with nofences separating them.

Insults, threats, stealingor killing animals, and, morerarely, fisticuffs or gunshots:although it’s nearly deser-ted, the far North is nostranger to violence.

Enter the “reindeerpolice”.

Keeping the peace“If there’s a disagreementbetween one herder and an-other, we play the go-between and we try to find asolution. We are a kind ofpeace mediator,” says JanTore Nikolaisen, a formersoldier, who has served inthe unit for more than ayear.

In 2013, two herders fromKautokeino, the main villagein Finnmark, were jailed forbeating up a rival who had

ventured onto their pasture.They tied him up with alasso, then left him alone infreezing temperatures andtook his snowmobile key.

Another area is so con-frontational locals have nick-named it “the Gaza Strip”.

“It has happened that aconflict worsened and be-came physically violent, al-though I’ve never experi-enced it. But theatmosphere can be tenseand people shout insults,”says Jim Hugo Hansen, Mr.Nikolaisen’s colleague.

“Everyone is not alwaystotally pleased, but we usu-ally find a solution so thateach herder can go about hisbusiness,” he adds.

A punishing expeditionThe reindeer police patrolthat Mathis Andreas saw ap-proaching his cabin is justpaying a courtesy call, itturns out.

Grazing conditions havebeen good in the area in re-cent years, making forpeaceful coexistence.

But there have been con-flicts in the past, admits Mr.Andreas, 47, whose familyhave been herders since the18th century.

Mr. Andreas recalls aharsh expedition he conduc-ted with another manaround 30 years ago againstthree other herders. The triohad brought their herds tohis uncle’s pasture and as-saulted him with a sharptool.

“We gave them what theydeserved,” he recounts, a bitcryptically at first, aware ofthe presence of his policeguest at his side.

The men later moved

their animals to a neigh-bour’s pasture furthernorth, where they, he sayswith a pause, “received aclear message to movepromptly”.

Changing the past“They moved even furthernorth, to a third pasture,and there, too, they wereroughed up,” he says. “Theynever came back.”

“We weren’t used to call-ing the police at the time.”

As he speaks, Mr. Andreaskeeps a close eye on hismeal bubbling away on awood stove. It’s reindeercheek, tongue and rectum.“It’s fat, it’s very good.”

The “reindeer police” wascreated in 1949 to put anend to the widespreadpoaching that erupted afterthe Nazis’ scorched earthpolicy left the regiondevastated.

Today, the 15-memberforce patrols an area of56,000 square kilometresmore often by snowmobileand quad bike than by car,usually at a distance so asnot to frighten the herds.

“Entire weeks can go bywithout us seeing areindeer,” admits Mr.Hansen.

The force’s very name isdebated, as its membersdeem it too narrow andmisrepresentative.

“We don’t just work onreindeer herding,” says itschief Inger Anita Ovregard attheir headquarters in Alta.

“We also watch overnature and ensure that thepublic respect the rules,whether it be hunting, fish-ing or motorised travel,” Ms.Ovregard adds.

It sorts out conlicts over grazing grounds in LaplandAgence France-Presse

Norway

Chilly beat: A reindeer police oicer rides his snow scooterduring a patrol in Norwegian Lapland. * AFP

Reindeer police: the onlyforce of its kind in the world

A study has found thatsmoking caused one in tendeaths worldwide in 2015,half of them in just fourcountries: China, India, theUnited States and Russia.

About 6.4 million deathsworldwide was caused bysmoking in 2015 and 52.2% ofthem took place in China, In-dia, U.S. and Russia, accord-ing to the latest estimates inthe Global Burden of Disease(GBD) report published inmedical journal The Lancet.

China, India, and Indone-sia, the three leading coun-tries with male smokers, ac-counted for 51·4% of theworld’s male smokers in2015. India has 11·2% of theworld’s total smokers.

Deaths attributable tosmoking increased by 4.7%in 2015 from the figures in1990 and smoking was ratedas a bigger burden on health— moving from the third tothe second highest cause ofdisability, the study said.

The estimates are basedon smoking habits in 195countries and territoriesbetween 1990 and 2015.

“The U.S., China and In-dia, which were the leadingthree countries in total num-ber of female smokers, ac-counted for 27·3% of theworld’s female smokers,” itsaid.

While Indonesia,Bangladesh and the Philip-pines did not have significantreductions in the numbers ofmen smoking daily com-

pared to 1990 figures, thePhilippines, Germany, andIndia had no significant de-creases in smoking amongwomen for the same period.

Battle far from wonThe authors of the studywarned that the war againsttobacco is far from won, andargued that despite imple-mentation of the WHOFramework Convention onTobacco Control in 2005,policy makers need to makerenewed and sustained ef-forts to tackle it.

Worldwide, between 1990and 2015, smoking preval-ence decreased by almost athird — from 29.4% to 15.3%.But one in four men world-wide continue to smoke, asdo one in 20 women. Popula-

tion growth has led to an in-crease in the overall numberof smokers from 870.4 mil-

lion in 1990 to 933.1 millionin 2015, the study said.

The study said Pakistan,

“For example, India,where 11·2% of the world’ssmokers live, supplementedthe Cigarettes and Other To-bacco Products Act (COTPA)with the creation of a Na-tional Tobacco Control Pro-gramme (NTCP) in 2007.

“NTCP was created tostrengthen implementationand enforcement of the vari-ous provisions of COTPA atthe state and district level. Ithas been rolled out in phasesand currently covers about40% of all districts in India,”the study said.

The 10 countries with thelargest number of smokers in2015 were China, India, In-donesia, U.S., Russia,Bangladesh, Japan, Brazil,Germany and thePhilippines.

Panama and India stand outas three countries that haveimplemented a large numberof tobacco control policiesover the past decade and re-corded marked declines inthe prevalence of dailysmoking since 2005, com-pared with decreases recor-ded between 1990 and 2005.

The study said the Frame-work Convention on To-bacco Control (FCTC), is ne-cessary and vital for creatinga policy environment formore effective tobacco con-trol worldwide but is notenough to fully address eachcountry’s tobacco-controlneeds. The nations will needto both implement FCTC-stipulated measures and sup-plement such policies andprogrammes.

Smoking causes one in 10 deaths worldwide: study50% of the deaths attributable to tobacco use occured in China, India, USA, and Russia in 2015, according to the Global Burden of Disease report


New Delhi

Clear message: Students display the ‘No Smoking’ sign ontheir berets during a campaign against tobacco use. * AP

PepsiCo pulled a commer-cial featuring model KendallJenner after the advertise-ment prompted outrage andridicule from those who saidit trivialised rights protestsand public unrest in theUnited States.

The ad, released late onTuesday, shows the fashioncelebrity and reality TV starin a photo shoot when shesees protesters marching.Removing her wig andmakeup, Jenner joins thecrowd and hands a baseballcap-wearing police officer acan of Pepsi, prompting himto smile while marcherscheer and hug.

“Pepsi was trying to pro-ject a global message ofunity, peace and under-

standing,” the company saidin a statement.

“Clearly we missed themark, and we apologize. Weare removing the contentand halting any further rol-lout.” Pepsi also apologisedto Jenner.

Missing the markThe spot drew criticism onTwitter, with users saying itbelittled the anti-police viol-ence protests held in citiesincluding Ferguson, Mis-souri, and Baltimore follow-ing police killings of un-armed black men andwomen.

Pepsi said the ad was cre-ated by its in-house shop,Creators League Studio.Charlie Hopper, creative dir-ector at advertising agency

Young & Laramore said suchbacklash is a risk brandstake when they lack outsideperspective.

“This is a good exampleof what happens when youdon’t get the objective inputof a classic agency relation-ship that can say, ‘We needto save you from your worstimpulses,’” he said.

Observers quickly con-demned the ad, which didnot make clear what themarchers were protesting.

“If I had carried Pepsi, Iguess I never would havegotten arrested. Whoknew?” activist DeRay McK-esson, one of the best-known voices of the BlackLives Matter movement,tweeted. “Pepsi, this ad istrash.”

Twitter users said the commercial trivialised protestReuters

Pepsi pulls controversial ad

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