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The Supreme Court on Wed-nesday asked the govern-ment to frame a centralscheme for setting up specialcourts across the country toexclusively try criminal casesinvolving ‘political persons’.

In a determined effort tocleanse politics of criminal-ity and corruption, the apexcourt said it takes years,probably decades, to com-plete the trial against a politi-cian.

By this time, he or shewould have served as a Min-ister or legislator severaltimes over.

Rejects argumentCountering the Centre’s ar-gument that setting up such

courts would depend on theavailability of funds with theStates, the court said, “Theproblem can be resolved byhaving a central scheme forsetting up of courts exclus-ively to deal with criminalcases involving political per-

sons on the lines of the fasttrack courts...”

A Bench of Justices RanjanGogoi and Navin Sinhaordered the government toplace the scheme before iton December 13, the nextdate of hearing. It said the

scheme should provide de-tails of the funds required toset up such courts.

The Bench said the Su-preme Court would directlyinteract with the State gov-ernments on issues like theappointment of judicial of-

ficers, public prosecutors,court staff and other require-ments of manpower and in-frastructure for the specialcourts.

Seeks report cardGiving no quarter, the apexcourt directed the Centre tosubmit a report card byDecember 13 on the status ofthe 1,581 criminal casespending against Members ofParliament and State Legis-lative Assemblies at the timeof the 2014 elections.

The court said it wantedto know whether its March10, 2014, order to completethe trial in all these caseswithin a year had been com-plied with or not.

Speed up trial of politicians, says SCAsks Centre to frame scheme by Dec. 13 to set up special criminal courts to deal with their cases

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 10

Mass bathing in the

Ganga contributes to

antimicrobial resistance

page 7

India’s and Bhutan’s

security indivisible,

says Ram Nath Kovind

page 10

My achievements are

my campaign theme,

says Virbhadra Singh

page 11

More charges of sexual

harassment surface

against Kevin Spacey

page 18

A terror attack in lowerManhattan in New York Cityon Tuesday claimed eightlives and triggered a freshclamour, led by PresidentDonald Trump, to restrictimmigration to the U.S. Atleast 12, including two chil-dren, were injured.

Not far from the site ofthe 9/11 terrorist strikes inwhich planes were used asmissiles, Tuesday’s attackerused a pick-up truck to mowdown people on a bicyclepath. A note found by in-vestigators at the site saidthe attack was inspired bythe Islamic State (IS), andthe suspect shouted ‘AllahuAkbar’ as he emerged fromthe mangled truck, bran-dishing a pellet gun and apaint-ball gun, according toeyewitnesses. He was shotin the abdomen by the po-

lice, but could survive aftersurgery on Tuesday even-ing, according to official ac-counts.

It was the 15th such incid-ent in Western cities since2014, when the IS urged itsfollowers to use vehiclesand other easily availableobjects as weapons.

Worked as Uber driver The suspect was identifiedas Sayfullo HabibullaevicSaipov, 29, who migrated tothe U.S. in 2010 from Uzbek-istan. He worked as an Uberdriver and lived in Paterson,New Jersey. Five of the eightkilled were friends from Ar-gentina celebrating theirhigh school reunion in NewYork City. An unnamed Bel-gian woman is the sixth vic-tim, while two have notbeen identified yet.

Terror suspect identi�ed as Uzbek

Varghese K George

Washington

Life crushed: An investigator walks past the pickup truckused in the terror attack in New York on Tuesday. * AFP

Man mows down8 in Manhattan

‘STEP UP VETTING’ A PAGE 12

Embarking on the thirdphase of his three-day road-show in poll-bound Gujarat,Congress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi on Wednesdaysaid the NDA governmentmay be celebrating the “easeof doing business” rankingbut the reality is that it hasdestroyed the economy andbusinesses with demonetisa-tion and the Goods and Ser-vices Tax (GST).

“The entire country willshout and say ease of doing

business is absent. You havedestroyed it, your demonet-isation and GST have ruinedit,” he said, addressingmassive crowds in south Gu-jarat as his yatra movedthrough Bharuch district.

“Finance Minister ArunJaitley said some foreign in-stitution has certified that In-dia’s ranking in Ease of Do-ing Business has improved. Iwant to ask whether Mr. Jait-ley lives in the real or dreamworld,” Mr. Gandhi said tar-geting the Minister, who onMonday shared the World

Bank’s latest report in whichIndia’s ranking for the Easeof Doing Business hasjumped 30 places to figurein the top 100.

“India does not need acertificate from any foreignorganisation. Hindustanneeds a certificate from itspeople, and they are sayingNarendra Modi and ArunJaitley have failed,” he said.

‘You have eased out businesses’Demonetisation, GST have destroyed the economy: Rahul

Mahesh Langa

AHMEDABAD

BJP HITS BACK A PAGE 10


MOVING UP A EDITORIAL

SECURITY UP: A PAGE 11

DELHI METRO A 6 PAGES

Delhi-Centre turf spathearing todayNEW DELHI

A �ve-judge Constitution

Bench led by CJI Dipak Misra

will on Thursday commence

hearing a series of appeals

�led by the Delhi

government for laying down

the law on whether the

Lieutenant-Governor can

unilaterally administer the

Capital without being bound

by the “aid and advice” of the

elected government.

DELHI METRO A PAGE 1

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NEARBY

Haryana Additional AGasked to resign CHANDIGARH

Haryana Additional Advocate

General Naveen Kaushik was

asked to resign on

Wednesday after he was

accused of helping the

counsel of a man allegedly

involved in the killing of

17-year-old Junaid Khan on a

train in June, Advocate

General Baldev Raj Mahajan

said.

DELHI METRO A PAGE 4

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDAt least 20 persons died andmore than 90 were injured,many sustaining seriousburns, after a boiler tube ex-ploded at the NationalThermal Power Corporation(NTPC) unit in Unchahar inRaebareli district of UttarPradesh on Wednesday.

Workers and engineeringstaff were active at the 550MW unit at the time of theaccident, which left thick

smoke billowing out of theplant.

Rescue work onRescue work is still on anddistrict officials, police per-sonnel and CISF jawans aretrying to recover the bodies.

The office of the Director-General of Police confirmed20 deaths so far and thedeath toll, it is feared, couldgo up.

20 dead in NTPCboiler explosionAccident happened at Raebareli plant

special correspondent

LUCKNOW


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NOIDA/DELHI THE HINDU

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DELHI Timings

Thursday, November 02

RISE 06:34 SET 17:36

RISE 16:35 SET 04:15

Friday, November 03

RISE 06:34 SET 17:35

RISE 17:17 SET 05:18

Saturday, November 04

RISE 06:35 SET 17:34

RISE 18:01 SET 06:22

A day after summons wereissued by a local court inFazilka against Leader of Op-position in the Punjab As-sembly and senior AamAadmi Party leader SukhpalSingh Khaira in a 2015 drugscase, the Congress and Shir-omani Akali Dal on Wednes-day stepped up the anteagainst the senior AamAadmi Party leader and hisparty.

Punjab Congress presid-ent Sunil Jakhar said that Mr.Khaira has lost the moralground to continue asLeader of Opposition in theVidhan Sabha and shouldstep down immediately. Hesaid the serious chargesagainst the AAP leader calledfor his immediate ousterfrom all political and stat-utory posts.

“Mr. Khaira’s attempts tocorner the State governmentwithin and outside the As-sembly were shameful con-sidering his own alleged con-nections with drugs tradersand smugglers,” said Mr.Jakhar.

The Shiromani Akali Dalmeanwhile asked Delhi ChiefMinister and AAP chiefArvind Kejriwal to apologise

to Punjabis for appointingMr. Khaira as the Leader ofOpposition. “Mr. Kejriwalshould make clear his standon the issue of drugs now ashe had made this the biggestissue in the last Assemblyelections,” said former Min-ister and SAD spokespersonMaheshinder Singh Grewal.

SAD leader Daljit Cheemaurged Chief Minister Am-arinder Singh to initiate athorough probe into the mat-ter to uncover Mr. Khaira’srole in the case.

On the defensive, the AAPleader hit back by accusingthe Chief Minister of un-leashing political vendettaagainst him on the lines ofthe Badals (SAD leaders Par-kash Singh Badal and Sukh-bir Badal) during their re-gime. “Amarinder Singh ofthe Congress and SukhbirSingh Badal of the Akali Dal

have been facing accusationsof corruption. In case bothoffer to resign their positionsto uphold ethics and moral-ity in politics, I’ll will followsuit and resign from the posi-tion of Leader of Opposi-tion,” said Mr. Khaira.

Mr. Khaira said he wasneither named in the FIRnor in the chargesheet nor inany statement of independ-ent witnesses. “When thedrug scandal broke in March2015, the then Akali govern-ment had set up a Special In-vestigation Team whichcould not find anything in-criminating against me be-cause of which my namenever figured in the FIR, thechargesheet and the trial. Itis also astonishing how acourt could summon mewhen the trial in the drugcase has concluded,” hesaid.

Congress, Akalis step up the ante against Khaira Demand that he step down as Leader of Opposition after court summons in drugs case

Sukhpal Singh Khaira

VIKAS VASUDEVA

CHANDIGARH

Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan on Wednesday em-barked on a two-month-long‘Madhya Pradesh VikasYatra’ with an aim to meetpeople and chalk out newprogrammes for the State’sdevelopment.

Claiming that M.P. nowmeans “Mera Pradesh” forits residents, Mr. Chouhansaid during the yatra, he willinteract with people of allreligions.

Notably, the Assemblyelections in the State are duelater next year.

“All of us can achieve pro-gress rapidly, when we havemore and more dialogueand we all prepare new de-velopment programmesjointly at a faster pace. Fromtoday (Wednesday), I amstarting the two-month-long‘Madhya Pradesh VikasYatra’,” Mr. Chouhan, who

was given a clean cheat bythe CBI in the Vyapam caseon Tuesday, said in an offi-cial release.

“During the yatra, I willprepare more programmesto develop Madhya Pradeshfurther while meeting withpeople of all religions,” hesaid, greeting the people onthe occasion the State’s62nd Foundation Day.

Recalling the progressmade by the State since itwas formed on November 1,1956, Mr. Chouhan said: “Itcame to my notice duringthe deliberations that elec-

tricity was available only inJabalpur city at the time offreedom (1947) and itreached Sagar after a shorttime.

“Gradually, the electricityreached only the urbanareas and the people of therural areas were leadingtheir lives in darkness for along period,” he said.

“When I see Madhya Pra-desh today, it gives me im-mense pleasure and satisfac-tion that the State hassucceeded in establishing analtogether different image inall the areas of develop-ment,” Mr. Chouhan said.

Referring to progress inother areas, he said: “Mad-hya Pradesh has become aleading State of the countryowing to your (people’s)hard efforts. Not only in In-dia but changes have beenwitnessed in the outlook ofthe foreign countries todayregarding M.P..”

Promises more programmes to develop the State

Press Trust of India

Bhopal

Shivraj Singh Chouhan

CM Chouhan embarks on two-month-long ‘vikas yatra’

Unorganised workers fromdifferent sectors in Rajasthanhave come together to formtheir first-ever union to pressfor their rights for minimumwages, social security,monthly ration through pub-lic distribution system andimplementation of law withthe guarantee of 100 days ofwork in a year to eachhousehold.

Daily wage earners fromrural areas, agricultural la-bourers, domestic workersand those engaged in con-struction and mining sectors

assembled at Jawaja in Ajmerdistrict to attend a generalbody meeting of the unor-ganised workers last week.Six districts of southern andsouth-western Rajasthanwere represented at themeeting.

In the first election of thenewly established union,former Harmada sarpanchNorti Bai, who has been inthe forefront of the right toinformation campaign, waselected president. Amongothers, Magsaysay Awardwinner Auna Roy and socialactivist Nikhil Dey werepresent.

Labour movement leaderShankar Singh, who is co-founder of Mazdoor KisanShakti Sangathan (MKSS),pointed out that more thanhalf of the State's populationcomprised labourers whowere not unorganised. “Weremain silent even in majorinstances of injustice. Thegovernment officers, em-ployees and political leadersearn extremely high salaries,whereas we don't even get₹100 a day.”

Ms. Roy said the labourersand common people shouldcome together to strengthenthe rights which had they

had gained after prolongedstruggles. Despite the Na-tional Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act's (NREGA)provision for 100 days' em-ployment in a year, the workand fair wages were beingdenied to the rural people,she said.

Mr. Dey affirmed that thenew union would fightagainst the State govern-ment's drive for privatisationof education and healthcareservices and demanded therelease of NREGA wages,pensions and monthly ra-tions.

He said the names of one

crore people had been de-leted from the public distri-bution system and social se-curity pensions of 10 lakhpeople had been stoppedacross the State during thelast two years.

In addition to the electionof Ms. Norti Bai, an executivecommittee of the union wasalso formed with 12 repres-entatives from five districts.Two activists were appointeddivisional secretaries forAjmer and Udaipur, whileKesar Singh Baghmal waselected the union's vice-pres-ident and Norat Mal theunion's secretary.

Unorganised workers form �rst-ever union in Rajasthan‘It will �ght against the State government's drive for privatisation of education and healthcare services’

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR

Inside Pushkar: Foreign tourists take part in the ‘Turban and Tilak’ competition during the Pushkar fair in Rajasthan on Wednesday. * PTI

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A slice of IndiaSidhu expresses concernover killings in Punjab CHANDIGARH

In the wake of the killing of

two leaders of Hindu outfits

within a fortnight, Punjab

Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu

on Wednesday said there is

an “escalating concern” over

the killings in the State.

Asked about the law and

order situation, Mr. Sidhu said

there is a concern as well

contemplation over this

issue. PTI

IN BRIEF

Four arrested for drugpeddling in J&K SRINAGAR

Four persons have been

arrested from Kulgam and

Anantnag districts in south

Kashmir and huge amount of

contraband was seized from

them, the police said on

Wednesday. Acting on a

tip-off, the Kulgam police

intercepted a scooter at

Alstop Qazigund and seized

35 pouches of illicit liquor

from Tariq Ahmad Bhat, a

police spokesperson said. Two

persons were arrested after

30 kg of poppy straw was

seized from their vehicle at

Qazigund market in the

district, he said. PTI

The BJP government inHaryana came under severecriticism from the Opposi-tion on Wednesday after theYamunanagar administra-tion had urged governmentemployees, including teach-ers, to work as priests (pu-jari) during an annual fair atthe Kapal Mochan temple.

The local administrationhas, meanwhile, said theletter of request pertainingto managing of the fair was“misunderstood”.

Leader of the Oppositionin the Haryana Assemblyand Indian National Lok Dal(INLD) leader AbhayChautala criticised the Stategovernment's decision ofdeputing teachers to workas priests, saying the gov-ernment was playing withthe future ofschoolchildren.

“The ruling government

has earlier been deployingteachers in farms to stopfarmers from stubble burn-ing and now this decision ofmaking them work aspriests during the fair atKapal Mochan is deplor-able,” he said.

‘Letter misunderstood’

Deputy Commissioner Ro-htash Kharb, meanwhile,said every year the adminis-tration deploys governmentemployees to manage thecrowd etc. during this fair.“Teachers were not asked towork as priests (pujaris),the content of letter wasprobably misunderstood,”he said.

Senior Congress leaderRandeep Singh Surjewalaalso slammed the BJP gov-ernment, saying that underthe M.L. Khattar-led BJPgovernment's regime, thefuture of school children isin dark.

Opposition �ays Khattargovt. order on teachers Not asked to work as priests, says DC

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH Describing the alleged mo-lestation bid on five-year-old girl as “disgraceful, dis-gusting, abominable”, theJ&K High Court on Wednes-day denied bail to the ac-cused, a baker by profes-sion, for locking up thevictim when she went tofetch bread in central Kash-mir’s Ganderbal.

‘Grave and horrid’

“The accused was of theage of her father and triedto abuse her sexually. Thestatement of the girl-childprojects a tale of woe. Itportrays the element of hu-man degradation. This (vic-tim) statement on the faceof it describes the act of theaccused as heinous, obnox-ious, grave and horrid. Hedoes not deserve to be letoff on bail,” held Justice M.K. Hanjura, while denyingthe bail plea.

HC deniesbail tomolesterSpecial Correspondent

Srinagar

Sixteen Maoists returned tothe mainstream before BiharPolice and Sashastra SeemaBal personnel in Sheohardistrict on the Indo-Nepalborder in Bihar at an eventorganised on Tuesday to cel-ebrate the birth anniversaryof Sardar Vallabhbhai Patelas ‘National Unity Day’. Dis-illusioned with the ultra-leftideology, the surrenderedMaoists pledged to join themainstream.

“A total of 16 Naxals re-turned to the mainstream inSheohar district… they’ll be

rehabilitated as per thepolicy of the State govern-ment,” Sheohar Superin-tendent of Police PrakashNath Mishra told The Hinduover phone. All the Maoistshad been arrested earlierand were out on bail, addedthe SP. Senior SSB officer(Patna Frontier) ChanchalShekhar said that theMaoists are in the age groupof 35-50 and had cases un-der the Arms Act, ExplosivesAct and the Unlawful Activit-ies Prevention Act (UAPA)registered against them. TheSSB has deployed its 27thbattalion in Sheohar district

to undertake anti-Maoistoperations.

State Cooperative Minis-ter Rana Randhir Singh,Tirhut zone IG Sunil Kumartoo were present at theceremony.

Police said that some ofthe Maoists were allegedlyinvolved in the loot of fire-arms from the Dekuli policepicket in 2002 and thekilling of six policemen bytriggering a landmine blastat Shyampur Bhataha inSheohar district in 2010.Curiously, the Maoists didn’tdeposit any firearms at thetime of surrender.

They will be rehabilitated as per govt. policy: Sheohar SP


PATNA

16 Maoists return to the mainstream

Four women, who hadgone missing from differ-ent areas of Jammu andKashmir’s Rajouri districtover the past threemonths, were rescued bythe police on Wednesday,an official said.

Four missing cases,three registered at the Bud-hal police station and oneat Nowshera, were solvedon Wednesday, a spokes-man said.

“Three women were re-ported missing from Gab-bar, Samote and Gundi vil-lages in Budhal Tehsil, andcases were registered onSeptember 26 and 27, andOctober 8, respectively,” hesaid, adding that one wo-man had gone missingfrom Lamberi inNowshera.

They had not left the dis-trict and were rescued byteams of different policestations, the spokesmansaid.

Four missingwomenrescued Press trust of India

Jammu

In a relief to former UttarPradesh minister and Sama-jwadi Party leader AzamKhan, the Allahabad HighCourt on Wednesday setaside a defamation case filedagainst him in a court hereby an IPS officer for allegeduse of defamatory language

at a press conference inRampur.

No direct witness

The Lucknow Bench of theHigh Court noted that therewas no prima facie evidencein the case filed by AmitabhThakur in the court of ChiefJudicial Magistrate here to is-sue summons to Mr. Khan.

Holding that there is no

direct witness to the state-ments alleged to have beenmade by Mr. Khan, theBench said the value of ad-mission of guilt in criminalcases differed at differentstages.

Hence, the High Courtquashed the summoning or-der and the arrest warrantissued against the formerminister.

Court sets aside defamation case against SP leader


Lucknow

High Court relief for Azam Khan

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

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THE HINDU NOIDA/DELHI

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The Naga Students’ Federa-tion has expressed its appre-hension that the impositionof the Aadhaar card or UIDnumber in Nagaland wouldbe a threat to the Naga cus-tomary law and identity. InShillong, nearly 300 peoplehave joined a campaign togive up their Aadhaar cards,alleging that the 12-digitidentification number couldlead to non-indigenouspeople getting voting rights.Meghalaya Chief MinisterMukul Sangma also said onWednesday that he is yet toenrol himself for Aadhaar ashe shared people’s concernsover the right to privacy. “Ihave not registered forAadhaar number. I share thesame concern with mypeople. (Our) right to pri-vacy is important in a demo-cracy else the whole idea ofdemocracy is diluted,” Mr.Sangma said.

The NSF, the apex stu-dents’ body in Nagaland, ina memorandum submittedto Chief Minister T.R. Zeli-ang on Tuesday, said, “Spe-cial provisions granted toNagaland under Article 371Aof the Constitution exemptthe State from the applicab-ility of the Acts of Parlia-ment in respect of the reli-gious or social practices ofthe Nagas and their custom-ary law and procedure.”

Special prerogativeIt urged the State govern-ment to bar the applicabilityof the Aadhaar (TargetedDelivery of Financial andOther Subsidies, Benefitsand Services) Act, 2016 inthe state, pending the finalIndo-Naga solution. TheNSF stated that the Naga-land Assembly had a specialprerogative to decidewhether an Act of Parlia-ment should be made ap-plicable to the State.

The imposition of theAadhaar card or UID num-ber would be a big threat tothe Naga customary law andidentity, the NSF said in the

memorandum. It also said afree enjoyment of social be-nefits, within the fabric of acollective social identity,was sacred to the Nagas.“Any denial in the name ofidentity numerisation is in-imical to the social and reli-gious practices of the Na-gas,” the memorandumsaid.

In Meghalaya, theAadhaar enrolment processhas faced stiff resistance inthe State ever since registra-tions began in June thisyear, with the influentialKhasi Students’ Union andchurches opposing it ongrounds of privacy infringe-ment besides the issue ofvoting rights fornon-natives.

Altogether, 286 peoplehave submitted letters to theMeghalaya People Commit-tee on Aadhaar on the thirdday of a campaign againstAadhaar enrolment, re-questing deletion of theirnumbers from the UniqueIdentification Authority ofIndia’s database.

‘Different situation’“We are in a situation whichis different from otherStates. Illegal immigrationand influx is a common con-cern of the people ofMeghalaya and Assam andthe entire Northeast,” saidthe Meghalaya Chief Minis-ter, adding, “I and my (As-sam) counterpart (Sarba-nanda) Sonowalji havediscussed and written to theGovernment of India.”

The two Chief Ministersof Meghalaya and Assamhad earlier shot off a letterto the Centre seeking ex-emption from Aadhaar.

“What we are saying isnot to make it compulsoryand binding for Meghalaya(and Assam),” said Mr. Sang-ma.In Meghalaya, the regis-tration for Aadhaar numberhas crossed over 14% of thepopulation, ahead of Assam(as per UIDAI statistics), fol-lowing the resumption ofAadhaar registration in Junethis year.

Now, Aadhaarrumblings inthe NortheastBar it, says Naga students’ body; inMeghalaya, the CM hasn’t enrolled yet

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

KOHIMA/SHILONG

At a time when the WestBengal government is tryingto tackle the dengue out-break, another vector-bornedisease has become a causefor concern in the State. Dir-ectorate of National Vector

Borne Disease Control Pro-gramme data suggest thatWest Bengal has registeredthe highest number ofdeaths due to malaria so farin 2017 at 26. The websiteprovides State-wise statisticson malaria till September2017.

Data further show that in2017, 12,524 people were dia-gnosed with malaria out ofthe 66,17,866 blood samplestested. In 2016, the State re-gistered 59 deaths due tomalaria out of the 35,236people who tested positivefor the disease.

tested positive for the dis-ease.

Maharashtra occupied thethird slot with 15 malariadeaths this year out of the13,444 people who were dia-gnosed with the disease.Last year it recorded 26deaths due to malaria.

In the current year WestBengal is followed byOdisha, which has recorded25 deaths due to malaria outof the 3,23,800 people whowere diagnosed with the dis-ease. Last year Odisha recor-ded 77 deaths due to malariaand 4,49,697 people had

SOUMYA DAS

KOLKATA

Bengal battles malaria, not just dengue

The Assam government hasexpressed its desire to pur-chase Dadasaheb Phalkeawardee Bhupen Hazarika’shouse in Kolkata and con-vert it into a cultural centre.

Under the instruction ofChief Minister SarbanandaSonowal, Assam Minister forCultural Affairs Naba KumarDoley and Chief Minister’sMedia Adviser, HrishikeshGoswami on Wednesdayheld negotiations withSushil Kumar Dangi, theowner of the house at 77Golf Course Tollygunge, towhom the legendary singerhad sold the house.

Mr. Doley and Mr. Gos-wami initiated discussionswith Mr. Dangi at AssamHouse in Kolkata and con-veyed the State govern-ment’s keen interest in tak-ing the ownership ofBhupen Hazarika’s housewhere the bard of Assam

used to live from the 1950till he shifted his base toMumbai because of his mu-sical pursuit, a state govern-ment release said.

The discussion were heldin a very congenial atmo-sphere as the present ownerresponded positively and as-sured to look into the mat-ter, the release said.

After the discussion, Mr.Doley and Mr. Goswami vis-ited the house and tookstock of its presentcondition.

Assam govt. keen to buy

Hazarika’s Kolkata house PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

GUWAHATI

Bhupen Hazarika * FILE PHOTO

The farmer who torched hispaddy crop in Odisha’s Bar-garh district on Tuesdaycommitted suicide onWednesday.

Brundaban Sahoo con-sumed pesticide in his field,which had been ravaged bybrown planthoppers, atKalapani village in Bargarh.Fellow villagers rushed Sa-hoo to the district hospitalwhere doctors declared himbrought dead.

The farmer reportedlytook the extreme step ap-prehending that he wouldnot be able to salvage paddyfrom the damage caused by

the insects. His son said Sa-hoo had taken a loan of ₹5lakh from various sources tosow paddy crop this season.

Soon after news of his sui-cide spread in the district,hundreds of farmers took tothe streets demanding ad-equate compensation forthe next of kin of the de-ceased. They blocked thenational highway passingthrough Bargarh by keepingSahoo’s body on the road.

Meanwhile, incidents ofsetting ready-to-harvestcrops on fire by farmersspread to adjoining districtssuch as Sambalpur, Jharsug-uda and Kalahandi onWednesday.

Farmer who set his cropson �re commits suicideSatyasundar Barik

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Karnataka Chief Minister Sid-daramaiah is set to write toPrime Minister NarendraModi — for the third time —on the need to bring aboutamendments to the Constitu-tion that will empower Statesto make the mother tonguethe compulsory medium ofinstruction in primaryschools.

Speaking at the 62ndKarnataka Rajyotsava, hesaid the PM had not respon-ded to his two earlier letterson the subject.

‘Wrote twice’“I had written to him twiceearlier. Since there has beenno response, I will writeagain to the Prime Minister,”he said. With the Supreme

Court striking down Karnata-ka’s plea on this issue andleaving the medium of in-struction to the discretion ofthe parents, a Constitutionalamendment was the onlyway, he said. “There is a needfor all the Chief Ministers tojoin hands and pressure theCentre to amend the Constitu-tion,” he said.

Condemning schools that

punished children forspeaking in Kannada, Mr.Siddaramaiah warned ofaction against such institu-tions and said that “notlearning Kannada is akin todisrespecting the land.”

“Let students learn anylanguage of their choice...But the government willnot tolerate sidelining ofKannada,” he said.

Siddaramaiah to write to Modiagain on medium of instructionConstitutionalamendment theonly way, says CM

Batting for Kannada: CM Siddaramaiah during the KarnatakaRajyotsava in Bengaluru on Wednesday. * BHAGYA PRAKASH. K


BENGALURU

The anti-GAIL pipeline cam-paigners on Wednesday re-sorted to massive protest onthe streets of Mukkom afterthe local police forcefully re-moved a temporary tenterected by them in the areato campaign for their cause.

The mob blocked therural roads with lightedtyres and threw stones atpolice vehicles. Tension pre-vailed in the area as policeresorted to lathicharge andfired tear gas shells to dis-perse the crowd.

10 taken into custodyTen activists were taken intocustody on charges of at-tacking the police and theirvehicles. In the unexpected

clash, a police officersuffered minor injury.

Leaders of the people’saction council against theGAIL project described thepolice action as “inhuman

and provocative”, cold-shouldering the concerns ofaround 600 families inKozhikode district whowould be affected with the80 km gas pipe laying works.

Police resort to lathi charge, tear gas shells in KozhikodeStaff Reporter

Kozhikode

Burning issue: A tyre set a�re by anti-GAIL activists on a roadin Mukkom during their protest on Wednesday. * K. RAGESH

Anti-GAIL protest turns violent

The Kerala police on Wed-nesday denied that Hadiyawas under drug-induced im-prisonment at her father’shouse in Kottayam.

The 26-year-old homoe-opathy doctor, who contro-versially converted to Islamand married a Muslim man,has found herself at thecentre of a high-profile litiga-tion after the Kerala HighCourt struck down theirunion and entrusted her tothe custody of her parents.

Move women’s panelMs. Hadiya’s supporters, in-cluding a Muslim women’sgroup, and also free thinkersand intellectuals, had movedthe Kerala State Women’sCommission separately de-manding that she be freedfrom house arrest.

District police chief, Kot-tayam, Muhammad Rafiq,

told the Commission thatHadiya faced no harassmentor torture at her parent’splace.

She was under policeguard as ordered by thecourt. No one has placedany restriction on her free-dom of movement. She led ahealthy life, interacting withrelatives and neighbours.

The police also routinelypatrolled the backwatersnear her house, given the re-

ligious and political sensitiv-ity of her case. Ms. Hadiya’ssituation has become centralto the national debate onwhether “deceptive conver-sion” to Islam or “love jihad”was a social truth or a mythpropagated by the Hinduright wing to create a reli-gious schism within thecountry’s inherently secularsociety for political gain.

Her husband had movedthe Supreme Court, de-manding that he be reunitedwith Hadiya and she be freedfrom the custody of herparent.

The apex court reservedits judgment and orderedthe National InvestigationAgency to probe whetherthe marriage was part of a“love jihad” conspiracy toconvert women from otherfaiths to Islam. Ms. Hadiya isscheduled to state her sideof the case in court thismonth.

Kerala woman’s conversion to Islam was opposed by parents


Thiruvananthapuram

Police deny Hadiya is underdrug-induced detention

Hadiya

Carnivorous plants havebeen known to employ avariety of techniques likenectar, smell, colour andultraviolet fluorescence tolure and capture prey. Butnow, scientists at theJawaharlal Nehru TropicalBotanic Gardens andResearch Institute here havecome up with evidence thatsome carnivorous plants usecarbon dioxide (CO2) toattract insects and ants totheir traps.

A study conducted by thedivision of Phytochemistryand Pharmacology at theinstitute found that theIndian pitcher plant

(Nepenthes khasiana) usesthe gas both to attract preyand to aid the digestiveprocess.

The research team, led bySabulal Baby, demonstratedthat the unopened pitchersof the plant are carbondioxide-enriched, with a gasconcentration of 2,500 to5,000 ppm (parts permillion), approximately 10times that in the earth’satmosphere. The openNepenthes pitchers werefound to emit CO2 constantlyto attract insects. The studydetected high levels of CO2

dissolved in acidic pitcherfluids, ensuring optimumactivities of the digestiveenzymes. The findings have

been reported in ScientificReports, a journal publishedby Nature.

Biological trapsCarnivorous plants of thegenus Nepenthessupplement their nutrientdeficiency by capturinginsects through their leaf-evolved pitchers, which actas biological traps. “CO2 is asensory cue and mostinsects have well-developedreceptors which help themrespond to subtle variationsof CO2 in the form of plumesarising from point sources,”explains Dr. Sabulal.

The high CO2 inside thepitchers was produced bythe respiration of tissues

within the cavity. “The sequential events of

lid opening, CO2 release, andprey capture were found totrigger the release ofantifungal compounds intothe pitcher fluid, preventinginfections from incomingprey,” says Dr. Sabulal.

The authors feel thatNepenthes pitchers have thepotential to be used asnatural models mimickingan anticipated elevated CO2

scenario on earth. In 2013,Dr. Sabulal and hiscolleagues published apaper on ultravioletfluorescence emissions byNepenthes and othercarnivorous plants to lureinsects to their traps.

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Carnivorous plants use CO2 to lure prey: studyScientists unravel another capture mechanism of pitcher plants to trap insects, ants

The prey trap of the Indianpitcher plant.

T. Nandakumar

Thiruvananthapuram

Former DSP launchesparty in KarnatakaBALLARI

Bharatiya Janashakti

Congress is the name of the

party launched by Anupama

Shenoy, former DSP, at

Kudligi in Ballari district on

Wednesday. She was abruptly

transferred, allegedly for not

attending a call from the

then Minister Parmeshwar

Naik and for also taking on

the liquor lobby head-on.

IN BRIEF

Ezhuthachan award forSatchidanandan THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Poet-critic K. Satchidanandan

has been selected for this

year’s Ezhuthachan

Puraskaram – the top literary

prize of the Kerala

government. The award

carries a cash prize of ₹5 lakh

and would be given away at a

later date. He has won the

Kerala Sahitya Akademi award

seven times, beginning 1984.

The Department ofPrimary and SecondaryEducation’s decision tomake children perform“super brain yoga”, whichis claimed to enhancememory power, concentra-tion, at the 62nd KarnatakaRajyotsava celebrations hasdrawn flak.

D. Shashi Kumar, gen-eral secretary, AssociatedManagements of Primaryand Secondary Schools inKarnataka, said it was“meaningless for the de-partment to endorse thingswhich have no scientificbacking.”

Rationalist NarendraNayak said the State gov-ernment was promoting“soft Hindutva” by allow-ing such programmes.

Row over‘brain yoga’ Tanu Kulkarni

Bengaluru

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0DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested to verify and make appropriate enquiries to satisfy them-selves about the veracity of an advertisement before responding to any published in this news-paper. Kasturi & Sons Limited, the Publisher & Owner of this newspaper, does not vouch for theauthenticity of any advertisement or advertiser or for any of the advertiser’s products and/orservices. In no event can the Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s, Employees of thisnewspaper/company be held responsible/liable in any manner whatsoever for any claims and/ordamages for advertisements in this newspaper.

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

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

Forecast for Thursday: Heavy to very heavy rain is likely atisolated places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala. Thun-derstorm accompanied with lightning is likely at isolated placesover south coastal Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry,Kerala and Rayalaseema

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala................. —.... 30.2.... 18.2 Kozhikode ..............18.... 34.5.... 25.0

Ahmedabad............ —.... 36.5.... 17.9 Kurnool ................... —.... 33.0.... 24.2

Aizawl ................... —.... 27.4.... 13.2 Lucknow.................. —.... 30.3.... 18.8

Allahabad .............. —.... 32.9.... 18.4 Madurai.................4.5.... 32.6.... 23.4

Bengaluru ............0.3.... 24.8.... 19.9 Mangaluru............... —.... 33.7.... 24.2

Bhopal................... —.... 31.3.... 15.6 Mumbai................... —.... 35.6.... 22.6

Bhubaneswar ......... —.... 30.7.... 21.0 Mysuru.................... —.... 27.5.... 19.8

Chandigarh ............ —.... 27.3.... 16.2 New Delhi ............... —.... 32.0.... 17.6

Chennai .............41.3.... 25.6.... 23.4 Patna ...................... —.... 30.3.... 18.1

Coimbatore............ —.... 31.2.... 22.7 Port Blair ............11.2.... 31.1.... 26.6

Dehradun............... —.... 27.2.... 13.8 Puducherry..........47.8.... 26.3.... 22.6

Gangtok................. —.... 18.0.... 11.8 Pune ....................... —.... 30.7.... 14.2

Goa ....................... —.... 34.6.... 22.3 Raipur ..................... —.... 34.7.... 21.0

Guwahati ............... —.... 29.8.... 18.0 Ranchi..................... —.... 27.2.... 16.0

Hubballi................. —.... 29.0.... 18.0 Shillong................... —.... 20.2...... 8.6

Hyderabad ............. —.... 30.6.... 16.5 Shimla..................... —.... 19.4...... 9.1

Imphal................... —.... 24.7.... 13.4 Srinagar .................. —.... 21.2...... 3.5

Jaipur .................... —.... 33.7.... 17.3 Trivandrum ............. —.... 32.0.... 23.9

Kochi......................5.... 32.4.... 24.4 Tiruchi ..................0.5.... 30.3.... 24.0

Kohima.................. —.... 21.6.... 10.8 Vijayawada .............. —.... 32.0.... 22.1

Kolkata.................. —.... 30.1.... 21.6 Visakhapatnam ......... —.... 33.0.... 25.2

Particulate matter in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at4.00 p.m., Bhiwadi,Rajasthan recorded anoverall air quality index(AQI) score of 417indicating an unhealthylevel of pollution. In contrast,Thiruvananthapuramrecorded a healthy AQIscore of 57

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

Bengaluru ........... ....6....28..44.... 152 .......— ......*

Chennai .............. ..12....18..59...... 55 .......— ......*

Delhi................... ..35..118..62.... 395 ...374 ......*

Hyderabad .......... ..18....62..27.... 141 ...140 ......*

Kolkata ............... ....— .....— ...—........— .......—.......—

Lucknow ............. ..16....39..52.... 368 .......— ......*

Mumbai .............. ..22....19..78.... 106 ...101 ......*

Pune ................... ..35....22..95...... 66 .....87 ......*

Vishakhapatnam.. ..20....11..46...... 72 .....73 ......*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good

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

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

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

and monuments.

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

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

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

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

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

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

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

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

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

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

Punjab CM rejects Badal’scharges on law & order CHANDIGARH

Rejecting his predecessor

Parkash Singh Badal’s charge

that Punjab was slipping into

anarchy, Chief Minister

Amarinder Singh said on

Wednesday that law and

order in the State had

improved as compared to the

situation in the previous 10

years. PTI

IN BRIEF

Haryana to constitutepond management body CHANDIGARH

Haryana Chief Minister

Manohar Lal Khattar on

Wednesday said that a pond

management authority would

be constituted for the

protection ,and rejuvenation

of more than 14,000 ponds in

the State. He said that the

unspent ₹60 crore of the

Haryana Swarna Jayanti

Celebrations Authority would

be diverted to initiatives

being taken to double

farmer’s income PTI

‘Tourism projects willboost J&K economy’ JAMMU

Projects like cable car and the

Suchetgarh Border Tourism

would give a major boost to

Jammu and Kashmir’s

economy, Minister of State

for Tourism Priya Sethi said on

Wednesday. The government

is committed to complete

several tourism-related

projects in a time-bound

manner to give new

dimensions to the industry in

the State, she said. PTI

One killed, 34 injured inbus-truck collision GIRIDIH (JHARKHAND)

One pilgrim was killed and 34

others were injured when

their Kolkata-bound bus hit a

truck on the NH 2 in Giridih

district on Wednesday, the

police said. The passengers of

the bus were returning to

24-Paraganas district in West

Bengal after a pilgrimage at

Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. PTI

A leading Hindi daily of Ra-jasthan on Wednesday de-cided to boycott Chief Minis-ter Vasundhara Raje untilshe revokes a controversialordinance which has exten-ded protection to public ser-vants against investigationfor their acts done in dis-charge of official duties andgiven sweeping powers to au-thorities to “gag the media”.

In a scathing front-pageeditorial, Rajasthan Patrika,headquartered in Jaipur,termed the ordinance, pro-mulgated on September 6, a“black law” and announcedthat the newspaper wouldnot publish any news on Ms.Raje and on the activities re-lated to her until she repealsthe law. “It is a question of

democracy, freedom ofspeech and people’s voice,”Editor-in-Chief Gulab Kotharisaid.

The Criminal Laws (Ra-jasthan Amendment) Ordin-ance, 2017, has provided im-munity to the serving and

retired public servants,judges and magistrates fromprobe and prosecution onthe complaints about theiralleged offences withoutprior sanction from the au-thorities. It also bars the me-dia from reporting on such

accusations till the sanctionis given and lays down twoyears’ imprisonment for viol-ation of law.

While a Bill introduced inthe State Assembly on Octo-ber 23 for replacing the or-dinance has been referred toa select committee of theHouse for reconsideration,the ordinance has been chal-lenged in the Rajasthan HighCourt. The court’s Jodhpurand Jaipur Benches have is-sues notices to the Centreand the State government onas many as eight writpetitions.

The signed editorial saidthe State government’s moveto refer the Bill to the selectcommittee was an “eye-wash”, as the ordinance wasstill in force and the journal-ists were vulnerable to the

government’s punitive ac-tion. “A journalist publishinga corrupt officer’s nametoday can be jailed for twoyears. Hasn’t the govern-ment pulled the wool overpeople's eyes?” it said.

“Glaring mistakes”Taking a tough stand on theissue, the newspaper saidthere were “glaring mis-takes” in the way the Bill wastabled in the Assembly andreferred to the select panel,while the “totalitarian rule”was trying to gain domin-ance over democracy. “[As-sembly] elections are oneyear away. Till then, a lot ofdamage can be caused. Ourboard of directors has de-cided to boycott Ms. Raje un-til she withdraws this blacklaw,” it said.

Rajasthan daily boycotts CM over ordinanceRajasthan Patrika editorial calls it a black law and that journalists are still vulnerable to punitive action

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje * FILE PHOTO


JAIPUR

READ

EVERY WEEK

Russia’s partnership with In-dia is “second to none” andcannot be compared with itsrelationship with Pakistan,Russian Ambassador NikolayKudashev said onWednesday.

Asked about Russia’s two-week military drill in Octo-ber with Pakistan near theRussian town of MinralneyVody, he said there is nocomparison between tieswith India and Pakistan andthat the purpose of the drillswas counter-terrorcooperation.

“Our partnership with In-dia is second to none whilewe have a normal inter-staterelationship with Pakistan,”he said during a media brief-ing on the recently con-cluded tri-services exercisebetween Russia and India in

Vladivostok. Russia favours“space” for all stakeholdersin the region, the envoy saidwhen asked about a possiblequadrilateral involving India,Japan, the U.S. and Australiafor deeper cooperation inthe Indo-Pacific. Thereshould “open cooperation”among all countries, headded.

Regional architectureMr. Kudashev underlined theneed for a non-bloc regionalarchitecture. Washingtonhas been pressing forstrengthening Indo-U.S. co-operation in the Indo-Pacificregion.

Japan’s Foreign MinisterTaro Kono said recently thatTokyo favours a dialoguebetween Japan, the U.S., In-dia and Australia to furtherboost strategic partnership.

Asked about China’s indic-

ation that it may once againblock the U.S., France andU.K.’s bid to list Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammedchief and Pathankot terrorattack mastermind MasoodAzhar as a global terrorist,he evaded a direct reply. “Weare members of the SCO(Shanghai Cooperation Or-ganisation), where there isample agenda to fight terror-ism,” he said.

The envoy also spokeabout the tri-services exer-cise between India and Rus-sia from October 19 to 29.More than 900 soldiers, sail-ors and air warriors particip-ated in the exercise alongwith over 1,000 personnelfrom the Russian defenceforces. A senior official saidno decision has been takenon whether the tri-servicesexercise will be an annualfeature.

Russia-India partnershipsecond to none: Envoy‘There is no comparison between ties with India and Pakistan’


NEW DELHI

Uttar Pradesh LegislativeCouncil Chairman RameshYadav has rejected the Bahu-jan Samaj Party’s petition todisqualify Naseemuddin Sid-diqui as a member of thecouncil on the ground thathe had left the party.

The BSP’s petition hasbeen rejected by the councilChairman and Mr. Siddiquiwill continue as a councilmember, a senior official ofthe U.P. Upper House said onWednesday.

‘No allowance’In an application to thecouncil Chairman on June29, the party had demandedthat Mr. Siddiqui should notbe given any facility or allow-ance that he used to enjoy asa legislator. BSP leader in theU.P. Legislative Council SunilKumar Chittor had sent theapplication to the Chairmanciting various rules, seekingthat Mr. Siddiqui be disquali-

fied from membership witheffect from May 27.

It was on that day that Mr.Siddiqui had floated a newoutfit, the Rashtriya BahujanMorcha, after he was ex-pelled from the BSP.

The BSP in its petition hadsaid that Siddiqui was elec-ted on a BSP ticket and sincehe was no longer associatedwith the party, he should bedisqualified from the mem-bership of the LegislativeCouncil.

Reacting to the decision,Mr. Siddiqui said that “base-less allegations” were lev-elled against him and he was“happy with the decision”.

Siddiqui continues as MLC

BSP petition to disqualify him rejected


LUCKNOW

Naseemuddin Siddiqui *

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This cyber café owner whocaught two Ahmedabadserial blasts terror suspectsin Gaya town in Septemberand helped local police takethem into custody is won-dering if he did the rightthing for himself. AnuragBasu’s cyber café is today ano-go area and business hassuffered. Penury looms overhim.

The terror suspects usedto live only a few kilometresaway from his home, andlocals are now afraid of step-ping into his cyber café forfear of retaliation. In thepast, Mr. Basu, 30, used toearn ₹30,000 every monthfrom his internet centre.Now he earns ₹3,000.

After the incident, all thefour employees of Mr. Basu’scyber café quit workingthere. The number of visit-ors became a trickle, and thelocal people who hadpraised him for his exem-plary courage started ad-vising him to be “careful.”Suspicious looking peopledrop into his café, he says.

Mr. Basu lives with hisparents, wife and six-year-old son in a two-room settle-ment, paying ₹4,500 rent inGaya town. “If they werecriminals I would not havecaught them but how could Ilet go of the traitors of thecountry?” says Mr. Basu.

For some eight months,Taushif Khan and Sana Khanwere regular visitors to hiscyber café. When asked fortheir identity, they wouldonly give their mobile phonenumbers. “On September 13,I asked them for their iden-tity but they dodged andstarted surfing the net. I gotsuspicious and peeped into

their computer screen andfound a Pakistani flag. Icame out of my café andcalled the police,” he added.“Meanwhile, both of themgot suspicious and started torun away. I chased them andcaught hold of TaushifKhan’s hand tightly. My kar-ate training and couragehelped me hold on to himuntil the local police cameand took them into custody.”

The police found thatTaushif and Sana were themain accused in the July2008 Ahmedabad serialbomb blasts case in which56 people were killed andover 200 were injured.Along with the duo, their ac-complice Shahbar Khan toowas arrested from Gaya onSeptember 13.

Gaya Senior Superintend-ent of Police Garima Malikand the local Civil Lines po-lice station officer-in-charge,Hari Ojha have assured of allhelp including morepatrolling in his area. “Ourdepartment will formally ap-preciate Anurag Basu’s ex-emplary courage very soon,”says Ms. Malik.

Price of patriotism andbravery: penury, insecurityGaya man who caught two terror suspects faces business loss

Amarnath Tewary

Patna

Anurag Basu

Man living with corpseof mother rescuedKOLKATA

A mentally challenged man

was discovered living with the

corpse of his mother who had

passed away four days ago, in

the Pykepara area of north

Kolkata on Wednesday.

“Anirban Basu, 40, was living

with the body of his mother

Mira Basu, 66, for about four

days. She died of cardiac

arrest and there was no sign

of external injury,” a police

official said

Mass-bathing in the Gangaduring pilgrimages may becontributing to anti-micro-bial resistance (AMR), says agovernment-commissionedreport on the threat fromAMR. Such resistance —pre-viously acknowledged to bewidespread in India — is saidto be the reason for certainkey antibiotics becoming in-effective against diseases, in-cluding tuberculosis.

Some years ago, research-ers from the Newcastle Uni-versity in the United King-dom and the Indian Instituteof Technology-Delhi sampledwater and sediments atseven sites along the Gangain different seasons.

In 2014, they reported inthe peer-reviewed Environ-mental Science and Techno-logy that levels of resistancegenes that lead to “super-bugs” were found to beabout 60 times greater dur-ing the pilgrimage months ofMay and June than at othertimes of the year. The re-searchers had then said pre-venting the spread of resist-ance-genes that promotelife-threatening bacteriacould be achieved by im-proving waste managementat key pilgrimage sites. The

report of the Ganga as areservoir for AMR genes sitsalongside a 2016 study by theCouncil of Scientific and In-dustrial Research — still notmade public — that portionsof the the river had “anti-bacterial” properties.

The government report

—— Scoping Report on Antimi-crobial Resistance in India —made public on Wednesdaycites this study too alongwith a compilation of all sci-entific studies done in Indiaon the threat from AMR,causes and sources that ag-gravate it.

The report was commis-sioned by the Department ofBiotechnology and the UKResearch Council and pre-pared by the Centre for Dis-ease Dynamics and Eco-nomic Policy. It notes, likeprevious studies, that Indiahas some of the highest anti-

biotic resistance rates amongbacteria that commonlycause infections in the com-munity and healthcare facil-ities.

Resistance to the broad-spectrum antibioticsfluoroquinolones and thirdgeneration cephalosporinwas more than 70% inAcinetobacter baumannii,Escherichia coli, and Klebsi-ella pneumoniae, and morethan 50% in Pseudomonasaeruginosa.

In 2014, India was thehighest consumer of antibi-otics, followed by China andthe United States. However,the per-capita consumptionof antibiotics in India wasmuch lower than in severalother high-income coun-tries.

Other than ‘culturalfactors’ such as bathing inthe Ganga, the drivers ofAMR included excessive useof antibiotics in the livestockindustry and unchecked dis-charge of effluents by thepharmaceutical industry.However, in spite of the chal-lenge, too little work hadbeen done so far to under-stand it. “This mapping exer-cise indicates that AMR re-search studies in India wereof limited scope in all areas,” the researchers noted.

Mass bathing in Ganga aggravatesantimicrobial resistance woesReason behind a broad spectrum of antibiotics becoming ine�ective, �nds govt.-commissioned study

Jacob Koshy

NEW DELHI

The death toll in the explo-sion of an electricity trans-former at Khatulai villagenear Shahpura town in Ra-jasthan went up to 14 onWednesday, as nine morecritically injured personsdied at the Sawai Man Singhgovernment hospital here.The massive explosion tookplace on Tuesday eveningwhen a marriage processionwas passing by.

Chief Minister Vasund-hara Raje has ordered ahigh-level inquiry into theincident. About 10 personswith more than 50% burnsare being treated at SMSHospital, even as the policewere trying to identify thebodies which were charredbeyond recognition.

The Khatulai village fallsin Jaipur district and is situ-ated near the Jaipur-Delhinational highway.

Relief to familyJaipur Collector SiddharthMahajan announced finan-cial assistance of ₹10 lakheach to the next of kin ofthe deceased through theChief Minister’s Relief Fundand Jaipur Vidyut VitaranNigam Limited.

The participants in themarriage procession,mostly women, were per-forming the pre-weddingritual of ‘Bhaat’ when thetransformer exploded. Ac-cording to eyewitness ac-counts, the transformer’sscalding oil fell on womenand children and theirclothes caught fire.

Rajasthan CM orders high-level probe

special correspondent

Jaipur

Transformer blasttoll rises to 14

Bihar on Wednesday ap-proved reservation in out-sourced contractual ap-pointments made by theState government. The de-cision was taken in the Statecabinet meeting attended byChief Minister Nitish Kumarand his ministerial col-leagues.

Later, addressing mediapersons,Principal CabinetSecretary Brajesh Mehrotrasaid, “The reservation policywould be implementedwhile hiring outsourced em-ployees, including computerexecutives, IT assistants,drivers, peons and others.”

For all categoriesHe added that SCs (Sched-uled Caste), STs (ScheduledTribe), OBCs (Other Back-ward Class), EBCs (Econom-ically Backward Class), phys-ically challenged people,women and all other cat-egories entitled to reserva-tion would be given the be-nefit of reservation as perrules.

“Besides, there will alsobe reservation in appoint-ments of doctors, engineers,

teachers and other posts ona contractual basis by theState government,” he said

The State Cabinet ap-proved a total of 11 proposalsin the meeting, including theallocation of ₹150.64 crorefor the setting up of eight Bi-har Military Police trainingcentres, where 8,000 newlyrecruited police personnel,including women, will betrained; ₹52 crore for make-shift tent cities in Patna forthe closing ceremony of thePrakash Parv (the year-longcelebration for the 350thbirth anniversary of GuruGobind Singh); and approval

for creating 70 posts forteaching staff and 76 postsfor non-teaching ones at twonewly-approved polytech-nics in the West Champaranand Aurangabad districts.

On the government’s de-cision to approve reserva-tion for outsourced employ-ees, Opposition RashtriyaJanata Dal (RJD) MLA ShaktiYadav said ,“Only a declara-tion will not serve the pur-pose… the government hasto implement it also, whichis doubtful… this Nitish Ku-mar government is a govern-ment known for only mak-ing populist declarations.”

Bihar approves reservationfor contractual postingsDeclaration not enough, should be implemented: Opposition

Amarnath Tewary

Patna

Quota boost: The reservation policy would be implementedwhile hiring outsourced employees, including computerexecutives, IT assistants, drivers, peons and others.

The National Human RightsCommission (NHRC) has dir-ected the Ministry of HomeAffairs to pay ₹5 lakh ascompensation to the next ofkin of a 23-year-old manfrom West Bengal North 24Paraganas who was al-legedly killed by personnelof the Border Security Force(BSF) in February 2014.

“The human rights of thedeceased, Sohag Sahjee,have been prima facie foundto have been violated at thehands of the BSF personnel,for which the State is vicari-ously liable to compensatethe NoK [next of kin] of thedeceased,” an order of theNHRC stated.

The development comesalmost three years after theNHRC took cognisance ofthe matter on the basis ofcomplaint lodged by KirityRoy, Secretary of a non gov-ernment organisationMASUM (ManabhadhikarSuraksha Mancha), throughan email dated May 5, 2014.

He was a smuggler: BSFAccording to a report sub-mitted by the BSF to theNHRC, Sohag Sahjee wasone of four smugglers whojumped into the Sonai riveron February 22, 2014 along

the India-Bangladesh borderto escape the securityforces.

While three of the smug-glers managed to swimacross the river, SohagSahjee drowned.

However, the district po-lice which investigated thecase came up with a com-pletely different version ofthe incident.

“On appraisal of evidenceadduced during the courseof investigation, the I.O. (In-vestigating Officer) con-cluded that both the BSFpersonnel pelted SohagSahjee with stones when hewas taking bath in SonaiRiver and did not allow hisuncle to save him,” theNHRC said.

Though a trial in the mat-ter is on under the BSF Act,the NHRC said it did notconsider it necessary to waitfor the outcome.

Sohag Sahjee’s father NurIslam Sahjee told The Hinduthat he was present about50 to 100 metres from thespot where the incident oc-curred. “My son wasbathing in the river whenthe stones thrown by BSFpersonnel hit him on thehead. The BSF personnelwere aiming at the smug-glers and hit my son in-stead,” he said.

Compensate kin of mankilled by BSF, says NHRCShiv Sahay Singh

Kolkata

The Enforcement Director-ate has arrested an allegedmiddleman, GaganDhawan, in connectionwith the money launderingcase against Gujarat-basedSterling Biotech Limitedand others for allegedlycheating PSU banks of₹5,383 crore.

Dhawan, said to havestrong links with some in-fluential bureaucrats andpoliticians, has been arres-ted under the Preventionof Money Laundering Actas some of the divertedfunds purportedly went tohim and was used for ac-quiring properties.

The has been registeredon a CBI FIR against Ster-ling Biotech, its directors,in-house chartered ac-countant and the thenAndhra Bank director. It isalleged that the group com-panies availed themselvesof credit facilities of morethan ₹5,000 crore from anAndhra Bank-led consor-tium of PSU banks on thebasis of manipulated re-cords and diverted thefunds to various entities inIndia and abroad.

ED arrests‘middleman’in SterlingBiotech case Special Correspondent

New Delhi

Karti Chidambaram, son offormer Union Finance Min-ister P. Chidambaram, hasmoved the Supreme Courtfor permission to travelabroad twice in Novemberand December.

Mr. Karti has a lookoutcircular (LOC) issued againsthim by the government toprevent him from travellingabroad.

The LOC was issued bythe Bureau of Immigrationin connection with an in-vestigation into a Foreign In-vestment Promotion Board(FIPB) approval given to INXMedia in 2007 when Mr.Chidambaram was the Fin-ance Minister.

Mr. Karti has challengedthe lookout circular in theSupreme Court.

In an affidavit, he said hehad to visit Cambridge inconnection with a lectureon ‘The Rule of Law andDemocratic Development inPakistan’ by human rightslawyers and activist AsmaJahangir on November 10.He said he had to also at-tend, as a committee mem-ber, a meeting of the Associ-

ation of Tennis Professionals(ATP) in London on Novem-ber 11 and 12.

“Again I have to make asecond trip to Cambridge inDecember 2017 in connec-tion with the admission ofmy daughter in Cambridgenext year as I could nottravel earlier due to theLOC,” Mr. Karti, representedby advocate N.R.R. ArunNatarajan, submitted. Hehas sought permission totravel abroad betweenNovember 5 and November15 and December 1 toDecember 7.

In a separate additionalaffidavit, he accused the En-forcement Directorate of in-dulging in a “roving andfishing enquiry” against himin the INX media case.

Wants to attend lecture at Cambridge

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

Karti Chidambaram

Karti seeks SC nodto travel abroad

Srirangam temple bagsUNESCO award TIRUCHI

The massive renovation and

restoration effort at the Sri

Ranganathaswamy Temple in

Srirangam, executed through

the public-private

partnership model, has won

the UNESCO Asia Pacific

Award of Merit 2017 for

cultural heritage

conservation.

IN BRIEF

Two girls electrocuted in ChennaiCHENNAI

Two eight-year-old girls were

electrocuted when they

stepped on a live wire

immersed in rain water at

Kodungaiyur here on

Wednesday. The deceased

were identified as Bhavana

and Yuvashri, daughters of

Parthiban and Murthy.

As the Narendra Modi gov-ernment proceeds with theMumbai-Ahmedabad bullettrain project, an RTI queryhas revealed that over 40%of seats on all trains on thissector go vacant, causing

huge losses to Western Rail-way. According to Right toInformation replies receivedby Mumbai activist AnilGalgali, just in the past onequarter, the Western Rail-way’s losses on this sectorstood at nearly ₹30 crore, oraround ₹10 crore per month.

Bullet train routemaking losses: RTI Indo-Asian News Service

Mumbai

280428




CMYK

A ND-NDE

EDITORIAL

India’s surge in the latest World Bank report on “the

ease of doing business” around the world — from the

130th position last year to the 100th — could not have

come at a better time for the government. Facing sus-

tained criticism of late over its handling of the economy,

it was not entirely surprising that Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley held a press conference just to discuss the

�ndings of the Bank’s report. He reiterated the commit-

ment to pursue more reforms, especially in areas where

the Index still rates India poorly among 190 countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set for his govern-

ment the target of entering the top 50 in the Bank’s in-

dex, from the 142nd rank India was placed at in 2014

soon after he assumed o�ce. Speci�c steps to cut red

tape seem to be paying o�, with the Bank recognising

India as one of the top 10 countries that have made im-

provement over the past year, and the only large coun-

try to see a signi�cant shift. The introduction of the new

insolvency and bankruptcy resolution process, simpli-

�cations in the payment of statutory dues such as

provident fund contributions and corporate taxes and

easier access to credit are among the key changes that

spurred India’s latest ranking. It is also notable that In-

dia is now the fourth best placed in the world for minor-

ity investors, well ahead of several developed nations.

The Bank’s report, based on executive actions and

ground-level feedback from businesses in Mumbai and

Delhi till June 1 this year, however, does not take into ac-

count the impact of the goods and services tax

launched a month later. The quality and pace of course

correction on the GST in the coming months will de-

termine if India can hold its 100th position or move up

further. Talking up the Modi government’s approach,

Mr. Jaitley sought to contrast the UPA era with the NDA’s

tenure by saying that the ease of doing corruption has

been replaced by the ease of doing business. While the

government has valid reasons to be upbeat, it must not

lose sight of the larger challenges. The enforcement of

contracts now takes longer than it did 15 years ago,

while procedures to start a business or secure a con-

struction permit remain cumbersome. As the country’s

largest urban agglomerations, Mumbai and Delhi can-

not host the kind of large factories that India needs to

generate adequate employment. It is critical that such

procedural reforms reach the hinterland and a road

map be drafted for the larger legislative changes needed

in matters such as land acquisition. Lastly, while foreign

investors are important, they often take their cue from

the mood of domestic businesses. Last week, for in-

stance, Sunil Bharti Mittal said the ease of doing busi-

ness remains a concern despite the government’s best

intentions, and mooted a structured dialogue between

India Inc. and policy-makers on the irritants to invest-

ment. The government, with great orators in its ranks,

could perhaps be a better listener.

Moving upIndia moves up the doing business index,

but the challenges remain formidable

There is a glimmer of hope with India registering a

slight drop in the number of new tuberculosis

cases and TB deaths in 2016 compared with 2015.

From an estimated 2.84 million new cases in 2015, the

number dropped marginally to 2.79 million in 2016, ac-

cording to the World Health Organisation’s Global

tuberculosis report, 2017. Incidence estimates for India

are considered interim, pending a national TB preval-

ence survey scheduled for 2017-2018. In terms of mor-

tality, the drop was from 0.51 million in 2015 to 0.43 mil-

lion in 2016. The number of deaths and the incidence

rate have been falling both globally and in India. The

targets set in the End TB strategy are global reduction of

20% in incidence and 35% in mortality by 2020, taking

2015 as the base year. To reach that target, the global

drop in incidence has to be 4-5% a year — currently it is

about 2% a year. Also, the percentage of deaths should

come down from the current 16% to 10%. With India ac-

counting for the highest TB incidence (23%) and mortal-

ity (26%) globally, success in realising the End TB tar-

gets hinges largely on the country strengthening its

systems. The �rst step in defeating the disease and

achieving the targets is to record every diagnosed pa-

tient through case noti�cation (that is, when a person is

diagnosed with TB, it is reported to the national surveil-

lance system, and then on to the WHO). There was a

34% increase in case noti�cations by health-care pro-

viders in the private sector between 2013 and 2015. It

improved from 61% in 2015 to 69% in 2016. But much

work remains to improve case noti�cations as only 1.9

million TB cases in the public and private sectors were

noti�ed in 2016, leaving a 25% gap between incidence

and noti�cation, the largest in the world. Though noti-

�cation was made mandatory in 2012, multiple surveys

and surveillance data still show large under-reporting

of detected TB cases, especially in the private sector.

With a higher number of people with TB being tested

for drug resistance, the percentage with resistance to

the drug rifampicin alone more than doubled to 0.58

million in 2016 over the previous year. Also, the number

of estimated multi-drug-resistant TB cases increased

marginally to 84,000. But the number of people with

MDR-TB enrolled for treatment improved marginally

between 2015 and 2016 (from 26,996 to 32,914). For the

�rst time, baby steps have been taken to o�er prevent-

ive TB treatment to a small (5%) number of people who

are HIV-positive, and 1.9% of children below �ve years

who are household contacts of people recently dia-

gnosed with pulmonary TB. Notably, domestic funding

(74%, $387 million) for anti-TB work has been more than

that from international sources (26%, $124 million).

While better funding might help India inch closer to its

stated goal of ending TB by 2025, much more is needed

in terms of funding and commitment on all fronts.

The war on TBIndia registers a few successes but

the surveillance systems remain inadequate

The Financial Times of Londondescribed the recent recapit-alisation of public sector

banks in India as collecting usedti�n boxes. It said banks are like in-termediaries, not unlike the dab-bawalas of Mumbai who deliverhome cooked meals to o�ces, andreturn used ti�n boxes back in theevening. Banks collects savingsfrom depositors and give it to bor-rowers. The intermediaries havenot been collecting their deliveriesback (that is, the bad loans), andthe clean-up is as messy as uncol-lected used ti�n boxes!

Low credit o�takeThe metaphor is a bit mixed up butcatches the imagination. A bettermetaphor would be “cleaning thecarburettor” of the credit pipeline.Bad loans have clogged the pipes,and new credit has stopped �ow-ing.

One of the most reliable leadingindicators of economic growth isthe growth of non-food credit.High growth in credit foretellshealthy growth of GDP, since creditgoes mostly into investment andbuilding of new capacity. India ispredominantly a bank �nance-ledeconomy, so when bank lendingslows down, it surely impacts fu-ture growth. Bank credit growthhas been at nearly a 60-year low.Even the growth of money supplyis at a 55-year low. This stark metrictells us about the growth slow-down. Of course, there are manyproximate causes as well, such asdemonetisation and the roll-out ofthe goods and services tax (GST).

Credit o�take slowed down be-cause of both demand and supplyside factors. On the demand side is

the fact that industry has low capa-city utilisation rates (factories lieidle); domestic industry is losingmarket share to low cost imports,made worse by GST, which hastilted the �eld in favour of imports,and also by the strong currency.The corporate sector is also de-leveraging and paying o� its pasthigh debts. All this means demandfrom the private sector for large-scale new credit is muted.

Burden of bad loansOn the supply side, the big con-straint on fresh lending is the bur-den of non-performing assets(NPAs). The NPA ratio has been de-teriorating for more than six years,and worse is yet to come. The dia-gnosis of worsening NPAs reveals�ve di�erent causes, not all causedby the bankers themselves. The�rst is the disproportionate shareof loans that went to infrastruc-ture. These projects are of longgestation and long payback period,so unsuitable for bank lending.That creates an asset liability mis-match for banks, since the liabilityside is of a short-term nature. Dur-ing the UPA regime, public-sectorbanks were under pressure to fundthe ambitious $1 trillion infrastruc-ture vision. Normally such projectsought to be funded by long-termbonds or developmental organisa-

tions like the World Bank or theAsian Development Bank, or theIDBI in its original avatar. But in theabsence of those options of devel-opment �nance, it fell to publicsector banks to provide infrastruc-ture �nance. This led toover-exposure.

The second reason for deterior-ation of loans could be the impactof key judicial decisions like abruptcancellations of coal mines andspectrum allocation. When thesame were re-allocated through ex-pensive auctions, it proved to be afatal burden on respective busi-ness models of power, steel andtelecom. The third reason forworsening NPA ratios could be thedelays caused by land acquisitionand environmental clearances.This reason for NPAs was ad-equately documented in the Eco-nomic Survey. The fourth reason isthe Asset Quality Review man-dated by the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) in 2015. This was muchneeded, since it put a stop to the“extend and pretend” culturearound worsening credit.

To be fair, the RBI showed greatregulatory forbearance in allowinglenders to work out remedies forgenuine cases which faced a busi-ness cycle downturn. Various op-tions were made available, includ-ing extending duration of loans,

debt restructuring, swappingequity for debt and so on. But itdoes not seem to have made anysigni�cant di�erence. The NPA re-covery process has since got aboost due to the new insolvencyand bankruptcy law. The govern-ment too announced the In-dradhanush scheme focused onbanking reforms and recapitalisa-tion of NPA-burdened banks. Twoinstalments of infusion in the pasttwo years proved woefully inad-equate as the NPA ratio continuedto mount.

The �fth reason for worseningNPA is an omnibus called “malfeas-ance”. This includes cosy relation-ships between banker and bor-rower, crony capitalism, politicalinterference in lending decisions (alegacy of the past), a less than vig-orous attempt to recover pastdues, careless due diligence, etc.

There may be other reasons aswell. The fact is that 10% of all loanshave gone bad. No wonder thatafter provisioning, for many pub-lic-sector banks their net worthwould be completely eroded.Hence the days of piecemeal andfeeble remedies are gone.

More reforms neededIn the light of this background, thedecision to inject ₹2.11 lakh crore ofcapital into public sector banks is awelcome boost. This was also evid-ent from the reaction of the stockmarket as some bank stocks soaredby as much as 35%. It is somewhat amoot point that this injectioncould have been done at least oneyear ago.

The injection is clever because ithas been done without busting thepromised �scal de�cit target. It hasbeen �nanced by the sale of recap-italisation bonds. Banks are cur-rently �ush with cash which wasdeposited after demonetisation.Much of that same cash will beused to buy those bonds. The pro-ceeds of the sale of these bonds willbe put back into the bank as freshequity by the government. It’s a

neat roundtrip of depositors’ cashcoming back as capital. To that ex-tent it is taxpayers who are fundingthis equity injection. More detailsare awaited. For instance, sincebanks are listed entities, shouldnot other shareholders apart fromthe government also be asked tomake a matching equity infusion?What about the windfall gains thatarose as a result of this equity infu-sion? How will the bonds be repaidby the government? What will betheir duration? Will they betraded? Would they instead be con-verted into perpetual bonds, neverto be repaid, as was done to the1992-93 bonds?

Su�ce to say that this capital in-fusion provides banks with themuch-needed room to make freshloans. In the coming days of Basel-3where much capital is needed forrisk provisioning, the NPAs are amillstone which prevent freshlending.

With this big bang recap e�ort,we can expect the growth pipes tobe unclogged. Of course, the re-capitalisation e�ort is uselesswithout accompanying reformswhich can prevent a recurrence.Those reforms are mostly aboutgovernance, meaning grantinggenuine autonomy to banks intheir functioning, including all as-pects such as lending, recovery,and recruitment decisions. Bankshave to be accountable to share-holders, including the govern-ment, through their respectiveboards. That’s the fourth crucial“R” that was part of this recappackage – recognition, recapital-isation, resolution and reform.Without reform of credit function-ing, culture, treatment of delin-quencies and even ownershipstructure in banking, this recap ef-fort will only be stopgap. Assumingreform is coming (witness the hugeincrease in India’s global rank inease of doing business), let’s raise atoast to the bank recap.

Ajit Ranade is an economist

The stimulus and afterThe recapitalisation of public banks is a welcome move but will be a lost e�ort without accompanying reforms

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It’s both �tting and ironical thatthere is no better way to de-scribe what’s happening now,

other than to say sexual harass-ment is ‘trending’. The details ofthe high pro�le indictments thathave happened so far, mostly in theU.S., have helped blow the lid o�the silence and complicity that al-lowed powerful men to be im-pudent sexual predators. In India,this manifested in two things — ascream of women unburdeningthemselves of their victimhoodthrough the #MeToo campaign, aswell as a list on Facebook callingout men in academia as serialsexual abusers.

Even if the shock in this publiclist was about its shade of vigilant-ism, the substance of it is in thenature of abuse detailed. These ac-counts of what happened and how,often substantiated by publishingscreenshots of private conversa-tions, highlight the utter lack of

clarity on what is appropriate be-haviour in a world where socialmedia has shrunk the boundarybetween the public and theprivate.

Question of de�nitionTo begin with, the very de�nitionof sexual harassment has to be up-dated for the digital age. Wheredoes “icky” behaviour end andsexual harassment begin? Doessending a Facebook friend requestconstitute sexual harassment?Does the answer change if that re-quest was from a doctor you con-sulted? In Pakistan this week, theOscar-winning �lm-maker,Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, com-plained online about a doctorsending her sister a Facebookfriend request after she consultedhim for a treatment. Her tweetwent viral and the doctor was sus-pended from duty. It isn’t ideal be-haviour on the part of the doctor,but is it harassment enough to war-rant a serious disciplinary action?When bosses and subordinates areFacebook friends, can a personalupdate on that media be referredto at the workplace? The dystopianfuture where everything is judgedpurely by reactions on social me-dia is upon us now. Unless institu-

tions and organisations get downto the task of writing clear rules ofengagement, they heighten therisk of improper behaviour as wellthe need for knee-jerk measuresfor damage control.

Second, with our demographicspread there is an urgent need tocodify what is permissible socialbehaviour. What rules do millenni-als live by? And are non-millennialsfamiliar enough with those rules?One of the experiences quotedagainst a professor named in theFacebook list, for instance, is an ac-count of a party in which there isclose physical intermingling of thevictim and perpetrator after every-one left. In India, especially, wherewe simultaneously straddle the ex-

treme ends of a regressive and pro-gressive society, where does theline of harassment lie? In this story,the perpetrator goes on to touchthe victim inappropriately. It isnon-consensual, therefore it is har-assment. But if she were to initiatelegal proceedings, the circum-stances leading up to the infractionlay open the possibility of that oldline, “she was asking for it”, beingthrown back at her.

Third, who bears the burden ofevidence? The millennial viewseems to suggest that it is up to theperpetrator to prove that his beha-viour was not appropriate. Buthow does one prove a negative? Es-pecially a generic negative, wherethe name of the accuser and thespeci�cs of the crime are also un-known. What happens when someof the accused are dead, and there-fore unable to defend themselvesor clear their names in any man-ner? If an innocent person’s namecreeps in, it is condemned to staythere. Women, and feministsshould also worry that a long listwhich indicates that most men aresexual harassers, without gradingthe degrees of infraction, couldsimply be reduced to mean no menare sexual harassers. In the futurewill victims, who want to follow the

“due process”, be subject to evenhigher standards of scrutiny andevidence collection if it becomestoo easy to make allegations ofabuse?

Fixing the process Sexual harassment will continue totrend, and it is only a matter of timebefore many such lists appear. TheBollywood list, the bureaucracylist, the corporate list. Despite the�awed nature of the exercise, itcannot be denied that the genesisof the list and the support it has re-ceived are a result of the apathythat institutions as well as the judi-cial process have shown to victimsof abuse who have tried to followthe “due process”. The caseagainst R.K. Pachauri, former headof TERI (The Energy and ResourcesInstitute), is ample illustration ofhow victims are stonewalled andpowerful perpetrators protected,often by even senior women in theteam. This, then, really is a �nalwarning to men in power as well asthe institutions that they repres-ent. If the “due process” exists inorder to deny justice to victims,then the gloves are o�, and every-one’s fair game.

[email protected]

A list to move on withThe de�nition of harassment needs to be constantly updated, and the process for justice made more robust

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Brahmaputra planChina’s plan to divert waterfrom the Brahmaputra inTibet to the “parchedXinjiang region” in China bybuilding a 1,000-km-longtunnel, the world’s longest,will prove to be anenvironmental disaster(“China plans tunnel fromBrahmaputra”, Oct. 31). The greater Himalayanregion has many weakgeological zones and aproject of this magnitudewill result in a catastrophe.There is also a need topreserve the unique faunaand �ora here and allnatural resources. We canill-a�ord to createproblems. P. Narahari,

Hyderabad

n It is not only India but alsoVietnam, Cambodia andBangladesh that heavilydepend on south �owingrivers that originate inTibet. Currently, many ofthe Himalayan rivers havebeen relatively untouchedby dams near their sources.China, which is buildingmultiple dams on all themajor rivers originating o�the Tibetan plateau, is likelyto emerge as the ultimate

controller of water fornearly 40% of the world’spopulation. The Tibetanplateau is the source of thesingle largest collection ofinternational rivers whichinclude the Mekong, theBrahmaputra and theYangtze. Even though Chinahas dismissed reports aboutit diverting the waters ofBrahmaputra, the fact isthat it is secretive. WithPakistan we have aninternationally validatedtreaty which has stood thetest of time, but with Chinawe have no such treaties noris China under anyobligation to respect suchbilateral accords. In theabsence of a water treatybetween India and China,one has to depend onBeijing’s assurances. Chinahas a penchant for massiveengineering projects thatshould not be overlooked.India has a problem on itshands and should ensurethat the future of millionswho depend on these water�ows is not jeopardised. H.N. Ramakrishna,

Bengaluru

A shared legacyThe BJP is making a crudeattempt to appropriate the

legacy of Sardar Patel. Yes,the uni�cation of India wasa major project for him, butthere were other leadersand o�cials includingNehru himself backing himand working on thistirelessly. To be fair, theissue was the people’s willand this is how the wholeprocess happenedpeacefully and almostspontaneously. It is a mootpoint as to how Sardar Patelwould have handledHyderabad and Junagadhhad the people here backedtheir rulers. As for theCongress, had Patel livedlonger and helped Nehruthrough the very di�cult1950s, it would havecertainly given him the leadposition he deserves. Thefact remains that Nehru wasleft alone in that period tonavigate the nation. That iswhy it was not just theCongress party, but almosttwo generations of peopleof those times who gave himthe pole position in history(“Sardar Patel, a sharedinheritance”, October 31). M. Balakrishnan,

Bengaluru

n Gopalkrishna Gandhi’sargument that the Congress

“unwittingly”’ de-optedSardar Patel is tooingenuous. The fact is thatthe Congress consciouslygave pride of place to theNehru family. That beingthe case, how is it that it is“execrable” if the BJPadopts him as a nationalicon? Great Indians belongto every Indian and ifsomebody celebrates“discarded icons”, it has tobe appreciated and notberated. Sardar Patel isshared inheritance and toargue that the Hindu righthas no right over him is notin good taste.P.N. Ballukraya,

Chennai

n I couldn’t fathom themeaning of “Congresspatriotism” which has beenused in the article. Does thewriter think that there areterms such as ‘BJPpatriotism’ or ‘CPI(M)patriotism’ in India? I doremember his questioningthe nationalism andpatriotism being de�ned bythe BJP in another contextand in another article. Onething is clear. For the Congress, SardarPatel was a non-entity aslong as it was winning

elections. For the Congress,it has always been theNehru family and itsdescendants. Given thepolitical situation theCongress �nds itself in post-2014, it is trying hard torediscover Patel.Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao,

Vijayawada

Get Army, build bridgeThe move to involve theIndian Army to build a footoverbridge at three railwaystations in Mumbai city — atElphinstone Road stationand also at Curry Road andAmbivli — is deplorable(“Army to build new bridgeat Mumbai railway station”,November 1). Civilian workthat should be done by theRailways or the civicauthorities is now being

thrust on the Army whichalready has its hands fullmanaging the borders. Thisis a blatant admission of theincompetency of theRailways and the civicauthorities. The Indian Army, known forits professionalism andhighest integrity, is at risk oflosing its identity and beingmisused to score politicalbrownie points. The Chairman of the Railway Board will have towork overtime to ensurethat the Railways are backon track and able to handlethe problems it faces. TheIndian Army needs to be leftalone and do its job.Varghese George,

Secunderabad

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/

corrections & clarifications:

In the report headlined “AIADMK leaders’ meeting with RS o�-cial leads to speculation” (Nov. 1, 2017), the seventh paragraphshould have read: “Mr. Navaneethakrishnan succeeded Mr.Maitreyan as �oor leader in Rajya Sabha after the latter was re-moved ... in 2014.” The text had erroneously said that Mr. N. Gokulakrishnan had succeeded Mr. Maitreyan.

In the Editorial page article titled “Complicated terms of en-gagement” (Oct. 25, 2017), the opening sentence read: “On October 17, the Supreme Court read down the marital rape excep-tion for married girls between the ages of 15 and 18.” The correctdate is October 11, 2017.

The Readers’ Editor’s office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300;

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In the House of Commons [in London], Mr. Macpherson statedthat Mesopotamia but not India would be regarded as atheatre of war for the purpose of awarding chevrons which itwas proposed to give to men who had served in any theatre ofwar. He promised to bring before any Council the case of Ter-ritorials who had volunteered for service abroad and had beensent to India.In the Commons, Mr. Macpherson stated in the debate on theVote of Credit, that he was hopeful that by the end of Novem-ber there would not be a soldier on the western front who hadbeen more than twelve months without leave. It was practic-ally impossible to give leave from Mesopotamia at present, al-though every effort was made to meet urgent cases and a cer-tain number of men had been given leave to India. As regardEgypt and Salonika the case was not so sad but was badenough owing to transport difficulties.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO NOVEMBER 2, 1917

In Parliament: Indian forces.

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FROM ARCHIVES

A new stock exchange as the rival of Bombay Native StockBrokers’ Association was opened this morning [November 1]in Meadows Street [in Bombay] in the premises formerly occu-pied by the Bombay Electric Company before a large gatheringof brokers and guests. The establishment of a new stock ex-change was in contemplation for some time past and lately ne-gotiations were going on with the old association for a com-promise which at last fell through. Among the promoters ofthe new exchange are many influential merchants of all com-munities and quite a number of rich Marwari cotton and bul-lion merchants. The new exchange will be registered as a lim-ited liability company with a capital of 25 lakhs and the nameof the company will be Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd.

New share market at Bombay.

Once upon a time triangu-lar one-day tournamentswere a regular feature in thegame of cricket. For almostthree decades, this formatof competition mesmerisedthe audience and one-daycricket, as a result, took a gi-ant leap forward. The seedsof triangular cricket tourna-ments were sown by theAustralian businessman

and media tycoon Kerry Packer with his rebel World SeriesCricket coming into the picture in 1977-78.

The Packer wayPacker was keen to exploit the untapped potential of one-daycricket by staging a tri-series involving the Australia, West In-dies and Rest of the World teams. Packer knew that the poten-tial of a multi-lateral tournament was much more than a bilat-eral one, as was suggested by the popularity of the �rst WorldCup in England in 1975.

From the late 1970s, Australia hosted an annual tri-seriesevery summer until 2007-08 when India defeated Australia inthe best-of-three �nals by 2-0 in the Commonwealth BankSeries. (It revived the series in 2011-12.) The format became sopopular that apart from Australia, cricket boards by the 1990sbecame very interested in hosting multilateral tournamentson home grounds. For example, India hosted the Nehru Cup in1989, the Hero Cup in 1993, the Titan Cup in 1996 and Inde-pendence Cup in 1997. Other countries too organised multi-team tournaments.

These ODI tournaments were more keenly followed than bi-lateral ODI face-o�s in general. This is for many reasons. Inmultilateral tournaments, one gets to see many teams particip-ate and make a bid for the same trophy. The permutations andcombinations of match results creates a unique interest, allow-ing fans to constantly examine ways in which a particular teamcan reach the knock-out stage or clinch the title.

Players often display more cricketing brilliance on the �eldas they would be watched by more viewers than in a bilateralODI series. The most interesting feature of these tournamentsis that they seldom get boring. On the other hand, a seven-match bilateral ODI series can become monotonous if oneteam holds inordinate sway in the opening matches.

In the last 15 years, there has been no noteworthy quad-rangular or pentangular cricket tournament except the AsiaCup. Today, triangular cricket tournaments too are facing anexistential crisis. Due to the bilateral nature of busy cricketschedules and the mushrooming of Twenty20 cricket leagues,the space for triangular cricket tournaments has beensqueezed.

Clearing the calendarThe International Cricket Council and national cricket boardsneed to �nd space in the annual calendar to play at least onesuch tournament a year. For example, would it not have beenmore exciting for India to have hosted a tri-series with Aus-tralia and New Zealand this season?

A di�erent contestWhy cricket needs to revive triangular tournaments

MARTAND JHA

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The famous (or infamous) Balfour de-claration was issued exactly a hun-dred years ago on November 2, 1917.

The visionary behind Zionism,Theodor Herzl moulded the Zionistmovement into a demand for a Jew-ish homeland in the last decade ofthe 19th century. The immediate pro-vocation was the ruthless pogromscarried out by Czarist Russia thatcaused a large exodus of Jews. TheseJewish émigrés had to be settledsomewhere; why not give them ahomeland of their own? And why notPalestine as their homeland, fromwhere they were forced out (accord-ing to the Israeli narrative) centuriesago?

British Foreign Secretary LordLansdowne offered unrestricted im-migration to Jewish people inUganda. (Uganda, a colony, was fairgame.) Herzl supported Lansdowne’soffer as an interim solution. He wassupported by majority of Zionist del-egates but opposed fiercely by many.But he died soon after, and with himdied the Uganda solution.

The Weizmann interventionBy this time, a young academic ofRussian origin, a professor of chem-istry in Manchester University,Chaim Weizmann had emerged onthe scene. He single-mindedlysteered the Zionist movement in thedirection of turning Palestine into aJewish state. He eventually achievedhis objective and became the firstPresident of Israel in the late 1940s.

Far-sighted as he was, Weizmannrealised, as soon as Britain hadentered the Great War, that the even-tual peace conference would be thebest opportunity to push for a Jewishstate in Palestine. He and his col-leagues began drafting a memo forthe British government to give con-crete shape to their demand. At thetime, almost everyone expected thatthe war would be over in about ayear or so. It dragged on; Weizmannand the group never gave up. He cul-tivated leading Jews in England andelsewhere. The most significant ofthem was Lord Rothschild who wiel-ded enormous influence in the Brit-ish government.

In the summer of 1917, Weizmannand Sokolov launched a strategy to

force the issue. They decided to com-pose a Zionist statement.

Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfourwould present it to the cabinet forapproval whereafter he would in-form Lord Rothschild about it by aletter, which would then constitute adeclaration of support for Zionism;in effect a Balfour declaration. In July1917, a group of Zionist leaders draf-ted a declaration. There were differ-ences among them. One pressed toask for “as much as possible”, includ-ing, in particular, the right to controlthe state machinery, promising theArabs only cultural autonomy, but“the state must be Jewish”. A fewdays later, a smaller group drafted asingle paragraph, to the effect thatthe British government should recog-nise Palestine as the national homeof the Jewish people and workclosely with the Zionist Organisation.Some in the group kept in touch withthe Foreign Office, in particular withMark Sykes (of the Sykes-Picot fame)and had a good idea of what the gov-ernment could accept. They met afew days later and one of them, LeonSimon, jotted down on a scrap of pa-per two sentences, which were ac-cepted by the others. The scrap sur-vived and was sold in an auction atSotheby’s, in 2005 for $884,000. Thetwo sentences were:

“H.M. Government accepts theprinciple that Palestine should be re-constituted as the national home ofthe Jewish people.

“H.M. Government will use its bestendeavours to secure the achieve-ment of the object and will discussthe necessary methods and meanswith the Zionist Organization [ZO].”

The first sentence implied an un-broken link between Jews andPalestine despite years of separationand the second sentence posited theZO as the official representative ofJewish interests.

Balfour personally supported this

small paragraph and drafted a replyfor approval of the cabinet, stating:“I am glad to be in a position to in-form you that HMG accept the prin-ciple that Palestine should be recon-stituted as the national home of theJewish people.” For some reason,Balfour did not send the note to thecabinet. War Cabinet Minister AlfredMilner removed the word “reconstit-uted” and instead of termingPalestine “the” National Home of theJewish people, he called it “a Na-tional Home for the Jewish people”.The reference to the Zionist Organ-isation was excised.

It was the Jewish member of thecabinet, Edwin Montagu, who op-posed the whole concept. He wantedthe foreign secretary to redraft hisletter and reject the Zionist state-ment. His colleagues were takenaback by the vehemence of his op-position.

His argument was that the pro-posed declaration would prove a ral-lying ground for anti-semitism allover the world. He had said earlierthat there was not a Jewish nation.He felt strongly that declaringPalestine as the homeland of theJews would imply that persons likehim everywhere would lose their cit-izenship of the countries of theirdomicile, perhaps not legally but cer-tainly morally and ethically. He hadbeen appointed as the next Secretaryof State of India. “How could aPalestinian represent England in In-dia?” he asked. He was, in short, anardent assimilist.

When the cabinet met in earlySeptember, Montagu stuck to his po-sition with the result that the meet-ing remained inconclusive. It de-cided to consult U.S. PresidentWilson for his opinion.

Weizmann galvanised himself andall Zionists, in Britain and in Amer-ica. Hundreds of telegrams floodedthe Foreign Office. Montagu too got

active and prepared an anti-Zioniststatement, but had no organisedmovement behind him. He was isol-ated. At yet another meeting in Octo-ber, he repeated his firm position.This time, one more member of thecabinet opposed the proposed de-claration, arguing: “Zionism was sen-timental idealism, which would benever realised and with which theBritish Government should havenothing to do.” A decision was de-ferred again.

The issue was settled, conclus-ively, when Wilson sent an unam-biguous message of support for Zion-ism.

The War Cabinet met in late 1917and authorised Foreign SecretaryBalfour to write to Lord Rothschild asfollows: “His Majesty’s Governmentview with favour the establishmentin Palestine of a national home forthe Jewish people, and will use theirbest endeavours to facilitate theachievement of this object, it beingclearly understood that nothing shallbe done which may prejudice thecivil and religious rights of existingnon-Jewish communities inPalestine, or the rights and politicalstatus enjoyed by Jews in any othercountry.”

Balfour sent the letter containingthe declaration to Rothschild onNovember 2. Thus was born theBalfour Declaration.

No place for sentimentAt the same time that the Britishwere promising the Jews their home-land in Palestine, T.E. Lawrence waspromising an Arab kingdom to theSheriff of Mecca who, of course, hadno idea of the promises to the Jews.They were also negotiating with Tur-key in Geneva offering them the priv-ilege to fly the Turkish flag in Jerus-alem in return for ditching Germany.England was also concerned, fedcleverly by Weizmann, that Germanytoo would play the Zionist card.

There is a lesson for India here.England was facing an existentialthreat. America had not yet joinedthe war and England was more orless on its own. Whatever helped theBritish war effort was kosher. Britaincould not afford to worry about mor-ality, ethics, or broken promises. Na-tional interest alone would decideBritish policy and actions; sentimenthad no place. This is how majorpowers conduct their foreign policy.

Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, a former IndianAmbassador to the United Nations, wasSpecial Envoy for West Asia in the ManmohanSingh government

Reading the Balfour Declaration, a century later, for lessons in today’s world

A document that still resonates

chinmaya r. gharekhan

A hand in history: Arthur Balfour visiting Palestine, in 1925. * UNIVERSAL HISTORY

ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Indians and the ‘Indian National Anthem’ be-ing adjudged the best by UNESCO is prob-ably the most common fake news goingaround the Internet. While this false inform-ation may have been innocuous, it capturesthe larger menace we face today. With theadvent of new age digital and social media,fake news has pervaded all spheres of life,political and social.

Rampant misinformationClaire Wardle of First Draft, a UK-based non-profit organisation which is now part of theShorenstein Center on Media, Politics andPublic Policy at Harvard, categorised misin-formation into seven categories, namelysatire or parody, misleadingcontent, imposter content, fab-ricated content, false connec-tion, false content and manipu-lated content.

While all these forms exist inIndia, fabricated and manipu-lated content are gaining steam,leading to the possibility of po-tential violence and impactingsociety. The rise of digital andsocial media as powerful plat-forms has only magnified the ef-fect of fake and false news. Ump-teen number of news/information portalsare being set up as there are few entry barri-ers unlike in the traditional media. In addi-tion, growing polarisation of society on ideo-logical lines has made the job of spreadingfake news easier. Content that denigratesleaders/groups of the opposite ideologybased on falsehoods, deepens communal po-larisation or incites hatred have gained trac-tion in the last few years. In the past, com-munal violence in India was a localisedaffair. Today, it is extensively being fed andtriggered through the Internet. Provocativecontent, inaccurate information, doctoredvideos, and pictures are being disseminatedthrough various online and mobile plat-forms. The platforms serve like nodal agen-cies distributing unverified information.

While media researchers around theworld are investigating the fake news scene,little credible information is available on thecreators and the intention behind it. But ifwhat has been found is true, it is purely away to make advertising money throughclick baits, enticing people to click and con-tinue reading, and is organised by politicalor other social groups. In India, numeroussites are set up to peddle fake news with

click bait headlines. They are also very wellorganised with multiple linked pages on so-cial media platforms that are used to makethe content go viral.

Both Google and Facebook, as the largestplatforms for content distribution, are saidto be creating systems that will filter fakenews. But these efforts are relatively new.The biggest vector of fake news in India —WhatsApp — is still grappling with comprom-ising mechanisms for privacy like encryptionand the urgent need to weed out fake newsspread through its application.

No accountabilityThe advent of fake news is not new or re-cent, only its potential to reach people hasamplified due to online platforms and ap-plications that are free. Users creating hatecontent and sharing it can be booked underrelevant sections of the Indian Penal Code(IPC). But the sheer expanse of the Internetand the anonymity it grants makes it difficultto track down people. Unlike mainstreammedia that falls under comprehensive regu-lation, online platforms have scope for

wrongdoing due to the lack ofbinding rules, and the ability tokeep owners and editors privatelike in the case of fake news sites.In the absence of such crucial in-formation, there is no under-standing of the liability and thecredibility of the information thatis being hosted on their respect-ive sites. This is the main strengthof the creators of fake news, theability to remain anonymous inthe guise of a media outlet. Most

digital media outlets do not have basic in-formation regarding editors, publishers orthe physical address of the registered entity.We could do well to begin with some basicregulation for digital media outlets like com-pulsory and online registration of details.

In the past few months, people have beenbooked in isolated incidents in differentStates for the content they shared on mes-saging and social media platforms. On someoccasions, the Internet has been shut downon the pretext of inciting violence and tostop the spread of doctored videos. But treat-ing every symptom in a localised way is notan efficient or productive way to tackle thedisease.

The lack of uniform guidelines, regulationand policy regarding such fabricated contentneeds to be addressed urgently. Consideringthe rapid penetration of mobile phones andthe rise in use of social media in India, thedissemination of fake news is no longer aproblem limited to the online world, espe-cially because it has political, social and eco-nomic ramifications on the ground.

Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu and Tejeswi Pratima Dodda

head a Fact Checking initiative, Factly

Tackling fake newsWe need uniform guidelines, regulation and policyregarding fabricated content

Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu &

Tejeswi Pratima Dodda

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Cobra effectPolitical economy

This refers to the phe-nomenon wherein policiesthat are aimed at address-ing a problem only man-age to worsen it by leadingto some unintended con-sequences. The term ori-ginates from the story of apolicy pursued by the Brit-ish colonial government inIndia to tackle the menacecaused by a huge popula-tion of cobras out in theopen. It tried to incentivisethe capture of cobras byproviding a bounty, butthe policy led to an actualincrease in the cobra pop-ulation as people began tobreed new cobras in orderto seek the bounty. The co-bra effect is usually citedto emphasise that good in-tention alone does not ne-cessarily translate into de-sirable results.

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CONCEPTUAL

Will it help Test cricket if games are reduced to four days?bit.ly/Test4Days

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MORE ON

THE WEB 3

What’s going on? As JanetL. Yellen’s term as theChairperson of the U.S.Federal Reserve is set tocome to a close in Febru-ary next year, there hasbeen intense speculationover the last few weeksabout the likely successorto the post. According torecent reports, JeromePowell, a member of theFed’s Board of Governorswho was appointed to thepost during Barack Oba-ma’s presidency, is expec-ted to be named as thenext Fed Chairman laterthis week. American eco-nomist John Taylor, Presid-ent Donald Trump’s chiefeconomic advisor GaryCohn and former Fed Gov-ernor Kevin Warsh werethe other prominentnames doing the roundsearlier. The decision to re-place Ms. Yellen hasgained significance as theFed is in the middle oftightening its monetarypolicy stance by raising in-terest rates and winding

down the size of its bal-ance sheet. Markets, inparticular, keenly look for-ward to the decision asthey try to guess if the Fedwill continue to tightenand, if so, at what pace.

Does it matter? The Fed-eral Reserve and its Chair-person are usually thoughtto be completely inde-pendent and protected un-der the law from all kindsof political influence. Nat-urally, then, the worldviewand policy decisions of theFed chief are deemed bymany to be of special im-portance to the economy.However, sceptics of thisview point to the fact thatthe Chairperson is appoin-ted by the President andhence cannot be alooffrom politics by anystretch of the imagination.In this view, if it is politicsthat really matters when itcomes to the selection ofthe Fed Chairman, it maybe wiser for analystswatching the Fed to focusmore on the President’spolitical priorities rather

than on the Fed chief ’sworldview.

What will matter? Scholarswho study the “politicalbusiness cycle” have, foryears, argued that thepolicies of central banks indemocracies like the U.S.are influenced by the prox-imity of the next generalelection.

In other words, centralbanks tend to loosenpolicy as elections arrivecloser in order to boost theeconomy and help thechances of the incumbentPresident. Politics, at theend, is what really mat-ters.

Mr. Trump has beenkeen on projecting therising prices of U.S. stocksand other assets, a directconsequence of the Fed’szero interest rate policy, asa gauge of his economicsuccess. He has also been astrong supporter of a weakdollar to boost Americanexports. The new FedChairperson is unlikely toopt for policies that mightupset the President’s plan.

Who after Yellen?

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FAQ

The new U.S. Fed Chairman is unlikely to opt for policiesthat might upset the President’s plan Prashanth Perumal J.

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The Election Commission(EC) on Wednesday took adefinitive stand in the Su-preme Court that convictedpersons should be bannedfrom contesting electionsfor life.

While the governmentshowed reluctance to makea commitment, the Com-mission reiterated its standbefore a Bench led byJustice Ranjan Gogoi thatsuch a move would be afirm step against criminal-isation of politics.

Noting that it has been“championing the cause ofdecriminalisation of polit-ics”, the EC, in March, en-dorsed a public interest lit-igation petition in theSupreme Court seeking life-long bar on convicted legis-lators from contesting polls.

It had said that a uniformban would be in the spirit ofthe fundamental rights ofthe Constitution, includingthe right to equality.

As of now, a person, onconviction, is debarredfrom contesting any elec-tions for the period of his orher prison sentence and sixyears thereafter.

EC for lifeban on theconvictedLegal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

CMYK




NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

apex court said it wanteddetails of the status of eachsuch case and how the crim-inal trials ended in everyone of them.

Additional Solicitor Gen-eral A.N.S. Nadkarni, for theCentre, submitted that theCentre was not averse to thesetting up of special courtsto exclusively try politicalpersons.

He said there was noroom for a second opinionthat corruption and crimin-ality should be wiped out ofpolitics.

Mr. Nadkarni said the gov-ernment would support anymove for the “utmost ex-peditious disposal” of crim-inal cases involving politicalpersons.

However, on a plea by pe-titioner and Supreme Courtadvocate Ashwini KumarUpadhyay for a life ban onconvicted politicians fromcontesting elections, thegovernment remained non-committal, simply sayingthat the recommendationsof the Law Commission andthe Election Commission(EC) were under its activeconsideration.

On March 10, 2014, a Su-preme Court Bench ofJustice (retired) R.M. Lodhaand Justice Kurian Josephhad ordered the govern-ment to conclude criminaltrials in which charges havebeen framed against sittingMPs and MLAs “speedilyand expeditiously” within ayear.

The apex court hadordered the trials to be heldon a day-to-day basis.

Only “extraordinary cir-cumstances” would justify atrial exceeding the one-yeardeadline, Justice Lodha’sBench had made it clearthen.

Referring to the March2014 order, Justice Gogoi’sBench said it wanted thegovernment to report backby December 13 on howmany of these 1,581 caseswere finally decided andhow many ended in acquit-tals and convictions for MPsand MLAs.

The court further direc-ted the Centre to place onrecord how many caseshave been filed against sit-ting and former legislatorsbetween 2014 till date. The

Speed up trial ofpoliticians, says SC

he said in Jambusar, acoastal town in Bharuch.

‘False claim’Contesting the Modi admin-istration’s claim to fightblack money, Mr. Gandhisaid that in its three-yeartenure, not a single Swissbank account holder hadbeen touched by this gov-ernment.

“They (BJP) talked a lotabout Swiss bank accounts.Now they are in power forthe last three years. You tellme how many Swiss bankaccount holders are in jail?Give me the name of oneperson Modiji has sent tojail?” he asked. Mr. Gandhisaid that in Gujarat everymajor community was agit-ating against the BJP govern-ment because it had failedto create jobs and provideaffordable education.

For a reality check, accord-ing to him, the Finance Min-ister should meet a smalltrader or small and me-dium-sized businessmenand ask what the situationon the ground was.

Through the day, Mr.Gandhi, addressing publicmeetings and holding roadshows in small towns andvillages, highlighted what hecalled the adverse impact ofdemonetisation and GSTand how the government’sfocus on a few big industrialgroups was leaving the smalland medium enterprisesand businesses in the lurch.

“If the Congress partycomes to power in Gujarat,we will give priority toSMEs, farmers, students andpoor people instead of ca-tering to the interests of afew businessmen as the BJPgovernment is doing here,”

You have eased outbusinesses: Rahul

The security of India andBhutan is “indivisible andmutual”, President RamNath Kovind said here onWednesday. The first suchstatement on the subjectsince the Doklam standoffwith China ended in Augustindicates a closer engage-ment between India andBhutan after the months-long episode.

Mr. Kovind, who issuedthe statement after meetingBhutan’s King Jigme KhesarNamgyel Wangchuck inDelhi, thanked the King forhis “personal involvement”in addressing the Doklamcrisis, the first time a refer-ence has been made to hisrole during the tensionsbetween India and China.

‘Excellent ties’“[The President] conveyeddeep appreciation for theKing of Bhutan’s personal in-volvement and guidance andthe support provided byBhutan in addressing the re-

cent situation in the Doklamarea. He added that the man-ner in which both India andBhutan stood together to ad-

dress the situation in theDoklam area is a clear testi-mony to our friendship,” saida press release issued by

Rashtrapati Bhavan after theKing and Queen of Bhutanmet Mr. Kovind.

Expressing “satisfaction at

the excellent state” of ties ina joint statement issued afterhis meeting with Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi, theKing also thanked India forits support to Bhutan’s socio-economic development,which includes hydropowerprojects.

However, neither the Ex-ternal Affairs Ministry northe Bhutanese Embassy re-sponded to queries from TheHindu about the nature ofthe King’s role.

Officials said the King,who is on a four-day visit tomeet the President, thePrime Minister and seniorCabinet Ministers, will returnto India for a formal “statevisit” next year, which marksthe golden jubilee of the es-tablishment of diplomatic re-lations between the twocountries.

The Rashtrapati Bhavanstatement is significant as itseeks to end speculationover India’s decision to sendtroops into land caught in adispute between Bhutan andChina.

While Indian officials saidthe Indian troops went intoDoklam at the request of theRoyal Bhutanese Army,Bhutan’s government hasnever said so officially. Instatements issued on June 29and August 29, the Bhu-tanese Foreign Ministry saidChina was in violation of itsagreements, but gave nostatement on the IndianArmy’s role there.

Clearing the airThe visit by the Royal coupleto Delhi this week is, there-fore, being seen as not just apersonal one, but one thatsignals a tacit endorsementof India’s actions during theDoklam crisis, as well as a re-affirmation of ties, analystssaid.

President Kovind’s com-ment that “security concernsof India and Bhutan are indi-visible and mutual” is alsolikely to be analysed closelyfor whether the twocountires are considering anew formulation in their tiespost-Doklam.

India, Bhutan security indivisible: President Kovind conveys India’s deep appreciation of the personal involvement of the King in addressing the Doklam stand-o�

Brothers-in-arms: Ram Nath Kovind with Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck,Queen Jetsun Pema and Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck in Delhi. * AFP/RASHTRAPATI BHAVAN

Suhasini Haidar

NEW DELHI

Defence Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Wednesdayexpressed concern at the in-creased militarisation of theIndian Ocean region and theway extra-regional nations —in an apparent reference toChina — were maintaining a“near-permanent presence”there.

“We have also witnessedextra-regional nations main-tain near-permanent pres-ence within the region onone pretext or the other. Inorder to sustain such a pres-ence through operationalturnaround, these countries,which are extra-regional, arecreating naval outposts aswell as dual-use infrastruc-ture in the region,” Ms.Sitharaman said.

Collective responseShe was addressing the firstGoa Maritime Conclave ofNavy Chiefs of Indian Oceanlittoral states hosted by theNavy at the Naval War Col-

lege in Goa.Noting the “incremental

yet steady” increase in num-bers of warships operating inthe region, Ms. Sitharamansaid this militarisation “in-creases the complexities forthe countries of this region”.

The conclave, intended tobe held every year, aims to“bring together like-minded

countries to evolve collectiveresponses to challenges inthe maritime domain”.

Maritime challengesMs. Sitharaman said thatland-based disputes and ri-parian issues, predomin-antly a legacy of colonialrule, were a key cause forconflict. “As international

behaviour in the maritimedomain is influenced consid-erably by land-based imper-atives, cordiality or latenthostility prevalent amongnations on land tends to getreflected in the seas too,” shesaid.

In the past few years,China has set up or acquiredstakes in a series of infra-structure projects in the re-gion and has recentlyopened its first overseas mil-itary base at Djibouti in theHorn of Africa.

The Chinese Navy hasmaintained a steady pres-ence of warships and sub-marines in the Indian Oceanunder the garb of anti-piracyoperations in the Gulf ofAden.

To counter this, the In-dian Navy has now put inplace a new concept of “mis-sion-based deployment” tomaintain round- the-clocksurveillance on India’s vitalareas of interest across thelength and breadth of the In-dian Ocean Region.

Nirmala �ags Indian Ocean issuesSays extra-regional nations building naval outposts in the region raises tension

Dinakar Peri

PANAJI

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with Navy chief AdmiralSunil Lanba and others at Dabolim on Wednesday. * PTI

The BJP on Wednesday hitback at Congress vice-presid-ent Rahul Gandhi’s state-ment on “Ease of doing busi-ness” rating, saying he wasignorant about economics.

Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley said the NDAhad replaced “ease of doingcorruption” under the UPAwith “ease of doing busi-ness”.

On campaign trail inBharuch, Gujarat, Mr.Gandhi earlier in the daysaid, “Arun Jaitleyji is work-ing on the basis of some for-eign institution; India doesnot need a certificate from a

foreign institution. Jaitleyjisaid ease of doing businesshas seen improvement in In-dia. Is he living in a real or adream world?”

India stepped up 30places to reach the 100th

rank among 190 countries inthe World Bank’s Ease of Do-ing Business 2018 report.

Union IT and Law Minis-ter Ravi Shankar Prasad at apress conference at the BJPheadquarters here said,“Should I presume that hehas absolutely no knowledgeabout what world organisa-tions like the World Bankhave to say about India’s eco-nomy? Does he know that itis not an event sponsored by

the government or the BJPbut a study undertaken byWorld Bank? Do you want tosay the World Bank is work-ing under pressure?”

“The difference between

the UPA and the NDA — Theease of doing corruption hasbeen replaced by the ease ofdoing business,” FinanceMinister Arun Jaitleytweeted on Wednesday.

Mr. Gandhi in the past fewdays has upped the attack onthe BJP government, callingdemonetisation an “out andout disaster” and saying GSTwas a “torpedo” which des-troyed the economy.

‘Highest jump’Mr. Prasad attacked Mr.Gandhi saying he was mak-ing “fun of the economy”without doing any homework. “India has been in therange of 130-140. In the last

two years, we made it to 131and 130 spot. This year, wehave jumped 30 points to100,” he said. Lauding thegovernment, Mr. Prasadhighlighted that it was thehighest jump any countrymade in the ranking.

“He doesn't do any homework, anyway. Those who doit for him also don’t havetheir facts correct,” he said.

The BJP leader said Mr.Gandhi had always remainedmum on the scams thathappened during the Con-gress rule. He also mocked atMr. Gandhi’s likely elevationto head the Congress, sayinghe owed it to “the family hebelongs to”.

We did away with ease of doing graft: BJPCounters Rahul’s dig at the World Bank report on India’s ranking, saying he is ignorant of economics


New Delhi

Ravi Shankar Prasad

As Mainz Raat, the firstKashmiri feature film,released in 1964, startedrolling on the screen inTagore Hall here onWednesday, students in theaudience broke into whistlesand applause. The youngpeople, scores of them fromvarious universities in theValley, were watching a filmin a cinema for the first timein their lives.

When its opening scene ofchildren playing hopscotchin a village played out on thescreen, the black-and-whitefilm also kicked off a rarefilm festival in Kashmir,where cinemas shut threedecades ago.

The five-day festival,which will screen Hindi,Hollywood, Italian, Polish,Japanese and Persian films,

is being organised byMustaaque Ali, curator ofthe Kashmir World FilmFestival.

“This is a small step torevive the lost movie culturein Kashmir,” Mr. Ali told TheHindu.

Bollywood writers andfilmmakers like Saeed Mirza,Anwar Jamal, Rahat Kazmi,

Anuraj Patil, Gowhar Razaand Govind Nihalani andactor Rajat Kapoor werepresent.

“The film festival is aplatform for the youngergeneration to find their ownvoices in cinema in thefuture. The format of thefestival is to watch the film,talk the film and make a

film,” Nihalani, a six-timeNational Film Award winner,said.

Director Mirza saidKashmir was full of stories.“Youth need to come outand do cinema,” he said.

“I have never been to acinema in the Valley. I ameager to watch scheduledHindi movies Andaz andPyaasa on the big screen,”Rashid Ahmad, a student,said.

Victim of militancyAll nine cinemas of Srinagarhave been closed sincemilitancy erupted in 1989.The government’s attempt torevive them in 1999 failed tobring people to the halls, asone in Lal Chowk cameunder attack from militantsfollowing the screening ofthe Sunny Deol-starrer PyarKoyi Khel Nahi. The three

cinemas that reopened thatyear closed down.

“Prior to 1989, cinemaused to be a family affair inKashmir. It used to connectfamilies. It still has thepower to hold familiestogether as the Internet ageis curtailing interactionsotherwise,” said State PublicWorks Minister NaeemAkhtar, who had come towatch Mainz Raat.

He described the festivalas “a rare candle being heldagainst a tempest inKashmir”.

The organisers areplanning to introduce theaudience in the Valley tofeatures, shortdocumentaries, shortanimation and experimentalfilms. “Nearly 30 films indifferent languages will bescreened during thefestival,” Mr. Ali said.

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Kashmir cranks the reel back to the cinema hallFestival gives scores of students a chance to watch a �lm in a theatre for the �rst time in their lives

Old is new again: Folk dancers performing at the KashmirWorld Film Festival in Srinagar on Wednesday. * NISSAR AHMAD

Peerzada Ashiq

Srinagar

The Indian air space is set toget more interesting in 2018,with the government issuingdraft regulations on Wednes-day for drone operationsthat could be used for any-thing from e-commerce de-liveries to photography.

“The drone industry of-fers many advantages andcan help development inseveral sectors such as agri-culture, oil and gas … Wewant to make India theworld’s leader in drones andits applications, which iswhy we have drafted apolicy that allows unfettereduse of drones while takingcare of the unique securitychallenges they pose,” Minis-ter of State for Civil AviationJayant Sinha said.

The draft regulations,which Civil Aviation Secret-ary R.N. Choubey said willbe finalised by December 31after hearing out stakehold-ers’ views, envisage a virtu-ally unregulated flight atheights up to 50 feet fornano drones that weigh 250grams or lower.

All drones will have to op-erate within a visual line ofsight, will be allowed onlyduring daytime and below200 feet.

Barring the nano dronesthat could also be used in-doors, all drones will have tobe registered with the Dir-ector-General of Civil Avi-ation. Dropping human pay-load, animals or hazardousmaterial will not be permit-ted. But Mr. Sinha said it waspossible to imagine air rick-shaw drones that could ferrypassengers.

The other classificationsof drones, officially termedunmanned aircraft systems,are micro (250 gm to 2 kg),mini (more than 2 kg to 25kg), small (more than 25 kgtill 150 kg) and large (over150 kg).

With draft rules, prospectsof drones go sky-highThey can be used for e-commerce or photography


NEW DELHI

Jayant Sinha

boiler due to gathering ofash.

U.P. offers ex gratia UP Chief Minister YogiAdityanath, who is in Mauri-tius, directed Principal Sec-retary of the Home Depart-ment to oversee the rescueoperations. Terming the ac-cident as “extremely sad”,Mr. Adityanath announcedan ex gratia compensationof ₹2 lakh each to the familyof the dead, ₹50,000 tothose grievously injured and₹25,000 for other injured.

Expressing her condol-ences, Congress presidentSonia Gandhi said, “In yourhour of crisis, I stand by youand pray for the speedy re-covery of the injured.”

The identity of the victims isstill not known. Most ofthem are believed to beworkers. The NTPC manage-ment, which ordered aprobe, said an abnormalsound was recorded at 3.30p.m. in unit 6 of the plant.

“There was a sudden ab-normal sound at 20 mt. el-evation and there was open-ing in corner no.2 fromwhich hot flue gases andsteam escaped affecting thepeople working around thearea,” the NTPC said in astatement.

Additional Director Gen-eral of Police, Law and Or-der, Anand Kumar said‘prima facie’ the cause of theexplosion appeared to bethe pressure built up in the

20 dead in NTPCboiler blast

Questioning the CentralBureau of Investigation’s(CBI) clean chit to MadhyaPradesh Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan onallegations of evidence-tampering in the Vyapamscam, the Congress said itwould file a private com-plaint against the CBI in thematter.

Congress lawyers KapilSibal and Vivek Tankha ad-dressed a press conferenceon Wednesday and calledthe CBI a “compromisedbureau of investigation”.

“We will file a privatecomplaint as there are pro-cesses of law and we willfollow them. The investig-ator has to be now investig-ated. We are very carefullywatching which officialsare doing what,” said theformer Law Minister KapilSibal.

He accused the CBI ofworking under politicalpressure.

Congress tochallenge CBIclean chitSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

Seasoned diplomat AjayBisaria, currently the In-dian ambassador to Po-land, has been appointedthe country’s top envoy toPakistan. This was an-nounced by the external af-fairs ministry on Wednes-day night.

The 1987-batch IFS of-ficer will succeed GautamBambawale, who was lastmonth posted to China.

Ajay Bisarianew envoy to Pakistan Press Trust of India

New Delhi

280428CMYK

A ND-NDE




NEWS

With just a week to go forpolling, the Congress onWednesday released itsmanifesto for the November9 Himachal Pradesh As-sembly elections.

Chief Minister VirbhadraSingh, manifesto committeechairman Kaul Singh Thakurand All India Congress Com-mittee observers Sushil Ku-mar Shinde and RanjeetRanjan were among thosepresent. Pradesh CongressCommittee president Sukh-winder Sukhu, however,kept off the function, whichwas a low-key affair com-pared with the show put upby the BJP when Union Fin-ance Minister Arun Jaitleyreleased its vision documentfor the State last week.

Mr. Thakur told pressper-sons that a new Congressgovernment would givesmall and marginal farmersinterest-free agriculturalloans of ₹1 lakh each.

Minimum wage hikeThe manifesto promises toincrease the minimum wageto ₹350, and regularise theservices of all para-teachersin the State. The services ofall contract employees willbe regularised within twoyears and all daily wageworkers turned into contractworkers within three years.

More than 1.5 lakh unem-ployed youth will be givengovernment employment.Another promise is to raisethe unemployment allow-ance from ₹1,000 to ₹1,500.Social security pensions forthe elderly and the under-privileged too will be raised.

The manifesto speaks ofopening hostels for workingwomen, scholarships forScheduled Caste students,and free laptops for at least50,000 students (instead ofthe 10,000 promised earlier)with free data.

For government employ-ees, the Congress has againpromised the “4-9-14” scalefor promotions in jobs. Theparty has also pledged tofight corruption and im-

prove basic infrastructure inhealth, roads and villageconnectivity.

Bundle of lies: BJPBJP State president SatpalSatti called the Congressmanifesto “a bundle of lies”,and said same promiseswere made by it five yearsago. He said that with ashrinking employee base,the Congress had againpromised the “4-9-14 scale”.

“Only a BJP governmentwould fulfil the long-pendingdemand for promotions forgovernment employees.” Mr.Satti alleged that the fiveyears of Congress rule had“only encouraged varioustypes of drug, liquor andland mafias in the State.”

Promises include ₹1 lakh interest-free loan to every farmer

Kanwar Yogendra

Shimla

Vying for attention: Congress and BJP �ags try to grabeyeballs at a market in Sujanpur, Hamirpur. * AKHILESH KUMAR

With manifesto, Cong.charts Himachal �ght

An analysis by the Associ-ation of Democratic Reformsand National Election Watchhas revealed that 61 of the338 candidates in the Hi-machal Pradesh Assemblyelections have criminal re-cords against them.

There are 31 candidateswith serious criminal cases,including one Congress can-didate from the Doon con-stituency, who is accused ina murder case. Two othershave attempt-to-murdercases against them.

Among those with de-clared criminal cases, 23 arefrom BJP, 16 are independ-ents, 10 are from the CPI-M,six from the Congress andthree from the from BahujanSamaj Party.

Two constituencies, Dal-housie and Mandi, havethree or more candidateswith declared criminalcases.

Of the 338 candidates ana-lysed, 158 are ‘crorepatis’.They include 59 of the 68Congress candidates, 47 ofthe 68 BJP candidates, six ofthe 42 BSP candidates, three

of the 14 CPI (M) candidates,one of the three CPI candid-ates, and 36 of the 112 inde-pendents. The averageworth per candidate contest-ing in the elections is ₹ 4.07crore.

PAN detailsIn all, 20 candidates havenot declared their PAN de-tails, 71 candidates have notdeclared their sources of in-come and a total of 101 can-didates have not declaredtheir income-tax details.

The Himachal PradeshElection Watch and ADR

have analysed the affidavitsof 60 MLAs re-contesting inthis election. Their averageassets in 2012 were worth₹5.23 crore, while this yeartheir average assets areworth ₹9.44 crore, which isan average increase of 80%in five years.

There are 19 women can-didates contesting this As-sembly election.

Of the total candidates,120 have declared their edu-cational qualification to bebetween Classes V and XIIpass, while 214 are graduatesor above.

61 nominees have criminal recordsDevesh K. Pandey

New Delhi

Quoting misdeeds and cor-ruption charges levelledagainst Himachal PradeshChief Minister VirbhadraSingh, Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh on Wednesdayappealed to all politicalparties and their leaders to“politely resign” if they werefound guilty of corruptioncharges in any preliminaryinvestigation.

“Otherwise, the people ofthis country are fast losingtheir faith in public repres-entatives and democratic in-stitutions,” he said.

The Home Minister ad-dressed two rallies in the

Balh and Nachan constituen-cies of Mandi in favour of hisparty’s candidates. He saidthe Himachal CM remainedbusy with defending himself

in various corruption casesand could not pursue devel-opment projects despite sig-nificant financial assistancefrom the Centre.

“The previous Congressgovernments at the Centrewere giving ₹11,000 crore inCentral taxes and an assist-ance of ₹10,000 crore butthe BJP government, withoutpractising any prejudice,gave it [the State] ₹28,000crore in Central taxes and₹43,000 crore as assistance.But the Virbhadra govern-ment failed to use it for de-velopment,” he alleged.

Expressing surprise thatthe Himachal CM continuesin his position despite facingserious corruption chargesand the filing of a chargesheet by the CBI, Mr. Singhsaid such leaders were den-igrating to a whole lot of

public representatives. “NoMinister in the present BJPgovernment at the Centre isfacing any corruptioncharges,” he claimed.

‘Assess progress report’In another meeting, BJPpresident Amit Shah advisedCongress vice-presidentRahul Gandhi to assess Mr.Singh’s “progress report offive years”, instead of ques-tioning the BJP’santecedents.

The Congress CM, whohad failed in developing theState’s infrastructure, hadraised “a big army of drug, li-quor, and forest and miningmafias in the State,” he said.

Rajnath, Amit Shah tear into Virbhadra Home Minister appeals to all leaders to resign if found guilty of corruption in preliminary probe

Special correspondent

Shimla

In attack mode: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singhaddresses an election rally in Mandi on Wednesday. * PTI

In a sharp attack on hisown party government,BJP lawmaker ShatrughanSinha said here on Wednes-day that demonetisationand GST were like a doubledose of bitter pills and hisparty should “read thewriting on the wall”.

Using a Hindi idiom thatGST after the note ban waslike karela pe neem chadha(bitter gourd laced withneem leaves), the actor-turned-politician said, “Wehave been taught that thenation is bigger than anyparty or individual ... Oneshould move beyond thecocktail circuit and seewhat’s happening.”

Sharing the dais withCongress leader Manish Te-wari at a panel discussionon Mr. Tewari’s book, theBJP lawmaker said, “If alawyer can talk about fin-ances, if a TV actor can be-come a HRD Minister and ifa chaiwala [tea vendor] canbecome ... you know whatI am referring to, then whycannot I talk about theeconomy?”

His obvious targets wereFinance Minister Arun Jait-ley, Information andBroadcasting MinisterSmriti Irani, who wasearlier the HRD Minister,and Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi.

Later, in a short mediainteraction, he said he wasnot challenging his partybut showing a mirror to itin national interest.

Shatrughantakes aim atBJP againSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

The Supreme Court onWednesday restrained theCentre from taking any im-mediate action against En-forcement Directorate offi-cial Rajeshwar Singh,probing the multi-croreAircel-Maxis case and the2G spectrum scam, follow-ing some complaintslodged against him.

The court’s directioncame after Mr. Singh al-leged conspiracy over filingof “frivolous anonymouscomplaints” against himwith the Revenue Secretarysaying these were being en-tertained by the ED.

SC bar onaction againstED o�cer


NEW DELHI

BJP president Amit Shah isscheduled to launch theparty’s campaign in vari-ous districts of Gujaratstarting November 4.

Mr. Shah will kick-startthe poll campaign in Kutchand travel in Morbi andSurendranagar, the tribal-dominated areas in thecentral and South Gujarat.

“National PresidentAmit Shah will tour variousparts of the State fromNovember 4 to 9 in theState,” a statement fromthe BJP media centre said.

During his five-dayschedule, he would tourareas in Saurashtra, Kutch,south and central Gujarat.

Shah to startGujaratcampaign Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD

The Election Commissionhas stepped up security de-ployment in Gujarat and re-moved almost 1.79 lakhposters, hoardings and ban-ners from various places to-wards enforcement of ModelCode of Conduct in theState.

The administration hasalso taken 24,268 licencedweapons from their holderswhile 227 licences have beencancelled.

“We have stepped up vi-gil; our flying squads are act-ive in the fields. Over 500 of-ficials involved in poll dutyhave been trained after theannouncement of the sched-ule for the Assembly polls,”

Chief Electoral Officer B.B.Swain told mediapersons inGandhinagar.

He said as on October 31,the administration had re-moved political posters,hoardings and banners frompublic and private proper-

ties in all 33 districts.“In the run-up to the

polls, no poster or banner orhoardings will be put up any-where, and strictly not onany public property, withoutapproval from the EC,” Mr.Swain said.

According to him, thereare 56,406 licenced weaponsin Gujarat, out of which24,268 have been sur-rendered in the first week ofannouncement itself.

Awareness campaigns“We are holding training ses-sions and voter awarenesscampaigns across the Statebecause, for the first time,the entire election will beconducted using VVPAT[Voter Verifiable Paper AuditTrai] attached ElectronicVoting Machines [EVM],” Mr.Swain said.

Moreover, the EC has alsorejected more than 3,000VVPAT machines that werefound to be defective duringthe trial run.

EC steps up security in Gujarat ‘Flying squads active; over 3,000 defective VVPAT machines rejected’


Ahmedabad

Work on: A man removes a government hoarding after themodel code of conduct came into e�ect in Ahmedabad. * AP

Six-time Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singhsays his achievements as the head of the government are hismain campaign theme for the November 9 Assembly elec-tions. He denies that the State government had asked theCentre to set a lower GST exemption limit for Himachal Pra-desh, saying no State would want extra burden on its people.

What are the main issuesbeing raised by theCongress during thiselection?

n We are fighting these pollson the achievements we havemade. I have been Chief Min-ister for many terms, and theCongress in these periodshas done tremendous workin the fields of education, ag-

riculture, horticulture andmedical facilities. In all walksof life, the achievementsmade by this governmenthave been acknowledged bythe Central government also.

The Centre has said thatthe State government hasasked for the lower Goodsand Services Taxexemption limit of ₹10

lakh in Himachal Pradesh.Would you like to respondto this?

n I don’t think there is anyState in India that will ask for[extra] GST to be imposed. Ithas been done arbitrarily,unilaterally by the Centre.

The BJP has announcedPrem Kumar Dhumal asits chief ministerialcandidate. How do youthink it can affect thecoming polls?

n It does not affect the pollsat all.

What is your opinion

about the Uniongovernment after three-and-a-half years of itsrule?

n To be very frank, I don’tthink their achievements are

very much. They are surviv-ing on propaganda. They arefar away from the realities.

You have also facedaccusations of corruptionfrom the BJP. Anyresponse?

n They have been witch-hunting. If the Chief Ministerof a non-Bharatiya JanataParty State is powerful andpopular, they try to run himdown. They try to implicate

the Chief Minister in falsecases. I am myself a target ofthis. In my case, it was basic-ally a small income tax mat-ter and now the income taxpeople are after it, the En-forcement Directorate isafter it and the CBI is after it.The same thing!

All my personal bank ac-counts are frozen. I am not abusinessman. Whatever Ihave is ancestral property —something I inherited frommy ancestors.

During the release of theBJP’s vision document,Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley raised theKashmir issue, attacking

senior Congress leader P.Chidambaram’s pitch forgreater autonomy there.He said Himachal Pradeshwas a State of patrioticpeople who would notaccept this. What do youhave to say?

n The Kashmir issue is unre-lated to us. Kashmir is a na-tional issue. Different aspectsof it are there and we are sat-isfied with what we have.

I think the Constitutionhas given ample powers andample guarantees to theStates. We don’t want any-thing beyond it. The ques-tion of Jammu and Kashmiris entirely different.

‘We are riding on the State government’s achievements’Himachal Pradesh CM says Congress has much to claim credit for, and announcement of chief ministerial candidate by BJP will have no impact

Vikas Pathak

PALAMPUR <> The BJP implicates

Chief Ministers from

other parties in false

cases. I myself am a

target of this

INTERVIEW | VIRBHADRA SINGH

280428CMYK

A ND-NDE




WORLD

FARC leader to contestpresidential pollsBOGOTÁ

Colombia’s FARC — a politicalparty formed from a formerrebel group following ahistoric peace deal — said onWednesday it was �elding itsleader Rodrigo Londono‘Timochenko’ as a candidatein next year's presidentialelections. The �rst roundof voting is scheduled forMay 2018. AFP

ELSEWHERE

Indian requests courtnot to treat him as spyPESHAWAR

Jailed Indian national HamidNehal Ansari on Wednesday�led a petition in PeshawarHigh Court, pleading that heshould not be treated as a spyas he was not involved in“anti-state activities“. Ansari,a Mumbai resident, wasarrested in 2012 for illegallyentering Pakistan fromAfghanistan reportedly tomeet a girl he had befriendedonline. PTI

Utah nurse in arrest rowto receive $5,00,000 SALT LAKE CITY

Alex Wubbels, a Utah nursewho was arrested for refusingto let a police o�cer drawblood from an unconsciouspatient, settled on Tuesdaywith Salt Lake City and theuniversity that runs thehospital for $500,000. AP

Japan killing spreelasted two monthsTOKYO

A Japanese man arrestedafter police found ninedismembered corpses rottingin his house has confessed tokilling all his young victimsover a two-month spree aftercontacting them via Twitter,media reports saidWednesday. TakahiroShiraishi, 27, also confessedhe “assaulted” all of his eightwomen victims, the Fuji TVnetwork said, using aeuphemism for sexualattacks. AFP

U.S. President DonaldTrump said on Wednesdaythat he would end the popu-lar U.S. green card lottery aspolice said a radicalisedUzbek man staged the deadlytruck ramming in New Yorkafter entering the countryunder the programme.

“I am starting the processof terminating the diversitylottery programme,” he said.The programme awards U.S.permanent resident visas toaround 50,000 applicantsfrom around the world eachyear, opening the door aswell for members of theirbroader families to followthem.

Earlier, Mr. Trump hadblamed the programme onChuck Schumer, the seniorDemocratic Senator fromNew York. “The terroristcame into our countrythrough what is called the‘Diversity Visa Lottery Pro-gram,’ a Chuck Schumerbeauty. I want merit-based”immigration, Mr. Trumptweeted.

“We are fighting hard formerit-based immigration, nomore Democrat Lottery Sys-tems. We must get MUCHtougher (and smarter)… Ihave just ordered HomelandSecurity to step up ouralready Extreme Vetting Pro-gram. Being politically cor-rect is fine, but not for this!”he said.

‘Send him to Gitmo’He also said that there was aneed for punishment that’s“far quicker and far greaterthan the punishment theseanimals are getting rightnow”.

“They’ll go through courtfor years. At the end, whoknows what happens. Weneed quick justice, and weneed strong justice. Muchquicker and much strongerthan we have right now. Be-cause what we have rightnow is a joke, and it’s alaughing stock.”

Later, he also said that hewould “certainly consider”sending the suspect SayfulloSaipov to military detentioncentre in Guantanamo Bay,

Cuba. “I would certainly con-sider that... Send him toGitmo,” Mr. Trump mused,using the nickname for thenotorious jail site.

Warning from MayorHowever, New York’s Demo-cratic Mayor Bill de Blasiowarned against stereotypingof people based on their eth-nicity.

“The last thing we shoulddo is start casting aspersionson whole races of people orwhole religions or whole na-tions.... That only makes thesituation worse,” he said.

He added: “Anyone whowants to come into thiscountry should be very thor-oughly vetted as an indi-vidual... But the minute youstart generalising it, espe-cially to a whole religion,then unfortunately we’resending the exact negativemessage that a lot of our en-emies want and the terroristwants to affirm — that thisnation is somehow anti-Muslim.

“We’ve got to do the exactopposite. We’ve got to showwe respect all people inAmerica. That’s about asAmerican of a value as thereis,” he said.

Step up extreme vetting: TrumpCalls for termination of green card scheme that reportedly allowed suspect to gain residency

Not business as usual: Revellers march amid police presence during a Halloween paradein New York on Tuesday, hours after the attack in Manhattan. * AP

Varghese K. George

Washington

The New York Marathonwill be held as planned onSunday albeit withheightened securitymeasures, despite thetruck attack, city officialssaid on Wednesday.

“It will go on asscheduled. It will be anextraordinary event, as italways is,” Mayor Bill deBlasio told a newsconference.

He said security will betepped up for the raceinvolving more than50,000 runners and 2.5million people lining thestreets of the Big Apple.

Marathon to be held as plannedAgence France-Presse

New York

The Uzbek immigrant whokilled eight people in NewYork’s worst attack sinceSeptember 11, 2001 plannedthe assault for weeks andleft behind handwrittennotes in Arabic hailing theIslamic State group, policeconfirmed on Wednesday.

New York State GovernorAndrew Cuomo, who saidSayfullo Saipov, the suspect,was associated with the ISjihadist group, called him a“depraved coward”.

“That’s what this was—the actions of depravedcoward. There is a no grandstatement to what wasdone,” he told a newsconference Wednesday.

Allegiance to ISHandwritten notes inArabic, pledging allegianceto IS, were found at thescene in the upmarketneighbourhood of TriBeCa,close to schools and not far

from the 9/11 Memorial tothe victims of the 2001al-Qaeda hijackings.

“The gist of the note wasthat the Islamic State wouldendure forever,” said JohnMiller, the head of New Yorkpolice intelligence andcounter-terrorism.

Police said it was too earlyin the investigation todetermine when Saipov mayhave become radicalised,but Mr. Cuomo told CNNthat it happened after hemoved to the United States.He had been a legalpermanent resident afterarriving in March 2010.

While The New York Times

said the attacker hadpreviously been on the radarof federal authorities, Mr.Miller said Saipov had“never” previously been the“subject” of either a NewYork police intelligence oran FBI inquiry.

New York would remainresilient, Mayor Bill deBlasio insisted. “This was an

attack on the United Statesof America and an attack onNew York City,” he said.“(W)ewill not be thrown offby anything.”

While officials saypreliminary evidencesuggests Saipov acted aloneand was not part of a widerplot, Mr. Cuomo hasdrastically stepped upsecurity at airports, tunnelsand Penn Station, which hecalled the busiest rail hub inthe hemisphere.

Five of the dead wereArgentines, visiting for aschool reunion. A Belgianwoman was also killed. Ofthe 12 injured, nine remainin hospital — four critical butstable and the othersserious, said fire departmentchief Daniel Nigro. Injuriesinclude a bilateralamputation, and serioushead, neck and backtrauma, he said. OneArgentine, a German andthree Belgians, were amongthe injured.

‘Uzbek national Saipovplanned the attack for weeks’Agence France-Presse

New York

The United States is quietlypursuing direct diplomacywith North Korea, a seniorState Department officialsaid on Tuesday, despite U.S.President Donald Trump’spublic assertion that suchtalks are a waste of time.

Using the so-called “NewYork channel,” Joseph Yun,U.S. negotiator with NorthKorea, has been in contactwith diplomats at Pyongy-ang’s United Nations mis-sion, the official said, at atime when an exchange ofbellicose insults between Mr.Trump and North Koreanleader Kim Jong-un hasfuelled fears of militaryconflict.

While U.S. Secretary ofState Rex Tillerson on Oct. 17said he would continue “dip-lomatic efforts... until the

first bomb drops”, the offi-cial’s comments were theclearest sign the UnitedStates was directly discuss-ing issues beyond the releaseof American prisoners, des-pite Mr. Trump having dis-missed direct talks aspointless.

There is no sign, however,that the behind-the-scenescommunications have im-proved a relationship vexedby North Korea’s nuclear andmissile tests, the death ofU.S. university student OttoWarmbier days after his re-lease by Pyongyang in Juneand the detention of threeother Americans.

Quiet engagementWord of quiet engagementwith Pyongyang comes des-pite Mr. Trump’s comments,North Korea’s weapons ad-vances and suggestions by

some U.S. and South Koreanofficials that Mr. Yun’s inter-actions with North Koreanshad been reined in. “It hasnot been limited at all, both(in) frequency and sub-stance,” said the senior StateDepartment official.

Among the points that Mr.Yun has made to his NorthKorean interlocutors is to“stop testing” nuclearbombs and missiles, the offi-cial said. At the start of Mr.Trump’s presidency, Mr.Yun’s instructions were lim-ited to seeking the release ofU.S. prisoners.

“It is (now) a broadermandate than that,” said theState Department official,declining, however, to ad-dress whether authority hadbeen given to discuss NorthKorea’s nuclear and missileprogramme.

In Beijing, Foreign Min-

istry spokeswoman HuaChunying said China wel-comed any dialoguebetween the United Statesand North Korea.

The New York channel isone of the few conduits theUnited States has for com-municating with NorthKorea. The last high-levelcontact between Mr. Yunand the North Koreans waswhen he travelled to NorthKorea in June to secure therelease of Warmbier.

The official said that “thepreferred endpoint is not awar but some kind of diplo-matic settlement” and sug-gestions that Washington issetting up a binary choice forPyongyang to capitulate dip-lomatically or military actionwere “misleading”.

Diplomacy, the officialsaid, “has a lot more room togo”

U.S. pursuing diplomacy with N. KoreaNegotiator Joseph Yun in contact with Pyongyang’s UN mission, says o�cial

Reuters

Washington

Hamas began ceding controlof the Gaza Strip’s bordercrossings with Israel andEgypt to U.S.-backedPalestinian President Mah-moud Abbas on Wednesdayunder an agreementbrokered by Cairo to end adecade of internal schism.

The move marked themost concrete implementa-tion of the Oct. 11 reconcili-ation deal that Palestinianshope will ease economic re-strictions on Gaza and en-able more fruitful negoti-ations on their goal ofsetting up an independentstate. Palestinian Prime Min-ister Rami Al-Hamdallahsaid in a statement that tak-ing charge of the crossings

would help Mr. Abbas’sPalestinian Authority (PA)fulfil its duty “to improvethe living conditions of ourpeople”.

Israel and the UnitedStates have reservationsabout the intra-Palestinianpact, however, given refus-als by Hamas — which hasfought three wars with Israelsince seizing control of Gazain 2007 from forces loyal toMr. Abbas — to relinquish itsrockets and other arms.

Witnesses said PA em-ployees moved into Erez andKerem Shalom crossings onthe Israeli border and Rafahcrossing on the Egyptianborder, as Hamas counter-parts packed up equipmentand departed on trucks.

“We have handed over

the crossings with honestyand responsibility, withoutbargaining and uncondition-ally,” Hamas leader IsmailHaniyeh said in a video ad-dress. PA Ministers have be-gun gradually to assumetheir duties in Gaza in pastweeks and on Tuesday tookover the revenue accounts ofthe Rafah and Kerem Sha-lom crossings, officials said.

The Palestinian Authoritywill begin operating the Erezand Kerem Shalom crossingsimmediately, officials said,while in Rafah the operationwill await further securityarrangements such as de-ploying a force from Mr. Ab-bas’ s presidential guardsand Cairo completing innov-ations on its side of thefacility.

Move marks implementation of reconciliation dealReuters

Gaza

Hamas cedes control over Gazacrossings to Palestinian Authority

The CIA on Wednesday re-leased a vast archive ofdocuments and videoseized in the 2011 U.S. raidon a Pakistani compoundthat killed Al-Qaeda leaderOsama bin Laden. It hasput online 4,70,000 addi-tional files seized in May2011 when U.S. Navy SEALsburst into the Abbottabadcompound.

According to ThomasJoscelyn and Bill Roggio,scholars from the Founda-tion for Defense of Demo-cracies who were allowedto study the trove before itwas made public, itprovides new insights.

The inclusion of HamzaBin Laden’s weddingvideo, for example, givesthe world public the firstimage of Osama’s favouriteson as an adult — an imageapparently shot in Iran.

CIA releasesseizedOsama �lesAgence France-Presse

Washington

A lawyer for dismissedCatalan leader Carles Puig-demont, due to appear in aSpanish court this week toanswer charges relating toCatalonia’s push for inde-pendence, said he wouldnot return to testify butcould answer questionsfrom Belgium. If Mr. Puigde-mont fails to appear beforethe court, an arrest warrantcould be issued that wouldin turn prevent him fromstanding in the snap re-gional election called by theSpanish government forDec. 21.

On Monday, Spain’s stateprosecutor accused Mr.Puigdemont of rebellionand sedition for organisingan independence referen-dum held on Oct. 1 in defi-ance of the Madrid govern-

ment. Mr. Puigdemonttravelled to Belgium at theweekend with other mem-bers of the dismissedCatalan administration andhired a lawyer.

“(He) is not going to Mad-rid and I suggest that theyquestion him here in Bel-gium. It is possible,” Mr.Puigdemont’s lawyer PaulBekaert told AP, addingthere were provisions in thelaw that allowed his ques-tioning outside of Spain.

Catalan leader won’treturn to testify: lawyer

But he could answer from Belgium

Reuters

Madrid

Catalan President CarlesPuigdemont. * AP

Russian President VladimirPutin met Iran’s leadershipon Wednesday in Tehran asthe two Damascus alliespush a Syria peace plan andthe Kremlin offers its back-ing for a landmark nucleardeal facing U.S. opposition.

Mr. Putin — on his firstvisit to Tehran since 2015 —held talks with PresidentHassan Rouhani, before hewas due to meet supremeleader Ayatollah Ali Khame-nei. Mr. Putin will also takepart in a three-way summitwith Mr. Rouhani and theleader of ex-SovietAzerbaijan Ilham Aliyevaimed at bolstering eco-nomic ties between their en-ergy-rich nations.

Moscow said Syria will bea focus of Mr. Putin’s visit,which comes after Russia,Iran and Turkey pledgedafter negotiations in Kazakh-

stan on Tuesday to bring theSyrian regime and its oppon-ents together for a “con-gress” to push peace efforts.

Russia and Iran, key milit-ary supporters of PresidentBashar al-Assad, and Turkey,which backs Syrian rebels,have organised a series of

peace talks in the Kazakhcapital Astana this year,agreeing on the establish-ment of “de-escalation”zones.

Wednesday’s talks werealso to focus on the 2015 Irannuclear deal, which sawsanctions lifted in exchange

for limits on Tehran’s atomicprogramme and which is un-der pressure from U.S. Pres-ident Donald Trump.

Tehran signed the dealwith six countries includingRussia and the United States,but Mr. Trump last monthrefused to certify it, drawingcriticism from Moscowwhich slammed the U.S.President’s “aggressive andthreatening rhetoric” againstIran. Ahead of Mr. Putin’s ar-rival, Iran’s official IRNAnews agency reported thatRussia’s chief of staff ValeryGerasimov flew into Tehranfor talks with his Iraniancounterpart Mohammad Ba-gheri to discuss “Syria... andthe fight against terrorism.”

The military might of Mo-scow and Tehran in Syria hashelped prop up Mr. Assad’sforces and turn the protrac-ted conflict in his favour witha string of key battlefield vic-tories.

Putin in Tehran for talks on SyriaMeets with President Rouhani, Khamenei; nuclear deal another area of focus

Agence France-Presse

Tehran

Allies in war and peace: Russian President Vladimir Putinwith Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehranon Wednesday. * AP

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BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433.10. . . . . . . . . 2.75

Ambuja Cements. . . .. . . . . . 283.05. . . . . . . . . 1.55

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175.95. . . . . . . . -4.90

Aurobindo Pharma . . . . . . 761.30. . . . . . . . . 1.30

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535.10. . . . . . . 11.95

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3239.75. . . . . . -17.35

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1806.75. . . . . . . . . 6.15

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539.10. . . . . . . 41.90

Bosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21017.50. . . . . . . . . 5.30

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539.80. . . . . . . . -1.80

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626.75. . . . . . . . -0.85

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286.55. . . . . . . . . 0.10

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 2354.20. . . . . . -73.95

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. 30929.80. -1303.60

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468.05. . . . . . . . . 2.85

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 840.65. . . . . . -15.15

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1754.30. . . . . . . 46.90

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1821.20. . . . . . . 12.70

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3819.35. . . . . . -30.55

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275.30. . . . . . . . . 7.90

HPCL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443.30. . . . . . . . -3.85

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1258.00. . . . . . . 20.55

Indiabulls HFL . . . . . . . .. . . . 1245.50. . . . . . . . . 1.45

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313.40. . . . . . . 13.30

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . 1642.55. . . . . . . 15.40

Bharti Infratel . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 426.55. . . . . . -15.60

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 927.05. . . . . . . . . 5.20

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 416.80. . . . . . . . . 1.30

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269.85. . . . . . . . . 4.15

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1024.35. . . . . . . . -0.70

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1215.30. . . . . . . . -7.00

Lupin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1028.15. . . . . . . . . 0.10

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1350.75. . . . . . . . . 5.95

Maurti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 8238.40. . . . . . . 27.15

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180.75. . . . . . . . -0.50

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191.00. . . . . . . . -0.10

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 210.35. . . . . . . . -1.50

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 952.55. . . . . . . 11.70

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319.85. . . . . . . 14.05

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548.70. . . . . . . . -4.20

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437.75. . . . . . . . . 9.35

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707.30. . . . . . . . . 3.50

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2602.85. . . . . . -21.15

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 488.50. . . . . . . . . 6.45

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 4426.30. . . . . . . 25.25

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782.05. . . . . . -17.25

Vedanta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343.35. . . . . . . 11.50

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293.55. . . . . . . . -0.50

YES Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318.80. . . . . . . . . 4.55

Zee Entertainment . . . . . . 535.80. . . . . . . . -6.10

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on November 01

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 64.39. . . . . . . 64.71

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 74.91. . . . . . . 75.29

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 85.62. . . . . . . 86.05

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 56.47. . . . . . . 56.75

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9.74. . . . . . . . . 9.79

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 64.34. . . . . . . 64.66

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 47.33. . . . . . . 47.56

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 49.99. . . . . . . 50.24

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 15.22. . . . . . . 15.30

Source:Indian Bank

BULLION RATES CHENNAI

November 01 rates in rupees with pre-vious rates in parentheses

Retail Silver (1g) . . . . . . . . . . . 42.30. . . . . (42.20)

22 ct gold (1 g) . .. . . . . . . . . . . 2,793. . . . . (2,801)

market watch

01-11-2017 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 33,600 ddddddddddddddd1.17

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 64.75 ddddddddddddddd0.25

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 30,275 ddddddddddddd-0.35

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 61.16 ddddddddddddddd0.44

India is considering draftinga comprehensive national e-commerce policy to developan ecosystem that wouldsupport exports and protectconsumer interests, said asenior government official.

However, the country is ofthe view that starting negoti-ations on World Trade Or-ganisation (WTO) rules in e-commerce would be prema-ture at this stage as it wasstill unclear how they wouldbenefit developing nations,including their companiesand consumers, said Sud-hanshu Pandey, Joint Secret-ary, Ministry of Commerceand Industry.

Addressing an interactivesession on ‘e-commerce, di-gital infrastructure, traderules and WTO,’ organisedby industry body FICCI andCentre for WTO Studies, Mr.Pandey said several coun-tries were enthusiastic aboutnegotiating multilateral rules

to govern international tradethrough e-commerce. How-ever, such rules could hurtthe interests of most devel-oping countries, includingIndia, he said, adding Indianeeded time to studywhether it was prepared totake on obligations thatwould bind its stakeholdersto an international policy ina sector like e-commerce,

which was still evolving.He said the Ministry of

Electronics and InformationTechnology (MeitY) wasworking on a paper on e-commerce, which will soonbe put in public domain fordebates and comments. In-puts from the feedbackcould form the basis for a na-tional e-commerce policy, heindicated.

Mr. Pandey said about 24papers had been submittedto the WTO for internationalrule-making on e-commerce.India would also engage indiscussions with other devel-oping nations on the issuefor support for its stance.

Global e-com marketGlobal e-commerce marketwas estimated at $25 trillionof which trans-border com-ponent was a minuscule 5%— meaning the remaining95% was domestic e-com-merce trade, he said.

The size of the Indian e-commerce market was just$30 billion, he said. Mr.Pandey said national rule-making for e-commerce wasalso a daunting task as therewere many issues whichwere overlapping. Thus, thevaried arms of the Centrewere trying to address the is-sues pertaining to their do-main to help in formulatingan overarching nationalpolicy for e-commerce.

India mulls national e-commerce policySays premature to talk with WTO now on global e-com rules as bene�t unclear


New Delhi

Global play: It is daunting to make rules due to overlappingissues, says Sudhanshu Pandey. * GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

The month of October was amixed bag for India’s automajors with firms like mar-ket leader Maruti Suzuki andToyota reporting highergrowth in passenger vehicle(PV) sales while others suchas Mahindra & Mahindra(M&M) and Ford posted a de-cline as demand tapered offafter Diwali.

Maruti Suzuki India soldmore than 1.35 lakh PVs inthe domestic market lastmonth, an increase of 9.3%from the more than 1.23 lakhunits sold in October 2016.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor(TKM) said it sold 12,403vehicles in the domesticmarket in October 2017, agrowth of 6.4% year-on-yearas the festive season“ushered in positive spirit inthe market despite price risein line with cess hike.”

While M&M reported a

marginal growth in its totaldomestic sales, the sales ofPVs declined by 5% to 23,413units while those of commer-cial vehicles rose 7% to19,279 units. “The auto in-dustry has had a mixedmonth. The build up toDhanteras and Diwali wasgood but the demandtapered off subsequently,”said Rajan Wadhera, presid-ent, automotive sector,M&M. For Tata Motors, do-

mestic passenger and com-mercial vehicles sales grewat 5% to 48,886 units on theback of “festive demand, in-creased positive customersentiment and introductionof new products. PV salesrose 1% to 16,475 units.

Ford India reported43.82% decline in sales at4,218 units.

Hyundai Motor India sold49,588 units in October,down from 50,017 units a

year-ago while Honda Carssales fell 8.5% to 14,234units.

Yoichiro Ueno, presidentand CEO, Honda Cars Indiasaid, “There have been somemarket disruptions on ac-count of GST and additionalcess implementation in thelast few months which resul-ted in pre-buying ahead offestive period this year.”

Two-wheeler sales In the two-wheeler segment,domestic sales forHonda2Wheeler declined5.22% during the month bymore than 4.66 lakh.

Chennai-based TVS MotorCompany said its domesticsales declined by more than2.70 lakh units from morethan 2.72 lakh units.

Royal Enfield sold 68,014units in India last month,agrowth of 17% while SuzukiMotorcycle India said salesrose 26% to 46,020 units.

Mixed bag for auto �rms in Oct.Festival demand wears o� for some carmakers; bike sales also sloppy


New Delhi

Riding high: Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largestcarmaker, sold 9.3% more cars than in October 2016.

Manufacturing activity in Oc-tober was more subduedthan the level seen in theprevious month due to aslowdown in new orderscaused by the implementa-tion of the Goods and Ser-vices Tax, according to aprivate sector survey.

The Nikkei India Manufac-turing Purchasing Managers’Index reading for Octobercame in at 50.3, decliningfrom 51.2 in September.

A reading above 50 indic-ates an expansion while onebelow 50 denotes a contrac-tion in activity. “Growth inIndia’s manufacturing sectorlost momentum in October,”the report said. “Output roseonly fractionally and new or-ders stagnated over themonth. In response to sub-dued demand conditions,

both purchasing activity andpre-production inventoriesdecreased.”

‘New business stagnates’“The downward movementin the headline index waspartly driven by a stagnationin new business,” the reportadded. “Panellists linked

subdued demand conditionsto negative impacts of GST.”

The report also noted thatoutput growth slowed to thelowest in the current three-month period of rising pro-duction, saying that firmsthat witnessed an increase inoutput pegged this tostronger demand, while

those that saw a decrease inoutput blamed the negativeeffects of GST.

“India’s manufacturingcompanies struggled some-what as the recent recoveryenjoyed by the sector lostimpetus in October,” AashnaDodhia, economist, IHSMarkit, and the report’s au-thor, wrote. “Inflows of neworders stagnated as the neg-ative effects arising from theimplementation of GST con-tinued to dampen demand...Further, overseas demandfor Indian goods dipped tothe greatest extent sinceSeptember 2013.”

She also highlighted a pos-itive aspect, saying that thelabour market continued toimprove, with manufactur-ers further increasing staff-ing, and October’s activitysimilar to the pace seen inSeptember’s 59-month high.

Growth momentum abates, impact of GST mutes demand, says Nikkei survey


NEW DELHI

Silver lining: The labour market continued to improve, withmanufacturers further increasing sta�ng levels ,says Nikkei.

‘Manufacturing PMI slows to 50.3’

ONGC CMD Shashi Shankeron Wednesday said the com-pany was looking to com-plete the acquisition ofHPCL by the end of financialyear 2017-18.

The company announced3.1% rise in the secondquarter profit to ₹5,131 crorecompared with a yearearlier. Profit for the firsthalf of the financial yearstood at ₹9,015 crore, falling2.1% year on year.

‘Increase in production’ONGC saw its natural gasproduction increasingstrongly over the year so far,with Q2 growth at 7.7% to6.26 bcm and growth in the

first half of the year at 8.4%to 12.25 bcm.

Crude oil productiongrew at a slower rate, by0.9% in Q2 to 6.45 MMT and1.2% in the first half of theyear, to 12.89 MMT.

“The Finance Ministertalked about a merger (withHPCL), and the Cabinet ap-

proved it in July,” Mr.Shanker said. “The ONGCboard gave its in-principleapproval in August. ONGC,DIPAM, and the PetroleumMinistry have all appointedtheir own advisers on thedeal. We will try to get ourown valuation of the dealdone, and complete it by theend of FY18.”

The ONGC chief also saidthat the company was ex-ploring all funding optionsfor the HPCL acquisitiondeal. “We have not yet de-cided [on] the source offunding. But all options areopen. We have taken theboard’s approval for borrow-ing ₹25,000 crore and wealso have significant equityin IOC and GAIL.”

Exploring funding options, says ONGC; net pro�t rises 3.1%Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

‘Aim to complete HPCLacquisition by end of FY18’

The benchmark equity in-dices scaled record levels onWednesday, a day after Indiamoved to 100th position inthe World Bank’s Doing Busi-ness survey, climbing 30places from a year earlier.An overall positive trend inthe global market also actedas a catalyst in improving in-vestor sentiment.

The 30-share Sensex rose1.17%, or 387.14 points, toclose at a new high of33,600.27. The broader Niftyof the National Stock Ex-change (NSE) closed at10,440.50, climbing 105.20points or 1.02%.

“Sentiment [was] boostedmainly [following] the reportof a significant jump in In-dia’s ranking in the ease ofdoing business survey con-

ducted by the World Bank,”said Jayant Manglik, presid-ent, retail distribution, Rel-igare Securities.

“We are in sync with theglobal markets at presentand favourable domesticcues are further fuelling therally,” he added.

Among the Sensex pack,Bharti Airtel was the bestperformer, gaining 8.19% totouch a 10-year high andclose at ₹538.40.

While the telecom giantreported a decline in theconsolidated profit for thesecond quarter, it has re-gistered impressive growthin its Africa business.

Banks spur rallyICICI Bank, State Bank of In-dia, HDFC, Axis Bank, TataMotors, ITC and Reliance In-dustries were the other top

gainers in the Sensex pack.The broader market

breadth was also positivewith 1,516 stocks gainingground, as against 1,274 de-clines. Incidentally, the re-cent past saw the marketbreadth negative on manydays when the benchmarkindices gained ground.

Most of the sectoral in-dices also ended the day inpositive territory.

New India IPOThe initial public offer (IPO)of the New India AssuranceCompany, which opened forsubscription on Wednesday,was fully subscribed on thefirst day.

According to NSE data,bids were received for 12.51crore shares, as against 12crore shares on offer in theprice band of ₹770 to ₹800.

WB report propels equityindices to record highs Global cues help; Bharti Airtel is Sensex best performer


MUMBAI

Hero MotoCorp on Wed-nesday reported a mar-ginal rise of 0.62% in netprofit to ₹1,010.49 crore forthe second quarter endedSeptember 30.

The country’s largesttwo-wheeler maker, whichclocked record sales of twomillion units in the quarterunder review, however,posted a decline of 1.4% inits total income to ₹8,479.6crore from ₹8,601.1 crore ayear earlier.

The firm posted a netprofit of ₹1,004.22 crore inthe July-September 2016quarter. The quarter “hasbeen historic for us... Weclocked two million unitsales in a quarter for thefirst time, which includesthe 7 lakh-plus sales inSeptember,” Hero Moto-Corp chairman, MD andCEO, Pawan Munjal said.

Hero MotoQ2 net at₹1,010.49 cr. Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Telecom major Bharti Airtelon Wednesday said that itwould invest ₹25,000 crorein expanding and strength-ening its 4G network duringthe ongoing fiscal year in-stead of the ₹20,000 croreannounced earlier.

“Considering the data ex-plosion in India... to acceler-ate our 4G roll-out in termsof coverage and also buildadditional capacities in ex-isting geographies... ourcapex forecast for the yearis being upped from the ini-tial guidance of ₹20,000crore to ₹25,000 crore,”Bharti Airtel CFO NilanjanRoy said during the earningscall on Wednesday.

‘3G phase-out’The company also said thatit was likely to shut down its3G network in 3-4 years and

re-farm the spectrum linkedwith it for 4G services.

“There is almost nospend that we are doing on3G. Our view is in next 3-4years, we are likely to see 3Gnetwork actually shut downfaster than 2G network be-cause there are still 50% ofphones being shipped out inIndia that are featurephones,” Gopal Vittal, MDand CEO, India and SouthAsia, Bharti Airtel, said.

Bharti plans to invest₹25,000 cr. in capex‘Data explosion’ spurs upward revision


NEW DELHI

Gopal Vittal

The Federal Reserve keptinterest rates unchangedon Wednesday and pointedto solid U.S. economicgrowth and a strengthen-ing labour market whiledownplaying the impact ofrecent hurricanes, a sign itis on track to lift borrowingcosts again in December.

The U.S. central bank ac-knowledged that inflationremained soft, but did notdowngrade its assessmentof inflation expectations. Italso noted that the nation'sunemployment rate haddeclined further.

“... economic activityhas been rising at a solidrate despite hurricane-re-lated disruptions,” the Fedsaid in a statement. It hasraised rates twice this yearand currently forecasts onemore rate hike by the endof 2017.

Fed keepsinterest ratesunchangedReuters

Washington

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BUSINESSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE



IN BRIEF

Carborundum Universalnet pro�t rises 21.7% CHENNAI

Carborundum Universal Ltd.

has recorded a 21.7% rise in

consolidated net pro�t to

₹58.45 crore for the second

quarter ending September

30, 2017. It had recorded

consolidated net pro�t of

₹48 crore in corresponding

period of last year, the �rm

said. For the six-month

period ending September 30,

2017, consolidated net pro�t

stood at ₹100.22 crore up

from ₹91.10 crore registered

during year-ago period. PTI

Godrej unit to expand in T.N. tier-II citiesCHENNAI

Godrej Security Solutions

may introduce innovative

products to expand in tier-II

cities of Tamil Nadu. “We

have 80% market share in

Chennai for home safes,” said

Mehernosh Pithawala,

associate VP and global head

— marketing, sales &

innovation, Godrej Security

Solutions Division, Godrej &

Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. “Now, we

are creating a new segment

for home security solutions

through home cameras.”

Divi’s Labs net declines7.62% on lower revenuesHYDERABAD

Divi’s Laboratories has posted

a 7.62% decline in net pro�t

to ₹206.78 crore on a

standalone basis, for the

quarter ended September 30,

compared with the year-

earlier period’s ₹223.85

crore. Total revenue fell

9.93% to ₹923.79 crore

compared with ₹1,025.70

crore. For the half-year

ended September, net pro�t

declined 27.07%, to ₹383.32

crore. The total income fell

13.81% to ₹1,774.67 crore.

Google on Wednesday an-nounced the opening of itsfirst Google Cloud Platformregion in Mumbai.

The India region will offerseveral services includingcomputing, big data, storageand networking. The Inter-net major said that with theIndia region going live, en-terprises will be able to takeadvantage of the highspeeds, low latency and per-formance benefits uniquelyoffered by Google CloudPlatform (GCP) services.

Further, Indian custom-ers will now be able to buythese services directly in ru-pees.

“We are delighted to an-nounce the first GCP regionin India,” said Dave Stiver,

product manager, GoogleCloud Platform, in a state-ment. The company said thenew region will help cus-tomers build applicationsand store their data, and sig-nificantly improve latencyfor customers and end users

in the area. Hosting applications in

the new region can improvelatency from 20-90% for endusers in Chennai, Hydera-bad, Bengaluru, “and ofcourse Mumbai, comparedto hosting them in the otherclosest region, Singapore,”said Mr. Stiver.

New opportunitiesThe unveiling of the cloudregion, which will havethree zones, also opens upnewer opportunities for sev-eral new partners “who willbenefit from building theirservices on Google cloud”said the company.

The new Mumbai regionjoins Singapore, Taiwan,Sydney and Tokyo in AsiaPacific, according to thestatement.

Local users to get quicker data access, can pay in rupees

Peerzada Abrar

BENGALURU

The Mumbai centre can helpimprove latency 20-90% forIndia users, says Google. * AP

Google India cloud regiongoes live in Mumbai

IT services firm CognizantTechnology Solutions Cor-poration has reported a netincome of $495 million forthe third quarter endedSeptember, up from $444million in the same periodlast year. Revenue rose 9.1%to $3.77 billion for thequarter under review.

The company has, in themeanwhile, raised the lowerend of its annual revenueforecast. It now expects rev-enue of $14.78 billion to$14.84 billion. It had earlierforecast revenue of $14.70billion to $14.84 billion.

“We are making consist-ent progress in executing theplan to accelerate our shift todigital services and solu-tions,’’ a company releasequoted Francisco D’Souza,chief executive officer, assaying. He went on to assert

that “our (Cognizant) long-term relationship with cli-ents and deep understand-ing of their priorities puts usin a privileged position tohelp them adapt, competeand grow.’’

Revenue from financialsector business — which ac-counts for over a third of thecompany’s total revenue —

rose 3.8% and that from thehealthcare sector 9.3% dur-ing the quarter under re-view.

About 38% of its revenuehad come from fixed pricecontracts. The company re-ported a 17.2% margin underGAAP (generally acceptedaccounting principles) forthe quarter.

The firm added seven newstrategic customers duringthe quarter, bringing thetotal to 350. Headcount de-creased by 700 sequentiallyto 2,56,100 in the Septemberquarter.

“At 22.5%, the annual at-trition rate reflects higherthan usual voluntary attri-tion related to aspects of ourrealignment programme,’’the release said. NorthAmerica continues to be thedominant revenue earner forthe company.

Cognizant said it wouldcontinue “to enhance digitalcapabilities through mergersand acquisitions.’’

Accelerating the shift to-wards digital service wouldremain the key focus of thefirm. And, delivering sustain-able growth and profitabilitywould form the fulcrum ofits execution strategy in thisregard, the firm said.

Cognizant revenues rise 9.1%Firm raises lower end of revenue guidance for 2017, reports higher attrition

K.T. Jagannathan

Chennai

Digital shift: The �rm said it was making steady progress in itsplan to accelerate the shift to digital services. * REUTERS

Foreign portfolio investorFirst Carlyle Ventures Mauri-tius has sold its entire hold-ing, of 1.1 crore shares, inHyderabad-headquarteredIT firm Cyient Ltd.

The open market transac-tion, at the weighted aver-age price of ₹546.63 per Cyi-ent share, is estimated atmore than ₹600 crore.

‘Franklin adds to stake’In a regulatory filing onWednesday, Cyient said thetransaction happened onOctober 31.

The 1.1 crore shares thatFirst Carlyle Ventures Mauri-tius had corresponded to9.86% holding in the com-

pany. In a separate filing,the Cyient said FranklinTempleton Mutual Fundhad acquired 3.5 lakhshares, taking its holding inCyient to 5.05%. It took themarket acquisition routeand the acquisitionhappened on October 31.

Cyient shares shed 0.56%on Wednesday to close at₹541.55.

For Cyient, the exit ofFirst Carlyle Ventures Mauri-tius comes a month afterUnited Technologies Cor-poration (UTC), through itssubsidiary Carrier Interna-tional (Mauritius) Ltd., di-vested a balance 1.36 crore ithad, or about 12% equityholding, in the softwarecompany.

First Carlyle exitsCyient for ₹600 cr.

Sale comes a month after UTC’s exit


HYDERABAD

Tech Mahindra on Wednes-day said its consolidatednet profit has increased29.7% to ₹836.15 crore forthe quarter ended Septem-ber.

This is against a netprofit of ₹644.73 crore inthe July-September 2016quarter, Tech Mahindrasaid in a statement. Thecompany’s revenue fromoperations was up 6.1% at₹7,606.38 crore during thequarter under review ascompared with ₹7,167.41crore in the year-agoperiod. In dollar terms, thenet profit was up nearly34% to $129.3 million,while revenue was up 10%to $1.17 billion in the saidquarter.

TechM Q2net pro�tclimbs 29.7% PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHITea Board Chairman PrabhatK. Bezboruah has cautionedthe industry against lookingto the Tea Board as a saviour,saying this would be a gravemistake as the institutionwas facing uncertainty.

“Looking to the Tea Boardas a saviour or for salvation,may be a grave mistake “ Mr.Bezboruah said at the an-nual general meeting of theTea Association of India,adding that there weredoubts over the utility ofsuch an organisation.

He mentioned reportsabout talks on the possibilityof merger of all commodityboards or splitting the func-tions of the regulator andputting them under variousexisting bodies, like puttingpromotional activities under

the umbrella of Agriculturaland Processed FoodProducts Export Develop-ment Authority (APEDA) andother activities under the Ag-riculture Ministry.

“I want it to survive,” hesaid. Mr. Bezboruah, man-aging director of the Jorhat-based Bokahola Tea Co. Pvt.

Ltd., was appointed as non-executive chairman of theboard in May this year.

Noting that until recentlythe Tea Board was headedby IAS officers either fromAssam or West Bengal — thetwo major tea growing States— he said this practiceseemed to have beenstopped over the last fewyears. “This is a radical de-parture... tea is a difficult in-dustry to run and control.. itemploys millions but its out-put is not very high in valueterms..,” he noted.

He also mentioned aboutthe growing importance ofsmall tea growers whoseshare in tea output was in-creasing at the expense ofthe organised sector al-though competition was noton a level-playing field.“Huge areas are coming un-

der tea cultivation throughthis route in Assam andNorth eastern states.. somewere cutting down trees togrow tea...,” he rued.

‘Dual economy’Tea Association of Indiachairman Adarsh Kanoriasaid the sustainability of theorganised tea industry wasthreatened due to the widecost variation between thelarge and the small growersmainly due to statutory ob-ligations of the organised teagrowers. “Labelling this as‘dual economy,’ he said thishappened to the textile in-dustry in the 1980s whichwiped out the compositesector.

He suggested the govern-ment recognise the impend-ing issues to create a level-playing field.

Looking to the institution as a saviour may be a grave mistake, says Bezboruah


KOLKATA

Prabhat K. Bezboruah

‘Tea Board facing uncertain times’

280428

The exasperated expressionon New Zealand skipperKane Williamson’s face said itall. It was not a bad ball at allfrom Tim Southee.

It landed in what the bowl-ers term ‘good area’, but M.S.Dhoni gave it a disdainfultreatment, swatting it overmidwicket.

The bowler turned to fol-low the elevated path of thestroke while Williamsoncould just sport a wry smile.

This was T20 cricket at itsbest and the packed Feroze-shah Kotla relished it. Indiawent on to register its first-ever win over New Zealand

in this format.It was Ashish Nehra’s

farewell match on home turfand the victory was sealedwhen he began his and thegame’s final over. And foronce, he bowled without anypressure. The 53-run win forIndia was a nice gift to theveteran who signed off instyle with a spell of 4-0-29-0.

The opening fixture of thisT20 series — with matches atRajkot andThiruvananthapuram to fol-low — was ‘killed’ by the In-dian openers Rohit Sharmaand Shikhar Dhawan in ablazing partnership.

Exciting competition It was an exciting competi-tion between the two tooutdo the other. The NewZealand attack came to griefas even some good deliveriesmet with poor fate, the balllanding in the galleries.

Rohit hit four sixes andDhawan two. It was a six-hit-ting carnival. There wereplenty of boundaries too, theball flashing to the fence.

The Indian batsmen had agood time at the crease, theball meeting the meat of thebat mostly, and sometimesflying into orbit even whenedged. The New Zealandteam did not distinguish it-

self well on the field, thelapses leaving the bowlersfrustrated. If the groundfielding and catching wereNew Zealand’s forte thus far,

they went to pieces on thisnight. Dhawan and Rohitwere unstoppable. Anythingpitched up was dealt withseverely as they picked the

length early and hoisted theball into the vacant areas.The Kiwis were clueless andthey made it worse with theirshoddy catching. It allowed

the Indians to progress, withRohit and Dhawan producingdelightful knocks.

Dhawan got a reprieve inthe second over of the in-

nings when he was droppedat point by Santner and Rohitwas put down by Southeewhen on 16. The visitorscould never recover from theonslaught and were left torue the two errors.

Hardik Pandya’s second-ball dismissal was small con-solation for New Zealand asIndia posted an imposingtotal.

The target proved beyondNew Zealand as India bowled

tidily to close out the contest.Barring Tom Latham, therewas no resistance and thecontrived excitement in theclosing stages was providedby a fan breaking the secur-ity ring, managing to reachNehra and touch his feet.

A lap around the groundby Nehra and his teammateswas in keeping with the occa-sion. A fitting farewell toNehra who served the gamewith distinction.

Rohit and Dhawan make the New Zealanders pay for their shoddy display on the �eld

Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI

Blazing start: Opener Shikhar Dhawan set the tone with a 52-ball 80. * R.V. MOORTHY

India breaks jinx with a comprehensive win, goes 1-0 up

CMYK

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SPORT

India: Rohit Sharma c Latham bBoult 80 (55b, 6x4, 4x6),Shikhar Dhawan c Latham bSodhi 80 (52b, 10x4, 2x6),Hardik Pandya c Latham b Sodhi0 (2b), Virat Kohli (not out) 26(11b, 3x6), M.S. Dhoni (not out)7 (2b, 1x6); Extras (b-5, lb-1,nb-2, w-1): 9; Total (for threewkts. in 20 overs): 202.

Fall of wickets: 1-158 (Dhawan,16.2 overs), 2-158 (Pandya,16.4), 3-185 (Rohit, 18.6).

New Zealand bowling: Santner4-0-30-0, Boult 4-0-49-1,Southee 4-0-44-0, de Grand-homme 3-0-34-0, Sodhi 4-0-25-2, Munro 1-0-14-0.

New Zealand: Martin Guptill cPandya b Chahal 4 (8b, 1x4),Colin Munro b Bhuvneshwar 7(8b), Kane Williamson c Dhoni bPandya 28 (24b, 1x4, 1x6), TomLatham st. Dhoni b Chahal 39(36b, 3x4, 1x6), Tom Bruce c Ro-

hit b Axar 10 (10b, 1x4), Colin deGrandhomme c Dhawan b Axar0 (1b), Henry Nicholls run out 6(7b, 1x4), Mitchell Santner (notout) 27 (14b, 2x4, 2x6), TimSouthee c Dhoni b Bumrah 8(4b, 2x4), Ish Sodhi (not out) 11(9b, 2x4); Extras (lb-3, nb-1,w-5): 9; Total (for eight wkts. in20 overs): 149.

Fall of wickets: 1-6 (Guptill,1.3), 2-18 (Munro, 3.4), 3-54(Williamson, 9.1), 4-83 (Bruce,12.4), 5-84 (de Grandhomme,12.6), 6-94 (Nicholls, 14.4), 7-99 (Latham, 15.3), 8-111(Southee, 16.4).

India bowling: Nehra 4-0-29-0,Chahal 4-0-26-2, Bhuvneshwar3-0-23-1, Bumrah 4-0-37-1,Axar 4-0-20-2, Pandya 1-0-11-1.

Toss: New Zealand.

Man-of-the-match: Dhawan.

India won by 53 runs.

SCOREBOARD INDIA VS NEW ZEALAND, FIRST T20I

Ashish Nehra joined a rareleague of cricketers whocould pick the day of theirretirement from interna-tional cricket.

The India-New Zealandfirst T20I at the FerozeshahKotla on Wednesday was theleft-arm seamer’s last ap-pearance in India colours.

Sunil Gavaskar was amongthe prominent cricketerswho chose to call it a day onhis terms with that epic in-nings of 96 against the ImranKhan-led Pakistan at Ban-galore in 1987.

In fact, he had invited thepress on the rest day to letthem know his intentionseven though his final appear-ance was to follow — the Reli-ance World Cup. The semi-final loss against Englandbecame Gavaskar’s lastmatch for India.

The honour of making thefarewell lap, in a first, wasbestowed on Sachin Ten-dulkar, who bid goodbye atthe Wankhede Stadium afterthe Test against the West In-dies in 2013.

It was announced that hewould take retirement aftercompleting his 200th Test.

Even V.V.S. Laxman couldhave called it a day from the

ground in Bangalore againstNew Zealand in 2012. He waspicked for both the Tests, atHyderabad and Bangalore,but chose to call it quitswithout figuring in either ofthem for reasons he neverrevealed publicly.

M.S. Dhoni made a sensa-tional exit from Test cricketon the tour to Australia in2014 after leading the teamat Brisbane and Melbourne.

For the next Test atSydney, he handed themantle to Virat Kohli. Manystalwarts like Kapil Dev,Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumbleand Virender Sehwag could

not pick their retirementfrom the ground.

For Nehra, it was obvi-ously an emotional momentwhen the special box,provided to accommodatehis guests, featured his par-ents and his long-time coach.Tarak Sinha, the mentorwho shaped Nehra’s career,was at the ground for thefirst time ever to watch hisfavourite ward.

“Ashish insisted I shouldcome. Otherwise I havewatched all his matches onlyon television. I have stayedaway from his Ranji Trophymatches too,” said Sinha,

who had two more old timecoaches from Sonnet Club inthe box — Davender Sharmaand Harish Kumar.

Former India captainBishan Singh Bedi kept hispromise to Nehra to be at theground while Zaheer Khanand Ajit Agarkar flew downfrom Mumbai. Also presentwere Nehra’s close friendsAjay Jadeja and Rajat Bhatia.

As a gesture to celebratethe occasions, the Delhi Gateend was temporarily namedAshish Nehra End while theIndian team presented himwith a commemorativememento.

Rare honour for Ashish Nehra Joins those privileged players who could pick the day of their retirement

Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI

Special prize! Ashish Nehra gets a memento from two of the men he has played under — M.S. Dhoni and Virat Kohli — as his teammates applaud. * PICTURE COURTESY: BCCI TWITTER PAGE

Kapil Dev supported theidea of according a player adignified farewell.

“Every cricketer shouldbe given a memorable warmsend off (like Ashish Nehra)and should be told that youserved the nation well. Thecricketer will feel hon-oured,” said the former In-dia skipper while flagging off‘Wonder Cement Saath 7cricket Mahotsav’ here onWednesday.

Kapil is the brand ambas-sador for promoting theconcept in rural India withthe current edition being or-ganised in Rajasthan, Mad-hya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Conceptualised by formerHyderabad cricketer TarunSingh Chauhan, the tourna-ment is aimed at giving

youngsters in the rural belt achance to play competitivecricket.

“This tournament was ini-tiated keeping the consumerin mind and to involvepeople from all over thethree States.

“The best way to do sowas through cricket and wehave been able to draw inpeople from all walks of life,something that is truly re-markable,” Chauhanexplained.

Speaking on the new setof rules in the game, relatedto weight of the bat and al-lowing a substitute wicket-keeper, Kapil noted, “thenew cricket rules, includingbat weight, will help im-prove the game.

“Cricketers like HardikPandya, Bhuvaneshwar (Ku-mar) and ( Jasprit) Bumrah

have developed their ownstyle of cricket.

“Bhuvi was frail to look atand Bumrah had an awk-ward action. Twenty yearsback someone like Bumrahwould have been drivenaway by the coaches.

“He is settled now. BothBhuvi and Bumrah knowhow to control theirbowling.”

On Pandya being givendifferent roles, Kapil respon-ded, “We can only speculatefrom outside but I am surethe team management hasits plans in place.

“The team managementwould know best how to useHardik because it has a spe-cific role assigned to him.

“We all have opinion oncricket but do we all under-stand the game better thanthe team management. Let’sleave some things to themanagement too.”

Kapil insisted on the viewthat each generation has itsheroes. “When Sunil Gavas-kar retired, we thought therewon’t be another like him.But then Sachin (Tendulkar)came along. Today we haveVirat Kohli.

“I think each generation isan improvement on the pre-vious one.

“As for records, theyshould be broken becausethe bar has to be raised highin each era.”

Kapil lauds Bhuvi, Bumrah Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Appreciation: Kapil Dev says every cricketer should be givena memorable send-o�. * SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

Zimbabwe — 1st innings: 326.West Indies — 1st innings: K.Brathwaite c Masakadza bCremer 32, K. Powell c Ervineb Mpofu 90, D. Bishoo c & bRaza 23, K. Hope lbw b Raza 1,S. Hope b Raza 40, R. Chaselbw b Raza 32, J. Blackwood cCremer b Raza 5, S. Dowrichlbw b Chisoro 103, J. Holder bChisoro 110, K. Roach lbw bChisoro 0, S. Gabriel (not out)5; Extras: (b-3, lb-3, nb-1): 7;Total (in 178.2 overs): 448.Fall of wickets: 1-76, 2-131, 3-135, 4-163, 5-219, 6-225, 7-230, 8-442, 9-443.Zimbabwe bowling: Mpofu28-10-55-1, Mire 5-2-5-0,Cremer 52-8-161-1, Raza 48-12-99-5, Chisoro 41.2-9-113-3, Masakadza 4-1-9-0.Zimbabwe — 2nd innings: H.Masakadza b Roach 5, S. Mirelbw b Roach 0, C. Ervine lbw bBishoo 22, B. Taylor lbw bGabriel 10, P. Moor (batting)39, S. Raza (batting) 58; Ex-tras: (b-1, lb-5): 6; Total (forfour wkts. in 67 overs): 140.Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-8, 3-23,4-46.West Indies bowling: Gabriel13-6-16-1, Roach 12-7-14-2,Brathwaite 9-1-19-0, Holder12-2-29-0, Bishoo 13-3-38-1,Chase 2-0-7-0, Blackwood 6-3-11-0.

SCOREBOARD

Zimbabwe lived to fight an-other day after an un-broken partnership of 94between Sikandar Razaand Peter Moor gave it thelead against West Indies onthe fourth day of thesecond Test at QueensSports Club.

The hosts now have an18-run lead.

Raza andMoor inrepair act Agence France-Presse

BULAWAYO

An astounding 136 wideswere bowled during aBCCI under-19 women’sone-day match betweenNagaland and Manipurat Dhanbad onWednesday.

The match, which ispart of the inauguralNE-Bihar U-19 one-daycompetition beingorganised by the Board,saw Manipur bowling 94wide balls whileNagaland was a shadebetter with 42.

Nagaland won but itwas learnt that both theteams were not evenable to land the ball onthe 22-yard square attimes.

A few BCCI officials,who were watching thematch, conceded that itwas not about the wideballs but the “wide gap”that exists, which needsto be bridged.

‘Wide’ gap!


New Delhi

Former India captainSourav Ganguly is penninga book on mind games insport even as he considersauthoring books nightmar-ish, something which hasalso discouraged him fromwriting his autobiography.

One of the most success-ful Indian captains and inthe backdrop of his contro-versy with Greg Chappellmakes Ganguly a perfectautobiography material.

Not an avid book reader,Ganguly said: “When I be-came captain a lot ofpeople asked me have youread The Art of Captaincyby Mike Brearley or thebook by Sunil Gavaskar. Isaid ‘yes, only the frontpage.’”

‘Writingbooksnightmarish’

Sourav Ganguly. * FILE PHOTO


KOLKATA

KIWIS IN INDIA

Rafael Nadal secured theyear-end World No. 1 rankingwith a 7-5, 6-3 second-roundvictory over South KoreanHyeon Chung at the ParisMasters here on Wednesday.

The 16-time Grand Slamchampion is the oldest manto finish a season at the topof the rankings at the age of31, having previouslyachieved the feat in 2008,2010 and 2013.

Fourth seed AlexanderZverev was dumped byDutchman Robin Haase in a3-6, 6-2, 6-2 second-rounddefeat.

It was the World No 43Haase’s first-ever win over atop-five player.

The results: Second round: Ra-fael Nadal bt Hyeon Chung 7-5,6-3; Robin Haase bt AlexanderZverev 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; John Isnerbt Diego Schwartzman 7-6(2),6-7 (11), 6-3; Lucas Pouille btFeliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4; PabloCuevas bt Albert Ramos-Vino-las 6-7(5), 7-6(1), 6-2;Fernando Verdasco bt KevinAnderson 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.

Julien Benneteau bt Jo-Wil-fried Tsonga 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2

Doubles (first round): Juan Se-bastian Cabal & Robert Farah btPablo Cuevas & Rohan Bopanna6-2, 7-6(7).

Nadal seals year-end No. 1 ranking Agence France-Presse

Paris

On top: At 31, Rafael Nadal became the oldest man to �nish aseason at the top of the rankings. * AFP

India’s champion shuttler K.Srikanth says that his nextbig target is to win the seniorNational badminton title.

This is a gentle reminderof the likely star presence —thanks to BAI president Hi-manta Biswa Sarma’s initi-taive — in the 82nd editioncommencing on Thursday.

The likes of Saina Nehwal,P.V. Sindhu , H.S. Prannoyand P. Kashyap in singles,along with doubles special-ists Ashwini Ponnappa and

Sikki Reddy, are expected tobe in action.

The BAI chief has ensuredthat these ‘icons’ get a directentry into the pre-quarterfi-nals and most of them will

be here after the ‘LegendsVision’ programme in Mum-bai on November 4. This edi-tion is also offering thebiggest prize-money ever ina Nationals — about ₹60 lakhwith the singles championsgetting ₹2 lakh each.

The championship beginswith the team event featur-ing zonal winners, Institu-tional winners and host Ma-harashtra. Petroleum SportsPromotion Board is the de-fending champion and Air-ports Authority of India therunner-up.

In individual events, Sour-abh Varma and RituparnaDas will defend their titles in

the men’s and women’s sec-tions respectively.

K. Ch. Punnaiah Choud-hary, BAI secretary (events),celebrating a half-century ofbeing associated with thesenior Nationals , says thatall the ‘icons’ have con-firmed participation thoughthere is always a scope forany last-minute changes.

The other interesting as-pect is that World Champi-onship and Rio Olympics sil-ver medallist P.V. Sindhu islikely to represent AndhraPradesh for the first time inthe Nationals. There is alsothe possibility of a Saina-Sindhu summit clash here!

Marquee names set to light up the �eld NATIONAL BADMINTON

V.V. Subrahmanyam

NAGPUR

K. Srikanth. * AFP

End of a long spell: Ashish Nehra leads the Indian players on alap of honour after playing his �nal game in New Delhi onWednesday. * R. V. MOORTHY

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Old war horse bids adieu

280428CMYK

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SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 12151 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Arjuna is impressed by Krishna’s penchant for a jnani andhe wishes to know more about esoteric concepts such asBrahman, Atma, Adyatma, Adi daiva, Adi bhuta, Karma andAdi yagna that Krishna has been talking about. Probingthese issues forms the crux of spiritual knowledge which ul-timately leads one to salvation, pointed out SwamiMitrananda in a discourse. What better context and whobetter than Krishna to answer doubts on the mysteriesabounding in this marvellous creation that continue toevade human thought and speech?

Brahman is explained as the highest truth which is etern-ally existent, transcending the bounds of Time and Space.All other objects, places and people in creation will have tosuccumb to the force of time. Adyatma is explained as nat-ural tendency or swabhava of the atma swaroopa and, con-sequently, implies the firm belief that one’s real nature per-tains to the undying atma and not that of the body, senses,mind, intellect, etc. But the problem is ignorance, whichmakes one assume that he is the body, and see his ego aspredominant. Then one is bound to the cycle of birth.

To the question on karma, Krishna says it is the yagna bywhich all objects and beings are created and sustained. Adibhuta refers to all that is perishable in creation and this in-cludes the jivatma’s body; while Adi daiva is the spiritualcomponent, the immortal atma in the jivatma’s body.

At the macro level, the entire creation is seen as the mani-festation of the Supreme Brahman. He is known as the Pur-usha, the One who is omnipresent in all aspects of the entirecreation. He alone is the Primordial Being, and He is the Adiyagna. This is the most valuable knowledge, the Braham Jn-ana by which the awareness of the proximity of Brahman’spresence in our lives becomes a living reality.

A jnani lives in this awareness at all times.

FAITH

Proximity of Brahman3 Hard breaking delightful

recess (5)

4 Break ceremony without

extra-sensory perception (7)

6 Genuine support for �elder

(6,3)

7 Losing diamonds,

spontaneously one provides

excuse (5)

8 Work with country to get

money for a cause (8)

11 Refrain from rotating

earthenware (4)

15 Auditor’s listless stroll by path

on seafront (9)

17 Hacker caught in reproducing

ticket for future use (4,5)

18 Joyous engineer at �rst

characterised radio noise (8)

20 Struggle with temperature to

lubricate (4)

21 Heavy material in explosion

around a lake (7)

22 Framework in Greek and

English houses incorrect (6)

24 Letters from seer I examined

are disturbing (5)

25 Order �fty one daggers (5)

13 Punishment in court’s �nal

ruling very detached (9)

14 Storm about most bold

leaders’ bet (6)

16 Lighter moment in Sicilian

capital (7)

19 Agreement from �rm

parliamentarian joining

operation (7)

21 Large accessory for celebrity

(6)

23 Team drill arranged on

exercise equipment (9)

25 Come about havoc curtailed

somewhat (5)

26 Sailors put together deposit

(6)

27 Food healthy for so long (8)

28 Brash face, part cocky, on the

edge (6)

29 Levelling instrument

perfectionist moved from last

spot to third (8)

n DOWN

1 Guess short court is dirty (6)

2 Broadcast a real �rm warning

signal (4,5)

(set by Lightning)

n ACROSS

1 Minor army unit? (8)

5 One’s property in Sri Lanka, say

(6)

9 Predict beginnings of cyclone

arriving in jungle (8)

10 Merger for the most part upset

returning leader (6)

12 Stop right outside batsman’s

line (5)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 12152

van Niekerk to havesurgery, will miss CWG CAPE TOWN

South Africa’s Olympic 400m

gold medallist and world

record holder Wayde van

Niekerk will miss next year’s

Commonwealth Games in

Australia after suffering a

serious knee injury in a

celebrity touch rugby match,

the sprinter said on Tuesday.REUTERS

IN BRIEF

James Pattinson set for spinal surgery SYDNEY

Australia quick bowler James

Pattinson is set to have spinal

surgery soon in a last-ditch

effort to fix a recurring

problem that has dogged him

for years. A lower back stress

fracture kept the 27-year-old

out of Australia’s recent tour

to Bangladesh and he will

also miss the upcoming

Ashes against England. AFP

NBA: Sony Six (SD & HD),5.30 and 8 a.m.UEFA Europa League: SonyESPN & Sony TEN 1 (SD &HD), Sony TEN 2, Sony TEN 3,11.30 p.m. & 1.30 a.m. (Fri-day).

TV PICKS

Rupesh and Kotharisettle for bronze medalsLEEDS

Rupesh Shah and Sourav

Kothari settled for bronze

medals at the WBL Billiards

(long up) championship after

losing their semifinals to

David Causier 1250-1203 and

Peter Gilchrist 1250-432

respectively on Tuesday. PTI

Troubled Tomic offered‘wellbeing’ support SYDNEY

Troubled Australian tennis

player Bernard Tomic has

been offered “health and

wellbeing” support as his

career hits the rails. He is now

reliant on being handed a

wildcard for his home Grand

Slam, the Australian Open, in

January, with the troubled

star widely seen as at a

crossroads. AFP

Group AAt New Delhi (Karnail): Hy-derabad 272 for three in 87overs (Tanmay Agarwal 41, Ak-shath Reddy 69, B. Sandeep 64batting, Ambati Rayudu 88 bat-ting) vs Railways. Toss:Railways.At New Delhi (Palam): UttarPradesh 270 for eight in 84overs (Mohd. Saif 83, Akshdeep

Nath 59, Upendra Ya-dav 48 batting) vsDelhi. Toss: Delhi.

At Pune: Maharashtra245 in 55 overs (Naus-had Shaikh 69, RahulTripathi 120, VinayKumar six for 59) v

Karnataka 117 for no loss in 31overs (R. Samarth 47 batting,Mayank Agarwal 50 batting).Toss: Karnataka.

Group BAt Rajkot: Saurashtra 341 forfive in 90 overs (CheteshwarPujara 125 batting, RavindraJadeja 42, Prerak Mankad 85,Chirag Jani 40 batting) vsJharkhand. Toss: Saurashtra.At Thiruvananthapuram: Ker-

ala 219 in 76 overs (Sanju Sam-son 112, Parvez Rasool six for70) vs J&K 16 for no loss in 12overs. Toss: Kerala.

At Valsad: Gujarat 236 in 84.1overs (Bhargav Merai 52, RujulBhatt 40, Amit Mishra four for63) vs Haryana Zero for one inthree overs. Toss: Gujarat.

Group C

At Vadodara: Baroda 304 forfive in 90 overs (Vishnu Solanki116, Abhijit Karambelkar 75 bat-

ting) vs Tripura. Toss: Tripura.

At Vizianagaram: Madhya Pra-desh 219 for five in 89 overs(Shubham Sharma 60, HarpreetSingh Bhatia 47 batting) vsAndhra. Toss: Andhra.

At Bhubaneshwar: Mumbai264 for six in 90 overs (PrithviShaw 105, Ajinkya Rahane 49)vs Odisha. Toss: Odisha.

Group D

At Kolkata: Bengal 306 for fivein 86 overs (Abhishek Raman176, Manoj Tiwary 78 batting)vs Himachal Pradesh. Toss:Himachal.

At Raipur: Chhattisgarh 238 in73 overs (Jatin Saxena 52,Sumit Ruikar 50, Vishal Kush-wah 76, Manpreet Grewal fourfor 41) vs Punjab 57 for one in14 overs (Jiwanjot Singh 40batting). Toss: Chhattisgarh.

At Nagpur: Vidarbha 259 forthree in 90 overs (Faiz Fazal128 batting, SanjayRamaswamy 55) vs Services.Toss: Vidarbha.

RANJI SCORES, FOURTH ROUND, DAY ONE

Saurashtra’s CheteshwarPujara cracked an unbeaten125 against Jharkhand.

* FILE PHOTO: K. PICHUMANI

The much expected ‘life’ inthe pitch, owing to its greenlook, evaporated quickly ona bright sunny day. Delhi,which opted to exploit theconditions on winning thetoss against Uttar Pradesh,restricted the visitors at 270for eight, on the opening dayof the Ranji Trophy cricketleague at the Palam groundon Wednesday.

Delhi, with its line up ofmedium pacers in operationfor long, struggled to meetthe daily quota of 90 oversdespite an additional 30minutes of play.

A defiant 83 by Mo-hammed Saif and his 116-runpartnership for the thirdwicket with Akshdeep Nath(59) helped Uttar Pradeshconsolidate gains, beforeskipper Ishant Sharma wasrewarded late in the day withtwo wickets,

The left-handed Saif triedto speed up the scoring afterthe Uttar Pradesh captainSuresh Raina was bowled,when he tried to cut a ballthat kept low. Saif was ham-mering the bowling, before

he was run out by a directthrow from Navdeep Amar-jeet Saini, while trying tosteal a single.

Saif hit 14 fours and a sixin his 169-ball essay whichwas divided into two parts ashe had retired hurt owing toan arm injury.

While diving to regain hiscrease, Saif had hurt himself,but continued for some timeafter medical attention, be-fore opting to rest in the

pavilion.It was Saini who got the

first wicket for Delhi by hav-ing Almas Shaukat caught inthe slip by Unmukt Chand.He took two wickets, whileManan Sharma, KulwantKhejroliya and Milind Kumargot the other wickets.

At the end, when UttarPradesh looked to be foldingup, Upendra Yadav came upwith a defiant unbeaten 48,off 82 balls to keep the

team’s hopes of crossing 300alive.

With the ball keeping lowat one end, and offering a bitof lift at the other, Delhi wasclear about operating its me-dium pacers and spinners.

The scores: Uttar Pradesh 270for eight in 84 overs (Mo-hammed Saif 83, AkshdeepNath 59, Upendra Yadav 48 bat-ting, Ishant Sharma two for 27,Navdeep Amarjeet Saini two for37) vs Delhi.

Saif, Akshdeep defy Delhi Their third-wicket partnership steers the team out of initial trouble

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI

Good knock: Mohammad Saif hit 14 fours and a six in his 169-ball essay against Delhi.* SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

A hundred is hard to comeby, even in book cricket, letalone at the First Class level.But Prithvi Shaw seems to bebucking the trend. On Wed-nesday, the 17-year-oldcaressed his way to 105 whileopening Mumbai’s inningsagainst Odisha in a RanjiTrophy clash.

It was his fourth FirstClass hundred in five gamessince his debut century —against Tamil Nadu in lastseason’s semifinal.

Only Rusi Modi (Mumbai),Sunil Gavaskar (Mumbai),Rahul Dravid (Karnataka),

Amol Muzumdar (Mumbai)and Aditya Shrivastava (MP)have notched up three cen-turies in their first four Ranjigames.

Confidence personifiedPrithvi’s confidence was re-flected in the media interac-tion after the game where hehad no hesitation in admit-ting he didn’t find anyOdisha bowler threatening.

“It wasn’t too difficult toface anyone but all of themwere bowling a good line andlength, so it was challengingto play shots.

“There were a few patcheswhen runs weren’t coming

but we were trying to be pa-tient till we got two-threeboundaries in an over,”Prithvi said.

Batting with India Testvice-captain Ajinkya Rahanefor the first time, Prithvidominated their 136-runpartnership for the secondwicket. While Prithvi scored99, Rahane ground to 34 dur-ing their association.

“It was my first experi-ence of batting with Ajinkyaand he helped me a lot. Allhe told me was that we’ll tryand build a partnership andstay positive. It was a won-derful experience to bat withhim,” he said.

‘Shaw’-stopper Prithvi continues ton-feastAmol Karhadkar

BHUBANESWAR

Prodigy? With Prithvi Shaw scoring centuries at will in his short First Class career, comparisons to former greats like Sachin Tendulkar are cropping up. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

SPORT

Hyderabad knew it was in aprecarious situation beforeit arrived for its fourth RanjiTrophy game of the season.

With two washouts and ahuge loss, the Ambati Ray-udu-led side was desperateto get some momentum inGroup A and against Rail-ways, its batsmen startedstrongly and ended in firmcontrol of the game at theKarnail Singh Stadium hereon Wednesday.

With Rayudu unbeatenon 88 and BavanakaSandeep on 64, the visitorended the opening day on272 for three when umpirescalled off play three oversearly due to fading light.

Two wickets were ac-counted for by 27-year oldpacer Manish Rao, makinghis First Class debut with theteam after biding his timefor long with Mumbaiwithout success. Andthough the experiencedAnureet Singh managed tobe his frugal self at the otherend, there was little to causemuch trouble to thebatsmen.

Everyone got runs butcoach J. Arunkumar wouldhave been happier with thecontrol his players had onthe game at all times. Spe-cially Rayudu, who treated

the Railways bowlers withdisdain, pulling and strokingat will. His knock includedthree huge sixes — two ofthem over long off and longon off Shivakant Shukla andAshish Yadav respectivelyearly on — as the 32-year oldsignalled his intentions to upthe scoring.

Even before his arrival,however, opener TanmayAgarwal and Akshath Reddyhad helped the team settlenicely. Their 98-run partner-ship was evenly shared, thestrike equally rotated andthe runs coming with ease.Agarwal fell one over beforelunch but that did nothing tocurb Reddy’s aggressiveshot-making and it led to hisfinally edging one to Shuklain the slips for a well-made

69. For the host, Rao andKaran Thakur picked up thewickets but every bowlerwent for runs as Hydera-bad’s run rate rarely dippedbelow three.

The scores: Hyderabad — 1stinnings: Tanmay Agarwal bManish Rao 41, Akshath Reddyc Shivakant Shukla b Rao 69,Sumanth Kolla c Mahesh Rawatb Karan Thakur 5, BavanakaSandeep (batting) 64, AmbatiRayudu (batting) 88; Extras(lb-5): 5; Total (for three wkts.in 87 overs): 272.

Fall of wickets: 1-93, 2-104,3-131.

Railways bowling: AnureetSingh 23-6-59-0, Amit Mishra16-3-42-0, Karan Thakur 14-2-53-1, Manish Rao 14-5-49-2,Ashish Yadav 17-2-53-0, Shiv-akant Shukla 3-0-11-0.

Railway bowlers get the treatment from the top-order

Uthra Ganesan

NEW DELHI

Leading from the front: Hyderabad skipper Ambati Rayuduhelped his team make a solid start. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Hyderabad dictates terms

Young opener AbhishekRaman’s determinedmaiden century guidedBengal to a healthy 306 forfive in its first innings on theopening day of its RanjiTrophy Group D matchagainst Himachal Pradesh atthe Eden Gardens here onWednesday.

Bengal, inserted in, was introuble when it lost twowickets for 44 inside 12overs. Abhimanyu Easwaran(4) was trapped in front andSudip Chatterjee (15) playedon in about an hour’s time.

Playing his fifth First Classmatch, the 24-year-old Ab-hishek (176 off 242 balls)built two significant partner-ships — 92 with KoushikGhosh (27 off 84) and 163with captain Manoj Tiwary(78 batting off 132) — to resur-rect Bengal’s innings.

The left-handed duo ofAbhishek and Ghosh took upthe responsibility and battedsensibly. Abhishek appliedhimself with good techniqueand sound temperamentand provided a sense of se-curity to the home side,while Ghosh patiently com-plemented his partner asBengal took lunch at 105 fortwo.

Himachal’s bowlers madea lot of effort in the first 45minutes of the post-lunchsession but the gritty homebatsmen stuck to their task

until Ghosh casually playedoff-spinner Gurvinder Singhto mid-off.

The arrival of Tiwary al-lowed Abhishek to play withmore composure. Abhishek,who had missed a century inthe previous match by sixruns, made this one countand went on to make a bighundred.

His knock contained 29well-struck boundaries allaround the park.

Abhishek was caught inthe slips off part-timer ParasDogra after spending fivehours and 49 minutes in themiddle.

The experienced Tiwaryunleashed some smart andhandsome shots — eightfours and a six — in his cru-cial half-century.

With the pitch easing up,Abhishek and Tiwary had noproblem in negotiating theHimachal bowlers, who

were wayward, missed theservices of a fifth bowler andmanaged a slow over rate.

However, the wickets ofAbhishek and WriddhimanSaha towards the fag end ofthe day provided some hopeto the visitors.The scores: Bengal — 1st in-nings: Abhishek Raman c Amitb Dogra 176, AbhimanyuEaswaran lbw b Dhawan 4,Sudip Chatterjee lbw b Jaiswal15, Koushik Ghosh c Amit bGurvinder 27, Manoj Tiwary(batting) 78, Wriddhiman Sahac Bains b Sidharth 2, ShreevatsGoswami (batting) 0; Extras(lb-1, nb-1, w-2): 4; Total (forfive wickets in 86 overs): 306.Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-44, 3-136, 4-299, 5-306.Himachal Pradesh bowling:Rishi Dhawan 21-4-65-1, Sid-harth Sharma 17-2-43-1, PankajJaiswal 14-2-57-1, GurvinderSingh 19-2-92-1, Sumeet Verma4-0-12-0, Paras Dogra 11-1-36-1.

Y.B. Sarangi

KOLKATA

Top notch: Having missed out narrowly in the previous game,Abhishek Raman made this one count with a big hundred. * PTI

Two late wickets gives hope to Himachal after a day of toil

Abhishek’s maiden tonboosts Bengal

NEW DELHI: Sardar BishanSingh School registered aneasy 4-0 win over S.S. MotaSingh School, Paschim Vi-har in the under-15 cat-egory on the opening dayof the 14th Moderniteshockey tournament for theRishabjeet Singh WasonTrophy on Wednesday.

In the under-19 category,Modern School beat Man-avsthali School 4-2.

The results:

U-19: Modern bt Manavsthali4-2; Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalayabt Vasant Valley 3-0; Govt.Boys (Ghitorni) bt S.S. MotaSingh (Janak Puri) 3-1; SBS btSBV (Bankner) 2-0.

U-15: Modern bt Vasant Valley3-0; Manavsthali bt Heritage3-2; SBS bt S.S. Mota Singh(Paschim Vihar) 4-0; S.S.Mota Singh (Janak Puri) btDPS (Vasundhara) 4-2.

Easy win forBishan SinghSchool

280428CMYK

A ND-NDE




SPORT

Group A: Basel 1 (Zuffi 32) lostto CSKA Moscow 2 (Dzagoev65, Wernbloom 79);Manchester United 2 (Svilar45-og, Blind 78-pen) bt Ben-fica (POR) 0.Group B: Celtic 1 (McGregor 74)lost to Bayern Munich 2 (Co-man 22, Martinez 77); ParisSaint-Germain 5 (Verratti 30,Neymar 45+4, Kurzawa 52, 72,

78) bt Anderlecht 0.

Group C: Atletico Madrid 1(Partey 56) drew with Qarabag1 (Michel 40); Roma 3 (ElShaarawy 1, 36, Perotti 63) btChelsea 0.

Group D: Olympiakos 0 drewwith Barcelona 0; Sporting Lis-bon 1 (Cesar 20) drew with Ju-ventus 1 (Higuain 79).

THE RESULTS

IN BRIEF

Conte blasts Chelseaafter Roma rout ROME

Antonio Conte blasted

Chelsea’s lack of hunger after

becoming the first English

club to lose in the Champions

League this season with a

ruthless 3-0 rout by AS Roma.

“Roma proved to have more

hunger, more desire, more

will to fight and to beat us.

We lacked everything . If we

think because our name is

Chelsea the opponent is

fearful, this is not the right

way. We must have a great

desire in every game,” said

the Italian. AFP

Double injury blow for BarcelonaBARCELONA

Barcelona duo Sergi Roberto

and Andre Gomes will be

sidelined for around a month

after picking up hamstring

injuries in Tuesday’s draw at

Olympiakos, the club

confirmed on Wednesday.

Roberto, who has featured

more often at right-back than

his preferred central midfield

role under Ernesto Valverde,

hobbled off at half-time in

Athens, whilst Portuguese

international Gomes only

featured for the final 15

minutes.. AFP

The last edition of thePanasonic India Open Golfwas reduced to 54 holes onaccount of foggy conditions.It is no different this year asDelhi reels under a cloud ofpollution, reducing visibility,even though the golferswould be well focussed ontheir target.

The prize money for thefull-field Asian Tour event is$400,000 with defending

champion Mukesh Kumar setto have a go at the title.

The tournament may notattract the best of the Asiantour but it holds promise ofsome intense golf over thenext four days.

Not being a Europe-sanc-tioned event, it does not at-tract the elite but there is al-ways room for closecontests.

Almost every top profes-sional would feature in thisedition but the pull-out byveteran Jeev Milkha Singhwas a blow on the eve of the

tournament. He suffered a freak injury

on his left elbow when tryingto open a coconut waterbottle. “I was really lookingforward to this week, but Ineed to rest and allow the el-bow to heel,” said Jeev.

Indians have excelled inthe past editions, winning iton five occasions. In fact,Mukesh became the oldestwinner of the Asian tour lastyear.

“My game is shaping upwell. I need to work on myputting and my aim would

be retaining my trophy. Play-ing at the Delhi Golf Club re-quires a lot of planning. Youhave to plan your shots onthis course.”

Others in the fray, in a 126-man field, are Shiv Kapur,Ajeetesh Sandhu and Gagan-jeet Bhullar, who have allwon on the Asian Tour thisseason.

An attraction this year isPaul Peterson of the UnitedStates, who is a one-timewinner on the EuropeanTour.

All for that: While India’s Mukesh Kumar, left, would not wantto part with the trophy, Paul Peterson of USA, Ajeetesh Sandhuof India and Shiv Kapur of India would want to own it.

* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Intense action begins todayFreak injury forces Jeev Milkha Singh out

INDIA OPEN GOLF

Vijay Lokapally

NEW DELHI

Stephan El Shaarawy scoreda brace as AS Roma mauledChelsea 3-0 to claim top spotin Champions League GroupC on Tuesday at the expenseof the English champion.

The rematch in Rome’sStadio Olympico after a 3-3thriller in London twoweeks ago did not disap-point the 55,000 crowd inRome as Chelsea coach Ant-onio Conte was frustrated onhis return to Italy.

El Shaarawy rifled in twofirst half goals — the firstafter less than a minute andthe second nine minutes be-fore the break — with Argen-tine Diego Perotti adding athird on 63 minutes.

A second win in fourgames moves the Romanscloser to the last-16, thwart-ing Chelsea who had beenhoping to seal a spot in theknockout rounds with twogames to go.

Meanwhile, Atletico Mad-rid was left staring an em-barrassing early exit in theface after being held 1-1 athome by 10-man Azerbaijanichampion Qarabag.

The 2014 and 2016 final-ists now need to beat Romaand Chelsea in their last twoGroup C games and hopeother results go in their fa-vour after a paltry return ofthree points from theiropening four games.

Unlikely hat-trickIn Group B Layvin Kurzawascored an unlikely hat-trickas Paris Saint-Germainpowered into the last 16 witha 5-0 rout of Anderlecht,while Bayern Munich joinedit in the knockout stage witha 2-1 win at Celtic.

Marco Verratti curled in aterrific opening goal — hisfirst in Europe since Septem-ber 2014 — on the half-hourat the Parc des Princes, withBrazilian superstar Neymar

firing in a second before thebreak.

The world’s most expens-ive player was involved inPSG’s third goal, as his free-kick was tipped onto thepost with France interna-tional Kurzawa forcing in therebound.

The left-back then headedin another from a Dani Alvescross and completed an im-probable treble with anangled drive as PSG in-creased its goals haul to 17 —with none conceded — infour Group B matches.

The French giant top itssection with maximum 12points, with Bundesligaleader Bayern progressingalongside it following a 2-1victory away to Celtic.

Chelsea mauled in

Roman arenaPSG and Bayern sail through to knockouts

Hero! Layvin Kurzawa heads his second, and PSG’s fourth goal, against Anderlecht. * REUTERS

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE


Rome

while Omkar and Jitu slippedwith a string of low scoringshots. Shahzar eventuallywon by a 4.7 point margin.

The Indian shotgun shoot-ers continued to slip, espe-cially in skeet. Angad VirSingh Bajwa, Mairaj AhmadKhan and Sheeraz Sheikh

Shahzar Rizvi beat the muchaccomplished Omkar Singhand Jitu Rai to the men’s airpistol gold in the Common-wealth shooting champion-ship here on Wednesday.

The day belonged to the23-year-old Shahzar, whohas very little internationalexposure as compared toOmkar Singh and Jitu Rai.

Shahzar topped qualifica-tion with 581 points, fiveahead of Omkar, while Jitucontinued to struggle — as hedid during the World Cup Fi-nal last week — in returning amodest 571.

In the final, Shahzar re-covered from a slow start topull ahead. He marched for-ward on the last six shots,

had to fight among them-selves for the last two spotsin the final after being tied at119. They eventually finishedfifth to seventh.

The women air rifle shoot-ers did very well to clinchgold and silver throughPooja Ghatkar and Anjum

Moudgil, while Meghana Saj-janar narrowly missed beingamong the medals.

Pooja and Anjum took thefourth and sixth spots duringqualification before finishingstrongly in the final. Poojabeat Anjum by 1.1 point.

The results: Men: 10m air pis-tol: 1. Shahzar Rizvi 240.7 (581);2. Omkar Singh 236.0 (576); 3.Jitu Rai 214.1 (571).

Skeet: 1. Ben Llewellin (Wal) 59(120)6; 2. Jack Fairclough (Eng)51 (122)4; 3. Paul Adams (Aus)43 (122)3; 5. Angad Vir SinghBajwa 25 (119)10; 6. MairajAhmad Khan 15 (119)(9,4); 7.Sheeraz Sheikh 15 (119)(9,3).

Women: 10m air rifle: 1. PoojaGhatkar 249.8 (415.3); 2. AnjumMoudgil 248.7 (414.1); 3. Mar-tina Lindsay Veloso (Sgp) 224.8(417.5); 5. Meghana Sajjanar183.8.

Shahzar shoots air pistol gold Finishes ahead of Omkar Singh and Jitu Rai

Good show: Just 1.1 point separated Pooja Ghatkar, right, fromAnjum Moudgil as the two clinched the women’s air ri�e goldand silver. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

C’WEALTH SHOOTING

Sports Bureau

Brisbane

When Abhijit Kunte madehis debut in the Nationalchess championship in 1996and won in 1997, SammedShete was not even born.

The Kolhapur-lad, whoturned 18 last month, be-longs to a generation of play-ers from Maharashtra whohave idolised Pune-basedKunte and want to emulatethe 40-year-old’s class andconsistency.

On Wednesday, Sammedpulled off the unexpected inalmost unbelievable mannerin the Khadi India Nationalchess championship here.

Sammed exploitedKunte’s error of judgementon the 14th move and wenton to win the battle in theTaimanov variation of Si-cilian Defence in just 29moves.

A victorious AravindhChithambaram joinedovernight leaders S.L. Naray-anan and M.R. Lalith Babu in

the lead at 3.5 points. After R.R. Laxman scored

his second straight victorythat resulted in a thirdstraight loss for DeepanChakkravarthy, and beforeAravindh came up with awell-calculated rook-sacri-fice in an endgame involvingequal pawns and a rook eachagainst Swapnil Dhopade,Sammed experienced a greathigh.

He made Kunte, playinghis 20th National champion-ship, resign when faced with

the prospect of either savinghis queen and getting check-mated, or sacrificing thequeen and losing a bit later.

Sameed, after having letdefending champion M.Karthikeyan and Laxmanelude his grasp on the previ-ous two days, said, “I knew Ihad my chances in the lasttwo rounds but I know thesethings happen. I wanted tofocus on the next game.Today, I am very happy withthis result.”

Kunte, gracious in defeat,

acknowledged the teenager’sresilience and said, “I can'trecall when was the last timeI lost (with black) in the Na-tional championship. After Imisjudged Sammed’s op-tions after playing my knighton the 14th move, I knew myposition was difficult to de-fend, unless he erred. He didnot give me any chance.”

The results:

Fifth round: Arvindh Chitham-baram (3.5) bt Swapnil Dho-pade (2) in 58 moves; SameedShete (2.5) bt Abhijit Kunte (2)in 29 moves; Deepan Chakkrav-arthy (1.5) lost to R. R. Laxman(3) in 40 moves; S.L. Narayanan(3.5) drew with M. Karthikeyan(3) in 43 moves; M.R. LalithBabu (3.5) drew with ArghyadipDas (2.5) in 21 moves; S. Nitin(2.5) drew with Debashis Das(2) in 35 moves; P. ShyaamNikhil (2) drew with HimanshuSharma (1.5) in 30 moves.

Sixth round pairings:Karthikeyan-Lalith; Aravindh-Shete; Laxman-Narayanan; Ar-ghyadip-Nitin; Debashis-Shy-aam; Kunte-Deepan;Dhopade-Himanshu.

Shete in�icts rare defeat on KunteAravindh joins overnight leaders S.L. Narayanan and Lalith Babu

NATIONAL CHESS

Remarkable: Debutant Sammed Shete, left, stunned veteranGM Abhijit Kunte in the �fth round on Wednesday. * RAKESH RAO

Rakesh Rao

PATNA

Sriram Balaji and VishnuVardhan beat Cheng-PengHsieh & Hsien-Yin Peng ofChinese Taipei 5-7, 6-3 [10-8]in the $75,000 Challenger.

Other results: $75,000 Chal-lenger, Shenzhen: Doubles:First round: Riccardo Ghedin(Ita) & Yaraslav Shyla (Blr) btChristopher Rungkat (Ina) &

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 4-6,7-6(10), [10-7].

$75,000 Challenger, Canberra:First round: Benjamin Mitchell(Aus) bt Sasi Kumar Mukund6-4, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF, Kuala Lumpur:Pre-quarterfinals: AntoineEscoffier (Fra) bt Arjun Kadhe6-2, 7-6(4); Borna Gojo (Cro)bt Sidharth Rawat 6-4, 5-7,6-2.

Sriram & Vishnu

duo advancesSports Bureau

Shenzhen, China

Formula One will have sim-pler, cheaper and noisierengines from 2021 as part ofa “road map” for the futurepresented to teams on Tues-day that could entice newmanufacturers to enter the

sport. It is proposed that theengine that would be thesame 1.6 litre V6 turbo hy-brid but without theMGU-H, one of the two mo-tor generator units. Thesound would be improvedby having a higher enginerunning speed of 3,000rpm.

F1’s new road mapReuters

London

FIFA awaiting AIFFcommunique on PrafulNEW DELHI

FIFA on Wednesday said it

was awaiting an official

communication regarding the

setting aside of the election

of All India Football

Federation (AIFF) president

Praful Patel. “FIFA is awaiting

an official communication

from the AIFF concerning the

said matter. We have no

further comment for the time

being,” a FIFA spokesperson

told PTI on Wednesday.

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LIFE

Plan to build tram inGrand Canyon opposedMembers of the Navajo

Nation Council have rejected

legislation to build an aerial

tram to take paying visitors

to a riverside boardwalk in

the Grand Canyon in the U.S.

Critics showed up to urge

lawmakers to oppose the

project. They have said the

area is sacred and that the

proposed development

would mar the landscape. AP

IN BRIEF

NASA spots 20 planetsthat may host alien lifeWASHINGTON

Scientists, using data from

NASA’s Kepler telescope,

have discovered 20 new

potentially habitable

exoplanets that may host

alien life. Some of the planets

take a relatively long time to

complete a single orbit, with

the longest taking 395 Earth

days. The fastest orbit is 18

Earth days. PTI

Non-smokers get extraleave in Japanese �rmTOKYO

Non-smoking employees at a

Japanese firm are getting six

additional days of holiday to

compensate for the time their

colleagues spend puffing

away at work. Piala, a

consulting company, began

the programme in September

after an employee raised the

issue about the time lost by

colleagues who frequently

disappear to light up. AFP

The UN Environment Emis-sions Gap Report 2017 warnsthat a big carbon emissionsgap exists between the levelsthat can be achieved in 2030with present climate com-mitments, and what needs tobe done using set pathwaysto limit increases in globalaverage temperature to lessthan 2° Celsius or a more am-bitious 1.5° C by the year2100.

The report says full imple-mentation of the uncondi-tional Nationally DeterminedContributions (NDCs) andcomparable action after-wards “could result in a tem-perature increase of about3.2° C by 2100 relative to pre-industrial levels”, while fullimplementation of condi-tional NDCs would margin-ally lower that projection byabout 0.2°C.

The breaching of the safelimits that is possible evenwith current climate com-mitments — the NDCs thatform the core of the ParisAgreement — indicates thatgovernments will need to de-

liver much stronger pledgesto cut greenhouse gas emis-sions when they are revisedin 2020, said the report re-leased ahead of the 23rd Con-ference of the Parties to theUNFCCC in Bonn, commen-cing on November 6.

Fossil fuels and cementproduction account forabout 70% of greenhousegases, the report noted. Thealarming number and intens-ity of extreme weatherevents in 2017, such as hur-ricanes, droughts andfloods, add to the urgency ofearly action, it said.

Several green optionsThe report reveals a largegap between targeted 2030emission levels and thoseconsistent with least expens-ive pathways to the 2°C and1.5°C goals. The 2°C emis-sions gap for the full imple-mentation of both the condi-tional and unconditionalNDCs for 2030 is 11 to 13.5gigatonne CO2 equivalent(GtCO2e). The gap in the caseof the more ambitious 1.5°Ctarget is 16 to 19 GtCO2e.Should the U.S. follow

through with its threat toleave the Paris Agreement in2020, the picture could be-come bleak.

The Paris accord pledgesonly a third of what isneeded to avoid climate cata-strophe, and adopting newtechnologies in key sectors,at investments of under $100per tonne of emissions,could cut them by up to 36gigatonnes per year by 2030,which is more than sufficientto bridge the current gap.

A large part of the poten-tial to close the emissionsgap lies in solar and wind en-ergy, efficient appliancesand passenger cars, afforest-

ation and stopping deforest-ation. These six factors holda total potential of up to 22GtCO2e per annum, the re-port says. Strong action onplugging other greenhousegases, such as hydrofluoro-carbons, through the KigaliAmendment to the MontrealProtocol, and other short-lived climate pollutants suchas black carbon, couldcontribute.

“One year after the ParisAgreement entered intoforce, we still find ourselvesin a situation where we arenot doing nearly enough tosave hundreds of millions ofpeople from a miserable fu-ture,” Erik Solheim, head ofUN Environment, said in amedia release.

CO2 emissions have re-mained stable since 2014,driven in part by renewableenergy, notably in China andIndia.

This has raised hopes thatemissions have peaked. But,the report warns that othergreenhouse gases, such asmethane, are still rising, anda global growth spurt couldsend CO2 emissions upward.

UN says carbon emissions gapcould a�ect climate targetParis Agreement pledges leave de�cit that could raise temperature by 3°CVidya Venkat

Chennai

Investing in cleanertechnology can reverse theemissions trend. * AP

When tycoons in helicoptersbegan landing on Scotland’sIsle of Ulva, its five tenantsfeared their way of life mightbe coming to an end.

The remote island ofpristine beaches, lush hillsand craggy coastlines wasput on the market this yearafter decades of ownershipby an aristocratic family.

Now the islanders are us-ing a law introduced lastyear by Scotland’s national-ist government to suspendthe sale and give themselvestime to buy the land, hopinga government fund will helpthem do so.

“I think community own-ership is the way forward,”said Emma McKie, 33, whoremembers a time when athriving farming communitylived on the 12-km-long is-land off Scotland’s westcoast. They are facing adeadline of June 2018 to buythe island off its “laird”Jamie Howard, who put it upfor sale for £4.25 million.

Many interestedThe glossy sales brochurefor Ulva offered prospectivebuyers the unique oppor-tunity to own “one of thefinest private islands innorthern Europe”, when itwas first put up for sale inJuly.

Well-groomed tycoonswith Russian and MiddleEastern sounding accentsbegan flying in for viewings.

Ms. McKie said islanderswere concerned that anyoutside buyer may removethe tenants and close off theisland. “If you have that kindof money, why would youkeep the island open to thepublic, why wouldn’t youkeep it for yourself?”, saidMcKie, who runs the island’sonly cafe with her sister-in-law Rebecca Munro.

The Land Reform Actpassed by Scotland’s pro-in-dependence First MinisterNicola Sturgeon’s govern-ment allows for the sale ofprivate assets to be suspen-ded to give community bod-

ies the right to buy the land.The Scottish Land Fund

gives annual grants toworthy projects and Ulva’sresidents are hoping thefund will go over its usuallimit of £1 million.

The legislation has far-reaching implications in aregion where half the land isowned by just 500 people,many of them absentee aris-tocratic landlords withcastles and vast countryestates.

Ulva is an idyllic locationwith views of Ben Moremountain and the spectacu-lar Eas Fors Waterfall on theneighbouring island of Mull.

Visitors’ first port of callwhen stepping off the ferryfrom Mull is The Boathousecafe. “My husband’s familygo back several centuries onUlva,” said Ms. Munro, 30,who is originally from Dum-fries on the Scottishmainland.

“They would have Christ-mas parties and there were alot more children going toUlva primary school, so itwas just a lot more vibrant.”

The Boathouse attractsaround 5,000 visitors a year.

But empty cottages, anabandoned church and thedisused Ulva Hostel nearbyare falling into disrepair.

At its height Ulva had apopulation of over 800 andits decline can be tracedback to the Highland Clear-ances, when landlords con-ducted a wholesale evictionof Scottish farmers in the 18th

century and turned their

lands over to sheep grazing.One of Ulva’s most famoussons is Lachlan Macquarie, ahigh-profile colonial gov-ernor in Australia in the 19th

century.

Unity is strengthCommunity purchase ofland is not a new concept inScotland. Residents of theIsle of Eigg, also near Mull,still remember life undertheir playboy lairds beforethey did their own form of acommunity buyout underprevious legislation in 1997.

Motoring tycoon KeithSchellenberg sold up in1995, shortly after his RollsRoyce mysteriously caughtfire, to a German artistcalled “Professor Maruma”.He tried to turn the islandinto an artists’ retreat untilthe 60 or so islandersbought him out with thehelp of an anonymousbenefactor.

The bulk of Eigg’s buyoutwas provided by that bene-factor and the rest wasraised through small dona-tions from people all overthe world, a significant featin the days before wide-spread social media.

Eigg’s population has al-most doubled since the buy-out and it now has its ownrenewable energy grid, fastInternet, and an annual mu-sic festival.

The eight-kilometre-longisland continues to attractadventurous young soulskeen to make a life 30 kmfrom the Scottish mainland.

Taking on tycoons, residentshope to buy Scottish islandAristocratic family had put Ulva on sale for £4.25 millionAgence France-Presse

Ulva

Pristine beauty: The Boathouse Cafe on the Isle of Ulva. * AFP

A runaway seven-year-oldgirl slipped through secur-ity checks and onto a planewithout a boarding pass atGeneva airport before be-ing spotted by a crew mem-ber and handed over to po-lice, spokesperson BernardStampfli has said.

In the incident that tookplace on Sunday, the girl,who was not identified, ini-tially slipped away fromher parents at Geneva’smain railway station andtravelled by train to the air-port. Mr. Stampfli said thegirl repeatedly “took ad-vantage of her small size”and employed a “ruse” tomake it look like she wastravelling with adultsahead or behind her.

After a first attemptfailed, she tried again andsucceeded in gettingaboard an EasyJet flight toCorsica. Airport authoritiesare now enhancing secur-ity measures to ensure thatchildren are accompaniedby adults.

Runawaychild sneaksonto plane Associated Press

Geneva

Since early September, thedenizens of this normallyhushed burg in centralFrance have been serenadedby an industrial drill pokingholes around town andpulling up cylinders of rock.

That’s because Rochech-ouart, population 3,800, andits medieval castle are builton top of an astrobleme.

“An astrobleme — whichliterally means ‘star scar’ — isthe name given to traces leftby a major meteorite im-pact,” explained PhilippeLambert, one of the astro-geologists trying to unlock itssecrets.

This particular impactcrater was made by amassive space rock thatcrash-landed more than 200

million years ago, and has in-trigued scientists since itsdiscovery in the 19th century.

“You have a nugget underyour feet!,” the famous Cana-dian astrophysicist HubertReeves enthused in 2011while visiting the research

project here he helpedlaunch. Since then, scores ofscientists — geologists, palae-ontologists, exobiologists —from a dozen countries havesubmitted requests to exam-ine the space rock up close.

Mr. Lambert directs theInternational Centre for Re-search on Impacts atRochechouart (CIRRI).

The centre is coordinatingthe first-ever drilling and ex-cavation at the site.

“About 200 million yearsago — before the Jurassicperiod, and even before theplanet’s continents splitapart — a six-billion-tonnemeteorite about a kilometrein diameter crashed here,”said Pierre Poupart, whooverseas a natural reserve setup around the crater. “It wastravelling at about 72,000

kilometres per hour.” Theimpact — which vaporisedthe meteorite — was roughlyequivalent to several thou-sand Hiroshima-sized atomicbombs, and almost certainlydestroyed all life within a ra-dius of some 200 kilometres.The landscape was changedforever.

Core samplesThe Rochechouart astrob-leme is unusually close to thesurface, making it easier tostudy.

The drilling, scheduledthrough November, will yield20 core samples.

The €600,000 project,funded by the French gov-ernment and the EuropeanUnion, could be the begin-ning of a long adventure,said Mr. Lambert. “There’s

everything here to justify anopen-air laboratory,” hemused.

Some scientists hope totease out remaining myster-ies about how such meteor-ites form, and what thatmight tell us about their evol-ution in space.

Others are on the hunt forchemical traces that couldshed light on the emergenceof life on Earth, and which ofthe raw ingredients essentialfor life came from space.

Geologists are curiousabout how such a cataclys-mic impact might have re-leased water held withinrock formations, while palae-ontologists are looking athow an event that could des-troy life, at the same time,creates conditions for newlifeforms to emerge.

Scientists mine ‘star scar’ in French townRochechouart and its medieval castle were built on top of land hit by a meteorite 200 million years ago


Rochechouart

A trace of a meteorite impactin Rochechouart. * AFP

A Mexican actor became thelatest to accuse Kevin Spaceyof sexual harassment, pre-dicting more such claimswould emerge.

Roberto Cavazos, who ac-ted in several plays at Lon-don’s Old Vic theatre whenSpacey was artistic directorthere from 2004 to 2015,said the Hollywood starroutinely preyed on youngmale actors.

“It seems the only re-quirement was to be a maleunder the age of 30 for MrSpacey to feel free to touchus,” he wrote in a Facebookpost. The accusation echoedthe claim made on Sundayby American actor AnthonyRapp, who said Spaceymade a “sexual advance” onhim in 1986, when he was 14and Spacey was 26.

Streaming giant Netflixannounced it has suspendedproduction of the sixth sea-son of House of Cards, theaward-winning politicaldrama starring Spacey.

Hollywood’s wideningsexual harassment crisis has

ensnared a prominent filmdirector after six women, in-cluding actor Olivia Munn,accused Brett Ratner ofsexual assault or misconductin a Los Angeles Times reporton Wednesday.

Hoffman apologisesThe reverberations alsoreached back 32 years asOscar-winner Dustin Hoff-man came forward to apolo-gise for allegedly sexuallyharassing a 17-year-old in-tern in 1985.

Writer Anna GrahamHunter said in a column inThe Hollywood Reporter thatthe now 80-year-old actor

groped her on the set of TVmovie Death of a Salesmanand “talked about sex to meand in front of me”.

Munn has alleged thatwhile visiting the set of Rat-ner’s After the Sunset in2004, he masturbated infront of her in his trailer.Munn described the incid-ent, without naming Ratner,in a 2010 collection of es-says.

Representatives for Rat-ner didn’t immediately re-spond to queries on Wed-nesday. Ratner directed theRush Hour film series, RedDragon, X-Men: The LastStand and Tower Heist.

Allegations also surface against Dustin Ho�man, Bret Ratner


New York

Kevin Spacey and, right, Dustin Ho�man. * AFP

Mexican actor accusesSpacey of harassment

Climbing the world’s largestmonolith Uluru was bannedon Wednesday amid con-cerns it was becoming a“theme park”, underminingthe giant red rock’s deep cul-tural significance.

Scrambling up the symbolof the Outback, also knownas Ayers Rock, is seen bymany tourists as a must-doon their visit to Australia.

But they do so against thewishes of the traditional Ab-

original owners, the Anangu,to whom the site is sacred.

At a meeting of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Board, made up of tradi-tional owners and NationalPark representatives, a unan-imous decision was made to

ban the activity. It will comeinto force in October 2019.

“This decision is for bothAnangu and non-Anangu to-gether to feel proud about; torealise, of course it’s theright thing to close it,” boardchairman Sammy Wilsonsaid.

Speaking to state broad-caster ABC after the de-cision, he added that the sitewas not a “theme park”.

“Some people in tourismand government for examplemight have been saying we

whether to tackle the sand-stone monolith, which soars348 metres. About 3,00,000people visit each year and,while there are no official fig-ures on how many climb,their numbers are reportedto have declinedsignificantly.

Tackling Uluru’s sand-stone slopes is not an easyexercise and there have beennumerous deaths over theyears on the rock, wheresummer temperatures oftenhit 45 degrees Celsius.

to respect the ruling. “If Itravel to another countryand there is a sacred site, anarea of restricted access, Idon’t enter or climb it, I re-spect it,” he said in the state-ment.

“It is the same here forAnangu. We welcome tour-ists here. We are not stop-ping tourism, just thisactivity.”

Park authorities have longlooked to close the climbpermanently. It is currentlyleft up to visitors to decide

need to keep it open but it’snot their law that lies in thisland,” he said.

“It is an extremely import-ant place, not a playgroundor theme park likeDisneyland.”

Cultural significanceThe rock’s traditional Abori-ginal owners’ connection tothe site dates back tens ofthousands of years and it hasgreat spiritual and culturalsignificance to them.

Mr. Wilson urged tourists

Climbing Australia’s giant red rock Uluru to be banned The restriction will come into e�ect in October 2019, respecting the wishes of aboriginal tribes for whom the site is sacred


Sydney

Sandstone formation: Uluru in Australia. * AP

In a nut shell: Aerial view of a crab-shaped museum under construction on the shore of Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou, JiangsuProvince of China. The museum is 75 metres long and 16 metres high with three �oors in all. * GETTY IMAGES/VCG


Museum in the making

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thursday O november 2, 2017

IN BRIEF

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Patriotism vs JingoismThe 23rd Justice Sunanda

Bhandare Memorial Lecture

sees discussion on new form

of nationalism Page 2

Trial run forU-turn �yoverIt is one of two four-lane

unidirectional �yovers on

either side of IFFCO Chowk

in Gurugram Page 4

Restoring theromanceShiraz, Franz Osten’s 1929

silent �lm on a story behind

the Taj Mahal, �nds its way

back to screen Page 5

Africa’s last EdenThe Okavango Delta is one

of the continent’s last

havens where natural

beauty �ourishes Page 6

HC modi�es stay orderon Kathputli ColonyNEW DELHI

the High Court on Wednesdayallowed the Delhi Develop-ment Authority (DDA) todemolish the slums of thoseresidents of west Delhi’sKathputli Colony who wereeligible for relocation andhad moved out voluntarily.

CITY A PAGE 3

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Close aide of ChhotaShakeel arrested NEW DELHI

Naseem alias Rizwan, a 28-

year-old wanted criminal and

sharpshooter with a bounty of

₹50,000 on his head has

been arrested for his alleged

involvement in several cases

of robbery, extortion and

attempt to murder. He is also

an aide of Chhota Shakeel.

CITY A PAGE 3

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

As Delhiites choke on thicksmog and poor air quality,government agencies andmunicipal corporations areyet to ramp up action againstdust pollution and burningof waste, shows data fromthe Delhi Environment andForest Department.

As per National GreenTribunal (NGT) orders, finesfor construction sites causingdust pollution and individu-als burning waste are₹50,000 and ₹5,000, re-spectively. All land-owningagencies as well as the DelhiPollution Control Committeeare supposed to enforcethese rules.

According to the latest ac-tion-taken reports (ATRs)

submitted by the variousagencies to the EnvironmentDepartment, some depart-ments have ramped up ac-tion, while others have not.

‘Must strengthen action’Environment Minister ImranHussain, who held a reviewmeeting on October 27 to dis-cuss the ATRs, said that theDelhi Development Author-ity (DDA) had been the slow-est to act.

As per the ATR, the DDAhad only issued two challansfor dust pollution and onefor waste burning as onSeptember 30 this year. Thatbeing said, the DDA has con-ducted 971 and 1,378 inspec-tions for dust pollution andwaste burning, respectively.

“We routinely see garbage

being burnt in empty plotsand parks of the DDA as wellas the Yamuna floodplains,which is under DDA’s juris-diction. The other depart-ments are cracking down butthere is need to strengthenaction, particularly by theDDA,” said Mr. Hussain.

He added that the civicbodies and departments hadbeen directed to take thematter seriously and sendtheir nodal officers for re-view meetings, which willtake place every 10 days dur-ing the winter months, whenpollution levels worsen.

As per the ATRs, the EastDelhi Municipal Corporation(EDMC) has issued the mostchallans for both dust pollu-tion and waste burning, with4,529 and 891 respectively as

on October 9. The EDMC hasissued fines for a total of ₹1.31crore and ₹18.11 lakh for dustpollution and waste burning,respectively.

“Our goal is not to in-crease the revenue fromfines, but to control the pol-lution so Delhiites can getsome respite,” said Mr. Hus-sain, referring to the prevail-ing high levels of particulatepollution.

‘Very poor’ air qualityAs per the Central PollutionControl Board, Delhi’s AirQuality Index at 4 p.m. onWednesday was 355, puttingit in the ‘very poor’ category.

Both the levels of the fineparticulate matter PM2.5 andthe coarse PM10 were wellover the standards.

Agencies slow to act against pollutersData from environment dept show DDA has issued only three challans till Sept 30

Damini Nath

New Delhi

Air pollution is a slow killerand winter witnesses theworst air quality... exer-cising outdoors could meancompromising your health,this was the ‘health warn-ing’ issued by top doctors inthe city on Wednesday aspart of the #myrightto-breathe campaign.

“As concerned citizens,we urge the public to makethe first move to help Delhiget back clean air. When airpollution reached criticallevels last year, our grouptook to the streets to raiseawareness and demandemergency measures fromour government,” said thecitizens’ action group.

‘Need civil actions’“The solution lies in re-sponsible civil actions fromemployers, administrators,corporations, medical com-munity and the larger pub-lic,” the group added.

According to the doctors,including Dr. Naresh Tre-han, cardiologist, founderMedanta Medicity; Dr.Arvind Kumar, head of De-partment of Chest Surgeryat Sir Ganga Ram Hospital;Dr. Harsh Mahajan, founderand chief radiologist at Ma-hajan Imaging, citizens mustminimise their exposure tooutdoor air.

Doctors advised Delhiitesto monitor local air qualityalerts to know which activit-ies can be safely performedoutside and exercise at least200 metres away from road/construction. People alsoneed to learn about properuse of pollution masks, theyadded. “Consider this ahealth warning and don’t ig-nore it,” said the doctors.

Avoid goingoutside: docsissue healthwarningBindu Shajan Perappadan

New Delhi

The Transport Departmenthas seized over 132 over-loaded goods carriers at theCapital’s borders since Fridayas part of an ongoing specialdrive against such vehicles.

Describing it as a majorfeat by the department’s en-forcement wing, which iscomposed of just 60 officials,sources said a timely shift instrategy helped ensure swiftaction against the vehicles asthey pollute more due to themagnitude of their cargo.

As many as one lakh goodscarriers, including trucks,enter the Capital daily.

“Initially, the teams, com-posed of a maximum of fiveofficials, were stationed atdifferent border points to en-force the ban on entry of

such vehicles in Delhi. Overthe weekend, however, therewas a jump in prosecution asthe entire wing was posted atone randomly selected loca-tion,” said a source.

From the weekendAs per figures compiled bythe Department, 92 over-loaded vehicles were inspec-ted, issued a total of 180 finesand impounded, betweenOctober 25 and 29.

Despite no such checkingon Sunday, the number ofvehicles prosecuted for theoffence shot up to 132 – an ad-ditional 40 vehicles – tillTuesday morning. Thesource added that the drivewas being enforced at borderpoints such as the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road, Singhu Borderand Ghazipur Border.

According to anothersource, the drive will con-tinue between 8 p.m. and 4a.m. daily.

A senior government offi-cial said the drive was thebiggest campaign againstoverloaded trucks so far.

“Overloaded trucks signi-ficantly add to the pollutionof ambient air. Emissionfrom such vehicles is signific-antly more than the fixedstandard. The penalty beingenforced will be according tothe amount of extra tonnagethat they are found lugging,”the source added.

The official said ₹4,000would be levied for every ex-tra tonne that such vehicleswere carrying. Vehiclesseized for the offence canonly be retrieved from desig-nated traffic courts.

Shift in inspection strategy credited for spike in challans

Jatin Anand

New Delhi

Transport dept impounds132 overloaded trucks

Brown haze: Thick smog has been enveloping the city for the past few days. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

A Delhi government commit-tee has recommended the“complete replacement” ofcycle rickshaws with “envir-onment friendly, two-seatere-rickshaws” in the Capital inaddition to a cap on the num-ber of such vehicles.

The e-rickshaws are cur-rently a part of an unregu-lated segment of the trans-port sector and havemushroomed across the na-tional capital region (NCR).

Registration of e-ricksFormed in January this yearfollowing a Delhi High Courtdirective, the committee, inits report, has recommendedseveral measures, includingcapping the numbers of e-rickshaws, and registration ofsuch vehicles only after theowner gets a permanent driv-ing licence.

“At present there is no capon the number of e-Rick-shaws that can be registeredin Delhi. The committee

opines, considering roadspace and availability of othermodes of transport, that thenumbers should be limited asdone in auto-rickshaws,” thereport stated, adding that anestimated one lakh suchvehicles were plying despitebeing unregistered.

According to the report,cycle rickshaws should “com-pletely be replaced with smal-ler e-rickshaws” and efforts

should be made to makethem more environment andpeople friendly.

E-rickshaws approved bythe Union Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways havea maximum width of 1 metreand maximum length of 2.8meters and are permitted tocarry four passengers. Thepanel has, however, recom-mended designing smaller e-rickshaws with a passenger

capacity of two.“This will make the e-rick-

shaws more people-friendlyand will also help in provid-ing last-mile connectivity,”the report stated.

‘PSV badge a must’One of the most significant re-commendations made by thecommittee was making PublicService Vehicle (PSV) badgesmandatory for e-rickshaw

drivers. “In accordance with Rule-6

of DMVR, 1993, a driver of aPSV shall display on his leftchest a metal or plastic badgeissued by a licensing author-ity after a verification regard-ing his character and ante-cedents, is received fromconcerned police station,” thereport said.

The committee recommen-ded that the driver of an e-rickshaw should be in posses-sion of a “valid PSV badge atall times”. It also said that au-thorities must ensure that thedriver does not allow passen-gers to sit beside him in thefront seat, and should wear agrey colour uniform as pre-scribed by the State Trans-port Authority Delhi.

It also recommended do-ing away with the present sys-tem of e-rickshaw registrationgiven on the basis of learner’slicence. “E-rickshaws shouldbe registered only after theapplicant obtains a perman-ent driving licence,” the panelrecommended.

‘Replace cycle rickshaws with e-ricks’Govt panel wants drivers to wear uniform and badge; cap on number of such vehicles allowed on roads

Limited passengers: The committee has also suggested reducing the number of seats in e-rickshaws from four to two. * FILE PHOTO

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

A five-judge ConstitutionBench led by Chief Justice ofIndia Dipak Misra will onThursday commence hear-ing a series of appeals filedby the Delhi government forlaying down the law onwhether the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) can unilater-ally administer the Capitalwithout being bound by the“aid and advice” of the elec-ted government.

The appeals were re-ferred to the ConstitutionBench in February by a Divi-sion Bench of Justices A. K.Sikri and R. K. Agrawal.

The primary questionthat may arise for considera-tion of the ConstitutionBench would be whetherthe appeals need to be fur-ther referred to an 11-judgeBench of the SupremeCourt. This is because anine-judge Bench of theapex court had in 1996 inthe NDMC versus State ofPunjab case, recognisedDelhi as a Union Territoryfor taxation purposes.

‘Want more freedom’However, senior advocateGopal Subramanium, rep-resenting the Delhi govern-ment, had submitted thatthe petitions did not seekfull Statehood for Delhi, butwas asking for more free-dom for an elected govern-ment to administer and gov-ern the National Capital.

The two-judge Bench saidthere are several questionsof law that need to be inter-preted and settled by a Con-stitution Bench. JusticeSikri’s Bench had heard theappeals, which were filed inAugust 2016, on a prelimin-ary basis but refrained fromframing questions for the

Constitution Bench.The batch of seven spe-

cial leave petitions filed bythe Delhi government haschallenged the Delhi HighCourt’s August 4 judgmentwhich upheld the L-G’spower not only over the po-lice, land and public orderbut also in “services”.

The Supreme Court had,however, refused to stay theHC judgment.

The Delhi governmenthas highlighted the primaryquestion whether the dis-pute between AAP-Centrewas a federal dispute com-ing under Article 131 of theConstitution and which onlythe Supreme Court has juris-diction to hear and decide.

The High Court had dis-missed the Delhi govern-ment’s claim that the AAP-Centre tussle was a 'classic'federal dispute.

The 194-page judgmenthad relegated the wrangle tothe status of a mere politicaltug-of-war on 'services' mat-ters over which the HighCourt has full jurisdiction toadjudicate under Article 226of the Constitution.

It had observed that notevery dispute between theCentre and a State govern-ment could be classified as a‘federal dispute’.

Delhi-Centre turfspat hearing todayConstitution Bench to hear appeals

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The Bench will be led by ChiefJustice of India Dipak Misra.

The Odisha conjoined twins,Jaga and Kalia, who were sep-arated after a 16-hour opera-tion on October 26 at the AllIndia Institute of Medical Sci-ences (AIIMS) are now stable,said a statement released bythe institute on Wednesday.

“Jaga has been taken offthe ventilator, but Kalia is stillin ICU. Both the children arestable. Jaga has recognisedhis mother and if his healthremains stable, he will beshifted out of the ICU in thenext 48 hours. Kalia is under

observation. He will remainin the ICU for eight to 10 daysmore. The vital parametersof both the children are nor-mal,” read the statement.

Odisha Health Minister

Pratap Jena visited the hos-pital on Wednesday and metthe parents of the children aswell as the team of doctorswho conducted the surgery.

The craniopagus ( joinedat the head) twins fromKandhamal district were ad-mitted to AIIMS on July 13.

Doctors said that twinswere suffering from a condi-tion that afflicted one in 30lakh children, of which halfdie either at birth or within24 hours.

The first phase of the sur-gery was performed on Au-gust 28.

Jaga o� ventilator but Kalia is still under observation

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Conjoined twins stable: AIIMS

The twins were separated onOctober 26. * FILE PHOTO

The Goa Bench of the Bom-bay High Court on Wednes-day adjourned to December12 the hearing on former Te-helka editor-in-chief TarunTejpal’s plea to quash pro-ceedings against him in atrial court. The interim stayon commencement of trialwill continue.

The hearing was ad-journed at the request of Mr.Tejpal on the grounds that

the mother of his lawyer,Aman lekhi, had passedaway.

Earlier, the HC had re-fused to stay the process offraming of charges againstMr. Tejpal at a lower court inMapusa in north Goa, butdirected that the trial couldbegin only after its consent.

The petition was filed byMr. Tejpal challenging theframing of charges by the ad-ditional North Goa Districtand Sessions Court. The

former editor has been ac-cused of sexually assaultinga junior female colleague inthe elevator of a hotel innorth Goa for two consecut-ive days during a festivalevent in November 2013.

Mr. Tejpal was arrestedand is out on bail.

He faces charges underSections 341 (wrongful re-straint), 342 (wrongful con-finement), 376 (rape), and354 (b) (criminal assault withintent to disrobe) of the IPC.

Tarun Tejpal’s plea to quashproceedings adjourned Interim stay on commencement of trial will continue


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The 23rd Justice SunandaBhandare Memorial Lecturewas held in Delhi on Wed-nesday, which also com-memorated her 75th birthanniversary.

The lecture on ‘Patriotismversus Jingoism’ waspresided by Gita Mittal, act-ing Chief Justice of the DelhiHigh Court, and had Su-preme Court judge Madan B.Lokur as the chief guest.

‘The Indian model’Speaking at the event, emin-ent historian and scholarRamachandra Guha said:“Nationalism is the motherfrom which both patriotismand jingoism emerged. In theEuropean form, nationalismwas based as much on lan-guage and religion as onidentification of a commonenemy against whom the cit-izens concentrated their en-ergies and animosity. How-ever, the Indian model ofnationalism, as elaboratedby Mahatma Gandhi, wasbased on a set of values andnot a religion, language orenemy.”

Highlighting JusticeBhandare’s commitment to-ward upholding individual

liberty as well as the rule oflaw, Justice Mittal said: “It isnot uncommon to findpeople confusing patriotismwith jingoism. While patriot-ism is a virtue, jingoism is avice. Justice Bhandare was atrue patriot who wanted tobring a positive change tothe society. There is no bet-ter way to pay homage to herthan to pledge to uphold thevalues that she stood for.”

Mr. Guha also spoke aboutthe ideal form of ‘constitu-tional patriotism’, which in-cludes “acknowledgement

and appreciation of our in-herent and shared diversity,recognition that no State, na-tion or religion is flawless,ability to feel shame at thefailures of our nation andState, and the desire and willto correct them.”

‘New form of nationalism’While speaking about thecurrent form of ‘nationalism’which the nation is currentlygripped by, Mr. Guha said:“The new model of national-ism involves privileging of asingle model of religion:

Hinduism, privileging of asingle language: Hindi, andprivileging of a common ex-ternal enemy: Pakistan. Thiscompletely mimics 19th cen-tury European nationalism.An additional feature whichthis model has, which ismore disturbing, is thebranding of all critics asanti-nationals”.

The historian also saidthat it was the hypocrisies ofthe Left and the intellectualcorruption of the Congressparty that gave ammunitionto the jingoists.

“It’s a battle between aparanoid, punitive and hate-ful form of nationalism andthe heritage of the freedommovement and the IndianConstitution. Although thereis no political vehicle for aconstitutional patriotism,one which built, united andnurtured the best values andbest individuals like JusticeBhandare, those of us whoare constitutional patriotsshould consistently carry onthe values of the constitu-tional patriarchy,” said Mr.Guha.

Panel at 23rd Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture discusses forms of nationalism

Important issue: (from left) Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court Gita Mittal, eminent historian Ramachandra Guha andSupreme Court judge Madan B. Lokur at the 23rd Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture on Wednesday. * SANDEEP SAXENA

‘Patriotism a virtue, jingoism a vice’Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Birds of a feather: A pair of black Ibis at the Central Vista lawns in New Delhi. * V.V. KRISHNAN

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Making a splash

North Delhi Mayorinspects toilet blocks NEW DELHI

North Delhi Mayor Preety

Agarwal and Municipal

Commissioner Madhup Vyas

made a surprise visit to toilet

blocks in Old Delhi on

Wednesday. They paid special

attention to toilets near the

New Delhi railway station. The

Mayor directed that all toilet

blocks in the area be repaired

within a week. “The Mayor also

ordered regular cleaning of the

toilets,” a statement by the

north body read. STAFF REPORTER

IN BRIEF

The North Delhi MunicipalCorporation postponed theconstitution of ad hoc andspecial committees for thethird time on Wednesday,raising suspicion among theopposition about an attemptto centralise power.

Election for the posts ofchairperson and vice-chair-person to these committeeswere supposed to have beenheld on November 7 and 8.

No reasons givenHowever, information wassent out on Wednesday forpostponement till furthernotice. No reasons weregiven for the delay.

The North body is yet toconstitute committees suchas education, rural and adhoc, and special committees.It has been seven monthssince the BJP came to powerin the municipalities.

Leader of the OppositionRakesh Kumar alleged theBJP in the municipality wasignoring the interests of thepeople of north Delhi to sat-isfy their vested interests. Healso alleged that the delay

was due to an internal rift inthe BJP, which has now star-ted affecting civic bodywork.

“It is the Mayor’s respons-ibility to constitute theseelections. We have writtenseveral times to have thesecommittees constituted butour requests have been ig-nored since August. The is-sue is that she [North DelhiMayor Preety Agarwal]wants to keep the control ofthese committees underher,” Mr. Kumar said.

BJP irresponsible: CongStating that the BJP was irre-sponsible, Congress leaderMukesh Goel said the elec-tions had been postponedfor the third time.

“These committees have alife of one financial year.Seven months are over andwe just have five more to go.What work will the commit-tee be able to do in thistime?” said Mr. Goel.

Ms. Agarwal refused tocomment on the matter say-ing the constitution of thecommittees was an organisa-tional matter and there wasno political interference in it.

North body deferspanel polls againBid to centralise power, says Opposition

Soumya Pillai

New Delhi

Parents will be able to seehow a school, whether gov-ernment or private, ranks be-fore enrolling their childrenfrom the next academic ses-sion, with Delhi’s State Advis-ory Council on Wednesdayapproving the ranking exer-cise.

At a meeting on Wednes-day, the council, set up as perthe Right to Education Act,2009, decided to rank allschools in the Capital on vari-ous parameters, Delhi DeputyChief Minister and EducationMinister Manish Sisodia said.The exact parameters are yetto be decided, he added.

“As of now, parents don’thave one document wherethey can get rankings of allschools... The Delhi Commis-sion for Protection of ChildRights has agreed to conductindependent ranking,” saidMr. Sisodia.

Among other decisionstaken by the council, Mr. Siso-dia said, was the move to ex-pand the Delhi government’s

ongoing Chunauti pro-gramme, which is aimed atimproving learning out-comes, to all government andmunicipal primary schools.

Education beat volunteers Currently, the scheme is ap-plicable to Class VI to VIII ofDelhi government schools.The Deputy Chief Ministersaid the scheme was rolledout when 74% of Class VI stu-dents of government schoolswere found unable to read upto their grade-level.

The scheme will be expan-ded in order to address stu-dents before they reach ClassVI, he said.

Apart from that, the gov-ernment will also launch aprogramme to identify chil-dren who are out of schoolsand get them to enrol. Socialwelfare workers appointed ineach school managementcommittee will work as edu-cation beat volunteers toidentify out-of-school chil-dren in their area and tocounsel them and their par-ents to take admission.

Members of RWAs or localcommunities can also volun-teer, he said. Mr. Sisodia saideducation officials of the mu-nicipal corporations hadagreed to set up School Man-agement Committees (SMCs)

in their schools. With muni-cipal and governmentschools, about 2,600 SMCs,one per school, and therefore2,600 volunteers will be avail-able to carry out the pro-gramme.

Door-to-door surveyThe government will alsohave a door-to-door survey toidentify out-of-school chil-dren with the help of angan-wadi workers. The govern-ment will also launch ahelpline, where people cangive information about anychildren in their localitieswho are not going to school.

Mr. Sisodia said the councilhad also decided that allprivate school principals andprimary teachers will begiven training on how to treateconomically-weaker section(EWS) students.

“We have seen that afterthe EWS students are en-rolled, there are issues of so-cial integration. We will holdtraining for all principals andprimary school teachers tosensitise them,” he said.

Sisodia says Chunauti scheme will soon cover all govt, municipal primary schools

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Council gives nod to rank all schools

<> Parents don’t have

one document where

they can get rankings

of all schools... The

Delhi Commission

for Protection of

Child Rights has

agreed to conduct

independent ranking

Manish Sisodia

Deputy Chief Minister

The National CoordinationCentre for Pharmacovigil-ance Programme of India(NCC-PvPI), Indian Phar-macopoeia Commission,was recently launched as aWorld Health Organizationcollaborating centre forpharmacovigilance in pub-lic health programmes andregulatory services at theIndian PharmacopoeiaCommission in Ghaziabad.

The commission func-tions as the NCC-PvPI un-der the guidance of theUnion Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare.

For patient safetyThe event also witnessedthe launch of the “NationalStrategic Plan for Scale upof Pharmacovigilance inIndia” and “Pharmacovi-gilance Guidelines forStakeholders”.

A technical session on“WHO Global PatientSafety Challenge — Medica-tion without Harm” wasalso organised at theevent.

PvPI has progressedconsiderably over the pastfew years. It was approvedby the Union Health Min-istry in July 2010.

The primary objectiveof the programme was tocreate a nationwide sys-tem for patient safety re-porting. There are 250functioning Adverse DrugMonitoring centres in thecountry in medical col-leges and corporate hos-pitals as part of thisprogramme.

Centre fordrug safetylaunchedStaff Reporter

NEW DELHI

East Delhi Mayor NeemaBhagat will lead a protest,titled ‘Run For Funds,’against the Delhi govern-ment on Thursday overdelay in payment of funds tothe East Delhi Municipal Cor-poration (EDMC), which hasstalled projects and paymentof salaries and arrears toemployees.

Ms. Bhagat said theprotest, which will start fromMadhuban Chowk near Nir-man Vihar metro station tillthe Delhi Secretariat, will de-

mand the ₹9,278 crore theDelhi government owes thecivic body as per the recom-mendations of the FourthDelhi Finance Commission.

All BJP councillors from eastDelhi will participate in themarch.

Financial crisisMs. Bhagat said the EDMChas been going through ma-jor financial crisis and it isunfortunate that the corpor-ation has not been able tomake timely payment ofsalaries and pensions. Sheadded that arrears have notbeen given to the corpora-tion staff for many years andthat the civic body does nothave the funds for carryingout development work.

“From the attitude of theDelhi government it seemslike they have no interest inthe development of eastDelhi. Our situation may getbetter than the South DelhiMunicipal Corporation[SDMC], which is consideredthe wealthiest of the threemunicipalities, if the Delhigovernment gives our shareof ₹9,278 crore,” she added.

“This is not a politicallymotivated move. We shouldkeep our political differencesaside and work for thepeople of the city. We are notbegging them for money. We

are asking for what they oweus,” she said.

The financial condition ofthe EDMC is the worstamong the three municipalit-ies. Annually, the EDMCearns ₹600 crore under thenon-plan head, of which ₹175crore comes from propertytax. Of these, at least ₹350crore goes into payment ofsalaries.

The civic body has alreadyseen two strikes by sanita-tion workers over non-pay-ment of dues in the eight-month tenure of the newteam led by the BJP.

EDMC Mayor to lead protest march against govt Rally over delay in payment of funds to civic body will start from Nirman Vihar metro station

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Neema Bhagat

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)government “played norole” in the ban imposed onhookah bars in the Capital,BJP MP Parvesh Sahib SinghVerma and Rajouri GardenMLA Manjinder Singh Sirsasaid on Wednesday.

Alleging that the AAPleadership was trying to mis-lead citizens by taking creditfor the ban, the BJP leaderssaid that on May 23, 2016,the Union Health Ministryhad issued an order banningthe smoking of hookah fol-lowing which, on July 17,2017, Mr. Sirsa met the Lieu-tenant-Governor (L-G) to getthis implemented in Delhi.

“It was on the L-G’s ordersthat the department of State

Tobacco Control issued anorder on July 21 banninghookah bars in Delhi. Then,Mr. Sirsa and his team,armed with the new order,handed over copies to DelhiPolice Station House Officersto get this order implemen-ted,” the duo said.

According to Mr. Sirsa, inbetween these events, healso approached the Na-tional Green Tribunal (NGT)

to get hookah bars closed inDelhi and pursued the casethere. He added that he hadalso approached the Delhigovernment repeatedly butit “paid no heed to his ap-peals on the issue”.

‘Tried to raise issue’“Now, the AAP governmenthas woken up from its deepslumber to claim that it hasbanned these hookah bars.The order they are talkingabout is two months old andthey had no role to play init,” Mr. Sirsa said.

The legislator claimedthat he had sought threetimes to move an attentionmotion on the issue in theDelhi Legislative Assembly,but the Speaker had “re-fused”.

AAP played no role in ban on hookah bars: BJPSirsa says Centre issued order in May 2016 and he met L-G in July this year to get it enforced in the city

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Raising voice: BJP MP Parvesh Verma and party MLA ManjinderSingh accused the AAP of trying to mislead citizens. * FILE PHOTO

<> The AAP government

claims it has banned

hookah bars. The

order they are

talking about is two

months old and they

had no role to play

Manjinder Singh Sirsa

Rajouri Garden BJP MLA

The Jawahalal Nehru Stu-dents’ Union ( JNUSU) hasannounced that it will beconducting coaching classesfor candidates that will beappearing for the JNU en-trance examination 2018-19,which is scheduled to beheld in the last week ofDecember.

The union said that it hadroped in student volunteersto conduct the coachingclasses to make JNU more

accessible to students fromdeprived backgrounds. Theclasses will be held at theStudent Activity Centrefrom November 6 and willbe offered free of cost.

The preparatory classeswill be organised for en-trance into BA, MA andMPhil courses.

Applicants who want toregister for the coachingclasses can do so by leavingtheir information at the en-rolment register at theJNUSU office.

JNUSU to conductcoaching classes Staff Reporter

New Delhi

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) on Wednesday askedthe Haryana government toensure that there are no il-legal structures built in pub-lic places such as parks.

The green panel washearing a plea filed byFaridabad resident VikasSingh who alleged that therewas ‘encroachment’ on apark in his neighbourhoodafter construction of a gurd-wara was initiated. It wasfurther alleged that the areahad already been declared a‘park’ by the municipal cor-poration of Faridabad.

“The park is used for re-creation and protection ofwildlife. It is also used by theelderly to take walks,” readthe petition.

It was alleged that theconstruction of a gurdwarawas started in August thisyear without obtaining per-mission from authorities.

Highlighting the adverseeffects of the structurewithin the park, the petitionread: “Parks are publicamenities and provide greenspace in densely populatedareas... reduction in suchspace will rob residents ofaccess to fresh air and recre-ation as guaranteed by theConstitution.”

The petition also cited aSupreme Court order, whichstated that “no public land,park or street should be en-croached for constructingany religious structures”.The matter has been listedfor final hearing later thismonth.

‘Public places shouldn’thave illegal structures’

Green court tells Haryana government

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

NGT to govt: keep drainsat Maharani Bagh cleanNEW DELHI

The National Green Tribunal

(NGT) has directed the Delhi

government and the civic

bodies to ensure that drains

at the posh Maharani Bagh

are cleaned and made

obstruction-free. A Bench

headed by NGT Chairperson

Justice Swatanter Kumar

sought responses of the AAP

government, South Delhi

Municipal Corporation and the

Delhi Development Authority

on the issue. STAFF REPORTER

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A 28-year-old wanted crim-inal and sharpshooter with abounty of ₹50,000 on hishead was arrested on Tues-day for his alleged involve-ment in several cases of rob-bery, extortion and attemptto murder.

Naseem alias Rizwan isthe aide of Chhota Shakeel,the associate of underworlddon Dawood Ibrahim, thepolice said on Wednesday.

Alleged contract killerNaseem, who belongs to Ut-tar Pradesh and is a residentof Mustafabad here, was ar-rested by the special staff ofnorth-east district a tip-offregarding his arrival in Jafra-bad in the Capital.

“We laid a trap near aprivate school on 66 FootaRoad. Naseem turned uparound 7.45 p.m. with an il-legal weapon. Sensing policepresence, he started runningbut was apprehended,” said

Deputy Commissioner of Po-lice (north-east) A .K. Singla.

The police had put severallocal criminals under sur-veillance following somemurders and robberies inthe area recently. Naseem,who was also under surveil-lance, is an alleged contractkiller.

Mr. Singla said Naseem gotinvolved in criminal activit-ies nearly 10 years ago, when

his family shifted from Bu-landshahr to Mustafabad. Hesold garments on the streetbefore he came in contactwith local criminals andcommitted a murder, the po-lice said.

“That’s how he came incontact with one JunaidChoudhary, who was intouch with Shakeel,” he ad-ded.

Naseem is wanted for al-legedly planning to killwriter and activist Tarek Fa-tah and was hired by Shakeelfor the murder.

Gokalpuri robbery“Shakeel was in contact withJunaid and Naseem to givethe latter directions to elim-inate the writer,” Mr. Singlasaid, adding that Junaid wasarrested by the special cell inJune under the Arms Act.

Naseem is also wanted inconnection with a robbery atGokalpuri, in which a cashcarrier belonging to a busi-nessman was robbed in

broad daylight. “We have re-covered ₹1,98,000 from hispossession in connectionwith the case,” Mr. Singlasaid.

Two arrests were made inthe case last week and₹2,17,900 recovered fromFiroj and Mohd Asif.

“They told the police thatthe robbery was planned byNaseem and that he had as-signed the task to four ofthem. Their accomplices,Matloof alias Chikna andRaju alias Arif, are still atlarge,” Mr. Singla said.

Naseem allegedly told thepolice during interrogationthat he was in touch withShakeel, who had asked himto kill a Dwarka resident.

“Naseem also revealedthat he was in touch withMunna Singh, a criminal,through one Rashid, whomhe had met in Bijnor jail.Munna was conspiring toeliminate some high-profilepersonalities in Andhra Pra-desh,” said Mr. Singla.

A wanted criminal, the sharpshooter had a bounty of ₹50,000 on his head

Naseem *

Chhota Shakeel’s aide held Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Man impersonates PMO director, arrestedNEW DELHI

A man has been for allegedly

passing himself off as a

director at the PMO and

meeting Chief Vigilance

Commissioner K .V. Chowdary

for personal favours. The

police said a car with a

‘Government of India’ sticker

has been recovered from

Kanhaiya Kumar. STAFF REPORTER

IN BRIEF

Wasted: Garlands and plastic waste seen at the Capital’s Haiderpur canal. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

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Dirty picture

A 52-year-old Delhi Police of-ficer committed suicide byjumping in front of themetro on Wednesday morn-ing. The police recovered asuicide note from his posses-sion, which said he was end-ing his life because of illness.

Assistant Sub-InspectorHans Ram Barla, a residentof Uttam Nagar’s Om Vihar,jumped in front of the trainat Uttam Nagar (west) metrostation around 11 a.m. Hedied on the spot.

Gastrointestinal cancerSecurity personnel re-covered his body and took itto Deen Dayal UpadhyayHospital, where he was de-clared brought dead. Policesources said Mr. Barla wasdiagnosed with gastrointest-inal cancer. He was undergo-

ing treatment and took in-jections for pain relief.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (Metro) Pankaj Singhsaid Mr. Barla, who joinedthe Delhi Police in 1986, wasposted in the security wingand wasn’t working activelyfor the past three months.

“He had a stomach infec-

tion and was in a lot of pain.He wasn’t active since thepast three months and wason leave for little over threeweeks,” Mr. Singh said,adding that Mr. Barla wasn’twearing his uniform at thetime of the incident.

Stating that Mr. Barla’sdeath came as a shock forhis family, Mr. Singh added,“The family didn’t see itcoming at all. He left thehouse in the morning sayinghe was going to meet afriend nearby.”

The officer is survived byhis wife and three children,including two sons, aged 23and 27 years, and a 25-year-old daughter. “He used to or-ganise events for the Ra-jasthani community andmotivate them to be a partof the events as well,” saidhis 23-year-old son, who ispreparing for civil servicesexamination.

Jumps in front of train at Uttam Nagar (west) metro station

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Hans Ram Barla *

Police o�cer commits suicide

Talk: The Ila Dalmia Memorial Lec-ture 2017: “Naya Lahore: Contem-porary Art Practices in Lahore” byProf. Salima Hashmi, artist, curatorand contemporary art historian atSeminar Rooms I, II & III, KamaladeviComplex, India International Centre(IIC), 6:30 p.m.

Talk: Housing Policies: AffordableHomes 10th Edition of Habitainmentquiz of India Habitat Centre in collab-oration with National Housing Bankat Amphitheatre, India HabitatCentre (IHC), 1:30 p.m.

Dance: Kathak Recital by Sonali Royfrom Delhi, disciple of Pt. Birju Ma-haraj. Accompanists: Biswajit Pal(tabla); Janab Ghulam Waris Khan(vocal support); and Anil Mishra(sarangi) at C.D. Deshmukh Auditor-ium, India International Centre (IIC),6:30 p.m.

Exhibition: “Nukkad” a solo show

by Alok Uniyal at Gallerie Ganesha,E-557, Greater Kailash-II, 11 a.m. –7 p.m.

Exhibition: “Vessels - An embodi-ment of me” - A ceramic show byMonica Agnihotri at All India FineArts & Craft Society (AIFACS), 1 Ra�Marg, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Exhibition: Different Strokes - anexhibition of paintings by BharatDas, Abir Chowdhury and JhumpaNandy Das at Convention CentreFoyer, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 11a.m. – 7 p.m.

Screening: “Ridicule” French �lmscreening with English subtitles atM.L. Bhartia Auditorium, AllianceFrancaise De Delhi, 72, Lodhi Estate,6:30 p.m.

(Mail your listings for this column [email protected])

DELHI TODAY

A 21-year-old Delhi Univer-sity student allegedly com-mitted suicide at his resid-ence in south-west Delhi’sDwarka on Tuesday after-noon. No suicide note hasbeen recovered so far.

Prince alias Raj, a finalyear student of B.A. Pro-gramme, was found hangingfrom a ceiling fan at hishouse in Dwarka Sector 13.

Family awayAccording to the police,Raj’s family had gone to at-tend a wedding in their vil-lage in Uttar Pradesh and hewas alone at home.

“Their paying guest, whowas away for a few days, re-turned on Tuesday. He rangthe doorbell around 3 p.m.

but no one answered. Hecalled Raj’s father, whoasked him to try again. Hepeeped in from the window,spotted the body and imme-diately called the police,”said Deputy Commissionerof Police (south-west)Shibesh Singh.

The body was taken toDeen Dayal Upadhyay Hos-pital for post-mortem andRaj’s family was informed.

Last ritesThe police said the reasonbehind the alleged suicidehas not been ascertained.They are waiting for thefamily to return from theirvillage, where his body hasbeen taken for last rites.

“His phone has beenseized for examination,”said Mr. Singh.

DU student founddead in DwarkaNo suicide note recovered so far

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Modifying its stay order, theDelhi High Court on Wednes-day allowed the Delhi Devel-opment Authority (DDA) todemolish the slums of thoseresidents of west Delhi’sKathputli Colony who wereeligible for relocation andhad moved out voluntarily.

A Bench of Acting ChiefJustice Gita Mittal and JusticeC. Hari Shankar issued thedirection while modifying itsTuesday order putting onhold the demolition of jhug-gis in the area for two weeks.

The court modified its or-der on an application movedby the DDA, which alsosought permission to removerubble from the site.

Status reportAllowing the DDA to demol-ish the jhuggis of those whohad moved out voluntarily orwere moving out, the Benchsaid the demolition shouldnot affect the homes of theothers living there. It alsodirected the DDA to file astatus report indicating whoall had moved out of the areaand whose jhuggis weredemolished.

With regard to removal ofrubble, the court said theDDA can take away the

debris only after two days sothat people can remove theirbelongings.

Tuesday’s orderThe Bench had on Tuesdayput on hold the DDA’s de-molition drive to enablepeople eligible for relocationto move out of KathputliColony and those ineligibleto file an appeal against theaction.

Spread over nearly 14acre, Kathputli Colony ishome to a large number ofpuppeteers, magicians, sing-

ers and musicians.It is the first slum in the

city to be taken up by theDDA for in-situ redevelop-ment with the help of aprivate developer, who inturn will get a substantialpart of land for commercialuse.

The stay order had comeon a public interest litigationfiled through advocate Kam-lesh Kumar Mishra on behalfof the residents and non-gov-ernment organisation Na-tional Alliance of People’sMovement, claiming that the

DDA had issued a notice onOctober 25 for vacating thearea giving them only fourdays to move out.

The petitioners had alsotold the court that the transitcamps at Anand Parbat andNarela, where the slumdwellers are supposed tolive, were in a filthy condi-tion and inadequate in num-ber.

They also contended thatthe DDA decided to makeflats for 2,800 slum dwellerswhen there are over 4,000people.

HC modi�es Kathputli Colony demolition orderAllows DDA to demolish jhuggis of those eligible for relocation, moving out voluntarily


New Delhi

Temporary relief: Spread over nearly 14 acres, Kathputli Colony is home to a large number ofpuppeteers, magicians, singers and musicians. * FILE PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Two days after the demoli-tion drive at KathputiColony, news website TheQuint has written to UnionHome Minister RajnathSingh and Delhi Police Com-missioner Amulya Patnaikdemanding action againstofficers who allegedly mis-behaved and wrongfully de-tained a journalist with theorganisation.

Kshitij Kumar has allegedthat he was assaulted andconfined by the police for afew of hours while coveringthe demolition drive onMonday. The Quint said in astatement that Mr. Kumar’s“phone was confiscated”during his detention and“he was not allowed to in-form anyone about hiswhereabouts” .

Responding to the allega-tions, Delhi Police chiefspokesperson DeependraPathak said the matter willbe probed.

“Many portions of the al-legations prima facie do notappear to be true but will be

probe and verified,” he said.Alleging that he told the

police officers he was ajournalist and was thereonly to cover the demoli-tion, Mr. Kumar said the of-ficers did not listen to him.

In response, Mr. Pathaksaid some people were try-ing to create a ruckus, andwere rounded up and re-moved from the spot. “Un-fortunately, the journalistwas standing along withstone-throwers. He did notconvey who he was at thatpoint of time. He wasbrought to the police stationand allowed to go after theofficers checked his creden-tials. The officer concernedapologised to him,” he said.

However, The Quint hasasked for an official apologyon record to Mr. Kumarfrom the Union Ministry ofHome Affairs “and an ac-knowledgement of the illeg-ality of the Delhi Police’s be-haviour towards him, aswell as punishment of thepolice officers and con-stables responsible”.

Portal wants apologyfrom Delhi Police

Assaulted, detained, claims scribe

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Sixteen Kashmiri shawlshave been stolen from theNational Handicrafts andHandlooms Museum inLutyens’ Delhi, the policesaid on Wednesday.

Cameras not workingThe shawls were boughtfrom Kashmir between 1959and 1976. The police have no

clue about the accused asthe cameras at the museumare not working.

The museum was closedon Sunday and Monday. Six-teen shawls were foundmissing during a count onTuesday, a senior police of-ficer said.

A case has been re-gistered at Tilak Marg policestation on the basis of a com-plaint by the museum

authorities.The authorities told the

police that they suspect aman who has been visitingthe museum for the past fewmonths claiming to be aresearcher.

They have shared the tele-phone number of the sus-pect with the police and arealso helping them draw hissketch, the police officer ad-ded.

16 shawls found missing during a count on Tuesday


New Delhi

Kashmiri shawls missing from museum

The police on Wednesday re-leased the sketch of two sus-pects in the Narela doublemurder-cum-robbery case. Abusinessman and his ac-countant were shot dead inNarela on Monday morning.

Sketches circulatedDCP (Rohini) Rishi Pal saidthe sketches were made withthe help of eyewitnesses andtwo survivors of the attack.“The sketches have been cir-culated in and around Delhi,”

Mr. Pal said. Suspecting in-sider involvement, the policeare questioning the familyand colleagues of the victims.

Wholesale dealer PankajGarg (35) and his accountantHarish Bhatia were shot deadwhile on the way to a bank.Mr. Garg’s driver Amit Goelsuffered injuries while ac-countant Rakesh Kumar es-caped unhurt. The policesaid the accused seemedaware of Mr. Garg’s move-ments and shot them beforefleeing with a bag containing₹25 lakh.

Businessman, his accountant were shot dead in Narela on Monday morning

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Sketch of Narela double murder suspects released

The sketches were made with the help of eyewitnesses and twosurvivors of the attack. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

A student of JawaharlalNehru University ( JNU)filed a harassment com-plaint at Vasant Kunj Policestation on October 28against a member of thefaculty for an incident thattook place on October 10.

The JNU Students’ Union( JNUSU) alleged on Wed-nesday evening that theDelhi Police filed a first in-formation report only afterfour days of pressure.

The police have re-gistered a case under Sec-tions 354 (assault or crim-inal force to woman withintent to outrage her mod-esty), 323 (punishment forvoluntarily causing hurt)and 509 (word, gesture oract intended to insult themodesty of a woman) of theIndian Penal Code.

‘Violation of law’The JNUSU said the policeforwarded the complaint tothe Internal ComplaintsCommittee (ICC) of the uni-versity instead of filing anFIR immediately.

This, it said, was “clearviolation of law as it was theduty of the police to act onthe complaint and not for-ward it to the institution

where the complainantdoes not trust the processdue to influence of the ad-ministration”.

Identity revealedThe JNUSU added that thepolice revealed the identityof the complainant to theadministration by doing so.Condemning the Delhi Po-lice, members of the unionsaid they had no faith in theICC as it is not a democrat-ically formed body.

The students’ unioncalled for restoration of theautonomous Gender Sensit-isation Committee againstSexual Harassment(GSCASH) committee andsaid the reason the adminis-tration was “hell-bent ondismantling it” was to bringa body that would shieldthe accused rather thangive justice to thecomplainant.

JNU faculty memberaccused of harassment

Student �les complaint; FIR after 4 days

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI <> The police

forwarded the

complaint to the

Internal Complaints

Committee [ICC] of

the university

instead of �ling an

FIR immediately

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Students’ Union

The Delhi High Court hassought a reply from the Delhigovernment and the BSESYamuna on a plea for over ₹5crore compensation to theparents of a boy who waselectrocuted due to a fallenoverhead power line thisyear.

Justice A. K. Chawla is-sued a notice to the govern-ment and the BSES YamunaPower Limited on a plea by

east Delhi resident DevasiaThomas, filed through ad-vocate Wills Mathews.

Negligence The petition alleges negli-gence by the Delhi govern-ment and the power firm forfailure to maintain the fallenoverhead non-isolated elec-tric line.

According to the petition,Class XII student Robin gotelectrocuted near DilshadGarden on May 21.

Boy electrocuted: HC seeksgovt reply on ₹5 cr solatium

Plea seeks compensation for parents


New Delhi

Noida-based plant toldto remove two tubewellsNEW DELHI

The NGT has directed a

Noida-based water bottling

unit to remove two tubewells

installed on its premises for

which it does not have

permission from the Central

Ground Water Authority. The

bottling unit only has

permission to operate one

tubewell. PTI

280428

One of the two four-lane uni-directional flyovers comingup on either side of IFFCOChowk here was opened totraffic for trial run on Wed-nesday evening, facilitatingU-turn for traffic comingfrom Delhi.

The U-turn flyover, a partof the ongoing over ₹1,000crore project to ease trafficmovement at four major in-tersections in the city, hasbeen completed almost 17months ahead of schedule.

National Highways Au-thority of India (NHAI) Pro-ject Director Ashok Sharmasaid the entire project in-volving construction of fourflyovers and three under-passes will be wrapped upby December 31, almost 15months ahead of schedule,and ease traffic movementacross Delhi-Gurugram Ex-pressway.

Construction workConstruction work for theproject started on December1 last year and the comple-tion date for the project isMarch 31, 2019, as per thecontract.

The flyover, which wasopened to traffic around 4p.m., will facilitate trafficcoming from Delhi andMehrauli-Gurugram Road toturn to Sukhrali village andtake a U-turn towards the na-tional Capital. Two more fly-overs at IFFCO Chowk — a U-turn four-lane unidirectionalflyover and another flyoverrunning parallel to the inter-section — are likely to beopened soon after the over-head transmission line isshifted underground.

“Both flyovers are almostready. The delay is openingis due to overhead transmis-sion lines. We have got per-mission for the same and theunderground duct is also

ready. We hope to completethe underground laying ofcables soon and open thetwo flyovers,” said Mr.Sharma.

The Maharana PratapChowk flyover, built at a costof ₹34 crore, and the ₹30crore underpass at RajivChowk to facilitate U-turn for

vehicles going from MedantaHospital to Delhi, also part ofthe same project, wereopened by Union Ministerfor Road Transport, High-ways and Shipping NitinGadkari on August 14.

An underpass is underconstruction to facilitate theright turn towards Mehrauli

for traffic coming from thedirection of IFFCO Chowkmetro station to ease conges-tion on M.G. Road.

Mr. Sharma said the un-derpass was almost com-plete and delay in shifting ofthe petrol pump on M.G.Road was the onlyhindrance. Similarly, a twodouble-lane underpasses isunder construction at RajivChowk for signal-free move-ment across NH-48 and workis under way for construc-tion of two three-lane under-passes at Signature Towerfor signal-free movementbetween the Old and Newcity. Besides, two foot over-bridges and pedestrian sub-ways are also being con-structed at IFFCO Chowk aspart of the project. Two foot

overbridges and dedicatedtracks for non-motorisedtransport will also be con-structed at Rajiv Chowk aspart of improvement planfor the intersection.

Co-ordinationMr. Sharma said co-ordina-tion between various agen-cies, such as Deputy Com-missioner Office, theHaryana Urban Develop-ment Authority, the Muni-cipal Corporation of Guru-gram and the NHAI ensuredthe swift pace of construc-tion and the project is likelyto be completed in a record-breaking time. He also poin-ted out that the contractorhad adequate resources andmanpower required for theproject.

U-turn �yover opens for trial run Completed ahead of schedule, it is one of two four-lane unidirectional �yovers on either side of IFFCO Chowk

Way to go: The �yover, which was opened to tra�c around 4 p.m., will facilitate tra�c coming from Delhi and Mehrauli-Gurugram Road to turn to Sukhrali village and take a U-turn towards the national Capital. * MANOJ KUMAR

Ashok Kumar

GURUGRAM

<> The entire project

involving

construction of four

�yovers and three

underpasses will be

wrapped up by

December 31, almost

15 months ahead of

schedule

Ashok Sharma

NHAI Project Director




CMYK

B ND-NDE

CITY

‘Ensure public transportis disabled-friendly’NEW DELHI

The High Court on

Wednesday directed the

Delhi government to ensure

that every mode of public

transport in the city is

disabled-friendly. While

hearing a PIL challenging its

proposed purchase of 2,000

standard floor buses for the

city, a Bench asked whether

the government could put

the procurement process of

these buses, were are

allegedly not disabled-

friendly, on hold. PTI

Campaigning in Bijnor,Alka Lamba hit by stone NEW DELHI

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA

from Chandni Chowk Alka

Lamba, who had gone to

campaign in Uttar Pradesh’s

Bijnor for the local elections,

was injured when someone

allegedly threw a stone at

her. Ms. Lamba said on

Wednesday that she was

making a speech when

someone from the crowd

threw a stone at her. The

stone hit her on the head.

She left for Delhi after the

attack. STAFF REPORTER

IN BRIEF

Ensure treatment for2011 blast victims: HCNEW DELHI

The Delhi High Court on

Wednesday asked the city

government to ensure proper

medical treatment to those

injured in the 2011 bomb

blast at its main gate. A

Bench also said that efforts

should be made to continue

to provide proper medical

facilities and rehabilitation to

the victims. A terror attack at

the court’s reception counter

on in September 2011 had

claimed 15 lives and left 79

injured. PTI

The National Human RightsCommission on Wednesdayissued notice to the Chhat-tisgarh government in thewake of reports that villa-gers in Dantewada districtwere forced to travel over100 km to procure rations.

Media reportThe NHRC asked the StateChief Secretary to submit areport within four weeksand also find out whetherpeople elsewhere in Chhat-tisgarh faced similar prob-lems.

Taking cognisance of amedia report, the NHRCsaid the report if true indic-ated negligence by the dis-trict administration. Accord-

ing to the report, residentsof Barekakled village inDantewada district wereforced to go to the blockheadquarters to buy provi-sions. Sandra village resid-ents too had the same prob-lem. “It clearly amounts toviolation of human rights ofthe villagers. The State isduty-bound to protect theright to life and food of itscitizens,” the NHRC ob-served in a statement.

The villagers end upspending the whole daytravelling in order to buy ra-tions, crossing mountainsand drains on the way. Ac-cording to the report, thevillagers had to surmountvarious hurdles just so theycan buy rations worth about₹100.

NHRC issues noticeto Chhattisgarh govtChief Secy told to submit report in 4 weeks

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Haryana Additional Advoc-ate General NaveenKaushik was asked to resignon Wednesday after he wasaccused of helping thecounsel of a man allegedlyinvolved in the killing of 17-year-old Junaid Khan on atrain in June, AdvocateGeneral Baldev Raj Ma-hajan said.

Media reportsIn his explanation to Mr.Mahajan, Mr. Kaushikdenied assisting the coun-sel of the accused.

Mr. Mahajan had soughtan explanation from Mr.Kaushik following media re-ports alleging that he hadprovided assistance to thedefence counsel of theprime accused in the Jun-aid murder case.

“After media reports, Isought an explanation fromhim [Mr. Kaushik], to whichhe replied that he is associ-ated with an organisationworking for promotion ofdifferent Indian languages.He [Mr. Kaushik] said hehad supplied material tothe counsel concerned inthe case but did not assisthim,” Mr. Mahajan told

journalists here.“Since he [Mr. Kaushik]

admitted that he went tothe [Faridabad] court andsupplied documents to thecounsel, I told him that it isa case in which the State isa party and that he musttender his resignation,” theAdvocate General said,adding he has recommen-ded that the government

accept the resignation. “His [Mr. Kaushik’s] as-

sistance to the counsel isnot justified, even thoughhe submitted that he didnot assist in the case. How-ever, the [Faridabad] courtobserved that he waspresent during the hear-ing,” Mr. Mahajan said.

Interim orderAdditional District and Ses-sions Judge Faridabad Y. S.Rathore had in an interimorder on October 25 re-portedly stated that Mr.Kaushik was assisting thecounsel of the main ac-cused, Naresh Kumar, dur-ing cross-examination ofprosecution witnesses.

Junaid was stabbed todeath on a Mathura-boundtrain on the way back homeKhandawli village alongwith his brothers aftershopping for Id in Delhi.

Haryana Additional AG asked to resign Naveen Kaushik denies assisting the counsel of the accused in Junaid case


Chandigarh

Junaid was stabbed to deathon a Mathura-bound train inJune.

<> Since he admitted

that he went to the

Faridabad court

and supplied

documents to the

counsel, I told him

that it is a case in

which the State is a

party and that he

must tender his

resignation

Baldev Raj Mahajan

Advocate General

The Delhi High Court onWednesday reserved its de-cision on the maintainabil-ity of a public interest litiga-tion opposing theappointment of BJP nationalspokesman Sambit Patra asan independent director onthe board of the Oil and Nat-ural Gas Corporation(ONGC).

Arguments heardA Bench of Acting ChiefJustice Gita Mittal andJustice C. Hari Shankarheard the arguments forseveral hours on behalf ofthe Centre and non-govern-ment organisation EnergyWatchdog, which hadmoved the petition, and said

it will pass orders onNovember 8 on whether anotice has to be issued inthe matter.

Eligibility questionedThe NGO has also soughtcancellation of the appoint-ment of Shashi Shanker asONGC Chairman and Man-aging Director (CMD). TheNGO, represented by senioradvocate Jayant Bhushan,questioned the eligibility ofMr. Patra to be appointed asan independent director,and said that proper proced-ure was not followed for ap-pointing him to the post.

He said the BJP spokes-person was a doctor and theONGC has nothing to do inthe field of medicine to ap-point him on its Board.

HC reserves orderon plea against Patra Will pass order on notice on Nov. 8


New Delhi

A Delhi court on Wednesdaydirected the Central Bureauof Investigation and theForensic Test Laboratory inRohini here to conclude thepolygraph test on allegedarms dealer Abhishek Vermaby the end of this month.

Anti-Sikh riots caseThe probe agency is con-ducting the test on him in a1984 anti-Sikh riots case in-volving senior Congressleader Jagdish Tytler. Mr.Verma is a prosecution wit-ness in the case.

Passing the direction, Ad-ditional Chief MetropolitanMagistrate Amit Arora fixedDecember 15 as the nextdate for further hearing.

Meanwhile, the formerDirector of Prosecution ofthe Delhi government, B.S.Joon, has accepted thecourt’s request to overseethe test. The court was in-

formed about it onWednesday.

The court had on October30 appointed Mr. Joon ascourt commissioner to over-see the test following filingof an application by Mr.Verma accusing the laborat-ory of defending Mr. Tytlerduring his polygraph test.

Mr. Verma had allegedthat officials of the forensiclab were holding a “mini-trial” and acting in an “un-fair and biased” manner.

“The senior scientific of-

ficer was acting in a verybiased manner and trying todefend the accused personin the present case,” Mr.Verma had alleged in hisapplication.

The CBI had registeredthe case on a complaint byLakhwinder Kaur, whosehusband was killed alongwith two others by a mob atGurdwara Pul Bangas innorth Delhi. She has accusedMr. Tytler of inciting themob which allegedly at-tacked the gurdwara. Riotshad broken out in the wakeof the assassination offormer Prime Minister In-dira Gandhi.

Mr. Verma had said in astatement recorded by theCBI that Mr. Tytler paidabout ₹1 crore to SurinderSingh Granthi, a prosecutionwitness in the case, and ar-ranged visa for $50,000 tosend his son Narinder Singh,another witness in the case,to Canada in return for astatement in his favour.

Next hearing in anti-Sikh riots case on December 15

Nirnimesh Kumar

New Delhi

Abhishek Verma

‘Conclude lie-detection teston Verma this month’

The National Consumer Dis-putes Redressal Commis-sion (NCDRC) on October 31upheld the order passed bythe District Forum Jaipurand said there had been de-ficiency on the part of theRajasthan Housing Board asthey had failed to allothouses to two of the com-plainants, who had bookedthe plots under the 2001self-financing scheme.

Sum depositedThe commission also up-held the lower forum’s or-der of allotting alternativeplots to the complainants.The complainants had al-leged that despite deposit-ing a sum of ₹75,000 eachwith the housing board, theplots had not been deliveredto them.

The complainants alsotold the consumer forumthat in 2009, they were

given ₹1.09 lakh each by theBoard, which they had re-fused to accept. Alleging de-ficiency in service on thepart of the respondents, thecomplainants had sought al-lotment of alternative plots.

Deficiency in serviceThe board contended thatthe plots initially booked bythe complainants were en-tangled in legal matters, andadded that there was no de-ficiency in service as theyhad already refunded themoney to the complainantsalong with interest.

Dismissing the Board’sclaims, the NCDRC said:“The primary objective ofsetting up the Board is toprovide developed proper-ties at reasonable prices topublic. In case the plots inthe middle income groupcategory were lying vacant,the housing board shouldnot have taken objection forthe allotment of the same.”

Panel upholds lower forum’s order

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI

Rajasthan board told toallot alternative plots

Families of migrant labourers seen outside New Delhi railway station on Wednesday. * V. SUDERSHAN


Capital move

Several members of theSave Aravali Trust, an NGO,presented a mock appreci-ation letter to the district’spollution control board offi-cials as a mark of protestagainst increasing levels ofpollution in the city and thealleged lackadaisical atti-tude of the department.

‘Citation’Around half-a-dozen mem-bers of the NGO reached theHaryana State PollutionControl Board (HSPCB) of-fice in Sector 16A on Wed-nesday and handed over the‘citation’ that extended“heartfelt congratulationsto the department onFaridabad jumping fromsixth position to third posi-tion within a year on the listof the country’s most pol-luted cities”.

NGO member JitenderBhadana said the HSPCB of-ficials had an indifferent at-

titude to pollution com-plaints and that the‘citation’ was an attempt to‘jolt’ the department intoaction in a peacefulmanner.

P.K.M.K. Das, RegionalOfficer (Faridabad), HSPCB,said the department wasworking in the ‘right direc-tion’ and blamed thepresent levels of high airpollution on the winds flow-ing from Delhi to Faridabad.

“The high levels of PM2.5 are due to metro con-struction work and widen-ing of highway. It is the jobof the civic body to ensurethat the construction workdoes not lead to dust pollu-tion," said a FaridabadHSPCB official, adding thatFaridabad was at 16th posi-tion on the latest list of pol-luted cities released by theCentral Pollution ControlBoard. “It is not just air pol-lution, water pollutionlevels are also high inFaridabad,” said the officer.

NGO gives ‘appreciation’ letterto Haryana pollution board

In protest against pollution in the city

Staff Reporter

FARIDABAD

The Delhi High Court onWednesday refused to staya clause in a circular issuedby Directorate of Educa-tion (DoE) on guidelinesfor implementation of 7thPay Commission recom-mendations in private un-aided schools in the city.

The court declined in-terim relief sought by anassociation of 500 privateunaided recognisedschools here to stay the cir-cular, which states that if aschool’s managing commit-tee feels it is necessary toincrease tuition fee it shallhold a meeting with agroup of teachers and par-ents, including at least oneparent representative fromeach section of the school,and present its detailedbudget. Justice IndermeetKaur said the court was notinclined to grant the stayon the October 17 circularand issued a notice to DoEseeking its response beforeFebruary 5, the next dateof hearing.

HC refusesto stay DoEcircular Press Trust of India

New Delhi

280428




CMYK

B ND-NDE

SHOWCASE

At a time when the Taj Mahalis making news all overagain, Shiraz, Franz Osten’s1929 silent film on the monu-ment of love, finds its wayback to screen. Restored bythe British Film Institute, thefilm, whose tagline ‘A Ro-mance of India’ resonateswith the pluralistic ethos ofIndia, will be screened thisSaturday at the Siri Fort Aud-itorium with a specially com-missioned score, performedby an eight-piece ensembleof players led by AnoushkaShankar.

Robin Baker, BFI head cur-ator, says it was the an-nouncement of India-UKYear of Culture 2017 that setthe ball rolling. “Every yearwe restore one silent film.Given that this film marks thecultural relationshipbetween India and the UKand given that how few In-dian silent films are left,Shiraz was the right choice.There are only 20 Indian si-lent films that exist and mostof them are in the form offragments. It is one of therare cases where the wholefilm existed and we had thenegative (print) with us.”

Based on a play by play-wright Niranjan Pal, the ro-manticised version of theconstruction of the iconicmonument is a blend of east-ern and western sensibilities.“It is a real mix. The film wasconceived by Indians in Lon-don. Niranjan Pal was work-ing with Himansu Rai since1922 when Pal’s play Goddessopened at the West End withHimansu Rai as the leadingstar.” It was the first Indianplay to achieve the feat. “Nir-anjan and Himansu had a de-sire to tell a very Indian storynot just for Indian audiencebut also for a global audienceas well.” They along withGerman director Franz Os-

ten, the three later becamethe pillars of Bombay Talk-ies, started talking abouthow could they collaboratein cinema. “It was a uniquecollaboration betweenEuropeans and Indians. Theymade three silent films to-gether,” notes Baker during aconversation at the BritishCouncil in New Delhi.

Shiraz had a German dir-ector, a British cinemato-grapher (Henry Harris), Brit-ish assistant director, Indianwriter and a production de-signer. The cast was drawnfrom India. Rai plays thehumble potter Shiraz. He issupported by Enakshi RamaRau as Selima/Mumtaz Ma-hal and Charu Roy as princeKhurram/Shah Jahan. But it

is the Anglo Indian actorReene Smith known by herscreen name Seeta Devi whosteals the show as the wilycourtesan Dalia. Seeta Deviwas the heroine of The Lightof Asia and A Throw of Dice,the two other films thatmarked the partnership ofRai and Osten.

Blob by blobTalking about the process ofrestoration, Baker calls it“very difficult.” “I can’t say itis the hardest restorationthat we have done. That saidit took us 18 months. As Ihave said before, it tookmore time to restore thanmaking it. In a film which is90 years old, there is somuch damage.” Baker in-forms that the film is withBFI since 1942. “And a reporttells us that when the negat-ive first came to BFI, decom-position had already set in.This is how volatile and fra-gile a film is. India has theworst climate for film preser-vation. Films have to be keptvery cool and very dry.When you have humidityand heat, it plays havoc withthe film. There are real chal-lenges and there is no magicbutton,” holds Baker.

He presumes that the neg-

ative was sent back to Lon-don as soon as it was shot. “Iassume that it was processedin London. There is a copy atNational Film Archives of In-dia but we discovered that itcame from our copy. The lastthing we wanted was to makeit appear like a bad Pho-toshopped version of the ori-ginal.” He talks about shrink-ing of film over time, thescratches that appeared onthe frames of the epic battlescene and black snow ballsthat emerged because ofmatting. “Each one had to beremoved blob by blob,”relates Baker.

Layered narrative Apart from depicting thecomplex nature of love, whatmakes Shiraz stand out is thefact that the film was shotoutdoors on location – a rar-ity in the 1920s. “Most of thefilms were shot in studiosthose days. It never reallyfeels authentic now. The out-door setting makes the filmfeel lot less dated. Shootingin India also has its advant-age. In the UK, light is notthat great but when you areshooting in Agra, it looks sobeautifully lit.”

One of the problems ofrestoring silent films, says

Baker, is that the scores ofthese these films have notsurvived. “We don’t knowwhat music played with itwhen it was released. It is be-lieved that the scores werewritten for them. At times,distributors would suggestmusic.” So restoration pro-cess, gave the team a creativeopportunity to create to mu-sic for Shiraz and AnoushkaShankar was roped in. “WhatI love about Anoushka’s workis that the composition feelsright for the 1920s and it feelsright for 17th Century as well.

It transcends time. It is not amusical wallpaper; it abso-lutely heightens the drama.There is a great sequencewhere one of the charactersis sentenced to death by hav-ing his head crushed by anelephant. The way she buildstension in that scene is amaz-ing. Two weeks ago when itwas screened the Barbican,2000 people gasped at themoment.”

As for the romance, Bakerpoints out that it is not aneasy ‘they meet and they fallin love’ kind of story. “It isabout how Shah Jahan had toearn Mumtaz’s love. And theway Anoushka has createdromantic music underlinesthat kind of complexity.”

The film’s passionatekisses are surprising many.“The cinema of 1920s was farmore promiscuous and sen-suous than what it became inthe 1930s. People who don’twatch 1920s films, no matterwhere they come from, arequite surprised by the levelof sensuality. This film isfamous for two kisses. One ofthem is seven second long,which is quite a long kiss.”

The recent debate on theorigin of Taj Mahal mighthelp the film. “It is com-pletely coincidental,” saysBaker. “I kind of hope that itgives people a perspective onIndian cultural heritage. Italso gives us an opportunityto talk about Indian film her-itage and remind people ofhow little is left of those earlyfilms.”

Baker says there is a re-newed interest in Indian clas-sics and there is an Englishaudience who would love towatch great classics of 40sand 50s. But there are so fewthat could be shown incinema halls. “We would loveto show films like Awaaraand Mother India lookingfantastic. I was delightedwhen Pyaasa was restored. Iwould like to see some of thekey films of Guru Dutt re-stored. These are classics ofworld cinema and not justclassics of Indian cinema.”But weren’t they describedas song and dance sagas tillsome years back? Bakeragrees they are being seen ina new light. “Twenty yearsago, some of these films weredubbed as camp. Now theaudience are appreciatingthe different aesthetics ofthem,” sums up Baker.

Restoring the romance of India As Shiraz �nds a new life, Robin Baker, Head Curator, British Film Institute, talks about the painstaking process ofrestoration and the contemporary appeal of the Franz Osten classic

Lasting impact: Charu Roy and Enakshi Rama Rau in “Shiraz”; Seeta Devi * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Anuj Kumar

Anoushka Shankar is ex-cited about performing thespecially commissioned livefilm score along with her or-chestral ensemble, whenthe film visits Delhi afterscreenings in Hyderabadand Kolkata. “It is a differentkind of challenge. You haveto be attentive all the time;otherwise the film will runpast you,” she chuckles.

Excerpts: How has your musical

background helped youin this endeavour?

I was not there when myfather composed music forfilms but yes being hisdaughter and disciple andhaving the kind of exposureone gets with a prolific musi-cian like him, did help me inmy musical perspectivesthat came handy while com-posing the musical score fora film like this.

We are culturally con-ditioned in imagining mu-sic for any given visual,like when you see an im-age of rural Rajasthan,the music of Langa-Magin-yars comes to mind. Whatwere your thoughts whenyou saw the glimpses ofthe silent film?

Yes, it did occur to me inthe beginning. I was sitespecific and authentic. I alsothought of the time frame ofthe ragas that could betaken, but then there are somany things we can thinkabout in terms of authenti-city and in each of these,there may be just a fewpeople that appreciate allthat, but the rest of the audi-ence come to watch the filmand have experiences en-hanced by the music.

So I thought about it andthen decided that I shouldnot bind myself to be toofaithful either to the timeframe or geography, be-cause ultimately the audi-ence want to watch the film.It doesn’t matter what stateis the music is from and to

which century it belongs to.Shiraz tells the love story ofthe 17th century princesswho inspired the construc-tion of the Taj Mahal. Thefilm is all about love andlonging, about joy and sor-row. Music should just takecare of the emotions of thefilm. That’s the most im-portant thing.

But then you must havetaken care of the instru-ments that evoke thoseemotions?

Yes, of course. I com-posed the music, so I haveto take care of that. Thescore is totally instrumental.

What about the folk in-struments like the Ka-maicha?

We were given the budgetfor eight musicians so wehad an eight member or-chestra comprising Britishand Indian musicians. Wehad cello, piano, violin, syn-thesiser, flute, tabla, mrid-angam, ghatam, morsingand, of course, sitar. Thatcombines it all ( laughs).

Did you find the pro-cess challenging orenjoyable?

Yes, it was very challen-ging in the beginning, butlater enjoyable too. I loved itas well. It was a silent filmand you had to make itcome alive with music. I hadto watch it again and againand then create and com-pose the music.

It was your first experi-ence as a composer of afilm. Share some of yourexperiences.

I learnt a lot as a com-poser, particularly the tech-nical side.

In fact the technical sidealso helped me in compos-ing, being just alone by my-self and direct. It was notpossible, for instance, tohave all my musicians withme all the time. I could takethe help of technology andcreate music on my ownand when we met later, Igave them the music anddirected them.

Understandingsilence Anoushka Shankar says she has triedto re�ect the emotional layers ofShiraz through her music

Manjari Sinha

RidiculeAlliance Française de Delhi-Ciné Club will screen“Ridicule”, a French film with English subtitles.Directed by Patrice Leconte, it is about thedifficulties faced by peasants living in themosquito-ridden swamplands near Lyon and howan aristocratic engineer helps them.Venue: M.L. Bhartia Auditorium, 72, Lodhi EstateTime: 6.30 p.m.

FILM

FopchuThe Hungry Monkey will present a musicalperformance under the stars by Fopchu. Theband members are Kaizad Nariman (vocals/guitars), Shantam Khanna, (synth/drummachines/vocals) and Siddhant Subs (synth/bass/vocals). Venue: B6/6 DDA Market, Safdarjung EnclaveTime: 8.30 p.m.

FILM

Akira Kurosawa RetrospectiveIndia Habitat Centre has organised AkiraKurosawa Retrospective. Regarded as one of themost important and influential filmmakers in thehistory of cinema, he directed 30 films in acareer spanning 57 years. Today his film“Yojimbo” will be screened.Venue: Stein Auditorium, Lodhi Road, New DelhiTime: 6.30 p.m.

FILM

The Universe of InterconnectedExperiencesThe solo show presents the new artworks bySaba Hasan. A noted contemporary artist, Sabahas done a wide variety of works, bookinstallations, masterful draftsmanship,composition and work with organic materials. Venue: Galerie Romain Rolland, Lodhi EstateTime: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

SOLO SHOW

The Water of WatercolourA group art exhibition, “The Water ofWatercolour” is showing art works by VikrantShitole, Sagnik Biswas, Prakash Anegundi,Pragyan Shukla, Nisreen Bohra, Leela Sarna,Jitender Kumar, Bhupinder Dhutti, Kedar Naik,Harinder S Bhatti, Hari Singh and Anamika.Venue: Gandhi Art Gallery, Sultanpur, New DelhiTime: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

EXHIBITION

5 EVENTS WORTH-YOUR-WHILE

<> I hope that Shiraz

gives people a

perspective on

Indian cultural

heritage.

Robin Baker

The title song played on re-peat — its volume loweredduring the talk, and dramat-ically increased when eachmember of the Ittefaq teamtook to the stage for theirpromotional event. It’s a re-prised version of the partysong ‘Raat Baaki’ from Amit-abh Bachchan-starrer NamakHalaal (1982).

Apart from the narrativetemplate, the makers of Itte-faq interestingly refrainedfrom engaging in the usualpre-release promotion tomaintain the film’s suspense.Johar — along with co-produ-cer Shah Rukh Khan, dir-ector Abhay Chopra, and act-ors Sidharth Malhotra,Sonakshi Sinha and AkshayeKhanna — spoke about thefilm, and the team’sbonhomie.

The host took a few digs atthe issue of nepotism, a de-

bate he has infamously beena part of. With the two in-dustry-outsiders, Khan andMalhotra, flanking the othersof the group whom he calledthe brand ambassadors ofnepotism, the producerclaimed, “[It] speaksvolumes about how both canwork.” In fact, Johar beganby describing Yash Chopra’soriginal as iconic, and wenton to say “Who better than

his grand [nephew] to directthis film?” about debutingfeature-director AbhayChopra.

Not a remake While the discussion expec-tedly revolved around thefilm being a remake, Khanasserted, “It’s not really a re-make. It’s quite an originalfilm.” The superstar admit-ted that he wished to be a

part of the film, especiallysince it’s one of his favour-ites, but could not owing toother projects at the time. “Ithink a better actor than mehas essayed that role now,[who is] more befitting forthe film,” shared Khan, prais-ing Akshaye Khanna’s per-formance as the tough policeofficer, Dev. Ittefaq revolvesaround the police officer as-certaining the events sur-

rounding a double murdercase, through the two narrat-ives given by the film’s prot-agonists, Vikram and Maya.“To be able to play one rolein two different ways is whatattracted me to this film,”said Sinha, whose father,actor Shatrughan Sinha, wascoincidentally offered theprotagonist’s role in the 1969film. Actor Rajesh Khannawas cast instead, and its suc-cess was crucial in cement-ing his legacy as a superstar.

Apart from amping up theintrigue around the film, theteam’s promotional strategyavoids the repetitiveness thatfollows pre-release talks.Save tweets of the film’sposters and its trailer, Itte-faq’s promotion was pivotedon the event that was carriedout in a style characteristic ofJohar — rife with quips andsarcastic jabs, like his jokeson Malhotra’s singlehoodand Khanna’s reticent per-sona. But before the entireteam joined him on stage, Jo-har spoke to Khan one-on-one in a more formal rendi-tion of his talk-show set-up tocelebrate Ittefaq being their

tenth collaboration together.

When SRK met Karan“He found me not fashion-able enough,” laughed Khan,as he reminisced about thefirst time Johar and he met —a happenstance when he wasshooting for Karan Arjun(1995). Their exchange wasrooted in the brotherhoodthey share, and their obviousfamiliarity, since Ittefaqseemed like the presentationof a personal project.

With the rest of the teamjoining them, Johar main-tained the banter on stage, ashe and Khan joked about theChopra brothers’ nicknames.“Juno and Boo,” startedKhan, “nobody is going totake you seriously now!”

While the team was care-ful not to divulge too muchabout the film, it is interest-ing to note how the originaland this week’s retelling havecome a full circle. While theformer served as a steppingstone for the first megastarof Bollywood, the latter isironically being presentedwith Khan’s superstardomsealing the deal.

Saying no to spoilersThe team of Ittefaq talk about coincidences and the original thriller

Murder mystery: Akshaye Khanna, Sonakshi Sinha, Shah Rukh Khan and Sidharth Malhotra* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Anahita Panicker

‘October’ a love story

Shoojit Sircar's much-anti-

cipated film October, a Rising

Sun Films’ production will now

release on April 13, 2018.

The film, a slice-of-life love

story written by Juhi

Chaturvedi and directed by

Shoojit Sircar, the love story

stars Varun Dhawan in the

lead. “It is a genre that I always wanted to explore. While love and

romance have been entwined with Indian cinema, there is abund-

ance in that emotion that everyone can have their own interpreta-

tions of. October is another effort to explore those moments out of

simple situations of life,” said Shoojit, in a statement.

SHORT TAKE

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Sikkim is the ultimate summer get-away for those who want to chill inthe quiet company of great weather,the mighty Kanchenjunga moun-tains, hot momos, and the book youpromised yourself you’d to finish. Ofcourse, from the moment welanded in Gangtok, the capital, itwas all but a quiet holiday.

As the ‘seasoned’ travellers in thegang, everyone looked to my hus-band and me for travel guidance.With self-assumed smugness, we at-tempted to gather the group forsome order. But we quickly realisedit was a pointless exercise. So, welaid to rest our ‘plans’ and letSikkim take over.

For the next five days, the North-eastern state, with its mountainousterrain, gurgling brooks, quaintcafés, rustic home stays, and end-less alpine meadows took over oursenses, in every possible way.

Our first halt was Rumtek monas-tery, the largest in Sikkim, about 24kilometres from Gangtok. Be pre-pared for a slightly steep climb, ofabout half a kilometre, from thebase to the main monastery, but it isworth the effort.

Adorned with colourful muralsand art work, the monastery is astunning showcase of traditionalTibetan art and architecture. Ithouses a golden stupa, containingthe relics of the 16th Karmapa, whorebuilt the monastery that was in ashambles when he arrived herefrom Tibet in 1959. This is a must-see place for those who love historyand seek solitude, despite thesteady stream of tourists. Whilehere, don’t forget to take in the pan-oramic view of the valley from thefirst floor of the monastery. You

may also try your hand at throwingcoins atop a tall pillar and get yourwishes fulfilled!

Then we stopped by at theSaramsa garden, 14 kilometres fromthe city. It was originally establishedin 1922 for fruit cultivation for thelocal royal family and British of-ficers, before it became a publicgarden. The garden offers you agreen lung space, inviting you tospread your picnic basket and baskunder the mild sun.

As the next day was going to be along and tiring one (after all, wewere going to see the famous NathuLa), we wrapped up soon, albeit re-luctantly, and headed back to ourguest house. Unfortunately, we didnot get the requisite permit fromthe Tourism Department to visitNathu La, the corridor that con-nects India with the Tibet Autonom-ous Region.

In the coldHugely disappointed, we drove toTsomgo lake, which is on the way toNathu La. The two-hour ride wasbreathtakingly beautiful at everyturn, though the traffic snarl was a

tad annoying. At the lake, we werewelcomed by a draught of bitingcold air. Here is where you need allthe winter paraphernalia, as thetemperature dips really low even insummer (at an altitude of 3,753metres). After clicking pictures nextto colourfully-dressed yaks, againstthe backdrop of misty mountainsflanking the lake, and gobbling pip-ing hot noodles in one of the manykitchens that dot the road, we wereover the Nathu La fiasco.

We would have missed seeing theBan Jhakri (meaning ‘jungle priest’)falls, very close to Gangtok, had itnot been for the friendly taxi driverwho insisted we visit the place. The100-foot waterfall, located inside awooded area with paved pathways,footbridges, gazebos and a shaman-istic theme park, was a big hit. Astay in Gangtok is incompletewithout the customary visit to thesqueaky-clean MG Marg, the mainmarketplace in the city withsouvenir shops and momo stalls.We were here almost every eveningto savour the sights and sounds. Ifyou love your books with coffee, donot miss the iconic Rachna Books,on top of Café Fiction, not too farfrom MG Marg. This place is a cul-tural hotspot in Gangtok, regularlyhosting writers, bakers andmusicians.

For the last leg of the trip, wedrove all the way from East Sikkimto Rinchenpong, a quiet town inWest Sikkim, where we stayed in arustic farmhouse. We finally man-aged to catch some leisure timehere, eating farm-fresh food,strolling lazily to a nearby school,watching the local kids play foot-ball, and realising that life can besimple, slow-paced anduncomplicated.

A Sikkim

saga

Here you’ll discover that life can be slow, simple and stress-free

Call of the hills: The Kanchenjunga(top); and Rumtek monastery

* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

It took a two-day road trip and astop in the small town of Nata toreach Moremi in northern Bot-swana and the plush greenswamps of the Okavango Delta.

The rich earth mettled withfootprints, pawprints and othermarkings and leavings was a nar-rative of the flurry of activity inwhat is dubbed ‘Africa’s LastEden’. The delta embraces a partof the richly diverse MoremiGame Reserve — one of the fewhomes to the entirety of the BigFive.

The structure of the delta ismuch like that of the Bay ofBengal, but many have dubbedthe formation of the delta a flukeof Nature. About two millionyears ago, the original route ofthe Okavango River ended in alake that is now the salt pans ofthe Makgadikgadi.

Then about 50,000 years ago,a monumental earthquake inSouthern Africa created a seismicflow disruption for the river,forming the 15,000 square-kilo-metre wetland from 11 trillionlitres of water. So geologicallyspeaking, the delta is quite young— but has also seen lifetimes ofspecies thrive and wither.

Nestled in a narrow makoro, acarved wooden canoe, its easydrifting courtesy the navigation ofthe local guide of the Bugakhwetribe was both unsettling andcomfortable — like a hammock.He explained the swamp is hometo a plethora of mini-ecosystems,“Each leaf, each tree is a home toso many things.”

It was 8 am and the mid-December stifling 32-degree swel-ter, coupled with a cloudless sky,had rivulets of sweat runningdown the back of my neck. Des-pite layers of sunscreen, the heatprickled my skin, making me fid-

get until the makoro rocked warn-ingly, causing a build-up ofnausea.

The papyrus reeds swayeddizzily and the gentle strokes ofthe oars presented an understooddecorum — be silent andeverything around you comesalive. I noticed a movement fromthe corner of my eye; the bulboushead of a hippopotamus peeredat us, pink eyelids squinting astiny ears shook off some water. Itsnostrils flared and I froze, know-ing the reputation of these tem-peramental water horses. Theguide, however, waved it off,chuckling, “It is wild, but they areused to us passing through. Don’tbother it, stay inside the boat —and you’ll be fine.” As he ex-plained, the creature sunk backbeneath the cool water, comfor-

ted by our unthreatening pres-ence. The movement sent a pro-found ripple, rocking the canoeand I quickly grasped the sidestightly, my eyes widening in brieffear.

Twenty minutes later, the ca-noe drifted towards the edge ofChief ’s Island, a 1,050 square-kilometre congregating area forlarger wildlife. A pair of spirallinghorns towered over the reeds, sig-nalling the curiosity of a kudu.Suddenly, the still water startedrippling once again; standing inthe cool shallows, a mother ele-phant slathered mud upon her-self as her baby playfully rolledaround in efforts to cool off. Acrocodile heaved itself out of thewater and waddled onto thewarm banks and opened itsmouth to sunbathe. Alarmed im-

pala sprung off into the grasses.Darting dragonflies and skatingwater striders brought a lighthum to accompany the chatter ofbirds and vervet monkeys in thetreetops.

It was overwhelming to thesenses, and one has to take abreather to fully absorb what’s go-ing on. In just 90 minutes, onecan behold an almost utopic uni-verse: it’s not passing traffic, it’s amigration; it’s not a toweringbuilding, it’s a canopy of trees; it’s

not dangers of the city, it’s thecuriosity and natural defence ofanimals in their habitats. You can-not afford to isolate the senses,it’s simply an upfront and em-powering experience if you let ithappen to you.

Nature’s struggle to thriveThe Okavango’s fertility, however,is disintegrating, with over-whelming summer seasons and

resulting droughts, as well asthreats of man. Our guide hadpointed out the endangered spe-cies, some of which peered curi-ously back at us.

The Botswana government hasbeen stringent in their protectionof the delta against human en-croachment and extractions of re-sources, such as water, valuablesalts and animal products. Poach-ing has never been an easy thing

to prevent internationally, as ourguide explained, but the numer-ous army camps set up in the re-serves are always alert and try toleave minimal human footprints.One may not always see them asthey are well-hidden, but they arewatchful of any movement.

Currently, pervasive worriesrun amok, regarding syndicatesat work to engage in such mal-practice, including the recentkillings of two rhinos. Daily mon-itoring and locating devices canonly go so far, according to theguide, who added, “Sometimes,the locator will not move forhours and that’s when we worry…and we often find the animal lyingthere dead.”

The Okavango, a world herit-age site and rightly so, yields a hu-man-to-animal interaction unlikeany other place; a truth of notman alongside Nature, but manwithin Nature.

Heart of the wild: (Clockwise from left) Aerial view of the Okavango Delta’s oxbow lake during the rainy seasonin October; the dug-out makoro canoe and a curious hippopotamus * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

....................................................................................................................

A crocodile heaved itself

out of the water and

waddled onto the warm

banks and opened its

mouth to sunbathe

Africa’s last EdenThe Okavango Delta is one of the continent’s last havens where natural beauty �ourishesdespite strickening heat and threats to preservation

Sometime ago, a 15-year-oldpaid me the biggest compli-ment I had received in a while.You are a cool teacher, she toldme, even as she enveloped mein a bear hug as we stood shiv-ering in the nippy wind some-where in the Himalayas. Whatsets this apart from just anothermoment of kindness is the con-text.

We found ourselves not juston any other picturesque holi-day in the mountains but as apart of InSync, India’s first in-clusive tandem cycling expedi-tion. She was in the middle ofbecoming the youngest blindgirl to pedal the 550 kilometresbetween Manali and KhardungLa, the world’s highest motor-able road.

She and 20-odd others likeher were my story for thesecond half of August. We allfound ourselves in Manali, de-termined to push our ownboundaries and redefine lines,and cycling was the weapon ofchoice. Fifteen cyclists set offon the expedition, armed withtheir support crew, includingphotographers, a doctor, andenough hands to make sure allwere well fed and hydrated atall times.

Adventures Beyond BarriersFoundation, the Pune-basednon-profit that had organisedthis annual expedition, special-ised in promoting inclusion forpersons with disability throughadventure sports, and this wasthe first time visually impaired,and amputee cyclists were tak-ing on such a gargantuan feat.No one knew exactly whatawaited in the mountains.

The next nine days disap-

peared in a flurry of tents,makeshift toilets, a scramblefor toilet paper, shivers andhugs, and the constant determ-ination to just keep pushing.

Varied experiencesWith participants ranging

from seasoned adventure en-thusiasts to first-time cyclists,the experiences were vastly dif-ferent. One participant com-pleted the route entirely afterhaving bought his cycle only atthe end of May. Another ped-alled every kilometre of theway fuelled by his practice inthe forests near Srinagar. Thethird whipped out cookies thather daughter had baked,whenever anyone was in need

of a sugar rush. For the fourth,the expedition was a way ofshowing people that age wasmerely a number.

Every individual came on theexpedition armed with a per-sonal motivation so sound thatit survived -6 degree Centigradeweather, bad roads, physicalwear and tear, and all else thatcomes with taking on a task ofthis scale.

Yet, the true magic for melay in the moments of quiet —there is something about themountains that catalyses them.Everyone who embraces themseems to become simultan-eously their strongest and mostvulnerable selves. Those mo-ments of quiet truly reflected

the spirit of inclusion. Sometimes they crept up un-

expectedly — when the supportcrew had a few moments tospare on the bus and conversa-tion was struck, when tentswere warmed by newly-madefriends and there was little elseto do at 9 pm, when a sightedcaptain described the environsto the blind stoker pedalling atthe back.

At other times, they were tobe expected — when the bodywas aching for a break, when ahot shower was within arm’sreach.

All about peopleYet, somewhere over the twoweeks, InSync ceased to beabout cycling and becameabout the people, the experi-ences, and the stories. It be-came about egging each otheron and pushing each other for-ward.

When I set out for Manalione Wednesday evening, Iwasn’t entirely sure what to ex-pect. I had 3,000 kilometres oftravelling to cover — a feat thatleft me feeling like the expedi-tion was over before it had evenbegun, and I had never met anyof the participants before. Asense of nervousness washedover me, and yet nothing couldhave prepared me for what layahead.

The next two weeks was ajourney of 20-odd people in themountains, transforming fromcycling buddies to living em-bodiments of what inclusiontruly means — transcending dis-ability, treating it as yet anothermarker, and forging deep, indi-vidual relationships.

Whendisabilityis justanothermarkerNotes from India’s�rst inclusivetandem cyclingexpedition

....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Fifteen cyclists set o� on the expedition, armed

with their support crew, including photographers

and a doctor

Two wheels and the world: Participants at the cycling expedition* AMRIT VATSA




CMYK

B ND-NDE

TRAVEL

Divya Kala Bhavani

Swetha Kannan

YASHASVINI RAJESHWAR

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