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PUBLISHED FROM DELHI & KOLKATA VOL. 3, ISSUE 99 | Thursday, 13 April 2017 | Kolkata | Pages 16 | Rs 3.00

RNI NO.: WBENG/2015/65962

GHULAM NABI AZAD

We have requested the President for his urgent intervention to protect India’s constitutional democracy

NO HALF TRU THS

MAMATA INAUGURATES 4TH UNIT OF SAGARDIGHI PLANT PG3

In today’s paper

...

SC VERDICT NEGATED PROTECTION TO ARMED FORCES, SAYS CENTRE PG7

LYNN-LESS KKR LOOK TO START HOME RUN WITH WIN AGAINST KXIP PG14

ACTING IS NOT MY LIFE: NARGIS PG16

Parl condemns BJP activist’s bounty offerBank accounts may

be blocked if not self-certified by Apr 30

OUR CORRESPONDENT

DOMKAL: In wake of a BJP youth wing leader announcing a bounty on her head, Bengal Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee on Wednes-day said one can threaten or call her names, but cannot scare her.

Without naming anyone, Baner-jee said, “They can abuse me, vilify me and conspire against me. They can abuse me as much as they want. I pray to God to forgive them. They do not know what they are saying. I will not say anything more.”

In an apparent reference to the Hindutva brigade, she told a public meeting here in Domkol in Mur-shidabad, “If anyone says that being a Hindu I can’t go to a mosque or a church, it cannot be so. I am com-mitted to the people. I am commit-ted to protecting everyone.

There is no use threatening me.“The more you threaten or call

me names, the more I will proceed... Your criticism will be blessings for

us. That will help us move forward. Now we are in Bengal. We will move to Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and then to Delhi,” she said.

She also reiterated that the peo-ple would decide what they want to eat or what they wear. No political party can decide that she said and asked the people not to get pro-voked by any instigation.

“Do not fall prey to false propa-

ganda spread through the Internet and social networking site. Social networks have been used to spread false rumours in lieu of money. Huge funds from abroad are com-ing in for this.

“Don’t be scared. Always remember that I am there as your biggest custodian,” Banerjee said.

Referring to the brandishing of swords at Ram Navami processions

by RSS affiliates, she said, “Some locals have popped up suddenly asking people to play with swords. That’s not the Bengal’s culture,” she said adding “Let them learn Bengal’s culture first, then comment about the state”. “There is no need to give importance to them,” she said.

Meanwhile, the BJP’s youth wing on Wednesday disowned its leader Yogesh Varshney, who had announced a Rs 11 lakh bounty on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s head and demanded legal action against him.

“BJYM stands against the state-ments made by Yogesh Varshney, and also urges the local admin-istration to take all the necessary legal actions against him as per law,” Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha said in a statement, adding Varshney was expelled two years ago from the party.

NEW DELHI: Parliament on Wednesday strongly con-demned a statement by a BJP youth wing leader Yogesh Varshney announcing a Rs 11 lakh bounty to anyone who beheads West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, with the Centre saying the state government was “free to take legal action” against him.

The issue was raised in both the Houses by Trinamool Congress members, with all

major polit-ical parties and the gov-ernment con-demning the

statement.In the Rajya Sabha, Deputy

Chairman P J Kurien said the state government can register an FIR and take action.

Raising this issue dur-ing Zero Hour in the Upper House, TMC member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said a BJP youth activist has publicly described West Bengal Chief Minister as a “demon” and

announced Rs 11 lakh bounty for anyone who brings the head of Chief Minister. Min-ister of State for Parliamen-tary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: “I strongly con-demn such type of statements. State government is free to take appropriate legal action on this issue”.

BSP supremo Mayawati termed it as a “serious mat-ter” and said “BJP should not just condemn the statement, but should also take action.”

Other opposition parties including Congress, Left and SP, also supported TMC on this issue and condemned the incident. Jaya Bachchan (SP) said there was a need to take “aggressive” steps for pro-tection of women. “You can protect cows and women are facing atrocities,” she added. “How dare somebody talk like this”, especially against women CM particularly when women are feeling insecure. “Is this the way you are going to protect women,” Bachchan asked. MPOST

Petrol, diesel prices to change every day in these

5 cities from May 1MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Come May 1, petrol and diesel prices will change every day in sync with international rates, much like what happens in most advanced markets.

State-owned fuel retailers Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petro-leum Corp Ltd (HPCL), which own over 95 per cent of nearly 58,000 pet-rol pumps in the country, will launch a pilot for daily price revision in five select cities from May 1 and gradually extend it to all over the country.

“Ultimately, we will be driving towards market linked rates on a daily basis at all pumps across the coun-try,” IOC Chairman B Ashok said on Wednesday.

A pilot for daily revision of pet-rol and diesel price will be first imple-mented in Puducherry, Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, Udaipur in Rajas-than, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and Chandigarh, he said.

State fuel retailers currently revise rates on 1st and 16th of every month based on average international price of the fuel in the preceding fortnight and currency exchange rate.

Instead of using fortnightly average, pump rates will reflect daily movement in international oil prices and rupee- US dollar fluctuations.

“It is technically possible to change rates daily but we have to first do a pilot. Once pilot is done and its implications studied, we will extend it to other parts of the country,” he said.

While Ashok said the pilot is to be “launched within one month” and did not give a specific date, industry sources said the pilot is planned to be launched on May 1.

Daily price change will remove the big leaps in rates that need to be effected at the end of the fortnight and con-sumer will be more aligned to market dynamics.

While petrol price was freed from government control in June 2010, diesel rates were deregulated in October 2014.

Technically, oil companies have freedom to revise rates but often they have been guided by political consider-ations. Rates differ by only a few paise between pumps of the three state fuel retailers. Unbranded petrol at IOC pumps in Delhi costs Rs 66.29 per litre, while the same at BPCL pumps in the city is priced at Rs 66.37 a litre. HPCL pumps sell for Rs 66.48 per litre.

Unbranded diesel at IOC pumps in Delhi costs Rs 55.61, Rs 55.66 at BPCL outlets and Rs 55.69 a litre at HPCL pumps.

With daily changes, which are unlikely to more than few paise per litre, the political pressures for not revising rates particularly when they are to be hiked will go, sources said.

Petrol price was last revised down-ward by Rs 3.77 a litre on April and diesel rates were cut by Rs 2.91. This was the first revision in two-and-half-months as oil firms did not change prices during assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Ashok said prices of petrol and diesel in a particular market (city or town) will be the same.

“By and large, in a particular market it should be same.

Though, there might be marginal difference from pump to pump,” he said.

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MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Accounts opened from July 2014 to August, 2015 will have to submit know your customer (KYC) details and their Aadhaar num-ber to banks and financial institutions by April 30 and self-certify them to comply with FATCA regulations (Foreign Tax Compliance Act), the tax department said on Tuesday.

In case the account holders are unable to furnish details and provide self-certification by the new deadline, banks and financial institu-tions have the option of blocking the accounts .

Once the details are furnished they can operate the accounts. The provision applies to accounts which come under the ambit of FATCA regulations.

Banks and financial institutions were asked to obtain self-certification and carry out due diligence for all individual and entity accounts opened from July 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015 to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compli-ance Act (FATCA) pact signed by India and the United States.

In July 2015, India and the US signed a tax information sharing agreement under a new US law, FATCA, aimed at bolstering efforts for auto-matic exchange of financial information between the two nations about tax evaders.

“The account holders may be informed that, in case self-certifications are not provided till April 30, 2017, the accounts would be blocked, which would mean that the financial institution would prohibit the account holder from effecting any transaction with respect to such accounts,” the tax department said in a statement.

‘Conviction rate of CBI dipped in last 3 years’ MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The conviction rate of the CBI has dipped from 69 per cent in 2014 to 66.8 per cent in 2016, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh said in the year 2014 the conviction rate was 69.02 per cent, in 2015 it was 65.1 per cent and in 2016 it was 66.8 per cent.

“In order to ensure better conviction

rate, Government had taken various mea-sures for improving the functioning of the CBI which, inter alia, includes modernisa-tion of the CBI, enhanced quality of train-ing, upgradation of infrastructure, creation of additional posts of public prosecutors, modernisation of CFSL etc,” he said.

The minister said according to data on February 28, 2017, there are 1,174 cases pending under investigation with the CBI.

“Out of these, 157 cases are pending for more than two years, 35 cases are pend-

ing for more than five years, six cases are pending for more than 10 years and two cases are pending for more than 15 years,” he said.

He was asked by BJP MP Feroze Varun Gandhi about the number of cases that are pending for investigation with the Central Bureau of Investigation for different peri-ods from two, five, 10 and 15 years.

The minister said out of 1,174 cases, 108 cases relate to disproportionate assets and 223 cases relate to cheating or forgery.

Come, try hack our EVMsMPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Come try hack our EVMs and show they can be tampered with, the Election Commission said on Wednes-day, inviting political par-ties and experts to the “open challenge”.

While the Commission is yet to decide on the exact date, it said the challenge would be held in the first week of May and could continue for ten days.

The last time such an event had taken place was in 2009 when 100 machines from dif-ferent parts of the country were kept at Vigyan Bhawan. No one, EC claimed, could hack the electronic voting machines.

When Delhi Chief Minister

and AAP leader Arvind Kejri-wal had met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi with a complaint on EVMs last week, he was told that the poll panel is planning such an event.

This time, the venue could

be Nirvachan Sadan, the EC headquarters.

The specifics would be decided by the Commission’s technical expert committee on EVMs and the details would be made public in the next couple

of days.There is a strong possibility

that EVMs used in the Uttar Pradesh polls could also be brought in for the challenge. BSP had alleged that tam-pered machines helped BJP win the polls. As per rules, the machines cannot be taken out of the strong room for 40 days — a period within which an aggrieved person can file an election petition before the high court concerned. That period will end later this month.

“From first week of May, experts, scientists, technocrats can come for a week or 10 days and try to hack the machines,” an official source said.

They said the challenge will be open for a week or 10 days.

PILOT PROJECT TO BEGIN IN 5 CITIES

EC CHALLENGE TO PARTIES, EXPERTS

SUBMIT KYC, AADHAAR DETAILS: I-T DEPT Threats don’t scare

me, says Mamata

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Mamata Banerjee at a public function at Domkol on Wednesday PIC/MPOST

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mp town2MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

DAYINDAYOUT What’s on Around Town

FILM SCREENING: LEELA IN KHERIYA The film ‘Leela in Kheriya’ directed by Dr Molly Kaushal tells the stories of a few individual lives in Kheriya, deeply en-meshed with the Ramlila performed every year in the village. Kheriya is located near the township of Firozabad, known for its glass making factories. In the film of 53 minutes, the furnaces of these fac-tories serve as metaphors for rhythms of life, its grit and grime, as also its sublime essence. Lives of both Hindus and Muslims of Kheriya converge on the Ramlila stage, making it a moment of self liberation and self realisation for each. Prof Pushpesh Pant and Dr Sukrita Paul will discuss the film after the screening. WHEN: April 17WHERE: CD Deshmukh Auditorium, India International Centre (IIC) TIMING: 6:30 pm

THROUGH THE EYES OF YAMUNAWitness the beauty of the capital city through the eyes of Yamuna by being a part of the Kathak production, a classical dance form by Shivani Varma and di-rected by Beenu Rajpoot. This is the story of Delhi through the eyes of the Yamuna, who predates this gathering that is this city and still watches silently from the sidelines. This production is based on text written by Pavan K. Varma and the nar-ration is done by Begum Syeda Hameed.WHEN: April 16WHERE: CD Deshmukh Auditorium, IICTIMING: 7pm

ATMA RATIModern Individual indulges in self – exploration, self – reflection, self-actualization and of course selfies. The world has evolved

technologi-cally; no real change

has taken place psy-chologically. A classical dance presentation ‘Atma Rati’ by Dr Dimple Kaur aims to show how the psychological view of Gita is relevant in the modern con-text, and the teachings and learnings from Gita need not be larger than life as por-trayed but can be inculcated in simple day to day acts.WHEN: April 18WHERE: Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre

TIMING: 7 pm

‘We won the war but lost the peace’

OUR CORRESPONDENT

On the occasion of 100 years of Cham-paran Satayagraha, the first Satyagraha movement initiated by Mohandas Gan-dhi, in the Champaran district of Bihar,

Kalpana Patowary, a folk artist initiated a musi-cal movement as she released a musical travelogue inspired by it.

Champaran, is a district in the state of Bihar wherein tens of thousands of landless serfs, inden-tured labourers and poor farmers were forced to grow indigo and similar cash crops by the British East India company and subsequently, the British government in colonised India. This indigo was bought from them at a very low price to export to China as opium. That is when Raj Kumar Shukla, an indigo cultivator, persuaded Gandhi to go to Cham-paran and thus, the Satyagraha began. Kalpana has dedicated this project to the land (Bihar) and the legend (Gandhi) so that the colloquial dialect of the region, Bhojpuri can be recognised as an Indian language. The musical also brings to the fore how Bhojpuri was the soul of Champaran Satyagraha and also the main tool used by Gandhiji to connect with people of Champaran hundred years ago. How-

ever, unfortunately Bhojpuri is still not included in the 8th schedule of Indian constitution today and through this musical movement the artiste wants to request the State Government and Central Govern-ment to give a respectable place to Bhojpuri. By and large, it is her musical Satyagraha for inclusion of Bhojpuri in the 8th schedule of Indian constitution.

Talking about the musical travelogue Kalpana expresses, “Champaran Satayagarha was important not only for farmers who were exploited by British-ers. Actually, Champaran Satayaghara was the real freedom movement insisted by people in rural area like Champaran.” She further goes on to express, “The Satyagraha connects with the rich Bhojpuri

culture including the melody of Bhojpuri traditional Ramleela folktune through this project i have made and effort to make Bhojpuri as the language of intel-lectual literature world.”

The screening saw a host of Union Minsters and Parliamentarians who attended the event to show solidarity. Present were, Parsottambhai Rupala Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Wel-fare, Jual Oram, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Ramdas Athawale, Minister of Social & justice and Women Empowerment and Krishna Raj, Minister for Child and woman. Neelam Sonkar, Member of Parliament under whose patronage the event was initiated expressed, “Kalpana’s musical contribu-tion towards Champaran Satyagraha is laudable. Despite belonging to Assam she has spent the past 16 years in musically trying to revive Bhojpuri lan-guages which is also the language of the people of Champaran. No one has taken such an initiative and I extend my heartfelt appreciation and support in her quest towards this musical expedition.”

Interestingly, as the country celebrates the 100th year of the Champaran Satyagraha on April 14, Bollywood film Begum Jaan where Kalpana ren-dered her voice for ‘O Re Kaharo’, is all set for release on the same day.

CHAMPARAN SATYAGRAHA movement gets a musical touch

EVER WONDERED what causes your shoelaces to loosen even when you tie them as firmly as possible?

It is because while running, the force of a foot striking the ground stretches and then relaxes the knot, a study has showed. As the knot loosens, a second force caused by the swinging leg acts on the ends of the laces, like an invisible hand, which rapidly leads to a failure of the knot in as few as two strides after inertia acts on the laces.

The findings, published in the jour-nal Proceedings of the Royal Society, may help understand things like DNA that fail under dynamic forces, the researchers said.

“When you talk about knotted structures, if you can start to under-stand the shoelace, then you can apply it to other things, like DNA or micro-structures, that fail under dynamic forces,” said Christopher Daily-Dia-mond, graduate student at the Univer-

sity of California-Berkeley.Using a slow-motion camera and a

series of experiments, the researchers assessed a pair of running shoes that were laced-up and were on a treadmill.

They found that shoelace knot fail-ure happens in a matter of seconds, triggered by a complex interaction of forces, as when running, the foot strikes the ground at seven times the force of gravity.

In addition, the study showed that some laces might be better than oth-ers for tying knots, but the fundamen-tal mechanics causing them to fail is the same.“The interesting thing about this mechanism is that your laces can be fine for a really long time, and it’s not until you get one little bit of motion to cause loosening that starts this avalanche effect leading to knot failure,” said Christine Gregg, grad-uate student at the University of California-Berkeley. IANS

Why your shoelaces often get loose

OUR CORRESPONDENT

‘ONCE UPON A TIME’ a play created by Miran Produc-tion finally gave an impactful route to the crowd. The play was held by a brilliant cast, none other than Tom Alter, Charu Shankar, Sunit Tandon.

The play was a repertoire of five short stories based on human emotions and relationships. Such entertaining pieces from everyday life are magnificent in their simplicity. An amalgamation of human psyche and sentiments, there is a tale for every occasion set in reality whether depicting love, longing, anxiety or fear. Directed by Sujata Soni Bali, it is a unique collection that will make the audience laugh, cry, feel and think, all in a roller-coaster journey of one hour! Care-fully curated from different genres and varied in their nar-ration and style, the stories are related in their richness and intensity. All five stories, got the audience – old and young alike – hooked on to the play with their interesting story line. The five stories were as follows:

Sharifan – A poignant story set at the time of partition; where violence begets violence or could it be the turning point for peace? Original story by Saadat Hassan Manto.

The Classroom – A depiction in lighter vein that describes what goes on in the mind of a teacher when she takes her first class. Original story by Sutapa Basu.

Last Letter – A touching story about a father who writes his last letter to his daughter on her birthday. Original story by Dipanker Mukherjee.

Twenty Questions – An amusing story that shows an interesting conversation between two people who meet in an arranged marriage set up. Original story by Twinkle Pandey.

Ek Lamha – An ethereal depiction of a poet finding his muse as he passes by the tenth floor of a building. A true nar-ration by Tom Alter.

‘Once Upon A Time’ spreads its magic

Masood Khalili

The story of Afghanistan – of the war against the Soviets and of terrorism that has gripped the landlocked country ever since

– is in many ways also the story of diplo-mat Masood Khalili, who motivated his people and led them in their fight against the Red Army.

It was a war of liberation, says Khalili, the country’s ambassador to Spain and who has also served in New Delhi, lamenting that even after defeating the Soviets, Afghanistan lost its peace.

“Can you believe it? To win the war but lose peace? It was very hard for me and my friends, but we lost it. Our actions and the actions of our neighbours have kept the war going to this day. In the time of the war against the Soviets, the whole country was in one way or another involved, but now not everyone is involved in the war against the Taliban,” said Khalili.

The victory against the Soviets was expected, by all means, to ensure lasting stability in Afghanistan. How did things go awry?

Khalili, whose memoir, ‘Whispers of War: An Afghan Freedom Fight-er’s Account of the War’ (published by Sage Publications; Rs 495) has just been released, attributed this to lack of expe-rience, a lack of vision and “a concerted effort by our neighbours, especially the ISI of Pakistan”.

“In the war against the Soviets, not one Afghan had exploded himself in order to gain something but now, our southern neighbor (Pakistan) and our neighbor

to the west (Iran) keep involving them-selves negatively in our internal affairs, training, funding and arming our ene-mies to mobilise against the government in Kabul,” he contended.

The memoir is an account of the search for ever-elusive peace in Afghan-istan. Translated by his son Mahmud Khalili, the book brings to life the diplo-mat’s letters to his wife during the trou-bled times when he journeyed through the Himalayan region.

Khalili was the political head of the Jamiat-i-Islami Party of Afghanistan in

the war against the Soviets from 1980 to 1990 and a close adviser to legend-ary resistance commander Ahmad Shah Masood, also known as the Lion of Pan-jshir. He is largely credited with moti-vating his people in the war against the Soviets.

“If you do not mobilise your people, the enemy mobilises them. This is why I travelled throughout Afghanistan more than 13 times on horse, donkey or on foot. It was not an easy task at all, but I had to do it in order to end the horrible war that was killing thousands of my people

every month,” he recalled. In the sum-mer of 1986, Khalili was forced to leave behind his wife Sohaillah and their sons Mahmud and Majdood in Pakistan before embarking on his journey to mobilise the people in Afghanistan. During this period, he maintained a regular diary, which now finds mention in the just-released offering.

“Even if I was in the most horrible condition, writing in my notebook about my own plight and that of my poor, war-torn countrymen, would give me strength to move on,” he said.

The Afghan diplomat further shared his perspective on the role of Afghanistan in the 21st century and the many hurdles in achieving that goal. “If you lose hope, you lose everything. It is through hope that we Afghans were able to defeat the Red Army, one of the superpowers of the world. Just imagine, a super power was defeated by the super poor. How? Through mobilisation and through keep-ing hope alive. Wrong can never stay for long. Just like the British and Soviets, the Taliban also will not be able to stay for-ever,” he maintained.

He said that there is an urgent need to “bring an end to government corruption and inefficient spending” in Afghanistan and that the country needs “real leaders” as weak leaders without vision cannot bring about peace and stability.

The Afghan freedom fighter further urged “friends from around the world and our own leaders in Kabul” to bring pressure on Iran and Pakistan to stop supporting fundamentalist groups inside Afghanistan to further their own interests in the region.

To combat terrorism, he said, it was important to contain poverty and to support the youth of Afghanistan. “We, the old generation, fought against the Soviets and are still fighting against the Taliban, Daesh and Al Qaeda – but it should be our youth who should get more involved in every sphere of society. They can make their future better and we should give them the means to do it,” he contended. IANS

Masood Khalili said that there is an urgent need to ‘bring an end to government corruption and inefficient spending’ in Afghanistan, and that it needs leaders with vision to restore peace

cap

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mp city 3MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

Ambedkar’s 127th b’day to be celebrated in all

341 blocksOUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The 127th birth anniversary of Babasaheb B R Ambedkar will be held in all the 341 blocks in the state on April 14.

The programme will begin with garlanding of the photo-graph of the Father of Indian Constitution at 11 am. This will be followed by a discussion on the Indian Constitution with special emphasis on his role to reserve Constitutional rights for the backward classes.

This is for the first time when the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar will be observed in all the blocks following instructions from Chief Min-ister Mamata Banerjee.

The programme will start at 11 am in all the blocks and its duration will continue for about an hour.

Senior state government officials felt it was necessary to make the state govern-ment employees aware of the Indian Constitution and the role played by Babasaheb Ambedkar.

Being a prolific student, he earned doctorates in econom-ics from both Columbia Uni-versity and the London School of Economics, and gained a reputation as a scholar for his research in law, economics and political science.

In his early career, he was an economist, professor, and law-yer. His later life was marked by his political activities after he became involved in cam-paigning and negotiations for India’s Independence, publish-ing journals, advocating polit-ical rights and social freedom for Dalits, and contributing sig-nificantly to the establishment of the state of India.

Mamata inaugurates 4th unit of Sagardighi plant

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the fourth unit of Sagardighi Thermal Power Plant on Wednesday and laid the foundation stone of the fifth unit that would be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 3,800 crore. The fourth unit has been set up at an estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore.

Speaking at the function, she said around 50 to 60 lakh people would be benefitted by the project and stressed that almost 100% people in the rural areas have received electricity in the state under the “Sabar ghore alo” project.

Criticising the Congress MPs, she added that Murshidabad district had been badly hit by soil erosion along the river bank but none of the MPs had raised the matter in Delhi.

“The state government had asked for Rs 700 crore to repair the embankments but the amount has not yet been released. Dur-ing my recent visit to Delhi, I had requested the Prime Minister to release the amount,”

she said. She further added that Rs 400 crore worth Kandi master plan has been prepared.

The Chief Minister said as many as 4,000 families from Murshidabad, who had lost jobs due to demonetisation, had been given Rs 50,000 each to start busi-nesses of their own.

“We are trying to help those who lost their jobs due to demonetisation. The amount many not be very big but it shows the genuineness of the state government to address all sorts of people who are in distress.”

Banerjee said the healthcare system in Murshidabad had improved over the past few years. Three multi-superspecialty hos-pitals have come up in Jangipur, Sagardighi and Domkol and 25 Sick Neonatal Care Units (SNCU) have been constructed.

The child mortality rate has gone down over the years. People are getting free treat-ment in the state-run hospitals.

“Costly treatments like dialysis and heart operations are free in state-run hos-pitals. We have been providing treatment

to eight crore people in the state-run hos-pitals and Bengal is number 1 in the coun-try in providing free treatment to people in government hospitals.”

The Chief Minister also added that the students have been benefitted immensely by Kanyashree, Yubashree and Sabuj Sathi. Cycles were distributed among students of Classes IX and X under the project.

The Gatidhara scheme has also helped over 10,000 unemployed youth to become self-reliant. She said as many as 21 Kishan Mandis have been constructed so far in the district and farmers are getting cor-rect prices for their produce and the mid-dlemen now have no role in the district.

It may be mentioned that Murshid-abad district which was considered to be the stronghold of Congress had switched over to Trinamool last year.

The Zilla Parishad has come under Trinamool too. In Domkol, the munici-pality election will be held in May and it will prove to be a litmus test for the Trin-amool as Congress and CPI(M) are set to form an alliance.

State to train 3,500 SC, ST youth to ‘fit’ Sabuj Sathi cycles

Better facilities in nature resorts: Review

meeting to be held

Pressure pipe detachment delays train

Commissioner of Rly safety cites concern over

encroachments

Soon, Diet Road to be a reality in Sector-V

CID to initiate probe over Yojesh’s ‘Rs 11 lakh bounty on Mamata’ remark

TARUN GOSWAMI

KOLKATA: The Backward Classes Welfare department (BCW) has taken up a unique scheme to provide training to 3,500 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe youth who will work as fitters in the Sabuj Sathi project with a view to make them self-reliant.

The scheme, which is the first-of-its kind in the country, will help in getting the bicy-cles assembled that will come to the state soon. The state gov-ernment has already distrib-uted 30 lakh bicycles among the students of Classes IX, X, XI and XII of state-run, aided and sponsored schools.

Another 30 lakh cycles will be distributed among the students of Classes IX and X. The project that started in 2015 has brought great success and has helped students par-ticularly in the rural areas to reach school. The project has been renamed by Chief Minis-

ter Mamata Banerjee and she had sketched the logo which is being embossed in every cycle. It is important to men-tion that the price of every cycle is Rs 3,312.

The youth are being given training in six districts — Ali-purduar, Jalpaiguri, Siliguri, South Dinajpur, Nadia and Hooghly — under the skill development project. The cycle spares come in 121 boxes.

An average fitter working in the shops can assemble a maximum of two cycles in a day. Around 4,500 fitters who had come to assemble 30 lakh cycles could complete fittings of seven to eight cycles per day.

Now, these SC and ST youth will be trained to assem-ble seven to eight cycles per day which will do away with brin-ing fitters from other states.

Once all the cycles have been distributed, the trained youth can open cycle repair-ing shops with financial assis-tance from the government and

thus become self-reliant. Those receiving training by the three companies that are supplying the bicycles, will be given tools free of cost.

There is a three-year war-ranty for the cycles that will be distributed among the stu-dents. They will be given war-ranty cards and the fitters will be maintaining the cycles for three years free of cost. The cycles are fitted with 12 reflec-tors and a unique identification number which are machine readable.

The BCW has already stored the data containing names of 30 lakh students, their guardians, schools where they study along with the date when they had received the cycles. It has already prepared a data bank of those who will receive the cycles.

Thus, the department has names of 60 lakh students studying in state-run, aided and sponsored schools in its data bank.

PRITESH BASU

KOLKATA: West Bengal For-est Development Corporation (WBFDC) will hold a review meeting to take a stock of the progress of the ongoing proj-ects in North Bengal districts and assess further development needed in the nature resorts to provide better facilities to tourists.

The decision of transform-ing eateries in the resorts, where only boarders are allowed to eat at present, to restaurants will also be taken in the meeting scheduled to be held on April 14 at Siliguri. The restaurants will be opened for non-board-ers to let people enjoy the local cuisine.

It may be recalled that the eatery in Buxa Jungle Lodge in Rajabhatkhawa was trans-formed to a restaurant ahead of Durga Puja in 2016. Now, the decision to implement the same project in other nature resorts of WBFDC would be taken in the forthcoming meeting.

Udayan Guha, Chairman of WBFDC, said: “We have many plans and there will be a meet-ing on April 14 to discuss the same. General and divisional manager of North Bengal will

also be present in the meeting. We will also discuss in which resorts eateries can be trans-formed to restaurants.”

At present, WBFDC have 91 resorts with accommoda-tion of around 260 people at a time. The resorts are situated in 18 different locations of North and South Bengal. But maxi-mum number of the resorts are in South Bengal.

Since the resorts remain booked most of the time in a year, the corporation had decided to increase accommo-dation capacity in the resorts. The work to increase the capacity started in the resorts at Jaldhaka Valley in Dooars, Malangi in Hasimara and Lole-gaon. In some of the eco-tour-ism spots, floors are getting added to the resorts while in some places another building is coming up to accommo-date more people. WBFDC is a profit making corporation of the state government and a major share of the profit comes from the resorts.

Thus, the stock on the prog-ress of work which were taken up to increase the capacity will be taken in the forthcom-ing meeting to ensure that the work does not get unnecessar-ily delayed.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The pressure pipe between the engine and bogies of 12317 Up Akal Takht Express got detached on Wednesday morning after leav-ing Kolkata station, leading to a delay of 54 minutes.

“The pressure pipe between the engine and the first com-partment of Amritsar-bound Akal Takht Express got detached at 7.30 am, soon after leaving Kolkata, the originat-

ing station,” Eastern Railway spokesperson R N Mahapatra said.

“There was no possibility of any mishap as the train came to a halt following the detachment as lack of air pressure automati-cally activate the brakes,” he said. “However, an enquiry has been ordered to find out the cause of the detachment,” Mahapatra said.

The train left for its destina-tion at 8.24 am after necessary repairs. WITH AGENCY INPUTS

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Concerned over growing encroachments beside railway tracks, the Commis-sioner of Railway Safety, Eastern Circle expressed his displeasure to the General Manager of Eastern and South Eastern Railway.

Pramod Kumar Acharya, the commissioner, warned the General Manager that he could withdraw the rail service from some routes if such encroach-ments continue growing.

“Recently, we were discuss-ing this issue in an informal conversation. He was wor-ried about the encroachments alongside some routes. He even warned me that he could with-draw train services from those routes for the sake of safety,” said S N Agrawal, General Manager, Eastern and South Eastern Railway.

“This problem is particu-larly in the Eastern railway. We’ll discuss the matter with the state government,” Agrawal said at the sideline of a press conference on Wednesday. However, the Eastern Railway and the South Eastern Railway presented highlights of their

performances during 2016-17. “ER succeeded in loading 35.45 metric tonnne of coal and 24.67 MT of general goods. ER also earned Rs 4,533.10 crore from freight loading and car-ried 118.34 crores of passengers this year. ER earned Rs 2,572 crore from passenger traffic,” Agrawal informed.

“The goods earning of the South Eastern Railway is Rs 11,555.75 crore in 2016-17 and the passenger earning was Rs 1,924.75 crore. The sur-plus earning in 2016-17 is Rs 5,940.74 crore,” Agrawal fur-ther said, adding that “South Eastern Railway loaded 147.73 MT freight in 2016-17.

About the passenger ame-nities of the Railways, the General Manager pointed out various steps which were already taken. “In ER, 134 Point of Sale machines have been introduced to promote digital payment while, wi-fi has been provided at Howrah and Sealdah stations and will be provided at Burdwan, Asan-sol and Bhagalpur very shortly,” the General Manager said. It was mentioned that the South Eastern Railway recorded only two accidents in 2016-17.

DEBAMOY GHOSH

KOLKATA: The concept of “diet road” may still be unfamiliar in India’s transportation system, but Kolkata is all set to get one soon.

Salt Lake Sector-V, Bengal’s first IT destination, will get a “diet road” to find solution to its unmanageable traffic congestion, especially in rush hours in the morning and evening.

Nabadiganta Industrial Town-ship Authority (NDITA), the devel-opment authority of the tech-sector, has recently decided to construct “diet road” to get rid of such chock-a-blocks.

“We have asked Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to make a com-

prehensive transport plan that puts the person-commuter at the cen-tre with emphasis on the “diet road”. The experts will come up with a plan before we proceed with the work,” said Debashis Sen, Additional Chief Sec-retary of the Bengal government and Chairman of NDITA.

Diet road, often called lane reduc-tion, is actually a technique in trans-portation planning by which the effective width of the road is reduced in order to achieve systematic improvements. “This concept is pop-ular in foreign countries. Diet road is actually a narrow road where people can walk or ride cycles easily. Driving cars to reach one’s destination via the

diet road is also possible but it is advis-able to avoid it,” Sen explained.

Through this kind of road, it will take more time for one to reach his destination. The car cannot move freely through the narrow diet road.

But people would prefer to walk

down the diet road as it would save a lot of time for them since they would not get stuck in traffic jams.

There are many key benefits of a diet road including lower vehicular speed, reducing the possibility of road accidents and improving pedestrian’s

safety. A study which was done by some researchers in the United States indicated that diet roads can reduce road accidents by almost 19-43 per-cent in a busy area.

NDITA is now working with IIT-Kharagpur to implement the concept. Around 2 lakh people work in Sector-V and approximately four-six lakh people regularly commute to this area.

“We have discussed the traffic jam issue in our internal meeting. The decision was taken recently to do something for the pedestrians. But not only the diet road, we are also con-sidering to construct non-motorised roads exclusively for cyclists and pedestrians,” Sen added.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Criminal Investi-gation Department (CID) will initiate a probe into the “pro-vocative” statement of BJP Yuva Morcha leader Yogesh Varsh-ney announcing Rs 11 lakh bounty for beheading Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Rajesh Kumar, ADG CID, said: “We are starting a case in the state of West Bengal. The probe will be taken up by the CID and law will take its own course.” In connection with a religious rally in Suri on Hanu-man Jayanti, Yogesh said in an interview to a news agency: “Mamata government beat up people. If someone was wear-ing a red shirt or a red pant, they were beaten up brutally by the police. I don’t under-stand... Mamata Banerjee orga-nises Iftar party, she argues for the Muslims. I want to ask her are Hindus not human? If

they had any humanity, they wouldn’t have beaten up like this. If anyone brings me her severed head, I will give that person Rs 11 lakh.”

Sources said that the police will probe to find whether the statement was made just to gain publicity or there is some hidden motive behind it. The police will investigate to know Yogesh’s “background” and if needed, he will be brought to Bengal for the sake of investi-gation. The police will also be collecting the video footage in which he was found announc-ing the bounty and it will be sent for forensic test.

A police officer said the case has been initiated considering that such statements might leave a negative effect on people and it has been considered as a case of criminal intimidation.

Uttar Pradesh police have also registered an FIR against Yogesh in this connection on

Wednesday. Thus, the state police will be seeking legal opinion for tagging both the cases into one.

Partha Chatterjee, secretary general of Trinamool Congress, demanding his arrest said: “This cannot be the language of politics or religion and he should be arrested immediately for making such a provocative statement.” Subrata Mukherjee said BJP was trying to destabi-lise society and this trend was dangerous. “How can a leader make such an irresponsible statement.” WBPCC president Adhir Chowdhury said “ RSS is functioning like the ISIS, that is, if they do not like anyone they go for beheading him or her. This is most unfortunate.”

CPI(M) MP Mohammad Selim said “such a statement is uncalled for.” Condemning the incident, state BJP presi-dent Dilip Ghosh said: “It was unfortunate and uncalled for.”

TMC leader shot dead in

East Burdwan

AI to serve Bengali delicacies on ‘Poila Baishakh’KOLKATA: National carrier Air India will serve Bengali cuisines on April 15 to celebrate ‘Poila Boishakh’, the first day of Bengali New Year. “These lip-smack-ing dishes will be offered on April 15 on Air India flights from Kolkata to all the

metros, Port Blair and international destina-tions,” AI sources said on Wednesday. Variety of Bengali foods — Cholar Dal with kismis and narkel, Hinger Kachuri, Murgi or Mochar cutlet, Beetroot chop, Dimer Devil, keemar tarkari, baked singara, dal bora, sitabhog would be served for the breakfast and Hi-tea. For lunch and dinner - Aam Posto Murgi, Dak-Bungalow Murgi, Sonamug Dal, Echorer Kalia, Ghee bhaat, Pataler Dolma, Chanar Dalna with Aam sandesh and Mishti doi would be served to the passengers. Gandharaj Lebur Ghol and Daber Jol would be the highlights among the welcome drinks to quench the thirst in a typi-cal Bengali style. OOR CORRESPONDENT

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Zahir Sheikh (45), Trinamool Congress leader and president of Ketugram I Gram Panchayat in East Burdwan was shot dead by unknown criminals late on Wednesday evening.

No one has been arrested in this connection yet. Senior police officers have rushed to the spot and investigation has begun. A massive man hunt is on for the criminals.

According to the police, the victim was on his way home from the party office when, near Raikha, some criminals accosted him and before he could run for his life, they fired at him from a point-blank range.

They fled the spot leav-ing Sheikh on the road lying in a pool of blood. Alarmed by the noise of gunshot, vil-lagers rushed to the spot and found Sheikh lying on the road. They rushed him to the hos-pital where he was declared brought dead. A large police contingent went to the spot and began investigation. The cause of murder is yet to be ascertained. Preliminary investigation revealed that political rivalry might have led to his murder. Senior Tri-namool Congress leaders vis-ited the area and condemned the killing. They alleged that CPI(M) and BJP had formed an alliance and were trying to create trouble before the Pan-chayat election scheduled in 2018. CPI(M) and BJP were regularly attempting to scare people and trying to project as if law and order situation had deteriorated in rural Bengal. They said a high-level meeting would be held to condemn the politics of murder.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Domkal on Wednesday PIC/MPOST

The scheme, which is the first-of-its kind in India, will help in getting the bicycles assembled

S N Agrawal, General Manager, Eastern & South Eastern Railway addresses the press at Fairlie Place on Wednesday. Satish Kumar, Additional General Manager, Eastern Railway, DRMs of Howrah, Sealdah and Kharagpur along with principal head of departments of Eastern & South Eastern Railway were also present PIC/MPOST

mp city4MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

Bengal’s dream of producing more doctors

may hit roadblockPRADIP CHATTERJEE

KOLKATA: Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee’s dream of increasing the number of doctors in the state-run hos-pitals may be hit as the Med-ical Council of India (MCI) has recommended the Centre to scrape some of the existing undergraduate medical seats in eight medical colleges of the state.

After their recent visit to various state-run hospitals to assess infrastructure, a team of senior MCI officials have rec-ommended the Union Health Ministry not to allow these medical colleges to admit can-didates in these seats for this academic year citing poor infrastructure. Now, it is up to the Centre if it would allow the state government to admit can-didates in those seats that were already recommended for can-cellation or not.

Many people in the state are, however, crying foul at the step taken by the highest reg-ulatory body. They find this move politically motivated and also accused the highest regu-latory body of being an instru-ment of the Centre to satisfy its political vendetta.

After coming to power, Chief Minister Mamata Baner-jee had taken a number of ini-tiatives to increase the health infrastructure in the state. She also instructed the state Health department to increase the

medical seats to address the dearth of doctors at various hospitals across the state.

Following the Chief Minis-ter’s order, the undergraduate seats were increased at vari-ous medical colleges but they are still awaiting the Centre’s nod. If the Centre cancels these seats, it will also affect the Cen-tre’s ambitious plan to produce

80,000 doctors per year in the country. Currently, around 62,000 doctors are produced across the country in a year. Even the state government’s effort to meet the crisis of doc-tors in various hospitals may face some challenges following this move.

The medical colleges have to obtain permission from the

MCI to admit the candidates in the permitted seats. Permitted seats are those against which the state government needs to take permission from the Cen-tre every year while for the per-manent seats, there is no need to take permission. The MCI has recommended the Centre not to renew permission for these seats as it had found some lapses in the infrastructure of these medical colleges.

It was learnt that the MCI has recommended the Centre not to renew permission for the permitted seats in various medical colleges of the state. As a result of this move, the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) may lose 95 permitted seats this year, while the NRS Medical College and Hospital, Calcutta National Medical College and Hospi-tal (CNMCH), SSKM Hospi-tal may lose around 100, 50, 50 undergraduate medical seats respectively.

Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Burdwan Medical College and Hospital and Bankura Sammi-lani Medical College and Hos-pital will not get permission for admission against 50 seats each too if the recommenda-tion is followed.

The permanent undergrad-uate seats in CMCH, NRS, CNMCH, SSKM hospitals cur-rently stand at 155, 150, 150 and 100 respectively.

Seven injured after crude bombs explode

in BurdwanOUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Seven persons including three children suf-fered splinter injuries when some crude bombs exploded in a crowded area of Sahapara area under Ketugram police sta-tion in Burdwan, a few meters away from a local fair ground on Tuesday night.

The victims are undergo-ing treatment at the Katwa sub-divisional hospital. The children who received severe injuries on their bodies are stated to be in a serious con-dition. Senior police officers rushed to the spot immedi-ately after the incident and started a detailed probe into the incident.

Tension ran high among the local residents following the incident. The blast took place where there was a fair going on and lots of people including many children congregated in the area. Local people told the police that they heard a loud explosion.

On reaching the spot, they found the seven persons includ-ing three children wreathing in pain as they suffered splin-ter injuries on various parts of their body. Police came to know from the local residents that the blast had taken place when two youth who were carrying a bag on a bicycle which sud-denly fell on the ground. One of the two youth also received severe injuries in the incident. Meanwhile, cops are interro-gating the other youth Rajesh Seikh who was allegedly car-rying bombs in the bag

Police have detained Seikh for his alleged involvement in the incident and are investi-

gating where these bombs were being taken to by the accused. The investigating officers are not taking the incident lightly as similar incidents of blasts had earlier taken place in the district.

Police said that the bombs that were being carried inside the bag exploded after the bag fell on the ground. Three chil-dren along with others who were passing through the area received injuries. After hearing about the incident, local people rushed to their rescue and the victims were taken to a hospi-tal for treatment. Police have started a detailed probe in this regard and are conducting raids to nab the culprits who might have engaged the two youth to take the crude bombs to a cer-tain place.

Govt starts process to regularise para-teachersKOLKATA: The state government has started the process to resolve the problem regarding the recruitment of para-teachers in primary schools. There are around 500 such candidates who cleared the TET but their recruitments are still uncertain. In South Dinajpur district, there were 55 such teachers who earlier got the appointment but later the appointments were cancelled. The teachers started repeated demonstrations in front of the district inspector (primary education) office and also met the MoS, North Bengal Develop-ment, Bachchu Hansda. Hansda approached Par-tha Chatterjee to discuss the issue and assured the teachers that they would be reappointed soon. It may be mentioned that the teachers chose the option of ‘para-teacher’ during their form fill up but were unable to submit necessary papers to the West Bengal Board of Primary Education. Meanwhile, most of such candidates informed the board that they have mistakenly identified them as ‘para-teacher’ during the form fill-up. MPOST

Woman killed, son alleges father’s role

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Mystery shrouds the death of an ailing housewife whose body was found inside her house at Vivekananda Nagar area of Garfa late on Tuesday night.

The incident had taken place at around 11.45 pm on Tuesday. According to the preliminary investigation, police suspect that the victim was strangulated to death. The victim, Dipa Das (55), who became almost bed-ridden, was found dead on her bed on Tuesday night. The victim’s son Subhajit has lodged a complaint with the police saying that his father Kalyan Das might have mur-dered her as she had been suffering from various diseases for a long time. Subhajit also said that his father has been absconding since the incident had taken place. Police are conducting raids to nab the accused.

Kalyan, an employee of Kolkata Municipal Corporation used to often involve in quarrels with his wife over buying medicines. It had become difficult for Kalyan to arrange money for the med-icines of his wife. As Subhajit is still unemployed, he could not contribute for the treatment of his mother. Hence Kalyan had to bear all the expenses for her treatment. The victim’s son told the police that his mother had suffered a cerebral attack around four months ago. Since then, she became bed-ridden. Subhajit also said that his father was suffering from mental depression as he could not arrange for the fund to continue her treatment.

The victim’s son also said that since his mother had suffered a cerebral attack, an attendant was engaged to look after her. He also said that his mother was recovering well but it had become extremely difficult for Kalyan to keep funding her treatment as there was a huge financial burden on him. This mihgt have led Kalyan to murder his wife, police suspect.

On the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim’s son, police have started a murder case against Kalyan who is still at large. Subhajit also alleged that his father locked the door from outside after killing his mother who was found lying on her bed. After being informed, police reached the spot and recovered the body which was sent for a post-mortem examination. He alleged that his father fled after committing the crime.

Meanwhile, the cops are investigating all possible angles into the incident and are conducting a detailed probe in this regard and raids are on the nab the accused.

Boy killed by mentally ill aunt while in sleepOUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: In a tragic incident, an 8-year-old boy was hacked to death by his aunt who is mentally challenged and undergoing treatment. The inci-dent triggered tension among the local people at Rajabagan.

Police have arrested the accused Jyotsna Bibi from the place of the inci-dent and seized a sharp weapon which was used to commit the crime. Police said that the victim Rakib Molla (8) used to stay with his aunt at a room dur-ing night. The accused who was married to one Mehtab Molla of Pachpara Road had been staying with her elder brother, Abdul Malik Molla, who happens to be

the father of the victim for quite some-time. She was undergoing treatment at Anatra Hospital at Baruipur in South

24 Parganas as she was suffering from some mental ailments.

Like other days, the boy went to sleep with his aunt at her room on Tues-day night. The family members of the boy heard him screaming and rushed to the spot to see him lying in a pool of blood on the bed with the aunt sitting by his side with a weapon in her hand. Police said that the accused slashed the victim’s throat with the weapon that was smeared with blood. The family mem-bers and the local residents rushed the boy to the SSKM Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

After being informed, police reached the spot and arrested the accused. Senior officers of the homi-

cide squad of the detective department started an investigation and collected samples from the room where the crime had taken place. The weapon that was used in the crime has also been seized by the police. Photographs of the room were also taken for the sake of inves-tigation. Police have started a specific case on the basis of the statements of the boy’s father. Police suspect that the boy’s throat was cut when he was asleep.

Meanwhile, the cops are interrogat-ing the accused to ascertain the cause behind the murder. Police are also investigating if the accused has commit-ted the crime to take any revenge on the boy’s family or she had become angry over certain reason and killed the boy.

Woman molested, husband beaten up over car parking

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: A woman was allegedly molested and her husband was beaten up by some local youth following a dispute over parking of their car. The incident took place at Bhowanipore late on Tues-day night. Police said that a case has been initiated following a complaint lodged by the victim. A police officer said that the couple along with their child went to a temple in the area after parking their car near a hotel on Elgin Road.

They found a no-parking sticker on their car when they returned from the temple. They had also admitted that the car was parked by them in front of the hotel without knowing that it was a no-parking zone. Suddenly two youth came out of the hotel and they got engaged into a heated altercation with the couple. The situation turned worse when the youth, one of whom was allegedly in an ine-briated state, started beating them up.

The woman was molested when she

tried to save her husband. Later, local people and some policemen of the area rushed to the spot and brought the sit-uation under control. Their child was traumatised finding someone beating up his parents mercilessly. The police took statements of the woman and her husband. The couple told the police that they had mistakenly parked their car at that place. But they didn’t under-stand that why the youth from the hotel suddenly attacked them. Search for the accused has also been initiated.

Weapons in religious rally: 7 including 3 BJP workers arrested

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Seven persons including three BJP workers were arrested late on Tuesday night on charges of brandish-ing arms while taking part in a rally that took place near Tala in North Kolkata.

Police said that a religious rally was organised near Tala Bridge on Tuesday. There were around 300 who joined the rally. Suddenly, a section of the participants started displaying weapons including swords, choppers and daggers. A case in this connection was lodged with Chitpore police station and the police initiated a probe.

The six of the seven arrested persons are FIR name accused and they were arrested when the police conducted raids late last night.

Police initiated a case against them under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on charges of riot-ing armed with deadly weapon (148 IPC), unlawful assembly (149) and promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony. They were also booked under differ-ent sections of the Arms Act.

If one is found guilty on charges of rioting when armed with deadly weapons, then the punishment may extend to imprisonment for three years.

Meanwhile, three per-sons were arrested on Tues-day in connection with the scuffle that broke out between some people who were taking part in a rally in Suri and the police. They were remanded to judicial custody.

The Tiger Hill project will be eco-friendly: DebAMITAVA BANERJEE

DARJEELING: Trying to lay to rest the allegations of green groups and political parties that the tourism project at Tiger Hill in Darjeeling would cause serious damage to the environment, state Tourism Minister Gautam Deb claimed that the project is eco-friendly and in no way would harm the environment.

The West Bengal Tourism Devel-opment Corporation Limited has undertaken the project which includes four cottages, 20 double-bedded rooms and a 20-bedded dor-mitory at Tiger Hill, around 13-km from Darjeeling town. The project cost is around Rs 40 crore. The foun-dation stone of the project was laid in the first week of March by Deb, following which the construction

work started.The project soon ran into rough

waters with protests from green groups and other political outfits. “Some people have expressed con-cerns regarding the impact of the

project on the environment. Let me assure them that the project will be environment-friendly. All neces-sary permissions have been taken from the state Forest department. No government project can come up without following proper norms and rules,” stated Deb.

The minister stated that there existed a chalet built by the British in 1916. “The chalet had been torched during the Gorkhaland agitation in the 1980s. We are rebuilding it.”

Meanwhile, the Jan Andolan Party (JAP) supporters staged dhar-nas at Nabanno in Howrah and the New Secretariat Building in Kolkata protesting against the tourism proj-ect at Tiger Hill.

“We were removed from both the places with the police stating that Section 144 CRPC has been clamped

in these areas. We then staged dhar-nas in public places in Park Street and Chowringhee to create public awareness,” stated Amir Basnet, Gen-eral Secretary, youth wing, JAP.

JAP also formed human chains in different parts of the Hills including the Darjeeling Chowrasta protest-ing against the project. The protest-ers have expressed concerns stating that the project is inside a wild life sanctuary hence it would adversely affect many endangered species of the fauna along with the flora. Fur-ther, they have expressed concerns over the sewage and garbage from the project that will contaminate the three lakes located just below the project site. The three Sinchal lakes are the main sources of pota-ble water for Darjeeling town and the surrounding areas.

Cops suspect that the husband might have killed her over financial burdens as the expenses for her medicines were high

CMRI ransacking: Prime accused lands in police net

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Police arrested the prime accused of the Cal-cutta Medical Research Insti-tute (CMRI) ransacking case on Wednesday. Muhammad Shakil, the accused fled soon after the inci-dent and was absconding for sev-eral weeks.

The investigators from Alipore police station arrested him from one of his hideouts. It may be recalled that an unruly mob dam-aged the properties of CMRI hos-pital at Ekbalpore area of South Kolkata in February.

The people beat up several hos-pital staff including doctors after the death of a child who had been brought there for treatment.

The irate mob had alleged that medical negligence during the treat-ment was the only reason of that child’s death.

The girl was admitted there with stomach ache and the doc-tors claimed that they had decided to go for a surgery but the patient died before they could do anything.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier said that stern actions would be taken against those who ransack gov-ernment and non-government properties.

By that time, police started raid-ing to nab the accused of CMRI ran-sacking case. The investigators were on the lookout of Shakil who was arrested on Wednesday.

The crude bombs blasted when two youth were carrying a bag on a cycle and the bag fell on the ground. Cops have detained one of the youth & are quizzing him for leads

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE

State Tourism minister Gautam Deb

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE

3 detained from airport for carrying

fake passportsOUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Police detained three foreigners from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on Wednesday after their passports were found carrying some other persons’ names.

The foreigners were interrogated by the inves-tigators who later found that two of them were Sri Lankan nationals and one was from Bangladesh. The immigration department of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport handed over the accused to the police. The two Sri Lankan’s, K Prasanth and Alosious Arul Maari, landed in Kolkata from Hong Kong on Tuesday night. “The officers saw that their passports were carrying some other persons’ names. They could not even answer the questions of officers there,” said an air-port source. On the other hand, the Bangladeshi national Amrit Khan was going to Kuwait via Kol-kata and Doha. He was also carrying a passport in which some other person’s name was written. Khan was also taken to the police station.

It may be mentioned that the incidents of trav-elling with fake passport are frequent in Kolkata airport. The intelligence wing, CISF and NIA have been watching closely on every such incident.

The woman was molested when she tried to save her husband. Later, local people and some policemen of the area rushed to the spot

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Bengal has yet again bagged the Centre’s Krishi Karman Award for the fifth consecutive year for excellence in agriculture.

Congratulating farmers of the state, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s post on Facebook on Wednesday read: “Bengal has done it again! For the fifth time in a row, Bengal has again bagged the prestigious “Krishi Kar-man Award” of the Govern-ment of India for excellence in agriculture.”

She maintained: “In spite of the devastating floods of 2015-16, our state has achieved spectacular growth in pulses production while sustaining overall growth in food production. I dedicate this wonderful achievement to all my farmer brothers and sisters. My best wishes to all.”

Banerjee received the good news when she was addressing a rally in Dom-kal on Wednesday.

It may be mentioned that Bengal had bagged the Krishi Karman Puroskar last year for the increase in the culti-vation of food grains and oil seeds in the 2014-15 fiscal.

Like the previous year, the Agriculture department will be getting a prize money of Rs 2 crore for bagging the Krishi Karman Puroskar and two farmers from the state – one male and one female- will be getting Rs 2 lakh each for their remarkable perfor-mance in the agriculture sector.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be handing over the award to the delegation comprising senior officials of the Agriculture department.

In the 2013-14 fiscal, the state had bagged the award for the increase in production of coarse cere-als and a sharp rise in pro-duction and increase in area of maize cultivation. Simi-larly, in 2011-12 and 2012-13 financial year, too, the state had bagged the award for the increase in cultivation of coarse cereals. In the past few years, there was a mani-fold increase in production of food grains and oil seeds. Major steps were taken to bring in more agricultural land for oil seed cultivation.

Police said that a religious rally was organised near Tala Bridge on Tuesday. There were around 300 who joined the rally. Suddenly, a section of the participants started displaying weapons including swords, choppers and daggers

MCI RECOMMENDS TO SCRAPE UNDERGRADUATE SEATS IN MEDICAL COLLEGES OF STATE

CMCH may lose 95 permitted seats this year, while the NRS Medical College and Hospital, CNMCH, SSKM Hospital may lose around 100, 50, 50 undergraduate medical seats respectively

Bengal bags Krishi Karman

Award 5th time in row

5MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

mp nationPARLIAMENT DIARY

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Heart attacks, depression and suicides have killed more CRPF troops, over 24 times higher, than opera-tions and ambushes in Naxal violence-hit areas in the last two years.

Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj G Ahir on Wednesday provided data in this regard in Rajya Sabha, stat-ing 5 CRPF men were killed in 2015, 31 in 2016 and 13 till April 4 this year in the three Left Wing Extremism affected states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand. As compared to these operational or on-duty deaths, 476 personnel of the country's largest paramilitary force died last year while 407 died in 2015 owing to non-operational reasons.

The data for last year shows 92 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel died due to heart attacks, five due to malaria and dengue, 26 owing to depression and suicide and 353 due to other non-opera-tional reasons.

Similarly, the data for 2015 reveals that 82 troops of the force died due to heart attacks,

13 due to dengue or malaria, 35 owing to depression and sui-cides while 277 lost their lives due to other reasons.

The about three-lakh per-sonnel-strong CRPF is coun-try's largest Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) and is also the lead force to conduct anti-Naxal operations, and also render a variety of duties in the internal security domain of the country.

The combined data show that heart attacks, depression, suicides, malaria, dengue and other such reasons constitute 24 times more, over opera-tional duties, as the major rea-sons for the death of CRPF jawans and officers in the last

two years. The minister added that in order to boost the morale of the troops deployed in anti-Maoist operations mea-sures like grant of risk allow-ance, house rent allownace and extension of facility for reten-tion of government accom-modation at the last place of posting is "already in place".

"In addition, insurance and various advances and loans are given to ensure financial well being. Basic amenities like proper accommodation, med-ical facilities, timely evacuation of injured, better promotional avenues, gallantry awards, rewards/appreciations, griev-ance redress among others are being addressed," Ahir said.

NEW DELHI: The issue of Panjab University students pro-testing fee hike being beaten up by the police was raised in the Rajya Sabha today, as the gov-ernment said it has sought a report on the matter though it was not a central varsity.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said the Centre has not raised any fee in the Panjab University, which is a separate entity and not a central varsity.

"Punjab University is a sep-arate entity. This is not a central university. We have not raised any fees," he told Congress members while responding to their protests over the incident.

Taking cognisance of the matter, Javadekar said he has sought all information with regard to the fee hike and those pertaining to financial grants to the Varsity. "This matter per-tains to the state government. This is not a central university," the minister said.

The police had clashed with students in the Panjab Uni-versity yesterday as the week-long protests over the steep fee hike turned ugly. Over 60 stu-dents were arrested and many of them slapped with sedition and criminal charges, reports said. Students claim that the fees for various courses were hiked from around Rs 5,000 to over Rs 50,000. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Global nuclear watchdog IAEA has expressed concern over possible cyber and terrorist threats to nuclear installations worldwide, with the government on Wednes-day saying it was prepared to deal with any such eventuality.

Noting that no cyber intru-sion has happened so far with respect to nuclear installations, Union Minister Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha that nuclear installations in the country are "designed and operated fol-lowing a defence in- depth philosophy".

To a query on whether IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the US-based non-profit group Nuclear Threat Initiative (NIT) have alerted the world commu-nity of a possible threat of cyber and terrorist attack on nuclear facilities, the Minister replied in the affirmative.

During the Question Hour, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office said IAEA has expressed concern in general terms about the pos-sibility of cyber and terrorist threats to nuclear installations globally, without indicating any

specific details."Government takes these

concerns seriously and remains alert and is prepared to deal with such threats," he said.

Further, the Minister said the critical infrastructure of Indian nuclear establishment is isolated from the internet and access to such systems was restricted to authorised person-nel and closely monitored.

There are also Computer and Information Security Advisory Group (CISAG) and the Task Force for Instrumen-tation and Control Security (TAFICS) to look after "cyber/information security of the Department of Atomic Energy units including regular cyber security audit", he added.

Responding to questions related to monazite reserves in the country, Singh said in the garb of granite mining, there have been instances of monazite being mined. The government has taken "due cognisance" of the instances, he added. There is around 12 million tonnes of monazite reserves and about ten per cent of thorium can be extracted from it while "continuous efforts" are going on for explo-ration, he said.

NEW DELHI: The number of security personnel killed in mine blasts in the country have sharply declined from 285 in 2010 to only 32 so far this year, the government told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Replying to supplementaries, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said “for the last few years, our securitymen who have died in mine attacks have reduced largely. We are also using drones and helicopters and other modern equipment.”

He said the number of secu-ritymen who died in mine blasts in 2010 were 285 and the num-ber is gradually coming down. “In 2011, 142 security personnel died in mine attacks, while in 2012, the number came down to 114. In 2013, 115 security per-sonnel died in mine attacks, 88 in 2014, 59 in 2015, 65 in 2016 and so far in 2017 security per-sonnel who died in such attacks came down to only 32,” he said.

Ahir said each batallion of security forces have at least one or two mine-protected vehicles (MPVs) and only 10 MPVs have been sent to Kashmir so far. AGENCIES

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Mobile net-work has not yet reached around 50,000 villages across the country, the government said on Wednesday.

There are many locations in the Northeast, Naxal-hit states, Andaman and Nico-bar Islands and Lakshadweep where mobile network has not reached yet, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said in Lok Sabha.

"We have never claimed that mobile network has reached all over the country. There are around 50,000 vil-lages where mobile network has not reached," he said.

The Minister said he has written to all states to inform his Ministry how many of the villages in their state the mobile network has not reached.

Sinha said an ambitious project 'BharatNet' is being implemented for providing 100 mbps broadband connec-tivity to all Gram Panchayats, approximately 2,50,000, in the country. The phase-I to con-nect 1,00,000 GPs is being implemented currently, he said.

"As on March 31, 2017, trenching and ducting has been completed for 11,294 km (4,780 GPs), Optical Fibre Cable has

been laid for 12,172 km (4,213 GPs) and 443 GPs have been provided with broadband con-nectivity," he said.

Replying to a supplemen-tary, the Minister said the problem of call drops has been resolved to a great extent and as per a survey of TRAI, the call drop situation has been improved by 60 per cent.

He said with the allocation

of more spectrum through auc-tion and installations of BTS (Base transceiver station) in more areas, call drop problem has been improving. Replying to another question, Sinha said the government has no plans to offer shares of BSNL to its employees and the company is making operating profit in last two years after increasing the customer base.

NEW DELHI: Members cutting across party lines on Wednesday conveyed their greetings to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on the occasion of her birthday.

Soon after the House assembled, all members stood up and wished her a very happy birthday and say-ing they prayed for her good healthy and long life. Maha-jan turned 73 on Wednesday.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said he, on behalf of the entire House, wanted to con-vey greetings to her for her birthday.

"On behalf of the entire

House, I wish you a long and healthy life," he said.

The Speaker in return thanked everyone for their greetings.

On a lighter note, she said she hoped the mem-bers would not mind as she has been reprimanding them often while conducting the House.

Later while asking a sup-plementary during Question Hour, TRS member Jithender Reddy wished her on her birthday and said a play, based on her book 'Matoshree' and staged in the Parliament House complex yesterday, was very good. AGENCIES

50,000 villages don’t have mobile networks: Govt

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednes-day held a meeting to review the performance of his cabi-net colleagues. The PM holds such meetings on the third Wednesday of every month but was not able to hold it for the last two months due to hec-tic campaigning for recently concluded assembly elections in five states. “As the Modi government is completing its three years next month, the ministers were asked to spell out their achievements in their departments, while a few of them showcases their perfor-mance through presentations,” the sources said.

Notably, Cabinet minis-ters have already been asked to list five achievements each in their ministries that have benefited people, including key reforms. They have also

been asked to provide data that shows the progress made since the BJP-led government came to power.

Last week, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ven-kaiah Naidu had sent a letter to all the ministers explain-ing that these inputs would be included in a booklet that the government plans to pub-lish before May 26, the day PM Modi took oath three years ago. The ministers have been asked to make three-page sub-missions that must be in bullet points only and must list the key performance indicators or KPIs of the department.

Some ministers have been asked to prepare notes on specific sectors. Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar has been asked to write one on the highlights of PM's tours abroad and on increased investment flow from foreign countries.

PM Modi reviews ministers’ performance

908 IPS posts lying vacant

There are 908 vacancies in the Indian Police Service (IPS) as on January 1, 2016. In a writ-ten reply to a question in the Upper House of Parliament on Wednesday, MoS for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said, "As on 01.01.2016, 3,894 IPS offi-cers are in position against AN authorized strength of 4802. The minister added, “The authorised strength of IPS in Kerala is 163 as on 01.01.2016. There are 41 vacancies of IPS existing in Kerala as on 01.01.2016." He clarified that the "Calculation of authorised strength depends upon func-tional requirement of a par-ticular cadre. As per rule 4 (2) of IPS Cadre Rules, 1954, the Central Government, ordinar-ily at the interval of every five years, reviews the strength and composition of each such cadre in consultation with the State Government(s) concerned and revises the authorized strength of the IPS for each Cadre." "The authorised strength includes Senior Duty Post, Central Dep-utation Reserve, State Depu-tation Reserve, Leave Reserve and Junior Reserve, Training Reserve and Promotion quota," the clarification mentioned.

Sensitive Delhi buildings get regular security review

"The security of sensitive buildings in the national capital including Parliament House, Supreme Court, High Courts, Govt buildings, vital Installations and important monuments etc is reviewed periodically," MoS for Home Kiren Rijiju said on Wednes-day. To a question from Con-gress MP Ambika Soni in the Rajya Sabha, he said in a writ-ten reply that in the wake of the recent terrorist incidents in London, the Indian secu-rity agencies have been briefed to remain extra-vigilant while and ensure proper security arrangements in the Parliament House Complex. The Minis-try of Home Affairs (MHA) also mentioned in a statement that, “Recently, instructions to strengthen the security of Gov-ernment buildings under MHA security cover have also been issued on 31.03.2017."

Jawans given FSSAI-specified food: Govt

The top brass of the MHA clarified in a written reply in the Upper House of the Par-liament that the food quality given to the jawans (CAPFs)

deployed under Ops Con-trol of Army is determined by defence food specifica-tions or by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The issue made headlines earlier this year when BSF Jawan Tej Baha-dur complained about food quality. The ministry added, "Some forces like Assam Rifles are reported to have engaged nutritionists to prepare a stan-dard menu based on calorific requirements of troops." "In the Forces, Unit Medial Offi-cer/ Deputy Officer/ Senior Officers check food for nutri-tious value and quality dur-ing their visits. Monthly mess meetings are also carried out to look into grievances and ensure further improvements in quality of foods."

10,000 NGOs’ registrations cancelled in 2 yrs

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) clarified that the FCRA registration of more than 10,000 NGOs during finan-cial year 2014-15 to 2016-17 got cancelled as mainly on account of non-filing of the annual returns as mandated in the FCRA, 2010 and rules made there under. "The FCRA, 2010, Rules, FAQs and notices or advisories for filing of the Annual Returns and renewal application etc. have been put on the MHA website for cre-ating greater legal awareness amongst the Voluntary Sector," MoS Home Kiren Rijiju men-tioned in a written reply. A list of such cancelled organization is available on the Ministry's website www.fcraonline.nic.in.

200 foreigners held under Narcotics Act in 2016

The MoS for Home said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that Narcotics Control Bureau data show that more than 200 foreigners were arrested and prosecuted under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Sub-stances Act, 1985 during 2016. The Government is maintain-ing the database of arrival and departure and visa details of all foreigners visiting India under the Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration Tracking project (IVFRT). "A Unique Case File (UCF) is cre-ated for each of the Indian Visa applicants and all the details are clubbed. So far about 2.70 crore UCF has been created. The UCF data is useful in get-ting details that may be needed in specific cases. It helps in bet-ter profiling of the foreigners at the Immigration Counters in less time," said an MHA statement.

SIMONTINI BHATTACHARJEE

NEW DELHI: Opposition parties have launched a disin-formation campaign, includ-ing questioning the reliability of EVMs, because they are unable to digest defeat in elections, the government said on Wednesday.

Referring to the Oppo-sition petition to the Presi-dent on Wednesday, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that after its defeat in polls, the opposition par-ties have started a disinfor-mation campaign against the government. He said the obstructionist attitude of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha based on its numeri-cal superiority has led to the disillusionment of the people towards the upper house.

"They will have to explain their attitude in the Rajya Sabha to the people," he told reporters outside the Prime Minister's residence where a cabinet meeting is on. He slammed the opposition par-ties for obstructing laws and making "baseless" allegations in the upper house. MPOST

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Major oppo-sition parties met President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednes-day and put forth their con-cerns over recent incidents of violence, including attacks by cow vigilantes, and attempts to "muzzle voices of dissent".

A delegation of leaders of various political parties, led by former Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, called on the President at the Rash-trapati Bhavan and sought his urgent intervention "to ensure the rule of law" in the country.

They presented a memo-randum to him listing their various concerns and urged the President to ensure that consti-tutional democracy and fun-damental rights of citizens are protected. Leaders of promi-nent opposition parties includ-ing the Congress, the Left parties, TMC, SP, BSP, JD-U and the RJD were part of the delegation. After the delegation met the President, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "An environment of fear and inse-curity is prevailing in the coun-try and voices of dissent are being muzzled."

"We have requested the President for his urgent inter-vention to protect India's con-stitutional democracy and safeguard the fundamental

rights of citizens to ensure the rule of law in this country," he told reporters. The delegation also raised issues of alleged EVM tampering during their meeting. Azad said the delega-tion drew the attention of the President to the recent political developments which have "seri-ously undermined the accepted norms of governance and insti-tutional integrity". He said an environment of fear and inse-curity is prevailing in the coun-try and voices of dissent are being muzzled.

"In a democracy, the rule of law must prevail, but self- styled lumpen elements have indulged in violence, mob lynching of citizens and harass-ment is being witnessed across the country," he said.

He cited recent incidents of

lynching of a dairy farmer in Alwar in Rajasthan and simi-lar incidents in Una in Gujarat, Dadri in UP and Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, besides many others across the country. The delegation also raised the issue that critical appointments have been made "arbitrarily bypassing the Parliament and other institutions".

They also alleged that key legislations are being "dis-guised" as Money Bills "to bypass and undermine the Constitution position of Rajya Sabha". Azad said the states ruled by non-BJP parties "are being destabilised by misusing the powers of Governors and artificial majority is cobbled up by unethical means" and recent examples of Goa and Manipur were cited in this regard.

MPs protest fee hike in Panjab Univ, Bilaspur institute in RS

Voices of dissent being muzzled, fear prevails: Oppn to President

'Heart attacks, suicides kill more CRPF jawans than Naxal ops'

IAEA flags cyber threat concerns for nuclear facilities: Govt

There are many locations in the Northeast, Naxal-hit states, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep where mobile networks have not reached yet, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said in the Lok Sabha

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: Marked by some historic events, the Bud-get session of Parliament came to an end on Wednesday after approval of four landmark GST bills and several other legisla-tions besides the Budget and the demand for grants of vari-ous ministries.

The two-part session, which was advanced for the first time in the country's history, com-menced on January 31 with the customary Address by the Pres-ident to a joint sitting.

For the first time, the Bud-get was presented on February one, almost a month ahead of the usual date, as the govern-ment wanted to complete the budgetary exercise before the end of March instead of May, the time by which the process would be completed earlier.

Another historic develop-ment witnessed this time was the merger of the Railway Bud-get with the General Budget, ending a 92-year-old practice of presentation of two separate

budgets. The session also saw all the parties coming together in both the Houses over the death sentence awarded to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court on the charges of spying.

The first part of the session was from January 31 to Febru-ary 9 and the second part from March 9 till Wednesday.

Altogether, there were 29 sittings, with the Lok Sabha working for 176 hours and 39 minutes and the Rajya Sabha for over 136 hours.

The Lok Sabha lost eight hours and 12 minutes due to disruptions, including one by the Shiv Sena over the flying ban by domestic airlines on one of its MPs who had alleg-edly thrashed an Air India employee. The Upper House lost 13 hours because of furore over different issues.

Both the Houses passed four bills of the GST (Goods and Services Tax), the biggest tax reform which would bring India under a uniform indirect tax regime.

Marked by some historic events, Parliament Budget session ends

Oppn carrying out disinformation

campaign against govt: Naidu

Number of securitymen killed in mine blasts has

declined: Govt

LS members wish Speaker on her birthday

PM Narendra Modi being greeted by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar at a function organised at Parliament on Wednesday

Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi addressing the media outside President House on Wednesday

mp nation6MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

72 MISCREANTS NABBED BY HARYANA POLICE UNDER ‘OPERATION DURGA’NEW DELHI: With a view to ensure the safety of women, Haryana Police have launched a massive cam-paign ‘Operation Durga’ wherein 24 teams constituted by Chief Minister’s flying squad nabbed 72 persons indulging in various crimes against women in public places in the state. “The teams comprised woman personnel including nine sub-inspectors of police, 14 assistant sub-inspectors, six head constables and 13 constables, apart from other police personnel from each district,” said Haryana Police a spokesman.

GIRL CHILD WELFARE NEXT ON ADITYANATH GOVT'S LIST LUCKNOW: In line with its election manifesto, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has directed officials to start work on 'Bhagya Lakshmi Yojna' to give Rs 50,000 on the birth of girl child in poor families."The officials have been asked to prepare a detailed plan to implement the scheme as promised in BJP's 'Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra'. Under the scheme, a develo-ment bond of Rs 50,000 is given on the birth of a girl child in poor families," an official spokesman said here. The direction in this regard was issued by Chief Minis-ter Yogi Adityanath at a meeting here on Tuesday.

DMK LEADERS MEET GOVERNOR, SEEK TN CM'S DISMISSAL MUMBAI: A delegation of DMK leaders on Wednes-day met Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao here and demanded dismissal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palanisami alleging that he and some ministers in his cabinet indulged in "large scale bribery of voters" in the run up to the R K Nagar Assembly bypoll. The delegation met the Governor, who also holds charge of Tamil Nadu, at the Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum highlighting the party's demands in the wake of tax officials questioning Health Minister C Vijayabaskar in an alleged tax evasion case. It also demanded a CBI probe in the matter.

HIMACHAL PRADESH CM MAY APPEAR BEFORE ED IN PMLA CASE TODAYNEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate is likely to question Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virb-hadra Singh on Thursday in connection with a money laundering probe case against him and others. The agency had, earlier this week, issued summons to Singh for personal appearance and it is likley that he may depose before the Investigating Officer of the case at an Enforcement Directorate office here. Sources said that the CM will be questioned and his statement will be recorded under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The latest ED action comes close on the heels of filing of a charge sheet by the CBI against Singh, his wife and others for allegedly amassing assets worth around Rs 10 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income.

'

BRIEFSNATION

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh government has served a notice to a woman IAS officer for rais-ing some serious questions about the Centre's Open Def-ecation Free (ODF) campaign.

Deepali Rastogi, a 1994-batch IAS officer presently serving as Commissioner of the Madhya Pradesh Tribal Wel-fare Department, expressed her views on ODF campaign in an article in an English daily ear-lier this month.

"A show cause notice has been issued on Tuesday to Deepali Rastogi for alleged violation of All India Services (Conduct) Rules," a senior offi-cer at the state Secretariat said on Wednesday.

The notice sought an expla-nation about her article raising serious questions over the Cen-tre's flagship scheme.

In her article, Rastogi said the ODF campaign was an attempt to change a centu-ries-old mindset in just a few months because the white peo-ple say it is wrong to defecate in

the open.She also raised doubts about

the availability of water to keep clean the toilets constructed under the ODF campaign.

After picking holes in the way the scheme was touted by the government, she concluded saying, "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for toilets. After all, I am a city-dweller. I'm just uncom-fortable with the way we are pushing it."

The opposition Congress criticised the government for slapping a notice on the civil servant saying the ques-tions raised by her should be addressed instead of suppress-ing the voice.

"Nobody is against the con-struction of toilets. But, the questions raised by Rastogi are relevant," MP Congress Com-mittee Chief Arun Yadav said.

"We are not even able to provide drinking water so far in many areas then how the water would be arranged to flush the toilets. Even on Wednesday in rural areas, people have to fetch drinking water from distant places," he said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BHADRAK (ODISHA): As the violence-hit town turned near normal, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednes-day visited Bhadrak and prom-ised stern action against those responsible for violence and full compensation to all who suffered loss.

Amid a nine-hour relaxation period of curfew, Patnaik toured the violence-hit areas, inter-acted with the affected people and enquired into damages due to violence triggered by alleged abusive remarks against Hindu deities on social media. After reviewing the situation with senior officials, the chief min-ister said those responsible for the violence would be punished.

Further, the state govern-ment would take strong steps to counter the divisive forces creating discord and violence in the name of religion and bring-

ing misery to the peace loving people of Odisha, he said.

Appealing to the people to maintain peace and harmony, the chief minister said full com-pensation would be provided to the people affected in the vio-lence and new vending zones constructed for rehabilitation of the affected street vendors.

The administration was

directed to make proper assessment of damage and loss caused by violence for early compensation.

Before holding the review meeting at the district collec-torate, Patnaik walked through areas like Puruna Bazar, Chan-dan Bazar and Apartibindha where people turned out in large numbers to narrate their plight.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MEERUT: Members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini founded by Chief Minister Yogi Aditya-nath on Wednesday barged into a house and allegedly roughed up a Muslim man and a woman belonging to another faith after they were found together.

Yogi Adityanath had recently instructed police not to harass "innocent" couples after some unsavoury incidents involving anti-romeo squads.

Police said the youth brigade created a ruckus after some local residents informed them that the man had called the woman to his friend's rented accom-modation. The activists told police that the two were alleg-edly found in an objectionable position. While the woman was released after warning, the man, who is a resident of Muzaffar-nagar, was booked on charges

of obscenity, they said.Sachin Mittal, Meerut zonal

head, Hindu Yuva Vahini said, "People have become confident and more aware since Aditya-nath has taken charge as the chief minister. They want things to become better. The people in the neighbourhood, where this incident took place, informed us about it."

IAS officer gets notice for picking holes in ODF drive

GAUTAM LAHIRI

NEW DELHI: Public Accounts Com-mittee (PAC) Chairman K V Thomas, in his last report as the panel’s head, has severely criticised Delhi Interna-tional Airport (P) Ltd (DIAL) for not giving enough space to passengers at both terminals of Indira Gandhi Inter-national (IGI) Airport.

The report says that operators have not allocated space inside the build-ings of Terminals 1 and 3 in a scientific manner and commercial establish-ments are obtruding into areas meant for passenger movement, compromis-ing passenger safety.

Retail shops have cropped up at every nook and corner, with some of them protruding sharply into the walking spaces, the PAC report pointed out.

Members of the committee also

warned that the lanes for passenger movement are so narrow that there is a grave danger of mishap or disaster.

The committee was told by DIAL that the license holders are using licensed land and space areas for a large number of other offices in sepa-rate wings.

The Air passengers Association of India raised grievances about the poor state of facilities at IGI Airport, which include restrictions in safe movement of passengers, dirty lounges and rest-rooms during peak hours, low quality of food and ill-managed food courts, inadequate seating facilities at the T1 and T3 lounges, inconvenient baggage handling counters, and lack of trans-port connectivity between T1 and T3

It also referred to poor cart facili-ties, uneven terrain outside termi-nals and long queues both outside the Terminals and inside at the security

check points. The committee found that

although feedback forms are available, no action has been taken on these

suggestions or complaints. Thomas is demitting office as the PAC’s Chair-man on April 30 after completing a three-year term.

DIAL’s retailer bias in space allotment putting IGI Airport flyers at risk: PAC

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A parliamen-tary committee has found irregularities in award of con-tracts of advertisements in the Mumbai division of the rail-ways and recommended a CBI inquiry into it.

The Public Accounts Com-mittee (PAC) in its latest report has noted the irregularities in award of contract of adver-tisements on a first come, first served basis which was prevail-ing in the Mumbai division for

the last 25-30 years. All con-tracts which were allotted on the basis of the first come, first served basis for commercial publicity should be terminated with immediate effect, the PAC headed by KV Thomas said in its report.

The committee has found that there was no transparency in award of contracts in Central Railway and Western Railway.

The Mumbai division is part of Central Railway and Western Railway.

Taking note of the alleged

fraud in allotment of adver-tisements and involvement of railway officials which were inquired into by the Central Vigilance Commission and action taken against a few officials, the committee rec-ommended a CBI inquiry to probe.

The CBI inquiry should probe the first come, first served policy in Mumbai divi-sion, it said. The committee is for strict action against err-ing contractors and officials involved in the alleged fraud.

File Photo: Indira Gandhi International Airport

Parl panel finds irregularities in award of ad contracts in railways

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Four directors of a company which manufac-tured tobacco fragnance have been arrested by the CBI for allegedly cheating a consor-tium of public sector and pri-vate banks to the tune of Rs 2,240 crore.

Directors of Surya Vinayak Industries Limited--Chairman Sanjay Jain, Rajiv Jain, Rohit Chaudhary and Sanjeev Agar-wal-- have been arrested by the CBI on the complaint of Punjab National Bank (PNB).

CBI Spokesperson R K Gaur said they have been sent to 10 days of agency's custody.

The company manufac-tured fragrance used in various tobacco products commonly called 'zarda'.

The accused named in the CBI FIR registered in 2014 have been arrested as the agency sus-pected that they were trying to flee the country, the CBI sources said.

They said the directors were not cooperating with the agency and were allegedly reluctant to share details of the purported fund diversion.

The agency has alleged that the directors used more than 100 shell companies for routing and diversion of bank funds, they said. The firm and the shell companies had no genu-ine business transactions, the CBI sources said.

The company was given a loan of over Rs 2,000 crore by a consortium of 20 banks,

including four private banks, the sources said.

They said the account of the company was declared as non- performing asset in July, 2012 when the total outstand-ing towards company was Rs 2,066 crore which swelled to Rs 2,240 crore when the FIR was registered in 2014.

The CBI alleged that the company had availed work-ing capital by fudging account books, stock statement and accounts of people.

The sources said the probe

so far shows that there was no genuine business.

The agency has registered five cases against the company so far out of which charge sheets have been filed in two.

Probe is underway in three cases.

The funds given as loan by the banks were used for pur-poses other than those they were meant for, the CBI alleged.

According to the books of the company, the stock of per-fumery items were shown to be Rs 887 crore to the banks but the investigation showed that only Rs five crore worth stock was available with it, the sources said.

"The said firm also allegedly diverted Rs 376 crore out of the working capital limit obtained from consortium of banks to six wholly owned foreign sub-sidiaries based in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Indone-sia, Ghana and China. Further investigation is continuing," Gaur said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

PANAJI: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednes-day inducted former Congress leaders Vishwajit Rane and Mauvin Godinho into his cab-inet, raising the strength of his ministry to twelve. Rane, who had won the Valpoi assembly seat on a Congress ticket in the February 4 state polls, had quit the party and joined the ruling BJP last week.

Godinho, who is the BJP MLA from Dabolim constit-uency, had joined the saffron party in December last year, months before the assembly polls. They were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Mridula Sinha at Raj Bhavan.

After the induction, Par-rikar said that a meeting with alliance partners will be held on April 17 or 18 to adopt a Com-mon Minimum Programme.

"We had announced that the Common Minimum Pro-gramme would be adopted

within a month. We will meet on April 17 or 18 to discuss it with the coalition partners," Parrikar told reporters.

With the induction of Rane and Godinho, the total number of ministers (includ-ing Parrikar himself) has gone up to twelve- five from the BJP, three from Goa Forward Party (GFP), two from Maha-rashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and two independents. Parrikar had inducted nine of

the ministers in the first phase on March 14.

Both Rane and Godinho were ministers in the Congress-led governments in the past.

Rane had quit the Con-gress and resigned his assem-bly membership after the party failed to form the government in Goa despite emerging as the single largest bloc winning 17 seats in the 40-member Assem-bly. Rane, son of Congress vet-eran Pratapsinh Rane (who

himself won his 11th term as a legislator in the last polls), defied the Congress whip to vote against the trust motion brought by Parrikar by absent-ing himself from the House. He joined BJP last week in the presence of Parrikar and other leaders.

Rane had served as Health minister in the Digambar Kamat-led Congress govern-ment between 2007-2012.

Godinho, who has been representing Dabolim assem-bly constituency since 1994 (till date), was a minister in the Pratapsinh Rane-led cabinet. He was also was the Deputy Speaker of Goa Assembly dur-ing the Digambar Kamat-led government.

Talking to reporters, Parri-kar said coalition parties (GFP and MGP) attended the NDA meeting held recently in New Delhi. "There are times when we have to match our agenda with that of alliance partners. Such meetings help to match the agenda," he said.

Ex-Cong Minister Vishwajit Rane with Goa CM Manohar Parrikar

OUR CORRESPONDENT

COIMBATORE/CHEN-NAI: A senior police officer was caught on camera slap-ping a woman protester dur-ing an agitation for closure of a state-owned liquor outlet near Coimbatore, sparking outrage and condemnation.

Following the incident last evening, the Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday ordered closure of the outlet in Tirupur district and an inquiry.

The incident occurred in Shamalpuram, about 20 km from Tirupur, when a group of people, including women, blocked a road demanding closure of the TASMAC liquor outlet that was relocated to their locality consequent to the Supreme Court ban on sale of liquor within 500 metres of the highways.

As the protesters refused to disperse, Additional Dep-uty Superintendent of Police Pandiarajan slapped one of the women and pushed two oth-ers, asking them to move away from the road.

Protesting this, a section of the agitators allegedly pelted stones at the police, who then resorted to lathicharge to dis-perse them.

Police said three persons were injured in the melee with one of them being hospitalised.

As the video showing the act went viral, various political-parties, including DMK, con-demned the 'police brutality'.

Shops in the locality remained shut on Wednesday in protest against the police action.

The incident came up in the Madras High Court when social activist Traffic Ramas-wamy and PMK's legal wing member K Balu, made a spe-cial mention and sought action against the police officer.

When the petitions came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Indira Baner-jee and Justice M Sundar, state Advocate General R Muthu-kumaraswamy submitted that action was being initiated against the erring police offi-cer and an inquiry had been ordered.

CBI arrests 4 for duping banks of Rs 2240 crore

Ex-Cong men Rane, Godinho get berth in Parrikar cabinet

Police officer 'slaps' woman during anti-liquor protest; sparks outrage

NHRC notice to Chief Secy, DGP CHENNAI: The National Human Rights Commission on Wednesday de-scribed the alleged police assault on anti-liquor protest-ers in Tirupur as a "serious violation of rights", and issued notices to the Chief Secretary and Tamil Nadu DGP in this re-gard. "The Commis-sion has observed that it appears the police had taken the law into their hands by exceeding their power in resorting to indiscriminate beat-ing of the protest-ers," NHRC said.

Odisha CM visits violence-hit Bhadrak as situation improves

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday stopped construction of a proposed high-end Rs 1,275 crore resi-dential project promoted by the Tata Housing Development Company in the vicinity of the Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh holding that it falls within eco-sensitive catchment area.

Tata Camelot Housing Proj-ect spread on 52.66 acres of land near the Chandigarh Capitol Complex featured 19 towers ranging between 7 and 28 sto-reys. The project was proposed to be carried on the land which was originally alloted to the 'Punjab MLA Society' for con-struction of residential houses of MLAs of Punjab Legislature.

Subsequently, the land was sold to Hash Builders Private Limited with an understanding that each member of the 'Punjab MLA Society' would be allotted one flat each.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw held that the environ-mental clearance given for the housing project was not in "con-formity with the mandatory requirements of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)".

It said the map of Survey of India demarcating boundaries of the catchment area of the Sukhna Lake is binding on the Punjab government.

"In turn, Tata Housing Development Company Ltd (HDCL) is also bound by the same. The area over which the project in question is proposed to be constructed by Tata HDCL forms part of the catchment area of Sukhna Lake as demarcated in the Survey of India map dated September 21, 2004," the bench noted. The high court order came on a plea filed by the Sarin Memorial Legal Aid Founda-tion and advocate Aalok Jagga against the grant of approval by various authorities to the Tata housing project near the Lake, which was expected to cater to high-profile people.

The Supreme Court had ear-lier stayed the ambitious hous-ing project which was given clearance by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

HC stops Tata housing project

near Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh

Hindu Yuva Vahini activists thrash interfaith couple

The youth brigade created a ruckus after some residents informed them that the man had called the woman to his friend's rented accommodation

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik interacting with communal violence affected people in Bhadrak on Wednesday

7MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

mp nation

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed "shock" that the money, meant for the welfare of construction workers across the nation, and which was sup-posed to go to the poorest peo-ple of the country was going "somewhere else".

The top court observed that there was no record as to how Rs 5,000 crore out of a total of around Rs 26,000 crore was spent and asked the Comp-troller and Auditor General (CAG) to file an audit report in the matter within two weeks.

"Out of these Rs 26,000 crore, Rs 5,000 crore have been spent. We do not know where the money has been spent. You have to ensure that it is not spent in tea or lunch," a bench comprising Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta told Addi-tional Solicitor General (ASG) Maninder Singh.

"Lot of money is involved in this. It is supposed to go to the poorest people of the coun-try. It is not going to them.

It is going somewhere else. It is a very important matter. The money should reach to the poorest people," the bench said. Singh told the bench that money was lying with the state governments and "it is not that the money has disappeared".

The apex court, however, observed that what has been told to it was shocking and the Centre must find out a solu-tion to deal with the situation.

"What has been told to us is very shocking. You have to find out a solution. It is a mat-ter of 26,000 crore," the bench asked the ASG.

Senior lawyer Colin Gon-salves, who was appearing for

the petitioner, claimed that huge amount of money was transferred and it was being used for "all kind of sundry purposes".

"Roughly, how much will be the amount," the bench asked a CAG official, who was present in the court.

Responding to court's query, the official said the total amount may be around Rs 28,000 crore. When the apex court asked the official about the Rs 5,000 crore which has been spent, he said, "we will look into it and give an audit report". The bench has fixed the matter for hearing on May 5.

The CAG had earlier told the court that they would file an affidavit giving the latest sta-tus with regard to the audit of the funds meant for welfare of construction workers across the nation.

The court had earlier in 2015 expressed displeasure over non-utilisation of a whop-ping Rs 27,000 crore by the Centre and various state gov-ernments, saying it cannot get worse than this.

The apex court had also said it was "ridiculous" that the money meant for these work-ers was spent on the 'babus' and advertisements.

NEW DELHI: Stating that it does not want to shut the door to an amicable solution to Sut-lej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the final hearing in the matter to April 27. The final hearing was put off after the Centre informed the court that a meeting of Punjab and Haryana has been convened by it on April 20 to resolve the matter. The court, however, made it clear that if a solution is not found, it will proceed with the matter on the next date of hearing. AGENCIES

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Britain on Wednesday offered technology transfer to India for co-pro-duction of military platforms and weapon systems to jointly become "world beaters" in arms exports. Britain's Defence Sec-retary Michael Fallon also called for strengthening coop-eration between the two coun-tries to effectively deal with terrorism and extremism, call-ing them a major challenge fac-ing the globe.

The British Defence Sec-retary is on a four-day visit to India aimed at enhancing secu-rity and defence ties.

During an interactive ses-sion at a leading think-tank on UK-India strategic ties, he referred to a spate of recent ter-ror attacks including in Lon-don, St Petersburg and Egypt and said both India and the UK will have to work harder to deal with the menace.

"No country is immune from terrorism. India and

the UK need to work hard to combat it," he said, particu-larly emphasising on boosting cyber security cooperation to protect youths from radicalism and extremism.

Fallon refused to respond to a question on death sentence given to Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court.

On Indo-UK defence pro-duction, he said with inno-vation and collaboration, Britain and India can prove to be "world beaters".

"We are looking at gov-ernment-to-government framework for transfer of tech-nology," he said, on technol-ogy transfer to India in defence manufacturing.

The British Defence Sec-retary also gave a run down of reform measures taken by his country in the defence sec-tor and said a partnership with India will provide an unprec-edented opportunity to match the British experience with Indian brainpower.

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday issued an open ended non-bailable warrant against beleaguered business-man Vijay Mallya in a case of allegedly evading summons in a FERA violation matter.

Chief Metropolitan Mag-istrate Sumit Dass passed the order after the Enforcement Directorate submitted that non-bailable warrant issued earlier on November 4 last year by the court has not been exe-cuted and it needs more time to do so.

An 'open-ended NBW' does not carry a time limit for execution unlike 'NBW'.

The court, which put up the matter for next hearing on November 8, however, asked the agency to file a progress report in this regard within two months.

On November 4 last year, while issuing non-bailable warrant against Mallya, the court had observed that he had no inclination to return and had scant regard for the law of the land.

It had said that coercive process has to be initiated against liquor baron Mallya as he was facing proceedings in several cases and evading appearance in those matters.

The court had also held that Mallya's plea, that he

wanted to return to India but was "incapacitated" to travel as his passport had been revoked by Indian authorities, was "malafide" and "abuse of the process of law".

The court also said that on October 4 it had specifically noted that he could approach authorities and obtain emer-gency document to return to

India but the situation is that he has not taken any such step.

Mallya, who is reportedly in London, had submitted before the court on Septem-ber 9 that he wanted to come back to India but was "incapac-itated" to travel despite "best intentions" as his passport had been revoked. To this, the ED, on October 4, had told the court that Mallya had no inten-tion to return to India and his passport was revoked due to his own conduct.

On July 9, the court had cancelled the exemption from personal appearance granted to Mallya and directed him to appear before it on September 9.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Enforce-ment Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted searches on premises of two persons in connection with a money laundering probe in the Bikaner land deal case.

Officials said the ED raided at least three locations in Farid-abad near here.

They said the agency is looking at collecting and seiz-ing important documents and other possible incriminating evidence in this case and hence, raids are being conducted on premises of two persons involved in the matter.

The ED had recently attached assets worth Rs 1.18 crore of government officials and others in connection with the case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laun-

dering Act (PMLA).The case pertains to a land

in Kolayat area of Rajasthan's Bikaner district which was meant to be alloted to those displaced due to the army's Mahajan field firing range.

The ED had registered a criminal case under the PMLA in the matter in 2015 taking cognisance of FIRs filed by the state police after the local Tehsildar had complained of alleged forgery.

The agency, in this case, had also issued notices to a firm linked to Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress party president Sonia Gandhi.

However, it did not men-tion the name of Vadra or any company linked to him in its FIR filed under the PMLA.

In the FIR, it had named some Rajasthan government officials and the "land mafia".

BEIJING: China on Wednes-day warned India that the Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh will have "negative impact" on the settlement of the border dispute and accused New Delhi of violating its com-mitment on the Tibet issue.

Chinese foreign ministry said Beijing will take "further action" to safeguard its territo-rial sovereignty and slammed the "provocative" statements of the Tibetan spiritual leader and the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu, who has said that the state shares its border only with Tibet, not with China.

In the strongest comments since April 4, when the 81- year-old Dalai Lama began his visit to Arunachal Pradesh, parts of which China claims as Southern Tibet, foreign minis-try spokesperson Lu Kang said their "provocative" statements "exceeded the scope of religious activities."

Lu said despite China's objection, India insisted on arranging the Dalai Lama's visit "in the disputed areas of the eastern section of the China-India boundary". He also said that "some specific Indian offi-cial" had indulged in provoca-tive political statement but did not name Pema Khandu.

"China has lodged repre-sentations with the Indian side and) we will take further action to safeguard the territorial sov-ereignty and national security," Lu said, without elaborating.

"What India has done is violated the solemn commit-ment on Tibet-related issues and it also has negative impact on proper settlement of the ter-ritorial disputes between the two sides through negotia-tions," the spokesperson said.

He said the boundary and Tibet-related questions "bear the political foundation of China-India relationship" and the two countries have reached

"important consensus" of resolving the dispute through talks and consultations.

"We hope that the Indian side bear in mind the funda-mental interests of the two countries and the two peoples and safeguard the political foundation of the bilateral rela-tionship and do not take any provocative actions," he said.

Asked to elaborate what "negative impact" he was refer-ring to on the border dispute, Lu said, "I would like to correct one mistake in your remark, I said the Dalai Lama was visit-ing the disputed eastern section of the China-India boundary. It's not the Indian territory. The Indian government has made solemn commitment on Tibet-related issues and the boundary question," he said.

"We have lessons to learn from history. When the Indian side violated commitments on the relevant issues, the Indian side insisted on arrang-ing the visit of the Dalai Lama in the disputed section of the China-Indian boundary and indulged in provocative politi-cal statements. We have already expressed our solemn repre-sentations and it will of course have negative impact on bilat-eral relations," he said.

India and China have been negotiating to resolve the bor-der dispute for more than 20 years but an agreement is yet to be reached. The dispute cov-ers the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control. AGENCIES

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that its verdict in the alleged extra-judicial killings case in Manipur has "negated" the protection available to the armed forces under the AFSPA during anti-militancy operations.

In a curative petition seeking recall of the verdict of July 8 last year as well as the order dismissing the review plea, the government said that the action taken by the army during such operations "cannot be put to judicial scrutiny".

Officers and men in the armed forces, engaged in counter- insur-gency operations, are required to be given requisite measures of protec-tion, it said.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, mentioned the issue before a bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar and said it was a "very, very important matter" having far-reaching consequences as the armed forces were engaged in such operations regularly in areas in the north-east as well as in Jammu and Kashmir.

The bench, also comprising Jus-tices D Y Chandrachud and S K Kaul, agreed to hear the curative plea in which it has been alleged that the army and paramilitary forces are combat forces and there should not be this kind of a fetter on them in anti-militancy operations.

The bench also told Rohatgi,

"Either you bring it within the param-eters of a curative petition and if you do not bring it within the param-eters of a curative petition, we can-not help you."

When the attorney general referred to counter-insurgency oper-ations in the north-east and J-K, the bench said, "Okay. We will see it."

The apex court, in its verdict delivered on July 8 last year, had given the police liberty to probe the role of the armed forces in alleged encoun-ter cases in areas where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is in force.

In its petition, the Centre has said there is "error apparent on the face of record" in the verdicts passed by the apex court and it has "hampered" the ability of the armed forces to respond to "insurgent and terrorist situations".

"If the position maintained by impugned order continues, it may, one day, be well-nigh impossible to maintain peace and security. The Indian Army has to, in given circum-stances, take quick decisions which cannot be dissected later on like an appeal against the ordinary murder appeal," it said.

Regarding the issue of alleged human rights violation by the armed forces while operating in "disturbed areas" under the AFSPA, the govern-ment has said that as per the data, 18,670 insurgents were arrested by the security forces from 1990 to 2015 in Manipur as compared to 1,881 who died in the encounters.

"The army and Assam Rifles have paid a heavy price for their diligence and sincerity and have lost 928 per-sonnel at the hands of insurgents with 1,463 injured while operating in Manipur from 1990 to 2015," it said.

The plea said that the apex court's directions, including that allegations of use of "excessive and retaliatory force" by the armed forces in Mani-pur must be probed, have far- reach-ing ramifications on the security

and integrity of the country, espe-cially in areas which are plagued with constant militant and insur-gency activities.

"The Indian Army has a record of maintaining the highest level of humanity and is not a rogue army. Human rights and respect for the life of a human being are kept at the high-est pedestal," the plea said.

Counter-insurgency operations are combat operations which are

inherently dangerous and mostly unpredictable and security person-nel cannot be prosecuted for taking part in such operations, it said.

The Centre also said that the apex court had proceeded on an incorrect premise that there "is no war-like situation" in Manipur as the armed forces are confronted with secession-ist and terror groups which are wag-ing war against India.

"This court ought to have appreci-ated that the principles of the right to self defence cannot be strictly applied while dealing with militants and ter-rorist elements in a hostile and unsta-ble terrain.

"This court ought to have taken into account the complexity and the reality of the conduct of mili-tary operations and tactics especially while combating terrorists," the cura-tive plea said.

It said that judicial review of mil-itary operations will have damaging consequences for operational effec-tiveness and may erode the fight-ing power.

The apex court's verdict last year on investigating the role of the armed forces in encounter cases had come on a petition alleging that the forces were misusing the protection under the AFSPA in Manipur during anti-militancy operation.

It had observed that the situation in Manipur has "never been one of war" and killing of citizens on suspi-cion that they are the "enemy" gravely endangers democracy.

SC verdict negated protection to armed forces, says Centre

Dalai Lama's visit negatively impacts

border dispute: China MANIPUR CASE

Fresh NBW against Vijay Mallya in a FERA violation matter

Money meant for poor going somewhere else,

says shocked SC

ABRIDGED NOTICE INVITING e-TENDERWBIW/SE/WC-I I/NIT- 11e/2016-17 (2nd. Call)

Tender Id — 2016_IWD_108562_1 Superintending Engineer Western Circle-II invites On-Line tender for the work `Protection of the R.C.C. Ferighat on river Haldi, in Block - Nandigram-II, P.S. - Nandigram, Dist.- Purba Medinipur , Amount Put to Tender- `5998292.00 Tender forms and other details can be obtained from the Department website www.wbiwd.gov.in http://etenderwb.nic.in (Direct Site)Last date of submission of Bid 04/05/2017 at 17-30 hours

Sd/- S Sarkar

Superintending Engineer, Western Circle-III & W. Dte. Midnapore, Paschim Medinipur.

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION, WEST BENGAL 161-A, S.P. Mukherjee Road, Kolkata - 700 026

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT Schedule for Commission’s forthcoming Interviews:-

Sl. No.

Advertisement No.

Name of the Post Dates of Interviews

1. 15(3b)/2015 Assistant Mistress in English (Bengali Medium) for New Integrated Govt. Schools under B.R.G.F. Scheme under the School Education Department.

18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 24th, 25th & 26th April, 2017

The Commission will take interviews for recruitment to the aforesaid posts. Lists of eligible candidates are being kept in the Commission’s Enquiry Counter and displayed in the Commission’s Websites at http://www.pscwb.org.in and http:// www.pscwbonline.gov.in for information to all concerned. Candidates are requested to download their respective call letters for the above men-tioned interview from Commission’s website at http://www.pscwbonline.gov.in on and from 13.04.2017.

ICA/733(6)2017

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked a Gujarat trial court to expe-dite recording of evidence of prosecution witnesses in a sex-ual assault case lodged by two Surat-based sisters against self-styled godman Asaram.

A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices DY Chandrachud and S K Kaul asked the Surat trial court to record the testimonies of 46 remaining prosecution wit-nesses including the alleged rape victims.

"The trial court is directed to expedite the examination of witnesses as expeditiously as may be practically possible," the bench said.

Additional Solicitor Gen-eral Tushar Mehta, appearing for Gujarat, said this is the same case in which two prosecution witnesses have been killed.

He further said that 29 prosecution witnesses have already been examined and the recording of evidence of 46 others is still remaining.

"Don't linger it. This is what we want to say (to) you (Guja-rat). Expedite the recording of evidence," the bench said while fixing the plea filed by Asaram for further hearing in the third week of July.

Earlier, the top court had refused to grant bail to Asaram on various grounds including his poor health in two separate sexual assault cases lodged in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The apex court, while dis-missing his bail plea on January 30, had observed that Asaram had placed a "fictitious docu-ment" to persuade the court to grant him bail and had ordered registration of an FIR against those responsible for pre-paring and filing the alleged fake papers. MPOST

UK ready for tech transfer to India for weapons production

The apex court, in its verdict delivered on July 8 last year, had given the police liberty to probe the role of the armed forces in alleged encounter cases in areas where the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is in force

‘Punjab-Haryana meeting over SYL case on April 20’

Bikaner land PMLA case: ED raids three

locations in NCR

MUMBAI: A special court here on Wednesday reserved till tomorrow its order on Enforcement Directorate's plea seeking a non-bailable war-rant against Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.

The central agency said it had sent summons four times since January to Naik, who is at present in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but he didn't appear before it.

The ED registered a crimi-nal case for money launder-

ing against Naik and others last December after taking cognisance of a complaint registered against him by the National Investigation Agency under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Hiten Ven-egaonkar, ED's lawyer, said Naik laid down conditions for appearance and tried to dic-tate terms to the agency. He demanded time, and once asked the agency to record his statement through a video link, the lawyer claimed. AGENCIES

Court reserves order on ED's plea for NBW against Zakir Naik

Asaram case: Guj court asked

to speed up recording evidence

ED sleuths raid residence of Congress MLA from Tigaon Lalit Nagar in connection with Robert Vadra land scam, in Faridabad on Wednesday

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon with Sunjoy Joshi, Director, ORF at a conference in New Delhi on Wednesday

mp editorial

Power is an extremely effective glue to keep disjointed organ-isations together. The appar-ently dysfunctional individuals

remain behind a façade of unity, like say, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on one side, and Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Sarsanghchalak, on the other.

Example: While Bhagwat said on Sunday (9 April) that he wanted a legislative ban on cow slaughter, he wanted the so-called and self appointed cow-slaughter ban vigilantes to show restraint. The PM naturally had to come out against the same people as the chief of the executive arm of the country.

But Modi never had an easy and cozy relationship with RSS. The rela-tionship had deteriorated further after he was made the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The RSS sought to control him by instrumentalising the organis-ing secretary of the state BJP through Sanjay Joshi whose career in the party ran parallel with Modi. Both men had giant sized egos. And both of them were highly ambitious. So conflict was inher-ent in the relationship.

Such was Modi’s animus against Joshi that after a fall from grace and an expulsion from the party for six years, he was sought to be rehabilitated by Nitin Gadkari when he became the BJP president. Joshi was made a mem-ber of the party’s national executive in 2011. Modi refused to attend a subse-quent national executive. He also cre-ated such pressure on the party and its ideological parent, the RSS that Joshi had to be removed from the only office he held then.

That was not the only inflection point between the RSS and Modi. There have been various others. When Modi underwent the stigma of 2002, though RSS stood by him, on the face of then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, wanting him to be replaced and fail-ing, he still had to confront the global opprobrium. The years between 2004 and ’14 – ten in number – was a long time for a rightist party being guided by an obscurantist organisation – with an

agenda of ascension to political power as its métier and an opportunity to change the shape of the country to an ideological nation-state. Modi became their chosen face in the general election in a rather thin field of people who had the requisite administrative capability to run institutions of State.

By himself, Modi also realised that except for his own state of Gujarat and a substantial number of Hindus, insecure enough in themselves to hold tight their religious identity, most of the country was of inclusive nature. They believed in assimilation and assimilating at a socio-cultural level. He himself had to soften his visage to be accepted by these people. After BJP won at the hustings, RSS did think whether they should sponsor Modi for Prime Ministership. But that was quickly shed as Modi was a favourite of the big bourgeoisie.

But the relationship between the two is still rocky. The recent supposed

candidature of Mohan Bhagwat as president of the country was probably floated as a trial balloon to see whether it was acceptable to the RSS rank and file. If Bhagwat can be sent to the opu-lent Rashtrapati Bhavan – the Presiden-tial palace on the head of the Raisina Hill – then the rather spartan quarters of the Keshav Kunj, the RSS headquar-ters in Jhandewalan, central Delhi may seem less appealing.

On the other hand, Dattatreya Hosabale, the current sah-sarkaryawah (joint general secretary) of the RSS, appointed recently at Modi’s behest is believed to be a potential successor of Bhagwat. If he were to take upon him-self the mantle of Presidency and when Hosabale becomes his successor, Modi would expect to dominate the parent organisation. By 2019, when Modi’s re-election becomes due, the RSS would become an ally closer than it ever was to the Prime Minister.

As usual there are upsides and downsides of each political move that is made by people to seek to direct a country of the population and spa-tial size of India that is Bharat. Even if Hosabale becomes an even nomi-nal voice of the Modi regime in RSS, the wayward affiliates like VHP and Bajrang Dal would be restrained in their high pitched, quixotic Hindu-tva agenda.

The downside would be that a bro-ken and diminished opposition would be able to gear itself since the internal restraints of Modi would be loosened. Considering the Prime Minister’s belief of strong-man politics and a hard State, he needs some backstopping now and then. If the RSS becomes totally his horse to ride, while he might ride into sunshine, millions could see their lights dimmed.

(The views expressed are strictly personal.)

8MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

On April 10, the Lok Sabha passed a landmark piece of legislation called

the Motor Vehicles (Amend-ment) Bill 2016, which is aimed at securing a modicum of order in the country’s chaotic road traffic and encouraging some relief from egregiously reckless drivers. The well-intentioned amendments moved by a few responsible Opposition mem-bers were rejected as they lam-entably lacked the legitimacy of numbers. Still, the Bill, with the due sanctity of law after assent from the Upper House and the subsequent Presidential impri-matur, is poised to improve the road traffic situation.

In the course of passing of the Bill, the BJP MP Meen-akshi Lekhi let the cat out of the bag when she conceded candidly that “this Bill had to be brought because India is sig-natory of the Brasilia Declara-tion with the pledge that it will make all-out endeavor to halve the number of road accident deaths and fatalities by the year 2022”. Even as this suggests that we act only under duress sans our enlightened volition, the fact needs to be lauded that at long last a significant thrust to usher radical reforms on the road transport sector is given by the authorities for the weal of all. This is particularly note-worthy because as the Minister of Road Transport and High-ways and Shipping, Nitin Gad-kari said while moving the Bill for its passage that more than five lakh road accidents hap-pen in our country every year and about one and a half lakh people lose their lives in these major mishaps.

The quintessence of the Bill include, among others, amending the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to address issues such as third party insurance, regulation of taxi aggregators such as those being operated by Ola and Uber and road safety and the extant catego-ries of driver licensing, recall

of vehicles in case of manufac-turing defects, protection of good Samaritans from civil or criminal action and enhance-ment of penalties for several offences under the well-nigh three decades old 1988 Act. The last is significant in that novel practices such as road rage claiming lives because of the altercations in the jittery junctures of the intersections of roads was seldom known in a painfully pronounced man-ner as they are now.

It would be germane to set out and amplify the provisions of significant amendments in the Bill. Third party insurance is the liability purchased from an insurer (insurance com-pany) by a person (insured party or vehicle owner) to pro-tect one against claims from affected persons (the victim or third party) in the event of death, injury or damage to property. Under the 1988 Act, third party insurance is manda-tory for all motor vehicles and the liability of the third party insurer is unlimited which is understandable as the party is the victim of the accident. This means that the insurer has to cover the entire amount of the liability incurred (compensa-tion) as resolved by the tribu-nals/courts if the victim or his/

her heir drags the issue to get settled in the courts. Inciden-tally, compensation amounts are calculated by the courts on the basis of several parameters such as age, earning capabil-ity of the victim or in the case of a young woman with kids who leave behind the uphill task upbringing the children to the care of her husband or in-laws which may take a bad, good, or ugly turn for the chil-dren in their later life.

By capping the maximum liability for third party insur-ance in case of a motor acci-dent at Rs 10 lakh in the event of death and at Rs 5 lakh in case of grievous injury, the Bill offers instant relief to the vic-tims’ family. Most of the vic-tims from poor households, for instance, do not get any compensation because the owner of the vehicle, if con-science-smitten, throws up a pittance for the murderous act to shirk the heavy responsi-bility by skirting court pro-ceedings. In a few cases, the local police also abet such bla-tant misuse of provisions of compensation by coercing the victim’s heirs to take up the meagre amount. Now this odious practice would come to an end as the victim’s heirs must get instant compensation

of ten lakhs of rupees which would at least address some of the existential concerns of the bereaved family if it loses its sole bread-winner.

Once the maximum instant compensation is ascertained, the insurance companies would also breathe easy as they would not have to con-tend with the unlimited and unquantifiable amount by way of compensation which might rob them of their hard-earned premium pots. In his reply, the Minister confirmed that on third party insurance the upper limit of the compensa-tion amount claims made to the tribunal by the victims’ heir had not been fixed, and the entire amount will have to be paid by the insurance compa-nies. He said the victim’s heir might accept the amount set in the amendment bill as oth-erwise, they would be free to approach the claims tribunal.

The incontrovertible induc-tion one draws is that where the victim’s heirs do not have the time, energy and cost to take the issue to the tribunals/courts, they would be satisfied with the compensation set out in the law. Whether the com-pensation of Rs 10 lakh is the ultimate price for a human being’s life is a philosophical

issue, the fact remains that instant and urgent relief and succour is given to the family of the victim without making them run from pillar to post in quest of sustenance help for those left behind. Though the Standing Committee scruti-nising the 2016 bill favoured deleting the provisions per-taining to capping liability, the Government has done a yeo-man’s service in helping out hapless families who are the victims of road rage and con-tretemps to enable them to face the future with a ray of hope through the monetary assistance.

Other changes proposed in the Bill cover, inter alia, include mandatory disclosure of Aad-haar number to apply for driv-ing licence, process of getting driver’s license going online, making contractor responsi-ble for bad roads liable to be penalised, proposal of stricter penalties for high-risk offences such as drunken driving, per-ilous driving, and non-adher-ence to safety norms by drivers such as not putting on seat belts and helmets. The bill also pro-vides for an accident victim fund which would be used in case of hit-and-run incidents and for providing treatment to the injured during the pre-cious golden hour. With the proposal of the new fund, the extant Solatium Fund would be merged into this new fund. The bill also seeks to pave the way for far-reaching changes in rural-urban transportation and last mile connectivity.

With the country’s passen-ger vehicle sales having crossed three million marks in 2016-17, the amendment Bill has not come a day too soon. Though the law has flaws as it’s hard to satisfy every segment, it will go a long way in bringing trans-parency to the existing system of road transport administra-tion, which itself is a redemp-tive exercise in salvaging it from rack and ruin. IPA (Views are strictly personal.)

Road will be safer nowEDITORIAL

Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill provisions are welcome

The quintessence of the Bill includes addressing issues such as third party insurance, regulation of taxi aggregators and road safety and the extant categories of driver licensing, recall of vehicles in case of manufacturing defects, protection of good Samaritans from civil or criminal action and enhancement of penalties for several offences

Modi realised that except for his own state of Gujarat and a substantial number of Hindus, most of the country is of inclusive nature. They believed in assimilating at a socio-cultural level. He had to soften his visage to be accepted by these people

Large-scale food wastage is not a trivial problem in a country, where nearly 27 crore people live below the poverty line. During his fortnightly address to the nation on April 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi

complained about the amount of food that is wasted across the country. In a 2015 report titled, State of Food Security in the World, released by the UN’s Food and Agricultural Orga-nization, India accounted for the highest estimated num-ber of undernourished people in any single country—194.6 million. India maybe one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but according to a study by the International Food Policy Research Institute nearly 30% children below the age of 5 years are underweight. These statistics should con-cern any policymaker in government, especially in a coun-try where there is seemingly no dearth of food. In response to Prime Minister Modi’s call, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan suggested that restaurants must disclose the size of portions they serve so that consumers are aware of how much they need to order. Contrary to reports that the Centre is proposing to control the food portions that restau-rants serve, Paswan’s suggestion for not wasting food after it has been served seems reasonable. Why should a consumer unknowingly order “four idlis when a person can eat only two”? And as the minister goes on to argue, it even saves money for the consumer. The minister reportedly wants to check with restaurants whether they will introduce this mea-sure voluntarily, or whether it will be necessary for the gov-ernment to pass a law in this regard.

As per a recent study by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, India is wasting up to 67 million tonnes of food every year. This amount of food can feed the state of Bihar for a whole year. According to data published by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries on Tuesday, harvest and post-harvest loss of India’s major agricultural produce are approximately Rs 92,651 crore. This is nearly two-thirds of what it costs the government to feed almost half of the population with subsidised rations under the National Food Security scheme. Another damning statistic is that from 2013 to 2015, approximately 40,000 tonnes of food grains were wasted in godowns operated by the Food Corporation of India. In other words, the problem is not with hotels, restau-rants or other such commercial establishments, but a severe structural problem at the production and distribution levels. The lack of an efficient cold storage (warehouse) network in India results in the degradation of large quantities of perish-able goods, while they are being transported from the field to the market. Analysts contend that the government needs to invest more time and money in building a more robust stor-age network to reduce wastage. There is a strong link between better storage facilities and food security-agricultural growth. Only 10% of foods get cold storage facility in India, and most of them are for potatoes, according to a recent study con-ducted by Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. Allied with other poor supply chain management practices, India has become a significant contributor towards food wastage both at pre and post harvest waste in cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables. “A key sub-industry in modern agriculture is warehousing. Storage reduces price fluctuations. Trusted storage permits ̀ dematerialisation’, where warehouse receipts are traded or delivered and is the vital link between physi-cal goods and finance. At present, the quantity and quality of warehouses in India are inadequate. This is a key bridge that has to be crossed for the modernisation of agriculture,” says a blog posted by researchers at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. For a better cold-chain infrastruc-ture, however, a lot more needs to be done. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Rick Blasgen, the chairman of the world’s largest body of supply chain professionals, the US-based Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, argues that India must improve its transport infrastructure. “It is critical to improve the cold-chain infrastructure. Then, a lot has to be done by the government. For example, road connectivity from ports is poor. India can rely on third-party providers, who know how to bring the infrastructure. That knowledge exists. The infrastructure has to built by develop-ing small islets. That will also bring business into the coun-try. The Chinese government has built railways and roads, although they have the same challenges as India. They have also built large ports where ships can easily come and go,” he said. The problem of food waste is not merely relegated to India. More than 40% of the fruits and vegetables grown in the Asia-Pacific region and nearly 20% of the grain fails to reach the consumer due to poor storage and transportation facilities, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agri-cultural Organization.

Dealing with food wastage

Dealing with EVMs

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millenniumpost.inRESERVED MATTERSdear

EDITOR

Reservation came about to ensure that the deprived communities are given equal access to resources. The argument that “irrespective of the economic progress we make, we continue to remain socially disadvantaged” by those benefiting from this is unacceptable.Reservation destroys self-respect, so much so that competition is no longer about determining the best but the most backward. Is it fair to extend reservation to the children of professors, scientists, bureaucrats, MPs, and MLAs belonging to the SC, the ST, and the OBC? If in the bygone days, the “manuvadis” deprived the backward sec-tions of opportunities, today the educated and well-placed SCs, STs and OBCs are denying them to the lesser privileged among them.

G. SRINIVASAN

PINAKI BHATTACHARYA

In the Line of Fire

A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be the servant of the society

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B. R. AMBEDKAR

Both entities continue to share an uneasy relationship

Analysing the Modi-RSS dynamic

Earlier this week, sixteen opposition parties urged the Election Commission to revert to the paper bal-lot system, claiming the faith of the people in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) has “eroded”.

Representatives of parties including Congress, BSP, DMK, Trinamool Congress and the Left met top officials of the Elec-tion Commission of India to demand reintroduction of the ballot paper system. On Wednesday, however, senior Con-gress leader Veerapa Moily criticised his party for taking such a position on the subject and added that there is no question of going back to manual methods. Opposition parties, from Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have recently made a hue and cry about how EVMs are being manipulated on a massive scale, endangering democracy and delivering victories to the Bharatiya Janata Party. As proof, they point to media reports circulating that seem to show EVMs registering a vote for the BJP no matter what button is pressed on the machine. The veracity of these stories is still under a cloud of doubt. Nonetheless, these are serious allegations because the very premise of a democratic system of government rests on the idea of free and fair elec-tions. Globally, scepticism about electronic voting methods is widespread. Most countries have rejected the practice for paper ballots and in some instances an accompanying paper trail. Many European countries and American states found that electronic voting machines are vulnerable to hacks and manipulation. At the very least, electronic voting methods can sometimes present an inaccurate picture of electoral out-comes. However, the demand for a return to paper ballots would be difficult primarily because of the sheer costs and logistical issues involved—their printing, storage and trans-portation, and their safe storage between elections--not to mention booth capturing. In big states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh one also has to confront the problem of scale, as lakhs of ballot boxes are required. In a bid to quell all doubts, experts have called for an early rollout of voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines in all polling stations across the country. Many experts have argued for a paper trail accompanying the electronic voting process, which confirms that the votes have been cast correctly. The Election Commission of India has roundly debunked allegations of tampering, caming out with an “open challenge” to anybody to hack its EVMs in the first week of May. This is unprec-edented although it should be welcomed as it allows for an honest public discussion on the subject of poll tampering.

LALITHA Via email

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Representational Image

A good monsoon that led to record sowing and production of pulses -- especially

tur dal (pigeon pea) -- has almost halved their wholesale and retail prices in 2017, a year after dal prices skyrocketed to Rs 200 per kg in some cities at the end of 2015.

In many state-regulated agricultural markets of major tur-producing states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka, prices have fallen to Rs 4,000 per quintal in some markets, 20 per cent below the mini-mum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,050 per quintal (includ-ing a bonus of Rs 425) since December 2016.

A ban on exports, restric-tions on stocking by private agencies in a bumper-crop year and absence of futures trading in agricultural com-modities have been cited as key reasons for pulses to fol-low “the usual roller-coaster of high and low prices” in con-secutive years, wrote Ashok Gulati, Infosys Chair professor for agriculture at the Indian Council for Research on Inter-national Economic Relations, in The Indian Express.

After two consecutive drought years, a good mon-soon prevailed in most parts of India in 2016, barring some districts of Punjab, Haryana, Kerala, and Gujarat, among the major states. The situation turned after a good monsoon, even as a perfect storm around tur dal -- monsoon failures, insufficient MSP, poor yield per hectare of dal and grow-ing public preference to opt for eggs and meat for proteins -- would keep its price high for a long time.

Monsoon in 2016 turned out to be above normal in Maharashtra, and productivity increased from about 360 kg/ha to 760 kg/ha, and farmers planted dal on a record area, since the previous year, 2015, fetched them record prices at

above Rs 100/kg.Maharashtra, Karnataka,

Telangana, and Gujarat are the major tur-producing states. Rural district markets con-nect with farmers directly and consumers indirectly, since they involve intermediaries. At large consumer markets in cities, such as Mumbai and Ahmedabad, pulses from dis-trict markets are sold to retail-ers and consumers.

The wholesale price in major district markets -- Amravati, Gulbarga, Vado-dara, and Narsinghpur -- in the four major tur-produc-ing states surged in 2015 and saw an almost equal or worse decline in 2016.

Supply fell in 2015, reduc-ing dal in the market, com-pared to 2014. Traders paid farmers more than Rs 100/kg for tur -- a record -- and mid-dlemen and retailers increased the price to Rs 180/kg in gro-cery shops.

In 2016, the sowing area of tur in Maharashtra increased 25 per cent to 1.53 million hectares, but production is estimated to have increased 160 per cent, from 444,000 tonne in 2015-16 to 1.17 mil-

lion tonne in 2016-17. So, in 2016-17, the market is awash in dal, and traders are buying it from farmers at prices below the MSP.

In a bid to reduce the impact of the supply glut on farmers, the Central govern-ment increased the buffer stock -- produce that govern-ment buys directly from the farmer as a safety measure for farmers as well as market availability -- for pulses ten-fold, from 0.2 million tonne to two million tonne.

Although the buffer stock has been increased, govern-ment agencies are not ready to stockpile pulses because storage space is limited, as is evident in Parbhani district, Maharashtra.

“Farmers with tur have been waiting at the district procurement centre of Food Corporation of India for more than a week as the Cen-tre is running out of space,” a regional agricultural officer, who did not wish to be named, told IndiaSpend.

“They will get a better price (MSP) at the Centre, but the tractor with tur costs them around Rs 800/day, which is

effectively reducing the price from MSP to the market price of around Rs 4,000 per quin-tal,” he said.

In Karnataka, water short-age has imperilled the summer and winter (Kharif and Rabi) crops. The state government has responded with a spe-cial state bonus of Rs 450 per quintal, taking the procure-ment price of tur to Rs 5,500 per quintal, the highest ever by any state.

Not just government sup-port, but having a sound marketing policy is equally important, Gulati argued in his article, a view he expressed in August 2016 as well. “Farm-ers should take planting deci-sions based on likely future prices and not last year’s mar-ket prices,” his March 2017 col-umn said.

If farmers knew from futures prices that they would be paid below the MSP this season, they could have opted for cotton, which saw a reduc-tion in the area sown.

Pulses exports were banned in 2006 when record exports of 0.5 million tonne in 2005 aggravated domestic shortfalls. The ban has not been lifted,

with some exceptions. Exports are about one per cent of total domestic production, accord-ing to government data.

The pulses shortage in 2015-16 saw imports rise to 5.8 million tonne or a third of the production. In the over-supply year of 2016-17, exports remained banned.

Even when farmers are getting less than Rs 4,000 per quintal in domestic markets, pulses are still being imported at a price above Rs 10,000 per quintal, Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress par-liamentary party said in Lok Sabha.

A government commit-tee headed by Chief Eco-nomic Adviser Arvind Subramanian recommended in September 2016 that the MSP for tur should be increased to Rs 6,000 per quintal in 2017 and Rs 7,000 per quintal in 2018. IANS

(In an arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-

driven, non-profit, public interest journalism platform.

Abhishek Waghmare is a Mumbai-based researcher.

The views expressed are strictly those of IndiaSpend.)

9mp in focusMILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

The Supreme Court issued directions for the introduction of VVPAT system which involves a printing paper trail when the voter casts his vote in addition to the electronic record of the ballot. This is for the purpose of verification of his choice of candidate and also for manual counting of votes in case of dispute. The judgment concluded that the “paper trail” is an indispensable requirement for free and fair elections

A ban on exports, restrictions on stocking by private agencies in a bumper-crop year and absence of futures trading in agricultural commodities have been cited as key reasons for pulses to follow “the usual roller-coaster of high and low prices” in consecutive years

SC allays concerns over EVMsRobin R. David analyses the issue of possible tampering of votes

Pulses price & flaws in agriculture policyABHISHEK WAGHMARE

The first general elections were held in India in 1952, with the symbols of each candidate marked on sep-

arate boxes in each polling station. However, the system of maintain-ing separate ballot boxes for each of the contesting candidates soon gave way to the ballot paper system which presented multiple names of the contesting candidates along with their election symbol. Advancement in technology ensured the ballot was then replaced by the Electronic Vot-ing Machines (EVMs).

The aspersions cast on the EVM today go a long way back to the very year in which it was first employed. It was the by-election of Parur Assem-bly constituency of Kerala in 1982, and the EVMs had been installed in 50 polling stations. Consterna-tion rose the minute the result was announced. Of six candidates, Sivan Pillai of the Communist Party of India came out on top securing 123 votes more than A.C. Jose of the Congress (A) Party. The result was immediately challenged by Jose on the ground that the EVMs should not have been introduced without making due amendment in the Rep-resentation of People’s Act, 1951. The Supreme Court in the chal-lenge made by Jose struck down the election results of booths where the EVMs were employed. Subsequent to the pronouncement of the Supreme Court in A.C. Jose, Section 61A was inserted in the Representation of People Act, 1951 by the Parliament in December 1988 which empow-ered the Election Commission to use EVMs.

The EVM which has lately grabbed the spotlight, interestingly were first developed for a different purpose. Scientists of Bharat Elec-tronics Limited (BEL) initially devel-oped the machine for trade union elections. Grasping the utility and its relevance to the country’s general elections, the Election Commission then approached BEL. for manu-facturing an EVM suitable for the general elections. The scientists after careful experimentation and research designed such an EVM, manufac-tured in 1989-90; these were for the first time used in 16 Assembly Con-stituencies in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The machines also made their debut in Delhi at the General Elections to the respective Legisla-tive Assemblies in November 1998.

Much water has flown since but the issue of possible tampering has

reared its head time and again before the courts, though the courts have ruled it out. The Karnataka High Court in 2004 in Michael B. Fer-nandes vs. C.K. Jaffer Sharief held that EVMs were fully tamper-proof and further held that there was no possibility of manipulation or mis-chief at the instance of anyone. The issue of possible tampering was also negated by the Madras and Bombay High Courts.

The Supreme Court, while hear-ing the Public Interest Litigation filed by Dr Subramanium Swamy, issued additional directions to ally the fears surrounding this electronic voting machine. The Court issued direc-tions for the introduction of VVPAT system (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) which involves a printing paper trail when the voter casts his vote in addition to the electronic record of the ballot for the purpose of verifi-cation of his choice of candidate and also for manual counting of votes in case of dispute. The Supreme Court in its judgment concluded that it was satisfied that the “paper trail” is an indispensable requirement for free and fair elections and that the con-fidence of voters in the EVMs can be achieved only with the introduc-tion of the “paper trail”. The Supreme

Court directed that to ensure greater transparency in the system and to restore the confidence of the voters, and it was necessary to set up EVMs with VVPAT system.

The system was accordingly introduced by the Election Com-mission of India in 21 polling sta-tions of the bye-election of Noksen Assembly Constituency in Nagaland during September 2013. Later, acting on a dispute over the election result, the Election Commission carried out a count of the paper slips of VVPAT in respect of all polling stations and found no discrepancy between the electronic and paper count. Despite the directions issued by the Supreme Court, the introduction of EVMs with VVPAT has not been imple-mented fully. The recent elections in UP and the claims by the Opposition of alleged tampering of EVMs has brought the issue again to the fore-front. The non-availability of funds with the Election Commission to the tune of Rs. 3,000 crores, for the pur-chase of 16 lakh EVMs has been cited as one of the main reason for this failure. The need to dispel voter con-cerns over the increasing use of tech-nology in elections and the lack of transparency thereof has been a mat-ter of great debate not only in India

but several other countries. In the 2017 United States Presidential elec-tion, nearly 70 per cent of the voters cast paper ballots by hand. Follow-ing their custom, the five states—Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and New Jersey—used the “direct recording electronic” (DRE) machines exclusively and more than half of the other states conducted post-election auditing, by checking vote totals against paper records. Such audits are designed to verify that the electronic voting systems (either DRE voting machines or opti-cal scan voting systems) are accu-rately recording and counting the votes. In the randomly-selected pre-cincts, a hand count of the voter-ver-ified paper records is compared to the totals reported by the electronic voting system.

After a largely successful trial period spanning from 1998 to 2005, two citizens challenged the constitu-tionality of electronic voting before the German Constitutional Court. The case argued that the use of elec-tronic voting machines was uncon-stitutional and that it was possible to hack the voting machines thus the results of the 2005 election could not be trusted.

The Court held that the public

nature of elections is a fundamental precondition for democratic political will formation and creates a major pre-condition for the well-founded trust of the citizen in the correct oper-ation of the elections. The use of elec-tronic voting machines requires that the essential steps of the voting and the determination of the result can be examined by the citizen reliably and without any specialist knowledge of the subject. The Constitutional Court, however, explicitly left the door open for the use of electronic voting machines if the constitution-ally required possibility of a reliable correctness check is ensured. The Constitutional Court held that voting machines are conceivable in which the votes are recorded elsewhere in addition to electronic storage. While the court’s decision did not rule out the use of voting machines in prin-ciple, the decision by the German Constitutional Court, stressing the need for transparency in the electoral process without specialist technical knowledge, effectively ended use of electronic voting in the country and no further moves to adopt machines that meet the transparency require-ments have been made either

In April 2009, the Irish govern-ment announced the scrapping of

the controversial electronic voting system. The devices were originally put on trial in three constituencies in the 2002 General Election and were intended for nationwide use in the 2004 European and local elections. But many security and transparency issues were raised, undermining the public’s trust. The nation has gone back to paper and pencil mode. Simi-larly, Netherlands were both an early adopter and early abolisher of elec-tronic voting. It started using the EVM in the 1980s. In 2008, the use of electronic machines was abolished.

So what course does India chart? Does it follow the path adopted by countries like Germany and scrap electronic voting altogether? Do we get rid of EVMs from the poll booths? Much like the courts, the Election Commissioners have time and again shown a preference for the adoption of the VVPAT along with the EVMs instead of merely doing away with the system altogether. For-mer Chief Election Commission-ers S Y Quraishi and H S Brahma recently called for a quick rollout of the VVPAT machines in all poll-ing stations across the country. They explained their stance saying that it was the only way to silence doubts over the alleged tampering of EVMs. The Election Commission has sent more than ten reminders to the Cen-tre since June 2014 for the release of funds to carry out phased implemen-tation of the VVPATs.

As recently as 24 March 2017, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Election Commission on a Pub-lic Interest Litigation pertaining to the introduction of a paper trail. The Supreme Court observed that the Election Commission had not com-plied with the directions issued by it in 2013. This again has provided fresh fodder for the debate over the verac-ity of the EVMs. While the courts have repeatedly held that the EVMs used in the Indian electoral process are tamper proof it has also provided directions for the introduction of the VVPAT system to rule out the remotest concerns. In lending sup-port to the VVPAT, the Indian leg-islature has shown the way forward in this heated debate over EVMs. Its stern directions for the quick imple-mentation of the VVPAT along with EVMs is proof of its commitment to assuage the voter and hence secure the democratic processes.

(The writer is an Advocate prac-ticing in Supreme Court. Views expressed are strictly personal.)

Not just government support, but having a sound marketing policy is equally important

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Delhi's AAP Govt has performed the best in the country towards improving conditions of street vendors and sav-ing them from harass-ment.

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mp world10MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

Yemen prez’s forces attack,

38 killed in heavy fighting

SANAA: Yemeni security and military officials say forces loyal to Yemen’s internation-ally recognised president have launched an attack on Shiite rebels around the southeastern port city of Mocha, unleash-ing heavy fighting that has killed some 38 fighters from both sides.

They said on Wednesday that the fighting began a day earlier and was supported by the Saudi-led coalition opposing the rebels, known as Houthis. The military offi-cials say troops loyal to Pres-ident Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi aim to take the area’s key port at Hodeida, further north.

All officials spoke on con-dition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief journalists. The Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign against the rebels two years ago that has failed to drive them from the cap-ital and other territory they control. AGENCIES

8 Indians held by Somali pirates freed: Officials

MOGADISHU: Somalia’s mil-itary has rescued eight Indian crew members who had been held hostage by pirates, an offi-cial said on Wednesday.

The sailors of a ship hijacked last week were res-cued after regional forces sur-rounded their pirate captors in a small village outside Hobyo town, Abdullahi Ahmed Ali, said the town’s mayor.

Four pirates were arrested during the operation, he said.

All the Indian crew mem-bers have now been rescued as two had been freed in the ship on Sunday, the mayor said. Ten crew members were taken captive, not 11 as initially announced by officials, he said.

Pirates made the captive crew members walk long dis-tances in the bush for days to avoid troops that were chas-ing them.

“They are exhausted and

hungry because of that long ordeal,” the mayor said.

In recent weeks there has been a resurgence of piracy off

Somalia’s coast after five years of inactivity. The piracy was once a serious threat to the global shipping industry but

lessened in recent years after an international effort to patrol near Somalia, whose weak cen-tral government has been try-

ing to stabilize the country after 25 years of conflict.

But frustrations have been rising among Somali fisher-men, including former pirates, at what they say are foreign ships illegally fishing in local waters.

In March, Somali pirates hijacked the Comoros-flagged oil tanker Aris 13, marking the first such seizure of a large commercial vessel since 2012.

They later released the ves-sel and its Sri Lankan crew without conditions, Somali officials said at the time.

Pirates in late March also seized a fishing trawler, which police warned could be used for further piracy.

On Saturday, pirates boarded the Lebanese-reg-istered OS 35 cargo ship but abandoned it the next day before naval forces recovered the ship. AGENCIES

Pakistan, India ‘cannot remain enemies

forever’, says Pak NSA

ISLAMABAD: Accusing India of “defeating the spirit of bilat-eralism” by defying talks over the Kashmir issue, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Nasser Janjua has said that the two neighbours “cannot remain enemies forever” and they need to engage and resolve their disputes.

Janjua’s remarks comes against the backdrop of spike in Indo-Pak tensions over the death sentence awarded to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a military court and New Delhi’s warning to Islam-abad to consider the conse-quences on bilateral ties if he is hanged.

Pakistan’s NSA claimed that the international community is overlooking Kashmir issue due to their own strategic interests related to India.

“Although India consid-ers Kashmir a bilateral issue, it has defeated the spirit of bilat-eralism by defying any dia-logue over it,” Janjua said while speaking to Canadian High Commissioner Perry Calder-wood on Tuesday.

“Extreme thoughts are to be mitigated through a change of perception, by winning hearts and minds and not by use of force alone,” he said, referring to the situation in Kashmir.

“We need to engage with

each other and resolve dis-putes,” Janjua was quoted as saying by the state-run Associ-ated Press of Pakistan.

“Pakistan and India can-not remain enemies forever,” he said, amid a strain in Indo-Pak ties.

Janjua and Calderwood dis-cussed regional dynamics and bilateral ties, Pakistan’s role in eradicating terrorism, coun-ter-terrorism cooperation, the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) and Pakistan-India relations with reference to the US’ offer for mediation.

Janjua also underscored the need for a non-discrimina-tory approach while consider-ing Pakistan’s membership for elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

According to Janjua, the international community is overlooking the Kashmir dis-pute for their own strategic interests in India.

He said Pakistan expected the international community to stand with morality and human rights, adding that Islamabad welcomed the US offer to mediate between India and Pakistan.

India regarded Kashmir as a bilateral issue, but defeated the spirit of bilateralism by defying any dialogue, he said. AGENCIES

San Bernardino school shooter threatened his wife: PoliceSAN BERNARDINO: The man who opened fire in a San Bernardino school was a pastor and Navy veteran who accused his newlywed wife of infidel-ity. When he failed in his efforts to win her back, he went to her classroom and fatally shot her and one of the special needs children she taught, police said on Tuesday. In the weeks before Mon-day’s violence Karen Smith told family members her new husband, Cedric Anderson, had tried to get her to return home and threatened her, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said. She didn’t take him seriously and thought he was just seeking attention, he said. Police do not know what triggered the attack or why Anderson chose to attack Smith at the school, Burguan said, add-ing she never shared any information about her marital problems with colleagues. “She effectively kept her private life private,” Burguan said. On Monday morning, hundreds of panicked parents descended on the North Park School in San Bernardino, waiting for hours for information on their children. AGENCIES

Brexit referendum site may have been hacked

LONDON: Foreign hackers may have attacked the voter registration website for the Brexit referendum in June last year, a group of British MPs said on Wednesday.

The website had crashed on registration deadline day, June 7, weeks before the referen-dum on Britain’s membership of the 28-nation bloc European Union (EU) on June 23.

At the time, the UK govern-ment had attributed the crash to high demand and extended the registration deadline.

However, MPs on the House of Commons Pub-lic Administration Commit-tee said in a report today that a foreign cyber-attack could not be ruled out. The report did not name the countries that may have been responsible for the crash. “We do not rule out

the possibility that there was foreign interference in the EU referendum caused by a DDOS (distributed denial of service attack) using botnets, though we do not believe that any such interference had any material effect on the outcome of the EU referendum,” the report said.

“Lessons in respect of the protection and resilience against possible foreign inter-ference in IT systems that are critical for the functioning of the democratic process must extend beyond the techni-cal,” it said. The UK Cabinet Office, which ran the website, stressed that it did not suspect any “malign intervention”.

“We have been very clear about the cause of the web-site outage in June 2016. It was due to a spike in users just before the registration dead-

line. There is no evidence to suggest malign intervention. We conducted a full review into the outage and have applied the lessons learned. We will ensure these are applied for all future polls and online services,” a Cabinet Office statement said.

According to evidence sub-mitted to the committee from the Association of Electoral Administrators, the electoral registration system “could not cope with the demand... and any contingency measures were wholly inadequate”. The com-mittee called on the govern-ment to set up a new Cyber Security Centre to monitor and contain potential attacks on UK elections and refer-endums, particularly foreign attempts to influence pub-lic opinion and disrupt the democratic process. AGENCIES

Kabul: IS claims suicide bomb

attack that killed 5KABUL: Islamic State mil-itants claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on Wednesday near the Afghan Defence Ministry that killed at least five people.

A statement by the Afghan Interior Ministry reported several more people were wounded, while a Defence Ministry spokesman said at least one civilian and two members of the Afghan secu-rity forces were among the casualties, adding that the tar-get appeared to be a police post near military headquarters. Islamic State claimed respon-sibility in an online post.

A police officer at the scene told Reuters the attack appeared to have been carried out by a suicide bomber on foot. A Reuters witness reported see-ing several damaged cars, with possible injuries to the occupants. AGENCIES

UN: Boko Haram increasingly using

children as bombersDAKAR: Radical Islamic militants from Boko Haram are increasingly forcing chil-dren to carry out bombings, with the number of attacks since January already nearly reaching the total for all of last year, according to a report released on Wednesday by the UN children’s agency.

UNICEF says at least 117 attacks have been carried out by youth in the Lake Chad basin region since 2014, with nearly 80 per cent of the bombs strapped to girls, who were sometimes drugged before their missions. The very sight of children near marketplaces and checkpoints is sparking fear, according to Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNI-CEF’s regional director for West and Central Africa. As a result, nearly 1,500 chil-dren were detained last year across Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad. “These chil-dren are victims, not perpe-trators,” Poirier said. “Forcing or deceiving them into com-

mitting such horrific acts is reprehensible.”

The new report coincides with this week’s third anniver-sary of the mass abduction of Chibok schoolgirls by Boko Haram, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

The mass abduction of 276 girls from a boarding school in Nigeria in 2014 mobilised an international campaign to find and free the girls, many of whom were forced into marriages with fighters and became pregnant.

Dozens quickly escaped,

and 21 were freed in Octo-ber through negotia-tions with Boko Haram mediated by the Swiss government and the Inter-national Committee of the Red Cross.

The government denied a ransom was paid and that it freed some detained Boko Haram fighters in exchange for the girls. At that time, officials said they were press-ing on with negotiations and expected the release of a sec-ond group, but no more have been freed. AGENCIES

Indians become biggest migrant group in Victoria: Census

MELBOURNE: Indians have emerged as the fastest growing migrant group in the Australia’s second-most populous state of Victoria, recording a growth of 2.3 percent in the last ten years, according to latest census figures.

There were higher proportions of India-born residents in Victoria followed by Italy, Vietnam, Greece and Sri Lanka than any other state or territory, it said.

According to the latest figures released by Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in Victoria, Indians have emerged as the fastest growing migrant group in the state.

Victoria is the country’s most densely

populated state and its second-most pop-ulous state overall.

In terms of population growth nation-ally, for the top 50 countries of birth in 10 years, people from Nepal had the highest rate of increase with an average annual growth rate of 27.8 percent which stood at a small base of 4,400 persons in 2006.

The second fastest increase over the period was in the number of persons from Pakistan at 13.2 percent per year on aver-age followed by those from Brazil at 12.1 percent, India at 10.7 percent and Bangla-desh at 8.9 percent.

Persons from the UK continued to be the largest group of overseas-born resi-dents, accounting for 5.0 per cent of Aus-tralia’s total population till June last year followed by persons from New Zealand at 2.5 percent, China at 2.2 percent, India at 1.9 percent and Philippines and Vietnam at both one per cent.

New South Wales had the highest pro-portion of people from China grown at 2.6 percent since 2006.

Nationally, the proportion of Austra-lians born overseas continued to reach new heights recording a growth of over 28 percent. AGENCIES

PUBLIC NOTICEI Smt. Sushma Jain W/o

Shri Ishwar Chand Jain, R/o BT-20, West Shalimar Bagh, Delhi-88 that my Original Perpetual Lease Deed lost anywhere Property No. 529, Block-A, Pkt-1 Sector-34 Rohini Delhi area measuring 60 Sq Mtr. If anybody found pl contact me at 9810258623.

PUBLIC NOTICEI Smt. Sushma Jain W/o Shri

Ishwar Chand Jain, R/o BT-20, West Shalimar Bagh, Delhi -88.That my Original DDA Demand Letter, DDA Possession Letter, Site Possession, Perpetual Lease Deed, GPA, Agreement to sale & Receipt lost of Property Plot No. 1171 Block & Pkt C-4 Sec 34 Rohini Delhi. If anybody found pl contact me at 9810258623.

mp world 11MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

United Airlines CEO apologises after passenger

is removedCHICAGO: Since the video of a passenger being yanked off his seat and dragged along the aisle of United Airlines flight has gone viral on social media, the CEO of the US carrier has issued a public apology.

The head of the airline com-pany said they are trying to talk to the victim in order “resolve this situation”. Hours after the incident, the official described the man as “disruptive and belligerent”. Later on Tuesday afternoon, CEO Oscar Munoz expressed contempt for this barbaric act and stated that, “No one should ever be mis-treated this way”.

The passenger, identified as David Dao, 69 a resident of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a convict with a series of charges involving his prescribing of drugs and spent years trying to regain his medical license.

While Dao’s past instan-taneously became a focus of attention, but it fails to justify the ill-treatment faced by the physician. In the video, the vic-tim is seen quietly standing in the aisle speaking softly, “I want to go home, I want to go home.”

After the horrifying inci-dent the CEO has asserted that the policies regarding passen-gers to give up their seats would be reviewed, for peacefully handling oversold situations and for partnering with air-port authorities and local law enforcement. Dao’s attorney has confirmed that he is being treated at a Chicago hospitals for the injuries he sustained during the act.

As per the records provided by the Kentucky Board of Med-ical Licensure, Dao graduated from University of Medicine of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, 1974. He was a specialist for pulmonary disease. His legal troubles erupted in 2003, when his license was terminated after an undercover sting operation at a Louisville. AGENCIES

MOSCOW: Despite specula-tions to the contrary, US Sec-retary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. There was specula-tion this would not happen due to the tension between the two nations. “Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting US Secretary of State Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Lav-rov at the Kremlin,” Presiden-tial spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Peskov did not elaborate on what the three discussed. Earlier in the day, Tillerson held a meeting with Sergey Lavrov. The top US diplomat is visit-ing Moscow amid a conflict over the alleged use of chemi-cal weapons in Syria. The US blamed the incident, which hap-pened almost two weeks ago, on Damascus, and retaliated with a barrage of cruise missiles tar-geting a Syrian airbase.

Russia called it a possible false flag operation and said the US attack was an act of interna-tional aggression. It also said more provocative incidents

involving toxic agents may follow in Syria, now that the Trump administration has dem-onstrated it can be baited into the reaction that the enemies of Damascus want from it.

Moscow believes a proper investigation, including at the scene of the reported attack, is

necessary to establish the truth.Relations between the

United States and Russia have grown so tense that it was unclear whether Putin would agree to see Tillerson, a man he once gave a medal of friendship.

In the 24 hours before Til-lerson landed, the White House

accused Putin’s government of covering up evidence that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad was responsi-ble for sarin gas attacks on its own people, launched from a base where Russian troops are operating. Putin shot back that the charge was fabricated and

accused the administration of President Trump, who Ameri-can intelligence agencies believe benefited from Russian cyber-attacks intended to embarrass his Democratic rival during the election campaign, of fabricat-ing the evidence to create a fake confrontation.

“This reminds me very much of the events of 2003, when US representatives in the Security Council showed alleged chemical weapons discovered in Iraq,” Putin said, referring to an intelligence failure that Trump has also cited in recent months. “The exact same thing is happening now,” he charged. He quoted two Russian writ-ers, Ilya Ilf and Yevgeni Petrov, authors of the 1928 satire “The 12 Chairs,” and said, “‘It’s bor-ing, ladies.’ We have seen this all before.” But the diplomatic the-ater playing out in Moscow on a rainy Wednesday morning was far from boring: Putin, operat-ing on home turf, was looking for any way to shape the narra-tive of Tillerson’s first trip here as secretary of state. AGENCIES

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Wednesday executed banned Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami chief Mufti Abdul Hannan and his two associates for a 2004 attack on a shrine that killed three people and wounded the Brit-ish high commissioner at the time.

Hannan was hanged at Kashimpur Jail in Gazipur along with his accomplice Sharif Shahedul, alias Bipul, at 10:01 pm, Home Minister Asa-duzzaman Khan was quoted as saying by the Bdnews24.com.

His associate Delwar Hos-sain Ripon was executed in Syl-het jail, the minister added.

President Abdul Hamid had rejected their mercy petitions.

On March 19, the Supreme Court reconfirmed an earlier verdict of itself endorsing death penalty of Hannan and the two others for the 2004 attack on the then UK envoy.

The then Bangladeshi born British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury narrowly escaped the grenade attack at a shrine in northeastern Syl-het that killed three people, all policemen, and injured 70 others. Anwar sustained minor injuries.

The HuJI operatives carried

out the attack at the shrine of saint Hazrat Shahjalal in Sylhet, also the birthplace of Chowd-hury, as he went to visit there 18 days into his new assign-ment in Dhaka.

A speedy trial tribunal orig-inally tried the case and deliv-ered its verdict on December 23, 2008, sentencing to death HuJI leaders Sharif Shahedul Alam and Delwar Hossain alongside Hannan.

Hannan and seven other kingpins and operatives of Huji were earlier sentenced to death by another court in Dhaka for a deadly 2001 bomb attack that killed 10 people during Bengali New Year celebrations at a pub-lic park. HuJI was formed in 1992 by Bangladeshis who took part in the Afghan war against the Soviet forces in Afghani-stan. The US has designated HuJi as a foreign terrorist orga-nization and “specially desig-nated global terrorist” while Indian officials suspected the outfits links in the Jaipur serial bombings and several other blasts there.

Bangladesh has wit-nessed a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. AGENCIES

Putin meets Tillerson amid Syria turmoil

B’desh executes HuJI chief, 2 associates

Trust has eroded between the US and Russia under Donald Trump, Putin declared as Moscow delivered an unusually hostile reception to Rex Tillerson in a face-off over Syria

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Former German President Joachim Gauck (centre) and his partner Daniela Schadt (left) hand out food to homeless people during a visit to the railway mission at the Zoo in Berlin on Wednesday AP/PTI

KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer for one of the women accused of murdering North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half brother with a chemical nerve agent said on Wednes-day that Malaysia has poten-tially compromised the case and that he’s afraid his client will become a scapegoat.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the attor-ney for Siti Aisyah said the man who he believes recruited his client was allowed to leave Malaysia late last month, after the country struck a surprise deal with North Korea.

“(He) may not be impli-cated in the actual event of the murder, but his evi-dence is so important, central to our defense because it clearly shows how this naive girl was duped into doing things outside her knowl-edge,” Gooi Soon Seng said at his office in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian police did not immediately respond to calls for comment, but they have said in recent weeks that the

deal with North Korea did not affect the investigation.

The February 13 killing of Kim Jong Nam sparked a fierce diplomatic battle between two countries that once had warm relations. Aisyah and another woman, from Vietnam, have been charged with murder for allegedly smearing Kim’s face with VX nerve agent at a bus-tling airport terminal.

Although Malaysia never directly accused North Korea of carrying out the attack, spec-ulation is rampant that Pyong-yang orchestrated a hit on a long-exiled member of its rul-ing elite.

The countries ended a tense standoff on March 31 with a deal that gave North Korea custody of Kim’s body and allowed Malaysia to question three North Korean men who had been hiding in their coun-try’s embassy in Kuala Lum-pur. Malaysian police then allowed the men to fly home, saying they found no grounds to hold them.

It was an abrupt turnaround in the investigation. AGENCIES

BEIJING: Chinese leader Xi Jinping has urged Donald Trump to peacefully resolve surging tensions over North Korea’s nuclear programme, as the US president touts the power of a naval “armada” sent to counter fresh provocations by Pyongyang.

Trump said on Tuesday that the US was ready to solve the North Korean “problem” with-out China if necessary, as he and Pyongyang engage in tit-for-tat saber-rattling that has sent tensions soaring in East Asia. “North Korea is looking for trouble,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem with-out them! USA.” In a phone call with Trump, Xi told him China “advocates resolving the issue through peaceful means,” Chi-nese state broadcaster CCTV said on Wednesday. Trump made his comments as a US naval strike group headed towards the Korean peninsula.

“We are sending an armada. Very powerful,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Busi-

ness Network. “We have sub-marines. Very powerful. Far more powerful than the air-craft carrier.” The strike group includes the Nimitz-class air-craft supercarrier USS Carl Vinson, a carrier air wing, two guided- missile destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser

A barrage of recent North Korean missile tests have stoked US fears that Pyong-yang may soon have an inter-continental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland. North Korea is also believed to be preparing to test a nuclear

weapon in the coming days.The US show of force

prompted the North to declare it was “ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US.”

“This goes to prove that the US reckless moves for invading the DPRK have reached a seri-ous phase,” a spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry said, according to state news agency KCNA. During their call, Xi told Trump that China remains “willing to maintain communi-cation and coordination with the American side on the issue of the peninsula,” according to the CCTV report. AGENCIES

Xi urges peaceful resolution of N Korea tensions in Trump call

‘Malaysia may have compromised Kim’s case’

WASHINGTON: A Mus-lim woman’s hijab was alleg-edly ripped off in the US by a man who she claimed beat her “like an animal” and repeatedly stepped on her head, prompt-ing calls for a hate crime probe.

The woman from Milwau-kee was attacked as she walked home from prayer.

Milwaukee police told FOX6 News they were investi-gating the crime.

The incident happened on Monday and the victim was released from the hospital on Tuesday.

“I said to myself, ‘I am going to die today for sure.’ So he gets up from the car and told me to come here,” said the woman who was attacked.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, said a car pulled up alongside her.

One man came from a car. That man wanted only one thing — to remove the woman’s hijab, or headscarf, she said.

“He said to take my hijab, my scarf. I tried to fight him. ‘Don’t take my hijab,’ you know? So he threw me on the floor then he beat me like an animal,” she told the TV station. The attacker was able to pull the scarf off and blood stains remained on it, the report said.

The woman said her attacker threw her to the side-walk, and then stepped on her head repeatedly. She said he also took out a knife to cut her jacket and her arm.

“Certainly we’re scared for our community members. As an Islamic community, we want to make sure our community is always safe. The initial reac-tion is shock,” said Munjed Ahmad with the Islamic Soci-ety of Milwaukee. Those at the Islamic Center believe this was a hate crime. “Nothing was sto-len. There was no robbery. Her valuables remain with her. The only motive we can think of — because everything stayed with her and this individual went straight for her scarf — is a hate crime,” Ahmad was quoted as saying

The victim somehow made it home. That is where she had a seizure and was taken to the hospital. AGENCIES

RAWALPINDI: Minister of State for Information Technol-ogy Anusha Rehman on Tues-day said Pakistan would be the first country in South Asia to test 5th generation cellular ser-vices for fast connectivity.

Speaking at the Information Communication Technology (ICT) awards ceremony, organ-ised by the Rawalpindi Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), Rehman said: “Paki-stan recently won the GSMA award and ranked third in the list of mobile telecom operator groups.” The government was working on a project to pro-vide at least one mobile tower per 100 users in every village by 2030, she added. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Ismail Shah, RCCI President Raja Amer Iqbal,

officials of the Pakistan Soft-ware Export Board and offi-cials of other leading IT and telecom companies were pres-ent on the occasion. Rehman said information technology was booming in the country and broadband penetration increased from three per cent to 27pc in the last two years. “We are working towards mak-ing a digital Pakistan. Digital economy through IT, freelance, start-ups, e-commerce and mobile apps are the future,” she said.

RCCI president Amer said the ICT award initiative was taken to promote a healthy competition among organisa-tions in the IT sector. He said the ICT sector had a market share of approximately $3 bil-lion in Pakistan. AGENCIES

Muslim woman assaulted, hijab ripped off in US

Pak to be first South Asian country to test 5G

Signs of life found below world’s deepest pointLONDON: Scientists have discov-ered potential evidence of life ten kilometres below the sea floor in the Mariana Trench - the deepest part of the world’s oceans.

The trench is part of a subduction zone, where the Pacific tectonic plate slips beneath the Philippine Sea plate. The surrounding seafloor is littered with hydrothermal vents and mud volcanoes, churning out ingredients from the deep Earth. Researchers, including those from Utrecht Uni-versity in the Netherlands, ventured to Mariana Trench located in the western Pacific Ocean. They used Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) to extract about 46 samples of ser-pentine from the ocean floor near the South Chamorro mud volcano,

which they brought back to their lab for study. “This is another hint at a great, deep biosphere on our planet,” says study leader Oliver Plümper, a researcher at the Netherlands’ Utrecht University. “It could be huge or very small, but there is definitely some-thing going on that we don’t under-stand yet.” Serpentine is a mineral that forms when olivine in the upper mantle meets water pushed up from a subduction zone, researchers said.

Such reactions produce methane gas and hydrogen, which could be used as a food source by microbes, researchers said.

Serpentine is pushed to the sur-face of the sea floor by hydrothermal vents, where the researchers found it.

They found trace amounts of

organic material that was very similar to that produced by microbes living in more accessible places, the ‘Phys.org’ reported. It is possible that the serpen-

tine samples are evidence of life living far below the surface, researchers said.

It is also possible that the organic material was produced without help

from biology at all, in a natural ver-sion of the process humans use to make synthetic oil and fuel. However, this alternate possibility would still be an exciting one, according to the research team.

“If it can do that, it is amazing in itself,” says Plümper, who notes that the mud volcanoes where the ser-pentine formed are thought to have existed when life on Earth got its start. “Then we know that geologic process can create complex organic molecules.”

The team used data from prior studies to calculate how far below the sea floor the serpentine was formed. The study was published in the jour-nal Proceedings of the National Acad-emy of Sciences. AGENCIES

Death toll in Nigeria meningitis outbreak up to 489WARRI: Nigeria’s meningitis outbreak has killed at least 489 people as of Monday, health officials said on Wednesday. Health Minister Isaac Adewole says 4,637 meningitis cases have been confirmed. The federal government has kicked off a nationwide vaccination campaign for millions of people, though there is a world-wide shortage for the strain, which inflames the spinal cord and brain. Zamfara state in the north is the worst hit with 216 deaths. Katsina, Kebbi, Niger and Sokoto states in northwest and north-central Nigeria also have seen cases since the disease surfaced in December. Most of the victims have been children. A meningitis epidemic killed 1,100 people and infected more than 10,000 in Nigeria and neighboring Niger in 2015. There are fears that this outbreak could again spread across the border. AGENCIES

mp business12MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

NEW DELHI: Boosted by a slew of steps to enhance effi-ciency, the country's 12 major ports surpassed private players by handling a record 673.43 million tonnes of cargo in 2016-17, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.

"Major ports under the Centre handled a record 647.43 million tonnes (MT) of cargo in 2016-17 register-ing an annual growth rate of 6.79 per cent against 4.32 per cent in 2015-16," the Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister told reporters here.

Annual growth rate recorded by private ports was only 4 per cent, he said, add-ing the performance of major ports was steadily improving on the back of a number of initiatives taken by the gov-ernment to enhance their efficiency.

"Kandla Port retained its top position among all major ports and handled 105.44 MT followed by Paradip Port which handled 88.95 MT and Mumbai Port that handled 63.05 MT," Gadkari said.

JNPT recorded highest ever handling of 4.5 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) during 2016-17 while port-owned terminal JNPCT

achieved highest ever handling of 1.53 million TEUs during 2016-17, registering a growth rate of 7.33 per cent.

Among commodities han-dled, iron ore traffic picked up again, attaining the highest growth rate of 163.67 per cent while other miscellaneous and general cargo grew by 18.53 per cent and petroleum, oil, lubricants (POL) products by 8.16 per cent.

The minister said efficiency indicators in major ports are steadily improving and during the last fiscal, total turnaround time came down to 3.44 days as against 3.64 days during the last year.

Likewise, average output per ship berth day has gone

up to 14,583 tonnes as against 13,748 tonnes during the last year.

Major ports have been benchmarked to international standards, he said, adding that 70 initiatives have been imple-mented and the remaining will be done by 2019.

This has resulted in unlocking 80 million tonne per annum capacity.

India has 12 major ports – Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambaranar, Visakhapat-nam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) which han-dle approximately 61 per cent of the country's total cargo traffic. PTI

PSU ports beat private cos in cargo handling growth

NEW DELHI: India has asked the US to relax certain norms related to irradiation for greater access to homegrown man-goes in the American markets, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

Several other agri and non-agri products face non-tax bar-riers in the US markets.

The phyto-sanitary (related with plants) norms imposed by the US for mangoes from India requires irradiation treat-ment and inspection prior to the shipment.

"This time consuming and costly process of certification makes Indian mangoes less competitive in the US mar-ket," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

She said that the govern-ment has requested the US to "relax these norms".

India has also sought the option of irradiation at source or upon arrival in the US to provide flexibility for Indian

exporters, she said.Besides, the country has

proposed that US should allow National Plant Protec-tion Organisation to carry out pre-shipment inspection of mangoes to save cost, a pro-cess which is currently con-ducted jointly by India and the US, she added.

Similarly, the US has imposed certain irradiation treatment conditions for pome-granate exports from India.

The minister said America has not granted market access to the Indian grapes either.

"The US has granted market access to Indian Litchis after the performance of cold treat-ment. However, no Litchis have been exported in the last two years," she said.

This is because of APEAD's inability to organise a training programme for their officials on cold treatment monitoring.

The minister also listed out other non-tax barriers being faced by Indian exporters in the US market. PTI

NEW DELHI: India was the second fastest growth mar-ket for passenger vehicles among the top five nations globally, behind China, hav-ing expanded by 7 per cent last year.

According to global auto-mobile industry body Organ-isation Internationale des Constructeurs d Automo-biles (OICA) data, passenger vehicle sales in India stood at 29,66,637 units last year as against 27,72,270 units in 2015.

In overall sales, the country retained its position as the fifth biggest global market for pas-senger vehicles (PVs).

China posted a growth of 14.93 per cent at 2,43,76,902 units last year as compared to 2,12,10,339 units in 2015. It remained the world's biggest market for PVs.

Germany was the third fast-est growing market for PVs globally with a growth 4.54 per cent at 33,51,607 units in 2016 as compared to 32,06,042 units

in the previous year. In terms of size the country was, how-ever, the fourth largest market behind Japan, which witnessed a decline of 1.65 per cent in its passenger vehicle sales at 41,46,459 units last year as against 42,15,889 units in 2015.

The world's second larg-est market for PVs was the US which clocked a total of 68,72,729 units in 2016 as com-pared to 75,16,826 units in the previous year, down 8.56 per cent. PTI

NEW DELHI: The Informa-tion and Broadcasting Min-istry on Wednesday said it would take an "informed deci-sion" on TRAI's suggestion on sharing of infrastructure in television broadcasting sector.

On March 29, the Tele-com Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued the rec-ommendations on sharing of infrastructure in television broadcasting sector.

"We are considering it... (we) will take an informed decision on it," Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavard-han Singh Rathore told the Lok Sabha while replying to questions.

On the face of it, the sug-gestion for sharing infrastruc-ture looks like a "valid point", Rathore said but added that coding and set top boxes used by DTH (Direct To Home) service providers are different.

TRAI's recommendations are to enable a policy environ-ment for facilitating sharing of infrastructure in TV broad-casting distribution sector on voluntary basis, Information and Broadcasting Minister M

Venkaiah Naidu said in a writ-ten reply to questions.

The Ministry has not received any proposal from DTH operators for sharing of satellite transponders and earth station facilities with other DTH players and distri-bution platforms, Naidu said.

The requirement of sat-ellite transponder capacity for DTH services has been increasing with rise in demand

for high definition channels. Naidu said the total satellite transponder capacity used by the DTH operators presently stands at 104 transponders and there is a demand for 68 more transponders.

Presently, all the DTH operators uplink signals of television channels to differ-ent satellites located at differ-ent orbital slots and majority of the channels are replicated

across multiple platforms. This creates capacity constraints and also is a significant cost for each operator, thus making the service expensive, Naidu said.

"In this scenario, enabling sharing of infrastructure may address the issue of demand supply mismatch of transpon-der capacity and reduce capi-tal and operating expenditure of the service provider," he added. PTI

Govt studying Trai proposal to share TV broadcast infra

GURUGRAM: US-based tech giant Cisco on Wednesday launched its fifth global cyber range lab here with an aim to train Indian firms and govern-ment agencies on real-world cyber attacks.

"The Cisco cyber range lab aims to provide highly special-ised technical training work-shops to help cyber security professionals build the skills...to combat new-age threats," Cisco India President India and SAARC Dinesh Malkani said at the Cisco India Summit 2017 here.

The facility was inaugu-rated by National Cyber Secu-rity Coordinator Gulshan Rai. Cisco has four other such labs in Australia.

Rai said an effective imple-mentation of cybersecurity requires IT infrastructure and technical expertise for which the industry should play a responsible role.

"I would like to suggest that Cisco should offer different modules for tech profession-als and agencies like police," he said.

Cisco will also launch a Security Operations Centre (SOC) in Pune -- its fourth after the US, Poland and Japan -- in the next few months to provide a broad range of ser-vices, including monitoring of threats and its end-to-end management for enterprise needs. It will be linked to other Cisco SOCs across the world.

These centres are part of Cisco's USD 100 million invest-ment commitment to India.

According to estimates, the demand for cybersecurity experts has grown three times faster than any other IT jobs.

Therefore, training and skilling of cybersecurity workforce has become one of the top priorities for many organisations. PTI

Cisco launches its fifth global cyber range lab in Gurugram

Flipkart to invest in new businesses like PhonePe BENGALURU: E-commerce company Flipkart on Wednesday said it proposes to invest major part of money raised from latest deals, includ-ing with Microsoft, in new businesses such as PhonePe and fintech considering opportuni-ties in online money transfer segment. "A large part of the money raised from the latest deals struck with Tencent, Microsoft and eBay, will be invested in new businesses, especially PhonePe and fintech," Flipkart co-Founder and CEO Binny Bansal said. There was a huge opportunity on the payments side because a large chunk of business comes from people sending money to each other online, he said. "Yeah, opportunities are definitely there on the payment side becom-ing a business on its own. Even if you look at the business on Wednesday, a large part of the busi-ness comes from people sending money to each other on phone pay, UPI platform," he said. In the biggest round of funding by an Indian Internet company till date, Flipkart on April 10 raised $1.4 billion from blue-chip technology companies. PTI

TOKYO: Toyota is introduc-ing a wearable robotic leg brace designed to help partially para-lyzed people walk.

The Welwalk WW-1000 system is made up of a motor-ized mechanical frame that fits on a person's leg from the knee down. The patients can practice walking wearing the robotic device on a special treadmill that can support their weight.

Toyota Motor Corp. dem-onstrated the equipment for reporters at its Tokyo head-quarters on Wednesday.

One hundred such systems will be rented to medical facili-ties in Japan later this year, Toy-ota said. The service entails a one-time initial charge of 1 mil-lion yen ( 9,000) and a 350,000 yen ( 3,200) monthly fee.

The gadget is designed to be worn on one leg at a time for patients severely para-lyzed on one side of the body due to a stroke or other ail-ments, Eiichi Saito, a medi-cal doctor and executive vice president at Fujita Health Uni-

versity, explained. The uni-versity joined with Toyota in developing the device.

A person demonstrating it strapped the brace to her thigh, knee, ankle and foot and then showed how it is used to prac-tice walking on the tread-mill. Her body was supported from above by a harness and the motor helped to bend and straighten her knee. Sensors

in the device can monitor the walking and adjust quickly to help out. Medical staff control the system through a touch panel screen.

Japanese automakers have been developing robotics both for manufacturing and other uses. Honda Motor Co.'s Asimo humanoid can run and dance, pour a drink and carry on simple conversations, while

WelWalk is more of a system that uses robotics than a stand-alone robot. Given how com-mon paralysis due to strokes is in fast- aging Japan, Toyo-ta's device could be very help-ful, Saito said. He said patients using it can recover more quickly as the sensitive robotic sensor in Welwalk fine-tunes the level of support better than a human therapist can.

"This helps just barely enough," said Saito, explain-ing that helping too much can slow progress in rehabilitation.

The field of robotic aids for walking and rehabilitation is growing quickly. A battery-powered wearable exoskeleton made by Israeli manufacturer ReWalk Robotics enables peo-ple relying on a wheelchair to stand upright and walk.

Such systems also can aid therapists in monitor-ing a patient's progress, Luke Hares, chief technology officer at Cambridge Medical Robot-ics in Britain, said in a phone interview. AP

Toyota has robotic leg brace to help paralysed people walk

NEW DELHI: Finance Minis-try on Wednesday constituted an inter-disciplinary commit-tee to examine the existing framework for virtual curren-cies, including bitcoins, and suggest measures to deal with issues like money laundering.

The committee, to be chaired by special secretary (Economic Affairs), will sub-mit its report within three months, a finance ministry statement said.

The inter-ministerial group will have representatives from revenue department, home ministry, RBI, ministry of electronics and information technology and State Bank of India.

The committee will take stock of the present status of virtual currencies, both in India as well as abroad. PTI

Finmin sets up panel to take

stock of virtual currencies

India asks US to relax norms for greater access to mangoes

KOLKATA: Central PSU Bengal Chemicals and Phar-maceuticals Ltd (BCPL) on Wednesday announced turn-around after 40 years in 2016-17 with a net profit of Rs 4 crore from a topline of Rs 111 crore.

"The company has made a turnaround in 2016-17 after a gap of 40 years registering a net profit of Rs 4 crore against a loss Rs 9.13 crore the previous year. In the next fiscal, we are aiming a profit of Rs 10 crore with new initiatives," BCPL managing director P M Chan-driah told reporters here.

It was team work that led to the turnaround, he said.

"If I am given five years time, I will make this a Rs 200-300 crore company with Rs 30-40 crore profit," Chandriah said, while replying about gov-ernment's outlook about a pos-sible divestment.

The Centre was contem-plating divestment or induc-

tion of any strategic partner as the PSU was a loss making entity since 1977 when govern-ment took over the company set up by Acharaya Prafulla Chandra Ray, the Father of Indian Chemistry, in 1901.

The Cabinet in December last year has cleared the sale of BCPL, India's first pharma company. It is one of the PSUs that NITI Aayog has identified for sale of government's major-ity stake to private companies in order to bring in greater effi-ciency and professionalism in their functioning.

"There is nothing as of now. But, I don't know what govern-ment will do. However, I have

already pulled out this com-pany out of coma and now it requires bit of care and I think this company has potential to become profitable on a sus-tained basis," he said.

In the current fiscal, the company will begin commer-cial production of injectable antibiotics which has potential to generate additional revenue of Rs 50 crore.

BCPL was expecting reduc-tion of interest burden of Rs 8 crore for government loans.

The PSU also aims to pay-off remaining Rs 13 crore loan of United Bank of India in the FY18' to reduce the interest burden. PTI

Bengal Chemicals posts profit after 40 years

India world’s 2nd fastest growing PV market

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet has approved listing of 11 cen-tral public sector enterprises, including five PSUs under the railway ministry and four defence companies.

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for list-ing of 11 CPSEs (Central Pub-lic Sector Enterprises) on stock exchanges,” an official statement said.

The PSUs under the railway ministry that will launch initial public offerings (IPO) are Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd, IRCON Inter-national Ltd, Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) Ltd, Indian Railway Cater-ing and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and RiTES Ltd.

The defence ministry PSUs to be listed on bourses include Bharat Dynamics Ltd, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engi-neers, Mazagon Dock Ship-builders Ltd and Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd.

Also, MSTC under the administrative control of the steel ministry, and power PSU North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) are also up for disinvestment through IPO route.

The statement said listing of CPSEs will be through public offer of shares up to 25 per cent of Government of India’s share-holding, which may include offer of fresh shares for raising of resources from market.

“However, actual disinvest-ment in respect of each CPSE along with the mode of raising resources has been delegated for decision on a case to case basis to the Alternative Mechanism, headed by the Finance Minis-ter,” it added.

The CCEA has also approved reservation of shares for eligible employees of 11 CPSEs as per SEBI norms. Listing of CPSEs will also promote ‘people’s own-ership’ by encouraging public participation in CPSEs. PTI

Cabinet clears decks for listing of 11 CPSEs

NEW DELHI: Ras Al Khaimah is eyeing 30 per cent growth in visitor arrivals from India in 2017 as it under-takes a slew of initiatives to promote itself as a preferred destination.

India is the fourth larg-est source market for Ras Al Khaimah, which is one of the seven emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates.

"We are targeting 30 per cent growth from India in 2017.

In 2016, over 37,000 vis-itors from India visited us", Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority CEO Haitham Mattar said.

India being an important source market, is expected to be an important contributor to the emirate's vision to attract one million visitors by the end of 2018, he added.

India ranks as the fourth largest source market for the destination after Germany, United Kingdom and Russia and the average stay of Indian visitors is two and half nights, Mattar said.

"The main drivers for growth are great value for money that Ras Al Khaimah provides like adventure activi-ties, natural attractions, being a family destination along with a growing trend of MICE and weddings there", he added.

"Our aim is to promote activities and events with a view to encourage Indian vis-itors to lengthen their stay, Mattar said. PTI

Ras Al Khaimah eyes 30 per cent growth in Indian arrivals in 2017

The company has made a turnaround in financial year 2016-17, registering a net profit of `4 crore against a loss of `9.13 crore in 2015-16

PSUs POWER INDIAN ECONOMY

SUPER-FAST INDIA

Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari launches a project on Wednesday

mp business 13MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

To mark the beginning of Golden Jubilee Celebrations of ICSI and on crossing 50,000th membership mark, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India formally adopts the Golden Quote “Satyam Vada, Dharmam Chara – Speak the Truth, Abide by the Law” as ‘ICSI Motto’ . Tapan Ray, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs unveiled The ICSI Motto in the august presence of Shyam Agrawal, president, ICSI, and Dinesh Chandra Arora, Secretary, ICSI. On this occasion, Tapan Ray congratulated The Institute of Company Secretaries of India and urged ICSI to take forward it’s great cause of inculcating Good Corporate Governance in the business and economic structure of the Country in a big way and further make efforts to educate the masses at the grass root level

On the occasion of 8th Public Sector Day, President Pranab Mukherjee present the prestigious SCOPE Award in special commendation in institutional category to Sanjay Gupta, C&MD, Engineers India Limited

NEW DELHI: The operat-ing ratio of the railways has witnessed a deterioration in comparison to previous fiscals indicating more expenditure and less saving for the public transporter, Lok Sabha was told on Wednesday.

The railways' operation ratio was 91.3 per cent during 2014-15. It improved to 90.5 per cent in 2015-16. How-ever, for the fiscal 2016-17, operating ratio was 94.9 per cent, a deterioration over the last year.

In the railways, an oper-ating ratio of 80 per cent or lower is considered desirable.

An operating ratio indi-cates how much the railways spends to earn a rupee. An operating ratio of 94.9 per cent means that the railways is spending 94.9 paisa to earn 100 paisa (one rupee). A lower figure of operating ratio is therefore regarded better and is indicative of

better financial health of the system.

The recommendations of 7th Pay Commission with regard to pay and pension were approved by the gov-ernment for implementation during 2016-17 and accord-ingly, the operating ratio of railways in revised estimates 2016-17 was estimated at 94.9 per cent, Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said in the House.

Implementation of 7th pay panel has affected the railways as its expenditure for pay and pension has increased con-siderably. Gohain said the railways sought assistance from the Finance Ministry to meet the additional liability arising out of 7th Pay panel recommendations.

However, the Finance Ministry advised the rail-ways to explore raising own resources for implementation of the recommendations. PTI

Factory output dips by 1.2% to four-month low in February

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a pro-posal for signing an agree-ment to establish electricity grid interconnection among BIMSTEC countries.

“The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Power for signing of a Mem-orandum of Understanding (MoU) for establishment of the BIMSTEC Grid Intercon-nection,” an official statement said on Wednesday.

According to the state-ment, the MoU will be signed by member states of the Bay of Bengal Multi-Sectoral Techni-cal and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) at the upcoming 3rd BIMSTEC Energy Min-isters’ Meeting to be held in Nepal shortly.

The agreement will provide a broad framework for the par-ties to cooperate towards the implementation of grid inter-connections for the trade in electricity with a view to pro-moting rational and optimal power transmission in the BIMSTEC region.

This MoU will facilitate

the optimisation of using the energy resources in the region for mutual benefits on non-discriminatory basis subject to laws, rules and regulations of the respective parties.

It will also promote effi-cient, economic and secure operation of power system needed through the develop-ment of regional electricity networks.

It will also facilitate optimi-sation of capital investment for generation capacity addition across the region and power exchange through cross-border interconnections.

The BIMSTEC is an inter-national organisation involving

a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia viz.

Bangladesh, India, Myan-mar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhu-tan and Nepal.

The “Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation in BIM-STEC” was formulated in the first BIMSTEC Energy Minis-ters’ Conference held in New Delhi on October 4, 2005.

In this plan, under the “BIMSTEC Trans-Power Exchange and Develop-ment Project”, it was decided that a task force led by Thai-land, with representatives of member countries, will give a report on draft MoU for grid interconnections. PTI

NEW DELHI: In a big boost to 'Make-in-India', the Union Cab-inet on Wednesday approved a policy to provide purchase preference to domestic man-ufacturers in procurements done by state-owned oil and gas companies.

Under the policy, the tar-gets of Local Content will be stipulated for certain oil and gas business activities.

"The manufacturers/ ser-vice providers who meet the local content targets and whose quoted price is within 10 per cent of the lowest valid price bid would be eligible for purchase preference for a stipulated por-tion of the purchase order on matching such price," an offi-

cial said. The policy, approved by the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be applicable for five years.

A steering committee will be constituted to oversee imple-mentation of the policy and carry out annual review and recommend continuation of the policy from year to year basis. The new policy is expected to encourage suppliers and ser-vice providers to progressively adopt 'Make in India' practices and add value to their goods and services within the country.

PM Modi had in 2014 launched the 'Make in India' initiative to make the country a global design and manufac-turing hub. PTI

NEW DELHI: Industrial out-put slipped to 4-month low, contracting 1.2 per cent in Feb-ruary, mainly on account on decline in the manufacturing sector and lower offtake of capi-tal as well as consumer goods.

The Index of Industrial Pro-duction (IIP) had registered a growth of 1.99 per cent in Feb-ruary last year.

For the 11 month period to February of the last financial year, IIP growth was nearly flat at 0.4 per cent as against 2.6 per cent a year ago.

For January, the Central Statistics Office has revised the IIP growth rate to 3.27 per cent from 2.74 per cent in the provi-sional data released last month.

The previous low was recorded in October when the IIP contracted by 1.87 per cent. Thereafter, it shot up to 5.59 per cent in November.

The decline in the IIP in February is mainly on account of 2 per cent contraction in manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index. The sector had recorded a meagre growth of 0.6 per cent in February, 2016.

The capital goods output declined by 3.4 per cent in Feb-ruary over a contraction of 9.3 per cent last year. Similarly, the overall consumer goods pro-duction declined by 5.6 per

cent in the month compared to a growth of 0.6 per cent. The non-durable consumer goods output shrank by 8.6 per cent in the month over a contraction of 4.9 per cent year ago.

In the consumer-durable segment, the output dipped by 0.9 per cent in February against a growth of 10.4 per cent in same month last year.

Overall, 15 out of 22 indus-try groups in the manufactur-ing sector have shown negative growth in February.

Meanwhile, India Inc on

Wednesday pitched for more reforms to create a conducive environment for investments and boost manufacturing as industrial output shrank 1.2 per cent to a four-month low in February.

The fall in industrial output as per data released on Wednes-day was mainly on account of a decline in the manufacturing sector and lower offtake of capi-tal as well as consumer goods.

Industry body Assocham termed the latest estimates of industrial production as a nega-

tive sign while strongly recom-mending to the government to initiate more effective short-term revival measures.

It also highlighted the need for creating a conducive environment for investments, capacity utilisation and aug-mentation of industrial produc-tion on priority basis.

The decline in IIP in Feb-ruary is mainly on account of 2 per cent contraction in man-ufacturing sector, which con-stitutes over 75 per cent of the index. PTI

Retail inflation hits 5-month high of 3.81% in MarchNEW DELHI: Retail inflation jumped to a five-month high of 3.81 per cent in March on costlier protein items, edible oils and non-food products like fuel and light. Inflation based on Consumer Price Index was at 3.65 per cent in Feb-ruary. Protein rich items such as milk & products and eggs were costlier during the month with infla-tion prints of 4.69 per cent and 3.21 per cent, respectively. Prepared meals, snacks and sweets prices were also high as prices grew by 5.65 per cent. PTI

Rlys spending more for each ̀ earned, op ratio up to 94.9%

NEW DELHI: All Metre Gauge tracks in the country will be converted into Broad Gauge phase-wise, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Wednesday.

"All Metre Gauge lines will be converted into Broad Gauge phase-wise. We have already taken a decision in this regard," he said in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour.

The Minister said the Rail-way Ministry has been mobil-ising Rs 3.5 lakh crore for completion of old and incom-plete projects gradually.

"In the past, foundation stones were laid for many projects without making financial provisions. We have now decided that all sanc-tioned and old incomplete projects will be completed phase-wise," he said.

Prabhu also said he would inform each member of the House about the incomplete projects in their respective constituencies and states and the initiatives taken by the Railway Ministry to complete them. PTI

All metre gauge tracks to be

converted into broad gauge

NEW DELHI: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has commenced the commer-cial operation of its second 800 MW supercritical unit at 2x800 MW Yeramarus Ther-mal Power Station (TPS) of Raichur Power Corporation Limited (RPCL) in Raichur district of Karnataka.

Notably, the milestone for the second unit was achieved within a month of com-mencement of commercial operation of the first unit. BHEL and Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. (KPCL) are the main equity partners of RPCL, the owner and opera-tor of this power plant.

Significantly, the com-mercial operation of these units marks BHEL's foray as a co-developer in the field of power generation. This move is in line with the company’s key strategy to fuel growth. It will gradually add to the exist-ing revenue streams.

BHEL has supplied and executed 4,810 MW of coal based sets for KPCL and its joint ventures, which accounts for 96% of the util-ity's coal-based installed capacity. BHEL is also pres-ently executing KPCL's first gas-based combined cycle power project of 370 MW

capacity involving a fuel-effi-cient advanced-class gas tur-bine at Yelahanka, Bengaluru.

BHEL undertook com-plete design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erec-tion and commissioning of the state-of-the-art Yerama-rus supercritical project on turnkey basis. It has supplied all the critical equipment like boiler, turbine & generators, electricals, key packages of balance of plant and has also carried out the associated civil works. The major equip-ment for the project has been manufactured by BHEL at its Haridwar, Trichy, Bhopal, Ranipet, Hyderabad, Jhansi, Thirumayam and Bengaluru plants, while the construction of the plant was undertaken by the company's Power Sec-tor- Southern Region.

BHEL is the market leader in both the subcriti-cal as well as the supercriti-cal segments in the country. The company has secured orders for 48 supercritical steam generators (SG) and 41 supercritical steam tur-bine generators (STG) - the highest in the country by any power equipment manufac-turer. Of these, 14 SG and 12 STG have already achieved capacity addition. MPOST

Bhel’s second 800-mw supercritical unit starts commercial operations

NEW DELHI: The Indian rupee has appreciated con-siderably over the past two months. A continued rupee appreciation is bound to make Indian exports uncompetitive.

"The volatility in rupee will adversary effect export growth", said Sanjay Budhia, Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on International Trade and Exports.

A continued trend of rupee appreciation will result in many Indian exports becoming uncompetitive. CII, urges the Government to put in place measures to ensure rupee is maintained at a level which is conducive to export growth. MPOST

‘ ̀appreciation hurting exports’

NEW DELHI: Chintels India Ltd. (CIL) a real estate develop-ment company, in the process of developing over 600 acres of self-owned prime land in and around Dwarka Expressway bordering and including Delhi, announced the commencement of handover of Phase-1 of its first development ‘Chintels Par-adiso’ a group housing project in sector 109.

Chintels Paradiso is the foremost project of Chintels Metropolis, which is spread across 3 premium sectors of New Gurgaon Sectors 109, 108 and 106. Elaborating on the announcement, Prashant Solo-mon, Managing Director, Chin-tels India, said “We are very pleased to announce the hando-ver of the first phase of Chintels Paradiso to our esteemed buy-ers despite the various market challenges. Our first project has been one of the most antici-pated projects in New Gurg-aon and is an integral part of the major expansion plans we have in NCR region. MPOST

Chintels announces handover of Phase-1

of it’s first Group Housing Project

Govt okays BIMSTEC power grid proposal

Make in India: Oil PSUs to prefer domestic cos in buys

Over 13,000 villages electrified under DDUGJYNEW DELHI: Gov-ernment of India has achieved another milestone in village electrification where out of 18,452 un-electrified villages, over 13,000 villages have been electrified under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna. All the remaining 4,481 un-electrified villages are targeted to be electrified by May, 2018. The latest data on village electrifica-tion is available on ‘GARV’ Mobile App and web portal. MPOST

LONDON: Supermarket giant Tesco revealed on Wednesday that it fell into an annual net loss of 40 million due to a costly accounting scandal at Britain's biggest retailer.

The after-tax loss, equiva-lent to 50 million or 47 million euros, was skewed by an excep-tional charge of 235 million in costs arising from the three-year-old scandal.

The company's performance contrasted with a net profit of 138 million in the previous financial year, Tesco added in a statement.

However, operating or underlying profits rallied almost a third to 1.28 billion in its 2016/2017 financial year, which ran until the end of February.

And annual sales grew for the first time in seven years by 3.7 per cent to 55.9 billion, despite fierce domestic competi-tion. The news comes two weeks after Tesco agreed to a fine and compensation costs in Serious Fraud Office deal, under which

the firm will not face prosecu-tion. However, charges have previously been brought against three former Tesco executives, who will face trial over alleged fraud and false accounting.

Tesco also said it expected its vast 3.7-billion takeover of Brit-

ish wholesaling giant Booker to be submitted for shareholder approval by either late 2017 or early 2018.

"We are confident that we can build on this strong perfor-mance in the year ahead," said chief executive Dave Lewis in the statement.

"On top of this, our pro-posed merger with Booker will bring together two complemen-tary businesses, driving addi-tional value for shareholders by realising substantial syner-gies and enabling us to access the faster growing 'out of home' food market."

Tesco is the world's third-biggest supermarket chain after France's Carrefour and global leader Wal-Mart. AFP

Tesco logs £40m annual loss on accounting scandal

PV Ramesh, CMD, REC and Ajeet Agarwal, Director (Finance), REC, receive Standing Conference of Public Enterprises Awards from President Pranab Mukherjee

mp sport14MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

NOT SURE IF DHONI IS STILL A GOOD T20 PLAYER, SAYS SOURAV GANGULYNEW DELHI: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Wednes-day said Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a “champion ODI player” but doubted if he is still that good in the shortest format. “I am not too sure if Dhoni is a good T20 player. He is a champion ODI player but when it comes to T20 cricket, in 10 years, he has got one fifty and that’s not the best record,” Ganguly said.

BANGLADESHI 2ND DIVISION TEAM IN PROTEST CONCEDES 92 OFF 4 BALLSDHAKA: A Bangladeshi cricket team conceded 92 runs in just four balls to deliberately lose a match in what they called a protest over biased umpiring in their league. In the 50-over match of Dhaka Second Division League on Tuesday, Lalmatia Club were dismissed for just 88 off 14 overs before opponents Axiom Cricketers reached 92-0 off just four balls.

IF INDIA BECOMES WEAK, WE ALSO BECOME WEAK, SAYS BCB CHIEFNEW DELHI: The Bangladesh Cricket Board chief Nazmul Hasan Papon on Wednesday said issues that India has regarding ICC’s proposed revenue model need to be sorted as a “weaker BCCI means weaker Bangladesh”. The BCB chief, who is also a part of ICC Working Group, met COA chief Vinod Rai to discuss is-sues related to the ICC Board Meeting later this month.

Profligate Sunrisers post 158/8 vs Mumbai Indians

MUMBAI: Sunrisers Hyder-abad (SRH) squandered a great opening start before fall-ing apart to post 158/8 against Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 match at the Wankhede Sta-dium here on Wednesday.

From a comfortable 105/1 after the 13th over, the visitors lost seven wickets within a span of 53 runs to completely lose the track in the slog overs.

Put in to bat, Sunrisers were off to a steady start with skip-per David Warner (49) and Shikhar Dhawan (48) putting on 81 runs before the Austra-lian fell one short of his half century.

Mumbai started well with the experienced Harbhajan Singh and Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga giving away just five runs from the first couple of overs.

Warner broke the shack-les in the third over with two consecutive boundaries off Harbhajan before milking Mal-inga for another two after the Lankan changed ends.

Dhawan, who by now had faced 16 balls for his seven runs, opened up with two fours and a six off Australian pacer Mitchell McClenagan as Hyderabad crossed the 50-run

mark in the eighth over.Coming back for his sec-

ond spell, Harbhajan’s first ball was powerfully muscled over the third man bound-ary by a right-handed Warner for a mammoth six before the 36-year-old tweaker came back

strongly the very next ball to dismiss the Aussie.

Warner, who had faced 34 balls and struck seven bound-aries and two sixes by then, got a top-edge while attempting another reverse-sweep as wick-etkeeper Parthiv Patel dived

full length to complete a stun-ning catch at short point.

Two overs later, Harbha-jan returned to bowl his final over and struck first ball with the wicket of Deepak Hooda (9), caught by Keiron Pollard at long-on.

In the very next over, McClenaghan provided the vital breakthrough in the form of a set Dhawan, crashing his leg-stump with a full toss after the southpaw faced 43 balls and sent the ball five times to the fence and once over it.

Next in, Yuvraj Singh (5) failed to recreate the magic he produced in the opening match of this IPL against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) when he played on a short of length delivery from Hardik Pandya.

Aussie all-rounder Ben Cut-ting (20) struck four boundar-ies during his brief stay which was ended by a full and dead yorker from medium pacer Jasprit Bumrah before slinger Malinga picked Vijay Shan-kar (1) to reduce the visitors to 147/6.

The final over saw Bum-rah getting another couple of wickets -- Naman Ojha (9) and Rashid Khan (2) -- as Hyder-abad failed to seize the momen-tum in the death overs. Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers HyderabadSunrisers: Shikhar Dhawan (48),David Warner (49)Indians: Jasprit Bumrah (3/24), Harbhajan Singh (2/23). AGENCIES

Lynn-less KKR look to start home run with win against KXIP

KOLKATA: Two-time cham-pions Kolkata Knight Riders would be wary of a transformed and formidable Kings XI Pun-jab in their Indian Premier League face-off at the Eden Gardens here on Thursday.

The Purple Brigade, cham-pions in 2012 and 2014, may boast of a 13-6 win-loss record against the perennial brides-maid but the scenario looks different, especially in the con-text of an injured Chris Lynn, the leading run-getter of the season.

The Aussie had become IPL’s latest batting sensation after his 41-ball 93 not out in a record 184-run opening stand with Gautam Gambhir (76 from 48) handed Gujarat Lions a 10- wicket rout in the opening match.

But Lynn aggravated an old injury in his left shoul-der against Mumbai Indians where KKR suffered a four-wicket loss.

Lynn had undergone sur-gery on the same shoulder in 2014 and the injury returned to haunt him, throwing his IPL campaign in disarray even as an official word was still awaited.

While Lynn looks doubt-ful starter against KXIP, KKR, however, will be boasted by the return of star India pacer Umesh Yadav who has joined the team on Tuesday.

The pacer had complained of right hip and lower back soreness to miss the first two KKR matches after a gruelling home season where he played 12 of the 13 Tests and was instrumental in India’s 2-1 win over Australia.

On spin-friendly condi-tions, Yadav was incisive with his new-found rhythm as he gave vital breakthroughs to fin-ish the season as India’s third-highest wicket-taker behind

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

Yadav is likely to replace Ankit Rajpoot, who gave away

19 runs in the penultimate over against Mumbai, who chased down KKR’s challenging 178 with a ball to spare. AGENCIES

IPL TURNS 10: MATCH PREVIEW

Kohli undergoes fielding drills

in RCB practice session

BENGALURU: Injured Royal Challengers Bangalore cap-tain Virat Kohli, who is yet to feature in the ongoing Indian Premier League, on Wednes-day went through some field-ing drills during the team’s net session, here.

After spending some time in the pavilion, Kohli climbed down the staircase before walk-ing into the ground, carrying his kit.

After doing a few loosening exercises, Kohli sat on the chair to watch Sachin Baby and Chris Gayle bat in the nets.

After half an hour, Kohli joined a bunch of players who were getting ready for fielding and catching drills at the Chin-naswamy Stadium.

The RCB captain was seen swiftly running around to hold on to some high and low catches under the watchful eyes of team’s fielding coach Trent Woodhill.

Kohli didn’t drop a sin-gle catch during the drill and was seen throwing the ball at wicketkeeper Kedar Jadhav with great power, which is an indication that he has recovered from the shoulder injury he had suf-fered while fielding during the third Test against Australia at Ranchi.

The injury forced Kohli to miss the fourth Test at Dharamsala.

Kohli, on Tuesday, had dropped hints that he may just make a return from injury in RCB’s next match against Mumbai Indians.

Kohli also posted a video on his instagram account of his gym session. AGENCIES

Harbhajan among 8 ambassadors for ICC Champions Trophy

DUBAI: Veteran Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was on Wednesday named one of the eight ambassadors for the ICC Champions Trophy sched-uled in England from June 1 to 18.

Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, Bangladesh’s Habibul Bashar, England’s Ian Bell, New Zea-land’s Shane Bond, Australia’s Mike Hussey, Kumar Sangak-kara of Sri Lanka and Graeme Smith of South Africa were unveiled as the other ambas-sadors for the tournament.

The announcement comes exactly 50 days before the first ball is bowled in the tourna-ment-opener between England and Bangladesh at The Oval. Harbhajan, who was a member of the India side which shared the 2002 trophy with Sri Lanka in Colombo, said he feels hon-oured. “To be appointed as an Ambassador for a global event in which India will be the defending champion is one of the highs for me as a cricketer and something to be really proud of,” Harbha-jan was quoted as saying by the ICC in a statement. “I am confident that team India will achieve greater heights and am sure that millions of fans back home will be following the side’s fortunes.” The eight Ambassadors, between them, have played 1,774 One-Day Internationals, scoring 51,906

runs with 48 centuries, and tak-ing 838 wickets.

The Champion Ambas-sadors will be involved in the Champions Trophy Tour and will also make appearances in the UK.

In addition to this, the eight cricketers will be part of an ICC editorial team and will provide match previews and match analysis through exclusive col-umns which will be available on the ICC website.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “The pro-gramme will connect these greats of the game with a new generation of fans and players through our Cricket For Good project and leave a real lasting legacy for the sport.” Former Pakistan captain Afridi said it feels good to be part of an esteemed group. “Three more Ambassadors and we would have made a tournament-win-ning side,” he quipped.

“India is the defend-ing champion, and I sin-cerely believe that we have the strength, ability and stability to defend our crown. We just need to be at the top of our game,” Harbhajan also said in a column. “Let’s not forget that this tournament will feature the world’s eight top-ranked teams. So every team is going to fancy its chances. It will come down to the team that holds its nerve on the day,” he said. AGENCIES

MCC amends laws to minimise injuries to ’keepers from bailsLONDON: With an aim to protect wicketkeepers from freak injuries, the Marylebone Cricket Club has ratified the use of tethers to limit the dis-tance that bails can travel when the wicket is broken.

Mark Boucher had suffered such a freak injury when he was struck by the bails in the left eye during the opening match of South Africa’s 2012 tour of England. He had undergone a long surgery but eventually had to retire.

Former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim’s career also ended after he had a similar injury during an Asia Cup encounter against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2000. It was a ball from Anil

Kumble that struck the bats-man on the boot and rose to hit Karim on the right eye.

Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni also was hit by the bail on his right

eye while trying to go for a big shot in the final T20I against Zimbabwe last year.

Responding to these inci-dents, MCC has decided to alterate Law 8.3, following an approach from two compa-nies - one from South Africa and the other from the UK - who have submitted designs for mechanisms that tether the bails to the stumps, without limiting their ability to be dis-lodged. “If it prevents some-one losing their eyesight, it’s got to be worth considering,” Fraser Stewart, MCC’s Laws Manager said.

“The companies involved are still working on their pat-ents, so this is very much a

work in progress, but what MCC have done is make such devices permissible in the Laws. After that, it is up to the governing bodies to allow for their use.” Law 8.3.4 now reads: “Devices aimed at protecting player safety by limiting the distance that a bail can travel off the stumps will be allowed, subject to the approval of the Governing Body for the match and the ground authority.”

The UK version, designed by Gus Kennedy, a former Oxford and Cambridge MCCU wicketkeeper, comprises of two holes, drilled down into the off and leg stumps, and a tiny, lightweight ball, attached to a piece of cotton. AGENCIES

Sanju Samson says bad

times taught him a lot

PUNE: Sanju Samson, who stormed back into spotlight with the first hundred of IPL 10, says he has become a bet-ter cricketer and human being after going through bad times.

“I think you need to have bad times to learn about life.

If you keep on being suc-cessful, you do not learn. If you do mistakes, you learn from them and become a better per-son. My past has helped me become a better cricketer and human being,” said Samson after smashing 102 off 63 balls against Rising Pune Supergiant on Tuesday night.

He is back to his best after a forgettable domestic season which was marred by disciplin-ary issues.

Samson had left the team dressing room in the middle of a Ranji Trophy match but the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) let him off with a warn-ing with a rider that his father Viswanadh would not “inter-fere with his son’s cricketing activities”.

An unconditional apology salvaged the situation for the father-son duo.

Asked about the signifi-cance of his hundred, Samson said it was a special knock but he has a long way to go.

“It is one of the special days of my life but every cricketer here dreams to play for India. Indian team is the world’s best and to get into it, you have to do something special. I am happy that I played one big innings but there is a long way to go,” said the 22-year-old. He is still very young but has managed to gain a wealth of experience through years of playing IPL and first-class cricket. And that has helped him deal with differ-ent match situations.

“We need to change our batting style according to the match situation. I have been playing IPL for sometime now. I have had my experience and I have learnt from it. Sometimes you need to slow down, some-times you need to make a part-nership,” he said. AGENCIES

South Africa’s Mark Boucher (on the ground) had suffered such a freak injury when he was struck by the bails in the left eye during a match

NAWAB’S ‘DADA’GIRI

CAB president and former captain Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag during Kings XI Punjab’s practice session at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday PTI

Lynn’s injury not as bad as we thought, says KallisKOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders new-found opening sensa-tion Chris Lynn has not yet been ruled out of the Indian Premier League, head coach Jacques Kallis said on Wednesday. The initial investigation of scan on his left shoulder, which suffered a third injury in 18 months, has not revealed any serious injury as was speculated. “It’s not as bad as we thought. Our medical staff is working overtime to see how quickly we can get him ready. Good chance that he will still play a role in this season for us,” Kallis said on the eve of their first home match, against Kings XI Punjab. Lynn is set to miss Thurs-day’s match and is likely to be replaced by allrounder Shakib Al Hasan. Kallis, how-ever, chose not to give a time frame of Lynn’s return and said they do not want to rush the batsman, who had undergone a surgery on the same shoulder in 2014. AGENCIES

Eden Gardens gears up for IPL opening ceremonyKOLKATA: Bollywood starlet Shraddha Kapoor is set to sizzle at the Eden Gardens as the city gears up to host its opening ceremony before the start of the match between Kolkata Knights Riders and Kings XI Punjab on Thursday. The program will be a fusion of Bengal’s traditional chhau dance and Punjab’s bhangra. The 19-minute opening ceremony will take place before the match and commence with a performance by Shillong Cham-ber Choir. The chhau dancers will introduce the KKR team, while KXIP will make an entry with the bhangra dance troupe in the third segment of the opening ceremony. Singer Monali Thakur will also perform during the ceremony. AGENCIES

Mumbai Indians’ Harbhajan Singh and Rohit Sharma celebrate the wicket of David Warner during an IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai on Wednesday PIC/PTI

KKR captain Gautam Gambhir, Sunil Narine and Suryakumar Yadav inspect the pitch in a practic session at Eden Gardens in Kolkata PIC/PTI

mp sport 15MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

Dybala double helps Juve stun Barcelona

TURIN: Argentina forward Paulo Dybala scored a delight-ful first-half double to eclipse his illustrious compatriot Lio-nel Messi as Juventus recorded a stunning 3-0 win over Bar-celona in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. Dybala netted twice before the midway point in the first half and Giorgio Chiellini added the third goal early in the sec-ond half in Turin to leave Juve in control of the tie ahead of next Wednesday’s return at the Camp Nou.

Having made history when they overturned a 4-0 first-leg deficit against Paris Saint-Ger-main in the last 16 by winning the return 6-1, Barcelona will need another stunning come-back if they are to reach the

last four.Juventus last met the Span-

ish giants when they lost 3-1 in the 2015 final, but here they ran Luis Enrique’s men ragged and nullified the visitors’ front three of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. A Sami Khedira effort in the opening minutes went well over, but it was a sign of things

to come in a great opening half for the hosts that saw 23-year-old Dybala sparkle.

Juve’s seventh-minute opener was a work of simplic-ity finished off by a Dybala mas-ter stroke. Juan Cuadrado was the provider on the right flank, setting up Dybala who turned 12 yards out and curled a left-

footed shot inside the far post, beyond the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. It took Barca until 21 minutes to threaten, but Gianlu-igi Buffon denied Andres Iniesta after he had been picked out by a superb Messi pass. Buffon pumped his fist in defiance, and he was pumping both in cel-

ebration moments later when Dybala met Mario Mandzukic’s ball in from the left to sweep a first-time shot inside Ter Ste-gen’s near post to make it 2-0.

Messi had the ball in the net on the half hour, but the goal was disallowed for an earlier infringement, and Juve finished the opening half with a flurry.

Miralem Pjanic fired Cudra-do’s cutback high and wide, while Higuain and Leonardo Bonucci both had Ter Ste-gen scrambling to save in the final minutes of the half. Bar-celona coach Luis Enrique took off French left-back Jer-emy Mathieu and brought on Portuguese midfielder Andre Gomes at half-time, moving Javier Mascherano back into defence. The visitors briefly showed promise, with Suarez firing just wide of Buffon’s out-stretched hand, but Juve went further ahead on 55 minutes. Chiellini, famously bitten by Suarez when Italy played Uru-guay at the 2014 World Cup, held off Mascherano at a corner to send an angled header in off the far post. AGENCIES

Sindhu enters second round of Singapore Open

SINGAPORE: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu staved off a stiff challenge from 2016 All England champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan to make a positive start to her campaign at the Singapore Open here on Wednesday.

Sindhu, who had clinched her maiden India Open Super Series title earlier this month, fought back from a game down to eke out a 10-21 21-15 22-20 win in the opening round of a women’s singles match that lasted an hour and two min-utes here.

The fifth seeded Indian will face Indonesian Fitriani Fitri-ani next. Runners-up at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in Janu-ary, B Sai Praneeth also dished out a gritty performance to pre-vail 17-21 21-7 21-19 over Den-mark’s Emil Holst.

The Indian will clash with China’s Qiao Bin on Thurs-day. New pair of Ashwini Pon-nappa and N Sikki Reddy also showed their prowess in a fighting 21-19 21-19 win over Malaysian combo of Yin Loo Lim and Yap Cheng Wen in women’s doubles competition. However, it was curtains for Verma brothers -- Sourabh and

Sameer -- as well as for Ritu-parna Das in singles events.

While National Champion Sourabh failed to match Indo-nesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Gint-ing and lost 15-21 14-21 in just 39 minutes, Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold champion Sameer battled hard before going down 26-28 21-23 to Hong Kong’s Hu Yun. Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Ya Ching ended Rituparna’s cam-paign, handing her a 18-21 13-21 defeat in 58 minutes.

Mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankirteddy and Maneesha K, however, lost 13-21 21-16 11-21 to Lu Ching Yao and Chiang Kai Hsin of Chinese Taipei, while men’s doubles combo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy suffered a 8-21 16-21 defeat to Japanese combo of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda. AGENCIES

Bhopal to host 7th Jr National Hockey C’ship

for menNEW DELHI: Bhopal’s Aish-bagh stadium will host the sev-enth Junior National Hockey Championship (Men) ‘B’ divi-sion from April 14 to 22.

The tournament will wit-ness 25 teams competing in eight pools.

The finalists are guaranteed an automatic promotion to the ‘A’ division.

The defending champi-ons of the ‘B’ division The Mumbai Hockey Association Ltd beat Hockey Maharashtra in last year’s final.

This year’s champion-ship occupy greater signifi-cance, thanks to the recent upsurge of Indian hockey over the past year. India’s success at the Junior Men World Cup, coupled with con-sistent performances by the senior men and women teams have raised the profile of the sport in the country.

“The Junior Nationals for men are one of the high-lights of our calendar year. The tournament shows us the strength and the depth of the grassroot system and forms a basis for future selec-tion to the national teams,” Hockey India secretary general Md Mushtaque Ahmed said.

“The hosts Bhopal have history for producing great hockey players, teams and academies and I have no doubt the tournament will be a rousing success.”

Hockey Mizoram will take on Kerala Hockey in the opening match on April 14. AGENCIES

Bayern-Madrid tie not threatened, more security in place: Police

MUNICH: The Munich police said that there are no signs of a threat to Wednesday’s Bay-ern-Real Madrid Champions League quarter-finals match, however, intense security mea-sures will be applied.

A spokesman for the Munich police told Efe that they are in contact with the authorities in Dortmund to analyse the situation, follow-ing Tuesday’s explosion near the bus of Borussia Dortmund’s first team.

The spokesman said that the number of officers in the vicin-ity of Bayern’s Allianz Arena stadium will be increased from 370 to 450.

The police and the prosecu-tion said they are not ruling out any possible scenario regard-ing the incident, in which a police officer riding a motor-bike ahead of Dortmund’s bus was wounded when three explosive devices went off as the vehicle passed.

Spanish player Marc Bartra was wounded by the blast and underwent surgery on his hand

and wrist on Tuesday night.A note was found near the

blast site claiming responsi-bility for the attack, accord-ing to the prosecutor’s office, which declined to reveal more details as authorities investigate its veracity. Security has been tightened around hotels host-ing the players of Bayern and Real Madrid, while their buses will be subjected to inspec-tion as part of Munich’s safety standards.

The three explosions occurred around 7.15 p.m. local time, when the players left their hotel on the bus to play the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals against Monaco -- a match that was finally cancelled and postponed to

Wednesday. The three devices, thought to have been placed in a hedge, detonated as the bus passed by, damaging the vehicle and shattering some of its glass.

Fans attending the match will probably undergo regu-lar security checks, but with more precision, so it will be advisable to arrive early to the stadium. The Munich police said that their football match security measures had been reassessed and updated since the Paris attacks of November 2015.

Meanwhile, one sus-pect has been detained, German prosecutors said Wednesday in the Dortmund bus blast case. AGENCIES

Chinese badminton head coach Li Yongbo

to retireBEIJING: Li Yongbo, who led the Chinese national badmin-ton team to gold medal victory in six Olympic games, will step down as head coach, media reports said on Wednesday.

Fans have been calling for Li’s retirement since China’s sub-par performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where they won only two gold medals, the lowest number since 2000.

“After serving so many years in the post, I feel tired...and I’ve realised it is time to step back and give the younger generation the opportunity to use their new thinking to lead the team,” Tengxun Sport quoted Li as saying.

He will be reassigned along with some other coaching staff to an advisory panel with the Chinese Olympic Committee, the report said.

The national team did not issue a statement on the move and did not respond to AFP’s requests for confirmation.

During his 24-year tenure as head coach, Li saw China secure its position as the sport’s most successful country, win-ning 18 Olympic gold medals as well as numerous interna-tional tournaments. AGENCIES

Juventus’ Paulo Dybala scores his side’s second goal during the Champions League quarter-final, first-leg match between Juventus and Barcelona

Dortmund bus blast: Cops confirm first arrest

DORTMUND: German police have confirmed that one per-son has been arrested as part of the investigation into a sus-pected terrorist attack on the Borussia Dortmund coach.

A spokesman for the Bundeskriminalamt also revealed that they were for-tunate to not be dealing with any casualties after shrapnel was found lodged in other areas of the bus. “These explo-sives contained metal shards - we can be happy that nothing worse happened. “One of the metal shards in the explosive remained lodged in a seat head-rest. It could have been worse. “Two suspects are currently the subject of investigations. One person has been arrested. “We are treating this incident as a terrorist attack,” before add-ing, “an Islamic background is possible.” A letter recovered at the scene is being analysed for authenticity, but claims respon-sibility for the attack. It details Islamist motives, and invoked the Christmas market attack which also took place in Ger-many at the end of last year,

blaming Germany’s military involvement in surveillance operations against Isis in Syria.

Investigators have since said the letter may have been an attempt to mislead authorities over the true identity of those behind the attack. The letter, written in German, is reported to have started with the words: “In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful.” A possible second letter from the anti-fascist scene claiming

responsibility for the attack is also being examined by investigators.

The explosions occurred shortly before the Cham-pions League clash at Signal Iduna Park around 7.15pm on Tuesday night, smash-ing some of the vehicle’s win-dows and leaving Spanish defender Marc Bartra with an injury to his hand and arm. He later underwent surgery for a broken wrist. AGENCIES

Dortmund players stand outside the team bus after it was damaged in an explosion before the Champions League quarter-final soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and AS Monaco in Dortmund

Captain Buffon warns Juventus, says tie with Barcelona not overTURIN: Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon has warned the Italian football giants that they should not take FC Barcelona for granted despite a 3-0 lead in the first leg of their Champions League tie. Paulo Dybala’s first-half brace and a Giorgio Chiellini header in the second half gave Juventus a 3-0 win on Tuesday at the Juventus Stadium. But Buffon, 39, has asked his teammates to keep their feet on the ground ahead of second leg in Barcelona next week as they were aware of Barcelona’s 6-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) after going down 0-4 in the French capital. “The feelings are positive. This was no fluke result. We deserved it and we have no reason to fear anyone,” Buffon told Juventus’ website.“We played our game and showed what we’re capable of but you only have to look at the PSG match to remember that we must be careful. We’re happy, but we’re not through yet,” he added. The match-up was a repeat of 2015 Champions League final where Barcelona prevailed over Buffon-captained Juventus in Berlin. AGENCIES

Mohun Bagan go to top of table after 1-1 draw against Lajong

SHILLONG: Former champi-ons Mohun Bagan failed to log home full points after Shillong Lajong held them to a 1-1 draw but managed to climb up to the top of the I- League table, here on Wednesday.

India international Jeje Lal-pekhlua struck in the 75th min-ute to give Bagan the lead but the joy was shortlived as home team striker Dipanda Dicka equalised within three minutes.

Mohun Bagan are on 30 points now from 15 games and atleast for three days will remain at the top.

With the league set to be decided in the 35-36 point zone, Bagan will like to atleast win a couple of matches in their last three games.Lajong clearly looked the better side in an exciting first half which saw a couple of chances each go down for both sides. In-form Dicka got the crowd into the act as early as the 11th minute creat-ing a buzz in the Bagan defence with a bicycle kick that even-tually landed safely on Debjit Mazumdar. Six minutes later, last match’s hero Redeem Tlang almost got the breakthrough for his side when he unleashed a left- footed scorcher from close range. Mazumdar could back it only partially as the ball

took a deflection and crashed into the far left post. In the 18th minute, an advancing Dicka guided a firm shot towards the net, however, Mazumdar made a desperate leap to deny the I-League lead scorer. Bagan regrouped post the half-hour mark with the likes of Sony Norde, Katsumi Yusa, Darryl Duffy and Eduardo Soares in the thick of the action. Four minutes later, Eduardo’s header of a Sony Norde free kick bounced over the post much to the dismay of coach Sanjoy Sen. Crossing over Lajong looked to maintain the same intensity and created a few niggles for

the Bagan defenders early on.Finally, the deadlock was

broken in the 75th minute by Jeje who was brought in for Balwant Singh. A long ball from the midfield found the Bagan forward upfront and he chipped it over an advanc-ing Vishal Kaith to give his side the crucial lead. Three minutes later, Lajong substi-tute Fabio Pena’s attempt from inside was clipped by the hand of one of the Bagan defend-ers. The result was a penalty and Dicka made no mistake to convert it from the spot much to the delight of the over 6000 -strong crowd. AGENCIES

Enrique takes entire blame for defeat to

JuventusTURIN: FC Barcelona chief coach Luis Enrique has taken the entire blame for the Cata-lan football giants’ 0-3 defeat to Juventus in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-finals tie here.

Barcelona have been under-whelming this season losing to Malaga in the weekend and then conceding two goals by halftime against Juventus on Tuesday. Paulo Dybala scored both the goals with Giorgio Chiellini adding gloss to the scoreline with a third strike.

“It was a difficult first half, very similar to the one in Paris and the second was much bet-ter. If you gift the first half, then obviously you’re going to have problems,” Enrique was quoted as saying by Mediaset.

“A coach does everything to help the team and prepare them, but evidently I did not. We have to improve, learn from these mistakes, anal-yse the game carefully and realise where we went wrong,” he said. AGENCIES

Formula One: McLaren’s Alonso to miss Monaco

for Indy 500LONDON: McLaren’s former two-time world champion Fer-nando Alonso will miss next month’s Formula One Monaco Grand Prix to race for them in the Indianapolis 500, the British-based team said on Wednesday.

The two showpiece races take place on May 28 and McLaren -- whose fortunes have plummeted in F1 -- “will enter a single car in the 101st Indianapolis 500,” said a team statement.

McLaren did not say who will take the Spaniard’s place for the Monaco race, one of the highlights of the grand prix calendar.

However, his absence sparked speculation that his position could be filled in Monte Carlo by Britain’s Jen-son Button, another ex-For-mula One world champion, who remains under contract in an ambassadorial role with McLaren.

Alonso will race in a Honda-powered Andretti car branded as a McLaren for the Indy 500, one of US motors-port’s most prestigious races.

The 2005 and 2006 F1 champion said he wanted to compete in the Indy 500 to have a chance of fulfilling a career ambition of completing motorsport’s “Triple Crown” in winning the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indy 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The only driver to achieve the feat was the late Graham Hill, with the British driver, like Alonso, a double F1 One world champion. “I realise I’ll be on a steep learning curve, but I’ll be flying to Indianapo-lis from Barcelona immediately after the Spanish Grand Prix,” said Alonso. AGENCIES

Liverpool launches bid to host CWG in 2026 or 2022

LONDON: Liverpool on Wednesday officially launched its bid to host the Commonwealth Games, one of the world’s biggest sporting events. Mayor Joe Anderson wants to bring the multi-sport event to the northern England port city in 2026.

But he said Liverpool could host the games four years earlier in 2022 following the decision by announced host city Durban to withdraw, reports Xinhua news agency.

Local media is reporting that a proposed riverfront sta-dium for English premiership club Everton, could double as a main arena for the Com-

monwealth Games.Mayor Anderson has

already paved the way for Everton FC to move from its historic home at Goodi-son Park. The mayor’s office announced on Wednes-day that its bid would be chaired by Liverpool born sports executive Brian Bar-wick, the 62 years old chair of the Rugby Football League (RFL), Super League Europe Ltd, the National League and a member of the FA Council. Barwick is former head of BBC Sport, control-ler of ITV Sport and Chief Executive of the Football Association. AGENCIES

A spokesman for the Munich police told Efe that they are in contact with the authorities in Dortmund to analyse the situation, following Tuesday’s explosion near the bus of Borussia Dortmund’s first team

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

mp Entertainment16 MILLENNIUM POST | Kolkata | Thursday, 13 April, 2017

MUMBAI: Actor Nargis Fakhri said being in films is not her only aim in life and she wants to pursue other things as well. The 37-year-old actor said she wants to meet new people and learn new things. “Acting is not the only thing...I want to do a lot in life. When you are on sets you are always acting you are not interacting with people in life and not learning anything new.

“There is so much more to learn and do differ-ent things in life. I want to balance things by doing acting and other things,” Nargis said. The actor said

she enjoys being a public figure but travelling and exploring different places is her passion. “I am a different person. I like to cook, plant flowers and travel. I like to live life. I want to explore other things but not related to cinema as such. I would want to be a public personality on television or do something different,” she adds.

After doing back to back films like Azhar, Housefull 3 and Banjo last year, the actor has now decided to go slow. “Last year I did four films and it’s damn tiring. I will

never do that again. I will go slow now on. One film a year will be amazing.” Nargis, who launched her own app last evening, says there are both pros and cons of being on various social media platforms.

“The positive side is you see you are so pop-ular. I did not know I was so popular. I felt I am like a regular person and nobody likes me. But when I see social media and the good comments and when I go out and people talk sweet things to me, I feel overwhelmed. There is a negative side as well.” PTI

ACTING IS NOT MY LIFE: NARGIS

The actor enjoys being a public figure but travelling is her passion. She likes to cook, and plant flowers. She wants to explore things, which are not related to cinema

LONDON: It’s ‘lights, camera, action’ time again for Taapsee Pannu, who has just delivered the action-packed film Naam Shabana. The actor has now started filming here for Judwaa 2.

She commenced shooting for the film, in which she is paired with actor Varun Dhawan, on Tuesday.

This film is even more special for the actress as it reunites her with her first director from Bol-

lywood – David Dha-wan – with whom she made her debut in 2013 with Chashme Baddoor.

Taapsee said in a statement: “Working with David sir again is an absolute delight.

Doing the sequel to one of the most memo-rable films from the

1990s is something

extremely exciting for

me. Looking forward to working with Varun on this one.”

Varun has stepped into superstar Salman Khan’s shoes to play a double role in the remake of the 1997 film Judwaa. He has begun shooting with Taapsee, and Jacqueline Fernandez will be joining the set soon. Directed by David Dhawan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and Fox Star Studios, Judwaa 2 is set to release on September 29. IANS

Taapsee Pannu begins ‘action’ for Judwaa 2

MUMBAI: Actor Ranbir Kapoor, who will be seen essay-ing the role of Sanjay Dutt in a biopic on the thespian, said more than half the project is complete. Ranbir, who was spotted at the red carpet of the fourth edition of Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year 2017 Awards on Tuesday, was sporting a different look.

He said: “As you can see, I’m in the look of Sanjay Dutt and the movie is 60 per cent com-plete and soon it will get over.”

“I feel very proud that I’m doing the Sanjay Dutt biopic and I’m very thankful to

Vinod sir (Vidhu Vinod Cho-pra) and Sanjay sir specially,”

added Ranbir. Ranbir was last seen in the movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, a romantic drama writ-ten and directed by Karan Johar.

When asked about his upcoming film Jagga Jasoos, Ranbir said: “Jagga Jasoos is already delayed, but it will be releasing soon. I think around end of July it will be released”.

He even rubbished the news about Katrina Kaif not promot-ing the film, in which she too appears with him.

“She will promote the film as she gets free from the shoot,” said the actor, who had earlier worked with Katrina in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani”. IANS

Sanjay Dutt biopic 60 per cent complete, says

Ranbir Kapoor

MUMBAI: Actor-producer Abhay Deol has slammed fair-ness cream advertisements, fea-turing celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and

John Abraham, in “reference to a comment made by a poli-tician on TV”.

Though he didn’t name the politician, he may have been taking a swipe at BJP MP Tarun Vijay, who told Al

Jazeera last week: “If we were racist, why would we have all the entire south... why do we live with them if we are racist? We have black people around us.” Following the remarks, Abhay posted a series of fair-ness cream campaigns on Face-book on Wednesday.

“We are not a racist coun-try! I will prove it to you. In the picture below, John holds a card with shades from white to dark. Hey! You can see the promise of darker skin too if you read the card from left to right!,” he said. “He’s not telling you to go from

right to left. Duh! Even if the writing on the tube reads ‘Intensive fairness moistur-iser’. It just means it’s ‘fair’ to all who use it,” the actor cap-tioned the image. In another one, featuring actor Vidya Balan, he wrote: “This one asks the question ‘How true is your fair-ness?’ And further asks if you just have an ‘outer white layer’ or is your ‘radiant fairness from within?’ It even has the words ‘Veda’ in the packaging and that goes to prove we are originally white from within. Know your history folks!”

He also shared an ad with the image of actor Shahid Kapoor. He wrote alongside the image: “His face is dark on the right only because that part of the paper was left exposed to the sun. They are clearly not trying to show a dark shade going on to light. Shame on you to think our celebs would be so irrespon-sible, there’s a good explanation for everything!” IANS

Abhay Deol tears into fairness cream ads

COLOMBIA: Continuing an amaz-ing streak of success that includes record-breaking smashes ‘Chantaje’ feat. Maluma and ‘Deja Vu” with Prince Royce, Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and global superstar Shakira unveiled her new single ‘Me Enamoré’ via Sony Music Latin.

Another Spanish-language track, the title ‘Me Enamoré’ trans-lates to “I Fell In Love.” Written by Shakira, the song was produced by Rayito (Ricky Martin, Julio Iglesias, etc.) and co-produced by her ‘Chan-taje’ collaborators ‘Rude Boyz’.

‘Me Enamoré’ seamlessly mixes up-tempo pop and reggaetón all carried by Shakira’s powerful and universally recognizable voice. It’s the second single from her highly anticipated new album—out this year.

‘Me Enamoré’ stands out as the latest hit from the interna-tional powerhouse. ‘Chantaje’ has become one of the biggest smashes in her illustrious career, captur-ing #1 on Billboard’s Latin Air-play Songs Chart, Latin Pop Songs Chart, Hot Latin Songs Chart, Latin Digital Sales Chart, Latin Stream-ing Songs Chart, and Latin Digi-tal Songs Chart. Upon release, it debuted at #1 on Spotify’s Global Most Streamed Songs Chart in 11 countries, and #1 on digital stores in 18 countries. At YouTube, it went #1 in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Spain. MPOST

SHAKIRA Releases

Her New Single ‘Me Enamoré’

LOS ANGELES: Janelle Monae says that she loves men but will not cow down before the ones who are evil and continue mistreating women.

In an interview with Marie Claire, the 31-year-old actor-singer said that she wants men to actively partici-pate in making a difference in the world.

“I love men. But evil men? I will not tolerate that. You don’t deserve to be in my presence. If you’re going to rule this world, I am not going to contribute anymore until you change it,” Janelle says.

The Moonlight actor adds that women “have to realise our power and our magic. Because I am all about black-girl magic, even though I’m standing with all women. But this year? This yeah, I am so carefree black girl.” PTI

I will not tolerate evil men: Janelle

NEW YORK: Kit Haring-ton said that he does not care whether his character Jon Snow is actually found out to be the “prince that was prom-ised”, as per one of the popular fan theories for ‘Game of Thrones’.

The 30-year-old actor says fans will have to wait for the upcom-ing season of the HBO TV series to find out what lies in fate for the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, reported The Huffington Post.

“I think you have to wait and see what happens this year, and if we find out any-thing more about Jon. I think Jon would hate the term ‘The Prince That Was Promised’. If someone turned to him and said, ‘You’re The Prince That Was Promised,’ he just wouldn’t pay much attention.

“That’s what I love about him, so I don’t really care about it either. You know, I think that’s what’s great about him. He’s got very little ego on him,” says Harington. PTI

LONDON: Claire Foy said that she is relieved to leave ‘The Crown’ as she feels dedicating a long period of time to play a single character is a daunting task for an actor. The 32-year-old actor, who essays the role of Queen Elizabeth II in the TV series, said she knew what she had signed up for and is glad that it is over, reported The Independent.

“That’s not a shock. We always knew when we signed up to it, and also not to be funny but it’s also a real plus. As an actor there’s nothing worse than the sound of ‘seven years’. “I’m sure, to some peo-ple it sounds amazing but to

us it’s like, seven years of play-ing the same person? And this is a tough job, you know? It’s long, a good nine-monther. And that’s a lot of your life that you sign over to it,” Foy said.

The show will take a leap in the lives of Queen Eliza-beth II and Prince Philip, where her co-star Matt Smith will be recast instead of artificially age-ing them using prosthetics or CGI. Foy adds that she will miss being on the show and says, “I’m going to miss it ter-ribly. But I just can’t wait to see where it goes, I just can’t wait.”

The second season of ‘The Crown’ is expected to hit Net-flix in November. PTI

Claire Foy happy to leave ‘The Crown’

Don’t care if Jon Snow is ‘The

Prince That Was Promised’: Kit